#even when I'm actively avoiding social interaction

[setmeatopthepyre]

my favorite genre of youtuber really has to be 'person who is super knowledgeable in their field and loves talking about it'

[pyrrhiccomedy]

so judging by how astonished people are by it every time we explain it to anybody, it seems like my wife and I might really be onto something here

during the pandemic, we invented something we call "astronaut time."

when it's astronaut time, it's like we are two astronauts wearing the big helmets, moving around the station on totally separate tasks. one of us is outside the space station and one of us is inside the space station. our radios do not work and we have no way of communicating with each other. we might see each other through the lil porthole windows, but we ignore each other because we both have different things to do.

"astronaut time" is how we get total privacy when we live in the same apartment. I will pretend you don't exist. You will pretend I don't exist. we have a nonverbal, zero-contact signal for when astronaut time is over (usually "I'll draw a smiley-face on the whiteboard in the kitchen when I'm done"). No talking, stay out of each other's line of sight, we are actively avoiding each other, unless you are currently experiencing a medical emergency goodbye.

it has been. a godsend. imagine living with your partner and being able to close every single tab in your brain related to social interaction. no fear of being interrupted by a "hey, quick question--" or "sorry to bother you, but do you know where the scissors are?" or "did you want something to eat, too?" Once or twice a month, we look at each other lovingly, hold hands, and say "baby I think I need some astronaut time tonight," and the other person goes "okay cool. bye! have a nice night!" and nobody's feelings are hurt and we both go and have a lovely evening completely by ourselves.

like idk it's a small thing but it's made our lives so much nicer, so if you and your partner/roommate are both people who sometimes need total privacy in order to recharge, maybe try it

[starcurtain]

Comparing Phaidei and Other Hoyo MLM Ships (Part 1)

I barely know how to begin, honestly, because I'm still so taken aback by the absolute Phaidei feast that was 3.1. But perhaps because we were so overfed by the patch, I was actually jarred a little out of the story itself--too busy turning over the broader ramifications of such blatant queer-coding of two male characters in a modern Hoyoverse game.

Of course, Hoyo isn't remotely new to queer-coding their characters (or to queer-baiting, either, gacha games gotta hustle at all times). They absolutely have a history of hinting at both WLW and MLM ships and of including fanservice between the player's MC and other playable characters regardless of gender. Strangely enough, due to the unique confluence of their target audiences' tastes, the Hoyoverse team has an active profit motive to create gay characters:

WLW ships are appealing to heterosexual male players.

MLM ships are appealing to heterosexual female players.

Simultaneously, WLW and MLM ships are appealing to queer players.

Heterosexual ships with characters other than the MC are unappealing to a large percentage of the game's playerbase, particularly to heterosexual male players who want to keep their waifus to themselves but also to female yumeshippers.

Hoyo's market is literally telling them that 1) male characters sell better when they're ship-baited with other male characters, and 2) players don't actually want heterosexual ships between playable characters if the MC isn't involved. (Hell, look at Firefly--players hate romances with the MC too lol!)

But at the same time as the market is telling the devs to keep making queer characters, Hoyoverse also faces immense social pressure to avoid including actual queer content.

Let me hold off on the political and legal consequences of including gay characters in Chinese media for just a second, and look at the situation from the perspective of Hoyo's target audiences first:

Take this data with a grain of salt though; I'm not sure where they got their numbers.

First, Hoyoverse games are increasingly global and surprisingly popular in conservative/religious countries such as Russia, Malaysia, and the UAE. The western world as a whole is shifting increasingly right on LGBT+ issues. For the games to be marketed well across the globe, they've got to avoid challenging the morals of these highly varied audiences. (Perhaps this is why past Hoyoverse titles seemed more open to LGBT+ content than present Hoyoverse games do; a broader audience actually means more restrictions on content.)

Second, even though conservative heterosexual male players are actually surprisingly fine with MLM ship tease, that only applies so long as it stays at the level of "I can pretend I don't see it." As long as anti-LGBT+ players can write off any MLM content as "just close friends," the dev team can get away with frankly shocking amounts of queer interaction between male characters. (I'm sorry to any straight male fans reading this [could there possibly be any?], but half of y'all could win gold medals if mental gymnastics were a sport. The lengths I have seen some male Genshin players go to try to explain away Haikaveh are honestly awe-inspiring. 😂) However, the boundary must be respected. The moment a male character's queerness exceeds subtext and becomes text, when even mental gymnastics cannot come up with a heterosexual explanation, and the plausible deniability goes out the window, it is no longer acceptable to anti-LGBT+ players, and they will be "turned off" from pulling that male character en masse. In essence, the market is telling the devs: 1) Huge amounts of queer-coding = a-okay, but 2) Actual canon queer content = that's gayyyy, no wayyyy.

And third, the obvious: China's stance on LGBT+ people is weirdly stricter in media than it is in "real" life. It is not illegal to be gay in China but it is illegal to be gay in a video game in China. Restrictions on media portrayals of gayness are significantly more strict than restrictions on actually being gay (which is interesting cognitive dissonance for those from outside the country, but that's an essay for another day). Hoyoverse legally cannot show characters engaged in any explicitly queer behaviors--at least that can't be explained away.

Furthermore, the rules apply very differently for male and female characters. WLW content gets way more of a pass from the censors. Bronya and Seele can blush at each other, but Alhaitham and Kaveh cannot. You would never see "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" happening with male Hoyoverse characters. The censors literally would not allow it, strictly because Chinese standards for portrayals of men are different--and more strict!--than standards for portraying women. Legally, there are strong and serious limitations on what Hoyo can do with their male characters.

Summing all of this up, in trying to create their male characters and content, Hoyoverse is actually fighting a battle of conflicting pressures: Male characters sell better when they are queer-coded, but their interactions can never rise to the level of being canonically gay.

Everything must exist in the realm of implication.

(Yes, I can hear you: "Can you please get to Phaidei already?" 😂)

All of this foreword was to lay a foundation for the actual point I want to make about Phaidei: Because Hoyoverse can only queer-code and not actually queer their male characters, they have (in their modern games), fallen into a sort of pattern with their MLM ship bait. Certain plots and personalities keeps reappearing again and again. They've developed a sort of short-hand set of traits to give to their male characters--the Hoyoverse "queer-coded MLM starter pack" if you will lol.

While not every popular MLM ship in Hoyo's games has the same traits (obviously not), certain elements seem central to creating the delicate necessary gray area between "They're just baiting fangirls" and "The devs intended these two characters to be canonically gay but just couldn't state that textually."

And yet... And yet...

You're not imagining things: Phaidei is actually different.

To demonstrate just how different though, I wanted to take the time to compare Phaidei with other popular Hoyoverse MLM ships, looking at both the similarities (the patterns that Hoyo relies on to reliably queer-code their characters) and the noticeable differences (where Hoyo pushed their own boundaries in surprising ways).

Unfortunately, in the interest of full transparency, my own Hoyoverse experience is limited, so I can only use examples from Star Rail and Genshin Impact. I just haven't played HI3 or ZZZ, so I don't feel comfortable trying to use examples from those games, although I think there may be many ships that fall into similar patterns in those games as well. (Maybe some people can share in the comments?)

Anyway, let's start with similarities:

1. A Pair of Equals

The number one "rule" for popular Hoyoverse queer-coded MLM ships is that the two characters must be evenly matched. This isn't to say they have to have identical levels of physical strength (although that is also often the case); instead, the audience needs to perceive them as being on equal footing in some way. They must either be intellectual equals (Alhaitham and Kaveh), political equals (Ratio and Aventurine; Neuvillette and Wriothesley), equal in social standing (Tighnari and Cyno), or, yes, actually physically equal their capability for going toe-to-toe against each other (Blade and Dan Heng; possibly Zhongli and Childe; for those who ship it, Diluc and Kaeya).

For modern Hoyo games, queer-coded MLM ships with noticeable discrepancies in power dynamics are particularly rare; possibly the only one that comes to mind is Ayato/Thoma (though this is mitigated by the game deliberately telling us that Ayato treats Thoma like family, rather than like a servant). And I think this actually says a lot about the devs' thought process: They are deliberately avoiding scenarios in which one male character seems capable of "preying" on another, where the queer-coding could accidentally be perceived as sexual perversion due to a discrepancy in power dynamics.

They're intentionally averting the "depraved homosexual" trope by--sometimes literally--spelling out for the players that both male characters in their queer-coded MLM ships perceive each other as, and are interested in each other as, equals.

We see this explicitly with Ratio and Aventurine in Star Rail:

And Alhaitham and Kaveh in Genshin:

Even Blade and Dan Heng are likened to "a pair" of identical objects:

So of course, Phainon and Mydei push this to an extreme. Phainon describes himself and Mydei as "friends and foes," and the game goes out of it way to reiterate over and over that they are perfect equals. Although they compete in everything they do, there is never a clear victor; their score card is constantly balancing out because they match each other's skill and power perfectly.

But there are even hints in the game that this isn't just happening naturally, but also by choice: Even when one of them triumphs over the other, they both backtrack and insist on getting on equal standing again. Whether you win or lose the "competition" in Kremnos in 3.0, the outcome is the same:

Phainon and Mydei perceive each other as perfectly matched (in strength, right, right...) and are actively working to keep it that way.

The game also goes out of its way to insist that Mydei and Phainon aren't just equals in terms of strength but also in social standing. It theoretically should be impossible to match Mydei's place on the social ladder--he's the literal crown prince of an entire nation of world-renowned conquerors. Even Aglaea is not a queen; we see her on screen being forced to contend with Okhema's Council who are fighting her for power. There technically isn't anyone in Amphoreus (at least that we've met so far) who should be able to stand on equal political or administrative footing to Mydei.

Except, of course, for Phainon, who supersedes all others by virtue of being the literal prodigal son, the "Chosen One."

The game insists on putting this in our faces over and over again: Mydei may be a king in the making, but Phainon is the "Deliverer." They are equally matched in terms of authority.

The game even goes out of its way to tell us they're perfect mirrors in personality too:

Hoyo, in the kitchen cooking up another gay ship: LISTEN GUYS, they're equals, do you understand me? A MATCHING SET.

But also...

2. Diametrically Opposed

It isn't enough for the queer-coded men to be each other's perfect equals. They also have to be opposites, typically in terms of their personalities. This is the pattern that repeats itself most consistently across Hoyoverse MLM ships with strong textual support: the two men may be equal, but they're also nothing alike. (At least on the surface.)

Alhaitham and Kaveh's entire plot hinges on their directly opposing personalities and morals, representing the clash between rationality and sensibility. Dan Feng was reserved and cool-tempered, while Yingxing was "arrogant" and brash. Hell, Xingqiu and Chongyun are "refined and clever" versus "forthright and trusting." I actually think Zhongli and Childe, despite being the most popular Hoyoverse ship in the western fandom, have very little canonical support, yet they still fit this pattern, with Zhongli as the refined gentleman to Tartaglia's blood knight tendencies.

We know how Ratio sees himself and Aventurine:

Hoyo really said "Opposites attract" and ran with it for every single MLM ship they ever teased.

And there's a logical reason for this. Making the two male characters dead opposites actually slightly decreases people's ability to argue that they're "just friends"--if they have next to nothing in common, they're not usually bonding over mutual hobbies or basing their connection on shared similarities. It becomes harder to portray two male characters as "bros who just get along great" when they're deliberately written with opposing tastes and personalities. (Real friends can sometimes be dead opposites, obviously, but most friendships are built on mutual interests rather than opposing ones, while romantic relationships hilariously have the "opposites attract" stereotype.)

