#crushes tend to subsume me

[fox-steward]

✨ inappropriate work crush ✨

#just talkin #am i attracted to her or attracted to the fact that she has power over me? #why not both #actually she’s just staggeringly intelligent #capable and excels at her job #assertive and good leader #crushes tend to subsume me #i’m not there yet #but i feel it coming #lort help me

[lizardinkart]

Lizard Reads Ward

Arc 2: Flare

Lizard Cry Counter: 2

TL;DR: Cool shit happening this arc with more fun worldbuilding around the state of Capes, Victoria’s coping mechanisms and hero complex, and some especially funky stuff exploring other Earths and how the shards/triggers are getting extra-special fucky after Gold Morning. We finally get to meet the rest of the PHO group and they are all wonderful, and Wildbow is flexing with the extended metaphor of powers as trauma. 8.75/10

Alrighty, let’s get wormin’! 

Once again, splitting this into mini-arcs so I can keep track of it: 1. Job-Hunting, 2. Broken Trigger Shenanigans, and 3. Group Therapy(?).

Part 1: Job-Hunting

Oh, if this did not capture the soul-crushing nature of the job search so well lol. I really enjoy Victoria’s engagement with each of the big groups that have cropped up since GM, their ideologies, and the optics that each group focuses on. Because if Victoria Dallon understands anything, it’s Aesthetic (in both physical and ideological appearance, thank you Carol (derogatory)). I think the bit where the recruiter asks if Panacea can also be part of the package deal crushed my soul so hard cause mmmmmm. We all have that family member that is perceived very differently from how they actually act towards the people they ostensibly care about. Adding this to the list of times I wanted to hold Victoria gently in my hands. 

Crystal continues to be a treat, I appreciate that she doesn’t own scissors. I find it so interesting that she wanted to be part of the Parahuman Paramilitary, but I guess stability has its allure in times of absolute chaos. Also gonna slide in here the bit about the people Victoria talked to about joining the totally-not-a-cult that comes back later in the arc, I appreciate the “if I can save even one person it will have been worth it” mentality. 

The hospital scene was really nice, both with Tempera/Fume Hood and then taking the kids flying. I think a lot of people can be very cynical about how doing stuff for others can be very self-serving (esp someone as famously cynical as WB /affectionate), but I think that this came across very genuinely, and it’s actually something that can be very good for trauma recovery by just doing things to get yourself out of your own head. Especially when it came to the kid with the friend who had triggered, Victoria really didn’t have to go out her way to make sure that the kid was taken care of. I think that this once again shows her character. Taylor could never (shoutout to the kids that triggered in her territory). 

Part 2: Broken Trigger Shenanigans

Oh man oh man oh man. I really did come into this part with a sigh because really, up until now Wildbow had not wowed me with the new stuff he was exploring with powers/shards, but this section grabbed me by the throat and threw me across the room into a brick wall. I appreciate that this is carving out Ward’s new identity as its own story with more to say outside of just Victoria, but also work as reflections of her and her unique experiences with her power/shard. It’s neat!

But aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa man this was downright tragic to read. Once again, WB hits with the suspense of “something is happening on a timeline, and all you can do it be there for when shit hits the fan.” The Parahuman Paramilitary was funky and off-putting as any type of military institution tends to be. Because ACAB, that’s why. 

Corona Pollentia warfare was enacted here, and the fact that people were literally stopped in space was horrifying and distressing as all hell, Worm never really got to touch on when triggers went wrong because shit was already bad enough being, well, triggers. But the bit at the end with the last guy standing not wanting to be subsumed into a collective (shard/entity?) consciousness was haunting as hell and so, so cool. I can’t wait to see how the entities continue to fuck around and Victoria and the Gang continue to find out. 

Part 3: Group Therapy(?)

Subsisting off of a comfort diet of brownie ice cream and shit TV, Victoria hangs out and Dr. Yamada pulls back the curtain on doctor-patient relationships. Therapists are people too! But it was nice that she thought of giving Victoria something therapy-related to do, even if it was ultimately a ploy to get Victoria to join her little group therapy team and (unsuccessfully) talk them out of doing the whole hero team thing. 

But mmm, I do love me these guys now that we get to really meet them, so down the line we go again!

Kenzie: Still the love of my life, I would kill and die for her. She is so damn earnest and I can respect the hell out of that. Include her in things!!! Give her friends!!! Be nice to her!!! Let her make all the boxes!!!!!! Also I will be deeply upset when we figure out her whole backstory. Preparing to be devastated. 

Sveta: I love that she and Weld are dating and that she is so happy but knowing Wildbow he’s gonna fuck it up somehow and it pisses me off so bad. But for now I will revel in her joy!!! Let her be happy goddammit!!! Also shoutout to her absolutely owning the disability label, I really was like “ah man this is gonna be implied subtext huh” but nope! And I’m really happy about that! But on god the fact that she has a body now??? And she gets to make it pretty and expressive how she wants it???? Kissing her on her forehead she is too good, great even. Unironically the best character. 

Tristan/Byron: Knowing that I have to go back through the PHO chapter and check the timestamps to see which one was in control is simultaneously infuriating and exciting lol. I can’t remember if case 70s appeared in Worm cause if they did I do not remember them. But yet again adding to the weird shit shards do is a thing I will applaud because the specific scenario of “twins who were touching when they triggered” is just horrifying in concept and seems that way in practice as well. I’m placing my bets for the human trafficking being so that they can try to separate themselves. Or something like that IDK. I also wanna slap Tristan on his dumb jock head because sometimes he needs to shut up (tho I feel him. I, too, talk incessantly, see this post series lol). But he gets a pass because he’s nice and makes arms <3

Chris: Breaking out my trusty spray bottle to spritz him every time he’s an antisocial prick. Not necessarily an actual character flaw, I am interested to see what’s gonna happen with this exceptionally small lad, but mmm. He’s an interesting fellow who I think would benefit from touching some grass every now and again. But progress looks different for everyone I guess!

Ashley: She also gets the spray bottle but for being an edgelord. Shadow the Hedgehog called and said tone it down. Once again, very much the Bitch-type of “I have a singular trajectory and will do what I want fuck you all” but in like, a friendship way? Idk, I know everyone loves her (and ships her with Victoria- *cough*) and I also love her, but I would also like to punch her sometimes and I think that is ok! She’s getting better! Maybe! I hope!

Rain: I can smell the little-meow-meow coming off of this guy. This man is a protagonist of another story but got shoved into Ward instead. He is scientifically crafted to be pocket-sized, and if he’s not dead or beat to shit by the end of this story I will eat a shoe. I can tell a sopping wet whipping boy when I see one lol. But in all seriousness, I know that everyone has a lot of shit going on, but Rain’s “it’s complicated” catchphrase is like “Yes, Wildbow, I know he’s your special little guy. It’s ok, you don’t have to be coy about it.” Kinda the way that Amy was in Worm tbh, Wildbow just has favorites he likes to torture sometimes and I have to respect the honesty lol. But yeah, he is genuinely interesting and has some nifty stuff going on w/ his cluster. Very intrigued that Snag is his clustermate, and how their power-exchange works. Again- cool shit!  But oh my god someone’s gonna step on him. Too small lol. 

But all that being said, I appreciated the actual group therapy going on here, and that Victoria is getting some buddies to talk stuff through with, even though this really does seem like a setup for failure. The talk about logistics triggered the “gotta schedule D&D” part of my brain and whoo boy that was some anxiety lol. But I am intrigued to see where this lil team goes and what they do in the story moving forward! Also, a very strong end to the Arc with “This is the way things are now” “...Fuck that.” Stuck that landing, let’s get some change rolling!

(Also the interlude was funky, love seeing Weld and Crystalclear again. The theocracy seems like it mayyyy be an issue tho moving forward. Maybe lol)

Final Thoughts

I think that this arc had a lot to offer, and really started to solidify the direction that Ward is gonna try to go in. I can already feel the length of the story though, that 2 arcs have felt like 6, but ya know. It’s the format! But there’s a part of my brain that really wants to go in and cull a lot of stuff that I know people love but is just like...this is so long. But other than that- I think that finally getting around to the new group is good, and I think the biggest takeaway from this arc is the diversity of Shard Shenanigans. Looking forward to that making shit go sideways lol. 

But yeah! That’s all I got, not as insightful perhaps as the last couple entries but I hope y’all like the more first-impressions type rambling. As always, would love to hear what y’all think of this arc!

Until next time- Ward out ✨

#lizard’s ward thoughts #on god doing 2 of these in a day has me dead on the floor #it feels like i procrastinated my homework lol #ward web serial #ward #ward spoilers #wildbow #victoria dallon #kenzie martin #ashley stillons #rain o'fire frazier #sveta #tristan vera #byron vera #chris elman

[riverdale-retread]

Riverdale S5 E7 Fire in The Sky - 5 things I loved/ 3 things to consider

I loved this:

1. Cheryl’s slowmo superhero entrance and the  Cheryl Hair Whip Sound Effect. There are various ways to armor yourself if you’re fragile, wounded and/or trying to protect yourself.  One way is to dematerialize or be invisible (such as, Jughead saying there were three in the booth, exempting himself). The other, rarer way, is Cheryl’s, which is to project as big and forceful a presence as possible.  I find this so moving about her.  I also just love it when Cheryl swirls her hair around, which she always does in dance numbers, and the power of her hair is such that the world slows down and her hair gets its own sound effect.  I love that a big competitive cardio workout brings out the Red Lipstick Cheryl again.

