#badassery is on the way

[aspiringnexu]

Bungo Baggins 🤝 Celeborn 🤝 Faramir

Highly educated malewives who very much aren’t fans of fighting.

Belladonna Took 🤝 Galadriel 🤝 Eowyn

Feral warrior women who are very much fans of fighting.

[dykeza]

Ichigo being a stay at home dad who works online is so in character for him actually…… he’s the type of dad to enforce 1 hour of no screen time outside playing in the yard and/or playground. He texts Orihime goofy pictures of Kazui jumping around in some water fixture in the local park and carries him home soaked to the bone and shivering with the biggest smile on his face and then they eat ice cream and wait for Orihime to get home so they can have family game night.

[warningsine]

I'm not a very nice lady.

[lyledebeast]

Roland Emmerich and Guillermo del Toro on Badassery

As I mentioned in my last meta, Colonel Tavington is less sadistic than Captain Vidal, but he is also responsible for more rebel and rebel sympathizer deaths. Part of the reason for this is that the South Carolina rebels simply will not stop trying him. They keep fucking around, and they keep finding out. In Pan's Labyrinth, both Mercedes and Dr. Ferreiro try to keep a low profile as agents of the rebellion in a fascist space, but when their backs are against the wall, they access levels of badassery beyond the South Carolina militiamen's wildest dreams.

To begin, let's talk about torture. One of the overlooked problematic aspects of The Patriot is its representation of torture as an effective military tactic. The French and Cherokees die torturous deaths at Fort Wilderness, and the Cherokees break their treaty, contributing to an eventual British colonial victory. Tavington tortures Rollins, a militia deserter, and gets a list of militamen's addresses. What is odd about this scene is that it is presented onscreen as a rebel triumph. Tavington tries to bribe Rollins with valuables, but Rollins spits in his face and tells him to "do [his] worst." Emmerich does not show any actual torture in this scene; we hear the man tortured before Rollins screaming in the distance, and then see blood dripping down his hand from an unseen wound. We only find out later that not only did Rollins give Tavington information, but the information was accurate enough for Tavington to have burned seven Patriot homes before Benjamin Martin even learns about it. It would ultimately have been better for the militia if Rollins had been a "coward," taken Tavington's offer, lied to him, and faced a much quicker death.

It's also possible that showing Rollins breaking under torture would have made him more sympathetic and Tavington more despicable. Instead, he seems foolishly overconfident. The last time we saw Rollins before this, he was saying "I'm out" after a single militia defeat from which he emerged unharmed, but now he thinks he'll be able to hold up under torture by the same man who orchestrated that defeat. Yeah, I don't think so, Rollins.

While we do not see Vidal torture the man with the stutter, we do see the bloody aftermath and we see Vidal washing blood off his hands in the rain. One of these directors knows what visual storytelling is. Vidal brings in Dr. Ferreiro to treat the man, and Ferreiro appears to conclude that this is how he goes out. When Vidal steps outside the room, the man confesses that he "talked a little. Not much." Ferreiro comforts him, then administers a lethal dose of morphine. When Vidal discovers what the doctor has done, because not even he can be that thick, he asks him why he disobeyed. Ferreiro replies, "To obey without thinking, that's something only people like you can do." He walks away, and Vidal shoots him the back, killing him.

There is obviously a lot to unpack here in comparison to The Patriot's torture scene. First, the focus here is on the evil of the torturer, not on how badass the victim is for being tortured. The victim has no say in the matter and doesn't pretend to. He also admits he talked and is nonetheless treated with compassion, which further highlights the differences between Vidal and Ferreiro. Ferreiro accomplishes two things here: ending this man's suffering and stopping the flow of information about the rebels into Vidal's ears. He gives his life to do this; there is no way he kills the man Vidal told him to treat without Vidal responding as he does. Ferreiro's sacrifice is a considered act of courage, unlike he "sacrifices" of The Patriot, which happen not because these noncombatants choose to die for the cause but because their fathers and husbands did nothing to protect them. How were they to know the Green Dragoons would target families . . . again?

