#this wasn't drawn with the ship in mind but interpret it as you wish

[phoenixtakaramono]

So I'm here to say that I really love your Bingyuan fic! The research you do for it and share with us is just amazing! I also have a q regarding LBG. From SV we know that he felt admiration for his Shizun so do you think that if SJ wasn't cruel to him LBG's admiration would've grown into love and attraction like it did in LBH's case for SY? Which then also raises a question: would LBH/LBG fall in love with any Shizun who was kind to him? Or was he just drawn to SJ's type of personality. WDYT?

Hi there, Anon! I’m glad you’re liking the Untold Tale! Thanks for reading! I think it lowkey helps when the story I’m writing (in general) is from a culture I’m familiar with and that I know some of its language nuances (just general Mainland dialect; I’m unfamiliar with Shanghainese, the Beijing dialect, etc etc). So fortunately for me, as someone who is Chinese but was born in the Western side of the world speaking Mandarin to family and friends, emulating the Chinese aesthetic and atmosphere in TUT comes a little bit easier to me than someone who did not grow up with this culture. I bet if I had been raised in China, I would be able to write something even more multilayered and deep but, alas, the youthful rebellious me of the past hadn’t taken my pinyin and Chinese character writing lessons seriously so I can only communicate verbally and understand audibly 😫. It’s very special for us writers in fandoms to be able to write a story of a culture that we actually know and can identify with. But high key it’s been immensely fun injecting some references of things I’ve come to notice from watching period C-dramas and the C-novels I’ve read, and I’ve come to learn interesting things about Chinese history and mythology even I didn’t know! So the story really writes itself.

Shen Jiu (OG!Shen Qingqiu)

To answer your question 🤔, to be honest this is why the SVSSS fandom is great—because there’s so many interpretations of the original source material. That’s why we have our headcanons and fanfictions to explore these many different possibilities. So for me personally, I can see it happening both ways: *1) LBG does develop a crush/falls in love with SJ, or 2) no matter how SJ treats him LBG regards him respectfully or coldly. I think Possibility 1 is more likely, since SY transmigrated into SQQ and we saw what happened with “Bunhe.”

Now, mind, for Possibility 1 to be more likely to happen, the SJ in PIDW will have to undergo a massive personality change/ a change of heart/ develop a good conscience and will need to clean up his image aka clear up the massive misunderstandings from PIDW canon (like him being mistaken as a pervert for Ning Yingying, visiting whorehouses, killing LQG, etc). It’ll be difficult though considering who Airplane has changed SJ into for his stallion harem novel (reading through SVSSS, my impression of PIDW besides it being the harem stallion novel is that it sounds similar to a “dog blood plot,” where audiences tune in to see how the villains are brought to justice). I literally have a line from TUT in a future chapter where SY says this about SJ since I will resurrect SJ and bring him into the story for closure:

People like Shen Qingqiu naturally had a set of deeply-rooted values. If one wanted to change them, it’d be easier to just have them reincarnate. (—TUT, ch???)

At his core, he’s a flawed man (which makes sense with the underlying cycle of abuse theory, considering his upbringing and backstory). He’s jealous and petty and prickly. His image is that of a proud and cold immortal. In Chinese terms, he’s the type of character archtype who I can see being àojiāo (definitely not canon characterization; this is just a stray thought that amuses me) in a romantic relationship.

LBH will have to recognize that^, or be in a position where he finds SJ’s caustic side endearing instead. He will also have to be extremely patient with him (although, since the joke in SVSSS is that LBH is an incurable M, it shouldn’t be that hard).

A fun thing about OG!SQQ is that he’s the cannon fodder scumbag villain of PIDW. He’s the reason LBG blackened from a white lotus. And, as you know, villains aka antagonists aka bad boys resonate strongly with people for a reason. That’s why we see a lot of Enemies to Lovers tropes, etc. It squicks me to use this phrase but “the allure of dating a ‘bad boy’ is strong.” SJ is that type of bad boy we could identify as a “fixer-upper project” (ugh, that phrase)—even with the red flags and warning signs—especially for those said to have a troubled past with rejecting neglectful parental figures/ family members/ friends and have have not outgrown their wish to convert that sort of person into a loving, accepting person. When we want something we can’t or shouldn’t have, our desire for it grows exponentially. In fanfiction this is a concept writers and readers can explore safely in a world of the imaginary.

From a Meta Perspective

Although, if we look at it meta-ly, the cold and proud and/or knowledgeable Shizun (teacher/ master) character who comes to know love and “is redeemed” by whomever is the love interest (typically a cute and quirky girl who may or may not have started off as naive to the innerworkings of the Cultivation World and therefore needs an established and mature mentor to guide them) is a very well-known archetype for a reason in Chinese fan culture.

Seeing a terrible person change their ways and try to become a better person because of the influence of the one they love is also a popular depiction for a reason.

It’s almost like gap moe. The crueler and aloof one starts out as (arrogance is a staple), the more impactful the shift is when we see such characters soften their edges.

