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acourtofthought · 5 months

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"Elain would make a terrible High Lady"

"I've seen Rhysand do such ... horrible things, seen him play the dark prince over and over."

"I am here to help you fight against Hybern." "Bullshit," Cassian muttered.

"You'd be all too happy for war, considering how well you made out in the last one." "No one says war can't be lucrative," Helion countered.

I waited for it - for the blow that would surely doom us. We were thieves who had deceived him, we had come to his house in peace and stolen from him, had ripped into their minds to ensure our success.

One moment, Azriel was seated. The next, he'd blasted through Eris's shield with a flare of blue light and tackled him backward, wood shattering beneath them. / "Call of your overgrown bat," Beron ordered Rhys. Rhys was enjoying it, bargainw ith Eris or no - could have ended it seconds ago.

"You're a coward," I breathed to the High Lord of Autumn. Beron just said, "The same could be claimed of you." My stomach churned. "I don't need to explain myself to you." "No, but perhaps to that girl's family - but they're dead, too, aren't they? Butchered and burned to death in their own beds.

There was still much work to be done, trust to build.

The High Lords quarreled the most about the possibility of a new wall. And with every word of it, just as Helion said, that temporary allegiance frayed and snapped.

"We need the humans in other territories to trust us, if we can ever hope to achieve lasting peace." "Then perhaps Jurian and Vassa should deal with them."

"The Illyrians are pieces of shit," he said too quietly. I opened my mouth and shut it. / "They're hypocrites." "And what would you have me do, then? Disband the largest army in Prythian?" Azriel didn't answer.

"Your mate should have known better than to kick a downed male." "I can't say I'm particularly sorry that he did." "You will need Tamlin as an ally before the dust has settled. Tread carefully." I didn't want to think about it, consider it, today. Any day. "My business with him is done." "Yours might be, but Rhys's isn't. And you'd do well to remind your mate of that fact."

And though he roams these lands, he does not see or care for the neglect he passes, the lawlessness, the vulnerability.

I find the "Elain would make a terrible High Lady" arguments odd. The above is just a small list of what the leadership in Prythian looks like and the actions of those that report directly to a High Lord (who should be able to expect certain behaviors from his inner circle in important meetings or in regards to an entire group of their people). I'm not even trying to suggest that anyone is a bad High Lord, clearly Rhys and his ICs actions are meant to read as amusing and entertaining or warranted. And I think in certain situations there's only choosing between the lesser of two evils.

But it's evident that no one is perfect, that even the current High Lords are capable of mistakes and drama. And with so many strong personalities currently in charge, there is space for someone who approaches things in a different manner.

She had come alive here, and her joy was infectious. There wasn’t a servant or gardener who didn’t smile at her, and even the brusque head cook found excuses to bring her plates of cookies and tarts at various points in the day.

She had looked at that cottage with hope. I had looked at it with nothing but hatred. And I knew which one of us had been stronger.

She was generous, loving, and kind.

Elain had taken charge of planning

Elain, to my surprise, had a horse, a satchel of food, and supplies ready when I hurried down the stairs.

She put a hand on Nesta's knee. "Feyre gave and gave - for years. Let us now help her. Help ... others."

A lady - that's what Elain would become. What she was risking for this. (Lady?!? As in High Lady?! Possible foreshadowing???)

"I'll do it," Elain said, taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders. She didn't wait for either of us before she strode out, graceful as a doe.

My sister Elain can convince anyone to do anything with a few smiles.

Elain sat a little higher as she said to Cassian, "And as for Feyre's hunting during those years, it was not Nesta's neglect alone that is to blame. We were scared, and had received no training, and everything had been taken, and we failed her. Both of us."

Nesta went on, utterly unimpressed by any of us, "I assume you'll want to stay the night." I said, "If it's not too much trouble, then yes. We'll leave after breakfast tomorrow." Nesta didn't smile, but Elain beamed.

But Elain's cry - a warning. A warning to - . To my right, now exposed, Tamlin ran for me. To grab me at last.

Then Elain said quietly, "We could move them to Graysen's estate." "His father has high walls - made of thick stone. With space for plenty of people and supplies." "There are escape tunnels," Elain whispered. "Perhaps it is better than nothing." A glance between the Illyrians. "We can set up a guard - " Cassian began. "No," Elain interrupted, her voice louder than I'd heard it in months. "They...Graysen and his father..." Cassian's jaw tightened. "Then we cloak -" "They have hounds. Bred and trained to hunt you. Detect you." / Elain considered. "I can speak to him." "No," I said - at the same moment Nesta did. But Elain cut us of. "If - if you, and they" - a glance at Rhys, my friends - "come with me, your Fae scents might distract the dogs." "Glamour me," Elain said - to Rhys. "Make me look human. Just long enough to convince him to open his gates to those seeking sanctuary. Perhaps even let you set those wards around the estate." "This could end very badly, Elain." "It's already ended badly. Now it's just a matter of deciding how we meet the consequences." "Wisely said," Mor offered, smiling softly at Elain.

Then she was gone - shoulders a little squarer.

Elain offered a half smile. "I suppose that war makes wanting things like that unimportant."

Elain stepped out of a shadow behind him, and rammed Truth-Teller to the hilt through the back of the king's neck as she snarled in his ear, "Don't you touch my sister."

Elain swept in, apron gone and hair re-braided. "Please don't wait on my account," she said, taking the seat at the head of the table.

"It's their tradition though," Elain countered, her face still flushed with the cold. "One that they fought and died to protect in the war. Perhaps that's the better way to think of it, rather than feeling guilty. To remember that this day means something to them. All of them, regardless of who has more, who has less, and in celebrating the traditions, even through the presents, we honor those who fought for it's very existence, for the peace this city now has." For a moment I just stared at my sister, the wisdom she'd spoken. Not a whisper of those oracular abilities. Just clear eyes and an open expression.

"I asked Nuala to do it in that order," Elain said as the others gathered round. "Because you're the foundation, the one who lifts us. You always have been.

Elain, mourn as she might for the life she would have had with Graysen, had found a place, a role here. Tending to the gardens of Feyre's veritable palace on the river, helping other residents of Velaris restore their own destroyed gardens.

She had purpose, and joy, and friends. But those things had always come easily to her sister. Had always made Elain special.

When Rhys spoke like that, it was more of a command than a question. Elain waved a hand in dismissal.

"Using me."

"Elain showed some teeth."

"Don't forget that gardening often results in something pretty, but it involves getting one's hands dirty along the way".

And he knew the cruelty of the Hewn City troubled her. But she hadn't hesitated to come. When Feyre had offered to let her remain home, Elain had squared her shoulders and declared that she was part of this court - and would do whatever was needed.

Nesta was wrong, Cassian realized, to think Elain as loyal and loving as a dog. Elain saw every single thing Nesta had done, and understood why.

Let's recap. Elain owns up to her mistakes, gives credit where credit is due, is wise, observant, easily makes friends, can convince anyone to do anything with a few smiles, is willing to help out a people she only just became one of (and grew up fearing), brave when the situation calls for it, takes charge and pushes back on topics she thinks are important and is now offering herself up to dangerous situations. I also think it's important to note her diplomatic nature. Whereas Feyre and Nesta spent their childhood at one another's throats and hating their father, Elain managed a decent relationship to all three. No, she's not in a place to rule an entire court all on her own but neither was Feyre, that's why she had a partner by her side to help her learn (as Elain would too, these are romance books after all).

Prythian doesn't need another ruler who is willing to burn relationships in order to achieve a specific end result. No shade to Rhys, he's extremely self sacrificing and someone needs to fill the role that he does.

But we don't need another Rhys and Feyre, another Beron, another Tamlin, or even Tarquin (who while being a good male, doesn't really seem to go out of his way to interact with other courts). It needs a set of rulers who are better at negotiating peace between not only the courts but the human lands and those on the continent.

We know Lucien is set up to be a High Lord at some point (though something would need to happen to Helion for him to begin ruling in Day) and Elain is his mate. We know Tamlin is not currently any sort of leader to Spring so that means there could be a vacancy there. I doubt SJM told us that Elain's scent was a "promise of Spring" and that "the Spring Court had been made for someone like Elain" for absolutely no reason.

Of the possible future pairings, who would make more sense ruling the Fae in either Spring or Day?

Vassa and Lucien? Vassa who is a human Queen and has shown absolutely no interest in the needs of the fae after the war?

Az and Gwyn? Neither Gwyn or Az have been given hints that they'd be leaders of a court nor do they currently have anything to do with Day Court or Spring. Yes, Gwyn has Spring heritage through her grandmother but she doesn't have a connection to the political system there, nor does Az. Not like Lucien.

I think there is a huge amount of evidence showing why Elain would make an excellent leader and that's not even accounting for the fact that mates are equals. Even if in some weird twist she and Lucien don't end up together, it doesn't change that fact.

Mates are reflections of one another.

Rhys was the most powerful High Lord in Prythian's history, Feyre became his High Lady with the power of all 7 High Lords, both having a darkness to them.

Cassian is one of the strongest Illyrian's and the general of the Illyrians. Nesta had the power of death and is set to be the general of the Valkyries.

Lucien is a High Lords heir, showing the markers of such (knocking Cassian from his rage with a single word) AND has strong fire powers through his mothers line. Through Lucien we learned that High Lords are a different breed and through the Suriel we learned that they are not merely powerful, they are Power.

Elain as his mate would need to be a match to Lucien's power and even if she were not a High Lady chosen by the magic, there is little chance Lucien would not make her his High Lady as Rhys made Feyre his, meaning she would be a ruler by his side.

Diminishing all that we know of Elain and what we know of mates, claiming she'd be a horrible ruler though SJM mated her to a future High Lord, it's fandom pettiness born of hatred for her character.

