#appreciating strong butches but like strong femmes deserve the world | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gothcoffins · 4 days

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I don't think I made enough of a point of how problematic it is to only like skinny people to the point of only dating, respecting, and rebloging them. I got mad and kept it mostly focused on the white aspect in my previous posts. (As in, only liking WHITE thin people and only rb white skinny femmes is weird as hell) Very sorry about that! I just felt the racism issue needed to be addressed first and then I missed the opportunity to also talk about body size as well because sometimes this goes hand in hand, let's be real.

If you only like butches and femmes when they are thin, especially only if they are thin and white, then maybe you don't like them.

Why do larger bodies make you uncomfortable? No matter if you have a tummy or not, if your thighs touch, your belly is large and prominent, or if you have rolls when standing, sitting, or existing, maybe you even have everything I listed at once but it's all beautiful and wonderful and natural. Someone's body shouldn't stop you from loving them. Someone's size shouldn't make you lose interest in them, that is just pathetic. Your love and respect for butches and femmes shouldn't depend on if they are thin or not.

ESPECIALLY for femmes, this is an issue I am seeing when trying to interact with some of the butches here. You either like us all, or you don't like any of us. You can't only like and respect people when they are thin (and white).

We all come in many different shapes and sizes, if you can only be attracted to those who are thin then you need to unpack that. Why do bodies that are not thin repulse you so much? (fatphobia is real please work on yourselves) Just because someone is fat it doesn't mean they are any less of a person. I am just as deserving of love and respect as my thinner femme sisters/siblings.

Personally as a femme, I love me some butch/stud tummy. Give me a butch with a big tummy, big arms, big legs and thighs, and I'm gonna be the happiest girl in the world. Big thighs so I can sit comfortably in their lap, big arms so I can hold onto them when we are walking together, a soft tummy that moves when they laugh and when they fuck into me. Like!!! Fat butches and fat studs, skinny, mid size, and any studs and any butches anywhere in between, you are wonderful! If you have stretch marks, scars, visible double chins, disabilities, acne, you are wonderful! regardless of your race or gender identity you are all wonderful and handsome and strong! thank you for existing. the lesbian community, especially within butch/femme dynamics is incredibly lucky to have you in it. You make me feel so safe and loved. Thank you

Femmes, femmes who are fat, femmes who have stretch marks, femmes who have big bellies, arms, and thighs. Femmes who have visible double chins, femmes who have big cheeks and fingers!! You are gorgeous to me. Femmes with stretch marks, acne, scars, disabilities, femmes who are fat, thin, mid size, or anywhere in between, regardless of your gender or race, you are all beautiful and wonderful and lesbian. There is no size requirement to be femme, it's a mindset. Thank you femmes for making the lesbian community so wonderful, especially within the butch/femme community. I love and appreciate you all 🩷

It's okay to have preferences, but it becomes an issue when your preferences are causing harm and stem from racism or fatphobia or anything else. When you are only respecting those you find attractive, when you are only holding space in your heart for those with smaller bodies, when you only value the opinions of those whose skin is pale, you are way less likely to be a safe space for others. You are less likely to care about the others in your community, less likely to treat those in larger bodies with respect and dignity. Society already treats fat people as something disgusting and something to be laughed at and looked down upon, and we don't need this in the lesbian community when this is supposed to be a space for us to exist freely in. The lesbian community is already pretty small, we don't need to bring even more hardship onto those in our community, those who are different than us deserve love and care too. We need to uplift and support each other, we are all we have at the end of the day. Let's make our space a place we can all sit comfortably in, regardless of how we physically look 🦇🖤

#femme4butch #femme4stud #butch #stud #femme #lesbian #butchfemme #femme lesbian

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femmespoiled · 2 years

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unfinished list of things I love about butches:

- how they express themselves, I love the way butches laugh, that relaxed genuine laugh, when they smile all big, that sweet smile, it lights up the whole room and makes my heart beat faster, butch happiness brings light and colours to this world

- how cuddly and sleepy butches can be, and usually are, I love how playing with their hair makes them relax so much they'll be asleep in no time, I love when I'm doing something in the kitchen and they'll sleepily wrap their arms around my waist because they missed me, I love the hand on my thigh because they just have to be touching me, I love the hand looking for mine when we're out, I love how they just want to be close, I love the pure, gentle love that comes from butches, I want to be close to you too.

- I love that when they feel safe with you, you're their home and I wouldn't wanna be anything else, you're my home too

- when they get all flustered, ahhhhh, cute shy butches, oh my god, though I make my ultimate goal to make butches as confident as possible, butches deserve big egos, watching them blush is so heartwarming

- the little parts they think nobody sees? I see it, I love it, I appreciate it, the soft hair, the short nails, the gentle touches, the attentive look, the amazing skills! sometimes they're explaining something and they think it's nothing much, but god, that takes skill! You're so intelligent! I want you to know! TELL ME MORE, gimme special interests, gimme more about your work, gimme more about this skill you're learning, I love listening to butches, I could listen to all of you forever

- the silliness, I love when butches get silly, when they do it specifically to make you laugh though? Gosh, my heart 🥺 the dad jokes, the silly expressions, the cute little laugh ugh god I love butches, never apologize for being silly around me, I adore it

- The little gestures! Paying attention to me, noticing things I like, (always) trying to help, worrying about me, my butch insists on driving and handling knives and I let them because they show love 🥺

- How chivalrous and how careful they are, butches know how to make us feel like the most precious things in the whole world, my safest place is in your arms

- The way their eyes shine when they look at me and there I am feeling like the prettiest femme, because they're seeing me, really seeing me

a butch's gaze is so powerful in so many ways, it is a motivator, it makes me feel strong, makes me feel powerful, makes me feel so pretty, it makes me weak in the knees, it makes me feel understood in such a beautiful way, it makes me feel loved and wanted exactly how I want to be, it makes me feel like I can do anything because a butch saw me and noticed me for who I am.

