#what i will not do is let people erase an entire half of my heritage and family because they don't like nuance

[queer-reader-07]

it will never cease to amaze me how comfortable some people are with telling others what words they should use to describe their own fucking identity

[doctorofmagic]

I know this wasn't the point of the Wanda post but I feel like this should be said: Introducing things from the movies into the comics is not always a bad thing like how Blade wasn't half vampire until after the film trilogy and everything that happened with comic 616 Nick Fury. But I could be wrong and those are actually terrible examples.

I agree with you! I don't think adaptations and new concepts are bad, but it really depends on every circumstance.

Cloud!Galactus will forever haunt the second FF movie. Let alone that *points at Victor von Doom as a whole*

On the other hand, some concepts are super welcome, like what they did with the Eternals, making most of their personalities waaaay more interesting (I suppose my only exception is Sersi. Comics!Sersi is/was so full of sass and I missed that. But Ikaris? Makkari? Druig? *chef's kiss*)

Nick Fury, imo, is a very unique concept because he only exists thanks to the Ultimates artist who used Samuel L. Jackson for his design. The actor saw that and wanted to be part of the MCU, which turned him into a very popular character, leading Ult!Fury to the 616, while 616!Fury is currently *whatever happened to him in Slott's FF run idrc* (correct me if I'm wrong on this, I read that info a long time ago)

Oh, and I can't say much about Blade because I'm just starting to read his chronology. But I think it's cool that he's a daywalker, as far as I know.

In short, it's okay if the movies introduce something cool to the character.

But back to Wanda... (and I know you didn't mention her, this is just me ranting, so please feel free to ignore that part, I'm just seizing this opportunity)

Nothing about her MCU characterization added good things to her comic book version. She was whitewashed, worked for Hydra, had a terrible storyline about grief and mental health (tipically stereotyped and twice as problematic since she's a woman) and finally had the "woman goes crazy with power" trope. She was never able to control her powers (as seen in Civil War) and let her emotions warp reality to fit her fantasies while being manipulated by both people and her own emotions (again, women are often called overly emotional, and I'm not excusing Bendis here because he did the same in comics). She became a villain during HoM and the times she was possessed by Chthon, but she was never meant to be *THAT* scary and evil. There's altruism in her essence (this is why the narrative of killing a teenager is just so off to me).

Wanda is a brown romani woman who was often persecuted due to her ethnicity, religion and skin color, as well as her mutant genes. And yes, the many reboots that tried to erase her identity. Even in modern day, she still has to deal with ill-intended writers who ignored the implications of her character as a hero of color and the double effort she has to perform in order to be accepted as an Avenger, (former) mutant and overall hero. Not only that, the fans have to BEG to artists to make sure she isn't whitewashed, while 0ls3n stans will mock and diminish those who ask for representation.

This is why it's so problematic for Wanda to be like that. Her entire characterization is made to please a toxic fanbase and use her as a symbol to promote their racism (as seen on my previous post).

In short, they don't like Wanda. They just idolize 0ls3n because she's white and plays a derranged woman filled with power. And that's kinda enough for them.

Don't get me wrong, I do love my fair share of female villains (I'm literally in 300 different fandoms). But Wanda was not meant to be that, especially knowing that there are so few female heroes of color on screen (it gets even worse when we only count phase 1, 2 and 3).

In any case, my point is, fans cannot accept the influence of MCU!Wanda to be translated to comics because it's erasure of her identity and plain racism. The new team is working very hard to portray a woman of color as she was supposed to be ever since her roma heritage was established in comics, and it's infuriating that people will turn a blind eye to all that.

Like, this kind of shit keeps happening over and over.

Even when Wanda is a brown woman like she's supposed to be, they still find a way to erase her through 0ls3n's whiteness. This is not different from those derranged people who pick white actors and photoshop them over Black Panther's characters (I've seen one just yesterday).

Sure many minorities were poorly portrayed back then, often depicting problematic characterizations, but here's an excellent case of how comic books allow room for growth (I was talking about HP and JK but it also fits this post)

Agatha was just the last bit of bad influence from that accursed TV show. She was deaged, which is absurdly ageist. There are so many few elderly and middle-aged women in the Marvel universe. There's less now because women can't be old (ask me about the anons that stated Charlize was too old to play Clea and watch me burn in rage).

Anyways, I wanted to make this about Wanda again because it's not just a case of bad adaptation. It's a political statement -- and a bad one. And I don't want ANY OF THAT in a media that is so political and means so much to minorities. I feel like it's important for us to talk about this ALWAYS. So yeah. I don't know how to end this post. Representation matters. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[papirouge]

My sister in Christ, your opinion of white women is racist. I see you gate-keeping half black, half white women from their blackness as well. Christians do not get lay someone's sins onto their descendants, who probably had no relation to black slavery, because you dislike their skin pigment and culture. If white women can't speak critically of black women in general, you're holding a double standard.

Re-center your life on Christ instead of playing anti-Christian identity politics. You're always in my prayers.

oooh I see this post triggered you huh?

I genuinely have a hard time to understand what's racist in reminding basic historical facts. Nothing in that post is saying that White women are evil for being White. Some of them were evil for leveraging their whiteness over population that were still considered inferior for being darker (which is actually racism).

And yeah, a half Black and half White person isn't Black. IDK why some of you have such a hard time to cope with that. How would someone with half of their lineage White would be remotely the same as someone whose entire lineage is 100% blackity Black? It's also really interesting how White people aren't out there claiming Black/White biracials as White, yet somehow feel entitled to expect Blacks to claim them as their own. 🤔 I'm glad more and more Black people (especially ADOS) are waking up and realize how much of a farce the one drop rule was. Black people and only Black people are entitled to decide who's really Black or not. That's our prerogative. A Black and White biracial is indeed half Black (so it's not about erasing their entire blackness) but their experience in life (along with their genetic heritage) will be totally different from a racially pure person. It is what it is, and it's time to stop acting like it was Black people's fault for acknowledging this basic truth.

And literally nobody said people passed down their "sins" onto their descendants or talked about "hating a culture"(???!). Stop projecting. We're just acknowledging that White women do have a whole History of leveraging their whiteness over Black people, and that white feminism stand of inputing onto White MALE the monopoly of racial privilege is ridiculous. Plentiful of time I've seen Whitefem seething at WOC calling out White women racism, saying that aKtcHualLy "only White men could be racist bc only them had that privilege uwu" Which is a stupid argument and can only come from White women who will never know what it's like to be racially prejudiced by a White person. White women and White men racism have a very distinctive flavor and that's something that only non White will understand. And that's ok for white feminism to not understand it, but they should stop lecturing us about our own experience with White racism and gaslight us into acting like it wasn't really a thing as long as it was coming from a woman.

And yes, most White people have no relationship with slavery (with was a privilege of rich people) but it's not mutually exclusive to being a racist. Racism is built upon culture. A White person who never owned slave but growing up watching TV shows picturing Black people as criminals, savage, Africans as lazy and animalistic has a lot of chance to develop a racial superiority complex. Even today you have meme dedicated to clown Africans for simply existing and living in dirt house while comparing them to ciViLiZed White country architecture - where do you think it's coming from? Those idiots didn't own slave as far as I know. And let's not get started with this whole scene of people (sometimes Christians) throwing a tantrum whenever they see a non White person in a show, complaining about "forced diversity".

Why aren't you bothering THEM? Why aren't you popping in the askbox of the plentiful of actually racist blog, hating on people simply existing over their "inferior" culture? There's a literal Nazi fandom on Tumblr.

You can scroll my entire blog: NOWHERE did I ever look down on anyone for being White, male, gay, etc. Hell, I'm not that much posting about racial discourse altogether. But me reblogging 1 post calling out the deflection of whitefem on their racism?? OOHH suddenly it's a problem and I'm a bad Christian. puh-lease.

And stop using the "word identity politics" when you obviously don't know what it means. Stating a historical fact (White women owned slaves) isn't "political". It's a Tumblr post, not a political speech. I'm sure that when the Hebrews complained about how poorly treated by Egyptians they were, you'd be like "ooooh please stop being into identity politics" 😮‍💨 LOL

You call me to recenter my heart in Christ as if posting 1 post online (which again, is stating objective facts - cope) was remotely unbiblical... You're not the first so called sister in Christ who tried to gaslight me into thinking I was doing something wrong because THEY had a personal problem with what a totally harmless statement I made. Leveraging the "Christian" card isn't fooling anyone though.

Keep your prayers to yourself and reflect about why someone acknowledging racism made you grab your keyboard and act like it was a problem.

[butwhatifidothis]

So Legendary Claude is finally out in FEH, and his art has him paler than he ought to be. Of course, the absolutely not racist 3H community is outraged, somewhat, many now losing interest in this alt they’ve been anticipating for months on end, and it’s like... it’s so hard to care y’all.

Claude is a mixed character, yeah? Half-”white” and half-”middle eastern” (or what counts as that for 3H)? We all know that, right? And so making his skin tone lighter would be erasing half of his heritage and is a bad thing, right? 

But this? This edit?

It’s just as bad.

Sorry, just because you went on the other end of the scale doesn’t mean you get a pass. You’re still just as guilty of erasing half of his heritage when you make him too dark as when you make him too light.

(For reference, this is what Claude’s portraits are in 3H)

And this is the shit that bothers me, because I know for a fact that barely anyone gives a shit about edits like this, and nearly everyone who does is mixed raced like me. They think “Oh well, it doesn’t matter if he’s “too dark” because he’s still POC! We’re giving back the representation that was taken when he was whitewashed!” and it’s like, no you fucking aren’t, asshole. Claude is mixed raced, and damn proud of it too. You completely throwing away the fact that he’s half-white is just as shitty as throwing away the middle eastern half, but no one wants to say that because something something white privilege something something you can’t be racist towards white people because systemic oppression.

When my black half of my family doesn’t invite us to family reunions because they’re ashamed that my dad got with my white mom, that hurts. When the very, very few times we are and my mother is blatantly ignored by everyone there - as in, literally only my dad would talk to her - that hurt. When me and my sister were told literally throughout all of our school days by black kids that we weren’t “black enough” to do certain things with them, when we were called oreos, fake black, constantly had the fact that we were half-white thrown in our face like it was some kind of bad thing, that hurt. 

Like, nearly every fucking body right now is whinging and whining about ohh, they made him too light, they hate POC, they can’t do anything right, but I guaran-fucking-tee you that if that edit up there was what was shown instead, despite being just as guilty as whitewashing, they’d be fucking up and arms in celebration over it because they either don’t know about how shitty it is to have people looking over or making fun of you for being half-white, don’t fucking care, or both.

It fucking obviously isn’t because they “erased his heritage” we all fucking know it isn’t. You know how many race-bent Dimitri art I’ve seen in this fandom? You know, that guy who is 100% white and holds his culture very dear to him? Let’s just change that entirely and make him something else. And the worst part is, I don’t mind that! It’s neat to see how a character with a certain personality reacts with a different culture influencing them! But fucking try to make Claude a fully white character to explore his Fodlan side more; you would get absolutely fucking eaten alive. 

And that’s why I can’t be assed to get mad at the too pale art  - this time or most any other time - because I know that it’s not about getting it right, it’s not about staying true to the character, it’s always and only about making them darker.

[paradisecost]

TIMELINE: ATTICUS

Are you ready for 1600 words of Atticus lore? Then BOY HOWDY do I have some good news for you. I ran out of steam by the time I hit the last few verses so they have way less detail, but whATEVER. I’ve also completely skimmed over so many details (like Atticus’ lingering issues with being cut off from his Indigenous heritage; his father’s disappearance; his relationships with various friends and lovers throughout his life; some of the shit he did and witnessed throughout his time with the gang and in order to escape them; etc) because otherwise the word count would be RIDICULOUS.

Note: There’s no set time period for this. A lot of Atticus’ mainverse is tagged as “v: age of sail” for the convenience of keeping most of my verses vaguely within the Black Sails timeline (1705-1720 usually) but realistically these are probably within the 1800s somewhere. The real question is: who gives a shit, it’s MY sandbox and history is what I say it is.

Under the cut for length. Warnings include talk of gangs, gang life, and so on.

Note: This is VERY much a work in progress and almost no detail has really been hammered out, especially regarding Atticus' time as an outlaw within the gang since I have a lot of research to do in that area (since I know more about modern gangs and cult dynamics than Ye Olde ones). Nonetheless, all of these verses are open for interaction/asks/etc - though verses marked as (intermission) or (segue) really exist more to bridge some verses together.

v: before it all (childhood) (0-13)

Atticus' early, pre-outlaw life, spanning from his birth to the age of about 12-13. He lives with his mother and sister in a small town in the middle of buckass nowhere; his father visits once a year or so up until Atticus is about 10, when he mysteriously stops coming. It isn't long after this that Atticus first becomes involved with the [redacted] gang, likely through befriending one of the younger members by accident. By the time he's about 12, he's built up a steadfast trust and codependence on the group - and his relationship with his mother has steeply declined, in part due to her reticence about his Native father and determination to erase any non-Whiteness from their children, and in part because of how vehemently she opposes his involvement with the gang.

v: drinking the water (gang member) (12-28)

Spans around eight years, from when Atticus is 12-13 to roughly 20-28. Atticus is ass-deep in the cult-like dynamic of the gang and has lost all contact with his mother, though he and his sister exchange letters here and there. He is extremely loyal to the group and considers them 'his people', is inherently distrustful of outsiders and has precisely no interest in living amongst them.

Grievances with the gang's behaviour towards both him and others start accumulating, however, when Atticus is about 18-20. They start off small, but as his sense of self develops and he starts to get more of a feel for who he is as a person, the problems start building up. This may be in part due to exposure to other dissenting members of the group who were swiftly either disposed of or, uh, re-educated; Atticus did not like seeing that shit At All despite his usual cognitive dissonance.

That isn't by any means the only factor; as he gets older, he's also granted significantly more freedom, which results in exposure to all kinds of people and places that he simply wasn't aware of as a kid. By the time he's about 25, he knows for sure that the life they're living now isn't one he wants to keep, but you don't simply leave a gang like that. It takes him a couple more years to a) figure out some kind of plan and b) gather the resources, courage, and knowledge he'll need to pull it off and live.

v: the aftermath (post gang) (28-30)

Somehow, Atticus finds his way out of cult-gang hell. There are no dramatics involved - he simply disappears during a hunt one day, to arouse the least suspicion. Unfortunately, he wasn't alone on the hunt- the gang's leader had sent someone along with him to keep an eye on him, as (unbeknownst to Atticus) his growing resentment and flightiness had not gone unnoticed by the rest of the group. It's likely that the person sent with him was someone Atticus liked a great deal, as the leader hoped that this would dissuade him from doing anything stupid to get away--

--but needless to say, they were later found dead in the woods, and Atticus was gone. He spent the next two years flitting around as much as possible, trying to get as far away as he could. The gang sent out hunts for him, of course- at first with the intention of simply talking to him and seeing if they could persuade him to come back. After Atticus started killing them off, they sent out searches for him with significantly less friendly intentions.

It's during this time that he takes on the name Atticus as his own. No forename/surname: just Atticus, or Mr. Atticus if folks are feeling polite. It's also during this time that he acquires Bad Jim, a black and white horse that accompanies him for the next several years, often as his sole companion. He buys Bad Jim (then unnamed) from a horse trader entirely legitimately, but pays an absurd amount for him because the trader--according to Atticus--had "clocked [him] as a wanted fella of some sort and wanted to capitalize on his desperation".

(The truth is a little different: the trader had, indeed, clocked him as a wanted man, but he raised the price of the horse to compensate himself for the risk of selling a horse to a possible felon).

It’s during this time that he meets The Captain--then called Amelia--for the first time; the two stay in contact for the remainer of Atticus’ life.

The gang stops actively searching for him about a year and a half in, though Atticus still doesn't let his guard down for a good couple of years afterwards. During this time, higher-ranking members of the gang begin to spread the story that Atticus is dead. In later years, this story will become that Atticus never existed - younger members who join later on have no idea who he is, as to their knowledge, no-one escapes the gang and lives.

v: solo outlaw (30-36)

No longer quite so intensely on the run from the gang, Atticus encounters a problem: he is definitely still wanted by various authorities for his involvement with them. Not only that, but he has no damn idea how to exist outside of them. He makes a few token attempts at honest work--tries taking odd jobs for people, herds cattle and has a brief stint as a stableboy--but in the end, he just can't take to it. Within a few months, he's more or less going off the rails: where before he'd at least tried to steer himself towards being what he thought of as a Good Man(TM), he repeatedly finds himself committing actions he would abhor from anyone else. He tries real hard to find some kind of moral balance between doing what he's good at and doing what he wants to be good at, but alas, the poor bastard's more or less on his own and having a shit time of it.

Other than that, no fucking idea about the details of this verse. He's an outlaw still - he's just on his own instead of with a gang, and more often than not, he takes on jobs from people who need someone killed or threatened.

It's during this time (when he’s about 32) that he meets the woman who eventually becomes Icarus' mother. There's no immediate spark, nothing like that; she neither trusts nor likes him at first. It's when he tells her--a half-Black, half-Indigenous woman--that his father was Indigenous that she first gives him the time of day, and it's long after that, when he talks about his feelings of inbetween-ness and his frustration at being cut off from half of his heritage that she starts to actually warm to him even platonically.

Icarus is born soon afterwards, but by then, Atticus and [I'll think of a name one day]'s relationship has already begun to... not deteriorate, exactly, but shift. They were never really in love to begin with so much as they were good friends who found a comfort in one another they couldn’t find elsewhere.

Anyway the point is, they separate when Icarus is still very small; Atticus is losing direction and feels as stuck as he did before, and his presence is causing more problems than it solves. He vows to stay in touch, though, and he does- and later in life, much of the money he makes from bounty-hunting goes back to his friend and their kid.

