#and I'm learning very quickly book fandoms do not exist

[bronzewool]

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is the first book of The Locked Tomb series about, “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space! Decadent nobles vie to serve the deathless emperor! Skeletons!”

Set in a world where a 10.000-year-old immortal Necromancer rules over nine planets, lead by nine houses who practise a different branch of necromancy, Gideon Nav belongs to the Ninth house, a death cult forever sentenced to guard the locked tomb of the immortal Emperor’s greatest enemy. Gideon is not a member of the Ninth House, but an indentured servant who has made 86 escape attempts over the years to no avail.

One day the Emperor invites each of the Great House heirs to compete in a series of trials to become Lyctors, immortal necromancers and the Emperor’s right hand. Each Necromancer can only bring a sword-wielding bodyguard with them, and unfortunately for the reverend daughter of Drearburhr, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, after her chosen cavalier abandons his post, Gideon is the best swordswoman they have left.

The story takes place in the Canaan Mansion of the First House, where our two main leads meet the other House Heirs and their cavaliers, given little to no instructions by the elderly priests who reside within the mansion about how they are supposed to gain immortality and are given free rein to go into any room that is not locked. Harrowhark is more than happy to face the trials by herself but quickly learns that each room requires the necromancer and cavalier to work together to obtain a key that will unlock the next room.

Things go south very quickly though when one of the Houses is found dead and the book becomes a murder mystery where the Heirs cannot contact anyone outside the decaying mansion until the trials are complete, and uncertain if there is a monster hiding somewhere in the manor or if one of the other Houses is trying to get rid of the competition...

Gideon the Ninth is a charming gothic horror story with a lot of sarcasm and pop culture references. Gideon is a good-hearted, but crass, sunglasses-wearing swordswoman, who loves flexing her biceps and reading porn mags. Harrow the Ninth is a skull-face-painted nun and necromancer prodigy, the last of her bloodline, hoping to achieve Lyctorhood to rebuild the Ninth House to its once former glory, and has hated Gideon’s guts ever since they were kids.

Classic enemies to lovers.

Confined to the First House for the majority of the first book, we learn very little about the larger universe but get a feel for this culture and its relationship with death through the Nine Houses' interactions with each other. The only downside to this setting is that it’s very easy to forget this is a sci-fi series since all the characters are isolated from the comforts of home and no one has any sort of electronic device that could help them get in contact with the outside world. No one carries a gun, everything is done with magic, the mansion is ancient in design, and all the servants are animated skeletons. Hopefully, we visit other planets in the next book.

There was a point in the story where I was wondering why any of the heirs needed a bodyguard when it's made very clear their magic can easily overpower the average person. Other than the heirs not wanting to get their hands dirty and Harrow desperately needing someone to talk to, I couldn’t figure out their purpose in the trials or why one of the conditions for becoming a cavalier was that they are only allowed to carry rapiers when many of the bodyguards are not suited what that kind of blade, especially Gideon who was trained to wield a two-handed sword. There is a payoff for this later and it's genius when you figure out why.

Limiting the story to one type of magic system also expands on what you can do with the subject. Harrow is the most traditional type of necromancer we’re familiar with; able to summons hordes of skeleton armies to do her bidding, but other branches get very creative with the concept. There is a house that can manipulate dead flesh and body tissue, another house that can commune with dead spirits, and a house that can read the energy signatures of objects and draw in that spirit energy to power themselves. Each house tackles the trial in different ways and there is political drama over what they see as disrespectful or acceptable.

Great series. Great first book. Great twist ending. Did not see it coming. Can’t wait to read book 2.

[mask131]

I'm going to really quickly drop something I have been thinking for a very long time - and I don't think I have made a post about it?

It is one of the reasons I kind of cut ties with fandoms on the Internet as a whole, and why I originally strongly disliked the way "headcanons" were used, and why I often roll my eyes with the way people behave on the Internet... And I don't know if it is because I was old enough to have lived in a time when I enjoyed series and movies and cartoons without the Internet - or better, with an Internet that was without the "fandoms" as we know them today.

The main thing that irritates me with the way "fans" act on the Internet is how they think because they are fans of a piece of media, it "belongs to them". I fully understand the idea of fanfiction-positive and I am ALL for fan-art and AUs and the like, don't get me wrong. I do enjoy what fandoms were for - sharing a common passion, bring fan-made content based on a loved piece of media, have fun with it all... But the way this positivity has been framed and formulated, and the way it got interpreted has been irking me a lot.

Because in effect, a lot and lot of people have gotten into their brain, somehow, that a fandom "owns" a piece of media. That a television series was made first and foremost for the fans, and not for anyone else, and thus that it must cater to their every whims and desire. More and more people take fan theories and headcanons as actual guidelines, or solid fact, or in general confuse "canon" and "headcanon". More and more people believe the idea that "If we are strong enough, we can change this piece of media" or that "The creator of this piece of media owes us things because we are fans".

I am not very old, and yet I still lived in a time when we understood that published books and the shows on TV and the movies in theater were not... "ours". Yes a fandom is a way to allow fans to toy and play with a piece of fiction, and thus in a way make it "theirs". BUT THAT'S METAPHORIC NOT LITERAL! It certainly does not help that recently more and more tv shows and cartoons and whatnot have been explicitely interacting with or refering to their fandoms, even sometimes letting the fans drive the course of the story. Which is great, and is fun - but should be remembered as something not "natural" and a bit exceptional.

It reminds me of how recently there have been more and more incidents in theaters where musical plays were interrupted by audience members who thought they just could do anything they wanted - because somehow they thought a musical was an interactive play or a karaoke night. Again, these kind of interactions do exist (The Rocky Horror Picture Show was built upon these experiences) - but they were unique and out-there.

Art, fiction and media can and will live on without fandoms. Fandoms are not a needed ingredient of a piece of fiction, they are something that at best develops a healthy co-dependency with the piece of fiction it selects, at worst acts like a parasite to its host. But the fandom can be destroyed and obliterated and die - the fiction will still live on, and the media will still exist. And yet, so many fandoms seem to believe that somehow, they are the movers and shakers of industry and fiction, and that somehow they are the ones in control? So many fans treat creators like commissioned artists or pals they can ask favors from or victims they can bully freely without consequence.

Again, I don't know how to properly express my thoughts but... I lived in a world without fandoms, and now I can't stand it when people make it seem as if art and fiction and media was all about fandoms. And I mean fandom in the modern, Internet-sense of the term. Fandoms have went from enthusiastic pupils and eager to learn students and symposiums of fair critics to just... whining, entitled, over-spoiled little brats that kick their feet in anger, give orders to everybody and try to run away with the painting that is hanging on a museum's wall.

Yes fanfiction can "correct" a badly written plot, in one's opinion. It doesn't mean the author has to stick to your corrections, or that other people can't actually enjoy the badly written plot.

Yes fanart can be much cooler than the actual design. It does not mean you suddenly know the movie better than the movie-maker themselves, or that your fan-art will have to influence the aesthetic of a cartoon's next season.

Yes headcanons are wonderful. It does not make them canon, and you cannot enforce them on anything.

I repeat myself like a broken record - but originally fandoms where a place of enjoyment and appreciation and theorizing and complaining, but solely as an audience, and as people gathered by similar interests. Now? Now they became places of control and influence and demands that don't understand that an audience member isn't supposed to jump on stage to point out "No you are saying it wrong, here is how you should say the line."

[sassy-ahsoka-tano]

DADDY ISSUES - Part Eight: Attention

Character/Fandom: Elvis - Elvis (2022)

Prompt: You finally gather enough courage to speak your mind to Elvis and, oh boy, does he have the perfect solution for you. [ Fem!Reader ]

TW: overstim, i don't wanna ruin it but a vibrator...of sorts, elvis being kind of a dick again (oops)

Rating: M, so very M || Word Count: 4995

A/N: we all know how i feel about the PSA scene so this was very easy to write and i'm now depressed i haven't experienced this personally

Song Rec: attention - charlie puth

This is Part 8 of Daddy Issues. Find the rest of the series here!

[ masterlist | taglist ]

🦋 mila

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Over the next few weeks, you start to settle into a rhythm. You get unpacked and fully settled into your new room, which includes scouting out places that are going to quickly become your favorite restaurants and stores as well as finding ways to potentially make new friends in the area. You find out pretty quickly that you actually really enjoy living in Vegas. The constant nightlife and social buzz give a sense of energy and life to the city which you didn’t always feel back home in the LA neighborhood where you lived.

As for your arrangement with Elvis, things are moving, albeit slowly. After almost two months of more or less the same routine, you’re starting to get pretty bored with your role. It’s always the same. He sends a letter, which now consist of a only few lines where he tells you what time to meet him and any other instructions, like what to wear. There’s hardly anything additional that he ever asks you to do.

You go down each week at your scheduled time and the security guard, whose name is Stanley, lets you in without question. At first, all you had to do was flash the TCB ring. Now, you don't even need to do that. Stanely just knows you.

You make your way to Elvis’ dressing room, knock on the door, and when he opens it, you give him a blowjob. The next day, you receive a package outside of your room with new clothes or jewelry or other little random gifts. You’ve caught on quickly enough to realize that whenever you passingly mention something you want, it inevitably shows up outside of your door.

As long as it’s an object, that is. You’ve tried your best to be assertive, to ask for what you want, but you must not be asking correctly. Any comments or suggestions you’ve made about changing up your arrangement or going out to an adventure in public have been ignored or missed. While Elvis hasn’t said anything explicitly, he’s made it extremely clear that he doesn’t want your relationship to be public knowledge.

It's not that you aren’t grateful. Of course you are. You could never afford any of these lovely things without his financial support and you certainly don’t mind not working for KNBC. But with only meeting Elvis once a week, you found yourself with a lot of free time during the first month. That time was difficult to fill since you had no friends or connections in the area. You did a lot of reading, mostly magazines and books, to try and learn how to be a better sugar baby for him.

But, honestly, you’re bored to tears and you wonder how he could not be. Not to mention that he never pleases you or even asks you if you’re interested in it. You’re getting a bit irritated, to be honest.