#elucien #elain archeron #pro elucien #lucien vanserra #pro lucien vanserra #pro elain archeron #high lady elain

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woah-uhuh-uhuh-uhuh · 9 months

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Christine Canigula was socially ostracized & developed a complex to protect herself: an essay

(suddenly i NEED to infodump about Christine actually so here)

Something I only noticed on rewatch: the way Christine will say something silly and then just kind of gingerly wait to see if Jeremy reacts well to it before continuing, almost like she's asking permission?? (e.g. the gap after the first stanza of "Play Rehearsal"). And it's only after he riffs off her bowling alley bit that she feels comfortable talking about her personal feelings with him (right before "Guy that I'd Kinda be Into"). The same happens with their "weird noise" exchange immediately before "It's pretty killer to sit and chat with you." I know theater relies on being succinct, and that 'bonding over shared quirks' and 'feelings talk' are both just crucial parts of relationship development... but I don't think it's a coincidence that it always goes in that order!

It's like Jeremy has to pass these *trials of weirdness* before she feels safe opening up to him and it drives me BONKERS so I wrote a whole 1000 word thing about it under the cut and this got too massive and I'm sorry. Also some autistic Jeremy meta at the end if that sweetens the pot hehehe

Table of contents:

Why she was ostracized

How she was ostracized

How that might inform her pattern of relationship development with Jeremy and Jake

How gender caused Jeremy's experiences to differ from hers, and how that affects their current relationships with "popularity" and peer acceptance.

1. Why she was ostracized

I am just so certain that Christine has been bullied or at least majorly outcast for a lot of her life. She's very obviously neurodivergent and because of that she can have these obnoxiously deep and repetitive interests, she can't judge if a piece of information will be genuinely interesting to someone, and she doesn't take social cues very well.

She frequently interrupts people when they're talking (an ADHD symptom btw), even when they're literally talking to her about the thing she wants to hear!

(C: "Do you find that? Because I totally find that!" J: "Uh, yeah, I-" C: "-And no matter how hard I try....")

(J: "I know the last thing I deserve is another shot, but-" C:"Jeremy, just... say what's on your mind.") (girl I'm sorry but that's what he was doing..... I have a whole other thoughtpiece on how this particularly fucks with Jeremy while they're dating but thats another thing...)

She doesn't seem confident in her interpretations of people's emotions and she'll ask/talk about them point blank (both theirs and her own) in a way a lot of people would find rude

("Uh, you seem really nervous...") ("Popular people are fucked up! *mutual laughter* …I mean, you're one of them!") ("I am flattered, this is new / still I'm not sure what I should do" <- as a response to getting asked out, that's pretty bold! Plus the entire part where she laughs at Jake's "rich boy routine") (also compare and contrast to Jeremy's "I don't know what I'm supposed to say right now." idk. are your allistic stage dorks in the room with us right now motherfuckers)

I'd go on about her hyperfixations/special interests too but I think Play Rehearsal pretty much sums it up lol

2. How she was ostracized

All this to say that I am CERTAIN she spent a lot of her schooling having "nice girls" patiently let her sit with them at lunch for weeks at a time until they finally get sick of her rambling and faux pas. Only when they leave does Christine realize that they didn't actually care about anything she said... And this happens over and over and over. (I know this seems hella specific but I swear it's an actual phenomenon... at least I'm pretty sure? sdjflksjf)

But anyway, it's clear that by the time they're juniors, Christine has kind of (and I do only mean kind of) figured out what behaviour other people respond poorly to. And from evidence I stated in the intro, I think she's become really careful about which people she lets herself get attached to. She doesn't want this to ever happen again - which means if she's going to hang out with someone, she has to know that they actually care about her, that they know she will sometimes be obnoxious or blunt, and they'll still be okay with that forever.

3. Applying this to her canon relationships

You can extend this to Jake, someone who sees her in her element in drama rehearsal (the thing everyone finds annoying about her because she won't shut up about it) and STILL likes her. I think it's a totally valid reading that her bluntness with him later ("Upgrade") is just because she misreads him / doesn't quite get the social standard that she should be white lying instead. But I think you could also read her as testing the waters. If she's really going to commit to dating this guy, she's gotta know he's okay with her being herself. And the fact that this guy (and I think it's significant that he is a boy, for reasons I'll explain in the end note) genuinely seems to like her is a whole new level of peer validation ("I am flattered, this is new") -- so of course she's gonna fall at least a little! It doesn't hurt that he's "tired of being the person that everyone thinks that I am..." just like her!

Her history with being pity-liked makes Chloe's "advice," that Jake's just toying with her and is going to move on soon, even scarier, because that's genuinely happened to her (on a platonic level) so many times before.

Jeremy is also a good candidate from the beginning because he's weird he's a weirdo he doesn't fit in and he doesn't wanna fit in you ever see him without this stupid cardigan on? that's weird! And she keeps warming up to him not only because they're getting to know each other but because he gets progressively more willing to not only tolerate (as Jake does) but *participate* in her weirdness!

First, she does something weird and he tolerates it ("Play Rehearsal"); the next time she's weird, he participates! (bowling ball before GTIKBI). Then finally finally finally he initiates the weirdness and lets her join in! ("weird noises" exchange before GTIKBI reprise).

And notably, it is THIS moment that canonically signifies that they've hit the apex of their canon relationship development. If there was an achievement called "Befriend Christine," it would have popped up right then and there!!!

IN CONCLUSION: YOUR HONOR I LOVE THEM T_T

4: Christine vs. Jeremy: Gender differences & how that ultimately impacts their social goals

I also think all of this would have happened to Jeremy too if he'd been a girl. But because, generally, young boys feel less social obligation than girls to take pity on the autistic kid (and because boys tend to be more quickly recognized as autistic) he just ends up completely alone for most of his school life (Michael nonwithstanding - and yeah there's an important distinction between your childhood friend putting up with you and knowing that, woah, I guess literally nobody else ever will).

Meanwhile, Christine has had people "put up" with her, and she's SICK OF IT!

That's part of why their complexes are so different, because Christine is trying to check everyone she meets to make sure they'll be okay with her weirdness before she gets attached, Jeremy is trying to eliminate his weirdness altogether because he's never even experienced his peers listening out of *pity* so how the hell can he expect someone to ever listen to him out of *interest?*

Jeremy has never had someone pretend to like him before, so he completely lacks Christine's fear of befriending someone who secretly hates you. He doesn't realize how bad it'll hurt him if he destroys his real self for popularity, if he befriends people who would have bullied his real self. He doesn't know what disingenuous friendship feels like, so like a very young Christine he's still actively trying to get there because he thinks it's the only kind of validation he'll ever get.

Do you see what im saying? Do you see it???? AUAUGUGUUGGH

THANK YOU FOR READING!!! If you have thoughts or even rebuttals please share i am so desperate to discuss the blorbos

#theres gender theres autism theres stagedorks what more could you want #bmc #be more chill #christine bmc #christine canigula #jeremy heere #stagedorks #bmc meta #my posts #meta #essay #my meta #jeremy #christine #character analysis #guys academia ruined me actually #this literally genuinely hits the full word count requirement for a midterm paper i was supposed to start writing today #but instead i did this

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sciderman · 9 months

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Omfg he IS Daffy. Like. If we want to get into specifics…Wade’s entire life is that episode where Daffy keeps trying to play out the scene and the “animator” keeps drawing new ways to fuck up the scene. And after you’re certain Daffy has lost the tiny semblance of the sanity he had left, you pan out and it’s just Bugs in the animation studio closing the book on Daffy.

Oh man that tracks on so many levels. Especially the power exchange when Peter takes on the Daffy role and Wade gets to be Bugs. Even down to how Bugs dresses in drag, typically leaving Daffy to fend for himself in terms of the antagonist. When Wade dresses in drag or even simply wears a dress, even when Peter enjoys it he’s usually left to fend for himself against his biggest foe: his gender and sexuality.

Now I have to know…do you think Peter can get to a point where he’s taking up the Bugs role from time to time, or is he an eternal Daffy?

P.S.: Daffy is my FAVORITE.

i LOVE daffy, he's one of my favourite characters in fiction ever. and i've always said it, wade is very daffy duck coded.

wise guy ✅ funny way of talkin' ✅ ability to break the fourth wall ✅ tortured by the narrator ✅ mad about it ✅

even the kind of performative humour that's signature to looney tunes is hardwired into wade. the way he talks in early comics - even his debut series every issue is themed to ducks. i think it's all very intentional he's always meant to have been a looney tunes-esque figure, and that's the way he chooses to perform.

i was a looney tunes girlie growing up (my favourite) and watched looney tunes cartoons religiously and so SO much of my humour came from those cartoons and feeds into how i write wade (daffy and bugs are both like, the biggest inspirations for the way i write wade, no doubt. no doubt. i don't even know if i can point to any other characters as inspiration, save for wade himself.)

i'll squeeze in a clip from duck amuck (my favourite piece of media like, ever created ever.) please seek out the whole cartoon if you haven't - i really think it's one of the greatest cartoons ever made.

youtube

bugs and daffy's dynamic (especially in later content of them, where they're cosier and more self-aware) is a huge inspiration too - an odd couple that kind of hates each other because they're always, always diametrically opposed but kind of know each other so well and know each other's BIT so well that when they have each other's interests at heart and work together they are The Ultimate Duo with like, the most fire chemistry you've ever seen. the most unstoppable banter you've ever seen. when they're in a room together, absolutely no one else can get a word in. obsessed with that dynamic.

wade and peter are very bugs and daffy coded but it's dealers choice who gets to be bugs and who gets to be daffy. they're switches. i think it's all about who has the upper hand in the scenario - bugs usually has a confidence in a situation that comes from him knowing something daffy doesn't - (ergo, wade is usually the bugs. because he usually knows something peter doesn't.)

but... buuuuut, it's not always the case - and wade doesn't always have the upper hand when it comes to his dynamic with peter - particularly when he's feeling emotionally vulnerable. peter can handle those situations better than wade does. those moments, regrettably - happen more often in the fics than on the blog, because it usually happens when their clothes are off. (oops.)

wade's daffy moments happen when he's Not the smartest guy in the room, or things don't work out in his favour or he's not in control of the situation and he's being dramatic about it.

in those moments, peter gets to be the bugs. the level-headed guy who's in charge of the situation. i hope he gets more moments like that. because it's kind of insane that wade's usually the sane one here. and he needs to be dethroned.

peter needs more bugs bunny moments - and though i'm not sure when - olive and anita's warring divas dynamic fits the bugs and daffy model with so much more ferocity. they will be dropping pianos on each other. and you can guess who gets to be the bugs.

