#doesn't necessarily prevent it but always makes it Weird

[yanderes-galore]

Ok, this might be a weird one, but what about a yandere redeemed Petentious, with a soul who just arrived in heaven?

Oh now I feel he's just even more of a sweetheart- @okchijt helped with some final thoughts near the end.

Yandere! Redeemed! Sir Pentious with Angel! Darling

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Clingy behavior, Manipulation, Jealousy, Guilt-Tripping, Dubious companionship/relationship.

By the time you meet, Sir Pentious probably has gotten a bit used to Heaven.

It's nothing like Hell, that's expected, and he misses his friends.

Although Sera and Emily have been helping him the best they can.

He isn't quite sure what to do when he meets another new soul.

A new soul in Heaven can mean two things.

You've arrived from Earth and have always been good... or you're another redeemed soul from Hell.

The second option would mean Sir Pentious could've known you... but not necessarily.

I like the idea that as an angel he's nervous yet eager to try and be... good.

When he meets you, an equally new angel, he probably even gets ecstatic about it.

He's excited at the idea of welcoming a new soul, almost similar to Emily.

Sera warns the two other angels to be careful as Sir Pentious is still under watch.

Sir Pentious listens, yet can't contain the excitement.

He's probably someone who always thrives off praise, so he wants to do good with you.

I feel Sir Pentious doesn't change a lot as an angel... yandere-wise.

He's still clingy, easily excited, and eager to please.

So, to Sera and Emily, him being excited to meet a new angel isn't too out of the ordinary.

They only have to step in when Pentious starts to overwhelm you on the first meeting.

Sir Pentious probably begs to show you around, wanting to make a new friend out of you.

As a Sinner he was rather oblivious to innuendos and seemed too... incapable of being evil.

So maybe his place really was here?

Unless someone told you he was originally a Sinner, you wouldn't believe it.

As Sir Pentious leads you around, he's radiating excitement.

Pentious seems like he'd ramble all about the machines he used to tinker with and even say he's new to the whole friend thing.

Pentious is not a dangerous yandere, whenever he tries to be, he ends up failing.

He's clingy and easily jealous, but mostly just tries to please.

Whenever you react positively to his interests, Pentious lights up.

He can't believe he's impressing a new angel such as yourself.

It's a good thing his behavior was never that intense, as angels wouldn't be able to hide intense yandere behavior (Murder, Kidnapping, Etc.)

So he's very subtle.

Sir Pentious would be very caught up in the idea of you two being close.

He seems like an obsession at first sight kind of guy.

He sees his new angel obsession and is constantly following them like a lost puppy.

He often pleads with Sera to guide you around Heaven, clearly wanting to cultivate some sort of bond with you.

It feels really weird to say... but he's just so innocent.

He's unaware he's being too touchy at times with your wings or just you in general.

If you tell him to give you space, he reluctantly does with quick apologies.

It's hard to call him a yandere at times.

That's because he's very limited in what he can do in Heaven, while also naturally being more submissive.

The most I can see him doing is manipulating you into being beside him all the time.

For example, you're both technically new angels.

Shouldn't you explore Heaven together?

Sera and Emily no doubt have to keep an eye (or a few of them) on Pentious when they realize how clingy he is.

He was a Sinner after all... perhaps they sense a certain darkness stirring within him?

Sir Pentious keeps glaring at other angels, often accidentally drawing attention to you and him.

Sera would find the snake's obsession problematic.

Imagine if she tried to separate you two in an attempt to prevent conflict.

Only for Pentious to find a way back to you, slithering around you like you belong there.

If Pentious got any more intense (unlikely) then he may genuinely be kicked from Heaven.

That would separate you both indefinitely while Sera checks you over to see if you were corrupted in any way.

This would also drive Sir Pentious insane if I'm being honest.

The good thing is, you can control him easily.

He listens to you and lives for your attention.

He won't hurt anyone (hopefully)... but he will barge in on conversations to grab your attention like normal.

Pentious probably doesn't have hypnosis anymore, but even if he did he wouldn't want to use it unless he felt he had to.

Any underhanded tactics could get him in trouble.

So, Pentious sticks with keeping close and trying to steal your attention whenever he can.

If you ignore him, he finds a way to slither back into your gaze.

It's hard to hate him or be annoyed for long as you just feel... bad?

He tries so hard to set up little hangouts, saying he does it for you.

His manipulation relies heavily on guilt.

Pentious tries to convince you his jealousy is normal, that he feels betrayed that you'd spend time with other angels than him.

Pentious would give you puppy eyes to make you stay beside him.

Please stay a bit longer...

Please allow him to treat you...

Please allow him to care for you...

Please stop paying attention to other angels...

Please, please, please, PLEASE...!

Pentious will tug at your heart strings and expect you to relent.

Since you're such a good soul, you listen.

Which ends up tying you to him.

The awful thing about Pentious as a yandere is the fact you feed into it.

You defend him, you coddle him, because you can't imagine him doing anything wrong.

Even when someone like Sera tries to reprimand him or warn you of his behavior, you defend him.

He's your first friend in Heaven so of course you would...!

You want to defend him since he tries so hard to prove himself.

He's a better person! Nothing wrong here!

You don't realize your pity and protective nature has led you into a trap until it's too late.

Pentious doesn't even mean to guilt you half the time.

He's oblivious to his toxicity.

His whole yandere behavior is unintentional.

Yet he somehow succeeds.

Pentious doesn't even have to do much to get his way.

His natural behavior ends up drawing you in...

Locking you beside him just because you can't bear the idea of saying no to him.

[lunarflux]

I read your talk about Aemond's love languages and I thought it was adorable lol, I love that. But do you see him as someone who genuinely loves and cares about other people or that he'll always put duty and himself above that? I've seen Ewan speaking about how Aemond puts duty above love, but then I've also seen him speaking of how much Aemond loves his family/his mom, and how love is the only thing that can "beat" him, so I figured it would depend on the person? In my opinion I think I see Aemond being a very genuine lover with the right kind of person, someone who he knows loves him just as much.

Sorry if you've answered this already btw, I haven't checked too deep.

Aw, thank you! I'm genuinely shocked people are asking me for my thoughts on him when it comes to this topic. I'm starting to realize this might be something I sympathize with and relate to which makes it easier to explain. I'm learning about myself by answering these questions, too.

Overall, my answer is yes, but there will never be proof because there's no one around him who hasn't rejected him in some way or another.

