#i don't think anyone in this world should be restricted to a certain role to play. i want to try all the roles and see how it fits. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sarahreesbrennan · 4 months

Note

Are all the themes in “in other lands” supposed to be a commentary on something? Or do you just like writing sex scenes between minors, age gaps, and reverse misogyny?

Genuine question.

Ohhh, my dear anon, I don't believe this is a genuine question.

But it does bring up something I've been meaning to talk about. So I'll take the bait.

Firstly. Yes, my work contains a commentary on the world around us. I wonder what I could be doing with the child soldiers being sexually active in their teens (people hook up right after battles), and the age gap relationship ending in the younger one being too mature for the elder. What could I possibly have been attempting when I said 'how absurd gender roles are, when projected onto people we haven't been accustomed by our own society to see that way'? I wasn't being subtle, that's for sure.

Secondly. Yes I do enjoy writing! I think I should, it's my life's work. Am I titillated by my own writing, no - though I think it's fine to be. The sex scenes of In Other Lands aren't especially titillating, to be honest. It is interesting to me how often people sneer at women for writing romance and sex scenes, having 'book boyfriends,' insinuating women writers fancy their own characters. Women having too much immoral fun! Whereas men clearly write about sex for high literary purposes.

… I have to say from my experience of women and men's writing, I haven't found that to be true.

I’m not in this to have an internet argument. I prefer to leave my anons open since not everyone has a tumblr, as @neil-gaiman says it’s an internet backwater, but a lovely one for those like myself who enjoy an essay about fictional characters! Still I will close my inbox to anons if I must. Mostly people use bad faith takes to poke at others from the other side of a screen for kicks. But I do know some truly internalise the attitude that writing certain things is wrong, that anyone who makes mistakes must be shunned as impure, and that is a deeply Victorian and restrictive attitude that guarantees unhappiness.

I've become increasingly troubled by the very binary and extreme ways of thinking I see arising on the internet. They come naturally from people being in echo chambers, becoming hostile to differing opinions, and the age-old conundrum of wanting to be good, fearing you aren't, and making the futile effort to be free of sin. It makes me think of Tennyson, who when travelling through Ireland at the time of the Great Famine, said nobody should talk about the 'Irish distress' to him and insisted the window shades of his carriage be shut as he went from castle to castle. So he wouldn't see the bodies. But that didn't make the bodies cease to be.

In Les Mis, Victor Hugo explores why someone might steal, what that means about them and their circumstances, and who they might be - and explores why someone else is made terribly unhappy, and endangers others, through their own too rigid adherence to judgement and condemnation without pity. The story understands both Jean Valjean the thief and Javert the policeman. Javert’s way of thinking is the one that inevitably leads to tragedy.

Depiction isn't endorsement. Depiction is discussion.

Many of my loved ones have had widely varying relationships to and experience of sex (including 'none'). They've felt all different types of ways about it. If writing about them is not permissible, I close them out. I'd much rather a dialogue be open than closed.

I do understand the urge to write what seems right to others. I've been brain-poisoned that way myself. I used to worry so much about my female characters doing the wrong things, because then they'd be justly hated! Then I noted which of my writer friends had people love their female characters the most - and it was the one who wrote their female characters as screwing up massively, making rash and sometimes wrong decisions. Who wrote them as people. Because that's what people do. That's what feels true to readers.

I want my characters to feel true to readers. I want my characters to react in messy ways to imperfect situations. I love fantasy, I love wild action and I love deep thought, and I want to engage. That's what In Other Lands is about. That's even more what Long Live Evil is about. That sexy lady who sashays in to have sexy sex with the hero - what is her deal? Someone who tricks and lies to others - why are they doing that, how did they get so skilled at it? What makes one person cruelly judgemental, and another ignore all boundaries? What makes Carmen Maria Machado describe ‘fictional queer villains’ as ‘by far the most interesting characters’? What irritates people about women having a great time? What attracts us to power, to fiction, and to transgression?

