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wordynerdygurl · 4 years

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The Guy

Author’s Note: Hello my lovelies! I have to say, I love writing requests and taking part in Challenges. It helps me sharpen my skills! But, with the insane way the world is right now, I offered to participate in one... then lost the details. So, with my sincere appreciation for @lancsnerd ,who kindly sent me a reminder about my missing “assignment”, I present the following! Summary/ Prompt: A quote of “He’s the guy” and my boy, Loki Pairing: Female Reader x Loki Warnings: Swearing, Implied Smut, Fluff, Soft Loki

“Are you gonna tell me what I want to know? Or… do we have to do this the hard way?” Gravel filled and low, the Winter Soldier had you pinned against the rough brick wall, his metal arm holding your wrists together.

“Ooph! Bucky! Get off!” “Make me, princess!”

Kicking your legs free, you swung around Bucky, locking him in a bear hug from behind. Squeezing him with your thighs, your forearms wrapped around his strong neck, “Tap out, Buck!” Wheezing, staggering back, Bucky tried spinning you around but even his metal arm was unable to grab you, “Never!” Applying more pressure to his windpipe, you grunted, “Give me the win!” “No way”, you felt his hard hand grip your thigh, breaking your hold. Suddenly you were untethered, above your feet was the ceiling of the gym, and then there was no breath in your lungs. Bucky had managed to flip you over and slam you down onto the waiting mat with reverberating force. Gasping loudly, you curved up to meet Bucky’s waiting hand, “You alright, doll?”

Shaking your head, sitting up, “That was a dirty trick, Barnes. I had you and you know it.” “Yea… but you still haven’t answered my question, so I couldn’t let you win.” Pulling you to your feet easily, Bucky threw his arms around you, his warm hug an easy way to make sure there would be no lasting damage from your sparring session. “Why do you want to know so bad?” Lowering yourself to the workout bench, forearms resting on your knees, you kept a close watch on your sparring partner. Tossing you a towel, Bucky grabbed both of your water bottles, sitting down on the mat in front of you. Wiping the sweat away from your forehead, slugging down the cool water, you kicked at the super soldier sitting criss cross applesauce. Leaning back, resting his weight on his arms stretched behind him, “Because... I worry about you. I want to make sure you’re safe… and I want to believe this guy is good enough for you.” Considering his words, you snapped your bottle shut, nodding, “I get it, Bucky. I really do. I’m just… not ready to talk about it.” Sensing your hesitation, Bucky patted your knee, “Just know that I’m here when you are ready. And if he fucks up, I’ll kill him.” Laughing, you stood up with a groan, “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind!” At dinner that night, Steve knocked into your shoulder, “Hey kiddo.”

“Hey Stevie! How are you?” “It’s spaghetti night, what more does a guy need?” It was an easy exchange, making you chuckle as he loaded a plate high with pasta and sauce before settling himself into the chair next to you. Unfolding a napkin to lay over his trousers, “Bucky told me you’ve met someone?” Flicking your eyes to the Winter Soldier, who all of the sudden was very interested in something Tony was saying, you munched on your garlic bread. Swallowing thickly and patting your mouth clean, you turned to Steve, “Oh, he did huh?” “Yes… but he says you won’t give up this guy’s name?” Concern was present on your friend’s face. While you appreciated Steve's sentiment, it wasn't necessary, not entirely. You knew what you were doing and you didn't want to be talked out of it, even by your well intentioned friends.

"I don't know why everyone cares so much. He's a guy… I'm a girl… it's traditional and boring."

Swirling a fork through his saucy plate, lifting those dutiful blue eyes to yours, "So why the secrecy?"

Chewing, thoughtful, you considered Steve's question. It was valid. You were quick to acknowledge that, answering, "Um… because we're still in that love bubble. Ya know?"

Chiming in, Bucky curious now, "Love bubble? I don't know what that is… what does that mean? Love bubble?"

"It's that time in a new relationship when… um… it's like…" words failing, you desperately tried to give structure to your argument.

Interrupted by Loki, sulking at the end of the long table, "She doesn't want to share her paramore. Greedily, she wants to keep the pair in a love bubble. Separate and safe from any interference. Unpopped, if you will."

"Is that true? You don't want us to bug you?" Bucky's eyes widened at the thought.

Shrugging, you dug around for another meatball, "Kinda… Look, it's not that I don't love you, Buck. Or that I don't trust you, Steve. It's just… all of you can be a lot to deal with. And-" looking at the faces of each of your Avenger friends, "-my… guy… I really, really like him. I don't want to scare him away."

Admitting it out loud, that was taking a lot of your courage but you were being completely honest. This guy, he was just about perfect and you didn't want to blow that by bringing him around your overprotective people so soon. Natasha, the group's mama bear, smiled. "Seems reasonable to me. Give her some time, fellas… if he's half as great as she says, we'll like him well enough."

Steve, smiling a little in your direction, "I don't know who he is… but it seems like he makes you happy!"

Bucky, over protective, kept hounding you, "When will I get to meet him?"

"Soon, Buck. I promise."

"I wonder who it is… this man you care about so much that you're protecting him from us, your dearest friends!" It was Loki, musing from afar that made the observation, his sharp eyes on you.

"I told you-" It was Tony’s turn to interrupt, loudly calling, “FRIDAY?”

“Yes, Mr. Stark?” “Start a pool. Five dollar buy in, guesses on who this guy is… whoever has the winning answer gets the kitty!” “Tony! Not cool! And, not necessary! You guys don’t really need to do this!” But your protests went unheard as chatter erupted and a round of bills were flung on the table. Steve, murmuring to Bucky across the table, “What was that guy at the coffee shop? Cameron? Carson?” Snapping his fingers, Bucky answered, “Carlton!”

“He’s my guess, Tony.” “Shit, Steve. That’s not fair… but, ok. Ok, my guess is Matt. That guy from the pizza place who kept bringing extra chicken fingers for you! You’d never admit to a date with him!” Bucky, smug and pleased, sat back content with his detective work.

“Natasha? Thoughts?” Tony was typing away, his interface with FRIDAY recording all the back and forth, compiling the list of possible boyfriend candidates. Tapping her lip, Nat watched you, “Hmm… Is it Warren? The kid from China Star who rode the Kawasaki and always wanted to take you for a ride?”

Clint leaned over you, grabbing a breadstick as he threw down a ten, “I want to put Charles, from the IT department on the list… and Juan, the recycling rep. Both of those guys follow you around like puppies and I could see you taking pity on at least one of them!” “Nope. No way! She went out with Charles once already. He was the guy who ate her french fries at dinner. Big No-No!” “Rhodes, how do you remember that shit? Fine, not Charles then. What about Frankie? The dude from the diner?” Clint asked the assembled team, looking for someone to back him up.

Mortified, hiding behind your hands, you grimaced. The list, it kept growing, and you could feel icy eyes of judgement lighting you up from across the room. You knew you’d have to answer questions later.

Jane, having joined Thor at the table, was getting caught up on your situation. Conspiring with her Norse God of a boyfriend, she chuckled, slapping a bill on the table with the announcement, “Our money is on Loki.”

Silence overtook the room. Everybody stared at the small, brunette scientist, evaluating if her suggestion was real or a joke. A guffaw broke out of you and quickly gathered steam, propelling you directly into a hiccup filled giggle fit. In a flash everyone joined in, the idea of you and Loki being together was at once so hilarious and unbelievable. It was also diverting enough that the talk of your love life died completely. Grateful and satisfied, you finished dinner without any other questions, even offering to do the dishes. While you were scraping remnants into the compost bucket, you felt the room’s temperature drop, noticing that Loki had slid into the room, "Love bubble is it?"

Dropping the plates into the sink, plunging your hands into the soapy water, his strong ones glide over your shoulders, "Yes. I'm really enjoying our little bubble of love."

“Me too.” Pressing a small kiss to the curve of your neck, Loki pulled your body close, hugging you tightly from behind. As Loki was nearly a foot taller than you, it was nothing to tip your head up, his welcome mouth finding yours for a soft kiss. Curving your back, your bottom rubbed against his pelvis, his desire already rising. “Although, they had a lot of suggestions, my innocent little kitten. Should I be worried?” Shaking your head, “No. None of those… meatballs compare with you, Loki.” “Good. That makes me glad… and I’m pleased to know how coveted you are, my pet.” Roving hands took the liberty of sliding under the hem of your shirt, fingertips just grazing over your bra covered breasts.

Sighing into Loki’s loving touch, “Not that you were much help!"

"What can I say? I like seeing you squirm" his lethal voice purred, warm against your ear.

Pirouetting in his arms, your damp hand brushing back a strand of dark curls, "Jane almost gave us away.” A small smile, almost sad, pulled down Loki’s lips, “Is the idea of you loving me so hilarious?”

“Not to me.”

His head dipped, lowering those pink lips to your own, almost colliding… when laughter, drawing near, broke your moment of connection. Effectively ending your private chat, Thor stomped confidently into the room unaware of the way Loki jumped back as if scalded, or the way your hands trembled at the possibility of discovery. “Brother! I need to speak with you!” Flicking his desire filled eyes to yours, Loki smirked, “Of course… to what do I owe the honor?” “I have asked Jane to be my bride!” “Brother! It’s about time Jane made an honest man out of you!” Loki, more than a little surprised but genuinely pleased for his sibling, hugged Thor close. “YAY! That’s so exciting! Have you guys picked a date yet?” Wiping your hands dry, leaning against the sink, you were happy to hear all of Thor's big news. Shaking his blonde head excitedly, “We shall be wed in three months time… and I was hoping that Loki would play for our special day?”

Loki, blushing a deep rosy pink, “Thor… It’s been years.”

“So? What of that, God of Mischief? You always find a way”, wagging a finger at his dark hued brother, Thor’s teasing grin was sweet. Piling on excuses, trying to gently defer his brother’s marital request, Loki added, “I don’t think I have a suitable instrument.”

That was enough for your mouth to hang open, “Wait… you want Loki to perform? Like play music? At your wedding?” “Of course! He’s the best chamber musician in Asgard. Possibly the entire Nine Realms.” Pride filled Thor’s words at Loki’s accomplishments, something you found impossibly charming, even if you couldn’t quite believe what he said was true.

“Thor, really… I don't think-" Clapping a broad hand onto his younger brother's shoulder, Thor’s tone changed, “Music from home, Loki. It would mean so much, especially since… Mother and Father-”

Loki held up a hand, stopping Thor from going further into emotional sincerity, unable to bear the rawness in his brother’s words. Closing his eyes, agreeing, “Fine. Ok, I’ll… I’ll do it!’ Loki could sense your watchful eyes on him, curious and questioning, as he gave into his older brother.

With his easy smile spreading, Thor’s joy pushed the cloud of sadness away, “Our special day will be filled with music! And flowers! Jane has a whole… Pinterest board? I don’t know what that is but she’s filled it with ideas-” spinning around to grab you off your feet, Thor continued, “And you’ll be invited too! All of the team must come, not just my wayward brother!” Getting swept up in Thor’s passionate excitement, you laughed, offering up more congratulations and promises of attending. As your toes touched the floor, Thor pulled Loki away, “Jane says you will take Darcy as a date for the ceremony.” Tilting his head, Loki shrugged shyly, speaking loud enough for you to hear, “Uh… actually, I already have a date.” Gripping Loki in a rib smashing hug, Thor squeezed his little brother tightly, “That is marvelous news! Jane will be so pleased! So, who’s the lucky girl?” Smiling, you watched them go, happy to see the pair so connected. You didn’t need to hear Loki’s answer. You knew who he’d be taking to Thor’s wedding.

That night, as you were toweling dry your cropped hair, a pop of green light signaled the arrival of your secret boyfriend. He was positively electric, grabbing you by the terry robe covered hips, and kissing you swiftly. Loki's hands rubbed over the soft fabric on your back until they cradled your smiling face, "Hmm… you smell so clean that it makes me think dirty thoughts."

Giggling, you rose up on your toes, curling your hands into his tangle of dark hair. You bent his waiting mouth to your own, savoring the sensation of shared breath, as your tongue flicked over Loki's lips, “Dirtier than that?” Nodding, his heated look hungry, “Oh yes.” "How dirty are we talking?", you teased, resting your cheek against Loki's chest. His rich laugh, rumbling through his core, joined your own. Pressing his forehead to yours, Loki sighed sweetly, "I missed you…"

"I just saw you at dinner!"

"But it's been too long. I… I need more."

Turning to hang up your towel, over your shoulder, "More what, my prince?"