Badassery is never as satisfying on its own as when it is underscored by something else. In Ferreiro's case, it is selflessness and kindness. In Mercedes' case, it is caution and awareness of how others see her. When she is bound in Vidal's room as he prepares to torture her, she says that she was able to allude detection because she was a woman: "you never suspected me." Vidal agrees, acknowledging that she has discovered his weakness, pride, but that she has weaknesses, too, all while standing with his back to her while she frees herself with the knife she sewed into her apron for just such a circumstance. Vidal is underestimating her, even now; he never learns. The funniest thing about this scene is that the damage Mercedes inflicts with her knife should not be enough to stop him; it is simply too small to do much more than cause a lot of pain. Vidal is in so much shock that this woman has hurt him that Mercedes is able to walk out, right past Vidal's two goons--"Can you believe that? He let her go!"--and get well into the woods before the soldiers Vidal sends after her (on horseback!) catch up with her.

It has often been observed that there is s thin line between courage and stupidity, and I would argue that the good guys in The Patriot and Pan's Labyrinth are on opposite sides of that line. Tavington describes Thomas Martin as a "stupid boy," and he is not wrong. But Thomas has an excuse. As a fifteen-year old, his impulse control is at an all-time low, and his attempt at rescuing his brother from armed British guards is no stupider than things several grown-ass men do in this movie, including both his murderer and his father! The problem with The Patriot's characters' badassery is that not only does it often serve no purpose beyond itself, but it causes even greater harm. How many civilians die because Martin had to humiliate Cornwallis personally?

Martin ultimately triumphs in all his conflicts with British soldiers not because he outsmarts or outfights them but because they out-stupid him. He would not have survived the scene where he rescues Gabriel if these supposedly well-trained British regulars could aim at all. He would not have survived the prisoner exchange if Cornwallis had shown any skepticism of what this enemy officer was telling him. Tavington would have sliced his head right off had he not taken a ten minute breather to let Martin watch an American flag floating in the breeze and then gloated about his victory first. Meanwhile, Vidal is outfought, outmaneuvered, and outsmarted by the rebels because they care for each other and work together. They are better people. This is nowhere clearer than in the final scene when Vidal finds himself surrounded by the rebels and hands his infant son to Mercedes, knowing that the rebels will not hold him responsible for his father's crimes.

As a final note, "[Your son] won't even know your name" is an objectively more badass line than "My sons were better men." The main force driving Vidal throughout the movie is bringing up his son to be a good fascist, and now that son is going to be brought up by the very people he sought to exterminate. Martin is trying to absolve himself through vengeance, but the absolution is meaningless because he has not changed. Like Vidal, he has learned nothing.

[sungracd]

adrian: *takes one look at arlecchino's heels* adrian: you're hired

[quotidian-oblivion]

I AM BACK AND I HAVE WOM OVER THE RACISM!!!!!

[leixinyus]

[rivianaaa]

MLBS5 SPOILERS!

Adrien and Kagami having the most badass lovers out of the fandom. The two of them are disney princess confirmed.

[flowercrowngods]

i am late, but i (nd the boys) still wanted to wish u a happy birthday!! 💜💜

hhhhh aaah!! 🥹🥺 kissing you and the boys on the forehead, thank you so much darling 🥰🤍

[fizzyjacuzzi]

yuh john wick's cinematography and action choreography are insane... the paris car scene and the longshot of the gunfight in the house...

[stormkobra-5]

Seeing old WWII warbirds fly overhead like ??????? The fuck??????? Cool but the fuck is happening?????

[quinnathy]

i love din djarin so much

[noahhawthorneauthor]

WIP: The Rebel Foxes Excerpt and Shifter Book Thoughts

“You guys are really like this, aren’t you?” Seth asks after a little while.

“What do you mean?” Hotaru snaps before I can say anything.

Seth lifts a shoulder, cheeks flushing behind his mask. “I dunno. I thought you were being jackasses for my benefit, but you two really just rib on each other because it’s what you do, isn’t it?”

I laugh harder than I have in a long time, startling Hotaru. I say, “Yes, Seth, it’s what we do.”