I don’t know the answers to all those questions, but I know I want to explore them. And I know one more thing.

If the moral thing to do is shut people out and shut people up? Count me among the villains.

#bookblr #discourse #in other lands #long live evil #les mis #carmen maria machado #writing

2K notes · View notes

babeyvenus · 4 years

Text

Revival(BNHA OC)

Chapter 4: Something Bad's About To Happen

Keeping herself hidden from her villainous father, and studying to be a hero for the sake of her and her deceased mother, Sunako Homura pushes her way through countless challenges in her highschool years. Will she lose it all, or lose herself?

Story Genre: Fluff, Angst, Romance, Family/Comfort

Tags/Trigger Warnings: Gore/Blood, Suicidal attempts, Alcohol, Language, Panic Attacks

_______________________________________________

Everyone was silent, but looked at me with wide eyes.

"I KNEW IT! I knew you had to be something!", the smaller boy yelled, pointing at me.

"Something....?", I asked, sweatdropping.

"You're a girl....?", Kaminari asked surprised.

"Why are you wearing the male uniform?", Midoriya asked.

"Because, I've learned to hate skirts and dresses and frilly, unnecessary things like that.", I explain.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with what you like. If you don't like skirts and dresses, trust me, I don't either, but it's nothing wrong with that.", Jirou said.

I gave her a small smile. "Thanks."

"Well, why did you come dressing up as a guy in the first place...?", Kirishima asked.

I sighed, rubbing behind my neck. “Its...confidential. Let’s just say, I have Daddy Issues.”

I looked at everyone and some of them looked concerned, some of them even looked shocked.

Everyone got up at the sound of the lunch bell and Mina gave me a look as if to tell me, 'we'll talk about this later.'

I started to follow the rest of the girls until I got pulled back by Bakugou.

"Somehow you cease to surprise me so far.", he says with a glare.

"Should I take that as a bad thing?", I ask.

"Damn straight.", he says, letting me go and walks out.

I sighed and left for the cafeteria too.

As I got something from the vending machine, I thought back to everyone's faces.

I didn't mean to make them feel down... What a good way to start the year…

Right about the time I was gonna go see Mina, the alarm went off and panic rang out in the cafeteria.

What now....?

I headed out toward the exit, which led me to be practically drowning in a crowd of panicked teenagers.

It wasn’t long before I found myself partially pinned against a wall and being jerked around.

Right before I was gonna explode on someone's ass for thrashing me, I felt someone grab my arm and pull me hard through the crowd to a less dense area.

"You okay?", a familiar redhead asks.

He blocked me against the wall in a protective gesture, grunting every time someone bumped into him.

"Do you know what's going on?", I asked throughout all the yelling.

"It's just the press! Someone must've gotten in!", he yells.

I nodded. No wonder.

Iida somehow managed to get everyone to calm down and stop moving.

"Its over with....", I say. Kirishima backs away with a smile. "Yeah. Have you eaten yet?"

I shrug. "Just a bit before all the commotion." That made him frown a little. "Well a bit won't do. Gotta eat before training. Let's go.", he says, leading me to the cafeteria.

After the commotion with the press, I started to get a bad feeling...

"Hey, Kirishima....", I say walking behind him.

"Yeah?", he answered, looking back at me.

"What if it was actually a real villain using the press as a cover-up to get in...?"

He rubbed behind his neck. "Nah, I don't think they'd let us walk around if that happened."

"I guess so. I just got this weird feeling something's gonna happen.", I say. "Well don't jinx it", he jokes.

A few days later, we were assigned to go to USJ for a training exercise.

"Line up accordingly to your class seats. Fill them up in an orderly fashion." Iida waved in a weird way.

"Dude, chill.", I say. This class rep role is really serious to him...

He turned to the inside of the bus, much to his disappointment. "No...! It's that type!"

We all looked inside the bus and snickered at his disappointment. The front part of the bus had seats on both sides of it facing each other like two sofas.