There's no reason to shove polar opposites together again and again except to watch the sparks fly.

Even Hoyo's male characters' color schemes are often perfectly opposite. Plenty of people have figured out if you palette swap Alhaitham and Kaveh, Dan Heng and Blade, and Ratio and Aventurine, you end up with the same colors. Ayato and Thoma match the pattern here too ("red and blue gays" is a well-known trope).

But once again, the devs pulled out ALL the stops for Phaidei:

They're red versus blue. They're sun and moon. They're outgoing versus introverted. They're a king and a peasant (if we believe what Phainon's telling us about Aedes Elysiae). They're the "outsider" and the "golden boy." One fights with strength and the other with technique, brains versus brawn (actually they're both kind of idiots though, so take this one lightly lol).

However, what I think is most interesting about Hoyo's pairs of MLM opposites that is that the devs deliberately subvert expectations by assigning the opposing traits to the "unexpected" character. In both Haikaveh and Ratiorine, it's the rational scholar who is more overtly caring and attuned to their partner's feelings. In Renheng, it's the kind-hearted Yingxing who is consumed by anger, while the aloof, expressionless Dan Heng's voice trembles in wonder at the mere mention of Yingxing's name.

For Phainon and Mydei, this inversion of opposite traits occurs with their personalities specifically. People expected Mydei to be a gruff, hot-headed, battle-hungry berserker with a sarcastic or arrogant personality at best.

Instead, Mydei is an extremely thoughtful person, who struggles with his fate not because of what will happen to himself but because of a desire to bring the greatest good to the greatest number of his people. He's a respectful, gentle (when he needs to be), and even sentimental young man who continues to hold on to love for those who have long passed away. He's reserved around strangers but generous and warm to his companions, and struggles to express himself but has a clear desire to be considerate of others.

We also know he's deeply aware of and emotionally affected by the racism his people are experiencing in Okhema; one NPC in Okhema reports how Mydei, despite being new to Okhema himself, stood up to the very council still plaguing Aglaea in order to protect his people:

Despite having difficulties expressing his own thoughts, he even scolds Phainon for approaching their farewell with a nonchalant expression--Mydei doesn't reject emotions or shy away from becoming close with people he cares for.

Instead, it's Phainon who actually struggles to be honest. While he might connect easily with others on the surface, seeming outgoing and kind-hearted, he is actually a much more private person, one who is reluctant to show his true feelings and dismissive of questions about his past and identity. As opposed to Mydei's desire to avoid Nikador's power, Phainon is (despite his doubts) eager to prove himself, spurned on by the pressure of the prophecy telling him he needs to achieve greatness. We're told that he craved the power of strife specifically, while Mydei summarily wishes to reject it.

It's Phainon who frequently has to be reined in by others--he was ready to kill Oronyx for delaying his rescue of Mydei--and Phainon who fails to let go of his hatred and desire for revenge, causing him to fail Nikador's trial, which Mydei easily clears.

By inverting the traits of the characters, creating designs which visually oppose each other while assigning the actual opposing personality traits to the "mismatched" character, the devs hammer home an implicit message: These two characters complete each other. They fill in each other's gaps. What you expected to find in one of these men, you will instead find in the other. What they wish to be, they will be drawn to in each other.

(Frequently bought together, do not separate!)

3. The Distance is Artificial

Okay, so if they're so obviously written as a "pair," being perfect equals and perfect opposites, how are they just "queer-coded" and not explicitly queer? How is Hoyo keeping up the illusion of the characters not being an obvious couple when they're literally written to complete each other?

Hoyo has one major tool in their arsenal to do this: Prickly personalities.

With the exception of Renheng, which I'll get to in a second, Hoyo has a favorite method for enforcing the rule of plausible deniability, the idea that "Nooo, we promise, they're not in love; they don't even like each other, see??"--and that's giving one of the characters an intractable personality.

This can manifest, like Alhaitham and Kaveh, as constant bickering, where the pair's main method of communication is to devolve into petty arguments or sarcastic quips.

Fans who support the ship can view this as an "old married couple" dynamic; but for those who do not support the ship and choose to insist that Hoyo isn't actually queer-coding their male characters, they can lean on these arguments as "proof" that the characters don't actually love each other.

A similar pattern was recently repeated with Sethos/Wanderer, with Wanderer's prickly personality being used to keep Sethos at bay.

By placing the characters at odds with each other through bickering, Hoyo introduces just enough doubt to make the "They're only friends/roommates, we promise" argument hold some water. This allows them to get--quite honestly--a lot of queer content past the censors and past homophobic audiences too.

We see them repeat this trope with Aventurine and Ratio in Star Rail, introducing the two characters as initially "at odds" with each other and trying to pass it off as Ratio despising Aventurine.

Even after revealing that they were plotting together, the game insists on introducing some lingering doubts, suggesting that Aventurine fears Ratio would actually betray him.

This creates the necessary "gray area," the gap that Hoyo can use to hide in--no, Aventurine doesn't trust Ratio at all, see? Maybe they don't even like each other? Who knows! The doubt doesn't exist because the story particularly needs it, but simply so that Hoyo has a shield to hide behind if people begin to question how close the two male characters are.

Even in comedic material, Hoyo intentionally keeps this "necessary distance" in order to allow themselves wiggle room. Is Ratio an enamored tsundere who can't spit his real feelings out, or does he actually think Aventurine is illogical, mediocre, and ridiculous? Was the "Keeping Up With Star Rail" video an example of Hoyo deliberately baiting by making Ratio flustered over Aventurine "on air," or is he being Aventurine's biggest hater in this clip?

It's just questionable enough that those players who hate MLM to interpret it as the latter, and provides just enough doubt to help Hoyo slip queer-coding under the radar. Those who want to see it will see, while it's written just vaguely enough that those who don't want to see it will not see it.

(That's the point Owlbert, that's the point.)

When in doubt, and when stuck with a pair of characters who aren't likely to bicker with words, Hoyo sometimes has to progress to the next level: making them actual enemies.

What's better for creating plausible deniability than one of them trying to kill the other? (They definitely were not fooling around in a past life. We promise.) In an ironic twist with Renheng in particular, the fandom seems to have somehow come to the (mistaken) consensus that Dan Feng and Yingxing were "confirmed canon" (truly, I see this stated everywhere; we love when reading comprehension fails in the right direction for once lol), leaving only Dan Heng/Blade as being of questionable "canonicity." However, this still works as far as Hoyo is concerned, because only Dan Heng and Blade are left on screen.

By insisting on their present inability to reconcile, Blade and Dan Heng are able to introduce just enough doubt into the equation to offset even significant ship tease for Dan Feng/Yingxing.

Enemies to lovers 150k+ slow burn, please look forward to it.

Okay, but back to Phaidei. At first, it seems like Phaidei is going to follow this pattern to a T: When Phainon first introduces Trailblazer to Mydei, the two seem to be at odds, bickering over how Mydei is choosing to confront the enemy. Mydei even calls Phainon out for an unintentionally insensitive statement (when Phainon demands to know why Mydei isn't "protecting the citizens," Mydei asks "Who are you implying is not a citizen here?" i.e., "Are you saying because I'm Kremnoan I don't count as a citizen?" You can see Phainon practically bite his tongue to take back his words.)

Also known as: Mydei experiences a microaggression.

Mydei's very first line directly to the Trailblazer is to insult Phainon's hospitality, and we know they definitely have plenty of silly insults to lob at each other while competing.

But this is actually where we see the first deviation from the pattern for Phaidei. Although there's a few cursory lines throughout their early dialogue, that's all there ever is--just cursory attempts at suggesting the two bicker and don't get along.

Within one scene, the "tension" present in their first meeting entirely devolves into purely playful banter, and it is clear by the time we finish 3.0 that Phainon and Mydei are actually very close and get along well, with virtually none of Haikaveh's biting comments, Blade and Dan Heng's violence, or Aventurine and Ratio's questions of loyalty. Phainon and Mydei took one look at the rest of Hoyoverse's MLM ships and said "How about we skip that will they-won't they?" lol.

But I'm not quite ready to talk about the places where Phaidei departs from the normal pattern yet, so I'll leave this point by just saying that Hoyo did start Phaidei on the same path as a majority of their other MLM ships, making a vague attempt at using their rivalry to suggest they wouldn't get along--thereby allowing for the alternative interpretation to quiet the haters (and the censors).

4. The (Physical) Distance is Non-Existent

Okay, but if Hoyo uses personalities to inject just enough distance into their queer-coded pairings to avoid crossing any boundaries, then what do they do to tantalize the audience, to make it seem like the characters might actually like each other?

They use body language!

First, just to reiterate a basic video game design principle: All animations and character placements have to be programmed by someone, and that means that all animations and the physical locations of characters in scenes are intentional. Nothing happens in cutscenes by accident.

Designers are constantly making a series of choices any time they have to put together a cutscene, and one of the key choices they have to make is how to express each character through their movements and their positions relative to other characters. (I've talked before, for example, about how Aventurine frequently turns his back on people, forcing their eyes to follow him throughout his cutscenes, taking physical control of the reactions of people around him.)

Hoyoverse games have somewhat standardized scene layouts for conversation cutscenes, with characters typically being placed at different distances from each other depending on their relationships. A majority of conversations happen from a generally cordial conversational distance, which means that any time characters cross this gap and close the distance, the dev team is intentionally sending the players a message.

Like, no one mistook what this was about, right?

Heterosexual jumpscare in my queer post; I'm sorry, I was just too tired to find a video with Lumine lol.

Repeating for good measure: Unless it is with a male playable main character (where the presence of the female main character is what lends the deniability), Hoyo legally cannot show their male characters engaging in physical contact that could be construed as romantic. Male characters can't hold hands; they can't even really hug unless it's "caught you as you fell after battle" (props to Dan Heng for being the only male character in Star Rail to get a "hug" with Jing Yuan lol.) There's a boundary that Hoyo male characters do not cross, and that's almost universally the realm of physical touch.

But Hoyo can place their queer-coded male characters into scenarios of physical closeness that they don't typically show among other characters.

Alhaitham and Kaveh's table says hello.

So does Tighnari and Cyno's single tent from this same quest; Cyno's Story 2, truly the quest that kept on giving.

Aventurine, a character who traditionally keeps half a room's distance between himself and the people he's talking to, suddenly doesn't seem to mind closing the distance with Ratio:

And even Renheng, the eternal enemies, are depicted as crossing physical boundaries, explicitly "getting in each other's faces." Yes it's a battle, but also, I've seen yaoi with less domineering poses lol.

You might think these lightcone examples are a stretch, but seriously: Go look at all the lightcones in the game. Does a single heterosexual couple have a lightcone where they are in each other's space in this manner? No, because physical closeness is actually a tool Hoyo is consistently using to queer-code. (Well, there would probably be more heterosexual closeness too if the incels weren't so weird...)

Anyway, when I saw the devs might be heading the direction of baiting Phaidei, I fully expected that we would see them side-by-side more consistently and with less of a gap between them than between other characters. But I wasn't remotely ready for the degree to which Hoyo would take that.

Here is an example of Phaidei exhibiting the "normal" Star Rail conversational distance:

Andddd... here's where they spend the other 90% of their scenes together:

The unnecessarily large distance between them and the Trailblazer gets me every time. Like they are not leaving room for Jesus Kephale.

