[Insert Personality Here]

A.K.A.: Pirgho, P.G., and various other sosobriquets

[pagets]

You do realise I wasn't criticising you yesterday? You compared me to a baboon with inflated genitals and then called me a terrorist.

ELEMENTARY 3.07 "The Adventure of the Nutmeg Concoction"

[whyohwhydoris]

I love how Watson shifts from being defensive/upset to kind of seeing that Holmes deeply love and cares for her, and it just trying to offer he advice and perspective and options and to let her be who she is and support that, instead of blindly helping her to fit herself into society's box.

[memelovescaps]

I think we moved on too quickly from Joan's stepdad shipping her and Sherlock and writing a book about it 🤣

I also find the meta in it funny, making reference to other media based on Sherlock Holmes, when it is actually very true.

SHERLOCK: May I assume your visit had something to do with his book?

JOAN: You know about the book?

SHERLOCK: An hour ago, I signed for a box which contained nearly 200 copies. But I've been aware of it for months. An associate brought it to my attention.

JOAN: You read it?

SHERLOCK: I did.

JOAN: You're not mad?

SHERLOCK: Should I be?

JOAN: Of course you should, you're you.

SHERLOCK: It's hardly the first time I've inspired a writer, Watson. I am actually the basis for several fictional characters across various media. It's one of the by-products of my success as a detective. I fascinate, this cannot be helped. You yourself once wrote about me. The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes.

JOAN: When did you...?

SHERLOCK: I was displeased because you used my real name and you shared my real history. Your father's magnum opus, on the other hand, is the very opposite of real. Look no further than chapter 32, where we make love beneath a footbridge in Central Park.

JOAN: Why didn't you tell me about it? The book, not chapter 32.

SHERLOCK: Your stepfather uses pseudonym, and I assumed you were the reason for that. You seem angrier than I'd expected. May I ask why?

[whyohwhydoris]

I firmly believe that Joan reacts more to it not just because it is a breach of trust for her in a way it isn't for Sherlock, but because she is deeply attracted to Sherlock in two different ways.

Like, She is attracted to him sexually - and I think her dalliance with Mycroft attests to that - but not attracted to his lack of emotionality in that space. For her, engaging with him in that way would hurt and potentially be addictive. By all accounts, Sherlock is a sublime lover. But he would not love her in the way she wanted to be loved - both physically and emotionally - because he does not express love in sex. And so, she can't have that and does not wish it.

And then you have her genuine romantic/platonic (because it is both) attraction to him. And while she can indulge the platonic, she can't indulge the romantic directly because, again, he cannot express love in the way she needs.

That is my read at least. I believe that Sherlock fully romantically loves her, but will not seek that out in her because he does not believe she reciprocates. But I believe she does.

And it's fascinating because I think that Joan is kind of the same in a different way - for her, romantic and sexual attraction as separate. She needs her sex to be romantic. And she needs her romance to have that sexual spark. But I think she struggles with partners because, while the sex is romantic, the romance fall short. Because she has this very specific need. And it is better aligned with society, but it still - much like Sherlock - isn't the same as the norm.

TL;DR: I love them your honour.

[shoreleave]

"When I was younger, I was terrified of [doctors]."

[vexheart]

This

[delicatebluebirdruins]

thinking how Kya and Bumi were named for two people Katara and Aang loved and lost yet neither had much of a relationship with Aang in the end... thinking thoughts

[whyohwhydoris]

The fact that Aang named the kid after his either very recently deceased or actually alive friend and Katara for her murdered mother is also interesting in terms of how it interfaces with their grief. I've always wondered why "Bumi" and not "Gyatso"?

Did Aang wait to see if he was an Airbender first, or use energy bending to somehow figure it out? Is it coincidence that Tenzin's name aligns with Aang's culture? Or even that Bumi - the non-bending child - is the one without either a Water Tribe or Air Nomad name?

There's so many layers to those names. What did Katara wish to name their first child? Was she comfortable with "Bumi"? Did she get to name Kya as consolation after Aang decreed their first child's name, or was it a conversation both times? What about for Tenzin?

Who suggested "Kya"? While Aang knew about Katara's mother when they were younger - about her death - he never seems to have actually engaged with it, so I assume Katara made the decision? How did Aang respond to Katara using a family name, given Aang's historic stress on the lack of familial structures in Air Nomad culture?

I dunno. There's something in it all which sits uneasily within me. I don't trust Aang's emotional motivations and reactions in this space.

[notaplaceofhonour]

Ryan Gosling’s career has just been one long quest to climb the Warner Bros water tower

[notaplaceofhonour]

that man has been trying to climb this tower since he was 16. he has asked multiple times, and every time they said no, but now he’s famous enough & variety was able to convince them to do a shoot on the tower. it all led here. it was all for this.

[notaplaceofhonour]

I’m obsessed with the implication that this was a coming-of-age ritual where a boy becomes a man, like a bar mitzvah

[whyohwhydoris]

He's got important things to talk to the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister Dot) about, okay? It's like climbing the mountaintop and meeting the ancient, wizened wise one.

