#none but i’m doing it anyway

[butchhamlet]

maybe i actually just hate so many critical takes on taming of the shrew. i’m not denying that this play can be performed AND read as containing a genuine romance—petruchio and katherine have the stichomythic banter that tends to signal chemistry in other plays, and of course one can decide how much katherine is playing along with him out of delight—but i feel about this play the way dara horn feels about the merchant of venice, that being “why does it feel like the entire world is trying to convince me that calling a bigoted play a bigoted play is the resort of the un-academic idiot?” “Staring into my phone, I sank into my own insecurity, which took the form of a belief that centuries of Shakespearean scholars, and Shakespeare himself, must surely know more than I do.”

and i do think that “this is bigoted” can be used to shoo away discussion. calling taming misogynistic (or merchant antisemitic) strikes me as a better start than end—that assertion opens up a new conversation about how bigotries form and solidify over time, how shakespeare might (might!) have tried (and failed?) to subvert them, where these plays echo our modern day and where they don’t, what we can learn from them, and perhaps most importantly how we handle the idea of one of the Greatest Writers Of All Time™️ creating something that contradicts our values? but some of the abstracts i’ve read about this play seem to bend backward to avoid coming within ten feet of the word or concept of “abuse.” if you are going to argue that petruchio is “inviting katherine into a private world” between the two of them, that he is “playing language games,” that he is helping her “develop her imagination” and “navigate chaos” when he deprives her of food and sleep while constantly contradicting her perception of basic reality—well, god help you, go ahead and write it and cite your line references! but you might just want to acknowledge that you have heard of spousal abuse and gaslighting, just, like, discreetly the once, even if you’re arguing that that isn’t what this is, because if you can’t recognize that conversation about this play should Say Those Terms, then you might as well try to write about hamlet without using the words madness, mental illness, or suicide! and what have i got to take you seriously for!

[radioactive-mouse]

I get how tempting it is to just label flower husbands as “toxic” and move on, but god they can be SO much more nuanced than that, it makes me insane.

I think something that goes largely unexplored by the fanbase is c!scott’s obsession with composure. he’s clearly very proud of his ability to stay calm under pressure and be two steps ahead of everyone else— not that he’s afraid to rely on people, him and cleo very clearly have that unshakable trust between them, but i think that sometimes he gets so wrapped up in being steady, reliable scott, never hot-headed, never spiteful, or clumsy, or nervous.

and jimmy is a very real threat to that composure, more often than not.

and i think the way their relationship functions in 3rd life, while steady at the time, definitely set them up for complications down the road. scott, for as fiercely dedicated to his allies as he is, kind of tends to handle jimmy with kid gloves for the earlier parts of their relationship. he’s not very good at the death game, but that’s fine, he doesn’t need to be, scott will take care of it— he’ll get them set up with armor and potions and walls and jimmy can do… whatever it is he does when scott’s not around. mostly getting swindled, if he had to guess. but it’s fine, because scott can be steady, level headed, clever—

i do think most of scott’s ribbing about how he doesn’t know why he lets jimmy do anything when all he does is get scammed half the time is genuinely all in good fun, (jimmy is more than happy to play the fool most of the time, if only to bring a little bit of levity to things) it is super symptomatic of the way scott actually thinks about him. i don’t believe he thinks jimmy is actually stupid or anything, but i do think scott doesn’t quite trust him to get anything done. scott would never in a million years let himself lean on jimmy for any kind of support, because in scott’s mind jimmy’s job is to be bright and brash and only listen to that heart of his that’s too big for his body, too big for this game.

and i think too often we forget just how much losing jimmy destroyed scott in 3rd life. you ever think about how wrecked he must’ve been to place 10th despite being a consistent finalist in every other season? do you think about how all he has left is the burning, white-hot urge for revenge from the second jimmy’s body hit the ground?

i don’t think scott ever wants to feel like that again. i don’t think scott wants anyone to see him like that again. i think scott tries very hard to love jimmy from a safe distance where no one gets hurt. and i think that distance fucking kills jimmy, metaphorically speaking.

