#the woman / irene adler threads

[tcbefearless]

@det-william-sherlock-holmes Irene Adler

CRACK! The sound of a walnut being crushed was the only sound within 221b. CRACK! Irene was now doing it just to wake up the Detective. How she had gotten into 221b was of course easy, a pick of the lock only took a few seconds. She was of course a mastermind when it came to breaking and entering, she had managed to escape the Louvre in Paris, so a mere flat was hardly rocket science. She sat opposite Sherlock, one leg on top of the other, leaning back in the arm chair rather casually.

"London is always so dark and dreary this time of year, don't you agree?" Irene questioned as she saw the man begin to stir, New Jersey accent thick and clear. Her signature scent of the familiar Parisian perfume lingered. John was nowhere to be seen, Irene guessed that he was out shopping or working. "I much prefer Greece at this time, sunshine and warmth, you should try it" Conversational and light. Blonde curls resting upon her shoulders, blue hues upon the cracked nut in her palm as she placed a piece of walnut in her mouth.

"It's far better than wet and cold" Ms Adler gave a small wave of her hand. It has been a while since her last encounter with the Detective, of course that particular encounter had left Sherlock looking like a right idiot. The only woman to have ever outsmarted the great Sherlock Holmes, of course she in turn had fun doing it too. Since then her run-ins had been far and in between, naturally leaving breadcrumbs for Sherlock, burglaries dotted around various parts of the city, various items had gone missing such as diamonds and other precious jewelry.

[allsortzofcrap]

i feel like for the rest of my life i will be walking around totally normal and then periodically, i will be absolutely brained with a metaphorical anvil falling off the side of a building that represents the absolute bafflement i have towards modern adaptations of sherlock holmes and their treatment of irene adler. bbc's most recent adaptation in particular.

im so sorry. please repeat. she was stupid u say??? and i'm sorry, IN LOVE with him u say??????

i'm a feminist so i think women are capable of being in love and also of being stupid. they can do anything they put their minds to ofc ❤️. but this is too far even for me.

it's just that i can't understand why you would choose to write a narrative that is more mysoginistic than the source material when the source material was written in 1891.

was it intentional? did they somehow not pick up on the implications? was it random?

i can't fathom it. it keeps me awake.

[tcbefearless]

Irene had her hand raised in peace, of course it was her own fault for following in the first place. Though Ms Adler could hardly help herself when it came to Sherlock Holmes. The detective was her muse, yet seeing John she lowered her hands to fall back by her side. "Oh you know how it is Doctor Watson. I was in the neighborhood, thought I'd pop by to say hello" her American accent was clear, New Jersey lilt thick on her tongue, blonde curls resting upon her shoulders. "I am surprised you aren't following Sherlock around like a lost puppy" a slight smirk formed across rose tinted lips, of course she was teasing, but it had always been fun winding up Watson.

"If you shot me then what would you tell Holmes?" Another tease. Of course she wandered through 221b as if it were her own home. "Wouldn't be too pleased you shot the only woman, to have bested them" It was a few years ago now Bohemia, but it was etched in her memory as clear as if it happened yesterday.

starter for @tcbefearless

"don’t shoot."

John steps closer, why was he not surprised by these turn of events? He should have known that it was her.

"Irene." He breathed, slowly pointing the gun to the ground." What are you doing here? I could have shot you, you could have gotten hurt." The former doctor wasn't sure how he would have felt if that had happened, it wasn't as if he disliked Irene Adler, she actually brought some fun and excitement to his and Holmes shared life.

[mutantmuses]

Starter Calls ; Wish List Threads ;

Memes ; Promo ; Open Starters ;

Rules & Muses down below ;

Rules ;

1.i will only be writing with people who are 21 +

2. it's been a while since i've been in this fandom so please bare with me & my rustiness. xD

3. i do have other blogs so i may not be on here all the time.

4. all muses will be of age.

5. i do write NSFW stuff so if that's not your cup of a tea i understand.

6. i am a shipping whore so please if you ship two characters let me know cause there will be a 9/10 i will ship it too. :3

7. my inbox is ALWAYS open so please come bug me.

---------------

Muses ;

Marvel muses ;

Mystique FC ; Gillian Anderson

Rogue FC ; Anna Paquin

Jean Grey FC ; Famke Janssen

Elektra FC ; Jennifer Garner

Wade Wilson { Deadpool } FC ; Ryan Reynolds

James "Logan" Howlett { Wolverine } FC ; Hugh Jackman

Wanda Maximoff FC ; Elizabeth Olsen

Vision FC ; Paul Bettany

Peggy Carter FC ; Hayley Atwell

Peter Parker { Spider Man } FC ; Tom Holland

Natasha Romanoff { Black Widow } FC ; Scarlett Johansson

Hela { God of Death } FC ; Cate Blanchett

Felicia Hardy { Black Cat } FC ; Kate Siegel

The Goblin Queen FC ; Sophie Turner

Erik Lehnsherr { Magneto } FC ; Ian McKellen

Emma Frost FC ; Vanessa Kirby

Pietro Maximoff FC ; Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Mary Jane FC ; Evan Rachel Wood

Agatha Harkness FC ; Kathryn Hahn

DC Muses ;

Kara Zor-El { Supergirl } FC ; Melissa Benoist

Lena Luthor FC ; Katie McGrath

Kate Kane { Batwoman } FC ; Ruby Rose

Diana { Wonder Woman } FC ; Gal Gadot 

Harley Quinn FC ; Lady Gaga

Poison Ivy FC ; Nicole Kidman

Selina Kyle{ Catwoman } FC ; Zoe Kravitz

TESTING ;

Shayera Hol { Hawgirl } FC ; UNKNOWN

Gambit FC ; UNKNOWN

Irene Adler { Destiny } FC ; UNKNOWN

---------------------------

MAINS ;

Wanda MaximoffErik LehnsherrMary JanePeter ParkerRogue

[scientistofdeduction]

I respect Sherlockians who Play the Game (live as though Sherlock Holmes and John Watson were real and treat the canon as true stories), and admire the commitment of those who hold to that no matter what. It’s a fun and very unique experience across all fandoms that I don’t see anywhere else.

