clex truther extraordinaire

By request of the discord! Here’s the smut thesaurus I’ve been building to help me write. It’s even longer now because I included some extra words from The Ultimate Guide to Writing Smut Fic by  QuinnAnderson on AO3. 

How many words are there for “penis” and “thrust” (that aren’t completely cringey)? Here are all the ones I’ve gathered so far 😂

It’s going under the read-more cut because it’s over 1,000 words in bullet-point form so it is loooong. 

EDIT: Here are some additional pointers!

Kpop moodboards-

I’ve got like 10 meta in draft about this damn show because my stubborn ass still loves it, is still here holding out for Sydcarmy and expects a firm rejection of late stage capitalism. And I also absolutely cannot resist the subtext. That shit is my catnip.

Whilst I’ve been chipping away at my drafts, more deliciousness has revealed itself in the rewatches which is exactly what’s happened with a rewatch of 4x07 Bears.

First, see the parallels between Claire’s voicemail confession in 2x10 The Bear and Syd’s confession to Donna in 4x07 Bears. Note the same beats getting hit in the exact same order during both:

1. I’ve had feelings for Carmy for years

Claire (2x10 The Bear): Hey Carm. Um...I know I'm gonna see you in a little bit but, uh...I'm at work and, um...I don't know, I just, I had this, like, um...sudden urge to tell you that I've, um...I've always had this, like, massive crush on you.

Sydney (4x07 Bears): Like...actually this is pretty wild. I don't even know if he knows this, but I went to New York a few years ago, cos I, like, I wanted to eat his food so badly, you know? This was before we even know each other and um...Hands down, the best meal of my life.

2. Carmy is special.

Claire (2x10 The Bear): And I think you're, um...so special and, um, so wonderful.

Sydney (4x07 Bears): Carm's special. What he does is special.

3. Carmy is his own worst critic but he’s good at what he does.

Claire (2x10 The Bear): I know it can be hard to, like, find a second to feel good about what you're doing right in the middle of when you're doing it but, uh, I just hope you know that I'm so proud of you. And Mikey would be so proud of you, Bear.

Sydney (4x07 Bears): He definitely, you know, can be hard on himself. But, he's good at what he does.

4. I love Carmy.

Claire (2x10 The Bear): Um...And I just, um, I-I really love you.

Donna (4x07 Bears): And you guys are very close?

Sydney (4x07 Bears): Oh I-I think so.

To me, this is more evidence that the show is setting up Sydcarmy endgame clear as day. I struggle to think of another reason to have (platonic) Syd’s dialogue mirror (romantic) Claire’s.

The wedding episode (described as a “house of love” by Neil Fak) also mirrors Sydcarmy dialogue with another romantically partnered character on the show - see Ted disclosing how Kelly makes him feel in 4x07 as compared to Carmy disclosing how Syd makes him feel in 2x09:

Also how’s about this math problem found in 4x07’s “name your fear” game:

If Chester says he’s both scared of and loves spiders…

And Carmy is scared of a so-great “she” who is Sydney…

Then logically does it follow that Carmy can also be both scared of and love Sydney?

Maybe it would, if there was some connection between Sydney and spiders...

Luckily, I live in Australia where there are famously many, many spiders…and one of the scariest ones we’ve got is the Sydney funnel-web spider.

Anyway all of this is to say, Chris Storer and Joanna Calo are setting up Sydcarmy endgame, its just a matter of when. For all our sakes, I hope its in 2026, after the show gives Sydney and her backstory the fulsome attention she deserves.

djo

Car is literally in Carmy's Name: One Woman is a Bad Driver, the Other Drove Professionally for UPS

"Sometimes you go with people. Sometimes you go without them." Wise words from the mouth of a kid. T.J. gives Syd this nugget in Worms.

Syd was a driver. She was good enough to drive professionally. Sartorially and colloquially she is associated with green ("I called all the people you worked for...they said you're very green" and her green dress at the wedding). In driving, green means go. The car/Carmy moves forward when the light is green.

richyjerimovich

Her drive (combined with Carmy's) motivated Richie out of his slump, which is why they are shown driving Richie rather than being driven by him. In the scene above--notice the color of the necklace dangling is green as if Syd is there in between them, propelling their reconciliation. When Syd and Carmy have fired Richie's motivation up he drives so fast with the music on, that sparks shoot out from under the tires. He is drawn to Jess, who likes car racing.

