Interpretation is the medium…

Raven | she/her | aro/a-spec lesbian | audhder | vampire lover | bitching endlessly about my fave shows | the hyper fixation cycle is both rapid and eternal | current obsession HR

[ravenbytes]

META MASTERLIST

HR | In Defence of the Rivalry

*Book excerpts and commentary

Part 1: Why Shane Needs the Rivalry

1A: ShaneHollanderHockeyPlayer

1B: Relief through Contest

1C: Dropping the Mask (off the pedestal)

1D: Coping with Discipline (OCD?)

Book Refs: Diet and D/S | The HS GF | Beware the Femme

Part 2: Why Ilya Needs the Rivalry

2A: Hockey as Escape

2B: Thriving in Adversity (King Ragebait)

2C: Thrill of Victory (Grounding in Power)

2D: For Wont of a Coping Strategy

Book Refs: Menace on Ice | Battle Epic | Worth it? |

Part 3: The Rivalry as a Game in 4D(irections)

3A: Battling Personas / Media POV

3B: Hockey Is Their Third

3C: Erotic Dynamic

3D: Life, the Universe, and Competition

#fuck the Ottawa Plan *

Part 4: Breaking the Rivalry Weakens the Story

4A: Undermining the Premise [Part 2] *

4B: Rivals, not Enemies (no villain required)*

4C: Resentment & Unexplored Toxicity*

4D: Character Assassination*

4E: Plot Contrivance Absent Interiority*

4F: The EvilTM Closet Returns [Part 2] *

4G: Fixing The Long Game (Concept)*

4H: If HR/TLG Stood Alone

4I: Plausible S2 Changes [Part 2 | Part 3]

Miscellaneous HR Posts

Watsonian vs Doylist Criticism [Part 2 | Part 3]*

Miscommunication Trope [Part 2]

Ilya and Immigration [Part 2]

The Dickscourse [Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5]

Ilya’s Sexual History [Part 2 | Part 3]

Tuna Meltdown

Sergei Vetrov & the Rozanovs

Russian Trio & Fandom Biphobia [Part 2]

Compulsive Binarism [Part 2]

Unrivalled Speculation *

[aslongasitsblack]

shane and ilya watching movies and shane keeps looking up at ilya and pausing the movie to be like “is that real” “do people do that in real life” when people are like at crazy parties or doing drugs. “would that make you hallucinate” “do people actually go to warehouses for this stuff or did they make that up for movies” and ilyas like so flattered by how much shane thinks he knows. they watch fast and furious tokyo drift and shanes like “could you do that?” and ilya is my little curious george yes ofcourse i could (lying)

my little curious george 😭

[greedydemands]

the way ppl talk about shane and ilya's sex life on here is unbearable like i don't understand the need to sublimate all of ilya's desires under shane's when that's not even what either of them are attracted to. ilya isn't sitting around waiting for shane to tell him what to do or come up with crazy unbelievable kinks like spanking that somehow shock ilya. i understand that most people in fandom are women or afab and there is no denying that penetration can be a touchy or scary or violent thing for a lot of us like same but at a certain point you really do just need to contend w these hang ups about penetration and domination if you're going to engage this much with anal sex, and you have to be able to separate yourself from these sexual fictions. if you can't, which is fine, then find texts that don't require you to deal with a dominating penetrating man instead of this endless cycle of always erasing any individual or fulfilling sexual desire for canonically staunch tops. it's the same pattern every time where you guys talk about dom tops as if this is a carnal sin they need to atone for by making them little more than sentient dildos or sex robots with no sexual desire that the canonically staunch bottom doesn't encode onto them. it's boring! and it shows up everywhere. the walk him like a dog edit was cute and funny, but almost immediately it got reduced to an excuse to write ilya as if he can't have individual characterization or subjectivity if he "must" top shane. you need to contend with why you think that the penetrating person respecting liking and loving their partner means that they can't possibly enjoy sex for Themselves and must be a service top or submissive or lacking human free will. why does everyyyyyy sexual character and sexual relationship need to be flattened into nothing? ilya's sado-dominance is one of the most straightforward aspects of his characterization and the entire point, the sexual dynamic is the point! there reaches a certain point of self projection onto another creator's original characters where you should just write ur own ocs or an autobiography

