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mockerycrow · 4 months

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CHIROPTOPHOBIA (Roommate!Gaz x GN!Reader)

roommate!gaz masterlist

summary; you meet kyle’s team for the first time and bond over his suffering. 2.9k words! note; the flashback is implied to be past "the day we met"!

[WARNINGS; alcohol consumption, pre-relationship, phobias of bats and rabies, near panic attack from gaz, fluff, humorous overall.]

The pub Kyle dragged you to—the tables have turned it seems, as you’re usually the one dragging him when he’s on leave—is fairly loud and smells like peanuts and alcohol, but has such a comforting vibe to it. It’s familiar. Messy, but honestly for a meeting like this, there’s no other pub he would have chosen. Of course Kyle is the one driving with you in the passenger seat. You’re controlling the music this time, the radio turned to a comfortable volume where you can still hear each other if one were to speak.

Tonight is the night. You’re meeting his team for the first time and for some reason, you have this nervous itch under your skin. You’re bouncing your leg in the car, chewing your lower lip and looking out of the car window. Kyle nudges you after taking his eyes off of the road for a moment to check on you, considering how silent you’ve been. “Hm?” You hum, your head snapping to look at him. Kyle’s leaned back comfortably in his seat, one hand on the wheel and the other leaning on the center console like an arm rest. He’s wearing a delicious dark red button up, his facial hair minimal like always.

Fuck.

“I asked if you were alright.” Kyle murmurs in response, his eyes glued to the road. You catch a glimpse of a necklace dangling in the neckline of the button up—you avert your eyes to the road ahead of you, the car slowing to a stop at a red light. “Yeah, just..” You let out a slow breath in an attempt to calm yourself, but of course, it only makes the flighty feeling underneath your skin worse. Your eyes read the license plate of the car in front of you absentmindedly. “Nervous, I guess.”

Kyle’s thumb taps against the steering wheel at your response. “Nervous?” Kyle echoes with a questioning tone. “No need to be nervous, sweets. They’ve heard a lot about you, they’re excited.” He assures you, smile evident in his tone as he speaks. You roll your shoulders for a moment before groaning as all attempts to chill out have failed thus far. “Okay, but what do we even talk about?? Like, I’m horrible at talking about myself. Ask me my favorite color and I’ll tell a lie out of panic.” You complain, glancing over at him as the car starts moving once more.

Kyle lets out a chuckle, the sound heard clearly over the music playing in the background. It warms your stomach for just a moment before the beat passes. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out, yeah? There’s going to be five of us there.” Kyle hums, your eyes hovering on his charming soft smile. He says your name before continuing. “I promise you won’t have to carry the conversation. You’ll be fine; now, cheer up, we’re nearly there.”

Right. Everything will be fine.. Everything will be fine.

Kyle only regrets introducing you to them slightly. The ever so slightest, littlest bit. He should’ve known the conversation would go like this. Go to.. That.

“So,” Price had uttered, his voice hoarse and low before he took a small sip of his glass of alcohol. “How long have you known about Kyle’s problem?”

Kyle’s head snaps to his Captain, his eyebrows pushed up the farthest they can go. “My problem?” Kyle gawks, shock evident in his tone. You can’t help the laugh that leaves you, the laugh that causes Johnny—Soap, who you learned him to be after Kyle’s stories—to lean forward with a grin. Ghost seems reserved, but you’re certain you see his crows feet. “His problem?” You echo with a smirk, side eyeing Kyle as you sip on your own drink. You set it down, your eyes landing back on Price, his Captain. “You mean his bat problem?”

Kyle groans, rubbing his face. “For the love of God.” He hisses, holding no venom in his tone. It causes everyone’s amusement, to his disappointment. Ghost shifts in his seat as Price lets out an amused huff, his fingers twitching around his glass. “Ye mean he’s always had a fear of—” Johnny begins to speak, but is interrupted by Gaz shoving at his arm playfully. “Oi! It’s not a fuckin’ secret noo’, is it?” Johnny says, his accent thick and accompanied by a winning smile. “No, it isn’t.” You agree, sending Kyle a grin who is sending back a “please don’t” look. Of course, you don’t listen.

“So, it all started at this summer camp Kyle and I attended together..” You begin with a smug tone, which makes Kyle sigh in defeat. You glance at him and he motions for you to go on. You stifle a laugh before taking a sip, glancing between the men. “We were young, I don’t remember how young but we were over the age of thirteen.” You begin, gears turning in your skull to attempt to recall the story. Your fingers tap against the table for a moment; mindless fidgeting. “We were partnered up since the camp had a buddy system for anything exploratory. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m sure it didn’t start here, but anyway…”

“Do you even know how to navigate the map?” You question Kyle, who is standing on a large rock that sits in the middle of a split path, holding out a giant piece of paper that had worn down fold marks; the map. He huffs, glancing down at you, where you’re standing in the midst of the split path with a worried expression. “Of course I do! I did pay attention to the navigation classes, you know. Did you?” Kyle asks you with an accusatory tone, but you know he’s just jabbing at you due to worrying so much. Always the person to try to calm you, hm?

“Yes,” You utter, telling a half truth. It’s not that you didn’t pay attention, but at the moment you were running on maybe three hours of sleep minimum and barely processed anything that was being taught to you. You have half a mind to blame Kyle directly for this, as you stayed up nearly all night, secretly playing games with him. “Just.. didn’t grasp the concept as well as you.” You pout, making Kyle roll his eyes and turn his eyes back to the map. You look around the forested area; the only sign of humans being the man made gravel paths beneath your worn down hiking footwear.

You take a deep breath, the lukewarm air entering your nose and filling your lungs. It smells like.. Well, outside. You can smell the scent of the pungent soil, the woodsy smell of partially rotted wood from the century old trees that surround you. You can smell some sort of animal excrement that makes your nose wrinkle—you also focus on that sweet, sweet, annoying cicada zing that constantly rings through the air. The sun is high in the sky, right in the middle of the blue. The air smells clean and when you Kyle, a little voice in your head says that there’s nowhere else you’d rather be.

“Alright!” Kyle exclaims, the sound of his voice and the map crinkling between his fingers back into an imperfect square snaps you out of your thoughts. You glance at him where he’s stuffing the map into the water bottle holder, between the bag and his water bottle. Probably a bad place for it, but you don’t get the chance to correct him. Kyle hops off of the rock, his feet landing onto the gravel below, making you back up half a step. “It’s the left path that’ll lead to the hill.” Kyle continues, looking at you as he loops his thumbs between the straps of his backpack and himself.

You blink for a moment, raising a brow. “Are you sure?” You ask, some residual worry remaining. Kyle’s eyes dart for a moment before they meet yours once more. “Yes, I’m sure. Bloody hell, makin’ me doubt myself.” He laughs for a moment, reaching for the handle of your backpack and pulling you closer. You huff and shove him gently, but you fall into a nice pace next to him, walking the left trail together. You glance around the trail, your eyes scanning the trees and the assortment of plants, poking out just enough into the path to brush by your exposed femurs. You hope none of it is poison ivy or anything of that sort.

The walk is nice, but it is long. You find yourself drinking much more water than you anticipated, which when the opportunity presented itself, you paused Kyle by putting a hand in front of him. He stops when his chest presses against your palm and he looks down at you with a questioning look, his brown eyes scanning your face. You throw a thumb over your shoulder at a little area of fluffy, concealing plants. “Gotta piss.” You utter, making Kyle groan. “We only have a little ways t’go. You sure you can’t hold it?” Kyle attempts to negotiate, which causes you to look at him. “I’d prefer to not piss myself.” You respond.

Kyle groans and looks around, finding himself a rock to sit on while you do your business. You roll your eyes playfully as you make your way across the trail and behind the plants you spotted before. You set your pack down and took out a travel sized pack of tissues from the front pocket. In the middle of you doing your business, you hear a sound you never wanted to hear—Kyle’s scream. Your heart nearly jumps out of your throat hearing it and your mind races a million miles an hour.

“Kyle??” You shout, swearing under your breath as your fingers struggle to button your pants back together. Your hands are trembling because you’re quite literally out in the wilderness with only pocket knives and walkie talkies as defense and communication. You nearly trip over the backpack that rests on the ground, but you catch yourself and stumble out to the path, your chest feeling tight. You look around, your eyes wildly moving to spot your friend. You find him on the ground, scrambling backwards, dirtying up his backpack in the process. “Kyle!” You shout, exasperated. You run towards him, putting a hand on his shoulder when he screams again, his arms coming up and flying around his head like something is attacking him.

“Jesus—Kyle, what’s going on??” You grab his wrists to stop him from hitting you. He looks up at you with pure fucking unadulterated fear. Fucking hell, he’s already broken out into a worse sweat than the heat previously gave him. You look around, ready to rip out the knife sticking out from the other side of his backpack, but you don’t see any active threat. You let out a harsh breath, putting a hand on your beating heart. “Kyle, what in the hell made you scream like you were bein’ chased by a damn bear??” You curse him, lightly kicking his backpack. Admittedly, you feel a bit frustrated at his.. Joke.

“Bats,” Kyle gasps out, scrambling to his feet, so fast he almost topples back over onto the gravel below. Which, by the way, is all over his backside now. “Fucking bats—Oh my God, I didn’t get bit, did I? They were fuckin’ everywhere t.. the second you were gone, please check my head, they didn’t, right? No bites??” Kyle rambles, grabbing onto your upper arms. He quickly shoves his backpack off, thumping against the gravel path. He hurriedly contorts his neck in different ways, presenting his skin to you, even pulling at the collar of his shirt to show you more skin. You blink, standing there for a moment before he says your name desperately.

“Bats.” You repeat, your eyes roaming his neck for bites. Kyle pulls back and you hold eye contact with him for a moment. A beat passes. “Do not laugh at me,” He hisses, seeing the way your shoulders are moving up and down, the way your eyebrows quirk and the way you press your lips together in an attempt to hold down a smile. “Oi!” Kyle shouts as you aren’t able to contain your laughter. It’s not a joke! Even better.. It’s a fear. “You’re such an arse!” Kyle snarls for a second, going to pick up his bag. You reach and grab his wrist, pulling him to prevent him from stomping off like you know he would have.

“Wait! Wait, wait—” You choke out another giggle before waving your free hand in the air. “I’m sorry, Ky. I am.” You murmur his name, feeling his wrist flex underneath your fingers. “Let me check your neck, yeah?”

Kyle huffs. His face is burning from embarrassment. He knows it’s stupid, but he genuinely isn’t able to help it. He relents, turning around. You pull at his shirt a bit, your fingertips brushing over his skin. You let out a soft sigh. “No bites, right? They’ve got rabies. Can’t be bit.” Kyle pushes out, showing how panic is still running through his veins. You let go of his shirt and pat his back. “No bites, Kyle. You’re fine.” You assure him, more serious this time but the humor running through your words is not lost on him.

He turns back around and lets out a relieved sigh, his eyes nervously looking in the sky, in the trees. “So..” You begin, picking up his bag for him, grunting as you hand it to him. Kyle slides his backpack on with a huff. “What happened?”

Kyle rubs the back of his neck as you fetch your own backpack, using the remaining water in your first water bottle to rinse your hands, then using a small travel pack of hand sanitiser to clean your hands thoroughly. “Bats happened,” Kyle says your name afterwards, grumbling in his tone. “They surrounded me, they did.” You let out an amused noise, your lips curling into a grin despite his look of warning. “Uh huh. Let’s get a move on, bat boy.”

“Oi!!”

Johnny lets out a whistle, interrupted by a loud, boisterous laugh of his own. His hand comes slamming down on the table a couple of times, jostling the drinks and wallets sitting on it. Price has such an amused smirk, his eyes glued to Kyle who is sipping on his non-alcoholic drink, hiding behind it. “That’s also how I found out he has like, a chronic fear of rabies, too,” You add, glancing at Ghost who is leaning forward a bit, showing his interest in your story. “Yer pullin’ my fuckin’ leg!” Johnny exclaims, causing you to smile and shake your head. “Honest.” You utter, putting your hands up for a moment.

“I appreciate the origin story.” Price breathes, his smug and amused smirk remaining. Which reminds you, something has had to happen for Kyle’s phobia.. Phobias? to be triggered. You make a noise in the middle of a long sip of your drink—the drink being alcoholic, and you can feel a light buzz behind your face. “That being said.. What happened, Captain?” You say, emphasizing his rank. Price huffs out a noise, wrapping both of his hands around his glass.

“This was maybe..” Price pauses for a moment, his eyebrow quirking as his brain takes a moment to think. “..Maybe two years ago by this point. We were in the middle of nowhere, to be frank. Just me and Kyle, an’ it was getting dark.” Price pauses for a moment to take a sip of his drink. “Found a cave.” You let out a snort, immediately picturing Kyle’s face contorting with paranoia. “It began to sprinkle a bit and we didn’t want to sit in soaked knickers. Despite being his CO, Kyle nearly decked me for tryin’ t’pull him into shelter.”

