Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

Anonymous asked: HOLY FUDGE. I SAW WONDER WOMAN AND I GET IT NOW. I GET IT. AND YOUR POST ABOUT STEVE FEELING GUILTY ABOUT BRINGING DIANA INTO THE WORLD OF MEN????? aSHJSGGGIHN *heart rips into many piece* Sorry i JUST REALLY NEEDED TO RANT ABOUT HOW GOOD IT WAS

RIGHT THOUGH RIGHT THOUGH RIGHT THOUGH

Okay for those of you who want to know my thoughts about Steve Trevor and Guilt, here is Installation One:

honestly if steve isn’t desperately breathlessly guilt ridden for bringing war to diana (even though she chose this and he knows it and he knows that he could never force her to face a war she didn’t believe in)(even though she doesn’t blame him) (he blames himself when he hears her kind heart cry for the dead though) THEN WHAT EVEN IS THE POINT ​OF THIS

And here is Installation Two:

what was that tag i made the other day honestly if steve isn’t desperately breathlessly guilt ridden for bringing war to diana then what even is the point​ of this yes that was the tag i’m so gratified that we all agree on this wonder woman diana prince steve trevor otp: when there are no wars to fight oh you better believe that’s my otp tag get the fuck on board with this misery express

AND LISTEN I AM STILL RIDE OR FUCKING DIE ABOUT THIS.

IF STEVE TREVOR–CRADLING DIANA’S FACE IN HIS SHAKING HANDS AS HE STRUGGLES TO ARTICULATE THAT PEOPLE AREN’T ALWAYS GOOD AND HE IS SO SORRY–ISN’T FEELING GUILT SPREAD THROUGH HIS BLOOD LIKE DYE, FEELING GUILT GRIP HIS THROAT LIKE AN IRON FIST, FEELING GUILT TWIST INTO HIS HEART LIKE A BLADE, THEN WHY ARE WE EVEN HERE.

Anyway I am very serious about this and if anyone wants to talk about Steve Trevor and Diana Prince and Guilt, I am here for you.

amusewithaview asked: DRAGON AGE MR. AND MRS. SMITH AU OMG WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT. I mean, my brain immediately goes to Leliana/Zevran, which, no, because I broship them. BUT CAN YOU IMAGINE ROGUE!PURPLE!HAWKE/ZEVRAN Mr. and Mrs. Smith AU??? Where Zevran and Hawke meet during Hawke's first year in Kirkwall as a mercenary/smuggler and then they have this awkward long-distance courtship and and... omg IDEK, this amuses me so much though.

LISTEN YOU COULD DO THIS WITH SO MANY THINGS.

DRAGON AGE ORIGINS: IDK HOW I’D SWING IT BUT LELIANA/WARDEN? FUCK YEAH

DAII: HAWKE/ZEVRAN HELL YES

SHIT MAN LIKE HALF THE CHARACTERS IN INQUISITION ARE CANONICALLY AT LEAST SORT OF SPIES (Leliana, Bull, Varric, maybe Dorian depending on which hairs you wanted to split, and that’s just who i can think of at midnight after a glass of wine) LET’S GO PEOPLE

DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THIS, I READ A SPY AU OF FUCKING LES MIS LAST MONTH AND THE ONLY THING THAT OCCURRED TO ME AT THE END OF A (frankly fantastic) FIC WAS “GOSH THIS WOULD BE EVEN BETTER IF IT WAS A MR & MR SMITH AU”

IF YOU’RE GOING TO WRITE A SPY AU ANYWAY WTF WHY WOULDN’T YOU

OR IF SOMETHING IS CANONICALLY A SPY THING WHY WOULDN’T YOU WRITE THIS FIC

BASICALLY WHERE IS MY MAN FROM UNCLE MR & MR SOLO AU

*throws gun-shaped confetti*

MAKE IT ALL SPY ROMCOMS, FOLKS

eldritchsandwich:

gethenian:

actuallyclintbarton:

tumbleaboutit:

theunitofcaring:

A lot of the advice I got about learning to enforce my boundaries was framed as an adversarial thing. Like, ‘yes, it might upset and disappoint the people around you, but you have to learn to tell them ‘no’ anyway.’ At best, ‘good people will still like you if you enforce your boundaries’.

