#truly having that conversation from just one pov would be such a disservice | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thinkingisadangerouspastime · 3 years

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So, this may sound weird, since I don't ship ZK, but I think the reason some dislike EIP is because they realize it was the first part of a busted enemies-to-lovers arc. EIP was part one, where Zuko and Katara see how others see them, and it weirds them out. Yet, Zuko insisted on sitting next to Katara and Katara pushes Aang away, suggesting there might be something there that they don't want to acknowledge. (1/3)

The first part of the finale was Part 2, where June reiterates the "Hey you're with your gf again!" Zuko and Katara deny it, but there likely should have been an undercurrent of 'Why do people think we're together? Do we act like it? Should we be? S/he is kind of cute.' During this time, Zuko defers to Katara and despite Toph likely being more helpful, asks Katara to be the one to take down Azula with him. (2/3)

Last part of the finale should have been the money shot, Zuko taking lightning for Katara, and in a parallel to CoD, Katara healing him. Dante Basco is right in that there probably should have been a kiss at that moment and the end scene of the gang at the Jasmine Dragon with Zuko and Katara shyly proclaiming their interest in each other. (3/4, sorry I have one more)

Again, ZK is not my ship, but EIP seemed to set up a ZK endgame that jumped the tracks at the end. By all the "rules" of a good narrative, Zuko and Katara should have ended up together, otherwise EIP should never have been countenanced or storyboarded. Full disclosure that I'm not a huge Kataang fan either, but Kataang was done a disservice by having EIP exist. It either should not have ever gotten written, or the ZK enemies-to-lovers arc should have been concluded. (end)

Disclaimer: I don’t care if someone ships Zvtara. Never have, never will. If the takeaway you (the general you, not anon specifically lol) get from this post is that Zvtara is “bad,” then I’m going to assume you didn’t actually read anything I wrote, because that is the farthest thing from my point here. Also, this post is strictly my personal response to these asks. I don’t expect everyone to read this and be like “YEAH” lmao. I am sure some people have different opinions, and that is a-okay!

In short, I think we will have to agree to disagree, anon.

Do some people consider EIP the beginning of a busted enemies-to-lovers arc? Of course they do, they’re “rabid zkers” who wear Zvtara shipping goggles 24/7 lmao. EIP couldn’t have been the beginning of an E-L arc because such an arc was never in the cards for them in the first place! Katara forgave Zuko in the previous episode. Trying to cram a romantic relationship into five episodes after months of hatred between Zuko and Katara would have been awful writing (and thus probably would have been a decision mercilessly criticized until the end of time, lmao). So it’s honestly better that Zvtara gets to spread its wings in fanon instead (much less pressure)! Also, realistically speaking, Katara and Zuko probably still had so many issues to work through in their friendship. Like yes, she forgave him and recognized he was trying to do better, but that doesn’t erase what Zuko has done to her and her friends. There is still plenty of forward progress they need to make before romance can even be considered between them. If that makes sense?

Also, let’s be real: EIP and bit with June afterwards were 100% ship bait. Just an attempt to add to the “drama” of who Katara would end up. A technique only effective while it was airing, for the record, because if you watch the show straight through, it becomes glaringly obvious that Zuko and Katara’s relationship - while gorgeous - was always meant to stay strictly platonic within the canon timeline.

Anyways. I’ll try to break down your ask one piece at a time!

“Zuko and Katara see how others see them, and it weirds them out”

Yes, they are definitely weirded out! The transcript says, “Zuko and Katara inch away from each other, slightly uncomfortable.” Which is just a longer way of describing that they were weirded out by the depiction of their relationship in EIP, lol. However, the play is not how others see them. The play is the Fire Nation’s imperialist propaganda, meant to demean the entire Gaang. I talk about in specifics how the entire Gaang is belittled here, but this is the key stuff I noted about Zuko and Katara:

it’s important to situate that and more importantly situate eip zuko and katara’s relationship within the context of the show. the fire nation is an imperialist country. the southern water tribe has suffered heavily beneath them. we know from “the headband” that fire nation individuals are fed pro-imperialistic propaganda from birth; that combined with zuko and azula’s degrading comment of “peasant” towards katara demonstrate very clearly how the fire nation views every other nation - put simply, they are superior and everyone else is inferior. that attitude is therefore reflected in the eip play:

- katara, an indigenous woman, is highly sexualized and portrayed as overly dramatic and tearful, because the fire nation objectifies women not of their own people and views them as less intelligent and less emotionally stable

- she is thus paired as having a “romance” with zuko in eip because naturally, via fire nation logic, zuko would be able to “score” an “easy” woman of one of the water tribes

- furthermore, the eip “romance” between zuko and katara emphasizes zuko’s position as a traitor to the fire nation; the implication is that as a traitor, he’d only be able to achieve a relationship with a “lesser” woman, e.g. a woman not of the fire nation

That is not how other people truly view Zuko and Katara’s relationship. That is how the Fire Nation depicts their relationship in order to degrade and dehumanize Zuko and Katara. To misinterpret that as “evidence” that Zuko and Katara should have been together romantically is… disturbing, in my opinion. (I really try to stay far away from zkers who use EIP as “proof” of supposed Zvtara interest in each other like honey that is imperialist propaganda please don’t 😭).

If you want to talk about how other people actually view Zuko and Katara’s relationship, look at the Gaang, who were around them most of all! They never tease the possibility of romance between their friends. Why? Because within canon, there wasn’t one. Simple!

“Zuko insisted on sitting next to Katara”

Nope! This is all the transcript says: “Zuko [Removing his hood.] Just sit next to me. What’s the big deal?” He doesn’t even mention Katara! Zuko is literally just like I’m already sitting. Why do I need to move? lmfao. It’s no thoughts head empty for our favorite firebender 😂

“Katara pushes Aang away”

I’m assuming this about the kiss, which I’m going to make a post about in the future because I am TIRED of the tomfoolery. Anyways, I’ll keep this brief - yes, she does push him away. She does not deny that she likes him. For Katara, the issue is the timing: “This isn’t the right time.” Both Katara and Aang know they like each other, plain and simple (which is why Aang doesn’t ask if he returns her feelings - he asks if they’d be together, because he knows their feelings are mutual). Katara pushes Aang away because, as she says, they’re in the middle of a war. She’s already seen Aang die once. He might die again. She doesn’t want that, of course, but it’s a reality Katara is forced to consider.

