Maya Lourdes.

• eighteen • probably reading • done with life •

[tomfoolerytotality]

Superman isn't woke. You're just so evil that you see a man doing acts of kindness and you think it's a targeted political agenda

[rareblackside]

I hate bioessentialism because it just allows and excuses abuse.

"Of course he cheated, it's in his nature and you should just forgive him 🥰"

"He hit you? Well you know how males are, maybe you should've stayed out his way 🤷"

It gives men an out for the abuse they inflict on others. It gives them a shield to hid behind. It stripes away accountability.

Men are not inherently evil, violent and unemotional.

Emotional regulation is something that is learned and taught. Building community is something you learn to do. Being emotionally vulnerable is something you have to allow yourself to be. These things aren't inherent to women.

[kvothes]

oh someone told me something useful yesterday. she said she’s been thinking about her tbr less as an overwhelming list of books she Must Read and more like she’s cultivating a wine cellar. making a rich collection that will provide the perfect thing when needed. a bottle will get uncorked when the time is right

[ziijsh1]

The biggest difference between feminists and radfems is man hating. I'm just gonna say it. Hating men is not feminist and does absolutely nothing to support women's rights or gender equality. Could certainly be argued that it actively hurts it by separating men and women as groups even further. Ah yes, the tried and true solution to equality- segregation.

[cruelqueen]

All exclusive short stories: The Folk of the Air

I decided to collect all exclusive stories I know of. I have done something similar for SJM books .  If you know of any other exclusive story, please let me know! THE CRUEL PRINCE A visit to the Impossible Lands Barnes and Noble edition Deleted Scenes From The Cruel Prince (Some of these are alternate storylines) THE WICKED KING deleted scene from The Wicked King, Barnes and Noble edition THE QUEEN OF NOTHING Cardan’s letters from the Queen of Nothing Barnes and Noble edition, should be read after the book deleted scene from The Queen of Nothing , sent via Holly’s official newsletter THE STOLEN HEIR The Walmart Exclusive Stolen Heir content The Stolen Heir Barnes & Noble Bonus Content, author’s personal journal pages and notes on the manuscript, Some posts I found useful: post about True Names A Guide to Holly Black’s Extended Faerie Universe

[mayalaya]

Enmity is a privilege only the aristocracy are afforded.

They fight with other aristocracies over trivial, inconsequential matters like little boys with skinned knees fight over apples and oranges. They declare battles with the echo of voices that crack and the absent shadows of maturity. They send their toy soldiers to toy battlegrounds with no thought and no hesitation. They wage war and go back home where the hands of luxury tuck them in at night and press a kiss to their foreheads.

But the battlefield is a much harsher mistress. She is unused to gentleness. She rebukes tenderness. Her eyes are covered and her hands are calloused, and she has no care for peace and even less for grief. She does not notice the uniforms of the men she consumes. She does not distinguish between the blood of the right soldier and the wrong one. Man kills man without care or consideration until he cannot tell the difference between comrade and opponent.

Not enemy, though. Never enemy. Because enmity isn't a privilege he is afforded so he settles for hatred. He fills his mouth with loyalty and his heart with hatred and he hates his opponent without realizing he's hating himself.

And when the battlefield is satiated and the little boys are satisfied, they pack up their toy soldiers in wooden boxes with bits of pretend grief and toss them six feet deep into their toy boxes.

They end the game with congratulations and a promise to do it again tomorrow, and then they go home to be tucked into bed once more.

[mayalaya]

Excerpt from a story I'll never finish:

I meet death at the age of ten.

I see the bullet fly and bury itself in the tiger's hide. I hear the forest startle and hear the birds go quiet. I feel the glee in my hunter's stare and I taste the gunpowder in the air.

I approach the fallen beast, so high and mighty even on the verge of meeting the deceased.

Its eyes are all-seeing and fading of light, and it growls when I get in its sight. A smaller version of its predator, it sees, the killer's successor who's down on her knees.

My hands reach out to cradle the tiger's face, and I find the Grim Reaper waiting for me in its gaze. His scythe finds my heart and holds it on the edge of the blade, "you're made just for this, my child, for death is your fate."

The words echo in my decade old brain, while the tiger's claws dig into my veins. It draws blood and I let it drink, a final feast for the fallen king. I feel the beast go limp in my arms and awaken something that would bleed from my palms.

The hunter leads me home soon after, his shotgun in one hand and my fingers in the other. He speaks to me of worry and of how my actions are bizarre, all while the tiger's body rots in the trunk of his car.

I meet death at the age of eleven.

I've snuck into my father's study with the hope that nobody calls, and my flickering eyes find the tiger's head mounted on the wall.

I remember the Grim Reaper's words loud and clear, they have haunted me and everything I hold dear. He said my fate is my being and perhaps it is. Some hidden, darkened corner of my heart recognized by his.

The tiger's gaze speaks to me again and something in me stirs, something long forgotten and buried in the dirt. There's the tiger's blood on my hands and nothing in my eyes, no compassion, no conscience, no reason for lies.

A bug is swiftly crushed under my socked foot and I see the Grim Reaper again. This time, I catch his scythe in my hand, and his eyes glow with pride as if I've conquered every bit of land.

"You held death in your palms and didn't flinch once, your visage as calm as one of Hades's sons. You delivered death as swiftly as the river flows, how shall you react when everything around you glows?"