I knew quite clearly from Ryder's incredibly irritating behaviour that he had a liking for you.
Today's Document
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
tumblr dot com
ojovivo
occasionally subtle
$LAYYYTER
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open

oozey mess

No title available
almost home

Origami Around
Sade Olutola
todays bird

PR's Tumblrdome

祝日 / Permanent Vacation
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
No title available

Janaina Medeiros
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸

seen from United States
seen from Türkiye

seen from United Arab Emirates
seen from United States

seen from Malaysia
seen from Belarus

seen from United Kingdom
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from Malaysia
seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from T1
seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from Türkiye

seen from United Kingdom

seen from Malaysia
@madlytemporary
I knew quite clearly from Ryder's incredibly irritating behaviour that he had a liking for you.
Ya know the whole congenial “If there’s room on your dance card I’d be delighted to dance with you” thing with Tom to Mary and then this moment is followed almost immediately by THE DANCE in which he seems like an almost different person? Like even his hair is different? And the two of them are suddenly in a dream space? He doesn’t seem to suddenly realize his feelings for Mary here. He seems like someone who knows and has known. He seems like a man who has been waiting to be let out.
This doesn’t really make sense. Unless…
My head canon is that Tom has split himself in two in order to function. Smiley!Tom doesn’t even know what Dancing!Tom is thinking or feeling. Smiley!Tom doesn’t remember dancing. He’s just confused why his pants are now uncomfortably tight.
People who don’t like Tom because he isn’t action based, isn’t fighting for Mary, don’t seem to get that (in the show, I’m only talking about the series, didn’t read the book and don’t plan to) Tom and Mary are each other’s mirrors. He sees himself on the outside, as she sees herself. And just as she reconciles he must be with Anne of course, not her, he does the same regarding Mary and Ryder.
The irony and the agony is that they only want each other, but their positions outside the dominant narrative keep them from seeing they have access to one another in this way.
Ryder has access to the narratives of Austen. Being someone who has enough money they don’t have to work, make a proposal on a whim and then again, can leave for Italy on a whim and be totally fine…this is a person who has access to big actions and choices and sweeping gestures and performative narrative agency.
No one is badgering Mary for not fighting for Tom while he’s locked in this agreement with Ann. But the mirror of this with Tom invites readings of action and certain kinds of legible manhood.
I fell asleep thinking about Tom and Mary when they first had dinner together, and I think this moment (specifically the moment when they learned they both read the same author no one else cares about), when they both sort of seem to glitch, they were in love there and then. I don’t think it’s the sort of love you fight for, it’s the sort that is like encountering a fantastical being and realizing you are one and the same. It’s not part of a reasonable narrative of action. It happens to some people, often those on the outside of the story. I think they both knew there and then, and the show is the story of the relief getting back to that place.
The Other Bennet Sister fic recs!
Warning! I have a very specific need for a certain kind of fan fic. Basically I need fix it fics, gap scenes, scenes from neglected characters POV, and AUs within the universe of the show. There is one modern AU included below, and it is the exception that proves the rule. (Nothing against modern AUs, they're just not what I'm in neeed of.) If you're like me, this is the post for yooouuu.
Here are some of my faves for The Other Bennet Sister:
in tears laughing at this perfect response to a debrief google doc I created to share with friends after they watch The Other Bennet Sister
"And you can see Ryder's interested in her. If I were him, I'd snap her up before some other fellow does."
Tom reaches gothic brooding dark handsomeness here. Next time we see him he will have been dumped by Anne, had a manic episode in which he dyed his hair lighter, cut his bangs, began experimenting with product, and bought another book of poems for Mary.
Tom Hayward trying to read between the lines just like he does with the poems he loves and coming to the conclusion that Mary Bennet doesn't love him and Mr. Ryder is a better match for her anyway. Mary Bennet, who started to appreciate poetry only recently, has to punch him because she knows sometimes the curtains are just blue and the text clearly shows that she loves him very much.
Tom is to John Crowe Ransom
as Mary is to Sharon Marcus
(a love story)
A no voiceover clip for @madlytemporary!
The music at the end is different. Not the exact same from the episode, but somewhat close.
@anotherapologist is a mad genius! Thank yooouuuuu!!!
Part of the argument for Ryder is he has more clearly stated opinions and beliefs, so therefore as an audience we know him more fully. He tells us again and again who he is.
Tom isn’t a collection of beliefs. He’s a mess who Mary accidentally activated on high when they smashed into each other trying to leave that living room. He’s a storm of passion and chaos that has never been put into words because if he really tried he’d start crying in front of everyone.
