#mswyrr

[cottagecryptic]

they won’t let me reblog it so I’ll post it instead

[rosegardeninwinter]

Your love for and analysis of thg is so refreshing and keeps inspiring me when my fic writing energy wanes. Thanks for how you approach fandom. It's really positive and energizing.

That is so kind!!!!! Thank you so much!!!! And right back at you: I find your analysis of Coriolanus so compelling and I appreciate how you apply a level of scrutiny and empathy to him that is usually only reserved for Katniss (or now Haymitch). It makes the story much richer! 🥰

[trying-to-get-somewhere-real]

If you have the time, would you consider sharing more thoughts on how sydcarmy hits similar buttons to f/f ships for you? People keep joking on Twitter the cast is "talking about them like a lesbian ship" and I'm mulling over my own reactions and just curious

definitely - thanks for the ask! if the people on twitter are suggesting the cast is talking about them like something that won't materialize and people are crazy for seeing and that is inherent to most or all sapphic ships - well, i think i've been lucky to avoid too many sapphic ships like that (most of mine are very niche and i never expect canon or they're already canon) and that is definitely not what i was talking about (though i know it's a huge problem - those jokes aren't coming from nowhere).

for me it is similar to my more niche f/f ships because the dynamic is there regardless of creator intent, and dissecting every little thing about them brings out all of the nuance that makes the ship hit! it is not straightforward - but that doesn't mean it isn't romantic or sexual. but i think the complexity scratches the same itch in my brain as my queer ships. a lot of queer love stories are about someone coming out only when they meet the person who makes them realize they are queer, or falling for someone else who they don't already know is also queer, and there is so much ambiguity and potential miscommunication embedded in those types of dynamics. figuring out how you feel and whether/how to express that to the other person is so much harder. plus, so many straight people do not understand queer love at all! they can't look at us and see anything but friends (and honestly racism plays a huge part here with why i think so many people likewise cannot see sydcarmy as anything but friends).

for me there's a rich tapestry of tension in queer relationships (sexual but also just the "what is this what is this what is this?" challenges) that is lost on too many people, and sydcarmy have tension that pings for me in a similar way and it is also being lost on too many people.

there have been a lot of great posts on here parsing various showrunner/actor decisions that seem very intentional re sydcarmy, but ultimately i am less interested in whether it's intentionally romantic or intentionally pointing to endgame - and think the press/cast/writers' focus on it has caused a lot of the unfortunate press. i know that may be a very unpopular opinion because if it's not intentional it's probably not going to canon endgame-type places and that is what people want. but what i care about is whether i see something and enough other people here (and twt, tiktok, etc.) can see it such that we're engaging in this rich discussion about it and creating fanworks for it because it is so alive and real and vibrant to us. and for that to happen usually something in the writing was, in fact, intentional. maybe not intentionally-this-will-be-canon, but intentionally creating a certain vibe that can very much be read romantically. and it is bizarre to pretend like we're crazy for seeing that.

this excellent post today discussed how sydcarmy is so highly contested and why it really shouldn't be, and this part near the end spoke to me and the point i'm trying to make here:

so if the writing is saying something, then it's intentional. maybe the intention was to have their characters skirt and skate on the periphery of each other. maybe it was for things to be awkward and weird and undefined or hectic and toxic. maybe they weren't ever gonna have some relegated idea of a shipper's happily ever after. people have feelings that go unexpressed and undefined. people fall in love and then don't end up together. maybe the slow burn fizzles out, maybe it explodes or implodes, maybe one of them self denies, maybe they both do. maybe it will or won’t be addressed directly or covertly. that's actually not a requirement for its existence. to act like there isn't something true and obvious and visceral that exists between these characters is frankly like asking those who watch your show not to use their eyes and their brains. impossible.

[westerosiladies]

thank you so much for your posts about the tragedy of both alicent and rheanyra - you really find the perfect quotes/images to talk about their tragedy and equal parts in it. "neither of us won, yet both of us lost" ;____;

Thank you!!! I love the two of them and just wish they could've had better.

[booasaur]

The Old Guard - requested by anonymous

[benperorsolo]

the message han gave ben as his dying declaration (even though he couldn't speak, he used his gesture to say it) was: i forgive you, i love you. and nobody has to be into any specific tradition - but from a strictly literary standpoint that concept of "your father had already forgiven you.... all you needed to do was accept the freely given forgiveness you already had" is both a christian idea and an idea in TONS of literature and art and a valid one. FFS. it's one of the only good bits of TROS!

[emperorren]

As someone who consistently seeks out female characters with redemption arcs --and also just gloriously amoral female characters and romances like Eve and Villanelle on Killing Eve -- fandom talks big but they hate that too and/or mentally water it down into pap to be able to like it. People call women who ship Villaneve names and tell us we're stupid and deserve to be abused too.

