#( bc kaz!!! healing!!!!!!! is very important to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )

[kingdumkum]

kasey KasEy KASEY !!!

i NEED you to do D, E, and K of the dirty alphabet for Baji and Kazutora 🥵 like… I don’t think you understand how much of a primal need this is 😩🤌

Love you to the moon and back x3 bb girl 🫶🏻💕

dw it's a primal need for me too apparently!

*shouldn’t have to reiterate that they’re aged up, per my RULES, but they are. AU where everyone lives. Baji, Chifuyu, and Kaz have a pet store that, very accidentally, turns into a pet clinic. Kazutora still went to juvie but not because he killed Shin (he survives the attack)—then gets sent back when he gets caught lighting a cop car on fire… with the cop still inside (unbeknownst to him). my real world AU’s are complex. no apologies. i live in a bubble and it’s very cozy here.

D - Dirty (how do they dirty talk? What do they say?)

BAJI runs his mouth. he speaks without thinking, words running faster than his brain —so dirty talk with him goes one of two ways: 1. he starts cocky and arrogant and thinking everything’s by his design. he’s the one stripping you, he’s the one teasing you, he’s the one in complete control. and he demonstrates that by saying the type of thing he knows will rile you up; ’like that, sweetheart?’ and ‘don’t worry baby, I know exactly what you need…gonna give you just what you need,’ and ‘cumming again, really? i haven’t even fucked you proper yet…’ it’s a mix of dirty praise and sweet degradation, bc he’s too smug to control his attitude. but when he actually gets inside you? well… 2. he loses the ability to speak. literally. no matter the position, no matter how many times it’s been, every time Baji buries himself in you for the first time, he loses all higher brain function. the recovery time varies, but without fail, there’s more than a few heartbeats where all he can do is whine your name. breathily moan in your ear. close his eyes tight and try to will himself to last longer than a few weak strokes—and he does. most of the time, at least—but it’s not until you whine his name, fingers digging into the corded muscles of his back, pleading with him to give you more, that he’s able to put on a semblance of the confident, smug, authoritative aura he had when you were at his mercy. it’s Different though; a little shakier. A little less of a cocky tease, and a little more of a pleading question. Same words, different intonation—‘like—like that? yeah, you like that?’ and ‘i know—i know what you need baby, gotta—gotta trust me, yeah? gonna—gonna give it just the way you need…’ and ‘gonna cum for me, sweetheart? y-yeah, me too, gonna cum f’you too…’

keep in mind that KAZUTORA spent the better part of his formative years starved from soft hands and kind words. his version of love was formed by his parents abuse of him and each other, of their neglect and resentment for his very existence. the first kindness he experienced was from a friend who “abandons” him, and while he is able to heal the fragile parts of his mind by the time he’s grown… the lack of ability to grow with people, healthy people who view love as a strength, not a weakness, fundamentally fucks with his vision of what love is, and how to convey it. i can understand why some people might view him more along the aggressive/stern side, and while i am weak for that kind of thing, i can’t see that on Kazutora like 98% of the time. it just doesn’t take into account the mental growth and stability he finds in juvie the second time around (this does NOT apply to jealous/posessive sex, btw, that’ll have him reverting to being teasing and cruel and mean real quick—this applies to the majority of your time with him) SO! that's important to establish so that i can explain how Kaz has the sweetest dirty talk you will ever hear, because there’s no front. there’s no performance or perfection in what he says; what falls from those lips is exactly what he’s thinking, because in those moments of bliss with you, he doesn’t have to hide. he doesn’t have to pretend to be more than he is, moans of your name, pleas to keep going, that usually stuff—but also the praise he’s desperately seeking. ‘you feel like—heaven,’ and ‘never—never knew—someone could feel so good—’ and ‘think—think i fuckin’ love you…’ LOTS of confessions here. lots of accidental i love you’s that really do translate to everything he’s done, even if he’s never able to say it outside the bedroom. he praises you in a way he’s been searching for his whole life, without ever realizing it.

E-Exposed (what is the most daring place they’ve had sex?)

You’d be hard-pressed to find a spot that BAJI hasn’t gotten freaky, but his freakiest dare has been on the back of his bike. he’ll tell you to put on something pretty, take you on a little drive, and pull over—a different spot every time. you’ll watch the sunset, or count the stars, or look out at a brightly lit ocean. he’ll drape an arm over your shoulder, press a kiss to your head, and to anyone who might be driving be, you look like a sweet young couple, stealing kisses and so focused on each other, the rest of the world doesn’t exist. they don’t see the way your panties have been tucked into his belt, or how his fingers prep you just enough so even with his impressive girth, he slides in easy. they attribute the way you hold him close to being cold, or that you’re saying goodbye for a long time, or hello for the first time. they think the way your legs shake are because the bike’s engine is too powerful, and they wonder why a guy like him doesn’t get that looked at. but don’t be deceived by his sweet smile and gentle way he slowly moves his hips; he’s whining in your ear to stop squirming, or someone will see for sure this time.