It's towards the end of this verse that Bad Jim is killed in combat, during a run-in with Atticus' old gang - specifically some newer, younger members of it that don't know him, but Atticus is able to recognise them. The horse falls atop Atticus as it dies and essentially crushes him to the ground- he's only saved from being completely crushed by the overturned wagon beside him that takes some of Bad Jim's weight. Despite still sustaining severe injuries from it, Bad Jim's death saves Atticus' life: he has no choice but to play dead until the shooting's over and the smoke clears. The gang members give him a cursory check to see if he's dead, but given that they have no idea who Atticus is, they have no reason to do anything but check and move on.

v: in recovery (intermission) (36-38)

It takes Atticus a long time to recover from the injuries sustained in the fight that took Bad Jim; he's essentially forced to find somewhere to lie low and recuperate, and has to rely on the kindness of strangers and mere acquaintances during it.

Towards the end of this time, he also acquires the dog that now accompanies him almost everywhere; an Anatolian Shepherd I still don’t have a name for.

v: bounty hunter (segue) (38-42)

TL;DR; Having recognised that he Fucking Hates being an outlaw but isn't much good at anything else, Atticus finds a compromise: he becomes a bounty hunter, straddling both sides of the law at once.

It's during this time that he he meets Isaiah, who helps him out of several rough patches.

v: bounty hunter (42+)

Just the previous verse but at the default ‘canon’ point in the timeline sdkfjnsdjfkn. All interactions take place in this verse by default, which is often also tagged as "v: age of sail (atticus)". Local cowboy is a sort of bounty hunter, blahblahblah.

[miraworos]

Azira Fell and the Apocalypse Scroll (T)

SUMMARY: The hunt is on for a mysterious and deadly scroll with the power to topple the world into chaos. Will Dr. Azira Fell, professor of Egyptology, find it in time to prevent the impending apocalypse? Or will an evil organization bent on destroying civilization find it first? To have even a chance at saving the world, he'll need to rely on the wily Anthony J. Crowley, professional guide and adventurer. But can Azira trust the inscrutable explorer, or will he lose his heart along with his life?

Or: A Good Omens Indiana Jones AU, because why not?

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford - 1935

Doctor Azira Fell hummed a few bars of Davies’ Op. 51 as he selected a couple of works from the Ashmolean library’s collection. Sunlight streaming through the clerestory window above ignited the gold-embossed lettering on the cover of a book chronicling the Ptolemaic dynasty near the end of the Hellenistic period. To Azira, who practiced knowledge the way others practiced religion, the glow seemed an omen of the treasure within.

Descending the step stool, he carried the volumes to a nearby table. He laid them as softly as possible on the polished oak and tugged the lamp chain. Then he sat in the high-backed chair, wiggling ever so slightly with the anticipation of the chase.

The passages for which he was searching would likely be buried in the usual drivel of martial accounts, rankings, and supply inventories. The Romans really were such tiresome windbags about conquest. Very few saw the forest through the trees with all their facts and figures and mind-numbing reports. Thus, it was up to Egyptologists like Dr. Azira Fell, associate faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford, thank you very much, to find the occasional tree that hinted at the actual forest.

Azira took out his small, leather-bound journal, opened it to where the stub of a pencil was wedged into its pages, and began to record the call numbers of the volumes he’d selected. With any luck, he’d have a few hours uninterrupted by students to collect a handful of tidbits meriting further investigation.

“Dr. Fell!”

Azira’s shoulders slumped ever so slightly. So much for uninterrupted hours. He hadn’t even made it five minutes.

“Dr. Fell, you have to see this.”

Anathema Device, Azira’s research assistant and the first American woman to study Oriental Studies at Oxford, popped out from behind a set of nearby stacks, breathless with excitement.

“There you are,” she said. “I knew you’d be prowling around the 932s. Look at this.”

She hurried forward, holding a hardcover book open toward him. He recognized it at once as her mother’s account of her expedition to Nubia at the turn of the century, before Anathema was born. Her mother’s obsession with Egyptology inspired Anathema’s own passion for the profession.

“What is it, dear?” he said, as he took the book from her hands.

“I’ve read this entire thing cover to cover so many times, but I never noticed this before,” she said, her face alight like it always was when she made a new conceptual connection or discovery in her research.

Azira looked at the place on the page to which she was pointing, but didn’t immediately see the source of her excitement.

“I don’t understand,” he said apologetically.

She took the book back and read aloud. “In late 34 BC, authorities on behalf of Emperor Octavian claimed that Mark Antony had stolen a sacred scroll from the Library of Pergamum and gifted it to Cleopatra of Egypt as recompense for the burning of the Alexandrian scroll collection during Caesar’s Civil War.”

“Yes, but that was a false account to discredit Antony. Your mother knew that. We all know that.”

“That’s not the interesting part,” Anathema said, grinning wider. “It says a sacred scroll as in one—not many. Scholars generally accept that the rumor stated Antony gave Cleopatra something like 20,000 Pergamum scrolls. Not one sacred one.”

Azira stood up. “You think she means the scroll? The scroll about th-the—Macedonian, er—”

“The Macedonian spice route,” she finished for him with a significant look. “Yes. I think she could have meant that. Hiding an indicator in plain sight is just like her.”

He took the book from her again and traced the spidery writing with excitement. Anathema’s mother was considered the preeminent authority on all things occult during the Ptolemaic Dynasty. That’s how Anathema had come to learn of the sacred scroll in the first place, through bedtime stories her mother had told her. Azira had learned of the scroll through other means, naturally, but when each had discovered the other knew of it, they instantly formed a bond that, over the last two years, had led to a close and trusted friendship.

“There’s more,” Anathema said, eyes dancing. “I looked up sacred scroll in her index, and the page it has listed is a separate page entirely, with no mention of a sacred scroll at all.”

“Which page?”

Anathema flipped the pages while Azira held the book for her. She stopped a third of the way further forward in the book, and pointed at a sketch of statue.

“I’m betting it’s some kind of coded location. But I haven’t worked out if it’s the picture or the words or both.”

“Good lord, Anathema. Are you sure it isn’t just a misprint?”

Anathema arched a cool eyebrow at him. “My mother never made mistakes. Not when it came to her study of Egypt. Never once.”

And, of course, she was right. Azira suggesting that the book was flawed was ludicrous. He had found firsthand accounts with less historical accuracy than the meticulously researched analysis he was now holding.

“Agnes Nutter, you sly devil,” Azira said, scanning the page Anathema had indicated. “You realize this means that not only did she know where the scroll was, or at least what happened to it—“

“—she also knew it was too dange—er, valuable, I mean—historically speaking—to let fall into the wrong hands.”

Azira was too lost in thought to chastise her near slip, though heaven knew what spies lurked in the stacks, just waiting for a crumb of information to fall.

“So it does exist,” he muttered to himself. “It does exist, and its location is knowable. It has been found at least once, and if it could be found by her…”

“It can be found by people other than us. Which could be bad.”

Azira tapped his lips, turning the puzzle over in his mind as he gazed at the page. “But where to start? We can’t go haring off into the desert without a proper destination in mind, my dear. We simply can’t afford it.”

“We could ask the Egypt Exploration Fund for an investment.”

“An investment for what? We’d need to tell them what we were looking for—”

“—the Macedonian spice route—”

“—as well as actually produce something of value upon our return. We can’t excavate a ghost, Anathema. No one would subsidize that.”

“On the contrary, brother,” boomed a voice from near the staircase about ten feet away from Azira and Anathema. “We may be able to come to some arrangement.”

Gabriel, patriarch of Azira’s extended family and, regrettably, Azira’s half-brother, approached their table with a jackal’s smile.

“What kind of arrangement?” Azira said with trepidation. He didn’t trust Gabriel any farther than he could throw him, family or no.

“Well, it just so happens Mother has a keen interest in the Byzantium-antiquities trade gaining momentum in the Mediterranean region.”

“What do tourist trinkets have to do with my research on the, er, the evolution of the gastronomical trade in the early Roman Empire?”

“I think your interests overlap quite nicely with the Foundation’s objectives in this case.”

The Foundation was the philanthropic arm of the White Dove evangelical organization Azira’s extended family had founded generations ago. It used monetary inducements to attract vulnerable populations into the fold, often at the price of sacrificing their cultural identity and heritage. That’s what had pushed Azira toward Egyptology and the study of antiquities in the first place. He wanted to protect the cultures and histories and identities of the people that White Dove’s Foundation tended to erase.

“What are the Foundation’s objectives, if I may?”

“Profit, of course. Profit that can then be turned to…charitable causes.”

“And by charitable, you mean missionary, I presume?”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Don’t forget that a sizable donation from the Foundation helps maintain this academic institution you love so much.”

“You still haven’t said what it is you want me to do,” Azira reminded Gabriel as Anathema slowly closed her mother’s journal and eased backward to be half-hidden behind Azira. Smart girl.

“We need you to travel to Cairo and make inroads with the traders in antiquities. You have an eye for these things. You can tell when something is worth procuring.”

“And what do you intend to do with any relics I obtain?”

“Why, resell them, of course, at a price more fair for the discerning market,” Gabriel said. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the mysteries of the pharaohs have caught the imagination of others in the empire, others who happen to have the benefit of deep pockets. And why not indulge their petty interests if it encourages them to give generously to God’s chosen causes? In exchange, you could mount your expedition for your gastronomical …. whatever ... in your spare time, with our resources and our blessing.”

Azira pursed his lips, on the verge of refusing Gabriel’s request, no matter the familial consequence to himself. He didn’t need Gabriel’s blessing to go about his life, nor did he want it. If he was ever given it, he’d have to immediately examine at length whether he wanted to continue doing whatever it was that Gabriel approved of. Azira wouldn’t go so far as to classify Gabriel as evil—he was Azira’s brother after all—but if not outright malicious, then he was something just this side of it.

The refusal hovered on Azira’s tongue, despite the small nudge of a pointy elbow in his back. Anathema clearly wanted him to take the deal. But it was hardly worth the burden of being under Gabriel’s thumb again. The last time Azira had been in a similar position, it had not gone well.

“I wouldn’t know the first thing about setting up an antiquities trade, Gabriel. How would I even find these so-called traders? How would I know I could trust them to deliver a bona fide artefact?”

“No worries on that score,” he said with false amiability. He took a black card out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Azira. It simply read “Crowley,” with no address or number, only a snake sigil curled along the left-hand side. “This man is affiliated with a trusted business associate of mine. He’ll see to you, help you set up when you arrive.”

“And how do I find him, then?” Azira asked, agitated. “There are no details on this card.”

“Oh, he’ll find you,” Gabriel assured him. “Your accounts have been furnished with whatever funds you might need for travel and expenses.”

Guide or not, funding or not, Azira simply didn’t have the wherewithal to do what Gabriel was asking.

“Gabriel, I don’t think—“

Gabriel took that moment to lean into Azira’s personal space, looming over the shorter man with a deceptively mild expression.

“Listen, Sunshine. I may have understated things when I posed this as a request. You will do as I say, or I will be forced to withdraw my protection from you and my financial support from this fine academy. And we wouldn’t want that, would we?”

Azira swallowed. Much as he’d regret the loss of the funds to the university, the larger threat lay in the euphemistic “withdraw my protection from you,” which meant far more sinister things than the words themselves invoked.

“I look forward to monitoring your progress,” Gabriel said with barely concealed contempt as he shook Azira’s hand and tipped his hat to Anathema. “And, as always, Godspeed.”

Then with a dramatic swirl of his argent coat, he took his leave.

Azira stared speechless after his brother. He hadn’t even agreed to go. But that was how White Dove, and its founding family, operated. No one was permitted to say no. Questions were forbidden unless strictly necessary. Only the most powerful family members were chosen to lead, and if those leaders dictated that something be done, it was done—end of conversation.

Azira had thought he’d escaped it by becoming an academic. For the last fifteen years, he’d managed to skirt most family engagements and nod politely at the ones he couldn’t avoid, until almost no one in the family even remembered he existed, but for the annual expense in the ledger with Oxford as the payee. Or so he’d thought. It appeared he was still very much on Gabriel’s mind, in the event that he might prove useful.

“Well, that was…something,” Anathema said, returning to her position by his side. “Is he always that pushy?”

“Most times, he’s worse,” Azira admitted glumly. Then he looked at the card in his hand, the snake sigil sending a thrill of foreboding down his spine. “Cairo.”

“Don’t look so downtrodden. This is exactly what we wanted,” Anathema said, laying a reassuring hand on his arm.

“It’s not the expedition that worries me,” Azira answered softly, tucking the card in his coat pocket. “It’s the demons we will owe when we return.”

Read Chapter 2 on AO3

Start at Chapter 1

[sometimesrosy]

can we stop distracting from the main point that is white people shouldn't play roles of color? lola just shouldnt play a part Filipino child. the-suns-still-rise's daughter is a totally different matter and fine to play a white role since shes a white-passing kid and thats actually progressive aka Reverse Racism Is Not Real. lets stop making this about crazy genetics and talk the real og point: lola maybe could by some extreme stoke of fate be bellarkes bio kid but it'd be wrong to cast her

the part filipino child would be 3/4 white. Would it be okay to ignore the mixed heritage and hire a 100% filipino actor to play the half filipino character? I actually think it would because the child could look either full filipino, half filipino or not filipino. Would I be pissed off if they hired a blonde/blue eyed girl like Clarke? I might. That feels a little bit like erasing, but a dark brunette with curly hair and freckles and eyes like his sister? This does not bother me. Because

i am not sure i agree that we should only cast people with the proper ancestry to play certain roles. I think about how that looks in regards to the variety of roles and races and ethnicities out there and I don’t think it works real well.

I DO think people should play the roles of real people according to race, but I’m not sure it should be all that specific. If a dark skinned black woman plays Harriet Tubman, say, or Nina Simone, that’s good.

If she is an afro latino from the dominican republic instead of american black, or brazilian or nigerian, I’m not sure that bothers me. Of course the other issue that we don’t bring up here needs to be considered, and that’s colorism and how dark skinned people do not get cast, when there is a black person who is lighter than a paper bag. So: Nina Simone, played by a light skinned afro latina (zoe saldana)? Afro latina is ok. Too light skinned is not, especially not in that role where it is relevant to her political activism. For me. But I’m not doing the casting, either. Ah. wait a minute. PHENOTYPE. I feel she is the wrong phenotype for that role because, no she’s not african looking enough for a woman who was proudly african. Does that make sense? She has the genetics. Not the phenotype. 

Do I think Scarlet Johansen should be playing asian characters? No. Absolutely not. That’s not really about finding a character who could look like the parents. It’s about hollywood reaching for an a list star and keeping asian roles from asian people. Asians can’t get roles NOW. I want to see more asians in asian roles and I want to see more asians TELLING the stories. Like the asian writer of Crazy Rich Asians quite because they were paying her a FRACTION of what the white male writer was getting. 

Sometimes mixed people do not look mixed. This is a truth that a lot of people don’t seem to realize. Many POC look like they could be different POC. An Indian man could play a Iraqui man. Is that okay? A Latina woman could play an Italian woman. Is that okay? If it’s okay, is it then okay for the Italian woman to play the Latina woman? Are you saying that afrolatina can’t go out for a role as a black historical figure? 

I’m not comfortable saying this can never be done. I’m just not.

You’re acting as if this is a truth universally acknowledged and I don’t think it is. I don’t think your decision is an absolute. 

Also. I don’t think Madi is Bellarke’s child. I think she is a PHENOTYPE who COULD be a Bellarke child, which has been my stance the entire time, but if she were, she fits the phenotype. Scarlet Johansen would NOT. Nor could she play Harriet Tubman. But I also don’t really agree with your statement. It doesn’t allow for a complicated world.

Besides. Race is an artificial and racist definition of human beings created by the colonizers to rationalize their brutality towards native peoples. I am not sure we should keep on defining who people can be based on a fictional separation INTENDED to turn people into property, allow their erasure, or steal their land.

I am sorry. I can’t jump on board with your absolute statement. Do you have a point that needs to be considered? Yes. Do I agree with your rule? No. And I think if you are this concerned you should go back and reread my answers. I NEVER came at it from your perspective. Because it’s not mine. I’m not pretending or obfuscating or distracting. That was NEVER my point. And never my opinion. It’s yours. Sorry it’s not PC. I don’t follow ideas that other people agree on unless I agree also. 

[wolfpawn]

Masterlist of my Work

My Masterlist that includes everything and will be updated 

One-Shots

May I Have Your Cherry

The Avengers go to a 50’s-style diner, and when it comes to dessert, Loki asks the reader a slightly inappropriate question.

Please Remember

Loki lost his love in battle, but what happens when she (the reader) seems to have returned from the dead, sent to kill him by Thanos (sort of like the Winter Soldier)

Get Out

The reader is supposed to bring Loki to Scotland to deal with the Frost Beast that ended up on Midgard during the Alignment (Thor: TDW) What could possibly go wrong.

Heed My Warning

The reader aids Thor and Loki leave Asgard with Jane, who is playing host to the Ether, when they are boarding the Dark Elf Ship, you have a word of warning with Thor.

Wake Up

AU College. You and Loki are in class, and you fall asleep, only for Loki to save your skin.

Declarations

Loki gets envious of how close you are with Thor when he confronts you about it, you have something to tell him.

Deceptions

Set after TDW, Thor, Sif, the Warrior’s Three and you are discussing different topics with Odin, but you suspect something is not quite right with the old king

Forget-Me-Not

You are secretly seeing Prince Loki, knowing it would be frowned upon for the prince to have a commoner for a lover. When it seems that he is growing tired of you, he tries to show you that it is not the case.

A Surprise Declaration

Loki declares his love for you, in front of one person, you would be brave to do so with.

The Sun, The Moon and the Star

You are Thor and Loki’s younger sister, with the power to force the truth from someone, but if that power is used against your will, you become ill. After Loki’s actions on earth (The Avengers Film) your father uses you against him, even though you were always close, what are the consequences?

To Carve a Life Together

You are in an arranged marriage to Loki, but he has no interest in being around you, much less consummating the marriage. For a while, you allow yourself to get more and more upset by it, until you can bear it no longer and confront him.

