#I didn't even figure out the ace thing until a few years ago

[the-broken-truth]

Shattered Fragments [1] - [Papa Crewel] [Big Brother Sam] [Enma Yuuken/Male Yuu]

Summary: After an accident at Night Raven Campus, the Prefect of Ramshackle, Enma Yuuken, is left severely injured and in a coma. Crewel and Sam decide to take matters into their own hands and protect Yuuken from danger. When Yuuken wakes up, he has lost his memory, and Crewel and Sam make a vow to help him regain it, but with a few modifications.

An Accident.

Those were the words Crowley used to describe what happened when Crewel arrived at the scene after hearing what happened when he stopped some First-Year Students running through the hall of Night Raven College; they seemed panicked and Crewel asked them what had happened. The words they spoke caused Crewel's blood to run cold and his eyes to widen before he bolted out of his classroom with fear grasping his heart like a rodent in the claws of a lion.

What were the words that caused him such panic and fear?

"Prefect Yuuken fell out of the window and hit his head on the ground; he's not moving!"

Crewel arrived at the scene and looked around to gather information. The second-floor window was shattered, with glass shards scattered all over the courtyard ground. A large pool of fresh blood stained the ground, indicating that the body of the Ramshackle Prefect had been taken to the infirmary. All the First-Years were present and asking questions among each other to figure out what had happened. The Dorm Wardens and Vice Dorm Wardens were questioning the First-Years who were present at the time of the accident, but they were not satisfied with the information they were getting. Surprisingly, Headmaster Crowley was there and speaking with the Dorm Wardens of Savanaclaw and Diasomnia, Leona Kingscholar and Malleus Draconia.

"Crowley!" Crewel barked as he marched over to the Headmaster, getting his attention and the attention of the two Dorm Wardens. "What happened here?! What happened to the Prefect?!"

"Calm down, Crewel. It was just an accident." Crowley tried to speak to Crewel in a calming voice but that only set Crewel off even more; he was sick of Crowley's Nonchalant Attitude when it came to the safety and well-being of Prefect Yuuken, but this was the worst injury Yuuken sustained since arriving at Night Raven College; that boy possessed not a single ounce of magic within him but Crowley was constantly throwing him at every single problem that arose to act as a shield for Night Raven.

"Crowley, I am not in the mood for your nonchalant attitude! I want you to tell me what the hell happened to the Prefect, now!" Crewel roared at Crowley, making the Headmaster take a step back; never before had Crowley seen this much anger from Crewel. It was rather scary.

That was when Deuce Spade of Heartslabyul walked over to Crewel, gaining the Potion Teacher's attention as the blue-haired boy looked at Leona and Malleus with a glare before looking at Crewel.

"Professor Crewel, I saw everything that happened." Deuce pointed at Leona and Malleus while keeping eye contact with Crewel, "Those two pushed Yuuken out of the window."

"What do you mean they pushed him out of the window? What happened?" Crewel asked with his teeth locked like snarling fangs.

"Yuuken, Ace, and I were leaving class when Leona and Malleus started arguing. Yuuken tried to intervene and calm things down, but the argument kept escalating. Yuuken tried to push them apart, but they pushed him away with too much force, causing him to crash through the window. They didn't even stop arguing until Yuuken hit the ground, which scared Kalim and Jamil. I looked out the window and saw that Yuuken had passed out and was bleeding from his head. Jack took Yuuken to the Infirmary a little while ago." Deuce explained.

Crewel looked pissed.

His fists were balled and he was shaking with rage. He glared at Crowley, Leona, and Malleus as the Dorm Warden of Diasomnia walked over to the Potion Teacher.

"Professor Crewel, I wish to sincerely for angering you and..." Malleus was silenced by Crewel's Hand in his face.

"Don't. Another. Word." Crewel growled as he turned on his heel and started marching away from the group and started down the path toward the building's infirmary; the menacing aura around him caused the students to part away from the warpath the Professor was on.

[Moments Later - The Infirmary: Yuuken's Section]

"I managed to stop the bleeding and stitch the wound, but upon proper examination, there is a high probability that Prefect Yuuken will suffer from traumatic brain injury and could experience memory loss to a certain degree; whether it is minor or major will not be known until he wakes up. Currently, he is in a comatose state but he is stable." The Nurse explained as he read from Yuuken's Medical Chart.

Crewel stood at the edge of the bed, looking down at the unconscious Prefect of Ramshackle with sadness swimming in his silver eyes, eyes shining with unshed tears as he looked at the body of the 16-year-old boy he considered to be his son.

Enma Yuuken was an incredibly responsible first-year student. He was always taking notes in class and recording sessions with the permission of the teachers to ensure he didn't miss anything important. His work was consistently exceptional, and his potions were always professionally made. It's not surprising, considering that Yuuken and Crewel would have private lessons to learn more about ingredients or new potions. Despite not being from Twisted Wonderland, Yuuken was preparing himself for the possibility of not returning home and was ensuring that he was adequately prepared to have a career in Twisted Wonderland.

Crewel's fondest memory wasn't during class or private lessons; it was on Father's Day. Crewel was chatting with Mozus Trein, the history teacher, while Trein held his black and white cat. Trein was telling Crewel about the gifts his daughters had given him when Yuuken appeared with a box in hand. Yuuken presented it to Crewel, who was confused and asked what it was for. Yuuken explained that it was his Father's Day gift to Crewel, surprising both Crewel and Trein. Even Lucius, the cat, seemed surprised. The box contained six strawberry cheesecake muffins, which Yuuken had baked himself. Yuuken had promised to let Crewel try some of his desserts after a study lesson, and this was his way of saying thank you for being a parental figure to him. Yuuken wished both men a happy Father's Day, bowed his head, and left.

Trein looked at Crewel's expression before chuckling, "If he wasn't so attached to you, I would have made him my son; but I can settle for being the Grandfather.".

Crewel was pulled from his thoughts when the door burst open and Crewel along with the Nurse turned to look in the direction of the door, coming face to face with a panicked Sam and Grim, who was in Sam's arms.

Sam was The proprietor of Mr. S's Mystery Shop, a school store on campus. Yuuken was one of Sam's Best Customers and one of Sa's Best Friends; they were so close that Sam would often call Yuuken his 'Little Brother'. Yuuken would often go to the shop, not only to purchase goods and food, but he would also spend time with Sam or just help him with the shop when he was free and wasn't swarmed with responsibilities from Crowley or schoolwork. Sam cared for Yuuken and would often give him discounts or give him free stuff that he wasn't going to use.

"How is he?!" Sam panicked as he walked into the room, sweat dripping from his face and his pupils jumping in pools of magenta he called his eyes. Sam walked over to the bed and stared down at Yuuken's still body as Grim jumped out of his arms and landed on the bed before getting close to Yuuken's face, snuggling under his chin, and laying his body down with tears flowing from his sapphire blue eyes.

"He's is stable, but there is a high possibility that Yuuken will suffer from some kind of brain damage; he could lose his memory but we aren't sure how much his memory will be affected." The Nurse said before looking back at the group, dismissing himself and walking towards the door, but he was stopped when Crewel called out to him.

"Do not allow anyone else into this room; none of the students, not even the Headmaster. My Pup needs his rest." Crewel called out, The Nurse nodded, took his leave, and stood outside of the door.

"'Your Pup'?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow.

Crewel exhaled and placed a gentle hand on Yuuken's forehead, his gloved fingertips running along the bandages wrapped around Yuuken's head.

"I know I've called my students 'puppies' because I saw them as little pups with no guidance in the world, but I've never had a pup of my own; none of them felt like my own. Until I met Yuuken. He was the only one I felt like I wanted to protect, to guide and give him a better chance in this world; even if he ended up leaving me in the end. He was the only one who sat and listened to me, who gifted me with a gift on Father's Day because he saw me as his parental figure. This is my pup. My son. That will never change." Crewel said.

"I understand... Yuuken is more than a customer to me; he's more like the little brother I never had. I know I have my shadows to keep me company...but there is something about him that makes me happy to see him. To see him like this... Darn... I'm trying to keep calm." Sam said as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Ngh..."

Crewel and Sam looked over at Yuuken's face to see his black eyes open and looking around, as if trying to understand where he was before he looked at Crewel and Sam with a weak gaze.

"Pup. Keep still. You hit your head rather hard." Crewel said.

"Pup?" Yuuken asked in a weak voice before blinking slowly, "Is... Is that my name?"

"Your Name?" Sam asked before he and Crewel looked at each other before looking at Yuuken, "No, your name is not Pup, that's just a nickname. Your name is Yuuken, Enma Yuuken."

"Where am I?" Yuuken asked in a weak voice.

