#was it my intention for this set to just be women in bi lighting?

[gender-critical-analytical]

hi sorry if this is an odd question to ask but i'm getting dinner with a friend of mine tonight to try to persuade her not to get engaged to her older boyfriend immediately after our college graduation next year (we're both 21 and he is 27). do you have any advice on how to present "please god don't do this it will be the biggest mistake of your whole life you have so much potential" in a way that won't scare her away from listening to me?

no worries if u don't see this, i'm just trying to ask around radblr (crypto, sorry for anon) because somehow none of our mutual friends understand why i am so concerned and it's driving me a bit crazy

I'm not sure what time I sent this, so hopefully I'm not late to reply, but I suppose it doesn't matter too much since I can't guarantee my advice will help much

One thing that I feel at least helps break a bit of the daze for women in age gap relationships is to ask her to picture herself as a 27 year old. Picture where she wants to be, where she'll be realistically in her career and life in general. Then ask her to picture herself in a relationship with a 21 year old guy (or woman, if she's bi, I suppose it doesn't matter too much for this example). This is almost always something that grosses women out, regardless of if they're dating an older man. Try to gently prod her to get her to think about why it should be so different for her boyfriend. If it would bother her to date someone so much younger, is it not weird that it doesn't bother him?

And, for getting her to listen in regards to the fact that she's putting herself at huge risk with her career, wasting her time on this man (look, I don't know this guy personally, or you or your friend, but a 27 year old man with a 21 year old woman... I just don't think this is a matter of love, for him) and just in general making a bad decision, I gotta ask you to think about something first: how much does she value your friendship?

This isn't about how much you care about her, obviously you do, the question is a matter of, does she value your opinion, and does she hold what you think in a good light? There are a lot of women who will quickly prioritize a man over a lifelong female friend the second they get a one, so do you think that there's any chance that this is the type of woman she is? If not, I really suggest gently telling her that you're her friend, you love her, and that you have a really bad feeling about this. That there's no benefit to seeing her give up something good, but that you don't think this is something good, and if he's the man she thinks he is, he won't be bothered to wait a while longer for her to get established in her job and figure what she wants for herself, and when and how she wants it. You can always get engaged later, but calling off a marriage is much harder and more stressful (especially for a woman to do, considering how the man's side of the family tends to defend them and take offence) than just waiting and seeing.

And, this is advice I recommend you use sparingly, maybe not over dinner, but something that works for me (I really wouldn't recommend this in a matter where there's already intentions to marry an older man, but you're the judge of what you say and do, ultimately, just be verrryy careful with this one) and something that I use to make women stop and think is this: ask her what makes her think she's different than other women who have gotten trapped this way, or had their lives damaged and thrown off course by things going sour? Every woman thinks her man is different. Every woman to get married young to an older guy is certain that he truly loves her, he isn't like the others, he wouldn't use her or try to trick her. Those women weren't, and aren't stupid, they were lied to. If other women can make this mistake so often, and warn women and girls not to make the same mistake, but this just keeps happening, what sets her apart? What makes her man different?

That one always makes women stop and think, in my experience, so at the very least it can plant a seed, but again, please be careful with using that one. Some women can be very defensive of the male they choose, and I don't want a situation where suddenly all of your friends are pissed at you and she has a knee-jerk cut-all-communication reaction

[pygian-weapon]

tell me about curzon dax or something idk. Hot takes. Was curzon bi-cycling

I hate how much space that motherfucker occupies in my head, his character is a fucking mess but, in the words of Marie Kondo, I love mess.

I have two main shower thoughts that circle around in my mind about him, one is more meta than the other.

First of all, how does sexual orientation even work for Trills? Even for humanity now, the focus on sexual orientation as an “identity” is relatively recent, and before the 19th century concepts such as “heterosexual”, “homosexual” or “bisexual” did not exist. Sexuality was a thing that you did, not something that you were: a set of behaviors that could align or not with the social mores of the time. Obviously people have always had preferences, but the way they might have perceived themselves must be very alien from how we describe ourselves now.

Back to the Trill cause I’m getting distracted. How much more different must the concept of sexuality be for a species that practice immortality by changing body every half of the century? Is it even possible for a joined Trill not to have their orientation be an amalgamation of all previous hosts? Or is the fact that they highly value the opportunity of experiencing a life as different as possible from the previous a reason to try to stick to the current host’s original preferences as much as possible? I don’t know, given how... joined-ist? they seem to be as a society, it wouldn’t surprise me if there was some weird favoritism towards the type of “fluidity” experienced by joined trills compared to the “basic” unjoined people.

Anyway, that fucker Curzon. The little we see of him, he grabs Quark by the ears, tells a sob story about how he is totally the victim in the sexual harassment case he’s responsible for, we know he had a foursome with Sisko and couple of twins and died for having too much sex on Sex Planet. Whatever he was before joining, he became AT LEAST bi-flexible post worm.

-

Now, for my actually BOILING take. I preface with saying that I do not have proof, or seen any interview that would confirm it, so this is just my speculation.

I think the writers had Gene Roddenberry in mind when writing about Curzon Dax.

I’m not saying that he was meant to be an intentional allegory or anything, but at the very least on a subconscious level they must have been inspired by him. Curzon Dax is mentioned almost all of the time with admiration and respect, he was an important Federation diplomat with the Klingons! He was Sisko’s mentor! He is a figure from the past who has almost this mythical aura with how people talk about him, which to me sounds familiar to the way some fans talk about the creator of the original series. His treatment of women also rings a bell. There is the video from Jessie Gender that goes in depth into it. But yeah, it’s the archetype of the hyper-sexual producer/mentor, I’m sure for some it was fun and liberating, but would it not have been manipulative with others? Coercive?

Mostly it’s the way the writers seem unable to sit down and portray Curzon in a truly ambivalent light, at the end of the day he must be justified and noble, a great man, otherwise would it not ruin every good thing he has done? I’m sure they were also blinded by 90s misogyny, but I think there was an undercurrent of insecurity about the very foundations of the show there.

#ooof this turned into a ted talk sorry #thank you for the ask! ^_^ it was fun to put my thoughts down #ds9

[strangefable]

okay, you know i'm asking about lore and ava lol

but also deputy switcheroo?

please and thank you <3

Answered about Deputy Switcheroo here.

You already know pretty much everything about the Lore and Ava AU, lmao. So far, it's mostly Lore being an awkward bisexual disaster in a complete panic over the incredibly gorgeous doctor Phineas shoved onto her lap in the escape pod. (Side note: "fuck the law" is Lore/Ava smut.)

For everyone else: In this AU, Phineas manages to awaken two Hope colonists, Lore and Ava, and sends them on the mission together. Lore is a helpless bi disaster for the goth doctor, and they squabble and flirt and bend the sexual tension every which way. Also, most everything else is generally the same, except there's no Max in this one. (Unless OT3 potential...)

I've got about 5k words written for it so far. I'll share just a random bit of it under the cut.

She found the stranger sitting calmly several feet away, watching her intently. The woman still looked a little pale, but otherwise recovered. “You almost looked like you knew him.”

Lore chortled at that and shook her head. “How could I? I’m from the Hope, same as you, ain’t I?” She grunted, then pushed the scowl from her face. She was angry with her own emotions, not this stranger. She blinked and stared at her companion. “I ain’t know what to call you, come to think on it.”

The woman leaned back, seeming stunned by the sudden shift. Then she offered a smile that all but made Lore’s knees give out beneath her. “You can call me Ava. Dr. Ava Mueller.”

Lore’s face flushed. Oh fuck, of course she’d get stuck out of her depth again! She swallowed hard and gave a nod. “Good to meet you, then, Doc. I’m…” She hesitated and glanced back at the grave. She shook her head. It wasn’t an idea she wanted to let linger. She looked back at the good doctor. “You can jus’ call me Lore. Everyone else always did.”

The doctor’s head cocked slightly to one side and a light flashed in her pretty blue eyes that sent a thrill along Lore’s spine. “That’s all they call you, huh?”

Lore shrugged, looking slightly away. “Rest o’ my name’s a mouthful on the likes o’ me. People always said Lore just suits better. My da always did have strange notions.”

Ava’s smile was more of a smirk, but it was damned sexy and Lore was remembering the state of her underwear and just how easily this woman could likely cause it all over again. Ava stared up at her. “I’d still like to hear it. You’ve got me curious now.”

Lore frowned. She sighed. “Lorelei Jameson. I ain’t givin’ you the middle, that’s enough.”

“Lorelei.” The doctor said it slowly, sounding it out in long drawn out tones. She smirked again. “It’s almost as pretty as you are.”

Lore blushed and stammered softly, unable to find words for that. She chose to look away instead. She wasn’t certain she knew what to do with a pretty doctor set on teasing her and unknowingly making her wet and panting for things the other woman probably had no interest in whatsoever. Women like this one did not look at women like Lore, even if by some miracle they liked women at all.

Instead, she focused on the task ahead, forcing herself to recall as much of Welles’ words as she could find. “Our poor friend there had a ship, an’ we still need it, best I can tell, if we’re goin’ to get anywhere in this system.” She wiped her hands on her jacket. She was glad, at least, that Welles had elected to remove the cryosuits and dress them in their clothes from the boarding prior to waking them. She’d hated putting that damned suit on and she didn’t want to be wearing it now. She took a look around and tried to pick up some sign of where the departed Mr. Hawthorne might have come from. She was hardly a tracker of any sort, but she saw a dirt track and some broken stalks of plants where someone’s boots had crushed them. She nodded in that direction. “We’ll head that way, see if we can’t find his ship.”

The doctor cocked an eyebrow at her. “You’re awfully sure of yourself. How do you know this’ll do any good? We’re alone in a system we know nothing about. There could be all kinds of aliens or monsters ready to turn us into dinner. Or worse!”

Lore gave a shrug. “I’ve faced plenty o’ monsters. Can’t be any worse ones here. And we sure as shit ain’t goin’ to survive if we jus’ sit here and wait for no one to rescue us. Ain’t no one know we’re here. We’re gonna have to rescue our own selves.”

The doctor paused, a considered look on her face. Then her eyes moved slowly along Lore’s own frame, and Lore wanted to whimper and beg, or just claw the woman’s tantalizing clothing clean off and put her mouth on every inch of skin she could reach. “You do look like you can handle yourself. And I don’t want to just die out here alone. Guess I have to go with you, as it doesn’t seem I’ll convince you to stay.”

Lore gave a small laugh. “No, I ain’t stayin’ out in this wilderness until dark. Bound to find a town or shelter or that ship somewhere, ain’t we? Beasties might come an’ find us, if we’re still here in the dark.” She grinned. “I can fight ‘em in the daylight, but darkness ain’t a disadvantage I want to work against.” She held out her hand with a half smile. “Come on, Doc. I’ll keep you safe, jus’ stick with me.”

Ava’s lips quivered between frown and smile for a few seconds. Then she reached up and took Lore’s hand, allowing her to pull her to her feet. “I can’t mind that much, at least.” She kept her hand tight around Lore’s for a long moment, standing close enough for Lore to feel her breath. Those rich blue eyes were gazing at her with a mischievous light and those full lips wore a smile that made Lore want to dive into headfirst into them. A crushing kiss against that mouth seemed more fulfilling than finding water. She could just imagine how soft and supple and warm they’d be, and she wondered how that mouth would taste, what it’d feel like to sweep her tongue inside, if she could make the doctor shiver with her tongue. God damn it, she wanted it something awful, and these vivid imaginings weren’t going to do her any fucking good.

Lore nodded. “Let’s get a move on, then, Doc. You just follow my lead an’ I’ll get us out o’ here.” She turned to lead the way.

A hand slipped onto her waist and she froze. She felt the brush of softness against her back and knew it was the barest graze of the doctor’s breasts. Lore’s throat dried instantly. Then there was a hot breath against her ear, followed by a breathy whisper. “Follow you? Any time.”

Lore’s eyes nearly rolled all the way back in her head as she grunted hard to cover the mewling groan that threatened to escape her throat. The doctor wasn’t going to be the least bit good for her sanity. Or her underwear. Damn it!

She marshaled her resolve and gave a hard nod before moving forward. Now was not the time to think about how damned sexy the good doctor was or how badly Lore wanted to pin her to the nearest surface and taste her and… No. Not the time. She shoved the thoughts away and scanned ahead, straightening her back and marching forward into whatever unknowns were in front of them.

#wip game #fable rants and rambles #strangefable writes #fable answers #thank you for asking! <3 #lore and ava #lore jameson #posting late hopefully no one will see #this otp is my most indulgent nonsense i love it #these girls together just let me go the fuck off #i love them <3 #thanks for letting me borrow ava #so lore can live her smart goth gf dreams <3 <3

[fen-ha-fuck-you]

CYBERPUNK 2077 | Style Over Substance

#cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk2077edit #cp2077edit #gamingedit #dailycolorfulgifs #my gifs #flashing gif #long post #was it my intention for this set to just be women in bi lighting? #no it was not #that was just a happy little accident #this game slapped me out of my giffing funk #i'm so excited #scheduled #also idk who the tv woman is #but she's adorable and i love her #m

[thetaoofbetty]

If Riverdale season 6 just goes “fuck it let’s use Sabrina to turn back time” and then they fix that entire mess then it’ll be such a ballsy move that I don’t think I’ll even be able to complain about it. Might even start watching it again.

Until then I’m holding on to hope that I’ll see new Bughead gifs in November 🤣

listen. listen.

literally being like, nah, we changed our mind is the riverdale mo so i absolutely wouldn't put it past them to pretty much erase whatever they don't like.

remember the b/a meltdown when they totally rewrote archie's 4x18 arc and turned it into being about his dad instead?

riverdale reminds me of my google docs tbh: ideas i like, ideas i came up with just because of one scene i wanted to write, ideas that have an ending but i can't be fucked to fill out the middle part of it all, ideas that all end in smut, and ideas that have a lot written but then i got distracted by something else so i started working on that instead.

more asks under the cut:

i vote we flip a coin on all scenarios but the second option is always this one:

Or the writers are using the 100th episode as a gimmick to bring everyone back and it will make no sense and fall short of any amazing theory someone has here.

i mean, they're actually doing witchy things so at this point, can we discount anything?

okay, i have to say upfront that toni and fangs dating each other is not because they are suddenly straight and the show erased their identity. if they are bi, that's how that works, it's not an either/or thing. i'm married to a dude but that doesn't make me less bi, it just means that i have 100% less sex with women because monogamy.

(don't get married, kids. it's a trap)

which is to also say i don't think anyone thinks toni and fangs is going to last, it's almost laughable to most of us, i think (okay that's how i feel about most of them tbh, but i also don't really care about what people want to ship).

but i did notice that veronica and reggie had that whole toni and cheryl doing it on money energy from seasons past. so, prob not the best thing and won't be presented in a good light. i don't know, i can see them using whatever is happening to highlight people's worst impulses. we can't pretend that money hasn't mattered to veronica or that betty's dependency on chasing serial killers isn't dangerous (i wouldn't even mention her sexual behavior but the show seems intent on showing her making bad sexual choices so...). and that's leaving out her tendency to ignore her own personal mental health when she's focused.

archie's vindictive and inherently selfish heroism and need to be the good guy has rarely blown up in his face (will it ever? questionable). jughead has an addictive personality along with a history of addiction. he's also prone to obsessing about things. i can't imagine how that would be a good thing if something came along to feed his worst impulses.

like, i definitely think we're going to get some reggie/archie byplay over veronica and probably some other drama in relationships that almost seem like they were being set up to fail but if you walked into the relationship with a bomb in your hand, it's bound to blow up, you know?

pun intended.

