Teaching

***

Title: Appleading
Author:kat_lair
Fandom: Wheel of Time (technically just the books but it's not really contradicting anything re the show either)
Pairing: Liandrin Guirale & Moghedien, Liandrin Guirale/Moghedien
Tags: Ficlet, Control, Power Dynamics, Choking, Torture 
Rating: M
Word count: 632

Summary: In an old townhouse in Amador, Liandrin begs with eloquence she didn’t even know she possessed. It’s a wonder what fear can do, to loosen tongues and inhibitions.

Author notes: Response to merryfortune's prompt of You're appealing to emotions that I simply do not have (from 'It’s Hard to Say ”I Do”, When I Don’t') over at likealighthouse's Fall Out Boy Femslash Febrary Ficathon. Takes place during Book Five when Moghedien catches the Black Ajah in Amador. This is unbetaed so if you spot a typo/mistake, please do let me know. Except for the title which is me mangling the English language on purpose. For my amusement.

Appleading on AO3

( Appleading )

***

***

Kat Reads Books

The Judge, the Jailer, and the Thief by Gemma Walker: Alex is freshly out of prison and has a heist of a lifetime to pull, if she can just repair the relationships with her family and also her ex girlfriend who she needs on the team. Rebecca is an ambitious judge waiting on a promotion that needs some encouragement to happen, all the while supporting her girlfriend of 20 years prepare for the celebration of the fancy tower building she's the architect of. Jimmy, a disgraced detective, wishes to regain his glory days or at least not lose them, except there's a documentary crew poking about an old case of a thief he and Rebecca put away a long time ago... Okay. Here are the things I enjoyed about the book: everyone was believably imperfect. The plot was complex and pulled it off pretty well, like I saw one of the main twists coming, but not the other. No big deal made out of the queer rep. The writing was pretty engaging. Here are the things I struggled with: I didn't really like any of the characters. The final decision Alex made endeared her to me more, but up to that point everyone was just... willing to do and say unpleasant things for reasons they justified to themselves. The omniscient pov was also something I haven't read in ages so it took a while to get used to it and the 'head hopping' was frequent and happened in. every. scene. It also made all the scenes really long because 'x said this, feelings/thoughts description' followed by 'y said, another feelings/thoughts description' etc ad infinitum. Most of the scenes were people talking instead doing, and everyone's emotions went from one end to the other like ten times in each scene. And on one hand, that's realistic as our emotions obviously fluctuate but on the other, we are rarely that fucking conscious of it so to have it described every time that she was delighted and then scared and then excited and then apprehensive and then and then in every. single. conversation. was exhausting. The core plot was good and I liked the found family theme, but then not to even show the central heist in detail from Alex's pov felt like such a cop-out. I gather there is a sequel coming, I am ambivalent about picking it up but I also want to know what happened to some of the characters, e.g. entirely unclear if Rebecca ever got any comeuppance or not. Argh. In summary, the book could've used a tighter edit. 


Kat Watches Things

Our Flag Means Death season 1: Has anyone not seen this yet? Just me then. One of those things that I knew I would enjoy but just hadn't gotten around to. Two men in their middle years find a way to break out of their society imposed boxes, deal with their trauma and freedom to be themselves. And also find each other. Oh and they're pirates (yes both, how dare you) with a delightful ragtag found family crew. Also everyone is queer. An extremely satisfying watch as a queer middle-aged person especially. The two leads did a spectacular job. I will get to the second (and final) season eventually, just not sure I'm emotionally ready. 

Kadonnut: Joulupukki (Missing: Santa Claus): A cute children's movie from 2015 where four kids are invited to visit Christmas land and have to find the missing Santa Claus who has been kidnapped. Or has he? It was pretty fun with the different elves, some stilted acting but okay, like exactly what one might expect. Bonus points for the rap battle that was genuinely funny. 

Pastori ja Ruma Kuusi (The Pastor and the Ugly Christmas Tree): A short film about a new pastor/vicar who wants to bring people together to decorate a Christmas tree outside a shopping centre. Predictable but I really enjoyed the guy who played the vicar, he was fun. 

Despicable Me 3: A rewatch but still good. I love Minions and I cannot lie. Gru unites with his twin brother, loses and regains his job, shenanigans. The Minions! 

Hotel Transylvania 1-3: First was a rewatch and involves Count Dracula working through his human related trauma because his daughter falls in love with one. Second was also a rewatch and centres on Mavis and Jonathan's monster-human family and whether or not their kid is a vampire and if that matters and to whom. Adorable. The third movie in the series I hadn't seen and focuses on a family vacation on a monster cruise where the captain has an ulterior motive which may or may not involve Drac's heart... It was fun but the romance aspect felt a little forced. I did enjoy all the details about the cruise and how everyone was spending it. Out of the three, the second movie with its family/identity focus is my favourite.

Code 46: This was in BBC iPlayer's Valentine collection, said 'dystopian romance' and so J and I clicked on it randomly for background watching and then ended up going WHY THE FUCK IS SHE DOING THAT and YOU COULD DRIVE AN UBOAT THROUGH THE PLOT HOLES. I mean... We enjoyed that part. The movie itself... Okay, in 2077, for reasons, a lot of the population is in vitro fertilised/grown in identical clone batches (yes, I know, it does not make logical sense, ignore the actual science). So if you want to procreate the old fashioned way you have to do a genetic screening first to check that you're not genetically related and in violation of Code 46... Anyway. The story goes that a fraud investigator enforced with an empathy virus, arrives in Shanghai to figure out who is smuggling out insurance papers that are the only way to travel between highly protected population hubs. He falls in love and sleeps with the perpetrator instead. All within like 24h. Already unbelievable. And then... Everyone makes absolutely batshit decisions, the Code 46 sure is violated, the woman bears the ultimate consequences, there's a super uncomfortable consensual non-consent scene that both of us made 'ewww' faces at and... Idk. This sure was a film I've watched. Is all I can say. 

Mulan: Rewatch, still one of my favourite Disney movies. 

Mulan, the live action remake: Possibly a part rewatch? At times I felt like I'd seen it before and at other times not so no idea. I... Didn't mind it. The cinematography was gorgeous and the changes to the story (the dragon was a phoenix, the love interest was not the captain but just another soldier, there was a hot witch) were understandable and worked decently. I liked that the love story didn't get anything beyond a flash of abs and some hand touching really. I did come out of this eyeing the Mulan/Xianniang (the hot witch) interactions with interest. 

Zootropolis: Probably a fifth rewatch. No regrets. Still love it. 


***