"You're in the Infirmary Wing at Night Raven College." Crewel answered.

"And... Who are you two? You both look...familiar." Yuuken questioned as if trying to recall who these people were before him.

Crewel and Sam looked at each other again as if they were having a silent conversation; they held their gaze for a few seconds before turning back to Yuuken with tender smiles on their faces. Crewel placed a tender hand on Yuuken's forehead while Sam grabbed Yuuken's hand tenderly.

"I am Divus Crewel, Night Raven's Potion Teacher. I am your teacher, but I am also your Father." Crewel spoke in a low voice.

"F...Father?" Yuuken asked.

"Yes, Pup. I am your Father." Crewel nodded.

"And I am Sam, owner of Mr. S's Mystery Shop, and I'm your Big Brother." Sam smiled at Yuuken.

"Brother?" Yuuken asked before looking at Crewel, "Father? Father and Brother... Here for me?"

"Yes, Pup. We are here to make you feel better." Crewel smiled.

"And we are going to make sure no one ever hurts you gain, Little Brother; we're gonna protect you." Sam said.

Yuuken looked between the two of them and smiled weakly.

His Father and His Brother.

They were there for him.

They were going to make him feel better.

They were going to protect him.

[END]

[theacecouple]

I didn't see anything from somerton until about a month ago when he popped up in my recs and I ended up binging his content for about 2 days, but something kept being off and I noticed some of the lies/ignorance, and there was something really dismissive and weird about how he talked about aspecs and women in particular... I stopped watching him cause I watched one of you guys' podcast and realized I also just felt like crap after his videos.

I did end up getting his rwrb video in my recs when it came out cause of the binge and I just remember leaving a comment about the way he talked about aces in it. It was especially upsetting seeing people in the comments who were simply happy he mentioned aspecs at all. He replied to me just saying his cowriter was ace. I don't reply to youtube comments but I just remember wanting to point out that same co-writer he was using as a shield said aces don't face discrimination or conversion therapy, and in that video wrote that aces have to have sex to find out they don't like it. Being something doesn't make you instantly know everything about it, as somerton himself demonstrates with his ignorant comments about gay history.

I'm not really one of his victims since I avoided him as soon as I found him, but I feel bad for all the people he tricked and/or guilted into believing him. I hope some other creators make videos exposing the weird way he manipulated the queer community, cause I think a lot of young folks could use a breakdown of it.

Anyways I just wanted to finish by saying I love you guys' work and learning from you. You helped me understand why certain phrases make me upset, and that and watching your podcast back to back with his videos helped me figure out what I didn't like about Somerton, so you helped protect me from him and not convince myself I was just being Weird as I often do when I get Bad Vibes from someone.

Thank you so much for reaching out <3

It's so fascinating that you stopped watching Somerton after finding us. We've tried to keep things as professional as possible these last 2 years by only citing directly harmful things he's done to us and direct members of our community, and even then it was sparingly and as kind as possible.

When we first spoke with him about including Asexual representation in his future Telos endeavors, he assured us that not only was there already an Ace in the writers' room, but that two real, fully-fleshed out Ace characters were already being written. This was encouraging! After all, we had no way of knowing if he was the kind of cis gay man who loathes Aces or doesn't view us as queer. Since this didn't seem to be the case and rep is important, we supported him. We now deeply regret not doing our research on him first.

Even before his video "The Queer Erasure of Asexuality", we started watching a few of his YouTube videos for the first time and some of the subtext was NOT kind to our community. Subtle things that we'd see get repeated by his fans over and over again, like how queer art is bad these days because all the "artists" and the "exciting queers" who "really lived" died in the AIDS crisis. Or the implication that the Interview with the Vampire reboot was *more queer* because the vampires actually had gay sex on screen, despite this being a complete departure from the source material and neglecting the fact that Anne Rice's vampires have always been undeniably queer *and also* sexless. In fact, we didn't say his name, but we did mention some vague "bad takes" we saw about the series in our podcast episodes 75 & 76 The Triumphs and Failures of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire Part 1 and Part 2...At least some of those came from James.

We did not see his rwrb video, because we had long given up on him by that point, but it is not at all surprising to hear that he had bad takes and also hid behind Nick once again to shield himself from any criticism. It was very much his MO, and yet we're also certain we've heard him chastise straight women for using the "I have a gay friend" defense.

It is so good to hear that our podcast has been helpful to you. There are FAR too many Aces who are willing to let bad behavior or ill-informed takes slide just because someone with a decent following noticed us. We deserve so much better.

[cheesemenace]

hii, since you’re asexual, i thought i’d ask. how do you know you’re ace? (that sounds so bad lmao) i myself am questioning if i’m asexual, but i have a hard time figuring out what the attractions are so it’s hard to know if you felt something if no one can give you a clear definition on what that something is. so how did you come to the conclusion that you don’t feel sexual attraction?

i don’t know if i feel romantic either, but i suppose even if i don’t i feel something similar to it and i do want to date some people, so i don’t think i am aromantic, maybe arospec, but not full on aro.

I found out I was ace (And aro, but I didn't realize it at the time) when I would overhear my friends talking about their celebrity crushes or even in school crushes (keep in mind this was in middle school) and I couldn't really relate. I never found anyone to be attractive in a way that I would want to date them/do anything that my peers talked about. A common experience that I had is that when asked about having a crush I would just choose the least annoying person in the room lol.

I never really put a label to the feeling until I "found out about gay people" (As weird as that sounds- I was religiously sheltered as a child. I was never against the community, just never knew or thought about it- I could talk more about this at some point).

My friend told me how some people can like one gender, two, more, etc, etc. I decided at that point that I was bi (because I felt the same about both genders at the time- aka: nothing). But quickly labeled myself after as asexual and biromantic as I did not view people the same way most did online or in person (I did not find any "sexual" body parts interesting, and even found them repulsive). I didn't find common things people lusted over such as muscles on men or thigh gaps on women to be anything significant. I thought that beauty standards were ridiculous and I didn't understand why people find them important at all- at least on things that one can't control (I still don't, but I least I have an explanation: lust).

A few years ago I began to explore that fact that I am on the aro spectrum, and now here I am.

[moongothic]

Here’s something interesting! Read back to Marineford arc and consider what Whitebeard might have meant to Crocodile. It was only after the witnessing WB getting stabbed and talking to his adopted son that Croco did a 180 to protect Luffy. I try to read WB’s dialogue to guess what he said affected Croco so much. My favorite theory is that WB is Croco’s bio dad and thus Luffy’s other grandpa! The family tree would be so entangled lol

This is one of those things which makes me feel insane because, I swear to god, around like 2011 I remember Oda saying in an interview that he based Whitebeard on a gay friend he had, which was like part of the reason why Whitebeard's crew WAS his family, instead of him having like a wife and bio-kids. That Whitebeard was gay. But like, no matter how I try looking that up I can't actually find any information to confirm this?? Like no interview or as much as a mention of an interview like that ever existing??? DID I IMAGINE THAT??? IT'S SUCH AN OLD, CORE MEMORY, I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW I WOULD'VE IMAGINED IT UP??? OR WAS IT JUST AN EARLY 2010S TUMBLR HOAX?????? I FEEL DERANGED

Honestly, considdering the way Marco of all people found it unimaginable WB had kids, let alone that Weevil was the son of Whitebeard and Stussy (the current running theory being that Weevil is actually like a clone of WB with Stussy's DNA mixed in), I do personally find it unlikely Whitebeard has any bio-kids at all. Like, that felt like the implication there to me, that Marco doesn't believe WB had bio-kids with anyone, and I would be inclined to believe Marco there as he's kind of meant to be seen as an authority figure in a way (at least on this subject)

At most, if the "Xebec is Croc's dad" theory did turn out to be true, it would actually make sense if Whitebeard had adopted Crocodile after the God Valley incident-- whether the kid stayed is debatable, since WB did still betray his dad so he might've ran away, but regardless, at most I could see WB being Croc's adoptive father. At most. (Alternatively, as Oda has stated in an SBS, Whitebeard didn't believe women belong on a battlefield so it could be plausible he didn't want to keep a 9 year old child on his ship either. So he could've picked up Baby Croc until he found a safe place to ditch him in, kinda like how Franky ended up)

I have been feeling tempted to do a re-analysis of Croc in Marineford because, when I did my first analysis, I was too Lost In The Sauce and far too excited about the mere idea of Crocodad to form coherent, even semi-objective thoughts. But now that it's been a few months, I feel like I could really look at it with a more fresh perspective

But let's just look this exchange Crocodile and Whitebeard had really quick

As far as we know, the only person Crocodile has ever lost to (aside from Luffy) was Whitebeard, and that loss was the thing that crushed his spirit and dreams. Whitebeard, the most powerful man in the world. He who humbled Crocodile and taught him his place in the powerscaling of the world, that Crocodile was at best a silver medalist and could never catch up to him.