[greedydemands]

and honestly tbh tbsfr to be completely truthful the "shane invents [literally any sexual thing] in his own crazy mind and doesnt have to self awareness or knowledge to know that [spanking? consent play? roleplay?] existed until it came to him in a dream" is getting a lot ableist and a likkle racialized. an autistic person having a hyperfixation doesn't mean that they don't know how to use the internet or have never like existed in society before. even if you ignore that ilya did in fact teach him everything he knows about sex and everything he likes about sex and shane's sexual development is always in conversation with and guided by ilya: EVEN if you ignore that--which most people do anyway--there is still a line between riffing off said sexual exploration and kinkiness versus what is increasingly just infantilization. he is not a child. under or unnegotiated doesn't mean that shane is never aware of what he's asking for or wants and he is not trying to have sex solely for himself or interested in doing something that isnt equally good for Ilya beyond fandom's reduction of their sex life to solely shane's orgasms. that is not the type of sex he's having or wants to have and just because he is learning this for the first time doesn't mean that he doesn't recognize himself as a sexual being. he's not stupid or a child! just because he doesn't have the exact word for it doesn't mean he isn't self aware and must be flabbergasted when ilya gives him what he asks for lol again there's a line between writing him as coy and bratty and writing him as if its his first day on earth when they're 29 and fucking since teens. shane did not sprout his dildos or butt plugs from thin air, he is an adult man with the wherewithal to google how long it's safe to drive with a plug in and how to prepare himself for anal sex. even when he had sex he hated with women, he still tried to at least be good at oral. he can be kinky and come up w crazy roleplay scenarios without this incessant demeaning of autistic people's self awareness and capacity for growth and Knowing More Than One Thing even if they don't care about those other things as much! which. doesn't even count here because being ilya's sub bottom is like. shane's final boss hyperfixation. he was not in fact born yesterday

[doctorprofessorsong]

As an older queer, allow me to say: the walls of the closet are load-bearing. It is our job as a community to stand in front of that door and tell everyone who wants to peek inside to fuck off.

There are so many reasons a person may choose not to come out and there is no reason a person would owe the public or a stranger that information. Certainly it's not owed simply because someone is famous.

We have fought for decades to make it safer for people to be open and authentic about themselves, but we are not yet there. And even if we were, the closet would still be something we need to maintain for those who are not ready to reveal that part of themselves.

[warmhappycat]

May we never become so obsessed with representation that we forget the sanctity of privacy.

[thesituation]

i don’t feel like debating that topic much farther bc truthfully if it comes down to “women will lose to men in every sport bc they don’t have as much testosterone!!!!!” my elite feminist response is honest to god “ok we will lose with honor as equals instead of having our own special Easy Mode Female category so we can win amongst ourselves” like i’m sorry i just can’t be persuaded. i’m a brick wall. i want co-ed sports

[thesituation]

i bring a sort of “women can lose at some sports against men if it means being regarded as equals” vibe to the debate that “testosterone objectively increases performance” people don’t really like

[brawlite]

it's always interesting to encounter people in fandom who don't seem to understand that interesting characters are not always 100% perfect/make bad decisions/aren't morally pure/etc. look. this isn't my little pony. i don't want a moral lesson, i want an interesting, complex, flawed character.

i like my adult media to have complex, adult characters "that character is irredeemable now because [insert moral failing here]" have you ever made a bad decision? have you ever hurt anyone? have you ever made a mistake? are YOU irredeemable? are YOU not worthy of atonement? what about love?

jfc.

[lavenderprose]

So relationships between a man and a woman shouldn't be heteronormative either. Jot that one down.

[ravenbytes]

I gotta say some pockets of this fandom are so biphobic in ways they can’t even see.