(also, tangentially related, i think there’s something to be said for how instantly tango goes “we only have a short time together, your curse will probably get us killed, and that’s fine.” and how jealous scott gets of that sentiment. as far as scott is concerned, tango and jimmy are of the same niche— they feel everything, loudly, even if it causes problems and even if it gets messy. and god that just makes his blood boil.)

i’m just so… entranced with the way scott carries himself with so much confidence and it’s not like he’s insecure, he really believes that, he’s a strong player and he knows that, but also revealing any emotion he deems to be “ugly” or “messy” makes him start to completely unravel. the driving force behind him is always love and loyalty and protectiveness over the people he cares about, but he’s juggling that with being dead set on never getting so close that losing them will completely ruin him.

anyway, this is getting away from me, but i think a lot of jimmy’s frustration with scott comes from the fact that he refuses to let their relationship go both ways, and i think by the time of the infamous “say i love you back” scene in limlife he’s just exhausted with throwing himself repeatedly against scott’s brick wall of perfectionism. that, and the whole Situation between them in double life, which i could honestly make it’s own post but good god i need to STOP typing or this will go on forever. forgive my completely disorganized ramblings i just have been trying to get all this down on paper FOREVER

[sugarskies]

bob starts acting weird around john after the sparring incident. he seems somehow shyer, avoids eye contact at all costs. john, insecure as ever, concludes that he has messed up somehow.

he’s used to people not liking him but when bob gives him that awkward smile and ducks out of a room when john enters, something in his chest hurts.

john confronts bob, desperate to understand what it is he’s done wrong. more than anything else, he’s terrified that he reminds bob of his dad. when bob refuses to give a direct answer, john tells him,

“it’s okay if you don’t like me. i just want to understand why.”

and bob hesitates before he tells john that he does like him. he likes him a lot. so john asks what the problem is, then. why bob is acting so weird. and bob, seemingly confused, says, “i’m gay.”

he doesn’t know if he should feel guilty or mad. guilty that he’s somehow made bob uncomfortable or angry that bob would assume he’s homophobic when he’s never given an indication that was the case.

john apologizes and leaves the room. he doesn’t know where he’s messed up or how he’s supposed to fix it. then, as he’s sitting alone, spiraling, yelena confronts him.

she asks how john could be such an ass to bob. john apologizes for being homophobic, however he was, and yelena asks what he’s talking about. john asks what she’s talking about.

yelena says that bob confessed his feelings for john and john wouldn’t even acknowledge them. john argues that bob didn’t… wait a minute…

it takes him a second for everything to click and then, oh.

oh.

oh, he fucked up.

[astudyintheburningofhearts]

For @drarrymicrofic’s prompt, Welcome.

“You’re not welcome here,” Luna sniffed, the twitching edge of her nose reminding Harry of a bunny. 

He laughed at the proclamation, “Not welcome? It’s my bloody house!” But Luna had already shut the door on his face. Grumbling under his breath, he waved a hand and muttered alohamora, to no avail. They’d barricaded the door with Hermione’s version of the spell then, wonderful. 

Rolling his eyes, he reached for his key. When his search came up empty, he banged his head against the door, and heard giggling coming from the other side. What were they, twelve? 

He tried knocking again, the Tesco bag wrapped around his knuckles shaking despite the polite force he’d used. 

Of course, nobody answered. 

He nearly kicked the door in exasperation when an idea came to him. Smirking in triumph, he pictured the inside of his bedroom upstairs and apparated with a pop. 

Rolling his eyes again, Harry toed off his shoes and carried them down in one hand (lest Kreacher burn this pair like he did the last one) and set off downstairs, Tesco bag in one hand and shoes in the other. 

He whistled as he passed the sitting room, levitated his shoes into the rack by the door, just to fuck with his friends a little. Ron immediately sat up straighter and exclaimed. “Oi, Harry! How’d you get in? We’d locked the door!” 

Grinning to himself as he unloaded the groceries, he shouted back from the kitchen, “In case you lot forgot, it’s my bloody house, I come and go as I please!” 

When he walked into the room with a can of coke in one hand, he found Hermione whispering furiously to a snickering Ginny, “I told you we should’ve closed the wards.” 

Harry smirked as he spoke over Luna and Draco’s hushed conversation; Draco’s palm splayed in between the two of them as Neville looked curiously between the two.

“Hermione, in case you forget, Grimmauld was once a part of the many properties owned by the noble house of Black. And I know you’ve done research on it, but I can assure you this is one topic I’m certain I know more about than you do. So. Coming to the point I was making. Since I am now the new master of the house, even if you tried your level best to remove my access from the wards or bar them from letting me enter, the house would merely refuse to do so. The only person the house would even consider listening to perhaps, is Draco, because of his blood claim.” 

Draco’s head snapped up at the mention of his name, and he snatched his palm from Luna’s hand. “Oh. Potter. You’ve returned from your shopping excursion.” 

Harry was about to question it when Hermione’s pursed expression slid into a smirk that mirrored his from mere moments ago. “Looks like you haven’t read up on the marital rules of Black properties, have you Harry? The only way the house would close off its wards to its master is if the spouse of said master were to do so.” 

