#and I've seen this ship every now and then but I agree I don't think it's super popular

[incorrectshinraquotes]

Cissnei: What do you believe in?

Rufus: Myself.

Cissnei: Why'd I even ask?

Rufus: And you. And Tseng. My Turks.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for bitching about fics I dislike on my blog?

as a foreword, this is kind of a non-issue and no one's ever told me to stop, but I'm curious what other people think of fandom etiquette.

the fandom: a fairly small one. 2.4k fics on ao3 small. I recognize most people posting in its tumblr tag small. if I tell you the name of the source you'd almost definitely be able to find me small.

the source: pornographic, which means everyone involved is or should be an adult. it's BL with a switch MC, but the fandom overwhelmingly prefers bottom MC/top LIs (love interests), to the point where I've had people be astonishingly rude to me because my favorite character is a bottom LI and some of my friends have been outright harassed for the same. I used to not care about sex positions in the slightest, but now when I see bottom MC fanworks I can't help but remember how poorly I was treated.

the fics: wildly and inexplicably popular, even though they are, frankly, poorly written. it's eternal bottom MC turned up to 11, complete with copious amounts of OOCness in order to turn every ship into the worst ye olde yaoi gender roles dynamic you can imagine. it's things like MC, canonically a 23yo plank of a dudeguy, being written as a big titted milf in his 40s (which is made more confusing by the fact that one of the LIs is already a big titted milf). it's also things like the MC being written as disliking sex and having to be coerced into it when one of the most charming things about him is that he's a hilarious sex pest, or writing the LIs sexually harassing the MC when they really would never do that. I've likened it to replacing the characters with OCs that share the same name and my friends have agreed with me. I'm honestly convinced that the author and his readers don't actually like any of the characters if they feel the need to change everyone so thoroughly.

why I might be an asshole: it's assholish to hate on free fanworks, and I've bitched about these fics on my public tumblr blog. the fandom is small enough that there's a non-zero chance of it getting back to the author and a reasonable chance that fans of the fics have seen my bitching. I'm probably projecting the hostility I've received onto someone who's done absolutely nothing to me, and I am absolutely just straight up jealous that their fics get better stats than mine. I may also be being an asshole to myself, because being critical of other people's fics has made my hypercritical of my own.

why I don't think I'm an asshole: I think everyone has the right to be bad at things, but I also think everyone has the right to be a little hater. I don't put the fandom tag on these posts; they stay on my blog and my blog alone, and if later on I feel like I was unfairly vitriolic I'll delete the posts. I only post on tumblr because I'm certain the author in question only uses twitter, which dramatically lowers the odds of him stumbling across my posts. the fics are so popular that it's definitely possible that their fans would see my posts, but I think it's unlikely that they'd bother looking at my blog because 99% of my posts are about one of the bottom LIs. I have never and would never leave comments on the fics themselves, and I generally try to keep the bitchy posts to a minimum; it's far from a constant thing.

tl;dr - I publicly bitch about fics that (in my opinion) are poorly written and extremely OOC, under the assumption that it's unlikely the author would ever see it. AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[glorious-spoon]

he speaks the languages of love [9-1-1 | Buck/Eddie | 1/1]

he speaks the languages of love

4k words | Explicit established relationship | phone sex

-

Eddie has been in Texas for nearly two weeks, and Buck has been extremely patient about it, in his opinion. True, it's possible that none of his coworkers would agree with that assessment, but in his defense, he's been existing in a state of sexual frustration not seen since Eddie shoved him against a wall and stuck his tongue down his throat after that close call with the cruise ship back in April.

"Good to know where I rate," Eddie says when Buck tells him this on their phone call the night before he's supposed to come home. He's just come off a twenty-four, so Chris is over at Pepa's and he's back at the loft. The lonely, empty loft.

"I mean it's not just that," Buck protests. "I do actually miss you."

Eddie snorts. "Is that why you bit Ravi's head off earlier today when he was talking about his date staying over?"

"You heard about that, huh?"

"No shit," Eddie says, laughing. "You didn't notice that we work with the biggest gossips on the West Coast?"

"Okay, well, first of all, I apologized for that—"

"Uh huh."

"And also, Hen blows things out of proportion."

"Oh, yeah, that sounds like Hen."

"Okay, fine," Buck admits. "I've been kind of a dick. She threatened to drown me in a washing machine earlier, and honestly, I probably deserved it."

"A washing machine?"

"This guy got stuck—it was a whole thing." He flops back on the bed, staring up at his empty ceiling in his empty loft. "Feels weird being at work without you there."

"I'll be back for our next shift."

"Yeah, I know," Buck sighs. "So, I mean. It's not just sexual frustration, for the record."

"Sure. I just think maybe it's a good thing Chris will be at school so he doesn't have to see you jump me the minute I get back."

"Well, when you put it like that," Buck admits. Eddie laughs, and he adds, "Okay, but you gotta understand, this is like—six months of finally actually getting to put my hands on you, and then I have to go cold turkey for two weeks? It's hard."

"In every sense of the word, I guess," Eddie says, because he's never met a dumb joke he didn't love. Buck groans, laughing.

"You're such an asshole."

"Uh huh. So you're saying you don't want to fuck me into the mattress when I get back?"

"Okay, I didn't say that."

"That's what I thought."

"I do want to, for the record. I've always wanted to. From, like, day one."

Eddie laughs warmly in his ear. "You're so full of it."

"Am not."

"You hated my guts the first day we met."

"Yeah," Buck admits. He yawns, then smears a hand over his mouth. It's late. They should probably both get some sleep. It's just that he really never wants to stop talking to Eddie, especially now that he's two thousand miles away instead of in Buck's bed, where he belongs. "I kinda did. You were infuriatingly perfect."

A snort. "Right."

"Still wanted to fuck you, though."

There's a couple of beats of silence. Then Eddie says, "Yeah?"

-

Continue reading on AO3

[wispscribbles]

hi i just discovered your beautiful art so i obviously needed to scroll down your whole blog to catch up on everything you posted haha

i just wanted to say that i got way too emotional after reading that post of yours regarding mw3 and your mental health… on one hand i’m so sorry that you felt that way, but on the other i feel it with my whole heart

ghoap content especially for me helped me these past few months with my mental health in ways i would never have expected, it was my solace and inspiration, i started working out too and got back into drawing, got a lot better at it as well!

but unfortunately i get way too fixated on fictional stuff and there comes a time that my brain switches up and connects the things i liked and comforted me with things that make me extremely uncomfortable and stressed out, especially if i fall down a fandom rabbit hole that i would never have searched up, beacuse i know myself, i know my limits and triggers but i feel like i’m not a part of the fandom if i don’t like and interact with every single headcanon, art and ship

these past days i was really down because of that, and the things i read (why did i do that???) and now when i think of ghoap i think of that stuff and im scared that i alienated myself from the one thing that made me happy

but discovering your art and with that your post reminded me that im not alone in these feelings, even if it’s not the same exactly, and i wanted to thank you, for sharing your thoughts that time i guess haha <33

((sorry for rambling))

Long reply under 'keep reading' !! CW: talk of triggers and MCD

Always feel free to ramble my way!!! How nice you could find some comfort in my art and ghoap stuff. Especially in my mw3 post. I've been considering deleting it a few times, but hearing it maybe helped to read in some way makes me happy I left it up.

I get where you're coming from - I very much use these fictional characters as a safe space, but ppl view them very differently. There's room for it all, "don't like, don't interact" is very much a policy I agree with. It's important to mute words and be aware of your own triggers as you browse stuff in this fandom, because there's such a wide variety of stuff out there. You do NOT have to interact and agree with every thought people have on this ship, that's impossible and super stressful. There's plenty of stuff and headcanons I don't vibe with. There are no 'requirements' that you have to meet in order to enjoy fiction.

It's part of why I enjoy ghoap - that their dynamic resonates and has sparked so much creativity and outlets for so many - but it also means there's gonna be a lot of stuff u don't necessarily agree with or feel comfortable with. For example, a lot of folks use the MCD in mw3 as a way to explore grief, which I think is really cool, but on a bad day that could potentially get my brain in a bad headspace, so I only check out that art and those fics when I feel okay. There's also a bunch of stuff I'd never want to interact with, and that’s fine !!

I'm personally quite vanilla and a sucker for exploring the softer, more domestic aspects of these characters. It's what brings me joy. I know there are parts of this fandom who don’t vibe with what I make at all, and would call it untrue to the characters. Some creators enjoy exploring the more violent or toxic sides to the source material. That's just how it is, we all need different things from fiction. As long as we're capable of chilling in our respective sandboxes, then all's good.

But if you're like me, and enjoy the softer things, then definitely be aware and careful while exploring this ship and fandom. I've seen takes on these characters that are so far removed from how I view them, that they're basically the complete opposite, and it can leave a very bad taste, especially if you're the type to hinge your safe space on fiction.

Just... be mindful of yourself and your potential triggers, be respectful and don't interact with things that make you uncomfortable to the point of feeling unsafe. Shape your own online experience to your best ability.

Hope you're doing okay and still find joy in ghoap <3

[hihoace]

Humans drink poison?

(here is part 3. I hope you will enjoy it.)

Helle laughed out loud watching the scene. Which reminded Ga'al that he's not alone with Fe'ek, so he let his friend live another day.

She was curious as to what does Ga'al still do to make him fall asleep but it seemed she'll have to wait to learn that.

