#this is up there with 'stop romanticizing romance' tbh

[nmjoo-n]

DREAM GIRL 💭 kim namjoon.

pair. writer! namjoon x f. reader | genre. age gap romance, obsession, love at first sight, angst | warnings. corruption kink, profanity, slight stalker behavior, daddy kink, pet names, unprotected sex, exhibitionism, power imbalance, just filthy sex tbh | word count. 3.7k

synopsis. “tell me pretty baby, have you ever been fucked up against a wall?” or namjoon is completely enamored by your angelic innocence, and absolutely has to claim you.

Kim Namjoon spent most of his time reading.

His most recent binge had been Murakami books, the woman through a man’s point of view, and while fascinating—it lacked depth. Intensity. This author clearly understood the peculiar sex very little, was entirely focused on his love for them, and their reaction to it. If it was Namjoon, he’d let them lead the narrative, while he’d step back and observe.

Women were to be observed, understood, before approached. This is how he found you, a perfect little angel in your white dress, sipping coffee outside his neighborhood’s café, softly talking to a grey, stray cat, your hand extended out for it, your fingers delicate in their calling. You stopped him dead on his tracks. He could do nothing but stare.

You looked so peaceful in your oblivion, your hair up and away from your face, a book propped on your knees. Namjoon’s feet moved without his knowledge, his mind replaying one thing—I have to see your face, your beautiful features, I need to meet you, sweetheart. Shamefully, his cock stirred in his pants, alerting him of his improper intentions. No matter. He couldn’t control his response to you, didn’t want to.

Walking in the coffeehouse, he leaned against the tall counter, head lazily falling into his open palm, gaze following your every move. Ordering his usual drink, he gathered the courage to approach you. You seemed to like this cat, so, perhaps an animal lover, and you most certainly were a reader—it was a start, an opening for him.

Clouds were beginning to gather, September coming to an end, but you paid no mind to them, your eyes scanning the pages of whatever you were reading. His writer brain was romanticizing your entire existence, was picturing you under him, in his arms, consumed, defiled, claimed. A pretty little thing dancing in the rain, running towards him, laughing, the outline of your breasts visible for anyone to see.

Henry Miller would’ve been one jealous fucker if he’d ever known you were out there, years ahead of him, a muse for the taking. Namjoon thanked every fucking God known for putting you in his way. Bukowski would be having a field day fantasizing about your honey dripping thighs and sweet pussy. You are every writer’s dream, sweetheart, and do you even realize?

“Beautiful choice,” he comments on the book in your lap, coming to stand over you, desperately trying not to lose it over your angel features.

You jump, startled, and look up to witness the most breathtaking man you’ve ever come across in your life, smiling down at you. You smile back without meaning to, your back straightening, your shoe clad feet touching the pavement.

“Anaïs is for the bold,” you retort, voice light, motioning for him to sit in the empty chair opposite you.

He’s massive, with strong arms and long legs. He thanks you softly and takes the seat, paper cup in hand, eyes piercing through you in an identifiable way. You shiver—blame it on the chilly day.

“Are you bold, then?” He asks cryptically, leaning into you. You feel exposed, but intrigued. So incredibly intrigued.

You falter in giving him your answer. You don’t even know his name. You don’t think it matters. “I—I try, I think.”

He smirks, and pulls away, taking with him his amber scent and magnetism. You miss it as soon as it’s gone. You reason with yourself, try to find an explanation for your thought’s reaction—your body’s.

“I’m Namjoon, sweetheart. What should I call you?” His voice was velvet; deep, and manly. It radiated through you.

Closing the book, you instead chose to hold your coffee cup between your hands, a distraction from the intense man pinning you down with those dark eyes. His black leather jacket accentuated his big shoulders, the buzz cut on the top of his head making him appear meaner than he actually was. Namjoon was older, you could tell. It scared you, but in the way rollercoasters make you nervous, or in the way thunder cracked in the night, somewhere far away, miles and miles from you. Bark with no bite.

“(Y/N),” you reply, licking your dry lips.

He follows the movement. “Pretty—(Y/N),” he tries it in his mouth, the sound sinful, inviting. “It’s beautiful.”

He sees your cheeks flush crimson, your head dropping to hide. Namjoon is an intuitive person, a risk-taking man. His fingers reach out, his index lifting your face to look at him. Your breathing has changed, you’re not accustomed to flirting, much less compliments from strangers, it’s all there for him to see. His innocent baby. He’d take his time with you. You deserved nothing less—he’d give you the fucking world, if you so wished.

“Are you a lover of books?” You ask, wanting to break the incantation, disperse the intensity of the moment.

His hand drops, the touch that lit a fire inside of you burning still, bright and strong heading lower, in between your legs, gone in an instant. You mourned for it, yearned for his hand to come back, touch you somewhere else. Your thoughts were shameless, your deepest desires but a breath away.

“You could say that,” he sips from his cup, calm and collected, legs crossed, studying you. “I’m a writer.”

“No way!” You exclaim, your cute reaction eliciting a laugh out of him. How adorable, he thinks, watching your nose scrunch up, your small, fuckable mouth curving in a smile that knocks the wind out of him.

“What about you, angel?”

“I’m a sophomore in college. Literature.”

Of course you are, his smart girl. He needs you to know, before he proceeds. He needs you to vocally say it’s okay for him to court you, to make you his. He won’t lay another finger on you until you do so.

“Sweetheart, you understand the age gap between us, don’t you?”

The part you dreaded. The truth. “Yes,” you say loud enough for just him to hear.

Namjoon leaves his now cold drink on the table, leans forward, forearms resting on top of his knees, fingers lacing together, a serious expression on his flawless face. Is this how it happens, you think? One day, out of the blue, no warning, no signs? Love, plainly in sight, asking you to accept it? You can’t say no. You don’t want to say no, knowing the difficulties, the struggles that entails.

“One word of yours and I’m out of your life. You’re holding the reigns,” he explains, but his eyes are terrified of you rejecting this, of scorning him, of sending him away after he’s found you, an oasis after a long dry desert.

He wants to love you madly. He wants to fuck you senseless, and ruin you for any other man. Most of all, he wants you to want the same things. Eight years isn’t a lot, but it’s a lifetime apart.

“You—you like me?” Your lips fall open, your chest deflates.

Oh, sweetheart, you might not be ready for what I feel for you, what I’m planning to do to you—it’s beyond words. Beyond reason.

“As soon as I saw you. I’m not a talkative person, (Y/N), I don’t walk up to just any girl.” There go those eyes again, haunting your soul, turning you inside out.

You blink, surprised at his honesty, at the bluntness of his words. In your twenty years on this earth, you’ve never been more sure of anything. This man will show you things you’ve never seen before, take you to places you’ve only dreamed of. He’s experienced, he’s an all rounded person.

He’s handsome. His mouth begs to be kissed.

“I like you too,” you admit, but refuse to meet his gaze.

He can’t have that. His fingers shoot out again, gently bringing your face level to his. Rain droplets release themselves from the puffy clouds. You don’t react to any of it, hypnotized under him, under his irresistible touch.

“It will be more than that. I need to know if you’ll be able to handle it, pretty girl. I’m not going to be your high school boyfriend.”

“I understand.” Your thighs clench together, your breathing erratic.

Namjoon notices, of course he does. “Are you a virgin, baby?”

Your eyelashes flutter, the red painting your cheeks turning a shade darker, your skin hot under his palm. He’s closer than ever, this broad man asking if he can take care of you. You’re endeared. Your heart is weak.

“I’m—no. A boy in my senior year,” you reply, embarrassed. Excited.

His eyes flash, something dark stirring in them, before it’s gone instantly. Jealousy. But, why? You couldn’t have possibly known, and even then…the danger. The forbidden. No, that couldn’t have been it.

Why hadn’t you waited? Who dared touched you before him? His muse, his perfect girl. Thoughts that had no place being voiced out loud, in fear of sounding insane. He would never admit to them.

“Then tell me pretty baby, have you ever been fucked up against a wall?”

His lips were but a breath away. You wanted to give in so badly, anything he wanted, you’d become pudding in his hands, melt away if that meant you’d be with him, if that meant he’d take you with him everywhere. His question. You stayed silent.

“Use your words, (Y/N). I’m not doing anything without your consent.”

You were so wet. So incredibly wet. If only he knew the influence his words had on you… He only had to reach a hand under your dress, touch your core. Then he’d realize just how inexperienced you truly were.

“Never,” you whisper.

You exchanged breaths, your eyes falling shut in the thought of his lips on yours, and it almost happened, the ghost of them faintly pressing, a gentle caress, before he pulls away completely, his hand finding yours, pulling you up with him.

“Sweetheart, you have no idea what you just did to me,” an arm wrapping around your waist, bringing you closer, your head at level with his chest, a man, standing before you, asking to have you.

“I should wait, I should take you out and make sure you’re fed, take care of you, every fucking inch of you, before I even begin to think—do you want this?” His voice is vibrating, filled with his desire, breath now tickling your ear, a whisper between lovers.

You just met Namjoon. You don’t know anything about him, nothing but your attraction to him. Your body’s reaction. So what if this was a bad decision? He didn’t look like a bad guy. Anais Nin wasn’t second guessing herself when she fell into an affair with Henry Miller. It just happened, their souls spoke to each other clearly. Could this be what was happening?

You wanted him inside you. You wanted what he offered, every bit of it. Yes, yes, yes.

“Take me with you, Namjoon.”

Together you run, belongings forgotten; the rain had turned from a faint whispering to a thundering roar in a split second, and it didn’t take long for the both of you to get completely drenched in it, tasting sky water, your small hand in his bigger one, holding tight, fingers intertwining.

He only had to look back once. Your dress was see-through, he could see your white undergarments, the silk of your panties, the cups of your bra. Namjoon growled, a guttural noise boiling from his throat. Immediately, he pulled you in between two buildings, a narrow alleyway leading to apartments’ fire escapes unraveling in the length of it.

Leading you under a small shed, he made sure you were against the wall, covered, while he let his arms rest above your head, your bodies touching. He looked down at you, his breathing labored, and he saw the skin glistening, the fabric sticking on every curve, those pink lips open, fast breaths exhaled.

He kisses you, then. Takes your lips as his own, traps you in his embrace. You taste like cold rain, but when his tongue slips past, there’s hints of coffee with milk. Namjoon smiles against your mouth, hands getting lost in your hair, steadying themselves at the nape of your neck, cupping your jaw, your chin—you fit right into him, so small, so precious. He’s going to love corrupting you, tainting you.

“Has anyone ever touched you…here?” His fingers bunch your dress up, dip under it, over your slick. You gasp—he marvels at your expression.

“No? Baby talk to me, use your pretty mouth,” he kisses you again, his digits moving over your panties. You’re moving with them, rubbing against them, it’s all wet wet wet—

“No one.” Your nails dig into his jacket. He sighs dreamily; you’re a vision for him. An angel send.

