#sometimes characters are just like me for real. sorry!
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Note
this is weird but vigilante girlfriend and frank who needs her help with some mission and at some point he gets mad at her and scares her
weird but how do u think he'd act when he comes to find her again? just had this idea and i feel like you write really good and show his character well
Thatâs not weird at all I mean thatâs Frank Castle in a nutshell! Thank you for the request too, I've been wanting to write for Frank but I had no ideas.
Summary: Youâre a vigilante like himâjust a little brighter, a little less bloodthirsty. You patch him up, you work together sometimes, and even though no one says it, you love each other in that aching, unresolved way.
The job had gone sideways. That wasnât the problem, things always went sideways. What messed him up was you. The way you darted into the fire to cover his ass, reckless and burning with that same fury he saw in the mirror. You werenât bulletproof. You werenât him. But you acted like it. And when the dust settled and you stood there, breathing heavy, bleeding but grinning like the chaos was your oxygen, Frank snapped.
âYou think this is a game?â he barked. âYou couldâve gotten yourself killed. You think that wouldâve been worth it? Charging in like some goddamn idiot?â Your smile died instantly, the light draining from your face. You flinched like youâd been hitânot by his words, but by the way he threw them. His voice had been too loud. Too sharp. Too much like every man who ever tried to make you small. You stepped back. One, then two paces. The expression on your face cracked something in him he didnât know could still break. âJust trying to help,â you said quietly, and then you turned and walked.
Didnât yell back. Didnât argue. You just walked. And he just let you go.
+++++++++++++++++++
Frank didnât sleep that night. Not because of the wounds or the heat still aching in his fists but because your face wouldnât leave his mind. The way your shoulders curled inward, the way your eyes widened and brows pinched, the way you stopped looking him in the eye. The way you left like he was just one more man who didnât see you clearly.
You werenât afraid of danger. But you looked like you were afraid of him. That was enough to make him hate himself.
âFuckâ. He groaned knowing he had to go find you.Â
He found you on a rooftop, wrapped in your own silence. He didnât say anything at first, just stood there, watching your silhouette against the city lights. âI ainât good at this,â he finally muttered. âNever really wasâ You didnât turn. âYeah. I noticed.â
âI didnât mean to scare you,â he added, voice lower now. Raw. Like gravel under water. He clenched his jaw when he still got no answer, no response at all from you. âI know what itâs like to be yelled at by someone whoâs supposed to have your back,â he said. âAnd I-I did that to you. IâshitâIâm sorry.â That made your head turn, just a little. Frank Castle didnât apologize. Not real apologizes, not like this.
You let the silence stretch between you, long and aching. Then, finally, âI wasnât scared of you hurting me.â He nodded slowly, but he could feel his shoulder ease, feel his chest finally lighten after hearing that. Waited. âI was scared I made you hate me,â you admitted, voice tight. âLike I disappointed you. Like you finally got sick of me.â
His body tensed all over again, how could she ever think that? Frank stepped closer. Not all the way just enough that you could feel his heat at your back. âYouâre not the problem,â he said gruffly. âItâs me. I saw you get hurt and Iââ He paused. âI donât have a word for what I felt. Just that it came out wrong.â Finally, you turned to face him. There were still bruises on your cheek, dried blood near your temple. But you looked at him with that same impossible soft heart, the one he didnât think could still want him. And he saw it there, still.
Wanting. Loving. Trying.
âI donât want you to be afraid of me,â he said, softer now. Like it hurts to admit it. You took a step forward, closing the space. âThen donât raise your voice like Iâm an idiot for caring if you live or die on me,â you said. âYou donât get to protect me and then punish me for doing the same.â
His jaw clenched. And then he nodded, âOkay, youâre right.â
Three words, honest and heavy.
You reached out first, fingertips brushing his wrist. âIâm not going anywhere, Frank. But I need you to stop treating me like I might break if you tell me you care.â He stared at you like youâd said something holy. And then, barely, he nodded. âI do care. I care too damn much.â You smile softly up at him, looking at him as if he was worthy of everything. âThen next time, lead with that.â And he would. Heâd try at least.Â
It wouldnât be perfect, not right away at least but Frank Castle would do it the only way he knew how: fiercely, protectively, like it scared him, but tonight he realized nothing could scare him as much as the idea of losing you did.
If you like my work, please let me know! Reblogging, commenting, and liking are huge and easy ways to let me know you're enjoying my work, and it keeps me motivated to post way more!!! Requests are open <3
Tagging:
@malfoys-demigod
@sweety18
@iamsofabulous
@luvrgirlsworld
@blackhawkfanatic
@methodgurl
@creptolli
@hellskitchens-whore
@confetti-cakemix
#frank castle oneshot#frank castle fanfiction#frank castle#frank castle headcanons#frank castle x reader#frank castle imagine#frank castle fluff#frank castle angst#frank castle x you#the punisher fluff#the punisher imagine#the punisher x reader#the punisher#marvel oneshot#marvel drabble#marvel#marvel imagine#marvel x reader#marvel fluff#marvel angst#ddba
115 notes
¡
View notes
Note
you should do more kenan yilidiz like muslim vibe moments or blurbs
muslim hcs.
masterlist requests
a/n: this is just my prior knowledge, so sorry if there are any inaccuracies, please let me know!