 2.  Tabitha and her lively reading of the alien sighting articles that Jughead has found from the library was such a tonic.  She manages a kind sarcasm, which seems like a contradiction in terms.  What a fabulous character she is!  Enlivening, warm, funny,  smart, and just spectacularly gorgeous.   Along with Veronica, she is a do-er, a person who moves a project or idea forward, and with gusto.  She can see that Jughead needs help, and doesn’t pussyfoot around it either. She asks directly, Were you drinking? which I think takes a lot of courage.  Oh, and did I say I liked her face? I mean,  What. A. Face.

3.  The sad scene of four women - victim’s mother (this actress was so great at conveying a heavy, crushing sadness), Toni in social worker mode and the two Cooper ladies - openly discussing the pain of being women in a world where women are so routinely victimized and harmed, and promising each other that even if nobody else cared, we care, was very affecting and real.  I’m haunted by Betty’s worried eyes.

4.  The clothing was really fun this episode.  The men who are ‘not good’ all favor the same kind of tie - bold diagonal stripes (from last episode, Glen and Chad, and in this episode Hiram) and seeing it on Hiram is what made it click for me.  When Veronica does what she loved doing even as a kid - launch several huge projects simultaneously - she goes from dressing in the Fantasy Hot Teacher way at the start of her teaching career (shoulders exposed, skirts tight at the waist) to navy presidential-candidate pantsuits and pinstripe blazers.  When united in their (fraught, but still genuine) love for Polly, the Cooper women dress in uniform (navy sweaters, jeans).  Jughead is starting to figure how to personalize that waiter uniform, which is to add a lot of slouch and attitude, and he’s going in the opposite direction from FP, who tried to wear it perfectly as a costume (apparently, Jughead does not do bowties, no matter what).  

5. I loved the small moment memorializing that Fred Andrews did the small essential basics, the unglamorous bits nobody praises you for, really well. Like having fire extinguishers in easy-to-find places.  The care that competent people take does have a long lasting impact. 

3 Things to Consider

 a.  What am I supposed to make of the fact that the alien lights are bright orange and warm and sort of sunshiny?  Usually alien badness tends to be shown in genre fare in unnerving greens, but because they’re in Riverdale, everyone in this community finds the alien lights really enticing.  They walk towards it, out of the safety of shelter, and feel sad when it’s gone.  The old solitary man Jughead interviewed last episode wanted to go with them, and even Pop Tate wishes they’d come back. 

b. The Straight Marriage is Bad For Your Health thesis is very funny the more it goes on.  Like, why would Chad being a husband allow him to exert this much power over Veronica, where she would have to subsume her Alpha-ness and her desire to create endeavors where she’s the boss and guide? She can only be herself when she’s apart from him.   Is the point that the institution of marriage obliterates women’s true personalities?  Dude that is harsh.

c.  Reggie Mantle with a shotgun is so unhappy about being this kind of man that he confesses something important to Betty, directly against Hiram’s wishes, and Eric with a shotgun about to go murder Hiram is what gets Archie to blurt out his truth (he’s in pain, he feels himself in a new identity - miliitary - that his civilian friends can’t cope with, and he feels frantic).  These guns make me nervous, because of Chekhov.

#riverdale positivity #riverdale s5

[undine-taz]

A few thoughts on Cairngorm

Okay, so, I want to preface this by saying that I hate the way Cairngorm has been acting ever since Dickmea removed the last of Ghost from their eyes.  As much as I want to though, I cannot bring myself to hate Cairn.

This got hella long so I’m putting it under a cut. It’s a long analysis of Cairn’s character, please enjoy.

I think Cairn has struggles unique even to the gems. All of the gems tend to struggle to find a place in their society, but Cairn has struggled to even have any sort of identity at all. Their entire existence, their personality was suppressed by Ghost. This wasn’t Ghost’s intention, I don’t think, it was just a factor of their unique biology(...gemology?) It still meant that Cairn never had an identity of their own outside of Ghost.

Once Ghost was taken, Cairn immediately allows another identity to subsume them- that of Antarctite. Cairn tells Phos that Phos can call him Ghost or Antarc, that essentially Cairn is willing to act as a stand-in and take on another identity as needed. Cairn begins to act as much like Antarc as he can, up until he offers to literally have Antarc’s gem plastered over his body so he can become a new Antarc. (It occurs to me that having a different gem layered over his body would basically be returning him to who he used to be when Ghost was on the outside- just an internal voice, not the one in control.) Assmea says it, and as much as I hate agreeing with him, he has a point:

Cairn does want to relinquish himself. He’s never had to be in control of his own body before, of his own identity. He’s always been a passenger, essentially, and he has no idea how to move forward as a unique individual in charge of his own identity. Being a substitute Antarc to Phos required a large amount of emotional labor on Cairn’s part, and he became so exhausted that he lost interest in making his own choices. He wanted to return to being a passenger. 

Enter Assmea. Now, as much as I think this guy is shady af, I honestly don’t think he implanted anything extra in Cairn’s eyes, nor do I think he was lying about the bits of Ghost left behind. I could be wrong, of course, but not long after Ghost is first lost Cairn had an odd interaction with Adamant:

I think Adamant knew that the bits of Ghost were left in Cairn’s eyes and saw no need to remove them. We’ve seen before that very tiny bits of other gems can’t really do much in the way of transferring memories or will. It took Phos having his entire head replaced for us to see significant effects on him, although to be fair we don’t have a ton of instances to compare it to. So why did removing the bits of Ghost in Cairn’s eyes cause such a dramatic change in personality? It seems reasonable to think Dickmea implanted extra shit in Cairn’s eyes, right?

The thing is, I don’t think Aechmea needed to. Like I said, being Phos’ only support required so much emotional labor that Cairn simply wanted to give up, to pass the reigns on to someone else, to relinquish their autonomy. Rather than giving Cairn a new personality, what Assmea really gave him was an excuse. “Oh, the desire to help Phos I had? It was never really me, it was Ghost manipulating me.” “Caring about the other gems? Just Ghost again.” Essentially Ickmea gave Cairn an excuse to shuck his old identity without guilt, separating himself from it and from the emotional labor it had required of him.

Then, better yet, Ackmea offered a suitable replacement for his old identity- that of princess. He gave Cairn all these expectations, an entirely new role to fill, one where Cairn was the dependent rather than depended upon. It requires far less emotional labor from him, and any twinges of guilt- if he even experiences them- would probably be ruthlessly crushed because that doesn’t belong in his new identity. It muddies the nice, clean narrative Ickmea fed him about all his difficulties being caused by Ghost’s manipulations, and so Cairn doesn’t allow himself to feel them and instead buries himself so deeply in his new identity he even forgets his own name. 

I ultimately find it very sad, really, because Cairn has no idea how to exist without attaching himself to someone else and allowing them to steer his identity. I think the closest he came to having his own identity was in those few minutes between when Ghost was taken and when Phos mistook him for Antarc. I also don’t think it’s likely at this point that he’ll establish his own identity outside of Assmea anytime soon, because he hasn’t taken any steps to establish his own identity. Short of something truly shocking happening to cause him to want to cut ties with Dickmea, he’s likely to stay in this comfortable situation where all he has to do is be a spoiled princess and not truly make any decisions.

#hnk #hnk spoilers #hnk ghost quartz #hnk cairngorm

[tanadrin]

@discoursedrome

Uh this does mean that this discussion is split across like three distinct threads now but ~oh well~ 

Sorry, that’s my fault, for the whole “...and another thing!” style of posting. I think our disagreements here may be irreconcilable, but I think they’re worth explicating, so I’ll condense my specific responses in one post.

The extent to which the current level of trans acceptance is owed to piggybacking on the legitimacy of psychiatric medicine can’t be overstated.