That must've been Crocodile's entire worldview, for so many decades. That WB was #1, an absolute fact nothing could change.

But time comes for all.

Whitebeard has become old. He is no longer in his prime.

"I can't remain the strongest forever"

Even if Whitebeard didn't say that outloud, I'm sure in this moment Crocodile understood that deep inside. That the absolute he had believed in wasn't an absolute after all, that a new era is approaching and the kids (Luffy and Ace) on this battlefield are going to take their places (his and WB's) sooner or later, whether they like it or not.

And of course; this isn't the same Whitebeard who beat Crocodile's ass over 20 years ago. Taking his head would not give him the satisfaction and catharsis he wanted.

Trying to get past Jozu and Marco and the rest of WB's crew, some of whom might be more dangerous than WB himself at this point, would not give Crocodile the revenge he wanted. It wouldn't even be worth the effort. If anything, taking WB's head here and now would just give the World Government exactly what they'd want.

Like, putting aside all the theories, your Crocodads and Whitebeard's bio-kids aside. ('Cause sometimes you need to look past the rose-tinted theory glasses even if you don't want to) (And I need to remind myself to do that more often tbh) I do think the main reason Crocodile ends up assisting Luffy, is simply because of that. Whitebeard isn't worth it anymore. He's just an old man. Crocodile could kill him, without a doubt, it just wouldn't change anything.

So he just moves onto the next thing on his list of priorities; not letting the Government get what they want, out of spite.

[thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai]

I just want to say, after seeing your post about your recent metas losing you followers - I really appreciated your meta about Yuuri as a sex-favourable ace. It exposed me to a label I had never been introduced to before, and it's helping me explore and understand my own sexuality differently. It's also given me even more reasons for why I relate to and appreciate Yuuri so much as a character. So thank you 🥰

Also, I always appreciate reading your metas even if I'm not always the best about engaging with them, so know that what you're doing is appreciated, even if the numbers don't always reflect that. Never feel pressured to do this kind of stuff for others' entertainment of course, but I'll keep enjoying it as long as you keep posting it!

Hi and thank you for your sharing your thoughts and feelings! I'm happy to learn that I did something right by writing this my meta and that it helped another human being. Too often, I feel that my content isn't good enough to be liked, much less to be shared, and that I don't belong in this place, no matter how hard I try. Your message was a silver lining that brightened my day. The best way to show appreciation always is to interact. Thank you for reaching out 🩷

I hope you don't mind if I talk a bit about how it came to this meta.

Yuri!!! On Ice and writing fanfiction about it has taught me so many things not only about Yuuri but about myself. It helped me understand my anxiety and figure out the different flavours of my own queerness. I always related very strongly to Yuuri's experience in every aspect of his personality, which made writing him a wild combination of entertainment, trigger, and therapy. However, I didn't know that I was subsconciously writing him as ace-coded in addition to all the other aspects in which I "got" him, until a couple of months ago, a reader thanked me for making him so relatable to an aspec-person. At that time, I had been questioning for a while whether I was ace myself, but I had some residual doubts. I had heard people say that Yuuri is acespec, but it didn't really click with me because I couldn't relate to the food-metaphor. However, that comment was a tipping point for me. As a canon fanfiction writer, canon-compliancy is my Prime Directive, and if there's a way to write a character even truer to his canon version, I'm compelled to follow this path. It turned out as just the right decision because as a side-effect, exploring this side of Yuuri dispelled the residual doubts I had about my own identity.

My reading of Eros!Yuuri as being a part of a kink aside, characterising Yuuri as a sex-favourable ace instead of any other ace microlabel was convenient because it allowed me to write him based on my own experience. I don't trust myself with writing a demisexual character (which is an equally valid reading of Yuuri) because I don't know how to make the switch from 0% to 100% sexual attraction believable.

I was so busy being scared of receiving hate for this characterisation of a fictional character that is so dear to me like Yuuri is (and mentally dealing with the hate that meta received from a few spiteful individuals) that it occurs to me only now that discussing and writing ace!Yuuri, especially with the flavour sex-favourable, might help other people. Until I befriended another ace person last year, I never considered the label for myself, and when it all started to make sense, I still had a hard time untangling sexual attraction from libido, sex-related kinks, sexual behaviour etc. I believe this process is especially tough for sex-favourable aces because of the common misbelief that someone who has sex and likes it can't be asexual.

I wish the knowledge about asexuality would be more widespread since there are so many harmful misconceptions surrounding the label that ostracise ace people even within the queer community. And I wish you all the best in your journey of figuring out your own identity 🩷

The meta mentioned in this post is this one.

[coockie8]

Wait what? Girl what happened? Do you mind talking about it? We could go to dms if you'd like cause I've never seen Anything on that

It's pretty public, like at least two posts about it will come up if you search my username (unless you already have these people blocked, or vice versa), so we don't have to go to DMs, but this will be long, so I'm gonna put it under a Keep Reading.

About 3-4 years ago on the original variation of my Dark Ace ask blog @red-eyed-raven, a user whose username I can't remember (who will from here on out be referred to as A), and won't share anyway because despite what they did, I don't think they deserve to be harassed, started interacting with Dark Ace, and chatting with me a bit.

We moved over to discord to engage a bit of a more personal relationship (a decision I will rapidly come to regret), they realised that I was coockie8, and briefly gushed about how they'd been a fan of my art for a while. I joined their discord server, I had a (deeply uncomfortable due to my anxiety) voice call with them, and I'd even given them the (real life) name I'd been going by at the time.

On the ask blog, there was also another user (who we'll refer to as B) I'd been kinda low key roleplaying with (who I also moved over to discord with at a point), and the roleplay did get sorta spicy in spots (by "spicy" I mean Dark Ace suggested showering with this person's character at one point). Now, I will admit B had "high school student" written in their bio, but as someone who was in high school until their literal 20's, that didn't actually give me any indication of their age. Given the usually spicy content on the blog, I figured they were 18+. I am fully willing to admit I made a mistake here; I should not have made assumptions.

Anyway, at some point I noticed that I'd been removed from the discord, and when I asked A, who was the server owner, about it, I was told they didn't approve of the dark content I was writing with a friend who was running a Lightning Strike blog at the time, and they'd rather I not be in the server, and I took that in stride, blocked A so they wouldn't be forced to interact with me in any way, and moved on. Prior to this, the Lightning Strike blog in question had received a nasty anon accusing them of romanticizing abuse because of the "stockholm-ish" nature of the way we were portraying Dark Ace and Lightning Strike's relationship.

After a few days of Dark Ace not getting interactions from A, someone asked if something had happened, and I explained A wasn't comfortable with the kind of dark topics I cover (understandable), and that, in retrospect, they might have even been who'd sent that nasty anon to my friend.

This was the catalyst. A wasn't blocked from @red-eyed-raven, so they saw the ask andhad a full blown meltdown over me just suggesting that they might have sent that anon hate.

It was at this point A started hunting me down on other accounts, taking screenshots of any art they found objectionable (including a picture I'd drawn at 14 of Aerrow getting raped by Mr. Moss) and poured all of it into a callout post accusing me of being a pedophile and a groomer, and called me a "backstabber" for hiding this from them (if you've been following me for any amount of time, you know I don't hide this). They posted (poorly censored) art they fully considered to be "child porn" Gods I hate that term publicly for all of their followers to see. But I was, somehow, the only one committing a crime in their mind. I don't know.

I don't need to explain where the "pedophile" part comes from; these people believe a cartoon character assigned the narrative trait of a number below 18 is the exact same thing as a real, living, breathing 14-year-old. As a CSA survivor, this grinds my gears for obvious reasons.

The "groomer" part was over the barely spicy RP with B, as well as the fact I'd admitted to them that the police had seen my "objectionable art" in the past and did nothing (this part is crucial, at least to me, 'cause there's at least 1 user who's been trying to claim I've been convicted. I have not. I have no record. They're lying.), because drawings are not the same thing as hurting a real person, and there's literally nothing wrong with creating dark and taboo art. The act of stating this objective fact (that art is not real life) is, apparently, "grooming", I guess.

A couple more "callout" posts were made, rife with all the same misinformation, and I left the fandom for a year. Upon tentatively returning about a year later, I immediately got attacked by these people, and promptly shut down for a while until I'd established myself in the proship community, and didn't feel so isolated anymore. This is when I fully returned, and it's taken at least 2 years for me to stop drowning in anxiety every time I hyperfixate on this show.