I sat next to Kaminari as everyone else followed through.

I tuned in and out as Mina, Tsuyu, Kirishima, and Midoriya started talking about their quirks.

"I generally say what's on my mind, though... Midoriya," Tsuyu announces, making us all look at her.

"Your quirk reminds me of All Might.", she says and he flinches. Huh...now that I think about it...

"Now, hold on Tsu.", Kirishima says. "All Might doesn't get hurt by his quirk."

"Yeah, that's right.", Midoriya says.

"You got a flashy quirk, Midoriya. Mine on the other hand," Kirishima raises his arm and hardens it. "Not so much."

"Aw, don't say that Kiri. It's plenty useful. I like it because it makes you seem unbreakable!", I say with a smile.

He gives me a wide sharp tooth grin. Guess he's over the issue from yesterday.

"Now if you wanna talk flashy,", he points toward Bakugou and Todoroki. "Those guys are the best bet.", he turns to me. "I've yet to see your full quirk, Homura."

I looked out the window. "And it's gonna stay that way."

"Aw, c'mon! I wanna see how you work it.", he muses.

"Yeah!", Kaminari cheers on the side of me.

I shook my head fast. "Nope!"

"Well Bakugou could never be popular, not with that temper of his.", Tsuyu chimes in.

"What the fuck!? I'll kick your ass!", Bakugou yells.

"See?", she says pointing and making me laugh.

"Well, it makes sense. We just met you and we can already tell you got the personality of burned trash filled with sewage.", Kaminari says.

"Oh wow.", I snickered.

"Fuck you! I'm gonna make your life a living hell, you little shit!!", Bakugou yells, scaring Jirou.

"Bakugou, calm down!", I say laughing.

"I'll give you something to laugh at, you Spawn!", he threatens.

We all laughed until the bus came to a stop.

We stopped right in front of the USJ as Aizawa-sensei started to speak.

"This is a different part of training. Rescue.", he looked at all of us. "It's nothing serious compared to real natural disasters, just scenarios of what could happen. Uh, 13 explain."

Uraraka and Midoriya gasp in astonishment. "13....!"

The short astronaut suit came walking up to us. "Hey, you guys! 14, 15, 18, 19....21! Okay! So, welcome USJ!"

"In our super powered society, the use of quirks are heavily restricted and monitored. It may seem that our system is a stable one, but we must never forget that it takes only one wrong move and someone's dead.", he says.

With that, he led us inside.

"Holy crap, this is like an amusement park!", Kirishima exclaimed.

"As you may know, my power is Black Hole. I can suck up anything and it turns into dust.", 13 explains. "Just like your quirks, they do not exist to hurt people."

I grimaced. "Don't worry about it, Sunako.", I hear Tomohiro say, turning my head to see him by my side. “You’ve been quiet for a while.”, I say, making him chuckle.

"With that being said, be careful and have fun!"

Aizawa-sensei looked at us. "Alright, go in there and-"

I shivered. I got a bad feeling....

"Uh...is this part of the practice....?", Kirishima asks looking down, making everyone do the same.

"Villains...!", 13 yelled. I looked down to see multiple portals opening, giving a passageway to let them in.

I saw Aizawa pull out his goggles and put them over his head.

"Aizawa-sensei, you're gonna attack!? What about your quirk limit!?", Midoriya asks.

"A hero always has more than one trick up their sleeve. Huddle up and stay back! 13, protect the kids!", Aizawa yells, putting on his goggles and launches into action.

I looked down at a certain figure who stayed by the purple portal. He had hands all over him and even on his face.

"What's his problem....?", I whispered. "They're here for something. Keep your guard up.", Tomohiro says.

"We, the Villains Alliance, have only come for one person. The symbol of peace.", the blue haired figure said. "I wonder if he'll come if we just....kill these kids..."

"These guys are idiots...", I said.

Aizawa jumped to the villains and fought like they weren't nothing.

