#does this appeal to anybody aside from me

[noro-noro-noro]

xia ji lost at sea & succumbing to the madness. with tits to match

[888-fr]

WHY I DON'T RETIRE MY SKINS: an essay

Disclaimer that I'm speaking from a point of being established here, because not everybody can afford to run their skin shop like I do. I don't judge less established artists for needing to limit their skins because they can't afford to print a run with only 2 people on it. I'm also not judging anybody who does retire their skins after a set number of prints - whole different matter! I'm giving an opinion piece based on my own personal thoughts about running my own skin shop.

Okay, now that's out of the way. I really dislike the idea of time-limiting my skins. There's just no actual justification for me, as an established skin artist, to limit skins I know will sell... aside from prestige, and putting buying pressure on my customers. So there's a couple of reasons I don't like that:

1) Erodes trust in the artist.

Yes, I could probably make more money if I kept my skins limited so people HAD to pick up my skin on release. Maybe even all 4 colors of the skin, including the one they don't really keep in their hoard. Just in case they want it down the line but it won't be available anymore.

Is this good business practice though? Do I want people to start feeling panicked every time I ping for a release, because they just picked up a new project and really really CAN'T afford to be buying skins right now but there's 5 colorways of my skin available and they'll probably be resold for 2kg as soon as they retire?

Personally, no! I want people excited when I ping, not feeling dread in their hearts and budgets. I want people to be thinking: 'Awesome, a new skin! I can't afford that right now but I know he always keeps a few on the AH at print price even after preorders end. Even if I can't buy a skin just this moment, I'll be sure to keep an eye on his thread for when I have gems again.' Or: "Awesome, a new skin! This one doesn't appeal to my lair aesthetic, so I will just nod and smile. I don't feel the need to buy it in case it gets popular for resale, because it will always be on the AH for print price."

People tell me about unsubscribing from GASP because they get anxiety being pinged for skins they want but can't have. So I want people to stay on my pinglist because there's no pressure on them whatsoever to purchase anything. It'll always be here, okay? In the meantime, just enjoy the art, maybe preview it on a scry or two. I'll be here if you're back in three weeks, or three months.

2) Passive income!

I lied. I probably would've made less money time limiting all my skins than by keeping my skins restocked. A couple of reasons for this:

- My earlier skins sold worse. This isn't psychology, it's just numbers. Some of my most popular stock were made early on in 2021/2022. I didn't have that many sales then, so could you imagine if I had retired them immediately after that? There's 230something copies of SAILOR'S WARNING out in the world right now. If that skin was time limited after preorders died down, I would've sold "only" 50 forever.

- People see my shop stock whenever you ping for a new releases. I get 3-4 sales off auction house whenever I release something new and people check my front page. It's not a lot but it's consistent.

- It's a win-win situation, okay? If a skin is popular, there's no reason to time limit it to drive up sales. If it IS popular, then people are going to see it on other people's dragons, go "damn that's a nice skin," and maybe do an AH search for it. And if there's a cheap print price copy available, they're gonna buy it.

2) Reprints are easy!

It was a lot more annoying to keep track of queue numbers and inventory back when reprints had to go through regular queue for a week. Did I put in 10 copies of SUNHEAVEN already? Wait, are my kitsune aethers back yet? How many of MOLOCH are still listed?

Now I can put in a blueprint and get my reprint instantly. No fuss at all.

3) I don't want to buy into the 'this is a retired skin' hype...

This is just personal preference. It makes me feel a little bad when a public skin I made is popular and people can't afford to have it. I'm not judging anybody who does like it when their skins are rare, special, and sought after.

It's just... I get that part of my brain scratched from my customs. They're gorgeous, they're 5 prints, they're on the AH for 30kg if you really want one. Most importantly they're niche and high coverage enough that even if someone hadn't paid me to draw an exclusive skin specifically for their dragon, they'd never do well as a public skin anyway.

Here are some tips for people looking into keeping their skins unlimited:

- You don't need to do it like I do.

Blueprints are expensive. Even I don't have my entire catalogue stocked, only the ones I noticed always have reprint requests. For example, only SAILOR'S WARNING out of 4 total colors for my impm skins is kept stocked because the others don't sell enough to justify it.

If you can't afford to stock them 10 at a time, have the customer provide the blueprints. Shelving your skins but having them be reprintable with a BP and a fee (350g is good for 850g print prices; remember, 500g of that went to you purchasing blueprints in the public run, so it doesn't make sense to charge customers a whole 850g when they're already providing the blueprint) is a good alternative to permanently retiring your skins. You don't get a ton of people who can afford that, but the option is there for people who want it.

- Notice which skins sell!

If you already have a good amount of skins in catalogue and have trouble figuring out which ones to begin stocking, you can start by checking in with your pinglist. Poll them and see which ones you'd want to rerun.

- Don't have so many recolors.

It's a law of the universe that they more recolors you have, the worse they sell collectively. I usually do 2, no more than 3. If you have to time limit your skins to get 6 recolors to hit print, then it's time to cut those recolors down.

There's reasons for this: it's choice paralysis, people may want 'complete sets' and will skip out if you're making that complete set cost 4kg total, and it just plain doesn't make sense for very similar color schemes to cover 4 different skins. Feel free to print personal recolors or have custom recolors open.

[leillaaaa]

In just the first chapter of the manga, Yashiro actively seeks out a supernatural to get a boy to like her. In her words, "I want the guy I like to fall in love with me this instant!" She states this just after calling Hanako shallow for brightening up after she called him cool. This is a bit of a hypocritical statement since even with our current knowledge, she sought out a school supernatural to get a boy to like her instead of establishing a real connection herself.

The only thing she can say about the boy she likes, Teru, is that, "He's hot, has good grades, and is very nice. He's amazing... Our school's prince!" These are most likely things she's assumed of Teru, or heard about him.

Yashiro grows nervous when it comes to putting herself out there. She's terrified of actually speaking to Teru, or getting him to like her. In her opinion, she's not the type of girl that guys fall for. She sees Aoi as the pinacle of what girls like, of what everyone likes. Even then, she is just putting Aoi on a pedestal. While Aoi is admired, because of her social status and persona, she is unable to truly be herself around anyone, even the two people closest to her. Those people being Akane and Yashiro.

When Hanako is asking her to name special abilities she has, Yashiro immediately thinks of gardening. Her reasoning for getting into it was a shallow act, again, to get a boy to like her. Yashiro only began gardening because this boy she had a crush on off-handedly mentioned that he likes feminine girls.

Even after three years of trying to confess, Yashiro established no connection with this boy. He even remarked, "You like me? I don't even know you. Gross." Even if the boy turned out to be a bit of a jerk, Yashiro most likely would have been kindly turned down by a different guy anyways, because she's never tried to get to know the guys she likes.

Yashiro has a problem where when someone has a physically appealing appearance, she glorifies their strengths and good traits, completely ignoring their flaws and refusing to look into them. Even in the Misaki Stairs arc, Yashiro is distracted by the beauty of Yako, a supernatural about to kill her. Later, when No. 6 kidnaps Aoi, and Aoi gets Yashiro to fall into the hole, Yashiro brushes it off immediately and easily forgives her because she can't see "her perfect Aoi" doing something so cruel like that of her own free will.

In short, because she glorifies popularity and people's beauty, Yashiro is also unable to recognize that beautiful people can also have troubles.

When Hanako says, "Anybody will do for you, huh?" He's recognizing that Yashiro barely knows anything about either of the boys she likes, easily able to substitute one pretty face for another. When he calls her out for not even knowing this boy's first name, she guiltily brushes it aside and pretends she didn't hear it, so she doesn't have to take it into consideration.

Yashiro doesn't want to think about how her thought process is flawed.

Before the first chapter ends, Yashiro does realize that she had been selfish with her pursuit of Teru and that so far, her way of thinking had been flawed.

Still, throughout the series, Yashiro has shown that she still glorifies popularity and beauty. She is always thinking of how, if she were more beautiful, if she didn't have "daikon legs," then she would be popular. And her daydreams of being popular show a Yashiro so far from herself, she is unrecognizable. A girl with no flaws, who is admired by all and sought out by boys, handome boys. (Someone so perfect that they don't even seem human.)

This is what Yashiro thinks Aoi's life is like, even if that's far from the truth. She does care about Aoi, but she is just barely beginning to understand her, even after their years of friendship.