So yeah, that's the gist. I know it's long, sorry.

[halloween-neko96]

senbazuru (a thousand paper cranes)

[One Piece - Senbazuru AU]

Before meeting and swearing siblinghood with Ace and Sabo, Luffy had sworn siblinghood with two others when he used to live in Foosha Village. In Luffy's old fashion, he forgot to tell them about it.

In which, Luffy has more sworn siblings besides Ace and Sabo, Uta wishes that Luffy bothers to inform her about the new siblings he has added to their sworn siblinghood, and Sally should have seen this coming when she realized that Luffy forgot to tell them about Ace and Sabo.

Intro 1 - Sally ♣︎ Starting Point

“Greetings, my name is Sally, Luffy's older sister. By your reaction, I see that Luffy didn't bother to tell you guys about me at all.”

Sally, Sally, Sally!

Does the name Sally in One Piece ring any bells for you? I bet that only a few of you recognize this character in canon.

The first time she was introduced in canon was during Reverie Arc. The current Queen of the Goa Kingdom, Sally Isntoinette is her full name. She also is the wife of Sterry who was Sabo's birth parents adopted son and the current King of the Goa Kingdom. Back in the ASL childhood flashback, she was only a princess, not even on the successor line. The reason she became the Queen was because of the unexpected death of her father and her older brother.

But enough of her role in canon! Let's get to Sally's role in this AU.

You see, the Sally of the Senbazuru AU is not the same as the Sally in canon. This Sally is a semi-SI reincarnator. She was someone from our world who got reincarnated into the One Piece world as Sally Isntoinette. The girl was so confused to wake up one day as a baby.

At first, Sally didn't realize the world she got reincarnated into was One Piece world due to her recollection of One Piece being a bit out of date. It wasn't until she heard the name of the kingdom and the island that it finally clicked in her mind about where she was.

Sally spent a while to get around the fact that she was in One Piece. By the time she finally sorted herself out, she met with a new dilemma. She wanted to help the ASL brothers.

Back in her old life, Sally was a fan of the ASL brothers. She adored their found family dynamic. She always wished to meet them one day. But there was one problem. Sally didn't get the timeline. It took her a while but when she finally got it, it was a bit too late.

Sally was older than Luffy by two years. By the time she figured out the timeline, she was already 7, meaning that Sabo had run away two years ago. Frustrated with this, Sally aimed for the next available best thing. She threw a tantrum to get a vacation in the Foosha Village.

That was when the 7-year-old Sally met the 5-year-old Luffy.

[Next>>]

[yourslashersfinalgirl]

Top 10 Fastest Anime Defeats | Chapter 4

Key:

Japanese: normal text

English: bolded

Thoughts: in italics

It's nice out today.

That was your first thought of the morning as you stepped outside to begin your training. Although you and your scarred friend had planned to stay inside for the day due to the rain, Urokodaki had requested you both go out and adjust to the environmental change. "You must learn to fight in different conditions whether they are natural or not. Training in the same good weather will not give you nearly enough experience for your fights with the demons."

I guess that makes sense... Besides the rain isn't that bad, I actually like the rain.

As the rain continued to pour down, you made your way toward your desired area for training. You wouldn't be joining Tanjiro for your usual routine in favor of finally trying to come up with your desired breath style.

Standing in front of the boulder you spend the next few minutes staring at it.

Yeah... I have nothing...

"Damn it, this is so stupid!" You stomp your foot against the ground straight into a puddle of muddy water, dirtying your light blue hakama.

Ah fuck, Urokodaki is gonna kill me now.

"Life is going great!" You let out an exasperated sigh, not caring as you didn't have an audience,

"You really are a mess." A familiar voice cuts through your spiteful thoughts as you spin around to face the boy. Droplets of rain dripped down his mask as he stood with his arms crossed over his chest watching your pitiful state. "Why, hello to you too Sabito." You sigh after greeting the boy.

Do I dare sit on the ground? My clothes are already dirty so I'll have to wash them anyway...

"What's wrong with you? Your face is disturbing me." 

"Wh- Don't you dare talk about my face when you haven't even shown yours!" His only response to your statement was a light knock of his fist to your head. 

"You never answered my question."

"Huh?"

"I asked what was wrong with you. You never answered." 

Staring down at your muddied feet in embarrassment, you avoid eye contact before answering, "I'm trying to come up with my own breath style."

He scoffs, "That's your problem?" He shakes his head as you absentmindedly play with the sleeve of your hakama as your temper begins to rise. "You try to come up with your own breath style! This shit ain't easy dude!"

"Then, if it's so hard for you on your own... I'll help you."

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

Another six months passed until the final day Tanjiro would face Sabito. You would have continued your training if it weren't for the fact you desperately wanted to see Sabito's face.

That moment you're only letting yourself take a break cause you want to see some dude's face.

Tanjiro and Sabito stood across from one another, stern expressions never wavering as they stared one another down. Tanjiro's hair had grown out, cascading down to his shoulders. To the side of them were the figures of two girls, Makomo standing in place, and you at her side sitting patiently.

Not like I'll be here for long... This fight is pretty quick in the anime so I don't have to worry about time too much.

The sword at Sabito's side was no longer the familiar wooden one he had appeared with all those months ago, instead it was a real Nichirin blade that shined as he pulled it from its sheath.

"After a year, you finally began to have the appearance of a man," Sabito comments on your burgundy-haired friend as he stood across from him with his own sword drawn.

"I will win today."

"Go Tanjiro! I know you can do it!" Obviously, you would cheer for Tanjiro. Sure, as much as you liked Sabito, you were not going to not show your support for the boy you've known for longer.

It was a pretty straightforward thing. To put it simply, the stronger and faster of the two would win.

Not another second passed before they both lunged forward, fully prepared to inflict some damage on the other. It was a quick fight, and the victor decided in an instant. Tanjiro's blade struck Sabito before the masked male had time to react.

A look of shock swept across Tanjiro's face as you leaned forward, Sabito's own face being revealed from beneath his split-open mask.

Woah... He's so fucking pretty? Pretty boy Sabito! If Sabito looks like this how pretty is Inosuke?

Both Sabito and Makomo smiled at Tanjiro's achievement. Fog began to pool around the area as a sense of mourning, joy, and peace began to fill your body. 

"You must win Tanjiro..." Makomo spoke up, although you didn't react to her voice, "Against that person too."

That person? The hand demon or Kibutsuji?

Finally returning to your senses, you look around only to realize Sabito and Makomo were nowhere to be found.

"So... Uh..." The sound of your voice seemed to surprise Tanjiro as he jolted from his thoughts. "Ah, [Y/N]!" You push yourself from the ground only to jump onto Tanjiro's back, forcing him to drop his katana in order to hold you up, "That's a nice rock you got there bud. Can I have the other half?" 

"Other half?" He looks back at the boulder only to realize he had somehow managed to slice it in half. "O-oh! I didn't even realize I cut it!" You raise an eyebrow at that remark, "Bro, really? Then... Do you mind helping me cut mine in half? I wanna be there with you at the final selection!" 

His grip on you falters, almost accidentally allowing you to choke him if it were for the fact you slid off on your own accord, "C'mon! Help me with my boulder too!" You race off toward the direction of your training spot only to accidentally run into your father Urokodaki himself. "Oof!" Before you could fall, he grabs your shoulders to steady you, "Ah, I'm sorry... And thanks for catching me." Urokodaki simply responds by giving you a head pat.

"The reason I didn't want either of you to go to the final selection, was because I didn't want to see children die of this anymore."

Ah, story progression...

He begins to approach Tanjiro, "But I didn't count on you being able to slice that rock..." He places his right hand on top of Tanjiro's head, "You did well." 

Tears begin to well up in Tanjiro's eyes as Urokodaki continues, "Tanjiro, you are an... impressive kid..." Finally allowing his tears to fall, the two embrace each other in what you would describe as a slightly awkward, but loving hug. "You must come back... Alive from the final selection. This old man and your sister will be waiting for you right here."

Well, I didn't need my emotions anyways.

Tag List: @rgtgt

[rikumorimachisgirl]

Title: Game Over

Pairing: Ayumu x MC

Word count: 1871

Genre: Fluff

Prompt: MC plays otome games

Written for the @voltagefandomproject

Notes: I haven't written in a while, but I hope you enjoy this story. I don't own Voltage or any of its characters, but I own this story.

Here goes...

His POV

*Slam* 

That's the sound my office door made after I walked in and forcefully shut it behind me. Mind you, I don't always close the door that way - my parents raised me to become the well-mannered person that I usually am - except when a certain someone is involved. 