- heâs soft when you ask questions about his faith, and he loves that youâre curious. kenan never acts like you need to know everything. if you ask why he doesnât drink, or what ramadan feels like, or what a surah means, he doesnât overexplain or get awkward. he just gives you the real answer, calm, thoughtful, sometimes poetic. âitâs about discipline,â he once said, when you asked about fasting. âbut also about peace.â - kenan reminds you to pray, but never guilt-trips you. if youâre running late for dhuhr, he doesnât make a scene. he just peeks into the room like âwant me to wait for you?â and if youâve had a rough week and missed a few, heâll say something like, âcome sit with me for a few minutes, maybe we can reset together.â always kind. always soft. he leads with love, not harshness. - heâs a little obsessed with your modesty, not because itâs his to control, but because he respects it. he never tells you how to dress. never acts like hijab is his business. but when you do dress modestly, whether you cover or not, youâll catch him glancing at you like youâre made of gold. âyou look beautiful,â heâll say, and you know itâs not just about how you look. itâs about how you carry yourself. how you hold your values. - kenan always makes wudu before prayer, and offers to wait for you so you can pray together. he does it with quiet focus, and when youâre around, he always pauses after heâs done to ask, âyou want to pray with me?â itâs not pushy. just gentle. a shared act of peace. you lay out your prayer mats side by side, and somehow, even the silence between you feels spiritual.
- during ramadan, he brings you suhoor in bed, even if heâs half asleep. some days, you both wake up together and cook. other days, when youâre struggling to open your eyes, kenan shuffles in holding a plate of dates and toast, still blinking away sleep, whispering âbismillah, eat something.â then you both drink water like youâre racing the call to prayer.
- when youâre overwhelmed, kenan doesnât push advice, he just reminds you, âmake dua.â youâre stressed about uni. or work. or life. kenan doesnât rush to fix it. he just listens, holds your hand, and says, âdid you talk to allah about it yet?â itâs not preachy, just a soft reminder that youâre never alone. sometimes, he sits beside you as you make dua out loud, nodding quietly, whispering ameen at the end.
- when youâre sick or anxious, kenan reads qurâan softly in the room, not for show, just for comfort. he doesnât ask. he just opens his mushaf or his app and recites whatever surah comes to heart. his voice is calm. slow. careful. the room feels warmer when he reads. and when heâs done, he places a hand on your head, whispers, âmay allah ease whateverâs heavy.â itâs the safest feeling in the world.
- he doesn't try to charm your baba, he tries to earn his trust when meeting for the first time. kenan knows your baba isnât looking to be flattered. heâs looking for character. so kenan talks about his values. how seriously he takes salah. what kind of home he wants to build one day. heâs open about not being perfect, but always trying to stay close to allah. your dad may not show emotion, but afterward, you hear him mutter to your mama, âhe seems like a good man.â
#kenan yildiz#kenan#kenan yildiz fic#obvithebestsoph!kenan#kenan yildiz x reader#juventus#turkey#fanfiction#football#football fic#bianconeri#KY10
35 notes
¡
View notes
Text
sometimes im like "damn why is there not more discussion about [canonically abused character]'s and [canonical abuser who has no regard for autonomy or boundaries and is also a parental/familial/older figure of some kind]'s abuse through a lens of CSA bc im a victim of that and they resonate with me and also it would not be a stretch at all to view it as that even tho its not canon". and then im violently transported back to the real world where the internet is mainly split into either "we discuss it but only bc we fetishize pedophilia and incest LOL we dont care about survivors" or "we have a complex about this and we think if you hc characters in this way youre as bad as the first camp. what do you mean were basically telling survivors that their experiences are too disgusting and shameful to talk about? shut up" and well i think both camps are Dick Headsâźď¸âźď¸âźď¸âźď¸
#literally guess which character this post is about. or tell me who you think it should be about.#IDK i love to cope through media but in like. an actually healthy way that doesnt harm people and myself heart emoji#sometimes characters are just like me for real. sorry!#neo.txt#ask to tag#to be crystal clear i DO think all of camp A are proahiyyers but not all of ''antis'' or whtever are camp B. shrugs#wow i spelled that word wrong lol#edit im so real about guessing charaters.btw . i also think i accidentally dkeeted a tag but im not sure which one and im too tired to tell
24 notes
¡
View notes
Text
THE SUCKENING!!!!!!!
Can you tell who my favorite is
I love drawing these guys so much Emizel is slowly filling every sketchbook page i flip
#I can finally watch all of the suckening and thus i am. Obssessed.#Emizel weasel tucker my beloved hes so STRANGe hes so weirdo so stupid so awesome i hate him i love him so much#Shilo is a close second because hes shilo and i love him#Sorry Arthur hes also awesome im just. I really like the other two a lot like extremely#Jrwi#jrwi the suckening#Just roll with it#arthur bennett#shilo bathroy#emizel tucker#Jrwi fanart#Sometimes i think Emizel might be my favorite character full stop. Just of anything ever. Honestly#Im not even done with the suckening yet it's just.#Emizel#Hes everything to me.#Condifiction created real beauty#And its a little freak. It's a little gross little freak rat thing#And I love him âšď¸đ
1K notes
¡
View notes
Text
One of the weirder parts of being formally tested for autism as an adultâapart from the hellscape of hours of math hellâwas that they kept asking me for my conclusions or opinions about things I had very little knowledge of. These weren't basic facts you'd expect someone to pick up in the course of a standard US education, and I kept repeating that I would have to do actual research to form opinions on subjects I had no significant information about.
