#this way some incestiness lies

[onthewaytosomewhere]

wip wednesday

alright kiddies let's do this shall we - it's wednesday and well the only wip i have stuff worth sharing y'all haven't seen is - you guessed it the 5+1 smutty incestiness one lolz

under the cut lies henry/alex/philip and some no-rpressure tags but open tag to anyone who wants it (and i may have forgotten some who knows it's late and my brain has been very fried post-vacay)

Alex is leaning over the edge of the bed, kissing his way up Philip’s chest, nipping at the skin with his teeth, soothing it with his tongue. Marks from last night still mark a path along his ribs, showing where Alex had been, laying his claim for the weekend. Henry, at his back and kissing his neck, whispers into his ear, “Look how he lets you do that, make your mark all over him. He’s never let the others do that. Always stopped them from claiming him in any way. He lets you, though; in fact, the way he allows you to mark him up is almost like he wants you to, like he wants the reminder you were there.” Alex moans and is surprised he doesn’t come right then and there. Henry knows all his buttons to push. The idea of marking the future king is such a fuckin’ power trip. He never realized how much he craved power until Henry and he started this thing between them and Philip. Now, getting to have the future king under him, in some way, was a semi-regular occurrence, and it not only got him going, but he knew that Henry got off on seeing that side of him. Philip squirms beneath Alex as he latches onto a nipple, sucking hard and then working it with his tongue and teeth. The moan that falls from Philip’s lips has Alex smiling, laving more attention on the hard bud Philip’s nipple has become.

ok so tag ur it!! @adreamareads @anincompletelist @bitbybitwrites @blueeyedgrlwrites @caterpills

@cha-melodius @dragonflylady77 @duchessdepolignaca03 @england-would-fall @firenati0n

@firstprinces @forever-fixating @getmehighonmagic @henryspearl @heysweetheart-writes

@hgejfmw-hgejhsf @inell @inexplicablymine @itsmaybitheway @jellibuns

@jmagnabo92 @kiwiana-writes @mikibwrites @nocoastposts @piratefalls

@priincebutt @softboynick @sophie1973 @sparklepocalypse @stellarmeadow

@suseagull04 @tailsbeth-writes @taste-thewaste @theprinceandagcd @thesleepyskipper

@thinkof-england @tinyarmedtrex @typicalopposite @yrsacdfox @captainjunglegym

@eusuntgratie @bigassbowlingballhead @violetbaudelaire-quagmire @oxfordslutphase @doublecheekedkinard

[villainsidechick]

Phantom of the Opera -- 1990

Okay, I haven't seen this in years and hated it. Decided to watch it again tonight. Ehhhhhh, still don't like it.

PROS

Charles Dance -- the man can do no wrong. Except maybe that weird accent. I love him as sarcastic Erik. I kind of like his banter with Burt Lancaster except the backstory doesn't hold up. I love his voice in general and he could sing me to sleep anytime. I loved he played pranks on Carlotta.

I actually like that he doesn't really manipulate Christine and becomes her friend and mentor. He respects her and vice versa. Yeah, he lied about who he is, but I'm not going to give him shit. Granted, he does lose his shit after the 'unmasking', but that's a given.

I liked they filmed it at the Opera House. All adaptations should do it. The opera/location is a big part of this story.

Pro/Con -- that they didn't show his face. I think the creators realized it can be either done really well or come off as corny. Do they want to make Erik scary as hell or worse, the sunburn that Gerard Butler had that was laughable as a disfigurement. Plus, I think they wanted to keep the romantic aspect there and showing his face would ruin it?

CONS

Ehhhh, here we go.

Just nope on Christine looking AND sounding like Erik's mom. No. Too incesty. Did we really need to go there? He couldn't just love Christine for who she is?

The lip syncing. Dear Jesus. Yikes.

No Angel of Music. Sigh. It's manipulative as hell but it's Eriks first connection with Christine.

Gerard -- I don't even know where to start with this man. The literal incarnate of "road to hell is paved with good intentions". I can see where they use him as "the Persian" to talk sense into Erik but it's just too obvious the man is hiding something and the police inspector knows it.

The police inspector. As if he wouldn't have disregarded Gerard and just gone down. And you can't tell me Gerard was able to bury his son so no one would find him after the rooftop. You failed your son in so many ways.