#besos! #anonymous #hqbandbsnba #riverdale spoilers #riverdale speculation #anti b*rchie

[cinebration]

There Are No Monsters Here (Geralt of Rivia x Reader) [One-shot]

Premise: Jaskier brings back something more than food and drink.

Happy holidays!

Tagged: @bichibibi​

Warnings: none

Gif Source: bi-jaskier

“Everyone loves gifts, Geralt!”

Geralt grunted in disagreement, avoiding Jaskier’s stunned expression. He focused on removing the tack and saddle from Roach.

“Of course you’d hate gifts,” Jaskier muttered.

“I don’t hate them. I hate what comes with them.”

“Oh, yeah? And what’s that?”

“Social…shit.”

“Well, lucky for you, your social life is shit, so no need to worry about gifts.”

Geralt nodded, though his lips curled into a sneer. Throwing his hands up into the air, Jaskier stomped away, muttering to himself about the witcher’s stubbornness.

Trying to immerse himself in his task, Geralt wiped Roach down and groomed her, giving her the rest she deserved. Her kind eyes met his, seeming to look into his soul.

“Don’t start,” he grumbled.

The horse whinnied.

Geralt heaved a sigh and let her loose to graze the grass in the clearing. He would have continued on to the village if not for the fact he was not welcome there, as he saw it. Some years before, he had taken care of a wyvern nearby, but not before it had killed one of the young men that had insisted on accompanying him. The paltry sum he had been given reflected not only the village’s poverty but the animosity of its people when he returned with the young man’s broken body.

Hoping that Jaskier wouldn’t be too distracted by women and poetry, Geralt gathered together wood for a fire and set up camp.

He tried not to brood on things he’d rather avoid.

The moon hung high in the sky before Geralt’s keen hearing picked up Jaskier’s voice. Instead of singing or humming, as the bard was prone to do, he was talking.

To someone else.

Geralt tensed, anger coursing through him. Leave it to that feckless bard to bring someone with him when Geralt had sent him merely for vittles. He listened hard, picking up the tread of Jaskier’s companion. By its lightness, he figured it was a woman, had it confirmed by your voice answering Jaskier quietly.

Growling to himself, Geralt waited impatiently for Jaskier and company to arrive.

“Geralt!” Jaskier waved his arms wide, revealing a sack hanging from one hand.

At least he had remembered food and drink.

“Look who I’ve brought.”

Geralt flicked his gaze in your direction. The firelight softened your features, made you strangely alluring. Resisting that association, the witcher blinked at you before fixing his gaze on the bard.

“I can get my own women, Jaskier,” he growled.

A blush spread across your cheeks.

“You misunderstand,” Jaskier clarified hastily, approaching Geralt. “This young woman is from the village. When she heard I was with you, she asked to accompany me back.”

You nodded. “I wanted to thank you.”

Geralt blinked, then blinked again, a small furrow appearing in his brow. “What?”

“Two years ago you came here and killed a wyvern for us.”

Unease slithered through his guts. “I did my job.”

“And we paid you poorly for it.”

He grunted, cast Jaskier a sharp glance. The bard stepped back, held up his hands.

“Uh, maybe you should get back,” Jaskier muttered to you, trying his best to smile. He moved toward you, tried to steer you away.

Stepping out of his reach, you continued, “My brother was the one who died.”

Geralt stiffened. Boring your eyes into his, you stepped forward, no longer blushing or timid. He stood his ground, though he found it difficult to look into your face. He couldn’t read the expression there. Was it murderous intent? The cold, flat look of resignation and cold hatred, more dangerous than the red-hot kind?

“It wasn’t your fault.”

Geralt frowned, his mind stuttering. “What?”

“It wasn’t your fault,” you repeated. “We treated you like it was, but…but someone was bound to get hurt. We should have just let you do your job. Alone. Like you wanted.”

Geralt tore his gaze away, glanced helplessly at Jaskier. The bard turned aside, facing his back to the witcher in an attempt at privacy.

“He was reckless,” you continued, speaking more to yourself than to Geralt. “He would have hurt himself sooner or later. If you hadn’t come along, the wyvern would’ve gotten him and a dozen of his friends eventually.”

The fire popped and hissed, sending up sparks to the night sky.

“So thank you, and I’m sorry,” you said. “It wasn’t your fault, but I forgive you.”

Geralt tried to unstuck his tongue from the roof of his mouth. The feeling in his chest, slowly constricting his heart, felt alien, unwanted. He stared down into your soft eyes and your sincere expression.

You reached out and grabbed his hand, gently squeezed. The action sent a sharp sensation up his arm, like he had been struck by something.

Kindness. Compassion.

Forgiveness.

Letting go, you stepped back from him, curtsied, and then smiled at Jaskier. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

The bard nodded, his smile lopsided and slightly strained as he shifted his gaze from you to Geralt. Casting one last glance at Geralt, you started the trek back to your village.

“Wait.” Geralt’s rough voice pierced the silence with all the clarity of a rung bell.

You stopped, glanced back.

“It isn’t safe to walk alone,” he managed to say, his voice thick.

“I can find my way back, Witcher,” you assured him. You paused, stared hard at him. “There are no monsters here.”

Geralt felt the wind knock out of him. You melted into the darkness, your footsteps fading out of his hearing soon after. The silence of the forest, punctuated only by the insect and night life, returned.

Jaskier cleared his throat and set out the food, eyeing Geralt out of the corner of his vision. The witcher stood rooted to the spot, staring after you.

“A coin for your thoughts?” he finally asked.

Geralt turned woodenly to him, sat down by the fire. Taking the meal from Jaskier’s hands, he shoved food into his mouth, eating without tasting, gathering up strength despite his lack of appetite.

Only when he finished, Jaskier eating daintily across from him, did he mutter, “Thanks.”

Jaskier blinked. “For what?”

“For the gift.”

Jaskier understood immediately. “See? I told you everyone likes gifts.”

Geralt sneered, but only because the bard was right.

#Geralt of Rivia x Reader #Geralt of Rivia #Geralt of Rivia imagine #Henry Cavill x Reader #Henry Cavill #Henry Cavill imagine #Geralt x Reader #Geralt #Geralt imagine #The Witcher

[grelleswife]

I'm curious!! We know our lovely girl is trans, but what do you think her sexuality is?? I know she seems mainly interested in men; but wasnt it at least insinuated that she was in a relationship with Madam Red?

(Answering these together since they’re closely related)

The short answer: I suspect that Yana intended Grelle to be straight, but there is room within the text to read her as bisexual and to interpret her relationship with Madame Red as romantic.

The long, rambly answer: Throughout the manga, Grelle’s primary romantic interest has been directed at male (or at least male-presenting) characters, such as William, Sebastian, and Undertaker, and her interactions with Kuro ladies other than Angelina have been few and far between. Although I haven’t been able to track down the link, I believe Yana once tweeted that she envisioned Grelle and Madame as being “like sisters.” Thus, the narrative that sensei appears to be pushing is that Grelle is sexually and romantically attracted to men.

However, a mangaka’s intentions might not always align with the way a character is coded. For example, Ohba and Obata, the creators of Death Note, are notorious for having less-than-stellar attitudes towards the queer community. Yet protagonist Light Yagami merely views the women in his life (when he thinks of them at all), as pawns in his game. His fixation on his rival L borders on obsession, and the man dies cradled in Light’s arms. I doubt that Ohba and Obata set out to depict Light as gay, but the man sure doesn’t come across as straight. 😂

Grelle is a bit like that; if you view the Jack the Ripper arc through a sapphic lens, it’s hard not to see her and Angelina as more than just gal pals. Their collaboration wasn’t a one-time deal. Grelle knowingly broke multiple reaper laws, willingly disguised herself as a man (which must have been extremely dysphoria-inducing for her), and stayed by this woman’s side for about two years. That’s an awful lot of dedication for some mortal she met through happenstance. But if Grelle is doing these things because she’s smitten with An, her actions make perfect sense. There’s a morbid sort of intimacy in killing together (just look at Hannibal)—these ladies committed their crimes as a unit, their identities so closely intertwined that they were known as a single entity, Jack the Ripper. They were enmeshed in a secret relationship whose true nature was known only to them...I think there’s at least a smidgen of queer subtext to be found there. Moreover, in the licensed English translation, Grelle admits outright that she “fell head over heels for a woman.” I don’t know what she says in the original Japanese, and whether the connotations were altered in translation...but most people wouldn’t talk about “falling for someone” in a platonic sense. 👀

Moreover, An and Grelle also tend to be get rather cozy in sensei’s official art; Yana may say they’re not a couple, but they certainly look like one. 👀👀👀

Sisters... 🤔

Sure, Yana. 😂😂😂

Of course, the disclaimer to this whole spiel is that I myself am bisexual, so my perspectives of the Red Butler arc are a little biased (see what I did there? 😜💖💜💙) toward the narrative that Grelle and An were lovers. If you prefer to see their bond as sisterly and platonic, that’s fine, too! Canon Redcliff is ambiguous; definitely there if you see it, nonexistent if you don’t. But there is absolutely room to interpret Miss Grelle as bi.

#kuro asks #grell sutcliff #grelle sutcliff #madame red #angelina dalles #redcliff #bisexual grelle #i’m sorry for pontificating y’all 🙈 #i just love my evil red queens

[songtoyou]

Tempting Fate - Part Five

Paring: Tommy Shelby x Reader

Warnings: Nothing major, but there is lots of smoking, particularly marijuana.

Word Count: 2,098

Story Summary: Tommy is not a believer in fate or destiny. However, a new resident in Small Heath will question his beliefs and push his boundaries outside his comfort zone.

A/N: Remember, this story takes place during season two of the show. May Carleton makes an appearance in this chapter. Once again, I included Romani phrases in this chapter. I found the phrase online and hope it is correct. If it isn’t, then I am profoundly sorry and do not wish to offend anyone. That is never my intent. Remember, there is no Grace or Greta in this fic. They do not exist in the realm of this alternate universe.

Please do not post any of my fics to other sites without my permission.

Tag list: @owenniasstars​

You did not know what you and Tommy were to each other. The terms “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” didn’t seem right as it was too mundane and basic. However, you and Tommy had grown a little be closer after you both apologized for miscommunicating with one another. Tommy would often walk you home at night after work and stay the night. It became routine for you to wake up next to him in the morning, which was nice and comforting. 

For Tommy, being with you was nothing he had ever experienced before. Before the war, he would go on dates every once in a while, but nothing ever lasted longer than a week or two. After the war, it was all one-night stands or nights spent at whore houses. However, with you, it was all new for him. There was something about being with you that Tommy could not quite describe the feeling until Polly coaxed it out of him. 

“Safe. Thomas, you feel safe for the first in a long time. Being with this girl will change your life for the better. She is good for you. The two of you will balance one another, her lightness with your darkness. However, there is a darkness in her as well, just as I can see the light in you, my dear nephew. But make no mistake, it is still in you to do some good in this world. Let her help,” Polly explained one day while Tommy was in his office. 

Leaning back in his chair, Tommy could nothing but agree with his aunt, “I know that Pol. Part of me is terrified.” He went on to tell Aunt Polly that he didn’t want to “ruin” you or get you hurt, but Polly waved him off.

“Tommy, she can take care of herself. As a gypsy, she has seen things in her life, just like you. Remember, you said it yourself. She is you. And you are her. You are each other’s match.”

One thing about being connected to Tommy was that people around Small Heath treated you differently. The women smiled at you more, while the men tipped their hats to you and greeted you with “mam” or “miss.” It was all new to you.

Even the male patrons at the bar treated you differently. No longer did they affectionately give you a hard time or joke around with you. They maintained their distance but were respectful. You particularly noticed how the men made sure to act accordingly around you whenever Tommy stopped by The Garrison. It was the same when John and Arthur were around.

You were in the back room of the bar when Esme stopped by one afternoon. She greeted you with a hug and kiss on the cheek. “Let’s go for a walk down by the Cut, yeah,” Esme suggested. “It is slow out there. I am sure Harry could give you a break.”

“Okay. Let me finish up these last few glasses, then we can head out,” You replied to the woman who was quickly becoming your best friend. You were thankful to have Esme around. She was another person you could confide in. Esme reminded you of your sisters back home and how much you missed them. You pushed the homesick feeling aside and finished cleaning the last bar glass. Wiping your hands on your apron, Esme followed you to the front of the bar.

You told Harry that you were taking your break. “Harry, I won’t be gone too long, okay.”

“Take your time, dear. I don’t think I’ll be expecting a rush anytime soon,” said Harry wiping down the tables.

While the two you walked arm-in-arm, Esme asked how you were holding up now that you were considered Tommy’s “girl” and all. “I’m not his girl, Esme,” you laughed off your friend’s accusation.

Esme rolled her eyes. “Don’t act naïve now, my dear friend. You are Tommy’s girl. Everyone knows it. He better be treating you right. If he doesn’t, I’ll cut his balls right off.”

“So, far so good. He has been very…I don’t know…” you began but stopped to try to collect your thoughts.

“What?” Esme asked.

“It is like there are two sides to Tommy, you know: public Tommy and private Tommy,” you began to explain. “In public, Tommy is always guarded, which I get. He has to be with what he does. However, when it is the two of us alone, he is something else. He is so sweet and gentle. He smiles more too. And laughs. Tommy has the cutest laugh I have ever heard. So delightful to the ears.”

Esme smiled at her friend and said, “I have never once heard Tommy laugh. Didn’t even know he could do such a thing.”

“So, when are you and John any closer to expanding your family? Lord knows you both like the activity that goes with procreation.”

“Not yet. But hopefully soon. The kids are looking forward to having another brother or sister in the mix. I’m lucky, you know. I was worried that John’s children wouldn’t accept when we got married. I was worried that I would never be able to live up to Martha as a wife or mother,” Esme revealed to you as the two of you finally reached the Cut. 

Sitting on a box crate, Esme sat down beside you. She pulled out a rolled cannabis cigarette and began to light it. Coughing out a puff, she passed the joint over to you. “John loves you very much, Esme. The kids adore you. Why wouldn’t they? You are so much fun, so sweet, caring, and they will always have your back. Kids have pure hearts. They can sense when someone is a good person, and you fit the bill. You’re special, my dear. Everyone is lucky to grace your presence sees what a wonderful woman you are.”

Blushing, Esme looked down at her feet. “You could give John a run for his money with the way you can talk a woman up.”

You chuckled and took in a puff. The effects of the rolled cannabis were setting in and making you feel relax and calm. It was a nice feeling. The two of you sat in comfortable silence while passing the joint back and forth. 

You and Esme turned heads when commotion came from Charlie’s Yard. “I wonder what is going on over there?” you wondered aloud and handed Esme the joint. “I’m going to go check it out. You want to come along?”

“Nah, I better get back to the house,” said Esme and stubbed out the joint and put it in her pocket. “See you later.”

You waved goodbye and walked over to Charlie’s. You saw him and Curly with Pyramus. Instantly, you saw the horse was agitated. You picked up your speed to reach the horse.

“Hey, what is going on? Is he okay?” you asked, concerned for Pyramus’s well-being. 

Charlie told you that they were getting Pyramus ready for transport, but the horse was not up for it. 

“I told you it wasn’t a good idea,” Curly mumbled. “He doesn’t want to leave, Charlie.”

Charlie merely sighed, “Curly, the horse will be fine. He is stubborn as usual, like his owner.” 

“May I?” you asked Charlie. When he gave you an okay, you reached out to Pyramus and began rubbing his muzzle. “It’s okay, boy. You’re going to okay. Rum tum bi Salama (Go in peace),” you said to Pyramus softly. “Si tut bocklo? (Are you hungry?)”

