#there is a reason there are so many girlies who are in both fandoms

[fuck-i-like-too-much-stuff]

Lestappen is what Larry was

[celestialholz]

Live long and fuck in Hondas (or 'why that Vulcan salute is way more significant than you think it is')

Hey. Hey Holz. Did you know Deadpool and Wolverine fucked in the Odyessy? Did you know that they now live in a one-bed with Blind Al? Did you know that -

Yes, friend. I know all of it. And you're all super fucking valid for pointing it out.

... But maybe all of you aren't seasoned Trekkies like me. Maybe not all of you gorgeous people understand the true significance of this.

Or maybe you just want a definitive way to win the argument of "are these two fucking?"

But either way, I'm here to help, and to tell you why, amongst all the absurdly homoerotic text of this film, this moment? Might be the gayest of them all.

Now, we must start by saying that although you wouldn't know it from the bullshit Abrams films, these two:

Are the fathers of gay fanfiction. Spock and Kirk here are the reason you're living in the fantastic timeline where you can write/read men fucking without any other shred of plot and that this is a legitimate and normalised internet experience - everyone say thank you, iconic papas. These guys were so homoerotically coded that even in the 60s, the era of wondrously overdramatic performances of all kinds and fairly prevalent homophobia, The Girlies still took notice, still started mailing each other fics and making zines and being just hugely excited at the thought of these two getting space-married. They are fandom as we know it today's beginning, and seventy years later they're still an enduringly popular ship on AO3. (You should all go and watch Amok Time, by the way. Contains the Honda Odyessy scene of the 60s, except there's weird biology and wrestling and just go and put it on your screens, thank me later. They fucked on that planet.)

Anyway, these two were as close as early colour TV could ever allow two men to be, deepening their *coughs* friendship almost every single episode or film - Trek's creator Gene Roddenberry even gave them a unique word in Spock's Vulcan language, with the meaning of 'friend, brother, lover.' (And if that isn't ringing any Poolverine bells, I'm not actually sure what you want out of this post. Enjoy it anyway, love you.)

... And then we get to 1982's The Wrath of Khan, and to that moment that every iconic screen couple must face - the ol' classic, it's you or me and I won't let it be you.

Sure, the set-up's a little different here - the chamber Spock's in is filled with radiation, and the scene's quieter, softer. And Kirk isn't a mutant so he can't smash his way in, he can just sit there and inwardly die as his emotional support Vulcan does.

... But you get where I'm coming from here. Ryan Reynolds doesn't take a million other potential love scenes from across the cinematic ages - no, he takes this. What is for many the romantic acknowledgement of a whole generation. The humble and desperately sweet beginning of it everything we fans know and love nowadays. The most ambiguously romantic homosexual relationship in television, directly comparative to what is now arguably the most ambiguously romantic homosexual relationship in cinema. And lest we forget, Wade doesn't believe in a fourth wall - this is a conscious choice, both in canon and in the writer's room.

Oh it's so clever and so beautiful a girl could weep. Ryan just introduced the MCU to the gays, just as Kirk and Spock did all those years ago to the masses of the time.

And then there's what it means.

This is the Vulcan salute, created to mean either 'live long and prosper' or 'peace and long life' - it's used more or less interchangeably.

But part of that's irrelevant when you're as immortal as these two.

So we're left with the sentiments of prosperity and peace, given to a man who up to this point can't imagine ever prospering again, is the furthest thing away from being at peace. Wade gives Logan the opportunity to go on, to find the things he's been lacking for so long now - things he has already helped him find. Spock tells Kirk during The Wrath that 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,' and that's exactly what Wade's doing here - sacrificing himself for the greater good of his friends and his newly beloved, however much it will hurt them all.

And that's lovely, and poignant, and character-growing, and I think we all would have been content to leave it at that and have our noble sacrifice, however much we would have wept. Kirk goes on to find the remnants of Spock's soul in the next film in the series, to bring him essentially back from the dead because he felt it was more than his own soul's worth not to have done... which, again, ringing a bell anyone?

Because Logan, in not so many words, tells dear Wade to fuck right off, and we get this.

What we've got here is a direct translation of one of cinema's gayest moments, made somehow infinitely more gay. A true achievement here - I genuinely think I spontaneously acquired tetanus in the cinema for a good minute, my jaw dropped so hard on seeing this. The pillars are the same colour as Kirk and Spock's original uniforms, for fuck's sake. I'm dying out here.

What we've done here is create narrative equality. The whole film's kinda done that leading up to this anyway - they're both mentally fucked up men who can't die, who are constantly dying anyway, who are evenly-matched in battle and both enjoy Honda fucking, who have forged a real love even as they piss each other off at every turn.

But here, they place one another in narrative equality for the first time. It's not about a sacrifice, not now, even though they're assuming it is one - it's about what should be done. It's about righting wrongs, being heroes, being together because every option other than that is unacceptable, because neither understands quite how to lose anyone else. They've both made the same choice, and that's not to let the other die alone.

It's about holding hands and loving and never letting go, even if it kills them.

... It's just about the most romantic and gorgeous thing I've ever fucking seen.

There are no more instances of masks, once they're done in this station. They don't need them any longer; they will never need them again.

And that's only emphasised by the parting shot we get of this... almost directly after Vanessa and Wade share a final sweet look.

I don't know, man. It's almost like the true conclusion is hidden behind the acceptable masquerade. Imagine that in the MCU, folks.

They've taken one of the most intimate and sweet moments in screen history, and made even more glorious.

They did The Wrath of Khan better than The Wrath of Khan did it.

And that's... that's gay. That's just about the gayest thing they could ever have done, and I adore it to the smallest pieces.

So remember, the next time your friends disbelieve you... show 'em this. Show them that they redid the very beginnings of slash fandom, and did it better.

(And then you can add on that they now live in a one-bed with their grandma, daughter and dog, and will do for the rest of their lives. Kirk and Spock didn't even get THAT shit.)

[saintsenara]

Thoughts on remadora?

thank you very much for the asks, anons!

while they are by no means my otp, i really enjoy remadora as pairing - and i think they’re fully up there among the canon couples in terms of being an amazing vehicle through which to explore all sorts of questions about life and love - which i am aware is a sufficiently controversial statement that it involves an immediate engagement with some discourse…

because remadora girlies [gender neutral] get an enormous amount of shit within the fandom, particularly from fans who consider wolfstar to be a more plausible pairing for lupin than tonks. i have seen remadora shippers called homophobes for simply enjoying the couple, justified with the bizarre idea that it disrespects remus' relationship with sirius [so... the non-canon one?] to put them together. i have seen tonks turned into a pathetic shrew who is trying to keep remus from the real love of his life by trapping him with an unwanted baby. i have seen remadora shippers get a lot of the usual stuff that people who prefer the canon-endgame couples do [that to ship a canon pair is boring, that it is indicative of a lack of talent, that it indicates an uncritical support for jkr] magnified to eleven because tonks has the temerity to be a barrier to remus’ relationship with the fandom’s favourite hot and brooding man.

obviously, this is bullshit - primarily because its unreasonable and cruel to invest so much time and energy being mean to people because of their harry potter shipping preferences [fandom should never be that deep].

but it’s also a disappointment to me personally because it means that it can be very hard to find the sort of remadora i like without looking like i’m coming to contribute to the pile-on. because where many remadora fans and i don’t see eye-to-eye is that i have absolutely no interest in thinking about them as a relationship which is actually functional. and, all too often, i find myself sifting through fics which do prefer to interpret them like this - as romantic and passionate and stable - largely, i think it’s fair to say, as a defensive move against the tide of “urgh, imagine shipping that” nonsense - even though all the evidence of canon is that they are… very much not.

i am aware of the pottermore article which smoothes the edges of lupin’s canonical reaction to tonks’ feelings for him in half-blood prince - but, while i read this as something of a retcon to make the relationship more palatable, i also don’t think that assuming that both tonks and lupin’s attraction to each other was sincere precludes them being as dysfunctional as they canonically are. i don’t go in for the common anti-remadora argument that tonks “forces” him into a relationship with her - it’s clear in half-blood prince that it’s not only her who has discussed her feelings with molly and arthur weasley, lupin is definitely flirting with her when they pick harry up in order of the phoenix, lupin is an adult man [no matter other power imbalances between him and tonks - such as the fact that she is an agent of the state which oppresses him] who possesses the capacity to refuse her advances, and - since teddy’s conception is not immaculate - he has no issue with enjoying a sexual relationship with her even if he then wants to run away from the product of that.

instead, what i like with remadora is that they reveal something which goes against the grain of the rest of the series: that love is not always enough. throughout the seven-book canon, we see time and time again the idea that love - and, crucially, love-as-noble-suffering and love-as-sacrifice - is enough to overcome any problem. entire civil service collaborating with a terrorist regime? don’t trouble yourself, love has won. your mother dying in childbirth leaving you to be neglected in a state institution? your own fault you’re not interested in love.

i understand the genre reasons for this, but i also love the way in which lupin especially exists on the margins of these genre conventions [just as he exists on the margins of wizarding society!]. i’m always struck in deathly hallows that he’s the only person who’s actually realistic about the demands of war - particularly when he tells harry that it is breathtakingly naive for him to think he can get through the fighting without having to shoot to kill - and that part of him having to be shuffled out of the way when harry tells him to return to the pregnant tonks is because, were the story focused on realism, the idea of a wanted man who is considered an unhuman by the state fleeing in order to guarantee the safety of his wife and unborn child becomes eminently reasonable and harry's defense of the nuclear family embarrassingly unradical.

and so i like the idea of lupin seeing tonks - and tonks seeing lupin - initially as just a bit of fun, as the two of them being just two chill single people who think the other is hot and interesting and want to bang because of it.

[which is something fandoms in general really struggle with as a concept. we like epic love stories - and you won't find me objecting to that! - but we're less good at thinking about casual sexual attraction or transient friendships, and how these can be transformative and meaningful without having to end up going any sort of distance.]

and i then like the idea of the relationship being forced into a profundity it doesn’t really have the juice to sustain by the sheer avalanche of grief which besets the two of them - sirius, dumbledore, mad-eye, ted - and by the pressure of the war and the fact that the order is scrambling and the hangover of remus' self-destruction in half-blood prince which makes each cling to the other as a life-raft. i like remadora as something codependent and messy and strange and sad, and i don’t think this prevents it being sincere and fun and based in mutual attraction, but instead that these positive qualities can exist in conjunction with the fact that, without the war, it would have been a summer of fucking and that was probably it.

on tonks herself, i don’t think i can say it better than @evesaintyves in this meta on her character. i’ve been really uncomfortable with quite a lot of stuff i’ve seen recently which has taken against the idea that tonks can be meaningfully read as queer on the basis of what we find in the text, above all because it so often comes with the implication that one cannot imagine her in her canon endgame pairing and presume that she’s something other than straight or cisgender. eve sets out an excellent case for tonks as bolshy and liberated and in tune with herself and fun and confused and in flux and still figuring stuff out about who she is and where she’s going - and this translates, may i say, to an astonishingly beautiful way of writing her, lupin, and the dysfunction inherent between them which i highly recommend you read.

[thestarsloth]

I believe it is time for me to talk about piper again

Something i really dont like about this fandom is that we were quick to hate her even though the main reason wasnt her character

People generally hate her because of her relationship with drew. The problem here though is not piper, but the way drew was portrayed by the author. Drew was a flat character, and to me she was a lot like Nancy Bobofit (who didnt appear a lot tbh). In my opinion, if we knew drew a bit more, hers and Piper's fight would be much more interesting.

They also hate her because she ONCE said that the aphrodite cabin was shallow. We all know how rick has treated the aphrodite kids, right? Percy has said many things like that about them but noones hating on him. I know that is not an excuse but see the difference on how we treat the white boy?

