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gendrie · 1 year

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@lesbiansintheimpala left these great tags on one of my posts a couple days ago:

i hope you dont mind that im about to hijack your theory a lil bit! but i havent been able to stop thinking about it. as im rereading braavos material im noticing the power of the braavos fleet which i think has got to play a role in twow. and once i considered that a lot of other pieces also started to fall into place

when arya arrives in braavos one of the very first things she learns is that the city has an impressive power at sea:

The shadow lifted, the pine-clad ridges fell away to either side, the winds dwindled, and they found themselves moving through a great lagoon. Ahead rose another sea mont, a knob of rock that pushed up from the water like a spiked fist, its stony battlements bristling with scorpions, spitfires, and trebuchets. "The Arsenal of Braavos," Denyo named it, as proud as if he'd built it. "They can build a war galley there in a day." Arya could see dozens of galleys tied up at quays and perched on launching slips. The painted prows of others poked from innumerable wooden sheds along the stony shores, like hounds in a kennel, lean and mean and hungry, waiting for a hunter's horn to call them forth. She tried to count them, but there were too many, and more docks and sheds and quays where the shoreline curved away. (Arya, AFFC)

which twoiaf supports so its not just a cabin boys boasting:

The youngest of the Nine Free Cities, Braavos is also the wealthiest, and in all likelihood the most powerful. Originally founded by escaped slaves, its humble beginnings were rooted in nothing more than a desire to be free. For a great part of its early history, its secret status made it of little consequence in the wider world. But in time it grew, eventually emerging as a power almost without rival.

Neither prince nor king commands in Braavos, where the rule belongs to the Sealord, chosen by the city's magisters and keyholders from amongst the citizenry by a process as convoluted as it is arcane. From his vast waterside palace, the Sealord commands a fleet of warships second to none and a mercantile fleet whose purple hulls and purple sails have become a common sight throughout the known world. (TWOIAF)

braavos is an all around powerful city. the iron bank and the faceless men are involved in numerous plots both political and magical throughout the series. theres also the sealord who ‘commands a fleet of warships second to none’! so its probably not a coincidence that the sealord election is emerging as a very important plot for arya. ive always been curious as to why? because it seems kinda random, but it might, ultimately, connect back to braavos’ fleet if thats where the sealords strength lies.

Look with your eyes, he had said. She saw: the knight in his pale armor head to foot, legs, throat, and hands sheathed in metal, eyes hidden behind his high white helm, and in his hand cruel steel. Against that: Syrio, in a leather vest, with a wooden sword in his hand. "Syrio, run," she screamed. "The first sword of Braavos does not run," he sang as Ser Meryn slashed at him. (Arya, AGOT)

since agot, arya has had a connection to the sealord (and braavos in general) via syrio. he died saving arya’s life. this could be her very powerful escort back to westeros, home, bringing syrio’s sacrifice full circle. theres a precedent for the sealord bestowing “grand” gifts too. and it might be that arya is in the company of her fellow northerners?

"I know why the Sealord seized the Goodheart. She was carrying slaves. Hundreds of slaves, women and children, roped together in her hold." Braavos had been founded by escaped slaves, and the slave trade was forbidden here. "I know where the slaves came from. They were wildlings from Westeros, from a place called Hardhome. An old ruined place, accursed." Old Nan had told her tales of Hardhome, back at Winterfell when she had still been Arya Stark. (Arya, ADWD)

because its also worth noting that the sealord seized a ship full of hardhome refugees, women and children, who were enslaved. arya has experienced a similar situation when she was taken captive in the riverlands. hardhome and harrenhal both have grim, haunted reputations. the wildlings are now seemingly stranded in essos - far from their home and the rest of their community in the north. again, not unlike arya. when relaying this information arya relates it directly to her past as arya stark.

"The Night's Watch will make for Hardhome. I ride to Winterfell alone, unless …" Jon paused. "… is there any man here who will come stand with me?" (Jon, ADWD)

the crisis at hardhome becomes a major issue for jon as lord commander too. jon planned to send the night’s watch to aid the stranded refugees while he marched on winterfell to rescue “arya” who is.....ironically, in braavos gathering intel on the hardhome crisis lol. among other things. this wouldnt be the first time arya got involved in night’s watch business either. arya herself traveled with yoren’s group posing as a recruit and took it upon herself to execute dareon for desertion. the wall was always the place arya wanted to reach the most.

Nymeria nipped eagerly at her hand as Arya untied her. She had yellow eyes. When they caught the sunlight, they gleamed like two golden coins. Arya had named her after the warrior queen of the Rhoyne, who had led her people across the narrow sea. (Arya, AGOT)

"Just so. Your father was oarmaster on a galley. When your mother died, he took you off to sea with him. Then he died as well, and his captain had no use for you, so he put you off the ship in Braavos. And what was the name of the ship?" "Nymeria," she said at once. (Arya, AFFC)

Higher on the Rhoyne, in Ny Sar, Princess Nymeria soon received the news of Garin's shattering defeat and the enslavement of the people of Chroyane and Sar Mell. The same fate awaited her own city, she saw. Accordingly, she gathered every ship that remained upon the Rhoyne, large or small, and filled them full of as many women and children as they could carry (for almost all the men of fighting age had marched with Garin, and died). (TWOIAF)

theres another big connection here and thats nymeria ny sar. the legendary warrior queen arya named her direwolf after. she commanded a fleet of ships to travel from essos to westeros with refugees fleeing the threat slavery before she settled in dorne and ruled for nearly 3 decades. arya's story has been driven by a desire to protect others, social connections, and a safe place to call home. her direwolf reflects this by amassing a giant pack in the riverlands too.

i really do not think grrm put the hardhome refugees in arya’s path for no reason. the fandom has a tendency to write braavos off as a meaningless side quest for arya to simply train (and then go kill some character), but the pieces are already set up for arya to become the heroine she’s always admired. all she has to do is go for it.

#asoiaf nonsense #arya stark #another shoutout to lesbiansintheimpala!#for the inspo #theres been a couple theory posts about arya and the hardhome refugees #but not since the old days of like 2014 #that ive seen #and they never gained much traction #but ive been puzzled by the sealord election in a big way #so when i read those tags and then her braavos chaps #it felt like things were clicking #anyway half baked idea but im excited and wanna know what others think

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jack-kellys · 1 year

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west end question: i obviously love my brooklyn girls and would die for them all, but is it bad that it’s taken away the sprace dynamic for me? like i’m still 100% on board with a nowhere near canon ship and it shouldn’t affect me they’ve decided to have spot be a girl, but it lowkey has? and i feel kinda guilty about it? idk i love my proshot boys. but i am 100% here for all the uk newsies cast they are amazing and so talented and it’s definitely my favourite production by far!! idk if i’m making sense

ok part of me feels a litle baited actually because like. i feel like... im vocal abt mlm musical sprace not being a big vibe for me in the first place. so im a funny person to ask if you were looking for relief lmao. anyway here's my thesis below.

wait also if ur a white newsie fan a read-thru+rb of this would be much appreciated thank youuu (also yall have been eating up my character analyses anyway sooooo!)

TL;DR THESIS: if you're feeling genuinely let down that your ship did not see the light of day and a black girlsie spot conlon got to instead, then yes, you should reevaluate that.

followers, if you've been with me long enough, you know that i have quite strong opinions about how this show gets treated when it comes to interpretations and fandom/fanon. mostly, this is because i literally work in theater, and it's extremely backwards in my brain personally when shows get treated more like a movie or tv show than a performance piece.

im also one of the only ppl in this fandom that ever seems to dare speak on race (not the damn character smh). and anon, buddy, kiddo, this does have to do with race, gender, and sexuality.

firstly, what i think needs to be understood about newsies, is that it is theater, which means it is meant to be mutable. there is no one way. there should never be one way. it does not exist. secondly, theater does not exist in a fandom vacuum. its live every night, conceptually. theater is a live performance art.

interpretations change- it's the nature of theater. so i think asks like these really do illuminate the difference between fans of the show's content or fans of... i guess the show's culture's content.

this is a culture content ask.

one thing i really, truly, deeply need you all to understand: from an objective, script- and staging-based perspective, proshot sprace does not exist. they do not speak. they barely see each other. race does not even volunteer to go to brooklyn. the ship originates from the 1992 movie, where they do actually interact, which is why the ship has prevailed through the 90s to today. they're from the movie, not the musical.

of course, this doesn't bash the ship- it has history, and naturally fans want to create new history when they get a new source material (the musical). it's true for like every newsie ship lowkey (but also not lowkey because all the manhattan newsies do interact and sprace literally does not but thats a different post!!), which is something i do admire about the fandom- we do a lot of our own legwork here, we invent relationships and backgrounds from one-liners that could be given to tbh any frickin newsie. i respect the 30 years we have invented ships.

however.

when a huge, publicized, consistently sold out production comes along with spot conlon as not only a woman, but a woman of color (specifically black rn!) as the leader of the most feared group on stage, there becomes something much more important than a "sprace dynamic", which does not canonically exist in the musical anyway bro. you can't miss something that isn't there imo. often the story and casting within a story comes first, and goddamn if this isn't one of those times. lillie-pearl's spot brings bravado, swagger, confidence, and intimidation that is literally....fine maybe i'm being personal but it is slash gen incredible to see in technically a period piece! a black woman in leadership with that kind of assuredness! in such a popular musical! how is that not– automatically surpassing an often obsessed-over (yes i am. hinting at something here, straight girl fans) mlm ship?

and while i'm on the topic of the over-obsessiveness of mlm musical sprace, let me talk about uksies sprace. because what's also wack abt this ask is that sprace is not a hopeless case in this production- it literally has about as much 'evidence' as the proshot imo!!!!!

i got to hop over to 2nd row brooklyn seating for act 2 so i saw once and for all really close up, right. there's a moment when race is upstage letting the newsies in/down from the stairs. spot comes down and she does, in fact, share a look with him. race gives spot a nod and she keeps moving.

and like im gonna see the show again (every day i am counting my mf blessings fr), so if i'm wrong or they don't do it every time i'll correct myself, but that's what i saw with my own dang eyes on saturday. they do acknowledge each other in uksies.

and since they do, i really like. i have to ask. what is bothersome/unpopular abt uksies sprace, other than oh idk.... its not white/white mlm with a twink/manly bf trope? why can't race still love who spot is as a character, this strong and fearless ruler of brooklyn, in uksies? because tbh josh's racer...nahhhh because. this is such a side note now but they'd be so good together oh jesus am i gonna ship uk sprace. and it's not like they're 'taking away' from a queer ship because a) you can headcanon spot as a queer girl and race being trans is consistently popular and b) newsies has ten billion gayass ships bro we've been eatin for literal decades.

anon, i'm sure you didn't mean harm by this ask. i'm sure, honestly, that a lot of fans are feeling the same way as you and weren't quite sure how to put it in words. but, i'm also not surprised you sent an ask like this on anonymous specifically.

should you feel guilty about it? i don't think guilt is the right word. but i believe you should think more about how newsies is not.....static. it does not exist in one form, and it never will. if you're feeling genuinely let down that your ship did not see the light of day and a black girlsie spot conlon got to instead, then yes, you should reevaluate that. in theater, you should always question why something impacted you the way it did- a major point of theater is to discuss and think about it when you leave! i know this because ive spent three years literally studying it, to back up my thesis credentials.

thank you for reading this, newsies fandom. i do honestly say all this with love, and i hope it made u think !! ♥️

#i just. damn dude. im tired #sprace #race x spot #racetrack higgins #spot conlon #newsies #sprace newsies #newsies uk #uksies #newsies the musical #newsies live #livesies #west endsies #west end newsies #race higgins #race newsies #spot newsies #anyway josh's race would fall ridiculously in love with lillie-pearl's spot. like goddamn #i believe in them and you should too!! uk sprace!!!!

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idiotic21 · 2 years

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Mr and Mrs Hamato

Chapter 2 - The Mystic She Thief

Previous All Stories

Timestamp - 11 months after the Krang was defeated. Leo has fully healed from his wounds.

Four turtles parkoured their way across the city. What started out as a comforting lazy Saturday morning was suddenly interrupted by a Donnie Alert. Someone robbed the museum of natural history, taking a priceless piece of meteorite with them.

Leo's voice boomed over the loud street noise, "How much further, Don?". Donnie checked the map on his wristband, "Just five more streets down, wait no- six, gah seven!"

"Can't you get pin the baddie's location?" Mikey frowned as the numbers began to confuse him. "Who moves that fast anyway? It's like they have their own portal or somethin'" Raph complained.

Donnie and Leo shared a look, both possibly thinking the same thing. Donnie nodded, "Probably. With all the crazy - ugh- things we went through -grr- all those years back? I would not be surprised!" the genius concluded over grunts as he moved delicately around some hap-hazard clothing lines.

Leo grimaced as he eyed the congested streets below, "A good reason not to take the Turtle Tank. We'd only get stuck in the traffic."

youtube

"Well, they better be portalling somewhere important. I did not miss my Saturday Morning Breakfast Special just to come out and bash some lowlife thief," the youngest spoke for everyone.

"Yeah!" the four brothers cried out in the agreement. Saturday mornings are not to be taken lightly.

The purple turtle suddenly broke to a stop and the leader in blue quickly signaled Raph and Mickey to do the same.

The genius removed this tech wristband and hunched over it. His brows furrowed in intense concentration. "What is it, bro?" Leo asked as he leaned on Donnie's battle shell. The boys huddled together as the genius began to explain.

"My tech managed to track the use of mystic energy from our loose baddie."

"Mystic? So we are dealing with a yokai or a mutant," Raph asked quietly and waited for Donnie's reply. The boys watched silently as the tech whiz suddenly pulled one of Leo's swords and tapped into the mystic portal energy with Donnie's own mystic powers.

The purple markings on his shoulder began to glow brightly as Leo's energy was summoned into the blades of the sword making the slider's body markings glow as well. Hamato Ninpo thrummed through their very beings, coursing through their veins with fire and electricity.

