#but their platonic relationship is SO important

[221-apt-b]

Nobody will ever understand just how much I value House and Wilson’s relationship. House, for the entirety of the show stressed how important interesting and complex puzzles were to him as a human being. Always needed stimulation, always needed to be doing something that wasn’t boring and he found that within medicine and within prodding the inner workings of people. He gave up his entire life, the very pillar of who he was for more than a decade to spend the last of Wilson’s life with him. Whether it be romantic or platonic (up to interpretation), THAT’S love. True pure love. He gave up EVERYTHING that made him Dr. House, but he did it because he knew none of it mattered without Wilson there. That was his ultimate unselfish sacrifice (you can argue it’s selfish in other ways but regardless of that, this act was done against his instinctual desire to practice medicine).

This has become my absolute favorite example of the phrase “to be loved is to be changed”. I’m aware House’s philosophy is that people don’t change but the entire show has shown that he has been fundamentally altered by those around him and all he’s experienced (you could argue he was always caring in this way but something had to change for him to get there). He couldn’t be there for Cuddy when he thought she was dying but, due to the importance of his relationship with Wilson and likely the fact that he was aware this time he had was it with him, he was there for Wilson quite literally the entire time. He has been changed by love.

Wilson and House are soulmates. I will always believe that. I believe in both romantic and platonic soulmates so I’m unsure which applies here but the line is blurred I suppose.

I feel there’s more for me to say and this doesn’t encompass how I feel about it all completely but this is what I’ve deduced to the best of my ability.

TLDR; There is no Dr. House without Dr. Wilson.

[bloompawz]

Partnering aromantic writing advice

The topic of aromantic characters dating is a bit of a contentious one in fandom spaces, but I think that it can be a great way to represent partnering aros if you do it right. I'm not an author, but I am a partnering aro, so I want to give some advice (or at least food for though) to those who may want to pair aromantic characters with partners in their fictional works.

1. Start with their aromanticism first.

This is very important. Do not slap their aromanticism on as an afterthought to their relationships. Develop their aromanticism first.

How do they feel about traditionally romantic activities? Do they enjoy them? Do they feel indifferent to them? Are they averse to them? Do they perceive those actions as inherently romantic in nature, or do they not? Does it depend on the action?

How do they experience attraction? Do they experience some amount of romantic attraction, or none at all? Does it happen only under very specific circumstances? Do they experience other forms of emotional attraction, like platonic or alterous attraction? Do they experience physical forms of attraction, like sexual, sensual, or aesthetic attraction?

Why have they chosen to be partnering? Are they doing it to fill an emotional need, in a world where friends often don't prioritize each other enough? Are they doing it to fill a physical need? Are they doing it because they enjoy traditionally romantic activities, regardless of whether or not they personally view those activities as romantic? Are they doing it for financial, social, and/or medical security? Are they doing it out of social pressure? Are they doing it because they perceive no inherent difference between partnership and friendship, and don't object to either?

Are they romantically partnering, or are they partnering in a different way, such as queerplatonic partnership? Are they partnering in multiple ways? What does that distinction look like for them? Is there a distinction at all?

Do they ever feel burdened by their aromanticism because they feel like it "get's in the way" of their desire for partnership? Tread very carefully if you go this route. Do not "cure" their aromanticism. Try to build towards self acceptance.

Aromantic people can date, but our aromanticism can and often does impact how we date, and how we feel about dating. Even when aromantic people are in committed relationships, or want to be, we are still aromantic.

2. Explore how this impacts their relationships.

Being aromantic often makes dating/partnering more complicated.

Did their partner(s) know that they're aromantic when they started dating? If not, do they know now? How did that conversation go?

Did the aromantic character know about their own aromanticism when they first started dating, or did they realize it later? How did they come to realize that? If they were in a relationship at the time of realizing it, did the realization spark anxiety over the future of their relationship? Did it spark relief?