"We gotta go!!", Kaminari yelled.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that."

I got a shiver again as a black purple mist appeared in front of us.

I knew something was gonna happen...

"I am Kurogiri...I apologize for the short notice. We took it upon ourselves to enter UA, the base of heroes."

We all stare up at the mist hearing the voice. "Was Mr. All Might not able to attend...?"

It moved and sighed. "That aside, this is my role.", I looked up to see Kirishima and Bakugou rushing toward the mist and attacked it.

"Bet you didn't expect us to do you in before you got the chance!", Kirishima exclaims.

"To be expected. The hero world's golden eggs."

"Run you two!", 13 shouts as the mist expanded and surrounded us.

I got pushed back and lit my hand on fire to see. What did we get ourselves into...!?

"Demon Brat!!", I heard Bakugou's voice and saw him reaching for me. I reached for him but ended up transporting somewhere.

I woke up in front of the Ruins Zone to hear chuckles behind me.

"Fresh meat....", countless villains muttered.

My eyebrow twitched in annoyance. I bared my fangs, changing my form into an Oni.

"If anyone's meat, it's you idiots. I'll give you a 5 second head start to leave before I kick your asses.", I snarled, my knees wobbling as I stood.

Some of them back up but they still stay.

"Brave motherfuckers, aren't you? Fine.", I say, smirking but it quickly falls into a glare, the atmosphere grew tense. "That was your mistake."

I stomped the ground making large layers of platforms rise and fall on to them. Thank god, we were around an area where I could use dirt.

I stalked toward the rest, they backed away in fear. "Aw, don't run now...we're just getting started."

They all paled and ran away. "Punks.", I slipped out of the form, turning back. I looked around for any of my classmates nearby but no one was.

"I gotta find someone....", I muttered. Then I hear rumbles and blasts from above and I sweatdropped.

"That's gotta be Bakugou.", I say and fly up the stairs.

"SAY GOODBYE!!", I ducked out of the way of a villain being thrown my way and looked at Bakugou and Kirishima panting heavily with many villains surrounded around their feet.

"You guys okay?", I asked, walking toward them.

"Homura!", Kirishima notices me with a smile, knocking a goon out.

"You don't have a single scratch on you, Demon Brat.", Bakugou says.

"They all ran.", I say, shrugging and touching his arm, letting the heat on my hand heal his scratches and did the same for Kirishima.

"Your power's amazing, Homura. It doesn't even burn.", Kirishima grins widely, making me smile.

"Thanks.", I say, looking around at all the goons.

"We gotta have a plan to get out of here.", Kirishima says.

"You idiots can do whatever you want, I'm going after that warpy bastard.", Bakugou says, walking away.

"Huh...!? Our attacks didn't do nothing against that guy!", Kirishima says.

"And you're going alone? I think you're the only idiot here, Bakagou.", I say.

He looked over his shoulder to glare at me. "What was that...?"

"I said you're an idiot. Do I need to say it a little slower? If you go by yourself, you'll get yourself killed.", I say.

"That's the thing!", he says turning to me. "That bastard was their way in and out. So, I'm taking him down first before anything."

I felt someone's presence behind him and felt off. "Uh..."

Before I could say anything, he sent a blast downwards and revealed a knocked out enemy.

"If they're sending in weak shits like this, there's no way we can lose.", he says.

He looks so calm... "He's reliable despite being a little shit." , Tatsuo says in approval.

"So, that's what you meant. Also, when'd you become so calm and rational....? Usually you're all," Kirishima made an impression of Bakugou. "Die! Die! Die!!"

"I'm always calm and rational, you shitty haired punk!!", Bakugou yelled.

"There he is.", I say smiling.

"Both of you, fuck off!", Bakugou says.

"Okay, so, what you're saying is you believe in our classmates. That's good thinking, and that's thinking like a man, Bakugou. I'm with you.", Kirishima says excitedly.

I sigh and smile. "I guess I am too. I just hope you know what you're doing, please."