"More of you." Having gained on you while your back was turned, Loki was behind you now, wrapping his long arms around your waist.

Squealing, delighted, "LOKI! Someone will hear!"

Dropping you quickly on the mattress, Loki shimmied up beside you, toying with the open collar on your robe, "So?"

"So… they'll find you here."

Thoughtfully, Loki’s proud look captured your own, "Maybe I don't care. Not anymore… Maybe I don't want to keep you and me… us, a secret."

Swallowing hard, your gaze trapped by Loki's earnest expression, "Really? You're ready to pop the love bubble?"

His fingertips brushed over the thin skin between your breasts, "Yes? I… I think so. Are you?"

Biting on your bottom lip, scrutinizing his handsome face, "Loki, I…"

Freezing, his hand stalled, and Loki sat back on his heels. Looking out your window, shoulders slumping in resignation, "You don't want to tell anyone. You are ashamed to be with me."

Swiftly sitting up, cupping his face with your hands, crooning, "No, no, no, no, no, no!"

Shrugging away from your touch, "You don't care for me, not like you claim to, if you won't declare your feelings for all to hear."

"Loki! That's not it at all."

Letting you tug him closer, Loki's tear filled eyes still refused to meet your own, "Loki… I… I love you. And… I just don't want to share you. Not yet, anyway. That is-" putting your arms around his neck until you were nose to nose with the red-rimmed eyes of an emotional Odinson, "-my only reason for keeping our romance quiet."

Whispering, Loki was too shocked to shake you off, "You… love me?" His voice wavered, as if the idea of being loved by you had never been a real possibility, as if something impossible was occurring right here and now.

On your knees, sighing, you started pressing tiny kisses along those sharp as knives cheekbones, "Yes. I am crazy in love with you, Loki Odinson."

Loki had held you tightly before; in the night when terrific dreams haunted his sleep, in the night when he claimed your body for his own. But this embrace, after telling the dark Prince the truth in your heart, had no equal.

Still taller than you, even though you were both kneeling, Loki's right arm wove around your waist forcing your hips flush with his own. His left supported your back, his hand cradling the nape of your neck, helping him kiss you soundly. It was conquering.

You were his. Body and soul. What's more? He was yours.

Coming up for air, panting from the work of loving you, "My dove, my dearest one… I love you too."

Shucking your robe was easy and Loki savored the lavender soap scented skin he exposed. If a spot of you wasn’t kissed, it was licked. If not licked, nipped. If not nipped, it was caressed. And Loki was very thorough. When you mewled, weak from forced pleasure, “Loki… please. Make love to me.” he was eager to comply. “Look at me, darling girl.” Puffing out your pleasure filled breath, skin dewy with perspiration, you met Loki’s eyes with your own. Resting his hand over your heart, he lifted your own, letting you feel the pattern of his pulse. “It beats for you and for you alone.” In the afterglow, laying in Loki’s arms, you stifled another giggle. Groggy from exertion, Loki opened one eye, “What’s so funny?” “You never told me you play a musical instrument.” “You never asked.”

“Are you any good?”

“You’ll find out when you accompany me to Thor’s wedding.” --- With his heavy cello, Loki took a seat on the edge of the dance floor, taking just a moment to get settled. A beautifully strange combination of concentration and relaxation mingled over the features you loved so dearly. Fiddling with strings, taking a moment to tune the instrument, you admired his long, talented fingers as they took their place on the frets. The din of conversation was silenced when the first low note of Loki’s song echoed through the ballroom. Everyone paused, entranced at the melody weaving its way through the throng of well wishers. Many were surprised, but not you, not entirely. You knew how long Loki had been preparing for this moment. It wasn’t all about making Thor’s day special, although, that was surely part of it. No, he planned to seduce every single person with sound. Giving all of the attendees a taste of what being loved by Loki was like, he hoped The Avengers would see that he was worthy of you in all ways. Mesmerized, the bow danced over the strings, each note perfectly played. It wasn’t hard to picture those shapely digits dancing over your skin in the dark of night. Sending a shiver up your back, you sipped at your champagne, unwilling to take your eyes off of Loki. “I didn’t know he was so talented.” Bucky, stiff in his tuxedo, sidled up to you with Steve in tow. “Me either. Look at those fingers fly!” “Guys… hush.” Shooting a silencing glare their way, you let the music transport you, swaying just a bit at the soothing sound. Too soon, in your opinion, the last lingering note of Loki’s song filled the hall. Rising swiftly, Loki bowed at the applause, then turned to the happy couple. Thor hugged his brother close, while Loki kissed Jane’s hand with a gentlemanly air. Conversations started again, quiet at first, then gaining strength as Loki strode across the room. Snagging a glass of champagne from a passing tray, his eyes trained on you, Loki accepted accolades as he moved ever closer. Another server took his empty glass as Loki finally made his way to you.

Scooping you up, Loki spun you slowly in a circle, your gown snapping behind you in an emerald wave of chiffon and lace. “Loki! Come on, put me down!” “As my lady commands”, when your mouth passed close enough to his own, Loki kissed you as if you had never kissed before. You pushed your hands through his dark locks, a hand on each side of his face, “You were amazing, babe. Just amazing!”

“You really think so?” “Absolutely!” His arm settled on your waist, keeping you tight to his side, as you were handed another glass of bubbly.

Bucky, leaning against Steve, wore a look of wide eyed shock, “Um. Loki… what the fuck are you doing?"

"Agent Barnes, do I really need to explain?"

Mouth dropping open, Bucky gaped, "He’s the guy? Really? You’re telling me Loki is the guy?” “She’s not telling us, Buck… she’s showing us.”

“But Stevie…? Loki? You? You’re the guy who makes her happy? The one who she’s been covering for?” Pressing a chaste kiss to your forehead, just a touch guilty, “I am. And, I’m madly in love with her.” “I’m happy Bucky. Stevie… really. Loki is… he’s my everything. I love him, too.”

As your secret was outed, the group formed a circle around you and Loki. Questions were shouted, congratulations extolled, Loki was clapped on the back more than once. Natasha gave you a wink and the "ok", which was really all the approval you needed.

“So, who won the pool then?”, Clint couldn’t help asking. “Me… and Thor”, the bride stepped right up to Tony with her hand out ready to take the prize money. “No fair! He’s your brother in law now. He probably told you!” Rhodey chimed in, unsatisfied with the final results. Defending her methods, Jane spun in her wedding dress, “No way! I used my powers of scientific deduction. I knew she was head over heels for Loki the night we announced our engagement.” Wondering, you looked at Jane, “You did? How? I mean, I didn't tell anyone. We didn't tell anyone ” “You didn't have to! You two wouldn’t look at each other. Dead give away.” Counting her cash, Jane smiled at you. “That may be true, but I promise you this, Odinson… break her heart and I’ll kill you.” Bucky shook Loki’s hand good naturedly, if a little too long, stopping only when Steve pulled him away. Gazing down at you, adoration evident in his face, Loki husked, “Not to worry, Agent Barnes. She has my heart you see... and I plan to be her guy as long as she’ll have me.”

Tagging my Minxes: @lancsnerd @vodka-and-some-sass @just-random-obsessions @brokenthelovely @lots-of-loki @thefallenbibliophilequote @sammy-jo1977 @queenofmischief @iamverity @iluvsumbucky @unadulteratedwizardlove @wolfsmom1 @procrastinatinglikeabitch @mizfit2 @shxdowofdarkness @nonsensicalobsessions @ahintofkiwistrawberry @jessiejunebug @rorybutnotgilmore @crystalizedcaramel @lokislittlecorner @scrumptious-finicky-illusion @capcapcapsicle @jamielea81 @caffiend-queen @thenatalie @otakumultimuse-hiddlewhore @is-it-madness @jenjen8675309 @alexakeyloveloki @poetic-fiasco

#loki x reader #loki x you #hot loki #Loki Love #MCU fanfiction #mcu writing challenge #loki writing challenge #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #1000 followers #loki smut

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strawbebehmod · 4 years

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Some potentially controversial headcanons about sexuality and gender in atla

Ok so I have some headcanons about gender and sexuality in the atlaverse that may controdict some aspects of canon as well as many other's headcanons but I feel go pretty inline with the nations, either based on their inspo country's history or the feel I get from the nations in canon culture. If you disagree that's totally chill I just wanna get my thoughts out there to see who else agrees.

So with that let's begin:

Air nomads

This I think everyone agrees on that the air nomads didn't give a shit about gender or sexuality. Love is love and gender is an illusion.

They also were very pro poly relationships

However, cause of the whole communally raising children thing that's a part of canon I don't think all the temples really had a concept of marriage and some groups may have actually given you odd looks if you wanted to be exclusive with someone

But the general 'let it be' culture meant you really wouldn't get any widespread social grief on the issue just maybe have a few arguments with friends or maybe a partner that wasn't used to being exclusive or was used to being exclusive and you weren't, and you veritably weren't going to be ostracized for your sexuality or preferences in a relationship. It's a domestic issue rather than a social justice one.

Air nomads were by far the most accepting of asexuality and aromaticism.

Water tribe

I actually think things very between the north and the south a lot due to their seperation, but a commonality between them is their strong sense of gender roles and other ridged segregations in gender like the whole waterbending thing.

That being said, transness is very much accepted but there are specific ceremonies for transitioning and coming out to the tribe, and it can mean losing some privileges you had from the gender you were assigned at birth.

There's also a third non-binary gender that has its own specific ceremony. This circumvented a lot of rules about who could learn what type of waterbending, particularly up north but also carried a few unique social responsibilities like officiating weddings but could also strip you of some priviledges from your initially assigned gender, such as paticipation in specific gendered rituals such as women's cerimonies or men's cerimonies.

Those members had their own unique cerimonies and celibrations however.

In the northern watertribe specifically homosexuality is very much accepted but under the current cheiftan unions of politics like Yue's will almost always come before unions of love, so gay individuals can sadly be forced into hetero relationships via arranged mairrage, with the only concessions being that they can take on a single same sex lover outside of the union.

The absoluteness of the arranged mairrage rules can change based on who is in charge however.

Biphobia has had a history of being a problem in the water tribes as they have a huge emphasis on separation and opposites in their culture as their two biggest spirits represent yin and yang. Lesbians were long considered favored by tui and gay men favored by la, as if they were living symbols of the spirits.

There was discourse as to how bi and pan people fit into this model, some even horribly suggesting they were abandoned by the spirits, but the current concesus among spiritual experts and elders is they are actually a symbol of tui and la's love for eachother and thus favored by both.

The southern water tribe has always been laxer about the gender specific stuff and never had the arranged mairrage rules.

It was always much smaller however so LGBT individuals were less common. This often made it harder for homosexual individuals to find romantic love as there were just fewer fellow LGBT people that were avalible.

So if you came out as gay/bi/pan/lesbian to the tribe it was often the tradition to complete your ice dodging cerimony soon after and then become a sailor for at least three years to try and find romance while trading goods with the other nations if you didn't have a partner already.

A majority of southern tribe fishermen/women as a result were LGBT. Being a full-time fisherman is now a euphamism for being a lonely gay person.

Southern watertribe mermaid tales were almost always very gay as a result.

Unfortunately due to the southern watertribe's culture and traditions being decimated by the firenation's raids, a lot of LGBT culture in the southern tribe was also lost.

They're still pretty accepting but because of the dwindled population of the southern tribe and the fact that LGBT people tend to only make up 1-10% of an average population in the real world, it's rare for a gay individual to be born into the southern tribe, usually only once every generation now, if they realize they are gay to begin with.

As a result of that and the fact that bringing it up generally brings up the fact that the firenation destroyed what nice things they had, it's often not talked about outside of between elders mourning better times, which has made it even harder for some individuals to even realize they are LGBT to begin with.

The swamp benders are mostly men who wear leaf loin cloths they gay af and we're probs established by southern watertribe gays and bis that got lost in their travels and decided to settle down in the swamp, eventually attracting the attention of other lgbt earth kingdom people who decided to live with them.

Earth Kingdom

There's a huge divide among how it's treated among peasents and aristocracy

Peasents grew up on stories of past earth kings with many lovers, including several gay ones

So depending on where you live homosexuality is either considered something romantic of fairy-tales or celibrated as something unique and uncommon

In some places where people have more spirituality, some joke that gay people were royals in their past lives.

The earth kingdom is big tho, so some small towns can be homophobic but it's much rarer and usually because they were established by homophobes who were chased from areas that were very anti homophobia.

Fetishization of homosexuality can happen but it's again depending on where you are.