another horn dog; you say the word and KAZ is yours, however you want him, whenever you want him. he pushes back initially, but only in that sweet, pleading, everything-he-does-embarrasses-him-already kind of way, the are-you-sure-it’s-me kind of way—because he never says no to you. ever. so he goes along with your more wild requests—but the riskiest place that was all his idea? the counter of the pet shop… right before closing. sweet boy didn’t even bother locking the door before he had you propped up on the freshly sanitized counter, your legs wrapping around his hips and his lips attached to your neck in an almost violent manner. he usually has more self-control, these days, but he couldn’t resist then, and when you didn’t stop him… (huge fan of the bathroom quickie, btw—particularly during a slow day when it’s just him and Chifuyu and he knows the latter can hear)

K-Kink (what is their secret kink?)

we all know the obvious for BAJI; marking, exhibitionism (loves to get you off knowing that other people, particularly Chifuyu and Kazutora, can hear), sharing (Chifuyu and Kaz are basically a package deal in this relationship), but something i feel is oft overlooked is mirror sex. not because Keisuke finds himself pretty (though he does), but because when he fucks you in front of a mirror, he can see everything; the way your ass bounces against him, how his cock splits you in half, the pretty arch in your back as you’re on all fours in front of him, the way you go cross-eyed as you feel him in your throat… he never says anything because he knows how everyone will react; they’ll call him narcissist, they’ll assume he likes the way he looks when he fucks, they’ll misunderstand. if he could, he’d fuck you in a room of mirrors, if only to see what you look like from every angle with him buried in your guts.

the idea of family is so strange to KAZUTORA, but he can’t deny the way cumming inside you does something to him. he’s not ready for kids, doesn’t know if he’ll ever be ready (is anyone?), but he damn well knows that as long as you let him, he’ll be filling your sweet cunt up with his load time and time again. the nasty little fuck will eat it out of you, too—and be ready to go for round 2 by the time you’re cumming on his tongue. it’s not much of a secret, except the part where he makes sure you never leave the house without his cum dotting the lining of your panties.

#makings of greatness #kasey's adventure book! #kasey's collection: tr #baji #kazutora #tell me why it spent more time trying to figure out the stupid tags than writing UGH #anyways this was gr8 thank you for listening #hated to lose: dirty alphabet

[patrocool]

i would love to hear about pekka rollins:( torture fic, honey in your ears, spice in your mouth, slaz crack fic, and trying to change!!!

ooooh okay, so!!

pekka rollins:( torture fic is a rewrite of one of my 'verses from band-aids on our bullet wounds (chaps 21, 25, and 31 i think?) that has been expanded a Lot. it is now 15k words with 6/18 planned chapters written entirely. its @randomcat1832's fault that it is now so long. in this fic, kaz was taken by rollins and tortured for six months. he ends up blinded and Very Fucked up and traumatised, the the fic is over the course of roughly a year after being rescued as he slowly heals and becomes himself again. also trans kaz for the win:)

honey in your ears, spice in your mouth is a companion to my sick fic, and i hate myself every day that's dealt that i couldn't comfort you, where kanej have a fight, inej leaves on the wraith, and kaz ends up getting deathly sick, all in kaz's pov. honey in your ears is inej's pov of all of that!!

slaz crack fic is uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh well. if you know me irl please dont read this. the fic is basically what if,,,, the slat,,,,,, fucked kaz,,,,, and also inej was there

trying to change is a short lil thing inspired by the mother mother song of the same name. it sits unfinished bc i thought it was bad but now reading it, i think it could actually be an interesting start to something. i just,,, dont have a plot for it. but basically, kaz is beating himself up for not immediately becoming Better for inej post-ck

snippets under the cut!

pekka torture:( fic

TW: implied past torture, extreme trauma response, a bit of racism, violence, poor mental state, all around Bad Time, and its in 2nd person!

Most of the townsfolk think Inej is your nurse. You know you should be angry and you think you are, but it feels muted. Distant. As if behind a thick curtain, or perhaps on a separate floor of a house.

(As if you were still in that cellar while your heart was out of your chest, far, far away while Pekka was too damn close–)

You consider using the knife strapped to your arm underneath your sleeve to take a stab at some of the particularly nasty commenters, but it feels more like a learned behavior, a routine you can fall back into rather than an urge in the moment. You think you might be so used to violence that it's become your default, and you hate that you even have to resort to your default when you should be angry. You should be furious–

But you’re not. You’re just numb.

-

honey in your ears, spice in your mouth

Once the letter was in her hands, Specht subtly nodded towards her captain’s quarters. He knew as well as she did that whatever was on that piece of parchment was important– and likely sensitive information.

She didn’t need to be told twice.

She barely even registered Wylan’s wax seal as she cracked it open to Jesper’s familiar scrawl.

It didn’t say much but what it did made her stomach plummet in the worst way.

Wraith,

KB is sick. Raging fever. Called-me-Jordie-again-and-didn’t-seem-to-know-he-was-wrong sort of sick. Don’t know for how long, finding medik.

He keeps mumbling your name.

-J

Within half a bell, the Wraith was heading towards Ketterdam with a vengeance with only the little dinghy sent ahead as a warning.

Tell him I’m on my way, was all she wrote on the return note.

-

slaz crack fic

cw: nsfw lmfao

No one understood Kaz like the Slat did. No one knew what he needed like it did either.

Kaz couldn’t stand the touch of another person, the very thought of skin against his repulsed him, but he was still a man with certain urges and, well. The Slat didn’t exactly have skin, now did it?

-

trying to change

tw: implied parental and child death (kaz's backstory), self hate

“What’s wrong?” She asked, looking him over carefully– he felt her eyes lingering on his still scabbing knuckles and the stiff way his leg was laid out. 

