Erin Ptah (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ptahrrific) wrote2010-05-03 01:54 am
ptahrrific) wrote2010-05-03 01:54 am
Entry tags:
Fake News: The Sword In His Mouth (2/4)
Title: The Sword In His Mouth (2/4)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: D/s; mild religious content; gratuitous meta
Disclaimers: This is a work of parody. Although references is made to real persons, places, and events, the dialog, actions, and content are products of the author's imagination only. Fictional characters are property of The Colbert Report and its writers. All LJ usernames are fictional. Any resemblance to real LJ users, active or strikethrough'd, is purely coincidental.
Summary: Fic as written within the D/s 'verse ofsarcasticsra's The Way Things Need To Be. Jon learns the story behind Stephen's collar, and BriWi comes up with a plan.
Prologue | Part 1 |Part 2 | Part 3 | Epilogue
The Sword In His Mouth
Part 2
So, tonight, I would like to be the first candidate to make my position clear. I am not running for President. I am running for President Bush. Why? Because I would be crazy to let anyone have that kind of power over me.
—The Wørd, October 31, 2007
"You're a priest?"
The priesthood. Europe's great historical refuge for sex-and-gender outcasts of all kinds: switches who didn't want to be forced into one gender all their lives, gay doms who got socially sanctioned fulfillment out of a relationship with their Heavenly Dom, abused subs who could no longer tolerate the attentions of doms on Earth.
In retrospect, Jon wondered why it hadn't occurred to him sooner.
Flipping the clerical collar back over, Stephen shook his head. "I — I'm not ordained."
If Jon hadn't already been squished on Stephen's dusty floor, he would have had to sit down in a hurry. Jewish born and bred though he was, he still knew there were some things you Just Don't Do. "You're impersonating a member of the clergy?"
"No!" Stephen clutched the torque defiantly to his chest. "It's not impersonation if nobody knows about it!"
"So you're secretly impersonating a member of the clergy." Jon rubbed his temples, trying to stop his head from spinning. "Doesn't that sort of...I don't know, defeat the purpose?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Jon. The point isn't to pretend the Church is Domming me, just that somebody is. You know there are places a su...someone like me can't walk alone at night without a collar."
"I went without one for the last ten years," countered Jon, one hand reflexively going to the not-yet-familiar white gold at his own neck. "I managed."
"Yeah, well, you're — you're you," said Stephen bitterly. "If someone tried to dom you on a dark street, you'd probably — how did you put it? — 'smack them.'"
"Hell yeah, I would! Being a sub doesn't mean I'm going to roll over for every arrogant dom who thinks...."
Jon trailed off. Stephen's hands were clenched around the ends of the clerical collar so ferociously that the knuckles had gone white. A lesser metal would have bent under the strain.
"Stephen...I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"What are you talking about?" snapped Stephen, voice cracking. "I didn't. That's how I know I'm not a sub: because I couldn't just shut up and obey properly. You see, Jon? And this doesn't invalidate my gender identity!" he added, poking the collar against Jon's upper arm. "The Church is still the sub of Christ. Even for the doms."
Shaking his head, Jon rested a hand on his friend's knee. "Stephen, this isn't right. You can be a sub without being a doormat. All you need is a dom who respects you. Someone who can take care of you, someone—"
"I'm taking care of myself!" snapped Stephen, turning the collar over and sliding it back around his neck. "I've gotten along fine with this much domming so far, haven't I? I don't need any more."
Well, never let it be said that Jon Stewart thought a sub couldn't be happy without a dom. "Okay, okay, dropping it. But, listen, if you ever do need anything — if you want to try being set up with someone, or if you just want to talk — I'm always here."
Stephen tugged at his shirt until the dark metal was nearly concealed. "Jon," he said, with the air of one bestowing a great compliment, "I appreciate the offer. You're so competent, sometimes I almost forget you're a sub."
A good mother cooks, cleans, drives, organizes charity events so their children earn community service points for college, and is always ready with dinner and a foot rub when their dom gets home from work. So, a word to all you "submissive rights activists": Stop "liberating" moms by trying to make them join the workforce.
—I Am America (And So Can You!)
"So I have good news," said Jon over lasagna that night. "Stephen doesn't have a neglectful dom."