But I did see a post about the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series by Laurie R King (which is good fun though not without some stuff that does deserve questioning). In that thread, one of the comments was from David Marcum, who does the MX Publishing’s massive collections of Holmes stories and who is one of the more serious who Play the Game. He linked a post where he talked about how he rationalizes the series with The Game—specifically how can one rationalize a Holmes who is in retirement marrying a young woman in her twenties.

You can read it here

Basically what I find interesting is that Marcum firstly adheres to Holmes’ supposed age in the Game, making him in his very late 60s in most of the Russell years, instead of his early 50s as suits the story (Holmes remarks to Russell that he was often assumed to be older due to Watson’s stories). A woman in her 20s with a man in her 50s will still raise eyebrows, especially as he met her as a teenager, and yet that’s not the same gap as 70 and 20. Likewise Russell has gone through a lot of life experience by the time any romantic moves are made; her and Holmes are on fairly even footing by then. (Do I still approve of the age gap? No, but then again maybe that’s just my personal preference.

But my bigger qualm with Marcum’s rationalizing the Russell thrillers within The Game is how he rationalizes it all. Russell is a woman who is sick in the head after her family’s death, becomes obsessive over Holmes (fairly directly in opposite to the text where she doesn’t care if he’s a neighbor or a myth, and berates him to his face for assuming her intelligence—point in her favor, I might add), and further descends into madness creating a romance between them in her mind, a life well lived with family.

Here’s hoping I��m not the only one who is a little disturbed by this—yes, the way to rationalize an intelligent woman holding her own with Holmes intellectually, romantically, and as a crime solver, is that she’s insane and disturbed and creepy. Yuck.

He notes that he’s on board with Holmes having romance with Irene Adler, which is fairly bonkers to me. I can read stories where they’ve had a romance, in fact, if memory serves, the two had something brief pre-Russell era in that canon. But I do not like the idea that Holmes cannot be romantic with a “fan made” character. An argument can be made that many Dan made characters are Mary Sues, or John Does, for Watson, as many find the good Doctor difficult to write (and I agree, he is, but that doesn’t always warrant a stand in when Watson would’ve suited the same character actions). But it’s strange that when the newcomer is a woman, she’s hated or interrogated so thoroughly, especially when Mary Russell is so strong a presence and definitely holds her own as a unique character and not just a stand in (even if Watson is a bit dim in her stories compared to canon, we can forgive that because he is so loved by everyone in the Russell texts).

Instead, if I were playing The Game, i would submit this (and I plan on writing a fic to challenge Marcum’s own little story):

Russell is the neighbor of semi-retired Holmes and their meeting is unchanged, he begins to tutor her and saves her in his own way, and she him. The events of Beekeepers and O Jerusalem take place fairly close to recorded, save a few alterations.

Holmes in retirement is living with Watson, as a romantic partnership. Russell discovers this early and although taken aback at first, comes around to it quickly. She creates the stories as fabrications to hide their romance, and with permission from H&W, creates the romantic relationship on paper between her and Holmes to disguise what would’ve been illegal and perhaps reputation ruining for the pair.

The three remain their own sort of family and the series progresses as published to continue that fabrication of the truth.

No mentally disturbed Russell, but a Russell who’s still strong and sane and perhaps at times cleverer than Holmes. No creepy stalker behavior by a girl, but the same in canon amazing woman we get to see grow up. Same partnership, just no romance.

I wonder if this solution wouldn’t occur to a canon purist who plays the game— a purist up until the point where they play a game of rationalizing a non-canonical work to fit their version of Holmes. Not saying that to be scathing, just if one is to entertain the possibility of modern pastiche fitting into The Game, it would be fun to be a little more creative.

I wonder if queer H&W doesn’t slot into their version of the game, and so a clever woman protecting that deep love wouldn’t either. But it seems a far better solution to approach the Russell texts under The Game than Marcum’s rationalization. Again, I’d want for some more creativity than his version.

But then, My Holmes, when I finally write him, is queer, and I enjoyed the Russell series, so it wasn’t a difficult solution.

[tcbefearless]

@storyuntrue ' where are we supposed to go from here? ' / sherlock to irene !

Breaking into the British Museum. It perhaps would have been Irene's best burglary yet. That was if Sherlock hadn't found her just as she was about to steal the beautiful diadem made of silver and sapphire from the cabinet. Ms Adler had managed to take out the cameras and the guards, all part of her plan, of course she would have guessed Holmes to realise she had returned to London.

The alarms had gone off, this wasn't good for either of them. Especially Irene. Blue eyes looked up to the detective, quirking her brow a small smirk forming. "The great Sherlock Holmes doesn't know where to go? Surprising" she mused in her usual teasing manner, taking hold of his hand she quickly pulled him away behind one of the exhibits, before making her way out to another corridor out of sight. "Back entrance is this way" she whispered, Irene was a professional at this, she knew what to do, where to go. However still annoyed at the Detective for finding her out and disrupting her plan, the diadem wasn't as important as her freedom right now. Blonde curls resting upon her shoulders, that same Parisian perfume lingering behind her, her signature scent. Yet she saw a shadow from the entrance that they had just walked from, in what was complete panic Irene practically yanked Holmes into the cleaning cupboard, it was a tight squeeze for just one person yet alone two adults.

[tcbefearless]

"depends on who you ask" Irene responded with a small smirk, taking a sip of the prosecco so elegantly clasped in her hand. Naturally she took the opportunity to dress for the event, blonde hair placed in waves and a long satin black dress to match that draped and hung at the back, leaving her shoulder blades bare. Upon her wrist she adorned a diamond tennis bracelet, with a few diamond rings to match and of course earrings to pull it together.

"Just until we are able to see the gentleman who is here to meet a buyer. Mr Kravitz, who has rather good intel on Jim and his web that I unfortunately do not have access to" Irene explained quietly, taking another sip of her wine as deep blue hues scanned the crowd. "I don't see him as of yet, so unfortunately Holmes, you'll have to keep with my company for a little longer." Unlike Sherlock, Irene thrived in events such as these. Targets to see, who had the most money that she could steal from naturally, it was after all in her nature.