Time and time again, Yashiro has been fooled by shallow promises of beauty and popularity. She wants to be loved and admired, she wants things to be "perfect." In the Picture Perfect arc, when No. 6 captures Aoi, and so on, she's also realized whenever she's grasped perfection, that she likes her flawed life. She likes things being imprefect, because those imperfect things are hers.

I have a feeling that, soon, Yashiro will have to face the fact that she doesn't truly know Aoi, and have a realization that their relationship has to change. Yashiro needs to stop chasing the perfect life, and accept the one she has.

(@mari-lair has a very good analysis of Yashiro and Aoi's friendship!)

I'm also hoping that Yashiro realizes that she doesn't actually like these perfect guys, just the idea of them.

[aclockmaker]

WIP Wednesday Thursday because if I don’t post something I might die :)

Based on this post

steddie, cw drugs

Find another weed guy, I can’t fuck with you… uhhmm nothing personal I can’t fall in love with another straight guy and you’re Everything I love so if I see you again i’ll never let go of your hand so yeah

Eddie types out the text with one hand, flat in bed, despondent. His other hand is busy laying across his eyes dramatically. He’s squinting out from under it to type. He deletes the message without sending it. Again. He knows he’s going to see Steve again. Aside from everything else, he needs the money. He doesn’t have that many customers. It would be stupid to not go.

Hey man, you free to come by tonight? Steve had texted. Like he was talking to a buddy. Eddie usually sold Steve weed, sometimes shrooms. Sometimes his roommate Robin was there and that made things a little easier. Usually Steve asked and Eddie stayed to smoke and that made things a little worse.

Steve asks today. And Robin isn’t home.

“God, work was—never mind, I don’t even want to bore you with the gory details,” Steve says. He does something in finance, like his dad, and he hates it. Eddie wishes he didn’t know this. “But anyway, I really needed this. Thanks for coming over.”

“You literally pay me,” Eddie reminds him, the last threads of his sanity wearing thin in the face of Steve’s unnecessary niceness, “so.”

“I know, man, but still,” Steve says, pops off his baseball cap and fixes his beautiful hair underneath, tugs it back down. He looks like even more of a jock in the hat and unfortunately it does nothing to kill Eddie’s boner for him. If he’s honest, it’s part of the appeal. Sometimes he literally plays basketball right before calling Eddie, and he answers the door sweaty in low-cut tank tops, thick chest hair on display. “You want a beer?”

Steve drinks terrible beer. Unfortunately Eddie would like to tease him about it and kiss the side of his mouth while introducing him to something decent. “Sure, why not,” Eddie says, because it’s still free beer and also he’s an idiot.

Part of being a dealer is seeing inside people’s lives. Just briefly, though. That’s what you have to remember—you’re the interloper. Eddie delivers all over downtown Indianapolis—does it to put himself through school, slowly. He doesn’t want anybody else like he wants Steve. Has maybe never wanted anybody this much and he’s had his fair share of ill-advised hookups with people he was half in love with who didn’t care about him enough.

It makes it worse (better) that he knows nothing’s ever going to happen with Steve.

Steve hands him a Sam Adams without a trace of embarrassment and Eddie sighs internally, takes a pull.

He gets out the lunch box he deals from out of his bag and puts it on the table. Steve doesn’t like it when he does it right away, like he’s trying to make it fast and get out of there. He’s never said anything, but Eddie can, like, tell. Doesn’t like to make him sad and shit. It seems like his life is kind of—Eddie doesn’t want to say sad, but he never talks about his parents except to say that his dad did such and such new shitty, annoying thing at work, pressured him and made him feel not good enough. He doesn’t say it exactly like that, but Eddie gets the picture. He wants to tell Steve he thinks he’s good enough, and all kinds of other ridiculous shit.

Steve clinks the neck of his beer bottle against Eddie’s and takes a grateful sip. It’s the middle of summer and hot, and even the central air in Steve’s building is struggling to keep up.

“Anything good?” Steve asks, eyeing the bags of drugs Eddie’s pulling out.

“This is decent,” Eddie says, flicking one. “Mostly sativa, but it’s like… friendly. I’ve gotten good feedback.” To be more accurate, one person had texted and asked for the same thing as last time. But still.

“Whatever you say,” Steve says, like always. He’s very easygoing about his drugs. With him it really seems to be more about the journey than the destination.

[hunter-sylvester]

How do you feel about people shipping Kevin, Hunter, and Emily together? Like a polyamorous relationship.

Hey, Anon 🤘

I won't lie, Polyflower is not for me. (Polyflower = Kevin/Hunter/Emily as a couple. At least that's what I've seen some people call it and it made sense to me so it's what I call it too.)

As for how I feel about other people shipping it? I don't really care. I would never want to tell other people what they can and cannot ship. It's all live and let live as far as I'm concerned.

It's also not as much of an "ick" for me as some things are, but I do tend to avoid fics that have polyflower in them because I just don't personally enjoy it.

I wouldn't typically focus on the stuff I don't like but since you asked I'll briefly mention where my hangups are.

I do want to stress that this is all my personal hangups/opinion. I am not trying to shit on what anybody else likes.

So there's mainly two points where it misses for me.

Point 1: I don't see the attraction between Hunter & Emily. At all. I tend to hc him as gay but even if I hc him as multisexual in some way, I just can't see it working with Emily. (I know the ship is about all 3 of them but the Hunter/Emily part is where I have the issue if that makes sense. Like regardless of Kevin, I can't see the other two being into each other.)

I think I've seen some people point to this moment as showing there being something from Hunter towards Emily:

Which like...I almost get it but not quite?? It could just be my bias because I see it in his eyes when he looks at Kevin but here I just ultimately do not. I think he's looking at her like: "damn, she looks badass." And she does. She looks cool. In my opinion he's impressed by her but not like...swooning or anything, you know?

Altho don't get me started on people interpreting THIS look as attraction. I do think that's a little silly, personally. He's got nothing but contempt in his eyes here imo

Boy is grinding his teeth in quiet disdain. We can see the start of a fucking sneer. The camera cuts to Emily and when it cuts back to Hunter THIS is the face he's making:

Like idk about other people but that's not a look I'd give someone I'm in any way into.

But even if we put what Hunter would want aside...I can't see Emily being into him either?? It just doesn't mesh for me. Not in that way at least.

Like I can see them being close, for sure. Some of the WIPs I'm working on involve more of Hunter & Emily's friendship post-canon, like more stuff about them all as a band. And I can see them having a relationship that is close and involves like hugging and stuff like the occasional forehead kiss or something but it'd never be romantic to me.

It fundamentally just doesn't click for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Point 2: This is the one I really don't want anyone to misunderstand. Because it is not in any way something that applies to my thoughts or feelings on what anyone else does in their real life. Like when I say something doesn't appeal to me or I don't 'get' it, that's just a personal thing. It doesn't mean I think it's in any way bad or silly or whatever. IRL or in fandom. This is just my personal preference.

Group-relationship style polyamory doesn't appeal to me.

Like, polyamory actually does appeal to me, but just not in that way?? I like the concept of having multiple 1 on 1 relationships at the same time if that makes sense??

But on a core personal level I don't get the appeal of 1 relationship consisting of 3+ people. I don't know WHY it doesn't click for me but it just doesn't.

So it doesn't really appeal to me to read or write about it either.

TL;DR: While it's definitely not for me, I really don't care if other people like it & ship it. We all like what we like and don't what we don't. It's just not something I've really been interested in exploring myself.

Thank you for asking, Anon 🤘

[its-a-kasshu-thing]

Escaflowne Voice Meme

@coverteyes suggested I do this so here’s my take on Escaflowne as a whole:

Anybody that wants to fill it out feel free. I will tag it ‘escaflowne voice meme’ to easily find the original.

1. When did I first discover Escaflowne?

I first heard about it around the time (2012) I discovered Gundam (G Gundam and Gundam Wing to be exact) but never watched it. I saw many of the English voice actors for Gundam Wing were in Escaflowne like Kirby Morrow (Van/Trowa) for example. I figured I’d give it a shot just recently this year (2023) and liked it a lot. Yasuhiro Imagawa was originally set to be the director but instead he left the project to work on G Gundam. I thought Escaflowne looked interesting regardless but add a mere mentioning of Imagawa, I was sold for sure. (Fun fact it was Imagawa that came up with the name ‘Escaflowne’) G Gundam is my all time favorite anime so I’m glad things worked out the way they did and the director that actually worked on Escaflowne did a better job then what was initially planned with adding Tarot and making Hitomi into the strong female lead we know and love. I ended up watching the Funimation dub and I believe it was a stellar performance.

