#disclaimer that a bad writer or one who dislikes the character can make any pairing bad

[silvysartfulness]

1, 2, 12, 16 and 22 for the ask game! No particular fandom, up to you.

the character everyone gets wrong

Gonna say a toss-up between Xiao Xingchen and Xue Yang here.Guess it depends on whether you mean in fic or just in The Discourse in general?

I see so so many bad takes on Xue Yang, especially people utterly glossing over his trauma, and... I'm happy for you guys, I guess, who've apparently never known trauma and what it does to a person? It's not a matter of Xue Yang deciding to be a murderous asshole because he broke a finger once. It's that his entire personality and the way his mind works were brutally shaped by severe abuse and trauma at a very young age. You don't have to like him or at all condone his actions, but have a little compassion, for fuck's sake.

As for Xiao Xingchen... I don't know which rubs me the wrong way the most, the "lol XXC can't do math" crowd claiming he's outright stupid, or the "lol XXC was raised by hippies" who utterly disregard his whole cultural context. Personally not at all a fan of mean (dom) Xiao Xingchen either, I just can't see it work with his canon personality, but to each their own, I guess. I won't read it, though.

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

Hmmm. That's actually a tough one, because I hc Xue Yang (And Xiao Xingchen for that matter) as rather fluid switches without particular preference as long as things are sexy and feel good.

I guess you could argue that Xue Yang would be wary about who he'd let top him because of his rough and precarious childhood and how badly the world's hurt him, but then, the boy also has a self-destructive high-risk-behaviour streak a mile wide, so.

I guess the closest I can get is that I don't think Song Lan enjoys the idea of bottoming, partly because of his more ingrained ideas of masculinity and femininity and the power roles he feels are inherent in topping/bottoming, but more importantly because he already struggles with physical touch, and the idea of being held down, touched and "trapped" in any way during sex is a bit scary. Not to say he wouldn't come around to it, but it'd take a lot more mulling over - and gentle experimentation. 😏

I already answered 12, so moving on to 16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Oh man, is this my cue to mutter about mean dom Xiao Xingchen again? Like, I get the appeal of exploring characters far outside their canon constraints, I really do, and if mean dom Xiao Xingchen tickles your metaphorical pickle, by all means, have fun! I just personal really dislike it. (I am super grateful to all writers out there who have started tagging for it, though! It makes it easier to avoid - and find, for those who are into it. Everyone wins!)

As for pairings, I just don't like SangCheng or XiCheng, they both feel very pair-the-spares to me, and are just... Mm. Not for me. Honestly, funnily enough, SongXiao goes here, too, 95% of the time. I pretty much only like these two as part of SXX - I don't know if it is because of many SongXiao shippers' way of treating Xue Yang like dirt, or just because the two characters on their own don't interest me much, but yeah. On the whole, I won't read fic for just SongXiao unless recommended by people I trust, and I'll only like/reblog art if it's very pretty and doesn't imply dead Xue Yang.

I also really don't like most modern au BDSM fic? So much of it reads like a wholesome manual - and I'm sure for people in that scene, it's really hot! It just doesn't do anything at all for me, except give me secondhand embarrassment. If sex is going to be a bit painful and having undertones of dominance and submission, i want it to be very, very real, borderline dangerous and not done for play or politely negotiated beforehand. Gimme the hot mess or nothing.

(Mandatory disclaimer that these are just my personal squicks and mehs, not passing any judgment on anyone who does like them! My Kink Is Not Your Kink And That's Okay, and ship and let ship. ✌)

I already answered 22, too, but... Hm. I'm sure I can think of more if I try...

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

I think Xue Yang's and a-Qing's relationship is a lot more complicated than a lot of people seem to want to think! Especially for those who've only watched CQL, where a lot of the Yi City arc was either cut or angled to make it into more of a psychological thriller - but they were a family! All three of them, and in the text there is such clear evidence that they all really cared about each other! Even Xue Yang.

A-Qing stole his candy without fear, asked him "why were you like that when you were little??" when he told the first half of the story of his childhood trauma. When she claimed to have been bullied to the point of crying, he protectively told her how to defend herself and made her apple bunnies to cheer her up. Even after Xiao Xingchen's death (and he must have known by then that she was the one who sold him out) one of the things he did while cleaning the house was to make her bed, waiting for her to come back home.

Not least of all, Wang Haoxuan said in his in-character farewell note that Xue Yang would have protected a-Qing as long as their happy 'dream' in Yi City lasted.

They ended horribly, yes, causing each others' deaths, but there was a time where they cared deeply about each other and looked out for each other, and that still matters.

[magnetos-dynasty]

hello! this is a bit of random question but you're the biggest comics lorna stan i know so i'm curious... what did you think about marco/eclaris on the gifted, and how would you feel about him/it bleeding over to the comics? the show is long over now, so i don't necessarily think it's something marvel is likely to do, but i really liked him/them as a pairing (and imo it's way better than what 616 lorna has actually going for her re: romance). i don't know that much about lorna in the comics, though, so i wonder if it could even work out there, with her background being so different from the show

[So sorry it took me 37 years to respond to this, I hope you see it, anon.]

First, let me start with -

I have never been so flattered in my life, thank you 😭

Anyway, on topic.

I didn’t actively ship Marcos/Lorna in the show for personal reasons completely unrelated to the quality of the pairing, but I did love their dynamic.

Any adaptation would have to deal with certain issues of plot, but given a bit of creativity and the nature of comics that’s a pretty small hurdle. Since Marcos is original to the show, his backstory could be easily manipulated as necessary.

Easiest option, you just swap out “…and after becoming disillusioned with the cartel, Marcos was approached by Lorna Dane [and Proudstar] to join the Mutant Underground”, with “…after becoming disillusioned with the Thieves’ Guild, he was approached by Lorna Dane to join the X-Men,” and you’re pretty much good. (Or X-Factor Investigations, or the Krakoan citizenry, what-have-you. Whatever team she’s on at the time. If I had free choice I’d put him on one of the 2012-2015 X-Factor teams, but that ship has, y’know, flown.)

I think the aspects of their dynamic that I like in the show would actually translate over perfectly to the comics (and, uh, make for a better relationship than basically any other she has in the comics).

- Marcos respects Lorna, on all levels. He respects her physical power (and is fully aware that she is far more powerful than he is), but also -

- He respects her agency and right to choice. That’s, uh, something that tends to be an issue for Lorna, in the comics, from every side. The X-Men put her in a mutant-suppression collar; Magneto manipulates her and uses her as a battery; people on all sides keep alternately magically causing and “curing” her mental health issues; etcetera, etcetera. Beyond the mechanical use of powers to remove agency, most of her friends and family - and especially people she’s paired with romantically - tend to treat her as though she doesn’t have a right to free choice, or the capacity to choose “correctly”.

- He respects her as a person with a severe mental illness. He provides support as necessary, but also knows and accepts that not everything a mentally ill person feels or thinks is because of their mental illness - they can have “”“real””” emotions and thoughts too. And having an illness doesn’t mean a person should automatically be treated as incompetent to make decisions.

- He supports her, on all levels.

- He recognises that she is awesome and sexy and the absolute shiz and that is #relatable content.

- None of that means that the relationship is perfect and boring.

In fact, some of the things that make the relationship good are also the ones that, when taken too far, cause problems. Respecting your partner’s agency is great! But if your partner blows up a plane takes your kid and runs away to join a terrorist organisation… uh, an organisation that’s a bit further along on the freedom fighter to terrorist scale than yours is… it’s fair to request that a bit of discussion be had.

And he is, himself, very far from perfect, which is very Good And Important. They take turns reminding each other about that whole morality thing, and how ends do not necessarily justify means, but also sometimes you need to remember about the bigger picture and not sacrifice many people for a single person.

Which would fit perfectly with comics!Lorna.

(Overall, Lorna really doesn’t need to be in the ‘which one’s the crazy amoral one and which one’s the perfect long-suffering partner sacrificing for them getting nothing in return’ pairing cliche. And The Gifted did a fairly decent job of avoiding that, across the show as a whole.)

In conclusion look at this scene and picture how much better it would have been with Marcos “simp” Diaz instead of Alex “can’t remember my girlfriend’s a girlboss bc I’m too busy hanging out on my undeserved moral high-horse” Summers. Thank you

[theres-a-goldensky]

BL Show Review Series - My Engineer and 2gether

I am new to BL series, having only discovered them thanks to being stuck at home in quarantine. However, I’ve now watched enough of them that I feel like I have a lot to say and nowhere to say it. So I decided to write some reviews, talk about some issues that I had, and mainly get all of these feelings out of me. 

Disclaimer that these are my own opinions, and I don’t know where the BL community as a whole stands on these shows. If I disliked a show you loved or visa versa, no disrespect is intended! 

First up, then, are My Engineer and 2gether

MASTERLIST OF BL SHOW REVIEWS

MY ENGINEER 

Rating: 4/10 (Revised score: 6/10)

Main Pairing

The premise of this show is silly, but I was willing to let that pass if it was cute enough. It wasn’t. Not for me, anyway. The main pairing was very lackluster, and their courtship started off weird, with freshman Duen inexplicably feeling obligated to care for the older Bohn. Duen accidentally punches Bohn, but that interaction spirals into Duen letting Bohn bully him into buying Bohn flowers every day for a month as recompense. 