What I wish I’d been told is that good people will think it’s awesome that you enforce your boundaries, that there are people who will respect the hell out of you for it, that there are people who will admire you not despite you telling them no, but because of it. That most people don’t want to make you do something you don’t enjoy,and so they’ll actively be happier and more relaxed around you if they know they can trust you to decline to do things you don’t enjoy and to ask them to stop things that bother you.

It helped me a lot, personally, to stop thinking of ‘enforcing my boundaries’ as something I did for me and more as something I did to empower the people I was close with, to build a situation where they and I felt sure everything that was going on was something we all wanted.

Most advice isn’t good for everyone and this advice seems maybe bad for people in abusive situations, because sometimes you do need to learn to enforce boundaries against people who will try to violate them. But if there are other brains like me out there: your partner will be really happy you can say no to them. your friend will be really happy you change the subject when you hate it. your roommate will really appreciate that you tell them to turn down the music. most people will feel safer and more comfortable around you if they know you’ll reliably express your needs, AND they’ll feel better about voicing theirs.

Tru fax.

I had a friend tell me that they really admired me for going “hey, I love you guys, but I need to go sit in a room by myself and read for an hour”. So yes, don’t be afraid of setting your boundaries!

And for people like me, who are very very VERY bad with things like unspoken clues to the fact that someone wants me to do/not do something or whatever? It is such a relief not to have to be constantly worried that I’ll do something that will make them not want to hang out with me anymore.

I’ve lost friends because they never tried to enforce their boundaries and as a result I had no idea I was trampling right over them until they got to a point where they couldn’t handle it anymore, and it is an AWFUL SHITTY FEELING knowing you’ve done that to someone.

Please please please enforce your boundaries with me. I promise I will love you for it.

This is so, so, SO important, people. 

I am both bad at enforcing my boundaries and constantly scared of stomping over other peoples.  It makes me feel safer if I know you can say No to me.
I don’t know why it never occurred to me that others would feel safer if they knew I could say No as well.  

(via aethersea)

Still Star-Crossed Episode 2

• Literally just from the first scene between Escalus and his father discussing Rosaline I can tell you right off the bat that I care 100x more about this politically fraught disaster of a relationship than whatever tense affair they’re trying to arrange with Rosaline/Benvolio.  Like, give me a relationship between two people who genuinely love each other but are trying to deny it and betraying each other because it’s the Right Thing To Do and doing massive amounts of damage to each other in the process, and I will immediately and unhesitatingly shove it into my awful maw with no regard for what canon tells me.

• Rosaline being forced to live in the room of her best friend who died for love while being forced into a marriage by the man Rosaline loves who also loves her is kind of great to me?  What if I wrote a bunch of miscellaneous bullshit about Rosaline being haunted by Juliet?

• I do not care that much about Benvolio.  Like, he’s had a Rough Life™ and he Drinks And Sleeps Around and like…yeah, poor dude.  Even though his carefully calculated descent into artistic nerdhood endeared me to him for a hot second.  Still don’t care.  Maybe shove some backstory in there, throw in some flashbacks, hit me with that gay Mercutio/Benvolio shit, ANYTHING to give him a personality beyond ‘angry rich boy.’ Anyway.  Moving right along.

• “You make it sound like our noble lords are a pack of dogs in the street.” …um, Escalus honey, they kind of are.  There was a riot literally under thirty-six hours ago.  

• I’m getting a lot of satisfaction out of Isabella pulling the strings behind the scenes for selfish reasons—getting Rosaline back as a friend, keeping her brother in power, retaining as much power as she can for herself—as well as Protecting Her Home. Also all of her clothes are real good.

• Medical history aside: hey, look, boiling oil.  A+ historical accuracy, Paré’s replacement for boiling oil only barely predated this and it’s entirely possible for Livia to have learned that from her solider father.  I’d also like to point out that this was not standard procedure for sword wounds, as it was used to combat the supposed ‘poison’ of gunpowder, so like?  Yeah, the nurse being horrified is also totally feasible.

• ….I’m so pleased with Escalus for stabbing someone’s hand, atta boy, but on the other hand I was really hoping for another knock-down drag-out brawl at a serious formal occasion.  Like, why else am I even here.