I get this. Other people have seemed so *clear.* Like they emerged from the ocean on a shell shouting out their lifelong core feelings thoughts and beliefs. I want quiet messes who can’t express themselves because their feelings and thoughts deserve the right words they can’t ever fully find to be the ones who get to have love returned. I connect with Tom’s need to express himself in other people’s words. It’s one of the more autism-coded aspects of Tom. And maybe that’s what rings something in Mary. I connect with Tom’s compartmentalizing of his life. I resonate with the experience of aching for an extraordinary, poetic love while simultaneously seeming perfectly fine with the ordinary coupling that he seems to have been assigned.
We know Tom through his actions and his behavior.
He makes one big proclamation about himself regarding the law as his profession and poetry as his passion. He has said this many times to himself to the point it is a personal creed and it holds him together, this uneven duality that sort of encompasses his life up until Mary.
Tom is "still waters run deep" just like Mary.
Ryder is rapids all the way down.
Ryder reminds me of a big bucket of foam. Or like the bubbles you can put on your face and pretend to be Santa.
Part of the argument for Ryder is he has more clearly stated opinions and beliefs, so therefore as an audience we know him more fully. He tells us again and again who he is.
Tom isn’t a collection of beliefs. He’s a mess who Mary accidentally activated on high when they smashed into each other trying to leave that living room. He’s a storm of passion and chaos that has never been put into words because if he really tried he’d start crying in front of everyone.
I get this. Other people have seemed so *clear.* Like they emerged from the ocean on a shell shouting out their lifelong core feelings thoughts and beliefs. I want quiet messes who can’t express themselves because their feelings and thoughts deserve the right words they can’t ever fully find to be the ones who get to have love returned. I connect with Tom’s need to express himself in other people’s words. It’s one of the more autism-coded aspects of Tom. And maybe that’s what rings something in Mary. I connect with Tom’s compartmentalizing of his life. I resonate with the experience of aching for an extraordinary, poetic love while simultaneously seeming perfectly fine with the ordinary coupling that he seems to have been assigned.
We know Tom through his actions and his behavior.
He makes one big proclamation about himself regarding the law as his profession and poetry as his passion. He has said this many times to himself to the point it is a personal creed and it holds him together, this uneven duality that sort of encompasses his life up until Mary.
I wish there was a way to watch a version of The Other Bennet Sister without the voiceovers. There, I said it.
So anyway, every scene with Tom Hayward is better when viewed in slow motion. I don’t know how to be any clearer on this.
the smiles of two people who cannot wait to get engaged tomorrow.
Episode 8 | The Other Bennet Sister
THEY ARE SOOO CUTE 😍🥰
Tom’s face after Mary smiles like that at him, trying to hide his teeth almost or hold in something or just like that ache that’s both happy and sad is so good.
Preparations for a Friend (a ficlet)
(I saw some interview with Dónal Finn in which he said he thought that in the secret garden scene, Tom still sees Mary only as a friend.)
Tom made the plan and committed to the plan for his friend Miss Bennet the moment she disappeared into the house. Miss Bennet was his friend and this was the most obvious and immediate solution to her sadness, and something he could do, easily and gladly. Rather than continue to the office, he dedicated the day to favor-asking, to the paperwork, the traveling to acquire the key, to make this secret garden visit happen for his friend. He carried the large key in his pocket and checked it every few moments to make sure it was still there. Sometimes he ran his thumb across the key's teeth, sometimes his fingers slid along its curves. Sometimes he gripped the key so tightly he wondered if his palm might bleed.
He didn’t think to eat dinner that evening. That night he lay awake and paced his room thinking about just which poem, the right one, the perfect poem to touch the heart of his friend. More hours were spent practicing just how he’d recite it for his friend, where and how he’d stand, and what the weather would be. And time thinking about how he should get there hours early to wait to make sure he was there when she arrived, and, given that, how maybe he should sleep in his clothes. About how his favorite poet was going to help him, so he couldn’t fail. And thinking about how his lovely friend Miss Bennet’s eyes would change when she smiled listening and how his very good friend Miss Bennet was going to rush up to him and say she felt so much better. And how then his dear friend Miss Bennet was going to look right at him, again, like she did before, when they were alone, look right at him longer than needed. And how they’d walk together through the secret garden, and time would slow. And then his friend Miss Bennet would stay near him and he could hear her share her thoughts on the poem, on the garden, on anything and everything.
When he did finally fall asleep, he dreamed of carriages, and rain, and Mary Bennet reaching out and taking his hand.
My problematic secret head canon is that Tom is in fact great at drawing, he’s been drawing since he was 6, these sketches in his notebook are all characters in the sprawling world of his graphic novel fantasy series, they all have names and backstories and multi season arcs. That duck is standing on a plant, that duck is named Truly, she likes the optical illusion she’s creating and also she feels less unmoored when near foliage. The plant is also sentient and over three thousand years old and cannot remember its name. Tom knows they’re good because he loves them, and it is a bonus that they also make Mary stop thinking negative things about herself and maybe now he can tell her how he feels.
The Other Bennet Sister - Chapter 4
A DUCK | The Other Bennet Sister (2026)
I wish they’d gotten three silly moments in the woods instead of two. Hoping deleted scenes will come through…