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rahullkohli · 2 years

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i wanna talk about the dynamic between ed and lucius, because i feel like people tend to either completely brush it off as non-existent, or as lucius only having ed’s attention because lucius is close to stede, and i think that is a huge disservice, as i see the relationship between the two characters as incredibly nuanced. and this is gonna be really freaking long i’m so sorry.

it’s widely accepted that stede is the only person to ever be truly upfront with ed, but while i agree to some extent that stede is true to himself around ed, i think that lucius to a much greater degree is the absolutely only person who fully does not think thée great blackbeard is The Shit. before ed shows up on the revenge lucius does seem to think the mystery about this legend character is enticing, but the second he actually meets ed all of that washes away. he is the one person who continuously stands up to ed, and tells him to treat stede right. lucius sees very quickly (what stede himself doesn’t even see) that the chemistry between ed and stede is growing more romantic, and it is lucius’ instinct to be protective of this captain he didn’t even like about a week or two prior to ed showing up. lucius even showed up on the island with the biggest bitch attitude to hand deliver a breakup box when ed left with calico jack.

and what i see is that ed respects that about lucius. stede actually did try to embellish his own persona in front of ed; trying to seem tougher than he is, trying to impress ed again and again - he might not have changed himself, but he did bend over backwards to make a good impression. but ed saw that lucius didn’t. there was never any doubt where lucius’ loyalty was, and it was with his own captain. and we see ed look to lucius when he is unsure about stede, because he knows the way to a dude’s heart is through his reluctant gay bestie.

then when ed returned from running away from the british navy, lucius is the only person ed opens up to. aside from stede, lucius is the only person ed is truly vulnerable with, and confides to directly. he invites lucius into his blanket fort, he tells lucius about this raw pain that he is feeling, even if he does try to thinly veil it as about someone else.

and this part is the most important to me; i think ed sees in lucius what he wishes he could be himself. lucius is openly gay, and very vocal about his gayness. he doesn’t take on the big responsible roles, because he truly does not want them. he is soft, and kind, and so gentle with people who are in a bad way. he doesn’t put a big thing into making people like him, and he is honest with people around him, and still finding the balance in how to be that in the way the situation requires. he can be mean and vicious, but only when people deserve it. in many ways, he is just like stede. he is also fiercely protective of the people he cares about, and he is definitely down to clown.

which brings me to the last episode. ed goes through this massive transformation of being broken and vulnerable, to having izzy’s words snap him back to his old alter ego of blackbeard. i’ve seen a lot of different reasons for how people sees the scene of ed pushing lucius overboard; that he just snapped, that it was to solidify his newfound edginess, that he always thought lucius was annoying, etc. but i truly, deeply in my soul see lucius as being someone ed has grown to care about, and he couldn’t have that around anymore. ed got rid of stede’s possessions, his crew - it was basically that taylor swift video where she burns all of her ex’s things in a fit of rage. so why didn’t ed just drop lucius off at the island along with the others? because lucius is a physical manifestation of the memory of stede, but also of that inner core of ed that he had buried so deep inside but slowly started letting out from knowing stede. when ed looks at lucius he sees both stede, the man he loves but he believes doesn’t love him back, but also the person he wishes he could be himself. kind, gentle, embracing his feminine side, not caring about who knows he’s gay, and someone who is loyal and protective of the people he loves. by pushing lucius overboard, ed is not only pushing away stede’s memory, he is also trying to kill the part of himself that he had only just started to embrace.

i wanna keep ranting about my love for the relationship between these two, but this is already so long. now i just really fucking hope s2 will fix this, because i need ed and lucius to be best friends and confidants.

#edward teach #lucius spriggs #ofmd talk #ofmd #our flag means death #i don't even know how to tag this #i'll probably post this and in five minutes wish i had written something differently #tv #tv:our flag means death #queer tv

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akadreamie · 3 years

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It's the arguments that you make that make me dislike proshippers more and more. I do agree that you shouldn't harass, send death threats to, or even dox people for anything. Because that's literally common decency, and, you know...morally wrong and against the law. But that's not what I'm here to talk about.

I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what a proshipper is. Not going out of your way to harass people for what they do, that's not proshipping—that's anti-harassment. I'm also anti harassment, and I'm also anti-proship. These words do not mean the same thing.

A proshipper is someone who supports, engages, or partakes in fictional shipping involving incest, pedophilia, or ones that are abusive in nature. Making these types of pairings in fiction isn't always an issue, like in a story, so long as you're actually portraying them as what they are: traumatic, disgusting, and, you know... morally wrong and illegal. But that's not what proshippers do. They actively normalize, romanticize, and glorify these types of relationships as if they were a good thing. All under the thinly veiled guise of "Oh, it's fiction! It doesn't affect reality! Just because I'm supporting incest, pedophila and abuse with fictional characters, doesn't mean I condone it in real life!"

Fiction affects and reflects reality. This is an objective fact, and I can list numerous examples. The movie Bambi causing deer hunting to drop by half, two girls nearly stabbing another girl to death to use her as a sacrifice for the fictional character of Slenderman, the term "Orwellian" being used to describe a specific dystopia because of George Orwells books talking about it. Need I remind you that propaganda exists? The peices of art made during wars in order to influence people on how to think of the imposing side.

It is absolutely ridiculous to believe that fiction doesn't affect reality. If it didn't, then nobody would be making fiction. Have you ever laughed or cried during an episode of a TV show or a movie? Congrats, fiction affected your reality.

This is what a proshipper is, not your wishy-washy definition of what you want a proshipper to be.

I'm really sorry to break it to you, but the correct definition of proship is quite literally one that promotes anti-harassment. Being proship and being anti-harassment over fictional ships / fictional content go hand in hand. The fact that you're trying to tell me - a proshipper- that I'm wrong about the definition of something that I identify as...it's a bit pointless.

I would much rather take my own word for what proship is than take the word of an anti. Over the years, antis have quite literally twisted and slandered the meaning of proship - making it seem like we're terrible people that all ship incest and the like, and then go on to say that we are the ones who usually go out of their way to attack others. Not only that, but antis also believe that all proshippers are groomers, predators, and horrible people that always support the themes and concepts that they ship in fiction. This is also incorrect. We do not endorse any of these things in real life. Proshippers, even if they do ship incest or pedo things, do NOT and will NEVER support those things in the real world. I understand that in some cases fiction can affect reality, but fiction =/= on a 1:1 basis. It never has, and it never will. Supporting those things in fiction when you're a proshipper do NOT carry through into real life.

By your logic, if someone were to enjoy or have a favorite fictional character that's a murderer, that means that they enjoy murdering people / would like to become a murderer themselves in real life. Are there examples where fiction has affected reality? Yes. Should those examples be used to speak for everyone that enjoys anything in fiction? Hell no. You can ship things in fiction and not enjoy the same 'theme' of said things that you ship in real life. I really wish that this wasn't such a controversial topic.

All in all, I really wish you would properly educate yourself before saying things like this. The definition of proship that you think is not correct - as a proshipper, I'm pretty sure I would know...just saying. Fiction =/= reality on a 1:1 basis, and it never will. Proshippers do not go out their way to romanticize incest, pedo, and otherwise 'illegal' content. A staple to the definition of proship is quite literally anti-harassment. Being anti-harassment is part of being proship. I'm not saying that people that are anti-harassment always identify as proship as well, I'm just saying that proshippers are inherently anti-harassment when it comes to fictional content.

I'm sorry that you feel the way you do about proshippers, but we literally aren't doing anything wrong. We are not the monsters people make us out to be. We're just normal people that enjoy things in fiction. The label proship does not mean that we are predators, it does not mean that we are awful people, it does not mean that we all ship or enjoy 'problematic' content in fiction. It simply means that we will let anyone ship what they want, and that we aren't going to attack them for it. Some proshippers enjoy 'problematic' content, and that's completely fine. Because what they do with fiction that isn't real is nobody else's business but their own. If they're happy, not hurting anyone, and not doing anything illegal...then I really don't see what the problem is.

#proship #pro ship #proshipping #pro shipping #proshipper #pro shipper #anti ship hate #anti proship #remember to educate yourselves #we are not terrible people #please respect everyone #anti harassment

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intheshadowofsignificance · 3 years

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Season four is such a train wreck in so many ways. I understand the recurring theme that basically everyone lacks boundaries, but there are times the forceful disregard for them doesn’t have a point.

Just because June is the MC doesn’t mean she’s a sympathetic character. That’s one thing I appreciate them boldly addressing. Her tunnel vision is affecting more than just her and Moira is right that living in anger is clouding her judgment. June should be hellbent on justice. She should be angry. I just wish some part of her would be angry and reflective at the same time. She’s not immune from facing scrutiny for the suffering she caused just because she’s a victim and I hope we see her grapple with that. She’s been traumatized and broken. She admitted to wanting to make people hurt the way she hurt. “An eye for an eye is bad” the narrative screams. “We know,” I want to scream back.

June doesn’t have the right to force her coping mechanisms on other people. She has raped Luke. Used Luke. Blatantly disregarded Emily’s feelings and consent, whether or not it happened to “enlighten” her by the end. Emily was allowed to be privately angry and her private anger was valid without June dragging it out in public.

Gilead didn’t just screw with sex, it screwed with her views of consent across the board. I really want some kind of closure on this even if it’s not for the good. Show June facing this even if she stays a fucked up mess after. Don’t keep throwing these bold concepts in our face and not letting the characters do anything useful with them.

Luke’s character is frustrating, but realistically there’s not a whole lot to expect. Someone who hasn’t been through Gilead trying to understand what it was like is always going to fall short. He’s trying to connect the only way he knows how, and idealizing to get by. Just like June getting to Canada was one step forward, two back, so is Luke trying to navigate their relationship now. Ultimately if things fall apart between them it’s not because he’s a bad person who didn’t do enough. He wasn’t equipped for this. No one is. He’s still trying to cope with losing Hannah and the June he knew, and on top of that is caught in the crossfire of June’s trauma. The man is allowed to grieve his losses. He should confront June for making him a sex object, both for himself and to make her recognize and own it. That said, any mention of moving on was wrong at this stage. Not even remotely possible.

Also, Lydia holding Janine and crying? Why? That was ill-timed and poorly executed. We have always known about her soft spot for Janine, it doesn’t make her a good person but a more complex and layered villain. And as much as I absolutely love that, and love the show for letting villains be villains even if they’re not pure, unadulterated evil every waking second (though with Lydia it’s close) we should not have been focusing on /Lydia’s/ emotions while Janine is begging for the remnants of her life.

Yikes.jpg

Fred needs to go down brutally and publicly for what he’s done. Seeing him and Serena in a battle of manipulation continues to turn my stomach. When he stood in that courtroom and spewed his zealotry and nonsense I kept waiting for someone to shut him up. Please. He would’ve been charged with contempt so fast. Trial or not.

“Did you believe all that you said just now?”

“Of course I did.”

He believes it when it’s convenient and gets him what he wants. Religion is a crutch and a pedestal for him. It has been the same for Serena especially in this season. Even if her part in Gilead came from a brainwashed evangelical upbringing, she had plenty of clarity when she tortured June. She believed it was all divine until she was the one suffering. Then God’s sacrifice couldn’t be “her” baby. He couldn’t want “her” Nicole. And submit to one’s husband? Yeah, no, he’s just a sperm donor in Canada. Until she needs him. My goodness, these people and their thinly veiled “godliness.” June called that part so aptly.

I want to see them both face humane justice. As much as Serena being a handmaid would be cathartic, I’m not gonna advocate for it. Having the world know her for what she is, charging her with war crimes / convicting her in Canada, and putting her son in a loving foster home away from her is enough for me. Also maybe having her and Fred in (separate) mandated group meetings with Gilead’s victims as “therapy.” Because they deserve to feel powerless and understand the gravity of the world they helped build.

Of course I couldn’t stand seeing anyone praise the Waterfords, especially Fred, but my god the glimpse it gave of Serena in that moment was worth it. Despite her seeming to have some flash of understanding for June in the courtroom later, in that moment, under that recognition, she held her head so high. Like she was powerful. Like it was the first time in so long she felt worth something.

Holding the hand of a man who doesn’t even use her name anymore, but rather calls her by the extension of himself — Mrs. Waterford — listening to Fred feed the world so many lines of absolute bullshit, knowing he doesn’t believe a word, let alone practice a word.

She caused so much pain just to have something, and I hope all she gets are those small, meaningless moments of praise as her life circles the drain.

But ultimately the men of Gilead did this and they should face the worst of the consequences for it. I think when the defense started questioning June in the court room was when Serena realized, even in Canada, that would never happen. I’m sad the baby is clearly just a tool for Fred to use to manipulate Serena and the world around him, even losing access to their son won’t really hurt him. And Canada’s cushy joke of a prison sentence doesn’t seem to be doing much either. That’s what’s really pissing me off the most, Fred is still having the time of his life.

#the handmaids tale #the handmaid’s tale season 4 #june osborne #serena joy #serena waterford #fred waterford

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reynie-muldoons · 3 years

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'The Dance of the Celestial Orb' liveblog!

for real this time lmfao

book and show spoilers below

I'm ✨nervous✨ please let our children be okay

0:10 this Sticky arc hurts me so kuch

1:35 this music is BUMPIN

2:22 I just wanna know how she got under there without the dude seeing her

2:47 "all systems go" for the Improvement.... yikes 😬😬😬

2:55 she didn't wait even 5 seconds after they left, the door was still closing when she popped up 😂 can you imagine if one of them doubled back right at that moment

3:18 they look like the dudes from that veggietales movie, I think it was Esther- the island of perpetual tickling?? Anyone??? 😂😂😂

4:00 Kate vented.......

4:51 "not a rat" yeah no shit

5:07 if not for the suspense, I would be jamming out lmaooo

6:10 Mr. Benedict is looking at the shoreline, is he about to watch Kate dive in???? Because I mean that's where she's gotta be going

6:20 "memory challenges"? Is Rhonda talking about Milligan's amnesia, or has short term memory been affected as well??

6:29 .....thank you for answering so efficiently 😂

6:42 "I buy it. I completely.... buy it." RHONDA THAT'S NOT HELPFUL AHSKSHDJKD

6:56 can you imagine seeing your friend go down in a sub then hours later seeing the sub float up in fucking PIECES

7:06 KATE! KATE! KATE! KATE!

