#anyway. clearly I don't read

[rowyndodendron]

Diomedes really cranked the "simp-o-meter for Odysseus" from 0 to 12 in approximately 0.6 seconds in book 10 (choose ur spy buddy) and im snort-laughing.

Partially because of how Unnecessarily Extra Diomedes is.

And then even more so because of how Extremely Done Odysseus is in his reply (every time he uses the "long-suffering Odysseus" epithet i fucking DIE laughing. I can FEEL the -_-)

But also, because I feel like the opposite is more typical (Odysseus having the flowery flattering speeches and Diomedes just, like, "read at 2pm"-ing him in return):

I am choosing to headcanon that Dio is very subtly/very gently teasing/mocking Odysseus. And that Ody has done the "oh i pick Diomedes the incredible, the unmatchable, unwinnable force of the gods' will!!!" thing to him recently and Dio is now just throwing it back at him in a "do u hear what u sound like when u talk???" Kind of way.

Which is why Ody is peak "i am Unamused by this, diomedes" in the scene. Because he knows he's being gently roasted in a way the others likely won't pick up on/which is Just For Him.

And i think that's beautiful

[lupins-hehim-pussy]

OH I GET WHAT YOU MEAN NOW I THINK

YEAH. I do think Fontaine weirdly reflects itself in a sorta... fourth-wall breaky way too, and Genshin Impact as a game isn't one that actually cares about what it's representing, more so what can make them money. So like, even if they cater to certain groups and do certain things well, you realise they only do it because it is something they assume would be financially viable for them. Every time you see people praise how they have heavily implied LGBTQ+ characters, it's always sorta paired with how that's good for them financially ("Look at these characters they've done well and see how much money it makes them! Surely this is incentive for more good representation!") I'm almost downright sure they intentionally have a pairable duo of tall male-model characters specifically for the shippers for every world update lol.

Aside from maybe Liyue. They put some genuine heart in that.

ok so I mean this with utmost respect for but please please don't position yourself above people who want the characters to fuck. your previous post, the "i want top neuvillette who's still femme and a crybaby my god is that so hard" one, is literally in the very usual style of sexy headcanoning. which is good! I just don't want you to alienate other people who also think both about that and the Problems

it really is the biggest elephant in the room, the way Fontaine is as a whole, isn't it. I think genshin fandom involves some kind of derealisation mode. they feel even less... existing than characters usually do. which is, bizarrely, very fitting for Fontaine?

I have no intention of positioning myself above people who want characters to fuck, so I apologize if it comes off that way. Because yeah you're right, I do have sexy headcanons. I'm just some guy as well. I literally drew Wriothesley with his tits out ( and I have more WIPs of Wriothesley with his tits out, by the way. Neuvilette too. But he's usually flat as a board in my stuff lmao so it doesn't really.... well he's still sexy even as a twig. to ME).

My point mainly is that it's not my Main form of engagement with media. I do not develop interest in stuff through finding characters attractive first, then becoming interested in their story after. Meanwhile, Genshin Impact as a model heavily bets on you becoming attached to the characters on their concept/models/kits alone, but the character writing is very much secondary to them. You don't recommend Genshin to people who want artsy fartsy hard-hitting narratives, exploration of trauma/mental illness, culturally sensitive representation, and character-driven stories. You might recommend Genshin to people who like gacha but aren't too susceptible to predatory gambling mechanics, enjoys expansive world building, open world, beautiful graphics, fun/straightforward gameplay, and hot anime people.

And Mihoyo as a whole do not value and uphold the things I value (my lukewarm leftist-aligned politics), therefore, I am just very much not the target audience. There isn't much else to say to that. Attraction isn't the hook to fish this krill (me), which is why I said I'm... not the target audience. It's fine if OTHERS are. I don't see myself as any better or worse for it. If anything, I WANT to be the target audience. I WANT to be in a fandom that engages with the stuff I enjoy more. Not for any moral reason, I just want to have fun too, like goddamn y'all look like you are having a blast over there. I don't think it's a bad thing that people who want character to fuck.... gets characters who are designed, encouraged and sold to be shipped (fucked). It's just a thing that happened.