Obviously, "not opinionated" isn't a major problem for me when I do have a reasonable amount of information, but my eventual diagnosis specifically mentioned that I kept repeating that I would have to do more research to acquire the necessary baseline of data for forming opinions on [whatever], and that the phrasing of my various refusals tended to be identical or very similar (I didn't see any need to alter my wording when I was simply repeating the same position over and over).
*cough*
Anyway this is also about Star Trek. (Surprise.) I knew Spock would be relatable before we started the grand TOS watch, but did not expect him to be the most relatable character on television ever, and his continual refusals to deliver opinions without enough data for informed theories was actually a big part of this.
#spock definitely thinks he's just being properly vulcan and sometimes tos also thinks so#but i feel like other vulcans aren't nearly as absolutist about it in general and it's how he is as a person#in addition i'm also continually annoyed by people assuming i don't feel as authentically as they do because i'm inexpressive#yes i find it humiliating and unpleasant to lose my composure and rarely do so in front of anyone else. there is nothing wrong with that!#sorry but my emotions aren't public property. nobody is entitled to see me break down or cry or raise my voice or whatever.#but it often seems that even if you /tell/ people what you feel if you don't perform Being Upset or whatever they won't believe it's real#so when he calmly remarks on how mccoy et al are always making assumptions about his heart 'yet how little room there seems to be in yours'#it's just so cathartic. goddamn.#anyway few characters have felt simultaneously more autistic coded and repressed-gay coded in a context where neither could be stated#idk. it hits in a way that few characters do. like not just a refusal to /express/ opinions without data but to /form/ them is... yeah#character of all time#anghraine babbles#deep blogging#rare breed of attack unicorn#autism#c: i object to intellect without discipline#star peace
137 notes
¡
View notes
Text
some of the less nice thoughts about being aroace
extras below the cut
sketch
closeups on my favorite panels
bonus: adios
#doodles#kingdom hearts#roxas#axel#olette#aromantic#asexual#aroace#do i tag pence. hes in the background of one panel#ehhhh sorry pence no tag for you#also not tagging soriku and namixi#i mean by the logic of 'theyre in one panel so i wont tag them' i also shouldnt tag axel but. he has dialogue so#anyways i have a very irrational love of olette whenever i need a random side character in a kh comic? olette#i think she uses webmd. anyways im done talking about olette#so let me clarify about this comic#im aroace. this is all just things ive thought before#im not saying in any way these thoughts are real. theyre just thoughts#thats why it ends with 'but there isnt. its just me.' there IS nothing wrong with being aroace. even if it feels like it sometimes#im not trying to send a message im just trying to express a feeling ive had for a while#anyways. the aroace community is super positive and i like that. but not everything i feel about it is that positive#sometimes it feels like im missing something yknow#this comic seems like its about roxas. but its about me. congrats youve been fooled#drafted something similar to this for aro week but didnt finish it in time so this is spiritually part of asaw 2024#btw sorry im not posting as many drawings lately#schools kinda stressful im pretty tired and busy most the time#i am throwing this drawing to you like a slab of meat to a pack of hungry dogs. take this meager ration in these trying times#alright i think thats it bye now
263 notes
¡
View notes
Text
Girlies I have got to stop feeling guilty about creating art I enjoy
#Every time I draw sub/mas I feel bad i have so many faves who get no content and here I am drawing the most popular characters in fandom#And then I'll see a post saying smthng like it's so annoying seeing submas everywhere I KNOWWW I KNOW SORRY FOR LIKING THE POPULAR THING...#And then like. Sometimes i feel weird about drawing my beautiful transgender headcanons. A little bit because#I tend to write off genuine feelings for the bit and drawing that stuff is very personal to me.#And in that vein for some reason I just feel bad for creating art that genuinely resonates with me I don't have a good reason for that#Part of the reason I don't draw my OCs more I think. âHold your horses don't want to be TOO joyous with it.â Am I fucking catholic#Girlies real question how do I turn my brain off. better question probably how do I unlearn shame#Uh should I tag this as#Vent tw#It's just something I've noticed a lot recently :/#I swear whenever I talk about drayto/n and kiera/n together I feel sick because they're both important characters to me#And this little narrative I've constructed in my head about them is important to me on a deeply personal level#And being too real w it activates my fight or flight instinct. I think I've just gotta push through and make stuff I like anyways#Until I get used to it. Also there is a very traumatized neurodivergent child who lives in my brain who is scared of being too cringe
45 notes
¡
View notes
Text
something i genuinely adore about tadc is how painfully flawed everyone in the circus is. and not in a small way
everyone does SOMETHING that negatively impacts the others. but it makes the fact that you are supposed to sympathize with and really connect with them all the more potent. because its easy to want to put a bunch of characters in a bad situation together and to just have them all be nice to each other and everyone and never make mistakes because theres no reason to hurt each other, and most of them dont TRY to, but the way they cope is so, so realistic for each of their personalities, and it doesnt always mesh with the others, and sometimes it exceeds self destructive and Just Hurts Others, Too
they still generally care about each other and the mistakes they make and the ways they end up hurting each other dont lose their weight but like. it doesnt take away from their humanity and the fact that they are all trying so hard to manage in an awful situation
and the characters seem to have sooome sort of understanding of this too. not fully, because the characters dont tend to be 100% communicative, but when they hurt each other, it often makes EVERYONE uncomfortable. because these are the only people they have. these are their friends. and theyre all coping. but it doesnt change how much it affects them (best illustrated by ragathas lines at the start of ep 2 or gangles 'i love her, but after a while it gets kinda hard to tell how genuine shes actually being'). its not all like this, theres a good amnt of variety, but characters knowing this but not really knowing what to do about it is very painful in an effective way
(i think a subtle example of this is how zooble handles gangles situation in ep 4- they were so genuinely trying to help her because they care. but could tell as the day went on that oh, this is not working at all and its making things worse, and they leave gangle alone- something that very genuinely couldve been the moment she abstracted, because of the mask zooble gave her- and we dont get to have a super blatant explanation of zoobles thoughts on it, but they reach a fairly healthy conclusion about it that helps both of them, and i like that a lot, because on paper zooble could be placed at fault but the narrative doesnt dwell on it excessively, because thats not the point. i dont know if that tangent makes sense but i think about it sometimes. i think zooble wasnt 'to blame' but it was still a mistake, which is a hard balance to strike, and having them help at the end feels extremely effective at rounding it off!!!)
