#louise d’armilly

[surikane]

Forgot to post this one

Eugénie and Louise after they run away ~

#my art #crfa20 #cdmc #le comte de monte cristo #eugenie danglars #louise d’armilly #wlw #queer

[the-grey-hunt]

and Eugenie, who with haughty air and disdainful lip had retired to her room with her inseparable companion, Mademoiselle Louise d’Armilly

listen, i'm just saying, if Eugenie could talk once (1nc) with a certain Julie D'Aubigny, it would solve a lot of her problems

#the cristo account #SHE'S GAY SIR #LET HER AND LOUISE ELOPE TO ITALY

[vickyvicarious]

“She told me that she loved no one,” said Valentine; “that she disliked the idea of being married; that she would infinitely prefer leading an independent and unfettered life; and that she almost wished her father might lose his fortune, that she might become an artist, like her friend, Mademoiselle Louise d’Armilly.”

Not to say that any woman in classic lit who wants to be independent is automatically gay, but Eugenie's reaction to Haidee at the opera already had me thinking it and now I'm sold.

#the cristo account #eugenie danglars #lesbian headcanon official now #also. just in general i love her #'frankly i hope my dad loses all his money' lmao #tcomc

[pedanther]

Mlle Danglars was beautiful but, as Albert said, her beauty was somewhat strict: her hair was a lustrous black, but there was a certain rebelliousness in its natural wave. Her eyes, as black as her hair, were framed in magnificent eyebrows that had only one defect, which was that from time to time they were quizzically raised, and the eyes were exceptional above all for their determined expression, which it was surprising to find in a woman. Her nose had the precise proportions that a sculptor would have given to Juno; only her mouth was a little too large, but it exhibited fine teeth which highlighted the excessive redness of lips that did not harmonize with the pallor of the complexion. Finally, a beauty-spot at the corner of the mouth, larger than is usual with these freaks of nature, completed the look of resolution in the face that somewhat dismayed Morcerf.

For that matter, the rest of Eugenie’s person was of a piece with the head that we have just attempted to describe. As Chateau-Renaud said, she was Diana the Huntress, but with something even firmer and more muscular in her beauty.

As for her upbringing, if there was anything to be said against it, it was that, like some traits of her physiognomy, it seemed more appropriate to the other sex. She spoke two or three languages, had an innate talent for drawing, wrote verse and composed music; this last was her great passion, which she studied with one of her school-friends, a young woman with no expectations but (one was assured) with everything needed to become an outstanding singer. It was said that a great composer took an almost paternal interest in this girl and encouraged her to work in the hope of eventually finding a fortune in her voice.

The possibility that Mlle Louise d’Armilly (this was the name of the talented young person) might one day appear on the stage meant that Mlle Danglars, although she received her at home, did not appear with her in public. Despite this, while she did not have the independent position of a friend in the banker’s house, Louise did enjoy a higher status than that of an ordinary governess.

— introducing Mlle. Eugénie Danglars (and friend), The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, as translated by Robin Buss

#the cristo account #the count of monte cristo #chapter 53 #eugenie danglars #lost in translation #not a reblog

[reviewsthatburn]

You’d need to change surprisingly little of The Count of Monte Cristo to confirm Eugénie Danglars as a trans man (or a masc-leaning nonbinary person).

(Quotes are from Robin Buss’ English translation of Alexandre Dumas’ work.)

‘So, there we have the second point more or less cleared up, said Eugénie, quite undisturbed, expressing as usual an entirely masculine composure in her words and gestures.

Eugénie declares that she will not go along with the second attempt at an arranged marriage. The narration seems to hint that there’s something humorous about characterizing her as a daughter.

‘I can see you are surprised because, since this whole business started, I have not shown the slightest objection, being sure that, when the moment came, I would always frankly and absolutely express my opposition to people who do not consult me and things which I do not like. This time, however, this calm, this passivity, as philosophers say, originated elsewhere. It came from the fact that, as a submissive and devoted daughter’ (a faint smile appeared on the young woman’s crimson lips) ‘I was trying the path of obedience.’

Brief support for aro rep:

‘And it’s not because my heart is less moved by him than another: that sort of answer would do for a schoolgirl, but I consider it quite beneath me. I love absolutely no one, Monsieur: you know that, don’t you?

After the second attempt at marrying her off falls through, Eugénie executes her preparations to run away with her companion… while disguised as a man.