Your jaw drops and your head snaps to look at Kyle, who looks more relaxed under the influence of everyone getting looser—for the exception of him—from alcohol. “I apologized, I promise.” Kyle chuckles, seeing the look on your face. “Mm, that he did. Nearly took back his apologies when I had to include his fear in the reports.” Price retorts, his smirk widening when Kyle lets out a sigh, obviously embarrassed about his behavior. “It’s irrational, I swear. I genuinely don't have the foggiest idea why they petrify me,” Kyle admits, making eye contact with Ghost for a moment. “Well, I think it’s the threat of rabies, but wouldn’t I be scared of every animal, then?”

You space out as the boys quietly debate the route cause of Kyle’s phobia of bats and rabies, your finger circling the rim of your glass as your eyes are just lingering on Kyle. You’re not really paying attention to what anyone is saying, but Kyle’s face sure is interesting due to the alcohol in your blood right now. Your eyes slowly move down to the necklace dangling between the open folds of his button up. You quietly curse yourself when you realize you’re practically staring right at his chest, downing the rest of your drink. You put the glass down onto the table and you look directly at Johnny. “Guess what I dressed up as for Halloween the following October?”

“Wha’?”

“Batman.”

Johnny howls, slapping the table once more, knocking his knees against Ghost’s, causing an elbow to fly into his ribs and a lazy smile to appear on your lips.

🏷️; @kivino @mlmxreader @soapybutt17 @microwavedcheetos @frazie99 @narcolepticduck @ch3rrykoolaid @kimdiedlater @glossysoap @thisuserloveshalloween @ornateorchid @missborntodiex @indefenseofkara @lieutenantlashfaz @queen-leviathan @specter319 @theunplannedvariable @spacelia @1117sblog @snoowply @dumb-fawkin-bitch @abigatorchomp @s8nsbride

this is from my overall taglist which you can find here. if you would like there to be a roommate!gaz taglist, comment below! mistakenly tagged/wrongly tagged? let me know, no hard feelings.

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honeylations · 11 months

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- Star Of My Night -

YU JIMIN (KARINA) x FEM!READER

Prompt: Karina gets dragged out to a bar with a few idols for a girls night out. Her night eventually got interesting the moment her eyes landed on a woman with her electric guitar on the stage.

Warnings/Notes: Third person POV, G!P Y/n, guitarist!Y/n, Haze members are all original characters, almost smut near in the end

———

Karina was certain that her head was gonna explode as Giselle asked her the same question for the millionth time. “Pleeeeaaassseee go out with us?” She even tried putting on her best puppy eyes.

The blonde girl sighed and and threw her head back on the bed. “Ok fine! Just stop trying to act cute, it doesn’t suit you”

“As long as it gets you to finally come out the house for once” Giselle shrugged before slapping the shorter’s knee. “You always isolate yourself in this dorm! It doesn’t hurt to have at least 2 seconds of human interaction”

Karina sat up with a huge frown. “Doesn’t THIS count as human interaction?” Karina pointed a finger between her and the girl in front of her.

“It doesn’t count because we LIVE TOGETHER YOU IDIOT! I’m talking about some proper human interaction. Like go on a date with an idol or something, like, Le Sserafim’s Yunjin. Didn’t she text you about going out for ramen?”

“Mmm her and I have agreed that we see each other as bestfriends. She’s hot and plays guitar or whatever but we won’t click”

“Oh so your type is a tall hot girl who plays guitar? Noted. Who knows, maybe you’ll see one tonight at the bar”

Karina rolled her eyes. “We’ll see. What time are we heading there?”

Giselle looked at the alarm clock besides Karina’s bed. “Yuqi Unnie said to be there 8pm sharp”

“Yuqi Unnie is coming?! I thought you said it would only be us and the members!” Karina hissed, sending multiple slaps to the other’s arm.

“Stop hitting me! And yes Yuqi and her members are joining us too”

Karina crossed her arms, sending a harsh glare towards her member. “Anyone else coming that I should know about?”

Giselle gulped and looked away while fiddling with her fingers. “And Le Sserafim”

Karina flopped back into her bed again. “Oh my god you might as well invite Blackpink and Itzy while you’re at it!”

“I did but they have a busy schedule..” Giselle mumbled guiltily.

“This is too much human interaction”

“How?! You’re an ENFP for god’s sakes!”

“And ENFP who wants some GODDAMN PEACE!”

Giselle stood up and headed for the opened door. “Complain all you want Rina just be ready by 7:30”

Hearing the door shut and the miracle of silence, the blonde Aespa leader chewed on her lower lip and turned her head to her closet. “I guess I should start preparing an outfit”

———

“For someone who complained a lot a few hours ago, you look hot” Giselle smirked, looking at her leader who was doing small face touch ups at her mirror.

“Of course. Always have to look good” Karina smiled and finished applying her lipstick before standing up.

She wore a short black strapless dress that hugged her body tightly. Her blonde hair was curled to perfection and her makeup completed her seductive look. Even though she wasn’t planning on seducing anyone that night.

“The other two ready?” Karina asked and Giselle nodded, gesturing for them to leave.

After a short cab journey, the 4 members finally arrived in front of the bar that was already filled with people. NingNing thanked and paid the driver before they hopped out and and met G-Idle and Lesserafim just outside the place.

“Hey guys how are you all!?” Yuqi greeted excitedly, hugging and smiling at all the girls.

She led them all inside and managed to score a VIP table that was just next to the stage where instruments were placed. Karina sat in between Shuhua and Chaewon, sipping on the cocktails that Yuqi ordered. The conversation in the table was soon interrupted when 4 unfamiliar faces walked onto the stage but one face caught Karina’s attention.

A tall woman with long black hair and wispy fringe picked up the electric guitar and threw its strap onto her shoulder before adjusting her ear pieces. She was wearing a black fitted shirt, baggy jeans and black Doctor Martens. What completed her overall hot look was the silver chain dangling from her neck and the tattoos all over both arms.

Karina concluded that she had just found her eye candy of the night.

“Good evening everyone!” The person on the mic greeted aloud, erupting cheers from everyone in the bar.

“My name is Choi Eunsook, I am the vocalist and leader of Haze. On drums is Jang Hanna, on bass is Kang Hyunjung, and on guitar is Lee Y/N!”

The cheers got louder and Karina quickly joined in despite her focus remaining on who she now knew as Y/n.

“To begin we’d like to perform one of Y/n’s self written songs called ‘To Be With You’ Hope you enjoy!” Eunsook smiled as Hanna tapped her sticks and the band began to play.

“That guitarist is pretty hot don’t ya think, Rina?” Winter wiggled her eyebrows, letting the whole table hear.

Chaewon gasped and gently shook Karina’s shoulders. “Does someone have a little crush~ She’s super hot Karina, you should totally ask for her number later!”

“Are you insane? She probably has a girlfriend!”

“Mmm don’t think so. She’s looking right at you!” Shuhua gave rapid taps to Karina’s shoulder who turned her head to the guitarist.

And Shuhua was right.

Her eye candy of the night was looking right at her and she didn’t bother looking away even when the Aespa leader had made eye contact. Y/n gave a small smile in which Karina responded with nothing but red cheeks.

“She’s sooooo into you, Rina!” Miyeon laughed.

After a few more original songs and covers, Eunsook drank some water before returning the mic to her lips. “That was our final song everybody, enjoy the rest of your night! We’ll be around”

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom” Karina said despite the loud bar music that started to blast through the entire place.

“Did you want me to come with?” Minnie offered but Karina smiled and shook her head.

“I’ll be okay, don’t worry. Could you order me another cocktail please?”

Minnie nodded as the blonde Aespa member walked away to the back where the toilets were located. It didn’t take long for her to go in and back out, thanking the heavens that the bathroom was decent than most bars. She dried her hands and exited to return to the girls but an unfamiliar man stood in front of her and by the way he looked at Karina made it obvious as to what he wanted.

“Hi angel” He smirked and Karina had never rolled her eyes so hard before.

“Can I help you?”

“My table is nearby and I think my friends would love to meet you”

“No, I’m good. Now if you’ll excuse me-“ Karina’s heart stopped when the man grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer, allowing her to smell the alcohol from his body.

“Don’t be like that, angel. No one likes a party pooper. Come on, have a few drinks with us!”

“P-Please let me go..”

The man inched his nose towards Karina’s hair and took a nice whiff. “You smell so good”

Before he could make another comment, another hand (but much softer) took her other wrist and yanked her away from the man’s grip.

“You have some fucking nerve to be touching my girl like that, Kyle”

Karina’s eyes widened when she realised her saviour was Haze’s guitarist. At this point, she couldn’t tell if her heart was beating like crazy because of the yucky interaction with Kyle or because Y/n went from holding her wrist to holding her hand.

“Oh it’s you Y/n, I was just tryna make a new friend” Kyle laughed and attempted to grab Karina again but Y/n pulled Karina behind her, acting as her shield.

“A new friend for you to use as a fuck toy?”

Kyle laughed again. “I wouldn’t say it like that”

Y/n walked closer so her taller body towered over Kyle, his height just reaching Y/n’s shoulder.

“If I see you harass another person in here, I won’t hesitate to call Shownu and ban you not only from this bar but also every bar or club here. Comprende?”

“Yes ma’am” Kyle sighed and slowly backed away before making his full exit.

Y/n watched him leave and quickly turned to the blonde girl, letting go of her hand to Karina’s dismay. “Hey, are you alright? Did he touch you anywhere?”

“No I’m okay! Just a little startled, that’s all” Karina smiled and Y/n smiled back.

‘Oh my god she’s so hot’ Karina squealed in her mind. “Was that guy your friend or something?” The blonde asked.

“Nah he’s a regular at this bar and is known for being a creep. Gave him enough warnings already, I don’t know why he doesn’t listen. I’ll inform Shownu to keep an eye out on him”

“He doesn’t look like he’s from here”

“He’s an international uni student from Madrid but he doesn’t matter anymore. Are you sure you’re alright?” Y/n asked again.

“Yes I’m okay now thanks to you”

“Wanna talk somewhere that’s not in front of a toilet?” Y/n asked, making the blonde laugh at her question.

“Yes please”

Y/n held her hand again and led her to the VIP seating upstairs where she could still see what’s going on below but she also didn’t have to scream over the music to talk. They sat on the comfy couch and the way Y/n was sitting with her arm over the backrest wasn’t doing Karina’s heart any good.

“I know my name was introduced on stage but I’ll say it again. I’m Lee Y/n” The taller introduced and put her hand out for a handshake.

Karina happily took it. “I’m Yu Jimin or you can call me Karina. May I ask how old you are?

“I’m 26, and you?”

“23”

“Did you like the performance?” Y/n asked.

“I did! The original songs were probably my favourite. Did you write them?”

“Only a few. Want some?” The taller offered as she grabbed an unopened bottle of vodka from underneath the table.

“Sure”

One shot turned into god knows how much more and Karina didn’t realised she was drunk as she was too hypnotised with the way Y/n did anything.

“Do you have a girlfriend, Y/n?” Karina slurred.

Y/n chuckled and brushed her hair back. “I don’t. My band and I practice and move around a lot for performances so I haven’t really gotten any action. How about you Miss Karina? Anyone sweep you off your feet?”

“No. I isolate myself in the dorm too much to even try and go on a date, and like you, it’s not easy getting free time as an idol”

“Yeah. I love your songs and stuff though”

“Oh you listen to Aespa?”

“I don’t live under a rock, Karina” Y/n laughed and Karina wanted to hear it again and again.

“Are you interested in anyone right now, Y/n?” Karina decided to boldly ask, the alcohol buzzing through her body as she scooted closer to the guitarist’s body where her arm was still attractively placed on the backrest.

Y/n’s eyes moved to focus on Karina’s soft lips, her body heating up at the close proximity. “Hmmm…Just one” The black haired girl replied with a toothy grin.

“Yeah? And who would that be?” Karina inched her lips closer to the point it was just above Y/n’s.

“Karina, you’re drunk” Y/n whispered, trying her best not to take the idol right there.

“I know, bust don’t you wanna kiss me? I couldn’t take my eyes off you the moment you went on that stage looking so fucking hot” Karina licked her lips and gently cupped Y/n’s face, brushing her thumb over the taller’s lower lip. “And I’m not leaving until I get a taste”

“Fuck” Y/n groaned and allowed Karina to finally connect their lips, moaning at the softness.

The guitarist grabbed onto the smaller’s hips and moved her to her lap without breaking the kiss. Karina’s hands roamed from Y/n’s strong shoulders down to her tattooed arms, her hips slowly grinding on her lap, eliciting another groan from the older.

“You’re driving me crazy, Karina” Y/n panted and moved her lips to Karina’s jaw, her soft kisses turning into sucking.

Karina moaned without stopping her hips and she started to feel something poke underneath. “Y-Y/n…Y/n what’s that?”

The older pulled away, admiring the purple spot she made on her neck. “Sorry I should’ve told you about it earlier. We can stop if you want”

Karina shook her head. “No I don’t wanna stop, please don’t stop”

“Alright, angel”

The blonde remembered how disgusting it sounded coming from Kyle but to hear it from Y/n just sounded so much better…and so damn right.

“Is it a strap? Or…”

“Why don’t you find out?” Y/n smirked up before smashing their lips again.

Karina felt dizzy. Dizzy but super horny and all that mattered to her was that she managed to pull her eye candy of the night. Her hand slowly moved lower to rub at Y/n’s crotch, the bulge getting impossibly harder.