"Oh, fantastic!" exclaimed Brian. Then, frowning, he did his patented news-anchor-lean-in across the table. "What's the bad news?"
"Uh. I suppose that would be the fact that he doesn't have a good dom, either. And don't ask me what's going on," he added quickly. "It's not my story to tell."
"Understood."
With that, Brian sat back and waited. He was perceptive enough to know when Jon wanted to say more, and, much to Jon's appreciation, savvy enough not to go digging. Any type of prying only made Jon instinctively clam up, deflecting questions with wisecracks. Silence, on the other hand, gave him space.
"I'm still worried about him," said Jon at last, an image of Stephen huddled under the desk flashing through his mind. "I can't shake the feeling that he's had a bad experience. That, or it's really strong conditioning from when he was a kid. His book talks about that, you know...how his parents were all about the sub serving the dom, no mention of caring or support. And how it's the responsibility of dom children to take care of their mother."
Only a slight furrowing of the brow betrayed how troubling Brian found this. "That can't be good. Even dom kids are still just kids."
"I don't know how much of it is real," admitted Jon. "It might just be him rewriting history to the way he thinks it's supposed to be. But if he really was in an environment where there was no support for a sub kid at all...."
He took a gulp of his drink to avoid finishing the thought, but his dom finished it for him. "You still want to set him up with someone."
Jon shrugged awkwardly. "Even if he would let me, I wouldn't know where to start. It wouldn't be enough just to find someone firm and caring — they'd have to be really sensitive to his needs, because he doesn't think a good sub is ever supposed to say no. And of course it would have to be someone he trusted in the first place, which throws the whole thing for a loop."
Brian considered this, then set his plate aside and folded his hands. "That's not quite true," he observed. "He trusts you."
Jon looked up in shock, searching his dom's deadpan expression for some hint that this wasn't going where it seemed to be going.
"I'm not a switch," he stammered at last. He had never even felt the urge to experiment, unless you counted giggly games of Truth Or Dare in the subs' cabin at the very Jewy camp his mother had shipped him off to for a few summers. Or that one time in college, but, come on, everyone had that one time in college, right? "And, okay, I'm not what you'd call perfectly straight, but Stephen's the straightest sub I know."
"That's not quite what I was thinking." Brian smiled sheepishly. "To be honest, it probably wouldn't have occurred to me. I know this is sexist, but I still have that knee-jerk reaction of wondering what two subs can do together."
"Well, if I understand the porn correctly — and I think that I do," added Jon, his faux-smug tone earning an appreciative smirk from across the table — "they do whatever the dom sitting next to the bed tells them to do."
Still smirking, Brian raised his eyebrows.
Jon made several faces in quick succession. They must have been quite something, because a muscle in Brian's cheek twitched, which was as close as he got to bursting out laughing.
"If I'm being a horrible chauvinist," he added gently, "we can certainly drop the subject and never speak of it again. I just wanted you to be aware that the option's open."
"Such a gentledom," sighed Jon, feeling better as he did. Sure, maybe his heart was making a formidable attempt to bang its way out of his ribcage, but at least he could still snark.
"I'm not doing this because it was an order, you know."
"Technically, I'm not either."
"Well, I'm not doing it to be rewarded, either," huffed Stephen. "And Brian will reward you, I know he will. This is entirely out of the goodness of my heart, because you asked nicely and I, in my infinite generosity, made the independent decision to help you out."
"I appreciate it, sir," said Jon mildly.
Stephen winced. "You — you don't have to call me 'sir'," he muttered. Not because he thought he was on Jon's level — that would be stupid. It was just a matter of respect for Brian, that was all.
"Sorry. Figure of speech." Jon braked as he rounded the corner, pulling the van slowly into place across the street from the picket line. "You want to handle the coffee or the donuts?"
In spite of his bulky coat, heavy sweatpants, and terribly imposing bursting-with-fur boots, Stephen froze.
Decisions! Why did there have to be so many decisions? At least on days the show aired, there would be somebody coordinating his wardrobe and sending up his lunch and politely insisting that he please be on stage no less than twenty minutes late for the time they were scheduled to tape, leaving him free to shout the opinions that Papa Bear or the President had explained were the right ones. Today he had drained his reservoir of choice-making power before he finished breakfast, and he had no idea what The Decider's opinion was on the relative merits of serving donuts versus coffee....