Even when they aren't standing practically on top of each other, the devs deliberately choose camera angles that frame them both in the cutscene at the same time, which is relatively rare for Star Rail (not unheard of, but usually the camera will just go for the "first person POV" when two people are speaking, allowing for a close up of the speaking character). Instead of back-and-forth close ups, many of Mydei and Phainon's conversations are framed from a "behind-the-shoulder" angle, to catch them both in the frame. This creates the illusion that they're standing closer together than they are, and also reinforces a sense of intimacy in their conversations--the camera (and thus the player) becomes an "outsider" while their bodies turn toward each other.

Again, Hoyoverse is under pressure to avoid showing physical contact between male characters that could be construed romantically. They can't show Mydei and Phainon tangoing like Black Swan and Acheron. When it comes to queer-coding male characters, they have to use the tools available to them, and their primary tool for visually signifying the possibility of romantic closeness is physical closeness.

The camera is telling you that Mydei and Phainon are close.

Anyway, just one more point I wanted to make before moving on to discussing how Phaidei completely crushed the mold for Hoyoverse queer-coding, but...

5. Oh God, We're Turning Into Your Parents

Listen, I'm a reasonable person. I can fully accept that I play games with LGBT+ goggles on at all times. Despite being fantastically aroace myself, I love yaoi. I love yuri. I even like plenty of straight ships. I'm a fangirl first, academic second, so believe me when I say that I understand how skeptics might view some of the points above. "You're just fangirling. Being equals and opposites doesn't automatically imply romance. The devs might have intended close friendship, not a relationship." This counter-argument is valid!

So I want to end with one more point which I think is actually the lynch pin to proving that Hoyoverse isn't "accidentally" making their male characters come across as queer. Hoyo's queer-coding for certain ships is very intentional and even sometimes very overt. In a few cases prior to Phaidei, they were already skirting the upper limits of plausible deniability, and I think the modern ship that previously pushed the boundary the most is Haikaveh.

You can say what you want about other Hoyo MLM ships and their lack of canon textual support (I love you ZhongChi, even if the devs actually hate you lol), but I believe people who unironically say "The devs are not baiting Alhaitham and Kaveh as a ship" are so media illiterate that it's actually embarrassing to share air with them. Whether you think the devs are just doing it to cash in on yaoi fangirls or because they actually want to depict gay characters, it is indisputable at this point that Alhaitham and Kaveh have in-game ship tease. They just do, and one of the most obvious and unmistakable instances of this is when Kaveh's hangout paralleled Kaveh's relationship with Alhaitham to the heterosexual marriage between Kaveh's mother and father.

To draw a direct connection between Kaveh's father and Alhaitham, who is repeatedly described as not being able to understand Kaveh's artistic sensibilities and idealistic world view but nevertheless chooses to stay by Kaveh's side through his many troubles, while simultaneously reinforcing the idea that Kaveh is his mother's spitting image, both physically and emotionally, can really not be interpreted in any other way.

Hoyoverse took a queer relationship and made a one-for-one analogy to a heterosexual relationship--Alhaitham and Kaveh are a direct reflection of Kaveh's very married parents.

This isn't something that can happen on accident. This is deliberate and unmistakable queer-coding.

Which makes it absolutely wild that it happened twice.

I've posted already about the obvious parallels between Mydei's parents and Phaidei, and I'm actually almost out of room for new images here, so I can't post the images again, but I hardly need to at this point: Mydei's parents met when Gorgo challenged Eurypon at the Kremnos Festival. They fought for ten rounds, determined that they were (what do you know) perfect equals, and Eurypon proposed on the spot. Eurypon is explicitly described as a swordmaster, while Gorgo used a spear.

Later, the game repeatedly (and in various separate instances), emphasizes that Mydei and Phainon's first meeting consisted of a duel lasting ten days and ten nights, where neither of them could secure the victory, proving them to also be each other's perfect equals. Phainon's role as Okhema's swordmaster is emphasized, while Mydei wields a spear just like his mother when killing his father and after taking on Nikador's divinity.

Then there's... everything that came after. Eurypon betrayed Gorgo, effectively stabbing her in the back, and took her life. The foreshadowing that Phainon will do this exact same thing to Mydei is unmissable.

Phainon has even expressed an explicit desire to take part in the same competition where Mydei's father crowned the winner his wife:

In the (very limited) Kremnoan dictionary, I'm pretty sure this is how you say "I'm down to fuck."

Just as in the case with Haikaveh, there is no way that this parallel could have occurred by accident. The devs did not go out of their way to give us entire flashbacks of Gorgo and Eurypon's meeting and downfall for no reason. You're supposed to see the one-for-one connection between Mydei's very heterosexual, married parents and Phainon and Mydei's relationship.

Simultaneously, the devs also parallel their MLM ships to heterosexual relations by incorporating shades of domesticity normally reserved for "traditional" male-female relationships into their MLM ships--including levels of domesticity that heterosexual ships in Genshin and Star Rail usually don't rise to. One of Genshin's most popular MLM ships shares a single-family home and has a chore chart. Thoma is Ayato's housekeeper. Tighnari and Cyno are just flat-out joint raising a child. Jiaoqiu cooks and Moze cleans. Yingxing and Dan Feng accidentally(?) made a baby.

And Phainon and Mydei aren't any exception. They live an apocalyptic world that is constantly calling them away to battle, but the devs went out of their way to tell us Mydei is an extremely good cook who prepares everyone's food and deliberately ruins Phainon's when he's annoying, which is definitely old married couple behavior lol. Mydei is framed repeatedly as being good with children, not just in the distant fatherly way but in the "plays house" and follows-along-after-unaccompanied-kids-like-a-mother-hen way. Yet when Mydei has to leave, taking the classic "I'm going off to war" ancient Greek exit, he doesn't depart without leaving Phainon his people--with the camera panning specifically to the little Kremnoans. Phainon got the kids in the divorce. D; The tragic domesticity is already off the charts, and then they hit you the second punch when Mydei's last question (just one or two lines later) confirms that it was Phainon who got the ring for him. Hoyo couldn't actually have given us a more heavy-handed "parting husband and wife" parallel if someone held them at gunpoint. That whole thing was some Odyssey level bullshit. I see you devs, I see you.

You might be tempted to say that is just heteronormativity, which it could be, but I actually think it serves a very specific place in Hoyo's queer-coding repertoire. In comparing gay relationships to heterosexual marriages, the devs effectively "legitimize" their queer characters, suggesting that the relationships between gay male characters are no less real or valid than those between men and women. In demonstrating that male characters can achieve stable and healthy domestic lives with each other, the devs reiterate that players are not supposed to notice a difference between gay and heterosexual relationships.

There isn't any clearer way for Hoyoverse to legally say "We want you to think of these two men as romantic partners" than to say "Wow, isn't it interesting that their relationship is identical to a married couple's." It's on purpose; at this point, you really can't say the queer-coding isn't deliberate without looking like you can't read, and if it was intentional when Haikaveh paralleled Kaveh's parents, then it was doubly so the second time Hoyoverse pulled this trick to parallel Phaidei to Mydei's parents.

PHEW! Okay, I finally made it through the foundational traits for Hoyoverse MLM ship-bait and where Phaidei fits in with those. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk! 😂

But... the whole reason I started this post was actually because I wanted to talk about differences between Phaidei and other Hoyoverse MLM ships, and particularly how bold Hoyo actually was in 3.1, pushing the envelop to an extreme degree to ship-tease Phainon and Mydei.

So, since the post was way, way too long, I've spit the rest of my point off into a second post.

Check out Part 2 over here. ->

[httpknjoon]

wanna try out some freaky positions? | myg

plot | that time popstar!yn is on her tour's day two in paris, and fans are wondering if she's finally doing the most requested position of all time. the one that may require her bassist (and rumored boyfriend), yoongi.

w.c | 1980

pairing | bass guitarist!yoongi x popstar!reader

genre | fluff, humor, enemies to lovers, slow burn

note | i'm still calling it twitter

main masterlist | series masterlist

DAY 301: PARIS, FRANCE

It's everywhere. Predictions about your possible Juno position for your second performance night in Paris are all over social media before you even officially land in the said country. It didn’t help that you and your band members are active on social media, alluding that something is happening behind the scenes. There were also sightings of your close friend, another celebrity, who you knew was staying in France for his vacation. Your fans, who were already elated with the upcoming performance later tonight, flooded you with mentions on Twitter, which resulted in a short and unplanned Q and A.

You were in the middle of your rehearsal break when you finally got hold of your phone after posting that late IG story hours ago. Knowing how excited your fans are at the moment, you reinstalled your Twitter app just to have some interactions with them. It has been so long since you opened your account there, since you were avoiding seeing any tweets about your breakup from last year. You smiled as you typed in your tweet, along with a photo you prepared for today, swaying your feet as you sat at the edge of the stage.

While you have all of your focus on your phone, you didn't even notice Yoongi, who's sitting on one of the empty seats in the area where the VIP audience usually sits. He cannot help but smile while he sips his Americano, looking at you. He wondered what made you so giggly and smiley on your phone. Meanwhile, his phone kept on vibrating in his pocket, which made him reach for it. That’s when he got the answer to his curiosity. Notifications from your Twitter account popped up one after the other. He chuckled before clicking on the app to read more of your tweets.

You giggled at the friendly banter you had with one of your fans. Scrolling down the tag, you smiled even harder when you found an interesting question to reply to.

Yoongi had to laugh with that one. Hearing that, you turned your head up, finally seeing him sitting alone just a few feet down the stage. Your left eyebrow raised, wondering what made him laugh on his phone.

“Where are the others?” you asked all of a sudden, just to get his attention.

Your bassist looked up and met your gaze. “They went out for snacks. I got your coffee here.”

He points out the still-warm takeout coffee cup he has on the empty seat next to him. You smiled before reading yourself to jump from the stage rather than taking the stairs. Seeing that, Yoongi immediately stood up.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“I’ll jump,” you replied, already inching yourself at the edge.

He clicked his tongue while shaking his head, “No, just take the stairs.”

You pouted. “This is easier. I hate the stairs.”

“You might get hurt. Art and Cal will both kill me if I let you do that,” he said while walking towards you. He then stood just a few feet lower than you.

From your point of view, he looked nonchalant, yet he opened both his arms.

You squinted, “Are you gonna catch me?”

“Nope, I just like opening my arms at random times like this,” he scoffed. 

You rolled your eyes. “And I like jumping from high places.”

He shook his head again before telling you sternly, “I don’t care. Just jump, diva.”

So you did. Even though you would have loved to continue the childish banter. And he did catch you, helping you carefully land your feet on the ground. Steadily and easily, he got you with one hand, holding you up against your back. Unconsciously, your face is almost buried in his neck, like you were magnets, they just connect instantly. Maybe it was because he still wore the familiar scent that makes butterflies stir in your stomach.

And maybe that’s why you didn’t pull away right away.

With how close you are, you can feel his heart beating almost at the same pace as yours. Fast and loud. Slowly pulling away, your eyes interlocked with each other. It was a heavy exchange of stares, anchored with something heart-fluttering that you two didn’t have to label anymore. A small smile tugged at your lips as you noticed his eyes moving down.

“Thank you,” you whispered before stepping back.

Yoongi followed behind you, trying not to put his hand over his beating chest. He sat in a seat apart next to you while you took a sip of the coffee. The much-needed caffeine helped you feel warmer and comfortable in your baby blue sweatshirt. 

“You liked it?” he asked even though he already knew the answer.

“Yep, I needed that. Thank you,” you replied, putting down the cup. You turned to him.  “Why are you here, by the way? You don’t want to explore the city in your free time? We’re only here for a few days.”