- when they realize that I want them, that I'm proud of them - I want them to know how handsome, how hot, how amazing, how life changing they are -, watching them slowly act more confident, watching them slowly see themself as this wonderful person they are, watching them believe it, makes me so happy, I'll never stop hyping you up, you deserve it!

- going with the last point, another one of my favourite thing about butches is when they notice they're safe with you and they can let go, when they notice they don't have to be walking on eggshells with us and they can just be themselves, I love watching butches genuinely enjoy themselves, whatever that might mean to them, I love when all that holding back is gone and when they realize all parts of them are loved and wanted, tell me all about you, show me, I'm here to love you

As a femme, my goal is to do all I can to make them feel safe and protected, belonging, they can let go and I'll love them in every little aspect, vulnerability and all, they'll be seen and understood in my arms, cherished. I'll be strong for you when you need a break.

I love butches ♥️

#putting together things from asks and previous posts of mine that were all separate >:c #bellas butch/femme tag #btexts #long post #my butch inspired this heavily

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nohomobutactuallyyes · 2 years

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Shout out to muscular and strong femmes. When you can see muscles when they’re wearing a dress or like when they can pick their partner up. Or when they can give good tight hugs. Good shit right there

#this is slightly just because I want other muscular lesbians who are more feminine to feel appreciated because I see a lot of posts #appreciating strong butches but like strong femmes deserve the world #I’m just listing attributes that I find attractive about myself although I don’t know if I would be classified as strong or a femme but eh #wlw #lesbian #sapphic #lgbt #femme lesbian #femmes

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artlessictoan · 4 years

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ao3 req for femme sak/butch tema where they’re at a con and tema is a cosplayer with a big fuck off weapon. gotta admit, the biggest difficulty was who the fuck they’d be cosplaying as since it turns out I’m not familiar with many gigantic weapon wielding characters in any of the things I watch or play.. I was sorely tempted to have them cosplaying as themselves for a while there.

(requests open)

(ao3 mirror)

---

This place was too loud, and crowded, and she was sorely regretting wearing an outfit with quite so many frills and petticoats – no matter how cute she looked in it, the heat of a thousand bodies packed together in a poorly ventilated hall was just not worth it.

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this, what was the point in dressing up, I don't think anyone's even looked at me since we got here.”

Naruto was still waving goodbye to the kid who’d asked to have her picture taken with his particularly campy take on Aquaman, though her words quickly had him giving her a Look out of the corner of his eyes, a knowing smirk plastered across her face. “Your ego is showing,” he sang.

She was definitely not pouting. “Easy for you to say, how many photos have you been in so far?”

“Yeah, but I asked to be in most of those.” He had to jog to keep up with her long strides, but he still managed to throw out several compliments to some of the other cosplayers they passed by.

“Exactly! How are you so confident just walking up to complete strangers and asking that?”

“You just gotta be more like me,” he said, and it was a testament to their friendship that he knew exactly what she was going to say in response to that, because the second she opened her mouth, he interrupted her. “Loud and with absolutely zero shame!”

Well, she wasn’t going to argue with that.

Together, they navigated their way around a large group of very excited teens clustered around an artist’s stall, her friend still nattering at her side, “It's your first time at a con, of course it takes some getting used to, don't be so hard on yourself.”

He was right, annoyingly, but she’d always been something of a perfectionist and she’d put so much time and effort into her elaborate cosplay – hours of researching patterns and materials, practising various sewing techniques before she ever even touched the base dress she’d managed to discover hidden in a charity shop after almost two weeks of searching, hell, she’d even had to learn how to dye cloth in order to get the perfect colours for her grand idea – just a little appreciation of her work would be nice.

“I’m pretty sure no one is impressed with me,” she said, pulling at the ruffles lining her bodice, “I’ve seen at least six other Princess Peaches wondering around and they’re all way more convincing than I am.” And by convincing, what she really meant was slender and delicate.

Both things with she was decidedly not.

Naruto clearly saw her reasoning, because he was quick to try and pull her out of it. “You’re exaggerating!”

“No one wants to take a picture of a buff Princess Peach.”

“Hey-” he grabbed her gloved hand and pulled her away to a relatively quiet area, his voice and expression deadly serious “-you look amazing and I won’t hear another word otherwise, buff femmes are a gift to the world and you should be proud.”

Rolling her eyes, she pushed him back with a snort. “I know that dummy, I’m not feeling sad, I’m just pissed that no one here has any taste.”

Indeed, her body was another thing she worked very hard to perfect and she was absolutely not ashamed to show it off. Though it did make finding an equally – if not more – strapping butch who’d treat her like the princess she absolutely deserved to be a little difficult. She was a simple girl, with simple tastes, all she wanted was a handsome woman who could bench Sakura’s not inconsiderable bodyweight.

“You sure you’re not just sulking, because you’re not the most popular girl in town?”

“Do you want to get punched? Because that right there is the kind of talk that will get you pun…” Her voice cut out in a breathy gasp.