Raoul/Phillippe whatever his character's name is. Other than being pretty, he can't act to save his life. And his constantly changing accent. The backstory doesn't hold as well. He's been living this badboy slut life and sudden she changes him when he remembers their childhood of a few months at most? I don't buy it.

I actually liked some parts of Carlotta except the bad lip syncing. . She was nasty mean and I hated her.

Christine -- girl. Phillippe is bad news. You had your teacher who adored you. You done fucked up sweetie. Granted, she tried to be friend to Erik. I'll give her that. But knowing he loves you and playing up that only love can save him, see his face. Girl, don't be lying to lovesick man like that.

The weird removing the mask to see another mask underneath.

It's kind of a pro/con. I really don't like the Kopit musical at all. So, I'm glad they didn't film this as the musical. But the plot is still too thin.

SIGH

Why can't we get a solid Leroux adaptation?? It's not much to ask for is it?

[bthump]

I know this is very nitpicky, but what do you think is the level of awareness Griffith has during the stairwell scene? For a very calculated and rational guy like him, it's hard to imagine that he hasn't even tried to decipher where these strong reckless reactions come from. I mean... even king of denial Guts has reflected a bit on it. Enough to ask Griffith about it. I know yoy mentioned in a recent answer to an ask, that you don't headcanon Griffith as pining, so would you say that you (cont)

Would you say that you imagine that he compartimentalizes his thougts and represses to the point that he doesn't aknowledge at least to a certain extent, that his feeling for Guts are more passionate, than what he feels for other comerades. The fact that he fully realises the depth of those feelings once Guts leaves is clear. But Idk the stairwell scene makes me think that he is at least aware, that he has a bit of a crush, but choses to not give it much importance. Curious about your thoughts 

hmmm. okay first off I just want to say that I can see multiple possibilities, from full on repression and denial, to recognizing his attraction but not acting on it, to knowing he cares for Guts and wants him as a True Friend(TM) but often downplaying that because he believes Guts sees him mainly as a superior officer. But yeah I do prefer the denial and compartmentalization explanation and I want to go into why, because I think it’s fun to talk about lol.

So the big reason I read Griffith as refusing to acknowledge his feelings to himself is because that’s how he deals with all his other inconvenient feelings, like his guilt and fear and the fact that he cares about the Hawks. Like eg when he tells Gennon that he doesn’t feel a single emotion about him whatsoever, or when he tells Casca that he doesn’t feel guilty over the deaths of the Hawks, I don’t think he’s just lying to them, I think he’s convincing himself too, to the point where he really believes it.

It’s sort of hard to explain how I see this working in Griffith’s head bc it feels v intuitive to me but I know that’s not the case for everyone. So yk it’s not that I think he like, eg makes himself forget that he nearly had a breakdown in a river, but I think he doesn’t ask himself why he nearly had a breakdown beyond maybe a shallow ‘sex with gennon was unpleasant and made me uncomfortable for a couple hours but i’m completely fine now’ and doesn’t think about it afterwards if he can help it.

And when he tells Charlotte he doesn’t have any friends and tells Guts he belongs to him during the second duel, I think he’s telling himself lies/rationalizations he genuinely believes there too. In fact, I think his denial of his own feelings is straight up meant to be his tragic flaw, which is why he’s only able to finally acknowledge them in the torture chamber, after it’s caused his downfall.

In the torture chamber we see him remember the face-off with Zodd and acknowledge that it was an irrational thing to do and wonder why Guts is so important to him, and I think part of the reason the monologue works so well is because it’s the first time we see that kind of self-reflection sans lofty rationalization from him, because before he ended up trapped in his own brain for a year with nothing to distract himself in between bouts of torture he didn’t really ask himself these kinds of questions. If he had, things probably would’ve gone better for everyone.

And like, I don’t think this makes Griffith less intelligent, or negates his rationality in other areas of life. I don’t see a contradiction in someone being able to analyze a battlefield or read other people well but avoiding genuine soul searching whenever possible and lying to himself a lot. I think it’s actually pretty realistic - I don’t think very many people fully understand themselves or their feelings, even really self-reflective people, and it’s very easy to rationalize away inconvenient cognitive dissonance. and I include myself in that lol.