"So yes... We all had our ways to stay calm... You'll be fine." Ga'al tried to save whatever left of his dignity after the previous scene.

"Sweet!" she smiled than she heard the metallic noice that ment it is soon time to sleep on this side of the ship. "Oh, that's the first nightcall, think we should eat dinner, right?"

"Oh, you are so right... Humans are not exclusively herbivorus, right?" Fe'ek asked. When Helle shook her head he nodded. "Perfect. That means I don't have to cook separatly!"

He started to pack out his cooking tools. He knew he could just use one of the fast food packages but no matter how long he stayed on the ship he couldn't get used to them. They tased like plastic to him. Ga'al was perfectly fine with them, but still preferred "real" food so he also agreed to get a few cooking tools and make a kitchen in their quarters. It took months till they got the green light to build it, but they both agreed, it worth the effort.

While Fe'ek made dinner, Ga'al and Helle started to have a conversation. They talked about their homes. Helle was amazed that on Ga'al home world, the cities were builed on trees. He talked about how Felleg, the biggest city there was taking up half of the planted and still it could not be seen from above.

And Helle told stories about Gaia's culture and how it is still devided into small local regions and all of them have different laws and a lot of the time, even different languages. Fe'ek was listening to them from the kitchen.

"So what do your species eat? Do you also like fish?"

"Yes I personally like it, but some of us hates the taste or the texture. Humans can eat almost everything. I even like coffee in the morning."

Ga'al stopped mid movement. "What?"

"Coffee!" Helle repeated.

"Oh I thought you said coffein... The poison."

"Coffee has coffein in it." Fe'ek peeked out from the kitchen. "I've been working with poisons before and learned that humans are somewhat immune to them. 400 milligrams of coffein daily is completly manageable for them."

"And we can drink more from time to time, but if we go above that every day it can cause some heart problems." Helle added.

"You mean to tell me, that the worst poison that is still legal is barely causing an inconvenience to you?" Ga'al was buffeled.

"That's the main reason it's still legal. Some scientists even suggest that it is beneficial to drink it every day, though it's still debated." Helle shrugged.

"And wait, I know something even better!" said Fe'ek as he came out from the kitchen. "Humans can digest alcohol."

Ga'al stared at Helle. "Is that true?"

The girl just nodded. "Though I hate the taste of it."

Up untill this point Ga'al has looked at Helle as someone who has a very similar physiology to him and is otherwise harmless. Now he was was looking at her with a bit more respect. Helle tilted her head to the side.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Dinner is ready by the way!" Fe'ek's hand landed on Ga'al's shoulder. "Could you two set the table, please?"

Ga'al nodded again.

He was silent troughout the dinner while Helle and Fe'ek exchanges a few gossips from the ship. Helle seemed to know a lot about what happened lately in sector no. 12 and 13 and Fe'ek knew all the local gossips in 25 and 26 where they worked.

After eating they cleaned up the table and the kitchen. Everything was done when they heard the nightcall again. It was time to sleep. The lights of sector no. 24 went out with the lights in theor room.

"Oh well... I think we should sleep..." Fe'ek yawned.

Helle started looking for her nightlight. She turned it up as soon as she found it.

Ga'al offered his bed to her, but she declined the offer, saying she's fine with sleeping on the couch and she doesn't want to be any more of an inconvenience.

After that everyone went to sleep. Helle fell asleep almost immidietly. Fe'ek noted that she probably had a long day. Ga'al agreed.

Before falling asleep Fe'ek taught Ga'al some things about humans he knew. He reassured him that even though humans are fine with alcohol and coffein they are not immune to botulinum for example. Ga'al fell asleep after a while so he could go to sleep too finally.

[howlingday]

Non-Descript Winter Holiday Party

Weiss: Hello- Oh... It's you two.

Emerald: Wow. Aren't you cheery?

Oscar: Hey, Weiss! Uh, everything okay?

Weiss: It's fine, it's fine. Honestly, I'm a little relieved. You're the first non-couple I've seen all night.

Emerald: Really?

Oscar: Really...

Weiss: Yes, and it's a little grating on my nerves to have so many couples over with no other single people to talk to. Everyone is just finishing each other's sentences and rubbing and kissing oh so wholesomely~!

Weiss: It almost makes me want to puke.

Emerald: And a bah humbug to you, too.

Weiss: Well, thankfully you're here, so I don't have to worry about you two sucking face all night.

Oscar: Yeah...

Weiss: Anyways, come on in. There should be plenty of food left unless-

------------------------------------------

Nora: (Shoves another fruitcake into her mouth)

Jaune: ...

Nora: (Mouthful) Whuh? Iz nundezkri-

Jaune: I know what it is, Nora. I just wished you practiced a little self control every now and then, y'know?

Nora: (Swallows) Oh, believe me, I am. You think I'm not holding myself back from taking you and this food into the back room and-

Yang: OKAY! I think that's enough from Nora for tonight. Seriously, were you always this weirdly horny for food and guys?

Nora: Not just any guys. Just the guys I like, like you, but mostly you~! (Snuggles Jaune)

Ren: Even though we never did anything.

Yang: Which is still amazing because Ren is such a-

Jaune: I think it would be better for everyone here to practice a little more self-control.

------------------------------------------

Ruby: And what the heck is that supposed to mean?

Blake: I have nothing against the effort, but I just feel there wasn't enough effort put into the relationship for the ship to mean anything.

Ruby: What do you meeeean?! There was so much effort put in! The setups, the music, the kiss!

Blake: Felt forced, didn't fit the scene, and was weirdly good for two characters in a realistic teen drama to be kissing so well together, despite neither having ANY prior relationships before each other.

Whitley: ...I thought the story was okay.

Sun: Yeah, and the music was sick! I still have that rock song playing on my scroll all the time.

Ruby: See! Sun agrees with me!

Sun: Huh?

Blake: Whitley was right. The story was only okay.

Whitley: What? Nonono, I said-

------------------------------------------

Weiss: So then I told her, "Well, this was your fault for trusting me in the first place!"

Oscar: Hahaha!

Emerald: Heh. Sounds like you guys had fun at Beacon.

Weiss: We did, though you would know, since you were there, too.

Emerald: Yup. Plotting and scheming with Cinder.

Weiss: How did you three pass for students?

Emerald: Apparently, Haven doesn't look too deep when it comes to "late age" students, which probably came from when Spiders would lend out their lackeys as students as a sort of "student exchange" between real students and gangsters.

Weiss: Really?

Oscar: Yup. It's part of why I didn't go to any sort of huntsman schooling. Well, that and my aunt needed my help with the farm.

Ozpin: (Thinking) It's sad to see how far Leo fell, after fighting so hard to get where he did.

Weiss: Oh, excuse me. There's someone at the door.

Emerald: ...What did you guys grow out there?

Oscar: Oh, uh, carrots, turnips, beets. Y'know, the usual.

Emerald: Y'know, I can't say I've ever had beets before.

Oscar: You haven't? They're really good!

Emerald: Yeah? All I see are those red blobs in cans.

Oscar: Well, yeah, but those are actually really good. Especially when you slice them up and put them in your salad.

Emerald: Guess I'll have to try out this recipe of yours then.

Oscar: Really?! Er, I mean... Cool. Cool.

Emerald: Heh heh...

Ozpin: (Sighs)

------------------------------------------

Weiss: ...Is there a reason you're sitting here alone?

Ilia: Ack! I, uh... I'm just, y'know, relaxing, winding down-

Weiss: Staring at Blake?

Ilia: Staring at Bla- No! Of course not! I would never do that!

Weiss: Really? Because from where I'm sitting, there is an entire room of people all conversing, both couples and single people alike, and yet the only thing you've said tonight beyond "Hello" is a sigh. Just because you're single does not excuse your isolation from everyone else here.

Ilia: Oh, what do you know? You've always had someone to talk to! But some of us only had one person, and that one person then chose to leave us behind!

Weiss: It's called growing up. It's a new thing, I know, but it works wonders, I hear.

Ilia: Oh, screw you!

Weiss: ...Wait. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so hostile with you. I've... I know what you mean by being left behind. Everyone at this party is someone I got close to or was the reason they left. It's not easy being single in a party of couples, but... But the least we can do when we're single is to be happily single. So... What say we be happily single... together. Just for tonight.

Ilia: ...Okay.

[jikookuntold]

Sorry but don't you think it was already for Jikookers the moment JK's video was leaked ?

Saw many explanations and excuses saying it's made up, set up, fake etc. But really? There was no original source of video to prove it was edited. We can clearly see it's him in his apartment and bam running around him. It was filmed in Feb from his hairstyle, when bam was still with him. I saw some of big Jikokkers here having a relieved sigh when he said he don't have a gf now but He only said he don't have a gf in September. Tbh enough time to casually date and breakup with a girl.. which I've always thought his dating pattern is. So technically he wasn't lying either. And didn't he said he don't feel like wanting anyone and just want to concentrate on work for now? Doesn't that mean he don't have any partner but will have a gf in future ? In short not only he denied he had gf at the moment but also anyone special in his life. I don't think 'homophobic country' excuses applies as they literally enlisted together infront of everyone in the same country's military.

Also saw someone saying it can be a friend. But think.. who hugs some random girl in their apartment when their partner is not present there? Imagine spotting your bf hugging some random woman like that in apartment when they are alone at night. Doesn't make sense right ?