He's got the patter down pat. He's got the femme fatale looks. And he's brought an offering of sustenance for the great hunger. Truly, he is ready to ascend.

[honeyxmonkey]

Avatar Aang, age 17, once got clocked in the face by Firelord Zuko, age 20, because he forgot Zuko is deaf in his left ear and has no peripheral vision on that side either. And made the mistake of not announcing he was right next to Zuko, resulting in jumpscaring the Firelord and being on the receiving end of Zuko's fight or flight response. Unfortunately for Aang, Zuko always chooses "fight".

[muffinlance]

Aang goes down and somewhere in Zuko's hindbrain, a millisecond before he properly processes the situation, his inner ponytail!prince starts shouting FINALLY FUCKING CAUGHT THE AVATAR

Fortunately what comes out is just fuck fuck fuck

[whyohwhydoris]

Then everyone (especially Suki, Katara, and Toph - because bodyguard, group mum, and fellow person with disability) give Aang grief because "do you not remember that people have tried to assassinate him!?" And rush to protect their emotional support Fire Lord friend.

(you will never convince me that Zuko isn't an honorary girl in the group. He likes flowers and turtleducks and beauty!)

[whoracefitz]

on today’s episode of crumbs of parallels

[ceruleanwhore]

OH MY GOD HOW DID I NEVER SEE THAT?

[zutaratheory]

they're learning from each others

[whyohwhydoris]

It got better! They're in each other's walls and don't even realise it!

[charlottebaskerville]

"He gave up the avatar state for her!!!" And i unironically cannot name a better way to piss katara off. Imagine your buddy gives up his ability to end a war thats lasted 100 years and ravaged your homeland, all because he wants to kiss you, and you aren't even sure if you return the sentiment. All of your and the whole world's hopes are riding on him and he just doesnt give a shit. Id kick his ass so hard

[whyohwhydoris]

This is genuinely how I envision it. It is so selfish. It is so callous. If Aang revealed that he had given up on his desire to be with Katara to ensure that the world she loved could begin to heal? She would be so thankful of that. It might even be something which would kindle her affection. Zutara under the cut

I think that one of the reasons that canon text can so strongly be read as Zutara inclined stems from how we see Katara positively respond to someone doing precisely that - putting moral behaviours she gives value to before selfish wants.

Even if we set aside romantic attraction, Katara is very hostile to Zuko because she perceives Zuko as having placed his personal wants - His father's love, his attachment to his country, his senses of honour and pride, his desire for ease and comfort, etc. - above the common good. When she speaks with him in the Crystal Catacombs she is not hostile She is learning and understanding his situation and condition. She is fundamentally allowing his past to be his past, and she is ultimately putting a choice in front of him. Her offer to heal him, and the bond they build is a tacit invitation to join her and the Gaang - at whatever level that would be. She is presenting an alternative when he doesn't have to be alone - doesn't have to be without the essentials of a dignified human existence. She then gives voice to this by saying she thought he had changed.

So, we know that Katara will be hostile to and have no love for or trust in an individual who - when faced with the choice and oppurtunity - places their own wants ahead of common good.

Importantly, this is a common character flaw for Aang. While some instances - such as his desire to play instead of train - are minor, others aren't His betrayal of Katara and Sokka in concealing important information about their father from them is never adequately addressed. But even that is acceptable because it is a personal betrayal, not a betrayal of the common good.

Katara's hostility toward Zuko was so intense because it was both, but the foundation was first and foremost a betrayal of the common good.

And while The Southern Raiders allows Zuko to address the personal betrayal, Katara's acceptance of Zuko - her specific forgiveness of him - is founded in how his service to address his personal betrayal proved his larger commitment by showing her that he had forsaken all those things he'd selfishly chosen before. And there after, Katara and Zuko share a total trust and an inseparable camaraderie.

All of which is to say, we know how strong a bond Katara can for with someone she hated when they prove they are putting others and the world first. And equally, we know how strong a hatred Katara can feel when someone - given and able to make the choice - chooses their wants over the world's needs.

If Aang were to truly reveal the context of his forsaking of the Avatar state to Katara, it would represent an incurable personal and moral betrayal that - while not potentially making her hateful towards Aang, I think can be shown would make her no longer willing to accept Aang.

[amillionmagpies]

I think people need to get used to the idea that most things happen by accident, including systems of oppression.

I've seen so many people talk about how certain types of discrimination exist specifically and deliberately to uphold capitalism or something, and most of the time they're just... things that happened. Bad habits we got into as a society, long before anyone alive today was born.

I really do think we need to stop saying "this behavior was designed to further systems of oppression," and start saying "this behavior does further systems of oppression, deliberately or not." It makes people more likely to listen to you, since you're not accusing them of being an evil oppressor who hurts people on purpose, and it makes you less likely to fall into conspiracy theories and us-vs-them thinking.

