#like my kneejerk reaction is that she's not good at acting here / she is not living her character | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fairymascot · 2 years

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also, another question (sorry for being annoying) but, how would you make harley a villain again? dc is being so dense with making her a hero and it's so boring 😭 like, what kind of plot do you think could be done to turn her into a villain?

this is a really interesting question! and not annoying at all. :) (you're more than welcome to message me off anon as well, if you'd like! always enjoy making new comic nerd friends.)

anyhoo! one thought i had when i started reading harley's 2021 solo series (which i no longer follow, so don't expect any kind of congruence with it here), is that it's actually really uncomfortable to watch harley bend over backwards to impress batman. to me, it looked less like an honest shift in her character and more just... perpetuating her same old patterns. think about it. she met joker when she was in a rough place in life (if you look at sejic's take in 'harleen'), working a job that eats away at her soul and bottling her issues up for years on end. he makes her believe things can be different. offers her an alternative. she's utterly enamored with the world he promises. throws out everything that's made her her, and takes on a new persona to win his approval and earn her place by his side.

years pass, she emerges from the abusive relationship with joker. various nonsensical dc universe shit goes down. she loses ivy (temporarily), loses her sense of direction in life, feels alone and desperate. batman makes her believe things can be different. she takes on a new persona to win his approval and earn her place by his side.

i don't believe stephanie philips ever acknowledged this in the series, but it's so easy to read harley as someone with a pattern of molding herself to please influential male figures in her life, in the hopes it'll grant her fulfillment and a purpose. if we follow that logic, her decision to redeem herself and become part of the batfam is less her 'finding her true self' and more just, harley being harley and having an incredibly flimsy sense of personal identity. if they ever choose to go down this route, the natural conclusion would be that harley needs a break from deranged men in tacky costumes defining her life for her, and that she should break away and find her own path, which would probably lead her in a more chaotic, muddled, morally gray direction. that would be ideal for her, in my opinion.

(i have a bunch more to say about this, actually, so i’m just gonna stash the remainder of this text behemoth under a cut.)

even setting that particular interpretation of mine aside, though, it would be incredibly easy to de-redeem harley, because she honestly sucks at staying on the straight and narrow. there have been countless instances of her turning good for like twenty minutes before flipping right back -- in older comics and btas, for example, she'd cooperate with batman under specific circumstances, but ditch his ass the second joker was threatened. in gotham city sirens, she was content to live with selina and ivy in their considerably healthier and more functional threeway arrangement for months on end, but the second joker reentered her life, she turned her back on them.

even without joker in the picture-- as he's hardly relevant anymore-- you can see in the harley's holiday episode of btas, for example, that she could barely spend 6 hours outside of arkham without relapsing into her old habits. it's not even out of malice or criminal intent, it's just that she's been living as a villain for a very long time, she has an innate distrust of law enforcement, she's used to using violence to get her way and resorts to it as a kneejerk reaction. she's flighty and has a hair trigger temper and doesn't think before she acts. it's incredibly difficult for her to break the cycle and act 'correctly', even when she's making a conscious effort to. her characterization in the harley quinn animated series is consistent with this, as well-- even when she's trying to do the right thing, her idea of 'the right thing' is often warped by her skewed perception of reality and loose morals. she decides to 'save' nora from mr freeze because she assumes he's lying about keeping her frozen to protect her, which ultimately results in his death and horrible heartache for nora. and on a similar but lighter note, in her 2014 series she decides to take on a day job as a therapist at a senior center, basically trying to 'go straight', and ends up kidnapping and threatening the family of one of her patients, a sweet elderly grandma who told her stories of their heartbreaking neglect. harley thought she was delivering justice and teaching them a lesson for abandoning grandma. turns out she didn't read through her file, and grandma is suffering from dementia, and doesn't remember her family has been visiting twice a week for years. even when harley is trying to do good, she's uh, not great at it.

and let's also just take into account that a lot of aspects of her personality, are, like... bad? straight up terrible? don't get me wrong, i mean this lovingly. her current run tends to ignore this, but there's a REASON she spent years as the joker's lover-slash-sidekick, and it's not because she's a pure baby bean who had been brainwashed by him. she has dark, violent tendencies. she's sick of abiding by society's rules. she's manipulative. she's selfish and greedy. in her 2000 comic run, there's an entire arc where she has to act as a bodyguard for an elementary school girl with a rare ability who's being hunted by very rich men for nefarious purposes-- and even though they form a connection, and harley comes to care for her, she ends up selling her out for the money. this is a very similar trajectory to her relationship with cass in the birds of prey film, where she ends up selling cass out despite their developing bond. she regrets it later, of course. but she still made that choice.

with all that in mind, i think the real question is, how on earth would you keep harley a hero? the answer to which being: through extremely shallow and forced characterization dictated by crappy executive decisions. the dc higher ups saw that harley has become incredibly popular, that she's seen as something of a feminist icon and role model for girls, and went 'oh shit... she's too problematic... gotta make her a hero to justify her fanbase', never mind the fact that her fanbase formed AROUND her flawed, morally complex character.

realistically, harley wouldn't last a week as a hero. put her around the batfam or the justice league for more than an hour and they'd all want to kill each other. it would become exceedingly clear she is not cut out for the role. she does not have the moral compass or the self-discipline to be a proper 'good guy'. i don't think it even makes sense for her to WANT to be one. that's not to say her only choice is to be a villain-- but like i said before, carving out her own path, trying to do good in her own well-intentioned but messed up way, without giving up her selfish, chaotic, law-breaking side... that's the harley i want to see.

#askbox #text #dc comics #harley quinn #meta #long post

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liskantope · 1 year

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I just finished rereading Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, the first book of which I'd read quite a few times over the years (it was always and still is my favorite) and the third book of which I had probably never read a second time, after reading it for the first time as a teenager. I had little to no recollection of a lot of major plot events in book 3, in fact, and felt like I was reading some parts of it for the first time. All in all, I found the third book to be better, less of a slog, and less unmanageably over-ambitious in its scope than my impression had been when I had most recently read it half my life ago. In fact, while I'm not uncritical of many aspects of the book, I was pleasantly surprised by how well it tied together the whole trilogy, both in terms of character arcs and the established physics of Pullman's universe (or parallel universes).

One thing that's more striking to me now about the third book, though, is how in several ways it's a little ambiguous whether Pullman is retconning something rather than revealing a new layer to the plot or a character's motivations that he had deliberately hidden in the first book.

[A major book 1 spoiler and mild book 3 spoilers below.]

One example of this, which I think was most likely deliberately planned, is Asriel appearing at the end of book 1 to be on the Church's side in wanting to exterminate Dust (at a climactic moment in which he is revealed to be ruthless if not downright evil in other ways, and is locked in a sweet embrace with our main villain Marisa Coulter), and then in book 3, by which time it's been clear for a good while that Asriel is plotting against not only the Church but God himself, Asriel explains to Marisa that he was only pretending to want to get rid of Dust because he thought she'd "prefer a lie".

Another example, that I've wondered about ever since I first read the trilogy, is the fact that it's stated early in book 1 that Lyra is prophesized to commit some great betrayal that will have profound consequences, and with the twist at the end of that book, I (and probably most other first-time readers?) assumed that betrayal to be her unknowingly leading her best friend Roger to his doom. But then it's explicitly stated in book 3 that the betrayal is her choice to leave her dæmon behind at the entrance of the Land of the Dead. I can accept that this makes more sense in some ways (it was an action taken in the light of full knowledge, unlike what she did to Roger), but it kind of makes less sense in other ways (Will did the same thing along with her, even if he didn't have an external dæmon), and I enjoyed explaining it through the book 1 twist a lot more.

A third example, where I feel much more sure that Pullman just changed his mind, began with a scene in book 1 when Lyra is visiting Dr. Lanselius and is given a quick task to do outside, and while she's gone Lanselius discusses a devastating prophecy about her with the Gypsy characters that are in the room, emphasizing that all will be ruined if Lyra knows anything about the prophesy. A similar sort of scene happens later in the book, when Lyra is asleep in the balloon and Lee Scoresby has such a discussion with Serafina Pekkala. And in both of those scenes, I was kind of rolling my eyes and thinking, "If it's crucial to the fate of the world that Lyra not know her destiny, they're being awfully incautious here, given that Lyra could be just outside of the room or only pretending to be asleep." And then, as it happens -- now remember, I knew book 1 fairly well but had forgotten even many of the major plot events of book 3 let alone most of the dialogs -- in the chapter "No Way Out" of book 3, Lyra reveals that in fact she was standing outside the door during the Lanselius scene and so overheard part of the prophesy, and this is used to guide her motivations. This certainly vindicates my kneejerk reaction of thinking the characters were acting very recklessly in that scene, but the interesting question is, had it occurred to the author that they were acting recklessly, and at the time of writing book 1 did he have in mind that Lyra was in fact secretly outside the room listening?

#his dark materials #his dark materials spoilers #fiction writing

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kamil-a · 2 years

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right, okay, even more thoughts. check out how hard i can [ramble] PSHOOOOOO. they may feel disjointed for a number of reasons. also again i did bingeread the entire hoshino manga at once while not feeling my best so i may have skimmed or forgotten information- preemptive "oops" for that if so lol

-blood is so humorless in this manga!! what im thinking about right now is the bath scene where he's just complaining about alice behind her back... in game she was there and they were having a kicking war under the water! she was lying to him and elliot about not being able to handle drinking! she complained he needs to watch his kids and hes like oh no, those are elliot's kids. it was a relaxed and friendly atmosphere! I'm pretty sure we dont get the box in box gift at the beginning either, or alice telling him to stfu about his tea special interest, or alice sizing him up as a second grade bully on a playground...basically he's such a funny comedic character and that is one of his main sources of appeal imo. so that's gone.

-but we ALSO don't go hard on "be my bad boy amv dangerous mama im in love with a criminal romance novel ohhh i shouldnt but it feels so good" sex appeal either? because right at the point where they would've had sex for the first time he swerves into kills you road, and then the story has to be about that instead.

-WAIT HE DOESNT ACT LIKE HE HAS ~A DISEASE~ (FELL IN LOVE) EITHER.... OR "IM SO TIRED I WISH ANYONE NOT TIRED WAS DEAD"..... SO MANY FUNNY MOMENTS....

-so like if he isnt funny and he isnt sexy why are people supposed to care about him as a love interest.... -_-

-i halfway take back my feelings of blood being ooc in that kind of anger at "youre too friendly with every guy" way. i think its a reaction that's possible for him to have because this game enjoys jealousy tropes. he does get extremely jealous of her friendships with particular other guys, and reacts....... in a variety of ways,

-interestingly though not with julius! his reaction to her friendship with julius is more like 😬😬 okay so you dont know it but this is making a political statement you may not want to make.

-twice in manga ive seen him shoot around the tower for julius "taking her away" tho. maybe its a nonstay thing...

-i just dont think he should be acting like that because the situation alice gets into in the manga is one he should never have to react *to* because *it should not be possible for all of these events to happen in one timeline*.

-the half i am NOT rescinding is him accusing her of cheating on her ex/blaming her for that relationship's failure because we SEE him react to that in game and his kneejerk reaction is different.*

*from what i remember, he was like wtf thats gross i cant believe he did that to you, but also like you were in a bad relationship.... without me ;)???**

**that segment makes me feel really nasty so i dont want to return to it just now for posting's sake, along with not wanting to engage with , uh, beloved comfort media, on tisha b'av night. even the part that is uncomfortable.***

*** i debated holding off making this post till tomorrow night but ultimately lost the battle of will.

-it is extremely funny to me that so far like every manga author ive seen do a bloodalice plotline does the "omg are he and vivaldi a secret couple" thing because they clearly don't want to go the "i cant bring myself to tell him out loud i want to have sex in a bed and not a couch" route. i cant blame them but also , IF I WERE COACH, etc etc.

