[classyladymentality]

Shane is learning Russian and he has a textbook full of different exercises. He needs a partner to practice the speaking exercises, so of course he asks Ilya to be his speaking partner when he does them. And while the exercises are just basic back and forths, learning to ask and answer questions, this has the potential to go off the rails quickly.

Shane gets to the unit about relationships (family, professional, romantic) and Shane and Ilya ask each other whether they have friends, siblings, roommates, etc. And the way Shane says "Да, у меня есть муж" (yes, I have a husband) makes Ilya lose it a little bit. It just turns into foreplay because Shane's accent is so bad, but he's actually very good at memorizing the correct grammatical structures and vocabulary that it's so fucking hot cute.

God help Ilya when they're no longer practicing speaking exercises and are speaking for real in public, and he has to suppress the urge to pin Shane down right then and there.

[classyladymentality]

Shane: *pauses in the middle of his nightly routine and stares at himself intensely in the bathroom mirror, absolutely still for a minute while he scrutinizes his image like he's never seen it before* Oh. I'm really attractive, aren't I?

Ilya, brushing his teeth next to him: *nearly chokes on his toothpaste and slams his hand on the counter* WHO TOLD YOU?

[classyladymentality]

This scene from Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, but with Ilya as Jonathan and Shane as Arabella. This could be after they reunite after weeks apart during the year Ilya is still in Boston before he moves to Ottawa, or literally on the first day of their honeymoon when Shane comes back from grabbing water in the morning.

[classyladymentality]

The lack of high school reunion fics is concerning. Shane's grad class would ABSOLUTELY invite him to their anniversaries and make sure he knows he's invited. He doesn't go to the 10 year one because What Would Be The Point. But you know that the second that invitation arrives in the mail for the 20 year anniversary (don't ask how they found Shane's address. The women on the organizing committee do NOT play around and they can find out anyone's blood type if it was relevant to the anniversary gathering), you KNOW that Ilya would find the invitation in their mail and ask Shane about it. You KNOW that the moment he understands what it's for, he demands they go.

Ilya would want to play the role of trophy husband and be shown off to Shane's former classmates. Ex-girlfriend Jessica will be there? Hollander, I have to see her face when I show up on your arm. (No, I am not jealous over high school relationship. But does she know you shook my hand TWICE while you were still with her?) Classmates who are jealous you went to the NHL while they could not shoot a goal if their life depended on it? You are hockey god, Hollander. You MUST brag about all your trophies and cups.

Not to mention all the headcanons that every closeted gay classmate had a crush on Shane. Ilya would sniff them out in less than a minute. Oh, you think you would have had a shot with Shane Hollander if you knew he was gay back then? That's adorable. I had him obsessed with me since before you graduated with him. You Never Had A Chance.

And of course Shane barely remembers any of these people, so he doesn't know how to make introductions. Since he doesn't know most of their names, he just says, "Hello. This is my husband, Ilya." And you KNOW that this is doing something to Ilya, to be openly out as Shane Hollander's husband to people who knew Shane at a moment in time when Ilya didn't know him as well. He would interrogate everyone about Shane and wouldn't bother to learn anything about them unless it was relevant to building a better picture of teenager Shane in his mind.

[classyladymentality]

Ilya accidentally lets slip during a lowkey interview that he doesn't have a lot of free time lately because he's been studying for his Canadian citizenship test between games, practice, and other obligations, so that he can pass his first try at it.

"What even is riding? What is governer general? So many weird English words. Don't get me started on history. Why do I have to remember there was strike in Winnipeg a hundred years ago? Was Scott Hunter there?"

The clip goes somewhat viral, but it doesn't spread far until he's doing a post-game interview where one reporter, after asking their question about the game, asks, "Where does the name 'Canada' come from?"

"What?"

The reporter kind of embarresedly repeats, "Where does the word 'Canada' come from? It's on the Canadian citizenship test."

Ilya stares blankly for a moment then says, slowly, "It means village, I think. From Indigenous language? Why are you asking questions from citizenship test?"

The reporter shrugs. "You said you were having dfficulty studying for the test. Maybe it helps with studying?"

And THAT clip goes viral along with the first. It starts a trend of reporters asking questions from the Discover Canada study guide whenever the opportunity arises. It starts as a bit, but soon people get in invested and genuinely want to see Ilya pass his citizenship test. Fans start asking him questions from the study guide too, whenever they meet him at official events or out and about.

The first thing he does when he gets the results (after celebrating with the Hollanders and going to the bathroom to have a little cry over it), he posts them online and thanks everyone who helped him study.