but like. in general its complicated balancing making characters in a bad situation act flawed because it can run the risk of seeming like the story is scolding them or blaming them for the situation theyre in, or like youre expected to not sympathize with them despite it (though the inverse also has complications- if characters in a bad situation never mess up, it feels unrealistic and hard to relate to, and can imply that their innocence is why whats happening to them is bad at all), but the show handles it so well
even the characters who are genuinely trying all try in different ways- some of them have similar outlooks or attitudes towards these thing but theres vital differences for ALL of them- sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt. in fact some of the more painful mistakes characters have made in the show have come from them so genuinely trying (like the thing i mentioned w zooble, or basically Everything Ragatha Does, or pomnis first attempt at helping gangle, etc), which hits harder than if every mistake characters made had wholly selfish and cruel goals.
i mean, there is a selfishness to many of the characters' actions but imo not in a way thats not warranted. because all of them are in a horrible setting. its uncomfortable to watch characters be selfish. but it is a natural instinct to survive. its not the foundation of most of their actions, but when it is, its uncomfortable but hard to completely disparage them for in a way that makes you feel kinda conflicted
and like. it hurts to be doing your best and for that to make things worse, but its what happens often in the show. because no one in a bad situation is gonna handle it well. by the very nature of trying to survive something is gonna give, but it makes the themes of the show so much more powerful. that making sure the people around you dont feel unloved, cherishing them and finding meaning with others is no less important just because everyone is fucking up. it complicates things, for sure, but it doesnt make those characters exempt fromt this. theres a reason pomni tells gummigoo that she doesnt want "anyone" to feel like theyre nothing, and that kinger doesnt add ANY quallifiers to making sure people feel wanted and loved (not that i think either of them were thinking SUPER super hard, but it conveys smth from the perspective of the narrative
it gets complicated when you add in jax for sure, since i think on the surface he IS the exception to this concept- none of the characters like him, including pomni or kinger. but i think this is something thats gonna be examined further down the line, bc hes the main complicating factor in this reading of the show, but i feel like thats on purpose. hes universally disliked (and so is caine, in a different way) and his actions arent mistakes. they are him coping. the show has made it clear that he can be a complex person AND also a piece of shit. his actions dont detract from the fact that hes a person and the show reminds us of this. so it makes things so messy, but im genuinely super excited to see how the show examines that. where his character goes is, imo, going to be a massive piece of how this show fleshes out this concept
#tadc#it just makes me so... man#all of them are coping in a way that influences their mistakes#like. i think the best example i could name is ragatha. she highlights this aspect of the show so well#shes struggling so much. shes doing her best to stay optimistic and because the others dont feel as hopeful as she presents herself#it distances them from her#she wants people to like her SO bad which reads so hard as fawning. but this also puts people off and makes her harder to trust#even if her care for the others is genuine the issue is that how she copes tends to leave her a little isolated in some way shape or form#and thats *just* ragatha#i shoudl write smth properly breaking down how this is done w the whole cast#cus i cannot fit it in these tags so i gotta put a pin in it.... but. have this#also ive said it before but i very genuinely think jax SHOULD get the chance to heal#i mean. i wouldnt like him if i had to know him in person. but i dont think thats . actually relevant#so how the show dissects his character going forward intrigues me and i wanna keep an eye on it so much#it is a BOLD move writing wise to establish him as a piece of shit and then to set up these ideas#cus theyre going somewhere im sure. they keep bringing it up#anywayyyyy. thats the post#sorry if any of it got confusing i have a lot of thoughts abt this but they get a tad jumbled bc theres just. so many factors#i need to make an essay outline before i make these posts LMAOOOOOO#OH YEAH WAIT#bonus:#i think abt how pomni abandons ragatha TWICE in ep 1 and i think it could make someone dislike her#but genuinely. makes me like her more. sometimes people get extremely selfish when theyre scared#its bad! but it makes sense. and it makes her feel so much more real#smth smth theres that saying that how someone acts under pressure says more abt them#but like. its complicated. because an easy way to get someone to act mean is to make them scared#esp since the phrase is more attributed to a crisis. but in tadc this is just their forever#and looong drawn out trauma makes people behave very differently#gestures. i dont have the words to break down that phrase wrt this show but maybe ill try later too. put a pin in that one as well#circus discussion
31 notes
¡
View notes
Text
literally the easiest way to make someone care about a character and make them feel well-rounded beyond basic traits like personality, sexuality, ethnicity, etc, is to give them an actual character arc, and itâs shocking how many people do not seem to fully realize this
you cannot just cram a bunch of tropes. tropes are not the main event, they are tools to tell the story you wish to tell. emotional impact comes from the lead up, so you canât just jump ahead and expect the payoff to work. âI want this character to just ___ already!â but theyâre not there yet. thatâs where the arc comes in - how do they get there?