The Truth Will Out

Kyra and Loki have been friends for centuries, then they finally came to have suitors, but can their friendship survive when one of their suitors makes up vicious lies about the other.

Your Father’s Daughter

Thor and Sif are killed in battle. Loki raises their daughter as his own alongside his own, swearing one day to reveal to her about her parents.

Hiding, Seeking and Other Surprises

Loki is tired after a day of assisting Thor to rule the realm, when he arrives back to his chambers you are in a playful mood, wanting to play hide and seek with your lover, though there is a surprise or two in store also.

Leaving A Mark

All Aesir and Vanir have a mark on their skin to show them their soulmate. Loki never gets his, and falls for a girl when he is told the truth of his heritage, he turns to his Jotunn and the mark is revealed. But what of the girl?

Worthy

Each of the Avengers tries to lift Mjolnir. (I actually wrote this before AoU was even

Cat’s Got Your Tongue

While stuck in the form of a cat, Loki is able to communicate, the only issue is, you took him in, thinking he was a stray, not knowing this.

How You See Me

Thinking that Loki no longer finds you attractive because you are pregnant, you confront him, only for him to reveal he is concerned about hurting you and/or the baby.

Leaving A Mark

Everyone on Asgard is assigned another half by the Norn’s when they come of age through a mark on their skin, but Loki never finds his mark, until he turns into his Jotunn form, but can he find the other for that mark, and is he already after falling in love?

Fire and Ice

After childbirth, you’ve fallen gravely ill with a horrid fever. Nothing can bring it down, no matter how many remedies you’ve tried and how many herbs healers have given you. Frigga advises Loki to take on his Jotunn form and hold you to try and transfer some coolness into your skin and bring the fever down.

The Silver Tongue Stutters

Loki is smitten with a girl that is coming to dine with his family, in his fear of talking to her, he practises beforehand in a mirror.

Let Me Go

Loki’s friend is in love with him but he only starts to pay attention to her when another friend Fandral is interested. She realises that is the only reason he is interested and it breaks her heart. Loki doesn’t want her, but he doesn’t want anyone else to have her.

What is and What Could Have Been

Loki’s wife suffers a terrible nightmare and he soothes her after it.

Bite Me

You’re an Agent of Shield and in a relationship with Loki. During a mission with the Avengers, you find a “vampire’s nest” by accident. You try to track down one of the vampires but they attack you, turn you into one of them, and end up taking you with them to suffer. When Loki finds you, he is forced to feed you his own blood in hopes to save you.

Our Own Paths

Thor and Loki have a younger sister, who only ever seems to get attention from men trying to better their position and not care about her. She leaves Asgard for a time leaving her family shocked at her changed personality when she returns.

Regret

Imagine you and Loki were once together, but there was a huge misunderstanding and you ended up heartbroken. Feeling awful about the entire situation, you make yourself completely forget about him by erasing every memory you have of him. Now Loki has returned at your door, ready to apologize and make up, but quickly discovers that you have no idea who he is.

 NSFW One Shots

The Rough and the Smooth

Married to Prince Loki, you love your sex life, until it becomes gentle and all too caring. Angered, you accidentally cause Loki to become more passionate again.

Too Long

Loki had been away for too long at war, when he returns, you are all too desperate for his touch once more.

Self Control

You have wonderful control of your sexual urges, until your husband gives you an aphrodisiac.

Inked

You finally get intimate with Loki for the first time, but when he sees your tattoos and pauses, you feel it is because he finds you unattractive, you are very very wrong.

To Carve A Life Together 2 - NSFW

Second and more NSFW part of To Carve a Life, after confronting Loki regarding his distancing demeanour, you make up for lost time.

The Master and the Maid

You walk in on Loki, your employer, pleasuring himself to thoughts of you, what happens only the mischievous prince asks you to join in.  

The Curious Incident of the Doppelgänger in the Night Time

You are a SHIELD agent, forced to live with the God of Mischief in your home. One day you come home from work to see a doppelgänger of yourself in your sitting room, with only underwear on, and Loki pleasuring himself to it on the sofa.

Room-mates

You are forced to live with Loki, and when he is away one night, you take out your urges in the shower, but on his return, he questions you on the appliance you accidentally left in the shower, with very pleasurable results.  

What Happens in Vegas

You wake up with a sore head and a wedding ring on your finger in Vegas, just what did you and the God of Mischief get up to last night?

What’s Good Enough For The Goose

Sick of Loki’s shameless flirting with other women, you give him a taste of his own medicine.

To Be Yours Again

Your husband Loki has not shown interest in you in some time, leaving you to think he no longer loves you. When you finally come to blows, Loki shows you that that simply isn’t true.

Lust in a Black Suit

You getting hot and bothered after seeing him in the black suit (the one he wore in Thor Ragnarok) and Loki taking care of your needs.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Prompt - Your boyfriend Tom asks you what you want for your birthday. After some insisting, you confess that you want him to dress up as Loki and have a wild night with him. A couple of days later, you find a note from Tom that instructs you to get ready, as he has a surprise for you. Loki shows up and has his way with you. After your coupling, you hear the front door unlock and Tom calls out to you, meanwhile, the Loki lying next to your bed vanishes and in comes Tom in full Loki costume. You realise that you have just spent the night with a Norse god.

  One-Shots - Trigger Warnings

You should Have Told Us - Emotional, Verbal and Physical Abuse

You are Loki and Thor’s younger sister, and your engagement to one of the most eligible men in Asgard is announced, sadly, you are not as happy as people think, and your brothers know something is not right.

What They Think of Me - Mentions of Rape

Loki finds the fanfiction of him, the only thing is, he is very upset to see the amount of it that implies he would rape someone, it is your duty as his loved partner to comfort him.

Apparently, I’m Wrong In Every Single Way - Attempted Suicide and Suicidal Ideology

You are sick of the comments, the horrid feeling of inadequacy and life in whole, so you decide to end your life, only for one God of Mischief to intervene.

 Et Tu, Illyria? - Non-Con, Forced Pregnancy, NSFW

The leader of the resistance against Loki’s rule is taken captive. Loki decides to break her by alternative methods, causing a pregnancy, but not everything as it seems. (Major Plot Twist)

Where We Were And Where We Are - Self Harm

Loki’s maid walks in on him harming himself, causing her to reveal her own past of similar torment.

The Woman of His Dreams - Abusive Parent

Imagine Loki keeps seeing a woman in his dreams, over and over, in different scenarios, some, very intimate, some mundane and some being public outings but in all of them, the woman always looks at him lovingly, treats him lovingly and tells him how much she loves him. Every time he wakes, he does so to see she is not there with him. He does not remember ever seeing her, he is sure of it, but yet she haunts his dreams. What happens the day he is walking somewhere with his brother, having mentioned her a few times to him before, only to see a random woman walking by, not paying them any heed, looking identical to the woman of his dreams, literally.

  Multi-chapters

A Warrior’s Life (NSFW)

Maebh is dragged from her homeland (Midgard) by brutal and war-loving sailors and forced to serve Loki, who himself is in a loveless marriage. What happens when she comes to his home (Asgard), and her own past is revealed.

A Warrior’s Life II (NSFW)

Set soon after AWL, Loki and Maebh’s are tested with new challenges, after all, Midgard is not the only place where there are dangers lurking.

Forgive and Forget

You are betrothed to Loki, elated, you rush to see him on one of your visits to the palace, only to hear him mock you, can you forgive and forget?

The Moon and The Star - Continuation of The Sun, The Moon and the Star

What happens when you try to live life after the events of The Sun, The Moon and The Star.

In The Name Of Your Father

Based loosely on Disney’s Mulan. Asgard is at war and conscription is in place, but your father is in no fit state to fight, so you go in his stead. Loki is training the troops, and he noticing something not quite right about the bright Eleanora.

A Tempting Proposition

As the deadliest assassin in the Nine Realms, you accept a proposition from the devious Prince Loki, but doing so alters life immeasurably for you, even to the extent that one action places it precariously on the line.

For Whom, I Weep

Hervor is Loki’s Shield Maiden, a warrior whose sole purpose is to defend her charge with her life, when she dies such, she is mortally wounded. Having struck a friendship with his Shield Maiden, Loki does everything in his power to save her but is the life he condemns her to one worth living.

The Powers That Be

Loki notices something peculiar about Pepper Potts assistant, she has powers that no other mortal seems to possess, the only issue is, her life is in grave danger if any other finds out her secret, especially her father.

Lead Me Not To Temptation - NSFW

Kari is betrothed to Loki, something she was not all too pleased with when it happened, but she soon learns to love the prince, only for Odin to change it the night before the wedding so that she is to wed Thor instead. For a time, she and Loki have an affair, but things become messy when Kari falls pregnant.

A Princess In Wolf’s Clothing - In Progress

Odin condemned Loki’s daughter to live as a wolf for being illegitimate, after his passing Loki finds her, and brings her back to the palace, trying to find a way to change her back. He finds a way, but there are conditions.  

Judging Books By Covers

Based loosely on Disney’s Beauty and The Beast. Loki is condemned to his Jotunn form until he can accept himself. Lagertha and her father stumble across the palace he is residing in, and the young woman is forced to remain with the fallen prince. Dangers come for the pair, who soon fall for one another.

Two Sides of the Coin

Sadhbh is brought to Asgard, where she will wed one of the princes. She falls for Prince Loki immediately, though not everyone sees a mutual attraction. They have to try and convince all of their love for one another, but as Thor is interested in her too, that may not be possible.

To Save You

Loki is not the only one Thanos has held captive, and he swears to return to rescue the other prisoner, but that is by no means an easy feat.  (Warning, Minor Character Death)

Hell Hath No Fury Trigger warning - Miscarriage

You and Loki love each other entirely, so you put a mark on you both that proves it, if either of you did anything to jeopardise your love, the mark on the other would tell them. Loki is unfaithful, with horrific consequences.

The Light in the Dark

A S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist, blinded by an attack bumps into a cantankerous Loki, leading to the God becoming curious towards the mortal.

Selfless Love

AU, where it’s Loki instead of Maleficent. He has watched you grow ever since you were little and by the time you were 16, he has fallen in love with you and regrets putting this curse on you, but he can’t take it away. When you fall asleep, he watches with a broken heart as Prince Philippe kisses you, but when it doesn’t work and the prince leaves, he walks to you to apologize. In the end, he kisses you on the lips and you wake up, his lips still on yours.

One and the Same - In Progress

You grew up in a similar situation to Loki, one child favoured over the other, there is one slight difference, you are the favoured child, which has caused you severe issues with your sister, whom you always tried to defend, knowing the unfair treatment was wrong, but to no avail, she resents you for it. You left everything behind and started anew, as an optimistic and bright person, but one day, your mask slips and you breakdown, startling none more so than Loki, who found you to be one of the only humans he liked.

What We Leave Behind

You were Loki’s lover, and when he falls from the Bifrost, you realise you are pregnant with his child. You fear Odin’s reaction, so you confide in Frigga and flee the palace. On Loki’s return, you sneak yourself and your daughter in to reveal to him your secret.

Maid To Serve

You are sold as a slave to the Aesir palace, where you are grateful to see you are lucky enough to be an employee rather than property, while there you meet the intriguing Prince Loki, who is as equally intrigued with you.

I Love to Hate You

Alexandra is destined to rule Vanaheim and her parents think she needs a suitable husband by her side and chooses Loki of Asgard, but there is one minor issue, Alexandra and Loki despite one another.

House of Cards in the Wind - NSFW

You are a powerful villain who was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. and put in Cryogenic storage because there was no other way to deal with you. After doing some research, Loki learned about you and became obsessed. So much, that he looked for you and woke you up, knowing that you’d seek revenge and he would be more than willing to help.

Across the Divide

Loki sneaks out of the palace in disguise and making friends with a girl, but when she disappears, he becomes heartbroken, until he finds her one day, but when she realises who he really is, she runs away.

The Baseborn Princess and the Aesir Prince

Frigga rounds up the daughters of the rulers of the Nine Realms in hopes of finding wives for her two sons, one of which is the bastard daughter of the Alfheim King, with whom Loki becomes utterly enamoured.

If I Could Turn Back Time, I’d Still Choose This

When Odin goes to Jotunheim and finds the infant that would come to be Loki, his own wife is carrying their second child, so he does not pretend Loki is his, instead, the Jotun runt is given to a family in Asgard to raise as their son. Years later, the barely adult Loki meets Sigyn, daughter of Odin and Frigga, and trouble ensues.

Maelstrom - Trigger warning Verbal, Emotional and Physical abuse.

Imagine helping Loki leave his physically and emotionally abusive girlfriend. You treat him with kindness and respect, and with time, as he falls for you, you teach him that love isn’t supposed to hurt.

Pride and Prejudice - In Progress

Imagine Loki was raised on Jotunheim as Laufey’s son after the war, but an agreement was then made that he would wed Odin’s daughter so Odin could secure the alliance of Jotunheim through the marriage. Loki, in turn, was raised to be king of Jotunheim, but how he views Asgard is far different from how Odin’s daughter is raised leading to a clash of cultures as well as uncertainty between the pair of betrothed youths.

Crimson Peak Fic

When Ghosts Come For Us - In Progress

Trigger Warnings - Mentions of Past Rape, Forced Pregnancy, Incest, Poisoning, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse.

 Thomas and Lucille Sharpe needed a new benefactor, their last victim, Edith had not been wealthy as they needed her to be. With her disposed of, they need more income and stumble across Mrs Charlotte Hamilton, the young widow of William Hamilton and in turn heiress to the Hamilton shipping company, she is naive, ditsy and incredibly wealthy, she is everything they need to cease this marry and kill lifestyle they have had to lead, but ghosts have a bad habit of not staying dead.

This is based on the movie Crimson Peak, so if any of the subject matter in that was uncomfortable for you, you will find this similar and I will *NOT* be descriptive of incest in this, it will only be implied, same as the movie.

High Rise Fic

The Art of Survival - In Progress

Trigger Warning - Mentions of Rape, Physical abuse, Cannibalism

It has been six months since madness descended on the High-Rise and the rest of London also, if not all of Britain. Robert Laing is one of only 8 men still alive in the High-Rise, the women reign supreme, as food becomes more and more scarce and the need to study his fellow residents as patients grows to almost an obsession, Robert sees that animal instinct is not as dormant in homo sapiens as he thought, we are not as removed from animals as we as a species think ourselves to be and when resources are few and far between, he learns that some are natural survivors, some are providers and some are leeches. Can he distinguish between them and see how it is best to survive, if only to complete his work?

  Tom Fic’s

This is the amalgamation of my Wolfpawn ao3 account and my Lass_Kicker ao3 account. I originally made Lass-Kicker because I did not want people attacking me on my Tumblr page for not “shipping” Tom and Taylor, but after that farce ran its course, I decided I did not care anymore if people knew they were both my accounts, so here they are together.

The Life of Bobby - In Progress

Bobby is a cocker spaniel pup, an intelligent and playful creature, whose owner is somewhat odd, he talks a lot, often with no one else in the room, saying things over and over reading a piece of paper. He is followed by people shouting his name, clicking weird contraptions in his face and people want him to sign different things and get all excited around him. Bobby understands why; he has the best human in the world, he loves his human and he knows his human loves him. What Bobby doesn't understand, however, is that his human is a famous actor named Tom Hiddleston.

 Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep - angst and death

A request I was given. "how about the reader and Tom were married for like 50 years before the reader passes away, a couple of years later Tom passes and the reader is the first one to greet him in the afterlife"

 Two Half’s of a Heart makes a Whole

You boyfriend, Chris Evans cheated on you with a problematic celebrity, but you find happiness in Tom’s arms. When Chris realizes his mistake and wants you back, the media finds out that you and Tom just got secretly married.

A Helping Hand

Library AU! Tom sees a girl that comes into the library he works in daily and becomes intrigued by her, but he says and does nothing, but someone cannot help but interfere.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Paige Winters is a writer who returns from meetings in the US to turn her books into a movie only to find her fiance in *HER* bed with another woman. Tom Hiddleston is due to begin his stint as Robert in Harold Pinter's Betrayal and realises that a good friend of his best friend's wife Sophie is the perfect woman to discuss his character's heartache with. The only issue is, their night of discussing the character turns to a simple one-night stand, that doesn't stay quite so simple. Due to other people's ideas, the pair allow themselves to be forced into a fake relationship which teaches them a lot about themselves and one another.

Can Tom find something he always felt was missing and can Paige learn to trust another man after her past betrayal?

Life is a Game of Risks - In Progress

Trigger Warnings - Mentions of Past Sexual and Emotional abuse

Tom walks into a cafe near RADA while working on Hamlet to see a woman sitting down in a corner, he knows her, but he is not sure from where. It finally dawns on him, an old family friend, the one that suggested to him to go into acting and whom as they ascended to adulthood, he had a crush on, but time passed and nothing happened. Now he meets Alexianna again and he is not going to miss the chance to speak with her once more, but there is an issue, time has not been good to her, her life is more complex now. Can Tom handle what it entails when the one you care for has a child already and can Alexianna deal with the pressures of being the real-life girlfriend of the internet's boyfriend?

  I Hate You, I Love You. - In Progress

Trigger Warning - Mentions of Past Sexual abuse

Danielle Hughes is an Irish paramedic that lives next to Diana Hiddleston in Suffolk, the mother of the famous actor Tom Hiddleston. She is a close friend of the family; and having known them before Tom's great leap into the international fame, she befriended him. But when he starts dating Taylor Swift, the actor's ties to his family and his friends are strained as no one is too happy with his choice in girlfriend, and Danielle bears the brunt of Tom's anger. But after five years of knowing the real, flawed Tom and not just the pristine public image of the actor, she has fallen for him, against her better judgement.

When everything explodes, what is left? What damage has been done, and can everything be repaired; or is everything destroyed?

 The Desolation of All We Hold Dear - In Progress

This is an au of my piece "I Hate You I Love You" That I could not shake off, so I made this for it instead. It is in no way in keeping with anything that will happen in the future of the main piece, it literally is just the characters.

