Loquacious, Libidinous and Literate

i think you're really onto something wrt the idea that some people seem to think cait should submit to vi sexually as some sort of reparations for her villain arc. honestly, i think it goes further, i think from the very beginning ppl have been uncomfortable with the power imbalance in their relationship due to the wealth/class disparity and also due to Caitlyn's position as an enforcer vs Vi's status as a victim of the corrupt prison system.

Leaving aside how absolutely fucking weird and twisted it is to view submission as something that can be used like fucking carbon offsets to account for privilege or misdeeds and/or something that can be "owed" to a person for any reason - it's so fucking BORRRIIINNGGGG to approach all that crazy good tension by trying to like. idk. diffuse it by having the person with less structural power "balance the scales" by dominating the person with privilege over them. there's nothing about that that creates any equality, you're just assigning a weird moral value to both privilege (and lack thereof) and acts of dominance and submission (and sometimes even top/bottom - all of which are morally neutral)

@haxanhexes and i were talking about this earlier, actually

and i think that's basically a good summary of what i find appealing. i think caitlyn as a character who has a lot of power and still craves it is interesting and i like complicating that by having her struggle with how it makes her feel about herself sometimes. conversely, vi as someone who hasn't had the opportunity to choose to give her power away could get something really meaningful out of being in that position. as hex says and as is truly healthy in this kind of dynamic, the power imbalance is played up and a huge factor of control is held by the submissive who is choosing what to allow.

anyway you're sooooo right about this part

Caitlyn, lacking control of her own life, finally getting it and fucking it all up. Vi, not trusting anyone else to do what needs to be done, finally putting her trust in Cait and that blowing up in her face. So yeah! I agree that it's thematically pleasing to have Caitlyn be in control and doing right by Vi and have Vi choosing to trust Cait and getting that trust honored and not be another mistake she makes. It goes full circle with their character arcs.

THIS IS BASICALLY IT!!! THIS IS THE MANIFESTO. CLAPPING AND CHEERING AND HOLLERING

and finally your best and most salient point

(Also, it's hot.)

thank you for showing up in my inbox with this. it was fun to get on my stupid little soapbox about something ultimately not that deep that i have spent a lot of time thinking and writing about lmao