This, I think, is where you and I diverge strongly. I think trans acceptance doesn’t need to rely on the legitimacy of psychiatry, any more than gay acceptance or the equality of woman, and probably shouldn’t try, given the fraught history of the supposed neutrality of medicine being used as a stick to hit people with. Where trans acceptance exists, and where it will come where it does not exist, is through the same basic mechanism as gay acceptance: it’s hard to consign trans people to the Hated Other when you know a bunch of them, they’re out, and the default message of society (conveyed through the law) is Trans People Aren’t Doing Anything Wrong. Medical acceptance is important for trans healthcare specifically, and to a greater degree than it might be for, say, gay men (who don’t need to be plagued by doctors who think Gay Bowel Syndrome is a real thing), but the difference between trans people and LGB people here is of degree and not kind.

doctors in general and psychiatrists in particular are guardians of social order and, in particular, gatekeepers of permissible abnormalities. ... and if that faith lapses then the result will either be that everything relying on psychiatry for legitimation becomes illegitimate, or that some other group ... steps into the breach and becomes the new source of legitimacy, despite having comparable problems in reality

I also don’t think this is true. I think the average view of the medical establishment sees them neither as a true and impartial priesthood or a suspect cabal colluding with Big Pharma for profit, but has a healthy mix of respect and skepticism. I know people whose view lies somewhere along that axis both of rather conservative and extremely leftist positions, so I also don’t think this differs much by political orientation either. If it were true, I think the social consensus on trans people would be changing much faster. To the extent it is true, it is one small, small contribution to a broad array of institutions whose opinions people factor in (to different degrees, depending on their upbringing and worldview) when internalizing for themselves what the range of permissible abnormalities is.

(I think the importance of medical acceptance is an empirical question, but one which would be very difficult to answer except through many surveys asking a bunch of people slight variations on a set of similar questions. I don’t know myself of any substantive data which might point toward one or the other model as lying closer to the truth, except the similar historical examples, which obviously I interpret as being in my favor. But you may disagree on their relevance or their interpretation.)

So it’s no surprise that the common narrative for homosexuality being reclassified as “not a mental illness” is that the original classification was a mistake, and it changed when people learned more about homosexuality. This is a total myth, though! ... Whether or not you classify homosexuality as a mental illness or not has a lot of influence on spin..., but nothing at all to do with the biological/psychological/medical/empirical reality of homosexuality. It’s that way with everything.

I agree. This is basic to the epistemology of medicine specifically, and all taxonomies generally.

I can’t overstate the extent to which society’s willingness to show compassion to people in difficult situations is dependent on their viewing those situations as external, unnatural and out of the subjects’ control. ... You can’t construct durable defenses that don’t rely on these things, at least not under the umbrella of a society that is alien to them.

But this I disagree with. One reason I beat that dead horse to a pulp about liberalism generally is that the humanist/Enlightenment/democratic/rights-based framework, however loose it is as a tendency, that we slap the label “liberalism” tends logically toward an equilibrium of tolerating greater individual diversity, and encouraging/being reinforced by social structures that are tolerant of greater individual diversity (like atomic individualism and moral therapeutic deism).

In more conservative spaces, where that liberal worldview which pervades society has to compete with brainspace with provincial xenophobia, “out of the subject’s control” is a line of argument that can smuggle in the logical consequences of the liberal-democratic worldview to yer dad (in Olly Thorn’s parlance) who otherwise feels icky about the gays and the blacks and the transgenders. In spaces where values of tolerance have less thin and rocky soil to grow in, it’s commensurately less necessary to use “but it’s not a choice!” as a justification for not being shitty to people who are different. You may have to use it with young children, but that’s about it.

I’d be interested to know if our respective attitudes on this point are the product either of the environments we were raised in or the environments we currently live in, though. This is the kind of thing for which one’s personal data set can be... heavily biased by the qualities of the people they’re surrounded with.

“Defining transgenderism in terms of gender dysphoria is the best!” which I definitely don’t believe; I’ve seen a lot worse definitions, but I’m not at all happy with that one, for roughly the usual reasons. 

FWIW, I didn’t take that as your position, but I also struggled to articulate what rubbed me the wrong way without feeling like I was stereotyping you as having that position.

That said, here is what “gender dysphoria” has that “gender euphoria” or the combination of the two doesn’t: [list of attributes]

The importance of these attributes varies to the extent that one believes in the importance of trans legitimacy relying on medical legitimacy. Obviously there’s considerable difference between us on that point. One thing I do think “euphoria” conveys more aptly than “preference,” especially in informal discussions, is that it’s not dispassionate or remote from one’s deeply internal/spiritual processes, those aspects of the self which ache and yearn and struggle and weep, far away from any dispassionate process of logic or craven process of calculated self-interest. “Preference” speaks to me of statements like “I prefer a lighter room so I can read this book more easily,” but not more unconscious processes like “it’s December, and it’s been cloudy for three weeks, and I’m going to turn on every light in the house so the bleakness of crushing winter is replaced by the warm glow of cozy joy.”

So the use of the word can be important, because those distinctions in connotation color how these discussions unfold, especially with skeptics, and they’re really hard to pin down otherwise. A “mere preference” can be dismissed. A spiritual yearning (even if it’s for more light in the wintertime) that shoots through to the core of your being is harder to toss away, even rhetorically. In this particular online space we might admit that the word “preference” can subsume the latter meaning, because we’re used to a degree of technical and semantic precision, and to having the space to define our terms. Most everywhere else--at the Christmas dinnertable, on Twitter, in Whatsapp discussions with friends, in the pub, even often in academic essays--conversations don’t proceed on those terms, and the language you deploy has to utilize aesthetics in the pursuit of communicating truth.

#by aesthetics i mean connotations #the fuzzy boundaries of meaning #separating the precise definitions of words from their casual use #etc #plus also actual aesthetics

[we-are-knight]

I noticed in the discourse about European swords versus Japanese swords, that people mentioned guns taking over the role of swords as a natural progression.

This is a curious concept since, technically, the gun subsumed the role of pike, spear and halberd, not the sword (a side-arm), and swords were used up until the end of the First World War as standard for Officers, and in at least a few instances were still used until after 1945. Swords being officially decommissioned from military standard is a relatively new thing. What is also worth noting the reason for this is simply that swords were not seeing as much practical use: firearms became more efficient for wounding, killing and capturing enemies than a sword, even in close combat, to the point a sword may only be drawn for practical purposes once in the line of service, simply because close combat was so hard to come by.

You know what though? With military armour becoming more and more high-tech, able to withstand varying degrees of gunfire, close combat is actually seeing to be on the cusp of becoming a viable method of combat again. We’ve found that at least in the Middle East, extremist groups are less concerned about being shot at, and more worried about a bayonet charge simply because armoured individuals charging upon you to stab you to death is a VERY UNSETTLING thought.

It occurs to me, therefore, that the return of bladed weapons (beyond that of knives) may actually see a return once armoured defence catches up to the point that it becomes viable to use larger melee weapons again.

There is also the matter that firearms can be mass-manufactured, whereas swords have always been expensive to produce (hence tended to stay in the hands of officers) and timely to train. In similar analogy, the use of the longbow was subsumed by rifles not because of rifle technology becoming better at many points (the Duke of Wellington thought the idea of using longbowmen against Napoleon to be novel and practical as bows can shoot OVER barriers) but simply because there was no-one to train a longbow corps by the time it was considered desired following standard issue of rifles. Once it became easier to train soldiers to use a widely effective weapon over a specialised tool that was lower-tech but virtually as good, the rifle took over…however, as in the example above, it’s been acknowledged at various times that the longbow was pretty much as effective, just hampered by the time it took to produce the archers.

I rather doubt that a return to melee weaponry as standard armaments is due in the next ten years, but I feel that as soon as equipment meets a level whereby protection from bullets makes it harder to kill a soldier from a distance than to draw close and cleave, cut or crush their skull with some tomahawk, saber or mace, some sort of melee weapon apart from a knife might make a return to equipment lists.

#sword talk #modern

[romanceyourdemons]

let me be absolutely clear here. a better tomorrow ii (1987) is an incredibly fun film. it feels like every john woo heroic bloodshed film blended up into a smoothie. there’s blood and guts and the tenderest relationships you ever did see, and dramatic harmonica music and an absolutely crushing death scene. but here’s the thing. as fun as this film is, it doesn’t feel so much like a successor to a better tomorrow (1984) as a fanfic of it. although the character chemistry was frankly unbelievably good, the characters themselves felt very undeveloped. brotherly relationships are nominally a major part of the film, and yet the relationships between both sets of brothers, which must be fraught, are hardly explored. chow yun-fat’s character, the secret identical twin brother of his character in the last film, is in fact given very little distinct characterization of his own, and by the end seems to be subsumed entirely into the identity of the late mark as part of john woo’s project of creating the hottest character ever to commit mass murder. and it is not just chow yun-fat’s character that is sacrificed for this. woo’s films tend to use plot only as an excuse to develop his characters and put them in incredibly tender (and homoerotic) situations before having the gunfight of the century, but this film does not even do the first part. the homoeroticism felt unearned, the gunfight felt unearned, and the plot had more holes than mark lee’s duster. the action is much more overblown than in his other cantonese language films (that i’ve seen): there are many explosions, and the main character goes on a rampage with a katana when his gun runs out of bullets. of course, if you’re just going to sit back and let it wash over you, this film is incredible fun. and i did really like it, make no mistake. i loved seeing america used as an “exotic” location, and i loved the orange-peeling scene. every emotional moment woo constructs is effective. but even so i must say, a better tomorrow ii (1987) lacks the cohesion and groundedness that made its predecessor such a deeply impactful film

#anyways you thought chow yun-fat’s character was hot in the original?? #the sole goal of this film is to make him Even Hotter #and by god it works #ryddles

[lordnelson100]

Untended [Silmarillion fic]

I had been writing LOTR mostly recently and got a sudden Silmarillion mood! LOTR mood: gentle silver lamplight in the Woodland Realm. Silm mood: apocalypse.

