#even more than some actual romantic ships of mine

[danothan]

this bad boy can fit so much hope and love in him !

[eelnoise]

ZIIIII MY LOVEEEE <3 <3

'kiss me forever till my lips part together, hold me so close till you devour my sweater, touch me so softly and caress me so gentle, love city baby, let me be your adventure' + zoro + nsfw (but make it romantic and fluffy fjaslfkjls)

second confluence

zoro x afab!reader NSFW cw: u take his virginity, fluff and smut, piv sex, slightly awkward first times, reader guides zoro through some of it, poor guy cums too fast an: CILLE MY DEAREST I THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE THE PERFECT PROMPT TO CONTINUE THIS LITTLE STORY and i hope i do it justice because i love you so much

Time passes, hours into days and days into weeks since the heated kisses shared between you.

Nothing has changed in your relationship. Zoro still slumps his way into your bed each night, weighing down the mattress enough for you to naturally roll into him and splay a large arm over your middle to pull you close. The familiar pull on your forearm to lead you down into his lap for a nap, the way he helps himself to the food on your plate, the affectionate pats to your head or arm in passing - it all feels the same. 

Though, for Zoro, it’s been torture.

All he thinks about is you. Your face, your smile, your kindness, understanding - he could list you quality by quality and still be unable to finish the portrait of praise painted upon you. He relives the feeling of your lips upon his hour after hour, yearning for the feeling of your soft skin beneath his fingers through more than just the fabric of your clothing.

You’re driving him insane, and after countless sessions of debate with himself, Zoro all but rushes to your room, dashing around the ship with one goal in mind - you.

Met with the rapidly approaching and familiar thumping of boots toward your room, the shirt in your hands falls back into the laundry basket as you turn to the open doorway in expectant anticipation. Sure enough, the swordsman appears before you, and before you can even greet him, he advances toward you in one large step, lips crashing upon yours in a hungry, almost carnivorous kiss.

He's aggressive in his approach, no words exchanged, no moment to think - just an explosive collision of lips that knocks you both to the floor as your arms wrap around him. The tumble is painless, and your hands find his hair, fingers digging into the soft locks as you cling to him.

A man driven by intuition, his once inexperienced and tooth kisses turn into passionate, desire-filled ones; and it feels amazing, the sensation of his lips tangled against yours, his arms wrapped around you as he presses his body close, the fire in his touch as he devours and tastes you. It feels right - like you were meant to be slotted together in a mess of limbs and touch by fate.

You feel weak in his embrace, breathless and faint, his scent lingering in the air around you as he pulls away and places his forehead against yours. Your heart skips a beat as you look into his intense gaze, his face is flushed, and his expression is almost certainly one of deep affection.

“Been thinkin’,” he murmurs against you, breathing warm on your face and lips tickling yours. “A lot, actually.”

“Oh yeah?” you whisper, stroking the top of his head lovingly. “About what?”

“I want ya,” he answers, one of his large hands coming to rest on your cheek delicately. "Need ya." He drags his thumb across your bottom lip so tenderly that it surprises you. "More than just a one-time thing, too," he continues, leaning down again to brush his lips to yours. "Want all of ya, forever."

"I-" you begin, eyes wide with realization. "Really?" You feel breathless, his words igniting a wave of what could only be love through your bones. The admission is enchanting, and it feels as if you’re all but rooted to the wooden floorboards at your back. 

"Yeah, really," he confirms with a nod, his voice low and deep. "I want ya to be mine. I don’t want anyone else to have ya." He leans down further still, his lips meeting yours once more in a passionate kiss that leaves no room for doubt in either of your minds. This is something much more than just physical desire; this is love.

Hands envelop your waist, dropping from your cheek to pull you flush against him. Lips smack together again in a rhythm that hastily turns irregular and messy, all teeth and tongue clashing together in a war of love and lust.

His hands tighten their grip, pulling you even closer until there's little space between you left. The kiss becomes more frantic, tongues dueling wildly as you finally share the depths of your emotions. Taking turns biting each other's lips, you mark each other in a way that speaks volumes about how far things have come in your relationship.

“Zoro,” you whisper into him, breaking the embrace and to tilt your to his heavy-lidded and surprisingly soft expression. “Are you absolutely sure about this?” 

Is he sure? There aren't many things Zoro considers with absolute certainty, but you? He loves you, and he fears that he'll never be able to successfully tell you just how much, but he damn well means to try. 

“I'm sure.”

And with that, he latches upon your lips again. His hands start to roam down your body, feeling your skin beneath the light barrier of cloth that harshly separates him from what he longs for the most. Fingers dip under the hem of your shirt, and Zoro looks into your eyes for reassurance, severing the tether between your mouths. You nod, a loving smile carved into your cheeks.

Zoro tugs the fabric up and over your shoulders, tossing the garment aside before admiring your bare chest. His large, warm palm meets the flesh of your tummy, and the sensation is enough to make you mewl.

It's better than he ever dreamed, your soft skin under his touch. He trails up your belly, relishing in the way you sigh and hum from the contact. Zoro lowers his face towards your neck, breath hot against your sensitive skin. He nuzzles against your collarbone, taking in the scent of you before planting a kiss there. The taste of you sends shivers down his spine, and he moans softly.

You giggle, the sensation teasingly arousing you further. His hand encircles one of your breasts, experimentally squeezing the pliant softness with some noticeable hesitance, but at your sigh of pleasure, he's invigorated to go further.

Zoro takes hold of your breast firmly, gently kneading it between his fingers before bringing it to his mouth to suckle on the nipple. He bites down gently, causing you to arch into him involuntarily. The combination of pleasure and surprise causes him to look at you with a mix of determination and desire in his eyes.

"Was that okay?" He asks, just to make sure. He only wants to hurt you if you like it. "Y-yeah," you stutter, turning into putty beneath him. "It's good, y-you're good."

Zoro smiles victoriously, feeling the power that comes with having you completely under his control. He continues to suckle on your breast, taking long slow pulls as he teases the sensitive nub with his tongue. "Good," he repeats, his voice dripping with confidence. "Now let me take care of the other one."

He moves to your other breast, repeating the same process of gentle kneading and biting before taking it into his mouth. You find yourself moaning softly, unable to resist the sensations coursing through your body.

As he works on your breasts, Zoro runs his free hand up your thigh, feeling the soft skin there before moving it higher still until he reaches the hem of your shorts. He hesitates for just a moment before pulling them down over your hips, revealing more of your exposed flesh to him.

And as the fabric falls from your ankle and into the abyss below the bed, Zoro looks upon you - all of you - for the first time. Your skin glows softly in the moonlight seeping in from the window, illuminating you in evening's veil. Hair strewn around your face, your well loved lips swollen from the endless kisses - fuck, he thinks you may be perfect.

He takes a while to just enjoy the way you look. Laid bare before him, the most vulnerable parts of you exposed to the elements, you look tantalizingly beautiful. He reaches out and brushes some strands of hair away from your cheek with a soft smile, feeling how warm and supple your skin is.

One hand reaches forward to touch your thigh, digits encircling the pliant flesh and squeezing… gently? You peer at him curiously, leaning up on your elbows, and the look on his face shows something so foreign, an expression that you don't think you've seen before.

He's nervous.

Nervous about touching you this way, and despite the sweet sense of finality that Zoro's keen on devouring, he doesn't know quite where to begin. He looks into you with a silent plea of assistance, and it's one you're willing to answer.

"Zo," you whisper, leaning up just enough to place a hand on his cheek. He leans into it instinctively, a gesture that fills you with so much joy that you could burst. "It's alright, I want you to touch me."

Zoro takes your hand in both of his and holds onto it tightly, feeling a warmth spread throughout his entire body as he realizes that you trust him completely. With renewed confidence, he places his other hand on your waist and gently lowers himself between your thighs.

His cock is warm against you, and you can feel it throb and twitch even from within the confines of his pants. The anticipation is killing you, but you mean to take it slow as to not overwhelm him in this most vulnerable of moments. He trusts you, loves you enough to be entwined together as lovers do.

You hear him audibly swallow, and that rare, hesitant, exposed side of him reveals itself once more. Zoro is but a breadth away from what he wants with you, and while intimacy is more than just sex, he finds himself wanting to prove himself to you, that he wants this, wants you, with his whole heart.

He looks at you with another silent plea, and, god, it's so fucking adorable. "What do your instincts tell you?" You ask, hoping to ease some of his nerves. "What do you want?"

Zoro takes a deep breath, trying to steady himself, and then speaks softly. "I... want this. I want to be with ya," His voice trembles slightly, betraying the usual tough exterior to display vulnerability. "I want to give myself completely to ya. I know it."

"I want you, Zoro. Not just for this, either." You say sweetly, replying with a kiss to his forehead. "I'm yours. From now 'til you tire of me."

"Not happening," He smirks, looking into your eyes with raw emotion. "Like ya too much."

A look of determination crosses his face as he takes hold of your waist, pulling you closer to him, pressing his lips firmly against yours in a deep, passionate kiss once more. The kiss is filled with a new intensity, one born of desire and possession - a reflection of the bond that has formed between you two over the years that now boils over into real, whole, true love.

His hands finally slip beneath his waistband, pulling his paints and boxers down and shaking them off, freeing himself fully toward you. Zoro's cock stands tall, thick and girthy and dripping with a sheen of pre-cum. The sight causes you to clench around nothing but the anticipation.

You pull your legs up, allowing him more room between them. He grabs the base of his dick, and with another look of reassurance, he presses himself against your entrance. Zoro hisses at the contact, and the moan faint from your lips has his head spinning.

He pushes forward slowly, feeling every bit of resistance from your tightness. Your walls grip onto him like a vice, making him pause momentarily before continuing his steady progression.

You make a sound akin to a wail, and his head jolts up in worry. "You alright?" He asks, scanning your face for any sign of pain.

"I'm good," You reply, panting slightly as his length stretches you wide. "Promise."

