#i honestly don’t know whose interpretations i like best because i enjoy them all for separate reasons. Bob McKimsons i think are

[ducktracy]

Watching Looney Tunes on HBO Max, and never realized just how fun his Porky and Daffies can be. Any shorts of his that you’re a fan of in particular?

OH GEEZ not sure who exactly you’re referring to here so i hope you don’t mind me being very general :’) I REALLY DO LIKE 99% OF PORKY AND DAFFY SHORTS i’m super biased but there’s like… only two or three i can think of that i DON’T like and it’s either because it’s racist or has made-in-the-mid-60s disease

SOME OF MY FAVORITES THOUGH… i’m particularly fond of Baby Bottleneck, Porky Pig’s Feat, Daffy Doodles, My Favorite Duck, Tom Turk and Daffy, You Ought to Be in Pictures, Yankee Doodle Daffy, Porky’s Last Stand, Daffy Duck Slept Here, Riff Raffy Daffy, Boobs in the Woods, Duck Soup to Nuts, Fool Coverage… IT REALLY IS HARD TO NARROW THEM DOWN. i feel they’re so versatile and every director has such a unique spin on the dynamic and there are so many WAYS in which the dynamic can be spun but is still anchored, and that versatility is WHY i like their cartoons so much.

guess it really depends on what sort of dynamic YOU prefer for them! Bob McKimson has quite a fun repertoire of more antagonistic cartoons towards each other, Chuck Jones’ dynamic duo interpretation of the ‘50s is nice, Friz Freleng strikes a great balance with his antagonistic/befuddled Porky and heckler/sophisticate Daffy… Bob Clampett’s Baby Bottleneck is my personal favorite team-up of the two because i think it strikes a really effective balance between the dynamic duo partnership and antagonistic heckling. likewise, Porky Pig’s Feat i think is one of the best cartoons put out by the studio and is easily one of Porky and Daffy’s best as a whole

their relationship as a whole has so many nuances and different interpretations that it’s hard to pin down as just “this director directs them THIS way and this way only”, but there are very few Porky and Daffy shorts that i’d tell people NOT to watch

[qqueenofhades]

Hi. I’m curious. What did you mean by “women who read fiction might get Bad Ideas!!!” has just reached its latest and stupidest form via tumblr purity culture.? I haven’t seen any of this but I’m new to tumblr.

Oh man. You really want to get me into trouble on, like, my first day back, don’t you?

Pretty much all of this has been explained elsewhere by people much smarter than me, so this isn’t necessarily going to say anything new, but I’ll do my best to synthesize and summarize it. As ever, it comes with the caveat that it is my personal interpretation, and is not intended as the be-all, end-all. You’ll definitely run across it if you spend any time on Tumblr (or social media in general, including Twitter, and any other fandom-related spaces). This will get long.

In short: in the nineteenth century, when Gothic/romantic literature became popular and women were increasingly able to read these kinds of novels for fun, there was an attendant moral panic over whether they, with their weak female brains, would be able to distinguish fiction from reality, and that they might start making immoral or inappropriate choices in their real life as a result. Obviously, there was a huge sexist and misogynistic component to this, and it would be nice to write it off entirely as just hysterical Victorian pearl-clutching, but that feeds into the “lol people in the past were all much stupider than we are today” kind of historical fallacy that I often and vigorously shut down. (Honestly, I’m not sure how anyone can ever write the “omg medieval people believed such weird things about medicine!” nonsense again after what we’ve gone through with COVID, but that is a whole other rant.) The thinking ran that women shouldn’t read novels for fear of corrupting their impressionable brains, or if they had to read novels at all, they should only be the Right Ones: i.e., those that came with a side of heavy-handed and explicit moralizing so that they wouldn’t be tempted to transgress. Of course, books trying to hammer their readers over the head with their Moral Point aren’t often much fun to read, and that’s not the point of fiction anyway. Or at least, it shouldn’t be.

Fast-forward to today, and the entire generation of young, otherwise well-meaning people who have come to believe that being a moral person involves only consuming the “right” kind of fictional content, and being outrageously mean to strangers on the internet who do not agree with that choice. There are a lot of factors contributing to this. First, the advent of social media and being subject to the judgment of people across the world at all times has made it imperative that you demonstrate the “right” opinions to fit in with your peer-group, and on fandom websites, that often falls into a twisted, hyper-critical, so-called “progressivism” that diligently knows all the social justice buzzwords, but has trouble applying them in nuance, context, and complicated real life. To some extent, this obviously is not a bad thing. People need to be critical of the media they engage with, to know what narratives the creator(s) are promoting, the tropes they are using, the conclusions that they are supporting, and to be able to recognize and push back against genuinely harmful content when it is produced – and this distinction is critical – by professional mainstream creators. Amateur, individual fan content is another kettle of fish. There is a difference between critiquing a professional creator (though social media has also made it incredibly easy to atrociously abuse them) and attacking your fellow fan and peer, who is on the exact same footing as you as a consumer of that content.

Obviously, again, this doesn’t mean that you can’t call out people who are engaging in actually toxic or abusive behavior, fans or otherwise. But certain segments of Tumblr culture have drained both those words (along with “gaslighting”) of almost all critical meaning, until they’re applied indiscriminately to “any fictional content that I don’t like, don’t agree with, or which doesn’t seem to model healthy behavior in real life” and “anyone who likes or engages with this content.” Somewhere along the line, a reactionary mindset has been formed in which the only fictional narratives or relationships are those which would be “acceptable” in real life, to which I say…. what? If I only wanted real life, I would watch the news and only read non-fiction. Once again, the underlying fear, even if it’s framed in different terms, is that the people (often women) enjoying this content can’t be trusted to tell the difference between fiction and reality, and if they like “problematic” fictional content, they will proceed to seek it out in their real life and personal relationships. And this is just… not true.

As I said above, critical media studies and thoughtful consumption of entertainment are both great things! There have been some great metas written on, say, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how it is increasingly relying on villains who have outwardly admirable motives (see: the Flag Smashers in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) who are then stigmatized by their anti-social, violent behavior and attacks on innocent people, which is bad even as the heroes also rely on violence to achieve their ends. This is a clever way to acknowledge social anxieties – to say that people who identify with the Flag Smashers are right, to an extent, but then the instant they cross the line into violence, they’re upsetting the status quo and need to be put down by the heroes. I watched TFATWS and obviously enjoyed it. I have gone on a Marvel re-watching binge recently as well. I like the MCU! I like the characters and the madcap sci-fi adventures! But I can also recognize it as a flawed piece of media that I don’t have to accept whole-cloth, and to be able to criticize some of the ancillary messages that come with it. It doesn’t have to be black and white.

When it comes to shipping, moreover, the toxic culture of “my ship is better than your ship because it’s Better in Real Life” ™ is both well-known and in my opinion, exhausting and pointless. As also noted, the whole point of fiction is that it allows us to create and experience realities that we don’t always want in real life. I certainly enjoy plenty of things in fiction that I would definitely not want in reality: apocalyptic space operas, violent adventures, and yes, garbage men. A large number of my ships over the years have been labeled “unhealthy” for one reason or another, presumably because they don’t adhere to the stereotype of the coffee-shop AU where there’s no tension and nobody ever makes mistakes or is allowed to have serious flaws. And I’m not even bagging on coffee-shop AUs! Some people want to remove characters from a violent situation and give them that fluff and release from the nonstop trauma that TV writers merrily inflict on them without ever thinking about the consequences. Fanfiction often focuses on the psychology and healing of characters who have been through too much, and since that’s something we can all relate to right now, it’s a very powerful exercise. As a transformative and interpretive tool, fanfic is pretty awesome.

The problem, again, comes when people think that fic/fandom can only be used in this way, and that going the other direction, and exploring darker or complicated or messy dynamics and relationships, is morally bad. As has been said before: shipping is not activism. You don’t get brownie points for only having “healthy” ships (and just my personal opinion as a queer person, these often tend to be heterosexual white ships engaging in notably heteronormative behavior) and only supporting behavior in fiction that you think is acceptable in real life. As we’ve said, there is a systematic problem in identifying what that is. Ironically, for people worried about Women Getting Ideas by confusing fiction and reality, they’re doing the same thing, and treating fiction like reality. Fiction is fiction. Nobody actually dies. Nobody actually gets hurt. These people are not real. We need to normalize the idea of characters as figments of a creator’s imagination, not actual people with their own agency. They exist as they are written, and by the choice of people whose motives can be scrutinized and questioned, but they themselves are not real. Nor do characters reflect the author’s personal views. Period.

This feeds into the fact that the internet, and fandom culture, is not intended as a “safe space” in the sense that no questionable or triggering content can ever be posted. Archive of Our Own, with its reams of scrupulous tagging and requests for you to explicitly click and confirm that you are of age to see M or E-rated content, is a constant target of the purity cultists for hosting fictional material that they see as “immoral.” But it repeatedly, unmistakably, directly asks you for your consent to see this material, and if you then act unfairly victimized, well… that’s on you. You agreed to look at this, and there are very few cases where you didn’t know what it entailed. Fandom involves adults creating contents for adults, and while teenagers and younger people can and do participate, they need to understand this fact, rather than expecting everything to be a PG Disney movie.

When I do write my “dark” ships with garbage men, moreover, they always involve a lot of the man being an idiot, being bluntly called out for an idiot, and learning healthier patterns of behavior, which is one of the fundamental patterns of romance novels. But they also involve an element of the woman realizing that societal standards are, in fact, bullshit, and she can go feral every so often, as a treat. But even if I wrote them another way, that would still be okay! There are plenty of ships and dynamics that I don’t care for and don’t express in my fic and fandom writing, but that doesn’t mean I seek out the people who do like them and reprimand them for it. I know plenty of people who use fiction, including dark fiction, in a cathartic way to process real-life trauma, and that’s exactly the role – one of them, at least – that fiction needs to be able to fulfill. It would be terribly boring and limited if we were only ever allowed to write about Real Life and nothing else. It needs to be complicated, dark, escapist, unreal, twisted, and whatever else. This means absolutely zilch about what the consumers of this fiction believe, act, or do in their real lives.

Once more, I do note the misogyny underlying this. Nobody, after all, seems to care what kind of books or fictional narratives men read, and there’s no reflection on whether this is teaching them unhealthy patterns of behavior, or whether it predicts how they’ll act in real life. (There was some of that with the “do video games cause mass shootings?”, but it was a straw man to distract from the actual issues of toxic masculinity and gun culture.) Certain kinds of fiction, especially historical fiction, romance novels, and fanfic, are intensely gendered and viewed as being “women’s fiction” and therefore hyper-criticized, while nobody’s asking if all the macho-man potboiler military-intrigue tough-guy stereotypical “men’s fiction” is teaching them bad things. So the panic about whether your average woman on the internet is reading dark fanfic with an Unhealthy Ship (zomgz) is, in my opinion, misguided at best, and actively destructive at worst.

[adiarosefandoms]

Spiderman No Way Home: Thoughts/Reactions Pt. 1

I actually gave you all seven days before posting my No Way Home fangirl scribblings, but here we go. Just to reiterate, if you have not seen Spiderman No Way Home, you DO NOT want to read this post. I swear, I am the last girl to lecture one on avoiding spoilers since I tend to actually seek them out like a fool, but this is a movie that if you love Spiderman, if you love the MCU, if you love Marvel, if to any extent you are interested in seeing the movie, you don’t want to be spoiled. You want to run to the theaters and watch it. Now with that said, enjoy my rantings.

GENERAL

You can see Dum-E in Happy’s apartment which is adorable. I don’t think we’ve seen him on screen since Iron Man 3 when Tony pulled him out of the water after the house was attacked and much of it fell into the ocean.

The blind lawyer with the red oval glasses in case you didn’t know, is Daredevil, whose real identity is the lawyer, Matt Murdock. It seems he took a break from protecting Hell’s Kitchen to help out Spiderman. And to please the fans, it’s the same actor who played Daredevil in the tv show. The alternatives would have been Affleck (shudder), or hiring a new guy, but many were pleased with the tv shows interpretation of the man without fear.

 It’s about damn time J. Jonah Jameson was added to the MCU, and there is no doubt that it was the right move to keep JK Simmons and his brilliant mustache in that role.