He shrugged, “I don’t know, I just had this gut feeling that you will do something reckless and I need to stick around.”

It was your turn to scoff, “Yoongi, just say you stayed behind for me. It’s okay.”

He looked at you, brows furrowed, “Don’t flatter yourself.”

And he didn’t even deny it, you thought to yourself.

As soon as everyone got back, the rehearsal resumed. This time, it was a dress rehearsal. So you had more time and room for errors and adjustments. While Art is talking with the band about something related to your time on stage, you take a quick scroll on your phone. You instantly took notice of a certain tweet getting a lot of attention. You laughed at it as it sparked something in your brain. You swiped up your finger on the app to see more tweets from your fans, but a notification from a verified account popped up. You turned around to see Yoongi raising his brows. You typed in your phone before giving it to your very pregnant assistant, Cal.

The fishbowl method.

That method is known to be Yoongi's greatest enemy. Whenever any staff member of your tour brings out that glass bowl that was filled with rolled papers, he just knows he will hear his name from that staff member’s tongue. And today is no different day.

It was during the second rehearsal break of the day when Cal came in holding the infamous transparent bowl.

“So, everyone, this is for the Juno performance. We need two people for tonight,” she said it like it’s gonna be something fun.

Although Yoongi literally had no idea why, everyone seemed to be excited upon hearing Cal’s instructions as they cheered, including you. Fred, who is happily married and permanently removed from choices for the Juno performance participants, sat along with you and your dancers. He was cheering too. For more variety, the fishbowl included the names of your band members and dancers.

“YN, will you do the honors of picking two names in our bowl of names?” Cal called you up. 

“Okay, here we go. Drumroll, please,” you quipped, but Fred followed, running to his drums and playing them.

Knowing his fate, Yoongi was not surprised anymore when he heard his name after Noah’s. He is not even disappointed or frustrated. He just accepted and expected that the fishbowl method loves him. But what he did not expect was the reason for today’s fishbowl method. While you explained your plan for tonight’s Juno performance pose, Yoongi just shook his head with a smile as he was already used to your straightforward poses. He just didn’t expect that you could be this creative for positions.

“So, do you want to be at the back or the front?” Noah asked, which can sound strange without context.

Yoongi blinked, “What?”

He was obviously dumbfounded, making the others laugh. You tried not to laugh while you bit off your inner cheek.

“He means for the Eiffel Tower,” you explained, which didn’t really clarify anything for him.

Noah cuts in to help, “We are basically the tower itself, while YN is the centerpiece. She will bend forward, and we-” he clasped his hands together, “Are gonna high-five over her.”

“That’s your Juno position for tonight?!” Yoongi looked at him, then to you.

You nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah, the Eiffel Tower!”

When it finally registered in his head, everyone can see Yoongi’s shoulders deflating as he shakes his head with a smile. Just smiling over how stupid yet creative this whole thing is. His defeated stance made Fred and the dancers laugh. 

“I swear, we should change that fishbowl method,” he muttered, pushing his hair back.

“I think the fishbowl likes you a lot,” you teased him.

“I don’t think it was just the fishbowl,” he replied, making you pause while you three walk to the heart-shaped center stage.

Noah, who did not hear that last line since he walked faster, snapped his fingers, “Catch up, lovers. Let’s do this test run for the Eiffel Tower. I’m honestly starting to feel like the third wheel here.”

He said the name sarcastically, which resulted to you rolling your eyes and Yoongi scratching the back of his neck. You get into the position. You have your sparkly mic in your right hand, singing the last line before the pose. 

“Wanna try out some freaky position?” 

The guys stood on your front and back. Noah was on the front, while Yoongi was behind you.

“Have you ever tried… this one?” 

You bent forward as Yoongi and Noah high-fived over you, which instantly earned some whistling and cheers from your tour staff and dancers. You laughed, making you lose balance and accidentally grind against Yoongi. You only snapped out of it when he instinctively gripped your hips to steady you in place.

Noah, who saw this happen, gaped, “Oh my god, someone wash my eyes with holy water.”

Being the dramatic one, he threw up his hands and walked away in exaggerated disbelief. You and Yoongi, on the other hand, seemed to be in your own little world as you looked over your shoulder to look at him.

“Oops, sorry,” you said without really meaning it. 

He raised an eyebrow, “Really?”

You shrugged, standing back up, “Eh.”

Noah groaned from afar, leaning on one of the big speakers near their instruments, “Where is the HR for this tour?! I need to report something!”

The joke made everyone laugh. Akio, being the second most dramatic one in the band, dramatically consoled Noah. You stifled a laugh, turning around in their direction.

“Oh my god, you’re making me look like I’m a problem here.” you fed into their little bit that was going on.

Your best friend accusedly pointed out his finger, “You are the problem, and so is Tower B over there.”

Mr. Tower B, who stood next to you, remained casual as he muttered, “I don’t mind what’s going on. I kinda liked the view.”

The subtle smugness in his statement got a loud reaction from everyone. Fred laughed. The dancers howled. Akio and Noah groaned. The rehearsals are getting a little messier so Art had to step in.

“Okay, everyone. Let’s go rehearse the performance from the top again,” he signalled the dancers to stand up before turning to you and Yoongi. “And less thrusting, this time.”

You gasped even though you knew he was just teasing you, “There was no thrusting! I accidentally ground against him, that’s very much different!”

Art gave you a look that said, “Uh-huh, sure.”

Yoongi remained unbothered, “Yeah, thrusting is different. It requires intent.”

With that unexpected remark, the room erupted with laughter. All while your eyes widened, feeling the blood rushing to your cheeks.

“Yoongi!” you scolded him through an embarrassed gritted grin.

He looked at you, nonchalant as he blinked innocently,  “What? I was just explaining!”

SERIES TAGLIST

@busanbby-jjk @jimingirl95 @treacherqus @jajabro @marnz1990 @ktownshizzle @notarshia @m00njinnie @thelilbutifulthings @tarahardcore @livisdoingfine @jungshaking @eridanus-lynx @enthralled-bandit @goodnight-n-go-home @ronyiboniyy @jimeg629 @lveegsoi @madussthoughts @jalexad @ryryvna @kiki-zb @kam9404 @rtyuy1346 @esam28

PERMANENT TAGLIST (CLOSED)

@dunixxd @cixrosie @jksjx @embrace-themagic @buttvi @starbtslove @missseoulite @vanntaesworld @kenqki @imajinthis @stopeatread @seolaquotes @greyrain23 @chimchimmarie @petalsofink @jayhope88 @moonchild1 @laylasbunbunny @nikkiordonez12 @misshale21 @marblemoonstones @butnotmontana @mar-lo-pap @ficluvr613 @senaqsstuff @stars4kooo

[echo-exco]

GRAAAAAH⁉️ HELP‼️ You wrote such a masterpiece, I'm already so HYPED for the next chapter ONG.

With the batfamily's personal agenda and inability to reach out, their past forever haunting them.

I imagine that the realization that their present, where they actively ( idk if intentionally ) ignore the reader, now "past", will haunt them forever.

Especially Bruce's reaction, his internal struggle with the fact that if he was just a little bit warmer, the chaos caused by the future villain who used to be under his roof, could've been prevented.

Question tho, how would they all eventually turn yandere? They seem to have all never interacted before, so I can't see them suddenly feeling the need to be there for the reader. Either it would be self-righteous beliefs or they'd just think she overreacted. ( bring in the angst LMAO )

— "BEEDALEAF." 🥬

Aww! Thank you so much! I’m really glad that what I wrote was good for you, the readers 😌 I also hope to bring the next chapter soon!

The batfam has their own problems and responsibilities to deal with. Even healer!reader is aware of that, which is why she tries to avoid bothering them with her needs, whether emotional, intellectual, educational, social, or even sometimes financial.

Healer!reader has always been able to take care of herself, with or without a family. What truly affects her is the fact that she can’t use her powers while in Gotham, out of fear that someone from the batfam might find out.

Now, no one in the batfam ever intended to ignore healer!reader on purpose. Some of them might even think they never ignored her. It’s just that everyone assumed she probably had something else to do—or they simply forgot about the requests and questions she had made.

Because, for better or worse, the batfam sees healer!reader as too… ordinary for the family.

Since no one knows (yet 😼) that healer!reader has extraordinary healing abilities, they genuinely believe she’s just the most normal and average daughter of Bruce Wayne.

As for Bruce, he’s definitely going to regret everything. Healer!reader’s future doesn’t look very warm or pleasant for anyone involved.

If only she had had a father, someone to remember, someone she could trust and feel safe with… would that have changed anything? Would she have stayed?

Does Bruce even know his own daughter?

I can’t say healer!reader will be a villain in the future, but she definitely won’t be a hero either. Just think of her as, quite literally, a “human machine made to save thousands of lives.” Of course, depending on your point of view, you could see healer!reader as either a villain or a hero…

As for how they’ll all eventually become yanderes… Well, I like to think the yandere instincts were already there, buried deep inside. They just needed a (massive) little push to finally activate.

Like I said before, they all believed healer!reader was just a very “normal” child for the family. No one ever bothered to look past that.

That’s partially why they kept their distance from her… as if they genuinely thought she’d be better off not getting involved in family matters. Because, to them, healer!reader is someone who hasn’t seen the worst of the world yet, someone who hasn’t been through anything truly traumatic.

They think she’s better off where she is. They believe that way she’ll be safe from everything bad.

And to be fair, healer!reader herself wouldn’t have let anyone dig too deep into who she really is.

She doesn’t want the batfam to know her. She just wants to leave Gotham and go back to the medical field with Masashi. Healer!reader wants to use her powers. Being in the mansion makes her feel restrained and useless. She doesn’t like being there.

She can endure the neglect— it’s something she’s always survived through. What she can’t handle is the thought of not knowing when she’ll be able to use her powers again.

So you can imagine what’ll happen in the future when the Batfam finally learns about healer!reader’s powers. That revelation is going to hit them hard—with guilt, with regret.

I can absolutely picture them noticing healer!reader’s disappearance and brushing it off as a typical tantrum from a child (even if they don’t understand why she’d act that way). But as time goes on and she gives no sign of life… well… that’s when the first alarms start to go off.

And of course, we still have to see Duke and how his presence will affect healer!reader.

Sorry if the response was a bit long. I just hope it cleared up all your doubts.

[bernardsbendystraws]

a brutally honest post from me to you.

to preface, I know this is a corner of social media where we fangirl and write fanfiction. i'm aware that these issues are not as severe as irl problems, but just because it's not that serious doesn't mean that a stress/frustration/sadness just goes away.

so yeah, i do know that these aren't the biggest issues that people are gonna face in life, but it's some i wanna talk about. if you don't wanna hear it, scroll. this is a judgement free space and i'll block anyone who disturbs that.

[ posts not doing well hurts. ]

when you're brand new, it kinda sucks. getting traction is hard. people like familiar names with familiar writing styles and layouts. they know what they're getting into.

its not because you're writing sucks, it's because you're different. maybe you have some weak points, but everyone has those at some point. so no, it's not you or your skills, it's because you're new and people like gravitate towards familiar things.

when you're not new, it can really suck. now you know you can get the readers, but sometimes that's almost worse. you'll feel like there's more pressure, that you'll never be able to top xyz. and it really hurts, especially if you make something that you're so proud of and it doesn't get as much traction as you hoped it would.

its not because it's bad. there's so many factors. sometimes it's because one of the triplets posted, maybe just an active period on tumblr where the algorithm is really in your favor, or maybe it was because the readers were sharing your work behind the scenes because they loved it so much.

it varies and it sucks. there's pressure to 'do better' but then you feel kinda stuck. you can't always do better, but you can always do your best.

either way, it's not truly your fault. there's so many factors that contribute to how well a post performs. your efforts are still something you should be proud of regardless.

