Go and open the door

Elli, she/they, 30s, Russian, Moscow. Non-native English speaker (sorry). Shy, incurable lurker. Random fandoms. Find me on twitter, here's my AO3 bookmarks. Ask me Stuff! Anything goes. # НЕТ ВОЙНЕ (a very good tumblr blog on the war in Ukraine)

[cassandrva]

armnd Companionship perfec t relationship for put fledgling in to k\iss! inside very Mentor and Loving fledgling sleep soundly put fledgling in Armand Companionship. no problems ever in armannd companionship because good Dark Gifts and Support for fledgling wrist weak of soft fledgling hands. Aarmand Companionship yes a place for a fledgling put fledgling in armand companionship can trust armand for giveing good love to fledgling. friend armand

[plague-vulture]

washing dishes is evil because you go "oh fuck there's so many dishes this is gonna take foreverrr" and then you enter the dish abyss and emerge with your abdomen somehow covered in water and your hands all wrinky and then you look at the clock and what felt like half an hour was actually 10 minutes

[computer-voiced-by-majel-barrett]

Shoutout to my favorite genre of TOS episode:

[dduane]

…I can’t think how it took me so long to run across this. I feel privileged to have been found by it. 😄

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

it does still make me insane specifically how many queer people lovingly embrace astrology. I went to a poetry workshop yesterday that was genuinely quite good but also included an option to disclose astrology designations during introductions and so many people broke out some variation of "I'm a [x] sum but I have a [y] placement and it SHOWS" girl no it doesn't. that's meaningless correlation you completely invented the causation

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

I'd say that rejecting biological determinism in favor of space gas determinism isn't the slay the astrology queers think it is but if I'm being completely honest I fear that many members of our community haven't even really rejected biological determinism so much as sprinkled a layer of glitter on it

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

yes that's how confirmation bias works

[within-stars]

People get their panties up in a twist about astrology because they think it’s people shoving themselves into boxes that are not pre-existing.

Most people who like astrology like it because it reflects things about themselves that they relate to that they have difficulty vocalizing themselves. And things like doing a chart reading can allow you to gaze deeply into yourself

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

yes that's how confirmation bias works

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

#wait wasn't that also OP?#is this the third such post now?#we shouldn't be pissing on the poor at all#“ok so we should only piss on the poor a little when there's no toilets free”

It's more than three. I've lost count but this is at least the fourth.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

#hi op of the Taylor Swift isn't bisexual there are many bisexual pop girlies post

[supreme-leader-stoat]

OP what wizard did you cut off in traffic to get cursed like this

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

[cow-inthe-closet]

friend whos always planning everything: hey guys lets do something this week!! when are you all available?

friend whos always available: i can do whenever

friend whos constantly busy: im sorry i have work and then school and then the labyrinth and then more work :( i can do tuesday at 3:00 am for five minutes tho

friend with the randomly generated sleep schedule: (no response)

friend who went missing in the woods behind their house 12 years ago and hasn't been heard from since: (no response)

friend whos really into genshin impact: does anyone want to play genshin impact

[anghraine]

Reading ST actor memoirs/interviews is wild because it's like

William Shatner: Leonard was so brilliant and thoughtful and striking and intense, you don't even know half of it, he was incredible but also funnier and sillier than you'd guess and so striking and such a genius and kind and not exactly Spock but kind of reserved in the same way, he did define the character, and very caring. They say we used to compete but I don't really remember it because he was just so... I remember laughing together and... anyway

Leonard Nimoy: We did have a unique chemistry. An interesting experience. Bill was like. cocaine

[anghraine]

#and they were both correct (via @distantriver)

Haha, yes!

FWIW, there are a lot of documented examples of both of these uhhhh characterizations, but since this is suddenly getting more notes, the specific ones I was most thinking of:

From Nimoy—

Bill is the only actor with whom I have that spark, that chemistry—to anything like the extent I have it with him. When we step into a scene, I always know—something’s going to happen. Just amazing. Just amazing the tremendous spark of some kind that he would set off. You remember, Bill, what used to happen in the makeup department in the morning. You’d come in. We’d have these screaming, yelling, laughing discussions. Walk out of there exhausted, exhausted— [...] You know—how can I do a day’s work? I’m aching from laughing. Just amazing. Just amazing the kind of spark that he would set off. And I think, as I really think about it, the idea of working together again on STAR TREK—it’s that thing that I would look forward to most. That happening again. I have no doubt in my mind that it would. Amazing spark that I get from him.

