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shadowtriovibes · 1 year

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Hi, could I request a oneshot of female!MC in a toxic relationship and Sebastian angry/in protect mode after seeing a bruise on her, and going after her bf? As he confronts him he reveals his love for her in his heightened emotions. MC catches up in time to overhear everything and to stop Sebastian from killing him. Ending with fluff and MC ditching him for Bash?

Thank you, I love your blog!! 💖

hello anon! thanks for the request — obviously the topic is a little sensitive so please mind the tags before reading! 🤍

a guy like you should wear a warning

Pairing: Sebastian Sallow x f!MC

Word Count: 2.5k

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, magical fights and physical fights, Love Confessions, Hurt/Comfort

“You know why I’m here,” he says simply. “Did you seriously think you wouldn’t have to answer for that? She’s bruised.” A brief flicker of fear passes over the boy’s face as sparks fly out of the end of Sebastian’s wand, but quickly it’s smoothed over with a haughty grin. “So she told you, is that it?” the boy asks. “Poor thing, I should’ve known the ‘hero of Hogwarts’ couldn’t take one fight before running off to her little guard dog.” “You call that a fight?” Sebastian demands. “Looked a little one-sides to me.”

It’s bad enough that Sebastian has gotten used to seeing you confidently wear the collection of scars you’ve accumulated during your time at Hogwarts.

In fact, the very first time he’d met you, he’d noticed the thin scar that runs from your eyebrow down to the middle of your cheek. It’s the first thing that most people notice about you when they first meet you, he assumes, which is frankly an insult to your eyes.

Eventually you told him that your scar had come from an attack you’d withstood back in London – the very attack that brought Professor Fig to you in the first place, and that had resulted in you learning about at Hogwarts. Some of Rockwood’s men had tried to corner you just off Diagon Alley when it had occurred, and while Wiggenweld had been helpful in making sure you didn’t lose your sight in that eye, the swift Diffindo you’d taken to the face would always leave a mark.

You’ve also got a burn on your forearm from a particularly rough round of Cross Wands. Sebastian loathes that he’s responsible for it, even though you insist that you’ve grown to rather like it.

“It’s a badge of honor,” you joke, delighted by his residual guilt. “I’ll always remember that I ended up winning that round, won’t I?”

There are countless others, too: a thin scar by your lip where a particularly aggressive poacher had decked you while wearing an ostentatious ring, a fading mark on your ankle from angry Mongrel’s bite, and a small round burn from the tip of an Ashwinder wand right above your left hip that he’d only once caught a glimpse of.

By now Sebastian has seen just about every mark on you. (Hell, he was there when you got half of them.)

However, that familiarity means he’s quickly able to spot when there’s a new mark on you — especially where one shouldn’t be.

That morning at breakfast, he’s too preoccupied by the lush pile of cinnamon scones in front of him to get a good look at you when he first arrives. Given that he’s simply rubbish at Astrology, he’d been up late charting the stars to prepare for his N.E.W.T.s and had only just arrived near the tail end of the meal.

He’s already shoved half a scone in his mouth before he realizes Ominis is sitting beside you looking grim, one hand gently resting on your shoulder. On your other side, Anne is murmuring quiet reassurances to you while you press a cold compress to the right side of your face.

“It’s not that bad,” Anne says softly. “Just dab some Wiggenweld on it and it won’t even leave a scar.”

“Merlin, what happened to you this time?” Sebastian asks.

Anne shoots him a warning look as you sheepishly lift your head, gently removing the compress to show off an angry red laceration on your cheek. He hisses sharply – that looks like it hurts.

“It’s a long story,” you mumble.

“I’ve got time,” Sebastian says easily.

He hopes he’ll hear another story about how you’d been unable to sleep so you slipped out in the middle of the night to take on a lingering poacher camp, or maybe you’d attempted to sneak one of your baby Graphorns into one of the last remaining dens along the Clagmar Coast and failed to avoid detection.

Instead, you just avert your eyes.

“W-well, I guess it’s not really a story,” you murmur. “I was just running late to breakfast this morning and I, um… tripped, and those stairs are harder than they look.”

Sebastian frowns. You don’t keep many secrets from each other these days, but he can still recognize when you’re not telling the truth. Besides, that rapidly-bruising cut is clearly from a smack to the face, not a tumble down the stairs.

Anne pointedly clears her throat and takes the compress from your hand, tenderly pressing it to your cheek without another word.

When Sebastian looks across to Ominis, he’s surprised to see his friend’s sightless eyes peering back at him purposefully before he subtly shakes his head.

Not many people know that Ominis has quietly been studying Legilimency for several years. It was actually Professor Hecat who had suggested it in the first place, noting that his inability to interpret body language made dueling significantly more dangerous for him. Obviously saw Legilimency as a tactical advantage, but for Ominis, it was something infinitely more nuanced – a form of magic that his family hadn’t tainted, to start.

Indeed, Sebastian is surprised that his closest friend would have invaded your mind without your explicit consent, but he would be the first to admit that if he had such a skill, he would have done the same thing.

A beat later, Sebastian hears his best friend’s voice echo inside his head as he says, She didn’t fall. It was him.

His vision goes red, and his hand is on his wand before he even realizes what he’s doing.

“Bash,” Anne warns as he stands up from the table. “Don’t.”

“W-what are you doing?” you ask quietly, and as you peer up at him, the compress slips down your face.

As soon as he sees your wound again, there’s nothing anyone at that table could possibly say that would stop him from tracking down that sanctimonious Gryffindor prick you’ve been dating for the past few months.

Sebastian had been quite shocked indeed when you’d announced that you had started dating a boy you’d met in Hogsmeade near the start of term. Of course, the shock stemmed from the fact that you were apparently the last of your little quartet to learn that Sebastian was hopelessly in love with you.

You remained ignorant and had let that smooth-talking, arrogant twat into your circle without so much as a second thought, Sebastian had thought bitterly. He’d had to watch miserably as you spent less and less time with your fellow Slytherins in favor of being plied with attention from him and his cacophonous troupe of utter wankers.

Of course, Sebastian knew he was only dating you because you were the “hero of Hogwarts” and not because he actually liked you. He’d tried to tell you that once, and predictably it had gone rather horribly.

(Specifically, you’d hexed him so hard that he’d had to spend the night in the hospital wing because he couldn’t stop belching up flames).

But now it seems like his motives have shifted. He didn’t just want to date you – he wanted to control you.

Maybe you had indeed snuck out the night before, hoping to simply have some time alone with your thoughts while you patrolled for stray camps on your broom. And perhaps when you overslept and arrived late to breakfast, he pulled you aside and said that he was sick of waiting up for you, that it makes him look bad in front of his friends, like you don’t respect him. And maybe for good measure, he’d told you that you may have more powerful magic than him, but he certainly doesn’t need a wand to remind you of your place.

A quick glance at the long Gryffindor table across the room informs Sebastian that your boyfriend is long gone, perhaps anticipating that bruising you like that will come with swift consequences. Ignoring Anne’s protests and Ominis’ gentle warning to stick to legal spells, please, he stomps off toward the Grand Staircase.

Ultimately he tracks down the rotten sod in the Transfiguration courtyard, pompously leaning on the fountain like he doesn’t have a very precise bounty on his head.

“Get up, you feckless git,” Sebastian growls.

He’s already drawn his wand, and the rest of your gutless Gryffindor’s posse quickly scatters several meters away.

“Sallow,” he drawls. “What’s the problem today?”

It’s no secret that Sebastian is not a fan of the boy, though Ominis frequently bends over backward trying to encourage him to be polite for your sake.

“You know why I’m here,” he says simply. “Did you seriously think you wouldn’t have to answer for that? She’s bruised.”

A brief flicker of fear passes over the boy’s face as sparks fly out of the end of Sebastian’s wand, but quickly it’s smoothed over with a haughty grin.

“So she told you, is that it?” the boy asks. “Poor thing, I should’ve known the ‘hero of Hogwarts’ couldn’t take one fight before running off to her little guard dog.”

“You call that a fight?” Sebastian demands. “Looked a little one-sided to me.”

“You and I both know that if she’s wanted to, she could have tossed me into the air and slammed me right into the ground without lifting her wand,” the boy reminds him, standing up from the fountain and slowly reaching for his own wand. “But she knows better.”

Oh, Sebastian is sincerely going to enjoy this, he thinks.

Before the other boy can properly aim at Sebastian, he quickly casts a merciless Depulso at him and sends him skidding into the fountain – but not before crashing into the tranquil Wyvern statue that sits in the middle.

When he emerges, waterlogged and swearing up a storm, he sends a vicious Descendo across the courtyard to Sebastian.

Of course, Sebastian Sallow didn’t earn his title of reigning champion of Cross Wands by being unable to dodge such a simple spell.

The next curse he casts burns hot when it’s expelled from his wand.

“Confringo!” he shouts.

Flames flicker at the edges of your boyfriend’s robes and he yelps, panicked, before clumsily stamping out the fire with his soaked cloak.

Sebastian gives him no time to recover. ��Flipendo!”

He goes sailing through the air and lands in the grass at the base of a gnarled tree, his wand abandoned by the fountain.

“You’re pathetic, Sallow,” he taunts. “All this for some whiny little slag?”

All of a sudden there’s a taste in Sebastian’s mouth that sends him reeling. It’s metallic, like blood, and stings a bit like an electric current. He remembers that taste – it precedes an urge he hasn’t felt in years, a spell he swore he’d never let cross his lips ever again. But it’s there, begging to be cast, practically daring him to silence your tormenter permanently.

He stomps over to the spineless, hunched-over prick with his wand drawn, pointed squarely at the boy’s chest.

But then he hears your voice call out, “Bash, stop!”

Both boys turn just in time to see you dash down the stairs into the courtyard, Anne and Ominis on your heels.

“Stop,” you repeat, and Sebastian can see that you’re trembling. “He’s not worth it.”

He murmurs your name, distracted just enough to lower his wand almost imperceptibly. Unfortunately, it’s enough for the boy beneath him to roll out of his aim and pull himself to his feet. Then he swings at Sebastian, disarmed and desperate.

Sebastian tastes very real blood in his mouth this time — his lip has split, he realizes.

Then he laughs, which unsettles just about every onlooker in the courtyard.

“Mate, you can hit me all you’d like,” Sebastian says dryly. “But I haven’t got any compunction about hitting you back.”

For someone who generally agrees with Ominis that wandless violence is uncouth and uninspired, Sebastian packs a mean punch. He hears the twat’s nose break as he collapses to the ground in a heap, evidently knocked out cold.

Anne gasps. Ominis sighs, dissatisfied.

You, however, are completely silent.

“He deserved it,” are the first words out of Sebastian’s mouth.

As he carefully flexes the fingers of his bloodied hand, he adds, “He deserved much worse, actually.

“Sebastian, that’s enough,” Anne hisses. “You won, let’s just drop it.”

He desperately rakes his hand through his messy curls. Once he catches his breath, he carefully approaches you.

You look frozen in place — in fact, you’ve hardly moved a muscle since Sebastian had called out to you.

“I didn’t want you to see that,” he says quietly. “But I meant it. He dared to lay a finger on you, he had to answer for it.”

You nod carefully and barely flinch when Sebastian lifts a finger to trace along your bruised cheek.

“Bash,” you whisper. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” he says quickly, but you cut him off with a shake of your head.

