#i’m not a writer i’m just a lesbian who’s really down bad for her

[lunarian-hare]

Butch!Logan is perfectly aware of the fact that you can protect yourself. She’s seen you fight countless times, knows you manage to stand your ground pretty well and doesn’t intervene unless you really do need help — it’s an unspoken rule in your relationship (no matter which stage it’s at), she will never treat you as a kid and the last thing she wants is to make you feel like she does not have faith in what you can do.

However, Logan still does get protective, perhaps even unconsciously. If you’re in a car or in the jet, her arm will be shielding your chest as soon as you come across a bump or the vehicle makes a sudden turn (and keep in mind, seatbelts exist. Is the gesture still appreciated? Of course).

During a fight she quickly glances at you to see how you’re doing, and she will pierce anyone who tries to surprise you from behind or from a hidden place like a skewer. You’re left wondering who trained those people if they can’t even manage to make a sneak attack.

Logan will scare off anyone who dares get too close to you if they do not seem to have good intentions, and even if you know how to respond to creeps — and throw a punch straight to their jaw if they do not back off after a couple warnings — her icy glare seems to have the same effect as Cyclops’ optic blasts.

In conclusion, Logan trusts and respects you and lets you do your thing, but you can still benefit from a scary dog privilege once in a while. And you kind of like that.

[nickssidewitch]

I just want to understand… there are so many fanfictions out there of straight females x fem readers because they’re viewed as ‘pretty’ or ‘girl crushes’ what makes this different from gay male x female readers? People are saying it’s disrespectful to their sexuality but doesn’t this make people who write straight female x fem reader hypocrites? Why is it so normalised for fem x fem regardless of their sexualities? I personally don’t find it disrespectful if people choose to write Nick x Fem. It’s not like they aren’t accepting of him it literally fan FICTION. Matt and Chris aren’t really dealers or professors it’s all fiction. We know realistically Nick isn’t getting turned on from a woman but that’s why it’s fiction. I just don’t think it’s right to label these writers or people who enjoy reading these fics, homophobic. Am I wrong? I’m just genuinely trying to see the difference

Straight Real-Life Celeb Female x Fem!Reader is also bad… whoooo said it was acceptable?! 😭😭😭😭 What?!

From every statement I’ve read about people having an issue with Nick x Fem!Reader, they’ve almost alwayssss followed it up with “and writing Matt/Chris with a Male!Reader is also just as bad”.

The point that literally everyone (and I mean every. single. person.) is trying to make to these thick-skulled defenders (not saying you’re thick skulled anon 😭) is… AHEM! :

Writing real-life, living, breathing, non-made up, nonfictional people as something other than their actual sexualities (Straight or Gay) is WRONG! Hands down, point blank, period! It is disrespectful because it targets the person’s sexuality as if that is something that can be manipulated or skewed (even if its a mere depiction) to appeal to the masses.

This is something that the thick-skulled defenders don’t understand, are uninformed about, or just want to be the devil’s advocate of.

Even though it is fanfiction, you have to understand that you are writing fictional stories based on REAL PEOPLE with REAL IDENTITIES!

Imagine a writer wrote a story about a real lesbian celebrity and she came across that and didn’t like the fact that people were depicting her as straight and in straight sexual relationships— she’d feel so gross that people were treating her identity as something that could be skewed. And she could literally sue that person for it 😭 No joke.

The reason why it’s not disrespectful to write these real life people as professors or drug dealers or whatever other role is because that’s a whole JOB. a PROFESSION. a HOBBY. a ROLE. You’re not changing someone’s identity. You’re not changing someone’s core value.

Just…*takes a deep breath* be respectful. That’s literally the whole focal point of why this whole thing is wrong! It’s disrespectful. “How is it disrespec— BONK! 💥👋🏾” If you don’t get it, reread my statement and orher people’s.

Fanfiction is fun and of course you can play around. There’s just still a respectful way to do it. 🥰👍🏾😁

[mitziholder]

I find your thoughts on fandom interesting, and in general, I'm really glad to see more discussion of the bad shit fandom can/is doing to young women in radblr spaces. But I mean this as an honest question: Why do you consider fandom not challenging writers/readers such a problem? These aren't professional writing spaces, and the vast majority of fanfic writers don't intend to go into them. Does an artistic hobby *need* to challenge its participants to be worthwhile? I mean this all really genuinely, especially as someone who *does* work in the arts and *does* actively want work that challenges me, and has traditionally prided herself on it -- are these inherent moral goods? Am I a reasonable standard to expect of other people? Is engaging with boundary-pushing art a requirement of healthy maturity? Why? Is, say, a human rights lawyer who spends her free time watching trashy reality shows blighted, somehow, by that fact? What about a cashier who watches the same stuff because she's genuinely not interested in anything else? And, given the vast majority of readers of actual books basically read the way fanfic-only readers read -- the same genres, which use well-worn tropes -- do we think fandom is actually keeping its participants from more worthwhile experiences? (I suspect you might argue this is dumbing down the publishing industry, which I would really disagree with, as someone in publishing -- I know we can all point to Ali Hazelwood or a million YA books that advertise with tropes, but I really can't emphasize enough that this has been the case since modern publishing began, and I think pinning "so-so prose that's The Same Old Shit" on the current young female writer cohort borders on sexism, tbh.) I've been thinking about these questions a lot lately, and I just don't know the answers. My gut wants to say yes, it's good to present challenging work to people, especially women, because art is a key part of the human experience, and can effect all sorts of societal things. But also ... I know very little about the environment, including my immediate natural environment, and if I'm honest, I'm not really inclined to learn. I'm sure learning about it would effect all sorts of change in my life and concept of self. But I'm probably not going to do it because I have a limited amount of time and I'd rather give it to other things. Is that better or worse than engaging with challenging art? Is it better or worse to be me than the woman reading the same old tropey fanfic in her free time? I think what I WOULD argue is that, specifically, fandom as it is reinforces patriarchy and induces a lot self-destruction and alienation in young women, with particularly vile effects on young lesbians, autistic women, etc. But if it didn't do that....would I still have a problem with it? I don't know. But it's interesting as hell to think about, and I'd love your thoughts on it.

hello nona :-) many interesting points, much to consider

>Does an artistic hobby need to challenge its participants to be worthwhile?

no. I’m sure there are plenty of people who enjoy crochet or knitting or something like that for the sake of it or to de-stress. I’m sure there are also plenty of people who write and draw for the sake of it with little interest in grinding for improvement. that’s fine. the problem is when you have people who replace reading and personal edification with endless fluff + pointless indulgence.

reading... things... that are above your level, that actually make you think, is how you increase your vocabulary, your linguistic competence, your critical thinking skills, your ability to express yourself. difficult and complex texts present you with opportunities to broaden your perspective. they stimulate your mind, present you with new ideas; they can help you grow as a person in ways that the Same Old Shit simply won’t/can’t. it would be like benching the bar every day for 10 years straight and expecting to get stronger... I presume. I don’t lift weights.

as I said previously, I don’t think fanfic is going to destroy your brain, but if you read nothing but fanfic, that is on the same level as (or maybe worse than) reading nothing at all. of course I’m going to be critical of a community of people who humblebrag about how they can’t bring themselves to read 25 pages of literature in an academic (non yaoitastic) context.

ya ya it’s a joke they’re joking very funny, but do you see people of other creative pursuits or hobbies joking about how they can’t bring themselves to focus on a piece of actual literature or nonfiction? how they have zero interest in anything outside of anime boys kissing each other? it’s a sign of intellectual stagnation (and eventual regression imo).