I missed you, he wanted to say. I didn’t have you by my side. I couldn’t do even the one thing you asked of me. I’ve failed you at the very simplest of things, things that Jesper had managed within days of knowing you and yet I still have nightmares about. I can’t do this, I can’t be what you want. I can’t be the man you want me to be– I only know how to be the monster the Barrel made me into.

He turned back to his books. “I’m fine,” he said, stiff as dry wood.

“You’re not,” Inej said, her words cutting through him like a knife.

(Like a plow.)

Kaz swallowed down a lump in his throat and his eyes found the date of the most recent log in his book. He hadn’t changed, and Jordie would never get the chance to. Because that was what it was really about, wasn’t it? That’s what it always was– he couldn’t even just move on with his life. He was forever stuck in this limbo between dead and alive, crumbling under the weight of his dead forever-13-year-old brother.

#sorry this is so long lmfaoo #thank you for the ask!!!!! #asks #wip #soc

[briefly-enchanting-coffee]

I have very high expectations for Inejs trauma handling in S3 and this may be my downfall

I feel that in S2 jesper and Kazs traumas were touched on very well, I am Living for the storytelling and visual aid of kazs story, of the flashbacks and his reactions, I mean Freddy is killing it and shoutout to cinematography wowaza

But bc they're traumas are being done so well, im really expecting a lot for inej next season and I understand that they (Leigh and team) are probably struggling to find a way to do her traumas that aren't the standard profit from women's rape scenes. And I really appreciate the thought I feel is going into her background but I am really craving, especially for nonbook reader fans, to Understand her at her deepest level, she is such a profound and important character to me and I want her family, her kidnap and slavery to be abundantly clear that she was not sold, she was stolen. She represents so many real life stories and she is not just beautiful and deadly, she is soft and healing. Her leaving kaz and only having him "without his armor" is for Her worth that she has had to rebuild. And I guess I don't feel the show is taking the time to deliver that message like in the books. Don't get me wrong I screamed and giggled at that scene ("I will have you without your armor, Kaz Brekker") but in my humble opinion it was So Early in their on screen relationship, it felt devalued from the books.

Idk, that's all, yall know I'm a hoe for some chatting and discussions, lmk how you feel about S2 ♡

#inej ghafa #six of crows #kaz brekker #shadow and bone s2 #shadow and bone netflix #kaz x inej #kanej #my opinion

[kazofdirtyhands]

@cruelhighways

#( i can't find the original post but this is just !!! ) #( i completely agree and i could write an entire meta on it ) #( and i'm so excited to be able to explore this with the lovely @inejofwraiths ) #( bc kaz!!! healing!!!!!!! is very important to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ) #( i started rambling in tags and it got too long so just.... i have a lot of thoughts on this ) #a puzzle he couldn’t solve → 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮

[tarobytez]

disability in the Six Of Crows Duology; an analysis of Kaz Brekker, Wylan Van Eck, and the fandom’s treatment of them.

****Note: I originally wrote this for a tiktok series, which im still going to do, but i wanted to post here as well bc tumblr is major contributor to what im going to talk about

CW: ableism, filicide, abuse

In the Six of Crows duology, Leigh Bardugo delicately subverts and melds harmful disability tropes into her narrative, unpacking them in a way that I, as a disabled person, found immensely refreshing and…. just brilliant. 

But what did you all do with that? Well, you fucked it up. Instead of critically looking at the characters, y’all just chose to be ableist. 

For the next few videos paragraphs im going to unpack disability theory (largely the stuff surrounding media, for obvious reasons) and how it relates to Six Of Crows and the characterization of Kaz Brekker and Wylan Van Eck, then how, despite their brilliant writing, y’all completely overlooked the actual text and continuously revert them to ableist cariactures.

Disclaimer: 1. Shocker - i am disabled. I have also extensively researched disability theory and am very active in the disabled community. Basically, I know my shit. 2. im going to be mad in these videos this analysis. Because the way y’all have been acting has been going on for a long ass time and im fuckin sick of it. I don’t give a shit about non-disabled feelings, die mad

Firstly, I’m going to discuss Kaz, his play on the stereotypical “mean cripple” trope and how Bardugo subverts it, his cane, and disabled rage. Then, I am going to discuss Wylan, the “inspiration porn” stereotype, caregivers / parents, and the social model of disability. Finally, I will then explain the problems in the fandom from my perspective as a disabled person, largely when it comes to wylan, bc yall cant leave that boy tf alone.

Kaz Brekker

Think of a character who uses a cane (obviously not Kaz). Now, are they evil, dubiously moral, or just an asshole in general? Because nearly example I can think of is: whether it be Lots’O from Toy Story, Lucius Malfoy, or even Scrooge and Mr.Gold from Once Upon A Time all have canes (the last two even having their canes appear less and less as they become better people)

The mean/evil cripple trope is far more common than you would think. Villains with different bodies are confined to the role of “evil”. To quote TV Tropes, who I think did a brilliant job on explaining it “The first is rooted in eugenics-based ideas linking disability or other physical deformities with a "natural" predisposition towards madness, criminality, vice, etc. The Rule of Symbolism is often at work here, since a "crippled" body can be used to represent a "crippled" soul — and indeed, a disabled villain is usually put in contrast to a morally upright and physically "perfect" hero. Whether consciously on the part of the writer or not, this can reinforce cultural ideas of disability making a person inherently inferior or negative, much in the same way the Sissy Villain or Depraved Homosexual trope associate sexual and gender nonconformity with evil. ”

Our introduction to Kaz affirms this notion of him being bad or morally bankrupt, with “Kaz Brekker didn’t need a reason”, etc. This mythologized version of himself, the “bastard of the barrel” actively fed into this misconception. But, as we the audience are privy to his inner thoughts, know that he is just a teenager like every other Crow. He is complex, his disability isn’t this tragic backstory, he just fell off a roof. It’s not his main motivation, nor does he curse revenge for making him a cripple - it is just another part of who he is. 