-idk im just very fascinated with telling bloodalice' story as a bunch of sex that is, while consensual (heres where i tell QR to shhhhh), bringing up a lot of conflicting and upsetting feelings in alice that she is hurting the relationship and the friendship its based on by Not Talking About. and the double-level of like... a late teen exploring adulthood/sex for the first time while also being a person older than that who is also navigating having sex for the first time because she has never moved past being like 18-9 emotionally.

-not that not having sex in your teens is a requirement of emotional maturity but that i personally headcanon she has never seeked another relationship after her first one. was too hurt and then lorina died and all processes kind of stopped for her.

-BUT THATS JUST ME,

-ANYWAY

-blood does have a "wants to kill her" plotline in game, so the manga does have its roots in that.

- in his route it's the same "i want to go against the belief that outsiders are lovable by killing one". its been a while but im pretty sure that gets settled fairly quickly so we have more time to either like or dislike couches, etc.

-in elliot's route he gets threatening towards her in a "i wonder whos side elliot would take if i killed you?" way towards the middle-end, and then elliot is like Um Hey Boss Can We Talk Privately and the matter is never brought up again. (I wish we got to see that convo. "can you not threaten to kill my girlfriend" "okay youre right sorry, that was rude", lmao)

-ace seems to want to kill her because he realized that it is not in fact the "meeting an outsider" that changes your life for the better, it's something else? which i guess plays down the sort of "youre like meeee haha" depressionsexual angle he takes in game, or maybe this alice just isnt visibly depressed enough for his tastes lmao

-alice in general, as i keep saying, seems to me to be kept a lot more hands-clean and "pure"- she doesnt touch clocks she doesnt drink she doesn't bathe with the guys, she never has a bizzare "murder is okay maybe??" moment (THAT I REMEMBER), etc. i feel like despite That Whole Plotline theres less making out/sex than in the game too?

-does she go on less self hating rants or am i just forgetting....

-if we MUST center this story around people wanting to kill alice for reasons related to her outsideriness i wish we got to heavily play up the "completed love" segment.

-a completed love.... that alice thinks the purest love is the love for a woman who's died. and that she feels she will never achieve being loved in that manner. near death experiences should be a perfect time to meditate on that, right? does she feel like she can achieve it? is she afraid that even in death, blood will ensure her memory is "some flirty girl who kisses up to everyone"- that she will Lose at Being Girl no matter what?

-i dont remember getting that though.... missed opportunities....

-i think positioning blood as an antagonist who wants to counter beliefs about outsiders by killing her couldve worked if he simply did not know her very well and then got to know her later on and was like oh i see. nevermind.

-oh, but the strangling was unrelated to this wasnt it? it was as punishment for walking into him and vivaldi's garden. which i think is a waste of like.... everything blood says about guilt, punishment, etc regarding elliot and that he sees the same in alice. couldve been a ~youve been a bad girl~ sexy scene lmao!!!! but he's apparently not allowed to have any sex appeal in this manga, so :'|

-couldve even tied itself emotionally to alice and lorina- siblings who can find peace in a garden but cant , for whatever reason, carry the story of "two siblings having pleasant conversation" outside of that space (for the dupres because it is dangerous, for the liddells because one of them is dead).

-man it makes me sad that hoshino's blood says she mustve cheated on her ex. dont SAY that to her dont you know what he DID-

-aaaaa AAAA OH NO MANGA ONLY READERS DONT KNOW HOW ROMANTIC AND SWEET HIS BALL SCENE IS IN GAME

-I thought it was adorable, anyway......

-he lies down in a guest bed like alice i am sooooooooooooooooo tired from dancing i wanna kiss you but im too tired you have to come over here and kiss me................

-thats all for now.

-FOR NOW...

#thoughtful honking #cannot stress enough how much this is a 'me needing to talk' post #not a wanting to like Share An Essay post #i think like all my hoshino posts have been like that but particularly this.

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crossguild · 3 years

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quick thots on how to actually create a safe space for poc from a leadership position, keplace week, and racism in the wolf 359 fandom

1. white people need to get educated about racism and racist microaggressions and shut them down WITHOUT PROMPTING when they see it. not wait for poc to speak up, not wait for someone to call it out first, not ignore it and hope no one noticed-- we did, and we see the silence as complicity. we see when they point out homophobia and transphobia and ableism and just ignore racism because it doesn't affect them personally.

2. they need to not immediately get defensive when it's pointed out, IF anyone even speaks up about it. the moment they do, they've lost trust and any opportunity for a good-faith learning opportunity even if they walk it back later. we don't care how good their intentions are, their actions have already demonstrated that they'll defend whiteness and white supremacy as a kneejerk reaction, and take any gentle critique of their implicit biases as a personal attack. there's no walking that back.

3. writing 'poc are welcome', 'this is a safe space for poc', 'racism will not be tolerated' is 100% meaningless when they're actively alienating all the poc in their space. i've been in spaces where white people unfailingly change the topic from race to lgbt headcanons, nd headcanons, and literally any other kind of hc or discussion instead of learning, building, and engaging on any conversation about race just because they don't feel totally comfortable in it. they refuse to shut down racism or racist microaggressions, and that directly contradicts any 'racism is not tolerated here' rule.

4. white fans will infantilize and fetishize characters of color to an egregious degree. some of the worst perpetrators are people who claim to be "fans" of the character when what they're actually doing is projecting stereotypes and/or their own experiences onto a character who has nothing in common with them. poc are constantly forced to empathize with, learn about and relate to white people who have nothing in common with us; we recognize it when they refuse to do the same.

5. if all of the mods and leadership in a space are white, that's a huge red flag. if they can't find poc in their community willing to take on a leadership role, or if they do and that person is used as a token, is not supported when they actually bring up and act on racism, they've been abjectly failed.

6. we see white people forcing identities that THEY relate to onto characters of color and getting really fucking mad when anyone disagrees or has a different interpretation, in ways that they don't do with any white characters or any other kind of identity. i've never seen white people get viscerally angry or uncomfortable at the implication that lovelace is dominican instead of costa rican the way they do at the idea that she might be bi, but that's also because they don't care enough about lovelace to think about her culture and identity beyond what they can project on her. again, fully transparent.

7. zero out of the 7 sign-ups for keplace week in the server are straight (and this isn't including people who didn't sign up but still plan to participate), five are woc, all are interested in a (platonic OR otherwise) dynamic between kepler and lovelace because the infantilizing, entitled and reductive ways lovelace is treated when portrayed by white people in this fandom has basically made us sick of minkowski/lovelace, which is a ship i & most of us DO like but which i trust none but my mutuals of color to write.

8. their assumptions about how qpoc engage with and perceive them as characters and as a dynamic are racist and irrelevant to me, but it would be a lot less obvious if they learned to keep it in private platforms instead of indulging in this pathological need to display their ignorance in public. lots of people in my server aren't interested in the ship! most of them go 'don't get it, but there's plenty of other stuff for us to engage in that we actually enjoy!' or 'i never thought about it before, but i'm willing to listen' instead of immediately doing the pettiest and most obnoxious thing they can think of.

9. podcast fandoms are notoriously racist, as are all fandoms, and to create a space that's genuinely comfortable and engaging for a diverse group of fans is a constant, ongoing and active choice that everyone has to engage in. if you aren't making that choice every day, you are perpetuating the racism and alienation. the difference is stark in who feels comfortable contributing and the kinds of conversations we can have, and at the very least i'm glad i have this space and friends to share it with.

10. this is a server i made in response to seeing a larger wolf 359 server, and the way they refuse to engage on race and make excuse after excuse as to why that's okay yet still trying to claim allyship to poc. there were multiple, gentle attempts to address it, all brushed off or aggressively shut down, and i'm a happier person for not being a part of it! white "allies", once again, proving themselves to be a joke. but we've been saying that for years.

11. you know. we weren't gonna be very public about this event from the outset, but after seeing this aggressive and obtuse reaction (to the point of leaving the server) from some white members, we decided to be a little more public and enthusiastic about it! the fact that white fans reacted with passive-aggression and pettiness was expected, and entertaining every step of the way, since we honestly never expected better.

12. i don't expect this to reach the people who are the most egregious about it, nor do i expect it to percolate or change anything even if it does, but that's not why i wrote this. i wrote this 'cause i know there's lots of wolf 359 fans of color, and i've rarely seen these issues addressed in this tiny-ass fandom. i don't speak for everyone, but i do speak for myself, and either way i've found my community! i hope everyone else is able to do the same.

#wolf 359 #keplace week

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ramblings-of-a-mad-cat · 3 years

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What do you think of Camila? Do you think she’s a good mom to Luz? I’ve seen her getting a lot of hate recently especially after Yesterday’s lie’

Ah, an Owl House ask! Thank you so much for this, anon!

Camila is an absolute sweetheart. Anyone who works in Veterinary medicine earns my respect for the intelligence and hard work that takes, as well as the kindness in their heart. Speaking as the kind of person who would also set animals free from traps, I relate to Camila and respect her considerably. However, being a good person and being a good parent are two different conversations. I can understand why people may have been critical of her during Season 1, what with her seemingly trying to make Luz change herself and forcing her to attend that camp. Still, even in S1, I thought to myself that she was an imperfect parent but that she was truly trying her best, just that she was going about things the wrong way. I never got the sense that she felt anything but love for her daughter. Still, my theory after the finale was that Luz was never going to return to the human realm, simply because the Boiling Isles understood her better and accepted her so quickly. But the inclusion of those letters and of "Creepy Luz" made it clear that we weren't finished with Camila, that she would appear in the future. Hey, come to think of it...the letters never got explained, did they? Based on the flashbacks we saw, Vee's impersonation began as an accident, but the letters from "Luz" would suggest that this was more premeditated. So either Vee is lying about what happened, which she would have no reason to do anymore...or there's something else going on here, another player in this game. This could be unrelated and unimportant, but did anyone notice how the second parent in that family photo had their face obscured? I wonder...

Never mind that for now. As of the most recent episode? I don't see how anyone can hate Camila People are entitled to feel however they do about the characters, but I've seen how swift the turnaround was about Vee, and I was the same way. She is baby and must be protected. But you know who's agreed to protect her and take her in, and been generally wonderful about having her entire life and worldview upended? Camila. She's such a human character and she's not perfect, but she's kind. Even in the beginning of this episode, it was shown that the stark shift in "Luz's" personality was troubling her, and when she thought everything was a trick, she was relieved to see that Luz was "being creative again." So she never wanted to squash her daughter's imagination, just make sure she would be able to function in society. Whether she went about it the right way is open for debate, but it is clearer than ever that she was just trying to look out for her. I have to commend Camila for how she handled everything that she learned. Saw a literal monster and her response was perfect. She recognized, as a mother and as a veterinarian, that this was a vulnerable child who needed rescuing, who needed acceptance. And that's exactly what she gave. She didn't recoil in fear or disgust. She didn't act betrayed or hold Vee accountable for the deception. All of which, Vee was probably expecting. But no, Camila was a damn hero, saving and then adopting her.