The earth kingdom is also very accepting of asexuality but there are stereotypes such as asexuals usually becoming gurus.

In aristocracy things are a bit different

Homosexuality is still pretty accepted but due to how prevalent arrange mairrages are it's heavily assosiated with affairs and running away from family obligations and thus it's a bit taboo to speak publicly about it in high society.

Lesbianism specifically cause China, what the earth kingdom is based on, has a long history of writing off women's feelings.

The upper crust of Ba Sing Se, despite lots of historically gay earth kings, has a big homophobia issue thanks to the Dai Lee slowly becoming corrupted after Kyoshi died.

Long Feng particularly had a hand in making talking about gay stuff practically off the table or seen as only something for filthy commoners.

Transgenderism, again cause of China historically treating women like shit, is a subject of a lot of discourse in the Earth kingdom, although there are no legal issues with being transgender and one can have their passports changed in certian cities and towns to reflect their gender identity if they move there, but only in those specific towns.

Omashu is one of them and is extremely pro trans and in general pro LGBT even among the aristocracy, infact king Bumi in his first year of rule established specific holidays for celibrating trans people, gay men, lesbians, asexuals, bisexuals, agender people, and any other gender or sexual identity Bumi knew about.

He has added to the list since. Whenever he finds out about a new gender identity or sexuality he sets the day he found out as a day for a feats next year celibrating it.

This is why there are so many feasts in omashu.

He also often officiates gay weddings himself because according to him "gay weddings are the most interesting and creative. They all have mad geniuses for their wedding planners I tell ya"

Tbh he will randomly show up to any wedding in his city cause he loves parties but he will specifically officiate gay ones.

The Fire Nation

Ok this is where some people may get pissed cause I disagree that the firenation is horribly homophobic

I know it was stated by one of the creators that the firenation has anti gay laws thanks to Sozin but Japan had a loooooong history of celibrating gay stuff prior to westernization and the firenation is based off of Japan. Also kinda headcanon Sozin as having a thing for Roku that fell apart with the whole war bs.

So Sozin never imo put into place any homophobic laws aside from banning gay writings and plays within the palace out of bitterness of having Roku betray him and just didn't want to have anything around him that would remind him of him. Dude got so mopey over it he neglected his wife and children a lot, despite the whole thing being 100% his fault.

Azulon on the other hand was a homophobic son of a bitch and put a lot of anti gay and trans laws into effect. While none outlawed same sex relations, they included ones that allowed people to get away with firing people or harming people for being LGBT.

Ozai was also extremely homophobic.

But before all this the fire nation was practically a gay paradise. Fire is the element of passion, and so gay sex and relationships were considered for a long time just as normal as heterosexual relationships.

There were festivals and holidays celibrating gay lovers, lots of LGBT writing and art, and many many plays on the subject

There were several folk stories of Agni the sun spirit coming down to earth to meet his male human lovers, including one that explained why we have night and day. (Tui introduced Agni to one of the volcano spirit's sons so that she may rule the night in peace without his constant incercession and annoying boastfulness)

Soldiers were pretty much expected to have a gay relationship with one of their brothers in arms if they were single to increase the loyalty among troops.

The firenation was the only nation where arranged mairrages could be nullified instantly on the grounds that one of the individuals involved was gay, unless you were the firelord and that was only because it was the firelord's duty to produce at least one heir to continue the linage, so it was seen as the firelord's sacrifice to his or her people to take up at least one opposite sexed partner. Romantic affairs were expected and understood in such situations however so long as there was already an heir to the throne born.

Families could even be punished with jail time for knowingly forcing their gay children into heterosexual relationships.

Gay couples could adopt children too and denying one on the grounds of being gay would be grounds for removal of your position in child care and being blacklisted.

There were still homophobes but homophobia was squashed a lot

Azulon managed to "justify" the cultural shift and changes to laws by having newspapers publishing fake news about pedophilia cases being linked to homosexuality as well as other stories linking homosexuality to degenerate acts.

He also used the culture of honor and family loyalty to shame gay children for ending their parent's bloodlines and claiming gay individuals were less likely to take care of their parents in their old age. And that trans children dishonored their parents by rejecting their "birth gender"

He even had certian folk stories changed to be heterosexual

This allowed homophobia and transphobia to spred in the firenation

However many individual towns held onto their pro LGBT roots and still published and performed gay literary works and plays.

And azulon and ozai were unable to remove many nonheteronormative traditions, such as guy friends being extremely physically affectionate, more so than with their girl counterparts.

In some areas it's still customary to greet close male friends with platonic kisses on the cheek

Zuko repealed many of the old laws established by his father and grandfather almost immediately, and reestablished many old holidays and protections for LGBT individuals.

Fixing the damage is still taking time, but with a corrected history of the firenation being now taught in classes thanks to zuko and aang, things are getting back to the way they once were slowly.

#avatar the last airbender #zuko #aang #water tribe #atla #fire nation #earth kingdom #air nomads #long post #homophobia #biphobia #lgbt #transphobia #gay #bi #ace #headcanon

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entropic-introspection · 3 years

Text

Final Fantasy XIV: A Quick(ish) Summary As Told By Someone Too Lazy To Recheck Exact Times/Things

1.0- We don't talk about it

A Realm Reborn (ARR)- for some strange reason the world got like, completely blown up 5 years ago, crazy! You are some dumb kid from nowhere in particular, with nothing but the clothes on your back and a weapon that is little more than a chunk of wood, or a book. Possibly just your fists. You have got 50 levels and a shitload of lore to get through until you reach the first expansion.

Essentially: you don't have enough money for chicken nuggets, your fashion game is nonexistent, and every high level player calls you a sprout and exhibits Concern about your every action (they mean well).

Garlemald bad, Ascians bad, Eorzea uhhh trying to be good but kinda racist/capitalist/pirates with a history of colonialism, Coerthas is French Catholic and in the Crusades with the dragons. Hydaelin... good? Confusing, for sure, often referred to as Mother in text. Primals bad and scary, but fortunately you are immune to their mind-fuckery techniques thanks to Crystal Mom and surprisingly good at kicking their asses. Garleans mad that you ""savages"" keep killing Primals, despite having a whole mandate against Primals and Primal summoning. Ascians mad that you keep killing Primals because Ascians are dicks. People die, there is an amnesia plot, some annoying twerp is annoyingly right about a lot of things and also you can't get rid of him, Moogles, possession, fucking Ancient Aliens Allagans (if it's a problem in ARR, it's Ascians or Allagans aight), and hey ho you go and kick Garlean asses until they throw a giant machine at you that they stuffed full of Primal juice. Such devastation-!

Then there is the slightly post ARR stuff, where we're still level 50-ish but not really into the next expansion. So basically, we meet Dragon Dad who slaps Crystal Mom's blessing off of you to build character, Ascians are once again dicks, Who The Hell Names These Things, wow Lysanderoth you're definitely not suspicious at all, and our annoying twerp is dabbling in politics and for some reason you're getting fond of him?? Just in time for...

Heavensward (Lvl 50-60)- Congratulations, you are now an enemy of the state! We return/flee to French Catholic Coerthas/Ishgard, where we get to room with our Dear Friend, Haurchefant.

Don't mind how all the high leveled players have started crying. This expansion is emotionally devastating, has a great storyline, and also features canonical consensual dragon vore as a plot point. You know that tweet that's all "Church bad because they won't let you fuck dragons"? Yes, that's Heavensward. You will still cry. We embark on an epic road trip with the annoying twerp (ft his existential teenage crisis), a famous dragon killer and sadboi, and a famous lady who advocates peace/fucking dragons. Somehow, none of you kill each other. Instead, you murder a weirdly attractive bug-man with good music and a desire for violence, a giant flying whale, and some old dudes. You also beat up the same Ascian from the first bit, again. And again, in his final(?) form. Dragon Dad has come along to watch your progress, and also check on his kids cause he's actually, y'know, the entire progenitor of the dragon race. Wow! His family is very sad, mostly. But he does like you, so hey, he can adopt you and have one kid that turned out ok and happy! Hahahahha there's no therapists in Eorzea :')

Then we get to deal with "Hey we ended your like 500 year+ Crusade and kind of upended your social structures, y'all good?" (no), something something Warriors of Darkness, something something Urianger sus, then ALISAIE JOINS THE PARTY. I love her ok, let me have this. She's the annoying twerp's twin, and she's more inclined to hitting things that politics and philosophy. She's also kind of crushing on you. Also Minfillia kinda fucks off to nowhere, which is weird, b/c she has been Important but also Not Involved with the plot for like. 8 years.

Stormblood (Lvl 60-70)- Return of Lysanderoth! Briefly. Before he fucks you over, again. And a bunch of other people, honestly. But hey, this puts Eorzea in open contention with Garlemald for the first time in years, instead of them hovering in an uneasy cold war. For the first goddamn time in the game, you canonically get your ass kicked. Hard. So hard you decide fuck it! And go overseas to Fantasy Japan/China to visit some nice people you helped out earlier. You get catfished. You meet a weeb. There's some pirates, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There's Ravana take 2, this time in a slightly more 'Forever 21' phase. Wild, young, free, REJOICE.

You attempt to inspire rebellion (since your character doesn't talk much, this is quite difficult). Garleans crack down, and hey look, the dude who kicked your ass is back! Prince Zenos Yae Galvus, as by this point you've hopefully learned, even if you're bad with names like me. He kicks your ass again, but this time we break his helmet, and wait shit is he... kind of hot? Maybe? Fuck?? He pins you to a wall and tells you to find him later, it's all confusing and prompts strange butterflies in stomachs. (Side note: as a lesbian, I am making some assumptions here. Mostly based off of how I reacted to the idea of Tsukuyomi doing the same. Mm.)

Then he promptly fucks off, and to work off that sexual tension you square up and work with local friends on Rebellion! You get help from some neighboring nomads after proving you're cool enough to tame a bird, and this proves enough to free the area from Garlean control (for now). We go back to Eorzea, and prepare to kick Zenos' head in. He's playing hard to get though, so we gotta get through some other folks, learn hard lessons about war/colonization, and feel bad. AND THEN WE KICK HIS- oh no wait. Is he... coming on to us again? Oh jesus man, get a therapist, oh my god, this is awkward for us both. Turns out he's kinda depressed and just wants you. To fight him. To the death. There is some bullshittery and he becomes dragon. Fails to kill you, so he kills himself. (Spoiler: it doesn't stick)

The Garlean Empire is now pissed off at you, and Eorzea in general. Everyone is kung-fu fighting, but oops, Garlemald is preparing to commit ~war crimes~! Someone is doing something weird, which is making your Scion friends fall into comas, which is both very convenient and highly inconvenient, cause all of you are kinda needed right now! Zenos, or something in his body, is causing trouble as well. Look, even when we thought he was dead he was causing trouble.

Shadowbringers (Lvl 70-80): We find out what's been making our friends pass out- someone from another dimension has been trying to yoink you over to them, and like all attempts at using the Rescue spell, it just sometimes leads to hilarious accidents. In this case, some epic lag, so although your friends have only been out of it for a week or two at most, they've been in this other world for 5 whole years in some cases. Turns out, Garlean war crimes are all an Ascian plot (what isn't, by this point), and mysterious Crystal Exarch is hoping you can save this world and your own.

At this point, Yoshi P, the lead developer, pulls out a gun and asks if you've been doing all those side-quests and optional 48 man raids. He worked very hard on those, you know. He put in lots of lore. Then he asks if you remember all those dangling plot hooks from previous expansions. We're addressing a lot of those. And adding more. You are sweating and nodding frantically while scrolling a wiki on your phone.

You get to feel like you're in an Otome game, because there's two dudes being weirdly polite and interested in you, but also real snappish to each other in terms of "fuck off she's mine". Alisaie and Alphinaud off-screen character development. Urianger still sus. Thancred now a dad? Y'shtola still so good. A lot of things happen, and you get progressively sadder as the expansion goes on. You get a nice, great big burst of hope and love, and then SOMEONE is a DICK with a GUN. (It is not Yoshi P.)

Now you just feel bad. Your character feels bad. This is all build up for the A) some motherfucking revelations and B) the utter catharsis of "If you could take one more step... would you?" "What, all by myself?" "THROW WIDE THE GATE"

I have shed legitimate tears over Shadowbringers ok, between the music, story, and pacing it is an Experience. Oh my god tho, all the music from Shadowbringers is so good. La-HEE

#ffxiv #theres some spoilers in there but its all p nondescript #again: i aint checking exact facts here folks this is all in good fun

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k347 · 4 years

Text

| Evanstan- One Shot |

Notes To Self

Pairing: Chris Evans x Sebastian Stan

Warnings: None. Maybe... a lots of fluff??😙

Author's Note: This drabble contains a lot of references from interviews and articles published in real life. But I don't mean to project any of this in the actual-incidents or life of these two people. This is a work of fiction, purely a fragment of my imagination. Please treat it as such.