For reference bc it seems necessary, here are some common biphobic sentiments you may recognise: ‘Bisexuals are disloyal sluts who will cheat on you, probably with another gender bc they’re greedy’ and ‘Bisexuals have to pick a side’ (often w a side of ‘women’ don’t count regardless of the bi person’s own gender bc misogyny) and ‘Bisexuals can choose to live straight’

In no particular order, the receipts:

Treating Sasha like some kind of evil gay femme fatale figure out to steal Shane’s man—dismissing the implications of a more complex/nuanced history in the process—and behaving as though Ilya so much as speaking to him would be ‘cheating’ regardless of his and Shane’s relationship status/whether they are exclusive at the time (bc Sasha is a queer man and therefore a Threat vs. nameless women we never meet)

Arguably, the insistence on dismissing both the implicit and explicit evidence provided by both canons wrt Ilya’s previous and ongoing sexual encounters with other men (bc as with Sasha such men would be a Threat) even by those that enjoy the idea of Shane’s additional book encounters (bc he’s gay I guess?) in hc

Connected: Limiting sexual encounters to women pre Shane even in AU fics where he could be open about his sexuality (because if there were men involved, they would *matter*/ be a Threat)

The dismissal and reduction of Ilya and Sveta’s clearly close relationship by referring to her as “his ex” (which would be obnoxiously amatonormative even if she were a regular casual hookup and not also his Friend) and making wild statements like “he hasn’t known love since he was 12” despite everything we’ve been shown and told to the contrary (bc Svetlana is a woman he’s slept with that has a name and a place in his life with whom he could perform straightness and is therefore a Threat)

The sidelining of Sveta in fic in favour of straight or partnered men, e.g., Marly, even when setting does not support it (bc Ilya has had sex with Sveta and she is therefore a Threat as above). This is especially apparent in fics that simultaneously elevate and centre Shane’s friendship with Rose (bc Shane is Gay and Rose is therefore not a Threat)

Also, while I have no problem whatsoever with Roselana as a concept bc I am always in favour of sapphic rep, I do think the urge to pair Sveta off quickly (and perhaps esp in this way) in at least some corners of this fandom is not unrelated to this 👀

The suggestion that he somehow has less to fear than Shane because he could ‘choose’ not to be queer and live out his life as a straight man

Making sure everyone in Ilya’s life he might have ever been attracted to or may have been attracted to him, e.g., Sveta, Sasha, Luca, Marly lol etc. is at least half in love with Shane (bc Ilya can’t be trusted and so they would otherwise be a Threat)

Accusing him of playing mind games for ever referencing he has a sexual history with anyone, but especially “other women” 🤢 (which additionally manages to be both misogynistic and heterosexist by implicitly misgendering Shane via assumption of het tropes while slut-shaming Ilya. Awesome.) as well as suggesting that this is an essentially vulgar topic somehow.

Also, yeah, it IS counterintuitive that you can simultaneously brush off former encounters as ‘meaningless’ bc they were with women (and nonromantic bc only romantic sex has value, right?) only to then turn around and accuse him of mind fuckery for admitting to their existence (bc apparently a) Feelings necessitate monogamy and b) this is inherently cruel to Shane BECAUSE he’s a man and Ilya’s publicly known partners are women which must therefore mean Ilya would miss women or smth so it’s psychosexually traumatising to mention them…and this thought process is Ilya’s fault somehow???), but then prejudice is always illogical and very often self-contradictory so

Repeatedly erasing his identity by referring to the show and him and Shane jointly as “gay” (I get that some people prefer it to queer as an umbrella term when referring to nonstraight sexualities, so I can deal with “the gay hockey show” and even stomach “gay for e/o” when it’s clearly a joke, but I do draw the line at “gay rival hockey players”)

Feel free to follow up with anything I’ve missed.

[tuesday-is-a-good-day]

“there’s no platonic explanation for this”

Well there is actually, they’re friends. They’re friends and they love each other and it doesn’t mean any less than if they were dating and they loved each other. They’re friends and that means devotion and affection and loyalty and love, and there is no point in which that love reaches a level that immediately indicates that their relationship must be romantic.

