#blake's asks

🧥 A clothing item, fashion trend or "aesthetic" you would rather die than put on your body.

🤢 Tell us a few of your "icks".

🗺️ What is the ugliest (or overall least pleasant) place you've been to?

hurrah!

Re: fashion trends, obviously fast fashion. Clothing items I loathe abound, though at the moment, probably those narrow y2k sunglasses and bike shorts. Like there's nothing wrong with bike shorts if you actually ride a bike but you know that 7/10 times their wearer is not a cyclist. I think I hate it most because the style has penetrated the pre-teen demographic, and call me a prudish aunt, but I do NOT think that a 12 year old needs to be showing the entire curve of her backside. And in terms of "aesthetics," I really don't like the prevalence of the "coquette" style, mostly because it promotes an unhealthy eating disorder + drug use body image :(

This will turn into book trend analysis, but 100% my biggest ick is the daddy dom mafia ceo prototype that has escaped fanfic aus and has become this weird poster man for the rise of anti-feminism of these days?? Don't tell me women can just enjoy things; I don't want you to enjoy things if it means your own social degradation. Though my haterism comes in mostly because that prototype shares the same nominal space as the Gothic Byronic Hero, EXCEPT a Gothic hero either has to be a bit of a darling loser about you (Rochester) or you have to be dead (Heathcliff). Dark romance is not the same as gothic romance is not the same as dark romantasy! Please!

And as for the ugliest place. The Denver International Airport.

oooo thank you!!!

14. what's a hobby you'd like to get into?

oh lord, i'm bad at hobbies aside writing and fandom--i mean, i have been thinking lately that i'd like to get back into fencing or playing piano, which were two big things in my teens that i kind of chucked out the window in recent years, so maybe one of those two!

15. do you collect anything?

for a little while, i tried to get into mechanical keyboards, but that's far too expensive a collection to try and expand beyond like ,,, 3. otherwise, teacups! love to collect things that are functional, even though i'll inevitably have One Favorite that i'll use more than the others anyway

27. what's your favourite household chore?

dishes. i wish i could do all my mutuals' dishes that they hate.

i am kind of ambivalent about most other chores, though i always hate changing bedsheets. i've always had heavy mattresses and small bedframes, so it's a STRUGGLE. the way i power through it is pretending to be the maid in a british country-house mystery who shares true but ultimately unconnected-to-the-crime tidbits of gossip to the investigating detective (the amount of times i've seen this exact scenario in shows...)

This is a good question--I think on the whole, Anne will always kind of flirt with the mainstream. Anne with an E probably returned her to a more public consciousness, but I do think what's interesting about the Anne books is they manage to exist almost independently of their adaptations. Other classics they're often paired with, like Pride and Prejudice or Little Women tend to drag their movies around behind them in damaging ways (the amount of times I see quotations assigned to "Little Women by Louisa May Alcott" when they've CLEARLY been invented for the movies drives me up the wall.

But I think Anne gets to survive on her own terms. Yes, she's still misrepresented by the cottagecore and light academia girlies, but I think on the whole she manages to remain kind of publicly known while retaining her literary flavor.

🥪 What is your least favorite food(s)?

Pickles and mushrooms are the only two I actively avoid, though if you are a restaurant trying to sell me Asian food with basic ingredients at exorbitant prices, I will immediately blacklist you.

👸 Is there a historical figure you have personal beef with?

All of the Church Fathers, particularly Tertullian, I want to shoot on sight (it's the misogyny. Yeah I know you all had issues with women, why did you have to fuck us up for two thousand years).

🎬 Share the last line you’ve written.

🌹 Share your most poetic line

Among the treetops, the wind moved with a sound like rain, though none of it disturbed the airless haze they stood in.

🎬 Share the last line you’ve written

The pattern of the day had been laid down and followed meticulously from loop to loop; the outbreak of her argument might disturb the careful magic that held them in stasis.

2. How long have you known your best friend?

@blackcatwalking and i met on the first day of college (i do not wish to identify how many years ago that was now rip) and became instant friends because we had the same opinions about emily of new moon, which is the MOST on brand thing for me to ever happen. iirc we were sitting together on a lawn during one of those many awkward orientation meetings and one or the other of us brought up lm montgomery and it was like fate throwing down a lightning bolt.

8. Have you ever been in an ambulance?

thank god no, but i have been in the er a handful of times (once for myself, twice for someone else)!

Since you’ve been enjoying McKillip lately (and I think you’ve read Marillier?), I’m going to plunk you with another beloved Robin McKinley that feels most akin to those authors: Chalice. A very different vibe from Hero and the Crown (which iirc you read and liked), but a gorgeous and sweet read. It’s cozy fantasy for people who hate the term cozy fantasy and all it implies in these modern times.

my questions (and we're going IN, my dear moot): 2, 11, 17, 24, 33, 41, 42

HAHA okay I'm locking in for this one!

2. when’s the last time you went on a date?

2022; it devolved into one of those awkward "is this just a friend hang-out or a date" moments 😭

11. do you live in an urban, suburban, or rural area?

Suburban? Very close to rural, though, so sort of half and half.

17. what’s one thing you want to buy, but don’t have the money or resources to get?

Boring answer is the complete works of Angela Carter! I've made a vow not to buy any more books until I move to a place that A, has more space for me to keep them, and B, I have more disposable income, but my library doesn't have nearly enough of her books :(((

Fun answer is a sports car lmao.

24. Do you believe in any conspiracy theories?

Not really? I kind of dismiss them out of hand from instinct.

33. do you prefer silver or gold jewelry?

Gold! According to all the guides, my skin tone can go with either, but I do think that gold is more "me."

41. would you rather go on a date at a museum or a concert?

I think museum? Feels more personal, somehow. Though either would be extraordinarily fun.

42. what’s one regret you have?

(oh god) That I didn't have the bandwidth or the smarts or the courage to deal with a truly shitty social situation when I was in college, which led to me transferring out of my school and thus derailing all of my academic ambitions and plans

Um, not continuing taking ice skating lessons!