Tom fucks up, royally fucks up. The upcoming wedding gives him some cold feet and he makes a terrible decision regarding it, leading to everything he built with Danielle being obliterated. One slip up affects the whole life they would have had together, which only becomes more complicated when Danielle realises that as well as trying to drag herself back from the betrayal of Toms actions, making her never want to lay eyes on him again, she is also pregnant with their baby. She is left to decide if she wants to be tied to the man who did something so cruel to her for the rest of her life, and the consequences when he realises the same.

One-Shot Series

Coincidence or Fate Series

A series of One-Shots through Tom’s relationship with Leah Williams, from their first meeting to their separating after their failed marriage, to an accidental meeting again. This will time jump.

Coincidence or Fate?

Tom goes to Dubai to flee the finality of his impending divorce. There, of all places, he accidentally bumps into his ex-wife, Leah, leading to them taking, and more.

The Converging of Lives.

Tom was not meant to go to the book launch of Leah Williams’ new book, but while waiting for Luke in his office, he reads a few pages of it and loves it. This sets up the situation where Tom and Leah meet for the first time before he asks her out.

Michael Fassbender fic

One-Shot Series

The Greatest Prize

Michael has adored Julie since Benedict Cumberbatch introduced them 5 years ago, but the ten-year age difference between the pair causes him some ill-ease, and he does nothing about his feels for her. She goes on to marry Chris Evans, but Michael discovers that things are not as they should be when he sees Chris having dinner with another woman while lying to Julie. After everything, can he take the chance he did not take five years previously?

The Consolation Prize

A Coveted Prize

[hufflly-puffs]

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Chapter 17: A Sluggish Memory

“Late in the afternoon, a few days after New Year, Harry, Ron and Ginny lined up beside the kitchen fire to return to Hogwarts. The Ministry had arranged this one-off connection to the Floo Network to return students quickly and safely to the school.” – But what about those students who don’t have access to the Floo Network, like Hermione and other Muggleborns? And it also doesn’t seem like they all arrive at the same time, so McGonagall has students dropping in her office all day.

So Apparation lessons cost no less than 12 Galleons? And the fact that Ron not mentioned this once, just like he didn’t talk about his new potions book costing 9 Galleons, really must mean the Weasleys have more money now.  Though I think it is interesting that Apparation is something you don’t learn at school but through a Ministry approved course. Bit like driving lessons then. And just like them perhaps not every student can afford them.

“‘I forgot you’d already done it … I’d better pass my test first time,’ said Ron, looking anxious. ‘Fred and George did.’ ‘Charlie failed, though, didn’t he?’ ‘Yeah, but Charlie’s bigger than me,’ Ron held his arms out from his body as though he were a gorilla, ‘so Fred and George didn’t go on about it much … not to his face, anyway …’” – Despite the fact that the twins are no longer at school Ron still thinks about their reaction and compares himself with them. But I guess lifelong unhealthy habits are hard to get rid of.

“Lost in visions of this happy prospect, he flicked his wand a little too enthusiastically, so that instead of producing the fountain of pure water that was the object of that day’s Charms lesson, he let out a hoselike jet that ricocheted off the ceiling and knocked Professor Flitwick flat on his face. ‘Harry’s already Apparated,’ Ron told a slightly abashed Seamus, after Professor Flitwick had dried himself off with a wave of his wand and set Seamus lines (‘I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a stick’).” – You know I don’t think we appreciate Flitwick as a character enough.

“‘It was Fudge’s idea originally, you know. During his last days in office, when he was trying desperately to cling to his post, he sought a meeting with you, hoping that you would give him your support –’ ‘After everything Fudge did last year?’ said Harry angrily. ‘After Umbridge?’” – You know, now that I think about it, Fudge never actually apologized, which was the very least he could do. He would have if he had ever had the chance to meet Harry, but only to get him on his side. I’m not sure Fudge actually felt remorse for the way he treated Harry. He created his own version of the truth, where he justified all of his actions.

“‘So, sir,’ said Harry, in what he hoped was a polite, calm voice, ‘you definitely still trust –?’ ‘I have been tolerant enough to answer that question already,’ said Dumbledore, but he did not sound very tolerant any more. ‘My answer has not changed.’” – I think this is the only time Dumbledore is strict with Harry. But it is a question of trust. Just as Lupin told Harry over Christmas: the question is not whether to trust Snape but if you trust Dumbledore’s judgement of Snape’s character. And obviously Dumbledore can’t tell Harry why he trusts Snape; in the end only Snape could make the choice to share this information with Harry. But Dumbledore asks Harry to trust him and Harry can’t, not entirely, not when it comes to Snape, and this causes a small rift between them.

“‘No, I did not. Though he had shown no hint of remorse, it was possible that he felt sorry for how he had behaved before and was resolved to turn over a fresh leaf. I chose to give him that chance.’ Dumbledore paused and looked enquiringly at Harry, who had opened his mouth to speak. Here, again, was Dumbledore’s tendency to trust people in spite of overwhelming evidence that they did not deserve it! But then Harry remembered something … ‘But you didn’t really trust him, sir, did you? He told me … the Riddle who came out of that diary said “Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did”.’ ‘Let us say that I did not take it for granted that he was trustworthy,’ said Dumbledore. ‘I had, as I have already indicated, resolved to keep a close eye upon him, and so I did. […]” – There is a clear parallel to Snape here. Same as he did with young Tom Dumbledore decided to give Snape a second chance, because everyone deserves one. And yet, it is possible Dumbledore never trusted Snape a hundred percent either; at least he kept a close eye on him as well. His refusal to give him the position for the DADA teacher for so long indicates this, because Dumbledore wanted to keep Snape away from the Dark Arts as much as possible. Unlike Tom Riddle though Dumbledore knows that Snape feels remorse for his actions, and he knows the very reason why, and in the end this is why he puts the ultimate trust in Snape, telling him about the Horcruxes, asking Snape to kill him, trusting Snape to play his role in Dumbledore’s big plan even after Dumbledore’s death.

“‘I have not been able to find many memories of Riddle at Hogwarts,’ said Dumbledore, placing his withered hand on the Pensieve. ‘Few who knew him then are prepared to talk about him; they are too terrified.” – This indicates that those people do know that Tom Riddle became Lord Voldemort. However I always had the impression that Hagrid never knew that Tom Riddle and Voldemort are the same person, and that Voldemort himself did the best to leave his past behind him, in changing both his name and face, creating a completely new identity. Perhaps those people who knew him back then, knew him as Tom Riddle, are right to be terrified, because the secret to defeat Voldemort is in his past, in those very few unguarded moments, before the man became a monster.

“Finally he was forced to accept that his father had never set foot in Hogwarts. I believe that it was then that he dropped the name for ever, assumed the identity of Lord Voldemort, and began his investigations into his previously despised mother’s family – the woman whom, you will remember, he had thought could not be a witch if she had succumbed to the shameful human weakness of death.” – I think human life in itself is defined by the fact that it will end. And knowing that our time is limited gives it value in the end. But I think Voldemort perhaps did define himself to be above humans. Being a wizard already made him special, and even among other wizards he was special, with his heritage, with his abilities. But even wizards die, even magic can’t prevent death, not until you are ready to sacrifice your soul. (And what’s a human without a soul?) And so Voldemort created himself and shaped himself into something barely recognizable as a human being, because if you are no longer human you can longer die. But when he does die in the end the question is as what.

I do wonder if Morfin put one and one together and realized that Merope gave birth to a son who turned out to be a wizard, or if he was simply too drunk (and dumb) to realize the truth.

We do learn two very importing things about memories in this chapter: you can implant a false memory into the mind of someone else and you can alter your own memory. Therefore not even memories can be a reliable source. They can be changed, erased or overwritten, and this again is another case of abusing consent. We are made of our memories and to take them away, to change them or to implant us false memories changes fundamentally who we are.

Also Dumbledore says he gained Morfin’s real memory through Legilimency, so Morfin did not give Dumbledore his memory freely. It is possible he agreed that Dumbledore could use Legilimency on him, otherwise the whole thing is quite problematic, no matter Dumbledore’s intentions.

“‘You are quite right – they can detect magic, but not the perpetrator: you will remember that you were blamed by the Ministry for the Hover Charm that was, in fact, cast by –’ ‘Dobby,’ growled Harry; this injustice still rankled. ‘So if you’re under age and you do magic inside an adult witch or wizard’s house, the Ministry won’t know?’” – Remember in book 4 when Hermione used a spell (I think it was ‘Lumos’) during the Quidditch World Cup, after the mass panic had broken out, and nothing had happened to her? Now we know why. There were so many wizards and witches there, all of them using magic, that it was impossible to trace that spell back to her (and Hermione probably knew that because she had read it somewhere). But considering this, the rule that forbids underage wizards and witches to use magic, is stupid. Basically every child in a magical household could get away with it, though I wonder how many of them know about it. Earlier Ron did complain over Christmas that he could not use magic to help him peeling sprouts for Christmas dinner. And if you, like Harry, are the only wizard within your neighbourhood every bit of magic will be traced back to you, even if you are sometimes not responsible.

“Harry noticed that the contents proved difficult to empty into the Pensieve, as though they had congealed slightly; did memories go off?” – Imagine it though, all those memories with little ‘best before’ labels.

“His right hand lay negligently upon the arm of his chair; with a jolt, Harry saw that he was wearing Marvolo’s gold and black ring; he had already killed his father.” – Not sure if the opening of the Chamber of Secrets happened before or after the murder of his remaining family, but Riddle leaves school and has already committed four murders. What is interesting is that he only learns now about Horcruxes, after he had killed his father and grandparents. So is it possible to create a Horcrux even some time after the murder, not just in the process of it?

“It is, as you will have noticed, very crudely done, and that is all to the good, for it shows that the true memory is still there beneath the alterations.” – I wonder if you can erase a memory for good. Dumbledore was able to find Morfin’s real memory underneath a false one, and it is the same with Slughorn: the real memory is still there. Despite both Riddle and Slughorn being very talented wizards they could not fully erase/change a memory. I wonder however what it does to you and your mind if the real memory is still there, but hidden, what kind of trauma that can cause.

“‘He [Slughorn] is much more accomplished at Occlumency than poor Morfin Gaunt, […].” – This does make it sound like Dumbledore took Morfin’s memory against his will.

“‘No, I think it would be foolish to attempt to wrest the truth from Professor Slughorn by force, and might do much more harm than good; I do not wish him to leave Hogwarts.” – So Dumbledore does not want to use force on Slughorn because it is morally wrong but because he is afraid Slughorn might leave (though it is possible he is simply afraid Slughorn will become a target again outside Hogwarts). But clearly Dumbledore thinks the end does justify the means.

Also, Dumbledore does the very same as Scrimgeour, he uses Harry for his own means. He might be more open about it his intentions; he told Harry he needed him to get Slughorn back to Hogwarts in the first place and now he needs him to get the real memory from Slughorn. And perhaps it is the fact that he acknowledges that he needs Harry, that he uses him, that makes Harry agree to do what he is told. Harry trusts Dumbledore and his trust is repaid with honesty (as honest as Dumbledore can be with Harry at this point).

[lunmelia]

I meant to post this the night I got home from watching it a second time but whoops here it is like two weeks later agsdfgshf

Time to do a quick review of Rise of Skywalker! I mean not really a review more like just shit I noticed watching it a second time. I’ve brushed up on my star wars knowledge since I watched it when it first came out, so I understood much better what the fuck was going on.

(Okay listen this unexpectedly became a really long post. I did not mean to go this deep. I have a lightning round of observations at the end so skip to that if you want to avoid all the analysis)  

- The fact that they started out with Palpatine just kind of threw me off balance. It was so quick! For some reason I thought it started out with the falcon and Finn, Poe and Chewie. But now that I think about it, star wars usually starts out with a fast paced scene and then gives you slow one so you can process what just happened. But Palpatine was very abrupt, feel like maybe that scene should’ve been placed after Poe announces that Palpatine’s alive. I don’t know, it was just like “whoa okay Palpatine’s here aaaand everything we know is a lie it was all Palpatine great so this is what to expect for the rest of the movie

- I really enjoyed the scene with Finn Poe and Chewie. When Poe accuses Chewie of cheating and then says “I’m kidding, you’re 250 years old of course you’re better at this game than us” it just made me smile. it felt very... THERE, you know? It fit very well with the characters. I don’t know why that line specifically. That whole entire sequence of their mission I think gave a good start to the movie, just showing the development of these characters and where they’re at from the previous movie was really good. And you could tell that they work well together! It’s why they’re on that mission, they’re a good team. They’ve settled into their rolls and they’re going well. 

- first of all, Rey’s little slow flip to land softly on the ground was so cute and fluid. Secondly, I think showing her jedi training sequence was a good idea, it was nice to see where she’s at with that. And it was cool to see her struggle with getting frustrated with the training droid (I don’t know what it’s called) and kind of lose control. I could’ve done without Kylo initiating the whole vision thing, I really would’ve liked to see more of Rey’s training. But it was necessary for her doubts about herself to settle in.

- on a side-note to those doubts. I think what I hated the most about this movie was Rey constantly leaving and her recklessness. She seemed to be selfish in this movie, never really listening to Finn or Poe when they told her to stop. It usually cost them a lot, either Chewie getting captured or Finn and Poe AND CHEWIE AGAIN getting captured. Poe was right when he said they needed her with them, because they really do need her help, but she kept leaving them for her own personal reasons. She went for the dagger even though they already had the inscription, and I get that they would’ve needed it to navigate the death star ruins, but taking a guess from the amount of times kedi or sith magically sense things in this movie, she would’ve found it without the dagger. I also understand that she wanted to know so much about her parents and the dagger, but I feel like she could’ve focused on the family she has now and the mission ahead. I also get that giving her these flaws are good for a character, that she can’t be flawless, but I think these were the wrong flaws to give her. We know that it’s been about a year since TLJ, we saw Rey willingly hug Finn and accept that he is someone she cares about, so it just seemed to be that she should’ve been at that point where she trusts and relies on the people around her, but instead she just kept on abandoning them. I REALLY like Rey as a character, I think she has so much potential and she’s awesome and I wanted to root for her, but this movie didn’t really make me want to. Maybe it’s because she’s a palpatine and that just ruined her character for me. I know a lot of people hate her because she’s a mary sue, but I think when in TLJ they made her a nobody, it kind of knocked down her mary sue status a few pegs. I liked that she wasn’t related to anyone, that she was just Rey, and that she was special just because she was her, no ties to anyone. Kind of like Obi-Wan. I think what made Obi-Wan special was that he wasn’t. He was just a normal jedi-in-training who got roped into some nasty shit when he met Anakin. Same for Rey, she was just a normal force-sensitive girl who just got roped into some nasty shit. But, making her a Palpatine, erasing her harsh backstory of her parents abandoning her for drinking money and instead making them out to be good parents who were protecting her, just ruined her character. This movie was basically saying that you can only be special if you’re related to the right people. WOW that was a large side-note MOVING ON

- I was watching out for someone to say that Kylo and Rey were a dyad in the force, I wasn’t sure if it was actually said or implied. So when Kylo said it it was kind of a ‘oh cool so they do say it’ moment for me. But now, knowing that the ‘Oracle’ scene is missing, where supposedly Kylo is told by an Oracle that they are a dyad, that line feels really out of place. “What Palpatine doesn’t know is that we’re a dyad in the force” okay, so how do YOU know that? Also, I get that they’re a dyad because he’s darth vader’s grandchild and she’s Palpatine’s, but I feel like (and this is just my personal opinion here on how this should work) in order to be a dyad, one soul in two bodies, you should be born at around the same time in order for the soul to properly split in two. Kylo is about ten years older than Rey, so it just doesn’t make sense to me. Was he always half a soul or was he a full soul until she was born and it decided to split in two then? ALSO in TLJ (and this is something that frustrates me the most) Snoke explains that it was HIM who initiated their force bond. After Snoke dies, they still have the connection. Based on what was said by Snoke in TLJ, that should be impossible because the bond should’ve died when he did since he created it. So, I guess their bond is because they’re a dyad, even though Snoke said he caused it. It’s either the force created it or Snoke created it. Or Snoke created it but Rey and Kylo went nah let’s keep it. It’s inconsistent. EVERYTHING in this trilogy is inconsistent. 

- Side-note: Leia says she knows her son is dead in TLJ, suggesting that she would stop assuming that he can become good. But in this movie she keeps trying to reach out for him and dies for it. Another inconsistency

- Something positive because the last two were kind of negative. I LOVE THE TRIO INTERACTION!! It was brilliant. Rey and Poe constantly arguing while Finn tries desperately to be the mediator but fails every time.Gold. Imma analyse them real quick (it will not be quick at all). I’m going to say this outright, based on what was given to us in this movie, they don’t work well together at ALL. They clash VERY badly when it’s the three of them. All three of them are to blame. No one is innocent. First, Rey keeps on running off and not listening to them. Finn, always concerned for Rey and wanting desperately for her to be safe, will often follow her to achieve this goal. Poe, clearly frustrated by Rey leaving them and Finn usually following, is very loud about this frustration and often starts fights with the other two. I don’t think there was one time where the three of them worked together well enough to achieve a goal. The goal was usually achieved by Finn and Poe separately, or by Rey alone. This is probably because each of them were distracted. Rey by her heritage, Finn by what was going on with Rey, and Poe by Finn and Rey and also having to deal with rising up as leader of the Resistance. HOWEVER, that hug at the end. That hug at the end showed everything we had to know about this trio. Finn, holding both Rey and Poe in his arms as he is the one that holds this trio together, Poe and Rey holding hands behind his back to signify their separate, smaller connection, and Poe seemingly with his hand at Finn’s chest to signify that he is indeed much closer to him than he is to Rey. It was a great hug. That hug makes the entire movie worth it. I think the presence of war really put stress on this trio. They were not able to connect properly, to get navigate their relationship dynamics and get comfortable enough that they can work well together. But this hug at the end shows that they will get that time, that they will become comfortable with each other. The hug and the hand-holding is so certain, the audience knows that they will be fine with each other now. I would’ve really loved to see this trio develop and to witness them work fluently together. Unfortunately, we will not. I think this is why, and I’ve seen a lot of people say this, the Rise of Skywalker would’ve made a great middle-movie. That way, we would’ve been able to see their confident relationship dynamics and for them to be an absolute epic badass trio. But for me, I think that hug is enough. That hug tells me that those characters are going to be okay.