You turned to Curly and asked he had any treats for Pyramus. “It might help him calm down. He loves apples or carrots,” you told him. 

“I might have some around. I’ll be back,” said Curly and left to retrieve the treats. 

You continued to pet Pyramus, which seemed to help calm him for the time being. It only got better when Curly returned with an apple, which you began to cut up for Pyramus to eat. “He seems to be more relaxed.”

All of a sudden, an extra pair of footsteps could be heard approaching. You could make out Tommy’s voice not too far, but there was another voice with him. A feminine voice. One you had not heard before. You quickly turned around to see Tommy walking with a beautiful woman. From the looks of her clothes, you could tell she was wealthy. 

When Tommy saw you with Pyramus, he smiled at you and introduced you to the woman, May Carleton. She would be the one to train Pyramus. You shook her hand and offered a ‘hello.’ She went up the horse and began petting him along with you.

You told her that Pyramus tended to respond well with treats when stressed. May smiled at you. “He is a beautiful horse. Overly sweet, but he will make a good racehorse,” May remarked and turned back to Tommy. “The timeline you want the horse ready for Epsom is not much, but I can get him ready.” 

You didn’t care for how May only referred to Pyramus as “the horse.” It was like she only viewed him as a job and not one of God’s best creatures. You looked over at Pyramus, and he was happily chomping away at his apple. He was too innocent for a life as a racehorse. The last thing you wanted was for Pyramus to be broken. You could feel the panic start to rise in your chest and your breath start to quicken. You didn’t know if it was anxiety or the joint you just smoked making you feel that way. 

“Tommy,” you spoke up and got his attention. You motioned with your hand for him to follow, which he obliged. When the two of you were away from the others, you spoke your concerns. “How much do you know about this May Carleton? Is she trustworthy? What are her methods for training a horse?” you went on, but Tommy silenced you by placing a kiss on your lips.

When Tommy retreated, he cupped your face and looked at you with adoring eyes. “Pyramus will be taken care of, I promise. I would not send him away if I didn’t know that he would be treated well. May’s family has a long history of training racehorses. She knows what she is doing.”

You breathed a sigh of relief at Tommy’s reassurance. Now you felt silly. “I’m sorry for worrying. You probably think I’m childish,” you expressed quietly, looking down at the ground.

Tommy touched your chin to make you look at him directly. His blue eyes always left you breathless. You could drown in them if you stared too long. No amount of alcohol, cannabis, opium, or other drugs could compare to Tommy Shelby’s effects on you. He was addicting. He was handsome. He was dangerous. He was cruel. He was scary. He could also be kind and sweet-tempered. Tommy Shelby was an enigma. He would become a stain on your existence one way or another, and there was nothing you could do to stop it.

“Sijoukar,” you said suddenly.

When Tommy asked who, you scoffed. “May. She is pretty. Don’t you think?”

“Hadn’t noticed.”

“Liar,” you teased. “Even I can admit she is gorgeous. It’s okay. I don’t mind if you think other women are attractive. It is part of human nature.”

With a smirk, Tommy wrapped his arms around you and gave you one last deep kiss. “You better get back to work. I’ll see you late tonight, and I’ll walk you home, yeah.” 

He walked you towards the exit with his hand in yours. You waved goodbye to Curly and Charlie and gave a polite nod to May. You didn’t miss the brief look of disappointment on May’s face when she saw you and Tommy walk past her hand-in-hand. You smirked when you passed the woman. 

“I’ll tell you what, how about after a couple of weeks, we go visit Pyramus? See how he is doing and all. You and me, together,” suggested Tommy as you both neared the Yard’s exit.

“Really?” you asked, bewildered at Tommy’s idea.  

“Why not? It would be our first adventure together. What do you say?”

“I like that idea. Oh, think of a fun and trouble we could get into. I don’t think the world is ready for us, Mr. Shelby,” you laughed and wrapped your arms around Tommy’s shoulders.

Again, kissing you on the lips, Tommy leaned into your ear to whisper, “We are going to set the world on fire, love. You and me, love.” 

#tommy shelby #tommy shelby x reader #peaky blinders #peaky blinders fic

[1990jeevas]

Plesse tell me about queerness in the get down!!

okay okay queerness in the get down let's fuckn goooo

disclaimer: I havent watched this show in full for like 5 months at least, probably gonna get something wrong and/or forget some more important bits. also this wasnt proof read I just word vomited

tws: period typical homophobia, abuse mention, f slur use, bury your gays trope, overdose mention, mention of a creepy possible age gap (the age gap hasnt been confirmed so that's why its possible), cops

going from least to most prominent queer characters, let's start with mylene cruz!

so, from the beginning of this show she has an established romantic relationship with ezekiel (although the status of their actual relationship changes frequently throughout the show) and though this was a relationship she was hesitant to pursue, it is clear that she does have romantic feelings for him and if not for them both having growing careers in very different music genres (zeke specifically working in a genre that she repeatedly labels as bad because she thinks they're ruining records + that it isnt real music because they're using someone elses piece and rapping over it, that's not really important here tho lol) they probably wouldve had a much healthier, smooth sailing romance. that being said theres a few things that happen in the show that, while not explicitly clear, or even really good coding at that—to the point where you wont catch if you really arent looking for it (and trust me, I always look for coding, hers was just so little that it flew over my head until I saw someone else mention it)—are still cool to think about!

so, for starters, I wanna mention the toy box performance, which was performed by mylene and regina, who are best friends. that's all cool and shit, and you dont really think much about it...until you hear about the fact that the show runners purposely colored a lot of the scenes in that performance with the bi colors. like. the writers after the show ended basically said "oh yeah there was plans to make her coding more explicit, but our shit got cancelled soooo" and then dropped the fact that she was gonna be bi (or at least implies bi) in the series, which puts a new twist on a few things.

now, besides the bi coloring in the background of the toy box performance (which was mostly on scenes with her and regina, which involved a lot of uh,, lowkey lewd dancing. with each other. in very revealing outfits. wooooo), there's her music! I dont tend to read too much into this one bc, like I said before, her coding is fucking light and the writers themselves said they didnt really get to do much with it, but I think some stuff with her music is interesting. specifically how her, yolanda and regina's song set me free blew up because dizzee, resident (lowkey enby coded) bicon, got their song played in a queer club. also that the song was majorly important to dizzee and started playing literally right as he kissed a boy for the first time and realized "oh shit I like boys that's bonkers". also that the song can be taken in a gay way since literally the entire thing is about becoming your true self, fully and unapologetically, which is what both dizzee and mylene's entire character arcs are about. dizzee (and a lot of other queer people, apparently), heard this song about being set free and it resonated with them so much that they got that shit most of its popularity.

speaking of dizzee and mylene, they parallel each other a lot in the way that their arcs are about them realizing who they are, coming into themselves and no longer just letting people treat them like shit in a sense (dizzee starting to tell people essentially that they can call him weird all they want, they can make fun of how he acts, what he likes, how he dresses, etc. but he likes how he is and quite literally saying "it's okay to be an alien" as he has consistently compared himself to one throughout the show vs mylene learning that if she wants to be a disco singer she needs to put her foot down, not let anyone, not even the love of her life, not even her abusive father, stop her from achieving her dreams, etc. and continuing to pursue her career with or without their support). one more little parallel that I think is interesting is during I think s2 towards the end of the show is when dizzee and thor are shown together having fun with each other, painting all over the building and each other and are basically just being happy and in love together and then they have these clips of them being interspersed with clips of mylene at a party where she is starting to realize that if she wants to get anywhere she needs to be her own main priority and that she needs to put her career and her dream, which is what makes her the happiest, above all else if she wants to succeed. idk I just think how the show made these two into a weird parallel, accidental or not, is neat. maybe not an explicitly queer parallel, but I think at least how her music and whatnot helped dizzee, the main queer character in this show, blossom, is important.

moving on we got shaolin fantastic also known as "oh no your internalized homophobia is showing-"

so, heres a quick list of...interesting shao facts:

Consistently referred to as fag/faggot (shaolin fanfaggot is my personal favorite); he gets really defensive about this despite nobody actually thinking he's queer, it's just people being assholes to be assholes, and he is the only character consistently referred to using a slur, especially a homophobic one, especially for a "straight" character. dizzee, a canonically queer character, is called a fag less than shaolin is even though dizzee actively goes to gay clubs, has a not so secret dude he "hangs out with" and wont let anyone properly meet, paints his nails, wears less than straight clothes even by the 70s standards and is just all around the definition of fucking queer (and I mean like in the weird way, not the gay way). in fact theres only like once I can remember him being called a fag and it had nothing to do with him actually being gay it was literally just like thrown out there the same way you would call someone a bitch.

Has only shown sexual interest in women, yet refuses to have deeper relationships with women in general (possibly because of trauma but who knows) but takes his relationships with his "brothers", specifically zeke, very seriously

Tells zeke and zeke ONLY his real name when zeke was planning to stop being his friend bc shao more or less got boo boo, a like 14 year old black kid, arrested for selling hard drugs; he was clearly scared and trying to do anything to keep zeke around, literally chasing him down the street and hounding him until he got zeke to stop and argue with him

Kept threatening to beat up zeke in the end but couldn't actually bring himself to do so, instead saying that zeke is "fucking lucky" before walking away

Let's zeke get away with things that nobody else can, in general just has a weird soft spot for ezekiel that he shows with nobody else

when shao found dizzee with thor in a vaguely compromising situation (like they were just shirtless covered in paint sleeping next to each other but shao had also seen everything they painted on the walls ((which some of it was sus)), it was clear they had painted on each others bodies and dizzee had been routinely disappearing with this guy for weeks now yet not producing nearly as much art, at least, as far as we audience members know) he didnt judge him but instead, waited for him to get cleaned up and then told him something along the lines of "theres a reason why im so secretive blah blah blah [not everyone needs to know everything about me]", which, in context, kinda implies that he might be a lil. a lil homiesexual. jus a lil.

whenever even the possibility of zeke leaving him comes up he absolutely loses it. he has literally cost ezekiel life changing opportunities because he thought zeke would just up and leave him for them. this could be abandonment issues bc he's a severely traumatized character, and that probably does contribute to it, but it also is just not a reaction he has to any of their other friends just randomly dipping in and out of his life soooooo

generally speaking, this mfer has got either bisexual with a big hard on for zeke coding or homosexual with terrible internalized homophobia and still a hard on for zeke coding. either fucking way, that nigga gay. he gay as hell. gay as fuck man. there wasn't really much to analyze here tbh bc the coding is just so fucking obvious if you look for it or you are/have been a gay person who's dealt with at least a little bit of internalized homophobia.

also, just a sidenote, idk how fucking old shao, but I'm praying hes like at max 19 bc I'm pretty sure zeke is a minor in this show and shao definetly is not so the whole him being heavily implied to have a crush on ezekiel thing is kinda. oof. not oof if zeke is like 17 but any younger than that? OOF.

edit: apparently the characters are only supposed to be a year apart in age but i had no clue about that before writing this post and since shaos age was never actually stated in the show i naturally assumed he was an adult since his actor Looks Like An Adult. this is definetly on me to a certain extent, but i also never saw anything about this when trying to find our their ages so 🤷‍♀️ maybe i just didnt look deep enough, sorry!

now moving on to the main event...marcus dizzee kipling :]

so, first things first, let's talk enby coding bc him being bisexual was already confirmed!

um, to start off, I just wanna say I dont think this enby coding was intentional or even really coding, it's just moreso me being a dizzee kin on main and knowing as a transmasc enby he has very transmasc enby vibes. for example:

cool, gender neutral nickname that everyone calls him

paints nails various different colors

the whole wardrobe is just a transmasc enby heaven...fishnet shirts, jean overalls, jackets and cuffed pants galore, the big colorful pins, etc

gender neutral hairstyle (when I had my fro it was very sexy and made it easy to transition between hyper masc and vaguely fem, which is pog)

comparing himself to/representing himself consistently with an alien character (though this is meant to represent his sexuality, it could also double as a gender thing too, not neccesarily bc of the whole nonbinary alien trope but bc an enby who likes aliens might heavily identify or compare themselves to whatever their idea of an alien is, whether that just be a genderless entity or a motherfucker with fly style and no need to be perceived as anything other Wacky As Hell)

moving on from there, let's talk about how his queerness is presented to us and how, while it may be a really good piece of representation, especially coming from netflix, it still lacks in A Lot of places.

so, let's start with good things!

i personally really like the get down's queer rep with dizzee bc it's (for the most part) nonsexualized and very very soft, about dizzee figuring himself out and realizing there is a place where he fits in, and about two teenagers in the 70s falling in love over their shared passion for street art. it also features an interracial couple where both boys challenge stereotypes both about queer men and men of color, which is epic poggers and very sexy. this piece of rep specifically is very important to me bc I am a queer black person and even tho interracial relationships are mostly normalized now, I've still had people give me shit for primarily dating white people in a town that is...primarily white lol

mm anyways, I can also appreciate how in the get down, dizzee being represented by rumi the alien is not a thing specifically related to gender (as it often is) and instead is about his sexuality and just in general weirdness and how it has led to him being alienated amongst his peers, poc or otherwise. him seeing himself as an alien is not about just his queerness, which is important, it is about him being a queer black man who talks different, acts different, dresses different and is "soft"—he isnt a walking black male stereotype and he wouldnt have been seen as masculine back in the 70s by any stretch of the imagination. this can be relatable to a wide spectrum of queer poc, from queer black men currently who still have to deal with this shit or to people like myself who are afab neurodivergent mixed race enbies that have always been signaled out as weird and alienated for it. dizzee is god rep bc while he has a small part in this show, his parts are very impactful, hard hitting and show queer poc of all ages that they arent alone and that it's okay to "weird", you just need to embrace it because somebody will love you for you, as thor did for dizzee.

that being said theres um. some minor problemas here,,,

namely:

dizzee and thors first kiss

the lack of development this pairing got

the way dizzee was confirmed bisexual off screen, he never said the words himself, just showed interest in both genders

the way dizzee and thor were never even confirmed boyfriends or just fwb so most of the fandom just calls them boyfriends bc Why Not

dizzee was implied fucking DEAD??? AT THE END OF THE SERIES?????? AND THOR WAS IMPLIED ARRESTED?????????????

now, these might have been things that wouldve been fine had the show been given it's full run but it wasnt which is why we are now left with probelms.

so, from the top, let's go over these: dizzee and thor's first (and only "on screen") kiss was one that was shown in a montage of other queer people making over and doing other vaguely romantic/sexual things, one of those things being a whole ass naked titty being mouthed at, but the actual kiss...was just not shown? like they really did just say "yes they kissed <3 you know this from the context clues of it being in a montage with kissing, hickey giving and titty sucking <3 but no we will not show it <3" LIKE HELLO? I SAW A NAKED BOOBIE BUT NOT TWO MEN KISS??? HUH????????

also, dizzee and thor were both fucking high as hell during this bit like this isnt a terrible thing but it's also like sometimes you do shit when you're high that you wouldnt do sober and they just never kissed again on screen so like?? like idk that's not that bad but it does kinda irk me since they deadass got no other on screen intimacy after that unless you including painting on eacher other or sleeping next to each other on a shitty mattress but not touching at all during it bc they were both at opposite ends of the mattress like half way off it

so yeah, that was trash. then we got lack of development, which kinda goes with the "dizzee being a bisexual but he never says it in canon" thing cause like...okay dizzee was already sort of a side character from the get go like he wasnt the mc by any means, but he became way more of a background character as things continued until we basically only saw him for performances or when he was with thor, yet they got no fucking development as a pairing other than "dizzee realize he gay, he like thor, he and thor spend time together and ig probably do some gay stuff but we dont really know bc we only ever see them do graffiti together now" like?? tf am I supposed to do with that shit. answer. quickly. and then theres dizzee not being confirmed bisexual, which is just a running problem with shows literally doing everything to say a character is bi except for having the character just...say they're bi? which would be so easy? like a good way dizzee and thor couldve had some development is by thor teaching dizzee things about the queer community that he didnt even know existed, thor couldve helped him understand what being bi meant and helped him label himself and whatnot but instead we got an off screen confirmation that the writers had bisexual in mind when writing him. which is garbagé.