With those words of assurance, Zoro takes heart and continues pushing forward until he is completely buried inside of you. He gasps at the intense sensation, feeling like he's filling every last inch of your tight warmth. The sight of your flushed face and parted lips sends shivers down his spine, causing him to groan in newfound ecstasy.

"One second," you urge, a hand coming to wrap around his wrist tightly. "Need just a second to adjust, okay? I'll tell you when you can keep going."

And fuck, is it hard to comply, not with the way you feel around him. Zoro grits his teeth, fighting the compulsion to rut into you, but he nods understandingly.

He watches intently as your chest rises and falls rapidly beneath his gaze, taking note of how your body seems to crave more of him despite the discomfort. When you give him the signal to proceed, releasing the grip on his wrist, Zoro begins to thrust gently into your wet depths.

You squeal, the tip of his cock touching that spongey spot within you that makes you see stars. "Fuck," you breathe out, arching your back and wrapping your legs around his hips. His movements are slow, but meaningful. Your walls tighten around him, and he can feel every single gummy ridge slide languidly along his length.

Zoro's eyes narrow slightly, a predatory gleam in them as he watches your reaction to his slow, deep thrusts. He takes pleasure in knowing that he's causing you intense pleasure even while holding back some of his own intensity. The feeling of being surrounded by your warmth and tightness drives him wild with desire, and he can't help but growl softly between clenched teeth as he continues to revel into you.

"You can go a little faster, Zo," You encourage between moans of immodesty, gripping onto his shoulders. "Promise."

With a low growl of approval, Zoro picks up the pace, driving himself faster inside of you with each powerful stroke. His motions become ever more urgent as he feels the familiar tug of release deep within him. He pushes past any remaining boundaries of restraint and, with your blessing, gives into the primal instincts that fuel his passion.

The heat between the two of you intensifies exponentially, leaving no room for anything that isn't the raw desire and love for one another. He pumps into you with reckless abandon, and his eye locks onto you, watching as you come undone around him.

There's no holding back now, for with your whines and cries of exaltation that he's making you sing, he feels the binding snap. Skin slaps against skin and the whole room feels humid and foggy. He's close, but he doesn't want to be. You just feel so fucking good around him that he can barely keep himself anchored.

And he cums. Without any warning or indication, he spills into you with a frantic pant of your name. Diving into you as he rides out his high, there's a certain aura that seems to radiate from his sweaty skin. You feel warm, and in his arms, you feel safe.

Zoro collapses on top of you, still buried deep within your core, breathing hard and inhaling the scent of your skin. "Fuck, m'sorry." he whispers into your ear, "Didn't mean ta, just felt so good."

He sounds genuinely upset, and you feel him freeze for a moment when you hold him tight to your chest. "Hey, I'm not upset." You reassure him, and he relaxes into your touch. "It was amazing, I loved it."

Fuck it.

"I love you."

Zoro sits up enough to look deep into your face, a loving, sincere beam across his lips. You said the words that he couldn't, but the feeling is one that is not only mutual - but exhilarating.

He presses a kiss to your forehead, then your nose, and finally to your lips.

"Same here."

[olderthannetfic]

I think the discussion about if loli guys are into actual children misses the point tbh. Even when they’re well aware that it’s not actual children and they don’t WANT it to be and they’re specifically into the non-realism of it…. A lot of loli (and moe, which is not unrelated since it’s rooted in the aesthetics of it but applied outside the specific genre) in anime is still about this fantasy of women as helpless and innocent and needing to rely on you and, above all, not having real world problems. Granted, a lot of romantic fantasy is like that, arguably especially stuff about women aimed at men…. But I think that is what personally makes me not really want to deal with guys who are super into it that in my own personal life. Like, let’s not pretend that a certain kind of guy getting used to expecting women to be like that in anime and video games hasn’t had some real consequences for women in nerd culture who insist on being full human beings over like, the past decade and a half lol. Like it’s just hard to imagine that being the fantasy of a guy who specifically wants a take-charge, dominant, independent kind of woman over like…. Idk, lady villains stepping on his face or something, lol

I’m hardcore anti-censorship and don’t believe that preferences in romantic or sexual fantasy in fiction has an exact relationship to what we want in real life…. But it seems strange and anti-intellectual to argue that media *never* has that influence. Like, just divorce this from arguments about porn and “problematic shipping” for a second. There are a ton of people, of multiple genders but especially over age 20 or so they’re more likely to be men, who seem to think that if they’re friendly enough to someone of their preferred gender (or really, opposite gender, since this is based on an “everyone of my preferred gender is a potential partner” norm that people into the same gender just can’t assume) they’ll eventually reciprocate their feelings, or they *should*. The Nice Guy thing. Do you really think that the numerous romantic comedies that have that as a dynamic, or the video games whose “romance” mechanic is “give them gifts and talk to them enough and they’ll eventually be a love interest possibility,” doesn’t play into that at least somewhat? Like, we’re all smart enough to know that Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon aren’t like real life romance, I think…. But did you know that yet when you were 13? Do you think *everybody* who plays those knows that?

Take it out of the context of romance at all. If you’re a lawyer, how many times have you heard people who have misconceptions about what you do based on legal dramas? Or for doctors, about medical dramas?

And that doesn’t put any responsibility on the creators to change stuff (I mean, the “reward = romance” thing is just a very easy video game mechanic for instance, and programming in something that more closely resembles actual romance would be impossible, and it’s not like it’s any less realistic than like, how you fish or mine or farm in those games), it’s still on consumers to think critically (again, that the video game that has you fighting slime monsters in mines or where you grow broccoli in just a few days and harvesting crops is just one click isn’t going for realism perhaps. People wring their hands about the general popularity of farming games like it’s yearning for some political/cultural thing, and forget that the specific fantasy is it without all the toil. Just like plenty of people love playing restaurant games who work(ed) in restaurants irl and hate(d) it). But like, we talk about “society” influencing people in terms of stuff like racism and sexism. Mass media is part of society. This is why a lot of feminist criticism over the years has focused on critiquing broad patterns that recur in media, to the point that they become societal trends — and a lot of people take this in *unconsciously*.

I think what that one earlier anon meant with “especially with porn” is that porn shouldn’t be like, an exception to this. It’s kind of weird how people who are all for media analysis of problematic patterns in other kinds of media think it suddenly doesn’t apply if it’s media designed for the purpose of getting off. And sure plenty of us are into things in porn we have no desire for IRL (I love mpreg and I love kidfic, I have less than zero desire to have kids and especially be pregnant irl, to the point that it’s actually a squick for me in *het* fic), plenty of people are into specifically the fantasy version minus the Issues they have with that stuff in the IRL version. But… that’s not everyone. Some people’s porn preferences do match up with what they’re into irl. Even when they don’t, as with the loli example there’s often some other particular reason they like that

I don’t think it’s right to go around asking strangers to go around explaining their porn preferences to you, but I think it’s fair to think about it yourself (in the interest of introspection if nothing else), and to critique broad patterns in fandom, same as we would for any other kind of media. Why is porn the special exception for which all the other rules about 101 media analysis don’t apply?

--

[epickiya722]

Can I ask your opinion on answer from this :

https://www.tumblr.com/gojuo/742796780522061824/is-satosugu-a-queerbaiting-ship?source=share?

Yes, you can!

The only thing I agree with the post is that SatoSugu isn't queerbaiting. Other than that, I don't particularly agree with anything else at all.

SatoSugu would have been queerbaiting if the ship had been promised to be canon and used as a marketing tool. Gege, from my knowledge, never said anything about making them an actual couple by the end of the series. At most, Gege wrote characters that do have this relationship that can be interpreted as romantic if one chooses. They do have a lot of romantic undertones, but it's more so for telling a story than just "I need readers".

And saying the fandom is queerbaiting using SatoSugu is... odd.

The fandom can't make the marketing decisions of what happens with JJK. Now, a person can lie and say "oh, SatoSugu kissed in episode whatever", but that doesn't mean they're queerbaiting. They're just lying.

Now, yes, we indeed have a lot of merchandise with Satoru and Suguru, but we gotta take in consideration as to what season we just finished.

The Hidden Inventory Arc which centers around the two and the Shibuya Incident Arc which most of what happened was because of those two. (Satoru getting locked up because he saw Suguru's face, MY GUY WAS TRICKED!!)

And it's not like we don't get merchandise of other characters.

Honestly, the answer of that ask just sounds mean-spirited. "(Majority) stsg shippers are just annoying as fuck because they genuinely believe their ship is canon, try to force their headcanons and misinterpretations of the material down everyone's throats, and send death threats to anyone who dares to ship Gojo with literally anyone else."

As done every other shipper, let's not kid ourselves now.

For anyone who seen my BNHA posts about ships, you know that I believe any shipper is capable of doing this. Now I don't doubt that a SatoSugu could do this. But there have been other shippers who have attacked SatoSugu shippers for the same reasons.

Hell, I just had someone try to make my NobaMaki and ShokoHime post about YutaMaki and I didn't mention his ass in that post. Like, damn, let the girls have the spotlight. Yuta ain't all that for you to throw him onto every single thing where he's not mentioned. (I like Yuta, folks, calm down.)

Also, I don't see a problem with a SatoSugu shippers believing their ship is canon. If they want to, let them. If you don't like it, skip along.

Another thing they said is how just because Gege doesn't do fanservice of his female characters doesn't mean he's above being misogynistic.

Okay, we got to stop throwing that word around.

I don't know how Gege personally and I won't say Gege (okay, has Gege actually confirmed their gender?) can't be misogynistic.

But using the writing material as an example is just kinda getting played out.

(I also dislike the JJK - Naruto comparison in general, it's gotten to the point that's a pet peeve of mine.)

The thing with the female characters here is that they feel like characters, not added accessories. Hell, some of the male characters actually feel more like an accessory to the story than some of the female ones.