2. Favorite character and why?

Van hands down. Him and Domon (main character of G Gundam) share the same Japanese voice actor which I think is kinda funny because their characters are pretty similar. Glad that the director kept some of Imagawa’s initial concepts. I also just really like Van. Like Domon, he’s pretty relatable to me and those are the characters I go for. I loved the way his character progressed throughout the series too and I just want him to be happy. He’s quite adorable :)

3. What do you think happens after Hitomi leaves Gaea?

Don’t know. All I can say is she’ll be back lol. Aside from her mother, I don’t really think there is anything calling her back to Earth. Her friend likes her crush and he seems to like her back plus she seems really depressed when she does return. Why would she go back when she could be a queen in Gaea? Not to mention, she finds true love in Van which isn’t easy to come by so why just throw that away? She can take her mom with her and start a Tarot reading business :D

4. Least favorite plot point?

When Hitomi did that reading for Millerna regarding her marriage to Dryden. I like Dryden and he wasn’t a bad guy at all. He literally saved Van when he paid the bill for Escaflowne’s repairs. Plus, I couldn’t see the appeal anymore for Allen either towards the end… I know Hitomi is only fifteen and understandably boy crazy but that was just plain mean and manipulative what she did. Van suffered from that dirty stunt too.

5. What would you want to see in a possible sequel?

The sappy ending Imagawa would have definitely delivered lol. Hitomi could help Van rebuild Fanelia. I honestly think this is what the movie should have been but instead they took out the Tarot and I personally didn’t like the way her depression was handled. Her friend literally laughed at her suicide note (what kind of friend is that?) and her depression was already starting to show at the end of the anime. I think they should’ve just went with it as a continuation of the anime and eventually bring her back to Gaea to stay but that’s just my opinion.

Thank you for inviting me to take part in this. It was fun to really organize my thoughts on the series!

[pridelessdaydreamer]

PLOTTER / SHIPPER

taken from: nat's linoan!

tagging: flutters my lashes like a funny lil guy :eye::sparkles:

1. CONNECTIONS

write about how our muses could connect with each other! ex. what does your muse like to do that other people would be involved in? do they have interests that other people might share?

Linhardt is a Black Eagle, and one native to Fódlan. Any who decide to study the politics of the continent would easily stumble upon his house, and connections can be drawn from there (accurate or otherwise).

She is a frequenter of the library though, even if she's most often found there late at night. Aside from her chronic reading, she also likes to fish! Not competitively though. She's not that competitive.

If you can't find them in class, the library, or at the Fishing Grounds though, just wander around the monastery a bit—they're probably asleep underneath a tree somewhere. Or in their room asleep, in which case, good luck finding them.

2. PLATONIC

write about your muse and their concept of friendship. ex. how is your muse like with friends? do they make friends easily or do they find it difficult to connect with others?

Friendship for Lin is... interesting, to say the least. They'll regard you much the same as they would any other person, but perhaps with slightly less rudeness/sass (unless you're really close, then it's worse *cough cough* CASPAR *cough cough*). The chance of summoning them with the click of your heels increases by 0.5%, so that's also a neat bonus! Really, the big thing is that they'll consciously worry about you now (when they think it's necessary to worry, otherwise, you're on your own).

The thing is, once you actually manage to pin him down, so long as you aren't asking him to do work all the time, you'd be pretty alright in his book! The threshold for 'friendship' though is rather hard to pin down—one day you're acquaintances and the next you're friends. It's not really easy to draw the line.

I can't say she makes friends easily considering she... doesn't exactly try, to be quite frank (it's part of the reason the previous bullet is so nebulous). She'd be completely content being alone forever (minus that one hamster), and she doesn't really rely on others that much except to do work she'd rather not do! Actively seeking out a friend isn't really something she does. I can't say she struggles either though—there is simply no effort made at all. Alas.

3. ANTAGONISTIC

write about your muse and the conflicts they have with other people. ex: who are they on bad terms with? what kind of people do they not get along well with? how do they act around people they don’t like?

Hubert. Also Ferdinand. Edelgard to an extent. Caspar sometimes (it's a best friends thing) /j. Yeah. Yeah.

To elaborate, anybody who expects her to put in more than the minimum amount of effort gotta be joking fr! It's not that bad if it's a misunderstanding, but if you try to force it? Yikes. (Edelgard ain't that bad fr cuz she knows when to quit! Also when to appeal. She's cool ong)

Admittedly, antagonism for Linhardt is basically the same as their normal behavior, just snarkier. More witty rebuttals and sharp comments—this man can never be anything but blunt! They're already very likely to just walk away from a conversation, but if they don't like you? Ohoho!

Won't lose sleep over it though. That's a bit too much.

4. ROMANTIC

write about your muse and their relationship with romance. ex. are they searching for love or not interested in it in the slightest? what’s their dating history like? how do they act around crushes? how would they treat their partner if they were in a relationship?

Okay 'cause this is hilarious when the muse is aromantic gwahaha!

This is an aroace lil guy—completely disinterested in romance for romance's sake (because someone tell me how he tells how many different girls they're gonna have kids together in his A-supports? Also in basically every instance it's got something to do with crests and studying them. He's a bit insane).

Their dating history is completely blank. There is actually nothing to see here.

Similarly, there are no crushes for her to act different around! This one is fairly normal (<- this post was brought to you by the Aspec Gang)

As for how he'd treat his partner if he was dating—the same way he would act if they were friends? lol? Literally nothing has changed in his mind except that there might be kisses or something. (Is there a book he can read somewhere on this? Probably.)

Oh well she's probably gonna get married off for political purposes anyway. (This post was brought to you by the Noble Clique.)

[jessicashotcousinthescmptsbrsta]

Wednesday Season 2 Theories

Ok, this is a super random reason to dust off this account, but I don't really have any body to talk to this about and am too awkward to see if anybody in the discord groups I have been ignoring are talking about this show. Rambling aside, let's try to get to brass tax.

So originally, I was only going to talk about one theory in particular, but between the time I started writing this post, and began writing this paragraph a little plot thread started bugging me. Now we know the big cliffhanger was the fact that somebody is stalking Wednesday, and no doubt that will be one of the big mysteries in the next season, if not the main one.

I'm not going to pretend like I know who it is, but I have a hunch, that this is not really about Wednesday. Think about it, the stalker contacted her on her phone, which sh had literally just got that day. It's not like her number would be available anywhere else as at this point, not even Wednesday knows her own number. So, unless the stalker is some kinda psychic, which granted could be possible, the most likely scenario is that the stalker was primarily observing Xavier, and decided to threaten Wednesday only after seeing her get attention from her target yet again. If this is true, I suppose the next season will focus on Xavier a lot. Which presently doesn't sound appealing, but hopefully they make him less annoying next season, cause right he's not the vibe.

My original theories concerned Tyler and what he's role might be next season. Now what I think happens to him hinges on whether Laurel/Thornhill is dead or alive. When I first watched the show, I thought it was obvious that she was dead, however since we technically never see her die, there's a equal chance she might be being kept alive for Wednesday to prolong her torture. So here is what this might mean for Tyler.

If Laurel is in fact alive, then it's safe to say that his primary motivation will be rescuing, and possibly avenging her should she die mid season. Pretty cut and dry.