I looked outside to the rest of the USJ area to see a big creature holding a bloody Aizawa down.

I tensed and gasped softly as Kirishima put his hand on my shoulder. "You okay...?"

I just pointed down to the sight. "These sick sonuvabitches are gonna die....!", I hear Tatsuo growl.

They widened their eyes and backed away from the window.

I backed away and walked out the area and back to the middle of USJ.

"You got a plan...?", Bakugou asked.

I turned to him. "Just do what you normally do."

He just grinned widely, but that expression dropped as soon as we looked up to the entrance. And in the entrance stood All Might. He's... frowning? "Have no fear. Because I am here."

"I had a bad feeling in my stomach while I rested, but to think it was this bad....", he says coming down the stairs.

"I heard from young Iida that there were villains. But, it's all right now. Because I am here."

He rips off his tie and it flutters to the ground.

He came toward the fallen Aizawa and picked him up, carrying Midoriya, Tsuyu and Mineta away from the villains.

After ordering them to get Aizawa, All Might attacks the creature, doing a German suplex on it.

I saw how bad All Might was getting hurt and how Midoriya was rushing towards him.

"Get ready to fly.", I say to the two in front of me.

"Uh, what?"

I stomped the ground, launching them both toward the fight but they went in different ways.

I saw Midoriya reaching for the blue haired villain, but missed as Bakugou got in his way.

"Get the hell out of my way, Deku!!"

Bakugou attacked Kurogiri when Kirishima missed.

"Damn you!!", the hand villain exclaimed and I glared at him.

"I almost had him!", Kirishima yells after missing the villain.

I saw that part of that creature's body was covered in ice and I looked to my right seeing Todoroki.

"Fancy seeing you here.", I say.

"Likewise," he replied and looked toward the villain. "I heard about you bastards' plan and each of your roles. Also a scheme to kill All Might. The symbol of peace won't go down as easy as you fools."

"You guys made a big mistake.", I say smiling.

"Let's just kill them!", Tatsuo says. Let's not do that.

That being said, All Might pried himself out of the creature's hold and dashed away.

"You pinned down our revolving door..."

"This prick was never that sharp! That metal clasp you got on your body, you used to get all misty and shit just got sealed, you sneaky fuck!" Bakugou exclaims with a grin.

"That attack was never dangerous, was it? You just used that as a decoy to hide the real body!"

Kurogiri moves a little but stops as Bakugou uses small explosions on him.

"Don't you move!", Bakugou chuckles glaring down at Kurogiri. "You move so much as a twitch and I'll blow your ass up so bad that they'll be piecing you back together for weeks."

"Not very heroic, bro.", Kirishima grinned nervously.

"You've got us cornered....I have to hand it to these kids nowadays. At this point, the Villains Alliance will be a laughing stock.", the villain turns to the broken creature.

"Nomu, take care of Explosion Boy for me...."

I widened my eyes as Nomu regenerates its own body and goes after Bakugou.

"Bakugou!!", I yell, running towards it but I ended up right next to Bakugou who was also on the ground.

"You're okay...wait, how'd you get here?", I asked.

"I don't fuckin' know.", he says still on the ground, probably in shock.

I look back to see All Might had taken a hit from Nomu.

"Are you crazy...? Have you no mercy...? These are children.", All Might says.

"Mercy....?", the hand villain looks over to us and points at Midoriya. "That plain looking boy almost killed me but I need to give mercy!? Who gets to decide what's right or wrong...? Society! And that's what irritates me. You're the symbol of peace....? You gotta be kidding me. You're just the same. You’re only here for your kicks."

"That's enough.", I say.

"It's a 6 vs. 3.", Todoroki says.

"No! You all need to leave.", All Might says.

"No can do, All Might. Can't be heroes if we just left you here.", I say.

"Yeah and you're bleeding!", Midoriya said.

"If I hadn't froze that monster, you would've most likely died.", Todoroki interjected.