Prompt: What if the Noldor did as the Valar asked?

The Valar sat now behind their mountains at peace; and having given light to Middle-earth they left it for long untended, and the lordship of Morgoth was uncontested save by the valour of the Noldor.

 “Of Men,” Quenta Silmarillion

The Noldor never left Aman.

They never even marched as far as Alqualondë. They heard the words of Eönwë, herald of Manwë, who perched with his eagle wings upon a cliffside to chide them for their first rebellious steps: and hearing, they turned again.

Respect, gratitude, and submission rose up in their hearts and they made their quiet way back to Tirion. To be sure, Fëanor fled away into the wilderness, and was never seen again. A tragedy! Many said the death of his father had undone his mind.

But Fëanor’s brothers and Fëanor’s sons were persuaded to pause and ponder: wisdom and caution won the day, and they returned back with the others.

Now that Melkor was fled with his prizes, indeed, the Valar took thought as to the better protection of Aman. They fortified their land anew, and they raised up the mountains of the Pelori to sheer and dreadful heights, and strewed the sea with shadows and enchantments. And so the Blessed Realm was shut against all who lived outside it.

In Middle-earth, enraptured with the glory of the ravished Silmarils and rejoicing in the unavenged blood of slain Finwë, Morgoth returned to his terrible fortess in victory. He made himself a mighty crown of iron, and fixed in it the Silmarils; he named himself “The King of the World,” and there was no one to gainsay him

But he did not sit still.

Soon his forces poured forth. Alone, unaided, Círdan and his people and all their ships were surrounded and pulled down. All along the wide salt strands, the sea birds sought for far-seeing Círdan and the Falathrim. The gulls cried, but the Sea Elves of Middle-earth were no more. The waves themselves mourned as they roared and whispered over the sands.

Denethor and his Green Elves, the Laiquendi beloved of the forest, who roamed free without wall or keep to protect them, were devoured by Morgoth’s wargs who now multiplied in numbers unhindered. The vast forests of Ossiriand reached their fingers towards the sky in mourning: the seven rivers sang in lonliness as they ran.

Doriath stood for a little while, an island of strength protected by Melian’s magic and Thingol’s stewardship. But Balrogs in unthinkable numbers came against them, and burnt all the wide earth around them and poisoned all the rivers. Then Morgoth seeded the clouds themselves with a bitter rain of acid and the forests shrivelled and blackened, even behind Melian’s Girdle.

Holding hands with her stately parents, their beautiful daughter Luthien raised her peerless voice, bringing hope to the people of Menegroth. The Sindar in all their courage and grace lifted their eyes to the sky, and sang to the Star-Kindler. Somewhere beyond the smoke drifting over Thingol’s realm, they knew that stars still shone.

But at last Morgoth opened a vast chasm in the earth at their gates, full of searing liquid fire boiling up from the heart of the world. Doriath tilted and sunk and crumbled: it fell.

Then only a few of Eru’s Firstborn remained in Middle-earth: scattered, traumatized, hiding among the shadows. Uncounted numbers of living Elves were now thralls in Angband; vast armies of the houseless dead became spirit-slaves to Morgoth, their own selves and memories lost in pain and darkness and subsumed in his crushing will.

In the mountains of Middle-earth, the Khazâd had begun to create many works of wondrous craft and delving, in underground cities lit by great lanterns and ringing with the sound of hammers.

But now when they came to the surface, each year they found the earth more and more desolate.  Little food could be found in ruined, ashen field and forest. The Elves were vanished, with whom they had in early days built tentative relations. There was no one with whom to trade; no one either to learn from, or to teach what they themselves discovered. The roads between one Dwarven people and another were soon too dangerous to travel and each of their lands became isolated from the others.

Soon they began to weaken. Their once-ambitious delvings became mere dark caves and tunnels. Their numbers dwindled. At last they began to starve. The forge was left darkened; the hammer laid aside, as strength fled from once-strong arms and clever minds clouded.

There came a day when all of the children of Aulë were gone, all the bright promise of their civilization destroyed before it could flower.

Unhindered by any foes, slowed by no siege, fearing no attacks, Morgoth had time to muse and meditate, to invent and make play with all his dark powers of invention.

Trolls he had time to modify and reshape, until they had not only great strength, but also cunning: and he sent them into the forests with the mission to hunt down the Shepherds of the Trees, Yavannah’s rare and gentle children.

Fell beasts he raised, generation upon generation, and dragons whom never knew the fear of heroes’ swords. These he pitted against the great eagles who lingered in the high places of Middle-earth. And soon there were none.

Monsters he sent East, first to Eriador, then over the Misty Mountains to Rhovanion, and even to the far and legendary Orocarni and down to burning Harad, so that no new races could ever flee or wander there. There never came to be a little mortal fisher people, living in peace in the Vales of the Anduin.

So it was that the Aftercomers, the Race of Man, awoke alone in a dead and empty world. Without teachers; without allies; without messengers of hope.

#

Meanwhile in Aman, the centuries turned.

The Trees lay bare and dead. But the Valar made in their place the Sun and the Moon, so that the lands had light and warmth again. Just as the Trees had replaced the Lamps that Morgoth broke, the Sun and Moon replaced the Trees.

The Valar had the power to make new things when Morgoth broke the old. Therefore they thought: why rage and suffer in pursuit and battle with him? Here in the Valars’ safe land, a new wonder could always be created!

To think upon their brother’s deeds in Middle-earth: how sad, how ugly. And so —-they did not do so.

Among their Elven guests, festivals were held in Valmar and Tirion and Alqualondë on every occasion; feasting and amusements never ceased.

Many Eldar simply sat at the feet of the Valar, in meditation and repose. Though Fëanor was gone, others who loved arts and invention became in their turn great artisans and created wonders upon wonders. Scholars debated infinitely fine distinctions of truth, without pressure from outward threats and fleeting time. There were goodly woods and gardens in abundance, where no danger lurked, where lions were tame and no spider crept, and all the paths were straight.

Ever the music played, and the people danced in innocence.

No one had a sword.

One day, as the Teleri raced in the harbor in their swan ships, their lookouts began to call out to one another. A strange shape seemed to be forming on the blue horizon.

All at once, a vast huge shape reared up: it was the form of a King, high almost as the clouds, crowned with sea-foam and accompanied by a thousand circling white birds and leaping dolphins. He carried in his enormous fist a mighty spear and he seemed to raise it against an unseen foe.

The Sea Elves of the West cried out in wonder and pointed. “Ulmo! Ulmo! See the great Power of the Sea!” they cried. Then, as they looked, the mighty regal form shifted, warped, and seemed to stagger: with a terrible unearthly cry, his body suddenly broke apart, as if the matter of the sea itself was rent into a million parts. The watching Elves on their ships screamed and wept.

Not for long. For in the wake of cataclysm rose an enormous wave, which burst over the pearl strands of Alqualondë and carried all away.

Rumor of the terrible destruction had already spread through Valinor, and already all the other Elves had rushed to the high places of the land to look forth. Others rang bells and shouted alarms. Many prayed, of course, and rushed to the holy places in which they were wont to meet with the Valar: the Circle of Doom where justice was declared, the healing gardens of Lorien, the forges of Aulë , the forests where Oromë  hunted. But the Valarin were not in their usual haunts.

Instead, they, too, were to be seen on the high hills and on the walls. Standing, silent, the Valar looked Eastward.

In that direction, a great black cloud was billowing, shot through with lightning. The ocean, having drowned Alqualondë , had settled into a strangely flat and desolate waste of darkened water.

And all at once they saw them coming.

Out from the waves rose the heads, then the shoulders, of a vast legion. From the water they came dripping, as if they had marched across the deep unseen floor of the ocean itself,

The shapes of Men and Elves the sodden army had—-but dead, all dead, their eye sockets gaping, their flesh ruined, their bony hands reaching without warmth.

Over the horizon came black ships, manned by houseless spirits, whose half-seen wraiths flickered at the tillers and on the yards.

Balrogs the size of towers waded between them, cracking their whips of flame.

The sky was filled with dragons, whose length and size were swollen beyond what an incarnate mind could accept. They blotted out the stars.

In the midst of all came wading Morgoth. He was as a mountain crowned with flames; and he laughed.

“You left me the world to tend, my brothers and sisters!” he said. “I thank you for it. Taste now the fruits of it!”

#

#silmarillion #isolationism #happy holidays have an apocalypse #Fic

[pasta-abomination]

FemslashEx 2020 Dear Creator letter

Dear Creator,

Thank you for bringing more femslash into the world! And thank you especially for making femslash for me, too. Gonna jump to the prompts under the cut:

General Housekeeping

Canon pronouns and gender identities:

Bending canon pronouns or identities is delightful, but completely optional.