"Possibly. Could be even human but who's to say anymore? Segue way, I managed to triangulate the assailant's next three exact positions to which they would be portalling to, enabling us to portal right to them at the exact same time," thus bringing Donnie to his usual rambling, "You see, the use of mystic ninpo has only elevated my arsenal in high-unreasonably-futuristic-tech and it has enhanced my tech to levels never known to be ever reachable by the likes of the normal man.... EheheVIL LAUGH "

The brothers of orange, red, and blue all groaned but wore smiles of amusement at the purple's glorious basking of power. "Sure thing, Don. As much we would love to hear your nerd rambling, we have a villain to catch, dear brother," Leo noogies Donnie and swiped his wristband to his eyes. "Alright boys, next stop ... New Jersey?"

The Hamato boys simply shrugged. Leo drew his swords and expertly slashed at the sky. The trademarked smirk played on his lips as the neon blue portal opened up with crackling electricity. "Let's get to it boys. Hachi Machi!!" The others were pushed in unceremoniously then the turtle in blue stylishly backflipped into the portal.

---

New Jersey, finally.

A comlink was activated "...I have the meteorite is in my grasp. I will meet you at the rendezvous at-" the person gasped, dropping the call. Something in the air felt.... electrified?

An ear-splitting crack shook the atoms in the air and a blue portal zapped in front of the thief's face. Behind the thief's mask, their eyes widened in shock as four yokai burst out.

"HOT SOUP!" and the portal collapsed behind them dramatically.

"Shit!" The thief quickly summoned some mystic energy in their palm and snapped a silver portal to life. "Bye suckers!" they greeted the turtles. As their first foot entered the portal the thief was yanked backward by a golden chain.

"You ain't going nowhere, baby!" Michelangelo victoriously shouted then yanked the elongated chains of his nunchucks and forcefully twirled the thief away from the portal.

The thief landed with a thud on the ground, watching as their silver portal fizzled away.

"You've got to ask yourself one question: Do ya' feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk? Cause Neon Leon, and his backup turtles, gotcha'" The brothers groaned.

The thief was cornered but not willing to give up yet. With lightning-fast moves, they slammed their palms together and a puff of silver smoke engulfed their being.

The brothers stood in shock for a minute until -poof-, the silver smoke appeared behind them and the thief activated another portal. "Engage, boys!" Leo ordered with style and the turtles grinned wildly, moving with lightning speed.

Raph activated his sai's. Red mystic energy, fueled by his Hamato ninpo burst out in flames as he punched the ground. The thief was thrown off balance and missed their portal jump. The fight had started.

"First to knock out the thief is the winner of forever!" Mickey launched his chucks, elongating them to wrap around the thief, and pulled their body towards him, "GIVE US THE SPACE STONE!". A smug smile lay hidden behind the mask. Mickey watched as one of the thief's hands clutched the gold chains. "Wha...?", a burst of silver energy ran up the chained weapon.

OOF- Mickey was shot back by a silver shock wave and was thrown into Raph, the thief jumped out of the loosened chains and landed gracefully before throwing the regular-sized nun-chucks to the ground. "BROS!" Leo eyed the thief making a run for another portal, "Oh no you don't,". Leo's portal burst right in front of the enemy's. "Leaving so soon?" The thief gasped and dodged the incoming slice of Leo's sword. "How rude, we just got to the party!" The slider began to drive the thief away from the portal.

The thief was about to activate another portal but their hand was caught by Donatello. "Make way for Von Ryan! Fibonacci! " The turtle in purple stopped the enemy's hand with the tech-bo and slapped a titanium cuff on the thief's left hand with his robotic claw then sent a kick to their chest. He expertly spun them and Leo slapped another cuff to the right hand. Donnie used his tech-bo to push the thief away.

They stumbled but found grounding. While the turtles gathered, Donnie watched with amusement as the thief tried to snap their way out of existence. It only fueled the genius' ego when he heard the frustrated grunts of the thief. Leo leaned on his twin, watching the thief run a string of curses as they tried to tirelessly conjure their own portal. Raph protectively closed Mickey's ears.

The emotionless mask of the thief turned for a brief moment to asses their captors. The turtles were powerful and the thief was outnumbered four to one. Running away now would delay the inevitable doom of getting caught and they had no idea how to remove these cuffs. Running away would be pointless, so 'Stand your ground and don't show fear'. They thought to themselves.

"No use portalling now, dumdum." Donnie cocked an eyebrow. The thief looked up to find all four turtles wearing the same smug look. Still, they went back to portal making. The brother's watched with mock amusement as the thief only produced wisps of mystic energy. "Save your energy, punk! Those cuffs, my made yours truly, are capable of blocking off one's connection to any form of mystic force." Donnie explained, taking a step forwards.

The thief stood their ground and warily watched the purple nuisance. As if to show utter disregard for the turtle's warning, the thief brought both hands to the center of their abdomen. Donnie watched with peaked interest as the thief touched their thumbs and middle fingers together and folded the rest in. The brother's picked up a light hum of electricity suddenly filling the air. Donnie knew the strength of the cuff but was eager to test just how much mystic power it could hold off. He did test it on his brothers, as usual, but it only got him so far. Though not far enough to make a solid conclusion.

"Donnie.." Leo warned but it fell on deaf ears. If Donnie didn't react, his brothers would not as well. They trusted Donnie's judgment over his own tech. The four turtles watched as streaks of silver light began to accumulate around the thief. Since Donnie was the closest to them, he could notice the strain it took to fight the cuff power block. The thief's body was shaking.

"Alright, you proved your strength, but there is no point to strain yourself. Surrender, you're surrounded." Donnie demanded.

The thief showed no signs of relenting. Eyes watching fearfully from behind the mask, they groaned and summoned more mystic power. The wind seemed the catch up as their mystic energy seemed to grow stronger.

"Donnie..is this safe?" Raph asked warily after noticing the sudden power shift, but Donnie was too fascinated by the sheer stubbornness of the wrongdoer. A spark of silver light danced over the cuffs, showing the strains of Donnie's tech fighting over the silver mystic power.

"Fascinating! NO! SPELLBINDING! ENTHRALLING!"

Donnie's loud exclaim drowned out his brother's yells of panic as the wind currents began to pick up with violence. "Such power and wit! The strong sense of determination! An opportunity to witness this is beyond my wildest imagination. The data that could potentially make my mystic tech even greater, and bolder is in the center of my palm!"

The genius was more than fascinated watching the spectacle around him. Purple mystic energy rose from the cuffs and began to fight away the silver energy of the enemy. That was not the only thing that happened, for, within the souls of the thief and Donatello, a cord was struck. Something so primal and innate woke within them. The two unknowingly locked eyes.

For a moment in time, the thief could feel every thrumming fiber of the turtle before them. Their energies no longer fighting but bonding and intensifying. Donnie gasped, taking a step back when he felt the spike of energy rise in the person before him. His body tingled as the silver mystic energy seared his veins, giving him a taste of immense power as he had never felt before. His Hamato Ninpo beamed with radiance as his purple marking took on a silver outline and glowed brightly. Donatello grasped at his chest.

He felt power.

He felt fear.

He felt ... belonging.

He..he felt .... HER!

"Wait? You're a girl?!"

That small thought shattered whatever connection the two experience. A strong blast of mystical energy relapsed into the cuffs and was beamed away. The turtles were pushed down by the blast of radiating mystic force. The thief was thrown backward while the facemask cracked and split down the middle.

---

"Don... Donnie... Hey, hey Donnie!" Three blurry figures loomed over the purple, now groaning, Othello Von Ryan, a.k.a Donnie.

"Get off me..." Donnie weakly pushed his brothers away. "Gah, what happened?" He said, gently rubbing the back of his head. "The blast, Dee. The whole, -WHOOSH, KABLAMMO KAPOWW!" Mickey flailed his arms around like a wild chicken. Raph gently pushed Mickey into Leo's hands and helped Donnie up.

"You tell me, buddy. The thief did some mystic energy stuff and next thing we all knew, the energy exploded and BOOM, here we are," Raph said, turning around to make sure his other two brothers are doing fine.

"You alright? You look like you just went through a heavenly revelation or something.." Leo pointed to Donnie's surprised face. Finally, after a few seconds, it clicked in him. Donnie remembered that weird thing between him and the.... and the "..THE MYSTIC SHE THIEF!"

Donnie pushed himself up to shake Leo like a pepper shaker. "What happened? Where is the she thief?"

"She thief? You mean that thief?" Mickey pointed out innocently, saving Leo from Donnie's deathly shakes.

The purple genius let out a strangled breath as he was reminded of the strong connection earlier. It grossed him out just as much as it yanked on his bleeding curiosity. Silently, the other brothers followed close behind Donnie as they approached the mysterious figure.

The thief grunted in slight pain. "Owww..." she muttered, rubbing her head and pushing a mass of black curly hair out of the way. Little did she know she was being watched intensely by four blushing teens.

When she turned to face them. Her eyes passed over everyone but locked right in when she found Donnie's and there was the connection again. A flash of purple ran glazed over her eyes, and a flash of silver reflected in his own. Chests heaving, hearts unknowingly beating as one. The two teens remain entranced with one another, noticing the flush pink rising on their cheeks. Leo glanced at his twin and back at the girl, then back at him. Neon Leon broke the silence with his famous oneliners.

Leo smirked and slung his arm over Donnie, yanking them closer to the thief "Sooo..... a cutie and baddie huh?"

"Wha-?" Donnie blinked furiously. The thief seemed to snap out of her trance too, deciding them to glare at the turtles. Raph and Mickey just seemed lost. "No wonder you got Don Boy all flustered up. Ya know' cute but mean? His type and all"

Donnie had half the nerve to slap Leo, but with the girl in front of him, he just froze. Leo took matters into his hands and let go of Donatello. The girl shuffled away weakly as the slider approached her. "Hey, wait-" she tried to fight but he shushed her playfully and bound her hand to her front, and covered her eyes with a blindfold. "As leader, I say we bring mystic she thief to the lair for interrogation, and other purposes for teasing Donnie-" Leo looked to Raph for a professional leader-ing opinion on the first plan and Raphael nodded, giving Leo a thumbs up.

"Hrmph!" Donnie froze as the girl was shoved into his hands."Keep an eye on her 'purple dude'" said Leo a little too loudly so the girl heard him. Donnie just stared down at her helplessly, speechless, definitely not aided by the feeling of his heart beating right out of his chest for some reason unknown to him. She felt his shaky hands gently gripping her shivering upper arms. Hearts unknowingly beating as one.

"But why?" Mickey put his fingers to his lips, questioningly. Leo grumbled and gestured to Donnie's face and the apparent blush creeping from under the girl's blindfold at the knowledge of being held extremely delicately but the 'purple dude'. Raph then began to giggle... "Owh... OWHHH,"

Mickey finally came to his senses, "Hot dang, son! Donnie has a cr-". Leo slapped his hands over Mickey's big mouth and laughed.

"Vamanos, hermanos. Let's bring the party to the lair." He declared and sliced a portal open.

So the story begins.

#rottmnt #rottmnt fanfiction #rise tmnt #rise turtles #rise donatello #rise leonardo #rise april #rise mikey #rise raph #rise casey #rise cassandra #Youtube

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placegrenette · 5 months

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My fellow Jukeboxer Hannah Jocelyn wrote the best response piece I have found to date on that long New York Times essay that can be summarized as "But what if Taylor Swift really is queer?" This is less of a compliment than I want it to be; the other takes I've found so far have been shallow and awful. But Hannah is a very good writer generally and you should get on the mailing list for her upcoming music newsletter.

One of the things that distinguishes Hannah, as a serious writer, from the bad takes (I'm thinking specifically of this Slate piece) is that she does not try to handwave off the fact that the essay appeared in the Times. Hannah works from the premise that Taylor Swift, the singer-songwriter, has created a character named "Taylor Swift," and has at different times leaned into and run from all the parasocial speculation about her relationship to that character: "Nobody invites parasociality quite like her, and nobody hates it like her either." Over time a lot of people, including queer people of various stripes, have read character-Taylor as queer, and given that actual-Taylor has not worked overtime to draw a sharp line between herself and character-Taylor, when she angrily disavows character-Taylor specifically in the context of a possible queer reading, it hurts. The original essay basically assumes that actual-Taylor and character-Taylor are the same person, and, given that newspapers (at least, newspapers worth the paper they're theoretically printed on) don't usually blow past such distinctions, it feels like a sanctioning of intrusive speculation.

I will say this: no one needs my permission, but as long as you acknowledge that actual-Taylor is something different, you should be able to read character-Taylor however you want. I am middle-aged, which means that when I was being taught to think critically about popular media, the so-called death of the author was still in full swing. Since the odds of getting actual depictions of gay love (much less any other stripe of non-cisheteronormativity) were so low, queering was done sneakily, mostly privately, and sometimes with a thumb of the nose at the original creator. I'm not well versed on the history of fan fiction, so I may be overstating the case, but I'm pretty sure the women originally writing Kirk/Spock slash never believed that they were getting closer to Gene Roddenberry's truth. I want to say, so it goes now, even as audiences have a bit more comfortable with the possibility of a queer Everywoman. Your Taylor is not actual-Taylor; your Taylor is still valid.

The trade-off, though, is leaving actual-Taylor alone. Hannah compares Swift's outspoken disavowal of the "sexualizing" of her female friendships to the classic story of the queer woman whose affection for a friend goes unreciprocated: "They never cared about you like you did about them." But it's also true of any parasocial love. It doesn't matter how you write Taylor Swift, or any other celebrity, in your head; it won't match the real person. It's not fair to the real person to insist on a match.

But we seem to be in an era where the idea of matching has gone from assumed-to-be-nonexistent to incredibly important. Forgive me, for this is something I've had to work out in my own head, but: I am also old enough that the entire Harry Potter phenomenon passed me by (both my kids read the books; I enjoyed the Lego-video-game versions, and that's about it), and then also old enough (and secure enough) to be confused by the depth and breadth of emotion sparked by J. K. Rowling's anti-trans comments. Right now I have a book on loan from the library (With Love, from Cold World) where a character says it's just as well his strict parents prevented him from reading the books, because "I would've been a hardcore Potter fan, and then when the author showed her TERF colors it would've broken my heart." And I thought, not for the first time: I could see being annoyed, disappointed, disgusted, sure; but why heartbroken? If you, for whatever stripe "you" are, found something expansive in those books, J. K. Rowling being unhelpfully defensive and short-sighted doesn't make that connection go away or illegitimize it. That was between you and the books, not her. It makes more sense to me to gleefully yell, "Fuck you, J. K. Rowling," and embrace the books than to heartbrokenly reject them. And again, I'm a product of my time: back in the day there was enough to deal with, and people got more energy from the former approach than the latter.