- One more long one before I go to the lightning round. Rey’s new last name. Ooohhhh boy. She should not be a Skywalker. I get that’s why it’s called ‘the rise of skywalker’ because BAM she’s risen, she’s a Skywalker now. A new skywalker has risen. But listen, no, she should not have been. I’ll tell you why. This is not me saying that she does not deserve the Skywalker name. You know what? She does! I think Rey’s awesome, I think she totally has the potential to be an honorary Skywalker, why not. But she. does. not. have enough of a connection to the Skywalker name to be able to have it. Let’s establish this. Who’s a Skywalker? Luke. Sure, Leia is biologically a Skywalker, but she has been VERY FIRM in stating that she is an ORGANA. And an Organa only. She does not take the Skywalker name even after discovering Luke is her brother, and she does not take the Solo name after marrying Han. She was raised an Organa, so by god she will stay an Organa. So, Luke’s a Skywalker, Leia’s an Organa. Han is Han Solo. Kylo is a Solo. He has always been referred to as Ben Solo, not a Skywalker, not an Organa. Solo. So, let’s repeat. Luke = Skywalker. Leia = Organa. Han = Solo. Ben = Solo. Okay! So, Luke is the only one that calls himself a Skywalker, so let’s analyse Rey’s relationship with him. Their relationship is firstly filled with confusion. Rey’s confused that he’s not who she thought he was, and Luke’s confused by who the hell she is and what she’s doing here. Then, their relationship is full of frustration. Rey’s frustrated that Luke is not who she expected, that he’s refusing to help, that he’s not teaching her properly. Luke’s frustrated that Rey is reminding him of his failures, that she naturally goes to the dark side, that she keeps trying to get him to leave the island. Then Luke, for the first time in a while, seems hopeful as he opens himself to the force again and seems willing to train Rey, for real this time. Maybe he was spurred on by her determination in not wanting to fail him as a student. But his hope is crushed as he sees Rey forming a connection with Kylo, and is once again reminded of his failures which leads him to reverting back to his hermit self and attempting to burn the temple. But before leaving, Rey still tries to convince him. She still believes in him, still considers him to be their hope, and holds out the lightsaber to him one last time. He turns away, and she moves on. It takes a talk with Yoda for Luke to realise he’s being a dumbass and that he should go help the Resistence. So by the end of TLJ their relationship is at this point; Rey is still seeing Luke as a legend, as a figure of hope, as an example for the jedi. Luke is still seeing Rey as a reminder for his failures, yet he seems to admire her determination, even if it does also annoy him. They don’t know each other that well, as they haven’t known each other for long. Then, there’s Luke’s force ghost appearance in ROS. I think it was a really nice moment. For Luke to basically say ‘you’re being a dumbass. Don’t do what I did, I regret it. You are more than who you are related to. Go kill Palpatine’ it really showed his potential as a master, and the potential of their relationship. Luke is there to guide her when she’s at her lowest, there to put her back on the path of hope. So, once again Luke has given someone hope, as he is very well known for. And yeah, okay, that’s really nice. I can see a bit of a father-daughter relationship in there. But it’s just... not enough for her to be a Skywalker, for me at least. She didn’t get enough time to truly KNOW him in order to have that name. You know what name she should’ve taken, if she really had to? Palpatine- no I’m kidding she should’ve taken ORGANA. She spent time with Leia the most. Leia was her master, she was trained by Leia. Leia was there to guide her more than Han or Luke were. She was always so patient with Rey, asking her gently what she is feeling, reassuring her that she’s not disappointing them. Rey FELT Leia die. And she was broken by it. She felt Luke die as well, but she knew that he was content with it, so she was content too. I think, out of the three parental figures that Rey had (Luke, Han and Leia) Leia played a much bigger role in her life. Rey never really saw Leia as a legend or as a beacon of hope as she had Luke, she only really saw her as Leia, a woman which she deeply admired and felt connected to and hugged. She never hugged Luke. So, yeah, if Rey had to choose a name, I think she should’ve chosen Organa. But, personally, I think it would’ve been really cool if Rey had just made her own and had no ties to any name at all. Because, again, this movie has stated that you have to have a legend’s last name in order to be special.

LIGHTNING ROUND!!

- I think Maz Kanada was a puppet in this one? She did not move like CGI like when she blinked it looked very mehcanic so like wow alright

- Every single time I saw Poe’s necklace my heart just jumped and I tried so desperately to see if there was a ring but I NEVER SAW IT

- Too many star destroyers. Where the fuck did they come from?? Was Palpatine just pressing crtl + c and crtl + v over and over again for these star destroyers?

- FINN’S SO FORCE-SENSITIVE YA’LL!!! Like straight up he knew which star destroyer was the navigator and he felt Rey die. I do not need a scene of him opening a door with his mind to know that that boy is force-sensitive

- hate Zorii Bliss. LISTEN I JUST DON’T THINK SHE’S A VERY GOOD CHARACTER I LIKE THE HEADCANNONS THAT THE WHOLE “can I kiss you?” “just go” THING WAS A JOKE BETWEEN GAYS BUT SHE WAS JUST SO OUT OF PLACE AND SHE SURVIVED THE PLANET EXPLODING? HOW??? Wrong movie to introduce new characters, man. Third and final one. Why the FUCK do you want to give me characters I don’t know and expect me to have an emotional connection to them

- Favourite side-characters: Rose, lieutenant Connix and that one guy what’s his name... okay he doesn’t have a name I think people hate him because the actor (Dominic Monaghan) is JJ’s friend so it was stupid of him to be in the movie but I don’t know his character was pretty subtle. But I loved those three!! They looked to be best buds.

- SNAP FUCKING DIED. SNAP WEXLEY. HE DIED. WHAT THE FUCK. I legit started crying when he died I really like Snap since I watched it the first time I got to know him better, but I didn’t know that he died going into it the second time. So I was so shocked when he died I started crying. FUCKING BULLSHIT SNAP’S DEAD GODDAMMIT

- Palpatine’s clothes changed when he absorbed their life force. Did he have an outfit prepared or are they trying to tell us that clothes have life forces too??

- Rey being dead on the ground then sitting up and then Ben dying and being on the ground was like a seesaw effect. One went up and the other went down.

- I REALLY LIKED THE KNIGHTS OF REN THEIR CHARACTER DESIGNS ARE SO COOL. SHAME THEY ALL FUCKING DIED USELESSLY. 

- Whhyyyyy was Poe’s arm in a sling at the end? Did something happen during the star destroyer battle that I missed? Because after he was shot he was fine with just a bandage and all of a sudden he’s in a sling like why what happened

- Palpatine looked weirdly like Chancellor Palpatine. He either has a bomb-ass makeup routine or this one is a clone. Can we please get confirmation on whether that was the original Palpatine or a clone. Please.

- I WANNA SEE REY’S FULL LIGHTSABER SO BAD AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I’m done. 

[ibelieveinahappilyeverafter]

Writing Commission - A Gift of Sunshine - Chapter 9 (Final)

One last note before I part with you all, but I actually have a little headcanon of my own that Shouta is Aizawa Adachi's reincarnation, hence why he and Hizashi managed to grow their bond as quickly as they did.

Summary: It is the worst day of fifteen-year-old Aizawa Shouta’s life when he trudges home after a failed entrance test to U.A. – the school made for heroes. His worst day abruptly turns strange, however, when he gets home to find a beautiful sword on his bed with a scroll attached that is addressed from his grandfather.

It turns out that his entire family was descended from a samurai (unsurprising considering he lived in Japan) and the sword was meant to help him become a hero. Shouta hadn’t been expecting the sword to talk, however, and he especially hadn’t expected the sword to have a voice as warm as sunshine itself.

It’s a long journey to become a hero like he wants, but Shouta has a feeling that he and Hizashi are going to do just fine.

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Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia    

Relationship: Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic/Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead

Characters: Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead

Rating: Teen Audiences

Word Count (Total): 35,935  

Transaction Amount: $250 (USD)

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         Check out my writing commission information here!                Pledge to my Patreon to get exclusive content!

                       Read and follow the story on AO3!

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                                      Chapter Nine

                                                ⁂

Staring at the fitfully sleeping little girl surrounded by nurses and doctors alike, Shouta finally let himself close his eyes and half-collapse against the wall he was up against as he let out a slow, deep breath, exhaustion seeping into him even deeper than before. The last few hours, Shouta decided, had felt far longer than they should have been. 

He didn’t let his eyes stay shut for long, though, prying them over and ignoring the dry itching and burning as he looked back into the room he was watching. Eri would be asleep for hours, if not an entire day, but she was there, at least. A kid with no home, no last name, and, until they had changed it, no future. Now she was free, alone, terrified of the world around, and had no knowledge of how it worked. 

Shouta only glanced away when he felt Hizashi return, something in him relaxing as his husband leaned against him, exhaustion lining every bit of him. For as much as he liked to insist that he didn’t have a ‘body,’ that didn’t stop him from being as exhausted as Shouta after their latest mission. 

“We finally got Togata back to his room,” Hizashi yawned, his usually cheerful voice dampened into something soft and tired. “It took a few good threats, but we finally threw him and his friends in a room together so they’d be a little more at ease after everything. They’re all doing okay and Togata should be fine in a few days, physically.” Physically. There was no telling how this loss was going to affect him mentally. “How’s our little princess?” 

“Resting.” Shouta shifted so Hizashi would be just a bit more comfortable, fingers lacing with his own a moment later. “She’s stable, but they’re debating putting her in a medical coma until they can be sure her body will recover from the strain she put her quirk through.” 

“At least she’s out of that place,” Hizashi said softly, Shouta not needing to look to know the man had his eyes closed and was a few minutes away from falling asleep altogether. “I checked on the other kids. I’m worried about Kirishima, right now, but all of them seem like they’ll be okay with no lasting damage after a few months of taking it easy.” 

Shouta sighed, not sure if he should relax or let his worry grow even more. “They might not have a few months to take it easy.” The world was only growing more dangerous, after all, and this mission proved that heroes were not the unstoppable force the public thought they were. “How’s-”

“Everyone is going to be fine, Starlight.” Hizashi cut him off softly, but with a firm edge to his words that was as sharp as his blade. “They’re in hell right now, but they’re all resting and taking time to process. There’s nothing you or I can do for them in this moment.”

Shouta muttered what he was half-sure was a swear, too tired to argue anymore as his eyes once again strayed to Eri’s face, scrunched up and unhappy even in her sleep. A child that young shouldn’t look so broken from the world around her, and Shouta had little doubt that her life would never be normal like she deserved; not with a quirk like hers. 

Having a quirk like Erasure or Brainwashing, quirks that could be seen as ‘villainous’ but had extraordinary potential and couldn’t, on their own, be dangerous, was one thing. Having a quirk like Eri’s, though… Having a quirk that was powerful enough to rid someone of their quirk or erase them from existence entirely? She would never be allowed to live a normal life. 

“Tensei this time, I think.” Startling at the broken silence as much as the words, Shouta finally looked away from Eri and down to Hizashi, who had his chin resting on Shouta’s shoulder and a fond, indulgent look in his eyes that didn’t fit the mood of the world they were in. “Don’t you think?”

“One day you’ll realize that what you think and what you say are two different conversations,” Shouta finally settled on, squeezing Hizashi’s hand. “What about Tensei?” 

“To act as a witness, of course!” Witness? Why would- Ah. “We could ask Nem, of course, but Tensei already let me know that if we didn’t ask him next time then he would disown us completely, which, yeah, he was pretty pissed to not be there when we adopted Hitoshi.” 

Silent as he stared down at Hizashi, who for all his cheerful joking looked completely serious about the idea of adopting Eri, Shouta finally closed his eyes and released a soft sigh. Hizashi’s words were wrapped up in a joke, but they were as heartfelt as the day he broached the topic of taking in their son. 

Two pro heroes, one of who was a sword that possessed people, and a teenager with enough emotional damage to fill several dozen books was not the typical sort of family a normal little girl would have, but… 

Finally smiling, Shouta leaned forward just enough to press a soft kiss to Hizashi’s forehead, pleased at the delighted hum he got in return. “Tensei works,” Shouta said softly, looking back to the sleeping little girl who deserved so much better. “Besides, Hitoshi seems like he would be a good big brother.”

Days later and Shouta decided that he had been underestimating Hitoshi’s ability to handle small children. 

Almost a week of talking, debating, and arguing had ended with the agreement that Eri, while unable to leave the U.A. campus until they could guarantee her safety and the control of her quirk, would become Shouta and Hizashi’s foster daughter for the foreseeable future. The agreement was finalized on the day Eri was to be released from the hospital and, as such, Shouta had dragged Hitoshi along to meet who would be his new little sister. He hadn’t expected Eri to have the kid wrapped around her finger by the end of the first ten minutes. 

“Is this what I sound like?” Hizashi, far too amused, was near beaming as he looked at where Hitoshi was sitting on Eri’s bed and jabbering on too fast for Shouta to keep up with. Eri, at least, seemed entertained, expression blank even as her eyes were bright and curious.

“When I bother to listen,” Shouta finally replied, trying to hide his smile at Hizashi’s dramatic whine beside him. “Hitoshi, don’t overwhelm her.” 

“Hey, I’m doing my heroic duty by warning her about who she needs to avoid once we’re back on campus.” Of course he was. The kid may have had a neutral expression on his face, but Shouta knew without a doubt that he was grinning like a little shit somewhere deep down inside of him. “Don’t worry, I already warned her which teachers to stay away from - and yes, I warned her about Kayama-sensei first.” 

Pausing for a moment to think about Nemuri’s reaction at Eri not wanting to be anywhere near her until they corrected the misunderstanding, Shouta nodded. As far as he was concerned, his kids making Nemuri’s life a living hell was karmic justice. “Make sure to warn her about Yagi, too.” Loud idiot would probably terrify her unless he had learned volume control since the last time Shouta had talked to him. 

“You’re so mean, Shou-chan. Hey, Hitoshi, kid, don’t forget to warn her about Snipe, too!” Rolling his eyes as Hitoshi finally broke and gave a loud laugh, Shouta was about to add another teacher before he paused because Eri was… looking at Hizashi. 

Wracking his memory for a moment where Eri had so much as touched the sword, and coming up with nothing, Shouta finally whispered a soft, “Hizashi, walk towards the other side of the room.” Hizashi, without even a pause or a question as to why, did so immediately. Eri’s gaze followed him the entire time. “Huh.” That was… unexpected.

“Hitoshi,” Eri’s soft, quiet voice filled the room, Shouta watching as she pointed directly at Hizashi, who looked as shocked as Shouta felt. “Who’s he?”

Hitoshi blinked, looking towards them both before looking back to Eri and recovering quickly with a cheerful, “That’s Aizawa Hizashi, the pro hero Present Mic. He’s going to be taking care of you along with Eraserhead.” 

Hizashi, back by Shouta’s side, made a noise that could have been called a startled laugh. “So that’s what I was feeling from her…” Shouta narrowed his eyes even as Hizashi’s grin grew. “Her blood is pretty strong. She-”

“If you say the words ‘magical heritage’ in relation to my kids one more time then I won’t be responsible for what I do.” Because there were many things that Shouta was willing to accept about the world, but he drew the line at magic. 

“Boo, Shou-chan, you’re no fun,” Hizashi whined, Shouta rolling his eyes before grabbing Hizashi’s hand and pulling him towards the bed, Eri looking at them once again, this time looking curious.

Shouta nudged Hizashi forward with a quiet, “Indulge me.” He was curious as to how Eri would react to someone that could be as energetic as Hizashi

Hizashi shot him a suspicious look but put on a cheerful smile anyways as he beamed down at Eri. “Hello there, little princess! You can just call me Hizashi, if you want, but I was one of the heroes there when you left that scary place. You probably don’t remember seeing me, but that’s okay. It was a busy day!” 

There was a look on Eri’s face that Shouta would almost call patient indulgence as Hizashi rambled, Hitoshi looking like he was trying not to laugh or fidget nervously as Eri seemed to decide something before she was sticking her hand out with a blunt, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“And it’s wonderful to meet you, Eri!” Hizashi reached his hand out with a sad little smile to attempt to wrap it around the girl’s own. “I’m a little different from others, though, sort of like you, so you might not…” Hizashi let his sentence trail off, gaze locked on where his hand looked to be securely wrapped around Eri’s own. It wasn’t until Eri gave the hand a firm shake that Shouta realized that they were touching. 

“You’re warm,” Eri stated simply, looking back to Hitoshi when the teen let out an incredulous laugh, one that Shouta almost mirrored because, well… He hadn’t been expecting that from their newest family member. 

“You know,” Hitoshi said cheerfully, “I always wanted a sister.” Their oldest kid was a brat, Shouta decided, but he would let it pass. Instead he just focused on digging out his phone before holding it out to Hizashi, who snatched it up in an instant, already jabbering on about calling Tensei and Nemuri. 

Eri, looking incredibly confused, looked up at Shouta with a frown. Shouta didn’t waste any time in taking a seat on the bed beside her, gently soothing her hair down, “Don’t worry about him, Eri. He’s silly.”

“That’s okay,” Eri said softly, something like the beginning of a smile flickering across her face. “I think I like silly.” 

Eri, Shouta decided, was going to fit into their family just fine. 

                                                         ⁂

Shoving down the deep sigh that had been building up for at least twenty minutes, Shouta shoved a hand under his glasses to rub at his eyes. He had known it when he first started out as ‘Eraserhead’ all those years ago, but now he was absolutely certain that paperwork was going to be what finally ended him. It was even worse with the fact he had stupidly let himself become a teacher which meant more paperwork and grading homework. 