7:06 please let it be reunion time

7:25 oh hello that's a drop

7:38 *to the tune of Bezos I* come on Katie u can do it pave the way put ur back into it

7:51 she craves that mineral

8:06 Sticky, my child

8:20 oh my gosh they went out and LOOKED FOR HER I care them 😭😭😭

8:23 SHE KNEW HIS DREAM SHE KNEW HIS DREAM TELEPATH TELEPATH TELEPATH

8:34 STICKY STOPPPP

8:40 "jumping to conclusions is a failure of character" wow that really is something Curtain would say

8:52 angry Reynie. He is in rare form

8:54 "and you helped put her there!" OOOOOOOH I SCREAMED

9:03 "I shouldn't have yelled" okay but you kinda should have Sticky needs a wake up call

9:06 "dont apologize. I like this side of you." IS THIS THE START OF REYNIE AND CONSTANCE HAVING THE BEST SIBLING RELATIONSHIP

9:22 "if you really cared about me, you'd want me to be happy instead of standing there telling me who I am" oh Sticky my dude I am NOT digging the manipulation

9:36 Reynie pulling out the BFF card!!! Also Reynie digging in his feet because he knows he's right!!!! That's great setup for his arc as a strategist later

9:48 "I'm telling you, Kate's fine." Narrator: Kate was not, in fact, fine.

10:03 "they'll notice." Sticky has made one (1) good point.

10:11 oh dear god are they fingerprinting this bitch

10:19 all this equipment, has no one walked up to the cliff and looked down???

10:23 HAHAHAHA WAIT THEY ACTUALLY HAVEN'T

10:27 "we've been out here all night" that means Kate has been clinging to a cliff by her fingers and toes ALL NIGHT????

11:04 babe I know it's been a long night but maybe wait a second for them to actually leave before you climb back up

11:15 BUCKET NO

11:22 she has to go get it. There's no way someone wouldn't find that shit, it's in plain view

11:37 "WAS"???? WHY ARE WE SAYING WAS????? NO PAST TENSE HERE MILLIGAN'S FINE

11:43 "I only wish we could've known him better" NOOOPE NONONO WE'RE NOT DOING THIS

11:47 Rhonda back at it as the voice of reason!!!!!

11:59 "I have never met a more competent swimmer" throwback to "the baaAAAYYYY"

12:10 MR. BENEDICT'S FACE HAHAHAHA HOLD ON LET ME TAKE A PICTURE IM DYING

12:11 NUMBER TWO, NOT HELPING

12:14 RHONDA'S FACE HAHENDJDKDN

12:33 "we will go rescue him" because of COURSE he would

12:36 Rhonda is his best wingwoman omfg she's so consistent

12:54 MISS PERUMAL??????

12:56 MISS PERUMAL!!!!!!

13:00 SHE KNOWS HE'S RIGHT GAKSHDBDHEKSNND

13:09 "how hard can it be? It's an island!" PFFFFT

13:16 oh SQ baby boy please get out of there

13:25 "I certainly have my own suspicions" he said, looking at SQ why are you looking at SQ like that

13:31 SQ GET OUT OF THERE PLEASE IS2G

13:36 here we fuckin go

13:43 the captions have the f in forest capitalized like it's this special place

13:43 new hc that the Forest is a magical place like pixie hollow

13:57 TWO THINGS: 1. YES stand up for yourself baby!!!! 2. Shepard Quaid? Interesting! I don't think we ever got SQ's full name in the books, I hope TLS made that decision!

14:08 your "father hat"??? Oh my gosh shut the fuck up right there don't even continue

14:16 oh yeah real fuckin cute put on your "steward of this institution hat" and call that a good reason to be a shit person

14:43 "No." GOOD FOR HIMMMM GOOD JOB SQ

15:03 Kate's struggling right by the shore where a certain someone would be returning after a very hard swim, it would be a great time for a meeting wouldn't you think

15:09 KATE THE GREAT

15:11 "THE TRAPESE GODDESS" I WILL REFER TO HER AS NOTHING ELSE

15:26 sorry but that green screen of her falling was kinda funny

15:28 soooooo is someone, a very certain someone, gonna catch her...??????

15:36 YEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

15:43 IS THIS IT????@?@?!?

15:46 awww poor baby girl you can tell how tired she is

15:46 just putting this out there- they look so good in frame together

15:46 the actor who plays Milligan is fucking huge in stature so I wasn't sure how that would go but it looks so good

16:00 THE WAY HE'S LOOKING AT HER WITH HIS HAND ON HER SHOULDER I CANT DO THISSSSS

16:20 "keep going." 😭😭😭😭😭

16:23 "you dont understand." Ohhhh I think he does

16:25 "I think I do." What did I tell you, he's got your back babygirl

16:45 I'm so glad she's talking this out, and with Milligan of all people

17:01 it makes so much sense for Kate to feel alone in that situation, and when Kate feels anything less than positive she goes and does something, whatever that something is.

17:05 "So.. I...." "fell off a cliff and nearly died." Thanks for putting things into perspective Milligan

17:05 Milligan is such a good dad stop

17:19 "most of the way" is an understatement LMFAO

17:29 I'm so glad we know the intimate details of Milligan's illustrious swimming abilities 😂 out of all the new things wfrom the show that one wasnt on my radar

17:52 leave it to Milligan to come up with an escape plan off of an island with no water vessel with four kids in tow

18:08 THEYRE SO CUTE 😭😭😭😭

18:08 lowkey I'm super surprised they didnt take this opportunity to have Milligan's arduous swim force his memories out and have the father daughter bonding time they deserve. I hope they give that moment ample time to flesh out.

18:13 BUCKET!!!

18:13 wait that shot is so artsy hold up lmfao

18:13 this looks like someone's photography final hahahaha

18:26 THE TENDER MUSIC STOPPPP 😭😭😭

18:41 Sticky is still on that jumping to conclusions bs he got from Curtain

18:44 WETHERALL'S WIDGET 😭

19:31 "Kate... she's in danger..." NO SHIT SHERLOCK

19:36 "and it's all because of me." Not just because of you but love to see you taking responsibility

19:52 once again I am asking WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THIS IN THE OPEN

20:26 "Kate. She has changed." "Not really. She's always been who she is." "Her clothes. She changed clothes." PFFFT HAHHAHA they really took a moment of self-reflection and made it so much better

20:55 AYYYYY KATE'S DEPENDENCY ARC CONTINUESSSSS

21:35 yikes yikes yikes

22:16 I love that Mr. Benedict got closure in telling Miss Perumal that her words stuck with him

22:40 the way she just knows Reynie took the position of leader 😭😭

22:54 SHE WROTE HIM A LETTERRR

23:02 "Would it be possible to get this to him?" Ma'am what part of undercover spy don't you get

23:54 it's still really weird that we are now in a position where Reynie is the one who is not trusted and Sticky is the one in Curtain's favor

24:13 and here we see Curtain's thinly veiled anger issues shining through

24:21 "the little things matter. Every minor detail, it all matters!" CALLBACK TO MR. BENEDICT TELLING THE CHILDREN THAT THEY ALL MATTER

24:55 "I can tell with complete accuracy when a person is lying." first of all, no. second of all, I cannot wait for him to talk to Constance.

26:33 why is Mr. Benedict graphically explaining the children's potential trauma so funny to me

26:40 "you're catastrophizing." "Yes. I am. Quite severely. Thank you." WHY IS THIS FUNNY

26:58 MADGE!!!!

27:16 she's so prettyyyyy

27:33 GOOD JOB MADGE!!!!!

27:36 wait did she just take the LETTER??? she's delivering the LETTER?????

28:05 WHAT DOES "OKAY FINE" MEAN??? REYNIE??????

28:22 it's sad because it's true 🥺

28:24 "I miss my teacher from the orphanage" the best lies are the ones rooted in truth 🥺🥺🥺

28:48 roll credits

29:16 Reynie honey Orion's Belt isn't on the ceiling

29:29 the way he was so confident that he had it right 😑 Curtain Stop Being a Pretentious Fuck challenge

29:52 our babygirl is so smartttt

29:55 did Milligan plant his prints 😳 oh no OH NO

29:57 MARTINA???? WHATSUEJHDKD

29:57 is this the replacement for when they pin cheating on her????

30:03 THE KEY CARD!!!!

30:11 MADGEEEE

30:21 "one attacked me as a small child" honey you are a small child

30:24 "it did not win," she said, smiling menacingly

30:40 "so we dance again" WHY DID THE MUSIC REV UP WHEN SHE SAID THAT HAHAHAHA

31:01 ✨woodworking is a passion✨

31:58 "was it functional?" "Well I guess that depends on how you define functionality" RHONDA'S FACE IN THE BACKGROUND HAHAHAHA

32:10 OH HEY MARTINA

32:17 wait 🥺

32:22 that has to be SQ :)

32:28 hi sweet boy

32:34 please tell me they did that shot of the sandwich because Madge is about to take it

32:39 LMFAOOOOO

32:44 hi good girl!!! Enjoy your snackies

32:50 oh god oh no the LETTER

33:25 oh wow we're doing this NOW??

33:52 and here we see another example of Curtain's thinly veiled anger issues bubbling to the surface

34:10 hey what if you uhhh weren't such an asshole

34:33 that man's voice is buttery

34:52 REYNIE'S TRYING TO TELL SQ????

35:02 and they're talking about this right in front of the office door, WHY??

35:24 AND THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT THIS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE OFFICE DOOR, WHY????

35:55 he's letting him go 🥺🥺🥺🥺

36:14 why does that look like a body bag

36:17 oh my gosh it definitely is a body bag, hey Martina

36:25 yep, that's about what I expected

36:36 "whoever did this to me, they're gonna pay" oh girl do I have some bad news for you

37:12 ahhhh, so Martina is the burnt out gifted kid who keeps going out of spite and sheer force of will

37:12 everything makes much more sense now

37:30 ohhhhh my gosh feelings time

37:44 "I think it's awesome." "Yeah. I know you do." THE SHIPPERS ARE THRIVING

37:54 THEY REALLY WANT TO MAKE THIS AS PAINFUL AS POSSIBLE HUH

38:10 "it's the least I can do" that's an understatement 😬

38:14 AAWWWWW SHKSHSLSBDK

38:20 "I don't know what I'd do without you, Wetherall" STOPPPPP

38:30 HEY BUD UH MAYBE CLOSE YOUR DOOR???

38:38 he's been writing letters to her every night and now he finally gets one back 😭😭

39:34 so Miss Perumal wrote this letter with the intention of it being sent to him, right- why did she write it like that?? 😂

39:34 they've gone to such lengths to communicate in code but the letter kind of undermines that- it was written in such a way that an onlooker would know Reynie was a spy but wouldn't know what he was doing or why. No wonder SQ was pissed

39:41 KATE!!

40:10 BREAKING NEWS: local bastard man treats everyone like shit

40:15 ohhhhh SQ bud please be careful

40:30 "always have time for my son," he said in a clipped voice that implied that he does not have time for his son

40:35 ohhh he's getting RIGHT INTO IT HUH

40:41 you mean to tell me he's never asked about Mr. Curtain's work?? Ever???? Somehow that doesn't seem right to me

40:57 hey uh what if you didn't talk down to SQ at every opportunity

41:02 "would you care to reconsider that answer, son?" "No." DIG THOSE HEELS IN SQ!!!!

41:22 I'm really not digging that Curtain is using the guise of openly expressing his feelings to communicate his anger and his unasked question. Not cool bitch head

41:33 the fact that he didn't answer SQ's spoken question kind of also answers his unspoken question

41:45 "I knew there was something off about that girl. But espionage?" "How do you so convincingly fake a tetherball obsession?" I love that this entire conversation could be about Martina or Kate interchangeably

42:34 WELL THAT'S NOT GOOD

42:36 IF IT WAS THAT EASY TO FIND WITH BINOCULARS HOW HAD THEY NOT BEEN SPOTTED UP UNTIL THIS POINT?!!?#? HOW????

43:05 Kate advocating for Martina with the Society 🥺🥺 the interaction I didn't know I needed

43:58 "I definitely don't like to leave anything unfinished." "That's true, I've seen you eat." PFFFFT

44:05 YESS YOU GO STICKY USE YOUR ACCESS FOR PRIME INTEL

44:19 "well, you can't succeed without me, so..." baby girl you have no idea how right you are

44:28 please let that be Milligan PLEASE LET THAT BE MILLIGAN

44:32 YEAAAAAHHHHH

44:35 I simply adore him

44:45 "would you mind helping me down, please? I'm stuck." Your honor I would die for this man

44:54 oh shit, Martina's tryna sleuth it out herself.. this can't end well

45:04 is she about to find Kate's marbles or something?? Callback to the book?

45:26 the absolute MURDER in her eyes

45:31 FUCKIN YIKES

45:41 "the clothes of someone who had given up" ASEJDGEIDNDLFK

45:47 well that's not good

46:00 WELL THAT'S NOT GOOD

46:04 PLEASE let them be on their way already, please

46:14 THEY MADE A BLIMP????

46:17 Goodyear is QUAKING

46:35 why the fuck is Number Two in red, that's upsetting on principle

THEYRE JUST ENDING IT THERE???? goddamnit!!!!

How surreal is it that next week is the finale?? Idk if I'm ready for that????

#mbs disney+#mbs liveblog #the dance of the celestial orb #the mysterious benedict society #charity's talkies

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terrainofheartfelt · 3 years

Text

"It's you, it couldn't be awful"

A Playlist For Dair Appreciation Week, Day 7 - Fave Quotes & Lyrics

I haven’t the faintest idea how to make gifs (seriously I think all of you are witches) so I made this playlist, because there is nothing I love more than scrolling through my spotify library and just projecting all over it.

Track listings and links with opinions & lyrics under the cut, because this thing is long, because I have no restraint.

(Note: I intentionally left off all tswift bc if I didn’t, we’d be here all day)

Section 1: The Bops

Little of Your Love - HAIM

A bop that embodies the energy of the 4b arc, and an energy of “Oh for crying out loud, Humphrey”

You’re just another recovering heart / I wasn’t even gonna try / you wouldn’t even give the time

Stop runnin’ your mouth like that / ‘cause you know I’m gonna give it right back

Hate That You Know Me - Bleachers

It’s “You owe me ten / You owe me twenty!” & “I was hoping it would go away / I was humiliated” & basically all of While You Weren’t Sleeping, tbh

Some days I, I wish that I wasn't myself / No luck! / And I hate that you know me so well

I Like Me Better - Lauv

Heavily featured in all y’all’s gifsets—and rightfully so!!! It’s also like the perfect counter to the previous song.

To not know who I am but still know that I'm good long as you're here with me

Sweet Talk - Saint Motel

It’s about Blair roasting Dan for filth and him being completely charmed by it.

when you laugh / I forget that it's about me / But it's alright / Yeah, cause being your punchline / Still is something

No Reason to Run - Cold War Kids

In the perfect version of the show that lives in my head, this is the end credits song that plays as the two of them frolic in Rome.

I have evolved like a fish growing legs / Woke like a lightbulb clicked in my brain

You Make Lovin' Fun - Fleetwood Mac

The song for the couple that fucked in an elevator. Bless the work.

Sweet wonderful you / You make me happy with the things you do

No Matter What You Do - covered by Jakob Dylan and Regina Spektor

The energy is “I have a lot of affection for you but you are so annoying.” And this is the obligatory post-breakup s6 song.

