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jennycalendar · 2 years

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as i continue to rewatch btvs, things jump out at me. thus far, buffy and angel’s relationship is a big one.

so there’s what i remember from when i was fourteen -- a kind of lingering delight and warmth at the very real and adorable chemistry that buffy and angel have -- and there’s what i’m seeing now, which incorporates that but also notices in a really big way that this is a story about a young girl dating a much older man. like, this is not a high school romance. angel is not emotionally mature, but there is a serious power difference. my dusty half-a-decade-old memories of buffy/angel involved them being a much more obvious, serious, and committed couple, but i just finished watching them in “halloween” and “lie to me” is starting to come back to me as well and i’m just like ????? my god ????? there is SO MUCH GOING ON HERE and choosing to sanitize this makes it SO MUCH LESS INTERESTING. i am at this point coming out as staunchly against the reading of buffy & angel as True Love™ and it is out of love for their dynamic that i do this.

tracking their relationship: their tentative “this can’t happen” begins to dissolve in “some assembly required,” when it’s established that 1) buffy danced with xander to make angel jealous, and 2) it very clearly worked. the show draws deliberate attention to angel labeling xander as a “kid,” treating xander LIKE a “kid” in multiple places, and simultaneously pursuing a relationship with buffy. buffy herself comments on this! there’s never any actual justification provided because there really isn’t any argument that can be made on angel’s part. if he sees xander as a kid, there is some part of him that sees buffy as a kid. point-blank.

and this continues into “reptile boy,” shows up as well even as early as “angel” -- angel himself is constantly trying to remind buffy that he’s Older than her By A Lot and that therefore this can’t ever be anything. there’s something particularly condescending about the way he addresses her in “reptile boy” when she asks him out for coffee.

the power difference in this exchange alone is crystal clear! i want to dissect it further, because i really don’t want to imply that i think angel doesn’t love buffy. i think angel and buffy indisputably love each other, but the waters are muddied by the fact that angel is constantly removing buffy’s autonomy.

in some cases this is explicit. angel refuses to let buffy ask him out at the beginning of “reptile boy” -- the scene i selected leads into this refusal. buffy herself comments on the way that he handles these situations!

the episode’s joyful conclusion -- angel asking buffy out for coffee -- has some weighty implications: the relationship can only continue when angel has decided that it will. obviously on some levels that’s how relationships work, but the particularly insidious part of this whole affair is the fact that angel’s reticence also incorporates an attempt to minimize any romantic overtures on buffy’s part. he treats her like a child. he asserts that she doesn’t know what she wants, and that it’s his responsibility as The Adult to set boundaries, but he fails to actually do so.

the problem here is the fact that IF angel is inhabiting this role of Adult, it’s his responsibility to fully step back from a romantic relationship with buffy. but he instead decides to pursue this connection, setting up this incredibly fucked dynamic where any kind of progress that they make has to be on His Terms.

"halloween” and “lie to me” both share a really important theme: angel’s past, and buffy’s reticence when it comes to asking about it. “reptile boy” already established that her direct approach doesn’t work: she asked him for coffee -- a comparatively small request for him to meet him on her turf -- and he responded by calling her a conflicted little girl. so in “halloween” she turns to theft, and in “lie to me” she turns to spying, and in both of these situations she really only gets fragmented little pieces of truth. we see her trying to make herself into the girl that she thinks angel wants her to be in “halloween,” only to later be informed that the girl that she IS is more special than any other girl in angel’s age group. we see her witness a meeting between angel and his “crazy ex,” who he subsequently informs buffy that he “broke” back before he grew into the good, loving person that only wants a happy relationship with her.

there is a message in this text, and it’s one that’s worth interrogating, particularly considering where the story goes. everyone and their mother has talked about the implications of angel “changing” after he slept with buffy, but the first half of the season -- at least from what i’ve seen thus far -- seems to suggest that there were a hell of a lot of warning signs.

THAT SAID. i do think that there is a very real connection between angel and buffy. i think that reading can coexist with the fact that there is this incredibly fucked power dynamic between angel and buffy. i think that in some ways buffy’s connection with angel is hugely informed by her trauma re: being the slayer -- we’ve seen with owen and with xander that “normal” boys don’t seem to fully understand her or allow her the kind of judgment-free support that angel definitely does. angel’s status as an Older Man with Supernatural Strength who repeatedly asserts that his first priority is always buffy is pretty much buffy’s dream scenario. she wants someone that she feels like she can rely on, and so obviously it’s going to be an older guy! a teenage boy isn’t going to provide stability when she’s facing death pretty much every day, and angel Has Literally Died Already so she doesn’t have to worry about the notion of him getting vamped.

the chemistry is palpable, the connection they have with each other is clearly very deep and true, and the comfort they share is something that i think both of them really need at that point in their lives. i just feel like there is this really fucked up and interesting part of their relationship that’s getting completely excised when it’s asserted that angel and buffy were a Healthy Connection, because the show itself is not actually framing it as such. the only person who thinks that angel and buffy are True Love is buffy, and it’s underlined multiple times within canon that this is one of the biggest problems with their relationship in early season two. buffy is so caught up in her high school fantasy that she really isn’t paying attention to the reality of who angel is, which makes SENSE! because she is SIXTEEN YEARS OLD! she’s having her first big love!

angel, however, is NOT having his first big love, and his assertions that this is the case need to be placed next to the ghost of darla and the very real presence of drusilla. the fact that angel is adamant about buffy being Special, buffy being Different, when we are shown that this is how he once saw drusilla before utterly breaking her ... the fact that buffy and drusilla are shown in the same dress in buffy’s vision, right before all the angelus stuff kicks off ... the fact that angelus very clearly treats buffy AS his next drusilla. there is so much to unpack there.

#celia's buffy rewatch 2022 edition #i don't wanna tag this as anything because like --#tagging it as pro or anti misses the point i think #i'm heavy w the critique of this relationship's messy power dynamic #but i do want it to come across that i genuinely love them #i think that they are so fascinating and important and so clearly in love #and i think it really makes me sad that there isn't more talk abt this aspect of their relationship #not coming from a ship-bashing place!#it's INTERESTING #that they can be so in love and then also so very text-supported Older Man Dating Teenage Girl #i wanna see more stuff that incorporates that.#peel back the teenage hearts n roses and reveal the ugly underbelly.

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eyes1nthewoods · 2 months

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oh god. dbh fixation returning. outlook bad.

#i am about to start making critiques that i'm sure were made years ago #connor. i love you connor. the character ever. i am giving him my exact flavor of asexuality as we speak.#kissing him very gentle on his little plastic face plate. feeding him Blood. his favori-wait a goddamn minute #also the scene with kamski when he turns deviant is sioooo . Horny. also when he doesnt but especially when he does #to be clear i don't ship it as i have exactly zero feelings towards kamski. however when an amoral scientist starts dehumanizing someone #it makes me feel a certain sort of way. not towards the scientist just the sitatuio nin genereal.#well unless the scientist is an evil woman . then i am feeling a certain way towards the scientist.#i think it's really hot when a character is confronted with something they already know to be true but are in deep denial about #in the worst way possible. like gaining consciousness. or being gay.

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cozage · 8 months

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I love your work and how you write story's, I just want ask, Zoro and Sanji's confession? They could be separated or together I'm not picky! You can choose the story btw, Sanij feels like a malewife finna be honest

Confession

Send me an event request!

Characters: g/n reader x Sanji, Zoro Cw: post battle for Zoro but nothing crazy Total word count: 460

Zoro

“That was sloppy!” Zoro scolded, storming over to you.

“I got it done, didn’t I?” you snapped back. Zoro would be the only person to critique you after you had just taken down five men single-handedly.

“And you’ll get yourself killed in the future if you do it like that again!” He sheathed his swords and offered his hand to you.

“Oh yeah? And what do you care if I live or die?” You stood up without taking his hand, staring daggers at him.

“I care.”

You scoffed, turning around and heading back to the ship. “You have a funny way of showing it.”

“Hey!” Zoro’s hand gripped your wrist and pulled you back to him. “I care. A lot.”

You were so close to him, you could feel his ragged breath steamy against your skin. His fingers ghosted across your arms, sending shivers down your back. Your own breath caught in your throat, electricity humming through your veins.

His eyes fixated on your lips. “I just don’t always know how to show it.”

You wanted to ask him what he meant, but you were frozen in the moment. Waiting for him to make a move.

His fingers moved up your arms and danced along your jawline, cupping your cheeks and anchoring you to him. Then his lips pressed firmly against yours, and your entire world flipped upside down as he kissed you with everything he had.