@tcbefearless: i'm having the best time of my life . / Irene to Sherlock :)

“𝑨𝒓𝒆𝒏’𝒕   𝒚𝒐𝒖   𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔?”   The   question   is   poised   with   a   sarcastic   lilt,   full   lips   curling   into   a   quick   smile   that   didn’t   quite   reach   his   eyes.   Sherlock   was   most   definitely �� not   a   natural   at   events   like   this   —   even   though   good   manners   and   aristocratic   behavior   has   been   instilled   in   him   since   his   youth   and   it   came   to   him   as   natural   as   breathing,   galas   involved   people.   Too   many   people   for   his   comfort,   and   most   of   them   wanted   to   socialize.   The   word   alone   sent   a   shiver   down   his   spine,   made   his   fingers   twitch   with   an   urge   to   light   up   a   cigarette.   “How   long   must   we   be   here   for?” 

[luxwritesfanfic]

Bedside Manners

Sherlock figures out who the father is and the cat has the reader’s tongue. Or, the reader reads auras and Sherlock realizes that maybe The Woman has nothing on the one he already has. Thanks for reading!

Sherlock Holmes/Reader

You hadn’t seen Sherlock in over a week.

It had all happened so fast you could barely keep up. One moment you’re out on a case with John and the next Sherlock is heavily involved with a woman who you only knew as beautiful, powerful, and way smarter than you. 

It was too much to be around him and his constant texts with his very specific ringtone so you had decided in order to save your friendship, you’d mourn your imaginary relationship in peace. He hadn’t called or texted, but since technically this was a case you didn’t expect him to. Usually, you were working the case right alongside him. You honestly hadn’t thought he noticed you were gone.

You were cocooned under the blankets watching old recorded episodes of Maury when your phone went off.

Can I come over? SH

And then, right after:

I’m coming over. John told me it was polite to ask but I know your work schedule and I know you’re home. SH

Your lips gave way to an involuntary smile at that. It shouldn’t surprise you as much as it did that Sherlock knew so much about you because you have spent most of your days together as of late, but it still made you feel special even if it was a little odd. Sherlock Holmes coming to your flat was the last thing you expected tonight and you were nowhere near prepared. Sherlock had never shown any interest in seeing where you lived before and it wasn’t that shocking seeing as you spent more nights on his sofa than you did in your bed. You got up and tried your best to tidy up, put on some better looking pajamas and unlocked the door for him.

The door’s unlocked. Y/I

You got back under the blankets and made sure to leave room for Sherlock to sit, too. It wasn’t long after you sent the text that you heard steps coming towards your bedroom door. You hardly expected him to show up in his pajamas and horrible-- but so cute, you thought-- bedhead but there he was in all of his glory. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days and you weren’t sure you wanted to know what (or who) kept him up all night. His lips were fixed in what you could only describe as a pout and he looked like he was on a mission to decipher you as soon as his knees bumped the bottom of your bed. 

Shades of blue and purple complimented his complexion tonight. You tilted your head back to see the colors better and tried to find where the light was stemming from. Before you could even say hello or finish your analysis, Sherlock was on your bed and pulling away at your blanket cocoon to invite himself underneath. You let him, of course, and realized this is the closest you had ever been to him. It felt like it could be a normal night routine and your heart ached.

It was then that it fully hit you how much you missed him. You had hoped that the way he was acting now was a reflection of how much he missed you, too, but getting your hopes up never did bode well for you. Remembering the reason you hadn’t been around all that much hit you like a freight train and you wondered if he saw right through you.

He got settled and you both sat together in silence watching as the program played. You couldn’t imagine that he came all this way just to watch telly with you and your curiosity got the better of you. “Sherlock,” you started, turning your head to face his profile, “why’d you come over here?”

“Do I ask you that when you’re at my house?” He shot back quickly, his eyes never leaving the TV. While that would sound rude to anyone else, you knew that tone. He was anxious.

“You always invite me over. You don’t have to ask.” You countered. 

“Hardly my fault you don’t invite me over. That says more about you than it does me.” Sherlock finally turned to face you and you thought he looked like ethereal with the TV light cast on his face. How you loved him so.

You could tell he was avoiding whatever it was that was bothering him and figured if he came here to sit in silence with you, you could do that for him. Turning back to the TV, you brought the blankets up even further around you two.

“He’s the father,” Sherlock said minutes before the talk show host announced it, “and you’ve been... avoiding me.” So he did notice. Just as you were about to deny it, he added, “do not lie to me. We know each other far too well for that.” 

You sighed. You really didn’t want to have this conversation with him now, or ever, but here Sherlock was snuggled up in your bed with you secretly worried that you haven’t been around. If you’ve read all the signs up until this point wrong, well, you get an A for trying. 

You could feel blue eyes boring into you and he was surely expecting an explanation. “I don’t know. This case has just been a lot on me.” 

You didn’t know what else to say. Everything involving Irene Adler was too much for you and you thought if you pretended it wasn’t going on, you’d be able to forget about it and move past it. Of course the “it” you were trying to move past was laying in your bed with you. 

You didn’t have to further elaborate because just as Sherlock was about to speak, his phone moaned. Figures.

You couldn’t hide it if you tried. She was texting him late at night and he didn’t even seemed surprised so that meant she had been texting him late at night. Your body slumped immediately and you cursed yourself because you knew Sherlock was watching. You didn’t want him to see you so weak.

“Irene Adler.” He murmured, talking more to himself than you. “You’ve been avoiding me because of Irene Adler. I don’t understand.” 

He truly was lost at this point. How Sherlock could be so brilliant but so blind was an anomaly you’d never understand. You looked at him as he tried processing this new piece of information and you could see that it wasn’t adding up for him. He couldn’t possibly understand how hearing the love of your life’s ringtone for another woman being a moan would ruin someone’s mood. It was too far beyond him.

“Sherlock, it’s fine-- it’s not her. It’s not you. I’ve just been tired. It’s me.” You try reasoning with him but it’s no use, he already off on his mental tangent. He sat up farther in bed and brushed his fingers against his lips. Something suddenly dawned on him and he was shoving his phone in your hands.