His cane (though the shows version fills me with rage but-) is an extension of Kaz - he fights with it, but it has a purpose. Another common thing in media is for canes to be simply accessories, but while Kaz’ cane is fashionable, it has purpose.

The quote “There was no part of him that was not broken, that had not healed wrong and there was no part of him that was not stronger for having been broken.” is so fucking powerful. Kaz does not want nor need a cure - its said in Crooked Kingdom that his leg could most likely be healed, but he chooses not to. Abled-bodied people tend to dismiss this thought as Kaz being stubborn but it shows a reality of acceptance of his disability that is just, so refreshing.

In chapter 22 of SOC, we see disabled rage done right - when he is called a cripple by the Fjerdan inmate, Kaz is pissed - the important detail being that he is pissed at the Fjerdan, at society for ableism, not blaming it on being disabled or wishing he could be normal. He takes action, dislocating the asshole’s shoulder and proving to him, and to a lesser extent, himself, that he is just as capable as anyone else, not in spite of, but because he is disabled. And that is the point of Kaz, harking back to the line that “there was no part of him that was not stronger for having been broken”. 

I cried on numerous occasions while reading the SOC duology, but the parts I highlighted in this section especially so. I, as many other disabled people do, have had a long and tumultuous relationship with our disability/es, and for many still struggle. But Kaz Brekker gave me an empowered disabled character who accepts themselves, and that means the world to me. 

Keeping that in mind, I hope you can understand why it hurts so much to disabled people when you either erase Kaz’s disability (whether through cosplay or fanfiction), or portray him as a “broken boy uwu”, especially implying that he would want a cure. That flies in the face of canon and is inherently fucking ableist. (if u think im mad wait until the next section)

Next, we have Wylan.  

Oh fucking boy. 

I love Wylan so fucking much, and y’all just do not seem to understand his character? Like at all? Since this is disability-centric, I’m not going to discuss how the intersection of his queerness also contributes to these issues, but trust me when I say it’s a contributing factor to what i'm going to say.

Wylan, motherfucking Van Eck. If you ableist pricks don’t take ur fucking hands off him right now im going to fight you. I see Wylan as a subversion another, and in my opinion more insidious stereotype pf disabled people - inspiration porn.

Cara Liebowitz in a 2015 article on the blog The Body Is Not An Apology explains in greater detail how inspiration porn is impactful in real life, but media is a major contributing factor to this reality. The technical definition is “the portrayal of people with disabilities as inspirational solely or in part on the basis of their disability” - but that does not cover it fully. 

Inspiration porn does lasting damage on the disabled community as it implies that disability is a negative that you need to “overcome” or “triumph” instead of something one can feel proud of. It exploits disabled people for the development of non-disabled people, and in media often the white male protagonist. Framing disability as inherently negative perpetuates ideals of eugenics and cures - see Autism $peaks’ “I Am Autism” ad. Inspiration porn is also incredibly patronizing as it implies that we cannot take care of ourselves, or do things like non-disabled people do. Because i stg some of you tend to think that we just sit around all day wishing we weren’t disabled. 

Another important theory ideal that is necessary when thinking about Wylan is the experience of feeling like a burden simply for needing help or accommodations. This is especially true when it comes to familial relationships, and internalized ableism.

The rhetoric that Wylan’s father drilled into his head, that he is “defective”, “a mistake”, and “needs to be corrected”, that he (Jan) was “cursed with a moron for a child” is a long held belief that disabled people hear relentlessly. And while many see Van Eck’s attempted murder of Wylan as “preposturous” and overall something that you would never think happens today - filicide (a parent murdering their child) is more common than you would like to believe. Without even mentioning the countless and often unreported deaths of disabled people due to lack of / insufficient / neglectful medical care, in a study on children who died from the result of household abuse, 40 of 42 of them (95%) were diagnosed with disabilities. Van Eck is not some caricature of ableist ideals - he is a real reflection on how many people and family members view disability. 

Circling back to how Wylan unpacks the inspiration porn trope - he is 3 dimensional, he is not only used to develop the other characters, he is just *chefs kiss* Leigh, imo, put so much love and care into the creation of Wylan and his story and character growth that is representative of a larger feeling in the disabled community. 

That being said, what you non-disabled motherfuckers have done to him.

The “haha Wylan can’t read” jokes aren’t and were not funny. Y’all literally boiled down everything Wylan is to him being dyslexic. And it’s like,,,, the only thing you can say about him. You ignore every other part of him other than his disability, and then mock him for it. There’s so much you can say about Wylan - simping for Jesper, being band kid and playing the fuckin flute, literally anything else. But no, you just chose to mock his disability, excellent fucking job!