Sanji

Sanji had confessed his love for you every day since you met him. It never felt real, especially considering he would go tell every other girl the exact same thing the moment you left his frame of view.

But then Sanji stopped saying it to other girls. He only reserved his sweet talk for you, Nami, and Robin. And even then, he was always sweeter with you than with the others.

“What’s going on with you?” you asked, walking into the kitchen. “Why did you make me this chocolate heart? Nami and Robin said they didn’t get one?”

“I told you, my love,” Sanji cooed, looking at the heart in your hands. “I’ve given you my heart!”

“Right.” You rolled your eyes, but your heart beat faster in your chest. “I bet you say that to every girl you see.”

“I used to,” he admitted. “But I haven’t said it to another soul in the past 42 days.”

“Really?” you scoffed. “And why’s that?”

“Because 42 days ago is when I realized it.” Sanji took a step closer to you, and your breath caught in your throat as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind your ear. “It’s when I realized I loved you with all my heart. And you’re the only one for me, now.”

#one piece #one piece imagine #one piece scenario #one piece x reader #one piece x you #zoro #roronoa zoro #zoro x reader #zoro x you #sanji #vinsmoke sanji #black leg sanji #sanji x reader #sanji x you #cozage #✧˚zoro✧˚#✧˚sanji✧˚

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yanfeisty · 1 year

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— Voicelines about Creator!Reader (Liyue) ♡ ！

⊹ [ characters ] — Beidou, Chongyun, Ganyu, Hu Tao, Keqing, Ningguang, Qiqi, Shenhe, Xiangling, Xiao, Xingqiu, Xinyan, Yanfei, Yaoyao, Yelan, Yun Jin & Zhongli. ◞

⊹ [ synopsis ] — let's see what they think about you. ◞

⊹ [ cw ] — religious theme. ◞

⠀‣ Beidou

About The Creator: Relaxation

"We had to bring them to Inazuma for a few times, apparently they really wanted to travel with The Crux. Take important person like this isn't really what we do but you know my eye for people, Y/n seemed to be more than what we heard, they were a good travel buddy, playing with the crew and telling interesting stories from another world. Sad, the guards with them don't let them drink 'A drunk God in Inazuma? What would they think?'... But who cares what they think, they should let them have a bit of fun!"

About The Creator: Consort

"You can say traveling has brought us closer, haha! I'm really happy to have find someone like them. I'll never forget the celebration we had on the ship, the weather was kind to us this day, and the food was far better than what we're used to eat, and how could I forgot the drinks, I never saw Y/n that... wild, it's quite the experience, but it's good to see them without having to worry about anything."

⠀

⠀‣ Chongyun

About The Creator

"Like me they have an energy that keeps away evil spirits from them, I suppose spirits are too scared to approach in fear of vanishing into fin air. So, I wonder why people still ask me thinking they need an exorcism, last time, we called me because apparently the Creator had an unusual behavior, rambling unknown words beyond any language experts' knowledge, turned out they just had too many drinks with the leader of The Crux..."

⠀

⠀‣ Ganyu

About The Creator: Relating

"The Qixing had to work a few times with them, and I noticed they always seem a bit anxious so I always try to help them when I can, maybe it's also because I relate to them a bit, they are our Creator but they act more like a mortal, they are trapped between two worlds, leading to confusion not only for them but also others, which would always lead to critiques..."

About The Creator: Consort

"I have still a lot to finish about this, people from all regions will come so we need to strengthen the Millelith to keep everything in order, the music group that was supposed to perform left us so I have to look through the applications again, I need to verify the special invitations just in case there's an error in the date or location. Also, I'll have to go soon for the Sumeru's flowers that should arrive this afternoon. An union between who, you ask? O-Oh... me and Y/n of course! Sorry if I wasn't clear. There's no need to worry about me, I just want everything to be perfect, I don't think I will be able to not blame myself if something bad happened, I know Y/n told me they'll be happy no matter what as long as I'm with them, but that just makes me want to work more for a perfect ceremony."

⠀

⠀‣ Hu Tao

About The Creator

"Even the most superior being needs a long rest sometimes, if it's meant to happen again, the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor would be more than honored to prepare a noble ceremony for their departure. Better be quick, and offer them our buy one get one free special!"

⠀

⠀‣ Keqing

About The Creator

"Due to their return, people expect them to rule over Teyvat, which includes Liyue. People also pray to them for the minor inconvenients... *sigh* We can't rely on Gods for everything, we're perfectly capable to survive as our own, and Y/n don't seem convinced to govern alone, even before their death it was never said that the Creator was the one who ruled Teyvat, they simply enjoyed interacting with their creations."

⠀

⠀‣ Ningguang

About The Creator: Tour

"It is a great pleasure to welcome a such honorable guest into Liyue, especially when they were the one who helped us to save our nation. As the Tianquan I was more than glad to have the chance to make them visit the city, it was cute to see them insisting to pay even with no mora on them."

About The Creator: Consort

"I've heard people telling that I accepted their proposal to make my items more valuable and attract more persons to come and make deals in Liyue. In short, our marriage is just a business partnership and not an act of pure love. You... don't believe that, do you? Y/n is worth more than any amount of mora for me, and not because they're the Creator. I know I don't need to prove myself to anyone but I'm concerned if one day Y/n will listen to those rumors."

⠀

⠀‣ Qiqi

About The Creator

"I don't remember who this is... Sorry."

About Y/n

"Y/n is the one who gave me a finch, I named it just like them because they're both nice with me, so when I forgot one of them I just need to look at the other to remember... Uhh, who were we talking about?"

⠀

⠀‣ Shenhe

About The Creator: Disciple

"My family was from a clan of exorcists so they were followers of them, the clan sent prayers and asked for blessings when performing an exorcism. When my mother died, not only did my father abandon me but them too. Maybe that's why I became one of the Acolytes."

About The Creator: Consort

"My master insisted to meet Y/n, not only because they're the Creator but my partner, she wanted to meet the one who 'tamed my heart'. When they did meet, let's say both of their personalities didn't really match well together which gave... an interesting show, but at the end they agreed to share and listen to stories of my childhood..."

⠀

⠀‣ Xiangling

About The Creator

"They told me about dishes from their other world, just hearing about them makes my stomach growl, I'd love cook those dishes if they ever feel homesick, not only can food be delicious but bring warm feelings, and not just because it's hot! But I also love making them try food from here and they always seem to like and excited when I bring them a nice cooked meal!"

⠀

⠀‣ Xiao

About The Creator: Unusual

"They're a God, the oldest one, and yet their body and mind are just as weird and vulnerable as a human."

About The Creator: Consort

"Hm... Yes, about that. Could you help me with something? They always seem to care about me a lot, trying to heal me and making me food, even though I need none of this, but I heard it's expected to show gratitude to the person who cares about you. Since they act more like a human, I don't know what should I offer them. Flowers? Hm... Maybe something that gives me more work, picking up flowers isn't enough to thank them for everything they have done for me. Flowers crowns? I mean... I guess I can try to make one. You think that would make them smile if I had one too? Fine... Show me how to do it."

⠀

⠀‣ Xingqiu

About The Creator

"Ah, they're quite the difficult topic to avoid. My presence was required when my family invited them for a warm welcome to Liyue, I cannot say more as it was a private meeting, but I didn't imagine them with such a casual and clumsy personality, if you would have seen the faces of my father and brother, hehe... Just to say another meeting won't come anytime soon."

⠀

⠀‣ Xinyan

About The Creator

"Who'd think that someone like them would like my performance? Even better, they encourage it! I mean, that's understandable, staying with the most uptight persons and doing boring work all day... Can't even imagine the nightmare, they certainly got the rock 'n' roll's spirit!"

⠀

⠀‣ Yanfei

About The Creator

"Ah... Yes, I'm aware that because of their position we allow them more than we should, but it's not like anyone mind or they do anything bad, the worse that happened was them and Xinyan being a bit too loud. I've heard of a fireworks show in all of Inazuma and a wanted gang getting out of prison, but it's outside of my territory to talk furthermore."

⠀

⠀‣ Yaoyao

About The Creator

"They're always so heavily guarded, so you can always be sure they are in good health with no injuries, but I do worry about how they feel with being followed by people who watch your every move all day. So, whenever I see them, I ask how are they and I always have a ration of their favorite food with me. If you encounter them, tell hi from me and to take care!"

⠀

⠀‣ Yelan

About The Creator: Easy target

"If you knew the number of cases related to them, from little scammers to hitmen, there sure is a great variety. Since the Creator has a more powerful influence than strength, criminals think they are the perfect target for great sum of mora, but they sometimes underestimate a bit too much those close to the Creator and I'm not talking about the Millelith."