Rubbing at his eyes until he could almost hear Recovery Girl yelling at him, Shouta finally adjusted on the couch he had taken over in their on-campus apartment and squinted back down at the batch of papers he had been grading, halfway through reading a response about the ethics of working with an expired hero license when the soft sound of Hizashi’s singing destroyed any hopes of his attention remaining on the paper. 

If he were being lenient on himself, it was the soft sound of Hizashi’s singing along with the not-so-distant clatter of food being prepared in the kitchen. For as limited as Hizashi’s ability to interact with the world had been, these days he could spend hours cooking in the kitchen and trying every recipe he set his mind to learning. While the food was delicious, the drawbacks included Nemuri and Tensei constantly trying to visit and their kids parroting Hizashi’s instructions of telling people that ‘a ghost made their lunches.’ 

It would be too easy to slink into the kitchen and bother Hizashi until Shouta forgot all about his paperwork and, while it sounded like a much better waste of time, there were only so many times Shouta could delay in finishing his work. His mind, however, seemed to be firmly fixated on finding a distraction because his focus almost immediately settled on his kids when he tried to ignore the kitchen. 

Hitoshi had joined him in his suffering and had been steadily working through his homework, but it seemed he had lost the fight long ago as his papers were scattered around him on the floor and ignored completely, instead focused on the smiling little girl chattering away in his lap as he brushed and braided her hair. 

Eri had long abandoned whatever had caught her interest for the day, it seemed, and had resorted to her favorite activity of listening to Hitoshi tell wild stories that had only the tiniest grain of truth in them - a habit that had Shouta making a mental note to whack Hizashi with his own sword when he found a free moment. 

Finally rallying his strength to look back at the papers in his lap, Shouta listened to the soft sounds of singing and cooking, the bright and happy laughter that was tumbling out of Eri, and Hitoshi’s wild stories that Shouta could only half understand. It all led to Shouta finally releasing the deep sigh he had been staving off before he was setting his work aside, slipping off the couch, and walking straight towards his husband. 

Shouta hadn’t even fully stepped into the kitchen before he heard a cheerful, “Oh? Finally escape the clutches of your work?” Hizashi was grinning softly at him, look warm and fond as Shouta didn’t hesitate to lean up against his back, tension draining out of him as he let Hizashi hold all of his weight. “That bad, huh?”

“I teach an ethics class for fifteen-year-olds,” Shouta responded, thinking of some of the answers from the students in his class alone. “They get stupider every year.” 

“Such a mean teacher,” Hizashi snorted, holding up a wooden spoonful of something that Shouta didn’t hesitate to taste. “Thoughts?” 

Shouta made sure to let the silence draw out until Hizashi started to fidget, immediately calming the man down with a soft kiss to his cheek, “It tastes amazing like everything else you cook, Sunshine.” 

“You’re absolutely awful,” Hizashi snorted, stealing a kiss of his own before going back to what he was doing, Shouta content to continue to lean against Hizashi and listen to the sounds of their kids laughing and talking from the other room. It was a big difference from the silent and cold apartment Shouta had grown up in before Hizashi had come into his life. “So, then? What’s weighing on your mind so heavily that it’s louder than me?”

Shouta gave a soft hum, letting the question linger in the air as he thought back to that one day where everything changed. Shouta, during what had been the worst day of fifteen-year-old life, had failed the U.A. entrance exam and had come home tired, bitter, alone, and with no one to so much as complain to - except then there had been a sword on his bed and a scroll tied to it neatly. 

That cold, empty apartment had practically vanished and instead Shouta had been constantly dragged about by an energetic voice that was as bright as sunshine. It wasn’t hard to see that Shouta’s life had a before and after, and the change of it all was Hizashi, the man who had been there with him every step of the way, getting into the hero course with him, becoming a pro hero with him, fighting by his side, and so much more. His life had been shaped by Hizashi, whether the other was aware of it or not. 

“I suppose… I just never thought I’d be here,” Shouta finally answered, because, well, that was the truth. Shouta, when thinking about his future, had never thought about having a job that he loved even while being constantly tired and frustrated by it. He had never thought that he would have two kids who he adored more than anything else. He had certainly never pictured a husband and a partner that he could no longer imagine his life without. “You know?” 

Hizashi, as with the first day and every day since, seemed to know exactly what he meant, the smile on his husband’s face softening to something that was beautiful to watch as he looked back at Shouta with nothing but content joy. “It’s pretty good, isn’t it?” 

“Yeah.” The kitchen was a mess of half-finished lunches and a dinner in progress, Hizashi was lightly swaying them in time to the music playing from the phone on the kitchen counter, Eri was near shrieking in laughter that echoed Hitoshi’s own bright laugh, and the world of heroes and villains and danger seemed so far removed from their little apartment with the four of them. “Yeah, it is.” 

His grandfather, as always, had been right. Hizashi had been his gift of sunshine long before he knew what that truly meant and Shouta half-wished that he could go back in time and tell his fifteen-year-old self what he now knew with every bit of him. 

It was a good future. 

[willidleaway]

Star Wars, episode 9

In short: Without spoiling anything, remember how I was on about how Episode VIII was a good movie, a mediocre one, and a bad one fighting for space to each other’s detriment? And remember how this (I thought) left Episode IX with way more to bite off than it could chew?

Well, probably not, but it seems I had reason to worry. Episode IX is full of droids and spaceships and fights and explosions, but it also feels simultaneously empty and overstuffed. The plot isn’t stretched nearly as thin across so many parallel subplots as was the case with Episode VIII, but it’s still got two to three movies’ worth of story squeezed together into something resembling a supercut with just the essentials, and part of the problem seems to be it's more of a sequel to Episode VII than it is to Episode VIII.

So even though it competently hits familiar beats for fans of the original trilogy, and even though many people will like it well enough for that, it feels regressive and conservative and lazy. Good actors are wasted. Good characters are underused. Noise and nostalgia take precedence over sensible storytelling. It warrants more disappointment than anger, but maybe not a non-zero amount of anger, and it worries me about the future of Star Wars movies.

Spoiler-filled breakdown behind the Read More break.

In less short: OK, so let’s review where we were when Episode VIII ended:

Kylo Ren has killed Snoke and become Supreme Leader, with nobody to dictate his actions. Cool.

Rey’s parents are nobody and we shouldn’t be fussing about her heritage as if heroes always have chosen status or weird bloodlines. Cool.

The Resistance are basically now a ragtag crew that fits in a light freighter, with no allies to come to their rescue. ... This is a bit of a difficult spot to get out of.

Within the first 30 minutes of so, Episode IX sets it up so that:

Not only is Snoke not dead, but it turns out he was Sheev all along, and he’s still going to dictate Kylo Ren’s actions. Oh.

The Resistance is magically where it was at the end of Episode VII. Oh.

Then a bit further in—maybe an hour or so?—it turns out Rey has some kind of weird bloodline after all, namely Palpatine’s. Oh.

Palpatine being Snoke is annoying because Palpatine’s supposed to be dead and Snoke’s supposed to be dead, and when you have a long-dead Sith Lord that turns out to have been pretending to be a recently dead Supreme Leader, it seems reasonable enough to demand an explanation—none is given, of course.

The Resistance being magically reverted to its Episode VII state is understandable given the need to have Carrie Fisher in the movie through unused footage from that movie, but in view of all of the other retcons of Episode VIII, one can’t help but give this a bit of side-eye as well.

The retcon of Rey’s heritage is the real tell that

this is trying to be half of the trilogy all at once, which is a problem because it’s supposed to be the third act;

and in the process it’s also trying to erase a lot of the actual Episode VIII, which is a problem because it’s canon.

The thing is, much of what happens in the sequels could fit sensibly into three films with just a bit more work. Keep VII mostly as is; for VIII, trim the pointless safecracking subplot and the misguided mutiny subplot (and ideally replace them with a single subplot that keeps Poe and Finn in the same madness), and extend to include the reveal that Snoke was Palpatine and that Rey is his granddaughter; and then this leaves IX with enough breathing room to actually flesh out the implications of those reveals, the Force dyad, and so on, before moving on to the action of tracking down the Sith dagger and everything that ensues from there.

Of course, then it would follow exactly the beats of the original trilogy. Episode V ends with a big family reveal, and Episode VI then spends time dealing with the implications and reconciling the reveal with what was previously stated. But the sequels have been in such lockstep with the original trilogy that frankly I’m surprised that’s not what they went for to begin with.

Yet it makes sense when you take into account the completely on-the-fly plotting that the sequels have obviously been subjected to. VIII basically tore down some of the most delicious set pieces of VII—the mystery behind Rey’s identity, the presence of Snoke as Kylo Ren’s puppetmaster—and IX is basically tearing down that tearing-down. I know JJ Abrams wasn’t wholly responsible for the story of Episode IX, but it does feel quite a bit like he’s going ‘oh god no, that’s not what you were supposed to do with that from my movie! or that! or that! this is what you were supposed to do!’ and trying to build the house of cards back up. He’s not got enough time to do it right in two hours and a bit, and he knows it, but gosh darn it he’s still going to try. And maybe at some point he gets frustrated and yells ‘okay, Snoke was supposed to be a puppet of Palpatine, all right? just—just start the movie with that, it’ll be fine, because I don’t know how to even make that work with the carnage that Rian left behind’. So then facts are rapidly established and moved on from, because we’ve got a lot of ground to cover—mainly a lot of ground from VIII, to cover up.

It’s funny how the themes of these movies are supposed to be progressive—VIII was all about moving forward from failure and fear and despair, IX about recognising you are not alone and facing the problems of the world with that knowledge—and yet the plotting of these movies are continually regressive, retreating to ground already trodden to death by the original trilogy (both figuratively and, in the case of JJ’s films, literally—Death Star II, Endor, ...), and in many cases retreating within itself. A regressive strategy may work for prequels—after all things must gravitate towards the ground truth laid down by the originals—but it doesn’t work quite as well for sequels.

That’s really the key thing I wanted to say—IX feels insular, like it came from a parallel universe with a completely different JJ-led VIII and only realises it about ten minutes of the way in, and it feels a bit lazy falling back on clichés that VIII tried to explicitly preclude. But I do have some more specific thoughts on a few characters.

Rose: So, there was a lot of media buzz when VIII came out about Rose because ooh look she’s the first Asian woman to get any kind of significant screen time in a Star Wars movie isn’t that nice. And then there was a lot of racist and sexist abuse thrown at Kelly Marie Tran and that’s not very nice at all. And Rose’s character arc in VIII unfortunately overall turned out a bit lacklustre frankly so that’s just a bit mediocre. So clearly, given that Rose has been held up as this point of diversity in an otherwise not-terribly-intersectionality-friendly universe, we want to maybe shore this up a bit, right? Make sure that if Star Wars is going to have an Asian woman, that she’s going to be really prominent as things start going down in this last movie?

Erm, no. We’re just leaving her at the Resistance base to do tech things. Oh, we’ll bring her back out for the final battle, sure, and she’ll be part of the ground invasion, but for most of the movie you’ll barely realise that this was almost a major character in the last movie. The droids will have more agency and screen time than her.

Good choice, lads.

Hux and Pryde: VII wasted Max von Sydow, VII and VIII mostly wasted Gwendoline Christie, and now behold: the whole sequel trilogy wasted Domhnall Gleeson.

As demonstrated by performances in films like Brooklyn and Ex Machina, Domhnall Gleeson is actually an excellent actor, not merely competent. Yet in these movies, he doesn’t seem to have actually been given a role, only a caricature of one and a set of gags. First, he’s supposed to be a sort of perpetual rival to Kylo Ren—very mad, but very competent. Then, he’s basically openly laughed at by the Resistance and entirely subdominant to Kylo Ren. But finally in this movie, the writers remembered he’s supposed to be a peer, and makes him a mole out of spite against Kylo Ren, but basically absolutely nobody involved can take this seriously because of course it’s ridiculous. 

To be honest, I don’t see how they could have ever made a rival to Kylo work. Here’s a more compelling idea. How about this: a former Imperial officer, high enough in rank to occasionally report directly to the Emperor himself, obviously loses all of his power and prestige with the end of the Empire. But then the First Order rises up, and he somehow gets to head the First Order’s military forces—but has to report to this upstart, this Kylo Ren. It disgusts him to have to report to this undignified hull-tearing snot nose, but he does it because he knows that behind the mask of Snoke is the Emperor, having cheated death, and through his devotion and the devotion of many others, the Emperor will rise again and—Kylo Ren or no Kylo Ren—reclaim what is rightfully his!

Oh right that’d basically have been General Pryde if they’d thought of him back when they were making Episode VII.

And of course, Richard E Grant—star of Withnail and I, of Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and of many fascinating Doctor Who stories of various canonicity—is in this role, and good god that’s even more of a tragic waste because of what General Pryde could have been if they’d actually plotted out a proper trilogy and realised that someone like Pryde would have worked a lot better than someone like Hux as right-hand man to the main villain.

Still nowhere near as wasted as Gwendoline Christie, mind.

Jannah: Yeah, Jannah and her company are all right. I just mention her because I am so glad that we didn’t get another Mickey Smith and Martha Jones situation where the black people just got coupled up at the last minute. Just thought I’d mention that.

Poe/Finn: Look, it’s like Kirk/Spock, okay? All the subtext is there, and it’s just a matter of you reading between the lines. How you read between the lines is entirely up to you—I argue there is a place for deep platonic relationships as much as romantic relationships, homo- or hetero-gender (although there may be a personal bias involved here).

But let me just say this: in the original trilogy, you had a young Jedi trainee and a pilot and his rescuee, with the latter two having this bickering old married couple dynamic. Those two are absolutely an item by the end of the trilogy, as in they have their big rotten kiss at the end of VI. (Possibly at other points too. I couldn’t possibly tell you.)

In this sequel trilogy, you have a young Jedi trainee and a pilot and his rescuee, with the latter two having this bickering old married couple dynamic. So where’s my Poe/Finn kiss at the end of IX?

As I say, though, it’s like Kirk/Spock, and like Kirk/Spock, it’s such brilliant chemistry that you can always rely on fan fiction to compensate for the cowardice of the canon writers. But it’d have been nice to have some level of canon validation.

Kylo and Rey: Yeah, speaking of big rotten kisses ... That is not the kiss I wanted at the end of IX. You didn’t have Luke kissing Anakin at the end of VI, did you?

That’s my main complaint, really, and otherwise I still think Adam from Girls (I’m sorry that’s just how I think of Adam Driver for some reason??? even though I’ve never even seen Girls???) looks a bit goofy at times. But Kylo and Rey’s arc felt like one where they were equals (possibly the bloodline reveal helps a bit there), they worked together well, it had a reasonable conclusion, etc. The Force bond thing is still creepy, and still a bit weird in how you can pass matter back and forth, but I suppose it was established in VIII, and I happen to think the way it was used in this movie on Exegol was actually pretty brilliant.

The droids: You thought I was going to talk about C-3PO, but it was he, D-O!

Sorry, couldn’t resist. Overall, I'm still not entirely cleared up on what happened with the droids, actually. It seemed like there was just this whole roundabout subplot around Threepio only to return everything to status quo, and maybe D-O had some information they could probably have used to begin with???

Other miscellaneous thoughts:

How much study in the Living Force does it take to do the becoming-one-with-the-Force thing, anyway? We see that Leia and Ben both vanish into nothing after death, and Leia definitely is a Force ghost confirmed at the end. But I thought season 6 of TCW made it pretty clear that this required a lot of training and study, which is why Qui-Gon was training Yoda so that he could then presumably train Obi-Wan (as the end of III suggests) in the art of immortality. To be fair Anakin never was trained in this, but given that he’s the Chosen One, I think he gets a bit of slack on what Force powers he can use. Luke and Leia were never trained on screen, of course, but Luke had years to read all the sacred Jedi texts, and he knows Force Telepresence (still can’t be bothered to find the actual name of that), so I figure he’s a very good autodidact, and likely trained Leia at some point as well as a Force ghost. So where does that leave Ben? I don’t know, maybe the Force ghosting thing is just a thing that runs in the Skywalker bloodline.

‘The dead speak!’ is the goofiest way to open a crawl since ‘War!’ from Episode III. Another reason the Palpatine reveal should have just been towards the end of Episode IX.

Trebuchet jetpack troopers? Really? Was that meant to be threatening, hilarious, or both? Because I only found it hilarious.

Also oh hi Wedge. Also oh hi Hayden Christensen’s voice. God I wish they’d had his actual visual Force ghost alongside Luke and Leia.

Did ... did Maz do anything other than basically be at the base and then give Chewie a medal because har har we love making references to the original movies? No? ... What a waste of Lupita Nyong’o, then.

[setaripendragon]

ATLA Soulmates - Azula/Ty Lee Sequel

Okay, I really wasn’t planning on doing a sequel for the Azula/Ty Lee drabble, but then I wondered about what would happen if and when Azula found out that Ty Lee really was her soulmate, and this just... happened. (And I absolutely have a whole family for Ty Lee planned out and all their stories figured out, if only in the broad strokes. She may, in fact, be kind of a little bit related to Aang. Heh. Aang has a great-grandniece.)

“What would you know? You don’t have a soulmate either!”

The beach goes deadly quiet in the wake of Zuko’s shout and Ty Lee’s wounded gasp. Azula slowly lifts her gaze from the fire to fix it on her brother, her fingrtips tingling with the urge to slam him to the sand with enough lightning to fry an entire city. It’s been eight years since she found her soulmate, since her touch left a golden mark on Ty Lee’s skin, and in all that time, the fear – Azula can call it what it is, even though it galls her – that someone would take Ty Lee away from her, that Ty Lee would leave, has never abated.

