#but she's iconic and i have fond memories of her! so here

[kaworusbetterthanme]

My childhood hero <3 the first female french super-hero, Fantômette! She's the main character of 50+ children's books, and she saves her city from all sorts of villains with her many skills.

[itsaship-literally]

𝘽𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙡𝙚𝘽𝙖𝙗𝙚𝙨: 𝘼 𝙃𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮

Reposted

There are many names for the ship and friendship of the dynamic duo known simply by their names: Beetlejuice and Lydia Deetz.

In the beginning, they were considered a horror-comedy icon. She is strange and unusual. She wants to die and be part of the land of the recently deceased. He is wild. A pure chaos machine who lives up to his side of the deal. He knows the ins and outs of the hereafter and wants to get the fuck out. For good.

Lo and behold! The trope of a quid pro quo marriage. He gets out. Her friends are saved from an unknown doom.

Then marketing took over. Merchandise! Toys! And ultimately a cartoon. Who would be the star of Beetlejuice: The Animated Series.

Well, Beetlejuice, of course. And why not make it friendly to the kid's world by taking the youngest character and making her more vulnerable and spooktacular? They could have carried the show without a Lydia but they chose not to do this.

They chose the one girl in the movie he tried to marry: deal or no deal. The girl was in a wedding dress and instead of making them enemies... They make them friends. Friends who share and anniversary, terms of endearments, and blatant flirtations.

Thus, the first shippers were born—a bunch of kids who saw two chaotic characters who were perfectly balanced with each other. We grew up, and so OUR IDEA of Lydia grew with us. Granted, a few of us are freaky and wanna jump the ghost, but rarely will you see a shipper want to split up the duo.

Now for the names; Beetlejuice x Lydia, Beetlyds, Beetz and Deetz, Beetz, Beej and Lyds, Beetle and Babes and now, unintentionally, Beetlebabes.

Ironically this was not the intended name for the ship. We (as in my friends and I) called ourselves Beetle Babes. As in We are the Babes. Fans, mostly ladies, who love to obsess over a ghost from an old 80’s franchise.

The second meaning came naturally because, Didn't BJ call Lydia ”Babes”? Yes, he did in almost every episode. Lyds, Babes, Lydia. Three names he uses for her his best friend.

So Beetlebabes became an easy identifyer for the crew. And it became a standard name for shippers when the new fans came in, but I bet you didn't know that some OG Beetlebabes only Friend-Ship them? And some Relation-Shippers don't like smut or sexual content of any kind.

Beetlebabes are Kids, Teens, and Adults. They are students, parents, CSA survivors, therapists, cooks, homemakers, artists, animators, and filmmakers. They are strangers on the street who don’t even know the musical came to be and only remember the deadly duo through fond memories of two close pals who, for all we knew, were living out their impromptu wedding in the only way they know how.

Now, as I update this, we have a new movie in which Beetlejuice and Lydia are once again affianced. BJ refers to her as the love of his life, bringing more shippers into the fold.

So here we are, The Beetlebabes. We ship the gal who wants death and the ghost who wants life. The balance. The dichotomy. The polar opposites.

This has been the revisit of the history of Beetlebabes. I hope you all are enjoying your time in the fandom and you all have my best wishes to stay happy, healthy, and creative.

Keep being awesome, Babes! 🖤

[snarky-wallflower]

Guided To His Place

Word Count: 1584 AO3 Inspired by my friend @its-short-for-jackalope's art, which can be found here! Also by my friend @midnightnautilus, whose ficlet can be found here. I found Samuel's arc truly beautiful, and as much as I'm devastated he's gone? I wanted to write my own send off to him, as someone who deeply related to him. I hope you all enjoy it.

Samuel Stratford lies in the grass, the softness of it comforting his back. It's twilight, sweet and true all around him. A peace settles in him, as he looks up at the stars. Shining, brilliant and bright, reminders of home. The stars are familiar, even in this strange place. Shining starlight, up in the sky once more. This place, the end. The place he appeared, once he awakened from his final choice.

He's wandered throughout it as much as he can - recognizing the Paper Stand, the Township, even the Ellen Austin and Lincoln Island. Places he loved, places he made an impact. A place where his story unfolded, now a place for him to walk and discover.

Their echoes.  Now, he rests. It's a strange sensation, being alone. He doesn't know if he'll ever grow used to it. He spots familiarity up in that glimmering cacophony of stars, and feels his shoulders relax. He glows the same as those stars now, golden and warm against the cool night. 

Above him is the Sagitta. Rose, Samuel, Margaret and John. The closest he has come to seeing his friends, his sister. Those stars Rose had named after the four of them, up in the sky. Separated, unable to reunite. Above him, the Satellite, shining out protectively into the dark. A guiding light home. That beauty he laid so many bricks to help create, helping to bring people home.

It's not the true stars or Satellite, of course. But it's still a reminder that his friends are out there, finding their way. He thinks that's still something real, in a way.

A cloak of grief and love covers his heart, as a lump forms in his throat. It's a strange mixture, those feelings, yet they still hold true. He's cried so much since he made his choice. Even now, they start to softly drip down his cheeks, as he thinks of teasing Rose at the Paper Stand, quietly talking with John about the weight of a legacy, of rejoicing with Margaret as she turned that wood to gold, so incredibly proud of her. Masterpieces of memories, fortunate to have ever have made them. They fill him with pride and fondness, rippling through his veins like that starlight across the sky, the love he holds tight to his chest.

John, the man who started as an icon, who became someone Samuel could speak to about his fears of not being enough. Who understood Samuel when he said he still had so far to go. Who Samuel watched choose creativity, becoming more wild and free.

Margaret, his friend, that one who enchanted him with what lived inside her. Her quiet resolve, her determination to find her answers, her own kind of masterpiece. One who he found trust with again, who forgave him for what he had done. Who he spoke and spoke with, trying to build back that original connection once more. Helping her find her way. 

Rose, the one he would have been lost without. The one person Samuel thinks he knows better than he knows himself. The bravest, the best person he knows. Her sheer resolve to make her own legacy, to accomplish whatever she set her mind to. The first person he ever dreamed with, who was the one who reached out with him to find a world that was more than this. 

Memories are what he has in this after, and he thinks of them often. Living in the echoes he made with those he loved so dearly.

There's a peace in his choice, though. Samuel knows it was the only choice he ever could have made. His friends will go on without him. His life was worth them getting to live, to continue their journeys. He acted like the man in his dreams, accomplished great things in the end. There is no greater thing he could have done than make sure that the family he built in brick carried on. 

But, still... "I miss you." His voice is quiet. He misses them so badly that it aches. He could write and write and write, and it would still never come close to capturing the loss that he carries with him now.

But they must go on without him. This is what sacrifice means. It's a sacrifice he cannot ever bring himself to regret. Not when it means that those he loves--John, Margaret, Rose--live on. He did this for them. He would do this for them over and over. He wasn't afraid at the end, no longer needed direction. He knew what needed to happen. In no universe would he have held back from what needed to be done. He saved them, making his final impact.  "I love you." It's easy, to say those words. Reliving those memories, that started all with his notebook. Those connections--those people he holds so dear. His hand reaches out to the stars. Connecting the four of them with his finger, holding their memories and stories in his mind. He's always been a storyteller, after all--that certainly will not stop now. He tells their stories, if only to himself. A fond smile crosses his face, as he feels warm air swoop across his face. He can almost picture them beside him--but only just. 

The world is silent.

It's only Samuel and the stars, at the end of infinity.

A quiet sigh leaves Samuel's mouth, feeling that kaleidoscope of stars all around.

This is a moment, all his own.

Then, a buzz, just above him. He draws his head up, to see an intricately carved box, humming with its own sort of blue-green glow. It's mahogany, the buttons and knobs near the top standing proud and strong. It's near his height, mere inches shorter. He lets out a laugh, recognizing the radio--for that is what she's called--that first and only other being here. He moves to get a better look at her, the other storyteller here. He'd like to call her a peer.  MAIA.  Elation and fear runs through him, as he realises what's happening. "Oh." She does not often call. There's only one reason she's come to his side. "It's time, isn't it?" MAIA lets out a short buzz. An affirmation.  Samuel breathes in. Breathes out. He gets to his feet, feeling the grass shift around him. He rolls back his shoulders, steadying himself.

Once on his feet, he places a hand on MAIA's top.  "Take me there?"  

She lets out another buzz, and-- In a flash, Samuel's no longer in the grass. Instead, he stands in a small room. Marigold-yellow wallpaper covers every wall. A green, plush chair is in one side of the room, with MAIA now rests next to that chair. On her top, now, a vase of roses. Soft blue carpet covers the floor, as a small table holds issues of what he knows to be the Sun. He picks one up and idly flips through it, laughing at the words he wrote with Rose in what feels like so long ago. His journal, a recreation of it, sits besides one of those issues. Trinkets, some he thinks Rose would have loved, strewn across the room.

MAIA starts to hum, a signal. She's picking up on the next story to share.  He's almost nervous.

But why should he be?

They know where to find me. 

Samuel feels a swell of pride, of trust in his friends.  There's agony in no longer being there for them, of course. He thinks he will always feel that pain. There is a part of him that is terrified to listen, to hear exactly what his choice did to his family. That is terrified to hear Rose's grief, the final Stratford still on Earth. His sister, without him. 

But they will persevere.

They always have, and he knows they are strong enough to keep on moving. Margaret, with her quiet inner strength and belief. John with his understanding of the weight of a legacy. Rose, who has survived so much already, his sister who he knows better than anyone else. His harbour in a storm, who will now live on without him. She has people other than him to lean on now, and he prays that will be enough.  They will be enough for each other. They have each other, even without him. They've built their family - and Samuel knows that it will hold fast against the shadows ahead. 

He had always been the storyteller before. The one who wanted so badly to convert passion to action. But now? 

"Tell me how it ends?" 

MAIA buzzes, a unspoken of course. So, Samuel settles in, sitting in the comfortable chair beside her. He can feel warmth exuding from him, something ghostly and true. He leans in, placing his hand on his cheek.  "Rose, Margaret, John..." he muses, "l know you can do this. You're capable of everything. You were worth the world. Protect each other, for me?" He knows they cannot hear him. But he says it anyways, keeping them in his heart. Speaking out to the stars.

A voice starts to play through MAIA's speaker, the blue-golden glow shining across the room, a mixture of Samuel and MAIA's combined light. A sweet tune sounds off before it, a opening of a curtain. Their stories go on, even without him. Samuel smiles.  He's ready. "Somewhere between the comforts of the familiar and the precipice of the unknown, an orchestra performs a score written in stardust..."

[chilahh16]

"I've heard of a love that comes once in a lifetime."

What would you do when you lost the very person that stood beside you all throughout everything? When things became shitty and the world seems to grapple you into failure anytime it gets.

Charles Leclerc was lost. The world seems to spin in black and white - toying with him as it continue its motion. The he now found no real happiness in the times where a smile and laugh should be there. He's a way into the dark and cannot find a light to guide him back.

He was no fool to not know when it all started - when everything came crashing down; and when he felt drowned. Who was he to forget when almost everyone that witness their story has yet to let go, and when everything reminded him of her. That beyond the talks of Formula 1, people still whisper of her name, the kindness, the warmth, and being the iconic woman that she is.

Everything's still etched in his memories. 2019 was a year where his hard work has paid off - all the sweat and tears poured in order to win on that fateful day was worth it. But it was her who made it all complete. Y/n L/n did not only cry for him as his car blazed along the finish line, she cheered for him loudly, repeating his name again and again as she jump in exhilaration. She yelled the words " He did it", "He's a race winner", and " He won, my Charles won". She ran towards parc ferme alongside his team exuberating elation and pride as he triumph. And as he exit his car, he ran towards them, hugging his team with her in it as they bask in his glory. But it was not the highlight of his win, it was when she guide his face-covered helmet toward her and kissed the place where his lips would be. They stood there, envelop in a bubble, as the circuit cheered for him. All Charles felt at that time was the pure burst of love he has for Y/n. He relish in the feel of her touch as her hands found their place on either side of his neck. It was not visible to others but Y/n saw the tears that ran down his cheeks as he stood victorious on that day's race. His eyes spoke volumes of what his quivering lips cannot and she smiled for him, understanding what he would like to convey.

" You're a race winner, Char. I am so proud of you." she whispered amongst the loud cheers but Charles heard her, causing his smile to widen.

" Thanks to you. I am here because you're with me. So, thank you for sticking by my side." he uttered though muffled by his racing helmet but, Y/n did not mind. She'll hear every single words coming from him as she finds his voice a cacophony of melody that somehow lulls her soul to calm.

" Go up there, Champ. Claim that top step." she urged as someone called Charles to the cool down room.

The hesitation was evident on those forest green orbs of his as he cling on her - hands tightly holding her in place. Gripping her waist and settling his face in the crook of her neck like his life depended on it. Y/n chuckled before she kissed the forehead of his helmet.

" I'll stay here so you can see me. You'll hear my voice cheering for you from that top step. Now go. You still have a trophy to get."

Reluctantly Charles let go as the determination in her eyes says everything. He walked backwards toward the room, eyes staring deep into hers as their distance widen. Even when the congratulatory pats and cheers echoed around him, his eyes never stray as he mouthed his declaration of love which she smiled at - his antics never failing to amuse her, before a fond look settled in her feature, answering him with utmost honesty and love.

' And I love you.'

It was after the celebrations that he was made aware of how proud and happy Y/n is of him winning. His teammates had teased him all throughout the night of how lucky he was. That no other driver has their woman jumping and cheering so loud that it can be heard from the grandstand. Charles can only smile and laugh to their stories but it was when Arthur showed him a video of Y/n hyping up and jumping inside his garage as he neared the finish line that he placed credit to the truthfulness of his teams statement. He truly is lucky to have her. And seeing how she is with everyone, doubled the love he has for the woman. He believed in God but is not one to pray. However, in that moment as he watched her walk towards him, an endearing smile set on her lips, he prayed that she'll stay beside him, always.