About The Creator: Consort

"Shh, not so loud. Surprised, aren't we? That means we're doing a good job at keeping it as a secret. I don't want to be known and blow up my cover, plus with the danger it can attract to them, so we can't announce it publicly but it's not that bad, seeing others thinking they have a chance with them is a funny show, unless Y/n feels uncomfortable, to this I'll attend to it personally when nobody is watching."

⠀

⠀‣ Yun Jin

About The Creator

" 'Through a simple whisper, thousands winds started to blow. Hands drew a river, rising waves emerged from the flow. Love was poured into the earth, and life began to grow~' Aren't these beautiful lyrics? There's a few operas about the Creator as we didn't know them much. We invited them but they appeared a bit embarrassed, which I can understand, so I try to sing tales that aren't about them and might fit their taste. I'm used to hear praises but their enthusiasm about my singing never fails to delight me."

⠀

⠀‣ Zhongli

About The Creator: Hopeful future

"I was surprised to hear about their reincarnation, especially about memories from another world. I had the occasions to talk to them, even if they may seem lost sometimes and lack experiences, the love they share for this world is real and the people around them returns this feeling, with a modern and ambitious mind like them, I'm sure the future of Teyvat will be bright."

About The Creator: Consort

"You want to know more about our contract? Well, our feelings for each other were mutual and we had the same promise which was to keep the other safe and happy, naturally we came to do the ultimate promise to stay together until death separates us, but I fear even this won't be able to break our contract, one that I shall forever cherish and respect. They're quite busy but I stay patient for them to come and see me when they finish with tea that I prepared for relaxing them after a stressful day."

@ ་ ׅ : @haileyo0ostuff

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they-call-me-haiku · 7 months

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i hate the whole "the show was cancelled" excuse that toh fans constantly use to justify poor writing choices. i'm as upset as anyone that toh was cut short, but the show writers got an advantage that a lot of other shows didn't. they were allowed to actually end the show. look at infinity train, for example. it had more seasons planned but the execs decided to cancel it without even giving the creators time to write a proper ending.

so in that case, the writers of toh should consider themselves lucky and make do with what they have. of course, it's most ideal to have the freedom to write the entire show how you want. but when you can't do that but you're allowed to give the series a proper resolution, you have to pick and choose what plot points to focus on.

instead of focusing on the important arcs and plot points (belos's backstory, the collector's origin, hunter's arc, etc) the writers decided to add completely unnecessary ships and additions to further complicate the plot. i'll say it: huntlow was unnecessary, the whole hexside and kikimora thing in s3e2 was unnecessary, the collector's rushed redemption arc was unnecessary. in fact, some of these decisions actively affected the ongoing plot badly (huntlow ruining hunter's arc and bringing him back to square one).

in the end, you're left with more questions than answers. what's with the collector's sudden switch from evil and calculating to poor innocent uwu child? what actually happened in belos's past? how did hunter move on from his trauma without getting any closure and being paired with a person who acts a lot like his controlling uncle? why did amity forgive luz so quickly for lying to her after she asked her not to? what happened to all the witches and citizens of the demon realm who actually followed and worshipped belos?

so yeah, you really can't defend toh with this excuse. if i was making a show and was forced to cut it short, i'd be angry and upset, sure. but i'd try to make the best of it. i would focus on the main plot instead of going after side characters or ships that add nothing of importance to the plot. i still like this show a lot but i'm not going to blindly defend it. it has its flaws and they need to be critiqued.

#toh criticism #toh critical #toh salt #toh discourse #anti huntlow #anti huntl0w #huntl0w negative #i had high hopes for this show i really did #especially around hollow mind era when it really peaked #i was so hyped about belos and how complex he was #but then they scrapped all of the religious trauma in the finale and was like “nah he's pure evil just murder his ass”#i'm not saying i wanted a belos redemption #but his arc was so disappointing #he may not be forgivable but he was a sympathetic character #the reason i loved belos so much in s2 was because of how interesting and well-written he was #they really had to go and ruin that

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das-a-kirby-blog · 3 months

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alright, this goes out to you guys. just gonna build off of this post

(THIS IS ALL JUST MY OPINION, NOT FACT!)

soooo I think the reason there are so many contrasting headcanons is not only because of the open interpretations the games leave, but because of what kinds of kirby media people are introduced to at first. you got the main games, the anime, the mangas, the light novels, etc. which. wow that's a lot of material you can build on. AND CONSIDERING THE AMOUT OF LORE EACH OF THESE TOPICS ARE COOKING???? DAWG WH

and I GUESS I can understand why some hcs are so bizarre in other people's eyes. but the way this fandom handles those different headcanons is...a lil bad.

YES I KNOW THIS ISN'T SPECIFIC TO THE KIRBY FANDOM, but the whole reason why I'm making this is to at least understand why people take it so close to heart.

and. not calling anyone out. but I do see quite a lot of posts with people (critiquing? complaining?) about how popular headcanons "ruin" the fandom (and this goes with ships too, but I'll get into that later) and all I gotta ask is

does it really??? does it really ruin the fandom?

I'm just gonna say. no. it doesn't.

you are focusing on a small percentage out of...oh idk...AN ENTIRE FANBASE? at LEAST open up a little and find a new circle if it is bothering you that much. or better yet. BLOCK! filter out tags!

with the amout of differing kirby medias, please understand that there will be headcanons that will oppose yours and that's okay! just don't be a jerk about it!

NOW. with the ships. specifically metadede. gonna try to put my overwhelming bias aside for this one I promise.

though metadede is the most popular ship in the fandom, it still comes with it's critics. and some are. actually valid! such as their relationship doesn't immediately have to be romantic. it can be seen as platonic! and I can understand why people feel that way.

but things get sour when people immediately try to crap on it because in their eyes, and correct me if I'm wrong here, metadede overshadows every other ship in the fandom. you hardly get to hear about their rarepair because of how metadede is everywhere.

if you take a step back and really look. there is a reason it is so popular. because of the LARGE amounts of media they have together. in the games. in the mangas. in smash. in official art. I mean if you wanna count the anime go ahead.

what I'm trying to say here is that compared to any other character interactions, meta knight and dedede are definitely up there for the most interaction in the franchise. and I'm not trying to downplay any rarepairs or other ships with a smaller fanbase.

BUT DON'T BLAME THE SHIPPERS! they are only doing the same as anyone else, they are going off of what they are given by canon and simply building off of that.

though, because I am a metadede shipper myself, you can take this segment with a grain of salt.

---

in conclusion...people can have their different takes. and that's okay! having different opinions is what builds this fandom and draws the attention of so many. but please! do not take any of these takes personal!

If there is a point in here you would like to argue against or build on, feel free to do so. I'm open to any other views.

#ask to tag #rant #again sorry for complaining

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mrghostrat · 4 months

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"He needed an internet connection so he could download an app to draw with, but the whole point of setting the thing up in London was because he knew Crowley understood all of this a whole lot better than he did."

Okayyyyy I just got violent flashbacks to the s2 finale this is evil 😭😭

But in all seriousness, I LOVED the new bnf au chapter, I mean the kiss??? I audibly gasped, it was soooo good

I was wondering if the witch and the witchfinder are a canon couple in the nice and accurate prophecies? Or are they just a very popular fanon ship? Or is it like good omens, where people saw the romantic subtext in the book and where it was made explicitly canon in the show?

I just think all options would be really interesting, given that Crowley and Aziraphale are both middle-aged queer people and the book came out thirty years ago. So they either would have had some representation back then, or they recognised themselves in the story and even though it wasn't canon, maybe those ideas would later explicitly be confirmed by Agnes Nutter nonetheless? Since all these options have really interesting implications for the way they both interacted with the source material, I'm really curious what your thoughts on the matter are.

Thank you so much for all the beautiful things you create for the fandom, both your fics and your art give me life and I'm so grateful for them ❤

omg you have no idea how excited i am about this question 😭 as i've written BNF, i've been quietly fleshing out more about their fictional fandom, and accidentally gotten reeeeally invested and am dying to talk about it 😭😭

i'm actually tempted to make some fanart of the witch & the witchfinder, using michael and david as facecasts to go full meta thphptftf. in b4 i write it as a fuckin book series for real

buttttt i'll put all my N&A thoughts under a cut so i dont ramble too long on your dashes 💛

The Nice and Accurate Prophecy: Agnes Nutter's book series (turned play, turned film, turned tv series); the fandom in my fic Big Name Feelings

the idea of using Agnes Nutter's "Nice and Accurate" book for the in-fic fandom was taken from @tawnyontumblr's fic New Messages (i just thought that would be a fun fanon consistency to follow), but all the details about the story and characters are me.