“Did that boy not know how to please you, baby? He just shoved his fucking dick in you carelessly?” His voice grew rough, anger rippling through him. “You deserve so much better than that, sweetheart. You deserve to be loved, to be caressed…”

With one hand slipping inside your panties, fingers curling, entering you slowly, the other one ran up and down your thigh, gripping at your waist, snaking its way to the small of your back, and back down. You couldn’t focus on anything but the pumping movements inside you, the long digits bringing you pleasure, making your cunt ache, clench around them.

Namjoon was hiding you from view with his entire body. This was only for him to see, but it also served as a test. To see how far you were willing to go with him.

“You’re doing so well, my sweet girl. So tight, so wet for me… I want to taste you, baby, I want to inhale you. Will you let me?”

Your moans were music to his ears. They started as low pants, your hand blocking most of them, your cheeks that familiar pink shade. He saw it happen, as his fingers curled a specific way, the way your legs fell open wider, the way your voice turned a pitch higher than before, unable to hold back, helpless against your pleasure. Namjoon was rock hard, stifled in his pants.

But that would come shortly. First, he needed to show you—what he can do. What you could have every single day, everywhere, as soon as you spoke the words. He’d cater to your every need, be whatever you wanted him to be. As long as he could have you, take you, own you.

A smack on your ass. Your eyes shot open, staring wide at him. He lifted you up at once, arm under those plump cheeks, his fingers still fucking your cunt vigorously. You yelped, held onto his shoulders in fear of falling, but quickly grew overwhelmed, your volume rising. Fuck him, you’re so fucking hot.

“Tell Daddy, my sweet girl—will you let me have a taste of your cunt?”

“Oh, please,” you whined, your head falling in the crook of his neck, your thoughts a jumbled mess. “Please.”

He needn’t be told twice. With your feet planted firmly on the ground again, he removed his hand from your panties, kneeling down in front of you, rain sipping through him, as he lifted your dress up. Namjoon looked up at you through his eyelashes, before he ripped that silk right off you, diving right into your slick.

Divine. He’s had a lot of sex, has tasted a lot of women, but none could ever compare to you, to your sweet fucking cunt. It was pure Heaven. And the way your back curved against the wall, pushing his head into you, his tongue swiping your wetness, sucking your clit—it was enough to make you cum. He slurped all of it up, fingers finding their way again into your warm hole. He’d blow, he fucking swears. Your beautiful voice moaning out his name, wet all over, a Goddess for him, as he laps your intoxicating juices. He drinks you up, he makes it his life’s mission.

“Fucking tell me, sweetheart, has anyone ever had a lick of this pussy? You know it belongs to me now, don’t you?”

You nod your head, losing your mind. He hasn’t even fucked you yet, and you’re convulsing this hard. His baby.

“Words.”

“Yes, daddy, yes! Please,” you sob, “please…fuck me, please…”

He locks you in place, his hands on your ass, determined to make you cum with his tongue, before his cock is anywhere near you. His impatient girl, so lost in feeling, such a slut for him, for what he’s giving you. He’s never had such a perfect woman.

When he started working both his fingers and mouth again, this time aggressively, his only motive was to get that pussy to drench him, to have your cum dripping from his chin. And it did just that when his thumb flicked over your clit relentlessly, tongue moving just underneath, three fingers deep. Your nails dug into his scalp, your entire body convulsing. He rubbed his stubby jaw on your lips, inhaling deeply. Your scent, uniquely yours—he now knew how you smelled. Truly. He would never be able to let you go.

“Fuck, sweetheart, you’re killing me. Ready for me? Ready to give me another one?” He muttered, hands on your breasts, dropping kisses on your neck, before unbuckling his belt, unzipping his pants. “I love the way you cum. I can’t wait to have you on my bed, have my way with you. You’ll let me, yes baby? You’ll let Daddy defile you, pretty thing?”

You looked down at his girth, swallowing thickly. Namjoon chuckled darkly, allowing you to see what would enter you. He pumped himself a couple times, his other hand rubbing your pussy, making sure you were wet enough for him. You just looked so fucking innocent, all fucked out. He attacked your mouth once again, biting down on your lip.

“Do you taste yourself? My delicious fucking girl.”

He enters you slowly, brows furrowed, savoring the tightness. Once he bottoms out, he stills in you, letting you get used to him, his will made of iron. Your fingers wrap around his biceps as you take a deep breath through the sting of his cock.

“Are you okay, baby?” He asks, worried.

“Yes,” you reply at once. “Go on.”

He hikes your thigh up and around his torso, as he lifts you up. You wrap around him and that’s fucking it—he loses it. His cock brutally starts pistoling into you, holding you tight against him. You meet his thrusts halfway, before it becomes too much for you to handle, instead becoming his personal little fuck doll to pound senseless. And he does. His moves are exact; sharp, and precise. He’s hitting everything inside you, the position as well as the thickness of his cock filling you up to the brim, until all you can think is him him him, inside your cunt, fucking you dumb.

“Call me by my name, sweetheart,” he pants in your ear, bouncing you on his dick.

“Namjoon,” you weakly moan, your breaths coming short, on the brink of passing out.

“My name,” he repeats harshly, ramming into you once, twice—

You throw your head back in ecstasy. “Daddy! Fuck, don’t stop! Keep fucking me please, please, I’m so fucking close daddy, please!”

“That’s my fucking angel.”

He does just that, until he can feel you spasming, until you’re screaming, begging, crying, coming on his cock, his desperate whore, getting fucked so good, isn’t she, bounce on my fucking dick, baby, ride it out, that’s right, milk me, fucking own me, my sweet fucking baby, you’re so beautiful, so fucking hot, give me a kiss—

“Where do you want me, baby? Tell Daddy, fuck you’re clenching me so goddamn hard right now, sweetheart, please.”

“Inside, please inside, I want your cum inside of me, please,” you beg, and he almost fucking chokes on his spit.

His thrusts are fast, hard and sloppy now, bruising your pussy, chasing after his own release, his mouth filthy—you want me inside this fucking cunt, don’t you my perfect fucking baby, my little slut, you’re gonna let daddy paint your walls white, won’t you, squeeze me dry, baby, fuck, come on, clench those tight fucking walls, goddamn you, I want to die in this pussy, please baby—

His arms tighten around you as he comes, and you let him; you let him calm down, for his breathing to even out, as he slips out of you, and carefully unwraps your legs from his hips, planting kisses on your shoulders, water dripping from his hair. The thunderstorm still hasn’t passed, raging on beyond the shelter of this shed.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” you confess as he fixes your hair, your dress, adjusts the straps, gives you his jacket to make up for the lack of underwear, and even though it’s several sizes too big on you—he cares.

It wasn’t just a lie to have a quickie with you. He took his time to explore your body, to study what makes you tick, what sends you over the edge. You didn’t even know his last name, but he knew his way around your pussy the best, better than you it felt like.

His eyes are fond, staring down in adoration. “I want to make you feel good for as long as you let me, sweetheart. I’m not here to hurt you.”

You hug him, then, your arms not quite reaching all around him. But it’s enough for him. More than enough. He thinks he’ll fall in love with you so easily. You’re the most adorable thing he’s ever witnessed. He wants to hide you away, put you in his pocket and carry you everywhere.

“What’s your last name?” You ask innocently, head still buried in his chest.

He barks a laugh out, squeezing you in him, the vibration of it radiating through you. “Should’ve mentioned it, huh? It’s Kim, angel. Kim Namjoon.”

“Kim Namjoon,” you try it. It sounds…wholesome. “Hi, Kim Namjoon.”

“Hello, baby.”

The two of you stood there for a long time, waiting the storm out in each other’s arms. Namjoon couldn’t stop smiling, didn’t want to, never wanted to, ever again.

You couldn’t stop staring at him—he felt like the sun peeking after the gray of the clouds. Warm, important.

#bts #namjoon #bts smut #namjoon smut #namjoon x reader #kpop smut #bts x reader #namjoon imagine #bts imagines #bts scenarios #namjoon scenarios #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #.mine

[moonyssmommyy]

My Marauders Headcanons Pt. 6 ~ Mary-Ann Kate MacDonald

(@lesbianmckinnonn my Mary MacDonald Headcanons if you still wanted to hear them!!)

Has the most beautiful smile

She has freakishly white super straight teeth

She was born on Valentine's Day

Autumn>>> (tbh same Mary)

She doesn't like labels but she knows she likes girls

She's like fall academia meets romantic grunge

Idk if that's an actual aesthetic but I'm making it one now for Mary

Has the loudest laugh that she's insecure about but it's soooo beautiful

Her nose scrunches up when she laughs

She has a dimple on her right cheek when she smiles

Her favorite food is a good ol fashioned burger

Queen of awkward peace signs in photos except it's not awkward she actually likes them

She gets excited really easily

Always wears red lipstick or clear lip gloss there is no in between

She has flawless skin

Has a cat and she loves it more than anything even though it is a fucking bitch to her most of the time

Midsize Mary MacDonald canon

Mary has stretch marks and she is so, so, so beautiful with them

Her fav season is fall, low-key romanticizes everything about it

Orange is her fav color

She's ridiculously charming

Charismatic Queen

Bro her smile 😭

Istg she's perfect

She's actually really smart

Lily is her study buddy

Marlene is her let's go get fucked up at parties buddy

Has had a crush on Pandora foreverrr

Constantly scoffing at Sirius as if she they didn't date and she wasn't literally in love with him in 3rd year

Miss gurl was literally writing their initials in hearts

She loves boobs

All boobs

Big boobs, little boobs, give Mary all the boobs

Suffers from ADD (which I believe they have stopped separately diagnosing ADHD and ADD but idrgaf)

Apple scented shit is her favvv

Won't pass up on strawberry though either

November is her fav month

Dated James from 5-6 year before realizing she liked Lily

They got together a few weeks before lily found out she was pregnant

Marylily summer romance

V-Day baby (it's honestly a huge part of her personality)

Total hopeless romantic

She's very cheerful and can make anybody and everybody smile

#mary macdonald my pretty girl<3 #mary macdonald #mary macdonald headcanons #marauders #marauders headcanons #harry potter #james potter #marauders era #sirius black #gryffindor headcanons #harry potter headcanons #james fleamont potter #sirius orion black #saintstar #saintchaser #marylily #the marauders #pandora is bae #pandamary #marlene mckinnon #lily evans #marauders fancast #Mary MacDonald fancast #sophia bryant #sophia bryant as mary macdonald

[amarriageoftrueminds]

something i truly do not understand about smbcky and to a lesser extent, smstve shippers is how they so clearly prefer the stucky dynamic genuine love for each other and prominence in the story their emotional core being each other to the point that non-shippy general audiences call BS when newer entries try to downplay their relationship

but then they don't ship that but instead lie through their teeth abt what stucky in canon is and pretend that their preferred ship has the stucky dynamic

it'd be so much tolerable if the diehard SmBck shippers were honest abt what they are and stop acting like it's a soulmate/fated lovers ship and admitted that it's more of a meme/dudebro/"haha they hate each other it's funni" joke ship, which is what gen audiences did when their show was airing, gen audiences treated it like a meme cuz the narrative never gave it more depth than a bunch of glued-together buddy cop tropes and banking off audiences being invested in the IRL actors' public on-camera personas

those shippers would be much happier if they were honest abt what it is and isn't instead and wondering why romance-lovers prefer the dynamic that actually treated the emotions and feeling with depth and sincerity instead of the dynamic of 2 cishet dudebro hwood actors who think their jokes are hilarious but you can never tell when the joke even happened or not happened

Tbh I don't really know how smbcky shippers ship them because I don't see it! (Got it all blacklisted or filtered or w/e and tend to block those posts when I see them and move on. Hard pass from me.)