Hotaru scowls, slinging an arm around my shoulder. He commands Seth to take the lead, which the kid does after sputtering for a moment. We walk the rest of the way in comfortable silence, and I watch Seth take in the world that could be.

The life we could have, if we could hide from the Citadel forever.

🐾🔥📚

Thoughts

What I love about shifter books is the concept of pack, and given that I write found family, this book is the perfect storm. While there are romantic aspects, I really wanted to focus on the platonic relationships here as well.

There's mentors and apprentices, inventors and explosives experts, bakers and tattoo artists. Everyone has a place, and a role in the pack based on their strengths.

I especially love the banter between Rajni and her apprentice, Hotaru. Seth is new to the picture, having recently decided to accept both Hotaru and Rajni as his mentors, and he might have gotten more than he bargained for.

[amandayetagain]

Them: if you verbally disagree with my problematic opinion, you’ll regret it

Me, vibrating with badassery and the inability to keep my mouth shut: wanna bet?

[whencartoonsruletheworld]

"It’s no longer 1937… she’s not gonna be saved by the prince." 

The absolute DISRESPECT for the FIRST ANIMATED MOVIE EVER MADE and its female character who was strong in her own way! The DISRESPECT for Snow White coming from people who plan to """update""" her story??? I'm FUMING. i am FURIOUS. This is the SAME shit I said about Girlboss Cinderella do you understand???

Snow White was an abused CHILD who was isolated within her castle and then suddenly thrown into the  woods and she managed to survive using only her hope and kindness!!! She found a house and offered to work to earn her keep and she DID!!! Snow does not have to be a badass to be a strong female character. And more importantly, SHE DOES NOT NEED TO BE "BADASS" TO DESERVE HER HAPPY ENDING. Some of us in abusive situations CANNOT escape on our own. We CANNOT physically fight back and WE STILL DESERVE HAPPY ENDINGS.

Women don't have to be badasses in order to be strong female characters. So she needs to be saved-- so WHAT? Saying Snow White is an antifeminist character solely because she doesn't save herself is offensive to abuse survivors and to the original character who WAS a good character. You can criticize OTHER parts of the movie– the implication that men living without women will be useless and filthy the entire time, or we can discuss the Queen’s feud with Snow being fuelled by misogynist standards, etc.!! But just saying “she needs to be saved so it’s bad” LIKE. ARE YOU SERIOUS

Badass Snow White reboots are fine in moderation, but just like Girlboss Cinderella reboots, too many and it becomes clear what society is trying to say now- that if you're feminine and can't fight a battle, you don't deserve to be saved. Do you see why this is a bad message????? Some girls are badasses who can kill and fight as well as or better than the boys. Those girls have Mulan, Merida, Raya, Moana, Rapunzel, Elsa. They are good female characters. But you know what? So is Snow White. So is Cinderella.

I'm sure people are going to accuse me of being antifeminist for saying “oh she NEEDS to be saved by a man”– I’m NOT SAYING THAT. You could have her be saved by a woman. Be saved by the dwarves, her platonic friends. By the animals. You could write a badass Snow White reboot without being disrespectful to the original film or tale. Just fucking TODAY I read the Disney Mirrorverse Snow White book– it’s written for 13yos basically so not high art but even with them having to make her an adaptational badass, they managed to keep her personality PERFECTLY. She learns how to save herself in this book, but also remains HERSELF. And her previous inability to fight was NOT CRITICIZED by any character; her sudden badassery was a bonus for her, not an indication of her character!!!

YOU are the ones saying that if Snow White (and Cinderella) isn't saving herself, she doesn't deserve to be saved. But everyone deserves happiness and that includes those too weak to fight for it alone.

anyway that was a long feminist rant. this is also super disrespectful to the FIRST ANIMATED MOVIE EVER, the people who worked on it, Walt Disney himself, and everyone who enjoyed or was inspired by it. You absolute fucking dickheads.

also can't believe i have to say this but if y'all use this as an excuse to be racist towards anyone in the cast i will hunt you down and put shoelaces in your lungs

[roanniom]

being bold and deciding to make the first move by kissing his rings before you push his hand up your skirt 🤭

Distracted

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

You're a friend of Robin's whose been in his world peripherally for a while. Like you've gone to the same parties and you've hung out at Family Video and seen him when he brought the teens in to see Steve after Hellfire sessions. You've only hung out in groups and your conversations, though extremely flirty, have been pretty surface level.