Through all this, she's grappling with the understanding that demons and other worlds are real. But that's not even the biggest bomb that's been dropped on her. The child that she thought was Luz for these past few months was actually an impostor, a different child. And Luz herself has for all intents and purposes, been missing. Trapped in another world full of magic and demons. I'd imagine that Camila's feeling a fair bit of guilt right now. Any parent in her position would be wondering why they failed to recognize the disguise, how their own daughter could have gone missing for months without her noticing. She's probably going to beat herself up for all this, for a while yet to come. And that's not even getting into the reveal that the end. That Luz came to the Boiling Isles deliberately. I wonder if there are fans who took issue with the line "Was living with me so terrible?" Because it guilts Luz, a kid who's known for her imagination, for simply wanting to see a fantasy land. I'm sure Luz feels even worse about all this now. And I agree, Camila shouldn't have said that. But it was her kneejerk reaction, her immediate question. She shouldn't have said it, but I don't blame her for feeling that way, for wondering that very question. For feeling a little abandoned. She probably feels like she drove Luz away by limiting her creative impulses. But it's far from being that simple. Luz didn't feel accepted in the human realm, and Camila was basically the one thing she even had that tied her there. Camila was the reason that Luz was even bothering to try and go home.

This is a tragic situation that's unfolding and it breaks my heart, but I don't think anyone is at fault here. Luz and Camila are both so very human. They're good people with weaknesses and flaws, suffering from an impossible situation. I am glad, more than anything, that Camila knows the truth now. And that she's supportive of Luz, even if she was hurt by the knowledge that Luz left on purpose. (Seriously, I think the way she handled the Vee situation tells us everything we need to know about her.) I suppose something else that people might take issue with is her extracting that promise from Luz that when she makes it home, that she'll stay. That's one hell of a position to put Luz in, considering the life that she's build in the Boiling Isles. But here's the thing. Camila doesn't really know about all that. We don't see most of the exposition relay that Luz gives her. So there's no reason to assume that Camila knows about Luz attending school and training to become a witch. That she has best friends, that she has a girlfriend now. And honestly, even if she does know about this...it's still her daughter, who's only led this life for a few months. Wouldn't you have done the same? Wouldn't any parent in that situation just want their child back? Camila is responding to emotion in this scene and I don't blame her for asking what she asked of Luz, though again, it's still a problem. In fact, I once again worry what this will mean for the future, because I'm willing to bet that this promise will come up again. And play a role in how the series ends. Luz might have to say a permanent farewell to her friends in the Boiling Isles because she feels obligated to keep this promise. Or, she might elect not to return to the human realm or to stop trying...because she knows that if she succeeds, she'll have to stay there. Technically, she only promised to stay if she made it back, after all. Either way, I foresee heartbreak.

#The Owl House #TOH #TOH S2 #Luz Noceda #Camila Noceda #TOH Spoilers #TOH Vee #Luz The Human

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becomingthecrone · 3 years

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My 18-year-old niece posted that she misses a time when no one asked how you voted and it didn’t matter who you did or didn’t support. She was raised by my sister, which means she’s been inculcated with the same right-wing Christian bullshit I was. I wrote her a long response, and I don’t know if it will get through to her (I hope so), but I wanted to put it here, too, because it might help someone else who is trying to explain to their family.

So, I went and made coffee while thinking about this. And I think I'm getting to a point that makes sense. My kneejerk response was something along the lines of "That time you're missing is a time that didn't ever really exist, at least not in my lifetime and definitely not in yours." And thinking on that, I think it comes down to perspective. My first election, the 2000 election, was momentous. And it was the first time I'd voted, but I didn't understand the full context. I voted as a single-issue voter, like I was raised. And I just did not understand, going back to my dorm that night, why the women on my hall were crying about the results that were being announced (in favor of Bush, who I voted for.) Of course, at the time we had no idea that 9/11 was going to happen, that he would re-start Desert Storm, or any of that. But that moment has sad with me for two decades: Elaine, Megha, and Rachel sitting together and crying. And it's only been in the past few years that I've really been able to understand that. Elaine was queer. Megha was Indian. That election mattered to them. Who I voted for mattered to them. Because I voted for someone who intended to shape federal policies in a way that would hurt them, specifically. It wasn't some "across the nation in Washington" thing for them; they had specific, real fears about how their lives would be impacted. And it's that understanding I've been developing, both as I am just more generally aware of the world and how those policies do impact real people in real ways -and- as I come to understand myself and how I position in terms of intersectionality, that has taught me that it *always* mattered who we, I, you support or don't support. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but it always matters. Because these choices we make have real impacts on real people. And when we make choices that either 1) are good for us but bad for people who are more vulnerable than we are or 2) don't really matter to us but really really matter to the people who might be impacted, then that tells those people how we view our own convenience or interests as being More Than the harm or benefit they might get from the policy changes to come. So my initial reaction, I think, is still accurate. The idea that who you vote for or support doesn't matter can only exist in a space where the policies enacted by those people won't have any impact. But at the same time, it goes deeper. We can't understand WHY the candidates we choose DO matter until we look outside of our own spaces and learn to both understand and empathize with the people who are impacted the most. I don't have to be Hispanic to understand why Trump's policies harm Hispanic communities; I just have to be willing to listen and understand when they tell me why. I've spent a lot of the last twenty years listening. I've spent a lot of the last twenty years thinking about where I fit, about how my actions (intentional or otherwise) have harmed people or allowed harm to happen, and about how culpable I am for those choices and actions. It's not always (often) comfortable to sit with those thoughts, but I do think I become a better person each time I do. By understanding and empathizing with people who aren't Like Me, I become better equipped to help change the world for the better, not just for me or people who look like/believe like/act like me, but for humanity as a whole. I'm not perfect -- no one can be -- but I get closer each time I learn how to break down one of the barriers inside me that is, frankly, based in selfishness and "I want" instead of "we need."

#american politics #racism #homophobia #why our choices matter

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ackerslut · 3 years

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Two Bisexuals Are Your Co-Captains

ao3

“I solved racism,” Mariner says, kicking open the ready room door. This should not be physically possible, as doors have progressed past the need to be opened, and are, in fact, automatic.

Boimler, whose face is currently one with the synthetic wooden desk, gives her a thumbs up but doesn’t move beyond that.

“Okay, I lied, I didn’t solve racism,” Mariner admits. “It’s still a problem in our galaxy. But, I did solve our captain problem!” she tries. This does get Boimler to remove his face from it’s fixture on the desk.

“You did?” he blinks up at her, creases in his face from where it had been smooshed against the hard surface.

Mariner dumps an honest-to-god paper file on his desk. “Check it out, twink.”

Boimler swipes the file, frowning as nothing happens when he taps it. Mariner helps him out, flipping the cover over. “So there’s this really nifty rule back from like 2039 that allows for two acting captains to co-pilot the ship simultaneously.”

“Are you serious?” Boimler groans.

“As Legato Infection,” Mariner confirms. “It was apparently instated for missions where the crew is like. Separated or some shit and need more than one captain coordinating. Because Starfleet was also part of the air force for a while, co-captains were basically just co-pilots. Like this was a whole thing. But it got overwritten with the First Officer Act of 2048 that instated First Officers as a fill in instead of a co-captain, able to make decisions and delegate, but it was never technically outlawed. Meaning…”

“We could technically take advantage of the loophole and-”

“Co-Captains!” Mariner punches the air. “You know what this means?”

Boimler blinks at her blankly. Beckett applauds herself over the alliteration, as she throws an arm over his shoulder. “It’s our ship,” she whispers dramatically, already envisioning the communist flags with selfies of her and Boimler printed on them.

“Or it could just be your ship,” Boimler says, fear in his eyes.

Beckett grabs his collar, dragging him up to eye level. “Our ship.”

________

“Beckett no,” Freeman says flatly. Ever since The Incident--the one where the ship was overrun with the Pakleds that took out the entirety of senior command--she’s been in medbay, wrapped up in so many bandages she looks like a mummy from one of those really old movies Boimler is obsessed with.

“Beckett yes ,” Mariner says, taking a slurp of her cherry limeade slurpee. “You named me First Officer!”

“Then why does Boimler-”

“Ransom also named him First Officer!”

“So your brain jumped to Co-Captains ?” Mariner can’t see her mom’s expression, but from her squinty eyes she’s pretty sure it’s disapproving. “That is the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard of.”

“You can’t call your daughter dumb!” Mariner throws her hands up in the air.

“Mariner, you’re dumb.”

“That’s against parent rules! Everything I do is supposed to be a fucking delight!”

Freeman turns her judgy eyes to Boimler, who had been staring off into the middle distance, probably traumatized by all of the shrieking the mother and daughter duo had been doing since they entered medbay. Whatever, it’s not Mariner’s fault that her mom’s kneejerk reaction to her daughter charging into medbay with a bat'leth and no shirt on was to shriek like a goddamn banshee.

“You know what,” Freeman says, eyes locked on Boimler. “I’m already having a bad fucking week. Go ahead, make it worse I dare you .”

“Uhm-”

“We absolutely will do that,” Beckett promises, crossing her heart.

_____

“ ATTENTION ALL PERSONAL ,” Mariner says, over the ship’s speakers. D’Vana, from her position at the First Officer’s station, gives her a Disappointed Look. Mariner gives her a thumbs up back.

“ DUE TO OUR EXCRUCIATING CIRCUMSTANCES AND THE LACK OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN YOUR FORMER CAPTAIN AND HER FIRST OFFICER, ENSIGN BOIMLER AND I WILL BE YOUR CO-CAPTAINS TONIGHT. OR FOREVER, WE HAVEN’T DECIDED YET.”

“Mariner, what are you doing?” Boimler says, storming onto the Bridge. Mariner, who had hacked the Bridge speakers to play Demi Lovato’s Confident every time Boimler entered, is pleased to note that nobody had figured out how to turn that off yet. Unfortunately for her, however, Boimler didn’t recognize his girlboss powers, and had been yelling at her every time it happened.

“I’m letting the ship know about our change in command, oh Co-Captain of mine,” Mariner says over the booming bass and Demi Lovato’s dulcet tones. In the corner of her eye, the vulcan side character that everyone thought was a Cool Guy, bopped his head to the music.

Boimler sighs, pressing his palms into his eyes. “So we’re actually doing this?”

“Dude, I already made us friendship jackets. That shit had a no refunds policy.” She pulls a leather jacket that had been draped over their helmsman's head--bad for ship navigation, but good for dramatic effect--and throws it at Boimler. Boimler unfolds the pink monstrosity, sighing deeply at the neon-yellow glitter words Gatekeep Girlboss Gaslight emblazoned on the back.

“Is this really necessary?”

“It’s ABSOLUTELY necessary,” Mariner says, standing up. She turns around, showing Boimler her purple jacket which says Malewife Mansplain Manipulate in snot-green glitter.

“HOW DOES THAT MATCH.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN HOW DOES THAT MATCH.” Her voice echoes strangely, alerting her to the fact that the shipwide comms are still in use. She reaches over, flicking the switch off and turns back to Boimler, hands on her hips. “Is this an anxiety thing again? Do you need to go back on medication?”

“I don’t need to be on meds!”

“Then why won’t you wear our super secret special jackets!”

“Because mine is hot pink and says girlboss on the back!”

Mariner lets out a gasp. “Are you saying... Boimler are you adhering to GENDER ROLES?”

“No-no stop it -”

“You! You of ALL PEOPLE-”

“Mariner, cut it out!”

