ragingbird:

When Vanessa was fourteen years old, she first discovered female orgasms, but the method was quite accidental and involved her teaching herself the gentleman’s style of riding as opposed to the ladies’ sidesaddle. At first, she thought the pleasure came from her success at posting, soon realized that these feelings were much more than that, and nearly fell off her steed as she came. The incident was so mortifying that she stayed away from her morning rides for almost a month.

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Lovely lovely Vanessa perspective! 

Since pretty much no one knows what Shutterbox is in the first place, here’s a link:http://www.tavicat.com/tavicat/ShutterBox.html

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In order to have a story, one has to have conflict. In some stories, of course, the conflict portrayed is shown as something ongoing, that started before the beginning of the story and might continue far beyond it, with the reader or viewer only being shown a small part. In other stories, the conflict begins with a change that happens at the beginning of the story, or a character’s role in an ongoing conflict begins with a change in their own life and circumstances.

It is this second type of story that I want to look at today: stories in which conflict is created (or brought into the lives of characters) through a change that happens to the character or their surroundings. Whether those changes are magical (being hauled away to Narnia) or mundane (a death in the family), it’s the changes that happen around a character that cause them to begin to change in response, in order to rise to the challenge of whatever the conflict of the story itself is.

A few examples of these changes: 

1) A physical change of location. Whether it’s Fushigi Yuugi’s “Universe of the Four Gods”, C.S. Lewis’s Narnia, the move to a new town of various teen novels, or Coming to America’s sudden transplant to a new country, the theme of moving to a new place and undergoing great personal change is a classic one. New places come with new challenges - whether it’s defeating tyrants or making new friends - and often characters evolve and mature because of these challenges. Changes in life goals, priorities, and social interactions abound.

The use of this plot in fiction doesn’t come out of nowhere, of course. Human beings undergo these types of experiences all the time. Many teenagers, particularly, change greatly over the course of a summer out of school: going away to the house of a relative in a different situation or taking a volunteer opportunity and then coming back with a new focus to their life. Likewise, moving to a town full of strangers can often cause someone to become either more or less social: either freed from preconceived notions about them based on familial background or pushed into hiding by a lack of a much-needed support network.

2) Discoveries about self or family. This can cover everything from Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s “I was born to fight vampires” to The Parent Trap’s “I have a twin I didn’t know about” to Harry Potter’s “You’re a wizard, Harry”. Other common realizations include religious experiences, new understandings of familial relationships or one’s place in a family, or the discovery of an amazing new talent. In many cases, characters in these situations struggle to live up to suddenly changed expectations, view their own relationships in new ways, exhibit sudden changes in ability to trust others, or become absorbed in a new hobby to the exclusion of older interests or peer groups.

Real life equivalents include situations like discovering adoption, learning about a parent’s infidelity or drug use, meeting family members for the first time, discovering a talent for music or academics. A person suddenly discovered to have a have a great talent in a sport might find themselves changing a lot because of cultural norms surrounding that sport, or a child learning they are adopted might choose to experiment with new things while wondering what their ‘real parent’ would have said about it. 

3) Meeting THAT person. Maybe it’s Mr. Keating from Dead Poet’s Society who gives students the courage to act in a play or stand on their desks in protest. Maybe it’s the Sohma family from Fruits Basket that drags Tohru into their curse and makes her want to solve all their problems. (Or conversely, Tohru herself, who teaches others about caring and self-worth.) Maybe it’s Naruto, who seemingly has the power to turn bad guys good and open up the hardest of hearts. Maybe it’s a mysterious benefactor or an abuser. Maybe it’s the first person of a certain ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion or gender identity that a character meets. Whoever THAT person is, the changes they create often happen over a short period of time, and stay with the character for the rest of their lives.

Again, this isn’t entirely a fictional situation. Many stories about inspirational teachers, coaches, and other authority figures are based on real life events, as are many stories of abuse, violence, and other negative influences. Oftentimes a new friend with a particular situation in their lives can bring a topic into a personal realm by giving it a face, and greatly change a person’s view on that topic. Views on religion, culture, sexual orientation, social status, and disability are just a few examples of things that can change when one becomes close to someone different from oneself. 