I watch a lot of shitty youtube videos, but I acknowledge that they are basically a waste of my time. meanwhile you have post after post singing the praises of how culturally important and worthy of respect Our Beloved Fic Writers are in spite of the fact that their work is, by and large, completely self-indulgent shit! there’s just so much potential that isn’t being tapped into & so much complacency... it’s very frustrating to me. I find it dishonest. red white and royal blue is not going to change the world... lol

for the record, yes, you are right, lots of Real book-readers also read mostly self-indulgent shit. genre fiction is far more popular than anything else... and I don’t care for booktok either. in fairness, literary fiction isn’t always good, and I’m sure there were many women who read nothing but terrible pulp novels 70 years ago too. that doesn’t make fandom any better! not to say this is all women’s fault - I just have zero frame of reference for how “cultured” men may or may not be, and I don’t really care either way. I focus on fandom girlies because they’re what I know, & I want women to be... better, or at least more interesting. this is, of course, sexist by definition. I hold myself and other women to higher standards. I will admit to that. I’ll also admit to the fact that I do not care about men or what they are writing or reading and would not give a shit if they all became illiterate thoughtless slugs. it is what it is.

truthfully, I have no interest in moralizing any of this. I just find it depressing! it’s resulting in more and more women who cannot relate to and have zero interest in anything outside of the narrowly defined fanfic bubble - so, more and more women who can’t relate to me or what I care about. I’m selfish, and I think it’s unfortunate that there are so many young female writers clearly capable of writing something interesting who nevertheless restrict themselves to lowest common denominator coombrained garbage because it’s what’s easy and popular.

do we have a responsibility to pester random strangers about their amateur fanfic? naw. who has the time? all I know is that conversations I’ve had with my female friends about our original works or other women’s writing have been vastly more substantial and enlightening than any argument about who tops or bottoms in supernatural... imo. in my opinion

re: the environment and social responsibility, I also have no interest in debating what matters are the most important and whether you have a personal, moral obligation to educate yourself about them. I recognize that we all have a limited amount of time and energy to dedicate to something which is admittedly fairly peripheral to most people’s everyday concerns (such as... paying the bills). then again, so is almost everything.

at the end of the day, I just think it is an awful shame that some women would - and they freely admit this - rather turn their brains off and do nothing, think about nothing, read the same shit over and over, watch the same shows over and over, draw and write the same things and dynamics over and over... than do anything else. anything different or thought-provoking or uncomfortable. it is a loss for the breadth and the depth of women’s contributions to culture as well as their empathy and intellectual curiosity.

obligatory food analogy: a little bit of junk food won’t kill you, but if that’s all you’re eating, you are probably not... doing... well

and that’s not even getting into the social contagion present within fandom re:mogai, relationships, and gender identity shit (which I would say probably has a lot to do with the underdeveloped critical thinking skills and worldviews of girls who read nothing but fanfiction). I would love to come back to that at some point, but I think this post is long enough, so I’ll just put a pin in it. there’s honestly an insane amount that I have to say about common talking points regarding the value of yaoi/fanfic (in terms of how they portray Marginalized Identities and Relationships and how it supposedly helps women navigate their own trauma through a proxy or some shit like that) oh god this is a horrible run-on .... that’s all for now! send post!

[m4ndysk4nkovich]

my thoughts on sandy milkovich:

(buckle up because i have a lot to say, as always)

so, for starters, one thing that i’m not incredibly fond of is how her character isn’t really original. like, it is, but it isn’t. her name is sandy, for christ’s sake- which is literally one letter away from mandy, also not to mention the fact that she was practically raised as mickey’s sister. and in many way’s she’s like a female version of mickey, i’ll explain why:

obviously one way she’s like mickey is that she dated a gallagher, but i think that the way she acts in the relationship is very much like how mickey acts in gallavich. well…acted. more seasons 1-5 gallavich.

she’s a bit less… idk, fearful than mickey was? i mean, it’s understandable why mickey was so fearful- have you seen terry? did you watch 3x666? or 4x11? i would’ve been fearful if i were him, too. we don’t know much about how sandy was raised, but she probably wasn’t raised well. again, she seemingly was raised as mickey’s sister rather than his cousin (he does have a brother who is also his cousin, to be fair, but that’s not what i mean) but sandy’s parents may not have been as threatening or terrifying as terry was. terry does seem to be the most well-known milkovich. everybody knows terry. maybe sandy’s parents were homophobic in a way where they looked down on queer people, but didn’t literally murder them. you can see how much more open she is with the whole “he’s gay, terry. i’m gay. people are gay.”

but sandy can be mean. and so can mickey. i love them both to death but sandy’s fight with debbie in season 11 really reminded me of gallavich in seasons 2/3. specifically “you’re nothing but a warm mouth to me” and “you love me; and you’re gay” she wins the fight by using something to hurt debbie, and it works.

and what was the fight all about? sandy leaving her husband, who she was with as a teenager but felt no love for him whatsoever, and also leaving her kid. sound familiar? ian never held yevgeny and svetlana against mickey, but it’s similar.

and when they break up on the front porch all i, and many other gallavich fans, could think of was “5x12!!!!”

also she was a drug dealer and in juvie and it was implied that she was in prison. this isn’t exclusive to mickey, the only milkovich i can think of (other than yevgeny) who hasn’t been incarcerated is mandy, but we don’t know for sure that she hasn’t been to juvie before. she’s certainly done things that could land her in prison for a very long time.

and i feel like with the same amount of time and development sandy can be as great as her cousin is, because mickey changed A LOT over the seasons which made him even more lovable.

but sandy’s ending was pathetic and i hate the writers for it. it was unnecessary and damaged debbie’s character when she didn’t need it because sandy left literally 4 EPISODES BEFORE THE SERIES FINALE. the only thing that sandy leaving added was the evidence that debbie would stick with franny no matter what, but fuck that, it was too late in the show for most people (not me ofc) to give a shit about that. people overlooked that a lot.

i feel like sandy helped out debbie’s character a lot, while simultaneously fucking her up even more. but i loved sandy for most of her run on the show, i just wish that they had done more- or less. idk. they made her character more complicated than she needed to be, and it’s hard to put my feelings about her into words because they didn’t give us enough to work on.

i think that her relationship with royal was bad, and i think that he was probably a creep who impregnated her, and i bet that he knew she was a lesbian after they got married and things probably got messy. the way that royal described sandy’s choices to prince was good, though. i respected that.

anyway, if they kept making shameless seasons (which they wont) i would love a sandy redemption. possibly like the returns of mickey, jimmysteve, or kelly.

im not reading this over before i post it so if it doesn’t make sense then oh well

[uncaught-coolfish]

ok ok imo there was defo some planning to the bees becoming canon and to deny that is kinda silly to me. that doesn’t mean that planning and eventual execution was good.

•Yang losing her arm is apparently a “sign of her love for Blake” because of that line Adam had in V3? …I thought y’all despised his ass, when did we start believing a word that came out of his mouth??

•On that note, paralleling the two, when the latter was literally the abuser of the former’s current gf, is…..😬

•Also on that note, the objective infantilizing of Blake. All she really does now is whimper and be meek around Yang until another “bee moment” or until the plot remembers to use her for something. Yes, because turning this once feisty character into this shy nervous little meow meow who can’t even fight on her own anymore after she’s revealed to have been an abuse victim is totally not gross.