But you've got a thing for the quirky metalhead. Not only is he a fucking babe, but he also seems genuinely sweet and is very funny. When you bring this up to Robin, however, you aren't prepared for how she lights up, telling you that Eddie's been asking about you, too. Ever the matchmaker, Robin pushes you into a plot that makes it so that you and Eddie end up alone at his place on a Saturday night (initial group plans are bailed on last minute by all the teens who were threatened within an inch of their life not to actually show up).

Eddie seems unfazed by this turn of events and takes it in stride, cracking open a six pack for the two of you to share and throwing on a horror movie.

"If you want to bail, too, that's cool," he lets you know, even as you plop down beside him on the couch, beer in hand. He's got a self-deprecating smile on his face. "I'm sure hanging out alone with the town freak wasn't exactly on your agenda this week."

"Don't presume to know my agenda, Munson," you tsk, feigning a frown that is already curling around the edges into the smile you can't suppress. "You know how type A I am. I won't have you questioning my to-do list."

You apply the innuendo lightly, but the way his eyebrow quirks lets you know that it lands as you'd intended. Eddie runs his tongue over his teeth while appraising you.

"I wouldn't dare get in the way of your efficiency, sweetheart." There's a dare in his eyes, but you lean back against the couch and watch him over the top of your bottle as you take a sip. You've got time.

As the night goes on, the two of you drink and laugh and tease one another. One movie ends and he puts on the sequel immediately. Some slasher where kids are running around screaming in the woods. The two of you discuss what your own strategy would be if you found yourselves in a similar situation. At this point, you're feeling loose and floaty - combination of the alcohol and the sound of Eddie's laughter. It's got bubbles fizzing in your bloodstream. Your bodies have shifted closer on the couch as time has gone on, and as he emphatically describes something, his hand comes down to press onto your knee. Seemingly just as a matter of emphasis and to ground your attention in his point, but you notice that his hand doesn't lift up when he finishes his monologue.

A thrill of possessive pleasure runs through your body at the realization.

"You know, you'd probably die somewhere around the halfway point of the movie," you challenge suddenly and Eddie's eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"I'm sorry, princess, but what?!"

"You know because you're all..." you gesture to his body. The denim vest he's still wearing over his band tee even though he's relaxing at home. The tattoos. The heavy rings on the hand that's still resting on your knee. His fingers flex against your skin when you point at them.

"I'm a badass, you mean? What about my badassery makes you think I'm dying at all?"

"The cool guys always die at the midpoint," you argue. "They get distracted having sex with the hot girls and that's when the killer guts them." Exactly as you say this, as if the universe is trying to bolster your argument, a young man on screen is stabbed through the back mid-thrust, falling down bloody upon his shrieking lover. You glance away from the screen and back at Eddie with a satisfied smirk. "Case in point."

"All I got from that is the fact you think I'm cool," Eddie says with a smug smirk. You roll your eyes at him but shift a bit closer.

"I also said you'd die fucking a bimbo."

"No, you said I'd die fucking a hot girl," he corrects, also shifting infinitesimally closer.

"Oh, so you were listening," you tease. Your hand rests on top of his hand on your knee and you start fiddling with his rings.

"Yeah, and I guess that means you should be concerned," he says flippantly, his fingers splaying out on your knee so that yours have more space to move between them. You're now distracted by the attention you're focusing on his hand.

"Why should I be concerned?"

"Because the hot girl getting fucked by the cool guy dies next," he says, nodding his head towards the tv you had all but forgotten about just as a young woman running topless through the woods, her breasts swinging and covered in her dead boyfriend's blood, is cut down by the killer. You both laugh.

"All I got from that is the fact you think I'm hot," you say turning back to him and mimicking his prior comment. His face lights up with a grin.

