#interim goddess of love

[skyloftian-nutcase]

What did you think of Zelda's story in TOTK? When director Hidemaro Fujibayashi said that Zelda in TOTK is “going through growth, experiencing things, and ultimately figuring out what kind of a person she’s going to be,” how would you say that is reflected in the game? What kind of person do you think she realizes she wants to be? What scene(s) reflect her overall growth?

Whoa, I forgot I held on to this in my drafts, sorry, Anon. I wasn't done playing the game's main story yet so I hid it lol.

Idk, I'm... I guess I can kind of see some growth in Zelda in the game? She's hesitant about using her powers in that scene against the molduga, but she's been learning under Sonia... I remember at the end of botw she says she can't really feel her powers that much anymore, and she was fine with that (granted, she had also been using them for a hundred years), so it could be she was hesitant to tap into them again? Maybe in the interim between botw and totk she abandoned any thought of using her powers and just dove into what she loved, which was science and finding ways to help her people grow?

I will say, the game makes her an expert in like... everything. Like there's nothing she doesn't know, there's no tip to experts she can't give... it's not very realistic and doesn't leave room for growth, and I'm not a huge fan of it. I enjoy a beloved princess, but not a goddess. Zelda is the former, not the latter (at least this one, skyward sword is different lol).

But if that's the angle we're going with, that she abandoned her pursuit of her powers and went back to her default, that's... regression, not growth. However, she definitely has much more faith in herself than she did in botw. But that's growth from botw, not totk. Her sacrifice with the secret stone is huge, and wow what a scene it is (when totk goes hard it goes hard), her faith in her people and Link unshakable, and I love that for her, but that's... not anything new. It's basically botw all over again.

So I wouldn't exactly say Zelda has had much growth, no. And while I find that disappointing, I don't find it surprising.

[fog-and-isolation]

“Rage — Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles.”

–The Illiad

Salome Lukas, more often known simply as Sal Lukas, was marked by the Twisting Deceit at age four and died at age twenty-five.

In the twenty-one-year interim, she was brought aboard her uncle's cargo ship (age six) to be raised and educated by a rotating cast of nannies and tutors whose names little Salome was never allowed to learn.

Her childhood was a lonely one, as her uncle only spoke to her on Friday evenings when he would have her join him in his cabin on the Tundra for dinner to discuss how her lessons were progressing. He was friendly enough and spoke more than enough for both of them, but he never looked at her.

At eighteen, she began serving Forsaken, and at twenty-one, she started attending monthly financial meetings at the Magnus Institute in place of her uncle, where she met the young man who she would soon fall in love with.

He saved her, but it was never going to last. He died, and so did she, and after her death, she attacked the Magnus Institute in a fit of grief and

Rage.

Asks: open!

Image drawn by me ( @genderfluid-scribbles )

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Important Tags

Art of Salome and Michael (not mine)

Mini Fics (Salome, Michael, Peter, etc.)

Mini Fics (Céline, Elias, Jonah, Eleanor, etc.)

^They will be much closer in tone to the podcast itself than the silliness of the blogs because I've developed my OCs, their relationships, and their stories in ways that are far too late to change on the blogs.

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 67 – Saint Death’s Daughter by C. S. E. Cooney

This is a book I’ve been vaguely aware of for a while, without really knowing anything about it beyond that it was getting a lot of positive buzz, but it got a WFA best novel nomination and that provided the impetus I needed to finally give reading it a try. And, well, I’ll be honest – this was a slog for me. If it had been half the size it would very likely be one of my favourite works of the year; as is the best way I can describe the reading experience is ‘slowly drowning in cotton candy’.

The book stars Miscellaneous ‘Lannie’ Stones, younger daughter of a declining noble house which has provided executioners and assassins to the royal family of Lariat since its founding, and generally but not lately provided necromancers as well. Lannie is the hope of the family, a necromantic prodigy (if one with a profoundly inconvenient allergy to violence that requires her isolation from the rest of the family and her raising by a bound revanent nanny and the dubiously trustworthy ghost of an ancestor). As the story opens, her parents have both died, and she’s been forced to write to her terror of an elder sister to come home as their debts are called due. She comes home with an enscrolled and deeply unwilling fiancee abducted during her studies. This, surprisingly, only takes up the first small chunk of the book, followed by a timeskip, the introduction of Lannie’s niece born in the interim, the elder sister dealing with the consequences of her seven-year campaign of bloody vengeance against the foreign court which murdered their parents, and the beginning of the actual plot.