N&A takes inspiration from Good Omens (as a story, and as a fandom) but isn't intended to be a direct copy of it. the original paperback series is a few books long, and each adaptation of the books are considered good, accurate, canonical content. the tv show (a HBO series) is the most recent, highest quality, and most popular. The Witcher style, high fantasy quality.

agnes is loudly supportive of the lgbt community just like neil/david/michael are. but i imagine that for the series to be so "marketable" over the last 30 years, there isn't an explicit queer relationship between the witch & finder. there are canon queer side characters but the witch & finder are a little more nuanced.

the witch and the witchfinder aid each other through time, working together to defeat the evils in the story (like Aziraphale and Crowley from GO). there's tension between them, but boundless love, and plenty of flirtation, despite the running "we shouldn't, we're meant to be enemies" theme. they would canonically get together at some point in the story, probably towards the end after they've spent some time dancing around each other.

the thing that makes this vague is: the witch reincarnates through the story, almost doctor who style. they're a trans icon, much like how the GO fandom looks at Crowley and all his gender ambiguity.

when they finally tryst with the witchfinder, they're female. it's by pure happenstance that they're female presenting at that stage of the story, but still widely critiqued over the years. the thing that canonises the mlm relationship is that the witch is said to carry their consciousness through each reincarnation— they're not a new person like The Doctor is when he regenerates.

the start of the book series spends more time on "Crowley and Aziraphale's favourite male reincarnation", while the movie and tv show only briefly montages through some of the witch's faces. the mlm side of the fandom most definitely lost their minds over the brief few minutes of screentime that they got of the male witch, and has absolutely gifsetted it to death.

i've done it like this because so much of (every) fandom has always been seeking out representation and filling gaps where the original content lacks. there's something to be said about the solidarity of queer fans creating more queer content for themselves. except, in the case of N&A, they're getting to work from a source material that is genuinely queer supportive, unlike fandoms like SPN and BBC Sherlock that are fighting against the tide of queerbaiting and buried gays.

it also gives aziraphale and crowley a chance to band together in the next chapter when they talk to a dickhead at the party:

i haven't exactly decided what happens with the witchfinder, like if the story takes place over hundreds of years and he keeps reincarnating as the same lookin dude (like how jack whitehall plays both Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery and Newton Pulsifer) or if it's set over one lifetime and the witch just gets killed and regenerates a lot. i do like the idea of there being some "through the ages" shenanigans, and a canonical "modern day" setting like GO has.

but i gotta be careful bc i genuinely can't stop thinking about this fake story that's barely mentioned in my fan fic or i'll end up writing the damn thing myself

#ask a rat #bnf au #good omens au #ratwips

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bougiebutchbinch · 3 months

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:vibrates:

(CW: Unhealthy jealousy/reclaiming stuff that's way more fun in fic than real life)

Izzy gets into a free-use/polycrewle Thing with literally everyone aboard EXCEPT Ed and Stede after Calypso's Birthday. He's thriving. Relaxed for the first time in years, happy and open and comfortable with himself, developing unique and fabulous relationships with the entire crew.

The only downside? There's nowhere Stede and Ed can go aboard where they won't risk being assaulted by the visual of Izzy getting snogged or snuggled or Dicked Down by all his new boy/girl/themfriends.

Ed and Stede are. Not okay with this.

Oh, they tell themselves they're just annoyed because their own lovemaking keeps getting interrupted by, say, Wee John hitching Izzy up against the wall of their cabin and noisily going to town. They can't sleep without hearing Izzy moan.

But deep down, they both know they're incandescently jealous.

Izzy has barely looked at either of them since getting with the crew - at least, not in the usual tragic, yearning eye-fuck sense. Ed especially kinda... misses that. Izzy wanting him has been a part of his life for so long, and he strung him along because it boosted his self-esteem. And now Izzy's just... not interested? As soon as someone else stuck their dick in him? Did he ever really want Ed at all?

Stede hasn't known Izzy as long, but he definitely thought there was something brewing between them after their escape from Zheng's ship. Has he just gotten used to Izzy pining? Are he and Ed in the wrong for not wanting him to move on? Is this selfish of them, to not be happy for Izzy, and glad he's getting some (from people who aren't Them)?

They try to be happy for Izzy, but it's through gritted teeth.

On the other side of things - Izzy is ABSOLUTELY performatively rubbing it in, making the point that Ed's not the only one who's moved on and is way happier now. The crew, always up for causing chaos, are fully on board to help, and taking bets on how long it will take for Stede and Ed to aggressively pounce on Izzy and snog him with tongue.

Of course, three can play at the jealousy game - this turns into a horrific unhygienic sex-competition where Ed/Stede and Izzy/Crew aggressively try to make each other green-eyed with envy by fucking on every flat surface aboard. It ends in a vicious, vitriolic, hatesexy Steddyhands threesome in front of the entire crew, who offer running commentary throughout and critique Stede and Ed's form!

Anyway, after they've all had a post-coital cigarette, Izzy rolls over and glares at his captains, telling them '....I'm still gonna keep sleeping with the crew. You fuckers don't own me'. The main difference is, he also gives Stede and Ed some sugar every now and then.

This old man's heart is gonna give out from all the fucking sdfksdlgsdgf

#izzy hands #ofmd izzy #steddyhands #gentlebeard #stede bonnet #edward teach #ed teach #blackbonnet #ed babygirl teach #izzy babygirl hands #ed teach born on a beach #teehee #ofmd stede

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ultfreakme · 2 months

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Thoughts on Jessie Gender's video on NATLA

I really admire Jessie Gender's videos usually, she's the one whom I usually go to to see videos on gender and queerness in media. I like her stuff a lot and respect their work.

But the NATLA video left me going "no, wait, that's not what happened" a lot. I can't summarize the video, I suggest people go watch it if they want to know but I disagree with practically everything for the most part.

I'm not anybody on the internet. But what I do have is a lifetime of growing up on ATLA, a degree in Sociology and English Literature, coming from a culture that ATLA is based on, studying about colonial rule, researching the cultures ATLA is based on in my spare time and a love for the original. Does that establish some legitimacy? If for some reason you feel like you need to go hate on Jessie for this, DON'T. DO NOT. This is me just critiquing because I think the video content was biased and I want to honestly engage with the points made because everyone has a tendency to demonize the adaption without looking at it on its own merit. With that said:

Point 1: Sokka's sexism is taken out to make the show more palatable and his arc in the Kyoshi Island episode undermines Suki to prop up Sokka.

She says that Sokka's sexism and him addressing it is a show-long arc, and him deconstructing that is him fighting against the colonial sexism of the Fire Nation.

Sokka's sexism is explicitly dealt with in one episode. He's shown to be overtly sexist in the first 4 and never again except for little comments here and there that every other character makes as well and goes unaddressed. His sexism is not because of the Fire Nation- FN is very inclusive of women as warriors. Sokka's sexism is an anomaly because no one but him cares that Katara isn't just sitting home mending clothes(Bato, Hakoda, none of the men on the ship they are on in S3 say a word and she takes off to join Aang in the Fire Nation islands).

If Sokka's sexism is not systematic to the Southern Water Tribe or caused by the Fire Nation, what kind of commentary on sexism is this?

She also says Suki is played down and demured to give Sokka confidence when she's teaching him, taking away her arc as she pines for the new boy who she likes because he's shirtless. Sokka's throughout the episode shows insecurity and a more subtle form of sexism where he's trying ton prove he's as good as her. He's trying to show off his strength to her, and failing miserably and when he realizes she bested him, he walks away. He goes into it assuming he's better than her but walks away realizing shit she is GOOD. Then he goes to her dojo to observe the practice and follows along, Suki invites him in seeing him fucking up the forms outside and teaches him.

Suki falls for a tackle Sokka does in the og and live action. In the OG, it's shown as Sokka ACTUALLY being better. In the live action? He isn't. One lesson doesn't make him better, she transitions from actually teaching him to kinda flirting until she completely stops. She's not weakening herself for him, both of them are expressing romantic interest. How did Sokka, a boy who that morning was defeated by them, get better than SUKI in a spar she put genuine effort in? I think that's frankly more sexist than the live action take.

Additionally, Suki was meant to be a one-off character meant to teach Sokka that sexism is bad. She existed entirely to serve Sokka's character arc and had no independent motivation in season 1. In the live action, we see her talk about wanting to go into the world, and see her growing motivation through Aang's presence of wanting to not just protect Kyoshi Island, but the world. She became what she is only in season 2 and 3. Sokka's sexism arc didn't even pan out well because he never addressed the issue with Katara after that episode, the first and most affected victim of his sexism.