*************************

Summary :

Chris Evans just got a few days off from the busy-hollywood-actor-schedule, so he is staying with his boyfriend in their NYC apartment and cherishing every bit of this time. Today Seb had a few press related work commitments and Chris got to see the professional-Sebastian Stan in his element, which he loved! But Chris loves THIS more. Being tucked into the same bed, quietly listening to Sebastian's strong heartbeat among the faint sounds of late NY traffic. He lets out a soft chuckle when an exhausted Seb ocassionly mutters something romanian in his deep sleep. It's incredibly charming and at the same time it is calming and soothing. Chris knows it's past 01:00 am. He should probably stop staring at his beautiful boyfriend now and go back to sleep. Especially when both of them have planned to go on an early morning stroll tomorrow. But before that, being the introspective guy he is, Chris decides to pen down some of his thoughts on paper!

*************************

From the Journal of Christopher Robert Evans -

29th November 2019,

To-do-list, Daily Notes and Observations for future-self :

🔸Try to match clothes with Seb more often

🔸Especially the maroon, because he looks smoldering HOT (🔥) in that colour. It brings out the passion in his eyes.

🔸Try to get involved and a front seat in the room whenever Seb does his next photo-shoot. EVERYTIME! It might sound like a slightly perilous idea considering the tabloids, but it'll be totally worth it.

🔸Although I know he subconsciously looks and acts like he's in a photoshoot 24/7, there's something about him posing infront of a camera, being sinfully pouty and intensely gazing that increases my heart rate and makes the butterflies in my stomach invite some more fireflies 🔥

🔸Go to the gym together frequently. This shoot just reminded me of how deliciously distracting he can be while working out. Holy shit, I need to make it our quotidian routine!

🔸Buy some more Armani bath-robes. Just do it. Maybe one of those David Yurman necklaces, too.

🔸NEVER argue with Seb about roads in New York. He clearly knows better, so he'll always win. In addition to that, he'll always remember your dumb-ass-fight and give an ode to that in his cute-dorky-short videos by making a guy ask him about '4th and Lex'. That unknown-model/stranger apparently represents my ignorant attitude towards the travel advice given by this self-proclaimed 'Best-New-York-tour guide' (😅) God, he's such a dork, my dork!

🔸Buy him a customised T-shirt that says 'Chubby-Dumpling' or 'Dumpling-Man' or maybe both. The nickname from the fans in China still gives him full-belly-laughs.

🔸On your next Boston trip take him to the REAL Dunkin Donuts.

🔸Always stash the freeze with Pizzas and donuts and hot dogs whenever he's having a cheat-day

🔸After a big cheat-day lunch he'll insist on not having anything for dinner. He'll be pretty kin on that. But don't listen to him. Make the romanian bouef-salad recipe you got from his mom. He always caves in with that one! He did today, too.

🔸Interviews for magazine profiles don't always go really well. I've also had my share of bad ones. When things like that happen, don't let him overthink and over analyse it. Seb himself can be a bit capricious at times and every interviewer can't capture the accurate image of a person through his/her writing from an hour long interview. But not everyone gets the privilege to understand,admire and adore this soft, pure, a little shy, beautifully complex and precious soul.

🔸Despite of being an amazing, talented and wonderful human being, Seb will doubt himself at times. Have mercurial mood swings because of it. It's a part of how the human brain functions.

🔸As excruciating as it is for you to witness, don't rush him through that. Let him complete his own thought process, but also never leave his side during that time. Hold him, be there for him. Just like he is there for you, always.

🔸 Seb moves around, paces a lot when he is nervous. Licks his parched lips, tossles his hair. In all honesty, he is more fidgety than Dodger during a haircut!

🔸So when his negative thoughts start to proliferate, give him some extra warm hugs. He says those help and also because you can't help it!

🔸Be an anchor for him during all this turbulance.

🔸Cuddle on that spacious, heavenly couch in the apartment till all of the brain noises settle down.

🔸Then make Seb realise how fucking PERFECT he is and try to erase each and every one of the insecurities he has about his physique and not putting on enough muscle

🔸Tell this sweet, kind, gorgeous man that he's not '50-miles behind' anyone. He doesn't need to compare himself to anybody else, simply because it's not fair, to THEM!

🔸Nobody can ever be compared to Sebastian, because he truly is the one and only♥ He doesn't need to worry about the ego maniac-races in Hollywood️ because he is playing in his own pro-league! Make sure to always remind him of that.

🔸Whenever people compliment him, Seb acts polite and then often internally wonders if they are being obsequious. But do it just right, with a few yet genuine words and he'll turn into an adorably blushing goofball. Try to bring that look on his face as much as you can.

🔸 Last but not the least, Love him. Just Love him. Treasure him, spend time with him as much and as often as you can, till the very last second that you're breathing. You'll never be able to figure out how you got so lucky to get to be with this actual angel of a human being, so don't wreck your mind over it. Seb is the universe's blessing to you. Never dare to forget that. And try to improve yourself each and everyday for him. Because Sebastian Stan, truly does deserve the best!

🔸Ohh, and also remember to buy some bigger blankets. As cute as the cashmere ones are, they can't endure the New York winter too successfully❄ Mackie was right, our apartment needs some dude-sized blankets. But for now, the snuggles will have to work.

_______________()______________

This drabble was conceived because of a picture of Chris Evans in the beautiful chestnut sweater 😂 And this old Marie-Claire Interview

Seriously though, I was actually trying to write a funny one-liner post because I saw the newly surfaced knives out pics and Chris looks so Handsome in the maroon sweater😍. But it just kept getting bigger and turned into this thing😅. I am seriously insecure about my writing skills, so thought of keeping it to myself. But then I decided to post it because some parts of the Sebastian Stan Fandom are in desperate need of positivity 💚

I also scrolled through the 'Chris Evans Thesaurus' (that's what I call his twitter account 😄)for half an hour looking for his trademark words just so I could make this Journal-Entry sound like it's coming from him! (I love wasting my time on the little details!)😏

And if you haven't figured it out yet, I am leaning towards Mackie's side in the Stackie-Couch-debate😂

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artzychic27 · 4 years

Text

Nathaniel: Ironically, we need to scare you straight Because this shouldn't be how we roll We get these ideas and we just can wait But there is a price

Marc: You want to do slash have it all Because you have no impulse control

Kim: Yes we do!

Marc: So before you snap, tag, like, or God forbid call Here is our advice

Nathaniel: Stop When you send five texts And you get none back So you want to send a sixth one Stop You gotta stop

Marc: Stop When you meet a new girl at school And you dump the old one Because you think she’s a bully Stop Check sources and stop

Nathaniel: We know it's hard but try Don't instantly gratify My God, she’s not jealous over a guy! You really need to stop Stop You're gonna make a mess And then who's going to get the mop?

Alix: These guys!

Marc: When you talk and you talk 'til you can't get calm It keeps coming out like “You’re jealous”, stop! Keep your mouth shut and stop

Alix: Guys, we all make bad choices, sometimes. Nathaniel, tell them about Phillip

Nathaniel: No!

Marc: Who?

Nathaniel: At arts camp, I met this cute actor boy And he and I had a fling I'd run my fingers through his hair You should’ve felt those curls His second show was Anything Goes

And he seemed pretty close to this girl who could sing And when they kissed Which by the way, gross I wanted to murder her!

But no one told me stop stalking him And that pasty catholic girl Who is playing Hope Harcourt Of course, 'cause, basic, stop

(Stop, stop, stop)

Nathaniel: I couldn't stop

(Dude, you really need to stop!)

Nathaniel: Stop, posting comments on YouTube As four different people That her de lovely was pitchy, stop

(Stop, stop, stop)

Nathaniel: I really had to stop!

(He didn't stop)

Marc: ‘Cause when you feel attacked That's a feeling, not a fact Don't jump online and react You really need to stop

(Stop)

Nathaniel: Picking at the emotional zit That you can't pop Four whole weeks I trolled and dissed her Then I found out She was his sister, stop Hashtag obsessed, stop (stop)

And now he won't talk to me And he won't accept my edible arrangements

Alya: Guys, we get what you’re trying to do, but we are nothing like that-

Marc: Oh no! You guys are gonna stay, and listen!

Adrien: But we’re not making bad choices.

Marc: Tell that to the girl you told to be quiet about her bully.

Adrien: But I-

Marc: I said it! Hey, guys, what have you learned from your worst ideas?

Wayhem: Stop when you think to yourself Should I get a tattoo Of my favorite model’s name? Stop After you hear what he did, stop! Now whenever I look at it, I’m just reminded of a spineless coward

Kagami: Stop when you're angry at a liar And you want to slice her face So she’ll be no more Stop Stick to meditation and stop

Luka: Stop when you have this crush on a girl Who has cute blue hair and bluebell eyes And you're like wow, she’s extraordinary But she’s getting bullied By everyone in class So you get akumatized To make things all better And I guess it worked too well ‘Cause her ex-friends Are scared and won’t look your way!...

I’m pretty sure I threatened to kill Alya while I was akumatized... Also, this school really needs security cameras, because I just walked right in...

Stop 'cause they have their phones with them, and they’ll call the cops!

(Think before posting)

Luka: Threatening

Wayhem: Tattooing

(Stop)

Marc: Good work guys, let's take a break!

Nathaniel: A five, six, seven, eight!

Dance Break

(As right as it might seem To overshare, lie or meme That's just low self esteem In your brain like a bull in a china shop)

Nathaniel: Stop, being glued to your phone Not checking your sources and ignoring your friends They’re leaving just like my dad!

(Stop, stop, stop we can't stop Stop, stop, stop we can't stop Stop, stop, stop You really gotta)

Nathaniel/Marc/Alix: Stop!

(Honestly, everyone stop)

#Class Salt #Miraculous Salt #Salt Playlist #Marc Sugar #Nathaniel Sugar #Alix Sugar #Adrien Bashing #Alya Bashing #Alya Salt #Adrien Salt #Stop #Mean Girls the Musical #Mean Girls Stop #Luka #Kagami

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daydadahlias · 3 years

Note

1 & 9 for whichever fic was the answer to #1🧡

From Writer Asks <3 Hey Anna, I’m about to talk about a fic I don’t even think you’ve fucking read lmao so get ready to be confused. luv u.

1. Of the fics you’ve written, which is your favorite and why?

Okay, Anna, I’m about to surprise even myself with this answer (because obviously Scene 14 is my goddamn baby) but I’m really vibing with Bittersweet today… Don’t throw hands or nothin’ with me, but that’s a good ass fic. Do I think it’s my best? Fuckin’ not even a little bit. Not even remotely. But today she’s my favorite. Why, you ask? I shall tell you. I’ve been in a very reflective mindset lately. And I hate to give this fic all the credit for that, but she’s a large portion of why. I very rarely write things that are so openly about myself. Obviously, all of my fics have pieces of me embedded here and there for flavor (my perspective on acting/performance in S14, my love of In Bruges in Simple, my hatred of Christmas in This December, my hatred for “Eurydice” by Sarah Ruhl in Original Orpheus). But none of my fics are really just, point blank, about me. And Bittersweet is, as simply as you can fucking put it, me. I’m in a group of four loud ass best friends who constantly threaten to murder each other and Sarah’s family owns a lakehouse that we go up to during the summer. I’m about to go up there this Tuesday, actually, funny enough. And I’m fresh out of High School, and I’m leaving all my friends and my family to go to college in, like, a month and a half. Sarah will be three hours away from me and not just twenty minutes for the first time in our life. Kitty and Kavya (my other best friends) will be over 12 hours from me and I don’t know if/when I’ll see them again. Kitty went back to China for the summer and Kavya’s been too busy to hang out. So, I really won’t see them again for a long, long time. And that shit is hard for me, considering how long it took me to accumulate a group of people I love and trust (and that love and trust me, considering what a hassle I am to keep around lol). And now, I’m losing them. And it’s been something I’ve had such a shit time dealing with, and getting to write this fic was so fucking… mmm. It was so good for me! I’m so bad at actually reflecting on myself and putting my feelings out into the world. If I write a fic that’s “about” my experiences, it’s a heart truth and not an outright one because I’m bad at openly talking about things I struggle with. But I fucking got it together and got to do that with this fic! Luke and Ashton in this fic are just me and Sarah if I was actually comfortable kissing people, haha! And, on that note, getting to write an asexual character was fucking… yeah, it was so goddamn good for me. It was really fucking good. I’ve been wanting to do it for a while now but I’ve been getting such good reaction on my smut that I’ve been sort of in the mindset of, “it would be a waste of you now to write a fic that doesn’t have smut, bro.” Which is stupid, and I’m gonna back away from that mindset and hopefully write a lot more smut-less (and also slash-less) fics in the future! Not that I don’t adore writing smut though. I’m just saying, this made me go “oh, you have more avenues, dude.” So this fic is a lot about growth and understanding for me, and I’m very happy to have written it and today specifically, she is my favorite by far.

