#and it really is 100% Lymond fan fiction

[merrivia]

Thank you @niniblack for speaking the drunken truth in 2017 🙏

The ultimate unpopular opinion about CP, that I'd like to get your opinion on but understand if you don't want to open the can of worms. The series isn't some profound meditation on the evil of slavery. CS Pacat set out to write a kinky slave fic, and the series shows its kinky slave fic origins right to the end and through the short stories.

Oh, I’ll open that can, Nonnie. I’ve had three glasses of apple cider sangria and I dyed my hair yesterday and got a new job so I am feeling invincible on this fine October evening.

I think it’s pretty clear that the series started as master/slave kink fic. I’m always surprised by the people who try to say otherwise. BUT THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. That’s the real key, I think, and why this is a “can of worms” in the first place. Why do some people hate the kinky bits so much? Why do they try and make them more profound than they are? Erasmus is basically the embodiment of the uke!slave trope and y’know what, that’s okay. He can be that and still be interesting and have an interesting back story. It can be kinky and still have plot, and interesting nuance. You don’t have to dismiss or disregard or explain away the kinky parts in order to justify the series’ as being worth something.

There seem to be two camps to the fandom, those that are okay with the series’ kinky origins (and, honestly, it’s leanings even through the end, of which The Summer Palace is a good example) and those that reject it entirely. Now, I understand the reasons people have for rejecting the kinky master/slave premise of the series. There is a LOT more to it than just that, and the series really did grow into something much larger than I think even Pacat expected when she started writing it. (I strongly suspect she was writing Lymond fanfic at the start, but that’s a different discussion and there are people better informed in both series than me to have it with.) And, given what it grew to and what some of the themes regarding recovery from abuse represent to people, I totally understand that one might latch on to that and reject the more unsavory parts of the series in favor of highlighting the good parts. Especially when there are always antis in the tag attacking CP purely on the basis of the slave fic aspects that ignore everything else about it. If you’re trying to defend the series against those types of people, then of course you’d downplay the kinky slave parts and emphasize the things the series does right.

But I don’t know, I’ve never felt the need to downplay the kinky slave parts of the series. Maybe I’ve just been in fandom too long, and seen it all or something, but I don’t see anything wrong with a bit of kinky slave fic, and there’s no reason that CP can’t be both kinky slave fic and a great love story and a story about overcoming abuse. It can be all those things. I also don’t feel the need to defend it to the antis and try to convince them otherwise. They can continue living their sad little lives not knowing about much Laurent and Damen love each other and united a kingdom to be together and that is their loss, no skin off my back. Let them think what they want. I know that CP is awesome. Who cares what they think?

What I’m saying here is that I’m halfway through my fourth glass of sangria, and we should all love each other, and love CP, and love it for what it is. Also Damen and Laurent love each other and united two kingdoms and their love is beautiful and will live on long after they’re gone and they definitely sometimes roleplay as master/slave because they are both secretly kinky bastards. I love them so much. *sobs*

Bring it in guys. Let’s hug it out.