"It's fine.", All Might insisted.

"Fine, let's settle this! Nomu, you go after All Might. I've got the children.", the hand villain says running towards us.

I started walking toward the hand villain but Bakugou pulled me back.

Dammit, Bakugou!

My eyes illuminated a bright scarlet color and I shot a fiery blast toward the villain.

"Dammit, Brat!!", Bakugou shouted at me avoiding the heat.

"You're the boss, right?", I ask looking at the villain. "I'll just take you down first!!", I yell running towards him, feeling myself change into a form of an Oni.

I sent a roundhouse kick toward the hand villain's face, making it collide with the hand on his face. He fell to the ground and touched my leg.

I yelled in pain after seeing the aftermath of what remained of my leg.

My pant leg torn and my calf broken and bleeding out.

I got knocked over by the sudden blast of air because of how hard All Might and Nomu were fighting.

I pulled two metal rods from the ground and threw it at the villain but missed due to All Might's fighting.

With all this air and wind going everywhere, there's no telling where my blasts could go....

"Plus....ULTRA!!!", All Might yells, finally getting rid of Nomu.

"Alright!!", I exclaimed but felt a burning sensation on my shoulder and hip.

"I told you to keep your guard up!", Tomohiro yells in my head.

I saw that the villain had his hands on me and my skin broken, leaving muscle showing. I felt an overwhelming feeling of numbness as I fell to the ground.

"You bastard!!!", I heard Bakugou's voice and gunshots before passing out from the numbing pain.

I woke up to loud, slow beeping and looked around to see that I was in a different area.

I'm in the hospital....? No... Its the nurse's office...

I looked over to my right to see Kirishima asleep in two chairs, slumped over.

"You're finally awake.", I see Tomohiro walk over to my bed.

"Yeah....", I say, startling Recovery Girl.

"You're awake."

"How long have I been out...?"

I sounded so hoarse, it hurt to even try to talk.

"6 hours. Your wounds closed up quickly." she said.

I nodded and looked over to see the sleeping duo.

"He carried you in here.", the elder woman said, pointing to a sleeping Kirishima.

"Really...?", I asked.

As expected of Kirishima to do that, but why...?

That was kinda hard to believe. "The boy's... chivalrous...", Tatsuo says, appearing at my side.

Just then, the said boy stirred and woke up.

Kirishima jumps awake and looks at me. "How're you feeling!?"

"Like I've been walking in a desert for hours. I'm dying.", I hoarse.

Recovery Girl brings me water and I sit up to down it dry.

"What about you? Is All Might okay? Is everyone okay?", I asked.

"Everyone's doing fine. Well, Midoriya still has to let his legs heal and Aizawa-sensei... he's still healing too but everyone's fine.", Kirishima says.

"Good...", I rasp, staring up at the ceiling.

He frowned a bit in worry. "Do you think you can move?"

I winced and looked at my hip that had a small scar on it.

Still sensitive... "That villain wasn't any ordinary villain.", Tatsuo says.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry I worried you."

You guys too, I should've been more careful.

"Don't worry about it.", Tomohiro says as Tatsuo grunts in agreement.

"No biggie. Just get better so we can train again!", Kirishima says with a sharp tooth smile.

I smiled back at him and got out of the bed, wincing again and gripping on to the bed sheets.

"My leg...my shoulder and hip hurts. Great.", I mutter.

"Hm...", Kirishima hums. He turns around, crouching in front of my feet. "Get on."

"Kirishima-"

"No complaints. It wouldn't be very manly of me if I let you walk home hurt, so get on.", he says.

I sighed and got on his back, careful to not hurt his back.

I held on tight as he got me right and took my bag, carrying it under me as he walked me out of the nurse's office, getting me home.

_______________________________________________

A/N: plenty of dumb mistakes were made, oh well¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Taglist: @xartisticmdx @dakotacecily @moonfairy-h @weird-dere @afuckingunicornn @dee-madwriter

2 notes · View notes