So why does the prevailing narrative now seem to need a trans-inclusionary J. K. Rowling, or an actually-gay Taylor Swift, so much? Partly because we're all prone to black-and-white thinking, wanting our heroes good and our villains bad, and so on. (Also I like to personally speculate that 12-year-olds contribute a lot more to the prevailing narrative than most of us care to admit, and 12-year-olds are even more inclined to black-and-white thinking than their adult counterparts.) But I think there's another element now: we're all authors. We're all writing; we're all performing publicly; we're all scared of being misunderstood; we none of us want to give up control of our narratives. (Taylor Swift included.) And we're not hypocritical enough to be able to say, "I can do whatever I like with your artistic output, fuck you," and then turn around and say, "Hey! That's not what I meant!"

Aella wrote an essay a while back titled "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Internet Hate." I've read it several times and found it unsettling each time. "I didn’t know how to handle being a symbol to people," she wrote. "Something about it felt off. I wasn’t supposed to be a symbol, and people were wrong in some deep, horrible way when they failed to see my humanity." And eventually: "I’m a microcelebrity, and this means that some people will use me in ways that hurt. Throw a ball, it falls. What the fuck else did I expect to happen? This is the dynamic like the earth beneath my feet is the ground."

I still don't want to accept the dynamic that Aella is in the process of making her peace with, frankly. I can talk a good game about separating the art from the artist, as above, but in truth I'm terrified too of losing control of my own narrative, of being a symbol rather than a person, of being seen as a sliver of myself, less than human. So are you, I suspect. We want to be seen as we see ourselves, and we're scared of failing. We hope that being able to say "I think about X's creative output and therefore understand X" implies "Other people think about my creative output and therefore understand me." The alternative -- that one can write and write and write and fail to be understood -- is hard to make peace with.

@cureforbedbugs (who pointed me to Hannah's essay in the first place; his newsletter's good too) recently wrote a series of essays on Taylor Swift, and in the last one he wonders if her ascension may simply be a side effect of her having gotten big right before the pop scene fractured utterly: once her star falls, no one else's will ever shine as bright, because the way we listen to and purchase and talk about pop music has changed. I wonder, though, if part of what makes Taylor Swift so compelling is how she's been dealing with these questions of narrative control so publicly, self-aggrandizingly, fruitlessly. She's tried encouraging the close readings, and disavowing them, and leaving them alone, and trying to redirect them, and "Anti-Hero" is about how none of those approaches have worked. "It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me," she finally sings, because the one thing she seems unable to do is relax and accept her own inevitable dehumanization. And when I hear "Anti-Hero" and sing along, I recognize something of myself in her words; which is a contribution even if I don't know her and never will.

#trains that just aren't coming #longer essay #hannah jocelyn #cureforbedbugs

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graficanofolks · 2 years

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#cricket bat #cricket gloves #cricket shirts #cricket trousers cricket kit

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impostoradult · 2 years

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Whenever I see articles like this I have such a mixed reaction, because on the one hand, they are not WRONG per se. But I also think all of the explanations for this show's success (both from the press & fandom itself) are far too simplistic.

Is the expansive and positive and well-constructed queer representation part of it? OF COURSE. That's a very large piece of it, probably the biggest single piece.

But as I've said in other places, there are a ton of other shows in the last 5-7 years that have been VERY queer that have not gotten nearly this much attachment or attention or adoration: One Mississippi, Everything's Going to Be Okay, Work In Progress, Looking, Pose, Sex Lives of College Girls, even WWDITS.

None of them have been phenomenons like OFMD. So something else is going on here. In fact, a lot of other things are going on here.

OFMD is very tropey (particularly where its main romance is concerned) This is something at least some of the press coverage of the show has cottoned on to. A lot of other queer media in recent years has consisted of highly realistic grounded dramedies (One Mississippi, Looking, Work in Progress, etc.) These shows don't lend themselves to a tropey type of storytelling. But fandoms love tropes, and OFMD very successfully leans into that type of story telling.

Found Family/Rag-Tag Group of Misfits Queer people in particular have a fondness for the found family/rag-tag group of outcasts trope, for obvious reasons. And OFMD leans into that for so much of its entertainment value. There is a particular queer longing to be part of a community of other fun queer folks and OFMD feeds that desire in a way grounded dramedies that often feature more 'realistic' social dynamics and settings simply don't. Furthermore, it provides imaginative space for YOU the viewer to be part of that world. Most of us can easily imagine being a rag-tag misfit on Stede & Blackbeard's crew. Whereas, with a show like Looking, for example, it might be very hard to imagine you are part of a gay male cohort of friends in modern day San Francisco (for any number of reasons). Because OFMD isn't realistic and its range of characters is very expansive, it is easier for more people to mentally become part of this group of characters and reap the parasocial benefits it offers.

It Has Lots of Symbolism & Motifs, etc. (The lighthouse, the red silk scarf, the Kraken, the oranges, etc.) Both because of the history of deep reading texts as part of queer culture, and the queer cultural affinity for aesthetics qua aesthetics, OFMD doesn't just feature gay/queer characters, it has a fundamentally queer textuality. A lot of grounded queer dramas and dramedies are trying to seem very realistic, and while they may employ symbolism on occasion, it isn't a heavily recurring part of the DNA of these shows. OFMD LOVES it symbolism and motifs and leans heavily into them, allowing us to read the text in a deep way, a practice that is part of both a fandom legacy and a queer legacy (which are intertwined but not wholly conflatable).

The Overall Aesthetics & Tone of It Very related to point 3, just the general look and feel of the show is very queer. They use a lot of bright colors. They employ anachronisms. It's very campy at times. The costumes and sets and props are very exaggerated and pastiche. All of these things give the show a queer feeling and energy that goes beyond just there are canonical queer characters and romances. It has strong queer VIBES.

It Thematizes Queerness While Normalizing it Again, related to points 3 & 4, the show is also working with a lot of themes around issues like childhood trauma and ambivalent/fluctuating identity, which are very important to a queer experience. However, the queerness of the character is not exactly SEPARATE from these themes, but not directly tied to them either. Stede and Ed are both going through a radical re-evaluation of who they are and what they want out of life as a result of their romantic connection. But at the same time, they aren't heavily angst-ing over the fact that they're queer and in love. The show is VERY sophisticated at tying their experience of being queer to these larger things like childhood trauma and identity re-evaluation, without making them directly causally connected. What this enables the audience to have is a delicately balanced dual experience where the literal queerness in the show is very normalized and treated as healthy, benign, natural, comfortable, etc. while at the same time, still speaking to emotional experiences of a queer experience that are a little more fraught (difficult navigations of identity, recovering from unhealthy early family dynamics) In other words, OFMD let us have it both ways at the same time, which is very psychologically gratifying. (Again, unlike a lot of the conventional queer dramas and dramedies that, even if they are full of 'good' representation and very pro-queer, also typically either have a lot of angst a lot about being queer, or seem disingenuous when they completely ignore the angst) OFMD navigates around this trap.

The Sandbox Quality of the Show Although it is not technically fantasy or sci-fi, this show has a very strong 'sandbox' quality to it that invites you to mentally explore it and play around within it. Even though it presents itself as vaguely historical and there aren't magical or supernatural elements to it (yet), the show is not going for any level of actual realism. This is a fictional sandbox, and you could imagine the characters might break into a choreographed dance number at any time, or be pulled into a whole new genre at any moment, and you'd roll with it. Imaginative and highly expansive/flexible story-worlds have a lot more fandom potential because they let you mentally play and explore more. OFMD has that sandbox quality of a fantasy or sci-fi series, which adds a lot to its appeal, and which doesn't exist in most grounded queer media.

It Seems Directly In Conversation With its Slash Predecessors Somewhat related to point 1, OFMD has been able to absorb a lot of the energy that has been festering around slash pairings like Destiel, Hannigram, Crowley/Aziraphel, JohnLock, Stucky, and so on. The show and the Ed/Stede romance seems almost DESIGNED to cite a lot of the tropes that those earlier slash pairings employed, and then take it that one glorious step further, and actually DO THE THING. It was therefore able to absorb a lot of that unresolved fandom energy in a way many queer grounded dramas and dramedies could not, because the parallels between them were non-existent or too thin. Grounded, realistic stories aren't typically constructed around elaborate tropes or told through hyperbolized symbolic gestures or 'insane' lines of dialogue that haunt you. But that is the bread and butter of many beloved slash pairings. And OFMD captured that aspect of it, and was able to reproduced it with the rare novelty of actually explicitly following through on all the things those tropes and symbolic gestures and dialogue invited you to believe.

8. It's Diverse in a Lot of Different Ways In addition to having a wide range of queer characters, the show also is racially diverse, its very body positive and represents a range of bodies in a kind way, and it isn't infatuated with representing this experience only through people who are young and conventionally good looking. The two leads are clearly middle-aged and they don't try to paper over that or downplay it. Rhys Darby, while not at all bad looking, is a very average looking guy. These people feel normal and accessible in all kinds of ways, and again, it adds to that feeling that any of us could be members of this crew and be accepted, loved, treated as one of the gang.

***

It's not JUST that the show has substantial canonical representation of queer characters. That's a big draw of it, but that doesn't, by itself, explain the show's runaway success. It is more complicated and more nuanced than that. And we need to start talking about the OTHER reasons this show has felt like such an oasis in a desert to us, so that other media entities can give us more of what we ACTUALLY want. Which isn't just queer stories.

(BTW, this is one of the problems I constantly run up against working in entertainment market research. People often give the most surface level explanations for why they like things, and while they are not WRONG per se, they are often leaving out large pieces of the story because those deeper things aren't as easily grokked or articulated)

#OFMD #Our Flag Means Death #meta #OFMD meta #queer representation #lgbtq representation

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xtodorcki · 3 years

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Could you write an scenario where Levi's S/O was tortured and now has many nightmares about it? Like... they are sleeping together and she wakes up screaming or he hears her crying asleep and cuddles her or idk... I just think is this kind of angsty fluff that I adore! Also I love your writting ♡

“PTSD,” Levi x Reader

Running out of gifs, using the same ones. Bear with me

Summary: having ptsd and Levi trying his best to comfort you.

Warnings: ptsd, torture, nightmares, abuse

Levi x Fem!Reader

Pain was all you felt. An intense amount of pain as you were bound down to the chair and left alone with your own tears and blood. You didn’t know why, you couldn’t come up with the reason why you were down here.

Maybe it was because of your fathers crimes. Everyone hated him and before he could pay for what he did, he vanished and left that burden onto you. The people who were practically hit men used you as bait, maybe you getting beaten and tortured would have your father running to your side but little did they know that your father hated you too.

All you could hear is the laughter from the men and your screams echoing off the walls, skin being pulled off and fingernails being broken along with a few other broken bones. You were beaten senseless on a daily basis, you were sure you were going to die in that basement until somehow— you barely escaped with your life.

Your broken bones ached, your skin on fire and your body so weak but your bare feet kept running until you had ran into a MP, soon after that, everything was history. You joined the Scouts, only because you felt your whole personality change into some machine and it convinced you to join and be able to protect yourself.

Levi had seeked interest in you right away, the scars that stayed on your skin noticeable and the pain you wore- he could tell you needed some comfort and he could tell you’ve been through hell and he related to you in someway and eventually it turned into a relationship that neither of you were expecting.

It had taken weeks for him to convince you to sleep in his bed but you didn’t want to be a burden, you didn’t want to wake him from your endless amount of nightmares that replayed in your head every night but a part of you thought maybe his company can make the nightmares go away.

So there you were, laid out on his bed, wearing his shirt and a pair of sweats while his arms were lazily wrapped around your body, spooning you and burying his face in the back of your neck while breathing in your scent.

Levi was completely over the moon with you, you were someone kind and amazing inside and out but he didn’t know the true story of your scars and he didn’t pressure you. All he would do is gently trace his fingertips over the scars that stained your skin, reminding you of your worth and beauty.

You sighed as he slept behind you and you hesitated, you didn’t want to fall asleep, you didn’t want to scare him away- it already took you months for you to be comfortable with him. It took you months for you to allow him to be affectionate and touch you, you couldn’t even let him hug you or touch your hand because it made you flinch and it made you believe he was going to hit you.

But he always remained patient, he stayed with you and gave you all the love you deserved to make you feel worthy of love and affection. He stayed by you until you were comfortable enough to let him in and the day you randomly pulled him in for a hug, you startled him. He stood there, wide eyes and hesitated before his arms were securely around your body- making you feel safe.

An hour went by of you staring at his bedroom wall, hearing his soft snores and feeling his breath tickle the back of your neck before you had finally gave in and fell asleep, hoping you’ll have a happy dream for once- maybe of Levi.

But that’s not what happened.

Your dreams were always the same, the echoing of laughter and screaming as chains were yanked and a whip was slapped onto your skin. The slashes on your back open and bleeding uncontrollably. The cuts on your dirty skin had looked infected and were painful, the broken fingernails on your fingertips throbbed and made you cry for hours but your broken ribs had prevented you from crying for too long.

The constant fear you felt, the look on the older mans face as he enjoyed torturing you and making sure you were in severe pain. You’ve even pleaded with them a few times for them to end your life and kill you. One man stared at you, laughing while pressing a knife to your neck and split some of your skin open as your blood leaked onto the blade.

“Hm, not yet sweetheart, I’m not done with you.” He licked his lips as he stared down at you and it just made you feel disgusting.

One day they even tried to touch you inappropriately, cutting your shirt off but another man had stepped in and said it was going too far yet you laid there bleeding out slowly, what is too far for them?

Your body shook in your sleep, soft mumbles escaping your lips until it had woken Levi up from how much you were shaking against him. His tired eyes had moved down to look at you and stroked your hair back from your face.