The draw of the sacred master/disciple relationship is that it’s taboo, so I think it’s fair to say that such a relationship in fiction is a popular trope precisely because of this aspect. From a writer’s perspective, the main appeal is to show that there is someone out there who can cause this respectful figure to lose control (undergo emotional change) and go to great lengths to protect his/her precious person. That precious person also has to fall into the “not like other girls” trope (so they can show the ML a different world he would not have seen the beauty of before). On the other side, we look forward to the point of the story where the love interest has their “Oh” moment and realizes their admiration has somehow shifted into love and attraction over the course of events.

Other Romantic Possibilities

It’s very likely. I personally like the fanon headcanon where anyone with Heavenly Demon blood running through their veins feels a compulsion to “obsessively fixate on one person” (TLJ —> SXY, LBH —> SQQ). Personally I don’t recall if this was canon or fanon, but someone had written something about LBH imprinting on one person in his lifetime on the account of his demon nature. And I like that theory (I think it’s likely more fanon than anything but it’s an intriguing idea full of possibilities!).

For him to fixate romantically on one person, I personally don’t think the prerequisite is just by being kind to LBH (but it probably adds to the person’s appeal). There’s probably other factors that go into this to capture the male protagonist’s eye, such as him finding someone attractive (or passes his own personal standards) and/or having good chemistry with that person. So I could see him being into other Shizuns and whomever else. Personally I also think there is appeal in the unobtainable. It’s one thing to have someone’s affection (see LBG and his harem of 600 wives who definitely aren’t shy about giving him affection), but it’s another to know you’ve earned the affections of someone you really like and respect (especially if it’s someone thought to be unobtainable).

As long as the writer can provide a plausible justification for me to suspend disbelief and they set up events to justify it, I can swallow just about any ship possibility. It doesn’t necessarily have to be SJ’s type of personality. (For example, I read a very good fanfiction before where the writer paired Luo Binghe with Ming Fan. Ming Fan, people!!! And they actually pulled it off! What a madlad! Mind, it’s Shen Yuan who had transmigrated into MF in that premise, but the writer set up events that showed how these two characters came to bond and develop a deep friendship which inevitably had LBH developing a crush on his shixiong. I use this as an example because this is the type of unexpected (crack)ship, but because the writer did their work trying to make it seem plausible, we can only admire their hard work and effort at pulling it off.)

As the saying goes, there are plenty of fishes in the sea! As the protagonist, LBH/LBG can have many OTP possibilities with just about anyone as long as the writer can make it plausible. It’s all about the character development and the story/ central themes they wish to tell with the ship!

(Note, these really aren’t hot takes, lol. I’m just having fun answering to this casually from the perspective of a writer. Thank you for your Ask, anon!)

[maxburnett]

Last Dance, Bucky Barnes

Written for @buckyblues 4K Writing Challenge

pairing: 1940sFem!reader x 1940s!Bucky Barnes

genre/warnings: Angst/Fluff/Romance/Smut This fic involves smut! If you are under 18 please do not interact with this fic. Mentions of character death. Sad Bucky and Sad Reader :( Also, there's some Stucky in here if you squint on that note I left the ending up to your interpretation! Based off of the song/lyrics of the song Last Dance by Donna Summer Hope you enjoy the fic! Please reblog and review if you can ♥

words: 2,471

summary → You and Bucky have been dating for 6 months and he has some news that will change your life.

Bucky sat beside Steve as Steve drove down the road; he looked down at the old copy of The Hobbit in his hands that had your bookmark inside it. Something that one of his nieces had given him that his sister had held onto for all those years. He opened it up and saw an old sketch that Steve had drawn of the two of you all of those years ago; he closed his eyes as a single tear fell, and he brushed it away. All he could think about was you. The way you smiled, the way your lips felt against his. Sometimes he felt like he could feel your lips on his skin. But that was merely wishful thinking. He closed his eyes, holding the book close as he let his eyes drift off to sleep.

You smile as you sit beside Bucky, your head on his shoulder as he has his hands in yours. You're enjoying the sound of the music that's coming from the record that he had put on. He liked to listen to soft, slow music, but you were always more captivated by his eyes and his jawline than the music that played.

You and Bucky had been dating for 6 months, but your friendship had been just as long as his and Steve's had been. You had once punched a guy who was picking a fight with Steve, and they welcomed you into their close-knit friendship.

The relationship had been just kissing and cuddles and Bucky's hands up inside your shirt to feel your skin. He had told you that you were worth more than any other girl he had dated and that he loved you more than he's loved anyone ever in his life. You smile as you think back to the day he first told you that he loved you. He had been staring into your eyes while he had an arm around you as you read The Hobbit sitting beside him.

"Doll," he had whispered, causing you to look up at him. "I love you so much," he murmured, taking in how beautiful you looked as you read. "I love everything about you, doll," he said, causing a smile to spread across your face.