THE VILLAINS

Osbourn’s hoodie costume is a wonderful homage to the original Green Goblins look with the purple hat and tunic replaced with a loose hoodie. If I’m being honest, I may actually like this one more than the green suit of armor Defoe originally wore. Superhero movies when based off of a comic are held to an impossibly high standard, and the costumes of characters are iconic so recreating them, while still making them seem as realistic as they can be, is a very tall order. To many that means removing the spandex and replacing it with armor. And while I can definitely understand why they do that; I think I honestly would have preferred to see the Green Goblin flying around in those sweats than the armor he wore in Maguire’s first flick just because it looked so freaking good and right.

Fans were not impressed with the second Amazing Spider Man movie (I didn’t think it was all that bad, but maybe I’m the outlier.) One of the many thing’s fans took issue with was the blue skinned Electro who looked a little too alien and strange for a classic Spiderman movie. For this flick they got rid of the skin paint, citing it as an effect of the new world, and gave Electro a costume more accurate to his comic book counterpart. Though they still omit the triple lightning bolt mask, which may be for the best.

When listing their coolest villains Maguire talks about a “black goo from space” (Venom) and Tom talks about fighting Thanos on and off Earth. And then Andrew goes “I want to go to space. I’ve done nothing. I’ve only fought a robot rhinoceros.” The pure absurdity of the villains hits you full force and it’s great.

Electro and Sandman both talk about how they became what they are today. Electro fell into a vat of electric eels and Sandman fell into a particle accelerator. They then quip that they should be careful where they fall. A common comic book villain origin seems to be them falling into something and this hilarious exchange got a chuckle from the whole theater. If these people just put railings around their science experiments, there would be a whole lot less supervillains.

William Defoe deserves all the praise in the world for bringing to life the most iconic Spiderman villain, both in Rami’s 2002 flick and in this one. Every time I watch him I just get so amazed at how wonderfully he portrays a true comic book character who really shouldn’t adapt so well to the screen.

Two famous Spiderman villain lines are requoted in this film. The first is by Green Goblin, who says in Maguire’s first film “You know, I’m something of a scientist myself.” when he was introducing himself to Peter while dropping off Harry. The second is done by Doc Oc who says, “The power of the sun in the palm of my hand.” Though that one was said by Otto as a direct and intended callback.

[star-anise]

An ask I got, from someone who wants to remain anonymous:

“Hello! I have a friend who's currently getting really worked up about liking "problematic" content bc their online friend groups are telling them about things like people who like villains in media are bad people and all that other purity fandom stuff, how can I tell them that what you like doesn't equal what you are?”

I can do that!

My first concern for your friend, honestly, is that they’re at a high risk of being in abusive friendships. Fandom purity police are not known for their tendency to go, “Well, I see the issue this way, and have chosen to take these steps, but I understand that other people can have different perspectives and still be acting from a valid and moral place.”  Instead, they’re very likely to trample mental and emotional boundaries to insist everyone agree with them, and to use verbally abusive tactics to make that happen.

So I think it helps to back up and look at the issue from a broader perspective: From “my friend has some opinions I don’t think will help them” to “I’m afraid my friend may be in a potentially abusive friend group who are subjecting them to a lot of pressure to act and think a certain way (which I don’t think will help them).”

In my experience, people who get sucked into purity policing social groups have a hard time getting back out of them because those groups exert isolation and control. 

Isolation: People are heavily pressured to cut contact with anyone who doesn’t agree with the group. This means losing contact with outside friends who think differently--and it also means that they know that if they step out of line, they’ll lose all their purity-policing friends (who are also now their only friends). It is way, way easier to leave an abusive situation if you know you have somewhere safe to land--so denying people that lifeline is part of how these groups retain membership.

Control: People are pressured to think, behave, and see the world in really specific ways. Especially, they are pressured to think that how the group sees social justice issues like abuse, racism, or homophobia are the only possible correct ways to see it. They create an “us vs them” mentality where anyone who is not “us” is a “them”. For example, anyone who doesn’t agree with purity policers about hating villains must condone abuse. The world is now scarily filled with tons of people who think abuse is super fun and totally fine. The only way to fight this is to be part of the group and do what they say! There’s absolutely no freedom to think that you could oppose abuse, and yet find some antagonists sympathetic or likeable. 

So in some ways, my advice for you is to follow standard advice for someone whose friend is in a potentially abusive relationship:

State your concerns, in private, gently but clearly. (eg. ”I’m worried that your friends have a really narrow worldview that in reality isn’t the only way to see things, that they engage in really unhealthy behaviour, and that if you ever find yourself disagreeing with them, they’ll turn on you and it’ll be really bad for you”)

Make the issue about your friend and their decisions instead of attempting to control them. (”I think it’s important that you really think these things through and come to your own conclusions. It’s up to you whether you agree with them or not.”)

Try to help them understand their alternatives and to keep their options open—encourage them to maintain healthy relationships apart from this group, to find different sources of information about social justice and media consimption, and to remember that you can be a moral person without doing or believing everything this group says. 

Take care of yourself and set your own boundaries. Watching someone fall down this rabbit hole can be worrying, frightening, and exhausting--and that’s not even counting if your friend absorbs the group’s abusive tactics and starts using them on you! Remember that it’s not your job to save them, and you can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved. You can be a friend who’s a counterweight to their new friends, but it’s not your job to pull them out all by yourself.

So, that said, on to the actual debate about how moral people can consume problematic fiction or enjoy problematic things, and still be moral. Honestly, so much has been written on this, I couldn’t possibly cover it all. I’ll throw up some links to introductory primers:

Your Favourite Media is Problematic - Here’s How to Deal (And What Not to Do)

How to Be a Fan of Problematic Things

It’s Okay to Like Problematic Things

You might notice, the common thread through all of these is developing individual critical awareness. That is, not assuming that you will be mindlessly controlled by the media you consume, but actively taking control of what you think about it and owning your responsibility not to let it affect you in super negative ways. This is another aspect of encouraging your friend not to cede all their decision-making to the group and let them decide which opinions are good and which are bad. 

Sometimes knowing about social justice and caring about a better world does mean having a negative opinion of a work of media, or not being able to enjoy it. That’s not actually bad. Fandom purity police wouldn’t get so far if they didn’t have a grain of truth in there. Where they go awry is deciding only one interpretation and set of actions are moral or valid. The best antidote is, therefore, encouraging people to break out of the lockstep and begin to think for themselves. 

[love-has-a-way-ofgrowingbackward]

First of all - thank you for your Solangelo post you’ve posted recently. I feel like these days it’s hard to defend it without being called ableist/a child/bad person/too obsessed shipper/generally the worst person ever. I find it brave you decided to speak up. Thank you. Especially since your point about Will’s view on Nico was very good. I’m happy I’m not the only one who thinks this way.

Secondly, about that ask concerning the Seven and Nico. Maybe that’s stupid but I actually… see some sense in the way Rick wrote it. I mean, yeah, Nico was hero after TLO. But on the other hand he didn’t really have anyone in the camp. He barely knew anyone, and definitely wasn’t best friends with Percy and Annabeth (who btw were probably busy with school and they could finally enjoy their relationship and stuff). And we know that Nico has a problem with his “people skills”, as Will nicely put in THO. But I don’t actually think everyone in the CHB disliked him. Why? In BoO Will, Lou, and Cecil all treat him normally. Lou waves to him and blush, Cecil compliments him, Will treats him like a friend. There was not a word about any of these three people from CHB being even a little bit scared of him, otherwise I believe it’d be mentioned in the narrative. I think that Nico’s situation in the CHB after TLO is more complicated story we’ll unfortunately never get to see.

Anyway, during HoO we see Nico mostly with the Seven and in Camp Jupiter. We can see that the Camp Jupiter doesn’t really like him. And the Seven consists of three people who’ve met Nico only in HoO and don’t really like him (Jason, Piper, Leo), one person who has a complicated relationship with him (Percy), two people whose view on Nico I’m not sure about (Annabeth and Frank), and his sister, Hazel. What I’m aiming at is that they’re not a representative group of CHB imho. And then during BoO Will speaks mostly for himself, not for everyone in CHB. But as I mentioned, we see three people from CHB who have no problem with Nico, quite contrary, seem to like him. And then we have a few months time skip and in THO Nico is doing just fine in the camp.

What’s my point in all of this? We can’t be 100% sure about Nico’s situation in CHB after TLO. But I don’t think it was just his paranoia either, of course not. My theory is that Nico was definitely lonely in CHB after TLO. He had no starting point, no one who’d help him settle there. And he’s not good with people, so that didn’t help him either. After BoO he had someone to help him settle in the camp. And why he changed his mind about staying specifically because of Will? Not because he got called out on paranoia or something. Because contrary to other people he was close to, like Hazel and Jason and Reyna, Will wasn’t going anywhere. He would stay in CHB. For the first time ever Nico had a right to think that maybe, just maybe he won’t be all alone, left to himself at the CHB.

So yeah, I may be wrong, but like… that’s what I think. My personal interpretation. I wanted to say it here because you’re one of the very few people who I’m not scared of here after this whole thing on Solangelo tag.

You're actually making valid points here tbh. Like I'm glad you agree with me on the first count.

Secondly, I mean, you have a really valid point, and i agree with most parts, but like, i mostly compared their treatment of nico with how they treated a stranger??

Like I understand Percy and Nico's complicated relationship, and it was just based on Percy's flaw for loyalty and Nico's internalized homophobia and from percys side they could've had a chance as good friends, but Nico was too traumatised by his long harboured feelings for Percy, and probably won't feel the safest around him. So the people saying Nico would go to Percy for all his problems, well, i would disagree with them.

And sure, Nico called Percy lots of super mean stuff when Percy broke his 'promise' but he was just a ten-year old who lost the only person he had had for years in a new century. Bianca's death was NO ONE'S FAULT.

And the most important point? Nico apologised for every thing he did wrong.

Percy never apologised for spreading rumours among the argo 2 crew (wtf was up with that?)

Frank never apologised for blaming him when his fucking sister's life was on line

And everybody in general never bothered to apologise or even talk to him like, once. They took it for granted that a random guy who was already heavily traumatised by a quest would help them finish it no matter how he's treated.

And I know they weren't best buddies, but if you compare that to how they would've treated a stranger, that says a lot about Nico's social isolation and the seven's internalized ableism (there's a LOT of it, everyone represses their nd traits and nico and leo, who have autism with adhd amd don't repress every thing? They're both shunned. Percy, Leo and Nico never talk about their suicidal tendencies to anyone in hoo).

I went off on a tangent there, but what I meant is that suspicious as you might be, you can't just see a thirteen year old kid who came back from tartarus and five days of suffocation-and now they magically don't have to go to tartarus-and treat him like THAT.

Honestly, Jason mended his ways, and except Annabeth and Hazel, everyone was pretty much sub par or downright shitty to Nico, and he just turned that around and hated himself more for it.

And yeah, i like to think some campers changed their ways after Nico saved their asses but not all of them did. Nico says so himself.

Also, I might not agree with people who say solangelo is ableist, but I definitely don't mean to talk over them and pretend my opinions are better than theirs. Disabled people don't have a voice as it is, and I would be a complete hypocrite if I talked about the seven's internalized ableism and Nico coded as disabled and then tell disabled people they're wrong.

And about being scared of me, I'm glad you feel safe here, I promise I won't impale you for having different perspectives or opinions or critical thinking skills. (If you come at me with problematic stuff tho, like Nico being bisexual?? Then we're gonna have to talk).

This was one of the longest answers I've ever written but i just have SO much to say about this.