Another reason is that she is not as traumatized as the others (??whywouldthatbeareason??) and people say she complains a lot, which, to be honest, i did not see in the books.

To start with, she was most of the time neglected by her dad who didnt understand her needs and never paid attention to her (to the point she had to steal a freaking car thank you very much). We' ve seen she was treated really bad from the kids in her school (racist comments and also comments about her family) and lets not talk about how bullying affects teenage kids. Lets just say that we all sympathized with percy when he was bullied and changed schools all the time but noone talks about the fact that piper was also bullied (and not by having pb&j thrown at her, which is also bad but...)

People also say that she is a "pick me" and "not like other girls". First of all, shaming her because she doesnt wear makeup or isnt stereotypically "girly" is more misogynistic than anything you say piper did.

She has never ever said anything that implies shes doing so for boys. Sje genuinly didnt like those things and people straight up attacked her for being a teenage girl with MASSIVE OTHER PROBLEMS TO DEAL WITH.

She did not shame drew for liking makeup as far as i remember, she only called the cabin shallow because they treated her EXACTLY like her bullies.

Also she "only talks about jason" and is "possesive". Hmhm. Reminds you of anything? OH! ANNABETH! But the white blond girl was excused because she was a "teenager", yet ive never seen anyone defend PIPER'S mistakes with that excuse, even if it is the truest thing for both her and Annabeth.

I have nothing against percy and annabeth, or people who headcanon piper as girly, but we should remember that canon piper was a teenage girl and support her just like we do with annabeth.

Thanks for reading my rant and i would love to hear opinions. I hope i didnt sound too agressive defending a fictional character hehe.

[acourtofthought]

SJM regressed the growth of both Nessian and Elucien from ACOWAR to ACOFAS.

Naturally, after Nessian's book I'd expect Elucien? I will admit, the HOFAS stuff seem to shine a light on Az, but I don't see why he HAS to be next.

I love Gwynriel, I love Gwyn and I love Az when he's interacting with Gwyn

But Az getting his HEA before Lucien and Elain would make me so mad. No because if he had a mate, and if another male went after her.. he'd end the guy. For someone who values his 'religion' (eye roll, the cauldron, mother whatever) he seems to disrespect it by going after another male's mate. Would he have done it to his brothers? Why is no one talking about this? And he's not even after Elain for a romantic reason!

No slander to Elain though, girlie is new to all this. I understand her even if she frustrates me at times (like tryna kiss Az when Lucien was there, I totally get her wanting a fling, but I wish she'd literally picked any other day plz my heart hurts for Lulu)

And honestly, I see why announcing Azriel's book would make E*riels seethe.. but, I would feel more vindicated if Sarah announces an Elain book with Lucien. Given how much they keep crapping on Lucien, it would stun them.

Something you said above stood out to me and is a bit different than the way I usually approach Elucien being next. I do think she deserves her time to shine after so many books of being pushed to the side by the other characters, same with Lucien. But I also think it's time for readers to understand why she is treating Lucien this way, what she was thinking on Solstice when her mate was nearby. That is such a topic of debate in the fandom. The other side claims it's proof Elain doesn't care for Lucien, some Gwynriels and Elucien's are a little put off by her seeming lack of concern, and some don't hold it against her but they want to understand why she did what she did. I think it would be odd for the author to let yet another Solstice pass by with zero insight as to why it happened that way (especially if at that point an Elucien endgame is all but confirmed if Gwynriel were to end up together). That's another book where readers are left puzzled by her actions with no explanation. Another book where readers are still frustrated by those actions with no explanation. At some point the author has to begin providing reasons for why a character is behaving the way they are and I think we're there with Elain. Why is she often absent from important IC meetings? Why are people noting different expressions on her face, watching her do things and deciding what those things mean but then being given information that contradicts their initial impression? Why was she warm then cold towards Lucien? Why did Feyre think maybe she wanted her hands cut up which is why she didn't use the gloves Lucien gave her but the following year we have confirmation that Elain is wearing gloves (just not Lucien's)? Why did Nesta think she was so happy and settled only for Elain to confirm she still has trauma? I personally love Elain but I can't pretend she's a fan favorite and I think the main reason for that is Sarah has her character remaining a bit of a mystery, giving us varying opinions through the other characters which confuses many. I think she has a lot of depth and there are very valid reasons for the way she's behaving but since we don't have confirmation of anything, to others it is at times going to look as if she's being unkind or thoughtless. Again, I think an author can only write this kind of narrative for a character for so long before the character ends up being written off by the fandom and I do feel this is a perfect time for Sarah to finally reveal Elain to all of us before the hate of her becomes worse.

[skaruresonic]

I want to like Amy but her fans make it difficult.

Every other moment they're throwing another character under the bus to make Amy look better when that shouldn't be necessary. It's like they're playing victim over something that people don't do anymore.

If Amy is perfect like they claim then they shouldn't feel this threatened whenever another female character gets any kind of attention or praise. But without fail every single time another female character is girly, kind, brave, or anything else you can think of, it's somehow an attack on Amy.

Imagine if Sonic's fans got mad everytime there was a new character who was confident and athletic. That's how ridiculous this is.

Normally I'd say it's not really equitable not to give a character a fair shake just because their fans are being obdurate, but I can sympathize with your mindset when it comes to how folks gas up Sonamy. If they were chiller about it, I'd probably like it more. While I appreciate Sonic and Amy's dynamic as friends, I swear people portray it as an issue of life or death, and it's so freaking tiring.

Despite not posting about her much, Amy is actually tied with Maria for the third spot in my favorite Sonic characters list. Both girls are great characters for similar and different reasons. It doesn't make much sense to me to claim Maria is boring when Amy displays many of the same traits.

Heck, I kind of think people exaggerate how bad her Battle portrayal is, making it out to be the bad apple that spoils an otherwise good bushel. It's not fantastic, pretty Yikes(tm), actually; yet you'd think she singlehandedly ruined the game based on the way folks hone in on her portrayal at the expense of ignoring the others. ...and idk, I still laughed at a few of her lines. :v

Amy sits in the same boat as Shadow in that everyone holds their own interpretation of the character close to heart and will get defensive if you say otherwise. I've noticed a certain stubbornness among Amy fans that is also shared by Shadow fans. One time I said "I'm an Amy fan, I don't need a crash course on her character" in response to being linked a thread on her character, and got hit with "oh you're just saying what everyone else says." Like? bruh?

I'm just not one of those fans who's like "AMY DESERVES EVERYTHING EVER." She has her flaws and foibles, just like everyone else in the cast. She has a tendency to step on toes, be a bit whiny, overbearing and one-minded... and it can be simultaneously true that her kindness wins over hearts. Amy contains multitudes.

But it's almost like, for many people, taking her as she is isn't enough. She needs to practically be shown curing world hunger in order to be considered as valid as the boys or something… Which I kinda find more offensive to her character than dismissing her outright.

Why does Amy need to star in everything before you're happy, even though of the female cast, she's technically enjoyed the most screentime? Again, not to pit two bad bitches against each other, but Maria's representation isn't exactly sterling, especially considering how often folks objectify her as Shadow's morality pet or treat her death as something to shock non-fans into thinking the series is Deep and Dark(tm). If you're really for better female representation, you should be arguing for better representation for every girl character, not just saying "let Amy get hers and fuck the rest." This shouldn't be a competition. Everyone can have a seat at the table.

First the fandom consensus was "Sega sucks because they didn't include Amy in Origins." Then when they actually did that and included her in Superstars to boot, fans proceeded to move back the goalposts. Superstars doesn't count, apparently, because (insert spurious reasons here).

Maybe it makes me a bad Amy fan or whatever, but I find her crush on Sonic to be the least interesting aspect of her character in part due to how much emphasis people put on it. She and Sonic cannot have a single conversation without fans being like "OMG OMG THEY LOOKED AT EACH OTHER SONAMY IS CANON," even if canon implies that Amy is imposing on Sonic, such as SatBK's manual describing Sonic preparing for their date as "awaiting a stressful encounter."

Although I can acknowledge that Amy's crush is integral to her character, the way people talk about it makes it seem like female representation in the series as a whole is at stake every time she's mishandled. There's apparently a hashtag trending on Twitter called #letamylove that was made in response to what people perceive as Flynn's mishandling of Frontiers!Amy, FFS. They can't just say "Amy sounds too depressed in Frontiers," no, it has to be blown up into a near-political issue.

The other thing is that people who ship Sonamy often ignore Sonic's feelings and comfort in the matter. Ohshima's tweet that Sonic isn't a "real man" due to his reluctance to express his feelings towards Amy exemplifies this. It's like Sonic is considered some sort of prize that Amy earns through personal growth, when really, folks should be arguing for Amy's personal growth for her own sake.

[tothestarsinvelaris]

My unhinged reactions to the chaotic ride that is The Folk of the Air series ((first two books only bc I'm only 30% through The Queen of Nothing soooo ---- no spoilers plsss))

The Cruel Prince Worst Betrayals:

TARYN - MA'AM!!?????!??? You knewww?? you knew Locke was playing both of y'all??? and you weren't even ensorcelled or whatever?!?!? GIRL?! "if you let me seduce your sister in front of you and keep your mouth shut it proves that I love you" I'M sorry?!?!!??? I absolutely cannot. Someone will need to give me some serious break down of why tf I shouldn't jump in there and smack the bitch myself for being so stupid and betraying her sister like that smh ((more on this bs later bc i've made it far enough through TQON to know things))

JUDE!!!!!!!! - Girl why tf are you gonna do my boy Cardan dirty like that???? He finally TRUSTED YOUR ASS okay?! he is clearly a lil bby who has never had a hug and never felt loved and is v much into you so maybe you should be NICE TO HIM (or mean bc hes into that obvs) but like -- you put the damn crown on his head when he SPECIFICALLY ASKED YOU NOT TO?!??????? oof

The Wicked King:

I sat there really trying to figure out who tf betrayed Jude already when Nicasia's jealous ass said that and like I knew it was not my boy Cardan bc he has never done anything wrong in his entire life and he has a plan and reasons and you can't tell me any different okay!? someone ((JUDE)) just hug the damn boy and pat his lil head and tell him everything is gonna be okay pls?? and I knew that boy Locke and stupid idiot Traitor Taryn were sus. Obvs Madoc is a dumb murder bitch so like?? DUH he was gonna do something stupid since you know, he already fucking committed treason. I just sat there from page one waiting for those three to pull some stupid shit to betray Jude and OBVS I WAS RIGHT ! those stupid idiot dumb dumbs can't help themselves but betray Jude! hate them allllllll hate hate hate

but the scream i screamed when the Ghost of all damn people - (me picturing him as some kinda cute lil spy cutie) - called for Jude in that tower and was like "naaaahhh I worked for Dain bitch, not your ass" I'm???? sorrryyy??? betray ME?! the READER OF THIS BOOK?!??! excuse you!

but also the way Cardan was like "tell me you hate me" and "i want to tell you so many lies" and "i'm a sad lil bby and nobody has ever cared about me" and "i trusted you" and "marry me" and "crawl to me" crawl to meee????? sir. and he sent her ass to the mortal world but did not deny her and did not revoke their marriage so likeeee??? jude girly use your damn brain okay babes i know its in there somewhere so pls just get back to your 4D chess game you had in book 1 and realize this man loves you and is trying to PROTECT YOU OKAY ugh!!!!!