"Guilty as charged, sweetheart."

The moment feels right. The electricity between the two of you is palpable and you lift his hand up off your knee and towards your lips.

"They only get got, though, because they get distracted," you posit, pressing a kiss to each of Eddie's rings. His eyes are trained on your lips, his own parted to let his suddenly shallow breathing pass through. "Do you think you could keep from getting distracted?"

"Uh...yeah," Eddie says, running his tongue over his bottom lip. "Yeah I'm sure I could stay focused. Vigilant."

"Oh yeah?" you ask, smiling at how he's already so distracted. Suddenly you're lowering his hand and bringing it to the top of your thigh, right at the hem of your skirt. He takes a sharp inhale. "What's that? Losing focus?"

"No. Never, sweetheart," he says with a laugh, though it's shaky. Without even losing a beat his fingers flex in your hand, the pad of his thumb caressing at the skin of your thigh that he's never touched till now.

"What about now?" you ask, abruptly pushing his hand up your skirt to rest on your clothed pussy.

Before you can even process the next heartbeat, Eddie is on you. His mouth is capturing yours in a soul searing kiss and you can't help but gasp into him. Taking in his taste and scent all at the same heady time. Your hand abandons his on your mound and you bring your arms up around his neck to pull him as close to you as possible.

"If I die, I fucking die,” Eddie practically growls against your lips. “Distract me, baby.”

You laugh but he dips his head down to nips at your collar bone and it turns into a moan. Eddie’s hand starts rubbing blindly at your slit through your panties and you find your hips moving against his fingers of their own accord.

“Do horror movies turn you on?” Eddie teases. You bite your lip and shake your head, looking him dead in the eye.

“No, you turn me on, Eddie Munson.”

Suddenly you’re being pushed back down against the couch. The abruptness of his manhandling has you squealing and you lock your arms around his neck, being sure to keep him close and bringing him down with you.

His kiss arrests your lips again, his tongue invading your mouth. It’s everything you ever wanted. It’s what you’d imagined each time you’d watched him from the other side of a party or listened to him joking around with your mutual friends.

All of his attention. All of his focus on you.

What you don’t realize is that it’s always been on you. At those parties and those hang outs, as much as you’d watched him, he’d been watching you. Learned to love your smile and how quick you were to laugh. Catalogued your stories in the back of his mind as you told them to a riveted audience of all the teens.

He’s finally getting to touch you the way he’s always wanted. And it’s working him up faster than he’d like to admit.

You shift on the couch and it gives him more room to slot his body between your opened thighs. When his hard, denim-covered bulge presses against your thigh, your hips buck, pushing up into the palm which has been applying pressure to your pussy.

“Remember that agenda?” You ask with a tremor in your voice. His hand slips under the elastic of your panties, fingers making direct contacted with your slick core for the first time. You both groan.

“Um…yeah.” He says, shaking his head as if to clear it in order to comprehend your words. The tip of a finger circles your clit before sliding down to push into your hole. You gasp. “Your to-do list.”

“You’re at the top,” you gasp out.

There’s a moment where a Eddie doesn’t react. He’s so focused on pumping his finger in and out of your tight pussy, feeling you around him. Watching your chest rise and fall. But when your words make sense he throws back his head and let’s out a bellowing laugh. His laugh makes you laugh and then you’re shaking in one another’s arms. Trying to calm down. The shared vibrations of your joint hysteria seeming to wreak havoc on all of your nerve endings.

Eddie lunges forward and begins sucking at your neck and the tops of your breasts exposed by your low neckline. Just as he adds another finger to your pussy.

“I can be efficient, too, you know,” he says before worrying your skin between his lips.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you be efficient with your shirt off?” You ask, fingers scrabbling at the hem of the garment. Eddie sits up quickly and yanks the shirt off with unnecessary, theatrical aggression, tossing it away as if it’s offended him. You reach out and trace the tattoos on his chest and he moves to lower himself back over you.

“Mmm, cool guy,” you hum, your fingers passing delicately over his inked skin. Eddie quickly unbuttons your blouse and pulls it open, gazing hungry down at your bra-clad breasts.