“You’re so perfect, angel”

All of a sudden, Karina’s phone started ringing. She chose to ignore it at first, continuing her kisses on Y/n’s neck but the ringing would not stop. She groaned, pressing her forehead to Y/n’s shoulder before grabbing the cockblocking device on the table.

“What?!” She yelled over the phone.

“Girl where the hell are you?! We’re all worried!” Giselle yelled back.

“Sorry I got…sidetracked” Karina smiled at the smirking woman below her.

“Well we’re leaving now so you better get your ass here!” Giselle then hung up.

Karina sighed. “I have to go…”

“That’s okay, my members would be worried if I disappeared like that too”

The smaller girl got off the taller’s lap and got her purse along with her phone. “Um are you gonna be okay with…that?” Karina shyly pointed at Y/n’s hard on.

“Yeah I can deal with it later. I’d love to escort you down but I don’t want you friends seeing me like this” The guitarist chuckled.

Karina stepped closer and gently stroked the bulge like earlier before planting one more intoxicating kiss to the older’s lips. “I’ve put my number in your pocket. Text me when you’re free”

“Yes ma’am”

The Aespa leader winked and made her way downstairs where the rest of the girls were, ignoring the way they all were screaming about their worries for the blonde’s sudden disappearance.

Karina was now frustrated.

Frustrated because she was getting lectured but also frustrated because she didn’t get that good dick tonight.

A/N: Part two coming soon!

#Yu Jimin #gxg #wlw #karina smut #karina x reader #Aespa x reader #Aespa #Aespa x fem reader

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captainjacklyn · 2 years

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I wonder how headcanons of Azul, Jamil, and Malleus would look like with a fem!mc who is a sea serpent that can switch between human and dragon form?

Sounds great ! I hope you enjoy these head canons, have a great day and stay safe.

Pairing(s) : jamil x reader, malleus x reader, azul x reader

Warning(s) : cussing, and a lot of it. Some crack here and there but not my best shots to be quite frank with you I think this is my worst post so far and I'll do my best to improve and update it. Also I hate the knew banners I put for my characters so I'll go and fix it.

Azul, Jamil and Malleus reacting to a sea serpent F!mc

Well he surely wasn't expecting this.

You don't possess magic but you can transform into a 32 foot sea snake....Doesn't that count as magic-

You luckily aren't a threat to him and he isn't one to you. Well...Not anymore at least. I head canon that when people overblot their mind is taken over by all the negative thoughts (meaning their in a way controlled) yet their body still shows signs of certain emotions such as trembling when afraid.

So when he noticed your enormous dragon head poking from the open walls of Scarabia, He was shaking to death.

Just turning into a jack hammer like :

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-

Kalim : "am I the only one who finds it weird that Jamil is vibrating right now ?"

Floyd : "who cares ! it's fucking hilarious, hey shrimpy roar."

Now overblot Jamil went through the ceiling after hearing that ear drum breaking sound.

Azul : "....Is he dead ?"

Jade : "Most likely but I don't think so because he just slammed back down."

WAKES UP IN A HOSPITAL WITH A BRAIN CONCUSSION

"I-I have nothing besides the fact that you just scared me shitless" Great. know he's constipated.

You are fucking GINORMOUS and big is a HUGE underestimation.

Don't try to eat him. don't try to eat him name, don't- Aaand you just did.

Spit him out. wha- No that won't insult him ! you're eating the guy alive and liking octopus as a meal isn't a FUCKING COMPLIMENT.

azul is impressed, horrified and offended.

Don't look at me with those 'I told you' eyes, eating a very much alive being won't flatter them YOU LITTLE-

A N Y W A Y S

The man is scared but he's also impressed with your power, being able to transform into a gigantic monster as its perks.

When people mess with you the respect is quickly gained with one transformation and demonstration of your capabilities.

Besides the fact that you can cause so much fucking damage.

HOW THE FUCK HAVEN'T YOU SWALLOWED CROWLEY YET ?!

He doesn't taste good- SO YOU SAY YOU WOULD RATHER EAT THE GUY YOU LIKE AND THE ONE YOU HATE LIVE ?!

god damn it mc.

Two words : DRAGON LOVERS

you both are so fucking adorable, I just imagine the both of you taking a nap in your dragon forms just cuddled up together.

A bit like this :

pretend being a sea snake in dragon form, IT'S SO FUCKING ADORABLE.

but now that NRC knows about you two and your true forms, I pray not for Crowley and his "stress".

chew. him. out.

yes, I know you said no cause he tasted like shit but deal with it. I ain't helping, more like I can't cause he's in your stomach and- Wait a minute.

Did you just eat him alive ?!

I said chew not swallow !

sigh...Malleus ?

But besides the fact that Crowley now resides in your digestion, you and malleus are good for marriage.

Two dragons ruling over a kingdom of faes, if anyone says that you lack knowledge in magic they got another thing coming.

What is surprising is that you come from the waters while he lives in the sky and dry lands. It reminds me of the little mermaid who wishes to meet the guy she saw once, and as a mermaid Ariel has to stay in water meanwhile her love at first sight cliché stays on dry land.

There was a small French story as well which can only be found in a children's book that I used to read as a kid.

It's between a dragon who belongs in the water and the female one who is the rainbow dragon who paints the colors of the sky.

Should I make a fic about this ? I don't know.

Just two adorable dragon lovers and-

Mc swallow Crowley back I do not want to see him.

Hope you enjoyed and I'm sorry for not being active today much often.

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dailyadventureprompts · 1 year

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The Daily Adventure Prompts Masterpost

After several years of running this blog, it’s become more and more evident that I need some central reference where people can access all my different DM advice posts, important tags, and ongoing series. Sharing my ideas with people and helping to improve the art and craft of being a dungeonmaster was always the point of DAP after all, and its of no help to anyone if the answers to important questions are buried under a hundred or more pages of my rambling.

To that end, I present this post as an ever expanding catalogue of my thoughts. Something that you can page through at your leisure in hopes some of my hardwon lessons will be of use to you.

DM Advice: The go-to tag for all my rambling on how to improve your d&d game, with some highlights presented here,

My Process

Getting Organized

Basics of Campaign writing

Railroading & Rollercoasters

The “more than you can chew” universal d&d story structure

Ghosts on the Horizon: not getting bogged down with overplanning

Mapmaking 101

Writer’s Block

Better Random Encounters

Better Loredumps and Exposition

Writing Adventures to Make your party care about your world

Series of Interest

The DM Starterpack: Focused on first timers or those who want to re-learn d&d from the ground up this series of posts is intended to give you an idea how to come up with a campaign concept, write a first adventure, run a session zero, and slowly pivot into running a larger campaign.

Tableskills: While a lot of my work focuses on how you can write better stories, these posts talk about being a better storyteller focusing in on the performance art of DMing.

Mechanics: On the flipside, sometimes you need to put on your game designer hat and focus in on ways to make the underlying engine of the game run more smoothly to better facilitate fun and storytelling.

How to Run...: there are certain types of adventure that need more thought put into them then the average monsterhunt or dungeon delve, and so I wrote a series of articles to not only help you write/design them but to pull them off at your table.

Wilderness Exploration

Heists

Naval Combat

Infiltrating a fancy party

Mystery

Airship Adventures

Political Intrigue

Mythology style epic labours

The Loot Overhaul: A series of posts where I focus in on different aspects of d&d’s treasure and item

An overhaul to player wealth & The Economy

Better Loot & Treasure Hoard generation

A case for magic item shops & Item focused treasure hauls

Shopping trips & Group Inventory Management

Making Identifying & Attuning to Items interesting

Crafting Overhaul pt 1: Weapons & Armour

Crafting Overhaul pt 2: Magic & Consumables

Monsters Reimagined: My ongoing delve into d&d’s bad monster lore and how it can be improved. Sometimes it’s because a cool monster is just underwritten, sometimes its because how they’re used in the narrative just doesn’t make sense, sometimes its because there’s decades or even centuries old pro-genocide talking points that we need to unpack.

Footnotes on Foes: For those topics that don’t warrant a full “monsters reimagined” but I still want to give my take on. Fun stuff in there, especially with lesser known monsters that could use a revamp.

Heavy Topics: Where I deepdrive on the nuance of particular topics, ranging from uncomfortable touchstones in history that are important to my writing to sensitive subjects that you’ll want to discuss with others around your table.

Bad Opinions: Sometimes a take so awful lands in my inbox that I need to hold it up infront of my audience and perform a vivisection. Its part media study, part bloodsport.

Dungeon Design: An attempt to do what the creators of the game have put off for decades (despite being half of the title) and actually provide a coherent framework for step by step dungeon design. After nearly twenty years of banging my head against a wall, it finally seems to have worked.

Planescape: Where I try to add cool new (or revamped) destinations to the tapestry of d&d’s multiverse.

Special mention to “Why I don’t use the Great Wheel Cosmology” as it underscores a lot of my overall problems with d&d’s cosmic lore and its weird moralistic claims.

Deities: A collection of new/overhauled gods focusing on making them represent ideals that people would actually believe in as an embodiment of ideals and narrative themes.

How to use the divine in your game: a story first view of how to use faith, religion, and gods in your campaigns aiming for things more subtle and thematic.

Outer Gods: For when you want to get lovecraftian

Religion is the tag I use to talk about the concept of both faith as a theme in writing, as well as how the organized religion serves as a worldbuilding tool

Adventures by Type: not a comprehensive list

Press Start: Opening adventures for those who want a solid start for future campaigns or adventures

Campaigns: For those who’d like a larger story framework to play with

Adventure Compendium: If you’d like a lot of ideas on the same theme

Dungeon: Need I say More?

Monsterhunt: Facing off against a powerful enemy that has some tricks

Villain: In both Quantity and Quality

Player Home: Every party needs a place to rest their head

Ally: They’re here to help, usually

Patron: Benefactors of the shady and non shady verity

Mystery: Put your Sleuthing Hat on

Thief: Time to steal something

Faction: Larger groups the party can join

Adventures by Environment

Lowland

Swamp

Field

Desert

Wasteland

Highland

Cave

Mountain

Forest

Seaside

Ruin

Settlement

Village

Town

City

#DM advice #masterpost

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mlmxreader · 2 months

Text

Complimentary | Charles Smith x m!reader

『••✎••』

↳ ❝ Mixed dialogue 22. "You fucking leave him alone" with charles smith x m! Reader ❞

: ̗̀➛ You and Charles have always worked well together, so it's only natural that your relationship would also be just as complimentary.

: ̗̀➛ swearing, blood, VERY small injury, tiny bit of violence, MILD sex references, gambling, alcohol consumption

•───────────────★•♛•★──────────────•

You kept your eye on Charles from your spot at the poker table, the brim of your hat just and just covering your eyes so that it was a lot less obvious; you always kept your eye on him during jobs, so much so that everyone else in camp always knew that Charles went, you went.

You were a package deal by all means, although no one really minded that much - you worked well together, and what you lacked in certain departments, he made up for. What he lacked, you had. It was complimentary, almost symbiotic.

Together, you and Charles were pretty much guaranteed to bring something of value back to camp - money, food, ammunition, medicine, information.

You pinned it mostly on him, of course, as he was the reason why you were usually successful; although Charles always declined if you weren’t being entirely truthful, saying that it was a team effort more than anything and you were just as much responsible as he was.

It made Hosea laugh a lot, often likening you to a couple who had been married for far too long - he wasn’t exactly far off. After all, where there was bickering, there was an immense love behind it, too.

You snapped your gaze back to your cards, clearing your throat and putting down your bet; you knew you had a winning hand, and you could spot each of the other players’ tells more than easily.

It was a simple job, really; a quick poker match to get hold of some cash, and then off to bleed some poacher on information about his very wealthy boss.

Really, you and Charles were only there for moral support for one another; but it did help having each other close by in case there was any trouble. Although you doubted there would be.

You looked over at him again, nodding once when he caught your gaze and slightly raised his drink.

You placed the next bet, not noticing the man walking up behind him until it was too late; there was a crash, and a few blows landed before you managed to get between them, putting your body in front of Charles as you sneered.

“What the fuck is all this?!” You demanded, glaring at the other man.

He shrugged, gesturing to Charles. “You fuckin’ tell me! You bastards is countin’ cards, I saw it!”

You scoffed as you shook your head. “We’re not fucking counting cards, you idiot! Now, you fucking leave him alone or we’re gonna have a real nasty problem here.”

He scowled, mumbling and grumbling to himself as he stormed away with his hands in his pockets; the second you were sure he wouldn’t turn around, you brought your attention to Charles as you sighed, flashing him an apologetic look.

“I could have handled that myself,” he pointed out. “It was just a bar fight.”

You shook your head, licking the pad of your thumb and gently wiping the blood from his lip. “I know you could. I might not need to protect you, but I still will anyway. You’d protect me.”

Charles shook his head as he smiled, trying not to grin and laugh as he sat still and allowed you to clean him up. “Of course I’d protect you. I always will.”

“Right,” you nodded. “So don’t be so shocked when I return the favour.”

He rolled his eyes, scoffing quietly as he chewed at the inside of his cheek. “I think, given how I’m now injured, you should take your poker winnings and we should go.”

You had to admit, it did sound like a relatively good idea; so you agreed, and quickly gathered your winnings before fleeing out onto the muddy streets with him.

