OOC: We Are What We Are
Sep. 23rd, 2011 02:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
firefixitI've seen a lot of the commentary on DC's continuing failure to understand the difference between sexually liberated and fanboy fantasy, and it got me thinking about Fire. For anyone who's RPed with her, you'll have noticed that she isn't exactly shy about physical contact. She's even a redhead, which is more an accident of finding the right face for her than a deliberate choice.
Why Fire?
When I created Fire, I didn't really create her. True, I wanted to play a female character in the Tron universe, and I chose to play an OC because none of the (five? Eight if you count the other three Sirens?) available females from the two movies appealed to me. She was a file repair and recovery program before she even had a name, although said name evolved almost immediately from the first few letters of her program type. But, after that, she essentially walked into my head and set up residence.
I knew that Fire was part of the Resistance long before I knew that she was so friendly she verged on flirting with almost everybody. I knew that she enjoyed energy-sharing (the program version of sex) and physical contact at about the same time that I knew Flynn had written her to fix Gridbug-damaged buildings and recover corrupted files. I knew that she loved to dance, and that she wasn't a good fighter even though she'd had some patchy training. I knew that she loved riding her lightcycle, and watching lightcycle races. She's almost permanently in full-body armor (a legacy of her Resistance days), and she's a pretty redhead.
Fire has a full history, old friends, people she's scared of (Clu and Rinzler) and old sorrow. She's seen friends die, she's rescued others from the darkness in their own hearts (pretentious, but true) and she's never stopped being herself. She's loyal, she's smart, she's generous and she's never been in love. She does, however, like the people she sleeps with. While the emotional involvement doesn't go as far as love, there are still emotions attached. She won't flirt with a program who's asked her not to, or with a program who has a partner or partners. (Unless, of course, all partners are up for it.)
This is where I love everyone at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
grid_lined. Yes, Fire's probably the most openly sexual program in play at the moment. She has, in game, slept with two programs (Kweri, Dex and Sin, counting the Twins as one being) and canonically had a lot of fun sex with Lizor. It's implied that she's bedded many more. But the characters on grid_lined don't take that as her main characteristic – they see her as a friend, a repair program, a person first and a lover second, if at all.
And while she's a flirt, her main goal isn't to get everyone she meets into bed. She's helped people out without any of that – Lee, Rinz, Sam, to name a few. Granted, she probably wouldn't say no to them, but she doesn't push. It's their choice, and it's her choice. She's turned programs down before now because the circumstances aren't right. She's entirely capable of befriending people without making it sexual. And, honestly, I shouldn't have to say that last.
Part of this is because on our Grid, there isn't the social stigma about a woman sleeping with a lot of people. In fact, a lot of human hang-ups are missing from the Grid. As long as nobody gets hurt, physically, mentally, or emotionally, then it's a program's business and theirs alone whom they have fun with. I don't play Fire for the titillation of others – I play her because she's a strong woman who knows what she wants, and she wants to be that way. And those who play along do so because they understand that.
Were it not for the people who play and maintain this non-judgmental Grid, however, it wouldn't work that way at all. So thank you, grid_liners. Thank you for making such an amazing space for me to play in, and making me and my characters welcome. But most of all, thank you for not having to make me fight to have Fire recognized as a person in her own right.
(DC? Take note, this is how you do it.)
Why Fire?
When I created Fire, I didn't really create her. True, I wanted to play a female character in the Tron universe, and I chose to play an OC because none of the (five? Eight if you count the other three Sirens?) available females from the two movies appealed to me. She was a file repair and recovery program before she even had a name, although said name evolved almost immediately from the first few letters of her program type. But, after that, she essentially walked into my head and set up residence.
I knew that Fire was part of the Resistance long before I knew that she was so friendly she verged on flirting with almost everybody. I knew that she enjoyed energy-sharing (the program version of sex) and physical contact at about the same time that I knew Flynn had written her to fix Gridbug-damaged buildings and recover corrupted files. I knew that she loved to dance, and that she wasn't a good fighter even though she'd had some patchy training. I knew that she loved riding her lightcycle, and watching lightcycle races. She's almost permanently in full-body armor (a legacy of her Resistance days), and she's a pretty redhead.
Fire has a full history, old friends, people she's scared of (Clu and Rinzler) and old sorrow. She's seen friends die, she's rescued others from the darkness in their own hearts (pretentious, but true) and she's never stopped being herself. She's loyal, she's smart, she's generous and she's never been in love. She does, however, like the people she sleeps with. While the emotional involvement doesn't go as far as love, there are still emotions attached. She won't flirt with a program who's asked her not to, or with a program who has a partner or partners. (Unless, of course, all partners are up for it.)
This is where I love everyone at
grid_lined. Yes, Fire's probably the most openly sexual program in play at the moment. She has, in game, slept with two programs (Kweri, Dex and Sin, counting the Twins as one being) and canonically had a lot of fun sex with Lizor. It's implied that she's bedded many more. But the characters on grid_lined don't take that as her main characteristic – they see her as a friend, a repair program, a person first and a lover second, if at all. And while she's a flirt, her main goal isn't to get everyone she meets into bed. She's helped people out without any of that – Lee, Rinz, Sam, to name a few. Granted, she probably wouldn't say no to them, but she doesn't push. It's their choice, and it's her choice. She's turned programs down before now because the circumstances aren't right. She's entirely capable of befriending people without making it sexual. And, honestly, I shouldn't have to say that last.
Part of this is because on our Grid, there isn't the social stigma about a woman sleeping with a lot of people. In fact, a lot of human hang-ups are missing from the Grid. As long as nobody gets hurt, physically, mentally, or emotionally, then it's a program's business and theirs alone whom they have fun with. I don't play Fire for the titillation of others – I play her because she's a strong woman who knows what she wants, and she wants to be that way. And those who play along do so because they understand that.
Were it not for the people who play and maintain this non-judgmental Grid, however, it wouldn't work that way at all. So thank you, grid_liners. Thank you for making such an amazing space for me to play in, and making me and my characters welcome. But most of all, thank you for not having to make me fight to have Fire recognized as a person in her own right.