Next up on “ableds stfu” - infantilization! y’all are so fucking condescending to Wylan, and treat him like a fucking toddler. And while partly it is due to his sexuality i think a larger portion is him being disabled. Its in the same vein of people who think that Wylan and Jesper are romantically one sided, and that Jesper only kind of liked Wylan, despite the canon evidence of him loving Wylan just as much. You all view him as a “smol bean”, who needs protecting, and care, when Wylan is the opposite of that. He is a fucking demolitions expert who suggested waking up sleeping men to kill them - what about that says “uwu”. You are treating Wylan as a burden to Jesper and the other Crows when he is an immensely valuable, fully autonomous disabled person - you all just view him as damaged. 

And before I get a comment saying that “uhhh Wylan isn’t real why do you care” while Wylan may not be real, how you all view him and treat him has real fucking impacts and informs how you treat people like me. If someone called me an “uwu baby boy” they’d get a fist square in the fucking jaw. Fiction informs how we perceive the world and y’all are making it super fucking clear how you see disabled people. 

Finally, I wanted to talk about how the social model of disability is portrayed through Wylan. For those who are unaware, the social model of disability contrasts the medical model, that views the disability itself as the problem, that needs to be cured, whereas the social model essentially boils down to creating an accommodating society, where disability acceptance and pride is the goal. And we see this with Wylan - he is able to manage his father’s estate, with Jesper’s assistance to help him read documents. And this is not out of pity or charity, but an act of love. It is not portrayed as this almighty act for Jesper to play saviour, just a given, which is incredibly important to show, especially for someone who has been abused by family for his disability like Wylan, that he is accepted. 

Yet, I still see people hold up Jesper on a pedestal for “putting up with” Wylan, as if loving a disabled person deserves a fucking pat on the back. It’s genuinely exhausting trying to engage with a work I love so much with a fandom that thinks so little of me and my community. It fucking shows. 

Overall, Leigh Bardugo as a disabled person wrote two incredibly meticulous and empowered disabled characters, and due to either lack of reading comprehension, ableism, or a quirky mix of both, the fandom has ignored canon and the experiences of disabled people for…. shits and giggles i guess. And yes, there are issues with the Grishaverse and disability representation - while I haven’t finished them yet so I do not have an opinion on it, people have been discussing issues in the KOS duology with ableist ideals. This mini series was no way indicative of the entire disabled experience, nor does it represent my entire view on the representation as a whole. These things need to be met critically in our community, and talked about with disabled voices at the forefront. For example, the limited perspective we get of Wylan and Kaz being both white men, does not account for a large portion of the disabled community and the intersection of multiple identities.

All-in-all, Critique media, but do not forget to also critique fandom spaces. Alternatively, just shut the fuck up :)

happy fucking disability pride month, ig

#soc #six of crows #kaz brekker #soc kaz #kaz talk tag #kanej #grisha #grishaverse #ketterdam #leigh bardugo #bardugo #crooked kingdom #ck #wylan #wylan van sunshine #wylan supremacy #jesper x wylan #wesper #jesper fahey #shadow and bone #wylan van eck #jan van eck #ableism #ableist bullshit #ableist slurs #disability #disability pride month #i will punch you in the face #el oh el #laugh out loud

[flying-elliska]

tidbits from the webinar with Leigh Bardugo :

- With her writing, she wants to show there isn’t one kind of strong female character, that there are lots of different ways to be badass, among men as well. You don’t have to be super tough or a brooding dickhead. She wants to show fantasy doesn’t have to belong to one type of hero (white able bodied straight guy). She mentioned jk*r and seeing the heartbreak among her readers and thought she never wanted to be a part of causing that. Ppl talk about diversity as an artificial construct but it’s just...how the world is, and it’s how you tell a better story. When they announced they were casting a half-Asian Alina ppl were like  ‘why don’t you want her to look Russian’ and she was like ??? “have you ever looked at Russia on a map ?”. And borders are porous, there isn’t a firm line/wall in reality, and in the world of the series, in the border town near Shu Han Alina comes from, people are doing business with each other, falling in love across the border...it’s just what naturally happens.

- The Crows in this first season of Shadow and Bone are not the same as when we meet them in Six of Crows, they’re not quite as badass yet. We are getting some of the backstory that is in the books but not all of it, they wanted to keep some for next season (hopefully)

- You cannot write about thugs and thieves without being aware of the social/economic/political dynamics that created them

- When writing a book, she often starts in one place and ends in another, with Six of Crows she started wanting to do a fun blockbuster-y fantasy heist romp and then Kaz Brekker was ‘riding his brother’s corpse to freedom’ lmao

- Advice for writers : research can be dangerous, it’s easy to get lost and stay away from the draft. for shadow and bone she gave herself two months to really get lost in research, look into folklore, old cookbooks, to really get into the vivid details.

- Writing short stories is a really good way to better your writing

- To get somewhere you have to be bad at things. The bad days when you’re in a process are a good sign, because you are trying to do something bigger than you’ve ever done before. She had to learn to sit with the discomfort of not being good when she started writing.

- Writing process : beat sheet with main elements > zero draft, in which there is still discovery left about the characters. Everybody’s process is different, the key is to finding yr own. The process of writing a novel is so long, you have to be in love and stay in love with that idea, remind yourself what made you excited about it in the first place, and wait for the moment where you fall back in love with it. If you get haunted by another idea that won’t go away you can wonder what appeals to you about it and you can put it in your current project.

