how people go about interpreting dr bashir I presume? really frustrates me sometimes ngl especially the “jules bashir died” scene.
like that whole scene is about julian revealing the depth of how deeply his augmentations fractured his sense of identity and who he is - which feeds into the themes of the whole episode surrounding how disability and then by extension disabled people are often viewed as a problem to be solved and because of that are often denied the ability to have fulfilling lives because the able bodied people around them don’t believe that they can.
but… idk, when the fandom talks about it there’s always seems to be a push to read a trans allegory into it that I don’t think is really there? I keep mulling over this post in my mind and when I initially reblogged it I didn’t really want to talk about this because the post is about how stories about racism can be hijacked by white people to be made about their own transness and it felt like as a white person, using that post to complain about ableism would be missing the point. but it really helped me articulate in my mind why the trans reading of this episode feels off to me because the same general principle seems to apply and that is taking a story trying to discuss a specific type of marginalisation and putting a trans reading above it because you can relate more to it personally.
“jules bashir died in that hospital because you couldn't live with the shame of having a son who didn't measure up!” this scene is the culmination of julian expressing his pain about what was done to him as a disabled child by his parents due to how they viewed his disability. but often when I see it being discussed, people aren’t really interested in talking about that. instead supplanting it with a trans reading instead which, in my opinion is an allegory that doesn’t even really work when you think about what’s going on in the broader context of the scene.
julian didn’t stop going by jules because he came to the conclusion on his own that the identity didn’t suit him similar to the way a trans person questions or rejects the gender they were assigned at birth, he stopped going by jules because he felt like the identity attached to that name was taken from him because of what his parents did. it’s not julian affirming who he wants to be it’s grieving over who he can’t be and to me at least, it’s honestly kind of harrowing.
and as an aside: when people read transness into a story about parents who change their child’s body and mind at a very young age without consent, which is literally a narrative projected onto trans people by transphobes to justify the curtailing of trans rights, that also doesn’t sit well with me. I think people latch onto this reading because of the idea of “killing a name” but again in the context of the whole episode the trans reading really doesn’t feel appropriate.
I think it’s okay for people to have trans headcanons about julian of course or literally any character they want to really, but I think saying that specific episode codes him as trans isn’t all that great honestly.
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Cute and silly drabble about Levi trying to convince you to quit your job and let him take care of you ♥️
“You’re not happy.” He states as he picks up his cup of tea by its circular top.
You chew on your bottom lip for a moment. “I know.” You reply softly.
“So quit.” He shrugs as he brings the cup to his lips.
You roll your eyes. “I can’t just quit, Levi.”
“Sure you can. I’ll even write the resignation letter for you.” He smirks before taking a sip of tea, his eyes meets yours as he drinks.
You chuckle at that. “I wish…”
“It doesn’t have to be a wish, Y/N…”
“I don’t have another job lined up.” You remind him.
“So?” He places his cup back down on the table.
You look at him incredulously. “What do you mean, ‘so?’ How am I supposed to make money, Levi?”
“I would give it to you.” He states simply, as if the answer was obvious.
Your eyes narrow at him. “And what would you get in return, Mr. Ackerman?”
He shrugs. “Nothing I don’t get already. This isn’t an arrangement-“
“So I wouldn’t be your sugar baby?” You ask jokingly.
Levi looks disgusted. “Absolutely not.”
You pretend pout. “You don’t want me to be your sugar baby?”
“Y/N.”
“Okay, I’ll stop.” You giggle.
“I’m serious. If you need to quit-“
“Levi, I couldn’t possibly do that. What if we break up?” You ask, your mind jumping to the worse possible conclusion. “What if we break up, then I would be without a partner and without a job.”
“Why would you assume we would break up?”
“I’m just thinking of possible scenarios!”
Levi pinches the bridge of his nose and lets out a breath. “Look, I know it would be a big deal. I’m not saying it isn’t. I’m just stating the option is there.”
“I don’t know, Levi…”
“I know it’s scary, you would have to rely on me-“
You cut him off again, trying to explain yourself. “It’s not that I don’t trust you-“
“I know. I know, Y/N.” He says with a chuckle. “I know how your brain works. Just think about it.” He shrugs.
