#can you feel the stars align?

[teathattast]

tonight the stars are falling

and tonight i'm burning endless

tonight the sky exploded

we were right to come together

we are unstoppable

[fumifooms]

What if we were both magic prodigies and it otherized us in different ways and we devoted ourselves to protecting a family member who has general other goals & priorities. What if we both did self-sacrifical devotion in opposite ways.

What if we were dark mirrors of each other and where I've grown overcontrolling you've grown complacent. What if, bought as a servant into a pretty loving home, ownership and control is what love looks like to me, and to you neglected and lonely growing up, love is gratefully taking any scraps of it you’re lent.

By belonging to someone, even if she comes back injured or fails at finding Delgal, she feels like she belongs and is cherished, by owning someone he feels safe in them not leaving him.

She’s what’s tethering him do you see… And he’s the only thing giving her direction and purpose in her state. She needs a compass and he needs a support.

They’re both so out of it 😭 It’s the weirdly intense and unearned mutual trust and reliance on each other?? They’re each other’s weird little comfort codependent teddy bear. Or at least they were headed towards that before SHE DIED THEN HE DIED THEN THEY BOTH FORGOT ABOUT EACH OTHER AND NEVER MET EVER AGAIN. Though she’s also the guard attack hound keeping him safe… And vice versa he heals her and can rewrite her very being with just one wave of his hand. They’re both so so mentally and physically vulnerable both but they cling onto each other. They can’t perceive things accurately but despite it all someway somehow they stumble into something closer to resembling companionship just before they both die. Falin is just that kind and Thistle is just that lonely. Overworked. We both haven’t lived for ourselves in a very long time, haven’t we.

They both have a similar devotion to the people they love but again the difference is that Thistle starts overtsepping while Falin is self-effacing. The other difference between them is that people care about Falin <3 People have given up on Thistle long ago, and he has given people reasons to, while people refuse to give up on Falin. Yaad has a mini arc about it dw about it it’s ok he’s not all alone in the end 😭😭 He reached out for Marcille’s hand but they already all wanted to help him, they just had to be given the chance to, Yaad just had to be given the chance to, it’s okay I’m okay

Hey what if we learned to get in touch with our own identity and the world around us and living in the present again through being in the worst codependent situationship ever.

Falin and Thistle sitting in a tree, sucking on flowers together because they’re h-u-n-g-r-y 💕💕💕

I bet he’s only ever thought of flowers as useless ornaments. Weak weeds. But she shows him they’re tasty and useful and good and pretty in their own right too and deserve existing without proving their worth and waaa <33 Thistles…... Did you know thistles taste sweet if you remove the thorns and eat them?

"Even as a chimera, her kind nature remains" you can’t suppress her in the way that matters. You can’t soothe him in the way that matters. It’s doomed. You’re doomed. It’s all doomed. Save me.

[dawnbreakersgaze]

Look, before you judge me, I want you to understand that I am beyond the ability to harm. I think Jeremiah is a babe and that is that.

Now, this is, 100% the fault of @skynapple and her amazing fic (which you should ABSOLUTELY go read right tf now) if you haven't already. It's killing me. In a good way. I'm dying in the best way possible and ASDHJKDLSJS is all I can say about how much I love it.

And if you're about to come at me like "Wtf Kay why is Jeremiah built like that?" Then I will remind you that this mfer was a lightseeker- one of the people still at MCs side fighting wanderers when Xav up and disappeared. For a couple hundred years, he was constantly whooping wanderer ass, and I will not be told he was anything other than beautifully buff 😤

This whole thing made me miss drawing so much. I love studying anatomy and bless Jeremiah for being a good sport about it lol. Maybe I should do the others when my hands allow it.

[skunkes]

was abt to make a silly post about how at this point i barter with the universe for a bf like "please id take care of him and walk him and dress him up", like a child begging for a pet, and then i think abt how as much as i want an actual pet I don't think im fit to ever have one of those either

[helielune]

love deluxe 💘

[lonely--seeker]

I feel like it takes me 2 to 4 working days to process every new Dungeons Meshi episode

[weirdcat1213]

So I started to think about queer media (as you do) and the question hit me like a truck

What is better, a subtle queer story or a explicit queer story? Why the difference?