Your hand clasped tightly with his as he took you with him towards the little inn across the street; you could hardly keep the smile from your face when you handed over the cash and allowed him to all but drag you over to the room.

With a loud laugh, you practically jumped onto the bed, eagerly watching him with your head tilted slightly to the side.

“Charles?”

“Mmhmm?” He hardly looked at you as he took off his coat and hat, dumping them on the small vanity.

“You know I love you, right?” You asked softly. “I mean that seriously - I love you, I really do.”

He smiled to himself as he focused on unbuttoning his shirt. “I know, don’t worry. You keep saying it.”

“Yeah, well,” you shrugged. “Sometimes I feel like I say it but it gets lost, y’know?”

Slowly, Charles moved to kneel between your legs so that you had no choice but to look into his deep, dark brown eyes; your hands on his shoulders as he put his arms under your legs and let his hands rest at the sides of your thighs. “It doesn’t get lost on me, don’t worry. I’m sorry if I sounded a bit snappy, by the way - I know you’re only doing what I would.”

You smiled as you nodded, licking your lips. “I know, don’t worry. We said we’d protect each other and… y’know, maybe we do take it a bit too far sometimes.”

“We do,” he agreed with a soft chortle. “But it works. We work.”

You grinned, a soft hum of agreement coming from the back of your throat. “You know, maybe one day we’ll even be husbands. Wouldn’t it be grand? Me and you, finally taking that step like everybody else does?”

“I would like that,” he admitted. “But we’re not everybody else, and I don’t think we need to anyway.”

“No?” You raised your brows slightly, a little amused and curious at the same time.

He shook his head. “No. You’re already my man, and I’m already yours - what more do we need?”

“Fair point,” you agreed. “Say, wanna bet that Micah is probably in tears right now because we’re doing two jobs at once?”

Moving to straddle your waist, Charles grinned when your head hit the mattress, his arms soon either side of you as he licked his lips. “Oh, he’s definitely in tears - but who cares? It’s just me, and you here.”

“That it is,” you hummed. “And it’s quiet, and the bed doesn’t creak… so if you’re thinking what I am… my answer’s already yes.”

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cardentist · 1 year

Text

Context: [Link] (highly recommend reading even if it’s long) I debated where I should put this, but with the length of this post I want to put @nothorses master post about transandrophobia right at the top [Link] if this post is too lengthy for you or you'd like to read more after chewing on this then I Implore you to open that link and hold onto it.

I don't want to call out this person in particular, I'm certain they don't mean any harm by it and it's not within our best interests to pick fights with people who have (in this commenter's words) Nearly all of the same beliefs with some minor squabbles who are willing to support each other anyways.

but it's exactly Because I'm certain this person means well that frustrates me.

years ago I would've said something along the lines of "this is no different from saying 'I'm not homophobic because I'm not afraid of gay people.'" that it's nitpicking Accurate terminology by breaking it into pieces and judging the words its made up of individually when they're obviously intended to be seen as a whole. trans Men face oppression for being trans Men in a way that cis men do not, just like trans Women face oppression for being trans Women in a way that cis women do not.

but that was a long time ago, the perspective has changed.

"trans men can't have this term because it's too close to affirming cishet white men when they say that they're oppressed for being men" was a talking point back when "transmisandry" was the terminology that was landed on. and while my thought process about that was the same I Understood the kneejerk reaction. because there Was a concerted effort by certain cishet weirdos to make "misandry" a term that made them systematically oppressed by women, and more specifically was used to Deny the existence of misogyny (very ironically from how they acted).

(that said, I have my own reasons for liking that term even if I do see the problems with it, I understand why it was chosen at the time. which I get into here [Link])

"transandrophobia" was coined Specifically to avoid that connotation, to Denounce the association and address that frankly (on the surface) Reasonable kneejerk reaction while still being recognizable and serving the same purpose.

but the talking point about it remained Exactly The Same, completely unchanged despite the change in association. because the point was never About it evoking something unpleasant (though that certainly helped with swaying bystanders in the conversation) it was about the absolute refusal to believe in the concept of people being hated For their manhood. in masculinity intersecting with oppression More than just as a neutral trait.

now, what I'm Not going to say is that the concept of androphobia is a systemic oppression that's upheld by the majority or any governmental body. not mine and certainly not any that I've heard of. but I will Also say that conflating the Recognition of a sentiment that real people express With systemic oppression is not only unhelpful (there's a lot of things that aren't systemic but still matter) but has Also been used to gate keep minorities by exclusionist groups Plenty of times before.

such as when people stopped being able to insist that asexuals don't experience trauma for being asexual At All and instead insisted that it wasn't Systematic and therefore they didn't belong in the queer community. no amount of studies, no amount of personal accounts, no examining of actual law and actual acts of oppression from governing bodies or places of work would sway them. because as long as they could say "It's Not Systemic" they could dismiss it out of hand. when, really, even if they were right it shouldn't matter. if someone experiences trauma they deserve to have the source of that trauma taken seriously no matter the underlying cause. they shouldn't have to Prove that it's important enough to justify caring about.

but to get to my point 9 paragraphs in from where we started, the idea that anti-masculinity or androphobia or anti-man sentiment or Whatever you want to call it Doesn't Exist is pretty ridiculous coming from within the trans community for Several Reasons.

terfs hate trans women because they're transphobic, but they Also hate trans women because they're radfems. a core tenant of radfem ideology Is The Demonization Of Men And Of Masculinity. they think trans women are dangerous Because They See Them As Men Trying To Infiltrate Women's Spaces. and Yes that is obviously transphobia, but the way they talk about trans women is Not magically disconnected from their view of manhood or masculinity or Men As A Group. though Undoubtedly they will side with cis men if it gives them the opportunity to attack trans women, in part because it Is that intersection of Both anti-man sentiments And transphobia And misogyny that has them frothing at the mouth to hate trans women.

(see this: [Link] for a more in depth discussion on radfem ideology as a whole)

and the thing is, someone might be tempted to say "well their hatred of masculinity is Obviously tied to trans women, so there's no point in acknowledging it as anything But transmisogyny." and in fact, that's not a hypothetical at all, it's the default relationship people have with this concept.

but this mindset affects everyone, Especially otherwise marginalized groups.

radfems seeing men as Inherently And Biologically Violent, as rapists and unthinking monsters, Absolutely And Undeniably affects how they treat people of color (Especially black people). white women stalking black men and calling the cops on them because they see their existence as Dangerous has been a Thing for as long as cops have existed (it's the Reason that cops exist) and has been Documented as a current issue in the wake of black lives matter and the murder of black men by the cops. it is an attempt from white women to have black men murdered, to cause violence to them without having to physically implicate themselves, all while using the perception of themselves as inherent victims (small and docile and innocent) with the perception of black men as monsters.

and it Should go without saying, but this Obviously Is Not Saying that black men inherently have it worse than black women. recognizing the oppression of one demographic within an oppressed group Should Not Inherently Mean pitting them against other demographics within that same group. we should just be allowed to point out an experience that some people can have and let that be a neutral (if important) statement. the things black women go through because of Their intersection of racism and misogyny are well and truly Horrific, I certainly don't need to prove that.

and In Fact, black women are victims of that Same intersection of racism and androphobia that we see both from terfs and from white people everywhere. because "womanhood" Almost Without Question means "White womanhood," to have black traits (or to have Non-White traits) is to be closer to masculinity in the eyes of racists.

when terfs post a picture of a cis woman and harass and mock them for Clearly being a trans woman who will Never fool anybody it's universally because the woman in the picture has traits that aren't traditionally upheld as the standard for white women. it's misogyny, it's androphobia, it's transphobia, it's racism. because these ideas Aren't Inherently Separate. they Build on each other and they affect Everybody, because people who think this way don't just turn it on and off like a switch when they're attacking the "intended" target.

and All of these ideas come together and inform the situation with trans men, both on this issue specifically and As A Whole.

just the same as we see that intersection of transphobia and misogyny and androphobia with how trans women are treated (combined, of course, with other relevant aspects of an individual) we see much the same with trans men.

the difference is that people inherently Recognize that what's happening to trans women is more than Just ideas of transphobia (more than Just wanting people to stay the gender that they were assigned at birth), but they recognize Only the misogyny aspect. so when the same conversation is turned onto trans men people don't know what to do with it, Especially when combined with the (unfortunately common) denial that trans men experience Misogyny either.

that complex web of interlocking concepts, and in some cases the Idea Of intersectionality At All, are Denied to trans men. who are then minimized For the perceived lack in complexity (in their oppression, in their identities, and in their lived experiences).

"why not just call it anti-transmasc sentiment then? people might take it more seriously." even Ignoring Everything I've mentioned so far, the Reason I'm not happy with this is because trans men Are attacked (harassed, oppressed, however you want to phrase it) Specifically For Their Identities As Men. and as much as I Also want to establish that behavior and sentiment As stemming from transphobia, I Also don't think we benefit by erasing or softening that idea to make it more palatable to people who don't want to believe it.

this was a response I got to that post I linked at the very top of this essay. I trust that anyone reaching this point has an idea of how silly this is in context, if they haven't read that context themselves. and in fact I wasn't going to acknowledge it at all (I only have this image on hand because I took it to have a laugh with friends). but it's a Convenient and Simple illustration of this exact issue.

the hatred of trans men in trans, queer, and activist spaces is informed and Justified by the hatred of men as a whole. because If you can convince people that trans men are Inherently a privileged group you can justify presenting anything they do as attacking those less privileged than them.

Men are violent, Men shout down women, Men are misogynists, and so a trans man pointing out the existence of his own oppression while actively acknowledging the oppression of nonbinary people and trans women (Only making the point that it's unhelpful to try to quantify this oppression as a tier list and use that to inform how you treat individual people) that trans man is Actually just a Typical Violent Man Exerting His Privilege To Oppress Poor Women.

it's, very ironically, a silencing tactic to avoid addressing the oppression of a minority group to the benefit of the person doing it.

a trans man's manhood is a weapon that is Constantly used against him, and I Might (Might) be willing to call that "anti-trans masc sentiment" if I didn't know where it Stemmed from.

the relationship between radfems and the queer community is, to understate it, Fraught.

for most people who consider themselves to be trans allies, it's Easy to see that terfs are, you know, Bad. to understand that they're a transphobic group and Therefore dangerous. but by-and-large that'd Main and Only thing that that's understood about them.

and to an extent, that's because people believe that that understanding is Enough. that it's Enough to dismiss it out of hand and refuse to look at or Think about what terfs have to say. which is Understandable.

the issue is that no matter how much they Believe that terfs are bad and wrong, they're Still Vulnerable to being influenced by radfem ideology, talking points, and Active Intentional Manipulation if they don't actually know the Details of what it is they believe and how to spot them.

as a Very basic example, people who Believe "terfs are bad because they hate trans people" but Don't understand "radfems are bad because equate men and masculinity as being Inherent Violent and therefore inherently harmful to women" can see something like "men don't belong in women's spaces" and Not Understand that something they may be genuinely trying to consider or understand Is Radfem Rhetoric.

that specific example is, at this point, commonly understood as a terf dog whistle. but it's largely Only understood as a stand in for trans women and called out as transmisogyny.

which is a problem when, say, someone looks at a trans man talking about his experiences is oppression and trauma and says "this Man is shouting down women! this Man is being misogynistic and stealing spaces away from women! this Man doesn't Belong!" and Not Understand That It's The Same Idea. Because the person being targeted Isn't being misgendered (Most of the time), the exact Same silencing and othering tactic is used Effective against trans mascs while not being Recognized as that At All by the majority group.

sometimes these things happen because people passively absorb radfem rhetoric, integrate into their own way of thinking, and then use it against other minority groups without understanding what they're doing. sometimes this is done Very Intentionally by terfs trying to spread their own ideology and break up and cause rifts between groups.

this is not a hypothetical, this is Repeating History that we see over and over again with exclusionists in queer spaces. masterposts at the time had Dedicated Segments talking about the ways these groups shared ideas between each other, between radfems, even when the individuals Don't hate the same people [Link 1, Link 2]

there were Documented Instances of terfs Admitting that they had secret aphobe accounts that they were using to try to indoctrinate ace and aro exclusionists into their beliefs. there's documented instances of terfs admitting that they got to that point By Being indoctrinated through ace and aro exclusionist beliefs and talking points. we had terfs Openly comparing their ideologies to exclusionists Explicitly to recruit them. [Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4, Link 5]

Because if you're Willing to accept that these ideas Are True, that the Logic that terf ideology is based on is Sound, then you're More Likely to accept when that same logic is pointed at another group. they target people that you're more willing to hate to pull you into their beliefs entirely.

and some people will go on never hating trans people (or never hating trans Women or trans Men or Nonbinary People or Binary Trans People, whatever the particular poison they're drinking), but it doesn't suddenly become Okay when radfem ideology is being used to hurt groups that aren't common sense associated with it.

what's more, these exclusionists groups Hated when you pointed out that connection. would spit and yell and call you bigoted for Daring to make the connection, even when (at it's peak and Most Ridiculous) they were quite literally taking posts originally written by terfs and replacing "trans women" with "ace people." Word For Word. which means it Never got addressed, no matter who pointed it out or how obviously wide spread it was.

and it's Tiring to have to say "if you can't care about how this affects trans men then at Least consider how perpetuating this idea puts trans women in danger" But It's True.

if you let people perpetuate the idea that trans men are Violent, that they're Oppressive, that they don't Deserve to have their own spaces, that they Inherently talk over and erase other oppressed groups by talking about their own issues and asking for compassion, if you Let people say "this group of trans people is Inherently Lesser" Because They Are Men, Because Of Their Closeness To Masculinity, Because Testosterone Or Maleness Is Inherently Corrupting

the jump between Which trans group you think of this way is not as difficult as one would hope. and if we're Never able to address it for what it is, address it As radfem driven androphobia And transphobia And exclusionism then we're going to Keep creating spaces where people are vulnerable to indoctrination. to radfems, to terfs, to exclusionists, to Extremist Reactionary groups of all kinds.

and beyond all of That, as alarming and Important as it may be, it's Also worth noting that radfems (and even Terfs Specifically) Do use androphobia against trans men, even as they force feminine labels on them.

