#JUST LET HIM BE HAPPY AND LET OLD THEMATIC ELEMENTS COME BACK LATER AS HUGE PLOT POINTS K THANK LMAO

[maidenvault]

tag game

Rules: tag 9 people you’d like to know better/annoy a little with silly games lol.

Thanks for tagging me @cosetteferaud :)

Top 4 ships: 

Kotetsu Kaburagi and Barnaby Brooks Jr. (Tiger & Bunny). I can’t say enough how special it makes T&B as an anime that it actually has a protagonist in his late-thirties or so when most anime is aimed at kids or young adults, and I think Kotetsu’s age and the fact that he’s a father and widower who’s already lived a lot makes K/B so much better and unique as a love story when it’s otherwise a pretty cliche ship dynamic. One reason I love writing fic about them is that stories about older bisexuals are so rare and it feels like less-tread territory in small ways like that.

T&B was made to be a dark but ultimately very optimistic show and its core relationship very much reflects this. Kotetsu loved Tomoe since they were kids and she was the person he never thought wouldn’t be there for him forever, and when he’s pretty lost at the start of the show he clearly thinks the best times of his life (and career) are already over. But his new partner gradually gets under his skin and becomes one of the most important people in the world to him, and it means a real life with real human connection sneaks up on him through his professional life when he’s not used to those things anymore and totally not expecting it. T&B is so good at portraying the terrible blows and baggage that one has to deal with in adulthood while also showing you shouldn’t give up.

(Also, TBH Prince Laurent has nothing on Barnaby in the “lovable blond bitch I want to protect forever” department and they both just need all the love and happiness they’ve been without for so long.)

Sansa Stark and Sandor Clegane (A Song of Ice and Fire). Whether it’ll eventually become romantic or not, this relationship is a huge part of what makes ASoIaF secretly not nihilistic. It could demonstrate that the relationship between those who rule and those who serve can work for the good of both, and the potential importance of it has been foreshadowed literally since Sansa’s first viewpoint chapter (”An animal takes after its master”/”Get her a dog, she’ll be happier for it”) and particularly later with Sandor repeatedly being described kneeling before her. There’s really a sense that the gods brought them together so he could be her most loyal retainer someday without Lady to protect her, and so he could serve someone who will treat him like an actual human being and won’t ask anything dishonorable of him.

This ship is basically a female power fantasy about a monster being destroyed by a little girl because she is stronger than him in spirit. Not by actively trying to change him but just by being who she is, Sansa flies in the face of his worldview and his entire rationale for being the way he is and is a big catalyst in his identity as the Hound starting to fall apart. At the same time, Sansa’s innocence surely reminds him of parts of himself he’s lost and her understanding of where his darkness and anger comes from is a major part of her maturation. I love that he tries to convince her of all these harsh truths he sees as absolute while really validating her own convictions with his actions, proving there are things to believe in and people who care about more than just protecting themselves (since Ned died Sandor is the only person who’s acted to help her with nothing to gain from it and at great risk to himself). Sansa wants to be loved by someone who doesn’t just want her because of her claim and though the Sandor we’ve known so far isn’t really capable of loving anyone, I think he’s fundamentally an unselfish person and will leave the Quiet Isle a very changed man who can truly be the answer to all her wishes. Their connection is one of the most well-developed and thematically significant elements in a book series that’s so important to me it kind of feels like it’s been in my life forever.

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson (ACD Canon, mostly). Maybe an outlier among the kind of things I typically ship in that it’s a pretty conflict-free relationship as I see/prefer it (fuck Moffat’s toxic portrayal of male friendship forever!). At least besides existing in the constraints of the world that killed Oscar Wilde, I mean. In Doyle’s stories these two truly are good for each other, there’s a balance of impulse and stability they have only with each other. This is like a comfort-food ship for me that's always pleasant to go back to because the original canon is old af and unchanging and brings me no troubled feelings lol.

Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne (DC). This is definitely the silliest thing I unironically ship, in theory it should be so fucking boring, but I’ll always be weak for shit like all the moments in the Dark Knight Returns movie that show that even though their relationship has turned bitter and Superman’s basically a villain in this pre-dystopian future, he could never bring himself to do Bruce any real harm and will always take the chance for them to stay out of each other’s way. Let’s face it, sometimes all it takes is them calling each other by their real names and I’m like shnfdslafdklsknfjs. Both of them being very experienced and formidable veterans in the superhero gig, I think Bruce and Clark are both used to having to be the leader or protector and it always kind of feels like a big deal to see them able to work together as equals, question each other, and even show some doubts or weakness with each other. They’re such great foils for each other that each is a much more appealing character to me when together than they are in isolation.

Last song: I think it was my favorite song, “Waterloo Sunset” by the Kinks.

Last movie: Joe Versus the Volcano. It’s great!

Reading: Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad.

Craving: Some of the chocolate cake I made.

Tagging anyone who wants to do this!