And Eugénie, with her usual sang-froid, unfolded the document and read: ‘Monsieur Léon d’Armilly, twenty years old, an artist by profession, black hair, black eyes, travelling with his sister.’

Eugénie closes a difficult trunk in their final packing flurry after Louise was unable to:

‘Of course,’ said Eugénie with a laugh. ‘I was forgetting that I’m Hercules and you’re just a feeble Omphale.’

This isn’t the first time Eugénie has dressed as a man. She pulls out a complete set of men’s clothes that fit her perfectly.

Then, with a rapidity that showed this was surely not the first time that she had, for fun, put on the clothes of the other sex, Eugénie pulled on the boots, slipped into the trousers, rumpled her cravat, buttoned a high-necked waistcoat up to the top, and got into a frock-coat that outlined her slender, well-turned waist.

Eugénie cuts her hair to look like a man:

‘Don’t I look a hundred times better like this?’ Eugénie asked, smoothing down the few curls left on her now entirely masculine hair cut. ‘Don’t you think I’m more beautiful as I am?’

And, to top it all off, the final line of narration after the pair effects their escape via carriage, is this:

Monsieur Danglars had a daughter no longer.

I’ll happily accept most interpretations/adaptations which have Eugénie as queer and masc-leaning, because she’s definitely not allocishet.

#count of monte cristo #transgender #trans masc #Eugénie Danglars #also this is extremely gay #it’s extremely trans but if she’s not trans she’s gay with her companion

[aguacerotropical]

My god Eugenie Danglars and Mademoiselle Louise D’Armilly are canonically gay and trans as fuck. Running away on Danglars’ failed wedding night in men’s clothes, complete with gender euphoria!, with a men’s passport forged by gay ally Monte Cristo. Dumas said lesbian rights with his whole chest

#Ill post quotes later #Tcomc #the count of monte cristo #eugenie danglars

[edettethegreat]

some Eugenie and Louise content for you

And we all know what happens when I try to draw something- I start drawing, lose motivation, and give up! Anyway, enjoy this poorly made sketch

#the count of monte cristo #count of monte cristo #TCOMC #eugenie danglars #louise d’armilly

[dullahandyke]

Eugénie Danglars - Book to Screen

“(She is) Handsome, certainly,” replied Albert, “but not to my taste, which I confess, inclines to something softer, gentler, and more feminine... this chase–loving Diana continually surrounded by her nymphs gives me a sort of alarm.”

...It required but one glance at Mademoiselle Danglars to comprehend the justness of Morcerf’s remark—she was beautiful, but her beauty was of too marked and decided a character to please a fastidious taste; her hair was raven black, but its natural waves seemed somewhat rebellious; her eyes, of the same color as her hair, were surmounted by well–arched brows, whose great defect, however, consisted in an almost habitual frown... her nose was precisely what a sculptor would have chosen for a chiselled Juno. ...As regarded her attainments, the only fault to be found with them was the same that a fastidious connoisseur might have found with her beauty, that they were somewhat too erudite and masculine for so young a person.

[Image description: a screenshot of Eugénie Danglars from the anime Gankutsuou. She is a thin and pale-skinned woman with short blonde hair in a neat cut, blue eyes, and a typical 'anime' face, with no heavy discerning features. End image description]

The count made a sign to Albert and they bowed to the ladies, and took their leave, Albert perfectly indifferent to Mademoiselle Danglars’ contempt.

[Image description: a screenshot from Gankutsuou, in which Eugénie and Albert are kissing. End image description]

“My reason (for refusing the marriage)?” replied the young girl. “Well, it is not that the man is more ugly, more foolish, or more disagreeable than any other; no, M. Andrea Cavalcanti may appear to those who look at men’s faces and figures as a very good specimen of his kind. It is not, either, that my heart is less touched by him than any other; that would be a schoolgirl’s reason, which I consider quite beneath me. I actually love no one, sir; you know it, do you not? I do not then see why, without real necessity, I should encumber my life with a perpetual companion. Has not some sage said, ‘Nothing too much’? and another, ‘I carry all my effects with me’? I have been taught these two aphorisms in Latin and in Greek; one is, I believe, from Phaedrus, and the other from Bias. Well, my dear father, in the shipwreck of life—for life is an eternal shipwreck of our hopes—I cast into the sea my useless encumbrance, that is all, and I remain with my own will, disposed to live perfectly alone, and consequently perfectly free.”