the whole thor and dizzee never having a confirmed relationship status is also a development problem cause like literally nobody knows if they were just friends who made out, maybe fucked, who knows, or if they were dating bc dizzee does give a love confession but a love confession doesn't mean there is a relationship, especially since thor didn't say he was in love either (as far as I remember, I could be wrong, plus whether or not that really happened or was apart of dizzee literally overdosing during a performance is unclear so 🤪)

and now for the biggest issue...bury your gays trope.

during the season 2 finale, dizzee and thor are chased by cops after they are found doing graffiti, one of the cops is able to catch thor while the other chases dizzee into a train tunnel and there is a train seen headed straight for him before the show cuts to black on a train horn. the show writers claim that if they had gotten another season, dizzee wouldve been alive but since they didnt and since that's essentially super fan trivia knowledge, most people dont fucking know that and instead had to watch a black queer teenager chose death over being fucking arrested by a white cop. on top of that, thor didnt see any of that shit because he was caught and the cop started hauling him off while dizzee was still being chased so thor literally has no clue where his friend/possible boyfriend fucking is or that he's likely dead in a goddamn tunnel all alone, unless you count the fucking pig that chased him in there who wouldve died too. this shows rep was so fucking good as far as most shows go on not having major fucking problems, on not being toxic and over sexualized, etc, etc. and then they just. killed a black queer teenager for no fucking reason. like it was literally the last episode ever, it would add nothing to the plot, it would just devastate fans and devastate it fucking did. I dont cry easy but seeing a character I identified with, who I had hyperfixated on, die because he'd rather that than be arrested is terrible. it fucking sucked.

so yeah. that's my all too extensive thoughts/analysis on the get down's queerness. theres definitely stuff I missed, or misinterpreted, or looked too much into, etc, etc., but this was a fun thing to spend time writing sooo yeah!! thanks for the ask anon, sorry this was just a big rambley info dump, but hopefully you get some enjoyment out of it since it took like 3 hours at least 😭😭 feel free to ask clarifying questions lol

#shit self #asks #the get down #mylene cruz #shaolin fantastic #dizzee kipling #long post #analysis #info dump #idk if anon has seen tgd or is just being nice so i tried givinh background to things #kinz #bangerz #discourse

[andguesswhat]

The Fool on the Hill - Chapter 4

The secret behind the Two Gentlemen of Verona and the beginning of Lokius...

Their story on the Archive

Between the shelves

*

Tom’s fingers slid over the spines of the books along the shelves.

MayaAngelou...

William Blake...

Robert Frost...

Ah there we are Shakespeare's poems...

He took an edition of Shakespeare’s poems before 1640 out of the shelf and sat cross legged on the floor.

Camera and lights had to be relocated for the shoot in the library and Tom thought he might spend the break doing something useful.

“Sir?” he heard Owen’s voice imitating a stern security guard, “I’m afraid reading on the floor is prohibited. I have to ask you to get up immediately.”

Tom looked up to a smiling Owen and smiled back. “Why don’t you come down?”

And he did. Owen sat down, leaning at the book shelf opposite, his legs drawn up, smiling at Tom.

“So Shakespeare again?” his head pointed to the book Tom held in his hand.

Tom laughed softly. “Yes, the conversation yesterday got me thinking again.”

Owen nodded and smiled in amusement. “Maybe I get myself a copy of Hamlet to read before bed. What do you think?”

“Good choice, good choice,” Tom reassured him.

And he couldn’t help smiling either. They had been doing this a lot lately. Talking and constantly smiling at each other.

Owen leaned forward to search for the right book, his fingers now also sliding over the spines.

“Ah look at that!” He pulled out a copy of Two gentlemen of Verona and waved it in his hand.

“I read this in college. I always thought: this is about two bisexual guys, right? And the teacher was like,” he mimicked an older Brit, “oh no, this is Shakespearian English, it’s a bit different than you are used to, I guess. He was from England and wanted to show me that I as a stupid kid from Texas could not understand Shakespeare...”

“And oh how wrong they were about you...” Tom remarked and hoped, it didn’t sound like he was blushing.

He imagined Owen in high school and how he got underestimated just because of the way he was. Tom certainly would have loved being Owen’s friend back then.

Owen opened the book. “Aaah, I remember it now. Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus:

Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits.” He looked at Tom. “That already sounded somewhat gay to me. All these sweet words they have for each other…”

Tom’s heart began to pound. He had been looking for the right moment to tell Owen.

He had talked with Owen about Loki before they began shooting and of course he had mentioned that Loki was bisexual. Owen had been surprised but not in a bad way. He had said something like “Okay, good for him.”

So Tom could assume that Owen wasn’t homophobic. But still, what would he say when he knew Tom was bisexual himself? And Tom even wondered about Owen himself?

Tom had the feeling that Owen was flirting with him. But Tom had flirted with his straight friends, too, so that could mean absolutely nothing. And he would hate it for the flirting to stop just because Owen was suddenly insecure about knowing Tom was bi.

So Tom just said, “Look, this is interesting as well,” and showed Owen the book with the poems. “These are the poems by Shakespeare. And this is an edition with the original text, where a lot of poems are directed to… men. And later they were published again by a publicist called John Benson. But he changed most of the pronouns from he and him to she and her.”

“Wow…that’s… outrageous! I didn’t even know that... You really know a lot of that stuff. Not just Hamlet.” Owen smiled at him. “Maybe we should start a new lecture, the Shakespeare lecture.”

Tom laughed in embarrassment. He knew he was a nerd and got on people’s nerves with this whole stuff.

“You know, I always could kinda relate to Shakespeare somehow.” Owen said, looking at him, intently. “I always felt we shared some similar… feelings. It felt somehow familiar.”

Tom felt a little dizzy hearing this.

He still could be misinterpreting this.

But he had heard Owen say that and he thought he just had to act on it.

So he looked a bit left and right to see if there was anyone near them and said, “I know what you mean, I always felt the same. Because he wrote for both, you know. For women and for men.”

He cried out inside. Why was this still so hard to just say it? He was 39 for Christ’s sake.

But he probably got it right after all, because Owen nodded slowly, his face all soft, his smile reassuring, knowing.

“It was nice, by the way, there at the table. I loved that," Owen said after a little pause. "That Loki would sleep in front of Mobius.”

Tom became a little embarrassed. “I just felt that it would fit. Because he trusts Mobius. That’s new for him. And there’s a scene later on with Sylvie where he says that he can’t sleep around people he can’t trust. So… I wanted this to match. I’m glad Kate went along with it.”

The look that Owen gave him was kind of mischievous…

“I think we should talk about the relationship between Loki and Mobius a bit more… dig a bit deeper. Because I think there is a lot to show that’s not necessarily in the script. You know I was lying in my bed yesterday, imagining Mobius lying in his bed, thinking about Loki. Yes, he’s obsessed with him but I think there’s so much more. He really cares for him, you know.”

And the way Owen said “he cares for him”, God, Tom’s heart immediately began racing again. And he thought he would burst. He felt so much joy and so much love and so much excitement that he was probably grinning like a clown.

Yes, they already talked about the relationship between Loki and Mobius a lot, how much these character could give to each other… but they hadn’t taken it to another level… yet. Honestly, when he first read the script, he didn’t see it either. But with Owen now here on set… it was getting better every day.

“I’d love that,” he said softly.

And Owen just smiled at him. And then something happened that Tom hadn’t expected. Owen leaned his head back on the shelf and began to talk quietly.

“You know, there was this boy. Charly. We were best friends, from a young age, you know sandbox friends. And we were doing everything together. And one day when we were like 9 or 10 or something he asked me ‘Should we kiss?´ like he would ask me `Wanna go for a ride?´, as if this was just something you just do with a best friend. So we kissed.” Owen smiled in memory of this. “And it was nice… It felt good… So now and then we would make out… And… a few years later he would ask me `Should be jerk off?´ and I again was like ´Why not´… so we jerked off together” He shook his head as if he himself couldn’t believe that really had happened. “So until we were 18 we pretty much did everything one could do in this… area. We had girlfriends from time to time. We were crazy about them. But with Charly… it felt always different, more like coming home, something you could always go back to. It was comforting. And all the time it felt like it was the most natural thing in the world.” He sighed and looked at the floor, lost in thoughts. “If there hadn’t been the people to tell you otherwise…”

Tom didn’t know how to breathe, didn’t know what to say. He was so overwhelmed about Owen’s endearing story, and the sadness behind it. And that he had shared it with him….

“TOOOM? OWEN??” Lea, the production assistant, was searching for them and calling their names until she finally found them between the shelves. “How should I find you here?” she reprimanded them. “It’s all set up!”

“Sorry…” Tom and Owen answered simultaneously and helped each other get up.

Owen straightened himself and turned to Tom.

“Meet me at section F for Fitzgerald at the next break?”

Tom laughed softly. “Sure!”

And while he said this, his heart fluttered in his chest excited about what would happen in section F.

*

#hiddlewow #widdlewow #rpf #loki fanfiction #widdlewow fanfiction #the fool on the hill #chapter 4 #loki series #tom hiddleston/owen wilson #tom hiddleston #owen wilson

[im-the-punk-who]

Hi! I’m new to the fandom and I’m simply curious (not trying to start a feud or anything), why don’t you like Steinberg?

Hello dear anon! And welcome to the fandom! 

Oof. That’s a question. xD 

I’m going to try and stay as uh. neutral as possible. Because I’ve already written the post I know I failed but, the intent in answering this is also not to start a feud or hurt anyone’s feelings. 

Okay, so I got fairly negative in this chilis tonight, so I want to start by saying that even in light of the opinions I’m about to express, Black Sails is one of, if not my number one, favorite TV shows of all time. Certainly in recent memory - I’ve been hyperfixating on this show for 18 months with no sign of stopping, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for everyone who worked on the show - even Steinberg. (The one exclusion is Michael Bay, he can go twist.)

AND I think Stienberg is an incredibly talented writer. Black Sails is one of my favorite shows because it does such a wonderful job of weaving stories, creating characters, and melding things in a way that is both unexpected and makes sense narratively. I have changed as a person because of the show, and they will have to pry James McGraw and Thomas Hamilton from my cold dead knives-attached-to-them hands. None of what I’m going to say is meant to detract from that.

I will also say that a lot of these issues are not particular to Steinberg and are in fact a systemic problem with American TV + Film. And I’m not leaving Robert Levine out of my criticism, it’s just that Steinberg had the biggest hand in the pot(he wrote a full half the episodes) and a lot of what I’ve heard as far as talking about the show comes from Steinberg. So, he gets the brunt. But it isn’t that I think Steinberg was the only problematic element of the show. 

Also, these are all my opinions and are colored by how I interact with my fandoms. I am not only a fandom veteran, but I work and pretty much live in the entertainment industry. I work in indie film and theatre and am surrounded by artists and creators of all walks of life, like, constantly. I know what is possible, and when I see something that can be improved, I want to note it because it is important to me to always be striving forward. Like Miranda says about Thomas, this isn’t out of malice, or out of hate. It’s because I genuinely love this show, and I love entertainment as a whole, and I think in order to get to a better, more inclusive industry we have to have hard conversations and look critically at the media we consume, and it is frustrating to me to time and again see the same faces in the room. 

But if that isn’t your cuppa, that’s fine! Fandom isn’t meant to be stressful and if all you want to do is watch a show about gay pirates that is your tomato and I applaud you. Have at it you funky motherfucker.

OH! One more. At some point I’m going to talk about Silverflint. When I do, it is NOT meant as a ‘you shouldn’t/cant ship this’ or ‘this pairing is bad’ or any negative attack on the people who ship that pairing. My criticisms in this post are exclusively about what it means for Steinberg as a writer and Black Sails’ representation of gay and mlm men. While it’s not my cuppa, this is a sail your own ship blog. 

OKAY! SO! 

My main criticisms of Steinberg & Co boil down to:

The homozygosity of the writers and directors shows a complete lack of desire to include marginalized people in the writing of a show that is about them. Which leads to:

The centering of white men while choosing a historical setting and time period that was in fact dominated by people of color and specifically a black woman, 

The gratuitous inclusion of violence against women, particularly sexual violence, and again, that the female characters are often sidelined for the central male characters. 

SO.

Black Sails is a show centered around queer, female, and black leads, and yet there were only two non white-male directors (one bi-racial man and one white woman) and only 7 female writers - one of whom was Latina. The entire rest of the major creative staff was white men. I’m not going to comment on sexualities but none of the writers or directors are out as queer according to a quick google search. 

Let me reiterate the important bit there. 

In Black Sails, where the last two seasons specifically feature around a real, actually-happened-in-history event that shaped black history in the Caribbean, there was not a single black writer on the entire show. 

This is the main difference between inclusion for inclusion’s sake, and actually centering marginalized voices. Black Sails has a ton of gay, POC, and female rep in front of the camera but practically zero representation behind it, which leads to storylines and implications that Steinberg and his writers, as white men, simply would never realize.

It’s like why Silver and Miranda never realized the true reasons James was waging war on England. They just did not have the life experiences to realize they were missing a piece of the puzzle, and so they filled in their own without even realizing they’d done so. 

Because no one in the room of Black Sails was a part of these marginalized identities, nuances get lost or mistranslated, motivations get muddled through a white man’s gaze(or a straight person’s) and implications that someone within those communities might think is obvious won’t even come up.

And again, because there were no writers or directors of color in the last two seasons (the biracial man directed episodes 2x02 and 2x04 - WHICH MAKES SENSE IMO) the entirety of the historical lore that the show bases itself on in its latter half is filtered through a white man’s lens. And so there is no discussion of how changing something changes the meaning, how leaving someone out or changing their role to be more minor might affect people for whom that is their heritage. How the entire story they’re telling might change with one simple exclusion or addition.

So, how does this relate directly to Steinberg, you ask? Well, simply, because it was his show. 

Steinberg(and Levine) were involved in every major decision about the show, from its conception, to the script, to choosing the writers and directors. They chose how they wanted the show to look, to think, what stories to tell and how they wanted to tell them. Their decisions(and the biases that formed those decisions) are woven into the show.

And look. I don’t for a second believe any of this was willful or malicious. I don’t think that John Steinberg and Robert Levine sat down one day and said ‘you know what would make the gays really angry? If we locked the only two canonically gay men up in a prison camp.’

But the decisions that were made in the show were based in ignorance in a way that shows more than just simple negligence or laziness(especially given the attention to detail in everything else). The things they leave out or change in the Maroon War plotline for instance are not small details easily missed. They are big, giant waving flags. They are things that are irreplaceable to still have the same events and stories and tell them respectfully. 

It shows an insane amount of privilege to, for instance, write a show airing during a time when the Black Lives Matter movement was at the forefront of the American conscience, include black characters and black storylines, and yet not include a single black voice on their creative team. 

In a show that centers a gay man’s love and his journey in attempting to process the horrible things done to him and his lover because of it, we are given just forty minutes of the entire show dedicated to their relationship - and just fifteen of those minutes actually feature the lover! 

(Relatedly, the entirety of the gay romantic rep is two kisses, and a forehead touch. That’s the entirety of your gay intimacy representation. And yet there are in the first two seasons alone - because that’s all I’ve clocked so far - something like twenty seven minutes of scenes involving a naked or half naked woman. Five minutes of that is explicitly wlw sex.