Additionally, I also don't engage with fandoms (end of sentence. Actually, I kid) mainly because the majority of people (not you in particular. Just Generally. Amorphously) are here to see characters have sex and that's it. That's Fine. It's okay to just want your favs to have sex. I just happen to want a lot of other stuff as well, and the sex bit is just not my main thing. Once again, I am not the target audience. It's like I shouldn't drive up to the chips shop asking for ice cream, but I live in a town that only sells chips, so I'm sitting on the curb complaining about how there's no ice cream when I should move out, probably. But the economy doesn't allow me to move out (I am hyperfixated) and the only job I can do is make ice cream disguised as chips so the chips lovers come to my shop (I write fanfics and draw Wriothesley with his tits out).

So like. Ultimately who cares. I'm just some guy who feel what I feel, and I want to say it as I feel it

[bumblingbabooshka]

The Pon Farr. T'Pring, let him eat you. [Patreon | Commissions]

[saetiate]

pov you're on sae's line messages with me

p.s. i might srb this but please don't reblog!! i am open to replies but i'm feeling a little shy about this ahaha <3 thank you for your kind understanding!

[necrotic-nephilim]

jealousy really is the driving force of DamiTim as a ship. love that for them. love how Tim has the Robin mantle ripped away from him and he has to suffer the jealousy of watching Dick and Damian bond. how possessive over Dick Tim can be, to have him stolen by Dick.

even more so though, is the jealousy from Damian. how on earth do you cope when you finally get to be Robin, a role you've convinced is your birthright, and no one really likes you? every prefers the Robin who came before you? Dick regularly reminds you that he can always go and call Tim back when you act out? like the complex Damian has over Tim is unreal. Tim, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had everything handed to him his whole life. he never had to struggle or fight for his place like Damian did. Damian has spent his whole life fighting and proving himself, and yet he can't ever seem to truly claw the mantle of Robin away from Tim. even when Tim lets it go, becomes Red Robin, they seem to share it. Tim can slip back into the role of Robin whenever someone like Dick or Bruce need him to, because *he's* the Robin who they need. he's the Robin who was able to find Bruce. he's the Robin that Ra's wants an heir out of. he's the Robin who even Jason respects. in Damian's eyes, everything Damian has fought tooth and nail for, was handed to Tim.

so of course he's going to react to Tim with violence and aggression, especially after finding out Tim has contingency plans for him. no matter how much Damian proves himself, he's never going to be enough, especially not to Tim. and so his deep refusal to see Tim as family, to acknowledge Tim's legacy is all driven by such an angry jealousy. Tim understands aspects of Bruce's legacy that Damian doesn't, like the need to sweet talk and play nice with the elites of Gotham, even if they're corrupt. they exemplify different aspects of Robin, and the aspects that Tim exemplifies are the aspects that Damian knows he'll never fully understand and therefore holds such a deep contempt for. he wants to fight criminals, not play nice with politicians. Tim understands the side of Gotham that's utterly foreign to Damian. if anything, he represents that side of Gotham, to Damian. a pretty little rich boy who's nothing but a know-it-all and not a real son of Bruce. he can't be a Wayne. he can't be Damian's family.

and all of that angry jealousy leading to unhealthy obsession turned a weird, angry crush from Damian is just my bread and butter. that is how DamiTim should be. to me. Damian obsessed over hating Tim Drake so much he accidentally ends up sort of in love with him and that only makes Damian angrier. because he can't prove everyone right by *also* liking Tim. he can't let Ra's win like that, because frankly why wouldn't Ra's be delighted by Damian and Tim getting together. and it builds and builds with angry passive aggression towards Tim that culminates in angry hate-fucking-that's-not-just-driven-by-hate. love and hate are always viewed as opposites in shipping and i think they're the same intense passion just in different directions. and for the best ships, they're very intertwined. what is DamiTim is not the peak of that. "i put so much of myself into hating you i had no choice but to fall in love with you somewhere along the way" core. love that bleeds into hate and hate that bleeds into love. "you make me so angry i regularly passively try to kill you but not with any real effort because who would i obsess over if you were actually gone" core. murder attempts as a form of courting. contingency plans to take each other out as a love language. they're unwell.