So I can't really comment on whether they habitually make up bullshit about stucky or downplay it, because I'm simply not seeing it! 🤷‍♀️

I guess stucky occupies a bit of a unique situation, in terms of shipping, because shippers can lean hard into it's canon romanticism and 80+ years of comics, without needing to steal from other canon ships.

(Like, I've never seen or heard of stucky fic with Bucky in Peggy's scenes, or Natasha's, or Sharon's, because none of them have the same profound place in Steve's life or the same profound lines so it would be, if anything, kind of a downgrade??)

Whereas the MCU canon definitely is trying to downplay and cannibalise stucky to feed other ships, in just the way you describe.

(And thereby inadvertently admitting that the writers don't actually rate the existing-canon as romance, for example. Putting Peggy in Bucky's scenes in WhatIf, while completely deleting Steve and Peggy's original scenes, which were supposed to prove they're a couple! Tell me you think stucky was legit without telling me...)

Most jarring to me was WhatIf, where they had Bucky casually bumping off zombie-Steve, with zero sign that this was his best friend, the only living person who's known him since he was a child, someone he'd sacrificed a whole limb for TWICE etc etc etc…

But was then expected to be upset over bumping off zombie-Sam?

H u h ?!

It was so obvious and cack-handed an attempt to shove down one in order to raise up another, that it was just... cringe? 😬

Maybe that's the origin of this, if you what you say is happening in sambuca and stvesam shipping, is really happening. They've swallowed the 'shit on stucky' coolaid the Rat is peddling and now they're doing precisely what the Corporate Overlords want? 🤔

Kinda sad to think about... 😥

And as for this 'copying X ship dynamic to fit Y ship while ignoring Y ship's canon as if they never liked it anyway' phenomenon...

I have definitely come across a similar thing in stucky fanfic too, actually!

I've seen Bucky's personality (and even physical description) overhauled and replaced with a sort of James Charles-esque, Darcy Lewis Tony Stark hybrid.

Which leaves me thinking, 'but if that's the kind of person you think Steve would want, then you don't actually ship stucky, you ship Steve/Darcy, Stny, etc?'

So it wouldn't surprise me if what you say is true, Anon, because I've definitely seen that ^ similar thing elsewhere with Bucky.

And yes, you'd think, if the 'dramatically romantic co-dependant burn the world for them childhood soulmate' dynamic is the one you're after, then you can't actually like the Sambuca dynamic?

(Cuz if you're not a fan of 'buddy cop dudebros who hate each other on sight are forced into proximity and bicker to the point of becoming an annoyance to the other characters', then why are you here?)

It's an especially odd choice to cannibalise another ship's canon for fanon when what is in canon is a lot of queerbaiting you could draw on instead!

(eg. them rolling through a field for comedic 'lol they're doing gay stuff!!' relief, 'now give us money like you did w/ stucky!!' Annoying, yes, but extremely useful from a shipping POV! No different than destiel or johnlock, when the writers were in on it but had no intention of following through. The fans didn't let that stop them!)

Maybe it derives from a sense of a stolen opportunity? Because FATWS absolutely could have been the 'emotionally resonant ship-establishing show'.

But instead they went with 'Mackie being sarcastic was hilarious in junkets so let's just have him throw casual abuse at Stan so we don't have to bother to do our jobs.' Gave Stan one (1) Emotional Scene and Mackie Zero (0). (While also, funnily enough, shitting on all of Bucky's backstory as if it didn't matter, while not even bothering to mention Sam's at all.)

And finished with a lazy insult; a montage, so that they don't have to bother actually showing them becoming good friends, in the six fuckin hours that they wasted on What FunnyNaziGuy Thinks. 🤬

I think also, Bucky stans seem to be more able to see the flaws in that show, because they never regarded it as 'his' (since he's not being made Captain America, sidekicking remains his gig etc.) Whereas Sam stans did see it as his, so they feel as if they're being disloyal and shitting on one of the few pieces of black rep available by criticising it (and double-down on refusing to address any issues about it.)

So perhaps Sambuca shippers who come to it from a Sam-stan POV almost can't criticise the crap they were given (eg. Mackie Yells at Stan for 6 hours + Nobody's In Character). Emotionally, it's much easier to criticise, eg. skrull Steve from Endlame, and pretend that shit was IC and he and Bucky haven't been It in Steve's films or Marvel's Batman & Robin in the comics for 80 years. 🙄

Definite ship-envy going on, though what the hell there is to envy in the way MCU treats Stucky I don't know!

.

tl;dr: haven't seen it personally but it wouldn't surprise me since that's what the MCU itself is doing and rarepair shippers are in dire straights anyway, poor sods.

#toAyourQ #dat's me #hey nonny #no idea how to tag this because I got death threats the last time I ventured to answer asks on this subject #😮‍💨 fun times... #mcu critical #sambuca #antisambucky #??? is that right??? #stucky meta #TFATWS critical #FATWS critical #antisteggy #mcu meta #fandom wank #diskhorse #steggy is hydra trash party #meta #aren't we all a little too old for this? 🙄 #when avoiding shippers has become self-care = 😭 #thinkin bout how hannibal lecter let will graham's brain-damaging illness progress cuz he's literally a serial killing cannibal #but when mcu character mocks bucky's brain damage people are out here thinking they're... nice... to him??

[boseobrien]

Henry Danger, Victorious, and Icarly were my faviorte shows growing up, I want to start DF , I've seen lots of edits of Bose and Chapa and I kind of ship it bc ppl compare them to Bade and Seddie (my otps from Victorious and Icarly; mainly Seddie tho) so is bopa gonna be endgame so far or??

The whole Bose and Chapa being compared to Bade and Seddie never made sense to me (especially Seddie).

For Bade, I mean yeah, if you mean individually and not the couple dynamic.

Bose's only comparison to Beck is they look a like (tbh it's just the long hair). If anything Bose is Cat. Chapa and Jade don't look alike face wise, the only similarity they have is their style, even then Chapa's wardrobe is more diverse and her personality is more lively than Jade's.

Dynamic wise Bade and Bopa have nothing in common, what really made Beck and Jade work was that Beck wasn't afraid of Jade like everyone else and he actually knew how to deal with her dark personality and her tantrums, not only that but he actually liked those things about her. As for Bopa, Bose has stated three times so far that he's afraid of her and not in a way that attracts him. Bose is obviously put off by Chapa's hardcore personality and Chapa is put off by how slow Bose is, overall he annoys her most of the time, so the dynamic between the two ships doesn't work in comparison. Yeah they both have their cute moments but Bade's cute moments are associated with romance and Bopa's is associated with friendship.

So far the main scene I've seen people try to use to compare Bade and Bopa is the one in Bilsky Billions when Bose held her back from attacking Mr. Shapen and a couple times Beck has stop Jade from trying to hurt someone. However that Bopa scene only happened once and Bose still looked scared, unlike Beck does when holding Jade back. However if they wanna use that 2 second scene to justify them being like Bade, then it's whatever.

The only thing that's similar between the two is that they are or would be toxic to each to other, but if people wanna romanticize the toxity part of Bopa that they see in Bade than you do, you.

As For Seddie, the only individual comaprsion is Sam and Chapa but again, even then, Sam is more intense than Chapa. Freddie and Bose don't compare to each other because Bose's thing is he's navie and insensible, While Freddie is the senseable brainiac.

Seddie were always at each other throats before they got together which made their romantic relationship more watchable yk? Nathan Kress himself said that, " With Seddie it's potentially more interesting as a relationship because there's so much more of the budding heads".

Their whole thing was constantly nitpicking each other, Sam would would make fun of Freddie for being a dork/nerd and Freddie would nitpicking at her behavior. With Bose and Chapa, correct me if I'm wrong, but the two of them have never even argued which is essential to the Seddie comparison that their shippers want so bad. Bose/ Freddie may both be afraid of Chapa/Sam but at least Freddie wasn't afraid enough to not snap back at Sam. As I've once said, Bose doesn't have the mental complicity to keep up with Chapa,( Unlike Freddie with Sam)

If you really want a Sam and Freddie dymanic in Danger Force, it's more Chapa and Miles, (especially season 1). If you want a Bose and Chapa dynamic in Icarly, it's Sam and Gibby. Chapa has a softer side for Bose, Like Sam does for Gibby, especially in earlier seasons, Sam often corrects and somewhat defends Gibby, just like we've recently seen with Chapa and Bose. Even if it was once for twice with Chapa and Bose it's still more of an accurate relation than any Bopa or Seddie scenes they want to compare.

As for your "is bopa gonna be endgame so far" I wouldn't set your heart on it. There has never been any solid hints or evidence that the two see each as more than friends.

Anyways, i hope you start watching Danger Force soon and decided for yourself what you like : ), besides ships the show is so good !!