- The greatest gift you can give yourself is to finish a draft. When you’re stuck, go for a walk and talk to yourself (you can put in earphones to not look crazy lmao). Or shift POV. As a writer a critical voice is often what blocks you. You need to remind yourself that the first draft is going to be bad and you have to let it be, you’re telling the story to yourself, it’s fine to have placeholders and go back.

- When you’re a young writer the important thing is that you keep being in love with writing, there is no expiration date on your talent. When you’re in prep school mode, you’re told your value is in being young and brilliant, at some point you’re not the youngest one in the room anymore, you’re no longer the wunderkind, but that’s not where your value is. You still have a story to tell.

- She says she is a mix of Kaz (because she uses a cane, she’s a planner and she keeps a grudge for a long time) and Nina, or at least Nina is who she would like to be, the best part of her.

- She likes writing about women who get their revenge.

- Ketterdam treats people as commodities and expendable, it’s the protestant work ethic taken to extremes, and so ppl like Kaz and Inej are going to have the experiences they had. She didn’t want to do misery tourism, it was very important to approach these with caution and do a lot of research. She found it important to donate to organizations linked to things she has written about, so like against trafficking when she was writing Inej’s backstory. Writing those backstories were some of the most harrowing stuff she ever wrote as a writer. The scene with Kaz and Inej and the bandages was probably the hardest scene she’s ever written, she wanted to be respectful of what those two characters had been through, she’s written a lot of versions of that scene. It’s fun to talk about ships but she doesn’t want trauma to be ‘healed by love’, it wouldn’t feel respectful, the journey towards healing is a slow one, you backslide, etc.

- She struggled a lot writing Crooked Kingdom, she was kind of in a burnout, and wondered afterwards if it even was good. Importance of the drive to get better so you don’t stay static.

- She loooves a slow burn and had to put the brakes on the show writers several times lol when it came to kissing and such.

- Her fave episode of the show is episode 7

- She likes giving the names of her friends to characters bc they supported her so much during the writing process

- The first books are generally the easiest to write because you can throw your ideas at the wall and see what sticks, you can kind of do what you want, and after that in following books you have a lot more threads to pick up.

- Pet peeve : people talking about how this character didn’t “deserve” this : in her experience the people who deserve to go don’t and often the loving kind ones are those who lose, she’s experienced a lot of loss in her life, and she’s not going to write a book about war and danger without being honest about how these things go, it would feel disingenuous. She’s not going to stop killing people (lol).

- One fan talked about how she felt really helped by Nina being a curvy girl who is presented as charming and confident and very lovable. Leigh talks about how she’s been a lot of different sizes, she heard there was a famous author saying disparaging things about her weight and disability behind her back, she was like that’s not even original, and actually fuck being ashamed of that, she wants the culture to change and wants to participate in that. She wants it to be known that she is a very successful, adored fat woman with a partner who helps her up stairs, she also wants fans to know that they’re so much more than their appearance. (that moment was so badass, it reminded me of Kaz giving advice to Wylan about his disability)

- Our culture is garbage and you’re at war everyday with the people who want to make you feel bad about yourself so you buy things. Find people who make you feel strong and amazing, who don’t just tolerate you but who think you’re the best.

Anyway this was a really cool moment honestly, it made me even more of a fan.

#leigh bardugo #six of crows #grishaverse #shadow and bone #writing advice

[all-inmoderation]

kaz (soc) and aang (atla)

Kaz

1. How I feel about this character

love him to bits. he really left an impression on me for some reason, even tho ive read plenty of characters before who are characterized as assholes-with-a-heart-of-gold, he just felt different to me. i think its because despite his tragic backstory, his assholey-ness was very unapologetic, which I liked, lol. and speaking of tragic backstories, oh my god his really hit. like, the imagery of little kaz fighting for his life on his brother’s corpse, and how that experience later formed into the near debilitating phobia of touch for him, broke my heart. it absolutely crushed me but also made me root for his character even more, bc i wanted to see him get his revenge on pekka rollins but also allow himself to be soft like he once was, before that day. 

2. All the people I ship romantically with this character

allowing himself to even admit he loved inej was hard enough for him, so i cant imagine kaz ever loving anyone else like he does her, tbh. if he did, it would be very very far in the distant future post-canon, where he’d presumably be a changed character (after healing from his trauma), i hope. because he deserves to learn how to be soft again, and i think the best person to do that with is inej, for him.

3. My non-romantic OTP for this character

i know people ship him  with matthias, which is an interesting dynamic for sure. i wouldnt ship them romantically but theyve definitely had some really interesting interactions together, (like when matthias says kaz has nothing sacred in his life, or when kaz says matthias was right and he was out of tricks) and i love how matthias calls Kaz demjin/demon, haha.

4. My unpopular opinion about this character

idk if this is unpopular but as much as i called him an asshole before (lmao) i don’t actually think kaz is one. okay dont get me wrong, he can definitely be a dick, but from what i can recall, kaz doesn’t say mean shit just to be petty, it’s more like he’s a no-bullshit type guy who can be pragmatic to the point that it comes off as cruel. which makes sense considering thats how hes survived in the Barrel, and i think that makes him far more interesting than him just being a snarky character. Also! i think kaz’s ability to read/manipulate people is underrated- hes not just a barrel boss bc he’s ruthlessly violent, it’s because kaz knows how to read people like a book and knows their likes, dislikes, fears, etc and uses it against them/for his own gain. this ability of his is so much more sinister and impressive to me than him cutting people up.