“Y/N?” He mumbled, firmly grabbing onto your arm and tried to rub it to somewhat wake you up but it wasn’t working.

You were deep in your slumber, deep in your nightmare that all the pain felt completely real as it ran through your body and a startled scream had left your parted lips, frightening Levi and suddenly you shot up in bed.

Your breathing was heavy, tears had soaked your cheeks and you had forgotten about being in his room until his soft hand had reached out and rested on your back, making you flinch and startle him again.

“Hey, it’s just me.” He said quietly, his sad eyes looking into yours and that’s when you started to unravel and break down before him.

Uncontrollable sobs had left your lips, burying your face into your hands and just cried as he rubbed your back and try to be of some comfort. He wasnt all that great at it but he loved you too much to have you sitting here feeling like this.

You couldn’t handle your emotions, you were embarrassed and humiliated that he’s seen you like this, you never wanted to open that part of your past up but it was still bothering you, it was still torturing you and you just can’t seem to shake the past off.

He hesitated, watching you but his heart had broke into pieces seeing how fragile you really are beneath the tough act you pull everyday at work. He sighed, reaching over to wrap his arms around your small frame and pull you into his chest.

You continued to cry, tears sliding down and hitting his chest which made his shirt a bit wet but he didn’t mind- he was giving you time and giving you a moment to let your emotions out.

“I’m here, no one is going to lay a finger on you again, alright?” He assured you, his fingers brushing through your messy hair and you started to calm down, the feeling of his arms securely around you made you feel safe.

You sucked in a deep breath, small hiccups leaving your lips as your sad tear filled eyes stared into his and everything just felt calm again. His presence and his company just made everything a little better, made you feel like you were truly okay.

“I’m sorry.. this is why I was afraid of sleeping in your room.” You admitted, your voice shaky and he shook his head.

“Don’t be ashamed, I still have nightmares from when I was a kid too. It happens.” He mumbled, tucking your hair back behind your ear and you leaned into his soft touches.

You had sat up on the bed, a random feeling of wanting him to know everything, wanting to show him everything. Sure he’s seen the scars on your arms, legs and the small ones on your face but he’s never seen the worse of it underneath your shirt. You looked like some sick voodoo doll- full of stitches and scars.

Your small hands had gripped the edge of your shirt, his eyes watching you and once you were brave enough to lift it up over your head, leaving you in just your bra- he couldn’t hold back the sound he made as his breath hitched in his throat. He’s thought he’s seen it all, he thought he’s seen bad things but this pretty much took the win.

His eyes began to water, he was never the type to show pure emotions but when it came to you and how important you were to him, he couldn’t help the pain he felt in his empty heart. It’s like he can feel all the pain you endured all those years ago in that empty cold basement.

He took his time, leaning over and brushing his fingertips over the patches of skin and the scars that were on your back as tears streamed down his face and he shook his head, feeling angry.

“I don’t even know what to say.. I’m speechless..” He finally spoke up, lost for words as he stared at your skin and you sighed.

“You don’t have to say anything. My past is always going to haunt me and you might as well know, I don’t want to hide anything from you.” You admitted, turning your head to look at him and he embraced you in another tight hug.

“You’re strong and you’re still beautiful.” He repeated, rubbing soft circles on your back and you buried your face into his shoulder, tears threatening to fall from your eyes again.

“You’re safe now.”

You couldn’t help the overwhelming pain you felt inside of your heart, it fluttered by his words but the reminder of your scars and being vulnerable enough to show him outweighed everything. You were terrified. Sure the guys who did this to you are locked away for good but you just felt scared all of the time. What if it happened again? It was constantly on your mind.

But Levi holding you in his arms as tight as he could without hurting you and the way his fingers danced on your skin to trace over your scars and remind you of his love for you, it made you feel safe. It made you fall even harder for him as you felt his lips press gentle kisses on your shoulder blade and even tilted his head to kiss your cheek.

You pulled back to look up at him in the dark, the moon shining the room bright enough to see his features and see the small smile on his face as he admired you and cupped your cheeks. It was hard for him to be this open and show this much emotion but you were worth everything to him, he risked being vulnerable and lovable for you.

“I know telling you about my past and being locked away tortured for weeks is horrible and probably made you think differently of me but..” You started to say but he was quick to cut you off.

“But nothing, why would I think differently of you? This just proves how strong I know you are. I’ll never think differently.” He mumbled, tracing his thumbs over your soft skin and your heart pounded inside of your chest.

You’ve never had someone like Levi, not one bit and having someone in front of you giving you everything you deserved and more was new but thrilling and it made you feel warm after being locked in a cold basement for what felt like years.

You were convinced after escaping that your life would never go back to normal or be normal, you never expected to find someone as loving and caring as him either but here he was, cradling you in the middle of the night making sure you felt okay and secure.

Sorry for the lonnnnng wait. I actually enjoyed this one🥺

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#levi ackerman fanfic #levi ackerman imagine #levi ackerman imagines #levi ackerman x reader #levi ackerman headcanons #levi Ackerman #levi imagines #levi imagine #levi x reader #levi fanfic #aot headcanons #aot imagines

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gar-trek · 3 years

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I review killing time (or whatever)

Okay, yes this review has taken me forever and that’s because there’s so much I want to say, and most of it has very little to do with the plot of the book. I cut down a lot of this so you guys could just get to the main point of what I’m trying to say, so I apologize if this is a little brief or incomprehensible to those who haven’t read the book.

And also, before I get into it, I would like to say rest in peace to the author Della Van Hise, who passed away in march of this year. She contributed a lot to the fandom, especially in regards to K/S fiction, as well as publishing a lot of non-trek related work during her life.

First of all, if you have heard of Killing Time, there is probably one specific reason for that. It’s the same reason I picked up the book in the first place and why it’s really even a topic of discussion on this site. To put the story quite briefly, Killing Time was recalled during its initial release on account of the book having too many slash elements (aka, the relationship between Kirk and Spock could be read as sexual/romantic). I first heard about the book here in this post where the history of it is worded to sound like one very dramatic mystery. One user (no shade intended here) even goes as far as to say the book was recalled by old Gene himself! Now I’m always one for drama and such, but after reading the book I looked into it a little more, and I don’t think that’s exactly how it went down.

Here you can find multiple statements from the author herself, in which she tells the whole story. According to her, the book publisher accidentally released an unedited manuscript that was never supposed to make it to the public. So technically the publisher did not recall the book because it was “too gay”, they recalled it because they printed a version that was never meant for the public to see anyway. These were the edits that were specifically requested by Paramount, who the publishers were supposed to go through to get the final okay on all material. And like, yeah, all of Paramounts edits were pretty much to delete any sentence where Spock and Kirk are tender to each other, they were trying to make is less homoerotic, obviously. I understand why this slight distinction may not make much of a difference to you guys, but for me it’s important to note that the book wasn’t recalled because it was too gay, it was just never supposed to be gay in the first place. It doesn’t make that fact any better, but it does make it less dramatic, in my opinion. I encourage you to read the statements from the author on this topic though, because she gives the whole story a lot better then I just did.

Now to address the main question at hand, does Killing Time depict a romantic relationship between Kirk and Spock, or is it all just hype? (in layman's terms, is the book gay or not?) and to answer quite plainly, yes it’s gay. of course it is. but then to answer less plainly, no. What the fuck do i mean by this? well let me try and explain.

I read the second edition of the book, aka the censored version, but I also followed along with the first edition (using this great article). The changes made to the book did not effect the plot at all, and were really only minor things. Notably, in the second edition they just kind of left out any part where Spock and Kirk touch each other (and I don’t mean in a sexual way). For example, there is a scene where Spock and Kirk are having a serious conversation in the ships garden. In the first edition, at the end of the conversation Spock places a hand on Kirks shoulder, which Kirk covers with his own hand. In the second addition, all mentions of this simple contact are deleted. The differences between the two are mostly little things like this. There is no secret sex scene or love confession hidden in the first addition. You see, in my opinion, the changes made to the second edition of the book do very little to censor the romantic undertones between Kirk and Spock. That’s because they are ingrained in the plot line itself.

One very important aspect to this book is that Kirk and Spock share a mental bond. This is something that can only happen between a Vulcan and another when they are extremely close. The mental bond that Kirk and Spock share is so strong in this book, it’s even present when they enter an alternate dimension where they are strangers to one another. There is a romance in this book between two original characters, and their relationship is constantly being paralleled by that of Kirk and Spock. And, maybe most telling, Spock refuses a female Romulan who is very interested in him over and over again simply because Kirk exists. And no, that’s not an exaggeration, here is a line from when the Romulan woman was begging Spock to be in a relationship with her:

“I need you. The Empire needs you, what more can there be?”

“James Kirk” the Vulcan murmured without hesitation.

That line is in both versions of the book. What I’m trying to say is yes, there are K/S elements in Killing Time. There are many tender moments and lots of talk about Kirk and Spock’s devotion to each other.

So now you’re asking yourself, Gar, why did you just say earlier that “no, the book is not gay”? Well, that’s because it’s not. This isn’t a K/S book. This isn’t a piece of Spirk fanfiction. Because for as much as this book is about Kirk and Spock’s relationship, it’s even more about Romulans (and more specifically, that one girlboss Romulan Commander from the Enterprise Incident.... bet ya didn't see that coming!) That’s right, the most controversial Star Trek book ever published is at it’s core quite plainly just a Star Trek book. There is weird alternate dimensions, time travel, espionage and lots and lots of Romulans!

Alright, alright, what I’m really trying to get at here is that yes, if you read into Killing Time there is K/S elements. I mean for god sake the author was a known K/S fanfic writer, that wasn’t a secret by any means. If she wrote their relationship a little more tenderly than most authors would have, can we really be surprised? But writing a K/S story was not her intention here, and that’s not what this is. I think the author put it best herself, so I’m just going to put that here:

“If people chose to see overtones of K/S in it, maybe it’s because there were overtones of K/S throughout Star Trek itself.”

People will hype up killing time as some secret confirmation that K/S is real and canon, and I really get that. Like, it would be really nice to have some canon acknowledgment of K/S, and I really don’t blame people for acting like that’s what this is. But that really isn’t what this is. And even if there was some kind of love confession, I really hate to break it to you, but the Star Trek novels are just fancy fanfiction and are not considered canon by any stretch (excluding the one Gene wrote himself, which let’s face it, perhaps has the most K/S elements of all).

If you are looking for a nice story about Kirk and Spock being in love, then I very much urge you to look at Ao3 or similar sites. Skip this, if you want a K/S story, because that’s not what this is. Now, if you’re a huge fan of the Romulan commander from the Enterprise Incident, then my GOD you have to read this. I think this was a pretty solid Trek book. It was no piece of literary genius, but it got the job done. There was a lot of it that I think could have been left out, because it the later half it started to drag horribly, and we got a few plot threads that went absolutely nowhere. I’m not sure I’m much of a fan of alternate universes, as I really really enjoy the established dynamic of the characters, but it didn’t bother me too much. But I mean hey man, there was defiantly parts where I was so invested I couldn’t put the book down. Give this one a read if you’re looking for a pretty interesting Trek book with a little bit of cheeky K/S sprinkled here and there.

If you have given the book a read, or just have thoughts in general, I’d love to hear them!

#here it is people #as always sorry for any grammer or spelling mistakes #i know there are prone to be some so just uhhhhh #ignore it if you can #star trek #killing time #kirk #james t kirk #spock #kirk/spock #k/s #spirk #the original series

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words-writ-in-starlight · 4 years

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where's the essay op

Okay so bayonets. I don't know why I ever pretend that I want to talk about anything but military history and battlefield medicine. I checked all my sources in the waiting room of a doctor's office so you're just going to have to trust me because they are Gone. I’m pretty sure this can all be found on a few Wiki dives, though.

First of all, to recap, let me clarify a common misconception. The triangular bayonet was NOT outlawed in the 1949 Geneva Convention, nor any future revisions—as it was originally a musket weapon, it was fading out of use by World War II and the subsequent Convention. However, you'll notice that I opted to use to word "violates" rather than "were banned by," which is a fine semantical hair to split and, I suppose, debatable. Most bayonets were not explicitly banned in the GC, in that there is not an article in the GC saying you can't use them. However there IS an article in the GC, adopted from the earlier 1899 Hague Regulations, stating that it is prohibited to "employ weapons...of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering" (originally part of Article 23 of the HR, now Article 35 of the GC, expanded in 1977). Personally, as someone who knows a lot about how a lot of weapons impact the human body, I think that is a more expansive statement than most people would expect, and should be treated accordingly. Regrettably I do not work for the UN.

Point is, triangular blades specifically are known to cause wounds that are difficult to heal, highly prone to infection, and extremely likely to never fully recover, while also having a relatively low mortality rate. This is because the axes of a triangular wound, which is shaped sort of like a Y, make it very hard to stitch closed, and very easy for any "twisting" of the blade to create a large hole with ragged edges that's functionally impossible to stitch closed. As an added bonus, because of the way scar tissue forms, it's possible for one "line" of a triangular wound to pull open other parts of the puncture while the scar tissue forms and pulls on the skin. Even by standards in the 1700s, triangular bayonet wounds were phenomenally likely to infect and consistently difficult to repair, and modern medicine has made only limited improvements on that situation. As such, cases have been made that certain types of bayonet/triangular blades in general are therefore in violation of this article, despite not being explicitly banned.

(Side note: yes, the American military violates the GC on the regular. The American police violate the GC. I am excruciatingly aware. The GC is interesting reading generally, but especially if you're an American and you ever feel like being appalled for a few hours.)

Anyway, with that covered again, let's actually talk about the development of triangular bayonets, which might've been out of use by the time of the GC but DEFINITELY violated that article in a big way for a good two centuries prior and are also a fascinating insight into the fact that humanity, as a whole, is really determined to do things in the dumbest way possible.

The first thing you have to understand about bayonets is that they were originally invented as a way to integrate pikes with guns, not knives or even swords. When arquebuses and muskets were first invented, you were lucky to get a rate of fire around one round per minute, and you still had to protect your army while they were reloading their clunky black powder guns. Therefore, most infantries between like...the invention of the gun and the late 1600s were comprised of soldiers equipped with muskets, and also soldiers equipped with pikes (a type of spear). The idea of a bayonet was "what if we put a pike and a musket TOGETHER and then we could give everyone THAT and have way more guns in our army because we don't need pikemen anymore." Which makes sense when you think about it.