4) Gaining or losing social or economic status. Whether it’s Charles Dickens, Harry Potter, or “What a Girl Wants”, the theme of suddenly being affluent or having access to resources is common enough (and life-changing enough) to merit its own entry here. Rags to riches stories abound, as well as the sudden discovery that one is related to (or is) someone famous, high-ranking, or special in some way. Or the opposite can happen: stories like A Little Princess or 2 Broke Girls showcasing the situations of those who go from comfortable and luxurious lives to poverty. Either way, great changes can happen: new priorities being formed, changing views on money and social status itself, new interests and hobbies more appropriate to the new social status. 

These situations often happen around us, especially with declining economic factors. People who were able to afford second homes or multiple cars suddenly scrape by from paycheck to paycheck, and many homeless people have stories of when they had this great job or how much money their parents had before they lost it all in stocks or wasted it on extravagance. Stories of people who suddenly make good are harder to find, but lottery winners, people who receive large inheritances, and start-up businesses that skyrocket beyond expectations do exist. 

Whatever the reason for change is, most stories have a character coming out quite different than they began: even stories whose scope is a matter of days, weeks, or months. Physical and psychological scars, loyalties, career paths or research efforts, religious or moral values, social interactions, and views of self can all change in the face of new experiences, surroundings, and influences. This is where my connection to fanfiction and roleplaying comes in: the grave sin of ‘out of character’ behavior that all fans know is based on the idea that change must necessarily be slow, that characters will only change in small ways, and that ultimately allowing a character to develop is a “risk.” 

But what are we truly doing when we decide to write? We are creating a new story, utilizing elements of the old one. We are taking characters and (with the exception of in-world stories that deal only with the same themes as their source material) putting them in new situations, new circumstances, and new conflicts. Just as the characters were changed over the course of their original stories, they will continue to change in the new situations, and to ignore that makes the new story pointless. In fact, the most interesting stories are typically that ones that do something to develop the character, and many writers choose characters because they see something that wasn’t explored fully, whether it was the character’s views on a certain subject or relationship or the maturation of a character who died young.

Does this mean that we shouldn’t strive to remain true to the base traits of the characters? Of course not. The choice to utilize a character from a pre-existing source rather than creating an original one is made because of enjoyment of the character, after all. And the choice of a fan to read fanfiction about a specific series or take part in RP with a cast is based off enjoyment of that particular series or characters. We do want our characters to be recognizable, and any cues given by canon as to how a character would react to a given situation or choice should be taken into account. In particular, ignoring canon ties and loyalties can be quite jarring, and causing entire cultural views and values to disappear overnight denies the strong affect they have on an individual. 

However, many of the situations characters are faced with in fanfiction or roleplay simply aren’t ones that exist in canon for them. A character whose series is focused on fighting might not have ever even broached romantic issues, and a character who lives in an archaic world will have no experience with modern technology. And once an element is introduced to a character’s life, and the initial shock or confusion over the newness of it wears off, it’s quite unrealistic to say that an interest in or enjoyment of that element is “OOC” simply because it didn’t exist in canon. Likewise, painting a character as incapable of even attempting something because they aren’t shown doing it in canon is unrealistic: many hobbies and interests develop well into adulthood, and exposure to unknown elements that aren’t threatening in any way doesn’t always have to be met with forceful resistance. 

In conclusion, I’d like to make a challenge to all my fandom friends: choose one character that you write or are interested in, and stop to think about a situation in which they came into contact with one of these changes in canon. Think about their reactions to that change, and what the over-reaching effects were. Perhaps stop to think about what would have happened had that influence not existed - “Where would Naruto be without Iruka?” or “Would Edmund have become a more compassionate person if he hadn’t been to Narnia?” - and consider what other changes could have created similar outcomes.

Then come up with one NEW change that you would like to see your character face: whether it’s something as simple as having the option of picking up a new hobby or something as serious as having to deal with violence for the first time or meeting someone with a different worldview that makes a difference in the character’s life. Write a drabble or approach the issue in RP, and really think about whether you’re making decisions about your character’s actions out of fear of doing something wrong or out of a real belief that the character is completely unable to change on this topic.

Let me know how it goes! 

Warning: Masturbation, insanity. 



The first signs of it had been quite some time ago. Those first little lingering looks, the first strange impulse to touch, to stand a little closer or reach a little further. Those first moments of rapid breath, sweaty palms, heated skin.

He’d grown accustomed to it. He’d held himself apart from it. 

Propriety, virtue, social status, common sense. All these things had stood between himself and what he desired. Even more so, his own fear of perverting, corrupting, destroying.

He’d done that in the end anyway.