#ask me questions #loved answering this #bopa #Bade #seddie #ship comparsions #danger force #dangerverse #nickelodeon #bose o'brien #chapa de sliva #jade west #beck oliver #sam puckett #freddie benson #miles macklin #icarly #victorious #henry danger #chiles #danger force chiles

[dirhwangdaseul-archived]

Pirates are historically violent, racist, sexist, etc. so I don’t get why we need any sort of shows or movies that romanticize them. Like can we stop making media about historically violent bigoted groups please, i.e pirates Vikings etc. it’s so gross and I’m tired of it.

tbh what gets is that there's plenty people of color trying to do things like that in historic periods without having to whitewash historical figures like once again black sails is right there mixing fiction and metatext and thus trying to engage with the rest of reality with the respect it deserves like the comedy could have acknowledged it idk its sitcom i know i know i know but like why lie skirt around straight up make sympathetic towards them, like the thing with our flag means death that fucks me up is that it rallied itself around its romance and way in the center of misfits and piracy while the people they're forgetting to tell their story become inconsequential to the audience and it's the thing with antiBlackness, it's so easy for every other group specially it seems to me of late, other poc, to forget their humanity and thus that that slavery isn't fiction, it's the history of people whose descendants carry that weight, which means its an entire thing that affects the make up of Black people's reality, it is something they can't simply ignore whilst everyone else can become they just don't wanna recognize the human lives the story is reliant on hiding for people to enjoy and thus they simply participate in dehumanization like that's just fucked up

#el suco answers

[birbfeedersart]

until now i've never even considered xiancheng as a ship?? like, i feel as though wwx's love for jc is an integral part of his character, and i do wish they'd had a better resolution in both mdzs & cql (unless something happened in the extras?? never got a chance to read them 😅) and tbh i am quite fond of both of their characters, but it never occurred to me to ship them. even with the golden core transfer. bc i would absolutely dig out my solidified soulstuff and give it to my little sister if she needed it. it's not even a question, i wouldn't give it a second thought. as an act of brotherly love the golden core transfer makes perfect sense to me. my sister, like jc, has the sort of personality where if she's got no ''''natural talent'''' she thinks she's not good enough, so she gives up. i've......never really been like that?? not being good at things has never actually STOPPED me from doing things. maybe i wouldn't perform for strangers, but i wouldn't stop. so i wouldn't feel the loss of it as much--or if i did, at least i could handle it better. i'd still be all right. i'd find a way. i always do.

however. the inherent romanticism of it. as a romance trope it is. yes yes very good. i like it. i like that. a lot. and ofc the old trope of shixiong/shidi (woh/shl my beloved!!) is also very welcome to me. perhaps if xiancheng had been endgame, maybe i would have liked mdzs/cql better?? idk, i'm not even sure why i don't like it as much as i'd hoped i would... 😩

#it's not bc i don't like lwj!! he's a good character himself #and seems like a nice fellow besides!! #it's just... i really don't like the lan sect tbh #the cloud recesses is just....awful. #all those rules....it's kind of nauseating to me #it's just so restrictive #and when i think of a free spirit like wwx spending all his time there #being stifled #i just...! ugh. no. do not want. i know he's not really imprisoned there or anything #but even if he IS allowed to be himself.....nobody else is. THEY still have to follow all the rules. THEY are still stifled. and being urse #urself around someone who can't is just so awkward #i used to know someone like that as a kid #i used to feel so guilty #that i could just be and she couldn't. bc she was chained by her strict parents #even when they weren't around. idk maybe my parents let me run too wild?? i might be the problem!! i have a real distaste for authority! i #i am a hooligan!! a ne'er do well!! #none of the cloud recesses stuff is actually lwj's fault anyway #i think i just resent the fact that it seems like he LIKES it. and that just??? does not compute??? #i have a harder time identifying with him than with some of the other characters #i really don't dislike him!! or lxc for that matter!! #i just think the cloud recesses is fecking lame #lotus pier is so much cooler #birb says #fandom meta #xiancheng #mdzs/cql i WANT TO LOVE U #but i just.....can't?? ;A; #i'm sorry ;A; #ok ok i REALLLLYYY need to get back to drawing #i'm colouring it now it's nearly done

[spitblaze]

????????????????

#spitblaze says things #i hope this person meant 'nudity doesnt have to be sexual' but considering the sentence layout #im not sure #this is up there with 'stop romanticizing romance' tbh #and before anyone gets any ideas #the context of this is about how the us is real weird about nudity and sex ed #so its sex as in fucking not sex as in biology

[skyguyed]

I honestly do think shipping is the worst thing that ever happened to star wars

#this is a joke post because im awaee of cultural appropriation and whitewashing and shit sw does #but like its generally just so fucking toxic #and the ship wars take ALL the fun out of it #and there are some TERRIBLE fucking ships out there #if youve followed me for more than 10 mins you know which ships i mean #like romance removes peoples critical thinking skills apparently #its so frustrating #sure its ''supposed to be fun'' #and i should ''loosen up'' #but star wars ships have caused me way more stress than enjoyment tbh #the only one ive had a good time with is kanera #becuase its actually textual and canon. #the rest just is squicky to me now. #maybe its because im asexual after all #idk i keep seeing kalluzeb and reylo crap and it bums me out #even ''canon'' stuff like hanleia and anidala like....... #why cant we support 100% healthy ships or stop romanticizing the shit thats wrong in those #i hate it im over it

[dylanobrienisbatman]

In relation to your previews asks, let's mention that most of the physical interactions that Alina had with Darkling were against her will or not initiated by her. The Darkling had to use Mal's face at one point to actually make out with her, which makes the line "tell him what i showed you in the dark" that d4rklinas romantize so much so fucked up. He is mocking her for interactions she didn't want to have with him.

Okay ik you sent this like... a while ago, but i wasn't sure how to respond tbh. But you're 100%, completely, totally right. (lol sorry, i let this get away from me... it's kinda long)

Even the physical interactions that she has with him in the show, which she initiates, are still... not great in terms of consent? because yeah, she initiated it, but the person she thinks she is kissing is not real. She has been lied to, consistently, and as a result, by his design, she believes that she is kissing someone who does not exist. The version of Darkles that she begins to have feelings for is the product of his manipulation of her. Every scene he has with her where he is trying to get her to develop feelings for him, he lies, about who he is, what he's done, his history, his intentions, ALL OF IT. Also during this time he is stealing her letters that she has written to Mal (and never sending them), AND stealing the letters Mal has sent to her, and reading them all. So while she is 'falling for' this false version of him, he is manipulating her, lying to her, and isolating her in order to control her. So even though she initiated the kiss, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference, because consent is only valid if it is informed. Because everything she thinks she knows about him is a lie, she doesn't have informed consent about the relationship she believes she is entering into. Alina is a victim of abuse, full stop, and every interaction they have is a part of that abuse.

And in the books, she has even less agency over the situation she is in. He initiates all of their physical contact in S&B, and it is a tool of manipulation. He kisses her because he believes that a physically romantic relationship is going to benefit him in the long run. He kisses her the second time, at the party, specifically because he knows Mal is in the castle, and he is trying to control her. In both the show and the books, that scene gets romanticized a LOT, but if you consider what he is actually doing in that scene... it's super fucked up. He is not suddenly overcome with lust and passion for her, it's not this scene of pure, romantic desire taking hold. He is trying to control her, and he is manipulating her. He knows Mal is there, and he believes that a passionate kiss will help to steer her away from him when they inevitably reconnect. Think about it, in the show, he meets Mal, he uses information he got from Mal to try to woo her further, and then, while he believes Mal is being held somewhere safe so that he can get the location of the stag from him, he spirits Alina away for a passionate kiss. Instead of telling her that Mal is there, and trusting that she would chose him over Mal (spoiler alert: he knows she wont, and that's why he does what he does), he lies to her, and manipulates her. That kiss isn't romantic, it's showing the audience the lengths he will go to to try to maintain his ruse over her.

That's what Ben Barnes was trying to articulate when he said he added the extra kiss where he runs back to her and kisses her one more time. Because the next scene is where Alina (and the audience) discovers the truth about him, so he needed to REALLY play up the "romance" and the sweetness of it. Because that's why he's doing it. He can see that something is about to happen that will threaten his control over her (he thinks its Mal, but its actually Baghra) so he uses that kiss (both in the book and the show) to try to confuse her and make her doubt people who would speak against him. That extra kiss was Ben understanding the assignment.

And don't even get me started on the scene in S&S when he LITERALLY SEXUALLY ASSAULTS HER while wearing Mal's face. He knows that she would not want to kiss him, or be physical with him. He is not pretending to be Mal because he loves her so much or what the fuck ever weirdo D*rklina's wanna say he's doing. He is trying to terrify her. To make her doubt her own mind. He is using his power against her, violently, and in a way that i'm sure he also hopes will poison her against Mal by making her associate being assaulted with the image of his face. She believed she was safe, and that the boy she loved was coming to be with her in the way she wanted him to be, she was vulnerable and she was giving herself willingly to the person she loves, and as she is doing that he changes his face. He does it to terrify her, to assert his power and his dominance over her, and to remind her that she is not safe anywhere, even in her own mind.

So, back to the line, "did you tell him what you showed me in the dark", you're 100% right. He is mocking her, and he is trying to shame her, for things that happened between them either without her consent, or without her having all of the information needed to fully consent. He is using his control and manipulation of her to manipulate her MORE.

That's the thing I just want to reiterate, over and over. There is no 'ship war'. Not really. Nothing that happens between Darkles and Alina is romantic. In the beginning, it seems that way, because of the first person POV writing, but thats the trick. Because we are only in Alina's head, we are being manipulated too. But those scenes, they aren't actually romantic. They are moments of abuse. Leigh is trying to show the audience how much those things can muddle up, and how it can be hard to tell the difference sometimes, when your abuser is charismatic and charming and handsome, but that doesn't mean it's not abuse.

#anti darklina #shadow and bone #alina starkov

[antiloreolympus]

9 Anti LO Asks

1. anyone else notice echo is colored similar to hades too? so hades has the hots for a tiny hot pink variant of his mom, and hera (apparently) wants to sleep around with a female version of hades? rachel you know there are other colors, right? tell me you know that

2. hi, im someone who dated someone who was extremely hateful but considered me one of the "good ones" of my race: hera doing that with echo is extremely dehumanizing and, seeing as nymphs are a different race in LO, really racist! i understand there's no actually IRL races involved in LO, but the fantasy racism allegory is still there, and they all look bad! very, very bad! why am i not surprised the well off white lady would have unintentionally bad race takes in her comic! big yikes!

3. server x royal and boss x worker is VERY popular on webtoons in general, but at the very least the majority of them are all 21+ characters with emphasis on them being, well, adults. LO stands out because hades is depicted so much like an old man even by WT standards (40s according to RS) and persephone is ... not, she in canon is stuck at 19, so she's more akin to a high school MC than the MCs from adult/sex-filled romance comics that LO tries to be. It's kinda creepy for that fact, tbh.

4. with recent anons i have to say again that it's unlikely RS puts any of the harmful shit into her work with any ill intent. she's just ignorant and also doesn't think. except maybe that classism because it's so blatant that it's hard to believe RS really doesn't notice it??? is she ever going to bring it up??

5. thats what i dont get about the stans. they've been flooding every single mythology and pagan tag for years now where they shouldnt be, they've harassed and threatened pagans and greeks for not bowing to LO and RS's "genius", they've tried to tamper with actual wikipedia pages, and have doxxed and sent death/r*pe threats to critics and fans alike, but they act like tumblr having a broken tag system is our fault and we must accommodate them? these are grown adults acting like entitled children.

6. i dunno if anyone remembers the "Our company's Women of Color" meme that was just a bunch of white women in rainbow-colored shirts, but ... lore olympus. that's lore olympus. i havent seen that meme since 2015 but its LO to a fault. rachel thinks women of color means purple and pink.