[whyohwhydoris]

This is such an important point to remember. There is a fine and important nuance between

"This negative thing exists to create the conditions of oppression"

and

"This negative thing exists for somewhat unrelated reasons, but it is being used and intensified by people and institutions which benefit from creating conditions of oppression even though they may or may not actually adhere to the underlying motivator for that specific negative thing"

In A Peoples History of the United States Howard Zinn argues that the institutionalization of racism and discrimination in the legal code and in sentencing stemmed from a desire of the moneyed elite to prevent the solidification of the labour class by creating a division structurally between Black and other colonists and early Americans, and also to specifically curtail the spread of anti-slavery sentiment among white labour who were also being exploited - though significantly less severely so - by the money elite.

But vital to this analysis is that racism and the institution of slavery preexisted this codification of disparate punishments (including more severe punishment for engaging in 'criminality' in company with Black individuals specifically).

Yes - the slave owning plantation class and the ruling class more general all benefited from exploiting the behaviour of racism and the structure of slavery. But racism predated both that exploitation and the structure of slavery and developed from a lot of root sources ranging from "human brains are wired to be suspicious of people who do not look like the people we grew up with" to "historically, and especially in the various pre-scientific ages, communities had to directly and often violently compete over limited critical resources in such a manner that cultural norms about discrimination and the out group were both universal in the human experience and most readily expressed against visually obvious physical characteristics which in the afro-european confluence was most clearly skin colour"

And we see this now. Why does Jensen Huang want the US to continue its war in Iran? Because it makes him richer and more powerful. Does Jensen Huang support Zionism, American Imperialism, anti-Persian bigotry, Islamaphobia, or any of a number of co-factors in this war? Probably not - but he doesn't care. Those structural injustices do not exist because Jensen Huang wants to be rich, or because men like Jensen Huang wish to be rich. They are merely a set of existing behaviours which he and others like him can capitalize on to be rich.

None of those behaviours exists to prop up capitalism. No - not even American Imperialism. They exist for complex multi-factor reasons. But they are exploited to prop up capitalism. They are the convenient tool of capitalist oppression. They are also forms of oppression in theirselves, and they exploit capitalist system to prop theirselves up too. But the key factor is this: if the oppressor can benefit, they will use whatever behaviour, belief, or tool is at hand.

This is why intersectionality matters. Often, intersectionality reveals both the common abusers of oppressive systems - the Military Industrial Complex, the Billionaire Class, etc. - as well as highlighting the diverse root causes of those systems. And both need addressing.

Islamiphobia exists in its current severe state in the US in part because of 9/11 and the weaponisation of that event politically. And 9/11 happened because of US foreign policy in the near east. And that policy was shaped and pushed by Zionism and political convenience, and by Zionism exploiting political convenience, during the Cold War. And that stemmed in part from hostility to the Soviet Union - which was intertwined with, but in important ways distinct from, capitalist panic about socialism. And so on and so forth

The demonization of Iran and her people happens because people who are pursuing rapacious capitalism, and people who are racist/Islamaphobic bigots, and people who are Zionist Ethno-Nationalists all benefit from it. But they are also exploiting a pre-existing skepticism and mistrust about 'different', 'foreign', and 'other' cultures and things. And they are all exploiting each other.

But that is three separate groups and motivations which are exploiting the same behaviour, and that behaviour already existed and emerged from a history of events that coalesced into the current moment.

I can tell you now - those events did not happen in order to create the conditions for those three factions to align. The West did not prop up the Shah because people like Jensen Huang might want to one day access the Iranian market to prop up their fortunes which are currently inflated by an AI bubble they are desperately attempting to sustain.

They did it to ensure political control of oil resources during the cold war, because their leaders were friends with oil executives, because their 'Christian' and Western cultural norms devalued Iran's Islamic and Persian ones, because it was a legacy of empires, and because the people making the choices had no direct understanding of the reality on the ground or the likely consequences.

And vitally, we are seeing that this is becoming in some important ways harder for the oppressor to exploit because most common people, when surrounded with generally true information about their fellow humans - assuming they are not already invested in some form of negative behaviour - do not incline towards hostile patterns of action. And that is why remembering the first point is important. Because if you assume that the behaviour exists to prop up the oppression, you forget to actually treat the behaviour as well and instead assume that your can get rid of it by targeting the oppressive system - which just leaves it there to be exploited by the next person. The behaviour is not a symptom. It is not a cause. It is its own separate diagnosis which requires its own separate engagement and treatment.

[strange-aeons]

Heated Rivalry & The History Of Hockey Fanfiction

[whyohwhydoris]

This is fascinating to me. I am a Colorado Avalanche fan. I love NHL hockey. And I am also a fandom girlie (gn).

I'll start by saying I hate RPF. But not people who like RPF. I hate RPF the way someone might hate tomatoes. Not for me but for ye.

And I also specifically hate Hockey RPF because I want to interface with Hockey in the way I interface with with other things I am a fan of - the same technical and analytical obsessions but divorced from the toxic masculinity and bro-iness of the broader major sports culture. (Again, hate like tomatoes - my yuck, your yum, whatever. But I - as in me, as in this single human person - hates that thing because of my own taste. Still with me? Recognise that this isn't Hockey-RPF/RPF bashing? Good.)