I'm sure that you've already guessed who I'm talking about. She also goes by the following aliases - Kappa Nagano, the snapping turtle of Nagano, my aide, my turtle… My girlfriend. Even after dating for over a year, she never ceases to amaze me with all the different emotions and reactions she manages to draw from me simply by being her usual self - like that one time she tried asking other guys to watch a meteor shower with her instead of asking me because she thought I'd say no, or that time when she drank whisky neat in front of her ex-boyfriend and passed out. I never pegged myself to be the jealous type until I met her. 

And now she's doing it again. The worst part is that I can't even read her this time around - either she's gotten better at hiding things or I've become sloppy at snooping her out. 

Wait, I've become sloppy at snooping her out? That's so incredibly lame! When did I become so uncool? 

Do you think I'm overreacting? You would, too, if you have a puzzle you can't figure out. Anyway, I'll tell you exactly what's gotten me into a foul mood. 

It was about a week ago when I started noticing a change in my girl's behavior. 

—-

"You seem busy."

She looked up at me from her spot on the couch. We arrived home from the Jurassic Land exhibit a few minutes ago, and already, my girl has plopped down on the sofa while tinkering with her phone. Again. For the hundredth time since I saw her this morning. And she wasn't just tinkering with her phone, she was holding it suspiciously close to her - like an ace student who wouldn't let her classmates copy off her exam. 

"Homework?" I asked, pretending I didn't know that she didn't have any. "Anything you need help on?" I wanted to give her a fair chance to tell me what it was that was stealing her attention away from me. 

I watched her eyes widen, and her cheeks flush. She clumsily fumbled with her phone and chucked it into her bag. "N-no. I'm okay. I was… I was texting with Naruko," she said with as much confidence as she could muster. 

What a liar, I thought, but decided to play along. "Oh really? What could be bothering Miss Sasaki so much, she'd exchange messages with you for four hours." 

I barely kept a straight face as I watched her eyes widen so much, I thought they'd pop out. "It's nothing. She's just… uh…"

And so, there I was sitting through her painfully made-up story of why her classmate was 'texting' her on a weekend. At one point, she promised to give me her full attention. But like most promises, that one ended up being broken. As soon as I hopped in the shower, she was busy with her phone with a goofy smile on her face. 

—

Her goofy smile as she tinkered with her phone has been a hot topic in the Instructors' room, too. As expected, Toru is the first one to comment on my girl's head-in-the-clouds expression. 

"It looks like she's found herself a boyfriend," my self-declared partner-in-crime harped annoyingly after he spotted my girl walking down the corridor while tapping away on her phone. 

"I've noticed that, too. It's like there's a spring in her step these days," Soma chimed in - not that anyone asked him. 

"My aide always has a spring in her step," I said, trying to keep it casual. 

"Yes, but it's different this time," Goto interjected thoughtfully, as he showed me her most recent test, which she aced. "She seems to be more determined to get good marks. Whatever the reason is, she's inspired."

The collective oohs and aahs from everyone in the room was driving me to the edge. I'm so annoyed already, why can't everyone just shut up?

I said a silent prayer to whatever Gods were listening, but they may have been attending to other matters at the moment because who else should stir the pot more but the chief? 

"So, the little bird is in love? That's wonderful. There's nothing better than young love."

"She's hardly even young anymore," I muttered under my breath as I desperately tried to keep my temper in check. This was getting more ridiculous by the minute. Was she seeing someone else behind my back? She can't be. I mean, she's in love with me, right? At least the last time I checked, she seemed to be. 

"What do you think, Ayumu?"

The Chief's question snapped me out of the little deliberation I had going on in my head. The next thing I know, all eyes were on me, as if I were the subject of an interrogation. 

I put on my best fake smile and gathered the papers that were stacked in front of me. "I think I've had enough idle time, so it's time for me to make my rounds," I said, as I stood and headed for the door.

I could've sworn I heard Toru say something to the chief about how sensitive I was, but I couldn't care less - I'd rather remove myself from the situation before they remove me from my teaching position. 

As I shut the door of the Instructors' Room, I came face-to-face with the very reason I bolted out of the room I was in. There she was with her friend Naruko - her phone in hand, and a goofy smile on her face. 

"I got a Super Happy Ending with Munechika. It took me a while, but I finally got to experience that toe-curling first kiss," I heard her declare cheerfully. 

Munechika, huh? Who the heck is he? And what's that about a toe-curling kiss? I was seething in anger just by listening to her go on and on about her mysterious new boyfriend. That cheater! 

"Right? Aren't tsundere the best?" Nakuro chirped happily beside her before our eyes met. "Hey, it's Instructor Shinonome!" 

After hearing my name, my girl halted abruptly and her eyes widened. Great, I thought. This is just perfect. 

"I-Instructor…," she stammered and pocketed her phone quickly. 

Oblivious of the tension between us, her trusty accomplice prattled on like I was part of their conversation to start with, while my cheating girl's eyes looked everywhere but at me. I could feel my breath hitch and my blood boils the longer I stayed. 

"A new guy, you say?" I looked pointedly at my girl, who now looked like she wanted the earth to swallow her whole. "I can't say I understand his taste in women, but well, as long as you're both single…" I said, emphasizing the last two words before I walked off as quickly as I could. To where you ask? Why, to my office, of course. 

I thought I heard her call my name, but my ears were throbbing and I had to get behind the safety of my office. It's one thing that I knew she was spending more time on her phone, but hearing her say another man's name out loud - was just too much. 

So now, here I am in my office, taking a few calming breaths to regain my composure. And just as I was getting my rhythm back, I heard the door bust open, and in comes my girl - with beads of sweat on her forehead and a little short of breath. 

But I can't deal with her right now. 

"Instructor -"

"I'm busy at the moment," I lied and swiveled the chair so I wasn't facing her. "Why don't you just come back after class? I'll probably have something for you to work on then." 

From behind, I could hear her walking towards me - her steps as well as her breathing were measured. "This won't take long." her voice was directly behind my chair so I held my breath and closed my eyes, hoping that she wouldn't see me in this state. "You were shaking when you left, and I had to come after you…"

I gasped. Was I too upset to realize I was shaking earlier? I was going to respond to her, but thought better of it. After all, they do say less talk, less mistakes, right?  I quietly sat with my back to her. Even when I couldn't see her, I could tell she was nervous - probably wringing her hands together. 

"Well?"

"Well," she said, breathing in sharply. "I think you misunderstood…"

"Hm?"

"Munechika…" 

"Oh, your new guy?"

"Instructor," she said, coming around to face me. I can tell she was deeply distressed. "Munechika isn't a real guy." 

Not a real guy? Now, I'm confused. 

"He's a 2D character from this otome game that Naruko recommended a week ago," she continued while showing me an animated guy in a scrub suit. "He's a fictional doctor who's hot and cold. I picked him because he reminds me of you. I'm sorry if you were worried, but I would never cheat on you."

2D, otome… So, you mean to tell me I've been jealous of a fictional character this whole time? This is making me cringe big time, but I think my face must've loosened up because I heard her sigh with relief. And now, she's got that goofy smile on her face again, but this time her eyes are on me, like they're supposed to be. 

"What are you smiling there for?" I asked. "You're not off the hook yet."

"You can't still be mad at me."

"Oh? And what about that toe-curling kiss you were talking to your little friend about?"

I know I sounded ridiculous, but I couldn't help it. And now, it was her turn to gasp. "Oh, come on," she said, her face turning red. "You give me so much more than toe-curling kisses, and you know it."

I smirked. "Do I? After hearing you go on about this 2D fantasy guy, I'm really not sure anymore…"

"But I do love your kisses, Instructor," she said, earnestly.

"Oh? Then prove it," I challenged her.

Her eyes shot wide. "What? Like, here?" 

I sat back and watched her look around, obviously worried someone would walk in on us. But no less than five seconds later, she gives me yet another surprise. 

Here in my office, on my chair, with the girl I love most on my lap, giving me the best toe-curling kiss I've ever had. She wins again. She always wins with me. That's how crazy I am about this silly girl. I guess she can keep playing her otome games and have silly little crushes on 2D guys who remind her of me. I suppose I wouldn't mind - much - after all, otomes always end with game over, but as for me, I'll give my girl the Super Happy Ending she never knew she's always wanted. 

The end.

[a-big-mess-of-a-person]

This isn't important, don't bother reading, but I need to put this somewhere because I don't know what to do. Sorry for any spelling errors, I type fast and don't check most of the time, and my auto correct is like a 50/50.

I think I'm in love?? Like. With a person???? I don't know what to do??? Technically I've been in two relationships in the past, but I don't think 6th grade and fucking kindergarten count so I'm glossing over those.