What makes less sense is that the initial effort at bayonets was something called a plug bayonet. You'll never fucking guess what these geniuses (first record is Chinese infantry around-abouts 1600, popular use of plug bayonets recorded in Europe around the 1630s) figured out for their first try at a bayonet. Here's a hint! There's not a lot of places on a gun where you can "plug in" a sword.

Obviously plug bayonets did not exactly catch on as a fantastic solution, because these guns were either a gun OR a short spear and neither was especially good at their jobs. A bunch of battles hinged on this problem. Which brings us to the end of the 1600s, when English forces in Scotland got absolutely obliterated by a bunch of Highlanders in 1689 because the English were so busy trying to fix their bayonets that the Highlanders literally just charged them, fired one volley, and cut them down with swords and axes. The English took that one very personally (which, you know what, fair, it was a humiliating defeat, especially since the Highlanders had been using that tactic very successfully for a while) and started developing better bayonets.

This is where we get to socket bayonets, AKA what you would probably recognize as a bayonet from a period TV series or a museum. Socket bayonets have a metal sleeve that gets attached around the barrel of a gun (in this case a musket), so that you can still theoretically use the damn gun while it's attached. There were problems with the development of socket bayonets (notably, it took a while to figure out how to keep them from falling off the gun during battle), but overall they worked much better and armies started getting rid of pikemen. This was also when bayonets were shortened to a little over a foot, which isn't really important but made them much easier to maneuver. Socket bayonets were the European order of the day by the early 1700s, and mostly came in three flavors: single edge (like a knife), double edge (like a sword), and spike (like a...spike). There were pros and cons to all of these (single edge wasn't great for stabbing, spike was ONLY good for stabbing, and double edge was kind of okay at stabbing and kind of okay at slashing), but most importantly, both single and double edged bayonets were fragile. The heads of polearms were shaped on patterns other than "sword on a stick" for a reason, and it's because "sword on a stick" is not very sturdy.

Triangular bayonets were the solution to this problem. Triangular bayonets are basically a single piece of metal creased long-ways, with both edges sharpened and the top fluted to form a third edge at the crease. This makes a much more resilient weapon than a flat blade, because a twisting motion doesn’t risk snapping the blade in the middle. It also means that now you have three edges, and human nature is to figure “more knife better.”

And don’t get me wrong, as a weapon of war, the triangular bayonet was a great one. It was introduced in the 1710s and then got used regularly to maim and terrify through the start of the 1900s. In fact, the triangular bayonet worked so well that it only began to get phased out of use when the style of war itself started to change dramatically during the World Wars. When warfare was focused on pitched battle (your old school “two armies enter, one army leaves” kind of warfare), the emphasis of a bayonet was on extending the reach of a gun. A bayonet lets a soldier have a weapon for closer range combat, where a gun—especially a long gun like a musket—is not as effective. So when you had two armies on the field and a bayonet was first and foremost a way to keep the enemy at least gun-length away, longer bayonets were better.

But World War I was the advent of trench warfare, which was a terrible idea and also meant that a long weapon, like a gun with an extra foot and a half of sword on top, was much, MUCH harder to work with. Either fighting took place in no man’s land, where you probably weren’t going to get close enough to use a bayonet anyway, or in a trench, where a weapon as long as you were tall was just impossible to work with.

(If you know anything about WWI, you’re probably asking me about bayonet charges right now, specifically the concept of “going over the top.” Contrary to every media representation of WWI ever, “going over the top” of a trench faded out of use pretty quickly. It was a type of bayonet charge where the soldiers in ONE trench fixed their bayonets and tried to charge no man’s land in an effort to reach the OTHER trench, but it was basically never effective because no man’s land was often heavily trapped and strafed with gunfire and mortar shells. Also, it was the kind of battle tactic that military history books talk about with phrases like “total annihilation of whole attacking battalions,” so that’s the kind of mortality rate we’re talking about here. The Battle of the Somme featured a good number of bayonet charges by the British, for context, so people learned and started using other tactics.)

So, since bayonets were only useful in trenches, suddenly everyone was scrambling to shorten bayonets and guns so that their soldiers could get ANYTHING DONE. And THEN soldiers started admitting that they were literally taking their bayonets off their guns and using them as knives instead, because for trench fighting that was way more useful, and so everyone just decided fuck it, let’s just make bayonet-knives, which is why WWI weapons with bayonets usually look, very literally, like someone duct taped a short knife to the front of a gun. This was the start of the decline of the triangular bayonet, a full two hundred years after it hit the battlefield, which is a frankly spectacular run for any weapon since the invention of the gun. Triangular bayonets held on, here and there, through part of WWII, but they were almost entirely gone by the time of the Geneva Convention being ratified in 1949. However, spike or knife bayonets are still issued to many armies as a weapon of last resort to this day, although they aren’t often used in actual attacks. Now we have bigger, worse weapons for actual attacks.

TL;DR, the development of bayonets went like this:

“What if we put a pike ON a gun? …oh wait, you still want to use the gun? Sucks to be you, I guess.”

“What if we put a sword on the gun instead? Then we could put it somewhere where we can still use the gun! Good luck keeping it on there, though.”

“What if we actually made something designed to get put on a gun and stab people effectively? Like, what if we designed something with that purpose in mind? Perhaps?” SMASH CUT TWO CENTURIES

“Well if you’re just gonna take your bayonet off and stab someone with it anyway, can we just go back to giving you knives, then?”

And now you’re caught up on all the dubiously successful ways we’ve tried to mutilate people with a knife-gun.

#military history #medical history #sort of...?#bayonets #honestly i have no idea what this would be classified as. i just had a really good time reading about bayonets in a waiting room.#Y'ALL WANTED TO KNOW SO HERE IS MY ESSAY #IT IS VERY LONG YOU BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELVES I'M NOT SORRY #incidentally i HATE the fact that plug bayonets were a thing. what a terrible solution to a problem. what the hell.#'we went to all this trouble to make a gun that won't blow us up (much) so now we're gonna put a knife in the end'#i would love to talk to the guy who came up with that and ask politely what the hell decided them on this #as opposed to SAY FOR EXAMPLE A SOCKET BAYONET #WHICH IS NOT THAT MUCH MORE ADVANCED A CONCEPT #it does bear mentioning that bayonets weren't often major killers in war!#...because you were much more likely to be maimed and/or die later of infection than die outright on the field from a bayonet wound #so take from that what you will #a queue we will keep and our honor someday avenge #anonymous #asked and answered

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potteresque-ire · 3 years

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I’ve got several asks about BJYX supertopic’s recent battle for the top CP ranking. I’ve meant to answer them the way they’re asked, but the answer gets long. Dear Anons ~ please forgive me for splitting the answers into multiple posts!

As with everything I’ve said about CPs, they’re mostly my limited observations—unlike history and news, it’s impossible to find articles about any of this that pass journalistic standards. Therefore, please consider the following to be my personal impressions and ramblings, and as usual, everyone please feel free to point out mistakes and add your own thoughts!

Everyone probably knows already, but the new drama that has brought waves to the Weibo’s CP ranking list is Word of Honour (山河令, which I will abbreviate to WoH), and the CP pairing is known as Lang Lang Ding (浪浪釘, LLD). I haven’t watched this drama yet but as a Wuxia (and slash) fan, it is on my to-watch list. Nonetheless, I’ve been watching the developments surrounding the popularity of the drama and the CPs, and I think I can make the posts long enough just with these observations alone. (I’m incredibly long winded :D )

For the CP competition, I think it’s important to point this out: the LLD supertopic is a mixed character-CP and real-person-CP supertopic, unlike the YiZhan supertopics (BJYX, ZSWW, LSFY) that are real-person-CP only. This means comparing LLD and the YiZhan supertopics is really … comparing apples and oranges, especially when WoH is still airing (and therefore providing fresh candies for the character CP with every new episode). I therefore wish this kind of popularity competition doesn’t take root in the international fandom; it’s … a bit silly to me, really. It makes little sense.

That said, however, I understand why c-turtles are fighting so hard for the #1 CP spot. C-ent (as is true with many other aspects in the country), numbers and ranking are everything. That 20(?), 40(?) minutes during which BJYX supertopic fell to #2 the first time already made “news” headlines that claimed that WoH had surpassed The Untamed (TU)—an even stranger comparison, if one thinks about it. BJYX, technically speaking, doesn’t have anything to do with TU. It’s a GG/DD real person CP.

But it doesn’t matter—numbers are numbers, and they talk to c-ent watchers, the commercial interests looking for their most promising future investments. The perceived power of c-turtles hinges on them and by power, I mean both fan power and spending power, which are almost synonymous terms in c-ent. Many of you have probably seen those charts that rank the popularity of c-ent entertainers by how much goods, in monetary value, they’re able to sell. How much do the c-turtles contribute to these monetary values? Are they, as a collection of fans, worth keeping, worth wooing?

The notion that only the fan’s spending power means something may cause unease in many i-turtles—and it is, indeed, a very cold-hearted assessment, as it implies that fans are little more than living wallets to be emptied. My observations have been that such a notion doesn’t bother c-turtles for the most part and, IMHO, they’re being realistic for their sociopolitical environment. They also respond to this notion accordingly—while it is difficult to tease out the exact percentage of turtles among Gg and Dd’s active fans (fans that make major purchases goods and merchandises), c-turtles have previously demonstrated their ability to contribute a substantial fraction (in the 10s of percent) of money spent on Gg and Dd. As these splits are only very occasionally visible to the public, the CP ranking likely serves as a constant reminder of c-turtles enormous fan/spending power — without which, Gg and Dd’s popularity will also take a hit.

In that sense, c-turtles are fighting for their right-to-exist. Remember when I talked about the “traditional” thinking that CPFs < solos, and that one CPF = one (loyal) solo lost? This means c-turtles must be able to demonstrate their ability to offer something that the solos cannot, and more importantly, that their offer will not come in any other name. If c-turtles proved last year that they wouldn’t change their name to solos, then this year they’re set to prove they’ll not change their name to LLDs or other CPFs.

If the latter sounds a bit like a battlecry, it may be exactly that. Ever since the announcements of the long line of upcoming Dangai’s, ample inflammatory posts have been made on the platform to get c-turtles to “defect” to the new dramas, or predict that as soon as another pair of random, beautiful men start to throw candies on screen, c-turtles will promptly forget about Gg and Dd and join the fun. The latter, especially, can be quite insulting to read, as one can imagine. However, with c-turtles being a loosely connected group of millions, despite their apparent firm stance that they shall stay turtle, their underlying nerves that these “insults” may turn out to be true can also be felt — the worry that c-turtledom will haemorrhage when the next popular Dangai with enticing M/M CPs (character or real person) come along.

WoH, as the first drama that fits the criteria, is therefore a test— a test that many c-turtles likely view they must pass with flying colours to prove their point, to stand with their heads held high among those who do not care about BJYXSZD (not necessarily solos—many solos, BTW, have actually helped the turtles out this time); to show that turtles are not only every bit as loyal as other Gg and Dd fans, they’re not so … cheap as to take any random “industrial saccharine” (工業糖精; referring to ZQSG-free candies created solely to lure in fans) and walk away.

The reform of the BJYX supertopic (which now allows candy analysis and explains the sudden appearance of many old candies), the flood of BTS videos from almost every Zhan Jie previously involved with the YiZhan CPs, the temporary retaking of the top 3 CP spots by BJYX+ZSWW+LSFY ... can therefore be viewed as a rally of c-turtles. The message is: we’re not going anywhere. We’ve got enough candies that no other (M/M) CPs can hope to match in quantity, in quality.

(And the parade is indeed impressive.) (The reform also didn’t come out of thin air; there have been discussions about the supertopic’s candy sharing rules before.)

Some c-turtles have rightfully been concerned about how such a parade of candies can affect Gg and Dd. They point out that some candies should still remain 閱後即焚 (“burn after reading”, instant return to hiding after release like certain BTS videos); that at some point, c-turtles have to let go of their obsession of staying on top of the CP rankings. TU is already almost 2 years old, and being a little lower on the CP ranking list will take the heat off the YiZhan fandoms in the long run, incite less outside forces trying to fan the flames between the shrimps and the motors and the turtles.

The rules and guidelines of c-turtledom therefore remain a work in progress, and c-turtles, the millions of them, are still learning as they go.

Personally, I have faith in what will come. I also haven’t been too concerned about the candy parade, because most information is already out there for those who’re determined to find them — on Bilibili, Douyin, Zhihu etc. I spent some time talking about the Gg Assistant fic not with the goal of eliciting pain or panic, but rather, as a demonstration of why it has been the tradition of CPFs—not only the turtles—to play things very cautiously, with 閱後即焚 and 圈地自萌 (“to play within the circle”; ie, keep all information and candies within CPFs) being the default rules even after removing the “queer factor” from the discussion. Real person CPs have fate as one of their writers and so, unlike character CPs, their candies can have unintended, unpredictable consequences. As the YiZhan fandoms have now grown big enough that their candies can no longer be realistically well-contained, it may not be such a bad idea for especially the sensitive candies to return under the “jurisdiction” of the BJYX supertopic, so to speak. c-turtles can then gain better control of their comes-and-goes. Their narratives.

(CPN below.)

About narratives. @rainbowsky have previously written a thoughtful piece on the possible reasons the YiZhan fandoms have been allowed to thrive, and I’d like to add the following hypothesis—it may be a way to take pre-emptive control of the Gg/Dd narrative in preparation for the scenario where their relationship is exposed without their consent. Some i-turtles, I think, may have already gained a sense of how ruthless, cruel and above all, quick the c-ent rumour mill can be. If Gg and Dd get outed by a third party, chances are they won’t have time at all to create a fresh narrative, and the one that come out of the rumour mill will likely be … very ugly, containing every worst misconception people have against homosexual relationships. Whereas now, c-turtles already have a narrative at hand—the canon-fanon that, while c-turtles may not agree on every detail, is largely agreed upon on the important milestones. The supporting materials are also ready: the videos, the images, the voice and arrow guides on them.