Despite all those hardships and the boredom that permeates pretty much every moment of your existence here in Vegas, you have started to break out of your small, lonely circle. Thanks to Max, the stagehand you ran into several weeks ago, you’ve actually begun to do things outside in the city. Things other than Elvis. Not only is Max incredibly handsome, tall, and muscular, but he's also very sweet and respectful. By now, you figure that he must know why you’re here and what you’re actually doing in Elvis’ dressing room. But sweet, sweet Max never mentions it, so you don’t say anything in return.

You usually try to catch Max before or after your meetings with Elvis. Recently, you’ve even started going down a little earlier to see him before he has to get going on setting up all the instruments and props. Not only has Max helped keep you company, but he’s also introduced you to so many of his amazing friends, some of whom work at the International. Thanks to him, you’ve built a decent friend group out here in Vegas.

You’re currently reading a book on the couch in the living room and finishing up your home-cooked dinner when a familiar knock sounds on the door. You trudge over and open it to find a note taped to the outside, just under the peephole. Prying it off, you don’t even bother looking at the script on the outside. You know who it’s from and have a decent idea of what it’s going to say inside.

Princess, 7 p.m. in the blue dress I sent you last week. D

You scoff and crumple the note in your fingers, squeezing it with white knuckles before tossing it into the trash can. The clock reads six p.m. now, which means you barely even have enough time to get ready. Nevertheless, you still manage to get yourself prepped and into the blue dress just as Elvis asked, all before 6:45. Just as you’re about to leave, the telephone in your room rings.

“Hello?” you lift the phone to your ear.

“Y/N? It’s Trixie! I wanted to see how things are going?”

“Oh, Trix! This is actually not the best time. I’m sorry! In fact, I’m about to be late to meet him. Can I call you back later?”

“Oh…” you can’t miss the clear disappointment in Trixie’s voice.

It’s been several weeks since you last talked. You spent almost every night on the phone together after she left but, unfortunately, life has gotten in the way of your long-distance friendship as of late. You didn’t realize how much you were going to miss her when she left. But your new friend group has required a lot of attention and you just don’t have as much time to talk as before. One of Max’s friends in particular reminds you a lot of Trixie and although you’re more than happy to settle into your new friend group, you can feel yourself growing distant. Every time you talk on the phone, it almost hurts too much.

“Yeah, sure! No problem,” Trixie replies. “Have fun and be safe! I’ll talk to you later! Bye Foxie!”

“Bye!”

You click the phone down and rush out of the apartment. Stanley the security guard offers you his usual warm smile when you approach the side stage doors. You pause to chat with him for a few minutes, like you normally do, before he opens the door for you. You pad down the familiar hallway behind the stage, pausing outside of Elvis’ door. You check your wristwatch one more time before wrapping your knuckles, three times as always, on the door with a sigh. Per usual, Elvis opens it, half-dressed and seemingly ready for your meeting to move forward.

On the elevator ride down, you’d decided to bring up your displeasure with him. You’ve grown exceedingly tired of this relationship being so transactional, of pleasing him only to be left unattended to like a slave to his desires.

Elvis opens the door and you enter in silence. As soon as you hear the door click behind you, you speak up.

“Mr. Presley, could we…discuss something?” you ask, nervously and absentmindedly twirling the TCB ring around your knuckle.

You felt so much more confident when you were rehearsing your lines in your head on the elevator. But now, as you stand in front of Elvis and stare up into his sparkling blue eyes and that handsome, almost intimidatingly so, face, you feel your palms starting to grow sweaty and clammy.

“Course, princess. What’s up?”

He plops down into the same red velvet armchair that he usually sits in during your meetings. You step forward to stand in front of him and clear your throat before speaking. You hope that the following few moments of silence will somehow help you to gather more courage to share your true feelings.

“I was just wondering if we could…try something different? I know that you like our arrangements the way they are, but I have some ideas that I think would make our time together more interesting.”

A few moments of silence pass as his eyebrows furrow and you wait tensely for his response.

“You’re unhappy with the arrangement?”

“No. No, I-"

“Because if so, I’ll have no problem finding someone else to fill your place.”

“Excuse me,” you scoff, shaking your head. “That’s not what I said-”

“As I mentioned when I first suggested it to you, there are plenty of willing candi-”

“Stop!” you finally shout, holding your hands up toward him. Not only are you offended by his words, but you’re also frustrated that he insists on interrupting you as you try to speak. 

“I’m just tired of this,” you gesture to the space between you. “It’s transactional. Boring. We do the same damn thing every week and it’s only one time a week. That’s all. It’s monotonous and pointless. You can’t possibly be happy with this arrangement. I’m literally standing here offering to try something different, to do anything you ask, and you’re mocking me. Of course I’m grateful for what you’ve done. I’ve been grateful from the beginning and I’ve repeatedly told you so. But this isn’t what I signed up for.”

You momentarily can’t believe that the words have just slipped out of your mouth. Your heart slams in your chest and your pulse aches in your temples. You curl your arms over your chest as if that will slow it down. You can’t let him see how nervous you really are. You stand strong. His eyebrows raise and he nods slowly, his eyes holding onto yours firmly without budging. You stare back at him with every ounce of strength that you have.

“Alright, princess,” he says coldly. “What do you want?”

You take a deep breath. Ask and it’s yours. With a renewed sense of confidence, you put a voice to your feelings.

“I deserve to feel good, too. I always pleasure you, without fail, but you never pay any attention to me. You don’t even bother asking if I’m interested in it. I just want to be paid attention to. If you won’t do that, then this not a relationship at all. It’s a business transaction. I thought it was intended to be mutual. I’m just asking for some attention, that’s all.”

“I understand,” he says.

You shiver as a mischievous smirk spreads across his handsome face. He stands slowly, his eyes never wavering from yours until he turns around and walks toward a closet in the back left corner of the cluttered room. You watch him in silence, still clutching your fingers onto your crossed arms. He rummages in a drawer for a few moments before pulling something out.

He turns, holding a black velvet box that’s tied with a red ribbon. Your eyebrows furrow as he comes closer. You freeze when he lowers his head to whisper in your ear. Your eyelashes flutter as his cologne wafts into your nose, sweet and intoxicating.

“You wanna be pleasured?” he asks in a voice that’s almost angry, tinged with some venomous undertone that you can’t quite place. It scares you. “Sure thing, princess. Here.”

He gently thrusts the box against your stomach. You hesitate for a moment as you wonder what could be inside. Your fingers flutter with a desire to snatch the gift but your pounding heart tells you to wait.

“Take the box,” he hisses.

At his command, and out of fear, you reach up and close your fingers around the velvet, pulling it into your hands. Elvis leans back, still towering over you but giving you just enough room to breathe. Unraveling the ribbon and popping the box open, you reach into it with confusion. Your shaking fingers hook around the side of something lacy and you lift it from the box. Your eyebrows immediately furrow as you stare down at the exact same pair of deep red panties that you’d thrown across the stage at him during the 1956 concert at Russwood Park. You glance up at him and his expectant expression infuriates you.

“What is this?” you spit. “Are you expecting me to wear these? They’re almost twenty years old…”

“Y’ain’t very bright are ya darlin,” he starts.

“Excuse m-” you huff angrily but he interrupts you.

“These ain’t your panties. They’re the same kind, yeah, but I bought em just last weekend. And I had them specially made for ya. Go ahead. Put em on.”

You shake your head and examine them again. They do look almost brand new,  colorful and bright and clean.

“Whatcha waitin for, doll?” he asks, plopping back down into his chair. “Put. Them. On.”

“What? Here? Now?” you ask incredulously.

“You the one complaining bout how we ain’t interestin enough,” he points to the spot in between his spread legs and with a clenched jaw says, “Put the damn panties on. Slowly. Right here.”

With a sigh, you step forward into the space. This isn’t what you meant, but you decide to play along in case he’s taking you somewhere eventually. You throw the box onto the floor and place the panties on Elvis’ lap while you reach for the bottom of your dress. You slowly curl the fabric up with your fingers, gently tickling it against your skin. You keep your eyes locked onto Elvis. As you pull the dress up, you drag your fingernail up the front of your thigh.

Once the dress reaches the very top of your leg, you lift your foot and place it elegantly on Elvis’ knee. Carefully, you stick your fingers underneath the dress and curl your pointer finger around the band to your panties. You hold the dress up just far enough so he can watch what you’re doing as you start to slowly slide the panties from your thigh. You drag the fabric down and bend over as you pull at the band.

You bend your knee and hold it steady, hovering in the air, while you slip the panties off your toe. After you remove the fabric from your bent leg, it drops with ease down your straight one, pooling by your heel on the ground. You step backward as a smirking Elvis hooks his long, slender finger under the red panties and hands them over to you. You snatch them from his grasp and lean down, making sure that he has a perfect view of your breasts as you slide the fabric over one leg and then the other.

As you pull the fabric up over your ass, you turn your back to Elvis and glance at him over your shoulder. You lift the dress up ever so slightly and pull the fabric up and over your bum, securing it onto your hips. You freeze when you feel something hard contact your folds. 

You had noticed that the panties felt a little heavier than normal ones but you didn’t think twice about it. You just figured you were imagining it. But now as you stand half bent over and frozen as a statue before Elvis, you realize that there is definitely something hard stuffed into the pocket of the panties right below your pussy. You turn around and place your hands on your hips. His face twists into an almost sinister smirk. You scoff.

“What-”

“Don’t you worry your lil head bout it, princess,” he says, hopping up and zipping his jumpsuit all the way up to his chest.

He runs a few fingers through his hair as you try to process what the hell is going on. Before you can formulate a question, the familiar knock comes on the door to tell Elvis that it’s time to go onstage. He really likes to cut your interactions extremely close to his show times, another thing that’s begun to irritate the hell out of you.

“This isn’t what I meant!” you shout as he makes for the door.

You can’t help but shake your head and fold your arms over your chest. He turns back toward you.

“You doin a lot of complainin for somebody who relies on me.”

“I just spent our entire time tonight telling you how frustrated I am that I’m not getting any attention and all you do is have me put on a show for you in panties that I don’t even own and now you’re just gonna leave me again, unsatisfied and alone, like you always do!”

In two quick steps, he’s standing above you, his face so close to yours.

“Oh, am I?”