From Shatner:

I miss him. Even when we weren't in close touch, he was always in my life. And when I think about Leonard and all the adventures we had together, I remember his own lust for life; I remember his desire to explore and experience life in all its infinite wonders. I think of his spiritual side, in which he never stopped searching for answers he knew he would never find. I think of his generosity and his commitment to fight for equal justice for everyone. I think of his never-ending passion for the arts and his quest to nurture creativity in young people. And I think of him standing in front of me, his palm held high, his fingers separated in the Vulcan salute, smiling knowingly. Fifty years is a lifetime that passes in an instant. I can close my eyes and see him, young and handsome, tall and taciturn. He's there, in my mind; his light step, his sardonic humor, his passion for his work. I hear his voice in all its richness, infused with an endless curiosity, and the sounds of his unhappiness as well as his laughter.

[...]Early in this [documentary] film, we were looking at a framed photograph of us in our Star Trek costumes on the cover of TV Guide. "This is us," he'd mused. "Siamese twins." I agreed, "Yes, you and I. Joined at the hip." A few seconds later, I added, "You and I have spent more than half our lives together. I think of you as one of my dearest friends, my dearest. And I truly love, I love you." Leonard wasn't a man given to public displays of emotion. Much like the character Spock, he was very reserved. "The same," was the best response he could muster at the moment. But at the very end of the documentary, as we stood next to each other looking into the camera, he suddenly and quite unexpectedly threw his arm around my shoulders and blurted, "You're my best friend."

[autistic-puffin]

#also i made this post BEFORE i saw the latest william shatner chaos gremlin appearance #i think from just last month in which he casually said he'd have married nimoy if he were a woman. i don't think it's even the first time #but for a man who has been a tornado of a human being for his entire career it's kind of impressive he can still shock people at age 95 @anghraine

[eliotheman]

”This portrayal of a marginalized group was wrong then and is wrong now” and “This portrayal of a marginalized group was very progressive for the time period and paved the way for more representation while likely limited by factors outside of the creator’s control” are two statements that can and should ABSOLUTELY coexist and be kept in mind when interacting with older media

[lemonylemus]

Great example

[bizarrelittlemew]

Are you frustrated you can't leave second kudos on AO3? or third kudos? or whatever-who's-counting kudos?

Well, have I got the html for you!

Plop any of these in a comment (by copy&pasting the code) to make an author's day and show your appreciation!

Second kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/tHMjbb6/second-kudos.png" alt="second kudos">

Third kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/52bggQH/third-kudos.png" alt="third kudos">

nth kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/6y7qGtC/nth-kudos.png" alt="nth kudos">

yet another kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/wKtcj0s/yet-another-kudos.png" alt="yet another kudos">

It will look something like this (and will be transparent with white outline on dark backgrounds):

Feel free to spread and use these as much as you like! (and if you have ideas for other variations, let me know ✌️)

[bizarrelittlemew]

So happy to see people enjoying these and spreading the love 💖

UPDATE with some suggestions from the replies! And bonus: cookie kudos.

HTML codes under the cut.

ALL the kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/KsndWzq/all-the-kudos.png" alt="all the kudos">

Chapter kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/9ZSmqrp/Chapter-kudos.png" alt="Chapter kudos">

Elevenses kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/6P4JTsP/elevenses-kudos.png" alt="elevenses kudos">

Heaps of kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/GvRw2HS/heaps-of-kudos.png" alt="heaps of kudos">

Kisses your forehead kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/6nph6nM/kisses-your-forehead.png" alt="kisses your forehead kudos">

Reading in public kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/f1HDR2K/reading-in-public.png" alt="reading in public kudos">

Re-read kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/jWYQ8bt/re-read-kudos.png" alt="re-read kudos">

Should be working kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/26WJHKg/should-be-working.png" alt="should be working kudos">

Read the whole fic in one go kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/jMHrgSk/the-whole-fic.png" alt="read the whole fic in one go kudos">

Ungodly hour kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/84300T6/ungodly-hour.png" alt="ungodly hour kudos">

What about elevenses kudos: <img src="https://i.ibb.co/WW3cQJ2/what-about-elevenses.png" alt="what about elevenses kudos">

[gingersnapwolves]

let me tell you, I got a ‘kisses your forehead’ kudos and it absolutely made my day

[raisinchallah]

literally thank god sex isnt real and was just invented by big fiction to emphasize greater social and psychological themes i was getting scared id have to do all that

[ellicler]

there's something juicy about the way that after baelor's death maekar is trying to do what he would've wanted, and valarr can't quite bring himself to. maekar asks dunk to come serve him and take aegon to squire - he asks quietly and almost humbly. he's channelling baelor... and valarr speaks harshly (moreso in the novel i think) and dismisses dunk, when dunk, i feel, would've needed half a smile to transfer all that devotion to his saviour's son, if valarr had only wanted to share his grief.

idk i don't want valarr to just be a perfect little prince who always does exactly what his father wants from him.