But something that I think both the Hockey RPF and the advent of Heated Rivalry's popularity is highlighting is a conflict internal to Hockey culture right now.

There are certain aspects of NHL hockey that make it different from other major sports. The countries with the climate to support it internationally are all in the Northern hemisphere and flirt with the arctic circle. The game has a disproportionately large number of players from Russia and Eastern Europe - traditionally more religious and more conservative places. The game has a conservative fanbase statistically speaking and a conservative player base as the entry level to playing the sport is about the highest among major competitive sports.

So there is a retrograde conservative streak in the sport. And this became most evident when the league retreated on Pride-Month related activities and LGBTQ+ outreach. A lot of this was stemming from players who are - frankly, because religion is no excuse - bigots.

Much like this dive talks about Patrick Kane and the impunity NHLers still enjoy around that kind of abhorrent behaviour, there is a different impunity around bigotries. It is most often seen with Russian players (that is specific Russian individuals, not all Russian players) who incline towards homophobia, racism, sexism, and even ethno-nationalism.

Alexander Ovechkin (Who can get fucked) shows some of this - he is supportive of Putin, of Putin's politics which inherently includes the targeted persecution of queer people, of Russia's war in Ukraine, etc.. But, because the league is seeking to be internationally 'inclusive' this goes unpunished because it is sacrificing structural inclusivity at home for market reach.

But, let's bring it home to guys being gay, and the fight for the heart of Hockey. In 2023, the NHL effectively banned Pride Nights. They extended this to banning all "themed" night in terms of prohibiting teams from having special jerseys on-ice. So, your team could no longer have a rainbow flag based logo for their Pride-Night event. They could host Pride-Nights, sell Pride related merch. But the on-ice product was sanitized. And it was clearly about Pride nights and only expanded to other events due to backlash.

And that is important - Backlash in the fan community was sufficient that they extended these rules to all such events including things like military appreciation nights. So that's part 1) There is an appetite for culture change in the Hockey community writ large that is in favour of inclusivity.

But you also had specific player responses - and here's where being an Avs fan comes in.

Asked about it, Avalanche star Defensemen Cale Makar said

"When one individual kind of goes astray, it kind of looks bad on the whole community. For us - 99% of the guys in the league - it's all about growing the game and making sure it's inclusive for every single guy. (The NHL is) trying to take out that individual thinking and helping the league in terms of not putting any solo guy in that spot. "At the same time, we live in a world where it needs to be inclusive for everybody. As an individual, with my point of view, I'm here to make the game as inclusive as possible. "The tough part in media is now those guys' choices reflect everything on the league. That's kind of the hard point. To have those guys do that, it's a little bit of a cheap shot for everybody else, knowing that people are like, 'We're taking a step back.' In my mind, I think we just keep moving forward. "There are a lot more things we could be doing, but it's unfortunate that stuff is still where it's at. You see one guy take his perspective out of line, and everybody gets associated with that. It's unfortunate, but at the same time, I think a lot of heads in the league are in the right spot where we want to grow the game for good reasons."

Cale Makar isn't just some guy - He is widely considered to be the best Defenseman in the world right now.

Additionally, the Avs Captain Gabriel Landeskog has proactively participated in outreach, inclusivity, and support efforts by the NHL around queer participation in the league. This included a league initiative where one player from every team volunteered to be the guy anyone in the locker room struggling with being queer in the NHL could talk to as part of a visible support structure for players. And beyond him, the Avalanche organization is active in supporting queer inclusion.

In 2024, the official Avalanche twitter account responded to a homophobic comment by saying

"We're not shoving a Pride rainbow in your face. We're celebrating the LGBTQ+ community who have been historically excluded from the sport we all love so much. "Perhaps it is time to educate yourself on what Pride Night actually stands for."

And to bring it all back around Drouin as my next launch point. Drouin played with the Avs for a year with his 2013 Memorial Cup winning teammate MacKinnon. And part of his landing in Denver was shaped by the fact that MacKinnon needed support as a person on ice and in the locker room, separate from as a player, in the wake of team captain Landeskog's long term injury related absence. Landeskog and MacKinnon are incredibly close as people and players. And MacKinnon has specifically helped change the discussion around mental health for players in the NHL. As a up-and-coming superstar, he suffered severely from mental anguish, self-hatred, and negative self-talk. After four seasons though, he made a change and hired a sports psychologist. But it is clear that a huge part of that was general therapy as well. MacKinnon is held up as an example of a commitment to excellence to the extent that his dietary habits are joked about because he takes such specific care. And it changed a lot of the way that elite players started talking about mental health as an aspect of their game.

And focusing in on Landeskog next, he recently returned from a three year absence where he was recovering from a potentially career ending freak-accident (a hockey skate cut a major ligament in his knee). As part of that, a docu-series was produced about his recover and return - a recovery that the organization proactively stood by him during for three years - which includes some very raw conversations about depression and anguish and how those effected him, his family, his recovery, and his life writ large.

All of this is pointing to how there is a palpable contingent of players and of fans who are valuing this healthier expression of masculinity.