As he raced in his home circuit for the 6th time, it was her face that he sees. The conversations that they had before echoed in his mind as he pushed the car to its limit. To every turn, memories of her came and when he speed past the finish line, he saw her jumping proudly for him as her hands waved in the air knowing that he triumph not only in any race but in his home race. He exit his car and a wild smile showed as he raised his arms, further solidifying that he indeed won. He ran to his team clad in red and that is when his smile fell.

No longer was there a woman waiting beyond the barrier shouting his name and yelling as she proudly relish in his victory. No longer was there a kiss on his helmet nor the familiar warmth that came only with her. His first win in his home country did not taste as sweet as he had imagined before. Try as it may, she no longer stand beside him. A new figure occupied her space and no matter what he reasoned himself, he envy her. It is Y/n's rightful place, always has, always will be. But what is he to do?

The kiss he earned that day felt bitter as much as he would like to love it.

Charles indeed was right when he said he was stupid. Because looking at the now, he wish more than anything to once again hear her proudly cheer his name, see her jumping and exude happiness upon seeing him. He would of given anything just to get her back and see her with him as he came as the victor but, it has already been lost. That even attempting to follow her and get her back would prolly incur her wrath. Was it selfish to want her to be angry just so he could see and feel her again? Because he does not know what to do anymore. He had lost the woman he vowed to spend the rest of his life with. He had lost her. Lost her to death.

And as he stands on the top step that day, he let himself cry and crumble. With the country's anthem on the background, he remember his days with her. And as he raised the winner's trophy, his eyes did not linger on the people below, he stared through the sky hoping, praying that she can see him that day. It was a first that people of the world saw the vulnerability in Charles. Everyone know even without uttering anything. The win was for Herve and Jules but, it was Y/n's as well. It was hers and so much more.

Everyone realized, it may be that their love was fleeting but, it was a love of a lifetime. Hence, Charles will love her even when death parted them in this life. He'll continue loving her until they are together again. Because no matter what, she is for him as he is for her. Always.

[theflyindutchwoman]

Nice try. That was clearly a test. And you should know better than to test the master.

| ANATOMY OF A SCENE - CHENFORD EDITION 5.10 - The List

The way this scene encapsulates the richness of Tim and Lucy's relationship is absolutely brilliant. The allusion to the Tim Tests from their early days… the showcase of the dynamic they've developed over time… the reminder of how well they know one another… the dresses that intimate the moments where their friendship was veering into something more… All of these little details are intricately retelling their journey, from colleagues to partners to friends… to this new chapter. And not only is this a really good way to introduce it, it also feels like a promise that their romance is simply one more facet to their bond… that they're still going to be them. At its core, this scene is a love letter to the characters and their story.

The montage of Tim and Lucy figuring out what to wear is perfect. Her adorable expressions and his grumpy ones contrast each other wonderfully… and depict their personality so well. But this goes beyond that. Lucy's dresses, the ones she wore on previous occasions, also tell a story. Of how they got here. The green dress symbolises the very beginning, when they started to recognise their attraction to each other. It was still in the early stages, still tentative. But it's truly where it started to blossom. And then bloomed with that double date, where they were in their own bubble, forgetting their respective dates, and with that dance where they were completely at home in other's arms. It recounts their journey in a very subtle and poetic way. It is also a glimpse into their state of mind, on how nervous they are, worrying about what to wear… On how important this is for them. This new step between them is so exciting… and scary. Neither of them want to ruin what they already have. It's not just a first date : this is supposed to be their last first date. And that's nerve-racking.

It's only natural then that Tim would resort to calling Lucy. Every time he has to step outside his comfort zone, she is the one he turns to. They can ground each other like no one else can. Their romance doesn't change that, as underlined by that phone call. Their classic banter takes over immediately… with Lucy who can't help but tease him. Right down to her fond eyeroll, the one she often has with Tim. A reminder of the dynamic they've nurtured since her rookie days. Just like the reference to the Tim Tests… There's even a hint of what the future holds for them, with this little preview of a Lucy Lesson.

Tim asking her what she is going to wear so he can match is so precious. He's never cared about any of that before. But he told her she was worth the effort and he meant it. But the best part of this scene (for me) has to be his reaction when Lucy mentions the green dress. The fact that he knows which dress she is talking about right away and lights up at the memory… You know a dress made an impression when a man can remember it and gets flustered about it. And in some way, it is a confirmation that Angela's wedding was when he started to realise that there might be something more to his relationship with Lucy. When he let his mind wander, if only for a few hours. Lucy changing her mind right after hanging up is so cute… and so her. And as much as I love her iconic green dress, I like that she didn't wear it for their very first date. If each dress tells a story, then this new chapter needed one we had never seen before. And somehow, I doubt that Tim had any complaints about this one either.

[brucebocchi]

Ranking every new anime I watched in 2023, Pt. 3: #10-6

hey, i just started a ko-fi for my writing and possible other creative outlets. this post will also be available there, so please check it out and consider tipping/donating as i'm currently between jobs. the tumblr version of part 1 can be found here and part 2 here.

I didn't mean to drag this out quite so much, but I ended up writing a TON for the top 10, so for the sake of everyone's attention spans (and so I can buy some time to finish my top two) I broke it up into two more posts.

​ALSO! I've embedded a link to each show's OP in the title of each entry. I wanted to give more of a visual element to each show outside of the header images, plus there have been some incredible OPs this year. I've gone back and edited them into the prior posts as well.

10. Trigun Stampede

It’s funny, I had fond memories of watching Trigun on Adult Swim in my adolescence, to the point where I used to count it among my all-time favorite anime for a while, but I didn't realize until this year that I hadn't actually sat down and watched it from beginning to end. It’s honestly a very uneven watch, and it’s clearly split into two parts: The first, a dieselpunk western revolving around a mysterious goofball with a big-ass gun and a bounty on his head, and the second a slightly more somber revenge quest as he is forced to survive his way past a rogues gallery while vowing not to take any lives. Still, it was a hit among western anime fans for a reason, and it was formative to me even back when I thought anime was kinda cringe.

Trigun Stampede is far from a faithful reinterpretation of Yasuhiro Nightow’s manga nor of the original Madhouse production. Meryl Stryfe is no longer a jaded veteran insurance adjuster but a much younger muckraking journalist. She’s no longer tailed by the gentle giantess Milly Thompson, but rather following her senpai, the gruff, bleary-eyed Roberto De Niro (the names in Trigun have always rocked). Nicholas D. Wolfwood isn’t an affable priest with a dark past; he’s all dark past now. And Vash the Stampede, now rocking a fuckboy undercut, is less of a mercurial wisecracker with a soft side and more of a reluctant gunman freaking it in a sensitive style. 

Stampede wastes no time differentiating itself from any previous version of Trigun. Vash’s history is no longer a mystery waiting to be uncovered; it’s a driving factor of the plot as his brother Knives seeks revenge on humankind for their use and exploitation of “plants,” an alien race to which the two seem to be connected, as an energy source. This was always an element of the original anime that I felt went unexplored, so it was fascinating to see Stampede dive right in. It’s a great introduction to the story for people who haven’t seen the original, and full of unexpected turns for existing fans. It’s still built on the bones of Trigun as we know it, but it is very much its own thing. 

People made a lot of hay about Vash’s new appearance, but I think it works. The huge pleather trench coat, spiky flat-top, and tiny glasses remain an iconic 90s design, but I believe the 90s is where it belongs. This take on Vash is just as capable but much more self-effacing, tortured, and averse to violence. This is a younger Vash, and it’s clear that his history with Knives is a much fresher wound, rather than the dull, nagging ache in the original. This is a gentler (but no less talented) Vash, so I think the softboy look suits him this time around.

I also spent most of the season quietly insisting to myself that the original version of Meryl is much better (and cuter) than the Stampede variant, and I still stand by that, but the updated version definitely grew on me. I mean, just look at that hat. But it’s clear from the jump that Stampede’s first season is very early in this version of the Trigun story (you may notice that the bounty on Vash’s head is much, much less than the famous 60 billion double-dollars), and Meryl has some growing to do (and presumably a whole lot of professional frustration) before she becomes something like the one we knew and loved around the turn of the 21st Century.

I’m still yet to watch Beastars, but it’s immediately apparent why Studio Orange was entrusted with the Trigun IP. This show looks incredible. This is some of the best CG animation I’ve ever seen outside of a Pixar or Spider-Verse movie. Characters are amazingly expressive and oscillate between naturalistic, weighty movement and cartoony flailing. Action scenes are inventive and dynamic and stand up to even the wildest sakuga. And yet, it still looks like an anime. It still retains the classic 24fps look and even occasionally trades in the CGI for hand-drawn animation for effect. We are long past the botched Berserk revival: This is what CGI anime should look like.

It’s plainly obvious that Trigun has always carried influences from landmark western media like Mad Max and Dune (not to mention Fist of the North Star, but that one always wore its Mad Max influence on its sleeve), so it’s been an unexpected delight to see those influences take a new shape now that both franchises have seen major updates since the last iteration of Trigun went off the air. For all of the alien technology and technicolor glowing lights, Trigun takes place entirely in a desert setting, and it’s impossible to see these chase scenes and not immediately think of Fury Road, or halfway expect to see Villanueve’s take on the Fremen popping out of the dust clouds. 

Stampede is a very welcome entry to a franchise long believed to be well and truly over, and the more eyeballs on Trigun, the better. It’s evident by the end of this season that this take on the story is only just beginning, and it has already taken unexpected departures from the story as we already knew it. I can’t wait to see where it goes from here, but that’s mostly because we have confirmation that Milly will be in the next season. It can’t get here quickly enough.

9. Insomniacs After School

I watched and read a frankly absurd amount of romance-centric anime and manga this year, especially of the slice-of-life variety, to the point where even by the early summer I thought I'd had my fill. I'm overjoyed to say that Insomniacs After School proved me dead wrong.

What a treat this was. It's a simple enough premise: A boy with insomnia is sent on an errand to his high school’s abandoned observatory, where he finds a classmate sleeping because she suffers from insomnia as well. They quickly find out that the observatory is a perfectly quiet environment for the both of them, and that they actually get restful sleep around one another. In order to get away with making use of the area, they resurrect the school’s astronomy club and find a genuine love for astrophotography and, you guessed it, one another.

You couldn’t have picked a more apt studio to adapt this work than Liden Films. Call of the Night made a splash last year for its saturated, vibey nightscapes, and Insomniacs’ gorgeous astral visuals carry that mantle. The nighttime backdrops of the quiet suburbs, wide-open beaches, and lush countryside are nothing short of stunning, and Isaki’s adolescent wonder at the world’s hidden beauties reminded me, and I do not say this lightly, of something Miyazaki would’ve animated.

On a couple of occasions this year, I’ve been able to step back from an anime, take a breath, and simply say “That was beautiful.” Insomniacs gave me one such occasion. Even putting the visuals aside, the story itself is lovely and would have made this the feel-good anime of the year, if not for the next entry on this ranking. I would have more to say, but Insomniacs After School speaks for itself. Give it a shot.

8. Skip and Loafer

There are so many standalone adjectives I could use to describe this one, and most of them are ones that would normally make me want to impulsively run the other way like “comfy,” “feel-good,” “wholesome,” what have you, but I think the most comprehensively I can boil it down to a single word is “lovely.” Everything about it just gives you the warm fuzzies, and almost makes me think that the “I want more stories with no conflict” dorks might actually be onto something.

It’s a simple one: Mitsumi, a dorky teenage go-getter with her entire life planned out, moves to Tokyo from her no-horse beach town to attend one of the country’s best prep schools, but much like everyone who played the first two hours of Persona 5, she quickly gets lost in Shibuya’s subway station on the first day of school. She runs into Sousuke Shima, a laid-back boy from the same school who’s also running late, because that’s, like, what he does, and manages to wrangle him into running to school with her.

Mitsumi quickly draws attention from her classmates, not only from delivering a speech as the incoming class representative (and subsequently barfing all over her teacher), but because she inadvertently made fast friends with the hottest, most popular first-year in the school. This attracts the attention of social climbers and jealous hangers-on, but Mitsumi hardly notices. She’s used to knowing everyone in her school back home, so she wastes no time reaching out and seeing what’s up with anyone who’ll give her the time of day.

A lot of Skip and Loafer revolves around the roles for which we think we’re destined in a controlled social environment like high school, and how easily the preconceptions you have of other people can be shattered if you just get to, like, talk to them for 20 seconds. Mitsumi’s friend group quickly fills itself out with people who wouldn’t give each other so much as a passing glance at first, but come together so naturally that you almost can’t believe they weren’t friends already.

Shima, for his part, also struggles with those preconceptions; for as laid-back as he seems on the surface, he’s a habitual people pleaser and is constantly playing a role. He’s so caught up in the performance that he doesn’t quite know what’s going on half the time or how he really feels about most things. Mitsumi is so naturally magnetic, though, that he does seem to genuinely enjoy his time with her, and vice versa. You can see where this is headed, if the gorgeously-animated dances they do together in the OP weren’t enough of a tell.

Everything about Skip and Loafer is just downright pleasant. Character models are simple and sketchy, the color palette is awash in pastels and neutral tones, and the soundtrack is peppy and whimsical. It’s a warm hug of a series, and at no point does it feel cloying or manipulative. High school slice-of-life is pretty bloated as a genre, and I watched a ton of those this year, but there’s just something so charming and magnetic about Skip and Loafer that instills in me a sort of false nostalgia for the ideal high school experience I never had.

Also: Nao-chan. Exceptional trans representation. We do not get enough of that in anime and she is a breath of fresh fucking air. I would die for her.