“LET IT BE KNOWN THAT BRAD BOIMLER IS A-”

Boimler pulls the jacket on so violently that he somehow elbows himself in the eye. The pink really does go with his hair-which Mariner knows for a fact he dyes himself every three weeks. “There! Happy?”

“So so happy.” Mariner hands him a martini from the tray she had brought in and nailed to the arm of the captain’s chair. The one she hands to Boimler has a rainbow umbrella in it. “So, first order of business. I think we need car seats for short people.”

“Excuse me.”

Mariner picks up her own martini glass and takes a chug, choking on the strawberry chunks she had grinded into it a few minutes before Boimler got here. “You know, car seats? That shit you put babies in because cars are a danger to humanity but we keep buying them? I think the shorties on this ship deserve some protection.”

Boimler drains his glass. “Fine, whatever, I don’t even care anymore.”

______

Mariner is commissioning the previously mentioned communist flags with hers and Boimler’s faces printed on them, when Tendi comes into the ready room. She is wearing the face of complete and utter defeat that everyone else had been wearing since the Co-Captains had been instated. Mariner insists it’s because they’re sad that she and Boimler wouldn’t get to be captains forever. Boimler says it’s because everyone’s writing their suicide notes to their familes.

“Mariner, we need to talk,” Tendi says, using the opening line to every break up Mariner’s been a part of and seen on tv. Which is really weird because she didn’t think she and Tendi were in a relationship.

“I’m all ears,” Mariner says, which is a dumb fucking line because clearly she isn’t , but people say that all the time.

“I don’t want to be your First Officer,” Tendi says, crossing her arms. “It was fun for the first week, but after you made it mandatory to do the Macarena during the first ten minutes of each hour, morale has been down.”

“Hmm,” Mariner pets Boimler’s therapy cat, Dishwasher, thoughtfully. “Okay, I’ll make that one optional. Any other requests?”

Tendi sighs. “No,” she admits. “To be honest, the ship is running at 98%, which is the highest any ship in Starfleet has ever run. I think Brad orgasmed when he heard about that.”

“You call him Brad ?” Mariner stares up at her friend, aghast.

“That’s his name?”

“Yeah, and his cat’s name is Dishwasher , but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to call her that!�� Dishwasher growls at her name. Mariner shushes her, hands clamped over her ears. “She turns into a murder-rage machine when you call her by her given name! How do we know Boimler isn’t the same?”

“Because I call him Brad all the time!” Tendi hisses back, throwing her hands up in the air.

“Oh my god, he’s probably serial killing as we speak. I hope you’re ready to talk to the victim’s families and let them know that their loved one’s died because you couldn’t help yourself.”

Tendi stares at Mariner for a full minute. “Resignation,” she reiterates, pointing at Mariner. “I want to be a gross ensign scrubbing the deck again. Nepotism sucks .”

“Fine, you’re demoted. Go enjoy mediocrity.”

“I will.” Tendi storms out, kicking the door shut. Which again, is completely, 100% impossible because it’s the 23rd century or whatever-Mariner’s not keeping count-and automatic doors are now a Thing.

Mariner hacks their speaker systems to play the Wii Shop Channel Music-a reliac of the past only alluded to on private groupchats and servers- to play whenever Tendi entered a room. It’s the least she could do.

______

“As your First Officer,” a reluctant Rutherford says reluctantly, “I am here to remind you that that would be a very bad idea .”

“Rutherford, who’s the boss around here?” Mariner asks, hands on her hips.

Rutherford sighs. “You.”

“And as the boss, who makes all the decisions around here?”

Another sigh. “ You .”

“Then why are you being a killjoy over my decision to get down and dirty with my Co-Captain?”

Rutherford makes a shriek-y noise, like those boys who got their testicles cut off in the old days so they could sing opera. “Mariner, I’m serious, don’t do it .”

“Is it against regulation?”

“No,” Rutherford groans. “You’re both the same rank-”

“So what’s the problem?”

“You can’t sleep with Boimler just because you can!”

“That’s not why I’m going to sleep with Boimler,” Mariner waves him off. “I was sitting on his lap the other day-”

“Oh my god -”

“-in the Captain's chair--ooh we should look into getting another one of those, TWO chairs are better than one--”

“Mariner, to the point please.”

“Oh, yeah, so I’m in his lap and I maay have backed up a little too far and bumped up against-”

“Stop literally stop .”

“Yeah, so turns out Boimler is PACKING and I gotta hop on that train, so to speak.”

“Okay, you know what?” Rutherford shoves his padd at Mariner. “I quit, I can’t do this. I want to be a lower decks ensign again.”

“Wow, you’re like, the seventeenth person this week to quit. Which, coincidentally, is exactly how long I’ve been captain.”

“Yeah, weird coincidence,” Rutherford deadpans.

_____

“I may have fucked up, Mom,” Mariner shrieks, waltzing into medbay with all the grace of a duck pulling off a white bread heist. “I think you should take captaincy back.”

Freeman, who had fully recovered two days ago, but refused to engage in the chaos Mariner was purposely causing on her ship, looks up from where she’s reclining with her long island ice tea and swimwear magazines. “Really now?”

“ Yes . All of my friends hate me and I found out Boimler has purple pubs.”

Freeman almost drops her drink. “ What .”

“Tell me about it. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still fucking, but like. Wow, I thought he dyed everything. Turns out that shit is natural.”

Freeman covers her face with one hand. “No.”

“What?”

“No, you’re keeping the ship.”

“WHAT.”

“I already spoke to your father,” Freeman gives her daughter a shark-like smile. “We agreed that this position of authority has been good for you. And, considering, the ship is running better than any ship in Starfleet since the inception of the Federation, the Admiralty wants you and Boimler to stay on.”

“ WHAT .”

“They think it’s an interesting social experiment that merits more research. Congratulations, you and your fuck-buddy are now ginnypigs.”

___

“I think, as a sign of protest, we should rename the ship,” Mariner says, draped across the desk in the ready room. Boimler, sprawled out all over the desk chair, snorts. The room has been completely revamped in pride flags and the previously mentioned communist flags. Mariner thinks it’s her best interior design work, but Boimler claims it’s an eyesore.

“What would we name it?” he asks, humoring her.

Mariner considers it, taking a swig of vodka. “Okay, hear me out. Q and Picard’s Loveboat.”

Boimler grabs the bottle out of her hand, taking a chug. “You know what? This might as well happen.”

They submit the formal request on Boimler’s padd a few minutes later and are both pleasantly-at least in Mariner’s case-surprised that it goes through. It’s likely that the guy in charge of filtering these requests is either very very bored or very very underpaid and either way Mariner likes his energy.

A few days later, they have Q AND PICARD’S LOVEBOAT stamped across the side of the ship in comic sans-a truly underappreciated font from ye olden days that Mariner dug up one night on the wayback machine.

It takes exactly four weeks for the Admiralty to catch wind of it-by then she and Boimler had been Co-Captains for almost two months-and, well, there isn’t much they can do about it.

She does receive a rather long voicemail from her dad that she promptly deletes. She’s not about that energy.

_____

“Boims, Boims, Boims,” Mariner chants, crawling into his bed. Boimler lets out a shriek as her ice cold toes slide up against his bare thigh.

“So you know how our ship got renamed so easily?” she says, once Boimler had stopped screaming. “Well, I found the dude who approved it. Nice kid, I want his gender. Anyway, looks like my dad is getting a new ship and they're getting someone to christen it.”

“Oh my god,” Boimler says faintly, turning his face into his pillow.

“I may have gotten us on the list of possible people to christen it. As in, the kid hacked the server for me and we're the only people on that list.”

Boimler looks like he's regretting everything ever. He also looks like he's kind of in love with her. Mariner inspires that kind of duality in people. “What are we going to name it?” his voice has a tinge of fear in it that both of them get off on. The kink is strong with this couple.

Mariner grins.

_______

THE DADMIRAL: ACT OF REBELLION OR GENIUS?

Ash H. Beiggs

Many of you may remember the highly criticized decision Starfleet made when instating “Co-Captains” on the starship Q and Picard’s Loveboat ( formally known as the USS CERRITOS). Well, Captains Bradward P. Boimler and Beckett E. Mariner are back with bigger and bolder headlines to make.

The chaotic young duo are renowned Federation-wide not only for running the tightest ship in Starfleet, but for their unorthodox methods. Captain Mariner in particular has been praised for her innovating thinking and usual personality. When asked about her decision to name Admiral Mariner’s ship The Dadmiral she simply claimed that “Mohammad had his mountain, Jesus had his followers and [she] had a molotov cocktail and nothing to lose.” Captain Boimler declined to comment.

The actual christening of The Dadmiral was reported as a “spectacle to behold” by many onlookers. Captain Mariner was seen streaking through the aforementioned ship, with a bottle of vodka in one hand. Her Co-Captain was not far behind her, but was reportably more restrained. The actual christening was completed by Captain Mariner who “yeeted the vodka” into the ships warp core, shouting “ One of us. One of us,” in rapid succession until she was removed by security.

Neither Admiral Mariner or Captain Freeman are available to comment at this time.

#i hate this fic but also it was The Most Fun To Write #stld crack #stld fanfic #my fic #marinler #brad boimler #beckett mariner #carol freeman #d'vana tendi #sam rutherford #star trek lower decks #star trek lower decks fanfic

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prosopopeya · 3 years

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Fic Writer Questions

from @clarrisani !!!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

on ao3 i have 28. tbf though i never transferred over a bunch of my stuff from lj back in the day.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

176,571

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

11 listed on ao3. shout out though to house, which i wrote a bunch for but it never made it to ao3, and likely never will, and also to sherlock holmes which i wrote some fic for but more significantly, spend 2 years roleplaying. also if we want to get real nostalgic, the hits from my ffn days included such fandoms as lizzie mcguire, buffy, star trek voyager, monk, and of course, labyrinth.

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Inevitable Homoeroticism in Spanish Romantic Heroes: my dean is a hispanist, grad school au. written bc at the time i was reading so many college aus and going you know what. you know what this fandom needs. and also i need therapy and instead i will write this fic.

i’m so glad it was and still is well received, and until this year’s dcbb, i thought i’d never write something as personally significant as this ever again. i’m happy to be adding something else to that list shortly (and hope it’s as well liked!).

as a sidenote, this fic was requested by and heavily cheerleaded by a friend of mine who has since passed away, and i will always think of jaymee when i think of this fic.

Like Real People Do: my impulse-written, kneejerk reaction to cas’s confession in 15x18. i wanted cas to have a chance to process his feelings separate from dean and also i wanted to push back on the notion that he was happy just saying it bc maybe after all he wants dean to love him back. it’s fitting that it comes after the grad school au in this list bc it was my return to fandom. also a rare example of me writing cas pov. (soon to not be so rare.)

Flying in Circles Inside a Jar: a s5 era fic where dean and cas get together in a roundabout way. god this was written so long ago and there are parts of it i want to change, but overall i’m still proud of a lot of moments in this fic. some good dialogue in here.

Command Me to Be Well: my angstier entry into my s15 fix-its. dean decides that he will let him and cas have sex but they can’t have feelings about it. this got way more popular than i thought it would, and it took me forever to write it, but it was definitely proof to me that i could come back to writing bc i had to edit this fic a bunch, and i was always horrible at editing. but i have better meds now yay!

fourth place is technically the codas to the grad school au, which also have some good moments but also the last coda i wrote makes me cry when i think about it still. but bc it’s part of the same universe i’m going to add:

Some Boys are Sleeping Alone: another early days fic ft. dean coming to terms with his sexuality and how it was affected by his father among other things throughout his life. this has essentially become the backbone to my conception of dean’s sexuality in canon. it ends sad! plot twist for me these days.

what i love about this list, looking at it now, is that it’s a healthy mix of my old stuff and my new stuff, and overall represents well my themes of dean’s bisexual journey and several examples of cas standing up for himself, though s4/s5 cas was just like that.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

i didn’t back in the day so much bc, you know, grad school, i was busy. i’ve been trying to since i got back into writing but have been staring at my inbox of things i need to reply to for like three months. i will do it at some point!