Harry stood, gobsmacked, before Luna turned to him and pulled him by the hand. He barely managed to keep his coke in its can. 

She grinned up at him, “You and Draco have nearly identical love lines, Harry.” 

“Oh,” both Harry and Draco said simultaneously. 

Harry turned to Draco and the moment their eyes met, his brain did a little happy jig in its place. “So. Spousal warding, huh?” 

Draco smirked back at him, “Perhaps not if you behave.” 

[xbomboi]

Husband of Snow White, Father of Apple White… Heroic “Hero” Charming

adult design:

teen design:

everyone who knows him personally calls him “Hero” but it’s pronounced like the word arrow. do you feel me.

[hanzajesthanza]

geralt of rivia thoughts summarized

this city is too congested and loud

i don’t like the way my clothes feel

it’s super hot out right now but i’m gonna keep my outerwear on

i’m just gonna sit in the corner and do my thang

what’s wrong with me why do i feel emotions so strongly

people keep telling me i was made wrong

there are so many smells out here right now

i don’t like the way these clothes feel either

i don’t know how to break up with my girlfriend so i’m just going to leave i guess

wrong decision i’m going to apologize now. … by giving her some cool rocks

i kind of messed things up with my girlfriend again but i want to talk to her BUT i don’t know how to address her. we made passionate love many times. can i call her my… hmm… ummm… friend…?

i could piss in this flowerpot but… that wouldn’t be nice to the flowers

it’s time for a scathingly eloquent rant

never mind i forgot how to say words

i’m just going to tell you what happened straight up. no poetics from me

but let’s critique society

I HATE INJUSTICE AND UNFAIRNESS !!!

why are people so corrupt and evil. i don’t get it.

more importantly. WHY do i keep falling for it.

i am a relic of an older time. change is already here and i’m not ready

apart from my immediate family i’ve had one best friend for a decade and that’s my extent of socializing.

unless someone comes to me first with that. and we have shared interests. then we can roll together for a bit

i have not changed my sense of style or the type of clothes i wear since i was eighteen. i even tie my hair in the same way

[arolesbianism]

Been working on some first run Chou sprites for funsies, here’s a handful of the ones I’ve done so far

[royaltea000]

Currently flipping thru the entire hesokuri wars wiki page and getting into the different aus

[tecnestheim962]

I need more RG in my feed and less of literally everything else, the brain worms are seeking food and all they’re finding is stress and isolation

[akari-of-moonlight]

all the tetro characters but it’s just the second 2 letters of their names so hama isn’t alone

WHEEZING OKAY LET’S DO THIS

so ik (why can I still tell who this is supposed to be)

ar ei (HARADA KEIZOU IS AREI NAGEISHI DRDT CONFIRMED)

hi ir (my brain is reading Hiroaki. the [makeover] friendship went too far I think)

am az (he still has his classic z I guess??)

ay ai (I’M WHEEZING)

ad as (wada’s always goes wrong)

as it (you know it’s not the same (s)as(aki) (h)it(omi) was) (<- that was funnier in my head)

ji ak (GIVE THIS MAN HIS LETTERS BACK)

ka an (OKAZAKI = DR KAN REAL????)

am an (he’s doing Great now Actually)

su an (WHO IS THIS ANYMORE)

ir ak (giggling to myself)

am ui (how is Tamba’s always funny)

as en (I still can’t get over en being such a cool name)

at is (AT IS I’M CRYING)

an hi (WE’VE STRIPPED AWAY HIS CORE PERSONALITY TRAITS. HIS HAIR IS BLACK AND HE WEARS A T-SHIRT NOW I HOPE YOU’RE HAPPY.)

[shedoesntevengohier]

(Catholics don’t do divine command theory, right, that’s some evangelicals? Do Catholics do the ‘God would not tell you to do something wrong, that is just not a thing that would happen’? Or something else?)

Anyway, wow Vincent is perfect for the kind of story of,

God tells Vincent to do something which is wrong. (Yes literally God in this one, I’m not sure what kind of story like that this is but it is).

Vincent: I acknowledge Your ownership of every part of me and that You can do as You will with me. I love and honor and bow to You. And I’m not going to do that.

(God: 💙)

(This is a test of Abraham type of thing where him actually doing the wrong thing was never an outcome that was going to happen or supposed to, but seeing what he would do if told to was.)

[itspileofgoodthings]

I love GK Chesterton.

