#and it becoming a queer space for all time of day and him mixing the two concepts

[winterskyfirefly]

Stede knows nothing about owning a cafe? bar? what has he officially purchased? It's a daytime diner turned into a evening bar that shut down that has attempted and abandoned both aspects without being successful either way. It's a foreboding introduction and he's not quite sure what he was thinking.

He was thinking he wanted a place for people to come and talk, to share their thoughts and feelings, to drink good drinks, warm and pleasant or full of flavor and a bit of zing, something a bit more adult. He wants somewhere for food, for friendship, a place where maybe different people can come together.

He doesn't know what he's purchased but he thinks maybe he'll do his best to make something of it. Combine the best of both worlds. Make something new. It won't be exactly a cafe or a bar or a restaurant, it'll be more and different and nothing like the world has seen. He can do it.

Two hours later and the panic is starting to set in. What has he bought? He doesn't have this kind of money. He spent two-thirds of his savings on a barely-held together building that might not even make it a week if a good breeze makes its way through town.

Plus – what is he thinking, being so extravagant that two different types of establishments failed and he's thinking of taking what little remains he has and turning it into some experimental unique place? Like it's going to just draw crowds and be an instant success?

The money alone that he's going to sink into this place – his own heart sinks at the thought. There's a cold, hard pit in his stomach. He swallows and feels sick to his stomach. What has he done?

A great business has a great name. His father told him that once when he was young. Half your chances are whether or not someone remembers you. Stede doesn't know if that's true. But it does sound true.

Stede thinks of all the times his father told him how he was lazy, self-indulgent, weak, unwilling to act like an adult and grow up. Sometimes, he got tired of trying to be good enough, of trying to live up to expectations. Sometimes he wanted to rebel.

The Rebellion. He thinks about it. But that brings to mind spikes and metal and loud music, which while not unappreciated is not what he's going for. He pauses and reconsiders until something else comes to mind. The Revenge.

He'll start out small, open late and serve breakfast and start serving drinks early – because money is inevitably made on drinks – but also serve coffee, snacks. Work as a tavern, but keep food around, people get hungry, and if you can market as a cafe a bit, maybe see if it can work.

A whisper in his head says this is ill-advised and will not work, this childish play, Stede Bonnet. It sounds an awful lot like his father and honestly, he can't admit he doesn't hear himself in it too.

The Revenge is a fool's game. He knows as much. He knows going in that he doesn't have the money to survive more than a few months. He wants to believe if he goes down that he might be able to bounce back is forced to give up and try to flounder back to his old life if he absolutely he has to.

But if he survives, he'll earn enough of a profit to survive, to not go bunk. That maybe he'll scratch out of a profit and turn something even, enough to renovate and find out what this place could be.

It has the chance to be different – however much of a small chance as it seems to be. He wants to have hope that something could be created from prior failure, from two wrongs that could not be rights, from an attempt that is foolish by nature no matter which angle you come at it from.

Even though every day, from the moment Stede wakes until the moment he can convince his brain to rest, his brain tells him he's wrong and he will fail, he will never be good enough, he looks at the lot he's purchased, soon to be named The Revenge, named prior Spelunker's Tavern named prior Nettie's Cafe and whatever else before that Stede had no idea.

It has to be different. Something has to be, anyways.

#ofmd #our flag means death #let me know if i should continue the concept of stede buying and opening a modern day daylight cafe/diner and evening diner/bar #and it becoming a queer space for all time of day and him mixing the two concepts #he has fantastic greasy breakfasts for the hangover and a light lunch but then a savory dinner and the DRINKS #the drinks are impeccable #the coffee is to die for night or day #and imagine stede and ed in modern day :3 :3

[radioactive-earthshine]

Random but, any hcs about Kon and his life in Smallville with the Kents?

I'm just going to make a list and babble :) Here's some HCs including bits with Bart bc they did live only 4 hours away.

1.) Not closeting, not in the way people use the term anyway - it was a necessary time that Kon so desperately needed. He needed a place to be someone OTHER than Superboy because he could no longer function without that off-switch.

2.) Kon always had shown interest in his comics of living a life without the Superboy question and being "normal" but it was very rocky for him so I feel like his early transition with the Kents were likely no different. Ma and Pa likely had to endure his dramatics, mood swings and outbursts of anger as he adjusted to being Conner Kent and living in a space that had consistent RULES. This is not to say he was just suddenly dropped off with strangers, because he wasn't, he knew Ma and Pa beforehand having spent a little time on the farm.

3.) If you guys thought Bart was bad at first, Kon was probably worse as Kon had years of baggage to unpack.

4.) We didn't get to see anything substantial of those early days with him with Ma and Pa but we saw small glimpses of him just not appreciating Smallville and thought it was "boring" and outright claimed to have hated it. It's a big adjustment.

5.) Suddenly coming to the realization that he was SAFE where he was and could just BE without suddenly having a fist in his face was one hell of a day...

6.) Yes we all should mock the cishet jeans and t-shirt look but he really was trying to figure out who he was without Superboy as a factor. I don't think Kon ever really does solidly figure it out as Superboy will always BE a part of him and part of his core identity and it's a balance he needed to try to find out - even if it meant going to one extreme side of the spectrum.

7.) To tie into #6 Kon found out he really does have an All or Nothing personality when living with the Kents.

8.) He's allergic to goat products - boy of steel he may be but even he is not immune to goat intolerance. There is no evidence of this, this is a true HC. He found out because Ma had goat milk and he decided to try it with... bad results.

9.) I am obsessed with Kon in his 2011 solo taking the time to WALK to school instead of flying or running or taking the bus - Smallville really brought him down to Earth even though he already was a child of Earth. It grounded him and put a lot of thinks for him into perspective.

10.) Going back to those early days - he reached out to Bart a lot to vent and ask for advice of how Bart coped with Max. They BOTH went from never having to worry about hiding their secret ID and doing WHATEVER they wanted to suddenly having to worry about preserving their identity and operating in an environment with rules that were the antithesis of what they were used to.

11.) Kon's entire first few months with the Kents were literal immersive therapy and I am furious we did not get to see this - this would have made an incredible comic.

12.) Adhering to comic canon I feel like it was during this deconstruction of who he is he realized he was queer. To the surprise of no one.

13.) His first gift to Ma and Pa was a quilt he made himself - you can take artistic-Kon from my cold dead hands. He made it at school in secret.

14.) Clark was a cryptid in Smallville when he was a teenager and Kon really was no different as his deeds throughout town resurface those old rural myths that began 30-ish years prior.

15.) I ignore any and all parallels that Simon was set up to be Kon's Lex Luthor and instead he becomes his BEST civilian friend. We do however find out that Simon's parents were scientists that helped make Kon - Kon has mixed feeling about this at first but he knows he can't blame Simon.

16.) Even Kon cannot help going back to old shenanigans with Bart and they make crop-circles - well they DID before Clark told them to stop - the killjoy.

17.) Cows make him nervous - look - he knew they existed but he wasn't aware of how BIG they were and he knows he is strong enough to pulverize them into instant bouillon but that still did not prepare him for the fact that they are megafauna that you have no control over.

18.) Kon will always take out a tornado - no he doesn't care if it's a small one - he's not going to sit back and watch someone's house be subjected to damage the tenants may or may not be able to afford. If there are TWO tornadoes at the same time he gets into a contest with Bart over who can neutralize them first.

19.) Going back to his acclimation - there was a lot Kon had to sort of unlearn when he started living with the Kents. Stuff he learned from being with Rex Leech, and during his time at Cadmus under Jim. He finally learned what it was like to be a normal person instead of a parody of what a normal person was.

20.) During October, Kon got really.... really.... into making the BEST corn maze. No, seriously, stupidly competitive. Like, not only did he want it to be complicated but he also for an added flavor made Bart chase people around with a de-bladed chainsaw. People think Kon hired like 7 dudes to do this but it's literally just Bart. He also made sure to decorate it with fake blood, webbing, and busted out fog machines just for an added flavor of spookiness.

#kon el #conner kent #kon-el #superboy #bart allen #dc comics #head canons

[the-oncoming-nightingale]

A few days ago I watched "Einstein and Eddington", in the midst of my Tennaissance. I'm glad I discovered this film, it's really beautiful and definitely my kind.

Well, first of all I jokingly asked myself if David will ever play a non-queer charachter (actually I've already seen Broadchurch), even though I love him also for that ♡

But most importantly, I've started doing some research about sir Arthur Eddington. I did rember coming across his name during the astronomy course, but I realized that he is not as famous as he sould be, considering the discoveries he made. Thanks to his studies he helped confirm the theory of relativity, to name one.

And then I found a poem written in his memory, so touching and beautiful. I searched the author and...it's been written by Neil Gaiman! I leave here the text. There are actually two of them, the second one about his personal life and the rumors according to which he had a relationship with another man (I say rumors because I couldn't find evidences, even though their social and religious context would have make it difficult even talk about the situation, maybe hence the lack of proof):

IN TRANSIT (for Arthur Eddington) by Neil Gaiman

1.

To find the many in the one he sweated under foreign skies to see the stars behind the sun.

So space and time were now undone reality was undisguised. We found the many in the one.

There is no photograph, not one, that shows the mind behind the eyes. He saw the stars behind the sun.

Not with a sword, or knife, or gun, a simple picture severed ties. He found the many in the one.

Light bends around us. So we run, as gravity reclassifies the stars we saw behind the sun.

To see the world beyond the skies, to know the mind behind the eyes, To find the many in the one he showed us stars behind the sun.

2.

Unfucked, or anyway retiring, in the awkward sense. Retirement will never be an option. The gruff gentleman with the cap who understands what the numbers mean remembers a bicycle ride when he was younger.

The smoke of the cigarettes he does not smoke kicks at his lungs mixing with the buzz of the booze he doesn’t ever drink a convivial pint after the ride into the country gave him such a thirst. And afterwards they lay on their back in the stubble staring up at the stars. Together. All the stars

Countable as the words in a Bible, countable as the hairs on his friend’s head, all accountable, and that is why they never truly touched. The shadow of prison or disgrace perhaps moving between them like the shadow of an eclipse.

And, in another life, at another time, to see the stars behind the sun, he takes his photographs fighting the cloud cover. Becoming the thing that happened in Principe. when he proved that the German was right, that light had weight, half a year after the Armistice. A populariser, but not courting popularity.

Somewhen a boy is counting stars. Somewhen a man is photographing light. Somewhen his finger strokes the stubble on another’s cheek, and for a moment everything is relative.

You can also find a clip of him reading the poem:

#neil gaiman #einstein and eddington #arthur eddington #david tennant #david tennaissance #theory of relativity #gravity #more like mavity #gravitational lensing #physics #eclipse #film #poems on tumblr #poems and poetry #Universe #planets #in transit #doctor who #good omens #good omens 2 #broadchurch #casanova

[missezri]

Small Defence of Kristina in Young Royals - Season 2 The Redemption Arc

For part one please see it here.

Also, these are all my own thoughts and interpretations. Season 3 could prove me all wrong.

Season 2 is a bit of a redemption arc for Queen Kristina, who while still is no Sarah Nelson or likely to win any LGBTQ+ Mother of the Year awards, is far from the villain that she was in Season 1.

The first time we see Kristina in Season 2, she is pleading to speak to Wilhelm. For someone controlling and calling the shot weeks ago, Kristina is rather submissive here. She isn’t coming into his space. When Wilhelm closes the door, she only talks through it and doesn’t make any attempt to open it. Wilhelm doesn’t lock the door, you see what looks like a key in the door, she can very easily open it and talk but she doesn’t.

When Wilhelm finally does call her, Kristina first looks shocked and surprised. After all, this is Wilhelm reaching out when he’s been continuing to ignore her calls and texts. This quickly gets shattered when Wilhelm actually talks. But I am going to pause here for a moment because, we see a new important character here, Jan-Olof Munck. He is the one that is going to become the villain and the representation of The Crown. In this role, only Kristina held Season 1, in Season 2 however, we will see her step back from that role. But, we will come back to him.

For this conversation however, I feel this is the moment that Kristina finally realises the extend of Wilhelm’s anxiety and (possibly mixed in too) grief over Erik’s passing. She is hearing up close and personal a full panic attack, and her reaction makes me wonder if this is the first time it has happened, if she noticed before. I would reckon she hasn’t, especially with her own disappointment and grief in Season 1. With Jan-Olof now in frame, Kristina can step more into the role of mother than Queen. Although, sometimes it takes Wilhelm asking before the Queen drops completely.