Gege isn't afraid to write a complex character like Mei Mei. Nobara isn't written to be some generic love interest and chase some guy. Instead, she got her own morals, goals and even a whole backstory that we did get some insight on before Shibuya. We haven't see Nobara in a while, but remember what happened to her? Yeah, we probably won't see her for a while.

Hell, we haven't seen or heard anything about TODO AOI since Shibuya, but Nobara has been shown to be thought about by Yuji and Megumi.

Maki is more developed than Toge, a male character we haven't seen since when.

Uro was only in a few chapters but she was more entertaining during her fight against Ryu and Yuta than Ryu was. And she didn't die!

You know sometimes a fandom will say a creator is misogynistic for killing off a female character as if it's illegal for her to die because SHE IS STILL PART OF THE CAST and as if more male characters haven't been killed. And died in lame ways. And some of those male characters, again, didn't get the development female characters did.

No two female characters feel the same, that's just me.

The OP talked about how Shoko and how Gege should have developed her more. "Had he given Shoko the same care and love he's given to the boys, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. Because that would mean that the fujos would have to engage with her character and her dynamic with other characters in a meaningful way."

Shoko isn't like Suguru and Satoru though. Out if the three, she was the most "stable".

Also, the reason we didn't get a lot of her during that arc is because she was often isolated because of her technique. Shoko herself is a victim due to how things are ran. She was isolated from her friends very often and later years, we see she has eyebags. She barely is getting sleep.

And the thing is... Gege does acknowledge her relationship with the SatoSugu even later in the manga.

She herself comments that when Suguru left, Satoru wasn't alone. She was there.

Of course, Suguru and Satoru were closer. They had to spend a lot of time together. When they started to drift, that's when things definitely went downhill.

I have seen many SatoSugu shippers actually acknowledge Shoko's existence more than anyone else (besides actual Shoko fans). And they often include her being close to SatoSugu and even include her romantically with the two. (Here for it.) She'll sometimes be the one to give advice, expected, but sometimes in fics and whatnot she is written as a person than just a tool to push SatoSugu together. I have seen people draw fanart of her being involved with the situation with the Hasaba Twins.

I have yet to see a SatoSugu shipper actually hate her and deny her existence.

I'll tell you a person I often do see get ignored when it comes to SatoSugu. And that's Yaga. A male character. It's not all the time he gets ignored by the fandom, but he's more ignored than Shoko, I'll tell you that.

This is gonna sound mean, probably, but I don't think that question should be asked about anything pertaining to SatoSugu given the post is tagged "anti". Interesting as it is to see someone else's POV who doesn't ship SatoSugu, I just... eh...

[kyouka-supremacy]

Hello, I have a question and you're the only person I can think of who can answer it properly. Not sure if you subscribe to the "Akutagawa fell first" belief for sskk, but if you do, what do you think was the moment in canon that made him fall for Atsushi? Or was it more of a gradual process?

I personally can't pinpoint it because he seems hopelessly smitten during the Moby Dick fight but before that there's nothing. What do you think?

Omg thank you for asking me this I have extremely strong opinions on the matter. This got way longer than I predicted but honestly what did I expect?

I DO firmly stand by the “Akutagawa fell first” statement. I mean, as I've said before, it's hard to interpret the canon events in a way that doesn't frame Akutagawa being in love with Atsushi, while when it comes to Atsushi it's arguable he would even fall at all, and definitely didn't within canon¹. SO, in my very unbiased perception of canon (lie), here's the story of Akutagawa falling for Atsushi:

Akutagawa gets assigned Atsushi as his target for a mission. He doesn't have any strong impression on him. He doesn't know anything about him.

Akutagawa talks with Dazai. Now he's got very personal beef with Atsushi.

Akutagawa and Atsushi fight on the trading ship. There's clashing of morals, the personal beef becomes even more personal and it's surely accentuated by Atsushi defeating him. He definitely hates him with all his guts at this point.

Akutagawa and Atsushi meet again on the Moby Dick. Akutagawa still hates Atsushi, but talking their feelings out on the bridge and on the elevator is a first step towards actually understanding and warming up to each other.

Akutagawa and Atsushi fight together against Fitzgerald and share some heartfelt words of support right beforehand. I'm like, 200% sure the exact moment Akutagawa fell in love with Atsushi is when he told him “if you asked me... I'd say Dazai-san has already recognized you long ago”. Because that's everything for him!!!! More exactly, that's everything Akutagawa ever wanted to hear. That's the most valuable words in the world for Akutagawa, and them coming from Atsushi... I think that made them all the more meaningful for him. Atsushi saying those words meant signing a death sentence for Akutagawa.

They fight together against Fitzgerald and I like to think Akutagawa found it a particularly romantic experience. He's fought alone his whole life, it must have evoked a warm feeling in him. He falls harder.

Now, Akutagawa loving Atsushi doesn't mean he will accept he loves Atsushi. I mean, it's Akutagawa, he's bsd's most stubborn character, and on top of that hating Atsushi is his main drive– he's definitely going to spend ages in denial. He'll meet Atsushi again looking all gloomy one day and he'll be like “Oh shit what's up with that sad puppy face. Oh shit. I guess I'm not fighting Jinko today because.................. Defeating an enemy while he's unhappy will earn me no honour. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. It's not that I like him or anything”.

The Cannibalism events happen; Akutagawa and Atsushi beat up some more people, share some more heartfelt moments. Convincing himself that he doesn't like Atsushi is getting harder by day for Akutagawa, and that perhaps makes him the most hostile he's ever been to Atsushi; but he also is in the most harmless way anyone can be hostile. He keeps threatening Atsushi, but he never follows up to his words. Atsushi insults him in the most hurtful way, and he just kinda lets him. He tries to leave Atsushi behind; he turns back to see if Atsushi is tagging along. In the mines, Atsushi is endlessly cruel to Akutagawa, but that's really nothing new; what's new is Atsushi saving his life, Atsushi showing compassion to him, Atsushi wearing Rashomon. What's new is that now he understands Atsushi a little better. And now he's back home with new vivid images of Atsushi in his mind and a freaking self-sabotaging deal he had no reason to accept, and he really can't keep pretending he doesn't love Atsushi anymore.

There's a long narrative break between Akutagawa's Cannibalism appearance and his next appearence. Thirty chapters pass. I like to interpret this long pause as a moment of self-reflection and change for Akutagawa: he finally admitted to himself that he loves Atsushi; he knows that Atsushi doesn't love him back. He stopped killing. He started revalutating his life choices. He knows he doesn't have much left to live. He starts spending more time with his family– maybe even with his coworkers. And he goes to meet Dazai when he calls, and Dazai tells him that he will save Atsushi and he knows the reason why, and Akutagawa knows the reason. And he dies to save Atsushi because he loves him, and it doesn't matter that Atsushi doesn't love him back, what matters is that he does and that his life is worth dying for.

1. I mean. maybe it is arguable. I warmed up to the idea a little more than what I could have said six months ago. But it's still only remotely possible.

[local-pr1nter]

Kiyotaka Ishimaru Ship Dynamics!

These are my personal opinions and headcanons! If you do not like them then please move on!

Assume these are all based in a Non-Despair AU!

Ishimondo

I've mentioned them before multiple times, but they're just that good and I adore them.

Real sweethearts and adore each other.

I've spoken about them multiple times now though so I'll just add some small things.

Daiya teases the two of them relentlessly. He refers to Taka as his brother-in-law and it always makes Mondo turn red- either with rage or embarrassment, who knows.

Takaaki was not a fan of the relationship at first, but eventually warmed up to Mondo after seeing how happy he made Taka- and not to mention how Mondo's changed immensely since they first met.

Daiya was the one to fully encourage Takaaki to just support them. He invited the Ishimarus over for dinner one night and it went lovely- after Mondo and Takaaki bickered for a while of course. Overall, it was a nice moment between all of them.

Takaaki eventually warms up to Mondo so much that he reveals that he also used to ride back when he was younger (I think it would be funny AND would shock everyone- not even Taka would know, shocking him the most.)

Ishikuro

YEAAAAH ANOTHER PERSONAL FAVORITE OF MINE

I love the concept of two people learning how to be in a relationship when they don't get social cues or haven't had anything similar to a romantic relationship before.

I think they have a lot of potential as a couple.

Outspoken hall monitor x stoic soldier lets fucking go.

Either of them could've fallen first, but neither of them would've realized it at first. Mukuro would acknowledge it, but not have any clue of how to go about it, so would bury the feelings down deep inside and just try to ignore it. Kiyotaka would slowly realize it, only to freak out and panic because AHHHHHHH NEW FEELINGS ARE SCARY-

But once he calms down and accepts his feelings he'd probably bring it up with his friends. Leon would freak out about it but Chihiro, Hiro, and Mondo would be fully supportive about it. They'd help him ask her out before following them on their date to make sure nothing goes wrong (cough Junko cough)

Which speaking of-

Junko would NOT be happy with Mukuros crush. Mostly because she's not a fan of Kiyotaka, doesn't wanna lose Mukuros attention, and is jealous that someone actually chose her out of the two of them.

She'd probably try to sabotage their first date in any way she can, but of course Mondo, Chihiro, Leon, and Hiro are bros™ and won't let her ruin it.

And would you look at that! The date goes well!

Taka and Mukuro are very low-key and slow with their relationship- their first kiss had them bright red within minutes and neither of them could speak.

Like they had a system reset or some shit.

Against PDA, Taka wouldn't be very touchy with her in public. Even then, as they're still getting used to a romantic relationship, they aren't very touchy with each other. The most they'll do is cuddle in bed, either after Mukuro wakes up from a nightmare or Kiyotaka gets overwhelmed and shuts down.

In public, the most they would do is hold hands. It makes them both very happy.

They both just wanna take things slow and not ruin anything.

Mukuro is definitely a follower in this relationship, but Taka always encourages her to speak up or let him know if she's uncomfortable or if they wanna do something else together. She always appreciates being treated as an equal in the relationship.