Griffith’s life is kind of a contradiction that would really fuck him up to untangle (he sends people to their deaths to achieve a dream for the sake of assuaging his guilt for sending people to their deaths to achieve a dream), so he doesn’t try to untangle it, he avoids the question and hides behind a philosophical ideal. And his feelings for Guts add to that cognitive dissonance because if he values Guts over the dream, that kind of proves his entire defensive life philosophy is bullshit and his whole life plan is built on a precarious house of cards, so it makes sense to me that he’d avoid examining those feelings closely too.

And you can look at Guts too, who does navelgaze a lot and tries to analyze his own feelings and motivations - when he’s faced with a contradiction (I want to become independent of Griffith and do my own thing solely to gain Griffith’s approval) he actually notices it and briefly questions himself... and then he still puts it out of his mind and continues pursuing his contradictory goal anyway, and manages to stay in denial for 3 days even after learning that Griffith ended up in a torture chamber because he left.

Along those same lines, Guts eg realizes that he kills things because it makes him feel better but he doesn’t make the connection between his irrational urge to fight powerful enemies and his childhood trauma the way the readers can, the King didn’t acknowledge his incesty feelings til Griffith shoved them in his face, Count Slug kept denying having human feelings til Puck went on a tirade against him and he couldn’t sacrifice his daughter, Casca lies to herself about her feelings for Griffith for a long time before finally acknowledging she’s in love and then doubles down on her Griffith feelings when her newer feelings for Guts threaten them until she has a breakdown and admits some things to herself (I mean I find that last one disappointing lol, but it’s also a really straightforward example of someone living in denial of romantic feelings and therefore a good comparison point to show that Miura does this on purpose), etc. So I think this interpretation of Griffith is also consistent with how Miura just like, tends to write people.

Like imo Griffith has moments where he comes close to self awareness and could’ve started potentially reflecting on his feelings and coming to better, more accurate conclusions, and those moments definitely include the Zodd conversation (as well as the river scene with Casca, and “do you think I’m cruel?”) but none of those scenes lead to useful self-reflection because they all go wrong. Casca tries but fails to reassure him bc she’s out of her depth, Guts reminds him of his dream, the King interrupts their conversation and Charlotte reorients Griffith towards his goal so he can move on from that moment of irrationality and refrain from thinking about it further for a while. Even after the duel Griffith tries to avoid self-reflection by fucking Charlotte imo (”take all the sad and frightening things and cast them into the fire” ie hey girl wanna repress some shit w/ me?), and imo his previous ability to do that makes it all the more impactful when it doesn’t work this time and he breaks down.

BUT YEAH all that said I don’t think this is the only reasonable reading of Griffith’s awareness of his feelings lol, it’s just the one I like best and consider the most satisfying and interesting and fun to think about. And honestly that’s partly because I love dramatic irony and have a real thing for characters who lie to themselves, so I’m biased in favour of it too. Nothing about Griffith being good at denial contradicts the idea that he could still be aware of an attraction to Guts (in that case he’d probably just write it off as irrelevant and deny the associated internalized-homophobia-related self-loathing lol until it all pours out while he’s projecting at the King), and he could eg be aware that he irrationally cares about Guts above and beyond anyone else and just doesn’t even try to reconcile that with his dream, ie compartmentalization in another way.

But I think the idea that he only fully admits it to himself in the torture chamber is just very narratively satisfying.

[whitewolfofwinterfell]

(2/2) especially given that the first thing i shipped once i knew what shipping was comes from the realm of daytime soaps, where people are betraying and backstabbing each other constantly lol. for me, i think it comes down to framing. if the show frames a pairing as abusive/toxic, i can deal with it a lot better than with fandoms and shows that romanticize it or sweep it under the rug. that, and of course, chemistry, is a big part of the reason i hate ships like c$ but can enjoy a pairing (2/3)

So, Tumblr ate some of your asks again (damn this hellsite lol) but we spoke on PM’s and you explained that in your other asks, you discussed toxic/dark ships, asked me what makes a dark ship work for me and the darkest ship I’ve ever shipped. You also said that some of the toxic ships you like such as Todd/Blaor and Joker/Harley work for you because of the framing of those ships.

I want to start off by saying, thank you so much for this ask. It’s such an interesting topic to discuss and I feel like it’s very relevant in fandom. There’s this hysteria around “abusive”, “toxic” and “dark” ships with people misusing or misunderstanding those words. I briefly discussed this previously in an ask I recieved about Stelena being abusive, which you can read here if you’re interested.