“I’m sorry you had to handle him,” you say softly. “I wanted to, I would have, I just... At first I wasn’t even sure if it was real. I couldn’t believe that someone who loved me would say things like that to me, or hit me like that.”

Without thinking, Sebastian scoffs and says, “He doesn’t love you, I love you.”

Sebastian didn’t think those bewitching eyes of yours could go any wider, but once again he’s wrong.

“W-what?” you stutter.

“I — I just meant, someone who loves you wouldn’t put their hands on you,” he insists, mentally cursing his own existence. “A-and I’d never hurt you, obviously, so–”

“You love me?” you whisper. “Truly, Bash?”

He’d imagined finally telling you the truth so many times, but none of those scenarios involved Ominis, his twin sister and about forty other students watching with bated breath.

“I mean… yeah,” he laughs softly, deciding to reach for an aloofness that might allow him to maintain a shred of dignity. “Thought it was pretty obvious that I’ve been mad about you for ages.”

But before you can respond, you hear Professor Weasley emerge from her classroom and exclaim, “What in Merlin’s name is all this commotion?!”

You take Sebastian’s hand and start to tug him toward the Defense Against the Dark Arts Tower in hopes of sparing him what would surely be several weeks of detention. The rest of the crowd quickly disperses and offers you much-needed cover; fortunately you’re able to spirit Sebastian away up to the Room of Requirement without being stopped.

“Sit,” you instruct him once inside, gesturing to a small round table with mismatched chairs. “You’re still bleeding.”

Sebastian touches his lip as he takes a seat and discovers that it indeed stings. You return with a rag and a bottle of Wiggenweld, dabbing some onto the cloth and gingerly pressing it to his lip.

“Thanks,” he mumbles.

“Sebastian,” you say carefully. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah, go on,” he agrees.

You stubbornly wait until he meets your gaze before you ask him, “Did it ever occur to you that there might be a simpler way to tell me that you love me than nearly killing my boyfriend in front of half the school?”

He waits a beat before admitting, “Honestly? Not really.”

You smile ruefully and use the rag to wipe away the rest of the blood around Sebastian’s mouth. Once you inspect his wound and confirm that the potion has firmly sealed up where it had split, you lean in and press a gentle kiss to his lips.

Before you can pull away, he murmurs against your lips, “But he’s not your boyfriend anymore though, right?”

You simply roll your eyes at him and toss the rag against his chest so he can return the favor.

#hogwarts legacy #sebastian sallow #sebastian x mc #sebastian x reader #sebastian sallow x mc #sebastian sallow x reader #hogwarts legacy fic #my fic #mind the tags please there’s some common triggers

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a-reader-and-a-writer-for-all · 1 year

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No Laughing Matter

Winter Whumperland: Day 3. Public Whump

Fandom: Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick, Robert "Bob" Floyd, f!reader

Summary: Ever since the Dagger Mission, hanging out with your boyfriend's teammates has been a lot of fun. Until one night when a drunken Jake takes things too far and everyone discovers that there is more to Bob than anyone anticipated.

Word Count: 1914

TW: Public Embarrassment, Punch, Drunken Comment

Make Me Forget (Part Two)

Things had been different between the squad members since the Dagger mission. The tension and slight aggression you always felt between the Naval aviators seemed to have dissipated and everyone had been getting along as if they had been old friends for years instead of new team members or rivals just a few weeks before.

It made going to the Hard Deck with Bob more enjoyable. The first few times you visited your boyfriend there, the two of you spent most of the time alone in the back corner of the bar, practically hiding from his teammates. Now, you sat in the middle of the fun, surrounded by people Bob considered friends. And they had all welcomed you with open arms despite the fact you were a civilian.

Phoenix and you had bonded instantly, much to Bob’s delight, and it eased some of your worries knowing she was the one flying with Bob. Rooster had been one of the first to try and include you with everyone else and he always seemed like such a warm presence in the group. Fanboy constantly tried in vain to stump you with random movie trivia questions while Payback laughed at his frustration every time you answered correctly. Coyote offered to teach you how to play darts but after you accidentally impaled him, it was decided that maybe darts wasn’t for you.

And then there was Jake. For some reason, you just had trouble calling the man Hangman but he didn’t mind. He said he loved the sound of his name on your tongue. And that was part of the problem. Jake liked to flirt with you. A lot. It was all harmless and you never took it too seriously, but sometimes you did catch a certain look in his eye that made you think that maybe it wasn’t all that harmless after all. Not that his little pet names for you or his jokes about being in the wings if you ever changed your mind about Bob bothered you, but sometimes you wondered how serious he really was.

Though when at the Hard Deck, he was usually too preoccupied with other women to pay you much mind. When he returned from the Dagger mission, Jake did not want for attention from the female patrons. Once they heard that he had been the “savior” on the mission, rescuing two of his fellow pilots from certain death, they flocked to him like flies to honey.

None of the other aviators who were actually part of the mission really minded that all of the attention was focused on their friend instead of them. They just enjoyed watching Jake’s antics.

However, it had now been close to a month since the mission and things were changing. Jake had been playing the hero card for a while now, but it was slowly losing some of its power as the summer season at the bar began winding down and he was left with mostly the regulars to try and impress. However, there were only so many times they could hear about his rescue of Maverick and Rooster before the stares of astonishment and awe turned to eyerolls of “here we go again”.

And tonight seemed like a particularly bad night for Jake. You had noticed him trying to talk to a group of three or four women when you first walked in, though you hadn’t paid much attention. That is until about ten minutes after you sat down with Bob by the pool table, when the women all burst out laughing. All eyes in your group of friends went to Jake, whose face was a deep red as the women all turned to each other as they continued to laugh. Then you all watched as they grabbed their belongings and walked out of the bar.

Jake’s eyes shifted towards the pool table where everyone was still staring at him, and his face grew even redder. He quickly turned and stormed off to the bathroom.

None of you had been able to hear what had been said, but it was clear the women had been laughing at Jake. And when he finally exited the bathroom ten minutes later and stalked over to the group, everyone tried to pretend they hadn’t noticed anything had happened but the weird tension around the table made it clear they knew.

For the next hour, Jake sulked against the wall, downing drink after drink as everyone tried to keep their distance. Fanboy and Payback challenged Rooster and Bob to a game of pool while you and Phoenix chatted at your table, sometimes joined by Bob when someone else was taking their shot.

As Fanboy was taking his turn, you were telling Bob and Phenix an embarrassing story about something one of your coworkers had done earlier at work. As you got to the funny part, all three of you began to chuckle amongst yourselves.

“Something funny over there, Floyd?”

The group grew quiet as Jake pushed himself off the wall and took a few steps towards your table. You hadn’t seen Jake use that tone since before the mission. He had softened since then, still overly cocky and slightly arrogant, but not harsh or mean. Not like this. You exchanged a look with Phoenix which confirmed you weren’t the only one who noticed this shift in Jake’s behavior.

Bob straightened up from where he had been leaning on the table and looked at Jake. “No, we were just talking.”

“Yeah, I could hear that.” Jake’s eyes narrowed. His words seemed slightly slurred and there was no doubt he was drunk. “Seems like your girl there said something pretty funny. Care to share?”

You didn’t like being referred to as “your girl” but as you opened your mouth to say something, Bob placed his hand on your knee. His eyes were still locked on Jake, but you knew what he was trying to tell you. Stay out of this.

“Not much to share. She was just telling us something that happened at work.” Bob took a few steps towards the pool table. “I think it’s my turn.”

But as he reached for the cue that Fanboy offered him, Jake blocked him, his body only inches from Bob’s.

“You think you’re so much better than the rest of us because you have someone waiting for you when you go home at night. But don’t get too confident, she’ll wise up soon enough and move on to someone more on her level.” Jake glanced at you and winked before turning back to Bob with a smirk. “What a girl like her thinks she sees in you, I’ll never know.”

You tried to jump to your feet, but Phoenix dragged you back down. Leaning close, she muttered, “Don’t make this worse. He’s drunk and he’s embarrassed and those are not a good combination. Bob can handle himself.”

Bob took a deep breath and then said, “Listen, Bagman, I’m sorry if you can’t find someone who wants to put up with your bullshit, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t speak about my girlfriend or my relationship like that.”

Your heart fluttered slightly. Of course Bob would ignore the fact that all of Jake’s insults were actually aimed at him and defend you instead.

Coyote placed a hand on Jake’s arm as he tried to get his friend to step away from the situation, but Jake yanked his arm free and took a step closer to Bob. Leaning in until his face was inches from Bob’s, Jake gave him a cocky grin. “One night, Bobbo. Just one night with me is all it would take for her to forget your name.”

Rooster had silently joined your table, and it took both he and Phoenix to keep you from leaping out of your seat and storming up to Jake. Yet, as fuming mad as you were, Bob seemed just as calm as usual.

He gave Jake a small half-smile. “Good luck with that, Jake.” Then he took a few steps back, signaling the end of the conversation.

You weren’t sure what tipped Jake over the edge. Whether it was the fact that Bob hadn’t seemed even the slightest bit rattled by anything he had said or if Bob’s comment and dismissal of Jake hit some nerve. Maybe it was even the fact Bob had called him by his real name. But the next thing you knew, Jake had wound back his fist and threw a punch.

What happened next was so fast that it took you a minute to process that it had even happened. One second, Jake was swinging his arm wildly, his fist aimed directly at Bob’s head. And the next second, Bob effortlessly ducked under the incoming limb and drove his fist directly into Jake’s solar plexus. Jake’s eyes bulged as he crumpled to the ground with a loud groan.

The bar fell completely silent save for Jake’s gasps for air. Bob’s eyes flickered around the room quickly before he gave everyone a tight-lipped smile and a small nod. Then he walked back over to your table and picked up his drink, oblivious to your slack-jawed staring.

Rooster was the first one to regain his senses. “Woah, Bob! What the hell was that?”

Bob shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly. “I have a lot of older cousins who like to play rough. I learned a few things.” Taking one final drink from his water, he turned to you. “Are you ready to go?”

You could only manage to mutely nod before Bob took your hand. As he began to lead you out of the bar, you looked over your shoulder at Phoenix, your eyes screaming what just happened? She held up her hands in utter confusion and shrugged. Apparently, you weren’t the only one surprised by this other side of Bob.

It wasn’t until he had walked you halfway to the car that you finally snapped out of your daze. Using the fact your hands were still connected, you yanked him back into you, causing him to stumble slightly. Before he could ask what was going on, you slammed your lips against his as you wrapped your arms around his neck.

You felt him stiffen in surprise but he soon melted against your embrace, returning your kiss with a similar intensity as his hands rest on your hips, drawing you in even closer. The two of you continued to make out in the middle of the parking lot, oblivious to the stares of the other bar patrons walking to their cars. It wasn’t until someone honked and cat-called that the spell was broken.

Pulling back, you grinned as you noticed his glasses were slightly askew. Straightening them for him, you place one more quick kiss on his lips before sliding your hand into his once more.

“What was all that about?” Bob asked breathlessly.

“Do you have any idea how hot that was in there? The way you took Jake down with just a single punch?”

Bob’s face grew a bright red as he muttered, “It wasn’t a big deal.”

“No, it was a huge deal.” Your eyes roamed over his body quickly then you began practically dragging him towards the car.

“Woah! Slow down,” Bob said as he struggled to keep up. “What’s the hurry?”

You stopped and looked over your shoulder at him. “Either we get home in the next few minutes, or I am blowing you in this parking lot.”

Part Two out now!

