#because they both really enjoy being gay and doing crime

[celluloidbroomcloset]

They're gonna be so gay and do so many crimes at that inn, it's unreal.

Haven for pirates. Haven for the LGBTQ+ community. Smuggling operation. Bootlegging operation. Communist propaganda distributors. Multi-level marketing schemes. Drag competitions. Union meetings. Drag competitions during union meetings. Lip-sync for your life, literally. Combined day-care and knife-training for the local kids. Purveyors of knockoff merchandise somehow better than the real thing. Sellers of fishing gear and collectible guns totally not stolen from the Royal Navy. Sellers of horses totally not stolen from the English Army. Ye olde gaye porne distributors. Headquarters of Pyrate Pryde. Headquarters of the Calypso Party (whatever that is).

So gay, such crimes.

#ofmd #our flag means death #stede bonnet #edward teach #gentlebeard #i wish we got more but i'm also so glad they're safe #and are gonna have a lot of fun #i've listed a few of these before #there are others #it will all involve being gay and doing crime #because they both really enjoy being gay and doing crime

[blue-grama]

The Sign finale probably should have disappointed me, but... didn't?

It's been a heck of a run lately with Thai BLs that haven't quite stuck the landing, and it's got me pondering why The Sign worked for me despite sometimes feeling like a storyboard for a longer, better show.

I don't think they pulled off the emotional payoff they needed, despite that last reunion scene being so pretty and well-acted, simply because too much happened offscreen, from Khem's recovery from a gunshot wound to the entire multlifetime Tharn/Chalothon dynamic getting resolved without us seeing any of it. But somehow I wasn't that mad about it? And ultimately I think it's because this show did so many things well and so many things I'd love to see more of that I'm just like, yep, I enjoyed that ride sirs, please show me something this gorgeous again. In that sense it's joining something like Manner of Death or Kinnporsche where it's like, plot holes? Yes. Bizarre tonal shifts? Absolutely. Occasionally insane writing choices? Uh-huh. Love it anyway? You betcha. So here's what really, really worked for me:

Premise

I am always going to be onboard with QL that isn't solely coming-of-age or coming out. I'm not against those stories, of course, but give me gay romance with adult characters who know themselves and are doing adult things. I'm also a partisan for romances with high external stakes, so the mixture of crime and reincarnation was catnip to me.

Do I care that none of this training makes any sense? No.

2. Setting

Listen. Is The Sign the reason I have a document on my laptop titled "Imaginary trip to Thailand without ever seeing a beach?" Not exactly. But it's also not not the reason.

I am being willingly manipulated by the Thai Tourism Authority.

Kidding, kidding, but I do love when my Thai shows feel Thai or my Korean shows feel Korean, etc etc. I want to be driven to Wikipedia to learn more! Half the fun of watching stuff from not your own country.

3. Chemistry

I think @biochemjess covered what was underwritten about the romance in The Sign. Billy and Babe carried it on their backs and it was hard to dislike their romance, even when the series skipped over key beats.

Any time the pink lighting came out, you were gonna be in for a good time.

4. The camerawork

I don't know enough about film to speak intelligently about this, but the camerawork and aesthetics of this show were just so lovely to watch. It was really doing a lot. @chaos0pikachu wrote about it better than I ever could.

LOVED THIS. LOVED IT. So good.

We had some really lovely storytelling and visual parallels, too, like the first episode and finale both having a big action warehouse scene, or the multiple times that Phaya and Tharn ended up overlooking the Mekong river.

5. It was always kinda off the rails

I know some people felt this show started out with a strong premise and didn't live up to it, but I gotta say, I didn't have that experience. It was always kinda a bonkers watch for me. There were long training montages, random bodies in the shallows, missing genitals, extended performance art, that comedy flashback to Khem and Thongthai's college years... I never knew what I was going to get each Saturday. And I kind of loved that? I'm into unhinged. I was comparing this in my head to Last Twilight, which did disappoint me in the end, and I think it's because Last Twilight was NOT always bonkers and DID set itself up to tell a straighforward story, then dropped the ideas it had been juggling in the last episode. The Sign always felt chaotic to me, so a chaotic ending was par for the course. This is where I'd compare it to KinnPorsche, which had the weirdest fucking ending, but like, okay??? Why not!

End result? I see the flaws, but I'm giving this show tender forehead kisses anyway. Here's hoping for more like it.

#the sign the series #the sign #the sign meta #the sign bl #phayatharn

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 2! MATCH 1 OUT OF 8

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Bugs:

So the story is that the Three Little Pigs sell Bugs their straw and wood houses, the Big Bad Wolf blows them down, and Bugs decides to get revenge - by dressing himself up as Little Red Riding Hood, getting the Wolf to play his part in that story, and then messing with him as only Bugs can. Here's the video if you've never seen it: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6vk41x

Bugs Bunny is an icon and he was so good for his role in this short. When he and the wolf realized they could work together against the pigs... oh my God. Come on Tumblr, you have to admit they had a little gay tension between them. Besides, at the end, when the brick house comes down and the wolf, so surprised and proud of himself exclaims "I did it!" and then it pans over to Bugs with the bomb and he slyly adds "We did it!" communist Bugs canon.

Red:

I'm pretty sure she uses her hood as a parachute at some point. (A note from tournament Mod: She does.)

sillie

she is so iconic. to me at least (watched hoodwinked appx 500000000 times during family road trips)

This delivery girl knows karate! Watch Hoodwinked

my first exposure to a real adaption of a classic story in video. Girl twists the whole story up compared to the original. Love how it's like an old fashioned PI show but still so 2005 in vibes.

A classic fairy-tale-with-a-twist-movie that if anyone hasn't seen they should. This story takes various elements not just from Red Riding Hood's story but other fairy tales to retell the story with Red as the true center and hero of the story and reframes it as a mystery. It's also one of the few good retellings that makes the wolf good while not framing him as a love interest, which allows the plot to remain focused on Red.

best movie ever

Listen. I don't necessarily think she should win this movie is fucking insane and not all of that insanity is necessarily good. HOWEVER. I have a pitch for you. Wouldn't it be so fucking funny to put Red Puckett on this poll as a wild card? Like how many people would be like "fucking HOODWINKED?". Also what other tellings of red riding hood go the crime mystery route? Like cmon

She's the protagonist of what I believe is one of the funniest and best written films of all time. She's so smart and talented

The entire Hoodwinked series is just really funny to me. I also think she's an absolute badass as she knows kung-fu and takes no shit from the wolf. Also her granny appears above her when they are both flying and somehow she sees her as a big cloud head despite it just being her granny doing a ski jump. She had to be high because she met a weed loving Billy goat literally right before that.

the creators said 'what if red riding hood did karate and was voiced by Anne Hathaway' and simply did not wait for an answer.

because she's the funniest answer

Okay as a child I watched this movie and liked it a lot, but by coincidence, I happened to watch it on Eid twice in a row (I'm Muslim). So for a few years in a row I made it a tradition to watch this movie on Eid while drinking orange juice (very important piece of the puzzle). This movie is so dumb and goofy, I really enjoy it, and also she's voiced by Princess Mia Thermopolis herself.