"Actually, scratch that," said Jon, voice low and certain, while his own gloved hand clamped firmly down on Stephen's wrist. "I'll — I mean — Brian told me to pass out the donuts. So I guess it's been decided for you."
"I guess," echoed Stephen. His collar, which as far as he could feel had briefly gotten the notion to turn itself into a cloud, resumed its regular density and settled back into place on his neck. "Well, can't sit here all day! Let's do this thing."
Once Jon had opened the trunk, Stephen perched on the van's back bumper, pouring out cupfuls of steaming water to mix with packets of instant coffee and hot chocolate. Jon grabbed the topmost box of donuts from the stack and headed for the line of writers, then looked over his shoulder. "Don't start on the others until the whole line's gotten a chance."
"Yes, s—"
Stephen choked mid-obeisance, casting a quick glance at the nearest gaggle of striking deadbeats to make sure they hadn't heard. Jon, who couldn't have missed it, didn't point it out; he just nodded before turning his attention to whether there were any cars coming down the street.
And if his cheeks seemed a bit pinker, well, the air was pretty frosty out here. That was probably all it meant.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: D/s; mild religious content; gratuitous meta
Disclaimers: This is a work of parody. Although references is made to real persons, places, and events, the dialog, actions, and content are products of the author's imagination only. Fictional characters are property of The Colbert Report and its writers. All LJ usernames are fictional. Any resemblance to real LJ users, active or strikethrough'd, is purely coincidental.
Summary: Fic as written within the D/s 'verse of
sarcasticsra's The Way Things Need To Be. Jon learns the story behind Stephen's collar, and BriWi comes up with a plan.Prologue | Part 1 |
The Sword In His Mouth
Part 2
So, tonight, I would like to be the first candidate to make my position clear. I am not running for President. I am running for President Bush. Why? Because I would be crazy to let anyone have that kind of power over me.
—The Wørd, October 31, 2007
"You're a priest?"
The priesthood. Europe's great historical refuge for sex-and-gender outcasts of all kinds: switches who didn't want to be forced into one gender all their lives, gay doms who got socially sanctioned fulfillment out of a relationship with their Heavenly Dom, abused subs who could no longer tolerate the attentions of doms on Earth.
In retrospect, Jon wondered why it hadn't occurred to him sooner.
Flipping the clerical collar back over, Stephen shook his head. "I — I'm not ordained."
If Jon hadn't already been squished on Stephen's dusty floor, he would have had to sit down in a hurry. Jewish born and bred though he was, he still knew there were some things you Just Don't Do. "You're impersonating a member of the clergy?"
"No!" Stephen clutched the torque defiantly to his chest. "It's not impersonation if nobody knows about it!"
"So you're secretly impersonating a member of the clergy." Jon rubbed his temples, trying to stop his head from spinning. "Doesn't that sort of...I don't know, defeat the purpose?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Jon. The point isn't to pretend the Church is Domming me, just that somebody is. You know there are places a su...someone like me can't walk alone at night without a collar."
"I went without one for the last ten years," countered Jon, one hand reflexively going to the not-yet-familiar white gold at his own neck. "I managed."
"Yeah, well, you're — you're you," said Stephen bitterly. "If someone tried to dom you on a dark street, you'd probably — how did you put it? — 'smack them.'"
"Hell yeah, I would! Being a sub doesn't mean I'm going to roll over for every arrogant dom who thinks...."
Jon trailed off. Stephen's hands were clenched around the ends of the clerical collar so ferociously that the knuckles had gone white. A lesser metal would have bent under the strain.
"Stephen...I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"What are you talking about?" snapped Stephen, voice cracking. "I didn't. That's how I know I'm not a sub: because I couldn't just shut up and obey properly. You see, Jon? And this doesn't invalidate my gender identity!" he added, poking the collar against Jon's upper arm. "The Church is still the sub of Christ. Even for the doms."
Shaking his head, Jon rested a hand on his friend's knee. "Stephen, this isn't right. You can be a sub without being a doormat. All you need is a dom who respects you. Someone who can take care of you, someone—"
"I'm taking care of myself!" snapped Stephen, turning the collar over and sliding it back around his neck. "I've gotten along fine with this much domming so far, haven't I? I don't need any more."