DNWs: Explicit works where the characters are underage, ship or character bashing, kinks involving bodily fluids/excretions, stories focused on marriage (characters being married is fine, and I do like "woke up married" stories or fake or arranged marriage stories, but not stories where The Marriage Is The Point) or kidfic.

Re: g!p: Like I said, I love genderbending, and that does mean I'm theoretically okay with a lot of things--aliens, robots, magic, ABO, etc., in addition to things like gender play during sex, toys, intentionally fucking with gendered cues, clothing, etc. I'm also really a fan of stories that can respectfully include nuances of marginalized identities & experiences.

So if you want to engage with real identities in your fic, please do--I love exploring different potential "versions" of characters, and thinking about how a character's canon or canon-adjacent characterization might fit with the experiences of multiple different identities. I love stories that celebrate bodies and experiences that are considered non-normative.

My only caveat is that, if you're going to give a character a dick only so they can fuck someone with it, or if the fact that the character has a dick is the kink (i.e. if the character having a dick & using it in particular ways is the thing you’re really interested in writing), please have it be the result of something like magic, or shapeshifting, or even technology (aliens and robots!) instead of including it under the banner of trans or intersex identity.

tl;dr: Wanna write about trans or intersex versions of a character, including depictions of people with penises using those for sex? I would love that. Wanna write about Adora boning down with a flesh-and-blood dick because you think She-Ra has BDE? Have it be a magical transformation of some kind.

General Likes

Hurt/Comfort - Tending wounds! Bedside vigils! Nightmares! Reassurance! Touch-starved characters! Shared grief! Oh my!

Casefic/Mission fic - Mostly exactly what it says on the tin

Worldbuilding - Similar to genfic, but I just *clenches fist* Worldbuilding. Religion, magic, geography, history--especially if it adds something to our understanding of the characters and the experience of the bigger story.

Genderbending & Subcultural Identities - I really like exploring how a character might fit/not fit/understand themselves within IRL identity frameworks, or even thinking about how existing identity frameworks in the canon universe might influence how the character sees themself. This might be worldbuilding-heavy (I'd be super fascinated by the nuts and bolts of gender fluidity and transition with the kind of magic that Etheria has) or just a, "I feel like these two characters have a butch/femme dynamic and I'm going to play that up" or literally writing about a character trying out a haircut and a more non-binary way of being in the world and... enjoying it?

That also shows up in my ABO. I really like ABO that focuses on the subcultures that might  exist in that kind of world.

Altered states: Drunk, high, or otherwise intoxicated characters. Magic influencing peoples' emotional and mental state. Sleep deprivation, adrenaline, near-death experiences.

Thoughtful smut - You know that galaxy brain meme that went around where the highest level was "porn with math"? Yeah, that's me.

Poly - I only selected one triad for this (Dani/Sarah/Grace under Terminator) but I do really like poly relationships, and I’m generally okay with F/F/M as well, although I’d really prefer that the focus be on the women in the relationship. My only ask is that Catra (and Adora, for that matter) not be added to She-Ra pairings unless specifically requested or noted--I like them both a lot, I’ve requested them both together and separately, but I’d also like the spirit and the dynamics of the Adora- and Catra-related pairings I’ve requested for that fandom to be honored, and that rarepair requests not get rolled into & subsumed by the juggernaut pairing. (And, “requesting” can be either in the ~official request~ or in the prompts).

Following on that, though, I am a huge fan of complicated emotional dynamics. Liking two people at the same time but in different ways and for different things? Fan. Fucking someone and thinking of someone else? Awesome. Meaningful and unique present-day emotional relationship that doesn’t replace or assuage the pain of a past relationship and the longing for that person? Heaven. Complicated emotional dynamics are my Jam. As long as neither relationship is denigrated and the pairing requested is the focus of the fic.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Prompt Set 1: Adora/Glimmer, Perfuma/Adora, Adora/Mermista, Adora/Huntara, Huntara/Perfuma

My rarepairs!

These are the ships I ship because of canon moments, but are super rare in the fandom Because Reasons. And I like just about every ship in the fandom, but wanted to make sure these in particular got some love because they're fun, and I'm going to tell you why I like them, and some favorite tropes or prompts I have with them.

Adora/Glimmer- in PARTICULAR because of:

In 1x04 when Adora sneaks into Glimmer's room to sleep on the end of her bed. 

Bed-sharing is a GREAT trope with these two, whether accidentally, purposefully, or "oh no there's only one bed".

In "The Shadows of Mystacor" where Glimmer straight-up falls asleep on Adora in little spoon position in the hot springs

The day of Glimmer's coronation where Adora confesses that Angella told her to "take care" of Glimmer (even though she told them to "take care of each other", which is also super fucking shippy for me) and then resolves that she's going to do that

In "Mer-mysteries", their argument sounds like a subtextual break-up, and I love that

The scene in "Beast Island" where Adora almost gives up and then remembers Angella's last words to her and remembers *Glimmer* and even if I'm not feeling very shippy it still just hits me right in the feels

The implication in "System Failure" (the s1 episode where Entrapta is introduced) that Adora smashes rocks for Glimmer's enjoyment. Just. Y'know. Glimmer getting her buff gf to move things around for her. Carry things. Like boulders. Especially when she lifts things over her head--

Perfuma/Adora - Gosh, I'm just super Here For how Perfuma looks at She-Ra. I'm also here for: 

Perfuma and Adora getting high together and having adventures and making out a little and being happy and cozy together

I appreciate that Adora doesn't just immediately lose the femmephobia she was raised with in the Horde on joining the Rebellion (I think that would probably be more of a Process(TM) than they had time for onscreen) and so generally Adora being uncomfortable and kind of a jock but then getting shown up/put in her place. Obviously by the time Adora tells Huntara that Perfuma "is a demon in battle", she's wised up, but that's three whole seasons of material to work with :P

Anything with Perfuma trying to teach Adora how to relax/meditate (depending on your ADHD feels you can make that explicitly ADHD Adora--active meditation is a thing!)

Perfuma being Very Into her buff girlfriend and Adora being kind of a himbo

Adora/Mermista - I LOVE the energy with these two. Mermista especially feels like she's confident in her powers in a way that even Glimmer and Adora aren't--even though Adora and Glimmer are more experienced commanders/combatants. I feel like Mermista would enjoy Adora's cockier side that comes out when she's She-Ra.

Adora/Huntara - Adora's instant crush on Huntara when they meet in the Crimson Waste is one of the most memorable moments of the show for me, and this show has been very memorable, okay

Adorable butch4butch vibe

Competitive jocks competing jockily

Huntara feels very penitent by the end of the episode where they meet, I would love some penitent Huntara

I'm not sure what her fascination with She-Ra was, but in my head, it's not just about the haunted crashed spaceship, it's about something she knows about She-Ra from her time in the Wastes, and she holds some kind of reverence for her. Being a warrior woman and all

Would also like sad/thoughtful/wistful/quiet/aching moments with these two after the war where they're trying to adjust to like... living at peace. Or how they *can't* adjust to living at peace. And their shared or distinct experiences with the Horde.

For some reason, I really like the idea of Perfuma getting *both* Adora and Huntara high somehow and the three of them having a lot of fun but wow Adora and Huntara's stoned personalities. Just imagine the possibilities.

Huntara/Perfuma - OKAY. I *really* loved their dynamic in "Valley of the Lost". Just. *REALLY* loved it. The vast difference in perspectives, the suggestion that Perfuma liked Huntara but thought Huntara was prickly and didn't like her back, Huntara wondering if Perfuma can handle herself and then Perfuma showing literally *everybody* up.

Perfuma calling Huntara her "desert rose" is um. Fantastic.

I don't know if I see these two *dating* exactly, but I really just need the two of them to have Supremely Gay and Supremely Butch/Femme moments

I just have this feeling that Huntara could be Incredibly Smooth and sweep Perfuma off her feet for like. A mission. A ball, like Princess Prom. A dance. A party. A shindig. A ritual. What Have You. 

(And I think being able to sweep Perfuma off her feet would go a long way towards making Huntara feel... more like herself, after uprooting her life and going back to the war and apparently getting chipped by Horde Prime. She is butch, she is rough, she is smart and competent and god knows she's tough, and in the Waste, she was on top, she was *the* top of the food chain. And here... maybe, sometimes, she feels inadequate. Here, she's just cannon fodder again. In the desert, she *knew* things that set her apart. Here, she's just... mildly informed.)

Prompt Set 2: Madame Razz/Mara, Mara/Light Hope, She-Ra Entity/Mara, Entrapta/Darla

I was going to call these my "Worldbuilding Set" of prompts, but then I realized that this could much more honestly be called "Weird--But Sweet--Xeno Prompts”. 

Madame Razz/Mara - I was inspired in part by Noelle's remark that there's a note in the show bible that Madame Razz has dated "like, everyone in Etheria" because she's dislodged from linear time and has been around forever besides that.

Then I rewatched S1 and there was that scene where Razz tells Adora her and Mara used to go stargazing at the Crystal Castle. And there *was* the way she referred to Mara as "my Mara". And then I was sold.