I really did want to enjoy this book, and on the page-to-page level it was often somewhere between charming and delightful. But there were just so many pages, and so very little happening on most of them. After the timeskip the book spends something like 500 pages just leisurely meandering, stopping whenever anything catches its interest to spend half a page or three enthusiastically describing it. At a certain point the exuberant narration and playful vocabulary stop feeling delightful and start feeling like the author is somehow being paid by the word.

This is made all the odder by the fact that around the 80% mark the book suddenly realizes its got a bunch of problems to resolve and switches into an entirely different gear, rushing through revelations and resolutions like it’s on a deadline. Which apparently it was? The book ends with what feels like less of a sequel hook and more like a final hundred pages were chopped off the finished product by a longsuffering editor pushed past the brink.

So, the lion’s share of the book is interested less in plot than character dynamics and cute slice of moments. It’s very much a found family sort of narrative, delivered in an incredibly blunt fashion. Which definitely works for a lot of people, I’m sure, but everyone was so obviously written to be endearing and charming and fell into love of various sorts with each other so instantly it just left me cold, and more a bit bored.

This is a book with footnotes, and among those it feels pretty middle of the pack? Not doing anything particularly impressive with them, and they don’t have a real character or voice different from the rest of the book, but they’re a fun enough way to infodump a bunch of Stones family history (particularly all the ways different members have died).

Thematically...look, I’m aware this is entirely a personal pet peeve not shared by any particular audience, but the fact that Lannie’s whole life from infancy is being chosen as the beloved priestess of a goddess of death for one specific purpose, and that this is portrayed as an entirely benevolent, positive, and uplifting thing to have done at basically all points that it’s discussed just sets me on edge. There’s nothing really badly done about it, I’m just a contrary maltheist by nature and the book did basically nothing to allay that.

Generally – I don’t know, I’m not opposed to 700 page books (I’d be an utter hypocrite if I was. Almost certainly still am regardless), but I feel like being that long is a failing the book then has to justify? It should be obliged to do something with the length, if it’s going to demand so much of my time to wade through it. This didn’t really feel like it did.

[cooking-with-hailstones]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tags y'all! @mistresslrigtar @zeldadiarist @ladyhoneydee y'all go read their stuff it's so good

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Just 8, but it's about to increase! ;)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

58,767!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Legend of Zelda - All BOTW so far. I have some ideas for other Zelda games but they remain as ideas for now.

I also have a short Marvel story from my Steve/Bucky days circa 2013.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Shadows - An Epistolary Poem from Steve Rogers to Bucky Barnes

Is that a yes? (Zelink oneshot, NSFW)

That child of mine (my beloved longfic - I promise I'm coming back to this story soon! I miss it so much)

Silk and moonlight (with art from the magnificent @bahbahhh)

A chance encounter at the blood clinic (modern Zelink au that is very silly but you gotta be ok with blood donation)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Absolutely! I am a sucker for attention and I love talking about stories with people.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh DEFINITELY That child of mine. It's not even finished yet but there is some goooood angst coming, and I already know how it's going to end (I've actually written a good chunk of the finale already) and it's gonna be heartbreaking.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably A chance enounter? They get each other's number and the promise of a cute date.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope! I've only gotten some (requested) constructive criticism. I do have a fic planned that I anticipate being kinda contentious? But I'm already planning on limiting comments on that one lol.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yee! I've never written anything hardcore but I do really like writing and reading sexy scenes. I'm not much of a PWP kind of person (give me all of the emotional context) but I'm a big believer that sex and intimacy are fundamentally human experiences and can serve a story in so many beautiful and interesting ways.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I continue to chip away at my Deep Space 9/TotK crossover idea. It's gonna happen one day... maybe...