Now, if Laurel is in fact dead, or if she does die later on in the season, what exactly does that mean for Tyler's autonomy. Are his actions independent, or does ownership of the thrall over him transfer to whoever killed Laurel? Can you imagine the hijinks? Wednesday would be annoyed to have him following her around, or if Xavier is the one take over, maybe that will finally give them an interesting storyline. In any case, Tyler will probably drop the "Gee, Shucks" spiel and maybe grow a real personality. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[cleopatrachampagne]

man, i’m rewatching the following, as i do every six months or so for the nostalgia of it all and it really does seem to get worse over time but in reality i just think other media has gotten better or at least i’ve had more access to diverse media that has raised my standards significantly and now representation has improved so much that as an adult i’ve forgotten what it was like to be so starved for it that i didn’t care about quality.

the majority of the characters and media that i was obsessed with as a young person were villains and i assumed that was because i just didn’t know any better but the core of the problem was that the protagonists in nearly everything were generic wasp dudes and the heroes aside from him had to fit neatly into archetypes that served his story. every “good” woman was constrained by the need for her entire being to fit his romantic interests, every poc, disabled or gay character had to be the after school special or the token friend to exist as evidence he was so good that he was totally not racist and nice to the weirdos / down with the homos. meanwhile, the villains got plenty of attention yet got to do and be whatever the fuck they wanted because they were the bad guys. when i look back at my old fandoms and ships and all that it’s basically a “psycho lesbian” trope collage, along with some gnc villains and the big bads’ murderous girlfriends sprinkled in. like, the hunger games is probably the first time i can remember reading an appealing, relatable (in the sense of being flawed and unlikeable in many very real ways) female protagonist with dimension outside of romantic intent and outside of books or horror the situation was ten times as dire.

of course i hated claire and loved emma when the following first aired; claire got zero personality outside of being an object for the leading men to fight over while emma got to have a pixie cut, a personality and kill anybody who gave her shit over it. two main villains with loads of screen time were a compelling, human, multi-dimensional gay couple when that simply wasn’t even a concept in mainstream media only a decade or so ago. i actually wept when korra and asami openly got together because i was so in love with azula and ty lee who got to be subtly sapphic due solely to the fact that they were evil and here two heroic ladies were as a couple in the sequel to the original show. like, it’s odd that i never put two and two together about the fact that villains were appealing because they were intense, flawed, diverse and often gay and lesbian coded people, not because i was irredeemably awful.

i’m wearing a weathered slytherin scrunchie gifted to me eons ago on my wrist while taking a break from a passion paper on protecting endangered tarantulas for the field i’ve been pursuing for years as i type this and quite honestly i can’t help but wonder for the first fucking time how much of my lasting affinity and compassion for the dark side despite having long grown out of my teenage edgelord phase is because during my formative years i may have always rooted for the heroes but i only ever got to see myself in the villains.

it’s kinda sad that it turns out that my entire adolescence had been some scooby doo shit in which fred rips off the monster mask and it turns out my morals were never faulty; the morals of the culture i grew up in were.

(except fred is kevin bacon in this case i guess?)

[onewomancitadel]

Hey, it’s me! Been a while since I’ve last been around. Anyway, I think it might have been you(?) who mentioned some stuff about not wanting to go through the Beacon arc again and seeing Jaune’s failed attempts at romancing Weiss, and I legitimately gotta say that I agree, more so on the former part: whenever I read RWBY fanfiction or talk with somebody else about the show, it’s like a good 3 out of every 5 times they’re stuck in some kind of bizarre stasis where they literally cannot move beyond the first three seasons, and maybe 4 and 5. One of the reasons I actually really like a lot of your stories so far/your blog, aside from filling my desperate Knightfall addiction, is that it’s actually pretty forward-looking with all it’s speculations and such rather than just constantly going back to the same “Stations of Canon” over and over and over again. I don’t know, maybe it’s because the Beacon Arc hits with a lot more people, or maybe I’m the odd one out. Anyway, really wish you the best of luck, and hope you continue with all your great theories and stories!

Hi again! I was wondering how you were getting on! (:

Yes, that was me lol, but that's also because I'm a baby who can't handle non-hypermonogamous romance/the idea that my pet characters in my pet OTP have ever been with anybody else (both of them, this isn't a gender thing lol). So that's why I didn't really want to rewatch it. I fully admit that I have a bias there I try desperately to account for, lest someone think I've got the wrong textual interpretation.

Putting that aside though, I do like what Jaune's crush on Weiss does in the long-term of his character development - I do find that 'this is the person I should like, and also attempt to woo' entitlement which transforms into 'ok, now you've got the most impossible romance on your hands with the very last person who could ever possibly love you, how do you feel' quagmire a lot of fun. I also like that effect of Jaune tries to woo a princess -> Weiss doesn't want to be a princess; Cinder wants to be a Maiden. It really writes itself. You can certainly see that in The Distance Which Fools the Skimming Eye lol

But yes, underscoring that is my general feeling that I don't find myself attached to the Beacon era, and so much of the extracanon material appeals to the era. I was considering, however, that in terms of extracanon material, Beacon era is the easiest to write for so as to not conflict with the running canon; it's actually pretty serious if you write derivations to it from V4 and onwards and could have major consequences. It's less of a big deal during the Beacon arc, working around those more basic emotional beats, and ones which are already well-established with all of the consequences mostly known.

With that being said, I have been a fan since V1, and I'm not trying to do the 'ummmm actually I liked it before everybody else didddd' stunt but more to demonstrate I'm not someone who walked in post-Beacon and am trying to change the fandom. I also have a lot of respect for the Beacon era and generally the foundation of the show... I feel like that should go without saying. But I also think part of the problem is that in reading the Beacon era comprehensively and tonally, you have to include V3. You have to. You can't get the idea of the Beacon era just from V1-2 alone when it seemed like just a tropey fighting school anime.

I would put down part of that conception of the show to the production schedule and, well, how they were doing what they could. Personally I do find it pretty impressive knowing what team they were working with, and a lot of the concepts like alchemical storytelling go back to the origin of the show (and arguably if like they said early on they had like ten-twelve volumes planned - I think that was said around V2 by one of them - the monomythic structure was already there), like red/white/black/yellow - or, black, white, yellow, red - is from stages of alchemical transformation. Of course there is that very sombre note of the show with Monty's passing, but beyond his fighting choreography you can see those touches in the literary esoterica, I feel - particularly the alchemy there. I love R/WBY lol, I'm not someone who hates the Beacon era, but I love R/WBY-as-a-whole.

But the thing to me that specifically makes the Beacon era more interesting is that the Huntsman academies are part of the farce of Salem and Ozma's ongoing conflict, with her Grimm puppets and his little heroes. That kind of performative play is my favourite kind of thing. Salem and Ozma's backstory recontextualising the entire show is really some of my favourite, exciting stuff, and I love stories which keep rhyming, and I love breaking the cycle of reincarnation lol. So ofc I am going to be interested in the other end of things, which is how do you redeem the idea of a hero, the idea of a monster, how do you fix Salem and Ozma's mess, what is this all going to amount to etc. I want to see the transformation. I think that the more simplistic setting of Beacon is a way to really achieve that feeling in the longterm, and to represent that real unseating. It's what makes V4 quite special to me. Now you see why I like Cinder so much though - she's really representative of that narrative violence and change.

I would say that in terms of fandom trends, the R/WBY Tumblr fandom is itself pretty forward-looking, but it does certainly have its own problems. That really goes without saying. I would say that on Tumblr I encounter significantly less fans who are stuck on the idea of Beacon, but do get stuck on other ideas and get upset when they don't happen. I think that's a natural part of every fandom, but there is something very special about the Beacon era-obsessed R/WBY fandom lol.

I do wonder how much of that is R/WBY's fault itself, but I've been in tons of fandoms with similar problems, so maybe reading/visual comprehension is a persistent issue, or sometimes the wrong narrative language is being spoken. I mean, really a lot of my beliefs about R/WBY don't come from a difficult-to-access position. They really do just tell you what's going to happen and what needs to happen lol. I do think there are some broader media criticism issues undergirding this though, and that's kind of a separate topic.

But no, I don't think you're the odd one out, at least on Tumblr in my experience. In my opinion you do get a much, much broader range of opinion on Tumblr. Both Discord and Reddit encourage a converging opinion, whereas the microblogging style of Tumblr means you have slightly more room to hold your own court. Of course there are still problems here, I mean I've seen it all, and at one point Tumblr was being blamed for fandom convergence problems, but I don't think we were prepared for Twitter. I would say that in terms of my own fandom surveys - since I am a fandom voyeur and like keeping track of what people are talking about, in fandoms where I have less emotional stakes - Tumblr is much more diverse in opinion and type of fan than other platforms, for sure, and the tagging system means that even people with no followers can still have their opinions heard. Things you said six months ago or two years ago are still being read and responded to, they don't just disappear.

I also used to frequent r/R/WBY, I know what I'm talking about lol. I quit at the end of V5 because there were so many users celebrating Cinder's 'death'. Really most fandom subreddits are just not worth the time, they're also so much less creative spaces. The one thing I went there for was the post-episode discussion though, and that was fun for a little while.

My point though is that yes, you're probably going to feel excluded in fandom spaces which are on Discord, Reddit etc., with this sort of opinion, unless you join different servers or something. It can make you feel sort of crazy lol. I'm not in any R/WBY Discord servers and I imagine that the other anonymous ask mentioning people saying shit about Knightfall probably came from there. I'm very critical of Discord servers overtaking and replacing fandom spaces. It just doesn't seem conducive to the best parts of fandom and I've seen what modding powers do to people. Really the best part of Tumblr for me is writing a really long post and that not violating any rules whatsoever and nobody can tell me what to do. XD XD People can just unfollow/block me if they don't like it!!! It's so freeing!!