7. The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You

And now for something much less wholesome.

I really don’t seek out harem anime. Tenchi Muyo was formative to me as a tween, and a rewatch last year ended up being a major catalyst in getting me back into anime, but despite it being widely considered the second-ever harem anime, it hasn’t left much of a legacy in the ones that followed. Harem anime from the 00s onward has largely been formulaic wish-fulfillment slop that runs itself in circles as a perpetual money-making machine rather than developing any sort of plot (see: Hina, Love and Girlfriend, Rent-a-). I know I covered Girlfriend Girlfriend earlier, and while that’s nothing like Tenchi either, it does scratch an ever-present itch for stupid, madcap, relentless anime bullshit.

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, [...] Really Love You, meanwhile, sees that itch and takes a fucking chainsaw to it. To say everything about it is over-the-top would be an understatement: The top is Hyakkano’s floor. This show gives you everything you could ever want in a harem comedy, but to the extreme: It is your dad making you smoke the whole carton. It is Hell’s donut machine, and you are Homer Simpson. Satire is often at its best when it pushes the boundaries of absurdity, and 100 Girlfriends revels in that push like a horny bulldozer. This is not genre subversion, it’s genre explosion.

The headcount isn’t the only wildly outsized element of this series; every single member of the titular harem, each a tick on the checklist of every -dere archetype you can imagine, pushes the slider of each of their character tropes so far to the right it’s breaking the track. The deredere is a ball of deranged horniness, the tsundere betrays her intentions so compulsively that she’s functionally incapable of lying, and the kuudere is so robotically devoted to pure efficiency that it’s salient to mention that her name is literally pronounced “Nano A.I.” If you can think of an anime girl archetype, she is in this (or will be in future seasons), and she is the apotheosis.

And yet, this show still bothers to make each one of them an actual character. Harem anime has such a low bar to clear on that front, yet most entries in the genre still bang their dicks against it. Hyakkano's titular girlfriends, at least the ones introduced in the first season, are actual characters with actual backgrounds, actual motivations, actual growth, and actual reasons to like the protagonist beside the premise. They’re all founded on stock anime tropes, to be sure, but the original manga’s author actually put in the work to give them, you know, personalities. And above almost all else, they actually like each other too! This isn’t exactly a full-on polycule (though two of the girls are prone to making out with each other on occasion), but for as deeply weird as this family unit is on paper, they actually come across as a group of people who love and care for each other rather than everyone cattily jockeying for the same position. 

And not for nothing, but Rentaro is easily one of the best harem protagonists I’ve ever seen, and again, this is coming from a Tenchi Muyo fan. I do enjoy Naoya’s over-the-top earnestness in Girlfriend Girlfriend, but Rentaro is the gigachad version. He is exceedingly patient, kind, and understanding of each of these girls’ unique quirks and qualities and quickly grows to learn to manage them in conflict and help them work through their insecurities, and he loves them back in kind and puts in the work to make equal time for each of them. He doesn’t want to “fix” these girls; he sees them for who they are and proactively does everything in his power to accommodate them. He's like if Tadano from Komi Can’t Communicate actually got the harem he deserved. Putting aside the fact that he’s, y’know, 100-timing his girlfriends, he comes across as just a really good partner.

I also want to be clear: For its rampant, fanservice-laden anime bullshit, this show is genuinely hilarious. It’s not some kind of “how did this shit even get made” trainwreck; it is a comedy first and foremost, and the comedy hits exactly as intended. The comic pacing is buckwild, the visual gags are so rampant that they’re almost difficult to keep up with, and the translators, at least in the version I watched, did an outstanding job of localizing the constant wordplay. It’s also so unapologetic in its horniness that you can’t help but admire it a bit; 100 Girlfriends knows exactly what it’s about, and it dares you to say something.

There’s a very good chance this won’t be for you. 100 Girlfriends is constantly pushing the boundaries of good taste, but never in an offensive way and never truly at its characters’ expense. Geoff Thew calls it the “most 'harem' harem anime,” but I'd argue that it’s the most "anime" anime: It is every trope you’ve ever seen in romcom anime cranked up to a thousand and smushed up against your nose. This shit hits like Panera lemonade. It is peak trash. If you have a tolerance for anime bullshit, this show may very well test that, but I still cannot recommend it enough.

6. Heavenly Delusion

Didn’t think I’d be getting into more than one post-apocalyptic anime this year, but I’d seen this one recommended so many times that I felt this list would be incomplete if I didn’t watch it. Don’t ask me about Pluto.

Heavenly Delusion (Hulu lists it under its Japanese title, Tengoku Daimakyo, for some reason) splits its runtime between two different stories: The first, a pair of young travelers making their way across a ruined Japan in search of nebulous goals neither is sure even exist; the second surrounding a group of adolescents in an unnervingly idyllic walled garden in some sort of school setting. The narrative flips between these two sporadically, rarely ever showing its hand in how they are even remotely connected.

On the post-apocalypse side, we follow Maru and his bodyguard-for-hire, Kiruko, as they trek across the country to deliver Maru to someplace called “Heaven,” while at the same time, Kiruko is in search of a pair of men from their youth. They are often beset by bandits, cults, and most crucially, horrifying monsters called “Man-Eaters,” which Maru has the unique ability to kill. On the school side, we see a group of gender-ambiguous kids in an enclosed space, constantly monitored and kept in a very controlled environment. Everything feels… wrong. Nobody seems entirely human. There is a lingering and seemingly taboo curiosity about what lies outside the walls. I hesitate to say any more.

There is phenomenal human drama in here, and sparks so many conversations about transhumanism and human nature, gender, trauma, community, all things I’m not smart enough to really dive into. But to even address these topics here is to give the game away, and Heavenly Delusion is a story better left unspoiled, even if, a full season in, I’m still not 100% sure what’s going on.

This show is gorgeous in ways I’m still struggling to articulate. The character designs, animation, lighting, and cinematography are so immaculate that I repeatedly had to remind myself that I wasn't watching a movie. Heavenly Delusion looks like a grungy Shinkai film: Character models are immaculately realized and fluidly animated, the light and shadow effects are some of the best I’ve ever seen in TV animation, and action sequences are visceral and unpredictable. Maybe all I needed to say is that it was made by much of the same Production IG staff in charge of Psycho-Pass.

I want to say as little about what happens as possible, because the mystery is the main draw of Heavenly Delusion, but I feel the need to warn that there is a very dark and sour turn near the end of the season in the form of some strongly implied sexual violence. It was thematically unnecessary, and once that side of things is resolved, everyone just kinda… moves past it. It doesn’t ruin the show, I still recommend it heartily, but be forewarned. I found it upsetting, but more in the “did this REALLY need to be in there?” sense. The mounting tension and slowly-unfolding existential horror in this series are otherwise expertly woven into the narrative, and this part landed with a wet thud.

This is a much longer story than most of the season would have you believe, and it ends with far more questions than answers. One side of the story leaves off with an open end, and the other with a massive cliffhanger, which left me a little cold but with interest piqued for the next season. For what it is right now, though, Heavenly Delusion is a nearly perfect, endlessly thought-provoking mystery and one of the most gorgeously ugly things I’ve seen this year.

[distort-opia]

are there any examples of batjokes being gentle? i guess? with each other? other than bruce carrying joker bridal style or in TBWL when he held joker after he shot himself

Depends on your definition of "gentle", I suppose. If that includes Bruce saving Joker's life, often in dramatic ways and holding/carrying Joker bridal-style, he's done that a lot-- not just in Batman Who Laughs. But besides that... they do have quieter moments. They're rarer and not necessarily divorced from violence, because (to quote a line from Hannibal), violence is the language they best understand. But they're there.

The most obvious one is the ending of The Killing Joke, Bruce offering Joker his help and telling him he isn't alone, and then them laughing together while clinging to each other:

-- Batman: The Killing Joke

Another underrated moment that I'm personally very fond of comes from Legends of the Dark Knight (2012), and an arc called "Haunted Arkham". In it, the ghost of a little girl who was killed by the current head psychiatrist at Arkham begins to take over the residents, invoked by the head psychiatrist himself. Bruce realizes what must've happened to the little girl, who (of course) possesses Joker as her main avatar of revenge. She uses Joker to kill her tormentor, and after it happens, Bruce and Joker have this poignant scene:

-- Legends of the Dark Knight (2012) #21

That sock puppet Joker gives Bruce is the shape the little girl had taken to talk to Joker in previous issues, and he just accepts it. Bruce doesn't attack Joker either for killing the guy. They both clearly... felt for the child. (And don't even get me started on the meta aspect of it all, because what Joker's describing here is in many ways his own approach to loving Batman, hurting him so that he'd always pay attention to him and never forget him; which is why the little girl latches onto Batman too, and waits for him through Joker after the murder, because of the implied understanding.)

I'd also count Fool's Errand as a gentler moment. It's the anniversary of Jason Todd's death, and a child is missing (with only Joker having the information needed to save her, because he caused her kidnapping to happen), so you can imagine the kind of projection and grief that Bruce has got going on.

Joker covers it up as another ploy to get under Bruce's skin, but it doesn't entirely read like that. It reads like part of Joker compensates for Jason's death and lets Bruce have this win, this moment where he does manage to get there in time and save the child. ("Why? Just... because." And then he comes up with a reason Bruce would believe.)

-- Detective Comics (1937) #726

Though, maybe one of their most gentle moments is during their amnesiac time. After Batman: Endgame... and does dying together the way they did count as gentle? Either way, the implication of Capullo's unused cover for that last issue is striking:

-- Batman: Endgame

So they die, likely in each other's arms, but are brought back to life without their memories by the dionesium. And then (because the Universe apparently always brings these two together) amnesiac Bruce and Joker meet on a bench and have this iconic moment, in which Joker pretty much asks Bruce not to become Batman again and let them both rest:

-- Batman (2011) #48

The whole issue is beautiful, but my favorite is Joker (the champion of "nothing matters") telling Bruce (the champion of "everything matters") that it's okay for things to not have a point, that being alive and present is enough. Truly tragic that Bruce doesn't remember this.

Then there's a moment during the Rebirth Wedding arc, when Joker finds out about Bruce and Selina being engaged, and goes after them:

-- Batman (2016) #48

It's another instance of a deep understanding between them, an island of quiet within a river of violence.

Man, this got way longer than I thought! I'm sure there's other examples that might qualify, but I'll leave it as it is. Hope this scratched the itch, Anon.

[lilac-hecox]

For Anthony's Day! Ian and Anthony celebrating his birthday together for the first time in forever. It's an intimate thing nothing too extravagant but good food and company and maybe a final confession as a birthday gift? Idk just ianthony cuteness

Ian/Anthony (Ianthony) - Sixteen Candles

--

“Have you ever seen the movie Sixteen Candles?” Ian asks. He adjusts his glasses, something he does when he’s a little nervous, that’s something new about him that Anthony has learned. Though, why Ian is nervous, Anthony doesn’t know. It’s just the two of them at Anthony’s place. It’s Anthony’s birthday, but the last thing he wanted was a big party or a lot of attention. Work has been intense lately, both Smosh and his solo channel. Anthony’s been tired, and he can’t say he is exactly thrilled at turning thirty-six years old.

So, when Ian suggested that he and Anthony go and grab dinner at Anthony’s favorite vegan restaurant, Anthony was quick to agree, happy to have a quiet evening with his best friend than a huge party with a lot of people. Most of the time, Ian was who he wanted to spend all his time with anyway. As they had eaten Anthony thought about New York, about missing Ian’s birthday, about calling the waiters over to bring a dessert to Ian and sing to him. Anthony had half-heartedly worried that this was going to be his payback, seven years later, but Ian granted him mercy and didn’t have anyone sing to him. Instead, they laughed together, shared stories, memories, nostalgia for birthdays past.

After the restaurant they ended up at Anthony’s place, intent on watching a movie that Ian had been begging him to watch. Drinking glasses of whiskey, sitting side by side on Anthony’s couch.

“No, is that what you wanted to watch?” Anthony asks, using the remote to begin searching for the title of the movie on the streaming service.

Ian smiles, a soft tilt of his mouth. “Not really, you probably wouldn’t like it. I barely like it.”

“Okay,” Anthony says. Ian’s caught his interest. He never really knows where Ian is going with something, but he’s always eager to follow, to find where his train of thought will lead them, “so, why bring it up?”

Ian leans forward and picks up his glass of alcohol, taking a sip before setting it back down on the coffee table in front of them. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and then stands up, from the couch, tilting his head towards the direction of the dining room.

“Follow me,” Ian says, instead of explaining shit.

Anthony stands, following Ian to the dining room of Anthony’s house.

“In the movie,” Ian says, as they walk, “all you really need to know is that there’s a girl and a boy, girl likes boy, boy doesn’t know she exists, then at the very end they find their way to each other.”

“Sounds like most rom coms,” Anthony says.

“Right,” Ian says. Then, they are in the kitchen and Ian stops the two of them in the darkened space, “There’s kind of an iconic scene in the movie. It’s been parodied a lot. All you really need to know is that the girl, it’s her birthday, and the guy surprises her.”

Anthony’s brow furrows. Ian is smiling like an idiot and it makes Anthony smile despite the feeling of nerves rising up inside of him. Ian keeps walking and he leads Anthony into the dining room. The lights are off, but in the center of the long table is a cake, small, professionally decorated.

“How the hell did you manage to set up a cake in here without me knowing?” Anthony asks, turning to look at Ian.

Ian shrugs, “You were in the bathroom, and I made sure to hurry.”

“So,” Anthony says with a laugh, though his heart fills with fondness for his best friend, for what he did. Ian has always been more of a show and less of a tell kind of person. It was like that with the get-well card back in the day, with this cake now, he is less likely to tell Anthony that he cares about him but more likely to show it in small gestures like this, in surprising him with a birthday cake, “you’re saying you set me up my own Sixteen Candles iconic scene?”