You get it from Bohn’s perspective. He clearly is interested in Duen from the beginning, and this is his inept way of flirting. But Duen going along with it at first, when he dislikes Bohn, is baffling. I thought there must have been something I missed. Was it because Bohn was his senior? 

The parts I found most charming about their story involved them interacting with their younger siblings. In particular, Duen’s love of his little sister was genuinely heartwarming. There’s a date scene late in the series that is the highlight of their story for me.

There is a ridiculous, drawn out arc about which one of them is going to top, which I was super done with before it even started. It ends with the message that, hey, anyone can be a top or a bottom and it doesn’t matter, but man did the story take its time getting there. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

Side Pairings

There are three additional side pairings happening here, which was at least one too many. However, the relationship between King and Ram quickly became the best thing about the show for me. The two of them together are charming, particularly the patient way that King enjoys Ram’s oddities and works to find a way to communicate with him anyway. 

Ram, despite being a side character, is the most developed person in the show. We see a lot about his family life and his interests. He’s fiercely loyal to his friends but also very shy. Over the course of the show, you see him feel hurt and scared and angry and in love, and all without him saying much of anything at all. 

The next side pairing is Mek and Boss. They are best friends and Boss calls himself Mek’s wifey. Mek is in love with Boss, to the point where he has a shrine of him hidden away in his room. It’s very sweet, even though you’re left kind of wondering, uh...why? What has Boss done to earn Mek’s undying devotion? It’s unclear.

Bafflingly, the actor who plays Mek was not speaking Thai in this. All of his lines were dubbed over -- very, very poorly -- and you can see that the words he’s speaking don’t match the words he’s supposed to be saying. I have no idea why they cast this person, though he did well given the circumstances. He has a very soulful stare that worked to demonstrate his pining. Watching him decide to help Boss get a girlfriend just because he wanted him to be happy was tough. 

If I were to recommend this series, it would be to follow these two side stories. You may enjoy the Bohn/Duen romance, but I had a hard time getting attached to them or believing their chemistry.

The final pairing was between Frong and Dr. Thara. I have nothing to say about them, honestly. It could have been completely taken out and nothing would have been lost. The actors did what they could with the roles. Both were charming, both were very, very attractive, but that couldn’t save this side story for me.

The acting was just so-so, though special mention should probably go to the actors who portrayed Mek and Boss, since they spent the majority of their scenes acting with someone who was speaking an entirely different language. 

There was very little tension and almost no stakes in this series, except between King and Ram.  

(Update: 9/27/20

Time sometimes changes feelings on a series, and in the months since I wrote this review, I’ve come to look more favorably on this drama. My love for Ram and King has only grown, and I’ve come to tolerate Bohn and Duen’s story more than I had before. Some of the early parts are even cute, though the back half still bugs me.)

***

2GETHER THE SERIES Rating: 5/10

Main Pairing

Win and Bright, the actors who portray the main characters of Tine and Sarawat, are both just...startingly good looking. They’re tall and broad and handsome. Tine has the sweetest smile and Sarawat can sexy brood with the best of them. I think the natural charisma of both leads did a lot to paper over the cracks of a thin story where the characters made nonsensical choices just to drive forward the plot. 

This is a fake dating story, which should be my JAM, ok? Straight boy freshman Tine wants to curb the attentions of Green, a gay man who is pursuing him. He decides to ask Sarawat, the campus dreamboat, to pretend date him so that Green will back off. It all makes sense so far, in terms of how these convoluted romantic comedy set-ups go. Sarawat refuses, and Tine starts up a charm offensive to get him to agree. Still makes sense. But then, once Sarawat commits to this plan, scene after scene goes like this: 

Tine: Sarawat, here comes Green! Pretend to be my boyfriend! Sarawat: [pretends to be his boyfriend] Tine: Oh no, what are you doing? People are going to think we’re dating!

Like, bro, he is doing what you have explicitly asked him to do! Often just moments before! What is HAPPENING? I get that this is supposed to be Tine feeling confused about his burgeoning feelings for Sarawat, but then show that by Tine being nervous or embarrassed. Having him lash out at Sarawat made no sense and got more frustrating as the series went on.

And look, I’m just going to say it: Win and Bright seem like they didn’t want to touch each other. They have major bro chemistry, but zero romantic chemistry. It got to the point, in the last few episodes, where I thought there was a translation error and I was misunderstanding the status of their relationship. By the tail-end of the series, former playboy Tine still looks a cross between confused and horrified whenever Sarawat tries to touch him. We never once see Tine happily kiss Sarawat. I don’t understand the choices that were made by the actor, director, and writers here. 

Every problem that occurs between Tine and Sarawat could be solved with a few clarifying words, but instead they get dragged on for the sake of drama. 

Furthermore, I know that BLs are fond of the “I’m not gay, I just like you” trope, but for the first 11 episodes of this show, Sarawat is coded as gay. Not bi. Not straight-except-for-you. Gay. He has a literal harem of women surrounding him at all times, showering him with gifts and attention, and doesn’t once appear interested. When his mother asks him when he’s going to get a girlfriend, the look that both he and his brother give her clearly reads, “Are you fucking kidding?” 

And yet, in episode 12, we are supposed to believe that his first and only other great love was a woman. It’s the way the book was written, I get it, but it rang false for me. 

Side Pairings

There were two side pairings. All four of the actors involved are BL vets who performed their duties well. 

Man and Type are interesting, but their story gets pushed to the side until the end of the series. However, while Tine and Sarawat’s story was floundering in the latter episodes, I was more than happy to watch this develop. Mike, who plays Man, has become one of my favorite supporting actors in these shows. He’s workman-like, bringing natural charm to his performances and always getting the job done. Seeing Man try to win Type over was fun even while it barely toed the line between sweet and creepy.

Mil and Phukong though? I was not here for any of it. Mil was a jerk and Phukong was a doormat. The way they ended the series was insulting to Phukong. I’d say he deserved better, but his insistence on going after Mil even though Mil was a genuine asshole to both him and his brother did his character no favors. The show wanted Mil to be redeemed by the end, but no thanks, I’ll pass. Phukong may not have deserved better, but Drake and Frank definitely did. I hated it.

Like I said, the actors are so likable and gorgeous, and the fake dating trope is such a classic, that I really wanted to like this one. The first few episodes were sweet and had potential, but the awkwardness between them that I assumed would go away by the end never did. 

MASTERLIST OF BL SHOW REVIEWS

(Send me an ask if you have a show you’d like me to review - with the understanding that I will be completely honest - or if there’s anything you think I forgot or got wrong in this review.)

[pickyperkypenguin]

Well, I just realised I am having feelings about how much of an asshole McCree is, and I need to say – he definitely is one! Disclaimer first: this is not an attempt of fandom wank, just me expressing my personal taste that includes headcanoning McCree as a multifaceted, charming asshole; if your interpretation is completely different I have nothing against it, write and let write, etc. So, I really dislike when he's portrayed in fics without any depth whatsoever, as solely this therapeutic personality there to solve all Hanzo's mental problems. That's not how that works.

What I do struggle with is also this – how exactly is he an asshole? What did he do or what does he do (as in, has it inbuilt in his character) to deserve that as a part of his characteristic?

Here I am trying to figure out a morally upsetting thing (warranting the asshole label of the not just-his-personality variety) that would however be somehow redeemable. Like, yeah, it's good to create robin hoods, and so to make McCree do things that are legally crimes though not morally upsetting, but how interesting it would be to make him both (as in personality+life choices kind of asshole)?

I've noticed many writers just leave out what exactly has McCree done in the past, except for a vague 'he dealt in smuggling guns' or something similar (never human trafficking, which says something about us, and shows where as a general rule of thumb are set our borders of what is acceptable to put in fiction, with the intention to make a character regret those choices, and thus be seen as a guy that could be forgiven). It is easier to gloss over that when one doesn't think too much about the details. There is, of course, that unbreakable barrier of crimes I mentioned, that seem heinous enough to never attribute them to characters like that, because this way they might just become irredeemable, and therefore harder to relate to.

So here I am, thinking and thinking of what could be McCree to be redeemed from, that would be bad and asshole-ish, and yet workable through for a reader – by, for example, showing his remorse or feeling of guilt. What would make him flawed enough for it to be interesting, yet forgivable enough for us to not provoke the inner debate as to whether we can allow ourselves to like him. And I still sort of have no idea.

Why is that? Why even when I am close to finding something I remember some other thing, and then just throw my hands in the air and say 'well, fuck it, things don't add up'?

That is because of the other part of that equation – Hanzo. (Even when not considered in the setting of the mchanzo pairing they still can be compared this way, I think those comparisons are one of the basis for the pairing dynamic to even begin to exist, along with the West/East and cowboy/samurai motives they have going on).

Hanzo is a man who had committed a fratricide, and deeply regrets it. He was also probably made to or been highly manipulated into doing that. (He was also generally manipulated by his family, which ups his chances to be redeemable and his ability to commit the act understandable, as in 'possible to find, not out of the blue'). The other thing is, Genji actually lives. It is also highly implied he has either forgiven Hanzo 'unconditionally' (not requiring him to prove himself) or with that condition to to show his attempts of redemption and their quality, and only then judge if they are good enough for the bad blood to dry.