Overall, I think dark ships are brilliant because when they’re done correctly they can be the most intruiging, complex, authentic and gripping relationships in television. There’s no getting around the fact that love is tricky and complicated, and it can lead people down dark paths. Also, everyone has their issues, insecurities and scars, which often bleed into their relationships. So it’s only right that these sort of relationships should be portrayed in the media.

I feel very much the same as you about what makes a dark/toxic ship work for me. It’s all about the way that it’s portrayed and written. I can’t ship a dark or toxic ship when it’s romanticised or when the toxicity is glossed over or ignored, which is the case with ships like Ross/Rachel (Friends), Damon/Elena (The Vampire Diaries), Spike/Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer - although my only qualms with this ship are in season 7, I actually think they were well written in season 6), Edward/Bella (Twlight) and many more. I have a particular issue with this because I think of all the young people that watch or read about these kind of relationships and aspire to have them and it concerns me. In my opinion, nobody should aspire to have a relationship like any of the ones I’ve just named or any other like them. 

Dark ships work for me when they’re authentic and realistic. These types of relationships are intense and passionate, but they’re also exhausting and very detrimental to the people involved. So when I see a ship like this I expect to see that. I expect to see the consequences, to see the people change as a result of the relationship and be pushed to the extremes. I’ve discussed this previously in response to an ask about Delena which you can read here (be warned, it is anti-Delena). In that ask, I use Jax and Tara as an example of a toxic ship that works, and I stand by that. What makes Jax and Tara work so well as a toxic ship is that it’s constantly acknowledged and we see the devastating impact their relationship has on both of them, but Tara in particular. Yet with ships such as Damon/Elena or Emma/Hook, all I ever see is their love being glorified and romanticised. 

I have to admit, I don’t have a tendency to ship dark ships. I’d say the only ships that I have that could fall into this category are Cook/Effy (Skins), Damon/Katherine (The Vampire Diaries), Dexter/Debra (Dexter), Ben/Callum (Eastenders) and Henry/Anne (The Tudors). There may be others, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head. There are different reasons as to why I still ship these couples despite them being dark and/or toxic. I’m going to analyse these ships one by one. Feel free to skip over this, because it’s going to be long and I’m literally just using this as the perfect excuse to talk about some of my favourite ships lol.

Cook and Effy (Skins)

I’ve spoken pretty in-depth about Cook and Effy being toxic and bad for each other previously. However, I’ll do it again because there are little things that I missed from my previous meta. Cook and Effy are toxic for one another at points, and this stems from the fact that as individuals they have a lot of issues and they use each other as a buffer for those issues. The reason they enter into a sexual relationship in season 3 is because they both use sex as way to deal with the disconnect they feel with others, but also because Cook wants to get one over on Freddie and Effy wants to deny her feelings for Freddie. As a result, they both unintentionally hurt each other. Cook knows that Effy is using him, but he allows it to happen which feeds into Effy’s pain about Freddie, whilst simuetanously causing himself pain, because he has genuine feelings for Effy. Their communication throughout season 3 is poor and they’re rarely honest with each other. Cook knows that Effy is in love with Freddie, but neither of them address this and it causes them both a lot of hurt. They also use each other as an escape. They run away together at the end of season 3; Effy to get away from Freddie and Cook because he wants to pursue the fantasy that he and Effy are going to live happily ever after. Although Effy willingly stays with Cook during that time, he does take her away from her home and loved ones and isolates her to an extent, because he wants to pursue this fantasy by any means necessary. He knows Effy doesn’t love him the way he loves her, but he goes into denial because he’d rather live a lie than lose her.

In season 4, when Effy finally admits her feelings for Freddie and gets into a relationship with him, she continues to cause Cook pain because she never validates his love for her. Instead, she ridicules and belittles him for it and downplays their relationship. When he tells her he still loves her, she tells him to piss off and later on she tells him that he was never good for her. Instead of admitting that what they had was real, but that she simply loved Freddie more, she makes Cook feel stupid as though what they had meant nothing. This leads to Cook once again going into denial. When Effy is suffering from mental illness and appears to not remember him, he plays along with her because it enables him to be with her, even if just for a short time.