Thank you for reading my blog and my fanfic, I do appreciate that a lot. I really do like the opportunity to share my ideas, especially about stuff which sometimes runs counter-fandom, and I'm glad it resonates. Admittedly I do often feel pretty self-conscious, especially about canon speculation, and well, my fanfic as well. I am not going to lie about that.

Thanks for your ask and hope you have a good day! Thanks again! <3

[pocket-size-cthulhu]

I'm watching Wednesday on net flicks and I'm generally enjoying it but who would I be if I didn't also gripe about it?

Here are all my gripes (so far) about the Wednesday TV show

Spoilers ahead obviously

1. Character consistency across the franchise & general lack of awareness of who the characters are

So I haven't watched that much Addams family stuff, almost certainly not enough to have these strong of opinions about characterization, but it feels like they missed the point of everyone's characterization. They wanted to make everyone goth without recognizing what actually made them unique and fun, and not just a goth family. Everyone seems so much more... Normal. And it's kind of annoying.

Examples:

Gomez and Morticia are horrified at the idea of either of them being implicated in a murder. I'd think they would be delighted.

The parents want Wednesday to go somewhere where she "fits in" when this has never seemed to bother them before.

Wednesday is almost joyless in this. I don't feel like she was joyless in the other stuff, just that she kept a straight face while doing things she enjoyed - but she did them with a lot of gusto. In this, she's like constantly annoyed.

The idea, if I'm understanding the franchise right, is that these people are extremely goth, have weird interests that they deeply enjoy, are very confident in themselves, and love each other fiercely. Most of that really doesn't come through in this show, for me.

2. Tacky feminism

This show reminds me of Enola Holmes (derogatory). Like it's trying to appeal to a feminist, liberal audience without really understanding what feminism is about. Wednesday is a kind of classic "not like other girls" girl who sees no point in romance or boys and makes little quips about the patriarchy all the time (and also has all the boys vying for her attention all the time for some reason). She's Too Good for all of that, as if being too good for stereotypically feminine activities and interests makes you a feminist/superior. I could see Wednesday not being interested in those things, but painting that as feminist virtue is a mistake.

The most egregious moment for me was when she told Morticia that she didn't want to follow in her footsteps and become a "housewife". ???? How could anybody mistake Morticia for a "housewife (derogatory)"?? This woman lies around the house, does whatever she wants, and has weird sex with her fabulously rich goth obsessed-with-her husband all the time. She doesn't work, she's involved in her community as much as she wants, she has her little hobbies, she can do literally whatever she wants and experiences no downsides to being with Gomez. If she wanted a career or whatever, she could have it. You're gonna call that a housewife?

Not sure if they're going for feminism or queerness there but it feels like the wrong angle.

3. Family dynamics.

This kind of plays off #1. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure in no other media have Gomez and Morticia shown any inclination to control their kids. They always seem to celebrate their individuality and support their interests. Wednesday and Pugsley love their parents and get along with each other. The point is that they are a weird family in perfect harmony with each other. Feels very weird that there would be this level of discord in the family at this point, even with Wednesday growing up as a teenager. I would think her parents would support her interests and that she would feel supported instead of forced to do what they want her to do. I think it would be believable if they gave us more understanding into where the disagreements are coming from, but I have no idea what character-consistent disagreements they could come up with.

(Side note: Wednesday always says she doesn't want to be like her mom, but aside from the housewife thing, it's very unclear what she doesn't want to be like, and what she would rather be like instead. Her goals are unclear.)

4. They named a character "Goody"????

Goody is an honorific that's short for "Goodwife"? And they gave that to a character as a name for some reason?? It's never acknowledged?? The character whose name that is is a child when we meet her (and she is being called "Goody" at that point -she's def not a wife in those scenes)???? Did they not have any like... witch hunt researchers on that team. Or even people who paid attention while reading witch hunt novels, enough to notice that "goody" is an honorific. Or even someone to Google "was goody a name" or "why were so many women named goody in the 1600s" lol. Will they ever explain that????

5. That barista is a slice of wonder bread.

Literally one of the most boring white guy characters I've ever seen. If he's not some kind of villain to justify his boringness, I'm gonna riot.

Also he was like "Wednesday you were giving me Signals! I thought we liked each other!" And... maybe I'm just blind or unsure what this guy is into, but she clearly did Not give him any signals

Anyway. I'm enjoying it mostly but I have to turn my brain off and pretend it's not related to the other Addams family content lol

[miekasa]

Spider-Man kiss w Spider-Man eren!!

Now when you said this so many different scenarios came to mind: Eren stopping to kiss his gf mid-battle or before a fight, dropping her home and kissing her at the window, kissing after saving her... many many possibilities... have one of them below... set sometime before Eren tells you that he’s Spider-Man... also, yeah I’m making Levi a part of this universe but what did you expect from me 🤒🤒

“I don’t get it,” you speak in-between bites of popcorn, vaguely gesturing towards the TV, “This whole ‘Spider-Man kiss’ thing seems like a really bad and obvious marketing ploy to me.”

Eren stiffens a little next to you. He tries to neutralize his expression before turning his head, tries to remain causal, “What—uh—what do you mean by a marketing ploy?”

“I just mean to make him all popular and shit,” you reason, resting your cheek against Eren’s shoulder, “But it’s kinda dumb. If I were in danger, and I found out Spider-Man was too busy kissing random brunettes to do his job, I’d be pissed.”

“He wasn’t really kissing anybody!” Eren exclaims, a little too quickly, and way too loudly. You flinch a little, looking up at him with wide and confused eyes, and Eren coughs before reigning himself in, “I mean, the kissing stuff was photoshopped… lots of, uh, tabloids admitted it. So, he’d definitely still save you if you were in real danger, you know… and everyone else, too!”

You look at him like you don’t believe him, and it makes Eren want to scream. The implications of his super-hero persona being a playboy aside, there’s no way Eren would have stopped to kiss Pieck, of all people. He could admit that she was pretty, but Eren himself has spoken no more than seven words total to her in his entire life—and Spider-Man was hardly any different. He was just helping her, and he just happened to be upside down in front of her face, when some idiot with a camera snapped a picture that would go viral.

Not to mention that while Spider-Man was single in the eyes of the media, Eren Jaeger was not. And if he ever planned on telling you he was former, he certainly wouldn’t want you believing that he was a cheater with a super-suit on.

“Whatever,” you roll your eyes, “Real or not, I don’t get the appeal. It doesn’t seem practical, even for a spider-boy hanging from a thread.”

“Okay... what do you not like about Spider-Man?” he questions nervously.

“What is there to like? He’s another freak flying around New York and fucking up the skyline in the process. He and Iron-Man get to be all buddy-buddy with aliens and shit while the rest of us get stuck on trains for six hours.”

Eren does his best to refrain from grinding his teeth. He takes a deep breath, then another, and a third—reminds himself that your judgement isn’t being cast on him, but rather on the media-crafted persona of Spider-Man; and factoring in your hesitance about superheroes in general, he figured Spider-Man wouldn’t be an exception.

Still, he wishes you could cut him some slack. He always tried to minimize civilian interaction and damage, but sometimes, it couldn’t be helped! Plus, Mr. Ackerman always promised to help fund and rebuild damaged property! That’s the best they could do when there was an inter-galactic threat to his home-town and all his loved ones.

Instead of reasoning that, Eren lets out a noncommittal hum, the conversation naturally diffusing as you cuddle yourself back into his shoulder, and the news switches topics; but Eren’s stuck on your last comment. He had no intentions of kissing Pieck—he had no intentions of kissing anybody that wasn’t you, no matter how the news tried to spin it—but he doesn’t know if he agrees with your conclusion that a kiss like that would be impractical.

He’s no physicist, but it should work, right? It’s not like you’re both upside down—but if you were, wouldn’t that be the same as you both being right-side up? One person hanging upside down shouldn’t make that much of a difference. Now that he thinks of it, he doesn’t even hang upside down all that often, whoever took that picture really caught him at a bad time. If this ‘Spider-Man kiss’ persists to shape his reputation as a hero, he might just end up a villain.

