#codominance

Would you give more (or actual) screen time to show how this effects Kira, Noshiko and Ken? One of the things I loved about your fic with Kira is that it did some of that such as the very authentic, visceral feeling of seeing loved ones grow older/sicker and Kira being upset she lost out on so much of her life. I also liked the detail of how Kira earned two tails in a short amount of time in comparison to her mother, not because either is ~better~ than the other but just that each person's life path and the circumstances, trials and tribulations therein, are different.

Well, for me -- and I'm more than willing to discuss it with those who disagree -- the difference between employing the spiritual and cultural figures from cultures other than your own in an ethical manner and appropriating them is the respect you give the cultural context in which the figures exist in their original cultures. Yes, I have used these figures in my stories Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning, All Our Yesterdays, and Termination Shock because I think that their appearance important to the characters I'm trying to explore, but I hope I gave those particular cultural figures the respect they deserve.

On the other hand, in my most recent work, The Sticking Place, I've excluded Shiprock entirely in favor of having Noshiko take Kira to an enclave of Kitsune in Los Angeles in order to explore both the nogitsune storyline and Kira's own predicament.

My problem with that plot in Season 5B is not that the production used indigenous cultural figures in the story, it's that their use turned out to be so shallow as to be effectively appropriation. Regardless of what they may have intended by including the sk*nwalkers -- and I'm sure they intended something because they paralleled them with the Dread Doctors in both number and inscrutability -- the execution left much to be desired. Arden Cho revealed that a lot of the scenes she shot in 5B were cut (most likely because of their terrifically bad decision to end Kira's role on the show), and I can't help but wonder if we had been able to watch those scenes, the presentation of the sk*nwalkers would have been less exploitative.

It would have been so easy to not do this. Why did Noshiko go to Shiprock rather than to her own people? We see her unloading silver bars, so it wasn't like she couldn't have flown to Japan if there were no other kitsune in California. Was she afraid? Ashamed? We observe that the sk*nwalkers were powerful, but there are other powerful individuals out there, what made them the best people to go for help? Why did they seem hostile? Is it their nature? Were they offended? If so, why did they offer help when Kira came to them again? Were they planning something else? We learned nothing of their specific natures, nothing of their motivations, nothing of their role in the greater supernatural community.

To me, there is where the disrespect lies. They were used a means to an end, something with cool visuals and vaguely menacing atmosphere without requiring anything like exploration. The production couldn't take the time to find a way to give us their names, but they did find the time for a Gratuitous Butt-Spin. :P It's unethical, and it doesn't matter to me if the original scripts went into it more deeply -- the finished product did not, and that was a choice. In my writing, I choose differently.

codominance.

Rating: T Chapters: 1/1 Word Count: 18,353 Relationships: Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Relevant Tags: Episode: s05e13 Codominance | Season/Series 05 | Canon Rewrite | References to Canonical Character Death | Angst | Angst with a Happy Ending | Hurt Scott McCall (Teen Wolf) | Scott McCall (Teen Wolf) Needs a Hug | Stiles Stilinski Needs a Hug | Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Friendship | Suicidal Thoughts | Berserker Trauma | Nogitsune Trauma

Scott veers the jeep sharply off the road just in time for it to rattle to a stop.

Stiles is uncharacteristically silent beside him.

Scott breathes through his nose and watches as the arrow on the gas gauge drifts down to empty—honest, now that it’s too late.

Now that it’s dead.

ROSCOE IS BACK BABY

so you’re gonna make a big speech about getting your pack back and when liam offers to help you’re really gonna be like NAH DO NOTHING

thank you stiles, that’s what i’m saying

oh no he’s sweaty and dirty oh no big fan of that red tshirt oh no

babyyyyyyy 💔

"I'm a Kitsune of 900 years. You want her? You'll have to go through me."