[ friends ]

this is something i've really struggled with. it's really difficult. social ques are not my strong suit, I take things as they are presented to me. every friendship is different and not all of them are created equal.

some people want to be friends for interaction as a transaction. some people want to be your friend to make it seem like they have a place on sturniolo tumblr publicly. some people want to be friends to be your friend. there's a difference.

doesn't matter who you are, how many followers, or how many fics you have. not all intentions are genuine, even if they aren't necessarily bad.

[ dr*ma ]

i've been in dr*ma and i've also watched it. i've tried hard to avoid it but sometimes it is necessary to call out. when i was a smaller blog there were a lot of big blogs people loved that were straight up mean.

i can say confidently that i've never been mean to someone right off the bat for no other reason than thinking i was better than them. that has and will never happen because i know exactly what it feels like.

talk to a person in private first. i don't care what it is. ask them questions and have them give you direct answers. if it is something deeply concerning like a predator, that is an instance where it is important to speak up since it directly effects people on here.

it broke my heart when the juno / bri situation happened and i had dozens of minors dming me saying something happened but they were too scared to speak up.

i really hope that never happens again, but if it does, people need to feel safe enough to go to an adult on here. i'm happy i was that person for a lot of people because i needed a person like that when i was a kid.

put mdni on all you want, but please don't isolate minors when they are wanting to feel included. that's puts them at an even more vulnerable position and people know that. draw boundaries but keep all of this in mind.

i can and always will admit when i'm wrong even if i'm still hurt by the other person. apologizing isn't something that says 'oh this person is wrong, that person is right,' it's something that is required for basic human decency and respect. if i hurt someone, i want them to at least have the closure of having an apology.

i can't take back the actions or words, but i can validate their feelings and that's really important since we're all human and have feelings.

agree to disagree if you need to at the end of the day, but leave people alone. exposing people for things that aren't necessary is never gonna make you feel better.

interacting and creating genuine friendships will you give a lot more peace and joy then hate and conflict ever will.

point is, treat others how you want to be treated. we're all humans with feelings and coming here for an escape to fangirl and write. do things to make the community better. do things to make yourself happy and proud in the long term.

i appretiate anyone who has stayed to read this, truly. i don't know how much of a difference it will make but i don't care. i said what i said and i meant it. if this helps one person, that already makes it worth it in my eyes.

i love being apart of this community and i hope we can build it to something we're all proud of and wanting to be apart of at the end of the day.

with love and big tits, rose 🫶🏻

[quicklikelight]

I really appreciate the PTSD representation of Kabru Dungeon Meshi because very often traumatized characters end up leaning heavily into the "flight" portion of "fight or flight" but the reality is, many of us get pissed off when we're scared, or have the urge to hit back when we're triggered. It's easy to understand why: a scared person is easy to empathize with. An angry person--a violent person--is less so.

I have PTSD and it's taken a long time for me to get comfortable with the anger that wells up when I'm afraid. Like Kabru, when I get triggered, there's an immediate wash of, I'm going to fucking kill them.

Like Kabru, I never act on this impulse. It's just there in my brain, trying to take control, so it can protect me.

When Kabru is triggered and thinks, desperately, Maybe I should kill him! in order to avoid eating monsters, the scene is played for laughs. But under the inherent comedy of the moment (which I can recognize even if I can't make myself laugh along) is the reality that Kabru is deeply traumatized and is trying to manage his emotions so he doesn't endanger his relationships. For Kabru, a character built to maneuver with ease around the social interactions of humanoids (using the DnD term here), his past is not just a justification for his desire to close the dungeon; it's not just a way to create tension with Laios; it's not just an avenue for him to connect with the Canaries. Kabru's past and his lack of coping with it actively sabotages his relationships and even puts him at renewed risk, just like real PTSD! And I just think that's neat! sob.

[p0lyn3sian]

Can I plz get a child reader?

A child reader with undiagnosed autism x multi slasher/whatever you want to write fandom

YESSS OFFFCCC!!!! I only added slashers that would be great with kids!

I also had to search up about undiagnosed autism, so this was maybe or not accurate, so I'm really sorry about that!! Also your age would be 6 or 7 or whichever you want! Also, this was kind of off topic for some of these characters, so I hope it's okay!

Slashers: Carrie, Hewitts & Sawyers (Mama Luda, Hoyt, Monty, Thomas, Drayton, Nubbins, Chop-Top, & Bubba), Jason, Hannibal & Will, Sinclair Brothers (Bo, Vincent, & Lester), Norman, & Chucky & Tiffany!!

Slashers w/ a child reader that has undiagnosed autism!

Carrie:

Carrie understands what stuff you hate and what stuff you love/like! She looks out for you while you play on the playground, and she knows now that you don't like to socialize and you would rather play by yourself.

Carrie knew that you hated loud things or sounds, because you would cover your ears from those noises. Sometimes Carrie would call out your name, and you wouldn't respond to her so she'll rub your back or lightly tap your back. Carrie would then walk to the kitchen with you and make your favorite food!

Hewitt family & Sawyer family:

Living with a cannibal family is sometimes scary for you and okay. Most times the whole family is busy doing their own things, and sometimes they'll argue about things.. Mama Luda knows that you cover your ears if someone is too loud, so she'll make everyone shut up, or she'll hit every single one of them (She did it a few times with her wooden broom, which left red marks on some of them 💀.)

Except for Thomas and Bubba, these two would try and make you laugh or happy! Nubbins and Chop-top would mostly likely bother you, because apparently these two have nothing else to do, and just bother you without a care in the world. You'll sometimes be with Monty and his little dog, just only petting the dog if you're bored or playing with his little dog too! You'll thank Drayton for cooking his delicious chili every time he cooks it! Hoyt is something else, he'll yell at you for this and that has never even done before. Until, Mama Luda will start beating him and make him do something else instead of screaming at you. You love hanging out with Mama Luda, because she loves to give you hugs and kisses on the cheeks and forehead!

Jason:

Jason would see you do stuff repeatedly with your hands or spinning around in circles, etc. Jason would try and calm you down with your meltdowns, he'll try hugging you, making your favorite food, or reading your favorite book to you! When it's camping day at camp crystal lake, Jason would always keep a look out of where you are. Jason would see that you don't really interact with people, just small talks here and there but nothing more than that. Jason is not worried about that at all with you not socializing with other kids your age or people that are older than you!

Jason gets really worried that you don't answer him, like you're staring at him while he's signing your name, so Jason would tap on you gently to see if your trance would stop. It did and you would kinda see Jason crying, because of how close he is and he would give you a big hug, while you will hear sniffles from him. Jason also knows what things and/or food that you love and what you hate!

Hannibal & Will:

Hannibal and Will know about the undiagnosed autism you have! Hannibal has seen your reactions with different types of smell and even food too! Will also see that you would avoid eye contact when Will would ask you things! So, these two would try and do things to help with your undiagnosed autism! For example, Will would buy you coloring pages and water color pages too! Hannibal would try and find you other calming activities, like toys that aren't loud for your ears or toys that can be really boring over time!

Hannibal and Will have put you homeschooled, because they have a feeling that if you are in a public school with your last name being the same as Hannibal's and if the FBI would find out about you, they'll take you away which they wouldn't want at all. There's been some difficulties with you not responding to your name, Will or Hannibal would tap you softly and make you do something else and would do the work later for your undiagnosed autism! Hannibal and Will would soothe you from your meltdowns you would have and make you a warm cup of tea that is great for your taste buds!

Sinclair Brothers:

You would always hangout with Vincent, because it's quiet and you love seeing Vincent do his work! (Vincent would make a spinning circle with his index finger, to tell you to turn your whole body around, because some of his work is not for you to see.) You love hanging out with Lester and Jonesy, because Lester would always try and make you laugh whenever you feel down, or Jonesy licking your face which also makes you laugh too! You still kinda think Bo is scary, but Bo would try and get things from people that are interesting or something in the house they owned when they were little.

Bo would give you Vincent's coloring pages with coloring stuff he has found in their toy boxes! He would also give you toys that are interesting for you too! So, little by little time hanging out with Bo, you would sometimes go with him and people would try and kidnap you even though they're trying to get you out of that scary place. Until, Bo would hunt them down with your cries screaming for Bo to help you from them. All three brothers would try and make time to play board games with you, or cook food for you too!

Norman:

Norman knows a lot of things about undiagnosed autism! He has a book or two that's about autism and other stuff too! So, Norman would examine what food you hate and food that you love to eat! Also, smells that would make you go into the other room. Norman would buy toys or things that are calming for you and that you wouldn't get bored while Norman is working!

Norman sometimes calls out your name for something or to eat, and he would see that you aren't reacting to your name being called. So, he would tap on you gently to come do some stuff or eat! Norman would also soothe you from your meltdowns that you have, he would hug you for a little bit until you feel better, or do things that you love!

Chucky & Tiffany:

Chucky and Tiffany would try anything to calm you down from your meltdowns! They would make you laugh, or do something that you love! Tiffany would give you kisses on your cheeks and/or forehead, she'll also give you a hug if you want hugs too! You would smile at Chucky to see if he smiles at you too, and Chucky will give his smile, because he sees people not smiling back at you which makes you not look at them until they smile at you!

Tiffany knows what food you love and hate, even smells too! She would always tell her husband what things to buy for you and other stuff too! If you're eating a snack at the table, Tiffany and Chucky would always sit with you and talk with you so that you wouldn't have a sad face! Chucky and Tiffany would always make time for you, and take you out somewhere instead of you staying in the house! They would take you to a fun place and a restaurant that you'll definitely love!

[for-your-modesty-dude]

Reentry Pt. 2

Part 1

A/N: So, funny story... I wasn't planning on posting another part today already, but I started to write and this just fell out. It just kinda... wrote itself. It's a short one and has not been beta'ed, so please excuse any grammatical/spelling errors. I sat down and banged it out in like an hour and a half. I'm really excited to explore this little coffee shop au, and I think it's a world I'm gonna exist in for awhile, if you all don't mind. I have other WIPs to work on, too, but I think this guy is gonna stay a steady constant for a bit. Bc I'm in love with this version of Eddie rn. As always, if you've got suggestions or requests, send them my way - I don't have a solid plot for this yet except a few scenes I knew need to be included. Anyway, thank you all for reading and making me feel seen. I love y'all sm. - Hy <3

p.s. please tell me if you want to be added to my taglist!

Summary: Eddie is having lots of doubts and struggling with day-to-day activities. You can't blame him - 5 years of incarceration will really throw a wrench in who you thought you were, but maybe a friend can help.

Warnings: Mentions of drugs and doing time.

Word Count: ~1.7k

You knew that Eddie had been avoiding having that homecoming dinner, but he couldn’t avoid it forever. The day of his interview at the bar, Steve and Dustin popped into the bookstore as they often did. You were just reorganizing some shelves when you heard their bickering as they entered - those two never stopped, no matter how old they got. 

“I’m telling you, man. Eddie is not feeling a dinner party right now. And he’s got that big interview later, I can’t just spring a surprise party on him like that. Plus, we don’t know if everyone is even available. Let it go, we’ll do something lowkey next weekend or something.”

“Steve,” Dustin started, with that tone of faux patience like he was talking to a toddler, “if he gets the job, he won’t be available for a dinner party next weekend, you’re aware of this, right?”