I’m sort of wondering, how would we treat him, how would we frame all that, if Genji was dead-dead? If he was not there to forgive Hanzo, no matter in what kind of way, not there to provide him the incentive to take on a new life path (or that life path to come to him from some other source) – just plain dead, buried and not ever back. Would it change anything? I do think it would, but I wonder how would we try to make his death by Hanzo’s hand redeemable. Would it be emphasising Hanzo’s guilt and desperate attempts of atonement? By emphasising how manipulative the clan was and how much Hanzo was not fully responsible for what had happened? He was not of sound – well, not mind, but not of sound will, if you catch what I’m trying to express here – he was under the influence of the combined manipulation of the clan and its politics, the pressure to be absolutely subordinate, submissive and deferential to it, and the resentment towards Genji that has accumulated in him over the years (not only his behaviour, but also what one was allowed that the other never could and their drastically different methods of coping, that in normal circumstances would be certainly a spark for quarrels, but in those circumstances they grew to gargantuan size and caused disastrous results). I do headcanon that all those factors had anyway had been the key forces that put Hanzo in those circumstances. The question also is, was fratricide withing Hanzo's morality back then, when he decided to commit it? Was it a crime of passion, a blind rage and sudden sobering after? Was it something that was desperately against everything that he held in his heart and yet he was trapped, and so he had no choice? Or was it all of that and his growing resentment towards Genji combined?

(I like to think it was all of the above at once. Yes, all contradictions too. My opinion is that we people, the human race, make nothing of those pesky things called contradictions and we just hold them all in our heads at once.)

So, would that all – the causes of it, and the ways of how he attempts to redeem himself – be enough if Genji has not come back from the dead? I really am curious.

And while I can point out what makes Hanzo redeemable (and also incredibly interesting plus awesome to explore, considering his background is a golden mine of mental struggle), I cannot do the same with pointing the circumstances from which McCree would have to be redeemed from. I just don't know them.

So, ah, my dudes, once I’ll figure out what McCree’s struggles in specific could be, what crimes he had committed, I am going to have one hell of a joyride of figuring how to make that into a thing, upon which a line of understanding between him and Hanzo can be built.

[the-nysh]

Whats your opinon of kiri//baku and todo//deku?

!!!!! 👀 Oooh, *takes deep breath* so I’ve finally been askedthe big question. (Thank you for courteously using the /s to block the ship names out of the tags) Because I DO have opinionsabout them. I’ve mostly kept them to myself, but since I’ve been prompted, Iwill try to be as honest and thorough as I can. :’)

Disclaimer: If you high-key shipeither of the two, please proceed with caution! 

To preface:

If it wasn’t already obvious from the content I reblog (and rave about in thetags), my decisive fav character of the series is Kacchan, and similarly, my otp of the series is with him and Deku(as bakudeku, aka bkdk for short – which is how it’scommonly called on twitter). So going in, that’s my given stance already.

But it wasn’t always this way! :O When I first started theseries I went in pretty cautious, wary, and undecided; I actually never plannedto fall so hard for either the character or the ship (and I rarely ship things tobegin with). That is, until Hori repeatedly bludgeoned me in the face and heartwith all the reoccurring and carefully consistent character development, to thepoint ch120 became the final, decisive nail in the coffin - the point of noreturn for me. :’3 So now, I’m fully invested in seeing how their story pulls through to the end, nomatter what it might become (it doesn’t even need to be shippy). With them thematically established as two sidesof the same coin – on opposite ends of the same spectrum of heroism – the twohalves of All Might who both win and rescue:I want to see how they push each other towards greatness and mature into a pairof the best heroes. It’s a long-term investment of hope and a case of slowburn positive development, in direct (and on purpose!) contrast to its rockyand strained foundations (they ARE immature and emotionally constipated teensafter all), but it’s all been carefully laid out through a steady path ofnarrative foreshadowing. Where the prospects at the end of that path – of mutualsupport, understanding, reconciliation, cooperation, teamwork, trust – arebeautiful and rewarding things that make their ongoing journey of growth worthit. So…for Hori to smash any original expectations I might have had, and makeme fall hard for something I never intended to happen, are examples of whatI consider GOOD writing.

After I realized this, I went and did my research. Which inmy case, is reading up on countless character/relationship meta and fanfics togauge how the fandom sees their potential too. So I am very aware of the multiple sides of existing arguments and the dramathat’s already happened in the fandom (from across both tumblr and twitter). Iknow the western fandom considerably favors kr/bk and td/dk (at least for now), BUT in the eastern fandom,it’s actually bkdk that’s more popular. Hmm, curious why that is?

One of the reasons is partly thanks to the widespread availabilityof fan mistranslations (FA group) that have greatly exaggerated certain characterizations(ie Kacchan), leading to fandom fearmongering and the perpetuation of stigmasagainst the canon development of certain relationships (ie bkdk), which in theoriginal text, were never nearly thatflanderized or as offensive in context to begin with. Include also, adifference in cultural expectations/values, and we get a prickly concoction ofmisunderstandings ready to brew. It’s a poor and unfortunate case of important subtleties/complexitiesgetting lost in translation, while the bad things are blown way out ofproportion, to the point the story’s original intent is sidelined, or worse, canonis deliberately obstructed by translators who already dislike seeing suchcontent (because it’s ‘not their ship’) – so they prevent and hurt othersfrom fully enjoying the progression of the series as the author intended. Peoplecan like what they like (that’s perfectly fine), but in all of my lurking, Ihave SEEN examples of these things (andworse) actively happen, and quite frankly, the spread of this blatant toxicityand compulsive collective ignorance sickens me. So, I choose not to getinvolved with it, and instead focus on the positive.

Because of my preference for meta and faithfulinterpretations of the text (making sure available translations are reliablefor analyzing, for instance), I’ve gathered enough information (andacknowledged enough counterarguments) to make an educated decision for myself onwhat I value most and want to see from the series. Unless Hori veers offotherwise, I’ll stick by that conclusion and enjoy following the series throughto fruition (regardless of what the rest of the opposing fandom might say).

For example, one of the first dedicated and respectful metawriters – back when only the FA scans were available, but who ALSO providedcorrections from the Japanese text where necessary, came to this conclusionabout Deku and Kacchan’s characterizations:  

From ryokure:

“Deku is such a super special case that if a fanfichas him and Kacchan in it - no matter the parings - and they don’t have somecase of mutual obsession, I actually consider that OOC.”

Which, after everything I’ve seen of the characters, I can fully concur withthat statement.

MEANING, if the fandom portrays them off alone, together, or involvedin relationships with other characters and they lack this intrinsic magnetism that binds them together (for betteror worse) – if they can somehowfunction completely normal without being influenced by the presence of anotherand magically not even care about each other anymore, then my suspension of disbeliefbreaks. They’re too OOC. (Unless it’s a fic au where they never met or grew uptogether.) These two are TOO canonically wrapped up in their mutual complexesto simply cut ties, wrap up all their unresolved issues with a band-aid,and essentially ignore a core issue of the series for the sake of ‘shipconvenience’ with others. Their canon relationship is too complex to make such simplifiedportrayals of them believable, or even such flimsy ‘solutions’ for their issuesfeasible. Thankfully, we have Hori actively doing all the hard work for us sowe don’t have to worry about such transgressions like that happening in canon. (InHori’s consistent characterizations we trust!)  

Now then, with all of THISestablished, I can finally answer your main question: my opinion on kiri/bakuand todo/deku.

Let’s start with todo/deku:

Because believe it or not, when I was still new to the fandom and in my earlyresearch stages, I actually lowkey shipped them and read plenty of fics aboutthem too! I was open to them as a pair, but still undecided and wary because I didn’t know who to ship withDeku: either Todoroki or Bakugou. I saw all the widespread (western) fandomcontent for td/dk, with the apparent foundations for the ship based on eventsfrom the Sports Festival, where Deku ‘saves’ Todoroki and acts as the catalystto allow him to defrost his issues with his father and realize his true power.I thought, ‘ooh there’s something interesting in there worth looking forwardto; I’ll keep an eye on how canon develops their relationship from here.’

Unfortunately…canon didn’t give me anything else substantial to build on. Andin my case, those are foundations I NEED to be fully on board and convinced fora ship. It was the equivalent of fandom hyping me up for something to lookforward to, with me sitting there with a huge smile and my arms raised inanticipation…only for the rest of the manga to leave me dry. It was a hugedisappointment. Because except for a few scattered incidents, like from theStain arc and maybe the recent ‘it’s ok for heroes to cry sometimes too’moment, canon progress for their relationship has been severely underwhelmingand virtually nonexistent. Todoroki has chilled into becoming a supportive (yetstill socially awkward) friend for Deku yes, but even Iida has had more canon incidents of concern for Deku’s wellbeing,and challenges Deku into becoming a better person/hero with their interactions.(And yet, fandom support for Deku and Iida is virtually nonexistent incomparison, because their friendship resembles the camaraderie between bros, Iguess??)    

So then I was like, ‘wait, am I missing something here? WHY does the fandomlove td/dk so much, when their canon interactions are so limited, and the onlybig thing that’s happened between them was all the way back in the SportsFestival??’ So, I went and investigated the potential of their relationshipfurther in fanfics (which are quite numerous and popular on a03 I might add).