[Image description : a screenshot from Gankutsuou, which shows Albert and Eugénie on their wedding day. Albert is jumping out of a window, bridal-carrying Eugénie in his arms. She looks slightly frightened or nervous. End image description]

Eugenie bowed coldly to the count, and availed herself of the first moment when the conversation became earnest to escape to her study, whence very soon two cheerful and noisy voices being heard in connection with occasional notes of the piano assured Monte Cristo that Mademoiselle Danglars preferred to his society and to that of M. Cavalcanti the company of Mademoiselle Louise d’Armilly, her singing teacher.

[Image description: a promotional image for Gankutsuo. In the foreground are Franz and Eugénie, wearing formal clothes, posing together. In the far background, leaning against a piano, is Louise, dressed in a maid's outfit and looking longingly at Eugénie, who doesn't appear to notice her. End image description]

#yelling emernally #HI GUYS IM MAD ABOUT GANKUTSUOU AGAIN. #eugénie danglars #eugenie danglars #the count of monte cristo #tcomc #'long post'

[talesfromtheenchantedforest]

Eugénie bowed coldly to the count, and availed herself of the first moment when the conversation became earnest to escape to her study whence very soon two cheerful and noisy voices being heard, in connection with some notes of the piano, assured Monte Cristo that Mademoiselle Danglars preferred to his society and to that of M. Cavalcanti the company of Mademoiselle Louise d’Armilly, her singing governess.

#eugenie danglars #louise d'armilly #our favorite piano lesbians #the count of monte cristo #draw a piano i thought #it can't be that hard i thought #it's only a bunch of rectangles I thought

[pagesofkenna]

ok y'all ready for this

The Count of Monte Cristo, but as a YA Fantasy trilogy

(note, this is still all just concept and many fundamental details will probably change a bit if I ever actually write this)

The story takes place among a series of island nations, which had until about twenty years ago all been at war with each other. The current peace is strained and reluctant, but it’s the only thing the younger generation knows. Contributing to that strain is the fact that magic appears to be growing stronger.

Anyone can learn magic, and usually magic practitioners train for years to learn how to properly draw on the spirits of the natural world, but lately more and more untrained people seem to be accidentally performing feats of great magic. It’s as if the nature spirits are pressing right up against the boundary of the spirit world into reality, just waiting to force their way out.

While this is a cause for worry, the worry is alleviated by the one prime rule of magic: spirits cannot physically effect the bodies of humans, just as humans cannot physically interact with the spirits. Magic cannot be used to kill, hurt, heal, or enhance any human in any way, except indirectly through natural forces.

That is, until a holiday across the ocean leads Valentine to meet Haydee, and the Count of Monte Cristo. Haydee performs a feat that breaks the prime rule of magic, putting to question everything Valentine thinks she knows. Something appears to be wrong in the spirit world, but with no way to investigate directly it’s almost impossible to discover what – or who – is causing it.

Over the course of the series Valentine and the other kids uncover a mystery that traces from them, to their parents, to the Count of Monte Cristo. Though he’s not a narrator of this story, readers familiar with the source material see the Count’s plans from the receiving end, throwing the kids’ lives into chaos before he ever steps into the limelight.

The story is split into three books and narrated by a rotating cast of limited perspective third person narrators. These include:

Valentine de Villefort, our lead narrator. She’s learning traditional magic from her grandfather, who’s paralyzed from illness. She’s shy and reserved and has trouble getting along with her father's new wife, but she hides a quiet intelligence and a desire to right the wrongs she sees. In a flashback scene we see her meet Max, a female soldier on leave from the navy, and the two fall in love.

Eugenie Danglars, the daughter of a banker who wishes more than anything to be an artist. She has trouble connecting with others, except through music. She’s trying to attend a music school along with her only close friend, Louise d’Armilly, but her father’s past seems to be standing in her way.

Albert de Morcef, the brash and headstrong son of a wealthy military man, who’s used to father’s connections and money solving all his problems. He's fiercely loyal to his friends and family, and genuinely tries to do the right thing, as long as he can figure out what that is. His parents are repeatedly trying to set him up with Eugenie, despite the two having no interest in each other.

Franz d’Epinay, one of Albert’s closest friends and an orphan, the sole heir to his family’s fortune after his father mysteriously died twenty years ago. He left [Paris] a few years back, but now Valentine’s family has offered to adopt him into their family line, a move that would restore his place in society (and make the Villefort’s look good)… if he can closure on his father's death, first.

