#starlene

hi syrup @starlene @asymphonyofstarlight! ty for asking 😊

anyway this is also an anne of green gables fic! (spoiler: they were all aogg fics) (i i have a single personality trait) syrup, idk how familiar you are with aogg -- i know you've read the blue castle, so sorry if this is unnecessary 😅 the general plot of the fic is a character who is killed in World War I in canon, walter, surviving the war via being turned into a vampire. he meets his love interest, una, a few years later and pining + sexy(?) neck-biting ensues. i've mentioned this fic before just briefly but yeah, have been revisiting it! i'd like it to be a thematic halloween fic one day :D

the idea was admittedly inspired by BG3! basically i was playing and was like "hmm. astarion. vampires. you know who would make a good vampire?" and there you go. the document title comes from how astarion says ~*~the danse macabre~*~ when it's his turn in combat haha.

i do not usually go in much for supernatural AUs but i was feeling like if vampirism fit any aogg character, it would be walter. he's already v. dramatic and beautiful and haunted by death, so i felt like that was a Vibe to play around with there. i thought it would be interesting, too, to maybe get a leetle darker with him and una? in canon, they're both very kind, reserved, gentle people and i usually write (and like to read) their romance as something soft and healing for both of them. buuut i thought there might be something else there; una builds a lot of her life around taking care of other people and is canonically easy to impose on because she's so giving; i think there's potential for her love for walter/his memory to lead her into wanting to give walter things that aren't healthy for her to give (like her blood or, y'know, her humanity). later in the series, it's also suggested una doesn't have much to live for without the hope of walter returning her feelings, so maybe interesting to explore her having a bit of a death wish, too. also thought it would be interesting for walter, having not healed from the trauma of the war, to lean into his dramatic, brooding side as a vampire but, idk, haven't gotten that far into characterizing him lol.

snippets! have a few:

Thank youu!! (Iloni on houkutella. Jos valitset antautua vihamielisyydelle nyt, kun vastaan tähän runsaasti myöhässä, lähetän sinulle numeroita.)

1. the character everyone gets wrong

Fantine!! No one gets her!! But I do!!

When she's in fanworks (and that's not often), she's often this Madonna figure. The archetypal dead mom for Cosette, endlessly self-sacrificing and carrying her cross silently. And yeah, she is self-sacrificing, but she's much more than the nice girl and the perfect victim she is so often portrayed as.

Idk I feel like Hugo introduces Fantine so beautifully it sounds almost mythical and distracts you from really thinking about how rough her childhood was: She was a child who came from nowhere and had no name. She was literally named "child". She had no one and she has worked since the age 10, probably before that as well. Before she was a beautiful grisette enjoyed by a rich student, she was a working class girl with calloused fingertips.

Also, despite being this beautiful, fairylike creature, Fantine does have a bit of "woman of embarrassing situations" streak. When she was part of the Paris gang, she was an absent-minded dreamer who said the wrong thing in the wrong situation and couldn't read the room. Her friends thought she was embarrassing and not as smart as them.

And!! She is not a nice, quiet victim. Once things start going horribly, Fantine is sarcastic and full of hatred. She takes a lover as a form of self harm. She laughs when everything goes wrong. She drinks to dull the pain. When she spits at Valjean, she's proud of it. And after she's saved by Valjean... I'm not sure if Victor Hugo knew what fawning response is, but that's Fantine when she's being treated. You can see it previously when she is confused about who is letting her go ("Ah! you old wretch of a mayor, you came here to frighten me, but I’m not afraid of you. I am afraid of Monsieur Javert. I am afraid of my good Monsieur Javert!"). She licks whichever hand she finds most likely to feed her. Of course there is genuine gratitude in how she treats Valjean after being saved, but this is also the man who has promised she'll never have to work again, has promised to treat her illness and, most importantly, bring her Cosette. She's afraid.

Idk I just really love Fantine. What an absolute meow meow.

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8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Two opinions about fandom sexism come to mind: "Lack of f/f and female character appreciation in fandom is due to female characters being less developed than male characters" and "Lack of f/f is due to most people in fandom being straight women and they find men hot".

I do think there is a grain of truth in both, male characters are often more developed and some straight women love m/m because it doesn't have any women in it. However, if the disparity had something to do with whether the characters are well-developed, m/m pairings between Those Two Guys In The Back wouldn't happen and fandoms with mostly female casts would thrive because of the amount of f/f. Granted, in some fandoms there genuinely are no good female characters, or they don't have relationships with other women. Like I can't find a f/f couple to ship on a show like Supernatural, even when my favourite character in that show is a woman. But there are many, many fandoms where that simply isn't the case.

As for the hotness of male characters, 1. "fandom is dominated by straight women" doesn't seem to be the case on tumblr, 2. Do people actually ship stuff because it's hot? I mean some people must do it, but if it was the case for the majority of people, there wouldn't be so many ships between cartoon characters or non-human blobs. When I see people talking about their ships, they often mention the dynamic or the tension or their shared history more than the hotness of the characters. Even when it's sexual it's not like "they rub their glistening abs together" but more like "i need him to cry during sex because he has never been touched like that". Stuff that transcends gender. So. I have a hard time believing that happens because people find male characters more hot.

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25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Many people act like fandom is more important than it actually is, and it results in very annoying and generalizing complaints. I want to preface this by saying that I am not talking about the humble fandom wank. Fandom wank has it's place, I do it all the time, I am doing it right now. This is a hobby and a community and complaining about a hobby is one's right. Clumsy allegory time, I love skiing and I sometimes complain about people who sunbathe in the snow in places where you can't see them. And I have a point when I complain about it: it's not only annoying but also literally dangerous, people should stop doing it. However, if I were to spend much time talking about it to non-skiing friends or if I would spend all my time in ski lifts complaining about it like it's a super pressing issue in this world comparable to oppressive political structures, I would be reasonably deemed annoying.