Do they experience difficulty finding partners? Is it because people are less willing to date aromantic people? Is it because of highly limited attraction? Is it because the aromantic character has very specific needs when it comes to relationships, such as needing a less common (e.g. queerplatonic) relationship, or having a lot of strong boundaries around traditionally romantic activities? Is it because their orientation is difficult to explain to potential partners? Is it a combination of factors?

3. If you're writing fanfiction, respect the aromantic character's canon identity.

If an aromantic character is canonically non-partnering, romance-averse, romance-repulsed, or similar, keep it that way. Hands off.

[uriswhumpchamber]

Hello!

After a long time (read: approximately two weeks) of deliberation (read: procrastinating), I've made this blog. To contain anything whump-related and be able to be properly excited about the idea of torturing characters without filling my main with, well. Y'know.

On to the proper introduction: I am an adult (21+). I speak English as a second language and am not used to writing longer works on it, so you'll be much more likely to see me writing shorter snippets.

Aaand I'm adding a cut here, because oh god this got long.

For tropes I like/you may find in my writing/reblogs:

Multiple whumpees, specially with whumpee-turned-caretaker. Specially if they're not good at it.

Caretaker-less whump; hurt/no comfort; self-caretaking (if that is a trope at all). In a similar vein, carewhumpers. 10/10

Torture in general. A decade of it being a special interest has... Not paid off, but something similar.

Medical/lab-setting whump.

Supernatural/magic whump.

Any sort of deep meaningful platonic relationships in whump I am aro and starved of them in mainstream media.

Defiant/violent whumpees, strong and not.

I have very few squicks, to the point where I don't care to discuss them :P will comment on 'em if they ever come up. I can stomach most things.

I do not have a DNI: you can assume this blog is geared towards people older than 18, that there will be sensitive content, and act based on that. I try to add important trigger warnings to my work (blood, some kinds of violence, flashing and eyestrain if I'm posting something visual, any kind of bigotry), but I can't promise to tag for everything. Am always open to suggestions regarding what tags to add to one post, though.

I'm multiply disabled, autism included in that, and a lot of my characters share those aspects. As much as I don't mind discussing disability in whump, as it's a subject I care about, I will not be apologetic about depicting characters that represent this aspect of my personality, in any of the very common roles seen in this genre.

I tend to write mostly about my own characters. While most of the Deep Lore will not be necessary (and if it is I'll try to give a quick rundown), if y'all end up interested in finding out more about my homemade blorbos, you can find them in my art account under their own tags.

I don't think there's anything I'm missing, so this will do for an intro/pinned post. I hope.

[sapphic-agent]

One thing I didn't touch on in my Book 3 Aang analysis was that an important part of his character development was just dropped out of nowhere. I'm of course talking about him letting go of Katara.

I didn't notice it before, but this was such a strange decision to make looking back. Because watching both The Guru, it's heavily implied- if not outright told to us- that in order to not only be the Avatar the world needs, but to heal and grow, he needs to let her go.

You have indeed felt a great loss. But love is a form of energy, and it swirls all around us. The Air Nomads' love for you has not left this world. It is still inside of your heart, and is reborn in the form of new love.

This is pretty blatantly telling us that Aang's love for Katara comes from the loss of his people. He, upon realizing that he was alone, attached himself to the first person to care for him. The first person to embrace him in one hundred years. He's projecting the love he had for the Air Nomads onto her. And while understandable given the circumstances, that isn't healthy. Aang's attachment to Katara comes from feelings of grief as well as physical attraction, which is a... Bad combination.

(And before anyone says it, no I don't think that's the only way he cares for her. But I do think even their platonic relationship is tainted by not only this, but everyone around them enabling Aang. So many people told him that he just needed to wait and she would come around, that he was the Avatar so of course she would- Avatar Roku I am in your walls- not one person told him to be ready to accept rejection. Not one person told him to respect and be mindful of her boundaries. Are we surprised he did what he did in DOBS and EIP?)