‘Andrea’, a thief and a criminal working in a chain gang, under an assumed name, alongside their criminal buddy Caderousse. Before long, however, a mysterious benefactor pays off both debts, under the agreement that Andrea will travel to [Paris] to con their way into high society. Why? Andrea doesn’t know, but they’re not going to pass up this chance at a bigger score.

Haydee, the adopted daughter of the Count of Monte Cristo, who she met lost on the streets of a ruined nation. She tells everyone that she has amnesia, that she can’t remember where she comes from or who her parents were, but in reality that’s a lie to disguise her plan for revenge, against the man who betrayed her father, the king, and sold his nation out to his enemies.

#now i need to write it #actually now i need a working title #count of monte cristo #monte cristo YA fantasy #ive had to plot this whole thing backwards which has been exhausting let me tell you #but im finally at the point where i can plot it frontwords and its such a relief

[animefeminist]

A Thousand Good Excuses: LGBTQ representation in Gankutsuou vs. The Count of Monte Cristo

Content Warning: Discussion of queerphobia and transphobia

Spoilers: For Gankutsuou and The Count of Monte Cristo novel.

When writing the now classic The Count of Monte Cristo, published in installments from 1844 to 1846, Alexandre Dumas (and his uncredited collaborator Auguste Maquet) did not shy away from subject matter controversial for its time. One such subject of controversy was the homosexuality of Eugénie Danglars, and her relationship with Louise d’Armilly, which, though perhaps marketably salacious during the work’s initial publication, were in the eyes of some future editors too offensive to include in their subsequent abridgements and adaptations.

Such conservative sensibilities did not appear to stand in the way of an early 2004 promotional trailer for the anime adaptation Gankutsuou, which showed Eugénie and Louise going in for a kiss (a scene not even described in the book). By the time the series aired, however, there was a change of plans, and Eugénie became the love interest of Albert de Morcerf, whose feelings she returns.

Given the novel’s history of censorship, that the relationship between Eugénie and Louise did not make it into Gankutsuou is disappointing at first glance, but, as we shall see, Dumas’ description of Eugénie and her sexuality make one wonder whether Gankutsuou‘s version of her character may not be an improvement.

In going from a 19th- to a 51st-century setting, and shifting the narrative’s focus from the revenge of the forty-something Count of Monte Cristo to  the effects the Count’s revenge have on the adolescent Albert (son of the prime target of Monte Cristo’s revenge), it is predictable that, not only would Eugénie go from spurning to falling for the character who has now become the main protagonist, but that other characters in the series would also change along with the genre and the plot.

Two of the book’s characters, Franz and Beppo, in contrast to Gankutsuou‘s Eugénie, in anime adaptation become characters who add LGBTQ representation not present in the original. If all representation is good representation, then Gankutsuou‘s two LGBTQ characters should win out against Dumas’ one. But if we are to examine representation with a more critical eye, it is difficult to conclude that the later reimagining of the story does any more for queer people than does the story as first told some hundred and sixty years before.

Read it at Anime Feminist!

#Gankutsuou #count of monte cristo #alexandre dumas #articles

[acquagalaxies]

TCoMC characters as disturbed birds 2nd Edition

Abbé Faria

The count of Monte Cristo

Lucien Debray

Noirtier de Villefort - Badass Granpa ™

Bertuccio (to Benedetto/Andrea Cavalcanti)

Louise d’Armilly

Franz d’Epinay

Franz d’Epinay (again) to Monte-Cristo

Baron Danglars (to Eugénie) ft. a very caring father

Luigi Vampa

Héloïse de Villefort

Hermine Danglars

Countess G

Renée de la Saint-Méran (@Gérard de Villefort)

Albért de Morcerf

Mercédès Herrera

Fernand Mondego

A tribute to monte-cristo-incorrect-quotes’  post I hope you’ll like it ;)

@monte-cristo-incorrect-quotes

#reaaaally long post #disturbed birds meme #ft. TCoMC characters #too lazy to write all the names #I hope you like it #:^) #this meme is a cage of gold

[monte-cristo-incorrect-quotes]

 “She was created to be kissed, loved, and given flowers every day.” –  about Mercédès Herrera, Valentine de Villefort and Louise d’Armilly

(Eugénie would be the one who gives flowers to Louise)

#source: shareaquote #also yes eugénie 100% would give flowers to louise #lmao i have so many headcanons for each of the couples honestly #and i constantly feel the need to share them #the count of monte-cristo #incorrect quotes #submission

[poorshadowspaintedqueens]

Back from the mountains

If you were wondering why I went silent for a week, it’s because I was in the mountains, and we only got intermittent, barely functional Internet. It was lovely, and a much-needed break.