Yes there are the obvious direction that terf oppression of trans men takes. treating them like confused women and trying to indoctrinate and detransition them to Save them or Fix them (which, in itself, is a type of violence). and there's the Resentment of "the frigid uncaring woman trying to identify out of her oppression to instead oppress other women," which isn't a sentiment totally Removed from the issue with how trans mascs can be treated in queer spaces (quite the opposite really, punishing trans men for daring to Be men by equating them with privilege and thus treating them as both an outsider and a threat).

but there Are instances of terfs treating trans men as outright Predatory. as a threat to Them and as a threat to the "poor confused women" that get "manipulated" into "the trans cult" by the trans men they Couldn't indoctrinate.

trans men are vulnerable little girls that are too stupid to know what's good for them and have to be converted Saved, they're the poor lesbians being stolen away from the beds of Deserving radfems women, up until they're Too masculine. until they have beards, until their voices are deep, until they stop wearing makeup, until they're balding or their waste changes or or or-

then they've Mutilated Their Bodies, then they're Frightening, then they're Aggressive and Invasive and Need To Be Dealt With, then they're Ugly Men even as radfems try to deny it.

the feminine trans man is a mark, he's a damsel in distress that radfems want to isolate and indoctrinate. the masculine trans man is Frankenstein's Monster, he's an ugly brutalized image of masculinity, the picture of what radfems hate othered away from what they're a Picture Of by radfems' transphobia. Uncanny and hated just the same.

this isn't "worse" than what terfs do trans women, it's not "better" either, It's The Same, It's The Same.

transphobia, misogyny, and androphobia in a Melting Pot to create a horrific buffet of oppression and abuse. manifesting Differently in different situations and between different people, and yet Fundamentally Connected through the beliefs and ideologies at play.

taking away one of these terms used to Describe this phenomenon doesn't Help, it obfuscates the fact that these things Are connected. which Worsens our ability to Understand them and Address them.

these ideas are Important, not just for trans men but for All Of Us.

and while I'm here, I'd like to address the Other issue I have with proposed alternatives like "anti-trans masc sentiment," Even when proposed in good faith.

if we were to go back and reexamine the terminology for the queer community as a whole and assess if these terms are the most Efficient they possibly could be, would we change them? would we stop using a term like "homophobia" if softening it could make it more palatable? make it easier to introduce the concept to people on the fence? make it easier to ask people to address their own biases without alienating them? if we did away with terms like "internalized homophobia" and instead asked people to address their "complex relationship with gayness" would we be able to get More people to listen?

maybe we could, Maybe softening the term would instead lead to people taking these ideas Less seriously exactly Because it's less direct, Because it's soft, Because it deliberately seeks to Not draw a reaction from a reader. I genuinely couldn't say how this would play out in practice, though we'd probably see both reactions to a degree and thus endless discourse about its effectiveness as a term.

but that's ultimately overshadowed by the Bigger Picture (though, more accurately I could say that it also Informs that bigger picture).

and that's Unity. Cohesion. Communication. Community.

the point of creating terms like this is, of course, in part to give minority groups the vocabulary and perspective necessary to convey their experiences to people outside of said group. and this purpose is endlessly important of course.

but More than that it gives a Community the ability to open a conversation with each other, to take their experiences as Individuals and create a melting pot where they can get a bigger picture of what We As A Group, As A Community, Experience.

this is completely invaluable in every way. it's what allows people to find each other, to know they aren't alone. it allows people to move conversations forward, to unravel complex ideas in a way that Can Acknowledge a vast array of often conflicting and yet Connected experiences. to be able to Build a community together, when lacking a physical space to inhabit, we need Words to connect us. both in passing as neighbors and to Find as Strangers.

when you take a community that already has established terms and you try to popularize an alternative, Especially while encouraging people to Stop using the previous terms, you Split Up that line of communication. people who congregate around one term Won't be in conversation with people who congregate around another, which inhibits the community's ability to grow and deepen.

people who Dislike a term (because it's trying to take something away from them, because they've been told that it's morally reprehensible) Won't engage with it, so posts that are tagged with Only that term will not be found. and even If that term is (unrealistically) universally adopted over time There Will Be A Period where people are simply ignorant of it.

and this is Very Much So used as a weapon by people who Don't want these communities to unify. who Don't want them to talk to each other and Get Ideas. and the smaller, more tentative, less supported a group and term is the more Vulnerable they are to this tactic.

this was and Is used Regularly by exclusionists, though I'm most familiar with how it was used by ace and aro exclusionists Specifically.

they would argue Endlessly about how Anything the ace and aro groups coined for themselves was Bigoted Actually. "aphobe" was attacked by Insisting that it was a term used by autistic people to describe their oppression (a lie, and a ridiculous one at that. there's nothing bigoted about the same term being used for multiple purposes). and "Allo" faced An Endless Barrage of never Ever accepting any term, no alternative, because They Didn't Want Ace People To Be Able To Define The Group That Oppressed Them, because they didn't Believe in that oppression.

Exactly in the same way that transphobes tried to argue that "cis" was really an acronym for something bigoted and so "cis" should be abolished as a term. Exactly in the same way that people argue that "transandrophobia" is offensive Specifically Because they don't believe that trans men are oppressed for being Trans Men.

the point is that they will never accept a replacement term, no matter what. if there Isn't an issue with it (by coincidence or from a certain angle) they will lie to invent one. it's Already Happened with transadrophobia being the intended replacement for transmisandry.

because the Point is double. First to break up the intended target community to hinder conversation around an idea that you don't want to exist, to make it harder and harder for it to be found and (by extension) Understood and expanded upon. and Second to prevent communities from being able to solidify In The First Place.

this wasn't the only tactic that was used to hurt ace and aro people, but it Can't Be Denied that the affect that it had as a whole was devastating. it's been Years since this whole thing started, since it died down even, and the ace and aro communities have yet to recover.

it's Easy to fall into the trap and say "well if we just get the term Right this time then it'll be okay ! if we Fix It then they'll stop!" but it Is exactly a trap. the point of phrasing it like this, of making it about bigotry or about the term being Problematic, is Both intended to demonize the group for having the Audacity to create a term for themselves at All, And to take advantage of well meaning people within the targeted community to do the leg work for them.

it's about silencing, it's about destabilization, it's about Breaking Apart communities so they can't Grow.

"Meet me halfway," they say. you take a step forward, they take a step back. "Meet me halfway," they say.

#discourse #trans unity #transphobia #transandrophobia #transmisogyny #androphobia #transmisandry #it's been a while since I've used that tag #but it feels appropriate here #long post #Really Long Post #when I started this I didn't intend for it to be Even Longer than the post it's in response to #Engages In Toxic Masculinity By Being Incapable Of Expressing Any Concept Or Idea Without Writing A Peer Reviewed Essay #actually while we're here #can I just make fun of that anon I got a Little Bit #shout out to the Very feminist take that women don't type essays

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timeagainreviews · 24 days

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The Twist of a Stiletto

Back in the ‘90s there was a very famous TV show. 120 Minutes, don’t act like you don’t know. But for those of you not in the know, “120 Minutes,” was a show on MTV hosted by Matt Pinfield. There were other hosts, but Matt was my guy. Being a showcase of music videos from artists MTV wouldn’t dare play during the day, it was relegated to a late Sunday evening timeslot. Growing up, I never really had a personal relationship with music. It was the stuff in the background of movies. My dad would play CDs of his faves. Kansas, Jethro Tull, Chicago, Led Zepplin, The Beatles. Music could be fun or cool, but I could take it or leave it. That is until April 14, 1996, when 120 Minutes aired Rage Against the Machine’s “Bulls on Parade,” and my 12-year-old brain erupted. A fire was lit inside me that day and Zach de la Rocha was more than happy to pour gasoline on it. I was suddenly, without any kind of warning, in love with music.

The spontaneous combustion of music hits us all differently, but I’m sure my story made you remember yours. How could it not? Music is a part of our lives. We wrap our memories in song. As such, some songs become painful. We then lock those songs in our past where they can’t hurt us, but a passing car with its windows down can bring us back. Music is personal. “The Devil’s Chord,” is a story about our relationship with music. How we hold music inside and when we let it out. It is a celebration of song as well as a lament. While the episode often achieves harmony, it also falls a bit flat. Are you picking up on a theme? Is this striking a chord with you? Ok I’ll stop. Probably.

I’ll get the obvious out of the way first. “The Devil’s Chord,” is precariously close to “The Giggle,” plot-wise. The TARDIS lands. The Doctor finds the world behaving oddly. He discovers it’s all to do with a magical gay American who chews scenery for breakfast. The American sends the Doctor through a themed gauntlet of insanity. The Doctor banishes the American using their own tricks against them. The American disappears with a warning about the next guy. Bish bash bosh. I’m getting that all out of the way ahead of time, because that would be a really boring article to read. But I will say this- if this is the Pantheon’s only gambit, I’ll be disappointed.

Ruby’s explanation of how she discovered the Beatles through her mum’s girlfriend’s vinyl collection was charming and didn’t make me feel old at all. Not to be all “kids these days only care about Tik Tok and Roblox,” but I was fairly certain most young people hate the Beatles. That is, if my Facebook feed is anything to go by. It really shows you just how on the pulse Russell T Davies is these days. Hello fellow kids. Have some trans inclusion while I court problematic people on social media. Kids like Deftones, Russell. Do a Deftones episode. Have the Doctor fight robot pigs with Chico Moreno. (Man, nü metal is having a moment in this article.) My point being, it’s weird to choose The Beatles now.

I harp on a lot about how metatextual Doctor Who can be and how it’s the secret of its longevity. They need to replace their actor? Regeneration. They need to get the Doctor into a building? Psychic paper. But I think I’ve found the exception that proves the rule. Russell T Davies said in an interview “...The Beatles music is so expensive. Even on a Disney budget, we couldn’t afford that…And so I thought imagine you’re visiting The Beatles, and you couldn’t have The Beatles music. What would you do? And that’s the story. It kind of created itself”. In true Doctor Who fashion, Russell T Davies saw a limitation and folded it into the narrative. It’s a shame then, that it doesn’t work at all.

It started with their shots of Abbey Road and EMI Studios. The zebra crossing at Abbey Road isn’t that wide. I’ve been there. And since when did EMI Studios have a red brick entrance? Where are its classic Georgian-style box frame windows? It’s one of the most visited tourist spots in London, and you’re not going to actually go there? You can’t get the music. Ok. That’s sort of understandable. But they couldn’t film on location? What exactly is the Disney budget doing here? Remember when they flew the whole TARDIS crew to Utah? And then the next season to New York City? They managed to shoo tourists and locals away from Umpire Rock. You mean to tell me they couldn’t hold back traffic on Abbey Road for a few hours? Hell, just composite it. Shoot it on a soundstage. You don’t have to go “Angels Take Manhattan,” when you could go “Daleks Take Manhattan.”

This may seem like a weird gripe from a person who said it would be boring to complain about how two episodes are similar, but it is the crux of the matter. Why use The Beatles in an episode about The Beatles if you do nothing with them? Why highlight edifice in a story about being vulnerable? Yes, the episode is predicated on the very idea of not having the rights to The Beatles music catalog, but this also denies the audience a payoff. Let me explain. Ruby and the Doctor get dressed to the nines to go back to 1963 and watch the Beatles record their first album. Great so far. They have a cute little moment with the tea lady while they sneak into EMI studios. Still great. However, as they roll record for the Fab Four, it’s immediately apparent that something is very wrong. The Beatles' music sounds awful. Like how I imagine my friends on Facebook think they sound all the time. And still, things are going great. What this does, however, is set up expectations for the moment when The Beatles' music is finally back in its full glory. I’ve seen the shot from the trailer of Ncuti in the recording studio full of smiling perfects. It’s gonna be high energy. What a payoff. Right?