[zuzuslastbraincell]

mai & the rest of the gaang:

mai & aang: a bit awkward, at first? not on aang's end of course, he's totally unflustered and in fact quite keen to get to know zuko's girlfriend and I actually think mai doesn't know what to do with this attitude, given she spent six months or so trying to hunt him down, and that's very present in her mind. hanging out with aang is a very pleasant culture shock in how he casually diaregards half the norms she was raised to strictly follow, speaking with warm enthusiasm and genuine curiosity to all, be they dish washers or tea servers or the Fire Lord's girlfriend, disregarding barriers of social class that are so carefully upheld in the Fire Nation. It's refreshing as it is bewildering. I think mai does develop a fondness for aang - although she can find him and his antics a bit much at times - and deeply respects and cares for him if only for how valued his friendship with zuko is. she claims to tolerate his goofy antics but she enjoys them far more than she lets on (his flying marble trick does elicit a rare smile, although it only appears for 0.02 seconds before returning to the most deadpan expression). I think mai respects him most politically actually - aang grows up to be an excellent diplomat, an excellent mediator who does not lose sight of the importance of various different perspectives, especially those who are forgotten or maligned, even when in circles of power.

mai & sokka: as discussed, they have a rocky start. sokka, my darling beloved sokka, has a tendency to be a bit abrasive, if we're honest, in that his humour and his puns are a little in-your-face, he has a bit of an ego aboht being the funniest/smartest person in the room, and he can take it personally when people don't like it. mai doesn't have much time for that. mai doesn't care much for sokka's jokes if only because they're attached to this ego, but also and finds the puns a bit flat (whereas she finds aang's mischief making genuinely funny, though she tries to hide it), and sokka takes this deeply personally and tries really hard to elicit a laugh from her. this just ends up with him aggravating her more. I think mai has little time for sensitive male ego games and that's partially why her and sokka clash- she won't blunt herself for him, even if he is one of zuko's closest friends. I think sokka, to his credit, doesn't dismiss her as a 'bitch' and keeps trying - in fact, the reason he comes on so strong is because he actually really wants her to like her - and i think that's because of boiling rock, and because of that alone sokka deeply respects mai on many levels (and was extremely surprised by how all that played out, and knows from that alone that mai is a layered and complex person who contains multitudes). I think what might cause mai to warm to him is politics - sokka's a pragmatist, who is skeptical of idealism without material backing and is refreshingly realistic for one of aang's friends. he keeps the fire nation on its toes at the negotiating table but he's also the first to point out when a potential proposition - when anyone's potential proposition - has more logical holes than a piece of honeycomb. i think mai appreciates that perspective. and i think they could slowly and gradually go from personality clashing to building this begrudging friendship where mai will never openly admit that she likes him, where sokka will still grate but in a way that becomes almost familiar and comfortable because of that, and where - especially in a situation where they have to work on a project together - they're a formidable team. a difficult friendship but eventually could be a dear one.

mai & katara: another personality clash that becomes a really fascinating friendship. katara wasn't there for boiling rock and is perhaps a bit cool towards mai even understanding what she did there, and the grounds where they most often meet is politics, and they largely are at odds there too. they're interesting parallels, in terms of role - both partners of powerful world leaders, but while mai positions herself as a vital support and power behind zuko's regime, furthering that goal, katara loathes to be associated with aang simply because of their romantic relationship, and does not envision their relationship to be a political one: aang and katara stand independent, but with shared values and goals (and perhaps katara simply does not understand why mai takes the position she does regarding politics and relationships). their actual political approach wildly differs, with katara being an impassioned idealist who is the most radical out of the gaang, whereas mai is a pragmatist - much more concerned about the feasibility of the radical ideas proposed and sees herself occupying the role of a much needed skeptic who asks 'okay, but how are we going to do this?' in a group of radicals. this does lead to some fierce clashes actually - some of katara's proposals appear outlandish to mai, and katara interprets this as fire nation indoctrination and ideological conditioning limiting her perspective (and honestly neither are completely wrong - mai can be on occasion perhaps too conservative and cynical and that is often because her upbringing has limited her scope, and katara sometimes isn't fully aware of how feasible her ideas are and leaves practical concerns to others). I think despite this they have such a deep respect for each other - and that's in part why their arguments are so impassioned, because they both fundamentally know the other comes from a good place. mai saved katara's brother's life at boiling rock, and katara saved mai's partner during the final agni kai - they have both proven to each other the extent of their commitment and cared for another they care about deeply. they're the biggest idealism vs. cynicism clash but honestly over time i think the respect only grows over time despite periods of hot and cold. I'd like to think if katara ever has relationship difficulties with aang, after her gran's, it's mai whose advice she might respect the most - after all, it's mai who understands what it's like to date someone who is a world leader, and mai absolutely believes in having firm, healthy boundaries and little tolerance for sufferring for men in relationships. I think given their positions they're often in dialogue and in conversation and end up building the most unexpected but also rock solid friendship. they *would* take a bullet for each other, i am sure of it.

mai & toph: i love these two. an incredible friendship. mai takes to toph the quickest out of aang's friends. it makes sense - toph comes from a similar class and upbringing as mai, albeit has taken a different life path and expresses herself completely differently, and i think while surprised and thrown at first by toph's bluntness, mai sees that and not only respects but honestly just loves how toph is a little crass, and doesn't hold decorum as the be all and end all. I think the age difference here actually makes a difference - mai very much sees toph as a younger peer (and eventually, much like zuko, a younger sibling), and while it can be sad to see someone from a younger generation express themselves freely in a way that mai feel she can't, i think her joy at seeing that takes precedence here over any mixed feelings. mai pretends not to be amused at toph's antics (but quietly delights at them) and absolutely is the person who will get the authorities that be in the fire nation to look away from whatever misdemeanours she's committing at any given time (indeed, mai as often been a partner in crime - actually, speaking of, she's been surprised before to see katara also partake with toph, and it was an ice-breaking moment for them, probably one engineered by toph). that said, mai absolutely does not patronise toph, gives it to her straight, will also tell toph when she's going too far or pushing the limit, something toph deeply respects and values. mai can see toph's wisdom and her strong intuitive understanding of how others feel, and admires that, as well as the kindness toph shows (i would not be surprised if mai looks at toph and wants to be a little more like her). I also think mai's sardonic and biting sense of humour is best appreciated by toph out of aang's friends (sokka also finds it very funny, but sokka is also trying hard to get mai to like him, as aforementioned). mai and toph vibe together *so hard* and *so well* (something i think zuko is quietly deeply grateful for, since mai hasn't clicked as well with the rest of the gaang, but also because he views toph like a little sister too).

mai & suki: right! so this one is complicated. mai does not see suki as often as the rest of the gaang - she sees katara and aang often for political reasons, at summits and keets and so on, sokka keeps in touch often and is constantly sending letters, and toph will just turn up unannounced and will stay for several weeks to "relandscape" the fire nation gardens (so she claims) every year or so. I am sticking to show canon here but reject the comics canon - there is no way in hell suki ends up as a bodyguard for zuko, the kyoshi warriors have better things to be doing. so! while mai absolutely saved the teal at boiling rock and suki knows this, the fact that they see each other relatively little mean things are a bit... cool between them? Not quite cold, but there's a degree of awkwardness that mai works past with the others that takes longer with suki. I honestly don't know if suki knows how she should feel about mai? like ty lee not only helped at boiling rock but then went on to work with the warriors and suki very much sees someone who wants to prove herself and right those wrongs in ty lee (as well as someone who is running away but. that's another post). mai completed step 1 and 2 with boiling rock, but hasn't... done anything after that. and on paper they're cool and she knows it but... idk if she knows how to feel? it's a bit weird. a bit awkward and weird. it's possible suki holds more of a grudge than she's willing to admit (she's been most directly wronged by mai and ty lee after all) and the fact that mai has returned to the fire nation, and been, according to katara, disappointingly conservative at times, makes her question what boiling rock meant. suki is cordial and professional around mai but doesn't really know her that well and doesn't trust her as much as the others. mai doesn't particularly care either way and will take or leave friendship with suki (though mai, to be clear, does respect suki immensely as a warrior). the key factor here is ty lee, honestly. i think the two of them could have an excellent relationship if so inclined but it would apmost definitely be due to ty lee trying to prod them into getting along and hanging out and getting to know each other - because i think they're both practical minded, no-nonsense girls who are exceptionally skilled in martial arts and if nothing else they could bond theough sparring sessions, but i think they'd also just get along splendidly if they had the chance. suki just doesn't quite trust mai and mai making those personal amends isn't a priority when she's trying to stop zuko running the fire nation into the ground.

[solacefruit]

Re that post about ShadowClan; honestly I’ve been wondering a lot about your world building take on Brokenstar era ShadowClan! I never said anything because you can write whatever you want and I don’t want to accidentally come off as pressure but like

A lot of your lore about how the elders are the culture keepers and the sort of council of the clan, in every clan (tho their exact role and how they play into clan politics and what they do can vary)

It makes me think about how one of the first things Brokenstar did was remove elders from camp, eventually escalating to not feeding them at all and essentially treating them as worthless (and his downfall being that he didn’t care to actually pay attention to them because he thought they were useless, thus a resistance was able to form and help ThunderClan against Broken)

And Nightstar! Who was already an elder when he became leader! It would be super cool to hear about that in your verse, because I imagine it would go a bit deeper than a regular deputy becoming leader, since elders are such an important part of the clan.

I tend to imagine that ShadowClan actually is pretty open to others joining (mostly bc in canon Boulder and Russetfur weren’t clanborn) and outwordly act like they are aggressive and unwelcoming towards others, and don’t really announce that they accept others? But if a cat comes to them and has nowhere to go, and is willing to join and learn and work, they’ll let them.And I feel like ShadowClan are super close and loyal to each other, even by clan standards. They’re seen as the mean nasty cats but they always have each others backs.

That went into headcanon ramble but ahh basically I’d love to hear your thoughts on ShadowClan and the expansion of world building and lore !!

Imma tack on another question since this is already super long; do you think in TNP the journey cats would talk about and end up feeling close friendships by understanding each other’s clan cultures? Like not just the stereotypes that those outside the clan think but hearing what it’s like in each clan from a member of it, and then having this friend group that sort of mixes those and them having habits they can’t really express around their clan bc they would sound unloyal

((Anyway I love your writing and lore and everything !! Thank you for sharing it !))

Hello there! Oh my is this a long ask. I didn’t even realise tumblr let you send asks this long? I’ll put all of my response under a read-more to preserve people’s dash space. 

Thank you very much for such a kind series of compliments! It’s lovely to know how much you’ve enjoyed my work--and how much you’re anticipating my future works. I hope they are worth the wait. And don’t worry about pressuring me--it’s really not possible. I write what I want to write, at my pace. Hearing people’s enthusiasm for my work is always lovely, of course, and I interpret asks like this as support, not pressure. 

I think Brokenstar had the capacity to be very interesting (hence why I wrote a story about him) and I thought his treatment of the elders actually showed some political savvy, just like his deposition of the clan’s medicine cats. He worked to undermine and isolate the cats whose authority could rival his own, which--when your goal is total control--is actually not a bad move. It did backfire on him eventually, but only because of Thunderclan’s involvement. 

I won’t comment on your Shadowclan headcanons, because (as I’ve said before) I don’t like to talk too much about lore outside of my stories, but I sincerely hope you’ll enjoy whatever next Shadowclan story I put forward. I’m working on something at the moment that I get the feeling you might really like--but we’ll see! You can tell me when you read if I was right about that. 

Although, you said “outwardly act like they are aggressive and unwelcoming towards [non-clan cats], and don’t really announce that they accept [non-clan cats]?” and I want to pose a little rhetorical question for you: how would they keep something like that a secret from the other clans, when every moon they attend the gatherings, and every clan announces their kittens and new apprentices? Seems like a difficult subterfuge to manage. 

As for your question regarding the New Prophecies--I honestly haven’t thought about it much. My favourite and truest love of Warriors is the old territories, and while I’ll grudgingly accept that those are now gone and will not come back, my preference is not the lake and I don’t really care for the story of travelling together to the promised land. 

That said, I don’t actually think the cats would adopt each other’s cultures very readily--that’s a lot easier said than done, for one thing, and for another, I think how much a cat would be interested in learning (and what they would be allowed to learn) is highly individual--and cultural change and adaptation isn’t really an individual endeavour--and also I suspect the clans would be quite cautious around sharing their traditions just because. Culture isn’t just a collection of quirks or rituals: it’s kind of a perspective on the world, and a lot of cultures don’t mesh super well because of these different perspectives, at least not without a long time living together and/or concerted effort. We have the term “culture clash” for a reason, is what I’m saying. Living in close proximity would probably heighten cultural tension between the clans, not reduce it, especially in an already fraught situation.