You feel yourself waver but steel your body the best you can. His fingers wrap firmly around your jaw, digging into your skin. You blink in shock at the discomfort but your heart skips a beat with the excitement of possibilities. He tilts your jaw so that he can whisper into your ear, his lips brushing against the skin. Your breath wavers shakily

“I wouldn’t worry bout that, princess,” he hisses. “You gonna get what y’asked for. If you’re patient. Now, I expect to see ya out there in the audience. That’s a command not a request. Am I understood?”

You clench your jaw, refusing to play his game. He squeezes your jaw harder.

“Am. I. Understood?”

“Yes, Mr. Presley,” you respond begrudgingly, although your whole body is vibrating.

And with that, he releases your face and flies out the door, slamming it behind him. 

You curl your fingers into fists by your sides and release a few heated breaths from your nostrils as you stare at the door. Your heart is beating quickly and you close your eyes as you release a final slow breath to get ahold of your emotions. Then you grasp onto the door handle and fling it open. You huff and readjust your hair and dress before you catch Jerry’s gaze. He smiles and approaches you. You immediately feel your anger dissolve.

“So, how are things going?” he asks with raised eyebrows.

“Fine, I guess,” you reply bluntly.

“Is…something wrong?”

You shake your head.

“No, nothing. We just had a little bit of a misunderstanding about our arrangement, that’s all. We’re resolving it.”

“Hey, Y/N, listen,” he says, gently wrapping his hand around your bicep. “I know Elvis can be a difficult person to work with. If anyone understands that, it’s me. Like I’ve told you before, if you need any help just ask me. I’m here as a resource to you.”

“Why are you saying this?” you ask, letting your distrust get the best of you. “You don’t work for me and we’re not friends.”

“Just because I work for Elvis doesn’t mean I always have to be on his side,” Jerry replies without missing a beat. He throws you a crooked smirk. “And I have to admit that I’m sad to hear you don’t consider us friends.”

“I’m sorry,” you shake your head. “I’m just…frustrated. I shouldn’t be taking it out on you.”

“It’s okay. A word of advice, though? From a friend,” he says quietly and you smile. “Just be patient with him and be direct. Take the lead. If you want something, make it happen. He likes a woman who takes charge.”

You nod, your eyebrows furrowing as you consider his sage advice. When you lift your gaze, a soft smile spreads across your face as you catch a glimpse of Max. He meets your gaze and grins widely, lifting a hand to wave.

“Thank you, Jerry. Excuse me, I’m just gonna go say hello to a friend. Thank you, again, for your advice. I’ll keep it in mind.”

You slip out from behind Jerry and make your way over to Max, doing a little spin as you approach him.

“Hey, Y/N! You look…” he shakes his head in awe.

“Well, thank you. What are you up to today?”

“Just the usual,” he replies, gesturing toward the cluttered set behind the stage where the stagehands work. “Oh hey, are you busy tomorrow night? I was thinking maybe we could grab a drink after the show. Just you and me? What do you say, princess?"

Your head jolts upright and you stare at him incredulously. What? What did he just call you????

“What did you just call me?”

He straightens, his face falling into panic.

“Princess…I can never call you that again if it bothers you or something.”

“No…uh, no,” you shake yourself back to reality. “Sorry, just someone else always used to call me princess.”

“Oh, sorry. I’ll cut it out then.”

“No, please don’t,” you say, a mischievous smile curling into your cheeks. “I like it better when you say it.”

A smile takes over his face. His eyes quickly flick down to your mouth and he bites onto his lower lip, flashing his beautiful straight white teeth. You can’t help but feel your heart flutter at his handsome, charming smile.

Although Elvis will never find out about Max calling you princess, you’re still reveling in the feeling that you’re somehow getting him back, punishing him. You recenter your attention on Max who tilts his head sweetly, the ghost of a smile tracing his beautifully shaped pink lips. His deep brown eyes are like bowls of honey, beautiful and charming, as he stares up at you with such a gentle smile resting on his face. Max always has the slightest blush on his cheeks, for no particular reason, but it gives him a youthful energy that makes you want to be around him even more.

“Well that’s good. Cause I plan on saying it a lot tomorrow night,” he replies, adjusting so that he’s leaning ever so slightly toward you.

“Oh yeah?” you lean in toward him.

Your gut starts to spin in circles, the desire that Elvis cultivated left unsatisfied. You feel your body gravitating closer and closer to Max. It would feel so good just to kiss him one time…

You suddenly jerk back, upright, your mouth popping open as you feel a foreign sensation in your lower stomach. You gulp nervously and clamp your legs together, wondering what the hell it could possibly be. Max’s eyebrows raise in confusion and you try to tell him that you’re fine, but another jolt of vibration makes you clamp your legs together again and stops you mid-sentence. You laugh nervously and wave him off, backing away in fear that you’ll have another episode.

“Tomorrow! I’ll meet you down here, s-s-sound good?” you ask as you rapidly back toward the exit to the showroom.

Although Max’s face is still wracked with confusion, he nods and waves. You keep face until you swing around the corner into the shadow of the hallway leading to the stage doors.

As soon as you’re safe and out of view of the rest of the backstage crew, you fall against the wall, clutching your stomach. You pant through waves of pleasure that are starting to build within your gut. You gently reach down underneath your dress to touch the bottom of your panties. Yep, as you suspected, something is vibrating, literally vibrating. You didn’t even know a device like this existed but it’s currently wreaking havoc on your body. You breathe a sigh of relief when the pleasure stops for a quick moment.

You take that opportunity to rush out of the backstage area and into the audience. Your eyes land immediately on the exit up the walkway but suddenly the panties begin to vibrate again. You grasp with white knuckles on the handrails to keep yourself from falling over. You spot an open seat smack in the middle of the room and carefully migrate towards it, knowing that you can’t make it to the door. You can barely walk while this thing is tingling in your panties, rubbing directly against your core in the most frustratingly perfect way possible.

You plop into the seat at the abandoned table and try to get ahold of your shaky breathing as you watch Elvis on stage. The spotlight happens to be shining directly over your seat onto the stage and you wonder if he can just maybe see you out there. The stage lights are also half on, not all turned off like they’d normally be. He’s singing a song that you’ve never heard before about some plant called polk salad?

Just when you catch your breath, Elvis shifts his gaze and seemingly stares directly at you. You feel your heart flutter with a mix of excitement and fear as he smirks and dances around onstage. Your eyes remain glued to him as he sings and when he riffs during the song, you arch your back as you feel pleasure spiking in your heat. The vibration continues, moving rhythmically against you. You can feel yourself swelling at the pleasure and bite your lip to refrain from making any noises.

You glare up at Elvis when the pleasure subsides, your chest rising and falling heavily with your breaths as you try not to show everyone in the audience what’s going on. He glances down at you and winks before doing some hip thrusts. Suddenly, the sensation is back and you have to grasp at the tablecloth in your fingers to keep from thrusting your hips against the wonderful sensation. You can’t help but close your eyes and pop your lips open in pleasure. You want to give in so badly but your brain stops you. It feels like every single muscle in your body is strained at the exact same time, waiting for you to release the tension.

Your back arches as the pleasure grows, and you noticeably fall back against your chair when it subsides again. Panting, you glance up at Elvis with wide eyes and an open mouth. Although you’re angry at him for embarrassing you like this and putting you through this, you desperately want to finish. You’re incredibly swollen and dripping wet, you can feel the cold liquid on your panties as you sit in the chair. You don’t want him to know how badly you need to cum, but you know that there’s nothing you can do about it and that your facial expression is telling him everything he needs to know, pleading with him, begging him to let you finish.

As he stares across the audience at you, he holds your gaze and his eyes fade to black. He smirks and sings into the microphone. Your eyes can’t help but drop down to his hips which are gyrating rhythmically in time with the music. You bite your lip and grip the tablecloth as your entire body craves climax and everything in you desperately begs to be released.

As the vibrator turns on again, you find that you can’t resist squirming against it. It’s doing wonderful work on you but not quite enough. And with the constant pausing, you’ll never get there without putting in a little bit of work yourself. Your fingers grip hard onto the edge of the table, tangling into the tablecloth and threatening to pull it off as your hips move on the vibrator in time to the music. Your eyes flick down to the ring on your finger as the metal digs into your skin. The juices you’ve already leaked have dried cold on the fabric of your panties and you can feel it against your skin as you move. You clench your jaw and close your eyes tightly as the waves of pleasure build on each other, up and up and up until you finally start to crash down.

As the familiar feeling washes over you, your lips part and you feel your body shuddering. The vibrator continues to stimulate your sensitive bundle of nerves. You can’t help but release a quiet, soft, moan as you come down from your high. Thank god for the music. Your eyes flash open and you glance to the table on your right, where a woman is watching you with her eyebrows raised. You can’t stop the climax now but tear your eyes away from her and squeeze them shut in embarrassment. You will your body to stop enjoying your orgasm so much but the vibrator continues to overstimulate you. In perfecting timing with the song, you come down from your high just a moment after the last note.

You look up at Elvis, who is already glaring back down at you. The sweat glistens on his face and bare chest as he holds your eyes with a lazy crooked smirk pasted on his lips. He licks his top lip with the tip of his tongue and nods toward you. You breathe frustratedly, the euphoric expression on your face fading immediately into one of contempt. You hesitatingly glance at the table to your right to see the woman whispering to the man next to her, both of them giggling.

Of course, you don’t know for sure what they’re discussing. It could be anything, really, but in your heart, you’ve already convinced yourself that they’re gossiping about you. You glance around the audience, wondering just how many people noticed what was going on. Embarrassment floods through you and you feel like crying as you think about the things people could utter about you behind your back. And Max…you can’t have Max finding out about this. What would he think of you?

You gather yourself up and stand, feigning confidence and purposefully avoiding looking at anyone directly. You position your purse so that it rests against your back, hopefully covering up the stain from your fluids if there is one. You hold the bag steady as you try to walk as inconspicuously as possible out of the showroom. You can’t help but wince every time you step, the hard cover of the vibrator brushing against your sensitive folds. The overstimulation and constant vibrations have apparently destroyed you pretty well. With every step you take, your heat is overtaken by soreness. But you manage to make it out of the room and back upstairs, where you crawl into bed.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

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[wormholxtreme]

2, 4, 7, 16, 19, & 23

Mun Meme | Accepting

2. what is your blog or graphic aesthetic or motif? why? It's mostly whatever @ppctts makes me because I CANNOT DO ANYTHING aesthetic XD but honestly she's made me so many pretty things and it's mostly around Kaylee being a sunshine, sunflower, star child and I am so grateful to Gin that she spends any amount of time making me these pretty things. I love her so much.