Anyways, her decision has nothing to do with Zuko. Lol.

“June reiterates the ‘Hey you’re with your gf again!’ Zuko and Katara deny it, but there likely should have been an undercurrent of ‘Why do people think we're together? Do we act like it? Should we be? S/he is kind of cute.’”

June’s assumption - especially because it is a repeat of a gag from earlier in the series, when it is incredibly concerning to assume a Fire Nation citizen would be with someone of the Water Tribes because of the war and its consequences - is comic relief. Not even good comic relief, lmao, because of the horrific implications I just mentioned that come with it, but it’s supposed to be comedy. There was no need of any “Zvtara” undercurrents there because a) Katara and Zuko had never expressed romantic interest in each other in the past, b) it wouldn’t track with the show’s narrative of Katara as Zuko’s surrogate sibling because of her position as Azula’s primary foil, and c) it just doesn’t make sense in general. Katara likes Aang. Zuko likes Mai. There was never a love triangle there, plain and simple. Fandom invented it.

And again, if you want to talk about how people actually see Zuko and Katara, don’t look at June, who has never had a proper conversation with either of them. As I said, the Gaang is a much better example, since they’re with the two 24/7. If they never tease Zuko and Katara about romance, why should we trust this random lady who doesn’t even know them?

“During this time, Zuko defers to Katara and despite Toph likely being more helpful, asks Katara to be the one to take down Azula with him.”

As I mentioned, Katara is Azula’s primary foil, so from a literary perspective she absolutely needed to be the one to take her down. Zuko needed to face Azula, but taking her down - again, from a literary pov - was always meant to be the end of Katara’s journey (she was the only person besides Aang who was ever a match for Azula, after all, as we see in CoD). Also, how would Toph be more helpful?? Not saying you’re wrong, btw, I just don’t understand what you mean. If I was Zuko, I also would have brought the waterbender that I’d already witnessed almost take down my sister already 😂. But even if Toph would have been more helpful, sometimes practicality must be sacrificed for a fulfilling narrative arc, lol!

“Last part of the finale should have been the money shot, Zuko taking lightning for Katara, and in a parallel to CoD, Katara healing him.”

Honestly, anon, this part of your ask baffles me 😂 I totally understand why rabid zkers might make this argument, but taking into account the rest of the show… It just doesn’t make sense? It’s been talked about a hundred times, but Zuko taking lightning out of romantic interest would ruin his redemption arc, regardless of if it was Katara or Aang or Sokka or anyone in the Gaang that he was taking it for, so that should be the end of discussion, full stop. I’ve talked about this issue here and here before, and someone else does a great job breaking it down in this post, too. But seriously. Zuko having romantic interest for anyone in the Gaang would ruin!! His!! Entire!! Arc!! I hate when people don’t understand that 😭 Zuko had to learn selflessness, to learn how to put others before himself, and to unlearn the imperialist rhetoric he’d been indoctrinated with from birth. Romantic interest during canon for Katara, Sokka, Aang, whomever, I don’t care, completely disregards all of his growth of breaking away from the Fire Nation. Plain and simple.

“Dante Basco is right in that there probably should have been a kiss at that moment and the end scene of the gang at the Jasmine Dragon with Zuko and Katara shyly proclaiming their interest in each other.”

I learned in a discord I’m in that Dante Basco apparently hadn’t seen the whole show until this year lmao. He didn’t know what energybending was nor did he know A:TLA ended with a Kataang kiss. Take that with a grain of salt, of course (you can watch the livestream this is revealed in here, and it was also mentioned in the recent StageIt A:TLA reunion), but I think it’s safe to conclude Dante Basco can be treated like any other Zvtara shipper. He likes the ship, which is totally cool, but he is not one of the writers, so his opinion meant naught in constructing the canon narrative.

ANYWAYS. My point is why would Zuko and Katara proclaim interest in each other if such interest would have to be crammed into five measly episodes?? Especially when four of those episodes were the finale?? That is awful writing, of course the A:TLA writers wouldn’t do that, lmao! They’d built up Kataang and Maiko already. Why scrap it and needlessly rush a romance from an excellent - and, important to note, a newly established - platonic bond? Nah.

“EIP seemed to set up a ZK endgame that jumped the tracks at the end. By all the ‘rules’ of a good narrative, Zuko and Katara should have ended up together”

Nope. Idk what rules people have been teaching you, anon, but they were lying!! You deserve better than people who would lie to you like that 😤. But yeah, narratively speaking, Katara and Zuko getting together would have made no sense. It would have undermined Zuko’s and Katara’s arcs, it would have completely disregarded Katara’s established feelings for Aang and Zuko’s for Mai, and again, it would have been totally rushed. Who wants that?? Normal people don’t, lmao. This might be hard to believe considering I occasionally rag about BNF zkers, but I actually have several friends who are Zvtara shippers! They agree that canon Zvtara would have made no sense, and that it’s better to play out a potential Zvtara dynamic in post-A:TLA fanon. I swear, it is only the rabid shippers who think Zvtara should have been canon, and trust me when I say no one should want to associate with them, lmao.

(And again, as I touched upon earlier, Zuko and Katara’s canon narrative relationship was surrogate siblings because of Katara’s position as Azula’s primary foil. The show wrapped their arc up perfectly! With a lovely bow and all. So no complaints from me!)