#red riding poll #round 2 #bugs bunny #windblown hare #the windblown hare #looney tunes #red puckett #hoodwinked #hoodwinked! #hoodwinked too: hood vs evil #little red riding hood #red riding hood #character polls #polls #poll tournament #poll bracket #battle of the funny rrhs

[heretherebedork]

I was really, really hoping that Only Friends wouldn't turn into slutshaming but I feel like the show is just... gonna go down the road of 'monogamy is the only answer' and I'm sad about that. Because what it turns into is removing the mess from some characters and blaming others for the mess because they weren't Good Queers who followed the Right Rules.

Boston being punished by Cheum and Mew (and Ray but, frankly, Ray has the same weird morals so I'm kind of pulling out of this a bit because his judgement doesn't come from a place of judging Boston for casual sex but rather Boston being a direct asshole to him) for casually having sex with Atom because they believe Atom over Boston to the point of not even giving Boston a chance to response because he has casual sex and thus has to be willing to blackmail people into it and take advantage of drunk people? It's... it's unpleasant.

And the fact that the narrative has Boston's response to this to be start insulting himself and try to go right into monogamy because it seems to be the only way to escape the words nasty and filthy? Uncomfortable.

Boston is not perfect but the judgement coming in waves off of both characters and viewers for him having and enjoying casual sex with people and being very clear that all he wants is casual sex... it's so rough.

I've seen people, and gotten anons, basically saying that what Atom said is right and that Boston is just wrong for everything he does and will 'go back to who he was' when he stops hurting from losing his friends. But... did he really do that much before this? He fucked Top, yes. And that was wrong. And he was an absolute ass to Ray, no denials. But... he's one of the only characters in the show who hasn't actually broken the law at any point.

His moral code is his and he abides by his own beliefs about casual sex and drinking and he stuck to it the entire time and he has never broken it. He did not force Atom into sex, he even said no originally and only accepted when Atom, not drunk, initiated what he wanted and was clear that he wanted to have sex and have his photo taken.

Boston was even more clear when Atom came over the next day and wanted more. He was never subtle. At no point did Boston lead Atom on. And he might have been unclear with Nick about their relationship but I definitely think he's unclear with himself about his relationship with Nick out of fear of losing people he cares about when he leaves the country. That is very different than how clear he is with Atom.

And my biggest fear is that Atom's lies aren't going to come out. That no one cares enough to reveal that Boston didn't do those horrible things and that his life and chance of graduation are being entirely ruined because of crimes he didn't even commit.

I went into this show wanting messy gays and to enjoy a really different view on what they're doing... but the more that the show supports Mew and Cheum and says that they're right to judge people the less I find myself able to enjoy some aspects of the show. Because now I think that the show really is on their side.

#only friends #i kind of fear posting this #but it's important to me #and i know that it's not entirely perfect analysis #this is more gut feeling than anything else

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Gay wrongs tournament, round 1 of the losers bracket

Propaganda:

For Kid and Killer:

there’s some somewhat recent anime episodes where there’s a lot of “I would do anything for you” “I would put my life on the line for you” and it’s just. There’s no way they’re not dating. Also they’re big scary pirates that pillage and fuck stuff up and we love that for them

They have been together committing crimes and killing people ever since childhood and they’re not about to stop any time soon

They are badass pirates who both have a huge bounty on their head. Killer's epithet is 'Massacre Soldier/Murder Mashine' (depending on the translation), so he probably got quite some blood on his hands. Kid is his captain, and has a reputation of not caring about civilian casualties and destroying more than necessary to defeat his opponent. Also, the whole crew crusified some other crew. But besides being murderous, these two care so fucking much about each other! They've been friends (lovers?) since childhood and would literally do anything for each other, including dying. Kid will destroy anyone who laughs at his partner (how he canonically calls Killer), lets himself be recaptured just after he escaped prison to save his partner, and Killer eats a faulty SMILE fruit that stops him from portraying any other emotion than laughing, makes him unable to swim, and doesn't gain him any powers, just to get a CHANCE to save his captain. When Kid saw him laugh while he obviously didn't want to, it broke his heart in many pieces (and ours with it). It's true love, your honor. True, murderous love.

For Wylan van Eck and Jesper Fahey:

Jesper is a sharpshooter that never misses a hit, Wylan is a demolitions expert, once Wylan sang a national anthem to save Jesper from some guards

So Jesper is a high profile member of this gang called the Dregs, he’s their sharpshooter. He also has a serious gambling problem and actually enjoys his job because it gives him the same adrenaline high. Wylan is brought in on this big impossible heist, officially as the demolitions expert, but really because he’s actually the runaway son of the man who is meant to pay them and so he’s insurance that they get their money. They are both incredibly talented at destruction, undermining governments and killing several people. At one point they end up with a tank. At another Wylan makes a chemical concoction that gives off the appearance of plague scars in a city with serious plague related trauma, setting off all the alarms and sending the whole place into utter anarchy. Jesper shoots a man around a corner. Also this quote exists. Jesper:‘I'm not big on killing unconscious men." Wylan:"We could wake them up." This is even funnier when you consider that Wylan is a skinny freckled ginger who’s basically a glorified chemist and possesses no social skills. I love him so much.

That quote from the book where Jesper was like "I'm not gonna kill unconscious people" about a bunch of knocked out enemies and Wylan was like "Well can't we wake them up then?"

#losers bracket round 1 #one piece #six of crows #grishaverse #shadow and bone #eustass kid #wylan van eck #jesper fahey #one piece killer

[ariaste]

Hello hello! If it’s all right with you, I would like to vent for a moment: Back in the day, I used to be really into BBC Sherlock. I know it was bad, but it was “Be Gay (solve) Crimes” and I couldn’t resit. One of my favorite parts of the fandom was reading fan metas. I enjoyed reading your ridiculously long meta! I am not very clever and I enjoy reading people noticing things that I can’t. It’s fun watching people passionately pick up clues and put them together.

I don’t think I’m the only one getting superwholock flashbacks lately. Sherlock also tried an unreliable narrator in S4 and it was an absolute shit show. People thought thought the finale was fake, it was so bad. TBH, the entire show was a dumpster fire that thought it was more clever than it was. Moffat was a good writer for single episodes for DW, but a garbage show runner. And they called us crazy for picking up what they were putting down.

But Good Omens gives me a spark of hope. It is unashamedly queer, fun, drinks its respecting women juice, and, unlike moffatiss, I think Neil and the crew may actually be clever enough to pull something big off. I adore the Discworld series and Sir Terry, and I have faith Neil will to do right by him.

Good Omens is restoring my faith in nerdy queer fiction and reminding me why I love fandom so much. Please keep up the crackhead theories. I love them 💕

Thank you, that's very kind!

(Ended up writing a very long reply about the response to my essay and also about queerness in media. Idk why i am writing such long posts these days SORRY LOL. Anyway I'm putting it all beneath the cut so I can tag it without clogging people's dash or the tag pages)

It does make me sigh a little when I see people scornfully comparing my long essay to The Johnlock Conspiracy or saying that they're having Sherlock flashbacks, because the both the contexts of the shows and the methodology of the theorizing are VERY different. To my mind, a more direct comparison of methodology would be the Gravity Falls fandom's "Stan Has A Secret Twin" theory. Writers and showrunners DO like being sneaky and clever from time to time, and many of them are much better at it than Moffat is.