Anyway, the thing that appeals to me about Warriors and keeps me dipping back into this well is the elaborate world I get to create based (admittedly loosely) on canon, with the code, the laws, the territories, the history, the cultures, the names, so on. Unfortunately for me, Erin Hunter’s preference is actually to erode those things that I personally like best, and they systematically undo the most appealing elements of the series continuously. 

The territories? Destroyed. Utterly destroyed. 

The names? Increasingly silly nonsense. 

The code? Just add something in that undermines the whole concept of the clans, and then--if I’ve heard correctly re: the newest series--just undo the code. 

The history? Good luck if you can follow any kind of consistent timeline, and also characters you loved or liked or even just tolerated are now infinitely worse than before, happy super edition! 

The culture? Barely there to begin with and yet somehow worse now also, what with Windclan’s dirt boys and whatever else. 

So I’m not really anywhere near as interested or invested in the post-original territories experience. I write about it from time to time because that’s just where the characters I’m writing about are, but I kind of do it a little bitterly. I took the destruction of my beloved historical sites very personally. 

[ryuichirou]

Sooo how you feeling about the ending of AOT. I’m crying when I read the final chapter.

+

Anonymous said:

Ryu, ryu. 139. Not gonna lie, I was kinda disappointed. It was too vanilla ice cream of an ending for a masterpiece storytelling of AoT. Can't believe this is from the same person who wrote 125ish chapter before. I honestly kinda want to see Historia nuke the ship lol. Your thoughts?

Anonymous said:

Do you think the ending of aot was done like this for pure fanservice?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sooo let’s talk about the last chapter. Like I mentioned in another reply, it would’ve been good to reread the whole manga first, but I don’t think we’re going to do that in the nearest future, so might as well rant about it now.

The ending was weird. When we read it for the first time, we chuckled at some parts, but overall it felt pretty ok (more on the “meh alright” level). And I personally still think that it’s alright overall: not the worst ending ever; and a lot of aspects of it do make sense. In this particular case, we think it’s better to have an “eh” ending than a bad, disappointing one (the one that hits all the major no-no’s, disappointing in this regard more than anything else). But the more we think about it, the weirder it gets somehow?

Of course we talked about how cool it would be to get a morbid dark ending, but it was kind of a given that Isayama would go a lighter route. And one part of me thinks that it’s kind of fair, because we had our morbid chapters and the story’s climax already, so this chapter was more like an epilogue of sorts?? But at the same time, I do agree that it felt too vanilla ice-cream. The mood shift was too drastic, and everything felt too convenient. The fact that everyone who turned into titans went right back to being humans kind of upset me too, but I do understand why it happened, I just wish we had them being titans at least for a little bit longer. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the ending indeed felt rushed. Maybe Isayama cursed himself when he promised 139 chapters…. Why not 140?? I wonder whose fault that is: the fanbase’s, the editor’s or his own.

The epilogue’s also supposed to give readers some closure, and I’m not sure if we got it: Eren’s actions didn’t really fix the problem. Maybe the point was not in fixing the problem, but in being the first step for the change? Now after all that rumbling debacle, the world can at least listen to what Eldians have to say..? Why the fuck does Armin talk about how conflict’s never going to vanish then? I’m a bit lost here. Oh and of course Armin thanking Eren for murdering 80% of the planet is the funniest thing ever. All of it might make more sense if you reread the whole thing though.

Who knows. Maybe Historia decided to conquer the world, maybe she wants to rule everything, maybe she keeps Jean and Connie’s moms hostage, maybe she is going to nuke that darn ship to show the world that Eldians don’t want to have a peaceful conversation anymore lol, Historia the Khaleesi.

There are elements of the chapter that we genuinely enjoyed. The fact that Eren actually talked to everybody, Gabi yeeting Falco instead of hugging him, Levi remembering his friends and crying quietly, Sasha smiling at Jean and Connie and these two hugging each other afterwards. Reiner and Karina’s scene was pretty nice too. Historia making her child the saddest birthday cake ever… like you’re a fucking queen, make something more pretentious idk... Hitch yawning, Rico being present, everyone being all fancy and stylish, Jean trying his best to look hot. And of course Levi chilling with his new family. As you can see, there are a lot of very nice moments there. Even the Eren scenes were fun to be perfectly honest, but more on him in another post.

And to the Anon who asked about the ending being fanservice: maybe kind of? If by fanservice you mean the fact that everything went kind of well and everyone got to hug their dad and turned back to humans, then yeah, it does feel like fanservice. Remember that story about Isayama wanting to kill off Sasha waaay back in ch36 but changing his plans because his editor was too upset about it? A similar thing happened here I guess: he did say that he had more of a dark ending in his mind, but had to change it.

When I hear the word “fanservice”, I personally think about Naruto’s and Bleach’s endings, but in SnK we didn’t get any kids (except for Historia’s baby), any kisses and any hand-holdings, so I’m very grateful for that. Yep, technically AruAni is still a thing (eyesroll…), but at this point I just sit there and repeat a mantra to myself: thank god none of them had kids or got married, thank god none of them had kids or got married, thank god none of them had kids or got married. Maybe my bar is too low lol And if you mean the Eremika thing: it’s kind of complicated, but I personally think that Yams wouldn’t  drop this bomb as fanservice: it doesn’t make sense to cater to just one particular group of shippers.

So yeah, this is our overall thoughts and feelings at this moment. And to be perfectly honest, I think the chapter won’t feel as bad after some time. Right now everyone’s very emotional about it (very understandable), people argue with each other, you see a lot of morons that make you even more upset or pissed off, everyone had their expectations and interpretations of the characters + ideas of what was and wasn’t important for the story, and Isayama is just one dude who is very experienced at writing stories, but isn’t as experienced at writing final chapters (which is absolutely ok). I think no matter what, there would be a lot of people who are upset with the chapter… but it doesn’t change the fact that it was rushed and that it is weird.

Damn it, wouldn’t it be great if we could have GOOD and BAD endings, like in visual novels?? This was the GOOD ending; now show me the apocalypse please.

[em-writes-imagines]

beach party | zuko

study group: a social media au where you work at iroh’s boba tea shop with zuko, try to keep up with your college courses, and stir up an irresponsible amount of chaos with the gaang 

prev. / part six / next

((author’s note: okay, so! this update wound up being over 3k words, oops! also, this one is just the written out scene, since none of this takes place over social media/text, and can be read as a solo piece if you aren’t caught up with the rest of the story! enjoy!!))

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You stare at yourself in Katara’s mirror, still second-guessing the cut of your swimsuit.

“Hey, you look great,” she assures you from across the room. “Besides, just think about all the fun you’ll have getting to swim again!”

“Yeah, you’re right,” you smile at the thought, giving yourself one more once-over before turning away from your reflection. “How do you always know what to say?”

“It’s a secret,” she presses a finger to her lips before laughing. “Now, come on, get dressed!”

You glance at the clock and your eyes go wide. “Shit, why didn’t you tell me it was getting so late?” you ask, moving across the room to pull on a hawaiian shirt and a pair of shorts over your swimsuit.

“You were kind of distracted by the mirror,” she laughs again. “Don’t worry, you still have time!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The drive to the beach is quiet, but not uncomfortably so, a local rock station filling the silence. You’re not sure what kind of music you’d expected to hear, but it seems… fitting, especially with the way Zuko drums his fingers along the steering wheel in time.

You realize as the buildings go by that you haven’t travelled to this side of the city in ages, and a somewhat childlike excitement builds within you when you see the shoreline come into view. The ocean.

“How long has it been?” Zuko’s voice pulls you out of your reverie.

“Hm?”

“Since you’ve seen the ocean?” he explains. “You’re acting like you’ve never seen it before.”

“Oh, well, uh, I guess it’s been awhile?” You try to think back far enough. “It was before I graduated high school; what about you?”

He seems caught off guard for a moment, hesitant as he says, “I… haven’t been since my last family trip; so, yeah, awhile.”

Of course, you notice the edge in Zuko’s tone when he says family. Outside of Iroh, you know next to nothing about Zuko’s family. You’ve heard the name Azula thrown around a few times, usually in distaste or regret, but other than that… Zuko doesn’t talk about them, and you’re not going to pry.

“Do you think it’d be lame for me to pick seashells at a party?” you ask, only partly serious as you try to change the subject.

When you see the small upturn of his lips, you smile, even as he adds, “Yeah, I do.”

“Well, now I have to.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh my god! Zuko! Y/n!” you hear Ty Lee’s voice the second you step onto the sand, your bag and towel still in hand as she runs over to greet you. “It’s been so LONG, how have you been?? I’m so glad you could make it!!!”

Her smile is infectious, and you can’t help but grin as you reply, “Things are good! It’s so nice to see you again!”

“Why don’t you two find someplace to set up and then come join Mai and I for some volleyball! We’ve been trying to get a good game going, but no one can handle Mai’s serves,” she laughs, looking back toward her girlfriend affectionately before returning her attention to you. “What do you say?”

“That sounds like fun! What do you think?” you glance over to Zuko, whose expression is incredibly passive.

“Yeah… sounds fun.”

“Yay!!! I’ll go tell Mai!”

Ty Lee runs off toward the volleyball net while you find a place to set your things down, spreading out the beach towel you borrowed from Katara.

“Well, she’s just as sweet as I remember,” you comment, and Zuko shrugs. You watch him for a moment before asking, “Everything okay? We don’t have to go play—”

“No, it’s fine, I just… haven’t played in awhile, that’s all.”

You can tell there’s more to it, but again, it’s not something you’re going to press about, so you just smile instead. “I’m sure you’ll do fine! Now c’mon, get your ass into gear, we’ve got a game to win.”

He shakes his head, but follows you over to the net nonetheless.

“Just so you know, our games can get a little intense,” Zuko comments as you walk over, his tone somewhere between a joke and a serious warning.

“What, you don’t think I can handle it?” you ask with a laugh, not sure how to interpret the smirk he gives you.

“Just warning you, that’s all.”

Ty Lee enthusiastically waves as you approach, her other hand intertwined with Mai’s. She’s practically bouncing on tips of her toes, and you can’t fathom how a single human being is filled with that much energy… but honestly, it helps quell the anxiety you’ve been feeling all week.

“Hey Y/n,” Mai nods her head toward you, “Zuko.”

“Hey!” You don’t get the feeling that there’s any bad blood left, as you know Mai has never been much for words. The only discomfort that lingers in the air is emanating from Zuko, who still hasn’t said a thing.

So, you do the only thing you can think to do, and smile at him, trying to encourage him to loosen up.

“Hey,” he finally speaks, “so are we gonna get this game started, or what?”

Ty Lee laughs and claps her hands, and you can even see the smallest hint of a smile on Mai’s face as she rolls the ball over to Zuko. “Your serve.”

“Show us one of those killer serves, Zuko!” Ty Lee shouts, already in ready position, and you start to realize that this “game” might be a little more than you bargained for.

And when you hear the impact of Zuko’s serve, you know this is more than just a simple game of beach volleyball.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After starting to sweat and realizing how limited your mobility is, you decide to take off your outer clothes, causing Ty Lee to pause the entire game to run over and get a better look at your swimsuit, overflowing with compliments. You can feel the blush rise to your cheeks, but again, her attitude melts away most of the anxiety you’d been feeling over the swimsuit.

You find it slightly easier to keep up with them after that.

At some point, Zuko’s shirt also gets tossed aside, and you’re having trouble concentrating on your serve. It’s game point, with both teams tied, and the pressure you’re feeling is uncomfortable to say the least. Everyone’s moves are so fast and intense; you feel out of place with your simple underhand serve and wariness toward diving for the ball.

You shake your head, doing your best to avoid looking at Zuko in any… less than platonic way, and serve the ball.

Ty Lee receives it with ease, and Mai sets her up for a spike aimed directly at you. In the span of a few seconds, you have to decide between two options: duck out of the way, or try to receive the ball as it moves at what seems to be 70mph.

While every survival instinct in your body tells you to avoid the hit, you find yourself wanting to… impress these people? Or, at the very least, not let Zuko down, so you move your forearms and try to send the ball toward him.

The ball hits your skin with an impact that leaves red marks behind, but you barely notice as you watch Zuko run toward the ball at its highest point and spike it over the net, his muscles flexing with the movement. It hits the sand on the other side, Ty Lee unable to dive in time, but you’re still staring at Zuko. Hell, how do you look away from that. 

