Song of the Sibyl

Those who hear not the music think the dancers mad

[songofthesibyl]

Fandom still confuses me, but with this Elucien/Elriel stuff, I still don’t get why Elriel would be inherently bad. I read all the time it wouldn’t be good, just inherently, and I don’t get it. Why are people assuming tradwife? Why couldn’t it be like, say, John and Francesca in Bridgerton (with, you know, a less evolved version of John who tortures for a living, but, details 😅. Besides as long as it’s not Tamlin everyone is fine suspending disbelief, right?). I’m struggling to find a reason that isn’t the usual Edward vs. Jacob fandom nonsense. Because in canon, the couples aren’t exactly healthy by real world standards and people accept that. What am I missing? Why do people think SJM is Jane Austen? The best version of every acotar couple is in fandom. All I want are soft, sweet couples. No more bully romance, no assault and torture and mockery to replace actual tension. No paternalism and teaching the other how to be an adult. No sex-as-therapy. No suicide-baiting.

Give me quiet, give me nuance, give me friendship. Tenderness, softness, gentleness. Whatever couple it is.

[nocnitsa]

Excalibur, 1981.

[simena]

Daphne Constance Allen

[mermaidenmystic]

Embrace by Chie Yoshii

[limbel]

we have to thank our brave soldiers in fandom who write gen fics. we have to thank our brave soldiers in fandom who write character studies and stories with no focus on romance or sex. we have to get on our knees and thank the brave soldiers in fandom who write about minor characters and friendship and family with no focus on romance or sex. i know it’s hard to care about characters in a world that seems to only revolve around ships but i see you. and i love you

[songofthesibyl]

Last night was my annual rewatch of 1999’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

[songofthesibyl]

My contribution to Elucien is this figurine from a fairy garden:

[bebemoon]

My blog is cursed, but what is a perfume you’d choose for Oona from the movie Legend?

immediate thoughts were of sparkly champagne and dark honey but let's seeee-

anna sui "la nuit de bohème" eau de toilette | champagne, blackberry, citrus notes, rose, lotus, oud, haitian vanilla orchid, cedar, indonesian patchouli, amber

serge lutens "datura noir" eau de parfum | datura

dior "poison girl unexpected" eau de pafum | tanzanian ginger, bitter orange, salty notes, damask rose, peony, jasmine sambac, vanilla, musk, venezuelan tonka bean

francesca bianchi "the dark side" extrait de parfum | spices, frankincense, honey, styrax, amber, violet, iris, sandalwood, vanilla, cedarwood, patchouli, vetiver

+ honorable mention

coreterno "mystic sugar" eau de parfum | almond blossom, pineapple, orange, cocoa absolute, tonka bean, ginger, cardamom, jasmine, vanilla absolute, sandalwood, amber

odette parfum co. "coup de pied" eau de parfum | honeycomb candy, velvet vanilla, sandalwood vanilla, smoldering incense

[songofthesibyl]

A question: when people say they don’t like the “pregnancy trope” do they mean a happily ever after that involves a pregnancy at the end, or is it just pregnancy being in the story at all? I could see this being the case for YA maybe, but for general fantasy fiction, I’m going to be in trouble because there are no less than three pregnancies in the story (three different characters). It seems a bit unreasonable to have such a hard line about that when there isn’t that much complaining about violence or anything else a gritty story or dark romance entails. It’s not a fetish of mine; I don’t want kids and I find pregnancy kind of horrifying. But these characters aren’t me, and it just feels like it’s kind of a big thing in animal life that I shouldn’t need to censor out.

[mermaidenmystic]

Tamlaine ~ 1905 ~ watercolor on vellum ~ James Herbert McNair (Scottish artist, designer and teacher whose work contributed to the development of the "Glasgow Style" during the 1890s, 1868-1955)

"Tam Lin, also known as Tamlane, is a character from a Scottish ballad that tells the story of his rescue by his true love from the Queen of the Fairies. The ballad features themes of transformation and the struggle to hold onto a loved one amidst magical challenges." ~ Fairytale Wiki - Fandom

[enchantedbook]

Jean-Denis Malclès, preparatory sketch for the poster of Jean Cocteau's film "La Belle et la Bête", 1946

[xphaiea]

[chivalry-on-canvas]

Emilia in the rosegarden (Teseida) by Giovanni Boccaccio

[enchantedbook]

llustration by Arthur Hughes for "The Princess and the Goblin" by George MacDonald (1872).

[songofthesibyl]

Fun fact: The only time I’ve been to California was to go to San Francisco to see a guy I met online. I left at the end of spring, without telling my family (I was fairly young, around Feyre’s age) because my mother wouldn’t give me permission to go. She also had mental health issues where she would blow up out of the blue and I always had to walk on eggshells around her and would freeze up when she would yell at me.

And the guy was older, and had tattoos in his upper arms and back.

And when we got there and looked at me he didn’t like what I was wearing and almost immediately brought me to get new clothes that he picked out.

And the movie we saw together while there? Howl’s Moving Castle.

And he kept medical information from me.

Of course he was also blond; that was probably the issue.

[songofthesibyl]

Rose season:

[astronomical-bagel]

god it’s so sad living in an allocentric world. There are so many relationships that are so complex and nuanced that are all put under the label of ‘romantic’ and immediately all the intrigue is taken from it. Like don’t you realize that these relations are actually ENHANCED by the fact that they are not romantic or sexual?