“otherwise EIP should never have been countenanced or storyboarded. Full disclosure that I’m not a huge Kataang fan either, but Kataang was done a disservice by having EIP exist”

What EIP did right:

- accurate (and horrifying) depiction of pro-imperialist propaganda

- recap of previous seasons

- a lesson on consent (Aang kisses Katara, it is depicted as wrong, and Aang reacts appropriately by admonishing himself and by giving Katara space afterwards. like, people call Aang an incel/entitled/whatever, BUT HE HAD THE PERFECT REACTION?? he literally backed off and never pressured her again. i would have killed for the guy who kept getting in my personal space during my junior year to have backed off when i told him to. spoiler alert: he didn’t)

- hit some good humor beats

What EIP did poorly:

- honestly it’s not very interesting just based on watching it (deconstructing it as propaganda gives it better depth), but that’s to be expected from filler

- stupid shipping drama

- not having an additional conversation/explicit apology between Aang and Katara

HOWEVER. This final point is actually very subjective. For one, A:TLA has a clear trend of not showing apologies on screen. Ex.: Katara doesn’t apologize to Sokka for what she said about their mother, Zuko doesn’t apologize for anything he did to the Gaang, Song, or really anyone (closest we get is “Hello, Zuko here” lmao), Ty Lee and Mai don’t apologize for putting the Kyoshi warriors in jail, etc. etc. So while an explicit apology would have been great, the lack of one admittedly tracks with the show’s pre-established standards. And two, while I of course would love a conversation between Aang and Katara (that’s literally MORE KATAANG. why would I refuse 😂), it isn’t… necessary, to be frank. Aang’s mistake is treated as such - kissing Katara was wrong and he should never have done that. Like I said, Aang acknowledges this error and gives Katara space afterwards. Thus, it is Katara who chooses to be with him when the war is over. She respects the time he gave her to come to a conclusion, and the choice she makes is that she loves him despite his poorly-timed kiss (I mean, she forgave Zuko for being complicit in Aang’s death. Katara is clearly a very forgiving person!). So like,, it gets to a point where if someone doesn’t recognize that, they’re probably the kind of weirdo who labels anything they don’t understand in a story as a plothole, lmao.

All of this is to say that EIP wasn’t a disservice to Kataang. It certainly could have been better, of course, and the kiss was obviously only put in to hype up drama (“will they, won’t they” blah blah blah), but overall it handled consent well for a kid’s show.

“It either should not have ever gotten written, or the ZK enemies-to-lovers arc should have been concluded.”

On the whole, EIP is absolutely an unnecessary episode, yeah. It was just a recap before the finale. The only important thing is its accurate depiction of pro-imperialist propaganda, but most people’s minds don’t immediately go to that, I’ll admit lmao 😂. And as I’ve already said, there was no Zvtara E-L arc - fandom completely made that up. Which is totally fine! That’s the point of transformative works. But they are still fanon. Plain and simple.

TL;DR - Zvtara was never in the cards for A:TLA. I wish rabid zkers would stop pretending it was and have fun in the sandbox like the rest of us 😭

And for the record, anon, you absolutely, 100% do not have to be convinced by any of this! It’s just my own, personal thoughts on the whole dealio. No worries either way!! 💛

#emphasis on my use of rabid zker. if you know you don't fall into that category then it's obviously not about you lol #(general you. not anon specifically)#amy answers #anon #amy analyzes

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takaraphoenix · 4 years

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So I just finished the third season of The Bold Type and oh boy did they drop the ball in this one. I... really enjoyed this show until now but this season was just so intensely exhausting and honestly cringey.

The only good storyline was Jane’s. Her finally dumping that cheating piece of garbage. The way they handled her surgery and recovery and the struggle she had. It was incredibly emotional and well-paced and I genuinely loved the way they handled it.

But everything else was... pretty much garbage, in my opinion?

I mean, Sutton? Sutton and Richard, getting married, after being in a relationship for what, five years? And... they never actually talked about their future? They never talked about having kids? I hate this dumbassery of “let’s get married but like we never actually talked about how we imagine our future” and the way they handled that, with how Richard behaved? How he placed all the blame on Sutton? What in the world was that? She put her life on hold for him, repeatedly. It wasn’t because of her job that you guys hid your relationship for so long, it was yours. And when you decided to go to San Francisco for a job, she was just 100% behind you.

But now she’s deceiving you because... she... doesn’t read minds, or what? Saying “I want something like they have” is the broadest, least specific bullshit. Something, what? Their career, their marriage, their house? That does not specify that you want children. Saying “I definitely want children” is how you specify that you want children. To only blame her for not telling him that she didn’t want kids...? When two people are in this relationship and neither of them actually spoke up about their wants and needs here? That is equally both their fault.

Not to mention his... his reaction. Just, his reaction to everything.

When, only two months after the miscarriage, she wanted to have sex again and he just immediately goes “so x position is better for conception”, that was just... incredibly insensitive. I don’t know about anyone else but me, but... two weeks after losing a baby to already try again seems incredibly early and to overrun her like that instead of first, in a quieter moment, address the issue? Not to mention that this was an unplanned pregnancy and she just started a new, busy job so it really wasn’t a good fit time-wise.

His reaction to when she told him she didn’t want babies? The throwing and trashing stuff? It just will never sit right with me when men express their anger/frustration by smashing and destroying things right next to the woman. It is purposefully intimidating and reads far too close as a ‘replacement’, which also is always intensified by the woman jumping away instinctively, as Sutton did. Not... Not a great move. Really creepy.

And then they just... end it. Just like that. After this entire show had their will they won’t they build up to them getting married, it all falls apart like that, so unceremoneously and Sutton goes onto a completely self-destructive tour of discovering that she is, after all, no better than her mother, putting her somehow even below square one.

The worst offender however is whatever the fuck this show did to Kat. And to Adena. But let’s start with Adena.

Adena, an out and proud lesbian, a Muslim, a woman of color, a feminist. And now... a biphobe, apparently? Wow, that’s just such a great look on her.

It’s incredibly OoC for Adena. This woman, who met Kat when Kat was still thinking she was straight, who supported Kat through her self-discovery. And while Kat used “lesbian” as a self-identifying label twice in previous seasons, she always more leaned toward “queer” to label herself.

So to now have Adena, whose entire character was always about lending women a voice and standing up for them, who always supported Kat, who met Kat when Kat was still very much busy sleeping with men, now act biphobic when Kat comes out as bisexual...? It just... It really fucked Adena over.

Especially the garbage she was spouting. That if Kat now liked men, did that make Adena “just a phase” and were her feelings for Adena “even real”? That is just the most bottom of the barrel biphobic talk, this felt like someone just did one quick google search on biphobia and crammed them together and made Adena say that. It... just didn’t feel authentic for Adena, after how she had been represented so far and how she had acted and handled Kat’s journey of self-descovery.