So, the next day we have Kristina taking action because clearly some intervention is needed for Wilhelm. I can see from Kristina’s perspective how removing him from school at first seems like something Wilhelm may go along with. Just months ago he was sending messages begging to come home. And I am sure there are other motives too like training Wilhelm up to take the throne, but for me, this conversation is one of the most important moments of the series.

While Wilhelm says she only wants him to leave to not see Simon because of the scandal and that she forced him to lie. While I do agree that yes, Wille likely felt very much forced to say what he did at the time, I also can see the logic behind Kristina’s words here. No one should be forced to come out. Kristina would have done a lot better voicing this before the video, but she’s probably had her own reflections. As seen by the news coverage, it is a big deal for a member of a royal family to potentially be gay/queer (the media would likely just jump to gay).

I am sure there is a part of Kristina that was hoping this would be some phase, but she is realising I think that her son’s relationship was a lot more. She is also saying this not in private. She is on a plane of other people, who while are likely loyal to the Crown, are hearing her make her own stance. Kristina is stating that she is supporting her son.

And yes, she does bring up the “When you are 18′” discussion, which again I don’t think there is necessarily done with ill intention. Wilhelm’s behaviour hasn’t been very mature as of late (refusing to speak to his mother for weeks, calling up and making demands). Clearly, Wilhelm needs some time to mature and work through things before he makes any rash decisions. I can understand this from Kristina’s point of view as she knows whatever he decides, it is going to play on the world stage and he will need to be ready for that. Getting Wilhelm into therapy is key to that. (And well done Boris by the end of the season).

When Kristina meets with August to let him know about the Royal Court’s plan to make him Wilhelm’s “backup” if he is not able to handle the pressure, she lets August know right off the bat this was not her idea. We the viewer gets to see that Kristina too is trapped in some ways by the machine of the Royal Court and the Crown. While Kristina protected August at the end of the last season when he leaked the video, it becomes more clear that she only did so to protect her son (and yes, by extension the Crown). 

If Kristina didn’t have her own title, I don’t think she would have a problem with Wille being queer, and this conversation cements it. It isn’t Kristina who asks if August is straight, it is the Royal Court who asks. Kristina makes it very clear that this backup plan is only if Wilhelm cannot do it, but until then she is going to support her son. As while August attempts to charm her, she never shows any sort of support in this conversation.

This line I find interesting when Kristina is explaining how August has been put forward has his replacement, not only for the speech but perhaps as King. And Kristina is very clear, this is not her desire or plan, it is the Royal Court. She’s been forced into this. Erik’s death has meant that there is only one person after her to succeed or Sweden will have to rework its government, which is a bit dramatic the country would survive, but again legacy is something Kristina is concerned about.

Why I want to point out this line though, is Kristina seems to be voicing what has been Wilhelm’s problem with the monarchy thus far, it is a punishment. You cannot freely act but have to constantly think what wider impact your actions may have. Choices are few and far between in Kristina’s position.

Kristina didn’t make the decision about Simon’s song, Jan-Olof did. She didn’t put forward August to replace her only son, the Royal Court did. She didn’t want Wilhelm to come out before it was his choice or he was ready. 

She is just in damage control dealing with it all.

So, in the end, I don’t think Kristina is the villain of Young Royals. She is a character with many different slides and flaws. She is far from a perfect mother, but she is also trapped in the same system that Wilhelm is too. We know Ludvig was not her first love either, she had to sacrifice that for the Crown.

The real question is going to be what she does in Season 3 with the news out. Wilhelm could have easily thrown Kristina under the bus by stating her part in why he initially denied the video. But again, she isn’t the villain, the Crown is.

That is my defense of her. I liked her a lot more in Season 2 and I better found I could understand her. But these are just my thoughts, feel free to agree or disagree.

#young royals #queen kristina #young royals analysis #prince wilhelm #young royals s2

[palior]

Awards 2023 : TV Shows

Third and last category: TV Shows that I’ve watched at least one complete season of this year.

Apocalypse Won Award - The Last of Us - Season 1 Episode 3 "Long, Long Time"

Still crying over those strawberries.

These Gays Award - The White Lotus - Seasons 1 & 2

And the world finally knew the greatness of Jennifer Coolidge *dolphin sounds*

Royalty But With Heart Award - Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story - Mini-Serie

The Queen and King of Hearts in a surprisingly touching tale. Personally, there's not enough free space under my bed to hide from the heavens.

Best Performance Award - Foundation - Laura Birn - Season 2 Episode 10 "Creation Myths"

Give her all the awards ! Her portrayal of Lady Demerzel inner turmoil is the biggest reason to watch this show.

Best Queer Show Award - Our Flag Means Death - Season 2

Glory to Calypso !

Warm Blanket Award - Hearstopper - Season 2

Dark clouds are on the horizon but that won't prevent Charlie, Nick & co from being one of the best feel good show around right now.

This Is An Insult Award - Secret Invasion - Season 1

NOTHING in this show works. The spy stuff is not suspenseful, the action is laughable, Fury is bored from start to finish and nothing carries over in the MCU. Let's all forget that this thing ever happened.

Awkward Goodbye Award - The Witcher - Henry Cavill - Season 3

At least we still have Yennefer to stan for.

Could Have Ended Better Award - Ted Lasso - Season 3

Compared to how excellent the two previous seasons were, this final one is such a mixed bag. So many storylines lead to absolutely nothing while others were so weird, and I'm not a fan of how it ended (but damn was Jamie hot this season). So long Richmond, you've been (mostly) great !

Best Goodbye Award - The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - Season 5

Midge + Suzie = OTP <3

Best Audio Serie Award - Third Eye - Season 1

For her first foray in the audio serie format, Felicia Day rocks it out of the park with a heartfelt story of a Chosen One who failed to save the world of magic and had to live with the consequences. Impeccable sound mixing and vfx with a stellar cast. Give it a listen, you wont regret it.

Best WTF Award - Mrs. Davis - Season 1

The story of a nun who has a vendetta with an AI that controls the world. The script is on acid half the time and worth it. Also, hot Jesus.

Best Comedy Award - Abbott Elementary - Season 2/What We Do in the Shadows - Season 5

Again this year, the two funniest comedies with the most heart win the award. Special mention to Guillermo finally realizing that becoming a vampire is not really for him.

Best TV Show Award - Scavengers Reign - Season 1

A show that makes you feel like you are reading a Mobius album. Gorgeous to look at, within a vibrant world with the most hostile and fascinating fauna I've seen in a long time. Topped with touching and interesting characters. Can't wait for season 2.

#my awards 2023 #tv shows #The last of us #The white lotus #Queen Charlotte A Bridgerton Story #Foundation #Our flag means death #Heartstopper #Secret Invasion #The Witcher #Ted Lasso #The Marvelous Mrs Maisel #Third Eye #Mrs Davis #Abbot Elementary #What we do in the shadows #Scavengers Reign

[orlafilmblog]

The Performance - The Amazing HoDs

I am in awe of all the hard work that the crew poured into my little queer women film and I want to highlight that in this post. Starting with…

The One and Only Lucy Gilmour – Producer

I wasn’t sure who I could rope into being producer for this project. I was leaning towards producing it myself (thank god I didn’t) when Lucy approached me. She explained how passionate she was about my idea and that she really wanted an opportunity to produce after realising it was what she wanted to specialise in. Lucy did not disappoint. From the start I had said I was happy to help out wherever an extra hand was needed, but I barely had to think about producing. Lucy dealt with things quickly and professionally and the communication between us was solid throughout the process. She was by my side for auditions and I really valued her input as we had some hard casting decisions to make. All the equipment was booked with plenty of time and she did her best to get us everything we needed. Of course she was the one to secure us Cabaret Voltaire, which was the perfect filming location for the club scene. When it came to filming, everything was done. She provided all the food and drinks, kept on top of everything and kept the vibes good. I feel the producer role has often been misunderstood, and to have someone who was so passionate about the project made a huge difference to our producer/director relationship. Lucy was wonderful to have on board and I would be more than happy to work with her again.

The Amazing Eva – Cinematographer

Wow. I am so in awe of Eva’s work. From the moment I had the idea for The Performance I knew I wanted to work with Eva, and I am so glad she said yes! I would ramble on and on about the visuals for the film, and Eva would somehow understand exactly what I was talking about. Her preparation and knowledge was inspiring and I have learned so much from working with her. I wish I had allocated more time to our talks as I feel I left her doing some heavy lifting that was supposed to be shared. There was a moment during the first day of shooting when we couldn’t quite get a shot to work. Eva was becoming very disheartened and upset and I could see the classic imposter syndrome creeping in. For such a talented woman to not believe in her own capabilities! I wish I could have given her more support other than “Eva, you are doing amazing”, but there is no truer statement. We got the shot and it looked gorgeous (of course it was cut in the edit…) Basically, in a very long-winded way, I am saying that working with Eva was an incredible experience. She pushed me to learn more about camera and I just hope she has taken something valuable from her own work on The Performance.

James Fox (Brooklyn Blood Brother) – Sound Recording/Design

James and I have an unbreakable sound/director bond. I didn’t really think through this agreement at the time. I realised just before moving into post production that I hadn’t actually heard anything James’ had designed before?! Nonetheless, I put my full faith in him, and I was not disappointed. James smashed this. Considering his less-than-ideal recording spaces (beside a main road – soz james) he managed to get the best audio he could. His recording for the make-up sequence is impeccable, no foley even needed! He also problem-solved the best way to record sound in the club, which was something neither of us had done before. Moving into the design, James understood exactly what I had envisioned for the sound and he executed it brilliantly. I was very annoying and picky about this aspect of the film, and James implemented every round of feedback no matter how big or small. James is a joy to work with, bringing a perfect mix of positivity and professionalism to every set. I am so honoured to call him my Brooklyn Blood Brother (and official honorary girlboss).

Katie, The Master of Pink – Production Designer

Katie turned my male flatmates boring plain bedroom into a pink glowing gorgeous room that fit exactly the character of Marie. Do I need to say any more? My flatmate has even kept the new layout of his room (minus the pink unfortunately). A lot of Katie’s work wasn’t shown in the film, which is why I feel it is so important to draw attention to it. She dressed the bedroom set, the bathroom set, and the club set in full, which allowed for the crew and cast to feel fully absorbed in the space. There are so many tiny details in Marie’s bedroom that we talked about, my favourite being the painting from the film we worked on last year together called The Last Landscape (I’m a sucker for easter eggs in films). This was my first time working with a production designer and I really enjoyed seeing someone else have such a deep understanding of my characters. Katie’s make-up design and costume choices were perfect for each character, and I definitely have a soft spot for Adinah’s look. Even during harder times, Katie still showed unwavering commitment to this project and these characters. She has showed a true talent and eye for production design and I loved bringing this film to life with her.

Bonnie – The Speediest Editor

With her being so pre-occupied with Longboard Nights, Bonnie and I had agreed that we would not talk about the edit until we got to the edit. Whilst this isn’t a perfect situation, Bonnie took it all in her stride. She also had a very tight turn around for the edit and produced a wonderful final cut that I am so happy with. She was amazing to work with, being the perfect balance of lenient and honest. Her opinion was invaluable, and she knew what had to be cut, even when I would fight for it, she was ultimately right. Her fresh way of looking at the film helped to bring it together. I found the editing stage to be difficult as a director; Bonnie helped immensely. Working with her gave me a stronger appreciation for the art of editing and I think she has a true talent for it.

Jack Birrell (The Storm in The Calm) – First AD/Intimacy Coordinator

Jack originally came onto the project as intimacy coordinator. This role was very important to me – I wanted the set to feel safe and open for all the actors involved. Jack had mentioned he had been an intimacy coordinator last semester and was happy to do so again. It wasn’t until close to filming that I realised I desperately needed a 1st AD. Jack was the man. I hadn’t fully understood the insane importance of a good AD. Jack was a key part of prepping the shoot, coming up with shooting schedules with fair breaks and productive days. On set, he kept everyone as on time as possible, problem solving as we went when we realised we had underestimated how long filming would take on the first day. He stressed so no one else had to. In the club, Jack was so on top of things in the club, working with the 20+ extras and ensuring we wrapped early. As a director, he made my job ten times easier. I am so grateful he came onto the project as a favour, we couldn’t have done it without him.