You pause, digesting his words. “Would I get an allowance?”
This makes Levi chuckle again. “Would you want one?”
You shrug. “I don’t know, man, you tell me.”
Levi playfully rolls his eyes. “C’mere.” He gestures for you to sit on his lap. You follow his command, now you’re snug against him. “Whatever you want, you’ll get.”
You nod.
“I love you, and I just want you to be happy.” He murmurs against your skin.
“I know, I appreciate you. I love you too.” You think about how lucky you are to have someone like Levi. “I don’t deserve you.” You mumble.
“Tch, don’t say that. I’d argue it’s the other way around.
“Absolutely not.”
“I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.” He places a small trail of kisses on your skin.
“I guess so.” You giggle.
Maybe you would take him up on the offer.
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Last year in January I got COVID and I was looking for things to watch. I ended up doing a Prime trial and I started watching The Legends of Vox Machina. I knew that it was based on a D&D Campaign that spanned multiple years and was thousands of hours long, and usually I find that length of content to be overwhelming. But after I finished the animated show I decided to jump into the critical role campaign 2 because - well there were lesbians.
Over the next 10 months I fell in love with The Mighty Nein, but as I was nearing the end I was getting so sad that I found it hard to watch and one day while on YouTube it just so happened to be Thursday night and CR was live with Bells Hells.
Now I had not watched by of campaign 3 but I was aware of the Bells Hells characters and I knew that Imogen and Laudna were shipped, but I also knew it was not cannon. Frankly I was debating on whether or not to watch campaign 3 at all because subtext sapphic relationships that aren’t actually together drive me crazy and I tend to avoid them for my own well being.
But it just so happened that the night I tuned in for my first ever live CR episode and the first episode of Bells Hells I had scene was episode 65. Thats right, while I casually had the show on in the background Imogen asked Laudna to kiss her. I was shocked and immediately wanted to rewind but I couldn’t because it was live! Was I wrong were the characters actually together and I didn’t know it? But no my first ever live episode was when Laura said “Can I kiss you?” to Laudna for the first time.
I explained this lovely coincidence to my girlfriend who has never seen an episode but knows all my favorite characters in what she calls “my nerd show” and it honestly just felt perfect.
In a world where shows are coming with shorter and shorter episode counts and all the shows with sapphic characters are canceled being able to nestle into the thousands of hours of critical role has been a gift. I’m finally caught up on CR 3 and all I can feel is gratitude 💜
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okay I’ve seen a lot of posts about sterling just being crowley and. guys. the implications just hear me out 😭😭😭
bending lore slightly here BUT let’s say crowley’s body was once inhabited by a human and crowley is possessing the body (maybe he kills the initial inhabitant bc he doesn’t care)
but he still has the guy’s memories. he doesn’t bother keeping up appearances with his ‘ex wife’ because he is too busy building up his hell empire. BUT for some reason he can’t quite identify, he still feels something towards his ‘daughter’. he lets the divorce happen and doesn’t feel the need (or desire) to fight for custody, but he can never quite forget her, to cast her out of his mind for good
some hijinks ensue with the leverage team. it’s mostly because even a grind culture demon wants some off time every once in a while, and for him the insurance investigator stuff is more of a hobby. interacting with the leverage crew is very low stakes for him, and honestly, quite amusing. they aren’t on his level power-wise, but that ford character gives him the mental exercise he hasn’t experienced in, well, he can’t even remember
he can feel their frustration and anger when they learn he has become employed by interpol and feeds off it. it’s great, and relaxing in a way he is never able to achieve while conducting hell-related business
one year he gets wind that olivia is in a really bad situation associated with his ‘ex wife’s’ new husband. he’s selling vital hardware to terrorists, and while that might actually be the kind of chaos he would normally support or be entertained by as the king of hell, something feels wrong about letting olivia stay anywhere near that man
he calls upon the body’s adversaries. he wouldn’t admit it, even under duress, BUT he feels slightly fond of them. nate for the three dimensional chess they play, sophie for her ability to charm and disguise, parker for her chaos and slightly unsettling nature (it’s the autism swag and being bad with human interaction but he doesn’t know that lol), hardison for his unapologetic intelligence and eliot for his hardened violent past and take-no-shit persona (he’s fun to tease)