But whether or not my theory is right or not is... kind of irrelevant to me? I wasn't out to force anyone to agree with me, AND writing it was a really fun way to spend a weekend, AND I'm proud of the work I did and the story I told, AND it felt good to have a satisfying workout at the Brain Gym. So even if I'm proven utterly and completely wrong, I won't feel like I wasted my time. :)

Good Omens is a great show, and I am SO HAPPY to see it (and other shows!) embracing queerness, sharing the fans' enthusiasm for the story, and honoring and respecting the fans' love rather than punishing them for it. As more and more time goes on, I think we're going to see more and more shows like that, because some of the people who grew up reading tumblr discourse are going to be showrunners themselves one day, and they'll have learned serious lessons about what it feels like when the audience is met with love rather than disgust and disdain. In fact, we're ALREADY seeing more shows like that than we had 10 years ago! There is so much canonical queerness on-screen these days that the me of 10-15 years ago is ASTONISHED and feels wealthy beyond counting. Of course, there is so much further to go, but man... when i was a kid, we had to walk uphill in the snow both ways just to see two dudes making sustained emotional eye contact, and we were grateful for it. (Jokes but also.... kind of real tho)

We've seen the exact same thing happen in scifi/fantasy publishing in the last seven or eight years, too! (Went off on a long tangent about Queerness In Media from an insider perspective, continuing below a cut so I don't clutter everyone's dash)

Even as recently as 2013--ten years ago--you might not have even been able to get your book published if it was openly gay. Hell, you might not have been able to get an agent to represent it, even. It would have been labeled "unmarketable" and passed over; if it DID get published, the queerness would have been camouflaged and downplayed and hidden in the marketing as much as possible--you wouldn't have known by looking at the cover that it was queer, you wouldn't have been able to tell by reading the back cover that it was queer. In literally 2016, seven years ago, a few months before I got my first book deal, I remember having a conversation with a friend and being very very worried that if I wrote books as queer as I wanted them to be, I would be "pigeonholed" as "ONLY writing Gay Books", that I would be passed over for any of the publisher's marketing budget and publicity efforts, that I would be sidelined and ignored... In 2016, I thought I was facing a choice of writing stories with more "mainstream appeal" OR writing the books I wanted to write and potentially undermining the rest of my career.

That didn't happen, thankfully, because in the next couple years there was this incredible explosion of queer scifi/fantasy. You see, ten to fifteen years ago, a truly stunning percentage of my colleagues -- writers, editors, publicists -- were writing and reading fanfic, and they carried their tastes and story-hungers with them as they grew up and got Real Adult Jobs at publishing companies. And suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a lot of us came of age all at once and there was this absolutely enormous wave of queer SFF that in my opinion has brought us into a new golden age of the genre: The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir, The Chorus of Dragons series by Jenn Lyons, She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker Chan, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, The Tensorate series by Neon Yang, Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders, the Birdverse books by RB Lemberg, The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickenson, The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri, Reforged by Seth Haddon, The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson, Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell, The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin -- and these only the ones I could remember off the top of my head in 30 seconds, and I have a flavor of ADHD that makes my brain go blank when people ask me to think of specific examples of things! It is harder for me to think of a SFF book published in the last 7 years that ISN'T queer.

And then almost exactly a year ago, my book A Taste of Gold and Iron came out with THIS COVER:

Which. Is not so much a step forward in openly queer SFF as it is a fucking gauntlet thrown down in challenge. I cannot impress upon you strongly enough how much I would not have gotten this cover 10 years ago, and that's if the book was even accepted for publication in the first place. This cover SCREAMS gay fantasy romance. There is no attempt to hide it or camouflage it. It is advertising exactly what it is, right up front.

I got the absolute privilege and honor of having this cover--and I do consider it an incredible honor--because of the work that all my colleagues put in with their own work. Each queer book that got published wedged the door a little wider for the next one, and then a little wider still for the next one, until finally someone could get their foot in the door and squeeze across the threshold, which opened it a little wider again. So when I look at this image, I don't just see a beautiful cover that I am delighted to have on my books--I see an entire history of slow, steady progress by so many incredible writers who risked damaging their careers just to drag us to a point where a book as gay as this one could get a cover as gay as that one and STILL get the full and enthusiastic support of both the publisher and the audience. And the most incredible honor and the most humbling privilege out of all of this is the fact that the success of this book meant that the door was wedged open another little bit, that I got to contribute in this small way to the efforts of everyone who came before me, so that ones who come after us will find the door flung wide -- or that there's no door left at all to block the way, because we've collectively torn it down.

So yes, @eyona, I think that having your faith restored little by little is a very good thing, and I am delighted that Good Omens is doing that for all of us. And what's even better is that even if Good Omens doesn't play out exactly how we want it to, that's... kind of okay? Because there is always the next one, and at the very very least, Good Omens is wedging the door open further so that the next one can have an easier time of it. We don't have to walk uphill in the snow both ways just to get a moment of emotionally charged eye contact anymore. We don't have to starve anymore, not like we used to back in the bad old days. And that alone is a wonderful thing. :D

#good omens #a taste of gold and iron #publishing #queer media

[hamarhemmo]

Hello, I'd like to share some LGBTQ+ JoJo headcanons again.

This time the JoBros:

Robert Speedwagon: He is gay and this is a fact. He got kicked in the face and immediately fell in love. He literally devoted his whole life to Jonathan. I love him. Also I think in some translation/version Joseph comments something about his and Jonathan's suspicious relationship but I might just be imagining that.

Caesar Zeppeli: Just like Joseph, he is incredibly bisexual. Obviously likes women or at least enjoys flirting with them, but he very obviously has a crush on Joseph. This isn't even my Caejose propaganda, this is a fact. Also this is a stretch but Lisa Lisa said that he has commited "every crime short of murder". Do you know what was illegal in 1930s Italy? That's right: being queer. Case closed.

Noriaki Kakyoin: Not gonna lie dude, he got so little screentime that I actually have no idea. Like I don't know how you guys can make anything of his sexuality, he said almost nothing and interacted with almost no one.

Jean Pierre Polnareff: You know the phrase "He's bi but no one wants him"? That's Polnareff.

Okuyasu Nijimura: I feel like he's bi. Though that might just be Josuyasu brain speaking. Like he's a bit too close to Josuke for that to be entirely straight, but also if he is straight, I respect him for being so close with his friends.

Koichi Hirose: I think he's straight and trans (FtM). Like if he was attracted to men, there's no way that his relationship with Josuke and Okuyasu wouldn't be fruitier. He's the token straight friend. Also I'm definitely not projecting my transness into every short guy I see.

Guido Mista: He's definitely bisexual or pansexual. I actually have seriously no explanation, I can just tell from looking at him. I actually kind of feel like he wouldn't care about gender at all but he has way too strong bisexual vibes for me to call him anything else.

Bruno Bucciarati and Leone Abbacchio: I'm putting them together because they're a set in my mind. Like I just can't seperate them. Anyways they're both gay and that's a fact. I can't possibly imagine them dating anyone but each other.

Narancia Ghirga: He feels like a he/they to me. Maybe a cis dude who just uses those pronouns. I'm pretty sure he likes girls so maybe he's straight?

Ermes Costello: A lesbian. Or like lesbian who also like female aligned enbies, I don't know if there's a specific wird for that. I can totally see her dating Jolyne and F.F. so probably polyamorous too.

Foo Fighters: I feel like they're agender but also don't really care what people call them. They'd probably be fine with any pronouns. Also I feel like they're pan, like they're literally just some plankton in a human form, they probably don't even know what gender means. Probably also polyamorous for reasons mentioned previously.