5. One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

i wish theyd gone onto more detail about what kaz does as a barrel boss. bc towards the end of crooked kingdom when hes finally confronting pekka rollins, pekka says something like “if it hadn’t been me who conned you and your brother, it would’ve been someone else” and “you cant trick an honest man, brekker, you know that”. the last part “you know that” made me realize we don’t know much about what operations the dregs runs. does kaz scam pigeons too? it seems to be a commonplace thing for gangs to do, from what it seems from pekka’s line, but i wonder if kaz would do that himself knowing what it feels like to be on the receiving end. does he scam them but not give them the illusion of kindness like pekka did with him & jordie ? or does kaz simply steal and pickpocket and minimize the manipulation ? i wish leigh bardugo had gone a little bit more in depth with that bit bc pekka’s line arose a lot of questions for me that would be cool to delve into.

Aang

1. How I feel about this character

if you follow my blog you probably already know how much i absolutely adore aang. Aang and i are very similar, except he’s, like, Better lol. tbh I think he’s everything people should strive to be: kind, resilient, patient etc. etc. 

 2. All the people I ship romantically with this character

anyone. literally anyone. lmfao he’s just that type of character! his personality is so open and charming that he puts everyone around him at ease and is able to have meaningful interactions with every character ! lately i’ve been really into suki x aang tho ugh something about suki being so devoted to aangs past lives is just 😩😩😩👌👌

3. My non-romantic OTP for this character

i love toph and aang’s friendship ! i ship them romantically too but even when im contemplating a ship with a different character with aang, taang’s friendship is always important to me and very underrated int his fandom tbh.

4. My unpopular opinion about this character

he’s mister popular, hide yo wife hide yo kids he can steal anyone from you bc hes just that charming.

5. One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

i dont wish to change canon in any way, i think it was masterfully done. but post canon, i wish to explore the dynamics between aang and older characters such as bumi, guru pathik, etc more. i think aang deserves to be able to hang out with people who remembers a time when his people were alive and his culture was valued !

#thank you for the ask <3 #im surprised i actually received some hehe #ask game #replies #mine* #6oc #kaz #atla #aang #kanej

[alrightbookreviews]

Shadow and Bone

by Leigh Bardugo

book: 7/10

show: 9/10

Alright so i’m assuming most of y’all have heard of this book after the Netflix series came out like a week ago and are like “damn i shoulda read the book” or maybe not. but if not then idk why ur even on my blog but whatever. i read this book like a month or two ago before i even knew about the show so it was a strange coincidence for me but i was excited for the show bc the book was pretty decent. so i sat down to watch the show w pretty low expectations bc the movies are never better than the books (duh) but i ended up liking the show WAY more than the book and here’s why.

So basically, the plot of the book is this chick named alina who draws maps i guess has this friend named mal (who she grew up at an orphanage with) and she has been high key in love w him basically her whole life and he is so fucking clueless so he doesn’t pick up on it at all. but they get sent on a boat across this big black cloud thing called the “shadow fold” w spooky monsters in it. so you’re probably thinking “oh okay since they took a boat, the shadow fold must be over water” wrong. it’s over some crusty ass sand and instead of getting something with wheels they drag this big ass boat across dry land which makes 0 sense to me but okay. also i should probably mention that there are people w like magic powers or some shit but i’ll get to that later. anyways, so alina and her bestie end up on this boat goin across the big spooky cloud with some other rando people. another design flaw of the boat that really bothers me is the fact that there are EVIL FLYING MOSTERS up in this dark ass cloud and instead of like putting everyone below deck or whatever, they jus have everyone vibing out in the open for the monsters to snatch. so of course, the monsters start snatching bitches. and mal gets snatched and alina is like omg no and then she passes the fuck out. very wild stuff. so they make it out of the shadow fold somehow and alina wakes up and these guard dudes are draggin her to the fancy magic people tent. i think now is a good time to explain the magic people so ima do that. so basically there are all these people with magic powers called “grisha” which is kinda confusing bc it sounds a lot like geisha but whatever. there’s like a bunch of different powers and they all have wacky names that i can never remember so i just call them the wind people, the water people, the fire people, the heart people, the healing people, and the builder people. the names are pretty self explanatory. but then there’s this one guy called “the darkling” which is the dumbest name to ever exist omfg i laughed over it for a WHILE. so y’all can probably guess what his power is based off of his stupid name. he makes the shadows move oooo spooky. and he can also use the shadows to chop people in half. i guess. so back to the story, they drag alina to the darklings tent and he’s like “bitch u got powers” and she’s like “nah fam” and he’s like “yeah watch” and he cuts her w a knife and she lights up. like she turns into a human lightbulb. and she’s like “damn okay so like that’s what happened on the boat when i passed the fuck out” so they take her to the palace bc i guess she’s the first person to ever have that power and it’s important bc it can get rid of the shadow fold or whateva. and basically the rest of the book is her trying to figure out her powers and the darkling trying to find this deer whose antlers will amplify her power and alina complaining about living in a castle blah blah blah.