Sokka wearing the armor in the original, is a joke. Aang calls their uniform a dress while laughing (it's not, like it's not even constructed like one, the bottoms are loose pants called Hakama). He isn't put into the uniform to show solidarity, it's a joke, and we are meant to be laughing at Sokka for the most part. Queer fans have reclaimed and redefined that scene to be like drag, but that wasn't the original intention of the show because we get jokes on Aang's masculinity which never actively get refuted from Toph in season 2. Katara of all people points out Sokka wearing a poinytail in a demeaning manner multiple times, a supposedly girly hairstyle. If the original wanted to honor Sokka embracing gender fluidity, they wouldn't consistently mock him for being choosy about buying a bag and wearing a ponytail(which in-universe has cultural importance to him).

All signs of 'femininity' in Sokka are played for laughs in the rest of the show(down to the scene where he draws a rainbow, and his master Piandao simply rolls his eyes).

Sokka is also never once shown as a better warrior in the live action- his story is the opposite. Sokka yearns here to be an engineer, a scientist tinkering away with new inventions. His father Hakoda and the SWT discourages this because there is no value in that for them. Value is shown for them to come from physical strength, which Sokka NEVER has in live action season 1(him having biceps and being shirtless is not a glorification of strength). He's good, but he's nothing special. His true highlight is in his intellect and the show implies pretty well that Sokka doesn't need to be physically strong or a warrior to fight back against oppression.

That's his defining line in the show teasers "you do not need to be a warrior, to be a hero."

Point 2: The sexism arc isn't replaced by anything more nuanced.

It is! It's replaced by the biases against bending. Sokka discourages Katara from bending because the Fire Nation attacked the SWT to eliminate waterbenders. Both Katara and Sokka hold fear for waterbending, a part of their own culture, specifically because of the Fire Nation's hegemony and hierarchical beliefs. Waterbending = preservation of culture and Katara says these exact words in episode 1. Sokka stopping her is him being under the colonial hegemony of the FN because waterbending is what brought Fire Nation soldiers to their shores to kill their mom. That's the new arc and it has follow through to the end. Instead of Sokka telling Katara to kick ass because he isn't sexist anymore, the live action Sokka says it because he's embraced waterbending and his own culture now through seeing Katara grow and letting her choose for herself what's best for her (instead of smothering in his faux warrior persona, which they literally discuss when stuck in the cave). This arc is exclusive to the show, there's no comment on the cultural significance and erasure of waterbending in the original.

It's made more explicit in Katara's arc, where she needs to get past the fear the Fire Nation has put in her of the dangers of her own bending, and embrace that her people wanted to protect it (Kya sacrificing herself, Gran-Gran hiding the waterbending scroll).

Point 3: Showing the genocide of the Air Nomads is disrespectful

In the original, the Air Nomads are nothing but a memory. At all times. We never see the influence of the Air Nomad culture on Aang, or see them alive and thriving at any point. We see them fight back on the live action, and the actual genocide is a few short minutes, interspersed with Aang sinking. It's not a lingering process and it shows the abilities of Air Nomads. Jessie says this is purely aesthetic and to be cool, but there are significant moments that happen here.

Establishing the powers of Air Benders- this is the first and last time we'll get to see Air Bending on this scale and this shows what they can do

There's a scene where two air nomads nod to one another, and the air nomad switches from defensive to an extremely offensive move. It shows that this isn't typical for the Air Nomads, and that they are being pushed to their limits

This is a festival, they were defending themselves and it's important to show that the Air Nomads didn't just go silently without a fight and were ambushed on an important day.

To show the Fire Nation's cruelty and the extent of their power during the comet specifically.

To give weight to WHY everyone Aang runs into is so critical and hateful of the fact that he was gone, and to also show why Aang never refutes them and the weight of what he's lost (and also that even if he were there, he couldn't have done anything)

It's not just to be cool, it's honestly not cool to watch and taking Gordon Cormier, a child's quote to say that's what everyone's impression is, is disingenuous despite the disclaimer given. The kids' quotes always get taken out of context. Reviewers and Avatar fans who went to the premiere were disturbed overall by the violence. They did not think of the Fire Nation as "cool", they saw the Air Nomads like that. Like don't we want people to think of the Air Nomads in a positive light for fighting back?

Their culture gets little to no expansion in the original, and whatever Aang has left of them is actually slowly stripped away in the original.

Aang is made to okay the destruction and modification of the Northern Air Temple when destruction is shown as wrong during his rage and grief in the Southern Air Temple. The new settlers have used the gliders of Air Nomads to device weapons that fly, which were then sold to the Fire Nation. The Mechanist and his people continue this and create more weapons to fight the war in the temples(albeit this time agaisnt the fire nation but the cycle of violence continues using devices and cultures of a peaceful people). A once-peaceful place, is now a center for war innovation and Aang is told to accept this because he must let go of the past to look to the future.

The above, in comparison to Aang simply saying "I should let go of the past and look to the future" is FAR more disrespectful of Aang's culture and past. The live action keeps Gyatso's memory a constant companion to Aang, he is terrified of letting go of the past and it hinders him from simply living.

Point 4: Violence is shown as good and the cycle of violence is perpetuated.

She says Kyoshi demanding Aang to fight back and hit hard is showing that Aang needs to embrace strength and power. That everyone telling him to fight and be alone means strength is given importance, and that the same is shown when Zuko says "sometimes the weak can become strong, sometime you just have to give them a chance."

Kyoshi is wrong. She is willfully portrayed as powerful, but harsh. Roku(though his screentime was small) disagrees with her and tells Aang to find his own way of fighting and that is ultimately what Aang follows.

Kyoshi doesn't come off as correct, she's demanding and harsh, unforgiving. Aang initially lets her take over because he is scared of the power he holds and she promises she can control it to help others. Aang doesn't want power(he literally says 'I don't want these powers'). In the finale, he gives in to the ocean spirit and does what Kyoshi asks; save everyone, even if it costs his own life. But it is shown as a tragedy. Katara calls back for him and tells him he shouldn't have to sacrifice himself, that he has a place in this world as he is no matter what others tell him and he listens to THAT. He says he will save the world not alone, but with his friends, in the memory of the Air Nomads to ensure it never happens again.

Physical strength is only a priority to Katara's character. Sokka doesn't fight in the end, he's begging Yue to not sacrifice herself and is protecting her. He's not some macho man. Aang is also not embracing power.

Zuko says that line not to show that he can grow stronger, but that people should get second chances. He's a hurt kid wishing his father had the compassion to let him grow. But he doesn't and Zuko walks away from it thinking physical strength and bending prowess is important, crushing his compassion. That line on a meta level isn't even about physical strength. It's about mental fortitude and character, and the strength to be compassionate.

Jet was mentioned as being portrayed as more wrong, but in the original he was ready to sink a village of innocents. in the live action he genuinely helped Katara with her waterbending and was justified in wanting to kill the mechanist(who collaborated with the fire nation) and King Bumi (who is neutral, incompetent and has let the Fire Nation run rampant in the city). He's more sympathetic here because he's doing it with a concrete reason, and he didn't even manipulate Katara the way he did in the original. She was genuinely charmed by him.

A big problem I had with Jessie's video was putting in clips from some right-wing channel between critique of NATLA....which....why? Huh? And these were used to say NATLA is leaning into fascist tendencies and smoothing out any critique of colonialism when it really isn't. I think NATLA is very explicitly saying the same message as the original. Not in the same way, but it is. The show actively engages audiences and the characters in discussions of cultural erasure and the problems of valuing power(the latter especially through Zuko and Azula).

There are million issues with the live action (Sokka's casting, ableism in Zuko's burn scar, the writing issues, pacing issues, the lack of screen time for Aang and focus on the Fire family). The ones Jessie Gender discussed though, are not it.

#natla #natla positivity #atla la #atla live action #avatar netflix #jessie gender

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kcrabb88 · 2 months

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Not to vent on main, but I do want to talk about this because I think it speaks to a bigger issue in fandom recently. So, there's been a small but noticeable trend recently of people coming onto Quinlan/Obi-Wan content that I make and either saying "I liked this except for the QuinObi and/or Quinlan himself" or commenting on something as to why it was QuinObi and not another more popular ship. This happened recently in a comment I got on a fic and also on a piece of QuinObi art that I paid for, among other things. First, that's a shitty thing to do. You don't come into comments and complain that it's not what you like. Second, I gotta say, I have not experienced having people who like super popular ships coming to me, whose ship is a rowboat, and complaining that my content, or content I paid to have created, isn't their ship in any fandom I've ever been in. You're right! It's my ship. I love them and will continue to write about them. If a few people have written QuinObi because of me (and they have! Which is so nice!) I'm still not rocking the fandom boat. I am not making a dent in the behemoth ships that are out there. I ran a QuinObi week which was so wonderful and I will do it again, but it's not going to suddenly steal writers away from other popular ships (also, multi-shipping exists!) I'm not a threat. Not that we should think of things that way, but it does start to come across like that when stuff like this happens, like I'm getting in the way of an agenda.