I met this person in VR almost a year ago (maybe a little over a year, idk) and we played for a bit and then got off for the day. Oh, they use he/they pronouns btw. We played the next day and then they went offline forever like those "'see you tomorrow' *last seen online 5 years ago*" memes. Little did I know that he lost the charger to their headset so they couldn't play. 6-7 weeks ago they were online again and I asked if I could join them, he said yes. We played nearly every day for around 2 hours for about two weeks after that. For the longest time they were mic-less because their mic didn't work in the game we met in (and at the time the only game we played together). But then about 2 weeks into playing literally hours everyday, he invites me to a call and we talked for like, four fucking hours. After that we missed a few days because I was traveling and so was he, then we started playing four like, 4 hours after that, like, I didn't want to just let my headset die. I wanted to play with them more, which is so unusual for me because i get socially worn down so fast. But not with him. After 4, hours I just get a little motion sick and dizzy so I really gotta go. So fast forward a week or so, I get really busy and so does he, we stopped playing for nearly a week until I messaged him today. Asked if he could play, they could, we played for another 4 hours.

During this entire time, I am thinking about them. Every little thing makes me think about them. And I realized I had a crush. During the recent week where we stopped playing, I was still thinking about him. Wondering if he was ok, wondering if I upset him, just, thinking what seems like nonstop about them. After today I still totally have a crush on them. We just talk so well and we bounce off each other so well. (Oh also by now we know each other's names, he knows what state I live in and I know roughly where they live)

I don't know what to do. I don't know what love is supposed to feel like. I don't have ANY actual fucking experience with relationships at fucking 15. And it's not even like, sexual, I'm ace, so that's not something I'm worried about, but. I don't know what to do, how to act, what to say. He's the reason I'm questioning my entire sexuality. I was fine with just being gay, but nope. He walks into my life. Oh and I know he's single, we were actually talking about his crazy fucking ex who practically stakes him.

I don't know what to do. It feels like sometimes he's just trying to make sure I'm happy without worrying about what he thinks and I don't want him to do that. It's sweet but I really try to let them know that I don't mind what we do and I just like hanging out with them. He's so sweet and our relationship is not like any other relationship I have. With all of my friends I'm the over protective parent like figure. I would drop anything for them, but I know some of them wouldn't do it back. With him, it feels like he would be the one to drop shit for me, and I would obviously do it back, but I don't have that. I think I have one friend who would do that and we joke about dating too much to actually ever date. I feel safe. I don't really have that with any other relationships with people my age. He's so different from my other friends. And I love it. But I don't know what to do. I don't know if this is how I'm supposed to feel, or if it's a different feeling and I'm just mistaken or anything. I don't know what to do in a relationship. I don't know how our relationship would be any different from us just being friends.

And I have no fucking clue if they even like me back. The only other people we have been in a call with is one of his VR homies (as I call it), and this girl we played with who they knew. He didn't seem to like her, or treat her like he treats me. BUT I DON'T KNOW. I feel so confused. I don't know how or what to feel. I know I felt jealous with the other girl being there (I haven't told him(or anyone besides my mother and Internet people) that I go by any/all pronouns and I don't think they would mind). I know he plays with me more than anyone else, most of the time he's online is when we are playing together. What does love feel like? Is this it? I'm ok with that. He is the only person I have imagined a future with. I have never seen myself with a future with anyone I have had a crush on. But I do with him.

And they are so different from all my other crushes. Looking back all of them were people I found cute and/or funny and I wanted to help and protect them. I didn't want to love them, I wanted to make them feel loved. Those are very different. All of my past crushes are people I've wanted to protect. Whenever we set up a time to play together I get excited. I don't get that with other people, I don't like social interaction. I look forward to playing with them. I want to be with them. I want to be around them. I trust them fully. I would put my life into their hands and not worry. (Not that I would put that pressure on a loved one) I can't say those things about anyone else. But I don't want to fuck shit up. If I say anything and they don't feel the same they could remove me from their life SO easily. We play VR together, he could just block me. I don't think he would, but he could, and I would bawl.

If anyone actually reads this, first off, what? Why? I mean thank you?? Idk, but if you did, and can, please give me any advice on what the fuck love feels like.

I don't..

I mean-

I'm confused. I don't know what to do, or what this is. But it feels right? I was thinking this entire week, "am I going to give up putting effort into this? Am I letting this person go?" I decided not to. I decided I'm trying this. Let's see how it goes. I don't know anything. I only know that I want to spend as much of my time with this person as possible. I don't want them to not be with me. That was a purposeful double negative.

I've always thought I would end up alone. All of my past crushes have been short and sweet, nothing happened, and I couldn't see myself with them forever. But I don't want to be alone. I don't want for it to just be me and my dogs. I want someone. And I don't need to be alone. I can end up happy. Right?

I don't know. Whether anything ends up happening with us, I am so grateful that I met them. Because of them I have felt safer realizing that I don't have to be cis because I don't want to confuse others, and I don't have to put a label on my sexuality. I can just like who I like. Ok I'm gonna wrap this up, they actually just messaged me asking if i want to play and ofc I do lol. If you read this, thanks. I needed someone to hear it.

[skygodtraumabond]

<Oops! This video file appears to be corrupted! Don't worry, I will provide alt text!>

<The video opens up in a hotel room, and seems to be taken from a very low height. The camera is momentarily partially blocked by the long, magenta claw of a Morgrem before being uncovered. The cameraman focuses on two figures: Elodie and Ray.

Elodie seems to be in the middle of setting Reuben down on the nightstand, and focuses on Ray as soon as the phone is set down. Her eyes are tired and red from crying, but she still does her best to hear out Ray, who is shivering somewhat and pulling their patched-up bathrobe closer to themself. It is unclear if this is because of their anxieties or because of the AC being cranked a little too low. Scorchovia stands beside them, keeping a careful eye on their behavior. He has his arms crossed and a worried shine in his eyes. Juno appears in the frame briefly to swipe Reuben, seemingly uncaring of the rest of the scene.

The cameraman doesn't focus on the two for long, though. He quickly turns to focus on Chatot, who is still staring directly at the door. They are surrounded by toys, treats, even a food and water bowl have been set up near them. They don't seem to even notice as the cameraman runs over and starts playing with the toys himself. In the background, over the jingling of bells, Elodie and Ray can be heard talking.

Ray: "... I need to apologize."

Elodie: "Ray, it's okay. I promise I don't hate you for what happened. I never really did, and-"

Ray: "It's not that."

As the conversation continues, the cameraman pans the camera up at Chatot and pauses for a moment. He then gently tosses a plastic ball with a jingle bell in it at their head. They don't seem to flinch.

Ray: "I mean... It is, sort of, yeah. I did want to make sure things were okay and that there were no hard feelings, but..."

Elodie: "... You think you're the reason why Marny left, huh?"

Ray: "It's obvious, isn't it? I saw those drafts, she thinks I'm going to take everything from her again. I know you guys think I'm some kind of paranoid conspiracy theorist—"

Juno: "It's literally just the rotom."

Ray: "—but I just know that Marny left because I came back. I don't know what she found that made her so happy, but just knowing that she thinks I'm going to steal it away from her for no reason because of something that happened years and years ago is..."

The cameraman pans back over to Ray, Scorch, and Elodie briefly. Scorch can be seen placing his hand on Ray's head, bringing them out of their spiral. Their braid is pushed to the side slightly, momentarily revealing a long, branching purple mark stretching up the back of their neck.

The cameraman then grumbles, loses focus, and decides to turn the camera towards a sunflower seed cube that's on the ground. He tries biting into it, then tosses it to the side and hisses in disgust.

Ray: "... Sorry."

Elodie: "Hey. Hey, it's alright! Ray, I... I know it's hard to process all of this. You didn't even know that Marny was still alive until a few days ago, and then to hear that she ran away from you... It's hard. It's hard and you don't have to feel okay about it... I know I don't."

Elodie laughs quietly, almost too quietly for the camera to pick up. The cameraman picks Chatot up with one hand and begins carrying them around the room, watching as their head stays locked on the door no matter where he walks.

Elodie: "But it's like I said. I don't have any hard feelings towards you, and I believe you when you say you didn't mean for this to happen. You said you wanted to fix this, right?"

A pause. Presumably, Ray nodded off screen.

Elodie: "I want to fix it too. You're not the only reason why she ran away... We'll find her, alright? We'll fix this together."

Ray: "... Alright. Together."