"The Thought Chakra is located at the crown of the head. It deals with pure cosmic energy, and is blocked by earthly attachment. Meditate on what attaches you to this world. Now, let all of those attachments go. Let them flow down the river, forgotten."

I did actually mention this briefly in my Book 3 post, but I sincerely doubt Guru Pathik is telling him he can't love. Roku, Kyoshi, and Korra all found love and they had complete control over their Avatar States (Korra was at her most balanced when she got together with Asami btw). Letting go doesn't mean Aang can't love.

Appa, someone Aang loves more than anything, doesn't appear in this vision. Neither does Sokka, Momo, or Toph. Just Katara.

His attachment to Katara is what's holding him back. Because it's unhealthy, and it's keeping him anchored down. This isn't just about the Avatar State, it's about healing the turmoil in himself. He cannot do that if he doesn't let her go.

(This behavior is even escalated in LOK. Only instead of Katara, he attached himself to Tenzin. Tenzin being an Airbender gave Aang credence to project his love for the Air Nomads onto him. Not only did he then neglect Kya and Bumi because of it, I would also argue that he did a good amount of damage to Tenzin himself. Being put on a pedestal like that by a parent is so harmful)

The fact that none of this is even mentioned in Book 3 doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It was an important part of Aang's development and integral for his growth and healing

[wordsinhaled]

saw an absolute awful take on payneland earlier today and it's still rolling around in my mind (tl;dr, it was essentially "i hope edwin and charles don't get together because edwin falling for his best friend charles and accepting that charles is straight is just as important a message for media to send out, because queer people experience that irl all the time, and it was important to show audiences charles rejecting him kindly") and i am still just fuming tbh because

#1 hello bi erasure!!!! please let charles rowland be bisexual for fuck's sake!!! let this boy already steeped in counterculture who grew up and died during the AIDS crisis with a father who almost certainly wouldn't have tolerated any hint of queerness in his son explore his fucking sexuality! he has room in his heart for crystal and edwin both! goddamn

#2 like... do people who have this take realize edwin was, basically, hate-crimed to death for being gay? that he was sacrificed to hell because his peers saw him as a "mary ann"? that this happened in the first place because of so much period-typical internalized homophobia that simon didn't know how to process his own burgeoning feelings for charles therefore expressed them through the only socially appropriate channel by sublimating them into bullying/harassment and responded to rejection with violence - and edwin had no idea how to acknowledge or process any feelings he might have had for simon plus rejected simon's advances out of fear of being ostracized further for an identity he may have recognized but denied in himself at the time???

...and you want edwin's narrative to be "tormented by sad gay feelings, breaks out of hell for the second time, musters up bravery to confess to "straight" friend - when the last time he even dared to have an air of being queer he got killed for it - gets rejected"??? fuck off fr. like go and watch that confession scene and look at edwin's red-rimmed eyes and

#3 you know, we queers just fall in love with our straight friends all the time and receive no unconditional acceptance and love and no open possibility of something more developing organically. so let's show that same bleak shit on TV, that's just the narrative we need. just to remind the queers watching they have no chance at happiness and they're lucky to get a compassionate rejection. in case anybody ever got hopeful for open endings. fuck off fr

#4 i dislike the implication that "straight friend" charles was so nice and so kind for "reacting nicely" to "gay friend" edwin because like... what is the alternative that we're supposed to be so happy we didn't get? the cricket bat? a second act of violence? what was edwin supposed to receive instead that it was so nice for charles not to do? you wanted to see anger, disgust, violence, drama, the breakdown of their relationship? when like... charles's entire narrative is about his boundless kindness and love, him overcoming the cycle of abuse and not being a violent and hateful person? pretty gross that this take reduces charles to That Straight Guy, of all straight guys, when he would never, he would literally fucking never and you're trapping him into the cycle he's working to break!!!