Samus Aran herself was casually waltzing down the aisle.

Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm for support, as every hopelessly gay bone in her body crumbled to dust.

His asking what was wrong went completely ignored, she could only stare at the vision marching between tables, the crowd instinctively parting before her, like minnows before a shark, all eyes turning to follow her strong, confident strides.

“Daaaaamn.” Naruto had apparently followed her hungry gaze, because he let out a long, appreciative whistle. “How long do you think that getup took to make?”

Unlike the handful of other Samus cosplays she'd seen today, this was the character as she was meant to be, fully armoured, shoulders wider than a bus, legs for days, well over six feet of pure Warrior. Her hand cannon was somewhat… exaggerated – compared to canon at least – but honestly, that just made Sakura's throat even drier.

And, just when she thought all air had long since vacated her body, Samus pulled off her helmet and the dark face with a roguish smirk and mess of blond curls pulled into a chaotic ponytail that was revealed stole the lingering gasp she didn’t know she still had in her.

“Hey. Sak. Sakura. Oi.” She vaguely heard the words coming from somewhere to her left, but could not bring herself to look away.

A rough hand slapped across her eyes.

“Hey!” she yelled – well, tried to yell, breathless as she was it came out more as a wheeze than anything even slightly intimidating – and whacked Naruto's hand away.

“Oh, good, you're still alive, you were starting to turn purple there, I was worried I'd lost you.”

Her glare was half-hearted at best, but it was probably a good thing he'd reminded her that she still had many important bodily functions that really shouldn’t be put on hold just because a pretty girl walked by. Though, now that she was thinking about it, she really wanted to sneak another peek at the vision of Raw Amazonian Energy that had left her in such a state to begin with.

The woman was now chatting to a very convincing Bayonetta, her wide grin showing off white teeth and crinkling her slightly crooked nose – it looked like it must've been broken at some point, but Sakura was very much into the rugged look, so frankly it just made her all the more mesmerised.

“You should go talk to her.”

She blinked out of her trance once more, as her head snapped around to stare at her best friend. “What? No. No way. How?”

Naruto, bless his heart, just smiled and said, “Walk up and tell her you really like her costume,” as though that wasn't such a monumentally impossible task that she wanted to weep just thinking about it.

“Are you fucking kidding me.”

“C'mon, it's not that hard," he said, dropping an arm across her shoulders. "I bet she gets it all the time, there's nothing to be embarrassed about!”

Sakura dug her heels into the floor as he gently, but determinedly, tried to push her forward. She might’ve had more success if she weren’t wearing such dainty pumps. “Exactly, she's probably sick of it and I should just leave her alone and admire her silently from afar.”

Naruto, bless his heart, looked at her like she was the stupidest person alive.

Honestly, she couldn't really say that she wasn't.

Before she could distract him by pointing out the stall selling ninja gear at the opposite end of the alley to where Samus was waving goodbye to Bayonetta, he was shoving her firmly in the direction of the beautiful thief of her heart, despite her legs’ adamant refusal to cooperate with his wishes.

“No, no, Naruto, don't you dare do this to me, I will end you, I will slit open your stomach and strangle you with your own intestines, I will-”

Her deranged muttering came to an abrupt halt when her friend carefully lifted her by the arms and threw her into the poor, unsuspecting woman’s chest.

The way she was caught wasn't half as suave and romantic as every period drama she'd ever watched had led her to believe it should be and the armour the woman was wearing was apparently made of steel, if the painful clanging of her forehead against it was anything to go by, but they both managed to stay standing and a deep, husky laugh was quickly washing away all memories of pain and embarrassment. And quite possibly her own name.

“Woah there, Princess,” a warm voice cooed softly, as Sakura finally managed to blink her vision back into place and stand up by herself. “You alright?”

She then made the terrible mistake of looking up, into the intense green eyes staring down at her, light curls of hair framing her strong, striking face like a halo – and that just had to be what she was, an angel, no earthly being had any right being so perfect – at which point she lost all higher brain functions. Perhaps she managed to make a strangled affirmative noise, because the woman gave a relieved smile and took a small step back, though her hand lingered against Sakura’s waist, ready to support her if needed.

“That’s good, the crowds can get a bit wild here, huh?”

Her mouth must’ve been acting on autopilot now, because she was speaking, before she even really processed the question, “Oh, it wasn’t the crowd it was-”

Naruto.

Flicking her gaze all around her, she searched for the tell-tale blond spikes of her best-friend-turned-worst-enemy, but, alas, he had melted away into the throng of people surrounding them, forever lost. Which was probably a smart idea, because when she next saw him, she was going to destroy the idiot.

“Never mind,” she said, giving one last glare to an innocent bystander, who very quickly turned around and started walking back the way they came, “just a friend being a dick.”

The woman’s brows furrowed slightly in confusion, but she quickly shrugged it away and lifted her ludicrous hand cannon to rest in the nook between her exaggerated shoulder pads and her neck. “Well, even if it was a bit violent, it’s nice to meet you; name’s Temari.”

Sakura just barely managed to stutter out her own name, before her eyes decided that this was the perfect time to greedily drink in her elaborately realistic cosplay while she was up close. The longer she looked, the more awed and – in the subtle way of a fellow creative witnessing a masterpiece – somewhat jealous she became. “That costume is just… amazing, are those actual LED lights or is it just glow paint? And how’d you work out the joints in the armour?”

“Not a damn clue! My brother’s the artist, I just model some of his work for him-” she flicked a glossy business card out of a small, hidden compartment in her arm cannon and held it out to her “-he does commissions if you’re interested.”