•Yang prioritizes her new GF over her little sister who is clearly in a horrible headspace, and when she finally breaks down, instead of attempting to calm her down or console her she steps in front of a COWERING BLAKE and just says “Hey!”. YOU TWO ARE BOTH OLDER THAN HER WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS

•The scene in which they finally confess was literally forced out of them by a storm. I…I thought we learned to not do this? Guys? Um…

•The 10 year queerbaiting smugly disguised as “planned from the start uwu” that Voltron Legendary Fucking Defender wishes it could have achieved. Does that mean it was always planned that you’d write your hatesink character to have been a branded child slave? Does that mean it was always planned that you’d write the confession of these two’s love for each other to have been forced out of them? Does that mean it was always planned that you’d confirm your main queer couple two episodes before said couple did nothing to save their 17 year old leader from taking her own life on screen?

•Saying the quiet part out loud when an employee tweeted that “The bee kiss alone hopefully green lights V10.”

•Also, the immediate merchandising of it. Ugh.

Before I go on, no I do not believe the bees were “forced diversity”. No I do not believe Adam was killed to push it (he was killed because the writers wanted a quick way for people to forget how abhorrently racist this show fucking got anyways). No I do not believe this is a bad pairing, and if you accuse me of being an [insert hetero Blake/Yang ship here], I ship fucking Monochrome and Thundercats, dude. But what about the rest of this show’s LGBT representation? Is it any b

No.

•Our first on screen rep is in the form of Ilia. I really like Ilia, genuinely, she’s honestly one of my favorite characters. But why did they write their first lesbian character in the “psycho lesbian” trope? Also, why did their first indigenous character start out as a villain who had to be redeemed by learning violent protest bad all lives matter and ANYWAYS—

•Coco leers at women and her allusion is a fucking Nazi. She sucks. •The wives from V6 (Terracotta-Arcs??) are fine. Probably the most decent rep we’ve got, even if they were just a one off thing. They’re cute and I’m happy for em. Slay.

•We’ve got a single gay man in the entire cast (Scarlet) and he’s confirmed in a book. A single gay dude in a show infamous for its character bloat. Obviously we know why but man.

•3 non-binary characters. 1 is in a spin-off, 2 are animals. In this latest volume in which the last two are present, one is revealed to be a villain, and the other goes out Green Mile style. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay….

•And lastly, May. I also do like May! However, her character is not the problem.

What is the problem with all of this, no mater what, is the people, company, making this show.

Rooster Teeth is not your friend. Rooster Teeth does not care about you, or putting that loving care into representation.

Why are half of the villains disabled? Why are half of the villains in universe minorities? Why are half of the villains POC? Why are half of the villains a combination of two or all three of those traits?

Why is the only freedom fighting, minority rights organization terrorists? Why does their WOC leader die the scene we meet her? And why is her killer revealed to have been in fucking slavery the same episode he dies on screen in? And why is this organization taken as a serious threat, while two openly racist antagonists are portrayed as goofy and comical?

Why are any and all plus-sized characters portrayed as jokes? Why does the disabled-coded girl get her disability ripped away from her so she can “truly be human”? Why does another disabled character have him losing an arm to mean he’s lost his humanity? Why does this show portray so many misandristic tropes? Why does this show portray so many misogynistic tropes?

Why was this show’s first LGBT character a villain? Why was the next based off a Nazi? Why are two out of their three non-binary characters animals, and why have those two either been “killed” or turned into villains? Why is there only one gay man in this huge cast?

And why is it so many just let it slide that, while before and during the production of the volumes featuring the show’s first transgender character, Rooster Teeth treated and abused that character’s VA like absolute garbage?

Are the lives of those real people less important than those sweet, sweet “bee moments”?

In conclusion, the bees were not forced. I am glad they are canon. But I am not glad that it has nearly managed to conceal all the deplorable shit the racist, homophobic and awful company behind it has done.

[girl4music]

“It’s OOC for Willow to be doing this.”

3x18

*Interrogation with Jonathan takes place*

WILLOW: "Fantasy's are fun, aren't they Jonathan?"

JONATHAN: "Uh... I guess."

WILLOW: "We all have fantasies that we’re powerful, more respected. Where people pay attention to us.”

JONATHAN: "Uh... maybe."

WILLOW: "But sometimes the fantasy isn't enough, is it Jonathan? Sometimes we have to make it so people don't ignore us. Make them pay attention. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

JONATHAN: "Erm, you... Want me to pay attention?"

They may be overdoing it a bit with the magic addiction metaphor but it’s not OOC because it’s not about the magic. People need to understand this. It’s never been about the magic. The only reason why it’s magic is because that’s the channel to which to have power and control. It’s what Willow is best at so of course it’s magic that would be the substance to abuse. But the whole point is to have that power and control to make people pay attention to her. To not regard her as worthless. We, of course, know that that isn’t the truth of who she is. People do not view Willow that way anymore. But she still believes that they do deep down. Her mindset is still that of somebody who is just faking their confident persona and people will see right through it to the nerd within. Even as powerful as she is here, she still feels like she’s a fraud, an imposter, and if she doesn’t keep up with this overcompensated dangerous identity she’s taken on, they’ll get tired of her. They’ll leave her behind because she’s nothing more than a wannabe and not a true hero to the cause of the greater good. Not a true witch. Not a true lesbian. Not a true anything except a hapless, loveless, useless loser. That’s why she does all this chaotic, violating, destructive shit with her magic. She believes that if she doesn’t show her immense power as often as she can and to as much extent as possible, she will be exposed for being fake.

It’s got nothing to do with magic. It’s a severe insecurity issue brought on by unchecked emotional complex trauma of bullying and abuse from both her school and home life. Why the writers depict all of this as if it’s only to do with magic addiction is maybe something they shouldn’t have done. I will agree with that. But it’s not out of character. It can’t be because Willow has been power hungry for a long fucking time in the show. We just didn’t want to see it. We didn’t want to think of Willow as going down a destructive path with her magic usage. We didn’t view it as corruption that she was quickly accumulating power. We viewed it as ‘Uber Witch’ heroism. But now in this season it’s revealed to us for what it really is. Villainy. This is something Willow herself doesn’t realize and it’s part of what makes it so real and relatable.

So what if it’s through magic? That’s not the point. And it has never been the point. That’s just an effective tool through which to use and explore the themes of power corruption and addiction with. And maybe I’m giving the writers too much credit here but I feel like it’s purposeful for it to seem mixed signal-y because the majority of people watching this arc are looking at it through the perspective of all the other characters. Not through Willow. But this is what is going on in Willow’s head. This is her paranoia hitting her full force. Maybe she does feel out of character. Maybe she’s doing the most to not feel that way. Maybe it all still is just a fantasy for her and she will never truly achieve what she wants. She will never achieve true love. She will never be a hero equal to Buffy. She’ll always be a loser no matter how hard she tries not to be.

Again, we as the audience see that that is not the truth. But it’s true to her. It’s her reality. Because that’s just how mentally ill she is. And they do not tell you this until it’s way too late. Willow does not confess this until she has to. We never really see just how bad it is for her until now so it does seem like it comes out of left-field and just made up for the sake of the story this season. But mental illness is like that. People on the outside-looking in do not see it because the one going through it keeps it well hidden until something awful happens. Dawn could have died and so Willow is like “Okay. Enough is enough. Time to come clean.” And it’s the most heroic thing she does in the whole show as far as I’m concerned. This is what makes her a hero amidst an arc where she is the villain. That she fesses up and then tries really hard to get back on track again and what happens next is not her fault.

[catgirl-catboy]

I know Teruteru is very flawed and not best written character yet he still my favourite and my comfort character and i love writing about him in fanfics. Because I honestly find him so interesting and full of potential as a character, I love me a train wreck of a character. Also his designs is super cute, I love drawing him.

Sadly though as a Teruteru fan, I honestly never felt truly welcome in the dr fandom and i honestly wonder if people hate me just for liking the character. I know he’s problematic but does it give people the right to trust his fans like trash just because they disagree and don’t hate him or try to guilt trips his Teruteru by saying they a bad person/ insert any your homophobic or a being a bad queer for liking a character.