Again, I just want to reiterate this because it’s important in recognizing bias. 

There is fully twice as much female nudity in the first two seasons, as the entirety of the time the two gay characters have together on screen. )

Steinberg is a perfect example of how a lack of understanding why the diversity you are representing is important, matters. I dislike Steinberg because he, just like every other straight white cis man I have known, profited off of marginalized voices without including them or creating with them in mind.

Art does not exist in a vacuum. You cannot create something - especially something as back breakingly, intensely a labor of love as Black Sails - without putting several pieces of yourself into it. But those pieces color your narrative. They will expose things about you that you don’t even realize. And it’s in these places we are weakest, and why a diverse group of writers with a diverse group of experiences can help a piece be stronger. But for whatever reason, John Steinberg thought that he could make art with only people who looked and thought and experienced like him. 

The lack of representation behind the camera in Black Sails was evident in front of it and yet Steinberg is out here getting to pretend like he created the most inclusive groundbreaking show that ever existed. It is important to me, personally, to acknowledge that. And that it kind of makes my skin crawl in the way all media made by straight white (cis)men makes my skin crawl. I wish I didn’t have to feel that way about my favorite tv show just because it was created by a man of privilege, but here we are.

SO. I hope that helped? Feel free to take what you want and leave what you don’t! 

Below the cut is a more in depth look at things that I think show what I’m talking about, but that up there ^^ is the gist. <3 |D

SURPRISE!

The Maroons and the Maroon War

So the first thing I want to point out is that the Maroon War was a real thing that happened. It lasted ten years, and resulted in the most substantial victory the Maroons ever achieved against the British. Not only that, there was in fact a KICKIN’ badass female leader of the maroons named Queen Nanny, who is to this day honored as a national hero in Jamaica. While they weren’t able to drive the British out, the outcome of this war led to a mostly self-governing Maroon population in Jamaica from the mid 1700s on. This was a long term fight that had a very tangible and real outcome, even if it didn’t end in the destruction of colonialism. 

And what is this war turned into in Black Sails? A white ‘madman’s revenge’  that is doomed to failure after six months.

That, my dear pirates, is a problem for me. (And those familiar with my brand of spiceyness know that I do not ascribe to the ‘Flint is a Madman’ trope, but that IS what Steinberg ascribes to, what he seems to have written the show thinking.) 

There was no narrative reason to include the Maroon War in the narrative of Black Sails. The Maroon War didn’t happen until a decade after the Golden Age of Piracy, and aside from Silver’s wife being a black woman there is no mention of Silver ever having contact with them. To me, this feels like the choice of a showrunner who found a cool historical event and saw a chance to up the stakes of their white male heroes while getting in some sweet sweet POC rep. 

Except that they then took the major events of the Maroon War and gave them to their white characters, Flint and Silver. 

Here’s the thing. If you’re going to take a piece of culturally important history and use it for your show, you NEED to have sensitivity writers. You need to have people who are at least familiar with those events and who care about them to do them justice. Have an expert come in and read your script or go over your ideas. Or just like. Hire a black writer. Hire ONE black writer. As a treat.

The important Maroon figures, Nanny, Cudjoe, and Quao, all get sidelined or ‘sexified’ and then used as plot points for the white characters. Nanny gets split into two women - the older mother queen and Madi, the young naive warbent visionary. Quao(Mr. Scott is the closest, or Kofi possibly) gets killed off because the writers realized they didn’t exactly have a place for him in their writing. Cudjoe(Julius) gets a few scenes and one good speech but his entire role in the war gets given to Silver. And THEN. That sexy Queen Madi figure gets used as emotional bait for Silver and then has to learn he has betrayed her and destroyed the hope and freedom she had wanted to bring to her people. 

Gross, pirates. Gross.

Anne Bonny/Max/Mary Read - a heads up, this section includes a semi in-depth discussion of both Max and Anne’s sexual assaults. If that bothers you, the paragraphs talking about that begin with a ***

COOL NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT LESBIANS. Words my 20 year old self would never have imagined coming out of my mouth. 

Specifically, I want to talk about Max, and Anne, and their backstories both involving extreme sexual trauma at the hands of men. And then Mary Read and the once again sexification of female characters.

(Actually while I’m here another criticism I have of Steinberg is that his writing does not seem to recognize how queer people existed in the past - again, likely because he didn’t have any gay historians to be like ‘actually buddy that doesn’t make sense also why is Anne not dressing as a man? If you want to fuck with anything and insert modern day terminology and ideas into this show, make her non binary and REALLY piss off the hetties.’)

(This same ficitonal gay dramaturg who is definitely not me has also questioned John Steinberg repeatedly about where Mary Read is, unsatisfied with the answer ‘well we wanted her to be hot so we made her a sex worker and then had Anne have to rescue her but then we realized it would be weird not to include her actual character so we gave her a five second cameo at the very end of the series and also made her like 13.’)

Anyway! So my main point in bringing up Anne and Max is the sexual trauma they are exposed to in the show, particularly being that they are the two primary wlw in the show, who Steinberg has said he views as being completely gay, and what THAT whole unexamined idea looks like. 

***Max. My dear Max. There was literally no reason to have her be repeatedly r*ped(and for the love of god there was even less reason to make it that gratuitous and graphic). Max being assaulted like that did not add anything to the gravity of Eleanor’s betrayal. The traumatic event was being tossed aside by Eleanor, and that could have been just as emotionally damaging without the sexual assault. And the only reason for her to be continually assaulted was to bring her and Anne together. 

***The reason imo that Max’s r*pe plot was added was because it was the only thing these white straight men could come up with that felt emotionally damaging enough to them. The act of betrayal itself wasn’t enough, the act of being thrown away, of having a lover put your life in danger because of her own ambitions wasn’t enough, they needed her to be r*ped to really drive home the point. 

***Anne, on the other hand, is never shown being sexually abused, but we are given an explicit account of her own traumatic history and how Jack saved her from this vile beast who was passing her around to his friends.

But here’s the thing pirates - that never happened. According to every account we have of Anne Bonny, she chose her husband, and married him against her father’s wishes. They were probably relatively happy until her husband started being a pirate spy and Anne started cheating on him with Jack. 

And yes, when they were found out. Her husband had her beat. That’s not fucking cool, and if they really wanted to go the damsel in distress route they still could have had Jack ‘save’ her from that. But at no point was she sexually abused by her husband(at least not in any accounts I’ve read.) 

You know who did likely sexually abuse her or at least manipulate her and Mary for his own benefit? If you guessed our Rat man Jack Rackham, you would be correct, because when he found out about Mary and Anne’s (supposed, but probably real) relationship, it’s implied he extorted both of them into fucking him to keep their secret from the crew. 

The addition of sexual abuse to Anne’s past isn’t done to be true to her character and was in fact explicitly untrue. Now of course I don’t know the reasons why they chose to do this, but I can guess. Just as with Max, the most traumatic thing a male writer can think of for a female character is for them to be sexually abused.

And the most disturbing part of this to me? The parallels it has to the real world of why straight men think lesbians exist. These characters who would be called man haters in present day are given these incredibly traumatic man-centered histories. It brings up something very uncomfortable in me about particularly wlw sexuality being viewed as a reaction to trauma at the hands of men. It’s just gross, I dont like it, and honestly there is no fucking excuse for it besides a room full of white straight men writing this bullshit. A room that Steinberg chose, because they fit his ideas.

In Fact heck, the women of Black Sails in general

***I honestly struggle to think of a single female character who I think was treated fairly in Black Sails. Miranda and Eleanor are killed for taking sides and not understanding their partners, Madi is betrayed in the worst way possible, Max is given a pseudo empowering ending but has that fucking terrible start. Idelle ends off fairly well, but tied to a man she may or may not have any actual feelings for, in what is essentially a political marriage. And Anne has her entire identity tied to a man who will be dead in two years as she is robbed of any agency whatsoever without him. (Oh, and the whole r*pe thing. And also her support for Max’s r*pe or death until she started having fee-fees. Who wrote this stuff. >_>)

Even though the characterization of each and every one of these women is PHENOMENAL - and again I will repeat that I absolutely LOVE these characters as they exist in a vacuum. I think they are well rounded, real, feeling people given motivations and drives and FEELINGS and they SHOW THEIR ANGER and i LOVE THEM. 

But the show punishes them for it. Miranda is essentially fridged to move Flint’s storyline along, and to make room for Silver. Eleanor is killed for the emotional damage it will cause Rogers. Madi is placed at the center of a conflict she explicitly says she is willing to die for and then not only is her entire cause taken from her, but when she tells Silver to fuck off he - in possibly the most predictable white man move ever - says ‘no i will stay until you change your mind. I will never leave you. I don’t care about your choice in this matter, I will wait forever for you. I’m your biggest fan. I’ll follow you until you love me. papa, - paparazzi.’ 

And I touched on this before, but I want to talk in more detail about what is possibly my hottest take to date, the sexification of Mary Read and Queen Nanny, as they are presented in the show. 

Max is to Anne what Mary Read is, historically. She is the lover that Jack Rackham discovers with Anne, and then he joins them in their bed. They form a triumvirate that upholds Jack at the expense of the women. But for some reason, Steinberg didn’t want to just include Mary Read as an actual character. For some reason he needed to make Anne’s love interest a sex worker who was in need of saving (and who, coincidentally, we never see working the brothel after she becomes lovers with Anne, because she is now a madam. :) Gross.)

And Madi. My dear sweet fucking Madi who didn’t fucking deserve any of this bullshit send tweet. 

So, historically, Queen Nanny was the Queen, spiritual advisor, and the military tactician of the Windward Maroons. She would have filled both Madi and the Queen’s character roles(and Flint’s, but who’s counting. A BLACK GAY LEAD? Inconceivable. I digress.) But, I guess, because they were wishy-washing with Silver’s sexuality or felt they needed to give him a female love interest because of Treasure Island, or because they were leaning a bit too hard into the gay shit and needed to backpedal, they took Queen Nanny and split her into a character who is for all intents and purposes powerless in the war and Madi, who is young and naive and does not have any real world experience outside of the Maroon camp.

Because that’s sexy, or something. They could have had the Maroon Queen be a fucking badass lady who works and fights alongside Flint and Silver and one ups them and teaches them shit and has her own ideas about where the British can stick it, but instead they made her into the perfect caricature of a female monarch, letting the big strong men handle the dirty work or something. Because white male power fantasies. 

Just let women be powerful and not nubile and let them have character arcs over fucking thirty and let them be CENTERED in their own. fucking. narratives. 

God damnit Steinberg.

James Flint, mlm extraordinaire

Oh, my love. My most amazing child. The light of my life. My purest cinnamon roll. 

~~And now we’ve come to the dreaded Silverflint criticism part of our programming. Please please know and remember this isn’t a criticism of people who ship Silverflint. As I said up top, Your Tomato Is Not My Tomato and that’s cool. Please don’t take this next part as an attack on Silverflint as a fandom ship.~~

My criticism of Steinberg as it relates to Flint is related to:

What a romantic/sexual relationship with Silver being the basis of the tension and plot means for Flint in particular as a gay or mostly mlm man. 

Refusing to confirm Thomas and James being alive at the end and honestly the whole finale in general but like I’ll try and focus.

The major problem I have with Silver and Flint being coded as in love with each other is the implications there in terms of gay men’s relationships to other men. 

From every corner, men are inundated with the idea that any close relationship between them must be gay. That intimacy cannot exist unless there are sexual feelings involved. That a relationship cannot be close, deep and soul shattering and life altering, unless one guy secretly(or not so secretly) wants to bone the other dude. That two men cannot value each other as partners or friends or truly know each other unless they are gay.

Seeing both of the meaningful relationships Flint forms with other men be sexually coded feels a bit the same way as Anne and Max’s sexual assault plotlines does vis-a-vis being wlw. (Even with Gates, Flint never spoke about Thomas or his plans - Silver is absolutely the closest person to Flint besides Thomas and Miranda.) And this is just as true for Silver. Having both Flint and Madi - the two people he trusts - both be people he’s in love with also just feels. I don’t know. 

It feels like a confusion between male intimacy and male love that is so so familiar to me as a gay man I could choke on it. Where they wanted these men to have a deep and really lasting connection, but could only figure out how to do it if they were in love. Friendship wouldn’t have been enough - only romantic and sexual love is enough for the gay man(or men, at all).

Just because it isn’t queerbaiting doesn’t mean it’s good rep, and I would have liked to see truly deep male friendships that did not center on sexual attraction - particularly for Flint as a confirmed mlm(and Silver too, if you’re counting him. The same arguments for why I dislike Flint being paired with Silver are also true in the reverse.) 

Even if both Flint and Silver were confirmed mlm I still would have LOVED to see a platonic relationship between them. In fact I would have loved that EVEN MORE. Men! Who fuck men! Not needing to fuck each other to be important to one another! Who made this. Very delicious. 

But because there weren’t any queer writers on the show, writers who understand this kind of struggle that gay and mlm men face, they thought ‘oh, let’s also have them be in love with each other. More gay rep is better gay rep, right?’ False. THOUGHTFUL gay rep is better gay rep.

Okay and here’s my last thing. The fact that Steinberg refuses to say whether or not the explicitly mlm men are alive at the end of the show - that the words he specifically uses are ‘up for interpretation’ is. Fuck, it’s gross, okay? It’s fucking gross. 

I have been around enough men, enough people in power, enough people with leverage who also know how to play the field, to know that when someone wants a group’s support but does not agree with them, their go to phrasing is that it is ‘up for debate’ or ‘up for interpretation.’

Say the gays are alive. Steinberg refusing to acknowledge the reality of the ending of his show to maintain his own sense of artistic integrity is what, honestly, really sets me off about him and I don’t care if this is a nuanced take.

Like yes, death of the author. I honestly don’t care if he thinks they’re dead or alive. What I care about is that he thinks he can get away with being clever and leaning hard into a story is true/untrue’ - doesn’t realize what the implications of that are, and didn’t when he was writing, and didn’t have anyone else in the room who would think about it either. 

ANYWAY. So this is....my long drawn out explanation for why I do not like Steinberg. Uhhhhh tune in next week for more of my totally unpopular opinions!

#good....fucking lord #i am so sorry #how many opinions can milo fit in one post #i mean i have more but yknow lmao #black sails #behind the black sails #milos black sails meta #long posts #my increasingly devoted attempts to find tumblrs word limit #Anonymous #john steinberg #js critical but the js is jon steinberg

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

wait a minute. So I've read your bits on civil war 2008, and I have a question for you: all the characters in the civil war event, at least the major players(like stark, Cap, Spidey, FF), do you believe that they are acting OOC, or that the writers chose to bring out the character's worse qualities to create drama?

And do you think that if the writers had written them In Character, or at least written them to be more balanced, would it have improved the story? Actually, do you think that Civil War could have been... at least A not Bad Story under an intense rewrite? or that the whole concept should have been thrown away?

The OOC talk is tempting and also partially justified. There is a batch of previous stories scattered through the years with the Fantastic Four dealing with similar scenarios where Reed is pretty much anti-government.

1) In one Social Services sue the FF4 for endangering Reed and Sue Kids by keeping them in the Baxter Building despite it being blown up once every 2 weeks. They ask them to "register" them and put them in a safe government facility, so to spearhead a new law where they can get pre-teen superhumans "out of harm way" or some shit.

Keep in mind Franklin is still a Mutant in this story (And still is right now because FUCK YOU SLOTT). Anyway, Reed seemingly agrees,only to set up a dummy facility and "register" his kids there. He doesn't even announce it he literally only writes it in the Government's documentation and shit.