“Our texts, read them. She keeps asking me to have a night with her and I never reply. I don’t want to. Look.” He’s urging you to look at this point, and you’re unsure of what he’s trying to prove that for. You didn’t think he knew that you’d be jealous, and frankly, you didn’t think he’d care. But it was unlike you to keep him waiting, so you started to read their message thread and he was right. He had literally never responded and at this revelation you looked up at him.

Sherlock was watching for your reaction, that much was clear. Still sat up, he looked down on you as you read and met your eyes with an emotion you couldn’t discern.

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Sherlock. You’re a grown man, and you’re allowed to do, and see, whoever you want.” You watched as his aura got stronger as you spoke and you wondered what he was feeling. It looked like it was coming in waves.

“Not at the cost of our relationship. She is not worth a damn to me, especially if it means losing you.” Sherlock was serious now, and that took you by surprise. You had never expected him to say anything like that about you, much less in this context. You started to wonder if all of your hopeless unrequited feelings weren’t so unrequited after all.

Now you were sitting up, and you were sitting knee to knee next to each other. “You won’t lose me. You will never lose me, Sherlock, I need you to understand that.” You matched his tone, speaking in earnest.

“Besides, if I ever did get lost, you would come find me. You wouldn’t be able to resist the game.” You offered him a smile to try and lighten your heavy confession, and when he took it, yours turned into a grin. 

You really didn’t know how you got lucky enough to love someone as beautiful as Sherlock. It takes everything in you not to lean over and kiss him stupid.

You don’t push him any farther tonight than what he’s already offered you because it’s more than enough. Instead, you lay back down and pat his pillow for him to lay next to you and start another episode of Maury. He lays back down and he’s the calmest you’ve seen him all night.

“If you guess the outcome of the episode correctly within the first three minutes, I’ll make you breakfast in the morning.” You challenged, looking over at him like he put the stars in the sky himself. And in your world, he did.

“The game is on.”

[bikenesmith]

blacktober got me thinking about my existing headcanons so i thought id expand on things re: the magnus family and other xmen characters (this is from my thread on twitter)

there would be a read more here but does that even exist anymore

my erik is ethiopian jewish on his dads side + (polish) ashkenazi & amazigh jewish on his mothers. eriks personal identity as a black person is primarily experienced through a jewish, african, & european lense, as those are the communities he is grew up with. (depending on the au) living in & interacting with the american versions of his different identities is a consistent learning curve/mode of self discovery, but helps him connect to himself much in the same way being involved with mutant liberation does.

wanda & pietro identify as sinti romani (mom) & ashkenazi + ethiopian jewish (dad). due to their multi-diasporic background, they struggle to mantain a stable identity in many ways, from their dark skin alienating them from their lighter skinned jewish peers, to being read as black or indian (despite having black descent in smaller parts then most, and roma people being descended from, but having cultural & historical differences from, india/south asia). they also struggle with the loss of their mother & consequently the loss of their ties to important familial cultural ties. (this is thru an au lense - this is ofc different for the wanda + pietros - 616 for instance - that were raised in romani communities)

lorna, on the other hand, has a black jamaican mother, & has a more stable relationship with her blackness. even so the lack of connection to jamaican identity through her absent mother pains her, as does racism in her jewish community, and the cultural differences between herself and her siblings. on top of that, she’s somewhat lighter than her dark skinned siblings and father, and that disparity can feel alienating & painful for both parties

may add onto/edit this at some point but a good bookend is just, “Oops All Diaspora”.

i unfortunately do not have mini essays about the rest but thats simply bc the xavier-lehnsherr dynasty is like my area of study

by the rest i mean other xmen characters. speaking of -

emma frost is an albino black woman (black american)

gambit is creole

irene adler is black (afro-austrian)

mystique is black (multiracial)

nowadays i mostly draw kitty as a non-black ashkenazi or sephardi person but i luv a black jewish kitty

[akajustmerry]

hey merry! what are some of your favorite romances/ships in media?

ooooooooooooh i love romance as storytelling so there’s a LOT bare with me:

irene adler & sherlock holmes - the BLUEPRINT for the criminal/detective dynamic and TBH no one does it like them even now!!! 

the warrens (conjuring franchise) - love that horror king James wan said, “i WILL make the romantic love between these two people the pillar, the foundation, the THREAD of my INCREDIBLE horror franchise, and they will be played by Patrick Wilson and vera famiga to PERFECTION” love them.

the doctor and river song - the horror, the tragedy, the INTIMACY, the grOwing INtO lOvE knowing it will kill you, but unable to do anything else. the time travel??? look, I know there’s a lot wrong with the way moffat writes romance but this concept was so magnificent Christopher Nolan appropriated it for two straight dudes in tenet so

jane and rafael (jtv) - I deeply love these two, and OOFT the JOURNEY, but what I love about jane/raf (other than how wholesome and sweet they are) is the way the series really showed you that they loved each other in every way (as friends, lovers, family, etc) so that when they finally got together there was no “but what if?” u know? ahh!

sook-hee/hideko (the handmaiden) + lila/diego (tua) + the ladies in poalof + prince char and ella (ella enchanted) - grouping these together because I essentially love them for the same reasons which is we love a love story as emancipation!!! we also romances that begin in deception, but wind up being the most truthful the lovers have ever been fuckin yes!!

nicholas/mia (princess diaries 2) -  come to think of it this is also the truth in deception concept again, but I also love romances with men who clearly guzzle respect women juice. also love me a “oh, THIS person is actually who i am in love with” sorta plot. i also love knightly/emma for this too!!

dany/lexi (blood and treasure)- i know for facts there are better examples of this romance plot that i love, BUT I LOVE “exes who didn’t work out so they grew apart, but what they actually did was grow to be right for one another later in life” fuckin SUPERB SHIT

crowley/aziraphale (good omens) - i absolutely don't need to explain this because i can’t it makes me WEEP. 

i really dig the funky vibes between anna and that fuckboi she share her feelings with in anna and the apocalypse (2017). 