He’s genuinely smiling when he looks back at you, a small but invigorated smile, and you do your best to return the look and play it off like you hadn’t just been eyeing him up. 

“Aw, man!” Ty Lee pushes herself off the ground, but her pout quickly turns into a smile. “Good game, guys! That was fun!!!”

“Yeah,” Mai agrees, rolling the ball back over to her bag before taking Ty Lee’s hand. “Thanks for playing with us.”

“We’re gonna go say hi to some other guests, but feel free to grab a drink!” Ty Lee gestures to the little set-up of coolers nearby, somehow still bouncing with energy as they walk away.

“So, you didn’t feel the need to tell me that you guys were beach volleyball masters?” you ask as Zuko walks back toward you, your voice winded.

He laughs under his breath. “I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say that; I did try to warn you, though.”

“Look at my arms, Zuko,” you hold out your forearms, showing off the marks left from Ty Lee’s last spike. “Look at them! You’re telling me that’s not the work of an absolute pro?”

He rolls his eyes, showing you the lingering redness on his own palm. “Maybe you just need to toughen up.”

“Oh?” You flex your bicep, trying not to laugh at your own dumb joke before you even say it. “This not tough enough for you?”

Zuko just stares at you incredulously, then breaks out into a laugh.

You try to ignore the heat that rises to your face.

“You know what? Fine, if I can’t best you in strength then… race you to the water!” You’re already sprinting away by the end of your sentence, and you giggle as Zuko calls out “Hey!” from behind you.

Despite your head start, you can hear his footfalls close behind you, and glance back to see him only a couple steps away. “Nuh uh, no way,” you mutter to yourself, pushing harder to reach the shoreline first.

By the time you’re only a few feet away from the water, you’re toe to toe with Zuko, and in a last ditch effort, you barrel your shoulder into him. He staggers to the side, most likely only because he was caught off guard by the action, but regardless, it gives you that extra few seconds to reach the shoreline before him.

“Cheater!” he calls out as you wade further into the water, now swimming away from him. You’re about to turn around and taunt your win, albeit dubiously achieved, when a hand wraps around your ankle and pulls you back.

Suddenly, Zuko is in front of you, arms crossed. “You know I should’ve won.” There’s a glare on his face that doesn’t hide the amusement in his eyes, and you feign innocence.

“Who said there were any rules involved, hm?”

His eyes narrow, and you take the opportunity to splash a small wave of water at him, attempting to swim away before he can retaliate.

You make it a little bit farther away from him this time, but again, he grabs your leg, this time pulling you into his arms so he can pick you up and dunk you back into the water.

You resurface sputtering, both from the water in your mouth and the sudden physical contact from Zuko. Deciding to firmly ignore any thoughts sparked by the touch, you frown at him, shouting, “Oh, it is on.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time the sun goes down, you and Zuko are sitting beside one of the bonfires, listening to the chatter of everyone around you as you warm up. You both have your outer layers on again, the sea breeze carrying a chill that would make you shiver otherwise. Someone’s party mix is playing in the background, on a speaker small enough that the bass doesn’t sound right, but people are dancing around it anyways, drinks in hand.

 Neither of you add much to the conversation, instead opting to listen and shoot each other looks at particularly interesting quotes. It wasn’t all that different from your shifts at the Jasmine Dragon, overhearing the weirdest things from customers and judging them together. When Zuko’s eyes meet yours, brow raised after an incredibly stupid comment from a nearby frat boy, you have to stifle a laugh.

Despite all the strangers, it’s familiar, and it’s nice.

Zuko excuses himself a few minutes later, going to grab another drink, and you nod, watching the flames dance in front of you. Without someone there to make fun of everyone with, you find the fire to be a much more interesting sight, from the embers beneath the logs to the small sparks that float off the highest flames. It’s almost hypnotizing.

So, you hardly notice when someone takes Zuko’s place.

“Hi,” a voice pulls you out of your trance, and you look over to see a girl with dark hair and golden eyes. She’s smiling, but there’s something unnerving about the expression, something you can’t place. “I’m Azula, Zuko’s sister,” she reaches out to shake your hand. “You must be Zuko’s date.”

You finish the gesture, and her fingers squeeze just a little too tightly around your hand as you explain, “Oh! No, we’re just friends!”

She throws her head back with a laugh before looking you up and down. “Of course, that makes much more sense; I’ll admit, I was confused when I saw you two in the water earlier. I must say, it is so brave of you to wear a swimsuit like that.”

You feel your throat constrict, staring dumbfounded for a moment as you try to process her words. “Excuse me?”

“I mean it!” She smiles. “I admire the courage it must have taken just to put it on, let alone wear it to a party like this. You should be proud.”

There’s a glint in her eye that tells you she knows exactly what she’s doing, and you don’t know how to respond. Without Zuko next to you, you feel completely alone, surrounded by people who won’t take a second glance in your direction. It’s like you’re drowning, and the girl in front of you is holding you under.

“I— I should go,” you manage to get out, moving to stand up, but she grabs your wrist.

“No, please, stay until little Zuzu comes back! I’m sure we can find something to talk about, like how bold it was for you to show up without wearing any makeup, I mean, wow.”

The pure joy in her eyes as she meticulously picks you apart burns straight through you. “I really should go.”

When you try to yank your wrist away, she pouts, gripping it tighter. “Don’t you know it’s rude to leave in the middle of a conversation?”

Your mind struggles to keep up with the sudden change in atmosphere, how quickly the anxiety from this afternoon returns, almost doubled. Any hint of joy, any spark of laughter, it’s all fading under the piercing glare of those molten eyes… you feel trapped. 

“Azula? What the hell are you doing?”

Zuko’s voice has never filled you with such relief, and thankfully, she releases her grip. “I was just introducing myself to your new friend!” She shoots him a grin before turning back to you. “What was your name again?”

Your mouth goes dry as you try to answer, and Azula laughs.

“Oh, come on, don’t be shy now. All I’ve done is compliment your confidence!”

“What are you talking about—just leave them alone, Azula.”

“Fine, whatever you say, Zuzu.” She turns to walk away, sighing, “Sue me for being nice...”

“What was that—”

“Can we go?”

Your voice is small, and you’re staring at your feet, unable to look at Zuko. You want to fade away, or disappear into the sea, or sink into the sand—anything to get away from the eyes surrounding you.

“Yeah, sure.”

Whatever questions he has, he doesn’t ask, simply follows you back to where you left your bag and towels. You can feel your hands shaking as you gather your belongings and you bite your cheek, hoping the night helps to at least somewhat mask your trembling. Get it together, idiot.

You hate that you were letting a few comments get to you this badly. Somehow, Azula managed to hit every single point of insecurity and anxiety within seconds of meeting you, and it takes everything you have to keep from spiraling right then and there.

Once you’re back in the car, you let out a sigh. It’s quiet, the music from the party faint and muffled in the background, and you can feel Zuko looking at you.

Before he can say anything, you tell him, “I’m sorry I pulled you away from the party; it seemed like you were having fun.”

Even you can hear the shake in your voice.

“Don’t worry about it; I was starting to get tired anyways.”

He starts the car, and radio static plays for a few seconds before tuning into a local station. Old rock music pours from the speakers, and you’re thankful to have something to fill the silence.

But Zuko doesn’t put the car in reverse, doesn’t so much as move to take it out of park.

“...are you okay?” His voice sounds stiff, like he’s not sure how to phrase his question, or if it’s something he should ask at all.

When you open your mouth to try and come up with some little lie, you find yourself muted by that tight feeling in the back of your throat, and all that comes out is a strangled, “I...“

Zuko sighs, a bitterness to his tone as he tells you, “Whatever Azula said, she’s just— she’s just a narcissist that gets off on putting everyone else down, her words don’t mean shit.”

It’s not like you haven’t cried in front of Zuko before. After a particularly nasty burn at work, you couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down your face. He didn’t say anything when it happened, thankfully, just let you take your time taking care of it as he covered both register and tea-making for you. Now, though, it’s different. You don’t want to cry in front of him like this. This isn’t a burn or a bruise; it’s pure shame and embarrassment and frustration. It’s searing emotional pain and you can’t let him see you like this.

“I shouldn’t have dragged you to this—“

“No, I had fun,” you insist, despite the strain in your voice. “It was a lot of fun. I’m not gonna let one bad moment ruin an entire night.”

But that isn’t up to you. Your mind has been fast at work clouding every memory with the realization that you were out there, in front of all those people, in front of Zuko, looking like that. It hurts.

“Do you… still wanna get frozen yogurt?”

The idea of trying to eat anything, let alone something so sweet, makes you feel nauseous, your stomach already turning in unease. “I think I’m gonna have to take a raincheck.” You try to keep your voice steady, try to force a smile. “You still owe me, though.”

He doesn’t tease you back. There’s no amusement in his eyes, just… worry, and you have to look away. “Can you take me home? I’m feeling tired and I— I can just get my things from Katara’s place tomorrow.”

“Sure.”

The drive home is silent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[cavehags]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[bogkeep]

hmmmmmmmmmm maybe i’ll write an Introspective Musing Post about my relationship to religion and their depiction in stories because i’ve pondering about this topic lately