9. Which idea came to you first in Bittersweet?

It’s that lake, baby. It’s that goddamn lake. I’ve always wanted to write a fic with our lake. Okay, so, I’ve been in a very much… unsteady headspace the last week, which is probably why I’m about to be so honest about this, but the lake with Sarah is where I actually fucking… talked about some of the shit that’s happened to me in my life. Like, shit I’d been sitting on for a long time. The kind that just, you know, eats you up? And there are several things in my life that Sarah is the only person who knows, and all of those things were told to her at the lake, on the paddleboard in the center of the water so there was no chance of someone else hearing. So writing any scene with a paddleboard and a lake for me, lmao, is super fucking symbolic! It says so much. I know it doesn’t to a reader; it’s just a paddleboard and some water. But to me as the writer (considering the personal tie it has to me), it is a big fucking symbolic place. So, yeah. The first idea that came to me was Luke and Ashton on the paddleboard, feeling the sun, and just talking for a minute. Just having one of those, “I’m with you, so therefore things are okay for a minute” moments. And then, the first scene I wrote was just the dialogue of the dock scene at the end where Ashton talks about losing his virginity. One of the first lines I ever thought of/wrote down for the fic was “it was barely intimacy at all,” and I’m really glad I got to use that line and that it felt like it fit. I love that fic! Thank you!!

#bittersweet #pigeon #ashtcinirwin #writer asks #yes yes yes #ok #these are my words and i've said them #shoutout to sarah for always being my muse #she knows

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volkswagonblues · 4 years

Text

The Rise of Kyoshi, pg 1-224 (first half of the book)

@myownzinger so i started reading this, I’m curious to know other people’s thoughts! What did you like/dislike about it?

Here’s my quick thoughts:

My biggest impression, and this says more about where my priorities are as a reader than anything else, is that the prose is just…okay. I know that this is a book for children/teens, but there are places where I think the pacing is a bit off, and the action gets hard to follow. Yee isn’t bad, necessarily, but on a technical level he isn’t on the same level as Philip Pullman and Tamora Pierce who do similarish children’s fantasy stuff. But Pullman and Pierce are stone cold legends, so maybe that’s not a fair comparison…

WHAT I LIKED

The world feels truly “Asian” in a very fun way - Kyoshi’s village makes seasweed kimchi (“fermented sea kelp”), she gets scolded for tanning outside in the sun, all the descriptions of the architecture, the political structure, etc. etc. feels really....asian.

I was not expecting to really feel sad over Kuruk! But the handful of details you get feels oddly very…adult? And very sad. He died young, only 33, and had no achievements other than being very good at Pai Sho and writing poetry. I think I’m so used to Aang and Korra saving the world and being the heroes of these grand narratives that discovering an avatar who literally did…none…of those things is jarring.

SPOILERS BELOW CUT

speaking of poetry - the way that one of Kyoshi’s mentors recognise her as the Avatar is through poetry, when Kyoshi starts reciting poetry that Kuruk wrote and that she had no way of knowing. It really fells like a coherent fantasy world with its own culture.

Kuruk’s poetry itself is uh, questionable: “I got hair like the starless night/ it sticks to my lips when I smile / I’ll wind it with yours and we’ll drift off course / in a ship touching hearts all the while” OKAY SURE KURUK STICK TO PAI SHO

Speaking of which, Kuruk gives me major Sokka in @friendlystrawberry’s in the after days vibe. Water Tribe dude just drifting around writing poetry and shit, being chill

Kyoshi is SO BISEXUAL.

I couldn’t remember if she canonically gets together with Rangi or if it’s a coy “gal pals” situations, but wow, they are heading towards canon. They share such a cute ‘oh no we have to share a tent’ scene in the first half of the book, and Kyoshi gets very shy and cute over how nice Rangi’s hair smells. I like it.

So Avatar Kuruk also had a whole crew: Jianzhu the earthbender; Hei-Ran the firebender, and Kelsang the airbender. He apparently had a thing for Hei-Ran before he meets Ummi (woman whose face is taken by Koh), and now Hei-Ran is Rangi’s mother, and now Kyoshi has a crush on Rangi. IT ALL COMES FULL CIRCLE

Jianzhu and Kelsang give me very…weary ex-boyfriends who have fallen out vibes. For people who like niche Piandao/Jeong Jeong stuff, allow me to present an EVEN MORE NICHE pairing

I really love Kyoshi’s bending handicap, which is so interesting: she’s very bad in fights, because she’s too powerful. She can lift mountains, but she can’t control a pebble without crushing it. So actually, she’s not very good at fighting and everyday tasks, but she can perform goddamn miracles at crutch moments. It’s such a good storytelling note.

WHAT I’M NEUTRAL ON

Kyoshi’s parents turning out to be outlaws. On a plot level we need it to move the second half of the book’s events, but the whole “secret outlaw underworld” stuff feels a bit…silly. The book also gave itself a difficult task of introducing a whole new cast of characters midway through, which is very tough to pull off. Not sure I’m a fan yet.

Also, the wuxia influences are so clear. It’s clearly SO influenced by those 80s-90s action novels/movies about martial artists in ancient China traveling the jianghu. This really kicked in after Kyoshi leaves her home village, and I s c r e a m e d when she gets to the outlaw teahouse and stars getting ~trained in the mystical arts~ by the ragtag group of thieves and outlaws. I’m not a wuxia fan so this hits neutral for me, but holy shit I do appreciate the attempt

WHAT I’M MEH ON

see above on pacing/prose/writing

#Avatar The Last Airbender #the rise of kyoshi

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cerastes · 4 years

Text

SO AMONG THE 72 Arts of the Shaolin Temple, there is one named Tie Shan, or Iron Shirt, which everyone here is familiar with. You know the typical body hardening techniques of hard Chinese martial arts you usually see in Wu Xia? Like when this small and thin dude gets smashed by a giant of a man wielding a tree or a steel pipe and, against all expectations, it doesn’t do jack shit against the dude and instead the log explodes into splinters or the pipe gets bent? That’s Iron Shirt.

The guiding principle of it is to use “qi” (efficient breathing techniques and thoroughly trained muscle tightening) to harden the shit out of your body, usually one body part where you focus the absolutely totality of your attention and kickasstitude. It’s like when the sci fi ship its getting its teeth kick right through its asshole and the captain says “REDIRECT ALL ENERGY INTO SHIELDS!”, it’s basically that, but you train to actually be able to do that in the one-person crew stellar spaceship that is your body, and instead of a proton beam, you are blocking the punch thrown by the blistering white supernova of ire that is the kid at GameStop after you buy the last copy of 50 Cent: Blood On The Sand.

BASICALLY, it’s not so much a whole school in and of itself as much as a discipline you Responsibly Consider in the mastery of the overall fucked and wide scheme of Shaolin martial arts. But, as one of the 72 Arts, it gets its own full backstory because the ancient Chinese people never once fucked around in their entire lives throughout the Dynasties. Don’t believe me? Consider that Jing Ke was just an alcohol-loving scholar who just so happened to love dabbling in swordsmanship, and he spawned the fucking cusp of all anarchist legends, and well deservedly, too, but my point is, the moment the Chinese saw a dope ass technique, that shit NEEDED a backstory, else it would just fall short of the hype their real life entailed.

For real, I really wanna sit down one day and talk about how fucking crazy Chinese myths are simply because their daily lives were worthy of 45 minute long OVAs that leave wanting more: To be ancient Chinese is to live generations upon generations in “Current Events”, in shit that now shows up on history books as “And This Fucking Madhouse Was Going On Over Yonder, In Case You Pondered”. How the fuck do you make mythos attractive and relevant to The People if it fails to outdo Current, Real Events in the “Bruce Willis Shooting a Gatling Gun” meter? You don’t, which is why for every fucking blade of grass that swayed by the wind in old China, there was a specific reason, a legend, and a moral of the story as to why that shit happened, otherwise literally nobody would’ve fucking cared about the grass, the wind, or the swaying.

But today is not that day, today is the day I tell you about IRON SHIRT.

So anyway, the lore behind redirecting all of your energy into your balls so you could tank a kick to the huevos and possibly redirect damage to your opponent by breaking their foot with your mighty pain baby sacks finds its humble origins with our main man, Zhou Tong (who must not be confused with Zhou Tong, archery teacher of general Yue Fei of the Song Dynasty, two different people) in the very self-descriptive story known as... I’m not gonna tell you the title just yet because it kinda fucking spoils the story, which is something the old Chinese were fucking bad about, aight, but trust me, anyway, Zhou Tong! Zhou Tong was just taking a stroll down the road, going places as he usually did, when over yonder, he spotted, without any exaggeration or glamour, an absolute chunkster of a lad, an absolute unit, Agent Fat Fucck’s respected ancestor, a BIG BOY. This dude was MASSIVE and WELL BUILT. So Zhou Tong looks at this mother fucker real good, hits him with that Scan Lv.3, and comes to the very fair and safe conclusion that this man looked forward to humiliating him, if “very fair and safe” also encapsulated “paranoid fucking old man”. See, to be fair to Zhou Tong, he WAS a renowned master of martial arts, and if there’s anything you should know about martial arts, it’s that a great number of martial artists are always looking for that big break, that “get my name out there for those in the know”, and the shortest route to that is to beat up a renowned master. It’s why Bruce Lee always had challengers! It’s why this one time, this one dude threatened Bruce Lee’ family in order to get Bruce to fight him, which is about the single worst possible fucking idea you can get. Drinking molten glass with a dab of lemon is a better idea than picking a malicious fight with Bruce Lee, and yet, here we fucking are! And in case you’re curious, Bruce Lee demolished that dude, but anyways, the thing is, Zhou Tong was, like, 17% justified in thinking this way.

So what he did was what any other person would: He started redirecting all of his energy into his right shoulder. See, the way they were walking, they were going to walk by each other while crossing a bridge, so Zhou Tong was like “this mother fucker wishes to humiliate me by chucking me into the bridge in front of the hoes!”, so Tong, as a master of Iron Shirt, focuses like 1700 Magic Points into his right shoulder, which turns red, and then purple as it becomes harder than rock, harder than iron, harder than spending 5 minutes away from the boys, under his clothes. So, the fated moment comes, they brush shoulders, and the Big Boy gets fucking Destructo-Blasted. Big Boy was almost knocked out of the bridge just from brushing his shoulder. It was so painful that he was pouring saliva and the entire right side of his body was left numb until the next day. Zhou Tong fucking DUNKED on Big Boy and avoided being publicly humiliated in front of girls, the greatest accolade you could possibly append to any student of arts most martial.

Except.

It was a misunderstanding.

That Big Boy was none other than Wu Song, his future student. Wu Song didn’t even notice Tong, he was looking at his own feet and minding his footsteps because he didn’t wanna get his feet wet after last night’s rain.

So, I IMPLORE YOU, the reader, to hold my hand (platonically) and accompany me through a reconstruction of the events through Wu Song’s perspective:

There was a freak rain last night in a place known for how dry it is. You only have shit ass sandals, and there’s a trillion puddles of water between you and your destination. You, as a certified Immense Chunk Man, have large trotters and don’t wanna step in a puddle because then you get the common cold and then you fucking die because this is somewhere around the year 1121 CE and medicine amounted to “these pleasant aromas and needles either heal you or you fucking die”. You take extra care to not get the common cold by minding your steps, and suddenly, out of absolutely fucking nowhere, you get Destructo-Blasted while crossing a bridge, you get utterly ragdolled, you get Broly Punched through three fucking buildings and almost hole-in-one into the river, you are drooling, you can’t feel the right side of your body, and when you look up to brace yourself against your assailant, you see this older man just sort of chilling with a joyful stride, walking as if he didn’t just deliver your fucking groceries with that 200% Damage In Hyrule Castle Lower Half Of The Map Forward Smash. What the fuck?