And that is all preamble for this: We are watching a redefinition of masculinity. everything from Beau Travail to Fight Club examine the intersection of masculine beauty, masculine intimacy, and masculine vulnerability. And we are seeing a fight about that in the real world. In this way, the RPF and the likes of Heated Rivalry are tapping into to a very live third rail. Something that should be discussed is how making everything queer is actually agreement with the current toxic standard of masculinity - something that Claire Denis has spoken to with regard to Beau Travail - but that is a separate thought. The reason Heated Rivalry for women doesn't work, or why it isn't just about Hockey is because it is also specifically and actively about masculinity. And given that fandom/fanfiction is not actually a masculine space, that is a major part of the draw I suspect whether consciously or unconsciously. Those series which prompt fandom are not typically masculine art - they might have masculine characters or exist as a product of patriarchal social order, but that is actually distinct from being masculine art. Hockey RPF is often actually interacting with (though through limitations inherent to the fanfiction community itself) the idea of artistic expression in a masculine context and about the masculine experience.

I think the real story here - the thing to sink our teeth into - is how the gender binary has gendered universal qualities. Emotional intimacy is not seen as foreign in feminine spaces or expressions. Black Swan being "Heated Rivalry for women" (I know it's a half-joke, I promise!) ignores how much of Black Swan centers on traits which are often gendered as masculine - rage, competition, violence. In turn, Hockey RPF and Heated Rivalry are tapping into the opposite. Beauty, emotional intimacy, vulnerability, etc.

And Hockey is a fertile ground for this - NHL Hockey specifically - because it is more of a team-sport than any other major sport. It's outcomes are least predictable based on the performance of individual players. it is more romantic than its comparables. Things like the Stanley Cup build a mythos that the MLB, NBA, and NFL have no comparison for. The playoffs are described like going to war - not to battle, but to war. You hear about players putting in shifts on broken feet or with cracked ribs the way you hear about soldiers crawling through the mud and the shit for and with each other. It is a game about fraternity. A game where the most cherished achievement is having your name and the name of all your teammates immortalized forever on a trophy that has been awarded for well over a century. A game where the simple act of handing that trophy to a certain player after winning it gets lionized for what it says about the bonds - the intimate and masculine bonds - built between the men who have achieved that victory.

Hockey is more romantic than other major sports. It encompasses more of the human condition - it's the only major sport where fighting is a permitted if penalized part of the game. It has the full breadth of the human condition because it doesn't actually curtail things 'outside the game' the way other sports do.

And so it is a perfect stage for artists to engage deeply with a kind of art which is very difficult to find in the larger fandom space, and it is a sport which is currently fighting its own battle with itself for identity, and it's a sport where the way the game is played is culturally different.

I dunno - this was a long ramble. But I fucking love Hockey and I love people who love Hockey no matter why they do. Fuck Football being the 'beautiful game' - nothing captures the gamut of the human condition like Hockey. And I might hate that every Hockey tag on Tumblr is innundated with Hughes brothers non-sense and RPF, but god damn is it exciting to see that inescapable beauty capture people.

I also think focusing on the queerness of the RPF and of Heated Rivalry is missing another deeper aspect. I think the slash is in some ways incidental. It is the logical conclusion to how fanfiction and shipping culture are tied together. But the fact it is Hockey in particular feels tied specifically to a cultural dialogue about masculinity which is being under recognized because of the assumption that the dialogue is prima-facie about queerness.

[bfpierce]

online fandom is so fun because we’ll be talking about very serious character moments and analyzing them and stuff and there will be a lull in the discussion and someone will be like “and then they fuck about it” and then we’re all like yeah and then they fuck about it

[whyohwhydoris]

Lara Raith and choosing the high road.

Spoilers for Twelve Months

So, I've kept revisiting Twelve Months over the past few weeks. Basically, any time I've had a migraine, I've put the audiobook on, and dropped it a little bit before Harry and Lara's November date at Oz Park.

And something that is just really drilling down into my head is the scene where Harry notices that Lara is A) looking really tired and worn down and B) I also not wearing makeup for the first time that he's ever seen.

And, I think the top level of this is that Lara is quite literally showing herself to him in a way she doesn't with basically anyone. We have never seen her makeup-less. And Harry himself highlights that he's never seen her look worn down. He might have seen her exhausted - but that's because she'd exerted herself. Here, she is just tired and weary.

Lara and Harry have been self-defined reluctant allies for some time now. At the end of Peace Talks, Harry outright says

Harry: I respect what you can do, Lara. You're one of my favourite frenemies. But if we both want to survive, a certain amount of moving past these rough spots is going to be necessary.

And I think that it is easy to project back to White Night at least and see that Lara feels the same. While she articulates getting Harry involved as wielding him as a weapon it cannot be ignored that she has consistently expressed a distaste at the kind of world view that the Skavis/Malvora plot inherently assumes. And her decision to bring Harry in, while abusive of his trust personally, represents a tremendous vote of confidence in him from Lara's perspective. She knows exactly how Harry would respond and what he was likely to do. And she still chose Harry. And I think that says something about her morality. A morality that we see creeping in from the first moments of her ascent, when she finds a way to keep Thomas safe despite having to kick him out of the court, or when the security personnel and staff stop being date-raped thralls and are replaced with paid, informed professionals who are choosing to work for her.