I understand that they really wanted Kat to face biphobia and I genuinely did love the bonding moment that gave Kat and Oliver, but there was absolutely no need to throw Adena under the bus like this. They could have literally gone to that stupid lesbian-exclusive party and just have... have some random unnamed character act biphobic?

Considering this wasn’t even meant as a lasting plotline that’d be pulled through as a proper arc, because two episodes later, Adena suddenly got over her biphobia. Which is just another thing that makes it more ridiculous, because a woman like Adena, who is deeply involved with the community and who is strongly opinionated, would - if she really was biphobic - not just change her stance on that in like two weeks just because...?

It really showed that they used Adena not as a character but as a plot-tool for Kat’s plotline and it did Adena such a disservice - especially since she is one of your four (4) queer characters and she is your only lesbian.

Don’t validate negative stereotypes like prickly lesbians who only date Gold Star Lesbians because otherwise the lesbian feelings between them just aren’t lesbian enough and like how would she know they’re real if her partner isn’t also a lesbian?

And yes. Yes, I am well-aware we have a huge problem of biphobia within the community. I am well-aware that these type of lesbians exist. But, as mentioned above, they could have taken a minor character only introduced for this plotline to deliver this biphobia, instead of throwing their only lesbian character under the bus like this.

Adena is such a brilliant character and she is... so much representation? I mean, she is one of only four queer characters, of only two queer women, she is the only lesbian, she is the only Muslima, she is one of the only two women of color in the recurring/main cast. I genuinely don’t understand how you can look at a character like that and go “ah yes, let’s just temporarily antagonize her for another character’s plotline, which goes entirely against her own characterization so we will actually also totally backtrack on it after all is said and done”, because it’s... I don’t think there’s a real word for what this is, but it’s bullshit, to say the least.

Now about Kat. Who finally figured herself out this season. And then just immediately had to deal with the biphobia, but not for too long because that’d be too distracting, we have too much to do in throwing her character under the bus too, after all.

I mean seriously, Kat’s a biracial bisexual liberal woman, who had an entire season-long plot about being a liberal woman trying to carve a space for herself, for her community, against bigotry. Both, her being biracial and her being bisexual, has always torn her and made her not fit quite in and made her look for her place to belong and she fought hard for it.

So the natural progression for her character truly is to make her date a... I really do not want to type these words together, to be quite frank... but a Republican lesbian. And not just... be with her, but “come around” to her viewpoint. It was essentially throwing out the long-suffering plotlines of Kat fighting hard for her spot in favor of now being downgraded to a bar-tender who is fascinated by the Republican POV on life.

They really used Kat to antagonize liberals as sensitive snowflakes and show that “Republicans can be serious and have good points too!”. They turned Kat into a... clumsy oaf, at best, the way she handled herself around the politics this season? After she literally ran for office before, trying to become a politician herself? But now she is swayed or fascinated or whatever for “the other view-point”?

And just the timing, to have a “Republicans aren’t that bad!” angle in your show while Republicans are literally busy running your country into the ground? Ya really thought this was a great angle to work with? And for her, of all characters?

It made... absolutely no sense with how Kat had been portrayed so far to have her enthralled by this bullshit spouting Republican, because “different views are important and can be insightful”...

There are angles where, from a storytelling POV, you can introduce various views and make it very interesting to watch, but if your way of introducing this other view is literally by her defending her homophobic father who wants to help pass a bill on conversion therapy, I’m sorry there is absolutely no listening to that.

And that’s not being emotional. This is directly about the lives of human beings. There is no discussing that, there are no other opinions on the matter of whether or not children should be tortured into being straight.

And having her, very lacklusterly, say that she personally is against conversion therapy means... it... it means literally nothing if she is not speaking up about it and instead wants to bury evidence about her father supporting it and has no problems with him supporting it in the first place.

The ““cutesy”“ situation of her threatening to get Kat fired over this, Kat actually getting fired and her then accidentally getting Kat fired from her next job, just to graciously help her keep her job after all like some White Republican Savior was... very cringey to watch, but so was honestly every single interaction between them, based on the juxtaposition of those characters.

I’m sorry, as a lesbian, I have intensely strong feelings about how they utilized lesbian characters for bullshit agendas this season. First Adena for the biphobia angle and then writing a Republican lesbian in there to like... sell Republicans?

I just... genuinely can not grasp what that storyline even was, because it honestly just felt like Republican propaganda? And yes, propaganda. Because it undermined the already established liberal character that Kat had been, made her not entirely turn toward being Republican but suddenly be oh-so open minded about the views (after this plotline was literally introduced through, and I will say it again, conversion therapy. I mean seriously, you could have a liberal and a Republican have conversations with each other and “see each other’s points of view”, but you absolutely can not have that after introducing the plotline through one of the most horrific things that can happen to our community). They portrayed Eva as the understanding, calm, rational, charming party in this and made Kat the overly angry, emotional and downright doe-eyed one who learned so much from Eva, while not having Kat teach Eva anything. This was never portrayed as a mutual seeing each other’s viewpoints; Kat was the only one who changed over this storyline. And that is what made this not feel like an “equal opportunity POV exchange” storyline but like propaganda.

My very last critique point is the oversexualization of absolutely everything. I mean, yes, this show has always been very sex-positive and about women embracing their sexuality and I absolutely support this message. But... this season went... beyond that? It wasn’t just sex-positive it was downright negative on no sex. The utter despair for sex and linking it with success?

The plotline of how Jacqueline wanted to show women in “power” through fashion, but it was all about owning their sexuality and the first pitch immediately included lingerie. And worse yet, that thing where Ryan and Jane were not having sex.

The freaking intervention. Because... she was having a genuinely good time just having spa-days with her boyfriend instead of fucking like rabbits every hour of the day? That they literally put an intervention together there. That not having sex is oh-so bad, even though honestly, until that intervention, Jane did not look unhappy.

I just think that a show that praises itself on its queer viewpoints and puts the queerness so very front and center needs to step up their game and start including an asexual viewpoint. Both, in the show and in the magazine itself because everything they write and do comes back to sex and it’s starting to get really, truly tiresome.