After a while I think Mukuro is the one who likes to touch the most. Mostly holding his hand, arm, pinkie, or the strap of his bag whenever they walk. Almost like she wants everyone to know that she cares about this dork and if anyone touches him she will beat them up.

Both very protective of one another, Mukuro more than Taka but still both of them are very protective.

[pnkrathian]

The Robo Lucky AU Summary/Masterpost!

I’ve said bits and pieces about this AU before, but I don’t ever think I’ve posted a more comprehensive summary of it here. I wasn’t able to get into EVERY single part of his story because I wanted to keep this relatively short, but this will give the gist of things.

Robo Lucky is the star character of an AU of mine for the video game Mother 3. Currently, he’s my most beloved OC, and my most beloved AU. I’ve split it into three “Acts”.

Act 1

Lucky was created by Porky, dictator of the Nowhere Islands, as a replacement for the real Lucky, Duster’s alter ego, in the world’s most popular band, the DCMC, because of his choice to leave. Robo Lucky’s original form was made to be identical to that of the real Lucky, with the exception of faint robotic seam lines on his face, joints, and other key articulation points on the body that are only noticeable if you happen to look close enough.

His purpose was to watch over the rest of the DCMC in order to keep them in-line, to spread pro-Porky propaganda to the DCMC’s fans, and to eliminate Duster as quickly as possible before the general public could notice anything was up. He is very skilled at mimicking the personality and mannerisms of the real Lucky when he needs to, but his real self comes through when he’s ready to attack. In reality, his personality is completely different from Duster’s. He’s chaotic, he’s irrational, he’s emotional, and he can be more than a bit sadistic. Even though he’s a robot, he actually feels and can show just as much emotion as a human can, and he is fully sentient, unlike some of Porky’s other robots.

When he chooses to attack, you’ll never see him use his legs like Duster does, but you’ll see him use a variety of gadgets coming from inside his robot body instead. Things like saw blades or tasers replacing his hands, flamethrowers and guns coming from his mouth, or a jetpack coming from his back. In all honesty, if you can think of a weird robotic gadget or weapon he could have, he probably has it. He’s meant to be both a very silly and very scary character, to have those horror elements without sacrificing a sense of the Mother series-type humor. He can be a true horror villain at times, but other times, he’s the kind of villain who will sing a catchy song as he tries to stab someone. He’ll almost always be showy or flashy when he has a chance to be. (Although I don’t officially ship him romantically with Duster, he miiiight give Duster a lil homoerotic pin against the wall as well as other similar stuff. As a treat. :3)

As Robo Lucky spends countless times trying to eliminate Duster and his other party members (except for Boney, because in his words: “Who would kill a fucking dog? I have at least SOME standards, asshole!”) and failing, only to be rebuilt stronger but then to fail again, his desire to kill Duster shifts from following his orders to true jealousy and hatred. He begins to resent Duster for being stronger than him even though he was built to be an incredibly powerful killing machine, he resents him for having his friends while he’s still feared, and he resents the fact that he was built to look like him, and therefore he blames his miserable existence on him instead of the scientists who built him.

I cannot stress enough that he is not Duster but “evil”, but a completely different guy who has been forced into a Duster body and forced to pretend to be him, manipulated to believe that eliminating Duster and replacing him is the only way he can achieve happiness, or even a right to exist in the world.

Duster is finally able to “tame” Robo Lucky during their final fight, which happens right after the final DCMC performance in the Empire Pork Building. After fighting with the last of his power, he is finally defeated when Duster is able to kick his head clean off his body. This does not kill him, as he is a robot, but Duster pities him, so instead of destroying him, he takes him, which eventually leads him to follow everyone else into the next world after the final needle is pulled by Lucas.

Act 2

For the next ~2-3 years, Robo Lucky lives as a talking head with Duster and the rest of the DCMC. Now, he’s completely powerless, with none of the gadgets inside his body to help him. He no longer even has his wig, his head is now bare, leaving the clear head casing showcasing his main internal processor underneath. At first, leaving him as a head was a punishment of sorts, to get him to think about the damage he had caused. But gradually, although not without struggle, he realizes that Duster and the others are beginning to care about him, and they are trying to show him that he doesn’t have to go down the path of violence or hatred, that there can be good things in life, that there are people out there who care about him, and that despite his purpose for being built, there is good in his heart, and he can choose to show it and he can chose to figure out who he really is. Eventually, it leads into a whole redemption arc for him where he becomes almost like family to Duster and the others, and eventually, once the others are able to trust him enough, he is able to get a new body built for himself. In addition, Duster also grapples with the fact that even though he did it in self defense, he had taken almost all of Lucky’s physical autonomy away, and begins to feel deeply guilty for his actions. After they both realize the gravity of what they had done to each other, and both regret it, they come to an agreement. When they’re both comfortable enough with each other to be vulnerable, Lucky tells him that he thinks the two of them should be “even” now. Duster suggests that the two of them should start over; to try to move forward, to see each other as people, as equals, as friends. They realize that all the fighting and competition between the two has caused both of them nothing but suffering, and yes, they absolutely have the capacity to get along, against all odds.

Act 3

Robo Lucky was able to design his new body himself, with help from the scientists still left, of course. During his time as a head, he’s learned that replacing Duster isn’t truly what he wants, but instead, he wants a chance to figure out who he really is as an individual.

When he gets his body, he still looks a bit similar to Duster, to avoid having to make him a completely new head, but with a nose that is more pointy than hooked downward; longer, fuller, curlier hair; bigger, brighter, eyes; a softer, younger-looking, less angular face; and facial hair that is thinner above the lips and fuller below them. His body shape is a little more lean and top-heavy than Duster’s (For context, my version of Duster’s body is a bit more on the chubby, pear-shaped side), and he is a bit shorter. In addition, he also takes care of his hygiene better than Duster usually does.

Now, Robo Lucky still does have some of his old personality; he still can be emotional, dramatic, a bit chaotic, and (for lack of a better word) still a bit of a dickhead or a little shit sometimes, he now is also passionate, energetic, goofy, VERY affectionate, and overall, happier than he’s ever been. He now takes joy in entertaining people for what he can do himself, and he has taken quite a liking to singing (and he’s really good at it, too!). Duster has even abandoned the use of “Lucky” as a stage name for himself, choosing to use his real name to the public. Therefore, “Robo Lucky” is free to become the one and only Lucky. According to Duster, it was his name all along.

Of course, Lucky still is far from perfect, but compared to before, he has come miles and miles ahead in self- improvement, and has finally been able to live his life as his true self.

I do have a lot of art from all three Acts that I will post! However, most of the art I do nowadays revolves around Act 3, with Lucky in his true body, figuring himself out and interacting with the other characters around him, mostly Duster. Eventually, he and Duster not only become best friends, but they develop a sort of queerplatonic-type relationship. It's not exactly clearly defined, because having a relationship with a robot who isn't you but was made to look like you but now doesn’t look like you… is definitely not a thing that happens often.

I even do other art and stories with Lucky that goes beyond the realm of Act 3, exploring his extended life after Duster and the other characters he started out with pass on. My ideal personal version of Mother 4 even piggybacks off this AU instead of canon, because honestly, it’s canon in my heart. I plan to write more about it here later, but long story short, it involves Lucky living in a new world, meeting new companions along the way, including *gasp*... a lover?

Pre-redemption/pre-new body Robo Lucky goes by he/him, but post-redemption Lucky goes by both he/him and also sometimes she/her!

[aurorawest]

Bargain of Blood and Gold by Kristin Jacques - 3.75/5 stars

Reminiscent of Jordan L Hawk's Widdershins series, but with vampires and werewolves. Also takes place in Maine, which isn't a very common setting. Unwittingly, I bought the second book in the series months ago, and I realized as it got to the top of my TBR that I didn't have the first book! I had to scramble to order it and I was happy I enjoyed it since, obviously, I already have the second book.

Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa - DNF at pg 2

Captive Prince by CS Pacat (reread) - 5/5 stars

Prince's Gambit by CS Pacat (reread) - 5/5 stars

Kings Rising by CS Pacat - 5/5 stars

I think I loved these books even more on my reread.

Gravity by Tal Bauer - 4.25/5 stars

Probably my favorite hockey romance that I've read.

The Modern Mythos Anomaly by Juniper Lake Fitzgerald - DNF at pg 132

I actually liked the story, the characters, and the writing in general, but this book just needed another few edits to slim it down a bit.

Lose You to Find Me by Erik J Brown - 4.5/5 stars

Leeward by Katie Daysh - 4.5/5 stars

The blurbs on this book are hilarious, because they're all like, tall ships people, and then Mackenzi Lee, hailing it as a lovely queer historical romance. This was a really lovely book and I'm excited for the sequel. Also hoping for more kissing in the sequel since this was a serious slow burn.

Riley Weaver Needs a Date to the Gaybutante Ball by Jason June - 3.75/5 stars

Starseer by Katya Hernández - 4/5 stars

Be Dazzled by Ryan La Sala - 5/5 stars

I loved this book so much!! Oh my god. Super funny, very romantic. It revolves around cosplay which is of course a special interest of mine.

Northranger by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo - 4.5/5 stars

Flying Without a Net by EM Ben Shaul - 2.75/5 stars

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley (reread) - 5/5 stars

Striking Distance by Sarah Rees Brennan - 4.75/5 stars

I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. The graphic novels were good but changing to a novel format allowed for much deeper characters. Surprisingly devastating and also really funny.

The Old Haunts by Allan Radcliffe - 4/5 stars

The Gay Best Friend by Nicholas DiDomizio - 5/5 stars

Main character is the best friend of both the bride and the groom, and everything surrounding the wedding becomes a train wreck beginning on the weekend of the bachelor party, when the bride asks the MC, Dom, to keep tabs on the groom for her. As someone who is extremely conflict avoidant with friends but not family and romantic partners, I heavily related to Dom. There's also a romance that I really loved.