[ravenbytes]

literally the topic of your masters thesis? Say more right now!! 🎤🎤🎤

Lol yeah my focus was supernatural lit (predominantly gothic) and its exploration of social deviance via psychosexual horror, specifically as an extension of the christian concept of original sin as embodied by the whore of the madonna/whore dichotomy through Eve as the corrupting woman and various incarnations of that archetype. (I was definitely called out for my “axe to grind against christianity” more than once, which was fun cuz duh) But because all religions ultimately trace back to the earliest civilisations, it was also kind of a study of comparative mythologies (another special interest) starting with Lamashtu, Inanna, and Ishtar and how they show up in various figures including Isis and Kali, but also more familiar to western authors greco-roman e.g., Medea, the lamia, etc., or more recent ones like Lilith and filtered through so many other legends, many of which are linked to blood-drinking, heresy, cannibalism, immortality, corpse reanimation, mind control, destruction, transformation…that influenced these works and which in turn links to vampires and specifically lesbian vampires as a natural extension of what had been largely euphemistic up to that point for the whole sexual deviance aspect, etc. I mean, there’s a reason the first long-form work of vampire fiction was Carmilla and one of the first gothic novels featured a demoness (whore) that spent half the book dressed as a man trying to seduce a holy man and then goading said man into pursuing the virgin heroine (madonna) by showing magic images of her undressing while they both watched lustfully…is what I’m saying. I’m so serious when I say gothic horror is hands down the queerest (sub)genre, and it all goes back to my roots: hot sapphics and blood play

[urie]

i looooooooove how annoying shane and ilya must be as the two best hockey players in the world just both of them being able to see the game at such an elite level and notice things no one else does and theyre basically speaking their own language to one another and saying things like "i dont even count a hat trick if its on an empty net if the goalie isnt there its NOT a real goal i think they should not count these" "absolutely if theres no challenge it isnt real" "exactlyyyyy" and they will say things like this in front of players who have Zero career hat tricks

[urie]

hayden is struggling in the postseason and says its bc he is "playing with a broken rib" and privately shane is thinking "okay but just one though jesus christ" and ilya is texting him like "is pike playing on severed legs" "broken rib" "ok???? just one????" and shane is like wow thank god finally someone who gets it

[cinemapphic]

LESBIAN VAMPIRES FROM OUTER SPACE!

[ilyapasta]

Reading my dinner with Hayden. Hayden says he’s got no problem with Shane being gay, but does it have to be Rozanov? Couldn’t Shane find someone else? Hayden doesn’t know this, but he just described why being queer is so difficult for people in your life to accept, and why coming out is still so difficult for people who need to come out. I get that you’re gay, but do you have to be gay in a way that challenges me? Can you please go back to living a ruse that left you anxious and lonely so that we can be comfortable again? Ilya, the rival, the chirping jerk, the inconvenient lover who doesn’t mince words, represents the inconvenience being queer causes your friends and families. We get that you’re gay, but do you have to do it so loudly?

[this-is-trans-joy]

everyone loves to hate terfs until they realise that it actually entails rejecting bioessentialism entirely and then suddenly you’re “taking things too seriously” and you “don’t have a sense of humour” like i’m sorry but saying protect the dolls doesn’t make you immune to terfism it has seeped into every corner of mainstream feminism and unless you’re actively searching it out and checking your own biases you will always be at risk of sharing a space with terfs

[this-is-trans-joy]

“Only women can—” nope. “But all men—” nah. “The divine femininity of—” gonna stop you right there. “Everyone born ama—” if you finish that sentence I’ll kill you. “Men don’t experience—” you’re wrong. “Gender isn’t real but sex is imm—” *loud incorrect buzzer*

It also goes without saying that bioessentialism inherently can’t be trans inclusive no matter how hard you try. “All men including trans men—” probably not. “This is only a woman’s issue—” is it really? “Afabs only—” why? “All trans men are like—” what? what are they like? finish the sentence i dare you.