In a perfect scenario, I don't think he'd put duty above love, but they would be adjacent to each other. Because of his position/his family, there would never be a world where he doesn't put an immense amount of worth in duty. So, what Ewan is saying makes sense in both cases. He can love, but there's no one outside of his family who he can love. He loves his mother, but she comes in the way of his ambitions. He loves his sister, but even though they share blood, they have nothing in common. And in a very weird way, I think he does "love" Aegon in a way where you can love your family but don't necessarily have to like him. Even if Aemond burning Aegon was an accident, there will be in every way you look at it objectively some fact that he burned Aegon and let him fall. Pretty sure Vhagar would never be able to catch Sunfyre or prevent that from happening.

It does absolutely depend on the person, but it begs the question of if Aemond could ever love someone enough that he prioritizes them above all else - which I don't think is possible. I think he'd love someone enough to prioritize them as much as duty only in the way that a partner should empower you to achieve all you can. It's a weird "yes, but" type answer. Like yes, he can love and he would love hard, but he wouldn't think it to be more important than duty. That also doesn't mean he'd find love to be unimportant.

I see him as the kind of person who cares about himself above others because he thinks no one cares about him. Like a "if I don't, then no one will" way of thinking. If you factored in someone who cares about him, it's one less complication or something that would put pressure on him if he trusts them entirely.

Again, with the perfect person, they'd never force him to choose between love and duty. If they did, then they wouldn't be for him.

[softgrungeprophet]

I think— I've just been thinking a lot lately about Radiant Black characters and queer-coding and subtext as I re-read and continue to read—

There is this fact that when we first meet Red it is in this idealized masculine form, and yes ostensibly we can say this is to prevent her true identity from being discovered (lol. lmao.) but we can also look at Satomi and note that her being is run through with emotion and I don't mean this in a "oh, girls and their feelings" way (god) but everything she does is steeped in anger and despite her conflict and like, uncertainty and trying to make the right decision and to fix everything, she still acts very impulsively, driven by her heart rather than her brain, in the same way that Marshall is an "act first, think never" kind of character—and her impulse is immediately a larger than life, muscular, very masculine form, and yes this hides her identity but then also—

Then also, again, we have the panels in Radiant Red where she is framed by chains, as just Satomi in the costume. And this is of course partly that she is shackled by her life; by her marriage/betrothal, by her expectations as a woman and a teacher, as a good Japanese daughter who can barely speak Japanese and never went to Japan despite all her talk. And also that she is shackled by her own powers, that where they make her feel, well, powerful, she is also uncertain (has always been uncertain) and feels trapped in the role that she has given herself through the use of her powers—but again. This is a politely punk woman who cannot cut her hair in weird styles or wear piercings anymore, who must always be the thoughtful one, who must always be the good woman, who insists she will go to grad school and who still hasn't—who was "never going to do it!"—whose alter-ego began masculine and who even after dropping that alter-ego initially continues to be masculine in its power-ups and armored forms, even as Satomi is surrounded by chains, thinking of an alternate future where she shaves half of her head, which cannot be.

And I have been thinking also about Marshall whose entire interiority is a tangled mess of codependence that hinges upon his male childhood best friend—on the fact that he is jealous of Nathan, wants to be like—wants to be Nathan—that he feels Nathan's judgment at all times, that he hates Nathan but no, he doesn't hate him. He loves him. And he says it over and over again. I love him, I love you. Of course Nathan says, "I love you too," but there is a different weight to it in Marshall's inner universe that is not reflected there, necessarily. Not entirely in the same way, at least.

And when JJ shows up, he's sarcastic and catty. And it's obvious. And when she comes over at the bar, and Nathan is happy to see her, Marshall's entire demeanor changes, an immediate depression. And he went to Nathan's hospital room every. single. day. But when he snapped and disappeared and people thought he killed himself, not a single person was relieved to see he was alive, they all just thought he was a worthless asshole just like always. The wastoid, irresponsible, selfish. God forbid he snap under the weight of his entire universe being potentially destroyed. And none of them do seem to get that. I mean, if Nathan had not been brought back (if the timeline remained as it was meant to be?) — We saw him, you know? He was dream-hallucinating Nathan's ghost, presumably via the traces in <existence>, and crucially he was also wasted on the floor with his dog. I mean, they thought he must have killed himself because, presumably, if all of that had failed and he hadn't been able to face truth in existence, he would have.

Of course Nathan understands to some extent, because he knows the truth, to some extent, but still always has this metaphorical arm up to put this distance between them even when they are essentially sharing existence together by copiloting (and breaking) this radiant. And there's still this kind of constant denial of truth after Marshall brings him back, this friction between them. Barriers and boundaries from one (Nathan) that the other (Marshall) cannot entirely tolerate, (though Nathan's ability to establish boundaries is (as we see when he goes to LA a second time) is important to his maturity as a person and as a writer, but that is admittedly kind of a separate topic lol)

And I just think.

God.

The gender-bending is not nothingness, and Marshall is not just a loser. Existence is a mirror and that extends to the Radiants of course. Satomi's mirror is a man, and Marshall's truth culminates in "I love him."

What that ends up meaning in the future (if anything), I don't know, but I do think it's something (technically two things, I guess) that I want to acknowledge even if they fade away into spacetime as nothing more than aesthetic and drama, or whatever else, you know? Is it Canon, is it Lore, is it the Real Truth? Well I don't know about any of that but I know that to me as the reader I think it's legit lol and that's worth acknowledgment of some kind, as with any other textual analysis that might pop up over time

[northwest-cryptid]

I can't explain it very well, and I know a lot of people will probably hate to hear it. But Limbus Company feels like seeing someone running around wearing the corpse of a friend like a cheap cosplay and everyone praising them for being the authentic real thing.

It makes me feel insane, because I know so few who actually understand the problems I have with it. Fewer who seem to understand we're never going to get back what we lost.

But I do find it really funny how Project Moon became the very thing it wrote about. Obviously to a less extreme degree, or at least a less direct degree; and everyone who played LC and said "wow this guy sucks, how can these people overlook all these crimes and still just go on with their lives!?" Play Limbus Company, pay for Gacha, and when I dare to mention how ironic that is; I'm slapped in the face with how I'm a bad person because this is how they cope with their trauma or something.

Mind you these are all like, 3 different issues that stem from the same larger issue with Project Moon as a company. I've heard people say this is a problem with "the greater market of games as a whole" but I just don't buy that when you have so many indie games that succeed well enough despite being authentic and true to themselves.