7. wait is rs going to make hera x echo a canon thing? didnt hera torture and basically magic murder echo in myth? how is that a healthy relationship? then again this whole comic is about romanticizing a r*pist and his kidnapping and forced marriage of his victim into a "love story", so i guess its not shocking rachel has some bad takes on "improved" pairings for her girlboss, karen version of hera.

8. As a response to your most recent anon, as a Greek myself, the story is just the same old boring cliche of romanticizing a part of our mythology, same as Percy Jackson or Song of Achilles (another cheap attempt of making profit out of a culture that doesn't belong to them, but eh)...Our mythology has been SO overused and 'defiled' that honestly, it is mostly makes me indifferent than it makes me displeased..Not only Americans but also Europeans have been leeching off of our cultural history for EONS and no matter what we do, they will continue to do so...my word of advice to anyone thinking they are offending Greece or smthng by enjoying these pieces of media is that it is okay if you like them, some of us like them too, some of us don't, it happens..just remember that whatever you read is most certainly a retelling and that the actual material is much less 'enjoyable'

9. So I dropped Lore Olympus a while back...I liked it at first, considering it just a simple piece of media to consume but some people criticizing it had some really good points...so after some consideration I stopped reading it..but lemme just say, the death threats and blatant hate ain't it..it is entirely possible to like a story AND being able to see the flaws in it...all the antis sending death threats to fan content creators and calling fans "apologists" was too extreme...everyone is allowed to have their own opinion on the media they choose to consume and sending hate to one another is a completely pointless notion🤷

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lo critical #lore olympus critical

[ladybirdwithoutdots]

do you really need to bring shipper wars in the Austen fandom too?

Full offense but people who deny Emma is in love with Mr Knightley and hate on him because they ship her with Harriet, and pretend she should’ve ended up with her, are bullshit.  I’m tired of these posts (including the Harriet stans whom I saw bashing even in some emma/knightley posts when fans of the latter are the first to make cute posts about Harriet too), and honestly, you all just make me feel very negative about Harriet and unable to truly appreciate her scenes with Emma.

Maybe I just don’t care about being a bitch but here’s what an Emma fan who is just tired of the anti Emma/Knightley crap honestly thinks about your nonsense:

Hating on the last Emma adaptation because Emma is in love with Mr Knightley and marries him in the end is as disingenuos and idiotic as hating a Pride and Prejudice adaptation because Darcy and Elizabeth are in love. Le duh!  You can ship him with Bingley and her with Charlotte (or Wickham, if that’s your mood I’m not judging shipping choices here) but if you watch a movie based on an Austen’s book you know what you are getting yourself into, especially when her canon romances tend to be very important plot elements for the protagonists and their character growth. 

I get it’s 2021 and hating all het romance makes some people feel woke and edgy, and I totally get alternative readings and things like that, but out of ALL Austen ships and all her female heroines, Emma is the one female character who doesn’t even need, neither want,  to get married and truly only does that in the end because she is in love.  Emma is the LEAST Austen heroine whose romance you should even question because she honestly only married the guy because of love and no other reason.   Furthermore, unlike most of romances from that time, the guy Emma marries isn’t just some random guy she has met two seconds ago, it actually is her best friend, someone she knows since years and the one person who knows her best and loves her in spite of her flaws. Austen was very forward for her time with their romance, especially given the fact her male love interest actually decides to live with Emma and her father in the end instead of doing what every married man had the right to do at the time (take his wife to his own home where she’d have little to no power). Knightley and Emma are the (original) best friends to lovers relationship. He’s the best friend Emma had loved from the beginning without realizing it. It’s one of the main points of her story and the great irony of the novel that she thinks love isn’t for her, and she had never been in love, but she already is in love with him without realizing it because of their friendship. I’m sorry bro but that had never been Harriet, and it seems hypocritical tbh for some of you to want to give Harriet the story that Mr Knightley has with Emma, all the while hating on him and the romance. Even with the last movie, you have people take quotes de Wilde said about Knightley and Emma (e.g., the one about the movie making you think about ‘the best friend you maybe should have kissed’) out of context to manipulate others into thinking she was talking about Harriet instead (and queer baiting, which would be homophobic)

On one hand, we really do need more stories that put an emphasis on female friendships too and on other relationships that aren’t just the romance. On the other hand, it’s completely useless for writers to try to give us that  (e.g. de Wilde in the last Emma) if everytime two characters care about each other and share screentime together, people claim that relationship (and all scenes that make perfect sense with a normal platonic relationship) must be romance and romance only. It’s almost as if some of you never had a friend and therefore believe that everytime a character cares about another character they must be romantically in love with them. It also makes me believe, more than anything, that romance is the only kind of love that exists or is important for many of you. And if that is the truth, why even bother with fictional friendships then? Why even complain when writers don’t give us that if we are unable to appreciate those relationships as something of equal importance with romance?

I really can’t take people serioustly when they overinflate Harriet and her relationship with Emma all the while they minimize Emma/Knightley’s mutual feelings.  I read people who apparently find it harder to erase Harriet’s baseless crushes on every guy who gives her attention, than erase the actual love story and feelings of the protagonist! Tbh, even if you wanted a gay adaptation of Emma (and not one that is that just for the sake of), it would make much more sense to simply turn Mr Knightley into a female character, therefore still respecting the canon couple and Emma’s character arc, than ship her with Harriet. The latter is a weak alternative and frankly baseless for me because the only things she and Emma have in common is the fact they are both girls and they have an ‘e’ in their name. Full stop. Intellectually, Harriet is no match for Emma and their ranks in society are so apart that their relationship could never ever be equal (and it never was). I don’t want to be harsh but tbh I was never convinced they are actually friends in the novel, and the last movie made it even worse for they emphasized Harriet’s blindness about Emma’s feelings, and how one sided that dynamic is for it’s just Emma who makes an effort to be a friend in the end. Let’s be real here, Harriet doesn’t even know Emma and never really acts as a friend to her, unless your definition of friendship is ‘someone who worships you, and pretends you are the best and right even when you aren’t, as long as they perceive you as a savior who can help them'.  That’s not what being a friend means to me. It speaks volumes to me that the one and only time movie-Harriet actually notices that Emma is a human being with flaws and feelings too is when she gets angry because Emma wants the same guy she wants. I don’t know if Austen’s ‘naive and completely clueless Harriet’ is worse or better than de Wilde’s version but the latter really emphasizes one of the biggest issues of Emma/Harriet even more, to me. As a book Emma fan, before an adaptations fan, I read all kinds of comments about this novel and character but honestly, I never read any real convincing argument why Harriet and Emma should be a couple instead of her and Knightley. Most of what I read boils down to people taking things out of context and/or claims that Harriet is ‘better’ for Emma just because she’s a woman and she agrees with her all the time, while Mr Knightley is the bad guy because he’s older than her (he’s only 37, btw) and criticizes her ( as if Emma doesn’t need someone to criticize her, and her character growth isn’t dependent on precisely that). I get some people wouldn’t like to have someone who is criticizing them but worshiping someone is =/= being their friend or appreciating their real qualities. I also read people point up how much Emma praises Harriet in the book as proof that she’s in love with her, but the same ignore the many instances, especially after Harriet tells her that she loves Mr Knightley, that truly show Emma’s real colors and how much she still considers Harriet her, and especially Mr Knightley’s, inferior to the extent she regrets their friendship and thinks Harriet is ‘uppity’ for thinking Mr Knightley would ruin his reputation to marry someone like her. When I read those arguments it seems, if anything, that people want to have the cake and eat it by saying that Austen’s own story doesn’t matter (and she doesn’t understand her characters’ real feelings) when it comes to the things those people don’t like (eg the fact Knightley is the one Emma is in love with and all the explicit hints about that ), all the while still selectively using some of her writing to support their alternative version of the story. Now with the last movie adaptation, it’s even worse for me. It’s telling that the two scenes people romanticize as pro Emma/Harriet are two phrases/moments that actually emphasize the bad side of their relationship, and why their friendship isn’t good for either of them. The first is the scene when Emma says she ‘wants to keep Harriet for herself’: not only there is nothing romantic about that ( that line is in the book too as well as Knightley’s ‘your infatuation is blinding you’. You are reading a book written in 1800 with modern goggles though, and that alone doesn’t really work) but that phrase should actually make you cringe for it emphasizes how selfish and manipulative Emma is by treating Harriet like her new pet project just because she’s lonely. She doesn’t care about the girl’s feelings for Robert Martin, and what is truly the best for her due to her rank (and how dangerous it actually is for Harriet to not marry and find someone who can offer her protection), even if it’s what she tells herself, she only cares about her own desire to have a new female friend because she lost Mrs Weston and she feels lonely and bored. It’s also true, though, that she is still lying to Mr Knightley too because she does actually want to match Harriet with Mr Elton, that which is obvious in the other scenes, but even that is an expression of Emma’s selfishness and not really a hint of her caring, let alone loving, Harriet as a human at this point. If you read the book, it’s particularly obvious given the fact that Emma isn’t blind about Harriet’s feelings for Robert Martin for she knows that her behavior is bad and the girl actually cares about the guy, but she manipulates her into thinking Mr Elton is better because it’s her choice and she prefers him (until he proposes to her, of course. Then she thinks Mr Elton is trash for being so arrogant to believe someone of his rank could marry her) The second phrase people romanticize is only in the last movie and it’s that annoying ‘I refused Robert Martin because of you’ phrase by Harriet later in the movie. I hate that because, once again, that phrase has nothing ‘romantic’ about it unless you obviously ignore the context and what is actually happening there. Harriet is being passive aggressive with Emma there, gaslighting her and blaming her for the loss of her first suitor BECAUSE HARRIET WANTS MR KNIGHTLEY for herself. Harriet is angry with Emma there because she realizes she loves Mr Knightley TOO and Emma has more chances than her. The most likely sentiment behind that flippant phrase for me is something along the lines of Harriet impulsively telling Emma to move aside and let her have Mr Knightley because she made her lose Robert Martin already. She is trying to make Emma feel guilty, subconsciously or deliberately, but this surely is how Emma herself perceives Harriet’s words too for the poor girl really thinks it makes her a bad person to accept Knightley’s proposal in spite of loving him back. Harriet made her believe she was stealing her man and yet, AND YET, had Harriet been a real friend, to begin with, she should’ve realized Emma’s feelings for him way before she deluded herself into thinking the guy wanted her. But Harriet never cares about Emma’s feelings and even their reconciliation in the end is all, still, about what Emma needs to do for her. Not a word from Harriet about being happy for her friend too. Nothing.