Another category of jikookers was going with 'open relationship' explanation but still not accepting Jikook is not romantically involved and everything was just them reading it wrong. Because if anyone listened to things Jimin said its clear af he only want to be in exclusive relationship.. maybe JK too but he was not even available for a serious relationship then.

Only a small percentage of Jikookers accepted its real and he has a gf irl or atleast not dating Jimin.

When i see Jikookers trying to deny it and find every excuses, it sounds like taekookers who still think Taennie was fake and army who think it's fake videos and pics.

But even worse for taekookers because one was seen holding his gf's hand in Paris while another was hugging his gf in his apartment all while choosing songs only about fucking women 😭 ik he said its not about his real life but only he chose songs like that. Others wrote their own songs but Tae's songs weren't autobiographical either and none of them were about fucking women or hetero sex. If it was rhythm he liked them they could've wrote some meaningful or even funny lyrics but nope all were about sex with women. If that doesn't tell about JK's sexuality and interests idk what will, 3D's choreo was fucking gross too. He's naturally drawn to what he likes. Tkkrs survive by lying and living in delusional world denying reality.. now jikookers also doing the same thing imo 🤷‍♀️ so idk why you have to make taekookers understand their ship is not real when Jikook isn't real too and 90% chance JK is straight af.

First of all, there is no reason for me to believe that blurry video posted on a chinese platform is Jungkook. Look for yourself, where is his lip piercing? Or the scar on his cheek? Or the mole under his lip? Huh? 😼

Wonder why that sasaeng who was spying for hours on a perfect angle on his window to catch him with the girl, didn't use a better cam instead of a toaster so their faces don't look like bread loafs? Even a normal phone has a better camera. Why in the other photos they leaked of him alone in his house the quality is good and the angle is completely different? When they explain this, I can agree that this ghost-face is JK. Otherwise it's just someone with bangs backhugging a giant pregnant lady wearing a night gown behind an open window on a breezy night.

About your mental gymnastic, in the listening party, fans were leaving comments asking "do you have a girlfriend?" And his answer was addressing that repetitive question, not the video. And don't give me this category of jikookers that percentage of jikookers thing. I don't care about anyone else's opinion, they can have their own, I have mine.

Don't you dare to compare that thing with Taennie. Taennie had 10 different HD photos leaked together and many obvious clues and hints proving the photos and the relationship was real, and even biggest and the most reliable media sources like Rolling Stone, BBC, Billboard, Dispatch, JTBC, etc wrote articles about them dating and being spotted together. JK didn't even wait for two days to react to that nonsense, but Tae was totally silent about it for almost two years. On the contrary, he started it all with following Jennie on IG, and then fueled it with more hints and wearing matching jewelry. Kmedia said they have been separated for months, so he could come up and say "I don't have a girlfriend" just like his dongsaeng but he didn't 🤷‍♀

Did you know Ricky Martin, George Michael, Freddie Mercury and many other queer singers for decades sang songs about having sex with women? Some was even their own lyrics while they were gay af lol. And you say Tae is gayer than JK because he didn't sing about having sex with women 😹

And how Jikook enlisting together has anything to do with this at all? Who said anything about homophobic country? Do guys deny having girlfriend in a homophobic country? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Did Jikook went to apply for buddy system and say "Sir, we are gay and in love, we can't stand being separated, please let us enlist together 😃🏳‍🌈" Nope.

The military of this homophobic country made this system available for close friends and relatives between the ages 18 and 28 to minimize the mental and physical traumas of mandatory service, and they are not going to ask them if they are having sex.

We always said Jikook can't live without each other, but it was people like you who come up with things like "they can't stand each other" "they only look close on cameras" "they don't care about each other" "they have different and separated lives" "they broke up" 🤡 Now that it is proved that Jikook is the closest and the most inseparable duo in BTS you are still brave on your shit? 💩

And since that video is your last straw I made this edit for you, I hope you like it 😻

[ace-sher-bi-john]

Sherlock Holmes: Aro-Spec, A-Spec, Gay Icon

What is Sherlock Holmes' orientation?

Asexual? Aromantic? Homosexual/romantic? Why not all three?

Something I've noticed during my time in this fandom is that people can't always agree on what Sherlock's sexual/romantic orientation is. Most people say that he's gay, some people say that he's ace. These two headcanons are rarely paired together.

I've seen people who think he's asexual be called homophobic because it feels like it's taking away from the gay representation they get from Johnlock. What they don't appear to realize is that asexual people can still have romantic or even sexual relationships. It also seems that people confuse being asexual with being aromantic a lot. Asexuality and aromanticism are not the same thing.

(There are lots of people who don't ship Johnlock, and either ship Sherl with someone else or with no one and that's valid! I personally am a Johnlock shipper)

Asexuality is defined as a lack of sexual attraction and Aromanticism is defined as a lack of romantic attraction. Both of these have a spectrum as well.

Asexual people can experience sexual attraction, only experience it sometimes, or not experience it at all. If you are anywhere on the asexual spectrum, it simply means that you don't experience an urge to have sex with someone in some or all cases.

You might enjoy sex. You might be repulsed by it. You might be completely indifferent towards it. You might even have urges every now and then. That is still valid. On one end of the spectrum, you don't experience any sexual attraction, on the other, you do experience sexual attraction, and all throughout the middle are varying levels of attraction/urges or lack thereof. There are more identities out there under the ace umbrella. There's demisexual which means that you only experience sexual attraction towards people you've developed an emotional connection with first. Greysexual means that you rarely experience sexual attraction, but it does happen sometimes. Lithosexual means you experience sexual attraction, but don't want it reciprocated. There are many more, you can do your research if you want to know all of them. I don't want to make this post too long, as I fear I may already have done.

The same thing goes for the aromantic spectrum.

Being aromantic means that you don't experience romantic attraction. Depending on where you are on the spectrum, you may experience romantic attraction sometimes, or not at all. Some aromantic people love the idea of romance, romantic gestures, have no problem holding hands, kissing, etc. You can participate in romantic relationships, you can get married, and it will never mean you're less aromantic. All being aromantic means is that you don't feel romantic attraction. It being a spectrum means that on one end, you do experience romantic attraction and on the other end you don't. All in the middle, you experience varying levels of romantic attraction. The labels are basically the same as the ace labels and mean basically the same thing.

(Edit: I've just noticed that I forgot to mention queer platonic relationships. So here we go)

Aromantic people may experience feelings for friends that go beyond friendship, but aren't in anyway romantic or sexual. They may choose to form relationships with others that are more than friendship but not quite romantic. These are called Queer Platonic Relationships or QPRs. They are just as valid as romantic relationships and are not just friendships. People in QPRs love their partner just as deeply, if not more so than people in romantic relationships.

When someone is asexual, but not aromantic, you put a label for their romantic attraction. For example: Biromantic asexual, heteromantic asexual, homoromantic asexual, panromantic asexual, etc.

So basically, you can experience limited or no sexual/romantic attraction and still have relationships. You can be aroace and gay. So therefore my headcanon is that Sherlock is grey-homoromantic asexual.

It took me a little bit of deciding between demiromantic and greyromantic. But they both sound just as cliche as the other. In both cases, John is the one and only person that Sherlock ever falls in love with. If he's demi, it's because he's never gotten this emotionally close to someone before and that's why John is his only love. But I wanted to see Sherlock struggle with his new, unfamiliar romantic feelings from the beginning. From that very first day that John walked into the lab at Bart's.

Sherlock doesn't even know what the weird emotions he's feeling are. They are subtle at first, because love at first sight is even more cliche. He doesn't really start to feel them as anything too distracting or difficult until the pool incident. Almost losing John, caused other unfamiliar feelings that Sherlock didn't want to deal with, along with the telltale signs of romantic love. But Sherlock chooses to ignore it for as long as possible, denying the fact that he could be in love with anyone. Let alone his very straight, not gay in the slightest, bi in denial roommate. It's too much of a risk with anyone. Platonic relationships are already a risk, but he's seen the strange things that romantic love can do to people. He doesn't allow himself to feel most emotions anyway, why would he allow himself to feel romantic love?

Once he allows himself to realize that the emotion he's feeling is romantic love, he struggles with his identity. He knows that he's aromantic, so how is it possible that he's feeling this way? Eventually he will come to discover greyromanticism and realize that he's not crazy, and he's not suddenly alloromantic. He is experiencing rare romantic feelings for John, which he's never experienced before and will likely never experience again.

He's still aromantic. He's not "fixed". Sherlock is valid in being aromantic and feeling romantic attraction.

Then add in some asexual tension once they finally get together and we should be good to go!

Thank you for reading. Hopefully that wasn't too long for you.

[the-badger-mole]

If It's Not Too Late

"I don't want to be pressured into this." Katara paused outside of Zuko's office when she heard her friend's frustrated tone.

"Don't be silly, Nephew," Iroh chided. "There's no pressure. It's just one evening."

"Right," Zuko scoffed. "One evening to start with. And then the other advisors and nobles hears about it, and then soon they all want just one evening."

"And why should that be a bad thing?" Iroh chortled. "If I was a younger man, I'd be thrilled to be in your position."

"No one's stopping you now. You take my place."

"I would be disappointing a lot of lovely young ladies if I did that." Katara scrunched her nose at that. Young ladies?

"I don't care!" Katara could almost picture Zuko throwing his hands up in frustration. "I'm not going to be paraded around like some...some side of bison-cow."