Gyro Zeppeli: Continuing the Zeppeli tradition of being bisexual. I surprisingly don't have much to say about him despite him being like my favourite SBR character.

Yasuho Hirose: Again, I haven't read part 8 yet, but her outfit is in trans colours so you know what that means! She's trans and I don't take criticism.

#jojos bizarre adventure #jjba #robert speedwagon #caesar zeppeli #noriaki kakyoin #jean pierre polnareff #okuyasu nijimura #koichi hirose #guido mista #bruno bucciarati #leone abbacchio #narancia ghirga #ermes costello #foo fighters #gyro zeppeli #yasuho hirose #headcanons #caejose #josuyasu #bruabba #lgbtq+ #gay #trans #nonbinary #bisexual #polyamory

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading update: july 2023

I don't have a cool and witty opening for this one. I read a fuck of a lot of books this month and I want to tell you about them LET'S GO

Black Water Sister (Zen Cho, 2021) - Black Water Sister has a very fun premise: a closeted lesbian and unemployed recent graduate moves back to Malaysia with her parents and is already having a bad enough time when she starts hearing the voice of her dead grandmother, who turns out to have been deeply involved in supernatural organized crime. our hapless protagonist becomes a medium against her will, and has to navigate to world of Malaysian spirits and superstition to lay her grandma to rest. unfortunately the actual style of the story wasn't more me; although definitely adult fiction, the prose is breezy in a way I affiliate strongly with YA, which is not to my personal taste but is still so hashtag valid. if you're one of the countless people trying to make that jump from YA to adult fiction and you like queer urban fantasy then Black Water Sister might be a great fit for you, although I should provide a warning for a pretty surprisingly graphic near-rape in the book's climax that really took me by surprise in a story that's otherwise pretty zany in its violence.

The Bride Test (Helen Hoang, 2019) - I think I said last month that Alexis Hall's A Lady for a Duke was the best so far of the romance-novel-every-month scheme I'm trying to pull off this year. the Bride Test has pretty swiftly displaced it; have I finally discovered the really good romance novels? (worry not; I know what I'm reading for August and my hopes are. low.) our two protagonists, Mỹ/Esme (her chosen American/English name) and Khai, are both genuinely charming and are pretty strong characters independent of each other, which cannot be said for A Lot of romance protags. despite the absolute insanity of how they met (yes, Khai's mother went to Vietnam and offered, uneducated a poor single mother a tourist visa in exchange for trying to seduce her autistic son. yes, that's shady. don't think about it too hard) and Esme waiting until WAY too late in the game to reveal the existence of HER LIVING HUMAN CHILD, I liked this book a lot. it's silly and heartfelt and I had fun; what else do you need? 5/5 eggplant emojis.

Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin, 1956) - there's probably nothing I can say about Giovanni's Room that I could say that someone smarter and gayer hasn't already said, but god. it really is breathtaking. I so often see this book talked about as a gay tragedy, and honestly that feels like almost too glib of a description. it's a really meticulous dissection of white male masculinity and the claustrophobic constraints there of, and our narrator's claustrophobic fear of divesting himself from the power that he's entitled to by virtue of being a white American man perceived as a heterosexual. this man would rather live in repressed misery for his entire life than risk being like those effeminate faggots at the gay club, but spoiler alert! being miserable doesn't make you better than your fellow fags; it just means you're miserable AND a fag. sharp and painful and so so so smart. also I'm going to summon @zaricats because I was supposed to tell you what I thought about this book. oops!

Lone Women (Victor LaValle, 2023) - okay so listen. did I just say Black Water Sister wasn't really for me because of the simplistic prose? yes. did I really enjoy the very sparse, straightforward style of Lone Women? also yes. leave me alone, I contain contradictions. anyway, Lone Women is a ripping piece of historical fiction spliced with supernatural secrets, based on LaValle's research into 19th century Black women homesteaders who made their lives in Montana. LaValle opens on a scene of irresistible intrigue - Adelaide Henry, lone woman, sets out for Montana with a mysteriously heavy trunk after burning down her family's California farm with her parents' mutilated corpses inside. and boy, does it escalate from there! it's a story about isolation and community and the people who are failed by so-called close knit small towns, and the ways in which vulnerable people band together to protect one another. it also makes the compelling point that maybe, just maybe, the real monsters were your local transphobe and her husband's lynch mob all along.

Black Disability Politics (Sami Schalk, 2022) - what a cool book! Schalk's argument begins with the idea that Black disability politics are distinct from predominantly white mainstream disability politics, and are therefore often overlooked in conversation, activism, and academia. Schalk analyzes the historical work of the Black Panthers and the National Black Women's Health Project to showcase what she describes as Black disability politics in action. in Schalk's conception, Black disability politics take a much more holistic approach to disability, conceptualizing as just one form (and, frequently, as a result of) of oppression tangled up with a myriad of others that cannot be meaningfully addressed when they're treated as separate issues. the book concludes in interviews with contemporary Black disability activists and organizers that shed light on ways in which the wider movement is often unwelcoming to folks of color, and an exhortation from Schalk for readers to continue the conversation well beyond the confines of the book. in a killer show of praxis, the entire book has been made available to read in PDF form, and I strongly recommend giving it a look!

The River of Silver (S.A. Chakraborty, 2022) - mentally I am kicking myself a little for waiting so long to read this continuation of my beloved Daevabad trilogy, because it did take me a minute to get back into the swing and mythology of the world and that did make me feel unpleasantly like I wasn't appreciating these character-focused short stories as much as I could be. but even having said that - man! fuck I love the world of Daevabad, and I adore these characters so much. getting to see them again, even briefly, was a delight, and I am once again congratulating Nahri and Ali on being the invention of heterosexual romance. (also, on a related note, but I ADORE the way Chakraborty writes her characters having crushes. they crush SO hard and it's very sweet. these books are such big drama all the way down.)

Men We Reaped (Jesmyn Ward, 2013) - an absolute powerhouse of a memoir, and devastating the whole way down. in Men We Reaped Ward attempts to make sense of a series of tragedies that befell her community when five young Black men - beginning with Ward's younger brother - died between 2000 and 2004. the word 'unflinching' is hopelessly played out, but it's difficult to figure out how to describe the head-on way Ward explores each young man's life and ultimate end and her own upbringing. the men in Ward's history - her brother, the friends she lost, her father and other male relatives - are never idealized; their demons, miseries, infidelities, addictions, and violence are placed on full display. but Ward is also insistent on displaying these men with dignity, compassion, empathy; showing them at their best and, most importantly, as men who were loved and deserved better than the violence that poverty and racism wrought on them. it's a furious memoir, one that will leave you mourning too.

Nimona (ND Stevenson, 2015) - did I only read this so I can make more informed complaints if/when I end up watching the netflix movie with my wife? YES. but listen, it wasn't JUST petty hater behavior. Nimona is just really good, and I think I got a lot more out of it this time around that I did when I first read it years ago. this comic is wild and unfettered and so spectacularly weird; I wish more things felt the way Nimona does. I also with more things starred small girls begging to kill cops and stage a violent overthrow of the government, that rules hard. also man I love Ballister, he's SUCH a good protagonist. he's curmudgeonly, he's deeply principled, he's held a grudge for years, he's paternal, he's even gay. what a guy!