Listen, I really appreciate de Wilde’s attempt to make the Harriet/Emma dynamic better than it is in either the novel or other adaptations, even if it personally doesn’t convince me it’s friendship. But I get it. Like I said at the beginning, it’s important that movies display different kinds of love too beside romance and if you can’t do that with characters like Emma who are the protagonist then when you can even do that? I think it was valid for her and Catton to want to emphasize the fact that Emma, at her core, is truly young and lonely and she doesn’t have friends in the truest sense of the word (Mr Knightley is one, of course, but their point is more about her having a female companion too whom Emma could do more ‘girl’ things she can’t do with her husband or father) but, honestly, I maintain no adaptation ever truly got their relationship right. No one.  Overrating them and pretending that they are best friends forever when there is no substance for that is as incorrect as an interpretation of Austen’s writing as it is treating Harriet as a silly girl Emma barely tolerates. I appreciate the movie shows Emma’s conflict about Harriet when Knightley proposes to her because most of adaptations don’t do that: in the book she really, for a moment, feels so bad for Harriet and feels simultanously happy Mr Knightley loves her but also bad for taking the guy Harriet wants. She is no hero who wants to give up about him to let Harriet have the guy instead, though, but it isn’t like she doesn’t care either. She does and it’s a source of anguish for Emma and part of her character growth that she actually cares and feels empathy for Harriet.

However, if you want Emma to have a real female friend that’s not Harriet and that’s not really the story Austen wrote and the role she gave to Harriet. Like many academics pointed up, like many of Emma’s ‘mirrors’ in the story, Harriet is put there by Austen to emphasize Emma’s immaturity at the beginning and the fact she deliberately doesn’t choose her equals as friends and picks Harriet, instead, as her new pet project because her inferiority makes her easier to manipulate and, like Mr Knightley very eloquently points up, she makes Emma feel superior and more accomplished than she is. Emma doesn’t want to be friends with Jane, for example, because not only she could be more her equal but she actually does see her as superior in the aspects that make Emma the most vulnerable and insecure.

It’s great the movie gave more space to Emma’s relationship with Harriet, and I get that if you want to put the spotlight on female friendship too it’s either Harriet or Mrs Weston but also, let’s not pretend the movie wasn’t focused very much on her romance with Mr Knightley too, perhaps more than other adaptations did. People commend this adaptation for showing his feelings for her more and it’s true, but I will also argue that this movie does emphasize her feelings for him more than adaptations usually do for you really see Emma’s feelings and jealousy towards him before she even realizes her feelings. It’s obvious since their first scene when she’s waiting for him and runs to her piano because she wants to get noticed by him. Her breath constantly hitches when he’s close to her or because of her feelings for him, and she definitely reacts to dancing with him. She may not know her feelings from the start, she might be in her own ‘work in progress’ to figure everything out, but the movie makes it obvious to me that she loves him. If there is any adaptation where you want to be disingenuos about their chemistry and deny their romance, this really isn’t the one tbh. Look, if you want to headcanon Emma as bisexual you’ll find me agreeing with you, but pro LGBT readings and actual representation doesn’t mean, for me, shipping two characters together just because they are the same gender and the writers make them care about each other a bit, or give them screentime. Like I said at the beginning, if I wanted a gay adaptation of Emma I’d rather make Mr Knightley a woman than ship Emma with Harriet or Mrs Weston or Jane. Because regardless their genders, it’s the Knightley character the one Emma loves and wants to be with, and it’s this character who truly represents her best friend and the person who knows her best. It’s Knightley the only one who cares about her well being so much that when she is being the worst version of herself and no one cares, he is the one willing to tell her even if he hates doing that and he feels he’s destroying every chance he has to make her love him back. It’s the Knightley character who ultimately inspires her to be a better person and loves her in spite of her flaws.

#emma 2020 #emma woodhouse #emma #harriet smith #mr knightley #emma x knightley #may delete later but I needed to rant because some of you are getting old

[pansyparkinson]

THOUGHTS ON JETKO

oh man oh man oh man do i have THOUGHTS ..... as a warning this will be very rambly and all over the place <3 keep up <3

i don’t think there’s any heterosexual explanation for the ferry. let’s get that out of the way. i think there’s something incredibly important to be said about the fact that jet looked across an entire ferry of refugees and was called to ZUKO of all people (blah blah yes, his scar is a major part of it, but we are looking at things thru a jetko lens rn)

jet’s supposed to be going straight, living a regular life, and it’s something that he obviously struggles to do considering he’s been ? fighting the fire nation since he was a child/acting as a leader for dozens of displaced kids and orphans; mans literally set up a safe haven up in the trees and took on the role of provider like he is not used to just? giving up? without a fight? u could interpret smellerbee and longshot’s exasperation with his immediate need for Justice as the first instance of it in a long time, possibly since the forest hideout fell apart. and if u do ..... of everything they’ve seen traveling across the earth kingdom for ba sing se .... seeing zuko is the straw that breaks the camel’s back

and i think it’s bc at first SIGHT, it’s not so much just. “oh another refugee/victim of the fire nation” for jet, but it’s like looking in a mirror. i think that’s my fascination with their whole relationship tbh, the fact that they’re so similar. they see the worst parts of themselves in each other: their anger, their grief, their absolute need for justice/honor/retribution, and these are things that each of them individually struggle with through out their course on the show. a major part of both of their “redemption arcs” (as short lived as jet’s was) is the fact that so much of them is fueled by anger, by grief, by the need for justice/honor/retribution, and these things cause them to harm themselves and other people over and over again. these things, in themselves, is something to fix. in each other, it’s something to admire, but in the same way you can’t take your eyes off a car burning on the side of the highway. 

there’s a lot of conflict in their relationship that’s motivated purely by themselves, it’s not just outside conflict. this is something i really like in storytelling as is because i prefer character-driven narratives where they have to overcome (or succumb) to their personal traumas/conflicts/personalities instead of like. having perfectly good great moral characters whose only conflict comes from outside forces. i like the ambiguity of their characters and thus of their relationship.

regardless of if you see them as endgame (disregarding jet’s death like i enjoy doing <3) or as something that burns fast and bright, like...... y’all have to stop lying! stop lying! the fatalism and tragedy of their relationship is HIIIIIGH ROMANTICISM alike to greek tragedies. my favorite genre of romance has always been dramatic and tragic so it’s no wonder i’m obsessed with these two (and with sokka/yue, yet another ship where one party fucking DIES lmao)

did i make any sense at all. i feel like i started typing, blacked out, and now i’m lucid again. hey <3

#jetko #jet #zuko #atla

[austennerdita2533]

Hey!

I love Penelope Douglas for sure check her out! She writes some of the best smut tbh. I’m working my way through her devils night series right now-I’m on book 2. It’s good so far, definitely dark though. I’m interested to see how she goes about a redemption arc for the character Damon right now I don’t think he deserves one but I hear such good things about his book, Killswitch, but that’s book 3 so I will see how it goes. I definitely recommend Birthday Girl from her though I loved it and the couple from it are my favorite age gap could I’ve ever read. I find myself still re reading some of their best moments.

I am slightly embarrassed by Credence though so I hope it doesn’t bother you too much if you read it. Just so you know before going into it, it is about her and her step uncle/cousins. To be fair they are not blood related and very distance to the point she didn’t even know about them. But she does call him Uncle Jake during a sex scene, and the two others call her cousin during one too. There’s also a MMF scene with her two cousins. But on top of that there is a sexual assault scene (it does get stopped but the intent is there)-personally I wasn’t a fan of how she inwardly dealt with that scenario it felt like she was blaming herself for it instead of holding the other character accountable. Uncle Jake also does kiss her when she is still 17. So if any of that makes you uncomfortable don’t read it.

I’m so happy you liked the atlas six as much as I did. I can’t believe we have to wait until next year for the sequel to see what happens. It’s too long!! I also liked Callum the least, I still appreciated his character though and what he brings to the story I just wasn’t a fan of his, probably because of his problems with Libby/Parisa. Plus his powers terrify me-as someone who likes to have full control of my emotions the fact that someone could just change everything scares me. I also loved Nico he is my typical character that I love the whole I’m an asshole but soft and caring for the people I love gets me every time. Parisa is my queen though I’m obsessed with her. Like I’m literally in love with her, I wish she was real so she could be with me instead. Not that she would because I’m broke have 0 magic or power to give to her, but still. But I have a thing for power hungry women so I was gone the second I met her. But anyway if she was real she could destroy me or do anything she wanted to me and I would say thank you. Reina I also love and agree she could destroy the whole planet and one day probably will. I just love how she is there and wants all that knowledge but also doesn’t give a fuck about anyone else. Tristan also grew on me I’m still not completely sure how much I like or don’t like him yet he gets annoying sometimes because he is constantly in his mind about his alliances but I also love how loyal and caring he is. Libby is my girl!! I also relate to her as well since I was an outcast and battled inadequacy and all that (you and I must have some stuff in common!) Out of all the characters I relate to her the most and am rooting for her so hard-also because the author made her from Pittsburgh and I’m also from the area so I felt personally attached. But Olivie just did an interview and said Libby is getting a corruption arc and I am so excited about it!!

Okay ships- so I will be honest and I think it’s an unpopular opinion but oh well-I am a nicolibby stan. They have every single dynamic that I love in a ship and they could potentially be my favorite book couple of all time if that is the road they are being taken. Honestly I was obsessed with them from their first interaction so i have it bad for them. Obviously I know they were not romantic in this book but the potential (at least for me) was there especially in some of their quotes in the end. I fully believe they are soulmates though-even the author said they were born on the same day and feel like their other half is missing in an interview once-whether that will be platonic soulmates or romantic soulmates I have no idea and I could see either happening. My heart will break if it is platonic but it’s okay I can just live in my own little head about their potential.

But I get the idea and also like both libbytristan and NicoGideon and could see those happening instead of nicolibby too. I wouldn’t say I would be mad about it either-I do like both just to me the potential of nicolibby works more for me! My only thing about libbytristan though is I’m not sure how much of their tension/feelings are real (like did any of it exist before Parisa put the idea of the other person in their thoughts to lead to all the feelings.)

Weirdly enough since they probably my least favorite characters I also adore Tristan and Callum together. Their dynamic just works for me.

And I love Parisa and Dalton too and I’m so interested in how that relationship pans out because they have some stuff to figure out. But they work well together and honestly they are just so sexy together so I’m down for it. Although I do ship myself with Parisa more than her and Dalton but I’m biased.

Honestly though all the ships are wide open though so I’m curious to see what ends up being endgame. But omg yes the twist I was not expecting it-I’m so excited for the rest of this trilogy!!!

In other news though I finished up the ravenhood series. I know you said you either read it or it was on your tbr. But god I loved it. That series broke me and then put back all the pieces. If you haven’t read it and want to feel both heartbreak and happiness I highly recommend it!

Oh and don’t apologize for babbling as you can tell I also babble!!

-ACOTAR anon

Hiiiii sweets!