"Don't think of it that way," Iroh said, trying to calm his nephew. "After all, it's healthy for a young man to have a robust dating life. And if none of these young women turn out to be your future Fire Lady, well...at least you'll have a few pleasant evenings." Katara raised her hand to knock on the door, and the conversation on the other side came to a halt.

"Come in," Zuko called. Katara poked her head in, smiling brightly and pretending she hadn't been eavesdropping.

"Hey, I'm done cataloging for today," she told the two men. "I spoke to Kuoromi about getting some of the bigger items loaded into crates."

"That's wonderful!" Iroh said. "I'm so glad to see so many recovered Southern Tribe artifacts being returned to their rightful home."

"There's so much more than I thought," Katara said. She crossed the room and sat down in Zuko's abandoned chair. She was one of very few people who would have dared claim the Fire Lord's seat, and she threw her legs over the

armrest and leaned her head against the back. "I'm sending back a whole ship-full of stuff, but there's still so much more to sort and catalogue. I may need a few more weeks."

"Take as long as you need," Zuko said waving carelessly. "I like having you around."

"Yeah, well.." Katara cleared her throat and fiddled with the end of her hair. "I like being around. Also," she perked up excitedly. "I found a scroll of Southern style bending!"

"Congratulations!" Zuko said with genuine happiness for her. "I think this calls for a sparring session."

"Give me a couple of days to work out the new stances and you're on," Katara grinned at Zuko.

"I look forward to seeing what you've learned," Iroh said, encouragingly. "Also, I'm glad you're here. I was just trying to talk the Fire Lord into accepting an invitation from a lovely young lady who's interested in him." Katara froze with a smile still on her face.

"O-oh!" she managed to squeak out. "Um...I'm not sure what I can add here. No one's ever accused me of being a wing-woman." She managed to force out an odd, stilted laugh. "I-is there a reason you don't want to go?"

"I don't know her," Zuko said with a huff. "I've seen her maybe twice. I'm pretty sure her parents put her up to it in the first place. I'm not interested in going out with these women who only see me as a way to elevate their family's social standing."

"But, Nephew, if you refuse every girl who asks you on a date, how will you ever get to know any of them?" Iroh countered. "Perhaps you are right, and her parents did encourage her to invite you do dinner, but does it necessarily mean that there is no chance of a deeper connection between you? Master Katara, please, tell him that dating is just a natural part of finding your life partner." Katara could feel her cheeks heat up and she sputtered a bit.

"Well...well...if he doesn't want to go," she said hesitantly. "Maybe he shouldn't. After all, Zuko has the social inclination of recluse spider crab."

"Thanks," Zuko said drily.

"I'm just saying that maybe this isn't the best approach to dating for you," Katara rolled her eyes. "I'm agreeing with you!"

"By making me sound like some anti-social hermit!"

"You said that," Katara sniffed primly. "Not me. Besides, didn't you just break up with Mai? It's not the best idea to jump from relationship to relationship." Iroh cleared his throat to cut in.

"Actually, it's been just over a year since Zuko and Mai broke up," he reminded Katara. "I know one can't rush the healing process, but that seems like a respectable length of time to wait to start dating again. Don't you agree?"

"I-I guess," Katara said hesitantly. After all, it had been almost two years since she'd come to her senses and broke up with Aang, and she had dated casually since. Still, casual dating didn't suit her as much as she thought it would, and it would suit Zuko even less in her opinion. Iroh and Zuko were looking at her expectantly, though. Finally, she shrugged and gave the weak offering of, "It's always good to try new things?"

"Whatever." Zuko rolled his eyes and left the office in a huff.

"Please think about it, at least!" Iroh managed to call after Zuko before the door was unceremoniously shut.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

It took Katara a couple of days between sorting an cataloging Water Tribe artifacts to learn the firsts few Southern style waterbending stances well enough to feel comfortable sparring. Zuko won that session, but Katara had already figured out how to improve her stances.

"Next time, I'm going to wipe the floor with you," she promised Zuko.

"You're on," Zuko said, shooting her a cocky smirk. Katara inhaled sharply and looked away.

"Um...yeah," she said, trying to cover up how awkward she suddenly felt. "Well, how about two days from now? I have meetings all morning tomorrow, and all afternoon is going to be more cataloging."

"I can't." Zuko glanced at her apologetically, and Katara thought she saw a hint of a blush on his cheeks. "I-I have date."

"...what?" Katara felt as if she'd just had a bucket of ice cold water dumped over her head. She plastered a wide smile on as Zuko shifted nervously on his feet.

"Uncle talked me into accepting that invite Lord Ueto's daughter gave me," he explained. "And, well, I guess you two. It's always good to try new things, right?"

"I-I sure did say that, didn't I?" Katara busied herself with a towel and turned her focus to cleaning the sweat off of her arms and shoulders. "Do I know the lucky girl?"

"Lucky," Zuko scoffed. "Sure. And I think you might have met her briefly at the midsummer banquet, but there were a lot of people there. You might not remember. Her name is Sayaka." The name didn't ring any bells with Katara, but she had met a lot of nobles that evening. Each of them prettier than the last. Katara hadn't missed the way everyone in court seemed to eager to introduce Zuko to a daughter, or a niece, or a younger sister that night. It had taken claiming him for a couple of dances for Katara to even have a chance to talk to her friend. He hadn't seemed very interested in any particular girl that evening, but Sayaka, it seemed, hadn't been discouraged by that.

"So, when are you seeing her?" Katara asked.

"In two days," Zuko said almost laughing. "Remember? That's why I have to postpone our rematch."

"Right," Katara ducked her head, hoping Zuko would mistake the sudden redness in her cheeks for exertion. "What's the plan?"

"I thought since she asked me, I'd let her decide," Zuko said. "I think the basic plan is dinner and a play, though. Her family has a box at the Taira Theater."

"That's a little basic, isn't it?" Katara laughed a little.

"I like the theater," Zuko said with a shrug. "Why? What do you like to do on a first date?"

"Something where we can talk," Katara told him. Then she hurried to add, "Me and my date, that is. I like dinner, maybe dancing, if the music isn't too loud. This guy I saw for a bit back home took me on a picnic to see the spirit lights."

"A picnic on ice?" Zuko raised his brow skeptically.

"It was fun!" Katara insisted. Then she paused for a moment. "Well...it would have been fun if he had talked about literally anything but himself and his hunting skills." Zuko let out a bark of laughter.

"That's something I'll keep in mind," he promised. "I hate talking about myself anyway. Any other tips?"

"Tips?"

"It's my first date since Mai," Zuko admitted sheepishly. "I haven't been on a first date in at least five years. Got any advice?" Katara's mind went blank. She was the go to for nearly all of her friends for advice, and she was rarely at a loss for words, but now her mind was blank.

"I-I don't know," she said. "Just...just be your self, I guess?"

"Myself?" Zuko groaned. "No one wants that."

"Why not? She asked you out, didn't she? She must have liked you."

"Or maybe she just liked my crown."

"Zuko," Katara sighed and rolled her eyes. "Of course she asked you out because she likes you." Zuko snorted. "Okay, maybe the fact that you're the Fire Lord had a bit to do with it, but..."

"But?" Zuko prompted.

"Ugh!" Katara threw her head back in exasperation. "There's a lot to like about you! You're smart, you're compassionate, you're a great dancer. Sometimes you're funny. On purpose, even! Just because she might also like that you're the Fire Lord doesn't mean she only likes that you're the Fire Lord." When Katara finished her speech, she found Zuko gaping at her, and immediately the blush was back on her cheeks.

"Sometimes I'm funny?" he repeated after a moment. Katara grinned at him cheekily and sauntered off, leaving Zuko protesting after her.

There was no protocol for taking the Fire Lord on a date. Katara realized after the fact that that must be the reason no one else had dared to ask Zuko out. And as he didn't seem very inclined to approach any woman for a date, it was no wonder that he'd had such a long dry spell after ending things with Mai for good. Still, Sayaka had done what no other had dared to do and made a move on Fire Lord Zuko. Now Katara sat and watched his last minute preparations as he waited for Sayaka to arrive. He was nervous, she could tell.

"The cologne is too much," he muttered mostly to his reflection. Katara thought he smelled nice. In her mind she could see Sayaka leaning into whisper something to Zuko, and lingering to get a whiff of it.

"Maybe you could've gone a bit lighter," she said. Zuko hadn't heard her.

"What did you say?"

"It's fine," Katara said in a louder voice. "It smells good on you. And you look fine. Your hair is fine, your clothes are fine..." And they were. The gold embroidery in the dark red linen shirt played up Zuko's sunkissed skin. He'd let his ear-length dark hair fall messily into his eyes in a way that seemed calculated to invite anyone to push it away from his honey brown eyes. Overall he looked both casual and appropriate for an evening at the theater.

"Just fine?" Zuko frowned at his reflection in the mirror.

"Absolutely fine," Katara repeated with a wistful smile. "Sayaka won't know what hit her." For the next few minutes, Katara did her best to keep Zuko from fussing at his appearance, until she was relieved of duty by the arrival of Iroh to announce that Sayaka had arrived and Zuko's carriage and guard were ready to carry them off on their date. Iroh made himself scarce after the announcement, but Katara decided to walk Zuko down to the main hall.

Sayaka was gorgeous. She was tall and willowy with the same kind of delicate features that had made Mai so attractive, but Sayaka was much more effervescent than Zuko's ex had been. She smiled, bright and friendly, when she saw Zuko. Katara's steps faltered and she let Zuko go on the rest of the way without her.