Sorry the rambling I needed to let my problem with dr fandom though-out years being in it and I really think your take on Teruteru is valid and respect your opinion and point of view. I’m just tired of people in the fandom who treated people horribly over a character they don’t like or try to play cop policing what character people can enjoy.

Also, what your feelings on Ryoma? I like him, he my favourite from v3 but it sad that author kinda forgot about him and he falls into the background they even joke about they the cast completely forgot about Ryoma in the trial :(

Yeah, its not a DR exclusive problem, but DR definately has it the worst of every fandom I've ever been in. You cannot touch Haji Towa with a 30 foot pole without people shitting themselves in anger. I mean, I don't like Haji, but I still think its fucking stupid.

The whole point of Danganronpa is that a lot of these characters aren't good people. We had a plot twist in the second game that the entire cast helped the big bad destroy society as we know it and have killed a lot of people.

Because objectively, killing people is a worse crime than being a pervert and/or sexual assaulter if you count dr3, right? The fandom knows that,,, right?

As for liking problematic rep, I'm a Tenko enjoyer (who also hcs her as Bi because I'm uncomfortable headcanoning her as a lesbian due to all the stereotypes she fits into, so literally the entire fandom hates me), so I am sitting in a big ass glass house. You won't see me throwing any stones over it. I wish the writers would improve in future Danganronpa installments, if there will be any, but harassing the fans is absolutely not okay. Sometimes problematic rep can call out to you in ways the best rep we currently have so far doesn't. Thats normal, since the queer experience is super varied!!! Hell, I don't think stereotypical rep is a problem, I just wish there was more variety.

Also you are right, Teruteru's design is objectively one of the best in the series.

I'm sorry you have to deal with the toxicity of the fandom. I wish I could make this fandom calm down for everyone's sake.

As for Ryoma, I made a post on him last night here, and I haven't had any new thoughts on him since then. I do love the iconic little cat man!

[the-teddy-bear-butch]

1, 3, 12, 13, 15, 19, 23, 24, 25, 27! Or I’d say any 5 from this list that you want lol because this is a lot

Oh boy [cracks knuckles]

1: favorite fic you wrote this year

Definitely the Christmas fic! I just enjoy the fluff so much and I worked really hard on it.

3: favorite line/scene you wrote this year

I answered this one with the ao3 wrapped asks forever ago but I’ll say it again! I like the imagery in this scene and this is where I think my descriptive writing and sense of metaphors really fell into place, from bad idea!

The girl in front of Robin moved back and forth, alcohol strong on her breath. She laughed as Robin spun her and pulled her close, her breath hot on the stranger’s ear. She made pointed eye contact across the bar, watching as Nancy was illuminated in soft pink. It matched the shade of her lips—the blush Robin wanted to put on her cheeks.

Blue light shone down on Robin and the stranger, gleaming in the former’s stormy eyes as they met with Nancy’s ocean.

Waves crashed and lightning struck, filling the room with unbearable electricity. The lights met and flared in an intense clash of violet sky, and Robin knew she was doomed to be lost at sea. Her heart was racing with exertion and excitement, drawn against her will to the other girl—the girl who wanted to kill her. The girl who was probably planning her demise at this very moment. The thought was exhilarating.

12: favorite character to write about this year

Nancy Wheeler my beloved <33 She’s just such a complex, malleable character. I love writing her personality and trying to figure out how she would respond in certain scenarios—and since the Duffers won’t let her explore her trauma, I will!! Also as an eldest daughter burnt out gifted kid… She’s very projection shaped

13: favorite writing song/album/artist of this year

Stick Season by Noah Kahan for sure! I still would really, really like to write a string of one shots for each song, but especially Growing Sideways, Northern Attitude, and The View Between Villages. I love his music and his voice and I think it’s very easy to ronancify this album lol

15: something you learned this year

Oh this one is fun. Imma be cheesy about it. I learned to stop letting what other people think of me get in the way of having fun. I was so against ever writing fic because “I don’t want to be cringe and get made fun of.” Fuck that. I am cringe and it’s FUN. I will own it with pride. I like my silly little self indulgent fics.

19: any new fics to start next year

Oh god so many. I’m not kidding when I say I’m past 30 on the WIP/idea list. I’ll toss some favorites tho:

say you’re gonna come back: one shot based on Sports Car by Valley, Ronance reunite and fall in love all over again years down the road

there in the garden, she looked my way: beauty and the beast au multi chapter featuring vampire Nancy and just so much pining

she will pull the trigger: monster hunter Nance and werewolf Rob and they’re both GNC ft toxic lesbianism because wanting to kill each other is sexy

23: fics you wanted to write but didn’t

I’m still thinking so hard about run, devil, run, which was a Wild West au featuring werewolf Nance and vampire Rob but I don’t think that one will stick. I go through a circle of phases of really stubborn hyperfixations and the wild west pops up as one of them but never stays for long. Was feeling it for a week, wrote one scene, then sort of dropped it to lowest priority

24: favorite fic you read this year

Oh god there are so many. I refuse to pick just one, but I’ll stick with 3 I think.

One of them (surprise) is you! a never ending story changed my brain chemistry. dungeon master rules lawyer repressed furious mega nerd comphet religious guilt traumatized Nancy my beloved!!!! Not saying I’d get a tattoo based off a fic but I am saying a d20 on 13 would be so cool… (also special shout out to DITM, I love that one dearly too, especially Martha) I also ADORE when you can tell a writer is into poetry and it shows in their word. Flowery prose and heart shattering metaphors my beloved

I have sung praises about this fic and I’ll fucking do it again. Bloodletting my beloved. I am once again in awe of the way @lavenderlevetan weaves the story and connects all the pieces. I love the dynamic and the way the tension builds. I am feral about vampires and biting, sue me.

And I have to say put me in the movies (on a king sized silver screen) by @sapphicriley is also one of my all time favorites. I love the back and forth banter and it’s sweet and fluffy and it’s just a feel good fic and I like to reread it when I’m feeling down. Another example of poetic writing as well <33

25: a fic you read this year that you would recommend everyone read

Well all of the one from above ofc. Also dancing in the moonlight. Also,,, Raise Dead by @eskawrites killed me and healed me. If you can handle the angst, this one is an incredible read and I cannot recommend it enough. I don’t really cry when reading, but this one actually had me in tears in the best way.

27: favorite fanfic author of the year

This is like asking me to pick a favorite child. God. I’m terms of writing, I have to say it’s between a few, but there’s this one rando who wrote this D&D fic and also one about monster fucking. You might have heard of her? I think her name is summersociety or something.

I also adore @lavenderlevetan (I will continue to scream about Bloodletting forever!!!) and you guys are in for a treat with some of the WIP sneak peeks I’ve gotten from @suwunnysideup

And I have to say every single one of my mutuals are just such incredible, talented writers, and such amazing friends. I love you all. 🥺

[nakedmonkey]

I’m the original Perfume & Pain anon and everything ur reply is spot on! As long as there has been lesbian rep—even ‘bad’ lesbians have been feminine. Like the man hating conniving bitches from the 50s films/pulp films that all die at the end were all made up and femme. Some even had husbands lol. The longest running lesbian relationship on tv was two feminine women (Callie is bisexual but still) like prime time lesbians are pretty much straight women who kiss women lol. Not to mention lesbian media itself has a a butch problem like the new L word gave crumbs with the Rosie O’Donnell character but they made fun of her for a whole season before actually trying and giving her a love interest :/ Outside of her I can’t even name 5 butches on screen rn that are part of a main ensemble not to mention books. But yeah youre right about not really knowing what her beliefs are, but seeing this as a theme in all 3 of her books plus the way she elevates gay men while shitting on lesbians makes me think this is a closely held belief of hers lol. It’s weird bc I see this take all the time with lesbians who don’t engage with lesbian history or even watch the watered down sapphic shit on like ABC or Netflix but she’s grown enough to know better? idk it seems like a personal problem at least her writing is good I guess lol



I mean. Let's not give her that much credit either lolol her writing is like. Fine. Considering the fact that all of her protagonists seem to be the same girl, I think she could use a revamp after this last book.