Sex-positivity doesn’t have to mean that you reinforce that to be a strong, independent woman you have to have sex and that a relationship is only successful if they have lots of sex.

#The Bold Type #Season 4 #Phoe's Random Show Rants #Season 4 Review #Adena Deserved Better #Sutton Deserved Better #Kat Deserved Better #heck the viewers deserved better

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scoundrels-in-love · 4 years

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For the softer world meme, Jaime/Brienne, #23

When I received this, I was very giddy because it’s the first prompt you’ve sent me, but also very amused because it’s one of my favorite prompts on the list AND it’d have been perfect tile for something else I started writing recently.

So, I guess May is the month I write late campfire conversations from Jaime’s POV and yearning?

Also, tied in with Tomorrow (with you) I’d like to lose myself in the fleeting moment aka the one where Jaime is Brienne’s swornsword and they travel to Tarth. This is the trip itself. Also on AO3.

We talk in the dark as we fall asleep, and we are objects in the night sky outside of time. (it is the exact opposite of alone.)

The journey to Tarth was long.

The longest Jaime had had with (or for) her and his favorite, too.

They rode at even pace, though for the first week Brienne was uneasy and more jittery than he could recall ever seeing her, visibly pondering if she should just turn around and return to Sansa's side. He had distracted her, with jokes and stories of his past that danced just so around things he didn't wish to speak of.

A few times Jaime had slipped, but she had neither pushed him deeper with questions nor pitied him and again he marvelled at the way she permitted him to draw borders. There was little privacy and secret pain among Lannisters, only weaknesses to be discovered. And discovered they always were.

He enjoyed these conversations, how she'd share parts of her own childhood, the softness that'd paint her face much like the light filtering through the trees when she spoke of Evenfall Hall and it filled him with longing to see it, almost greed to touch stones that were in likeness of ones that had built the sturdy fortress of honor and goodness within Brienne.

Jaime loved the silence, too, the sort that dripped in-between crackles of fire as Jaime settled in for the first watch of night and Brienne lingered still. They'd talk at first, their gazes set to the stars above and he'd learn her favorite constellations and myths, the way her voice dipped when she grew sleepy, before their words and thoughts wandered away, welcoming the quiet like horizon would a gentle sunset.

They were the only two people in the world, he would think then and mock himself for stumbling in familiar sentences, as if neither he nor the woman beside him were not different. But whereas with Cersei it had dripped with rage and hurt, Jaime could almost taste peace within the syllables now.

They were not outcast by their own hand as much as their duties, and there was warmth following them all the way from Winterfell, stitched in the cloaks Sansa had gifted them before departure, there was warmth here, between them as her head rested against his shoulder, and warmth that awaited them (her, surely) at end of their journey.

In this space untethered to time or even land, he dreamed. Dreamed of pressing a reverent kiss to her brow, of smoothing his thumb over her knuckles and not letting go.

Of basking in Brienne's smiles and knowing he had the rest of his lifetime to have his darkness bleached away by them, just enough to not mar her by his presence.

Of a journey where she didn't flush almost scarlet, her gaze swaying away from his clumsy and unhappy, when the innkeeper mistook them for married.

But in reality, he could only touch her for a shorter moment than a breeze, watch her stumble over requesting separate rooms and hope Lord Selwyn Tarth will be as all-encompassing blind to his sins as his daughter, though that was disservice to Brienne - she saw his faults perhaps more clearly than most. Was familiar with them in ways he wished she wasn't.

And yet, she had seen something that outweighed it all and as she tried to twist the mirror so he'd see it, too, he had watched her reflection and realized that even if it was mere fiction created by her generosity and faith in goodness, he would like to make himself a few shades more to its likeness.

It hadn't been her request, not really. Brienne had never asked anything of him for a long time now, not since the Dragonpit, not even when he wished she would.

("I am yours to command - am I to stay or to go with them?" he had asked, the night before armies departed for King's Landing. Tell me you want me here. Tell me that...

"I will do no such thing," she had said, firm and almost offended, almost sad.

"You could. Should. I am your swornsword now, my liege." He was desperate for an answer, any single one. Like a lifeline in the murkiness that was overtaking his limbs, driving him onward without even remembering what a road looked like.

"You always have the right to choices, Ser Jaime," Brienne had reminded him before ducking her head and looking away to where Sansa and Arya were. Later, he'd wonder if there were words in her mouth she had cast away with this move, but in that moment he could only think of her angry snarl a lifetime ago melting away, an odd understanding in her eyes. We don't choose who we love.

He understood then, too.

He hadn't chosen to love her and had been born love-bound to Cersei that had spun out of control, but he had made choices for these loves again and again, long before either had names, and if his blood was to nurture one, he would pick the field of blue rather than the dried tree that would impale him upon its bare branches. He had tried to nurture it, but the roots were long since rotten.

The next morning, when she had smiled a trembling, relieved smile, Jaime loved her more for not asking and yet, he wondered if he'd ever stop thinking that demands meant he was wanted.)

He would think of all this and more and though his body would ache for a soft bed come morning, he preferred these nights on the road where he could dream in rhythm with her breathing, full of trust.

Sometimes, he rested his cheek against the crown of her head before he'd remember the way the ease would collapse in on itself from mere change in wind and she'd shrink back away from him like his touch or smile held the sound of a drawn sword, and he straightened up feeling as if he was stealing. It was not as if he was starved for her attention or even affection and yet, he craved and took more without her permissions. A man with honor, she had called him and yet he could not truly be one even for the one person who deserved it most.

The movement sometimes startled her awake , making Brienne murmur an apology and return to her tent, leaving him bereft and cold in a way that was entirely his doing. (All that self-acclaimed change and yet, it is the same.)

But none of that could tarnish the brightness in him that gathered drop by drop, day by day as they traveled on. Sometimes, Jaime thought it was visible somehow, a glow beneath his skin that caught Brienne's eyes the closer they came to Tarth. He would catch her looking, attentive and inquiring almost, as if she couldn't quite figure something out and he wished she would tell him the question because there was no answer he'd deny her, if only he had it.

Maybe when she was home, she'd find the words.