For me, another interesting question is whether this c-turtle rally and parade of candies are truly necessary in the end.

I’m curious about what will happen to the LLD supertopic when WoH completes its airing. There’s really no precedence for this kind of a mixed character + real person M/M CP supertopic setup — the history of Dangai is short, of popular Dangai’s, even shorter.

Guardian (鎮魂), the first successful Dangai aired exactly a year before TU (in the summer of 2018), never had a dedicated CP supertopic (please holler if I got this wrong! I know there’re Guardian fans here ~ hello! *waves*). Discussions of Guardian’s CPs were found within the drama’s supertopic (剧版镇魂); the real-person-CP also never had its own name; its discussions were hidden under the character CP (巍瀾) tag.

Then came TU. Its real person CP (BJYX) split away from its character CP (WangXian) long before the airing for the drama—the birthdate of the BJYX supertopic was 2018/04/28 (TU’s airing date: 2019/06/27).

After TU, two Dangai dramas have already aired before WoH that seemed to have largely passed the attention of i-fandom: The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty (成化十四年) and Winter Begonia (鬢邊不是海棠紅). Winter Begonia, in particular, was well received. Their character CPs never really took off, however, being conceived and perceived as more brotherhood than romance. Age also played a factor for Winter Begonia—Yun Zheng (尹正), known to many turtles as Dd’s motorcycle buddy, is 34, and Huang Xiaoming (黃曉明) is 43. The associated real person CPs also never became popular as a result; Huang Xiaoming’s famous marriage to a beautiful actress also meant that a real person CP was likely to be off the table for Winter Begonia from the start.

The best reference I can think of then, when it comes to speculating the fate of LLD, is therefore the fates of the CP supertopics of 2020’s summer hit, Love and Redemption (琉璃). I’ve talked about its character CP before; essentially, just days after the drama was done airing, the (het) character CP (初遇夫婦) was broken up and in a manner largely criticised as unnecessarily cruel to CP fans. Its supertopic closed immediately afterwards. The supertopic for the real-person-CP (冰橙汁) got to live, however, and is still active today.

The commercial forces behind WoH will likely break the character CP as soon as the drama is done airing; popular het and non-het character CPs in the recent years have gone through similar fates. What does this mean to LLD then? Does it mean the supertopic will be shutdown, since the drama itself already has its own supertopic? But what will happen then to its real-person CP, which has been incorporated within the LLD supertopic? Will the real-person CP be broken at the same time as the character CP to allow for immediate “purification” of real person CP fans into solo fans, to avoid future “headaches” like BYYX—a bound between the actors that cannot be severed—or 227 that, in the eyes of many passerbys, remains an issue of solo vs cpfs?

Only time will tell, and I very sincerely hope it’ll get a happy ending. Fans are made to love, and it saddens me every time to see them being severed from their loves, or pitted against each other especially when it’s clear it’s the social media platforms, the commercial interests behind the scenes — not just the production/media companies but the YXHs, the water armies — who will reap the benefits in the end. Personally, I feel no joy in seeing anyone’s favourites getting torn down, even if they aren’t my own. Gg and Dd’s safety — and the safety of every upstanding, hardworking c-ent entertainer like them — doesn’t hinge so much on their CP or solo or drama ranking, but whether their fans can refrain from bringing their conflicts into the public eye, from “occupying social resources”—ie, deflecting the public’s attention from the “core socialist values” the government intends it to focus on.

Fandom is big enough for us all.

#pie metas #yizhan #bjyx

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hasquetzorkukudoneanythingwrong · 2 years

Text

I posted 3,870 times in 2021

906 posts created (23%)

2964 posts reblogged (77%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 3.3 posts.

I added 4,109 tags in 2021

#fate grand order - 806 posts

#quetzalcoatl - 622 posts

#wife - 567 posts

#mastersona - 551 posts

#rex - 446 posts

#rexcoatl - 392 posts

#maria - 259 posts

#daily update - 202 posts

#eduardo - 193 posts

#convo - 71 posts

Longest Tag: 105 characters

#if it wasn't for her gifting cacao to humanity you wouldn't even be able to bake them in the first place!

My Top Posts in 2021

Since I'm being forced to run this blog in the first place, lemme ask the others a question!

How similar are we to our parents? You all seem to know them enough so... let us know what you think!

83 notes • Posted 2021-06-14 13:44:38 GMT

Welcome back

Amazing art by @panyum

"YOUR HEAD IS MINE!"

*SLASH!*

That was what was heard as a Phantom version of Rex's servant, Coyolxauhqui deals the finishing blow to Ivan the Terrible. The mighty Tsar could not withstand the lethal blow, and falls to the ground, before succumbing to his wounds.

Ivan: heh, you've done well in defeating me, boy. It takes a lot of strength to stand firm against a mighty enemy such as I. And you've better keep up that strength, if you plan to continue with this journey of your's. Because the other lostbelts will have people like me, fighting hard to keep their world alive. So keep that in mind, as you go on.

Rex stood there, tired from the fight. He breathed heavily as he listened to his fallen enemy's words.

Rex: ....I will. I'll make sure to keep those words in mind.

Ivan: good... that's all I ask of the man who defeated me.

As he says this, he fades away, into dust. Now the Tsar was gone.

Now it was time for Rex to do something very important!

Many of the demonic beasts of this wintery Lostbelt had come, surrounding Rex.

Rex: perfect.... they'll work just fine.

Rex then summoned a Phantom version of Lancelot Berserker, guns at the ready.

It was over quickly, all the beasts gunned down by the Phantom servant. Rex had what he needed.

Grabbing a nearby stick, Rex dipped it in the blood of the beasts and used it to draw what seemed to be a large summoning circle. Then all of a sudden, his communicator started up.

Da Vinci: Rex! There you are! What's happening on your end? How's thing been?

Rex spoke, with clear signs that he was tired from his previous combat.

Rex: I just defeated Ivan the Terrible. He's gone now.

Gordy: you managed to defeat that monstrosity? I guess it's true that you were able to save human history.

Rex: oh now you believe me!

Holmes: well with no proof, it is a tough claim to back up.

Rex: quiet Holmes!

Rex continued on with his summoning circle.

Da Vinci: what're you doing now?

Gordy: shouldn't you be joining the other two to destroy the tree?!

Rex: not yet.... I have one more thing I need to do

It didn't take long for Da Vinci to piece together what Rex was doing

Da Vinci: are you sure about this? Without the briefcase she may not remember you.

Gordy: huh? What are you talking about?

Rex: can't take that kind of risk. The others are in direct combat with Kadoc, risking summoning in the middle of combat is not good.

Gordy: you're going to summon a servant?!

Holmes: not just any servant, likely it's his first: Quetzalcoatl.

Rex: there, finished up.

Rex was looking before him. A large summoning circle made of the dark red blood of the slain demonic beasts.

Gordy: I still have genuine trouble believing that you managed to summon a divine spirit, even if they weren't a full divinity, that's a tall ask for any magus.

Rex: well you're gonna have to believe it, Gordy.

As Rex said this, he was looking into his pockets for the catalyst that allowed him to summon Quetzalcoatl in the first place. But no luck.

Rex: fuck! Where'd it go?!

Da Vinci: what is it? What happened?

Rex: my catalyst, I can't find it!

Da Vinci: oh no....

Rex: now what do I do....?

Gordy: so you're giving up? How sad.

Da Vinci: director!

Gordy: I mean it! After claiming to save human history, he's going to give up now?

Rex: I'm not giving up!

Gordy: then what're you waiting for?!

Rex: fine! I don't need a damn feather anyways!

Rex stood in front of the summoning circle, closed his eyes and started the summoning chant.

Rex: My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny. If you heed the grail's call, and abide by this will and reason, then answer me. I hereby swear. I embody all that is good in the world. I shall defeat all that is evil in the world. Seventh heaven clad in the three words of power! Come forth from the circle of binding, Guardian of the Scales!

The circle pulses with intense magical energy, so much so that the very earth shakes and the communicator loses connection to Rex. The familiar pillar of light erupts once again, but much more chaotically then before, followed by dramatic shaking and bursting of energy!

Before it finally releases it's energy, then fading to see a very familiar face.

Quetz: Hola! The goddess Quetzalcoa-

*pause*

Quetz: ...Mi amor?

Rex: it's been a very long time... Mi corazon.

Quetz: *gasp!* MI AMOR!

Then Quetzalcoatl leaps towards Rex in a grapple to hug him, causing the two to fall into the snow. The two were then giggling with joy at being together again, after what felt like an eternity apart.

Rex: it's so amazing to see you again, Mi corazon!

Quetz: si! I was so very lonely without you mi amor!

After a bit of time, the two stopped and stood back up in the snow and Quetz finally processed their location.

Quetz: why all the snow? Is it winter time?

That's when Rex realized Quetz wasn't aware of the situation they were in. Wasn't aware that the world was in danger once again, only far far worse now then before.

Rex: well... mi corazon. I have some... troubling news...

He said as he lowered his head.

Quetz's happiness turned to concern after she heard that.

Quetz: what's wrong? What happened?

Rex: unfortunately.... we have to save humanity once again. This time from a much larger threat then before.

When Quetzalcoatl heard this, she was devastated.

Quetz: eh? Wh-what?! N-no! How could this happen?! You had already defeated Goetia with the others! The world should be safe again!

Tears then started to form on Quetz's face.

Quetz: we-we were supposed to reunite happily... a-and peacefully.... wh-why do we only find each other when the world is in danger....

Rex then hugged Quetz tightly, to comfort her.

Rex: I'm so very sorry mi corazon. I hate that we only seem to find each other in the most terrible of circumstances. But the world is in danger again, and we need to save it.... we cannot let the humanity you love fade away....

Solemnly, Quetz returned the hug.

Quetz: you're right.... it's painful but you're right.

Then Rex slowly broke the hug, held Quetz's hands in his, then started to speak to her.

Rex: but let me promise you one thing.

Quetz: ...eh? What would that be?

Rex: I promise that once this is all over, once the world is well and truly safe. Let's stay together, go somewhere nice and live together, we can even get married!

Quetz's eyes beamed when she heard that.

Quetz: m-m-married! Ar-are you serious mi amor?! You want us to get married?!

Rex: si... I already know you'd make the perfect wife.... so once we finally save this planet for good, let's get married.

Quetz: yes! Yes yes yes! Once this is over, we'll get married! Oh mi amor, you've made me the happiest goddess in existence!

Rex: and you've made me the happiest person alive! I'm so very happy to have met you! Te amo mucho, mi corazon!

Quetz: te amo mucho, mi amor!

Finally the comms started to work again.

Da Vinci: what happened?! Rex, did it work?!

Quetz: Hola Da Vinci! You look younger...

Da Vinci: HOLY SHIT! Rex, you did it!!!!

Rex: of course I did! Nothing can keep us apart for long.

Gordy: well I'll be damned.... you summoned a divine spirit....

Holmes: and he didn't even need the briefcase.

The two were then filled with determination, for the battle up ahead.

Quetz: well don't we have enemies to take care of?

Rex: right! Let's get to it then!

A/N: so there's a remake of the reunion story from way back in the day. I've been meaning to remake for ages, and now here it is! And with extremely lovely art by Pan too! So lovely I'd say it's their best yet! (Or maybe that's just bias speaking since it's my self-ship) but anyways hope you enjoyed the story and the art!

Tags

@hasbbdoneanythingwrong @haskamadoneanythingwrong @hasspartacusdoneanythingwrong @havetheavengersdoneanythingwrong @exmeowstic @grievouslyxorvia @panyum @chaldeamage-neo @witch-of-chaldea @writer-and-artist27 @renmeo @vanillachaldea

(Sorry if I've overwhelmed any of you with the tags, but I couldn't have predicted when this was completed)

87 notes • Posted 2021-09-22 00:04:09 GMT

Incoming NP5 Wife!!!!!

They're both on mah days off too! The timing is perfecto!

87 notes • Posted 2021-08-23 05:09:16 GMT

Okay, with all the talk of hot servants and shit I wanna see your guys' top 5 hottest servants!

Me first, obviously!

5. Ibuki Doji

4. Gorgon

3. Vritra

2. Kijyo Koyo

1. Quetzalcoatl!

Also honorable mention: Tiamat

138 notes • Posted 2021-06-13 02:12:48 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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theworldbrewery · 3 years

Text

legend lore: how to write compelling lore for people, places, and things

aka, why and how should you write lore?

The answer depends on your game and players. In this post, I’m going to go over the “Hack-n-Slash” model, the “Suspense/Mystery/Intrigue” model, and the “Epic” model.

But first, a quick definition: “lore” is basically just gossip and rumor, sized up by an order of magnitude. Lore typically refers to items, people, and places of legendary importance--even if they’ve faded from the public consciousness and been forgotten. It can be misused, but basically, you should always use a couple guiding principles.

The first is Rule of Cool. Your lore should be cool. Whatever that means for you and your players, lore that focuses on stodgy details isn’t lore, it’s history. Lore about an ancient queen shouldn’t be about the laws she passed, but the vampire sorceress she had an enemies-to-lovers relationship with. It’s not realistic, but it is more fun and entertaining.

The second is Keep it tied to the players’ interests. If one PC is dedicated to defeating a bloodthirsty army of demons, consider putting down a connection to the demon army in your lore about a lost city. That gives your players a personal investment already built-in when some random job board sends them to find the lost city.

Hack-n-Slash

If you and your players prefer a hack-n-slash style of gameplay, your lore might be nothing more than set dressing: think of it like the backdrop curtain on a stage play. Lore can set the tone of a dungeon, establish a monster or cursed item as really bad, and give NPCs a reputation that precedes them. Truly compelling lore might even provide hints on how to resolve a problem; for example, the lore about the dungeon’s most recent occupant being obsessed with resurrection magic might help the players figure out that they should prepare anti-undead spells before they walk into the zombie-fuelled boss battle.

For a hack-n-slash campaign, lore should be dispensed by the friendly NPCs that the players meet. I recommend it in the form of gossip or reputation. Ideally, your players are tactical-minded enough to ask questions of you that require rolls like History, Arcana, etc. that can reveal lore, but if they don’t, a helpful NPC like the local yokel asking for help with his sheep being devoured can be a supply of useful information.