Ian nods, his eyes bright, and he fidgets again, nerves peeking through his actions.  

“Except it isn’t the full scene yet. Our actors need to be in place.”

Anthony smiles, glancing at the set-up before he looks back at Ian.

“Alright, direct me.”

Anthony swears he sees the lightest flush of pink color Ian’s cheeks, but it’s hard to tell in the dimness of the room.

“You and I sit on top of the table, legs crossed, across from each other on opposite sides of the cake,” Ian explains, his voice smaller, Anthony knows it from when he is doubting himself and his ideas, when he acts like he isn’t thinking of pure genius.

Anthony nods and tugs at the sleeve of Ian’s jacket, “C’mon then.”

They recreate the scene easily. Anthony on the right side of the cake, Ian on the left, their legs folded so they both fit on top of the long dining room table.

“It is vegan,” Ian says after a moment of silence. Maybe he sees the hint of confusion on Anthony’s face because he waves a hand at the dessert between them, “the cake, I mean.”

“I never had any doubts,” Anthony says. He feels that soft squeeze in his heart. Ian did this for him, put this together for no reason besides that he wanted to, that he wanted to do this for Anthony.

“Finishing touches,” Ian says, fishing into the pocket of his jacket before he pulls out a lighter. It’s then that Anthony notices the long thin candles stuck into the surface of the cake. Not sixteen, not thirty-six either. It’s a strategic smattering of candles, Ian using that filmmaker’s eye to predict the perfect amount.

Ian flicks the lighter to life and lights the candles and then the room glows around them in a hazy orange, light and shadow dancing across Ian’s face as he leans back and settles into his spot, tucking his lighter back into his pocket.

“So, how does the movie end?” Anthony finds himself asking, his voice quieter than it should be, but he can feel an undercurrent of magic in this moment, and he doesn’t want to disrupt it, he wants to live alongside of it, exist in this moment with Ian, no matter where it leads.

Ian glances at him, candlelight caught in his glasses and Anthony can barely see the blue of his eyes, but he knows it’s there.

“I’m going to, um, go a little off script here,” Ian says, and he sounds nervous now.

“I trust you,” Anthony says with a smile, because he does, he always will.

“I’m glad to spend your birthday with you,” Ian says, “just the two of us. It makes me feel like a kid again in some ways, where we’d spend the night with each other on our birthdays, eat cake ‘till we felt sick, and laugh all night.”

Anthony grins at the memory, frosting and Ian’s laugh, and the warmth of knowing you had a constant companion always at your side. He’s missed that feeling these last few birthdays. There were always people, always well-wishes, but never Ian. Never who Anthony wanted to see the most.

“I’m glad you’re here with me,” Anthony says, his own face feeling warm and his heart feeling full. He feels the damn pinpricks of affection poking at him, threatening to make him tear up and really it is only Ian and their shared memories and history that has this effect on him. “Thank you for this. You’re my best friend.”

Ian nods, “What if…what if I wanted to be more than that now?”

Anthony blinks, feels like he’s been punched, but in a good way. All the air knocked out of his lungs, but something new filling him, like he’s evolved past the need for oxygen.

“What?”

Ian straightens his jacket, “Since we reconnected I…God, man, you know I’m shitty at this right?” Ian laughs and Anthony feels a smile crack across his face even though he can barely breathe in this moment, “I can feel myself falling in love with you.” “Ian,” Anthony says, breathless, surprised. This was the last thing he expected, but it felt like everything he’s ever wanted, but been too afraid to ask for, a wish he’s convinced himself he’ll never get to have. Deep down, he knows it’s true for Ian, for himself too.

“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way!” Ian says quickly, “I understand it’s-“

“Stop,” Anthony says, and he reaches around the cake, safely avoiding the fire as he takes Ian’s hand in his own, rubbing his thumb across the back of Ian’s hand. “I feel it too.”

Ian smiles, shaky, a little breathless of his own.

Anthony keeps rubbing his thumb across the smooth skin of Ian’s hand.

“Will you tell me how the movie ends?” Anthony asks, feeling he already has an idea.

“It ends like any good teenaged romance. The girl gets her movie perfect kiss.”

Anthony smiles, leans in, careful of the candles he can feel the warmth from. Ian mimics the motion, copying him, their faces close together.

“Happy birthday, Anthony,” Ian whispers, Anthony can feel the heat from the words on his face.

“Thank you, Ian.”

Then, they meet in the middle, their lips touching in a movie perfect kiss.

[thatanimewriter]

DEATH’S DOORSTEP.

➳ request: Hello hello, I hope requests are open, if not, just ignore this request.  I can ask for a headcanon, with Death Parade gang or just Decim, where the reader who is Death itself, they are kind, sweet and soft-spoken, they are participating in a game against the one who killed them, imagine death needs to participate in the games of life at least once to feel what it's like when it arrives for humans!  and they only find out when Death wins the game, and reveals that every century Death needs to know what it's like to be human, they never lose the games.  OP Reader Supremacy! Thanks for your attention. (Inspiration taken from Nail Gaiman's Sandman Comics.)

➳ character/s: decim, nona, ginti

➳ warnings: swearing, mentions of death, actual death??, mentions of murder, can be interpreted as romantic or platonic, it’s not really referring to either of them explicitly

➳ notes: DEATH PARADEEEEE! i took chiyuki outta this one just cause it didn’t really make as much sense in this scenario, but our icons are here :))

𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 / 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭  / 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 / 𝐰𝐢𝐩 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

──  𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐌.

nothing out of the ordinary here

just another set of clients

where one of them killed the other-

he’s quite surprised how sweet and kind you are

always thanking him for the drink

in return you get a ._. from decim

during the game, you end up playing poker and decim is a lil bit impressed with how smart you are

he finds that even when facing your murderer, you’re still nice???

what the hell is up with that?

he knows your memories because he kinda has to have them

but he’s a lil taken aback at how fast yours came back

more so how graciously you took the win

since figuring out you’re death, he now wants you around way more

he wants to know what you think of different guests and possibly have you help with his judgement

eventually he just grew fond of you anyway, cause you’re so SWEET what is it about you that makes him want to hug you-

he hadn’t seen you before, he’d been working for less than 20 years

so the earlier he got to know you and your beliefs on life, the better

not for any self-serving purposes like being the object of your kindness

not at all...

──  𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐀.

i feel like nona would be the first to catch on before the end of the game

she’s been doin this for a whileee

she’d pick up on anomalies quite fast

not many people enjoy the presence of a killer

but nona found herself enjoying your company a lot more

you were so nice and polite

even to the other competitor for some reason

which she saw no point in

but she did give you the benefit of the doubt considering your memories are erased

and she was right to, because even though you took a while to gain any significant memories back

you DESTROYED the other person, it wasn’t even close

and only until the very end did she realise you knew you were death itself once you came to the elevators to leave

in which you just smiled at her and asked if you could have another drink

she said yes cause honestly, you deserved it after that shit show and winning by a landslide

and that was when she decided to make you a a clavis 2.0

she had yet to meet you, since this only happens every century and she hadn’t been in management the last time you came

so she took the time to get to know you and BASK IN THE TOOTH-ROTTING SWEETNESS

that is you :))

you’re now her new pool buddy in her spare time even if you always win

──  𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐈.

“huh?”

head empty, no thoughts

he doesn’t usually get customer dynamics like murderer vs victim

but he did find himself getting a bit angry

because who is this bitch to kill someone so nice as you??

it took a lot not to punch the guy across the bar as they entered

there’s a clear bias here, but he doesn’t let it impact his judgement

is what he thinks

but while watching you guys compete, he’s already vouching for you

secretly screaming in his head when he sees you continue to get ahead of the opponent

just a casual internal dialogue of

“FUCK HIM UPPPPP-”

he gave you a nice NOOGIE for winning and then had you sit with him after the game to have a nice chat

nona did join you guys to discuss business with you and what you’re job would be

which is a massive bonus for ginti, cause he gets to see you a ton >:)))

lots of playing with the cat

and a lot more noogies

also a lot of ginti asking you about how the other games went from previous centuries

and pisses off nona because he always gets you to stay during his appointments-

[clonerightsagenda]

Pick a favorite character for the ask thing

(Ask meme here)

Did you know in my years of doing this ask meme, no one has asked about my beloved Hera? Possibly bc I talk about her so much already. Jokes on everyone, we are doing it again

First impression

I have told this story many times, but I was white knuckling it through the whole podcast terrified that she would get her memories deleted. To be entirely fair that was a rejected season 3 concept.

Impression now

I love her! Favorite AI character of all time. Chronic pain solidarity.

Favorite moment

I have many favorite moments, but what's coming to mind now based on some of my other responses to this prompt is that Hera delivers the only "I love you" aimed at people who are physically present. Minkowski says it in a message to her husband, Eiffel says it in a recording to his daughter, but iirc Hera is the only one to say it live, and it's platonic and to the group, which I Just Think Is Neat. (Iconically aro podcast w359 strikes again.) Also the whole quote is "I love you guys, but you need to get it through your heads that what goes for you doesn't go for me" which really gets back to one of the show's points that love isn't enough. You can genuinely care for someone and want the best for them and still fuck up, still hurt them, still not fully understand what they're going through. But you still have to communicate and you still have to try.

Idea for a story

Currently working on a PGW fic where the crew swings by the Hermes on their way back to Earth to rescue that station's AI and Hera has to work through her feelings about facing someone who was in the same situation as she was but did not come out on top. Rn she is being unfair about it.

Hera’s equally on edge. “The collar program is still running, she might not have that much processing power. But be ready in case she tries something. She’d better not try anything.” “It’s not her fault, is it?” he asks, surprised by the viciousness in her tone. “I beat a collar program.” “Didn’t Dr. Maxwell help you a lot, though?” Hera doesn’t like talking about Dr. Maxwell. “I don’t care,” she says instead. “She shouldn’t have let Dr. Pryce make her hurt them. Just because she couldn’t stop Dr. Pryce from taking her crew away from her doesn’t mean she gets to take mine away from me.”

Unpopular opinion

You mean besides my post that got me vagueblogged about? Here's another one: I don't think Hera would want or enjoy a human/humanoid body. The one time she's limited to a single source of visual input, her response is "it's weird; I don't like it". She's proud of being able to see colors our skull-gelatin can't comprehend, even if she's sorry she can't share them with anyone. She enjoys being a AI mother program when she's on a functioning system like the Sol. Yes she envisions herself as present with the crew in parts of Memoria, and there's an implication she's given herself a humansona, but my interpretation of that was that she wants to be treated as one of them, and unfortunately most of the crew's approach to treating her as a person is trying to treat her like a human. She's not wrong to think they'd relate to her better if she looked like them. (Is that not the same principle the Listeners used?) Maxwell was able to meet with her on her level, but as much as the other crewmembers care about her, they don't understand Hera in the same way. Downloading her into an android body feels like an accommodation for their benefit rather than trying to find a way for her to thrive on her own terms. Smarthouse Hera forever.

(For the record when her VA was asked if Hera would like being human her response was 'she'd try it for a day to see what it's like but she wouldn't want to stay that way'. Seems reasonable to me.)

Favorite relationship

As most followers know I am very fond of her (non-romantic!!) friendship with Eiffel. They've got a lot in common! They fuck up with each other but then do better! They were both sent up there knowing they were disposable and then decide to care about each other on purpose. However most followers also know that in my last few relistens I've been thinking a lot about her overlaps with Lovelace - how they are both surveillance tools that entities use to try to hurt other people, and they both overcome that. Hera is extending non-human solidarity but she wants to be recognized as a non-human person and Lovelace would really prefer to be viewed as human, thanks. There's tension there.

Favorite headcanon

I've posted before that I think she retains some of Pryce and Eiffel's memories which has funny, sad, and interesting implications. Among these I think she kept override codes Pryce can use on AIs so she can fight that kind of thing off in the future, and something that will come up in that Hermes fic is her deciding whether she's willing to use those on someone else. Stay tuned.

[lokisgoodgirl]

Here's a love note for @lokisprettygirl ❤️

The consistency of her uploads, the number of fics, and the sheer amount she manages to write and post just 🤯🤯🤯 I don't know how she does it, but I love her for it ❤️ and I'll always have the biggest soft spot in my heart for bluey 💙🩵💙

YESSSS! Oh my gosh - YES I am SO happy to see this Love Note for the fabulous @lokisprettygirl ✨💕✨ Her creativity is boundless, iconic, legendary... and I love that she's made her own worlds in her fics that so many people love and treasure. For one person to have so many intricate and thoughtful headcanons is just...awe-inspiring. @lokischambermaid has told me about the fond memories she has of some of those series by LPG and I think sometimes writers can underestimate just how much their creativity can soothe and give an escape to those who read it. You're amazing @lokisprettygirl 👑💕

Thanks so much for sending this wonderful note @sinsandguilt💕

[polaroidcats]

I assume that you have emotional attachments to objects (because of the print you love) and so have a favourite book which you know you will never read again but can’t throw out (and what is it if I’m right?) ❤️❤️

Hi Rory!!! 💖

oh wow everyone is nailing it with these, you are so, so correct!!!!

My inability to get rid of things I have emotional attachments to definitely applies to books, here is an incomplete list of books I will likely never even read or reread but also will never be able to give away:

My Gregor the Overlander books!! I knew Suzanne Collins mostly from these books and when Hunger Games came out/became popular I tried to tell all my friends about this series because I loved it so much when I was 10-12 years old!! And my first internet name was "Boots" because of the younger sister in that book, I loved her so much. And I don't see myself rereading them anytime soon but I have so many fond memories of absolutely devouring and rererererereading them as a preteen so they will stay forever!