[oldbutchdanielcraig]

What is your interpretation of the breakfast scene in Queer? I am still grappling with my emotions about it. Why is Eugene so violent? And why is Lee saying all of that after? I’m very curious about your insight.

it's literally one of my favorite scenes in the whole movie i love it SO much and i think it says so much about the characters because it's the one time they clash without a deescalation. normally lee backs down or gene laughs it off but this time they meet and collide and sort of hiss at each other like alleycats because neither of them are even brave enough to have a proper fight.

gene is so violent because of what i think is like. a buildup of all the parts of lee that (for lack of a better word) he can't stand? like he 100% is starting to feel a lack of the independence he craves because he and lee are spending most of their time together and becoming increasingly more affectionate with each other. #1 notable thing about this is that in the scene directly before (which i take to be the afternoon or i guess a couple of days max before that morning) there's this whole exchange where gene is visibly enjoying their sex and being plainly affectionate with lee and admitting aloud that he enjoys the sexual aspects of their relationship which is like. the one thing someone in his position shouldn't do. it's absolutely intentionally a one step forward, three steps back thing for gene because he's like. well i've let lee know that i like him. now i have to let him know i Really Don't. and i love that about him soooo much.

lee here is the MOST special to me though because he's presenting his conflicting urges in this undiluted way that's wrapped up in a sort of performance so as to obfuscate the fact that he's being himself. i think "aren't you taking unfair advantage?" could be my favorite lee line because it's just so. this line is coming from the guy who for the entire movie's runtime has been like "please let me take advantage of you please let me isolate you i want to be the only person in your life i want to control you i want to use every advantage i have over you against you" and all of the sudden he's like "aren't you taking advantage of me? the sweet and innocent baby?" and like. the modicum of truth in his routine i think is that this is Actually how he sees himself. it could be manipulative and it might be if it was someone else but it's just not because lee actually believes he's childlike in this way and there's some level of awareness in him that his performative masculinity is just a performance. bringing up the bout of junk sickness is a sensitive thing for both of them too because it's this moment of weakness from lee and moment of tenderness from gene which is like. another thing they both crave but are both really afraid of.

it's really awesome ultimately because this might be the most direct they get with each other but they're still just completely speaking past each other and just laying out their desires but not understanding each other at all and not really finding any sympathy for each other either. it's as close as they get to spitting their hearts up at the same time and leaving them beating on the floor tbh. and god i love it when they fight.

[quatregats]

Thinking a lot of thoughts about Hornblower's relationships with Barbara and Maria as a metaphor for his larger relationship to social mobility and ambition, and I think there's actually a lot there - not sure if it was intentional, but I do think that whether intentionally or inadvertently, Forester did an interesting job with the parallels.

Quick note beforehand that some of this is based on my constant brief paging through C. Northcote Parkinson's Hornblower "biography", which, while I absolutely abhor his interpretation of Hornblower, gives even more food for thought on this point. I'm also leaning more into his interpretation of Hornblower's background and childhood, as opposed to the TV show's, so it might not work if you're coming from the TV show's perspective.

Parkinson takes Forester's comment that Hornblower was a "doctor's son" to mean that he was the son of an apothecary, rather than a physician like in the show. I'm not a historian of the period, so I would be hard-pressed to actually try to fit Hornblower's father within the 18th-century framework of medical practice, but either way, given his awkwardness around upper-class life and that he seems to have grown up in rural Kent, I think that Parkinson's claim that he was the son of an apothecary, rather than a physician, does have some reasonable foundation, or is at least equally plausible (to me) as the show's.

Hornblower struggles with poverty through most of the series, especially the first half, but even when he is barely scraping by, such as at the start of Lieutenant, this does not seem to be an abnormal state; and when he finally arrives at wealth and success, he constantly wishes to go back to the days when he was a penniless lieutenant, so from this we might also surmise that he did not come from wealth. (I'm also comparing especially to Jack Aubrey, who, while he admittedly makes a hash of coming into large amounts of money, and who also lives perfectly happily on very little, is clearly quite comfortable being the "lord of the manor" by comparison.)