"Hi, Sayaka," Zuko greeted her. "It's nice to see you."

"Same!" Sayaka said with an enthusiasm that Katara couldn't find any hint of artifice in. She even flashed a friendly smile at Katara, though it was just now occurring to the young waterbender how weird it was for her to walk Zuko out to meet his date.

"I'm just heading to the garden," Katara said by way of explaining her presence to Zuko's date. Zuko shot her a quick questioning glance (Katara rarely went to the public garden), but Sayaka didn't seem to notice.

"I'm glad I got the chance to meet you!" Sayaka said with charming sincerity. "I know how close you and the Fire Lord are, and I was hoping to meet at least one of his friends."

"You can call me Zuko," he said. "It might be awkward to call me Fire Lord all evening." Sayaka agreed with a musical laugh. Katara bit down hard on the inside of her lips. Zuko offered Sayaka his arm and escorted her out to the waiting carriage. Katara watched them leave with her fists clenched at her sides. As they left, Katara took several deep breaths and tried to convince herself that the twisting in her stomach was normal.

Katara didn't go to the garden. After Zuko and Sayaka were gone, she headed back upstairs to Zuko's office. No one stopped her, having been warned that she was to have access to any room in the palace she pleased. Normally Katara wouldn't have gone into Zuko's office without his permission, regardless, but tonight she felt drawn there. His seat smelled like him. There was a hint of the same scent he was wearing that evening, and something that was a bit more...him.

There was no reason for Katara to be so bothered about him going out with Sayaka that evening. After all, she knew that part of his job as Fire Lord was to find a wife and have a family to lead the next generation of the Fire Nation. Still, he was only 21 years old. What was the hurry to marry him off? At the very least, Katara hoped that Zuko wouldn't feel pressured to make a choice about Sayaka after one date. She seemed nice enough, but she wasn't a good fit Zuko. That much was clear to Katara almost immediately. Sayaka seemed like someone who liked obvious jokes. She wouldn't understand Zuko's dry wit and sarcastic, sometimes dark humor. Katara could see Zuko trying to make a joke and it landing poorly. Sayaka seemed kind enough to force a chuckle, but Zuko would inevitably notice, and would feel self-conscious about it for the rest of the night. Katara would have to sooth his anxiety later. In the privacy of his chambers, of course, to keep away from prying eyes and ears eager to know all about the Fire Lord's love life. They would talk over tea...or maybe wine. Wine made Katara feel bolder.

She sat up and shook her head. There was no reason for Katara to need to feel bold. There was no reason for her to even believe that the date would go poorly. Zuko could just as well impress Sayaka. It was clear she was very open to being impressed. She might laugh just hard enough at his jokes. Make just enough compliments to his looks, his intelligence, his unique wit to make Zuko open up to the possibility of finding her every bit as attractive as she found him. And then what would that mean for...well...for his friends? Sayaka wouldn't want her...wouldn't want them around much, would she? And even if Sayaka didn't mind Katara's presence, between family planning and running a country, Zuko wouldn't have much time for her...for his friends anymore.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The sound of low voices brought Katara out of her sleep. It took her a few moments to realize that she was still sitting in Zuko's office. A quick glance at the clock told her it was late. Very late. Too late to still be hanging around in Zuko's office. Katara crept to the door and pressed her ear to it. Zuko was just outside, back from his date. Katara glanced at the clock again and frowned. How long did dinner and a show take, anyway? The sound of Iroh's voice pulled Katara back.

"I'm glad you had a good time," Iroh said. "Will there be a second date?" There was a long pause and Katara held her breath as she waited for Zuko's reply.

"I don't know," he said at last. "Maybe. She was really nice. I didn't end up eating much at dinner, though. I was too nervous. And I'm kind of tired."

"Then by all means don't let me keep you up," Iroh chuckled. "You can tell me all the details tomorrow. Perhaps you should send to the kitchen for a snack."

"I may," Zuko said. "I have to decide if I'm more tired or hungry."

"Good night, then, my nephew."

"Good night, Uncle."

Katara waited several more minutes until she was certain that both men were far enough away that she could slip out of the office unnoticed. She hurried towards her room before she halted abruptly, and glanced towards Zuko's rooms. Then she went back in the direction she'd come from, and hurried downstairs.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Zuko was not a night person. The chances were not low that he was already in bed when Katara crept up to his door, fifteen minutes later. Still, she took a deep breath and knocked lightly at his door. Then she waited.

After a few nerve wracking moments, the door swung open to reveal Zuko in his pajamas, looking unsurprisingly ready for bed. His eyes widened when he saw Katara . He glanced up and down the hall, instinctively looking for a threat. Then his eyes landed back on her, his brow drawn in concern.

"I couldn't sleep," Katara explained. "It's a nice night, and I thought I'd go to the roof and look at the stars for a while. You....you want to join me?" Zuko stared at her in stunned silence. Katara knew she must be blushing fiercely, but she managed a welcoming smile as she held up a small basket of snacks she'd gotten from the kitchen. Her heart hammered in her chest as she waited for Zuko to tell her he was too tired, to offer to tell her all about his date when he told his uncle. But then Zuko's mouth tilted up into a lopsided smile.

"Alright," he said, at last. He stepped out into the hall, shutting the door behind him, and when Katara slid her hand into his, he said nothing, but wrapped his hand around hers. Despite hinting to Iroh that he was tired, Zuko found enough energy to sit on the roof with Katara until the sun began to rise.

Part 2

[nemoys]

a very long messy review of link click (season 2)

alright so reading through a bunch of (mostly negative) reviews of the season thus far i've come to my own conclusions over how this season felt, and i really feel like addressing them since i personally feel like it deserves recognition (and rightful criticism) within certain aspects. really interested in everyone's takes so lmk whatever you think about all these aspects i'm about to gloss over.

NOTE ; i'm not going to be talking about the art direction or OSTs . i believe those have been nothing short of phenomenal and i feel like we can all universally agree over that

1) tonal shift : from a more emotionally driven s1, coupled with sprinkles of slice of life moments, we turn to a mostly thriller/mystery plot line. personally, i've always seen this coming. the tonal shift really didn't take me by surprise. with the lg stabbing at the end of season 1 it almost seemed inevitable that the more light hearted aspects of the first season weren't going to happen. more importantly, it was very clear that there was always a higher presence to fight. link click was always meant to be a thriller, this was always the plan, and so i suppose logically i assumed the second season would follow that path. i understand how people might've felt disappointed, or 'robbed', but i don't think the shift was all that shocking quite honestly, it was always set up. link click was never light hearted, even at s1.

the more shocking shift has to be the shift from an emotional, to suspenseful change in writing. the emotional writing in link click has always been the best part of the show and that hasn't changed, the emotionally driven plot lines of s2 (chen bin, ltc/ltx) have been written very well. the suspenseful writing also works. replaces the tear jerkers with an unsettling anxiety, and it's executed relatively well. you can clearly tell that the crew's been experimenting quite a lot with this season, and yes, that's usually what season 2 is for.

2) pacing : now i totally get the criticism in this aspect. in my opinion, the weakest part of s2's been the pacing. with overly drawn out fight scenes, and unnecessarily long recaps, i think the issue has to do with the fact that lc just has a LOT to address, and so it makes us feel less inclined to sit through longer scenes that don't directly advance the plot.

obviously i get that the fight scenes show off a lot of the animation budget #tm and they do look great but the fact that we had way too much time dedicated to a five minute long fighting cutscene in the FIRST episode just made me feel impatient.

3) red herring endings: alright this might be an unorthodox opinion but, aren't red herring cliff hangers a norm in general with these kinds of shows lol. idk i've come to expect the total opposite every time so it doesn't really bother me i guess i'm just used to the medium. not really a lc problem it's a story telling problem in general but that's just marketing i don't know what else to say.

it'd be nice if they followed through but some part of me thinks they're pulling a whole boy who cried wolf situation, eventually they'll pull the trigger when we don't really expect it.

4) shipping/ main trio reconciliations : it's a really serious ongoing situation. i kind of get why the main trio/shiguang don't get a chance to talk things over amongst themselves, it just isn't the time. keep in mind everything that's happening rn is happening continuously, there are no gaps within the days or anything, kind of makes sense that they don't really talk about it. they probably will get to once it's all over, which might be well into s3. again, this was always meant to be a thriller more than it was trio focused. also idk about you guys but i think we actually did get a lot of sweet moments within the trio, cxs and lg, even the sibling dynamic with ql and cxs were really lovely this season.

5) the women: okay i REALLY don't understand the problem here. the women are written well. ql is written FANTASTICALLY and all side characters like ltx and that one red eyed lady i'm forgetting the name of were great too. hell even chen bin's wife was great. i think for a donghua/anime where women are usually given dirt in terms of actually strong writing, lc has always been very solid. their lives do not revolve around the men in the show it just happens to be that men are a part of their lives. they have very distinct personalities and aren't treated like weird objects to gaze at (what a bar lol) but yes i do think the women are written quite dimensionally.