No matter what in the world you do / Hey, I'll always be in love with you

Don't Take the Money - Bleachers

I see so much love for tswift on this website (valid) but I feel like the world as a whole sleeps on her collaborator Jack Antonoff bc he is brilliant and his act Bleachers has some of my favorite songs ever. Like this one. Antonoff has said before that the title phrase is more metaphorical than literal, like an idiom that means don’t take the easy way and give this up, because it’s genuine. Real “I want to have a sleepover with you” vibes.

Somebody broke me once / Love was a currency / A shimmering balance act / I think that I laughed at that

In the Morning - Nina Simone

It’s about the domesticity! And the “Our relationship is our world”! And the “we’re young and still have so much life to live so everything’s gonna be okay.” did i title a smut fic with lyrics from this song maybeso.gif

Please be patient with your life / It's only morning and you're still to live your day

This Must Be the Place - Talking Heads

This is a canon dair song bc @mysteriesofloves titled a fic after this song, them’s the rules. But for real, this is such a good one. The lyrics are intentionally scattered, a little bewildered, like “how did we get here? how did this happen? who found whom?” and finally “who cares? we found a home in each other.”

The less we say about it, the better / We'll make it up as we go along

Cleopatra in Brooklyn - Frank Turner

Chosen for the title obviously, but the lyrics capture the royal/5b arc pretty well, I think. The narrator carries this tongue-and-cheek comparison of the woman he’s singing to to Cleopatra through the whole song, comparing himself to Marc Antony, and ending with this really earnest kind of declaration. I’m obsessed with this songwriter he’s a genius please give him a listen.

These people are adjectives to your proper noun

I'll come find you when your fortunes fail you / I'll die with you when the gods desert you

Morphing into Section 2: Pure Vibes

Walking on a Dream - covered by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

The original is by Empire of the Sun (and omigod I just realized the coincidence), but I first heard it covered by McMahon, and he’s one of my favorite musicians of ever so I just love his rendition. And this song is sort of like...about finally deciding that the reality of love with someone is so much better than the idea of it.

Thought I’d never see / The love you found in me / Now it’s changing all the time

Wake Me - Bleachers

Jack coming for my life yet again. This song is so romantic but also so melancholy? Which is such a Daniel Humphrey Vibe.

And I'd rather be sad with you / Than anywhere away from you

All I Want - Joni Mitchell

I’m a white girl with a mother who grew up in the 60s, so I love Joni. And this song is so bubbly and joyful, but it’s also about a relationship between two imperfect people and wanting it to work anyway. Big “Despicable B” vibes!

All I really want our love to do / Is to bring out the best in me / And in you, too.

Dust to Dust - The Civil Wars

A friend in undergrad got me into the Civil Wars by showing me their live videos, and they have such incredible musical chemistry - like, the synchronicity of their ensemble is so good that it even comes through on their studio recordings and it makes these simple lyrics hit SO HARD.

You're just lonely / You've been lonely too long

NFWMB - Hozier

Ok, this had to be like the first ask I ever sent @bisexualdanhumphrey bc they wrote this fantastic meta post about Hozier and Derena but I said: “consider: NFWMB is a Dair song.” And they said, “You right.” I stand by it, and that’s why this song is on this list.

If I was born as a blackthorn tree / I'd wanna be felled by you / Held by you / Fuel the pyre of your enemies

Friday I'm in Love - covered by Phoebe Bridgers

This song - especially this cover - gives such Secret Friendship Arc vibes a la the end of 4x16...the inherent romance of eating pizza and falling asleep on the couch together

Always take a big bite / It’s such a gorgeous sight / To see you eat in the middle of the night

A Case of You - Joni Mitchell

Queen Joni again. Like! I am a lonely painter / I live in a box of paints. & The “You’re the star of Dan’s book” of it all in these lyrics!

I remember that time you told me / You said “Love is touching souls” / Surely you touched mine / ‘cause part of you pours out of me / In these lines from time to time.

Longing to Belong - Eddie Vedder

This is my thinly veiled attempt to tell more people about this: a song written and performed by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder on ukulele, that is actually the softest love song in the history of western music.

All my time is spent here / Longing to belong to you

Bones - Josh Record

Okay, so, that Moment on the Couch at the end of 5x02? That’s this song.

And darling, when your feet are cold / Wait up, I'm coming home / And all of you I will hold / My love will clothe your bones

Cinnamon Girl - Lana Del Rey

The song for when you reach the end of plausible deniability - One all consuming paralyzing thought & You need to go back to Brooklyn - and it scares the heck out of you.

There's things I wanna say to you, but I'll just let you live / Like if you hold me without hurting me / You'll be the first who ever did

You and Me - You + Me

You can be flawed enough but perfect for a person

Section 3: Songs for Dancing in the Kitchen with Your Lover at 1 am

Cigarettes and Coffee - Otis Redding

The “Dan and I have a real connection song.” It’s about the romance of commonplace things when they’re with the right person.

But it seemed so natural, darling / That you and I are here

I'd Be Waiting - Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats

It’s “I just want to spend the day with you” but in like, slow-dance, sexy harmonies format.

If you ever get lonely if you never did

Never My Love - covered by Jakob Dylan and Norah Jones

The “Words of Affirmation” love song they deserve, and an underrated love song from Laurel Canyon, imho

What makes you think love will end? / When you know that my whole life depends / On you

Dancing in the Dark - covered by Morgan James

Okay so these lyrics are such Dan lyrics to me, it’s charmingly self-aware and self-deprecating. And this cover by Morgan James turns this staple rock song into something ~sexy~

I'm dying for some action / I'm sick of sittin' round here trying to write this book / I need a love reaction / Come on, gimme just one look

Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool for You) - Aretha Franklin

They’re literally always making each other laugh! It’s about feeling safe enough to be uninhibited and unselfconscious in your joy.

To make you laugh / I would be a fool for you

I Fall in Love Too Easily - as done by Chet Baker

No one, but no one sounds as sweet or as smooth as Chet. I know it, you know it, Hozier knows it. And this song and it’s titular thesis is so Them, it’s such a central part of their respective characters, and one of the things that makes them compatible.

My heart should be well schooled / 'Cause I've been fooled in the past

For Me Formidable - Charles Aznavour

Due entirely to this fic (Part II of a god tier s4 au) This is the end credits song for their full feature length Nora Ephron romcom.

NSFW Honorable Mention: Dinner & Diatribes - Hozier

it’s the definitive “men get pegged” representation, iykyk

#dairaw21 #playlist #i may have gotten a *little* carried away...#i regret nothing #dair

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someawkwardprose · 3 years

Text

Torchwood S1: Synopsis, Trigger Warnings, Comments

a friend wanted to start torchwood; I offered to give a few trigger warnings, and ended up with...this. under a readmore for obvious reasons. torchwood is certainly a show!

Overall: TW for death in pretty much every episode, blood, bad camera work, and the general feel of a show made on two packets of crisps and a cup of tea as a budget. also a weird amount of nudity (rhys williams please put some clothes on)

Everything Changes - PC Gwen Cooper watches a so-called Special Investigations team bring a murder victim back to life. Her inquisitiveness lands her right in the middle of their investigation, and she catches the attention of Captain Jack Harkness, leader of Torchwood. And apparently they hunt aliens.

Trigger Warnings: Consent issues, Memory Manipulation (Unrelated to), Suicide.

Ruairidh’s thoughts: Suzie Costello deserved better.

Day One - Gwen’s first day, and it isn’t an easy start. She accidentally releases an alien gas that escaped from a crashed meteor, and it feeds off orgasms - leaving its victims a pile of sand! Gwen’s compassion and police skills are put to work trying to stop the alien, and the girl it is possessing.

Trigger Warnings: Extreme Consent Issues, Misogyny, Onscreen Sex.

Ruairidh’s thoughts: Entirely unneeded episode, just to show how ‘Adult’ the show is. Some adorable team scenes though, if you just skip the entire plot.

Ghost Machine - A petty thief finds a machine that shows the past. Owen sees something he shouldn’t have. The Rift and human criminals shouldn’t mix, and the team - and Gwen’s - principles are challenged.

Trigger Warnings: Off-screen rape and murder, Off-screen violence towards women, both in a historical context. Suicide.

Ruairidh’s thoughts: This episode is peak Owen - he’s a bastard, but a good man at heart.

Cyberwoman - Ianto Jones, survivor of Torchwood One, has been keeping a secret. That secret might just destroy the world. Captain Jack should know by now; betrayal always comes from those you trust most.

Trigger Warnings: Death, Gore, Extremely Ridiculous But Nonetheless Traumatic Violence. Non-explicit Racism, One Weird Scene Where A New Character Is Inappropriate In A Treatment Scenario.

Ruairidh’s Thoughts: Oh I have SUCH a love-hate relationship with this episode. One one hand, PEAK Ianto, you really fall in love with him, and it’s so tragic. On the other hand, this was written by horny men, who make their cyberwoman wear A CYBERKINI?? Why do all their people of colour die violently. Also inherently ridiculous. But, I cannot stress this enough, GDL’s acting carries the entire episode and it’s just so good.

Small Worlds - Jack’s past collides with his present; fairies are very, very real, and a little girl has some guardians who are the definition of overprotective. Jack has a choice to make; Gwen finds out more about her fearless leader, and the team learn how far their boss is willing to go for the job.

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of Pedophilia (a man who dies :D), Child Endangerment, Child Abuse (Minor), Bad CGI.

Ruairidh’s thoughts: PEAK JACK EPISODE. Wish they didn’t fridge an interesting female character.

Countrycide - Camping Trip! The team investigate a series of disappearances in the Brecon Beacons, have a series of interpersonal conflicts, and encounter the worst type of monster: humans.

Trigger Warnings: Gore (HEAVY), Extreme Violence, Cannibalism, Threats of Sexual Assault, Infidelity.

Ruairidh’s Thoughts: this is my favourite episode of this season. Peak team content, Jack is weirdly attractive when he’s being bad to be good, and Ianto and Tosh are especially good. It gets REALLY DARK at points, but it’s so good.

Greeks Bearing Gifts - The team uncover a 300-year old mystery, Owen and Gwen are sneaking around really badly, and Tosh meets a girl. Telepathy ensues.

Trigger Warning: Consent Issues Regarding Telepathy, Alien Seduces Tosh Under False Pretenses, Thinly Veiled Lesbophobia (RTD’s ongoing weirdness about blonde lesbians), People Being Mean To Tosh (illegal), Transphobia (brief mention).

Ruairidh’s thoughts: wish we had better wlw content <3. lots of mixed feelings.

They Keep Killing Suzie - Torchwood investigates a double murder directly related to them; to do that, they need to speak to an old friend. Suzie Costello, welcome back.

Trigger Warnings: Gory Death At Start, Referenced Child Abuse, Mind Control. An Unreasonable Amount Of Corpses.

Ruairidh’s Thoughts: I can’t be coherent about this, sorry, I’m in love with Suzie Costello. SUZIE. Yes she is Evil No I Do Not Care!!

Random Shoes - Eugene Jones is dead. He is also haunting Gwen.

Trigger Warnings: ...possibly Non-Con Voyeurism but it’s Not like that? It’s a very nice ep tbh.

Ruairidh’s Thoughts: Peak Gwen this ep is very sweet.

Out of Time - The Sky Gypsy lands in Cardiff. Fifty years too late. Owen falls in love, Gwen unleashes her maternal instincts, and Jack somehow relates to the Worst Man In The World.

Trigger Warnings: SO much Onscreen Het Sex, Suicide, Misogyny.

Ruairidh’s Thoughts: Christmas Ep! I actually don’t know what the hell is going on at any point and skipped most scenes with the older guy because he was annoying, but Diane was very cool and I wish she had better taste in men.

Combat - People are turning up dead, and something is going on with the Weevils. Jack and the team investigate; Owen has a crisis.

Trigger Warnings: Depression and? Possible Suicide Attempt, Violence Towards Men And Weevils.

Ruairidh’s Thoughts: I really like this episode but that's an unpopular opinion. Anyway Owen and Mark should have had a Gay Scene and I stand by that.

Captain Jack Harkness - Tosh and Jack find themselves stuck in WW2; the team tries to get them back. Jack makes some mistakes and reveals his past, Owen makes more bad decisions, and Ianto is having a very rough day, actually.

Trigger Warnings: Racism (Brief), Major Character Injury (Owen - he deserves it), Bad Writing

Ruairidh’s Thoughts: every Jack/Jack scene sucks and is unnecessary, but Ianto gets to be very sexy and once again makes me question my sexuality. Toshiko deserved better. I get great pleasure out of Owen being hurt <3

End of Days - The team faces the consequences of their actions; continue to make bad decisions regardless. Secrets are revealed, Jack faces a bad CGI monster, and everyone needs therapy.

Trigger Warnings: Plague, Death, Bad CGI, Betrayal.

Ruairidh’s Thoughts: Mixed reactions. Bit of an anticlimax. Some cute team stuff.

#torchwood #torchwood meta #bbc torchwood #jack harkness #gwen cooper #toshiko sato #owen harper #ianto jones #meta #awkward talks #the big nuwho rewatch #i guess?#my writing

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anextraordinarymuse · 3 years

Note

I need your thoughts about why you read Shane and Oliver being intimate in To The Alter. The longer the better.

Well, I am happy to oblige!

As I mentioned in that original post, I have no doubt that this isn't a popular take on Shane and Oliver's relationship, and I know that SSD is a faith based show, but I think that Shane and Oliver's interactions in To The Altar were purposely written to be ambiguous. So, let's break it down, shall we?

To start, I personally don't believe that Oliver and Shane sharing that last intimacy would diminish either their faith or their connection in any way. Oliver is old fashioned, but only to an extent, and while this is a faith-based show it also doesn't exist in a vacuum. Hence why I think there is ambiguity in the way their interactions are presented: so you can interpret them in whatever way you like.

So. In To The Altar, we see Shane and Oliver interact in ways that we have never seen before. It's not out of the ordinary for Oliver and Shane's wardrobes to match, but right at the beginning of the movie they don't just match: they're dressed almost identically. Both are wearing their dark green plaid outfits; Shane's coat is blue, and Oliver's tie is almost the same color blue. This is pretty innocuous except that it immediately made me wonder how they pulled that off, because the match is too exact to be accidental (IMO). My first thought was "how cute, they must have done that on purpose", and then the next thought was "well, how would they have done that?" Now, this isn't really important except that it's what kind of set me on this track in the first place.