Project Moon made Limbus as a funding project, a way to have an ongoing story they could add to the lore with; while funding bigger and better projects. That was the intent originally; but when they earned more than they could have ever hoped for their true colors got revealed immediately, and we lost what was once a very promising company, game series, and world setting. Seeing how much the community has in the past, and continues to influence the direction of the company it's kind of sad to see this happen because it feels like we let this happen in a way, even though I do believe I did my part in trying to prevent it.

But hey, truth is; people like Limbus Company, it's not that it's necessarily a bad game or bad characters or even honestly a bad story. So I don't necessarily fault people for that, more power to them; I'm happy they can enjoy it. However It's not Lobotomy Corporation, hell it's not even Library of Ruina which wasn't even Lobotomy Corporation. We're never going to get the same setting as Lob Corp, sure maybe on the surface level shit. We're always going to have fixers, and horror themes, and shit like that whatever. It's never going to be able to grapple with the shit Lob Corp did though, it's not going to be able to tell those stories, it's not going to be able to go to the places Lob Corp did, because that's not who Project Moon is anymore, and they know VERY well that if they deviate too much from what's marketable, it's not going to make them money.

I could get into it, but I don't really feel up for it right now, not that my opinion genuinely matters that much. I'm sure I'll get one or two weird anon messages about how I'm stupid and "if I don't like it don't play it" or some shit. Sure I understand, and like; for the record I don't play it. But I'm not just sitting here bitching for the sake of being mad about something or complaining. I'm not even mad or upset, I'm fucking sad because what I loved about Project Moon, and it's world, and it's characters, and what it was saying and doing as a company? Yea that doesn't exist anymore, and it won't come back, we've lost it and there's no going back to the way it was.

Man if only we had been warned about the true horror of corporate greed and the corruption that comes from wealth and power somehow :P

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

Agitation 3.4 Live Reactions

(This is me, writing reactions as I read, because why the fuck not. They're not complete, mature thoughts taken after I sit back and evaluate what I've read. Consider them as such)

As I heard the front door open, I snapped the phone shut and jammed it into my pocket.  I’d apologize for hanging up later.  I definitely didn’t want my dad to see the phone.  I didn’t think he would stop me from owning one, but ever since my mom’s death, cell phones had carried strong negative connotations.  That, and I’d have to explain where I got it and how I’d paid for it.

I get that Danny has issues with phones, but that's nearly criminally irresponsible parenting, given the way Brockton Bay is.

I’d promised myself I would go the day after tomorrow.  Face the music.

What music? I can't imagine her teachers will care. Her bullies might, but really, what the fuck else can they do if they still want to not get caught? Not much more than they already have.

(Did I jinx it? I think I probably jinxed it)

 Rachel had been out of the apartment, the others weren’t specific on why and I wasn’t interested enough to risk looking too curious by asking.

Right now, Taylor's relationship with the Undersiders has a very "my friends... and Zoidberg" feel to it.

I had elected for both a combat knife and a telescoping police baton. 

The Baton I see so often in every rendition of the Bank Scene! AYYY!

 I kind of liked that it was a bit spartan, because it sort of fit with how I didn’t plan to be around that long while still feeling weirdly appreciative at being accepted as a part of the group.

There's nothing weird about being glad to have a place where you're actually wanted, Taylor. Reject heroism. Embrace villainy. Return to bug!

Alec’s movies from Earth-Aleph, the alternate Earth that our Earth had been communicating with since Professor Haywire tore a hole between realities.  Media was one of the few things that could be traded back and forth through the hole.  Long story short, you could get books, movies and DVDs of TV shows from the other world, if you were willing to accept the price tag. The benefit? I got to spend the afternoon seeing how the other universe had handled episodes one and two of the Star Wars films.

First mention of Earth-Aleph, and yes, a source of all the bits in fanfic where people reference Earth-Aleph media!

I'd have to go back to the first mention of Earth-Bet, but I feel like for most casual uses in-universe, people would still just say 'Earth' to refer to whatever their Earth is? You'd only clarify when it matters to specify?

Eh, minor thing, probably as much for clarity of readability as anything else.

By the time my dad got in, I had pork chops defrosted, dusted with lemon and pepper and sitting in a frying pan, with vegetables in the microwave.  Cooking was sort of something you started doing when you had only one parent, unless you really, really liked takeout.

Not necessarily, but common, yeah.

He tried to hide it, but I could see a bit of disappointment.  “Of course,” he said, “Your new friends?”

I get it. He's been trying to make an effort lately, but he started too late, and Taylor is instead a villain now. He doesn't know that, but he both wants to let her have friends, instead of smother her and stuff, and wants to keep her close to reconnect.

My mind started racing to anticipate questions and come up with plausible details.  Should I use their real names?  Or at least, the names they had given me?  I wasn’t sure if that would be a breach of trust.  I decided to use their real names for much the same reason I’d decided to use my own with them.  It just prevented disasters if my dad ever happened to meet them, which was a terrifying thought, or if they called for me.

QUICK! THINK OF THE RIGHT LIES!

 I was also under the impression that the courts didn’t always unmask capes when they arrested them.  I wasn’t entirely sure what was up with that.  It seemed like something to ask Lisa about.

I feel like this is a core enough element of the setting that if Taylor did any research at all, she'd have found it, and she supposedly did a good amount of preplanning?

Like, I get that this is a set up for future exposition, but...

“A boy, eh?” My dad wiggled his eyebrows at me. “Dad, stop!  It’s not like that,” I protested.  

I mean, I wouldn't say I ship Brian/Taylor, but her budding crush is kinda cute and entertaining.

And Wildbow will make me suffer for thinking that, because All Readers of Worm Shall Suffer

My dad smiled, “Impressive.  Tell me they’re all excellent students that can serve as good role models for you.” I could have choked.  Good role models?  Them? 

Heh heh heh

Arguably, Taylor would be a good influence on them.

Maybe.

One hopes.

I raised my eyebrows in question as I chewed.  They had, kind of, but I couldn’t really say ‘They used Mom’s death to fuck with my head’ without having to explain the Emma thing.

TELL HIM TELL HIM TELL HIM

You’d think I would feel better, after opening up, but I didn’t.  I felt frustrated, angry, awkward.  It was a reminder that I couldn’t have a real conversation with my dad like I used to be able to

This, Taylor, is entirely a problem of your own creation though?

This time, though, instead of turning up towards the Boardwalk, I headed south.

