THOSE SNEAKY EDITORS

Do people really not see the appeal of enemies-to-lovers? I keep seeing these ridiculous posts about how Problematic it is that people are shipping people who *gasp* have fought in canon *clutches pearls*. It’s totally fine to not enjoy the trope, but to pretend like it’s some ridiculous new idea that “silly 14 y/o fangirls” have made up and it has no appeal outside of a “bad boy kink” (which is very patronizing and sudetly misogynistic phrase) is extremely disingenuous. ‪Enemies-to-lovers is one of the oldest and most enduring fictional stories of all time, and for good reason. Because many, many people enjoy it for many, many different reasons. I’m going to focus on het enemies-to-lovers and the female gaze because that’s where I see the most controversy happening. Although there certainly is a lot to be said about slash/femslash enemies-to-lovers, especially how it can be used to explore internalized homophobia and the gay experience, and I may make a follow-up post about that.

What baffles me the most is people that accuse enemies-to-lovers of being inherently abusive or abusive when there’s any actual conflict (like, you know, stories have) beyond something boring that no one would write like they stepped on each other’s toes in a movie theater. This extreme purity police attitude shows a lack of any understanding about storytelling and what like...fiction is. But diving even deeper into this claim, enemies-to-lovers is in dynamically the exact opposite of an abusive relationship, and that in of itself is a large part of its appeal for a lot of people. No intimate abuser will announce themselves as your sworn enemy, they will present themselves as everything you have ever wanted and the most perfect partner you could imagine. Instalove, the exact opposite of enemies-to-lovers, is actually the trope that resembles love bombing aka how most abusive relationships start. One of the reasons enemies-to-lovers can be so appealing, especially to women and people who have been in toxic relationships, is because when the enemy becomes your lover - you know they mean it. You know how they behave with their enemies, you know the darkest part of them and you don’t need to worry about what is lurking beneath the surface because you’ve already seen it and battled it and gotten past it.

As far as being misogynistic, enemies-to-lovers is literally a power fantasy for the female gaze. It’s the idea of someone who once opposed you being so enamored by you in your most unfiltered, non-seductive form that they listen to you, see things from your perspective, and ultimately align their strength with yours. Women are told that we need to make ourselves small and inoffensive and perfect to attract men or anyone or anything positive, so of course the idea that someone could become deeply enamored, almost against their will, with you when you are actively fighting them, arguing with them, challenging them etc. that those qualities, that being opinionated and angry and passionate and strong, could be the very thing that attracts them to you is a subversion of that idea. And enemies are equals, for a woman to be considered a worthy adversary to a man (and not by becoming a man to him or a sexual “temptress”) means the woman is being respected as his equal. This is a dynamic entirely based on equality, it relies on both characters being of equal strength, much more so than most romance tropes.

This is not exclusive to the female gaze though, in general it’s a fantasy that many can appreciate. Everyone has insecurities and bad moods, and intimacy is difficult for everyone (to varying degrees). In an enemies-to-lovers ship, the lovers have already seen each other in their most unromantic state. They have seen each other screaming with the rage of battle, have seen each other’s scorn and sneer, have seen each other so intimately that once they enter “lovers” and even “to”, there is nothing new to discover except the good parts. Imagine if you could get into a relationship where you don’t have to worry about what your partner’s hiding or if they will reject you because you always know the worst of each other, have already accepted it, and now get to fall in love discovering only the good parts. It creates a very intimate and intense dynamic.

On the other hand, there’s the appeal from the perceptive of the antagonist. Some people prefer to identify their trauma or pain or insecurities with antagonists rather than protagonists because they don’t see that part of themselves as the hero and/or they don’t want to have to hold that part of themselves up to some pristine standard. Some people want to see the dark part of themselves go full dark and then be loved anyways. The idea that you can always change for the better, that you are always worthy of love no matter how damaged you think you are. The idea that someone bright and good could see the most angry, hurt, ugly part of you and still love you. That is a very hopeful and positive message to a lot of people. I will never understand these types of people’s hateful opposition to redemption and healing, because I truly think that’s one of the most beautiful and powerful messages a story can have when it’s done right. The obsession some people have with punishment and condemnation simply is not healthy or productive.

Also, if people could stop infantalizing women as if we can’t differentiate reality from fiction with our silly girl brains, and also stop demonizing girls/women for exploring their sexuality in fiction by calling every goddamn thing “fetishization” - basically just stop being misogynistic af, yeah that’d be great thanks.

Feeling the blues now Game of Thrones has wrapped as a series? Don’t worry, I’ve got your jonsa recovery fic list right here. This is by no means a comprehensive list of all the great fic out there, just the best of the best I’ve read. If there are any other fic you think should be on this list that I missed reblog and tag them.

Season 8 Fix Its

In Love and Death We Don’t Decide [Link] | @pardonmymannerssir | Her siblings arrive like leaves carried on a sudden breeze, alighting upon the placidity of her life and casting wide ripples before being swept away again. Their movements are cyclic, changing and shifting like the seasons, but one thing will never change: Winterfell is home.