After taking a look, I began to see trends. Most td/dk fics are heavily skewed in Todoroki’s favor, tothe point of being practically one-sided in character development. The mainconflict in almost all their ficnarratives revolves around solving Todoroki’s issues with his father and comingto terms with HIS powers, leaving Deku as a passive, supporting participant inhelping Todoroki out with his problems. Which, while the two of them could bondtogether over their missing/difficult father issues, after a while this same familyconflict gets old and stale. What else is there? What about Deku’s problems for equality’s sake?He’s the main protagonist! How abouthis difficulties in learning how to make One for All his own too? Ah nope, hecan’t canonically confide in Todorokiabout the secrets of his quirk, now can he. ;) Oh wait. What about his problems with Bakugou? Is the biggest elephant in the room going to be ignored for the sakeof typical couple melodrama, or is my fav character going to be demonized so that Todoroki, the ‘prince’on a white horse, can ‘save’ Deku, the ‘damsel’ in distress, from him?! No way. And THAT is another hugeproblem I have with the ship.

Because in all the fics I’ve read of them, I never once was convinced ofDeku’s feelings for Todoroki. I can understand Todoroki gaining a passing crushon Deku thanks to their fight in the Sports Festival. But Deku? How does heeven fall for him? Just becauseTodoroki is nice and considerate and listens to him? Like a friend? (Deku has Uraraka and Iida forthat too, what makes Todoroki any more special than them in Deku’s life?) Thisties in to my previously mentioned suspension of disbelief and ooc territorynow. Because Deku is not some haplessdamsel in distress ready to be swept off his feet and easily charmed by somepotential suitor; he’s a BAMF with a heroic spirt that’s even feared byBakugou. And these traits are so rarely utilized to their full potential intd/dk fics - Todoroki’s influence rarely even challenges or inspires Deku toBECOME the best he can be to draw out his latent potential. (Iida’s canonicallydone more in that regard thanTodoroki’s ever done.) Again, it feels too one-sided in Todoroki’s favor toimprove as a better person/hero.

Oh yeah, and since Deku became one of Todoroki’s first ‘true friends,’ forTodoroki to fall for him feels like putting too many eggs in one basket,without giving Todoroki the chance tobranch out and make normal/healthy relationships with OTHERS first beforesettling down. He’s a socially awkward kid emotionally repressed by domesticabuse; for him to latch onto Deku, the ‘first’ person he’s finally (andliterally) warmed up to, feels like the budding symptoms of unhealthy copingmechanisms and compensating for Todoroki’s deeper emotional issues. Where it thenbecomes Deku’s ‘responsibility’ to care for the turnout of his wellbeing, whenNO - Deku’s got plenty of his OWN issues to become burdened with someone else’s on top of those. Plus in canon,Todoroki’s doing just fine and is perfectly capable of handling his personal problems onhis own without having to depend on Deku.

Again, it’s all touchy territory that feels like it sidelines the mainintent of the series itself – by branching off into the deep end of Todoroki’sangst at the expense of Deku’s, or worse: simply wrapping everything up with afluffy bow called ‘the power of love.’ Nuh-uh, not only is that immenselyidealistic and unrealistic, but it’s totally not the kind of content I signedup for when I started the series. I’m frankly not interested in delving into thoseoff-tangent topics in opposition to canon, where Deku’s problems are oftensidelined, his characterization compromised, and my fav character (Kacchan) eitherbecomes an exaggerated, antagonizing impediment to their ship or is simplytreated like he doesn’t even exist. (My patience and willing suspension of disbeliefonly go so far.)

In the end, Todoroki’s a supportingcharacter. In a tertiary tier after the protagonist (Deku) and the deuteragonist(Bakugou). Yet in td/dk fics he’s almost always turned into a main protagonistsomehow. I can understand his appeal and why he’s so popular in the fandom, yes(and I like him too!), but there’s a point where this exposure becomes TOO much,the limit to his available canon issues becomes saturated and repetitive, and itultimately becomes so tiring to keepcoming back and addressing the same topics in fanon when canon has alreadymarched on to focus on more pressing issues. I’m more interested in exploring those other things.

So nowadays, whenever I see td/dk content, I go ‘ayy that’s nice (or cute),’and keep on scrolling. It doesn’t bother me, but it doesn’t interest meanymore either. I probably won’t touch anymore fics of them together either;I’ve seen and had enough. I’m actually more receptive to seeing Todorokiinteract and develop friendships with other characters, like Inasa (the wind guy from the rival school)or even Momo for instance. Either of those ships I see around, I’m cool withtoo.

The final line: I don’t ship them (anymore), because canon swayed me over with the more pressing and compelling developments of bkdk.   

NOW, it’s time to talk about kiri/baku:      

To start, I actually LOVE Kirishima as a character. And I’ve alreadyestablished upfront that my fav character in the series is Kacchan. So whatgives? It turns out their ship has neverbeen on my radar.

Kirishima is a great character, but I’ve only ever seen him as a supportive bro. To EVERYONE in their class. Whichis precisely how Hori designed him: to be a compassionate/empathetic nice guywho bridges the gaps between the class with his vigorous enthusiasm and support(same role that Denki shares, by the way). And he fulfils this role splendidly.But he ALSO has his own insecurities and developing friendships with manyothers in the class – Denki, Mina, and Deku included. All of those people areimportant to him (and I’m cool with all their ships with him too). Kirishimadoes not solely revolve aroundBakugou.  

It’s true that near the beginning of the series, Bakugou was an angry loner,Kirishima trailed after him on his own accord, and after seeing his version of‘manliness’, decided to stick by him and support him, because Kiri saw thepositives of his character that ‘no one’ else bothered to see. (NOT true; Dekuhas always seen and admired Kacchan’spositive traits since they were children.)And so what’s canonically established is a budding friendship where Kirishimafulfils his given role to bridge gaps (whenever Bakugou strays away from theclass), essentially working as a rubber band plot device, and as a secondperspective – aka a fresh lens, for the audience to view Bakugou’s positivequalities.

All of this I’m cool with. I actually enjoyseeing their canon interactions and the kind of fun, slapstick way they bounceoff each other. (I even like the concept of Dragon!Kiri too!) BUT, it’s whenfanon starts twisting their canon relationship into shippy territory, that’swhere things start getting…ugly, at least for me.  

Remember, I’ve always only seen Kirishima as a supportive bro, and I MEAN that. They have the samered eyes. The same style of spikey hair. The same pumped up mannerisms whenthey get going. Too many similarities that rub me the wrong way when put in aromantic context. (The only difference is that one of them is the soft-hearted ‘niceguy,’ and the other is the outwardly prickly ‘asshole.’) To me, to ship them feels like the equivalentof taking the parallel ends of two polarized magnets: you can manually forcethem close together, but in the end, they cannot touch because the same ends ofmagnets naturally repel. Now, flip one of those magnets around (aka turn it intoDeku), and boom, the opposite ends attract with explosive force. And THAT ishow bkdk feels to me in comparison.

However, the kr/bk fandom doesn’t stop there. I know there exists plenty of fics about them, but I’ve never read any, and frankly, I never will, not even for curiosity’ssake. Because from the overabundance of otherfandom content, I already know what their ship dynamic is about. And it doesnot appeal to me at all.

Remember how I said Kacchan is my favorite. I do not appreciate when thefandom warps him into either a demonized or castrated caricature of himself –aka when they turn him into someone he most definitely is NOT, all for the sakeof a ship. Or worse: when they use Kiri’s relationship as a means of changingBakugou into a character they findmore appealing. NO. Even more worse: when they treat Kiri’s whole character as awalking plot device for ALL of Bakugou’s positive character development. Fuckno! Kirishima doesn’t deserve this dehumanizing treatment by the fans, andneither does my fav, getting subjected to this…betrayal to his whole character.

What am I talking about? When fans insist that Kiri is the ONLY personBakugou can be ‘nice’ to, outright forsaking or ignoring the canon developmentseither of them have with other characters – what about Denki, the rest of the‘Bakusquad’? Or Deku? Remember my dislike for ignoring the elephant in the room back in my spiel about td/dk?Well here, it’s infinitely times worse.

Because Kiri does not become aconvenient narrative replacement to ‘solve’ all of Bakugou’s problems or themeans to correct his bad behavior. It’s not even Kiri’s business orresponsibility to do so! (Same deal if Uraraka is shipped in Kiri’s place.) Hispresence doesn’t challenge Bakugou’s current conduct or world views to improvehimself as a better person, OR actively affect his drive to become the best hero.At most, Kiri endures the brunt of Bakugou’s outbursts when they happen(because he can harden with his quirk, he can ‘take’ it, and their banterbecomes ‘humorous’ and ‘harmless’…no, it absolutely does not) and amicably slides off any further implications with a ‘heyman, that’s not cool’, or excuses/accepts it with a ‘it’s fine because he’s justbeing himself.’ Now we have a situation where Kiri becomes a passive ‘butt-monkey’to Bakugou’s whims and actually enableshis unacceptable behavior to persist. And Bakugou somehow becomes fully invested in a single confidant who babies andpicks up after him (how the heck? no way would he allow himself to get ropedinto a relationship like that, if any at all. He’s strong and independent enoughto handle himself fine.). Even when it’s portrayed where Kiri is the ‘only’ oneBakugou’s nice to, they’d exist in a vacuum tunnel, sealed off from the influenceof others, and become a spiraling fester-hole of static development. None ofthese prospects are the ‘healthy’ long-term results that fandom seems to claimthey are. Tell me, if Bakugou was reallyan abusive character, would his behavior magically ‘fix’ itself simply thanksto Kiri’s passive influence or ‘the power of his understanding kindness and love’?The answer is a resounding and definite NO. The only person who can canonically stand up to Bakugou’s behavior (andnot brush it off), fundamentally challengehis world views and complexes, match him in equal and opposite intensity with themutual drive to be the best, and receivethe full extent of his turbulent feelings, is Deku.

