legendarymuses

[legendarymuses]

Are you afraid of getting in trouble for disobeying orders? It was worth it.

Ava Sharpe in Beebo the God of War (3x09): Best of the Legends [20/?]

[legendarymuses]

good smut is really a character study and that is final. i need it to be about vulnerability i need it to be about trust or lack thereof and most of all i need it to be emotional agony. thats what sex is for

[legendarymuses]

Arrow 2x14 Part 3 of 4

[legendarymuses]

//Looking for a Sarah Alder writer to ship with my Tally, if you are interested, send me a message. If it helps, Tally gives amazing cuddles!

If you are new or never roleplayed, I am happy to help you get started.

No minors or rl accounts. Also no ooc drama, please. Only react if interested, I am tired of being ghosted. Also, make sure I can dm you.

[legendarymuses]

4.20, Lily 6.11, Tougher than the Rest

[legendarymuses]

— Angel Dominguez, from “[Dear Diego]”

[legendarymuses]

Initial disclaimer: Not only should writers and especially fanfic writers write whatever they want, I do enjoy soulmate and related tropes (e.g. destiny/kismet/prophecy, reincarnation) in fics a lot.

That said, that enjoyment is usually in pendulum swing phases. This is because, usually, those tropes don't do favors to the characterizations and relationship dynamics.

Specifically, I mostly am not feeling Talder configurations where their connection extends pre-canon.

Fundamentally, the pattern for Talder in canon (beyond Jessica and Lyne's phenomenal chemistry, so again, I get where a lot of the fic is coming from) is a stairway of "Tally was never slated to be [x] in relation to Alder, but she muscled into that position through sheer force of will anyways."

Tally wasn't slated to be one of Alder's soldiers at all thanks to her dispensation, but she chose to serve anyways.

Tally wasn't slated to be a candidate, much less actually be chosen, but she (and not Bridey or the other three more experienced soldiers in that group) commanded Alder to take her as a Biddy.

Tally wasn't slated to do anything with Alder beyond normal rank-climbing after getting de-Biddied (a la Izadora and Verger). Instead, she pursued knowledge so above her pay grade that even Alder's own Head of Intelligence didn't know, to beyond the veil of death.

Tally wasn't slated to have any influence on Alder's career (especially compared to the many powerful scheming adults around her), but she, unsanctioned, inserted herself into making Alder publicly admit wrongdoing, transferring the direct instigation of Alder's stepping down from President Wade to Tally. And long before that, Tally was also responsible for handing Wade the leverage of the Puppeting in the first place, because she was the one to push the unit to talk to Petra about Citydrop and Scylla.

(I don't necessarily count the chain leading to Wade forcing Alder to step down pre-execution. Nicte being brought in was from Tally being on the mission, which was from Tally saving Alder's life in the warding circle, which was a side effect of her merely being Raelle's unitmate, being brought in to debrief on Raelle getting captured by the Camarilla.)

Tally wasn't slated to be a First Song Steward. She became one solely through her own initiative anyways.

No position was ever thrust upon Tally. She always took it for herself, of her own volition. Including, over and over again, her place in Alder's life.

This is put directly in contrast to both of her unit-mates. Raelle had the Witchbomb and similar "knowledge from beyond the veil of death" forced upon her, while Abigail became marked by prophecy and destiny through her preexisting heritage. Meanwhile, the culmination of the 2x8 delusion is that, to Tally, a connection forced upon her, to be subject to a connection that she didn't actively choose herself first, is a nightmare leading to death.

(We can even bring Gerit into this, because what soured that relationship for Tally was first the discovery that their "connection" was manufactured by the codices, and then when Gerit attempted to force a connection with Hilari. If Tally didn't pick it, she don't want it!)

To reiterate, the fundamental dynamic of Talder in canon is "Tally wasn't slated to be [x] in relation to Alder, but she muscled into that position through sheer force of will anyways."

"Tally has/had a shortcut to be everything to Alder the whole time without her doing anything" cheapens the powerful characterization of Tally encountering very real gaps between them, reacting "challenge accepted", and building bridges over those obstacles with her own two hands, without anyone asking. "What, like it's hard?" doesn't hit if Elle Woods was actually a legacy admission into Harvard!

(Petty sidebar I will probably regret: I'm not sure the supposed lingering Biddy connection even tracks. We don't know if ever-unreliable-narrator Alder was even telling the truth about that in a literal sense. As the Fort Salem Witching Hour podcast noted, the infirmary scene plays like a Buffy-style supernatural-as-relationship-metaphor for the experienced playboy trying to gently let down an innocent indulgence, giving them a comforting white lie to console themselves with to avoid clinginess.)

My sentiment on this is coming from the exact same place as my stance on Xena/Gabby. While I acknowledge that the soulmate thing was a necessary tool to combat the no-homo default at the time of broadcast, the actual relationship is so much more powerful when it isn't inevitable, when we see real stakes to its failure. These two decided to work through undismissable relationship problems not because their happiness together is assured, but because they loved each other that much to forge ahead despite the risk of devastation. The uninfluenced agency involved further demonstrates the sheer strength of that love.

(I also don't like the way "preexisting connection fix-it" Talder tends to paint over MFS's social commentary around militarism and post-WW2 US foreign policy, but that's a whole other can of worms.)

I will say, time travel fix-it tends to bother me less, as it essentially serves as a reward for the first time maximum agency go-around. Per the opening disclaimer, easymode tropes are totally valid and enjoyable. The fantasy of not having to stress/scrabble/suffer for every inch of payoff is understandable and sometimes fulfilling that fantasy is even desirable! By all means, AU away their canon conflicts to achieve certain vibes or situations! But only insofar as it exists as part of variety, and not as a "this is the true most appealing version of the pairing" thing.

At any rate, if Talder have some kind of supernatural connection in fic, I simply want it to not be what fixes their relationship or prevents their canon conflicts. It should equally cause problems as solutions, platform shenanigans, and/or only be useful after they've gotten their shit together.

[legendarymuses]

//Looking for a Sarah Alder writer to ship with my Tally, if you are interested, send me a message. If it helps, Tally gives amazing cuddles!

If you are new or never roleplayed, I am happy to help you get started.

[legendarymuses]

Katie McGrath appearance on a local TV show in Ireland today, promoting her new short film “Brown Bread,” produced by Shaunagh Connaire💚

📸| via ig Stories- @irelandmvmtv

[legendarymuses]

//Looking for a Sarah Alder writer to ship with my Tally, if you are interested, send me a message. If it helps, Tally gives amazing cuddles!

If you are new or never roleplayed, I am happy to help you get started.

#MotherlandFortSalem #Roleplay #Talder #Shipping

[legendarymuses]

Katie McGrath "The Ex-Wife"

[legendarymuses]

KATIE MCGRATH "The Ex-Wife"

[legendarymuses]

Hello, I am looking for active writers in the Motherland Fort Salem fandom or anyone who is interested in joining.

[legendarymuses]

In search of writers who write Once Upon a Time. If you are interested, please DM me or comment.

[legendarymuses]

is this a part of your story, / one that i had never lived? @lgbtqcreators — creator bingo / overlay

[legendarymuses]

I will never forgive the writers of MFS for fumbling this ship there was so much material and potential here wasted.

[legendarymuses]

Looking for rpers who muse Sara Lance and other Arrowverse characters! I am looking for both ship roleplays as well as other interactions. I write Ava but also a lot of other characters. If interested, please comment or send me a message. Thanks!