"Die Geschwister Apraksin" by Karla Schneider, this was also one of my fave books when I was around 12-13, I don't remember much, except that it was about 5 orphaned siblings during or after the Russian revolution, and it absolutely broke my heart and I cried more than I had ever cried before when reading a book. I don't even think it was a particularly sad book, I think it just made me very emotional for some reason, to imagine these kids' lives and their struggles. And I read it as part of my local bookstore's initiative where they let kids borrow and read the advanced reader copies of books, and then we wrote little reviews that would get posted on a pinboard at the store. So when I had to give the book back (in order to borrow a new book, it was like a little library system within the bookstore), I immediately asked the bookseller if they had the book in stock because I wanted to buy it with my pocket money, but they only had the paperback and (again) I had gotten so attached to the hardback one and the bookseller could tell how much the book meant to me so she just gifted me the copy I had just returned, the one I read, and that meant so much to me, to get to keep the physical copy that I actually read and not have to buy a new version.

Herzen, Hände und Stimmen by Ian McDonald - I have never read this book, idek what it's about but from the book cover I assume it's scifi. I did an exchange semester in France as a teenager, and my host family didn't speak any german but somehow they got this random (thrifted) german book and they gave it to me bc I speak german. And I've never been that much into scifi but the gesture was so sweet and I have so many nice memories of my time with them, so even though I will probably never read that book I will also never give it away.

A complete translation from Vergils Aeneid with the latin and german text side by side. I did Latin in school, and for our final exams we all had to pick one specialized subject we would have an oral exam on, and my specialized subject in Latin class was the 6th book of the Aeneid, so even though I barely remember any Latin and will definitely not reread that for fun, I enjoyed it back in the day and will never get rid of that book.

I have a book on erotic dream interpretation, idk if that fully counts into this category, but my friend and I saw it when my uni library (!!) had a thrift sale of their old books, and that book was so hilarious, I had to get it and then for a while whenever I had people come over to my flat to pregame I would ask them about their dreams and would then very professionally interpret them with my book. This one might not fully count bc I'm not ruling out that I will never do that again but I haven't looked at it in a long time but would never get rid of it because it's too iconic haha

Okay this got way too long so I'm stopping now, but yeah hahaha you were so correct with this one 😂

make an assumption about me!

[softguarnere]

Like A Girl (Like A Man)

Shifty Powers x OFC

Chapter Seven: Nvwatohiyadv & Saoirse

Summary: If this is what Hell feels like, at least it’s not as lonely as all those days back home in her room.

A/N: An update? After all this time? I'm just as shocked. I'm trying my hardest to keep up, but I have so many papers and projects due this semester that updates may be a little infrequent for the next few weeks.

Also a massive thank you to the wonderful @latibvles for supplying the name of Zenie's first kiss 🫶🏼You are so beloved And for those of you who like chapter titles, nvwatohiyadv is the Cherokee word for liberty, while saoirse is Irish for freedom - just trying to combine both parts of Zenie's heritage

Warnings: alcohol, smoking, religious trauma, period typical attitudes and terms in regards to race, homophobia, improper binding techniques, language, brief mention of vomit

Taglist: @liebgotts-lovergirl @latibvles @mrs-murder-daddy @lieutenant-speirs

August 1943, New York

Most of them are spilling their alcohol soaked guts onto the docks with retches that hurt to listen to. The few of them that didn’t partake in the guzzling of whiskey the night before are strong stomached until they step onto the SS Samaria, and then they too are sick to their stomachs.

Hardly any of them have ever been on a ship before, and it’s taking them a while to get their sea legs. Funny, how they can fling themselves out of perfectly good airplanes, hurling themselves toward a cold and unforgiving ground, but a ship against the rocking of the waves is what makes most of them feel ill.

But something else is getting to Zenie. Not the usual nerves that send a chill down her spine whenever she spares the occasional moment to be anxious about the possibility of being found out. This is something else. It’s almost like homesickness, or tender feelings for the place she’s about to leave behind.

Life jackets on, they all pack together on the deck as the Samaria leaves New York. She’s short enough that she manages to claim a place by the rail without anyone complaining that they can’t see. After all, just like her, everyone is vying for a peek of Lady Liberty herself.

She’s beautiful. Tall. Elegant. Set against the hazy backdrop of orange sky and mist rising from the waters around her, she’s more of a figure, looming larger than life as they sail by.

Zenie has only met her paternal grandparents a handful of times, but now a memory of her grandfather’s voice whispers to her in his thick accent. “. . . I looked out across the water, and there she was. Her torch guided the ship like a lighthouse, pullin’ us in. All my doubts about leavin’ Ireland left me then. How could I be nervous, with such a lass watchin’ over me?”

Guilt turns into a rock in her stomach. Her father’s parents worked hard to get out of Ireland, to get themselves and their descendants to America. And here she is, willingly going back to the place that they fled.

And now the fine lady watches Zenie as she goes in the opposite direction – leaving America for Europe. If the statue were real, she might recognize something of her Irish grandparents in Zenie and offer her the same strength that she did them so long ago.

What about her other grandparents? The ones who are one hundred percent all-American, whose parents and their parents and the ones before them had been in America since time immemorial. Lady Liberty never welcomed them – they were already here.

It’s silly, really, to wonder whether or not a statue could afford some fondness or sense of protection on a person, but Zenie can’t help but wonder if the figure protects her and her liberties, too, when the world seems so keen on keeping those rights away from her and other Indians.

No. A statue can’t protect anyone, or their liberties. Not really. It’s Zenie and these men and all the other people fighting this war that are protecting those freedoms. The statue is just a reminder of what is often overlooked; it gives an icon to an ideal. If anything, the statue doesn’t represent some omnipresent force that welcomed her grandparents when they immigrated, but rather regular people and their beliefs. The statue only exists because someone believed in something enough to give the world a giant reminder of it.

Well then, what does Zenie believe in?

The lady looming over the water must have some sort of answer. Just as she welcomed Granda into America so long ago, she now watches Zenie leave it – both McGlamery’s traveling towards something that they believe in, though their journeys go in opposite directions.

Go, the godlike figure on the island seems to tell her. Go forth and protect and defend what I represent. For people like your Irish grandfather, who believed in liberty. And people like your Cherokee Granny, who hardly got to see it.

Lady Liberty is stuck in place. Zenie knows what that feels like. But she’s not immobile now. She unstuck herself because of feelings of suffocating in one place. Now she keeps going because she believes in what she’s doing. She believes that she’s a part of something that’s good.

How could she feel guilty with such a lass watching over her?

The longer that they’re on the ship, the more grateful Zenie becomes that she’s not in the Navy, or the Marines, or the Coast Guard. Or any sort of sailor, actually, carrying her secret or not. It’s hot and crowded and miserable. The men stink and personal space is quickly becoming a foreign concept. Her large feet trip her up on the ladders several times, and the only thing that keeps her from tumbling down and crashing onto the decks are the quick hands of her friends that fly out to catch her by the arm.

Toye claps her on the back once after helping her stay upright. She hopes that he mistakes her wince as one of relief and not her dread that he might feel her bandages.

If anything, her secret is only making her experience aboard the Samaria more miserable than everyone else’s. The farther down into the ship they go, the hotter and more crowded it becomes. The binding around her chest makes it harder to breathe, and even though the men all have a few beads of sweat along their hairlines, she feels like she’s glistening with it. All she can do is hope that by some miracle, the ship will reach her destination faster than anticipated, because the second that Zenie sees the hammocks packed together to provide them with a place to sleep, she has a feeling that she won’t be doing much of that – not when the mercury is so high and the oxygen so scarce.

If her feet don’t floor her in this crowded place, the realization that hits her does: where will she change? Clean up? Relieve herself? They’ll toss her out to sea before the ship even sets sail.

“You look like shit, Tommy Boy,” Bill deadpans.

“Gee, thanks.”

“No, I’m bein’ serious. Have a cigarette or somethin’.”

“Maybe you should find Doc Roe,” Luz suggests. He slings his pack over his shoulder and sighs up at the racks above them, resolving himself to climb up to the top where there are still a few that are unoccupied. “If anyone wants to offer a trade, now’s your last chance.”

Toye makes a show of stretching out on his rack, which is close to the ground. “I’m good.”

Bill flips open his lighter and holds it to the end of his cigarette. “Same here.”

Finding Gene is probably her best option. He’ll have some sort of suggestion; he always knows what to do. But right now the boat is hot and she’s exhausted.

A vague memory of a church sermon from her childhood flashes through her mind. The pastor, his booming voice like a canon as it echoed off the walls of the church, lecturing the congregation about the fires of Hell that awaited them if they strayed from the flock. He gave the lecture so many times that she could be remembering any given Sunday of her childhood. As a young girl, the danger of the Underworld seemed to lurk right beneath her feet, the ground threatening to split open and reveal lapping flames that would swallow her up if she so much as fidgeted during the service. The Sunday after she had her first kiss – with that pretty Lucy Jordan from out of town, with the pretty hair and the soft lips – she sweated in her family’s pew as she awaited the inferno to take her. When nothing happened, the fire and brimstone didn’t seem quite so threatening, or even all that real.

The heat generated from the bodies all tightly packed around her does make her wonder, though, if this is what the nether regions of the afterlife feel like. At least she’s surrounded by friends. The thought makes her chuckle to herself as she plops down on a rack. She removes a cigarette from the mostly untouched pack in her pocket, nicks Bill’s lighter, and fills her lungs with the smoke, hoping it will help her nerves.

She glances around, chuckling again as she picks up pieces of scattered conversations from the men. If this is what Hell feels like, at least it’s not as lonely as all those days back home in her room.

Yeah, she thinks. Not too bad. 

“My brother’s in North Africa,” Bill’s voice draws her out of her thoughts. “He says it’s hot.”

“Really?” Malarkey snarks from behind him. “It’s hot in Africa?”

“Shuddup.” Malarkey’s hard expression melts as he laughs. Bill rolls his eyes. “Point is, it don’t matter where we go. Once we get into combat, the only person you can trust is yourself, and the fella next to ya.”

Or woman. Lady. Lass. Dame. Whatever slang term Philadelphians use for girls.

Would they trust her, if they knew her secret and then found themselves next to her on a battlefield? Eugene would; he had said she was brave. If there’s anyone I would trust in combat, it’s someone as fearless as you.

Maybe someone else on the ship is fearless in the same way that she allegedly is. Maybe they share the same secret. That’s a nice thought. She would trust these men – these fellas – if the bullets were flying, but if they knew the truth, they would probably never trust her again.

“Long as he’s a paratrooper,” Toye says.

Zenie might not be a man, but she is a paratrooper. She went through the same training as everyone else here.

“Oh yeah? And what if that paratrooper turns out to be Sobel?” Luz asks as he hauls himself up the racks. Looks like he couldn’t convince anyone to trade spots with him.

Above them, someone else’s voice sounds off with a response that she misses over the din of whoever is above her shifting his weight, making the rack squeak. Another thing that reminds her of Sundays in church: learning to tune things out. She doesn’t need to get her feelings hurt by listening to them talk about who they do or do not trust – because while Tommy falls into one category, Zenie most likely falls pretty firmly into the other.

The next thing that she knows, the rack beside her is shifting as Bill stands, and then the people around her fall quiet as Liebgott’s voice fills the space. “I’m a Jew.”

“Congratulations.” She can’t see him, but Zenie can hear the smug smirk on Bill’s face when he responds, “Now get your nose outta my face.”

He deserves it, friend or not, when Liebgott swings at him. He should know better than to say something like that, and she’s planning on telling him so when she jumps up to help the others hold the two men apart.

A sharp pain blooms in her chest, sending her stumbling back into the racks. A gasp escapes from her lips. No one notices – they’re all too busy trying to keep the first Easy Company casualties from occurring before the ship reaches England.

She’s never been hit in the breast before. And now someone’s elbow has just jabbed her there, managing to hurt even through the bandages.

That’s it. She’s got to solve this problem.

It’s a miracle that she doesn’t get jabbed again as she pushes through the throng of bodies. The miracle balances itself out with the fact that she doesn’t see Gene anywhere among them, and no one seems to know where he is when she throws the question out to them. Instead she finds –

“Tommy!” McClung yells above the rest of the voices that swirl around them. In a second, he’s pushed through the crowd and caught up to her, Popeye and Shifty right behind him. “Where’re you off to?”

“Any of y’all seen Doc Roe?”

“No.” Popeye tilts his head. “Are you as sick as ol’ Shifty Boy here from all that whiskey?”

“Just eat somethin’,” Shifty suggests with a nod. “A couple of those donuts from the Red Cross girls had me right as rain.”

Popeye claps him on the back and flashes her a winning grin. “He learned that from me.”

“No, it’s –“ She offers a vague, sweeping gesture with her arm. The heat. The tight space. The lack of privacy. “I just need some air.”

“We were goin’ up top, anyways. We’ll come with you!”

It’s easier to push through the crowd when she’s got three friends helping her clear people out of the way. Earl pushes through the crowd like it’s nothing. Popeye calls out greetings to people as he goes. Zenie scans everyone’s faces, looking for Gene, reassuring herself with the thought that he’ll know what to do and he’ll come up with a plan for how to handle all this bandage business.

“Fuckin’ ridge runners,” someone scoffs as they force their way through the crowd.

At her sides, her hands immediately ball themselves into fists. She scowls, looking around for whoever might have said it. Cobb is sitting on a rack nearby, and she’s willing to bet the comment was thrown from his direction.

“Hey.” A gentle hand places itself on her shoulder and urges her forward from behind. “Just ignore him. Been enough fights on this boat for one day.”

“But –“ She feels herself deflate under Shifty’s touch. He’s right; they’ve been called worse.

The salt on the breeze is unlike any kind of wind that she felt back at home. During the more pleasant times of year, mountain breezes feel friendly and teasing as they play with her hair and snap flags on their posts. The wind from the sea that greets them abovedeck carries a sense of adventure. It’s powerful – powerful enough to carry them somewhere new.