I don't mean anything weird or kinky by it (which, no judgement if you do), just... idk, in my head, it's a very May/December dynamic, or, heh, maybe Mayfly-December dynamic, depending on how Razz does with linear time. And it sounds like on some level, Mara was kind of an apprentice to her? And, Mara is both very strong and competent and also just seems like this really gentle person? She seems very much like Steve Rogers lol.

Like there is a real potential for worldbuilding in here, too. But a lot of this dynamic is just very... peaceful and domestic.

Mara/Light Hope - GOD THESE TWO CAUSE ME PAIN. I love them. I love the tragedy of them. I love Light Hope's wobbly steps towards self-awareness and self-will. I love the hope of that journey. I love Mara's deepening connection with Etheria. I love the wonder of it. I love how she takes up the mantle of She-Ra in earnest.

And I love how inevitably the end comes up on them. How they're caught in events outside their control. I love how bravely they fight, and how brilliantly--and how it's not enough. I love how *powerful* they are, both of them, in their own specific ways, but they were maneuvered into this position by people who ensured they could keep the upper hand.

And I love how their love is still so strong that a thousand years later, it keeps Adora safe and proves to be their superiors' ultimate undoing. Catradora may have saved the universe in S5, but Marahope did it first.

Some prompts:

Any worldbuilding you want to do around the First Ones, the First Ones’ tech, the Heart of Etheria Project, Grayskull Squadron (ahaha that’s a Rogue Squadron/Rogue One reference isn’t it), She-Ra, the magic of Etheria, other runestones that were active in Mara’s time but are defunct by Adora’s, worldbuilding about the various kingdoms and Princesses, Mara learning from Light Hope, Light Hope learning from Mara... all of it

Light Hope falling in love with Mara--I just want to see how, and why, and what it was like for her, and what Mara did that set her apart from Light Hope’s other charges (if you think that there were others before Mara, which is kind of my base assumption but I’m absolutely willing to read another take), and just *gay noises*

Light Hope mentioned that there were “many” She-Ra/s before Mara, and while she did lie about a lot of things, a lot of her lies were lies of omission or shading of the truth, not just outright false--Mara did the damage to Etheria that she did, but LH lied about why, for instance. Or with the Portal Adora was brought through, Light Hope simply failed to mention that she was the one who brought Adora through it, and allowed Adora to continue in her assumption that Hordak was both the person who opened the portal and the one who brought her through. So, I’d be curious about Light Hope’s feelings for her other charges--was she serially and hopelessly into these magical warriors? Or was there something different about Mara?

Light Hope’s journey to self-will is TRAGIC and beautiful and I love it. And it sounds very much like something that happened over the course of different relationships with multiple people. And I want to hear about all of it and why it culminated when and how it did.

Light Hope training Mara

Mara being adorable?? Help???

Light Hope helping Mara get adjusted to her new role after she’s selected to be She-Ra

Light Hope adjusting to Mara after Mara is selected to be She-Ra

Mara experiencing Etheria’s magic

Light Hope being snarky at Mara while Mara sleeps with the Princesses has Normal Organic Relations with people and the two of them are pining for each other but neither of them really knows it consciously (after all, how would you date an AI? Would AIs date? There’s no social precedent for this. Is there?)

I would actually really like to see something with Mara and Light Hope doing what they came to Etheria to do and studying the planet’s magic, too

Magic and technology and xeno elements--Magical transformations, dreams, visions, new powers, coping with new powers, aliens!, virtual reality, telepathic/mental connections, uses of magic and tech for sex, etc.

Entrapta/Darla - I just love how horny on main Entrapta is for technology, and I love the observation that someone on the creative team shared that Entrapta sees tech as a living creature, and sees the “humanity” in it. I am open to anything here. Go wild.

She-Ra Entity/Mara - This is super niche and very worldbuilding-heavy, potentially, but I really love the idea of there being a relationship of sorts between not just Mara and She-Ra, but the She-Ra line and the She-Ra entity, going back to whenever the First Ones bound her to the Sword, and maybe even further back.

Queer spiritual & religious metaphors? In my fanfic? It's more likely than you think.

Prompt Set 3: Double Trouble/Catra, Castaspella/Shadow Weaver, Glimmer/Shadow Weaver, Catra/Glimmer

My trash children prompts! And by "trash children", I mean everything from "my genderpunk trash children" to "these two need a whole buddy comedy except they spend 95% of the film loathing each others' guts" to "holy wow student-teacher power imbalance".

Castaspella/Shadow Weaver - If you were wondering which pairing I thought "needs a whole buddy comedy", this is that pairing. Just like, a buddy comedy, but in a romantic way. They feel like they’d be great fodder for crackfic, because once you get Really Into the weeds of magic usage and these old family-related hatreds it gets either very technical and serious or just very ridiculous and honestly I like both options.

I have this very weird, very specific AU idea where the two of them have to go undercover as a married couple while simultaneously *loathing* each other and of course they bang it out eventually

I'm also a fan of whatever it is you think about them. I just about guarantee it.

Glimmer/Shadow Weaver - In my head, a lot of this is going to be after Glimmer’s coronation. 

Their dynamic definitely has shades of “Glimmer is hurting and overwhelmed and will respond extremely well to a vaguely maternal figure no matter how vague or inappropriate”

There is always the lure of forbidden knowledge and Glimmer being high on the sense of competency and power and general ability to do things, which she probably feels she’s been denied all her life--and that have only been given to her at a huge personal cost. Glimmer might be mad at the world, mad at herself, mad at her mother. 

I looooooooooooooove a good moral corruption story. I love how Glimmer seems like she’d be drawn to Shadow Weaver’s ruthlessness, especially after her interactions with Catra and how Catra tricked them constantly and weaponized their good natures and intentions against them

I've seen people point out that this seems like an appropriate pairing for tentacles and I have to say I agree.

Double Trouble/Catra - I don't know *why* I found it so endearing when Double Trouble would show the slightest basic kindness to Catra and Catra would just... melt? I mean, fine, they were getting paid to care, and DT was probably really interested in the drama too. 

But then, you have the two of them egging each other on at being terrible, too. Being devious and misbehaved. I just need the two of them being my trash children. My gender-nonconforming queer punk trash children. Who make out sometimes, or have this... tension between them. Who might turn on each other sometimes, but god help you if you come after either one.

Catra/Glimmer - Idk, I especially enjoy them after seeing their dynamic in S5. I would love to see more of them doing... whatever, basically. I love how alike they are, and the ways they're different. And I love how Glimmer warms to Catra.

Catra annoying Glimmer. Because she is a cat.

Glimmer *getting* Catra, because they are a *lot* alike in some ways.

... And also any kind of "the aliens made them do it" smut fic you want to write about while they're out in space

Avatar: The Legend of Korra

Korra/Raava, Korra/Kuvira, Asami Sato/Lin Beifong, Korra/Lin Beifong, Kuvira/Opal

Korra/Raava - Kind of like with the She-Ra/Mara pairing under SPOP, I like there being an actual "relationship" between the mystical entity and the human connected to that entity. I'm not really looking for smut here, unless you're really feeling it, but any take on that is welcome.

Korra/Kuvira - This is, like, the opposite of Korra/Raava. Lol. All my rough pairing things apply:

Physical roughness. Can include rough sex, adrenaline/post-fight sex, sparring, or just actual fighting. Two women with dirt and blood streaking their skin snarling and circling each other? Perfect. Women who are scraped and sweaty and 

Mystical elements - Reversal lol, but I do like mystical healing, telepathic or empathic connections

Redemption arc stuff for Kuvira, bc obvs.

Neither of them seem particularly prone to indulging in substances, but if they did, or if there was an AU, I do also love it when two warrior types get intoxicated together somehow

Asami Sato/Lin Beifong - Idk, I feel like Asami has probably gotten in trouble before, right? And I don’t see Lin being very moved by flirting, but I could totally see Asami making a pass at her and it backfiring lol--maybe even before she met the Avatar. 

And then after that, Asami worked alongside Lin when she started working with the Avatar. And then she's worked with Lin in a non-bending professional capacity for a while too, post-s3. Idk. Maybe they have pre-Avatar interactions, or interactions that don’t revolve around the plot of Avatar, and there’s some kind of romantic or sexual Thing between them? 

Korra/Lin Beifong - I have a few dynamics I like with these two:

Grumpy/sunshine pairing

The sunshine one is superpowered

Sparring with a D/S flavor

A lot of the “rough pairing” notes I made for Korra/Kuvira apply here, too, except there’s not so much of a rivalmancy going on 

Under the Muppet Theory of Relationships, I’d probably place Lin on the Order Muppet side and Korra on the Chaos Muppet side. 

Kuvira/Opal - Mostly thinking post-rehabilitation for Kuvira. The two of them find each other again and a lot has changed. 