But yeah, man! I think the very clear alignment with gay men to the exclusion of sapphics who aren't femme is very strange. I finished P&P and I was disappointed, though not shocked, to see that her character went out of her way to point out how much she doesn't "vibe with dykes" and then just, not only learned nothing, but took that statement nowhere.

The idolization of gay men is a thing we really need to stop doing, because it's really harmful, especially to young queers still figuring themselves out. I've mentioned this before, but I recall being at a party once, years ago, and a gay man saying that guy on guy sex is a lot more intimate and intense than wlw sex, and a straight girl immediately agreeing. I never forgot that. And i think about that anytime someone makes a lesbian joke. Because lesbians are still very much a joke, and that's fucked up.

Anyway, lesbian writers, do better.

[queerofcups]

Dear Yuletide 2023 Writer

Hi Yuletide writer! This is my first time doing Yuletide, so thank you SO much for the fic you’re gonna write. It probably doesn’t exist yet, but I already love it. Please don’t take my chattiness as directives (other than my DNWs), I’m really just putting you in the general arena of stories I wanna read, go wild from there.

Requests: Worlds Beyond Number (Podcast)

I know Word of God is that Suvi, Ame, and Eursulon are faaaaamily, but I think it’s legal to think the kid you went to summer camp with turned out to be a hottie actually.

There’s so! much! tension! Between these three and its nearly all unspoken and I think that’s very sexy and interesting

OT3 endgame, but totally fine with pre-endgame hookups & feelings between any two members of our little party

Plotwise, go nuts here, I’ll take anything from silly falling into bed together to the serious, hard work of making a relationship work with people with VERY different politics, or even the aforementioned, “oh damn, such and such got hot???” fic. I just want more of these three together.

The Bear (TV 2022)

Carmy and Sid hooking up would be a TERRIBLE idea, professionally speaking, and probably also emotionally speaking. I want to read about the ways that it could go wrong and why they do it anyway. Do they keep it a secret? Do they fail at keeping it a secret? Is it incredibly obvious to the rest of the crew?

I’ve read a lot of very sweet fics where they fall in love and all is great, and those are wonderful, but I think messy power dynamics are hot and interesting and they’ve got bad idea written all over them.

Bonus bonus points if you engage with what food, cooking and meals mean to both of them.

Barbie (Movie 2023)

Let Barbie be gay!!!! Greta Gerwig was trying to tell us something with all that Indigo Girls and Birkenstock and I wanna read someone picking up what she’s putting down. Barbie’s first gay hookup! Barbie’s first, third and fifteenth u-haul! What does it mean for an idea that’s an icon of heterosexuality to become a person who…isn’t straight!

Whether it’s funny or deadly serious, I’m interested in what people imagine might happen if Barbie turns out to be a lesbian, specifically.

Joy Ride (2023)

I can’t be the only one who saw some sexual tension between Lolo and Kat. Do they become rivals for Audrey’s affections? Is it a competition to see how many people they can sleep with (and then they end up sleeping with each other?). Does Kat realize that her hubby is great, but actually can’t keep up with her and has to outsource? The world’s your oyster here, anon!

General Likes:

Emotional introspection from characters

Descriptions of setting, food, sensations, etc

Messy lines between friendship, romantic relationships and sexual relationships

Messy & fucked up power dynamics - Not necessarily dead dove, but any semi-realistic takes on people who, due to their positions, really shouldn’t be doing this

A lot (most?) of my request involve at least one person of color. I like fic that acknowledges that those experiences mean something. I don’t need an anti-racism TED talk or anything, it’s just nice to know that someone’s thinking about that kind of stuff.

Gay shit! Similar to the note above, I’m not looking for a TED talk, but I like fics to contend with what it might mean to be a queer person in the world (if its a canon where that matters)

Smut wise: public sex, sex pollen, ABO (if you’re gonna say something thoughtful about sex/gender/sexuality), casual kink, edging, descriptions of sensation

Tropewise: I like curtainfic, I don’t mind an AU (love mail-order bride AUs, arranged marriage AUs, anything requiring people to get used to each other)

A note on femslash: I’m not interested in fic that’s gender swapped men. Also, I love fic about trans women, but I’m not interested in futa fic.

Hard Nos: * Noncon (Dubcon is fine, but I need there to be clear signs of the no becoming/being a yes) * Underage * Major Character Death (in which they stay dead) * No scat, no puke, no pee, I feel neutral about blood, sweat, spit, etc. Race play, racial slurs being used in non-reclaimed way

General Dislikes: *Purely sweet, fluffy fics *Grimdark, dead dove, trauma for the sake of trauma *High School AUs *Crossovers w other media *Kink being formally negotiated on screen *Kidfic *Pregnancy fic (but I am fine with dealing with an unexpected pregnancy) *Gen fic *COVID mentions are fine, but no COVID plotpoints

[semper-legens]

158. London Triptych, by Jonathan Kemp

Owned: No, library Page count: 230 My summary: In the 1890s, a young sex worker meets a charismatic writer, and leads to his downfall. In the 1950s, a deeply closeted man paints a beautiful boy, and dares to hope for more. And in the 1990s, a soon-to-be-released convict narrates his life to his lover - the man who betrayed him. My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

This is the second of two books I picked out of the fiction reserve at work about gay men. It’s an interesting one. I really feel like I got a lot out of it - it’s framed around the lives of three sex workers, a young man in the 1800s who speaks at Oscar Wilde’s trial, a guy being painted by a closeted older man at the height of gaybashing in the 50s, and a gay man who fell into sex work and was betrayed by the man that he loved. It’s about that sex work, but it’s also about love, and relationships, and the interconnectivity of life, and the complications of being a gay man in these time period. I would never have found this if it wasn’t in the library, but I’m really glad I did find it.

Jack is our first narrator, the kid in the 1890s. He’s a very cheeky narrator, blithe about sex and aiming to scandalise, in the mould of the comedy Cockney. But at the same time, his slow romance with Oscar Wilde, where he falls in love with his client and then gets left behind when Wilde moves on to another guy, is heartbreaking to read. There’s an innocence about Jack, even with his worldliness and with his profession, where he’s very streetwise but not particularly in touch with his emotions or literate in that area. So he lashes out at Wilde, and becomes a factor in Wilde’s imprisonment, and later death. Even as he does it, Jack’s regretting turning his back on this man he loves. But it happens nonetheless.

Colin, the 1950s narrator, is the only one of the three who is still closeted. He married a woman who he suspects was actually a lesbian, they had sex once, and then just lived as friends until her death. He’s living through a time when it was very dangerous to be a gay man, where the police were actively looking for gay men and criminalising them, ruining their lives by outting them in the newspapers. Colin is falling in lust with a kid called Gore, a young gay sex worker who he paints. He starts creeping into the gay community, going to a gay bar for the first time...and promptly gets the wall slammed down by the police and by the law. It’s heartbreaking, especially since in the hands of a less sympathetic writer this character will come across as predatory in the vein of older gay men lusting after younger men. But Colin’s never that. He’s got a lot of shame, a lot of pain in his life. All the way through I was rooting for him to finally allow himself to be happy, even knowing how dangerous that would be for him. Poor guy.