Currently reading The Queen of Nothing so like.... doing my damn best to fly through this book so I can finally look at fanart and fandom shit okay? gh

[thelordofgifs]

On Maglor’s Fate

(and why it’s a good thing)

I’ve seen several excellent posts by people far more knowledgeable about HoME than I pointing out that Maglor’s fate in the published silm – wandering the shores in eternal lament – was in fact taken by Christopher Tolkien from a single draft of the legendarium, and that JRRT’s later conception of Maglor’s fate was that he died by suicide at the same time as Maedhros, casting himself into the sea along with his Silmaril. This is a very good point, but despite the fandom’s general lack of adherence to published silm canon (see the prevalence of crispy Amrod truthers, or the lack of consensus on Gil-galad’s parentage) most people seem to have cleaved rather strongly to the idea of Maglor’s survival. Why?

Well, I would like to argue, because it’s SO much more interesting.

Of course, your headcanons are valid! If you prefer thinking that Maglor died at the end of the First Age, go for it; most of the texts support you! But for all the Maglor girlies (gender-neutral) out there, here’s a non-exhaustive list of reasons why Maglor’s survival is better, more satisfying storytelling, and you should continue to cling to this one outdated draft of the silm.

It fits Maglor’s arc better. For such a popular character, I always find it interesting that Maglor is only really developed in the final chapter of the silm – but what we do get in that final chapter is so fascinating. He takes pity on Elrond and Elros, he speaks against stealing the Silmarils, and, most pertinently to my point here, he effectively relinquishes his claim to Eärendil’s Silmaril. The straight line from "its glory is seen now by many, and is yet secure from all evil", to wanting to surrender to Eönwë, to actually throwing a Silmaril into the sea is SO delicious. A lot of that character growth is wiped out if Maglor instead casts both himself and the Silmaril into the sea.

It better sets up Maglor as a foil to Maedhros. I will never shut up about how Maglor's last debate with Maedhros is the best and most heartbreaking dialogue in the book. Its construction is exquisite, and one of the things I love about it the most is the way they mirror each other's words, becoming, in a way, reflections of each other. ("Who shall release us?"—"If none can release us...") All of Maglor's actions in the final chapter are in direct contrast to Maedhros': compare the fostering of Elrond and Elros with Maedhros' failure to save Eluréd and Elurín, and then consider why it is that Maglor still seems to have some hope that things will all work out (which is why he wants to surrender) while Maedhros despairs completely. That contrast makes it important to me that Maglor reacts in a different, more optimistic manner than Maedhros to the Silmarils burning them. ("More optimistic" by the bleak bleak standards of the end of the silm, at least.) I also really like the kidnap fam parallels of Elros and Maedhros both choosing death in very different ways, whereas Elrond and Maglor both choose life - E&E almost repeating M&M's decisions in a healthier and more wholesome manner.

It better preserves Maedhros' arc. Leading on from the last point, but, I think, separate. Maedhros' suicide, in addition to being just ridiculously tragic, is fascinating. The despair, the profundity of the realisation that it was all for nothing, the idea that Maedhros, who spent decades as a captive of Morgoth, is the one person knows exactly what being burned by the Silmarils means - aahh it's so good I can't dissect it all here. But do also consider Maedhros begging Fingon to kill him, and how he finally got his wish, centuries later! That terrible fall from grace is Maedhros' story. I think having Maglor also die by suicide actually diminishes Maedhros' tragedy, with the rather perverse outcome that two deaths end up being less sad than one.

Unresolved endings are good. This is a rather more personal one, tbh - but I love those last messy loose ends, and Maglor's survival is a quintessential one. Don't the great tales never end? There is, of course, so much excellent fanfic potential in Maglor still wandering Middle-Earth into the Second and Third Ages. Here's a legend from the Elder Days, and you can have him stroll into Rivendell if you want! So much more satisfying than neatly wrapping the story up and tying a bow on top.

As far as I can tell, Tolkien's own reasons for having Maglor die instead were that he wanted Galadriel to be the last surviving leader of the rebellion of the Noldor; I've also seen it argued that Maglor needs to die so that Celebrimbor can be the last surviving Fëanorian. To be honest, I don't think Maglor's survival does much damage to either of these arcs. He's effectively a non-entity after the First Age; the text specifies that he "came never back among the people of the Elves". So you can definitely prefer a version of canon where Maglor lives without losing all those Very Important Feelings about Celebrimbor!

There are, of course, myriad self-indulgent reasons why you might also prefer to think Maglor doesn't die. Maybe you just like him and it would be too sad if he dies; maybe you ship him very specifically with someone born in the Second Age; maybe you just want Elrond to have one thing left after everyone he's lost. I didn't include these in the above list because that was attempting to focus more on literary reasons why Maglor's survival makes for a better story, but they are all so valid and I agree with all of them! But hopefully Points 1-4 can be emphatically whipped out the next time someone implies that the fandom is clinging to Maglor's survival for solely sentimental reasons. There are good, solid grounds for wanting Maglor to live, we promise! It actually improves the story!

you're just jealous our blorbo survives and yours doesn't—

[gyllenhaalstories]

Hi Laurie! 💛

You know what's coming, hehe 👀

I saw this in another fandom and now I'm sending the same question to a bunch of Jake girlies (gn) because it’s so interesting seeing everybody’s answers!

Who are your Top 3 Jake boys and why? Is there a specific piece of art (fic, gif, fan art, etc.) for them that you like a lot?

hiiiiiiiiii!!! 💖 i do know what's coming teehee! i love his characters so much. even if the movie is not up my alley, his character always stands out. i'll watch everything he's in just because i'm obsessed (except spirit untamed, it is against my principle to support this horrible version of spirit the stallion of the cimarron) i just love them like they're just so neat i love them so much. OKAY TIME TO CHOOSE.

Elwood Dalton

i cannot believe that davis was dethroned as my forever ultimate favorite character but he was. dalton is so special to me. i've been obsessed with him since the very beginning when i was looping videos to get his full name and start writing for him immediately. so he's been living in my mind rent from for a LONG and i hope he never leaves. i lost count of how many times i've watched the movie (especially the scenes with laura!!!), it's so good. i'm already seated for the sequel idc what people say i want it and i will love it! also, i love how dalton ressembles billy and lou! the scene where he punches the guy to death and tell him how he will perish was so hot like like welcome back lou bloom you were missed <3 dalton is funny, and suicidal and caring and violent and what more could i ask? yeah okay i could ask to use his titties as pillows to fall asleep on.

my absolute favourite dalton creations are the wonderful gifs that @stephendorff made! i proclaim myself as their biggest fan when it comes to jake's gifs because oh my god the talent!!! i adore the parallel gifsets, so let me link you to a bunch! omg me when + nice hoodie + so bloody yum + i will cover these men with hello kitty bandaids + need both of them at the same time.

Detective Loki

he's an obvious one! jack twist, donnie darko and detective loki must be the most well loved characters in this fandom FOR ALL THE RIGHT REASONS. i love loki. i'm convinced deep in my soul that he would absolutely despise me. i can't shut up, i'm clingy as fuck and we'd spend most of his rare free time watching barbie movies. but it could be nice! i'd pack him his lunch, i'd learn to iron his shirts, i'd follow him to his barber and beg the man to give me the same haircut... like, we'd have a good life! aside from getting eaten alive by the constant fear that loki is in danger but shh. i love loki so much, i love all of the mysterious details about him, i love that jake played such a big part into building this character.

there are SO many amazing fics for detective loki, and rightfully so! he deserves it! in my opinion, @det-loki is the best writer. star captures loki in such an unique way, her writing feels like deleted scenes & extra footage from the movie. i know i always recommend star when it comes to loki fics but if you've ever read what she's posted, you would do the same! @charliehoennam has also posted some amazing det loki fics recently that i cannot recommend enough!!! here are the links: cat n mouse, dinner date & the dinner party (my personal favourite!).

Tommy Cahill

when i watched brothers, i conveniently just... skipped the military scenes. so the movie was all about tommy and i loved it. wow what a sweet romcom. i just love him. he's fun and sweet and he has had it so rough with his family that treats him like a black sheep. his father is acting like tommy is the failure when the only failure i'm seeing is a parent who failed to love his child like he deserved. AND I WOULD GIVE HIM ALL THE LOVE HE NEEDS! endless unconditional love. all he wants is to have a family of his own and be happy and become a better person. i have no doubt that he has what it takes to achieve his goals. he's my beanie baby and i love him to the moon and back.

controversy alert! but... i'm not mad at tommy and grace for kissing (skipping most of sam scenes helps a lot) but like... he was nice to grace for the most part, he helped her with the kitchen, he was so fun with the kids... he can't do anything wrong you know? i have horrible morals, i'm aware. so i'll just link to the video of the kiss scene because i love it and i love watching it and i wish it was me.

my top 3 usually fluctuates, but i'd say that overall, it's the same five characters that are on rotation. dalton, loki, tommy, davis and right now the 5th position is switching between john kinley & jerry brinson. i do want to say that i was pleasantly surprised with how much i liked anthony swofford and brian taylor when i watched their respective movies, i didn't think i'd enjoy their characters much but it might be time to retire my #1 bald!jake hater title. it was so hard to choose though. i feel bad for the ones i left out. i love you danny! and billy! and donnie! and adam! and holden! and okay fine i'll shut up. i know i've told you already, but this was such a sweet initiative to go around and spread some joy!!! thank you for doing this, and for sending it to me as well! 🥰

[danceswithsporks]

Calm-Part 9 (Finale)

Wrecker x Seamstress!reader

Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Chapter Notes: many new adventures await our lovers.

Authors notes: Here we are! The final part to Calm. This won’t be the last time we see Wrecker, Tech, Chai and Stitches. There’s still so much we haven’t learned about our friends yet! Thank you all of you for being by my side as we tell these stories. I never expected to fall into the bad batch fandom but as a clone wars girly I had to give them a shot and now they’re my loves.

The next part of the Complete Series will be Awake A Crosshair X Innkeeper (Doll)!reader fic!

Crosshair has seen both sides of the board when it comes to finding his place in a changing galaxy. Now that he knows the truth and is a free man, will he be able to adjust? Or will he need the guiding light of an innkeeper?

If you don’t want to be in the Taglist for Crosshairs story please let me know so I can remove you! If not then I’ll see you all there when it premiers in roughly a month!

Chaos, your house was utter chaos right now. You’d somehow been talked into hosting the engagement party for Tech and Chai and thus your house, courtyard, and even your shop, were packed to the brim. The newly engaged couple was around here somewhere no doubt being harassed by countless well-wishers. You were happy for them, they were taking the next big step in their relationship. A really big step in all honesty. Tech had been home for six months now and had changed, they all had. No more were these rigid and fierce clones on the run. No, now they were just men trying to get by in the galaxy like everyone else. Well, kind of.

Hunter, Crosshair, and Echo still went out on missions but they were now infrequent and only if painfully necessary. Other than that they were slowly finding their place here in Pabu. Doll would never openly admit it, but she and Crosshair were in some kind of odd relationship where they were together but also not together. She’d confided in you about the situation one evening while you were dropping off their dinners. Mentioned how it had started as a stress relief for him but was slowly turning into something more. You had no advice to give her besides “follow your heart” it was the best you could do.

Echo had taken up a position at the school as the history of the galaxy professor. He was the least active of the three because of this. You’d asked him one night why he’d chosen that job out of all the jobs he could have taken on Pabu. He’d replied that he wanted to tell the tales of those now gone and make sure that people didn’t forget the past. Whatever the reason, he seemed happy. However, you could tell something weighed on his mind some nights when he’d come over for dinner or to tutor Omega. But he never seemed to share what it was.

Hunter seemed to be the most active of the three of them, struggling to settle while the others had found a new purpose. Almost monthly he was leaving for some kind of mission. Rex being the one to dole out the missions. Hunter would travel back to Ord Mantel and the tea shop there before leaving on whatever the mission was. From what he’d shared with the group, his main job was helping to locate higher-ranked clones who were still missing after the fall of the Jedi.