I've been sifting through a bunch of summaries of Penelope Doulgas' work on Goodreads and there's a bunch of stuff there I think I'd enjoy. I'm all about good smut. I didn't realize she had that many books. I'm excited! Thanks so much for the rec! I love dark romances/erotica every now and again so I'm also going to have to dive into the Devil's Night series at some point.

Oh, and idk if you know about it/read it but a couple of my friends told me about the Crossfire series by Sylvia Day a while back. It's BDSM, like Fifty Shades, but supposedly loads better. I don't know if you're into that but I figured I'd just throw it out there anyway. The smut is supposed to be steamy. I haven't read it yet but I do have the first four novels on my Kindle (where they've been sitting, unread, for about 2 years now)...so that's something haha.

And please don't be embarrassed about Credence. Seriously, the most wonderful thing about reading is you can go wherever tf you want in your imagination. No one can stop you. There are no rules. No restrictions. You can be whomever or whatever you want to be for a while, morality notwithstanding. One of my favorite things about books is that I can experience the most bonkers, outlandish out-of-this-world stuff that I'd never dream of wanting/liking in real life. It's liberating!

Thank you for the trigger warnings, though. I appreciate that. None of them sound off-putting enough to keep me from reading it. (Tbh, I want to read it more now.) I've read loads of books where characters marry or have sex with their cousins or siblings *waves at ASOIAF, the Secret History* so it doesn't bother me. I've also read most of Lolita and all of My Dark Vanessa by Kate Russell, which both romanticize pedophilia in disturbing degrees, so it takes a lot to put me off. If curiosity could kill then I'd be long dead by now. Hell, sometimes I will purposely read things I know will upset me to my core. What can I say? I'm a weirdo. 🙃

I DON'T WANT TO WAIT A YEAR FOR BOOK 2 OF THE ATLAS SERIES, EITHER. AHHHHH. How am I going to make it that long? It seems so far away!

Callum is the most terrifying of them all right now, imo. I think that's why I disliked him the most. Like you, it shook me to my core to imagine someone like him being able to toy with my emotions. I have a tendency to detach, to keep my emotions pressed close to my chest so that I can't be manipulated or hurt, and the idea that someone could have power over them, over me in that way is...no freaking thank you! I would put as much space between him and me as possible. Most of the Atlas crew had the right idea there. He does bring a lot to the story, though, like you said. I have a feeling he's going to be one of those characters I "love to hate" as the series progress. I might even grow to "hate to love" him, idk. He's just such a shady bastard! And so judgmental/mean to the girls.

I'm with you on Parisa, by the way. She's the kind of conniving, ambitious siren of a woman I can get behind. She has a similar vibe as Katherine Pierce on TVD. I mean, there's nothing in her arsenal she won't use and I love how she weaponizes her beauty. It's delicius. She's unpredictable. Definitely the type of character who inspires "scared and aroused" energy any time she walks into a room. Like, she could choke you and instead of crying you'd just ask her to do it again...harder lol.

Reina has the same kind of "no fucks given" attitude I have because I genuinely don't care what people think of me, either. I'm just here to do my thing. Be nerdy. Learn. Whatever. And Nico is my fave for the same reason as you--the asshole who only has soft edges for those who matter to him. *heart eyes*

Omg, Libby is going to have a corrupted arc? AHHHHH. That's going to be amazing, I cannot stinking wait! I was sort of hoping she'd go dark so now that it's confirmed I'm even more pumped. Also, I think you and I have more in common than either of us realized. I'm from the Pittsburgh area, too! How wild is that? Maybe there's something in the water here and that's why, like Libby, we've both felt inadequate and like outcasts at different points in our lives? Olivie might be onto something here...🤔

The thing that's been so cool for me about this series so far is that there are a bunch of potential pairings I could get behind. And I kind of like that it's not clear cut right now. Most series I know who I want together or who will be together like halfway through book 1. I like that I don't know have firm preferences and am still open. That's novel. Not to mention fun!

I don't blame you for shipping Nicolibby so hard, though. They're definitely one of my top contenders for a romantic pairing. They have that enemies-to-lovers element with witty banter that I always gravitate toward. And you're right about Libby/Tristan. I don't know how much of their connection was manufactured because Parisa intervened, either. That'll be fun to puzzle out moving forward. And Callum/Tristan should NOT be a ship I like but they have a palpable something that I can't put my finger on. I've got my eye on them, for sure.

The Ravenhood series is still on my tbr. I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed it so much, though! It's rare to read something that just ticks all your boxes. The next time I'm the mood to binge a series I'm gonna have to pick that one up. :-D

I've been trying to clear out my backlog of ARCs lately. (Not possible because I'm getting more on the regular - as in constantly haha - but I'm trying.) I just finished Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult, which has a Sliding Doors premise that is set during the pandemic where the main character has a parallel life experience (one, where she's in the Galapagos Islands on vacation when the shutdown hits so she's stuck there with strangers, alone, not speaking the language; the other, where she's in Manhattan with her surgeon boyfriend and recovering from COVID). It's intense but so, SO good! Picoult is such a good writer. Anything I've read by her has been moving, with rounded and real characters. I haven't been disappointed yet. I so recommend her.

Oh, and if you're into nonfiction/biographies at all I finished The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson not long ago, which is about Winston Churchill as well as those around him, and it was fantastic! Read more like fiction. I loved it. I am no longer surprised it was on all the BEST lists for 2020.

#anonymous #darling acotar anon #replies #the loveliest of lovely people #ashlee bree talks books

[inmyarmswrappedin]

The good: 

Skam España set up Amira’s crush on Dani (and Dani’s crush on Amira) in s2 and, regardless of how it ends, they are following through with that storyline, instead of dropping it like a hot potato.

The bad: 

Okay, so first off I have to say I’ve never vibed with Lucas Nabor (Dani)’s acting. And by never I truly do mean never, as in the first day of Cris’ season, I found the way Lucas N played Dani in the confrontation with Cris after they get home extremely cringy. This was way before I could’ve ever dreamed that Skam España would whitewash Yousef’s character and turn him into a white character. 

So, for me, it’s not just an issue of whitewashing (which is already bad enough on a show with no meaningful male characters of color), but eskam pairing one of my favorite Skams character ever with the character I like the least for acting reasons.

But I figured eskam wouldn’t really have the audacity to whitewash a love interest and not give us a Yousef of color in another form. Just like the way we got that 5-second glimpse of Lucas Rubio hooking up with a boy named Iván in the s2 finale, so people could see the male Isak had also found an Even, or the way we got a full season of Miquel being the abusive boyfriend that Spanish viewers saw William as, but for Noorhelm fans, Alejandro still got to be Nora’s endgame. 

And so, when Sofian in the trailer was blatantly posited as a love interest, juxtaposed with shots of Dani with the same expression and filmed from the same angle, I thought, “Okay, so Amira will have an additional love interest who is actually Moroccan, and he’ll probably be around much less (like Iván in s2 and Alejandro in s3), but he’ll be the endgame.” 

Like... Never in my wildest nightmares would I have thought that Skam España would take... idefk... Lito from Skam and turn him into a full fledged character who’d play the fuck out of Amira and attempt to talk her into bearding. 

When Kasim was introduced and people immediately noticed the look between Lucas and Kasim, I thought, “no fucking way Skam España would pull an Elite.” WHEN, when has Skam España looked towards Elite for inspiration before? Not even just to “fix” Elite storylines and turn them into good storylines. Elite and Skam España have never existed in the same sphere or tried to do the same things or impacted each other.

When the spoilers came out, I thought back to the time in s3 when the same hackers said that Alejandro would hit Miquel with a bottle. At the time, I heard of the Alejandro spoilers and wondered to myself, “is this something Skam España would ever do?” And I thought nah, no way, Skam España has never been concerned with toxic masculinity or romanticized it. And I was right! 

So I did the same thing with these spoilers, and I was SO SURE that I had understood the show, that I had understood what Skam España had been trying to do all these three seasons, that Skam España was so disinterested in men as a whole that they’d never try something so complex with either Dani (a conversion storyline) or Kasim (a closeted storyline). Both of those storylines are storylines Skam España gives to GIRLS. Because men in eskam have always been more about what they symbolize for the girls, than their own entities. And I liked that! So, on that level I feel betrayed, because Skam España had been telling it was one thing for three seasons, until in s4 they decided Amira didn’t deserve the same treatment as all the other mains, where she doesn’t get to be by far the most complex character in her own season. (I’m not saying Amira isn’t complex - she is. She is the most complex Sana and the most nuanced.) 

There are a couple things that gave me a bad vibe about this season from the start: one was the fact that Kasim wasn’t introduced in episode 1. Skam España always introduces the characters that are significant for the main in episode 1, so for Kasim to not show up in episode 1, that was a sign. The other one was that Skam España gave the bonus clips to Alejandro. This is a show that refused to give Lucas bonus clips in s2, because his experience as a gay boy just wasn’t relevant to Cris. Not in the same Viri’s experience was relevant to Nora. And suddenly, Alejandro (and not Nora) gets the bonus clips in a season about Amira? Like, it was just fucking weird. It is weird as shit that a show that has always gleefully centered the female experience to the detriment of the male experience, would decide in their Muslim woc season, that it was time for the whitest, straightest, cisgenderedest, richest character on the show to be the first one to get some focus.

Because Sana seasons across the board have underperformed compared to the seasons that came before them (because of racism and islamophobia in Europe), I thought that maybe Movistar had decided to lean on the romance a bit more heavily this season, in order to make it seem more appealing. Kinda makes sense, no? We’re tired of seeing straight white girl seasons, so making Nora’s season lean a bit more on the educational side of Skam isn’t a risk. People will still tune in. But a Sana season is a bit of a harder sell, so we have to sweeten the deal with romcom tropes and all the other couples in the show making out and about to have sex, to make up for Amira not getting those scenes. I thought I could live with that.

But like, there’s adding some background fanservice from established couples and then there’s this monstrosity that leans into EVERY islamophobic Muslim trope ever (because it’s super commercial and high stakes drama and excitingggggg). Like, in Western media, Muslim men are either oppressors (abusive, strict husbands who beat their wives and are terrorists or thugs or thieves) or oppressed (closeted gay boys who resort to extreme means, such as bearding or dealing drugs, in order to stay under the radar). They never get to be the leading love interest. I have never seen a Muslim man of color on Spanish TV be the male love interest, and especially not the love interest to a Muslim woman. And Skam España will be no different.

I also hope people understand the way it undermines literally every other thing they’re trying to do with the show. Amira already explained at length both her own stance towards gay people and Islam’s stance towards gay people, in s2 and her bonus video with Lucas. if you want to be a Muslim in good standing, you can be gay as long as you don’t act on it. But you can also be a Muslim who eats pork, or a Muslim who doesn’t fast in Ramadan, or a Muslim who doesn’t pray five times a day, because ultimately it’s about every individual’s relationship with Allah. To go back on this for a homophobic Muslims storyline undoes everything they did in s2. 