#ajoblotofjunk #sent on a cloud #Braime #braime ff #rainy writes stuff #favorite outtake that never made into the fic:#the innkeepers often eyed them with worry as if they were about to clash swords #in their establishments that were highly respectable only in their own words #or something like that #I hope you like though it's so obvious I've not finished in a thing in well over a month #I CANT GET READ MORE WORK IN THIS POST AND I AM SORRY!!

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dogcopter · 4 years

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Yo I know you’re more into character analysis but do you think the diamonds made a parliamentary-ish system, or that they completely gave up power and tried to make homeworld a full blown democracy in three years? Because can we agree that would be way fucking weird? Like, gems are eternal. Eventually, everyone in homeworld will have been president, or at least tried to. It feels like a big disservice to these weird eusocial aliens to say their society is just like us now.

anon i dont know wtf happened but i found this half baked response to your REALLY GOOD INTERESTING META QUESTION in my drafts and it’s probably been weeks, i’m sorry!

It IS fucking weird. But ok ok. The gems are first and foremost cartoon characters, so on a surface level, I think it does make sense, especially given the scope of POV and overall story run focus. (Steven’s approach to the Diamonds was more or less, You’re Doing The Wrong Thing! Here’s The Right Thing! But they’re still following his lead and his script) Even though Steven’s perspective on this stuff is way more simplistic than his approach to relationships. as a human person irl it is nonsense

That being said, all we know is that there was an election between Zircons and the diamonds have officially stepped down. based on UTL the breakdown in power has led to other power struggles we don’t see because they’re beyond Steven’s vision. We also still don’t know why gems were made, or by whom, what the first gems were like, what happens when every gem fuses together, etc. (I shouldn’t run my mouth knowing there’s unplumbed deeplore, but it’s true in terms of conversation rn) I don’t think we’re meant to take Gems Imitate Nonfunctional Human Democracies as the final endpoint of gem governance lore but as the point at which SUF stopped. The question what’s NEXT for them when it becomes obvious the new system is as silly as the old one? gems have been running their own development processes for millennia while the overlords just lord over, I think they can organize a new way in the new era of Peace and Love and Art without like a central figurehead, even if that’s hard to imagine from within a world full of them/from within the human IRL world which is constructed and maintained this way by our powerful whereas the designers of SU design su etc etc

KBCS deeplore, although i still dont understand it, looks like it maaaaybe has an element of entertainment industry/capitalism criticism in there, which isn’t exactly high hanging fruits depending on what you do with it. given i believe in a better future and SU has more often let me up than down, i like to think there’s some Lore here that is truly radical. I do want to have seen that in the cartoon and i think the UTL game indicated that the world is like, actually complex. I choose to believe in SU 2: connie defeats human capitalism

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otp-armada · 4 years

Text

A Time Capsule

I’ve been lurking across several fandoms spanning a decade now, since my days of reading “Bones” fanfics on fanfiction.net. Before any inkling of Ao3’s existence. Maybe longer, my memory is murky at times.

I’ve never made a splash in any fandom, so to speak. I’ve always been content to stand shrouded in anonymity, residing on the edges of fandom, never an active participant. Perfectly at peace to never have a voice. Never brave enough to want to be heard. It has only been in the last few years that I discovered Tumblr and felt comfortable enough in taking advantage of its anon feature to interact mostly with The 100/Bellarke crowd, “conversing” with one user in particular. In the instances I chose to speak, there was safety in knowing my words never had an identity attached. A safety that lent itself to sending anon asks a fairly common activity until I wrote one recently sharing a remnant of my “The 100” viewing experience. The warm response from the users who read it left me smiling for the rest of the day. Their reply took a direction I didn’t expect. They encouraged me to take credit for my words under my username, which of course, I didn’t have, not being a Tumblr user.

I was flattered by the response, bolstering me to continue the line of conversation with another ask and was met with reiterated sentiments.

In the wise words of one of those awesome people,

“I was the ultimate lurker for a long, long time. I had a Tumblr account for four years before I ever made a single post, and even then I had to be talked into it. And you know what? When I finally starting “talking,” it was so freeing! Even if no one else was listening, even if I was speaking into the void, I was no longer dependent on anyone else to share my thoughts and opinions. I could do that myself.”

I took the compliment but waived the advice. Tumblr is made of communities built upon sharing and I have always been unto myself an island. It goes against my shy, introverted nature to take part in a community. I have no business pretending I have a place there. None at all.

And yet, despite my misgivings, the idea wouldn’t leave me as I believed it would. I started to genuinely ponder the merits of creating a blog.

There are strong reasons to support the affirmative.

First, the utilitarian benefits. In the absence of a blog, I turned to alternative methods of archiving appealing posts. If by some miracle, the item count of my browser reading list hasn’t yet ascended to the thousands mark, it most assuredly rests in the hundreds. My camera roll queue has indubitably reached the thousands count, currently sitting pretty at 3,300. I shudder to think of the sheer number of my bookmarks. One hundred and eighty notes on my phone. The final frontier has been broken, at last, habitually inundating my laptop with screenshots. Long has it been overdue to clean house.

Second, I find writing to be a herculean undertaking I enjoy in the moments it doesn’t drive me to the brink. A slow-going process, but when I’m able to appreciate the fruits of my labor, marvel at the polished product, I often feel quite proud. Writing is a skill I’ve lost touch with over years of disuse but found incrementally returning while expressing my opinions via Tumblr asks. Like any skill, it can be honed with time and practice. Transferring my streams of consciousness onto written medium challenges me to think critically, ask myself if my POV genuinely holds true or falls apart, requiring further reflection. If nothing else, it’s a good way to process thoughts and emotions. I find it easier than and therefore preferable to oral communication. I am a perpetual editor, always amending my statements which can’t really be done as effectively in speech.

Third, if there was ever a time to join the Tumblr fandom I’ve found a home in for the last three years, why not in time for the show’s last ride? The night I signed up for Tumblr coincided the first day of “The 100” cast and crew filming their 100th and poetically final episode. Around the same space of time, we got a release date and the nostalgic goodbyes of a few cast members rolled in. I know when Bellarke crosses the last threshold, I’d want it plastered all over my dash and I’d be able to make it happen.