Well, never let it be said that Jon Stewart thought a sub couldn't be happy without a dom. "Okay, okay, dropping it. But, listen, if you ever do need anything — if you want to try being set up with someone, or if you just want to talk — I'm always here."
Stephen tugged at his shirt until the dark metal was nearly concealed. "Jon," he said, with the air of one bestowing a great compliment, "I appreciate the offer. You're so competent, sometimes I almost forget you're a sub."
A good mother cooks, cleans, drives, organizes charity events so their children earn community service points for college, and is always ready with dinner and a foot rub when their dom gets home from work. So, a word to all you "submissive rights activists": Stop "liberating" moms by trying to make them join the workforce.
—I Am America (And So Can You!)
"So I have good news," said Jon over lasagna that night. "Stephen doesn't have a neglectful dom."
"Oh, fantastic!" exclaimed Brian. Then, frowning, he did his patented news-anchor-lean-in across the table. "What's the bad news?"
"Uh. I suppose that would be the fact that he doesn't have a good dom, either. And don't ask me what's going on," he added quickly. "It's not my story to tell."
"Understood."
With that, Brian sat back and waited. He was perceptive enough to know when Jon wanted to say more, and, much to Jon's appreciation, savvy enough not to go digging. Any type of prying only made Jon instinctively clam up, deflecting questions with wisecracks. Silence, on the other hand, gave him space.
"I'm still worried about him," said Jon at last, an image of Stephen huddled under the desk flashing through his mind. "I can't shake the feeling that he's had a bad experience. That, or it's really strong conditioning from when he was a kid. His book talks about that, you know...how his parents were all about the sub serving the dom, no mention of caring or support. And how it's the responsibility of dom children to take care of their mother."
Only a slight furrowing of the brow betrayed how troubling Brian found this. "That can't be good. Even dom kids are still just kids."
"I don't know how much of it is real," admitted Jon. "It might just be him rewriting history to the way he thinks it's supposed to be. But if he really was in an environment where there was no support for a sub kid at all...."
He took a gulp of his drink to avoid finishing the thought, but his dom finished it for him. "You still want to set him up with someone."
Jon shrugged awkwardly. "Even if he would let me, I wouldn't know where to start. It wouldn't be enough just to find someone firm and caring — they'd have to be really sensitive to his needs, because he doesn't think a good sub is ever supposed to say no. And of course it would have to be someone he trusted in the first place, which throws the whole thing for a loop."
Brian considered this, then set his plate aside and folded his hands. "That's not quite true," he observed. "He trusts you."
Jon looked up in shock, searching his dom's deadpan expression for some hint that this wasn't going where it seemed to be going.
"I'm not a switch," he stammered at last. He had never even felt the urge to experiment, unless you counted giggly games of Truth Or Dare in the subs' cabin at the very Jewy camp his mother had shipped him off to for a few summers. Or that one time in college, but, come on, everyone had that one time in college, right? "And, okay, I'm not what you'd call perfectly straight, but Stephen's the straightest sub I know."
"That's not quite what I was thinking." Brian smiled sheepishly. "To be honest, it probably wouldn't have occurred to me. I know this is sexist, but I still have that knee-jerk reaction of wondering what two subs can do together."
"Well, if I understand the porn correctly — and I think that I do," added Jon, his faux-smug tone earning an appreciative smirk from across the table — "they do whatever the dom sitting next to the bed tells them to do."
Still smirking, Brian raised his eyebrows.
Jon made several faces in quick succession. They must have been quite something, because a muscle in Brian's cheek twitched, which was as close as he got to bursting out laughing.
"If I'm being a horrible chauvinist," he added gently, "we can certainly drop the subject and never speak of it again. I just wanted you to be aware that the option's open."
"Such a gentledom," sighed Jon, feeling better as he did. Sure, maybe his heart was making a formidable attempt to bang its way out of his ribcage, but at least he could still snark.
"I'm not doing this because it was an order, you know."
"Technically, I'm not either."
"Well, I'm not doing it to be rewarded, either," huffed Stephen. "And Brian will reward you, I know he will. This is entirely out of the goodness of my heart, because you asked nicely and I, in my infinite generosity, made the independent decision to help you out."