It fills her lungs and whispers to something in her soul. All those days of sitting in her bedroom feeling suffocated and sorry for herself. Now she’s the farthest away from home that she’s ever been, and (as long as she’s not crammed in the bowls of the ship with the other men) she can breathe.

“Feelin’ better?” Shifty asks. His hand hasn’t left her shoulder. Zenie finds that she doesn’t really want him to remove it.

“Much.”

Earl gestures to all the space around them. “Look at this! This is way better than being trapped belowdecks.”

“Well, it’s a long way to England. We can probably spend as much time up here as we want.” I know I will be, Zenie doesn’t add as she relishes in the cool breeze and the sound of the waves.

“We oughtta sleep out here,” Popeye says. “Better than sweatin’ for hours at a time and listenin’ to everyone snore and complain about the heat.”

Shifty nods in agreement. “We oughtta.”

So they do.

The first night of the voyage, they return to their racks with everyone else. Zenie stays awake all night, listening to people pant in the heat, grimacing every time a rack squeaks as someone shifts their weight. Some people manage to doze, but she spends the next day groggy and vows that she’ll take Popeye’s suggestion. Her friends don’t take much convincing.

“Like camping.” They’re all sprawled out on the deck, hoping that any non-coms or officers that catch them won’t send them back below. The waves slapping against the side of the boat are loud but soothing. In the growing darkness, Zenie can just make out Shifty’s smile. He’s in his element. The others agree, and she doesn’t admit that no one has ever actually taken her camping before.

Instead she’s intent to just be there, the ocean sounds sending that thrum of adventure running through her core as it carries her far, far away from that noble statue back in New York. Far away from the loneliness of her room and straight into the next leg of her adventure. Surrounded by friends.

Not too bad.

[emergentharmonies-localgroup]

Blog run by @transgenderfivepebbles

General Information

Little if any art, for now at least. As much as I'd love to, I'm not an efficient artist, and any substantial amount of traffic would make drawing for every ask take all day :(

All out-of-character text will be marked with [OOC] at the beginning of each paragraph.

Asks are public transmissions, i.e. visible to all characters, by default. Private transmissions should be explicitly marked.

The header is a screenshot by rainworldhourly on Twitter, from Aether Ridge by Kaeporo. All art, including the icon, is original.

Rules and Guidelines

Be a decent person in general. Should go without saying

You may ask about canon characters or OCs that have been previously mentioned. Including your own OC in an ask is fine, too! Just don't expect us to know everything about them '^^

I've seen this happen on other blogs before, so no magic anons or anything of the sort, please! Just simple messages, images are welcome, though.

Sparkle on! Don't forget to be yourself!

Characters are a bit to cover, so below the cut:

Characters

Reflections of Song [ROS] (they/them)

The group senior(s), two puppets in a single large can. Both open for conversation.

Dawn (she/they)

The more chatty of the two. She once managed the eastern side of the duo's (very large!) city, but has since taken up historical archiving as a pastime. They're fond of the memories, and it's fun to see what the folks up there used to be up to!

Dusk (he/it)

Past manager of the city's western industrial region. Talented bioengineer and geneticist, sequencing genomes for many purposed organisms for maintenance and repair. Loves every minute of it. No one knows why, except possibly himself.

Entangled in Promises [EIP] (he/him)

Second oldest, only slightly younger than Reflections. He's not too serious, having abandoned his original purpose long ago, and although enigmatic at times, he's got plenty of stories to tell, and all the time in the world.

Nascent Sparks [NS] (he/they)

Youngest of the local group. They once dedicated themself to the Great Problem before moving onto better, more fun things, like talking to his friends and designing creatures! He loves good company, and will be glad to answer your questions or just talk about anything.

Two Ashen Bells [TAB] (she/her)

She won't answer you. She hasn't spoken to anyone in dozens of cycles, and there's no way she'll start now, for someone she doesn't even know.

…But I suppose you could always try.

———

That's all for now! Hope you enjoy your time here :)

[animentality]

I don't mean to be mean I'm really excited for the Barbie movie but a lot of the reactions I've seen to her reveal in the swimsuit has me like ????? people foaming at the mouth "oh it's a reference?! Iconic!"

Like, lads? Did we not know? Is this the first time you're seeing the OG Barbie and her black and white striped swimsuit? The original? The beginning? The thing most associated with her when people talk about her history?

Idk my mom used to collect Barbies and had this really thick pocket book that was a timeline fashion history of every Barbie ever and maybe I'm biased bc I looked at it a lot and the OG was on cover.

But guys? Are we memeing? Are we joking? Are we satirising? I honestly can't tell and don't know. No hate no shade no lemonade please let me in on the truth

A lot of people probably didn't know! I didn't know. I was never into Barbies because I was in my hating femininity phase when I was the right age for Barbies.

But I still want to see Barbie because I have fond memories of the movies being really good. I love the show that Tumblr is obsessed with and all the Tiktoks I've seen with funny clips from it.

And I honestly am so hyped to see this movie because I was afraid to like Barbie as a kid. I was a nonbinary kid who didn't like being misgendered and hate anything associated with girliness.

But as an adult, I am happy. I am content. I am READY to be so fucking there for Barbie and her hyper feminine girlboss vibes. I want to apologize to Barbie and Ken and pink.

Femininity doesn't equal weakness. Femininity and pink are actually so badass.

And this movie looks like it's gonna be so much fucking fun.

So I'm gonna be there for Barbie.

I think she's a good role model for kids and I love what history I know of her.

I am excited to learn.

Try and have mercy on us normies. As long as everyone is hyped, it's fine if they don't know as much about the history of Barbies as the true fans.

They will LEARN it. Everyone's here to learn something. Everyone wants to know what you know.

They seriously didn't know, most likely. They aren't being satirical or funny, probably.

[rappaccini]

arachnophobia ch 5 notes

chapter title

from 'i am always touched by your presence dear' by blondie.

blondie: punk band fronted by bisexual icon debby harry who made it big in the late 70s.

the band and time period graft well onto a chapter set in the punk subculture in the late 70s.

also a ton of the early mary janes from the latour run was inspired by them. look at the girls' posters and album covers. that's what they're referencing.

and the song itself is about feeling a supernatural connection to a lover who has... 'super friends' and a secret extra sense. fits pretty well with gwen and hobie. a sincere romance between two people who just get each other, who have an interdimensional connection that's going to last even when they part.

it felt nice to put a genuine love song in here. marks a nice change in gwen's arc. things are getting better.

quote

from alfred tennyson's idylls of the king

spoken by guinevere, a another famous gwen in literature, who is also the beautiful blonde love interest of the hero, whose relationship ends tragically, who falls for the wrong guy (one of her husband's friends) and is remembered… controversially for it.

(by controversially i mean when the kingdom falls her husband blames it on her affair. like that makes sense.)

in context this line is guinevere meeting with lancelot one last time as shit blows up, and denying his request that they hide away together, so she can seek redemption on her own. which is what happens in this chapter.

lancelot is hobie. he's the friend of the hero, miles, who the hero's designated love interest, gwen, is drawn to instead. and if the hero's friend and the hero's love interest fall for each other instead, it will be treated as a betrayal with most of the blame landing on the love interest's shoulders, even if the love interest and the hero were never together in the first place (it basically is already; just look at how the fandom reacts to the thought of gwen and hobie together).

gwen's arrival

interdimensional jet lag is a thing: notice how it's twilight on 1610 but midday on 50101 and 928, and the middle of the night on 65?

orb web: the geometric shape of the society portal most resembles one.

in the comics, the vulture yeets gwen into a garbage barge. fond memories.

garbage strikes in the uk in the mid to late 70s are arguably the spark that started punk culture in the country.

if you look closely in hobie's intro, fisk is the prime minister, not osborn, who's the fascist president of his comics counterpart's world.

venom, in hobie's world, is a riot armor worn by specialized police sent in to break up demonstrations.

it's real telling that gwen finds a fascist dictatorship safer than her own home. i figure that hobie would find that significant too.

in the 616 comics, gwen goes to london after her father dies to get away from her grief, before returning because she misses her friends and peter. in the amazing spider-man movies, she nearly goes to oxford, but stays in part bc of her relationship with peter. if she'd stayed in/gone to london, she'd have lived. very significant that the spider-man who gives gwen her freedom happens to be from there.

at this point gwen thinks she's going to die by glitching out. she has no portal watch and no reason to think she'll get another. (she's not thinking clearly enough to consider hobie might loan her his, and even if it did cross her mind, she wouldn't accept it.)

in the script for the first issue of gwen's comics, it's discussed that they want her world to have the vibe of 'it's not a watchmen-style police state yet, but it could be in a few years, and that's part of gwen's motivation for wearing the mask' --- and throughout the latour run, gwen's world's cops, courts and government are deeply corrupt, and gwen constantly opposes them. one would think that 138 would be of particular interest to gwen as a potential outcome for her world.

howard the duck is president in earth-65. yes, it's a trump analog.

alliteration is fun, so all the places gwen looks for hobie start with the letter c:

cellar: mattea murdock is 138's daredevil. since she's blind, she gets to live in a basement. and it's a basement, so the acoustics are probably great, so the band probably practices there.

the coleherne: in the 70s, it was a leather bar. rick is the romantic partner of karl/138-captain-america. it's not mentioned in the fic explicitly, but i think of hobie as queer. him hanging out in a leather bar was a nod to that, though hobie seems like he'd have no issue chilling in a gay bar (or beating up bigots) regardless. also, a reference to hanging around, which was on loop while writing this chapter.

canal: concept art has hobie living in a boat. if he lives in a boat, he needs somewhere to park it, preferably close to his home neighborhood. and what do you know, there are canals near camden.

catacombs: the camden catacombs. figured they'd be a good place to hide a fugitive.

community center: in the comics, hobie operates out of one in brooklyn. i figure it's where movie hobie might have spent some of his nights, and would be a backup place to live.

gwen lands just after sundown to give her time to websling all the way from peckham to camden looking in all these places.

movie-138's art style is a beautiful collage, reminiscent of zines.

gwen's dragging her hands on it because in a few days she'll be molecules. those handprints might be the last trace of her.

the spider-slayers are hobie's band. supposedly, he named them that without their permission.

comics-gwen's gone to rock shows and jumped into the pit when she was depressed. small homage to that here.

hobie's theme song is real. supposedly he's the one who wrote it, and he sings it to himself bc he's a dork.

mindy is 616 hobie brown's wife. here, she's a former flame.

mattea murdock in the comics is from philly. i went with peckham because alliteration.

there's no way gwen wouldn't have started looking at every girl who has a first name starting with 'm' with even the vaguest romantic connection to a spider-man who's into her, without thinking 'you don't happen to have a middle name starting with j, do you?'

even though gwen doesn't want to compete for a guy (especially not miles, who she doesn't even want to be with), she's still anxious about being replaced.

616 gwen dies in 1973. since hobie's world is in the late 70s (according to his mugshot), i figured it would work to keep the year of gwen's death the same. thus, she died in 1973. and since hobie was spider-punk for three years as of '78, he hadn't been bitten yet when she was killed.

and if hobie encountered her in 1970-73, he'd have been 10-13. no way would a preteen be confident enough to talk to a musician who'd be in her late teens at the youngest.

(138 gwen and hobie have the same age difference as 65 gwen and hobie; with her being 6-7 years his senior. huh)

her importance to him isn't romantic. it's parasocial. she's an idol of his who gave him the punk values he now lives by.

hobie brown adores gwen stacy's music and considers her a massively influential punk. given he's so counterculture, i doubt his idol would be selling out stadiums or playing to large crowds.

since punk was arguably born in the uk in the mid-70s garbage strikes, that puts the birth of the subculture at the exact same time hobie, the Punk, was bitten by his spider. interesting parallel.

punk is anger given purpose. lots of people who come to the subculture come angry, seeking a way to channel it. i figure hobie, being a homeless boy without a family, would probably have done that.

what's most vital about the gwen problem isn't not having a gwen to compare her to-- it's being able to get over that comparison (or, in spider-man terms: getting back up after you fall). miles and pav were untested and naive. peter, jess and miguel wouldn't let go of their respective gwens. hobie adapted and changed his behavior-- that's what makes him stand out to her.

meeting hobie

i figure being tipsy in 138 probably makes the world look like a perspiring glass ring on paper. and being tipsy in 65 would color things booze-yellow. combined here.

small bands tend to hang out with their crowds after concerts, especially in the punk scene.

wendy darling is the protagonist of the novel/film/story, peter pan.

soho: at this point would have been full of crime, particularly sex work. i think hobie would've hung around there in his modeling days.

soho, the spitalfields, hackney and hampstead: all neighborhoods in north london, which is hobie's stomping ground.

specifically, he's from camden, which is where punk refined as a sound. camden is to hobie like brooklyn is to miles and queens is to peter.

and hobie's world looooves him. they love him enough to make him the face of their revolution and won't stop loving him after his identity's revealed. to gwen, whose world hates her, that'd probably be a bit painful.

hobie's stopping gwen from drinking any further.

according to lace code, the color blue means you've killed a police officer. hobie having blue laces + being defensive when miles asks about his captain's death = he killed his captain.

if the other elements of that event are at play children in danger, a fight between the spider and an enemy, falling debris), then i can't imagine hobie killing a cop who's trying to save kids. therefore, the cop was probably the one putting the kids in danger, and hobie killed him to protect them. maybe he dropped debris on his head, maybe the debris fell on its own, and hobie took a brick and made sure the cop wouldn't get up.

hobie brown is a killer in the comics too. dude's the top enforcer of the Murder Is Okay faction of the spider-squad.

karl morningdew is comics-hobie's best friend

hobie's mask is the face of a revolution. that revolution probably puts a lot of pressure on him to always wear that face.

basically, hobie was already on the trail of his brother when he ran into him while being arrested. the records just confirmed it in a comics-like coincidence.