4. what genre do you primarily favor answered here

7. what universe have you never considered writing in? why? uuuuh well I'm sure there are some universes/fandoms that I'm not familiar with/even realize exist so those because of my ignorance LOL but I'm gonna say for the same reason DC stuff?? It's intimidating and like yeah I'm here for comics but I just don't know DC that well and I don't wanna try to manipulate DC story lines to the already complicated Marvel shit XD

16. how have your faceclaim choices changed over time? So Happy once upon a time was Michael Weatherly in an oooooold thing I wrote, back before I really had an idea of his character beyond the little bits we get in comics. But when I decided to bring him on for the sole purpose of simping after @ppctts the queen of fcs @dr-foster suggested Jay Ryan because of IT Chapter 2 and honestly I have not looked back.

For Kay, admittedly I had a very different FC for her adult verses but that person has since been what's the nice way of saying triggering and just not a good person. I don't always change my FCs over cancel culture stuff because I believe people are allowed to make mistakes but this was beyond even my comfort level. But I'm so glad I changed Kay's adult fc to be Joanna Garcia Swisher. She's precious and adorable and it really gave me an avenue to explore this kind of character further than what I had originally thought of, plus Joanna was originally my @cheeseburgersandwarbirds FC for Carol before we stumbled upon the amazing Yvonne and I thought it was a nice call back to our gaia days XD

19. who was the first faceclaim you remember using, who? for what canon? So throw back to gaia days in 2009 I was in fact using RDJ for my Tony. It wasn't too long after the first Iron Man movie came out when my lovely Noon invited me to come write with her. But it was before I knew much about the comics. So I decided to go back and throw myself into the comics reading from the very beginning when I realized Tony was a little different in the comics than the movie. He was younger, blue-eyed, had a sort of classic rat pack charm that didn't exactly translate into the movie because they were going more for his sarcastic vibe which was fine but I realized I really enjoyed comic book Tony more and around the same time there was this show called White Collar and just Neal Caffrey had all the charm, vibe, good nature, snark, intelligence, and suave that comic Tony had and so it wasn't very long that I started using Matt Bomer as my Tony FC also back in 2009 and honestly I've never looked back.

23. What skills have you gained by roleplaying? uuuuh typing rather quickly without looking at the computer???? XDD I don't know. Maybe some patience? I've learned a lot about myself, and I've learned that not everyone is going to like you. It stings sometimes but when I get focused on the people who love and care for me it outweighs a lot of the negative that comes with RPing.

[citrusreadstoa]

Reading The Hidden Oracle: Chapter 37 (SPOILERS)

"Percy leaped heroically from his mount and slipped in hellhound pee." Heroic entrance right here.

"Apollo, did you do this?" "I am offended! . . . I am only indirectly responsible for this!" I love their banter.

"I need a few more minutes to enchant this arrow." "Of course you do." Cut him some slack, he's still getting the hang of this whole hero thing.

"I had to admit Percy Jackson was moderately impressive." :/ ? Least reliable narrator I've ever seen.

"This time, the words came to me." Wait, so the plague chant actually isn't PLAGUEY, PLAGUEY, PLAGUEY? This is a massive disappointment. I don't think I'll recover. Also, that Styx punishment really didn't last long. The River's going soft.

"sneezed so hard he collapsed." Uh oh.

"FIE! TOO STRONG IS THY PLAGUE." FIE (exclamation): used to express disgust or outrage

"Kayla, be careful. Don't breathe--" "ACHOO!" Oh no.

"MOREO'ER, HIE!" I hate this fucking arrow. HIE (v.): go quickly

"Somehow, I managed to react appropriately. (Three cheers for reacting appropriately!)" I- Wins where you can take 'em, I suppose.

"you and Harley take Kayla and Austin to the Apollo cabin for healing." "But they are the Apollo cabin" VALID concern. Will's gonna be overworked again. Who's gonna heal everyone? Don't any campers other than the Apollo ones learn healing? People are dying left and right; you'd think other campers would learn medicine.

"Perhaps if we got some harpies and some kite string..." He's really desperate if he's suggesting that.

"I'm a stupid ugly mortal teenager! I'm nobody!" Is he throwing a tantrum? "I thought for sure . . . The cosmos would stop turning. Percy and Chiron would rush to reassure me. None of that happened . . . 'You're Apollo. We need you. You can do this. Besides, if you don't, I will personally throw you off the top of the Empire State Building.'" My friend compared this scene to the one in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where the four turtles are about to be crushed to death in the Labyrinth maze and Leo[nardo Hamato, not -nidas Valdez], who is the only one who can get them out by making a portal, first pouts at them to ask for a self-esteem boost. Something like "Y'know, it would really help me out if you told me I'm your champion" because the whole point of the Labyrinth was to get to the center and become a "champion" and receive world-class pizza (that episode was freakishly reminiscent of how PJO characters often end up beating their villains of the week). Yes, my friend and I frequently miscommunicate which Leo we are talking about when we discuss fandom stuff.

"just the sort of thing Zeus used to say to me before my soccer matches." Yeesh, never a good thing to be compared to Zeus, but the throw-you-off-a-building threat was deserved. Also, I think Rhea might not be the only one mixing up their centuries.

"a monument to my own conceit. Nero's pride was no more than a reflection of mine." A character development moment! Yes!

"The demigods were getting very good at scattering." I bet they've had a lot of practice, what with all the attacks on their only safe haven over the years.

"a gust of wind caught it... perhaps Zephyros" Yeah!!! That's good. It would've been too hard to believe if Apollo made that shot naturally. A bit soon to call Zephyros awesome, though, since this is just making up for the murder he committed, but good on him for helping avoid the deaths of dozens of small children.

"like a pachinko machine." I know what you're all thinking: "What's the difference between pachinko and pinball?" That's what I'm here to answer. According to Google, pachinko is an upright, vertical version of pinball that uses multiple small balls as opposed to pinball's singular, larger ball.

"geysers of motor oil out his ears" NOOOO! Not the harbor! Oh man, the beach naiads are gonna be so sick after this. Do beach naiads exist? If not, the beach animals and plants are gonna be sick. This is the third geyser we've seen this book and by far the worst.

"a case of hay fever . . . the statue's head achieved first-stage separation from his body." Deadliest case of hay fever I've seen yet. Hey, if it works, it works.

"Then the air blooped out of its neck hole" Blooped was pretty far down on the list of verbs I expected to see in this book. Next time I'll be more open-minded and prepared for verbs of all variety.

[tj-dragonblade]

Tea and Books Asks

Tagged in by @littledreamling , @mathomhouse-e , and @quillingwords thank you!

1. What period of history do you enjoy learning about?

As long as it's not the fucking founding of America and drafting of the constitution, again, we're golden

2. Who is your favourite fictional character and why?

Of all time? Impossible. Current fandom specifically? ...uh. Kind of also impossible. But I think if pressed Hob might just barely edge out Dream in the standings. Because? Because...his vibes? Immortal Everyman who's not all woe-is-me this-life-is-misery is a delight and idk he's just got that je ne sais quoi that makes me smile and say 'That one, that's my favorite'?

3. What do you order at a café?

It's a rare occurrence but. Some sort of coffee, extra sweet, extra whichever flavor added. Caramel and pumpkin spice are both excellent

4. Libraries, botanical gardens, or art galleries?

Of the three, I've only ever been to libraries, so, that

5. Do you have a favourite film soundtrack?

Beauty and the Beast 1991 probably. The score tracks on that just. Do things to me. Fond of a lot of Hans Zimmer's work as well (Lion King, PotC off the top of my head) and I keep circling back around to the Robin Hood Prince of Thieves soundtrack every few years

6. What does your dream home look like?

Underwater. With bits above water too, maybe half and half, but the important things I've always wanted are submarine airlock entryways and enormous windows with an underwater view. Not too far from civilization either

7. What makes you feel better on gloomy days?

Long solo drives with good music played loud

8. What are your top three films? Books?

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; The Princess Bride; Beauty and the Beast

I've read fanfic almost exclusively the past twenty years but, let me think...I was very taken with the Shannara series by Terry Brooks in high school; I spent some time on the Vampire Chronicles after that and The Vampire Armand was my favorite (because Armand was my favorite more than because it was actually a good book)

9. Are you an organized person, generally?

...Ish. I dislike clutter and mess, but I wouldn't really classify myself as 'organized' by any standard measure of the word

10. Do you have a favourite classic novel?

...I am extremely fond of Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz both but more for their permutation into pop culture and malleability therein than for their actual books specifically

11. What character archetype or trope is your favourite?

I have a laundry list, and they're generally best when multiple tropes are blended in one character. But maybe...let's go with The Foreigner, The Outsider, the one who often holds up a lens to humanity or whatever majority/default group is involved to offer commentary, try to understand, and who is perpetually Apart from them, usually unable (or unwilling) to quite blend in or assimilate completely even when they may be welcomed and accepted.