so here’s why the show is better than the book:

her friend/guy she’s in love with is so fucking toxic in the book. he’s such a bitch to her and she’s just like lol okay ily and i’m like wtf? why do u like this piece of shit? he’s just rude man. and in the show i actually liked him. he tried his hardest to get to the palace and find her after they took her away unlike in the book when he didn’t do shit and when she finally saw him again he was mad at her for some reason idk i was like bro u gotta chill. so i’m glad he was chill in the show.

the darkling’s name in the show is “general kirigan” which is also pretty lame but SO much better than the darkling. no debate.

leigh bardugo has 7 books total taking place in this little universe (the shadow and bone trilogy, six of crows duology, and the king of scars duology) and they threw some of the characters from six of crows into the show for some reason. i was a little skeptical of how that was gonna go before the show came out bc shadow and bone and six of crows take place at different times and also i haven’t read six of crows yet but omg. i loved them. it’s this little squad of this ninja bitch, some guy w a cane who is hot af and (my favorite) this gay dude who mostly just talks about a goat. they were baddies and i was so happy they made a lil plot for them and put them in the show.

and those are really the only reasons. idk. i’d recommend both the book and the show but definitely the show a lil bit more.

now it’s time to talk some shit about everyone. (SPOILERS!!)

jesper: okay something important i need to say that my mom mentioned as we were watching the show: wouldn’t it have stank like shit when jesper fucked that one guy in the stables??? like dude no. literally do it ANYWHERE but there pls and thank u.

kaz: jesus fuck make a move you goddamn pussy holy shit

inej: okay first of all the actress who played her was GORGEOUS and she’s such a badass. kaz and jesper can’t do SHIT compared to her.

alina: she lowkey annoyed me a lil bit in the show. she ended up being the one who was a dick to mal instead of the other way around and it kinda made me sad but whatever. also the antlers in her skin omfg i gagged every time i saw it it was fucking disgusting.

mal: dear book mal, go fuck yourself. dear netflix mal, ily boo <3

the darkling/general kirigan: they chose an old ass dude to play him in the show. like in the book even though he’s like hundreds of years old, he’s only supposed to look like 20 and the homeboy who played him in the show is 39. mmm no. poor little 25 year old jessie who had to make out with this grandpa motherfucker.

genya: wtf was that tall ass collar she was wearing?? made the bitch look like she had no neck.

david: 🧍‍♂️. also you traitor motherfucker.

baghra: we needed more of her. i love that crusty bitch. kinda upset that she attacked mal in the show but whatever he was fine i guess? idk i liked her a lot more in the book lol.

nina: idk who tf this bitch was bc she aint in the book. her lil plot was boring tbh.

milo: queen milo i live for you.

and that’s it. thank u for reading.

#book #book review #books #review #shadow and bone #shadow & bone #netflix #leigh bardugo #the grisha series #the grishaverse #grishaverse #alina starkov #mal oretsev #six of crows

[discountalien-pancake]

I think the relationship between Kaz and Jesper is one of the most interesting/dark given that Kaz enabled his gambling addiction to keep him in line. it bugs me when people see Jes as the comic relief of the group for that reason in particular...

Yep! Jesper is humorous, but he’s not a himself a joke. He’s got a serious addiction and it is actively harmful to himself and his friends, and I feel like people ignore this a lot when they talk about him and Kaz.

Jesper’s gambling is actually a genuine problem and shouldn’t be treated like a joke. Just because Jesper has a sense of humor and dresses in gaudy clothes doesn’t mean fandom has permission to treat him like he’s just comic relief. He’s just as central to the narrative as Kaz and Inej, and they form a triangle of flawed friends whose faith in each other is what gets them through in the end.

Kaz has one very specific beef with Jesper that causes him to act the way he does in CK—and at first Kaz just feels that he can’t trust Jes with secrets bc Jes’s addiction makes him vulnerable to pressure from debt collectors. This is 100% a valid concern, and while Kaz might overcorrect, he also has history with Jordie’s greed leading them to ruin.

Kaz blames Jesper in part for losing Inej (and for her getting stabbed during the ambush at the harbor), but I think he also blames himself for her kidnapping and recognizes his own faults in Jesper’s addiction. Kaz let greed get the better of him, and now the person he cares about most is in danger. He also let Jesper’s addiction get out of hand and didn’t keep a tight enough leash on his friend even when he probably knew that Jesper had a problem.

It’s not until Kaz recognizes Jes is sick, not greedy, that he can forgive Jes, and it’s not until he pays back his debt to Inej that he can forgive himself. And Jesper has to admit that his gambling is a problem before he can heal and restore Kaz’s trust in him. That’s why I think Inej’s moment with Jes when she tells him the proverb “this action will have no echo” is the turning point of Jesper’s redemtpion.

The narrative links Kaz, Jesper, and Inej together over and over—which is why it makes sense to me that at the end of CK, Jes and Inej are paired up for their part of the plan. It’s thematically important that Inej be the one to give Jes the final push he needs.

And then at the end when Kaz says to Inej (not Wylan), “Tell Jesper he’s missed. Around the Slat.”

The phrasing here is so telling, “around the Slat” being tacked on at the end like he’s covering his ass. Yeah okay, sure, Kaz. But it’s not just a simple “I miss you.” It’s also saying “we’re still friends” and “your absence hurts me” and “you’re forgiven.”

#sorry this got way out of hand lmao #i just have a lot of feelings about this trio okay #pancake answers #six of crows