616 hobie's family situation: father was drafted and killed when he was a baby, mom became an alcoholic, his eight older siblings raised each other. adapted that here.

all hobie's siblings except for abe aren't named in canon. i'm gonna explain it as 'hobie was split from them so young he genuinely doesn't remember anyone but abe, because abe was his favorite.'

in this fic, i'm adding the element of: the state intervened and took the kids from their mother, split them up and sent them various places. hobie eventually ran away and ended up on the streets, probably around age 11-13.

hobie was born around 1960, putting his parents at the right age to be windrushers.

abe in 616 is a z-list martial artist antihero. since hobie's adapted from a 616 antivillain to a 138 antihero, i'm applying the same shift to abe. now he's an antivillain. and since villains in hobie's world are connected to the fascist government, and abe would've been a poor kid in the system, him becoming a cop felt the most organic way to make him a hand of the state while preserving the martial angle.

also a great way to give hobie conflict. you hate cops? oh shit, now your brother, the only family you've managed to find, is one. good luck with that!

hobie's a deep believer in his revolution's cause. he's also a teenage boy with no family, who wants people to care about him. very easy for that need to be exploited by adults in his cell.

it also gives him commonality with gwen, and her something she can coach him through. i want their relationship to be reciprocal, not just him mentoring her.

fandom salt: hobie's lectures are always right and his heart's in the right place. but gwen stacy does not need a man telling her why patriarchy is bad. she gets it better than he ever will.

fandom salt: everyone focuses so much on spider-punk that they’re neglecting hobie brown. inverse of the pav problem. yes, he’s a brave anarchist hero. he’s also a teenage boy who is capable of vulnerability, fear, anxiety, insecurity, arrogance and loneliness. his personal life matters just as much as his politics, and those things are entwined.

hobie notices gwen's watch is gone when he touches her wrist. at this point he knows she’s out of the society.

i figure hobie probably gets the notifications from the society, but just ignores them unless gwen or pav are explicitly mentioned. so he knew shit was going down and just left them on read.

the houseboat

according to concept art, hobie lives on a houseboat. i went with a canal boat, bc it's the most maneuverable.

hobie's leaving the watch at the door because he doesn't want to be overheard.

those engineering textbooks are going to be used to make the watch later. 616 hobie's also a tech genius.

if gwen is wendy darling, and neverland is the spider-society, and miguel/peter/miles are peter pan, then hobie is captain hook, the outlaw who lives on a boat, is neverland's biggest threat and whose antagonist is represented with a clock/watch face.

hobie's various sleeping spaces include the community center cot (from the comics), a bedsit, the spider-van (comics), a tent, various squats (comics). gwen's been around for the cot and the bedsit. and yes, comics-hobie named it the spider-van.

since hobie's transient, him staying in one place for a while is notable. makes more sense when you consider that if he knows someone's going to be sleeping over at his often, he should probably have a stable address for her to be able to find.

(he's also a teenage boy. if a teenage boy knows a girl he likes is going to be spending a lot of time at his, he's going to want a space to be alone with her)

and truly. comics-hobie, do not sleep surrounded by tons of people if you're the fascist government's most wanted. not gonna end well.

gwen has trouble asking for help, because she's a spider, and because she's a gwen who doesn't want to be considered helpless.

i love a good heroes-patch-each-other-up scene. ideal for gwen to be mentally undressing and unloading her troubles, as it happens physically.

anyway hobie's been Avoiding The Breakup Drama for the past few months. dude does not want to be involved.

(but he’s on gwen’s side. putting aside the personal bias— he simply knows her better than miles— that shit was entrapment, and she was the one who recognized that. she’s also the one who was going to be harmed more by it.)

and he and miles have a great dynamic... but let's be real, no 15 year old boy who had his heart stomped on by his crush is gonna hang out with the guy he thinks his crush left him for, no matter how good an influence the guy is. hobie doesn't want to take sides, but miles picks them for him.

hobie being so hands-off with gwen is a side effect of his watch part heist. gotta be subtle to stick around long enough to pull it off. consequence being: he can't step in when miguel's being abusive, or directly tell gwen she needs to get out. consequence being: she's getting hurt and doesn't believe he can help her, and he feels guilty.

he is also assuming at this point that their hookup situation is coming to an end, and that gwen arrived to tell him that.

ok, mask off: hobie and gwen's vibe is n o t p l a t o n i c. those two were fucking. girls don't leave a toothbrush and multiple articles of clothing at a guy's place unless they're sleeping with him, or intend to sleep with him. she's literally wearing his shoes and sweater, and he didn't give them to her, and she's flustered when he points them out, which means that gwen was at hobie's, in a state of undress, throwing clothes on fast, and his clothes were tangled up with hers. your honor, they were exploring each others bodies.

they have similar interests, worldviews and politics. they've fought together for dozens of missions and hung out in their civvies. they're lonely and they care deeply. she's been coming home with him to spend the night for months, and whatever they're doing has her flustered. and they have no adults around. obviously something happened.

... look he's kneeling between her legs while she's undressed on a bed to evoke a certain situation.

one of the big questions surrounding spider-gwen is whether she'll ever be able to fall in love with spider-man without dying or sacrificing her autonomy for him, or if she'll have to essentially be a nun in order to keep her narrative.

the movie at least acknowledges that she should be allowed to love spider-man and live, so points there.

look if the spider-society's invested in gwen being spiderman's gf, they're gonna have Opinions about spider-gwen's love life. they're gonna insist she can only date a few preapproved respectable guys. and inevitably, she's going to be expected to have sex with them.

do the math: a queer teenage girl is being isolated from her home and told if she ever returns to it she'll be killed/abused/imprisoned, told she has to aspire towards winning the love of a few skeevy adult authority figures, and that her physical safety and reputation rest on submitting to an inevitably-sexual relationship with a guy they've chosen for her.

do the math: gwen being pressured by the society into being spider-man's girlfriend translates directly into gwen being groomed. yes, that kind of grooming.

it's taken her a long time to fully wrap her mind it. like lots of girls in this situation, deep down, she can tell what's happening-- you can see gwen start to notice that something's wrong as early as chapter two-- but she can't admit it to herself because then she'd have to acknowledge that all her role models are dangerous and that she has no way out.

the first time she Gets It is when she sees gwen-8: oh, that's what i'm here for. that's why she's so viscerally disgusted, why she gets so livid at miles, and why she's so angry and listless in 3-- she's disillusioned, she sees the danger, and she feels helpless, so she does something destructive to get a bit of control back. but she still has no way out.

then in 4, gwen's past the point of being afraid of being punished for not conforming, and she's called out her mentors for failing her, so she's able to call miguel on his shit directly to his face.

and now in 5, gwen's in a safe place to unpack all that shit and tell herself bluntly what she avoided. not to mention she's with someone she has had a consensual relationship with, which makes it easier for her to make sense of the difference.

the sex tangent

this is a spiderman story, so it's a coming-of-age story. and part of coming-of-age is figuring out how you feel about sex and starting to experiment with it. (even if you're ace, you're still exploring your feelings about sex. just from another angle. figuring out what you don't like is just as important as figuring out what you do.)

on a personal/character-level: gwen considering her feelings for different people and exploring them is natural and normal. can't believe i have to spell this out, but the fandom's full of puriteens who are as fascinated by sex as they are terrified of it, so: it's normal for teenagers to mess around.

she starts the story with some level of interest in miles, peter (and by extension, pav), and has unpacked that she's not as attracted to them as she knows she is intended to be.

now it's time to start exploring what she does like. yes, that means a whirlwind psychosexual girlfriendship with gayatri. and an intimate relationship with hobie.

and on a meta level... sex is a big part of gwen stacy and spider-gwen's narrative, because it's what prevents fans and writers from treating her like a person.

gwen stacy isn't allowed to exit the narrative or move on with someone else because then she wouldn't be peter's girlfriend anymore. killing her makes sure he can move on, while still being the best she's ever had.

spider-gwen keeps getting dragged away from her homeworld to put her in romantic proximity with whichever guys the writers are self-inserting onto. why do they keep turning down opportunities to make her strictly platonic with these dudes? because they want her to have sex with them, and sex isn't usually on the table in platonic friendships.

(... i'm talking about miles as well as peter. brian michael bendis even spelled it out when his earth-8 ocs swoop in out of nowhere with kids. the entire point is that miles gets the clout of being the guy who deflowers*, maintains sexual access to and impregnates gwen stacy. and gwen gets the 'honor' of having his kids. it's that miles 'did what peter never could' and got to do all those things to gwen and have his legacy secured by it. fucking kill me.)

(and yes. i'm talking about sv miles too. gwen was literally only put in itsv to be miles's love interest, but they cut the romance out because it didn't work. they put it back for atsv. she's only allowed in this trilogy, and allowed any pov at all, because of the expectation that she's going to date and eventually sleep with miles. they literally had gwen leap on top of miles in bed when they reunite. they're not being subtle about where they want this relationship to lead.)

*yes, deflowers. i can't impart to you the absolute hell that is browsing the spider-gwen reddit and seeing men (it's always men) insisting that she Must Be A Virgin. or how it's so fucking clear that the spiderverse fandom wants gwen to, you know, save herself for miles (look at the discourse surrounding ghostpunk: either gwen's a disloyal slut who was putting out for hypersexual predator hobie, or gwen's a good girl who's been waiting for miles all this time!).

people want gwen to be a virgin, because they want miles to get the clout of being the guy who pops her cherry and... 'takes' that from her. (all the more reason to say "fuck you, comics-gwen had a sweaty roadside hookup with kaine in clone conspiracy and spiderverse-gwen was screwing around with hobie for months." no gratification for you or your self-insert. this is about her.)

it is the opinion of the author, fwiw, that virginity doesn't exist and was just made up to control women's bodies.

gwen's probably not allowed to come out and date women because in part, those writers want her to remain sexually available to their male characters.

the fandom sexualizes the hell out of gwen even as they police who she's allowed to have sex with, and doesn't give a shit that spiderverse-gwen is underage.

if society doesn't care, neither would the society. therefore, this translates to the spider-society intentionally keeping gwen from going home, pushing her towards a sexual relationship with a guy they've selected for her and making her feel like she can't say no. textbook grooming.

so: on a societal level... this whole situation grafts onto the way young women's sexualities are perceived: you have to have a sexuality. you have to have sex (read: heterosexual, penetrative sex with a cishet man that's about pleasing and gratifying him and giving him biological children) someday. because if you don't, then there's no use for you, because your function in society is building a man's legacy by fluffing his ego and bearing his children.

and that sexuality, which is the most important thing about you, doesn't even belong to you. it belongs to some cishet boy you're destined for, who's out there somewhere, who's going to come into your life and take ownership of that sexuality someday.

and your job is to... you know, save it for him, and then give it up at exactly the right time in exactly the right way.*

(*because-- tangent within a tangent: there's a second shitty male power fantasy other than the buff guy who's naturally great with women who swoon at his feet. it's the nerdy guy who doesn't have to be forward because his female love interest is confident enough to do all the work of initiating the relationship because he's too insecure to do it himself, yet she's somehow inexperienced so he's the best she's ever had, even when he's barely done shit. one's about having a submissive girlfriend right from the jump. the other's about getting an independent girl to let go of her autonomy because you're just that special.

-> you know, the gwen and miles dynamic. it was true in earth 8, it's still true in the sv movies. tangent within a tangent over.)

that was all to say, the only acceptable way to have control over your sexuality is in the moment that you give that control to that boy. even your desires, actions and pleasure are about him.

and if you don't want to give it up at all, or if you've used that sexuality for your own purposes that don't graft onto what society wants from you (non-straight, non-penetrative, non-malecentric, non-reproductive sex... or even all of those things with the wrong man, which results in the wrong kind of children that don't fit into society), then society has to punish you.

because if you don't get in line, and you start using it for your own purposes, then they don't have a way to reduce you to an accessory of his, or propogate their norms on the next generation, which they need you to create.

look it just follows that the spider-society, which functions like a religious cult, would have creepy thoughts about the sexualities of teenage girls and have their own version of purity culture.

canon has a chokehold on gwen's sexuality.

and this fic is about breaking her canon, so part of the way to do it is by taking ownership of her sexuality-- not by kissing her preapproved future mate first and saying that simply doing that is enough. not by denying that her sexuality exists. not by refusing to have any relationships at all after she realizes how corrupt the system is, but by exploring them at her pace and seeking out what she wants. if spider-gwen hides from love and sex forever, then we're admitting that the societal problems with them are insurmountable (and therefore letting the assholes who keep dehumanizing her off the hook, because it can't be helped). they aren't. they never were.

houseboat ii

fandom salt: guys. why the fuck would the anarchist who resents canon and power structures be all 'oh no gwen, i must refuse your advances, your sexuality belongs to some guy i barely know.' if she asked him to fuck her, he'd say yes.

to a girl for whom being a girlfriend will always mean death or disempowerment, a boy who actively refuses labels and keeps his relationships unhierarchal would be very attractive.

anyway in this fic, gwen and hobie started hooking up, and agreed not to label their relationship, or call attention to it. equal parts disdain for the trappings of a heteronormative relationship and sidestepping what canon dictates will happen to it. and they're past the point of casual, but can't admit it.

there's a reason that he's on his knees in front of her, about to give her a ring-shaped object that she'll always wear that could lead to them being together forever. (blows my mind that nobody put together the romantic undertones to hobie making nice with her dad before giving gwen that band in a little box.)

he's cool with gwen having other partners, and would have been fine and not at all jealous if she wanted to end the relationship and go back to being friends. but man does he not want to end it.