This is what I’m referring to when I say fandom often ‘ignores the elephantin the room,’ because THIS (Deku and Kacchan’s relationship) is an established,ongoing and important core issue of the series itself, that many shippers wouldrather sideline for the priority, current gratification, and fluffy convenienceof an opposing ship. Aka, simply slap them together with the first nice friend theymeet (in both Todo and Baku’s cases, it’s the ‘too many eggs in one basket’problem again…), who will solve all their problems and work to ‘change’ theminto better people…somehow? No, that’s the case of unrealistic, wishful thinking bad writing andtaking the easy way out when something -the elephant in the room- is too challengingand complex to tackle head on. Thankfully, Hori IS tackling their story head onas purposely intended, so I don’t have to worry about canon jumping the sharkon the progress of their relationship.  

So, instead of Kiri being shipped with Bakugou, I much prefer him as a supportingcharacter (a supportive bro!!) who helps ease Bakugou into social/emotionalsituations that he’d normally avoid (which is how Hori originally designedhim??? to bridge those gaps -aka Bakugou’s loner distance - in the class) I’veread plenty of bkdk fics where Kiri becomes the mvp BECAUSE of his natural abilityto do this! With him as a much-needed wingman, voice of empathetic reason, and trustedsecond opinion who Bakugou can confide in to help confront his chronicemotional constipation over Deku. Shipperscan claim that Kiri helps Baku come to terms and become receptive to ‘softer,’ affectionatefeelings when they’re together, when it’s actually the opposite: Kiri becomes astepping stone for Bakugou to learn how to ‘make friends’ with other people whenthey’re apart. ‘Other people’ meaning: Denki, the ‘squad’, Todoroki, the restof the class…and most importantly, Deku.Let my son -Kacchan- learn how to form healthy, genuine relationships withpeople again, so he can gain the necessary experience and maturity to reproach hislifelong treatment of Deku and decide to patch up their relationship on his own terms. This, I feel, is a much more satisfyingoutcome and effective use of Kiri’s character, both in his involvement withBakugou and for the long-run benefit of the series itself.

But instead of seeing it this way, much of the (western) fandom overexaggerates the importance of Kiri and Baku’s relationship, to the point it notonly overshadows the content of other ships, but obfuscates the actual translated GEN contentof canon itself. (WHY!?!) I’m not even going to touch the propensity, hypocrisy, and irony of their shippers to harassand bully others for their opposing shipping preferences (that’s a whole other can of worms). Overall,it’s gotten so bad and obnoxiously rampant that I’ve been forced to block the ship tag for my own sanity and enjoyment of theseries. The ONLY time it’s ever beenrequired for me to use the blacklist function here, and that’s saying something.

Therefore: I support their friendship as supportive bros, but kr/bk as a ship was never on myradar. I’ve never shipped it, and I will notbecome interested in their potential as a pair. I used to be ok with seeing fan content of them around…until thefandom essentially and unfortunately soured it into a notp for me. Welp!   

And there we have it, my full opinion on both ships. I hope that satiatesanyone’s curiosity on the matter, as so far I’ve had plenty of personal reasonsto stay in my own lane and only show my avid support for bkdk. This I’ve confidently decided and I will continue todo so, for as long as I’m invested in the series.  

For some further reading and similar informed opinions:  

http://explodo-smash.tumblr.com/post/165154054112/not-to-pit-ships-against-one-another-but-i

http://explodo-smash.tumblr.com/post/163895267877/why-do-you-ship-bakugou-and-deku-if-its-abusive

http://tinyshinysylveon.tumblr.com/post/168731953134

https://punkbakugo.tumblr.com/post/170514358890/do-you-think-that-the-fandom-over-exaggerates

Also related: my opinions about Kac/chako. And Izu/Ocha.

Edit: now cross-posted on a03

[redrackham87]

What was your first ship, what ship do you hate most, and please rant about the Doctor Who ship of your choice!

what was your first ship, and what fandom is it from?

I’m pretty sure it was Han/Leia. My parents showed me Star Wars when I was quite young (I wanna say like, 7 or 8?) and I remember briefly having some nightmares about Darth Vader, but I got over it pretty quick, then watching the old trilogy fairly obsessively. I started writing my own novelizations of the movies, got extremely obsessed with Return of the Jedi, and Han and Leia’s various romantic moments. 

I don’t think I consciously “shipped” anything until I read Order of the Phoenix when it came out, and I decided Neville and Luna would be really great together - then shortly discovered fanfiction, Fiction Alley, and allll the HP ships I could possibly think of and more. XD

what ship do you hate most?

DISCLAIMER: shippers gonna ship, and I mean zero offense to anyone who enjoys ships I do not. Please skip if you ship because I have Feelings.

I have a very specific, long term hatred of Alex/Izzie from Grey’s Anatomy, and a big part of it honestly comes out of the fandom I was involved in at the time I was obsessed with Grey’s (circa season 4-5 airing). But I just reallllly have a lot of problems with the “romance” that was written for them in those seasons. And more so, the fact that Alex was consistently a horrible human but also consistently forgiven automatically by the fandom at large (and seemingly the writers) simply because Alex had a tough childhood/tragic past. News flash: having a horrible childhood does not excuse you for being a horrible person, and several of the characters had rough lives yet were either not horrible or not excused for their horrible moments, as Alex very, very often was.

I can understand why he is the way he is, but I cannot and will not excuse it, nor get behind him marrying a dying girl because he has the hots for her again (probably definitely because of his own personal issues and coming off a relationship where his previous girl went crazy and tried to commit suicide, because you know, LET’S MAKE IT AS TRAGIC AS POSSIBLE SO WE FEEL BAD or something). I cannot and will not get behind him then yelling at his current new wife all the time because she’s struggling with CANCER, and claiming she basically trapped him into marriage. And this isn’t even getting into him cheating on her when they first dated, nor her treating him poorly and pretty much using him when they went for it a second time, nor him ignoring her very obvious and very problematic symptoms that ultimately revealed her cancer, even though they were technically dating. Like it wasn’t a problem she was clearly acting crazy and claiming to be having sex with a ghost?! Like, that’s not a concern!?

Anyways, they wrote her horrifically by that point anyways, they killed the character I loved the most, everything was an over dramatic soap opera, and I had to quit watching for my mental health. XD

rant about [pairing]

I had to think about this for a bit, because I couldn’t really think of any pairing I passionately dislike enough to rant about. But: I super don’t get shipping Twelve and Clara. Or Twelve and anyone except River and maybe Missy, only because with Peter Capaldi’s age, it feels really squicky to me to ship him with anyone else. I realize that the Doctor is like 900 or 1200 years old, so really, shipping him with anyone is technically an incredible age gap. XD But even so, I just really don’t feel like they had that kind of chemistry, at all. Which is great and fine! Twelve didn’t have “that kind” of chemistry with Bill either, and they were an awesome pair. (I feel like Twelve and Clara’s episodes suffered in the writing department on the whole, which is no fault to them, and also an entirely different semi-rant. XD) I just cannot picture Twelve and Clara at all romantically, nor do I want to. XD

My other semi-rant is that I think a lot of people don’t have enough feels about Nine/Rose on the whole. Understandable when we had content like Doomsday and her ending up with TenTwo, to think of her as one unit/pair with Ten. But like her Nine tho! TALK ABOUT CHEMISTRY?! The entire Empty Child/Doctor Dances episodes are brimming with it, as well as of course the Bad Wolf finale. But like, consider that Nine came out of the War Doctor - he is fresh off the destruction of his entire race at that point. He is, in many ways, quite broken, but then this bubbly little shop girl shows up and I think the reason why Nine became Ten is because of him falling deeply in love with Rose. So ya, Nine/Rose is super, duper underrated!!

[winterferger]

A Fandom Health Advisory

Everyone has likes and dislikes, but are you unhappy with your fandom content to an unhealthy degree?  Do you get so disgusted with other people's ships that you feel like taking it out on someone?  Do you disagree with headcanons so much that you're not satisfied until you make that person feel bad for it?  When behavior moves beyond idle bitching to passive and active aggression, then you might be exhibiting signs of content control syndrome!

Symptoms range from mild to extreme:

Telling artists and writers that you like their art or fic but not the content of their work.  This includes the pairing, the character, or the way the character is presented.  

Contacting someone to insult them because of their content.

Telling someone their content is causing you deep emotional harm.

Posting hate under tags dedicated to loving a fandom, character, or ship to discourage fans.