It also undermines Dounia as a character. Here’s a practicing Muslim who longs for a safe space, who doesn’t want to answer questions from non Muslims, who thinks it’s better not to even open the door to a relationship with a white non Muslim, and who’s really confident in all those decisions. And if you think the show isn’t setting her up to be confronted with the fact her brother doesn’t feel safe among Muslims, who prefers questions from non Muslims over telling the truth to Muslims, who has happily opened the door to a relationship with a white non Muslim, who thinks that Dounia is a homophobe in short, and that she will be made to reexamine all her beliefs because of her brother... I just don’t know what to say to you tbh.

And also, this clip made it seem like Amira’s Muslim world wouldn’t accept her crush on Dani, undoing everything the show has done until now. Dounia didn’t disapprove when Amira told her she had a crush on a white non Muslim. She understood and shared her experience. Amira’s mother knew about her crush on Dani and never tried to stop it, nor did she discourage it when Amira told her about it. Why is Skam España suddenly acting like Amira can’t tell anyone about her budding relationship with Dani, when every anon on tumblr dot com will tell you that relationships between Muslim women and Christian men happen all the time?

And finally, it just makes me reexamine previous Skam España seasons and wonder... Did they make Amira only start wearing hijab in the first day of s1 because they knew a character like Sana wouldn’t contemplate a relationship with a white character who makes islamophobic jokes, drinks and makes out with the Sana’s friends in front of her after specifically inviting her to a party? Did they make Amira the show’s Isak’s best friend just so they could whitewash Yousef? Was the whole purpose and trajectory of Amira on the show, everything they did with her, a justification for whitewashing one of the few positive men of color on Western TV? For refusing to show a Muslim girl in a happy relationship with a Muslim boy? To only portray and devote time to Muslim poc/white atheists relationships? (Amira’s parents not withstanding.) As if the most positive outcome for a Muslim person living in Europe is to marry a white atheist. That is what Skam España did to Sana’s season, to Sana, to the balloon squad. 

#skam españa #anti damira #anti dani soto #if you are a damira or dani stan and click on this post #then you have been warned #if you come on anon to attack me for this post #do not expect me to be polite

[morkofday]

pingxie thoughts (and prayers) bonus 1/2

tbh i was very unsure if i should be doing any analysis on these pictures when am not that well aware of what happens here (i’ve never read the novels) but these pics just really deserve it. after this, i will try to return to the regular blabbering posts at some point but i hope you enjoy these in the mean time. part 2 you can find here.  

side note: the photos from the digital magazine (the ones without any watermark) belong to @/thosch3i who has been doing amazing work at keeping us all updated and translating things ♥ 

The Bazaar Photoshoot – Ideal Reality

As ppl probably know by now, the theme of this photoshoot was the Pingxie reunion that happens after the ten years Xiaoge has spent behind the Bronze Gate. I don’t have an impression of the original scene in the novels but ZSX and XYL very lovingly provided us with the most important dialogue in the video clips we got (which I will not be analyzing here bc this would become even longer than it already is), so I have at least some type of overall view through that. 

At first tho, I’m going to divide the photos into two categories which I will be labeling as “the (ideal) reality” and “the (future) dream”. In this first part I will be focusing on “the reality”. 

(more under the cut bc the pics obviously make this kinda long)

This part I called “reality” happens in the pictures with colors, where Pingxie are dressed in their more casual clothes (tho idk, who goes on a mountain in a suit? def neither of them, I bet, but it’s a photoshoot so let’s forget that). In these photos the whole reunion itself happens, concrete and very much real, easy for us to imagine. (One of the first teaser pictures we got was of this moment and it really felt like their reunion even without any context.)

They are facing each other in these photos to properly give off the feeling of them walking towards each other, meeting halfway, and finally colliding after all those years. (This also happens in the video clips so I think it really is their purpose here, to make them physically meet.) 

Wu Xie is grasping Xiaoge’s shoulder like he’s trying to make sure that Xiaoge is real. Like he’s trying to make himself believe that Xiaoge is actually there, right before his eyes, alive and healthy and for him to touch. (And I very much think that he is trying to do just that, trying to make himself believe, bc this moment is so unreal after all those years spent alone. I wonder how many times he saw mirages during the past years only to wake up and realize it was just a dream.)

In these photos where they face each other, it feels like they are looking at each other but then also kinda not? It’s like they’re looking through each other almost, seeing something more before them than just a person. Maybe it’s the future they see, or the past. Maybe it’s those both at the same time. (Maybe this is just me reading too much into them when they’re only being awkward and maybe I should stop. Maybe.) 

Then there’s also that permanent smile on Wu Xie’s face that I adore. It’s like in this reality there’s nothing that could make him happier than seeing Xiaoge again. Wu Xie seems so utterly delighted to be here (which, obviously, understandable. He’s waited a decade). His smile and eyes are so soft here. There is adoration in his look bc he’s been finally reunited with the person that matters the most to him. And Xiaoge meets him with this stoic look, this blank face we very often see but his eyes are locked to Wu Xie too. He’s glad to be there, glad to be back. (And I’ve heard that in the novels Xiaoge returns from the Bronze Gate without any serious trauma etc. but is that really realistic? I don’t think so. So only in this “ideal” reunion, neither of them carries the weight they actually do and can meet like this, happy and easy.)

Also, as a quick note, I need to mention the glasses in the photo below. It’s a cool little detail. It feels almost like a nod towards the fact that Wu Xie wishes he could change himself. That he could still appear the same in front of Xiaoge, be as innocent, be that “tianzhen wu xie” he used to be. Are the glasses his innocence then or him without it? I don’t know. 

Then let’s move to the lying-in-the-snow photos. Those seem to emphasize that, in fact, this truly is an ideal reality, a moment that’s almost idyllic to Pingxie. There is that feeling of basking in the other’s presence, the joy of closeness, the unhurried moment of pure bliss. They haven’t seen each other in ten years, Wu Xie has gone through hell, Xiaoge has been lost in darkness, and they both know the sacrifice they’ve made for the other. They are finally here after all that. They obviously want to enjoy their moment together, and I feel like these photos show how they wish for this moment to last. This moment that is still carefree and just filled with joy. Bc on that mountain, in the middle of the snow, they are not part of the cruel world quite yet. They’re away from reality even if this still is real. This is their little bubble, untouched by the life outside of this snowy scene.

After that, I gotta mention here that these are my personal favorites out of all of the photos we got. Especially the picture above where Wu Xie is smiling. He looks so content and happy in it that my heart just melts (and after knowing what happens in Sand Sea, he really does deserve happiness). 

I find it kind of symbolic in these photos how Wu Xie is the one with his eyes closed, basking in the moment, while Xiaoge is looking into the distance. It’s like Xiaoge is already being pulled away a bit, even in this ideal reality of theirs. He’s always away, not completely there. Even he himself doesn’t know who he is, like XYL said in their interview for the magazine. He would be the one to move first, if they had to.

But then again, in the picture below where Wu Xie has his eyes open, Xiaoge is turned towards him. His focus is solely towards Wu Xie while Wu Xie looks into the camera with eyes that could be almost seen as angry. And all of this feels like some type of new resolve, like things really have changed.

With this, it’s interesting to note that the photo above is, besides being the only one where someone is looking at the camera, also the only one where the snow isn’t falling. This makes it feel like some type of turning point, the crashing of reality. It’s like they have reached what they were looking for and now this is where we will move forward. This is where they have become something new. This is where and how they meet the world again. 

And how does that happen? With the new roles they have taken in each other’s lives. Wu Xie has come to protect Xiaoge, wishing to keep him safe from all those ppl that try to use him when he’s vulnerable. Wu Xie’s look in this feels almost like a warning to those ppl. And then there’s Xiaoge, finally in touch with his humanity despite of being so far away from it for a decade. He’s accepted that he can be someone that feels, who needs ppl beside him. He’s curled on his side here, looking very soft, almost fragile – and that’s what he can be now, with Wu Xie. (And we really gotta thank XYL for giving all of this humanity to Xiaoge bc now he feels real, and I always break when I think about the affection and understanding he has towards his character, it’s truly amazing). This is the photo where things have changed and we return closer to the “true” reality. 

So, in the end, this “ideal reality” consists of the actual reunion scene – which feels like the realest or most realistic part of the photoshoot – and then these other moments that follow, these brief happiness indulged dreams that probably only appear in their minds. (These feel a bit like those extra sappy scenes you get in romance dramas where a short moment suddenly turns into a pastel pink hued musical number, just saying.) This is Pingxie’s romanticized reality. It’s what they wish could happen – and maybe it does in some ways, tho I doubt they really go rolling around in snow like that. But I still wish they both can truly smile and be happy and forget about the world for a bit. The reality is harsh – let them dream a little. 

(more about those dreams in the next part!)

#dmbj #ultimate note #pingxie #the bazaar photoshoot really made me do this #i hope this makes any sense to you #i just have so many feels about this #also i wish i had the novels here #that i could dive into this better #i apologize for my lack of knowledge #also yes i can't keep myself from writing poetry smh #pingxiethoughtsandprayers #bonus part bc why not!!

[tundrainafrica]

I really love your writing, for many reasons, but I kept asking myself why I keep reading and re-reading yours. It’s because you don’t force the characters to change their personality to fit traditional ideas of romance/love and relationships. You centre the characters and mold their relationships around their personality, and not a lot of people do that. I’m really impressed and also wanted to thank you for that.

Hello Anon, 

Omg, these are such nice words. Like this literally made my day 

Wow, people like how I portray Levi and Hange cause now that I think about it, I don’t think I write a lot of inimate Levihan? 

(Now that I think about it, I think I’ve only ever written 2 kissing scenes out of like how many stories I’ve written.)

I’m glad that the way I write romance works for some people though. I’m such a fan of couples who are lovey dovey but not lovey dovey in that sense. Like I remember back in high school, my barometer for ‘I am attracted to this person’ was ‘would I enjoy doing laundry in some laundromat with them? Then after that go to the grocery with them and discuss dinner options then go to parent teacher conferences?’ 

Then when I meet people that make me go mushy on the inside, I end up thinking: If I can’t enjoy grocery shopping and going to parent teacher conferences with them, I cannot date them. 

So I guess, it’s kinda obvious here that I like to romanticize the small interactions cause as someone who’s in a long term relationship now, I can confirm that I get a great adrenaline rush from just talking non stop with my partner when we go grocery shopping <3. And this affinity for domestic interactions and just subtle stuff seeps into my writing.

Also, I don’t if you’re the same anon who sent the other prompt just before this. (the long one). BUT TBH I LOVE IT. AND THE GEARS IN MY HEAD ARE TURNING. 

I hope I could get to that soon :D