The facility is razed to the ground a couple hours later. Because yes the Baxter Building can explode at any time but AT LEAST they are there to protect the kids from the countless people.

2) In another story, Reed is asked by Congress to create a device that outs mutants and "abnormal" humans, so the government can better individuate them for "reasons." Reed agrees, and makes a device SO POWERFUL it detects every deviations from the supposed norm, so when he gives a demonstration in Congress, he reveals half of its members would qualify as "Mutants" if they kept that line of inquiry, which makes them hastily drop the whole thing. This was intentional, because who the fuck are they to decide who is or isn't not normal?

3) Compare and Contrast with Civil Ear Reed Richards, who is a McCarthy apologist who goes "Logically speaking, we need to listen to the government on this one otherwise we might get burned just like my (gay coded) artist uncle was by the McCarthy Trials in the 50s when he told the court to shove it and his life was ruined as a result. It's the rational way to do it."

4) (The three main proponents of the Registration Side being Rich, White, Heterosexual Men in positions of powers, with jobs in the science field that justify their decision with "Facts and Logic" was PROBABLY unintentional, but is also a great unintended allegory for this kind of shit. The ones who are hurt the most but these kind of laws are the ones who can't afford it after all, and who is ever going to go after the rich and powerful first? Especially if they come with little repercussions on their lives (Tony, Reed and Hank where all already outed as Superheroes after all))

5) Peter is OOC in OMD mind you, Civil War goes pretty much how you'd expect him to go (gets manipulated by authority figure into it, MJ and May are supportive of him because they see only half the facts, the SECOND Peter realizes that those people are monsters he drops them and gets the shit beaten out of him for it, unlike Reed or Tony who can AFFORD having their identities public Peter barely has the money to survive which ends with May getting shot for it). It's an incredibly poignant scenario that I wish was used to TELL A MESSAGE rather than just a backdrop to shoehorn OMD in.

6) Which is to say Civil War could indeed be written better under the same premise. If they want to keep the Patriot Act Allegory, they should be aware of what that would entail for the characters that support it.

We are currently seeing a similar scenario going on in Marvel in the Champions comics where the registration side is pretty much spearheaded by an unambiguous evil corporation and shit. In light of Civil War I existing the whole thing kinda loses its impact (Like that one joke scene where Tony goes "Maybe we should register them" with a smug look on his face as if he isn't responsible for so many deaths), but at least they are trying to shift the conversation? The villain is not the Government of course it's Evil Apple, but at least it's not a "Both Sides are equally ok" centrist bullshit take like they did in Civil War or in Skyrim.

Like, fuck, it's literally called CIVIL WAR to invoke the American Civil War in the context of the "brother kills brother" interpretation some bastards are so fond off, I wouldn't call THAT a "Both Sides are valid" scenario by a long fucking mile, yet here we are.

7) I think the best way to put it would be to set up the same scenario but make it realistic to the setting and shit.

Hank and Tony still support the Government because one is a Skrull Chaos Agent the other is misguided, Carol takes Reed's place in the Triad because Women can be War Criminals too (She was leading the equivalent of a child soldier program during Civil War so she is one already at least). Steve is also anti government because this is happening during the fucking BUSH ADMINISTRATION and he goes "When will Washington decide who the villains are?" Like he did in canon but in, like, a poignant moment.

Speaking of Reed he will keep his family neutral and go "I admit superheroing does need failsafes and some kind of oversight mind you, I just don't this this country's government has demonstrated their right to be that."

Let's not put the "Cap you are out of touch because you don't know what MySpace is" or "Luke every time I see a Sentinel that's like seeing a Burning Cross" rants in the story too because those were some raw shit.

Tony, again, lives in privilege, so it wouldn't exactly affect him, and is genuinely trying to do good, so we need to put him as the "Patsy" who gets duped by Skrull Hank Pym for it, the government is the one with the secret prison for Superheroes, Hank is the one recruiting Nazi Scientists and starting child soldier programs, clones Thor, sets up with the Government a Super Prison in the Ocean (can't use the negative zone without Reed), outside of US Jurisdiction so the government can ship then there with no trial and torture them. When Skrull Hank Pym is confronted for it, and the blame is attempted to be pinned on him and him alone, he goes "Are you earthlings daft or something? I did almost nothing, it was your government who did most of the work in their desire for security and safety, I just sped up the process for them, they would have done all of this with or without me."

Around the ending Tony finds out and is devastated and drops the whole thing."

When someone tries to comfort Tony over it because he didn't know any of this he goes "Oh, that's were you're wrong Peter. I knew. Deep down, I knew things weren't right, unjust, but I did nothing, because I could make things better from the inside, because it didn't affect me, because It would have been inconvenient to me to stop this. This is on me for passively accepting it as it is on the ones who enforced it." Which leads him to make amends, that way he is not as much of a awful character here.

The scene where The US kidnaps Ororo so they can strong arm Tchalla into getting registered happens but is treated as a international crisis as it deserves.

The Prison Break finale happens because Namor discovers the prison in HIS FUCKING DOMAIN and just goes ham on it with the help of the Anti Registration side, he drops a line like "I've seen shit like this before, I've seen what happens when man declares another man a criminal for things out of their control, for what they've been from birth, and I say NOT IN MY KINGDOM!" or some shit (He is a WWII veteran after all).

Since Steve isn't pummeling to the ground Tony in this scenario there isn't the dumb as fuck Everyday Heroes scene and he doesn't get shot by Sharon later on..

We have instead the scene from Secret Invasion where Skrull Hank Pym kills Steve (In SI it was Skrull Queen killing Janet Van Dyne) on national television, which leads to the anger of everyone involved who rush him, only for Tony to be the one who pull the trigger.

Tony is put in charge of SHIELD, which leads to Iron Reign (Dark Reign equivalent), and the story ends with him going "Let's see if things can reach change from the inside this time" as he actually reforms Shield from his position of power. The Registration Act becomes unpopular due to Steve's death and Alien Interferences, so that helps, and leads to actual protests in the streets after Namor reveals to the UN the war crimes the US is committing. It's a slow process, but is something.

OMD doesn't happen, The Peter storyline remains pretty much the same, but instead of Tony bragging about his private prisons for Superheroes in hell, it's the Punisher who shows up to him and reveals some troubling shit he discovered, Peter Confront Tony for it who dismisses it as fake news because he doesn't want to believe, Peter drops the registration side out of disgust, which then leads to the government sending villains after him rather than Tony. Tony is then seen strongly arguing with Maria Hill for this since Peter almost died from what he got from his suit readings (which he never hijacked or deactivated), but the Skrull Hank Pym shows up and supports Maria Hill for it, and Carol is busy with her child soldier program to comment.

May still gets shot and dies right as Peter and MJ discover MJ is pregnant with their second Daughter, which is ripe for lots of good stuff.

Maria Hill will therefore have to take even more of a role as a Government Plant and shit, but what's new.

Johnny Storm still gets hate crimed on but not by black people. Maybe confirm him as Bi while we're at it? You know, to get topical and all.

Ideally No More Mutants never happened so mutants are still a thing and most of them are vehemently anti registration. Emma Frost appears neutral at first glance, but ultimately she is playing the long game, secretly helping militant mutant groups and shielding the school from unwanted attention. She still has a restraining order filled for Tony Stark, she still points out to Carol how fucking dangerous a mutant life can be if outed via mind powers.

Can't think of much else for now, maybe Felicia helping MJ and May while they are in hiding? MJ is nauseous and all and she goes "must be the nerves" and Felicia agrees but May knows. This could lead to the polycule post May death since Felicia blames herself for it for not being fast enough, and MJ now is pregnant and scared and the Registration Act is getting repealed by the future is still glum and Peter is depressed so they all comfort each other and then 69 issues later we have a two parter maxi event where they face their fears and BANG we get the polycule.

Aunt May still poisons the Chameleon while he was posing as Peter. She actually actually poisons him rather then just drug him this time, because she knows of that one time he tried to force himself on MJ while posing as Peter which lead to MJ beating the shit out of him with a baseball bat, and May is a nice old lady but there are things she really can't stand you know?

Felicia and MJ help her hide the body. Peter never finds out.

And that's it?

#anti civil war #marvel

[leilabeaux]

Luck Be a Lady

Chapter Two

Masterlist | One

Pairing: Alex x Reader

Word Count: 2590

Summary: Alex and Reader enjoy some dinner, drinks, and games. Could this be a date?

Warnings: Toying with infidelity, people freely scrolling though someone else’s phone with no disregard

----

Alex pressed his back against the wall next to your hotel room door. With his hands tucked into his pockets and his legs crossed at the ankles, he waited for you to come back out. He tried to downplay the large smile on his face but it was hard. The theme of his night was playing it cool and to not seem like a lovesick fool but he was in disbelief over his luck. When Bianca said she was going to bring her friend over, he was temporarily stunned to see the same woman that had caught his eye at the airport two days ago.

He was waiting in baggage claim with Marco who was busy listing all their potential plans during their stay when he got distracted by a faint coconut scent that floated by. He looked over to see you walking past him going toward the baggage carousel. Whatever his friend was saying was now just background noise as he couldn’t help but stare at you. You were smiling and seemed like you were making small talk with an older couple next to you as you waited for your own bag to appear. 

Just as he was fine-tuning his plan to approach you with his not-so-smooth line of “Excuse me, Miss, I think you dropped this dollar. By the way, you are beautiful and will you please let me take you out sometime”, he looked up to find that you were gone. After being caught up on the one who got away, Marco reassured him that there would be plenty of other women he could hit on. He had to agree with him because what were the chances he would run into you again? Obviously, it was greater than he thought.

The sound of the door opening brought Alex out of his thoughts. Your curls were now in a messy bun on top of your head and just as you promised you were dressed more comfortably in simple tee, jeans, and your chucks which he figured probably felt like walking on a cloud to you after being in heels most of the night. He also noticed that you still had his jacket on.

“Sorry, I’ve decided that I’m keeping this. I think it looks better on me anyway,” you said with a mischievous smile as you tucked your hands into the pockets.

“I can’t really argue with you on that one. But I’ll be taking it off of you one way or another.” He countered, instantly regretting his choice of words. No more saying out loud how you want to take her clothes off, he thought to himself.

You raised your eyebrow in response, “Hmm..I doubt it. Don’t worry, I’ll give it back to you eventually.” You turned down the hallway, going toward the elevators with Alex following close behind you.

He once again felt like luck was on his side when you didn’t throw his jacket in his face and politely tell him to fuck right off. He reminded himself to reign in the comments and glances he’s been giving you before he scared you off and you decided to cut your night short. But as he became distracted by the slight swing of your hips, he thought that maybe he was in over his head.

----

The trip to the buffet was just one elevator ride down to the second floor of the hotel you were staying at. Although it featured various cuisines to choose from, you and Alex both bee-lined toward the sushi bar and unashamedly stuffed your faces full of raw fish while washing it down with beer. 

You declared yourself full as the busboy picked up your empty plates so he had a look of confusion when you left and then came back to the table with a brownie topped with ice cream. Without needing him to say anything, you quickly responded that there is always room for dessert.

If he only knew how much you enjoyed your sweets, he would have waited a moment before taking a sip of his beer. You gave a soft moan as you took the first bite of your brownie. Unprepared to hear such a sound come from you, Alex had choked on his beer and gave a few coughs to clear out his throat.

“Don’t die on me, kid. Maybe you should try sipping slowly,” you giggled and then brought another spoonful to your mouth. All the drinks you’ve had so far was giving you a warm buzz.

“Kid?”, his voice raspy as he was still trying to clear his throat. “I’m only seven years younger than you!”

“Only seven years? Aw, you really are a baby boy!,” you said with wide eyes. You couldn’t stop giggling when Alex started pouting and crossed his arms across his chest. “Don’t be a Mister Grumpy Gills! I’m just being a little shit. You should be honored, I’m only mean to the ones I like.”

Alex took another sip of his beer before leaning back in his chair and continued to pretend to be hurt by your teasing. Even if he were, he imagined it would be hard to stay that way for too long. All you would have to do is flash him a smile and all would be forgiven.

You had set your spoon down and rested your chin against your fist as you started to stare off toward the fountain display at the center of the restaurant. He pulled out his phone and decided to take advantage of the moment, capturing a couple shots of you. It wasn’t his camera but it will have to do for now. As he got ready to take another picture, he glanced at your left hand and noticed the ring you were wearing.

Alex’s heart fell. Why didn’t he notice this before? Were you wearing it this entire time? His mind went back over the past three hours he had spent with you so far and he couldn’t recall you mentioning a husband or any form of a significant other. He didn’t want to confirm what he knew to be true but he had to.

“How long have you been married?” He asked as he tried to erase the look of disappointment that he was sure was all over his face.

You appeared to be startled. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the interruption or because of the question itself. You brought your hand down and glanced at the offending ring on your finger. “About eight years,” you answered simply.

“And why aren’t they here with you? Turning thirty seems to be pretty significant, I know if you were my wife I’d be busy spoiling you and celebrating it with you,” Alex was tempted to add in bed but now really wasn’t the time.

“He wasn’t able to come. That and me and Bi wanted to have a girls only kind of trip. He’d probably be miserable doing all the corny touristy things I love to do,” you cracked a smile at this. “He’s the one treating us to all of this anyway so it’s like he’s here in spirit.”

“Is he a good husband?” He groaned internally because he couldn’t stop asking questions that he didn’t want to know the answers to.

You tilted your head as if to ponder his question before nodding, “Yeah. Definitely not perfect, but yes.”

With the warm smile on your face after you spoke, Alex figured right then and there that he stood no chance. He tried to take some consolation in the fact that you were at least being treated with the respect you deserved. He downed the rest of his beer with a large gulp as he prepared to wish you a good night and pray that your friend had already vacated his room so he could sleep his sorrows away.

His intentions were interrupted by your small gasp. “Hey! Let’s gamble and lose some money!” You didn’t even give him a chance to answer as you stood up from your table and marched over to the casino floor.

He got up from the table and quickly followed. Wounded or not, he wasn’t going to deny you anything.

----

“You were up fifty dollars! Why didn’t you stop playing?” Alex could have sworn he only took his eyes from your machine for one second and then he looked back to see you were down to the last dollar.

“Because I thought I could get more but then I didn’t. So I decided that I just wanted to break even but...uh, then I didn’t,” you pulled on the handle of the slot machine and then frowned when you came up empty once again.

He could only laugh at your sad explanation. Now he understood why after you withdrew $100 from the ATM, you handed him the cash and declared that he was in charge of the funds. 

“Maybe we should hit up the tables?” you suggested as you slipped off the stool, making sure to not forget your free drink that a server had previously offered you. Maybe not so free since you were now down twenty dollars.

“I guess if you want to lose your money even faster,” he said. He pulled out his phone and tried to get a shot of the rows of lighted up slot machines, thinking it would make an interesting picture.

“Ooo! Let me see!” You pulled down his arm so that his phone would be more at your eye level Smiling up at him, you asked, “Do you have any others?”

He scrolled through his photos to find the ones he had taken when he was back home before handing his phone to you. He didn’t know why but he was nervous as you flipped through the album. There was a part of him that was seeking your approval, a part of him that wanted to make you proud.

“Alex…,” you looked up at him in amazement before going back to scroll through his pictures. “I don’t claim to have the eye of an art critic but these are good. Like real good.”

“I mean they’re okay--” he started to say before being interrupted.

“Uh-uh, you don’t need to be humble around me. ‘I don’t feel comfortable saying I’m professional yet’, my ass,” you said mockingly as you flipped through his photo album.

“I just meant that I don’t get paid to do it,” he tried to defend himself.