#sci speaks #ask-spiderpool #peter season. WADE season. peter season. WADE season! wade season. PETER SEASON FIRE!!

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misc-obeyme · 1 year

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Could you do how the brothers would react to MC's Barbie and Lego sets? Would they play with them or just support MC by buying more sets

Hi there, anon!

While I definitely think all the brothers would be supportive, I also think all of them could be talked into playing, too lol.

Thanks for the request!

brothers react to GN!MC who has Barbie and Lego sets

Warnings: none!

Lucifer

Due to his busy schedule, Lucifer is not likely to engage in playing with your sets unless you really get on his case about it. He's a busy demon. He likes that you're occupied, but he has mountains of paperwork. Please, MC, he just doesn't have the time.

Will absolutely purchase you new sets. Probably doesn't know which ones you have or don't have, so might need to consult with you or one of his brothers before purchasing one for you.

He's going to be concerned about storage, though. Wants to make sure that you have enough space to keep everything tidy. Please make sure you don't leave any tiny pieces on the floor because if he steps on a Lego it's all over.

When he does have a little time, you might be able to wrangle him into building a Lego set with you. Watch as he gets incredibly invested, refusing to sleep until it's complete. Might get a little frazzled, but in the end it turns out perfect.

Mammon

Acts like he's not interested. He's gonna say stuff like well okay I guess the Great Mammon can indulge ya for a bit, MC! But really he's totally fine with playing with you.

Always buying you new ones. Actually knows every single set you own and therefore is able to buy you ones you don't already have.

Keeps a couple in his room. Might act like he's more interested in keeping a finished Lego set, but secretly enjoys the Barbie sets, too. Displays them prominently where he can see them.

Good at putting them together. Anything that needs assembly, he's on it. If you're really struggling with a certain set, he is there to help. He'll be able to figure it out for you.

Leviathan

Of course he'll play with you, MC! Like he doesn't know how it is to be interested in something like that. He's going to be right there, ready to go.

Definitely buys you new sets. Finds you limited editions. Will wait in lines with you if necessary. He knows about new releases before you do, even.

Shows you how best to display them while you're not using them. Depending on how rare they are, might insist you get three of every set. You know, one to use, one to display, and one to keep!

If there is any kind of equivalent thing in the Devildom, he's going to get you into that, too. Lego-like sets that are Ruri themed? Maybe there's a little demon doll that's as popular as Barbie and has her own play sets? He will suggest them all to you.

Satan

Not likely to play with them. Likes watching you play with them, though. He'll join in if you really want him to. Give him a little bit of a pout and he'll succumb pretty fast.

Biggest exception to this is going to be any kind of set that has cats involved. Veterinarian Barbie with her own clinic full of kitties? Lego cats? He is invested.

Probably won't buy as many for you as the others - just because don't you already have enough sets, MC? But if he sees something he knows you don't have or that he thinks you'll particularly like, he'll get it for you. Especially if it's one he knows you've been wanting for a while.

When he does play, he comes up with elaborate story lines for all your Barbies. In fact, his favorite one becomes Detective Barbie while the rest become suspects and one is the victim. Watch him act out entire murder mysteries with them.

Asmodeus

Okay. Listen. Asmo is going to be making you new sets. Give him all your Barbies. They clearly need new clothes. He'll make them all entirely new wardrobes. Might not have the materials to make new Lego sets, but he's very good at designing them still.

If anything needs to be repaired, he's the one to go to. Might rope Levi into helping, but together there's nothing they can't fix for you.

Absolutely plays with you if you ask. He's happy to join in, especially considering how happy you look when he does. He just wants to see your sweet smiling face, MC. Also, you can expect elaborate Barbie fashion shows, especially if he's made them all new outfits.

Will buy you new ones without hesitation. Will just buy one whenever he sees it, doesn't even know if you already have it or not. You might end up with multiple sets because of this.

Beelzebub

You should be okay with this guy unless you've got anything that looks even remotely tasty. Fake food? Building a Lego cheeseburger? Forget it, those things are gone in seconds. It doesn't matter that it isn't actual food, we know he can eat anything. He's sorry, MC. They just looked so good and he was so hungry.

Keep him away from that stuff, but otherwise, you've got a buddy here. Beel will pretty much do anything that will make you happy, so if you want him to play with you, he will. Doesn't question it or act like he's not interested, he's interested in what you are interested in.

Feels bad about any that he's eaten, so will absolutely buy you new ones. Won't do it randomly, though. Always checks with you first. He wants to be sure he gets you ones you actually want.

Will always get roped into whatever you're working on. Plays with all the Barbie sets and helps as much as he can with the Lego sets. Perfectly content to sit by your side for hours. Just tell him what to do, MC.

Belphegor

Surprisingly easy to cajole into playing with you. If you're sitting in one spot for a while because you're playing with one or your sets, he's probably already asleep next to you anyway. When he wakes up and sees you, he's not going to be able to resist joining in. You're pretty cute, MC.

Surprisingly, Belphie knows all your sets. Any time he's with any of his brothers and they're considering buying one for you, he'll be able to direct them to one you don't have yet. He will buy them himself, too, but only if he knows it's one you really want.

Expect him to start using the Barbies to imitate his brothers. Turns one Barbie into Lucifer who doles out punishments to the others. One of the Barbies is him and she gets to sleep through everything.

He'll also use the Legos to make Lucifer crazy. Leaves them where he knows Lucifer won't notice and then steps on them. If Lucifer gets on your case about it, Belphie will take full responsibility for it. He doesn't want you to get into trouble because of his pranks.

masterlist | Thank you for reading!

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me nightbringer #obey me headcanons #obey me fanfiction #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me brothers #request #anon request #misc writes

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possibleplatypus · 2 years

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I just saw this article and I'm somehow even more disappointed.

But it turns out no one warned Captain America himself that a very personal piece of his history was about to be broadcast to the world. "I laughed my ass off," Ruffalo tells EW. "I'm like, 'Does someone need to talk to Captain America about this?' I haven't. I was afraid he was going to have it cut. Too late now, buddy. The cat's out of the bag."

Like... yes? He would have it cut because it's such bullshit? The fact that Chris who genuinely cares about Steve and who played that character for ten years wouldn't approve should've been an indicator.

Reducing Steve to jokes about his virginity is such a cheap shot. Avoiding that Sam is Captain America is too. I don't even know anymore.

My friend.... this is really funny, because I also just read this article today, and I was all geared up to write a rant about it when you popped into my inbox 😂

This is one of the most asinine articles I've ever read 🤣🤣🤣 and I've read quite a few in regards to certain characters in the MCU.

First to address your point about Chris Evans-- I do feel pretty bad for him. I think he genuinely connected to and cared about Steve Rogers as a character. From the interviews in which he talks about Steve, and particularly Steve's relationship with Bucky, I can tell he really put a lot of thought into Steve's heart and frame of mind, and I think he really made MCU Steve Rogers his. Certainly any new film incarnations of Steve will be measured up against Chris' interpretation, haha.

It's just... I don't think Chris would have wanted Steve to be disrespected like this. Ruffalo himself said he thought Chris would have put a stop to it. So it's distasteful that everyone would just go ahead and make obsessing over Steve's virginity a big part of Jennifer's character while laughing at it all the while. (I can't read Chris Evans' mind-- maybe he doesn't care, though I like to think he does.) As a big fan of Steve, Disney has not failed to disappoint me time after time, and this is just the icing on the cake.

And Sam, our new Captain America! Why does the MCU seem to forget that they have a new Captain America? Is it because they're spending all their energy marketing another Captain? 🤔 You'd think he would be of more note to a Manhattan lawyer's mind since he stopped freedom fighters antifa terrorists from killing the GRC members? Hell the Hollywood Reporter forgot and Chris had to remind them. I do feel bad for Anthony Mackie. 🤦 Silver lining-- at least She Hulk isn't obsessing over Sam's virginity??

And yes, I do agree that reducing Steve to jokes about his ass and virginity are a cheap shot. And it shows how puerile and insipid the MCU has become. They have nothing of note to say and they grab for anything that they think is funny, to the point of making jokes of their most beloved characters. I know they're aiming for the widest audience imaginable, including kids, but that doesn't mean they need to write like high schoolers (though tbh I know fanficcers in high school that write better than these guys). What mature adult honestly gives a such a huge crap about whether or not a (thought to be) deceased public figure and national hero had sex?

The first paragraph had me rolling my eyes already:

Jennifer Walters is the hero we all deserve, because in the very first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, she finally gets to the bottom of one of Marvel's biggest mysteries: Did Captain America die a virgin?

And it just gets worse.

As She-Hulk continues, viewers can expect to see more hilarious, meta, and, yes, horny moments like this. "The horniness! That stuff is my favorite," Maslany says with a laugh. She loved how Jen is obsessed with Captain America's virginity because "it's the human side of him, the real side, the thing that she would [relate to]."

You're telling me that Jennifer Walters, a lawyer whose opening scene showed her practicing her closing argument for a case against powerful business interests that caused the deaths of innocent people-- that Jennifer Walters, who was standing up for the little guy-- that this strong, compassionate woman, is "obsessed" with Captain America's virginity of all things because it's the "human, real" side of him that she would relate to?? Not the side of him that stood up against bullies at great detriment to his own well-being, even before he had the serum? Not the side of him that curled over a grenade to protect his fellow soldiers? The side that went into a Nazi death camp solo to rescue his best friend (and hundreds of other POWs) when the army left them for dead? The side of him that leveled a Nazi-infested US intelligence agency? The side of him that did exactly what she was shown to be doing right at the beginning of her own show??

I think @luna-rainbow said it best-- "to reduce “the human side of Steve” (or anyone, for that matter) to whether or not they fucked…is seriously superficial, intrusive and just pathetic."