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, but maybe I'll try re-writing one of my stories in French sometime as a project.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No but I would LOVE to. The closest is when B and I collaborated and I wrote a story and she did the art.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Zelink, definitely. People whose souls are inextricably bound to one another and keep finding each other, lifetime after lifetime? That's the good shit right there. Obsessed.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

The story that walked into my head that made me start writing. It's a crazy ambitious story - Basic premise is that instead of the Sheikah technology being banned by the ancient king, the Sheikah themselves were banished from the lands of Hyrule. In the interim, Hyrule has been through many wars, dynasties and factions have all risen and fallen, and the bloodline of the Goddess has been forgotten. No one remembers any of the old stories. Zelda is a farm girl training to become a healer like her mother, Link is the son of the king who won the throne after lead a successful campaign against the Zora, and into all of this comes a young Impa, drawn back to Hyrule after thousands of years away, tormented by visions of calamity, a prophecy her people have passed down for millenia, knowing that Hylia would recall them to the land of their ancestors when the time was right. It's anti-monarchy, it's about climate change, it's about falling in love and renouncing power in order to fulfill a greater purpose, it's about knowing yourself, it's about righting ancestral wrongs, and I do not think it will ever be finished but I do like to come back to it every once in a while.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Coming up with interesting concepts!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Executing interesting concepts?

But in all seriousness, I know I still have a lot to learn as a writer. I'm overly descriptive, I have long run-on sentences, dialogue tags are my nemesis, and I struggle to write with real depth of character.

I do think I'm a good storyteller. I am just still honing those skills.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I think it's great! I am obsessed with conlangs - I think they're so fucking cool. For writing in existing languages, as long as you're familiar with the language, or getting someone to look it over and not just running things through google translate, I think that's wonderful.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Captain America.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

That child of mine my beloved

This was really fun, thanks y'all!

Tagging @louwhose @newtsnaturethings @wanderingnightingale and @bahbahhh ! I'm sure y'all have already been tagged but add me to the pile of fans who want to hear more about your work :D

[whatiwillsay]

I’ve been listening to your part 3 of analyzing ttpd and I really enjoyed your analysis but I did disagree a little on Chloe et al. and I wanted to share my thoughts. I interpret the first two verses as her writing from the perspective of the time in between from 2014 to 2023 before they got back together. Like when she is imagining him with other people and he is seeing her out with other guys that is in all the years before they got back together. And the second verse especially I interpreted as that like he had said things back in 2014 that she can’t forget about and it was in 2014 that they couldn’t be together because he needed drugs more than her. Like I don’t know what stage of recovery he is in right now but he was in active addiction back then. And I think the line about changing into goddesses, villains and fools was also in the interim and all the eras from 1989 to midnights where she was outrunning her desertion (perhaps being a little hyperbolic) of him the first time they were together. And I feel like the bridge really brings that all together with her going back to that moment of her desertion where she says she was too young to know how to deal with their relationship. And then I think that part starting with “so if I sell my apartment…” brings us back into the present where it didn’t work out this most recent time. I also really think this because in the first two choruses she uses past tense of say you loved me and say you always wondered but in the last chorus she brings it into present tense. So I think it was all written post breakup but she inhabits the perspective of herself before they rekindled in various parts of the song.

i like this!

[fieldsofbran87]

I keep thinking about the Drawbridge Scene and what must have went down before it.

Basically my interpretation of the interim period of pre-coup, post-Ganondorf’s arrival, in regards to Impa, is that she was presented with a choice. She had the option to side with him and what he stood for, or continue to stand with the Hylian crown. She spends the month or so waiting for Link deliberating on this.

I think more than anything, Impa sees it as a choice between him and Zelda, who she undoubtedly loves and wants to protect, but is, of course, inseparable from the Hylian crown and its regime. If she lives, it lives, and for her to be safe, it must be in control. I think if she had the option, Impa would have taken Zelda and fled somewhere to live in hiding, staying out of trouble, but Zelda’s position as both the princess and Goddess-incarnate compromises any hope of that. Impa cannot defend Zelda without defending the Royal Family and the kingdom of Hyrule, even if philosophically she might oppose and resent them.

I think Impa sees this dilemma and her choice as a deeply defining moment. The end all be all of where her loyalties lie, and what that means for her role in the narrative. There isn’t a world where she’s allowed to exist in both spheres at once, and so when she decides to spare Zelda, she kind of goes all in with defending the Royal Family and orchestrating Ganondorf’s downfall. I don’t think she’s happy with this, nor does she really hold that much affection for the Hylian Royal Family, but the extremity of Ganondorf’s rebellion and Hyrule’s opposition to it has pushed her into a position where she must commit herself to one camp or the other. (The suffering caused by Ganondorf’s rule and its general failure to facilitate actual liberation for his people or anyone makes the choice easier, but still.)