And so, when Lara acknowledges that she is sharing another side of her self with Harry, that matters.

Lara: At the party, I showed you the part of me that... has done some terrible things, in her day. That's one portion of who I am, and I assume it always will be. But that is not all I am. For a very long time, I have been working to rise above the... the base nature of my heritage. I want you to know that it is a road I will be following

She has already been frank with Harry in admitting that she is not doing okay. And now she is acknowledging that a part of her is monstrous. But not all of her. She assumes she will always have that monstrous nature - but she doesn't seem happy about it. In fact, she doesn't seem happy or proud or otherwise positive about this part of her struggle. Instead she seems to face it with a grim determination. With a spiteful will.

I see a lot of very hostile readings of Lara. I think many of these are rooted - after a fashion - in misogyny. She is coded as the femme fatale. She is presented as this scarlet woman. Because we experience the story from Harry's point of view, and because Harry is varying levels of misogynist throughout the story, we are inculcated with this hostility. But I think the evidence is there.

Even in her introduction, Lara is seeking mercy. She is going to kill Thomas to spare him their father's wrath. This man who is both brother and son and the only thing in the world which she feels as though her father has yet to destroy and so she will take it from herself because she cannot stomach for her father to take this too. And then we have her iron-clad adherence to guest right - going so far as to frantically interpose herself between her father and Harry at their first meeting. We even have an early sign of her affections or respect for Harry when she flirts with him about her attire and seems pleased in her mock insult by his witty retort. And more concretely when, Harry having scrubbed the scales from her eyes, she does not hesitate one moment to subdue Lord Raith - and there after she works with Harry, and never plots against him, and only every involves him when she needs his help.

From the beginning, Lara has been different from what the story is telling us to expect of White Court vampires. From the beginning, she has been much more like Thomas or Harry than either man cares to admit because she has had to armour herself in fear and deceit to survive.

And now we have her sharing her aspirations with Harry. Have her choosing, once she had become bound to him, to not feed her way back to freedom through a swathe of human sacrifices even though she could and even though Harry would be unable to do anything about it in the short term at least. No - she accepts her bondage. And she trusts Harry. Because she is choosing to be different.

I am taken with Lara's character. I want to give her the biggest hug. I wish I were her friend, that she might have at least one person who sees what she is desperately trying to do.

I even think her decision to court Harry is a part of that. Because, while Mab arranged their marriage, I think that Lara made two separate requests. The first was for an alliance between herself and Winter. The second was permission to pursue the Winter Knight romantically. Because Lara has been growing more and more drawn to Harry for years. Because her hunger grows restless around him because she herself grows restless. And that Mab - being Mab - decided to show Lara why you don't make deals with the Fae by giving her what she wanted in the worst way possible.

And of course, there is Lara's choice to aligned with Winter and her broader choice of allies. She could align with the more hostile powers but instead she builds unity with the Baron of Chicago, the Winter Queen, and Vadderung - all three of whom are harder allies to keep but also more honourable ones.

Lara keeps choosing the take the step up. Time and again. She is choosing to be - after a fashion - a hero. Who knows, maybe she'll inadvertently become the Knight of Amoracchius next?

[wanghedi]

One of the effect of elementary watson being a woman on sherlock is that hes always making caveats about murder suspects like a man caved his skull in. Or a woman. women can also cave skulls in 👍 he set the building on fire. Or she. I would never imply women cant set building on fire

[bbcwhereareyou]

[whyohwhydoris]

I genuinely adore this because it is this constant testament to how much Sherlock values/idolizes Watson. He thinks the world of her, and he cannot abide the idea that she might think he has less than a stellar opinion of her on the grounds of any facet of her identity.

And, I love that here Watson does look so done with his shit. But also, there are times when Sherlock's sensitivity does matter to her? And maybe it isn't this part of their relationship. But it is there - that Sherlock taking these pains to acknowledge her as his equal implicitly through how he views the world after meeting her matters.

(Which, because I am such a shipper, is just another reason I ship them as romantic life partners.)

[maviebaby1983]

Zutara to Korra?

This is a question for all of the pro-Zutara, anti-Kataang folks. When u read and/or write Zutara fanfic, do those alternate stories typically lead to Korra? Do they ever go that far in the future? If so, is Korra meaningfully different?

#Anti Bryke #Anti Aang #Zutara

[whyohwhydoris]

I can't speak too much to the reading part. But I know, in the writing I've done for myself, I have always assumed Korra herself arrives.

To me, the Avatar Cycle is semi-fated. There are major inflection points, but the grand arc of history is woven into the fabric of the world.