Romance Languages by AJ Truman - 4.25/5 stars

I think this was my favorite of the South Rock series. It deals with some more difficult topics—Julian's self-loathing over his body image is heartbreaking (and relatable), and Seamus's guilt over the way his gambling addiction hurt his ex was very well done. I'm a sucker for stories where a character learns to ask for help, not to mention difficult parent-child relationships, and this had both. I also appreciated Julian's arc re: sex and virginity.

Darkhearts by James L Sutter - 5/5 stars

Another bandmates-in-love treasure, with a twist—the main character, David, left the band right before they got famous. He ends up falling for one of his ex-friends/bandmates after they reconnect. The author is a musician himself, and it definitely shows (in a good way). I'm really a sucker for The Burdens of Fame, which this book definitely had, but there's actually a really good arc for David and how he deals with his jealousy and resentment over being left behind. Plus he wants to be a carpenter rather than go to college, which was cool.

Brute by Kim Fielding - 4.25/5 stars

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian - 5/5 stars

What can I say about this book? Why was it so lovely? Why did it make me feel so much? Why can I not rate things higher than 5 stars? It's a million stars in my heart. Aside from just being a gorgeous mid-century America m/m romance (my favorite), this one features an Italian-American main character. The stuff with Nick's family was spot-on. I just loved this book. I felt like I was wrapping myself in a big, comfy, historical gay romance blanket.

Drowned Country by Emily Tesh - 5/5 stars

The sequel to Silver in the Wood. Had a very mythic and sort of folk horror vibe. This one is from Henry Silver's POV instead of Tobias Finch's and takes place two years after Silver in the Wood, which is time that Henry has mostly spent sulking in Greenhollow Hall, sans Tobias. Really highly recommend this duology. Emily Tesh is a treasure.

The Alchemy of Moonlight by David Ferraro - DNF at pg 11

[fandomsoda]

I have just learned that someone very important in the Xvials community has been forced to stop posting about the ship due to the harassment they are receiving.

Needless to say, I am absolutely livid about this, not only for losing someone important in a small community of mine, but absolutely disgusted that people would harass someone over a ship that DOESN’T HAVE ANYTHING FUCKING WRONG WITH IT.

Harassment is already wrong obviously I shouldn’t have to say that, but it’s ten times worse when the reason behind it isn’t even fucking valid. Even if it were, harassment doesn’t work and only causes people to either double down or become emotionally unstable and puts them in danger. Harassment is never the answer in these times.

So here’s everyone’s (un)friendly reminder that Xvials is not problematic, Xvials is not pro/ship, a lot of people just have very weird views of how the multiverse works and haven’t refreshed themselves on X-Tale in a while and let their hatred of XGaster get out of hand. It’s totally fine not to like it, but don’t lie about it.

I’m gonna quickfire debunk the primary claims I’ve been seeing surrounding Xvials, btw for those out of the know, Xvials is XGaster x Ink, sometimes romantic but usually queerplatonic or some other abstract case. Let’s get started-

argument #1: “Ink’s adoptive dads are Gasters, so him being with a Gaster is pseudo-incest!”

Alright this alone to me is just ridiculous because like, actually think about that for a second, this is implying that every single Gaster in the whole multiverse is somehow related to Ink and that he can’t have unique relationships with them and I hope that everyone can recognize that the concept alone is absurd.

argument #2: “It’s abusive! They’re just using each other! XGaster actually hates Ink!”

Did we watch the same show? Because I don’t think we did, since in X-Tale their bond is repeatedly displayed and in Underverse it’s reinforced, with tons of extra things Jakei has posted emphasizing their bond. May I remind everyone of “come back”, this teaser Jakei showed depicting XGaster being actively afraid of losing Ink? Keep in mind how Ink is shown in a bright, important light here? He’s clearly afraid of losing him, they’re genuine friends, it’s not just for his own motives, and XGaster never treats Ink poorly, other than leaving him in the dark about things that I doubt he’s intentionally hiding from him, simply not thinking Ink would need/want to know. Like I said: totally fine if it’s not your thing or you don’t like it, but don’t fucking lie.

argument #3: “They’re both aroace!”

True, however that makes it even more likely for them to have a unique bond and understanding of each other than with others, definitely not romantic but as I said before, Xvials isn’t primarily romantic and all romantic depictions are fully recognized as fanon, if they appear at all. Also when I talk about them having a special and unique bond, that’s addressed in a canon comic, remember this from back in June? A lot of the time, the two being aroace is actually a very important component of Xvials portrayals. Especially in my case, since the way I think of them is very much hazy and queerplatonic, like all my ships with Ink.

argument #4 (this is going to sound satirical but I’m not even kidding, I saw someone say this): “It’s pseudo-pedophilic because Ink is very short and acts younger while XGaster is tall and acts mature!”

I… am at a loss for words. Take a look at that, think about what you just said, and go touch grass. Obviously, Ink and XGaster are both full grown adults with somewhat ethereal ages, no one here is a child, and labeling Ink as child-like comes off as very ableist for a number of reasons. Ink can definitely be childish, any character can, but that doesn’t make them “child coded”.

ok, that was a lot, but I just needed to get that off my chest, I… yeah. I think y’all get it. Good day.

[nyxielovespythons]

Why NejiTen should be canon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other Trivia include:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[fuutaprotectionsquad]

Yknow I feel like I should have a main post where I share my Milgram opinions/verdicts (thought of this bc i was writing my sister's opinion on the milgram characters). So I'll go character by character.

Will anyone read this? I don't know but its here

Haruka: I relate to him a bit (shitty mother, intrusive homicidal thoughts, neurodivergence). I def feel bad for him but hes still really guilty in my mind. I just think the whole killing for attention thing is a really dangerous mindset you can't just get out of, especially if you're being told you're not in the wrong. And it definitely seems like he doesn't actually feel bad for the girl he killed, just feels bad because people are mad at him for it. Idk. But I enjoy his dynamic with Muu a lot, even tho its toxic i just think its really interesting. But I wish him the best and he deserves a hug. His songs are mid tho (/hj i like them)

Yuno: I love her personality and I think shes so fun, but I honestly don't think about her a lot compared to the others. But I love her and specifically enjoy her dynamics with (obv mostly in fan content) Kazui, Mahiru and Fuuta. Her and Fuuta are such a good platonic ship (romantic is fun too). Innocent vote, obv. I like her songs, but Tear Drop moreso than Umbilical.

Fuuta: Oh my god I wonder what I think of him. In all seriousness he's a major hyperfixation of mine at like every given moment. I adore him and i think he deserves better and to be innocent. Like he feels so guilty for what he did and he didn't know any better, everyone around him was encouraging his behavior and praising him for it. But then it got too far and all his friends abandoned him and blamed him like. Poor fuuta :( and he's like 100% right when he says him and es are exactly the same. On another note, major fan of 0309 (romantically, but either way works), and also love his dynamic with Haruka, Yuno, Mahiru, Amane and Es. His songs are both in my top three (backdraft being #1)

Muu: Tied for my fav character(? Fuuta might beat her idk) I love her personality and vibe and everything just ❤️❤️ queen shit. And her queen bee design is gorgeous. Typically my favs are men but shes one of the first women ive hyperfixated on this much. Again, love her dynamic with Haruka, not from a like. healthy relationships could make the characters better standpoint, but from a story perspective its interesting. But yeah guilty. As for her songs, INMF is my #2 and i like After Pain

Shidou: Honestly I used to be kinda indifferent about him and just found him to be boring but then I rewatched his voice dramas and read some fics and I like him more now. I feel really bad for him bc he went through a really shitty situation which he felt he had the power to change and was stuck in a shitty moral dilemma bc of it. And in the end he did shitty things to save those he loved and it didn't even matter. He feels so guilty and doesn't deserve it. Innocent <3. Also romantic 0507 ftw (0506 is cool too). Him and Amane are silly too. As for his songs i like them, but they're not my fav

Mahiru: i like her, but im not too like. invested in her ig. But i feel bad for her :( she just wants to feel love and like. clearly she did something wrong but she didn't know she was. She never intended to hurt anyone. So innocent. Unless we find out she like. did something really fucking bad then maybe guilty. But in I Love You it implies it was a mutual toxicity so it probably wasn't something super terrible? But anyway. I love her with like all the characters cuz shes just so fun to see interact w others, but specifically with Yuno, Fuuta, Shidou, Amane and Mikoto.

Kazui: Hes so fun i love him. Like all he wants is to be honest and be himself but he feels pressured to lie and then finally he tells the truth and his wife fucking kills herself like- jeez- poor guy. Like following the gay theory, i get why she mightve done it (imagine being told the romance you built your entire life around for like 20 years was all a lie, and that your husband never actually loved you and just pretended to and every time you kissed or something he was just pretending like. that sucks poor hinako) but its so awful that he had to go thru that. But anyway innocent, kazui come out we accept you. And stan 0507. Song wise cat is easily #4 but. half is ok ig

Amane: Yknow i love amane but I also hate her and i think part of that might be the fandom? idk. I feel sorry for her bc she grew up in such a shitty situation but also i think shes beyond the point where we can uninstill those ideologies. Like shes 12, not 5. And amane says it herself that she has as much of a free will as everyone else and that her decision to kill/stay in this environment should be valued. Not that i think she should remain in this abusive situation, but she's not just some innocent kid whose being manipulated, she knows what she's doing. Hence, guilty. I don't think either vote will change her or anything so im voting with my honest opinion. As for dynamics, i love seeing her interact with all the other prisoners, but especially Shidou and Fuuta.

Mikoto: I love mikoto a lot but im so on the fence about his verdict. Ive been voting him innocent but theres still a part of me thats like. debating it. Bc he shouldn't have to be punished for John's actions, and it sucks that that's the situation hes in, but its that or more murders are left to occur. The main reason i say innocent is under the idea that John could go dormant or just stop fronting as much if we reduce mikoto's stress (like he says will happen i think). But hes so complex and fun i love mikoto. Specifically i love romantic 0309 but also his dynamic w the smoking group and mahiru. Also i love his songs.