“Fox” he’d told you one night while Wrecker, Hunter, and yourself were sitting in your courtyard. “He’s the Husband to the Senator who helped us find Omega. We owe it to her to find out what happened to him.”

It had warmed your heart to know that he was determined to thank this woman in whatever way possible. That her help would hopefully be repaid one day. Hunter had told you that it had been close to two years since Riyo had seen or heard from her husband and it had made your heart hurt for her. You could barely survive two days without seeing Wrecker. Going years without seeing him or knowing if he was ok would be torture.

“Credit for your thoughts?” A warm and loving voice pulled you from your thoughts and back to the party happening.

When had you walked out into the courtyard? When had you placed your wine down on the courtyard wall? “Just thinking about these last few months. How lucky Chai and Tech are. How lucky we all are.”

Wrecker smiled while placing his beer down next to your wine. “We are lucky, aren’t we? Got a safe place to call home. Omega is safe and happy. We’re all together and most importantly, we have people who love and care for us.” Reaching up, he ran his thumb across your bottom lip gently. You kissed the pad of the digit making him hum softly. “Come on, let’s make a break for it.”

“Break for what?” You laughed softly while watching the elderly ladies from your shop reprimand some of the kids who were running through the crowd of people. Shaking your head at them, you looked back to your beloved clone.

His thumb traveled from your lip to gliding across your cheekbone before he held your face gently in his large palm. “ Break for the Marauder. Tonight’s the night, Sarad.”

It took you a moment to understand what he was referencing. What was tonight? Then it hit you, the nebula. Tech had located one a few systems over from yours and Wrecker was instantly intrigued. “W-why tonight?” You weren’t ready, you were barely flying the Marauder here in the atmosphere. Now he wanted to take you fully off planet and through hyperspace?

“Tonight’s a night of celebrations. Why not have our own private celebration and finally get you off this rock?” A light sigh came from the large clone as he knelt in front of you. “I’ll never force you to go, but know that I wouldn’t ask this if I didn’t think you were ready.” He looked at your perfect eyes carefully. “I want to show you something wonderful. Will you let me?”

-*-

“W-Wrecker, I can’t do this.” You stared at the vast emptiness of space waiting for you just outside the atmosphere of the planet. The Marauder was currently idling as Wrecker passed the controls to you.

“Yes, you can. You are the most amazing person I’ve ever met. You’ve helped me conquer my fears. I know you can conquer yours.” He reached over and placed his hand on top of yours while it squeezed the yoke.

You looked at that brown-eyed clone with fear coursing through your veins faster than you thought possible. “What if something happens? What if …”

Wrecker released your hand and pulled your face into his hands. “What if the stars fall from the sky and your teeth fall out? Nothing is known for sure besides three things.”

“What’s that?” You watched as that adorable smirk of his made an appearance.

He pulled one of his hands away and held up a finger as he named off his list. “One, this is one of the fastest ships in the galaxy. Techs outfitted her with the best parts credits can buy. If anything happens we will escape. Two, if they somehow catch us then I will defend you and keep you safe until my dying breath.”

A shuddered breath left you as you listened to him. “Three?”

Wrecker leaned in and kissed you deeply and fiercely. “I’ll tell ya when we get to the nebula.”

“What?” He was going to keep that from you and use it as a bribe to get you there? Damn, he must have learned that from Tech. Swallowing the large lump in your throat, you looked back out of the window and towards the waiting darkness of space.

“Get us to the nebula and I’ll tell you the third thing, Sarad.” He stood from his chair and walked around behind yours.

Large hands reached down and found purchase on your shoulders giving you the courage you suddenly needed. You could do this, you were brave. How many times have you circled the planet within the atmosphere? How often had you dreamed about seeing the stars up close like this again? Going to different planets and seeing a nebula in person? You adjusted your grip on the yoke once more before taking a deep breath and pushing forward. The Marauder shot like blaster fire through the clouds and atmosphere before finally breaking through into the vastness of space.

A shaky breath left you as you stared at the endless star-filled void before you. You’d done it. You were in space for the first time in nearly a decade. Shaky hands released the yoke as you slowly stood and turned to face your lover. He was beaming with pride for you and before you could speak, he pulled you into his arms and kissed you. His kisses always made things so much better. Were you terrified? Stars, yes. But in his arms everything was ten times better. You were safe in space with the man you adored.

“I’m so proud of you, Sarad. So. Incredibly. Proud.” Each word was accompanied by a fierce kiss. He wasn’t sure of any other way to share how proud of you he was besides kissing you. You, his perfect wonderfully brave riduur. He savored the lingering taste of wine on your lips as he kissed you once more for far longer than he probably should have. The two of you released each other's lips and took in much-needed oxygen. “Come on, my beautiful girl. Let’s get you to that nebula.”

Oh, how your knees went weak whenever he called you his girl. He pulled away from you and with a smirk that you knew far too well, he started to undo his pants. “And what may I ask, are you doing?”

Wrecker winked at you and pulled down his pants revealing his rock-hard erection. He moved around you and took a seat in the pilot's chair before patting his bare thigh. “Come on, pretty girl. Let me take you to your nebula in style.”

Like you’d say no to an offer like that. Grinning, you reached beneath your skirt and pulled off your panties in one swift movement before passing them to Wrecker. The thick clone took the offered garment and placed it to his face where he inhaled deeply, his eyes fluttering at the scent on them. You wondered why he liked the smell of your panties so much but what usually came next drew your attention away from the question every single time. “Mmm, my favorite seat.” Walking over to his lap, you straddled him and smirked. “Sure you can focus on flying while screwing my brains out?” You asked while raising one of your hands to your mouth.

Wrecker watched as you licked one of your hands in a way that had him groaning. You’d done this before and it had made his head swim. The saliva-covered appendage was lowered to his aching cock and wrapped around firmly. “That’s …kriff. That’s what the autopilot is for, riduur.” You’d be in hyperspace for approximately three hours. More than enough time for him to fuck you in here and on one of the bunks. Your hand moved up and down a few times, lathering his cock before you pulled it away and impaled yourself on him. “Kriff, there’s that right little cunt I love so much.”

“Mmmph, here I thought you loved me for me. Not just my cunt.” You sat comfortably with him inside of you for a few moments, taking in his size and wondering if you’d ever tire of this full feeling. Probably not and if you did well it would be clear something was wrong with you.

Wrecker buried his face into the nape of your neck and sucked the skin gently. “Don’t worry, I love you for both.” Turning the chair to face the yoke, Wrecker gripped your hips and lifted you up and nearly off of him. Then he released you letting your body slam down onto him while he released the most sinful deep groan possible. Damn, he needed to focus on flying but you just felt too damn good. “Do me a favor and entertain yourself while I get us to jump?”

You panted needily before nodding. “Ok.” You placed your hands on his shoulders and lifted yourself almost off of him before sliding slowly back down his impressively thick length. It burned and stretched you in all the right ways and you moaned loudly making him chuckle.

He kept one hand on the yoke and the other on your ass guiding your body up and down.“Good girl.”

-*-

Thick fingers stroked your bare back while you lay against Wrecker's bare chest. Your body was tired after the long hours of sex and thus you had no energy to even get up and get dressed. His soft being cock was still buried inside of you from where you’d ended back up again. In his lap and the pilot's seat. After you’d made the jump to hyperspace he’d proceeded to impale you repeatedly on him before lifting you and carrying you towards the bunks in the back. There he’d screwed you into his bunk so perfectly your head had been spinning. You’d cum a second time around him after he’d pressed you against the ladder leading up to Omega's old room and screwed you hard enough to leave some marks on your back. As you came down from your orgasm he’d whispered how thankful he was that Tech kept the medkit properly stocked before leaving you to grab some bacta spray for your back. The third round had you starting in his bunk and finally ending in the pilot's seat once more. Your body was tired and hunger was growing in your stomach, but stars were you satisfied.

“Sarad, we’re about to drop out. Wanna get dressed?” He looked down at you and stroked your cheek gently. Maker, you were beautiful in his lap. How he ever got lucky enough to have you in his life was beyond him. If he could go back in time and tell a young cadet that he would have a woman as magnificent as you in his life one day. Well…he probably would have called himself crazy.

Stars, he was so damn warm! You nuzzled against the warmth he offered and shook your head. “Too comfy.” You could easily fall asleep like this. These strong arms holding you close while a hand stroked your skin giving you goosebumps. This was bliss. Wrecker chuckled deeply, making that broad chest of his vibrate.

He wasn’t going to argue with you about this in the slightest. “Okay, Close your eyes?” He raised his hand to your eyes and gently swiped down, closing your eyelids for you. “I want ya to see it in its entirety for the first time. Not while we pull up to it.”

You smiled softly and nodded while feeling him adjust his arms to steer the ship toward the nebula. It didn’t take too long for you to feel the ship stop, excitement now building within you. Finally, after months of hearing about the beauty of a nebula you were about to see it. Wrecker stood with you securely in his arms before you felt him lift you slightly allowing his softened dick to fall out of you. You shivered at the odd sensation before you heard him tell you to place your feet down. Doing as you were told, you felt his arms leave your body.

The large clone took a few steps away from you to give you a moment and then took a deep breath. “Ok. Open your eyes.”

Opening your eyes to the sight of the nebula was like waking up in a new universe. It was beautiful, no, it was breathtaking. The nebula appeared like a delicate celestial painting, swirling clouds of gas and dust dancing gracefully against the backdrop of space. Its colors, ranging from vibrant hues of red and blue to subtle shades of pink and purple, mesmerized you. In that moment, you felt a connection to the universe, as if you were witnessing the birthplace of stars and planets firsthand. It was a breathtaking experience that left you humbled by the sheer beauty and magnitude of the universe.

“Oh, Wrecker. It’s amazi-“You’d turned to look at your lover and found him staring at you in a way you’d never seen before. “What?” You ran a hand through your messy hair. “Does my hair look weird?”

Wrecker closed the space between the two of you and wrapped his arms around you once more. Never had you looked so beautiful to him. Not in the first time you’d been naked in front of him, not in the afterglow of your orgasm, not even when you told him you loved him. Don’t get him wrong, you were beautiful in each of those moments. But right now with your nude body being bathed in the blue glow of the nebula, you looked beautifully ethereal and all he wanted to do was hold you. “You look perfect, riduur.” Leaning down, he kissed you deeply.

“Thank you, Riduur. This is … well it’s breathtaking. I can’t describe it with any other words.” You now understood why he always said nebulas were beautiful. Though, you still couldn’t see how you were more beautiful than the sight outside the ship. Now, that was the most beautiful sight in existence.

Riduur coming from your lips always sent a chill down his spine. You were calling him your partner, your spouse in the language of the clones, his language. A language that you were trying to learn for him. How amazing could you get? “Sarad, you should know something.”

“Is it point number three?” You smiled at the serious look on his face making him smile back. “You told me you’d tell me when we got here.”

You were right. He had told you that hadn’t he? Maybe he could kill two birds with one stone. “Point number three is that I am undeniably and insanely in love with you. I can’t see my life without you in it. You mean everything to me. You are brave and strong and more beautiful than that nebula outside. I adore you, Stitches and I need you by my side forever.”

Your bottom lip trembled as he confessed his undying love to you. Yes, he’d told you he loved you countless times before but this. Stars, this was so much more intense. “Oh, Wrecker. I love you so much too. I never want you to leave my side.”

Wrecker took a deep breath before speaking. “Mesh’la, I haven’t been honest with you about what Riduur stands for.”

“It means partner or spouse. I know already, my love.” You tapped your nails against his chest as he continued to hold you close. “Omega told me the same night we went to the waterfall the first time.”

But that was months ago, nearly a year now and you hadn’t said anything? “You’re not mad?”

Your head shook quickly “How could I be mad when I feel the same way?”

