wheres that story about the D&D guy who plays as a bear and has really good disguises and no one knows its a bear and he becomes king and everyone falls for it except one person who rolls for perception and he goes THATS A FUCKING BEAR and gets kicked out of the kingdom
I finally managed to get hold of a copy of my dissertation! You can read it on Google Docs HERE. Please feel free to download and cite the work if it helps you with your own studies. đ
You guys, this is 70 pages of analysis of tumblr language and you should probably read it. I know Iâm going to.
i will never be over the fact that during first contact a human offered their hand to a vulcan and the vulcan was just like âwow humans are fucking wildâ and took it
Humanityâs first contact with Vulcans was some guy going âIâm down to fuck.â
Vulcansâ first contact with Humans was an emphatic âSure.â
âsirâŚtheseâŚthese humansâŚthey greet each other byâŚâ *glances around before furtively whispering* âby clasping handsâŚâ
*prolonged silence* âoh myâŚâ
âsirâŚsir how will we make first contact with them? surely weâŚwe cannot refuse this handclasping ritual, they will take it as an insult, but what vulcan would agree to such a distasteful and uncomfortable ritual??â
*several pensive moments later*Â âcontact the vulcan high command and tell them to send us kuvak. i once saw that crazy son of a bitch arm wrestle a klingon, heâll put his hands on anythingâ
Elsewhere, w/ kuvak: ââŚ.my day has come.â
The vulcan who made first contact with humans is named Solkar guys. Yâall just be makinâ up names for characters that already have names.
Bonus: hereâs a screencap of Solkar doing the âmy body is readyâ pose right before he shakes Zefram Cochraneâs hand:
I swear Vulcans only come in two types and they are âdistant xenophobesâ or âhorny on main for humanityâ. Also apparently this guy is Spockâs great-grandfather and frankly that explains everything.
Hey so I looked into this at one point and that handshake literally created a lifelong telepathic bond between the two of them, and basically all of Solkarâs descendants were later obsessed with humans, including freaking SPOCK, so Iâm not saying that handshake was so gay and good that it created an intergenerational telepathic bond between Solkarâs descendants and humans, but Iâm also notâŚ.notâŚ.saying that.
The slow deliberation with which Solkar takes CockraneâsâIâm sorry, Cochraneâsâhand⌠The sheer sensuality witch which Solkar infuses an otherwise borderline impersonal social ritual⌠It clearly shows a very conscious knowledge, on Solkarâs part, of what the significance of the handshake is in Vulcan terms and of how affected he is by it.
Thatâs why heâs so slow in doing it, and so sensual. A part of Solkar canât believe this is happening, despite it being a perfectly logical thing to expect from a human, and the rest of him canât believe how good it is.
I bet that if the camera zoomed in any further we would see the dilation of Solkarâs pupils and a quickly-repressed shiver of delight. Cochraneâs firm, businesslike clasp is probably (in sexual terms) being perceived as a deliciously carnal display of dominance.
No wonder Solkar is all like, âTAKE ME, YOU WILD-MANNERED BARBARIAN WITH ENTICINGLY ROUGH CALLUSES.â
And so we find out that yes, there is such a thing as bottoming in Pon-farr.
Every time this post comes round my dash, it just gets better.
See, what you need to understand is that âNot all guys like thatâ is never going to work. Because youâre answering an entirely different conversation than what women are actually saying.