Taglist:@nik2blog, @dumb-fawkin-bitch, @shirley2996, @luckyladycreator2, @valoraxxx-blog, @m3laniehearts, @autumnleaves1991-blog, @rule107, @vintageleather, @impossiblebagelcowboyfreak, @slutforadambanks, @americaarse, @reneki, @ynbutbetter , @sugarcoated-lame, @imagineadream, @sadpetalsstuff, @salty-thembo, @rachelizabethgraham, @duckandrobin, @queenbbarnes, @grincheveryday, @uselesslyromantic, @choochoo284, @littlebadariell, @blue-aconite, @thescarletknight2014, @jamesbuckyburns, @a-sweet-little-fangirl, @happyblogstuff, @randomlifeunit, @boringusername3, @lclove2012-blog, @3tabbiesandalab

#amow winter whumperland 2022 #public whump #fic #top gun #top gun maverick #top gun: maverick #robert bob floyd #robert bob floyd x reader #bob #bob x reader #f!reader #hangman #jake hangman seresin #lewis pullman #public embarrassment tw #punch tw #drunken comments tw

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a-reader-and-a-writer · 1 year

Text

No Laughing Matter

Winter Whumperland: Day 3. Public Whump

Fandom: Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick, Robert "Bob" Floyd, f!reader

Word Count: 1914

TW: Public Embarrassment, Punch, Drunken Comments

Make Me Forget (Part Two)

None of the other aviators who were actually part of the mission really minded that all of the attention was focused on their friend instead of them. They just enjoyed watching Jake’s antics.

Jake’s eyes shifted towards the pool table where everyone was still staring at him, and his face grew even redder. He quickly turned and stormed off to the bathroom.

“Something funny over there, Floyd?”

Bob straightened up from where he had been leaning on the table and looked at Jake. “No, we were just talking.”

“Not much to share. She was just telling us something that happened at work.” Bob took a few steps towards the pool table. “I think it’s my turn.”

But as he reached for the cue that Fanboy offered him, Jake blocked him, his body only inches from Bob’s.

Your heart fluttered slightly. Of course Bob would ignore the fact that all of Jake’s insults were actually aimed at him and defend you instead.

He gave Jake a small half-smile. “Good luck with that, Jake.” Then he took a few steps back, signaling the end of the conversation.

Rooster was the first one to regain his senses. “Woah, Bob! What the hell was that?”

Pulling back, you grinned as you noticed his glasses were slightly askew. Straightening them for him, you place one more quick kiss on his lips before sliding your hand into his once more.

“What was all that about?” Bob asked breathlessly.

“Do you have any idea how hot that was in there? The way you took Jake down with just a single punch?”

Bob’s face grew a bright red as he muttered, “It wasn’t a big deal.”

“No, it was a huge deal.” Your eyes roamed over his body quickly then you began practically dragging him towards the car.

“Woah! Slow down,” Bob said as he struggled to keep up. “What’s the hurry?”

You stopped and looked over your shoulder at him. “Either we get home in the next few minutes, or I am blowing you in this parking lot.”

Part Two out now!

Taglist: @loverhymeswith, @babblydrabbly, @mayhem24-7forever, @11thstreetvigilante, @merlehs, @green-socks, @sunshineflowerchild789, @shanimallina87, @topguncortez, @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy, @hederasgarden, @callsign-phoenix, @wildbornsiren, @lt-natrace, @the-untamed-soul, @inglourious-imagines, @airhogger, @piscesvancouverite, @straightforwardly, @bonnieelizabethparker, @srry-itshockeyszn, @flyinlove, @fandomhopped, @sweetheartlizzie07, @yjwnoot, @wanderdreamer, @callsign-fox, @imjess-themess, @joalsglasses, @curlyolly, @nobody7102, @footprintsinthesxnd, @thesewordsxlibrary, @double-j, @phoenix1389, @some-lovely-day

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checkoutmybookshelf · 10 months

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For the Love of All That is Holy, Stop Calling Your Love Interest Stupid, Benedict!!!

Dearest Gentle Reader, I suppose if you play with fire, you do eventually get burned. This Author has finally been burned by a Bridgerton novel. --Lady Bookshelf's Society Papers, 7 June 2023

So uhh...yeah. We gotta talk about Benedict Bridgerton. And we gotta talk about what the actual hell happened between book and Netflix series, because I found the series before the book, and even knowing that the characterizations were different, this book was JARRINGLY different, and not gonna lie, I absolutely cannot stand book Benedict and I fully do not understand the Benophie appeal. Now that I've finished painting a target on my back, let's talk An Offer from a Gentleman.

*Content Warning: Discussions of attempted rape/sexual assault. As always, take care of you first in your choice of books and book reviews, and never ever feel shame about skipping over books or reviews that aren't healthy for you to engage with.*

Ok y'all, I have recipts for this one, because book Benedict was basically a "too aloof and edgelordy to give a damn" and he really, REALLY needed to stop telling Sophie she was stupid or thinking too much. He also was hideously high-handed about blackmailing, coercing, and passive aggressively manipulating Sophie into doing the closest possible thing he can make happen to what he wants. He can't hear the word "no." His art seems somehow less important to him than the bowl of rocks at the cottage.

Show Benedict is a sweetheart artist with a wicked sense of humor and a real damn good sense for his siblings' moods and needs. I like show Benedict. I was prepared to yeet book Benedict off a cliff.

So real quick before this descends into incoherent screeching, I just need to point out the section where Sophie leaves the Cavendar's house during a party that is SUPER not safe for her. The "male lead saves the female lead from getting raped" is not my favorite trope in the world, but I'm not here to shame anyone for rescue fantasies. What I am here to do is explainin why Benedict is the WORST POSSIBLE EXAMPLE of this trope. I'm just gonna go ahead and put the passage up here, for ease. This is Benedict's reaction to seeing Sophie is an objectively scary situation:

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS REACTION??? What is this "ugh, I guess I HAVE to step in, what a pain in the ass FOR ME" nonsense??? This is not allyship, this isn't even--as Benedict tepidly says--"having sisters," this is just "ugh, I guess I have to be a hero, how annoying."

If you're going to do the rescue trope, it kind of works better if your leading man gives a rat's ass. Like, give him a strong position on rape being bad. Give him a motivation. Give him something other than an eye roll and vague irritation that he has to do the thing! He's not even particularly T-ed off with the guys in this situation, it's just...and event. That he has to deal with. Like going to the DMV or something.

Can we PLEASE not do this. This is gross, it is bare minimum, and frankly? It's the least interesting version of this trope. I wasn't a Twilight girl, but the scene where Edward rescues Bella from implied gang rape was done better than this moist tissue of a scene purely because HE GIVES A RAT'S ASS ABOUT BELLA.

Bare freaking minimum, your romantic leads have to have strong feelings for each other. Those feelings can be positive or negative, depending on whether or not you're doing enemies to lovers, but the feelings have to EXIST. And when you're dealing with limited third omninscient narration, the character in who's head you are should probably have stronger emotions than *eye roll* to keep it interesting for the reader!! We know Sophie is already in love with Benedict at this point in the novel, but we aren't in Sophie's HEAD just now.

I'm basically out of coherent things to say about this book, so let's just go over key examples of other things in this book that made me rage. It's not every instance, but it's a selection of demonstrative examples.

Let's check the recipts:

And just WHAT is wrong with speaking like a woman, Benedict??? Is it maybe because you think they're somehow LESSER than men???

TAXING HER BRAIN, BENEDICT??? Let the woman think for her own damn self for five seconds!

LET. HER. THINK. FOR. HER. OWN. DAMN. SELF.

YOU SPENT THE WHOLE BOOK TELLING HER NOT TO THINK AND NOW YOU'RE MANSPLAINING CLASS TO HER??? SERIOUSLY???

Oh, yes, call her stupid. That's a GREAT way to get in any woman's skirts, Benedict. (Please excuse me while I scream incoherently into a pillow in rage.) Punch him again, Sophie.

Wow, so you do ONE DECENT THING and suddenly you own her life??? PUNCH HIM AGAIN, SOPHIE. And no, gentlemen, going "oh shit, I am actually being a huge dick here" and then DOING THE THING ANYWAY does not earn you any points.

ACTUALLY SHE DOES KNOW WHAT SHE WANTS, BENEDICT, BECAUSE SHE IS A HUMAN PERSON WITH AGENCY!!!!!! AND SHE HAS SAID NO TO YOU LIKE FIFTEEN TIMES!!! Dear god, someone throw this man back in the lake and hold his head under.

FOR FUCKS SAKE-- *screams in impotent rage while channeling Beatrice's "would eat his heart in the marketplace" vibes*

So...I actually don't recommend this book. Don't read this one. Just enjoy show Benedict and we can all collectively pretend that the book didn't happen.

#julia quinn #an offer from a gentleman #benedict bridgerton #sophie beckett #bridgerton books #bridgerton netflix #romance novels #romance books #regency romance #books & libraries #books and reading #books and novels #book recommendations #books #benophie

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black-velvet-lady · 2 years

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A Link to Part 1

I said I would continue and here I am

Main Female Villain and the Treatment of Mental Illness

Hexadecimal Vs Azula

Out of the two series these characters have the most in common with one another. Both are the leading female villain and the more powerful sister to a earlier showcased villainous brother. Both have a sinister musical score that plays when they're about to make an appearance. Both have a supposed mental disorder or illness showcased by the narrative. Both when confronted by the heroes require more to defeat then her brother as her schemes have a unique form of intelligence and genius to them that often causes quite a lot of damage. Both’s declining mental state in linked with an aspect of their appearance, with Azula it’s her hair, with Hex it’s her mask. Both have very little social graces and are unable to properly attract the affections of a guy they’re interested in. Both are sexualized more so then the heroic female sibling. But there is a fundamental change in their treatment.

Hexadecimal is a character whose personality is also linked to her unique design. Her face is a static mask that requires being swapped out for a change in expression. This swap happens in seconds often requiring her character model to break line of sight with the audience, either through a turn of the head or swipe of the hand across her face. These static opera inspired theatre masks reflect her personality. There’s no transition. In the same way the mask can shift from one extreme to another, Hexadecimal can go from pleasant and kind one second, to maniacal laughter and bone chilling the next. A huge part in that goes to the phenomenal voice acting of Shirley Millner.

A case could be made that Yang’s attempt at writing a post series Azula comes close to the rapid mood swapping of Hexadecimal but there is a fundamental issue with that. While Azula is presented as dangerous when her mood changes quickly, Hexadecimal is presented as dangerous when she’s bored. And the emphasis is entirely necessary. Her quick mood changes are presented as just the way she is and she’s not particularly any more dangerous when her mood switches from happy and having a good time, to angry-scream-your-face-off. What makes Hexadecimal dangerous is her alignment.

Hexadecimal and Megabyte are two extremes, chaos and order respectively. Mainframes usual state is a balance in between. You could equate this to Raava and Vaatu.

The problem with Raava and Vaatu that many picked up on is that they are simplified into one being good and the other being evil, the Catholic God and devil analogy which doesn't work in something like Taoism. Good and evil are nebulous concepts that are affected by societal ideals and standards and are not some one size fits all check list. Ying and Yang are the idea of opposites whose heart is reflected in the other neither good nor bad.

This idea of extremism and the healthy medium is something reflected in another Mainframe Entertainment program Beast Machines the chaos of organic life and the uniformity of the mechanical. Order and Chaos. Only the healthy medium will bring balance to the world. (Sorry couldn't resist)

Enough about the concept of Chaos/Order/Balance, back to Hexy.