Kotoko: I love her but also fuck her for hurting fuuta (and mahiru too but mainly fuuta). She annoys me bc she was so quick to almost murder several people based on a preliminary verdict that was made using little information. Like she knew this wasn't a concrete verdict, but attacked them anyway. I get her ideology of "kill people who evade justice to protect the weak" but only when they've actually done bad things (ie. the guy kidnapping the little girl). But when she doesn't know what they did and knows the person accusing them doesn't either???? Like bruh. But i like her character shes fun. I like seeing how she interacts with es and everyone she attacked. And songs, harrow is okay and i really like deep cover.

Whew im done.

[heraldofcrow]

Gimme the questions 1 to 6 for the Bloodborne fandom. Roast the shit out of those fuckers ^^

Holy shit, I’m gonna die and not in a good way fgdhj

—

1. The character everyone gets wrong

Fine, I’ll say it since I’m sure it was an obvious opinion of mine already.

Gehrman. Just in general. Not even just on tumblr, but in the fandom for years. It’s been literally reduced to a joke to paint him a certain way and I’m fairly convinced there is more evidence against that view than for it at this point. BUT ALAS. This argument ain’t dying any time this century if it hasn’t within the last nearly 10 years.

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

As an aroace person, this is borderline impossible to answer because I literally never think of sexual dynamics between characters.

But….I guess, Annalise would scare the shit out of any romantic partner, I will say that. (lmao idk what this means).

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

I vaguely remember it now, but there was a post one time that was really mocking anyone who thought the Vilebloods were in any way not 100% evil child-eating freaks that killed thousands of innocents to be immortal and the Executioners led by Chadgarius were totally pure and holy.

I just…like to see the bad qualities of both the Church and the Vilebloods. I don’t think either were all that great…I mean, it’s a corrupted church and an elitist monarchy.

But that post made up a bunch of stuff about the Vilebloods that quite literally was not true. It was a once in a blood moon rant and no hate towards the poster though. I was just very against that take.

4. what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

In the Bloodborne fandom, I actually don’t really block anyone. I let them block me. I believe I may have blocked a few NSFW artists that didn’t tag their stuff once, but I just prefer to keep my profile fairly open in case anyone wants to sort stuff out. I know we can all see each other and I don’t mind. The crow in me demands I stay on the rooftops to see everything in the neighborhood, even if I sometimes spot a vagueblog or two xD

5. worst discord server and why

I wouldn’t know djfhfhd. I’ve never been in a proper fandom Discord server. The one me and my friends have is basically a group chat of four really close people. We just made the server to have less clutter and to have a therapy channel xD

6. Which ship fans are the most annoying?

I’ve seen plenty of various ship fans be rude or loud about how they head-canoned the characters involved, so I’d rather not make any sweeping generalizations. That kinda thing bothers me. I have had bad run-ins with shippers that liked a pairing some of my sweetest mutuals liked, so I can’t even say “Oh those shippers are all annoying.”

Some people can make you feel that way briefly, but there’s always a charming handful of shippers that save the day.

[miraculousdeservesbetter2024]

My preference headcanons for every MLB character! (🌈 Happy Pride Month 🌈)

Note: These are MY personal preference headcanons for the characters. Take it with a grain of salt. Our opinions are allowed to differ, but please respect mine and I’ll respect yours.

-

Marinette: Bi, Female Leaning. I see her going both ways, but the reason why I see her female leaning is:

I personally just like that idea! ❤️

It seems that she’s more comfortable with girls than boys (I know that doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s attracted to girls, but eh. Still like the idea).

Her crush on Adrien seems comphet to me (yes, that can happen to Bi people too).

She can be that “preppy queer” archetype.

Adrien: Pan. I was THIS close to making Adrien Bi (female leaning), but I settled with him being Pan. Why? For the sole reason that I see Chat Noir as Pan (and Adrien IS Chat Noir lol). It makes sense 😄 I’m also starting to see him as Gender-fluid.

Alya: Bi, Female Leaning. Listen, I ALWAYS saw Alya into girls, even before her and Nino got together in Animan to be honest with you. But according to canon, it seems like she’s even Straight or Bi, since she’s shown attraction to boys. I mean, she COULD be a comphet Lesbian, but meh. I don’t want to erase the possibility of her being Bi because of her attraction to boys too. We need more Bi rep. 😜 So basically, I now see her as Bi, but female leaning. She prefers girls, but Nino is a sweetie pie 😊

Nino: Bi, female leaning. Nino prefers girls more, but he doesn’t mind dudes either 😉 I actually ship him and Adrien together. If it wasn’t for the love square and DJWifi, I think Nindrien would’ve been more popular.

Chloe: Closest Bi, comphet. Some people might see her as token Straight or a closest Lesbian, but I’ve finally decided that she likes both genders equally. Similar with Marinette, I just see her crush on Adrien as heteronormativity/comphet and also because she’s confusing her plantonic love for him with romantic.

Zoe: Queer. Tbh, I don't know right now. We don't know if she's gay, Bi or anything else, but we DO know that she's queer. She hasn’t shown any interest in boys in canon yet, but I don’t want to throw out the possibility of her being Bi/Pan yet either. 

Sabrina: Closest Pan. Sabrina is the type who thought that she was just an Straight Ally who doesn’t care who’s with who when it came to other peoples’s happiness. Love is love after all. Eventually she finds out that SHE HERSELF doesn’t care either when it comes to HER preferences lol 😂

Luka: Bi, simple but obvious 😌

Kagami: Pan & Demi. Use to see her as Bi (female leaning), but she doesn’t care as long as she can have a strong connection with them. I also see her as a Polyamorous Demi. She’s fine with being in a relationship with more than one person, but only if she has a strong connection with them. When you think about it, I guess that kind of makes Mari and Adrien Polyamorous too since Adrigaminette is my OTP3 huh? 😅

Rose: Pan. Rose loves everybody and anybody. She doesn’t care who it is 😊

Jeluka: Lesbian. I don’t really see Jeluka with any males and I don’t think that I ever did. She’s my little goth Lesbean! 😊

Kim: Bi. He’s perfectly fine with both, as long as he’s having fun 😄

Max: Biromantic Ace, Male Leaning, use to see him as Pan, but I see him more as male leaning now. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t mind girls though. Ones who are kind, sweet or/and match his intellect 😊

Ordine: Straight. Meh, I don’t really see her with females 🤷🏾‍♀️ Ordine ships like Kagami, Alix and Aurore etc. don’t interest me. Might change in the future, but I don’t know.

Mylene: Bi & Demi (male leaning). Her and Ivan together are pretty cute, and I don’t put it pass her to be interested in other boys too. But she is queer.

Ivan: Straight. Ivan was the first character in MLB that I saw as Straight lol

Nathaniel: Bi. I don’t ship him with anyone anymore, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a bi-bean to me 😛 I’m pretty sure he’ll find someone one day.

Marc: Gay, Trans, and Gender-fluid. I don’t really see Marc with girls anymore, so he’s gay now 😛 Also, I know he’s already Androgynous, but I also see him as Trans & Gender-fluid.

Alix: Aromatic Lesbian & Bigender. Like with Max (Ace), Alix was confirmed Aromatic, but I still do see her as a Lesbian. I don’t really imagine Alix being in an long term relationship, but she is interested in females. I did headcanon her Bi in the past, but I don’t really see her interested in any boys anymore tbh

Lila: Pan. She doesn’t care who it is, as long as she can manipulate them to her advantage…🤷‍♀️ Don’t get me wrong though, I do imagine Lila being capable of love and falling for someone, but not immediately.

Aurore: Lesbian (Comphet). I don’t ship her with any boys at all, and all my ships with her are with girls.

Mirelle: Bi (Comphet). Similar with Aurore. Also, I also ship them on the same level as Julrose.

Gabriel: Straight, but I don’t like the idea of him being the stereotypical homophobic parent. He’s a shitty person and parent, but it’s not because he’s homophobic. I did see him as bicurious in the past tho lol

Emillie: Bi. Meh, she gives off that kind of energy, even if she’s been in a coma 😜

Natalie: Bi. I like the headcanon that she’s a Bi woman who had feelings for Emillie too, as well as Gabriel (formally). I don’t know how true that is now, but meh. Still my headcanon.

Ms Mendeleiev: Lesbian. I see her being into women solely for the reason that I shipped her with Bustier lol 😅

Miss Bustier: Bi, but now just Queer. Similar with Zoe, we don't know if she's gay, Bi or anything else, but we DO know that she's queer/sapphic. 

Socqueline: Queer/Sapphic. We most certainly know she’s into girls, especially cute preppy ones that so happen to attend the same school that she use to attend, sees her as a role model to the point where she adapted her hairstyle, is into fashion, works at her parents bakery and unfortunately tends to have crushes on boys who are dum-dums instead of also acknowledging her obvious attraction to girls! 😤

..Wait wha-?

Fei: Lesbian. Plain and simple. Makes sense.

Felix: Like Zoe, I’m not absolutely sure yet. But I do see him being part of the Ace Spectrum.

The other characters I don’t really care about enough to have preference headcanons for. So if you want to know my preference headcanon about them, ask me.

[fenneonsarah]

RWBY HEADCANONS!!!