The reason I’m still able to ship Cook and Effy is because despite the toxicity, there’s an equality present in their relationship. Everything that happens between them is mutual. Cook loves Effy but he never actively manipulates, coerces or pressures her to be with him in any way. In fact, he respects and accepts that she loves Freddie even though it hurts him. Effy hurts Cook by undermining their love, but excluding the one occassion where she tells him to piss off, she respects him and treats him with kindness. Cook and Effy never purposefully hurt each other or try to keep each other harm. The hurt they do cause each other is more an extension of their individual issues which have a knock on effect when it comes to their relationship. It’s not their relationship that’s toxic, it’s them as individuals. But also, the narrative never portrays Cook and Effy as being anything other than they are. We see the detrimental impact of their relationship and we hear Effy admit that they were bad for each other and would’ve never worked.

Damon and Katherine (The Vampire Diaries)

Once again, I have discussed Damon and Katherine’s relationship in-depth over at my writing side-blog, so don’t need to go into too much detail. I don’t think any explanation is needed here as to why Damon and Katherine are toxic. From the moment Katherine meets Damon she uses him for her own amusement, she sleeps with Damon and his brother at the same time without any regard for Damon’s feelings, controls every aspect of their relationship to suit her, fakes her death and lets Damon think she’s dead for over a century, continually plays with Damon’s feelings to get the reaction she wants, is continually dismissive of his love for her and rubs the fact that she loves Stefan in Damon’s face. And that’s just the aspects of their relationship that are toxic from Katherine’s side. Damon’s love for Katherine is so consuming that he goes to terrible lengths to be with her and when she rejects him resorts to violence and cruelty.

But again, the reason I’m able to ship them is because Damon and Katherine opearate on a level playing field. At the start of their relationship when Damon is human, Katherine definitley has an upper hand, but later on it’s tit for tat. They both hurt and manipulate each other, and in fact, they almost thrive on it. It’s part of how they communicate and relate to one another. Over the years, their feelings for each other become so twisted that they can’t express their love in the correct way anymore. Most importantly, just like with Cook and Effy, the narrative never strays from what Damon and Katherine are. They’re not true love, they’re not good for each other, they’re not healthy or a love to aspire to have. They’re profoundly connected and have a dark, twisted and complex history which is underlined with love but that manifests itself in often awful ways.

Dexter and Debra (Dexter)

These two are by far the darkest and most controversial ship I’ve ever shipped. As adopted siblings, there’s an incestious nature to the relationship which immediately creates toxcity in their relationship, but as individuals Dexter and Debra are both really messed up. Dexter is a self-proclaimed psychopath and serial killer, and Debra endures a lot of trauma throughout the series which deeply impacts her. Dexter and Debra have such an unhealthy and co-dependent relationship, it’s actually kinda crazy. Dexter lies to Debra and keeps an entire aspect of himself and his life a secret, he kills for Debra, he fails to validate or understand her feelings for him and he emotionally blackmails her. Debra lies and compromises her entire identity and morals to protect Dexter’s secret of being a serial killer, she murders an innocent woman to protect him and harbours a wanted criminal for him. Dexter and Deb will quite literally do anything to protect each other, but the result is devastating. You only have to watch Deb in season 8 to see just how damaging and toxic her relationship with Dexter is to her. Dexter and her love for him quite literally destroys her.

So it begs the question how and why do I ship these two? Well, the answer is the same as always: because the narrative doesn’t portray them as anything other than exactly what they are. Their relationship and Deb’s feelings for Dexter are completely fucked up and we’re told and shown that repeatedly. They’re not romanticised in any way, if anything they’re written in a way that would make most fans and viewers despise their relationship, particularly the romantic aspect of it. The show is true to them as individual characters and the toxicity of their relationship is authentic and understandable. I’ve briefly spoke about this previously, but Dexter and Debra’s relationship is supposed to be completely messed up because it’s an extension of them. Dexter, in particular, is damaged beyond repair and destroys everything he touches. Debra is part of that. Likewise, her falling for him makes perfect sense in the context of what she endures. Deb is a naturally self-destructive and self-loathing person, and loving Dexter is the biggest act of self-destruction she could ever enter into. In my opinion, of all the dark ships I have, Dexter and Debra are the perfect example of it being done right. They’re so dark and they love each other so much, but every step of the way the toxicity of their relationship is acknowledged and explored properly.