#reading updates

[ginnymoonbeam]

Ginny's weekly watches rundown

I won't make any promise of doing this on a schedule, but from time to time I want to run down everything I'm currently watching, in rough order of how invested I am.

Current Favorites

Cherry Magic (Thai) Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Although I Love You and You) Cooking Crush

Bundling these three together because I'm loving a lot of the same things: grownups! Direct communication! Being nice to the person you like and showing that you care about them! Cherry Magic delivered the most romantic sequence in the world to me this week with Karan observing and quietly meeting a bunch of Achi's trivial daily needs, and then Achi realizing this and immediately rushing to undo the hurt he'd carelessly caused. Cooking Crush is also doing a wonderful job of queuing up a bunch of potential problems and then having the lovers resolve them with honesty rather than letting them escalate. And SukiDoya looks to be setting up a beautiful slow burn between two men who have drastically different communication styles, but are drawn together and appreciate each other.

Dead Friend Forever

On the other end of the spectrum, we have the slasher drama with a bunch of students trapped in the woods watching their pasts catch up with them. So far this is delivering exactly what it promised: a solidly-executed suspense thriller with a hefty dose of gay drama. I'm enjoying it immensely.

I Love You, But...

The Sign

Look. It's a mess. As soon as I saw the second trailer and realized we were doing big mythology as well as crime drama I knew this show was biting off more than it could chew, and I knew I'd be seated for the duration. Billy and Babe are doing a fantastic job anchoring this wild hodgepodge of a drama, and I'm having a great time with it.

Last Twilight

This one was in the top bracket for me up until last week. As I've said before, my feelings about it are really going to hinge on how they move forward from the big episode-11 fight and breakup. We shall see.

Intern in my Heart

Not a BL, but with what looks to be a developing BL side plot. I'm enjoying this one, but three episodes in I'm not deeply invested enough to put it into the top bracket. Favorites are the female lead, played by Cris who I loved in Mama Gogo, and the gay bestie, played by Toptap. Hi Toptap! Missed you!

Doing Just Enough

First let me say that I will cheerfully drop shows that I'm really not feeling, so even this bottom bracket is all shows that I like. I just don't look forward to them in the same way I do the above shows, and they might be a few wrong moves away from getting dropped.

7 Days Before Valentine

Episode 9 was my favorite one since the beginning... I liked getting more hints of Q's backstory, and I thought the final rooftop scene was a good culmination of what the show's been building toward. It's been draggy at times, but I am interested to see where we'll go from here.

Playboyy

I'm a sexuality educator and sex nerd, so a show like this is going to have my eyes no matter how messy and chaotic it gets. I've been watching it mostly with that lens: none of the stories or characters are particularly compelling to me, but I'm enjoying seeing what it wants to say about sex each week.

Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun (Mr Sahara & Toki-kun)

I'm kinda sticking this one out for morbid curiosity, and because Toki is perfect and deserves the best. Sahara is a character I could really love in a different drama, but the romance here isn't working for me. I'm not even opposed to a (fictional!) teacher-student romance, and if this show was setting up their relationship as problematic but compelling I might be here for it. Instead it seems to be stalwartly ignoring that there might be anything weird or inappropriate, and it's both jarring and dull.

#ginny watches #cherry magic th #cooking crush #sukiyanen kedo do yaro ka #dff the series

[super-nova5045]

How about also asking actual bipoc fans of Billy about their opinion instead of being so hateful and pressed over a fictional character? There are many on tumblr that voice it everyday yet you all ignore them and enforce your peformative activism. Learn to enjoy life a lil' more yeah? He's fictional. Chill. You're being more hateful and shitty than Billy a fictional character ever was

baby's first billy apologist anon 🥺🥺🥺 alright let's get into this bullshit

first of all, imagine not growing a set of tits and sending anon hate. if you're so proud of being a billy apologist, why don't you face me like a non-bigoted perso-....oh wait, you can't, because you stan a literal abusive, racist shithead.

second of all, just because he's fictional doesn't mean he doesn't have an affect on real life things. fiction is fake, obviously, but it still influences on every-day life. just look at the harassment caleb has faced over the years! lucas is a fleshed-out character and ALL billy was ever meant to be is a minor antagonist turned catalyst and plot device in s3. he was a obstacle in both max and lucas' stories - to show the racism and bigotry lucas faced as a black kid in the 80s in smalltown america, and the abuse, survivor's guilt and trauma max faced and her response to that, which furthered into her becoming a victim for vecna. you could argue that sure, he has a background (being abused by his father) but thats just his motive for racism and his abuse of max. billy was really nothing but a plot device and yet caleb/lucas is still overshadowed and harassed on the daily, purely for being black and speaking out about billy's racism.

because billy is literally such an empty character with like...NO personality except for being a straight white cis male, the fact that he gets SO much attention and people justifying his actions and hating on caleb/lucas just goes to show how awful this fandom can be. it's clear that apologists only like him because they can twist this conventionally attractive white male into this "oh oh oh protect him 🥺🥺🥺yea he's a racist and assaulted and almost hate-crimed a young child and abused his younger sister but he's so sexy and queercoded and damaged and we can fix him!!"

how about we look at a character who's ACTUALLY queer and was abused? will byers. and you don't see him attacking every bipoc within a five mile radius. will was abused and came out of it still a kind and compassionate person, so if you want a gay abuse survivor character to stan, he's right there. or, if you want someone older who's ALSO slightly queercoded and an abuse survivor, you have jonathan byers.

but i get it. you don't like those two options because they're either too young to fetishize or not conventionally attractive.

"learn to enjoy life a little more" but how? how can i enjoy life when people are seriously out there defending a character who genuinely made ME, a WATCHER, feel perturbed and unsafe? how am i meant to enjoy life when people are justifying an abusive racist's actions? how do i know they won't defend a real-life abusive racist's actions? i mean, what's stopping them? the fact that billy's fictional despite being a VERY realistic portrayal of a straight white cis male, even now in 2022?

how about next time you send ME a hate anon (grow some TITS, by the way, you fucking coward) you think about the fact that deep down, you only like billy because he's a sexy white male that you can fetishize, and in reality, he's just a racist, abusive cunt with no other purpose than to be a plot device.

#woah guys i got VERY angry #tw hatecrime mention #tw racism #tw billy hargrove #tw abuse #tw abuse mention #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #lumax #anti billy hargrove #jonathan byers #will byers #byler #jargyle #elmax #stranger things #guys remember reblogs >> likes #PLEASE BOOST THISSSSSS

[moonlight-tmd]

beeprowl + team prime & Sari go to a carnival. have fun as a group/family

Hmm. I actually had ideas similar to this.

I don't know what a carnival is like but i suppose Bee would tag Prowl and his friends to big events like such. Now do mind those ideas were originally BlitzBee and i'm twisting them up a bit to fit the ask.

So first idea is them going to a Pride Parade- I think Bee and Prowl would be at this awkward before-officialy-dating stage of relationship and Bee heard about this whole thing and wanted to participate so bad.

On Cybertron, things like being trans, gay or pan didn't really existed. Since they don't really have genders there, it was normal for someone to upgrade their frame or have multiple sparkmates if they desired (seeker trines, for example). It didn't stop the sexism or racism from few of the people tho sadly...