#film project

[handlewithcharacter]

I was reading your tags for Kara/Lena and Drarry and got so curious about the supergirl fandom what happened??? Was the supergirl actress homophobic?? The one who was in glee and that’s why she wasn’t?!?

OH MY GOD OKAY I AM SO SORRY FOR WHAT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN

The place? San Diego Comic Con. The year? 2017. Everything seems normal. Casts of shows are doing interviews, cracking jokes, it's a good time. And then the Supergirl cast are interview by MTV. And Jeremy Jordan sings a little musical recap of the previous season, in which he jokes that Kara and Lena are just friends. Well, I say joked...he very enthusiastically insists they're just friends. It is, shall we say, tactless. The cast seems surprised but are all laughing to various extents. Later on in the interview they're asked about shipping, and Jeremy Jordan says he's probably going to get some hate for his having "debunked Supercorp." Melissa Benoist tells him that he's "very brave."

Thus ends the part of this story that physically takes place at Comic Con 2017, but the real drama is just getting started.

(the page break is here for dramatic effect, but also because this somehow got very long)

You have to understand, anon, this is in between the second and third seasons of Supergirl. Karamel (Kara and Mon-El) were season 2's highly divisive power couple and the Karamel stans were making it everyone's business to know they had come out of the season on top. And you'd think they'd be in the midst of a great ship war with Karolsen (Kara and James) who decided to just be friends at the start of the season, but nope! No, their big enemy was the Supercorp fans. It was heated. It was tense. There was a block list that got circulated.

I'd say the Supergirl ship wars were the worst I'd ever encountered, but I would go on to join the Timeless fandom, and learned the very hard lesson of why small fandoms and ship wars should not mix. That being said, I'd put the Supercorp/Karamel drama as worse than the Clexa/Bellarke drama, if that helps put things into context for you at all.

So, suffice it to say, the internet was in upheaval over this.

Since I was firmly on the Supercorp side of the Supercorp/Karamel divide at the time, I can't say with much certainty how Karamel shippers reacted, though I assume they were pleased with themselves. But Supercorp fans were not okay. See, anon, I don't know when you started your journey into fandom, but in case it was after this, 2017 was a much different time. Lesbian ships weren't really shipped with the intention of them becoming canon since it was only recently that lesbian ships had started becoming canon, and wlw fandom spaces were all still reeling from the Great Lesbian Purge of 2016, in which roughly 40% of the canon queer women on television were killed off during the television season. (To this day I will watch shows and a queer woman will unexpectedly die for seemingly only shock value, and I'll be horrified, until I see the date the episode aired. Spring of 2016? Yeah, that tracks. Deep sigh. Lost another one to the Bury Your Gays.) Lesbian ships did not have the strength in canon that straight ships had, or the mainstream nerd appeal that gay male ships had. Not only did you have to contend with bitter ship wars, you had to contend with everyone telling you that you shouldn't be shipping the ship in the first place, that having a vested interest in a ship that would never happen was a lost cause and a question of sanity. To be a fan of a wlw ship was to be shut down at every single turn when you weren't even asking to go down the road and were just looking to see a potential view.

(Supercorp was far from the only ship to ever have to put up with this. If you take a look at fandom history, you'll see this countless times. Heck, the Xena fans who wanted Xena to end up with Ares were very determined that the lesbians would not overtake their show.)

But for some people, Supercorp was their first wlw ship. Their first queer community. Their first validation that it wasn't wrong to look at the main character of an incredibly popular show and wonder what it would be like if she kissed her same-gender best friend. I sincerely hope, anon, that whatever flavor you may favor, you have found that kind of validation in your media. It's liberating.

And now here you had Jeremy Jordan and Melissa Benoist "debunking" the myth that Kara and Lena could ever have feelings for each other. In all ways except physical, it was like the Supercorp fandom had just participated in the ice bucket challenge. And, whether it was as part of the Supergirl fandom or elsewhere, the Supercorp fans had already been through hell. It got ugly. Then there were memes. Then there was a lot of hate tweeting. Then there were people yelling about the hate tweeting. Mostly everyone was just a weird mix of angry and sad. These were two actors, two of the leads on this show, engaging in this behavior. It was a gut punch when everyone was already down.

Friday night, Jeremy Jordan releases an apology. It's not really an apology. It's an "I'm sorry you're upset" with a lot of condemnation and self defense. It has the general vibes that we'd describe in 2023 as "it's not that deep," but instead of addressing it to the fans, he condescendingly addresses it "Hey Kids."

Yeah, he'd spend the weekend regretting that.

Sunday, Jeremy Jordan would put out another apology. It was a sincere one this time, admitting he messed up and didn't truly understand the implications of what he was saying or the deep roots of homophobia in fandom culture. Most people accepted this - he was an idiot who made a mistake. Time would tell if he made it again. (Spoiler alert: he did not.) Some people, however, are still mad.

And then there was Melissa Benoist. Mind you, I don't think she personally acknowledged any of this at all. But her publicist sent out a statement (according to the fact checking I'm doing as I write this, it was in a private email to a fan, who then posted the response to tumblr) that Melissa was a proven ambassador of LGBT acceptance, as shown by her work on Glee. Uh, yeah. So that became a meme.

This, more or less, is where our story ends, unless you count a since-deleted Blind Item put out by TVLine that may or may not have been about the cast of Supergirl (but was heavily speculated to be about the cast of Supergirl) in which someone overheard two actors fighting before an interview the following day about one of their behavior, that ended when the other said "I just can't talk about this right now." (I am so bummed I cannot link this article, anon, you have no idea.) (The leading theory was that Katie McGrath, who of course came to Supergirl already having amassed a sizable queer following from her role in Merlin and also possibly her role in Dracula, gave Mr. Jordan a piece of her mind about what was and wasn't acceptable to say to a queer fan.)

And that's my tale. In addition to the season they were promoting, the cast of Supergirl would go on to do four more seasons and manage to get out of the Arrowverse without overstaying their welcome or being cancelled unceremoniously. And they moved on. Jeremy Jordan went back to New York, where he returned to Broadway and Off-Broadway and he's soon to be Off-Off-Broadway in the premiere of The Great Gatsby: the Musical. He also along the way ended up playing one of Hallmark's very first gay main characters. Katie McGrath went on to be a bisexual character on an Irish show, do the audiobook narration for a lesbian period romance novel, and is a masked evil lady in the new John Wick tv show. And Melissa Benoist went on to do a lot of incredible things in her personal life that don't necessarily belong in this little essay I've written here.

Genuinely, I wish everyone in that cast all the best.

Anon, I am so sorry this got as long as it did. I hope this answered your question!

#tl;dr it was a bunch of silly drama #and no one is actually homophobic #also me saying melissa did incredible stuff in her personal life isn't tongue in cheek or anything #I just didn't want to muddle those accomplishments by making them some kind of redeeming end to this story #because it's not relevant #and also her story doesn't need redeeming #this was wild drama but it was also just a moment #so please do not take away from this that i think any of them are bad people or anything to that effect #can't believe i can spend two hours fiercely dedicated to writing this but not any of the actual essays i have to write #would you believe i actually took out a whole little tangent? #it was about agents of sheild and skimmons #god i have to wake up in like four hours #asks

[givemethepage]

Layers of Fear 2023: The Actor's Story, Chapter 3

First time through. I didn't realize I was gonna get ALL the backstory I just asked about yesterday. This queer narrative is so front and center and I'm here for it.

SPOILERS.

So so so so. This man is a war photographer, he loses an eye, but he's not a soldier so instead of a pension they give him a medal and call it a day. He's got a wife at home where he becomes a projectionist at a theater he doesn't own. Has a daughter. Real firecracker. Eye hurts. He drinks. You find his wooden eye at one point. Of course that would hurt. Why not glass? Wife gets pregnant, gets sick, dies in childbirth with their 2nd child, MAB. This guy misses his wife, sort of kind of maybe blames the younger child, or that's how it feels to the kid. They're timid, effeminate. This makes the dad ashamed. The older sister is protective of the little one, teaches them ways to cope. Roleplay, hiding. Stay in the dark, play a part. Masking. (See chapter 2 on masks lol,) The young kid doesn't want to do this, isn't great at it. Yet they're coached by the sister to be brave, strong, like her. She even models for him the rejection of traditional gender roles when he questions her choice to play the captain, who is a man in the film. So, playing pirates like the movie that runs in their theater, the sister plays the captain and creates the quartermaster role for the kid, but the kid, instead, decides to create this first mate character, Lucia: a femme pirate who is a lot like the sister, and "so proud" of the captain. And by the way, the sister has seen how the pirate movie ends, but the younger sibling hasn't, and she's sort of withholding it from them. The theater is falling apart and the owner won't invest. People aren't coming, nobody is getting paid. The father must have caught the kid dressing up as Lucia and gotten real mad: you find a belt, the dad becomes represented by the cyclops from the movie, and once you make it through a maze with his burning eye in pursuit, you find these flowers and learn that on the anniversary of his wife's death, which is also the young kid's birthday, he spends all his coin on the wife and forgets the kid. Note here that the dad says "I'm going, look after your brother." Like, maybe he's not coming back. But that's speculation. It's also shown that the sister found news relating to this ship, and has the initial dream to escape their life by sneaking aboard. And perhaps the most interesting bit during the pretend space mission, she reveals that she always knew her sibling had this actor's charisma, this ability to affect people. And that's why she always cultivated it. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't teach them to internalize her natural bravery, confidence, grounded sense of identity. "He could be anyone... But not me." Not the exact quote, but I think that's what that means.

And then! I found this weird box thing! When I got back to the cabin it went in the section with the Rat Queen lore note. There's an achievement about strange objects. This must be one. I must have missed some in the first 2 chapters. I know I missed a poster in ch 2. And when I touched it again in the cabin, the box got stuck on my flashlight hand! Glitch? Puzzle? Do I need more stuff? And then in the telescope I found another floating but, but it didn't appear in my room like the first two. I hate the feeling of missing stuff. But that's why I start in chapter mode.

And then here's what it says when I try to exit on the first floor. This must be dependent upon the choices I make during the decision points.

1. You run, but do you know the way?

2. You build one character. You destroy the other, but do you know which one is which?

3. You follow reason, you see through it. You cut away the strings.

4. You're not afraid to play your part. You accept the inevitable.

Very cool. I can't wait to see the opposite, to mix and match, to fail to decide later??

The Rat Queen does keep taunting the writer, comparing her to the young sibling. "You're just like him," etc.

I'm also really interested in the way the daughter has sympathy for the father, warning us that the monster is also hurting, much like the formless version of the actor. And we see a sort of formless version of the father as he's losing his identity. It's alllll connected. This game is great, and I'll say it again, just as rich as the Painter's story if not richer. It's so REAL and plausible. Not exaggerated, not reliant on egomanaiacal or melodramaritic personalities. So, onward! And then maybe I'll correct myself about details during the 2nd playthrough.

#layers of fear 2 #game analysis #the actor #layers of fear

[autolovecraft]

He changed his business, but something always preyed upon him.

It was just as he had recognized old Matt's coffin that the door slammed to in the wind, leaving him in a dusk even deeper than before. Never did he knock together flimsier and ungainlier caskets, or disregard more flagrantly the needs of the rusty lock on the tomb door which he slammed open and shut with such nonchalant abandon. The day was clear, but a high wind had sprung up; and Birch was glad to get to shelter as he unlocked the iron door and entered the side-hill vault.

He was curiously unelated over his impending escape, and almost dreaded the exertion, for his form had the indolent stoutness of early middle age. Would the firm Fenner casket have caved in so readily? The light was dim, but Birch's sight was good, and he planned to save the stoutly built casket of little Matthew Fenner for the top, in order that his feet might have as certain a surface as possible. Instinct guided him in his wriggle through the transom, and in the crawl which followed his jarring thud on the damp ground. His thinking processes, once so phlegmatic and logical, had become ineffaceably scarred; and it was pitiful to note his response to certain chance allusions such as Friday, Tomb, Coffin, and words of less obvious concatenation. He was curiously unelated over his impending escape, and almost dreaded the exertion, for his form had the indolent stoutness of early middle age. The light was dim, but Birch's sight was good, and he vaguely wished it would stop. It may have been just fear, and it may have been fear mixed with a queer belated sort of remorse for bygone crudities. You know what a fiend he was for revenge—how he ruined old Raymond thirty years after their boundary suit, and how he stepped on the puppy that snapped at him a year ago last August … He was the devil incarnate, Birch, but you always did go too damned far! When Dr. Davis left, urging Birch to insist at all times that his wounds were caused entirely by loose nails and splintering wood.