“You do?” Wrecker felt something inside of him well up. You were ok with being called his riduur. You saw yourself as his wife! He watched you bite your bottom swollen lip and nod quickly. “T-then … will you marry me?”

Tears burned your eyes as you nodded and cried in happiness. “ Of course! How could I say no?” He picked you up and spun the two of you in happy delight making you gasp and wrap your arms around his neck.

“I don’t have a ring. B-but I’ll get you one. Any style you want! We can head to Ord Mantel right now.” He wanted to jump into the pilot seat and fly straight to the planet right now. But he also didn’t want to let you go. No, he wanted to hold you forever and ever.

Your laugh filled the air as you wiped tears away from your eyes. “Wrecker, there’s no rush. We’ll get one when we get one.” Plus it would be less attention on you two right now when everyone was celebrating Chai and Tech.

“Are you sure? We can go right now and be there in less than six hours.” You had more than enough fuel to make it and you two could stay at the tea shop. You nodded to him, making him hum in thought. “Ok. But as soon as we get the chance. I’m getting you the most beautiful ring in existence.”

“You could get me a piece of twine and I’d wear it with pride.” He chuckled against your lips before he pressed his against yours in a passionate kiss. “I don’t need a ring for you to show how much you love me, Wrecker. I just need you by my side.”

“I can do that, riduur.” He whispered while lowering the two of you to the floor, his cock hard once more. “I can do that.”

-*-

“Look at that ring! It’s gorgeous!” Chai held your hand up for Doll to see.

The three of you were currently in your shop designing Chai’s wedding dress. They were planning the ceremony in such a short amount of time you worried slightly if it would be finished in time. Four months wasn’t long when it came to designing and sewing a dress. But with Magda and Sue by your side, you may just be able to finish it in time. You blushed as you held the ring up for both women to see. “It’s black opal. Wrecker had Tech help him pick it out because it reminded him of our nebula.”

“How romantic.” Doll sat with a bolt of silk fabric in her lap, her fingers gently stroking the cool material. “It looks like a little tiara on your finger.”

“You’d know all about tiaras wouldn’t you, Miss Pabu, three years running.” Doll was gorgeous and she knew it, as did everyone else. It wasn’t a surprise that she won the island pageant every year.

“Think I’ll be hanging my tiara up this year. Give some of the other girls a chance.” She sighed softly as she stared at your wring. The metal was black for your band and went into a diamond shape that made it look like the top of a tiara with the black opal in the center. Little stones cradled the metal drawing the eye towards the hypnotic trance of the stone. “I can’t believe he flew you to a nebula to ask you to marry him.” It was just all so romantic. You with your Prince Charming and Chai with her knight in shining armor. She wanted that to be her, but Crosshair was a stubborn ass who wouldn’t let her in.

“I can’t believe Tech hung from the side of the island with Chai to propose. Think that has mine and Wrecker beat by a long shot.” You watched the way Doll became lost in her thoughts. It seemed whatever situationship she and Crosshair were in was currently not doing great. She hadn’t told you much but from the way she was sighing and staring off into space, you could tell it wasn’t good. You’d ask her about it but she’d seemed adamant about Chai not knowing yet. The poor girl would be too excited for something that wasn’t even a full relationship yet. Shaking your head, you looked back to Chai who was standing in the mirror looking at herself. “With these gorgeous shoes from Ahsoka’s friend as a starting point to design the dress around, I don’t see us having any issues deciding on a style.” You motioned to the shoes sitting in their box still. “You’ll have to send her a thank you note. Couldn’t have been cheap to ship from Naboo.”

The tea shop owner nodded as she turned and eyed her body carefully. What style should she go for?“From what Ahsoka told me, her friend died a while ago but the person handling her assets was positive she’d want another bride to wear them for her wedding.” Chai stared at the gorgeous heels with flowers embossed on the gold material. “Apparently her wedding was at a lake. I asked if she wanted them returned but Ahsoka said to keep them.” It was far too kind for shoes that looked more expensive than she’d ever spend on shoes. But the lovely gift would be a treasured moment in their ceremony.

“Oh, how sad.” You made a mental note to make sure the expensive shoes were properly cared for. “Did the husband not want her things around?” The memory of when you’d tried to throw all your parent's stuff away after their death came back to you. The sight of your dad's jacket or your mom's scarf would hurt too much to see them around. You were glad that Phee had stopped you from discarding the items.

Chai turned and sat on the stool she’d been standing on. “Apparently he died around the same time. Super tragic. But from what Ahsoka told me, she’d never seen two people more in love.” That was all the mysterious Jedi would share about the owner of the shoes and her life. Chai hadn’t felt the need to push the topic.

“Oh, how heartbreakingly tragic!” Doll leaned back in the chair. “I hope they’re with one another now. Happy and still in love.”

You hoped that Doll wasn’t about to cry on that silk. It was from Naboo and worth a good chunk of credits. Your oldest friend was a hopeless romantic when it came down to it. With others, she acted as though she didn’t care but romance novels and movies were her guilty pleasure. “That’s all any of us really want. Isn't it?” You gave your friend a reassuring smile before tapping at your datapad. “What about something with puffed sleeves?”

Chai made a face at you making all of you laugh brightly. It had been a while since all three of you had been together like this. You’d missed it. “Ok, ok. How about…” you tapped at the screen a few times. “Something like this?”

“Oh, Stitches. It’s perfect.” Chai walked over and stared at the design on your screen. Yes, that was her dress.

-*-

You couldn’t believe what you were seeing. It seemed Doll and Crosshair had made up just in time for the wedding as he was currently leading her towards the side of the Archium. You nudged Wrecker and pointed towards the two. “Would you look at that? Looks like Crosshair is settling in.”

“That’s my brother! Always good with the ladies.” He placed a hand on your shoulder with a proud smirk. “She’s gonna be good for him, right?”

“Yeah. She’s sweet and has a wart of gold. Only thing I worry about is the romantic notions she has. She can fall kinda easily for someone.” The poor girl had just gotten over a crappy relationship right before Crosshair and the others had returned to the island.

“Cross is still recovering … but I think he’ll take care of her.” He stroked his chin in thought. “Don’t worry, if he hurts her, I’ll hurt him.” Though he doubted it would ever come to that.

“Sounds good.” A noise on the opposite side of you caught your attention making you look towards the source. You watched as Chai and Tech tried to make their secret exit from the party. Her dress had come out beautifully and was perfectly paired with the golden heels she’d been gifted. The pressed flowers between the layers of her dress had come out exactly as you’d hoped. It had been touch and go for a while but you’d somehow pulled it off. “I don’t think they’re being as secretive about leaving as they think they are. You chuckled softly to your fiancé next to you.

Wrecker watched as Chai made a gesture to her brother begging him for silence as they made their way out of the Archium courtyard. “Not even a little.” He looked down at you and smiled while brushing some of your hair over your shoulder. “So what’d ya think? Wanna have a big wedding like this?”

A laugh left you as you shook your head. “Not in the slightest. Far too many people and far too chaotic.” You placed a hand on his bicep and stroked it lovingly. “Just me, you, and Shep to officiate. Plus the rest of our little family. But that’s it. We don’t need the entire island there.”

“Sounds good to me. Means we don’t need a big party and I can have you all to myself.” He leaned down and kissed you gently. “We’ll still have cake, right?”

“Of course.” You winked at him before stepping over to Omega and shaking her awake gently. “Can’t deny this one her cake.” The child had eaten herself into a sugar coma and was currently nuzzled under the large tree in the courtyard. “Come on, ‘Mega. Time for bed.”

Omega yawned while stretching her arms over her head. “But I’m not tired.” The plate of half-eaten sweets and treats fell to the side as she adjusted. “What about the party?”

“You’ve been sleeping the last thirty minutes!” Wrecker joked while reaching down to pick up his sister. “Tech and Chai left already. Time for bed.”

“But I didn’t get to say goodbye,” Omega whined while climbing into Wrecker’s arms. Her body felt so tired and her head kind of hurt.

“We’ll see them in a few days.” Smiling, you picked up her plate and walked it over to a nearby trash while Wrecker followed you.

“Will they have babies next?” She kicked her feet lazily from Wrecker's shoulder.

You froze and looked at her. “Well … I don’t know. Maybe. That’s kind of a discussion for them to have.”

“Oh,” Omega thought silently to herself for a moment before speaking again. “Are you and Wrecker going to have babies?”

“I … we …” you stumbled over your words as you tried to find the right words. Quickly, you looked at your lover for help.

“That’s one of those adult conversations that Tech was telling ya about.” Wrecker adjusted the girl on his shoulder.

Omega chewed her lip in thought for a few minutes. From the way you were acting, it seemed like it had been an uncomfortable question. “Will you, please?” She was so tired that the question had just slipped from her lips.

The three of you had started walking towards the house when she made her request. “Omega?” You stopped and looked up at her. “Why do you want us to have babies so badly?"

Wrecker lowered the sleepy girl to the ground before taking his place next to you and kneeling. Omega shifted a few times before finally laying her heart out to you both. “When I found out that Emerie was a clone it was like something changed inside me. I had a sister. A blood sister. But then Hemlock killed her to punish me and it… hurt a lot.” She toed the cobblestone a few times. “I want family members my size, my age. I miss seeing the babies and kids around Kamino.”

“Having babies the natural way is … well it’s difficult, sweetie.” There was a lot to it and honestly, you weren’t sure the clones could even reproduce. Wrecker had told you that he’d been told that clones were unable to reproduce. But he’d also been told there were no female clones and right now you were both staring at the truth. “For now, let’s just enjoy being our own little family, like we have been, yeah?”

Omega nodded while wiping a few tears away. You reached over and took one of her hands while Wrecker took the other and continued your walk home. After a few minutes, she spoke once more. “What does fertile mean?”

Once again you froze midstep. What the hell was in that cake that she was asking these types of questions? You turned and looked at the blonde with a tinge of concern in your eyes. “W-why do you want to know that? Did someone say that to you?”

“Nala Se and one of the other Kaminoans were talking about the reproductive capabilities of the clones. Nala Se they were told something about being infertile but were actually very fertile. What does that mean?” Omega watched as some kind of look crossed your face. Shock? Confusion? Surprise? It was hard to tell.

Wrecker felt like his knees were going to give out. Fertile. If Tech said that infertile meant unable to reproduce then fertile was the opposite and she said that they were very fertile. Which meant that they could have kids. Kids, he could have kids. The two of you needed to talk ASAP. But what did he say? Was he supposed to tell her the truth? Raising kids was hard. “W-well you see. It means … “

“It means they’re great at farming. Why do you think Cut and his family are doing so great?” The ease at which that fell out of your mouth was slightly concerning. But you’d question that later. Right now, Wrecker was giving you a smirk that was making your heart skip. Kids, you two could have kids. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

-*-

“So … guess we should talk about tonight’s revelation. Huh?” You sat on the edge of your bed in your nightgown with your feet swaying.

Wrecker nodded as he pulled his shirt over his head. “Guess so.” All he’d been thinking about since that moment an hour ago was you carrying his child. The idea of your stomach swollen and full because of him had unlocked something within him. Wrecker stepped over to you with just his pants on. Kneeling in front of you, he took your hands in his. “I know what I’m thinking and how I feel. What about you?”

You blinked a few times trying to keep yourself calm. “I … like the idea of us having a child someday. I’ve always liked that idea. I just … didn’t think that was a possibility for us.” Your eyes stung as you began to fight back tears. “B-but now we can. Now we have that chance.” A few tears ran down your cheek. You sincerely hoped he felt the same way. “What do you think?”

“I think you’ll look amazing carrying our child.” He whispered before leaning into you and kissing you deeply. His hand wrapped around the back of your head and kept you close while he felt the wetness of your tears run against his lips. “You’ll be beautiful and I’ll care for you, Omega, and our baby in every way possible.”