While I was there, I reread one of my favorite books of all time, The Count of Monte-Cristo. I think my last reread was at least four years ago, though I’ve kind of lost count of how many times I’ve read it now.

Anyway, I am now filled with burning questions that need to be answered by fic. Some of this fic may already exist--I’ve requested and received Count of Monte-Cristo fic for Yuletide, and there is a lovely little corner of AO3 devoted to the adorable fugitive lesbians Eugénie Danglars and Louise d’Armilly.

Here are some of the gems I’ve found, some of which I already knew about (and one of which was written for me), in no particular order.

Only the Good Which We Do by El Staplador - Battered by a merciless avenger and her own past, Mercédès Mondego, née Herrera, Comtesse de Morcerf, retires to self-imposed confinement in a religious house; but there is one person that she cannot escape: herself.

I had read this fic when it was first posted, but it was a delight to reread. It’s a gorgeous meditation on Mercédès after the novel leaves her. El Staplador has written a whole bunch of Monte-Cristo fics and all of them are wonderful. A+++ recommend.

Constant by Minutia_R - A number of occasions on which Fernand Mondego (later known as the Count of Morcerf) refused to die.

One thing that has happened over the course of multiple rereads of the book is that I’ve thought more about the bad guys and spent more time pondering how Dumas wrote them. They’re all remarkably well-drawn despite the fact that two out of four are pretty much irredeemably awful human beings. Danglars goes from Iago to Mr Burns, while Caderousse is one of those trash fires that you keep hoping will stop burning but never quite manages to. (Also a trash fire: Benedetto.)

Fernand is also an amazing fuckup, and I find him particularly repellent because of the way he treats Mercédès (my girl, my poor, doomed girl). This fic goes a long way to making Fernand comprehensible, if not quite sympathetic. The fact that he also sells Haydée and her mother into slavery after betraying their father is yet another in a giant pile of terrible things he’s done, partly out of cowardice and partly out of greed.

Villefort I find interesting because he’s incredibly clever and hard-working, but he lets his ambition get the better of him. And then of course there’s his thoroughly Gothic affair with Hermine de Nargonne, who eventually marries Danglars, which I paid more attention to this time round and was truly struck by. Which brings me to...

Consequences by Carmilla - As Villefort slowly recovers from his wounding by Bertuccio, he remembers the affair that brought him to where he is.

This is one of those fics that I had no idea I wanted until this most recent reread, because oh, my god, there is so much unsaid about these two, who clearly should have run off together and been brilliant misanthropes side by side, but instead continued down the failtastic path of fail. A wonderful, creepy, evocative story.

Most Excellent Cigars by Maculategiraffe - Two years after the end of the novel, the Count and Albert Morcerf meet once more.

I confess, when I first saw the pairing, I side-eyed it, inveterate Edmond/Mercédès shipper that I am. But then I read it and it was amazingly written, subtle, and an absolute sucker-punch of sexy at the end.

And, last but not least, the fic written for me for Yuletide 2009.

Nature’s Debt and Mine by Flourish - The premiere of I due Foscari is the setting for a reunion, of sorts.

Now, I only recently discovered the brilliance that is @fansplaining, so imagine my glee when I discovered that this glorious fic was written by none other than @flourish, co-host of that podcast. I am not worthy.

But, other things I want fic about:

Mercédès during Edmond’s imprisonment and rise to fortune. She gives herself no credit whatsoever for the strength it must have taken to handle the series of misfortunes that hit her when Edmond disappeared.

Haydée figuring Edmond out; also Haydée and Valentine bonding.

Bertuccio, Baptistin, and Ali discuss their eccentric employer and his crazy plans. Bonus points for a cameo by Luigi Vampa and/or Peppino.

The Memoirs of Hermine de Nargonne, because we all know she survived by hook or by crook and probably reinvented herself as the mistress of some king or railroad baron or something like that.

Some later academic discovers Abbé Faria’s history of Italy and tries to piece together his life and works, with a digression on the lost treasure of Cardinal Spada and what may have become of it.

Valentine and Maximilian run into Eugénie and Louise sometime post-canon. Starts awkward but then they all get drunk and trade crazy stories about Edmond and dysfunctional parents. Someone mentions that Albert and Franz d’Épinay ran off together and zero people are surprised.