Didn't an earlier bit imply that the Docks were just off the main road of the Boardwalk?

“Wasn’t sure if you would show up,” a male voice broke the silence. I turned to face Armsmaster, “I’m sorry.  I had to hang up on your receptionist.  Real life called.”

The Mental image of Armsmaster having a receptionist does not compute.

“I need to call in a favor.”

Well this will go splendidly!

[darthpastry]

This isn't really much of a question but I'm not really sure how else to phrase this. Give me all your Glitchtrap and Mimic head canon and AU ideas. I don't care how dumb or trivial you think they are. I wanna hear them. I just really love hearing people pour their hearts out about stuff they're really passionate about. Especially if it's something super niche like this.

Oh my gosh I accidently deleted the reply to this... but I have so many and this time I can do better formatting lol

Mimic:

Not entirely Glitchtrap, but kind of a mix of the Mimic program as well as Glitchtrap that has resulted in something just as violent as Glitchtrap, but not really malicious. Not saying it has any sense of morality, but more along the lines of "huh, weird, that fleshbag I just attacked isn't moving anymore. Oh well." It has a bit more of a childlike nature at times, like with the costumes.

Glitchtrap doesn't care much for having all the different characters that Mimic has come up with, as opposed to just having one alter ego, but enjoys the sadistic side of using a person or character someone cares about to lure them to their death. Finds it funny and all.

Speaking of the characters, the Mimic loves coming up with all sorts of characters and making costumes to "play pretend" with others before killing them. It doesn't have a lot to do after it got sealed away, so it spends hours drawing and making costumes.

Also, Mimic is not Burntrap. From my understanding, Burntrap and the Blob only exist within the "true ending" of SB that was effectively retconned via the comics in Ruin. The again, perhaps "the Blob and Burntrap aren't canon" is on the same level as the "Golden Freddy isn't real" video on Game Theory.

Glitchtrap:

Where do I even start with Glitchtrap? To anyone affected by the Glitchtrap virus, it can visually appear. Not entirely a hallucination, but not visible to anyone else, of course.

It can also create objects out of nowhere that only it and those infected with it can interact it. Mostly because these objects aren't actually real, and it just convinces the subconscious of the victims that it's real to the point of them being able to interact with the objects. These objects always look purple and glitchy. Kind of like a glitched game texture.

It can also pull objects out of the digital world and bring them into the real world. Such as, if Help Wanted was left open on a VR headset, it could reach into the headset and pull out a basketball, making it real. It could then take the basketball and toss it to Vanessa, who could toss it to anyone else. More likely take over Vanessa's body and then use the basketball to brutally murder someone, but you know.

Glitchtrap will also move around either with an absurd gymnastics routine or by teleporting. The teleporting is it disappearing and then reappearing wherever it wants in a cloud of the same purple glitches that appear on the objects it creates out of nowhere.

It understands morality a bit better than the Mimic, but just sort of understands the fact that morality exists, and people find murder unacceptable. But it also doesn't understand why they see it this way and will continue to make jokes about murder and torture to Vanessa and Gregory.

For how Gregory got Glitchtrapped, my headcanon was that Glitchtrap forced Vanessa to adopt him, since she was a beta tester, she would've been able to steal a copy of the game. Glitchtrap can also mess with computer systems, of course, so it was able to prevent her from getting in trouble.

It also talks very enthusiastically; random capitalized letters and an exclamation point at the end of at least every other sentence. Lots of dramatic, exaggerated motions while talking and almost never staying still.

Glitchtrap also likes using planners and calendars. Not necessarily to fully plan things out, but just because it likes hoarding both demented and childish ones. For example, the blood eagle calendar mentioned in the Special Delivery emails, but also made Vanessa get a daily planner with sparkles, rainbows, and unicorns.

Once MXES, who Gregory and Vanessa created after the 3-star ending, comes around, MXES and Glitchtrap end up have a sort of Lego Batman and Joker relationship. I say sort of, but it's exactly like that. Glitchtrap being mildly upset about being its plans being messed with, but also excited about having a worthy opponent that isn't some child (Gregory). In a "HEY! How's my FAVORITE nemesis doing?" sort of way. Meanwhile MXES very rarely talks and usually just does what it was made to do and disappears again, occasionally with a judgmental look at Glitchtrap's antics.

Glitchtrap also thinks of Vanessa as a friend, knowing but not understanding or caring that that's definitely not what friendship looks like. It sees the whole Vanny moniker as a fun nickname and will casually chat with her about anything and everything. It's also genuinely confused why she's not happy about the whole situation but doesn't particularly care.

It's also influenced by William, but not really. Maybe something of a caricature on how William saw himself, but certainly not the same. William would never be so intentionally goofy or enjoy dancing and gymnastics that much.

Glitchtrap also loves music and has questionable taste. While in the game it listened to the unused showtime file a highly questionable number of times and has given Vanessa a ton of terrible music recommendations. But at the same time enjoys watching ballets, one of the few times it'll sit still. Same with cartoons, it adores cartoon violence and absolutely takes it as suggestions.

It also is incredibly cheerful, no matter what it's doing, and will act like the most horrific things are complete normal and maybe pretend to be annoyed by people disagreeing.

I don't have a ton of AUs, but the one I'm working on, the timeline sort of got stuck in the blender and made a very weird but also fun smoothie. If that metaphor makes any sense. But the main changes are that no canon characters have died, and the timeline is far more compressed. As in, Help Wanted and SB both take place in the 90s and that technology can exist at that point in time just because sort of compressed. Cassidy also ends up playing a major role, she's the one who created the Princess Quest games in the AU. I'm also a firm believer in the "BB's Balloon World was Gregory's PQ" theory, so in the AU she ends up making that game as well. With some help from the Afton kids and Charlie, since they're her friends and already involved in the situation. Another major difference is also that William never got springlocked, adopted Vanessa to try and raise the perfect assistant and serial killer after abandoning his own kids, and then invented Glitchtrap when she turned on him. Then Henry ends up building the Pizzaplex because he was thinking of expanding anyway and it can also be used as a way to try and get Vanessa closer to the PQ games.

I also think it would be epic if MXES and Glitchtrap just got into a street fight, but that's neither here nor there.

I think that's everything I have, thank you so much for the ask, this was a lot of fun to answer!

[three--rings]

So I was thinking last night about the FTH charity binding I offered, and why I didn't put any restrictions on the content it could cover, other than very basic restriction on underage explicitness.