Going back to the Drawbridge Scene, I think she and Ganondorf had the most loaded stand off known to man. I think it’s entirely possible he expected her to hand Zelda over to her right then and there, and when she didn’t, it severed any thin goodwill they might have shared during his time in the castle. Impa sees this as a vow to stop him at all costs and Ganondorf takes this as rejection to the pettiest, most intense degree. Link basically walked in one the last few seconds of the ugliest break up ever. They went from being kinda chill to Arch Nemeses vowing retribution in a split second, and then they spend the next 7 years obsessing over each other (and also Zelda, in different ways).

They’re literally So Much. Somehow, they managed to create a relationship where they experience every human emotion at once when they look at each other and it’s nuts.

[acourtofthought]

You probably saw it but Nike saying "it’s about Lucien becoming the HL of Spring, and Elain tagging along like a good little mate" in her last reblog is infuriating. Nobody said that EVER, NOBODY. She's twisting people's words again to make eluciens look bad. I can't stand it.

Pot meet Kettle (not you, E/riels)

I know not everyone loves Elain as much as I do but in my version of how the story goes, Elain is basically in the image of a Goddess of Life. Not only can she shape shift into an owl, but SHE will be the one to heal Springs lands, acting as interim High Lady. Lucien will play a supporting role to her or as a somewhat equal considering his long history with Spring, knowledge of its people and lands and also is demonstrating powers of being High Lord. There's no "tagging along like a good little Mate" anywhere. It's either Elain taking center stage or them as equals. Then, they will help free Vassa from Koschei, together. If she is a Healer of sorts, we know that a Healers Light AND fire can defeat the Valg, which Koschei seems to be. They are the perfect tag team.

In E/riels version, Elain is basically Az's tag along spy partner. Who will need Az to show her the ropes. Who can't be better than Az at being a spy considering he's a shadowsinger and has how many years in that role? Where in the E/riel version of things does Elain shine brighter than Az? Where is she bringing anything to the table apart from him? And there is no chance Az will be going to defeat Koschei / free Vassa in place of Lucien considering Vassa is Luciens friend. Az hasn't even met her.

Even if Lucien and Elain were instrumental in restoring and (temporarily) ruling Spring, I still think there are hints that Elain, as a possible goddess of Life type of figure, will have a power that he doesn't. So regardless of their bond, she still stands on her own in a powerful way. Just as when without Elain by his side, Lucien will have his own gifts from Helion.

Not to mention she'd get the opportunity to play with Pegasuses being mated to Lucien so, obvious point in favor of him.

[notlikeaghost]

[sorenkingsley]

Books finished in 2017 05/??: Interim Goddess of Love - Mina V. Esguerra

[strangebedfellows-blog]

Not related to anyone -- I just like saying it -- but if I hadn’t made it explicit before, I’ll note that while I acknowledge fanon-Zant, I largely disagree with it. He’s got the hilariously dweeby side, certainly, but I feel like he’s demonstrably a lot more dangerous and cunning and cruel than he’s given credit for. It’s only in very rare instances he’d be what we consider nice. 

For comparison? You’re actually WAY more likely to walk away from a chat with Ghirahim none the worse for wear than you would Zant once he’s started on his decline. 

[theroundbartable]

Oooooh, looks like fun XD (I think I've been tagged in this twice, lol) I always thought that I don't work with WIPs and that has been true for a very long time because I buried them so deep that I learned of their existence just now. You're reading me find them... there are some that have gathered and my brain hates me for every. single. one. of them. XD

First: The ones I'm publishing

Idiots in Love: (Merthur) Chapter 5 is still in progress, Arthur is still smitten, problems arrive from other ends. It's meant to be fluffy and sweet and I think I am succeeding XD

Second Chances: (Drarry) I have mentioned it before, this fic is LONG. So far, six chapters are out, but I have like 9 more ready to go. Although I'm starting to question them all. I don't really like the pacing at times and I've been working on this for over 2 years. It's the longest fic I've ever written and the one I've reworked most often.

Karak'nirir, the goddess of creation: (Klance) 9 chapters are out so far but I have stagnated on the 10th. I'm very stuck on the Merlin fandom, so motivation is fleeting at times. But it's there and it's not forgotten.