and! most importantly, and this is something I really want people to think about when writing - the most important relationship your character should have, always, is with the world and society around them. defining your character purely through their interactions with other characters are, I find, how a lot of female characters end up feeling flat or not engaging with the themes as much as the male characters, and also how queer and non-white characters wind up as devices for other charactersâ development instead of being more fleshed out
#storyrambles#sorry maybe this comes across a bit passive-aggressive but agh fandom drives me crazy sometimes#Iâve seen some stuff concerning dbda and itâs just#âwhy didnât Edwin just sleep with the cat kingâ oh my god. did you watch the show. his repression is literally the crux of his arc#âIâm fixing the end of the show so that they end up together!â but theyâre not there yet. thereâs nothing to fix?#âthey better ___ in season 2 or im gonna be mad about itâ how about we let the story play out. how about we calm down and enjoy the story.#âI need ___ to kiss right now!!!â do you even enjoy the story. do you even enjoy these characters.#what is their arc. tell me right now. because I donât think you actually know.#and Iâve seen lots of posts kind of like this but itâs wild with this show in particular because itâs canonically a queer show#so there is no fear of being led along or of no payoff. what are you freaking out about???#gah. sorry. it just frustrates me.#the most interesting character dynamic will always be - to me anyways - the way they interact with the world around them#and the way society has shaped them and they shape society in turn#and relationships with other characters are reflections of the mentality they have received and adapted from society#just like in real life lol#random thoughts
71 notes
¡
View notes
Note
I never touched it but I feel like i only ever hear positive things said about song of achilles.. in (rough strokes at least) what makes it dogshit to you?
Okay it's been a while since I actually read it so some of this might not be spot on accurate. Sorry if at any point I say 'the book never does xyz' and it actually does once or twice but I think my underlying criticisms are accurate
-Patroclus is made into like this soft gentle tender quivering little yaoi boy. In the source text, he's shown as compassionate and moved by the suffering of his own men (and apparently having some medical skill, tending to the wounded in the camp), but very much invested n combat and very, very good at it (pages worth of descriptions of the guys he's killing left and right). In this, the arguably more complex character from this 8th century BC text is flattened into Being A Healer, he doesn't want to go to war he just wants to help people, he only goes because Achilles has to but he doesn't want to fight he's a HEALER he's a gentle lover NOT A FIGHTER who just wants to help he just wants to help everyone around him he HEALS while Achilles is a doomed warrior who is so good at fighting and KILLING its a DICHOTOMY GUYS!!!LIKE THE BEAUTIFUL SUN AND MOON DOOMED LOVERS SO SAD patocluse HEALER . (I Think he's specifically characterized as being BAD at fighting but might be misremembering)
-I don't remember much about Achilles' characterization I think it just makes him less of a jackass while not adding anything of interest and levels out into being mad boring.
-Not getting into the literal millenias old debate whether the mythological characters Achilles and Patroclus were being characterized as some type of lover by the original oral sources of the Iliad or its Homeric writers. We will never know. We don't even know what (if any) culturally accepted conventions of male homosexuality existed in bronze age Greece (we know much more about their descendants). But there are some interesting elements of their characterization in this direction, with how unconventional their relationship is WITHIN the text itself- Patroclus is described as cooking for Achilles and his guests (very specifically a woman/wife's job), Achilles chides Patroclus like a father, but there's also scene where Achilles' mourning of him directly echoes a passage of Hector's wife mourning her husband, Patroclus is explicitly stated to Achilles' elder, and is overall treated as his equal or near-equal, closest confidant and most beloved friend (to the point that pederastic classical Greeks would debate over who was erastes (older authority figure lover) and who was eromenos (adolescent 'beloved')- many took it as a given that this text depicted their present-day cultural norms of homosexual behavior but it existed so Outside of these norms that it had to be debated who was who). Their relationship is non-standard both within the text and to the descendants of the civilization that wrote them.
Basically what I'm saying is this book had opportunities to like, explore the unconventionality of the relationship (being presented here as explicitly lovers), explore the dynamics of why Patroclus wants to do 'women's work' (besides being a tenderhearted softboy), the weird dynamics where they take on paternal roles to each other but also roles of wives, how they feel about being this way, and just kind of Doesn't. Which I guess isn't an intrinsic fault (because it omits much of what I just talked about to begin with). it's just like.... Lame. This book takes jsut abandons everything interesting about the source text in favor of flattening it into bland Doomed Yaoi.