And I realized it's because I know from experience that I could list out a whole bunch of restrictions and STILL get something I didn't foresee and which might bother me. I've been around fandom enough to know that when you try to foresee all the potential weirdness, someone will always outweird you.

So I gave myself a personal safe position, which is if I disliked the content in whatever someone wanted me to bind, I would just not read it. (I don't have the kind of triggers where just glimpsing a topic is going to leave me shaken and upset, other than like a momentary shudder.)

(I ended up with a very nice fic that I never would have encountered but enjoyed reading and therefore am making an extra nice typeset for, btw.)

But anyway, I think it ties into the entire idea of antis wanting to censor content because they think they can somehow prevent themselves ever getting upset if they Just Restrict Enough Topics. If they make everything that could possibly be Wrong illegal, they will be Safe from Upsetting Things.

And I can just tell you, from experience, that's not how humans work. Someone will still slip the most disturbing content imaginable through your carefully considered limitations. People are freaking WEIRD MAN and the sooner you just accept that and see it as beautiful the happier you'll be.

(Which again, doesn't mean you have to personally expose yourself to upsetting things, that's what tags are FOR, but also know there are tags out there you are never going to THINK of restricting that will hit you upside the head.)

And I'm not even talking about Weird Sex Stuff necessarily. Like, you could end up encountering a fic that just...upsets you deeply because of the tone or the mood. It could send you into a depression or something just because of the plot, it could remind you of something from your past for random reasons, like engaging with stories isn't SAFE on a fundamental level. There is always a risk of it DOING SOMETHING to you. That's what is awesome about stories.

Like I recently read a fic without looking too closely at tags and went in for some BDSM smut and ending up sobbing my eyes out repeatedly. It fucking knocked me for a LOOP emotionally. And wow, that was AN EXPERIENCE that I'm glad I had. I had been feeling kinda emotionally dead and this shook something LOOSE.

Anyway, yeah. If you try to make fiction (or life) Perfectly Safe you'll just end up drawing boundaries smaller and smaller until you find yourself backed into a tiny empty corner.

[dinoburger]

I think sex positivity is important, but there's kind of... a big focus on depoliticizing the erotic, whichever way you cut it. You get a huge skew of people who are either in the camp of "porn is just porn, don't worry about it" or "sex should always be this that and the other. don't make it too weird. don't talk about it too much. we have to make it as acceptable as possible."

one problem is the former tend to describe the latter as puritanical, certainly there are socially enforced biases, but downplaying the coercive aspects of the erotic will never help your case.

the conception of eros as a tool of coercion doesn't come from nowhere. body autonomy is highly political. It doesn't do any good to ignore that fact. Either way, dissuading people not to think about it too much inevitably steers them away from being able to approach intimacy in a measured way and at their own liberty. It prevents people the ability to look critically, develop their own sensibilities and explore deeply into their own feelings towards intimacy.

I guess it's something I've thought for a long time, but not necessarily fully embraced. I want everyone to have the capacity for that kind of liberation to choose for themselves.

[rawlizardguts]

some of you, as always, are being really weird about lanyon and rachel

rachel made a mistake and has not owned up to it. is this irritating? yes. is it an irredeemable character flaw and a sign that she's transphobic? no! yes, she should've listened to jasper when he asked her not to brush his hair, and it really seems like her talk with lucy has only made her target her "i must take care of you" instincts at jasper instead of hyde. but you know what the difference is? jasper is her PEER and FRIEND (plus romantic interest lol). hyde and her were never FRIENDS, there is always a wall of dishonesty and an uneven power struggle that prevents them from being friends and equals. jasper does not have this problem. this mistake WILL be talked about, they WILL work it out with each other, and rachel, most definitely, WILL apologize. because they are friends and equals. they will work through this issue TOGETHER.

now lanyon... the fact that some of you despite it at all cannot bring yourselves to even CONSIDER lanyon's point of view. henry is struggling, yes, with a similar issue that he was struggling with at the lanyons' party. THE LAST TIME LANYON TRIED TO HELP HIM THROUGH AN EPISODE, HENRY HIT HIM. RESPONDED WITH PHYSICAL VIOLENCE. it would be reasonable for lanyon to not want to be around henry AT ALL when he's like this.

AND YET LANYON STILL LOOKS CONCERNED. it's not that he doesn't CARE about henry, but the last time he tried, henry brushed him off and HIT HIM. it is perfectly reasonable for him to declare this "not his problem" because the last time he tried to MAKE IT his problem, it didn't work out!

there are many other nuances behind lanyon's behavior but that's a character trait and motivation thing. you are not obligated to like lanyon based on his character traits (he is pompous and abrasive, and i understand that's not for everyone). you are not obligated to see the justification behind lanyon's treatment of henry during their romantic relationship. HOWEVER. IF THIS WAS ANY OTHER CHARACTER REACTING THIS WAY, NO ONE WOULD SEE ANY ISSUE.

STOP holding the black characters in this comic to higher standards. they will make mistakes and act in ways you don't necessarily like. they are FLAWED and DYNAMIC characters. the fact that a lot of you only have these criticisms about lanyon and rachel is telling.

[valentinsylve]

Thinking again about that post about punk and politics and how I explosion-laughed when I saw the reblog saying punk has always been about freedom and standing up for justice in an angry way, like... tell me you know nothing and remember nothing.

Epater les bourgeois is performance art. Performance art is not politics. It can be political, but it's not action. I suspect a lot of people think that politics is about protests and throwing things and Thinking the Minuet in G while doing laundry to atone for one's privilege, and not about participating as an adult constituent at boring town council meetings where they talk about rezoning where the working class people live and abolishing the library or whatever.

Yes, I know all about your political punk rock group house, but ultimately those are cliques, not movements, and they don't last more than a few years. Are they feeding impoverished people? Working to liberate housing? OK, that's awesome! Not necessarily anything to do with punk, though, which is my point.

Punk was a later 20th century aesthetic derived from counter-mainstream artists (and Malcolm McLaren trying to get rich). Art can be adjacent to one's politics and maybe you can signal what your general beliefs might be with your clothing, just like bell bottoms and love beads (hippies have culture... like a raw cave yogurt). But punk is not unambiguously "the good guys". You had to be vigilant. Not everyone with weird hair and tattoos is your kindred. There were people who very much were not (but who dressed just like us! no swastikas even!) and we had to make a point of being scarier to get rid of them... lots of us queers (and straight allies!) bulked up so we could prevent gay-bashings and racist violence. It wasn't *because* we were punk. Those shitheads were punk too. And there were some peace-loving punks who still wanted to embrace them as "one of us" and had to be gently told "No, we're not inviting her to the potluck, she expressly wants to fuck us up because she doesn't like Homos, Jews, and People of Color."