It is such a great book for fic--there are so many tiny subplots and minor characters that just beg for expansion. So many episodes glossed over or mentioned in passing that could become missing scenes. I love it so much.

#alexandre dumas #the count of monte-cristo #le comte de monte-cristo #dumas fangirl for life #Edmond Dantès

[femslashrevolution]

On friendship, platonic love and acceptance: a defence of 'Gal Pals'

This post is part of Femslash Revolution’s I Am Femslash series, sharing voices of F/F creators from all walks of life. The views represented within are those of the author only.

As a queer creator and a femslash fan as well, I’ve been around Tumblr quite a lot and I’ve been involved in more than a few fandoms. Throughout the time I’ve spent lurking around the net, looking for good content I’ve noticed delight an increasing tendency of including bisexual, pansexual, asexual, transsexual girls and even non-binary sapphic people within the femslash community. Nothing could make me more delighted to see so many people and so many lovely fellow fans and creators being so open minded and actively promoting their opinion with their posts. Basking in this loving acceptance has been an important starting point for me personally to discover and get more accustomed to the various reaches of the sexuality and gender spectrum, most of which I have never even been aware of before creating a Tumblr profile. The variety of representation the femslash universe has introduced me to will never fail to amaze and delight me: women of ever shape, colour and size from every ethnicity conceivable, both from our world and from fictitious ones, great interpretations of existing characters as well as compelling original characters… You name it, we have it. And if we don’t, you share it and we’ll love it.

There’s one thing that still seems to carry a heavy stigma in the community (at least, as far as my experience goes), and that thing is platonic relationships. Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand the frustration derived from lack or queer representation in the media and the need to fill in the void ourselves. And I’m totally on board with that (in fact, it’s something I’ve been doing myself for quite a long time now).  However, I have come across some genuine words of frustration and intolerance about friendship between two women (queer or not) not being worthy of being called ‘femslash’. I’m not going to delve into discussions about labels, what I want to discuss is why platonic love shouldn’t be treated with such disdain. I will try to explain my point through my personal experience.

The first femslash experience (and my ‘rite of passage’ into the world of femslash, if you will) happened when I was 15, long before coming to terms with my own sexuality and coming to the conclusion that I did indeed liked girls. I had read ‘The Count of Montecristo’ (which I highly recommend if you’re into stories of injustice and revenge served cold, by the way) and, on the spot, being focused on the main plot, hadn’t realized the ongoing romance between Eugenie Danglas and Louise D’Armilly (yes, it has canon lesbians too, go read it!!) which I had only considered to be simply really good friends. I only noticed afterwards, when someone made me notice a reference to Sappho that had somehow eluded me at the first read. I remember finding myself quite intrigued and rather troubled by the thought of the two being together in a romantic way for reasons that are quite clear now but were very confused back then. I felt so uneasy about this discovery that I actually decided to cope with my feelings by writing about it. I feel like I should explain my decision. I have always felt a great connection with written words and often felt the need to deal with things by writing them down, finding that getting into someone else’s head and seeing things though their prospective I could understand different points of views other than my own. So I decided to understand the freaky (in my perception) duo by writing from their point of view. What I wrote ended up being my first femslash fanfiction and one of the few pieces from my teen age I can still say to be quite proud of. That fan fiction has an important emotional value for me, since it was only through it that I could overcome the sting of internalised homophobia that was starting to bubble up inside me and destroy it at its root. After writing it I felt like I’d understood and accepted a kind of relationship I had never really stopped to think about. But I was only able to get around to accept it because I started my journey to understanding from a feeling I could already relate to: platonic love.

As I said before, I had only seen Eugenia and Louise as really close friends, just as close and me and my best friend are with each other, which is why suddenly seeing our surrogate selves’ relationship shift so radically had shocked me so. On the other hand, it was only by approaching the thought of a homoerotic relationship between the two characters as a friendship that went the ‘extra mile’ that I could get around the idea of them being queer. I know it sounds weird to say, but that’s actually how it happened for me. I saw differences and similarities between real friendship and romantic relationship and came to one answer to explain both, though in different ways: love.