“You sure I won’t disgust you with my swollen ankles and morning sickness?” Sweetly, you ran your nose against his while leaning back into the bed.

Wrecker laughed brightly while crawling over you and caging you beneath his body. “I’ll find you the sexiest woman in the universe.” He bent down and kissed above your breast. “I’ll get you whatever weird cravings you want. I’ll sleep with the house like a frozen tundra or like the sands of Tatooine.” He kissed above the other one while moving towards your shoulder where the thin black strap of silk material held the dress up. “If you want the house to smell like fish then so be it. If you want us to stop eating Mantel mix because the smell makes you sick then we will. Whatever you desire, I will do it.”

His lips pressed against the crook of your neck while his sweet words danced in your ears making you sigh in need. “All I’ll need is you by my side, riduur.”

“I’ll be there for you. Always. Either inside or beside you, my nebula.” Rough lips pressed to your jaw before finally finding your lips once more. He raised his calloused fingers to your thigh and slowly pushed the material up, pleased to find you’d forgone panties. “You’re missing something, Sarad.”

His thick fingers pressed into your thigh pulling a small moan from your lips. “I thought we could practice some more.”

A deep dark chuckle left the clone as he pulled away from your lips and leaned back to stare at your needy body. Your legs were spread open with the dress pushed up around your waist and your heat glistened in the light for him. “Kriff, I’ll never get over how delicious you look, Mesh’la.” He moved to the edge of the bed and pulled you with him, making you squeak. “We’ll practice as much as you want. Not in any rush to share ya just yet.”

You prepared to comment back to him but instead found your words replaced by a long moan. Wrecker had flicked his tongue right over your sensitive bud and was quickly turning you into a puddle. “P-practice time?” He growled an ‘mhmm’ from between your legs sending a vibration through your body. Kriff, how were you supposed to be quiet when he moved his tongue like that?

“That’s right, be a good girl and be quiet. Don’t want ‘Mega hearing us.” He smirked up at you from his happy place between your legs, watching as you bit your lip in need. Sure, making you scream while forcing you to be quiet was mean but you were so damn pretty when you fought your voice. “Don’t want her to hear us farming in here.” Wrecker gave you a teasing smirk.

“Ugh, I panicked.” You laid your arm over your eyes and sighed as Wrecker's breath ghosted your core. “I will admit, you’re pretty kriffing amazing at f-farming.” His tongue swirled around your pearl and you were instantly a moaning mess.

The large clone chuckled before he gripped your thigh and squeezed it. “We’ve been farming a lot lately. Lots of practice.” He moved his free hand below his chin and ran a thick digit across your opening. Your cute whine beneath him made his hips roll against the edge of your bed. His cock was getting too hard in these pants, he needed to take them off. “Be a good girl and play with yourself while I get undressed.”

You watched him stand and slowly begin to unbutton his pants. Reaching between your legs, you slowly rubbed your clit. It wasn’t as good as his tongue, you’d found that nothing could be as good as his tongue. But it was doing enough to keep you stimulated and in need of him. “Wrecker” you gasped softly while rolling your hips against your hand, your speed picking up. “Need you. Now. Please.”

He growled while watching your fingers dance across your core. “Such a good girl.” Came as a whisper from him as he lowered his pants and stepped out of them. He watched as your fingers slid closer to your opening and quickly, his large hand reached out and grabbed yours while tutting at you. “That’s my job, sarad. Ya that needy that you forgot?”

A long whine left you as you took in the hard member between his legs. Screw his mouth and fingers! You wanted him . Sitting on the edge of the bed, you reached out and wrapped your hand around his cock while using your other hand to beckon him closer. Wrecker happily moved closer to you and let out a long sigh as your hand started to pump him slowly.

“Eager, ain’t ya?” He rocked his hips into your hand, helping you pump him.

“Need you filling me up.” Knowing that you could have kids with him was making you so unbelievably needy for him to screw you.

Wrecker let you work on his cock while bending down to kiss you. “My sweet nebula, are you asking me to breed you?” A sentence he never thought he’d say.

Was that what this was? A desire to be bred and swollen with his seed? Stars, you never thought your life would get to this point but you had to admit you loved the idea. “Yes! Please, breed me Wrecker.” His hips stopped moving and instead, you were pushed back onto the bed.

You were so damn hot when you begged for him like this. Like hell was he going to say no. “Get on all fours, sarad. Gonna screw ya good and hard.”

You moved so fast that you would have thought your life depended on it. His strong hands wrapped around your waist and held you firm. The strong demanding feeling of his hands on your body was so mind-numbingly amazing feeling you could easily get lost in it. The tip of him was rubbed against your folds gathering the wetness from his mouth and your need to help ease him entering you. You shuddered at the feeling as he lined up with your entrance before carefully and slowly pressing into you. A long hiss left you as you felt the telltale pressure of him inside of you. He filled you perfectly in all the right ways. Your lover shifted before pulling away and thrusting into you once, twice, and three times. You were a howling mess instantly. “Yes, Wrecker!”

Wrecker watched you fall onto your elbows and bury your face into one of the pillows, no doubt trying to muffle your cries of pleasure. He hummed at the delicious sight of you bent over in front of him, his dick buried in your core. “Look so good like this.” He thrusted languidly a few more times before he watched your arm move beneath you. Suddenly you were clenching him and keening even more into the pillow. You were playing with yourself while he fucked you, perfect. “That’s right. Work yourself while I fuck ya.” He groaned as you squeezed him. He’d fucked you the night before and yet your cunt was as amazing as ever. Lasting long wouldn’t be in the cards for him that night. Not when he knew you wanted him to breed you. That delicious idea of his seed filling you was single-handedly driving him to his climax.

“Wrecker, fill me with your cum. Please. Fuck me and fill me.” His hands tightened around your waist as his speed increased. “Oooohhhh.” Between him hitting that spot inside you and your fingers working between your legs, you were becoming a blubbering mess. Suddenly, his hand was on one of your ankles and pulling it up. You turned to the side slightly and found him placing your ankle near his ear. The position allowed him to sink deeper into you and after four hard deep thrusts that was it for you. You came in a stifled cry as he continued to fuck you through your orgasm.

Kriff, your cunt held him for dear life, practically begging for his seed. Who was he to hold back? He gripped your thigh tight and held you in place as he deepened his thrusts and his speed. The lewd sound of your sweaty bodies slapping filled the room as the bed began to squeak. He didn’t care, he was ready to fill you. “Say it again. Beg for it.”

“Please, Wrecker.” You sighed through your post-orgasm haze. “Fill me with your seed. Let me milk you.”

You said it in such a sensual and needy way it had him falling over his edge. Each thrust of his orgasm was deep and hard as he tried to plant himself as deep into your body as possible. The hot strings of his release coated your walls and filled you as much as possible, nearly overflowing from your body. “Fuck, so good at milking me.” He continued to thrust slowly to ensure all of him had been planted inside of you.

Once he came down from his high, he didn’t pull himself from you. Instead, he kept himself buried inside your warmth to ensure none leaked out of you just yet. Your ankle was lowered back to the bed and he fell behind you before placing kisses across your shoulder. “Think that’ll take?”

Reaching behind you, you stroked his cheek sweetly while humming. “That would be nice. But if it hasn’t taken thus far then we may need more practice.” You hadn’t lied to Omega when you’d stated it could take a couple years. Your parents had tried for three before you were born and were never able to conceive again.

“Hmmm, don’t mind the practice. Only practice I’ll look forward to.” He whispered into your ear, his fingers ghosting your arm. While he enjoyed screwing you, this post-sex cuddling was his favorite part. In this moment everything in life was perfect. You were perfect and glowed with a post-sex aura. All he wanted was to be near you when you were like this.

“Then we’ll keep practicing. You know what they say, practice makes perfect.”

-*-

“Sarad? What are you doing out here?” Wrecker was surprised to find you outside. Chai and Tech's new baby, Ashla, was inside your home and you’d done nothing but talk about how excited you were to hold her.

You turned from the courtyard wall and looked at your love. “Thinking.” You leaned back against the wall to the distaste of your fiancé. No matter how much had changed and how brave he’d become when it came to his fear of heights, he still hated that you liked to lean against this wall. Some things never changed.

Wrecker walked over and leaned against the wall next to you. His hand took yours and held it up so the sunlight could glean off your engagement ring. “About what?”

Well, maybe some things didn’t fully change. When you first met you couldn’t even get him to come over here and lean against the wall. Now he was willingly doing so. “Our wedding. How many people were inviting.”

“Having second thoughts about the size?” He tugged at your hand and pulled you into him. His arms wrapped around your waist as you pressed your back into his chest. “What a big wedding?”

“Nah, but I think we may have forgotten one or two people.” His arms squeezed slightly before he chuckled.

“Shouldn't be a problem then.” Wrecker leaned down and kissed your cheek sweetly. “That all that’s on your mind?”

You chewed your lip in thought before tilting to the side and looking up at him. “Why haven’t you held Ashla yet? She’s nearly five months old.”

Wrecker shifted awkwardly. “Afraid I’ll hurt her. She’s so tiny and my hands are so big.”

“You won’t hurt her. She’s delicate but not breakable. I know you’ll be careful with her.” You pulled one of his arms from your waist and held his big hand up for you both to look at. “You gotta get used to holding babies, my love.”

“Why’s that?” He placed his head against the top of yours and closed his eyes. To his surprise, you took his hand and placed it on your stomach. “Sarad?”

You bit your lip as his thumb stroked your stomach, how he hadn’t noticed the little bump growing there had amazed you. “Took almost a year. But … well … we’ll have two of our own soon.”

“What? Two? Babies?” Wrecker's mind was scrambling to put the pieces together and to fully understand what you’d said. ‘Two of our own’ your own … “we’re having twins?” You nodded in front of him and he let out a victorious yell. The sound shook the ground around you.

“When you farm, you do it perfectly.” Blushing at his excitement you stepped away and turned to face him. You pulled the bottom of your shirt up a little and turned to the side for him to see. “I’m three months along.”

It took him a moment to notice but sure enough, there was a little bump. Three months, that only gave him six to learn all he could about babies. What did they eat? He’d seen Chai feed Ashla earlier with a bottle. Was that all they ate? Bottle stuff? What about caring for them? How did he stop them from crying all the time? And their diapers! How did he change one of those? They smelled so bad too, would he just get used to them?

“Wrecker?” You could see him getting lost in his thoughts. “Are you okay?” Lowering your shirt, you moved back over to him. “Hey, my love?” You grabbed his hand and placed it back against your stomach. “Talk to us.”

Wrecker blinked a few times before feeling the warmth of your body. “Us …. Us” that’s right. It was no longer just you two. You’d be a family of four in a few months. “I have … a lot to learn.”

You chuckled brightly while nodding. “Yes, you do.” Taking a step towards the house, you pulled him with you. “Starting with holding a baby.”

-*-

Calm, that’s how you’d describe Pabu. The weather was always perfect, save for a rare storm every few months, and the waves always crashed against the rocks of the island in a calming rhythm. Standing in your living area, you watched your little family celebrate the news of your pregnancy. Your best friends Chai and Doll sat with their respective partners, Tech and Crosshair, while the love of your life nervously took Ashla from Omega. Echo spoke hastily with Dove about something closer to the kitchen and Hunter watched the entire group with a protective gaze.

Outside you could hear the foghorns of the fishing boats out at sea, working their lives away to provide for their families and those of the island. You were born here, raised on the sea life brought in daily by the fishermen. While others had escaped whatever horrors they experienced out there in the galaxy by coming here, you’d learned to walk on these cobblestones. Scraped your knees in the plaza at the top of the island and learned to swim in the bay on the back of the island. One day so would yours and Wrecker’s children.