sophsun1

After Friends and Family, Richie sits in his parked car listening to Carmy's message because their fight has affected his motivation. Syd fired up the creative engines to open the restaurant, buoyed up the confidence and skills of each member of the Bear team, got Carmy back in tune with his sister and his mother DD who crashed/caused Carmy's crashout. Her skill steered DD away from another public crash at Tiff's wedding.

hotch-girl

Whereas Red Flag is a bad driver and keeps him/his car stalled and revisiting the same abusive patterns of behavior. See his discomfort in the scene above. She demands his work van for an errand that is detrimental to his relationship with Syd and ultimately the restaurant. When we do see them together, he is not the driver but the passenger taken along for the ride with Red Flag in the driver's seat. He is unreachable and no one can contact him. The place she drives him to is along Sheridan Road (associated with Syd) to a post office (associated with Syd). Their accompanying dialogue as @whenmemorydies humorously decoded is about euphemism for Carmy's underwhelming experience of having sex for the first time:

https://www.tumblr.com/whenmemorydies/778039575409049600/a-tale-of-two-sex-scenes

brokenwinebox

But I'd like to point out the stated purpose of the trip is crucially to deliver a liquor license when alcohol is a substance that has ruined Carmy's childhood and which he attends Al-Anon meetings to grapple with. In effect, Red Flag will be the conduit for further bad things and for the horrors of the past to congeal further in Carmy's psyche. Literally, driven to drink by her. Literally, you should not drink and drive the car/Carmy. That's why the sex scenes look like a horror movie--imagine having sex with a person who reminds you of all the worst parts of your family and promises to take you back down into the depths of hell you wanted to escape from.

brokenwinebox; unladyboss

She is associated with sirens visually and aurally; as a pun, a siren harkens back to the Greek myth of a dangerous creature that lures a man to his death---their [Carmy and Red Flag's situation/Carmy and Syd's relation]ship wrecked. The car/Carmy wrecked. She was already a voyeur at the earlier car wreck in his life. She is the one he calls when he is idling in his car at the scene of that earlier wreck.

melkingmd

Right now Syd is car-less and takes the train to work or an Uber to deliver food to Nat and Pete. However, she has her mom's car tattooed on her back and the ability to drive other cars (like she drove Richie's). In fact, you rarely see Syd driven by others and she refused Carmy's offer to drive her to the hospital; the Uber driver takes instructions from Syd as she is a backseat driver (telling him to stop by the lake).

cosmonautroger

In her childhood bedroom there is a poster for Speed, a movie where a young woman cheerfully and selflessly takes on the burden of driving (the bus) to save her fellow passengers from exploding--much like Syd rescues everyone at the restaurant.

peaceluvandempathy

Notice how Shapiro's new restaurant that Syd visits has an entrance via the garage. Now Syd will go forward without Carmy. Her own ambition might sputter. Or she may just drive off because her narrative momentum is to propel herself and others forward: "sometimes you go with people, sometimes you go without them" but in either case you "go." Carmy tells Richie in Goodbye, "When I came back, I didn't know what to do...I was stuck." It's Syd's greenlit momentum that propels Carmy and the plot forwards whereas we languish in torturous circles when the plot returns to mediocre Molly Gordon. We have yet to see Syd driving Carmy as they head somewhere together. He has given her the keys, which presumably include the keys to the van. But that does them no good if he is not in the car with her. In Season 5 if Carmy drives towards Red Flag or is driven by her (stoplights and sirens), Syd will drive away without him in her own car or some other man's. She'll find another vehicle and he'll crashout and be left dancing with a ghost.

we got the fact that sydney lied saying she’d go to the original beef on sundays with her dad when they’re always closed on sundays just to work under carmy (s1 says they are open 7 days a week HOWEVER in s1 episode 8 syd tells marcus that her family rarely ate out and then in season 2 carmy tells claire how much he hates sundays)

the THOUGHT of sydney calming carmy down during a panic attack twice mind you when the thought of claire only made it worse

the iconic table scene in season two

the fact that CARMYS FIRST DISH was the best meal sydney had (looked like a bleeding heart mind you)

burned himself out and put the restaurant in debt because he wanted to get a star FOR SYDNEY not for himself

carmy saying he liked this when it was literally just them in the kitchen in episode one mind you

him literally begging sydney to let him come to the hospital and that phone call in general

both the kid and donna’s crazy ass clocked sydcarmy and they didn’t even watch them interact

carmy literally sounding so sad with that “you didn’t talk to me all service” in episode ten

the fact that sydney knows she can run the bear herself with sugar and richie but she WANTS to work with carmy cried over the fact that he was leaving her