so for those who are reading this and DON’T know what’s been going on...  there’s this webcomic i fell in love with some years ago, about six years actually, that depicts a post-apocalyptic fantasy/horror adventure set in the nordic countries. it had, and has still, some very uncomfortable flaws regarding racial representation, and the creator has historically not dealt very well with criticism towards it. it’s a whole Thing. my relationship with this comic has fluctuated a lot, since there are a lot of elements in it i DO love and i still feel very nostalgic about, and like idk i felt like i trust my skills in critical thinking enough to keep reading. aaand then the creator went a teensy bit off the deep end created a whole minicomic which is like... a lukewarm social media dystopia where christians are oppressed (and also everyone is a cute bunny, including our lord and saviour jesus christ). which is already tonedeaf enough considering there are religious people who DO get prosecuted for their faith, like, that’s an actual reality for a lot of people - but as far as i can tell, usually not christians. and then there’s an afterword that’s like, “anyway i got recently converted and realized i’m a disgusting human being full of sin who doesn’t deserve redemption but jesus loves me so i’ll be fine!! remember to repent for your sins xoxo” and a bunch of other stuff and IT’S KIND OF REALLY CONCERNING i have, uh, been habitually looking at the reactions to and discussions around this, maybe it’s not very self care of me but there’s a lot of overwhelming things rn and it’s fantastically distracting, yknow? like, overall this situation is fairly reminiscent of the whole jkr thing. creator of a series that is Fairly Beloved, does something hurtful, handles backlash in a weird way, a lot of people start taking distance from Beloved Series or find ways to enjoy it on their own terms, creator later reveals to have been fully radicalized and releases a whole manifesto, and any and all criticism gets framed as harassment and proving them right. of course, one of them is a super rich person with a LOT of media power and a topic that is a lot more destructive in our current zeitgeist, and the other is an independent webcomic creator, so it’s  not the same situation. just similar vibez ya feel as a result of this, i have been Thinking. and just this feels like some sort of defeat like god dammit she got me i AM thinking about the topic she wrote about!!! i should dismiss the whole thing!!! but thinking about topics is probably a good thing so hey lets go. me, i’m agnostic. i understand that this is a ‘lazy’ position to take, but it’s what works for me. i simply do not vibe with organized religion, personally. (i had the wikipedia page for ‘chaos magic’ open in a tab for several weeks, if that helps.) i was raised by atheists in a majorly atheist culture. christian atheist, i should specify. norway has been mostly and historically lutheran, and religion has usually been a private and personal thing. it turns out the teacher i had in 7th grade was mormon, but i ONLY found out because he showed up in a tv series discussing religious groups in norway later, and he was honestly one of the best teachers i have ever had - he reignited the whole class’ interest in science, math, and dungeons and dragons. it was a real “wait WHAT” moment for my teenage self. i think i was briefly converted to christianity by my friend when i was like 7, who grew up in a christian family (i visited them a couple times and always forgot they do prayers before dinner. oops!), but like, she ALSO made me believe she was the guardian of a secret magic orb that controls the entire world and if i told anybody the world would burn down in 3 seconds. i only suspected something was off when one day the Orb ran on batteries, and another day the Orb had to be plugged in to charge. in my defense i really wanted to be part of a cool fantasy plot. i had no idea how to be a christian beyond “uuuuh believe in god i guess” so it just faded away on its own. when i met this friend several years later, she was no longer christian. i think every childhood friend of mine who grew up in a christian family, was no longer christian when they grew up. most notably my closest internet friend whose family was catholic - she had several siblings, and each of them took a wildly different path, from hippie treehugger to laveyan satanist or something in that area. (i joined them for a sermon in a church when they visited my town. my phone went off during it because i had forgotten to silence it. oops!) ((i also really liked their mother’s interpretation of purgatory. she explained it as a bath, not fire. i like that.)) i have never had any personal negative experiences with christianity, despite being openly queer/gay/trans. the only time someone has directly told me i’m going to hell was some guy who saw me wearing a hoodie on norway’s constitution day. yeah i still remember that you bastard i’ve sworn to be spiteful about it till the day i die!! i’ve actually had much more insufferable interactions with the obnoxious kind of atheists - like yes yes i agree with you on a lot but that doesn’t diminish your ability to be an absolute hypocrite, it turns out? i remember going to see the movie ‘noah’ with a friend who had recently discovered reddit atheism and it was just really exhausting to discuss it with her. one of these Obnoxious Atheists is my Own Mother. which is a little strange, honestly, because she LOVES visiting churches for the Aesthetic and Architecture. we cannot go anywhere without having to stop by a pretty church to Admire and Explore. I’VE BEEN IN SO MANY CHURCHES FOR AN ATHEIST RAISED NON-CHRISTIAN. i’ve been to the vatican TWICE (i genuinely don’t even know how much of my extended family is christian. up north in the tiny village i come from, i believe my uncle is the churchkeeper, and it’s the only building in the area that did not get burnt down by the the nazis during ww2 - mostly because soldiers needed a place to sleep. still don’t know whether or not said uncle believes or not, because hey, it’s Personal) i think my biggest personal relationship to religion, and christianity specifically, has been academic. yeah, we learned a brief synopsis of world religions at school (and i remember the class used to be called ‘christianity, religion, and ethics’ and got changed to ‘religion, beliefs, and ethics’ which is cool. it was probably a big discourse but i was a teen who didnt care), but also my bachelor degree is in art history, specifically western art history because it’s a vast sprawling topic and they had to distill it as best they could SIGHS. western art history is deeply entangled with the history of the church, and i think the most i’ve ever learnt about christianity is through these classes (one of my professors wrote an article about how jesus can be interpreted as queer which i Deeply Appreciate). i also specifically tried to diversify my academic input by picking classes such as ‘depiction of muslims and jewish people in western medieval art’ and ‘art and religion’ when i was an exchange student in canada, along with 101 classes in anthropology and archaeology. because i think human diversity and culture is very cool and i want to absorb that knowledge as best as i can. i think my exchange semester in canada was the most religiously diverse space have ever been in, to be honest. now as an adult i have more christian friends again, but friends who chose it for themselves, and who practice in ways that sound good and healthy, like a place of solace and community for them. the vast majority of my friends are queer too, yknow?? i’ve known too many people who have seen these identities as fated opposites, but they aren’t, they’re just parts of who people are. it’s like... i genuinely love people having their faiths and beliefs so much. i love people finding that space where they belong and feel safe in. i love people having communities and heritages and connections. i deeply respect and admire opening up that space for faith within any other communities, like... if i’m going to listen to a podcast about scepticism and cults, i am not going to listen to it if it’s just an excuse to bash religion. i think the search for truth needs to be compassionate, always. you can acknowledge that crystals are cool and make people happy AND that multi level marketing schemes are deeply harmful and prey on people in vulnerable situaitons. YOU KNOW???? so now’s when i bring up Apocalypse Comic again. one of the things i really did like about it was, ironically, how it handled religion. in its setting, people have returned to old gods, and their magic drew power from their religion. characters from different regions had different beliefs and sources. in the first arc, they meet the spirit of a lutheran pastor, who ends up helping them with her powers. it was treated as, in the creators own words, ‘just another mythology’. and honestly? i love that. it was one of the nicest depictions i’ve seen of christianity in fiction, and as something that could coexist with other faiths. I Vibe With That. and then, uh, then... bunny dystopia comic. it just... it just straight up tells you christianity is literally the only way to..?? be a good person??? i guess?? i’m still kind of struggling to parse what exactly it wanted to say. the evil social media overlord bird tells you the bible makes you a DANGEROUS FREETHINKER, but the comic also treats rewriting the bible or finding your own way to faith as something,, Bad. The Bible Must Remain Unsullied. Never Criticize The Bible. also, doing good things just for social media clout is bad and selfish. you should do good things so you don’t burn in hell instead. is that the message? it reads a lot like the comic creator already had the idea for the comic, but only got the urge to make it after she was converted and needed to spread the good word. you do you i guess!! i understand that she’s new to this and probably Going Through Something, and this is just a step on her journey. but the absolute self-loathing she described in her afterword... it does not sound good. i’m just some agnostic kid so what do i know, but i do not think that kind of self-flagellating is a kind faith to have for yourself. i might not ever have been properly religious, but you know what i AM familiar with? a brain wired for ocd and intrusive thoughts. for a lot of my life i’ve struggled with my own kind of purity complex. i’ve had this really strange sensitivity for things that felt ‘tainted’. i’ve experienced having to remove more and more words from my vocabulary because they were Bad and i did not want to sully my sentences. it stacked, too - if a word turned out to be an euphemism for something, i could never feel comfortable saying it again. i still struggle a bit with these things, but i have confronted these things within myself. i’ve had to make myself comfortable with imperfection and ‘tainted’ things and accept that these are just, arbitrary categories my mind made up. maybe that’s the reason i can’t do organized religion even if i found one that fit for me - just like diets can trigger disordered eating, i think it would carve some bad brainpaths for me. so yeah i’m worried i guess! i’m worried when people think it’s so good that she finally found the correct faith even if it’s causing all this self-hate. is there really not a better way? or are they just trusting she’ll find it? and yeah it’s none of my concern, it’s like, i worry for jkr too but i do not want her within miles of my trans self thANKS. so like, i DO enjoy media that explores faith and what it means for you. my favourite band is the oh hellos, which DOES draw on faith and the songwriter’s experience with it. because of my religious iliteracy most of it has flown over my head for years and i’m like “oh hey this is gay” and then only later realize it was about god all along Probably. i like what they’ve done with the place. also, stormlight archive - i had NO idea sanderson was mormon, the way he writes his characters, many of whom actively discuss religion and their relationship to it. i love that about the books, honestly. Media That Explores Religion In A Complex And Compassionate Way... we like that i’ve been thinking about my own stories too, and how i might want to explore faith in them. most of my settings are based on magic and it’s like, what role does religion have in a world where gods are real and makes u magic. in sparrow spellcaster’s story, xe creates? summons? an old god - brings them to life out of the idea of them. it’s a story about hubris, mostly. then there’s iphimery, the story where i am actively fleshing out a pantheon. there’s no doubt the gods are real in the fantasy version of iphimery, they are the source of magic and sustain themselves on slivers of humanity in exchange. but in the modern version, where they are mostly forgotten? that’s some room for me to explore, i think. especially the character of timian, who comes from a smaller town and moves to a large and diverse city. in the fantasy story, the guardian deity chooses his sister as a vessel. in the modern setting, that does not happen, and i don’t yet know what does, but i really want timian to be someone who struggles with his identity - his faith, his sexuality, the expectations cast upon him by his hometown... i’m sure it’s a cliché story retold through a million gay characters but i want to do it too okay. i want to see him carve out his own way of existing within the world because i care him and want to see him thrive!!! alrighty i THINK that’s all i wanted to write. thanks if you read all of this, and if you didn’t that’s super cool have a nice day !

[izlaria]

Some thoughts on Enola Holmes

I’ve seen people come up with all kinds of criticism towards this movie and I feel like venting a little. There will be light spoilers ahead.

Is it a movie about Sherlock Holmes? No.

This is probably one of the main complaints that I’ve seen, which I don’t get at all. People are complaining about the lack of Sherlock and Watson and I just... don’t understand. This movie is very clearly about Enola, who is Sherlock’s sister. In general I dislike the purists who hate on different adaptations simply because they aren’t their cup of tea, but the fact that people are irritated by the familial connection is just strange. This is a work of fiction, inspired by another work of fiction.

We’ve had hundreds of interpretations of Sherlock already, so why does it bother people so intensely that a new character has been introduced to create a new universe of canon? I find the idea of a sister quite intriguing, because it puts Sherlock and Mycroft into a position that is yet unexplored, as brothers to a young girl. It also creates an interesting starting place. What would be of a girl who was raised by the same people who raised the genius Sherlock? How would she handle the expectations her surname raises?

Is it loyal to the Enola Holmes books? I don’t think so.

I haven’t read the books, but, from what I’ve gathered, there is a lot the movie has changed. Comments on the books have led me to believe Eudoria, in the books, doesn’t actually care about Enola and that the girl is actually “alone” in the world. Sherlock, it seems, doesn’t take the same level of interest in her that they show in the movie, and Mycroft’s character was also changed, though I can’t say exactly how. Book Enola is younger (14yo), not a detective and not interested in a romantic subplot.

Having said all that, I can see why Netflix would have changed these points. The romance attracts attention in a way that a simple coming-of-age female-led movie would not. I personally don’t think it subtracts from the story. I’m glad that the actors and the characters are the same age, and I’m even gladder that they were written as somewhat flirtatious friends that don’t go any further than that. A kiss would have probably seemed forced and, with the actors being so young, it would have also been a bit uncomfortable to watch. In this house, we are against the sexualization of minors.

Also, who doesn’t love a bit of yearning? That hand kiss was peak wholesome romance.

On the matter of the family, I can see why some people would be irritated. I myself enjoy a good family dynamic and I loved to see Sherlock grow into his role as a brother, but I also know that plenty of the series’ fans were inspired by Enola’s independence and her ability to move forward despite being met with indifference from her family members. Again, the happy ending with Eudoria seems to be a more sellable take on the story. This is probably one of the most reasonable criticisms towards this piece, though I confess it was a change I enjoyed. In my opinion, it was nice to see a story about a mother who was not perfect, but who still had her daughter’s best interests at heart. Like every good mother out there, I would imagine.

The feminism

This is another controversial point. I’ve seen people say it was too feminist (there’s no such thing), but also that it was the wrong kind of feminism and this last one I can kind of get on board with. It did lean towards a type of feminism that we’ve seen a lot, the “not like other girls” type that villainizes femininity and only values more male-coded abilities, like fighting and pure rationality.

It does make sense when in context: Enola was raised apart from normal society, in a house where her only measure of normalcy was her mother and the news articles she obsessively collected about her genius brother. She was never exposed to more female-coded activities and, so, she has a strong disregard for them. As a part of the narrative, the message gets a bit iffy, because it repeatedly deprecates a lot of abilities associated with womanhood that are not harmful in and of themselves. The strong female characters are all too “extraordinary” to be representative of women in general.

On the other hand, there were certainly things the movie did right.

I did enjoy the subversion of the interests between Enola and Tewksbury. Tewksbury is not helpless, but his knowledge lies in botany, not fighting. He is the one in need of Enola and he’s the one who wants to stay by her side, even though she wants to forge her own path. It struck me, as I was watching, that these roles usually fall to the female romantic interest and that it is the male lead who usually goes off on lone quests to find himself.

At the same time, Enola is not completely separate from her femininity. Her empathy and her inability to stop herself from helping Tewksbury are both qualities that can be seen as female-coded, especially when in contrast to Eudoria’s messages of individualism.

One last thing that I would like to comment on is the corset scene. I understand why a lot of people may be irritated to have another movie corset-bashing, but I honestly think a different interpretation was intended. I think the corset, like bras and all types of shape wear, does factor into a system of female repression, since it helps create an idealized image of the female body that is seldom natural. The root of the problem is not in the corset itself, but in the society that demands that women alter their bodies or else be exposed to shame and ridicule. Enola, in this sense, is a young girl who never had an interest in fashion and who was so far satisfied with her figure, but who had just been told by Mycroft and Miss Harrison that she was inadequate.

When Enola says that the corset is a symbol of repression for those forced to wear it, she is absolutely right. It’s a matter of choice. The garment does serve her, as it does all women of the time, when she must blend into London society.