-The conflict that sets off the core story of the Iliad is Achilles and Agamemnon fighting over Briseis, an enslaved Trojan woman taken by Achilles as a war-trophy, Achilles spends most of the story moping because he was dishonored by his 'trophy' being taken. Achilles and Patroclus and everyone else are raping their captives, all the women in the story are either captured Trojans (or in the case of the free women within the walls of Troy, soon to be enslaved, and are slave owners themselves). Slavery as an institution and extreme patriarchal conventions are innate to the text and reflective of the context in which it was developed. You cannot avoid it.
But obviously you can't have your soft yaoi boys doing this, so the author has them capturing women to Protect Them from the other men. Their slaves are UNDER THEIR PROTECTION and VERY SAFE (and they might even Like And Befriend Them but I might be misremembering that. Briseis does though). Our heroes have apparently absorbed none of the ideals of the culture they exist in and the author seems to think "they're gay and aren't sexually attracted to their captives" would translate to them being outright benevolent (also as if wartime sexual violence is just about attraction and not part of a wider spectrum of violent acts to dehumanize and brutalize an accepted 'enemy')
In the source text, Briseis mourns Patroclus as being the kindest to her of her captors, who tried to get her a slightly better outcome by getting her married to Achilles (which probably would be the Least Bad of all possible outcomes for a woman in that situation, becoming a legal wife instead of a slave), and wonders what will happen to her now that he's gone. This is a really really sad, horrible, and compelling dynamic which could be fleshed out in very interesting ways but is instead is tossed entirely aside in favor of them being Besties. Like brother and sister.
All of the above pisses me off so much. If you don't want to engage in the icky parts of ancient/bronze age Greece then don't write a retelling of a story taking place in bronze age Greece. I'm not gonna get mad at children's adaptations of Greek myths or silly fun stories loosely based on them for omitting the rape and slavery but it is SO fundamental to the Iliad. If you're not willing to handle it, either fully omit it or better yet set your Iliad inspired yaoi in an invented swords-and-sandals setting where you can have all your heartbreaking tragic doomed lovers plot beats and not have to clumsily write around the women they're brutalizing.
-The author didn't seem to know what to do with Thetis and she made her just like, Achilles bitch mother who spends most of the story trying to separate our Yaoi Boys (iirc her disguising Achilles as a girl and hiding him on Scyros is made to be more about getting him away from Patroclus than trying to save her son from his prophesied doom in the Trojan War) until she sees how much they loooove each other and I think helps Patroclus' spirit get to the afterlife or something in the end?
-This is more of a personal taste gripe but it has that writing style I loathe where the prose feels less like a story and more like an attempt to string together Deep Beautiful Hard Hitting Poetic Lines that will look great as excerpts on booktok (might predate booktok but same vibe). It's all very Pretty and Haunting and Deep but feels devoid of real substance.
I really like The Iliad and The Odyssey in of themselves. They're fascinating historical texts that give a window into how 8th century BC Greeks told their stories, saw their world, interpreted their ancestors, etc. And genuinely I think these texts have 'good' characters, there's a lot of complexity and humanity to it.
WRT the Iliad- all of the main Achaeans are pretty fascinating, the one singular part where Briseis Gets To Talk and laments her situation is great, Achilles fantasizing that all of the Trojans AND the Achaeans die so he and Patroclus alone can have the glory of conquering Troy (wild), Achilles asking to embrace Patroclus' shade and reaching out for him but it's immaterial (and the shade being sucked back underground with a 'squeak' (the squeak kinda gets me it's disturbing and sad)), Hecuba talking about wanting to tear out Achilles' liver and eat it in a (taboo, exceptioally pointed) expression of rage and grief for his mutilation of her son's corpse, just one tiny line where the enslaved women performing ritual wailing for their dead captors are described as using it as an outlet to 'grieve for their own troubles' is heartrending, etc. A lot of grappling with anger and grief and the inevitability of death, a lot of groundwork laid for characters that could be very interesting when expanded upon in the framework of a conventional novel.
And Song Of Achilles really doesn't do much with all that. I know a lot of my gripes here are kind of just "It's different from the Iliad", I would have thought of it as mostly mediocre and forgettable rather than infuriating if it wasn't a retelling (and I DEFINITELY have strong biases here). But I think the ways in which it is different are less just a product of a retelling (of course there's going to be omissions and differences) and more a complete and utter disinterest in vast majority of its own subject matter, to the book's detriment. I think a retelling has a point when it EXPANDS on the source, or provides a NEW ANGLE to the source. This book doesn't Really do either, it just shaves off the complexity of its source material, renders the characters into a really boring archetype of a gay relationship, and gives very little else. Its content boils down to a middling tragic romance that has been inserted into the hollowed out defleshed skeleton of the Iliad.
Bottom line: I definitely would not be as mad about it if I wasn't familiar with the source material but I think it's fair to expect a retelling to Engage with/expand on its source, and I also think it's weak purely on its own merits. This book was set up to disappoint Me specifically.