Ben and Callum (Eastenders)

I love Ben and Callum so much, and as far as they’ve come in their relationship, I can’t help but see the toxicity of it. In the beginning, Callum was unsure of his sexuality, was extremely closeted and carried a lot of internalised homophobia and self-hatred. This impacted on his relationship with Ben who had struggled with the same issues and didn’t want to return to that sad, lonely and miserable place. Callum’s relationship with Whitney and inability to admit his feelings for Ben made Ben feel rejected, sidelined and frustrated. At the same time this was going on, Ben’s issues of being afraid to love and let someone in after his ex was murdered, meant that he was unable to be completely open to Callum. By the time Callum was ready to come out and embrace his feelings for Ben, Ben was scared and backed away from Callum. Since the two have entered into a relationship, there’s been so much hurt and so much back and fourth. Ben is so afraid of hurting Callum and bringing harm to him, that he constantly pushes him away. The issue is that whether they’re together or not, Callum and Ben get hurt simply by loving each other. When Ben breaks up with Callum or pushes him away, they’re both heartbroken and long to be together again. But when Ben and Callum are together, their differences causes issues, and Ben’s actions put Callum in awful positions. Callum’s been forced to keep an innocent man’s murder a secret (he wasn’t really dead, but Callum didn’t know that), and now Callum’s been kidnapped and beaten, his life threatened, because of Ben’s actions. Ben has gone to extremes to save Callum including holding a gun to his own dad’s head and threatening to pull the trigger.

Unlike the other ships I’ve already discussed, the reason I’m still able to ship Ben and Callum isn’t because the narrative acknowledges they’re toxic for each other. It does acknowledge it, but the main reason I’m able to ship them is because none of the hurt they bring to each other is ever intentional. The hurt that Callum caused Ben before they were together was something he couldn’t control. He couldn’t force himself to come out and break up with Whitney. He had to come to terms with it in his own time and come out when he was good and ready. Likewise, Ben never intentionally hurts Callum. He does everything he can to protect him. Sure, he makes mistakes in trying to protect him, but all he ever wants is the best for Callum. A lot like Cook and Effy, the toxicity of Ben and Callum’s relationship doesn’t come from their relationship itself, but them as individuals. More specifically, Ben. Ben’s lifestyle, choices and actions have a detrimental impact on him and everyone around him (the mother of his child was also kidnapped not too long ago), including Callum.

Henry/Anne (The Tudors)

These two are a weird pairing to analyse, since they’re technically a real-life historical couple, but I’ll obviously be discussing them purely from a fictional stand-point and how they’re portrayed on The Tudors.

Henry and Anne are toxic as hell. Their relationship develops because Anne’s father uses her as a pawn to seduce Henry for the benefit of his own political career. Henry is also married to Katherine when their romantic relationship develops, so there’s infidelity and lies involved. Henry pursues Anne and although she falls for him, she actually has little agency in the early days. She’s told to entertain Henry and play on his attraction to her by her father, and later on, she has to submit to Henry because he’s the King of England. As the King of England, Henry has more power than any person should ever have and his arrogance and self righteousnous means that he’s more than happy to play on his power and use it to his advantage, even where Anne is concerned.

In the early stages of their relationship, considering the type of person he is, Henry is reasonably generous and gentle when it comes to Anne. He respects her, he listens to her and she has a voice in the relationship to a greater extent than Katherine did. But the moment that Anne challenges him or speaks out of turn, he shuts her down and forecfully reminds her that he’s the one with the power. He tells her to shut up and endure like her betters before her and he threatens her by telling her he can bring her down as quickly as he raised her. When she miscarries, he makes her feel that she’s a failed as a wife, mother and queen. He makes her feel embarassed, ashamed, anxious and unloved; the exact opposite of how she should feel during such a traumatic and painful time. Things only get worse when he proceeds to cheat on her whilst she’s pregnant. And we all know how this relationship ends. There are a lot of toxic ships out there but very few who actually kill their significant other, so Henry and Anne take the top spot for that alone. 

The question arises again, why do I ship this? And it’s because a) they have amazing chemistry b) the ups and downs in the relationship are portrayed fantastically c) you visibly see the downfall of Anne as a result of her love for Henry. Anne is destroyed, both metaphorically and literally, by her relationship with Henry. None of the bad aspects of their relationships are ever masked or ignored, they’re laid bare, but we see that despite how bad they are for each other, they have a deeply intense and passionate love which neither of them can fight against.