The clockroom: (Merthur) When I say second chances is my longest fic, this one comes second and is also far more complicated than anything else I have ever written. Please forgive me for abandoning this project so often.

Now on to the ideas I started and immediately put on hiatus. They should have remained concepts, but somehow still exist somewhere in the ether of my writing programms:

Incarnation: An original. My siblings are working with me on the worldbuilding, but I have attempted to draft this four times and I hated every beginning. I'm usually notoriously ignorant of beginnings, which is one of many reason why this one is quite the challenge.

The stone sword: An original twist on the Arthurian legend (if I ever publish an original, I want to take part in the legend, sue me.) I started this so long ago, I lost the plot, but I did use some of the takes in a fanfic.

Avatar Merlin: (Merthur) One where Merlin is the Avatar but hides in the Kingdom that hates all forms of benders. Five Kingdoms = each an element, one non-benders who managed to take over almost all the other kingdoms.

Survivor: (Sanji-Centric) I don't remember writing this? It's ten pages long about the relationship between Zeff and Sanji. I should look into that again.

Okay, now lets go even deeper. (I'm finding stuff I didn't even know existed? When did these happen? I'll drop the file name if they had one) (cursive are the ones who didn't even get an interim name). I'm just listing them, I have no idea what's in them. It's like a lottery at this point. I am opening some of them though to look at the size and what fandom they are for.

Tributes of Camelot (Merthur)

The soldier (Vld)

Silence (BBC Merlin - knight centric)

Scared? (Zosan)

unnamed (a German original, that I don't remember the plot of. It had to do with prophecies)

Lance time travel AU

Klance in space

unnamed (Merthur) The fuck, this has 91 pages????? The actual file name is: "I'm gonna hate myself for this I guess" from 2022. Which isn't ominous at all.

A land of fear (Merthur) also 21 pages, wtf???

I also have a folder called "Stuff I'll never finish" and that is a threat. I'm not listing these Wips, they should never, ever, be touched again. Do not ask.

Anyone may join. Feel yourself invited. However, if you want to do this too, do it at your own risk, I'm having an existencial crisis over here.

@snazzy-jas-z-is-a-fan-of @crimsonrose14

Wip Game

Thank you @tansyuduri for tagging me 😊

Rules: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

I actually do have a lot of drafts of each story I have. I don't mind sharing snippets if you don't mind spoilers, of course. So I'm going to catagorize them as this:

Drafts of my fic "From the Grave to the Cradle" (because yes, I'm still working on it, I havent forgotten it):

Chapter 6: So far and yet so close (incomplete)

Merlin and Arthur after Emry's dead

Merlin and Gaius after Arthur is discovered as "The Lost Prince"

Arthur's confinement in his Royal Chambers

Morgana meets Kilgharrah

After war with Essetir

Merlin kills impostor knights

Merlin discovers Gwaine

And eye for and eye

The real prophecy

Memory transferency

Arthur hides Merlin's dagger

(I'm willing to share more of this one cause the story has been on pause for too long and I think it's the least you deserve)

2. Drafts of my fic "Dragonlord's son series" (or rather the sequel of it, "Loving the Dragonlord's son"):

Reconciliation (kind of the end of the saga, I already published the summaries of all the chapters in a previous post. I needed to have the end clear to know where I was going)

3. Drafts of my "Arthur and Merlin travel back in time without knowing the other is from the future too AU"

"The sins of a father"

Alternative "La morte of Arthur"

4. Drafts of my "Merlin as Arthur's familiar/Arthur's shapeshifter falcon AU"

Arthur arrests King Carleon's cousin

5. MerlinxThe son of The Song of Achilles AU

@theroundbartable , @star-rie , @evadne01 , @that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction , @ramblings-of-a-chaotic-neutral

[seafoamreadings]

week of december 4th, 2022

aries: these can be hard times for an aries and some will neglect to acknowledge that. so give compassion to yourself first. then continue to give compassion to others all week because you never know what they're going through either.

taurus: two ingresses occur this week into your fellow earth sign capricorn and one of them is that of your ruling planet venus. it is your 9th house; aspire to the highest and most transcendant love that you can.