I haven’t seen Killing Eve but I saw your reblog where you mentioned C/lexa and yes, people seem to either outright hate controversial f/f pairings where one of the character is a villain, or turn them into cinnamon roll fanon versions of what they actually are, and god forbid if you point out that they did questionable things too and might not embody the perfect, 100% healthy and pure alternative to toxic heteronormativity they think it is. Now why would an official creator focus on writing three-dimensional, controversial female characters, when the fandom reception is so poor and lacking nuance? (they still should, of course. But we know how mainstream fiction tends to pander to preexisting tastes and fanbases)

to be honest, I’ve rarely seen the “why are redemption arcs always given to white male characters” argument come in good faith from someone who actually likes redemption arcs, enemies to lovers ships and conflicted villains and unapologetically enjoys these narratives in male characters as well. It’s generally an anti-redemption bullet point—“you like redemption stories? have you considered you might suffer from Internalized Misogyny™????”—or it comes from female villain fans like Cersei stans who are bitter than people are invested in Jaime’s redemption and, instead of criticizing the author for putting the twins on such diametrically opposite paths, they lash out at fans for supposedly *having double standards* in their perception of Jaime’s redeemability vs Cersei’s. 

the problem, as it often is with redemption discourse, is that woke fandom tends to see redemption narratives as something *imaginary* that exists only in the eyes of the audience, and not as a deliberate authorial choice that results in actual different writing for villains meant to be redeemed vs villains who are meant to stay villains. They say “why are only white male characters written into redemption arcs?”, but what they actually mean is “why does fandom always sympathize with male villains on account of a supposed redemption arc that I can’t see because I have no idea what redemption is in the first place, and doesn’t equally sympathize with THIS female villain [who is decidedly NOT written into a redemption arc]? must be sexism!”

If you think redemption is only a fan(on) concept, and there’s no real difference between redeemable villains and irredeemable villains, then it makes sense that you would think fans of a certain type of villain only stan him because he’s white and male.

Which sucks, because the fact that redemption narratives tend to be monopolized by white, male characters is a real issue, but it gets completely lost due to a fundamental misunderstanding of what redemption narratives are.

[thewollfgang]

i truly think he would play a very sincere cover of "like a virgin" on the piano over how intense he found the experience -- maybe she wakes up and finds him playing a familiar tune and it takes a second for her to recognize it and then their eyes meet warmly and they laugh as she comes over to cuddle her silly, wonderful, magnificent sweetheart?

I love it ;-;

.

Lucifer sits at his piano, fingers resting on the keys. Fingers that have touched her, that she allowed to touch her. It's like everything feels...a bit different now. He's sore in places and he aches in unfamiliar ways, but it's good. Oh, it's so very good. After all they'd been through, they'd finally come together, in the most spectacular fashion. It had been...phenomenal. Beyond words. The way she'd made him feel.

A melody begins to form in his mind, fingers reaching for chords. "I made it through the wilderness," he sings softly under his breath. "Somehow I made it through..."

He glances through the doorway where he can see the bare curve of her shoulder, blonde tresses spilling over black silk.

"Didn't know how lost I was, until I found you." He smiles a little bit, speeding up the tempo just a bit, pressing the notes down to sound just a bit more full. "I was beat, incomplete. I'd been had, I was sad and blue, but you made me feel," he inhales shakily. "Yeah, you made me feel...Shiny and new."

He focus a moment on just playing the proper keys, gathering his composure. "Like a virgin, touched for the very first time."

His thoughts flash back to her hands slipping low, her voice gasping in his ear, the press of her hips as they moved together. It was like nothing he'd ever experienced before.

"Like a virgin, when your heart beats next to mine."

He startles when her hand lands on his shoulder. He hadn't heard her slip out of bed. Her hand slides up to his neck and he looks up at her, feeling abruptly unsure. She bends down to kiss him and he opens up to her pursuit helplessly, wanting. He makes a sound of protest when she moves away, but she doesn't go far, taking her seat next to him on the piano bench.

Her voice is sweet, wavering just a little from nerves as she sings the next bit without accompaniment. He's a bit distracted by a naked Chloe sitting next to him.

"Gonna give you all my love, boy. My fear is fading fast." He blinks at her, surprised, but quickly gets with the program and begins playing again, utterly in awe of her. "Been saving it all for you, 'cause only love can last."

She casts a look down at his also naked form and flicks her gaze back up to his eyes, hooded. "You're so fine, and you're mine. Make me strong, yeah you make me bold."

He joins her on the next line, harmonizing with her as she gains confidence. "Oh your love thawed out, yeah, your love thawed out what was scared and cold."

He plays a fancy riff to lighten the mood and grins at her. She knocks her shoulder into his with a smile, tucking an errent lock behind her ear.

They sing, together. "Like a virgin, touched for the very first time. Like a virgin, with your heartbeat next to mine."

He lets the song fade early, especially when she decides to kiss him again, winding her arms around his neck, the soft parts of her pressing against his chest. She pulls back just far enough to speak, lips brushing his with every word.

"Come back to bed."

He nods and lifts her without warning, causing her to cling to him, her bark of laughter loud in his ear.

Ooh baby, yeah, can't you hear my heart beat for the very first time?