This was your home, where your little family went through disasters with one another and came out stronger on the other end. Where laughter and tears were shed and new loves were formed.

This was Pabu.

This was home.

The End

Taglist:

@rndmpeep @sarahskywalker-amadala @queenariesofnarnia @idoubleswearimawriter @bambambunny @ravenclawbitch426 @jupitersaturnapollo @mzjakao @heylosers06 @dangraccoon @impala1967666 @andrakass2 @ducks118 @motte-the-goblin @rintheemolion @merkitty49 @jediknightjana @onyxtides @moon-wrecked @mssbridgerton @griffedeloup

[attackfish]

I know this is a controversial take in this fandom, but I actually don't think Legend of Korra did Katara dirty. Like I see a lot of people who complain about the fact that she didn't have a statue, and she never became Southern Water Tribe chief, and she was just the Avatar's wife, and was just a healer, and like I don't know what show these people were watching.

No, Katara never became chief, nor did she ever express a desire to be chief in any of her appearances. Yes, she was the Avatar's wife. Yes, she was a healer. But like, what do we actually see of Katara's life in the Southern Water Tribe after the war?

We see Katara as a master healer and waterbender, clearly well respected by the Order of the White Lotus, and training the next Avatar. We also see her in an extremely well appointed rehabilitative therapy center, that is implied to be hers, working with Korra. Korra talks about learning healing from Katara, who is one of if not the best waterbending healer in the world, and we see Katara's state of the art rehabilitative medicine center. This is how Katara chose to use her skills, in a way that is completely separate from being Aang's wife. And given how lovely and either new or well taken care of everything looks, I would argue that she probably isn't even retired. We are shown her as a world renowned rehabilitative medicine expert at the top of her game.

And the field of rehabilitative medicine is such an interesting choice for her. Rehabilitative medicine is the field of helping people who have been severely injured not only heal, but gain the skills to have the best lives possible after their injuries. It's something that somebody like Katara who wants to do the most good would absolutely be drawn to as a healer after the war, since both people who had fought in the war, and non-combatants, would have the kinds of grievous injuries that would benefit from rehabilitative medicine. Given the state of healing and technology at the end of the war, Katara might even have been a major pioneer in the field, in fact I think we're meant to read that as the case.

Katara as we see her in the show is not opposed to being a healer. She just doesn't want to be denied the ability to fight when she and her friends are facing conquest, death, and danger, and her people are facing elimination. After the war, Katara would do what she always has done, and look for ways to help. Once the fighting is over, the Katara we see in the show would embrace healing and helping the war wounded rebuild their lives.

Heck, we actually see her with a patient, Korra, who was injured in battle, and she's clearly very practiced at dealing both with the physical parts of recovery and the psychological. Katara has always wanted to help her people, and there were few things her people needed more after the war, than someone willing and able to treat the victims of the war.

I think the reason so many people see Katara's career in healing is because of a fantasy media tradition of healing being the weak, girly magic given to the designated girl of the group, secondary and even silly next to fighting. But that't not what we're shown in the show. That's something brought in from outside, and I think if we ignore this negative connotation that healing has in the fantasy genre, it becomes obvious that a better comparison for katara's career path is that of head of orthopedic medicine at a world class hospital, who volunteers with Doctors Without Borders.

I got a lot of problems with Legend of Korra, but I think they handled Katara pretty dang well.

[earthmixsclowderofcats]

My interpretation of the TaiKram stuff is that they amazingly don't have an exhibition kink per se, it's just that their house is in the middle of the woods and they are too caught up in each other to think about who might see.

Unfortunately the Two Worlds tag on AO3 is very small, 12/16 of the works are actually just RPF using the show tag and of the other four, only two are both in English and tagged Tai/Kram and neither are tagged E 🥲.

1. Fair. I mean, when you live out in the middle of nowhere you ARE usually more comfortable with casual nudity. It still cracks me up that they care so little about being right on the porch though. Like, in front of the window wasn't that bad but imagine going to borrow a cup of sugar and seeing that. Lol.

2. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Okay, tell me why when I joined a fandom known for its canon NC scenes that there would be so little smut? Or just fic in general?

Like, for real smut is one of the most interesting ways to write a character study. we're being given canon information to play with. Hints of kinks and power dynamics, etc. For at least some of these shows the sex is partially the plot.

Why so chaste?

Especially when so many excellent tropes and kinks are being placed in the palms of our hands? Like, for some reason I felt like the size kink girlies (gender neutral) would eat these two and their fictional pairings UP!

[gwyns]

I was reblogging a pro Elain post to show girlie some love and because I agreed with what it said, but I noticed some of the comments that just rubbed me the wrong way.

One of the comments said “That's the thing. Everyone wants Az with Gwyn because she's now a Valkaryie.. but does Az want that? He hates laryians, and especially hates how they treat the women. And we have a warrior couple.. why would SJM make another?”

And then some of the reblogs said “tbh most 'girl boss' characters are just..childish pick mes—characters like elain are so mature interesting fascinating” and “I don't know about yall but i am sooooo tired of these Feisty, Sassy, girlboss female characters, who smart mouth everybody. A soft feminine and quiet female character, who loves to garden and keep to herself and mind her own business is what we need more of”

I agree that we need more soft and feminine female characters, but to put down another woman just to show love for another isn’t okay. That post didn’t even say anything about Gwyn or ships, but she still got brought up.

E/riel’s say all these thing that they want for Elain, but then they try to make her a spy or a warrior. They constantly change her plot/arc and personality and characteristics just to fit Azriel’s. Make fanart of her with weapons, in leathers, and covered in blood. Complain how we “hate” Elain for being more soft and feminine, but from what I’ve seen, most Gwynriel’s strongly support Elain being soft and feminine. They support that she likes to bake and garden. They’re not trying to change everything about her character to fit a man. It’s like E/riel’s take one small thing that someone might’ve said a long time ago and just run with it, on and on and on.

I’ve seen antis say that SJM made Gwyn’s character to try and not be like other girls. The quirky, cool girl (but now they’re trying to say Elain is like Alice Cullen who is quirky/weird?), how she’s childish & immature because she gets excited, and squeals/makes high pitched noises, and likes to make friendship bracelets. Gwyn made an excited sound because Cassian told her that he knew the former Valkyries personally. It’s normal to make certain sounds when you’re excited about something. And the bracelets were a way to honor her sister who was killed in front of her. Gwyn is rediscovering joy and happiness after being severely traumatized. I don’t see how Gwyn is childish at all. I think the only reason why they’re anti Gwyn is because she’s a love interest for Azriel and that’s just sad. It’s fine if you don’t like a character, but if the only reason you don’t like a character is because she’s a potential love interest, then that’s embarrassing and sad. Sometimes I feel unsafe to voice opinions and love for certain characters. This fandom doesn’t feel welcoming anymore. It honestly makes me really sad.

ohhh boy let me answer this point by point because it got me a little heated

they do realize that there's only so many dynamics between characters, right? and like it or not, az is a warrior. just as cassian and rhys are and both of their mates are warriors in their own right. they're equals to each other. despite feysand and nessian having similarities they're still entirely their own couple, just as gwynriel would be. they wouldn't be a carbon copy of nessian like they claim

if they want more soft and feminine women go... read other books? we know elain is getting a book, why are they acting like gwyn would take away from that? this is rich coming from the "feminist" side of the fandom... you know what reeks of misogyny? dragging one woman down to uplift another

they looooove bringing gwyn up and that tells me all i need to know about their true feelings, they're jealous as hell

i can only speak for myself, and to an extent my mutuals since they're the best gwynriels in existence, but yes! we love that elain is more feminine and not into killing or being a warrior. we want her to be who she truly is and find love along the way. it's e/riels who i constantly see try to change her, to mold her into a character that suits azriel better and wow... would you look at that? it's a character very similar to gwyn! what an amazing coincidence. oh yeah they never let anything go, calling elain boring or simply disliking her is a mortal sin or something to them but sending rape and death threats to people is ok in their book!

i hate the argument that gwyn is a "pick me" or "childish" like damn! don't y'all have joy in your lives? clearly not if you get this upset over a woman embracing life and doing what she finds fun with her friends. i admire gwyn for this, i'm very similar in that i react the same way to things i'm interested in, there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing what makes you happy. no matter if people think you're silly or immature or some other incorrect thing, they're the ones with a problem. here's some simple advice to anyone who wants it, don't let other people dictate what is and isn't "cool", do what you like. the right people will come along and embrace it with you

as for your last point, i agree completely. this fandom has become such a shithole and it's sad. i'm always here to listen and gush about characters with you though, ok? on anon or off or through dms, whatever you want 💖

[storkmuffin]

People not believing James and Miranda are romantic really baffles me as well. I get that its a plot twist that James loves Thomas but this isnt a plot twist where its you think person a loves person b but they actually love person c.

And like the evidence for them not being romantic is like what? That we dont really see them kiss? That the one time we are shown they are having sex its bad? Im pretty sure the sex scene is more to establish that James is not like the other pirates. And there are a plethora of reasons for why the sex was bad this one time instead of jumping to the conclusion they only have bad sex. For example james is wounded at the time. As for the kissing people dont need to kiss often to be in a romantic relationship. Anne and Jack dont kiss that much on the show either. And theres the fact everyone knows barlow is flints woman that would not have come out of nowhere.

Dont people like the poly aspect of it? Is it biphobia? I hope not because this is the best i have seen of a poly relationship in media, though I havent come across it a lot. Where i can clearly see how and why three people all love each other rather than it being a convenient way to end a love triangle where i feel like two of them dont care for each other that much.

Can I just say THANK YOU for giving me these Miranda-James thoughts? Because thank you.

Miranda Barlow and her ways of being loving, her ways of being romantic and sexual are all pretty unique and there's not a single thing about her that isn't complicated. In addition, she's a WOMAN woman, not girly, not crushing out, sexually liberated AND discreet about it, not constantly in the throes of some trembly emotion but is actually a very tough person, designed to be a fully grown lady - in sum, she's a bit hard to wrestle with for a lot of people. She's happily (very very much) married to a man and they adore each other as people AND ALSO for how they can together build a joint life they both like. There's a hard edge of pragmatism to her, which I find super hot, because I'm a hard edged pragmatic woman myself, but I think that makes it hard to see how romantic she actually is. The joy of the Thomas-James-Miranda poly connection for me is from the fact that these two men not only find her hot but they find her hardness and pragmatism hot. SO unusual. Second, she likes men who are bi, and doesn't seem to have much interest in monogamy or faithfulness at all. Again, non standard. Third, she DOES have a romantic relationship with James BUT there's always that constantly calcuating, assessing mind that she has - she approaches James because he's cute, she can tell he's a rule breaker and fucking around with rule breakers is ironically a good way to be discreet, AND she can see that he's crushing out on her husband, which she actually likes about him. She recruits James into the group project of protecting and enabling Thomas - that was part of the attraction. It's not a swooning, like, I must have you and will die without you type thing at all, which is generally the easily digestible formulation of romance. Moreover, Miranda uses sex in a variety of ways - for fun, for love, as stress relief, as a game, to make a point to a houseguest - and on pirate island she just does NOT have as many options as she used to in London, so I take it as, we saw her have "make Guthrie unhappy and I need an orgasm" sex rather than "express my desire for you" sex with Flint, which he fully accepted and uh, cooperated with.

And then there's the fact that shipping in most fandoms tends to be done by male-attracted women who want to just do yaoi (very valid, I do this in other fandoms, just not this one) and so it's kind of inconvenient to have to acknowledge that James Flint does actually have a romantic relationship with a woman and does actually have sexual attraction to women, so that may be motivating the desire to just dismiss their romantic connection out of hand.