Accusing someone of being amoral or abusive because of their content when there's no physical real world evidence of that person doing anything beyond using their imagination.

Doxxing a content creator and thereby taking away their control of their personal data.

Threatening to kill a creator or their pets and family.  Alternately, encouraging that creator to kill themselves.

Soliciting friends to gang up and also attack that creator so they have a mental health crisis and leave the fandom.

Contrary to popular belief, all of these symptoms do have the same source and if not caught early have been known to progress rapidly.  If left unchecked it will quickly alter you from someone merely annoyed to a legitimately bad person and will degrade the health of your fandom as creators of any sort leave.  Not just the ones you dislike.

Don't give in!  Take these steps before you're completely overtaken by content control symptom and contributing to a culture of dickbaggery.

Twitter: Add muted words and practice using block, 'show less of', unfollow the people that spawn recommendations, or mute. Tumblr: Add blocked tags.  Block or unfriend as necessary, even someone who reblogs content you hate but otherwise like.  I guarantee that person wouldn't want you attacking the creators they love and want to promote. AO3: Use preferences to turn off emails or notifications if writers you follow are producing content you don't like, use warnings under the work tags on the search page to filter out content you don't like, and take advantage of 'sort and filter' in the sidebar of work search results.

Google should give you plenty of help for other results if you continue to have abysmally low tolerance to fandom content.  Remember, everyone has things they hate, but your toxicity is the only thing you can control.

Disclaimer:  This doesn't count legitimate call out posts when someone is participating in something illegal or exploitative or intentionally promoting dangerous activities.  If you have trouble recognizing the difference, in a legitimate call out post victims can be named and have evidence and/or substantiating witnesses for their accounts.  If it’s only a fictional work that just exists and people may act stupid over independently of the creator’s intent or advice, than that doesn’t apply.

[oddsnendsfanfics]

Fall to Pieces

Genre: Fan Fiction Pairing: Jai Courtney/OFC (Roo) Warnings: Language Rating: PG13 Length: Short Story Disclaimer: a strict work of fiction, I own nothing except the original characters and the plot line. In no way am I affiliated to any of it.

A/N: Sorry that this took so freaking long, summer got busy and writer’s block still sucks hairy balls! 

Read:  Pick Me Up

"Honey, are you out here?" Jai called through the darkness, the air was chilled and he didn't recall seeing her in a sweat shirt or even long sleeves.

Shivering in the breeze, Jai made a noise that sounded something like a horse and a wounded elephant, fuck it because he didn't care. Another shiver ran through his body, in a heavy hoodie and sweat pants, surely if she were out here she'd be freezing.

"Roo? Come on, Roo!" Jai called into the dimly lit yard. "Honest to god, I swear th..." He paused when a hint of light caught his peripheral vision. The garage light was on and the small side door swung open. Being the last person in the garage, Jai knew that it had been left dark and all doors were shut tight.

His stride ate the grass as his slipper clad feet marched toward the large out building, silently cursing the situation at hand. Was there ever a moment in this family, where somebody wasn't throwing a tantrum or somebody wasn't pissed off by another person's life choices?

"Babe?" He poked his head inside the garage, relief washing over him, seeing his wife sitting in Denzi's big green wagon with a heavy sweater pulled up around her chin.

"What?" She snapped not bothering to look away from her feet. So that's where his high tops had gone.

"I wanted to make sure you were alright." Jai answered, lowering himself to sit on a kid sized skateboard. The same one that he'd demanded be picked up three days ago, the middle of the garage work space was not where such things belonged.

Grunting, she pulled her knees tighter to her chest.

"Why don't we go back inside, it's freezing out, and we can discuss this. Yeah?" Jai tried to coax her.

Everything had been a roller coaster this week, this evening was no exception, frankly Jai was tired and not in the best state to referee this right now.

"I can't do this," She sighed heavily. Her emotions difficult to read with the blank expression she wore. Her eyes were fixed on her feet and her body still. Jai wanted to fix all of this, to say some magic word and have it all erased.

They hadn't prepared for this, their own misjudgment, and it had been proving more difficult than either one had expected. Inside they had a house full of family, waiting for and no doubt gossiping about the husband and wife. Everything about this had been a risk and they had willingly accepted that, knowing that their actions were their own and in some ways there would be a consequence.

This consequence was beyond something neither had predicted.

Earlier in the day, while playing hide and seek with her grandson, Karen had taken note of a photo hanging in the master bedroom. A room which was never strictly off limits, providing Denzi followed the specific instructions and rules, giving way for anyone – within reason – to enter. The closet in the master was the perfect place to hide, with the shelves and chaos of clothing. Tucked behind a big suitcase, Denzi would be impossible to find. Or hidden under the king sized bed, his faithful Dorito laying on the floor beside him in waiting.

The photo in question was in no way professional, nor was it of the best quality, but they hadn't cared when Jai had taken it to be printed. An assigned witness had managed to capture the photo, via a cell phone, of a happy man kissing his bride. From an objective point, the photo was nothing more than the couple embraced in a sweet moment. From a mother's point, the small details gave it a different story.

"I knew we should have just left that photo in the closet," She grumbled inspecting her finely manicured, sparkly nails.

"Oh come on, Roo," Jai scoffed. "It's the only fucking wedding photo we have. I'm not hiding it in the damn closet, besides how were we to know my mum would see it?"

"It's in our bedroom, on the wall, anyone who walks by can see it."

Naturally, Karen had asked a few questions in regards to the photo. Stating how lovely it was and that she must have a copy, assuring his mother that she and Cora would both get a copy, Jai had given it little to no thoughts.

They were going to break the happy news over dinner, anyway, what did it matter if his mother had saw a photo?

"What photo is that?" She narrowed her gaze in a suspicious stare.

"The one on our wall," Jai cleared his throat, taking a sip from the coffee in his hand.

"The one over the dresser," Karen cut in, "Have you seen it, Cora? I love it! It's just so...them!"

Side eyeing her daughter, Cora nodded, placing her glass of wine on the counter top. "Where was that one taken? I don't remember seeing that dress, I like it though, the purple looked great."

Lightening on her feet, she had found the perfect excuse to feed the prying mothers. A simple dinner of accolades for her boss, a semi-formal evening that called for such a dress, but nothing overly extravagant. Before she could spin another lie, Jai stepped to the plate in what he knew would be an outta the park hit.

Slinging his arm around her shoulder, he kissed her on the temple, beaming as he spoke. "It's our wedding photo."

Easy going, fun loving, always happy to go with the flow Cora had been the one to pitch the fit. Demanding answers and reasons straight away. Hands on her hips, lips pursed, eyes rimmed with tears of betrayal, she wasted no time expressing her anger and upset to her daughter.

If they thought the fit over the wedding was shameful, adding the news of a baby had only fueled the Cora fire.

Assuring her mother that this wasn't the time, nor the place, she had almost reached the end of her rope when Cora insisted this was nothing more than her daughter's typical bullshit. Getting pregnant, getting married, and getting a divorce before the end of next year because that was just how she did things.

People said things when they were hurt or angry.

Jai was trying hard not to take any of it personal.

Furthermore, he was trying very hard not to lose it at Cora, for the upset she was causing his wife.

Cora could be dealt with later. Once everyone had calmed down and the news had settled, then Jai could talk with her. Until then, he knew better than to try and get between the two women engaged in the argument which landed him and his wife hiding in the garage.

"Oh fuck, Jai," she sniffled, wiping her nose on the tissue, "How do we fix this?"

"I have no idea, Roo, but we'll sort it out. Your mum is just a little upset."

"But it's supposed to be your mother, my mom doesn't get upset."

His parents had handled this beautifully. His father had kept all and any opinions to himself, a wise move, directing his attention to his grandson. Announcing it was time to go watch a video, Chris had grabbed some snacks ad ushered Denzi off to the den. Snacks may be the only dinner the little boy was getting, if this went too long.

Then there was his mother. Karen had sat at the table, one hand with a death grip on her wine glass and another on the bottle. She didn't speak, she didn't move unless it was to pour another glass.

"Well," He bit the inside of his cheek, trying to sort his words and thoughts in order to avoid a fight. "My parents have just gotten used to me doing shit and never telling them. You tell your mum everything, babe. It's not a bad thing, I should really tell my parents more, but this is big and your mum has a right to be upset by it."

In no way did Jai want to sound as though he was defending, or justifying, Cora's outburst. Quickly adding that he was less than impressed with some of the snarks at his character.

"I can't believe my mother," She growled with a cold glare at the wall. "She has no right to say what she did, my life is my life. Whatever we choose to do is our choice, it shouldn't matter when or how we decided to get married or have a baby."

Rubbing his hands over his face, Jai grunted. Cora was in shock, that didn't mean he would let her comparison of him and her ex son in law go. Cora knew how Jai felt about his wife's first marriage and her ex husband.

People would assume and talk, when they heard that the pregnancy and marriage happened almost simultaneously, their family and close friends didn't have to be among those gossiping. Jai thought the world of Cora, to hear her belittle him and his loyalty and love had been like a boot to the gut.

"She owes you a big fucking apology," She wiped her hand across her nose, "How dare she! I'm an adult and even if I did want to get married, again, because I was pregnant that isn't her business. Tomorrow, she is apologizing to you and I am going to make sure it happens. Oh, Jai, I'm sorry."