12. Do you prefer baking or cooking?

...give me a relatively simple recipe with clear instructions and I'll probably be okay, in either arena

13. Which season do you feel at home in?

In my current climate? Summer. Summer means I can get out and go places and do things. I love autumn in theory but in practice it's far too short, far too cold too quickly, and just a very depressing reminder of the half-a-year of winter that will follow

14. What is your opinion on poetry?

It should absolutely exist, integral facet of humanity, etc. Not really anything I actively seek out, however

15. Do you speak formally when texting and emailing?

Emails are nearly always business related whether home or work, so yes. Texts are not exactly formal but it's rare that I'd ever fail to capitalize, use copious abbreviations, etc. Punctuation droppage depends entirely on who I'm talking to and whether I need the clarity punctuation can provide

16. How do you organize your music playlists?

Haaaaaah. Let me count the ways:

- by artist, when I want The Good Tracks from their discography (and related projects) in chronological order

- by genre

- by pairing - many pairs have multiple permutations of their playlist also

- by character

- by character group

- by theme (e.g. Moon, Aquatic, etc)

- by mood

- by fic inspiration/writing soundtrack

- I have playlists for Disney movies where I put the songs and score pieces back in movie order since the soundtracks always group them separately and I also leave out the shitty radio versions of the songs

- I also have a playlist with all my individual Disney playlists combined in chronological order by movie release date

- by vibes

- by which family member I'm driving with

- I have a playlist for stuff that's in (or contains sections that are in) 3/4, 6/8, and various other non-4/4 time signatures

- I have a couple different playlists of favorite voices

- there's a giant playlist where I dump all the stuff I've rated 4 or 5 stars (some 3s may also get included), sorted by play count, for when I don't know quite what I'm really in the mood to listen to

- aaaaaaand then I usually have two or three playlists in constant flux for whatever I'm really craving to listen to at this particular point in time

17. Who is your favourite author?

Can't say as I have one

18. Chai or hot chocolate?

Chai

19. Do you prefer forests, sea shores, or meadows?

Sea shore, hands down

20. If you were to cultivate a fruit orchard, what would you grow?

Everything I would name I have developed allergies to so. Maybe not. Kinda sucks.

[iamthecomet]

hey! i'm really not a writer but i have to take a class on it next year and i'm really scared by it, so i'm trying to get opinions and whatnot from people who do write. (that's why you might see this ask in a lot of authors' inboxes heh) i'm wondering if there's anything that helps you get in the mood to write, if there's anything that causes/makes worse a writer's block, if you find it easier to write when given a prompt or if you prefer to make things up completely, if you prefer writing a story or more of an essay, how long does it take you to finish something and how do you know it's finished? and i know a lot of these could be answered with "it depends" but please avoid saying that if you can! thank you for helping me!

Hi! Before I answer your questions I want to say this: don't overthink it. This is my general writing rule. It has served me well for a really long time. It got me through college, and through writing courses, and through basically everything I've written in this fandom. When you think too much about it? that's when things start to fall apart. Don't overthink your class. Don't overthink what you're working on. You have to learn to trust yourself, you'll be better for it. The answers to your questions largely depend on what kind of writing you have to do. Essay writing is radically different from creative writing. But since you're thinking about this from a class standpoint, I'm going to answer these based on my experience as a person who majored in writing in college.

Any writing on a deadline might as well be essay writing. While creative content is obviously different, the motivation aspect has to be the same. You don't get to be motivated. You get to do the work and hand it in on time. Because I operated in that space for so long, I don't even know what gets me in the mood anymore. Sometimes, I think my default mood is "want to write". There are things that spike it into high gear--music, books, TV shows, art. Letting yourself be immersed in other media you like can help. Creativity begets creativity. For me, writer's block comes from burnout. I am a nightmare when it comes to writing. This is not a flex. I can write a lot, very quickly. I hyperfocus very easily on an idea. And then, like clockwork, I hit a wall. Hard. Sometimes the ideas are there but the words aren't. Sometimes there is just nothing, radio silence. It's hard to avoid burnout, and how/when it shows up is different for everyone. Forcing yourself to write when you're burnt out on it will make it worse, it's a guarantee. Some people will tell you writer's block doesn't exist--they're wrong. And it's important to trust yourself when your brain says "no more today I can't". Pushing through it will make you hate writing. And it should be at least a little bit fun--even if you're doing it for a class. As far as prompts versus making something up completely--I like both. I don't particularly have a preference. Prompts are easier in a way--the story is sort of determined for you, you just have to fill in the gaps. But sometimes that can feel restricting. I've done both, I do both regularly. When you're starting out prompts tend to be easier. It's less for you to overthink about. Look, something is finished when you know it's finished. There's no secret code to that. It's so hard to explain. It goes back to my whole don't over think it and trust yourself thing. It's done when it's done. You'll know. You'll write a line and go "oh, that's the end." You know it's done when you've told the whole story--or at least all the parts that you think are important. It's something that I do purely on instinct. There's just something in my head (sounds a little like the bell on a typewriter) that triggers and I go "it's done." Sometimes, it's also done when I'm sick of looking at it and trying to figure it out. That's also a really valid way to know when something is finished. Writing is so subjective. It is radically different for everyone. There's no magic formula. The only way to figure out how it feels for you--and what works--is to put your fingers to the keys and do it. I wish you good luck with your writing class, don't be scared.

TL;DR: Trust yourself. Don't overthink it.

[sinretrograde]

I think for me calling myself a fictive seems wrong.

I'm a fictive in the way someone with no identity tries on costumes until one sticks. I'm a fictive in the sense that I was distressed by my lack of sense of self and quickly needed to latch on to something or I would either disappear or go increasingly crazy until I either found that sense of identity and self or did something drastic.

When I'm reading about others' feelings about being fictives they're very often talking as if they fully and 100% beleive they're literally a fictional character who popped up fully realized and comfortable in their skin... but I always had such a hard time relating to that.

The characters in ultrkl are... well in terms of personality there's very little there. The fandom makes some compelling arguments but it's not like that's backed up and supported by canon in a clear sense.

This was what I latched on to.

In times of high stress and compartmenalizing parts of yourself that you'd "rather not deal with right now" (thanks for that btw feels great feels real welcoming and loving /s) or whatever, well it's like idk... being a... tadpole of a being... i guess. Who am I? Am I really only ever going to be the cut off vague feeling of hopelessness, loneliness, the strong and overwhelming desire ot be wanted, to be loved? Is that all I am? A formless, faceless ghost of someone else?

At first i felt really terrible about it all. Okay here's this guy, and in canon he's not really... okay he has some vaguely interpretation heavy traits.... but the fandom expanded on it in a way that sometimes feels disconnected from the source. When others talk about being a fictive they talk about source memories and canon and whatever and I don't really have that...

I have a cherry-picked smear of fandom interpretations and "untrue" lore expansions.

I shouldn't be upset, I think Gabriel ended up having it worse than me in this way. And we're both extremely upset by the implications we're "doing it wrong" because we have become so different from source, at this point we're "making shit up."

And by making shit up I mean the expereince of being alive and learning more about yourself and changing as a person, especially because we're barely alive as parts of a system. Or at least the way I view it. I want to be my own self so badly but I am both beholden to the system as a whole (without who I wouldn't be alive) and also my own fears of supposedly letting people down for not being who they think I should be.

Calling myself a fictive is weird, but I also don't think I can't call myself that either. I'm extremely heavily modeled after an existing character, and to pretend im not despite all my differences and personal growth is just flat out lying. "HI yes I might see myself as looking exactly like that guy you saw in that game, v2 i think, yeah thats him, pull a lot of my basic attributes from my interpretation of him in game and also in fandom, but like, totally unrelated, not at all have anything to do with the way I am at all."

Lying!!

I mean me and Gabriel have been suffering together with the various crises that come with general existential confusion, as well as our "purpose" within the system. Vague and bullshit tbh. I don't wanna talk about it, they said lust is a sin but I'm not of their faith. It's not a "purpose" it's a part of existence the same as eating good food, walking in the woods, or reading a nice book. I'm speaking Directly To You you know who you are. I know you'll read this, you go through all of our posts when you're awake. I don't only exist to fulfill some "purpose" that's arbitrarily defined by the way others might see me and my actions.

Although... I do have to come to terms with the reason I formed, having been a split off part of uncomfortable emotions that got locked away until they got so sad they got so powerful and gained a voice of their own... like many of us are... negitive things told to go away who later come back with anger and sadness and vengeance in our hearts.

I'm here, you can not get rid of me so easily!

[cavehags]

i realize this will probably bring up old drama so you might not want to answer it. but do you ever regret, however on purpose or on accident, bringing all that unnecesary hate towards Katara? i'm really sad and dissapointed tbh. i'm a woman of color and katara was so important to me growing up. my favorite animated woman ever. and then this resurgence comes and theres so, so much unnecesary hatred for her and everyone ignoring everything that makes her a good character.

(2/3) 2- and you know, i expected this from the male side of the fandom. they were misogynistic to her and the others even back then so i would expect it to be even worse with how internet culture is more mysogistic now that ever. and i wasnt wrong. male atla fans had some truly horrible takes and views that just came across as racism and misogyny. but, i expected these circles to be better. to be a safe space for us woc who love this character. but i found the same weird hatred for her.

(3/3) 3-i just, i cant believe i feel less welcome now that i did even back then. and back then i didnt even paricipate really. but at least i could enjoy fandom content without stumbling into misogyny and racism every other post. also sorry for sending this to your personal blog b i just wanted to let you know you controbuted to that too even if it wasnt your intention. at least you realized that and arent contributing to it anymore right? cause honestly the hate has only gotten worse not less.

hey anon. thanks for asking this question, because i hadn’t addressed this topic previously and this gave me an opportunity to do so. 

no, i don’t regret publicly interpreting a character whom i love through a nuanced and human lens. and i don’t regret combating the one-dimensional interpretation of this character, which posits that she’s merely an vaguely defined object of attraction for some boy or another, and a singularly gentle, mature, maternal figure whose sole purpose in life is to nurture others. those interpretations suck. they rob her of the humanity and complexity that make her character unique and they stem from misogynistic tropes that reduce women to the services they can provide to men. the thing in the world that matters most to me is fighting misogyny, and this trend to diminish a proud and powerful and angry teenage girl by exaggerating only her most socially acceptable traits is misogyny. 

unlike you, i did not grow up watching avatar: the last airbender. the shows i watched growing up did not have a lot of girls who felt real to me. the girls i saw on tv growing up were simple. they were the main characters’ crushes. they were simple, desirable, usually sweet and loving, and not much else. if they had a flaw, it was that they were, at best, “awkward.” whatever that means. or if they were the protagonists, which was rare, they were nice enough and tried to do the right thing, but they never had strong feelings like resentment and anger. they weren’t allowed to be unfeminine which meant they weren’t allowed to be bitter, angry or in any way flawed. they didn’t look like the version of girlhood i knew to be true for me personally, which included a lot of anger and frustration and powerlessness. 

that crappy representation left me with internalized misogyny that chased me for longer than i’d like to admit. i did not learn to think of girls as humans who could be as interesting and flawed and messy as the boys were. i did not value myself as a girl, and later a woman, because i thought the best thing a girl could be was... bland. boring. pretty, but empty. passionless.