gemini: the first half of the week focuses more on you than you have been accustomed to recently. for some geminis, lurking in the shadows is preferable. for other more extroverted twins, this week's brief spotlight can bring some recharging.

cancerians: in a few days, the planetary goddess of love venus moves into your 7th house of relationship/partnership, capricorn. while venus is not *super* comfy in capricorn this is great for you if you have had a romance you're trying to solidify, or if you just want to freshen your vibe with money!

leo: this is the last week before jupiter moves back into fellow fire sign aries. which is great for leo people, especially those who have been struggling in some way recently. jupiter brings a lot of luck to those who are willing to expand their minds and experiences.

virgo: substantial earthy activity including significant ceres activity occurs this week. some things will seem quite heavy and when they do it's okay to grieve or feel angry or whatever is needed. but in addition to that, go out of your way to have fun.

libra: it may seem frivolous but if you can buy a nice item or upgrade for your home, it is auspicious to do so late this week as venus heads for capricorn. your home sanctuary should provide you with the balance you need to thrive in life.

scorpio: your focus is (or should be?) moving away from the material and heading for the more cerebral. you can keep it simple if you want with fun puzzles or reading and writing for leisure but you may also be called upon in the next few weeks to solve intellectual problems or publish something.

sagittarius: here we are in the last half of sagittarius season as mercury and venus already exit your sign and head into capricorn, ready to bring in exchange of money and value and to beautify your material world. saving is great but spending a little bit is really called for here with mercury, just do so wisely.

capricorn: it isn't capricorn season yet (that comes later, at the solstice) but mercury and venus both move into your sign as a sort of warmup and this brings you a lot of personal eloquence, charm, and charisma, bordering on magical powers if you use them right.

aquarius: not a ton of activity pertaining specifically to you this week so let's use the opportunity to remind you that it's just a few short months away now from pluto into your sign and saturn out of it. don't get too comfortable in the interim.

pisces: be prepared for some tensions and clashes this week as there are a handful of mutable square type situations. but at the same time, hold in your heart the expectation that these tensions cause you to expand out of your comfort zone and into some better, higher dimension where you get more of what you want before very long.

[good-beans]

Various Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual interpretations of Shakespearean characters:

(I found it helpful a lot of the time to compare characters to Romeo and Juliet’s willingness to die for each other. Even though I said it doesn't matter if hugging, kissing, etc was a sign of "just friends" in the Elizabethan era, you can usually convince a doubful person this behavior is romantic when comparing it to such a universally accepted declaration of love.)

Antonio from Twelfth Night:

He rescues Sebastian from a shipwreck and nurses him back to health, describing their relationship as follows:

“I snatch’d one half out of the jaws of death, reliev’d him with such sanctity of love, and to his image, which methought did promise most venerable worth, did I devotion.”

“To-day my lord; and for three months before, no interim, not a minute’s vacancy, both day and night did we keep company.”

“His life I gave him, and did thereto add my love without retention or restraint, all his in dedication; for his sake, did I expose myself, pure for his love, into the danger of this adverse town.”

He follows Sebastian to Orsino’s court, knowing there were people who wanted him dead there

“I have many enemies in Orsino’s court, else would I very shortly see thee there. But come what may, I do adore thee so that danger shall seem sport, and I will go.”

To Sebastian: “If you will not murder me for my love, let me be your servant.”

He leaps into the middle of a duel to protect Sebastian, risking his life and ultimately getting arrested. 

Celia from As You Like It:

Not life or death, but she still does sacrifice her entire life to stay with the woman she loves. She gives up her entire lifestyle, family, security, and identity in order to remain with Rosalind. 

“I cannot live out of her company.”

Others talk of how Celia “loves her … she would have followed her exile, or have died to stay behind her … never two ladies loved as they do.”

“I see thou lov’st me not with the full weight that I love thee.”

“We have slept together, rose, at an instant, learn’d, play’d, eat together; And wheresoe’er we went, like Juno’s swans, still we went coupled and inseparable.” (Juno is the goddess of marriage, and swans are known for mating for life)

Horatio in Hamlet:

Proves himself a loyal and loving friend to Hamlet. Even though Hamlet deeply distrusts all other characters, he is willing to believe everything from Horatio -- even far-fetched tales of ghosts

Horatio attempts the exact same sacrifice as Romeo when he reaches for the poisoned cup to join Hamlet at the end of the play: “here’s yet some liquor left”

Antonio in The Merchant of Venice: (Yeah, I know. It turns out Shakespeare had like five Antonio’s...)