"Babe," He scooted closer, his hand rubbing hers, "You've nothing to apologize for. Your mum has to make her own apology."

"She knows that you're nothing like him, I know that you're nothing like him." Her whispered words floated through the cold air, almost unheard. "Jai,"

"Hmm?" He kissed the back of her hand.

"I love you and you know that I married you, because of that, nothing else. Right?" Her eyes were red rimmed and her tone made her sound like a timid mouse.

"I know," Jai replied with another chaste kiss on her hand, quietly expressing his own love.

"And my dad," She swallowed hard, shaking her head to try and stop the second flood of tears. "My dad wouldn't have said a fucking thing, against this. She can't ask me what he'd think, because I know as long as I was happy, he would be too."

The only thing her father would have disliked about Jai Courtney was his profession. He worked with actors every day and they weren't always his favourite people; she'd heard enough of his complaints on how they were spoiled, ego maniacs, who wouldn't know faithful if it hit them in the dick.

However, if Jai was the man who made his little girl happy, then her father would never speak such opinions.

"He was upset the first time, but really looking back," She huffed, "I probably should have listened to him."

Cora had stepped over a line, throwing her late husband at their daughter, who was Jai to dispute any of those words? Jai hadn't known the man, nor could he speak freely for him.

"We all make mistakes." Jai muttered feeling a heaviness in his chest. "I don't think this, us, as being one."

Between the two of them they would figure all of this out and make the best of it, as they always did. A crisp knock on the side door startled Jai and rattled the window beside it. Beckoning for the intruder to enter, Jai waited with baited breath, to see who their guest on the other side was.

"I don't mean to interrupt," Jai relaxed seeing his mother.

"You're not." Jai assured her.

"Good, um, Jai. Sweetheart, Denzi wants you to read his bedtime story." Karen smiled softly at her son, "Why don't you head in and put him to bed?"

"Get dad to read it, the joey will love that," Jai replied shifting on the skateboard posing as a bench. "I'm a little busy."

"Jai, you should do it. We've all had a big day and I think Denzi just needs his father, right now." Karen's words indicated that she was in no mood for her grown son to back talk her.

"Mum..."

"Jai, your son is waiting. Go."

"Babe?" Jai squeezed her hand tightly.

Wiping her sleeve across her nose, she coughed to release a lump in her throat from all of the crying. "It's fine, just go put him to bed."

"You're sure?" Jai asked, loosening his grip on her hand. A rasped "yes" answered his question. "Okay," He groaned trying to get up from the skateboard. His bones ached in the chill, hating to admit it at almost 32, Jai was getting older.

"Your dad has him in bed, he's waiting for you." Karen kissed her son's cheek on the way out.

In the garage the air remained cold and the short silence was deafening. Secretly, she wished Karen would turn around and follow her son back into the house. The last thing she wanted or needed was a lecture from her mother in law, on how she was some sort of tart. Ugh, what she wouldn't give for a stiff drink, right now.

"I'm sorry about all of this. Whatever you have to say, go ahead. I know, we've fucked up and made a mess, and we've ruined our lives." She mumbled from her seat in the plastic wagon. Might as well get this over with. "My mother is pissed, you may as well be too."

Jai was a mommy's boy, despite what he'd have people believe, and whatever Karen said would be out of love for her son.

"Nobody has said that you've fucked up, and I doubt your mother is pissed. She did leave, though. Richie managed to find a room at the Plaza. He said to give you his love." Karen pulled a clean-ish looking bucket across the floor to sit on. Not missing the eye roll and scoff that met her previous words. "Cora is shocked and that has caused some upset, but I don't know that she's pissed."

"And you? Hmm?"

Was Karen impressed by this? No. Was she mad that her baby decided to get married without her? Yes! Was she pissed, because he'd found someone he loved and wanted to be with? Never. Neither was Cora. Deep down, Karen knew that Cora was just as pleased as she was that these two had finally for their shit together.

"I'm surprised, yes. For fuck's sake, I'm shocked it took him this long." the older woman laughed. "Sweetheart, there is no sense in being mad, what will it change? At the end of all this, you're still going to be married and you'll still be the mother of my grand kids."

"I'm sorry, I really am."

"Sorry for what? For finding a man you love, who loves you? For wanting to start a family and be happy? Oh, for fuck's sake, Love." Karen sighed at the needless apologies. "We've all seen this coming from miles away. I knew when he bought this place," she waved a hand gesturing to the house, "it wasn't because he wanted a fancy place for Denzi to play around. They were happy in that damn apartment, but he knew that place would ever sway you. Not like this one."

"I'm not a gold digger." She furrowed her brow, defending her honour – or what seemed to be left.

"Of course not, I never meant to imply that, I apologize." Karen smiled, "Jai wasn't thinking of money, when he bought this house."

Karen knew her son well enough, she had known all along that this gesture was more to him than preserving some memory of friendship. Buying this house – the place where they'd met – was a tell tale sign that he'd been looking for a lot more.

"Jai has been in love with you for a long time, he may not have said it but the signs were there. Jai has never brought a girl home, who he didn't have feelings for. The trips to visit while he worked, the endless hours talking to and about you, my god he was relentless."

There had never been a more truthful statement. Jai had been like a damn dog with a bone and she had managed to stay blind, how stupid was she?

Slouching on the bucket, Karen tapped her foot on the concrete flooring of the garage. "I'm only going to ask one thing, one thing only, from you." She pointed at the woman in the wagon. "Look me in the eye, tell me that you love my son, and that is all I will need."

Her forehead creased in a solid wrinkle, her brows knit tightly together. "What?"

"Do you love my son?" Karen prompted with a half shrug.

"Are you being serious? Of course I love him, I...I love him and it scares me at how much I do. Jai is one of the best things to have happened."

"Then what does it matter what anyone else thinks?"

[james-senpai]

On Gency

Okay, because some people have issues with Gency, I thought I’d compile a lil list of arguments that I find against Gency and why I think they’re bullshit. Disclaimer; The ship isn’t canon yet, this is refering to fan complaints, and everything below is my own interpretation of the current lore and character dynamics between the two. This is not a case FOR Gency, rather just debunking some of the toxic shit I’ve seen thrown at it. (long post incoming) TL;DR: if you have another opinion, you’re free to have it. Just try to stay on topic and don’t drag anything into it that doesn’t belong (’homophobia in OW’, current real world issues, that kinda shit) Oh, also I’m going to overlook the “It’s a het ship, so it’s boring�� argument, because while I’ve seen it enough to tear y’all a new one over it, I’mma let it slide because that would be too easy to destroy (but I’ll get to that later) 1. Gency is abusive  Nowhere cited or stated. The largest asspull I’ve seen. Don’t have much to say about it since the people I’ve noticed who use this excuse can’t provide any other reason than this simple phrase. 2. Genji didn’t consent to what Mercy did to him This is like getting in a car wreck, going to a doctor, them saving your life, and then turning around and yelling at them for doing their job. Genji was injured, Overwatch picked him up, Mercy as chief medic of OW saved him, as per her job description. Genji probably didn’t want to die there either. He was a playboy at the time, so I imagine that that moment was one of clarity for him, realizing that he never truly lived for anything worthwhile and if being brought back as a part-cyborg would enable him to do so, then he’d do it. 3. OW used Genji to attack his family Again, nowhere stated or implied. It’s stated that Genji used his abilities to dismantle his family’s criminal empire, but never that Genji went on a vendetta against his family. Genji’s no idiot and was probably well aware of the things his family was doing to ensure that he lived the playboy lifestyle he enjoyed for most of his life, but never really cared until they turned against him. After being saved from death, logic would dictate that he’d have some resentment against his family for the criminal shit they were pulling and would’ve gone after them anyway even if working for OW wasn’t a part of the deal. 4. Genji hated his body, and therefore hated Mercy Another asspull and something people try to use to demonize Mercy. Genji’s hatred of himself stems from that: HIMSELF. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen anyone who’s disabled to the point of losing a part of themselves, but it really takes a toll on one’s mental state, self-worth, self-image and esteem. The stress of losing his ENTIRE body coupled with the betrayal of his family more than likely left him disillusioned with the world and his place in it. And as common for men, he found peace in something greater than himself. It’s why he’s so willing to write Mercy and keep touch with her through writing. After he has found peace with himself, he realizes how grateful he is to Mercy for saving him and giving him a chance to live for something greater than himself. Even without canon romantics, it’s genuinely touching to see one character grateful for what they once took for granted and were repulsed at. 5. Mercy had no say in saving Genji Mercy’s designation is the chief medical doctor of Overwatch. Last time I checked, a doctor’s JOB is to SAVE LIVES. Angela strikes me as the kind of person who does what she does, not out of obligation, but because she wants to save lives and make the world a better place. Even if you want to go with the excuse that OW MADE her save him, odds are she would’ve done it anyway because that’s who she is. 6. Mercy turned Genji into a killing machine Genji was ALREADY a trained ninja, so also bullshit. While he did indulge in a frivolous lifestyle, he was still able to contend with Hanzo and fight him off to the point where it wasn’t a one-sided slaughter. The fact that Genji lived AT ALL after their fight is proof of his abilities and skill. The cybernetic makeover they gave him had the primary purpose of saving his life, but because they are naturally more efficient than human limbs, they inadvertently BOOSTED his already stupidly skilled body even beyond what he could do before. TL;DR, the cybernetics didn’t suddenly make him a ‘killing machine’, Genji did. also he’s not a ‘machine’, as he still retains morality and free will. 7. Mercy is evil and a white savior The evil part has already been debunked by the creators, but the ‘White Savior’ bit is really confusing to me. She’s a doctor, so her job is to literally SAVE LIVES. LIKE I HATE TO BREAK FLOW HERE, READER, BUT WHERE THE HELL DID THIS EVEN COME FROM? THE BLONDE HAIR AND BLUE EYES?? SHE’S SWEDISH! LIKE ????? Worst asspull and people just resorting to spitting insults at a character. 8. Genji is a self-insert OC so the writer can live out his dreams of fucking Mercy Yeah, because as if implying that an Asian writer wants to plow his character ISN’T racist. ok. Every character that has ever existed is an OC. And honestly, this is one of the most disgusting pulls I have seen to come out of some people’s mouths. Think before you speak, like damn... 9. The writer is homophobic and favors a straight ship over LGBT representation He’s also the guy responsible for making the comic that revealed OW’s flagship character as gay. I’m not surprised that you missed it though because, while everyone else was celebrating this fact, y’all were complaining about Genji and Mercy writing one another. While he might enjoy the ship, he has also gone on record saying that people should enjoy what they love, regardless of canon. 10. Mercy has a savior complex Side note, but I find it funny how people will say stuff like this and then turn around and ship Mercy with anyone else. Like that makes it better... Again, DOCTOR, SAVES LIVES, HELPS PEOPLE. She doesn’t do what she does out of obligation, otherwise she wouldn’t even be active after OW disbanded, but because she genuinely cares about the good of others, even to the point of disagreeing with OW from time to time and helping those afflicted by war.