#Sorry this turned into a 100000 word essay on The Iliad it can't be helped#I read Circe by the same author and thought it was like.. better? Definitely not great just less aggravating and kind of boring#Just rote 'you heard about this villainous woman from a Greek myth... Here's the REAL story' shit#It did have a few things I thought were good I remember it starting kind of strong and then just going limp for the remaining duration#I think part of it is that in that case she's expanding on a figure that Didn't have a whole lot of characterization in the source so#like. She had to actually Expand The Character#Again Silence of the Girls is the only Greek Mythology Retelling I have like....positive?.leaning positive? feelings towards#I've got BIG issues with it too but it does pretty much the exact opposite of everything I'm mad at SOA for and in some very#compelling ways (it's just that the author seems way more interested in Achilles and Patroclus than The Main Character Briseis#to the point of randomly starting to have Achilles POV interjections (which I thought were Good in of themselves but#really really really really really really really didn't need to be there) and then get kind of lampshaded by Briseis narrating 'I guess I#was trapped in Achilles' story the whole time lol!!!!!!')#It undermines the book on both a thematic level and just like. a construction level like it's real sloppy at times.#Also the Briseis POV sometimes has these like really out of place Author Mouthpiece Moments where she's very obviously#Stating The Point to the audience and it's like yeah we get it. We get it.#Wow in the scene were our mostly silent enslaved protagonist removes the gag from the mouth of a dead sacrificed girl as a#small but significant act of defiance and grieving in a book called 'Silence of the Girls' you inserted an ironic repeat of the line#'silence befits a woman'. in italics even. Thanks for that. I could not possibly have grasped the meaning of this scene if you didn't#spell it out for me like that. Thank you.#Actually hang on the only Greek mythology retelling I have unequivocally positive feelings for are the 'Minotaur Forgiving'#songs on 'This One's For The Dancer And This One's For The Dancer's Bouquet'. Fully love it. Like not just as songs I think it#does function well as a narrative and engages with and expands on the source in really beautiful and creative ways
47 notes
¡
View notes
Text
first of all, these boys need to learn when shut the fuck up omg it's better than get more and more into this mess! everyone is so damn dumb, i was dumb when i was a teenager but god not this much
second, fou4mod is not all THAT, not enough to have TWO boys trying to get him like you guys (baabin) are better than this! i mean he such a mess like omg he doesn't need you guys in a weird competition to know who he gonna end up with he needs therapy and if you guys like him so much send him to therapy asap; all of you guys need therapy actually
third of all, i don't know how should i feel about bua?? he's a sweetheart but i don't know if he really does feel something real for baabin; i understand he's in need of real attention and love but it's like he clings to the first person he thinks will be good for him, which is a little unhealthy (actually VERY UNHEALTHY); but love him regardless
and i have nothing to talk about baabin bc he let me down so much and depending on what he does next week's episode i gonna become his hater #1
#gelboys#bua is favorite character bc i see a lot of myself and my unhelpful coping mechanisms of when i was a teenager in him#but he's a very sweet boy who deserves real love#fou4mod too he just doesn't know what to do and i don't think he should know everything bc he's trying fo figure life out#chian was too late but i don't think the solution for his life us getting with fou4mod sometimes we need to let go yk#baabin my cutie pie why do you like fou4mod? like guve me a real thing! a real reason to you to like him this much? i am sorry i see nothin#gelboys the series
9 notes
¡
View notes
Text

saying "if aroace people can date, then can lesbians date men?" is absolutely aphobic narrative btw!
#sorry just have to say this lol#so tired of people generalizing all aroace people as romance averse#its absolutely erasure of the rest of the spectrum#the top tweet isnt so bad depending on who theyre talking about#if a character ACTUALLY is canonically romance/sex aversed then yea its weird to erase that#but if they're canonically AROACE and you go 'erm that character cannot date or have sexđ¤âď¸' ur being aphobic as fuck#the 'shown no attraction to anyone' part kind of throws me off there#i hate when people say 'well this character didnt have feelings for anyone in the one year time span of the show so theyre romance aversed-#and nobody can ship them or else i'll harass u and subtweet u!1!!'#like. a characters life may not involve sex or romance at all fucking times. that does not make them aroace.#ur headcanon- even if you think its based on a logical conclusion- is not reality#sometimes yall just be making shit tf up#complaining about 'fanon' as if ur not the one pretending ur hc is real and treating everyone else like theyre the bad ones#but if that tweet is just saying that IN ADDITION to theyre canon identity then yea. thats valid.#their* </3#obviously the reply is fucking disgusting#i couldnt reply directly cuz my twitter is priv#people will say this kind of shit to ME- AN AROACE PERSON#u preach about aro/ace erasure but when an actual aroace walks in you tell them their way of being aroace is wrong#not everyone is the fucking same.#non-partnering aroaces deserve more rep but telling partnering aroaces that their way of being aroace is wrong is genuinely horrific#like actually fuck u#aromantic#asexual#aroace#arospec#meowing (yapping)
53 notes
¡
View notes
Text
I really resent the Young Justice tv show for ⌠a lot of things. TBH.