By the way - I would recommend (unless you are a super very pro John Silver person in which case the episode comes with a warning) listening to this podcast episode made by @heycarrots (It's REALLY great, overall, as a podcast full stop). TLDR for our discussion - in that episode Dr. Tankard posits that James Flint's romantic orientation and real sex life is basically to participate in a group project - he loves being part of a group that is doing a thing, and that's where all his motivation, erotic energy, everything, comes from, and that analysis really works very well for my understanding of Flint.

[momotonescreaming]

Your posts and fics about Steve not being a pushover are some of my favorite in this fandom! I was wondering if you had any thoughts or headcanons about how Steve would deal with other members of the older party, instead of the younger party? This is more so in fanon than canon, but people mocking his intelligence or being surprised he's not a douche? Thanks!

Oh!! Thank you so much!!! That really means a lot! I'm always a little nervous when I make another post about Steve's boundaries and how fanon sometimes treats him, so it's a relief to hear people like them haha. 

You raise an interesting question! And one I will admit I haven't thought about too much, actually. Most of my posts have been about Steve and Dustin, as that's what I've been thinking about lately, but you're so right that the older teens do it too. LOTS to think about. So fair disclaimer that I'm thinking and writing by the seat of my pants here. 

I do just want to start off by saying that fanon is fun! Taking canon apart and disecting it, taking out its parts and figuring out how it works is fun! Diving deep and analysing and comparing what the writers intended vs what they ended up portraying vs what the fans thought. Media analysis baby! But fanon (like canon), can't cater to everyone. I'm just a Steve girlie with a lot of feelings. Not to say canon's exempt, of course. These ideas had to have come from somewhere. And I swear that each season gets a little bit worse at turning Steve into a verbal punching bag. A joke. He was supposed to be Nancy's jerk boyfriend who died, but everyone loved Joe Keery so much they kept him alive. And now they thank him by boiling his character down to a dumb jock who was an asshole. It's tiring. 

I remember ages ago there was a post (that I cannot find for the life of me) that pointed out that in season 1 Steve says the word connoisseurs (in the scene with the camera smashing) but if they made him say that in season 4 they would have made Dustin make a comment how he didn't know Steve knew a word with that many syllables or something.

All this insulting Steve, all the canon jokes and fanon characterisation shitting on his interests and his personality and the fact that he decided to be a better person 3 years ago by the time S4 rolls around? Just feels like an excuse to shit on the jock. Revenge of the nerds. But it just makes the nerds look like bullies. Like the Duffers got bullied by jocks when they were kids and now they're making it everyone else's problem.

But to the actual point of this ask! The older party! Below the cut because this got long.

First up is Eddie! With canon Eddie a part of me doesn't think he would make fun of Steve's intelligence or call him a douche post season 4. A big part of Eddie's journey was him getting his whole world turned upside down (pun not intended). With the whole monsters thing, but also with his worldview! He thought he was confident and tough, but realised that he panicked when things got real (which I mean, fair, but that's not what we're talking about). And that he was making assumptions about people based on his own unfair biases! He canonically admits to Steve that he couldn't accept the fact that Steve is a Good Dude and the only reasons he thought he was a douche was that he has rich parents, was popular, and chicks love him. Nothing based on Steve's actions. Him turning around after all that to comment about Steve's intelligence, or bringing up his non existent assholery again just feels like a huge backslide. Doing both their characters a real disservice.

But you mentioned fanon more than canon, and there are absolutely fanon Eddie's out there who would insult Steve like that. And I gotta be honest - I don't think that Steve would take that lying down. Steve absolutely has an angry knee jerk reaction to things during this show. Back in S1, but also in S4 - when he says to Dustin that he was going to punch him so hard his teeth would fall back out. If Eddie, the new dude, decided he was going to be a jerk and insult Steve's intelligence? Steve would absolutely retort that it was fucking rich coming from the guy who failed senior year twice. Which is harsh, but I'd be angry too if I saved this guy's life and he turns around and calls me stupid for it. He'd call Eddie a hypocrite.

One thing I like about Steddie (both platonically, and romantically) is how they're on equal footing. The get along. They respect each other. Stop making Eddie a jerk to Steve for no good reason.

Eddie bringing up he thought Steve was a douche feels better than the other instances because he admits he was wrong!! Willingly! To Steve's face! But any times after? Steve would drop Eddie like a hot potato. He's not going to hang around with someone who's a dick to him for no reason. The fact that they went through the Upside Down together isn't going to make him suffer through it. Like, there's no way Steve hung out with Nancy and Jon after the breakup. No Upside Down monsters could make that less awkward.

Speaking of other instances - Robin. Stobin, my beloved. Sometimes I wonder if people actually like Steve, or if they just put up with him because him and Robin are a special deal. My thoughts on her are a little more all over the place, so bare with.

Is she a jerk to him in Season 3? Yes. But she's also a lonely, angry, teen, holding a grudge against him for no good reason. The only 2 things she says she hated him for were - he ate bagels messily in class, and that he didn't pay attention to the girl she had a crush on. Once again, nothing substantial.

But then they get tortured together, they become best friends. They get a job together again and he drives her to school. Robin canonically is the one to bring up what if they could combine into one person. She cares about Steve! She loves him so much she wants to merge with him!! And yet so much fanon has her acting like Steve is a bad rash she can't get rid of. Insulting him at every chance she gets. I get that friendships have gentle ribbing, teasing and jokes, because you know them and you know where their line in the sand is. But a lot of fanon feels like Robin rubbing salt into the wound. Taking it too far.

How many times does Steve have to apologise for being an asshole when he really wasn't that bad in the first place?

Steve reinforcing his boundaries with aggressive fanon Robin would be more chill than Eddie, I think. More like a conversation. Like, hey, you're my best friend and what you're saying is actually really hurting me? Could you please stop because it really doesn't feel like you want to be my friend since you won't stop insulting my intelligence? Robin isn't just an angry teen on her own anymore, she has a friend and the things she says has an effect. I can see him being more conservative with it than him telling Tommy & Carol that they're assholes. If he loses Robin, he goes back to his only friend being Dustin. But he'd still bring it up. He wouldn't just roll over and take it.

If she didn't listen when he talked to her like an adult? That's when he'd call her out like he did Tommy and Carol. If he can call out his best friends before, he'd do it again. It'd suck, but he needs to put himself first.

Nancy and Jon I'm still thinking about.

Jon doesn't like Steve, doesn't respect him, and canonically says mean things about Steve still, after Steve's done so much to atone, to save and help everyone. That mean joke he makes at the end of S4 about Steve being in charge? Oof.

A part of me can see Steve being like 'who cares what that guy thinks, I know myself'. But I'm afraid I just don't have a lot more on Jon. He's just not a character I'm a big fan of so I'm not as confident with his characterisation.

Nancy however? Nancy would hurt. Steve loved her, cared for her, she was there when he was trying to be better, when he was atoning. (I know that Steve says that Nancy was the bump on the head he needed, but he's wrong. He did it himself. But that's besides the point.). He went with her to the Hollands, he saved her little brother's life, him and all the party. With Billy and then in the tunnels. He opened up to her, she helped him with his college essays. She broke his heart and for her to turn around and comment on his intelligence? to call him a douche? would fucking hurt. Not at the same level as the S2 drunk bathroom bullshit convo, but it would hurt.

A part of me can see Steve doing the whole - pinch the bridge of your nose to hold back the tears and leave - thing like in S2 after the party. But a part of me could see Steve having had the time away from her to say something. But IDK. I'm not too sure on this. If she wasn't going to be mature about their breakup, about the things he told her, wasn't going to respect him and not insult him after all the things she's done? I'd say leave her behind, but I don't know if Steve would. He has a big heart. It might just be easier to take the bittersweet option and quietly let her go. Don't interact.

ANYWAY. OOF. Sorry this got so long, I was thinking and then my brain kind of ran away with me. Hopefully this was the sort of thing you were thinking? It was a fun thought experiment either way!!

[asteria7fics]

I’m feeling uncharacteristically sentimental right now, so I’m gonna capitalize on it and make my personal RANT girl appreciation post! (*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)

As I’m sure many of you have seen, I’ve found myself with the incredible fortune of befriending three of the coolest girlies that allow me to be utterly INSANE in chat. They are THE hype masters, and honestly I don’t think I would have even considered posting RSB had they not all boosted my confidence with their encouragement.

If you’re somehow unaware of my wonderful RANT Park girlies, then let me introduce you while I muse about how talented and wonderful they all are!!!

@1moreoffkeyanthem

Riley, the first letter and for me, the person that started it all. I don’t think I would have ever met the other girls had she not been so lovely in the comments of TSOB in its earliest chapters. Just knowing that someone out there was finding something to enjoy in my silly, self-indulgent fic really kept me going, both with continuing to post TSOB and during the drafting process of EWILY.

There’s a reason I’m constantly screaming at you guys to read Riley’s work. Every fic hits. Every. Single. One, and the queen has MANY to choose from. I have yet to find a PCE fic that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. Between the beautiful prose, the perfect character dynamics and the level of creativity required to not only create deeply engrossing AUs, but to make so many of them bite-sized and easily digestible. I frequently marvel at her ability to pull me into her worlds in just a few sentences, every single time.

Don’t even get me started on the quality of whump. I’m not even a whump girl, or at least I never thought I was but man, I really am not joking when I say I think I’ve been converted. Riley helped me see the light you guys, and she can help you see it, too.

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it a million times more. IF YOU AREN’T READING PCE WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING???

And you can read Riley’s work right here!

@alwaysinstyle

Ana, the sickfic queen herself. Walking hand in hand through the hurt/comfort tag with Riley and absolutely carrying the fandom on their backs while they do it. The day Ana joined Tumblr was the day everything truly came together, and we literally would not shut up about missing her for the week that she was away from us!!!

Though I’ve only been able to scratch the surface of Ana’s writing, I am already consistently blown away by her works. She may very well be the smartest person I have ever met, and my god does she bring that incredible intelligence to everything she writes. Always the perfect word, always the most beautiful flow and poignant moments that have made me frequently and audibly gasp. I mean it when I say my greatest shame is that I hadn’t started reading her work sooner.

When I tell you guys that you need to bring tissues to the function when Ana is there, I MEAN IT!! Do not take this warning lightly!!! You WILL cry, and you’ll be better for it. The catharsis I feel after every chapter of Hourglass is simply unmatched.

Which you can read here, along with Ana’s other works, of which there are also a great many!

@boxwinebaddie

Nina, the baddest bitch on the block who has undoubtedly been subjected to the most insanity from me. I still laugh when I think about how wild it is that our first conversation was us bonding over fucking Saltburn, but I also fear it says a whole lot about why we get along so well. NASTY! GIRLS!!!

One does not simply read Nina’s work. Her works are an experience, the likes of which I don’t think this fandom has ever seen before, or may ever see again. I don’t believe anyone will ever be able to replicate the biting wit and emotionally devastating prose that she has given us, nor has any other fic made me cackle the way hers do. I’m serious you guys, she is HILARIOUS when she isn’t literally ripping my heart out with her dangerously powerful angst.

Despite being someone who loves the challenge of sticking as close to canon as possible, I am an absolute sucker for the ways that Nina pushes every single character in new and fascinating directions. Non-canon compliant done SO right, and I think that anyone that’s feeling worn down by derivative angst in the fandom needs to give her fics a shot.

I will die on Ravesey hill, and if you’d like to join me you can read Nina’s works here!

It sounds silly to say as someone who writes as a hobby, but I really don’t think I have the words to express my gratitude for these women. Their creativity, humor and unending resilience inspires me every fucking day, and I really don’t know how I managed to get THIS lucky.

Ladies, I love you endlessly. Thank you for accepting me as your Cartman-coded friend, for being my biggest cheerleaders, and for creating such incredible works for everyone to enjoy. This fandom, and my time within it, has been greatly improved by every single one of you ♡