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

god i don’t know. i wrote so much angstier stuff back in the day. i don’t really want to re-peruse all the random stuff on my ao3 but here’s one that sticks out to me even still: the au that has quinn fabray from glee in a sham marriage with jason mcconnell from bare: a pop opera and no one is happy. no one asked for this fic but i had many feelings about it.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

these days most of my fics end happy, but the one that still has me tear up at the end is the fluff entry i wrote for dean’s birthday: through autumn’s advancing. it’s jody that always gets me. jody hugging and murmuring a goodbye to dean, and then dean watching as she hugs and whispers something to cas. i don’t know what she’s saying but her embracing cas just gets me every time.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

oh boy. back in the day, i would write just about anything anyone asked of me, and i prided myself on selling the wildest concepts imaginable. my lj contains a multitude of shames, but on ao3 probably the wildest is supernatural/my little pony: friendship is magic. here’s another example of me writing cas as he bonds with fluttershy.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

i don’t... think so?

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

boy do i! uh the naked kind?? idk my approach to sex scenes is to try to capture realism but in the emotional sense. usually there’s a fun amount of dialogue. some amount of significance beyond just the act itself. i think my big thing is still representing the characters as themselves, in character.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i’m aware of.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

i don’t think so?!

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

this dcbb is essentially being like executive produced by @marbleflan. but there may be a more explicitly co-written fic coming up. :) :) :)

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

dean/cas, hands down. nothing will ever compare to the absolute insanity of the way they happened in this television show.

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

i started a dean/benny/cas purgatory fic that i want to get back to one day... also my fic with ghost!kevin teaming up with human blood!crowley and human!cas.

16) What are your writing strengths?

i’d like to think it’s capturing the feel of the character and staying ic. that’s my #1 goal always and the best comment i could ever receive. i like my dialogue too.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

plot. i can’t plot to save my life. also editing. also inventing any original character is an absolute blindspot of mine.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

well i mean. i have. done that. my bilingual experience involves some weaving in and out of a language in conversation, usually mid-sentence or once you hit a word you either can’t think of in one language or feels better in another. or filler words/phrases like well, or let’s go.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

gosh. probably lizzie mcguire.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

the grad school au will always hold a special place in my heart. but i also really love this one i wrote that was a love letter to the virginia state fair, which i went to like every year when i was a kid and still hold a lot of nostalgia and love for in my heart. i really want to retool that one. there are some things i want to change about it, you know, almost ten years later.

@ anyone who wants to do this thing!!!!!!!

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stomp-that-ho-regard · 3 years

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I typically don’t do asks (I've only ever gotten a few), but a recent one got my gears turning and I wanted to reply.

(This is a secondary blog, so I can’t answer asks in the usual way.)

Your post about the retcon is so fucking good, I wish every critter saw it and actually thought about how shitty it was done, but then their belief in the cast and show would probably start cracking.

Thank you for liking the retcon post. I’ve seen various people in the tags thank me for making that post and have said that it’s helped them ‘feel less insane’. None of us are insane. We are not delusional. We didn’t experience a mass hallucination. These things happened, and they’ve been thoroughly documented. Hundreds of hours of material over the course of three years.

The people who should read that post won’t ever see it because I have all those assholes blocked lol. If they did manage to find it somehow, I know they would just mock it, as they’re wont to do with any of our criticisms. They’re so far up CR’s ass, they’ve convinced themselves that a retcon didn’t happen. Even shoving the literal definition of the word in their faces wouldn’t wake them up.

It's just so fucking weird to see how the group is acting now, and I'm pretty sure we're never gonna get a Laura&Marisha episode picture and a TM episode with those 2 for the rest of the campaign. It feels like when a non-canon wlw ship gets big on a TV show and suddenly the actresses can't be seen or interact with each other anymore🙄 it's the same fucking pattern and like you, I thought I wouldn't have to deal with this on a d&d show.

I specifically want to address the “It feels like when a non-canon wlw ship gets big on a TV show and suddenly the actresses can't be seen or interact with each other anymore” because I’ve thought about that pattern too. (Not so much with Marisha/Laura ‘cause them being on TM together is already a rare combo. If they don’t appear much or at all going forward, I don’t think it’s because of this, though it really wouldn’t surprise me. But, I have been thinking about that specific pattern in regard to their characters.)

I can make a comparison between this situation and what happened with the show A/gent Carter and the way the ship Cart/inelli was handled.

I know that might sound weird, but stay with me here lol...

I want to make it clear that I’m not comparing the relationships at all. Cart/inelli did not have nearly the same amount of build-up and depth as Beaujester, (or quite frankly, their level of possibility.) What I am comparing is the creators over-the-top reactions to these characters being shipped so hard and the extreme measures they went to in order to ‘remedy’ that.

The ship included P/eggy Carter and A/ngie Martinelli. The show was set in New York. Angie was a waitress (who wanted to be an actress/be on Broadway) at the diner that Peggy frequented. They ended up talking quite a bit and became fairly close. That ended up kind of becoming the core relationship in the entire first season, and LOTS of people started shipping it.

At the time, no one was calling us crazy or delusional. At most it was, “This is ABC! They’re not gonna pair her with a woman!” and of course the obligatory “But Peggy’s not gay!”. But no one was calling us names or being generally cruel. And anyone who tried it was ignored because everyone else drowned them out. The ship became extremely popular on Tumblr and Twitter. Both actresses were very positive and supportive. They regularly liked/retweeted romantic Cart/inelli fanart on Twitter. Even one of the female writers on the show got behind it too. It was asked about frequently at conventions and no one booed or rolled their eyes. The questions were never dismissed or made into a joke. (Honestly, this was one of the better overall fandom experiences I’ve had on here.)

And all of us were super excited for S2. Not just because of all the support, but because they had ended S1 with Peggy and Angie moving in together. Peggy had purchased, either it was a really fancy apartment or house (my memory is fuzzy on this), and she literally asked Angie to stay with her. Needless to say, that fueled the flames even more.

But despite the actresses and at least one writer being on board, between S1 and S2, something shifted.

Clearly, the showrunner and/or the execs, took a look at all of this and deemed it a ‘problem’. When S2 finally came around, suddenly everything was different. Instead of both of them living together in New York, instead of it being an organic (I’m beginning to hate that word) continuation from where they left off, Peggy decided to move to Los Angeles to do work for some agency out there or something, and Angie stayed in New York. It’s never explained why. It’s never explained why a woman who so badly wanted to be an actress would NOT want to go to LA, where Hollywood is. LA was never mentioned in S1. There were no hints that Peggy might want to fly out to the West Coast at some point. She seemed perfectly happy in NY, basically setting up house with Angie.

And they didn’t even ease into the change. They just got rid of the character. The actress was bummed about it and Cart/inelli fans tried to put pressure on the showrunner/writers to bring Angie back, which the actress completely supported, but even that fell on deaf ears. So, Angie was simply no longer an entity on that show. Conveniently removed. All the excitement we had was crushed. And of course, the second that Peggy got out to LA, she suddenly had a very obvious male love interest. What a surprise.

The showrunner/writers were not subtle about what they thought about our ship and us. They made the most extreme, nonsensical writing decision in order to permanently separate these two characters. Because, hey, that’s the only way to get the shippers to STOP, right?

This was what I was reminded of when I started seeing the turn that post-hiatus CR was taking. It ended up being a weird combination of kneejerk erasure (BJ) and heavy-handed overcompensation (BY).

But of course, CR is not a TV show, it’s D&D. And they can’t force one of their PCs to just disappear, so what do they have to resort to? Not interacting.

We all know how severely neutered Beau and Jester’s general relationship has become. It’s clear to me that both Marisha and Laura felt they had to do that. They had to suddenly have their characters stay away from each other as much as possible so they could prioritize Fjord and Yasha, and speed-run into romances with them. They started acting as if either of them giving the other one ounce of affectionate attention (like they had been doing so often and so naturally before), would be breaking some sort of hidden ‘relationship code’. Almost like if they ever hugged again, the studio would go down in flames.

The very obvious fact that they went to these lengths, to me, proves two things...

One, it proves the retcon even more, because you can tell that the way they behaved with each other DID in fact change. The frequency of interactions and the way those interactions would play out. Whenever they interact now, it seems like they’re trying to keep it as short, thin, and almost comedic (to the point of goofiness, and not in a good way) as possible. Their engagement seems half-assed and dull. The sounds of their voices, their facial expressions... completely sanitized. Even all the physicality they had is gone; the touches, the hugs, the cuddling. Every single aspect is different and they absolutely did that intentionally. This had to happen because they needed to dupe the viewers into believing that despite overall interest waning, their threadbare connections to Fjord and Yasha are more important, and were always more important then their connection to each other, that we all watched them steadily build. (And watched them pick up steam from about ep70 onwards.)

And two, that whole intentional decision to cut themselves off from each other, proves to me that their interactions pre-hiatus were indeed tinged with ‘something extra’, that was more than just friendship. They both recognized it and that’s why they pulled back so hard. That’s why soft touches and hugs and cuddling are no longer ‘allowed’. That’s why quiet, heartfelt conversations are no longer ‘allowed’. Because if there was absolutely nothing there, if they didn’t see/feel any romantic chemistry simmering underneath, and it was all just platonic BFF stuff, why would they suppress their behavior so drastically?

I think that all of this really does cement what I said in my retcon post: That there are disingenuous patterns being used here that I’ve seen far too often in media. In A/gent Carter, it was a character separation, in CR it was a character dynamic separation. Both done on purpose, to make the shippers shut up, and to push a different plot.

One is scripted, the other is unscripted, but the situations feel disgustingly similar, don’t they?

#op #ask #long post #i feel like i'm just retreading old ground here #still cathartic though

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retroandreal · 4 years

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Trust Issues (Antonio x MC)

She’s back, baby!! Usual kinda fluffy, angsty fic in Antonio’s POV. This was inspired by the song ‘Trust Issues’ by Drake and I have been keeping the song on repeat for the longest time now cause... Drake’s voice is just honey butter. Also, I’m half Colombian so I saw this as a perfect opportunity to include some Spanish in it (just basic words and phrases, nothing too complex). I hope you all enjoy and I love every single one of you. Especially you; @official-alex-cyprin

Summary: Little snippets from Antonio’s route from Havenfall is for Lovers in his point of view; before meeting our sarcastic MC, revealing he is a vampire and the moment Eva was turned on the private beach

Warnings - mentions of blood and medical procedures

“I promise you, mi hermana. I am close to finding a cure for you”

MC; Havenfall. Not too far from the Indiana branch of DSD Corp. Tomorrow night, I go and seek this girl who holds the special blood to potentially save my precious Evita. For many life spans, I have worked tirelessly to find the miracle to save you and I have a feeling that I am very close with this woman in Havenfall. I have done everything to save you; my life, this company and many late nights all for you and I would do it again in a heartbeat and nothing with stop me from finding that cure for you… even if I have to kill for it.