I think much of this "treating fandom as more important than it is" stuff is visible in these """proshipping vs anti""" debates. I'm not the first person to say that it's time to drop these labels because they tell you very little about what the individual believes in.

My theory is that half of the posts fighting about proshipping and antis (whether they use those exact words or not) are based on aggressively misunderstanding other people. Idk, an "anti" makes a post like "as an sa victim incest ships make me uncomfortable lol" and a "proshipper" makes a vague post like "i saw an anti complaining that writing incest fanfic is sexual harrassment because it 'makes them uncomfortable'... get a grip" to which another "anti" answers "great, so you don't believe online harrassment counts as sexual harrassment?". "Proshipper" says "this is literally the same as the censorship performed by multiple governments rn" and "anti" says "you sound like conservatives who say people should just get over assault". And then people take turns dunking on each other while they don't even have a meaningful disagreement.

Love it! But it's more of a love-it-aka-adore-it-in-a-casual-way show than a love-it-won't-stop-talking-about-it show, and this goes for both the stage musical and the movie musical.

I don't know anything about the Wizard of Oz or the book the musical is based on, so there are lots of references and underlying themes I miss out on. But overall: it's not the best musical ever written, and I don't agree with those saying it should have won the Tony for Best New Musical - Act 2 is a little sloppy plot-wise, and I actively dislike that the romance plot takes priority over the rebelling-against-the-government plot, and that there's no resolve to the latter. (The fandom's ship wars are annoying af)

HOWEVER. I've watched countless bootlegs, I've listened to the cast recording recording a lot, I discovered many of my favourite performers through this show, and despite having seen it in person before, I'd see it again in a heartbeat. Can't wait for the second part of the movie. The music/songs, the set and the costumes are what sells the show to me, and I'd lie if I said I didn't cheer for optional high notes and insane riffs (despite my otherwise negative attitude towards excessive belting).

23. what's the coolest place you've visited?

Does a ship count as a place because visiting Götheborg of Sweden was the coolest thing ever. Seeing the size of it up close, the smell of tar, strolling the deck, seeing a piece of the original ship embedded in the helm, seeing all the cool spaces below deck while hearing stories of their recent travels, it was just. Incredible.

27. what's your favourite household chore?

Unloading a dishwasher, can just put a good podcast on and get going

28. what chore do you hate the most?

Thank you so much for the asks! ❤️ Sorry it took so long to answer them, but some of the questions were challening. Which is a good thing, because I really had to think long and hard about them.

By the way, I sent you an ask about a week ago. I was wondering if you got it....

18. What is your favourite female duet?

Maybe from Next to Normal, without a doubt. It is one of my (many) favourite songs from the musical and I never, ever tire of it. It still makes me as emotional as the first time I heard it. They don't sing much together in it, but it's the intimacy and connection of it. They're singing to the other person and the reactions from both sides are so strong and powerful. The harmonies and emotions in "Things will get better you see.... not for me...." breaks my heart every single time.

19. What is your favourite male duet?

I have been going over lots of male duets and I ended up going with What you own from Rent. It's a banger. I love the melody, the beat, the guitar, their voices together... I always sing along when I hear it and jump between both parts.

20. What is your favourite mixed gender duet?

There are a lot of beautiful ones to choose from and I have been going back and forth for days now. I have chosen Falling Slowly from Once, though. I just adore Once. I have been in love with Falling Slowly ever since the movie came out. There's something very special about that song, it just speaks to me. Their voices, the lyrics, the piano... the raw feeling.

31. Is there a musical that means a lot to you that isn't one of your favourites? What made you feel that way about it?

I'm gonna cheat a bit on this one and talk about a musical that isn't one of my favourites, but there's a production of it that means a lot to me. In 2017 I saw Malmö Operas production of Fiddler on the roof. I was just blown away. It was so well directed and well casted. I really felt for all the characters. The scenography and lighting design is still up there amongst the best scenography and lighting I have ever seen. The full orchestra and chorus made it really special, too. I was really moved and made speechless afterwards. I never listen to the cast recording and I have not seen another production of Fiddler on the roof ever since. But there was something magical about that production. I still think about it and have very vivid memories of it. Everytime I see a picture or video from that production I'm being transported back to that november evening.

32. Talk about the worst production of a musical you like that you've seen.

Hmmm... this was a difficult question. Maybe Nöjesteaterns 2017 production of The sound of music? It was not all bad... Christopher Wollter played the captain and he was amazing. I really liked Elisa Lindström as Maria and the kids, too.

It was slightly overshadowed by the owner of the theatre and his wife who displayed the absolutely worst case of overplaying I have ever seen. They played Max and and the baroness. Especially the owner seemed to think he was the star of the show and that everything he did was hilarious and the best thing to grace the stage.

The nuns were not so good and 'Climb every mountain' was a disappointment.

omg tää on niin söpö!!!!!!!! KYLLÄ, tykkään pääkalloista PALJON hah :''''''D Kiitos tosi paljon rakas mutuaali!!! Paljon haleja! Tää menee silinterin nauhaan!

Thank you!! I'm still balls deep in my master's dissertation so it's mostly albums on repeat but here's five in random order from diff artists to not cheat

King - Florence + The Machine

Pure/Honey - Beyoncé

Born This Way - Orville Peck cover

Til Stjernerne - Love Shop

Den Allersidste Dans - Poul Richardt

@xochipitzahua also tagged me to share albums ive been into lately, so here's some paper writing vibes