[yeehawevan]

writing a scene and feeling insane rn I feel like this I feel like I have a gun to my head

ohhh blue sargent… ohhhhhhhhhh

(pic of what I’m writing below. sorry for the Cringe)

trying very hard to not feel like a cringefail loser but how am I meant to write bisexual blue when there are literally zero canon girl characters blue’s age. I feel like I need to beat myself with a hammer. I’m having a great time but I need to be put down. I’m loving this and also I should never be allowed to write ever again.

[volitioncheck]

does near every single post-canon DE fic out there need to be tagged ‘Sober Harry Du Bois’? i’m getting so tired of it.

do i expect every single piece of fan content to have to fully delve into the often-depressing always-complex topic of addiction? not really. sometimes you just want to write/read a silly fluffy romance one-shot, whatever. i get it. but i think my issue is specifically with the fact that for nearly every sillyfluffy au out there, there almost must be a ‘sober harry du bois’ tag. and it does feel very slapped-on more often than not.

i think to me it is an unconscious statement that nothing *good* can ever happen to harry du bois until he is completely and permanently sober. before solving the next big case, he has to be sober. before quitting the force, he has to be sober. before falling in love with kim, he has to be sober. before accomplishing anything, starting any sort of recovery, making any life improvement, he must first be sober.

sobriety as a goal, as a journey, and honestly as a concept in of itself is not as cut and dry as so many people think it is. and i think it would serve a lot of people well if they did some introspection on the implications of how nearly every single post-canon fic that isn’t dealing directly with harry’s addiction have him as completely sober instead.

if the plot of the fic isn’t going to touch directly on harry’s substance use (and again, i’m not demanding that every single fic should), why does that mean that sober!harry must be the default?

i think i am just tired of reading a casefic, a smutty one-shot, a fantasy au, whatever, where it almost seems that before getting on with the plot, the author feels obligated to first assure us that the harry we’re reading about is a Sober Harry. it’s established with a couple lines in the exposition, probably about his improved appearance, a tag up top, and then never brought up again; a checkmarked box. like the societal image of An Addict has completely prevented people from being able to imagine a person just, continuing to live life, while still struggling with addiction.

life happens, with all of its backslides and achievements, mundanity and changes, to people with drug addictions just as much as people who don’t. is a post-canon harry who isn’t sober not worth writing about?

i think so. i think the game we all played thinks so too. in fact i think that sentiment is woven into the game’s very core. i just wish i saw that reflected in our fan content more.

[dailyhtfboards]

Day 89

As a guy with a musical background, the note sequence at the bottom hurts me /lh

(From TV episode 12B In a Jam)

[andi-o-geyser]

actually i’ve come to the conclusion after finishing andor and sitting in it for around a week that the sequels were actually fucked from the start. like yeah, no shit from a development and story perspective they were a mess because there was no plan but on a BASIC LEVEL they were fucked because there is a fundamental lack of creativity. yes there is always a push and pull between fascism and democracy, yes it makes sense that people seek power and after swinging far left you then often swing back far right. but none of that should have been the first order. it’s just at a basic level a very uninteresting enemy to examine. we already did that song and dance, and the complete lack of any explication (completely ignoring the whole later palpatine angle because we all agree the writers should be shot and quartered for that) for how another galaxy spanning empire rose not even 20 years after the end of the previous one which lasted almost the exact same amount of time is bonkers. i actually really enjoy the force awakens, i think it’s a fun movie, but it is to its own detriment that it is a legacy sequel with nothing new to say because that means there IS NO STORY. like i honest to god at this point find that for me, the story ends after return of the jedi. that’s it. because it is such lazy damn writing to have actually nothing to say and no creativity to make a new threat. we all think the aesthetic of the empire is cool, we get it. there is no world in which it should pull main focus. and i’m not saying i have a better idea, but all i know is they should have been starting from square one and not relied on the originals at all. the vibe of the prequels is so distinct from the original trilogy for a reason, and that’s because there was an actually separate (not completely, but you get what i mean) story to tell. the basic failure of the sequels was that there was never anything there. we did this song and dance already. we already liked it. this detracts from everything before and devalues and idea that there can ever be change or completion, because what’s the damn point if the same empire won’t stop coming back? there have been thousands of years with different power structures and orders ruling the galaxy or fighting for control, and to think that the fucking empire/first order and any carbon cutout following them is the only option is lazy. i just. it’s fucking lazy it’s uninteresting and lazy and there’s nothing to be saved because it decided it NEEDS to work off of the status quo of the heroes being the underdog. i promise, i PROMISE you there is so much more to explore. also jj abrams meet me on a cliff at dawn i just wanna talk