Valarr, the Young Prince, […] was a shorter, slimmer, handsomer version of his sire, without the twice-broken nose that had made Baelor seem more human than royal. When [Dunk] stopped to offer awkward sympathies, well larded with thanks, Prince Valarr blinked cool blue eyes at him and said, “My father was only nine-and-thirty. He had it in him to be a great king, the greatest since Aegon the Dragon. Why would the gods take him, and leave you?” He shook his head. “Begone with you, Ser Duncan. Begone.”

it's interesting to imagine that valarr has a colder and more reserved personality. looks inhuman in his perfection, his cool eyes appraise you and dismiss you without care <3 it would be fun to see baelor's sense of duty & honour without his kindness.

[macbethisms]

really can't stress enough that these are real lines from acclaimed fantasy novel a storm of swords (2000).

[keltbh]

for @itellyouthisisnottheend, from i'm gonna heal you anyway <3

[zisurru]

something i think would make a lot of historical romance more accurate & interesting is the realization that people are less likely to totally disparage the ethical & social values of their time than they are to use those values to defend whatever it is they want to do

a woman is less likely to go "it's stupid that women are expected to be modest" than she is to go "there is nothing immodest about a woman going out without a chaperone" or even "i can go out without a chaperone because i am so modest"

people also seem less likely to see someone's shitty behavior as reflecting a shitty society than they are to view that behavior as being out of accordance with that society - e.g. a father who's excessively controlling of his daughters' marriage prospects isn't, in her mind, acting that way because he lives in a repressive patriarchal culture, but is actually outdated in his values - his cruelty is unmodern, ungentlemanly, stuck in the past, barbaric. we might think he's upholding the values of his culture perfectly, but the people around him who took issue with his behavior probably wouldn't see it that way

[explainslowly]

Happy pride!

Funny story, I went looking for this cursed fucking video recently and it seems like the cw scrubbed it from YouTube (curious, because videos from the same campaign for other shows are still up). However, they forgot to scrub it from Facebook, so you can enjoy it in it's all dogshit glory (image quality is whatever some weird Facebook video Downloader gave me)

Love loses ❤️🩷🧡💛💚💙💜

[ellicler]

well then please explain to me what got ruben going so that he put alby in a coma. if it wasn't the suspicion that niall was gay and into alby. i rewatched that scene again and it doesn't look like alby's coming onto either of them and not even ruben could believably take it that way. ruben you canNOT be chill about homosexuality. explainnnnn

[ellicler]

'half man' is when i have finally glimpsed what 'the secret third thing' might be. and the 'i can make him worse' of it all!!

[searchingforserendipity25]

I know I’ve mentioned it before but every time I think about Valarr as king I keep wanting to crack up.

He’s eighteen, or thereabout. He’s an orphan, he’s king. His grandfather is dead and he's king. At least two of his children are dead, have been dead, and that's a political failure, not something to be constantly quietly, horribly sick about.

The king is dead, long live the king! - Though it is, everyone knows, the wrong king they mean to crow, Baelor's boy supplanting the rightful claimant for the simply reason that he was too much of a coward and not enough a knight to wear his own armor, once.

There's no coronation, of course, what with the plague. Then he gets sick, in earnest, with the plague. The Spring Sickness left him with pox marks and a strengthened immune system and a chronic cough whenever a damp wind rises from the sea, so that’s nice.

The maesters say the number of the dead will keep the wildfire burning in the Dragonpit for about a fortnight still, so every ledge in the Red Keep in stained dark, a slick strange ash that clings to his hair and his crown and his lungs.

His little brother’s lute is still unstringed, waiting where Matarys left it. This is also under the list of things one must swallow and swallow and swallow down.