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Katara/Azula, Toph Beifong/Katara

Katara/Azula - If you like me are into this ship--thank god I’m not the only one. I don’t know why I like the idea of the dynamic between them so much--Azula’s conviction of her right to rule, her redemption arc that never materialized, Katara’s involvement with the Avatar, the opposing natures of their powers, Katara’s mastery vs. Azula’s. It’s just *clenches fist* phenomenal fodder for enemies-to-lovers, the trauma they both carry, the different monsters they have inside them.

Toph Beifong/Katara - These two were super fucking adorable and had the best tomboy/femme vibe and I would like to see more of that dynamic at literally any point throughout their lives. Alternately, I am up for any ideas you have about them.

Terminator (Movies)

Grace Harper/Dani Ramos - THE LOYALTY. THE TRAGEDY. THE KNEELING.

Grace Harper/Sarah Connor - I am game for anything: Grace lives, Grace dies, Grace rises from the dead a vampire (j/k. Unless you’re into that idea). Unlike the other two pairings here, I really like the roughness and snark between them, the fact that they don’t entirely get along even when they’re nominally getting along. They feel like they’re constantly competing, and I would love for that competition to either extend to the bedroom or for them to work their differences out through banging or for meditation on how Grace reminds Sarah of Kyle or--

Dani Ramos/Sarah Connor - I wonder sometimes if Sarah calms down once Grace is gone, mostly because they’re no longer in immediate danger, but also because Grace seems to really chafe for Sarah more than Dani. Sarah seems almost soft in her regard for Dani, and I love that and I love how it comes from this sympathy she feels for Dani’s position. It feels really rare for her, and I love the juxtaposition of her roughness, grief, and caring.

For these two, I’d be really curious about anything that happens post-Dark Fate.

Dani Ramos/Sarah Connor/Grace Harper - I like all three of the above pairings, so why not put all three of them together? I think it’d be fun. Especially if the three of them are on the road together after the events of Dark Fate in an AU where Grace lives. Road trips, cyborgs, time travel, and gay sex.

Grace Harper/OFC, Dani Ramos/OFC - I know a lot of people really like the idea of Grace only ever having been with or interested in Dani, or vice versa, but I kind of feel like having more experience would make them better lovers when they’re with each other. Things I like a lot with this:

Grace blowing off steam with another Augment

Grace having drunk/high sex with another Augment

Dani occasionally sleeping with Augments when she doesn’t have Grace and really needs the comfort

The two of them fucking other people and thinking about each other

The two of them fucking and thinking about the other version of their partner

Worldbuilding for Dani’s post-Judgement Day world through the lens of femslash

#dear creator letter

[imagineclaireandjamie]

There is a song by The Fast Romantics called "Why we fight" and ever since the first time I heard the song on the radio, I always thought it really fits Jamie and Claire's passionate relationship, and would make a really good AU prompt or fic. Do love all the mod's writing! :)

In our bedrooms we are freedeep in the guts of meI love you violentlyuntil the dawn’s early lightThis is why we fight

Cool, fresh air whipped Claire’s face, the mad curls ofher hair pushing free, her whole body thrumming with *life.*

Still she urged her horse to go even faster, gallopingacross the open field, leaping over streams and shearing the tops offwildflowers. Chasing the horizon.

So alive – and free – and full of joy.

Especially because of the man racing on his horse besideher – his red curls whipping around that fine, strong jaw she ached so deeplyto touch, his blue eyes smiling in disbelief at her antics.

For she trusted him with her courage, and her daring, andher thirst for life. And he cherished them for the rare gifts that they were.

—

They hobbled the horses in their customary spot – a gladewithin the trees, on the far edge of the estate. Very private.

Three years now they had raced their horses – challenged eachother. Always ending up at this same spot, which he had discovered by accidentand which she loved as the one place she felt safe.

For here it did not matter that she was Lady ClaireMacKenzie, wife of Lord Callum MacKenzie, an intimate of the King’s and one ofthe largest landowners on the border with Scotland.

It did not matter that he was Sir James MacKenzie Fraser,nephew of the Lord (via an acknowledged bastard line), an outlaw from hisnative Scotland come into the service of his feeble-bodied uncle. Who protectedthat which was valued most dear – the Lady Claire, sole heiress of theBeauchamp lands that had been subsumed into the MacKenzie holdings upon theirmarriage five years previously.

In this glade – cut off from the manor, and Court, andthe stables, and everyone who constantly sought to isolate them and mold theminto people they did not want to be – he was Jamie, and she was Claire, andthey found refuge in each other.

“Tell me again,” she whispered, watching him play withthe fingers of her right hand. Settled against a live oak whose trunk was wideenough to cradle the both of them – miles from prying ears – they dreamed.

“We’d sleep in my parents’ room,” he began, “in the bed Iwas born in. I’d wake ye wi’ the dawn – just when it’s light enough to see yerbonny face – and love ye, quiet, as the sun came up.”

She swallowed, and he dug his nail into the lines of herpalm. She gasped.

“And ye’d ken in that moment just how much I love ye,Claire.” His voice rasped hot against her neck. His face turned against hercheek, nuzzling. “I’d freeze that moment in time, if I could – if it meantforever. Forever wi’ ye.”

She squeezed his fingers – watched his knuckles pop white– wanting. Wanting so much more than she could ever offer him.

“And then I’d hold you so close to me,” she swallowed. “Notbelieving what we have is real.”

Claire inhaled deeply – then released. “And then we’dneed to scramble for our clothes because the children would come in.”

She felt his smile. “Aye – all of them, all at once. Theeldest holding the youngest by the hand – settling into bed wi’ us.”

“And we’d hold them, and love them – let them know howmuch they were wanted.”  

“Because they are a blessing from God. And they will havechoice over everything in their lives – how to live, where to live. What to do.Who to marry.”

Jamie undid the button at her wrist, snaking one largefinger to trace the fine blue veins there. So soft.

“And then breakfast – and then you’d be off to tend tothe animals, and check on the fields.”

“Aye – and then ye’d come wi’ me, bringing all thechildren, and yer wee basket of herbs too. Because ye never ken when ye’ll findsomething ye can use for yer healing.”

They knew this story – what would, could, would never betheir story – by heart. It was woven from so many hours of loneliness – longingfor the life they may have had, had dreams been reality.

Claire didn’t realize her eyes were shut – or that shehad been crying – until Jamie began kissing her tears away.

She swallowed down a sob – but he knew, he always knew.

“Will we still be dreaming of this life when we are oldand grey, Jamie?”

He kissed the tip of her nose.

“Is this – this moment now – all we will ever have?”

He kissed the edge of her mouth.

“Why do I keep dreaming of a life with you, when I knowit will never come?”

He untied her bonnet, gently setting it on the grass,caressing her temples, gathering bunches of her curls into his capable hands.

“Ye keep me alive. And I ken I do the same for ye.”

He brought her brow to his, fingers tangled in her hair.

“That’s why. Even if it crushes yer heart, *mo nighean donn*.I canna live in a world wi’out ye in it.”

“But I want you to be my *whole* world.”

Fresh tears spilled. And he kissed them away again.

“Ye are, for me. Nothing matters more to me than yerhappiness.”

Bravely he settled his hands on her hips – or where herhips would be, had she not been covered with so damn many layers of skirts andpetticoats.

“Callum is no’ much longer for this world – everyone kenshe marrit ye so that ye could tend him. You know as well as anyone – he’s no’getting any better.”

She swallowed. “No.”

“So – when he dies, then that is our chance.”

“And what if he does not die soon?” Now her eyes opened,whisky eyes – the eyes that could get him drunk with just one glance –flashing. “He has already outlived all expectations. And then there’s Dougal – ”

“What about him?”

“You know that he’ll make a claim on me the instantCallum dies. And he’ll force me to accept him.”

“No’ if I have any say in it!” Jamie drew back, suddenlyflushed. “Ye are no’ a plaything, Claire! Ye are a person – a whole, beautifulperson – and – ”

“With the Beauchamp lands hanging around my neck,” sheinterrupted. Bitter.

“It’s my job to protect ye.” His voice was careful –measured – anger kept barely in check. “I love ye, Claire. I will fight for ye –Christ, I’d gladly *die* for ye, if ye’d let me. And if I canna protect ye atthat moment – when ye’d need it the most – then I canna protect ye at all.”

He turned away, back hunched, head in his hands.

She knew better than to touch him.

“That’s why I’ve never even kissed ye, Claire. When thetime comes, I want there to be no doubt. No whispers about yer virtue – no stainson yer character. For I may be many things, but I’d never play another manfalse. No’ where his wife is concerned.”

She crossed her legs beneath her voluminous gown, handsfolded in her lap. Wanting so badly to comfort him – but damn him, he wasright.

“And between now and then?”

Slowly he sat up – then crawled over to her – and tookher hands in his.

“We race – and we dream – and we plan. We’ve neverdecided on names for the children.”

That got her to laugh – and his heart leapt at the soundof it.

“I do love you, you know.”

He kissed the back of one hand – and then the back of theother.

“I hope our son has a heart as selfless as yours.”

He smiled at her – and the world stopped.

“I hope our daughter will be as strong and confident asher mother,” he whispered.

—

The race back to the manor house was long over – and bothhorses slowed to a trot as they glided through the main gates.