One of the biggest changes in the second half of the series (from The Happy Return/Beat to Quarters onward) is that Hornblower's career comes into fruition; he becomes a decorated Captain, a member of the landed gentry, a Knight of Bath, a Peer, and finally an admiral, and marries into an enormously influential family. He's constantly in conflict about this, until he isn't: he wants to become someone powerful and important, except that he doesn't like the role once he gets it, and constantly wishes about the old days, then feels guilty for wishing for them. Most importantly, he seems to become less and less himself, his mental narrative getting more and more distorted as he tries to mold himself into the person he thinks he wants to be.

I don't think this is a particular novel interpretation, but I think that in light of this, the contrast between his marriage to Maria and his marriage to Barbara is very interesting. If he was an apothecary's son, his and Maria's marriage would make a decent amount of sense - they'd be from similar social backgrounds, and probably a reasonable match, if Hornblower's career had continued as expected. Hornblower feels comfortable around Maria at the start of their friendship and the very beginning of their marriage in a way that mirrors his comfort with the life he's living at that point - which is to say that he clearly knows and understands what's expected of him and how to interact, in clear contrast with later books. But on the other hand, for all that he originally does love Maria, Hornblower comes to find her to be coarse, unrefined, and boring, and feel that she is not good enough for the person he wants to become. It's at the point when he starts to feel that he's moved passed Maria that he begins to take on his new, ambitious, performative persona.

On the other hand, Hornblower feels stiff and uncomfortable around Barbara from the beginning of their relationship, notably for reasons of class, and even in later books, consistently sounds intimidated by her poise and upper-class untouchability. With Maria he doesn't feel enough for her; with Barbara he feels too much, an almost uncouth sentimentality. He craves Barbara's status like a man drowning, but can't hold up under the weight of what it would mean. They have very strong intellectual chemistry, but socially they are a disaster of a couple, and yet nonetheless, Hornblower continues with the marriage because it feels to him like the thing he ought to do, just as he ought to become squire of Smallbridge. He's so viscerally uncomfortable with his position in the later books in a way he wasn't even at the height of his earlier miseries, but he refuses to let himself admit that his ambitions might have led him astray.

I think it's also interesting that the relationship which Hornblower arguably finds the most fulfilling (or rather, it was written very poorly if Forester wanted to make it feel fulfilling for the reader, but nonetheless it was clearly meant to be the most fulfilling for Hornblower) is his relationship with Marie, who sits at a similar odd juncture to him. In the text, Forester says outright that Marie fulfills Hornblower's interest in upper-class women (ambition) while not intimidating him, yet still being a satisfying intellectual partner. Nonetheless, just as Marie and Hornblower can never actually end up together, Hornblower can never actually be comfortable with his position, and no matter how many times he tries to find solace in her, he is eventually forced to continue down the path that he began, making up with Barbara and fully taking up the mantle of Admiral and Peer of the Realm.

In short, I think that watching the way in which Hornblower's relationship with Maria evolves over the course of the early books and the way in which his relationship with Barbara takes up after that ends up being a very neat parallel to his own ambitions and class identity. With Maria he is at home, but bored and restless; with Barbara he gets everything that he wants, but feels like a fish out of water. I think that particular parallel is part of the particular tragedy of Hornblower - he can't ever be satisfied with the person he was, or the person he's become. But I think that adding in aspects of extreme class difference - even more class difference than the general trends of social mobility during this period - also helps to elucidate the fundamental tension which drives Hornblower forward as a character. The world he came from was too small for him; the world in which he moves now is far too big; but there's no in-between option. He has to choose what he wants to be, and sacrifice some part of himself in order to do that, and in light of this reading of him, I think that there's a lot of interesting dilemmas to be raised.