So if you’ve read all of that, I guess I’d say that when it comes to dark/toxic ships, they don’t always work for me. I take them on their individual merit. Sometimes they work and other times they don’t. It all depends on how they’re written and portrayed, and how their relationship develops overtime

[essayofthoughts]

Tag Game: if you can, list the Top Ten songs you are listening to lately, and tag ten mutuals to do the same Tagged by: @grannyweatherwaxofficial over Here. Addendum: as I am where tag games go to die, I will be tagging no one. 

1. Head Is Not My Home - MS MR

This space is not my home This head you dwell in is not my home

I don’t know. There’s something very... a sense of disconnect, no matter how hard it’s tried to bridge, or maybe it’s a connection, but its one which blurs everything. I just really like it. Also, it makes me chair-dance.

2. Ammunition - Aviators

We are the ammunition  Bullets set on shooting down the lies This is the acquisition Taking back the silenced, stolen rights We're making history tonight 

Firstly, this is a Maximoffs song, you will have to kill me before I change my mind on the fact that this is 100% a Maximoffs song prior to the experiments. Secondly, I just really really love it, lyrically, this idea of unseating the order, protesting and grabbing justice? Especially as the world goes more towards fascist dystopia.

3. Thank God I’m Not You - Himalayas

You say I'm hedonistic And a bit too extrovert Described as positively sadistic But I could be so much worse

Guys, sometimes it’s just nice to revel in a bit of villainy, and also that you’re not that person. You know. That one. 

(A tonky stan, lets say, or one of those people who feels like going all purity culture “Think of the children” on anon in someone’s inbox)

Anyway, this song being on the list is the fault of Niamh-who-tagged-me, so blame her.

4. Skin To Bone - Linkin Park

Skin to bone, steel to rust Ash to ashes, dust to dust Let tomorrow have its way With the promises we made Skin to bone, steel to rust.

I don’t know, this song has always felt very “end of an age” to me, the idea of letting a world fade and die. Which you know... all things end. I like this.

5. Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool - Editors

Anything we should know about your change? -- I don't wanna be ignored, oh God! When I'm gone, I've lost this fight. You're chewing with an open mouth, raw meat, Your blood drool attracts the flies.

I... first came across this song on a Hannibal playlist and I honestly think that’s all you need to know about this song.

That said you should totally watch the video for this song because it’s weird.

6. Street Fight - Adam Jensen

Try to break me, but I can't break I'm a bad dream, and you can't wake Nothing's gonna kill me, nothing’s gonna stand in my way

This is a song for a fight scene and I love it and as I said to @nimmieamee, this song is 100% a Sweet Pea song and I hope they use it the next time Riverdale lets Sweet Pea get into a fight.

7. Mechanical Instinct (Acoustic) - Aviators

Looks like I'd better run for my life I'll never be in one piece to see night five I've got eleven on my tail, with no time to think Of a way to survive mechanical instinct

I know this is a FNAF song and that I’m eh about FNAF at best and never played it and don’t care much for horror but this is a fucking good goddamn song ok, when it comes to creeping horror.

8. Sweet Dreams - Aviators

Don't fear what's coming We can't fight off the urge inside It's dark and you're afraid of The devils that come out at night

Also a FNAF song, and also I don’t care, it’s good for writing angry Maximoffs and fighting Maximoffs and creepy gross incesty Maximoffs and traumatic conflict and a lot of things, really, I really love this song a lot.

9. Twenty Seven - MS MR

Don't need the promise of heaven Just faith I'll pass twenty seven Broken at the source Let me be your singing chords Singing chords

This song has a very mournful sound and some really interesting imagery (“I have this dream where I cut out my tongue / So I can't make promises that can never be done”) and well... like many of my favourite songs, it feels rather Maximoff to me. Wanda in particular.

10. Bombs Over Brooklyn - Big Data

Cause when the bomb arrives, there'll be no where left to hide Yeah when the bomb arrives, there'll be no where left to hide Yeah when the bomb arrives, there'll be no one left behind

The reason I like this song is very simple: I associate it with the Maximoffs. I was listening to this when I was reading some comics with them,, and again when I was ficcing for them, and the general lyrical theme with the bombs ties to them and the “over Brooklyn” part makes me think Steve and voila, I have a song that feels very MCU for me.