6) unanswered questions : when have linear shows ever answered questions (especially mc based) in season 2?? when has season 2 EVER tied loose ends? when it comes to linear television, season 2's purpose almost always build towards a greater evil/climax. there's a reason why season 2 hasn't answered questions we've had, season 2s in most shows rarely ever do. from what i can tell, with a confirmed s3, i've always expected s2 to simply do its job as a second season and further raise stakes and raise even more questions. i do get the frustration, i get the lack of any backstory, but i want to refrain from making any actual comments over that till every episode's aired ahah, however, im not too mad at it. i just think this show's ride is currently still at an increasing accelerated pace (guys i'm sorry i study physics), things will only be explained once we've once hit the climactic point or go downhill right after. time will tell i guess

Conclusion

overall, i think this season was actually pretty solid. s1 set a very unrealistically high bar, as s1 in my opinion is one of the best seasons in television period. but s2 and s1 shouldn't be compared in the same way, their tone is quite different, and needs to be analysed individually instead. i'll make a complete review once the season is over, but honestly i've come to enjoy the season most when i stop expecting too much out of it. i think people had way too many things they've expected from s2, that were bound to simply never happen.

that said, i do hope the crew takes the valid criticism regarding the pacing (and ig the character focus?) into consideration and implements it well into s3. it's worth noting that i believe nothing was meant to be complete with s2 in the first place.

i've really enjoyed this season, and i'm beyond ecstatic to rewatch it all once it's done airing, in order to properly take it all in. it's had its flaws, more than s1 has had (let's be real s1 had little to none). but that's bound to happen to shows when they head down their linear routes. currently sitting at a 7/10

[nyxielovespythons]

Why NejiTen should be canon

Before I say anything, I can recognise that NejiTen is not canon, although I want it to be lol. Everyone has a right to their own opinion, so I ask that you respect mine, and if you want to challenge it, you can *politely* do that in the comments.

The major countering ships to NejiTen are: NejiHina and LeeTen, so I will talk you through why these ships don't work out.

First with LeeTen (because I don't want you quitting after the drama of NejiHina). Lee and Tenten are seen as very close throughout the series, though Tenten makes it clear that she finds Lee annoying and hot-blooded. This is the opposite to Neji, who Tenten seems to admire a lot, since she liked to train with him, and even put on lipstick in the manga for his chūnin exam finals. They seem like the perfect best friend duo, in my opinion. Romance doesn't need to be involved in every since best friend duo, there are enough of them already. In the Boruto series, Lee is seen with his son, Metal Lee. Many think that Tenten is the mother, due to the eye shape, and I think she could easily be. I mean, she's the only kunoichi in Konoha in the same age group as Lee (I think, I haven't fact checked yet), and the girl in his team. Tenten is probably the easiest choice for Lee's wife that Kishimoto could've made. However, if they were to be married and have had a son together, they would now be divorced. This therefore means, that if they had got married, then the relationship would not have worked out, and LeeTen would've failed. If they had not got together, then Lee would've married a different woman, and even if Lee then divorced that mystery woman, they clearly do not have mutual feelings for each other any more. They might have had feelings for each other, at different stages of their lives, but they either both grew out of their crushes or it was only one-sided to begin with.

Second. The NejiHina incident. I'm sorry, but I will have to go on for even longer than LeeTen, because some people don't understand that this ship is incest, and I'll tell you why. Excluding the fact that Neji had strong resentment towards Hinata for quite a period of time, they still wouldn't work out. Their relationship only evolved into *family* love, as confirmed by Kishimoto, just as Boruto loves Himawari, or Temari loves Gaara. What's wrong with a "big brother-little sister love"? Why must everyone make everything romantic? Neji cares deeply for his cousin, as does Hinata. She calls him 'Big Brother Neji', showing that she only sees him as her older brother. Besides, Hinata was so deeply in love with Naruto, she would've never agreed to the marriage. Moving on, a lot of people, from a range of cultures, some of which invite cousin relationships, think that Neji and Hinata getting married and producing heirs is okay. Some of them (purposely?) forget that the reason you don't have kids with your sibling is because it increases the chance of genetic defects dramatically. Although having kids with your cousin is legal (at least where I am), it still has quite a high risk. These people try and back it up by saying that the Hyūga clan would've wanted a pure Hyūga-blooded heir. Hm... Uchiha clan, anyone? Sure, this was common, but there are plenty Uchihas that are so distantly related that it would be fine to have offspring (such as Itachi and Izumi). The same could be said about the Hyūgas. Maybe Neji would've been their best option for a pure blood husband, but there would've been other choices, more people that were much further distanced in relation. I've got this far, and I haven't even mentioned another key fact: you know that Hiashi and Hizashi are twin brothers, right? Identical twins, to be exact. Lemme show you something: "Identical (i.e., monozygotic, or MZ) twins share 100 percent of their genes". You see that? It means that Hiashi and Hizashi share the same DNA. And this means that Neji and Hinata are genetically closer than cousins. They're actually genetically half-siblings. Hm. The Hyūgas are smart enough to figure out that it probably isn't the best idea to inbreed them, right? Well. That doesn't matter, because even if they overlooked all this incestuous evidence, there's this. Hinata isn't even the current heiress. If Neji survived the war, he would not have married Hinata in Boruto. If the Hyūga clan forced him to marry the heiress, and have children to keep a pure bloodline, he would've married Hanabi. Hanabi is the current heiress, so she would be the one married to Neji. Got it yet? Neji and Hinata would never have happened.

The last reason NejiTen should be canon: their chemistry. Tenten is shown to greatly admire and respect Neji, constantly calling him a genius, and she has blushed because of him in the manga several times. He believed in her abilities enough to sit under the practice dummy she was hitting with kunai. Neji comments that her fight would be interesting, showing that he thinks she is a good fighter. He is also shocked at her defeat, further proving that. In the first databook, Kishimoto confirms that Neji and Tenten trained every day for a month in preparation for Neji's chūnin match against Naruto. During this training, Neji reverse engineered and perfected the moves only reserved for the main branch of the Hyūga clan, mainly the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and the Eight Trigrams Palms: Revolving Heaven. You should also note that while all the other contestants trained with jōnin, Neji chose to train with Tenten. "During one of their training sessions, birds are shown flying in the sky and Tenten tells him that she is exhausted and can't keep going. Neji responds that he thinks he used too much of his chakra and faints. Tenten is seen running to him and asks him if he's alright." Tenten wore a different outfit to watch Neji's match, and as I said, in the manga she also wore lipstick. After his fight with Kidomaru, Neji remembers seeing Lady Tsunade with Tenten. In the Shippuden, during Team Gai's fight with Kisame, Neji rushes to Tenten's side when she seems to struggle in the Water Prison.

In the image above, it shows the two finishing each other's sentences. They can communicate with little dialogue and know what the other is thinking with only one word. Tenten winks at Neji and invites him to go to the bathhouse with her, both in the anime and the manga. Later, after Neji's death, in the manga, she expresses anger, thinks about Neji and asks why he left her. In her memory, Neji doing the "nice guy pose," which has been performed in the past by Gai, Naruto and Lee. The pose signifies that one will keep their promise until death, as Lee states to Sakura during the beginning of the Sasuke retrieval arc after Naruto does the pose and promises to her that he will get Sasuke back. Neji doing this pose before Tenten implies that he promised her something that he intended to fulfill until his death. In the anime, Tenten holds her hands in a prayer and asks why he left her as she remembers Neji doing this "nice guy pose" to her, then she walks away crying and says that she's never going to forgive him. The implied promise that Neji made to her is not known, but it was significant enough for Neji, who tends to be stoic and serious, to use the cheerful and significant pose his "hot-blooded" sensei and teammate have used in the past. When caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Tenten dreams of more mature versions of Lee and Gai as well as Neji being alive and by her side. She's the only person whose Tsukuyomi dream involves not only Neji being alive, but being with him.

They are shown constantly beside one another throughout the entire story, similar to the couples Asuma and Kurenai, and Shikamaru and Temari. While Neji is very formal and strict, he is shown to be comfortable around Tenten. He isn't shown to mind when she teases him or winks at him. He is also rarely portrayed as a character who apologizes to anyone, but he is shown apologizing to Tenten. In both the manga and anime, birds are present during the scenes where Neji and Tenten are shown alone together. In the manga, the only male character Tenten is shown alone with is Neji.

Other Trivia include:

Tenten's name and Neji's themes compliment each other. "Tenten" literally translates to "heaven heaven" in Chinese, while "Hyūga" translates to "place in heaven." In the new Chūnin Exams arc, Neji is shown holding two heaven scrolls with the characters 天天

Tenten's weapons shop in Boruto is named 忍具転転転, which directly translates to "Ninja Tools Turn Turn Turn." Furthermore, the characters "具転転" in the name translate to "revolving." Thus, the name of Tenten's weapons shop can be a reference to one of Neji's primary moves, Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven.

During the blank period, Tenten wears a uniform that includes a dress with a flame pattern similar to the flame in the Hyūga clan's emblem.

Neji and Tenten are depicted as compatible: the Databooks reveal that Neji is a Cancer and Tenten is a Pisces. In Western astrology, Cancer and Pisces are considered a compatible and harmonious pairing. The Databooks list Neji's blood type as O and Tenten's blood type as B. The blood type personality theory popular in Japan considers O and B blood types romantically compatible.

Neji, during his death, is portrayed as a Phoenix on fire. In the anime, Tenten utilizes the moves "Twin Rising Dragons" and "Exploding Dragon Strike." In Chinese folklore, the Phoenix and Dragon pair symbolize perfect harmony and balance between yin (Phoenix) and yang (Dragon).