Well, shit. There went any hope of a common interest.

While Sakura was trying not to pout at the words ‘Black Ant Costuming’ and come up with a graceful escape route, Temari snorted. “And in return for doing all his advertising for him, I got him to make me a Samus costume, because no one else has the figure to do her justice.”

The wink she gave was at once both shamelessly theatrical and utterly devastating. Sakura was pretty sure that her brain had just melted into a puddle of love-struck goop and was no longer controlling her body’s actions – it was the only excuse she would accept for the breathless, swooning giggle she let out in response.

“Th-that you do,” Sakura said, only half aware of what she was even saying anymore.

Her extremely besotted state was probably clear to everyone in a ten-meter radius, but Temari had the grace not to point it out directly.

No, her eyes were too busy scanning up and down Sakura’s own outfit. “Not that you really need Kankuro’s help, you look super cute already.” Apparently Temari didn’t notice the blood rushing to her head fast enough to explode it, because she barrelled on without a care for her heart’s wellbeing, “That dress… are those the lesbian flag colours, or is my bi ass just reading into things again?”

Shit, she was definitely making a weird face by this point. “I-I wasn’t expecting anyone to notice-” she said, her voice sounding a million miles away.

Temari leaned down a little, the golden-brown skin of her cheeks turned just slightly red and her bottom lip caught between her teeth. “You know, I actually ship Samus and Peach real fuckin’ hard, and you are straight-up adorable, mind if we take a cute shippy pic together? Just a hug is fine if you’re not comfortable wi-”

Sakura had spent many years trying to smother that loud, aggressive, unrestrained side of herself under layers of shy, demure femininity. How well it had historically worked was up for debate, but, now, in the face of a gorgeous woman who ticked every one of her boxes – and several she didn’t realise she had, she thought, once more eyeing up the oversized weapon Temari waved about with ease – her carefully constructed façade was immediately thrown out the window.

“NARUTO!”

All around her, people jumped, even Temari flinched and took a step back. Just as she was getting ready to yell again, she saw a familiar face peek up from behind an artist’s table; she knew he wouldn’t have gone far when there was the opportunity to watch Sakura fail at flirting to enjoy.

She pulled her phone out of her purse and threw it at him. “Hurry up and get over here, you’re taking pictures of us.”

Just barely saving her phone from an untimely meeting with the cold hard ground, he clambered over the table he was hiding behind, apologising profusely to the poor vendor whose stock he was rearranging.

Sakura paid him no mind, spinning back to face a slightly bewildered – but very amused – Temari. “Hold me bridal-style while I kiss your cheek.”

A single brow raised, before that smug grin that had so captivated Sakura in the first place returned and she was effortlessly hoisted in two strong arms. She was so thrilled to be there; she didn’t even think to complain about the hard plastic covering them. Especially not when Temari whispered in her ear, “As you wish, my Princess.”

---

#ictoan writes #sakura haruno #temari #sakutema #temasaku #naruto #FINALLY IT'S TEMA TIME #also wooow i'm just gettin slower and slower with these aren't i #i will proofread in hell

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zmediaoutlet · 5 years

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Question for you, since you nail characterization so well (and because your a/b/o story was so interesting); how do you think the brother’s dynamic would have changed if Dean was a (cis) girl?

well, first, high-five! Glad you liked the omegaverse story–though, actually, halmanverse. Much speculation went into it so it’s great to hear that it was liked. :)

I have thought about Deanna a lot. A lot. More than I’ve thought about things that deserved it more. I think when you’re doing a ground-level AU like that, you have to really consider what’s nature and what’s nurture. In the Deanna case, how would John have treated her differently? What would she have wanted, and would she have gotten it? How does Sam treat his annoying big sister, versus his annoying big brother?

I have a fairly strong preference on this, though I can see how it can go multiple ways. Given who John is and given the demands of the life, and given how canon!Dean interacts with his world, I feel like it makes most sense for Deanna to of course have all of the skills Dean has–shooting, mechanical skills, caring for Sam, etc.–but instead of layering on the pseudo-tough, masculine, “butch overcompensation” thing, she would go more for ripe femininity. There’s an argument to be made for ‘butch’ Deanna, too, chopping her hair off and flipping off truckers, and I can sort of see that.

What I think is more interesting, though, is for Deanna to know how to use all of the tools in her kit–undoing an extra button on her blouse, learning how to apply just the right amount of makeup, long hair that she can tuck flirtily behind her ears–because that’s a very easy way for a woman to navigate and manipulate a world full of men. All those pool games where she could hustle cash out of people with a smile, all those cops she could wriggle information out of. Now, I can also see her giving Sam a noogie and wrestling him to the floor (until he hits six foot and that abruptly gets way harder), but John giving her tasks like making dinner suddenly aren’t emasculating, they’re just… expected, and Dean fits very well into expectations, especially from his dad. Canon!Dean is an expert at fitting into any role that’s given to him–I don’t see why mostly-canon!Deanna would be any different. She can be a lovely femme fatale, and she can be Sam’s gross big sister, and she can be John’s capable daughter, who doesn’t feel the need to pretend she’s a son. Dean is at a kind of basic level a conformist, despite his protestations. Deanna would conform, too.