I am also a big fan of using sentient weapons here, for similar reasons. A sentient weapon can tell you all about the bloodthirsty dragon who created it...after you’ve attuned to it and become cursed, of course.

Suspense/Mystery/Intrigue

In a game where the focus tends to be on solving mysteries and gleaning information, you’ll likely be less forthcoming with lore, but you’ll need it more. In this situation, lean more heavily on the gossip/rumor mill element. The current Council of Elders that runs the capital city might have several different reputations depending on who you talk to, and depending on who’s right, it could reveal an ulterior motive or secret agenda that has disastrous implications for the entire realm. Using lore as a way to set up higher-stakes conflicts later on in the campaign will draw your players in, and if you maintain secrecy and uncertainty, you can get them theorizing about what’s to come.

In this type of campaign, roleplay encounters are frequently going to be at the forefront, which means you don’t need to worry about cramming in a lot of lore in one interaction. Dispense the lore carefully instead, holding it in reserve with NPCs that would be knowledgeable on the subject like a town historian and genealogist, a retired adventurer, or an arcanist, and it should take work to discover the most controversial lore.

Epics

In an epic campaign, where the stakes are high, the items are legendary, and the legacies the PCs leave is a matter of great importance, lore is a blend scenery and clues. Lore sets up player expectations of the tone of the story and the nature of the story you’re telling together, but it also helps them piece together what lies in their future. Epic lore will be linked to Big Bads coming out of the woodwork after centuries of dormancy, holy relics that need to be restored to salvage dying religions, and so on. Lore can actually become fuel for the quest in these situations. In other words, lore is a different kind of tool in an Epic campaign because Epic campaigns are at least partially built on creating and becoming legends yourselves.

In an epic campaign, don’t make lore too easy to come by, but there’s no point in playing your cards too close to the vest, either. I recommend offering a “teaser” of lore to get your players interested at the start of a quest that will connect to that lore, with the possibility of getting more as the arc progresses.

_____________________

In essence, the role of lore in your campaign will vary! And it may even vary from one arc to the next; you’ll handle a “detect and thwart an assassination attempt” task differently from a “clear out this dungeon” task when it comes to lore.

If you feel you are over-prepping lore that your players never use...back off of it for awhile, but also check in with the lore you’re creating! Does it follow the two principles I mentioned at the start? If not, that might be the problem, and lack of engagement is a symptom. If you feel like you never know how much or little to give when a player rolls a History check or seeks a library book about a mysterious item:

rank your lore tidbits as “uncommon,” “rare,” “very rare,” and “legendary.” The higher a player must roll, or the harder they must work to gain the information, corresponds to how rare the lore is. For instance, when the party in my campaign was researching the end of a war between the gods, they got a natural 20; as a result, they found a text that was considered a fringe theory that revealed that three mortals had killed a god and ascended to godhood themselves, and that an evil god had been falsely accused of the crime. This information completely changed their understanding of this event, which in turn influenced the goals of the party. Anything lower than what they rolled, and they would likely not have uncovered this information for months.

#d&d #dnd #dungeons and dragons #lore #worldbuilding #long post

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pearwaldorf · 4 years

Text

If I never see another post from Franzeska aka olderthannetfic here it will be too soon. How dare she answer questions about racism and AO3 like she wasn’t one of the people who helped build it into the very structure of the site? I am quoting this directly from her post (emphasis mine):

We picked the archive warnings from things that were common on older fic archives. Which, yes, reflects what fandom cared about at the time and is not neutral. (And when I say “we”, I do mean me specifically. I can’t remember how much my committee chose those and how much the Board and others drove the exact selection, but I did a lot of the research into older archives at the time. Including something about racism straight up never occurred to me in 2008.)

And sure, our views can evolve a lot in a decade. But Racefail happened in 2009, and none of the topics discussed at the time are different than those we’re focusing on today, 11 years later. For shits and giggles, here is my archived Livejournal post about the entire mess. If you click through to the other links (synedochic’s in particular), I think you will see this is something that didn’t just pop up with Tumblr and the SJW/anti contingent. (I’m not comfortable with conflating antis/fandom fundies/purity wankers with fans legitimately criticizing racism in fandom, but that is how a lot of it gets lumped together as a dismissive tactic.)

Which brings us to That Piece of Shit Meta in 2016. I am linking to the Fanlore entry for context, because the Actual Piece of Shit Meta is archive-locked (you can access it from Fanlore if you really want to read it, but it’s 16K of garbage).

A selection of commentary about it:

Guys, this was the problem all along. I’m doing fandom wrong by falling in love with the wrong source text. If I’d only understood that this wasn’t my space to enjoy non-white and/or non-male characters, because the majority of characters are white men, imagine how much happier I’d be in my life. (allofthefeelings)

they’ve been spouting yt apologia while fetishizing asian culture for years, this is nothing new. i’m pretty sure i’ve read franzeska saying the same things back when racefail ‘09 was going down. like most of this isn’t surprising bc it is exactly what we saw yt lj fandom peeps spouting in 2007-2010 and i’m personally not shocked that these people learned absolutely nothing. they don’t want to learn and being accountable for their actions. (astro-projection [edited to correct quote attribution and link])

Franzeska goes deep into the history of AO3 to talk about why slash is represented heavily there... But in 16,000 words over 13 chapters, there is not one mention of Racefail ‘09. Not a single reference to the time a popular Harry Potter LJ community used a racial slur as a prompt in 2007. Nothing about the Supernatural RPF Big Bang story that used the 2010 Haiti earthquake as a backdrop for a J2 love story (THAT’S A REAL THING THAT HAPPENED). Nothing about the time in 2006 that comics BNF Te pointed out the marginalization black characters faced on two then-juggernauts of white m/m slash fandom, Angel and Smallville. (snarl-furillo, the entire comment is worth reading so please click through)

This erasure of context and history is violent. Because many of the women of color who originally (and still) critique/d and resist/ed fandom’s normalized racism/misogynoir did so to their own detriment and with not insignificant risk to their personal well-being, safety, and privacy. Women of color were ‘outed’ by other fans for speaking out (doxed). They were attacked and silenced from all sides. They lost friends and community. They had to, with great vulnerability, cut themselves open and drag out their own private, internal experiences to air for all the (white) people who disbelieved them. They often found themselves speaking directly to a fucking wall of over-sensitive whiteness that would just as easily topple right on top of them. If anything in fandom is precious, it’s white feelings. And it always has been. (halfhardtorock)

In 2017 she was part of a Kickstarter to do a film about fangirls and fandom. I asked (you’ll need to hit “show comment” to see it) her to publicly comment about That Piece of Shit Meta, which she did.

But before she did, Chelsea Woods, the co-creator of the project, emailed me about the comment. I don’t remember what exactly the email said, because it was a really long time ago, but she wanted to talk to me about the meta, perhaps to help formulate a response. Chelsea also reached out to somebody else outspoken about the issue at the time, and this is from a DM exchange I had with them:

I understand why Chelsea reached out, as the head of the project and probably because she thought I would be more likely to respond instead of Franzeska. But tbh it feels like Franzeska's trying to get somebody else (a woman of color) to do the legwork for her. To the best of my knowledge I don't have F blocked on Twitter or Tumblr, and it's not like my email is hard to figure out. I don't exactly relish the thought of talking to her, but as the one who fucked up, I feel like it is incumbent upon her to make the gesture...

I basically told Chelsea the same as you, that at this point there is very little she can do to demonstrate she understood what she did was fucked up, and that she has learned anything from the experience.

And when I tried to reblog her response, I found out Franzeska had blocked me, if that gives you any indication of how much she honestly wants to engage in discussion.

Which brings me to now. I was literally today years old when I learned that Franzeska was head of the Abuse team for A While. (Bess says 2008-2012.) So suddenly a lot of things make sense, especially the lackluster (to put it politely) response about racist nonsense I’ve heard over the years, like in male hockey RPF. [edit: additional context in this post, ty Rukmini]

Certainly Franzeska is not responsible for everything racist about AO3, but she has definitely had a hand in shaping a culture that sacrifices the well-being and comfort of black users (among others) on the altar of “maximum inclusivity of content”. To turn the phrase back on them, who is “our own”? Why is it important to preserve an environment where a racially fetishistic fic that objectifies a black hockey player can stay up but a black fan basically has to go in like Viago checking for sunlight?

There is a balance between draconian content restrictions and letting racism, sexism, transphobia, etc run rampant on the site. I’m not saying it will be possible to find it immediately, or that it won’t change over time. But we have to try, if the AO3 is truly committed to making it a place that includes everybody, and not just the specific group of people who designed the site.

#ok to reblog #racism in fandom #word vomit

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fiadhulresims · 3 years

Text

All outfit descriptions for Annabeth Chase

hi i'm weird so i decided to reread all of the books in which annabeth appears to transcript all the times her clothes and items are described.

i hope this can help someone out there in some way, like drawing her!

Observation: I might have skipped something

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

The Lightning Thief

“From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.”

“The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.”

“Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket.”

“Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told me had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom. She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve.”

“Her hand crept up to her necklace. She fingered a glazed white bead painted with the image of a pine tree, one of her clay end-of-summer tokens.”

“Annabeth kept worrying at her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads.”

“A few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies.”

“Annabeth rubbed her necklace like she was thinking deep, strategic thoughts.

‘That pine-tree bead’, I said. ‘Is that from your first year?’

She looked. She hadn’t realized what she was doing.

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Every August, the counselors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year’s bead. I've got Thalia's pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress — now that was a weird summer...’

‘And the college ring is your father's?’

‘That's none of your —‘ She stopped herself. ‘Yeah. Yeah, it is.’

‘You don’t have to tell me.’

‘No... it's okay.’ She took a shaky breath. ‘My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn’t have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard without her...’”

“At the bonfire, the senior counselors awarded the end-of-summer beads (...) The design was pitch black, with a sea-green trident shimmering in the center.”

The Sea of Monsters

“She was wearing jeans and a denim jacket over her orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. Her blond hair was pulled back in a bandanna.”

“She had a ragged backpack slung over her shoulder, her baseball cap tucked in her pocket, a bronze knife in her hand, and a wild look in her storm-gray eyes, like she’d just been chased a thousand miles by ghosts.”

“She was wearing a sleeveless silk dress like C.C.'s, only white. Her blond hair was newly washed and combed and braided with gold. Worst of all, she was wearing makeup, which I never thought Annabeth would be caught dead in.”

“She undid the golden braids in her hair.”

“‘S'okay,’ I grunted, though I'd never really wanted to know what Annabeth’s sneaker tasted like.”

“One grabbed Annabeth and Grover by their T-shirt collars.”

The Titan's Curse

“Her blond hair was tucked into a ski cap and her gray eyes were the same color as the ocean.”

“She used to wear no jewelry except for her Camp Half-Blood bead necklace, but now she wore little silver earrings shaped like owls — the symbol of her mother, Athena. She pulled off her ski cap, and her long blond hair tumbled down her shoulders.”

“I thought of some harsh things to say, and I might've said them too, but then I looked down and saw something navy blue lying in the snow at my feet. Annabeth's New York Yankees baseball cap.”

The Battle of the Labyrinth

“She was wearing jeans and an orange camp T-shirt and her clay bead necklace. Her blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail.”

“He slung a leather satchel off his back, unzipped it, and produced a sleek silver laptop computer — one of the ones I'd seen in the workshop. On the lid was the blue symbol ∆.”

The Last Olympian

“It's not that she tried to look good. We'd been doing so many combat missions lately, she hardly brushed her curly blond hair anymore, and she didn't care what clothes she was wearing — usually the same old orange camp T-shirt and jeans, and once in a while her bronze armor.”

“He brought out a bronze shield and passed it to Annabeth. It looked pretty much standard issue — the same kind of round shield we always used in capture the flag. But when Annabeth set it on the ground, the reflection on the polished metal changed from sky and buildings to the Statue of Liberty — which wasn't anywhere near us.

‘Whoa,’ I said. ‘A video shield.’”

“My brain started seizing on little random details, like the fact that she was still wearing those silver owl earrings from her dad, who was this brainiac military history professor in San Francisco.”

“She wore her orange camp T-shirt and jeans. Her hair was tucked up in her Yankees cap, which was strange because that should have made her invisible.”

“She was dressed in black camouflage with her Celestial bronze knife strapped to her arm and her laptop bag slung over her shoulder — ready for stabbing or surfing the Internet, whichever came first.”

“The girl had tangled blond hair and was wearing flannel pajamas.”

“Annabeth was wearing new clothes — jeans and an oversize army jacket.”

“She had pulled her owl helmet low over her face, but I could tell her eyes were red.”

“Kronos whirled to face her and slashed with Backbiter, but somehow Annabeth caught the strike on her dagger hilt.”

The Demigod Files: Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon

“She bumped me with her shoulder, which I guess was supposed to be friendly, but she was wearing full greek armor, so it kind of hurt. Her gray eyes sparkled under her helmet. Her blond ponytail curled around one shoulder. It was hard for anyone to look cute in combat armor, but Annabeth pulled it off.”

The Demigod Files

The Heroes of Olympus

The Lost Hero

“Two teenagers stood in the chariot — a tall blond girl maybe a little older than Jason, and a bulky dude with a shaved head and a face like a pile of bricks. They both wore jeans and orange T-shirts, with shields tossed over their backs. The girl leaped off before the chariot had even finished moving. She pulled a knife and ran toward Jason's group while the bulky dude was reining in the horses.”

The Mark of Athena

“She took out her camp necklace, strung with her dad’s college ring and a colorful clay bead for each year at Camp Half-Blood. Now there was something else on the leather cord: a red coral pendant Percy had given her when they had started dating. He'd brought it from his father's palace at the bottom of the sea.”

The House of Hades

“She'd tied her blonde hair back with a strip of denim torn from her jeans, and in the fiery light of the river her grey eyes flickered. Despite being beat-up, sooty and dressed like a homeless person, she looked great to Percy.”

“In his massive hand, the white shard looked like another toothpick, but when he offered it to Annabeth she realized it was a sword – a blade of dragon bone, honed to a deadly edge, with a simple grip of leather.”