Among the Konoha 11, Neji and Tenten were the only ones who were 18 years old during the Shinobi war, whereas Naruto and Hinata were 16 years old and the rest were 17.

Neji and Tenten share the same hairstyles as Hashirama Senju and his wife Mito Uzumaki.

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

My theory is that Jm and Jk are making this content together because they are the most succeesful members.

Hybe will never acknowledge Jm’s popularity in any other way, but are going to make him do this content with Jk to make money off of him

That’s it, that’s why is the 2 of them, not V or Rm because jikook got both no 1 on bb etc

Wdym it wasn't Jungkook and Taehyung the it couple, the most successful members whose debut everyone was waiting for and counting on to make history?????

Okay, now that I'm done with the sarcasm...

Aside from the fact that it was something Jimin wanted to do, why did the company suddenly think of it and agreed to it now. (Unless we eventually find out other details about why and how, but I don't know if I'm even going to be here when that happens, so).

Jungkook and Jimin is a pairing that has always worked in many ways, like with the couple of dance units they've had in BTS stages. Or the couple of songs they've sung together, etc.

Apart from that, yes they are the most popular (read popular as in people OUTSIDE OF THE FANDOM have seen them/interacted with their content or music at some point/etc), so all in all I agree that their individual popularity could be a reason.

That's also related to the reach the content has. I've never been one of those people that cry about jikook not being loved; I never cared about that for several reasons that are not relevant right now. One of the reasons that's relevant tho, is that taekook might get the most likes or retweets on their content... but nobody causes conversation the way Jimin does. Whether it's good or bad, Jungkook or Taehyung each on their own, or together, they don't cause conversation. I'm not gloating or anything about Jimin getting hate because I hate it, and I hate when people are like "oh jimin they're hating on you you'll always be famous", but it's a fact that whenever Jimin is involved in something, people will talk about it. I mean, there's a reason his name can't trend in twitter anymore because of the volume of tweets in which he's mentioned every day.

Another thing, probably unpopular, many probably won't get it, and I think that people just don't realize it's happening: Jimin makes Jungkook look good. He makes Jungkook looked loved and worthy of being loved.

Not too long ago I rewatched the hunger games and in the first movie something happens with Katniss and Peeta, I think it was him saying he was in love with her or something. And Haymitch says it was good that Peeta had said that because he'd made Katniss looked desirable. Now, she was perceived as the object of affection of someone.

It's something I've talked about before, how the narrative about Jungkook and the way people perceived him changed when his ships got bigger attention.

This happens to a large scale with all of BTS members, btw. We're just talking specifically about two right now, but the "X member loves Y member, how could you hate them?!" is probably the biggest example of that.

So, there's that too. Jimin's way of treating Jungkook has A LOT of weight on what people think of Jungkook. It might even be a reason of why some pjms can't even stick to one side and are more or less constantly changing their feelings about him.

That's also why I think that if it was solely and exclusively the company calling Jimin up to do this, it was tailored to happen around Jungkook's debut and not before. Because it is good for Jungkook's image.

Finally, Jimin being Jimin. I think many people do a big disservice to Jimin when they talk about why and don't realize how amazing Jimin's personality is. Jikookers especially overlook how awesome, kind, sweet and great he is. They collectively ignore how every single person who's ever met Jimin has made a point to talk about how sweet and kind he is. To most jikookers It's all about how he is with Jungkook when a large part of that is not even about Jungkook, but just how Jimin was raised and how he treats everyone he loves.

Jungkook gets to be a lovely maknae bla bla bla. To jikookers, Jimin's selflessness and beautiful soul only gets talked about in relation to Jungkook.

So another factor of the whole thing is that Jimin's got a GREAT personality. Jin, Hoseok, Jimin, they've always been the one lighting up the mood and making people laugh and taking care of everyone. They're the life of the party, literally. And the company must realize this, too. They're not stupid. They know what works for entertainment and what doesn't. Didn't Jungkook say in that preview that as soon as Jimin arrived it was chaos? Jimin is genuinely so much fun.

It works because Jimin is who he is. It's not even about Taehyung and Jungkook, but it wouldn't work with Yoongi and Jungkook, either. It would be boring simply because they're not Jimin. You can watch any live with Jimin + other member and it's almost always interesting and funny because Jimin makes up for a lot of the mood between two people.

[antisociallilbrat]

What Polyamory Does For The It Fandom VS In The St Fandom.

These are some brain worms I've had for a while and I've decided to share, regardless if it makes some people mad. Although that is truly not the intent of this post. Anyways. If you haven't been in the It fandom and only have stayed in the St fandom this post may not make sense but I do encourage you to read it.

I joined the It fandom in 2017. I'm one of those few people who were in the It fandom first before moving over to also join the St fandom in late late 2017/early 2018. I had a blog for consuming content but I didn't start making content until 2020 for the It fandom and more recently and regularly for the St fandom. Anywho what I'm trying to say is that I've seen a lot.

I loved many ships in the It fandom and one of the main ships is Poly Losers Club. This is the first fandom I've seen where a poly ship was one of the more popular ones. Even if someone didn't ship all the Losers, throuple and quatrouples (is that how you say it?) have always been popular in this fandom.

Because it is almost unanimously agreed across the fandom, that whether platonically or romantically, all the Losers love each other. Even the most die hard of reddie shippers, the fandom's most popular ship, can often agree on certain fanon headcannons, Stan and Richie practiced their first kiss on each other, Eddie's first crush was on poor oblivious Bill. And that comes back to the agreement that all the Losers love each other. Ships in this fandom have never had an issue coexisting. If someone shipped something different from someone it was always more like "oh that's not my favorite but I definitely see where you're coming from'" OR they're like "yeah no they're in love too," Hardly ever any belittling or any superiority complexes.

That's what makes being in this fandom fun and easy.

Poly Losers even often features a gay man and a women and I've read many beautiful fics where this is explained as they're more best friends than lovers but Eddie doesn't love Bev any less because she's a woman. This fandom allows Eddie and Bev to have an amazing and emotionally intimate relationship because I feel like this fandom does understand, for the most part, that platonic love is just as important as romantic love.

Now on to the St fandom. There are some poly party shippers out there but they are far and few. And there is SO MUCH shipping discourse. Yes I could talk about Mileven and Byler but come on, it goes beyond that. It's with Jany and Stancy, Ronance and Rockie. Elmax and Lumax, and Steddie and Stonathan. Just about every ship you think of there is an alternate ship that people will fight for. They will belittle you for shipping something they don't, and insist that your ship is nothing but platonic. That,,,that just doesn't happen in the It fandom. You know the joke, "All the Losers had a crush on Bill at one point," I think that in itself says a lot. Bill, the arguably least liked character, (my poor bb), has the joke that all the losers had a crush on him at one point.

I'm getting off track. Anyways I'm not saying that shipping everyone together in a poly sense would fix everything with these shipping wars but i do believe why there was never any shipping wars in the It fandom was because of Poly Losers. Also when I talk about poly in St I mean it like Poly Party and Poly teenage crew. Not together, I hate that I have to clarify that.

In the St fandom, it's just not as universally agreed that everyone loves each other, even in the basic platonic sense. All anyone seems to care about in the St fandom is romantic love. A lot of shippers want to be right, they want to prove that their ship will be cannon which just,,,sucks the fun right out fandom spaces.

Canon, fanon, why can't people just make cute fan art and talk in babbles about thoughts they have on a ship. Why do you have to be right about what's going to be the canon ship? Why do certain people feel the need to put down and even to the extent as far as bullying people who ship something different? I've never seen a fandom so focused on 'canon pairings' like the st fandom. (Side note I was never in the sherlock and supernatural fandoms, I knew to mention this)

The party, like the losers, are friends who have been through turmoil that have bound them together for a lifetime. I don't care what pairing you give me from st, whether it be a platonic or a romantic one, I will tell you that those characters deeply care for each other.

Side note: it's worth a mention that the Duffer brothers originally wanted to film the It remake and when they didn't get it, we got Stranger Things. It can be argued that the Party is based off the Losers club so you know what that means? THEY ALL LOVE EACH OTHER. Take it as platonic or romantic idc.

Again, I don't think that poly party is the answer to ending the shipping wars. I do think however that if people could remember how much the party members mean to each other, that that could make less tiring fandom spaces.

Okay I'm done. I just thought this was an interesting point on how it's been like in the It fandom vs the St fandom.

Wait I was doing tags and I forgot to mention that there are few people who ship Elumax and Stoncy, two throuples and kudos to them. They're just worth a mention, I didn't forget about ya'll

[utilitycaster]

not to be all “only i like my blorbo correctly”, but i’m fully convinced that certain people would hate Imogen as a character if they actually engaged with her outside of “conventionally attractive sadgirl that’s one half of an aesthetically pleasing queer ship”. fully believe that if she looked like Chetney or Ashton or even Fearne, and didn’t come with a prepackaged ship, people would be forced to look at her as the complex, unique loose cannon that she is

Hey anon, I agree with much of this and I hope you don't mind if I go on what might be one of my weirder tangents/theories but this has been percolating for a few weeks and I think I've cracked the secret to one of the more toxic segments of the fandom.

I definitely think that if Imogen were not a woman, a lot of people would hate her (granted, a different group of people who hate her now would probably like her more if she were a man, because misogyny is extremely extant outside of the bubble, and even a little bit within the bubble, that is Tumblr). However, they'd be fine if she looked like Fearne...but many wouldn't be fine if she were also played by Ashley. Or yeah, if she weren't easily shipped with Marisha's character.