• The way Rosaline spits Your Grace like her tongue is made of steel and her words are made of poison is my life’s blood.  Also please have this become Escalus and Benvolio and Rosaline (and Isabella) all having horribly tense meetings where they scramble to come up with a plan that keeps Verona at peace without forcing anyone to get married.  I just need a scene of all of them at each other’s throats as they struggle to find a détente, with Rosaline throwing ice cold cutting remarks left and right as Escalus fights to keep an even keel and Benvolio is just generally an asshole (and Isabella cutting through the chaos like a finely drawn blade with a plan that is terrible and awful and perfect).

• ESCALUS, COMMIT TO SOMETHING.  MAKE A DECISION ESCALUS.  Something besides this sort of dangerously totalitarian ‘death for a death’ rule because, MY DUDE, you gotta at least give them a trial.

• Why am I still liveblogging this terrible show?  Why do I still love it so much?  It’s so bad and I’m enjoying the literal hell out of it, guys, I don’t even know anymore.

Anonymous asked: Fucking Wonder Woman. I'm dying. Im dead. I'm so gay. I literally gasped outloud and went "I'm gay" during many times in the movie and when Diana looks at Ares and said "Goodbye Brother" AND THEN WRECKED HIS FUCKING SHIT I STARTED CRYING I AM IN LOVE HELP

Some real tags I have used in Wonder Woman posts:

• i would let her cut my head off with her axe 
  
• GOSH i’m queer 
  
• BENCH PRESS ME *coughs awkwardly* i mean gosh what lovely ladies i bet they’re all delightful to converse with
  
• ANTIOPE IS GAY I DON’T MAKE THE RULES I JUST ENFORCE THEM
  
• MY QUEEN MY GODDESS MY INSPIRATION 
• I LIVE FOR THIS EXACT SHIT
  
• I ALMOST SCREAMED IN THE FUCKING THEATER
  
• diana is so hot guys i don’t even know how to live with this 
• she lifted the tank above her head and i stopped breathing it was fucking good as fuck 
• and like the scene of her crossing no man’s land made me cry like the victory loving dumbfuck gryffindor asshole that i am 
• help i am dead @amazons carry me off to themyscira
  

So basically what I’m saying is: yes, you’re correct, and GOSH I’m queer.

Bonus tags regarding Steve Trevor/Diana:

what was that tag i made the other day honestly if steve isn’t desperately breathlessly guilt ridden for bringing war to diana THEN WHAT EVEN IS THE POINT​ THIS yes that was the tag i’m so gratified that we all agree on this otp: when there isn’t a war OH YOU BETTER BELIEVE THAT’S MY OTP TAG GET THE FUCK ON BOARD WITH THIS MISERY EXPRESS

Right, so, there’s been some interest in this?  So here, this is like a 1.5K snippet that I wrote yesterday, a conversation between the main character (Brenneth) and Crispin, with a little bit of Krei (the Tall Tree Lesbian) at the end there.  I think this is…pretty much self-explanatory, but here is the ‘Earth is where the trouble comes from’ novel explanation.

Crispin was in the last cell to the left of the door, with the wall beside him, and on the side facing the entrance—no windows. His hands were bound with fresh apas cord, the wrists pressed together tightly enough that he could struggle if he attempted to break free.  He seemed in good health, uninjured from what I could see. His hair was even clean, the curls falling around his face like copper wire in the lantern light.

Crispin, I thought with a bitter rush of guilt, probably had not been given the luxury of fine soaps and a private bath.

He seemed to catch the thought on my face and pointed at me.  “Hey, none of that,” he said in his most commanding voice.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” I said automatically, and scowled when he grinned at me.  “And don’t be an ass, I’m trying to help you.”

Crispin’s good humor faded, leaving a small, sad smile behind as he glanced me over, eyes lingering on the spike in my hair and the new belt around my hips.  “They got you a sword,” he noted quietly, and my hand dropped to the pommel at my side, smoothing over the unornamented hilt.  