But the actress admits she had no idea this was something Marvel fans have been wondering for years, adding, "I love that that's how everybody's thinking. In that vein of that question, there's a lot more Easter eggs like that throughout the season. There's something later that's a really great moment with a cameo that I won't say what happens, but it's basically like a walk of shame that's really funny."

I shudder to imagine what horrors await us.

And if any fans are wondering how credible Bruce's intel is, the debate can be put to rest: This is officially the true story of how Captain America lost his virginity. "We didn't set out thinking that we were going to be able to answer it," Gao tells EW. "It used to just be a running joke, that it's going to be a lifelong obsession for Jen, that this is the one thing that keeps her awake at night. It actually used to be in the show a lot more, where in every episode there would be some little reminder, like you'd see that her search history was this, and she was always in asides talking to other characters where everybody's reaction was like, 'She's talking about this again.'"

You're kidding me right? Does nobody on this team see how creepy it is for a grown woman to be obsessed lifelong with a dead man's sex life? Compare it to a random male character obsessing every night over whether or not Natasha had been a virgin when she died. And for this to be the thing that keeps her awake at night? Out of all the things she's experienced??

But then Gao got the definitive answer — and permission to use it — from Marvel's mastermind. "It was actually Kevin Feige who said, 'I know the answer. I can tell you. We can do the answer,'" Gao recalls. "And I was like, 'You have the answer, and we can tell everyone?' And he was like, 'Yeah.' So this is Marvel canon. This is straight from Kevin Feige."

SO IT WAS YOU, KEVIN FEIGE!!! Honestly when I read this I almost felt relieved. If it's Feige's own fatuous headcanon, I can ignore it. Why does the status of Steve Rogers' virginity take up so much of his headspace that he feels the need to insert it into a show that has nothing to do with him? And they were going to have it in every episode? Why?! PLEASE tell me they aren't doing that anymore. I don't want anyone in the MCU to ever utter Steve's name again.

#asks answered #she hulk #she hulk critical #steve rogers #kevin feige is such a creep #marvel meta #chris evans #disney keep steve rogers' name out of your mouth 2022 #long post #kevin feige stop creeping on steve 2022 #kevin feige goes to bed at night rubbing his hands and cackling about how he can ruin more beloved characters #mcu

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missielynne · 6 months

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Hi sweet mutual! A fun challenge if you feel like answering - in what ways do you prefer the British version of Ghosts to the US one, and in which ways do you think the US version is better than the UK one? I love both :)

Well hello hello! I love both too and I spend a lot of time thinking about this because honestly, I do need both. Each one does things that the concept of a ghost show needs to be successful that the other doesn't do, so just one show would feel incomplete to me.

Like for instance: the UK show is really good about saying "We're a ghost show. Let's have scenes that make the viewer uneasy and a little creeped out." Like whenever we see ghosts outside Button House, or even inside if their method of death necessitates it, they aren't afraid to show them graphically injured and creepy looking (like the butler in the party hat that got shot through the head, for instance, or even just Jemima for crying out loud. I mean would you want her standing over your bed singing at night?)

Same for what is probably my favorite moment in the whole show with the hitchhiker ghost in bump in the night: the build up to that is so good! And yes we get a little jump scare a la the sixth sense when you realize that she is in fact a ghost and we see her wound. But it has a creepier overall narrative purpose as well: Do not hitchhike Alison Cooper, or you will die like her. It just hits me how amazing it is every single time. (And this particular thing gets the BBC version A LOT of points in its favor.)

That's what I would like to see from the US version even a little bit. Make me uneasy. Make a chill go down my spine with scenes sometimes and actually play them as creepy. Elias and his corpse in the vault could have been an excellent example but it's always played more for laughs, which is a shame.

Now what I like most about the US version is that, of course since they have more time, they can play with the lore more. They can say "We are a ghost show, so we're gonna treat our ghosts like actual ghosts and have them possess people and explore their powers," whereas in the BBC version, they're treated more like people who have just died and are existing in the house, since the idea of them "moving on" as an endgame is not particularly important.

To me though, that leaves the BBC version to be a little more aimless than I prefer. It makes me feel more like I'm just waiting for stuff to actually happen since I don't know what the endgame for these souls actually is (whereas with the US version, it's much more clear.)

On the whole, I like the parts of BBC (like the individual episodes that can get from point a to point b e.g. Robbers invade Button house while Alison is gone, and they're caught by the end) rather than the series as a whole where I'm left to figure things out for myself because it's open ended when I would much prefer to know whether I'm right or wrong IN canon, (which is probably an American thing). Whereas with CBS Ghosts which is written to my American tastes, I can love it all because it's got better pacing and doesn't just dwell on certain things forever when there's still more story still to be told (like I don't know if it was cause of Covid restrictions or whatever but I'm a little frustrated that they spent a whole season going on and on about Alison's fake sister when they hadn't told the stories of Kitty's and Cap's deaths yet so we had to wait for them, for instance). Although there are certain parts of CBS (like Jessica and her whole car ghost lore) that I wish could have gotten more because it was so fascinating. Both are amazing in their own ways and I love them to pieces and I'm glad I don't have to choose one or the other.

So anyway, there you go! Thanks for the ask! :)

#cbs ghosts #bbc ghosts

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snekverse · 10 months

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Ik in mystreet a lot of the chars are anime enjoyers but im gonna be so specific with ranking them and the type of anime they watch

Travis: bro's the type to only watch it early morning, mid afternoon because the daylight makes it more enjoyable and his nd ass needs the mood to be there so he can watch his favorite shows. He had a BNHA phase but over the 3rd seasons halfway point he became a Sailor Moon watcher and is now embarrassed to admit he only watches shoujo anime, specifically ones with a good magic system because shapes and colors make him happy /lh

Katelyn: Strictly a magical girl anime enjoyer. I think this is cannon but she's the type to only watch it at night when everyone is asleep so nobody walks in and asks why she's smiling 😭 she never watched the origional Soul Eater but regularly re-watches Soul Eater Not! because that still counts /lh. She never finished Sailor Moon because she wants to watch the movies on the TV but almost never has time alone 😭

Nana: She watches a large variety but refuses to watch BNHA because Bakugou just pisses her off so much 😭 whatever it is about him she just wants to claw his eyes out. She definitely bullies the 30 year old bakugou fangirls /lh

Garroth: watched like one episode of one-piece but didn't care for the art styke and dropped it 😭

Lucinda: girl watches death note and only death note. She just likes the plot and the skrunkly ass man that doesnt wear shoes he's funky and reminds her of one of her ex's when she was still comphet /lh

Aaron: "i dont like the voice acting" he's so picky. Genres don't particularly matter but if the voice acting is a certain way he won't watch it 😭😭

Jeffory: He put on Madoka Magica with Abby thinking it was a cute show to occupy her with when he was too tired one day to play. It in fact was not just a cute magical girl show. She isn't allowed to watch anime he doesn't do research on now no matter how innocent it looks /lh

God... all of these are so true... Aaron just like me fr lol

Travis FOR SURE is a shoujo and shounen enthusiast,, heavy preference for shoujo. He def also watched, or at least tried to watch, a bunch of classic ie Naruto, DBZ, all that wackass 90s/early 2000s stuff lol. He def doesn't watch them anymore but still looks back fondly <3

Katelyn for sure is a softie for magical girl animes and probably enjoys watching shoujos with Travis from time to time, but she vehemently denies it all. I think she would really wanna cosplay some of the characters but would uncomfy with,,,, all of it lol

Nana watches anything popular until she decides that it sucks ass, which doesn't happen very frequently but she def watched episode 1 of BNHA and gave it a HARD pass bc.. yknow.. Bakugou.. anyways she is easily the most involved in Fandom culture and for sure starts shipping discourse for fun lol

I think garroth would be pretty off-put about a lot of anime tropes/genres and would generally not enjoy it but you're so right like so many people in his life watch anime he's gotta at least try right?? Don't ask me where this come from, but lowkey he seems like the kind of guy to accidentally watch a hanime and not realize until if was too late...

Lucinda def does not strike me as someone who really watches anime like at all,, unless the art style is genuinely just gorgeous beyond reason. That being said, I think she's a huge supporter of women's wrongs and would be interested in fucked up (female) charas like Makima from JJK. I don't think she'd ever get around to watching it, but she'd like all the fanart n shit and lowkey be involved in the fandom

Aaron is spot on lol no notes. He started watching it for Aphmau’s sake and while he doesn't dislike it its only very specific anime that he does like. Literally if anything is off it becomes just about unwatchable for him

Jeffory I think started watching because Katelyn used to be SUPER into anime and while he likes it a lot he rarely ever watches, partially bc he's such a busy guy. He def talks about anime the same way a parent would yknow?? Like he's trying to be interested and supportive but he's so out of touch now that he has no fuckin idea what's going on anymore lmao

Aphmau only watches super cutesy things, and sometimes shounens. She seems like the kind of person though he can't for the life of her sit through an entire show, but she's always super active in the fandom and despite never finishing the anime and not reading the manga, she's always up to date on what's going on plot-wise (def not projecting nope no way). The only exception is Attack on Titan which she's seen in full several times

Zane is almost the opposite, generally preferring shows with darker themes and goreier visuals. I generally think he tries to stay away from fandom spaces until he's up to date, and while I think he'd prefer to read the manga before watching the anime that takes a LOT more time and his free time's limited enough as is

#wow this was a doozy for someone who hasnt been involed in any anime/manga for years lol #aphmau #mystreet #aphmau mystreet #snek speaks #asks #travis valkrum #aphmau katelyn #aphmau kawaii~chan #nana ashida #garroth ro'meave #aaron lycan #aphmau jeffory #jeffory the golden heart #zane ro'meave

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dcviated · 1 year

Text

@more-than-a-princess from here

There's a clear sign of a reaction from Sonia's words on Eira's face. The way it relaxes and her eyes lid, allowing her the brief moment to run an arc blind around the edge of the rink. There's contentment and happiness, and another reminder why she so enjoyed Sonia's company- to a degree. There were of course other reasons to stay her enthusiasm around the princess.