Eren shifts his view down to you, a hand absent-mindedly reaching to caress your cheek. He figures an upside-down kiss shouldn’t be too different from when you tilt your head up to kiss him in this position—or something like that, anyway. Eren’s kissed you a bunch of different times, a bunch of different way, so it should work like that, right?

He carefully untangles himself from your hold, and marches right around the back of the couch. You don’t seem to pay him any mind—too caught up in finding a better channel—only redirecting your attention to him when his hands cup your face, and very carefully tilt your head back.

He supposes you’re the upside down one like this, but even so, Eren thinks you’re pretty. His thumbs swipe against your cheeks once, twice, before he leans down and gingerly kisses your lips. He chuckles ever so slightly when he hears the remote thud against the ground, and your now free hand reaches up to caress his face.

You’re the first to pull away, a gentle smile on your lips that charms him even in this position. You let your hand creep up into his hair before questioning, “Was that in defense of Spider-Man?”

“Maybe,” Eren laughs, low and steady before leaning down to kiss your lips once more, “Maybe I just wanted to kiss you.”

[matt0044]

Little Witch Academia isn’t Harry Potter.

That should be obvious but it doesn’t always seem that way for some.

So… I like Little Witch Academia. I like The Owl House. I especially feel that that former deserves a second season. Hint Hint, TRIGGER.

I do not like how they’re being pushed as “Harry Potter Alternatives” or ”I Can’t Believe It’s Not Harry Potter.”

Not one bit. Here’s why:

Little Witch Academia has more in common with ”The Worst Witch” where a plucky young girls learns magic not because of some prophecy but because she wants to.

Atsuko Kagari was not The Boy Who Lived who lived with abusive relatives but a Japanese girl with a good living situation coming over to the UK’s best magic school.

There’s no Dark Lord hunting her down. Most of her adventures revolve around her school life where it’s more of a metaphor for art school with theme of self-expression. Even then, the final battle is more of a race to stop a missile from kicking off World War Three thanks to Croix’s misguidance.

Hell, Diana is less so mean in a cliche school bully sense and merely looks down on her dorkiness. At least compared to Hannah and Barbara whom she’ll call off if they get out of line.

I mean, Lotte does remind me of Ron but only on surface value at that.

Luz Noceda is similarly a far cry from The Boy Who Lived himself. She too is a plucky go-getter that gets in way over her head in the usual hijinks. Unlike Akko, she picks up magic more prodigiously and is very genre-savvy with the type of story she’s in.

Additionally, the settling for the story is never limited to Hexside. Luz’s time there is often small scale compared to her adventures throughout the Boiling Isles. We have episodes about Eda’s curse and family situation. King becomes an author. Amity… well, where do I begin?

Each show may have surface elements likely influenced by Harry Potter or elements it popularized. However, their individual appeal cannot and frankly should never be boiled down to that.

Yeah, it can work partially in recommendations but I’ve met others who felt Akko’s antics dragged down the show. Some felt that the cartoony elements like with Sucy’s dreamscape were just not for them.

Look.

I get it.

J.K. Rowling isn’t just a problematic children’s book author. She is THE quintessential problenatic children’s author. She’s not just a TERF but THE TERF, one who has emboldened many in their irrational hate with her massive platform and clout alone.

Harry Potter is how she got her profit and is still making bank off of it. Just the other day, I rolled into a Barnes & Noble where there was a bold display of everything Harry Potter and the Wizarding World.

I remember promos on Cartoon Network a few months ago on a gameshow themed around Harry Potter for its twentieth anniversary. It’s still going strong even with Fantastic Beasts becoming a clunker.

So one can’t just vote with their wallet or not engage with anything Potter. They see it necessary to discourage anybody showing interest in HP or any fans sticking to their guns for escapism’s sake.

One such way has been to push another show with similar elements to HP and claim that it’s ”better” somehow. Many use awfully superficial points of comparison that don’t say much aside from, “Don’t read the ’TERF books.’”

You know those ”I want a show/character/whatever” posts you don’t much these days if at all? The ones often pertaining to representation of minority groups in media? They’ve gone out of style due to how vague they could be.

Yes, they may be true but they never go over how said elements are handled. A gay protagonist doesn’t hold up to scrutiny if they’re killed out and in a disgraceful manner to boot.

This is the same vibe I get from these recommendations for what they make out as ”Harry Potter Alternatives.” Little Witch Academia has especially been done dirty by this phenomenon.

More so than with Netflix. :P

The Owl House at least has a plethora of video essays and Tumblr posts lauding its praises, diving deep into what makes it special beyond Harry Potter comparisons. LWA, even putting Netflix aside, hasn’t been that fortunate so a lot of ”watch this instead of HP” rhetoric doesn’t sit well with me.

I don’t want to like a show for what it isn’t. I want to like it for what it is. I want to fall in love with Akko with how she breaks the traditions of Luna Nova. I want to see Diana lowering her barriers and totes falling for Akko’s habit of throwing caution to the wind.

I wanna see Amanda sneak into a boys only school and sword fight her way out of a classical witch hunt. I want Sucy’s dreamscape where Studio TRIGGER go full freeaboo with their animation style.

See? Now those are selling points.

I recommend Little Witch Academia not as a Harry Potter substitute like thus is some sort of dietary recommendation. I recommend it for those looking for an Anime that you might’ve enjoyed as a child, being in Netflix’s kids section no less.

It’s got nothing lewd for those burnt out of fanservice. Akko is a charming young lady who every Magical Girl slacker protagonist would admire, voiced brilliantly by Erica Mendez in English (aka Ryuko Matoi) and Megumi Han (aka Gon Freecs).

The animation is among Trigger’s best with some very experimental episodes if you know Yoh Yoshinari’s work. Look up: Akko's Adventure in Sucyworld for just a taste of how wonderfully weird it can be.

[estrelio]

for #spnprideweek day 1: coming out + flags

↳ summary: cas tells sam a secret that he hasn’t (really) told anybody else. surprisingly, sam has one too.  PRIDE series | gen, sam & cas | word count: 1.7k

[READ ON AO3]

Sam’s grimacing a little at the grease from the fries on Cas’ plate. Cas would usually make a comment, here, about Sam keeping his eyes on his own paper, or that it isn’t nearly as bad as the veggie burger sitting on his plate at Sam’s behest. This is the recompense, Cas wants to say, but his mouth is dry and no words are coming out even if he wants them to.

Accompanying the inability to speak is the twisting feeling in his gut that won’t even allow him to pick up the burger. The smell is too much, too, and Cas hates to admit it but it’s probably the grease, so he sits back a little against the peeling seat of the booth to calm his nerves.

It’s just Sam. He can do this. It’s only that this is the first time he’s telling anyone, and that definitely ups the stakes a little.

Well, that’s somewhat of a lie. Cas had told the nice woman at the grocery store check out last week when he’d seen her little pin on her work uniform and asked where he could get one. 

He hadn’t actually bought one, of course, but Cas eyed the small bin full of brightly colored pins on the way out, convincing himself it was stupid to get back in line again for something so small and inexpensive. Still, he’d thought about it on the drive back to the Bunker, and that night in his bed, and the full week following, up until now. 

Now, Sam was looking at him with concern, and wiping his mouth in that way that means he’s about to get serious.

“Is everything alright?” he asks, pointedly looking down at Cas’ loaded plate. He’d barely taken a bite, except for a few nibbles of his admittedly greasy fries. And it was weird because since becoming human, Cas' appetite had grown considerably, much to Dean's delight.

And—Dean. That's what this was all about, wasn't it? Sure, it was more than just Dean, it was all the humans that had made Cas' body ache like it hadn't before, had made him think of what it means to be in this vessel—his body—and be attracted to other...humans.

It was odd. In hindsight, things in Heaven had been so much easier in this regard. Cas had spent most of his life clueless to the capabilities of human attraction, and then he met Dean and it all came crashing down around him. Only then, Cas was ignoring it. He was facing the other way, because though he felt human, he wasn't. Not really.

But everything is different now.

Cas clears his throat.

"Well," he starts, "no. I am feeling what I believe you’d call...anxiety. My stomach hurts, I find I'm unable to eat, a-and my hands are—"

"Cas," Sam interrupts. Shaking. Cas' hands are shaking.

Sam's fully set his fork and knife down now, hands clasped together on the edge of the table. "Talk to me."

Cas licks his dry lips.

"It’s not...it isn’t a big deal, really,” and yet Cas can feel his heart hammering in his chest. He sucks in a breath. “But I’m, uh. I wanted to tell you that...I like men.”