[henstomper]

dude it's just politics, it doesn't matter. all it does is shape every single aspect of the society you live in from the second you are born until forever

[classyladymentality]

I'm not good at editing or making gifs. Can someone more talented than me make a gifset with this order:

1) Shane getting railed into the mattress by Ilya with the text "VENI (I came)"

2) Ilya and Shane looking across the dance floor at each other in ep 4 with the text "VIDI (I saw)"

3) Shane and Ilya driving into the sunset at the end of ep 6 with the text "VICI (I conquered)"

[classyladymentality]

Do you ever think that the dynamic between Grigori Rozanov and Irina shaped Ilya in invisible ways that he didn't understand or even realize were there until they manifested in more tangible things? Do you think when Ilya suggested to Shane in The Long Game that he sleep with other people for the experience, it was actually more than just wanting Shane to learn to enjoy pleasure outside of what Ilya could provide him, fearing thst he wasn't enough? Do you think Ilya grew up watching his parents circle around arguments and build up their resentment until they violently blew up at each other? Do you think during one of these screaming matches (that Ilya always listened in on to make sure his mama was ok and nothing bad happened while he was looking away), he heard Irina scream that Grigori stole her youth away? That she didn't know a life outside of him because he found her when she was too young? Too impressionable? Do you think in the same argument, she screamed that she wished she hadn't been naive to settle for the best available option at that vulnerable time in her life? Do you think Ilya saw her rush away from that fight with tears in her eyes, muttering to herself "I could have had so much more than this. I could have been better than this," while she didn't notice Ilya standing frozen hidden behind the doorframe? Do you think Ilya held onto those words and noticed how the resentment and anger and despair settled into Irina, but he didn't know how to help because he couldn't go back in time to prevent Irina from marrying Grigori? Do you think he felt guilty and thought that he was the anchor that dragged Irina down with Grigori? Do you think when he told Shane that he can sleep with other people, that he doesn't own Shane, he remembered Irina's words? Do you think Ilya worried that one day, while he wasn't looking, Shane would grow resentful of Ilya for taking up so much space and time in his youth? That Shane would grow to hate him as Irina did Grigori? That Shane would soon realize that he could have had more, been more, if Ilya hadn't been so greedy and stolen Shane's ability to explore his options while he was in such a developmental stage of his life? Do you think Ilya feared that he would one day stand in his living room with Shane screaming at him and look up and find Irina's ghost in Shane's eyes and words? Do you think he had nightmares about waking up and realizing he was standing in Grigori's shoes, and he had finally become what his father wanted him to be? Do you think Ilya desperately wanted to avoid that outcome, so he gave Shane permission to sleep around, so that Shane wouldn't feel tricked into settling for Ilya? So that Shane, as a scared, closeted athlete, wouldn't feel that he settled for what was available to him at the time, which just incidentally happened to be Ilya? Do you think giving Shane that supposed freedom was a subconscious mental calculation that even if the odds were that Shane might find someone he liked better than Ilya, it was preferable to the horrifying possibility that he would stifle Shane with the weight of everything that came with Ilya and isolate Shane onto the path that Irina walked? Do you think about the fact that Ilya probably never truly grasped that he ever made that mental calculation in the first place?

[blankolliestuff]

YES I DO THINK ALL THOSE THINGS WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME SO MANY QUESTIONS 😭😭😭😭

[classyladymentality]

Curious minds (me) wished to know if others are also tortured by The Implications!

[classyladymentality]