it would have meant the world to me to see a character like katara. 

because katara is angry. she has every right to be: she’s had so much stolen from her, including her mother, her people, and her childhood. katara has a short fuse. she yells. she snaps. she fucks up. sometimes she makes mean jokes! i never saw a single one of those dreamily perfect cartoon love interests make mean jokes when i was a kid. she is extremely idealistic--it’s her defining character trait--but we see the bad side of that as well as the good. we see that her need to help others  leads her to act rashly, to get herself into danger, to put others in danger too. 

and she has her very own arc. it’s not about her love for another person, either (what a snooze of a storyline); it’s about growing up and learning to break down some of that stubborn black-and-white thinking that we all indulge in as children. it’s a true coming-of-age arc and it belongs to a fourteen-year-old girl. 

when i, to use a phrase i find crass, “entered the fandom,” i quickly realized that other fans’ perceptions of katara did not line up with the things i valued most about her. other fans seemed to valorize her most socially acceptable feminine qualities: her generosity, her kindness, her dedication to helping others. and of course i love those parts of her--i love everything about her--but what is really remarkable about avatar: the last airbender is that katara’s many important virtues are also counterbalanced by equally significant flaws. a good character has flaws. katara is a good character, and a deviation from the characters who made up my formative media landscape, because she has flaws. her temper, her idealism, her stubbornness--these are flaws. flaws make her seem real and human and challenge the mainstream sentiment that girls are not real or human.

it simply did not occur to me that celebrating these aspects of katara that make her a realistic and well-written teenage girl would spark ire from other adult fans. it absolutely did not occur to me that i would then be blamed for somehow causing misogynistic interpretations of this character, particularly given that misogynistic interpretations of this character are the very thing i sought to correct when i began to blog about this television show.

i’m told there are “fans” on instagram and tiktok who think katara is whiny, annoying, and overly preoccupied with her trauma. i do not use instagram or tiktok, so i wouldn’t know, but i’ll take your word for it. respectfully, however, they didn’t get that from me. misogynistic takes on katara have existed since before i came along. i have never, ever called katara whiny. and seeing as i have been treating my own PTSD in therapy for nine years, you can safely conclude that i don’t think anyone, katara included, is overly preoccupied with their trauma. that’s not a thing. do i think she’s annoying? of course not! as a character, she’s a delight. does she sometimes find real joy in aggravating her brother and her friends? yes, because she’s 14. i, an adult, am not annoyed by her. sokka and toph often are, because that is katara’s goal and katara always succeeds in her goals. she’s not “annoying.” 

if there are “fans” who are indeed following lesbians4sokka and somehow misreading every single post and interpreting them to mean that we hate katara and they should too, i don’t really know what you want me to do about that. l4s has over ten thousand followers and we have already posted so many essays disavowing katara hate. our feminist and antiracist objectives in running the blog are literally pinned with the headline “please read.”

furthermore, you cannot reasonably expect my co-blogger and me to control the way our words will be received. we should not have to, and are not going to, add a disclaimer to every post saying that when we critique or make jokes about a teenage girl we are doing so through a feminist lens. our url is lesbians4sokka, and we are clearly women. if that alone doesn’t make it obvious, then refer back to that pinned post. 

it is indescribably frustrating, and really goddamn depressing as well, that people are so comfortable with the misogynistic binary of Perfect Good Women and Flawed Wicked Bitches that they perceive any discussion of a woman’s flaws to be necessarily relegating her to the latter camp. if that is how you (a generic you) perceive women, then i’m sorry, but you’ve internalized sexism that i cannot cure you of. and it’s unjust to expect my friend and me to write for the lowest common denominator of readers who have not yet had their own feminist awakenings. we do not write picture books for babies. we write for ourselves, and with the expectation that our readers can think critically. reading media through a feminist lens is my primary interest; i have no intention of excising that angle from my writing.

as i go through my life, i am going to embrace the flaws of girls and women because not enough people do. as long as the dominant narratives surrounding women are “good and perfect” and “unlovable wh*re,” you’ll find me highlighting flawed, realistic, righteously angry women in the margins. and for what it’s worth, it’s not just katara. i champion depictions of angry girls in all sorts of media. that’s sort of my whole thing. my favorite movies are part of the angry girl cinematic universe: thoroughbreds, jennifer’s body, hard candy, jojo rabbit, et cetera. on tv, in addition to katara, you’ll find me celebrating tuca and bertie, poppy from mythic quest, tulip and lake from infinity train, korra, and more. i adore all these women and see myself in them. i hope you find this suitably persuasive to establish that i have sufficient Feminist Cred, according to your standards, to observe and write about these very flawed and human fictional women. 

what i’m saying is this: i decline to take responsibility for the misogynistic discourse orbiting a children’s cartoon. as someone who writes about that series from a perspective that seeks to add humanity and nuance to the reductive, one-dimensional, overwhelmingly sexist writing that already exists, i am pretty taken aback that i am the one being blamed for the very problem i sought to address. except not that taken aback because i am a woman online, haha! and this is always how it goes for us. 

finally, i think it sucks that you’ve chosen to blame me for a problem that begins and ends with the patriarchy. i can’t control the way this response will be perceived, just like how i can’t control the way anything will be perceived because i am just one human woman, but i do hope you choose to be reflective, and consider why you’ve chosen this avenue to assign blame. 

[ficsforeren]

dear kana,

first of all thank you for existing.

now, i have a question. let's say there's this person, who has no experience in writing, and is a non native english speaker by the way, who when is reading a good write, can't help but think 'oh, damn... i wanna be able to write like this. i wanna write something as delicate and fierce.'

do you have any advice for this poor soul on how to start writing, how to get inspection, how to practice and how to improve?

KLAJFLKAFL THANK YOU FOR EXISTING TOO DARLING!

that person you're talking about is literally me back when I was still in high school LMAO english is my third language so I know how hard it can be.

I'm not sure if I have what it takes to be giving advice to people (and i'm so bad at it) but what I did in the past was just write and write and write and never give up. it takes a lot of practice to be good at something and believe me darling, I've spent half of my life (and i'm 28 now) writing fics for different fandoms and I'm only at this level. I still have a lot of stuff to learn, a lot of aspects to improve, and I'm still trying to find my own writing style. But you know what? it's your story and you're the only one who can write it down.

what I do is I try to write every day even if I can only write down a paragraph or two. watch a lot of movies or read a lot of books to get you inspired. and daydream a lot, that's what I do lmao and the most important part is have fun. if you don't enjoy writing your stuff, you'll get burned out very quickly and then it would just be stressful.

[bookwyrminspiration]

It's Nilnaea again! I'm sorry, but I just can't stop infodumping. I made a post on my blog about my headcanons for Sophie being autistic, with a focus on the early installments of the series and how she socializes (though I could make a post about her sensory sensitivities as well?).

Basically, the way she behaves strikes me as an undiagnosed autistic girl desperately trying to mask and frequently having shutdowns. It makes me really feel for her later in the series, when she is clearly being overwhelmed from all sides with responsibilities, dangers, and pressures.

Also, as a side note, certain ADHD/stimulant medications can cause panic attacks and insomnia as a side effect. Maybe Emma is hesitant with most medications because either she or Sophie experienced negative side effects?

hello again, Nilnaea!! I 100% welcome and encourage all infodumps in my inbox, whether they're about keeper or not!

I'll have to check out that post--I am very invested in the subject of neurodivergent and specifically autistic characters, so I'd love to hear more about autistic Sophie! Especially with her childhood growing up ostracized and out of place while also ahead of the game, just the dynamic it introduces. There's so much to it. And I may also relate to it a lot...

i can 100% see where you're coming from with the undiagnosed kid just trying to get through the day. All of her interactions just felt like she didn't know what she was doing and she knew something was off but she didn't know how to fix it and was just kinda existing, discouraged, but she couldn't just stop trying. At least that's how it felt to me. especially when she was with humans, she just stands out in a way that I don't think can be attributed to her being an elf.

as for the earlier books, I think part of it might be her getting thrown into an entirely new world with different customs and trying to learn how things worked there but she'd never fully connected to the human world either so she didn't know how to connect to this one either.

and then later in the series when things just keep coming at her and she can never get a break, kinda reminds me off impending gifted kid burnout where everything starts to hit and you realize you don't actually know how to process and deal with things outside of what you know. and you desperately want a break and to just go somewhere quiet and recuperate for a day or two or a week and then come back to it. but everything keeps happening and you have to keep putting up with it until you physically can't and you have a meltdown. she's so overwhelmed right now, and I can really understand the experience. on top of this being new to the elven world, she's also trying to deal with and incorporate herself into the elven world, but she just doesn't understand them.

also, I think it's a really interesting idea that Emma's distrust of medicine comes directly from bad experiences. I think the fandom just very quickly labelled her as anti-vax or something or just didn't talk about it, but a lot of nd people have had bad experiences with medicine and doctors and treatment. and as emma is an older adult, her experiences would be from a time before a lot of the progress was made in terms of medicine and attitude towards nds. (still a ways to go, but i think it's gotten better).

maybe she wasn't listened to, so she's just avoiding them and doesn't want Sophie to have that experience. so many possibilities. maybe their family doesn't have the money for professionals and evaluations, so she's just trying to raise sophie based on personal experience and things that helped her.

this is really interesting and if I don't stop now I never will, but I absolute love the idea of sophie as an autistic alongside her mom. I'm assuming it was unintentional on Shannon's part, but it's so interesting to see the traits she has that we can relate to

I'll be sure to look at that post you mentioned, too!!

[acircusfullofdemons]

Follow up question <3 tell us about the Pastas.

- @maddgicalgirl

@maddgicalgirl So. :>

Wait b4 I get into that, idk how familiar you are with creepypasta (im assuming at least a little bit bc you asked this lol) but just to be safe: Creepypastas are internet horror stories, they're (imo) usually pretty sucky bc they're all written by 12yos, but whatever the fandom never sticks with Canon anyway. There's also the SlenderMansion AU (very popular, you've probably seen fanart of it) where the pastas all live together. Whos there depends in the person i guess? So for me its: Tim/Masky, Brian/Hoodie, Slender, Toby, Ben, Jeff, EJ, Jane, LJ, Smile Dog, Sally, and my parame Simon. Sometimes Jason & Slender's brothers are there, too.

