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

words-writ-in-starlight asked: I am ONE AND A HALF EPISODES into Borgias and that scene where Micheletto hands Cesare a whip and orders him to torture him is so??? Do I ship this? Is this a thing I ship? "So whip me, My Lord" I? This show was such a quality rec on your part, I love it.

wildehacked:

OH FUCK I KNOW. 

The way he SAYS it, too, 70% matter of fact, 30% You Can Do Anything You Want To Me, Literally Anything, Do It, I Dare You. 

ALSO THE WAY THEY BOTH PANT WHILE STICKING KNIVES IN EACH OTHER’S THROATS AND THE WAY CESARE IS JUST GRINNING HUGE AND SAVAGELY DELIGHTED THE WHOLE TIME AND THEN HE’S LIKE ‘I COULD USE SOMEONE THAT FAST’ AND MICHELETTO’S LIKE 'YOU COULD?’ AND THEN CESARE GIVES THIS SHAKY TURNED ON GASP HALFWAY THROUGH REPLYING 'OH YEAH’ SO IT’S LITERALLY THIS BREATHLESS 'OHHHH-HHHH-H YEAH’ I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. SO MUCH.

THERE’S NO PART OF THIS SCENE THAT ISN’T MY WHOLE LIFE.

Anonymous asked: Okay so I'm super into weird, sort of fucked up interpersonal/political(/sexual?) dynamics so NEEDLESS TO SAY a lot of what you've said about Borgias sounds pretty up my alley, but can you give me a rundown before I sit down and burn through three seasons? Also, is it on Netflix, and if no, where can I find it?

wildehacked:

The Borgias is AMAZING, ON NETFLIX, AND FULLY AND 110% MY JAM, but that said it is super niche and I am super niche which is why I love it so. I will attempt to give you the rundown objectively! 

Things the Borgias contains: 
-crazy renaissance political intrigue 
-apparently the marketing slogan for the show was “the original crime family”, which is 100% true. There’s a very heavy mafia family vibe, and it’s not just because they’re Italian. 
-brother/sister incest. Incest between consenting adults, but incest all the same. (Also, to be fair: the incest Vibes start when Lucrezia is still fifteen, although the characters don’t do anything about it until years later.) 
-very graphic violence. Think Game of Thrones and Hannibal? (Although with a few exceptions I think the violence skews more GoT than Hannibal.) 
-multiple graphic rape scenes. They’re not filmed super grossly, in that awful Game of Thrones way, but they’re still graphic rape scenes. 
-non-graphic yet still deeply disturbing medieval torture!  
-three (3) canonically queer characters, one of whom is in a major supporting role
-so much murder
-so. much. murder. 
-queer sex scenes, although you have to wait a while for them 
-sex scenes featuring Cesare Borgia and Lucrezia Borgia, which is AMAZING
-sex scenes featuring Jeremy Irons, which is less amazing, even as I actually really love his lecherous pope 
-for a while, Luke Pasquilano being often shirtless
-Giulia Farnese’s legs, which are Quality Legs
-a badass warrior queen who at one point throws her dress up and threateningly flashes her map of tasmania at her enemies 

I feel like this is more or less the objective rundown? The unobjective rundown goes like this: 

The Borgias contains: 
-MICHELETTO CORELLA, LIGHT OF MY LIFE
-CESARE BORGIA, FIRE OF MY LOINS 
-LUCREZIA BORGIA, MY SIN MY SOUL 
-DECADENT AND LUSH CATHOLIC ICONOGRAPHY (IE PEARL-STUDDED CRUCIFIXES AND BLOOD-RED CARDINAL’S VELVET AND GIMME THEM GOLD COINS GIMME THEM COINS)
-GOOD PEOPLE DOING TERRIBLE THINGS FOR LOVE
-BAD PEOPLE DOING TERRIBLE THINGS FOR LOVE
-GOOD PEOPLE BETRAYING THE PEOPLE THEY LOVE BECAUSE OF THEIR TERRIBLE AMBITION
-BAD PEOPLE BETRAYING THE PEOPLE THEY LOVE BECAUSE OF THEIR TERRIBLE LOYALTY
-EVERYONE BETRAYING GOD AND DESPERATELY WANTING GOD AT THE SAME TIME. THEIR FAITH AND THEIR TERRIBLE LOVE LIVES FOLLOW SIMILAR TRAJECTORIES. 
-LUCREZIA’S SMALL SHARP ODDLY FRIGHTENING PEARLY TEETH
-CESARE CALLING MICHELETTO “MY SWEET ASSASSIN”
-MICHELETTO BENDING OVER A LITERAL RACK AND CALMLY ORDERING CESARE TO BEAT HIM
-CESARE’S OVERWHELMED AND HUNGRY EYES
-LUCREZIA’S SULKY MOUTH AND CHILD’S HANDS AND EQUALLY HUNGRY EYES 
-PEOPLE SO TERRIBLE THAT WHEN THEY ARE GOOD, THEIR GOODNESS SEEMS TRANSCENDANT 
-I HATE, I LOVE, I DON’T KNOW WHY IT HAPPENS, BUT I BURN. 

GODDAMN, I AM SOLD.

piggybunny12 asked: Re: Erik--Thank you :) That was very helpful as someone not super familiar with the canon. It's so interesting how relevant the Charles vs. Erik poles can be. They should be the new angel and devil on my shoulders :P

Hey, I’m glad you liked it!  I’ve basically been waiting to have an appropriate forum to ramble about the X-Men since always, it was a lot of fun to write.  And of course Erik is just such a train wreck of a person, I love poking around in the moral and psychological implications of his situation.  …I’m weird, just go with it.