and mind you the whole POINT of this show is the many and multiple dimensions of love that are available to edwin and charles, the power of love and self-acceptance to overcome obstacles and barriers, the many ways friendship can be defined and include all different kinds of love, what platonic and romantic love means. so to see it reduced to "charitable straight guy kindly spares tortured gay friend the terrible humiliation he ought to have gotten" gives major ick especially DURING PRIDE MONTH like oh my god

anyway i'm not articulating myself well but like oh my god let DBDA be queer or get rekt

[eddiediazismyhusband]

Thanks so much for your thoughtful response! I definitely see Eddie leaning towards gay as well. If anything I think he’s demi just based on the way he has such a hard time connecting to his past love interests (who he barely knew before dating) vs Shannon (his best friend) and how he treats that relationship. I’m not sure I’m fully on the aro Eddie train yet either but I love hearing everyone else thoughts. I was just curious about it because as someone who discovered they were aro-spec later in life as an adult, a lot of Eddie’s behaviors and things he’s said (dating feeling like a performance standing out a lot to me) just really resonate with the way I feel. Plus regardless of whether you ship Buddie platonically or romantically, there’s just something incredibly queer about their dynamic.

Even if we never get Buddie (I still believe we’re heading in that direction tho!) their relationship just screams queer platonic life partners to me which is something I don’t think I’ve ever really seen on TV and it’s just soooo important to me.

Ryan’s interviews truly mean so much to me for all the reasons you said. I love how much he loves Eddie and how much love and respect he not only treats him, but h tbh e fans.

Anyway thanks for sharing your thoughts! I love hearing your perspective and obviously these are only my thoughts/opinions as a probably very biased ace aro-spec queer woman. Lots of love! Hope your day…night…morning also is going amazing <3

No I agree, Ryan’s interviews always showcase how much love and care he has for both the fans and the characters, especially with how supportive he is of the fans interpreting Eddie in a way they can relate too, and how important that is to have a character like that.

Like I’ve mentioned plenty of times before I deeply relate to Eddie for various reasons, and having Ryan say that those of us who do are seen and heard in our love for the character is so special.

I may not always like that he gets put in PR jail and sometimes has to be really can-y, scripted, answering-without-really-answering questions in interviews when we all know that man is a little chaos demon who lives on trying to back the writers into a corner (along with oliver, forever the captains of our ship 🫡) but even still, you can always tell that he is so deeply intune with Eddie and how much the audience loves and cares for him, and all the nuances and complexities that come with a character like him.

I genuinely mean this when I say it, but I don’t think I have ever seen a character with as much emotional complexity and depth on a procedural drama, and i unfortunately think that’s a reason why so many people don’t like him because they don’t necessarily understand where he’s at mentally, and where he has come from, which just makes him all the more special to me.

I love getting to dive deep into the minds of characters, so your original ask (and this one too!) was so fun for me to sit down and think out— thanks for giving me an excuse to yap about eddie 💕💕

[littledogtarot]

Pick a card for the weekend of 6/14/24–6/16/24 (June garden edition)!

Card reveals and discussion below the read more!

The Two of Cups represents joyful new relationships, two open hearts connecting deeply with each other. This may be a romantic connection, or it may be more platonic. Regardless, it's important to remember who you are as an individual and to fight the urge to merge completely with this person. Stay true to yourself, and you will learn something from this life-changing relationship.

The World is the last card in the major arcana, and it represents completion, fulfillment, and success. It may be something tangible, or it may be a more subtle sense of wholeness. Regardless, the World asks you to reflect on your hard work, and to be grateful. It reminds you that success means nothing without the support of those we love. Now that you've reached this point, where will you go next?

The Eight of Wands represents swift action, sudden news or clarity, and opportunity. You may have been waiting for more information to come to light. Now, it finally has, and you can see the full picture. When you see this card, it suggests that now is the moment to act on something you've been debating over for a while. It augurs success if you go after what you want. So take the bull by the horns and carpe that diem.

Deck is Rider-Waite-Smith.