The first interaction that really set me off was the teasing between Oliver and Shane on the post office floor. Oliver tells Shane that he can't bend the rules just because "You and I are ... especially because you and I are ...". But Oliver can't finish the sentence, and his inability to articulate what exactly they are triggers something playful in Shane. She gets right into his personal space, goes up on her tiptoes and whispers in his ear, "I love it when you get all 'Ms. McInerney on me.'" Now, we've seen Shane being playful before, and Oliver as well to some extent, but this is ... well, this is new. The way Shane whispers in his ear can be interpreted as being at least lightly seductive; the fact that Oliver can't seem to stand still while Shane is in his personal space seems to indicate that this moment makes him feel some sort of way as well. He literally bounces on his feet - more than once - but there's no discomfort in his expression. He's smiling, but it's a playful, secretive sort of smile. Honestly, there's so much playful intimacy in this moment that it should be illegal. No matter how you read it, it's clear that these are two people who are very comfortable with and in love with one another. It was all of these things together that struck me: here they are in identical outfits as if they got dressed that morning together, sharing a playful and perhaps thinly-veiled seductive moment, and Oliver can't finish his sentence with "just because you and I are dating?" There are two alternatives here: one is that Oliver doesn't say dating because he's already started thinking about the future and what ends up being his proposal ... and one is that the end of his statement would have referenced their new intimacy, which he could not find a way to do appropriately so did not finish the sentence at all. This interpretation would also tie in nicely to Shane's sudden teasing, because she knows what he's trying not to say and decides to tease him about it.

The very next scene that Oliver and Shane share is the infamous wedding dress scene. The intimacy of their previous moment is directly carried into this one. The way that Oliver steps forward to fasten the buttons and then he and Shane watch each other in the mirror is just ... my brain immediately went "oh, they've done this before." I don't know how else to explain it, except that this moment felt new to us as the audience, but not new to Shane and Oliver. Shane has been caught with the wedding dress, yes, but that's where the surprise of the moment seems to end. This moment is reminiscent of countless romance movies where the leading man zips the leading woman into (or out of) her dress. Oliver is the playful one in this moment, and all of Shane's shyness stems from the fact that he's seeing her in a moment that she didn't intend on him seeing; again, aside from the wedding dress, this moment seems so familiar to them that Oliver is comfortable teasing Shane. That's a huge thing in my mind, because Oliver is not playful in moments of discomfort or uncertainty. Also! We don't see Oliver approach Shane at all - one moment he's staring at her from a few feet behind her, and the next moment he's reaching out to do up her buttons. How did he know that the buttons were undone? There's no way he could have seen that detail from where he was first standing - so did he know that they were undone because he knows that Shane has a hard time reaching that spot? It just felt so .... deliberate that we were shown Oliver's hands buttoning the dress.

The next scene that stood out to me was actually the moment between Norman and Oliver at the tuxedo fitting. Norman has just admitted that he and Rita are both virgins, and that he's nervous about "going to the movies" as he's termed it, because he's afraid he won't be good at it. Oliver's advice is both sweet and confident: "Norman, you aren't going to the movies, you and Rita are the movie. You are the stars of your own love story. And when the time comes you will know your lines, and it will be beautiful." Now, nowhere in this moment does Oliver seem to overtly draw on anything personal, and we know that he's just good with words and giving advice overall. This moment could be nothing - just some beautifully worded advice - but in many ways, Rita and Norman are foils for Shane and Oliver. If Norman and Rita are both virginal, then the foil would be for Shane and Oliver not to be. That tracks with their characters, since we know that Oliver was married before and Shane is not as old fashioned as Oliver (so theoretically might not have the same 'wait for marriage' attitude that many people assume Oliver has). Again, this moment might be nothing, but given that it comes after those moments with Shane and not before it makes me think that Oliver is actually drawing on how he feels about his relationship and intimacy with Shane to set Norman's mind at ease. Also, since we've moved past Holly so completely at this point it wouldn't really make sense for Oliver to be drawing on those experiences (especially at what is, in many ways, the height of his relationship with Shane). Thus, if Oliver is drawing on anything personal in this moment it must be with Shane.

Now, at the beginning of the movie Shane and Oliver's wardrobes are either very in sync/complementary or downright identical, as mentioned before. But as we get to the middle of the movie and later, their wardrobes are no longer as in sync (or are in the same color palette, but not really similar). This coincides with Oliver's preoccupation - but it also made me wonder if it doesn't signal the nights that Oliver and Shane spend together vs. the ones they don't. Since Oliver is old fashioned, and Shane isn't, there could be a compromise there: maybe they spend one or two nights a week together, but not all of them.

So. I think these things were meant to be ambiguous so that the audience could interpret them how they chose. It could be that these interactions are clues hinting at the evolution of Shane and Oliver's relationship ... or not. There's not a lot of them, but the fact that they exist at all - and that these interactions really aren't present in any other movie, or with any other couple - is what caught my attention. Obviously I fall into the "their relationship has evolved" camp. Given what we know of the characters I think this the most realistic interpretation. Oliver and Shane are at least in their mid-thirties; one has been married and the other has had at least one serious relationship previously; this isn't a first serious relationship between young people (like with Norman and Rita). By the time we get to To The Altar, Shane and Oliver have been dating for a year (based on when the movies aired, since we don't have a concrete timeline in the show), and I think based on the giddiness of their interactions that any intimacy they've shared is still new, so we can safely assume that they probably took their relationship progress slowly. A year is a long time for two adults in a seriously committed relationship to wait to have sex. Like I said, I know that this is a faith-based show, but it doesn't exist in a vacuum and it aired in 2018. Also, I wish I had gifs of all of these moments to include here!

The best thing about this is that it can be interpreted in any way that you want it to be. I have interpreted it the way I have based on the things I've laid out above, but that doesn't invalidate any other interpretation.

So, what do you think?

#ShOliver #Shane x Oliver #SSD #ssd: to the altar

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ridasverkisto · 4 years

Note

for the black clover meme ask: 1, 13, 23, 30 and 48

Oh! I didn’t actually expect to get any asks for it...cool! For reference, the ask meme post is here.

1. Favorite Character?

This is a hard one—I don’t usually tend to have only one favorite character, but a herd of them that I love for a lot of different reasons. The two that jump out at me off the top of my head though are Dorothy and Noelle—Dorothy just because she’s fun and I love her, and Noelle because I love her character arc. Noelle specifically is the only character I’ve yelled at a TV screen for lol 😂

13. Favorite Clover Kingdom place?

...see, I don’t usually think about this sort of thing, just because I don’t get attached to places unless I go there in person. I guess just off the top of my head it would probably be the Capital, if only because I’m a shameless worldbuilding junkie and I’m extremely curious to see more of it.

23. Any (hetero or LGBT) romantic/platonic pairings you’re fond of?

I think the biggest is Magna/Luck, either romantic or platonic—I’m soft for two dumbasses sharing a brain cell and being best friends, regardless of whether it’s romantic or not. I also once saw a pairing for Charmy/Rill/Langris and I hold it close to my heart if only bc the potential for comedy and character growth is amazing.

Finral & Langris is also a good one, so long as it’s like...actual Sibling Energy and not thinly veiled incest wishing. Oh! And Yuno & Asta. I understand why people ship them romantically, and I can see it to some extent, but...you can’t tell me Yuno isn’t a Dramatic Bitch specifically to troll Asta, and if that isn’t peak Sibling Energy I don’t know what is.

30. Least favorite fandom theory?

Without a doubt, the idea that Dante could be Asta’s dad. Don’t get me wrong, I can see where the thought came from, but it just—it completely goes against how Black Clover handles tropes, and it’s just. Ugh.

If Tabata goes that way, that’s fine and I’ll live—but as it stands without better evidence and set up it just feels gross and I really don’t like it.

48. What do you feel is the series’s biggest flaw? How would you have handled it differently?

Hm. This is a hard one, bc overall I really do like how Tabata has been handling the series. I think the biggest flaw to me, personally, is how he handles his female characters in presentation. Like, personality-wise they’re pretty good overall (various female characters, each with different personalities and motivations, thank you!), but. How he handles crushes in the series, plus how Noelle and Mimosa in the art have been consistently drawn in fanservice-y ways is really bad.

First and foremost, let me get this out of the way: it’s not that I disapprove of the crushes in the series—in fact, I think they’re all believable. It’s the way the characters—specifically Charlotte—hem and haw around being adults about their emotions. Noelle and Mimosa—cool, fine, they’re 15, they’re not supposed to be adults about their emotions. And Charlotte’s a bit of a neurotic mess sometimes, so her struggling to tell Yami makes sense. HOWEVER.

I’m aware Tabata doesn’t rly want to write romance into the series (he’s on record saying so, tho I can’t find the source as of rn), but if you don’t want full on romance, then a crush shouldn’t be such an integral part of how you present a character to the audience. I’m also aware that this is probably mainly an anime problem due to fillers, but the point remains—Charlotte’s personality gets filtered down to “strict and serious on the battlefield” and “oh no it’s Yami 😖😳”

It’s a less serious problem with Noelle and Mimosa because we see more of them, and we get to see parts of their personalities that don’t revolve around their crush on Asta, but like. Maybe it’s because I’m aromantic, but constantly seeing “will-they-won’t-they” is so tired at this point.

My solution? Either a) don’t focus on it so much—flushing, being tongue-tied, cool, fine, but it’s not the CENTER OF THEIR PERSONALITY FFS. Or b) have one or all of them confess to their crush. Have it actually go somewhere, with the growth that entails; because whether or not Yami or Asta, etc., accept their feelings, that’s a change in the status quo. It’s progress and development. It’s INTERESTING.

Or you know, instead of having all of your romantic stuff being crushes, have someone like...Vanessa or idk, Dorothy or David or something with a background relationship. Not just a barely mentioned one with Kaiser—but one that is shown in the text and shapes part of their growth.

Also, male crush representation! Let the guys want a relationship and have a crush. Finral and Asta are the outliers here and they’re both treated as comedic relief—Asta has a sort of creepily insistent puppy crush on Sister Lily, and I really really wish it was written differently, and Finral is working on getting better already. But let the guys have interpersonal wants and needs without constantly playing it for comedic effect! Or using awful tropes!!

Basically, my take is that how romance and certain interpersonal relationships in the series is handled isn’t...terrible, exactly, it’s pretty Shounen standard, but how I’d like to see it handled is with more variety and respect. If you’re gonna write in crushes and implied romance, then actually commit to the bit and do something with it.

(Also please don’t get me started on the Silvas and how their treatment of Noelle gets sort of...hand waved, after they apologize during the Reincarnation Arc. Forgiveness and rebuilding a relationship of any kind from abuse like that isn’t easy, and I hate that it just sort of...gets ignored like everything’s fine now. Because it’s NOT.)

...that got long, sorry. I have issues with how mainstream media writes romance a lot of the time, and I think it shows. 😅

#black clover #black clover ask meme #ask meme #I have THOUGHTS on how the series has handled certain things #overall it’s really solid #but it falls into the trap a lot of shounen’s do #really the vast majority of mainstream media does #and that’s thinking that the will-they-won’t-they is more entertaining than the actual RELATIONSHIP #it’s fine if a crush is just thinking someone is physically attractive and doesn’t go any deeper than that #but you can’t have all of your crushes in a story just sit there pining after someone #that’s why so many harem anime’s get on my nerves #have some variety #bc having them all waffle around is so fucking stupid #you could even have someone else get fed up and either reveal it to the crush themselves #or lock them in a room together to force the person to confess to their crush #tension is all well and good but not when it just sits there and is always teased and never resolved #if you have tension DO SOMETHING WITH IT DONT WASTE IT #this is also the problem I have with a lot of romance stories #slow burn is fine bc they’re always steadily moving towards a relationship and the tension is built and resolved in increments #but if you aren’t going to USE the tension #or at least contrast it with different examples #don’t fucking put it in your story #Chekhov’s gun is a thing for a REASON #bluh #this is probably at least in part bc I am VERY aromantic #and I just straight up don’t understand romantic attraction at all #mixed with my huge soft spot for character dynamics #thanks for coming to my TEDtalk

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frenchibi · 4 years

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A rant-essay about The Witcher books (and comparison to the show)

((after having read book one, and started into a good chunk of book two.))

Proceed at your own discretion, there will be a lot of frustration and swearing. Also, spoilers for basically the entirety of the Netflix show. Also, there is discussion of sexual assault and objectification and lots and lots of sexism.

The structure of my rant is as follows (because yes I structured it):

1. Things that I enjoyed in the books

1.1 Geralt talks more

1.2 Geralt and Jaskier have a better relationship

1.3 The fairy tale theme

2. Things that made me want to scream

2.1 Geralt (is not a good character)

2.2 Yennefer (deserves better)

2.3 Jaskier's sexism (Netflix!Jaskier would NEVER)

2.4 Female Characters; Sexy Fantasy That Fucks (it's bad)

2.5 Narrative devices and structure (it’s bad)

3. Bonus: Why the audiobook grinds my gears

Total length: 4k words :’) Click to proceed.

(So, we’re doing this? I think forty likes is sufficient general interest, so... okay. Obligatory disclaimer here: This Is My Opinion. However, I am not fabricating any of the… grounds for my opinion, it is based on the content of the books, that I read, and which are broadly available, so anyone can read them and see for themselves. Personally, I would not recommend the experience, and below I will detail the reasons why. If, like I was, you’re hesitant about reading them, this essay might sway your decision either way. You might go “oh thanks op now I know I won’t like it” or “huh I think I wanna see this for myself because you’re yelling a lot”. It’s all equally valid. Anyway, let’s proceed with “things I enjoyed”.)

1.1 Geralt talks more Geralt in the books is a bit of a mess as far as characterization goes - but I don't hate that he's less stoic here and less... idk, arrogant/superior towards humans than he is in the show. He talks to people, engages with them, discloses opinions and thoughts and… it's a good look. We even get several pages of monologue from him at one point (because he is talking to a priestess who has taken a vow of silence, but I’ll take it – the books in general have a monologue/structure problem which I will address in 2.5) which is way more than the show ever provided us with. I’d like to say it gives us an insight into the character but maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, see below (2.1).

1.2 Geralt and Jaskier have a better relationship

Geralt and Jaskier are FRIENDS. And I mean that literally the first thing we hear Geralt say about Jaskier in canon in book one is "of course I want to see him, he's my friend". Which - Netflix!Geralt could NEVER and I'm salty about it. Jaskier in the books has his own problems (2.3) but I still think he's my favorite overall, he's fun and Geralt genuinely enjoys his company. They travel together and ENJOY it, they joke, they reminisce and it is Good. Netflix, take notes.

1.3 The fairy tale theme

This gets lost in the Netflix adaptation altogether but. The idea in the books is that all these monsters that Geralt encounters are dark twists on fairy tales and I'm HERE FOR IT. Renfri is literally Snow White But Badass. Cinderella, Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin’s stories are mentioned in passing, and other ideas that are explored here have fairy tale elements, e.g. slaying the dragon. It's cool, but apparently the story loses this aspect in later volumes so I guess it makes sense that the show decided to omit it. Still a bummer tho bc I liked that.

So. Now on to Things that made me want to Scream, which is what we’re all really here for.