The Blood of Olympus

“Piper and Annabeth were disguised as lovely Greek serving maidens. Even in their white sleeveless gowns and laced sandals, they had no trouble navigating the rocky path.”

“She looked uncomfortable in her serving-maiden outfit. She kept hunching her shoulders to keep the dress from slipping. Her pinned-up blonde bun had come undone in the back and her hair dangled like long spider legs.”

“Annabeth slung her own amphora off her shoulder. She, too, had a concealed sword, but even without a visible weapon she looked deadly.”

“Annabeth re-adjusted her golden belt.”

“She ripped through her supply pouch and unwrapped a piece of godly food.”

“She fingered the red coral pendant on her necklace – a gift from Percy when they started dating.”

The Demigod Diaries: The Diary of Luke Castellan

“As soon as I lifted the sheet of tin, something flew at me — a blur of flannel and blond hair.”

“Her ribs were bony under her flannel pijamas”

The Demigod Diaries: The Staff of Hermes

“She was wearing her regular orange camp T-shirt and shorts, but her tan arms and legs seemed to glow in the sunlight. Her blond hair swept over her shoulders. Around her neck hung a leather cord with colorful beads from our demigod training camp — Camp Half-Blood.”

“She wore a dark green sleeveless dress that showed off her long blond hair and her slim athletic figure. Her camp necklace had been replaced by a string of gray pearls that matched her eyes.”

Demigods and Magicians

The Staff of Serapis

“At the moment, her most deadly weapon was her backpack, which was loaded with heavy architecture books from the public library.”

“She pulled out something she hadn’t carried with her in a long time: her battered blue New York Yankees cap”

The Crown of Ptolemy

“I'd never actually seen her wearing her Yankees cap before, since she vanished every time she put it on, but there she was — wide-eyed with surprise, caught in the act of sneaking up on Setne.”

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

The Sword of Summer

“She was dressed more sensibly in snow boots, jeans and a parka, with an orange T-shirt peeking out at the neckline.”

“She was better dressed than me — orange North Face ski jacket, black jeans, lace-up winter boots — but if people saw us together they would've mistaken us for brother and sister.”

The Hammer of Thor

“Annabeth was there before me, standing on the platform in jeans and sandals and a long-sleeved purple shirt with a laurel-wreath design and the letters SPQR: UNR.”

“Her blond hair was loose around her shoulders today. She seemed to be growing it out.”

The Ship of the Dead

“Her long blond hair was tied back in a ponytail. Her dark blue T-shirt was emblazoned with the yellow words COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN, UC BERKELEY.”

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d-noona · 3 years

Text

THE PLAYBOY ASSIGNMENT

Summary:

Persuading a millionaire to part with a fortune seemed like mission impossible. Especially as the man in question turned out to be Min Yoongi - April's first love.

Eight years ago, Yoongi had stormed out of her life, believing she was having another man's baby. Convincing him otherwise, whilst sweet-talking him into helping a worthy cause, would be tricky. Even more so when he insisted negotiations take place in the bedroom! Suddenly, April was struggling to remember that the playboy assignment was business not pleasure!

Min Yoongi x Original Character

MASTERLIST

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

Even as she raised her head to look at him, April told herself it was impossible. The Min Yoongi she'd known hadn't even owned a necktie, much less a pin-striped suit, and he was far more likely to flash a rude slogan on the front of a sweatshirt than his initials embroidered on a cuff.

Impossible.

She'd set herself up, that was what happened. The walk through the cemetery had prompted her to think of Yoongi -and once those memories had been activated, all it took to set them spinning out of control again was a baritone voice and a chance monogram...

It was quite a coincidence, those initials. But the voice was easily explained; this man did sound a little like Yoongi - or, to be more accurate, her eight years old memory of Yoongi.

April fixed a smile on her lips so she could properly greet a man who was not - who could not be - Min Yoongi.

And she looked up into a pair of cat like brown eyes, surrounded with long, dark, curly lashes. Eyes she had thought, once or twice, that she could drown in. Including that eight years ago in the cemetery, when he had kissed her so long and so well that her scattered senses had allowed the worst idea of her life to look like a winner.

Yoongi's eyes. It was impossible -but it was also undeniable.

"Well," he said. In his rich baritone, the single word seemed to carry an entire encyclopedia of meaning. Or did it only seem that way to April's guilty conscience?

Not guilty, she reminded herself. She'd been foolish, yes - and impetuous and perhaps even idiotic - but she had nothing to feel guilty about. She held out her hand to him and willed her voice to stay steady. "Yoongi."

His hand was warm firm and strong. April's fingers felt fragile and shaky in his grip.

Namjoon stared down at her. Though he was obviously thunderstruck, he recovered in moments. "You know each other? But-but that's wonderful! Old friends, I suppose?"

Prompted, April stumbled through the introductions.

"Min Yoongi," Namjoon said thoughtfully. "I don't believe I've heard the name."

"Oh, of course April wouldn't have mentioned me." Yoongi said. Only the slightest emphasis set the last word apart, but there was no more doubt in his voice than there was humor in his smile.

Irritation surged through April's veins. His meaning could hardly have been clearer even if he'd come straight and said they'd been lovers. Of course, if he had, she could not only have denied it, but any listener would have doubted his motives. This was far more cunning. The implication was perfectly obvious - she could see from the expression in Namjoon's eyes that he'd gotten the message loud and clear. And yet, Yoongi hadn't really said a thing.

:No. I don't believe I ever brought up your name." she said coolly. "You were hardly important enough."

Yoongi lifted his eyebrows. "But of course, my dear. What else could I have meant?"

That you were important to talk about, which was precisely what Namjoon may be thinking about right now. April's annoyance was mixed with reluctant admiration at the way he's so neatly boxed her into a corner. The Yoongi she'd known had been as transparent as glass. Just when -and how - had the man learned to be so smooth?

Not that it mattered. April told herself firmly, what Namjoon - or anyone else thought.

Yoongi turned back to Namjoon. "It's rude of me to bring up ancient history. You shared Si-Hyuk's interest in art, you said?"

The tinge of irony in Yoongi's voice was so subtle that April almost doubted her own ears, despite the demonstration she'd just suffered at his hands. For an instant she wondered if he'd recognized Namjoon's name, and therefore doubted the casualness of his interest. But she concluded it wasn't likely; The Moonchild was far from prominent as yet, and it's director was hardly a household word across the country. Then she followed Yoongi's gaze over Namjoon's shoulder to one of Si-Hyuk's favorite and most recent acquisitions, and knew why he was feeling ironic.

"I find his taste - shall we say, interesting?" Yoongi went on. "Personally, I'd probably use that thing to wipe the mud off my shoes."

April braced herself.

The work was a long way from being her favorite. The artist - and she used the term loosely where Kim Taehyung was concerned - had used a housepainter's brush to smear three slashes of blood-red pigment on a huge white canvas, and then left it to drip. April thought it looked like something from a butcher's shop. Namjoon, on the other hand, considered the painting a master work. When he'd taken April to the gallery to see Si-Hyuk's new purchase, Namjoon had been shocked by her lukewarm reaction. He'd spent the next half hour instructing her on artistic genius and the intricacies of expressionistic symbolism - at least April thought that's what he called it. Her eyes had begun to glaze only a couple of minutes into the lecture.

She couldn't wait to see Yoongi's reaction to that same speech.

Namjoon, too had turned to look at the painting. "Oh, well, that sort of thing," he said tolerantly. "Si-Hyuk would have his little jokes now and then."

April blinked in surprise, remembering the outlandish price he'd told her Si-Hyuk had paid. Then the metallic taste of fear rose in her throat. She'd forgotten, just for a moment, Namjoon's implication that he only dabbled in art. Surely, she thought, he wasn't crazy enough to continue that charade, now that he'd had a chance to take Yoongi's measure...

"Not all collection is blatant," Namjoon went on. "Si-Hyuk actually had a few art pieces which aren't half bad."

A voice in the back of her brain told her to stop him, no matter what it took, before he offered Yoongi a favor by taking the problematic pieces off his hands. But she was mesmerized by the pressure of Namjoon's fingers on her elbow, and unable to protest.

'Blatant," Yoongi murmured. "What an interesting choice of words."

"In fact," Namjoon went on, "If you're looking for someone to help value things for the estate-"

"That's very thoughtful," Yoongi said. "I wonder where Jung Hoseok went. He's the one who'll handle all that." He glanced around the foyer, his six extra inches of height giving him the advantage of being able to look over most of the crowd, and gestured to someone April couldn't see.

Jung Hoseok. The name hit her like a rock. Hoseok was Si-Hyuk's attorney - the one Namjoon had talked to about the will. If Jung Hoseok recognized Namjoon's name...

Namjoon, however, seemed unconcerned. His smile was firmly in place.

A tall handsome man hurried up. "You wanted me, Yoongi?"

"Hoseok, I'd like you to meet April..." Yoongi paused.

Doesn't he even remember my name? April through irritably. "Park," she said coolly.

"Still? Or again?"

April felt marginally better. Yoongi's hesitation made sense after all: there was a good chance that in eight years she'd have married - and perhaps divorced, as well. At least he hadn't assumed she'd married Namjoon; maybe she should award him a point or two for that.

"Still."

"What a shame," Yoongi said softly. "I seem to remember you were determined to have a wedding. And with good reason, too."

Fury rose in April's throat. And if he solicitously asks what went wrong with my plans, she thought grimly, I'll strangle him.

But Yoongi had moved straight on to introduce Namjoon. "He offered to help appraise Si-Hyuk's collection, Hobi."

The attorney stretched out a hand. "That's very generous of you Mr. Kim. Your opinion would be valuable. As the director of the Moonchild-"

Namjoon's fingers tightened on April's elbow; it was the only sign of surprise she could detect. "Actually," he said casually, "I didn't exactly volunteer my services. The time constraints which come along with my job prevent me from doing appraisals. What I meant to say was, if you'd like to help valuing the estate's art, I'm sure April would be happy to pitch in."

April opened her mouth to protest, and closed it again. She felt like a balloon with a slow leak. Now she knew that the tightened grip of Namjoon's hand hadn't been due to surprise after all; it had been more in the nature of a warning. He'd had this planned all along. She could feel Yoongi's gaze drifting over her face, appraising her every feature, every expression. "And April is...qualified?" he asked.

She couldn't stay silent any longer. "Namjoon, I hardly think that I-"

"Nonsense," Namjoon said firmly. "Of course she's qualified. Don't underestimate your talent, April."

"Or your resources," Yoongi added, very gently. "You know Hoseok, I believe I believe I might take more of an interest in Si-Hyuk's collection myself -under the circumstances."

His hand still on her elbow, Namjoon guided April across the foyer and into the broad hallway that led toward the dining room at the back of the house. Most of the crowed had moved on toward the buffet tables, and for a few moments, in the shadow of the staircase, the two of them were completely alone.

"I think that went very well," Namjoon said.

The note of self-satisfaction in his voice grated on April's nerves. "Then all I can say is that I'd like to see your definition of disaster. The only that could have made it worse as if you'd offered to buy everything outright at some bargain-basement price."

Namjoon tipped his head to one side and considered. "It's an idea. Min might actually have gone for it."

April went on ruthlessly. "But Mr. Jung Hoseok would know you were trying to scam his client, and then you'd be in the soup and the museum would lose all credibility."

"That's an interesting point," Namjoon mused. "Why he knew me, I mean, I didn't mention the museum when I called about the will. Si-Hyuk must have told him about me along the way. April do you really believe I'm so short sided I'd try to pass myself off as an amateur?"

"It looked to me as if you were making a pretty good stab at it."

"I did nothing of sort, I simply didn't boast of my position, my education, or my background. If the man wanted to draw conclusions..."

April stood her ground. "You deliberately tried to convince him that the Kim Taehyung canvas was worth less."

"I was being diplomatic. Feeling out his tastes. Trying to establish a bond. All good gallery owners do that sort of thing, or they'd never sell a single piece. It's no thanks to you, by the way, that I read him so clearly. Why didn't you tell me you knew him?"

"Because I didn't know it myself until it was too late to run," April admitted.

"You look a little stunned," Namjoon said. "What was that stuff about weddings, anyway? You didn't marry the man, did you?"

"No." April's throat was dry, her voice taut.

"That's good. If you had, I'd really wonder about your judgement. I grant you, for a couple of minutes I was a bit unsure about him, myself. His clothes weren't bad, not at all. And the name...I wonder how somebody like that ended up with such an aristocratic name. There was once an Empress that had the same last name as his."

"Funny," April muttered. "My mother asked almost the same thing once."

"But I knew as soon as he looked blankly at that magnificent Kim Taehyung canvas that my first instinct was right." Namjoon shuddered. "The very idea of threatening to wipe his feet on it! I only hope Kim Taehyung doesn't hear what I said about his work!"

"I doubt the two of them hang around the same circles."

Namjoon laughed. "That's certainly true."

"And all good gallery owners talk that way, don't they, to gain the customer's confidence?" April didn't even try to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "Namjoon, about this assignment you've saddled me with...Surely you don't expect me to pass myself off as a staff member, because I won't do it."

"Oh no. We'll refer to you as -let's see..."

She cut in ruthlessly. "We'll call me exactly what I am - the museum's public relations representative."

"Actually," Namjoon mused, "that's ideal. Because of your inexperience..."

"I thought you told Yoongi I was qualified?" April smirked.

Namjoon shrugged. "I didn't say expert. So any errors can easily be passed off..."

"Are you saying you want me to make errors?"

"April, my dear, you'll have all the of the museum's resources to draw on. And I can expect you to use all the expertise the Moonchild can provide you, including me."

"I suppose that means you'll make the errors? Never mind." She is starting to get frustrated as she throws her hands up in surrender.

"I'm still determined to end up with this collection April. So just remember, if you value things high, you'll have to raise the money to pay for the and explain to the board why they're worth so much."

"And if I value them low, I'll end up looking like a fool!"

"Oh I doubt that," Namjoon said easily. "Didn't you see the way he was looking at you, sort of like a hungry wolf? I imagine, if you play your cards right, you'll be able to keep Min Yoongi from asking any questions at all."

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