All I care about is money and the city that I’m from

You never deserved any of this. If I had to give up my own life to save you, I would have done it many years ago. If I had to give up my sworn hermano and his own life, I would do so with no remorse. Every day, you’re slowly getting weaker and weaker and cannot bare to watch you frail away while I did nothing all those years ago. Diego, cabron, you are a doctor, yet you shy away from what was once the most important thing in your life all those years ago. Diego, I am coming for your city, and I will stop at nothing to get the blood of that girl to save Evita. If you were in my position, I know you would have done the same.

“Mierda… when did I get so hungry”

The mini fridge (or personal blood bank) was just restocked a few hours ago. One of the perks of working within the medical industry is the seemingly ethical sources of blood that I need. Regardless, I have been rationing the blood and volunteering them for Evita’s emergency source. It’s doing the job of keeping her vitals alive and breathing but I know that mortal, human blood is slowly poisoning her. There was a time where I would feed unforgivingly on other humans, back then. Not because I was insatiably hungry, but I was frustrated. Frustrated and angry at the world and I wanted to see the life slowly get sucked from it, just as Evita’s life is slowly sucked from her own.

I’mma sip until I feel it, I’mma smoke it till it’s done

I was young back then and full of rage. It was a temporary fixation and I don’t really give a fuck and my excuse was that I was young. I grew up, older and wiser… eventually. I started to look for a more permanent solution for Evita’s sickness hence why I and now CEO of DSD Corp.

“Grace… scholarship acceptee to the University of Indiana. Family; MC”

Grace, huh? Looks like I found my connection to Evita’s cure quicker than I anticipated.

“Well. My dear ‘Grace’, how do you fancy studying abroad in Spain?”

~~~~~

“Somebody should have told you, MC”

She’s trembling. A mixture of shock, awe and fear. She had just found out, through me, that her hometown and closest friends have been immortal monsters, and no one told her anything. What is this feeling? It’s not mine. Are these her projections of her anguish and feelings that I can feel as well? No, there has to be an explanation for this. I haven’t felt this sensation since Diego, Evita and I were altogether on the streets of Spain over a hundred years ago.

She turns to me. Now, I feel the anger radiating off of her body

“Is that why you paid for Grace to go to Spain on scholarship? Just so you could get to me. Fine, just kill me dammit! Tear me to pieces! I don’t know what your kind do!”

What is this feeling? She’s the one I am supposed to drain the life out of in order to save Evita. But I cannot simply bring myself to do so. Clueless is what she is. She knows nothing about this life or the vampire society. I offer her a middle ground;

“Say, MC. It appears that you are very mistaken of my needs and my vendettas. I am not here in Havenfall to kill you. Your friends, however, would be the one to tear ME to pieces if they ever found out I even harmed a single hair on you especially that djinn friend of yours.” She ponders over that thought and slowly agrees.

“Well, I guess you have a point there… Th-That doesn’t mean that I should trust you right away you know!” Tears well up in her eyes. Her icy blue orbs becoming glassy and she fails to keep her sobs at bay while she talks. “Grace is my only family… Antonio. Do you know what it feels like to have your only family taken away from you and you just feel helpless? Like you can’t do anything more, that they deserve even more than what you are capable of giving them?”

I do. I really do. I know she does not possess the same abilities as I do but I try to convey the most empathetic of feelings as I can.

“Her name is Evita, Eva if you would prefer. She’s dying, MC. The blood that I have been able to source for her has only been able to keep her vitals stable, but it’s not permanent. You’re special, MC. I need some of your blood to save her. Please?”

You’re the only one, I don’t trust these others

She shifts uncomfortably on the bar stool

“Ok, fancy me this. I can teach you all you need to know about the vampire society; the good and the bad in order to gain your trust for this. I will not keep secrets only if you ask me to, trato?”

Her beautiful blue eyes roll to the back of her head

You’ll know what I’m sippin’, I’ll teach you how to mix it

“You gotta stop with the Spanish spiels okay? I can barely speak English fluently and my kneejerk reactions usually consists of mono-syllable sounds. But, fine. I will help Eva for you. NOT because I am doing it for you. But because I have a sister too, and I would do anything for her. So, I guess I kinda know what your go is here. Like, we’re not that different you and I when it comes down to it.”

She looks down towards the tips of her bowling sneakers and plays with the frayed hem of her uniform

“You really love her… don’t you, Antonio?”

Now you’re understanding where I’m coming from, mi Salvador, so it will not take you long to realise that you will need to keep your promises for my livelihood, and Evita’s life… and your life too.

~~~~~

“Lillian, do it”

The powerful coven leader sinks her teeth into Evita’s flesh as she starts the controlled ritual of turning her, into one of us. No longer bonded by the blood of a third party, who was also draining the life of someone that used to trust me until they would breathe their last breath. She chose to be present for the turning of Evita, slightly overdressed for the beach location but nonetheless, she’s still here. Despite us not being connected by our bond, not together… I still love her and everything that she stands for. If it was not for her bravery, Evita would not have even been able to gain consciousness to even consent to her turning into someone like me. I was very against it at first, but I can never disregard the wishes of my baby sister. Despite us being ‘broken up’ and she put it, she still helped Evita, she knew it was slowly draining the life out of her; as far as her passing out from the amount of blood that had been sucked from her in order to keep Evita alive. But she never backed down or ran away. But she ran away from me. Because I am the monster that was selfish enough to strip her of her own freewill in order to keep her by my side.

“A-Antonio?”

“Evita! Mi hermana” I run to her side as she opens her eyes; coloured like the blood moon, just like me. I check over every inch of her body to make sure she isn’t bleeding from anywhere else besides the two puncture wounds in her neck. She is safe. Here. Alive. One of the most important women in my life is now safe. The long hours and billions of dollars funneled, hanging onto a thin string of hope that I can bring her back from her unconscious state.

I catch her in the corner of my eye, slowly sinking her body into the ocean. I let her be… until I feel a throbbing and burning sensation within my lungs. I can still feel her. No, I can once again feel her. Another localized pain radiates through me. Within my heart; a dull but hurting ache. She is hurting as much as I am. Being away from her. She agreed to stay friends for the sake of Evita but nothing more. I was the one that pushed her away in the first place, for her protection. But I acted like nothing more than a selfish bastard towards her and didn’t care about her own health.

You acting like somebody you don’t know

The burning ache in my lungs grows stronger; she’s losing oxygen!

I run towards the water, discarding my shoes on the way there and hastily sink my whole body into the warm water of the private beach. She slowly closes her eyes, engulfing her sight into a pit of darkness. I grab her wrist and cup her face with both my hands as we stay suspended in the warm water. She opens her eyes and looks right into mine. She’s hurting; because of me. I wanted to stay away to keep her safe, but I can see and feel that she is hurting. Was being friends not enough?

Tell me, how we supposed to stay friends when you got a bunch of feelings that you don’t show

No, I cannot simply “stay friends”

I feel that ache within my heart as well

You were the only one that opened their heart for me when I was desperate

Certain people don’t like me no more

I have never felt a touch as gentle as yours

I push everyone away, but you still managed to keep me hooked

You can look me in the eye and see that I ain’t myself

But you drive me crazy

You’re insatiable, but I want to keep pleasing you. Appeasing you

That’s the shit that drives me crazy

Because I have Trust Issues, I have never let anyone get as close to me as you have

But if you will allow me.

Let me keep you, and you for me.

Mi cielo.

Mi reina.

#havenfall is for lovers #lovestruck smut #lovestruck voltage #lovestruck #antonio vasquez #jordan davies #diego escalona #hifl #hifl mc #voltage hifl #razi nassar #vanessa helsing #mackenzie hunt

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livebloggingmydescentintomadness · 4 years

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Controversial opinion but you can dislike a black character without it being about race yes if its for things you normally like white characters for it is racist but like disliking a black character for genuine reasons is a thing I just get annoyed when people act like you can't dislike someone because their a minority like yeah it can be racism but it doesn't mean it is

yes, your opinion is factually correct, it’s entirely possible for a white fan to simply not like a character of color (or a real person of color) for completely not-bigoted reasons.

however, it’s on us, as white fans, to stop and scrutinize ourselves and our reactions before we get overly defensive about it “not being about race” because prejudice and bias are often far more complicated things.

bias can be completely subconscious, something that you have absorbed over a lifetime of being exposed to dogwhistles and micro-aggressions and straight up lies. for example, my mom is the kindest person ever, she is genuinely horrified by racism, would never hate anyone for the color of their skin, but sometimes she still repeats something just flat-out racist because she spent her whole life being brainwashed in conservative circles. she’s been taken by surprise multiple times when i’ve explained that something she said was racist.

you can be racist, or have racist thoughts or feelings, without even being aware that those thoughts or feelings are bigoted. and it’s not the responsibility of people of color to point that out to you and teach you to do better, if you have a kneejerk “i don’t like them” feeling, you need to check in with yourself and examine why you don’t like them.

now, there can be totally valid reasons here, such as “i don’t like how this character was written, it’s lazy and stereotypical and boring,” because often the reason characters of color may fail to be popular is because of racism on the part of the creators rather than (just) the audience. finn from star wars, for example, started out great, but then was terribly mishandled and had his potential squandered. so it’s not prejudiced for one to say, “i can see how this character’s potential was wasted and i don’t like what they did with them.”

but if you feel an immediate dislike for a black character, make sure you ask yourself why. if the answer is something like, “they’re too angry,” “they’re too bossy,” “they constantly make mistakes,” etc, check those characteristics against other characters that you love. is one of your favorite white characters an angry asshole who screws up all the time? okay, well, there might be a reason why you’re viewing the black character differently.

however, yes, i agree that you should be allowed to dislike whomever you dislike, even if it’s for no “good reason”, as long as you’re checking in on your learned prejudices and asking yourself questions. sometimes people just rub you the wrong way, and it’s definitely not racist to simply dislike a character/person who happens to not be white. like, you don’t have to worship every person of color just because they’re a person of color.

it’s okay to feel what you feel and not like what you don’t like, just give it a look-over now and then.

#racism #fandom #anonymous #ask

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cblgblog · 5 years

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I have just…so many problems with Irondad, some of which I’ve seen expressed already, some not, and I need to say this at least once.

I don’t believe the common anti-Irondad thing that says Tony never cared about Peter. He did, in his very Tony, very problematic way. He loves Peter, I think, very much the way Howard loved him. We only got glimpses of Howard as a dad, mostly from Tony’s perspective, but we can make assumptions here. Howard probably thought Tony was the greatest thing in the world, and a blast to hang out with. Whenever Howard wanted to be a dad. He would’ve loved teaching Tony things, showing him off, having fun with him. But when Howard didn’t want to hang out? When Howard was working on something important? No, sorry, dad mode off, go away, Maria come get him. We see that with Peter and Tony. All Peter wants is acceptance, another mission with Tony. He wants validation. But he can’t even reach Tony because Tony’s put Happy in charge of him, and Happy doesn’t want to deal with some stupid kid in Queens, at least during Homecoming. It’s a very Howard move, parenting/mentoring when it’s convenient.

Which, you know what? Not in and of itself horrible. Tony would learn what he lived, and follow it. It makes sense, generational patterns and all that. It could’ve led to an interesting story, about Peter or someone else in Tony’s life pointing out the parallels, and then Tony has a moment of realization and tries to correct. I wouldn’t have loved that story, because Peter’s storyline being so connected with Tony’s at the expense of his own has always bothered me, but it could’ve been done decently.