Steve sat in a chair facing the two of you, absentmindedly shading a drawing of the two of you. Bucky had been quiet, which wasn't like him. You gently moved your hand to his face, pulled his head to face yours, then looked deep into his cerulean eyes. Your fingers gently moved up his delicate features. He finally leaned a little, kissing your fingers as they were close to his lips.

"James," you whisper as his eyes find yours. He looks down at his hands that you take hold of.

At the mention of Bucky's first name, Steve closes his notebook, knowing that you only called him James when you wanted to talk about something serious. He walked back to his bedroom then you heard the sound of his door shut.

"James. Look at me. What's on your mind, Love?"

"I haven't told Steve ... you have to promise me you won't," he whispers.

"Told Steve what?" You ask, your hands finding his as he looks into your eyes before looking back down.

"I enlisted," he whispers. The slight smile that you had on your lips suddenly disappeared.

"Bucky," you whisper, as you could feel tears beginning to form. You closed your eyes, not wanting to cry in front of him. He took your head into his hands, pulled you close, and kissed you. The kiss was like no other kiss he had given you before. Soon you pulled away breathless. You clung to him as the tears fell.

"I love you. I have to do this, Doll," he says, his forehead pressed against yours. He takes your hands in his and pulls you up with him. He turns the record player's volume up a little higher. Placing his arms around your waist, he pulls you against his chest, your head resting into his white shirt as he leads you in a dance. You cry into his chest as he rests his head down against yours.

"I love you so damn much," he murmurs as he kisses the top of your head.

"I love you too, Buck," you whisper. He gives you a small smile as he continues to hold you against his form as the two of you dance with you in his arms.

"James. I don't know how I'm going to get through this. I need you by me ... without you, I don't know what I'm going to do," you murmur, looking up at him. "Make love to me," you as quietly as you could. You knew there was no guarantee that he would make it back. "Please ... make love to me," you say as the tears ran down your cheeks.

He kissed you and gently picked you up into his arms. Then, carrying you into his bedroom, he laid you onto his bed.

He laid above you, his elbows holding him up above your frame. He looked down into your eyes, his face softening as he wiped your tears away.

He kissed you. You closed your eyes as your hands ran into his hair. Your body lifted a little as he reached to pull your blouse over your head. He placed sweet, gentle kisses onto your neck, his lips moving down to your white bra as you guided his hands to the clasp so he could unclasp it.

The bra fell to the bed. You looked down into Bucky's as he placed his mouth over one of your hard nipples. You moaned and tugged on his hair and felt his tongue circling around the sensitive bud.

He placed sweet little kisses all over your breast before moving over to the other nipple and repeating it again for that breast.

You moaned as he moved lower, his fingers pulling at your skirt to push it down your legs. You wiggled out of it ad kicked off your shoes as he placed gentle kisses onto your tummy.

You could feel his lips going lower and lower until his fingers were hooked on each side of your white panties. He pulled them down, and you pushed them off with your toes before biting your lip as he looked up at you and then at your wetness.

"Already so wet for me," he murmurs and gently runs two of his fingers into your folds. You buck your hips against him, and he smiles.

"We got all night, doll," he murmurs before kissing your thigh as he pushes a finger inside of you and looks up at you loving the noises that you were making and the feel of his fingers being deep inside you. "Taking my fingers s' well." He smiles as he kisses your tummy after kissing his way up your thighs.

"Shit. Feels so good, Buck," you murmur as your hands find your breasts, and you rub them. He smiles as he rubs another finger over your clit, and your hands leave your breasts and go to his head. You pull on his hair as he removes his fingers and replaces them with his mouth.

"Taste s' sweet." He says against you before pushing his tongue gently into your core. It takes everything inside you not to rub against his face, but the moment he begins to lick and suck on your clit, you come undone, moaning out his name.

"That's my good girl," he says against you, then kisses your tummy before he lays back and pulls your naked body over his.

"Buck," you murmur. "Can I taste you?" You asked with a blushing face.

"Sure thing, doll," he says and kisses you before lying back and allowing you to undress him. You kiss his stomach and look up at him, your eyes filled with innocence and all of the love that you held for him. You promised yourself you wouldn't cry, but there was a sad way that he looked at you. You took a deep breath and continue to push his boxers down.

Your hands kneaded Bucky's thighs. He let out a gasp when your hands wrapped around his erection, slowly moving it up and down as you bit your lip and looked up at him.

"Oh God," he said, closing his eyes and placing his hands gently into his hair. "So good, doll. Your touch feels so good,"

"You like my hand ... wait until my mouth is on it," you say with blushed cheeks. Eventually, you took the tip of his erection into his mouth and took him in slowly. You gave yourself time to adjust as you looked up at him as you bobbed your head up and down slowly. His moans filled the room and Bucky pulled your hair gently.

"I need to be in you," he murmured. "Please," he said as he looked into your eyes.

You removed your mouth from his erection and kissed up his stomach and laid above him, and kissed his lips. His eyes landed on yours as he rolled you over, so he was on top again. He pushed into you slowly as you moaned out and held onto him.

