tea-time

I enjoy a joke about fucked up German fairy tales as much as the next nerd, but it's genuinely striking how often the source for the really fucked up stuff turns out to be "yeah, this is only in the Brothers Grimm version and doesn't appear in any extant oral tradition, and we're like 80% sure they added it themselves". To a large extent it's not German fairy tales that are fucked up, it's two specific German dudes.

in retrospect we probably should have given the fairy tale writing to the Brothers Happy instead

reading Kushiel's Dart right now and really enjoying it. you’ve gotta read epic fantasy bullshit every now and then where every page has five names to remember connected to seventeen dynasties with inter-tangled loyalties, and so on. and I find it funny that the central thread of such a complex story is "there is a lady who is hornier than all the other ladies about bdsm because she has a magic eye"

one thing that’s been tripping me up is the use of the word “weeping” or “wept”. because in my mind, that’s full on guttural sobs, so I thought the main character was just constantly having these semi-public breakdowns? but I finally figured out that in the author’s mind, “weeping” = shedding a beautiful little tear that glistens artistically on your cheek. I’m pretty sure. which means all the people’s non-reactions to her make a lot more sense in retrospect

I do also like that everyone treats the main character like a mythical creature, comparing her to a singing trout and a "wolf with the silverest fur", but her special power is just that she's a masochist. like people are throwing themselves after her sobbing, gifting her rings that were reserved for their future wives, etc, but all she's really doing is walking around in a "don't bully me, I'll cum" shirt. except that the shirt is her magical masochism eyeball.

yall need to stop drawing harrow modern au’s where she is alt. harrow 1000% follows the fashion conventions of her society. be real