Like I said Hexadecimal's mental state is linked to her mask just as Azula’s is linked to her perfectly symmetrical bangs. There's a portion of the story where Hexadecimal's mask gets damaged and results in her being more volatile and erratic, this is probably Hexadecimal at her most dangerous. Something we can reasonably assume is that her volatile outbursts when her mask is cracked is due to her being in pain from the damage itself. But even in this volatile and aggressive state the hero Bob remains calm and offers Hexadecimal compassion and one particular act actually wins her over.

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Now this scene might need some explanation. This takes place during the final arch of season three. Season three was 16 episodes long separated into four archs that were four episodes long each. The first arch took place after the first war in the series known as the Web Wars, culminating in Bob the series protagonist and hero being sent into the web with no hope of return.

Megabyte and Hexadecimal are left with a very dangerous Weapon of Mass Destruction that being a laser that the Viruses and Mainframers had to band together to create to fight the web creatures that were about to invade the system. Hex aims it at the principal office and Megabyte attempts to intimidate the heroes into standing down so he can take over the system little known fact though, if Hex decides she wants to do something or not do something you can’t really tell her otherwise.

She wanted to watch the Principal Office blow up cause it would be fun, and despite Megabyte telling her doing so would destroy the core and by extension the system and them along with it, she still wants to blow it up for funsies. You could make an argument that she might survive the system crashing, but still.

This is where I brake to talk about the character placement: One of the biggest things that Reboot has going for it that Avatar did not in their portrayals of these two is they knew where to keep Hex.

Azula had far too much screen time and focus in comparison to Ozai our main villain and in so doing she hijacked the main villain spot. Ozai was boring to put it plain and simple despite being voiced by Mark Hamill the iconic voice actor for the Joker in Batman the animated series. This is such a huge issue that fans of the show still form head-canons and ideas that a fourteen year old girl is secretly the mastermind behind Ozai. Azula is a henchmen, people act like she’s the Joker when she’s NOT. Azula has more in common with Harley Quinn than she does the Joker. Hexadecimal on the other hand...

Hexadecimal has always been a separate Villain from Megabyte despite her relation with him as his sibling the two don’t normally pair up. Hexadecimal also doesn’t often take the spotlight from Megabyte as the main villain, despite causing more damage when she does come up with a scheme. She’s just doesn’t have plans like him, like she says “He got the brains while she got the power.” This power is something Megabyte has always coveted and desired to use for himself and he gets his chance in episode two.

That weapon of mass destruction I mentioned earlier? Yeah a game cube dropped on part of it and overloaded it while Hex was holding onto it. It very nearly killed her akin to electrocution, like she was a charred, twisted, burnt to a crisp, smoking corpse. Megabyte had her picked up and healed her with a caveat, she now has a shock collar around her neck that causes her so much pain that she literally passes out the first time its used on her, and the controls are on Megabyte’s wrist.

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He effectively turns her into a living weapon. She’s imprisoned locked in a cell with her hands and feet bound and hurt when she disobeys. The heroes are even horrified that Megabyte has done this to his sister before they finally seal him, his army, and Hex inside a firewall. Season 3′s second and and third arch don’t focus on Mainframe but we are given flashbacks of what happened during the 13th episode Megaframe where its revealed Hex eventually broke out of Megabyte’s containment was rightfully pissed and destroyed his base, the firewall, most of his men, and half of Mainframe in her resulting warpath against him before she retreated to her lair and sulked.

So at this point, Hex has nearly died, been imprisoned and abused, she notices her favourite guardian is back in the system and essentially kidnaps him, makes him dance with her, and have a tea party all under threat but Bob doesn’t fight her. Unlike a certain someone.

Bob is calm, patient, compassionate even. Hexadecimal is dangerous there is never any doubt about that but she is also hurting and even admits to being scared. His desire to leave is only to help out the rest of his friends that are dealing with a battle against Megabyte while he’s stuck with Hex. He could fight her, make a portal and escape but he doesn’t. Bob recognizes Hex is hurting and he takes the time to help her.

The image of her slowly taking in her new moving features, the slow smile and the way she touches her face in awe is one of those moments in cartoons that have been burned into my brain. He made her feel whole, for the first time in her life, you can tell by her smile that this feels good. And she closes her eyes in this thankful expression and says “For you Bob... Anything.” There is such a gravity in that when we see Hex’s final arch.

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There can be no doubt Hexadecimal loved Bob, she’s incredibly overt about it, but in the end she acknowledges that he does not hold her in his heart the same way she does him. And in the end she makes the choice to sacrifice herself to save him and by extension the world so that he could be happy with the person he loved.

This is not a death by redemption. Hexadecimal made the choice to switch over due to her affection for the man who made her feel whole for the first time in her life. “For you Bob... Anything.” Was the moment Hexadecimal made that switch from enemy to ally. It’s not an easy transition and characters like Dot and Matrix are not receptive to her change.

This is not something that can be said for Azula especially post series. Azula is rarely viewed with compassion either, and her post series work and even that of finale reeks of abelism.

Hexadecimal is never treated as wrong for being quick to flip her emotions, or having a strange sense of humour, its simply how she is as a person and even after her death characters will refer to these situations as just who she is. Even after her mask is given the ability to transition it doesn’t erase her quirky nature it just... lets her transition more smoothly.

Azula on the other hand is treated as a lost cause, dangerous, and unpredictable. It’s used as a reason for the comic’s to treat her terribly because Azula was apparently the main villain now.

In the end these two had archs that worked in reverse, Azula lost her stability as season 3 went on while Hexadecimal gained it, and in the end both met their demise by love. Azula by having it repeatedly revoked from her, while Hex walked willingly to it with the people who cared the most for her trying to talk her out of it.

#hexadecimal reboot #reboot #Azula #princess azula #azula avatar #Avatar The Last Airbender

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goingrampant · 2 months

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In the first Thor movie, Loki makes a comment about how he's upset that Thor seems to have changed as a result of his interaction with Jane Foster, and Loki suggests he should also pay a visit to her. Feminists have interpreted this as a rape threat--Loki as an aggressive man threatening sexual violence toward a woman as a means of attacking a rival man (in the game of patriarchy, women are the ball)--and describe feelings of revulsion surrounding Loki for this reason. The Loki fandom then feelings of terror for them, because people stan a rapist, and then Joss Whedon is brought into it as the guy who made the rapist cool. Can I just say, I think this is a misreading?

Loki isn't particularly macho. He has a feminine side. If a Jotunn told him to "run home, little princess," he probably wouldn't take offense in quite the way Thor does. In the myths, he repeatedly crossdresses and transforms into female beings of various species, as is alluded to in a deleted scene where Thor calls him "cow" like that one time Loki became a cow, and then Thor: The Dark World alludes to a myth where Loki had the two of them dress up as women by making Thor look like Sif. He's a subtextually queer element ultimately made explicit in the Loki TV series when he describes himself as bisexual, an official dossier notes him as genderfluid, and an alternate universe's Loki transitions to female and takes the name Sylvie. All that is present in the background of Thor through Tom Hiddleston's expressive acting showing Loki's vulnerability and apparent attraction to Thor. (I don't care if it squicks you or not. I think that's in the film as a background element. Besides, he's adopted.)

Loki is a king who subjugates people. In the case of the movie, he is the acting king of Asgard after Odin decided to go into a coma to avoid an awkward conversation that was making him feel emotions. Despite the movie telegraphing that Loki was trying to betray Odin, this was a red herring to hide the fact that Loki was manipulating events to make him look like a big hero protecting Asgard to get daddy's love. He's not particularly nice, but he's not the archetypal "strong man, grr!" figure that some feminists seem to think he is. When he makes his so-called rape threat, he's literally crying because he feels betrayed by Thor aligning himself with Jane Foster over him, after Loki went to great effort to make the world (Odin, Thor, and Asgard in general) see him as Thor's equal. This isn't a "macho man clinging to toxic masculinity" situation.

In this vulnerable state, he suggests he visit her himself. I think this is a threat, not of rape, but of replacing Thor as her romantic partner. Loki feels disposable, so he's trying to make Thor also feel disposable. Before, Thor's value lay in being heir to the throne, so that's what Loki was envious of. Now, Thor values being Jane's boyfriend and champion of humanity, so Loki's envy switched targets. It's worth noting that in the myth, it's indicated that Loki does sleep with Thor's wife, Sif, on one occasion, which allows Loki to bring it up as a boast in an insult-trading session. (The Loki TV series later canonized this with Loki sleeping with Sif before betraying her by cutting off her hair, but Sif was not actually married to Thor in this retelling.) The original Thor film has a smattering of allusions to myth, so it's reasonable to speculate they may have been setting up Loki trying to cuck Thor in the sequel.

It's worth noting that, though she didn't get a credit, Guardians of the Galaxy screenwriter Nicole Pearlman was a writer on Thor. Most of the Jane Foster content is the result of her contributions, giving the film a feminine feel. A significant amount of the film is for women, giving the female audience a romcom with a love interest who starts out arrogant and learns to be respectful. Thor is in parallel with Mr. Darcy, the arrogant rich man who learns to be nice through his love for the female protagonist, in Pride and Prejudice. I can see her working with the other writers to set up a love triangle with Loki as George Wickham, the roguish bad boy treated badly by Mr. Darcy, with whom he frequently quarrels. I personally suspect the writers' vision for the second Thor film would have been interplanetary Pride and Prejudice, if things hadn't been derailed by Joss Whedon taking over as writer/director of The Avengers and rewriting everything.

In the sequel hook that ended up being retconned away, Loki is shown puppetting Dr. Selvig, controlling his mind while invisibly shadowing him. Loki leads him to work with SHIELD in examinations of the Tesseract as an Asgardian artifact. Another plot thread set up and later abandoned is that Jane will find Thor now that he destroyed the Bifrost. Presumably, the notes he left her would help her construct a new wormhole. This would logically be connected to her roommate and colleague, Dr. Selvig, being part of the SHIELD investigation of the Tesseract: shown to have powers similar to the Bifrost in beaming Red Skull to another planet. That means Loki would play a key role in its construction. Following his threat to Thor, I think he would have been the Jacob to his Edward and been an alternate Asgardian love interest to create a love triangle. (The Hulk rampaging would also probably be the instigating event of the plot, based on setup in The Incredible Hulk, and Red Skull might have turned up on the first planet the new Bifrost took them to.)

Anyway, that's what I think was going on. Not an evil rape threat, but a sympathetic self-hating tragic figure lashing out at his brother/crush (he's adopted) with a threat of replacing him as love interest in the setup for a Pride and Prejudice retelling targeted at the female demographic. No need to write diatribes on Loki being misogynistic. (Honestly, I wonder how many of those feminists ended up being offended by Sylvie as a trans character, seeing as many of the feminists paranoid about rape threats are radfems/TERFs and not worth listening to anyway.)

#feminism #thor 2011 #tw rape #mcu #mcu loki

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justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms · 4 months

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What's uppp! Luv ur blog and i got curious with the matchups so i'd like to request a matchup for MHA!

Also just to recognize my ask, I'd like to go with 🪩

So let's get to myself:

I'm female and go by she/her. Also i’m straight.

Appearance:

1,80 (5'11/6'0?), chubby, brown eyes, dark red (colored) mid length hair, usual ear piercings, one nose piercing on the side and a lip piercing (ashley), big ahh feet and hands LMAOOO.