His master - his friend - was dead. There’s nothing left to stay away from, not touch, not cling to.

With no reason to hold back now, he’s set himself free.

Which is why the teenager is now sprawled out on a bed in one of several Baskerville hideouts, his clothing in disarray and his breath harsh and loud as he tugs at the restricting fabric.

He might be fantasizing, but somehow it feels more like a hallucination, feverish and bright. Whichever way it goes, he’s obviously completely caught up, enough so that he doesn’t seem to mind the blond servant watching him from the shadows.

Perhaps he can’t see that man at all, because his entire world seems to be taken up with the sight of someone who isn’t there, the feel of skin that has never touched his in this way, a scent of dried flowers, books, and sword oil.

The buttons on his shirt are casualties, popping this way and that, and the shirt itself is slain soon after, a long tear in it as his clawing hands meet the skin of his chest, finally. The clawing does not immediately stop - it takes him a moment to realize that soft fabric is gone and it’s flesh that’s being torn - but he simply moves on to his pants, unconcerned.

It’s only when he’s fully naked that he begins to make noise in earnest. It’s only once his blood is staining the sheets, his teeth are buried in his lip and his bright sparkling eyes are closed as tight as he can get them that he lets himself speak, mutter, mumble, moan.

“Elliot.” 

The name is on his lips as he wraps a sweating-shaking hand around his cock, low and breathy.

“Elliot” 

The name is on his lips as he twists and tugs and pinches, harsh with his own body, harsh with his own mind. 

There’s no need to be gentle, Elliot, I’ve hurt you. 

There’s no need. 

There aren’t any coherent words on his lips at all anymore, as he silently begs some unseen ghost for his release.

There’s nothing but a whimper, when he finds it.

And he’ll be entirely silent by the end, by the time his servant steps forward to wipe tears from his reddened face, cleanse oil and seed from his body, and finally cover up the sleeping form.

He’s set himself free, now that it’s far too late.

Prostitute!Jack. Yep. Not very descriptive, but not safe for work.


He doesn’t call them by their names anymore, in this mind. 

No, they are simply ‘he’ and ‘she’ in his thoughts, the man and woman who for this evening have decided to make his life easier for a little while. They don’t think of it in such a way of course - this is for their own pleasure - but their dalliance with him brings him one step closer to what he craves, what he must find again. 

To get back to her, there are sacrifices to be made.

What they don’t know, as he bows his head and buries it between the noblewoman’s thick thighs, is that each moment he spends here, he thinks of her. What they aren’t aware of is that even as he pushes his tongue against sweat-and-sex scented lips, he’s wondering if hers would taste sweeter. 

He’s a whore; it doesn’t matter what he thinks of. But he knows these people - they are technically in some small way related to him - and he knows that she would be quite offended to know that as he laps at her juices, his tongue is tracing a wholly different terrain in his imagination. She would be offended to know that his exploration of her pink crevice with mouth and hands is entirely rote, each action coming from practice and necessity, no true desire to be found.

Sometimes, she tastes bitter with her husband’s seed. Sometimes, she tastes clean, or faintly foul with blood. 

Sometimes, he closes his eyes and traces a single letter with his tongue against the stiff bud she presents him.

He on the other hand would not care to hear whether or not their blond-haired whore is thinking of either of his clients. 

He could care less what anyone is thinking, as long as he is allowed his deviant behavior, as long as this silver-tongued whore manages to keep his wife pleased enough not to mind that her husband is burying himself in a young man’s tight behind rather than her childbirth-worn snatch.

The whore, as he pushes back into the cock shoved into him too roughly and with too little preparation, is grateful for that little detail. Is grateful that, here between two people who are just pathways to someone else, he can lose himself in his own thoughts.

Afterward, his mouth numb and his nose strangely stuffy, his face coated in juices with more dripping from slightly reddened cheeks below, he is less grateful for the wandering of his mind. When he allows himself that one moment to rest - on his knees, nude, trembling faintly from exhaustion as the husband and wife laugh together over him and fondle each other lazily - he wishes that he could blank out his thoughts of those red eyes, that playful mouth, that mad cheerful voice.

It’s at that time that the only words that come to his mind - “Would you be proud of me?” - haunt him, as he closes himself up tight for just that moment, head tucked down and wet thighs pressed together, as if to hide what shame remains. 

One day, he’ll find out if that person will still accept him, filthy as he has become.