This is gonna be long so get a snack, sit down and let's go

First off I wanna say this is not talking about queerbaiting. I'm not interested in that atm. When I say explicit vs subtle I mean the topic of queerness beyond romance, I mean stories that go further than "I can't like this person we're from the same sex oh no"

To explain myself better I'm going to touch on different pieces of media that show queerness subtly and explicitly, but those will also be divided between Japanese media and western media (oh God if you have recs on more queer media that isn't from the west nor Japan pls give it to me give it now-)

This post will have as representatives of queer Japanese media: "Our dreams at dusk", "Villain", "Requiem of the Rose King" and "Stars Align" (if applicable the manga spoilers will be kept to a minimum)

And the representatives of western media will be "Felix Ever After", "Heartstopper" and "Our Flag Means Death"

I bet now you can see how some of the media in the western group is similar to the Japanese media. All of the works mentioned are undoubtedly queer, but there's a key difference: a few of them talk about queerness with explicit terms (gay, trans, queer, etc) while others go more on vibes (the queerness is right there but its not named with labels or common terms)

Now I'm not saying the ones that are explicit are better or vice versa, but it made me think about the difference and why a method works for certain stories and not for others.

Let's go to the beginning: I was reading a recent manga called "Villain" by teniwoha and other collaborators. The manga is based in the vocaloid song of the same name. The story and themes within the song are pretty much gender-non conforming and trans people being vilified by society because they are different. But so far I can see the manga is trying to add more layers to the concept of queer people being vilified (I'll make another post about that I promise). The point is that the story explored a trans-masc nb teenager and a gay teenager who has a crush on the other person. The thing with this manga and these characters is that sometimes they're too...on the nose. Not only tries to sneak references to the song evert time it can, but some of the moments seem too classic, like if they googled "how do nb feel about being nb" and they got some testimonials from teenagers.

But that's the thing. those feelings are still valid because they belong/ed to someone. If you personally have not experience something, amplifying voices of people who have is the thing you should be doing.

All of that to say that "Villain" feels pretty explicit in my eyes and they are only in chapter 6. I strongly feel like the manga will get even more explicit because reasons (i will explain in another post i promise).

This moment reminded me to other Japanese media that are pretty explicit with queer terms, moments, etc. "Stars Align" and "Our Dreams at Dusk" present terms, reflections, etc that make queerness explicit. Characters in "Stars Align" reflect on gender identity and the future, while characters in "Our Dreams at Dusk" show the reader all the kinds of genders and sexual orientations that exist. They even touch on how they are perceived in their society.

"This is all fine" I hear you cry "but we already got stuff like that. Media that explicitly shows queerness as a way to teach the audience about it" and you're right! we have media like "Felix Ever After" and "Heartstopper". They both talk about terms, gender identity, labels, etc. Media that talks about queerness in a way that makes it the focus to teach the audience about queerness is not new.

But you need to consider the oh so precious cultural/political context. You see, I'm going to assume, my western reader, you are used to this because western media has dipped its toes on it already. After years of making queer subtext, we have seen explicit queer media in the last 10-5 years? so we are used to it. Hell, some people even prefer media like "Our Flag Means Death" because queerness is alive and present, but it's not as explicit as it could. The words "gay, polycule, lesbians, nb" etc are never said but the characters are loud in their queerness. A lot of people prefer that approach because it voices their feelings without getting...lets call it technical: in both "Our Dreams at Dusk" and "Our Flag Means Death" there are characters with no defined gender identity. they are themselves without any labels.