[penandinkprincess]

fucking CACKLING after thinking about how seeing ilya made shane's heartrate go down in the hospital because i'm imagining shane being out of it and mildly combative/confused/upset after something like getting his wisdom teeth taken out or something and really ONLY calming down with ilya right next to him, which is very sweet

except for the fact that it's now ilya's turn to be VERY nervous about what shane is going to say in front of his parents in a reversal of shane having about three heart attacks concurrently thinking he was going to have to hear ilya explain the concept of fuckbuddies during the dinner scene

because yes very sweet that shane wasn't listening to ANYONE about rinsing his mouth out until ilya said to do it, but shane's obedience is not limited to heeding medical instructions, and ilya is SWEATING about shane's drugged mind playing connect the dots with how much he likes ilya telling him to do things and deciding to start talking about it

[frederbee]

(tags absolutely NECESSARY via @penandinkprincess) #ilya being a very sweet partner and holding a cup up for shane because there's some blood in his mouth after changing the gauze out#and telling him to spit#and shane who is in OUTER SPACE just half-smirking and ilya knows what's coming even before shane slurs out a#'that's not what you usually-' 'SHANE. THE BLOOD. SPIT THE BLOOD OUT OF YOUR MOUTH.'#and there is no way for ilya to tell yuna and david to leave because their son is not audience aware rn#and really likes being bossed around in bed and is thus playing apples to apples in his head with instructions rn#ilya as shane's emotional support in this setting except man is fucking STRESSED#shane's straight chilling and feeling very pampered and safe with ilya#meanwhile ilya has the resting heartrate of someone being hunted for sport#yuna and david both <3 :) enjoying watching their son's partner prove he's a loving and supportive and gentle life partner#and meanwhile ilya is just fucking PRAYING that helping shane put gauze back in his mouth isn't making him think#about things he LIKES having in his mouth#(it is)#shane keeps spitting it back out because Texture Bad#and ilya (not thinking) is just 'stop doing this. i am going to get a bandana or something and you will look like a kidnapping victim.#is this what you want?'#and shane is just *big happy sparkly eyes* 'i mean i liked when you tied a belt ar-'#and ilya just 'NO'#thank GOD yuna and david were talking to the doctor at that moment#but now he can SEE shane thinking about it and being so happy in his memory#and ilya is sitting here listening to discharge instructions just thinking 'don't speak don't speak don't speak don't speak'#as hard as he can at shane

[penandinkprincess]

@commanderbabyboy

ilya uses the like 0.5 seconds he's got when david is going to get coffee and yuna is stepping into the hall to SO gently take shane's face in his hands and get his attention like "hey, hey, shane, can you focus, please? ye-no, sweetheart, don't touch the gauze again. okay, do you want to be good for me?"

*muffled because there's cotton in his mouth* "yesh :)"

"good, you are always so good for me" *head kiss* "now, i need you to be VERY good and NOT talk until i say so, okay?"

"but you like when i'm loud, don't you?" *big, teary eyes* "you don't want me to tell you when i feel good?" *wobbly lip that would break a FAR harder heart than ilya's, especially when shane also currently has some very cute chipmunk cheeks happening*

"no, no, dorogoy, you know i love all of your pretty words and sounds." *smooch smooch* "but this is a new game, okay? we are trying something new together."

*still slightly sniffly but nod nod* "my shafeword is fashe-off"

*clinging to composure with the tips of his fingers* "yes, very good. but right now you are not going to say ANY words, okay?"

*nod nod and pleased little smile because he remembers The Rules under these circumstances* "then i tap you three timesh"

*SO close to fully having a breakdown* "yes, very good. and now time to be quiet, yes?"

*shane almost hits himself in the face miming zipping his lips shut*

and this works GREAT

...until the nurse asks shane what his pain level is on a scale of 1-10, and shane remains SILENT. and the nurse is, "shane? we can adjust your pain medication if you need. it's not a trick question." and shane just lolls his head over to the side and BEAMS at ilya because Look How Good I Am Being. :)

and ilya is about to just start beating his head against a wall.