[kirby-the-gorb]

[tyriongirl]

Genesis 4:1-5, translated by S. R. Driver, from The Book of Genesis, 1905

A Clash of Kings, Prologue - Maester Cressen

Emanuel Krescenc Liška – Cain (1885)

Claus Westermann, Genesis : a commentary, 1984

Arthur Segal - Kain und Abel (1918)

A Clash of Kings, Prologue - Maester Cressen

Natalie Diaz, A Brother Named Gethsemane, from When My Brother Was an Aztec

Lovis Corinth - Kain (1917)

Genesis 4:6-9, translated by S. R. Driver, from The Book of Genesis, 1905

A Clash of Kings, Chapter 33 - Catelyn IV

Odilion Redon - Cain and Abel (1886)

A Clash of Kings, Chapter 33 - Catelyn IV

Genesis 4:9-14, translated by S. R. Driver, from The Book of Genesis, 1905

A Clash of Kings, Chapter 31 - Catelyn III

St. Omer, Benedictine Abbey of St. Bertin; c. 1190-1200

A Storm of Swords, Chapter 36 - Davos V

S.R. Driver, The Book of Genesis, 1905

A Clash of Kings, Chapter 42 - Davos II

Lazzaro Pisani - Death of Abel (1885)

S.R. Driver, The Book of Genesis, 1905

A Clash of Kings, Chapter 42 - Davos II

A Clash of Kings, Chapter 42 - Davos II

Cain and Abel - City of Zeven - 2015 (source)

Genesis 4:14-16, translated by S. R. Driver, from The Book of Genesis, 1905

[transhetanybodys]

It's funny how Sweeney Todd almost exclusively kills men and it's *not* a feminist thing, it's literally just that men are the ones who see barbers. Of course you could probably get some deeper analysis out of the fact that he mostly kills men, but it's not a feminist thing even though his wife and daughter were horrifically abused by a man and his friend/lover of convenience Mrs. Lovett's husband clearly wasn't great (at least in the movie? I haven't seen the play in a while.) Once I saw a fundraiser for a version of the story where he and Mrs. Lovett are specifically going after male abusers and that could be cool, I hope that got off the ground.

[teh-nos]

when i realised the reason loki is so good at manipulating thor could well be that he's been taught how to do it, likely by frigga whose own job is "talk the king down and/or egg him on"

[gnomewithalaptop]

scrolling through the anita fite tag on here is really just like [tim drake] [text post that doesn't mention her] [ensemble cast art] [the most violently homosexual content you'll ever see in your life] [tim drake again]

[grooviestguru]

in another au, if andrew is still andrew but joins the ravens, i have a supremely difficult time imagining the circumstances in which he'd *willingly* allow a tattoo on his FACE. which makes me think about the circumstances that would have to happen to get him tattooed anyway and it makes my tummy hurt

[pangaeaseas]

ohhhh my god the lily was a bad friend to Snape thing pisses me off so fucking much. just willful misreading and frankly sometimes disturbing blaseness towards what the real problem was (not just the slur! JOINING A FUCKING HATE GROUP! and also slurs are bad--we should be able to understand this, right?) I mean one of the problems with it is that it doesn't fully understand the multiple power dynamics at play--blood status, gender, AND social class are all important in the lily/Snape and Lily/Snape/marauders dynamics. And also? I think Lily is meant to be read as not actually of a significantly higher class than Snape--she's working class but her family is slightly more financially stable and determined to hold themselves above him! So the class dynamics aren't 'rich popular girl Lily and poor bullied Snape' it's 'also poor but slightly less poor Lily'!! AND this interaction cannot be read without Snape's blood status privilege. And. Of course. The fact that him calling her a mudblood in public was a sign of him fully embracing Death Eater ideals and he went on to join the Death Eaters--having already been associating with them for a while. The initial slur isn't even forgiveable but it becomes even more heinous when you remember he was joining a group dedicated to exterminating her because of who she was. Why should she give a shit about who bullied him anymore? When we talk about what Lily and Snape are doing post Snape's Worst Memory, I would say that the fact Snape joins the freaking Death Eaters is a far worse betrayal of their friendship than Lily marrying James (which isn't even a betrayal, exactly, as she is, you know, an autonomous person with her own wants needs and opinions).

[cappycodeart]

I got tired of circling back to frustration over my nitpicks on the f&c series so I OC’d my boy. Whoops. 😅💦. I'll still post stuff in the future about the AT version because I still have a lot of doodles I haven't posted yet and doodle ideas I want to draw!!... Buuuuuut in the meantime my brain gears have been turning hardcore over incorporating this version into my OC-verse... he's a silly astronaut now <3

[warrior-of-storms]

My question is why do they keep letting people who don't like Jason Todd write Jason Todd? (this also goes for every other comic character ever btw)