they perform exactly as he expected, right into his carefully crafted plan. and then olivia is under his care and things get more complicated. he keeps her FAR, FAR away from anything related to the supernatural (heh). no one can find out about her, ESPECIALLY not those imbecile hunter brothers (if for nothing else than the embarrassment in revealing he has a weak spot)
not sure how to work it into this post but I also want to add that somewhere along the way he develops feelings for nate and sophie. the frame up job is near and dear to my heart and you can’t convince me that isn’t fighting as flirting behavior. his interpol persona is more of a side hustle so to speak, but he finds it fun (relaxing, even) to fill that role. there aren’t any obligations of other demons, bothersome hunters, or anything like that. nate and sophie are low stakes, except, they aren’t, really. they make him feel things he can’t ever really remember feeling. his heart beats fast when sophie sat in his lap and cradled his face, his hands sweat when nate gives him that certain smug look. he’s exasperated by the way they can run circles around him like no one else has ever before. they annoy him and get under his skin in a way no one else can and it’s infuriating. but also not, at the same time. maybe he likes it
and then the long goodbye job happens
hear me out and suspend your belief here for a second, because I can’t remember if crowley supernaturally knows when ppl die/are dead or not.
so nate is in interpol custody and the interviewer is obviously out of her depth. (most people are, when it comes to nathan ford.) he walks in and pours the man a drink, but he’s fuming. somewhere along the way he came to care about the team. hell and suffering is literally in his (official) job description, but he can admit (only to himself) that he admires what they do. it’s not for him, not anything close to where his passions and interests lie, but he respects their drive and purpose. he is also aware enough to acknowledge that they are a family, a group of misfits that never belonged quite anywhere except to each other.
and nate fucking blew it up, ruined it, because his vice is being so obsessed with the end game that he is apparently willing to let his team, his family, the people that anchor him to reality, die because the ends supposedly justify the means.
not this time. not to sterling crowley
he is enraged. he can admit within the confines of his mind that he cares for nate, for sophie, even for the other three (though nate and sophie have somehow made it a hierarchy where they are more important to him. which he will dissect later in private. maybe.)
nate let them die, he let sophie die, and for what? the black book? hell below, crowley would have made things easier somehow, if he knew that this was where nate’s sights had lied. he would have prevented this somehow. he wants to have prevented this. he doesn’t want any of them dead and is too afraid to check and verify because that would make it real. the idea of sophie (or any of them) somehow making it to hell instead of heaven would probably break something in him he might not be able to repare fully.
he yells at nate- he’s angry. hellfire burning in his heart because everything is ruined. the deaths aside (however hard it is to set them aside in his mind), nate will not recover from this, not ever. this will be the start of the end, he is sure. a miserable, guilt-ridden existence where he drinks himself to death and nothing will save him. it plays out in crowley’s mind in a thousand different ways that are beyond painful to conceptualize, even in theory.
the story starts to unravel and there is a game afoot. a solemn, miserable, infuriating game because the con is still in session because parker is alive and in the building- which sets another fire alight in his chest. ‘parker even know you got hardison killed?’ he rages for her grief when she finds out. he knows it will double when she finds out eliot has perished, too, because he isn’t fucking blind.
but nate is a brilliant man, lest he forget too quickly. they are all alive, and somehow still the entire crew slips through his fingers. he’s not even angry (he never would have been- he doesn’t actually try too hard to catch them. it’s about the game, not the consequences). he lets them keep the black book because he’s fucking exhausted and honestly, they more than earned it.
‘now we’re even. tell sophie to drive carefully’. they will never be even, not really. crowley would never admit or agree that being human is the superior state of being, but that have made him feel human in a way he doesn’t actually mind. they keep him on his toes and match him in a way unique to them, they remind him that there are other things than the realm of hell. not necessarily bigger than hell, but maybe just as important in a different sense.
watching the van drive away, something inside him settles. when he walked into the interrogation room that day he thought this was the beginning of the end. it’s not the end at all, not an end to anything. it’s a continuation of their story. maybe, he thinks, a beginning to a new era in it
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