"You understand it so well... even if you don't know the whole picture." Or maybe she did. It wasn't as though it was difficult to piece together the puzzle with those core pieces that had been shared. "My mother would take every opportunity to shape me into a perfect child as soon as a quality stood out that agreed with her image of what I needed to be to branch out as she did. Arts and etiquette. Class and respect. I had problems adapting to a fair bit of it, so whenever I showed initiative elsewhere it was something to be grasped, taken, honed..."

Things gained. Things lost.

"Ice skating has the sort of elegance befitting a woman, particularly one that should marry well. Or be paraded with it as part of some resume. Imagine her surprise when I decided I would be an idol instead. Yes, I will take advantage of those dancing classes, mother."

She smiles with a small laugh, letting the picture of the memory play out before her. It was her first true rebellion against those expectations and creating a swath of herself. She remembers too the pit in her stomach of what retaliation she may face. Was it the support of her brother, that saved her? Or her father's soft touch? She fights at times, to recall that face in her memory exactly. As that may be the one true picture of how she saw her daughter before the rationalization and coping began.

"Wait, hold on!" Her eyes are open again and she's giving quite the scrutinizing stare to the royal. "I just said I wouldn't be jumping. No, more important than that-- wh-who would know if I was jumping anyway unless you told someone!" Safe to say that she does have certain passages in her contracts limiting the amount of recklessness she was allowed. "This is what I mean, being around you can be so dangerous. You're trying to get me to jump with reverse psychology, aren't you? It won't work. I was serious. I am not chancing an injury now."

Oh this was frustrating and completely ruining the mood she was trying to enjoy! Sonia is fortunate that around her, at least, the woman cools down quickly. Otherwise that offer with her hands? It would have been removed.

"You and I may have different images of what constitutes as romantic. Fortunate, but horribly dangerous." Spoken so easily as a woman who hadn't allowed herself to experience such a situation. Too proud of her own standing to allow herself that show of weakness. She shudders to think what would occur to necessitate that kind of thing. It sounded horrifying. But then, she also can't say she wouldn't save someone much like Elizabeth had. Annoying.

#morethanaprincess #muse :: eira #verse :: idol #:: queue #sonia is being tricky #eira isnt falling for her wiles as pleasant as they may be

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dykedragonrider · 5 months

Text

Finished Alan Wake. During the credits, my girlfriend quoted a content creator to prompt me, saying that he had called it the best 6/10 he had played. I disagreed, I think it's probably the best 7/10 I've played, but I did get the sentiment. I do genuinely like the game on a thematic and storytelling level. I jokingly called it Signalis for straight people with the amount of recursive loop bullshit, and the main plot being driven by love. Comparing things can often do a disservice in the interest of letting them stand on their own merits though. The game is very honest with the player, it doesn't really hide anything ever and it's up to you to piece things together. I think this especially works because this is something I feel like literature does more than games do (though that might be sample size? I don't fully have the words, but ig the sentiment is that the game's way of conveying information about the plot to the player feels closer to a novel than a game?) but it's nothing too actively transformative? It's just Good Enough, which I'll take. Picking up the pages and reading things for like, foreshadowing and also gameplay clues was REALLY cool. Used its medium as a piece of interactive fiction well, and it also managed to communicate relevant offscreen information too if you looked for it! The prose wasn't exceptional on them, though, but there's kinda the thing that Alan's not a particularly great writer? It's bad on purpose in ways that feel like a bad author, not an inexperienced one, and that's kinda neat? I think my biggest problems with the game were gameplay though, there's a little bit of that stank that doesn't add to it and MAN, ALAN YOU NEED TO DO MORE CARDIO. The stamina was the biggest intrusion that I felt actively took away from stuff holy shit, but the light gimmick was cool! It wore on me past a certain point, but it didn't stop being *cool* and you could be thoughtful like with flashing the flashlight to stun foes to create space. I'll probably end up playing 2 at some point, in no small part because my girlfriend is SUPER into it (and like, I get it. This wasn't grown in a lab for me but I *do* at least like it.) but I just do not like epic games store bullshit lmao.

#tsunny reviews #alan wake

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voidbuggg · 5 months

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🍕💼🎯🥊❤️✂️🧊🍀🌂🙌🍎💎🍩 gib me scrunkly lore plz 🥺

yeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaa thank you so many aahh, once again since this is a Big One I am gonna throw these under the cut/zaza pic :3

🍕 - What is their favourite food? Since we’ve established the gas station snack food thing I’ll make another addition that isn’t dependent on a modern setting: jerky, generally anything crunchy. Any setting in which chips (or even crackers) exist you can bet he’s gonna be scarfing those fuckers down.

💼 - What do they do for a living? Ok so this is funny; in everywhere except the very scuffed ass modern/fc5 AU he mainly just steals shit. If asked why he’s always very ideological about why he does it, very particular about his targets but ultimately yeah. Whatever he can’t obtain via his weirdo hermit ass lifestyle he just forages in other peoples’ homes and businesses for. He could probably make some bank selling the shit he makes if he had any tolerance for the prospective buyers but that is not going to happen because stealing is less annoying.

🎯 -What do they do best? Answered HERE

🥊 -What do they love to do? What do they hate to do? Loves to fucking chill idk. If left to his own devices he would probably just roam around, climb some mountains, build some dumb shit, make a campfire, play guitar, who knows. As for hate. uhm. I don't think there's any day-to-day activity that he genuinely cant stand. Like he doesn't particularly like going to pick up the mail or answering the door but like it's not the end of the world. He definitely hates when things are done TO him though lmao- he hates being touched except by a VERY specific few people, otherwise expect to lose an arm.

❤️ - What is one of your OC’s best memories? Answered HERE <3

✂️ - What is one of your OC’s worst memories? There was a prominent antagonist in the main RP I did with him, a dracolich who managed to push his buttons like no one else could and more or less took away everything that he held dear. Needless to say Eran went full murder mode, forgot how to be human for a few years, the whole nine yards. I could gush about that RP for hours it is my favourite thing I’ve done with Eran like ever

🧊 - Is their current design the first one? I went and tracked down a specil [ EXCLUSIVE !! ] piece of sprinkle history: behold scrackle circa 2009.

Needless to say the current design is slightly different. Having said that I think I had the basics of his design dialed in within the first few years.

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC? I can’t explain this without sounding like an insane person, but it involves a fixation that 13yo bug had with a popular Canadian country-rock band. It’s all completely irrelevant now but it is funny to think about. There were comics.

🌂 - What genre do they belong in? For a long time I had him really locked in to fantasy stuff but I am less and less enamoured with that genre as time goes on for a few different reasons. It’s familiar and comfortable for me certainly, and Eran has BY FAR the most ‘lore’ in his original, fantasy-ish canon. So I’m not sure if that counts as belonging but it’s certainly his origin. Even then that's more of a setting than a genre so I'll expand on that- I think there are certain elements that make an Eran story successful in my eyes, that aren't limited to fantasy. I need him to be able to do crimes, be a Wild Boy and generally be more of a freak than a modern setting would typically allow (not to 100% trash the FC5 au but it definitely needs…something). I think it would be funny to put him in a heist movie. I’ve always liked him best when leaning heavily into the drama, character study sort of shit.

🙌 - How many sibling does your OC have? One brother, Ash, whom he hates.

🍎 - What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like? Bad! His whole family is a cult in its own right more or less and Eran really doesn’t want anything to do with them. It's admittedly something I haven't fleshed out toooooo much. E's very much a 'keep moving forward' type of guy so naturally his family past stuff has not had too much attention.

💎 - Do you ever see yourself killing off the OC? I have had him beef it before- obviously it’s been in self contained storylines. As for anything more permanent- hard to say. I never want to rule out the possibility entirely. I definitely feel like I’ve exhausted my writing options for him at the moment so that seems close to death in a way. I can draw the little bastard until the end of days but coherent story content has been…. Lacking. :|

🍩 -Who is your OC’s arch-nemesis or rival? I don’t feel like he’s had a ‘nemesis’ really in any of the main stories. His scraps tend to be against larger organisations, the world around him or his own dumb ass decisions. I think his most persistent ‘enemy’ has been a Mages’ Guild (also from ‘The RP’ I keep blabbing on about) which he angered on many different occasions though not without good reason. ;)

#thank you for all of these twas fun #post office #eran #scrunkly lore

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clinically-not-straight · 9 months

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alright kink rating time since you said you wanted all da kinks.

foot, armpit, inflation, scat, piss, feederism, petplay, leather, objectification, breath play, age play, tentacle stuff, breeding, CNC, impact play, and 24/7 arrangements.

have fun!

So this is the scale I'm using for anyone that had not seen the post, which you probably have

Foot - No - there's enough shit involving feet in my life, that's not coming into my sex life any time soon.

Armpits - No - not a fan of sweat, the flavour, the anything, just another piece of skin to me, not even a particularly good one.

Piss - Yes - ok so it has to be in certain conditions and the mood has to be right, but yeah I could. Imo, its best used as a humiliation thing because like, what's more embarassing than pissing yourself?

Scat - Sure - I'll tell you what's more embarassing, shitting yourself. Do I like the smell? 4/10. do I like the clean up? 2/10. Again, a fantastic humiliation tactic but it needs to be under certain circumstances for me to enjoy it. I don't wanna be doing it, my partner would have to be doing it, I don't want it on me.

Inflation - No - hits me the same way a looney tunes hammer does. Its comedic but I don't see the sexy surrounding it.

Feederism - Rather not - depends really, force feeding is cool with me but I don't really see what's hot about making someone gain weight. I suppose if you making them home made stuff to force down their face-holes there's a care aspect to it and blah blah blah idk. Probably just not my deal.

Petplay - Oh god you don't even know - I FUCKING LOVE THIS SHIT. Like, you can throw this into all kinda of shit. And shit from this can be mixed in with everything else too it is the shit.

Leather - I dunno - yeah its cool, I see the appeal, very pretty material, just not my thing.

Objectification - yes - hot. Having such control over someone that you can treat them like an object? Golden

Breath play - rather not - yeah I know how it works, yeah I know what it does, do I care for it? Not particularly. Had a friend that just thought this meant breathing heavily in someone's ear then got confused about it when I said that its choking and that's a kink thing, he said he thought it was a vanilla thing because a load of his exes liked it.