“I think you could if you wanted to,” you were taking a sip of your mixed drink when you paused at one picture in particular. He could have sworn he saw a tinge of red starting to flush across your cheeks. “Oh. Ohhhh...I’m sure a gal would pay a pretty penny for this one. Did you put this one on your tinder?”

You pointed the screen toward him to let him see what you were referring to. Taken in the privacy of his own bathroom, Alex was wearing only a pair of grey sweatpants with one hand in his pocket and the other holding his phone as it took a picture of his reflection. He lept toward you trying to take the phone away from your hands before you delved even deeper into his photo album but you were too fast for him. With your back pressed against his chest, he again tried to wrestle it from your grip but again he was coming up empty.

“And what is this one, I see?” 

He quickly tried to think if he had any other incriminating pictures that he forgot to delete. Embarrassed, he looked down at the screen fully expecting to see his own dick staring back at him but instead all he saw was you. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

“Were you expecting me to find something else? Should I keep searching?” you asked cheekily.

“Nope!” He finally managed to get his phone back, “I think you’re done.”

“Laaaame.” You whined as you continued walking between the game tables, trying to decide what you wanted to try out. “I am very surprised you managed to get my good side. It usually takes me about twenty tries before I get a decent pic.”

“I don’t know, I think all your sides are good sides,” he stated while falling instep with you.

“Ha, no but thanks for the ego boost. You’re such a charmer. Be sure to keep that up when you get that special woman in your life.”

“Your husband doesn’t try to charm you?”

“He does in his own ways.” 

“But not in the way you like.”

“I’ve always been such a hopeless romantic and he...is not. He isn’t the type to buy ‘Just Because’ flowers but he would wake up early during the winter to scrape my windshield and make sure my car was heated before I left for work.”

“What are ‘Just Because’ flowers?”

You paused to mull over your response, “When it’s just an ordinary day, no obligation because of a special occasion or holiday, you give someone you like or love flowers just because you knew they were having a bad day or just because you wanted to see the smile or just because you were thinking of them. Whatever the reason is, it’s just because.” You continued walking and didn’t hear a reply from him, “Sorry, was that cheesy? I did warn you that I was a hopeless romantic!”

“No, not cheesy at all,” he said as he gave a glance down at you. “It’s just...it sounds like these flowers would have meant a lot to you. Have you tried telling him this? I don’t think you should go another eight years without it.”

“It really doesn’t matter much now.” You polished off the rest of your drink before leaving the glass at a vacant slot machine. “Onto a more cheerful topic, I think I still have at least two more hours left in me before I officially need to pass out.”

“Just two?” He takes a seat on the stool in front of you. With him seated and you still standing, it gave you the opportunity to look him straight in the eyes.

“Yes, it’s way beyond my bedtime.” You crossed your arms across your chest. Although you were more clothed now, he was finding it hard to stay focused on your face. “So I feel I’ve been controlling this entire outing. Is there anything you wanted to do?”

Alex gave a small gulp. He felt tempted to pull you closer to him, to have you trapped between his legs only so he could make his answer clear. But instead he kept his hands to himself. “I’m fine gambling for the rest of the night.”

“That’s nice of you but that’s not what I asked. What do you want to do? Or better yet, what were yours and Marco’s plans before me and Bianca so rude interrupted it?”

“Well…”

----

You stepped up into the back of the SUV, scooting over to give Alex some room to get in as well.

“Are you Y/N?” your Uber driver asked. After confirming this, he continued reading off his app screen,  “And you two are going to the Sapphires Gentlemen’s Club?

You and Alex looked at each other. You giggled at what he was sure was the flush he felt that was taking over his cheeks. All he could think to himself was, this is such a bad idea, kill me now.

Next

End Notes: So, yeah. Looks like they are wrapping up their night with a bang, whether that includes a literal bang. Who knows? Still think our dear reader is ready to risk it all? Are you good at slots (pssh, I’m not!)? Would you allow a stranger to have completely access to your photo album?

#alex høgh x reader #alex høgh andersen #alex høgh imagine #alex høgh andersen x reader #alex høgh andersen imagine #alex hogh andersen #alex hogh andersen x reader #alex hogh andersen imagine

[rubyredsundae]

Mass Effect Trilogy Tag!

I was not tagged by anyone, I just really wanted to join in. If you see this and want to as well, please do! I've been loving reading through everyone's :)

I am a fan since… 2011ish? Definitely at least a year before ME3 came out. I remember watching my brother play ME2 and thinking it was so cool. While he was away it was a huge comfort for me to play it in his room, kind of like a bonding or cathartic experience for someone who wasn't there at the time.

When ME3 came out, me and him went to the midnight release at a gamestop like 40 minutes away or something, wearing clothes we threw together to kind of fit the N7 color scheme. Even though we don't talk anymore, those memories are still really precious to me. Also, the nostalgia of playing ME1 after-school or on the weekend, running to get my easy mac from the microwave during a cutscene, stuffing too hot mouthfuls while speeding the Mako towards the conduit on Ilos.

Favorite game of the series: It's a tough call between ME1 and ME2, but I'd say ME2. It's the game I get the urge to replay the most.

MaleShep or FemShep? Femshep all the way. I only play MShep when I want to do his exclusive romances. No offense to BroShep, but ME was the first game I ever played that let me not just be a girl, but customizable. Not just to be the already generated token girl character in a pack of boys. And not only can you play Femshep, but every game you are surrounded by smart, funny, tough women as squadmates. It was such a huge deal to me, and still is. Femshep represents so much. As Jennifer Hale put it, FemShep was a military grade boot to the video game industry glass ceiling.

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer? I personally tend to lean spacer in-game, but I tend to use Earthborn when I'm writing fics.

Paragon or Renegade? Usually Paragon, but Renegade playthroughs can be really interesting, especially if I have a detailed background about why Shep is the way they are. My first Renegade, Krystle, is pretty bigoted and anti-alien until she meets Liara. Krystle is naturally guarded and quick to anger, so meeting someone who seemed to accept her and listen to her without judgment really opens her mind.

By the 2nd game, she wakes up in the cerberus lab with new biotic powers, having previously been a regular foot soldier. This makes her seeth, having someone completely take her agency, agreeing with the illusive man on the surface but plotting against him the entire time. She starts to lean more Paragon, if only to piss him off. She has the biggest smirk on her face when she blows up the collector base.

Biotics or Tech? Oooh, this is hard. Maybe biotics just the tiniest smidge because of Jack/Samara biotic bubble throw during the suicide mission. I don't know if we'll ever get a screen adaptation but THAT is a moment I would pay to see done with a big SFX budget behind it.

Favorite class: Sentinel! I don't know how much this reflects on my class preference in gaming in general, but I love the 'jack of all trades'ness of it. By the time I get an assault rifle, I don't really feel the need for anyone else to make up for something I lack. Also, tech armor in ME2? Where your shields regenerate automatically when it breaks, and the cool down is when you initially active it, instead of when you detonate it? Chef's kiss. I understand why it was nerfed in 3 but I'm still mad.

Favorite companion: Ho boy. This is obviously very difficult to choose but I'm gonna say Miranda. I've always loved and identified with her character, I love the accent, and she's always useful on missions. I was so happy when I learned she could be a squadmate in the armax arena.

Honorable mention to Ashley in ME1. Her character is rarely used to exposition lore, so she just gets to have her personality fleshed out. I don't always agree with her but she does seem genuinely willing to listen. ME3 tosses her out the airlock though; partially because her content was bugged and never restored, leaving her inclusion feel half-baked, and partly because Ash and Kaidan have to be able to serve the same plot function as each other and it negatively affects her character more than his. This could also be intentional on bioware's part, to try to flesh out kaidan's personality and tone down Ashley's as a response to criticisms of them from ME1.

Least favorite companion: Also difficult, because I don't really hate anyone as much as I am just less interested in some. I didn't like Zaeed for a long time, but I think he's much better and really funny in ME3. James was pushed on me too much at the beginning and it made me really dislike him, but I think he's greatly improved and also pretty funny in Citadel DLC. I'm also pretty indifferent to Jacob; I don't think he's a bad character, just disappointing because there was a lot of potential.

Not that every character has to go on and do some grand quest to be interesting, but I don't feel like Jacob every really got a big hero moment like everyone else. He is a very calm and introverted person (imo) who doesn't really share his feelings, so it's always been hard for to to connect with him on anything.

My squad selection: Depends on the game, but it usually involves Garrus lol. Typically it's Liara/Garrus in ME1, Miranda/Garrus for ME2, and Liara/Garrus again in ME3. I am very boring and predictable! If you have any suggestions for me to try out and mix things up, let me know!

Favorite in-game romance: Also depends on the game. ME1 it's Liara, hands down. It was the first game, really the first piece of media, where I was told two women could fall in love and be happy and that was okay. The amount of enlightenment and comfort in figuring out that I was bi these games brought me is kind of wild to look back on.

ME2 is a toss-up between Garrus and Thane. They are both wonderful but in completely different ways. I tend to now romance Thane on characters I don't plan on importing to ME3, or if I do, to just have a really depressed fucking Shepard lol. I hate how much Thane was brushed off, especially if you romanced him.

Other pairings I like: l love Miranda so much, but I'm a gay girl so I ship her and Femshep. Same goes for Tali, Jack, Ashley... damn I'm just really gay for straight girls huh :/

I don't really have any other ships for non-Shep related pairings.

Favorite NPC: Shiala is really cool to me, I wish we got to see her in 3. Emily Wong is also cool, also wish we saw her in 3. There's probably a lot more that when I come across them next I'll be like, "you! I love you! You're my favorite."

Oh also Joker! And EDI! But not together. Idk I feel like ME3 threw a curveball at me with "do you support organic/non-organic relationships?" Like m'am please don't ask me, I accidentally drank turian liquor last year, I'm not qualified to be an expert on this.

Favorite antagonist: Tbh I really dig Saren. I think his reasoning is super fascinating, both to set up how someone who's indoctrinated can rationalize to themselves that they are still in control; and as a foil to Shepard, to show what can happen when you become too isolated and the ends justify the means. I think his VA does a great job of walking the line between desperate survivor and madman. He's also the only antagonist in the trilogy that we ever fight 1 on 1 (ignoring squadmates) and it feels more personal. I think he's such a fantastic foe for the first entry in a trilogy and I don't think he gets enough credit.

Favorite mission: Is it cliche to say the suicide mission? It's honestly close to perfect. The stakes, the sequencing, the cinematics, the score. Everything works so well.

Favorite loyalty mission: Kasumi's and Tali's are really cool, as we all know. Samara's is also cool because it is entirely non-combat based. Shepard has to prove they can accomplish what seems impossible without a gun or biotics.

The confrontation at the end with Morinth always haunts me a little, because they are both right in their own way. Morinth's final line, "and they say I'm the monster", as you let Samara kill her, watch her scrambling backwards in fear... I know that she's a remorseless killer, but it gets me every time.

Favorite DLC: It's Citadel, obviously. Turns out what I really wanted was quality time and a party with all my friends. I love mass effect for many reasons, but simulating friends and affection when I had none has always made me bond to this series like other games don't. Is it sad? Sure! But I don't think love and affection for fictional characters should ever be shameful until it makes you hurt other people.

Control, Synthesis or Destroy? I'd say destroy. If the other options were presented earlier and we had time to stew with it, maybe I'd be more split. But all of this in 5 minutes? It's not like the collector base where the implications are obvious and the choice is just down to what Shepard believes. The 3 choices all seem like space magic out of nowhere, and none of them seem to really offer any insight on what Shepard should believe. So I say destroy, just because it's what Shep has intended and is most consistent with their character and their admiration of Anderson.

Favorite weapon: The spectre level assault rifle in ME1. Never have I felt more powerful.

Favorite place: Idk why but I just thought of the creepy lab with all the scientists during the leviathan DLC. I really love when Mass Effect leans into the Lovecraftian horror aspect of things. Talking to Sovereign and Vigil in ME1 gave me goosebumps my first few playthroughs.

A quote I like: I have hundreds, but the one off the top of my head is, "After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began." I have a poster of it up on my wall right now!

#mass effect #mass effect trilogy #mass effect trilogy tag

[lynessam]

Hi all, and welcome to my house. Where we shall learn about all types of things together. Wherever the wind blows me, (ie, wherever and whatever it is that Spirit has me share,) is where we shall go!

The very first thing I’m going to address, which They’ve been hammering me about, is gatekeeping. Gatekeepers and “closed practices.” Buckle up buttercup. This ride is bound to be bumpy, and definitely not the one you’re expecting.

It’s come to my attention that there seem to be “way too many Chiefs and not enough Indians,” as my mom always used to tell me when I’d decided to boss around the younger kids I deemed beneath me at that time. Whoever it was I’d decided to focus my attention on in that moment, to distract myself from the real problem. Coughs*** Myself.

Now that that’s outta the way, let me share with you, not only why this is so important, but how very dangerous, Spirit keeps screaming at me, this is. Brothers and sisters, we must do better. We must fix this, now.

There has been prophecy after Indigenous Prophecy, that we shall return to the old ways. The real way. The TRUE WAYS. For centuries. It’s happening right before our very eyes. Each and every day, someone finds the courage to walk away from the toxic, patriarchal, religious poison, they’ve been indoctrinated, brainwashed, and smothered in, all their life and then, are jumping head first into Spirituality. Returning to the old ways. Finally heeding the call of their *Higher Self. Some of us have always heard that call, and had the inner knowing too, but still, denied it for decades. Too scared to do what our Divine Guides and Guardian Angels told us, for fear of being ripped to shreds by the very people who claim to be Godly “Good people.” Then finally, we hit the “F*%# IT! Stage.” Which gives us, for the first time ever, the strength to walk towards our Divine Truth. Which is such a beautiful thing! It’s nice to leave behind the shackles of shame, oppression, guilt, demonization, judgment and condemnation for the first time in your life. There’s such a sense of forgiveness, peace, truth, true unconditional love and for the first time ever, the permission (and the freedom) to finally know what it feels like, to be true to ourself! And for some of us who’ve been beaten into submission for decades, that’s HUGE! Now imagine how heartbreaking it is, to then, be hit with the very same judgement and condemnation. But this time, from the other side of the tracks. By the people you thought and hoped, really were the embodiment of “Peace, Love and Light.” That’s a shame! And absolutely unacceptable, is what Spirit tells me. And here, is why.

#1 We, (You, Me,) each and every person on this planet are NOT colors. That’s part of the toxic, patriarchal, dominant white male, division scheme they’ve been brainwashing us with for CENTURIES, solely to keep us divided, separate and at each other’s throats. The way we always have been. ITS A LIE.

#2 Religion, is nothing more than crowd control. That’s all it’s ever been about. Even multiple practices, while some are absolutely beautiful, are still really nothing more than a way, to keep us separate.

#3 Repeat after me, “I am NOT this body. I am not even this mind.” You see, the higher we ascend on this journey, and the more enlightened we become, the more we finally come to realize, we aren’t and never were this flesh. This meat suit. This tub of guts. This, just so happens to be the vehicle we’re driving for the current “lifetime/timeline.” That’s it. It’s not us. We are not it. We, are the spirit inside it. The soul. The consciousness. The essence. That’s WHO we truly are. Everything else, your height, weight, sex, eye color, ethnicity/race, social status/economic class, and religion, is simply part of the 3D construct which was and is, designed to keep you stuck, dumb, suppressed, a sheep, and more importantly, to keep us all turned against each other. It’s a sham. A dupe. A ruse.