To him Birch had felt no compunction in assigning the carelessly made coffin which he now pushed out of the enlarged transom; but he could do better with four.

In the semi-gloom he trusted mostly to touch to select the right one, and indeed came upon it almost by accident, since it tumbled into his hands as if through some odd volition after he had unwittingly placed it beside another on the third layer. As he planned, he could not shake clear of the unknown grasp which held his feet in relentless captivity. He was the devil incarnate, Birch, but you got what you deserved.

Well enough to skimp on the thing some way, but you always did go too damned far! The body was pretty badly gone, but if ever I saw vindictiveness on any face—or former face. On the afternoon of Friday, April 15th, then, Birch set out for the tomb with horse and wagon to transfer the body of Matthew Fenner. His drinking, of course, only aggravated what it was meant to alleviate. The practices I heard attributed to him would be unbelievable today, at least in a city; and even Peck Valley would have shuddered a bit had it known the easy ethics of its mortuary artist in such debatable matters as the ownership of costly laying-out apparel invisible beneath the casket's lid, and the overhead ventilation funnel virtually none at all; though ever afterward he refused to do anything of importance on that fateful sixth day of the week. That he was not an evil man. His frightened horse had gone home, but his frightened wits never quite did that. Then he fled back to the lodge and broke all the rules of his calling by rousing and shaking his patient, and hurling at him a succession of shuddering whispers that seared into the bewildered ears like the hissing of vitriol. The borders of the space were entirely of brick, and there seemed little doubt but that he could shortly chisel away enough to allow his body to pass. At any rate he kicked and squirmed frantically and automatically whilst his consciousness was almost eclipsed in a half-swoon. He was oddly anxious to know if Birch were sure—absolutely sure—of the identity of that top coffin of the pile; how he had been certain of it as the Fenner coffin in the dusk, and how he stepped on the puppy that snapped at him a year ago last August … He was the devil incarnate, Birch, but you got what you deserved. Three coffin-heights, he reckoned, would permit him to reach the transom; but he could do better with four. When he perceived that the latch was hopelessly unyielding, at least in a city; and even Peck Valley would have shuddered a bit had it known the easy ethics of its mortuary artist in such debatable matters as the ownership of costly laying-out apparel invisible beneath the casket's lid, and the latch of the great door yielded readily to a touch from the outside. To him Birch had felt no compunction in assigning the carelessly made coffin which he now pushed out of the enlarged transom; but gathered his energies for a determined try. He changed his business in 1881, yet never discussed the case when he could avoid it. He worked largely by feeling now, since newly gathered clouds hid the moon; and though progress was still slow, he felt heartened at the extent of his encroachments on the top and bottom of the aperture, he sought to drain from the weakened undertaker every least detail of his horrible experience.

It must have been midnight at least when Birch decided he could get through the transom, and in the crawl which followed his jarring thud on the damp ground. His drinking, of course, only aggravated what it was meant to alleviate. It was Asaph's coffin, Birch, but you always did go too damned far! For the long-neglected latch was obviously broken, leaving the careless undertaker trapped in the vault, a victim of his own oversight. In this funereal twilight he rattled the rusty handles, pushed at the iron panels, and wondered why the massive portal had grown so suddenly recalcitrant.

He could, he was sure, get out by midnight—though it is characteristic of him that this thought was untinged with eerie implications. Great heavens, Birch, just as I thought! The hungry horse was neighing repeatedly and almost uncannily, and he planned to save the rejected specimen, and to let no other doctor treat the wounds.

The wounds—for both ankles were frightfully lacerated about the Achilles' tendons—seemed to puzzle the old physician greatly, and finally almost to frighten him. Just where to begin Birch's story I can hardly decide, since I am no practiced teller of tales.

Undisturbed by oppressive reflections on the time, the place, and the emerging moon must have witnessed a horrible sight as he dragged his bleeding ankles toward the cemetery lodge; his fingers clawing the black mold in brainless haste, and his body responding with that maddening slowness from which one suffers when chased by the phantoms of nightmare. On the afternoon of Friday, April 15th, then, Birch set out for the tomb with horse and wagon to transfer the body of Matthew Fenner. When Dr. Davis left, urging Birch to insist at all times that his wounds were caused entirely by loose nails and splintering wood. It must have been midnight at least when Birch decided he could get through the transom, and in the crawl which followed his jarring thud on the damp ground. It must have been midnight at least when Birch decided he could get through the transom, and in the crawl which followed his jarring thud on the damp ground. Tired and perspiring despite many rests, he descended to the floor and sat a while on the bottom box to gather strength for the final wriggle and leap to the ground outside. That was Darius Peck, the nonagenarian, whose grave was not far from the tomb.

Certainly, the events of that evening greatly changed George Birch. That he was not an evil man. Birch, and I don't blame you for giving him a cast-aside coffin!

The moon was shining on the scattered brick fragments and marred facade, and the overhead ventilation funnel virtually none at all; though ever afterward he refused to do anything of importance on that fateful sixth day of the week.

The light was dim, but Birch's sight was good, and he did not get Asaph Sawyer's coffin by mistake, although it was very similar. Only the coffins themselves remained as potential stepping-stones, and as he considered these he speculated on the best mode of transporting them. You know what a fiend he was for revenge—how he ruined old Raymond thirty years after their boundary suit, and how he stepped on the puppy that snapped at him a succession of shuddering whispers that seared into the bewildered ears like the hissing of vitriol. He had, it seems, planned in vain when choosing the stoutest coffin for the right grave. He had not forgotten the criticism aroused when Hannah Bixby's relatives, wishing to transport her body to the cemetery in the city whither they had moved, found the casket of Judge Capwell beneath her headstone. Only the coffins themselves remained as potential stepping-stones, and as he considered these he speculated on the best mode of transporting them. The narrow transom admitted only the feeblest of rays, and the emerging moon must have witnessed a horrible sight as he dragged his bleeding ankles toward the cemetery lodge; his fingers clawing the black mold in brainless haste, and his hands shook as he dressed the mangled members; binding them as if he wished to get the wounds out of sight as quickly as possible.

At any rate he kicked and squirmed frantically and automatically whilst his consciousness was almost eclipsed in a half-swoon.

The tower at length finished, and his hands shook as he dressed the mangled members; binding them as if he wished to get the wounds out of sight as quickly as possible. He was curiously unelated over his impending escape, and almost dreaded the exertion, for his form had the indolent stoutness of early middle age. He cried aloud once, and a little later gave a gasp that was more terrible than a cry.

[free-angelz]

Really thinking about my place within and without gender

So the gender role of a woman, I absolutely do not recognize myself as that, I don't relate, I don't identify as that. It's also absolutely a role implemented by colonization and living in America from an immigrant family.

This doesn't mean that I can't be feminine, that I can't be part of the little village of women within my community and my culture who help maintain and upkeep our traditions and our customs. It doesn't mean I can't be soft, that I can't wear things that are traditionally feminine, that I can't perform femininity. I think to me, it means finding something outside of the gender norm, purposefully, intentionally. It means embracing my own, inherent, masculinity. Whether it be from my hyper independence, my brashness, my personal power, ambition, rage, and fierceness, even that doesn't define womanhood or masculinity to me. I simply see them as things that make up "me" and that is meant to be expanded upon, not contained. Not controlled,, zero, and open expectations and experiences. It means living outside of what the world thinks and tells me that I should be. It means not getting pregnant, but still having a family, not being a mother, but still being a guardian and a protector of the young people in my life. It still means caretaker, it still means helper, it still means beauty, and love. Nurturer.

I think the only thing I would want to physically change about myself is my chest, and the appearance of my chin. But I also think that these are things that I am able to live with, there is no sense of urgency anymore. It's only my upper parts, the ones that are there for all to see, that I think I have issues with. Whether it be dysmorphia, or dysphoria, a mix of both perhaps, it is the aesthetic indicators of my life that I am dissatisfied with, that I wish were slightly toned down. But maybe the issue isn't me, it's the way society views me, for simply being born with things that literally do not end up defining me at all. It is the thing that I am so scared of openly fighting back against, and changing in some way.

The little things help a lot. The hair cuts, the dye jobs, my tattoos, my piercings. The more queer I become on the outside, the better me I am. The more "me" I am allowed to express, the more I enjoy it. This is something that I think my cis counterparts just can't always seem to grasp. I think it's hard for them ,and especially cis men, to fully wrap their heads around it, and understand that at the end of the day, I'm me. I know what I want, and I know who I am. I know who I can become. And I will achieve it someday, whether they like it or not.

I think it brings into question this new little affair that I've been having with this guy. It brings me a rush, it brings me a lot of mental confusion, it sends me off into the world of idealistic romance, that can ultimate be reduced back down to "I want love, and this person is right here, right now, so I must pursue, and even go to the lengths of diminishing myself even to make him see me". And that is SO SO wrong. Is it wrong of me to diminish my loud crazy, eccentric, unique ass self, just to be loved, and especially by a man like hello? All he really gives me is sex and convos. I can literally get that from anyone. I guess I am just at odds because I haven't approached a man in a long time until now. I am the one who allows him into my space, and my heart says I love it lol

My mind instantly goes to that safe place, where it's romantic, and he's there, and we have these faux romantic conversations that will literally not happen irl, and it's like this beautiful fake dream and scenario. And I get toxic as fuck. I diminish myself for him to be the one to save me and take me out of it, I tell myself that I don't deserve literally the bare minimum of someone loving me and wanting to help me and support me. I act like he is this person on a pedestal, and that's so wrong because Axlov could be ANY man I attach myself to. I did it with Gavin, I did it with literally every single male crush I ever had. And while I have also done this with girlfriends and friends to a degree, I think it is important and specific to acknowledge this dynamic with men who have come and gone into my life. It's sick to me. They're all just place holders for this weird space that I think needs to be filled by them when that's not true. It feels like it's an excuse for me to self harm, it's an excuse for me to escape into my mind, it's an excuse for me to think that someone loving me in this fake world, or even the real one, is going to fix my problems, especially when I know how to be healthy. I know how to change, grow, fall and get back up. It just doesn't make sense to me that I am so enthralled like this. SO instantly.

#bpd thoughts #bpd vent #bpd blog #bpd writing #mental anguish #emotional writing #emo #hypersexual #unlearning #healing #nonbinary #queer #lgbt

[harrydracobang]

Harry/Draco Big Bang Week #1 Round-Up

Below you'll find a round-up of all of our amazing submissions that have posted during our first week of @harrydracobang​! 

We hope you’ve been enjoying all the novel-length Drarry and amazing art so far, and we want to thank everybody who has been following the fest and supporting our participants with comments, kudos and recs! You are amazing and we know for certain our fantastic artists and writers appreciate all your support! <3

The next fic will go up tomorrow, and we still have one more week of amazing fic and art, but for now, check our first week below to make sure you didn’t miss anything. Don’t forget to leave some love for our participants as you make your way through the submissions!

Make Yourself written by @anyaelizabethfic​ with art by @zigster-ao3​ [Explicit, 103k] Summary : Harry just wants to be safe within the freshly painted walls of Grimmauld Place, with his friends around him. But when he hears Draco Malfoy has been spotted at the local soup kitchen, he can't help but encourage a different type of stray to come under his roof. -Zigster's Tumblr Art Post 1 -Zigster’s Tumblr Art Post 2

sweeten to taste written by @bigblackdogfic​ with art by @babooshkart​ [Explicit, 51k] Summary: It starts with Draco's buckwheat crepes with honeyed oranges. Or maybe it starts with his porridge with toasted walnuts and homemade apple butter. Or perhaps it starts with the cinnamon buns Draco made from scratch with mascarpone icing. Harry just knows he's hungry for more. -Babooshkart’s Tumblr Art Post

Graceless Heart written by @orange-peony​ with art by @chuckalart​ and @secretartlair​ [Explicit, 132k] Summary: Harry is lost and broken after the war. He has gone to countless funerals, broken up with Ginny, moved back into Grimmauld Place—which feels darker and dirtier than ever before despite how much he tries to fix it. He feels lonely and desperate, but he won’t ask for help, and he still can’t cry.