11. The patient/doctor relationship is weird and gross Newsflash! EVERYONE who has actively served in OW has at some point been Mercy’s patient. So if you go by that logic, you can no longer ship her with ANYONE in the game who has ties to OW.

12. It’s a poorly-written ship Of course it’s going to be poorly written when it isn’t even CANON yet. Look, bottom line is all we have right now for them that’s concrete is canon story connections, sweet fluff in game and out of game, and voicelines that tie into those story ties. No canon comic dedicated to them, no animated short. At the end of the day, that’s what people are sending death threats over: canon fluff and connections. 13. It’s a boring ship This one bugs me and it’s probably where I’m going to close with. I’ve seen this the most, even without the ‘het’ label (because bi, pans, demi people TOTALLY don’t exist yeah?) but that it’s ‘boring’. This, at the end of the day, is an opinion, but a very unfair one.  ANY PAIRING CAN BE BORING. ANY RELATIONSHIP CAN BE BORING, EVEN GAY ONES. WHAT MAKES A PAIRING INTERESTING, A RELATIONSHIP DYNAMIC, AND CHARACTERS INTERESTING ARE THE WAYS IN WHICH A PAIRING IS HANDLED, A RELATIONSHIP FLESHED OUT, AND CHARACTERS DEFINED, ALL OF WHICH OW’S CAST OF CHARACTERS ARE DESPITE NOT HAVING DEDICATED COMICS AND SHORTS TO EVERYONE. They have likes, dislikes, dynamics and themes, stories and agendas, motivations and convictions, and small bits and pieces in between. All of which makes them engaging and interesting characters that we as the audience WANT to learn more about. We WANT to see Lucio get a short because he’s a great and lovable character with a cause that he’s fighting for. We WANT a McCree short because of his past, his convictions in his time with Blackwatch, and want to see what he’s going to do next. And we LOVED the Reflections comic because, for the first time that I can remember, we saw Tracer get revealed as gay and it DIDN’T remove from her being a bad-ass, wise cracking adventurer who believes that the world could always use more heroes. What I’m getting at is if you think ship X is boring, then it tells me two things about you. Either 1.) You haven’t looked hard enough or 2.) You haven’t seen what someone who’s GOOD can do Because I have loved ships simply because of the heart and soul fans put into them. I love Symetrat because someone wrote a hella good fic that fleshed out their characters, explored the dynamics between their differences, and presented them, for lack of a better word, flawlessly. I’ve loved the sheer amount of sweetness in the art I’ve seen in the Pharmercy tag and loved the dynamic of McHanzo, two roamers looking for peace in their own way. I even loved Widowtracer, two opposing forces and ideologies, melding, clashing, and learning. And I love Gency because it’s different from the ‘guy saves girl trope’, it EMPOWERS Mercy, gives Genji a turning point in his life, and creates a dynamic friendship between the two characters that, even if it never reaches romantic canon, will always be one of my favorite character dynamics in gaming. I’ve seen it in and out of Overwatch and to several fandoms beyond. We as fans can do some pretty amazing shit when we’re not engaging in ship wars and tearing out the throats of our creators, things that can genuinely touch and impact other people’s lives in new and profound ways, add relateability  to already relatable characters, and flesh out stories and dynamics and relationships even after the official story is over, all while offering a new perspective on characters we already know and love. What I’m getting at, and will close on, is that the ship isn’t boring. You are

[redrackham87]

Salty Asks: 7, 9, 21

OKAY HERE WE GO. 

7. Is there anythingyou used to like but can’t stand now?*

There’s defs been some books/movies/shows along the way thatI remember loving but upon revisiting, are just noooot good (and because tasteschange and I’ve been exposed to so much more quality stuff etc etc). But twothings came to mind right away:

1. Big Bang Theory2. Star Wars Prequels

To be clear, I don’t hate the prequels – I actually stillrather love them, in a way, and it’s super easy to beat them up because theyare extremely problematic for so manyreasons. But I love so many things they triedto do. So “can’t stand” is too strong, but I used to be 10/10 obsessed and thought Attack of the Clones was pure magic (I was young and naive, friends) and now I know better. XD

BUT BIG BANG. I think they were just starting their 4thseason or so, and I binged the first 3. I thought they were super funny and Ireally liked it (except Leonard – I super, superdid not like Leonard, ever, he is the ACTUAL WORST). Then I took a break and started season 4.It just felt like they took the things that had been funny and started usingthem constantly instead of casually (which is why those elements were funny inthe first place), and I just got really irritated with a lot of decisions/moments/character things rightaway – things that had been present in those first few seasons but I either didn’t notice or didn’t mind, but now wereglaringly obviously bad things that I could not get past or ignore any longer (see: Leonard’s treatment of Penny, ever, in any episode, for starters). Anyways, I ended upquitting it in a hurry, and I get super annoyed when I see promos of certainthings happening and ya. I had a brief high love followed by a long lastingstrong dislike. XD

 9. Most dislikedcharacter(s)? Why?

 Alex Karev, of Grey’s Anatomy.

Look, it’s not like he’s a sadistic, murdering craphole oranything (Joffrey), but he is consistentlyan absolute jerk, who – and I am speaking from seasons 1-6, so this does notapply if he was magically redeemed/changed after that – was manipulative,whiny, and a total a-hole, but consistently excusedfor it, by writers and fandom alike (fandom especially). I am perfectly finewith ahole characters and “bad boys with hearts of gold” and whatever else, ifthey’re written so we understand thembut do not necessarily excuse them, orif we see some form of growth, even if they backslide (Sawyer, Lost). Thedifference is huge to me. Saying “well Alex had a bad childhood” by way ofexplaining why he lashes out at people he cares about or makes horribledecisions does not justify it. Nearly all of the core characters had badchildhoods in one way or another – Meredith’s mom, Cristina’s mom/losing herdad, Izzie’s trailer park life – yet they firstly, don’t act like completejerks constantly, and if they do, they’re not excused for it. When Izzie had actual brain cancer, Alex managed to yellat her about it and make it about him, and fandom smoothed it over as “well he’sfrustrated and overwhelmed and it’s hard”. Absolutely he is, of course hissituation is! It still doesn’t give him the right to treat her like crap – his supposedsignificant other of that time.

I could legit write an essay about this so I’m just going topull back now before I go into full on rage mode. XD

Also: Leonard from Big Bang. He’s annoying, whiny, entitled, blend of bad stereotypes, treats Penny horrifically, suffers from that (Not Actually Nice) Nice Guy thing, etc. Just, big no, thanks. 

21. Whatare your thoughts on crack ships?

I feel like…. How crack-y are we talkin? Because if we’retalking like, characters from different fandoms who will literally never everinteract but they’d made a good pair, I’m 100% in. 

If we’re talking twocharacters in the same fandom who canonically have no chance of being together butyou can find a plausible, in character scenario where they could? Gimme. I adore seeing different dynamics exploredand I literally love it when peoplethink “if they DID get together, HOW could/would they”, and proceed to come upwith a plausible AU. And even if it’s an insane pairing, I might sill give it achance, depending on the tags XD. RARE PAIRS ARE FUN!!

But if we’re talking like, Tony Stark/Giant Squid orVoldemort/Dobby or something, then Dear Lord, no thank you. To each their own,but no thanks.

So… I guess semi-reasonable crack!? XD

~

(Disclaimer: if you love these things, coolio! But they’re just not for me and let’s agree to disagree, I still love you. ;D)