Ty Lee running off to join the circus didn’t help, but at least Ty Lee told Azula about it, told her what she wanted, told her she wasn’t leaving, just travelling. She wrote a lot over those years, reassurance disguised as intelligence reports disguised as love letters. Azula secretly treasured every one. No one in her father’s court has dared to speak ill of Ty Lee, and it’s been more than five years since anyone has dared to mention that the soulbond was not a mutual one.

Until Zuko.

Azula has wanted to kill her brother before – has tried to kill her brother before – but never with the cold, calm intensity she feels right now. “Zuzu…!” She coos, sweetness over steel. It’s the only warning he’s going to get.

“Don’t pretend like you don’t know.” Zuko snarls, rounding on her, too angry to be afraid. Foolish Zuzu. “She might be your soulmate, Azula, but everyone knows you’re not hers!”

It takes every last shred of Azula’s self-control not to just fling half the bonfire at Zuko. Every last shred of control and Ty Lee’s choked, aborted little “I-” of protest. Azula looks over at her, holding herself rigid in order to contain her fury. How dare he? “Stop it.” Ty Lee insists, sounding close to tears. “Stop it, it-” A hiccuping sob. “Don’t say it like that. It’s not like that. I’m not leaving!” A little of the tension ebbs out of Azula’s muscles, and her breathing comes a little smoother. “I love her.” Ty Lee finishes, quieter, softer, a little desperate.

Pulling up a smile for Ty Lee’s benefit, Azula reaches out and catches Ty Lee’s gold-marked hand in hers. Ty Lee’s wobbly return smile is reassuring enough that a blistering glare is the only thing Azula shoots across the bonfire at Zuko.

“I think that was Zuko’s point.” Mai interjects, sounding eminently bored. She’s backing Zuko up, but she also ignores the grateful look Zuko shoots her for it. She’s still mad at him, then, just more mad at Ty Lee for pointing out they aren’t actually soulmates. It’d be a waste of all the work Azula has put into setting them up, but she can’t help the urge to use that, to drive a knife into that weakness and twist. It’d be easy, just a few little comments, the right innocent tone, and Zuko and Mai will spend the rest of their lives hating each other.

No, better to let it rest. Azula’s patient, she can wait until one of them finds their soulmate. Oh, that’ll be delicious. She’ll have to see if she cad encourage Mai meeting new people without being obvious about it, because it’ll just serve Zuzu right if Mai leaves him for her soulmate. Yes. That will be much more satisfying than carelessly tearing them apart now.

So she says some apparently careless things that Zuko and Mai both disagree with, lets Ty Lee jump in at the right moment to encourage their camaraderie, and remind everyone that they’re all friends, and before long Zuko and Mai are wandering off along the beach together, heads bent close and talking quietly. Azula watches their retreating backs, seething hatred warring with cold satisfaction. Then she pushes the plots from her mind with a sharp little laugh, and gets to her feet. “Come on, Ty Lee.” She murmurs, stepping around the bonfire and heading back towards their little holiday shack, already sick of this stupid beach.

She’s right on the edge of the firelight before she realises that Ty Lee isn’t following. A glance back shows that Ty Lee is on her feet, staring into the heart of the flames like she’s watching it consume her most treasured possessions. Azula’s lungs seize in sudden panic. She thought Ty Lee had dismissed Zuko’s words, but had they found their mark after all? Is this it? “Ty Lee?” Azula questions, schooling her voice into something soft and reassuring, even though it wants to come out a demand.

Ty Lee gasps and whirls around, plat whipping through the air like a banner and eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Azula’s heart clenches, furious that Ty Lee has been reduced to tears, terrified at what it might mean. You can’t leave me, she thinks, the words burning a hole through her tongue, but she refuses to let them out. She will not beg. “Azula- I have to tell you something.” Ty Lee bursts out, taking two small steps away from the fire, towards Azula, and reaching out with shaking hands. Like maybe she’s just as afraid of Azula leaving. Which is foolish. “Please don’t hate me.”

Oh, Azula can’t promise that. If Ty Lee leaves her, if Ty Lee chooses someone else, then Azula doesn’t think she’ll be able to stop herself from hating her. Furiously, bitterly, to her very last breath. It would be the smart thing to lie, though, to assure Ty Lee that she can’t hate her, that she’s Azula’s soulmate, but… but Azula does try not to make Ty Lee promises she’s not absolutely certain she can keep. She won’t betray her soulmate like that, not unless and until Ty Lee does it to her first.

She’s the only person who deserves so much consideration. “What is it?” She asks, calm and gentle, even though she can’t keep her intent focus out of her expression.

Perhaps Ty Lee hears the reassurance that was on the tip of her tongue, the reassurance she hadn’t uttered, because her tremulous smile looks more grateful than a simple question could ever warrant. She stands a little straighter, a little prouder, and meets Azula’s gaze deliberately. “You are my soulmate.” She states.

“Don’t-!” Azula snarls before she can stop herself, the pain lancing through her wrenching the word out despite her control. Don’t lie to me! Don’t say you love me and then leave! Don’t say you’re mine when you’re not! Every version gives away too much, reveals too much of that drowning black pit inside her that Azula refuses to look at.

Ty Lee lurches forwards, hands extended to catch hold of Azula’s. “I’ve known since we were kids. Since the day you touched me.” She blurts out, rapid-fire, breathless with urgency, and by all appearances entirely sincere. She even goes so far as to hold up their hands so that the gold on her wrist glitters and gleams in the firelight behind her. “But I was scared, so I never said, I just let you believe the whole time that you aren’t, and I’m sorry.”

Azula takes a slow, steadying breath, to calm the storm inside her. If Ty Lee’s going to invoke that day, then so is Azula. “You promised never to lie to me, Ty Lee.” She reminds the other girl, low and quiet and intense. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Don’t lie to me.

Ty Lee smiles at her, pained and helpless. “Azula, I can’t lie to you. That’s how I knew.”

No one has ever accused Azula of being stupid. It’s not hard to draw the connections. Ty Lee isn’t Fire Nation. She might have been born here – Azula knows she was born here, she’s heard all the stories about the birth of the Fire Nation’s first surviving septuplets – but somehow, she’s not of Agni’s people. She belongs to a different Nation, under the power of a different spirit, with different rules. And there’s only one heritage that scares someone as fearless as Ty Lee

Fearless, flighty, distractable, bubbly, innocent Ty Lee. Just like a certain Air Nomad Avatar.

“You’re an Air Nomad.” Azula breathes, staring at a nodding Ty Lee. Staring into Ty Lee’s grey eyes. How has she never noticed before? They’re dark grey, touched with brown around the edges and the pupil, and they look almost amber in the firelight, but they are grey. As are her sisters’ eyes. As are her mother’s eyes, and her aunt’s.

Azula has never met either of Ty Lee’s grandparents. Her grandfather disappeared not long before Ty Lee’s birth. Her grandfather, who was brother to Aunt Maka, Iroh’s wife, who died of a sudden illness, and uncle to Lu Ten, who died in the siege of Ba Sing Se. Supposedly at the hand of earth-benders, but Azula knows full well how easy it is to arrange a little friendly fire to get rid of inconvenient individuals. Can it be possible that there was more to all that than simple bad luck?

“Your grandfather?” Azula asks darkly. She certainly wouldn’t put it past her grandfather to have a grandchild killed if he felt like it, and finding out there’s Air Nomad blood in the royal family is- infuriating is too mild a word for it. But if Lu Ten, the heir’s heir, hadn’t been safe enough, then what does that mean for Ty Lee?

“Oh! No!” Ty Lee rushes to reassure her. “We get it from Grandmother. Her father met her mother while he was fighting in the war. I think, maybe, from Grandmother’s stories, that he didn’t know.” She muses sheepishly.

That’s slightly reassuring, but it still doesn’t erase the fact that Ty Lee’s in terrible danger just by living. Terrible danger from Azula’s own family. From Azula herself. Because if it were anyone other than Ty Lee, Azula wouldn’t hesitate to do the Fire Lord’s will, and exterminate them all. Is that why Ty Lee stayed? Currying favour for protection. A cricket-mouse hiding in the lion-dillo’s ear.

The thought leaves her cold, but there’s a single glowing ember burning in her chest, because Ty Lee has told her. Stupidly, recklessly, she’s just told Princess Azula of the Fire Nation that she’s an Air Nomad, even though she didn’t need to. “Father would have you all killed if he knew.” She muses, quiet and ominous, watching Ty Lee closely. I should have you all killed now that I know, she doesn’t say, but only because she doesn’t need to.

Ty Lee drops her gaze and swallows. “I know.” She whispers, meek and shaking.

“So why tell me?” Azula presses ruthlessly.

“Because it was hurting you!” Ty Lee yelps. Azula’s eyebrows fly up and her breath catches. “You thought that I was your soulmate but you weren’t mine, and that maybe I would leave one day like your mother did, but I won’t. I promise, I won’t, Azula, because you’re my soulmate.” Ty Lee takes a deep breath that shakes like she’s about to cry. “Please don’t hate me.”

Azula recoils from the mention of her mother, hating the sudden pang that goes through her at the reminder that she left, of the poison she spewed at Azula before she did, all of her claims of loving both her children equally dissolving when it really mattered. But for the first time in her life, she manages to shake it off without needing to inflict violence on someone else first, because Ty Lee’s following words entirely distract her.

“I am your soulmate.” Azula breathes, only now fully realising the true impact of what Ty Lee is saying. All her fears of Ty Lee running off and finding someone else, of coming in second best yet again, are unfounded. She’s Ty Lee’s soulmate. She’s the one person in the whole world who’s most important to Ty Lee. More than even her family, her sisters and mother and aunt and grandmother. More than even herself. Even Father has never given her that. It’s foolish, to be so moved by a hope, by sentiment, but Azula can’t help but lift a hand to cup Ty Lee’s cheek. Ty Lee leans into the touch, bewildered but smiling faintly anyway.

“Tell me a lie.” Azula orders abruptly, needing proof with a sudden intensity.

“Th-” Ty Lee tries to say. Watching her like a hawk, Azula can see the way her throat seizes, muscles convulsing. It’s subtle, just a touch of fluttering under the skin but it’s enough that – now that she knows – Azula thinks she’ll be able to tell the difference between this and Ty Lee just not being sure what to say.

“Another.” Azula demands. Her mind is racing back over her memories, all those times she thought Ty Lee was just struggling to find the right words, and reassessing. Had she been about to lie? Just now, at the bonfire, when she choked over countering Zuko. What was she about to say? Was it just distress, or had it been a lie? The day Azula left her mark on Ty Lee’s skin, had the stammering then been Ty Lee trying to tell a lie? Trying to see if Azula was her soulmate? It must’ve been.

“I-” Ty Lee chokes again, and yes, Azula can see it now, can hear the little hitch that’s Ty Lee subtly catching her breath after being denied it for a heartbeat.

Ty Lee can’t lie to her. Because Azula is her soulmate. Azula has never felt so free. She doesn’t bother trying to contain the laughter that bubbles out of her, delighted and incredulous and victorious. Ty Lee blinks at her, wide-eyed and startled and Azula’s. All Azula’s, always and forever.

Impulse has Azula leaning in and kissing Ty Lee. It’s not as if they haven’t kissed before, but they were always light, rote, for show. Nothing like here and now, alone on a beach at dusk, with a bonfire blazing behind them and the sea shushing against the shore beyond. There’s no one to put on a show for, nothing in Azula’s head except Ty Lee. No plans, no plots, no machinations. Just them, together, always. It’s enough to make her feel giddy.

Ty Lee makes a startled sound against her lips, still with surprise, but when Azula just kisses her a little more firmly, she throws her arms around Azula’s shoulders and clings, turning her head into the kiss and opening her mouth and- Oh.

That’s new.

Azula curls her arms around Ty Lee’s waist, pulling her in until they’re pressed up against each other, not a breath of air between them, mouths sliding and parting and coming together again for another taste. When they finally pause, it’s only because Azula’s starting to feel light-headed, and they stay twined together, sharing air as they both gasp – subtly, in Azula’s case – for air. Then Ty Lee squeaks, giggles, and buries her face in Azula’s shoulder.

Azula turns her cheek to press against Ty Lee’s hair and stares at the ember-speckled smoke wafting up from the bonfire. “You’re mine.” Azula breathes with new conviction. “You’re mine.” This time there’s less awe in her voice, and more ferocity. “And I protect what’s mine, Ty Lee. I will protect you.” She vows, and that is a promise she has every intention of keeping.

Ty Lee clutches her tighter and bursts into tears.

Father will never know, Azula vows silently, watching sparks of fire dancing on the breeze against the pitch-black sky. And even if he does find out, I won’t let him have Ty Lee. I’ll kill him before I let him hurt her. A sudden gust catches the flames and hurls a cloud of sparks high into the air, painting the night’s sky like stars. Azula narrows her eyes. That thought is treason; to so much as consider defying the Fire Lord is dangerous, but…

It’s not treason if I win.

[sol1056]

EPs: "we chose Netflix to explore things like sexuality" (nothing was explored or was explicit for even 2 seconds) "when they told us u cant kill Shiro, we knew we could push the reveal 4 later" (so nice of them to admit they stopped our rep just to be able to kill him) "when we found out about byg we knew we coulnt kill Shiro & we thought we'll find rep w another character. Then we learned we could go on w/ Shiro as the rep" (theres ANOTHER REP WE DIDNT GET?? Was it vague then erased? Whatt??)

I think these are two separate issues. One is related to who made VLD, and the other is related to the EPs’ ignorance of characterization. The second overlaps with a bunch of asks I’ve recently gotten about race and representation, so here I’m just keeping it to a general discussion of characterization, with Lance as example. And then about Shiro in particular, how the EPs’ statements reveal their lack of thought.

Behind the cut. 

remember where these people came from

The team behind VLD is almost entirely formerly Nickelodeon. DreamWorks wanted to break into television on a much larger scale, and since they almost always promote from outside the company, they lured over Margie Cohn from her position as a Nick VP. As VP/exec levels tend to do, Cohn brought a bunch of people with her.

One of those was Mark Taylor, who’d been involved in both AtLA and LoK. Taylor, in turn, brought JDS, LM, and I think one or two of the other producers. Taylor also probably brought over Hamilton, Chan, and Hedrick, as known entities with proven track records. 

These are people who — for for the last ten or more years — have swum in Nickelodeon’s considerably more conservative fishbowl. It’s entirely possible (given what people tell me about storylines in HTTYD, and DW’s open support of She-Ra) the former Nickelodeon team automatically downgraded DW’s “go ahead and explore these heavier/darker topics” to mean “maybe kinda mention in passing but don’t be too obvious about it.”  

Now, to be fair, the EPs may have pushed for more LGBT+ rep, and their obstacle might not have been DW, but Taylor. It’d explain how the EPs could praise everyone (read: DreamWorks staff) as supportive, yet allso complain about pushback (read: Taylor’s Nickelodeon-influenced sensibilities). Two different parties were calling the shots. 

It’s also possible what the EPs saw as ‘rep’ was still considerably toned-down from what DW execs (and the VAs) may’ve expected. After all, that one-minute scene in VLD might’ve required an act of god at Nickelodeon. VLD’s staff may have genuinely considered this scene landmark because even that tiny bit was far more than their previous employer would’ve allowed. 

Cue the victory lap and excited chatter, and seeming blindness to Korra being long since surpassed by Steven Universe, Young Justice, Bob’s Burgers, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, RWBY, Rick and Morty, Clarence, BoJack Horseman, Danger & Eggs, Big Mouth, and Summer Camp Island. Remember, it wasn’t until 2016 that Nickelodeon would have a married gay couple (in The Loud House), and they’re not even central characters. The VLD staff may’ve thought itself bold, and unprepared for the reality of modern (non-Nickelodeon) audience expectations. 

No, I don’t think that absolves them. It just seems the most reasonable explanation. That is, short of seeing the EPs as so utterly cynical they’d pump up the audience for what amounted to a nothingburger in light of what else popular media now delivers. 

and then there’s representation

VLD’s troubles can all be traced to one crucial detail: the EPs don’t understand that characters are the bedrock of stories. And as such, there are no shortcuts.

Ever had the misfortune to catch a home decorating show? Here we have a windowless basement: mock up a mantle from polystyrene, paint the walls gray, put up sconces with flickering lightbulbs… it’s still a basement. It’s just now desperately pretending to be something it isn’t. The bones of the structure are undeniably American Suburbia, not generic castle keep, and those bones are integral to how we experience the space.

The average person isn’t trained to be aware of those bones — the underlying architecture — and its subtle impact on our experience, just as most non-storytellers aren’t trained to see how and where and why characters create plot. I guarantee you, though, you will never mistake a late-century Kmart for the Centre Pompidou or the Forbidden City or Mount Vernon. Just as you would never mistake a beginner’s first novel for Lord of the Rings or Left Hand of Darkness. 

That is, the dressed stone isn’t paint and plaster; it’s a core element informing (even dictating) height, width, and depth of a space. Characterization is the same: it must be structural. In turn, characters inform the breadth and depth of the story. If your characterization is shallow, wild swerves and dramatic reveals can make the story fun, but they will never make it deep. 

I empathize with the (hopefully genuine) intent to avoid making Shiro’s sexuality a ‘reveal.’ The unfortunate truth is: waiting 60+ episodes to even mention in passing makes it a reveal. It wasn’t structural, or viewers would’ve been sensing it from the very beginning. 

This isn’t a haircut or a pair of jeans. It’s a person’s identity, and that has crucial impact on hopes, fears, desires, and needs. It doesn’t start only once the audience is let in on the secret; it was always there. It should’ve informed the character’s actions and reactions all along. 

If Lance is Cuban, and the story takes place in a quasi-future America, then to understand Lance’s perspective, we need to ask questions like: is Cuba still under embargo? Is it a free democracy now, or did Lance’s family flee at some point? Is he part of an exchange program, or is there a lottery that let him come to the US for his education? Did he leave his family behind? How young was he, when he left? What was his childhood like, and how does that differ from what he found in America? What was his parents’ relationship like, and how does that influence his expectations for friends and lovers? 