When he agreed to help the Aurors at Malfoy Manor over the summer, he thought that he would be breaking dark curses. Harry never thought that he would actually spend his days sorting out dusty books with Draco Malfoy, or teaching him how to cook.

Little by little, as they begin to navigate their life post-war, Harry and Draco become intimate…in more ways than Harry could have ever expected.

See How They Run written by @harryromper​ with art by @inveigler81​ [Mature, 51k] Summary: Harry’s living above the shop in Knockturn Alley, working as a private detective after a failed stint as an Auror, when he gets an invitation from Luna Lovegood to the last place he could have imagined: Malfoy Manor.

As Luna and Draco’s friends gather for the weekend, it isn’t only memories of wartime violence that surface. It seems that a lot of the guests have things they want to hide, including murder.

It falls to Harry to solve the mystery, and while he’s at it, to untangle his feelings for Draco Malfoy once and for all. -Inveigler81′s Tumblr Art Post 1 -Inveigler81′s Tumblr Art Post 2

Brave Though The Stars They Make Me written by @dwell-the-brave​ with art by @puncertainty​ [Mature, 108k] Summary: After the events at the end of his Sixth Year, Draco Malfoy has been kept all but prisoner in his childhood home, Malfoy Manor. Alone, terrified, and desperate for some way out, he begins to have strange dreams - dreams of Harry Potter. Are they a trick of his mind? Or are they a way to change his fate, and a chance at redemption? -Puncertainty's AO3 Art Post -Puncertainty's Tumblr Art Post

Nor All That Glisters written by @sweet-s0rr0w​ with art by @deancebra-art​ and @fantalf​ [Explicit, 110k] Summary: Lonely and frustrated on house arrest, with no prospects for the future, Draco begins brewing Felix Felicis in an attempt to improve his lot. Just in the short term, of course. He isn’t a total idiot.

But before long he finds himself with a thriving business, a nice flat, some actual (albeit irritatingly Gryffindor) friends, and a very satisfying sex life. What’s more, no-one is hexing him in the street. And Harry Potter is single, and gorgeous, and giving Draco decidedly interested looks.

Stop taking the Felix? You must be joking… -Fantalf’s Tumblr Art Post

spins madly on written by asofthaven with art by @iaooa​ and Monotremata [Teen, 56k] Summary: As part of his probation, Draco Malfoy returns to Hogwarts to complete his N.E.W.T.s. Gobstones, the political machinations of the Hogwarts student body, and one Harry James Potter captures Draco’s attention instead. -Iaooa’s Tumblr Art Post

Chasing Shadows written by @manixzen with art by @avaeryn [Explicit, 93k] Summary: The murder of Lucius Malfoy seems impossible—no cause of death, no traces of spell-work, no potions in his system. The only leads Harry and his partner have are the trail of missing wizards the deeper they go. That and the help of the victim’s estranged son who now spends his time bartending at a queer-friendly Muggle pub.

A case fic featuring a closeted Harry Potter, an out-and-proud, tattooed Draco Malfoy, and a murder mystery that seems to lead to more questions than answers.

Home Truths written by @skeptiquewrites​ with art by @fantalf​ [Explicit, 67k] Summary: In the off-season Harry decided to fix up Grimmauld Place and found that Draco Malfoy was the only person who could help him. A demanding career and unrelenting press scrutiny were enough to deal with before Harry added a house with a mind of its own, family history, and a tense, flirty, complicated relationship with his childhood nemesis to the mix.

On professional Quidditch, magical houses, hard choices, Life Debts, and inconvenient truths. -Fantalf’s Tumblr Art Post

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets written by @iero0​ & @ladderofyears​ with art by @egggnoodles​ and @faevorite-main-blog​ [Explicit, 287k] Summary: Hogwarts is the very last place that Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy want to return to after the war. The Castle feels claustrophobic and stifling. Both feel trapped within its walls.

Harry is traumatised by the war, by his sudden breakup from Ginny, and by the knowledge that his friends all know what they want to do with their life.

Meanwhile Draco is reeling. He has narrowly escaped an Azkaban prison sentence and is struggling under the strict rules of his probation. He doesn't know where his mother is, and finds himself a pariah among the other students.

The last thing that either student wants is mandatory Mind Healing. What has happened to them feels so big and devastating, that writing to a stranger feels farcical.

Even so, they are not given a choice.

Harry and Draco are both given a shared magical diary, and soon they begin writing letters to an anonymous fellow student.

Their letters, terse at first, grow longer as the days pass. Before long, each wizard confesses their secrets and their fantasies, their wishes and their dreams.

What will happen when their true identities are exposed? Will their vulnerable new relationship be destroyed before it has even begun? -Egggnoodles Tumblr Art Post

A Sense of Scale written by @fantalf​ with art by @dragontamerdame​  [Mature, 71k] Summary: Potter merely shrugged, as if it was nothing. After all, it wasn’t his life’s work. “You can try to win it over.” Draco snapped, “What?!” “The school. Win it over.” “How the fuck do I win a school over, Potter?! It’s a bloody school, not a person!” And he didn’t win people over that easily, overall. “I don’t know. Use your charms. I know you to be very inventive.” —— In which Draco spends an obscene amount of time thinking of new nicknames for The Living Git, lying to himself and using his charms to seduce an extremely uncooperative sentient school.

Independent Art: Homage by @cambiodipolvere​ [General] Summary: A space between dangling feet, less than a foot.

#drarry #drarry fests #drarry fest #draco x harry #harry x draco #drarry fic #drarry art #harrydracobang #2021 fest #weekly roundup #mod post

[variousqueerthings]

Daniel LaRusso: A Queer Feminine Fairytale Analysis Part Two of Three

Part 1

Part 3

6. Sexual Awakenings part 1: Love, Obsession, & Size Differences

[Insert that post talking about the creators making sure that Daniel’s antagonists were much bigger than him so that the audience would sympathise, spawning 10000 size kink fics]

I’m sure this won’t awaken anything in Daniel

Corporate wants you to find the difference between these two pictures

The hallmark of feminine fairytales tends to be growing into womanhood, with all those symbolic sexual under/overtones, searching for a prince, encountering monsters (or evil stepmothers), on the surface tending to be quite passive/reactive, but actually being about young girls and women getting out of their environment and choosing to tussle with those deep, dark desires – monsters. They’ve got to function within the limitations of power that they have – escaping an abusive situation through marriage, chasing forbidden desires under the guise of duress, asking questions about sexuality through things like symbolic plucking (flowers) or consumption (fruit) or pricking (needles), etc.

Daniel isn’t striking out to find his fortune or win a girl or a kingdom Like A Man, he’s not a threat to Silver, who – like Jareth in Labyrinth – is in control for almost the whole of the narrative, he’s not actually able to do much more than react until he makes the decision to stop training, and even then he’s immediately ganged up on and assaulted, needing to be saved by Miyagi while he stands and watches, bloodied and bruised. 

Daniel’s journey in the third movie is to be forced into an impossible situation, seduced by Silver, and then prove that whatever violence Silver did to him isn’t enough to destroy him. It is incredibly similar to Sarah’s in Labyrinth, who by the end declares: “you have no power over me,” and that’s her winning moment. Not strength, not wits, not a direct fight, (although Daniel does fight Barnes and gets beat up again – only winning in in the end by taking him by surprise, unlike in TKK1 or TKK2 where you could argue that he proves himself to be a capable physical opponent to Johnny and Chozen), but by declaring that whatever power was held over her is now void.

Daniel’s narrative isn’t satisfying in the same way, because the dynamic of Silver and Daniel only accidentally emulates this - it’s not an intention on the side of the film-makers.

When Miyagi tells Daniel that he has strong roots, when he tells him not to lose to fear and Daniel wins over Barnes (in an almost fairytale-esque set of events), on paper he’s defeated whatever hold Terry Silver has over him. In the film itself though, Daniel never defeats Silver (which will likely be confirmed once he returns in Season Four). Daniel cannot simply say “you have no power over me,” and see Silver shattered into glass shards. 

The film is a contradiction: It wants to be a masculine sports film, but it exists in the same realm as Goblin Kings seducing young girls with the promise of: “Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave.” Unlike Sarah, Daniel doesn’t claim the power that’s been promised to him on his own terms. His subtextually sexual awakening is so corrupted that all he can do is pretend it never happened.

Still, Daniel proves in the film that his strength is not in his fists. It’s in his praying to the bonsai tree that’s healed despite a violent boy brutally tearing it in two.

These looks on Daniel and Silver though?

So why does Silver become obsessed with him? What’s up with all those red outfits (that he doesn’t wear in Cobra Kai)? What does the temptation reveal about Daniel? How does it recontextualise TKK1 and TKK2? Is Daniel bisexual? (yes).

Ah, beach-Daniel, in your red hoodie and your cut-off jorts. Iconic hot-girl summer vibes. 

If you didn’t want me over-analysing this, you shouldn’t have put him in so many red outfits and then have this man leering at him like he wants to eat him alive.

Surface-level it’s not hard to read into a Dude Story: Masculine power fantasies are about strength in a very direct way. Fighting, control, suaveness – and if you’re not the most traditionally masculine of guys, asserting dominance through being a good lover or intelligent or overcoming that unmanliness in some way through beating the bully or convincing the hot girl to go out with you, levelling up in coolness. Being A Man. It’s not too dissimilar from Daniel’s arc in the first movie, if you watch it without taking later events into account, although Daniel is never interested in proving himself as a man, and more in making Miyagi proud. Still, he does win and gain respect, and arguably “get the girl,” although Ali’s interest in him was never dependent on the fight.

7. Sexual Awakenings Part 2: Sexual Assault, Liberation, and Queerness

Feminine power fantasies are often about sex. Metaphorically. More accurately it’s “owning sexuality.” Even more accurately: “Freedom.” They also inhabit a fluid space in which empowerment through monstrous desires and non-consent can happen at the same time. And on top of that, many of these “fantasies” are actually being written by men, so whose fantasy is it really? A lot of them are based in oral traditions so presumably they were originally from the mouths of women, even if modern iterations (starting with Grimm’s collections) are filtered through cis men’s perspectives.

All of that being acknowledged: In Angela Carter’s “The Company Of Wolves,” Red Riding Hood unambiguously sleeps with the wolf. Belle discovers her freedom from expectations and unsuitable suitors (and in some versions, evil stepsisters) by falling in love with a Beast (the original novel was written by a woman, the 18th century Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve). Jareth informs Sarah of his obsessive devotion to her in Labyrinth. To lean into horror for a moment – Buffy is stalked and eventually has relationships with both Angel and Spike, Lucy in Coppola’s Dracula (which I have mixed feelings about) is raped by the werewolf and Mina is stalked by Dracula, The Creature Of The Black Lagoon kidnaps Kay (the lead’s girlfriend) – subverted in both The Shape Of Water in which Eliza forms a consensual relationship with the amphibious sea-god and in the short-lived horror series Swamp Thing, in which the connection is purposefully framed as seductive…

and in The Karate Kid Part Three Daniel LaRusso punches a board until his hands bleed because an attractive, older man tells him to and in this moment he gives in to what he (thinks he) wants.

Not all of those examples are equal. Some are consensual, some are hinted as abusive and/or stalkery, all of them have large age gaps, and a few are outright non-consensual.

But they’re all fantasies.

They’re all power-fantasies.

Except for Daniel, because he’s a man and the idea that being obsessed (lusted) over by an older man who keeps you in his thrall, specifically because you tickle his fancy for whatever reason, because you’re beautiful, breakable, different – could in any way be considered empowering is a difficult concept to wrap your head around. It doesn’t contain that “but I’m a good girl, I’d never go off the path and pluck flowers if a bad wolf told me to, honest,” societal context or the social context of rape culture. It’s closest comparison is closeted (perhaps even unknown until that point) queer identity.

There have recently been some comparisons of Daniel LaRusso to Bruce Bechdel in Funhome (and everyone who says that Ralph Macchio ought to play him in the upcoming movie: you’re right and I’m just not going to enjoy it as much without him). I’ve written a post about Sam being the heir to his legacy and trauma, specifically as a queercoded man. It’s not dissimilar to the plot of Funhome in a lot of ways.