Style:

Ijust can't decide so i switch it a lot. Either it's streetwear, punk or something elegant/ sweet (wild combo ik). My room looks pretty natural (lots of plants and wood etc.) since i need something that keeps me down to earth 💀

Music taste:

Big ass spectrum but let's try. Luv rock/hardrock/ metal, enjoy techno from time to time. The usual tiktok songs,.. Tbh anything that's very loud or makes my headphones vibrate 10/10. From time to time i do enjoy the calm/classical music but only if i REALLY feel like it.

Fav current songs if it helps:

Black No. 1 from Type O Negative

Fucking Your Ghost In Chains of Ice from Leviathan (pls ignore the title 😭)

prayer1 from april27

Nightmare from plenka

Stay from Narrow Head

Wicked Game from Chris Isaak

Personality:

I've seen others mention it so; aries sun, pisces moon, virgo rising and ENTP.

honestly think it fits just not AS serious. People often mention i look rather intimidating at first which is understandable since i can seem uninterested and reserved but when talking to me i really love making others laugh, as well as laughing myself. Honestly my love language (combined with aggressive love). Love to goof around but i like to seem more closed off at first.

It makes things more interesting. Very personal emotions i like to only keep for myself (like most ig). I isolate pretty quickly and don't mind it since I've always been more independent and alone (not at all badly, i like the peace around me while enjoying the chaos inside my head 🫦😭).

I've actually never been in an relationship but based on other experiences i like both to be in control and let someone have control.

definitely not the type to only have one thing.

Likes:

Swimming, MUSIC, analyzing, watching trash tv and cooking shows (i just love judging people < /3), reading on my phone ig though i don't read many books irl, gaming from time to time, eating LMAO, adrenaline boosting stuff like rollercoasters,...

Dislikes:

Cooking (ironically), bugs that have this hard shell on them (scared shitless, can't deal with them biches), morning breath, no motivation days, people that don't have their own personality (i get annoyed easily)

so yeah idk if this is too long or short or whatever.

I'd be happy if you would match me but if you don't feel like it that's totally fine love <3 don't stress, take ur time.

Hi 🪩Anon! Thank you for your request! Sorry it took a while. I hope you like your matchup!

In My Hero Academia, I match you with...

You and Shoto are the “intimidating but actually just reserved” couple of UA. People are often too scared to approach you, especially when you’re together but once they get to know you, they enjoy your company.

Shoto loves the more goofy side of you, especially since it brings out his sillier side as well. He feels honoured that you’re comfortable enough with him that you feel you can let that more private side of you out.

Enjoys watching tv with you and just relaxing in general. He doesn’t mind what you get up to, as long as you’re spending time together.

Shoto’s surprisingly good at motivating you when you’re struggling to find the energy to do anything. He’s been there before and knows how annoying it is.

Gets rid of bugs for you. He’s happy to either take them outside or just kill them depending on which you would prefer. If it’s a particularly large bug, he might baulk a bit but he’ll push his own concerns aside to help you out.

#writing #fanfic #matchup #matchup request #request #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #shoto todoroki

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safereturndoubtful · 2 years

Text

Day 57 - at Lakshol

There was just the Dutch van and mine at Lakshol last night. There’s a few houses in the village, but with the exception of a farmer the rest are holiday homes and vacant at the moment.

The Dutch, in their spanking new 4 x 4 Crafter had a rather timid female border collie, which after a while got on with Roja famously. The owners were surprised, as usually the dog is so timid that she is quite anti-social.

We set off walking on the trail to the waterfalls at a similar time, but I let them go ahead. The guy seemed quite hard work, though his wife was very pleasant, he knew everything there was, or so it seemed, about van conversions, and the area. Their intention was to walk the whole circuit, which is 20 kilometres, and might sound reasonable until you did some research. The whole trail is difficult, a step up from moderate. It has slippery boulders and tree roots, and requires scrambling in a number of sections, but particularly two, one after 5 kilometres or so, and the other, on what would be for normal people, the second day and a stopover in the hut, but this couple, or rather this guy, thought he could do it in one day. It was already 11 am, and I expected it would take 10 hours. They had no sleeping equipment with them for the hut.

The trail takes in three waterfalls, Laksholforsen, Storskogvassfossen (just after a tricky ascent) and Vaerivassfossen, which is actually quite difficult to get close to. The best viewpoint for it, was my destination. I had a paper map which I had picked up yesterday, and gave it to the couple with my destination marked on it. I thought they would need it more than me.

Certainly the hiking is slow and surefootedness is needed for a large part. But the views of the sheer rock faces of the surrounding mountains, the remoteness, but most of all the autumn colours made it quite a spectacular day.

Just after the ascent to the second of the waterfalls I met the Dutch couple and their dog; they had changed their mind, unsurprisingly, and decided on the same destination as me. We chatted a while. They are in a four week vacation, so very different existence to mine, and heading for Lofoten islands where he will take a photography course, and she will go horse riding. I can understand the 5 day separation, certainly from her part.

This is a top day out for labradors in particular, as there is almost constant swimming opportunities, and a variety of different sized sticks.

I was back to the van for 4 pm, the 10 kilometre taking 4 hours, with an hour chilling. I caught up with some book reviews and avoided the news / radio..

A word of recommendation for a couple of films I’ve seen over the weekend, one today, one tomorrow..

I watched Key Largo at the weekend. It’s been a few years since I saw it last, so mostly forgotten.

What struck me this time, is its pessimism, a real sign of the times, it was released in 1948.

Both Bogart and Bacall play characters foreign to them.

Bogart plays Frank McCloud, a war veteran, a hero really, but now a hopeless drifter who can’t settle down.

Instead of a ‘femme-fatale’ Bacall loses her sharp tongue and seductive allure and plays a kind-hearted widow looking after her father in law,

But Edward G Robinson as Jonny Rocco steals the show, which is some performance when our against Bogart.

Apparently off screen they were great friends and mutual admirers of each other, rather than you might think.

The lighting and backdrop of the seedy hotel in the hurricane enhance the noirish elements.

The theme it plays to is a simple enough one, whether you should take action when an aggressive act takes place in front of you.

It’s one of my favourites.

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thyandrawrites · 3 years

Note

hero stans are saying that bnha needs a least one good female character and I'm like "guys, toga is right there, aren't you seeing her?" I know that she's not a perfect female character (sexualization is a terrible thing, and with her being a minor it makes even worst) but I believe that narratively she's really well written

I know that we need more good female characters (I'm praying for some uraraka development that has nothing to do with deku), but I wish that people would stop pretending like toga doesn't exist and as if characters like mt lady and mirko are better written then her (because yes, I saw this take on twitter)

mh, I debated whether or not to answer this because I don't wanna spark a debate. Tbh I have 0 energy to get into a proper discussion about Horikoshi's writing of women, cause all of his female characters have flaws (more or less serious), and as such I personally wouldn't give him a star on "good rep" for any of them tbh.

So leaving aside the topic of his misogyny (which I find exhausting just to think about) and making it clear that this is by no means meant to be character bashing, this is my answer.

From a storytelling perspective, a "good" character — that is, a well-written one — is a character who directly influences the plot. Female or not, since gender shouldn't affect a character's relevancy in a story (it does in bnha, but as I said, I'm not going to open that can of worms). So, from that perspective, the only well written female characters of the series are Toga, Nana, and to a very small extent Curious (she could've done more if Hori hadn't killed her off so soon). Basically, from a purely storytelling metric, whether a character is well-rounded depends entirely from this: would removing them from the story change the plot at all? If the answer is no, it means that character is too one-dimensional or secondary to have plot relevance, so really, it falls short of being equals with the male leads.

That of course doesn't mean you can't get attached to such characters, or find them compelling / relatable enough to see yourselves in them and want to see more of them / create content for them. I, for example, like Miruko and Ochako a ton, despite the fact that Miruko is a one-dimensional aggressive jock type of character with no internal narration or stated character motivation to truly give her depth, or despite the fact that any potential character development Ochako might've gotten was derailed by her upgrade as a love interest. From a writing perspective, neither of them is a particularly stellar rep. They both suffer from "this character is written by a man who hates women" disease.

Yet Toga, despite being a more well-rounded character than either of them, despite having plenty more agency and a character arc of her own, with a sense of direction and independence from the male characters' own plots, always appealed less to me on a personal level. I'm warming up to her now because I love her foiling with the lov trio, but I wouldn't say she's amongst my faves.

At the end of the day, personal tastes affect our perception of the writing too. So imho people will always argue on who's the "best" character, and their tastes are gonna affect their judgement. I know quite a lot of people who like Miruko bc she isn't traditionally feminine and dependant on men for example. I know others who like Mt. Lady because she lets no man be the boss of her.

I wouldn't say that Toga gets slept on, per se, since from what I've seen she's the most popular female character of the series (have you ever stepped into a con? Toga is BY FAR the character you'll see cosplayed the most). But I agree that a lot of the "takes" that circulate around the fandom often end up sleeping/duking on the villains on principle more as a reflection of personal preference than a critique on Horikoshi's storytelling choices.

Meta-wise, Toga is most definitely the single-most relevant and well-rounded character of bnha. She has a backstory with depth that ties into the bigger themes of the story, she has plenty of agency, she has a subplot of her own, she's written to be complex and layered and had her growth be shown on screen instead of just told or hinted at, and she's a character with motivations and goals of her own a clearly stated agenda, which again, from a meta perspective puts her several steps above most of the female portion of the cast. That is an objective fact. Personal preferences are a whole different matter, though, and I don't particularly care if anyone shares my own so long as there's no straight-up bashing

#ali replies #bnha

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writernotwaiting · 3 years

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Unsolicited Loki Meta, Part 2 (with a side order of narrative theory)

I’ve been reading a lot of meta about the Loki series over the past few days, and the reactions on both ends of the spectrum are pretty strong. And let’s fact it, as fans of gender-fluid or queer characters—which includes Loki, but also several other franchises (*cough cough* looking squint-eyed at you, Sherlock)--we have been mightily abused over the past few years. Many of us are all viewing the series through the cynical lens of narrative betrayal, and are either desperate to see any Loki content as a blessing from above, or cynically waiting to be sucker punched by the evil Marvel overlords.

I admit, I cannot watch this show without both of those impulses in the back of my head. I really *want* the show to redeem itself, and so I may just be looking for ways to excuse their sloppy story telling, true.

The MCU, as a whole, sacrificed character development altogether in the second half of their movie series in favor of unnecessary battle scenes and plot twists. I would argue, in fact, that the last of the MCU movies to privilege character over spectacle were The Winter Soldier and The Black Panther. The sacrifice of character development came largely because the franchise made a deliberate decision to follow a specific narrative structure that depends heavily on the ideological foundation of traditional masculinity—physical strength, personal agency, an unwillingness to compromise, skill in combat, willingness to initiate aggression to solve problems, a world view that equates vengeance with justice and privileges open confrontation over “back-door dealing”--a formula that the franchise employs regardless of whether its hero is male or female. In service of this ideological foundation, the narrative subordinates all other social roles to support the development of the dominant masculine ideal.

{more under the cut}

The MCU (and the movie industry as a whole, really) has no idea what to do with a character that doesn’t fit the standard narrative pattern: “strong person who fits masculine ideal (even if the person is female—Natasha Romanov, Carol Danvers, Pepper Potts when she comes raging out of the fire to smash Kilian) is flawed and will reach his/her great potential when someone s/he loves dies a horrible death.”