And then some years pass, you get involved into some Pretty Important Shit, and you’re going to learn martial arts from a certified badass, and then he walks out of the bead curtain holding a lemonade, and guess who the fuck it is, it’s Mister Destructo-Blast himself. How fucking awkward was that encounter? No, really, what were their first words towards each other? “Oh, I remember you! You were the old dude that nearly ripped my arm off for no reason that one day it rained!” That’s a great ice breaker.

So, anyways, they go, train, become even stronger, and then do immensely hype shit in the classic story, Water Margin. Zhou Tong became the 51st of the 72 Earthly Fiends and Wu Song became the 14th of the 36 Heavenly Spirits in the 108 Stars Of Destiny. You should read Water Margin, it’s fucking nuts.

But anyways, that’s the lore behind the esteemed martial art of redirecting all energy to shields, Iron Shirt is pretty cool. The moral of the story is to not just fucking randomly ragdoll people because you’re a mite suspicious, but also? If you can actually randomly ragdoll people like that? You’re probably dope as hell and can get away with it, so practice Iron Shirt for political immunity, that’s all, the end.

#Water Margin #Wu Song #Zhou Tong #mythology

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denimbex1986 · 3 years

Link

Note: This video won’t play for anyone outside of the UK.

“Anthony, I wanna kick off with a big one. You’re Sam Wilson, AKA The Falcon - how the heck did that happen?”

Anthony: “Erm, well, I, I got lucky. I got very lucky. I - I’ve always wanted to be a part of the MCU since the first Iron Man. And, you know, when they uh, some - saw some of my other stuff, they called me to LA and I had dinner with the Russo brothers and it kind of worked out. I was like: ‘All of you, just don’t be an asshole!’”

“That was their one note, their first note.”

Anthony: “That was it - don’t be an asshole.”

“What do you like most about your character?”

Anthony: “Uh, the fact that he’s a normal guy. You know, if you think about it, he was just a guy out for a jog, and Captain America was like: ‘You’re a good guy - I want you to be an Avenger.’ What?! Like, you know it’s ,it’s - that’s something no-one expects, That was a hell of a jog. Like, what happened if he never went on that jog? He would never have met Black Widow, who is the love of his life. He would never have got to go on adventures with Captain America, who is is best friend. And now he would never be dealing with all this craziness with Bucky. who is his arch nemesis. (interviewer laughs) All from one jog.”

“One jog. And that line: “on your left” - it must be a nightmare for you. You can never be to the right of anyone ever again.”

Anthony: (laughs once) “Very true, and its interesting because you can always tell when somebody’s about to say it. And, you know, it’s the build up, and the build up is like: ‘No, don’t say it. Should I say it? Can I say it? What would he say if I say it? Okay, ’on your left! Ha-ha-ha.’ (interviewer laughs) And it’s never a girl - it’s never a girl. It’s always some 40-year-old dude who, you know, it’s always some 40-year-old dude.”

“Yeah. I get it.”

Anthony: “If it was a pretty girl and she’s like ‘On your left’, you’re like ‘Yes you are.’”

“Good move, I’m glad it works. (Anthony laughs) Let me say this to you - would you say you might have the most uncomfortable costume in the MCU, when you’re wired up, I mean?”

Anthony: “I - I think I have the costume with the most pieces. I have about, - hoo -, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight - I have like, twelve pieces to my costume. And it just goes on layer after layer after layer and it, it can be, um, a bit much but actually, it’s pretty uh, comfortable. I mean the backpack is the only off thing - that’s maybe like 15 pounds, uh, the whole piece; the harness that it goes on. But nah, I’m - I’m pretty comfortable with mine. It’s just when I’m doing stunts I usually rip through the crotch of my pants.”

“There’s this great bit in the blooper reel where you crash into the ground right in front of Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man.”

Anthony: “Right.”

“Ah, great days. (Anthony laughs) What would you say are your favourite Falcon moments on the big screen so far - and I do have suggests if you’d like them?”

Anthony: “One of my favourite moments that made me go ‘Holy shit!’ was in um, I wanna say it was in Winter Soldier. When the Harriers are coming up, and I go under the Harrier and the, the missiles are following me and I do a barrel tuck and they hit the Harrier and I come back out. For me, that was the first moment I was like: ‘This is amazing!’ Right? And my second one, my all-time, my all-time, is this first sequence in episode one. The first ten minutes. That was the second time when I saw it, when I saw myself and I went: ‘Holy shit!’ (interviewer laughs quietly) So those two are probably my top moments.”

“For me, I can’t resist the moment where you say in Civil War: ‘So, you like cats?’ (Anthony laughs) And with Bucky himself: ‘Can you move your seat up?’ (Anthony laughs) Love it. Even the: ‘Everybody’s got a gimmick now’ - you’ve got all these lovely little lines.”

Anthony: “Right.”

“Good-looking guy in the sunglasses, And what I love seeing, the behind-the-scenes footage for this new show, it’s that it’s called ‘Bromance’ on the clapper board. (Anthony laughs once) And I know you’ve been asked a million times about your friendship with Sebastian, so here’s my tack. How would you describe him in three words?”

Anthony: “Uh - boring. Introverted. Er - I feel like shy is the same thing so I won’t say shy. I’ll say boring, introverted and um, a great sense of humour.”

“Love it. I’ll accept it.”

Anthony: “But he’s literally the most boring person I’ve ever met in my life.” (interviewer laughs quietly)

“All right, between the two of you, who breaks, who corpses and laughs most on set between the two of you?”

Anthony: “Oh - I would say it’s a 50/50 split. Like, when we’re on set, and that’s why I say he, he has a great sense of humour - when we’re on set, he always does something in some kind of way to just, you know, crack me up. It’s - it’s really funny. You know him with like - there was one day when he was putting the arm on, and you know, the process of putting that arm on is quite disgusting. So, (laughs aloud, interviewer laughs silently) he’s putting the arm on the, the - so they use KY Jelly to get the arm on, right? -”

“Yeah, the lube.”

Anthony: “ - So he has to dip his arm in the KY Jelly and slide it into this arm, and he puts - and he does this (slight moving motion) and a glob of KY Jelly just goes (motions glob hitting his face, then laughs, as does the interviewer). Never fails. Never fails.”

“Never not funny. I - I would imagine the whole staring contest bit would be enough to set me off. Like, I wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face.”

Anthony: “Yeah, that was good editing because that whole sequence - we literally just went at each other for about ten minutes (laughs) and they just cut it down to what it is.”

“Love it. And I’d like to thank you on behalf of all Marvel fans for holding up and basically powering all of the gag reels for, what, close to ten years now. (Anthony laughs) Are there any ‘Cut the cheque’s’ in the blooper reel for this show?”

Anthony: “You know, I don’t know. I don’t even know. We can do a whole episode that’s just bloopers. Like, we had a lot of fun on this show, dude. There - between you know Sebastian, Daniel Bruhl - ”

“Yeah.”

Anthony: “ - Even like, there was some stuff, you know, Emily VanCamp did - it was just like - it was just co - comic gold, like just comedic gold. And none of it made - because, because we’re not doing a comedy. Like, if we were doing Guardians of the Galaxy, all that shit would be in the movie. But, I - I wish they’d take all of this stuff and cut like a one-hour comedic version of this show. It, it would be - it would break the internet.”

“Oh God, I now really, really want that. (Anthony laughs) What would you say are the weirdest, most surreal things you’ve done promoting a Marvel movie or this TV show? Because I’d like to suggest reading out thirst tweets, an escape room and mean tweets. I mean, I don’t know whether Catchphrase with J.Lo was part of that? (Anthony laughs) There must’ve been moments where you’re going: ‘Is this really happening?’“

Anthony: “I would say the, the weirdest thing, um, when we went to um, China, for, uh, Civil War, we - there are only like seven chefs in the world that can cook, uh, uh, pufferfish because of poison- ”

“Of course.”

Anthony: “So, we go to this restaurant and the chef’s like, uh, you know: ‘As, as a, as a sign of gratitude, I made you guys some pufferfish.’ And we’re like ‘Oh wow, isn’t that danger, like - that’s dangerous’, and he’s like ‘No, no. There’s only seven people in the world who can cook it and I’m one of the seven.’ So we’re like: ‘Okay.’ So we all go to eat this pufferfish and our mouth is like tingling and numb. He’s like: ‘Oh well, you know, the art is to leave a little bit of poison in so you can taste it.’”

“Great.”

Anthony: “I’m like: ‘Not a good idea, homeboy. Not a good idea.’ But Singapore, we um, we uh, got to stand - I think it was the Opera House - and they like, set the whole city on fire with fireworks. It was insane. It was literally - the entire city was on fire.”

“Amazing. God, those were the days. (Anthony laughs once) Can I ask you, would your press - you know, I know you’ve done pranks over the years, but has Nishka, your wife’s friend made an appearance?”

Anthony: (laughs) “She has not.”

“I - I love her. (Anthony laughs) I’ve got to tell you I love her. What mementos have you taken home over the course of the films and this TV show? Do you still have that poster of yourself as the Falcon up in your house?”

Anthony: (laughs) No, but I do, um, there’s - there’s a few things. Once you get into the series, you’ll see, uh, from my house, um, I’ve, I’ve - there’s a record record player. Jacked that. I’ve been trying to get - they’re fighting me on it - I’ve been trying to get my wings, ‘cos I’m like: ‘The wings have changed every movie, so you should give me the old wings.’”

“The little pigeon ones? The little quail ones?”

Anthony: “That’s what I’m saying - the little three-foot ones like that. That’s the ones I want. So, I’m working on that, uh, but our prop team, uh, my man Russell and uh, Travis, they are - the angriest little dudes on earth and they watch everything - it’s impossible.”

“Well, what do fans say to you though, typically, when they see you on the street? We’ve already discussed ‘on your left’, but do they just walk up to you and start playing Trouble Man out their phones? Like what, what are they doing?”

Anthony: “The funny thing is most of them walk up to me and think I’m Don Cheadle. (laughs) They literally go: ‘Hey man, I love you as black Iron Man!’ I’m like ‘Er...’ Or they’ll say: ‘Aren’t you the guy in Iron Man?’ I’m like ‘Err...’“

“Not so much.”

Anthony: “Like literally, once a day, someone comes up to me and asks me if I’m Don Cheadle. Which it could be worse.”

“I love those bits in the bloopers where you say - ” (You want Wesley Snipes or Denzel;. ‘Denzel.’ ‘Done. Roll sound.’ blooper plays and both laugh)

Anthony: “Two very different things, man. Two very different things.”

“Two very different things. Okay, here’s another big question. What advice would you give to your younger self, before you got this role, to prepare yourself for a life as the Falcon?”

Anthony: “Er, enjoy it. I think a lot of times I, I missed the opportunity to just step back and enjoy it. Because so many people have so many expectations of you just because they saw you in a movie. Like, you know, it’s - it’s like being a pretty girl at a bar. You know, when one guy offers you a drink, that’s cool, then the second guy, then the third guy, it’s like ‘Yo, I just wanna chill for a minute.’ You know, so a lot of people feel entitled to your time and your energy, you know?”

“I get it. I get it. And you talk about that in the show as well which I kind of love, even in the first episode - there’s that discussion of an ownership of you - ”

Anthony: “Right.”

“ - because you’re an Avenger.”

Anthony: “Right.”

“There’s lots - there’s lots of stuff in this new series which feels really, really true. How does it feel working with Malcolm Spellman about that?”

Anthony: “Um, you know what? Malcolm has a great voice as a writer, and he was 100% in tune with how I felt and, you know, what I wanted this character to, uh, convey. Uh, he was really wonderful, man. I mean, he and Kari, they held no punches. They really went at these characters and this story, and they wanted to shine the light on what it means to find your new normal. What it means to live post-Blip and how that is very similar to how we’re going to be living post-Covid when we’re all vaccinated. So they held no punches and I’m proud to say they both did a great job and Malcolm was really, really great with capturing our voices - Sebastian and mine. Uh, when we would give him notes, they would come right back spot on. And you know, it was - it was really impressive. I’ve never had an experience like that with a writer.”

“Do you guys miss, even just a little bit, Chris Evans being on set - just to get that laugh where - where he punches your shoulder and leans in a bit? (Anthony laughs) I’ve missed that so much.”