I've been in fandoms where I shipped a big ship and got complained to by someone shipping idk, I hesitate to call it a rival ship, but that's the only word I can think of. Still not nice, but coming to me about my SMALL SHIP is much more unexpected and much more unkind as far as fandom power dynamics go.

People have gotten truly aggressive about both fanon and popular ships. No one, whatever the fandom, is obligated to ship the popular ship you like. Not everyone is going to fit the mold of popular fandom trends, and they don't have to. They should be able to create what they like without being bothered about it. People seem to believe now that if you ship a pairing that you also hold an Approved slate of beliefs about every other character in fandom. That you follow what I've been calling a Fandom Map. Well, some people like to mix it up. Fandom isn't a hive mind and diversity of characters and pairings should be encouraged. I think it's ironic that I have to be extremely nervous to make a post critiquing a popular fandom trope but people can come to me and be rude about my way less popular shipping preferences. I’m not a fandom vending machine. If you don’t like one thing but enjoyed others tell me what you did like and leave the rest out. Or don’t read it. Crits like this aren’t even dislikes about story elements (and even those are more for Goodreads than Ao3) they’re crits about my personal taste.

(As to Star Wars fandom in particular, I continue to think it's really off that people are so weird about Quinlan generally, and dumb him down, among other crimes. You have to start to wonder why and when you wonder, the results of that wondering aren't great).

tl ; dr don't be a jerk. We're all here because we enjoy something.

#KCrabb rambles #Star Wars tag #Quinlan Vos #QuinObi

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louisinart · 5 months

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rewatching ofmd s1 and I'm absolutely blown away by how much Jim comes into themselves by the end of season two. Knowing the character they become its really stunning to see how disengaged and cynical they are at the start of it all.

Their motivations are almost entirely reactive, to escape Spanish jackie and then to live out their nanas dream of justice. The while time they are in survival mode, moving quickly and efficiently and quietly. Ultimately, moving how they were trained to and nothing else. Because it works! It works so well that I didn't consider something might be missing.

But in season two they're made to be messy, loud. They are stuck on Ed's Breakdown Ship and so have to act differently than they ever have. Not just because they are yelling and screaming and covered in blood cutting a guys leg off, either. They're connecting and caring and critiquing and supporting, they're emotionally engaged in a real way that they very much weren't in season 1. Every day on Ed's ship is horrible, but at least they're present for it. Every day pushes them to be in survival mode but they refuse. They tell fang a story, they kiss Archie back. When Ed says "kill or die" they say "no."

And then, after all that, when they finally get to rest again? Yeah, it's a rough transition, but once they get through it they're absolutely fucking teeming with life. They're painting on a mustache, they're creating conspiracies, they're crossing boundaries to get olus girlfriend back. When the dust settles Jim is inhabiting themselves in a way we haven't seen in the show previously. There is a richness to their character that feels incredibly natural and earned, to the point that I didn't even notice it until I went back to season one and realized how lost they were.

Its pretty obvious that this show is about Ed and stedes collective mid life crisis, but it wasn't until now that I realized its also Jim's coming of age

#Which is to say NOTHING of the gender of it all #ofmd season 2 #Ofmd #Jim Jimenez #I was starting to think I wouldn't write any meta for this season #And then #Mine #Ofmd meta #I have s1ep4 paused halfway thru rn because this swept through me like a hurricane #I will take my attention now thank you 🫴🫴

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nethhiri · 12 days

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Marooned: Chapter 29

Kid x FemReader x Killer

Warnings: violence

Trading Blows (not a euphemism sorry)

Every night you had slept solidly, too soundly for even nightmares to leak through. Kid and Killer had been wearing you out, and not in a fun way. Between daily kitchen duty, which you had begun to enjoy, and Kid testing your ability to put things together after he had taken them apart, you barely had time to do your actual job on the ship as the doctor. The hole in the infirmary wall was still there. You still refused to fix it. But you were getting tired of Kid annoying you while you tried to work. Maybe he was annoying you on purpose so you would fix it and he wouldn't have to.

Today, you had chosen to watch the crew's training. You also figured it would be good to be on stand by in case someone got carried away. There were no weapons, no devil fruit powers allowed, only hand to hand. You watched as Dive got scolded for biting, even though she won. Killer stood next to you, watching as well, shouting critiques or encouragement as he saw fit. Everyone got excited to watch Heat and Wire spar. They were pretty evenly matched. Wire had the upper hand just from being so much bigger. Pretty soon they were grappling on the ground, each trying to pin the other. It went on for some time before Killer called it. Then he had them stay and fight with all rookies at once. Even though they were outnumbered, they were far from outclassed and ended it quickly. You half-wished Kid was present so you could get in a few licks on him. Actually, it would be really interesting to watch he and Killer spar.

"Earth to Y/N." Killer thwapped the back of your head.

"Sorry. What?" You were lost in thought.

"You're up."

Your eyebrows knit together. "Oh no, I'm here for first-aid purposes."

"So is that what you'll tell enemies if they come after you?"

Leveling a glare at him, you hopped from your sitting place and walked to the center of the deck. You waited there with your arms crossed. Killer didn't ask anyone to face you, he left it open to whoever wanted to try. To your dismay, Wire volunteered. It wasn't a secret that he didn't like you. At least you wouldn't be tempted to hold back, like you would with Heat, since you actually liked Heat.

You had no idea how the guy fought, other than what you just saw, so you would let him make the first move. Wire took a swing at you, which you swiftly dodged. Followed by another, then another. He was really coming after you. You dodged everything he gave to you, watching how he moved. He was strong, like Kid, but he had more grace. After you let him push you back a fair amount, you decided it was time to make a move on him. His next punch left him open on the same side. You deflected his hand with your arm, forcing his body to twist furthering exposing his side. You lodged your boot between his ribs, smiling when he made a satisfying coughing noise with your hit. He wasn't expecting that and was struggling to maintain balance. Using the momentum of your kick, you allowed your body to move forward, sliding closer to Wire, and bringing your interlocked hands down onto the back of his neck, sending him the rest of the way to the ground. Instead of jumping on top of him, you backed off and let him get up. You could tell right away he was mad. You hadn't really hurt him, but he was embarrassed that he let that happen in front of his crew.

Both of you were panting after a series of blows and parries. Neither of you got a solid hit on the other. He had glanced your cheek and you nearly avoided a black eye. You thought Killer might call it like he had with Wire and Heat's match, but his eyes watched you intently. You could feel it. Wire's weight shifted slightly, alerting you to an impending kick. The second he struck, you dropped to your hands and swept your leg underneath his remaining standing one, avoiding his kick and causing him to end up on the floor again. This time you didn't give him the opportunity to get up, swiftly throwing yourself on top of him and getting him into a hold.

Dusting yourself off after your win, you expected to be done. You took a deep breath to slow your fast-paced heartbeat. Standing up, you noticed that the crowd hadn't dissipated. Wire was frowning deeply on the sidelines, and Killer wasn't in his spot. Looking around for him, your stomach flipped when you saw him take Wire's position opposite you. Emma must have seen your face and gave you an encouraging thumbs up. You had bested Killer once before, might as well try your shot at it again. There was no avoiding it.

Killer didn't give you a chance to think before he was on you. He was much faster and harder to evade than Wire. You swung at him when you thought you had a good opening and he caught your wrist, pulling you up until your feet were off the ground. Grabbing the same wrist with your opposite hand for support, you swung one leg to hook over his arm and used it to anchor yourself so you could have leverage when you kicked him in the back of the head. Even with his helmet, you knew it would rattle him enough to loosen his grip so you could pull free. When you dropped down, you tried the same leg sweep you used for Wire, but Killer was ready for it, kicking your back. You landed hard on your stomach with an oof, quickly rolling over to avoid getting hit while you lost sight of Killer. His foot landed where you had been seconds before. He was not going easy on you. And you would have been insulted if he did.