You just listened to the argument that Eddie clearly didn’t want to have a party right now. You couldn’t help but smile to yourself, Steve was a good friend. Dustin was, too, just in a different way. They both wanted the best for their friend - but it was uncharted territory for all of them. You were pulled out of your thoughts by the sound of your name, and you turned with something of a surprised expression and a “hi!”

“Are you available for a dinner party tonight?” Dustin asked, straight to the point, and Steve had to add his side, too. 

“Do you think it’s appropriate for us to have a surprise party for a guy who is clearly struggling with rejoining society when he doesn’t seem to want to be around crowds?”

“Woah, there, gentlemen,” you held your hands up in surrender. “Yes,” you pointed at Dustin, “but I’m with Steve,” you pointed to Steve next, and Dustin let out a loud groan.

“How is he ever supposed to assimilate if he can’t even have dinner with a group of his friends?” Dustin insisted. 

He had something of a point, he did, but something about startling Eddie like that just didn’t feel right. He was so antsy, so on edge. You hadn’t known the guy before prison, but that didn’t matter. The person you’d started to get to know these past two weeks didn’t seem like he’d feel very comfortable with a surprise of any sort, much less a surprise dinner party. 

“You’re right. But you’re going about it wrong,” you said honestly. “I think the answer is to plan a dinner party and give him full warning of when it’s happening, where, with whom, and what’s on the menu. Yes, I agree he needs social interactions to properly assimilate, but let’s not overwhelm him all at once. He’s been so jumpy since I’ve met him. That’s not a guy you want to surprise.”

Steve gestured at you like he’d been trying to make this point to Dustin the whole time. Dustin, not one to back away, let out a rather dramatic sigh. “Fine. Whatever, fine. But only because you’re not going to help me if I do it tonight.”

That seemed to be enough for Steve. 

“We can do it here, if you’d like,” you suggested. “I can close the bookstore early, and we can use the cafe’s kitchen to finish up whatever dinner we want to make. Or we can order a pizza or something. But it could be nice, I’ll bring out the beanbags and stuff, and we can do it in the game room. Just a nice dinner for him to see all of his friends in one place again, but not overwhelming by being too formal or at anyone’s house. This way, if he wants to go home early, he can.”

There was a silence as both men considered this, and then they both nodded, seemingly satisfied with the idea. 

“Yeah, that’s cool. It’s a good idea. We’ll see when everyone is available and then get back to you.” Dustin nodded, and Steve gave you a grateful smile. 

When both of them lingered a bit in front of you, you rolled your eyes. “The usual, nerds?”

Steve guffawed as he and Dustin followed you into the coffee shop, “him, sure. I’m not a nerd,” he insisted, but you just gave him a look that shut him up. 

You got them their drinks and sent them on their way, helping a few customers before putting your apron away and starting towards the book shelves again. Before you could make it there, you heard the jingling of the bells above the door, and turned to find a disheveled and breathless Eddie. You just pulled your apron back on and hurried to the register with a smile. 

“Hey you!” You greeted, but he looked a little frantic, so your smile faltered. “Everything okay?”

“I-” he took a steadying breath, “I couldn’t go through with it. The interview. I stood at the door to the bar, and it was like all the blood drained out of me, and- I couldn’t do it.”

He nearly tugged his hair out as he stood before you, and you put a hand on his arm across the counter, “hey. Hey, it’s okay. Let me brew you a cup of tea, and we can go back and talk in the game room, yeah?”

He let go of his hair and nodded, eyes big and vulnerable. He didn’t know why he’d ended up here, telling you this of all people. Maybe it was that you didn’t have expectations of him, after all, you’d never met him before his stint. It felt easier to confide in someone who didn’t know who he was, or who he had been.

You put lots of care into brewing him the right blend of tea, sweetening it to his taste and then motioning for him to follow you. You hung up your apron and handed him the steaming cup, leading him into the bookstore and then back to the game room. It was decorated for the D&D campaigns your friends liked to run, and had a large table with comfy chairs around it, but most importantly, it had a comfy couch against one wall, and had a door that closed and locked for privacy. No one had rented the room out today, so you let him in and closed the door behind you. You gestured for him to take a seat, which he did, and then took the seat beside him, facing him. 

“You know it’s okay, right?” You asked him softly, “it’s okay to not have been okay enough to go in there.”

He sipped carefully from the cup and shrugged. “I’m not usually like this. People have never scared me before. That was, like, my whole thing. I was the town freak, and proud of it.” He paused, “well - not proud of it, exactly, but I wore it like a badge of honor. And now I can’t even walk into a bar for a job interview? How am I ever supposed to hold a job if I can’t even interview?”

You let the question hang in the air for a moment before responding, “Eddie, it’s normal that life feels wrong to you right now. It’s normal that you’re having a hard time doing things you never struggled with before. You know that, right? You really need to know that.”

Your tone seemed to ring true to him, and he took a deep breath, but nodded. “Yeah. I know that.”

“Good,” you smiled gently. “So, wanna interview here?”

Despite your previous offer that morning, he seemed taken aback by your genuine offer. He studied you for a moment, as if he expected you to hesitate or take it back, but eventually nodded. 

“Okay, how about tomorrow? Wednesdays around 8:30 there’s no one here, we can sit and have a drink and a pastry together and I can interview you, and you can ask me all the questions you want about the job. How’s that sound?”

Again, he seemed truly surprised by your kindness, and took a moment to agree. Really, he was just curious about you. He’d never met anyone as kind, as patient. Sure, he knew his friends loved him, and they really were trying, but there was something about the fact that they knew the old Eddie that put him off. It made him feel insecure - like they were just waiting to get him back. That they didn’t really know this Eddie. This guy was a stranger to them, and he couldn’t blame them. So your kindness to this Eddie, not pity, not walking on eggshells, but genuine kindness… it struck him.

“Yeah,” his voice cracked just a touch when he answered, and he cleared his throat. “Yeah, tomorrow, 8:30. I’ll bring my resume. You’re positive this is okay?”

“Yes, Eddie,” you said with a playfully exasperated smile, “I’m positive. It’ll be great. And who knows, maybe we’ll be coworkers,” you grinned at him.

He couldn’t help but to grin back, and something inside of him settled. He sipped at his tea again, and you just sat there together awhile, mostly in silence but also discussing the two books he’d gotten from you two weeks ago, and the books he wanted to try next. When you got up, you led him to the shelves to help him choose his next two. You promised he could pay for one, but you wanted to gift him the other, and he felt pretty special that you wanted to do so for him.

When he left, he seemed considerably less upset than he had when he’d arrived, and honestly, you’d taken that as quite the compliment to your comforting skills. Eddie was incredibly kind, so caring, and wanted so badly to succeed somehow in life. You hoped that maybe with this job, you’d somehow help him - that he’d find a home here, at the shop. You were rather looking forward to the interview with him, though you pretty much planned on hiring him anyway, no matter how the interview went. 

You had no way of knowing, but Eddie had gone back to Steve’s that day, seeming more himself than Steve had seen him in the time he was back. He didn’t know what had put Eddie so at ease, but he was grateful for it. He hoped it would last.

Taglist:

@am0iur @ali-r3n @hellmastereddie @ziggeddie @nojamsonmytoast @seedlingghost @loveu2themoonandsaturn @aliceheart247 @littlemissholy @daydreampending @justalotoffanfiction @midnightdragonzero @iyskgd @girlwedontcare @micheledawn1975 @kaita

[flaresemily]

DON'T MIND IF I DO ;)

Sakamaki brothers and mukami brothers with a reader who has severe social anxiety. The reader has the personality almost same as shuu like sleeping most of the time and wearing headphones 24/7 except she's active than him and not stoic as him. But after the reader gets comfortable with them she's SOOO unhinged and chaotic (in a good way)

I'm going to make each brother at a time. Each reader in each brother acts differently but still the same as requested.

Shu :

Believe it or not, Shu is happy that someone was the same as him, like music and napping.

He always sleeps with you (not in a perverted way) he just lies down beside you and sleeps.

You can say Reiji has been complaining about this. The one thing that are different about you two is, you are actually from a football club. You are more active than him so Reiji couldn't complain much.

The more he spent time with you the more he realized something.

That you are a bothersome girl, that's for sure. Yapping none stops when with him.

Yapping and yapping. But you are afraid of people. Everytime he tells you to befriend some ‘human’ you feel scared just thinking about making friends. Thus, you always stay with him.

(you and him once annoy Reiji in the dining room just for fun)

Reiji :

Reiji at first is always nagging you. Scolding you for spending money on earphones/headphones. But hey, he can't stay mad since you actually score your exam unlike a certain ‘deadbeat’.

One time you are forced to interact with other people you literally hide in Reiji classroom. Without him noticing weird huh.

And if Laito was the one who bothered you. You will hide in Reiji bedroom.

Then, when Reiji finds you. You will exposed what Laito did and he got punishment such as doing the dishes and housework that Reiji do.

The more he spends time with you the more he realizes you are actually just like him. You love science! Thus, you and him become the 'science duo'

(you and him agree that Shu is a deadbeat but then you gasp dramatically because Shu literally behave like you so in other words Reiji hates you too)

Ayato :

He was annoyed when his with you. Sleeping and hearing music with your earphones/headphones. His first thought about you were : "tch, another Shu Sakamaki"

Though he quickly realized something. You love basketball that's what makes him interested in you. In every game that you or him play both will be there to observe.

The more he spends time with you he realizes you rarely interact with your teammates but you do know what they want as if you can see when your eyes close.

Thus, you two have become the "ore(o)-sama duo" ayato was the one that say it. He claims you (not in weird way) as his 'best friend' weird huh.

Even Kanato side eye him. (You and him go around pranking the brothers)

Kanato :

He hates you. So so so much! You always sleep! Always listening to music like Shu! He hates you so much! So he plans to make you his doll.

As he tries to kill you he realizes you were hugging a teddy bear with a skirt on it.

"teddy look this b*tch has a teddy bear too."

Silence

"what? You like her! Impossible teddy! You like that bear! That bear is that female wh*re teddy bear!!"

Silence

"oh? You want me to befriend her so that you can date the bear? Fine for you I try"

The next day

He did try to befriend you. Ayato and Laito almost choked on their own food when Kanato offered you his chocolate. Subaru can only pray you are alive.

You were afraid of him but after he tells you that teddy like your teddy...you were shock.

"teddy like my teddy?" "Yes where is she? Teddy want to get to know her" you look at the brother. Laito just avoid your gaze.

'the betrayal' is what you thought that time when both Ayato and Laito avoided your gaze

"s-she sleeping uhm she's tired after accompanying me to watch a movie"

"what's her name?" "..uhm her name was teddyla" "teddyla?"

Reiji though : 'what a stupid name'

"yes she pick it her name herself." "Oh teddy said it's pretty"

From then on you become 'bestie' as he said.

(it's official your teddy bear and his teddy bear is 'happily dating' on the way to 'marriage')

Laito :

At first he doesn't really have any interest in you. Because you sleep and only listen to music. He doesn't care about you at all.

But what makes it change? Well while Laito was flirting with his fan girls his fedora was snatched away by some jealous boys and was cut in half.

I mean yes he can just kill those boys but Reiji warns him not to. So he pretends to be sad so that his fan girls attack those boys and they do.

As he walks around the school he clenches his cut-in-half fedora with anger. And that's when you came in. Just in luck you are a pro when it comes to stitching. So you stitch his fedora back as if it was new. He looks at you and realizes you are in the middle of the project.