Japanese media is not new to the subtleness at all. Works like "Requiem of the Rose King" have already proof they have and can do queer media, but for years it has been subtle. No one says "gay, intersex, trans" etc in the manga mentioned and yet readers knew the queer themes explored in the manga. It is just recently that japanese people are being more vocal and have the chance to show queerness in media (I'm aware they have been protesting for years I only mean in media). Media like "Villain", "Our Dreams at Dusk" and "Stars Align" are not explicit because japanese people just got the great idea to talk about it after the west did, it's because being explicit about queerness works in their political and cultural context. From what I've been told, currently most japanese people are accepting but they will ask you to "keep it at home." In a situation like that, no wonder why they are going for more explicit media recently. They don't care western media has been doing so for years now, it is their culture and their fight. There is still subtle japanese queer media (monster 2023 ily) but their creation process does not follow the creative process queer media in the west does.

So back to my questions: What is better, a subtle queer story or a explicit queer story? Why the difference?

The answers are short: both and because they belong to different political and cultural environments. Representation is important, but we need to consider the place it comes from before criticizing it.

What should you choose if you create a queer story? idk, whatever fits you. whatever fits the story you want to tell.

[championsofthegate]

//some sunday headcanons about how dominant/submissive people are under the cut? it's more likely than you think

feat. Gale, Ayla, Rosemary, Cietan, and Klio

Gale - So like. Gale thinks he's more submissive. And he is, sometimes. He enjoys letting his partner take control and not having to think for a while.

But hells if he doesn't like being in control, having a partner who submits to his whims. It takes a while for him to actually share that with his partner, because it's something he's a little bit afraid of. Of going too far with it. (Never mind that he's a soft dom, he doesn't like being too rough, he just likes being in charge lol)

Ayla - she's in the middle, tho trends more towards submissive. She really enjoys being tied up and manhandled a little bit. When she's the one in charge, she likes to tease her partner and draw it out for as long as she can

Rosemary - definitely trends more towards dominant, but can take on whatever role to suit her partner. Mostly she just enjoys sex, in all it's forms. Definitely not afraid to try something more out there

Cietan -definitely more submissive, although he doesn't really feel one way or the other tbh. He doesn't have a strong sex drive, but he's happy to indulge his partner on occasion and is willing to try whatever roll they'd like him too

Klio - definitely more submissive, although brat submissive. She will make you work for it but certainly doesn't mind if you get rough with her because of it

[seilon]

the happiest ive been in any singular moment in probably over a year was a moment last week where my friends and i were driving to a campsite having accidentally taken a tiny insanely long and winding mountain road to get there, somehow i wasn’t carsick, the windows were rolled down, we were surrounded by nothing but woods for miles, and livin la vida loca was playing on the car stereo

[esaari]

hi hello feel like i disappeared a little bit 🤏

[mystery-star]

BEHOLD: 

The blorbo alignmentchart

(Yes it was inspired by some characters played by Russell Crowe...)

[haruzen-ampy]

i won(got runner-up but still) an art competition so if you recognize this background,no you don't :) (free to use background but you need to credit me)

look at the guy!!!!! the winner!!!!!the special guy!!!! (this was announced 2 days ago)

[talkorsomething]

I was asked if i was restless at the appointment, and at the time i said no, but now i'm realizing that's EXACTLY what's going on :'5

in theory i should be taking it as easy as possible & chilling & watching tv or whatever it is people do but like . I just CANT somehow. Not even that i don't want to - i just can't seem to make myself do it. So i've definitely accidentally downplayed whatever's going on......

Anyways, for reasons i (shouldn't) say it looks like i'll probably have to figure out how to get another job when the odds are stacked against me. It's not just that i'm autistic, it's also ... [redacted]. I tried something that i thought would work & she doesn't even seem to realize it's actually MASSIVELY fucked me over. And, well, i do, in fact, need more support to get to the level of "actual functioning adult" that she seems to think i'm already at.

Just... i can function well enough at home that i don't think about it, but there's certain aspects of living that i'm going to need taught, and throwing me to the wolves in the name of "teaching yourself how to be independent" really isn't going to work out.

[tsnbrainrot]

.

[frecklystars]

GOD!!!!! 😭😭💓💗💖💓💓💞💞💕💟💝💘💝💝💞💗💘💝💟💓💗💞💕💟💝💘💓💖💓💕💕

[on-a-sunbeam]

guys when they accidentally play mgs3 in like four days