But where there are pros, the cons inevitably follow.

Do I really need a further distraction from my responsibilities, spending additional hours and expending more energy I should not spare online? The too easy potential for more hours behind a screen when prone to headaches and horrid habits of not regulating my eating and sleeping schedules? The answer is a clear and resounding “No.” Would maintaining a blog be harmful to my mental and emotional health? Remaining anonymous has historically done a fine job of insulating me from general rebuke, which has mitigated the risk of reproach at least. No corner of the internet can be designated as a safe space. I knew I would in all likelihood have to work diligently to curate and be responsible for my experience, leading me to doubt how the effort could possibly be worth it. How could it be worth feeling exposed, self-conscious? Constantly second-guessing myself, debating whether or not my thoughts are best kept within the privacy of my mind to avoid stepping on anyone’s toes? Combating the periodic skepticism that my thoughts possess value worth writing?

There was always the lingering possibility I was overthinking the decision to my detriment, as is my norm. After all, it seemed silly and dramatic to regard one obscure little blog in a sea of hundreds of millions of social media users as momentous. But I know myself better than that. It is a really fucking big deal for me.

I vacillated between both sides of the argument for days before deciding not to follow through with the venture.

And then one night, a single stray observation ran through my mind. One observation became another, became another and before I knew it, I had formed the grounds for an entire meta post. It didn’t end there. More ideas filtered through. I expanded on those ideas. More traction gained. Another meta formed. More jumping off previous points. Before long, I had mentally written the foundations for four metas. And I was so excited and proud of forming these connections to this puzzle without even trying that I wanted to share it. I sat down to write them in my trusty Notes, outlining, trying to jot the main points down before they fizzled away from memory. I saw how long-winded these spiels had gotten sans the full writeup, subsequently rationalizing…well, not blowing up someone’s inbox is just good manners, isn’t it? And terribly inefficient to boot. More to the point, it seemed a disservice to myself to censor my rumination to fit the small confines of a Tumblr ask box.

The part of me that wanted to push forward envisioned what the future of my blogging efforts may look like. That part knows that this blog is for me and only me. What makes me laugh, what makes me cry. Smile. Rage. Flail. Think. Whatever the hell I want. I get to say what I want, however, I want. It’s incredibly nerve-wracking. It’s also exciting, thrilling, and yes, freeing. The notion of carving out a tiny space for me to fill to the endless brim with whatever brings me joy makes me…really damn happy. It’s not an easy feat to accept and harder to retain. I should be ok, so long as I never forget that I get to be in control of what happens here. It’s within my right to block anyone I don’t want to engage or associate with. It’s my full right to not care what anyone else has to say if I don’t want to. Block out anything negative I don’t want to endure with only a few clicks. If I decide I want to walk away, permanently or otherwise, for any reason, it’s within my right to do that too. It’s comforting.

There was a time when I “knew” I would never sign up for an Ao3 account until one of my favorite authors withdrew the majority of her stories from public consumption. I “knew” I was never going to post commentary until I did. I “knew” my username would never be seen by anyone aside from me, never to be affiliated with my commentary until it was.

I did. Each and every time I thought I would never, I did. I broke my own barriers with patience and some courage. Maybe the most intimidating aspect of something new is simply the beginning. I said earlier that I’ve been an island for nearly as long as I can remember. It’s still true, I don’t expect overnight results. It’s probably going to be true for a long time. Perhaps forever. But maybe it’s all the more reason why I should take this step toward peeking out of my self-imposed shell. Do what scares you, or whatever it is they say.

I wish I could say it was enough to reverse my earlier verdict.

Nope, I had to agonize some more.

What can I say? Fear is a damn powerful inhibitor.

Lo and behold, as if the universe took pity on me, I got the chance to communicate directly with the same awesome lady whom I quoted above and she kindly offered some more merciful wisdom to a truly maddeningly indecisive individual:

“When you create a blog, you are STILL anonymous. You have a username, yes, but it doesn’t lead back to you unless you want it to. You still have your personal privacy. Tumblr isn’t Facebook. If you want to disclose personal information, you can, but you certainly don’t have to.

And second, your blog is for you, not for anyone else. It’s for you to express your own opinions. Or create gifs or other visuals. Or just repost what other people create. You can be on every day, or just once a week. It’s also a great way to save stuff you might want to look at again. And then… and then… when brilliance suddenly hits you, you have somewhere to let it hang out! 😁”

It was much I had already considered, but it helped immeasurably to have my reasoning reaffirmed from an external source I respect. I logged into Tumblr for the first time the very same night.

After much deliberation, an uncharacteristic burst of bravery and a grueling four hours I owe to technological ineptitude, I have, tentatively and cautiously, opted to give this Tumblr thing a go.

With luck, a day will never arrive when I dust this preamble off for a much-needed pep talk. Instead, it is my hope that one day, this memo-to-me will stand as proof that I don’t always need to be afraid of the unknown. Not all endeavors have to be as frightening as they may appear. And if I can apply this attitude to all else suppressing my personal growth, I might just be peachy someday.

Bearing this in mind…

…here we go.

#about me #personal

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noqueenbutthequeeninthenorth · 5 years

Text

Okay, so, episode thoughts. Here we go. This will get long.

I’m not going to get into the Missandei mess much because it’s all been said and said better than I can say it, but it was racist and cheap and the laziest storytelling I can imagine, and it does a huge disservice to her as a character, turning her into even more of a narrative prop than she already was. Grey Worm will likely meet the same fate. It’s bullshit.

So let’s talk about the other stuff.

Is Sansa in love with Jon? I honestly think so. There were too many moments that screamed love triangle, including at the feast when she literally walks away when she sees Jon smiling at D/ny. The scene with Tyrion only confirmed it. She was on the verge of tears just thinking about Jon choosing to live in the south with D/ny. The fact that Sansa’s dislike of D/ny has been shown to be both political and personal -- while Arya’s is strictly political (i.e., she’s an outsider and can’t be trusted, but Jon was right to do what he did to get her help) -- clinches the matter for me. Arya doesn’t like D/ny but her dislike is protective, not passionate. She’s not emotionally affected by D/ny or Jon’s relationship with her.