Do you ever think that the dynamic between Grigori Rozanov and Irina shaped Ilya in invisible ways that he didn't understand or even realize were there until they manifested in more tangible things? Do you think when Ilya suggested to Shane in The Long Game that he sleep with other people for the experience, it was actually more than just wanting Shane to learn to enjoy pleasure outside of what Ilya could provide him, fearing thst he wasn't enough? Do you think Ilya grew up watching his parents circle around arguments and build up their resentment until they violently blew up at each other? Do you think during one of these screaming matches (that Ilya always listened in on to make sure his mama was ok and nothing bad happened while he was looking away), he heard Irina scream that Grigori stole her youth away? That she didn't know a life outside of him because he found her when she was too young? Too impressionable? Do you think in the same argument, she screamed that she wished she hadn't been naive to settle for the best available option at that vulnerable time in her life? Do you think Ilya saw her rush away from that fight with tears in her eyes, muttering to herself "I could have had so much more than this. I could have been better than this," while she didn't notice Ilya standing frozen hidden behind the doorframe? Do you think Ilya held onto those words and noticed how the resentment and anger and despair settled into Irina, but he didn't know how to help because he couldn't go back in time to prevent Irina from marrying Grigori? Do you think he felt guilty and thought that he was the anchor that dragged Irina down with Grigori? Do you think when he told Shane that he can sleep with other people, that he doesn't own Shane, he remembered Irina's words? Do you think Ilya worried that one day, while he wasn't looking, Shane would grow resentful of Ilya for taking up so much space and time in his youth? That Shane would grow to hate him as Irina did Grigori? That Shane would soon realize that he could have had more, been more, if Ilya hadn't been so greedy and stolen Shane's ability to explore his options while he was in such a developmental stage of his life? Do you think Ilya feared that he would one day stand in his living room with Shane screaming at him and look up and find Irina's ghost in Shane's eyes and words? Do you think he had nightmares about waking up and realizing he was standing in Grigori's shoes, and he had finally become what his father wanted him to be? Do you think Ilya desperately wanted to avoid that outcome, so he gave Shane permission to sleep around, so that Shane wouldn't feel tricked into settling for Ilya? So that Shane, as a scared, closeted athlete, wouldn't feel that he settled for what was available to him at the time, which just incidentally happened to be Ilya? Do you think giving Shane that supposed freedom was a subconscious mental calculation that even if the odds were that Shane might find someone he liked better than Ilya, it was preferable to the horrifying possibility that he would stifle Shane with the weight of everything that came with Ilya and isolate Shane onto the path that Irina walked? Do you think about the fact that Ilya probably never truly grasped that he ever made that mental calculation in the first place?

[cathemeralcoelocanth]

[literarybrainrot]

Absolutely infuriating that people keep trashing on R.F. Kuang for “being pretentious” when they knowingly pick up a novel in a genre KNOWN for using academic language. Like please don’t read dark academia if you’re not prepared for references to classic lit, footnotes, or elevated language like babe those are genre staples.

[female-eren]

I don't think Americans really grasp the privilege it is for the entire world to be completely immersed in their politics, their pop culture, their history. American culture is inescapable in modern society. The rest of the world is aware and invested 24/7 of the concept of America in ways Americans are entirely uninterested and maybe even incapable of being in reverse. The poorest sickest most marginalized American still lives in a country that most of the rest of us are constantly immersed in even when we don't want to, and they have absolutely no reason to have that immersion back. The omnipresence of America and the subconscious entitlement toward the rest of the world is what creates a culture of backlash that consists of (possibly in poor taste) jokes at your expense, and the outrage against this looks a bit like a temper tantrum

[hyperfixatedmess873]

In Mockingjay, Katniss’s squad was called squad 451. Like the book Fahrenheit 451°.

Plutarch Heaveansbee, the man who had a huge ass library, and libraries were considered RARE, named them after a book about censorship.

Plutarch is such an interesting character, the fact that he was trying to stop the games for at LEAST 25 years. And he was so devoted it makes you wonder why he even cared.

[krushing]

if i have to hear "r.f. kuang needs to trust her readers more" i will pluck my brain out of my skull myself because at this point it should be obvious that she a) does and that b) this is her writing style, which is dense in telling information as she comes from an academic background and c) you don't have to like how she writes but don't say she doesn't trust her readers as what is heavy-handed about her books is aimed at criticising people and systems she existed in and d) you do not like the academic part in dark academia or the historical aspect of historical fantasy. no one forces you to read her books, or to pretend like you enjoy them, and yellowface is the stark outlier of her writing but even then it kicked off this ongoing conversation about r.f. kuang's writing because she boiled it down as much as possible to get her point across (to her publishers). i think the fact that she keeps releasing books that relate back to her studies, to her work in an industry not many get into by virtue of it being so cut-throat, and that peels back the otherwise insanely private struggle she and her husband had with him being ill tells you just how much she trusts her readers.

[nepttunnee]

sometimes i feel like rf kuang has cracked open my brain and written every thought ive ever had onto paper

[yourgoodfriendjh]

just finished katabasis and i genuienly think that all the people who complain about this book being bloated and poorly paced and dragging along just don't like flashbacks or character exploration or learning new things. im sorry but i had a fantastic fucking time with this book and even when parts of it were slow it was very necessary

[literarybrainrot]

Absolutely infuriating that people keep trashing on R.F. Kuang for “being pretentious” when they knowingly pick up a novel in a genre KNOWN for using academic language. Like please don’t read dark academia if you’re not prepared for references to classic lit, footnotes, or elevated language like babe those are genre staples.