What I really appreciate about Deanna and halman!Dean (in the way I decided to treat it) is that you get to draw out the soft parts of Dean, and they’re suddenly nothing to be ashamed of. The fronting goes away. Now, there’d be other things. I strongly believe that Deanna/h!Dean want to have babies, because of course they do–canon Dean is basically holding a flashing sign that says PLEASE LET ME BE A DAD–but they can’t. They can’t, of course they can’t–and the ways they would pretend it was fine, that nah, mommy life is dumb, etc–that’s a different layer of fronting that’s equally sad. Sam would forget, sometimes, that Deanna isn’t actually the tough-girl sex kitten that she tries to be–when she’s handed a baby to hold on a case, and she brushes the baby’s soft cheek and her whole body curves in around the bundle–and oh, man. There’s just a lot there. It fascinates me.

#spn #writing #dean winchester #...erm #did that answer the question?#i hope so #the shortest answer is that their dynamic would be largely the same #but acknowledging the softness would come naturally #instead of as a fight #or something to break through #so easier in some ways #but even if it's easy it's still fascinating #Anonymous

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forestwater87 · 7 years

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Rate all the cc ships u can think of from favorite to least favorite

OH BOY okay so there’s … a lot. I might not hit them all so gimme any I seem to have missed if you care about my blatherings. :)

But okay, in order of fave to least (and I went with literally every one I can think of. There are a lot, so many we gotta put this shit under a cut):

Gwen/David: Okay, yeah. Obviously. These are my babies.

(They are incapable of being the grown-up at the same time and I am LIVING.)

I’m a huge sucker for any time a big tough girl and a sweet femme boy date because GAH cute, but I also feel like there’s so much fun to be had with these losers. Her obvious anxiety issues match so well with David’s own, and they have such different ways of handling it that there’s a lot of opportunities to bounce off each other and grow together. Besides, she’s levelheaded and seems to keep him more or less on-target, and while she hates this job she cares about him and wants him to be okay, and it just makes my heart melt when an apathetic character has an exception especially when that exception is a sunshine boy and ahhhhh the cute

It’s basically opposites attract, but with some weird connective tissue in the form of their few similarities.

Jasper/David/Gwen: This isn’t … this isn’t a thing, guys. It’s just some bullshit @hopefullypessimistic84 and I made up because I ship her Jaspid and she ships my Gwenvid and so we smushed them together like Barbie dolls and made them kiss.

Doesn’t mean I love it any less, though. These three are cuties and I am a fan.

Jasper/David: They’re fucking soulmates.

Besides, any relationship in which David is the bad boy is automatically too hilarious and sweet not to love. We don’t know a ton about Jasper — and therefore about their relationship — but I could not be more here for it.

Obviously this is either as kids before he died, or as adults in a world where Jasper lives and grew up to be a sweet 90s dood a la HopefullyPessimistic and @sinisterspooks‘ AU; I’m not about that ghost-child-fucking.

Max/Neil/Nikki: I don’t know how it happened. I don’t know why it happened.

I just know I would die for this ship.

(Also I’ve named it Makkiel and this is badass.)

Nerris/Preston/Harrison: I’m pretty sure this one is entirely the fault of @sakisketches? I’m not actually confident these three share any screentime on the actual show, but I love everything Saki’s made for them and now I couldn’t be more here for it.

(Genuinely couldn’t find anything with just them, sorry!)

It’s the kinda ship that makes more sense the more you think about it. They’re the ones with the weird, esoteric, “useless” interests, the kind of things that’ve made them no stranger to bullying. They’re all very competitive, passionate, dramatic … I’d imagine their relationship would be one filled with a lot of clashing, but it’d also be big and bright and beautiful.

Nurf/Petrol: This is another ship that isn’t actually a thing, but @directium made me believe. Damn you for making me love Perf. They’re such big strong boys and they deserve better than their shitty camps.

Besides, tell me Nurf wouldn’t be able to understand whatever reason Petrol has for not talking and would be sensitive and able to communicate perfectly regardless. Just try and tell me that wouldn’t happen.

Nerris/Harrison: Honestly, this dropped a little lower on this list while I was writing it, because … Nerris is kinda a bitch.

Don’t get me wrong — Harrison’s a prick too, especially to poor Max. But this kid gets bullied and insulted by basically everyone at camp, and you’d kinda expect these two to stick together because … well, they’re the biggest losers by far (excepting Preston).

That being said, I could see them growing out of their rivalry into a sort of grudging admiration and continuing on from there. Plus tell me these two wouldn’t just be gorgeous when they grow up, in terms of fashion. They’d be the power couple of the century.

(Okay but I cannot let this slide: in what universe is Nerris the true magic kid? Harrison can do literal magic! How did he not win this argument the second he actually set something on fire with the power of his mind?!)

Nikki/Sasha: Another couple where one of them needs to become so much less of a bitch for this to work. But … I mean:

(legit the only picture I could find that they were both in, pfft)

The only thing I’m almost as much of a sucker for than the tough girl/femme boy pairing is the tomboy/girly girl pairing. And if Nikki could corrupt Sasha to the fun of being wild and … like, not just the goddamn worst, it could be adorable.

Gwen/Bonquisha: Okay but. How fucking cute would this be?

Look at that face! Look how starstruck she is! She’d be like a Chihuahua dating a Mastiff; Gwen would go around starting fights and Bonquisha would have to pull her out of them and/or escalate things. They’d be the instigators of so much drama and would watch trash TV and giggle and it’d be sweet as fuck.

And they’d make David’s life miserable in the best possible way.

David/Bonquisha: So that tough girl/soft boy thing I was talking about earlier?