I have asked myself multiple questions about my relationship with my friends as I was coming to terms with my sexuality and how I actually felt about them, especially about my relationship with my best friend: was I in love with her? Did I want her in a different way? And after a while, I just came to the peaceful conclusion that I simply love her in a way that’s different from the way I’d love a sister and different from the way I’d love a girlfriend. Do I think highly of her, do I think she’d deserving of someone who’d love her just as much as I do? Do I think of ourselves together at different stages in life, in different places, in different situations, together for as long as our time on Earth will permit us? Yes. Am I just in ‘the friendzone’? Absolutely not! There’s nothing one-sided about this. I love her and she loves me back in the same way. We just don’t have sex, but that’s about it. ’It’s just platonic’: so what?  Does that mean it’s not love? Absolutely not. We’re just two girls in love, in our own way. Love is never ‘just platonic’, love is never ‘just’ anything: it’s just love.

You can think of it as a sort of peculiar asexual, poly-amorous relationship, if it helps accepting it as a legitimate emotional bond between two girls. It’s a romance of hearts and minds, not of bodies. It shouldn’t be stigmatized as ‘just platonic’, as if it’s anything less than any other kind of love.

Furthermore, friendship it’s an experience that more people can relate to. It’s easier to get to understand homoerotic relationships for people who haven’t experienced starting from friendship. Of course, it can be uncomfortable to think about at first, if one compares an homoerotic relationship to their friendship. But what if we do this comparison the other way round, comparing a homoerotic relationship to a real, intimate friendship. It’s so much easier to realise the only difference between the two is just sex. It’s the best way to see love shine through something unknown and help ourselves relate with each other, whatever gender, inclination or sexuality we feel it’s our own.

Love is always the key.

BornFreak

About the Author: 20 years old, originally from Italy, currently living abroad, proudly queer since 2014

#scribble freak #bornfreak #I Am Femslash #Femslash February #Femslash February 2017 #Type: Meta #submission

[kuuderekun]

My Life as a Shipper

https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2018/09/my-life-as-shipper.html

