#the Golden Age that Never Was

[not-poignant]

ok so I saw that you dont get many asks about this so i've worked up the courage to finally ask this but for Anton and Flitmouse in TGATNW, have you thought about how it would develop in that universe compared to UTG. Tbh, I was originally actually interested in them bc Flitmouse wants monogamy and has self-worth issues about himself while Anton is confident and has fucked just about everyone and likes it that way. But in UTR that kind of conflict doesnt really work the same way and seems to be heading for a different route. Would Anton have dedicated himself to Flitmouse (like in UTG) or would Flitmouse have grown to be less insecure about it all?

Btw, I love them both lotss, and they were the pairing that got me to read the rest of the UTR series <3

Tbh one of the reasons I stopped writing the story in The Golden Age that Never Was is because I knew it would never have a truly happy ending and I struggle to commit to stories like that.

Like, Flitmouse is mortal, Anton is immortal. Flitmouse is highly jealous, and Anton is immortal literally because every mortal he knows and loves will die and that grief kills him, for decades upon decades. Flitmouse knows Anton's love for him will do this and that Anton will then go on to have sex with lots of other people, and Anton knows that this breaks Flitmouse's heart and refuses to compromise because Flitmouse isn't a golden warrior.

In Underline the Gold they still get to have a happy ending. Because Flitmouse can be jealous or possessive but Anton is committed to him literally through their job. I can touch on an age discrepancy without having one literally live forever.

I do think in All The Loose Threads Flitmouse would have eventually adjusted, but I still think he would have always been a bit bitter and cynical about it in a way that's like... I always imagined his last years alive as an old man being quite painful for him because of it. After a while I was like 'I...can't write these two characters in this specific format because I love them so much and I want them to have a happy ending.'

It was just hard to imagine that without thinking of the weight of Flitmouse's and Anton's knowledge that it would all end in a level of heartbreak for Anton that we can't imagine for ourselves, because we're not immortal.

[copalcetic]

Sometimes it frustrates me that the Sabine at the start of Ahsoka feels less competent than the Sabine on Rebels. Her fighting skills have atrophied, she's lost emotional maturity, we don't really get to see her painting or slicing or blowing things up—all talents she had mastered by age 16.

And then I remember that based on the epilogue in "Family Reunion—and Farewell," Rebels isn't being told by some omniscient narrator. Rebels is the story Sabine is telling us about her past.

Of course the Sabine in Rebels is more competent. The Sabine in Rebels is who the Sabine in Ahsoka—thirty years old, depressed, and living alone with her cat—wishes she was.

And that's both sad, and painfully relatable.

[mainalias]

thinking about compiling screenshots of golden/silver age batman exclusively calling dick his ward to combat the allegations that it was “initially a father-child relationship”

[oakendesk]

book cover - The Flesh Of The Orchid - 1951

artist unknown

book cover - Soldiers' Daughters Never Cry - 1951

Rudolph Belarski

[uncanny-tranny]

Something that bothers me a bit about Americans talking about The Golden Age of the economy is... It wasn't a golden age, not for everyone.

People seem to universalize the fact that you could afford college and rent when... That was true for specific people. It wasn't the universal - especially those who were Black, or Indigenous, or for PoC in general, or women, or queer and trans people. Universalizing any stage of America's history only tells one story. You don't acknowledge the stories of anyone else when you do this.

This just reminds me of Paris Is Burning, and of what was said about the ballroom participates, many of whom were BIPoC and/or queer:

[Video Description: A clip from the documentary Paris Is Burning (1990). Pepper LaBeija is sitting on a chair and she is saying:

Those balls are, more or less, like our fantasy of being a superstar, you know like the Oscars or whatever. Or being on a runway as a model. You know, a lot of those kids that are in the balls, they don't have two of nothing. Some of them don't even eat. They come to balls starving, and they sleep in the under twenty-one, or they sleep on the pier or whatever. They don't have a home to go to, but they'll go out and they'll steal something and get dressed up and come to a ball for that one night and live the fantasy.

/End of Video Description]

[femboy-expert]

You’re islamophobic because you’re ignorant

I’m islamophobic because they made significant advances in mathematics and math makes my head go ouch

We are not the same

[leoisstillalive]

absolutely life changing stuff that i can and WILL be normal about.

marc doing vale's corkscrew move ON VALE (haha pun intended) and valentino lovehating it more than anything

[saintundying]

i do laugh at the armand/daniel "age gap" jokes but i wish we discussed how hot armand finds him way more than how often i see posts about daniel looking old. like we get it, daniel has wrinkles okay cool - lets move on!! a life lived in the textures of a face is sexy!! vampires are ageless!! like ben daniel's as santiago had me, a lesbian, gasping at how hot they made him. you think they aren't gonna slut eric bogosian out?? like look at this and tell me this show gives a shit about "age"

[sneakyboymerlin]

Fandom will be like “Arthur wouldn’t have been so bigoted if it wasn’t for [that EVIL Merlin trying to fulfill the prophecies through Arthur to create a long-lasting future for his kin. oh and Uther] the actions of everyone else around him” bro it doesn’t sound like much accountability is being held for one’s own actions :/ bro

[fictionadventurer]

Imagining fairy tales as Disney Golden Age animated films:

Thumbelina

The opening storybook is about her mother wanting a child and planting the flower seed to get one.