Come out of hiding (i’m right here beside you) [Link] | @noqueenbutthequeeninthenorth​ | After the death of Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow goes to live beyond the Wall, while Sansa Stark, the newly-named Queen in the North, marries a Dornish prince. Three years later, when Jon finally gathers the courage to return to Winterfell, he finds that while many things have changed, one hasn’t: he’s still in love with Sansa.

We are buried in broken dreams [Link] | @snowsinthenorth​ | Prompt: Sansa and Jon sleeping together before he goes to Dragonstone and when he comes back he finds out she is pregnant. A full on s8 fix-it fic at this point.

Essential Reading

The Cold Inside Our Bones [Link] | @xylodemon | 1,904 | The Wall is no place for a woman, but Jon looks at Sansa’s gaunt cheeks and hollow eyes and knows he will not send her away.

At a Funeral [Link] | @justadram | 5,231 | There’s something about the funeral that makes Sansa need Jon more than ever. Too bad she threw it all away.

What a Disappointment [Link] | @justadram | 7,836 | Sansa Stark and Jon Targaryen are married and neither of them is pleased about it. Set in a world where Rhaegar lives and Jon was raised in King’s Landing as a legitimized bastard.

Tree of Hearts [Link] | @uchihabat​ | 7,239 | It was a secret, shameful thing. The more he denied it, the more unruly it had become within him: a sleeping dragon, around which he tread carefully. There was nothing good about his half-sister, he told himself, but her beauty. “I am not beautiful anymore,” she told him through teeth clenched. “It is ugly inside my heart. I am ruined.”

Subject: La Bamba [Link] | @ghost-of-bambi | 16,441 | Trust Margaery Tyrell to turn Sansa Stark’s 21st birthday party into an exercise in matchmaking.

More fics under the cut.

Читать дальше

Amid Secrets and Monsters: the 2019 Reylo Fanfiction Anthology Master Post and E-Book Sampler

We are proud to present the pieces that officially comprise Amid Secrets and Monsters: the 2019 Reylo Fanfiction Anthology.

Angels:

Angels Among Us by @biekewieke (Biekewieke)

Asmodeus:

Where No Thing Gleams by @maq-moon (maq_moon)

Aswang:

place the moon at my eyes (and her whiteness shall devour) by @kylorenvevo (diasterisms)

Cursed creature:

Old Blood by @lion-hearted-wolf (NatMatryoshka)

Cursed forests:

the parts that make us whole by @tiaraofsapphires (tiara_of_sapphires)

Curses:

The Dark Prince by @ceciliasheplin (ceciliasheplin)

A Time Without Name by @deedreamer (deedreamer)

Bad Feelings, Good Omen by @rakefired (rakefire)

Dark artifact:

The Dark Crystal by @erney007 (erney007)

Demons:

Belphegor’s Prime by @nerdherderette (PalenDrome)

Devil:

Dew of the Sea by @godhelpmeimareylo (Enidzsasz)

Dybbuk:

Truth and Death by @shmisolo (crossingwinter)

Eldritch horror:

At the Moon of Madness by @inthegrayworld (inthegrayworld)

real life sucks losers dry by @leofgyth (QueenOfCarrotFlowers)

Eldritch location:

The Hungry Sands Beneath Jakku by @personalphilosophie (personalphilosophie)

Exorcism:

THE LAST EDGE by @codeblackspace (codeblackmoira)

Fae:

A Faerie Crown by @evilgrrl (evilgrrl)

Ghost planet:

linger in the doorway (of my field of paper flowers) by @mnemehoshiko (bittersnake)

Ghosts:

Within These Walls by @reylo-solo (ssalemghostss)

the shadows are whispering (again) by @thewayofthetrashcompactor (thewayofthetrashcompactor)

Follow Me by @transpogrrl (Zabeta)

Grim Reaper:

The Other Promise by @kuresoto (kuresoto)

Haunted murderer:

Dust Devil by @Orevet (Orevet)

Haunted object:

An Unscripted Sorrow by @lilia-ula (lilia_ula)

Haunting:

Chandrila Manor by @halfwaythroughit (halfwaythrough)

So Much Thin Glass by @nuanceismyjam (walkingsaladshooter)

Immortality:

meet me in the aether by @saint-heretical (SaintHeretical)

Incubus:

Your Love is Poison by @avidvampirehunter (avidvampirehunter)

Beloved by @misscoppelia (MissCoppelia)

Jane Eyre:

you transfix me quite by @politicalmamaduck (politicalmamaduck)

Krabat:

His Raven Heart by @apisa-b (apisa_b)

The Lake House:

Tenant of the Heart, a Lake House AU by @bettertoflee (bettertoflee)

La Llorona:

La Llorona by @commandercrouton (commandercrouton)

Mediums

The Skeptic and the Medium by @shelikespretties (Vivien)

Melusine:

Come take my hand, kiss my lips, taste the promise I hold by @hellomelusine (Melusine11)

Nightmare:

Falling in Slow Motion by @arcnlumi (Orichan)

Portals:

The Light Off Glass by @aionimica (aionimica)

sometimes i dream (the sounds all stay the same) by @orkindofamazing (verilee)

Possession:

Don’t Cry Mercy by @below-the-starry-clusters-bright (below_the_starry_clusters_bright)

Psychological horror:

Phantasm by @forcebondedreylo (iamladyloki)

Rebecca:

destruction makes the world burn brighter by @cosmicforces (dearly)

Reincarnation:

Always You by @my-jedi-life (MyJediLife)

Chrysalis by @persimonne (persimonne)

Sea monster:

Don’t Fear The Reaper by @tmwillson3 (tmwillson3)

Selkie:

Under Your Skin by @greyrey-lo (greyrey-lo)

Soul stealing:

The Weight of a Soul by @ceallaigheirinn (Ceallaigh)

Unicorns:

In a Lilac Wood by @spottytonguedog (Crysania)

Vampires:

Killing Loneliness by @mrandmrssolo (rissanox)

Werewolves:

It Never Troubles the Wolf by @cobwebbing (cuddlesome)

Just Press Play by @reylocalligraphy (reylocalligraphy)

Milk and Honey for the Wolves by @thekesselrun (La_Catrina)

Witch’s familiar:

Malleus Maleficarum by @monsterleadmehome (monsterleadmehome)

Witches:

In the Leaving by @starcrossreylo (kylosren)

Zombies:

What’s in your Head? by @sand-its-everywhere (SpaceWaffleHouseTM)

As a very special gift to the Reylo fandom, our e-book sampler featuring excerpts of all 54 pieces and their mystery moodboards is available for viewing and download here.

literally who could ever hope to match magnetos level of iconicness…. pulling the iron out of a mans very BLOOD then making it into a fucking platform to stand on as he levitates his way across thin air while spinning more iron orbs around him for absoultely no reason…. the panache. the performance. the drama. could you get any gayer

The Force can take you places. The Force is deeper and more powerful than anyone can ever imagine. Yes, there’s that impressive ability to move things with your mind, to do Jedi mind tricks, to fight with a lightsaber, but that is ultimately a mortal manifestation of the Force. There are bigger, deeper things out there.  

 — Dave Filoni

(+ My Tears Are Becoming a Sea by M83)

Me: *watching Start Trek TOS on Netflix*

Netflix: Skip Intro?

Me: Excuse.. excuse me??! EXCUSE ME?  DO I LOOK like i want to skip th– *cue music*

Me:  

Me: *screaming, my cat flees the room* da daaaa, da da da da daaaaaaaAAA, DA dA DAAAAAAAAA, da da da da DAAAAAAAAAAA, DA DAAA, dadadadadada dDAAAAAAAAA, DAAAAAAAAA, DA DA DAAAAAA, DA DA DAA DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Me: Don’t you DARE ask me again, Netflix

SEE, THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!!!! THE PARALLELS!!!! THE TENSION!!!!!

The sass of the Dark Side is immeasurable and kinda hot, I'm in love 😍 🖤

You and Jonsa shippers are disgusting 🤢 The forehead kiss between Jon & Sansa is platonic. It's a sweet moment between two siblings and you are trying to turn it into something sexual. Get over urselves & ur deluded dreams of Jonsa ever happening, their forehead kiss was an innocent and pure platonic kiss. We've had 4 Stark forehead kisses in the show, are you going to tell me Robb and Cat, Ned and Arya, Bran and Jon were in love too? There was nothing romantic abt their kiss so stop it

“There was nothing romantic about their kiss.” The way their forehead kiss was filmed says otherwise.


People keep using this BS of an argument, “But Cat and Robb, Ned and Arya and Jon and Bran shared a forehead kiss too!” my answer to this “argument” is, that you’re comparing apples with oranges lol Jon and Sansa’s forehead kiss was shot VERY differently from all the other 3 Stark forehead kisses, the directors made SURE to make the differences STRIKING and OBVIOUS. 

I’m going to literally show you the differences by doing a comparison.

(I usually slow down my gifs a little, but for the sake of this, I won’t do it this time, just so you get every gif and scene at full speed, and I don’t get accused of slowing the GIFs down to make Jon and Sansa’s forehead kiss appear more romantic or something, All the gifs below are mine, except for the one with Jon and Ygritte.)

Ned/Arya

1st shot: Quick peck on the forehead from papa Ned, he keeps his eyes open, he smiles at Arya, Arya smiles back at him.

We don’t get additional, separate shots showing Arya reacting to Ned kissing her, no showing Ned reacting to kissing her, nor him reacting to Arya reacting to his kiss. Because why would they do that? It’s a familial kiss, there are no reactions lol Their reactions and behavior are natural and in place, whilst Jon and Sansa’s reactions are completely out of place for a familial kiss.

This is a familial, platonic kiss between a father and his beloved daughter.

Robb/Cat

1st shot: Shows Robb kissing Cat on the forehead, both of them are in the same frame, their forehead kiss was shot in a similar way to Arya and Ned’s.

Читать дальше

I love B E N S O L O more than life itself

some 70’s dreamling for @landwriter