2.1 Geralt (is not a good character)

Geralt, oh Geralt, I wish you weren't such an obvious Mary Sue, Saviour™ and thinly veiled Jesus allegory. Geralt is always, ALWAYS right and it pisses me the fuck off. Geralt gets all the women he wants with NO PROMPTING and it makes me angry. Geralt always has the last laugh in every and any situation. Geralt is always smarter and more powerful than the Idiot Humans. Geralt ignores advice and suffers no consequences for it. Geralt has no well-thought out character, no consistency - he just is the "main character" and "hero" that the story needs - if the story needs him to be smart, he is, if it needs him to make a mistake, he does - he has no AGENCY and it’s BORING. Why am I supposed to care about him, exactly? Because the plot tells me to, and because everyone else is framed like an idiot in comparison and you’re supposed to like strong and smart characters. Cool. Bleh.

2.2 Yennefer (deserves better)

Strap in, because this is the longest part.

Yennefer in the books is… a badass (but sexy) until the plot needs her to be a damsel (but sexy). She also occasionally has one (1) other character trait and that trait is Crazy Bitch.

I’ll admit I was not her biggest fan after the show (I didn’t really connect with her that much after she became vindictive™, though I gotta say her role in the last battle was Very Cool) but in the wake of what I have read so far, I have decided to AGGRESSIVELY STAN because she fucking. Deserves better. Oh my GOD it makes me so angry. Here’s how I think her character creation probably went:

"Ok so here we have Geralt, who is a badass, and So Cool, and he could have any Female he desires. But his Female can't be inferior and giggly and vapid like literally all other women - she needs to be the ideal fantasy Fantasy.

First: she needs powers. So we'll make her a Cool Sorceress! And more powerful than the other sorceresses because Geralt deserves the BEST. But also, he needs to be able to be Cooler and save her so she needs to be (like all females are, because they are inferior) emotionally volatile and vulnerable, and Geralt will also be the only one who gets to see that Vulnerability because Geralt has the biggest dick is her love interest. So she will be weak around him because he's just so hung wonderful.

Secondly, she needs a believable weakness (besides being too emotional because all women are too emotional), and as we all know, women have one purpose: to bREED. But not Yennefer - oh no, Yennefer is (wait for it, this is the dramatic backstory, hold your breath) broken, she's BARREN, USELESS AND EMPTY AND SHE HATES HERSELF FOR IT!!!!!

*pause for dramatic effect*

I know right that's so SEXY

[This is the point where I’m like… this might, possibly, maybe, under very different circumstances have been a compelling storyline if the author had ever consulted a woman. Or, you know, if the story was written by a woman. This is objectification and fetishization of the worst kind and I hate it. The show has this element too and it’s bad there too but it’s nowhere near as pronounced as in the books. Anyway-]

Speaking of sexy - obviously Yennefer is the sexiest of all the women Geralt has ever encountered. And because I, as the author, am aware that's unrealistic, I will drop in YET ANOTHER PIECE OF DRAMATIC BACKSTORY: She used to be a HUNCHBACK!!! *air horns* I KNOW RIGHT OH MY GOD and now she made herself SEXY with MAGIC because YOU KNOW ALL WOMEN WANT TO BE OBJECTIFIED BY MEN!!! SEXY FANTASY THAT FUCKS!!!!

[also? This is revealed to Geralt (and the reader) not by her telling him, or by a flashback, but because he "sees that she has the eyes of a hunchback". I can’t even begin to state how much I hate this.]

Anyway every time she shows up it will be mentioned how shapely her legs and breasts are and how young she looks despite the fact that she must be Old. She will turn heads and men will scorn her because she is too pretty and not interested in them and men hate anything that has any amount of sexual power or agency. but not Geralt, no, because he gets to fuck her at the end of the day so he's the only one who doesn't objectify her out loud. (but he does in his internal monologue. hooray.)

Also, to emphasize this point, we will have a side character sexually violate her while Geralt is tied up because that is The New Hotness™"

And if that wasn't enough, she as a character subscribes to what is known as "Female Hysteria For No Reason" and will become a Woman Scorned over absolutely nothing if the plot needs her to be angry.

The plot regarding her relationship with Geralt is also a bit different - in the show, she gets angry once she finds out Geralt's third wish ties them together (whether this is justified may be subjective - except yeah, no, she’s absolutely right, Geralt what the fuck??). In the book, she hears his wish as he makes it because MAGIC and is somehow SUPER INTO IT because this author has never met a human woman before.

...and then I need to complain about the storyline with the dragon. Because, you will remember, in the show, she gets angry and storms off after learning of the third wish, but that can’t be the case because she already knows about it in the books, right?

Well.

The story in the books goes like this:

Six years ago, after one of their affairs™ Geralt leaves without waking Yennefer (but like. Leaves her flowers instead) and admittedly that's kind of rude but also like... ok. That doesn’t seem too strange a thing for Geralt to do. Maybe he just wanted to let her rest? Anyway.

They don't meet for six years, in which Geralt idk... idly misses her or something, and Yennefer develops a deep lasting hatred based on her abandonment issues…? (I am. grasping. there's no good reason if this relationship is as casual to both of them as they have made it sound, but she is SUPER MAD because the plot needs her to be ANGERY).

So with his backdrop, cue the search for the dragon. Geralt is like "eh I'll join them. I have nowhere better to be, also Jaskier is here and he's not boring so ok" and then he hears Yennefer will also be there and goes "oh well all the better, haven't seen her in a while"

And when he follows her to her tent to greet her, she spits verbal FIRE at him and is like "bitch you're lucky i didn't gouge your fucking EYES out" and other lovely statements of a similar calibre, and Geralt just stands there and takes it and tells her he missed her.

which implies either a) he knows what he did and he thinks he deserves this, or b) he has done nothing wrong in his own eyes and this is just "bitch crazy" to be ignored. It is heavily implied to be b), because, in our third person POV narrative, we get NO REMORSE from him, no indication as to what he thinks about this whole thing Yennefer is accusing him of, nothing at all in terms of emotional response to her. Cool. She yells at him and then storms of, and he just… idk, shrugs I guess?

So, they travel, Yennefer is Icy Bitch Queen but also everyone hates her and insults her to an absurd degree (see above, she's Too Sexy and Powerful and also like, a Woman) and she takes it without saying anything back but it's obvious that everyone's trash talk is affecting her (so it’s obvious that at some point she will be Vulnerable again). Jaskier, who seems to have no personal grudge against her at this point in the books, joins in the teasing because he's there to make fun of everyone I guess? (boy.) No deeper malice from him than from anyone else though.

And then, for drama, the party reaches a narrow bridge. They’re debating whether or not it is safe to cross with all their supplies and then BAM! there's a landslide so they have no choice. The events go like this:

- Geralt lets the others cross first. Right as he wants to cross, he hears Yennefer yell because her horse fell over, because of course it did

- Geralt abandons his own means of escape to go help her up, and then she proceeds to save his ass because SHE HAS FUCKING MAGIC THERE WAS NO POINT IN YOU GOING TO SAVE HER YOU FUCKER she just makes a shield so nothing hits them and they stumble to the bridge

- they get caught on the bridge as it collapses, and of course Yennefer is the one who falls first, and he catches her, so they're both hanging there and he's holding on to her suspended over this. Canyon or whatever.

- Jaskier, from above, yells to the others to get a rope to help pull them up but they respond to "wait until the bitch has fallen, then we'll pull the witcher up"

which. wow. but ok.

Yennefer can barely hold on, and HERE is where Geralt asks her to forgive him for… his wrongdoings…? (you know, can't have her die with a grudge, I guess? Or whatever?) He's like "Yen, forgive me" and she says "NEVER"

((and also, she has consistently kept telling him to stop calling her Yen (which he first started when they started... having Relations™ so obviously now it has bad memories attached to it for her), which he blatantly ignores because her feelings don't matter))

In the end, Jaskier gets the others to help despite their reluctance and hatred of Yennefer and they travel on. Yennefer's back to being Ice Queen - and then they find the dragon. Some fucker tries to fight it alone and gets injured. Yennefer is in charge of healing this dude, and so she ends up alone with Geralt in a tent – where she asks him to double-cross everyone else and kill the dragon himself (after telling them all she would cooperate with them) - "for me. I want the dragon, Geralt, for myself. All of it. I don't want to share. Kill it for me" and then explains that not all is lost because with certain parts of the dragon, SOMEONE CAN CURE HER BARRENNESS and i want to launch myself into the fucking sun

Geralt is like "uhhhh"

she says "on the bridge, you asked for my forgiveness- if you do this, I'll forgive you"

and then HE GOES "well, that no longer matters to me. I'm over it now" which hsadjlkfhsajdklfhsajkldfhaskdfsj I cannot begin to impart to you how many levels of “UGH” I felt at the predictable reversal of roles because he can’t ACTUALLY have to apologize to her – it’s HER who has to apologize to HIM for being an irrational Female

and now SHE'S all like. quivering lip and wanting him back or whatever and I am SICKENED that SHE IS THE ONE WHO HAS TO GROVEL NOW BECAUSE THE PLOT CANNOT HAVE GERALT EVER MAKE A MISTAKE AND OWN TO IT?!?

Thanks, I hate it.

Oh and I almost forgot in all my rage about that storyline – when we first meet her, we learn that Yennefer apparently doesn’t “bother with the whalebone [i.e. corset] nonsense other women use” (literal quote from the book) so I guess her tits are magic???

This just in, if she needs boob support SHE’S A THOT, if your knockers don’t stand on their own you’re INFERIOR and NOT DESIRABLE, GTFO.

2.3 Jaskier’s sexism (Netflix!Jaskier would never)

Jaskier, you have been done dirty.

It could have been so cool too - Jaskier in the books is witty and likeable and makes friends wherever he goes because everyone likes a bard?? Also he's really smart and knowledgeable because "a bard needs to know about many things" which is SO VALID??? And Geralt trusts him and cares about his opinion??? And also it's clear Jaskier likes Geralt, not just for the purpose of writing ballads about him, but because they're old friends, they've travelled together a lot - yes, their relationship is good here, regardless of your shipping preferences. (Also, he wears a hat with a large feather on it, which is how Geralt recognizes him in crowds, and it's amazing and hilarious.)

HOWEVER.

Jaskier treats women terribly. At his first introduction, he literally gropes a priestess (and then makes fun of the high priestess for chastising him for it). He sees women very much as objects to be… maybe not “won” but, well, persuaded, which makes him a tiny bit better than most of the other men, who are basically straight-up rapists. But then there's the scene with Yennefer which. Made everything turn sour tbh. It goes like this:

Yennefer wants to go after the dragon alone (see above), but before she can get Geralt to do it for her and double-cross everyone, she's overwhelmed by some of the other men in the party and they're all tied up (Jaskier, Geralt, some other pacifist sorcerer who is around, and Yennefer). And one of the men, who hates her for her (sexual) power, rips open her blouse and exposes her and assaults her while she screams, so then he gags her. And then when he’s done he walks away and leaves her exposed. Geralt looks away after she screams at him not to stare (wow, points for chivalry, the standard is literally So Low - also his justification for obeying her wishes is that he’s already seen her boobs so it’s not a big deal to him anymore) but Jaskier shamelessly stares at her even after she makes it absolutely clear she does not consent to ANY of this and has no choice because SHE IS TIED UP, and he even jokes that he'll write a ballad about her perfect breasts. And I'm over here like.... no. no, no, no, no, no. Jaskier deserved better characterization and Yennefer deserves a better fucking franchise.

2.4 Female characters; Sexy Fantasy That Fucks (it’s bad)

I have touched a lot on this already so I'll try to be brief, but. Ugh.

Sexy Fantasy That Fucks™ is practically a legit genre and sadly a lot of semi-progressive fantasy falls into this category - where we have moved on from having only like one or two named female character (see: LotR) to having several, and look, they can even fight, but only as long as they're aggressively sexually attractive to men while they do it. Poor Harley Quinn suffered the same treatment in Suicide Squad - The Male Gaze Filter.

Here in the books it goes like this: Oh look, “vaguely tribal” women who fight - but they're also the most overtly sexual and involved in a canon off-screen orgy with Geralt and an older (practically old) man and are portrayed as Perpetually Horny. Oh look, Yennefer, a badass sorceress who falls apart when Geralt so much as looks her way because Geralt is so fucking great I guess. Then there’s the 14-year-old striga princess who needs to be described, once her curse is lifted, with emphasis to her “perky breasts”. SHE'S FOURTEEN. And there’s the young priestesses, who are subtly flattered by Jaskier's direct "advances" because, you know, they've dedicated their lives to serving a goddess but understandably they just WANT TO FUCK™.

There is a single female character who is not sexualized - the head priestess, Nenneke. She's described as fat and old (and wise though, throw her a bone). Geralt respects her because of her wisdom but that's it - she has a Use™. And also, he ignores her advice in the end anyway. Pity she wasn't more beautiful I guess. I am Sickened.

2.5 Narrative devices and structure (it’s bad)

Now, we get to the bones of the thing. There's... one main thing that really bothers me and that's a CLASSIC - the fact that this author prefers to have action explained to the reader through monologues by characters that inexplicably have All The Information, rather than have us, you know, experience the action first hand. There are a couple of fight scenes of Geralt vs A Monster, sure, but that's all we get - everything else is told to us through monologues. (and yes it's still a monologue even if Geralt interrupts to say "go on" or "get to the point". It's not really a dialogue if the other person is only being expositioned at. Now Geralt just looks impatient and annoying.) Even the short story format (of the first two books) is explained this way: the individual short stories are monologues within conversations in the base timeline, explaining to the reader (and to Nenneke in the narrative proper) backstories and how characters met.

Which... it's a choice? It makes more sense than the show with it’s wack-ass timeline with absolutely no conext. But like. Why can't you have us at least discover the respective monster through someone else's POV though? I get that we're always staying with Geralt because Geralt is oh so great, but rather than have some Constable explain to him for like twelve pages how the princess (who is, without any intrigue, an incest-princess - this is not a mystery, everybody is aware of this at the beginning of the story and freely provides this information without prompting) became a striga and how many people she has killed and what people say she looks like and how to allegedly cure her - can’t we see that shit happen? Like... ok, thanks? I hate it. The show did this better.

3. Bonus: why the audiobook grinds my gears

Last and definitely least - the audiobook is BAD (but I don't want to buy physical copies, and my library won't have the English version because I live in Germany, so I guess I'm stuck with it). The guy who reads it is Bad At Reading Out Loud because his emphasis/cadence is incredibly unnatural (also regrettably all the books are read by the same guy) and his pronunciation of names (most notably Jaskier, who is called Dandelion in the English version of the books) is inconsistent??? He started out by (correctly) calling him dandelion in book 1 and now has changed to pronouncing it dandelion, like the flower, which is not how you say his name (and... no offense if he’d started out that way because I, too, thought that was how you said it just from reading the word - but he says it CORRECTLY in the first book and then changes it to the wrong pronunciation in book two so I’m confused?? How does that happen?)