The story then starts with Thumbelina's "birth" from the flower. She's presented as not quite an infant, but as a very young child. Long sequences of her exploring the cottage and garden of her home.

A lot of work put into perspective--keeping this at Thumbelina's level, showing the world as a huge place. Extreme work put into details because everything is oversized. It's beautiful, very realistic, almost bankrupts them, and no one appreciates it.

The mother is rotoscoped, while Thumbelina herself is a bit more cartoony.

All the animal friends in this story are extremely cute. The toads sit in this uncanny valley between cartoonish and realistic that makes them scary in a different way than was intended. A particularly silly-looking screenshot of one of them becomes a meme.

Thumbelina's main struggle is staying cheerful through all her dangerous misadventures. She succeeds, with song.

The mouse is a somewhat comic, somewhat anthropomorphized mouse. She's a mother figure who's more demanding than the idealized human mother of Thumbelina's carefree childhood.

Thumbelina is an excellent housekeeper for the mouse and nurse to the injured swallow.

The mole is presented as a comic character who turns unexpectedly sinister when Thumbelina resists his marriage proposal. There's a nightmare sequence of Thumbelina going into his tunnels and feeling trapped and fleeing with terror into the sunlight.

It ends with a very Fantasia-esque ballet-inspired sequence as Thumbelina finds a home among the flower fairies.

The Goose Girl

Opening storybook explains how the princess is sent off to marry a prince, the handmaid is jealous, and steals the princess' identity, forcing her to work as a goose girl.

The goose girl is very kind to her geese. The geese are cute and provide lots of silly little slapstick interludes set to music.

Falada is pastured with other horses nearby, and the goose girl talks to him. He's a very expressive animal companion, but still silent.

The prince meets the goose girl unexpectedly in the pasture. They get a cute little love duet.

The handmaid gets threatened by this and recruits Conrad the goose boy to kill the goose girl.

The wind is presented early on as another living thing that the goose girl is kind to. Perhaps a windy day is causing her trouble, and she unthinkingly is like "Stop it!" as it sends some adorable little goslings tumbling over each other. And then it turns out the wind is a living creature, and takes various shapes with leaves and things, and proves to be a bit bashful at being scolded, and has a long sequence of helping to tidy up and generally being playful.

When Conrad tries to kill the goose girl, she calls on the wind for help, and it becomes this terrifying elemental force that leaves her and us shocked at what she's just unleashed.

The princess flees and runs into the prince, who is unable to get the full story out of her (either because she's too terrified to think straight, can't speak because of some vow, or has some reason to think she can't trust him).

Conrad runs back to the handmaid, who decides to kill the princess herself.

The princess tries to escape on Falada during a thunderstorm. The handmaid tries to chase her down and in the process Falada winds up getting killed or injured so the goose girl either has to flee on foot or just plain stop to help him, thus allowing the handmaid to catch up.

The geese and the wind work to get the prince there in time to hear the handmaid reveal that she's not the true princess and to save the true princess just as the handmaid winds up getting trampled/pushed over a cliff by her own horse.

Very brief happy ending--all sunshine and flowers and happy choir singing--as the goose girl goes back to the palace in the arms of her beloved and takes her place as the true princess.

[not-poignant]

[4 May - Taurus]

Our beloved, sharp-mouthed, insecure fashion designer and tailor, Alois Flitmouse was first introduced as a minor side character in The Golden Age that Never Was and quickly ascended to significant ensemble character, Jack's first friend, and Anton's lover. He hides a past filled with horrendous familial and partner abuse, and is extremely protective of the people he loves.

I want you to be brave and tell me that you’ll lie to your boss and be my companion. But all I really want is a quiet place to be protected before it’s all over. I know it’s terribly uncouth for an omega to speak this way, to behave like this. I think you’ll find I’m rather terrible at being an omega, and I’m no longer interested in being good at it. I don’t want to be knotted by you. I don’t want your cock, though I’m sure omegas lose their minds over it. I don’t want anything except that sweet smile of yours and the promise that you won’t ever hit me.

Underline the Gold

The Golden Age that Never Was (fanfiction) - Alois was an original character, a snippy tailor and double agent for the resistance who gets abducted and taken to an Asylum. We discover that Anton is in love with him, Alois is in love with Anton, and Alois struggles to be friends with everyone due to a rough upbringing and deep insecurities.

Underline the Gold - Finally getting his own proper story in Underline the Gold, it becomes clear that Flitmouse is fighting for his life and fighting against severe mental disorders. His consistent strength and bravery, even in the face of his own despair, becomes the thing that Anton falls hard for from the very beginning.