David is our last narrator, the more modern, who was imprisoned while carrying drugs for his lover, a man who let him take the fall. David’s hedonistic, he doesn’t really care about anyone, except the first time he met Jake he fell deeply in love for the first time in his life. This feeling being alien to him, he made a lot of mistakes that ended up with him in prison. He’s a difficult guy to get on with, David, I struggled with some of his POV. But at the same time, being a gay young man in the late 80s/early 90s was not exactly great either. David is ultimately dealing with the same things as Colin and Jack, just a more updated version. It’s interesting to see how the world he inhabits is so informed by their worlds, and yet so far removed from them. And that’s what the book’s about, really - interconnected lives. Jack shows up in Colin’s gay bar as an older Polari-speaking queen, Colin’s painting is seen by David along his journey. These men are linked spiritually and literally, and all their stories are the same story. It’s a really thought-provoking book.

Next, back to the ice, and everybody’s having a bad time!

[the-plot-blog-thing]

(originally published on 9/15/20)

WDAS TAGTEAM TWEET-ATHON MOVIE #58: FROZEN 2 (2019) 

*sigh* Y’know, before this came out I thought, “It’s Frozen 2! How could they screw this up?” and yet...here we are...

I really do not want to hate this movie. Its got a lot of aspects that I really enjoy a lot. But it feels like it goes out of its way to piss me off most of the time.

Disney released this in theaters last year, which was a pretty crowded year for Disney movies. Bob Iger must’ve had a vision of the chaos of the following year and packed the year with a whole bunch of blockbusters.

Iger must not have had much faith in that small indie film “The Rise of Skywalker”, so he released this movie one month before probably as a failsafe in case it flopped.

Let’s start with the music. The score is ok, still good, but not as good as the original. The songs are good for the most part too, more consistent this time, but they never reach the highs of the first.

Also, I feel like the songs just exist as an obligation because the first one was a musical as well. The songs really don’t advance anything, and really only serve to make this already complicated film more confusing.

Next, the story. It’s boring and confusing. It’s really got a “Disney Sequel” vibe to it, in a bad way. Everything feels really forced, and nothing progresses in a natural way.

It feels like they made this film to address plot holes from the first film that only stupid nitpickers care about, and to make money.

At least the animation is good, the characters are all really expressive and the elemental effects look really cool. This movie’s also got a cozy autumn look which I really enjoy.

But now we get to my main issues with this movie...the characters. If you thought Ralph Breaks the Internet had character problems, you haven’t seen Frozen 2.

Anna’s role in this movie is to shout Elsa’s name, be paranoid, and be sad. Poor Kristoff is reduced to having the same arc as Bernard from Rescuers Down Under. But at least Bernard was able to kill a man by the end, Kristoff doesn’t even get that.

There are also a bunch of new characters, but I couldn’t name them if my life depended on it. Olaf is the only silver lining. He’s funnier here than he was in the first one.

The biggest problem with this movie is Elsa. She pretty much gets scammed into having character development by nature itself.

The movie tries to say that Elsa is a force of nature, and as such, she “belongs in nature”, so she ends this movie by becoming a forest hobo because I guess that can fit into her definition of being “free”.

She also turns into a statue for some reason in the second act, just so Anna can yell at some rocks to destroy a dam, and I guess that proves to Elsa that Anna is worthy of being Queen? What?

So...Elsa gets to live in the forest as some free elemental force of nature, and dumps all of her real responsibilities on Anna who had not even expressed interest or qualification for the position. Guess Elsa wasn’t the only one to get scammed in this movie...

Disney movies had this weird habit of having a main character leave their main group of friends. This movie had it, Ralph Breaks the Internet had it, and Toy Story 4 had it. Disney, were you ok? Do you want to talk about it?

It’s just so frustrating, I want to like this movie, but I feel like it goes out of its way to belittle the first movie. I don’t care about what happened to Anna and Elsa’s parents, Disney, I’m sorry but I really don’t.

I haven’t done this before, but I want to share how I would’ve made this movie differently, because this could have been good: 

-Be a more significant timeskip 

-Anna and Kristoff are already married with a daughter 

-Anna goes on her own journey with her daughter

-She sends Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf on their own journey 

-Daughter is possibly magic? 

-Elsa is lesbian, MAKE IT HAPPEN COWARDS!!!

Now of course, I’m no film writer, these were just some off the cuff ideas I had. I just really wanted to like this movie, but as it is, I just can’t. 

5/10: Disney just really can’t get sequels right, can they?

[fabuloustrash05]

5 Characters The 2012 Writers Could Have Shipped 2012 Leo With Instead of His Sister

Because as much as I love TMNT 2012, it’s biggest flaw (in my opinion) was the awkward uncomfortable forced romance between Leonardo and Karai.

I’m gonna start this list with two characters from other TMNT incarnations that the 2012 writers could’ve added to their show and make them the love interest for Leo, then I will give a list of current 2012 characters that could have been good potential love interests for Leo (with some rewriting of course) that I feel would be better than him being shipped with and crushing on his sister.

Lotus Blossom

Originally from the 1987 series, Lotus Blossom was a female ninja Kraang hired to replace Shredder. Lotus was given the task to capture Splinter and defeat the Turtles and when first meeting her Leo was entranced by her beauty and skills as a swordsman. 

Lotus only made two appearances in the 87 cartoon and never reappeared in other versions of TMNT (as of now), which is a shame because her and Leo have a cute dynamic and played off each other very well as both friends and romantic interests, so the 2012 writers could’ve brought this classic 87 character back like they did with so many others like Mona Lisa and Mondo Gecko. 

I personally have two ideas for 2012 Lotus, one being she’s a warrior from the past that the Turtles meet while on another time travel adventure with Renet, OR she’s Mr. Murakami’s niece and she comes to New York to visits her uncle to help him with his restaurant and befriends the Turtles.

Koya

Bare with me, I don’t read the comics so I’m using knowledge from Wikipedia

Similar to 2012 Alopex, the writers could’ve brought another famous and beloved character from the IDW comics into the 2012 series. in the IDW comics Koya was Shredder’s pet falcon who eventually got mutated and became a scout and bounty hunter for The Foot Clan. 

It is hinted that their is a romance between Koya and Leo, mostly from the character Lita who says that Koya has feelings for Leo (something Koya claims is a lie) and Lita even says that the two are together romantically in the future.

2012 Shredder already was growing his own army by recruiting mutants like Tiger Claw, I’m surprised he didn’t continue this by finding or creating Koya for his army. 

Casey Jones

Could’ve ended the dumb capriltello love triangle. And who doesn’t love the reckless bad boy jock x nerdy responsible popular boy trope?

I’ve been getting really into Caseynardo lately and I think this would’ve been a fun pair to see in the show. The two rarely had moments together and its a shame cause even as buddies they are fun to watch. 

I’d imagine that this romance would start to blossom by season 3. Casey is getting over April and starts spending more time with Leo while everyone else trains, keeping Leo company since he can’t join in because of his injury. Casey would offer to Raph for him watch over and take care of Leo while Raph continues to train his brothers and April, as a way to get some stress/responsibilities off Raph’s shoulders. During the farm house arc Casey would hang with Leo and the two would bond and learn they have more in common then they think (both are the older siblings of their families and would do anything to keep them safe). This would start their growing friendship and later blossoming romance that would develop more during the rest of the series.

Shinigami

Even though I headcanon Shinigami as a lesbian and I ship Shinirai hardcore, let’s consider Leogami so a moment. Leo would still get himself a goth kunoichi from the Foot Clan as a gf, but this time with the bonus of her knowing magic, and hands down being one of the most beautiful female characters in the show fight me

I mean seriously, they could’ve held off on Leo getting a love interest until Shinigami comes along. Also why give Mikey a second love interest when he already has Renet, creating a random love triangle, and never acknowledge/do anything with it?? 