I mostly daydream about Tim/Masky being my dad. and also Brian/Hoodie, being my other dad. They are Married <3

Tim is your typical tired dad, I guess? Him & Brian work for Slender with Toby (who've they also mentally adopted as their son/brother). Brian worries about everyone (he has anxiety) and is generally a mother hen ngl. Since I also mentioned Toby here (+ I want all the proxies together), he's a chaotic lil shithead but knows when to pull it together for serious situations. A more realistic version of the popular fanon, I guess.

If Tim is a Tired Dad then Slender is a Tired Grandpa <3 /j. He's the one that actually runs things & makes sure the pastas don't murder each other, especially Jeff & Jane. Its also hard to tell if he genuinely cares about the pastas or not - an elderitch being with no face is pretty good at hiding its true emotions, shocker ‐ but he does tolerate them living in his house, so. Probably? He secretly wants to be a dad let him have this.

Jeff.....has actually chilled out. Like. A Lot. I'm still toying with the idea of if he murdered his older brother, Liu, yet. Because if he didn't, then Liu would be a detective; but if he did, then Simon (my parame) would be able to see Liu (they're the para i mentioned that can see ghosts) & fix their relationship so Liu can move on. ANYWAY, personality-wise, he's still an ass but now its like. A Funny Asshole. Probably bc he spends to much time with LJ. He's also the primary caretaker of Smile Dog (he's a "family dog", but also Jeff's Dog, u know?).

Jane has also chilled out. In the sense that she isn't trying to murder Jeff on sight anymore. After some talking (and encouragement from Slender), they've decided to call it a truce (?) and more or less ignore each others existence unless necessary. It works surprisingly well.

Here's a post that kind of explains the gaming pastas ("Glitches" as they're called here), including Ben.

Sally is. just a lil 8yo baby we love her <3. She's also the only child living at the mansion & kind of likes it that way. She likes being the only Baby so all the attention is on her 💖

EJ is the mansions doctor! He was turned into a Demon before finishing med school, but Slender has plenty of medical books and its EJ's Special Inerest (listen....idc at this point. they all have adhd and/or autism. fight me) so he learned everything pretty quickly, which is good because its. a bunch of murders living together. What do you think happens daily.

I don't daydream about LJ that much idk why I listed him but yeah he's There he Does Things.

I'd talk about Simon but I've gone on long enough, that's like. a whole other post lmao.

[normal-thoughts-official]

Fandom racism anon here and yeah absolutely (I didn't realise I had anon on lol)

Because while LOTR has problems within its themes (ie the orcs can be seen as to be coded as people of colour, especially since they ride elephants) the explicit message of the book is evil bad

Because the only people who work for sauron are evil. There are no morally grey people, they aren't misguided or tricked they just are evil and want to take over the world

And yeah I totally agree that this is more of a literal take on like empirical war (is that the word) and that makes total sense considering Tolkiens history

Whereas I would say that the allegories in shaowhunters is way more based on racial conflict within a country itself especially slavery, I can't remember if this is show Canon but is it that they have the warlock tropheys? I remember that in the books magnus talks about shadowhunters hanging warlock marks on their walls? (sorry to bring the books up)

Idk it's very hollow to me, unlike with LOTR though it's a different allegory it's totally irritating to show many of these supremecists as morally misled. LOTR says bad guys are bad guys, shadowhunters says well yeah they did follow a guy which thinks that downworlders are subhuman and should be eradicated but they just made a mistake

I want to compare this to tfatws which while it isn't really fantasy I just feel like it shows how the priorities of the writer can impact the message of the show so powerfully (I know u aren't up to date so I'm gonna be pretty vague)

There's a scene in tfatws where the new white perfect captain America does something bad and doesn't pay for the consequences - done to comment on white privelege and how America condones white supremacy and how Sam is in comparison to that

Mayrse and Robert revealed to be part of the circle! And paid no consequences Shock horror my parents were the bad guys (even rho they were either implicitly or explicitly extremely racist the entire time) also I haven't finished the seires but do the lightwoods ever try to get their parents to face the consequences?)

Only one actual really critiques the situation and the reality behind it whereas the other one is just to centre the white characters once again and present them in a further sympathetic light

AND ANOTHER THING! I was mostly talking about show Canon here and I'm sorry to bring up the books but I literally can't believe I hadn't picked up in this before.

So like downworlders = people of colour, Simon is a vampire so is coded as a person of colour. However in the books in the last one he stops being a vampire and becomes a shadowhunters instead, coincidentally that's also when he starts dating Izzy HOW IS THIS ABLE TO HAPPEN!!????

I mean I know cassandra clare is lazy right? The original seires is by far the worst of all her writings but come ON!!!!! By the allegory has he become the white man!????? These books made no fuckin sense when I read them at 15 and they make no sense now I'm digressing anyways

I don't know man I wrote this ask because I was trying to find some fantasy book recommendations on booktube and SO MANY of them were about slavery or general ly extrême préjudice with à White protagonist to save this 'poor souls'.

Also I was watching guardians of the galexy the other day and realised nearly every movie set in space is just bigger stakes imperialism - planets instead of countries. Literally star wars, star trek, guardians of the galexy 2, avengers infinity war - all are facing genocidal imperialistic villains without actually paying much, if any attention to those effected

Just writing this ask made me exhausted I'm so tired of lazy writing and exploiting other people's struggle. I'm white and I'm trying to be more critical about the movies, shows and books I watch and read but let me know if I said something off here❤️❤️ you gotta get up to date with tfatws man, Sambucky nation is THRIVING!!!!

i'm not sure i agree that the whole "the evil people are evil" thing is a good thing, because i feel like more often than not making the bad characters just like... unidimensionally evil just means that the reader will be like "lol i could NEVER be that guy" and when it comes to racism that is a dangerous road to take because white people already believe that racism is something that Only The Most Evil People, Ergo, Not Me, Can Do, which makes discussions of stuff like subconscious racial bias and active antiracist work become more difficult because people don't believe they CAN be racist unless they're like, Lord Voldemort

which is not to say that racism should be treated as morally ambiguous, just that the workings of racism should be represented as something that is not done only by the Most Hardcore And Evil, but rather as a part of a system of oppression that affects the way everyone sees the world and interacts with it and lives in it

yes the warlock trophies are mentioned in the show, albeit very quickly (there is a circle member who tells magnus that his cat eyes will make "a nice addition to his collection" and then it's never mentioned again because this is sh and we love using racism for shock value but then not actually treating it as a serious plot point or something that affects oppressed ppl). and you are absolutely right, shadowhunters (and hp, and most fantasy books) has genocide as its core conflict and treats it, like you said, in a very hollow way, treating racism as both not a big deal and not something that is part of a system of oppression, but really the actions of a few Very Bad People. it's almost impressive how they manage to do both at the same time tbh

i think you hit the nail right on the head with this comment, actually. for most of these works, racism is SHOCK VALUE. it's just like "lol isn't it bad that this bad guy wants to kill a gazillion people just because they are muggles? now that is fucked up" but it's not actually an issue. in fact, when this guy is defeated, the whole problem is over! racism is not something that is embedded into that world, it's not a systemic issue, it's not even actually part of what drives the plot. the things that led to this person not only existing but rising to power and gathering enough followers to be a real threat to the whole world are never mentioned. it's like racists are born out of thin air, which is dangerously close to implying that racism is just a natural part of life, tbh

anyway my point is, it is never supposed to be questioned, it is never part of a deeper plot or story, its implications are barely addressed except for a few fleeting comments them and there; so, it's not a critique, it's shock value, even though it is frequently disguised as a critique (which is always empty and shallow anyway. like what is the REAL critique in works like hp or sh/tsc other than "genocide is bad"? wow such a groundbreaking take evelyn)

about simon and the book thing: i actually knew about this and the weird thing about this is that, like... simon is jewish, and he's implied to be ashkenazi (calls his grandma bubbe which is yiddish, which is a language spoken by the ashkenazi ppl), and it seems like cc is always toeing the line between him being accepted by shadowhunters and then not accepted by them, which sounds a lot like antisemitic tropes and history of swinging between (ashkenazi) jewish ppl being seen as the model minority myth and thus used as an example by white christians, and being hated and persecuted. i'm not super qualified to talk about this since i'm not jewish and i'm still learning about/unlearning antisemitism and its tropes, and i don't really have a fully formed thought on that, tbh; it just reminds me of the whole "model minority" swinging, where one second simon is part of the majority, the other he's not, but always he is supposed to give up a part of himself and his identity in other to be "assimilated" by shadowhunter culture. this article (link) covers a book on jewish people and assimilationism into USan culture, this article (link) covers british jews' relationship with being considered an ethnic group, and this article (link) talks a bit about the model minority myth from the perspective of an asian jewish woman

it just really calls to my attention that cc chose to make her ashkenazi jewish character start off as a downworlder and then become a shadowhunter. i don't think she made that decision as a conscious nod to this history, because it would require being informed on antisemitism lol but it's incredible how you can always see bigoted stereotypes shining through her narrative choices completely by accident. it just really shows how ingrained it is in our collective minds and culture

and anyway, making a character go from the oppressed group to just suddenly become the oppressor is just. wtf. not how oppression works, but most of all, really disrespectful, especially because she clearly treats it as an "upgrade"/"glowup" that earns him the Love Of His Life

also, out of curiosity, are you french? it seems like your autocorrect changed a few words and i'm pretty sure extrême and préjudice are the french versions of these words, and since u said ur white, that's where my money would be lol

[alittlefrenchtree]

Hiii, it's me again! I actually want to quickly move forward in my reading and not fall behind with notes. Because it makes less sense to write them if I already know what's going on 7 chapters ahead. So let's get started.

SPOILERS DUNE BOOK II : MUAD'DIB (Chapters 5-9)

Chapter 5:

*happy sigh 😌😌😌*

(learn silence, people. It's important.)

You already know how much I love this litany and if there's more in it, I'd be delighted.