"So tight," he murmured against your lips. His head leaning against you, he continued to slowly push into you, not wanting this night to end. If this was his last time with you, his last dance with the woman he loved more than anything. He wanted it to last as long as possible.

After a few minutes, you pulled on Bucky's hair pulling his hips closer with your legs. He kissed you and leaned his forehead against yours as he came deep inside you and your body began to shake as your own orgasm had your whole body shaking. He stayed inside you and held your body against his, his hand moving up and down your back, and the moment that the two of you pulled away and he pulled out of you made you feel like a knife had been slid into your stomach. He held you close like you were part of him and lazily kissed your head.

"Doll," he whispers.

"Mmmmm?" Was all you could get out due to your eyes getting heavy.

"Let's get married," he says and looks down at you. "Before I head out ... you Steve and I ... let's go to the courthouse and let's get married," he looked at you with pleading eyes, and you leaned and kissed him and nodded your head.

You and Bucky were married the following week. But, unfortunately, he was shipped off two weeks after that.

The day that you had gotten the letter of condolence was the most challenging day of your life. First, finding out that your husband wasn't coming back to you hurt. Then you learned that you had a small part of him inside you when you found out you were pregnant.

When you found out that Steve had saved him and that he was alive, he had sent a letter explaining everything to you. You felt like the luckiest girl in the world, but it got ripped away from you when you got another letter saying he was presumed to be dead.

The day you learned that he was missing and that he would never make his way back to you, you wanted nothing more than to go with him, but you knew you couldn't. You knew you had to give his little girl the amount of love that he had always given you. You gave birth to a healthy baby girl with eyes as blue as Bucky's and a soul even brighter than his smile that both haunted and soothed your dreams. It was in your dreams when you slept that you sometimes found peace in knowing that that night many years ago wasn't your last dance.

"Buck," a voice sounded, and Bucky opened his eyes and stretched his legs as he sat up. "We're here," he said as he looked out at the old-looking building. Bucky nodded his head and rubbed the back of his neck as they both got out of the car.

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"I'll be okay," he said as he got out of the car, leaving the book in the seat. He walked towards the house and up the stairs and knocked on the door, and waited.

"Just a second!" A voice said from the other side. The door opened a young woman smiled up at him. "Hi! You must be James!" she said and led him into the building and down a few halls.

"You're sure there's nobody else?" Bucky asked as they walked down the hall.

"Yeah, we had lawyers check. Your wife only had one child, and when your daughter and granddaughter passed, there was nobody else," She said before they walked into a room at the end of the hall.

They entered a room where he saw a woman sitting on the floor playing with a little girl with (Y/H/C) hair giggling as she held a Captain America figure in her hand.

"Lilly," the woman said down to the little girl who turned and smiled up at Bucky. "This is James. He's going to be taking care of you,"

"Please call me Bucky," James said with a smile as he looked at the Captain America Figure she held tightly to.

He leaned down to look at Lilly, his great-grandaughter that he was now the guardian over, and she smiled as she wrapped her arms tightly around him. Then, he closed his eyes, picked the little girl up, and headed to fill the final papers out, confirming that he had officially adopted Lilly.

He walked her out holding her hand, and Steve smiled as he walked over to where they were standing, and he leaned down to look at the little girl and smiled up at Bucky.

"You must be Lily," he said with a smile. "It's so good to finally meet you," he said as he stood beside Lilly and took her other hand in his. "What do you say we all head home?"

"Yeah!" She giggled. "You look like my figure," she said, holding it up as they got to the car.

"Why guess I do," Steve smiled as he opened the door and showed Bucky how to buckle Lilly in. Once Bucky got all the buckles done, Steve closed the door and smiled at Bucky.

"Are we really doing this?" Bucky asked as he rubbed the back of his neck with a small smile.

"Are we raising a kid together? We sure are Punk," Steve says with a broad smile as Bucky grins over at him and looks at Lilly through the window as she placed her Captain America figure into the seatbelt of her booster seat with her.

My Tag List:

@balenciagabucky @belladonnabarnes @bibbidibobbidibucky @bitchassbucky @bloomingbucky @bucksfucks @buckyblues @buckys-blue-eyes @faeryloki @fairyevans @fallinforevans @fluffycutecevans @fuckandfluff @jeremyrennerfanxxxx123 @lokiscollar @mickey-henry @midnightf @onceuponabarnes @stcrrynightsinneverlcnd @syntheticavenger

[wickedpact]

A ranking of all the TTT stories in order of how much I liked them.

(Oh god this is so long)

1 My Mother's Axe

BABY ANDYYYYYYYYYYYY. Honestly this one had the trifecta of developing a character's motivations, developing a character's backstory, & developing their personality. The story starting out with Andy teaching Nile to use the axe was so charming and fun, and you could feel that chemistry they had in Opening Fire, the way they teased and bickered with each other so naturally. I loved the wedge between them on the subject of the axe, how Nile was perhaps a little too young to understand Andy's feelings about whether or not its the 'same' axe. I also love how the axe is obviously the symbol of the franchise and hugely important, but you never get a sense of exactly how important it is to Andy until you read the story.