Underline the Black - Flitmouse appears as a side character here, but a vital one, becoming the first omega to see Efnisien for who he is, and validate him exploring that further.

All the Loose Threads (abandoned) - Flitmouse's first side story, I ended up not continuing it not due to lack of interest, but because over time I became sure that Flitmouse deserved something that would get more eyes on it - an original story for example. That became Underline the Gold!

An exceptionally competent tailor and fashion designer with an excellent eye, Alois Flitmouse wears attractive clothing, is savvy about fashion, and interested in making clothing that is comfortable but also cutting edge and innovative. In Underline the Gold this extends to him sometimes adopting characters as his own personal models.

Flitmouse has hazel eyes, dark brown tufty hair that looks a bit like he's run his hand through it about 15 times, because he usually has. It often looks fashionable, but secretly he thinks it's very untidy. He wears black-rimmed glasses which suit his angular face.

Flitmouse is generally quite short and thin, and he has a fussy disposition. He's quick to cast judgement and even insult, despite possessing extremely thin skin himself.

A lot more politically savvy than he first appears, Flitmouse is usually quite well-read on the politics that concern him most, and able to debate at length about the things he cares about.

In The Golden Age that Never Was, we realise just how desperately Anton and Flitmouse are in love when Anton finds him locked away in the dark, in solitary confinement, dying in an Asylum. Flitmouse is overcome with emotion, not wanting to be seen by the love of his life, and Anton doesn't care what Flitmouse looks like, he's so overwhelmed by his lover still being alive.

In Underline the Black, Flitmouse comes through as a first suspicious and then fiercely protective omega when - in his first meeting with Efnisien - he goes from expecting the worst, to realising that Efnisien has been through the worst, and wanting to shelter him from it. At that point, he becomes ride or die for Efnisien, and Efnisien gains his first omega friend and ally.

In Underline the Gold, Flitmouse, going through a horrendous corrupted heat and in agony, refuses all medical intervention. As a last ditch attempt, Dr Temsen suggests that Flitmouse consume pheromones unconventionally - through saliva, or semen. To everyone's surprise, Flitmouse chooses semen, and is quite happy to do so, reminding everyone that he can be viscerally sensual when he wants to be.

Always a tailor. In Underline the Gold this became expanded to him being a master of the sartorial, working in haute couture. He's no longer a servant, but an exclusive fashion designer selling some of his items for thousands of dollars each.

Flitmouse's appearance doesn't generally change. He has more scars in Underline the Gold. But honestly, not that many more.

Flitmouse's dialogue is always quite sharp and verbally cutting. He can be extremely tender at times, which reveals just how deeply he cares for others, but there are layers of sharpness above it.

Flitmouse's dad is always abusive, and his ex is always Vadim, who was also abusive, and cheated regularly.

Flitmouse lets almost no one call him by his first name. You only know you've reached his inner circle when he permits being called Alois by you.

Flitmouse will use aspects of his abusive past as 'shock value' in conversation, but it's rare for him to genuinely bring up how much he was hurt by his upbringing.

Flitmouse was one of those characters I made because I needed some servant staff and I needed a reason for Jack Frost's 'costume' to come into existence. Enter Flitmouse, who actually had no first name when I first created him - he was literally a spontaneous creation while writing the story. I wanted his name to sound like his personality, sharp, agitated, quick, mousy, insecure.

Flitmouse was an interesting character to me. I rarely write characters who feel jealous to the degree that Flitmouse does, and that was an interesting thing to explore. I tend to think jealousy can be toxic depending on how it's expressed, and Flitmouse can definitely be toxic about it. I liked using Anton and Flitmouse as a good way of showing Anton's uncompromising relationship values, against Flitmouse's jealousy.

I've always had a soft spot for Flitmouse since the very first moment I locked him down. That's why he ended up getting Anton, who I also love.

Flitmouse is a bit different to many of the characters I write. He's not that introverted. He enjoys socialising with safe people and he loves gossip, and even in Underline the Gold he's often travelling out to the nearby towns to meet people and vendors even though he knows that's less safe than staying just with Anton. Flitmouse is probably one of the most social characters I've met outside of Eran who is an outright extrovert. Despite Flitmouse's general disposition, he's actually very good at being charming with strangers in his sharp, wry ways, and is good at making connections.

I was the person everyone came to, to have socks darned or the in-seams of pants mended. It was so useful, but when I said I wanted to take it further, they mocked me. I take after my father. But he was more of a blade than even me. When he mocked me, his words cut.

The Golden Age that Never Was

[romancemedia]

Anime Couples 3

[itsraining-honey]

reject modernity

EMBRACE TRADITION!!!!!

here’s a bonus cute helena hehe :3

[oakendesk]

book cover - Never Leave My Bed - 1958

Ernest Chiriacka

[makeoutstopcrime]

we really are living in a golden age for chenford right now

[scorchedhearth]

he has never belonged to himself, only to others. watch as i make myself sick over this