Elodie: "Together. Now, you still have that big Swellow, right? Scout? Because if you do we're going to need you to—"

The video abruptly cuts off as the cameraman sticks his claw-tipped finger in Chatot's mouth and promptly gets bit. The screech of pain is cut off by the video cutting out.>

<This alt text was provided by me, Techie! I'm a Rotom, so I might make mistakes! Let me know if I did a good job! :> >

[mistofstars]

Hey man, how did you know you were ace? I’m not sure how I feel at the moment - is it my anxiety that’s stopping me from having a relationship, or is it that I just can’t see myself having sex? Do I not see myself having sex because I have major self love problems and can’t see anyone loving me? Am I anxious about it because I don’t want it? I am so confused about what I feel. Any suggestions for figuring it out?

Uff not sure if I'm the best person to ask that, anon, but I'll try to answer.

Some options to get a good idea is

- follow ace blogs on Tumblr and what they post about (especially the memes were enlightening for me 😂)

- there are ace / aero tests online

- but in the end it's important how *you* feel about the term and its definition (there's even more detailed definitions but for me ace fits fine). If you read it and think, yeah, this sounds like me, it's probably true

Some of the signs I figured I was ace (and also very late, I'm in my 30ies and I didn't know of the term until a few years ago!)

I can imagine doing lots of things / hobbies rather than having a relationship

I very much like to be on my own and am not looking for "another half"

I don't have problem with intimacy and can have sex, but I don't *need* sex with another person. I could happily live until the end of my days without having sex with another person.

In my teenager years, everyone was starting relationships but I wasn't interested in them. I rather read fanfiction or made music, anything else. They called me a late bloomer lol but I just wasn't interested. I felt like something was wrong with me

A handful of people fell in love with me and I just couldn't reciprocate and it made me feel like, again, it was my fault, that I should be able to love them back and have these romantic feelings

Started a relationship and had sex because I felt this was society's expectation of me. No one ever told me it's okay to not be with someone!

I never understood people lusting after one another. Like, their urge. I don't have that.

Same goes for celebrity crushes. I don't have them in the "normal" way that I find someone hot and want to do the dirty with them.

My celebrity crushes are like I find someone aesthetically pleasing, beautiful in a "this is a perfectly shaped human being" way. And it's not their muscles or biceps or whatever people find "sexy", it's more about their character and behavior, their beard perhaps, the way their eyes glow, the love they show for someone else. This is what my celebrity crushes look like

You could show me 1000 men and I might find maybe 2 of them attractive. Because I'm not attracted to anybody 😂

Shipping fictional (and real) people because I love their love. But I don't want to be intimate with them 😂

Also, and my psychology friend voiced something like this too, I'm female and I mostly ship male / male, and we think that is because it's as far away from my own biology as possible.

Regarding reading / writing, it's more about non-sexual intimacy for me (even though sex creates intimacy too, don't get me wrong!) like hand-holding, cuddling, forehead kisses and embraces. I live for that stuff

That said, being asexual doesn't mean that you don't crave intimacy with someone else. I do. I would murder for a good embrace

Some people can be happy in a relationship and br asexual. As long as both (or how many people you want in a relationship) are fine with the lack of sexual actions and nobody feels forced or inclined to do something, that's good!

I just know for me that it would be difficult to find someone who would be fine with this, as it is currently in our society and the usual sex drive of men (Sorry for that big bucket but that is my experience)

And I know I have such a self-sacrificing nature (cough, people pleaser, cough) that I rather stay away from relationships now before I return to the vicious cycle "let's have sex, because I read once a week is normal / mandatory". No way, José

Anon, I just want to ensure you to take your time and don't force yourself to anything

Do what feels right for you

[kanra-nakura]

[Fiction] From Caged Marines to Whitebeard Pirates - Chapter 10

~Nine Years Ago, Mt. Colubo~

“Ace! Sabo! Wait up!!” Luffy shouted, running towards the two aforementioned boys, who stopped and sighed, rather fondly, at her.

“Mou… you guys are leaving without  saying anything again!!” Luffy pouted, stopping right in front of them, making them wince. Ace looked away while Sabo rubbed the back of his neck, blushing slightly.

“Sorry, Lu. You were sleeping when we left, so we planned to get breakfast first before going to Makino-san.” He said, as their little sister then beamed at them. Honestly, how can their sister be this cute?!

“We can get breakfast at Makino’s then! It’s been a while since I ate her cooking!” Luffy declared, immediately grabbing her older brother's hands and leading them in the direction of the village, ignoring the blushing figures of the two boys she tagging along with. Months have passed since Shanks left and went back to the New World, then it followed by her getting dropped off in the house of the Mountain bandits, who she’s having a hard time deciding whether she likes them or not, by her grandfather and then meeting Ace, who eventually lead her in meeting Sabo.

Of course, like everything in Luffy’s life, everything wasn’t smooth sailing when she met Ace, considering that the boy had tried to kill her for three months, and then she met Sabo, who was curious why there was a girl following after his friend. And not even a day after meeting the blond-haired kid, she was taken (again) by the pirates that the boys accidentally stole from. Withstanding the torture that was inflicted on her, no longer feeling the pain after hours of being used as a punching bag. Her devil fruit at that time kept her alive but in a way, it also made her miserable as Porchemy kept on punching her.  But that was okay because in the end both Ace and Sabo saved her, patched her wound, and let her be friends with them after a tearful conversation… and, a month later, became brothers and sister.

Of course, Luffy’s brother didn’t know about her devil fruit at first and it is not because she doesn’t want them to know, they just didn’t ask and Luffy didn't bother to tell them as they were always with bandits or hunting in the forest… of course not until a few days ago.

~ (Flashback) 3 days ago~

“Luffy!!”

“LUFFY!!” Ace and Sabo shouted, running around the forest, looking for their beloved treasure, who they had lost sight of an hour ago, which is something they didn’t, shouldn’t, do. It’s been a silent rule between the two brothers to always keep an eye on their youngest troublemaker (Sabo more so than Ace, as he’s the most intelligent one, while Ace was their fighter).

They had lost Luffy after eating breakfast. Ace and Sabo were arguing again about what to do, Luffy making some noises in the background once in a while, when suddenly everything became quiet, and then the next thing they know their sister was missing, which lead them to search the forest.

“Damn it! Where is she!?” Ace tsked, looking around for a yellow straw hat. Sabo bit his lips before shouting again for Luffy but like in the past hour, there was no answer. Their grip on their pipes tightens before they continue to run again and shout, stopping after an hour, panting.

“Damn it…” Ace cursed while Sabo panted as his eyes tried to look around their area. Why couldn’t they find their sister? She could always find them when they’re separated, so why couldn’t they do the same? The only place they haven’t checked yet is the Bandits and the Village, but Luffy wouldn’t go to the bandits without her brothers or Dadan present and Dadan is currently not there.

They could try checking the Village but Luffy said that Makino isn’t at the bar for at least two days and thus they had no purpose to go to the Village, which made Ace and Sabo confuse and scowl as they couldn’t believe that, aside from Makino and the Mayor, no one cares about their sister enough to look out for her. Then there’s also this one tidbit of information where Luffy seems to always know what is happening around the village, especially with Makino, but they didn’t have any tools that would give them information around them aside from the news coo.

“Luffy!!” Ace shouted once more, but he could only hear the echo of his shout. Sabo bit his lips before sighing and looking at Ace, glaring darkly at the forest.

“Ace…” Sabo said and blinked when he realized that they missed one place where Luffy could be at. “The Cliff! We haven’t checked the cliff yet!” He shouted, Ace turned immediately toward him before nodding and they immediately run towards the cliff where they swore to be siblings. It didn’t take them long enough to arrive at the edge of the forest which would lead them to the cliff. Panting heavily, the two boys bent down, putting their hands on their knees, wiping the sweat that was dripping down on their chin or forehead.

They nodded at each other, tightening the grip of their pipes, and preparing for the worst. Taking a step towards the cliff, they froze once they pass through it, eyes widening and mouths gaping as they took in the sight in front of them.

There was their sister, standing near the edge of the cliff, spinning with her hand out. Their sister was dancing so beautifully, but that wasn’t what amazed them as they knew Luffy was beautiful and cute when she wants to be. The thing that froze them was the thing that their sister is holding and playing with, and every time she spins seemingly white fireflies would scatter around her and drift toward the surrounding area. Ace reached as one of those fireflies got closer to them, both brothers watched as it landed in his palm, gasping when it wasn’t a firefly like they thought it was but a small ball of light, of fire, which soon after disappeared into Ace's body.

Sabo gaped before looking up and noticing that nearly the same ball was gathering towards them slowly. Soon it was touching his body and disappearing not a second later, when he glanced to the side, he notice the same thing was happening to Ace as well.

“Oh?” The two of them looked up, blinking when they saw Luffy standing in front of them. “I was wondering where they went.” She muttered and watched as her brothers' skin regained some color and the scratches they acquired while looking for her disappeared.