#like itâs not a bad show#I just preferâŚ. pretty much everything about the comics.#and like.#the fact that it popularized bluepulse and birdflash in the fandom is def working against it#I donât even hate those ships#at least not in a vacuum#but theyâve almost become an indicator to me of likes#tell me youâve read barely any comics without TELLING me youâve read barely any comics#not to mention how they did kon in that show omg#yjtv!kon is a fine character#itâs just not âŚ. HIM.#and yk. everything about how people perceive his and Clarkâs relationship often being entirely colored by the show#Idk. I know I sound like a pissy gatekeeper#but I have real beef with that show#well. mostly the effect itâs had on dc fandom#really#I also lowkey believe that this show is part of why I sometimes see the Superfam portrayed as just Clark kon and Jon (and maybe Lois + ma/pa#)#where is supergirl fr#literally any incarnation of her#u donât have to do Kara in particular#like Iâm a huge steel fan too and justice for Lana and Pete and everyone at the daily planet#but AT LEAST INCLUDE SUPERGIRL CMON#idk. this isnât entirely bc of the show ofc.#I just kinda wish there were other character tags for when people are talking specifically about yjtv incarnations of the characters#cause sorry I am NOT going in the Bart Allen tag to see bluepulse đ#idk#sorry this is rambly#anti yjtv#also rip to all the Roy Harper fans out there for all the clone stuff đ
12 notes
¡
View notes
Note
relating to your reblog.. no one actually gets beetee i fear. minus you mostly. but the consensus of him being a chill tech guy and not in part a mass murderer both in the arena and in the rebellion & also pretty morally grey in a sense? yknwwww. yknw!
yes yes yes. all do this yes. heâs morally gray. it is so obvious he is morally gray it is practically written on his forehead. his morals are definitely questionable. that is so obvious and yetâŚ
at this point i think i need a therapy session simply so i can rant about other peopleâs interpretations of beetee. because. do you even understand him. did you even read the trilogy. like i donât even know what to tell some of you at this point except that you just donât get him like i do.
#dayne answers#like this is getting in very headcanon-y territory real quick butâŚ#he does have complicated feelings about the fact that he killed people.#at the end of the day he doesnât believe he was completely at fault. at the end of the day he does believe that the violence was warranted.#and yes sometimes it was. but at the end of the day the man is not a good person.#just because heâs my favorite character does not mean i think heâs a good person!! because he isnât!!! like at all!!!!#and this isnât only about his kills outside of the arena. he did everything in his power to survive. he killed other peopleâs children.#certain people in panem will never forgive me. this doesnât haunt him. he doesnât think about it most days.#this is why he has a complex relationship with the other victors. they donât get it. heâs practically numb to it now. they are not.#he seems heartless to them. and maybe he is.#very poetic ending but seriously. heâs not a great person all in all.#this is what i meant when i said victors as complex characters btw.#anyways. glad i didnât scare you off kitty with my last answer to your ask lol.#sorry for once again hijacking your ask.#thg#the hunger games#beetee latier#dayneâs beetee tag
12 notes
¡
View notes
Text
sonic discourse on twitter is uniquely stupid. and all of it makes me feel incredibly smart
#im not active on my public twt anymore so i dont interact with it. but i See it. oh do i see it .#people are arguing about the metal virus arc of idw and like . does no one have an understanding of how story writing and characterisation#works. like at all#sonic was gradually infected with a contagious currently incurable zombie virus and literally everything was in the shitter but ur gonna#tell me with a straight face its Out of Character and Stupid that he was tired and panicked for a second#BE REAL WITH ME!!!#âhes meant to be unfaltering! unbreakable spirit!â if he was completely calm the entire metal arc IT WOULDNT BE INTERESTING#âbut he didnt do that in frontiers!â LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER. âWRONG!! COMPLETELY different context and situation#sonic getting corrupted or whatever in frontiers (forgot exactly what) wasnt rapidly spreading to everyone around the world. it was just#sonic. its different. its so different come on now#its not even. the bad sonic opinion annoying me seeing it all. those are an everyday thing . its just. the lack of understanding on how#story and character writing works!!!đ you Need character depth and growth for a story to be more interesting!!! thats how it works!!!! GUYS!#i feel like ive fell for ragebait. but no people are serious#sorry for ranting in the tags. there are evil demons within me. sometimes i fall for the stupid posts . i am only humanâŚâŚ#frawg post#âif i wrote for sega itd be so differentâ well thank god you dont bro#um on a less Too Online note. my outlook has lesbian colours. thats awesome. my emails are all lesbian
3 notes
¡
View notes
Text
[realizes my deadline is tomorrow and goes through the 7 stages of grief in 30 seconds]
its technically a soft deadline because boss knows im Going Through It (tm) and was willing to extend it but i purposefully agreed to it in order to give myself the Time Crunch Determination but uh it doesn't help that I'm Putting Myself Through It as well as Going Through It you feel me
#it does not help that i have to get back to my real money job tomorrow also#so im trying to spend all weekend at my desk to avoid spending all week at my desk ok...#personal hapo#hapo rambles#the good news is i'm inching ever closer to the finish line like we are at 9 of wands here#as a wise textbook character once said xalepos estin ho bios ala iskuros estin ho anthropos or whatever#WHY IS DICAEOPOLIS ATHENAZE COMING TO ME IN MY TIME OF NEED THIS IS NOT WHAT I ASKED FOR#anyway all this to say im sorry if i seem distracted or weird in conversation#or if i forget to answer or seem terse#its not intentional i am just uh its a lot sometimes#it'll get better the more i get done
2 notes
¡
View notes