[corvidsinatrenchcoat]

i nearly started crying at work because i remembered the kenhina friendship

it’s just... so pure... can you imagine a love without expectations? can you imagine someone seeing you and just... choosing you? no second thoughts? someone who, for all intents and purposes, isn’t anything like you, and yet has chosen you? for someone to see you and love you not despite but because of your faults? to meet your insecurities and boundaries with total acceptance and joy?

[tokenducks]

Charles “We’ve got literally forever to figure out what the rest means” Rowland

[mytardisisparked]

The reason Psych is the Important Show of All Time is because it said "friendship is the MOST important thing." Like, yes, the romances were good but the show spends even more time emphasizing and developing the friendships and that's why it rocks. Lassiter and Juliet love and support each other unconditionally without even the slightest whiff of romance and it is SO. REFRESHING. When Juliet almost dies, Lassie sacrifices his favorite gun to save her without any hesitation. He's the one there to hold her while she cries. She's his confidant. She leaves everything she knows behind so he can chase his dream of being chief without reprocussion. That's a deep, wholesome kind of platonic love. They also never had Shawn be jealous of how close Jules and Lassie are - instead, in the final episode, we see Shawn thanking Lassie for loving and supporting Juliet. We simply don't do that jealousy crap here. Lassie and Jules are best friends and that's an excellent thing. And then there's Shawn and Gus. Those characters are narratively and physically inseperable. The show makes it VERY clear that, without the other, neither one is complete. They balance each other and exacerbate each other's hijinks at the same time. They're closer than close and everyone around them just accepts it. It's just the way those two dumb boys are and no one is going to try to get between that. And then, of course, SO many friendships develop over the course of the show. Lassie and Shawn form a begrudging friendship eventually. Juliet and Karen end up bonding more than I think either expected. Friendship is the beating heart of this series and it's presented in a way that is unique and fun and I just don't see a lot of other shows that do it like Psych did.

[plutonicbees]

season 1 tao's "once you get into a relationship, friendships don't matter anymore" vs season 2 charlie writing "charlie ♡ tao" on the heart locket + "wait, isn't that for you and nick?" "no."

sorry yeah I'm just lil emotional over the portrayal of platonic love as something that can be just as worthy as romantic love. i'm okay.

[eldritch-ace]

I need more bestie Will and Bev content so I make it myself. They are the only cool people to ever exist in the FBI.

Also the Fred(dies) whom I despise (I love them with my whole heart). They are my favorite AO3 authors.

[yb-cringe]

sorry to be insane over such little crumbs but cellbits "no no-- I think you're allowed." has s o much--it like it has fully microwaved my brain. like yeah youre so right. jaiden is allowed to take roiers seat next to cellbit. because jaiden is important to roier. and even when it means being inconvenienced or unhappy roier will just Let it go because its Jaiden and shes allowed to take up space, even space thats for him, because shes Jaiden. am i making any sense

[a-littlebitof-nonsense]

Percy and Annabeth’s friendship is literally everything

Don’t get me wrong i’m a huge percabeth shipper but their FRIENDSHIP!?!? I will go feral for it always

I absolutely adore how the show is laying out the grounds for their relationship and the journey they will take and how deep friends they are becoming. And the actors are doing so well portraying this too!

JUST UGH THEYRE BEST FRIENDS AND IM SO HERE FOR IT

[hamletshoeratio]

Colin telling Eloise that she's fortunate because she has never been in love when it's his other half's fault she had to walk away from "one of the only good things" in her life because LW put him in harm's way.

[what-is-love-babey-dont-hurt-me]

Liking family content is fine and with that out of the way I gotta say. The popular view of the fandom viewing Kirby and Bandana ONLY as kids and often forcing the main four into a nuclear family unit and reducing Kirby especially to a shallow baby stereotype and completely ignoring the beautiful, complex, and nuanced friendship dynamics of the main four that is right there is the greatest tragedy ever.

And the irony of a series that so greatly stresses the importance and significance of platonic relationships just to have it tossed to the side by the fandom gets me.