What do we get instead? We get Tony paying lip service in Homecoming to wanting to break the cycle, and then totally failing at that 5 minutes later. He was mad, he was scared, that’s legit. People say unfair things when they’re reacting out of fear. But he tears Peter down for what happened on the ferry, and makes him feel like shit. Why? Because Tony had the FBI involved, Peter was meant to stay away, and he didn’t. Well how the hell was Peter supposed to know that? He can’t talk to Tony at all. Happy’s been ghosting him for months. The last time he thought Tony was there for him, it was one of the suits, Tony was still off in Tony’s world. How would Peter ever think that Tony had heard him this time, and was taking action? Tony didn’t tell him as much. Happy didn’t. All either of them would need to do is send a text saying hey, I hear you, I’m on this, I have people on this. But Tony is Tony, he can’t tie his shoes without Pepper, and he has either a hyperfixated attention span, or none at all, depending on the day. He either forgot to tell Peter, or worse, didn’t think it necessary. And if he was a proper mentor, if he knew Peter at all, he would know that Peter’s sense of responsibility was going to kick in there, unless he had reason to believe things were going to be okay without him.

Tony doesn’t know Peter. He puts an instant kill function on a 15-year-old kid’s suit because he thinks it’s a cool feature, and he enjoys building cool things. If he knew Peter at all, Tony would know that Peter’s a no kill hero. You can argue that those advanced features weren’t meant to be hacked into, so it’s not Tony’s fault. Except it is. Tony admits in CW that he hacked the Pentagon in high school on a dare. He knows that genius boys do stupid things. He knows teenagers don’t follow rules. He knows that if you tell a kid not to do a thing, you’re just guaranteeing he’ll want to do it more now. Tony may not know exactly how smart Peter is (I’m sure he doesn’t), but he has enough of an idea that safety measures, actual measures, should’ve been in place. Instead of a hackable training wheels protocol? Just keep those features off his first suit, save them for the next model, when the kid’s ready. We know Tony doesn’t mind building new models of suits. But Tony doesn’t do that, because Tony.

Yeah, the instant kill came in handy in Endgame against Thanos’s army. Still doesn’t make it okay.

Again, it reeks of Howard style parenting. You didn’t use this awesome thing I gave you right? Here then, I’m taking it away. No talks, no explanations or compromise or Tony training Peter to avoid the mistakes he so wants Peter to avoid, just, we’re done. Which is exactly how Howard probably would’ve handled it. I let you in my lab once and you broke something you didn’t know how to use? Okay, well, never doing that again.

To be clear, I don’t blame Tony for yanking the suit, exactly. It was a very human, kneejerk reaction. And more importantly, it allowed Peter to show that he did not need Tony’s toys to be a hero. The problem is that Tony, as usual, never gets to realize his mistakes. Peter yells at him a little right before the suit gets taken about not being listened to, but Tony doesn’t retain any of it. It doesn’t matter. He never has a moment of, what I did here was not okay and this is why. What do we get instead? Him telling Peter at the end of Homecoming how Peter screwed up, but hey, you fixed it. You were dumb, but you fixed it. No acknowledgement that Tony screwed up anything. Because, of course not. The lesson for Tony isn’t hey, I went too fast with this kid, he wasn’t ready, I didn’t prepare him. There is no lesson. Tony, as in basically every appearance since Iron Man 3, learns nothing.

Oh, and the Homecoming ending. Yeah. Tony sees no problem with having a 15-year-old move into the mansion and go full-time Avenger. His aunt, his guardian? Nah, why would she mind that, it’s fine.

I’ve talked elsewhere about my problems with Infinity War Irondad, but basically, most of Tony’s interaction with Peter there involves telling him to shut up, the grownups are talking, you’re not supposed to be here, you’re too young and dumb. Even when Peter absolutely helps the team. Also, too young and dumb? He wasn’t 5 minutes ago, when you were going to make him an Avenger, and he was the one smart enough to realize this was a bad idea. Tony’s so mad Peter didn’t listen to him and go home. If he’d truly listened, he’d have been an Avenger at the start of the film, so he’d be there anyway.

The dusting scene with him and Peter? It hurt. It was brutal and beautiful. That’s because Tom Holland, and yes, RDJ, can act, not because it was earned by the narrative of the last three movies.

As for Endgame. That photo Tony has of him and Peter goofing off. So cute, right? Probably taken at some point before May knew the truth, as a hey, we need a cover story for your aunt, but, you know, it’s fine. I don’t doubt Tony loved Peter. That he grieved Peter and felt his loss for 5 years, and maybe that’s part of why he’s such a good dad to Morgan. But he didn’t love Peter the right way. He did it selectively. He missed him when he was gone, but didn’t pay enough attention when he was alive. The hug near the end was beautiful, but unearned.

And then there’s May and Ben. May does not deserve to be villainized, killed off, or flat-out ignored the way she is in so many fanon interpretations just so Irondad can be a thing. May helped Peter prepare for his homecoming dance last minute. She got him dressed, taught him how to tie a tie, taught him to dance. All while Tony was back to ignoring him. But assume for a second that this had happened earlier, when Peter was still technically in Tony’s good books. Assume for a second that he’d been able to reach Tony and ask for advice, because he’s scared and excited and needs help. Tony would’ve made a few jokes about spiked punch, a few more crude, sexist jokes about Peter’s date, and signed off. May dropped everything and spent hours helping this kid, reassuring him. May is so unappreciated and flat-out abused by some of the fanbase, and it’s gross.

And Ben. Who’s Ben? Have we even heard his name in any of the movies Peter’s appeared in yet? Oh, we got his initials on a suitcase in FFH, not even a verbal acknowledgement. Great. I am not advocating an origin story. We’ve seen it, we know the basics, it’s fine. But Ben has been shown, for almost 60 years, to be the most influential person in Peter’s life. Losing Ben the way he did shaped Peter’s whole life afterward. And we have yet to see a photo? An old video? A 30 second flashback scene? We don’t know any of the MCU’s version of how Ben was killed. At all. Are they for some reason going with a rewrite where Peter had nothing to do with it? Don’t know, because it’s been 5 movies so far and they’ve given us nothing. Ben’s death regularly tops lists of the most influential deaths in comics, and we have nothing. Instead we get scene after scene of Tony perpetuating a dysfunctional relationship with Peter, and never facing consequences, or even realizing it.

By the way? Ben, if he’s anything like any canon version ever, would hate Tony. Ben is consistently shown before his death to be a very hands-on parent. He doesn’t understand most of Peter’s science stuff, but he encourages it, and stays involved as much as he can. He, barring a truly monumental canon rewrite that we know nothing about if it happened, taught Peter that great power means great responsibility. Contrast this with Tony, who as stated, pays more attention to building Peter cool suits than he does Peter. Who, on being confronted by a mother about the death of her son, caused by him, does what? Immediately wants to shift all responsibility to the government, so that the next time he screws up, he can say he was just following the law. Who was confronted by a grieving mother, and then 5 minutes later came into May Parker’s home and lied to her face. Something he continued to do, and would’ve continued, if May hadn’t found the truth on her own. He lies to her, takes her underage son (yes I’m saying son because she and Ben raised that boy, not Tony) out of the country without her knowledge. He threatened to reveal Peter’s identity to get him there. He does not tell Peter that the Accords would’ve done that anyway. He doesn’t tell Peter much of anything about why he’s there or what he’s fighting for. Either because he knows that telling the truth means not having Peter on his side, or because he simply doesn’t care to. Either way is gross, manipulative, disgusting, and would have Ben Parker rolling in his grave.

Yeah, it was fun having Peter in CW. Some of his scenes with Tony are genuinely fun. The above points though? Still stand.

So yeah, Irondad. in theory, okay. It makes sense that Peter would want guidance, a mentor after Ben died. It makes sense he’d look up to Tony. They could have addressed Howard’s shitty parenting via Tony’s shitty parenting, and maybe told an interesting story with it by contrasting Tony’s parenting style to Ben’s. Irondad in actual canon? There’s no parenting. There’s child endangerment, verbal abuse, and no payoff to any of it. The most we get is Happy admitting in FFH that Tony was a mess, but not for all the right reasons. He gets called out for other things, if you can even say he’s called out. Not for his awful treatment of an impressionable minor who’d lost his real father (Ben, assuming they stick with comics and have Peter lose his parents at a very young age).

I will never stop saying that Peter deserved better. I hope he gets it now that Tony’s gone.

#anti irondad #anti tony stark #at least tony's individual story started out good #Peter and Tony had a bad relationship to begin with #peter parker

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lunasilvermorny · 4 years

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Apprentice April Asks #1

I’m so late, I know!

I meant to do all the asks this month, but we’re already at the end of it and I haven’t noticed how fast it past.

Anyway, I don’t think I’ll be able to answer all of them in time, so I’m going to do this one (#1) and #5 in the next few days.

Thank you @starblazerm31 for the questions, it was really fun to answer and really helped me develop the headcanon :)

Okay, let’s begin!

1. The Basics. What is your character's name? How old are they? How tall are they? Skin color? Eye color? Hair color? Gender identification?

Her name is Luna Penumbra.

I made a post with a drawing and some basic information about her.

2. Love Interest. Who does your character love? What attracted them to that particular LI?

So… I am an indecisive person and honestly unable to choose just one, so there are 4 AUs for her with different love interest:

Luna x Muriel - You can say he’s the main LI and the rest are the AUs.

Luna x Julian x Asra - I’m a huge Julian x Asra shipper and I feel like they’d be better as a trio.

Luna x Lucio - His route is too compelling, I couldn’t resist it.

Luna x Nahara - I really liked Nadia’s route, but Luna’s heart (and mine) belongs to Nahara.

3. Familiar. Does your character have a familiar? How did they meet?

She doesn’t have a familiar yet. (The furthest I got in my headcanon is about 1 year after the events of the game, so… who knows, maybe in the future I’ll find a match for her.)

4. Hobbies. What kinds of things does your character like to do for fun?

She likes to paint, especially with blends of color she makes herself.

She really likes crafts in general – from building a small stool or knitting to creating weird artifacts with her magic.

She also used to play the Vielle, but after her death she lost the ability to play it.

And she’s really into tea. She can talk for hours and hours about blends and no one but her cares so much about it.

5. Hidden talents. Is there something neat that your character can do? Tie a cherry stem into a knot with their tongue? Say any word backwards perfectly?

She is ambidextrous.

6. Magical talents. Is there a specific type of magic that your character excels at? Any magic they aren't so great at? Or do they actually shy away from magic altogether?

Celestial magic. I explain more of the context of her power’s origin in question 20, but the power itself:

Most of her magic is dependent on the sun and the moon. She can channel energy from the sun and remnant energy from the moon, although her magic is stronger at daytime.

Together with her other two sisters, they possess also the power of the Arcana – The Sun and The Moon.

She’s most powerful during a Partial Solar Eclipse. During a Total Lunar Eclipse, she loses all of her celestial magical abilities.

7. Interaction. How does your character typically interact with people?

She’s extroverted and very outgoing, so she usually has positive experience with people, even though there’s still a bit of gossip around her.

8. Romance. What is something that your character and their LI love to do together? How do they show affection?

Muriel and her like to do the simple things together, like fish, feed the chickens, just sit next to the fireplace while carving/knitting.

9. Travel. Does your character like to travel outside of Vesuvia? How often? For how long? What kinds of things do they do away from home?

She really likes to travel, especially with Asra and sometimes Julian. At first Muriel used to join them, but after a while they realized that he’s not enjoying it as much as them, so they went without him but for shorter periods of time..