To know that some people were treated worse law-wise was horrible and Bee wanted to help. Plus it was a parade- i mean, who doesn't like a big colorful parade? So he nagged the whole team about it- Sari didn't really need the nagging since she was the one that told him about it and invited him to go too. Prowl was sceptical but he couldn't resist the puppy eye tactic Bee has mastered for manipulating everyone, so he went too. With his mufflers cuz the loudness was too much for him.

Optimus, Ratchet and Bulkhead took on a more serious role of keepign everything in tact, Prowl was hanging out in the sidelines also watching out for any potential trouble. Bee however was nearly at the front of the parade, wrapped up in the respective pride ribbons that matched him and waving a huge banner. Sari was sitting on his shoulder and together they were shouting "We are equal! Love is not crime!".

Later on there was an afterparty at the big park. Bee had dragged Prowl from the crowd and was pulling him all over the place to dance. Prowl complied for a while before he slipped out and Bee was going wild on his own. The rest of his group stuck around for a bit before they went back to base and Sari went home. However, Bee did not return...

Optimus was a little worried so he stayed up to make sure Bee returns, Prowl also stayed up for the same reason. It was a very long wait and they both were wanting to drive out and go find him already...

4am the next day, they hear a shutter open. Bee, all worn out and tired, optics barely lit. He was all dirty with rainbow paint and dust and confetti pieces sticking out of his plating and a giant, everlasting smile carved into his face.

He didn't even acknowledge both Optimus or Prowl speaking to him, they were worried when Bee didn't respond... more so when he just faceplanted into the floor right in front of them.

...A moment later they heard the familiar sound of recharge system cycle coming on from him. They didn't know what happened but surely Bee must have had a lot of fun to barely come into the base and sleep on the floor. Of course, Optimus took him to his berth so he wouldn't recharge on the cold hard floor.

He ended up recharging for 27h.

They all didn't know how he did it, Ratchet joked that he must have burned his energy reserves. So Bee woke up basically 2 days later at afternoon, he didn't even say good morning when he came out of his room, he only walked swaying to the fuel station, pulled 2 Bulkhead's portion-sized barrels of oil and drank them straight. No additions, no sweeteners, just plain oil. He drank them both in one go. There was a moment of silence before his frame jolted and he turned to his teammates with the usual happy and energetic personality.

In short, it was the best day he ever had back then. And he wouldn't shut up about how great it was.

Another idea, Bee somehow persuaded everyone to go to the amusement park because of some big event that was happening.

I don't know much about carnivals but i would defo say Bulkhead would enjoy the arts n crafts stations where you make your own masks n stuff. Optimus likes watching rides zoom around, i think at one point Bee would catch on and persuade the pirate boat ride operator to let Bossbot play on what was essentially a swing for him. Ratchet, while also taking it upon himself to not let anyone be too dumb, prefers the precision games. He knows some of them are rigged, but with some fiddling with the magnetic field he knocks down even the presumed impossible game. Sari is Sari and loves all the things, rides, games, food- her favorite are the rides where they have a designed area like a cave or a themed ride such as haunted house or dino land. Prowl is not a fan of such places, at least not anymore... but he takes it upon himself to try and enjoy it and he finds something for himself. He lil fishing games. He loves the way the ll rubber ducks wobble on water when you try to catch them. Since he is technically smaller than Bee, he would defo sit in one of the spinning tea cups. Bee himself enjoys the dance floor and interacting with the dress-up folks running around the place. He loves winning plushies at the games and even got one for everone; Bee, of course, won himself a little fluffy bee, Bulkhead got a big teddy bear, Optimus got a lion, Sari has favored the long noodly snake, Ratchet got the special beaver in a doctor outfit and Prowl... Bee wanted to get something special for Prowl, he spend way too long looking around and thinking before he spotted a beautiful big plush of great horned owl... Unfortunatelly for him, the kid in line before him was also competing to get the owl.

In a figurative sense, the fight was brutal but Bee managed to fill the things with water just barely before the kid and got to choose his prize first. He doesn't regret making the kid cry, the brat seemed spoiled enough with the way he talked to his mother. He also tried to rip the plush out of his servos in a tantrum so Bee's not feeling bad at all. So Bee hides the plushied from everyone, except Sari's because he helped her get it at the stand so he couldn't get it back to surprise her with it.

They go back home and Bee prepares the plushies with little bows and sneaks one into their rooms at night for the surprise... except for Prowl.

Prowl woke up, grabbed his morning oil and went back into his room to meditate. Soon enough he heard someone knock at his door. Upon opening he was met with a fabric face of a big owl. Soon after the happy face of Bumblebee popped up behind it. "I got you something!"

The owl itself was huge, probably half his own size but Prowl had little trouble holding it. Honestly he was flattered that Bee remembered his favorite bird and got him a gift, it even had a pretty golden ribbon tied around its neck. Bee was so proud of himself for that one, Prowl couldn't get enough of that happy smile beaming- and bee couldn't get enough of Prowl smiling like an idiot. Such a rare sight, he managed to sneak a polaroid photo to hang on his wall later.

I didn't know what to do with this prompt, honestly. The time i do see them acting liek a family, if this post wasn't it, is when it's just them and no one can see them. For example when they have a little event at base of go out to have a picnic at the river, that sort of thing. I hope my answer as enough to... well, answer your ask.

#maccadam #tfa #ask box #prowlbee #long post #tfa bumblebee #tfa bulkhead #tfa sari #tfa prowl #tfa optimus prime #tfa ratchet #tfa shenanigans

[godborn]

i’m gay and can’t resist the opportunity to be sappy so here’s a january 1st post to let all of my mutuals know that you are loved by me whether you like it or not and that i’m grateful for every single one of you and am looking forward to getting to know you more in 2024!

when i returned to this rpc after a year long hiatus where a lot of stuff was just going wrong in my life, i was a little nervous that i’d have trouble finding interactions and building relationships both ic and ooc. it was a little difficult at first, but i’m so thankful i stuck it out because right around the corner were some very cool & special people who are not only talented writers and masters of characterization, but genuinely kind & fun people to talk to & get to know.

this post is dedicated to all of my lovely mutuals whether we’ve written together for months or u just followed me today, but there are a few people i want to be gay toward individually under the cut 🥳🏳️‍🌈🩷

@vialaviolenza / @valoroso : my beloved mortis!! you were my first new friend that i made upon the end of my hiatus & i adore you to the moon & back. i knew you were special from the moment i found out you basically live a stone’s throw away from me lol but more than that, you have been such a blessing to me. you’re always willing to listen to my ramblings & crazy ideas & our threads are always fuckin based, so you genuinely have it all & i’m excited for us to become closer in this new year!! 💚💚💚

@lovesigned : bella, i’m kissing u. i remember when you first followed me and we messaged back and forth about how we loved each other’s writing and were fucking nerds about classical allusions & mythology & all that. even now i’m still in awe of how beautifully your prose reads btw. but beyond that you’re probably the funniest person on this website & going absolutely feral with u is always a good time lmfao. i love everything we’ve ever plotted and written and i will love everything we will plot and write in the new year. u are so sexy and cool mwah

@blueshiftting : MEME MY BELOVED u are genuinely the sweetest person ever in the world and you deserve every good thing ever in the new year. not to mention cordelia is a baddie & the immaculate energy you have created for her is untouchable, truly one of the most well-written ocs i’ve encountered. i owe u my life for making the fuckhouse server because it’s always such a vibe in there & it’s been great getting closer to everyone in there, including you.