Anthony: (laughs) “Of course. Look, Chris is, you know - the three of us we were - are - very good friends and we talk all the time. Chris was always the most fun, the most supportive, the most loving human being when you spend time with him. So of course you know, we - we always want him on set, we always want him with us.”

“And what’s it like knowing that your co-star is the kind of guy that will say on, like, was it Jimmy Kimmel or Fallon? - he describes working with you like ‘riding a psychotic horse into a blazing stable.’ (Anthony laughs) And you’re like ‘Okay, cool. I’ll see you tomorrow at work then.’ (Anthony laughs)

Anthony: (after FWS clip plays and he laughs) “I can see that, I can see that. I told you, look, Sebastian is the most boring person on Earth. I’m - I literally think he sits in his living room and talks to his plant. There’s nothing; I’ve - I’ve sat outside of his room, or in the lobby, or outside the hotel, waiting for him to come out, so I can follow him and stalk him and see where he goes. I, I - I’ve never seen anything like it. He’s a hermit, so of course he would think I’m a psychotic horse; of course.” (interviewer laughs)

“I think what he does is he goes to, like, in that Bucharest scene in Civil War, there’s a big tray of plums, and he just spends the day picking them. He goes ‘This one?’”

Anthony: “Probably. Probably. He’s the only dude, when we were in Prague, he has a 106th birthday party for Bucky. That’s cool - but he, he didn’t invite anybody. So he had - he had a birthday party for himself by himself.”

“A cake, 106 candles, himself?”

Anthony: “Sebastian Stan everyone.” (claps, interviewer follows)

“On that note, Anthony, thank you so much.”

Anthony: “Thank you.”

“Have a great rest of your day. Cheers dude.”

Anthony: “Thank you. Have a good one.”

#anthony mackie #falcon and the winter soldier

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barrybluejeansandbestjeanist · 4 years

Text

Notes on the Artemis Fowl movie by yours truly.

Bear in mind I wrote these while watching the movie. There’s a lot of them.

1. If you think the police and/or reporters would ever be anywhere near fowl manor you’re wrong.

2. Mulch isn’t bad so far but he’d never be caught by police.

3. Is our first introduction to Artemis him running? I think not thank you very much.

4. Plus it looks like he’s going to do some water sport. Also wrong.

5. Surfing!!??!!?

6. Artemis doesn’t have even close to the coordination to do that.

7. I don’t even think he knows how to swim.

8. He doesn’t love Ireland.

9. Of course he doesn’t love school! Have you seen his teachers’ remarks on him? They aren’t nice.

10. It was a boys-only school but that’s definitely one of the smaller offenses.

11. He did do the chess thing if I recall correctly.

12. Same for the opera house.

13. He didn’t clone a goat or name anything Bruce.

14. Unusual is an understatement.

15. Dr. Po?!

16. Fake chair! Yeah!

17. That exchange from the Arctic incident wasn’t a bad choice to include. Too early though I think. We’ll see how the rest of the movie goes.

18. He’s got blue eyes. At least there’s that.

19. He doesn’t have a biography!

20. His mom isn’t dead! Disney is just scared of showing mental illness.

21. If you think Angelina Fowl can’t control Artemis you’re wrong. She calls him Arty for god’s sake. He loves his mom.

22. Mysterious absences my ass. He’s the one that should be presumed dead.

23. “This is a sensitive area doctor” sure.

24. Fake chair ftw.

25. The burden of his father’s name?! He’s proud of that name.

26. This scene wasn’t so bad. We’ll see how the rest of the movie fairs.

27. Who does he think he is? He Artemis freaking Fowl!

28. Skateboarding! I’m about to have an aneurysm.

29. Also, why is he wearing jeans? Get this man a suit!

30. He did not like being at home with his dad. Not in the first book anyway. His parent being out of the way allowed him to do what he did.

31. His dad’s actor looks good for the part.

32. His father is a criminal. World-famous. He did not just deal with antiques and rarities.

33. His dad also didn’t care for fairytales.

34. Music’s nice I guess.

35. Why is arty wearing a hoodie?! He would never!

36. Artemis was not taught about fairies. He discovered them himself with basically no help.

37. So much physical contact between Artemis sr. and jr. No.

38. His dad did not believe in any such legends.

39. They shared only a passion for crime and that didn’t even last.

40. He wasn’t determined about any such thing. See point 36.

41. He wasn’t preparing Artemis for anything like that.

42. Fairy stones? What are those?

43. There was no peace made between humans and fairies.

44. Tuatha De Danaan? What is that?

45. Artemis would want to get to the point I guess.

46. His work was not coming to an end. What is going on? Can we meet Holly soon?

47. I’m ten minutes in and suffering.

48. Artemis wasn’t really one to smile unless things were going his way.

49. You are a child! You are still a kid! You’re like a literal baby still!

50. The whole point of him being 12 in the books was that he could still believe in magic as well as science. Wtf is going on?

51. I do know the Hill of Tara.

52. I take issue with “all I really want is to believe in you” but I don’t have time to get into it here.

53. He’s still wearing a hoodie. >:(

54. Hugging his dad. No.

55. I will accept the helicopter on the front lawn if only because it seems one thing that could’ve happened in the books.

56. Where are the Butlers? Why are neither of the fowls being guarded? I need more Juliet and Butler in this movie NOW.

57. And Holly.

58. Pretty sure they don’t have a lighthouse. Also, pretty sure fowl manor wasn’t next to the ocean.

59. Might’ve been near a Forrest. I don’t quite remember.

60. Legos?! LEGOS?!??!!

61. Also, star wars? I don’t think Artemis has ever seen a sci-fi movie. He’s too busy making them a reality.

62. Artemis would also not sleep with a book.

63. Why did Butler’s name in the subtitles appear as Domovoi? You know there’s a whole thing about his name and why Arty doesn’t know it right?

64. So his dad disappeared. Not bad. A little late but okay.

65. Everyone has already aired their grievances about Butlers actor so I shall refrain from doing so as well. I’ll just say one word and leave it at that. Eurasian.

66. Also, fowl manor doesn’t look bad. I can accept this house.

67. No no no. No one should be calling him Domovoi. Only Butler.

68. Also, that isn’t the training he had.

69. He is the butler though? I mean. Only sort of but like. ???

70. No. You could not call him Dom or Domovoi.

71. Very large man in a suit is slightly acceptable.

72. He could totally snap you in half but not without good reason. Come on, guys. He’s a nice guy. Scary, but nice.

73. Like, the dude cooks and gardens and whatnot. How is that not nice?

74. Also, I’m still hung up on the goat thing. Like I don’t deny that he could clone a goat but why on earth would he name it Bruce. Is it a Batman reference or something? I don’t understand this movie.

75. World wide manhunt? Pardon my doubt.

76. Superyacht? Owl star?

77. I get it. It’s a stupid pun.

78. I guess the South China Sea is close enough to Russia.

79. Again. Not an antiquities dealer.

80. Robberies? He ran a criminal empire!

81. Not sure how one would go about stealing the Rosetta Stone or why but sure.

82. I’ve never even heard of Boru’s Harp.

83. Nor the book of kells.

84. Why are you calling Butler Dom???

85. Yes! He is a criminal mastermind! Thank you for slightly acknowledging that!

86. Also, Artemis is not that rash.

87. He’s your dad and a criminal.

88. Why must Disney do this to my boy? He was an incredible character, smart, cunning, and a criminal and now he’s just a sort of smart kid. Lame.

89. I swear if this “raspy voice” is opal I will be so disappointed.

90. What is this? Artemis is supposed to be kidnapping fairies, not the other way around!

91. What is this Aculos and why should I care about it?

92. Also, why isn’t it Christmas? You could at least set it in winter. For crying out loud.

93. That isn’t word for word Artemis. I know you can remember it exactly.

94. I’m starting to think Orion is better than this fool.

95. Why is he wearing a hoodie?!??!???!

96. Just going to have a secret basement full of whatever secret stuff shoved in there because of course.

97. Also. As if butler would know about any of this.

98. Bunch of bottles of water. Okay.

99. ‘Cause Artemis Sr. totally knew about the fairies.

100. This is a stupid basement.

101. I’m so done with this.

102. Ah yes! An important journal! Predictable.

103. Stupid poem. Stupid way of finding the journal.

104. That was opal I see. I’m dying.

105. Beechwood. Isn’t that guy related to Holly or something? Also, not from the books.

106. Yes, Arty fairies exist. Surprising no one.

107. I like how they made the city look I suppose. And they kept the name the same. Of course, it must be noted that not all fairies live in haven. There are other cities.

108. Why is holly a baby? She shouldn’t look like a child. Also, tons of people have already spoken on holly’s appearance as well so I won’t say anymore.

109. Koboi mentioned. It was totally opal.

110. The fairies don’t look bad either. Though I don’t know if the little things are supposed to be goblins or what?

111. I guess not. These goblins also seem way too smart.

112. “You and I would make a great team” foreshadowing.

113. I do think mulch being taller is kinda funny.

114. Briar Cudgeon looks about how I expected. Do you think he’ll get his face melted?

115. Opal and Cudgeon working together. Unsurprising if a bit early.

116. You spy or you die. The CIA’s motto.

117. L.E.P. Recon. Nice.

118. I’m also not going to address the changing of roots gender and the fact that Holly is supposed to be the first female officer because again, many people have spoken at length about that. Still upset though.

119. Kelp and Verbil are around I see.

120. What is the Aculos? Like I get that it’s a weapon by why should I care?

121. Also, I think Root should be smoking.

122. Holly’s father? Why should he matter or even be a part of this?

123. They kept Holly 84. Good.

124. Reinforcements? Juliet?!!!!

125. She’s 12? She’s supposed to be sixteen! No!

126. Niece!!!! She’s supposed to be his sister.

127. Also, screw Disney for changing the fairy alphabet so we can’t read it.

128. Artemis should be able to decode it though. He’s not much of a genius, is he?

129. Foals needs a tinfoil hat and should look way way nerdier.

130. Troll! Time! Yeah!

131. Yeah! Lava chutes!

132. Foaly’s CGI is a little wonky but whatever.

133. So that’s why Holly’s father is important. Stupid.

134. The executors. You mean the council.

135. Don’t just fly over the surface unshielded, you dolt!

136. Butler your camouflage sucks ass.

137. Butler wouldn’t complain.

138. Butler’s eyes are freaking me out. No one’s eyes look like that.

139. The LEP helmets are stupid looking.

140. That isn’t what a troll looks like. Stop it, Disney.

141. Time Stop. Not a time freeze.

142. The magic looks cool.

143. That’s not how a time stop works. But at least it looks cool.

144. I suppose I can accept that’s how they do mind wipes.

145. “This is a strange wedding” is the best joke so far.

146. Why are none of the fairies shielded?

147. Holly has such boring motivation.

148. You shouldn’t just read your dad’s journal Arty. It’s rude.

149. I’m so over arty’s dad already knowing about the fairies as well as this beechwood fellow.

150. Why does this Aculos exist? If it’s so dangerous, why not get rid of it?

151. Opal Koboi. Finally.

152. Like Arty would ever dress like that. He’d still be wearing a suit and be spotless.

153. “They’re real.” No kidding!

154. Fox!

155. I’m surprised they included trying and succeeding to shoot holly.

156. Kinda wish they’d kept the bury an acorn to get magic thing but small fish and all.

157. Now it’s starting to remind me of the real Artemis Fowl story.

158. Cudgeon is slimy and annoying and I’m here for it.

159. That’s a shitty looking cage.

160. “Not happy” I wonder why?

161. Reflective glasses! Yes! Give me the fowl crew in cringey reflective sunglasses.

162. The Mesmer is done nicely. Love Juliet’s glasses.

163. A flannel and reflective sunglasses. That classic Artemis fowl look.

164. So he did decode their language.

165. The acting isn’t terrible.

166. Most humans are afraid of gluten how do you think they’d handle goblins is a good line.

167. Again. Not how time stops work but okay.

168. So let me get this right. Instead of the fairy bible which Artemis poisoned a fairy to get they just replaced it with his dad‘s journal. great.

169. Don’t give Artemis a weapon! He’s gonna cut his own arm off!

170. The time freeze does look cool though.

171. I can appreciate them gathering on the beach. That’s kinda cool.

172. Finally a suit! Get this kid properly clothed!

173. Though that tie is a little sus. Why’s it so skinny?

174. That fight scene wasn’t too bad. Again Arty is definitely not supposed to be good at anything physical but it’s whatever.