I love the entire Ship of Theseus theme, and how it feels so natural that for Andy she has to get attached to the idea of things rather than the things themselves because she'll always outlive the things themselves-- the axe is symbolically her mom's axe, even if physically it isn't. And I love how she clearly clings to that concept so tightly. "This is the labrys she held in her hands...." IT GETS ME.

And the fact that this sense of BELONGING, of FAMILY, of CULTURE is so important to Andy that she clings to it (figuratively and literally) with both hands. And of course it's important to her, she spent so long alone that the woman doesn't even remember her birth name. That axe (or the idea of that axe) is all she has left of her mother and that family/culture she was born into.

PLUS on that note I love how Andy doesn't remember if her mom was her actual biological mother, but it doesn't matter to her. This woman was her mother in all the ways that counted. And how her mom BETRAYED AND KILLED Andy but Andy loved her so much that she avenged her and carried her axe for thousands of years. THOUSANDS OF YEARS!!!!!!

I also loved how the story transcends the timeline of the whole franchise and seeing Andy through the years. Loved seeing her with the varying squads and with varying axes. Also baby Andy was so cute. It was cool seeing her so young. like holy fuck. Andromache The Scythian, Immortal Warrior (but smol). Love that.

Also I think this one is one of the few ttt stories that doesn't suffer from length problems.

tldr: goddammit greg you've done it again.

2 Zanzibar and Other Harbors

Zanzibar my beloved. I've said before, but it's downright comedic how little regard there was for Joe and Nicky's character designs in this story. The same person who does the colors for the regular comic did the colors for this one too, and you can tell, every panel of this story was Beautiful.

Ik there was A Lot of criticism of this one (lmao @ how the fandom had no idea what was to come) but I thought a lot of The Discourse was a bit dramatic. I did think Nicky came off as a little oblivious to Joe's feelings in this story, but I've said before, I honestly think that was a 'tone not translating' thing. It felt like Nicky was nagging Joe for [checks notes] saving innocent people, but Joe was so amused by Nicky's complaints I really do think it was supposed to come off as teasing.

Plus I know the 'Joe running off into danger and Nicky reluctantly following' dynamic wasn't popular (I'm a pretty meh on it meself) but I did love how Joe's impulsiveness (if you want to call it that) was interpreted as heroism and not hot-hotheadedness. All of the examples Nicky and Joe talked about included Joe explicitly saving people. (and it also took A Lot for the nazi to actually provoke Joe).

I also feel like their characterization here was closest to the movie canon-- the bit where they hear the woman scream and Joe goes running in to save her while Nicky swoops in on Joe's heels to comfort her while Joe and the nazi were fighting reminds me of the train car scene. Joe had suggested First that they go find Nile because she needed to be protected, and Nicky later added that Nile probably also needed emotional support. Similar reactions.

But it was So Good, the themes of queer community and the enduring nature of queer culture are Not themes you see in media that often and it was such a delight how it was done. Also it's one of the few more modern TTT stories that has a completely valid excuse for taking place when it did. Chef's kiss.

3 Passchendaele

I love the Duality between seeing baby Andy and then seeing Mama Andy in the very next issue. This story doesn't have a ton of meat to it, but the entire concept of Andy adopting a war orphan straight off the battlefield PLUCKS MY TENDER LITTLE HEARTSTRINGS, and I think it's especially poignant for comic!Andy. I think most people wouldn't think twice about movie!Andy doing something like that but comic Andy is so hardened and almost cruel sometimes, and seeing that even for her the world hasn't beaten all of the compassion from her yet is SO!!!!!!! this woman contains MULTITUDES okay, she's violent and angry and tired and Done but she's also so kind and compassionate and THE STRENGTH OF HER!!!!! Also the idea of her and Yitzhak co-raising a kid together is so damn cute. It was #mysterious pre-Yitzhak-story but now it's cute. holy fuck. It's cute.

& the headbonk panel of her and Zeus lives in my heart. anyways.

4 Many Happy Returns

I Know people weren't thrilled about Booker being in this one, but I've developed a pet-peeve about that: this story was *not* booker-centric. Booker only exists in this story to the extent required to explain the importance of the gesture Nile makes towards him. If there was a story about Booker making some grand gesture of kindness to Nile no one would be saying it was Nile-centric. bc it wouldn't be! Booker exists in this story to explore Nile's kindness, its not about him. I saw that a couple times and it bothered me. anyways.

AAAAAAAAAA I loved this one, the art was beautiful, I loved how Andy Nile and Booker were drawn (like their comic selves but.. more looking like actual people). I loved Andy and Nile's Bants, how Andy wanted to jump right in and Do Violence but Nile was basically telling her to hold her horses.