la la land - listen the reason i fkn love lala land is cos its two straights experiencing a gay romance in the sense that ryan and emma have an intense passionate love affair that defines who they are that is doomed to fail but they still acknowledge each other in the club and have vivid “what if” fantasies about eachother

harlivy (harley quinn series) - similar to jane/raf, we love a journey of two people realising they’re EVERYTHING to each other + we got some love as emancipation vibes!!

leap year (2010) - best from com ever made and no i am not joking.

riki and zane (h20 just add water) - have not watched h20 for a long time but i literally think about the banter between these guys every time i go write a couple. they were so formative for me kasdn

richonne (the walking dead) - yeah same as crowley and aziraphale i cant really talk about these two without weeping...they! 

eliza/henry (selfie) - ITS ALL IN THE THEME SONG, “while i’m looking at me / i’m hoping to find you” akfksbf don’t TALK TO ME I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

finally, i recently watched little women (2019) and fell in love with that romantic version of laurie/amy. my heart was literally SWELLING at how sweet they were, and how unlike other versions of lw it didn’t feel like they were settling, but CHOOSING each other. loved that.

idk maybe other bisexuals can relate but i find figuring out whether I'm actually enjoying a romance between two characters OR just projecting because i am attracted to them both REALLYYYY HARD. 

idk i also used to hate romance growing up, mostly because of the way that when ur a “woman” ur expected to love it and i hated that because tbh most romances in media are SHIT. but i love romance now mostly because i realised how amazing it is in the right handsas a narrative that transcends genre, how it can grow/destroy characters, open them up etc. 

i think romance is really powerful but its also really hard to write well and obviously soooo subjective, but i love watching characters grow into and out of romantic love. love it. it fascinates me a lot maybe cos i don't think i’ve ever really experienced it?? not saying that as self-depreciative or anything, but its definitely something that impacts how i see it. anyways, i’m sleepy, thanks for letting me ramble. x

[tcbefearless]

It was unusual for John and Irene to be on the same page, they never saw eye to eye, not that Irene blamed the Doctor. Blue hues looked up briefly before going down to her hands where she fiddled with her thumbs. "He thought I was dead.." Irene breathed, although it hadn't been her intention for Holmes to think that. Irene had barely any day at all when it came to James Moriarty.

"One thing I know about Sherlock Holmes, is that when he cares, he cares greatly. Right now I can gather shock that I am alive and he doesn't know how to process it" Irene would have arrived sooner, but she had to make sure that Moriarty was off the table before that happened. "He kept a file and photo of me from Bohemia, I don't see him doing that for anyone else" Of course she has noticed that little detail.

"I was going to ask for some tea, but I don't suppose you have anything stronger? Do you Doctor Watson?"

you and i know what happened .  or at least can guess

From @tcbefearless

*****

"But it's him." There was defeat in his voice. "When have we ever been able to guess what exactly goes on in his head?"

He glanced once at the door that stood ajar through which their mutual subject of concern had disappeared yet again. "Still, I suppose you understand him better than I do." Was that a tinge of hurt?

"What do you make of this?"

[thecorteztwins]

what are some under used marvel female characters youd love to see in the rpc?