Age play - oh my fucking god you don't even know - ok so, again, this one needs explaining. Humiliation-wise I see demoting someone to the status of a toddler or whatever as very humiliating, especially if they do it themselves or if you do nothing and its involuntary. On the other hand, I really love the CG stuff involved in this, its really sweet and it just feels right to do, I'm really cuddly so there's that.

Tentacle stuff - I dunno - so, its cool cos it can bend to any shape basically. But its not a massive deal to me. Know what else can bend and has more extremities than a single tentacle? My hand, fucker has five whole fingers.

Breeding - I dunno -not saying no. I like this being used as a free use thing and also involving it with objectification etc etc, that's cool. I don't want to get someone pregnant or nout though so even the thought kills it for me.

CNC - you don't even fucking know - look, pairing it with humiliation, yes its perfect. First, being able to just grab them and say "we're fucking now" is great, like free use I guess. But CNC as a concept doesn't stop at sex, just making them do shit against their will is fantastic, people think it ends at sex but it doesn't. You've gotta have the creative brain in you to unlock the full potential of CNC.

Impact play - No (except spanking) - I don't like being mean, as oppise to what every other answer says. Just not a fan of hitting etc.

24/7 - no brainer (that's a new category I just made up) - I would love to live out my fantasies 24/7. That's so fucking hot. I'm more of a 24/6 or a 20/7 kinda guy but I wouldn't say no to 24/7.

Thank you very much @ruimtetijd you big sexy piece of shit. This was a wonderful game to play.

#there are more #this does not cover half of my big and very sexy interests #althought thank you very much for sending this because I love talking about this stuff #idk why #maybe its a thing where I had no freedom before so now I feel a need to express me for me

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fallingtowers · 1 year

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Serious question: do you see Disco Elysium as copaganda because it humanizes cops, despite its brutal condemnation of police work? If so, how do you square that with disliking Succession, which does the absolute Most to critique capitalist structures while humanizing (but not endearing) its characters because, yes, even the worst of the worst are human? This isn't meant in bad faith, I'm genuinely curious!

this got long so i'm putting it under a cut

i've grappled with the question of "is disco elysium copaganda" and, like, no, obviously de isn't copaganda in terms of intent; it's obviously a clearsighted and intentional critique of the police and capital at large. (i've had the same thoughts about the discworld city watch books, another piece of cop media that i like a lot and whose creator by and large seemed like a decent guy, even if pratchett was less of a Hardline Marxist than the za/um folks.)

however, i do think de occupies a kind of uneasy position in the cultural landscape because while, yes, it would be pretty tough to play that game and come away from it being like "wow! cops are great!" a LOT of people came away from it being like "wow! kim kitsuragi so cool! i love hdb he's my little meow meow!" and, at least in some cases, i think it might well lead to those people developing a voice in their mind which is sympathetic to irl cops.

TO BE CLEAR, i don't mean disco elysium Made People Like Cops. i mean it might have made certain people, on an emotional level, without realizing it themselves, more inclined to judge the actions of irl cops somewhat more sympathetically.

that isn't to say that disco elysium has done more bad than it has good -- i genuinely don't believe it has. i just mean to illustrate that talking about this stuff is by necessity a double-edged sword. humans are naturally inclined towards sympathy, and by showing someone's perspective in the way that de or succession do you're priming the audience to, while not necessarily liking that person, at least attempting to understand them.

this is a little problematic especially in the context of succession -- in a television drama, especially one of succession's caliber, we expect intriguing and complicated character motivations. and so we get this web of familial loyalties and obligations and neuroses, while in real life i doubt most rich right-wing media people operate on motivations much more complex than "i want to make lots of money, and if i get [insert minority here] killed in the process that's just a bonus."

"even the worst of the worst are human" -- this kind of ties into the point i'm making. yes, of course, but do we need media that shows this? there are other ways to critique capital without giving the spotlight over to the worst of the worst. no matter how starkly the spotlight picks out their flaws, the spotlight is still on them.

again, i don't think it's like a moral ill to watch succession. i don't think it's a particularly bad show. it's fine! i'm not even trying to argue that it's doing more harm than good -- for all i know, it might have driven home the fact that capitalism bad to tons of viewers who hadn't already internalized that knowledge. i guess all i'm saying is it makes me feel weird when people reblog my joke textposts and tag it with "#this is sooo roman" or whatever.

so, to sum up: is de copaganda? nah, not really, BUT. is succession actually propaganda? nah, probably not, BUT. and the "but" in both those cases is "but, even if you're reasonably certain the media you are consuming wasn't created to actively manipulate you, it is still a good idea to always apply the wisdom of 'i am not immune to propaganda' and think about how it might be affecting your opinions and biases subconsciously"

#this is a lot of words for something i don't actually feel that strongly about. sorry.

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eliteoftheskies · 9 months

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( @taraka-at-naranjauva )

You look cool…so, what’s your home like?

Oh, how flattering, thank you!

Hm... I can't be certain if you're referring to the Hyrule region as a whole or my own home, so I'll discuss both.

The Hyrule region is an incredibly diverse place in terms of both climate and the peoples you can find within it. To the northeast, you may find a volcano, rather originally (and aptly) named Death Mountain. Only Fire-types and Gorons can spend much time outside there when it is erupting, and while as a rule the Pokemon League tries not to restrict trainers from traveling, when it is legitimately dangerous without special equipment, we really try to make sure trainers have that equipment before they go there and risk burning to death. (The Goron Gym may be found near the summit of the volcano, even higher up than Goron City, but they maintain several buildings near all the major routes into that part of Hyrule to make sure that people are ready to go up there.)

Maybe they should call it Death Mountain Gym. Or just Death Gym. It would make my job keeping idiots from getting themselves and their Pokemon from being set on fire so much easier...

Directly to the west of Death Mountain, you can find the Great Hyrule Forest. Korok Gym is deep within its depths, and trainers are not normally allowed to venture into the forest without a guide. Fortunately, there are a lot of guides. Unfortunately, a lot of particularly foolish individuals tend to try their luck without a guide, and subsequently find themselves getting very lost. The guides make a sweep of the forest every couple of days, or sooner if any lost trainers have smarter friends who let them know that their friends are missing.

To the southeast, you may find Hateno Town, Kakariko Town, and Zora's Domain, all of which also play host to gyms. Hateno Town also has the dubious honor of being our new Champion's hometown, as well as home to Professor Purah's Lab. The professor is willing to give a Sheikah Slate as well as a starter Pokemon to anyone fifteen years of age or older that does not already have a Pokemon of their own—I have only recently persuaded her to grant me a Sheikah Slate of my own, and can now confirm that, in addition to the Pokedex app, these pieces of technology also include several games (such as five-dimensional chess with multiverse time travel, a game where one attempts to figure out where in Hyrule a picture was taken, and solitaire) and the capability for unlimited storage.

...Also, this strange manner of connectivity by the name of Rotomblr. Given how new I was told it was, I'm rather surprised that there are so many others here already...

Not that I'm complaining, it's nice to be appreciated!

Hateno Town also has a gym, though it is far from common knowledge how to access it and who the leader is. I won't be revealing that particular secret here.

Then we have Kakariko Town, which—owing to its relative nearness to Hateno Town as well as its gym leader's connection to the regional professor—tends to be the first gym most aspiring trainers take on. It's a quiet place, even with trainers traveling through, and even with the many businesses that have sprung up to cater to beginning trainers.

Zora's Domain is a very pretty place. It is also a very wet place, and I can't say that I particularly enjoy being drenched as I so often am when I pay a visit, so typically when League business requires one of us to go there, I strongly encourage Mipha to be the one to go.

It isn't as if she needs much encouragement. She was the gym leader there before her brother.

Then, I suppose... to the southwest, we have Gerudo Town and the gym there, as well as... whatever is going on with the Karusa Gym these days. I was there recently and I still don't know what is going on with it, but despite it being a gym ostensibly specializing in Dark-types they really, really seem to like Tropius in particular.

Between the Gerudo Gym and the Karusa Gym, while one can in theory take on the various gyms in any order, in practice a lot of trainers tend to take on those two last, including the new Champion.

I may be a Flying-type specialist, but I have to say, I'm still rather impressed by that Garchomp... Patricia, I believe her nickname was?

Then, of course, in the northwest of Hyrule, we have the most important gym of all: Rito Gym! It is in my hometown, and while I no longer run it myself, I can confidently say that it was left in very capable wings when I moved on to the Elite Four.

I don't spend much time in Rito Town these days—while I'm of course more than capable of making such a flight to commute back and forth, it is a long flight and there is no reason for me to make it daily when I can instead live and work in Castle Town, the city built around the Pokemon League countless years ago upon its founding.

...In all honesty it is more than big enough to qualify as a city, but tradition is tradition I suppose...

Of course, we are still rebuilding in the wake of... recent incidents... but that does not affect the Pokemon League, and the new Champion is very much available for challenges. Look for the castle, and don't mind how... er, damaged... it looks in places. Fixing people's actual living accommodations is a slightly higher priority than keeping up appearances for us. You understand.

Thank you very much for your ask~

#rotomblr #pokeblogging #pokeblog rp #pokemon irl

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cevansbrat0007 · 1 year

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I personally love as little description about a reader insert as possible. It truly allows anyone to read along and picture themselves in her place. As a women of color it’s great when writers are inclusive like that because anyone no matter their race or body shape can still have a fun time reading and escaping from reality. Thank you for all your hard work ❤️

That's fair. And I do try to do this, even when describing her quirks or features. I'm open about the fact that Reader is written as a POC, but as such the only descriptors I typically include revolve around her having kinky, curly hair. I purposely don't try to give her a skin tone so as to avoid alienating dark-skinned or light-skinned individuals.

I see her in my head as being short because I am also short. Always have been and I always will be. This also goes back to writing the type of content that I wish to see as well. But I would just like to point out that a lot of times when Andy refers to Reader has being "little" it's also because he's working to establish or, in some cases, reestablish, their shared power dynamic.