I feel like I'm just repeating the post I made on this story a few days ago, but I LOVED how Nile's plan revolves not around violence or Cool Mercenary Skills but on Nile's own life skills (as she canonly did a lot of minimum wage job-hopping before the marines in comics canon). Her plan used her skills, not the skills of an immortal warrior, and HER SKILLS were in fact more useful for the situation! lov to see Nile's resourcefulness and planning skills.

AND HOW NILE WAS PROBABLY WATCHING BOOKER??? it's so Much bc 1.) nile knew booker A SINGLE DAY and yet he made such an impression on her emotionally that she had to keep an eye on him and 2.) she said in the movie she wanted Booker to get off free with an apology. Yes she's a member of the team but that doesn't mean she's necessarily going to follow orders like a good little soldier. I also love how she convinced Andy to go along with it. her HEART, her KINDNESS, her THOUGHTFULNESS, UGH.

5 The Bear

Honestly I have like no negative things to say about this one other than a.) character design issues which is less about the story itself and is more of a 'tog comic in general' criticism and b.) too short, but it was supposed to be a tease, so.

But I loved Yitzhak, I wasn't expecting to really like him at all but like I said in my other post, he tickled me. I love characters who are Kind™, especially if they have little reason to be so given their backgrounds. Chef's kiss. Lov him.

6 Bonsai Shokunin

I know this one was a little controversial bc of the outsider POV but whenever I see people upset about that they never point out that the Outsider Guy (the samurai) existed as a reflection on Noriko. His ideas are explained in the text to develop hers. The whole story follows how she gave mercy to a scared young man and in response he murdered Noriko, repeatedly! Who gave him the right to inflict such pain and suffering on the world? In his opinion, the lack of response from the gods was his permission. And for Noriko-- over and over again she dies and suffers because she gave mercy, which lines up with her ideas in FM about how it's their fate to rule mortals and if they don't align with that plan/fate/whatever then they suffer. It shows some background to those ideas and how they developed in her mind outside of Ocean Madness™. Additionally, his idea of 'the Gods have done nothing to strike me down so it's fine if I do these things' kind of explains how Noriko may justify her own morally corrupt actions-- she's died so many times and it's never stuck. Maybe if she did die any of those times, or while she was in the water, maybe that would've been a sign she was doing something right, or at least doing something normal. But she hasn't died. Fate isn't done with Noriko yet. And maybe there's a reason for that. In her mind, it's just not a very pleasant reason, is all.

There were things I was kind of meh about tho. I did kind of wish we saw something of Noriko and the team, or smth explaining the way she was before her dip in the pool-- personality, likes dislikes, etc. but it wasn't bad or anything. It was super vague tho, I had to read it a few times before I got what it was going for. Liked the art. Liked the bonsai metaphor. And of course I Respect the decision to use the 1300s (1200s? I don't remember off the top of my head) rather than using the last 200 years.

7 Strong Medicine

Honestly looking back, this one made me kind of sad because both this one and Bonsai Shokunin explored character's ideas on Fate and The Divine and how that intersects with immortality and I totally thought that theme would be continued, especially with Love Letters. But Then It Wasn't™.

Admittedly.... I had to re-read this one to remember most of it. I liked Booker's ideas on God, 'The conductor of the symphony just may not be very good at his trade' but the plot itself was kind of forgettable. Some fuckin cowboys try to kill a doctor (their second) because he couldn't save their sickly brother. Book tries to stop them, gets killed, and then comes back and kills them all before they get the doctor. Alright. I liked the artstyle because the characters were ugly in a similar way that leandro's are, but way more bearable.

I love the Irony of Booker concluding that there is no such thing as fate or destiny and nothing has meaning, AS HE UNKNOWINGLY SAVES MERRICK'S GRANDFATHER FROM BEING KILLED. Booker getting fucked over by life/god/destiny yet again. It also kind of explains about where the fuck hell Merrick's interest in immortal mercenaries even came from.

I originally had this one a lot higher and then I thought about it and moved it down like two spots.

8 Never Gets Old

I liked seeing Booker interact with his kid. And we got a name for the kid! Philippe was a little bitch though, he was a little obnoxious. I liked how Booker was so thrilled to experience a restaurant with his kid (and since we know he was there before, it can be assumed he went with all of his kids and yet he was so charmed each time). It fits with his line to Nicky in the moon landing story about how you don't appreciate beautiful things 'unless you have someone to share them with'. It was charming to see Booker interact with his kid, and to see him so happy. Also lmao @ Booker's big fat Ye Olde Crush on Andy.

However at the same time it was like.. of all the things to write about,,, I guess? Booker's Night Out...... alright. Especially since Book had so many stories.

I don't know, it was alright. The old man killing him really came out of nowhere, (but the 'Salut, asshole!' panel was funny tho).