Just replace all of Mikey’s scenes/moments of him showing attraction towards Shini and replace him with Leo and then BOOM, both problems are fixed! No pointless Mikey love triangle and no Leo simping for his sis.

Miyamoto Usagi

Hear me out! 2003 fans are probably already on board, but 2012 Usagi would need some rewriting if this were to happen if the 2012 writers consider this instead of leor*i. 

Though his age is never confirmed in the 2012 series, it is speculated Usagi is a young adult in this version. Here’s what the 2012 writers should have done, rewrite Usagi as a teenager like they did with so many other classic characters for the 2012 series and have him and Leo build a friendship during the Samurai Turtles arc in season 5, with there being hints of a romance blooming between the young samurai and ninja by the end. But again, this would only work if Usagi was rewritten. 

If they can turn April into a teenager and ship her with Donnie then they could’ve done the same thing with Usagi!

[herinsectreflection]

The hilarious part about Faith and how incredibly gay she comes across is that it's all a natural side-effect of her intended narrative role. According to Whedon she wasn't intentionally written to be a queer or even queer-coded character, but the way she is written and her metaphorical function necessarily meant she came across as queer-coded. I'll explain what I mean:

1) As Buffy's shadow, Faith is meant to be symbolic of Buffy's repressed desires, and specifically her frustrated sexuality. Buffy is dealing with imposed chastity throughout S3, first with her trauma over Angel getting in the way of a relationship with Scott, and then the curse preventing her from being physical with Angel. It's the centre point of Enemies, its touched on in Amends, and is one of the reasons they break up. There's a reason the season climaxes with Angel and Buffy in a passionate embrace, making orgasm faces as he 'penetrates' her. It's a whole season of sexual frustration for Buffy.

Faith needs to be constantly reminding Buffy of the thing she can't have - sex. She needs to talk about sex to Buffy - and she does, extensively. Faith is written as a very sexual person in general, but it's specifically and disproportionately aimed towards Buffy, because that's her narrative role. So you end up with this character who is constantly going around like "hey Buffy do you like sex? you should think about sex now. sex. when I'm on screen the main thing on your mind should be sex and having it". Which begs the question - why does Faith want Buffy to have sex? Symbolically, it's because she represents part of Buffy, and Buffy wants to have sex. But on a pure character level... what is the explanation? What is motivating Faith to constantly talk about sex to Buffy? A few instances you can write off as her making Buffy uncomfortable for jokes, but not all of them. How it comes across is that Faith has some sexual interest in Buffy, and is probing for her feelings.

2) Faith is a Seductress. That's not a comment about her character, that's her function in the story. She is the version of Buffy who goes down a darker path, and is trying to seduce her into doing the same thing. Part of Buffy's arc in S3 is resisting this temptation, and the symbol of what she is resisting is Faith. So Faith must be an enticing, seductive figure. To quote Passion of the Nerd's review, if Faith is there to to tempt Buffy into a moral dark side, it only makes sense that she is, well, tempting. The seduction is happening on many levels.

Faith is more or less filling the Femme Fatale archetype: the seductive, sexual figure who leads the Hero off their path. It's a trope you see all the time in male-led stories, going back to goddamn The Odyssey. Buffy as a character was invented as a simple gender-swap of an old horror trope, and part of the appeal of the show is that she gets to fill the role of The Hero as a woman. So what happens when you gender-swap The Hero and don't gender-swap the Femme Fatale? You get a gay story, that's what.

3) The Faith arc of S3 is a recreation of the Angel arc of S2. It is structured in the exact same way, with the two having a push-and-pull in the early parts of the season, a setback in their relationship in episode 7, getting closest again mid-season before a night of passion that ends in sudden tragedy. Angel/Faith then turn to the dark side, become the Big Bad, and show that they are beyond saving in episode 17. The season ends with Buffy having to fight and the kill them in order to save others. This is all an intentional recycling, as part of the show building up the Trolley Problem and the idea of Buffy being a killer, repeatedly escalating it to get us to The Gift. What this means is that Faith steps into the role that Buffy's love interest played in the previous season. This is the story that we have just had told to us as a tragic love story. We see it again, and guess what? It's still a tragic love story. Only now Faith is in the role of the love interest.

4) Part of the conflict surrounding Buffy and Faith is Buffy's fear of being "Single White Female'd". She fears Faith might steal her loved ones, and Faith does threaten that. She gets along with her mother, her friends... but most of all, her love interests. Buffy's fear of being replaced manifests as Faith trying to literally seduce away anyone romantically linked to Buffy. Angel, Scott Hope, Xander, later Riley, Spike, Robin Wood... Faith is comprehensively and exclusively attracted to men that Buffy dated. I'm honestly surprised she didn't find Owen and Parker from somewhere for a night in the sack. Again, this makes perfect heterosexual sense from a symbolic point it view - she threatens to take Buffy's place in the narrative, so she takes her place in relationships - but on a character level it becomes ambiguous. Is she actively trying to replace Buffy? Or is she trying to stop Buffy dating anyone for another reason? The simple fact is, there is exactly one common denominator with all of Faith's romantic entanglements: Buffy.

It's a canonical aspect of Faith's character that she is jealous of Buffy. We see that made explicit in Enemies - she's jealous of everything Buffy has: her family, her comfortable home life, her friends, her narrative standing, and of course her loving partners. So of course Faith displays jealousy whenever Buffy is involved with a guy. It's a necessary part of building Faith as this figure of Want and Envy. But how it plays out on screen isn't that Faith is jealous of Buffy because she wants these other guys - of course not, because we see her look jealously through the window at Buffy and Riley in This Year's Girl and Riley obviously means nothing to her. Rather, it very much appears that she is jealous of these other guys, because she wants Buffy.

There's also the added bonuses that come from the show playing with so many metaphors, that sometimes they cross in interesting ways. One of Faith's main purposes is to celebrate being a Slayer, and to encourage the same in Buffy. She wants Buffy to accept and embrace being a Slayer. Here, Slayerhood is standing in for independence and hedonism and making your own rules, all the things that Faith is encouraging. But one of the many other metaphors used is the 'coming out' metaphor. "Have your tried not being a slayer?" "It's because you didn't have a strong father figure isn't it." "I've tried to march in the Slayer Pride parade." It's a note that's hit really hard specifically around the time in the show that Faith is introduced. So if you carry this metaphor on, then Faith becomes an out-and-proud lesbianSlayer, trying to convince Buffy to accept and embrace her sexuality.

And it has a recursive effect too. All this stuff contributes towards Faith feeling like a very queer character. And Faith, of course, is Buffy's shadow self, meant to represent her unconscious desires. So when the symbol of your unconscious desires is so lesbian-coded, then the implication becomes that one of your unconscious desires is lesbian desire. Faith's existence as a part of Buffy implies the existence of Buffy's bisexuality. Which contributes to the relationship feeling ever more queer, which makes Faith even gayer.

I find this absolutely hilarious, because the queer subtext was never intended. Joss Whedon apparently was annoyed that people read this into their relationship, and the commentary from the other writers that does address it tends to point to Dushku's performance. And yeah, she is definitely leaning into that in her portrayal. But the main reasons that so many people have this reading all come from the writing. It's all stuff that is integral to the point of her character. Every metaphor and function in the narrative, every symbolic purpose she has, none of it was meant to be gay and yet it all leads directly to Faith appearing to be totally and completely gay. The queerness is accidental and unavoidable. And I just find that really fucking funny.