#4 Regardless of what the color of your skin is today, know, that in your last lifetime, you could’ve been a completely different ethnicity. You also could’ve been a totally different gender as well. Why do you think there are so many people today, who identify as “gay” or bi? Again, part of the sham. Love is love. Another example would be for instance, a woman in this reality, could’ve been male in her last lifetime, which is who/what her soul resonates most with. The soul identifies more as masculine than feminine, even though she’s a woman here today, in this lifetime. So in turn, she’s attracted to women, not men. It’s the same concept for race, religion, etc.

So please understand, every time you “gatekeep,” not only are you setting your own spiritual awakening process and ascension back, but you are potentially ruining someone else’s. Maybe you don’t understand why it is they “want, or need,” to be a part of a certain practice? Maybe THEY don’t even understand it themselves? They just know they’re being led and guided by the Divine to do so. It’s not for YOU, or ME, or ANYONE to understand, nor to tell another person what they should or shouldn’t, can or can’t, do. That’s not part of our ascension process. It’s a part of theirs. And we should respect that. As long as they’re respectful and on the journey for the right reasons, nothing else matters. And the worst of it is, the Divine keep telling me, every single time, one of us does this, we’re helping the darker forces. The same ones who’ve been ruling and controlling us for centuries. We are helping them remain here and in power. My guides have also began to show me, this misinformation is intentional to stop the Native Prophecy’s from coming to pass. The very evil who dominates, has once again, found something else to make to make the less enlightened, fight about. It’s ego and it’s a lie. But a very well played one. All in the hopes of yet again, stopping the Prophecy. More importantly, to STOP their own demise and vanquishing. Via Gatekeepers. So I need each and every one of you to remember, the next time you reach for “Gatekeeping” as your go-to response, this is what you’re supporting. This, and these beings, who’ve kept us oppressed and asleep for millenniums, have once again found something to make us “squabble” amongst ourselves about. Don’t let them win my fellow Light Beings. 🖤🔮 Let’s do better!

#spirituality #gatekeepers #psychic #medium #zen #stop gatekeeping #stophate #spiritualguidance #spiritual quotes #empathy #wokeness #woke #lightworkers #healer #crystals #meditation #mindfulness

[thedogsled]

You seem to be having a not a great day today, so here's a light-hearted ask. I'm having a good day, curled up in pjs with cuddly pets watching Leverage with my sister. Leverage is one of my favorite shows, because it's smart and fun and has great characters that grow over the seasons. Besides Supernatural, what's a show you really enjoy and why?

Thank you so much for the ask! I’m sorry I didn’t reply to it sooner, I’ve come down with a head cold and this is really the first day in several I’ve been able to compose more than a tweet about how much it sucks (swallowing = a knife jammed right into my inner ear, it’s super fun). But I did want to answer your question so I’ve been musing on it since your ask came in.

If it was just “what’s your favorite show right now” it’d be an easy answer: The Boys. The Boys, back to front, front to back, upside down and inside out. The first season was fantastic, and it felt like it woke me up to being excited about TV again after my interest in The Walking Dead waned mid-season. Everything new has seemed very plastic recently, and even The Mandalorian, which is super cool, is kind of like the Cartoon Network dub of Dragonball Z, so Disneyfied in its bloodlessness that although I’m enjoying it it feels even more synthetic as a result. The Boys was the opposite of that, and also just whoever invented Karl Urban, period, just deserves a nobel prize for that masterpiece. He pronounces twat wrong (okay okay it’s a dialect thing) but you can’t have everything =D

So instead (and because it’s cheating that I can pimp The Boys and wax lyrical about loves of old) I interpret your question as sort of like “Which show is your comfort food?” Which show do I go back to when I’m feeling like TV needs to give me a cuddle. I had a good think about it, because there’s a few…

(aside: I shouldn’t have put that gif in before I started writing. ahem.)

There’s been a few over the years, for sure. As a thirteen year old I used to watch and rewatch Buffy episodes, mostly season 2 (baby Spike!). At eighteen, it was old VHS of Deep Space Nine, my favorite ep was “Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night” which I watched repeatedly and think about constantly even today. 

But the show I keep coming back to is due South.

This post is a long post, it also deals with discourse (because my relationship to entertainment is so often mired in it, so please don’t proceed if you’re rather avoid it) and this is where it begins:

Okay, so fun fact: I watched due South the first time it aired with my parents (I was about 9) and then when it was on TV again as a repeat, I recorded it on VHS by RUSHING home every single day from school with nothing else on my mind but sitting on the floor two feet from the telly to watch it. Quantum Leap was on right after, and I had an entire different set of VHS tapes to record that on, so had to quickly switch between them. I’d stop recording at every break so that I could get more episodes on a tape. It’s not unsurprising to me now that both shows vibed with me as a young person who hadn’t yet really accepted that she was queer; due South’s main character is coded as Other both to the Americans whom he lives with, and his fellow Canadians, while Quantum Leap explores a straight white man jumping into the lives of Others, and living through them some of the hardest moments in their lives. Even though both keep it exceedingly, textually hetero, one has two men riding off into the snowy sunset together (leaving behind a straight lover to do so) and the other features a love between two men that in the original framing of the finale would have seen God/fate reconnecting the two of them even though one was lost in time, and the partner’s wife begging him to go.)

Of course young me didn’t give a shit about that, or didn’t realize that’s what she cared about. Young me loved the buddy-cop partnership of both shows. Young me liked the half-wolf, and the episodes where they ride horses, and honestly just waiting with bated breath to find out where Sam would jump to this time. “Oh boy!” Retrospectively, these shows (especially QL) are a lot more oh boy in a yikes context now than they used to be, but it’s good that shows age into yikes territory because it means that society is steadily advancing. Particularly, pointing out that these shows both feature white straight guys like…welcome to the nineties.

I was introduced to queer coding in part by watching due South. The show is laden with it. With writers, actors, and ultimately an executive producer who was all three, it makes you wonder if they would have gone there if they could; certainly the ending reads that way. They couldn’t, of course, because it was the nineties (and it was CBS that revived it after enormous international fan demand). Still, there was just nothing else analogous to what we have now that was going there on TV at the time. If you were queer (or discovering your queerness) then watching the show meant everything, as it did to me. So I snuggle up on the couch often these days and go back to that, because it gave me such joy, and because I was left with the opportunity to decide for myself how deep the relationship was. There was no promise of anything, because the context at the time was of course you can’t go there, nobody can go there. Queerbaiting was a word that simply hadn’t been breathed. There was no intent, no companies behind the curtain pulling strings going “Yes, make it more gay, we want those queer dollars”, just invested people slipping what they could past the studio censors.

Like this:

Sigh. A less enlightened time. =P (Incidentally fun meta here but this was after a conversation where Ray suggested that communication in a relationship should be intuitive, like breathing.)

So I guess in part I escape back there because none of that representation was ever as loaded as it is today. It doesn’t require me to judge it, or weigh it against the harm it does - because the politics of the time meant I thought it was doing good (retrospectively, and only through the lens of someone who had nothing to lose). It seemed to scream out into an unyielding universe to force it to move. It did a fraction of that, because of course it did. It was the nineties. It stole indigenous narratives and romanticized colonialism just as much as it beat the drum of environmentalism and kicked at the doors of corporate greed and racism. Old shows are inherently problematic. Today’s shows are too. Being able to examine them doesn’t mean not loving them, but it lets you say “Okay, so what do I expect from the things I watch today? What do I expect from the things I watch in five years time?”

All that aside, the show is just damn good. It’s watchable and rewatchable. It struggles to age because it was already so out of pace with the age it was made in–despite its flaws in representation, it was better than other shows at the time that demonized, tokenized, or outright killed minorities to push white narratives on their own shows (Kendra being murdered on Buffy, for example). It’s standalone enough that you can go back and watch any episode you like because overarching story arcs were way less of a staple as they are today.  It’s witty, fast paced, full of action and moral dilemma, do gooding and the consequences of it. Although still severely unbalanced, and very, very white, it did still have indigenous actors playing indigenous characters, and minorities portrayed in stories about them. There’s a dog. There’s classic cars. And it’s all put to the soundtrack of Canadian bands and singers. 

tl;dr ahead for rambling about subtext and being a disaster queer, but please scroll past for more gifs.

Queer me needed this show, in a world where I’d been taught to look and see myself in straight white male protagonists, it felt like A Lot to see all this on screen. It wasn’t, but it was all I got when I was growing up. I envy the good fortune of kids who can see themselves on screen these days while they try and figure themselves out (and hopefully more so in the future) with far less of having to negotiate through the confusion of looking at it through confusing fractals of different lenses and instead just see someone who looks like them showing them that their POV is normal, heroic and wonderful. Those lenses fucked me up big time. Like I’m not even sure right now what flavor of queer I am. I cling to bi like a lifeline of sense in my life, but it is complicated because I overwhelmingly desire the company of women way way more. But also I was was taught to look through the lens of a white dude in order to see myself universally, taught to be both desirous of the female body and humiliated by it, ashamed by sex, taught men were awful, and taught that I was supposed to marry one anyway. I look at my sexuality/romanticism like it’s a meta puzzle that I haven’t figured out yet, wondering how to put it on paper, how to break apart the different influences I experienced as a youngling and as an adult to try and negotiate if I’m misreading my own impulses. How I was brought up, who I’ve known, the relationships I’ve experienced and seen in real life and on TV. I’m 34 and I’m still no more certain. Subtext is both my friend and my enemy. I hate it, and I owe everything to it.

So when I need a rest from giving a shit about any of that noise, I go back to my comfort food. I go right back to subtext, which gave me the tools I needed to desire romance that wasn’t heterosexual, that somehow was more intimate because it relied on longing stares and never stepping foot out of the closet, that was just someone liking another person without any expectation of sex just because they have opposing genitals, and their colleagues hassle them a lot. There’s nothing wrong with the sex, I write a lot of consommation of the feelings that I see bubbling under the surface. I have even grown to appreciate het romance when it’s done in a way that doesn’t reduce the woman to a love interest–I was thrilled when Simon Baker’s Patrick Jane got together with Teresa Lisbon in The Mentalist. Their relationship was filled with subtext too. Subtext isn’t a queer thing, it has a role in all well written romance. Hell, it has a role in terriblebad tropey misogynistic romance, too. And just you know basically all storytelling (and more). 

Queer romance existing only in the subtext, though? It’s heartbreaking explicitly because it feels like a story that isn’t finished, and that’s where subtext reliant shows can hand off the story to be finished by fandom itself. In due South, as I mentioned before, Ray and Fraser jump into a dogsled and ride off over the snowy horizon to “Find the hand of Franklin, reaching for the Beaufort sea”. It’s where I chose my meta name, as I’ve mentioned before, because that ending - that ending - handed us all the subtext so far and said “Here, take it, it’s yours now. Do with it what you like”–and we did. But that was twenty years ago. I loved that ending (I still think it was a very elegant solution) and it was expected and appropriate for a show that in itself is a “Faves Are Problematic” show, but that’s also why I get so passionate about discussing the subtext in Supernatural.

It’s younger than due South. While it may have begun back when Willow from Buffy had her first girlfriend, it is ending now, not at the turn of the century where a dogsled was still good enough to get the point across and none of us had Twitter. My own experiences, my lifelong queer confusion make it so I feel pretty damn bad for people trying to use Supernatural as a medium for their own self-exploration, using characters from SPN as their lenses. A show these days that makes bank on those tropes and doesn’t inform its audience (positively or negatively) is doing so irresponsibly because of the modern context in which the show presently (not historically) sits, and the increasing awareness of the issues surrounding it. Networks, then, are ultimately responsible for that, but they are in a way which is entirely different and far more directly culpable than they were 20 years ago, because people are out there making money out of those intentional subtextual devices. They chose to do it; took a deep breath and backed right up away from Gamble’s problematic queerbashing tropes, chewed it over, then hired gay writers and dived right back in with more grown up, progressive, and less shitty subtext–but still subtext. 

This show that ended 20 years ago was able to cross way more lines with subtext in one episode than Supernatural has done sometimes in an entire season. It did so despite and because of it’s international audience, on a conservative network that would late purchase Paramount, and Star Trek, and ended with a powerfully subtextual ending. Supernatural, of course, is under a far more powerful microscope from the bigots than those oblivious to subtext back in the 90s could have ever produced. due South, like SPN was just “wholesome family entertainment” to a conservative audience that was completely oblivious by all accounts, yet was laden heavily with queer innuendo. It was also blissfully short, and existed in a social media world which consisted of Yahoo groups and not much else. 

In modern context, Supernatural gets a fox in the henhouse treatment from that same audience, and acts accordingly (when it’s not using that same subtext to deliver earnest Fuck You’s to that audience). While I expect Supernatural to bravely - even considering this scrutiny - deliver a dogsled subtextual ending on a good day, there are bad days, too, because the queer subtext has been underlined so loudly that everyone can see it, because it’s “practically text”, because the bottom line is increasingly more concerned with satisfying those bigots (even while they mock them), and because queer fans are “too loud” about what they want. How dare they. /s The pushback caused by being loud about things you care about, the bigots actually seeing subtext in front of their noses, isn’t bad because now they know what we’ve been doing all along, and we won’t be able to get away with it any more; it means they’re becoming more aware of narratives other than their own. Yes, some people will push back, but “when you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression”, and they can shove it right up their asses.

All I ever ask of myself when I interrogate my present day viewing experience, is this: when I sat as a youngster watching due South thinking “This subtextual ending is enough for me”, did I truly believe it was okay to be watching a show about two white guys with a subtextual ending 20 years later? Was that the future I dreamed of and aspired to? Would I be disappointed? The answer is yes, I am disappointed. No matter the whys, the fundamental and societal reasons–I am disappointed. I still love the show probably more than I should, but I am disappointed in the society it sits in - which is increasingly capitulating to far more powerful global financial powers than a couple of red state homophobes - and I’m disappointed in the way we’re treating each other for even caring, and I’m disappointed in myself, too, for being naive and imagining we would be much further down this road now than we are. But we are a capitalistic society, and being both the commodity and the customer should be a surprise to literally nobody at this point. It doesn’t mean you have to like it.

And if you don’t feel that way, that’s okay. We all come from different places. We have different perspectives. We need and want different things, for different reasons, and find joy in different things for different reasons. Variety of opinion is as much a wonderful thing as it is completely terrifying.

I’ve wandered somewhat off topic, so I’m going to go back to the show I love, my chocolate pudding and custard comfort food TV show, and the long stares and the beautiful uncomplicated subtext.

And sign off with half a dozen gifs.

Eye fucking:

Conversations in closets and bathrooms:

Going down with the ship

Intuitively understanding each other without a word spoken

His hobbies humiliate me in public

“Do you find me attractive?”

Sulking in the corridor while you reunite with your ex

This whole ep with original Ray:

And his wolf approving of both

Not pictured “I love you” “And I you”, “Get out of the closet”, actual hand holding when it’s unnecessary, formally handcuffing your buddy, getting stuck in an ice crevasse and a mini submarine together–and so so much more. I invite you to watch the show if you can find it (I have it on a really nice set of DVDs, but there’s some dodgy ones out there that look like they recorded the DVD straight off a VHS, so do check reviews) or else try and find it online. There was a Canada promoting YouTube channel which published both due South and shows like Slings and Arrows, which I recommend as well (It’s not actually bury your gays if the ghost of your gay best friend haunts you, right?) so you should be able to poke around and find a legit copy somewhere. I’ve bigged it up and talked it down, and wandered a long way off topic (that describes my relationship with every show, but especially when I recommend them) but I hope somewhere along the line I also answered the question. The way I hear it Leverage is a similar sort of comfort food, though I haven’t seen it. Sounds like I should put it on my To Watch list.

#due south #dogsled replies #queerbaiting #subtext #destiel #about me