I’m not sure I can accurately name this post since it’s not an attempt to comprehensively go over every ship I’ve ever shipped.  I just wanna share some things.  And this won’t exactly be chronological either.   Some of this reminiscing is about Fan Fiction I did read, but plenty is also more about stuff I imagined, that I would have written myself if I wasn’t so lazy. It may surprise my followers (if any exist) to learn that my earliest ships were all Het, I’ve been a Yuri shipper for a long time now, but not quite from the start.  And to a certain extent I’ve never abandoned my Het shipping, I am still ultimately a Cis-Het Male after all. Early on I did a lot of imagining myself into shows having storylines with the female characters I was attracted to. My first real ship was shipping Dawn and Spike from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It’s weird looking back on that now since it’s not the kind of thing I’m likely to ship today at all.  But I have fond memories of exploring now long dead Dawn themed fan fiction sites, where I mostly got into stories about this ship but did read others.  And for context you should know I’m exactly the same age as Michelle Trachtenberg, so I wasn’t seeing Dawn as the little girl of the show, she was rather the only character I could come close to seeing myself in.  But I shipped with Spike not because I had any attraction to James Marsters, but because she canonically had a crush on Spike and so I wanted her to get what she wanted. The early Het Ships I shipped that I still care about are the Zelda ones interestingly enough.  I was a big Link and Malon shipper, which included Link/Marin and Link/Romani and also Link/Cremia.  I read an old Zelda Universe article called The Girl with the Red Hair: Malon + Link, which I really liked, and it still exists. https://zeldauniverse.net/2010/11/28/the-girl-with-the-red-hair/ I think that’s a reposting however, because it’s dated to 2010 and I’m confident I’d read this before Twilight Princess came out.  Because as we were learning more about it I felt like it was confirming the theory of that article, TP Link must descend from the Hero of Time and Malon.   YouTube videos about Malon theorizing seem to be when on her as a love interest mostly just indirectly repeating that article but then adding the TP element. The Fan Fiction I was into back then, on both the Dawn subject and the Zelda subject, included a lot of angst.  I was into scenarios about triangles and jealousy and unrequited love.  Some of them even got pretty Dark.  I think I would have become a Non-Monogamous shipper sooner if I’d simply learned of that being an option sooner.  But make no mistake, my current desire for everyone being happy in the end stories doesn’t mean I don’t see the appeal of melodrama.  A number of Dawn fics were between seasons 5 and 6 or between episodes of season 6. I was also interested in the idea of stories about a post Majora’s Mask Link having his dark side drawn out by the Fierce Deity Mask. It’s hard to say where my Femslash interest truly began.  When I was into Dawn fics I read some Femslash ones about her, some with Buffy, some with Faith, possibly one with Tara.  But they weren’t what I actively shipped. Noir was my introduction to Yuri.  I first stumbled upon that show by surfing my family's On Demand service and seeing it on Anime Network On Demand, where episode 9, the second part of a two parter, was the earliest episode currently up.  Watching that episode was the first time I ever saw 2D Girls Kiss.  And as I continued the show I got really into Chloe and her unrequited feelings for Kirika.  However it took awhile strangely for me to realise Kirika and Mireille were also canon, I still had some heteronormativity to get over.  I remember that the first time I saw the word Yuri was on Noir’s IMDB forum, someone had posted a thread called “Noir Yuri Pics” or something and I originally assumed it must mean something more specific then just gay. Around then was also when I started actually reading DC Comics, and Stephanie Brown became my favorite Comic Book character, and it didn’t take long for me to start shipping her with Cassandra Cain.  But another niche Het Ship I supported was Tim Drake and Darla Aquista.  I also like Linkara supported the controversial Donna Troy and Terry Long relationship.  There an old fansite I really liked that is no gone called Donna Troy Woman and Hero. I’ve also engaged in some Pokemon shipping over the years.  More so game characters though, filling in the blank slate that is Leaf.  Anime wise that I like May and Dawn way more than Misty makes me pretty controversial.  My imagination always treated Lass as a single character rather than a class.  A Fille Fatale who flirts with both Red and Leaf.  Basically there were little if any existing fanfics I found to serve my tastes there.  I did enjoy a series on FanFiction.Net about Leaf and Dawn. I was also someone who’s interest in the Twilight ignited Vampire craze lead me to research the Pre-Dracula stuff, which lead to me reading and really liking Carmilla.  Because of Paul Feval that Vampire interest lead into and overlapped with my French Pulp Fiction interest which allowed me to learn about Eugenie Danglars and Louise d’Armilly. The Vampire craze also lead me to The Vampire Diaries, where I found another of my top Het Ships, Jeremy and Anna, played by Stephen R McQueen and Malese Jow.  That ship was prominent in my early Tumblr activity. Then came the era of Pretty Little Liars being my favourite TV show, I became a strong Sparia shipper and looked into other ships as well. Back to Zelda.  Prior to Skyward Sword I quite liked how Nintendo was mostly avoiding making Link and Zelda a couple.  But then Hyrule Warriors comes along implying they’re always destined to fall in love and I was quite annoyed.  So I’ve always had hostility towards Link/Zelda shipping.  However the Skyward Sword Prequel Manga included in the Hyrule Historia (which I saw glimpses of before I properly got to read it) kinda won me over on it.  Though that’s technically Link and Hylia. Zelda is one franchise where my Het Shipping is still strong.  But I have became a supporter of Zelda Femslash.  For both Skyward Sword and Hyrule Warriors I like to ship Zelda with Impa, and for Twilight Princess I like Zelda/Midna, and I see Ashe as a Lesbian on principle.  I also now support the theory that Cremia actually had feelings for Anju in Majora’s Mask. I developed an interest in various Tolkien and Silmarillion related Femslash ships.  Like Nienor Niniel and Nellas, as well as viewing Nessa, Haleth and Ter-Telperien as Lesbians. I started a FInal Fantasy Femslash tumblr that I’ve mostly let die since my interests there are limited.  I ultimately view Terra Branford as Asexuel and yet I still crave material about her and Celes.  I also strongly support Agrias and Ovelia from Final Fantasy Tactics. Since getting much more actively into Anime starting in 2014 there are a lot of ships I’ve become supporters of, from Magical Girls to Cute Girls Doing Cute Things to the better Harems, and the occasional specifically Yuri show/OVA.  But I’ve supported some Het stuff too and even learned to appreciate Yaoi and Traps.  But strangely nothing I’ve found in the last year and a half has really compelled me the way my old ships did.  Though perhaps they just need time, again I haven’t been rewatching stuff as much as I used to. However recently learning about SaGa Frontier thanks to Yahweasel has made me a supporter of the Femslash potential it provides.

#Shipping #I Ship #Dawn Summers #Zelda #Malink #Malon #Marin #Cremia #Romani #Jeremy x Anna #yuriko #femslash #Lass #Leaf #Pokemon #PLL #Sparia #Noir #StephCass #Darla Aquista #Donna Troy #Linkara #Het Shipping #Slash Shipping #Slash Ships #Het Ships #Zelimpa #Hylia #SaGa Frontier #Terra Branford