You jumped back up to your feet. Now you had a better understanding of Killer's speed. Your arms were going to be a patchwork collection of bruises tomorrow from blocking Killer's attacks. He didn't give you any chances to hit back. A flicker of red at the edge of your vision alerted you to Kid's presence. In the split second you were distracted, Killer landed a hit to your stomach, knocking the wind from you. Doubling over, you coughed, trying to get the air to return to your lungs. Using it as bait, you stayed like that to draw him in. Just as you thought he would, he took advantage of your recovery, stepping to attempt an undercut to your chin. You moved at the last second and while his arm was still in the upswing, slipped behind him and landed a series of jabs about halfway down his back, towards the side, right where his kidneys sat. Predictably, he brought his arm back down, attempting to elbow you while he pivoted to get you away from his back. You were faster this time, slipping further around him you maintain your place at his back. As he tried to keep up with you, he kept his weight on the pivoting foot, leaning slightly. You used this opportunity to kick the back of that knee, forcing it to buckle. Killer couldn't get his other leg quite under him in time and was down on one knee. Still at his back, now that he was more on your level, you jumped on him, wrapping the crook of your elbow around his neck and grabbing it with your other hand. You attached yourself to his back with your legs solidly locked around him so he couldn't shake you off. You heard his breath become raspy as you tightened your hold on him.

"Tap out," you hissed at him. You could feel him struggle to remove you, but with traps that big, it was hard to move his arms to reach his back. He settled for trying to unhook your feet from around him, so you squeezed him as hard as you could with your thighs, trying to force the remainder of his air out. Killer let himself fall backwards, crushing you between him and the deck, but you were prepared for that, not loosening your grip for a second. He picked his head up and brought it back against yours. You felt a crunch in your nose, followed by something hot and wet running down your face and shooting pain radiating through your entire face. Your grip faltered and Killer sat up with a sharp, deep breath in. You coughed as blood tickled the back of your throat, sending a crimson sprinkle to paint the deck. Growling, you launched yourself at Killer, who was just standing up, knocking him back to the deck. You had a knee pressed into his back and you had caught one of his wrists to bend his arm behind his back, catching the other wrist and pinning it too. Killer managed to buck you off, causing you to roll onto your back. He was on all-fours, attempting to pin you in return. You pushed your self out from under him and brought a kick around to his helmet, hitting him in such a way, that there was a click.

Maybe your shoe had snagged or maybe your kick was simply well-aimed, but as if it were in slow motion, Killer's helmet came unlatched and was thrown from his head. An icy blue eye caught your own, reflecting the same surprise that shone in yours. Even though it seemed like an eternity, with the same quickness you had mustered before, you threw yourself in front of him and hugged his head into your chest to stop anyone from seeing his face. Not the best option, but it was all you could do at the time. It would have taken too long to whip your shirt off at him. You could hear Kid yell Killer's name and run after his helmet.

"Killer, I'm so sorry." You kept apologizing to him over and over. It came out slightly nasally and wet due to the state your nose was in. "I didn't mean to." Killer said something back. You couldn't hear it but could feel the vibrations tickle your sternum. You loosened your hug, still covering him. "Huh?"

"I can't... breathe," he panted.

You started to apologize again when Kid put his hand over your eyes and pulled you away from Killer with one hand, and slapping Killer's helmet on his head with the other in one swift motion.

"Killer? Ya good?" That might have been the first time you heard Kid with genuine concern in his voice.

You were on your back, pushed up with your elbows, trying to catch your breath.

Killer nodded.

Kid turned his attention to the crew. "Alright. Training's over. Get back to it." Kid extended his hand to help Killer to his feet.

Looking around, you saw as the crew all uncovered their faces. They had all turned away or blocked their own eyes when Killer's helmet had come off. The level of respect and consideration they had for their first-mate made your heart skip. They cared deeply for each other. It was made clearer and clearer every day you spent with them.

It was an accident, yet you felt guilty for causing it to happen. You quickly got up and disappeared into the infirmary before Kid or Killer could get angry at you for the mistake. You still didn't understand why Killer wore a helmet in the first place, but you did know how important it was to him that no one saw his face. You felt like had done something else to give them reason not to trust you.

You leaned over the sink, washing the partially dried blood from your face so you could assess the damage to your nose. Peering into the mirror, it was definitely bent wrong, crooked. Using the same methodology Kid had been teaching you, you had also been studying some medical texts, learning how everything was supposed to work so that you would be better at repairing things with your power. Gingerly, you pulled your nose back into its normal position, with a strained groan, "Fuuuuuck." A glowing yellow light emanated from your hand, almost instantly relieving the pain. A few drops of blood trickled out as it set correctly. You washed the fresh blood from your face and started healing the bruises and welts forming on your body. A voice startled you as you walked back out into the main room of the infirmary from the bathroom.

Killer was leaning against the counter, "Y/N".

Cautiously, you folded your arms and stood some distance away from him. He didn't seem angry. "Need me to... patch something up?" Why else would he be here?

He shook his head, but didn't say anything.

"Oh." You felt hot for some reason and averted your eyes to stare at your feet. "Are you m-"

"Thank you."

"What?" You stared at him blankly. "You're... not mad?"

"It was an accident."

You unfolded your arms, breathing in a sigh of relief. You thought you had fucked up again.

"And you tried to make it right... even if you did suffocate me." There was an amused tone in his voice.

You couldn't help but smile coyly. "Sorry.... and you're welcome." You let out a nervous laugh. "People normally have to pay for that service."

Killer appeared to be in thought. "Can I barter for it instead?" You must have seemed confused because he continued. "Dinner of your choice?"

You perked up at that. Much like Mini, you were food motivated. "I get to pick?" Killer nodded. "Spaghetti." It was your all-time favorite food. And you hadn't had it since before you had been stuck on the island.

Killer was charmed by the way you lit up at the idea. "Spaghetti it is."

"Do you want me to help?" It seemed like quite a task to make spaghetti for the entire crew. How much Parmesan would he need to grate?

"Uh, no. I got it." It was weird for someone to offer to help with their own date, but he figured you felt bad about the helmet thing and wanted to be nice. His head cocked at the enormous hole that was still in the wall. "You haven't fixed that yet?"

You eyed him. "Kid's supposed to."

"He told me you were gonna fix it." Killer shook his head. Of course he fibbed.

"Fuckin bastard", you mumbled.

"WHO YOU CALLIN BASTARD?" Kid yelled from the other side of the hole.

Before you could retort, Killer scolded him, "Are you eavesdropping?!"

Kid appeared with a smirk, "S'not eavesdropping if it's loud enough fer me to hear." His eyes shifted to you and he frowned. "Aw man. I thought someone would finally have a more fucked up nose than me."

You rolled your eyes. "I like your fucked up nose." Realizing how it came out, you quickly amended, "I mean it doesn't look that bad." It was too late. You could see Kid's chest swell with the compliment and you grimaced. "Fix that fucking hole, Captain!" The tops of your ears were burning red as you left.

After you left, Killer crossed his arms at Kid. "Don't."

"Girl presses her tits into your face ONE TIME and yer askin to make her dinner." Kid was cackling so hard he was holding his chest.

#every chapter where Killer is a sweetie is my new favorite actually #marooned #eustass kid #massacre soldier killer #kid x reader x killer #killer x reader #eustass kid x reader #one piece #x reader #🥰 blushing and kicking my feet

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deripmaver · 8 months

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Which is worse, rape or murder? - Or, should Casca have died during the Eclipse?

Unlike most of my meta posts, this is one I'm making as a direct critique of a specific take I've seen. It's similar to my meta about apostle Casca in that regard, where I want to look at a specific idea and why I dislike it, as opposed to wanting to explore my thoughts on an aspect of canon. To be clear, this is only something I do if I've seen a take a bunch of times, enough so I know it's not a one-off. It's also not something I do because I want to engage in discussion with the people who've said whatever the take is, it's something I do in case other people who agree with me might be interested in a meta post that's more in line with their viewpoint.

I provide this disclaimer because, as I've said a few times now, the idea that it's the better choice to have Casca die during the eclipse is one that I just really dislike, and I make that preeeeetty fuckin clear. I can't control who sees this or who comments, but I did think I should make my stance explicit.

Berserk fandom is an absolute treasure trove of bad takes about rape and sexual assault. Considering the seriousness with which the manga takes rape, despite it's sometimes quite dodgy framing and portrayal, the fact that the fandom is Like That is fully a testament to cishet men's inability to consume media without turning into a brainless amoeba of toxicity.

I have to say, though, what shocked me the most was that this particular take, that Casca should have just died during the eclipse, was not from the dudebro side of fandom ('cause if she had they couldn't make their silly little "casca enjoyed it" jokes).

I'm coming right out of the gate with my opinion, which is a firm no, Casca should not have died during the eclipse, and the story would be weaker if she had. I'm going to presume during this analysis that the people who say this assume that her death would be instead of her rape, as opposed to her being raped and then dying, which would be... Horrific. Even more horrific than canon, lol.