Multiply that by like 200.

The major reason this one isn’t up there with Gwenvid is that there’s not that much to Bonquisha, and while she’s absolutely the queen of my heart, she isn’t as well-developed a character. Also I think David would spend most of their relationship being terrified of her, because she’s scary and he’s very squishy and delicate.

Nikki/Neil: This one’s the fault of @ciphernetics, who dedicated about 2 seconds to it in one of her fics and now I’m in love with it forever.

I could totally see Neil being captivated by Nikki’s energy and vibrancy, and she’d have so much fun dragging him along on her adventures. And of course there’s the fact that Neil’s so cautious and levelheaded that he’d keep her from going off the deep end and getting herself killed; they’re kinda like Gwenvid in that way, I guess? Boundless enthusiasm meets snarky cynicism and makes Forestwater cry.

Max/Neil: Despite the fact that there’s an author on Ao3 that basically ruined this ship for me forever, it’s hard to deny these two are either bromates or soulmates.

They get each other. They’re both highly intelligent, oddly protective of their friends, so married to their ideals that it leads to them being massive douchebags to said friends, and just so very sarcastic.

Harrison/Nikki: He’s got a massive crush, right?

And Nikki loves how he can basically (accidentally) summon adventure. Together they’d be unstoppable! Seriously, I’m not sure there’s two people here with such mutual admiration for each other and that’s really sweet.

Good kids, equally morally questionable, and Nikki could protect him while he summons fireballs to entertain her. It’d be precious.

Max/Nerris: Blame HopefullyPessimistic for this one again. She believes in it hard and where she goes, I must follow.

The fact that these two are kinda abrasive and harsh makes them interesting. It’d be fun to watch them trade barbs — as opposed to the kicking-a-bunny thing Nerris does with Harrison and Max does with Space Kid and David (and Gwen, kinda). They’re well-matched in terms of intelligence and ability to throw shade.

Ered/Nikki: Okay, yes, Ered is manipulative and mean and Nikki’s blind adoration of her is very unhealthy. BUT:

They’d be the most badass couple ever. They’d go on insane adventures all the time, and since Nikki seems incapable of being hurt and Ered’s injured all the time, we’d get adorable things like Nikki carrying Ered’s wheelchair up a mountain and doting over her every time she gets hurt.

They’d be the beautiful butches we need, and I could see Nikki’s bravery and loyalty really breaking through Ered’s seemingly cold (cool? Ahahaha I think I’m clever) heart until she’d actually stand up for Nikki instead of just using her.

Max/Nikki: Not really my ship (not without Neil to balance them out), but these two are adventurous in a way that Neil isn’t. They have an energy and creativity that means they’d keep up with each other long after anyone else would’ve passed out from exhaustion and pure “guys just fucking stop.” I can see why people like it, even if it’s not my thing.

(But seriously, why not add a Neil? Both of these kids would benefit from a nice, rational Neil.)

Quartermaster/Quartersister: I recognize that this should be at the very bottom of the list, and possibly not even on it for pure oh dear god no. But …

I’m sorry, they’re just too fucking funny. It’s sick and gross and wrong and terrible and god help me I love it so much. You get down with your nasty self, QM. And you murder-bang as many grizzled nasty sisters as you want. I won’t judge (much).

Neil/Nerris: I don’t … really see this?

I do think they could get along; they’re definitely the most aligned in terms of interests, and Neil’s so spindly that even Nerris seems badass in comparison. Besides, Nerris doesn’t seem like the type to have patience for a guy unless he’s falling down appreciating her awesomeness, so in a weird way they’re kinda suited for each other. (And she’d totally get him into nerd culture and they’d rock DnD together.)

Plus, he called her “the Cute.” More than once. That’s might sweet.

Max/Preston: Nope, I don’t get this one.

I have nothing against it, they just seem to … hate each other? And yes, I realize “they hate each other” was the basis for more than one of the ships much higher up on this list, but … okay, I never said this was going to be a rational and well-thought-out ranking. I’m just vomiting thoughts on a page here, and for some reason these two don’t really work for me.

I think part of it is that Preston seems very anxious and high-strung, and Max is laid-back, but in the kind of way where he’d get a total kick out of fucking with Preston at every opportunity. Which is funny, but it doesn’t strike me as sustainable. Max needs to learn how to chill or Preston needs to learn how to chill. At this point in the show neither of them have any chill and I feel like it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

Neil/Tabii: Let me just start by saying that I love Tabii to pieces. She is adorable and precious and everything I need.

Unfortunately, if Neil’s into girls Tabii is very much not his type, and I don’t see a way for this to work out unless Tabii … completely gets an overhaul of her personality? I love this for being sweet and funny and relatable (I can’t have been the only one who had a devastating crush on a boy in his “girls have cooties” phase, am I?), but I don’t see it ever actually happening, you know?

Ered/Dolph: This is a thing? Really?

I don’t have anything against it, I just don’t see what’s there. Dolph having some sort of hero-worship for her is plausible (and admittedly quite adorable), but I’m not sure what they have in common. This could be a case of tough girl/sweet boy, I guess, considering how soft and artistic Dolph seems to be, but I’d need to see them interact more to really have an opinion on it.

Campbell/David: Well, aside from the fact that Ciphernetics with her amazing talent makes me want to believe, I have to file this one under “holy fuck is that unhealthy.”