Because he's her Daddy. And she is his Baby.

The line above could also be a point of contention for some folks. But I don't particularly want to hear their opinions about it because, well, you don't have to read anything that goes against your taste or squicks you out. Because at the end of the day, our triggers are also our own responsibility.

So he's going to call her his "little girl". And I occasionally will make references to her being short because in my mind she just is. But that's where the power and beauty of imagination comes into play. If I come across a certain character I like who's described as being "blonde", I might still choose to imagine them as a brunette because the image I've conjured up fits better -- to me. Sometimes my brain just does what it wants.

But I will never make a fuss over it. I will choose to ignore it and reshape it, or write what I want to see. Which is exactly what I'my trying to do every time I publish a piece that I've written.

No matter what I do, I will never be able to please anyone. If I write about Reader having self-esteem issues people will disagree. If I write about Reader having stretch marks, like many of us do including myself, someone will claim that it's gross. If I incorporate too much slang, I run the risk of the Reader sounding too ghetto when I personally see her as being an educated woman who also happens to be black.

It's really frustrating sometimes if I allow myself to become bogged down by it.

And I'm so sorry that this is coming off as more of a venting session instead of a tailored response. But please know that I sincerely appreciate your being respectful while throwing in your two cents. Thank you for accepting the fact that I do try for acknowledging my hard work. And what's more, I appreciate your constructive feedback.

Had the initial anon who started stirred all this up on my blog this morning conducted themselves with even a modicum of the grace and tact that you possess, I would have a whole different vibe going right now. Because I too use these characters as an escape.

And when people tell me that something I've created acts a comfort to them - be it a character, feeling, or situation - that is, perhaps, the ultimate compliment that I can receive as a writer.

But instead I feel the need to defend myself when this is supposed to be fun. Argh.

Anyways, thanks boo.

-Britt

#cevansbrat0007 asks #this is how you do it #you can offer input without being rude #thank you

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scyllas13thtentacle · 8 months

Text

Review and Critique of Detransition Baby

Detransition Baby attracted a lot of attention and earned a lot of very intense reactions from it's readers when it came out in 2021. It is still probably the one book of fiction by and about trans women that progressive cis women will have read or heard of.

Throughout reading this book I found a lot of issues with it just as a novel, which interfered with my ability to enjoy simply reading it, so to speak. This write-up started as a basic review of those things, which it still is in part-- just because Torrey Peters is a fellow trans woman doesn't mean I'm going to hold back picking apart the storytelling issues and roasting them piece by piece.

However beyond the plot/prose/characters of the story are within it baked a few potent ideas about queer family, and unashamed expressions of experiences of being trans in today's world (at least from a certain point of view); and these ideas and expressions are insightful, penetrating even, enough that they deserve to be engaged with on their own terms, in isolation from whatever issues I have with the book as a novel. Particularly, the main character Reese dropped a few very spicy hot-take interior monologues on gender, womanhood, and desiring men, which have attracted a lot of intense reactions of disgust, a lot of which I don't think are warranted.

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Part 1, Basic review of the story

So firstly, let's just go over the storytelling issues in this book before getting more philosophical.

Detransition Baby mostly reads like some kind of platonic dialogue between abstractions and archetypes rather than interactions between real people. The common critique I've seen that this book "self indulgent" is well deserves. Half the book sounds like the author talked to the disembodied voices in her head so much it became therapy, and then wrote a book around the transcript. Plot and character are at best minimalistic skeletons upon which to hang a little shadow puppet stage play, rather than feeling more organic.

A huge hole in the story is the question of Katrina's motivations. Both Amy/Ames and Reese have an obvious interest in raising a child in some sort of queer, unconventional, more or less polyamorous family; but Katrina's attraction to the concept is unclear, even though the whole premise of the book hinges on Katrina being somehow invested.

The most that we get on this is a bit where Katrina explains to the other characters that she's more or less in a phase in her life where she's looking to try something unorthodox, maybe even reckless, because she's coming from a place of deep disillusionment with the heteronormative nuclear family structure.

In other words, it sounds like Katrina's deciding to embark on starting a whole family and raise a child with two trans girls, one of whom is a totally uninvolved stranger to her with whom she has absolutely no pre-existing bond-- a decision that would change the lives of everyone involved including the unborn child-- all on a whim.

I'm not saying no one would ever make a decision as odd and crazy as this, but it's really stretching my suspension of disbelief and more importantly I think it weakens the narrative. For this to be a more compelling story, Katrina's character motivations also need to be more compelling, more than just disillusioned recklessness. There are plenty of divorced cis women in America and most of them don't start thinking the way Katrina does.

(The author even dedicates the book to divorced cis women, writing "To divorced cis women, who, like me, had to face starting their life over without either reinvesting in the illusions from the past, or growing bitter about the future." Somehow in a book about trans women the Dedication goes to "divorced cis women", whose struggles are, in a twist of the books themes, now comparable to that of queer trans women, which is a weird flex but ok 😂. I guess it has not really been my experience that divorced straight cis women suddenly become disillusioned with heteronormativity and become open to reinvention around how they conceptualize gender, but maybe that's more on me lmao.)

I also don't understand how even though Katrina is down for the possibility of this unconventional family involving Reese (Ames' ex, and a total stranger to her), what really gets her to doubt the whole arrangement is Ames/Amy's resolution that he (/she) is eventually going to re-transition. If you've already accepted this unconventional family, what's the big deal if Amy/Ames retransitions to becomes a woman (again)? Apparently Katrina can only accept a non-traditional family up to the point where there's still a father/husband figure that she needs to be in a relationship with.

The only way I could move forward at all with this story is to just indulge the author and handwave the issue away.

The failure of the narrative to provide a more compelling motivation for Katrina is especially disappointing because there absolutely are lots of unconventional families raising children that exist in real life, many of them with trans parents, all of them who have had to think long and hard about what a family can, could, or should look like outside of the confines of conventional heteronormativity. A 100% realistic plot would consist of Katrina coming to terms with co-parenting with a re-transitioned Amy, despite no longer being sexually or romantically attracted to her, but still nevertheless forming an emotionally and materially co-supportive family unit. That itself is already plenty queer. Perhaps both of them would date other people without that jeopardizing their co-parenting partnership. Amy might rekindle things with Reese, or maybe they'd simply start speaking to each other again and be good friends; and maybe one way or the other Reese becomes friends organically with Katrina, and over time earns enough trust with both of them that she essentially becomes recognized as the 3rd co parent.

This would be far less dramatic than the actual plot and would probably make for a boring book if written exactly the way that I speculatively outlined above, but stuff like this literally happens in real life. In my short life I've had the privilege of briefly meeting one or two queer families like this who have similar-ish stories, often involving a trans partner who transitions after having a child but the co parenting partnership remaining intact afterwards.

Despite the storytelling flaws, I still managed to enjoy the book. Some of the platonic dialogues were spicy, and there were a few moments where the platonic dialogues are punctuated by truly dramatic confrontations. Despite the minimalistic plot (something I usually dislike) I found the book to actually still have a decent amount of forward momentum to keep me invested, certainly more than many books of "literary fiction". Detransition Baby's constantly overhanging central question of will-they-or-won't-they (*have a baby and raise it in an unconventional queer family) kept me invested enough to keep me reading. The slice of life segments full of small moments of micro drama, the very spicy commentaries on the trans experience, were individually entertaining enough that I didn't get *too* bored while waiting for the main drama to resolve. Some readers on goodreads didn't appreciate that so much was told through flashback but I didn't mind that, in fact I think some of the flashback structure may have helped the pacing a little bit.

Furthermore, even at Detransition Baby's worst moments, it's still not quite as utterly self indulgent as other works of realist fiction written by trans authors. This may be a little harsh to trans authors as a whole, and please don't come after me, but unfortunately, I have found all of the recent sub-genre of transgender literature that I've read to be rather self indulgent. Like Detransition Baby, the books Nevada, and A Safe Girl to Love are also about white, terminally-New-York trans girls who are really stuck up their own assholes. Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars's main redeeming quality is that it isn't white and isn't pathologically set in New York City, and also that it embraces a magical realism as opposed to the very niche subculture of white tgirl poser-punk realness which I already find cliche, but it still lacked a coherent plot and the characters didn't come together (sorry Kai Cheng Thom, as a fellow chinese trans girl I really wanted to like Fierce Femmes but unfortunately it fell flat for me). At least Detransition Baby has a sense of direction and thematic coherence from beginning to end and never lets go of it's central drama.

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Part 2, Engaging with Reese's monologues on womanhood

After storytelling issues, the second category of criticism that people have of this book those people having some very strong, visceral reactions to the content of a couple of Reese's monologues on gender in and of themselves. The monologues are full of interesting things to unpack, and it strikes enough of a nerve that I think it's worth taking a look at them in isolation

Some choice excerpts so you get an idea:

She meant to show him that he was just as disposable to her as she was to him, that she had him figured out, and if he fucked with her in any way that she didn’t find, at minimum, sexy and fun, she’d take his money and lie to his face. This unexpected declaration of her power, which they both understood to be communicated as an insult according to the rules of their ritualized unfriendliness, is why he slapped her. But in ways that both of them felt but neither could fully admit, the entire saga of the boots that led to the slap was a form of pageantry. Beneath it lay Reese’s own sense of womanhood. The reason Stanley hit Reese reversed everything both of them wanted to be true: Stanley hit Reese because she wanted him to hit her. Reese wanted to end their games, to get hit in a way that would affirm, once and for all, what she wanted to feel about her womanhood: her delicacy, her helplessness, her infuriating attractiveness. After all, Every woman adores a Fascist. Reese spent a lifetime observing cis women confirm their genders through male violence. Watch any movie on the Lifetime channel. Go to any schoolyard. Or just watch your local heterosexuals drinking in a bar. Hear women define themselves through pain, or rage against the assumption that they do, which still places pain front and center. Hear the strange sense of satisfaction when they talk about the men who have hurt them—the unspoken subtext of it being because I am a woman. The quiet dignity of saying ow anytime a man gets a little rough—asserting that you are a woman, and thus delicate and capable of sustaining harm. A girl could be twice the size of the man—that little ow reminds him that he is a man, she is a woman."