Sam’s expression doesn’t change, but he blinks at Cas once from across the table.

“Okay.”

Cas raises an eyebrow, pulse slowing down a little with his next exhale. “Okay?”

Maybe it was that simple, and Cas was worrying over nothing. It’s just...this feels like it should be bigger. Earth-shattering. Like Sam should either hug him or tell him he never wants to speak to Cas again.

Instead, he just shrugs, picks up his fork and pushes bits of his salad around his plate.

But then Cas’ gaze moves to Sam’s face and...Sam’s frowning. Cas feels his heart thumping hard again, waiting for the ball to drop. It feels a little like when Dean sat him down to “talk,” right after he lost his powers, and, well. Cas knew how that had ended. He braces himself for the worst, schools his features to something more neutral.

“I’m,” Sam clears his throat, “I’m sorry you got nervous over all of that. I-I get that coming out is...” he laughs, “usually a bigger deal, but. You don’t have to worry with me, you know? I get it.”

That makes Cas pause. “You...do?”

Now Sam’s looking at him, eyes a little wide, but he works his jaw and gets the words out. “Yeah. Uh... well I guess now’s a good a time as any to tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

The fork is set back down again. The bell over the diner door jingles. 

“In college...you know about Jess,” Sam says, jogging Cas’ memory. He knows, so he nods and Sam continues, “Well we uh. We actually met in a Gender Studies class. I thought, ‘pff, easy A,’ but it was actually way more complex than I originally thought, so she kind of...tutored me.” Cas raises an eyebrow, and Sam rolls his eyes.

“Actually tutored me. Whatever. Point is, I learned a lot—‘cause she was a great teacher—and...not just about the class, but about myself, too.” 

Cas nods slowly, beginning to catch Sam’s drift. “Okay...”

Despite his tone, Sam’s posture stiffens a little, like he’s uncomfortable, or not really used to this type of conversation. Cas does his best to relax into his seat to ease him, unfolding his arms.

“What I’m saying is,” Sam shrugs, “I’m...not...cis. Like, I don’t....I’m not um, a guy, I guess. Well, sort of. I’m non-binary.”

Cas is silent for a second, mulling it over in his head. Eventually it becomes long enough for Sam to say, “Uh...you know what? You can forget it, man—”

“No!” Cas says, almost knocking over his plate in the process. The silverware clatters as it falls onto the table, and Sam flinches a little. “I was just thinking...I want to apologize if anything I’ve said about your gender has ever made you uncomfortable, or if you—”

Sam’s out-facing palm makes Cas stutter to a stop. There’s a weird guilt settling in the pit of his stomach, and the anxiety that he’d thought was gone is back full force again. Cas tears off a piece of his napkin.

“Cas, dude. Calm down,” Sam laughs. He takes a deep breath, and Cas follows his lead. They breathe in and out together for a beat, and when Cas feels fairly calmer, Sam pushes both of their plates aside.

“There’s no need to apologize for something you couldn’t have known about,” he starts, shaking his head a little, “and you haven’t done anything wrong, either. I still use he and him pronouns, and sometimes they and them. And besides, it’s not like I go around telling people. Especially with, uh, the way I was raised...I’ve been hesitant, you know? It was great in college, people were really supportive when I told them. But then when I started hunting again...I don’t know. 

“My dad...uh. I tried telling him, once. Didn’t go too well, so I didn’t try it again. I think that’s why Dean...” he shakes his head, frowning down at the table again. “It wasn’t easy, growing up the way we did. You could probably understand that.”

Cas nods. Under the table, his napkin is shredded into bits. 

“I do. I think, in a way, I also understand being trans.” Sam jerks their head up, intrigued. 

“Angels...we don’t experience gender the same way humans do. In fact, the concept is entirely nonexistent in Heaven. So, when we take vessels...”

“You’re essentially defining yourself,” Sam says in awe. It makes Cas smile to see them back in their element, leaning forward a little to listen better. “I never thought about it that way, not really.”

Cas shrugs. “I’m not sure all of my siblings did, either. Many chose according to which vessel would best suit them and their form. That was definitely a factor in me choosing Jimmy, but I also found the thought of looking like a human man...greatly appealing.”

Sam’s nodding now, gaze darting to different parts of the table. Cas knows that means they’re mentally crafting an essay right about now, or thinking of what books in the Bunker might further help in their research about it.

“Wow,” he says, “that’s—I mean. Wow, Cas. Thanks for telling me that. And uh, the other thing.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

There’s a comfortable silence between them now, and Cas takes it as an opportunity to sip from his slightly-melted iced tea. 

“So,” Sam starts again slowly, “have you told Dean?”

Cas sucks in another deep breath, and Sam nods. “Yeah,” he says, “me neither.”

It surprises Cas a little that Sam hasn’t told him, and he expresses that with an inquiring eyebrow. 

Sam purses his lips and dodges the unspoken question. “Dean’s not a bad guy. You probably know that better than anyone except me. You know he’d still love you if you told him.”

Cas’ heart pounds at the mention of the word. When Sam notices, he feels his ears begin to heat with a blush. 

“Oh,” Sam smiles, “that. I figured. For a while now, but I didn’t wanna say anything.”

Cas tries to will away the heat on his face. He doesn’t say anything, so Sam leaves it be.

The waitress gives them a worried look when she brings the check, eyeing their barely touched plates. They both smile apologetically, insisting that their food was “great” when she whisks it away.

On their way back home, Cas asks if Sam can stop at the store. They don’t ask anything more than, “we need groceries that bad?” and Cas dips inside. He knows this is just like any other grocery run—going in and out as quick as possible with the things they need—yet his heart hammers all the same when he stops in front of the bin near the door. The same employee from last week is working on lane six, and he’s sure to check out at that one with his goods. She gives him a knowing smile.

Cas flops into the passenger seat, a little out of breath.

“That was fast,” Sam starts to say, before noticing Cas’ lack of grocery bags. “Dude. What d’you buy, air?”

Instead, Cas brandishes two brightly colored pins. Sam tentatively takes the yellow, white, purple, and black one, eyes wide.

“For me?” they ask.

Cas smiles, running his thumb over the rainbow one in his hand. 

“For both of us,” he says.

[@spnprideweek]

[thotsforvillainrights]

Hi, it same request for shie hassaikai with 3 in 1 reader but this time I want u do for lov members if u don't mind. I know u want to make it opened for the reader. U can make it opened for reader I don't mind it, it's all up to u and pls for afo too if u don't mind 👀

(Oh I don’t mind! My apologies for excluding Toga and Mustard this time around. I sometimes have to sit and think if it’s appropriate for them to be in certain asks! This was such a fun one to do as well btw ^_^)

~LOV/AFO and an S/O with the Big 3~

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up

-AFO: He would definitely call you a well endowed person, that’s for sure. In other words: he’s complimenting you really. He knows everywhere you go, you tend to catch a lot of he eyes around you. He’s much to mature for jealously or brawling outright in public. He’ll only really get active if someone touches you without your consent, or even if someone is harassing you as well. He’s not big into the whole ‘leader with eye candy on his lap’ thing. He sees you as more than that. He sees you as an equal...a partner and someone he cares about past their looks.

-Shigaraki: How could you ever hold a conversation with him when you first met him? He’s too busy staring at your chest (and elsewhere) to pay attention to the words coming out of your mouth. Honestly it’s pretty annoying since you’d probably want someone that likes you for you and not just for your ‘assets’. Well lucky for you that he slowly begins to actually get to know you. Bit by bit he begins to actually become engaged in your conversations until his ogling is a thing of the past...well sometimes. He wants to touch you but it’s a bit difficult given his quirk. He knows he has control over it by now, but the fear of slipping up even just once bothers him. He has to wear his special gloves to interact with you until he trusts himself more.

-Dabi: Has he died and went to heaven? He must have died and went to heaven right? That’s his thought process on a daily with you. He wants to be one of those sensitive guys that has no type but lets be real here: you’re everything he’s looking for in an S/O...at least body-wise of course. All the other stuff like personality and shit comes later on in the relationship. 

-Muscular: Hope you don’t mind being groped constantly because this is what you’ll be dealing with when dating him. Every time you pass him by, he’ll smack your ass. Every car ride, he’ll grip your thigh. Every cuddle session, his nuzzle himself into your chest. Don’t even get me started on the bragging! This man will tell everyone about you. More specifically about how hot you are! “Hey, you seen Y/N today? Yeah they’ve got this new outfit that just hugs them just right. Bet you wish you were dating them eh? Too bad huh piss ant!” 