Anyway if you're interested in researching countercultures in the 20th century and feel like being disillusioned, start with We Are the People Our Parents Warned Us Against by Nicholas Von Hoffman and see how you feel about hippies, just to get your feet wet.

[furrylibrarian]

Alright so here's the team I'm taking into endgame for my Fire Emblem Engage Hard Mode run. I don't think any of my class picks are too weird, but I barely did any reclassing on my first run, so it feels significant to me. Units are listed in order of recruitment. I'm putting down a "read more" in case people are worried about getting late-game recruits spoiled, any also just so this big long post doesn't clog up people's feeds too much.

I hope you like Canter, because I sure do

Alear (I named her Syldra)

Sword Griffin Knight; S-Rank Xander; Sword Power 4, Canter

Since Alear gets her Emblem form, I was comfortable switching her off an Emblem Ring. I consider this a pretty straightforward build; Flyer mobility and Canter enable her personal skill very well, and then Sword Power and Chivalry ensure that she'll do solid damage. My only complaint is that I didn't think of reclassing to Griffin (and necessarily unlocking staff proficiency) or of using Sword Power until after losing the first batch of rings, so I didn't get to use Alear in her final form until the lategame.

Clanne

Lance Hero; Sigurd; Dual Assist+, Reposition

I like this setup a lot. Brave Assist, Dual Assist, and the movement boost from Sigurd make Clanne effectively a damage boost for the rest of my army.

Framme

Martial Master; Lucina; Canter, Staff Mastery 5

First and foremost a utility setup. Debilitate with staffs, protect allies with Chain Guard/Bonded Shield, and occasionally bash some kneecaps with Flashing Fist Art.

Anna

Sword Mage Knight; Byleth; Canter+, Momentum

I like Byleth on a mounted character because more movement is good for Goddess Dance. Plus, the big Luck boost helps trigger Make a Killing, which is helpful for me specifically because I am not good at making financial decisions in video games nor in real life.

Yunaka

Thief; Corrin; Canter, Gentility/Bravery+

Daggers+Draconic Hex can cripple most targets, and Fog Dragon Vein+Trained to Kill with a crit-boosting engraving on her weapon means she is occasionally really good at securing kills. Bravery ensures that she can always deal some damage, therefore ensuring that her daggers properly debuff things.

Diamant

Successor; Roy; Canter, Speed +5

Honestly kind of a filler pick when I realized that I had 14 deployment slots for the last few maps and not 12 like I thought. I went with Diamant because he can use S-rank swords and I wanted to start using my legendary weapons.

Ivy

Lindwurm; Celica; Canter, Speed +4

The other character I added to my lineup to fill a newly-acquired vacancy, but unlike Diamant she fills a genuine niche, since I didn't have a good fit for the Celica ring on my lineup that didn't have a different Emblem I really wanted on them.

Kagetsu

Sword/Axe Wyvern Knight; Lyn; Canter, Gentility/Bravery+

Very much a meta pick. I took who seems to be considered the best physical combatant and put him into what seems to be considered the best physical combat class. Lyn ensures that he can double enemy speedsters like Swordmasters and Wolf Knights.

Fogado

Cupido; S-Rank Leo; Canter+, Bow Focus 5

Fogado exists for one purpose and that is to annihilate flyers with the Radiant Bow. Ideally I would have a Claude bond ring for Wind God, but the RNG just didn't pan out.

Panette

Warrior; Ike; Vantage+, Pair Up

Blood Fury+Wrath+upgraded Killer Axe=consistent 100% critical rates. Vantage and Pair Up help to prevent my hubris from killing her.

Hortensia

Sleipnir Rider; Micaiah; Canter+, Staff Mastery 5

Here pretty much exclusively for wacky staff shenanigans, using Micaiah to warp and debilitate en masse. My only regret is that I used up most of my Freeze staffs, and the shop never got them in unlimited supply like I thought it would.

Seadall

Dancer; Leif; Canter+, Quality Time+

Just straight grooving. He gets Leif because I struggle to find another unit that really wants his skillset more than another Emblem's, and Arms Shield protects Seadall from bows and tomes, which are most of the weapons directed at him whenever I fail to move him out of the danger zone.

Mauvier

Royal Knight; Eirika; Canter, Lance Power 4

I gave him a Brave Lance to take advantage of Lunar Brace. I've moved him and Alear to healing duty so that Framme and Hortensia can devote more of their inventories to wackier status staffs.

Veyle

Sword Wolf Knight; Marth; Canter, Gentility/Bravery+

Levin Sword Lodestar Rush goes brrrrrrrrrrr. She can't debilitate as well as Yunaka, but she still can add to poison stacks, which is neat. I also made her Alear's S-Support, and the two of them have tag-teamed a healthy amount of chapter bosses so far.

[kyogre-blue]

My sister just started doing zhongli's quests after avoiding them at all costs bc she needs azdaha materials (she actually did raiden's quests before zhongli's lmao) and is currently screeching in confusion about the "wrath of the rock" thing haha.

Like the belief of Barbatos always listening at least makes sense, given his element (plus the winds have been preventing storms for a thousand years so they have every reason to believe Barbatos is present in the wind) but what, do Liyue's people believe that a meteorite will come for them if they break a contract? Bc otherwise I don't know how their god's domain could possibly bring about retribution (yanfei's dumb belief that the lord of GEO has any power over the rain aside)

Hm... it's a bit hard for me to comment too much on people's (fictional) religious belief because I am atheist raised by atheist parents with no background in religion at all. Because that's what this is, ultimately - superstition and religious belief.

I think it comes down to two general aspects.

One, a god's domain is not necessarily delineated logically. Yes, the gods are all "god of something" but especially in earlier lore, they have a bunch of somethings they are associated with. Morax has an entire commission chain about all the things he's associated with, because presumably he's a micromanager who stuck his fingers in all aspects of Liyue advancement and culture. There's also the issue of subsequent generations adding skewed or even purely fictitious aspects to his legacy, like how Macarious, the God of the Stove, got merged into Morax's legend over time.

Additionally, keep in mind that, with the way the seven nation system works, it doesn't really matter what your nation's god presides over. You're not going to pray to some other god for anything, unless you are super weird (like Dori). If you think about it logically, it starts to look pretty blasphemous to do it, or even treasonous.