Also - different accents for different characters are only a good idea if a) you're good at accents and b) they aren't overtly connoted? Like. Don't give a guy in a fantasy setting a bad russian accent??? Also what part of Geralt as a character made you think SCOTTISH???? Oof.

And another thing - these little descriptors after direct speech? They MATTER.

"Don't touch me," Yennefer hissed

and

"Don't touch me," Yennefer screamed

are two very different sentences and should be read as such. You can't just. Say "Don't touch me" seductively and then add "she yelled". That's not how voice acting works. Please, pLEASE I'M SUFFERING. I was already struggling enough with some of the content of the books and now you’re making consuming them really difficult and irritating :’) Oof.

In conclusion – I don’t even know. I was mad and now I’m tired.

Anyway, all this to say – I didn’t hate every aspect of the books. I will keep reading (in my case listening) because I’m stupid, I apparently love to suffer and I am, thanks to the show, invested in the storyline and want to know what happens. But I will most certainly keep complaining about them because that’s the only way to make this fun for myself. And are you not entertained?!

Who knows. Maybe stuff will get better.

Take from this post what you will, and if it’s only my personal hypocrisy then that’s fine. I hope you had a nice day – I’m gonna go make myself some tea to calm down. And I’ll have you know that despite what you may have heard, I have never worn a bra in my life, because I’m not like other girls.

#The Witcher #The Witcher netflix #The witcher books #Geraskier #Geralt x Yennefer #Geralt of Rivia #Jaskier #yennefer of vengerberg #French speaks #am I worried about posting a possibly controversial opinion on the internet? yes #am I going to do it anyway? also yes #or should I say #and yet here we are

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wonderlustxennial · 3 years

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Thoughts on TFATWS Season 1, Episode 3

This shit has gotten ridiculous, so I’ve decided that I’m going to start doing reaction posts, rather than posting 20 individual observations. The following was written after my second viewing.

DISCLAIMER: Some of these are my observations, but others I didn’t notice until my favorite YouTube and Tumblr analysts pointed them out. I’ll try to drop credit where it’s due.

NOTE: There’s something I wish more people were talking about, and it’s down in the Madripoor section. If I’m reading this wrong, I would appreciate getting some help in seeing it. So, if you’re game, please check it out and let me know your thoughts. (#tw:racial bias)

[spoilers below the cut]

Walker Raiding the Flag Smasher Sanctuary

Here we get a further illustration that Walker not a defender; he’s working in the interest of fascists. Also, he’s on an invisible countdown to flip his shit. ALSO-also, dude just told the GRC cops not to give anyone “a second…to breathe.” (Marvel, what are you doing? I am not accustomed to relevance from you.) Did you notice the juxtaposition of Bucky asking the cops, “Don’t you know who he is?” to get the cops to stop harassing Sam, against Walker asking, “Do you know who I am?” while roughing up a refugee for not cooperating with him? Same asshole move, very different contexts. Anytime someone thinks it’s a good idea to say, “Do you know who I/this am/is?” they’ve already lost face.

Zemo in His Cell

Clearly, I’ll have to get better about zooming in on stuff, because this is the first time I’ve seen anyone catch that the book Zemo is reading in his prison cell is about Machiavelli AND Leonardo da Vinci; specifically, about how their friendship and exchange of ideas was highly influential on the future of the world. So, does Zemo think he’s Machiavelli or da Vinci, AND who is his “silent” partner? [I didn’t notice that, until The New Rockstars pointed it out (at 04:00 https://youtu.be/xHXhbw_EGL8) annnnnndddd now I’m going to have to read that fucking book (Fortune Is a River: Leonardo da Vinci & Niccolò Machiavelli’s Magnificent Dream to Change the Course the Florentine History by Roger D. Masters, and the bump in book sales is about to have Masters owing Marvel BIG TIME).]

Zemo Is “Royalty”

And here we have my first problem with this episode. BARONS ARE NOT ROYALTY. They’re nobles—low-ranking aristocracy. But do you know what does check out? Zemo and his butler’s thinly veiled distain at entertaining the two low-born Americans.

On the Plane

Look out, y’all: Satan just took the wheel.

THE NOTEBOOK/S

If Bucky has Steve’s notebook, what happened to the one he had in Romania? In CA:CW, I was stressing throughout that WHOLE fight and chase sequence that followed Bucky running from his apartment; not for his safety, but because I hated how vulnerable it left him to have to run without his notebook. I’m not even kidding. Because Steve picked up that notebook, right? Did he think to take it with him? Surely, an embassy or intelligence service swept Bucky’s living space afterward, so who has it now? THIS is the shit I obsess over. Who has that fucking notebook? WHO??!

TROUBLEMAN

There are at least three different things at play here. First, Sam’s enthusiasm and nostalgia for this relic made me tear up a little. He was so hopeful that Bucky would share Steve’s appreciation this classic piece of socially aware art. Second, we get more evidence that Bucky might be having a harder time adjusting to life as a white man in the 21st Century than we’re led to believe Steve did. Third, we know from Zemo’s interactions with his steward just seconds before that, when he praises Troubleman, what he’s actually doing is virtual signaling to build trust with Sam and put Bucky on the back foot. Fourth, I don’t think Sam knows for sure if Zemo appreciated it as much as it says, but he intuits enough about Zemo’s character to be aggravated at the inference they might have something in common; or, that Zemo might be manipulating him to empty rapport. (RIP, Marvin Gaye. You weren’t done.)

DAS OFFENE NEIN IN DER LIEBI

The New Rockstars win again. (Seriously, I have to start paying closer attention.) A book using mythology to explain the psychology of relationships, just before Zemo namechecks Red Skull. Oh shit, y’all.

ZEMO’S PHILOSOPHY ON SYMBOLS & POWER

The slipperiest thing about Zemo is that nearly everything he says has a kernel of truth; you just have to dig out what his true intentions are. Honestly, this is what makes him…I don’t know that he’s the most dangerous villain in the MCU, but it certainly sets him apart. He’s both educated AND smart (the latter doesn’t necessarily follow the former), and he’s particularly insightful in his ruminations on power and its potential to corrupt both the people who hold it and the people who admire them. Bucky and Sam both loved Steve deeply and believed wholeheartedly in the capacity he served as a defender; however, they have a tendency to over-romanticize both. Multiply that problem by the millions who never personally knew him and, when he’s gone, you get…fake!Cap.

More Relevance from Marvel

I read that Marvel had to do reshoots because a few of the themes in this show hit a little too close to home after the pandemic hit (also because the Black Widow movie was supposed to hit first, but again…global fuckery, so they had to shuffle a few plot points.) But also, refugees? “Displacement” camps? Hoarded resources? You don’t say?

Madripoor

Or “When Murder-Sugardaddy Goes Slumming with His Awkward Sugarbabies and Heinous Fuckery Most Foul Ensues”

AT THE CLUB

THE POWER BROKER. THE POWER BROKER. THE POWER… Soooooooo. Many. Name drops. At this point, I don’t even care to speculate on the identity of the mother-fucking Power Broker. Just surprise me already.

And here’s my (potential) second problem with this episode: The Black bartender doesn’t recognize the Black man he’s presumably seen before.

A CAVEAT TO START: I bartended very briefly in one of my many former lives. I was terrible at it. But here’s what’s relevant for the moment: when you work in the service industry, you meet a lot of fucking people, and you don’t necessarily remember them all. I would work giant events where I would serve 1,000+ people in a night, and people would complain all the time that I was carding them even though I’d served them previously. (1) I live in a state where alcohol is highly controlled, and the ABC Board is zealous about doing stake-outs to catch vendors serving to minors. The ABC Board enforcers would only see me serving someone without having carded them first—not all the times I served them previously. None of these people were EVER worth going to jail for over alcohol. Get your fucking card out—EVERY. GODDAMN. TIME. (2) Dude-man-bro, I’ll have served 1,000+ people by the end of the night. Get your fucking card out, EVERY. GODDAMN. TIME.

I’m not saying this bartender in a rogue nation should’ve carded all of his patrons; I’m only saying that when you work in the service industry, you can sometimes serve someone 20+ times before you finally recognize their face or learn their names, and the process can start all over again if they haven’t come in for a while.

Here’s the real issue with this scene, as I see it: In-group bias is an actual thing. There are disciplines of social psychologists and sociologists who specialize in studying it. We’re supposed to believe that the “Smiling Tiger” person Sam is posing as is well-known enough, both by reputation and in that establishment, that the bartender remembered his favorite drink but not Sam as an imposter? I can believe Selby, a Caucasian-European woman, didn’t recognize him on-sight. [Frankly, Whites can often (regrettably) get away with not making any effort to overcome cross-racial bias.] But what about this bartender not recognizing a notable local criminal’s face when they belong to the same racial group, when we’re led to believe he’s served him many times before? And how did he know Tiger-whatever’s favorite drink if the guy had never been in the club? Are we to infer this guy wasn’t high enough on the local criminal food chain to have merited an introduction to Selby?) Is this a plot hole, or am I reading too much into this? I just wonder, given how much this series has devoted to exploring racial relations.

Sam just saw Bucky the most vulnerable as I think he ever has. For the first time, very little was left to Sam’s imagination as to what it must’ve been like for Bucky and Isaiah to have been exploited. And Sam is so good, he can’t help but jeopardize the mission to check on the friend he can’t acknowledge to himself he’s found in Bucky. (He also has no guile, which is so very Steve of him! I’ve just loved Mackie’s performance this whole show.)

I don’t know what to think about how easily it came to Zemo to objectify and use Bucky, again—even if only to pretend.

Bucky is the MCU character I most identify with, but I don’t care to analyze the way the bar scene made me feel. I will say this much, though: THIS is how badly Bucky wants this whole thing resolved. He subjected himself willingly to the stuff of his nightmares, even if to just to perform in the world’s most dangerous live-action role play. As many people were taking pictures in the bar, it’s pretty safe to say that this charade is going to going to have long-term consequences.

People are talking about Bucky “suddenly losing his super-speed” when they had to hoof it away from the bar like it’s a lapse in characterization, but it’s not. Bucky could’ve taken off and left both Sam and Zemo sucking dirt, but he lagged to stay with them. He didn’t ghost them.

SHARON IS A BLACK-MARKET ART DEALER

Godammit. I despise the practice of the filthy rich removing fine art and cultural artifacts from the public view so they can use them for tax breaks and currency. Way to push my buttons, Marvel! And I’m so sure the National Art Gallery of Art and all other art museums worldwide will I mean WON’T appreciate Marvel calling into question the authenticity of their collections, seeing as museum funding and attendance is already anemic thanks to the pandemic. I know it’s bad priorities on my part, but that’s temporarily preempted how much I should probably sympathize with her after her abandonment.

EDIT: The person who gave Sharon the intelligence will figure she had something to do with his demise just a few hours later. I wonder if that will help/harm her ability to do business. Also: holding the barrel of that assault rifle while it fired off rounds should’ve burned her hand horribly.

ZEMO BREAKS THE INTERNET

Did anyone else think “Sprockets!” when Zemo started dancing??!

NAGEL

This is two references to Langley in one episode. For anyone not aware (especially non-Americans), “Langley” is commonly used to reference Langley, Virginia, which is where the most prominent institution is the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) headquarters. Both Hoskins and Nagel name dropped them in the same episode. Shit.

The Sugars Roll Up to Zemo’s Latvian Bolthole

Bucky’s mission just got a helluva lot more complicated. Sam might have bought the “just going for a walk” bit, but I doubt Zemo did. Bucky owes the Wakandans, but he still needs Zemo. Oh, boy.

Wrap-Up

I’m going to keep coming back to how unexpected it’s been to me that Marvel has finally started to course correct, focusing on characterizations and bringing in themes that are relevant to current events. WandaVision’s explorations of Wanda’s mental health and Monica’s forging of her new identity and TFATWS trying to engage with the audience on topics like race, violence, exploitation, and identity is hugely compelling to me. It’s a fucking TV show, but at this point in popular cultural history, I can’t think of anyone/anything else better positioned to address all of this in an entertaining and accessible way.

#entertainment #mcu #tfatws #spoilers

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lonestarbabe · 4 years

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Im so frustrated. I keep seeing Tarlos being compared to buddie and it's getting on my nerves. One is an actual gay couple and the other is just two straight men that people *wish* were together. One is representation and the other isn't. I'm just frustrated by the buddie fandom saying tarlos as a couple and TK and Carlos are ”cheap” versions of buddies and Eddie and Buck. They ohhh I'm so frustrated and have so much to say, I might pop off later if that's cool?

I’m probably going to annoy people with my answer, so let me put it under a cut.

I for sure understand your frustration because I too have seen some posts that have left me a bit annoyed that reflect what you’re saying. So, while I’m not trying to condemn anyone or their interests, some things I’ve seen seem to be thinly veiled jealously, which is not to say that there are not plenty of valid posts detailing people’s issues with Tarlos (because it’s perfectly fine not to love Tarlos or how they were developed and I’m always here if anyone wants to express those things in a respectful way).

I mean, OG aside a minute, I actually saw an article a long time ago that talked about Lone Star gay-baiting viewers... which doesn’t make sense because even if they weren’t together, Carlos and T.K. are both gay characters. Why I bring this up is because you’re right that they are representation-- together or apart-- and even if you don’t like their storyline, it seems dismissive to call them cheap versions of a pairing that has not even become a pairing.

I’m not going to say quite yet that Buddie is just two straight men (because I don’t like to assume characters are straight, especially when identities like bisexuality get erased so much). But beyond that, 911 has used classic gay-baiting techniques that bother me. They could have used plenty of techniques to suggest Buddie maybe something more and given more content to show that, yes, these characters (or maybe just one of them even) are not straight. Justs like a wink “you know something that the characters don’t yet.” I don’t need an explicit love declaration, but I do want to know that I’m not being baited.

The slow-burn argument is one that really makes me a bit upset because people say they want to see a gay slow-burn relationship, which I get. Slow burns are delightful, but to say that in our hook up culture, Tarlos’ romance track isn’t realistic or is too predictable seems inaccurate to me. I mean it honestly seemed kind of normal: meet someone cute, ask them to dance, hookup, get feels, friction, take some time apart, ease back together, and give a real relationship a shot. Sure, they caught feelings fast, but that seems true to both of their characters, and they acknowledge that they still need to learn more about each other. I could understand people having issues with some of how their relationship went down and how Fox used their relationships to mess with viewers’ heads, but I think those are separate issues.

If Buddie is really a slow-burn romance, then good. I’m glad. It’s good representation, but so is Tarlos, even if it is a different romance course. The thing is, Buddie could very well not be representation, so If they never turn out to be anything more than friends, then I’ll be a little more upset, not because I mind representations of men in friendships, but because of the blatant gay-baiting. They’ve done a lot of classic gay-baiting moves, so I’m a little wary about the whole thing.

Pop off all you want! We all need to vent sometimes (I do often)

TLDR: we don’t need to pit ships against each other.