I would like to see Enola find a female friend, someone whose abilities lie towards the ordinary, in order to have her see the use of female-coded activities, even if they do not interest her. It would be a good way to balance out the message of this movie and to show the value of women in all the different areas they might apply themselves.

[tortoisenottortoise]

Am I the only one who likes seeing muscular women in media more than muscular men?

Alright so, this one will probably end up much shorter and a little more ranty than I'd like, but this is kind of personal so be fairly warned. 

 Recently I've seen a few complaints about the new He-Man show and honestly, I fully understand and empathize with them. Whilst I haven't fully seen the show, from what I've viewed I can personally speaking agree (or at the very least understand) where most criticisms come from. I think it's incredibly shitty that the writer basically lied to his audience about how the show would run. Now normally I'd be fine with a twist such as He-man dying, but he's an important part of the show and the way the marketing & merchandising for it was running kind of comes across as him basically using He-Man's name to get people into the show. I also feel like it's fine to view Teela as obnoxious and annoying, nothing about her personality-wise seems likable to me. I also heard a few complaints about Orko's (I think that's his name, don't crucify me) backstory and how his character was handled.Yet as the title suggests one that didn't stick with me was the criticism of Teela and a general trend towards the criticism of women in media as being "masculine". 

I've heard over and over that Hollywood representing strong women by giving them masculine traits is a bad thing and yet... I kind of don't get it? It feels odd to say, almost like I'm the dumbest man alive for admitting something which most people on the internet seem to be so sure about, yet I just don't understand where this is coming from. I've seen this thrown at She-hulk, Wonder Woman, Abby, and many other characters, yet when inquired it usually loops back around to, "Yeah they have muscles", and that's about it. This type of criticism in specific seems to overly focus on the appearance of said characters. It's the one critique I just can't get behind and it feels like at best it's a shallow criticism that fails to get its point across, and at worst it's actively demeaning to women who desire to or show masculine traits. But first, let me break this down into sections.

Section 1: Muscles =/= Masculinity (In my opinion at least)

Oh boy, I feel like this is a section that might rustle some feathers, but I'm going to try and explain myself best as possible. I simply do not view muscularity as a feature that is inherent to or should be inherent to men. I'm not going to pretend as if muscular men aren't more saturated in media and art, nor as if they're societally treated as masculine, but one of the reasons I fail to understand this criticism is that I see muscles beyond the horizons as being just a masculine trait. 

I believe that muscles should instead be seen as a sign of hard work and determination. As someone who's currently trying (and struggling) to stay healthy and fit, it's much harder than a lot of media portrays it to be. It's a test where you push yourself to the limits, not just for the sake of doing it, but so you can improve as a person. Whenever I go to the gym and see a muscular gal or guy walk by, my immediate thought isn't, "how masculine" or anything like that my thought is, "wow! They worked hard to get like that, I should work hard as well!". 

This interpretation tends to feel like it's just simply taking a piss on people who actively work hard to achieve higher levels of strength. Especially when society places and enforces these unrealistic standards onto people. If you don't have a six-quintillion pack nor can bench press a fucking house then you're worthless, of course, that is unless you actually attempt to pursue said standards which in that case you're automatically dismissed as cheating your way to gaining your muscles instead of putting any work in. And that's just for men who often don't have to deal with traditional idiots who are stuck in the year 1950 where I can't walk on the same street as them. My skin crawls when reading tweets from older men talking about how weightlifting women are "ruining their fertility" and I absolutely hate it when people in my life treat these women as if they're mythical creatures from a fairy tale, or when females who have trained to such a degree are simply dismissed as being inferior. 

Obviously, I don't think the people who say this are like that, but whenever I hear this type of critique I can't help but think of the culmination of all these experiences I've gone through. But then again, this might honestly just be because I'm personally attracted to muscular women.

  Section 2: Body type diversity

  Another reason that I tend to like muscular women in media over muscular men is simply due to the sheer oversaturation of muscular men. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem if anybody likes muscular men. I totally get wanting to shove your face in between some man titties or get inspired by their physiques. In all honesty, almost everything I said earlier can directly apply to men, but one of the reasons I bring up body type diversity is that there tend to be much less muscular women than men. I

f anything, I'd have to say that muscular men are almost treated as the default when it comes to things like superhero comics, movies, video games, anime, etc. In a similar vein, the default for women tends to be slim and curvaceous, you get the drill. Whenever someone who doesn't fit into either body type shows up and isn't treated like a joke/gag or a character to rip on, I can't help but be happy about it. As much as I have no clue wtf is going on with TLOU2, I can appreciate that Abby's portrayal doesn't seem to exist solely as a joke meant to demean women for working out. I'm excited when an anime protagonist is a fat character who can go beyond just being a "fat guy" and is treated the same way a normal person would be.

 Regardless of what you think about whatever trait you're criticizing, there's probably someone out there who fits it. If you're not into it or dislike it, then that's fine, but I'd rather have that expressed than it being actively made out as a harmful trope as opposed to just literally another body type that some women have.

  Section 3: Muscular women inspire me more

Ok so, we've now blown into a full-on personal experience, buckle up boys, girls, NBs, anything in between, and I feel like I'm forgetting someone so apologies! But yeah, muscular women in media tend to be a lot more inspiring than people seem to give them credit for. This comes down to a mix of both the qualities I outlined earlier in what makes the characters inspiring but also plays into the idea of body diversity. 

One of the traits that make amazons seem more inspiring is their inherent rarity/lack of screentime. As I stated earlier, whilst I do enjoy my fair share of man-titties, it kind of gets to a point where it's more depressing than inspiring when all you see is just super-models shoved in your face whenever you walk into a theater. If for every Goku I could find ten other guys who were on the chubbier side then I'd be able to take more from when I see Goku and other characters with his body type, yet it's so saturated that it no longer becomes something to aspire to, but simply the norm.  It's not that you can work to become muscular or skinny with hard work and effort, you have to be muscular or skinny unless you want to be deemed a failure. Being chubby often isn't presented as a starting point but just treated as a defect. As someone who spent years battling with my own self-perception, that's just not a good message to get across.

Now, this obviously isn't to say that people can never make muscular characters. After all, it's their story so they can put whatever they want in it. The aim of the game isn't to stop people from making a specific type of character, but to encourage a diverse set of people to make a diverse set of characters. This is the reason why I view muscular women as so inspiring. Instead of coming across as just "the norm" or "the standard" they stand out from the crowd and despite knowing what they have to deal with, are still ready and willing to work out and improve their bodies. They had a goal in mind and set time aside to achieve said goal, that's something I can get behind.

  Conclusion:

This will be another short section, but I just wanted to mention it because it caps off my thoughts on this post in general. What originally started as me just not getting the reason why people disliked Teela's design somehow turned into a passionate rant and I'm A) not sure if it fits on this particular subsection of the community, B) scared I'm going to get ripped to pieces, and C) somewhat unsatisfied with all that I said. At the end of the day, this probably won't be seen by too many people, but to those who do see it, I hope you have a wonderful day. I just wanted to talk about something that was near and dear to my heart and hoped that I made it clear why I view things the way I do. 

P.S: Can we stop having this double standard where we act like women whose arms show the slightest hint of definition are "unrealistic" whilst men can look like tree trunks and be considered normal and healthy? please and thank you!

[inkabelledesigns]

BATIM in Sims 4: Playing with the Drews

So if you guys play the Sims 4 and you haven’t checked out @startistdoodles​ ‘s gallery yet (SurfingEevee), you should. She’s made a lot of amazing stuff, some of which I definitely need to incorporate across my worlds because they’re just that good. But today, I’m gonna share my experience playing with one of her households: The Drew Household. It’s no surprise that we here in the Bendy community love our AUs and multiple interpretations of the canon, and I’m no exception, so getting to play with a household that’s Hyde, Gingie, and Snowy as roommates is not only awesome, but incredibly funny at times. So let’s dive in and have some shenanigans!

And of course the first thing we’re greeted by is this! X’’’D Okay, so Star warned me upfront that this household has some custom content, and seeing as I’ve never played with custom content before, I don’t have all of the same assets downloaded. That being said, nothing could’ve prepared me for the laughter I had when this popped up. I’ve been trying to find something close enough to replace the missing hair and clothing with, and I think I’ve made it work for the most part. Sorry Gingie, not even magic can stop you from balding eventually. X’’’’D

That being said though, when I went to go and give them back their hair and clothes, I opened up the clothes just to see what they were wearing. And Hyde lost his pants. ^^’’’ Hyde honey, no! XD I know we’re in a pandemic, and it’s easy to get away with this, but you have to wear pants. I believe Snowy was also missing some pants in the Sports category, but for whatever reason I can’t find any screenshots of it. 

Another interesting thing: Star, you really outdid yourself on the details! It took me a while to figure out whose room was whose, but this little detail in Hyde’s, just -chef’s kiss- I really like that. Everything is so aesthetically pleasing. Though there is one hilarious thing I need to call out, and that’s the basement. 

Hyde’s “ink machine” is a cupcake machine. And that is honestly the best thing ever. X’’’’D Thank you, that made my day.

I’ve only gotten to play with this household a handful of times, but let me tell you about my playthrough last night. A LOT went down. So first, I learned you can have sims cuddle? And I really love that option???? Like oh my god, MJ and Dad spending quality time together is the sweetest thing, and this just melted my heart! Though speaking of MJ, she and Hyde got stuck on so many objects. The poor girl almost missed school and would not listen to me telling her to go there until I rearranged like all the furniture from Snowy’s room. I can’t explain why this happened, but it was so frustrating yet oddly funny. X’’D Also, there’s a rat in the basement, and Hyde could not fall asleep as a result of it skittering around, so he got really emotional. I’ve never dealt with rats in the Sims before, but every time I tried to set a trap, it told me he couldn’t move. Hyde’s settings have him only moving around by turning into a bat, and I thought that was the problem. So I called Gingie and Snowy down to take care of it, but neither of them could do it either. I eventually realized that I had to move Hyde’s sculpture bench to get at the hole, and all three of them set a trap as soon as I did, so that at least worked out. 

Next, we followed Snowy to work, just because I was curious and had never played through any of the law enforcement jobs before. He did a good job, but while I was there, this happened. No matter where your Sims live, you can run into other households you’ve made while out and about, and since this is my designated Bendy file, sometimes I see these guys. Goodness knows I’ve run into Henry a few times in places I didn’t expect him to be. So while that aspect isn’t surprising, I do have to ask: Bertrum, why the absolute heck are you at a police station in nothing but swim trunks?! Bertrum WHY?! X’’’D Sadly I could not get an interaction, since Snowy needed to rest on a bench for a hot minute, but maybe one day. For whatever reason, Bertrum does not keep his clothes on, which is very unlike how I imagine his canon self is.

A lot of other things happened once Snowy was home from work. The kids were home from school, Gin was out doing some gardening, and Hyde was exactly where I left him, listening to the radio and tapping his toes (he seems to do that a lot). Hyde spent a lot of time looking at fish and popping up out of nowhere. At one point he and Snowy were chatting, and he blew up in Hyde’s face, so Hyde got really sad and had an emotional breakdown in front of a guy I was trying to steal blood from. That was something. It actually glitched really bad, so I left the lot and came back, only to discover my victim had changed into sports-wear and THEN got bitten, so that happened. X’’D At some point MJ and Ivy were trying to go to sleep, but there was a monster under the bed, so they ran and woke up Gingie to come take care of it, but then he got inexplicably scared? I don’t know if it was from the monster, but I��d like to think it was. He just did not want to be in the hallway. XD But he consoled both of them, sprayed the monster, and everything was fine. Gingie was also the only one responsible enough to take care of Wanderer. The collision issues struck again, and the poor girl could not find her litterbox (it’s in the bathroom downstairs). So I had Gingie carry her to it, and then she was good for the rest of the night. MJ also had fun with the pretty kitty, they played a bit before everyone went back to sleep, which was nice. 

Last but not least, my file has indicated that it’s Love Day in world. And I think this is where I need to go play on a different household until the day ends. ^^’’’ I feel so bad for Hyde, this is his only desire for this day and I can’t fulfill it. I’m sorry buddy!