So all supernatural and divine things will be seen as going through YOUR god, regardless of their domain. That's why you even get stuff like some characters who think their Vision was granted by their god.... even when it's the entirely wrong element for that.

Two, it's not necessarily that they expect something to actually happen. For superstition, you don't really think it's true... but you do it just out of habit, or just in case, or as a gesture to show how serious you are.

I remember seeing a post about an ancient (Sumeru? Egypt?) legal document that had a bunch of curses thrown in, like "you break this contract, and misfortune, plague, bad juju be upon ye." And it's not like the people drafting this document really expected it to get divine retribution. They were writing a legal document in the framework of their legal system. They expected the lawyers to take care of any infractions. But it was an accepted cultural way to show how serious they were about these statements, and well, would be nice if it happened.

Plus, Zhongli does have a distinct mythology about punishing anyone who breaks contracts? Like, this is obviously a thing Morax went around doing and saying, so it's not surprising that it entered the cultural lexicon.

If we're going to talk about things to nitpick about his first quest, let's talk about him enforcing complete nonsense onto Wanyan presumably because he just really, really wanted to tell her the real story.

[camp-counselor-life]

any tips on setting boundaries with a kid who’s too physically affectionate? i’m usually ok with kids who want some hugs but i had a kid in the cabin i was working with last summer who wouldn’t stop being touchy and I didn’t like it didn’t know what to do, and I’ve been trying to think of what to do next time.

Hi friend,

That's a tough one, because on one hand boundaries are extremely important and it's so good and valid to have them, but on the other hand some kids just crave that physical affection and they're obviously not getting it elsewhere. It's a weird place to be caught in and I have been there.

I think the first and most important thing you can do is set boundaries and expectations early. Pull from your staff manual and child abuse prevention policies (this is where you can usually find these), and set expectations on the first day with things like: What kinds of physical affection are permissible and with whom? Side hugs or front hugs? Can you hold hands? Sit in laps? Touch body parts like faces and arms? Obviously some of these you just have to say no to, but you need to set the expectation of what is allowed early. You can absolutely bring respect into this conversation too.

Another is consent. Do you need to ask before giving physical affection (consent)? The answer is yes, but kids might not know how to do this. Modeling a healthy conversation around consent, especially how you'd like to be asked, is important to grow this skill. Even something as simple as, "I'm feeling sad and would like a hug. Can I hug you?" "No, but I will give you a high five or a handshake. Thanks for asking." If you have a co-counselor who doesn't mind hugs (appropriately), you can also direct your kiddo there.

Once you've set boundaries, enforce them. Enforce them often and evenly. It's honestly more of a reinforcement, such as, "hey, remember we talked about asking permission to touch," or "hey, remember to respect others and not touching/hugging if they don't want to." You can also (gently) remove touches as appropriate.

Always remain calm when dealing with the touchy campers. They probably don't have models of healthy boundaries and physical affection. While it's not your job to teach them necessarily, it will help you out to model it.

I think it's also important to recognize that every behavior has a root cause. What need is being unmet and how can you otherwise meet it? They might need a little extra attention, a little extra support, and you can accomplish this with a quick conversation with your kiddo. Don't make them feel bad, be there to support them, and really listen attentively and try your best to take their suggestions/requests and make them happen (within reason).

That was a longer answer than I intended, but I wish you all the best with your kiddos next summer.

[whetstonefires]

i saw your reblog of lesbianincelsnape’s post, i really want to hear your thoughts on how dumbledore and snape are similar

Oh! Sure, why not. 😂 I'll do my best.

So the position I'm adopting here is basically that Dumbledore is secretly a lot like Snape.

Specifically, the person Snape was, at that crucial juncture in his life when Dumbledore stepped up as his patron, reminded Dumbledore so much of himself at the parallel point in his own life it was like getting punched in the stomach every time he looked at him.

(I've also said elsewhere I think he was probably jealous that Voldemort and Lily were separate people. Like!)

The extremely vital point in Albus Dumbledore's backstory that gets neglected an astonishing amount is: his father went to Azkaban for anti-muggle hate crimes, and never came out.

But it wasn't really a hate crime. It was an honor killing, or vigilante justice. It was revenge for an assault on his daughter that could not be prosecuted thanks to the Statute of Secrecy.

The Dumbledore family was destroyed by 1) muggles and 2) the government. And then their mom died.

And that's where Grindelwald found him. Recently out of school and recently orphaned, brilliant and isolated and embittered, all his lauded potential being squandered on having to stay home and care indefinitely for his disabled sister. And knowing exactly who to blame. This is an alienated youth.

Aberforth was 100% correct to come over all 'what the fuck Rousseau you're just going off with this asshole to chase your weird dreams and leaving us?' although dueling about it was obviously foolish, but it's not surprising Albus could be radicalized at that point, even without factoring in the crush.

It wouldn't be really surprising, just disappointing, if Grindelwald had led with much more blatantly evil rhetoric than 'we will tear down this broken system with all its hideous injustices and erect a new one where we will personally ensure justice and rule over the muggles for their own good' and still gotten him.

But regardless. First he was that brilliant, embittered, horribly lonely young englishman signing himself away on a charismatic figure's fascist agenda. And then he was the slightly older, broken young man whose selfish choices had killed a young woman he loved, but had failed to care for properly.

Dumbledore despised the first one but he respects the sentiment of remorse enough to be able to sympathize with the second. He's built his whole identity from that point in his own life.

Which gets him right in that weird mental spot he's clearly got, where he wants to believe in redemption more than anything but also believes people can never really change. And that he, for example, can't be trusted to attempt major reforms to society or government considering the circumstances of his original resolution to unfuck the system.

So although Snape doesn't know it they've got this super complicated relationship where Dumbedore identifies with him a lot, and alternately cuts him inappropriate amounts of slack and is Very Weird And Passive-Aggressive With Him because of it.

What's most interesting here is that while he did usher the guy into the life choice that had ultimately allowed him to feel like he was doing something meaningful without grasping too outrageously at power (without any apparent understanding of the differences of context and psychology that stopped teaching from being fulfilling for Snape in the same way, or of the ways this could be bad for students) Dumbledore did not seriously pressure Snape to adopt his specific coping mechanisms.

Is this because he understood that this would be inappropriate and unhelpful, or more broadly unethical, or because he lacked the introspective awareness to realize that he had e.g. spent the last 70 years in a weird internal war with his 20-year-old self? Who can say.