Some RWBY headcanons I have all shared in one place cause the brainrot is real. Most are queer/shipping headcanons, but not all (Spoilers for Volume 9, also not all characters are included, just the ones I do have a headcanon about)

Ruby is a homoromantic asexual. She's always had romantic feelings for Penny since she loves goofballs, and has started falling for Weiss after spending more time with her. In between volume 5 and 6 is when she truly fell for her. In her ideal world, she'd be in a poly relationship with them both. For a non-queer/ship headcanon, she has ADHD

Next is Weiss, who I headcanon as pansexual. Her crushes on Neptune and adult Jaune were pretty shallow and nothing serious (not that she doesn't like them at all, just doesn't see a future with them). She also had a crush on Pyrrha, but was respectful and backed off when she started suspecting Jaune might've had feelings for her too, which was timed perfectly since that's when Neptune came in the picture. She didn't like Ruby at first, either as a person or romantically, but both of those feelings grew over the years and she now does like Ruby but doesn't want to admit it to anyone, even herself

I guess it's a trend of mine to headcanon my favourite characters as queer transfems, and that's the case with Penny. I can totally see Pietro building a "wrong body" for her at first, and since she didn't have a concept of bigotry at the time, she wasn't afraid to ask him to change her body, which he happily agreed to and apologized for not getting it right straight away, although she always forgives him. For sexuality, I see her as demisexual. She didn't have feelins for Ruby until they spent time together and got to know each other better. She wanted to ask Ruby out after the Vytal tournament and enrolling at Beacon, then again after escaping Atlus together, but I don't think I need to mention why neither of those worked. She also has no ill-will toward Pyrrha. If Pyrrha were still alive, Penny would hug her close and tell her it was okay

From my favourite character to my favourite male character, Qrow. First of all, I know the behind the scenes reason his voice changed, but I like the headcanon that it changed in the show cause he cut back on drinking. Maybe not altogether, but significantly less than he used to. Along with Ruby I also see him as a homoromantic asexual. His whole womanizing act is just that, an act to seem cool. In actuality, Clover was the only person in years he ever had feelings for.

Neo is short and simple, like her character (I love her). I see her as a aroace transfem. At first she used her semblance to look how she wanted, but now she naturally looks that way. Also not really a headcanon but pLEASE DON'T LET HER SPEAK, I HATE THAT FAN THEORY SO MUCH, KEEP HER MUTE

Winter I also see as aroace. Relationships confuse her more than anything, but the more her and Weiss get close, the more she teases Weiss guys to annoy her (she doesn't know Weiss is pan and assumes she's straight, but would be supportive if Weiss came out)

I think those are all my headcanons. Sorry for my ramblings, thank you for reading. I also have a theory for how I think the show will end, but that'll be a seperate post

[acacia-may]

Acacia's Definitive Defense of Langris x Finesse

No one asked about this pairing, but I'm going to ramble about them anyway... especially since I realized I don't think I've ever actually written a proper post about them as this has been sitting in my drafts for over a year (A/N: Yikes! Sorry friends. I completely forgot I wrote this until today when I tried to find that post I was absolutely certain I had made about Langris x Finesse only to find it buried in my unposted drafts 😅🙈 But I'm posting it now to coincide with the ship ask game so it kind of works...? Maybe? I have no excuses...).

Anyways, dear goodness do I have thoughts about this ship. I’m not sure I can even wrangle them all, but I am going to try my best.

I’m sure it’s pretty clear from my blog that I have a deep love for my spatial mage boys and want good things for them which is one of the main reasons why I have a lot of concerns about the whole House Vaude soap opera. A friend of mine (irl) and I once discussed that plotline for literally 6 hours so I could go on and on about this for ages, but I have tried my best to be brief. That didn't really happen so I apologize in advance for all of the rambling.

I've tried to keep the focus of this post on Langris and Finesse's relationship, so please check out this post if you want to hear my many thoughts on the House Vaude succession drama as whole and in general. To keep things organized, I've divided this discussion into 2 main subsections for clarity under the cut!

(Warnings: Black Clover spoilers and discussion of some heavier topics such as childhood trauma and abuse. Arranged marriage is also mentioned)

Why I Think Langris and Finesse Genuinely Love Each Other (not necessarily in a romantic way but definitely in a selfless care and concern kind of way)

One of my most basic premises for my personal interpretation of Langris' character really comes down to the fact that I think what Langris actually wants more than anything else is unconditional love and to be accepted for who he is (rather than what he does/his accomplishments). He wants to have people who love him, a family—but he'd never admit this because he is convinced he'll never get it. He is convinced that love needs to be earned and he can't earn it, and his relationship with Lady Finesse is a perfect example of this, I think.

It hurts Langris that she is just the kindest person ever and she doesn't like/love him (or such is the reality in Langris' mind anyway given the fact that he has carried around that one time she complimented Finral as "she hates me" for literal years in the canon. But I digress). Langris doesn't like games he can't see a possibility of winning. He closes himself off from love and building meaningful relationships because he doesn't think he'll "win" people's love in the end. He's very cynical and jaded in this way, but more than that, he's wounded. It comes from a place of being denied love without strings attached, without conditions for his entire life and of being told his by his parents that love has to be earned and being convinced that he can't earn it, that nothing he does will ever be good enough and that he will never deserve the love he so desperately craves. And in that way, it comes from a fear of being hurt and rejected. When you care about someone, you give them the power to hurt you—and Langris doesn't want that kind of vulnerability. So I think he just completely counts himself out of the running when it comes to Finesse and defers to his brother—assuming (probably correctly) that she’d choose Finral if she was given a choice between the two of them.

All of that said, he can't quite stop himself from caring for her with a genuine love and respect (not necessarily in a romantic sense but he does care for her)—it’s just sealed off somewhere and not something he really thinks about or allows himself to feel (let alone label) until his brother "declaring war" on him brings all of that to the surface and he kind of has to reconcile how much he wants to be the Head of House Vaude (what he’s worked for his entire life) with how much he wants Lady Finesse to be happy. I love how in that scene there is actually a moment (at least in the anime) in which "the camera" turns and we're watching the scene unfold from Langris' eyes/perspective immediately before he gets involved and tells Finral to clean up his act.

(A/N: If you listen very carefully you can hear the sound of Langris' entire world falling apart...)

Okay, bad jokes aside, this is a huge moment for Langris. It takes him all of five seconds to decide that Lady Finesse's happiness is far more important to him than House Vaude, than his title, his future, his own dreams and aspirations that he has worked for literally his entire life and, ultimately, is more important than everything he has looked to for his own self-worth and fulfillment up unto that point (which causes him to have a bit of an existential crisis as he tries to figure out who he is without those things, without being the next Head of House Vaude, but I digress again). It is an incredible act of love to set aside what someone wants for themselves in order to make another person happy—to choose what is best for another person even at great personal sacrifice. Regardless of how you want to qualify that love (romantic or platonic), it does not diminish the gravity of Langris' sacrifice and the willingness he shows to choose Finesse's happiness over the things that are (seemingly) the most important to him in the world.

Up until this point, Langris is this incredibly goal-oriented character who is set on becoming the best, the strongest, and eventually the head of House Vaude which comes off as self-interested and a little ruthless in his willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals, but suddenly, here he is, ready to give all of that up so that Lady Finesse can have the chance to be happy. It's almost like he is saying (honestly, far louder and clearer than any words possibly could), "I love you more than all of that."

Why else would he be helping his brother take over as heir to House Vaude when that actually seems to be something Langris wants for himself? (I know the poll I ran examined some different ideas and interpretations but that's always been my personal take on it). It’s almost like in that moment, Langris has realized that he can’t make Lady Finesse happy (even if he wants to), but he thinks that Finral can so he wants to make Finral into the best he can be for her.

Once Langris is reasonably sure that Finral is at a place that he can make Finesse happy and has become a man "worthy of her," I could definitely see him stepping aside so that his brother could take over their House and marry her—purely out of concern for Finesse’s happiness, and there is something incredibly selfless and very beautiful about that.

I think Finesse's side of things is much more practical. The fact of the matter is that Finesse is royalty in a medieval society where she will inevitably be married off for a political alliance and/or to produce children, and she has probably always known that she needs to marry out of duty/responsibility, so I can’t really see her as that much of a hopeless romantic given the circumstances. If she allows herself anything, it is the hope that she will get to spend her life with someone who does care for her and who she can be content with. I don't think throughout most of Finesse's life and certainly not throughout this whole arranged marriage business that anyone has ever really asked her what she wanted or ever really cared about her wishes before, but Langris seems to have a genuine interest in her wishes and her happiness more so than anyone else. And I think she does care for him (again, not necessarily in a romantic way but it is a genuine care and concern of at least friendship).

As I discussed in this post, when Langris has all that elf-business and the King threatens to dissolve the betrothal and punish the Vaudes, it is Finesse who comes to their defense rather than taking what is quite possibly her only chance at an "out." And it is an informed, free choice on her part. I love her line in the English dub that she "knows Lord Langris and has no misgivings about him" and therefore essentially begs her uncle not to "judge him too harshly." I think there is something very strong and very courageous in her decision to believe in the good in Langris even when he is at his worst, and her concern is truly and completely focused on what is best for him. I'm especially thinking of that moment when she begs him to stop before he does something he will regret. She's worried about him: his hurt and his guilt. She really wants what's best for him, and it's this love for him and this belief in him that really brings out the best in Langris.

My absolute favorite thing about this ship (besides how selfless they are towards each other) is really that Finesse has this way of bringing out this softer, gentler side of Langris that, I think, very few people have actually seen. Langris himself is so insistent on hiding this (probably a learned response from growing up in an environment where any hint of emotion and any sensitivity is viewed as a weakness), but really he has such a deep capacity for love and given the opportunity would be fiercely loyal.

Langris may not care about a lot of people, but the ones he chooses to care about he will love forever. He's just such a tsun about it, I think, so it can be very hard for anyone (and especially for those with preconceived notions of him as a snotty stick-in-the-mud) to see that he's really very sweet and awkward as heck about his feelings. Langris' love might be quiet—it's not very flashy and usually shows itself in doing little, everyday things for the people he loves—but still waters run very, very deep and he has shown that he would do just about anything to protect the people he loves most and make them happy, no matter what that means for himself. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that he would die for Finesse if it came down to it.