-Moonfish: Your body can look any kind of way. It’s what’s inside that counts to him the most. How you perceive him and how you treat him as well as others around you too. Your heart and your mind. He doesn’t see himself as the type of person that really deserves that type of love, but he’ll greedily accept it from someone like you. Your good looks are just an additive to everything else. Really he thinks your kindness and love can offset some of his awful crimes and all the villainy he’s committed over time. He hopes your purity can wash away just a smidgen of his sins at least. It’s true about what they say: love changes people.

-Magne: She’s going to hype you up regardless of your looks so just expect it at this point. Magne thinks you’re absolutely gorgeous/handsome! She finds herself buying you different outfits that she thinks you’ll look amazing in. She’s not at all a controlling girlfriend, so you’re free to say no to this at any time! She also feels a sense of pride when you’re on her arm as well. Her thoughts/opinions of herself are far from insecure. She believes she’s gorgeous as well. With you by her side, she feels as though you two are a power couple...a real double team knockout!

-Spinner: Oh God does he jumble his words around you. Even after you two have ended up dating for a while, he still feels like it’s his first time meeting and falling in love with you over and over again. You’re just so damn attractive! Occasionally you’ll find him wondering about himself as his own insecurities come to the surface again and again. He wonders how could anybody like you ever find the time out of your day to date someone like him? He’s used to society looking down on him since his quirk literally makes him look like a giant reptile. It’s going to take some time to reassure him so be sure to be patient with him please! Aside from this, he loves you so very dearly and cannot see his life without you. He’d kill for you, die for you even. You are everything to him and he couldn’t deny it even if he tried.

-Compress: Dear you’re making this old man blush! Compress find different and creative ways to compliment you all the time. Most of all, he makes sure to remind you that you’re not just an object just because you have a killer body. Compress reminds you that you are a person and that if you ever needed reassurance about that, he wouldn’t hesitate to do so. This man cherishes you and loves you so much. He wants to give you the world and would honestly leave the LOV behind if it’s what you wanted. To live a simple life with the person he loved? That would be like heaven to him as well. 

-Kurogiri: He’s hardly ever stuttered in his entire life until he’s met you. Now he has two reasons to live and you are one of them. It’s no secret that your body is appealing to those around you. This is especially true for Kurogiri. He first fell for you not because of your body, but because of your laugh and smile. It was mainly because of the conversation you two had when you met. After that was said and done, he began to notice your features more. He found himself looking and feeling like a pervert on more than one occasion! He may seem like a gentleman but trust me...when you two get alone together behind closed doors? Oh yeah, it’s on.

-Twice: God you make him want to cry and shout out in joy! How could anyone ever love him unconditionally? He thought he’d be lonely for the rest of his life until he met you. You’re the type of person that makes him forget about all the mistakes in his life, and all the times he’s stumbled. You’re the type of person that makes him feel like there’s still time for him to do better and to change for good. You make his heart beat out of his chest (in more ways than one;) He’s so in love with you that he’s considering marriage. Aside from all the lovey dovey stuff, he can’t keep his hands off of you. It honestly makes you chuckle the way he asks if it’s okay to fondle you sometimes or when he asks if it’s okay to *ahem* go to bed early tonight~ You make this man lose all control of himself behind closed doors, seriously. 

»—————————–———————————————————–✄

Instagram: @pastelbattydraws & @pastelbattystore

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRNMJH7vHL7APNobUykhK4w?view_as=subscriber

[lorei-writes]

HC: Pinky Promises

Premise: MC who takes pinky promises very seriously Request: @spoopy-fish-writes Characters: Masamune, Kenshin

Masamune x MC Kenshin x MC Fluff

Ahh, I seem to be going a bit for thematic days recently, haha. More Pinky Promises to come soon >:3

Content Warnings: war mention, anxiety mention

Masamune

Masamune himself is a person who treats promises with upmost seriousness. He detests having to go back on his word.

As such, he usually is rather specific when spelling the promise itself out. He does not want to purposefully give off the wrong idea or be unintentionally misleading in any way. If he cannot guarantee something, he will never promise it.

That being said, the chosen words do reflect the strength of his feelings. “I promise I will do everything I can to keep you safe.” and “I promise I will keep you safe.” are worlds apart, at least to a trained ear. The first one is within the bounds of reason, speaking more so of his intention than the final effect of it. The second one? It is not just a promise of safety. In saying so, he promises to do the impossible for your sake.

With all that in mind, it comes as no surprise that he understands his lover’s habit reasonably well - or at the very least, so he assumed, the distinction between spoken promise and Pinky Promise having not been made obvious to him for a fairly long time.

It is not that his lover would promise just anything left and right, ending up in abusing Masamune’s trust - it is only that... The Pinky Promises were usually the default type of a promise, to the point where it took months for a standard one to be made and then broken.

It confused him at first. Was there any difference? A promise is a promise, so why...

Luckily, it was a matter of little importance - unwashed dishes could not kill anybody. And yet, it kept him upset until they talked it out, The Truth of Pinky Promises (trademarked) making very little sense to him, at least initially.

Afterwards, he demanded for all promises to be Pinky Promises. It is their little habit now - and if he truly wants something from his lover, he will stare his lover in the eyes, extending the pinky finger towards them in a nearly threatening manner.

“Yes, yes, I will make dinner today, don’t worry,” they sighed, shaking their head in mild disbelief, Masamune still laying in bed - so very unlike him, had it not been for a bandage covering his leg, the injury from the last battle proving to be rather troublesome to say the least. “Promise?” “Promise,” they stated in reply, their gaze already turning away. Masamune  cleared his throat, a hand extended towards his lover waiting in the air, his pinky fingers waiting for theirs. “Pinky promise!” they corrected themselves, a tinge of laughter sneaking into their voice. “I broke a promise only once, you know.” “That’s why I’m not satisfied with an ordinary promise this time.”

Kenshin

To say that Kenshin makes promises would not be nearly enough to describe his habits. He doesn’t just routinely give his word, at least not when talking to his lover - each and every one of his statements is a promise in and of itself. He may not even realise it.

As complex as he may be, Kenshin is very straight-forward when speaking. He does not see the appeal of bluffing, lies and of deceit - quite frankly, even the opposite, such tactics ruining his fun over on the battle field.

It is not that he lacks the intellect to resort to any of the above, quite the opposite. What he lacks is the need to use them. When fighting? He knows his strength and trusts in his abilities enough to rely solely on them. In his personal life? Ah, that would needlessly cloud the communication between him and the few people he let close enough. Although periodically, he may avoid certain topics.

As such, he initially found the pinky promises rather odd. Are they even necessary, he thought? Is my lover doubting me?

The misunderstanding did cause his anxiety levels to raise at first, Kenshin going as far as to make sure every promise he makes is a pinky promise.

It took about a week for his lover to realise something is indeed wrong, the amount of promises increasing nearly daily.

“Kenshin, I have a question,” they spoke, the door closing behind them, their back soon leaning against it. Somewhat surprised by a sudden visit, the lord of the castle put his work aside, the tired gaze rising from a pile of papers in front of him appearing oddly refreshed. “Yes?” “You see... You seem rather unease recently. Is something bothering you?” “No, why?” he replied without a second thought, his lover taking a step forward. “I’ve noticed that you’re making a lot of promises to me. And, do not get me wrong, I do appreciate that and I do know those are not empty words. I only wonder... What changed? You haven’t done so previously.”

As it turned out, Kenshing tried to switch to their type of promises thinking his feelings were not conveyed appropriately previously. After being made aware that it is not the case, his anxiety eased.

They do sometimes take walks where they hold each other only by the pinky finger, thus each and every of his words being a little secret promise between the two of them.

Tag list: @datenoriko, @nad-zeta, @tsubaki3192, @missjudge-me, @ikemencrossedmyth, @nuttytani, @thesirenwashere, @milas-imaginarium, @kisara-16, @yukas-clover, @alerialumina , @cheese-ception , @iamryxx, @cottonfluffballofdoom, @ozziegrl71, @rikumorimachisgirl, @bestbryn, @kink-rabbithole, @cailann @mila-ikigai @fairstival If you want to be tagged under my future works, let me know (any way works)! ^^ Also, do remember to specify fandoms (and characters, if you are interested only in some) :D If it ever happens that you wish to be removed from my taglist, for any reason, do let me know. I will not ask why, it’s all fine ^^