Everyone thinks he’s either too Dornish or too untried and too weak to rule and two out of three of these is Valarr knows to be true. Maekar is sulking in Summerhall because he didn’t name the guy who bashed his dad’s head in as Supreme Prime Minister. His other options for Hand of the King are Bloodraven, who is terrifying, and prescient, and tortures people, and kind of a bitch about it. Just about no one else. Who even is around. Aunt Elaena and her spreadsheets? One of the frat boy Dondonrrion uncles and cousins who keep manifesting at court and trying to give him bro-hugs when he’s pondering how much to task starving serfs?

He gives the job to Aerys, who shows up to council meetings with a book, and spends the meetings reading his book, and does not much care to look up from the book. This means Valarr has, essentially, absolute power in an absolutist society and no real advice on how to manage that. Except for the knowledge that he was bred and made for this, and it shouldn’t be this hard; that it should not be getting harder every day.

Kiera is going through her own issues, insomuch that she hates him, and is angry, and is bored, and even the woman’s court she is building around herself bores her. She’s also pulling a Tashi Challengers on him and Daeron, which, if it gets a living child out of the deal will be a win, but is also giving Vagarr’s inferiority neurosis new neurosis.

Daeron keeps being kind about it, in his way. Which is to say - without dignity, without pretense, with not even a kernel of the dignity Valarr must demand of himself at all times, constantly, without mercy. Daeron keeps making grim prophecies in bed in a wry, funny, filthy way that makes Kiera snort, an ugly snort-laugh Valarr barely knows and never knew not to find vaguely embarrassing on her behalf before. The sex is amazing. Valarr feels like shit about it. Valarr might as well not be there, might as well be dead and burned; except that he is there, where so many others are not.

Aerion is in exile in Lys doing some bullshit with alchemy, according to the spies, which probably means he won’t go and get married to one of Rohanne of Tyrosh’s approximately a hundred daughters with Daemon Blackfyre, but who even knows. Uncle Rhaegel has taken to dancing around naked to cope with the grief but that’s not even on the list of top ten things Valarr is worried about. At least someone is coping.

Aelor and Aelora keep reinventing Targcest and give him the creepy incest twin stare when he tries to have a serious conversation about marrying other people for the sake of diplomacy. He’s not convinced he won’t get poisoned if he doesn’t leave off with that but nonetheless remains keenly aware his father would be dismally disappointed. He still lets them get away with it.

Daella gets married to Tarth, a man twice her age, and doesn't look back. That's the Stormlands pacified - except not, of course, because the Stormlands are never satisfied. Rhae gets betrothed to Lord Peake to avoid a rebellion and Maekar looks at him as if he wants to pull out a mace and instead bows and obeys.

There’s no wedding tourney because Valarr simply is not doing all of that again, but everyone is unhappy with him about that. Odds are Lord Peake is getting besieged if Rhae gets even a little bit harmed in her longterm stint as a hostage-bride, but that’s a problem for future Valarr.

Meanwhile: Aegon. Aegon is riding around the kingdom with his hedge knight, which ought to be Baelor’s hedge knight, but not so much that Valarr got him in the bequest. Whatever. He’s normal about that, he doesn’t even want the hedge knight.

The problem is that his youngest cousin keeps stopping rebellions and gaining favor with houses small and great alike, speaking on behalf of the small folk, and getting married to Blackwoods and having a truckload of kids. Meanwhile Valarr has no children and his councillors keep hinting that they think Egg is going to pull a Blackfyre on him. Egg is not going to pull a Blackfyre on him and would be incredibly insulted about the accusation, but it doesn’t actually matter, because people are still going around thinking it’s a possibility, and singing sons in taverns about the Targaryen’s one good Egg, and that’s the problem right there.

And this is before Kiera’s one surviving daughter ends up being a natural blond.

Valarr: King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm. Valarr, first of his name. In the dark, he still feels half a boy. The Summer King, they call him - surely Bloodraven has bribed or otherwise coerced someone, a hundred someones, to invent that, make it pass from mouth to mouth. It is no comfort and no flattery. It will not last, no Summer lasts forever - and then, what of his rule, what of the land?

He'll get a reputation for being too pious if the world knows of it, so he does not pray in the Sept. He lights candles at night in his rooms, instead. Prays to the Father, his father; and then he stops using words.

One of these days he will need to commission a new helmet, lay it out in front of the flames and the statue as an offering. He hasn't had the heart or the stomach for it yet. In this, as in all else, he hasn't had it. kneels alone; stares at the flame until his eyes hurt and waits for the new morrow to show what it brings.