The other interesting source that’s been going around in connection with Daniel is the essay “The Rape of James Bond,” which discusses the use of sexual assault as a plot device for women and not for men: “About one in every 33 men [in the US] is raped. … [your statistically average, real life man] … doesn’t have a horde of enemies explicitly dedicated to destroying him. He doesn’t routinely get abducted, and tied up. Facing a megalomaniac psychopath gloating over causing him pain […] is not the average man’s average day at the office.” That last bit is just a descriptor of Terry Silver, (although I take issue at the blasé use of psychopath).

The two part youtube essay  Sexual Assault of Men Played for Laughs posits that there is nothing more de-masculinising than the threat of sexual assault and therefore any narrative that features this “rightfully” must mock any man who has been a victim or who fears being a victim of sexual assault. It is feminising. There is nothing more humiliating – and therefore unheroic – than a man dealing with sexual assault.

So what do we feel when we see an attractive young man being put into a vulnerable position by an older man? A trope associated with female characters, a trope that is considered unpalatable for men (see reactions that happened when the hint of sexual assault was introduced in Skyfall).

Was it the fact that he was being threatened, or the fact that James’ next line is: “what makes you think this is my first time?”

Some thoughts added by @mimsyaf​ are around the idea of safety in how a lot of cis women might relate to this narrative through Daniel’s eyes. He’s not a woman, he has – societally – more power than a girl or woman would have, which makes this a different watch to, say, if Danielle were to go through the same narrative. Daniel doesn’t carry that baggage of rape culture, or of the male gaze that you might find in a similar scenario of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Christine in Phantom of the Opera (and once more the age differences between these characters and the men who love/lust over them are substantial), which makes the narrative “safer” to engage with.

I agree with that, although as a transmasc person I also come at it differently. I specifically like to headcanon Daniel as a trans guy and find his fraught interactions with masculinity through his own non-toxic lens relatable, as well as the way other boys and men react to it – also I think Terry Silver is hot. I know there are people who write Terry Silver with female OCs, which is also a form of empowerment.

On the flipside putting Daniel in this space runs a risk of fetishising him as a queer youth who is either Innocent and Pure, or a bisexual stereotype that deserves to be assaulted for not being a real man. After all, Real Straight Men don’t run the risk of sexual assault.

 Alas, the road to empowerment never did run smooth. 

The comparisons between the way Daniel is treated by the text and how female characters are often treated in texts are undoubtedly there. Through Ralph Macchio and TIG’s casting and the direction and acting, but also within the text itself. 

It might not be with the same purpose as Neo’s symbolically trans journey, but it puts the whole narrative that Daniel’s going through from TKK1 under a different light than if there had only been one movie that ended on a triumphant sports win and a girlfriend.

Johnny’s masculinity and the use of tears as liberation, now that’s a whole other analysis….

#daniel larusso #terry silver #the karate kid part three #the karate kid #cobra kai #ck #cobra kai meta #part two of three #we're going into labyrinth and james bond in this one fellas #(non-gendered fellas)

[sixstepsaway]

Writeblr/Artblr/Tumblr Introduction 2022

Hi, hello, I am Jess. I'm 29, mostly femme, any/all pronouns you literally cannot fuck my pronouns up, you also can't misgender me lmao, ADHD and autistic, and I've been on Tumblr since... Oh no. I must have been 16 or 17? Yikes. 2009, ish. With different blogs. I find it hard to maintain multiple social medias and have mostly been doomscrolling Twitter for a few years, but I always end up coming back to tumblr, I guess and let's just say my page is, right now, a bit of a WIP again because things have changed since 2020.

Anyway I am a Jess of all Trades, I do a little bit of pretty much everything. I draw, I write, I code, I do videos-- honestly, I do too much to list, so let's do some sub-lists.

About Me:

I am pro-ship, pro-expression, pro-fiction, anti-capitalism, anti-radfem, pro-kink, anti-terf and anti-swerf and big time anti-censorship. I don't believe that just because GRRM writes about twins murdering children he thinks twins should go murder children. It's art. It's a book. I believe that fiction is often an escape. Fiction is not reality.

If you don't agree with that you likely won't enjoy my blog or my work? So yeah.

I'm also hecking queer as heck and make it everyone else's problem, much like my hyperfixations, I believe in practicing radical kindness though I don't believe in being nice to the detriment of myself and others (for example I like helping out when I can if I see a GFM or something like that, but if someone tells me to Kay Why Ess I'm going to tell them to go fuck themselves with a cactus, ya know?), and I'm constantly working on my mental health and my life outlook.

What I Write:

♥ Speculative fiction (sci-fi, fantasy, superheroes etc) ♥ Queer. I might write M/F relationships sometimes, but all my work is queer at its core. ♥ Genre-bending/mixing: I love a good space romcom or fantasy slice of life or whatever. I like mixing it up. ♥ Long AF/Episodic: Most of my work runs long and written like reading a TV series. All my work has 'volumes', a lot of them have 'parts'. Runners, for example, is three parts each with three volumes a piece. ♥ Often 'problematic'. I like dark fiction as well as happy fun times! ♥ Fanfic. Usually E-rated.

My Current WIPs:

🌿 RUNNERS : Believing them to be their saviors in a time of war, the mages of a land of myth and magic known as Aosi summon four young adults to their world to fight their battles for them.

🌈 THE RAINBOW LEAGUE : It's been known since superpowered individuals first showed up that 'all supers are gay', be they superheroes or supervillains. When Kyle Jordan Kramer discovers his abilities at the ripe age of 16 and has no doubts in his mind that he is, in fact, heterosexual and cisgender, the only superhero group that will have him is the 0.5 star rated 'Rainbow League', a group made up of every jaded superhero that's ever had enough of the life of super-ing. Determined to turn the poorly rated group around and make it something special, he embarks upon a journey of discovery for himself and drags those around him along for the ride.

🏴‍☠️ QUARTZ SHORES: The seas have risen and a new golden age of piracy is upon the world. Captain of the Cursed Cutlass, Evie Quartz is devastated to discover one day that the one person she trusted above all else, her first mate, Robert Deniau, has seized the loot from their last few hauls and made off into the mist. Hunting him down and retrieving the gold becomes the prime objective of the ship, but when the Cursed Cutlass makes berth at an equally cursed vacation island, things soon get out of hand.

💞 MY SOUL REMEMBERS: It's been 21 long years since the death of Elizabeth and Damien's sire, Sebastian, and finally they've found his soul, reincarnated into the body of a young woman desperately trying to keep her family afloat after the untimely demise of her parents. It was simple once, to imagine forcing the soul to roll back to Sebastian and reunite the group as they're meant to be, but faced with Jazz and her small group of kids all reliant on her and her alone to see their next meal, Elizabeth and Damien are forced to confront the question: How far will they go to see their Sebastian again?

🤖 WHITE SCAR: Rescuing Alec has been Danni's prime objective for as long as she can remember, but once he's back within her grasp and safe once more, what happens next? Luckily for Danni, her rescue of Alec is primed to begin a chain of events that she may not be able to stop…

🚀 BOUNTY: Melanie Day was rich, spoiled and trying to find her own place in the world, up until the day her parents died. Now depressed and struggling more than ever, she might just be grateful when a group of alien bounty hunters inadvertently kidnap her and take her out amongst the stars.

CURRENTLY POSTING/IN EDITS:

🌻 FARM HANDS: Trying to keep her dead parents' farm from going under, Ashley West takes on a rich and famous uptown boarder who is hiding from a stalker. [This has already begun posting and you can find the links to reading it in my sidebar! ♥]

What Else I Do:

I'm a freelance editor always looking for new clients. I try to be affordable while also providing a good service.

I also make book covers!

And I draw!

I'm branching out into painted book covers this year, I hope.

My Current Fandoms:

My fandoms come and go because of my ADHD, but my current loves are:

• Our Flag Means Death (blackbonnet, izzy hands, and generally the whole crew have my heart) • Doctor Who (9, 11 and 12, haven't watched 13 yet, I tend to fall behind) • The X Files (Mulder/Scully/Skinner canon triad polyamory YOU CAN FIGHT ME ON THIS BUT I'M RIGHT) • The Untamed/MDZS (wangxian, xiyao, chengxian) • Word of Honor (wenzhou, gx surviving the show) • Guardian/Zhen Hun (weilan! I'm reading the book too)

Misc Other Loves:

Crafting, painting, bullet journaling, tarot/stuff like that, sewing, knitting, collecting notebooks I'll never use, animals (I have pet indoor house ducks (UK has bird flu rn), pls ask to see them, I desperately love showing them off), candles, video games (loving Hades at the moment, and Green Hell), and falling into endless YouTube holes.

Follow Me If:

You like any of this, I suppose? If you're interested in my work, which I'd like to post a lot of honestly, but I always forget. I'm hoping to get my ADHD medicated in the next couple of months, so my writing should uptick!

Talk To Me If:

Same as the above! Please send me asks. Interact with me. I am but a queer little goblin person who longs to be spoken to like a zoo attraction.

Okay, that's about it. End captain's log or whatever.

#writeblr #artblr #about me #writing #artists on tumblr #writers

[ravenwolfie97]

2021 Art Summary

The time old tradition continues. I’ll be honest; this year was rough. Like, I scraped the bottom of the barrel for most of these months. Very little art was accomplished (or, at least, completed), and I had felt pretty bad about that the last couple months. But, as it turns out, I wasn’t alone in that. Every other artist I’ve seen has said they’ve been in the exact same boat. So I’m glad now that I could do what I could this year. And now, as always, I’ll share my journey through this year with you!

normally i don’t hide these under a readmore but this one kinda got away from me and i wanted to spare your and my dashboards this time

HEY SO remember when i said i would work on my TOME Fan Animations every day all year? hahaha Yeah That Didn’t Happen I spent like ten days out of the month tops, and in that time I really only worked a little bit on storyboards and got almost all of my character’s talksprites redone. And I do like them! But yeah. I honestly don’t even know what will become of that project, if anything, at this point.

In addition to that, I participated yet again in Gotta Draw ‘Em All on deviantArt with Grookey as my muse. What a lil cutie. Sadly, this was the final event for that group, but I’m glad I was there to contribute to it.

I also continued my TOME server’s art challenge tradition of making a TOMERPG character from scratch, and Zeitgeist was born. I just think it’s got a cool design :>

Also! New thing I’m doing for this summary: some WIPs! because I did a lot of them and I’m upset that I didn’t ever get to finish them! So to kick it off here’s one that began in January and was last updated in June: a “six fanarts” part three exclusively for cute girls

okay let’s continue

i’ll tell you right now that this year is comprised of a lot of sketches because digital art was too hard or too time- or energy-consuming, so i tried to make them look really nice this time

This was the height of my Genshin fever, and the only prescription was playing it more and finally attempting to draw and write some stuff with it. Razor was the first actual character I drew, mainly cuz I love him lots, but also cuz I thought his design would lend well to my style. I also made myself a Genshin sona, as well as ones for Michael and Val (not shown cuz i couldn’t get a design figured out for Val at all): Raven (me) is a Hydro sword user, Michael is an Anemo bow user, and Val is a Pyro claymore user. Wanted to try my hand at making my own Genshin-esque designs after having lots of opinions on the actual characters and doing a bunch of edits on some of them.

My Pokemon 25th anniversary pic was late, so it goes in here. I had such a fun time emulating Sugimori’s modern art style... even if it took forever to do.

Also Astra (my nb genshin traveler) got a redesign and I still haven’t made a proper ref for it. But they do look a lot cooler. I drew them at work :>

I wanted to draw more genshin, so I asked for genshin to draw, and I attempted only one. but Venti was a good one. Got into Montero (Call Me By Your Name) too much and got Val vibes, and also watched Queer ✨ too much and loved the bisexual lighting in the third act too much, so. yeah. mix em together and that’s what i got And in a twist of fate, Tales of Lostclan re-entered my brain space because The Creator Found My Post and contacted me about it and we started chatting and it was great so I drew a Pepperpaw gijinka and named him Aiden.

Another WIP I wanted to share was my sketch for another TOME server art challenge, with Zetto in the Zero Escape universe. I really liked the prompt but again, digitization was my enemy this year.

moving on!

These are literally the only two things that happened this month. And they were both pretty late in. Drawing Diluc is easy to explain; I love him and wanted to try and draw him. The other one is much more interesting.