(more conflict: hobie’s ideology clashing with his feelings. uh oh, you caught them anyway. now what?)

so after he clears the air on that, time to talk about the watch.

hobie's looking at the amps because he's thinking about assembling that watch so gwen can get away from miguel.

he thinks at this point that gwen was kicked out of the society. she has to correct him.

how does hobie know about miles's venom blasts? how does he do THAT with his guitar? well, they're both prowlers in alternate timelines. maybe electric hands are a prowler power.

(interesting that spiderverse gwen has a type: artistic, kind, heroic black boys with a dark side who are at risk of becoming the prowler. yes the films are treating hobie like he's the closest thing she can get to miles, but let's flip it. gwen had a thing for miles because he was the first step towards hobie.)

star wars would've just come out in hobie's timeline. that boy probably saw it a ton.

hobie doesn't trust miguel alone with gwen for a lot of reasons. he comes from a world where the worst abuses of power are commonplace, as an ex-model he has personal experience surviving the particular circumstance where teenagers are isolated from their peers, made to work like adults and surrounded by grown-ups who are attracted to them, and miguel has a certain vibe with her (being that gwen has been both his love interest and daughter in different timelines, both of which he would be aware of) that hobie wants to keep an eye on.

aka, hobie has noticed that gwen's being groomed. he isn't telling her because that boy likes keeping information to himself, and because he correctly assumed gwen would go a little batshit if she knew and had no immediate way out. a big part of why he's accompanying her at the society is running interference--nobody can be too creepy to her if someone they find intimidating is in the room and they know he'll shut that down-- and being emotional support in the event that something does happen.

aka when gwen turns up unexpectedly after being totally missing for a week with claw marks on her face and waist, bruises on her hip and knees, ripped thighs and defensive wounds on her hands, and she’s mysteriously out of the society after a late night conflict with only miguel that she's antsy about discussing, hobie’s first assumption is that gwen was sexually assaulted but managed to escape. and, given that she's been withdrawn, evasive and skittish about intimacy for months after the miles rejection, that it might have been happening even before tonight. he’s put it together by now that this didn’t happen, but that was his first thought.

65a gwen directly killing her peter is one of the most important beats of her character. i'm very salty that 65b gwen was denied the ability to do that. its why 65a gwen's so compassionate towards her villains, and pulls so many of her punches. 65b gwen never learned those lessons.

65b gwen is taking on more of her comics counterpart's characterization as the fic progresses. she's getting clumsier, more foul-mouthed, more compassionate, more independent.

houseboat iii

hobie is the prowler on 616.

and punk's the only spider-hobie. that's the one chance he gets to be something other than a villain. i figure the society would hold that over him.

and that hobie wouldn't blink at all the alternates. he's too affirmed in his own identity.

65-hobie is a preteen in a street gang who tags construction sites to protest gentrification. he actually teaches gwen about that and has a mini-arc in the latour run where he gains respect for her. good kid.

now that miles is so popular, all the new prowlers are variations on aaron davis. so in a sense, because of miles, prowler hobie brown was left behind.

but as of the spiderverse comics events and movie, the definitive hobie is spider-punk, and he couldn't have existed in the first place if miles morales hadn't been such a success and proved that other spider-men (black spider-men) could be accepted. so in a way, miles is also the reason hobie gets to be the hero of his own story.

hobie being a mentor to miles is a great concept. especially if they bond over being prowler-alternates.

gwen's a standin for white girls, miles for brown boys: consider how the society responds to them: it lures her in and promises her a seat at the table, while stripping her autonomy, walling her up inside it and telling her the outside world is too dangerous and she's better off in here (... and as a queer girl, tells her to repress her feelings and stick to the heteronormative). it stonewalls miles and freezes him out unless he follows a white guy's playbook.

hobie's fallible. when he first joined and heard his favorite musician gwen stacy was in the lobby, his nonconformist ass decided to stick around... and after their interaction re: the gwen death canon, he kept sticking around, since the entire reason he's in the society is to be close to her. yes, it was to help her escape, but he still gave the society a lot of time and labor in the interim. it worked.

that's one of the advantages of having gwen in the society. she's a lure to spiders on the fence about joining or who doubt about the mission.

what gwen does doesn't matter to them. it's all about the image of her. she's the dead girl on a pedestal.

'what does it matter what we want if everyone else already decided what we get to be' -- big theme here. does it matter if gwen and hobie's relationship isn't based on traditional patriarchal ideas about relationships, if everyone else assumes she's His Girlfriend? and how can gwen redefine her narrative if no one will let her? how can you rebel against the system if the system doesn't register what you're doing as rebellion? there's a push and pull that has to be factored in.

more first aid

again, i like that the trans coding made gwen's ballet subversive again. now she's raiding the ultimate form of femininity for the tools to make herself a girl, instead of being femmed up to appeal to a male love interest.

hobie's modeling stint is intriguing. guy's canonically extremely physically attractive by the standards of his world, aware of it, and was at least at one point willing to use it to get ahead.

and he's adept at using aesthetics to communicate his message (re his politics) and throw suspicion off himself (everyone in the society writes him off as all bark, no bite, in no small part because of the way he dresses himself). i figure he probably learned about that from his time in the fashion industry.

616 manny lopez is a little boy hobie brown mentored, who was killed in a gang conflict. adapted here as a younger boy hobie felt protective of, who died while hobie was in his use-powers-irresponsibly phase, probably his time as a model. manny's his uncle ben, so to speak. idk if manny's a kid from the neighborhood who was killed or if a fellow model who fell prey to the skeevier parts of the industry. regardless, he ends up dead because hobie was partying when he should've been looking after him, hobie took this loss hard, and it motivated him to quit and start using his powers to protect his community.

hobie's tendency to put his foot in his mouth is a fun character flaw. dude, you're right, but read the room.

especially when it comes to the canon. he might hate it, but his resentment of it is not the same as gwen's; if hobie goes on autopilot, his canon will give him what he wants. if gwen does, it'll kill her.

which is why his disillusionment has to be triggered by her: it's an expansion of his worldview, to understand that just because he gets what he wants from it doesn't mean it's good.

hobie and gwen are both doomed by the narrative to die young. one would think they'd bond over that.

hobie's guilty about not wanting to die young. dude's an idealist, who doesn't want to die for the cause. of course it'll eat at him. it IS selfish. but just because it's selfish doesn't mean it's bad.

hobie's a revolutionary. he's also a teenage boy. he's going to want to have things that don't revolve around the cause. things like hobbies or days off or a personal life, with friends and a romantic partner.

the 'no future' song (god save the queen, by the sex pistols) and ideology would resonate a lot with a girl who doesn't have one.

it's weird as hell that in itsv gwen is in 1610 for a week and doesn't glitch for most of that time, when peter is there for like a day and he's already fuzzy.

this is the depression stage of grief. gwen thinks she's going to die, and is evaluating things in those terms: wanting miles and hobie to make up, wanting margo to replace her so at least the group won't have a girl-shaped hole in it, wanting to drink and dance and leave her mark on a world she thinks she won't see again. and seeing someone who means a lot to her, one last time.

she's come to the one person who won't judge her for her mess, and who she knows is capable of avenging her.

no, it's not enough of a change for her to choose the spider-man who avenges her. but she's cornered, and she's taking what she can.

most of all, gwen's here for comfort. it's why she lets him patch her up even though her healing factor's got it and she'll be dead in days as far as she knows.

the subtext intended here is that gwen and hobie are definitely not casual about their intimate relationship anymore, and their feelings are running deep. this is the moment they tip over into full-on love, but they haven't admitted it to themselves or each other.

hobie absolutely is thinking 'i can save you' but he gets that it isn't what she wants to hear.

he's fully dressed because he's not going to fall asleep-- he's heading right into his allnighter to get the watch done.

the watch

the burst of light is hobie testing the watch. it works.

gwen slept to the afternoon; girl had a busy day yesterday.

gwen's dressing herself in things that remind her of people she loves: shoes that both belong to hobie and remind her of 65a gwen, a shirt that belonged to gayatri, a cuff that was pavitr's, a sweater she probably got from hobie, and her hair's still in the cut miles caused.

hobie making the watch for her birthday WAS a happy accident. that's how my timeline ended up by mistake. it works!

very telling that in the movie, the first two watches we see are one for him and one for gwen.

one of the best things about movie hobie is how methodical and cunning he is. dude pretends to be spontaneous, but everything he says and does is carefully thought out.

the watch construction is all the more impressive when you consider that hobie has to work with tech from 100+ years in the future.

in the movie, hobie was only at the society to keep gwen safe. as soon as 1) he had what he needed to make the watches, and 2) she left-- he'd have quit. which is what happens.

the appeal of hobie isn't that he's a hot bad boy. it's that he gives a shit about gwen's problems and wants to help her solve them, but not at the cost of her being able to make her own choices. it drives me insane how good he is at walking that tightrope.

he's the one that gets how to solve the gwen problem: help her, yes, but only when she can't help herself. and only then, with the goal of getting her to a place where she can help herself. it's the principle of being a good ally.

and he's the first spider-man to ever encourage gwen to stay in london. but he still leaves it up to her.

even though hobie won't make her subservient to him in his narrative, nobody else will see it that way if she stays. to them (... to a lot of people reading the fic, probably), she's just slumming it with a subpar spider-man. which is why she can't kiss him right now.

her inability to admit that she loves him, or he loves her, is because up until now, gwen couldn't conceive of love without a power dynamic that hurts her. in her mind, hobie can't possibly be in love with her because he isn't trying to control her, so whatever they're doing Isn't That. all her "it doesn't count" insistence is a defense mechanism that she's finally letting go of. maybe it does. maybe that's a good thing.

yes, gwen can fall in love with spider-man without dying or losing her autonomy... but she can only do that AFTER she obtains her independence and uses it to advance her own story for her own sake. she's not there yet, but she's close.

gwen-138 died 'epically' by punk's standards. so she probably went down in a clash with the fascists... and since the cops are an arm of the fascists, and george stacy is a cop... one must assume if that's still the case and he hadn’t died yet, george either was complicit in or responsible for his daughter's death.

if george was the captain... then hobie not only killed gwen's dad, but avenged her death, something basically none of the spiders end up doing.

i went with that hc because of how well it suited the fic. perfect way to discuss hobie's backstory, tie it back in to gwen 138 and gwen 65, and give gwen 65 the kick she needs to meet gwenom.

the implications gwen's absorbing: a version of my dad killed a version of me so it could get that bad if i go home, my new friend who i'm attracted to killed a version of my dad, who i still love... and a spider-man actually avenged me.

look there's no way that a teenage girl who's told over and over that ~we can't get retribution for your murder because of Our Precious Morals~ wouldn't find a handsome boy who actually did avenge her extremely attractive.

in my mind this is the moment gwen decided she wanted to fuck him. as simple as i can put it, she realized those hands got the job done, and wanted them on her. that's why she took down the barrier. it was always possible for things to go that way, but that was the moment she decided to make it definitive.

this fic is t-rated, so that's as far as i was willing to take it. but in my head, their relationship became sexual a short time afterwards. not that night, but within the next few days.

and since the society (and, while she's under their wing, gwen) view sex as this inherently heterosexual penetrative act with a prescribed power dynamic-- and her relationship with hobie was none of those things when it started-- it would've been very easy for her to compartmentalize it. 'it doesn't count' and all. therefore, she can keep doing it and not feel like she should be punished. the problem is, of course, that it does count, and they're running into a brick wall pretending otherwise. and that wall would always have crumbled. here, it's because gwen's fully deprogrammed and able to take control of her life. and hobie's involvement in that deprogramming, and willingness to step aside and let her take care of things on her terms has guaranteed that though she's not staying, she'll absolutely be back. gwen can fall in love with spider-man and it can end well for her, and this is the spider-man she can do that with.

65b gwen wants to talk to 65a gwen. she's finally ready to do it.

the violence she's considering is a prison break, bc at this point she thinks gwenom is still incarcerated.

time for a classic comics gwen emotional speech!

reciprocity again: not only does gwen teach hobie that canon sucks, but that dying young isn't attractive and you should want to protect yourself so you can have a long life. and that not everybody in a corrupt system is terrible; most of the people in it are just as downtrodden, and could use empathy and help. things he can apply to his own world, personal life and narrative for the better. he can live long, make more friends, rebuild his family, and form a bigger coalition for his revolution, which means it'll be more successful. it's about balance: he challenges her to stand up for her principles, she reminds him to take care of himself.

hobie's spent so much time trying to be the perfect embodiment of punk that when we first meet him, that he started to forget his own humanity. sometimes it's hard to see that the way you're being treated is wrong, especially when you're used to reflexively devaluing yourself. through meeting gwen, and seeking something better for her, some of that's rubbed off on him. he's able to see himself as both a punk and a person now.

falling in love is in itself a revolutionary act when the status quo believes you're incapable or unworthy of it. the character who's been dismissed by canon and the fandom as the disposable love interest/sexless babysitter bestie/predator being the love interest who's actually the girl's best option, who's recognized as such and ends up with her, is more groundbreaking than them simply being friends the whole time.

the hand-catch is a reference to their first meeting in the comics. that panel of him clutching her hand lives in my head.

again, hobie gets it: don't fight gwen's battles for her, but offer your support and jump in if she asks for it.

my goal was make this chapter as romantic as possible without a kiss and as intimate as possible without sex.

gwen lands in 65a.

end quote

from seanan mcguire's ghost-spider run. issue 4, again.

spoken by hobie to gwen during noir's funeral, which they facilitate together. one of the prime gwobie moments of the comics. they really are that good and it's wild to me that the gwiles movie accidentally softlaunched ghostpunk. but hey, i'll take it.

no, she should not have to fight her battles alone. (and yes, hobie is the right person to help her. he's by far the best romantic option she's ever had in any continuity.)

and as far as this fic's concerned, gwen's currently on her way to find someone who can fight her battles with her.