Was he fluent in English when he arrived, or did he only become fluent later? Does his Spanish have a noticeable accent, and if so, has he felt isolated from other Latinx at school? Or is he the only Latino at the Garrison? Is he proud of his heritage, or ashamed of it? Did he get bullied for being foreign, and how did that change what he says/does? Even if America is joyfully multi-cultural, he’d still be an immigrant or foreigner, and that’s a different experience from a non-white community that’s multi-generation American. What was his impression of his new life? What compared favorably (or not) to his childhood? 

It’s not just, “He’s a boy from Cuba.” You have to think about what it means to be ‘from Cuba’ and how this is different from, say, growing up next door to the Garrison (like Pidge probably did). If you put that much thought into it, if you talk to people who’ve lived that experience, if you push yourself to imagine as deeply as you can how Lance’s life would have shaped him? 

By the time you’re done, Lance would never need to say a word. 

His reactions, his assumptions, maybe a few mannerisms, his humor, a few throwaway comments about his family or things he did as a kid — and there would be Cubans in the audience going, “hey, wait a minute, he’s just like my cousin.” Or brother or uncle or friend. By the time someone asks at a panel? Half the audience would be saying, yeah, we were right, Lance is totally Cuban. 

Or you don’t think about it, and you use stereotypes in hopes that’ll do the work for you. As @sjwwerewolf commented:

Man, I’m ready to rant about Voltron. I’m Cuban. Lance, oh boy, Lance. From season 1 on, he has been written as a huge stereotype. The flirtatious, passionate comic relief character who’s dumb. Like. He’s literally Antman’s sidekick. That character. All you need to make him a full caricature is like, “I have a gangster brother.“ 

The stereotype is a shortcut. It’s slapping on behaviors without thought for a real person’s experiences or perspectives. VLD is, sadly, full of them: the Latino (wannabe) lover, the big guy who likes food (with only the slightest twist to have him actually good at cooking), the boyish-girl who’s a brain and likes computers more than people, etc. 

just pull shiro out of a hat

At some point early on, the EPs said (once again in an interview, not in the story) that VLD is a world without homophobia. The story itself contradicts that ideal, or at least, it emphasizes a certain level of heternormativity over an open embrace of diverse relationships. What’s in our face for six seasons is Lance’s lover-boy stereotype, Allura’s attraction to Lotor, Lotor’s attraction to Allura, Matt’s attraction to Allura, and so on… and the closest we get to anything resembling an alternate attraction is one blush from a servant in a flashback, and Kuron’s startled reaction to Keith’s return. 

All VLD had to do was have Hunk mention his moms. Or Coran mention his late husband. Or Lance mention his sister’s wife. Something explicit to offset the heterosexual attractions going on. Frankly, for six seasons it was an open question whether homosexuality even existed in VLD: the absence of a negative is not proof of the presence of a positive. 

That absence means we really have no idea how being queer in VLD’s world would affect a character — and it would, have no doubt. Our sexuality affects every single one of us; it’s just that straight people have the benefit of seeing the roadmap of their sexuality played out in a million books, movies, and television shows. If you haven’t given thought to whether this is also true in your world, then you don’t really know how a character could discover, define, and map their sexuality, or how they’d quantify or qualify relationships that overlap their sexual preferences. You don’t understand the structure. 

That lack of thought means, nine times out of ten, the creator has said to themselves, “it’s easier to just say this character’s experience of their sexuality is exactly like the one I, as a straight person, vaguely recall having (that I never actually had to question because it was already mapped out for me, everywhere I looked).” That’s not a queer character. That’s a character with a label slapped on their forehead that says here be a queer character. It’s paint, because the structure underneath is straight person. 

Which means that of course the EPs could consider making someone else “the rep,” because they really seem to believe this is as easy as removing the label from Shiro’s forehead and sticking it on someone else. And it’s not. People don’t work like that. Sexuality is no more a simple paint-job than race, gender, culture, or dis/ability. Each of these things is etched on our bones, literally or metaphorically, and that changes us all the way through. 

The short version, then, is: no, we wouldn’t have gotten any other rep, just as we haven’t truly gotten any rep as VLD was delivered. Shiro has a label on his forehead, but unless and until the canonical story demonstrates this goes all the way down to his bones… he’s just a straight suburban basement with a mediocre paint job and some fake queer columns.

[chibiarmygeneral]

The Case of Lotor

I’m trying to do a fix-it fic and have been thinking about a lot of different plot points, keeping a lot of what happened in canon but differing certain situations. When it comes to Lotor, I toss back and forth with him. I liked Lotor and it would be easy for me to just erase the second colony storyline all together and move on. A lot of people enjoyed Lotor because he was abused and still tried for the better. People felt represented and it was understandable they were upset when he was killed as he was deemed ‘just like his father’, his abuser. But I also know people wanted him as a villain and could just write it off as me trying to ignore his wrongdoings by erasing them. Therefore, I’m trying to come up with a middle ground.

The big ‘issue’ is the second colony, where we learn Lotor had siphoned off the remaining Alteans of their quintessence. Now here is the question: why? Why would Lotor do this? To be honest, we are never given an explanation at all about it. In the entire show, quintessence is this mysterious thing that’s supposed to be the soul of all living things, but it’s turned into a power source. In Season 2, Haggar makes the Komar that absorbs a planet’s quintessence, killing the planet of any life. When Lotor is held captive with Voltron and questioned by Allura and Kuron in season 5, he says he didn’t want to destroy planets. If he isn’t getting this energy from planets, where else is he going to get it from? This is where the colony comes in.

Here is my reasoning: destroying planets means the destruction of entire ecosystems and viable living space for people. We are shown a lot of habitable planets but I’m doubting all planets are livable or if it is, it’s to a specific set of aliens that are adapted to it. Where are they supposed to go now? People will eventually get overcrowded in the remaining planets and who knows if they’ll adapt to their new environment. Now when it comes to people, by taking a small set of people and spreading it out over generations, you allow the population to reproduce and grow constantly. You can still get the energy you need by removing a small portion and keep a continuous flow rather than a one and done deal where there is lost of lots of valuable resources and the reformation of planets can take hundreds of thousands of years, plus however many more to make it a suitable place to live.

Now before saying “Cool motive, still murder” and leaving, let me finish. I’ve watched Madoka Magica and small spoilers from that anime because this is where I got the idea from.

Entropy is described in Madoka Magica as the loss of energy. That we consume more than we create and because of this the entire universe is slowly dying out. To combat this, Kyubey, an alien comes to earth to grant wishes of young girls who are candidates and by turning their souls into their powers, it releases a great amount of energy that defies entropy, creating more energy than what is used.

I always viewed Lotor’s second colony as Kyubey taking the energy from the magical girls for the survival of the universe. However, where Lotor differs is where Kyubey is from an alien race that can’t comprehend emotions and view it as a mental disorder of sorts, Lotor we know is a very emotional person. His emotions are part of his drives to make change, he was ostracized for being a half-galra so he employed half-galra, his father tried to hide his Altean heritage, he gathers all that he can about the Alteans. Since it happens so quickly, we never get to see how Lotor felt about the colony and that’s where I think his potential for redemption still lies. If he felt nothing and saw this as purely a way to gain power then that’s that. But I think it stands to reason that he did feel guilty about it. We are given a flashback of when Zarkon destroyed the planet that Lotor, instead of conquering it like he was ordered to, chose to work along side the people. He showed absolute devastation to it and he subsequently got punished further by being banished. How could this person who put himself on the same footing as the inhabitants of this planet that he had no connection to be able to sacrifice his own people? People that he has shown to have a lot of respect and admiration for, considering how he always praised Allura and felt envious of her about being Altean. Why would the staff show us that Lotor felt this way if there wasn’t some sympathy to be gained from it and show that Lotor does feel for the lives that were lost.

Now some may argue that this was them pandering to the fans, but this story was brought up when Allura and Lotor were going to Oriande, seasons prior. Not to mention that there was a short break between seasons and that animation is done months in advance by the time it released to the public, I doubt the crew changed much regarding the fans, if they changed anything. If there is someone on staff saying “we changed x,y, and z for the fans” then feel free to add that but I’d say for the most part that what we were given is what they wanted and decided to show us.

Let’s look at what else Lotor does. He fights Throk who wanted to overthrow him and beats him claiming that they should allow others to join the empire and those that don’t “will be crushed” and the Galra cheer for him. Immediately after, he says to his generals how “the masses are easily swayed” this can come off as him being dishonest to the people but he’s right as he knows what the people want, what they have been doing for thousands of years, if he wants them on his side, he needs to say the things they want to hear. What matters is his actions and the only reference point we have is on Puig. When the generals come in, Lotor specifically ordered that they were contained and not killed, that’s what they do. They talk to the leader of Puig and he says how he doesn’t want his people to be enslaved again and Lotor claims they won’t but be part of the empire.

Now what does that mean? What does being part of the empire entail? Does it mean you support their cause and send in resources when they need it? Do you set up a system of trade between their different aligned factions? If that’s the case, isn’t that the same as being part of the Voltron Alliance/Coalition? We have talks of people joining them and we know from the battle of Naxzela that we had these same people fighting for them. So, what exactly is different other than the name? We are never given any indication from Team Voltron when they work with Lotor that they disagree with his politics. Granted, we aren’t given anything about that in general but if they wanted to show that Lotor was different from them then why not show conflict here? We never see them argue about how Lotor should run the empire, so it stands to reason that his ideas aren’t “bad” or at least our heroes approve of his methods.

We don’t see the Puigs again, so I have no clue if they are with the empire or Voltron or whatever happened to them. We might have seen them in the background in some scenes, but it’s never covered on what they chose, empire or not, and how Lotor reacted to it.

Lotor kills Narti but we know that Haggar was using her to spy on them and Lotor managed to figure out that Narti was a spy. I’ll be honest, I’m still a little miffed how he managed to put 2 and 2 together as he didn’t see Narti look towards Haggar (and I’m not sure how Haggar got control in the first place. Like could she always do that from a distance just by looking at someone? Why not do this on everyone? Can we get an explanation please!). Regardless, he realizes she’s the leak and as far as he knows, she can no longer be trusted and in order to protect himself and his other generals, he had to kill her. We once again aren’t given the time to see his reaction and he clearly doesn’t explain anything as that’s the whole premise on the generals betraying him but I’d like to think that while in the moment there was no hesitation because of fight or flight, he likely did feel remorse for killing what he thought was a comrade or at the very least felt hurt by her betrayal. (No clue if Narti was aware of it happening but given Kuron had no clue, I think it’s safe to say she didn’t and it’s unfortunate it had to happen to her.)

He was willing to allow Voltron to be sucked into that vortex that had the Altean ship stuck in it and that caused them to go to a different reality. We know that people had died trying to pass through, as Zethrid talks about them exploding like fireworks, but Lotor is positive that Voltron, being made from the transreality comet will make it. For him, it’s a win-win. If Voltron gets the comet, he can take it, if they get stuck in the other reality then no more opposition from them. Now, why would Lotor want them gone if they want essentially the same thing? Why hadn’t Lotor simply contact them and say how he wanted to make peace throughout the universe? Well, as far as Lotor knows, Voltron wants to get rid of the Galra empire, regardless of who is in control. He could have tried to extend the olive branch, but he has no clue if they are going to accept or not. To him, they are still an obstacle because who knows if they will listen to his reasoning or not, they could be no better than Zarkon for all he knows. We aren’t given any indication he knows what they do to liberated planets and the only one we see him go to is Puig and he says how Voltron couldn’t save them (they are just one group versus the entirety of an empire that can stretch out it’s resources unlike Voltron).

When Lotor fights Voltron in Season 6, he snaps and claims he’d destroy all the Galra, which causes his generals to bounce again. But as I stated before, he is driven by his emotions to do things and it’s likely that after he was called no better than his father that he was driven to that point because he’s spent his life being degraded by the Galra and in no way has any (shown) close ties to his Galra heritage other than Dayak. But here’s the thing, if he truly was just like Zarkon wanted to destroy everything then what was the entire point of the conflict they had? If he really was just meant to be Zarkon 2.0 then they would have had no reason to fight each other. Sure, Lotor might be ‘pretending’ to be better but if that’s the case, why didn’t he enslave the planet he was meant to conquer after he gained their trust? Why still try and reason with team Voltron if the ‘gig is up’? Lotor’s actions don’t add up to him just being a ruthless killer. I don’t think he was ever meant to be this way. I think it was just the staff trying to up his ‘evil’ factor.

He builds the sincline ships in the hopes of going between realities where there is unlimited quintessence. Why is this needed? Because quintessence is used to power their tech and if it’s like Madoka Magica, it powers the very universe. If he succeeds in doing this, he won’t have to drain anymore Alteans because it won’t be necessary anymore. So his ultimate goal is good in the long run because we are given unlimited energy without any consequences of taking planets or lives away.

His main goal was to obtain the energy needed to power the universe, but I have a question. What were they using before? If they always used quintessence then how did the obtain it? What happened to other resources if they had them and why couldn’t they keep using it? Why use quintessence? We know it’s a pure source of energy as in the flashback in Season 3 with Honerva researching the rift. They had an experiment that this little bit of energy was able to power a device for over a year without any degrade in quality. So we know it’s powerful and Honerva wanted to continue searching for more of this energy while Alfor wanted to look elsewhere.

So was the universe decaying due to the lack of energy or not? Was the search for quintessence necessary or not? I always viewed the universe slowly dying due to entropy as stated in Madoka Magica and that’s why they needed the quintessence (aside from Zarkon and Haggar supposedly using it to stay alive, that’s never really explained on how that works either). If the universe needed more energy, then how did Voltron solve this problem after the fact? They never explain in the final episode when all realities are restored about how they dealt with this lack of energy source because that seems to be the sole reason for Lotor doing what he did with the second colony and getting the sincline ships to be able to move through realities. Was it a problem or not? Because if there was never an issue then there is no reason for Lotor to have set up the second colony because energy was never in need. The sole thing that made him ‘evil’ is called into question because of this inconsistency. The Galra empire used quintessence so what were they using after the war ended? Did their tech just stop working after a while? What did they do to combat this? What exactly happened to the empire anyways? Who knows!

Anyways, I just wanted to get this out there and try to organize my thoughts. I tried my best to explain my reasoning for his actions and while I don’t approve of the second colony (He should have came clean about his intentions but he would have severely depleted his resource if he had done that so he likely felt there was no other choice but to lie about it) I can see why it happened and sort of the idea that was probably intended for it but it just doesn’t make overall sense due to it coming out of nowhere at the end, even though the staff intended him to be a villain all along, they didn’t bother adding in potential conflicts with him amongst team Voltron all for the surprise turn around at the end. Then the entire point for needing the energy, what should be the entire point of the second colony, is never brought up and now uncertain if it was important or not. This destroys the entire ‘reason’ they had him being ‘evil’ for. All I can see he was basically a ‘good guy’ with a heel-face turn all for a ‘gotcha’ moment.

[bitchfish]

65. Favorite blogs on tumblr

@grimoirael @heart-stained-in-hate @chronicallyfun @destroymylife @saucershapedcoffin @cassieopiea

Sorry to tag you all in this nonsense, but while I have you here, a lot of these questions are great and I'd love to know your answers.

66: What is your heritage?

Irish & German

67: What were you doing last night at 12AM?

I spent most of the night on my porch.

68: What do you think is Satan’s last name?

Bezos

69: Be honest. Ever gotten yourself off?

Anyone who answers "no" is a filthy liar.

70: Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend?

I'm not exactly in place where I can be picky

If I were, let them be passionate and the ride or die type.

71: You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you if you are late one more time you get fired. What do you do?

Fuck the job. Fuck that boss.

72: You are at the doctor’s office and she has just informed you that you have approximately one month to live. a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die? b) What do you do with your remaining days? c) Would you be afraid?

A. I imagine I would write a sad post to tumblr but keep it from my irl people.

B. This is so morbid, but I think I would give myself a week to just do whatever the fuck I wanted and then I'd kill myself. Once again the power of choice is everything to me.

C. Terrified and a little relieved.

73: You can only have one of these things; trust or love.

I hate this question.

Having lived without love before, trust has to win. Honestly I'm not sure that love can exist without trust.

74: What’s a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?

Shooting Star - Bad Company

75: What are the last four digits in your cell phone number?

2702

76: In your opinion, what makes a great relationship?

Taking accountability for the worst parts of yourself, understanding that some people are worth the growing pains.

77: How can I win your heart?

When I send you a song, listen to it.

Give a shit about the things that matter to me.

78: Can insanity bring on more creativity?

I am living proof.

79: What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far?

Giving up alcohol. ✊🏻✊🏻✊🏻

80: What size shoes do you wear?

8

81: What would you want to be written on your tombstone?

We made it this far, kid.

82: What is your favourite word?

Inane.

83: Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word; heart.

Heart shaped sunglasses.

84: What is a saying you say a lot?

Everything is a choice.

85: What’s the last song you listened to?

Comeback Kid - Sharon Van Etten

86: Basic question; what’s your favourite colour/colours?

blues and greys.

89: What would be a question you’d be afraid to tell the truth on?

Never much been afraid of the truth.

90: One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren’t really doing anything, they’re just standing around your bed. What do you do?

Die.

I've got a weak heart.

91: You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What is that power?

Shapeshifting, hands down.

92: You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again?

The time my sister and I ran towards music we heard off in the distance and found the concert that I'm pretty sure saved her life.

93: You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?

If I could just wipe my entire Texas experience, that would be great.

Mind you, Texas is what made me get sober. So I dont know how I feel about life anymore 🤷🏼‍♀️

94: You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who would it be?

I bet Morrison would rock my world.

95: You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go?

Greece.

96: Do you have any relatives in jail?

Not that I'm aware of.

97: Have you ever thrown up in the car?

Yes, only one time comes to mind but I'm an alcoholic sooo there's for sure more.

98: Ever been on a plane?

Many a time, I prefer to drive if possible.

99: If the whole world were listening to you right now, what would you say?

I'm sorry for my part in the chaos.