HMMMOkay, so I’m trying to think OBJECTIVELY here and not just rattle off the female characters that I personally like, and more “I’m surprised that there’s not more blogs for this character, whether or not I personally am a fan” ....because I missed the “you’d love to see in the RPC” bit because I’m dumb, and then I wrote this whole list without regards for that part. So this came out as less “female characters I personally want” (who would all be stupidly obscure and irrelevant anyway) and more “female characters I think the RPC should give some more love to, whether I personally am into them or not”:Definitely ALL the girls in the New Mutants and Generation X! I see a fair few blogs for Magik and Jubilee, but I really don’t see any for the others. I get why Magik is going to be more popular---she’s in more stuff, she’s currently much more relevant in the comics, and her backstory is so goddamn compelling---but that doesn’t mean the others shouldn’t have ANY blogs out there. Wolfsbane, Magma, Karma, and Moonstar are all extremely complex and compelling characters with their own struggles and triumphs too, and I think they deserve just as much love. Likewise, I get why Jubilee will naturally get more blogs than Husk, Monet, and Penance (depending if you count Penny as a separate character or not...) due to her being in more stuff, having bigger arcs, etc. But it still surprises there’s NO blogs around for those ladies! I know there was that Monet blog awhile ago, and @badmusesdoitwell had an Amara that’s now part of their multimuse, as well as a Rahne, but that’s still nowhere near enough love in the RPC for these Junior X-Ladies, in my opinion. Speaking of Generation X, I’m also a bit surprised no one has picked Cordelia Frost up, given that we’ve got plenty of background canon for her via Emma’s history yet Cordelia herself has LOTS of room to go nuts with headcanons, like it’s just the perfect opportunity! And I’m sure lots of Emma blogs, of which there are MANY, would love their little sister around for some family threads. Fuck, I would pick her up myself if I were more into Emma and the Frost family as a whole. She’s hardly the most relevant, recent, or even interesting character around, she’s done very little and shown up very briefly, but the fact she’s related to Emma Frost makes me think SOMEONE would have an interest in her.Madelyne Pryor, for sure. Like, I love Maddy, but it’s not just my favoritism talking here. I think she’s pretty decently well-known in the comics fandom, and she’s a tragic villain, which usually pulls people in big-time. She’s got a grudge against the good guys, and it’s actually more legitimate than most, which I’d think would also attract people, since a lot of villains fans like to blame the good guys no matter what and THEY’D ACTUALLY HAVE A GOOD ARGUMENT HERE? Plus she has very strong connections to other, more popular canons, with a ton of fodder for angst and drama threads, which people just LOVE. I have seen a few Maddy blogs pop up in the past, and I always get so excited, but they never seem to last very long :CDr. Moira MacTaggert deserves ALL the love and respect in the world/fandom! She’s been a staunch supporter of mutants since day one, she’s a total badass, she’s super smart, she calls Xavier out on his shit ALL THE TIME, she’s the survivor of an abusive husband, she had to make terrible choices about her son that no mother should ever have to and then live with the consequences of those choices, and SHE GOES AFTER A KELPIE WITH A GODDAMN MACHINE GUN! She’s been a part of the X-Men comics for such a long time, and is very significant in them, it really surprises me that I’ve never seen a blog for her besides just ONE and it was for the XMCU sexy American CIA agent Moira, who is NOT Moira in my book and NEVER WILL BE. Speaking of, Moira will ALWAYS be human to me, I think making her a mutant all along REALLY undermines a big part of her character as just an unyielding mutant ally. Though I think her being human, combined with being an older female who isn’t anyone’s love interest (unless she’s, gasp, getting in the way of CHERIK aka the ultimate fandom sin how dare she the harlot -.-), is probably WHY she’s so damn ignored -.-Frenzy hasn’t been in THE most recent stuff, but she’s still been relevant recent enough that I think one or two blogs around would have happened if she weren’t black. Yeah, I hate to be THIS person, but any black character who isn’t Storm doesn’t get love, for all that the RPC likes to yell about being diverse and progressive. Remember all the Captain America and Iron Man and Hulk and Quicksilver blogs that popped up after their movies? Yeah I saw like ONE T’challa blog after Black Panther came out. Then again, I’ve yet to see blogs for Pixie or Firestar either, who are white, and I feel like they both were fairly interesting and well-known in fandom? Same for the Academy X girls like Sofia Mantega, Mercury, and Wallflower. Luna Maximoff FOR SURE. It SHOCKS me I haven’t see more than a couple short-lived blogs around for her, just given her family connections. Now, I don’t think a character deserves love just because of who they’re related to---in fact it annoys me when a characters gets a ton of attention and it’s very obviously just for that---but Luna has SO MUCH going on? The problems between her parents, her mother being absent so much, her father exposing her to the Mists, dealing with her powers, being a child of two very different worlds and cultures, it just goes on and on. Luna has had to grow up so fast, she’s such a strange and stoic child as a result, and though her situation is very fantastical, having to be the mature one at an early age because all the adults in your life won’t be is something a lot of people have to cope with and I think would find relatable; I especially love how she lives in this world where there’s no bad guys, like neither Crystal nor Pietro were the villains in her situation, just hurting messed up people, which she also recognized in Magneto and maybe also even Maximus . And there’s so much that could be explored with her too that hasn’t been in canon yet---for instance, her choice to identify with her Inhuman heritage and why that is, and the journey of identifying with your heritage but also looking at the horrible things in their history, I think that’s a story that a LOT of people from MANY backgrounds can relate to. It surprises and frustrates me that both writers and fandom don’t really seem to care about her or remember she exists; one the only two blogs I ever saw for her seriously got someone asking them “why would you make such a weird OC” like SERIOUSLY! Luna needs more love, big time. Any female Avenger that’s not Wanda or Natasha. I don’t read Avengers, I’m just an X-Men fan, but I know they exist and they shouldn’t have to be in a movie to get love. Ditto for She-Hulk, I’m not a Hulk reader but I know she’s a prominent character who has been around a long time and has a very developed personality and stories of her own, yet I’ve only ever seen her on @getreadytosmash‘s multi. I’ve also never really read Alpha Flight, but its main ladies ---Snowbird, Aurora, Vindicator---all seem awesome in their own different ways. Alpha Flight isn’t very popular to begin with, of course, so I don’t expect them to have as many blogs as, say, major X-ladies, but I think one apiece or so would be very justified.KWANNON!! I actually get why we didn’t have any blogs for her BEFORE now, because we knew NOTHING about her, she was just a very tragic prop for Betsty’s body-swap plot and a way to give her insta-ninja-skills, but now she’s come back and has HER OWN NEW SERIES in which we’re finally learning who she is and her background, I hope to see a blog or two around for her eventually!Destiny aka Irene Adler. Like. Do I even need to explain WHY? I think people just don’t want to play an OLD woman, especially one whose primary/only ship is going to be with another woman.Maaaaybe Clea Strange? I don’t know shit about her, never read Dr. Strange, but like, people make blogs for Sigyn literally just because she’s Loki’s wife, and Clea at least seems to like...DO stuff? IDK, not sure on this on, but figured I’d make an honorable mention.Siryn, Boom Boom, and Dr. Cecilia Reyes are all X-Ladies that I really don’t know much about. Like I know basic things like their powers but I don’t know their story arcs and such. But as with Clea and the Avengers ladies and She-Hulk, I just have a HUNCH there’s a lot there getting ignored by fans.Silhouette Chord is a longtime member of The New Warriors, and, like Alpha Flight, New Warriors doesn’t really have a fanbase on Tumblr to speak of, so it’s not surprising to me she’s not got any love here. And even within the pages of her own comics, she’s generally pushed aside, underused, and underdeveloped compared to the other characters, generally more a prop for her boyfriend’s stories than anything else. But she DOES have a personality, a REALLY cool backstory, and she’s like...look, the RPC claims to love diversity and representation and all that, right? Silhouette is a mixed-race WOC (half Black, half Cambodian, and I have NEVER seen another Marvel character of Cambodian heritage who wasn’t connected to her) who is also very visibly physically disabled, her legs are completely paralyzed and she is never without her braces/crutches, yet she still fights PHYSICALLY (something very rare for physically disabled characters, they usually are more like Oracle or Prof X) and is depicted in a sexual relationship, and there’s never any kind of fuss or angst about it or anything treating her as delicate or less than or anything like that. She’s just completely adjusted to it in a way that’s very rare in media. And like I said, she’s not a flat character, I’m not saying she should be more popular just for ticking off the diversity boxes, she manages to be really intriguing to me despite how little focus the writers give her, and I think that she and the other New Warrior girls (Firestar and Namorita) have a lot to offer the RPC. But I have to give a special shoutout to Sil since she’s my fave, as the neglected ones alway are.Meggan Puceanu is probably most familiar to folks here as Kurt’s love interest in Age of X, but she’s been around since the 80s. She’s a longtime member of Excalibur, and she’s just...fascinating. She’s a Romanichal mutant (though often hinted to have magical/mystical heritage too, perhaps fairy like Pixie) who has empathic, elemental, and shapeshifting capabilities. However, her empathic and shapeshifting tend to overlap, so she changes her form (and her mind) according to the feelings, fears, and desires of others. So for instance, there’s this one time where a group of men are checking her out, and she feels that “They love me...I want...to love them in return!” and she morphs into this sexxed-up version of hersef on the spot. This isn’t played for kinkiness or laughs either; Meggan’s identity struggles are a HUGE part of her character. She has no idea who she is because her powers make her reflect and respond to the feelings of others around her, internally and externally. She doesn’t even know what she actually really LOOKS like because of this; her powers were present since birth, causing her to grow fur instantly as an infant due to it being winter. This caused her parents to keep her locked up in the camper trailer, where she was raised alone with the TV (she’s also illiterate, which causes her to feel dumb a lot) and as more and more people around her spread rumors about the monstrous child inside, she psychically absorbed those beliefs and her physical form changed to reflect them, making her more and more monstrous as she got older. She didn’t know she was a shapeshifter, she just really thought she was a hideous monster. And even when she found out the truth, she STILL didn’t know what she really looked like, as the beautiful form she took on (basically Pamela Anderson with elf ears) was to please her boyfriend Captain Britain (whom she is really unhealthily dependent on starting out because of her situation)Meggan is insecure, she doesn’t know who she is, she has to cling to a man in order to have anything because no one else has ever loved her, she easily becomes jealous of other women near him, she gets made fun of for being a bimbo and she often feels she is because she can’t read or understand “clever words” due to her isolated upbringing...and she gets through this! She develops! She becomes STRONGER and she becomes SECURE and she gains CONTROL of her powers and SHE KICKS ASS and she FORMS AN IDENTITY!  And then Meggan SACRIFICED HER LIFE to buy time for Captain Britain, Psylocke, and Rachel Summers to repair the tear in reality caused by House of M. She ends up lost between dimensions and TRAPPED IN HELL, where she uses her empathy to rally the lesser demons against THE LORDS OF HELL ITSELF and wages a war IN HELL for which her demon followers dub her “Gloriana” and she forms a sanctuary there called “Elysium” where souls can escape torment!  AND THEN SHE FINDS HER WAY HOME!THIS WOMAN KICKED ASS IN HELL AND WON!! Like she just goes through SUCH an arc, and I admit I have not read it myself yet, she’s on my list of characters to read EVERYTHING on and I’m still only familiar with her very insecure Excalibur days (which I love a lot, I just feel so much for Meggan and her struggles, I think she’s very much a reflection of a LOT of real-world issues, ranging from mental illnesses to just EXISTING as a woman) but I already have a ton of feelings about her and I think she’s more than prominent and accomplished enough to merit more attention in the RPC. And this is less of an “actually has reasons the RPC should love her” character, because really there’s no reason they should, she’s not prominent or relevant or or anything, but more an interesting “did you know”---did you know there was a “young female Wolverine clone” in the comics BEFORE Laura Kinney? Avery Connor! She pre-dates Laura by a year and has a VERY similar story, yet she never took off in popularity and very few people know her. You can read about her HERE on my Marvel blog. Again, would not say there’s actually any reason she’s earned love from the RPC like, say, Meggan or Luna, but I just thought I’d toss that in as a tidbit for the Logan family fans, as I know there are many.(Also, cheating because these are dudes, but: I’m not a Banshee fan but I am surprised I’ve never seen a blog for him, nor for Sunfire. Or for 616 Pyro. Or...)