175. Flair for the dramatic? This is hardly as dramatic as the book.

176. I hate opal’s voice.

177. Waged war on your people? That was 10,000 years ago!

178. Opal’s motives are also super boring.

179. I’m sad we don’t get to see arty practicing his evil smile in the mirror.

180. In one of those pots. From under the rainbow. Fun.

181. Glad they kept the whole while I’m alive stipulation.

182. Glad to see the goblins still have fire powers.

183. These goblins really shouldn’t be so smart.

184. I hope we get to see mulch unhinge his jaw soon.

185. I do like mulch.

186. This heart to heart is stupid. Artemis wouldn’t trust holly just like that me thinks.

187. I like that mulch is up on all the human pop culture. I do wish he’d make a Gordon Ramsey reference though since he likes him.

188. Mulch not wanting to be tall is excellent character motivation though.

189. Now this is the heart to heart I needed.

190. Is he gonna unhinge his jaw?! I’ve been waiting for this the whole time!

191. Yeah!!!!!!

192. Eat that dirt!

193. Mulch!

194. “What would your parents be?”

195. A really really big dwarf.

196. Sick safe. Nothing mulch can’t handle.

197. That definitely isn’t what I expected from mulch’s hair but that’s okay.

198. Yeah! Holly punched Artemis! Now there just needs to be a lollipop remark.

199. Is that the Aculos? It looks stupid.

200. Also, I do appreciate the inclusion of the iris cam.

201. Opal, you’re so boring.

202. Cudgeon is taking over. Kinda wish it was of his own will because that’s more interesting but whatever.

203. Troll time part two. I doubt butler is going to almost die fighting it. Maybe he’ll wear a suit of armor though. That’d be cool.

204. How is it we’re an hour in and only just now get a d’arvit? Surely many other scenes warranted that.

205. I do like that mulch pickpocketed butler.

206. Don’t just stand in front of the door when A Troll is about to be sent in!

207. The wings do look really cool though.

208. Also, Juliet really shouldn’t be trying to fight a troll.

209. I mean. None of them should but you know.

210. Mulch eating the Aculos is very in character. I’m glad Artemis’s bedroom is being destroyed. It was terrible.

211. While I don’t care for the way the troll looks (Far too human, not enough claws and venom) the amount of destruction it’s causing is appropriate I feel.

212. I guess that’s how the fight can go.

213. Also, Juliet is so smart and strong yet she can’t pull herself over a ledge? Pathetic.

214. Don’t move butler to a completely different room! He’s got a back injury! You probably just made it worse!

215. Butler isn’t going to die. This is stupid.

216. Trouble doing the lords work.

217. I told you butler would be fine.

218. One of the times Butler would nearly die. If we’re following the books then more should follow.

219. Also what is this room they’re in?

220. Butler would not be ashamed to cry.

221. I’m living for everyone’s reactions to where mulch stored the Aculos.

222. I like the way it looks when they get grabbed by the time stop.

223. She’s gonna save Artemis. Obviously.

224. I like the way it looked when the time stop broke.

225. “Breaking every rule in the book” we haven’t even seen your book! Just his dad’s stupid journal.

226. He and holly should not be friends yet. He kidnapped her!

227. Ooh, forever friends how sweet! Get fucked. Both of you.

228. Now are we in Russia?

229. Opal annoys me so much.

230. So are you trying to tell me that this Aculos is the movie’s version of the book? Holly’s saying that poem.

231. This isn’t how magic is supposed to work.

232. >:(

233. I will admit it looked cool. Begrudgingly.

234. Your dad isn’t dead.

235. He’s in the secret basement that still exists for some reason.

236. Also, I didn’t note this before, but I doubt Arty ever called his dad, dad.

237. Opal is thwarted.

238. Why she so ugly looking? Pretty sure she was supposed to be pretty.

239. This is so stupid.

240. Opals accomplices, you mean those two dunderheads she had helping her?

241. How are there still fifteen minutes of this torture left?!

242. Again. Butler would not be ashamed to cry.

243. Just wait until Artemis gets magic of his own.

244. I’m so tired. It’s 12:14 at night and I just want this torture to end. Please god just let the credits roll already!

245. And now they’re famous. Whoop de do. Just tell us how mulch gets captured and escapes and end the movie. That’s all I ask.

246. You know he hasn’t been referred to as Artemis Fowl the Second throughout this whole disaster. What a slight to him.

247. Ray bans.

248. Oh yeah. Brag to opal. Great idea.

249. Criminal mastermind. Juvenile Genius. Same difference.

250. Why is his tie so skinny?

251. Is he gonna fly the helicopter?! Finally something in character!

252. Now just let mulch escape and finish this godforsaken nightmare!

253. Fowls? Protecting us? Pardon me while I laugh.

254. They do the unhinging of mulch’s jaw nicely.

255. And now they mission impossible him out of there. Perfect.

256. I’m dying. Let it be over. Please.

257. No more!

258. Fly off into the sunset. Of course.

259. Thank god! Credits! I’m free!

260. And another thing! They didn’t have the follow-up scene with Dr. Po! That would’ve been a way better ending! And you can’t just have one scene without the other!

#artemis fowl #artemis fowl movie #artemis fowl the second #artemis fowl the movie #hate

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gilded-green · 3 years

Note

In celebration of the 10th anniversary, I’ll probably reread GG and send updates/highlight areas and as for commentary. Probably XD

But first. What aspect of Gilded Green was your favorite? What was something you put in a lot of world building for but never got to show either in fic or on tumblr. Who is your favorite character and why, what makes them special in your eyes? Which character has turned into a completely different one as soon as you started writing them? Which part of the fic did you like most when you finished it, do you still like it? Similarly, which part do you dislike most?

Lasty, anything about gg2’s story you want to share/talk about/rant?

-love, the dai li fangirl

Haha, no pressure! But at the same time yes if you do feel free to send me passages for commentary here! <3

What aspect was my favorite? Hmmm. *thinking face* I think, when I first came up with it, I was just thrilled to have these two small things - minor character Lu Ten, overlooked villain organization Dai Li - that I was able to combine into something so big. That was pretty nifty!

As I started developing the story, I think what really caught my attention was the fact that “Wow, all these characters are awful people!” Like. The Dai Li aren’t good.The Fire Nation aren’t good. Lu Ten is a victim but also an oppressor. All off these people have extremely different beliefs and worldviews - Fire supremacist, police state enforcers, classist academic gatekeepers - and all of them think THEY’RE in the right here and none of them are. I think Tien and Hoang might be the only people with a decent, non-oppressive worldview in the story so far. XD I was growing out of the storytelling trope of black-and-white morality at the time, so it was really fun to start experimenting with writing awful people as enjoyable, sympathetic characters.

World building? Hmm. I was just learning how to use my worldbuilding muscles back then. I seem to remember reading up a lot on how brainwashing actually works in the real world and going “I don’t think this is compatible with what we have in ATLA” and just kinda tossing that whole thing out. XD I also recall looking up a lot of stuff for the bits about Jouin, some of which - kalua pig! - has since shown up again in WFFD. I also recall someone on FFdotnet at the time saying “All this chapter did was tell us more about a dead character than the living one” and I was just kinda like -_- yes because he is DEAD and this is your chance to feel sorry about that, we’ll get plenty more of the living one later on account of him still being, y’know, alive. XD

Oh, and Shirong’s personal side projects. I finally got into that a bit in A Meeting of Minds, but the dude DOES have his own stuff going on, which Delun so rudely interrupted to drag him off to see Long Feng about brainwashing a Firebender.

I also did a bunch of research for the birthday party interlude, I think. Mostly appropriate alcohol for such an occasion? And....okay, this’ll sound funny, but.....food containers. I wanted Fen to pack up leftovers for Suyin and Shirong. That’s what my Italian family does after get-togethers, and I assumed that a Chinese family/friend group would do the same! But I also had, like, zero exposure to everyday Chinese life, let alone everyday Chinese life in the 1800s, and I just didn’t have the...idk, cultural osmosis? to figure it out. Like, if you asked me how Victorians would transfer food I’d probably come up with “Idk, wrap it in cloth and stuff it in a basket?” and I assumed people living in modern China would also be able to explain what their people did for food storage/transport 150 years ago but I didn’t have that cultural background, now, did I??? Also this was 10-12 years ago I was looking this up, mind you, the internet was still very different, there was plenty of information on Chinese historical events but not on everyday life objects, CDramas weren’t easy to find if they were translated at all and I certainly didn’t know they existed, and no one was posting beautiful aesthetic videos of life in a rural Chinese mountain village to youtube yet. Eventually I learned that bamboo baskets were a thing, but there wasn’t much info on THOSE either and I wasn’t sure how to describe them, so I just tentatively typed “basket” and called it a day. XD

YOU CANNOT ASK ME TO CHOOSE MY FAVORITE CHARACTER THAT’S LIKE ASKING ME TO CHOOSE BETWEEN MY CHILDREN!!! *shoves Yong off a cliff*

I’m very fond of the Dai family, along with the Trungs and Sais. I’m very proud of how Tuan turned out. I adore Yuan, who you’ve barely met, and Xun, who you haven’t. Huang and Wu Sheng are also definite faves and I can’t wait for y’all to get to know them better.

Characters do usually behave for me in terms of personality development. They surprise me, but they never really turn out to be the complete OPPOSITE of what I was expecting? They just kinda develop organically. Huang and Wu Sheng surprised me, tho, those boys got deep. I knew they had the potential, but developing their backstory actually caused Stingrae and I to develop Ba Sing Se’s socio-political backstory and Long Feng’s rise to power, all because of an inkling I had. That was a very satisfying few years of worldbuilding and story development.

Um, favorite part of the fic....idk, I’m very fond of the final scene, with Azula and her wall chunk from Lu Ten. I’m doubly fond of it because of how it always resonates with readers. Heck, during Azula week last year, I used that chunk of rock as an ongoing theme in Sandstone, and someone commented like “I DIDN’T REALIZE YOU’RE THE ONE WHO WROTE GILDED GREEN” and that made me really happy!

Lu Ten’s time stuck underground - I used the seven stages of grief to get through that one and it was very helpful in structuring that part of the story, and I figured it was deep or something because PSYCHOLOGY.

I’m also proud of myself for getting through the dark brainwashing scenes. So, like, FYI, fanfiction could get...very dark, back in the 00s. People love to play purity police these days and complain about how nasty people get can, but listen. Listen. Do you have any idea how dark FFdotnet got back in the day? Legolas And Aragorn Get Captured By Orcs And Brutally Tortured was an entire genre. I feel like torture fic was actually a lot more common back then, and darkfic in general - I’m sure someone could write a whole thesis on why it’s not so prevalent anymore, I’m gonna guess the fact that fandom is less-insulated and more public now could be part of it, maybe also the fact that the internet is more social media/influencer culture based so people care about their image, and also the purity police which is its own kettle of worms, but I also think that the Bush Administration had something to do with it? You have all these kids who were pre-teens when 9/11 happened, growing up during the Iraq War with an awful presidential administration while everyone was scared and conservative Christianity started to realize that their control over the nation’s “morality” might be slipping and reacted accordingly......yeah there was a lot of darkfic back then.

And I read a lot of darkfic too, but, uh....well, statistically speaking, a lot of writing is bad, okay? A lot of those fics were just weird; you could see where the writer had this idea, and also where they failed to execute it in a way that resonated or made sense. And whatever, writers were young and just wanted to pound out some catharsis, it’s cool, but it still just felt narratively awkward when you could tell how the writer was more focused on LET’S MAKE THIS AS DARK AS POSSIBLE instead of “Let’s tell this as well as possible.”

So the first several attempts at writing the brainwashing scenes, I was nervous because I didn’t want to get TOO dark, and when I finally decided “eff it” and said to Stingrae “I think I need to let this be as dark as it needs to be” I was still nervous because I didn’t want it to end up WEIRD. Idk if that makes sense, but anyway I seem to have done a decent job at it!

As for parts I dislike the most, uhhhhh Iroh’s retreat (I didn’t care, I just wanted to get it over with), Enlai might’ve been promoted too fast? idk, the fact that I came up with Nanyue AFTER I finished publishing GG so I couldn’t work that into the Quy bits, the fact that I was young and innocent and didn’t understand sexual slang or innuendo and randomly chose Dong as the name of the court physician which could lead to some awful puns except no one ever seemed to pick up on that and maybe I’ll regret pointing it out but the man IS going to appear again so I might as well get the first shot in myself. XD

I might have GG2 stuff to talk about but not sure, if I do I’ll make another post on that!

#GG tumblr escapades #GG 10th anniversary

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