9 How To Make a Ghost Town

I've hit a point where talking about these stories has gotten less fun. I liked this one but I felt like Achilles getting lynched was not really necessary for a story that was already tragic (a story that already involved Achilles doing a lot of suffering at the hand of bigots). When we first got the blurb for this story I thought it would be about Andy returning to the squad and making friends with Booker after losing Achilles and them butting heads on the idea of family and when to cut off ties. So a little bit of my underwhelmedness about this one might be just my expectations being different.

Honestly I was pretty interested in Andy and Achilles' relationship and I would've liked to see more of them-- like, what was their dynamic like? What did they love about each other?

But anyways Andy leaving and Achilles getting killed anyways feels so pointlessly tragic (which I suppose is the point..... I don't like tragedies) she left to save him and yet people killed him anyway. Meh.

I did love the bits about Andy wanting to have a domestic life (Andy and her multitudes again) and the little detail about how she buried her axe near the road but he buried his guns under his bed-- he was an escaped slave, he never had the luxury of assuredness like Andy did. It was a sad story.

10 Lacus Solitudinis

'You put this one above love letters crim??? how could you???' easy, lmao.

There was stuff in this one I liked. But to talk about stuff I didn't like: (I'll keep it brief, I know ragging on this story has been done time and time again)

UH, setting aside the 6 year cold shoulder between Joe and Nicky, I thought their chosen method of conflict resolution was... bad at best. Nicky's inability to talk about his feelings was also annoying, especially since the entire point of this story is a fight Joe and Nicky had, and yet we don't get both sides to the story, which is...... important? That fact is especially annoying bc in the absence of Nicky explaining his side of the story, it's absolutely a possible (and admittedly probably unintentional) interpretation of the text that we do get that Joe routinely resolves conflict between him and Nicky by simply cutting Nicky out of his life entirely until Nicky just. caves? Even if it takes years?

WHICH i could get into that interpretation and how fucked up i find it. but im not going to. out of restraint.

I don't know, I think there are a lot of interesting ways to go about this conflict but 'Nicky wants to kill a guy and Joe refuses to acknowledge his existence until he stops because he thinks Nicky is too much of a Good Boy to get his hands dirty like that' ('I wont watch as the world turns his (...) compassion into something ugly'. ) wasn't.. how I would've done it. (I mean you know Joe doesn't give a shit about what Nicky is doing in a moral way, because Joe doesn't even care or mention that Booker is killing those cops too. Joe only cares because he doesn't like the idea of Nicky changing in a way he finds undesirable.)

admittedly I've said before, I do like the emphasis Joe's reaction puts on Nicky's kindness. Joe has a complete inability to cope with Nicky simply Not Being Kind. It speaks to the steadiness of Nicky's compassion all those years. but still that fact doesn't make it the conflict feel worth it

hm. I said I would be brief and I wasn't.

oh well. basically I thought there was interesting conflict potential there but it wasn't done the way I would've liked, and the way it was done leaves a lot of disturbing (and again probably unintended) interpretations to lie.

What I did like? Andy and Joe having that pessimist/optimist dynamic. Joe nerding out about science. Andy not being impressed by The Achievements Of Man. I loved Booker needling at Nicky about his outdated slang and also trying to give him Older Brother advice practically in the same breath. I loved Booker giving The Worst relationship advice ever and Nicky being like 'I Will Not Do That, Ever, Thanks.' the family vibes were so good. The Joenicky vibes left a lot to be desired tho.

11 Love Letters

I talked about my problems with Nicky in this story (and Lacus Solitudinis). I don't know, the story isn't bad but I do hold a little bit of a grudge towards it because its very existence begs the existence of a solo Joe story and we didn't get one. If we never got this story, then we could happily count Lacus Solitudinis and Zanzibar as The Joenicky Stories™ and move on with our lives. sigh.

I remember when we first got the blurb for this story I was really curious about why Nicky specifically + the setting, and the answer kind of feels like 'the author had an idea for a story like this and saw ttt as a good enough place to utilize that idea'. Plus I was really underwhelmed by the Romantic Sentiment in the letter. If you look at it line-by-line, the majority of the letter is actually Nicky talking about how lonely and disturbed he is, rather than actual,, yknow,,, Romantic Sentiment. I mean, compare the van speech and this letter and this letter is just kind of meh in comparison. I liked nicky calling joe wise! and I liked the brief sun/moon metaphor! and otherwise it was eh. It didn't even have cute squad banter, which is why Lacus Solitudinis is above this one.

12 An Old Soul

Nun orgy. Nun orgy?????? Nun orgy.......

The whole story felt like a setup to have a nun orgy. Why did Booker have abs? Why did they do that to Andy's nose? ?????? the art was good at least.

nun orgy.