@rejectshumanity : the coolest person on this website actually,,, but also a total sweetie that i’ve loved every second of talking to. dani when i say i stan you heavily i mean it you genuinely have Thee best take on dio & manage to blend the serious & unserious parts of his character immaculately. i’m excited for when ur inspiration returns to you because i think we all want to see how you will absolutely kill it in the 2024 season lol. either way, you’re a gem & i’m looking forward to growing our friendship in the new year!!

@praeteritus-memories : lu … u are my homie fr like the only constant thing in my life in this rpc for the past 3 (ALMOST 4???) years. coming back to writing with you again has been like returning to a warm hug which i really fucking needed after everything i went through in 2022-23 😭 i love everything we do together & everything we explore in our threads, they’re always a blast & i’m relieved we cannot always pick up where we left off without things being awkward lol. i hope this year treats you kindly, you deserve it luv 🩷

@ironleonine : GEO MY LOVE IM SO SORRY I KNEW I HAD LEFT SOMEONE OUT THIS IS LESBIAN ON LESBIAN CRIME . anyway you are the literal sweetest, kindest, most fun person to talk to be it ic or ooc. i will start 10 million different threads with you and idc i will love every single one. you have such a talent for bringing your characters to life, i will never NOT enjoy writing with you wtf. our chats are always the best even if they’re full of the most random shit lol i feel like you really understand me & the chaotic chemical soup that is my brain. when i marry you in 2024, what then?

#[ 春 ] : 🌸 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 › out of character . #happy 2024!! i am wishing all of you health & happiness #i feel like the last 3 years have just been a collective nightmare for everyone so let’s have a little hope that we’re turning a corner lol #i wasn’t going to make this post initially but i changed my mind because u know what . starting the year off with gratitude & positivity #is never a bad fucking idea #i hope you all have had a great start to the year so far 🩵🩵🩵 #giorno & i are sending u lots of love uwu

[sky-fire-forever]

Random Junoverse Headcanons

Rita is adopted and has many parents who are in a polyamorous relationship

Rita and Jet are both autistic. They have the autistic to autistic communication that even Juno doesn't understand sometimes

Nureyev has ADHD, but has absolutely no idea that he has ADHD. However, he and Rita can ADHD to ADHD communicate and Juno sometimes watches them interact and is completely baffled. It's like they're speaking a different language to him

Rita and Juno do not realize that Nureyev does not realize he has ADHD. It is so obvious to them and they'll mention it and Nureyev is like "what? Of course I'm neurotypical"

He's not. He has ADHD and he's bipolar. He's just in denial, smh

Vespa has actually always been psychotic. She's just in intense denial about it and it was made substantially worse by the stress of her medical debt/losing Buddy/other factors. She hasn't actually been all the affected by radiation. It's just a conversant excuse so she doesn't have to examine her own mental health

Jet is faceblind and does not realize that other people can recognize people's faces without purposefully memorizing certain features

Vespa would be more of a dog person than a cat person. She actually enjoys that you can tell a dog's emotions easier than a cat's

Mick and Juno kissed during the haunted house story

Growing up, Juno had a huge crush on Sasha because she could kick his ass

Mick thought he had a crush on Juno for many years, but he actually just really appreciated his friendship

Mick is terrible at being able to differentiate between romantic attraction and platonic feelings

Benzaiten had a huge crush on Mick growing up

Benzaiten was gay and polyam. He was often in open relationships

Benzaiten, similar to Juno, often ended up in relationships that were really unhealthy for him. He felt the need to "fix damaged people", so he was drawn to people who treated him poorly

Benten actually had DID, but Juno just didn't realize

Benzaiten felt responsible for not "protecting" Juno from their mother's abuse since he was treated as the "favorite"

Mick always wanted siblings and was super jealous of Juno and Sasha for having siblings

The language of Solar was created by a computer to be a universal language and it isn't actually easy for infants to learn since it doesn't account for what sounds babies are capable of making

M'tendere was in foster care growing up

M'tendere is hard of hearing and made their own hearing aids as well as other aids because they hate how price gouged everything is for disabled people

There's a ladies' night aboard the Carte Blanche as well as a gentlemen's night. While the ladies love their night, Jet and Nureyev dread their night each time it approaches

Nureyev would be fucking terrified of Martian sewer rabbits. He is not a fan

Rita has made friendship bracelets for each member of the crime family, including the Ruby 7. They all wear theirs and don't take them off

Nureyev had the biggest crush on Jet growing up and it honestly isn't entirely gone

Jet is not sex-repulsed

Nureyev has stolen Pilot Pereyra heels before

Nureyev has always wanted a pet fish

#tpp #the penumbra podcast #junoverse #juno steel #rita [redacted] #vespa ilkay #peter nureyev #jet siquliak #buddy aurinko #benzaiten steel #mick mercury #sasha wire #m'tendere

[papuhater]

Gotham Jervis getting male friend that he really get along well. After some time they both starts to mutually grow feelings and it's surprisly friend who makes first move.

"Jervis, I know that you're looking for Alice and me being guy automatically exclude me but I need to tell you... I really, REALLY like. Just, wanted you to know."

And please don't leave on cliffhanger, I might actually strangle you-

Boyfriend or boy who is a friend

pariring: gotham!jervis tetch x male!reader

a/n: the title's a joke due to the fact that i'm questioning if i'm bisexual leaning torwards women or a lesbian

summary: jervis gets a male friend and he gets the gay sickness (the author has it too and is planning to ask her girl-friend out ), and he has homophobia( not sm but internalized but he yells at the reader some shit) but it gets resolved

=) ok this man? he has never had anything romantic.

=) i just know it.

=) and you? you are his "collegue" in the life of crime, just a pawn to get alice,

=) why is he caring about you?

=) maybe it's that you don't betray him, maybe that you actually show care for him, or maybe you're his friend.

=) it's weird at first, but not used to hanging out or stuff agter heists, he is used to people leaving after getting what they wanted.

=) familiarity hits, and well, he stops thinking it too much, and just enjoying spending time with you, tea time, rhymes! and just sitting rambling. i feel he really like rambling about many things

=) and you would just stare at him with all the attention in the world, starry-eyed.

=) the jokes during heists began occurring more frequently, in one heist you almost died but he hypnotized the person behind the gun, he didn't even have to think about it, it was just jervis' instinct to protect you, suddenly, when you began your teasing about how he saved you so quickly, he just laughed it off and responded with a

"okay fine, i actually have some care for you."

'loosing you scared me to death.' he wanted to scream

=) jervis is confused.

=) suddenly small hugs that felt normal continued to feel normal but the warm rise in his cheeks became evident and he was confused and scared.

=) his mind began wondering if his alice could be you?

=) it could be you, but wouldn't it ruin your friendship?

=) he seemed lost in his thoughts, during tea time, you noticed that, and you asked if anything was wrong, and he just seemed more jumpy that his usual "paranoid" persona.

"No, uh, I'm fine."

"Dammit jervis, you aren't 'fine' you have been acting all weird, and not talking about it, you know you can talk to me if you want to."

and you reached to his shoulder, but he didn't know that , your hand got closer to him and he thought you were going to grab his hand and he quickly pulled his whole body off

"NO!" you flinched at the sound

"What's your problem?" you spat out

"Why were you going to touch my hand?"

"No! Jervis, jeez what's happening?"