“AH!” Ace and Sabo yelled before running towards their sister, temporarily forgetting about the lights that they saw. Upon reaching her, Ace immediately punched, albeit softly, Luffy on the head making her yelp, Sabo waited for a second before hugging her tightly and then moved away to grasp her shoulder and shook her.

“What do you think you're doing?!”

“Why did you go here all by yourself?!”

“Why did you leave?!”

“Do you know how worried we are when we realized that you were missing?!!” Both brothers shouted at once, Luffy could blink before bowing her head.

“Sorry…” She mumbled.

“Are you truly sorry?!” Ace shouted while Sabo pursed his lips.

“I didn’t know Ace and Sabo would be worried.” She added, her teary eyes looking to the side. “You guys always left me behind when you hunt or go near the outskirt of the Gray Terminal and so I thought it would be okay for me to do the same as well.” At that, both brothers flinch back in guilt. They didn’t realize that their desire to protect their little sister from any possible harm would result in her leaving them without notice.

“Sorry Lu, your brothers are stupid,” Sabo started patting his sister’s head as Ace gaped at him in shock before glancing at Luffy who was looking at them with teary eyes, which made him sigh and rub the back of his head.

“Yeah, we’re idiots.” He agreed, Luffy looked up and blink her eyes at them, as if waiting for something, they gulped and smiled at her, which made her smile back and jumped at them, wrapping her arms around their necks. The two boys readily accepted her hug, even if led to them falling to the ground, and laughed.

“Oh yeah, by the way, Luffy,” Sabo said, blinking and looking at his sister as they lay down under the shade of the tree. “What was that earlier? They looked like Fireflies.”

“Ah…” Luffy blinks, and then lifted her hand, and soon the light that the boys saw earlier appeared. “It’s my devil fruit.” She added bluntly, both siblings blink their eyes at her before Sabo’s eyes slowly widen and then gaped at her, sitting up abruptly.

“What?!!”

For continuation, please click here…

[eillahsmiles]

Realizing that I have some religious trauma is honestly so weird. Just minding my own business and one day I just "OH. Ok that kinda explains a few things."

I mean, I have a VERY VIVID memory from like 13 years ago of my youth pastor telling us that he was certain that he wouldn't get to see his kids graduate high school because the rapture would happen before that. I literally grew up constantly hearing that we're in the end times. I remember being terrified. I also saw no point in thinking about my own future. Never really thought about what career I'd like or anything. And suddenly it's years later and we're all still here and I still don't have my life figured out.

Then there was the fact that I was scared of WHEN(not if, but when) the rapture came, would I be taken or left behind? Was I good enough? What if I'd sinned on accident and didn't get to ask forgiveness? I found myself praying nearly every day to be forgiven of any sins I didn't know I'd committed. What if I wasn't worthy to be let into heaven.

I'd have a passing bad thought and would be afraid that I was a terrible person. It was worse than just intrusive thoughts, because I sincerely believed I was being judged by someone else, not just myself.

Heck, I grew up pretty homophobic until my 2nd year of college when I finally met some queer people and realized that they were. Just. People. If I didn't grow up religious I probably would have realized that I'm ace/aro myself a LOT SOONER. The pastor used to tell us, specifically about LGBT+ people "Hate the sin, not the sinner" but that's not true. Now the way I hear him talking about gays and trans people ENRAGES me. I want to stand up and yell out "Is it so wrong to LOVE? And to be yourself? Did God not want us to love and to be loved? Because that's not what you're doing when you talk about these people!"

My dad still gets mad if I miss too many Sundays in a row, even though I work every other Sunday and I'm basically nocturnal at this point because I work overnight. I'm getting tired of pretending. Pretending that I still enjoy going to church. That I'm still a christian. That I still pray. That I still believe. Tired of pretending that I haven't been traumatized probably for life by growing up in church.

[felixantares]

1, 2, 19 please! for ace ask game

Aaaa! Thank you for the ask 💜💜💜

Where are you on the ace-spectrum?

I consider myself to be fairly sex-positive, and this leads into the answer to #2 a bit, but for the longest time I was convinced I couldn't be ace because I was totally okay with sex when I was with a partner who was interested. The thing is that I don't actively seek it out and I actually thought that sexual attraction was a bit of a myth, because surely people don't look at someone pretty and want to sleep with them just because they're pretty? (I have since been informed that many people actually do in fact feel this way which was wild to think about.)

2. When did you first realise you were ace-spec?

It took me a bit to figure things out, but I was probably 21-22 when I finally realised that I was ace (followed by a bunch of other realisations like being trans nb and aro). I honestly didn't even realise there were options other than heterosexuality until I was 18 and moved out of my parents house. Mostly it took a while because I fully thought that some of the things people said were jokes or exaggerations. Like, I didn't understand that thrist trap photos weren't just for the aesthetic until a couple years ago. 😅

19. Are you any good at flirting?

Hahahahahaaha... no. Not only am I terrible at flirting (though I have been told sometimes I flirt? I promise it's entirely by accident), but I also have no idea when someone is flirting with me. I had a partner a few years ago and it was a running joke that I didn't know he liked me even after he told me to my face. Apparently we had been flirting (still not convinced I was flirting) back and forth for months and finally he told me he liked me and I was just like "aw that's so sweet, I like you too! :)" and moved on. It took another 2 months for me to understand he meant romantically.

more ace asks here! I also posted a list of aro asks!

[muffinlance]

how would you approach writing nb!zuko?

Gonna make this a more general "how to write someone you're not" reply.

So whenever you're writing a character from a background you don't share, step one is to do your research. This applies to fantasy worlds just as much as it does to real world based stories, because while fantasy characters don't share the same history as our world, your readers do.

Never discount the baggage a reader is gonna bring, and never use it as an excuse to get lazy on the research. Especially look for no-goes like stereotypes that you'd be way better off avoiding. Where ever possible, try and find first-hand accounts.

Next you need to decide how the world you're working in will interact with this part of your character.

Is it like our world, where terms like non-binary are known but there's still a lot of antagonism from certain quarters?

Are you writing in a world where these terms aren't common yet, and the character might not have adequate ways of expressing their identity? (Not to be confused with the people themselves being uncommon--LGBT+ peeps have always been around.)

You can also have a world where such things are commonly known and accepted and treated as no big deal, which can be really relaxing to read, for real, we do not always need to be persecuted even in fake worlds. Do what's best for your story, but realize that making the world a better one than ours is completely legit, because you are the one choosing.

Culture-wise, I personally think Avatar feels like a world where different genders and orientations haven't yet been vilified. There's fairly compelling evidence that a lot of cultures in our world acknowledged other genders/orientations and were cool with them, but started repressing their own people/traditional ways of life once other cultures got all up in their business. So I'd probably write one or more of the Nations as being totally fine with such things, and try to figure out what roles (if any) those characters would commonly fill.

Like maybe non-cis people are considered super spiritually in tune in the Fire Nation, and a lot of them get recruited as Fire Sages. Or in some areas of the Earth Kingdom, having your gay brother and his husband live with you to help raise your kids and be a big supportive family is totally normal. You ask a kid in Omashu who their mom and dad are, and they can rattle off a whole list. It's really confusing to them when that new refugee from the colonies only has one mom and one dad, did the rest of them die in the war?

(Honey you can't ask that, we're so sorry--)

So that's research and culture. From there, it's just character. There is one very very important rule when writing a character from a group you're not a part of:

Write them as a person.

Specifically, that means rounding them out: hobbies and interests and quirks and pet peeves that have nothing to do with their gender/orientation. You know. Like a person.

You'll only really run into troubles if you try to make the bulk of their character be their "otherness" from you. Do not treat them as an exotic race. That's how you get things like male authors writing about females character's breasts bobbing boobily as they bounce up the stairs. Your character is a complex human being who is not much different from you; treat them like it.

Also a general rule is "if you're not from the group, don't write a story centered in the group's problems, because it's not your story to tell and you're probably gonna mess it up".

AKA: If you aren't non-binary yourself, it's totally awesome and fine to write a story about a non-binary Zuko, as long as you've researched and thought things through. It is not so great to write a story about the issues non-binary people face, featuring Zuko.

It's about the emphasis: is Zuko's plot the important one and oh hey he's non-binary as one part of his character, or is Zuko being non-binary a primary plot driver?

Former is all green, go go go. Latter is yellow, caution, question your life choices and why you think you're qualified to write this story in an authentic manner.

Note that's not a red-means-stop. It just means you should really check your motivations, double down on your research, and probably see if you can round up some non-binary beta readers.

tl;dr: Google the "How to write straight characters" panels from various conventions, I know at least the NerdCon one is easy to find the audio for. Learn via straight-faced satire. Enjoy.