In order to save Bassanio’s life, he offers up his body as payment to a deal. 

He takes the man’s hand before he is to die, commanding him to tell Bassanio’s wife, “say how I lov’d you, speak me fair in death; And, when the tale is told, bid her be the judge whether Bassanio had not once a love.”

Afterwards, Bassanio faces pressure to give away the ring that he had sworn to his wife he’d keep. Antonio persuades him to give it away.

There’s a lot of lines and behaviors involved in As You Like It and Twelfth Night as a crossdressed character causes the cast to act on unknown homosexual desires. And listen, just because the characters don’t realize they’re falling for the opposite gender, or just because they were falling for the right gender all along, it doesn’t take away from the passion and flirting that occured -- there's no "mistakes" going here

Orlando flirts daily with Ganymede, exchanging romantic banter and even getting pretend-married.

Phoebe falls hard for Rosalind and begs to marry her.

Orsino develops feelings for Cesario. In many productions he grows awkward around him because he isn’t sure how to act.

Olivia chases after Viola’s affections, flirting and begging her to marry.

You can also look at themes/conflicts when reading a play as queer. Even when performed with cishet characters, it can be interpreted as a metaphor to those who relate to the experiences. 

People aleays laugh when I say Romeo and Juliet is a great gay play, but it is. It focuses on forbidden love, with the threat of family’s wrath. Should the protagonists’ parents or relatives discover who they chose as a lover, the characters may face disownment and danger. 

Midsummer Night’s Dream features characters constantly dealing with unrequited love and rejection. A commonly discussed experience from gay and lesbian communities is the tendency to fall for others outside the community who never reciprocate those feelings. (There's also some falling-for-unconvential-partners, but that gets a little murky when you try to compare queerness to falling in love with a donkey :/ Still, if you've got the time and dedication there's definitely queer analogies you could find in that play)

The Taming of the Shrew is known for its theme of “otherness.” Katherina is notorious for breaking current conventions, and is treated poorly for it. The title itself refers to her experience of being painfully assimilated to fit into the norms. I've heard Othello discussed along with this theme too. (I didn't go too deep into it for my project, since it's clear commentary on race rather than queerness. But the evidence is there if you wanted to read it that way)

All the previous examples can contribute to bisexual readings, with Orlando, Phoebe, Olivia, and Orsino being the most specific examples. Unlike the others, they show attraction to two distinct genders during the events of the play. Sebastian may also be included in this, if one reads him as reciprocating Antonio's love while also marrying Olivia -- there are some productions that have all three of them Together during the happy finale :)

Original post

[punishandenslavesuckers]

hello I'm re-reading Interim (thank you for blessing us with this btw) and was wondering..... how does Link get over his nerves about going all the way with Zelda? Does he get as nervous when he's with Draga?

Links hang ups with Zelda have a lot to do with putting her on a pedestal for a long time, her being a literal manifestation of the goddess, her openly disliking him for a long time, the power imbalance and stress of being the chosen hero. Like he fixated on her for both professional and personal reasons and was like “shit. I’m in love with my boss” basically. So there was alot of him not making his feelings her problem and immediately dismissing the possibility of a relationship… so yeah he has to overcome a habit of telling himself “no, stop that” for ages.

And honestly? I think Link has no nerves with Draga because A: Link is kind of a ho when off duty so he’s pretty up front about being into ppl (when it’s anyone but Zelda). B: Draga and he are on the same slightly feral frequency and they clicked IMMEDIATELY. Like you know when you meet a weird person who is weird exactly the same way you are? That’s Link and Draga.

[antiquepearlss]

I live for this omg. I agree with you in that the citizens of Corona definitely put her on an almost goddess-like pedestal. She was this mysterious magical lost princess, she wasn’t human, she was a myth.

And when she comes back, the citizens of Corona don’t really know how to deal with a traumatized young girl who was shut off from the outside world and is now thrust into public life. That’s not the princess they were expecting. They were expecting a healing goddess. Tragic.

They loved her the most when she got her hair back and she acted as the strong interim-queen. But once it’s cut again, all that fear, self-loathing, and desire for validation and love all comes back to her. The weight of having to be their magic princess, their sundrop, their goddess- really, truly, messes with her head. I think in the time between Zhan Tiri and the wedding, her head goes to some really dark places.