[queensconquest]

@bbcmary has figured out how to Irene’s weakness and ways to bribe/tempt Irene; fresh baked cookies

[tcbefearless]

Irene gave a small raise of her brows "clever man like Sherlock? You don't get to see that everyday or play around with one either." She defended herself feeling a small smirk form across her features. She wandered around the bedroom, blue hues scanning the room. It was fairly empty, tidy as one would strangely expect. "Holmes is an intelligent man, you really think he'd hide the codes in a notebook?" She quirked her brow, he forgot that she knew Sherlock, how his mind ticked.

Her fingers went over the worktops, searching for any obscurities. Before they found the table top drawer, she kneeled down observing it. It wasn't as dusty as some of the others, kept more clean and more used. She opened the drawer slowly, fingers going into the inside, catching a small button and as she did another compartment lifted up. She opened the loose wood, revealing a picture frame of herself. "It seems I have an admirer" she mused to Moran, flipping it over undoing the back to reveal a small memory stick. "I suspect it will be on here"

~ @tcbefearless || i could get used to a place like this. || From Irene Adler ~

"Yeah, yeah - You've got a hard-on for Holmes, we get it." Sebastian mutters, snapping on a pair of gloves and moving to root through Sherlock's bedside table. "Hate to break it to you, but he's not gonna move you into the place." He pulls out a notebook, flicking through it and turning it upside down before taking a picture. "Are you going to help me look for the codes or are you going to just stand there daydreaming about him?"

[nannyfeline]

Women, BBC Sherlock, and Misogyny(?)

There was an ~*~*~ UnPoPuLaR oPiNiOn~*~*~ thread on twitter and I had thoughts that were too big for 280 characters, so I wanted to address everything more fully here, but you can find the twitter thread at this link.

The female characters on BBC Sherlock are SO BADLY WRITTEN. This came up in a discussion of mystrade shipping when someone (perhaps rightly) complained that the two biggest(?) ships are m/m, when at least one of those characters was in a m/f relationship, and questioned why we don’t pair the male characters with female.

There are a lot of reasons for this that have a lot to do with a history of slash fandom in general and that being sometimes the only way a lot of queer fans had to work out an understanding of their own identity, especially female-assigned fans. A lot of women in media are written badly. They’re uninteresting and often annoying. They’re usually bland and unidimensional. If we’re meant to think of them at all, it’s as foils for the male characters. So a lot of us historically ended up shipping the male characters with each other. Even when there were plenty of women around. Because the men were cool, and the women weren’t.

Looking at BBC Sherlock specifically, again, the female characters are SO BADLY WRITTEN. I want to like Sally, but I can’t, because she’s written as a harpy who does nothing but screech at the protagonist. Anderson is at least marginally more likable, because he’s given an opportunity for redemption. We can forgive Anderson his pettiness, because at least he understands, he GETS IT, he tries to atone for his part in Sherlock’s fall. Sally is never given that.