The Doctor and Ruby also pop in to listen to Cilla Black lay down a track. It’s the same crappy atonal music that only a trans woman with a collection of circuit-bent instruments could love. Something is amiss. The Doctor and Ruby do a bit of digging. It’s time to go talk to The Shitty Beatles. This time, it’s more than a clever name. With as much respect as I can muster, these have got to be some of the worst Beatle lookalikes I’ve ever seen. Except Paul who was spot on as the real Paul McCartney before he died and 1966 and was replaced with Faul. See my 9-11 Truther Anti-Vaxx Birds Aren’t Real grouphat for more information. The Doctor takes Paul and Ruby takes John. George and Ringo get zero lines, which tracks with history. They learn that both Paul and John don’t actually know why they play music. It feels silly, really. They should just pack it up. But something deep in them is still drawn to music, even if what comes out is a song about a dog that was only slightly better than “Rocky Raccoon.” But before they can slap them out of it like John with his first wife, they’re interrupted by visions of the Maestro.

Enter Jinkx Monsoon, who actually opens the episode but I’m using time travel to talk about things as they become relevant. Now, before they were cast in Doctor Who, I knew nothing about Jinkx Monsoon. I know she was on Drag Race, but I don’t watch that shit. No shade if you do. Ru Paul is totally not problematic and has never done anything weird. Everything I skimmed in Jinkx Monsoon’s Wikipedia page indicates they’re pretty cool. They relish in the role in a way that will make midwest dads shift in their chairs, and I’m here for it. They’ve got an oral fixation that’s impossible not to notice. When they eat the music from Timothy Drake’s soul, they let out a moan that sounds a lot like a climax, and not in the musical sense. Also, how sad is it for Tim Drake that he’ll never meet Batman? RIP Robin. 1925 was too early. Speaking of 1925, isn’t it interesting that the Maestro appears right around the same time as the Toymaker sold the Stooky Bill puppet to Charles Banerjee? Is there some significance with that year? Handily, no World Wars were happening at the time. The Scopes Monkey Trial occurred. Babe Ruth received surgery for an ulcer. They broke ground on defacing Mount Rushmore. But really, kind of tame considering the bookends of the era. The Lorcano treaty was doing a lot of the heavy lifting though.

The Maestro’s whole deal is a sort of crazed sense of ownership over music. To hear them describe it, music belongs to them. They are music. In this way, I was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t song and dance people to death. It’s nice to be surprised. I rather liked their motivation. Monsoon doesn’t need to do a whole lot of acting. It’s all very panto. Very drag. It’s the kind of performance you hope you get. I’m not saying it’s a bad performance, just an elevated one. Both Jinkx and Ncuti get a chance to overact a bit in this story. Once again, I don’t mean overact in a bad way. David Tennant is the biggest overactor in Doctor Who save for Soldeed in “The Horns of Nimon,” and he’s consistently voted favourite among Doctor Who fans. Add “tendency to overact,” to the pile of personality traits I’m beginning to love about the Fifteenth Doctor. I love it when the Doctor really sells the energy of a scene, even if it requires him to speak forlornly into the middle distance.

Attempting to get the world’s groove back, the Doctor has a piano hoisted to the roof of a building. This is, of course, a reference to The Beatles’ final public performance from the rooftop of Apple headquarters in Central London. Only instead of Billy Preston on the keys, it’s Ruby Sunday. As she plays a Ruby original, the inhabitants of neighbouring buildings begin to shake out of their fog as music descends on them like sunshine. It even inspires a granny played by Doctor Who legend Laura June Hudson to dust off her piano to play Debussy’s “Clair de Lune.” It’s a lovely moment which is about to get stomped on by the Maestro’s honking drag boots, but for a brief moment, music swells.

I was glad to see them taking time to slow things down a little in this episode. The Doctor even talks a bit about himself and Susan over on Totter’s Lane. Couple that with Carole Ann Ford’s presence at the Doctor Who premiere last year, and it feels like it might be more than a reference. I’ve seen Whovians of weak faith construe this to mean Susan is dead, but in my experience, when a writer says something isn’t, it is. That’s just my two cents. Who knows if any of it means anything. It could just be that it would be weird for the Doctor to visit London in 1963 and not mention him living there with his granddaughter. Or it could be that Doctor Who is finally getting a better Doctor/Susan reunion than “The FIve Doctors.” Who could forget the moment when they’re reunited?

First Doctor: "Oh, er, this is Susan."

Fifth Doctor: "Yes I know."

How could you not get choked up? What a reunion. I can’t imagine why people would want something more. The Doctor told her all those years ago “Someday I’ll come back,” and he did. It was brief and without any of that pesky emotional connection we usually get from television.

Ruby pulls the classic “But the world didn’t end in 1963, I exist,” so the Doctor shows Ruby what the world would look like without music and it’s grim. It was nice of them to show us a bombed-out London as many of us are still feeling the sting from Fallout: London’s delayed release. Thanks, Doccy Who. But the two are not alone as they’re interrupted by the Maestro and their Looney Tunes brand of scary sexy. As with their first interaction, the Doctor runs. I love that aspect because it’s very Davies Doctor Who. The Doctor runs from the Time Vortex. The Doctor runs from Gallifrey. The Ninth Doctor refers to himself as cowardly, but what it really is is he hasn’t anything to prove. He’ll live today to fight again tomorrow, and yesterday. Timey wimey.

While the Maestro finds the Doctor both hot and timey wimey, they are still very much a threat to him and the Doctor knows this. You can’t fight the Pantheon. You have to abide by their rules. How do you fight someone who can control the TARDIS with music? The Doctor rips the TARDIS console a new one in order to flee back to 1963, where the world has yet to end. I found it cute the way he kisses the console to say sorry for the way he treated her. It not only suits the Doctor, but this Doctor with his brand of compassion. The TARDIS gets it, but you’ve gotta kiss a boo-boo or it won’t get better, everyone knows that.

The Doctor’s only plan with his limited resources is to somehow find the opposite of the Devil’s Chord, a sort of lost chord, if you will. Of course, this draws the Maestro to the Doctor like my cats to the sound of the tin opener. The Maestro captures Ruby, wrapping her up in sheet music. The Doctor stares down the Maestro as they allow him the opportunity to prove his musical genius. Can the Doctor find the lost chord? With each new note appearing above the piano, the Maestro writhes in twisted agony. But the Doctor hits a bum note and the Maestro is back on their feet ready to suffocate the Doctor in a drum and choke the life out of Ruby. But the song within Ruby’s soul from the Christmas Eve where she was left on that church stoop is stronger than anything the Maestro can muster. The Maestro may own music, but Ruby owns this song in that moment. Like before in “Space Babies,” the snow begins to fall indoors and the Maestro recoils in horror.

This gives the Beatles enough time to discover the piano and play that final note. Alone, they may not be geniuses, but the combination of McCartney and Lennon is enough to find the lost chord and banish the Maestro. They could have also achieved this with Harrison alone. He wrote “Here Comes the Sun,” after all. With the lost chord now found, the Maestro gets sucked off back where they came. Was the note they found the same one from the end of “Day in the Life?” RTD said they used a single Beatles chord. Was that it? I don’t know enough about music to answer that. After a quick re-listen, I'm going to say yes.

London is once again filled with music. Now, we’ll finally get the chance to see the Beatles play their actual music, right? They fixed music, right? God I wish. After cryptically looking into the camera and saying “There’s always a twist in the end,” the Doctor and Ruby are suddenly thrust into what I can only describe as the worst song possible. I’ve said in the past that I am not a huge fan of Murray Gold’s music. There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just a bit safe for my tastes. But this song… I loathe it with every fibre of my being. It’s cloying, it’s corny, and it’s a repetitive ear worm you don’t want stuck in your head. I’ve said I was interested in Doctor Who doing a musical number, but this was god awful. I try to be as fair as possible when it comes to my reviews, so I think I’ve earned enough good faith to openly say this song is terrible. I would rather listen to the crappy dog song from earlier in the episode, and I don’t even own any circuit-bent instruments, and therein lies the problem.

How can you say the Doctor saved music when the way you present it is with a song that is simply not good? We need a good song in this moment, and that was not it. If ever there was a time to reach into the coffers and pay for a song, it was this. I mean, he said “There’s always a twist in the end,” and “Twist and Shout,” was right there. It wasn’t even written by the Beatles so it might have even been cheaper. They could even re-record it in the same Glee style in which they filmed the big song and dance routine. Hell, how expensive are Cilla Black songs? Do one of those. Instead, we get another fake Beatles song, in fake EMI studios, on fake Abbey Road to imply that we saved the future from a world of fake Beatles songs. By the time this insipid tune wears out its welcome, the Doctor and Ruby skip away across Abbey Road, lighting up the zebra crossing like piano keys. But instead of it being charming, it caused both my wife and I to say “Oh God, it’s still going.”

After the episode, I did a little bit of reading. I figured the two people dancing with the Doctor and Ruby were guest stars as they singled them out over the other background dancers. Evidently, they’re judges or competitors on Strictly. I dunno, I don’t watch that shit. So I really have no idea if that song was written to be in the style of something you would see on Strictly. But what I do know, is that it was brave of Murray Gold to show his face during that exquisite train wreck. I guess this episode really did pull a “Daleks in Manhattan,” à la “My Angel Put the Devil In Me.” In that respect, you can add contemporary music to the list of things Doctor Who should do well, but can’t seem to get right. It’s in good company with pirates and westerns. “The Gunfighters,” even fails at two out of three. Impressive!

I do admire the hell out of RTD and company for throwing their whole ass into that ending. It takes real chutzpah to fail so spectacularly. And honestly, as harsh as I’ve been, I didn’t totally hate the scene. In some ways, it's a clever pastiche to '60s music. In that light, I could maybe come around to it, over time. They’re also trying new things. But I think we found the ceiling pretty fast. I can’t say I’d like to see that sort of thing a lot more in the future, but here and there? Sure. As it is, it feels unrestrained and masturbatory. And truthfully, I would have preferred an actual musical like Buffy’s “Once More, With Feeling,” or Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ “Subspace Rhapsody.” They somehow gave me what I wanted while simultaneously failing to deliver.

Now of course, the real question is- what was the twist at the end? Was it the appearance of the Maestro’s “son,” Henry “Harbinger,” Arbinger? Or maybe it was a meta-reference to actress Susan Twist, the woman who once again has shown up in the background. I find it even more interesting that in every episode where she’s appeared, they give her a line to read. Or maybe it’s a Susan twist, as in the Doctor’s granddaughter. They mention Susan in the same episode with an actress named Susan Twist where they sing about twists while doing the twist. It’s like “Who’s on second?” or “The Doctor’s daughter who plays the Doctor’s daughter in ‘The Doctor’s Daughter,’ marries the Doctor.”

Despite the ending and the rehashed story, I rather liked this episode. Jinkx Monsoon and Ncuti Gatwa had great chemistry. The mysteries continue to unfold. Along with my hope for the Rani, I can now add hope for Susan into the mix, and as with the Rani, I won’t get my hopes up. In the same vein, I'm grateful that Maestro wasn't a code name for the Master. We've seen enough of him for a while, thanks. Ncuti and Millie continue to impress as the Doctor and Ruby. I also admired Ruby's restraint in not telling John Lennon to avoid chubby guys in glasses. I loved the Maestro and the fact that their laugh was vocal warm-up. So much fantastic attention to detail. But that ending is not my bag. It felt tacked on, poorly paced, and obnoxious. It reminded me of that line from Fight Club- “We are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.” Emphasis on the crap.

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maskedinfinate · 6 months

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hehe um ok ! since you asked so politely

this is um. corrin. an oc for that undertale post-neutral run au i posted about a few days back. They're a captain of a place called the Riverbed, my own fanmade area which is sorta above waterfall. It's the highest point of the underground and is basically where all the water FALLS from. into. waterfall. wow. amazing. Corrin wants to act intimidating he wants to act like a bigger "threat" than he already kind of is, because hes had to experience a lot of people treating him like he didnt know a thing about what he was talking about when he was CLEARLY experienced, but wasnt listened to because he looked the youngest, and young = stupid apparently. So he tends to hide his face, because he really just. hates that. Corrin is also a type of water monster that can mainly only survive in waterfall, in places like hotland (or i dunno the DUNES) he is at risk of evapporating very quickly and straight up DYING. btw :3 i'll add kind of a lighting round of facts abt them that arent really mega important but if you want more to chew on then like ok here (THIS IS "do you like the colour of the sky?" LEVEL LONG READ MORE AT YOUR OWN RISK)

I'll start from when he was a babey up until like present time in my au i guess

Corrin was born in the riverbed area, while its not very populated due to having more water than land, he and his family thrived. His mother used to be a captain too, but she quit sailing to raise him. He got incredibly attached to all the stories she told about her experiences with sailing, and wanted to do just that when he grew up.

When he was a teen he needed to earn enough money to be a personal student for a well trained sailor, because there arent many schools in the underground to begin with so education regarding specific things like sailing, art, etc, have to be exercised by a personal trainer.

To get that money for about a year he worked at a daycare in snowdin, which was far from home but worth it. Working with vastly different kids who were learning all about their enviornment taught Corrin how to properly handle a large group of people all at once in a calm and content manner.

Once he had enough money he got to study. woohoo! then he got to sail! yippee! he got himself a crew, a good boat, and everything.

Corrin and his crew's main goal for sailing is to help other monsters. Sometimes monsters can get stuck in waterfall, or even get lost, maybe even be trapped under the riverbeds waves, and thats where they swoop in to help. They actually managed to help a few royal guards who were in danger at some point, which garnered them a bit more attention. Corrin was gifted a harpoon by undyne as thanks for he and his crews effort into helping the royal guard, and he uses said harpoon to fire at shit with a harpoon gun :3 ok so. this is the part where corrin meets star ok. get ready ig.