The school has decided to make a mascot so the principal asks you to make some dress.

"Laito? Are you crying?" You ask him.

Yet, there was a single tear roll down from his eyes. "Nothing...I'm just glad it's fixed thanks"

You were shocked the great boy flirt Laito is thanking you.

"your welcome" you smile at him and continue your works.

He stays with you. Technically your work place has become his hiding place from the fan girls. But of course he actually helps you sometimes with the clothes you are stitching.

(he tried making his own clothes with you but he accidentally cut it wrong)

Subaru :

You and him sync immediately after he finds out you like gardening. And thus, you two can always be found in the garden. Sometimes he help you with the plants you are planting.

He always makes sure you aren't hurt when gardening with him.

He can be overprotective especially when you are sick and you haven't water your plants. He also knew that you like to sleep and listen to music. So he makes a small hut for you to sleep in case you are tired. Can't lie he thought that you are dead when you stop moving while you are gardening with him.

Reiji approved this. (Because he gets free vegetables)

It's been a year, both of you actually did become a couple. Him being the anger issues boyfriend while you are the shy girlfriend. So it's perfect for you two.

Ayato is jealous he get to couple with you first instead of him.

(Subaru and you did accidentally plant something poisonous luckily Reiji arrived just in time before both of you could touch the plants with your bare hands and you got scolded afterwards.)

[yanderes-galore]

Yandere romantic hcs for Legoshi and Juno both fighting over a wolf darling please ^^

Sure! I haven't rewatched Beastars so I hope they're both accurate. I ran out of ideas for this near the end so I'm sorry it wasn't very intense or anticlimactic....

Yandere! Legoshi vs Juno with Wolf! Darling

Pairing: Romantic - Rivalry

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Possessive behavior, SFW Scent kink, Manipulation, Coercion, Stalking, Blood, Violence, Implied kidnapping, Forced relationship(s).

This is unnerving because, while you are a carnivore and the same species as them, the two can still take advantage of you.

For example, as a fellow wolf you'd think you can trust the two....

Legoshi may be socially awkward, but he's reliable.

Plus Juno is so sociable and nice!

Unfortunately, despite that, it doesn't seem like you can trust them in this....

Juno herself has been described as ambitious, manipulative, and jealous/possessive in canon.

This is shown in how she competes to be Beastar and her behavior towards Legoshi and Haru.

Legoshi is, surprisingly, more tame than Juno.

He's humble and polite, struggles socially, and tries to be gentle/patient.

Although, since he is still a wolf, he is capable of being imposing and assertive.

He doesn't like scaring people... yet his stature as a male wolf is naturally intimidating.

Out of the two, I feel Juno would be the one more forceful.

Legoshi spends a lot of his time trying to rationalize his feelings and comprehend them.

While Juno immediately thinks it's love at first sight and you must date.

There's a lot of manipulation in this rivalry.

The good thing is, you're not an herbivore.

Which should, in theory, put you on near equal footing with them as a wolf.

You see the two wolves during classes, in the hallways, during Biology Days...

You may even have drama club with them.

As a wolf you interact a lot and don't activate any sort of hunting instinct in them.

What you do ignite within them?

A need for companionship.

Juno used to feel such a way for Legoshi until she met you.

She loves your fur, your scent, your voice...

She loves it all!

It's funny, because the moment she finds a new crush?

Her old crush also shows signs of liking them.

Frustrating.

Wolves tend to be possessive of chosen mates.

So while Juno shows this a lot more, Legoshi's capable of it too.

You're close with them as friends and fellow wolves.

You even remember their scent and are capable of sensing them through that.

Which is why it unnerves you when you start sensing them more often than you should.

Juno is much more clingy, sociable, and touchy with you.

She's assertive and it seems like she's showing every animal around her that you two belong together.

It's like she's showing claim over you.

You notice and may try to distance yourself, but the other wolf follows you closely.

Why are you trying to avoid her?

Do you not like it when she holds you? Nuzzles you?

Don't you see her tail wagging when around you?

Legoshi is less into PDA....

He's shy around you and allows you your space and independence.

He's protective more than possessive, yet those desires still linger within his actions.

He blushes at close contact, stutters when speaking to you, and overall just likes to admire you from a distance.

He's the opposite of Juno... yet he feels jealous when he sees how Juno acts around you.

Legoshi can tell you aren't a big fan of Juno's clingy behavior.

Which he uses as an excuse to pull you away and distract you a bit.

Much to Juno's frustration.

Although, while Legoshi is protective and willing to help you away from Juno...

He can end up being suffocating too.

Legoshi is less manipulative and possessive than Juno at first.

Although, with how strong the other wolf is coming on, he may feel like he has to show claim over you.

It's no doubt in his instincts if he really does view you in a romantic way.

You probably don't even see either wolf in that kind of way.

Which is why it can be overwhelming when two wolves are suddenly not only trying to win you over... but compete.

They both act caring and attentive to you when it's just you and them alone.

Yet the moment the two are in a room with one another?

There's tension and glares.

Maybe a frustrated growl here or there.

Juno is the one who acts the most moody out of the two.

She's often arguing with Legoshi, blaming him for trying to sabotage her or how she just wants him to leave you and her alone.

Her heart is still recovering from their "break-up" (They were never together).

Now he's trying to take yours from her!?

Meanwhile Legoshi just wants to make sure you're okay and Juno isn't being too... much.

Legoshi's crush is gradual, so he starts just genuinely looking out for a fellow "pack member".

Although... Over time he wonders if he should pay attention to how his tail wags and how he blushes around you....

Would the two be violent with one another...?

No... I can't really see it.

Legoshi would want to physically hurt Juno.

Juno may threaten him, standing her ground and barking about how you're hers.

But she won't actually do anything... hopefully.

Legoshi is no doubt stronger than her as a male wolf, so she's cautious.

Even other wolves can sense the tension between these two.

Biology Day feels more stressful than it should be due to Juno and Legoshi avoiding one another.

Juno would try to spend more time with you by inviting you to gatherings or trips.

You don't seriously plan on spending all of your time in the dorms, right?

You'd rather do that than deal with their tension.

She'd drag you out to hang out with her, always having an arm around you as she walks.

Her tail would be wagging fast, while yours sways with insecurity.

Legoshi would be less forceful, merely offering for you to hang out with him... doing anything really.

Since he isn't as intense, you may actually go to him more often.

Right up until he admits he has feelings for you, another wolf, and asks if you'll be his?

He may be more considerate... but he's going to want this rivalry between him and Juno to end at some point.

One of them will have to claim you as theirs soon....

You don't seem at ease around Juno... but you're at ease around him, right?

Right?

It's worse when you're walking around the halls, only to catch sight or smell of them.

You know at least one wolf is watching you at all times.

As though they're waiting for the perfect move.

Kidnapping seems OOC for both of them... but hey...

Maybe one of them will trap you in their dorm so you have to make a decision?

This rivalry could go on for months.

It really pushes you and the two wolves to the brink.

You're aware the two stalk you.

You're aware they're pushy to date you because you're such a good looking and kind wolf...

Yet you wish they'd stop.

Even when you tell them you want nothing to do with either of them...

They only seem to press more.

Juno gets more possessive, Legoshi gets more protective...

You can't trust either of them anymore.

Plus, you may even grow more concerned when you start seeing blood on their fur.

With months of tension, the two may even fight more.

Wolves are territorial and violent when it comes to mates....

You can only hope the issue resolves soon.

Those wounds are beginning to concern you.

They can't hide the smell of blood from you.

Juno may be the one most likely to lock you in her dorm until you choose her.

Although, Legoshi may lure you to his dorm in an attempt to soothe you and protect you.

Both wolves are intense and only seem to have one goal in mind...

How long will it be before one of them snaps?

You may be a wolf, a carnivore just like them...

But between them you just feel like prey.

[ask-kado-thorne]

*A lot had happened since the last time they were together, but at the same time, nothing between them: Asides from certain small inevitable interactions, Nolan had been actively avoiding Kado, luckily for him, the vampire hadn't tried to reach out to him either, just as he wanted. But, at certain point, he felt lonely. Having a best friend was a quite strange concept for him, he was still getting used to the other man, and staying away from him wasn't helping at all. And, on top of that, he was feeling alone. A cold breeze made him remind Kado's words: Winter was coming, and he'd have no one to warm him up. And Nolan was willing to be the guy that would warm him a bit.*

*After hesitating for a moment, a long one, typing and deleting messages he could send to Kado, he ended up with the right one to get his attention*

Hey :)

@nolan-chance-fortnite

(After leaving Nolan's house in a hurry, Kado arrived at his estate, feeling sick from low iron levels, and frustrated with how things had turned out.)

(He spent most of that day in his room, watching TV, playing games, anything to take his mind off of the events from that morning.)

(But that did little to stop the pain in his heart. It seemed like every time he and Nolan got closer, they became distant right after.)

Why do I even bother?

(Kado said to himself as he laid in bed that night, turned to the side and looking at the empty spot beside him.)

He'll never care for me the same way.

(He grabbed an extra pillow and hugged it tightly, tears pricking at his eyes.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

(Kado was used to heartbreak. It had happened too many times to count in his long life. But there was nothing worse than falling for a close friend. It hurt so much more when they didn't love you back.)

(He never called or texted Nolan since their last meeting, though he did check his social media. For awhile, he merely looked at his posts, never reblogging or commenting. But eventually, he started leaving likes on the silly things Nolan would share.)

(Kado finally began to cheer up, enjoying the stupid jokes his friend was known for. The incident between them was never brought up, and still no other form of interaction took place.)

(Until a month later, when Kado was in his room one night. This time, he wasn't alone, and when the screen on his phone lit up, he hadn't noticed it himself. But his guest, who was facing the nightstand, had seen it.)

Hey, you've got a text.

Oh?

(Kado's arms were around this other person, so he let go and reached over to pick up the phone. Not expecting anything important, his eyes widened when he saw a message from the last person he expected.)

(He quickly set the phone back on the nightstand, leaving the text unanswered.)

What's wrong? Is it bad news?

No no, just one of those dumb scams trying to steal your information.

You've gotta be careful with those. One wrong click and your entire fortune could disappear.

(Kado chuckled, kissing his companion on the cheek as he held him once again.)

I'm not letting anyone steal from me. Go back to sleep, darling.

[mattiebluebird]

Why I Think Dexter Morgan Has OCPD

OCPD (obsessive-compulsive personality disorder) is characterized by an intense and pervasive preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and control [stemming from a fear of helplessness and vulnerability].

Symptoms:

Preoccupation or fixation with details, rules, schedules, organization, and lists — even to the extent that the prevailing point of the activity is lost.

Perfectionism that interferes with completion of the task. Individuals with OCPD often demonstrate a sense of righteousness about the way things “should be done.” It may include an overwhelming need for order.

Excessive devotion to work and productivity (not due to financial necessity), resulting in neglect of leisure activities and friends.

Excessive conscientiousness, fastidiousness, and inflexibility regarding ethical and moral issues and values.

Unwillingness to throw out worn-out or worthless objects, even those with no sentimental value.

Reluctance to delegate or work with other people unless those people agree to do things exactly “the right way.”

A miserly approach to spending for themselves and others because money is something to be saved for future disasters.

Rigidity and stubbornness. Such rigidity often manifests in a sense of hypermorality.

You need to display at least four (4) of these symptoms in order to be diagnosed, as well as the general criteria for personality disorders:

The pattern of behavior is enduring, inflexible, and persistent across a wide range of social and personal situations; and is especially stressful to the sufferer.