Part of this stems from an entirely separate writer and world - Terry Pratchett's Discworld. In one of the novels set in that world - Small Gods - we learn that a nation called Omnia (a theocracy) was supposed to wage a 100 year long religious war which would eventually result in the collapse of the old order and the emergence of an enlightened peoples from the ashes of its passing. Instead Lu Tze, a time traveling monk and custodian of history, decides he would rather a century of peace and shuffles things around like the proverbial butterfly flapping its wings to set a young nobody - Brutha - on a course with destiny, his God, and the church militant about to turn the world to fire.

This idea that the end - enlightenment of the people of Omnia - is destined, but the path may change, shapes how I write Zutara and ATLA broadly.

I sometimes imagine Aang and Katara separating after Tenzin's birth due to Aang's failures as a father - this lets me have Tenzin, Bumi, Kya, Izumi, Lin, so forth. Sometimes there is a Republic City, but most times there is a fragmented series of post-Earth Kingdom states. There's always at least one Zutara Daughter. And she always has at least one sister. But there is always a Korra because these event don't change Aang's fate. He exists in the world to address a specific set of circumstances and to guide it to a specific kind of balance. And then it is his time.

To me, Aang could have not run away, and he'd have died at ~150 and Korra would have been born just the same. But instead, he hid for a century, and so he dies young, because the Avatar Cycle needs Korra, and so that moment is fated. Just as Korra's moment is fated.

I like Kya, Bumi, Izumi, Lin, and Tenzin - so I tend to move the Zutara moment later. And that locks in Korra even more for me.

So yeah, that's my thoughts.

[sokkastyles]

People usually says that Katara and Aang are best friends, but I really don't see this. Katara and Aang never shared any deep conversation or understanding, I mean, Katara does understand and protect and cuddle Aang, more like a mother would do, but Aang never does the same. Actually, I think he disrespected here more than just a couple of times. On "Southern Raiders" Katara even said that she knew Aang would never understand her. Best friends are supposed do be supportive, understanding and Katara knew that Aang wouldn't be able to do this for her. I don't think that Katara goes to Aang to share her burdens because she is constantly protecting him and he probably wouldn't be able to handle it. I do think they are friends, but never best friends. Katara gives and Aang just takes.

I'd like to hear your opinion.

I think it says a lot that Katara tells Aang in "The Southern Raiders" that she knew he wouldn't understand this part of her. Katara is always trying to protect Aang from anything, including herself and her darker emotions. That says to me more than just feeling protective of Aang, it says that she feels like she can't be her true self around him. Like when she yells at him in "The Waterbending Scroll," she immediately apologizes and is afraid of hurting his feelings. When she is praised for her bending skills in front of Aang, she deflects and says that Aang is the Avatar. Whether or not Aang actually does understand Katara (and I think it ALSO says a lot that he claims he understands but then completely misunderstands at the end of the episode, and is wrong about his assumption about what Katara would do) it is clear that KATARA thinks Aang wouldn't understand this aspect of her personality, and that's true not in just what she says in TSR but in the way she hides the darker or more selfish parts of herself when she is around him. Like how she waits until she is alone with Zuko to finish her threat to him. Or when she breaks down in the catacombs (again while alone with Zuko) because she has to always keep it together for Aang and the rest of the group.

If you look at that scene in TSR, Katara didn't even want to tell Aang where she was going.

Katara: I need to borrow Appa.

Aang: [Jokingly.] Why? Is it your turn to take a little field trip with Zuko?

Katara: Yes, it is.

Aang: [Slightly surprised.] Oh. What's going on?

Katara: We're going to find the man who took my mother from me.

Zuko: Sokka told me the story of what happened. I know who did it and I know how to find him.

Aang: Um ... and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?

Katara: [Shakes her head in dismay.] Ugh, I knew you wouldn't understand.

I mean. Look at the way Katara approaches this situation. She's not asking Aang's permission, they're already packed. She doesn't open with telling Aang where they are going and why or bring up her mother to appeal to what he already knows about her trauma. She just tells him she needs to borrow Appa. She's already decided that he's not a part of this, she doesn't want him to see this part of her, and she already knows Aang won't understand.

And Aang's response in the face of Katara's seriousness is to joke about it. And he's totally surprised when he realizes how serious she is. I'm supposed to think that these two people have a deep and intimate connection?

Moreover, Katara becomes even more defensive in response to Aang's levity. Her dialogue changes from "I need this" to "WE are going to do this." Meaning her and Zuko. Because she feels unsupported by Aang. She's already decided that Zuko will support her in a way Aang won't, and she hated Zuko like five minutes ago! But she trusts him more than she does Aang, the supposed wholesome option, her supposed best friend.

Another very interesting thing is that when she says she knew Aang wouldn't understand, it is to refute Aang's dismissal of what Zuko said. Zuko is speaking in support of Katara after Aang's initial dismissal of her, Aang is dismissive again, and Katara says what she said to Aang not only in response to his tone, which makes it clear that he doesn't take what she wants to do seriously, but she says it to defend Zuko. It is, like, hilarious when people use this episode as evidence that Katara and Zuko are toxic together because what they just did right there was support each other instantly, while Aang and Katara bicker with and talk past each other.