If you look at the franchise, a sympathetic character dies (is fridged) in nearly every single one of the movies—Yinsen, Loki (functionally), Coulson (functionally), Pietro, Frigga, T’chaka, Odin and Heimdall, Loki (again), Everyone Who Gets Snapped, etc, etc, etc. And the deaths of those characters catalyze the epiphanies that enable the “heroes” to fully accept their proper place as Ideal Masculine Defender (again whether the character is male or female).

This is not new. It’s a narrative device which, in fact, is true for a lot of Disney’s animated films (you might have noticed that there are a lot of dead mothers in Disney movies).

Gender-ambiguous and traditional female social roles do not fit this narrative pattern. You cannot squash negotiation and compromise into this structure. Neither will a character fit if s/he prefers subterfuge over explosions. It goes without saying that nurturance, healing, and support are right out. The MCU wants Achilles, not Odysseus, and Penelope is only useful if she dies, rather than outsmarts a banquet hall of suitors for ten years.

So what hope is there for Loki, whose characterization rests on his ambiguity? I really hope that the show doesn’t flatten him out in order to squash him into the current MCU narrative structure.

Some things signal hope for this.

Although it gets dressed up in a 1950s, cartoon vibe (which very much softens its threat), the TVA looks very much to me like the embodiment of the insidious kind of evil that comes from a fascist bureaucracy. Many of the people caught up in it (like the guy who wants a signature and has a cute cat, like the guy who asks whether Loki is a robot, and like Casey) are “just doing their jobs” and don’t think about the horribleness of what the end result of their jobs is. The is the “benign face of evil” that permits any fascist organization to thrive.

The not-so-benign face shows up with the hunter who, from the very start, delights in the ability to inflict pain--slowing down time so Loki feels the pain of the blow even longer than he would in real time, and snickering in his helplessness when he tries to use magic and fails. These are the dark underside of fascism--the SS enforcers that rough up the undesirables (in this case, the variants), and enjoys the power over those whom they see as less than fully human.

I hope that the show means to use this 1984-vibe to highlight Loki’s non-stereotypically-masculine strengths--his intellect, his love of mischief, his loyalty to those who are loyal to him, his ability to solve problems through the back channels rather than by Thor-like confrontation.

And yeah, some folks have complained that Loki’s breakdown in episode 1 comes pretty quickly, and through some fairly reprehensible gaslighting (and careful omission of details on Mobius’s part). I agree that his methods are cruel and manipulative. As for their effectiveness, well, I think it’s fair to point out that Loki has had a pretty shitty day--a pretty shitty couple of years, in fact, which makes him particularly susceptible to this sort of manipulation.

Again, I am hoping that this set up will lead to a more genuine self-awareness and acceptance as Loki re-learns his own strengths without Odin’s A+ parenting to undermine it. Loki needs to learn to live with himself. I’m hoping the series gives him the time and space (pun intended) to do this.

#Loki series #meta #MCU meta #narrative theory #gender-fluid characters #female characters #ideologically driven storytelling

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petra-realsnk · 3 years

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The Logics of Sessr*n: why is it successful within women?

Hi guys! Here’s the post that I promised. I will try to present some thoughts I’ve been having around the infamous ship, and some of the dynamics I think have contributed to its success. The most logical reaction would be to think that most shippers are men, since the dynamics represented do favour them, but that’s not exactly the case. Some of you have also proposed that this could be explained through self-inserting, but I would like to expand this observation a little further.

This post will be divided in sections so you guys can read the parts you find more interesting if you don’t feel like going through it all. I thought this would make it more enjoyable since it’s going to be quite long.

DISCLAIMER: I am not claiming that this is the psychological profile of the average shipper, nor do I think that this is representative of the ideology of all of them. These are just some personal thoughts and facts around some aspects that I think have contributed to its appeal. Also I apologize in advance for the quality of my expression since English is not my first language.

TW: Mentions of p*dophilia and rape.

Finally, I would like to thank @doombull for facilitating me one of the articles that I’ve used to elaborate this thoughts, and which also served as inspiration for this post.

Grab something to drink and let’s chat...

About the thrive of “Lolicon”

We are all aware that Japan does have a problem with the permissive sexualization of children.

“Lolita complex, the sexual attraction to young, pubescent girls, is woven into the fabric of everyday life in Japan. Turn on the TV and you’ll see group after group of scantily-clad teenage and preteen girls singing or dancing to music. Peek in any bookstore and you’ll find a section of photo books featuring children in swimwear. (...) During the six months from January 2016, police turned over 1,023 cases to prosecutors, compared to 637 cases for the same period in 2011 and 831 cases for the period in 2015, according to National Police Agency statistics.”

These portrayals do have impact on reality, and have been used by real life predators. Contrary to what some shippers say, there are experts in Japan speaking against this matter:

“Masahiro Morioka, a professor of philosophy and ethics at Waseda University, has delved deep into the psychology of men with Lolita complex, widely known as lolicon in Japan. (...) He says the nation’s obsession with puberty-age girls has justified sexual exploitation and crimes against them — though, of course, not everyone with Lolita complex acts on their desires and commits sex crimes. Like many people, Morioka finds the culture that tolerates lolicon problematic and wants to change it.“

Lolicon didn’t become a recognized genre until the 1970’s when fan artists depicted their favorite female characters of the time as underage girls. The reasons behind the success of this type of content is something that’s still being discussed, but some of it probably has to do with the unhealthy relationship with sexuality that some men seem to develop due to the taboo component of sex within the japanese society. Some of it might also be derived from a mismanagement of loneliness, something some of these consumers seem to struggle with. All of this is combined by some misogynistic takes on the ideal of a woman. These men find the interactions with the opposite sex to be difficult, and even menancing to their masculinity, being easier for them to project their fantasies into young girls whom are esier to shape into their needs.

Anyway, it’s not the intention of this post to really argue the reasons behind lolicon, but there’s something important to have in mind, and it’s the fact that its accessibility has made it so that there are children consuming it. Simultaneously, popularizing Lolicon is a message to girls that they are objects for consumer consumption, and that their youth (and innocence) is especially desirable in a sexual setting. This last element has definitely gotten into the way some women want to project themselves. For that matter, it’s not a surprise that some female shippers project themselves into Rin, since she’s an ideal of femininity to them.

Sources:

https://bit.ly/39QA18d

https://bit.ly/3ixPIFn

Non-offending Pedophiles | SpringerLink

Internalized misogyny:

Following the last thread, we can conclude that some girls might desire to appeal to this ideal of woman, which is absolutely normal. Gender roles are being pushed on us ever since we are kids, and it’s natural that some of them try to appeal to the male gaze in one way or another, most times even in a subconscious way. This would also explain why some shippers seem to adhere to some beliefs that have been used to justify the control over women’s sexuality.

For example, we all have seen them argue about how teenagers are more fertile and prone to survive labor. They also tend to use the “historical accuracy” argument to justify these types of portrayals. However, the imaginary of the middle ages as a place where rape and child brides where totally justified is completely modern. Sadly, these types of tropes are perpetuated by almost every historical drama, fantasy series like Game of Thrones or books like The Pillars of The Earth. It is striking how shows whose action is located in the present are reluctant to show this type of things, while when they are located in the past, they represent them in an almost sexualized way and without any scruples. Male directors do use other cultures and past times to justify this portrayals, and is something that has to be called out. How interesting is that some far right men identify themselves as vikings right? Wonder where that came from...

But why women?

After all of what I’ve said, you may think that the majority of the shippers might be men, since all of these dynamics seem to favour them. Even so, despite being a shonen manga Inuyasha had a mostly female based audience. Romance played an important part in the story, and the way it was written seemed to cater better to the preferences of girls. This is also why Sessrin is so potentially harmful… It romanticizes a relationship between a teenager and an adult in a way that’s particularly attractive to girls. We can’t lose sight of the fact that a lot of shippers probably were fans of the og series when they were young, and probably started to ship it as underage kids themselves. When they grew old, some of them left the idea of it behind but for some others it’s already deeply rooted in them.

Next I’ll explain how Sessrin it’s appealing to girls.

The polarization of masculinity and femininity: beauty and the beast

In the anime culture (and outside it) girls are represented as passive, while the male incarnates the active. Boys are the heroes, while girls are mostly portrayed as the object of desire through whatever traits the author finds the most appealing.

In the case of Sessrin we have a typical example of a contrapposition of the hyperfemenine to the hypermasculine. I have talked about this in some other posts, but in the Inuyasha lore the masculine seems to be greatly associated with the “youkai”, that tends to fall in love with a vulnerable woman. It’s also interesting to point out that female demons tend to represent traditionally negative aspects of female sexuality; they tend to lure men to their demise by their attractiveness, and also do usually have a flirty personality.

Sessrin does adjust to this type of trope that we can define as the classical beauty and the beast, not in a sense of physical attractiveness, but in the sense that it represents an aggressive masculinity that is soothed by the passive femenine. The evil spirit is incarnated by the male, while the pure girl has the role of being accepting of this nature, often changing it. This type of trope is insanely popular within women, after all, stories like Twilight and basically every other book where a normal girl falls in love with a supernatural creature seem to adjust to this dynamic to some extent. It’s the idealization of a relationship where the man is a protective figure that holds an unbelievable amount of power over their vulnerable, and often infaltilazed, female counterpart. But on the other hand, women have the ability to tame this ferocity...

What’s the appeal of the monster?

“I think with the monsters, it’s about power and danger and exoticness amped up to the Nth degree,” says Xavier. “One of the big themes in monster erotica truly is the power dynamic. The monster is big, scary, dangerous, dominating, and uses his monsterly qualities to overpower and seduce the maiden. And I think the idea of being seduced by something so wild and animal and dangerous…it’s kind of like being forced to play with fire and finding out that you enjoy it. It’s kind of this warm, fuzzy corrupted feeling.”

Interestingly enough, there have been studies on why the monster boyfriend trope is so successful. This can be somehow linked to “Teratophilia”, a term which describes the sexual attraction towards monsters or deformed people, though in this case we’ll go with the first meaning.

Among other things, it has been suggested that monsters can function as an escapist fantasy for some women, since the monster is able to embody masculine attributes without presenting itself as a man, which may embody trauma and terror in extreme cases, or aggravating patriarchal arrangements in the least.

The monster man represents masculinity through the eyes of women: it’s aggressive, unpredictable, and dominant. These stories allow them to give in into a feeling of vulnerability, they’re in control of the beast, they can even change them… It might not be a type of relationship they would desire in real life, but through these fantasies, they can experience some aspects of their sexuality and transgress the fear of man. This is very significant from a sociological point of view, these women might have been raised to desire this type of masculinity, but are aware of the threat it signifies to them. The monster guardian does protect them from the outside world, where they feel endangered, but they also are the incarnation of an “untamed masculinity” which they don’t need to fear.

All in all, Sess*in allows shippers access to this type of relationship through self inserting into Rin. However, I hope this post has managed to bring something new to the conversation. There are in my opinion more reasons why girls want to be with Sesshomaru that go beyond his attractiveness, and that may have to do with these factors…

Feel free to comment and add your opinions :)

Sources:

https://bit.ly/3o6dERh

https://tgam.ca/39ZADIS

https://bit.ly/35YH4dO

#anti sessrin #anti rinsess #anti hanyo no yashahime #anti lolicon #personal #anti-sessrin #antisessrin #anti sesshrin #yashahime

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insomniac-jay · 2 years

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Villain File: [Game Over]

Birth Name: N/A

Villain Alias: Game Over

Age: Mid 20s

Gender: Female (Assigned Female at Birth)

Nationality: Japanese

Birthplace: N/A

Occupation: Villain

Quirk: Reality Game

Reality Game allows Game Over to trap her target into an illusion that resembles reality when in fact they are in a video game that she's in full control of. But don't let that fool you. Whatever happens in the game happens in reality as well, so if you die in the game, you die in real life. She can trap multiple people in the game so she can kill a flock of birds with one stone.