#Anonymous #Asks

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letmetellyouaboutmyfeels · 5 years

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I know, I know that that post is an unpopular opinion, etc. But I feel like you're expecting WAY too much from fanfiction. People write it for fun! Of course characters are going to be written through rose colored glasses. Not every writer is NEARLY as experienced or prolific as you & your friends. Its unfair to expect so much when some writers are in the process of learning how characters & storytelling work. Writing is weird & hard & half the time the tv show's own writers can't get it right.

Okay. *rubs temples* I’m gonna fucking regret responding to this but here we go. Please imagine I’m saying this while we’re chilling on a couch: quiet, firm, casual. I worry people, especially because I am a vibrating ball of screaming energy, picture me standing on a bandstand with a megaphone and that’s not the impression I want to give at all.

Anyway.

I’ll be honest, my first response is anger in defense of my friends. I’m sure this isn’t your intention, but the way you’re saying this feels, to me, like you’re saying I’m a part of this group of writers that churn out fanfiction like it’s nothing and that’s really unfair to the really varied relationships with fanfiction that my friends have. I have two close friends who haven’t updated in months and freak out about it. I have a friend who struggled with painful writer’s block for close to a year. I have a close friend who has published like, three fics in her life, and 90% of the stuff she’s written she texts privately to me. I have another friend who’s got about five unfinished fics right now, none of which she’s touched in ages, and might never touch again. I have a friend who’s written only one fic, ever.

I have friends who have no experience. Friends who have a ton of experience. The people you see me interacting with online come in all shapes and sizes of experience, talent, and content level. Please do not put them in boxes. If I pissed you off and you want to put me in my place then go right ahead but do not, for two seconds, make it sound like my friends are all alike.

Not to mention that some of the best fic I’ve ever read has been done by people who never wrote before. I read a Reddie fic last week that I’ve shoved in the faces of everyone who will sit still for two seconds, I love it I love it I love it, and it’s the only fanfic written by this author. They’ve talked on their tumblr about how it’s their first fic and they’re so nervous. Experience does not equal quality.

I’m not asking for anything regarding fanfiction quality. I’m not setting a high bar here. I am literally asking people to be honest.

If you want to bang Karl Urban (I do, I want to bang him) and so you write McCoy/Kirk fic and it’s really just a thinly-veiled excuse for you to write yourself (as Kirk) banging Karl Urban (as McCoy) then just write readerfic where you bang Karl Urban. THAT is what I’m saying. I’m not saying don’t write it, I’m saying just call it what it is. Because you could write a really really good Reader/Karl Urban fic! One that will feel well written because you’re calling it what it is, so the audience knows what to expect.

It’s like if I wrote Anakin/Padme fic, and then changed the names to Thor and Jane Foster. It’s not going to read like a very good fic, is it? Because people are going to go in looking for Thor and Jane, and they’re not going to find them. They’re going to find two completely different characters.

Make sense?

I’m not asking for people to go and get a fucking MFA in Creative Writing. I’m not even saying don’t write RPF or Readerfic or whatever. Write what you want! Just call it what it is. If it’s a carrot cake, call it a carrot cake, don’t call it pineapple upside down cake, because I’m gonna be pissed when I taste carrots instead of pineapple.

I never said people shouldn’t write something or that they shouldn’t write for fun. Yes, write for fun! Just... it’s like tagging properly, for fuck’s sake! If someone doesn’t warn for Rape or Major Character Death I imagine you would be rather miffed, non?

And y’know what, here’s the thing I probably should’ve led with: I’m allowed to have an opinion and I’m allowed to have a pet peeve. I don’t know if you noticed but I’m not running an archive and setting up rules people have to follow. I’m literally just giving an opinion. I’m allowed to have things that annoy me about fic, I’m allowed to sometimes rant about them, I’m sure you have pet peeves and things you wish people would do as well. It was an unpopular opinion post where I was spouting off salt. It’s not my master’s dissertation.

Again: imagine me saying this as we talk on the couch, hot coco in hand. I’m sure you didn’t mean to get up onto a soapbox or sound hurtful. I’m sure that the fact that we can’t see each other’s faces, or hear each other’s voices, makes it easier for us to read one another’s words as aggressive. I want to believe that you sent this ask with love in your intentions, and I hope that you can hear that I’m being firm in my stance, but I’m also not intending any ill will.

tl;dr I’m entitled to my opinion, I’m entitled to my pet peeve, it was a salty ranting “get it off my chest” unpopular opinion post. It’s not that deep.

#mads answers things #call me Lot's Wife #I have no fucking clue how my post about people miswriting fic made someone think I'm the fucking fanfiction quality police #but here we are #I don't want to seem aggressive or bitchy #but I am also going to be firm here #girlswhorunmyfandoms

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boogiewrites · 6 years

Text

Choking On Sapphires 59

Title & Song: Under My Thumb

Characters: Alfie Solomons x Genevieve (OFC)

Word Count: 4100+

Summary: Genevieve and Alfie find their busy lives becoming too congested with the wants and opinions of others without as much time for themselves. After her father's thinly veiled threats come to both her and Alfie, they are forced to face how others are molding their relationship. Genevieve makes a suggestion to ease the problem.

Warnings/Tags: Language. Her dad being an ass. Derogatory, sexist language. Antisemitism.Canon-typical language.Insinuation of non-con sex. Ends with fluff.

**Chapter song is Under My Thumb by Rolling Stones.*

Click on my icon then go to Mobile Masterlist in my bio for my other works and chapters. (Had to do this since Tumblr killed links, sorry.)

Another day waking up alone, which wasn't as sad as it had been before you'd gotten together with Alfie. You both had your lives separate from each other, your work of legal and illegal means that kept you busy. Without cohabitating, there was no crawling into bed together after having coming home for the evening or waking up together after passing out from a long day before only to wear yourselves out again the next morning. Once again, Shabbat became your great respite together. You tried to spend as much of Friday evenings into Sunday together as possible. It didn't always work out that way but neither of you wasted too much time crying over it. That's just how the unpredictable lives of two working people were sometimes. And despite you both giving the public face of being solid and strong in your faith and heritage, the darker sides of your lives intervened at times, despite the best of attempts made for it not to.

You've worn the soles of your heels down this week. As it always came in the last and first week of any month. Business picked up and became more hectic. You collected rent and tended to your tenants wants and needs. You delivered by hand your charitable donations and ran the meals for the children at the children's home. You still had your art classes to teach and girls families to meet that applied for scholarships. This all culminated in these two weeks it seemed, money always needs to be estimated by this time each month by your analysts. You were tired, your feet ached and you'd been resting them by the fire in your office as you finalized your ledger to send off to the accountants for Abeille's earnings for the month. There were no worries as far as money was concerned but they weren't to be the source of your frustrations as fate would have it.

Alfie was working, which was understandable. As he did when he couldn't meet you on Friday's he'd sent one of his boys over with sweets and flowers and a clumsy, rushed written note of apology for his absence. You'd take to giving the delivery boy, a sweet young man with pristine manners, a kiss to the cheek and telling him to give the same to Alfie. Upon the first delivery of this from you to him, there was uproarious laughter after Alfie demanded in front of other workers that the boy gives him what you sent him back with. This would soon be simply delivered as "The lady sends her usual regards." which seemed to fit everyone much better on their end.

On this late evening, Claire brings in the last of the mail with a heavy sigh, tossing a single thin envelope in front of you. She plopped down in front of your desk with a sour face.

"I shall soon go live with the Shelby gypsy's with how I seem to know what's going to happen all the time." she rolls her eyes. "From your father." she says in an annoyed tone, her hand pointing towards the sealed envelope.

"If I haven't joined them yet, neither should you." you huff out a laugh, swiping your letter opener through the paper. "Wait until my foresight causes me to lose my mind and then we shall go together, hmm?" you suggest. You unfold the paper and read it with am indifferent expression. Claire waits patiently as she always does.

"I have received word of your coupling with not only a known criminal but a Jew of great importance in his community. If it were not insulting enough that you choose to identify as such against my wishes and warnings, you now are openly associating with his sort. I have heard as well of you acting entirely inappropriately by showing affection publicly to him. I have overlooked your solitary lifestyle, I have overlooked your poor decision making to appear as one of their belief, as you were to remain alone and not have the chance of reproducing with such people, with that I was able to turn a cheek. I can no longer do so and insist you end this regretful affair with this Alfred Solomons of Camden immediately. If you do not heed this most generous and polite warning, I will take further action. I will not have my gene pool sullied in such a way to have your offspring as branches from the Greene family tree. We are a pure and Godly lot who will not be tainted by your choices. I will be sending word to this Solomons myself of your questionable past and telling him of the things you've done to reach such a point in your life and I can only pray to my God that despite being what he is, he will see you for what you really are."

You take a deep and slow breath and Claire remains calm. You move only your eyes up to her and ask for a moment alone. She nods and stands on the other side of your office door. As she clicks the door behind her, a series of loud crashes follow. She frowns and stands defeated and waits. She hears you curse and scream and throw things and she knows it's justified, she only wishes this ridiculous behavior of your fathers would end. She wonders if she had enough money to hire someone to kill him. Probably not but she could enjoy the fantasy in her head.

"Come back in, please. Mind the glass." you say in a calmer tone as she comes to see a tossed room before her. Vases smashed, books scattered and the iron poker from the fire in your hand as she sees the damage you'd inflicted to the armchair beside you. Stuffing settled slowly in the air around you as she gently shuts the door behind her. "Would you be so kind as to sit at my desk and take my response dear?" you say while trying to catch your breath.

"Certainly." she says sweetly, paper and instrument in hand.

"George..." you begin, tossing the iron rod in the direction of the fire with a loud metallic thunk. "No." you state with a firm nod.

Claire looks up at you, eyes blinking and waiting for further instruction. "That all?"

"That's all." you said pinching the bridge of your nose. "You can read the letter if you wish. Although it will do nothing but infuriate you." you roll your eyes and move to sit in the untouched armchair. "What a cunt. What a pompous, self-righteous bastard. Why must he live?" you lament towards the ceiling as Claire reads the letter. She promptly makes a noise of disgust and tosses it into the fire.

"I'll send your reply." she states. "I'm not even sure what he's referring to about that "who you really are" nonsense."

"Some trauma we've both suppressed that he will no doubt twist to make my fault?" you shrug and mutter.

"Entirely possible." she softly agrees. "Should I fetch the phone so you can tell Alfie?" she asks.

"No, no, don't bother him with this nonsense. It's beneath us both." you wave your hand dismissively. "Just get some girls in here to clean this up. The accounts are finished, send them to the offices and I'm going to go to fucking bed." -------- You take a few drops of your nighttime vial and sleep deep, no dreams to forewarn you of anything your father would do.

You wake to weight shifting your bed. You groan and look to the source to find Alfie looking down at you. "What the fuck is this bollocks?" he says holding a piece of paper.

"Good morning to you as well." you purse your lips. "So nice to see you Genevieve, how have you been love, I've missed you." you mumble sarcastically, moving to sit yourself up.

"Yeah, yeah mornin'." he gruffs out and puts the paper in your lap. "Who the fuck does he think he is?"

"Well let me read it first, Fie." you say softly, getting your glasses off the bedside table.

"It has come to my attention that you have been courting Genevieve Greene. I would insist that this desist at once. I would like to state I am sending you this for reasons beyond the selfish as I do not want her to become persuaded to join your whispered lifestyle or to become one of your people. But I believe her to be acting out in a rebellious state as she's always been a difficult girl. She has also always been a troubled girl, and known for her deception and lies towards men. I would assume that her nature hasn't changed, as those who seem to be weak to spells of hysteria and madness never seem to outgrow it past a certain age. As we know Genevieve is far past the age for such childish antics she likes to play. I'm sure she seems lovely but I would have you know she has tried to ruin numerous relationships of mine by falsely accusing men of such unspeakable things that my calling them such should let you know of their disgusting nature. She is a thief and a liar and those traits might be something viewed as good to someone like you, however, I feel I should warn you nonetheless of her lack of loyalty and her history of being, as much as I would hate to say it about my own, a strumpet. Certainly, a man who has such a position in his community would not want to be associated with such a creature as she. Any decent man I have tried to give her to has been met with violence and vicious rumors spread about them by her after he defiant refusal of them. She may seem tame but I assure you she is hardly above an animal when she finds herself bored and displeased. When she feels she has been wronged her behavior only worsens. I hope you heed my warning and if you do not, I will be in touch again."

You sigh and let your shoulders slump. "Much what I expected."

"I'll ask again... who the fuck does he think he is?"

"Christ himself it seems." you roll your eyes. "I received a letter from him last night threatening me as well. His words to me of you were clearly spat from the same tongue."

"What's he on about? Accusin' men?" his brow is low and you know it set that way not because of you, his tone was sharp and you tried not to take it personally.

"You're a smart man, Alfie what do you think it means?" you retort obviously.

"They... Jesus Christ Genevieve, what did he do to you?"

"I don't..." you sigh and look at him with tired eyes. "I don't want to reminisce about it," you say sharply. "I try to forget it all." you look away from him and rub your face. "It's nothing that hasn't happened to almost every other woman since time began." you roll your eyes and shrug, reaching to take his cold hand between yours. "I haven't seen you all week." you murmur in a softer voice. "The last thing I want is to wake up to you angry and to talk about what horrid things men have done to me over the years." you angrily pout. "Ignore him. He's ridiculous. Truly. I thought my mother's side was who I got my dramatics from clearly it must be the Greene's." you look away and your shoulders slump.

"Fuckin' 'ell." he groans, his other hand rubbing down his face as he takes off his hat. Seeing the sadness in your face. "I..." he closes his eyes and shakes his head. "I shouldn't have come in here like 'is, love." his voice and face soften. He rises and kisses your forehead. "Like a bloody bull, I barged in here. All red 'n angry." he scolds himself, taking off his clothes to a shirt and pants. "Hard to think with softness in mind when I'm angry and want answers, Genny. So used to dealin' with men. No room for subtlety or tenderness with the lot of 'em." he says in a self-deprecating way. "Let me in 'ere with you if you'll have me." he says, motioning to the bed.

You scoot and raise the covers, he settles back against your piles of pillows and pulls you against him. "I threw vases and destroyed an armchair with an iron poker after I read my letter." you admit with a deadpan delivery that is met with a loud laugh.

He leans and kisses the top of your head. "'At's my girl." he praises.

"He's insulted both of us and I know you won't take any threat, no matter how vague but antagonizing him won't do either of us any good." You snuggle up to his side and slip your fingers between the buttons of his shirt. "I'm not jeopardizing your hard work for something stupid my fool, estranged father might do. I'm not going to risk my hard earned life either. He's not worth it. No matter how much he infuriates us." you shake your head and look up at him.

"I'm not gonna let him insult you like 'at." he says with a deep and certain tone that makes a small smile appear on your face.