I do have sympathy for some of the people who wish she had died, and in a way I understand, though I vehemently disagree. Some of the posts with this POV sound almost traumatized as they proclaim I wish she would have died, it would have been better. As this is something I've only noticed in the tumblr fandom side of things, where most people are women, I think this comes from women readers feeling furious and sick about one of the most vile rape scenes out there. In some ways its intentionally vile, in others - ie how grotesquely sexualized it is - it's unintentional. Then, of course, she continues to suffer in her disabled, infantilized trauma state. I hear these readers wanting to shout at Miura that he should have just killed her off rather than force her, and us, through reading that. It would have been kinder.

I have... Far less sympathy for others. There's a side of fandom that simply does not care about Casca (in a different way than the dudebros who don't care about her despite gushing about how she's peak tomboy waifu). It's amazing the veneer of progressivism these people put on as they say that Casca should have died, because she did not contribute to the narrative before the eclipse, and she certainly hasn't after. Going to get even spicier for a second and point out fandom's long history of wanting female characters dead because they get in the way of mlm ships, and how I think this is SOMETIMES simply another manifestation of it.

To be fully fucking clear, I do NOT think that being a grffgts shipper (censored so this doesn't show up in the tag LOLLLLL) precludes being shitty about Casca. I think tumblr's demographics, and those demographics' typical shipping preferences, mean that grffgts is naturally going to dominate. By simple statistics, most of the people whose opinions I hate are going to be grffgts shippers. Same with most of the people's opinions I like on tumblr tbh. I do, however, think it's prudent to point out old school fandom misogyny, and how I personally feel it's showing up in the fandom, and also point out that it pisses me off that Casca dying during the eclipse is at all presented as the least misogynistic outcome.

I'm also going to say now that this is firmly being kept in the realm of fiction. In real life, there are horrific discussions about how being a victim of rape defiles you for life, and that it's better to die without the "shame" of being raped than live with it. While I have to be blunt it's difficult for me to separate some of the discussion of Casca dying during the eclipse from that anti-survivor bias I see in real life just because ~we live in a society~, I in general think this sentiment is coming from a place of simply analyzing, narratively, which outcome is less misogynistic given how the rape in canon is portrayed.

Would it narratively have been better for Casca to have died? What about the impact of her death versus her current storyline?

First, I think I need to outline my interpretation of the eclipse rape. I don't think that the decision to have Griffith rape Casca was Miura simply being a misogynistic cishet dude who threw in rape for the hell of it. I also don't think it's OOC. Again, there's much to critique in how it's drawn, but not in the fact that it happened. Griffith, in his moments of feeling out of control and powerless, uses sexual advances to reassert his control over the situation - see Charlotte, or the wagon scene with Casca. A distaste for sexual violence committed by his enemies doesn't mean Griffith is incapable of wielding sexual violence as a weapon himself. In real life, there's a paradox where rape committed by political or social enemies is seen as the worst crime one could ever commit, while the mundane rape committed as a consequence of patriarchy is excusable and the victims should be blamed and shamed. Did Miura have the gender studies acumen to think about that when writing? I dunno, but neither does anyone who thinks he didn't.

I also think it's supposed to establish his actions during the eclipse as fully over the moral event horizon. Without it, it's easy to ask if ultimately, Griffith's decision to sacrifice his followers to a cruel death is justified to create a perfect utopia. With it, it establishes Griffith as acting fully on cruel, malicious impulse in moments of emotional turmoil, which puts his future utopia in jeopardy. I can't be the only one who sees Falconia as a ticking time bomb. Of course, this doesn't mean he needed to rape Casca, but simply that I think it was necessary to his character to do something that crossed that moral line. He could have raped Guts I suppose. Killerbambi has entered the chat.

While I think this might sound strange, I actually think it's immensely validating to have a character who is a victim not just of rape, but of rape committed by someone she already knew. That's genuinely unique in media on the whole, which plays into that paradox I mentioned earlier - in real life, the vast majority of assaults are committed by someone the victim knew. Having the story surround the continual, horrific trauma of betrayal, of having to watch the person who hurt you move on while trauma keeps you in horrible stasis is almost so realistic it's... uncomfortable. Painful. Hard to read.

There's no greater purpose to what happened to Casca. She didn't grow from it, instead she regressed.

Her general lack of agency post-eclipse is much critiqued in the fandom and like. Fucking yeah fair LOLLLLLL BUT ALSO... But also. Fandom on the whole can be so cruel about traumatized female characters, like there's no way they can do trauma "right." In Casca's case, her lack of agency is turned into a reason she should simply have been killed off instead, as though there aren't so many survivors who, while not as literally as she does, retreat into a shell of themselves and are frozen with trauma as the world begins to pass them by. Of course, the critique would be that she's not a real person, she's a female character written in a misogynistic way by a man, but I personally think this overstates Miura's issues with his portrayal of rape. To me, it presents what they think are his biases as justification for their own biases.

Time and time again, I see survivors discuss feeling validated by Casca's trauma response after being assaulted. Even the parts of the rape scene that I vehemently dislike, such as the hyper-focus on Casca's body and the physical reactions she's having, I've seen more than one person say they felt validated because they too had an unwanted arousal response during an assault. I'll still critique the scene, but regardless of if this was Miura's intention, its impact is clear.

I'll again plug this article by Jackson P. Brown, How Berserk’s Casca challenges the myth of the “Strong Black Woman.” Just to show a quote from it:

All of the action of the story after Conviction Arc is in service of restoring Casca's mind. During Conviction Arc and after, Casca has groups of women who love and protect her, with women as her source of safety. Guts is single mindedly focused on bringing her back, putting his body on the line again and again to protect her and restore her. I wondered about including Guts here because I'm sure I'll get some anon about the Beast of Darkness, which again fair LOL. I have complicated feelings on that, but mostly I think the importance the narrative puts on her mind and her protection is touching, and I think this outweighs how the negative things apparently mean that she should have died.

Her story and trauma, despite its flaws, is shockingly realistic and validating to so many people. She's also a key narrative component post-eclipse, and not just ~for Guts' manpain~ or as a helpless plot device, her story is her own. I've written about Elaine as a character and what she represents, but in brief, Casca doesn't disappear after the eclipse. Miura wrote Elaine with these moments where Casca comes to the surface, and while I wish we had more of her POV I think you can look at how she's coping from how Elaine reacts to the world around her.

I also think it's necessary to have Casca at the Hill of Swords. There's Guts, who Griffith torments in the way only a bitter ex can, and Rickert, who doesn't know what happened the day of the eclipse, but I think Casca is the key component in that scene that cuts through all of Griffith's posturing and Guts' anger. She is there, making the real, human cost of what Griffith did during the eclipse unignorable in a way that no other character could. It's one thing for Guts to be furious with him and Rickert ignorant, it's another to have someone who loved him so innocently and dearly trembling just at the sight of him. Let's not pretend that the depth of betrayal in this scene would be the same if you swapped her for, say, Judeau.

It's funny, Miura is quoted as saying that his initial reason for keeping Casca alive was to provide Guts an ever-burning flame of vengeance, an eternal reminder of everything that he lost during the eclipse. What's wound up happening, on a meta level, is that Casca provides the reader a constant reminder of what happened during the eclipse. As more and more focus is given to her PTSD with her revival, the cruelty with which Griffith acted (and continues to act) becomes harder and harder to ignore. It becomes more difficult to push it aside as just bad, misogynistic writing.

And also, quite simply, I like narratives about trauma recovery, and therefore I'll always find Casca's story worth telling despite my frustration with a lot of it. It's absolutely wild to me that for how often I see the fandom complain about her being "fridged" they think it would have been better to see her ACTUALLY fridged, no chance of coming back at all, just dead to fuel Guts' revenge arc. Would it really be better to have her be just another dead girlfriend? Really?

That's really what it comes down to. I like Casca as a character, and I want her to have lived. The people who wish she had died, many of them simply don't like her as a character. Not all, particularly in that first group I mentioned at the start, but many. Everyone has their preferences of course, but I don't think I need to respect when someone thinks a character has so little influence on the narrative that they should have just died, especially if that character is Casca.

If Casca had died during the eclipse, it would not have been a good death. It would not have been brave, or triumphant, or worth anything for her as a character. Judeau died to protect Casca, but even his death was not brave, it was just sad. That's the whole point of the eclipse.

To have Casca die that way would be a disservice to her as a character, far moreso than to have her struggle on as a traumatized victim of sexual violence. That's genuinely what I believe.

#berserk #casca #casca berserk #berserk meta #casca the og victim of yaoi IN CANON

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