"I dont know!" he threw his hands up "I'm not sure, you suddenly seem different every time I look at you! I feel confused about you! complexed!"

"why? what the hell?"

"BECAUSE I LIKE YOU."

=) and just like that, you could hear a pin drop in the room, when he dropped that bomb, he just remained quiet, with his flushed exhausted face, until jervis expected a reaction of you. you just remained stone cold;

'jervis....likes me back?'

=) while you were lost in yout thoughts, jervis left the room, quieter than usual.

=) when you finally became concious of his feelings, you stood up and looked for him everywhere, knowing that you fucked up big time. you found him sitting in the roof.

"Hey Jervis" He looked over to you, as if expecting something "I wanna talk about what happened-"

"I know you don't like me back, it was just-"

"But I do like you back, Jervis, I was scared you didn't."

=) so the cat was out of the bag, and well you both talked it out, and well, now you have a bf!!!

=) so handholding is necesary and also tea parties :)!

#jervis tetch x reader #jervis tetch #batman x reader #batman #mad hatter dc #mad hatter x reader #mad hatter #batman villians #the mad hatter #gotham x reader #gotham fox #gotham rogues #gotham #gotham tv

[marnz]

hello friend!! i was wondering since you both read and write a lot if you had any recs for books that are narrated by death?

also! how is your original novel writing going? you posted a snippet to tumblr once of the opening scene i think and i still think about it because your writing was so descriptive and lush

friend!! please accept my apologies in this delayed answering, your message was so kind that every time I thought about it I got overwhelmed 🥰

Okay books narrated by death! The only one I’ve read is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and it is gorgeous, I was so obsessed with it as a kid however it is about wwii in germany so ymmv.

however! I did some research and Mort by Terry Pratchett comes highly recommended (it is part of discworld). I enjoy Pratchett, he’s very fun. Death is also a big character in the Sandman Comics by N*il G*iman. I do not enjoy G*iman but ymmv!

I also am duty bound to recommend In the Woods by Tana French, a gorgeous, atmospheric murder mystery that is deeply spooky and unsettling. Death is not the narrator…but I do believe it is a character (many many interpretations!)

I feel quite bad sending you away with like 3 recs so here’s what I’ve been reading

- Exordia by Seth Dickinson - I’m not done with this yet but so far it’s like, what if every sci fi first contact military propaganda action movie…got lost and ended up being about the moral quandary of the trolley problem, Kurdistan, pink noise, and prime numbers? what if an author who hates imperialism and loves math decided to write a book length call out of Barack Obama’s drone warfare program with body horror? what if you were a cringe fail elder millennial in nyc that rescued a sexy alien with 8 snake heads instead of only one and every time you physically touched it was a sex scene? And this made the savior of the world? this book is for: homestuck fans, people who were in tragic situationships with their wife and their bestie, pilots, people who like their sci fi hard

- Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin - okay if you haven’t read this stop everything and read it immediately. This book is for: tragedy lovers!!!! Gay people!!!!! Francophiles. Marxists. People who were into the social network rpf in 2013 and read that one fanfic where Andrew Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg get cast in a Giovanni’s Room adaption and finally fuck. Anyway. Earlier this year (or possibly last year?) I read a memoir about toxic masculinity and how it demands emotional alienation of the self and I was like “okay. I mean. Obviously?” And buddy. Baldwin says more about this topic in chapter one than that author did in his whole book. And it’s sooooooooooo beautiful god like every paragraph has a life ending sentence.

- the Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai - the year is 1985 and the location is Boystown, the Chicago gayborhood. Our hero? Yale, art lover, is trying to pull off an insane deal at work and survive the devastation of the AIDs epidemic. But actually the year is 2015 and our heroine is Fiona, Yale’s best friend, who travels to Paris to track down her estranged daughter and then her emotional repression stops working! I know this book sounds devastating and it REALLY is, like at one point I was sobbing so hard my husband got really worried and I was like, no, it’s all good, thumbs up! But ALSO this book is very funny and very joyful. This book is for: people who love to laugh. People who love to cry. Art lovers. People who love emotionally messy families.

- I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai - a film studies professor & podcaster returns to her elite high school boarding school 20 years after graduating and find herself getting sucked into investigating the murder of her junior year roommate, who was murdered senior year and is now the internet’s favorite cold case. Please note this book is a response to #MeToo. This book is for: people who love True Crime but are also critical of it. People who love twitter drama. People who were losers in high school. People who devotedly at watch YouTube essays. Hot divorcées. Angry women.

I have also read a lot of excellent non fiction, the Murderbot diaries (just read themmmmm! Worth it), the entire Kate Daniels series (again.), the new SJM book, and some mid to bad books.

#answered #ummide #also to answer your question I figured out why my old draft wasn’t working. decided to start over. worth it #thanks so much for asking 🥺 #I did do the whole normal epic fantasy thing where I wrote it like that. and now I have decided to approach it like #it’s a true crime investigation memoir that uncovers more than Luka bargained for. I’m loving it. #💜💜💜💜 #the new SJM book is. her tortured poets department. which really could mean anything.

[quietwingsinthesky]

hope it's ok to pop in here about this but re your posts on destiel vs wincest. I love destiel but I made an entirely separate blog (this one) to post about wincest bc people are. less than forgiving about it on that side of the fandom. and like being personally against it is whatever, you do you, but like the amount of toxicity just got to be too much for me and I wanted a separate space to be "weird" about my interests ya know. also just wanna say I've found so far that the wincest community is so lovely <3

(also when will people open their hearts to wincestiel....)

yeah. i don’t actually dislike destiel much at all on its face. it’s just that the community surrounding it, the way it gets talked about, the narrow way you’re allowed to enjoy it…

none of that is enjoyable to me. for the brief period of time i engaged in destiel stuff after nov 5th, i felt like i was posting from inside a panopticon where if i so much as mentioned anything slightly outside the realm of acceptability, i’d be hunted like a dog for it. (not an unreasonable assumption on my part, because i was in the community, i saw people get harassed until deactivation for the incredibly minor “crime” of say. having a kudos on a problematic fic on AO3.) had fun for a month, learned how to perform that enjoyment to still be welcome in the community, got progressively more and more stressed because i didn’t feel safe talking about anything else i enjoyed about supernatural, and now that i’m out of there and can post freak shit freely, i’m a lot happier.

(i was joking earlier about how i’ve only been insulted on here by destiel fans, but it is like. you know, between the community that was so proud of itself for being about a revolutionary gay ship and the community of people getting freaky with the blowjob brothers, i’ve only been called a slur by someone from one of those groups. hell if i know whether there’s scientific basis for a correlation of how morally righteous someone thinks their ship is and how comfortable they feel sliding into someone’s DMs to say insane shit, but anecdotally? ain’t the brotherfuckers who have told me to kms.)

putting all that seriousness aside lmao, i’m glad you’re having a good time being free to do some wincest on the side. it really is a hell of a lot of fun, and also there’s so much to get into, you know? i mean, wincest is a foundational modern ship. it was big enough in the early 2000s to shape the landscape. there’s an abundance of fic and fanart and meta that’s really just got us spoiled.

also so real so true. the world would be a happier place if people let wincestiel in. we could achieve balance in the force. two houses both alike in dignity…. they should make out sloppy. what can i say, im a threesome shipper where i see it, and castiel might be the only character in the whole show who could be in the eye of hurricane winchester and survive there.

#ask #tw incest