In the Luna x Nahara AU, she leaves Vesuvia to live in Prakra.

10. WTF. Has anything just...weird ever happened to your character? Something that made them stop and go "What just happened?!"

Constantly. Since she doesn’t have her old memories, sometimes her powers surprise her and sometimes mundane things she wasn’t aware of catch her off guard.

11. Crime. Has your character ever been arrested? If so, what did they do? Have they ever helped stop a crime?

Nope, never arrested. But crimes in general... I mean, asides for assisting Julian when he was a fugitive? No.

12. Secrets. What is a secret that your character has? Are they in line for the throne in a far off land? Was there this one time at band camp...? Are they secretly involved in an assassin's guild?

Luna never recovers her memories, so she’s not aware of any secrets she might have kept. But she does meet her family and discover a huge secret that her father kept from her about her powers (Which I explain in detail in question 20.)

13. Overcompensation. Is there something that your character just HAS to do better than anyone else? Or are they just that dang good without trying? If they see someone else showing off, what is their kneejerk reaction?

It’s a weird one, but she has to be the most knowledgeable about herbal blends and tea.

Also, she is a very fast learner, but if she doesn’t put any effort at all, she wouldn’t be able to excel at things.

14. Fight Club. Is your character a good fighter? What kind of skills do they have?

No, physically she’s very weak. Without magic, she wouldn’t be much of a challenge.

15. The Arts. Is your character a creative type? What kinds of things can they create? Can they act? Street perform?

Crafts! (So, same answer as question 4.)

16. Goofy. Is your character a clown? Do they like to make people laugh?

She has a great sense of humor, but she also likes puns, so... I’d say it’s 50/50.

17. Language. Is your character multilingual? How many languages do they speak? Do they have an accent? Is it sexy? Is it silly? Do they have a multilingual lisp?

In my headcanon, a lot of characters have accents that doesn’t make any sense, but that’s just how I perceive them. So Lucio and Julian have very dramatic English accents, Portia has an Irish accent, Nadia has a sort of Greek accent (even though the rest of her family has an Indian accent) and Muriel has a rough voice with a sort of American accent.

So… that wasn’t the question, but here it is anyway.

Back to the actual question - she’d have an English accent as well. (I know it’s super general, but I don’t know the specific name of the accent in my head.)

And no, she’s not bilingual, she speaks only the common language in Vesuvia. (Although before she died she was multilingual.)

18. Embarrassment. What is something really embarrassing that your character has done/said?

If something embarrassing happens, she tends to laugh it off, so she doesn’t get embarrassed easily, but too many compliments can make her self-conscious, especially when she feels it’s undeserved.

She’s can also get really embarrassed when people tell her about her past self, since she doesn’t have any memory of it, and her personality has changed since she came back to life. So when Asra tells her that she used to be very cocky and judgmental, it’s very embarrassing.

19. Memory. Has your character gotten any of their memory back? If so, what? Did it change them?

No, she didn’t get her memories back, but she did learn about her past from Asra and her family.

20. Family. Talk about your character's family. Who were they?

Okay, so this is going to be a long one.

The first time Luna learned anything about her family was when Asra told her about her father. The shop was originally her father’s and she inherited it after he died of the plague. Her father was a magician too and one of the first to get sick, because he tried to treat children that got infected.

Asra doesn’t know too much about him, he said they weren’t that close.

After the events of the game, Luna meets a woman that claims to be her sister that tells her about the rest of the family – her mother and the other sister.

The girls were known as The Eclipse Sisters and their birth was prophesied by their clan’s oracle. The eldest sister was born during an Annular Solar Eclipse and was named Antumbra, the middle sister (Luna) was born during a Partial Solar Eclipse and was named Penumbra and the youngest sister was born during a Total Solar Eclipse and was named Umbra. Their powers are fueled by the sun but bound by the moon. Together, the three have a very strong connection with both The Sun and The Moon Arcana.

Their mother was the head of the clan and wanted to harvest their power so the clan would prosper. When their father realized the amount of power the three possess together, he decided they must be separated and so he took Luna and ran away.

He came from overseas and found a cozy home for both of them in Versuvia. That’s when her father started to call her Luna instead of Penumbra. That’s also why Asra called her Luna (he thought that was her name), and since she referred to herself from time to time as Penumbra, he assumed that’s her surname.

----

As I said, that was really fun to make.

If anyone read it all - I hope you liked it! :)

#the arcana #the arcana game #fan apprentice #the apprentice #apprenticeapril #apprentice april #luna penumbra #mc #oc #the arcana mc

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ademocrat · 4 years

Text

Susan B. Anthony was a lesbian hero but they don’t teach you that in history class

Susan B. Anthony was born 200 years ago in a country where few women or people of color dared to give political speeches on public platforms and that had no national voting rights for women. Both straight and queer women were often pressured into marriage when it was against their wishes. Women who did manage to remain single – or who formed partnerships with other women – were typically pitied or scorned.

She worked tirelessly for most of her long life to demand racial and gender equality and her lesbian attractions only fueled her struggle against the patriarchal system she abhorred.

Related: How lesbianism was turned into a problem a century ago

Anthony was the mastermind – more than a hundred years before ACT UP – of a protest that had women storming polling places during the 1872 presidential election to insist they be allowed to vote. After the Civil War, African-American men had been granted the national right to vote to the exclusion of women.

Anthony never married or had a serious relationship with a man. As a teenager, she prophetically confessed to her diary, in 1838, “I think any female would rather live and die an old maid.”

She continued to make pronouncements that coyly hinted at her lesbian orientation. In an 1896 interview, she told the reporter, “I was very well as I was…I’m sure no man could have made me any happier than I have been.”

When pressed by journalists, throughout her long life in the media spotlight, she stagecrafted a role for herself of not being able to find the right man. But the real reason she remained “single” was that her amorous desires and emotional needs were only fulfilled by women.

The youthful lesbian orator Anna Dickinson, hailed as “America’s Joan of Arc” during the Civil War for rallying the war-weary Union forces to victory with her fiery speeches, became the target of Anthony’s affections in the 1860s. Dickinson was catapulted to national fame as the first woman to give a full-length political speech before Congress and her motto, which appeared on some of her publicity photos, was “The World belongs to those who take it.”

Dickinson’s trailblazing achievements, acerbic wit, youthful queer energy and “handsome beauty” enraptured Anthony.

Dickinson saved personal letters from Anthony that candidly indicate physical desire. Anthony flirtatiously describes her longing to spend time with the “naughty tease” Anna.

”I invite you to come to me here and sleep with me in my fourth story bed room at Mrs. Stanton’s ever so many nights,” she wrote.” To snuggle you darling closer than ever.”

Anthony’s feelings of sensual anticipation reveal a woman who is very much flesh and blood. “Dear Dicky Darling…I have plain quarters…double bed – and big enough & good enough to take you in. I do so long for the scolding & pinched ears & every thing I know awaits me.”

The relationship cooled off by the early 1870s. Dickinson would go on to have a series of girlfriends over the years and finally settled into a 30+ year relationship with a married woman, Sallie Ackley. The rather bemused Mr. Ackley didn’t seem to mind the living arrangement.

But Anthony retained a maternal or sisterly affection for the younger Dickinson and kept mentioning her in interviews, as the decades passed. Anthony even volunteered to help solicit funds for Dickinson when she fell on hard times.

In a touching 1895 letter, Anthony wrote, “My Darling Anna…I’m awfully glad to know you still live…[no one] ever has or ever will fill the niche in my heart that you did–my dear.”

The theme of wistful reminiscence characterizes another striking comment Susan B. Anthony made later in life when discussing her lesbian niece, Lucy Anthony. Lucy’s life-partner was the brilliant orator and activist Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, who eventually took over the presidency of the suffrage movement and expanded public support for it.

In a touching 1895 letter, Anthony wrote, “My Darling Anna…I’m awfully glad to know you still live…[no one] ever has or ever will fill the niche in my heart that you did–my dear.”

Susan wrote, ”I wanted what I feared I shouldn’t find, that is a young woman who would be to me–every way–what she [Lucy] is to the Rev. Anna Shaw.” Clearly, Susan B. Anthony was happy for her queer-blended extended family.

It was “niece-in-law” Shaw who was Susan Anthony’s appointed spiritual heir, in one of the most moving and significant deathbed vigils of American “herstory.” Anthony drifted in and out of consciousness as the end drew near. Shaw tried her best to comfort the dying activist with a solemn promise to do everything in her power to get the vote. The scene was an emotional “last-rites” passing of the suffrage leadership torch, from one lesbian to another.

Anthony’s only regret was that she hadn’t been able to sustain an enduring lesbian union like that of Lucy Anthony and Shaw. The two life-partners created homes together and lived together and were devoted to one another till Shaw’s death in 1919, as the country stood on the cusp of national woman suffrage. Anna Shaw kept her promise.

Anthony did develop a passionate queer relationship, however, in her last years with Emily Gross, a married woman who lived in Chicago. They visited each other and traveled together. Anthony referred to Gross as her “lover.”

Why have most historians straightwashed Anthony? Why has popular culture not fully acknowledged the de facto queer-straight alliance of women who worked in “open secrecy” in the gender revolution that was the suffrage movement?

Many generally acknowledge the toxic dishonesty of white supremacy and male supremacy in historical writing. But straight supremacy, especially the erasure of queer human beings in pre-World War II historical commentary, is still prevalent.

My husband and I visited Anthony’s house in Rochester, New York, last summer. I vigorously protested the dreary straightwashed tour of her life being presented, but was made to feel like a troublemaking queer in Anthony’s own home for challenging the guide and asking questions.

“What difference does that make?!,” the tour guide snapped as she told me that the feminist icon was straight. I persevered and attempted to talk to the staff members who were there, all of whom seemed resistant and condescending. We left disheartened and triggered to recall sad memories of our own “closeted” educations.

I later had a long phone conversation with the president of the museum. She reached out to me after the unfortunate incident and seemed sympathetic.

She patiently listened and said she wanted to hear everything I had to say, restoring my hope that the museum might evolve to forthrightly embrace the many queer figures of Anthony’s coterie.

It’s troubling that our cultural institutions don’t do enough to take the initiative without being prodded to educate their staff to present queer history willingly and to respond without bigotry to questions about it. The “straight-supremacist flinch” is a homophobic kneejerk reaction that needs to be discarded.

Where are the scholars and documentarians who will tell the truth and convey it compellingly to a mass audience? Why do some modern academics continue to render lesbians invisible and refuse to use the word lesbian to describe women of earlier eras, not realizing how absurd these ivory-tower practices are?

If lesbians and gays are defined as predominantly romantically attracted to their own sex, then they’ve existed in various cultural settings throughout history and Anthony was obviously a lesbian.

If I had learned the truth about the many magnificent contributions of queer folks like Anthony, Dickinson and Shaw, to US history – if I had known that LGBTQ history is an integral part of global history – my childhood would have been different.

If we collectively continue to erase Anthony’s queerness and only vaguely say things like “she never married a man,” then what we’ll continue to churn out is the same old dishonest straight-supremacist crap. History – what people did and how they’re remembered – is power. And LGBTQ people have had the power of history taken from them for far too long.

Celebrate Susan B. Anthony as the queer, multi-dimensional, intersectional equality goddess she was. She worked with other progressives to sow and fertilize the seeds of a national and global gender revolution. She wanted queer and straight women to have the unfettered liberty to develop their own genuine ways of being and to make their own choices.I

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