And also this:

"Anyone who had shared a hotel room wall with Reese and Stanley could attest that Stanley had laid hands on Reese before. He took his belt to her ass on their second date and told her he wouldn’t stop until she cried—tears fell after six strokes, she sobbed after eight, and twenty minutes later she shuddered her way to a tectonic orgasm. A few years back, Reese might have thought their play extremely racy, titillating, and far beyond the sexual ken of most women—she thought of the desire for violence in sex as some kind of resulting damage from being trans. Then, at around age twenty-three, she watched the Catherine Deneuve film, Belle de Jour, and recognized her own sexuality in the upper-crust Belle’s secret desire to be mistreated and abused as a whore. Which meant that the strain of masochism that ran through her sexuality was only as racy as a fifty-year-old film that shared a marquee with romances starring Doris Day. Everything about Reese’s sexuality, she realized, was banal. Sex at the edge of abuse is banal. And when it comes to gender, consent makes it all pretend, which left consensual violence lacking real value in Reese’s tally of gender affirmation. In old books she had read, Reese remembered women saying that if your husband doesn’t beat you, he doesn’t love you, a notion that horrified the feminist in Reese but fit with a perfect logic in one of the dark crevices of her heart. And yeah, liberal feminists—especially the trans-hating variety—would have a field day with her. She supposed that they would accuse her of misogyny, of being a secret man, a Trojan horse in slutty lingerie who sought to recapitulate under the guise of womanhood all the abusive tropes that they, in the second wave, had sought to put in the past. But you know what? She didn’t make the rules of womanhood; like any other girl, she had inherited them. Why should the burden be on her to uphold impeccable feminist politics that barely served her? The New York Times regularly published op-eds by famous feminists who pointedly ruled her out as a woman. Let them. She’d be over here, getting knocked around, each blow a minor illustration of her place in a world that did its gendering work no matter what you called it. So yeah, Stanley, bring it on. Hit Reese. Show her what it means to be a lady.

Femininity is conceptualized around the biological ability to give birth. Women are valued and protected by society for this ability. Under a patriarchal mentality, this ability is what makes women treasured possessions, and men expendable.

For us trans women, when this isn't possible (at least not yet), we psychologically seize onto any signifier of femininity like drowning sailors onto driftwood in an effort to be valued, to not be expendable.

Perhaps indeed because we don't have wombs, men-- meaning our own romantic partners-- often treat us as expendable. Violence against trans women is accepted by society because we are viewed as expendable so no one cares if we are harmed. But paradoxically for many trans women, especially who were raised in toxic environments (unfortunately all too common), violence from a lover or family member actually sends the opposite message, that you aren't expendable-- because after all why would he spend the effort to beat you if he just didn't care? "if your husband doesn’t beat you, he doesn’t love you". If he didn't care he'd just leave, he wouldn't try to control you and maintain power over you, you'd just get ghosted. The fact that he's trying to punish and control you means you have value as an object to be owned-- like a real woman. It's amazingly affirming, highly recommend (for legal reasons this is a joke).

Not even in full on genre smut have I seen offered a full throated, fully spelled out articulation of these kinds of ugly, politically incorrect, anti-liberatory desires. Torrey Peters said the quiet part out loud, and honestly bless her for it.

I have seen a lot of the negative reviewers express anger and disgust by how much Reese buys into what they rightly identify as a misogynistic, white centric worldview. But I think being upset really misses the point. Reese's monologues are an intellectually honest look at the act of sexually desiring and fetishizing one's own sexual oppression. Reese isn't stupid, she knows how problematic her desires are, she knows how disgustingly white her conceptualization of womanhood is. And trust me, more than just white women are capable of wanting things which are politically incorrect and bad for them while being fully self aware of it. Lots of women want the patriarchy-- carnally and in the biblical sense. Desire is a complex thing, there is some aspect of it which is no doubt innate or biological, and a large aspect which is socially conditioned, but very little of it is within our individual control as a conscious choice.

I think it's not news to most feminists abreast of The Discourse (tm) that womanhood is constructed to be oppressive, that many white women use their hard earned white womanhood in oppressive ways while themselves being still oppressed in certain ways, and that all women are socially conditioned to desire this.

But just understanding that intellectually is not enough, because just understanding something is bad or immoral doesn't automatically make you not want it. How do we deal with it when we desire our own oppression, and by extension the oppression of others? It's not just trans women, and it's not just white women who have this dilemma. And most of us cannot simply make these desires go away just by being defiantly woke. I'm truly sick of people shouting things like "queer existence is resistance", "queer joy is revolutionary". Like ok? You may be right but that doesn't change the fact that I still want to be fucked by Silvia Plath's proverbial fascist . These slogans and arguments are a complete emotional non sequitor. All they do are make me feel shame about my desires and put me into a cycle of self loathing about being a fucker of fascists. So much for Pride.

Those who are disgusted with Reese and by extension the whole book are therefore missing the point. We know that all of Reese's dark desires about wanting subjugation and complicity to patriarchy are "problematic". The author knows it, and even Reese knows that, the lady isn't stupid. The point is that despite knowing it, we still want it, no amount of woke education and feminist shame will make the lust go away.

Let me quickly sidetrack for a second to talk shit about a fictional character. I would hate Reese if she were an actual person. She's a bitch, she's petty and judgmental, she's small minded in a way that I find to be infuriatingly common among white queers, she's self aggrandizing and rationalizes away the completely unforced harm she inflicts on others. Just because she has some self knowledge and interiority about why she yearns for toxic men doesn't give her the right to cheat on her partner Amy in order to go sleep with these toxic men. For like the first 75% of the story, Reese goes off multiple times about how pissed she is at Ames/Amy for emotionally checking out and detransitioning; yet our unreliable narrator Reese conveniently leaves out that fact the fact that Amy is the way she is due to Reese's own shitty actions. Reese my darling, my buddy (feminine), my pal (gender neutral), that shit is kind of your fault. My transsexual sister in christ, that blood is on your hands.

Despite that, I found myself really relating to all the problematic sentiments in her dirty little monologues, things like: "I want to be beaten until I feel like a woman", "To be a woman is to be penetrated and used", etc. I, just like Reese, have always deeply resonated with that Silvia Plath poem about how "every woman adores a fascist". I remember reading that poem in english class in high school, long before I figured out I was trans, and being very confused at how much it resonated with me. Honestly, all the things she said are things which I've directly written into my embarrassing private journal, but never dared to speak aloud. I even used a lot of the same words and concepts, it was kind of freaky to see them written out by someone else. Thankfully, these thoughts are now published in well articulated, naked prose, courtesy to Ms. Peters, all without me having had to do or risk anything, which feels quite liberating actually.

My only disappointment is that evidently, the only people who are willing to give voice to these filthy desires are the chosen messy self destructive white girls of whatever is the given generation. Is no one else is going to admit that being sexually abused by men is probably one of the most gender affirming thing a woman can experience?

There is something inherent in how we understand womanhood which involves submission to patriarchal authority, the eroticization of our complicity in our own oppression and the oppression of others, and being the handmaiden to hegemonic power in all it's forms-- patriarchal, often imperial, often racial. I know I'm not alone in this; there's me, Silvia Plath, Torrey Peters, every other Lana del Rey fan, every BDSM kinkster, every unironic "bimbofication" enjoyer (and I'm not talking about the re-appropriated ironic bimbofication as shamelessly self indulgent hyper feminine self adornment and female self enjoyment outside the male gaze, but rather talking about the male serving fetishistic bimbofication as a destruction of female autonomy replaced with endlessly pliable and conveniently exploitable libido), every woman who's ever had politically inconvenient rape fantasies, every woman of color who's ever had a "preference" for white men. For as long as I can remember, and despite every feminist critique, I desire with every ounce of my being to be the colonizer's whore, the master's house slave, the patrician's mistress. There is a reason why romance literature is filled with problematic tropes, thoroughly enjoyed by women who should know better.

All these cis girl reviewers saying the author is a misogynistic fetishist (which is full on a transphobic trope and you all ought be ashamed) and shit like that are just mad that trans women like Torrey Peters say the quiet part out loud. Being trans in our world is inherently debasing, unfortunately, and perhaps it takes a certain amount of accepting one's debasement to get to the point where we are willing to admit these things.

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Part 3, Themes of Queer family

But merely pointing and diving into all this mess of contradiction and problematic desire is not where this book stops. The real mastery of Detransition Baby is that after all of that, it still acknowledges the fact that deconstruction and self knowledge is not enough, and then it goes even further as far as to offer a possible answer to this dilemma: the queer family.

The queer family gives us something else to desire in place of the old, a vision of love that does not rely on patriarchal sensibilities and conceptions, that does not rely on bio-essentialism and "blood ties" as the basic pre-condition for affection and care. The book does not offer a conclusive answer, or determine for us if the queer family could actually be a viable alternative to heteronormative patriarchy. Torrey Peters is not trying to be some kind of speculative feminist sci fi oracle, like some transsexual terminally-new-york Octavia Butler, and that is OK. No one has conclusive answers.

An honest explorations of one small potential family's practical and emotional pitfalls during the nascent period of coming together is the main redeeming quality of Detransition Baby, which makes me want to look past all of the storytelling flaws that I talked about earlier. For me, a concretely detailed and earnest suggestion, even if tentatively proposed, is enough. I'm ok with the book ending with the hanging question of the narrative unanswered. Will they have the baby? Will finally being an actual mother make Reese a less shitty person? Will Katrina be a supportive partner and/or co-parent when Amy inevitably re-transitions? Will Amy learn how to actually feel things instead of just disassociate all the time? Will Reese get over her whiteness? Will Katrina get over her own patriarchal pre-conceptions about what a parental bond needs to look like? Will the damn child turn out ok? To find out the answer to these questions and more, go devote your life to creating your own queer family, healing from patriarchal trauma, and trying to avoid the heteronormative pitfalls of living in A Society (tm)! Let us know how it goes!

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