[jillianallen14]

Here we go, y'all. It's not even page 1 of this book (The Motion Picture Novelization), and it's already intensely gay and full of subtext. As a literature major I would like to do a little bit of analysis here, and I would like to remind you all that this book was actually written by Roddenberry himself; so everything in this book is actually canon in the truest sense of the word. Here we go:

1) Spock's dedication to Earth. Spock was raised on Vulcan, looks mostly Vulcan, has accepted the Vulcan way of life. Spock is, for all intents and purposes almost completely Vulcan with very few human features. Although, yes, of course, he does have a human mother, being raised on Vulcan largely purged that part of him. That is, however, until he was aboard the Enterprise and met Jim. Through his years with Jim, it is clear Spock came to love Earth, to want to protect Earth, to be drawn to Earth and its people. Earth (and humans) had accepted him far more than his home planet of Vulcan ever had, and acceptance was what he largely craved all his life. He wanted to be accepted for the half-human, half-Vulcan hybrid he was and not just for one of those halves. His mother gave him that acceptance, but when faced with the rejections of his father it simply wasn't enough. His father and other Vulcans expected him to be only Vulcan. McCoy and many other humans (though McCoy came to accept both of Spock's halves after many years) expected him to be only human or not human enough or too Vulcan. Jim, however, accepted both of his halves almost immediately. Jim, the shining, bright star of Earth, the constant hero of Earth. Suddenly, Spock's loyalties shifted to this man and to Earth, though, of course, his Vulcan heritage and planet were still incredibly important to him.

2) In the novel The Vulcan Academy Murders by Jean Lorrah, Sarek (at least I think it was Sarek) mentions that kolinahr was undertaken only by the extremists in Vulcan culture. It was only undertaken by those who were the most stringent followers of Surak and who interpreted his teachings in a more extremist way than most other Vulcans. Now we know Spock highly respected Surak and considered him largely a "hero", but was Spock really ever a "stringent follower" of Surak? No. Spock goes against logic constantly for the love of his crew and his ship and his family and his captain. Spock is a rather emotional being, though he often disguises it well. We also learn from Sarek in TVAM that Spock has exceptional telepathic, empathetic abilities that far surpass his own and that Spock had to build practically indestructible mental shields to protect himself and others from those telepathic abilities and intense emotions. To put this differently, Spock feels deeply at a level few humans or even Vulcans would ever understand, and it hurts him. My theory is that is it that intense pain of his emotions that caused him to follow the path of kolinahr, rather than believing that it was the "right" or "logical" path. So what would cause him so much pain?

3) To me, the answer is very simple: Jim, the man whose name Spock invokes at what could be one of the most important moments of his life. He calls Jim his t'hy'la, a word that we've already unpacked the meaning and weight of a million times, so I will focus on something different - Spock's pause, his stutter. The pause could mean 2 things: either Spock is in so much pain at the idea of never seeing or thinking of Jim again that he can't get the full phrase out or Spock is in pain over or unsure about calling Jim his t'hy'la. I believe both of these contribute to Spock's pause, but I believe the latter contributes the most. So why would Spock be in pain over/unsure about calling Jim his t'hy'la? Because he is not used to it. Because he has been madly and deeply in love with Jim for years at this point, yet he has never said anything. They are not bondmates (at least yet anyways), they are not lovers. And his love for Jim had begun to cloud his judgment since it was not logical for him to run after Jim and protect him at all costs, since they were not bondmates. He had no logical reason to do that, which upset the Vulcan half of him. The human half, however, was upset by the unfulfillment of his love for Jim. I understand that this may be a bit of a stretch here, but think of what Spock says, "I will never permit myself to think of you or even your name again." Hence, Jim's name is too emotional for Spock. Even Jim's name carries too much weight, too much emotion, and too much pain for Spock, enough to push him into the most extreme path a Vulcan can undertake. Does this sound like the mind of a man who is thinking rationally? To me, it absolutely does not. It sounds like a man dealing with deep, painful unrequited (or at least Spock sees it as unrequited) love for someone he has grown distant from. Remember, Spock is an incredible telepath and empath; he knows his own emotions, he is able to distinguish what he feels. And here he calls Jim his t'hy'la, and pauses and stutters while doing it. His "last goodbye" to Jim is full of pain, almost as though Spock doesn't want to be saying it, almost as if he's going against himself in order to do this.

4) I argue that Spock had found that ever-desired and needed love and acceptance of both of his halves in Jim (and consequently in Earth), but that it was no longer enough for him. He wanted Jim, he wanted a bondmate in Jim, he wanted a marriage with Jim, but he couldn't have it. And he recognized the illogic of achieving what he had wished for and still not being satisfied, but he also realized his own pain. And so he gave up Earth and Starfleet and Jim because, yes, it had become illogical to pursue it further, but also because it had begun to cause him pain he didn't know how to control, even with the help of his "indestructible" mental shields. So he took the most extreme, devoted path a Vulcan could take for mostly human reasons. And, in the end, he couldn't do it. He fails. He can't give them up, can't give Jim up. And it's a good thing he didn't because, subtextually, in all the novels and movies that come after The Motion Picture (including Spock prime's depiction in the new Star Trek movies), it is pretty clear to me that Spock and Kirk do end up bonding and marrying (at least in the Vulcan sense).