"I appreciate it, sir," said Jon mildly.
Stephen winced. "You — you don't have to call me 'sir'," he muttered. Not because he thought he was on Jon's level — that would be stupid. It was just a matter of respect for Brian, that was all.
"Sorry. Figure of speech." Jon braked as he rounded the corner, pulling the van slowly into place across the street from the picket line. "You want to handle the coffee or the donuts?"
In spite of his bulky coat, heavy sweatpants, and terribly imposing bursting-with-fur boots, Stephen froze.
Decisions! Why did there have to be so many decisions? At least on days the show aired, there would be somebody coordinating his wardrobe and sending up his lunch and politely insisting that he please be on stage no less than twenty minutes late for the time they were scheduled to tape, leaving him free to shout the opinions that Papa Bear or the President had explained were the right ones. Today he had drained his reservoir of choice-making power before he finished breakfast, and he had no idea what The Decider's opinion was on the relative merits of serving donuts versus coffee....
"Actually, scratch that," said Jon, voice low and certain, while his own gloved hand clamped firmly down on Stephen's wrist. "I'll — I mean — Brian told me to pass out the donuts. So I guess it's been decided for you."
"I guess," echoed Stephen. His collar, which as far as he could feel had briefly gotten the notion to turn itself into a cloud, resumed its regular density and settled back into place on his neck. "Well, can't sit here all day! Let's do this thing."
Once Jon had opened the trunk, Stephen perched on the van's back bumper, pouring out cupfuls of steaming water to mix with packets of instant coffee and hot chocolate. Jon grabbed the topmost box of donuts from the stack and headed for the line of writers, then looked over his shoulder. "Don't start on the others until the whole line's gotten a chance."
"Yes, s—"
Stephen choked mid-obeisance, casting a quick glance at the nearest gaggle of striking deadbeats to make sure they hadn't heard. Jon, who couldn't have missed it, didn't point it out; he just nodded before turning his attention to whether there were any cars coming down the street.
And if his cheeks seemed a bit pinker, well, the air was pretty frosty out here. That was probably all it meant.
no subject
It's like the Jon Stewart of fanfic!
ETA: When Stephen started talking about places where he couldn't walk alone at night, my mind jumped to a really seedy alley and I immediately had to wonder what he was doing there. And then I thought Tyrone, and my brain broke in half, because I cannot even imagine how the whole alters thing would play out in this universe.
So...originally the idea was that Stevie was the scared, selfish little kid came up with Stephen to be brave and perfect for him, and Tyrone was the repressed sexuality side? *been ages since I read State of Grace* (Didn't you say you were rewriting that? How are you changing it?) So I guess in this universe it was the sub thing he repressed, which isn't a perfect analogy to the sexual orientation thing because it's more like gender unless he's a gay sub which he really. really doesn't seem to be...see, this is why I don't think about this stuff. xD Leave them to Erin. *backs away slowly from confusing awesomeness*
no subject
It's not even necessarily seedy alleys, though. (I'm on a quiet little well-off college campus in a tiny, sleepy town, and some creepy guy in a van tried to grab a female student just a few nights ago. So it's not like women, or, in this case, subs, can just stay in Respectable Places and be assured that they're safe.)
I'm 27 chapters into the State of Grace rewrite, but Stevie and Tyrone are more or less the same, though there are a couple of other alters joining them. (Sweetness! :D) Stevie isn't "selfish" so much as "has the needs appropriate to a young child, which he has been conditioned to think are selfish."
And, yeah, in this AU Stephen's repression is more to do with gender. Stevie was the sub child who couldn't be properly obedient to his dom parent (not surprising, given that the criteria changed all the time: "Arbitrary rules teach kids discipline"), and who saw himself as a trial to his sub parent ("I'm not loveable. Otherwise Mommy would dust"). Stephen was the dom child who didn't need to worry about obedience, and who was able to take care of his sub parent. And Tyrone was the pushy sub who embraced his unloveability/disrespectfulness, and then went off and had sex as a sub, with Doms, without caving to the need to "be good" by obeying orders that would have hurt him.
...all of which, by the way, is more or less one angle on the actual dynamic in SoG, just with the D/s parts being subtext (straight men are all "doms" and gay men are all "subs" in Stephen's rigid worldview) instead of explicitly spelled out.