But yeah, that’s been our evening here in the Sims 4! I’ll be back with some more household shenanigans another time. After all, this wasn’t the only household I played with last night. Once again, thank you Star for sharing this lovely family and house up on the Sims 4 Gallery! I’m not usually one to play with a household unless I’ve made it, but there’s something fascinating about playing with these fellas and all their quirky antics. The girls are so precious too, even if they do keep trying to sleep in the rain (I gotta figure out a new bed situation for them). I’m just kind of letting them do their own thing for the most part, I’m just playing babysitter to make sure their needs are fulfilled (though I am totally making some cursed cupcakes later XD). Hope you all enjoyed the shenanigans! 

[behindthestrings]

all right then i also dare u to answer all of them too !

1. What's a roleplay blog whose characterization you admire?

Honestly the person I need to give this to is @deivorous. They are unafraid to actually write a Grimm that is a truly instinctual being. Grimm is one of those muses that like…I see people bend a lot to fit somewhere, and highlight certain areas of him to grow. And like, playing with Grimm’s more human facets is where a lot of fandom goes…but personally, I REALLY like working with hollow muses that embrace their hollow instincts and don’t apologize about the portrayal. I’ve written with MANY Grimms over the years, and this interpretation is not one I’ve found common, and I really vibe with it.

2. What's a roleplay blog whose writing style you admire?

@despairforme/@kakimushire I LOVE how different their muse voices are across the blogs, while still maintaining a same author voice. I have always adored Toby’s writing…and I’ve read their work even before I was a member of the rpc.

They and their writing is why I even JOINED the rpc in the first place because I didn’t realize how satisfying it could be, and how beautiful some of the writing is when done by muns that connect as well as muses.

3. What's a roleplay blog who always has the best plot ideas?

Ahaha the crack that I get involved with that deals with @sphaeraa is AMAZING. Never before have I met a mun with a muse who’s as mentally and emotionally WTF as Shutara, and watching them form plots…..ahahaha wow. Hogy…I never know what’s gonna happen when my muses get piqued by him. Especially if Shutara and him are vibing. It’s a special blend of dumb and dumber…acted out by two incredibly intelligent minds. That’s really the only way that I can describe Shu-Hogy vibe.

I also really like the way that @tetsusei’s brain works. I can’t wait to flesh out past TYBW stuff…since like…working with Quincy muns opens sets of options I usually don’t have access to. Cang and Szayel honestly crack me up.

I NEED TO FINISH STUFF FOR @kazeshinigami. I LOVE THE PLOTS I HAVE WITH ANGEL BUT I”VE HAD ZERO TIME TO GIVE THEM THE WORK THEY DESERVE. I hate halfassing things, especially in a beginning setup.

4. What's a roleplay blog whose artwork/edits/icons you admire?

@midnightactual does soooo much editing work for their visuals. Everything is so beautiful and it enhances the writing and characterization instead of distracting from it. I love seeing the intermediate stages too that have been shared on discord. Soooo much to admire and love.

5. What's the roleplay blog you've been writing with the longest here?

I’ve written with @kenpachi-of-zaraki for 7 years now on both my Shutara and my Szayel. We’ve seen some shit over the years. XD I’m happy I got to meet him this year in person. That was a long time coming.

6. What's a roleplay blog who's an absolute joy to talk to ooc?

My SAME BRAINCELL collection of Kisuke muns only. @mysteriousshopkeeper, @kxrotsuchi, @shikzue No matter what shit’s going on the dash. No matter if I’m too exhausted to write...I go see them to recharge. It’s literally always fun and I have total psychological safety in this space. Like…the best way that I can describe a space inhabited by 4 kisuke muns is like…the deranged bouncy house of contemplation, experimentation, distraction and boisterous entertainment.

@svsure is someone who I enjoy hanging out in the 9th circle of Szayel hell with. The things we’ve seen….

@regalramtrecera is another one who has energy that’s just so good. And as a fellow healthcare person...it's nice to have someone who understands.

7. What's a roleplay blog you love whose character you didn't know until you started writing with them?

@bleachintothemultiverse Like, I’ve played the BBS content with CFYOW…but I didn’t really focus on it. But I’ve gotten to have an appreciation of Seinosuke, who I hadn’t really given much thought to. And it’s actually been really fun to write the “grumpy one loves the sunshine one”.

8. What's a roleplay blog with a friendly mun?

Ahaha I love @fireplumed SOOOO MUUUUUCH. One of those people who is just genuinely *GOOD*. One of those like..guided by fate moments….ILU

Speaking of fate guided moments…. @shiroiacha. My literal twin…suuuper spooky. But Incredible.

Also @wisteriamuses/ @kxrotsuchi  Is the most genuinely friendly mun I’ve ever met. Literal sugarhearted sunshine.

Aria of @txchie is also in this group. It’s such a small world when you know the same areas, and I love bunnies. <3

Also, I haven’t gotten to write yet with @mindinmuken, but I love being able to talk headcanon work just..in general…in detail. You’re awesome.

Like I mean ANYONE I write with is friendly. But like…sometimes I know that I’m not in the greatest frame of mind because of my work life. And sometimes I’m inconsistent about where my muse energy goes and like I can love a plot and then like drop things for weeks. But these people? Like it doesn’t matter how shitty of a partner I’ve been…they will ALWAYS meet me where I am, and like…I feel like I don’t really deserve to talk to them sometimes.

So yeah.

10. What's a roleplay blog whose dedication you admire?

ALL OF YOU.  Just taking the time to be creative when times are hard.  I respect people who write huge amounts.  I respect people who can only write snippets because they have no time, but want to make *something*.  I love people who are trying out new muses.  I love people who’ve been writing a muse for 10 years.  Like.  Damn.   Y’all are amazing.

11. What's a roleplay blog that always keeps you pleasantly surprised?

@sentcki  / @seistark / @trescifras

I love how much thought Hanji puts into their muses. And like no matter who it is…or whatever muses I’m working with…like even when it’s something that I KNOW will go well…like, when it’s actually talked about and put out there…it’s even better than I thought it would be in the first place.  And I love that we’re able to flex and blend characters and lore with one another.  I love being able to express enthusiasm and have it mirrored back at me.  

12. What's a roleplay blog you admire from afar?

@kingtres

I love reading all of the little notes. All of the little snippets of hcs shared on this blog. Like…in theory I would love to write and interact…but I’m not really sure if it would create much substance without work that my muses will fight…even though I’d love to do it.

Like my Szayel is an Espada…but Halibel for him has always just kinda been someone he likes, but just doesn’t have much in common with. He’d make anything she asked, he’d heal her and her fracciones, and honestly…he supports hollowness so much, the fact that she’s a monster girl makes him very, very happy. And because he *gets* a womb in his CFYOW form…seeing her without one, makes him really sad—he is the embodiment of creation and life and he’s always dreamt of being able to carry life in him, and that uniquely makes him sympathetic to her Sacrifice tbh, even if he’d be too afraid to tell her.

My Shutara likes the idea of another strong lady…but like, she’s a Guard and she knows that their relationship would be very complex whether as friends or enemies because of who the Espada are…and if things are difficult in a social sense, Shutara is just more likely to withdraw than expend the effort.  I’d love to explore some post TYBW stuff…but yeah….it’s just to nebulous for me to sift through something to ask for a thread yet, and if it’s meant to be, the idea will come.

So I just kind of watch and enjoy what’s written than attempting to talk to the mun and try and write XD  And enjoy all of the pictures of animals.  <3

THERE’S SO MUCH THAT i CAN’T FIT IN HERE BUT i LOVE EVERYONE i FOLLOW.  EVERYONE IS SO INSPIRING.  I WILL GUSH OVER AND OVER AGAIN.  

[littlesparklight]

What is it about Zeus/Ganymede that you like so much?

I like them because I enjoy the dynamic (problematic I know 😬) and the fact that Ganymede was the only one who was given immortality, he must’ve been adored 🥰 instead of simply being a toy (which is my most dislike interpretation because it’s disrespectful to both parties imo)

Do you read fic of them (besides your own)? I remember reading a fic on live journal that I loved everything about but it’s gone R.I.P 😔

Ahh, anon. (guess who lost the original version because of clumsy fingers and now has to rewrite this...) First of all, yes, I do read fic other than my own! I’ve searched high and low for more to read, but I’m picky since a lot of it is with a negative/”realistic” take and I’m not here for that, so I never get to read as much of it as I’d like. And fic disappearing always sucks. :c

Second! Yeah, I plain enjoy the dynamic when spun in a positive way. Zeus must be completely besotted, because Ganymede is the only one that was taken to Olympus, and the only one who was given immortality! Any other relationship aside from Hera (and previous wives) last maybe a year or so at most? Clearly not so for Ganymede. How can I not like that? Not that I don’t understand why people would go with a negative/more “realistic” take, but honestly I am shamelessly going to go with the positive one, both because that pleases me and because that’s clearly what was intended from the ancients’ POV.

I also like both a bit of drama and kidnapping as a plot point, so the fact that things start with kidnapping is a feature not a bug for me. On top of that I like power differences, especially magical ones (extremely powerful beings having a squishy lover is catnip for me ok), and the other ones that comes with Zeus/Ganymede are great too.

Which, as a side point, leads into that any deity/human pairing is going to be incomprehensibly unequal. Any age differences is honestly the smallest issue when it comes to Z/G in specific or deity/mortal in general (considering that say, any Apollo ship for example is going to have them as well, even if he looks eternally nineteen). Ganymede could have been a 40 year old king and still would have been as powerless against and compared to Zeus as he was when he was taken as a teenager. A couple decades extra life experience isn’t going to change that (and, anyway, at some point Ganymede is going to be hundreds to thousands of years old, even if he’s still technically a youth.) If you’re into deity/human ships, this is just how it is. The options (in Greek myth) for mortals are to go “I’m into this, let’s go!!” or reject the god, and with rejection comes 1. it happens anyway, 2. turning/being turned into something else, 3. death. 2 or 3 are as bad as 1 when the mortal is unwilling, but there’s no really functional difference between rejection and consent when we’re talking about a being that is so massively powerful compared to a human. There’s not really any “ethical” way for a fictional relationship like this, and so, whatever. I’m into it, lol.

And with Zeus’ tendency of playing favourites, and the possibility of Ganymede basically having Zeus wrapped around his little finger? Yeah, all that power in service of spoiling his lover. ;)

Also, like. This is basically a bride kidnapping without the father’s permission. Zeus even pays a bride price!

In the end, like I’ve said before, Ganymede is going to be on Olympus either way. The Iliad’s version has not a whiff of the kidnapping being done for sexual reasons (the sexual element is old, but not as old as the oldest sources we have); the gods, all of them, decided “yeah that one is way too pretty to waste on a human life, get him up here” and took Ganymede for themselves. Why not add some HEA with love too?

Have some quotes below:

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2. 414 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "[Depicted on a tapestry of Hypsipyle queen of Lemnos :] This part showed the rape on leafy Ida and the famed flight of the boy [Ganymede]; presently he was standing joyfully at the table in heaven, nay, even Jove's [Zeus'] armour-bearer himself [Ares] quaffs the beguiling draught from the Phrygian's ministering hand."

Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 8. 427 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) :

‘O Father Zeus, if of thy seed I am, if at thine best I left far-famous Troy for immortality with deathless Gods, O hear me now, whose soul is anguish-thrilled! I cannot bear to see my fathers' town in flames, my kindred in disastrous strife perishing: bitterer sorrow is there none! Oh, if thine heart is fixed to do this thing, let me be far hence! Less shall be my grief if I behold it not with these mine eyes. That is the depth of horror and of shame to see one's country wrecked by hands of foes.’ With groans and tears so pleaded Ganymede. Then Zeus himself with one vast pall of cloud veiled all the city of Priamos (Priam) world-renowned; and all the murderous fight was drowned in mist, and like a vanished phantom was the wall in vapours heavy-hung no eye could pierce; and all around crashed thunders, lightnings flamed from heaven . . . Then left they [the Greeks] that far-famous town, and turned from war, in awe of Zeus' threatenings." 

Also, like, check out the opening scene of Christopher Marlowe’s Dido play, because it’s got some really funny exchanges between Zeus and Ganymede and Zeus basically promising Ganymede anything he might want for, uh... “hugs” /cough.