“Hot girl,” he responds, pressing his face juvenilely between your tits. You grasp at the hair at the back of his neck and laugh until you feel him beginning to suck on you. Then your hips are rolling into his hand. The hand that’s started to fuck you in earnest. “You look like you’re more distracted than me right now, sweetheart. Maybe you’ll be dying before me after all. That petite mort, huh?”

You’re laughing and gasping all at once. His French accent is atrocious but he’s referencing a conversation you’d had with him and Robin about orgasms the week prior. You hadn’t thought he’d been paying attention since he’d been half in argument with Steve at the time, but now you know otherwise.

“You we’re listening to that? Was - fuck - pretty sure you were focused on whatever Harrington was saying.”

“I’m always focused on you, sweetheart.”

You feel heat creeping through your body as fondness mixes with arousal. You’re impatient and you both push and pull at him all at once.

“Ok I just need you to fuck me, ok? Can we jump to that?”

“Nuh uh, I’m making you cum first.” His thumb presses harder circles into your clit and you cry out. But you shake your head dramatically side to side.

“No I want you inside me now.”

“That’s a bit pushy of you, isn’t it?” Eddie teases, but as he does so he eases his fingers out of you and brings them up to lick off your slick. You’re already unbuckling his belt and pushing down his jeans.

“No, I’m efficient. Type A, remember?” His cock springs free of his boxers and you’re ready to drool. He’s practically edible, and if you weren’t so fucking on the edge right now you’d swallow him while immediately.

“How could I forget,” he responds, voice full of gravel as he grabs his cock and pumps one twice. You lay back against the couch, legs splayed and waiting for him, divesting yourself of your bra and cupping your breasts to keep yourself worked up. “Fuck you’re a pretty picture.”

“Gonna just stare or are you gonna do something, Munson?”

“See? Pushy,” he says, even as he lowers himself on top of you and pushes his tip right into your entrance.

The teasing stops as you both come together with rolling hips and gasping breaths. His thrusts are hard and definitive and you find yourself holding on for dear life. He feels so good and right and heavy and strong and you’re so close so soon.

“Eddie…Jesus Christ I’m…” your eyes are squeezed shut and he kisses your eye lids, paradoxically sweet when juxtaposed with the harsh way he’s pounding into you.

“You gonna cum, baby?” He asks, and there’s playful mocking in his tone. If you couldn’t feel his muscles shaking, proving he is equally close, you would have felt more shame.

“Y-yeah…gonna cum.” You admit it on a whine. He feels so good and then suddenly his finger is between you, swirling over your clit again.

“Already? I guess that’s efficient of you,” he says and you clench hard when you laugh, making him let out a loud moan.

“Stop - fuck! You can’t clench like that,” he admonishes.

“Stop making me laugh then, asshole,” you say with no bite. He, however, bites your neck and laves his tongue over the skin.

“Mmmm, you’re sexy when you’re mean.”

You’re not sure what does it - his thrusts, his finger on your clit, his teasing - but one moment you’re rolling your hips into his and the next you’re writhing beneath him, cumming harder than you ever have before. You practically black out calling his name, so much so that you don’t even notice when he cums along right after you.

You come back to your senses to find him still inside you, trailing kisses up and down your throat and chest. You take a deep shuddering breath and grip weakly at his back.

“You gotta get up,” you say, pushing weakly at him with not intent behind the motion. Eddie shakes his head and buries it into your neck.

“Never.”

“I gotta get up and cross you off my checklist.” You tease with a breathless laugh which he returns.

“You can’t. We were so distracted the killer got us. We’re dead, remember?” His grin is so wide one of your trembling hands lifts automatically to trace his dimples.

“Fuck. The downside to being cool and hot is pretty disproportionate to the upside.”

“Speak for yourself,” he snorts, letting his hand come up to cup your jaw. “I’m staring at a pretty big upside.”

~*~

Tiny tag list (will come back later and add more people): @sacklerscumrag @theoncrayjoy @millenialcatlady @xxcatrenxx @cowboy-kylo