Good times :D
no subject
Sweetness! Awesome. I am excited.
And yeah, wow. Like wwanda down there, I'm amazed that you can keep this all sorted out in your brain. This is my favorite universe ever, to the point where I will read D/s verse fic for fandoms I've never even heard of, and it still confuses the heck out of me sometimes.
no subject
Seriously, this is fantastic and well-thought out. I should stop reading the chapters out of order at 3:30 AM.
no subject
I vote we refer to him as nothing but BRIAN FREAKING WILLIAMS from now on. Caps not optional.
no subject
So yeah, my brain is smoking from overload. How do you ever manage? It just seems like you've got all the details worked out completely, even the meta. That's beyond amazing, that's... I don't even know.
Also, I really like the slow discovering of Stephen's issues. The way he tries to deal with them is so fascinating. Now, normally I expect your stories to end with Jon/Stephen, but now Jon is with BriWi and seems happy, so I don't have a clue what to expect. And I'm loving it!
Eh, I guess what I'm saying is: MORE, please! :)
no subject
The conclusion will probably not be a huge thwarting of expectations, but I'm glad it has your interest - more is on the way!
no subject
Something that confuses me with the priesthood thing: why are the gender lines blurred? I mean, in our universe, only men can be priests and only women can be nuns. It should be similarly rigid in this 'verse, shouldn't it, with doms as priests and subs as nuns? You've put a lot of thought into this, though, so I'm curious what the reasoning is.
Ahhhhhh, this is taking over my brain, and continues to be awesome. MORE.
no subject
Priests are doms - the only doms who wear collars, which is why clerical collars are clearly marked. (I'm not sure if nuns wear a different type of collar, or what. Maybe it's hidden under the habit, so it isn't as important.) If Stephen wore it right-side-up, people wouldn't take it as a reason to question his Dom-ness...but he would be in huge trouble the instant someone questioned his ordained-ness.
Jon saw the distinct markings of a priest's collar, so his brain jumped to "You're a priest?" Given a little more time, he would have been able to second-guess it: "Wait, how did you pass as a Dom long enough and convincingly enough to get ordained?" It's not impossible - sub-leaning switches have done it with some frequency, and there's always that urban myth about a sub who became Pope - but it would have taken a lot of effort.
Isn't it fun? *chews on the meta*
no subject
Ah, okay. Thanks for clearing that up!
It is!
no subject
I kind of had to explain the concept of the Fake News fandom to her. It always seems so weird when you explain it to a newbie...
no subject
The meta just makes me melt with happiness, to be honest. I love it so much in real life, and in alternaworld it's even more fascinating. Meta on meta!
no subject
I find the "fic" (and "fandom meta!") fascinating. It will be interesting to read fandom's reaction to it. Do they think it's in character? Would c!Stephen really behave that way? Etc etc.
(Incidentally, I think it's totally OOC for Brian to do a three way with "Stephen". After all this is Mr "I only have one sub at the time." Of course, that's only because unlike these writers, I've first hand knowledge of canon. Then again, this isn't really Jon and Brian. The way in our world the Jon paired with "Stephen" isn't really our Jon. Oh it hurts the head to think about!)
Or maybe Brian is just offering to dom "Stephen" in a non-naked way?
Would fandom really ship a straight canon couple?
It also struck me as odd that the fans were so dismissive of Tracey. After all, they know they have kids.
Speaking of kids - that's the one thing I disagree with you on. That you call the sub parent "the mother" and the dom parent "the father" when kids are still called daughters and sons, sisters and brothers etc. I can't imagine Jon talking about himself as his children's mother. I think this is the difference between sex and gender - they certainly place no real importance on sex, but it still exists as base biological functions. "Mother" is the one who carried the babies in her womb, "man" is the person with a penis.
The real world stuff (AKA canon) is the most interesting. I like how the real Jon and the real Stephen deal with Brian and Jon's relationship. Jon is so in love. Awwww.
I wonder if Jon gets off the hook in some sense because he's "just" a comedian, and can't be accused of being impartial. Brian, the one with the "serious" position gets off the hook because he's the dom, and supposed to be able to control his sub. If the roles were reversed, and Jon were a serious news anchor, he'd be fired.