Its onset can be traced to adolescence or early adulthood; and the manifestations cannot be explained more appropriately by another disorder.

There is no evidence of substance abuse or physiological explanation for the behavior – such as drugs or head trauma.

Dexter meets all the general criteria and at least six of the specific criteria.

Throughout the show, Dexter is shown and described as highly organized. He has a specific way that he likes things to be done, occasionally even described as “compulsive” (by himself and others). He takes extreme pride in his work (both as a blood spatter analyst and as a serial killer), and keeps lists of all his victims/cases, to the point that he can recall all of them off the top of his head. The blood slides are an example of this. He is highly avoidant to criticism, especially when it comes to his work.

“Blood. Sometimes it sets my teeth on edge. Other times it helps me control the chaos.” — Dexter, S1E1

“I'm a neat monster.” — Dexter, S1E1

“[...How long have you been doing blood spatter analysis, Mr. Morgan?] Almost twelve years. [You've been involved in quite a few cases, then?] 2,103. [Give or take?] No. 2,103. [Then it's safe to say blood is your life.] Safe to say.” — Dexter, S1E2

“The Butcher’s clean, orderly… and some people would say compulsive.” — Lundy, S2E6

Dexter is shown to neglect his social life in favor of work and/or serial killing, and his need for control causes numerous problems in both his work and personal life. Dexter's perfectionism stems from a fear of vulnerability—as he tells his therapist and his wife, Rita: “If she [Rita] ever sees me for who I really am… [Rita: Then what? You think I would leave?] Yes, absolutely.”

Dexter has a very rigid moral code that he believes is completely correct, sometimes to the point of narcissism. He also has “rules” for behavior and interacting with others, which is a common experience for those with OCPD. They are known to get very upset when these rules are broken, just as Dexter seems genuinely and deeply upset when others break his rules.

In Dexter’s case, his “code” was given to him by his adoptive father. Individuals with OCPD “may display excessive deference to an authority they respect, and excessive resistance to one they don’t”. Dexter is extremely loyal to his adoptive father and his code, to the point of considering him a God, and throughout the show he has searched for other moral codes to follow from people he respects.

“The legendary Harry Morgan, force for justice, architect of all that I am…” — Dexter, S2E10

The rigid moral code found in those with OCPD can also lead to dichotomous (black-and-white) thinking. The central plot of every season is Dexter questioning his own code, looking for a new one to follow, and in doing so also searching for human connection. But Dexter inevitably concludes each season with: “I'm a monster, I will always be a monster, but I have a purpose (given to me by a higher being): to kill other monsters.”

To me, this dichotomous view of the world (that people are either completely good or completely bad, and that bad people cannot change and must be punished), and the refusal/inability to alter said view, is reflective of Dexter’s OCPD and the nature of PDs in general.

Another thing about OCPD is that it's egosyntonic, meaning those afflicted do not see their way of thinking as wrong. Whereas those with OCD find their disorder distressing and can often recognize that they need help, those with OCPD simply believe that they are doing things “the right way”. Dexter displays this symptom as well—even when those closest to him, such as his sister Debra, point out that his “addiction” to killing is wrong and harmful, he still believes that it is completely right and under his control. He keeps this belief even when his actions kill/harm those he cares about.

Finally, Dexter is commonly headcanoned (and arguably coded as) autistic. OCPD and autism have certain similarities and are often comorbid. Like autistic people, those with OCPD can display restricted affect and a lack of empathy. OCPD can also cause "fixations" similar to special interests. Here's a venn diagram comparing the two:

[dandyshucks]

i will attempt to explain it and people are free (and welcome) to tell me if i'm misunderstanding or speaking out of turn! also I have troubles with tone in writing when I'm trying to be clear, so please read this all in as kind of a tone as possible - there is no bad judgement in any of my words here, nor am i meaning to be patronizing, and I apologize in advance if I come across that way!

(also disclaimer that there is infinite nuance to this situation and I cannot possibly cover all of it, but I feel like maaaybe this is a main theme that people are possibly missing, and that it's causing issues)

but I think what I am seeing is there are vaguely two sides in the selfship sphere - I have labelled them as the "community-builders" and the "scrapbookers" just for clarity's sake; this is not an attempt to divide ppl. the community-builders want to build community and connect and interact with each other. the scrapbookers are just here to post/rb about their F/O as if they're gluing photos and text into a scrapbook and that's it, they're not actively seeking a community for themselves.

both of these things are okay and fine! neither of these sides are bad or lesser in any way, they are just looking for different things in the time they spend on tumblr. (more under the cut bc it's a long post otherwise)

I think some of the issues are arising from community-builders assuming that scrapbookers are ALSO wanting community but just not putting the work in. so to community-builders, the scrapbookers appear as if they're expecting interaction without putting in any effort themselves, but I don't think that's the case. I think scrapbookers are just not looking for community the way that community-builders are - they want two different things from their experience in the selfship sphere!

I think there IS occasionally an issue where some people expect or beg for interaction without actually interacting with anyone themselves, but in that case it is best to block and move on OR let the person know directly (and kindly) that they should try to interact with others if they want interaction themselves.

unfortunately it seems like a lot of knowledge around community building and upkeep is not well-known in the present-day, because of [gestures vaguely at our current societal structure and the way social media functions now compared to how it used to etc etc etc]. so I do feel that posts encouraging people to interact with one another are good and helpful and sometimes even needed, but they are not applicable to the scrapbookers. I wonder sometimes if community-builders see scrapbookers having fun in their own little corner and assume that the they must want attention but aren't getting any, so we end up with an attempted rescue situation where community-builders make a "let's all interact more!" post to try to drum up interaction for the scrapbookers even though they aren't actually wanting that.

i know for myself, while I do enjoy the circle of friends and mutuals I've made, I am not super community-oriented. I interact with my mutuals and friends because I like to do so, and I also welcome in new friends and followers with open arms, but I am never expecting interaction and rarely actively seek it out. If my art gets notes, great! But that's simply a bonus for me personally. So to think that some people might look at 0 note posts of mine and think "oh that poor soul! they must be desperate for interaction! i have to do something about this!", that... feels a little silly and even a bit presumptuous on their part. I'm okay over here in my corner, I promise! :] I'm just here to have a space to love fictional characters, and I don't feel like I necessarily Want attention for that.

and to clarify! it is okay to want community, and to want interaction. we just have different wants and goals from our time here, that's all. neither of us are wrong for what we want and neither of us are better than the other - we just have different things we're looking for in this part of the internet, and that is okay :]

i keep seeing an argument of sorts floating around every couple of months and i think maybe the reason the argument is happening is because people are not realizing they want different things out of this all

[linddzz]

While yes, Viktor is confident too, but...

This man isn't shy? He's hyperventilating and nervous-tapping over the idea of giving a speech!

This man?

I guess Im not getting across like, the Vibe that I always see that bothers me? Viktor's got the social anxiety for sure, and it's VERY fair to assume that his condition makes him even more self conscious to be up in front of a crowd full of topsiders. He's pretty clear in episode 1 that he's aware of how topsiders see him and his cane use, and that's before his disability is even more visible.

But ALSO very few people ARE good on a stage in front of tons of people. And also there's a very specific connotation to "shy" that is beyond social anxiety.

Shyness to me, is its own flavor of social anxiety plus timidness. The actual definition is a bashful, timid nervousness. It has connotations of the wilting flower personality. Viktor, even when he's quiet around other people doesn't come across as nervous or timid in the slightest. His first introduction has him VERY confident and collected surrounded by enforcers and not taking Jayce being snappy and angry at him. As a kid there's more of an argument to be made because what awkward socially isolated kid isn't going to be shy. But at the same time he doesn't try to shrink away from Sky's attention, he still looks right back up at her, he just keeps on doing his own thing. Mostly he comes across as someone who does not know how to casually interact with people so he doesn't. He's got tunnels in his eyes lmao.

Viktor is complicated. Viktor is nuanced. It's why he's Ultimate Blorbo. He's withdrawn and awkward and not very good at interacting with people, but he's not timid about it. He is very self assured in himself.

But when I say fandom makes him shy it IS much more of the wilting flower timid woobie that I kept seeing in Season1 fics. There was SO MUCH of Viktor being the nervous soft spoken anxious thing who was just so happy Jayce was even giving him the time of day as if Viktor didn't sass Jayce about his notes right after he stopped the man from jumping lmaoooo

And idk not to be TOO OBVIOUS with my projecting but it's the part of Viktor I can relate to the most. I consider myself a quiet person who gets annoyed when people think that me being quiet = shy. I'm able to speak up well on zoom calls with colleagues and I also would rather drop dead than have to go up on a stage in front of a bunch of normal people who I know were expecting someone very different. I get nervous and shaky speaking up in front of a crowd of colleagues even! but afterwards I can go right up to people like "your presentation was insane tell me more right now." I am often quiet and uncomfortable in large social situations because I know that most people there are operating under a different wavelength than I am, I do not know what the right responses to things are, or I full on do not know how to not accidentally come across as a huge asshole and I don't want to be an asshole. And when I was younger I would have so many people come up and act like I was a little wallflower (bc oh boy can I also relate to being quiet while physically small meaning being constantly infantalized) who "didn't need to be so shy" and every time I was like "I'm not shy. I just don't feel any engagement with this conversation and I don't want to be a dick and tell you that, but if you gently tell me it's ok to talk one more time I'm gonna start biting."

(It got better as I got older bc I learned that if you're quiet but making active eye contact instead of staring off into other directions - not to avoid attention but because you're just thinking of other shit - people will stop labeling you as shy and instead say "intimidating" or "mysterious" which is also hilarious when what you're thinking about is "machine herald big naturals lmao" but it's better than being labeled "shy")

[pokemonshelterstories]

Hello, I'm not sure if you've answered this before, but you have some wonderful observations about evolution.

I'm curious about Pokemon that evolve after exposure to stones or other items - Anything you can share. Do the Pokemon /know/ that the items will make them evolve, do they express interest in evolution or interacting with the item beforehand? And is it possible for a Pokemon to "accidentally" evolve after exposure?

it's hard to really know what a pokemon's thought process is most of the time, but it's generally accepted that pokemon that evolve via contact with certain items are aware of the potent evolutionary energy those items contain. this was mostly confirmed through studies that, through various methods of exposure to evolutionary items that gave the pokemon varying levels of choice in interaction, showed that a pokemon will either approach or avoid an evolutionary item based on environmental variables. for example, eevee kept for an extended time in varying temperatures had a heat threshold at which they actively sought out fire stones and avoided other evolutionary stones. these studies gave no indication that pokemon seemed to have a personal preference involved in the act of evolution; even in pokemon that had only one evolutionary path, the pokemon chose to interact with items based entirely on environmental differences. a particularly famous study by ashe, robur, et al. demonstrated that pikachu would interact with thunder stones largely based on the ratio of available food to the size of their social group. there does seem to be a slight individual variance in tolerance of environmental conditions before choosing to evolve, but on the whole these evolutions are responses to an assessment of environmental risk vs reward.

accidental evolutions absolutely do occur in captive pokemon, usually due to a lack of supervision or poor containment of evolutionary items. one of the most common reasons given for surrenders after a surprise stone-based evolution is that the pokemon was allowed to free roam in an area where stones can be found (beaches are a common one). a pokemon's body reacts automatically to the energy provided by these items upon physical contact, and there's no way to stop that evolution once it starts. it's always important to supervise your pokemon's play in public spaces, but especially so when they could dig up an item that could put them at risk at no longer being suitable for your home or lifestyle!