Katara could have said something like "Zuko says he knows where to find him and it's the only chance I have" or something to indicate that she didn't really trust or want to go with him, because she hasn't forgiven him yet, but she doesn't do that. Instead she lets Zuko explain the situation to Aang, who should know her better and who she should feel more comfortable with than a guy she only recently stopped hating.

The thing that gets me is that there were multiple opportunities to use this episode as a bonding moment between Katara and Aang, even as its purpose is to establish a bond between Katara and Zuko. Aang could have apologized to Katara for not understanding or used it as an opportunity to learn about her. Instead he assumes she'll do what he thinks she should do and is totally wrong, makes an assumption, and Katara's look of guilt when Aang says he knew she'd "make the right choice" is so painful. That look says so much. Because I believe Katara wished Aang understood. I think she wished she could show the more hurt side of herself to him without fear of judgement. It's the same look she gets when she overhears Sokka talking about how he thinks of her as a mother figure. And whether or not it is Aang's - or Sokka's - fault that Katara feels this way, the reality is that she does, and that is so sad.

It's sad that a fourteen year old girl feels that much pressure to be perfect, to not show anything that might be interpreted as ugly or uncomfortable for the people around her to deal with. To take care of other people to the point of feeling guilty for her own emotional needs.

What annoys me a lot of the time about this conversation is that a lot of people center Aang and how good of a person he is and how he "deserves" Katara, how dare you say Aang did anything wrong, etc etc. The problem with this - other than that no one deserves a relationship based on how good they are - is that it's not necessarily about what Aang did wrong, it's about Katara's needs not being met. And the show weirdly went out of its way in one of its last episodes that focused on Katara and her relationships to show that Katara's emotional needs were not being met in her relationship with Aang.

[tea-and-la]

And Aang’s response in the face of Katara’s seriousness is to joke about it. And he’s totally surprised when he realizes how serious she is. I’m supposed to think that these two people have a deep and intimate connection?

to add on, i think the fact that he made not one, but TWO jokes, shows that he doesn’t really have the most emotional sensitivity/maturity out of the gaang (like some of his stans claim.) i mean, the context of the first joke: 

Aang: [Jokingly.] Why? Is it your turn to take a little field trip with Zuko?

this comes right after katara approaches with this facial expression: 

and even from her voice inflection, you can tell that she is dead serious. so it’s very misplaced for aang to have a teasing joke here, especially with the context of how upset she was the night prior at the campfire when she walked away. 

and then the second joke: 

aang: i forgive you. does that give you any ideas?

katara: don’t try to stop us.

it just comes off as patronizing. 

The thing that gets me is that there were multiple opportunities to use this episode as a bonding moment between Katara and Aang.

i 100% agree. like even during the campfire scene after katara walks off, aang looks just as confused about it as everyone else. and this is someone she has a deeply emotional bond with? not to mention that this could’ve been an opportunity for aang to check in on katara at some point after the dinner. 

i also just ... find it really odd that so many people think that aang had a supportive role in this episode. when have we ever seen katara look at aang like this when she’s supporting him through his pain?

also as a side note, i love how there was so much focus on aang as the “moral guide” that they literally didn’t animate sokka’s face during this scene. he just ... is kinda chilling there like a prop.even though it makes absolutely no sense for him to be standing there expressionless while the boy who has known her for less than a year gets to speak.

[br1ghteyed]

dialogue starters & prompts !

"you're not finished, are you?"

"your touch is. . . softer than anticipated."

"i'm starved."

"please. be gentle."

"it doesn't matter what i say, does it?"

"why did it have to be you?"

"silvertongued as usual, i see."

"if it means that much to you. . ."

"i'm rather particular."

"it's not a good idea to look at me like that."

"am i supposed to act grateful?"

"i can't stand to lose you again."

"do you think that matters to me?"

"when have i ever told you no?"

"you're quite a troublemaker."

"i didn't expect this from you."

"by god, how much have you had to drink?"

"i had a dream about you."

"you have too much control over me."

"i didn't know you were capable of that."

"we'll talk later."

"i'm not accepting criticism, thank you."

"don't waste your time on me."

"can we try again?"

"how did you know it's my favorite?"

"okay, now i'm begging."

"you're the only one whose opinion i trust."

"i don't care what you think of me right now."

"lie down for me."

"you're the best thing about this place."

"i've been waiting years for those words."

"no. if i hated you, you'd know."

"you weren't supposed to give up on me."

"believe me. it was a mistake."

"i'd love nothing more than to cook dinner with you."

"i would never let that happen."

"you have to relax for this to work."

"how do i make you trust me?"

"are you taking notes yet?"

"i was up all night thinking about this moment."

"the sun suits you." / "the moon suits you."

"i need your help."

"just eat it."

"in other circumstances, i would have more patience."

"you're soaking wet."

"you're braver than me."

"ask me if i care. i do."

"i need to hear you say that again."

"i didn't expect you to be anything other than difficult."

"i'll never recover from you, you know."

[whyohwhydoris]

(Reblogging for my future reference.)