Funny thing: The other day I was watching an old clip at thedailyshow.com where Jon joked that all complaints about the quality of jokes should be sent to NBC, c/o Brian Williams.
I wonder why Stephen, a straight sub, plays "Stephen", another straight sub. Is he making fun of his own orientation? Or just "Stephen"'s bigotry?
And lastly, that Open thread looks like such a puddle of fangasmic squee. I want those "Gorgeous pictures" like a million burning suns. Were they those consensual paparazzi pictures? Or the posed for, stylish People Magazine ones? And how fun was that press release!
no subject
Exactly. Although even if people did know, it might not make a difference - after all, in our own world, both Jon and Stephen have explicitly referred to themselves as straight, and we have no problem ignoring that XD
Hey, we ship Sam/Jason, which is straight and canon. Anyway, I think there's a lot more het in AU!TDS fandom to begin with.
What you have to remember is that AU!Jon and AU!Tracey are doing something really, really weird by the standards of this 'verse. It's not just "they don't wear rings, oh, heh, that's quirky," but "he doesn't have a collar, There Must Be Something Wrong With Them."
When did I use the word "sister" for a female kid? Or the word "brother" for a male sibling? I've kept the pronouns consistent with biological sex, just because it would get way too confusing otherwise, but all other gendered words have been changed to line up with this 'verse's definition of "gender". I think it helps drive home just how different this society is =)
You really think Jon would be fired? If a news organization trusted him enough, and were progressive enough, to put him in a position of authority, then they're going to realize he's not going to let any dom jeopardize his commitment to good journalism.
I think it's "Stephen's" sexism and gender issues that are getting poked fun at. The joke isn't that he's a sub; it's that he's pretending not to be (and doing a very bad job of it). Just like, in our 'verse, it isn't inherently amusing for "Stephen" to be gay; what's inherently amusing is his transparent insistence that he is Completely Heterosexual, and the cognitive dissonance that arises from trying to be homophobic in spite of everything.
...You know, I don't know what was up with the pictures! They probably got some nice news photographer to take a few involving the two of them together, then made those available to the entire media and hoped it would be enough to keep anyone from bothering them for more.
no subject
I've kept the pronouns consistent with biological sex, just because it would get way too confusing otherwise, but all other gendered words have been changed to line up with this 'verse's definition of "gender". I think it helps drive home just how different this society is =)
I see what you mean. But at some point the biological functions must matter. Like what do you call the parent who gave birth to you? And how does language deal with fact that only couples with opposite genitals can produce children? Are people called "penis carrying subs" and "vagina carrying switches"? It's damn difficult! XD When I've written this verse I've gone the gender =/= sex route, i.e. "Non-dynamic opposite-sexed couples can produce chidren."
You really think Jon would be fired? If a news organization trusted him enough, and were progressive enough, to put him in a position of authority, then they're going to realize he's not going to let any dom jeopardize his commitment to good journalism.
That's a good point. But he wouldn't be allowed to go be a guest on The Daily Show with Brian Williams anymore. XD
I think it's "Stephen's" sexism and gender issues that are getting poked fun at. The joke isn't that he's a sub; it's that he's pretending not to be (and doing a very bad job of it)
Yes, that sounds plausible. And a bit of a cool plot twist, since the actor is also a sub. I did get some anti-sub (LOL!) vibes from the Barbra Streisand joke - but I get that "Stephen" is made out to be an embodiment of sub sterotypes. (The kind of sub who closes his eyes to the music he gets lost into.) Plus the real Stephen probably didn't write that part.
Celebrities often do that, pose for really intimate "home style" photos. See Sandra Bullock and her baby. It's understandable - wanting to control the coverage - but it also must be a surreal experience. "Look into the camera! Gaze lovingly at each other!"
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JSYK, I *do* have an AU fic started with Brian/Jon/Stephen. It's not that it would ever be impossible for Brian to have two subs, he just assumes he wouldn't like it. He also assumes he wouldn't like having a particularly bratty sub. There are circumstances in which both of those things could change, however, and things could still work out. Basically, Brian's not quite as traditional as he tells himself he is. It's almost a part of his persona that way.