Sometimes, monsters from that little home area of waterfall get lost and need a ride back with the boat. But sailing there is of course safer, but takes a long time due to a bunch of twists and turns needing to be taken. So corrin and their crew thought of a plan. They'd scope out a sort of shortcut to get to that home area faster so monsters wouldnt have to wait so long. As they were testing their theory the waters were extremely uncooperative, but Corrin got reckless. He took a wrong turn and they ended up crashing and he went overboard. Corrin sorta. floated away. half drowning, half not, just kinda out of it. Since the riverbed is the highest point of the underground, he ended up falling! many times! and much like a certain lil human guy ended up crashing into one of the mines in the dunes. The dunes, being a very hot area, is NOT suited at all for corrin. He can die there if going without water for at most 3 days. So corrin seeked refuge and for help to get back to waterfall or for someone to just. idk. give him water. Unfortunately he was attacked ! uh oh! From his looks alone corrin does NOT at ALL look like hes from the dunes and is an easy target, yknow. Corrin fought back though as he does have a weapon, a fucking harpoon gun, but as he did so he was caught in the act at the worst second. in rolls the fuckin feisty five, despite knowing how serious the situation is they were like "nah lets keep this up for the roleplay" "we might die" "no" sooooo corrin got locked up in jail! He was able to explain his situation about how hes a water monster and will die within days if hes kept in that cell, so they come up with a compromise. If corrin helps them out around the wild east, THEY can help him get back to waterfall AND give him water ! And yea. then he and star get mega gay and homosexual. wow. corrin actually forms a bit of a rivalry between the five because he doesnt enjoy being bossed around, but he kind of has to or he might die yknow. dont feel like giving all the juicy details but eventually he and star get a bit close and yeeeaaaaaa but then they help corrin back to waterfall, but he and star stay in touch. through letters ! Corrin keeps every letter he gets from star btw in a special little box. because he likes stars awful handwriting

Eventually though when frisk rolls around, and kills asgore (canon to my au) Corrin is fucking. Furious. He has lost all hope. He as well as entire monsterkind has lost their freedom to a CHILD. Blinded by rage he begins taking out all his anger out on humanity, which, to Star, who KNEW clover and LOVED them like family because of how incredibly kind they were, takes great offense to that. Corrin and Star have to temporarily take a break from eachother so that Corrin can work on his issues regarding humanity, having to realize frisk didnt have much of a choice. It was either them or asgore. And they're a child. Who might not be able to process or understand the weight they carried on their shoulders.

Once Corrin comes to terms with that, and calms down, he and Star are back together and are happy :3

Though, then Palila enters !!! (another oc for the au, the player char) and. Corrin is hesitant. Palila sneaked onto their ship to be able to go from one place to another much quicker, but in turn, Corrin has no idea how to handle them. Corrin doesnt know what to do, all hes ever learnt was to fight or get someone off of the ship immediately if possible. But Palila is a child. A HUMAN child. He doesnt want to fight them, not after all the time he spent collecting himself and trying to berid of all his hatred for humanity and what they've done to monsters, but he's forced into a situation where he HAS to fight because someone is TRESSPASSING on their property. He first sends Palila to Time-out (those daycare instincts kicking in) but once they escape he cant really do anything but fight.

Once hes spared though, he makes a compromise with Palila too. They can stay on his ship whenever they need to and wherever they want to go (like sorta the riverperson) but they must ask or inform someone on deck before doing so. and now hes a dad :3 So yeah thats basically all of it in like a very bitcrushed summary i didnt want this to get too long but whoops. If you're reading this, you're cool. If you read EVERYTHING? you're insane, love that for you. thank you.

#oc #my art #my oc #undertale #undertale au #tagging this as undertale yellow wouldnt fully fit i dont wanna tagspam #we'll leave it at that #oh right and uh #oc x canon #lorreeeeee

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loudhousewriting · 4 months

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PLEASE PLEASE MAKE A LONI X READER X LOKI AND THEIR BOTH FLIRTING N WE ARE OBLIVIOUS TO IT SO PLEASE 🙏🙏🙏🙏 (when you can <33)

oh my god! i never saw this lol. sometimes inboxes get lost istg Tw: Slight Language

Loki is a cheesy romantic. Lots of gifts and chocolates

^ So, for you to not pick up on his advances you have to be really love blind

Now Loni, Loni is.... Well, he's a cute lover. Compliments and words of affirmation are his love language. With him you just think that's how he is

Loki flirting is more obvious, but as previously mentioned, you're an idiot

You work at the mall, so whenever the family goes to the mall for the outings, they do everything in their power to ditch the family and see you

Loki is forced to watch his younger siblings, much to his frustration, but not Loni

Loni was thrilled when seeing you leaning on the counter chewing some gum while fiddling with your phone. He mentally prepares himself before approaching you

He is blocked though, because a customer captures your attention and they are pissed. Loni felt really bad, because they were yelling and getting aggressive, but you handled it surprisingly well. He recognized the customer-service act, because he pulled it when people were mean to him

^ He finally approached you when they [The 'Karen' ] left, but as he got closer, he could hear your annoyance and mockery and he was worried that it was a bad time. Though, when you saw him, you quickly called him over

"You just missed this crazy woman! It was terrible."

"Yeah... I saw"

You laugh, shaking your head, "She was fucking crazy"

"Yeah... Yeah, she was," He laughs and you both continue a conversation

"Hey, I'm about to clock out, do you want to hang out?"

It must have been his lucky day, or perhaps he had died and gone to heaven, and he was quick to agree

Loni tries to flirt with you, but it's mostly just stupid puns or flirts that don't land or he says the punchline wrong

"Are you from Pennsylvania, because you're the only ten I see- Wait, no... That's not right"

Lucky for him, you think he's rather funny and think it's kind of cute how he keeps messing up. He reminds you of a puppy

Loki sees you two together and is fuming

He wants to go over and talk to you, but he's stuck with the kids

He would have gone over with the kids to hopefully embarrass Loni, but he [Loki] was smart enough to know he'd embarrass himself too

Loki knows exactly how he'll get to you too. You're in Loni's grade, so Loki will offer to help you with the excuse of 'I've already done the work, so I know how to do it.'

^ Lucky him it works

He's so obvious about his flirting, calling you pretty and such

You just think he's being a sweet friend

It's very frustrating for both of them

They're siblings stay out of it, because they don't want to get involved with their brothers' love 'V' [It's not a triangle]

^ That is until they're threatened with losing certain privileges, but it's pointless, because you're clueless

You could have it spelled out that they like you and you would still think it's just a friend thing

#loni loud #loki loud #loki x reader #loni x reader #loni loud x reader #loki loud x reader #the loud house x reader #the loud house #loud house #loud house x reader #genderbend loud house

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familyabolisher · 1 year

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now that it's been a fair few months since the release, how do you feel about nona the ninth as compared with the first two entries in the series?

you know what! i like it a lot, and i think a good number of the criticisms leveraged against it were unfair. certainly it’s less cohesive than gideon and harrow were – compared to its predecessors, it leaves us with a maddening number of unanswered questions that can’t be tackled through inference or else left ambiguous in ways that could be compelling (what happened in the interim between the two books? how did pyrrha come to be with camilla + palamedes, and how did harrow’s body get there? what happened to gideon’s body? what’s up with the barrage of new concepts that the book introduced and left hanging: the messenger(s), the tower, the devils, the cradle creature?), such that it felt quite a bit less tightly formed and plotted than the other two. i think gideon and harrow had a good balance of internally asked-and-answered questions and questions that were posed with intent to be answered at a later date, whereas nona was heavily skewed towards the latter such that it felt a little off-kilter. i do think some of that disorientation comes from the fact that tamsyn muir is a very precise writer; i don’t know that i’d be picking up on the comparative thinness of nona if it weren’t for how gideon and harrow were both so fluently composed in the first place. but the point is, it’s definitely there; i don’t at all think that a pared-down nona incorporated into alecto would have been ‘better’ (contrary to some people’s opinion, i don’t think any parts of nona are superfluous), but nor do i think it wholly holds up on its own.

it also has a handful of other weaknesses – i have a fairly high tolerance for tmuir’s humour, which when it lands manages to land really well but when it doesn’t it doesn’t, and i think nona often erred on the side of doesn’t, and it felt a little too heavyhanded at points; which has been a consistent problem throughout, tbf, but, idk. tmuir can be a very subtle writer when she wants to be, but, again, when she isn’t, she … isn’t. and that began to grate a little, after a while?

however, at a certain point i’m willing to throw over the instinct to be nitpicky about Form or Structure or whatever and say that the actual content of the text – the discourse it managed to develop, the direction it dragged the body of the series in, the sorts of themes and ideas it articulated – was really, really strong, such that i’ve been chewing on it for months now. i think the fact that i still think about the scene with john’s ‘creation’ of alecto almost every day is a testament to the sheer weight that got thrown behind that passage – at the end of the day, whatever structural weaknesses the book may have is secondary to the fact that it made me feel the need to go eat sandpaper. a book that makes you need to go eat sandpaper is a good book!

also, god, some of tamsyn muir’s writing! there are times when she leans into a voice that a less skilled writer would deploy to create something excessively florid and, frankly, pretentious, but she’s laid the kind of groundwork throughout where there’s substance and meaning and precision to the prose voice that makes it equal parts chilling & joyous to read. some of many passages i’ve been rotating in my mind:

“Green thing,” said the Captain. “Green-and-breathing thing, big ghost, the drinker, transformed, what will you eat now? Where will your body go? What did he do to you, to make you this way? You eat yourself. I gorge on unliving marrow.” It was true; the Captain looked as though she were withering before Nona’s eyes. She cried out in haste: “Don’t ... stop that! I can’t stop it, but you can stop it. Stop hurting her ... She doesn’t know what you’re doing.” “You cry mercy?” said the Captain. “Yes—mercy—yes,” said Nona. “I have crossed the face of the universe,” said the Captain. “I poison it to match my grief.”

“They concoct their own vengeance,” said the Captain. “Their justice is not my justice. Their water is not my water. I came to help. I am made a mockery. The danger is upon you, and you do not even know ... they are coming out of their tower, salt thing. There is a hole at the bottom of their tower. I will pull their teeth. I will make it blank for you.”

He said, From my blood and bone and vomit I conjured up a beautiful labyrinth to house you in. I was terrified you’d find some way to escape before I was done. I made you look like a Christmas-tree fairy ... I made you look like a Renaissance angel ... I made you Adam and Eve … Galatea. Barbie. Frankenstein’s monster with long yellow hair. He said, As the world went up I remade us both. I hid me in you ... I hid you in me. And when we were together ... once the shaman had claimed the sun ... I became God.

He coughed fretfully—batted another metal-fisted hand at Paul, who had instinctively surged forward—and he said, “Look at you, you cock-o’-the-walk, you filigree piglet, you scum. A whited sepulchre ... Ninth blood on your foreign sword...”

He said, I just wanted to be in the lab. It felt like I could sit by those two bodies, those two kids, and make time go away. I could sit next to them for six minutes, I could sit next to them for six hours. Just listening. They were my moreporks and possums. I was hearing their bodies in all that silence, all the bacteria that weren’t growing ... what wasn’t building up in the gut, what wasn’t pooling at the joints. They were my silent night. I should have been doing paperwork and closing reports, but I hadn’t opened the computer in days. I couldn’t stop thinking about their palms, their hands. I touched their hands so often. I’d touched their hands before, but not like this. Even when I wasn’t touching them I could feel their skin on my skin, that temperature that wouldn’t change. I kept thinking I was touching them when I wasn’t. M— said I should probably get tossed in a rubber room, but she wasn’t scared I was nuts. She was scared I wasn’t. He said, You know, I can’t even remember how it came together now. There was no catalyst, no revelation. I was too far gone for revelations. It was like I’d been dozy and now I was waking up. So, my two kids, the guinea pigs, they were U— and T— on their certificates, you know, their old names. I thought about using those but it didn’t seem appropriate. They weren’t around to say yes or no. I was starting to really care about that. What they would’ve thought, what they would’ve wanted. My two kids with their frozen brains and their perfect internal temperatures. There wasn’t a place on the poor bastards I hadn’t breached with a thermometer, and now I was knocking before I came into their room.

literally just the phrase ‘the shimmering white figure of the dead Kiriona Gaia’

The rock loomed so big above, so awful in the electric light. There were so many people standing above her, her body, the baby’s body. The baby with the big black eyes. The scrap of meat with the purple mouth.