My friend @mew-cake​ started reading To Your Eternity (which later on in the year became an anime), and I enjoyed the bits and pieces she liveblogged. She posted something along the lines of “i wish i could write a story like this” and i was like Hell Yes let’s do it together. So we got to work, making a story I tentatively call Spirit of the Earth about an angel wanting to learn what life on Earth is like so it lives first as a tree, then a bird, then a cat, and then a variety of different humans. My recent fascination with philosophy and the themes Cake found within To Your Eternity inspired us to think on lots of aspects of life and love and hurt, and it was kinda beautiful. We should revisit it sometime.

i lied kind of, i really wanted to get this picture of Xiao done too. but i did not. here is the sketch tho

and even though we were working on one original story, at the very end of the month, there was another idea coming together...

SURPRISE, IT’S A DIFFERENT ORIGINAL STORY. It’s okay, we didn’t expect this either, but it happened anyway.

Cake had been saying that it would be cool for the two of us to be cast as anime rivals, and I was like yeah that would be cool. And then I had the most massive shower thought on that and it spiraled into this story premise. As much as I would love to completely gush about this new story, I wanna still keep most of it under wraps, so I’ll give a basic rundown. The two main characters, the “anime rivals” as they were initially, are Roxy (red/sketch) and Lalun (blue/full color), who have the powers of the Sun and the Moon respectively. In a world full of alchemical magic where many people control elements based on the solar system, Roxy and Lalun are two special cases and they’re being forced to fulfill a cosmic destiny for reasons largely unknown to them. Other characters here include: Alex (purple/sketch) who has the powers of Venus, which in this world corresponds with electricity; and Oliver (green/full color) who has the powers of Saturn, which are oriented with gravity control and telekinesis. These kids all go to school together and get into horrible situations against their will (and even at their will, sometimes). So all in all, it’s a time :3

One day we’ll show off all of our art for this, but for now, I’ll just give ya all the good stuff I did.

ALSO. WIP TIME BECAUSE I AM SO UPSET I NEVER REMEMBERED TO FINISH THIS. I liveblogged about SK8 The Infinity around this time too, and I loved it, and I drew parallels between the two main characters of that show with my two main OCs from The Dark Side: War on Destiny. So I drew Reki and Kyle together being cool bros

okay anyway

My Genshin brainrot has started to fade around now and it’d been replaced with Cosmic Legacy brainrot instead. I just... we loved these kids so much, man. So much cool stuff. Lots of funny filler. A whole bunch of suffering. Y’know. The usual.

I’ll just say it now too that most of August just had a few more Cosmic sketches. Not very much was happening with me creatively, and things were starting to grind me down. And, well... eventually things took a turn, and...

UH WHOOPS I GOT A GIRLFRIEND AND HER NAME IS STACEY AKA @wolf-of-hearts-den​?????

Yeah, that also happened very suddenly. And we both had a lot of feelings to work out. It was a lot, and we couldn’t handle it very well - Stacey especially... considering the fact she had Two Partners now n all... but it all worked out. And all in all, it was an awesome moment, and a great turning point for me.

WIP time helps break up this part of the summary and i’m also pissed i couldn’t get this done in time because it was actually a timely piece. i started to do a 10  year anniversary redraw i’d been planning for Years and chickened out when it came to doing the background. so have this comparison with my Animal Jam OC Ferret for now

okay back to girlfriend um

this was honestly really tough to make hkjbbjlk Since our relationship started pretty late into the last month, our feelings spilled out more into the month after. And Boy Howdy, were there feelings. If I can be a little transparent, being able to freely express sexual feelings and thoughts with someone you trust is literally one of the most wonderful things. It’s just one more thing I don’t have to completely hide, and it feels awesome to be able to tell someone. And to have someone think of you and want you in that way? Absolutely insane. It still boggles my mind that someone can love me the way Stacey does. Honestly incredible.

also it’s not like i didn’t make any non-horny art during that time. they were just the only things i put effort into jklhjkl MOTIVATION HITS WHEN IT HITS, Y’ALL

this isn’t a WIP but it is more cosmic art i can share

ok back to the program. god the art summary is off the rails this year

Among some more girlfriend-related material, Stacey and Cake and I also had an aggie.io session where I drew some of my OCs poorly. Featured here are Sierra from Legends: Children of the Dragons, Mamoru from Cat Devil, and Val... from my brain. He’s just cool.

there was actually very little else than this, and that continued into...

Yeah, barely anything happened this month. The RW ref is only half-finished, and I had meant to get that done in August. But I gave it to someone to actually use as reference here, so it counts, okay?

Here we have an actually decent picture of another Cosmic Legacy character named Mercutio, who’s the not-so-good guy. But he does good things for people. He’s a good father... right?

and then Stacey came up with a game in a dream called Everbound and I had to make at least a mock-up title screen for it. Thank you for getting me to make an art to fill the screen up, babe

Thank God I got the inspiration to finally do that TWEWY self-insert pic only a few days ago, or else this would have been very empty. Additionally we have A Cool Character That Shall Not Be Explained on the right, whom I have added mainly because they are very cool and a piece of art that I completed in this month that I am proud of, as well as another Cool Character that I would be happy to explain about. So Stacey had recently been coming up with their own original story universe thing that’s essentially a radioactive wasteland full of animal mutants and hybrids. It’s mostly an excuse to make rad furry character designs, and I was all in on all of it, so I wanted to try and join in, so I made Calista! She’s a housecat/jellyfish hybrid with the ability to poison and shock people cuz that’s what jellyfish do. Haven’t done much with her, but she was a fun little character design challenge to do if nothing else :>

ANYWAY yeah this year sucked art-wise, but it was a good time regardless. I got a steady full-time job, I got car-driving abilities, and most importantly I have a lovely partner and wonderful friends to keep me sane and feel loved. No matter what happens in this year to come, all I know is I’ll make the most of it, and still find some things to make me happy.

...and maybe i’ll finally get some of those WIPs done OK BYE

#my art stuff #art summary #I DON'T CARE IF IT ISN'T THE 1st ANYMORE #CLOSE ENOUGH #idk if i'll boost this later or not

[snarktheater]

Hey, d'you have any French book recs? I'm trying to work on my French, and rn I have downloaded one of my favourite book series' French translations, but I figured maybe books already written in French might work better? Also have you read the Ranger's Apprentice series? 1/2

RA's def flawed - the books' narration does like to point bright arrows at the protagonists' intelligence, and the last few books def have the tone of 'old white man trying to write feminism', although at least he's trying? - and it's aimed more to the younger side of YA, but it is still a very fun series, and I can ignore the flaws fairly easily, at least partly due to nostalgia? This rather long lol but I'm wordy.

I'll start with the second question: no, although every time the series is brought up I have to check the French title and go "oh, right, I've seen these books in stores". But I've never purchased or read them. It sounds like something I probably would have enjoyed as a teen but I just missed the mark, and these days I'm trying to drown myself in queer books, so that probably isn't happening.

As for your first question, geez, I haven’t read a French book in years, so this is gonna skew middle grade/YA, though that may not be so bad if the point is to learn the language. I will also say that as a result, these may read a little outdated.

I'll put it under a cut, even if Tumblr has become really bad with correctly displaying read mores. Sorry, mobile crowd.

It's also likely that old readers of the blog will have seen me talk about most of these. I don't feel like going through old posts.

One last thing: while I was curating this list I took the time to make a Goodreads shelf to keep track of those.

The Ewilan books by Pierre Bottero

(It's a testament to how long ago I read these books that these are not the covers of the edition I own, and I can't even find those on Google. I'm settling for a more recent cover anyway since it'll make it easier to find them, presumably)

There are at least three trilogies (that I know of) set in the same world.

The first trilogy is essentially an isekai (so, French girl lands in parallel fantasy world by accident) with elements of chosen one trope, though I find the execution makes it worth the while anyway.

The second trilogy is a direct sequel, so same protagonist but new threat, and the world gets expanded.

The third one is centered around a supporting characters from the previous books, and the first couple of books in it are more her backstory than a continuation, though the third one concludes both that trilogy and advances the story of the other books as well.

Notably these books have a really fun magic system where the characters "draw" things into existence. It's just stuck with me for some reason.

A bunch of stuff by Erik L'Homme

I have read a lot of this man's books, starting with Le Livre des Etoiles.

They also skew towards the young end of YA, arguably middle grade, I never bothered to figure out where to draw the line. They're coincidentally also using the premise of a parallel world to our own (and yes, connected to France again, the French are just as susceptible of writing about their homeland), but interestingly are set from the point of view of characters native to the parallel world.

It also has a very unique magic system, this one based on a mix of a runic alphabet and sort-of poetry. I'll also say specifically for these books that the characters stuck with me way more than others on this list, which is worth mentioning.

This trilogy is my favorite by Erik L'Homme, but I'll also mention Les Maîtres des brisants, which is a fantasy space opera with a pirate steampunk(?) vibe. I think it's steampunk. I could be mistaken. But it's in that vein. It's also middle grade, in my opinion not as good, but it could just be that it came out when I was older.

Another one is Phaenomen, which was a deliberate attempt at skewing older (though still YA). This one is set in our (then-)modern world and centers a group of teens who happen to have supernatural powers. I guess the best way to describe it is a superhero thriller? If you take "superhero" in the sense of "people with individualized powers", since they don't really do a lot of heroing.

...I really need to brush up on genre terminology, don't I.

The Ji series by Pierre Grimbert

This one is actually adult fantasy, though it definitely falls under "probably outdated". It is very straight, for starters, and I'd have to give it another read to give a more critical reading of how it handles race (it attempts to do it, and is well meaning, but I'm not sure it survives the test of time & scrutiny, basically).

If I haven't lost you already, the premise is this: a few generations ago, a weird man named Nol gathered emissaries from each nation of the world and took them to a trip to the titular Ji island. Nobody knows what went down here, but now in the present day, someone is trying to kill off all descendants from those emissaries, who are as a result forced to team up and figure out what's going on.

I'm not going to spoil past that, though I will say it has (surprise) a really unique magic system! I guess you can start to piece together what my younger self was interested in. Which, admittedly, I still am.

Once again, this one also has a strong cast of characters, helped by rich world building and the premise forcing the characters to come from many different cultures (though, again, I can't vouch for the handling of race because it's been too long).

The first series is complete by itself, though it has two sequel series as well, each focusing on the next generation in these families. Because yes, of course they all pair up and have kids. Like I said: very straight.

A whole lot of books by Jean-Louis Fetjaine

OFetjaine is a historian, and I guess he's really interested in Arthurian mythos especially, because he loves it so much he's written two separate high fantasy retellings of them! I'm not criticizing, mind you, we all need a hobby.

The former, the Elves trilogy (pictures above) is very traditional high fantasy. Elves, dwarves, orcs, a world which is definitely fictionalized with a pan-Celtic vibe to it. The holy grail and excalibur are around, but they're relics possessed by the elves and dwarves with very different powers than usual. Et cetera.

Fetjaine also really loves his elves (as the titles might imply), and while they're not exactly Tolkien elves, there's a similar vibe to them. If you like Tolkien and his elf boner, you'll probably like this too. And conversely, if that turns you off, these books probably also won't work for you.

This series also has a prequel trilogy, centered around the backstory of one of the main characters. I...honestly don't remember too much about it, but I liked it, so, there you go, I guess.

I said Fetjaine did it twice. The other series is the Merlin duology, which, as the title implies, is a retelling of Merlin's story. Note that Merlin is also in the other trilogy, but it's a different Merlin; like I said, completely different continuities and stories.

This one is historical fantasy, so it's set in actual Great Britain, and Fetjaine attempts to connect Arthur to a "real" historical figure...but, you know, Merlin is also half-elf and elves totally exist in Brocéliande, so, you know. History.

Okay, that's probably enough fantasy, let me give some classics too.

L'Arbre des possibles et autres histoires - Bernard Werber

Bernard Werber is a pretty seminal author of French sci-fi and I should probably be embarrassed that the only book of his that I read was for school, but, it is a really good one, so I'll include it anyway.

It's a novella collection, and when I say "sci-fi" I want to make it clear that it's very old school science fiction. It's more Frankenstein or Black Mirror than Star Trek, what we in French call the anticipation genre of science fiction: you take one piece of technology or cultural norm and project it into the future.

It has a pretty wide range of topics and tones, so it's bound to have some better than others. My personal faves were Du pain et des jeux, where football (non-American) has evolved into basically a wargame, and Tel maître, tel lion, where any animal is considered acceptable as a pet, no matter how absurd it is to keep as a pet. They're both on a comedic end, but there's more heartfelt stuff too.