Interesting that the result was that Snape just stayed that exact person for the rest of his life though.

[zaricats]

I'm interested, what do you think of Roman and Kendall's relationship overall? I feel like they were close when they were little but got driven apart when Roman's psychological issues got him sent to military school and Logan covertly encouraged him to blame Kendall for making him turn out weird (mainly to take any responsibility off of himself). I don't believe Kendall was aware of anyone other than Logan hurting Roman or that Kendall abused Roman himself, but... it's complicated.

!! i don't think roman and kendall were ever very close, actually - i think they've always been pretty distant

this got away from me in the extreme so im going to put this under a cut (i'm so sorry)

the dog cage story in the episode with tom's bachelor party i think is indicative of two things: how siblinghood in the roy house functioned, and how kendall (as well as connor) react to guilt/abuse.

connor says, when roman asks him if he really did enjoy being put in a dog kennel, that they all had a hierarchy to learn and that once they learned it, they would be happier. we're meant to take this as a sort of metaphor: in childhood, the siblings were likely pitted against each other (by logan) to be the 'stronger dog'. roman was the 'weaker dog' because he was the one stuck in the cage - kendall was stronger because he put him in there. kendall rationalizes it by the idea that roman somehow belongs in this position, wants to be there and is happier for it, so that kendall can feel better about participating and winning.

i don't necessarily blame kendall for participating (he was also a child), but that sort of competition and play would likely prevent any sort of close relationship. roman was four - that would be an extremely early memory for him. logan likely intended to prevent any close bonds anyway, because in order to have control over someone, you have to be the most important person in their life. a close relationship with a sibling could ruin that; it could be a threat to you, even.

the dog cage story is also extremely tied up with roman's "sexual perversity", and is also, imo, extremely indicative of csa (bed-wetting, 'you enjoyed it', etc). kendall doesn't really remember the story at all, at first, and his next reaction is to get defensive. he insists it wasn't that bad, and that roman wanted it. i agree with the idea that kendall wouldn't have known if someone other than logan was hurting roman, but that sort of denial and avoidance still wouldn't (and doesn't) play very well with roman. it hurts when your suffering goes unnoticed and/or unprevented.

even if roman isn't a victim of csa (i don't think anything fits better, but i digress), it's very possible kendall exhibited this sort of avoidance/denial in regards to just logan's physical abuse. i know he defends roman at argestes, but that doesn't necessarily indicate anything about their childhood (for example, logan's already snapped at iverson at this point - this would have changed kendall in a fundamental way).

i do think roman was close with shiv as children - they seem closer in age, and they have a rapport/banter/cadence with each other that neither have with kendall. this could be because kendall just isn't good at that sort of banter, but i think we're meant to read a special sort of closeness out of it. it's a mean sort of affection only roman and shiv have.

shiv also isn't competition in the way kendall is. her distance from waystar in the beginning of the show is non-threatening, and i think her position as a woman also prevents her from intimidating roman in any sort of significant way (this goes for kendall as well). even still, once shiv exposes logan's offer to make her CEO, roman's relationship with her becomes a lot more aggressive. their teasing becomes acidic and cruel - the way they poke at each other about sex (shiv having too much, roman having none at all) grows exponentially in both amount and cruelty. i think this is where roman and kendall have been their whole lives.

i think theres a lot to be seen in the way roman wrestles with both shiv and kendall as well. with shiv, roman wrestles just to wrestle - its very reminiscent of two kids getting into a scuffle because its fun and they need to get the energy out somehow. when they wrestle in the hospital, its almost cathartic; its a strange way to process logan's sudden and eminent mortality.

with kendall, wrestling is a competition - its a genuine fight. think of the hunting retreat: kendall is trying to take something away from roman, kendall is trying to get roman in trouble, kendall is trying to put roman down so he can get a leg up with logan. again, their relationship is about competition.

i do think something changes after roman gets back from turkey - he starts showing real concern for Kendall, makes attempts to get closer with him (and shiv) by suggesting they talk seriously, etc. i think this is a new thing, however - i don't think they're going back to something they once had. it feels new and awkward - i think they've always been dogs at each other's throats.

[wixhing0nastar]

I have a very out there, never going to be canon theory about Blake and Yang based on a bunch of semi-canon side content and some minor theme destructuring. (This is a 100% serious theory, despite what I’m about to say).

What if Blake and Yang really are secretly the reincarnations of the Faunus Princess and Human Warrior from the V4-5 comics? But not in the way that Oz reincarnates, but more in a your soul is reborn kind of way.

Now there are several things at play here, and the biggest is “how the heck would the princess/warrior have started reincarnating in the first place??” and to answer that, I point to Fairy Tales of Remnant, where in the two Faunus origin stories we were introduced to what is likely the other two gods of Remnant, the Gods of Knowledge and Choice.

These gods are rooted in Faunus oral history and are not part of Human mythology on Remnant at all, just like the princess/warrior story is part of the Faunus oral tradition. So, it’s likely that while the brothers were wholly focused on Man, the other two gods were busy creating the Faunus.

How does this tie into the whole Blake and Yang reincarnating theory? Well, to start, the brothers were the ones who started the reincarnation/never ending life cycle for Oz and Salem, and RWBY is a show that works in fours (which is why there only being two gods also doesn't make a ton of sense). With that alone it wouldn’t seem unreasonable that there might be two other characters on the show with this ability and with two other Faunus gods it’s not that weird to imagine they could also make people reincarnate separate from the brothers.

However, getting into the implications of there being other gods whose goals didn't necessarily align with the brothers opens the door for having equally powerful figures upset that the planet they were watching over was suddenly destroyed (and if they were helping to regrow the planet without Salem’s knowledge it might explain how the planet managed to produce humans again when the likelihood of evolution playing out that way naturally is... unlikely...)

Considering the conflict between Humans and the Faunus was likely going to prevent humanity from ever uniting (and thus being wiped out when the other gods returned) having the Faunus gods decide to grant a semblance of reincarnation to a Human and a Faunus who’d miraculously fallen in love might not seem that weird.

After all, if their souls were always fighting to be together, then the systemic racism issues would have to be addressed, which could go a long way in uniting Remnant and sometimes all it takes is two people to make a large impact.

Plus there's the whole thing with them practically being soulmates in canon on top of that, with the whole “eyes the colors of each others souls” thing that’s just... really gay y’all.