Because he’s just … the relationship would be absurdly one-sided, the weird age difference notwithstanding, and David’s feelings, assuming they aren’t pure “daddy issues” and extend to … ahem, “daddy issues,” are super confused and fucked-up and vaguely incestuous? (Yes, okay, I realize that this is super hypocritical considering the QM/QS thing, but … what can I say, Quartermaster is an exception to literally every rule.)

Besides, I can’t help but feel that any relationship they’d have would be manipulative and neglectful on Campbell’s part, and Davey doesn’t deserve that. He deserves someone who looks out for him, and Campbell … is not that.

Also though, the age difference. Ew. And the fact that Campbell tried to kill him. Double ew.

Daniel/David: I can’t believe I’m saying this for the second time, but I do not support David being with anyone who has murdered children, or has considered murdering children. Just sort of a dealbreaker for me.

On top of that (in case we needed an “on top of that”), he breaks David down into his greatest insecurities and uses them against him, and causes David to make the saddest face I think I’ve ever seen and I actually wanted to cry a little bit, and I cannot tolerate this. Daniel has lost all of my affection and I must hate him forever for emotionally devastating my sonsband in this way.

So nope, really don��t like this ship; totally get why people like it, but it makes me squirmy in all the wrong ways. This has been very difficult for a couple reasons:

Daniel looks just like David. There is something exceedingly attractive about 2 Davids. Yes, I am garbage. Don’t judge me.

The fan art for this ship is so fucking good you guys! SO GOOD

Campbell/Gwen: Gwen deserves someone who knows her fucking name.

And who doesn’t hit her in the face.

And who isn’t wanted by the government.

Gwen deserves better, is what I’m saying.

Pikeman/Gwen: This could be cute in a Neil/Tabii sort of way, if it wasn’t for the fact that Pikeman seems really …

Really creepy. I’m not saying he strikes me as the weird cross-breed of “Nice Guy” and “date-rapey,” but he did kidnap and beat a child.

A lot of the people at the bottom of this list are not very kind to children. And have egos the size of Mount Rushmore. And have weird hair poofs.

Counselor/Camper: So this is a fairly obvious one, for fairly obvious reasons. It’s illegal and predatory and gross, and I feel like David in particular would kill himself before he’d ever hurt a child like that, so it strikes me as out of character. (This doesn’t mean I’m not a fan of any of the campers having crushes on any of the adults; that’s cute as fuck. It’s the adults returning the attraction that’s a big fat nope.)

I feel like I should devote a little extra attention to the Max/David ship, just because it’s by far the most popular and in a weird way … I get it? Don’t get me wrong, it’s at the rock-bottom of this list for a reason, but like I said, there’s something sweet about a grumpy cynic and pure sunshine getting together; if they were the same age I’d totally see these two as a plausible ship.

That being said … they’re not the same age. More than the ick factor, I just don’t think there’s much there? I’ve heard people compare Mavid to Gwenvid, and with good reason (Max and Gwen are similar in a lot of ways), but the difference is that David and Gwen can relate to each other as equals, as coworkers and people going through the same general period of life, with the same level of physical and emotional development, and an ability to support one another.

Max … cannot do that.

There’s a reason the “David adopts Max AU” is hands-down the most popular in the fandom, and it’s because Max needs someone like David. At least while he’s at camp, he needs a father, to be showered in unconditional love and affirmation. The thing is, though, Max can’t return that affection, not the way a partner needs to; he’s not emotionally capable of it. Because he’s a child.

It feels really weird to spill this much ink to say “I don’t like this ship because one of them is 10 years old and one of them’s a freaking adult,” but Max acts so mature that I think it’s easy to forget how young he really is. He’s a kid, and he needs a dad. David’s an adult, and he needs a grown-up. Even shoving the whole “hey guys it’s pedophilia” thing aside — and I realize that’s a hell of an ask, since … yeah, that’s not easy to shove aside — it’s unhealthy and one-sided. Plus it requires David to be a lot more predatory than I’m comfortable with.

Okay, I don’t wanna end this on a downer note, so let me throw a shout out to some really awesome authors who’ve made shipfics that I melt over. In literally no order:

HopefullyPessimistic, “Finding a Family” – Jaspid

Ciphernetics, “You Have Someone That Loves You” – Gwenvid, minor Camvid, minor David/OC

@microsuedemouse, “Second Degree Sunburns” – Gwenvid

funhousefreak, “Bound” – Makkiel

mrsilikemyself, “un año más” – Max/Neil, unrequited Mavid

adrianthealien, “Take the Stupid Flower” – Praxton (tbh, haven’t actually read this one yet, but it looks adorable)

phobiaDeficient (TheTriggeredHappy), “The One Where David Is In Over His Head” – Danvid, not actually Gwenvid but I squinted and saw some

HopefullyPessimistic, “Soulmates” – Marris

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backofthebookshelf · 7 years