You think women are saying âEvery man is a predator and a danger to me.â And youâre replying, âBut Iâm not like that.â
But women arenât saying that. Theyâre saying âThere are too many situations where women have to worry about their safety,â and youâre saying âThatâs not important.â Theyâre saying âWomen are constantly told itâs their fault if something bad happens,â and youâre saying âDonât worry about it.â Theyâre saying âToo often, women find their trust violated by men,â and youâre saying âBut you should trust me!â
Theyâre saying âSo many men have decided that what they want is more important than anything about a woman.â And youâre replying âIâm exactly like that.â
i just read a washington post article on romcoms aging poorly due to the pushiness (and oft-stalkery conduct) of the male characters therein, and it got me thinking about pride and prejudice, and specifically darcy saying, âone word from you will silence me on this subject forever.â
because, like, thatâs the seldom-portrayed romantic dream in the patriarchal hellscape that is our world, isnât it?
a dude being willing to say, âi understand if you donât feel the same way about me, and iâll leave you alone forever about this if my attention is unwanted.â
so simple, yet so wonderful in its basic human decency
and dudes to this day wonder why women still swoon over darcy
Note also: Elizabeth turns down Darcyâs first proposal, and in the process, accuses him of doing some stuff he did not do (and also some stuff he totally did).
The next day, he surprises her on her walk. He hands her a letter, asks that she read it, and then takes off.
When this happened to me after I had turned someone down IN REAL LIFE, the letter contained a passionate argument to the tune of âactually youâre wrong and you do like me and you should go out with meâ and it was creepy af.
Darcyâs letter to Elizabeth starts with: âBe not alarmed, Madam, on receiving this letter, by the apprehension of its containing any repetition of those sentiments, or renewal of those offers, which were last night so disgusting to youâ. He goes on to set the record straight about the stuff he didnât do (as well as the stuff he did) which is *actually relevant* to Elizabeth. And he, as promised, doesnât romance her further.
Itâs totally bizarre that even now, this can be considered unusually great dude behaviour.
Darcyâs first proposal:Â âYou must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.â
Darcyâs second proposal:Â âOne word from you will silence me on this subject forever.â
His whole arc in the book is about learning to consider other peopleâs feelings and not just his own, but the fact that itâs expressed via who gets to talk and who is told to shut up is so, so telling. The first time around, he imposes his voice on her whether she wants it or not. The second time, he asks how she feels, and in exchange, offers her the gift of his silence.
And yeah, the fact that dudes still! have! not! learned! this! lesson! is exhausting.
I have never seen the Keira Knightley version of P&P because they cut a crucial line out of Elizabethâs initial rejection. In the book, she smacks him down because of âyour arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain for the feelings of othersâ. The movie cut the selfish disdain, which is absolutely the most important part of the line. Arrogance and conceit? He already knew about those! Heâd already had a conversation with her about pride, specifically his pride, and he was ready to go down with that ship.
But the selfish disdain? That was new information. That was the âoh shitâ moment that prompted the long letter, most of which boiled down to âlook, I genuinely didnât think it would hurt your sisterâs feelings much and I am legit sorry about that but I love my friend and he doesnât deserve your mother, okay, nobody deserves your mother especially not you and Jane who seem very nice and also here is the long and embarrassing story about why George Wickhamâs feelings are not worth my concern or yours ever ever everâ. He may be a socially awkward idiot but he does care about peopleâs feelings and he wants her to know immediately that he is not the asshole she thinks he is in that regard.
And then they meet again and he practically turns himself inside out to prove that he listened and paid attention and he is being super considerate of the feelings of others at all times bc she was right and he was wrong and he is trying hard to be better about this. So he rescues Lydia not only for Elizabeth, but because he feels bad that he didnât consider the further damage this asshole could do to other girls, he rescues Bingley and Janeâs romance because he wants to repair the hurt he caused both of them, and then he very humbly proposes again to Elizabeth, with appropriate concern about her feelings.Â
The entire second half of the book is âDarcy Is More Considerate Of Others Because He Got Called On His Behaviour And Actually Listenedâ and thatâs the core of his appeal. Not because heâs a jerk in part one (and Iâve seen so many guys use Darcy as an example of Women Love Jerks Not Nice Guys), but because when someone actually explains to the socially inept egg âyou are being a jerk and hurting peopleâs feelingsâ his response is âoh, shit, I didnât mean to do that, I will work super hard at never doing that againâ. And then he follows through and does work super hard at it and makes the change.Â