Speaking of kids - that's the one thing I disagree with you on. That you call the sub parent "the mother" and the dom parent "the father" when kids are still called daughters and sons, sisters and brothers etc. I can't imagine Jon talking about himself as his children's mother. I think this is the difference between sex and gender - they certainly place no real importance on sex, but it still exists as base biological functions. "Mother" is the one who carried the babies in her womb, "man" is the person with a penis.
I keep going back on forth on this! Initially, I agreed; when my friends and I played with this 'verse in RP, we didn't change these titles around at all. But on the one hand, "mother" and "father" are definitely gendered terms, and thus if gender changes, it would make sense to change them. On the other hand, though, your last point makes a lot of sense to me. Also, when describing what a mother is, you would say, likely, something to the effect of "a female parent", which makes me wonder if it would carry over that way.
Tl;dr: I don't know which way makes more sense. Bah.
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There are circumstances in which both of those things could change, however, and things could still work out. Basically, Brian's not quite as traditional as he tells himself he is. It's almost a part of his persona that way.
Yes, he is traditional and progressive at the same time, right. Traditional in the way he feels a good Dom should be, damnit. But progressive in the sense that he treats subs very well and has some modern views. Then again, he might just see that as part of what he feels an old fashioned Dom should be like. Chivalry, and all that.
I think Brian would be infinitely more open to poly, if he was certain Jon was okay with it.
But on the one hand, "mother" and "father" are definitely gendered terms, and thus if gender changes, it would make sense to change them.
This is where my Swedish constructivist cultural background comes in! A lot of the debate in news papers and on blogs here is how to make parenting more gender neutral. To make the kids turn to the dad for comfort as often as the mother, to get dads to stay home longer when the babies are young etc. So to me "mother" is simply the parent who IDs as a woman. :-)
Plus, I want Jon to be eligable for Father of the Year too...
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It's kind of...Brian has Ideas about What A Dom Should Be. He gets them from his upbringing, and that image is very important to him. So while he has modernized his views, and while he tells himself he doesn't remotely care what other people do, for himself, he's always imagined fitting into the image he's crafted. He likes it when people call him a Stepford Dom. That's what he's trying to project. It's much more conscious than people (even Jon, I think, sometimes) realize. So it could definitely be tested, and Brian might discover he's not really as traditional as he thinks.
Hah, yes. Jon would be amused if he were eligible for that. (I still can't believe Brian actually won that. What an alien.)
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He likes it when people call him a Stepford Dom. That's what he's trying to project. It's much more conscious than people (even Jon, I think, sometimes) realize. So it could definitely be tested, and Brian might discover he's not really as traditional as he thinks.
Yeah, I gather that being a Dom is a conscious, continuous process for Brian. Testing those boundaries might be both educational and scary. Maybe he's scared he'll let Jon down somehow, or that Jon will be less attracted to him. Plus it opens up a whole lot of issues about identity. You can certainly let your sub be on top once in a while. But when does it start undermining your domliness - after the third time or the tenth? When they start refusing direct orders? When you stop punishing them for it?
Questions, questions.
Brian's oldest is twenty three, I think. So he started pretty young and must have extensive experience by now.
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Definitely. All those things would come into play.
Plus it opens up a whole lot of issues about identity. You can certainly let your sub be on top once in a while. But when does it start undermining your domliness
Well, Brian is at least bright enough to know that letting a sub top =/= erosion of dominance. I doubt it would be a common thing for him just because it's not something he, personally, enjoys that much, but it wouldn't be because of that.
Brian's oldest is twenty three, I think. So he started pretty young and must have extensive experience by now.
Pretty sure she's 21--some number of months older than me, IIRC. (So possibly she's 22 already. I just know she was 16 by Nov 2004, so most likely born in 1988. Not sure when exactly, though.) Which doesn't make him super young. I mean, he definitely doesn't look it, but the man is 51 (today, actually; 'tis his birthday) so that puts him at either 29 or 30. But he has had extensive experience, that's for sure.
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Argh, I'm sorry. I was attempting to mean top in the literal sense - i.e. be on top, and not in terms of penetration. Because obviously you can be penetrated and still be the Dom, i.e. female Doms with male subs.
Speaking of which - for weeks I've had the urge to write a sub!Jon/Dom!Tracey fic about when they first met, but my RPF guilt is holding me back.
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DO IT