Her hair comes back, but at what cost?

(Also Rapunzel encountering sickness for the first time, that would terrify her. Imagine if it’s the plague like Gothel always scared her with. Imagine if she held someone’s hand as they died. Imagine if Eugene got sick.)

what do you think of the concept of Rapunzel's hair growing back as a result of like, negative emotions surrounding not having the hair anymore? I'm talking like in a post-movie/non-series canon. Like idk how to properly explain my thought process. Basically her brown, short, spiky hair starts regrowing little by little into her golden magic hair if she feels perhaps...grief? Fear of loss?

Then like, she'd cut it, but it'll keep regrowing if she's feeling particularly depressed about fears of losing people close to her or maybe feelings of guilt for not being able to heal others? No wait. Like what if using her magic healing is actually draining for her? What if it's taking from its source, which is Rapunzel? Perhaps not physically, since the movie showed no signs of that, but maybe emotionally? Orrrrrrrr aughhhh hshsjkdkdhkdkhj idk um, like it just takes her "light" away slowly. Like if it's used so often, not just by one person every few days like with Gothel. It starts becoming taxing on her

[jasper-the-menace]

My Current Magic The Gathering AO3 Fics

Almost exclusively Streets of New Capenna-based. Warning: the lewd ones are under the cut.

Last updated: July 5, 2023

Beyond The Planes [no ships] (complete) - The Father of Machines isn't too delighted by modern Phyrexians. The Benevolent Goddess has an idea.

Blood and Songbirds [background Edith Maestro (OC)/Emery Black (OC), Spara/Xander, Jaren/Jinnie] (complete) - A vampire demon hybrid is certainly rare, enough so that meeting another one awakens a fatherly side of Xander that he's not familiar with. But after the Adversary rears his head and old threats return, Xander finds out the hard way that he's in for the long haul. A reworking of the Streets of New Capenna set plus beyond to help me develop my OCs and wrap up some SNC plotlines that seem like they've been abandoned in favor of the Phyrexian plotline. And then suffering beyond that because I'm a big fan.

Five Times Falco Spara Fell In Love With Xander (And One Time Xander Did) [Spara/Xander, implied/background Evelyn/Xander] (complete) - Spara and Xander have fallen in love over and over again. Especially on Spara's side. (This takes place in my Blood and Songbirds-verse, which is only apparent with the last scene.)

In The Interim [Jaren/Jinnie] (in progress) - A series of scenes set in my Blood and Songbirds universe, after the end of Blood and Songbirds. Tags will be updated with each new chapter.

White Fires of Memory [Jirina/Lukka] (complete) - Traveling through Vadrok's lair towards Lavabrink was dangerous enough with the injured and ill, but Jirina Kudro and Vivien Reid did not expect the help and rescue they received.

Expected Partners [Spara/Xander, Ziatora/Xander, Raffine/Xander, Jetmir/Xander] (complete) - When a vampire reaches a certain age, they tend to stick with the same partners simply because they know what to expect. Xander often found himself sharing a bed with the other crime lords, which led to a nice variety. He didn’t much care for working, so he often let them take the lead. We're not gonna pretend that this is anything more than porn, let's be real.

For Ransom [Spara/Daniel (OC), other higher-up Brokers/Daniel (OC)] (complete) *implied/referenced rape/noncon, but not at Spara's hand; mature, not explicit* - If you accused any of the Brokers of being soft, most would toss you out of a window. But even then, one devil in all of New Capenna has the higher-ups wrapped around his finger, and there are plenty of people who would love to take advantage of that...

Fucked Up Cycles [Elspeth/Xander, other relationships with Xander referenced] (complete) *Omegaverse* - Xander wasn't expecting his heat cycle to come early. Luckily, a certain planeswalker happens to be an alpha and is willing to lend a hand.

Mismatched [Perrie/Kros] (complete) *Omegaverse* - Kros is late to meet with Perrie regarding their next mission, so Perrie goes to find him. You see the tags and the rating, you know how this ends.

What He Wants [Nixilis/Xander noncon] (complete) *rape/noncon* - Instead of killing the head of the Maestros, Ob Nixilis has other plans.