[figonas]

Hey Kaitlyn!

A question... what's Nonna the Ninth about? I've been seeing you + one more person on my dash posting about it, and I am intrigued, but I also don't know anything about it...🤡

my time has come..

(**I am so sorry this is long it really got away from me and ate up a literal hour of my time on the clock at work**)

Okay so Nona the Ninth is book #3 in Tamsyn Muir’s Locked Tomb book series. It is preceded by Gideon the Ninth #1 and Harrow the Ninth #2

Trying to describe anything about this series without,

Giving away a spoiler

Making it sound completely batshit insane or

Making it sound like run of the mill sci-fi

is impossible but god damn I’m gonna try.

Gideon the Ninth is book #1 in the series. If I had to describe it in a way that would (I hope) convince everyone to read it, I would say:

A buff, ginger, goth-jock, lesbian disaster travels with her arch nemesis, a tiny, super goth, lesbian bone witch to explore a haunted laboratory in space. Shit pops off in a big way. Gideon has a terrible, horrible, not so good, very bad day on what should be a fun space vacation.

A more well rounded and informative explanation is listed under the cut.

GtN centers around Gideon Nav, an orphaned, indentured serf of the Ninth House, who absolutely hates the Ninth House and everyone in it. She wants nothing more than to get away from the Ninth and join the Cohort (aka the military). When her latest escape attempt is thwarted she is offered a deal, a real legitimate chance of escape. There’s one problem, if she wants off the Ninth she has to partner with her arch nemesis, the Reverend Daughter Harrowhark Nonagesimus Heir of the Ninth House finest necromancer of her generation. Harrow and the other house heirs have been called to Canaan House to serve the Emperor and become Lyctors (basically necromantic demi-gods). To escape her life on the Ninth, Gideon will have to act as Harrow’s sworn sword and protector while Harrow discovers the secrets to lyctorhood. However, as soon as the pair arrive at Canaan House things start to go awry and tensions rise between the heirs of the various houses.

Harrow the Ninth is book # 2. Trying to describe Harrow the Ninth in a similar, yet spoiler free fashion is like rolling down a grassy hill covered in land mines. So I will not even attempt other than to say;

Local lesbian discovers feelings, immediately represses them.

HtN follows up on the events of book 1 HOWEVER, this is intentionally the most confusing book you’ve ever read. You will spend the whole entire time going “what the fuck is going on” and wondering if you actually even read Gideon the Ninth or if you just dreamt you did. As I said this is intentional and it all comes together in Act 5 I promise. If you finish it and you’re still confused, good. Tamsyn Muir has said that Gideon & Harrow are the two books asking all the questions and Nona & Alecto are the two book’s answering the questions so you will still be confused at the end because you’re working with only 1/2 the information.

As far as Nona the Ninth….I’ve thought of nothing else for a calendar month. I feel like a literal representation of the Charlie Day conspiracy theory meme with all my theories and postulating about what’s going to happen in Alecto.

The Locked Tomb is a masterpiece. Not because Tamsyn Muir is an incredible writer (she is), or because the story is complex and intricately woven together (it is), but because the experience of reading The Locked Tomb is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced.

Somehow the lines;

“The First House was no longer a beautiful and empty shell, buffeted by the erosion of time. Now it seemed more like the blocked-up labyrinths beneath the Ninth House, kept sealed in case something became restless.”

and

“Put it in the hole, Griddle.”

“That’s what she said,” said Gideon

exist cohesively, not just in the same book, but literally 1 paragraph away from each other. Muir has the ability to write beautifully and integrate a kind of humor you can only cultivate and enjoy with long years of internet exposure. There’s a homestuck reference, god makes a dad joke, none pizza with left beef makes an appearance, a blink and you’ll miss it mean girls reference.

tl:dr If you like complex interpersonal relationships, women with a dubious sense of morality, skull face paint, necromancy, characters with 1 brain cell, characters with no brain cells, an entire series with only 1 man who deserves respect, the aesthetic of Catholicism without any of the bigotry, repressed feelings, back alley surgery, enemies to co-workers who hate each other arcs, possession, or necrophelia (I’m joking ((mostly)), read The Locked Tomb. It’s truly wonderful and it will rip your entire heart and soul out of your body, use them for double dutch, then throw them off the nearest cliff.

[0v3rl0ad1ng]

Puppy pack sexuality head-cannons

(This became a rant I’m sorry)

Liam Dumbar

Bi 👏🏻sex👏🏻ual👏🏻

I refuse to be told any less!! You’re gunna try tell me he DIDNT have a fling with Brett enemies to lovers style?? All I’m saying is if he didn’t get expelled, Briam would have been real. Also, hey! Yeah, he **has** a thing for Theo. But let’s not ignore the fact he loved Hayden. Or make her into a bad guy?? Come on writers, at least keep her as his bad bitch girl best friend.

Brett Talbot

Bisexual

Hey, there is no need for me to explain myself. We all saw the club scene. However!! I’m going to do it anyway. When he had a thing for Liam I believe he was closeted and nervous about being out at first cause he didn’t want his teammates to do anything. Like I think a part of him got scared he’d somehow get kicked out, and therefor Lori would too. I think he was just really worried about Lori.

AND HE AND LIAM DEFINITELY TALKED IT OUT AND WERE COOL WITH EACHOTHWR. (I need to calm down I’m sorry)

Theo Raeken

Pansexual

Hey, the kiss with Tracy may not have been romantically driven, but I still don’t personally head cannon Theo as gay. I just think he likes certain personality attributes (read firey, angry, betas) that are not set down by gender. I think he just likes someone’s who’s confident and can hold their own. Like he’ll love to defend someone, but he also likes the kind of person who can defend them self.

Nolan Holloway

Straight

For those who ship him with Brett, I’m sorry, he’s the token straight group alli in my eyes. They all love him anyway, and it doesn’t matter. (We all have that one in our friend group, y’all know what I’m talking about). He loves doing to pride parades and being really open about being an alli. Liam and Hayden like to tell him he restores their hope in the straights.

Mason Hewitt

Gay

The Brett-ogling and love for a certain Corey Bryant speaks for itself. He knew from young. It was very obvious and he was like ‘oh, yeah, duh’. Then was like ‘yeah, I say fucking duh. Of course, I’m a homosexual.’ At least that’s how I see it in my head. He told Liam and the boy like looked away, looked at him and then was like ‘cool’. Liam totally had no inclination about himself yet. (Sorry, I never stop talking about Liam. I love the puppy.)

Corey Bryant

Queer

I just feel like he doesn’t like labels too much. He just knows he loves Mason and that’s enough. He takes every infatuation or crush or romance one at a time. He doesn’t think too much about it and no one pressures him to label it specifically. Mason’s like “You only need to love me, anyway. You can just be Masonsexual.” (Corey is very chill with the ‘masonsexual’ jokes and understands he’s not getting labelled or pushed into one or anything.)

Hayden Romero

Lesbian? Kind of?

For Hayden… it’s hard to explain. I kind of head cannon her as a lesbian but I believe her relationship with Liam was real. Like she had genuine romantic feelings for him and really did love him romantically. She identifies as a lesbian, but doesn’t hide her past relationship with Liam or anything. It’s like how it’s a scale, you know? Like she really likes girls. Girls, girls, girls, girls. But she did like Liam.

Lori Rohr

Bi-curious

She could date a girl, but she’s got a preference for guys. Is definitely sexually attracted to girls too. Is kind of new to the exploration of her sexuality though. At first she was certain she was straight, then a girl walked past and her mind went ‘I’d tap that.’ And then she was like,,, ‘oh, shit.’

(Josh is straight and Tracy is definitely pansexual)