[hardlyhinged]

Op’s tags

[penandinkprincess]

in fucking TEARS imagining shane whining through his nose (because not speaking! he remembers The Rules!!) as ilya is now trying to pull his hands away, and the nurse is just "oh, honey, don't worry. no one's going to be selling photos of the two of you holding hands here. we don't let cameras in past the door."

and thank you, ma'am, that's very kind

but it's NOT the fucking issue here

adding @nightquills

because i am truly CACKLING about the idea of shane just inventing his own rules as they go and now ilya has to try and keep him quiet while ALSO solving riddles from HELL trying to figure out what new rules shane is introducing from his own beautiful (drugged) mind

[penandinkprincess]

GOD yuna and david are only both there in the first place because ilya has never actually dealt with coming-out-of-sedation shane and while he's very good at handling him normally, shane has a tendency to be a flight risk because he's confused and Not Happy About All Of The Everything, so they wanted to be there just in case

and now they're here still just as backup in case it's needed but also aw :) how sweet :) shane is so calm :) how nice :)

meanwhile ilya is just planning the vacation he's going to reward himself with after this is over

he may or may not bring shane along on it

[deadcrow-donteat]

prev tags

david & yuna offer to stay with shane & ilya even after they get back to their house and ilya is like nono it's fine :) i've got it :) i promise no worries at all :) and yuna is very "are you sure? we don't mind staying a little longer if you need it!" (and while she trusts ilya she is also hesitant to leave her son so soon after surgery) meanwhile david realizes that there's probably something going on that they really don't need to know about so between him & ilya yuna is barely coaxed out the door. and as soon as they're gone ilya visibly deflates meanwhile shane in the back has been thinking where is. my treat. i have been so good. i followed All The Rules. i want. a treat.

[penandinkprincess]

fucking DEAD imagining the visual contrast between ilya, who looks like he's been through a fucking WAR, versus shane, who is sparkly eyed and chipmunk cheeked and SO looking forward to his treat for being so SO good :)

[attacus-atlas-the-moth]

prev tags. not just a entire pack. he is straight up eating cigarettes.

[lavenderprose]

Things that are ACTUALLY in the Shane Hollander Mic'd Up compilation that we all wish we could watch through the portal:

- "Hey, how was your summer? Good, good."

- "Mic'd up. I'm mic'd up. Don't."

- "Have you ever been to Greece? Told Ilya I would ask you."

- "What? No, man, he didn't say that. He said he was gonna get your ass. Yeah, man, he only fucks one ass. Yeah, I mean, I would say fuck you too but--"

- "Heeeey, davai, davai. Great assist. Hah, no, don't come closer, I'm mic'd and you know I don't trust you."

- "The Royal Tiger Towel Paper Towel Power Play. The Royal Tiger Towel Paper Towel Power Play. The Royal--"

- "HEY MATHESON. You ever been to Vegas? I said, you ever been to VEGAS? I hear they let the good hockey players go there in the summer but I feel like you wouldn't know that."

- "FUCK. Hey, ref, what the fuck was that? Oh, you didn't see that? Fuck you. No, you stay there, my husband's gonna talk to you--fuck you, put me in the bin then, this is bullshit--"

- "You have the smelling salts? Yeah. FUCK--"

- "I am mic'd. Remember I am mic'd. Nope, not even in Russian."

- "Oh, yeah, the pickle video was funny. Harris said it got a lot of views, so. Yeah, no, he actually really does love pickles that much."

- "Sinclair, you got something to say? Yeah, I'm better at hide the pickle than you are at hockey. You want to ask another stupid question?"

- "You know, I run a charity too. Oh, I just assumed that you were doing some kind of Make-A-Wish thing out here with your wingers, since it looks like this is your first day on the ice."

- "Oh, hey, look. Jackie and the kids are waving at us. Okay. Okay, Rozanov, that's enough."

- "Mic'd. Mic'd. Mic'd."

- "Hello Hockey Night, welcome to my husband's shoulder pads--" "Fuck OFF, Rozanov."

- "Great goal. Great goal. Lyublyu tebya. Yes, baby, you did that."

[vruba]

“I don’t like this expression “First World problems.” It is false and it is condescending. Yes, Nigerians struggle with floods or infant mortality. But these same Nigerians also deal with mundane and seemingly luxurious hassles. Connectivity issues on your BlackBerry, cost of car repair, how to sync your iPad, what brand of noodles to buy: Third World problems. All the silly stuff of life doesn’t disappear just because you’re black and live in a poorer country. People in the richer nations need a more robust sense of the lives being lived in the darker nations. Here’s a First World problem: the inability to see that others are as fully complex and as keen on technology and pleasure as you are.”

— Teju Cole  (via feminizt)