With a Quirk like that, it's no wonder why she's a highly ranked villain and why her kill count is so high.

Personality: There is little known about Game Over. All records of her disappear overnight and there's no information regarding her real name. However, from the few televised interactions she has with heroes, she appears to be very snarky and a "smart ass". She appears to take pleasure in bullying heroes, particularly the Pro Hero Illusio. Though with him, it tends to be passive aggressive.

History: Not much is known about her history. However, many speculate her to have been the mistress (or one of) of Illusio but at the end of the day, that is just all speculation.

Family: N/A

@floof-ghostie @calciumcryptid @eggb @opalofoctober @pizzolisnacks @peachyblkdemonslayer @elflynns-horde-of-stuff

#jay's bnha ocs #characters: villains

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dwellordream · 3 years

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“Helen's character in the Iliad has usually been taken at face value by scholars: they describe her rueful responses to Priam and Hector and her angry rejection of Paris and Aphrodite as sympathetic depictions, often without analyzing in any detail the ambiguous quality of these verbal exchanges. I suggest, in contrast, that in these exchanges 1) Helen's apparent tone often does not match her ultimate intention, and 2) the speech types she uses— which range from the mournful widow's to the flyting warrior's—are transposed from their usual contexts to form locutions unique to her. Helen is also significantly aware of her centrality to the narratives of others, manifesting a concern for reputation (kleos) that connects her to the Muses, the Sirens, and ultimately the poet, as a number of scholars have recognized.

In the Teichoscopia (//. 3.141-244), for example, when she is asked by Priam to name a warrior, Helen uses her identification of Agamemnon to frame an elegiac look at her own past, thus substituting her story for his. Her reply is not particularly suited to the context. In fact, it somewhat resembles in content Andromache's mournful speech in book 6, when the latter bewails her widow's fate to her living husband. Andromache's voice, however, is consistently grief-stricken, and her use of the mourner's topoi (e.g., lamenting family ties, dilation on the effect the death will have on one's life) coheres with her role as loyal wife. Helen's rueful self-reference instead mingles regret with an emphatic awareness of her own singular status.

When Priam asks Helen to name Ajax, her identification moves quickly from his epithets to the Cretan leader Idomeneus, who as a guest-friend of Menelaus reminds her again of her own story, and she remarks on the absence of her brothers from the battlefield (3.234-42). She then conjectures that their absence can be explained by their fears of shame and reproach that are rightfully hers (3.242). Since she views the actions of others as dependent on her error and rues bitterly this damage to her reputation, Helen assigns herself the crucial role in others' stories, thereby giving voice to the blame tradition that the narrator avoids. Her sense of her public reputation is anomalous among the female figures in Homeric epic; kleos is rightfully the concern of the warrior, not of the warrior's prize.

Like any good warrior (and unlike her paramour), she fears the insults of others (3.242, 3.412, 24.767-68) and recognizes the vulnerability of her public position. Helen, in contrast to the chaste Andromache, treats her story—in part the battles waged essentially for her that she weaves in her second husband's halls (//. 3.125-28)—as if it were the story most central to every warrior's life. And this in some sense is the case: whereas the mourning wife's story would only be properly told in keening over her husband, Helen's story is on the lips of everyone, since it is relevant to all the warriors. As the catalyzing, fateful figure for these heroes, her story is their story; her own kleos is inevitably bound up with the kleosoi each.

But the complexity of Helen's figure and voice in this scene does not end there. Before she lapses into self-reflection in response to Priam's first inquiry, she says that he is worthy of veneration (aiSoioç ) and fearsome (ôeivôç ) in her eyes (3.172), using a show of extreme respect that implies an apologetic attitude consistent with her penchant for self-abuse, the primary stylistic tendency unique to her. Helen then declares, in reference to her coming to Troy, "Would that evil death had pleased me" (3.173 -74), invoking in a sensuous manner the end point with which she is associated. She makes a similar (though blander) declaration in her mourning speech over the body of Hector in book 24: "Would that I had been destroyed before" (764).

Andromache uses a related construction when, as Hector is dragged around the city walls, she regrets that Eetion bore her (22.481). In book 21, fearing an unheroic end to his life, Achilles cries out to Zeus in prayer: "Would that Hector had killed me" (279). In the Odyssey, the shade of Achilles wishes something similar for Agamemnon: "Would that you had met your death and fate in Troy" (24.30- 31). Most famously, in Odyssey 5 Odysseus exclaims as he faces the storm near Scheria, "How I wish I had died and met my fate in Troy" (5.308); he repeats the exclamation in the fictional account of his travails that he gives to Eumaeus (14.274).

The ophelon phrase thus seems to be a locution used both by those in mourning and by Homeric heroes caught in threatening or painful situations—or, in the case of Odysseus, when telling about them in guest-friendship situations. The phrase does not, however, only communicate bitter despair (which may be either a cri du coeur or a persuasive tactic). When turned on another, it may also be used as an insult in verbal contests, reproaches, and taunts, an important aspect of its usage for analyzing Helen's speeches. In the Odyssey, Odysseus most frequently utters the phrase, deploying it twice (of four times in the Odyssey and once in the Iliad) when he is trying to use a painful situation to gain sympathy, a complex deployment similar to Helen's.

In the Iliad, it is Helen's favorite locution for expressing both despair and scorn, which she usually does with some other end in mind (of all characters she uses the phrase most often, five times in the Iliad). As a stranger in Troy, her usage in the Iliad resembles that of Odysseus in the Odyssey, who must make clever use of guest-friendship situations to win his way home. Just as Odysseus, when seeking empathy from the Phaeacians {Od. 11.547), regrets that he won Achilles' arms instead of Ajax, Helen, when seeking empathy from Priam and Hector {II. 3 and 6), regrets that she followed Paris. Though each time she employs the phrase Helen's aim is slightly different, never is it simply the direct outpouring of emotion that it sounds.

Although its repetition links her tone both to mourning diction and to the hero's emotions and concern for kleos, her application of this type of phrase is unique. Rather than actually being a widow or a hero in challenging circumstances, Helen echoes their outbursts by employing an emotional appeal that sounds like self-address, a layered locution whose related aims are deflecting blame and cementing allegiances. In her use of the phrase to cast scorn on Paris, for example, once she seems to be teasing him and once to be flattering his brother. The earlier scene in book 3 involving Paris alone is plotted by Aphrodite, whose machinations irk her protegee and who inspires in her a passion that seems suspended between desire (for the beautiful Paris whom Aphrodite describes, 3.391-94) and anger at the very goddess with whom she is so closely associated.

Note that Helen herself calls her painful feelings aKpixa (3.412), the most common meaning of which is "confused, indeterminate," a word that thus underscores both the complexity of Helen's passion and (what comes to the same thing) the merging of roles in this scene, so that Helen's abuse of Aphrodite comes close to self-abuse. Helen has been referred to as a "faded Aphrodite"; their conversation resembles an internal dialogue—a debate not only between Helen and her daimon but also between two of the facets that make up her many-sided figure, with its multiple motivations and opposing traditions. Moreover, her scornful responses to her intimates resemble each other: she exhorts both Aphrodite and Paris with dismissive imperatives (3.406, 432) and pictures each in a compromised position (3.407-9, 434-36); correlatively, she uses the ophelon phrases of both herself and Paris.

Her reproach of Aphrodite for using seductive talk (3.399) also recalls Hector's insulting of his brother for being a seducer (3.49). Helen engages in this derogatory language only with those closest to her; a significant variation on the normal context of such blame speech, her usage parallels as well Hector's treatment of Paris. The scornful abuse of one so intimate can sound similar to the dueling speech of warriors (e.g., the use of negative epithets and goading imperatives). Coupled with Helen's self-abusive epithets, this speech and that in which she reproaches Paris mimic the aggressive challenge of the hero on the battlefield. When Helen returns to the bedroom as ordered by Aphrodite, her expression and tone suggest pique, while her taunting phrases recall the flyting warrior: "Would that you had died there," she says, "subdued by the better man, who was once my husband" (3.428-29).

At the beginning of book 3 Hector similarly chastises his brother on the battlefield, declaring that he wishes Paris had never been born or had died unmarried (3.40). In the bedroom Helen changes her tack with brusque abruptness, first telling Paris to go and challenge Menelaus for a second time, then remarking that he had better not, since Menelaus would probably kill him (3.432-36). Compare first Achilles, who goads Aeneas with a parallel insult in a famous flyting scene, when he urges him to retreat into the mass of soldiers lest he be harmed (20.197). And compare again Hector, who challenges his brother in similar terms ("Couldn't you stand up to Ares-loving Menelaus?" 3.51), and then predicts that if he did he would end up "mingling with the dust" (uiyevnc, 3.55).

Both Helen and Hector contrast Paris unfavorably with Menelaus, and point up the superiority of the Greek by giving Paris' defeat sexual overtones (e.g., "mingling" [3.48, 55], "subduing" [3.429,436]). For Paris the lover, even encounters on the battlefield have a tincture of the bedroom. These two scornful acknowledgments of his unwarlike attitude serve to frame book 3, so that it begins and ends with Paris' sensual presence and the bellicose types who reproach him: Hector and Helen. Helen's use of this stance is not nearly so straightforward as her brother-in-law's, of course. She imports a verbal style that belongs on the battlefield, and that here in the intimate context of the bedroom takes on an additional layer of meaning—offering a sexual as well as a military challenge.

Indeed, Paris (lover that he is) responds to this goading by treating it as a kind of bitter foreplay. And it appears that Helen's amorous husband has interpreted her taunts in some sense rightly, for Helen follows him to bed. By invoking her war-loving first husband in order to prick her bed-loving second, she employs the militaristic attitude of the one in order to denigrate qualities that she herself shares with the other, and her physical acquiescence reiterates her reluctant bond with him. That is, when she turns the emotional phrasing of the angry wish against her too-tender husband, she links herself to him and both of them to Aphrodite (since she and the goddess are the other recipients of such reproach).

The hero's despair as well as his scorn thus take on a singular usage in Helen's mouth: in challenging those who share her affinities, she implicates herself in the abuse that she levels at them, while also preempting the criticism of others. In this way she stands poised against the gentle judgments of those who would forgive her, her character operating as a window on this defamatory tradition. Something similar occurs in book 6, although Helen's tone has changed somewhat since her interaction with Paris in book 3, and now she speaks with a post-coital combination of enticement and gentle abuse.

When Hector comes to rouse Paris from his sensuous reverie in the bedroom, Helen tries to get her manly brother-in-law to sit down by scorning her soft and lovely husband. She engages in a delicate seduction of Hector, addressing him with "honey-sweet words" (6.343). Both Nestor and the Sirens also speak in a honeyed manner, so that the term delimits a range of speech types from the authoritatively but gently persuasive to the dangerously seductive, a mesmerizing quality that marks Helen's speaking style in this passage. When Hector first enters and reproaches his brother, the mild Paris responds that Helen had just been urging him to return to battle with "soft words" (6.3 3 7)— unusual content for such beguiling tones.