Now, the question remains: Why would they show us Sansa being in love with Jon, only for her to end up alone and heartbroken from unrequited love? Is the show really that cruel?

Well, maybe. But I still don’t think it makes any sense, if D&D knew Jonsa was coming (even unrequited Jonsa), that they would’ve written and filmed Jon as they did in seasons 6 & 7. They wouldn’t have gone out of their way to show that Sansa is Jon’s trigger if they were just going to have him passively accept her being threatened by ~the woman he loves~. Now, admittedly, “making sense” is not the show’s strong suit, but I still see no reason to believe that Jon actually loves D/ny.

The scene between the two of them was, admittedly, the most chemistry they’ve ever had, but 1) he was drunk and probably extremely relieved that they’d won the war against the AOTD; 2) they still didn’t get that carried away in their passion; and 3) mostly importantly, we still get no confirmation from Jon himself that he loves her. She gave him a perfect opening for him to tell her, and the audience, his feelings, but instead he went in for the kiss. Why? If Jon loves D/ny, why not show us his love for her? If Jon is tormented by the fact that he loves his aunt and wants to be with her but can’t, why not have him talk about it? With her, with Sam, with Sansa, with Arya, I don’t fucking care who. If we are headed toward a tragic ending in which Jon has to kill the woman he loves, then wouldn’t that be more shocking and heartbreaking if we see Jon truly adoring this woman?

Instead, we see him simply submitting to her. He calls her his queen so often it’s almost a joke. When anyone questions her, he says she’s the queen, he made a promise, and they are loyal to her.

Now, I could be completely wrong, but given the writing decisions in season 6, season 7, and 8.03, I think it is perfectly reasonable to assume that D&D are writing toward a plot twist. That’s their MO. Everything they write is shaped around a shocking moment -- presumably the one in which Jon turns on D/ny. Given this pattern, the only reason I can account for the way Jon’s storyline has been handled is that he’s being written solely for the purpose of that twist.

If the twist was simply that Jon must kill the woman he loves, then there are a million other ways to make that shocking that don’t require us never getting Jon’s POV. In fact, it’s much more shocking if we were fully invested in the love story. If the twist is that he never loved her, on the other hand.....

Yes, it’s hacky writing. Yes, it’s narratively incoherent. Yes, it’s bad television. It’s hard for me to imagine them pulling it off in a way that can be even remotely satisfying. At this point it’s probably impossible. I’m extremely unhappy about it.

But I’m not ready to write off Jon as a character yet, and nor am I ready to write off Jonsa altogether. Will I have to fill in a lot of blanks myself to make it work? Will I have to imagine a lot more communication and nuance than the show is willing to give? Absolutely. Will I be dreaming about how the books will tell this story every day for the rest of my life? Yes. But that’s where I’m at on this.

(The big exception for me is the handling of Ghost. This was so out of character and bizarre that I don’t know what to make of it. If Jon is willing to send Ghost away, then maybe he really is the dumb asshole he seems to be. But, then again, the show has always minimized the importance of the direwolves, and clearly they were looking for a way to get out of people telling them to spend the money on CGI for the direwolves. I don’t know.)

Other things about the episode, briefly:

Gilly’s pregnant! Nice. At least there’s one good thing happening.

Also the opening scene with the burning of the corpses was moving. The bit with Theon.... I cried.

I think Jaime was using the truth (that he’s a bad guy who’s done a lot of bad shit for Cersei) to push Brienne away to keep her safe while he went south to confront Cersei. I’m worried this means we will be getting Jaime killing Cersei, which as you all know is one of my least favorite but highly likely theories.

I was not surprised by Arya turning down Gendry. That’s seriously not who she is or what she’s ever wanted. I think she’d be happy to be with him, but not as the lady of Storm’s End.

That said, it’s disappointing she returned to her kill list. She deserves more than to be an assassin. She is capable of being more. That said... could she be going south to kill D/ny instead of (or in addition to) Cersei?

While I hate that they used Missandei’s death to “tip” D/ny into MQ territory -- and in fact while I hate that they played up the MQ stuff when up until this episode I’ve never found her mad, just dangerous and power-hungry and self-aggrandizing -- I do appreciate that at least they made it clear she was willing to blow KL to bits even before Missandei was killed. She’s been willing to do it for seasons now. She didn’t need anything to tip the scales.

So...... no Dance of Dragons 2.0? I’m quite surprised tbh! I never really wanted Jon to ride a dragon but what was the point in it, if he made no difference during the war against the NK, and then Rhaegal was just going to get killed the next episode?

Varys and Tyrion were sorta interesting this episode but I hate that they’re framing Jon’s maleness as part of his legitimacy -- and positioning this as a REASONABLE opinion. I also think that while Jon would probably be a better ruler than D/ny, he tbh has done nothing to prove himself lately so I’m not sure why everyone’s so sure of him all of a sudden. That said, I don’t blame Sansa for telling Tyrion the truth; it was an extremely smart thing to do, because she recognizes D/ny for the danger she is, to both her home and her family and Jon in particular.

My biggest gripe, still, is that the show seems to not really care about the Starks. We get one scene of the four of them all together -- and it cuts off before the MOST IMPORTANT PART of the conversation, that is, Sansa and Arya’s reactions to Jon’s parentage. Will we ever have all four Starks in a scene together again? I worry not! And this might be the last we got of them.

The fact that there were also no goodbye scenes between the Starks is fucking outrageous.

I’m not touching that scene with Sansa and the Hound with a ten foot pole. What the actual fuck to literally every part of it.

I can’t think of anything else right now but I’m sure I’ll have more to say later. Overall, I didn’t hate the idea of this episode, and it even had its moments (Sansa egging Jon on when he was drinking!), but the complete blackout of Jon’s POV and the general lack of care for the Starks in general has kind of ruined this season. IDK. I’m hoping there’s enough about the endgame that I like to make it possible for relatively canon-compliant fanfic to fill in the gaps, but I’m not holding my breath at this point.

ALSO, I’m extremely afraid next week will just be another battle episode and we won’t get any Sansa or the North. Thoughts?

#got spoilers #episode thoughts

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