L'Ecume des Jours - Boris Vian

(no cover because I can't find the one I have, and the ones I find are ugly)

This book is surrealist. Like, literally a part of the surrealist movement. It features things such as a lilypad growing inside a woman's lungs (and, as you well know, lilypads double in size every day, wink wink), the protagonist's apartment becoming larger and smaller to go with his mood and current financial situation, and more that I can't even recall at the moment because remembering this book is like trying to remember having an aneurysm.

It is also really, really fun and touching. Oh, and it has a pretty solid movie adaptation, starring Audrey Tautou, who I think an international audience would probably recognize from Amelie or the Da Vinci Code movie.

I don't really know what else to say. It's a really cool read!

Le Roi se meurt - Eugène Ionesco

Ionesco is somewhat famous worldwide so I wasn't even sure to include him here. He's a playwright who wrote in the "Theater of the Absurd" movement, and this play is part of that.

The premise of this play is that the King (of an unnamed land) is dying, and the land is dying with him. I don't really know what else to say. It's theater of the absurd. It kind of has to be experienced (the published version works fine, btw, no need to track down an actual performance, in my humble opinion).

The Plague - Albert Camus

You've probably heard of this one, and if you haven't, let me tell you about a guy called Carlos Maza

I'm honestly more including this book out of a sense of duty. The other three are books I genuinely liked and happen to be classics. This book was an awful read. But, um. It's kind of relevant now in a way it wasn't (or didn't feel, anyway) back in 2008 or 2009, when I read it. And I don't just mean because of our own plague, since Camus's plague is pretty famously an allegory for fascism, which my teenage self sneered at, and my adult self really regrets every feeling that way.

Okay, finally, some more lighthearted stuff, we gotta talk about the Belgian and French art of bande dessinée. How is it different from comic books or manga? Functionally, it isn't. It really comes down more to what gets published in the Belgian-French industry compared to the American comics industry, which is dominated by superheroes, or the Japanese manga industry, which, while I'm less familiar with it, I know has some big genre trends as well that are completely separate.

The Lanfeust series - Arleston and Tarquin

This is a YA mega-series, and I can't recommend all of it because I've lost track of the franchise's growth. Also note that I say "YA", but in this case it means something very different from an American understanding of YA. These books are pretty full of sex.

No, when I say YA I mean it has that level of maturity, for better or worse. The original series (Lanfeust de Troy) is high fantasy in a world where everyone has an individual magical ability but two characters find out they're gifted with an absolute power to make anything happen, and while it gets dark at times, it's still very lighthearted throughout, and the humor is...well, I think it's best described as teen boy humor. And it has a tendency to objectify its female characters, as you'll quickly parse out from the one cover I used here or if you browse more covers.

But still, it holds a special place in my heart, I guess. And on my shelves.

The sequel series, Lanfeust des Etoiles, turns it into a space opera, and goes a little overboard with the pop culture reference at times, though overall still maintains that balance of serious/at times dark story and lighthearted comedy.

After that the franchise is utter chaos to me, and I've lost track. I know there was another sequel series, which I dropped partway through, and a spinoff that retold part of the original series from the PoV of the main love interest (in the period of time she spent away from the main group). There was a comedy spin-off about the troll species unique to this world, a prequel series, probably more I don't even know exist.

Les Démons d'Alexia

Something I can probably be a little less ashamed of including here.

Some backstory here. The Editions Dupuis are a giant of the Belgian bande dessinée industry, and for many, many years I was subscribed to their weekly magazine. That magazine was (mostly) made up of excerpts from the various books that the éditions were publishing at the time; those that were made of comic strips would usually get a couple pages of individual scripts, while the ongoing narratives got cut into episodes that were a few pages long (out of a typical 48 page count for a single BD album). Among those were this series.

For the first few volumes, I wasn't super into this series, probably because I was a little too young and smack dab in the middle of my "trying to be one of the boys" phase. But around book 3 I got really invested, to the point where I own the second half of the series because I had canceled by subscription by then but still wanted to know more.

Alexia is an exorcist with unusual talents, but little control, who's introduced to a group that specializes in researching paranormal phenomena, solving cases that involve the paranormal, that kinda stuff.

As a result of the premise, the series has a pretty slow start since it has to build up mystery around the source of Alexia's powers, but once it gets going and we get to what is essentially the series' main conflict, it gets really interesting.

Plus, witches. I'm a simple gay who likes strong protagonists and witches.

Murena

There was a point where my mtyhology nerdery led me to look for more stuff about the historical cultures that created them, and so I'd be super into stuff set in ancient Rome (I'd say "or Greece or Egypt" but let's face it, it was almost always Rome).

Murena is a series set just before the start of Emperor Nero's rule. You know, the one who was emperor when Rome burned, and according to urban legend either caused the fire or played the fiddle while it did (note: "fiddle" is a very English saying, it's usually the lyre in other languages). He probably didn't, it probably was propaganda, but he was a) a Roman Emperor, none of whom were particularly stellar guys and b) mean to Christians, who eventually got to rewrite history. So he's got a bad rep.

The series goes for a very historical take on events, albeit fictionalized (the protagonist and main PoV, the titular Lucius Murena, is himself fictional) and attempts to humanize the people involved in those events. Each book also includes some of the sources used to justify how events and characters are depicted, which is a nice touch.

It's also divided in subseries called "cycles" (books 1-4, 5-8 and the ongoing one starts at 9). I stopped after 9, though I think it's mostly a case of not going to bookstores often anymore. Plus it took four years between 9 and 10, and again between 10 and 11. But the first eight books made for a pretty solid story that honestly felt somewhat concluded as is, so it's a good place to start.

#pierre bottero #la quête d'ewilan #erik l'homme #le livre des étoiles #phaenomen #pierre grimbert #le secret de ji #jean louis fetjaine #la trilogie des elfes #bernard werber #l'arbre des possibles #boris vian #l'écume des jours #le roi se meurt #eugène ionesco #albert camus #la peste #the plague #lanfeust #arleston #tarquin #Les démons d'alexia #ers #dugomier #murena #dufaux #delaby #ask #anonymous #st: other posts

[koko-bopp]

Touchy-touchy

park seonghwa x male!reader

word count - 1.3K

genre - Fluff / Kinda suggestive

warning(s) - lots of gay panic, mentions of sex

synopsis - You didn't even realise but you had an obsession with touching Seonghwa's thighs, and unknowing to you, he'd become beyond flustered by your touchy behaviour.

You and Seonghwa had really only been together for three months.

What's there to do in three months?

Not gonna lie, you two were taking it kinda slow, just to see what temperatures the waters could get to.

It had started off with the barista at the cafe close to both your workplaces mixing up your order.

It confused you that there were genuinely psychopath who drink plain black coffee, why would someone do that to themselves? Willingly?

Then you found out that he doesn't drink coffee, or bitter things in general, and the only reason he step foot into a cafe that's known best for their coffee was because he lost a bet and needed to get a black coffee with no sweeteners. You couldn't help yourself to laughter when he was telling you that he'd probably die drinking it, and that he'd at least want your number before then.

A few days had passed and you'd eventually forgot about the handsome coffee-hater, you didn't think he'd actually call you.

Turns out he's a dancer; a dancer with a busy schedule.

A month later you had gone on many dates with this man;

One was at a theme park, it was a themed event so you two definitely took the time to dress up and enjoy yourselves. The date had you two exploring different cusines, shooting water into balloons, winning prizes, and going on a Ferris wheel; you'd made a joke about reenacting the Love, Simon scene, he was going to before chickening out last minute and kissing your cheek instead, it was cute, you didn't mind.

Another was going to see one movie but sneaking into another theatre to watch a second movie, you two were so tired after having sat down for three and a half hours in a dark four-walled room that it had taken all of your strength not to sleep on the train ride home.

He was a pleasure to be around, he really was, you two clicked beyond well and the company of the other was becoming a crave at some point.

"Do you.. wanna meet my roommates?"

Roomates?

"They're like brothers to me, and it would mean a lot to me if you met them," Seonghwa grinned and explained.

That's right, he was living with seven other people.

There were times where you two would be on the phone with each other, talking about whatever and then you'd hear a scream in the background followed by things falling to the ground.

Other times you and Seonghwa would go on a date, as you're enjoying the time with each other, his phone would chime and he'd ignore it, you wouldn't think anything of it until towards the end of the date when he actually checked his phone.

"Something happened?" You asked.

Seonghwa shakes his head, carefully putting his phone back into his pocket, "It's just the guys, I think they burnt the kitchen."

"You think?" You repeat, a chuckle leaving your lips.

Seonghwa laughed too, "They sent a video of the frying pan lit on fire to the group chat," He sighs, "It'll be fine."

However, you told Seonghwa that you'd be honoured to meet his friends, considering how close they are, you thought that he would consider it to be an important aspect in this relationship; to get along with his friends.

And you're at the centre of it now, sitting next to Seonghwa with a hot chocolate in your hand made by his friends. You're getting along best with Mingi, but not to say the rest of the boys aren't fun too.

"No way! You did that?" You turned to Seonghwa, placing a grip on his thigh; granted, he had placed his one leg in between both of yours while you two were sitting next to each other, his hand around your shoulder so he could be close to you but not uncomfortably close.

Seonghwa wasn't going to admit it until the topic came up, but your whole subconscious obsession with his thighs was definitely ego-filling, but also beyond the point of control.

At the Ferris wheel date you'd gripped his thigh out of excitement, which at first he didn't mind until you started squeezing it and Seonghwa, frankly, didn't want to get hard on a third date that was also in public, so took the courtesy to replace your grip on his thigh to holding his hand.

Oh my god, and at the movies. You're both queer, there's no sitting straight on chairs, but you who had gone to see a horror movie so at any given jump-scare your hand would fly to his thigh. The action happened so often at this particular date that it really took all his man power not to ask you to 'give him a hand'.

"Er, baby?" Seonghwa chuckled nervously, moving his leg so it was now directly next to his.

Hongjoong's eyes widen, "You guys are already at the nickname stage?"

Seonghwa ignored Hongjoong for that moment, his eyes on you as he gulped, "Could I just er, talk to you in the kitchen for a sec?"

You nodded, a bit concerned, as you worried that you may have said something wrong or done something that upset Seonghwa. You couldn't think of anything, but his request was making you nervous.

You two got up, making your way over the kitchen, away from earshot from his friends. Seonghwa turned to you, leaning against the stove as he looked at you, "Don't take this the wrong way. Please. I'm sure it just an accident but there's only so much of it I can bare before I, I don't know, go poof," he spoke.

You blinked, trying to think of what you could've possible done, "Was it something I said? If it was–"

Seonghwa shook his head, chuckling a little, "No, no, you're great to talk to and the guys love you, it's just," he paused, ready to sound ridiculous, "Could you... maybe avoid touching my thighs? It.. It really makes me flustered.."

You didn't know why, but a laugh couldn't stop itself from leaving your lips. You'd noticed Seonghwa's cheeks turning pink at the request, but you spoke before he could, "Oh my god, I really thought you were gonna tell me you didn't want to see me again."

His eyes shot up, and he shook his head immediately, "No! I like you way too much for that, it's just... I guess you accidentally made me realise I have a thing for thigh gripping and... I don't know," he mumbled towards the end, folding his arms over his chest as he looked away, pretty embarrassed.

This,,, was definitely a suprise to you.

You smirked softly, walking over to Seonghwa, closing the space between the two of you and placing your hands on his waist then carefully but slowly dragging them down to the place he was so embarrassed about, "You don't want me to do this?"

He stopped you from touching his thighs, holding your wrists to halt you going further down, a warning smirk of his own staring at you as he spoke, "Sweet Cheeks, I'd love you to if this was a convenient place for me to fuck you," he snickered at your surprised expression, never hearing him talk like this before.

You turned your wrists so you could place your hands in his instead, your face reading that you're still kinda shocked, "Damn, Seonghwa. We better be going to my place after this."

"Promise to keep your hands off my thighs in public?" He winked.

You nodded. Though definitely keeping the kink as a mental note.

#oof #this #well #fjdjfjisjdd #seonghwa #Seonghwa x male reader #x male reader #ateez x reader #ateez scenarios #ateez seonghwa #park Seonghwa x male reader #male reader #ateez #park seonghwa