Text

WisCon Day 3

Sunday, despite being hung over and not going to bed until 4am the night before, I staggered up early enough to catch the end of the 10am panel slot "How Lazy Writing Recreates Oppression." There were some really good thinky panels at that slot, but I knew I wasn't going to be up for anything more than listening to Tempest and Nico and Mark yell about stupid stories and stupid characters, and I was right. It was pretty great though. I did not take notes in this panel, which on reflection is a goddamn shame, but the Twitter hashtag gets a lot of the highlights. (Tempest made Mark blush with her description of the male ejaculation story arc, which alone was worth the price of admission to the entire con.) I needed some vegetables for lunch, so we walked all the way around the square to the remodeled Brocach, which used to be an Irish pub and is now a super-trendy restauraunt that serves a lot of Jaimeson. Food was good, but I can't see going there as often as we used to (even if I were in town). I'd intended to go to the "creating alien sex organs" panel at one, but the general atmosphere in the room beforehand was putting me off just slightly (nothing super offensive, just being a mildly sex-repulsed asexual person means there are some atmospheres I'm not really comfortable in), so I went to a reading instead - "AIs, Wendigos, and other Teenage Worries." Theo Nicole Lorenz read from her YA-novel-in-progress Wendigo Summer, Marianne Kirby read from a story narrated by a ghost who lives in a mall and falls in love with a mannequin (and talked up her Dustbath Revival series, which I then had to go into the dealer's room and purchase), and Naomi Kritzer read from the YA-novel-in-progress followup to her Hugo-award winning story "Cat Pictures, Please," narrated by a teenage girl and by an AI who set up a social network whose price for entry is pictures of cute animals. Because the AI likes cat pictures. Wound up spending more money in the dealer's room, because of course there were many books I was interested in, once I went looking for one, and also Dylan Edwards's feeping creatures are exactly my monster aesthetic (I recommend them to everyone). At 2:30 I went to a panel on Moral Ambiguity in Fiction, which turned out to be the followup to the villains panel I'd been to last year, where we ended up talking about the difference between moral ambiguity and "this person is evil but I'm attracted to them." There was some of that in this panel, too, but also on the difference between a text that is morally ambiguous (like, say, Watchmen, where the ending gives you several options for how to interpret an event but doesn't actually encourage you to lean toward any one of them) and a text that is morally chaotic (where the hero can do whatever he wants because he's the hero, which makes all his actions morally acceptable *coughSGAcough*). There was also some discussion of what kinds of characters are interesting when morally ambiguous (characters who grew up without a moral compass and attempt to build one; characters who do bad things in service of a higher good) and what characters are painted, either by canon or by fanon, as morally ambiguous despite not really deserving a redemption arc (Snape, Loki). (I mean, I might fight you on Loki-in-the-text, but Loki fandom really is the worst sometimes.) Sadly, no one mentioned the next logical step: people whose actions are hardly morally ambiguous but who you have a hard time arguing with anyway (see: The Ballad of Black Tom). Lots of good examples in this panel; check the book list when I get it up. At four I went to another monster panel, which turned out to be a horror panel instead: "When the Monster Isn't the Monster," which despite the panel description turned out to be a lot about how horror works and how it doesn't. Most of what I have written down is an endless list of recommendations, but a lot of the discussion wandered around the general idea of otherness (which is what monsters are about) and ways things get projected onto that and how it's handled. There was a lot of talk about some of the big recent horror movies - The Babadook, It Follows, The Witch - and what exactly their monsters are doing. The most interesting point that was brought up was about universality - while the idea of monsters generally is a universal one, individual monsters are culturally and even personally very specific, which is one reason why American remakes of foreign horror can be so bad. And some stories can't be universalized - Get Out is a movie about the experience of being Black in America, and while it might give white audiences a taste of what that's like, it's not the same thing. (We didn't talk much about Get Out, because the whole panel was white, and I appreciated that. Also, I still haven't seen it, which I need to fix.) After that it was time for dinner and getting ready for the big event! We ran back to Hattie's apartment because she'd accidentally left her dessert ticket there, came back and had Ian's Pizza for dinner, then got all fancy. (Last year I went super-girly to the Dessert Salon, the one semi-formal-if-you-want-to part of WisCon; this year I didn't get to go as butch as I wanted to but I did wear pants and the General Leia vest I'd bought on Friday, which was pretty good). Dessert Salon is always amazing; they have a good pastry chef at the Concourse. Kelly Sue DeConnick gave an amazing speech about taking your place in the pantheon of feminist writers, and about the debt owed by people with privilege to those who have less of it; Amal El-Mohtar gave an amazing speech about being strong enough to be kind, coming together and understanding one another in good faith, and Steven Universe (which I really need to suck it up and watch). The Tiptree award was presented to Anna Marie McLemore for When the Moon Was Ours - and look, the Tiptree ceremony is my absolute favorite award ceremony in all the world. The award is a tiara to wear all weekend, a check, a box of chocolates, and a piece of art inspired by the work (this year a gorgeous glass sculpture), and then we all sing a parody song based on the winning work. "And that's how you present a dignified award," Pat Murphy said when it was all over. It's the best. And then they announced next year's guests of honor, which I have yet to be less than overwhelmingly excited about, but next year it's Tananarive Due!!!!!! and Saladin Ahmed!!!!!! which is incredible, I am so excited, this is going to be amazing. After the celebrations I tried to party again, this time slightly more successful, not least because I've been following Alexandra Erin on twitter for months and had already managed to talk to her on Friday night, so I was much less intimidated. Also, they were doing virgin cocktails, and I was not going to miss a party with virgin cocktails. The party was semi to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of her first major serial, Tales of MU, and mostly to launch her new one, The Secret Sisterhood of Superheroes, featuring realistic elements such as happy queer femme superheroes, and fantasy elements such as competently evil presidents. Everyone read it, it should be great, I got a promotional button with the title of the first chapter, "Only G*sh Can Judge Me." And then I came back to the room and took a shower and went to bed. (Monday and wrap-up thoughts later tonight; hopefully book lists by next Monday.) comments from the wicked king of parody http://ift.tt/2rZetlV via IFTTT

#dreamwidth

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