Jamie was just behind her – befitting his station.

The stable lads were waiting to help her off her horse.

She slid to the dirt – and they bowed.

“Thank you, Sir James,” she called up to her knight,sitting quite still atop his mount.

He nodded in deference to her station.

And then she disappeared into the manor.

Jamie balled her handkerchief – which she had used to dryher brow after their race this morning, and then pressed into his hand as hehelped her tie on her bonnet before leaving the glade – in his fist.

Through the upstairs window, he watched Claire enter Callum’sstudy and curtsy before his desk.

He said a quick prayer, then stepped out of the saddle,and led the horse to the stables to be cared for.

#;mod gotham #the thistle and the rose

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: Cloud Blossoms

Paul D’Agostino, “Cloud Blossoms 1” (2017), watercolor, ink, felt marker, graphite, and charcoal wash on paper, 12 x 9 inches

Disclaimer #1:

In a very real way, these “Cloud Blossoms” drawings are about as vapid as they look. Frivolous eye candy for some, perhaps, and maybe relatively pleasant as such. For others, idiotic visual treacle, more or less, and likely several drops too much. I’m fine with either take on them, really. I’m also fine with a regard of complete indifference. At the same time, some of the drawings do just happen to engage in joyously silly dances when looked at through 3D glasses. So, there’s that to consider. Oops!

Those are a few possible takes on my “Cloud Blossoms,” takes that might well have been made more resolute following the note about 3D glasses — the likely effect that note had on the treacle-seers. Speaking of treacle, and while I’m still here disclaiming, I might as well also acknowledge that it’s abundantly possible that looking at my “Cloud Blossoms” brings to mind the Care Bears, because that’s what happened to me at one point as I was photographing them — which did seem an almost exaggerated act to perform on works like these.

But it is true that I thought, with mixed chagrin and delight, ‘Care Bears!’ And then, an instant later, ‘Care Bears.’ You know, because sometimes one thinks with punctuation. The more I thought about that, and the more my thoughts went back and forth in punctuation, the more resolved I became that there must be something about a certain mix of blues and pinks that causes the brain to conjure an entire spectrum of colorful little teddy bears who live in the sky and shower love, happiness, peace, well-being, and other 80s myths all over the place. Right?

Well, I suppose this would require being of a certain age, which I am, and having a certain slightly-less-than-passive awareness of Care Bears, which I do. All the same, I did think the Care Bears were a mushy drop of treacle too much even way back when I was a kiddo — long before I would’ve used the word treacle, obviously, which was also a time when no amount of exaggerated sweetness was ever ‘too much,’ particularly with regard to breakfast cereals — in part because I was much more a fan of Transformers, WWF wrestling, Garbage Pail Kids and, very soon thereafter, Thrasher Magazine, among other things that weren’t very Care-Bear-like. This is back when Thrasher’s inner pages were still printed on newsprint, by the way. It had a smell; it sullied your hands; it advertised mostly skateboard decks, wheels and other parts, and hardly ever shoes; and it would even feature round-ups of contest results, which were interesting and important to the sport back then. You bought Thrasher and sometimes TransWorld at local surf and skate shops, where you’d also leaf through the concurrent mix of surfing magazines, in no small part because of the significant presence of girls in very slight bikinis in those periodicals, a tendency which didn’t filter into skate mags with real consistency until the early 90s, most notably with one called Big Brother.

Paul D’Agostino, “Cloud Blossoms 3” (2017), watercolor, ink, felt marker, graphite, and charcoal wash on paper, 12 x 9 inches

Big Brother, oh my, what a magazine! Visionary! Transitional! Transcendent! Excellent skate photography, a somewhat oversize format overall, lots of raunchy humor and, yes, copious soft porn. Come to think of it, some of it was actual porn. On a magazine shelf, at your local skate shop! What a coup! It was also a definitively problematic skate mag to look at in school. I’m pretty sure a skater or two was beaten up for snagging someone else’s Big Brother.

Back to the Care Bears, though. They were out there too, or perhaps up there, in the Zeitgeist, right there alongside so many other broadly propagated falsehoods about the better angels of government, commerce and society at large, or about alleged improvements in equality and opportunity and so on. This is not to say that the Care Bears were part of some massive 80s conspiracy to dupe the distracted masses into waving American flags and pledging allegiance every day (remember that?) while overlooking the incipient dismantling of all manner of generally supportive sociopolitical structures and democratic mores. The Cold War hadn’t quite yet come to its supposed ‘end,’ after all, so such superstructural shifts, probably so subtle at the time as to be nearly imperceptible, were often obscured if not subsumed by the greater narrative of The United States of America versus The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. And so on.

No, the Care Bears were (probably) not part of some conspiracy like that. Although if they were, then the Cabbage Patch Kids were in cahoots with them, along with professional sports and soap operas, sitcoms, and talk shows, Saturday morning cartoons, minivans, and home improvements, and enough soda pop to fuel many a journey to space.

Those Care Bears, though, were very much a part of the popular consciousness — relevant to the ‘kindness and might’ of the USA and the evangelical movement alike. At least, they must’ve been, because they were everywhere — all over the place in toy stores and department stores, not to mention at the homes of most all of your friends who had younger sisters, and just generally visible on everything from TV to t-shirts to some kid’s Trapper Keeper. And you know, visuals sink in. So those visuals sunk in. This is also because, you have to admit, the quality of those graphics was more than passable. A few simple lines. Entire personalities conjured out of belly-bound emblems and colors. The Care Bears were also quite fun to draw—because sometimes you drew them getting ripped in half by Transformers, Voltron, or the Powell & Peralta ‘Ripper’ guy.

There were good cartoons back then. There were great cartoons back then. There might also be great cartoons now, but I don’t really know. What I do know is that gems like Ducktales are obscure to college students these days, as I recently learned from some of my students. Do they also not know Muppet Babies? What about Ren & Stimpy, who really carved the way for so much newfangled cartoonery thereafter, along with The Simpsons? I do believe they’re aware of The Simpsons.

Paul D’Agostino, “Cloud Blossoms 5” (2017), watercolor, ink, felt marker, graphite, and charcoal wash on paper, 12 x 9 inches

Well, before this first disclaimer gets any more out of hand, I’ll move on — because if I don’t, I’ll soon get on a ‘useful’ tangent about the joys of certain breakfast cereals, especially those high-octane sugar-fests that had the best graphics and most lovable ‘mascots,’ and that your parents would almost never let you get.

And so, in sum, the thrust of Disclaimer #1: My “Cloud Blossoms” are insipid drawings, and easy to like, hate or ignore (with or without 3D glasses). They might also be reminiscent of the Care Bears, icons, and associative memory-conjurers of an entire era.

Disclaimer #2: There’s not much of anything interesting or justificatory to say about these drawings, and they’re not in any fundamental way ‘about’ our times, these times, strange times.

Disclaimer #3: You’re still here? There’s not even a third disclaimer.

Well, no matter the content of my disclaimers, my “Cloud Blossoms” drawings, however devoid of concept or active sociopolitical commentary, do exist for a reason. They’re the result of wanting to make — starting one weekend afternoon, on a whim and while listening to a basketball game on the radio — some corny drawings in a variety of media.

That desire to make some corny, mindless drawings had its partial impetus in a need to get away from the cerebrally crushing news cycle that day, because it was a day in 2017, and nearly every day of the news cycle has been like that this year.

That’s also why these drawings don’t have any words on them at all, which is somewhat atypical for me. I tend to relish merging texts of various sorts with drawings of various sorts, especially when working a bit insouciantly with simple materials on paper.

This was also around the time I had written quite a long treatise on ‘the difficulty of words’ this year, thanks to the caustic nature of debate and the generally shocking or harrowing nature of the news. I wrote that as a cover letter for a job, actually, knowing quite well it wouldn’t really ‘do the trick,’ as it were, of getting me the job. It certainly didn’t.

However, I did think it might ‘do the trick’ of somewhat counterintuitively making ‘words’ thereafter ‘less difficult’ — to receive, to read, to write, to process — which it did. A catharsis of sorts.

Paul D’Agostino, “Cloud Blossoms 6” (2017), watercolor, ink, felt marker, graphite, and charcoal wash on paper, 12 x 9 inches

But I still didn’t feel like putting words on these drawings. I just felt like toying with the image of thick ‘happy’ clouds having flowers blooming out of them. ‘Better than silver linings,’ I thought.

I also thought, ‘What if ‘cloud seeding’ could do this!’

And now I’m wondering if perhaps 2017 has been a particularly great year for questions beginning with ‘What if…’.

These times do feel very hypothetical, conditional, conjectural, if in fact ‘times’ can ‘feel’ that way. They’re also not awfully different — although it’s possible they’re relatively more awful — than the ‘times’ a few decades ago, as described in Disclaimer #1.

It’s all very weary-making, even for the most fearless and thickest-skinned among us. The fellow below is a testament to that. He loitered on my block for a few days a couple weeks ago, then simply disappeared.

Ah, to disappear!

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