Ultimately, I can imagine a lot of different outcomes for this relationship (some of which never, ever cross over into that romantic place). I really just want them both to be happy whether that means they end up together or not, but yes, I could see them happy with each other in a romantic sense under very specific circumstances since they do have such a selfless love for each other (but I think that is probably a discussion for another time because this is already super, super long so I'm cutting myself off in favor of the next section...).

Why I personally think Langris rather than Finral is better suited for Finesse

As much I don't like pitting ships against each other, I don't think it's avoidable in this case since she is going to be in arranged marriage with one of them. To paraphrase a favorite musical of mine, it's not a matter of "if" but which one. And I think it's best for me to just start off by saying that while I do genuinely like and appreciate Finesse and Finral as a ship as well, I personally think that Langris and Finesse are better suited for one another in the long term.

I will admit upfront that this is in part because of my own personal experiences of having a chronic illness (and needless to say that is a personal bias that colors my opinions, so please just keep that in mind), but I think it's important to talk about the fact that Finesse is chronically ill because it's not something I've ever really seen discussed when talking about ships for her and I really think it should be taken into account. Like Finesse, I have been sick for most of my life, and I can really relate to the kind of difficulties and limitations that Finesse likely experiences due to being chronically ill and the realities of the less active and much more slower-paced life she would lead and, by proxy, the life anyone who married her would have to lead. Again, I am not saying that I don’t like or couldn’t imagine her & Finral together (I do genuinely like that ship too), but I almost think Langris is better suited for her in that he actually wants (or seems to want) the slower-paced life they’d probably have together. For instance, there are likely to be frequent situations that would arise in which Finesse is too ill or too tired to go out and her husband would then be “forced” to stay home with her. With Langris, I think, there would never really need to be much of that feeling of guilt on Finesse’s part or the fear that she is taking away something from Langris or being a burden, because Langris isn’t super sociable and would just want to stay home anyway. In fact, let’s be honest here, he’d probably, actually feel kind of relieved that he has gotten out of unwanted socializing. Whereas Finral is a much more lively and sociable person (rather than an "old soul" like Langris), and though Finral would never, ever want Finesse to feel like a burden or to feel guilty about being sick, I could imagine there is more of that feeling (at least from Finesse’s side) that he has given up a lot more to be with her since his active social life would drastically change as soon as they married.

There's also the matter of the panic Finral would probably have whenever Finesse was ill or having a flare of symptoms. Of course, Langris would be worried as well, but I think because of his personality, he is better able to shelve that and help in a crisis rather than Finral who gets really worked up and then just sort of shuts down. Obviously this is something that can be learned over time, but I just worry that it would be a constant source of stress for Finral which would ultimately make Finesse very worried about him and upset that he is upset on her account. I think Finesse would have a lot of fear that the life she could give a lively, busy, & social person like Finral would be holding him back in some way. The question there is really: will what Finral wants out of life ever gel with the limitations Finesse has to live with? Whereas I don't think that question is as much of an issue with Langris since he is an old soul and incredibly steady, very unlike his more restless, adventurous, and high-energy brother.

I think Langris and Finesse are alike in this way. Though they have many differences in their personalities (and a really nice balance there), they have a lot of similarities in worldview and their attitudes towards life and their life goals—being more traditional, formal, and proper ‘old souls.' Whereas I think she and Finral have more similarities in personality (despite him being much more lively), they’re both incredibly kind, gentle & easy-going people who aren’t particularly ambitious and often make decisions based on what will make other people happy and "keep the peace." But worldview wise he seems much more modern and less traditional than her which I could see causing some tensions since I think they want different things out of life, in a way. It’s almost more important to be alike in life goals/worldview than personality, I think.

I also think Finesse and Langris share common interests and genuinely enjoy each other's company (as we get these glimpses of in the anime where they're just having a quiet, comfortable tea parties together for instance). Even if it started off as an obligation to spend time together because of this arranged marriage they were going to be in, I like to think that eventually Langris and Finesse actually became fairly good friends and came to genuinely enjoy each other's company. I guess it’s a bit unfair to Finral to bring this up since we haven’t seen him spend a lot of time with Finesse so we can't say that they don’t enjoy each other’s company but I just don’t see them having the same shared interests that she would have with Langris.

There is a lot more I could say about these two and their relationship, but I think that's enough ramblings for now. If you read this all the way through to the end, bless you. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Cheers!! 💖

[melisusthewee]

Fanfic Writer Questions

I was tagged in this by both @dreadfutures and @blarrghe ! I did this once a few years ago, so it's interesting to see what's changed since then.

Tagging forward: @theluckywizard @greypetrel @darethshirl @natliecole @if-not-now-tell-me-when @madame-fear

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 35, though I believe 5 of them are artwork only for exchanges and not actually fics.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 87, 413 words

3. What fandoms do you write for? In my AO3 era: Hockey RPF; Dragon Age; La Sociedad de la Nieve/Society of the Snow Pre-AO3 (the ff.net/LJ era): Digimon Adventure, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, Beatles RPF, a little bit of DC/Marvel

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. The Tang of Liquor On His Tongue (Dragon Age) 2. The Dreamer Sets the Rules (Dragon Age) 3. mala suledin nadas (Dragon Age) 4. Smut Challenge 2: War Table Boogaloo (Dragon Age) 5. Mañana (LSDLN/SotS)

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes! Or at least I try to! There have been a couple of times where I've gotten overwhelmed or have been busy and fallen behind. But I try really hard to reply to every single comment I get.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? That's hard to pick. I think that a lot of my fic endings lean more towards catharsis than raw angst. Perhaps "Lathbora Viran" is the angstiest ending because it concludes a trilogy of fics about Solas' spirit friend Wisdom and ends with the implication that Wisdom became corrupted into the Regret demon that appears in Skyhold in "Tevinter Nights".

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Any of my romantic fics, I guess? If I had to pick one then I would probably say "Nothing Else Than What is Now" which was the extremely long one shot that led to all my Quinn Trevelyan/Horatio Morris nonsense. It originally wasn't supposed to have a happy ending, but about midway through writing it I changed my mind and even though OC / OC is extremely niche in just about any fandom, I'm still glad I did it.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not yet. We'll see if that changes now that I've mentioned I've written LSDLN fic.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yep. 2 out of my top 5 fics are smut, and 2 more out of the top 5 have implied sex. I suppose that says I must be good at it. I don't really know what kind of smut I write since every smutfic I've written has been either a challenge or a prompt fill or a gift. I think I'm an example of that meme of "the 2000 word blow job is an important piece of character development". I really lean into tricking you into having emotions and feelings and getting introspective inside characters' heads while they're naked and getting down dirty. Come for the smut, stay for the emotional feelings!

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I did when I was younger, but haven't really vibed with it much in recent years. In terms of published fic, maybe the Harry Potter/Beatles crossover drabble I wrote based on a piece of artwork that an old friend of mine had done. I still have the fic, but the artwork has sadly been lost to the ethers of the internet. But the idea was that the Beatles didn't really break up in 1970, they just took on a different career.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not to my knowledge. But I have taken to granting permission in my author's notes of new fics for anyone who might want to translate them into other languages.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, actually! Some of my very first fanfics were co-written with a friend of mine. We never published them, but it was just fun to write little stories together.

14. What's your all time favourite ship? Even though I've never written any fanfic for it, I am 100% pure unleaded Chrobin trash. They are my OTP and I am probably due for a replay of Fire Emblem Awakening for it again. "YOU ARE THE WIND AT MY BACK AND THE SWORD AT MY SIDE."

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? One of the very first fics I ever started writing for the Dragon Age fandom was an Alistair/Cousland piece that looked at the period of time between the Warden's disappearance and their (hopefully) eventual return. It was meant to be 10 chapters, with each chapter split between a section in the past that looked at their romance over time and a section that took place in the more immediate present as Alistair navigated the events of DAI. I still have the document sitting on my laptop as well as backed up in my google drive, but I only ever finished the first chapter and even though I go back to it sometimes and make notes, I've not worked on it with any serious attention in years (I started this fic not too long after the Trespasser DLC was released) and at this point I doubt it will ever be in a publishable state let alone finished.

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I'm really good at dialogue! I'm very good at conveying personalities and speech patterns in written dialogue.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Blowjobs

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? For me, I think it depends on the amount of dialogue that is being spoken in another language and whether or not it's something the character whose POV is being written would understand.

With fantasy settings like Dragon Age, most of my fics are written from the POV of one of the game protagonists which are all human in my world state. So they wouldn't understand things like Qunlat or Elvhen, but also as those conlangs are incomplete languages, I will usually just refer to dialogue as being spoken in a language that the POV character doesn't understand. In a few fics where I've written from Solas' POV, I have used things like italics or sometimes <<special dialogue brackets>> to denote that this speech is being spoken between two characters in another language. Since the languages are fictional but the story is being told in English, it makes sense that the "author" translates in a similar logic to how Tolkien's books are "translated" for us to read.

With stories and settings that are more grounded in reality, I'll use other languages where appropriate. Usually this is in the form of nicknames or titles or expressions that I feel can't really convey the same tone or idea if they were translated into English. I've been very fortunate to find several new friends in the LSDLN fandom who have taught me a lot about monickers and nicknames and phrases in different regional dialects of Spanish.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Technically it was Digimon Adventure - baby's first Mary-Sue fic

20. Favourite fic you've written? It's a tie between "In the Long Hours of the Night" and "The Many Faces of Wisdom". With the former, this was the fic where I first felt like I finally got Quinn Trevelyan. It was the fic where he emerged as a more formed and complete character and I'm still proud of it. With the latter, it was an experimental idea that toyed with a rather ambiguously-defined relationship between Solas and the Inquisitor. It also was the first time I played around with writing Fade scenes and spirits and you can see a lot of the building blocks that I would eventually revisit and explore more as I fleshed out my own lore. It's also the one fic where I started with a very specific image in my mind and that I would really love to commission art for one day.

Blank Form Under the Cut

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5. Do you respond to comments?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

16. What are your writing strengths?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

19. First fandom you wrote for?

20. Favorite fic you've written?