"Simply dismiss him as I've done. He's not a rival gang, he's not even a businessman. There's nothing to be won or lost here of reputation or finance." you shake your head.

He reaches up and pulls the covers over your shoulder. "No threats of violence then, yeah? Just gonna make sure he knows he can't talk about you like 'at, love. What an abhorrent and repugnant thing he is. Speakin' of you like that, estranged or not, his blood." he shakes his head and rests his hand on your cheek. "You shouldn't have had to deal with such abuse from the likes of him."

"I know." you look away from him and he moves your face back to his.

"I mean it. No one's ever gonna treat you in such a way as long as I'm around, eh? They'll pay with their hide if they dare to, love. Not even a bad word is gonna slip past anyone's lips when it comes to you. I'll be sure they know not to dare speak ill of ya."

"Shouldn't worry yourself over it too much. I'm a woman, people will talk. It's what they do. We have more important things to worry about it." you give him a sweet smile he's thankful to see after his regrettable approach to how he entered your home and the conversation.

"Still," he states with a nod of his head towards you. "No one's gonna treat my woman in such a way. You won't be the only one standing up for yourself now, right? Best you remember that, love. You don't gotta fight all your battles alone anymore." he leans in and presses his lips to yours for a moment.

"I'm afraid to inform you that I'm still disrespected daily. It's a losing battle." you say with a lazy smirk. "Although the sentiment is wonderful, darling."

"Who the fuck is givin' you grief? Not none of my men is it?" he frowns.

"No, you've scared them plenty, they're all polite." you chuckle. "Take any man on the street in London and have him interact with me for a moments time he'll say or do something insulting. Just their nature." you roll your eyes. "No offense to you, your mum did some fine work with raising you." you pat his stomach, softer from the winter weight and how you preferred him. "Except when you're angry." your tease. "I thought your etiquette with waking me up this morning was lacking." you grin.

"It was." he nods. "'Spose it's all gettin' to me as well. Not gettin' to see you, the end of the month headaches of retrieving owed money from unwilling hands, workin' up new contracts and negotiatin' as the old ones expire."

"I've felt it too this past week in particular. And not seeing you doesn't help." you give in and let yourself pout, your fingers playing in his beard as you watch him with tired eyes.

"It does not at all, pet." he says with a subtle smile down at you.

"I'd like to curl up with you for a week and tell everyone else to bugger off." you complain in a deep whining voice. "Tell London to shove it up its arse and take care of itself for once." you sigh as you lay your arm across him.

"Sorry I couldn't make it last night." he says, feeling guilty he's added to your distress. A man should be gentle with his love and you being as hard and powerful as him, it was easy to forget you deserved special treatment sometimes.

"It's fine. I'm just emotionally drained. Hard two weeks with work and then a severe lack of you... and then George... the horse's arse."

"You can have me 'til tonight." he offers.

You groan and bury your face in his shirt as he rubs your back. "I don't feel greedy for wanting more." you grumble.

"I know, love, I know." you feel the rise and fall of his chest as he sighs with the same sentiment.

You knew that not living together, but being together would create its own problems. But you hadn't realized to what extent you would be suffering for living so far from the city and thus so far from Alfie. There just wasn't a substitute for living together in terms of spending time together. You missed that love bubble. You missed seeing him off to work in the morning and undressing him at night, stroking his hair as he laid on you like a pup when he felt particularly down. You wanted him all to yourself. You wanted to do something besides complain about work with him. And with that, you were both reminded of the concern for oversharing or where the line was drawn with telling each other about what you were up to. The trust was there and with being together, but not married made sharing your underground career's with each other more difficult. In theory, what's his was yours and what was yours was his but it wasn't truly and every time you held back from sharing something with him it felt wrong. But it also didn't seem right to fully divulge everything to him either. Living together would help, being married would help, but how would you even find time for such a thing if you couldn't even simply spend time together as is.

You needed a break from all the worry and trade. A clear separation of work and play that let you both breathe, feel like two humans in love again. With the passing thought, you chew the inside of your cheek. There hadn't even been time to find the right setting to tell each other that either. It wasn't as if either of you had some grand romantic notion that had to accompany it. However, a night out without being hassled, having him taken away to interrupt the flow of sweet words that could've led to such a thing being said would certainly be helpful. You needed to be alone. To not be who you were for only a moment.

"Alfie?" you lilt out, fingers rubbing against his own.

"Yes, love?" he says as you both doze lazily.

"Do you think going on holiday might help?"

"I think I don't have the time. And I'd be left waitin' on you while you's workin' and that'd make me restless and I'd rather be at work."

"I mean together."

"Oh, like a proper one, eh?" his face shifts in thought.

"Yes. Out of London. Away from work for just a bit. Get out of the heavy air and haze." you move to look up at him.

"Sounds good in theory." you can sense the hesitation in his voice.

"You don't want to?"

"I would love to, but... work." he states with pursed lips.

"If you plan ahead can't you manage it? You have seconds for a reason, you know. You're the boss you should get to do what you want when you want."

"It would be lovely if that's what bein' a boss meant." he chuckles.

"I'm serious. You have Ollie and the other men don't you? Can they handle the shop for a few days? We won't tell anyone we're gone, we'll just plan for it. There are phones if anything really goes wrong. We don't have to hop off to the other side of the world or anything."

By the way he's looking at you, you can tell he's sensing this was more a command and less a request at this point. "And where is it you'd like to go?"

You consider it a moment. A place that would be reachable, far but not too far. Somewhere that would make you happy, where you could have fun, get lost and enjoy each other. "Paris."

"Paris, eh?" he nods, eyes glancing around the room.

"Yes. Paris. There's so much to do there. We can eat and drink and go see the art and shows. I have my apartment there, I only have to call in some help and we'd have our own private place to stay. A driver, a cook, a maid, we wouldn't have to worry about a thing."

"Except work back home." he gruffs out.

"C'mon, Alfie." you whine. "There are phones, there are men you've been grooming to help you for years." you retort. He sighs and looks down at you with a raised brow. "I want to have you all to myself." you whisper. "I want you and me... uninterrupted... alone... no work... no horrid people and their opinions... only us."

"I want that too, love. I really do." he nods and brings your hand up to his lips to kiss your knuckles.

"Then let's make a plan. Find a time in your diary that you could afford to leave blank. Take your girl on holiday and spoil her." you give him a mischievous smile.

"If it's shoppin' you want we can go to London and I'll just let you loose with my money, eh?" he jokes.

"It's YOU I want, Alfie." you say more seriously. "Our relationship has become so congested with others and their opinions, their wants and demands of us that we've not had time to properly be Fie and Genny like we used to. I miss it."

"My little Genny missin' her man, eh?" he sighs.

"She is. I miss mon Fie. I miss sleeping naked all day. Not having to keep covered because either could be seen or called upon at any moment. I miss going to sleep and waking up with you for days on end, losing ourselves in one another. I miss getting to simply enjoy our time together instead of having to be preoccupied with what we have to do as soon as we are forced apart again. And always prematurely." you pout.

"Don't think I don't miss the same things, sweetheart. I try to find the time, I really do."

"I know, and I accept that that's how our lives are but because our lives aren't going to just drop the time we want of each other in our laps, we have to set the time ourselves. Since we are so busy, we must schedule time to not be busy."

"'Spose you're right there, eh?" he says with an exaggerated expression before it shifts to his deep thinking one. "And my little bird wants Paris?" he says after a pause.

"She does." you smile softly at him.

"How's 'bout you have me right now and then we'll go plan for Paris, yeah?" he suggests, brushing his nose against yours.

"How about a nap, then I have you, then we eat then we plan for Paris?" you say with a laugh that he returns.

"That is where we are at in life now innit?" he chuckles.

"I know you didn't get enough sleep last night."

"I did not." he admits with a shake of his head.

"So let's sleep first. It'll only improve the quality of anything thereafter."

"You are always correct my brilliant little bird." he says with a kiss as he moves down the bed.

"I missed hearing that as well."

"Then let me wrap around you and I'll whisper it to you until we fall asleep." he says with that warm velvety tone that makes you hum in adoration.

"Please, do." you say enthusiastically, cuddling up back to chest with him, his head tilted to speak sweet words into your ear. Even though it was hardly minutes before you both fell asleep, the promise of Paris and his whispered affections were more than enough to leave you with sweet dreams.

@fangirlfreakingout @jaegeeeeer @cosettewinchester @lookuptheskyisfalling-blog @brianaisasongbird @cry5t4l-w4rri0r @iliveonchocolateandnetflix @jess2464 @hardygal69 @thegarrisonpublichouse @a-flock-of-angry-pigeons @pootle @negansdirtygirl22 @musingsby-night @wtf-is-wrong-with-this @shine-dont-shadow @inkinterrupted @vale0413 @lafayettes-baguettes-1 @sxlomons @aphnxrising @emerald-bijou @elaenom @give-jack-a-lightsaber @anrm1 @ultrablackwidower @tinastarkandco

#Alfie Solomons #alfie solomons fic #peaky blinders fic #alfie solomons angst #alfie solomons imagine #alfie solomons x reader #alfie solomons x ofc #alfie solomons au #tom hardy #peaky blinders #alfie solomons fanfic #alfi solomons fan fiction #peaky blinders fanfic #peaky blinders fan fiction #peaky blinders au #alfie solomons fluff

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rough-tweed-action · 6 years

Text

Mary Morstan/Watson

I once witnessed a live version of a Tumblr-style fight in real life. A girl said that in her opinion Jim Morrison was a mediocre artist and a weird drunk. A boy, all angry and frustrated, raised his voice and told her, ‘You should read his biographies!’ The equivalent of Tumblr's ‘read our meta!’ I last saw this in an Adlock versus Johnlock post (rightly so, it’s been years, can we finally stop bringing up Irene being exclusively gay?)

I have too much time on my hands and I did read your meta. A lot of it. It’s a very good distraction from real life problems. I like reading Mary Watson (referred to only as Mary Morstan/AGRA/’Mary’) meta, although the dislike of the character (and the actress, let’s be honest) and the general negativity can be too much sometimes.

It’s no secret that once we hate someone, everything they do is offensive. Analysing Mary’s motivations is no different. For example, one of Mary’s unforgivable sins is leaving her baby and her husband without a word when she was in danger. While this seems perfectly reasonable to me, her wish to keep her family safe by staying away from them, many consider this a selfish move. Mary didn’t try to explain the situation to John, didn’t allow him to help her, like a proper wife would and abandoned her child. Doesn’t this interpretation suggest that certain people are biased against Mary?

Another example is Mary’s reply to Sherlock when he said motherhood was slowing her down, that ‘Pig!’ Sherlock didn’t look like that hurt him. We’ve seen him upset in The Blind Banker when Sebastian was mocking him. In the Six Thatchers, Mary’s comment didn’t sting at all. Him, at least. His fans, though, quickly described Mary’s word choice as abusive, hurtful, demeaning and so on.

Many examples of Mary’s supposed abuse (verbal, emotional) are just like that ‘pig’ comment. Something that could offend only a particularly sensitive and vulnerable person. Was John really in thinly veiled agony when Mary playfully compared him to a dog? Or when she questioned his sudden urge to find Isaac in His Last Vow? Someone compared their exchange in that scene to this example of, say, verbal abuse:

A: I’m cold.

B: No, you’re not.

I can understand the logic behind this comparison, but these two examples have nothing in common. Mary didn’t say John was too weak, not heroic enough to find Isaac. She simply didn’t want him to do something stupid when he was so worked up (she was right, John had no reason to attack Billy and yet he did).

A large number of people claim they hated Mary before His Last Vow, before she shot Sherlock. This is supposed to, I think, show that they were clever enough to see that something was off about her. She couldn’t really want to help John and Sherlock be friends again. She either wanted to keep Sherlock close to hurt him more or she worked for Moriarty. However, if she was disliked before she actually deserved that, what does it say about those fans?

If someone who dislikes Mary is reading this, they probably think I’m a Mary stan, a murderer apologist. I’m not a big fan of Mary, her plan to save John was so stupid and her comment about being the best thing that could happen to John was cringeworthy. Her death scene was so very dramatic and her constant appearances in the two other episodes were increasingly annoying. But when people demonise her and twist her every word to make her look like the evilest woman on earth, I have to disagree.

One of the examples of the desperate search for the signs of Mary’s villainy is her smile in CAM’s room, this one:

A true villain, murderously gleeful, happy to have the opportunity to get rid of a love rival. But what about this shot?

Magnussen could see her face in the mirror. That’s why she smiled. She had enough problems with one pressure point, she hardly needed another one.

Another sign of her evil nature is not revealing anything about her past and letting Sherlock deduce who she was. I assume that intelligence agents are trained to do keep their mouths shut during an interrogation.

Even Mary’s ultimate sacrifice is a part of her evil plan to separate John and Sherlock. Like the true abominable bride, she wanted to make her death count, so she ensured Sherlock would be blamed for it. Nothing an antagonist can do to be redeemed, it seems. I don’t want to say a female antagonist, but I am thinking that (Irene Adler, for instance, is still described as a villain.)

It’s best, I believe, to look at the facts and try to be objective. Whatever is being said about Mary, she had an instant connection with Sherlock. She could have pretended she agreed with John when he was furious with Sherlock, but she didn’t. If she hated Sherlock and saw him as a rival, she would have simply encouraged John to not forgive him. In the wedding episode, she wanted John to let Sherlock know it wasn’t the end of an era. Before she shot him, she clearly warned him not to come closer and expressed her remorse. Sherlock clearly forgave her and they remained friends. Unless, this is, he wanted to help her when she was in danger so John could kill her...? He protected her even after she gave birth, so she was more to him than a human incubator.

Also, Mary is definitely arrogant and condescending. Creepy in HLV. Selfish. A bit too economical with the truth; if anyone should know your true identity, it’s you husband-to-be. And again, that idiotic plan to save John.

She’s been criticised for her sass in HLV, after the shooting, when she dared not to grovel at John’s feet, begging for his forgiveness. She also refused to give up her right to choose Rosie’s name, something that (female) fans should be able to understand. Even an assassin experiences morning sickness, labour pains and postpartum bleeding. I can’t believe that some women let their partners choose the name. (If my mum let my dad choose the name, I’d be Anna, lovely name but so very plain.)

Regardless of Mary’s actions and her motivations, she was bound to be hated, simply because she was in a relationship with John. Some people can’t really tell the difference between characters and actors and hate Amanda Abbington as well. Mary’s redemption in series four was supposedly the effect of the breakup of Amanda’s relationship with Martin Freeman; Mofftiss, just like children of a divorced couple, had to choose one side and that’s why John was ‘suddenly’ a bit not good.

TL;DR Mary is not as evil as some people think. I don’t believe Sherlock hates her or is afraid of her. I wouldn’t want her as a friend, but I’m not Sherlock.

#mary morstan #mary watson #sherlock #read your meta #btw I've read Jim Morrison biographies #didn't help I still love him with all my heart #long post

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