Okay maybe a basic question but. Why Layla? There's not many people writing her so is it that or something else? Because you write her very well, we love your portrayal of her so we were curious if there's something more behind it/gen
(Why Layla?
Oh my dear, sweet anon. I hope you know what you’re asking. I’m afraid it’s more why not Layla? And the answer is there is no reason why not.
I flipping love her.
She’s not perfect, or even as great as she could be. She’s lacking some personality. Needed more/better direction. I can get past that. Because, well…
She looks like me. Her actress is Palestinian. Her character is Egyptian, and not white! She skirted the brown/Arab token status by being in a show with literally almost all ethnic characters and a white villain. She gets this close to calling Arthur out on that BS.
It’s like she was specifically written for me.
Then yeah, there’s the fact there were/are no active Layla RP blogs, so I wanted to be that for the broader Moon Knight fandom as well as doing more of what I wanted to see.
But I feel like no one quite got just how amazing of a combination of things she is. How rare and wonderful and although imperfect, and somewhat incomplete, she is a goddamn miracle.
She’s self employed. She’s got some queerness in there. She champions her husband’s mental health, whether on principle or for personal reasons, she adapts to neurodivergence quickly and respectfully. She’s anti colonialist. She straight up says screw the way we treat indigenous peoples and their cultural artifacts.
She’s connected spiritually and physically to her heritage. She has her natural, frizzy curls out without a hint of insecurity. She has a freckly face and a prominent nose and minimal makeup and jewelry that doesn’t get in the way. She dresses like she’s ready to hike down dunes and cliffs for days. She has intersectional connections and skills some of which we aren’t even shown. Counterfeiting. Weaving. Hacking. Espionage. She likely has more.
She’s not a girlboss. She’s not a tough girl. She’s not a love interest. Her love triangle is with the same person, someone she is already married to. Even when she’s confused and upset she navigates with a level head and her heart first. Her heart that’s firmly hooked up to her brain. She’s snarky, but she has every right to be, and isn’t cruel about it, it isn’t used as a crutch either for the writers or in universe to avoid actual conflict, it’s a well implemented human coping mechanism that characterizes her as both optimistic, playful, and self aware, things women aren’t allowed to be nearly as much these days; teasing without it being suggestive, instigative and assertive without it being sexual, just her being herself.
She’s compassionate and understanding even when she doesn’t understand and takes no goddamn shit. She gets angry. She cries and not in a ‘girls cry’ way. She’s isn’t sexualized even one moment she’s on screen. She has a more regular body type, instead of being so strangely petite. She is so realistic and stunningly well executed amongst so many unbelievably flat and useless or straight up insulting female marvel cinematic universe characters. Her portrayal is so unashamed and human.
Her existing is bold and rare and so important. Her biggest flaw is probably that she married Marc because he was hot and not sexist and in the same/similar profession, and GOD if I am not sick in the head for an “I connected with you in a difficult time in my life and looked past your red flags, the things I should have seen coming went out of control but it’s not your fault they did, and now our lives are so entwined it would hurt more than help both of us to leave, we’re stuck with each other, so we had better figure it out. I want to. You’re still the most important person in my life” like hello??? And it’s not because she’s unintelligent. It’s because she is. She was young and passionate and in pain and wanted something everyone wants. To run away from it all to a world where mythological superhero adventures are possible, and in her world they literally are! That’s real! She is so real for that. She accepts the consequences of all her choices.
Then of course there’s her and her goddamn adorable heart flutter inducing dork4dork with Steven, that I see as just everything missing from literally every other superhero romance ever, and likely the biggest reason she wants to try and stay with Marc. She has as many sides as he does, even if not to such an extreme, and she always tried to let him see that. It didn’t have anything to do with her, but Marc never felt safe enough to let her know all of him, whether figuratively or literally, and Layla just gets that. That it’s harder than she can understand. That she likely never will. Even if she doesn’t like it, she wants to make up for lost time. To get to know him again.
She didn’t quite get enough screentime in the series for me to breathe or talk about something other than Marc. So, here, she can. And will. For as long as I can keep it up. Because having characters like her, and she in specific getting to mainstream media, means everything to me.
I could write so much more about why I love her, why I think she is incredible, why I can’t even unpack or articulate how much she means to me, but I think you get it, and I covered the main, most canonical reasons.
I flipping love her.
She is everything.
Hope that answers your question. She is my indescribably important special interest, blorbo from my show, my her her her she!! It’s her! That’s my girl! My damn girl. Yeah.
And thank you, I’m so glad you like the way I write her, because I sure do. I love her)