The weight of the sword was a strange dual sensation—it was intrinsically familiar and reassuring to the part of my that had hated to walk unarmed for a decade and a half on Earth, but my muscles didn’t remember how to compensate for it, had never learned how to walk without bumping the scabbard with my leg.  I was feeling the ache from the time I had spent in the training grounds, trying to force my body to accustom itself to the weight of a blade again, and I would pay for it tomorrow.  My palms would blister and my legs would tremble.  For the first time in years, I felt like a stranger in my body again, hating the way that my hands hurt from the hilt and the way my shoulders complained bitterly at me. The sword was a small token comfort against it.

Keep reading

Anonymous asked: *slides in* you're probably gonna hate me: Xavier/Erik, "Stumble into my Arms"

(I don’t actually…ship this…which I know makes me weird…so here, have another Real Dark Thing)

AO3 summary: “It’s going to be okay, Charles,” Erik says quietly, brushing dark curls away from where tears have started to dry under Charles’ closed eyes.  “You’ll see.”

“He’s a madman, Erik,” Charles says dully, past caring if Apocalypse hears them.

“He’s going to fix us,” Erik swears, like a man clutching to the last thread of his own reason.  “You and me, Charles, he’s going to fix us.”

“Go to hell,” Charles says, and turns his face away when Erik bends down to pick him up from the ground.

Actual summary: It starts with a missing scene that’s like 98% Erik being obsessed with Charles and Charles being in mourning for the man he used to know and also the whole entire planet.  Apocalypse lied to Erik about why they needed Charles and Erik is shattered, pretty much clinging to Charles as his last anchor point.  So when he discovers that this plan doesn’t end with Charles converted to his viewpoint and by his side, Erik goes off the fucking rails.  The fight is a lot shorter, since Charles is in better shape and Erik doesn’t do a heel-face turn halfway through.  On the other hand, Erik is in pretty bad shape, mentally and emotionally speaking, and his worldview is pretty well shattered, after the battle.  Jean rebuilds the house herself, alone, and the fic ends with Erik broken on the floor of Charles’ reconstructed study begging for forgiveness.  Charles presses his lips thin and does not answer.

If you want bonus pain feel free to imagine this as a soulmate AU.

Anonymous asked: MORAN I WATCHED WONDER WOMAN TODAY AND IT MADE ME CRY IN THEATERS! I said "fuck me up diana" so many times. And Charlie was one of my favorite characters out of their little outfit. (Besides Steve) Which story do you think is the most tragic out of theirs?

MY DUDE I’M A HARD BITCH, HEART OF STONE, THE WHOLE NINE YARDS, AND I CRIED LIKE MULTIPLE TIMES.  I COULD WATCH DIANA JUST FUCKING WRECK PEOPLE ALL DAY EVERY DAY FOR A YEAR.

And….mmmm, that’s a good question.  On like a strictly impulsive level, I’m going to say Diana, actually, just because…the loss of that innocence, the loss of that belief that humanity has the potential to be intrisically, truthfully Good, is a tragedy on a fairly legendary level.  Like, the world is lesser.

That being said…I’m going to say Sameer.  The Chief, as he points out so articulately, has lost a great deal on a cultural level (I was so pleased that they actually addressed that), but he knows everyone.  I loved the shot of him wrapping his arm around the German kid at the end, treating the Germans with the same familiar affection that he gives to the Allies.  Charlie, we don’t learn a whole lot about, but clearly he starts the movie with very few people to his name–he actually comes out of this whole thing with two new friends and a goddess buddy and also Etta who I think would be highly entertaining and very good for him.  

But Sameer…Sameer is clearly close to Steve far more than the others, and more to the point he’s not going to be…super well accepted by the Allied forces.  As he says, he’s the wrong color–the Allies just fought against the Ottoman Empire, and Sammy would be easily mistaken for an old enemy.  He doesn’t have people outside this weird motley little gang, and Steve was his friend, Sameer is always the first one to shout for Steve, to start running after him, to WORRY.  So anyway.  Give me all the fic of Sameer and Steve being old friends and Sameer and Diana sitting quietly together as Sammy drinks and Diana listens to all his old stories about Steve that no one else is really in a place to hear.  But Diana craves that knowledge, needs to know more about Steve in a way that scares her, and Sammy needs to talk, about his friend who died a hero and who no one will ever remember except for this woman, this goddess who’s sitting on the floor with him with tears clinging to her eyelashes, and if he tells her everything, every detail, and Diana lives on with Steve’s memory in her heart then maybe he won’t quite be dead.