John loved her. She was John’s cavalier. She loved John. For she so loved the world that she had given them John. For the world so loved John that she had been given. For John had so loved her that he had made her she. For John had loved the world.

i’m not one for close reading but there are so many lines and passages in nona that i just want to go through with a fine-tooth comb, word by word, because everything is so deliberate and so infuriatingly good, lmao. i actually struggle to care all that much about the points where tamsyn muir is bad because when she’s good she is running circles around just about anyone else in genre fiction at the minute, and frankly when you’re doing the kind of things that she’s doing i think you get to use homestuck fanfiction and 2010s internet humour as your building-blocks as often as you like.

i’ll also say that i think the john chapters are the strongest pieces of writing that taz muir has put forth in the entire series, including the whole of harrow, which is already like genuinely one of the best-written books at least in contemporary genre lit (and probably in a far wider-reaching net than that) that i’ve encountered in recent memory. john 1:20 is permanently lodged in my brain; i am never escaping john 1:20 disease. i reread it when i’m bored sometimes just to make myself insane.

anyway, i’m really looking forward to revisiting nona in the wake of alecto and treating the two as one unit, because i suspect that a lot of nona’s weaker points will disappear or else become more coherent when considered as part of that broader whole. if we remember that nona was originally act one of alecto – well, it makes total sense for there to be a lot of questions posed in act one, with the assumption that they will then be developed and answered in acts two, three, four, and five. + something like paul, who imo felt very random and unresolved, makes far more sense as a near-the-end-of-act-one incident; it’s introducing a sudden change, doing something we as audience have never seen before, and setting up the other four-fifths of the narrative to carry its implications. my point is, nona to me makes a lot more structural sense as an opening to a more expansive text; which is exactly what it is. pro-nona the ninth account, its weaknesses stem from the fact that it’s a breakaway from alecto and i’m just not pedantic enough to mind all that much about internal coherency if that coherency can then be achieved in the last book – which i suspect it can! where nona’s good, it’s really fucking good.

#ask #tlt

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mareastrorum · 14 days

Text

This took a while to write up. Here’s something about Dune and Villanueve’s adaptation. I felt I really needed to chew on it before posting.

This is by no means a full thesis, just putting down some thoughts on Chani and Paul. I’m trying to minimize my use of story-specific terminology so that people who aren’t as familiar with that can still follow along.

Of course, massive spoilers below.

For those that have only seen Villanueve’s films, they are an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune, the first book in a series. You’ll find an incredible number of critiques and reviews of them online, as well as other adaptations. All of the adaptations have cut at least one part of the main plot, for varying reasons. Note that I said main plot. Cutting side plots is absolutely expected given that the first book is a behemoth, but each adaptation also cut part of the actual main plot line. That isn’t something unique to Villanueve’s films.

Some book background: Dune is a very thoughtful exploration of imperialism and ecology, particularly how certain patterns are reflections of each other. Most of the story takes place on Arrakis, a desert planet and sole source of melange, colloquially called “spice.” Spice is a mind-enhancing drug that is necessary for navigators to manage intergalactic travel at high speed—so it is the backbone of the intergalactic empire that plants aristocratic families on the desert planet of Arrakis to harvest the spice, which of course involves the oppression of the native Fremen that see the worms as religiously sacred. The atrisocrats use varying combinations of violence, diplomacy, and religion to oppose the Fremen at the same time that they appropriate Fremen knowledge of how to survive the incredibly harsh clime of Arrakis.

The key problem is that Arrakis as a habitat cannot change without endangering the sand worms that provide the spice. Terraforming to shrink the deserts where they live puts them in danger because water (the rarest resource on Arrakis) is fatal to the worms. Liet-Kynes (an ecologist from the Empire and half-blooded Fremen) persuaded Fremen leaders that it would be possible to terraform the planet gradually over dozens of generations and eventually create pockets of safe and habitable land for the Fremen without taking too much from the sand worms. The Atreides family learned this from Liet-Kynes before he died, and Paul eventually sets this plan in motion when he becomes Emperor. That plan was what won over the Fremen to his side. He had an actual plot to get them what they wanted, a path to become Emperor so he would have the power needed to make it happen, and intent to do this in a way to safeguard Fremen culture in the face of imperial exploitation by making the Fremen the dominant culture of the Empire. At least, that’s the story he sold them and himself.

Dune Part 1 did not have that facet. Liet-Kynes did not teach that to Paul and Jessica before dying. In fact, Liet-Kynes’s most lampshading scene of dying in the desert while despondently hoping that the Fremen would “beware of heroes” was cut entirely from the film. Now, that is a small deviation, and I can understand that Villanueve would have cut it for his style anyway. He doesn’t like telling—he favors showing in film. That is perfectly fair. Having a character lay out “this is my plan” and telling the audience blatantly “Paul is a hero and that is not a good thing” just wasn’t going to happen anyway, regardless of whether it was part of the plot. So when Part 1 came out, I didn’t take that as a decision to deviate from the actual plot of the book. I figured Villanueve would introduce these things otherwise, and it would make sense to come from Stilgar or another Fremen leader. Not that big a deal.

(Note: I’m not getting into a lot of the other omissions, such as the missing scenes, Gurney’s paranoia that Jessica had betrayed the Atreides, Paul’s mentat training, Jamis’s funeral, etc. I could literally write a book about everything that was left out, and honestly, it’s just more reason to read Dune.)

For Part 2, the biggest difference in is that Chani is a true believer in the prophecies that Paul is the Lisan al-Gaib, the messiah that would lead the Fremen to paradise. In the film, Chani is not merely a skeptic—she is a nonbeliever. As a result of this change, rather than support Paul, bear his first child, and agree to become his concubine (eventually bearing the twins that feature in the next two books), Chani of the films instead does not have his first son, disputes Paul’s claims, and leaves on her own rather than support his war. Additionally, although it’s not facially relevant, Chani is also the daughter of Liet-Kynes, the Imperial ecologist, and so is a mixed blood Fremen (though she is accepted without issue by the Fremen). Instead, in the film, Chani has no connection to Liet-Kynes.

This is a drastic change in plot. I genuinely do not know how that will be remedied so that Chani will bear the twins that eventually rule the universe and lead the empire down the prophecied Golden Path in later books.

Why is that a big deal?

To start, there is a significant change in symbols used between the book and film in this respect. I cannot overstate the importance of Chani as a symbol in Dune. In the books, Chani is a stand in for the Fremen and their culture, particularly that culture in current day. She is the daughter of Liet-Kynes because the current Fremen cultural goal is to bring about that dream of a terraformed Arrakis where they do not need to live so desperately. That is inseparable from the effects of the Empire; her father is an ecologist because that is the Imperial influence that the Fremen were willing to accept and integrate into their own lives. Paul genuinely loves Chani, is protective of her, wants her to thrive, and eventually wants to become the person of the prophecy she believes in. He wants to be the hero she expects of him, without losing his identity as her partner.

However, Chani does not represent all Fremen. Stilgar, Chani’s uncle, represented the old guard of Fremen that rigidly held to their old laws and ways of living. Paul and Jessica were not given any leniency; they had to prove themselves to become Fremen, and his support was clearly conditional upon that. As a result, to gain the Fremen’s respect and move them towards their common goals, Paul and Jessica assimilated into the Fremen culture, and then Paul systematically destroyed his rivals—which is the Freman way—taking the remainder under his banner to fight the Harkonnen. Paul finally broke from that tradition when he chose to let Stilgar live, convincing the old guard that it was better to cut down their enemies rather than each other for deviating from tradition. Chani stood by Paul the entire way, learning how fight Harkonnen from both Paul and Jessica, learned to use the Voice from Jessica, and became Paul’s most staunch supporter and connection to all other Fremen. Every aspect of Chani’s identity and her choices feed into the narrative that the Fremen had expectations of Paul, he willingly rose to the challenge, and they loved each other fiercely.

But near the end of the first book, Paul sent Chani and their firstborn son to a hopefully safe location that was then attacked by the Harkonnen. Paul did not know if either had survived at the time it was reported. Rather than rush to find them, Paul struggled with the decision and ultimately continued the fight against the Harkonnen. This was to tell the reader that Paul’s love didn’t save them, that he was not going to save the Fremen, and he was going to continue his bloodshed. This had already happened, and was going to happen again. Luckily, Chani survived, they mourn their son, and she agrees to be his concubine so that he could marry Princess Irulan and become Emperor. Everyone knew at that moment that Paul had no love for the princess and the marriage was purely political. Princess Irulan resented this until the end of the next book, when she reveals that she also came to love Paul, and she was jealous of Chani. But Paul did not love Irulan the way he loved Chani. It’s again a reflection that Paul truly loved the Fremen culture and saw the Empire only as a means to an end: achieving the Fremen’s goal of creating paradise on Arrakis. Dune ends with that affirmation.

In the film, that is no longer the case. Chani was not a symbol of Fremen support because she set out alone. Most of the Fremen supported Paul. She didn’t believe in Paul or the prophecies when most did. She didn’t have his firstborn and it remains to be seen if the twins will exist. Rather than Paul making a decision that shows he will destroy the Fremen culture, Chani makes a decision to reject him. This changes the dynamics involved in the story, and I genuinely don’t know if it will be handled well.

The next books continue the story years after Paul becomes Emperor. In Dune: Messiah, Paul wrestles with the duties of Emperor while attempting to preserve the Fremen culture (to keep Chani and their unborn children alive) and fulfilling his roles as prophet and leader. At the same time, he is beset by assassination, rebellion, and usurpation attempts. At the end of Messiah, Chani dies while birthing twins, the worms are beginning to die off, Paul loses hope in his plan, and then he walks off into the desert expecting to die because he does not want to become the Emperor he foresees necessary to continue this plan. He realized he has changed the Fremen forever, not for the better, and he thinks the best thing he can do is exile himself. Paul didn’t save anyone he cared about, and when faced with the decision to try to salvage the future in front of him, he walked away. Paul is a failure. The point is that he fails in the book titled Messiah.

The books were an ongoing warning that no matter your good intentions, no matter the support and love and resources involved, to introduce an outsider whose power depends upon a limited resource into the place of origin will eventually destroy any other aspects of it, even if that power was intended to preserve. Whether it’s imperialistic appropriation of a culture and its religion, or terraforming to change land optimal for a religiously and economically significant animal into something comfortable for another species, the thing you love will die.

You cannot save a habitat by introducing an invasive species. You cannot save a unique species by destroying its habitat. You cannot save a culture by using it to conquer others. You cannot appropriate a culture and keep it just like it was before you commandeered it. You will wind up with something else, and eventually the only remnants of the thing you loved will be memories reenacted by people so separated from the original that they won’t even know or care why they’re doing it (as shown in Messiah and God Emperor).

The entire point of the Dune series is that “white saviors” don’t actually exist. They’re “heroes” until time reveals that they’re not. They are merely conquerors with the delusion that they are saving the thing they sacrificed in order to attain power.

Chani’s rejection in Dune Part 2 erodes that. Someone who didn’t read the book is going to wonder, “what if she had stayed and persuaded him?” “What if Chani was the Lisan al-Gaib?” “What if an actual Freman had taken over the Empire instead of Paul?” Then the audience thinks, ah, of course, Paul made mistakes and that’s why he’s going to fail. If only he hadn’t been so blinded by ambition, everything would have been fine. If only he hadn’t needed to be the leader, if he had let Stilgar do it, if he had let Chani do it, etc. In other words, if the white savior had just done it the right way, it would have worked.

But that isn’t the point of Dune. To become the leader of an Empire requires that level of ambition. Stilgar submitted to Paul because he saw that Paul’s ability to engage with both the common folk and the extremists among the Fremen was absolutely necessary to defeat the Harkonnen, and Stilgar chose that over any other priority. Chani supported Paul because she loved him and genuinely believed he would lead her people to better times, because all she knew was desperation and oppression. There was ruthless calculation and devotional love in equal measure, but the cost of success as a hero seeking to lead an empire is that the thing you loved will die. The Fremen had already changed into the bloodthirsty, fanatical army before Paul ever saw the Emperor face to face. Paul’s son died and Chani went missing because Herbert was telling us that the future Paul and Chani both wanted was already dead before he laid siege to Arrakeen, before he became Emperor, before he started a war to solidify the Freman’s domination of humankind. The reason that everything in Dune eventually works in Paul’s favor is because even with perfect conditions, he failed. There is no world in which he would have succeeded.

You can’t eat a cake and have it too. Empires eat. Heroes, no matter how much love they have in their hearts, no matter who they fight for, no matter how much their supporters/victims wanted it too, cannot use an empire to save anything. The very nature of imperial power is to consume. Love doesn’t make a “white savior” any less imperialistic than a tyrant bent on conquest.

Is the next film going to get us to that point? I don’t think it will. I think it’s going to be yet another adaptation trying to tell a different message because Herbert’s message isn’t very palatable to a mass audience. We don’t want to hear that love doesn’t win in this circumstance. It’s a horrifying message, but it’s one that’s true when telling the story of imperial and ecological exploitation of cultures and rare resources.

That isn’t to say that the films wouldn’t be a good story on their own. It’s just not the story of the books, and I’m one of those people that actually likes the books.

There’s a lot of ways Chani’s new story could go, and I’m watching it like I’m observing someone setting up a dare devil leap. Villanueve is an incredibly skilled storyteller, but this is something no one’s done before, a lot of things can go wrong, and if he doesn’t stick the landing, it’s gonna be pretty gross no matter how the crash happens. I want him to succeed. I’m still gonna watch the next film. I’m just well aware that this is probably going to end in a watered down, generic “Paul failed because he wasn’t Fremen” sentiment rather than “Empires rely upon exploitation and destruction, at the expense of everything else.”

It’s still fucking amazing eye candy, and I’ll probably watch it again.

#dune #dune part 1 #dune part 2 #chani kynes #paul atreides

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