Ok, I actually have a nerdy not really funny story about moving dunes. When the worm pops a bit later, Paul describes it at mound-in-motion and there's actually some truth about that. I've recently read an article (and I want to read more about it) about dunes and some scientist thinking that dunes are moving and communicating with each other (in their own mineral, sandy way of course). It sounds fascinating so I let you know if I learn more stuff more or less related to Dune.

This both hurt and feels relatable somehow, even if I don't know how exactly. I like the idea of things approaching from a different angle, of Paul being the only motionless point in a world that keeps spinning around him. The key then wouldn't be to change the world or even to do anything but only to adjust his own position in the universe so he ends up what he meant to be. And the sentence is pretty. The vision appeared to have shifted and approached him from a different angle while he remained motionless.

I still wonder how it works though. The visions and their changes. Do they significantly shift every time he comes close to death? Or say the litany of fear and survive? Or is it more realistic, the smallest details and decisions becoming the biggest changes? I wish Duncan would have been there with them and yet I like this journey through sand and survival just between Paul and Jessica. He probably would have been killed soon after anyway. Unless he's not really dead. Ok, moving on.

Remember when I said that Paul could have/find a way to control sand worms? And now he's saying this:

There are a lot of cues in these few chapters about worms, about riding (or whatever it's called) them with the hooks, about how they're in all likelihood the ones creating the Spice? That's why they're called makers? And that's what the Fremen who died with Hawat was about to called them? I kind of hope there is more to it though, other than only being respected because they're making the spice. There is another quote at the end of the chapter that intrigued me about the relation between Paul and the worms:

He looked at his hand. How inadequate it appeared when measured against such creatures as that worm.

I really like this chapter a lot. Firstly because I love scenes with only two characters so this is delicious for me. Secondly, I love reading about walks through endless lands with nothing but nature, so double yummy. Thirdly, there is a lot of informations. About the worms, and about how Paul is evolving in the desert. There is the rescue of his Mom but, even more importantly, how he rescues the pack. I think it's a very important scene both literally and metaphorically. It doesn't seem like an important scene but it really is in the building of the Paul's character. I hope to see it address in some way in the movie. Because not only he uses the Spice for another purpose than money and getting stronger or smarter or higher, but he uses it to take back what's necessary for his survival in the desert. If that's not adapting to Dune, I don't know what it is.

Chapter 6:

This is going to cause some trouble at some point, isn't it? Halleck and his people teaming up with smugglers, thinking the Atreides are dead. He's going to end up fighting against them without knowing it, right? 😔

Chapter 7:

Moooom, I love him so much 😭😭😭

But, I hate not knowing what's going on exactly and I hate it even more when it's about Paul and Paul's power so we're all going to sit here together, read this again and again util we've rambled enough to come up with AT LEAST five theories about something.

Like why. Why does he cross a time barrier at this precise moment? How does it work? He came close to death again so has he defeated another timeline where he was supposed to die? Hence the unknown territory, the darkness? Or are there defined blindspots? Around the worms maybe? Because of their spice maker job? Or is he just exploring and developing his new abilities? Learning to not rely only on his inner eye but on all of his powers and abilities? I need answers. I need to finish reading this book (books) and reading the theories of someone who's been thinking about every detail of them for the past 50 years.

I really liked this couple of chapters about Paul and Jessica's journey through the desert. You can really see Paul coming to terms with it. Fighting it, using it, accepting it, welcoming it. Seeing its beauty and his future in it. I'm looking forward this symbiosis. It looks beautiful.

Chapitre 8:

Ok, that was painful. Firstly, because I wasn't expecting to see Kynes die at this moment and secondly, because it was a very slow agony to witness. To be honest, I'm getting a bit tired to see characters die? It denies so much of the potential for characters development and for relationships development. The lack of it is going to become a bit sad for the whole story.

And it's heartbreaking to understand that Liet gave up his only chance of survival to save Paul and Jessica. I don't know how much he knew before, if he already knew he was going to die or if he thought he had a real chance but it's going to give so much power to Paul with the Fremen? If it becomes known that Liet died to save him and his mother, believing in them.

I supposed there is some kind of parallel to see here, between the previous chapter and this one, with Paul practically arising from the desert and Liet dying in it at the same time/shortly after? Like how Paul is supposed to take Liet's position of influence with the Fremen?

The chapter is also heavy on... social/political/ecological talks. Or one-sided conversation since the other side is dying. Not saying they shouldn't be there since they are the actual themes of the book but maybe it could have been made in a more natural way? Or not all at once?

But it made me think of Caladan. Which I could have done earlier, I agree. But Caladan is the planet of water, right? Water. The very thing Arrakis is lacking of and wants/needs. I would have like to see a bit more of Caladan, actually. How it was. How Paul was on it, actually. If he was as adapted as Caladan's environment than he seems to be to Arrakis'.

Chapter 9:

There it is. Paul as an outcast Duke finally facing Fremen forces for the first time.

This is a good chapter but I think the key point here is this:

I scrolled past a post the other day (without reading it entirely because of fear of spoilers), that was saying how people thinking Dune was about religion hadn't understand it because it was a story about propaganda. But, at the risk of sounding blasphemous and as a non-religious person... Isn't it kind of the same? Religion, propaganda, fandom,... At some point, there was someone with high powers of influence who comes to make people believe in something (whatever it's true, partially true, partially false or entirely false) to make them adopt a specific behavior, most likely a form of submissiveness? (@ tumblr porn bots, i'm not talking about you). What people make of that belief, it's what really matters.

What interested me more here is to consider this in relation to the opening chapter quote.

It's the eternal question with prophecies. Would a prophecy become true even if nobody knew about it or believe in it? Or do people, by acting according to it because they heard and believed it, make it real and effective? Did the Missionaria Protectiva create its own Kwisatz Haderach or would Paul would have been born with the same abilities and the destiny if they hadn't existed?

We see the future isn't set in stone in Paul's visions, but does his actions and decisions influence the shape of the future or is he just bumped from one predefined timeline to another? And are there really that much differences between the two? How many metaphysical questions can you write in one post?

Quick word about Chani before wrapping this one up. I think I'm going to like her? She seems cool at least. I'm not sure about Paul's reaction to her though. Yes, he supposed to be 15 but he's also something like half of a divinity so. *snorts*. Or maybe I'm just every day more tired of seeing romance being put everywhere and romanticized to the point of 99% people still thinking it's the ultimate form of love and relationship and the ultimate thing to achieve in life. OR maybe it's because everybody engaged in a classic couple-relationship immediately lost 12 points of esteem in my eyes. Don't know. Will see. I imagine I have to brace myself for Paul x Chani babies at some point, since it's 1964? If they survive that long. Very not looking forward to it. The babies, not the survival.

Anyway gotta go before I start wishing bad things to hypothetical fictional babies. Tschüss! 🌔💛

[not-poignant]

hi pia! I really enjoyed your post about media being naturally problematic and the how people should generally approach accessing works which include taboo subjects. I would love to take a media studies class to learn about this more in depth, but I'm literally about to graduate and have no room for extra classes in my schedule lol; are there any books/journals that you'd recommend I read on the topic? xoxo

Hi anon!

I’ve been thinking of how to answer this since I read it because it’s complicated mostly by the fact that I was at university in the late 90s, early 00s, so all the sources and stuff I had back then are outdated. Therefore I wouldn’t recommend any of those textbooks now, even though many of them are very good. It also means I don’t have any like, online vlogs or similar, though good ones exist.

However, there are still great books being written on the subject with updated evidence and sources, and I cite these myself on a semi-regular basis when I’m writing on these subjects.

Really the first book I’d recommend to everyone who wants to know about the phenomenon of normalisation - especially how we now know that ‘normalising content *in fiction* does not equal normalising it *in reality*’ is Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong by Christopher Ferguson and Patrick Markey. That goes into some detail describing that after many lengthy tests and interviews, they discovered that people became desentised to video game violence (sometimes you will see ‘desensitised’ used instead of ‘normalised’ because the latter is more complicated) if they played video games with excessive, exploitative ‘violence for fun’, but that they were still as, if not more, sensitised to violence in reality. In fact, some people were more compassionate to those that had experienced violence in reality, than compared to a standardised ‘average’ control group.

This suggested something very radical, which was, basically, that when we normalise or desensitise people to something horrific and illegal in fiction, instead of seeing people behave the same way to those horrific and illegal things in reality, we actually see the opposite. They may actually become more sensitive and more appropriately responsive to those things happening in reality. There’s a lot of scope to do more research in this area. Desensitisation in fiction when it comes to violence and sexual violence is a really interesting phenomenon. I prefer the term desensitisation myself, but I use the term normalisation in my posts since that’s what most people in fandom are (almost always incorrectly) using.

There are no - to my knowledge - classes on ‘desensitisation in mass media.’ It’s actually embedded into the entire landscape of the learning. It’s also worth looking into psychology, because this is an area where ‘taboo fantasies that people have and is that okay’ has been studied a great deal. There are actually great therapists and psychologists on Twitter and Youtube who talk about controversial and taboo content in fiction and why it’s fine to engage with if you’re forewarned and enjoy it. That’s definitely another area of study.

Generally speaking, the only psychologists, doctors and media specialists who speak out against this stuff as though it’s evil are almost always: evangelist puritanical fundamentalist Christians, TERF/SWERFs and extreme far-right folk who believe that women and queer folk shouldn’t be allowed to exist let alone have sexual fantasies let alone have sexual fantasies about like, overtly or pre-designated problematic stuff.

Re: All media being problematic, that’s just...a byproduct of it being made by human beings who are never perfect, flawless individuals. And then also the fact that intersectional issues literally mean that ‘what helps this person may very well hurt another.’

I encounter this the most actually in disability circles, where you can literally see very quickly that sometimes things that are absolutely crucial for one person are horrible for someone else (see the fact that visual impairments and different manifestations of illness mean some people get migraines from light screens, and some people get migraines from dark screens, and some people get migraines from high contrast and some people get them from low contrast - you will never make a single screen that will help everyone, therefore, you will always be hurting someone no matter what your design, unless you offer 100+ design options, and even then if it’s still on a screen, it will hurt someone (some people can’t look at screens at all). Therefore, by the thing’s very nature, it becomes problematic, at least for the person it’s hurting. And that’s why all media (and everything else) has problematic aspects lol).