Here's the deal. When I and a number of other people were like "oh hey! Imogen is not really taking other people's feelings into consideration and is being rather insensitive about the Ruby Vanguard, given that they've killed half the party, particularly since she's literally known Laudna like 10 times longer than she's know her mother was alive" the attitude was "wow, you hate Imogen, you hate women, you're so unfair" and yet now, at a table that is half women (and a group of characters that literally has only one man) everyone who thought I hate Imogen and how if she were a man everyone would care is now literally just mostly ignoring her (and honestly like, everything) and instead constantly whining about how they miss Laudna. Which is frankly weak as hell, like, anyone who's loved Pike or Yasha is like "oh you must be new here", and at least people talking about Travis being missing during the gap between Bertrand's death and Chetney's arrival were making good memes. But I digress.

My theory, which I do admit is the most tin-foil hat I think I've gone, comes from some polls I've seen circulating complaining about queerbaiting in past shows, and also my recent interest in Glee as ground zero of really horrible fandom behaviors (thanks to people who have provided insight into that!) Anyway. I recently learned that apparently Quinn and Rachel was a really popular ship, for reasons I cannot, for the sake of what little decorum and kindness I am maintaining here, speculate on. Setting aside that this is not queerbaiting and it's wildly inappropriate and damaging to say it was, given that this show was full of queer characters and Quinn was shown hooking up with a woman, this has in fact clicked into place for me why people constantly ship Marisha and Laura's characters despite chemistry that is inconsistent at best and tepid on average. It's not terribly hard to draw lines from Quinn to Vex and Rachel to Keyleth, especially if you consider how fanon tends to handle these archetypes. Then they transferred this to just Laura and Marisha's characters in general, and here we are, and man if it hasn't gotten even more flavorless with every transfer.

So anyway yeah a lot of people really don't like Imogen much as a character unless they can project onto her, but because she's half of The Ship, they also will not tolerate any exploration of her flaws that could threaten The Ship and so they need to remove her agency and blame it on various rocks instead of Imogen being cranky and impatient as a person (like, again, if you want to interpret her powers as chronic pain, why are you not allowed to grant her the same complexity as Ashton, who is also cranky and impulsive?) But really the kicker is that if Marisha isn't physically onscreen, they start acting like a cat you locked out of the bathroom and simultaneously forget they're supposed to care about or enjoy Imogen as an individual.

[liauditore]

hi i have returned opinions on secret life so far? (also any idea why bigb’s secret animation was different to everyone else’s?) :D

hi hi i have so many Thoughts that i will definitely miss Something but. lots of things. spoilers for ep1 under the cut obvs.

why is every ship getting crumbs. literally all of them. what is wrong with everyone wtf. (except treebark. treebark girlies stay losing)

new mechanic is insanely hype and i am going a little bit feral over it. i've been wanting a UHC-style season for a long time and this seems a great way to kind of. entertainment-fy it i suppose? cus as much as i wanted straight up UHC i can totally understand why players like joel or skizz or scar would struggle hard in that sort of ruleset and it wouldn't be very fun to watch as a result.

i'm a bit.. tentative about the more acknowledgment of the Lore this time around? On one hand i love it and i think it's incredibly cool but on the other hand i know well that lore can eat a series alive if let out of control. Especially when fans start getting pushy about their theories and disappointed when inevitably things aren't as explained or thoroughly confirmed or straight up forgotten. (<-- fnaf fan. i have seen it. it is horrible)

that being said i have trust in grian specifically to handle it well and not go off the deep end with it cus a good chunk of the viewers don't know/care for the lore and if it becomes a Big Thing then a lot of people are gonna end up feeling alienated and confused.

i LOVED Bigb's episode and i think it's like. the ideal way to incorporate lore into a series like this. the way you can Feel that something is off rather than it being explicitly shown. you can choose to write it off or dig deeper. it's good juice. I've mentioned this before but I'll say it again -- Bigb is easily one of the strongest roleplayers on the entire server and his editing REALLY sells it hard. He really melts into what's happening rather than getting up on a platform and shouting THIS PART IS IMPORTANT. LOOK AT ME. which i really appreciate as a kind-of honorary former theatre kid.

but yeah tl;dr i think lore/fan theories should be left to the fandom mainly otherwise it starts getting weird. that being said i trust the life series ppl and can't wait to see what's going on with this season.

now if i may be unhinged myself. i def agree with the theory that Something is up with Bigb's task and maybe whatever gave it to him is trying to mess with the game.

Bigb and Mumbo specifically I felt were acting.. a little OOC the whole episode? Bigb was very much on purpose i think and i reckon mumbo's just excited to be back lol but its fun to think about

the task system has a lot of potential for. fanfic symbolism fuel. i mentioned this on my spam blog i think but something something about the way the players' tasks almost seem to. mock them? a little bit?

like pearl's being to "earn" people's hearts after she failed to make any connections throughout double life and has been somewhat isolated the whole series. bdubs being known for his efficient and beautiful builds being told to make something ugly and useless. scott being implicitly called a parasite with his history of teaming and latching onto one specific person each season. etc. etc.

the teams this time around are looking interesting and i think it's worth noting how it almost feels like.. the opposite of limlife a bit? with how slow and cautious everyone has to play. it seems like over half the server haven't really even joined up with anyone yet which is intriguing. (im personally praying for a scar/jimmy team up. just cus scott said they wouldn't make it lol)

which is great for me cus i loved limlife but the chaoticness of everything did kind of. make deaths less impactful i think? if i see another sky bridge i might scream

im very. of two minds about the scott and impulse team up. because if you dig through my blog you'll see i have kind of a history of being unhinged about those two and their parallels. but i have the sneaking suspicion that their actual dynamic will be like nothing i had in mind lmao

overall i am very excited but trying to control my expectations

also um MUMBO AND LIZZIE ARE BACK AND GEM IS IN THE SERIES AND MUMBO AND LIZZIE AND THUBS ETHUBS ETHUBS ETHUBS ETHUBS--

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia

I've seen your posts (and other bloggers posts) about antis, and although i don't agree that anyone has the right to dictate what media people are allowed to enjoy i never actually believed that they could be that bad (since I'd never had any interactions with them) and thought their unhinged behaviour was exaggerated. Until I posted a fic with a controversial pairing and OH. MY. GOD.

I have never received this much abuse (and of such a vicious sort) in my entire life. I guess this serves me right for doubting other creators' claims of how awful antis can be. I could just never believe anyone could be this... this... diabolical. But now I'm experiencing it first and it is wild.

Like I'm receiving actual death threats? Because of a 2,000 oneshot? I'm being told that me and my whole family deserve to die slow and painful deaths because of the characters I shipped?? They're calling me a pedophile and an animal abuser because one of the characters I wrote about is a teenager and the other is a human-animal hybrid??? What?

Like, are these people ok? Are they mentally unwell? This is just... I'm in shock honestly that people actually think and behave like this. Holy hell. It's been a hug eye opener and not a necessarily nice one.

Sorry if this message was unwelcome, I just couldn't think of anyone else to share this with. I hope you're having a nice day/evening ❤

Hi hi anon,

Yeah, this is what it's sadly like, and in the most extreme pockets of anti-communities are people who have literally tried to murder other people over fictional characters.

It's truly unhinged.

You have people who just don't like what other people are shipping, which is fine and normal, we all have notps and things we don't like, and then you have the people who genuinely think it's okay to torment, harass, abuse, and bully another person based over something fictional, and those people need to be blocked.

These people coming after you anon, if they're on AO3, report every single one because it might take a while, but those people get banned from AO3. If they're on Tumblr, block but also consider reporting, because death threats get people banned and all anonymous IP addresses are logged on Tumblr's side. If it's on Twitter, block on sight. Don't tolerate them, don't give them the air to breathe, and make sure you get offline sometimes or go to online safe spaces and spend time with the people who love you for who you are, it's the best weapon against antis who have no idea who you are and feel like you're a great figure to bully and abuse.

Ultimately, at the very base of what an anti is, is someone who believes their emotion of 'don't like that' justifies them bullying and torturing other people over fictional characters. It is at its foundation completely delusional, and even people who get 'logical' about it are still going 'my emotions are real enough to justify hurting you over something that is a figment of our collective imaginations.'

Some of those folks are very young, and will grow out of it, and have just drunk the collective Koolaid, some of them are older and always wanted an excuse to bully others but feel 'righteous' and 'pure' for doing it. Some really believe they're doing the right thing, others know they're hypocrities but can be all the more vicious for it. There are many recovering antis, but they're often silent about the things they've done, or the ways they've tried to hurt people.

I'm glad you posted that story anon, but not glad about the response you're getting. Consider moderating comments if it's on AO3, just to choke out the antis for a while. And yeah, practice self-care, because abusers want to hurt and harm others, and if you feel hurt and harmed, the more you can act to look after yourself, the more you thwart their goal/s and give them the big proverbial 'fuck you' that they so desperately deserve.

They do, usually, die down after a while, especially the more they get starved out. They'll often hunt for more vulnerable people. But in the meantime you also might want to inform folks you trust irl that you're dealing with this right now, because antis are unhinged, and online abuse is serious. Take care of you!! <33333 I'm sorry you had to learn about this pocket of 'society' in such a horrific way.

Antis are the worst.