The enticing associations that attend malakos ("soft") thus contrast strangely with the stringency of her message, while those that attend meilichios ("honey-sweet") lend her words a potentially threatening quality. Thus Hector's refusal to sit with her becomes a refusal to play the victim role to her Siren, a role that his brother willingly takes on. While the Homeric poet may counter this ominous seductive quality at the surface level of the scene, it nonetheless resonates there as a disturbing subtext. From this perspective, it should not be surprising that Helen begins her conversation with Hector by invoking her threatening qualities, but in the self-debasing mode that she employed with his father.

She calls herself an "evil-devising, shudder-inspiring dog" (6.344; 6.356; 3.180). The wish construction that follows is an elaborate expansion of her earlier use of it. Rather than simply desiring to die, she declares that she wishes that on her day of birth a gust of wind had carried her off to the mountains, or into a wave of the many-voiced sea (6.345-48). Helen purports to desire a type of end that Jean-Pierre Vernant relates to being seized by a god, invoking a connection between erotic love and death that he considers especially relevant to Helen's type. An echo of her wish in book 3 that death had "pleased" her (àôeîv, 3.173), Helen's lyrical desire for rapture here in Iliad 6 lends sensuous overtones to her speech.

While her words explicitly depict regret, her flowery turns of phrase and sweetened tones suggest an attempt to soften Hector's attitude toward herself if not her husband: she sides with Hector in his chastising of his brother, yearns aloud for divine seizure, and notes ruefully her and Paris' future fame. Recall the similarity of Hector's and Helen's reproaches in book 3; here again she mimics his attitude, this time to his face with the goal of cementing her connection to him. Her maneuver is a delicate one. She must acknowledge her alliance with Paris in order to show her awareness of their shame; but she thereby also isolates herself from him, since he assumes no responsibility for his actions.

As in book 3, Helen brackets herself with Paris as objects of abuse, highlighting their status here by using the ophelon phrase twice in expressions of heroic bitterness to apply to herself and her husband (6.345, 350). Homer thus has Helen transform the typical intentions of the phrase by using it for this anomalous speech act, layering self-abuse, scorn for an intimate, and a seductive allegiance of perspective, all of which ultimately aim at softening the heart of her interlocutor. While Hector does not in the end sit down with Helen, neither does he speak roughly to her, instead responding with a respect that resembles his father's treatment of her. By introducing a defamatory tradition that threatens to reveal her infamous side and yet ultimately serves an apotropaic function, Helen succeeds in deflecting blame: again, no one else abuses her as she abuses herself.

At the end of the Iliad (24.760-75), Helen has the final mourning speech over Hector's dead body—a surprising status that supports Graver's argument that the Homeric poet is forcefully asserting an alternate tradition that elevates Helen and questions her blame. But if we look more closely at precisely how she mourns Hector, beyond her use of the mourner's topos of bewailing her fate as vulnerable survivor, we can see that her lament in this case focuses entirely on the threat of blame—the threat, that is, of the other story, the tale of bad-dog Helen. This is not to say that other mourners do not fear ill repute: Andromache certainly does, but mostly for her son Astyanax (e.g., 77. 22.494- 501).

Helen's lament, in some contrast, is only about repute; in detailing her fears for the future, she makes no mention of other horrors such as slavery and remarriage, which are often voiced by newly bereft female mourners in both epic and tragedy. After expressing her usual sentiment of regret (24.764), Helen notes that she had never heard a debasing or disrespectful word from her brother-in-law. She adds that if anyone else in his family ever reproached her, Hector would fend them off verbally with his gentle mind and words (24.768-72). She concludes by declaring that everyone else shudders in her presence (24.775).

Helen's final word in the Iliad resonates with the dread that she might inspire, as the dog-faced daughter of Nemesis whose self-blame in Homer repeatedly suggests this other story. Hector, like the poet, may be gentle-minded toward Helen, but her description of his protection reveals how tenuous this praise tradition is; here as elsewhere in the poem her words declare one thing but point to another—this time her dangerous qualities, which cause a sensation in those around her like the chilly hand of Hades. At these moments Helen's figure suggests the deadly side of the female, to which Greek poets often attribute the downfall of men in some profound and sweeping manner.

These figures are the embodiment of Fate (Moîpa/ Kf|p), the Medusa who freezes the bones, the Nemesis who is the end of the hubristic man, even the Aphrodite who (dog-faced) devours the husband's energy and wealth alike. 3 6 The word nemesis ("retribution") in fact surfaces repeatedly in Helen's speech and that of those who speak in her presence (e.g., 3.156,3.410,6.3 3 5 -36,6.3 51). That is, in the scenes where Helen appears, her presence seems to call forth the nemesis that is an essential aspect of her story. And her speeches, in their insistence on her infamous associations, serve as constant reminders of the just indignation and deserved retribution that acts of hubris bring down on the heads of those who commit them.”

- Nancy Worman, “This Voice Which Is Not One: HELEN’S VERBAL GUISES IN HOMERIC EPIC.” in Making Silence Speak: Women's Voices in Greek Literature and Society

#helen of troy #the iliad #nancy worman #classical literature #making silence speak

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batfoonery · 3 years

Text

BatPets Headcanons

In honor of the Most Glorious and Beloved Bitewing (and Ace and Titus and Alfred the Cat and Goliath and Batcow.....) I wanted to share my thoughts on what pets the batfam has and should have.

Dick

Ahhhhhhh Bitewing! Our new beloved! We've only just gotten you but if you get whooshed away by bad writers I already know I will RIOT.

It actually makes perfect sense for Dick to take in a stray pup. His bro-son has the attitude and personality of a cat, so he already had that covered. And I can't see him paying high prices for a designer breed (bless him) so it's stray/shelter or nothing.

That being said, he also needs a young dog. Some people are made with the disposition to take in the older dogs with older dog needs, but Dick loves deeply and I can't see that he'd deal well with the shorter timeframe of taking in older dogs. So. Younger dogs, that he can go running with in the morning and play with in the park and nap with on the couch.

Jason

My man has taste, and also had a doggo as a kid. He's got a soft spot for all of Gotham's forgotten strays. I see him as being a pitbull kind of guy, but like. Also mastiffs. Anything big and menacing looking, but they always turn out to be utter marshmallows.

Totally the type to name his big scary dog Tinkerbell or Baby or something mushy like that. Likewise, Kori and Artemis (and probably Roy) all collect cutesy costumes and collars and leashes. Has the most cutsey giant dog.

The kind of dog that he can trust to take care of kids. If he's particularly concerned about a kid out on the street he can drop the dog off to stand guard until the kid's parent shows up. The dog is real gentle with the lil human, but scares off potential kidnappers.

Cass

The first of our exotics keepers! I feel like Cass would really appreciate betta fish. The way the swim and flit through the water, fins seeming to dance as they moved.... like tulle, like dancing.

She probably has several tanks. The first one she got was from Petsmart or PetCo or whatever. It irked her because she knows they don't tend to treat the fish well, but the local petshop's fish were all extremely sickly looking. After that she's hooked, for lack of a better word, and Bruce ends up learning way more than he ever needed to learn about importing fish (and paying for imported fish).

She's meticulous about their care. They've all got nice big clean tanks, and a companion to help keep them clean (different ones according to temperaments, snails for the easier going ones and shrimp for the more aggressive boys). They've got live plants and decorations to hide under, each tank a different theme to show off the fish. Has lowkey been considering getting a female for one of her favorite easy going boys (the first one, who has become a very soothing companion) because he's getting older and she'd like to be able to carry a part of him on.

Tim

His companion is an emotional support animal, with papers from his doctor and everything. Seems like he should be a dog person, but instead has a very big Turkish Angora. Her name is Mrs. Tuffles and he got her from a breed-specific rescue.

She's good for him because she disrupts his work and also helps provide a soothing presence when he has a panic attack. At night if he isn't in bed at a certain time she lays on top of whatever he's working on. If he's panicking she lays on his lap or chest and purrs (the added weight, the feeling and sounds of the purrs, held disrupt tension). She's a cuddly cat, and it tricks him into sleeping in in the mornings.

When he finds out that cats purr on a wavelength that encourages healing, and that there's evidence that they sit on humans and purr in attempts to heal/help them, he bursts into tears and startles the cat, who had been draped over his shoulders.

Steph

Got a bunny because she thought it would be an easy pet. She was very very wrong. It was from one of the neighbors in her building, because the mom of the kid who brought it home didn't want it anymore. It's a cute little lop, grey and brown.

She quickly discovers that bunnies are super dirty, and they absolutely stink. It bites her for the first week (and Tim and Jason and everyone else that isn't Damian, who somehow tricks it into loving him) and she seriously considers taking it to the shelter. But she doesn't. By week three, he's snuggling up on her feet and in her lap, and she decides that maybe he isn't so bad after all.

He didn't have a name when she got him, so she call him Mi-Mi. She doesn't tell Damian, but it's totally named after him because he reminds her of the way Damian had been when she'd first met him and the progression of their friendship over time.

Duke

Seems like a bird type of dude. Probably has a Cockatiel or two. They're very sassy birbs, and there's no way he doesn't enjoy that. One of them repeats words, and has picked up swears from Jason. It swears at Bruce every time he comes in Duke's room. Everyone except Bruce finds it funny.

The other one "dances" whenever it hears music coming from Cass's room. They're both very active and curious, he's contantly having to buy toys for them to rip apart. One of them nipped Damian's ear once, and Duke has never seen Damian look more offended in his life. It was probably the first pet that Damian hadn't been able to Disney-Princess.

They've probably got a dumb name pair. Tom and Jerry, Chip and Dale, etc. Personally I think he'd get a kick out of naming them Batman and Robin, just to fuck with Bruce. He probably then teaches the one who talks (Batman) to say dumb things like "I am the night! I work alone!" etc etc.

Damian

Has all the animal companions. Not pets. That makes them beneath him, which probably opposes his fundamental beliefs. This is my reminder to yall that Ra's started out as an eco-terrorist. Putting aside what he is or is not now, I like to believe that Damian was raised with a deep respect for nature and animals, he probably sees humans as just one particularly terrible animal species.

He has a wide array of companions as is. I'm good with them all, although I wish they'd bring back his dragon friend. :( I love the dragon friend.

I think he'd be the type to have axolotls too. They've got an interesting mythological basis and fit into the dragon theme. Plus the short story "The Axolotl" by Cortazar is a fascinating piece of mystical realism and I could see that he'd be intrigued by the species. They're endangered in the wild because of habitat destruction and invasion of foreign species that prey on them, but are easily bred in captivity. So I could see he'd keep at least one breeding pair, with the intent to someday bully Bruce into funding a project to save their natural habitat.

Barbara

Doesn't have her own pets, because she doesn't want the responsibility on top of everything else she does.

But her apartment always has furry/feathered friends in it because she's constantly petsitting for the others when they have to go do hero stuff. She's basically like a step-mom for everyone else's pets. She's learned how to take care of tanks and whatnot as well, mostly for Cass. The axolotls are gross and she refuses to touch those tanks, but the bettas are kinda like cute grumpy old men. She likes to tease Bruce by telling him his grand-fish take after him.

Always has a variety of pet snacks with her. She is determined to be the overall favorite human to all the bat-pets. Competition is fierce between her and Dami, but she has an edge because Robin the Cockatiel seems to prefer her.

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