Then there’s Molly, who is so dear, and sweet, and such a lovely doormat. I had hoped maybe she had moved own and grown up and found a life outside of Sherlock. She showed every sign of understanding his bullshit and having developed armor against it, and then s4 destroyed all of that. This is an incredibly intelligent adult woman with a profession and so much else going for her, and she is stuck on a boy, like a middle schooler. No, I refuse to like this character. I love her in a way, and I just want to take her by the hand and maybe just forward her the Wikipedia article on co-dependence, but I can’t like her, and I internally cringe whenever she’s on screen.

What about Irene, I hear you say. Well, what about her? Irene Adler is a character who in every adaptation I’ve seen produced prior to the 2000s has saved herself. (I can’t remember what she’s up to the Ritchie films.) The last time we see her in the Granada series, she is literally sailing away from Sherlock Holmes’s bullshit. She’s the strong, I-don’t-need-no-man character who Holmes becomes obsessed with, not the other way around. In BBC Sherlock, she falls in love with him, becomes obsessed with him, can’t leave him alone. She discovers new dimensions to her own sexuality because of her all-encompassing devotion to Sherlock Holmes. And, by the way, she’s a pawn of Moriarty and Sherlock has to rescue her. Yeah, nah, I’m good.

Someone at one point mentioned Anthea. Antha-who? How often do we see her? She’s gotten like a grand total of maybe 15 minutes screen time, and all of it has been fetching and carrying for Mycroft. That’s not a character. She’s a nonentity. Fandom has done far better by her than Mofftiss ever did.

And that brings us to Mary. If you like Mary, I don’t blame you. She’s kind of badass. She’s also a lying assassin who shot Sherlock. Mary did so many about-faces, I got whiplash. And here’s the thing about Mary: she was always destined to die. Every moment she’s there she needs to either service the plot or she’s wasting time. The marriage of John Watson and Mary Morstan happens in canon because it makes sense for a wedding at the end of A Sign of Four, but she is hardly mentioned again. By the time Holmes returns in The Empty House, she has apparently already died. (The only thing Mary ever really does in canon after ASoF is send Watson to search for Isa Whitney in the opium den in The Man With the Twisted Lip where he finds Holmes (paralleled in HLV).) Like a lot of mystery series, Sherlock Holmes has a formula, and that formula depends on the Holmes and Watson relationship. Mary is surplus to requirements. 

All that is with the big ol’ caveat that this is my opinion of Mary. I had looked forward to Mary and had a lot of hopes for her, because I wanted a female character to like. I wanted to like Mary. I just think the male showrunners and writers did a terrible job with her. If you disagree (with this or anything else I’ve said), that’s okay. Especially when it comes to Mary, I can see her appeal, I can see how someone could love her character.

But it’s not misogyny, internalized or otherwise, if fans of BBC Sherlock have a real problem liking the female characters. They don’t have to interrogate why that is. They can just recognize they aren’t good characters and move on. We can and should expect better in female characters. Our fave is problematic and really dropped the ball when it came to representation of women.

[thewxman]

★

PUT ★ IN MY INBOX AND I’LL POST MY FAVOURITE EXCERPT/QUOTE FROM ONE OF OUR ROLEPLAYS. // @decrstalker

my darling, darling lyra. it was so lovely doing this because it meant i could read though everything we’ve written together ( the letters!!! be still my heart!!! ) but in the same breath it also made this task very difficult because i love EVERYTHING. our shared obsession with adlock and hamilton shines through in pretty much every thread. it took a lot for me not to just post our entire history, so, reluctantly, here are a few excerpts ♥

sherlock lying to himself from here

He told himself that Irene had information on the web and he was purely interested in saving her for that factor, but it was common knowledge that Sherlock Holmes lied.

irene comforting sherlock after mary’s death from here (the letters ♥)

In the few years we’ve known eachother, Mr Holmes, I can’t claim to actually know very much about you at all. When your birthday is, where you grew up, how much milk you like in your tea. But the one thing I do know, perhaps even better than yourself, is your heart. The heart that you believe to be closed off and unfeeling. I know that it will be aching. It will be fighting with your head, which will be telling you to blame yourself, no doubt. Please, my love, ( and I do beg of you ) know that this is not your fault.

drunk texting (bad idea) from our ims

“You look lovely when you laugh, by the way. Happy. It’s nice.”“You’re not so bad yourself.”“Sherlock Holmes, are you saying I’m pretty?”“Maybe. Should smile more. Alluring isn’t bad, but smiling suits you more than you’d think.”“You make me smile.”“Do I? We should see each other more then.”“That’s one of the best ideas you’ve had.”

sherlock attempting to be subtle from here

And there she is, silhouetted against the window, slender frame cloaked in another one of his dressing gowns. He’s half convinced that he can admire her all day, but his eye catches something else that drops a weight in his stomach– the open desk drawer. Inside are fragments of sentiment that he refuses to acknowledge exist, so with a calculated informality, he strides towards it, leaning against the desk to slowly push it shut. Sentiment is a chemical defect after all, and all he can do is hope that she hasn’t found the old mobile resting at the bottom of said drawer and feign oblivion.

...and irene throwing that subtlety out of the window from the same thread.

...and there it sits. Exactly how she had remembered. She picks it up and holds it in the palm of her hand, the weight and shape of it now so foreign— what was once her heart now boiled down to a token of a bad dream in a past life, all neatly wrapped up in a casing of black and gold. So insignificant and yet so earth-shifting all at the same time... “You know Sherlock, you once said to me that sentiment is a chemical defect found on the losing side. But— I think you’re wrong. I think it’s more of a… mobile phone found in a desk drawer. Wouldn’t you agree?”

and, most recently, adlock being adlock (which is, being as bad as each other).

[sms; The Woman] Never liked riddles, but Victoria Line was far too easy. Your impatience is showing, Ms Adler. SH

[sms; Mr Holmes] As is yours, apparently, Detective. You’ve missed the second part of my riddle. I’m not exactly going to be riding the tube all day, now, am I?