#i dont mean this in the context of any romantic feelings between any of the characters aside from her feelings for bam

[cuubism]

hello friends. despite my 9 million existing dreamling wips i'm feeling the need to branch out a bit for the sake of my mental variety. what pairing other than dreamling should i write a little something for? could be romantic or platonic

other way of phrasing i guess: any pairings you really want to see more fics for in the fandom?

[k-ru-h]

not to get all analytical and stuff, but bam and endorsi shouldn't end up together- not because of bam, or khun, or whoever else you ship with him - but because of ENDORSI.

characters in tog are quite commonly either parallels or foils to the main cast - wangnan wants the role bam was forced into, hatz is the complete opposite of khun, and khun, bam, rachel and endorsi are... well. the general story of bam, khun, and rachel is "person is abused by their family, forms an unhealthy relationship with the first person they recieve genuine affection from, leaves and finds someone else". there are so many parallels between the three of them, its hard to analize their characters without delving into the other's. endorsi... well, shes got everything but the last step. her story ended on the first floor, and shes been begging bam not to leave her for whoever she thinks hes interested in. she has a team of her own - she has aanak - but bam was the first. bam was the first to offer her friendship, the first to show her genuine care, the first person she ever connected with. she didnt have a rachel or a maria or a bam, she only had her abusive family and... bam.

and bam doesn't care about her as much as she cares about him. which is perfectly fine! he doesnt owe her a return of her feelings. but to him, she isnt even *the* friend. he objectively cares about khun and rak more, to the point where its a running gag that he wont even realise shes talking to him if hes already talking to khun. he doesnt become as vulnerable or as trusting as he is with khun when around her. he doesnt revert to the sweet, happy persom he truly is when hes with her, like he does when hes with khun. he cares about her, a lot! but in the same way that he cares about team shibisu or sweet and sour. shes had to fight her entire life to be seen as worthy, shes had to be the strongest and the prettiest or she wouldnt be worth FEEDING. there is no way in hell being in a relationship with a person who shes never going to be the priority for is healthy for her.

she cares about him, a lot, and it goes both ways. but sometimes your loved ones, in any sense of the word, arent the destination, but the bridge. and she deserves someone who she is the number one to, no matter what

[dolokhoded]

simon peter is the funniest apostle to work with because in theory he's the most loyal, most by-the-book of the apostles so you'd expect him to be the most logical and collected one but 80% of his concerns (pre crucifixion then everything went downhill and they all died) are that he has a crush on every person he encounters

[k-s-morgan]

Hey! I hope you are alright.

If it wont be spoiler or something can you tell why Tom is using harry's cups, plates and the other things, i really Wonder and cant stop thinkining about it.

And i want to say it Adore ATLWETD. For me, fav fic of all time

Another ask: When Tom asked "what was i to you" and harry replied "i dont know" what did Tom think? And why tom is asking those questions at first place?

Another ask: hey, are you okay? I hope everything is okay there. I don't know if it means anything but my prayers are with you.

I have two question about ATLWETD.

First what did Tom feel when harry hugged him? And what are Tom's future plans for both of them? What he want?

If you dont want to answer i understand and its alright.

English its not my first language so if there is any mistake or misunderstand i am sorry.

Another ask: I just figure out how to use tumblr and as soon as i did i came your acc. I love your works. ATLWETD is reason is am still reading tomarry. I just wonder what Tom is planining rn. Take Harry to knigts and the other things. if it wont be problem i want to hear your answer, love you!

---

Since these asks are sort of related, I decided to combine them into one!

First of all, thank you all so much, both for your words and prayers! I'm so pleased that you're enjoying ATLWETD and that you're thinking of me.

Some of Tom's thought processes will become clearer later on, but I don't mind offering the specifics, especially since we won't be getting his POV until the middle of the story.

Tom has been using his mood stone on Harry repeatedly. He's been mystified by all the emotions Harry seems to be alternating between, and one in particular has intrigued him most, which is attraction.

Tom's been wondering about the specific nature of their 'alternative world' relationship for a while, and now he's begun to suspect that maybe they were romantically involved - or on the brink of becoming involved. He's curious and fascinated by this possibility. He wanted Harry to answer him truthfully, and Harry saying "I don't know" proved his hypothesis that while they weren't together, they were probably about to be in some near future.

If you liked Tom using Harry's things, just wait until the Tie Saga in the next chapter :D It'll be hilarious. Poor Harry will be so confused and frustrated by Tom's actions.

Now, why is Tom doing that? A part of it is him testing how receptive Harry is to something this intimate. To him, it's yet another indication that they were closer than friends, and since Harry doesn't react, it's probably something the other Tom did, too. Another big reason is the violation of boundaries. Tom feels entitled to Harry, to everything he is and everything he owns. He views Harry as his thing, his personal person, and he's determined to take his freedom piece by piece because Harry is supposed to be an extension of him, in his eyes. There is genuine possessiveness in him as well.

Making Harry a part of the Knights also feels into this context. Tom wants Harry to be involved in his life to the fullest extent. He's interested in seeing what Harry is going to think and how he's going to react to some of his plans and ideas. Tom has seen valuable qualities in Harry, and he wants to use them for his benefit.

What Tom felt when Harry hugged him - uncertainty, mostly. Unexpected warmth. Fascination. Some awkwardness. It's one thing to build theories about their alleged romantic relationship, but it's another to get a more physical confirmation of it.

Tom isn't planning or not planning to become involved with Harry romantically right now. He's just watching how everything unfolds, and he's increasingly interested in being surprised and experiencing something new.

[communistkenobi]

in that post abt the gender unicorn graphic, in the comments the idea of the “split attraction model” is brought up and you say you dont want to litigate that. however, im really curious what your opinion is bc i have some ideas abt it too. i feel like its sort of an incomplete analysis? like, people feel different ways about others and that cant really be flattened into like two modes of attraction. but i personally would call myself aromantic and bisexual so obviously i have some level of investment of the idea. anyways i just ask because in general i find your analysis and opinions compelling

thank you! re: this graphic

My issue with splitting “physical attraction” and “emotional attraction” is that it does the same naturalising trick that the chromosomes-as-the-symbol-of-sex does - by splitting the emotional from the physical, this implies that physical attraction is natural, without emotion, and by the same token that emotion can exist completely detached from the physical body of the person you emotionally desire. Like I just don’t think this is true! For example, the idea of “casual sex,” ie sex that is devoid of emotion/emotional investment, is a social construction, it is a sexual act that is being contrasted against societal norms of “serious sex” or “invested sex” or whatever you want to call it - sex that is being done in the context of a monogamous, married relationship, or an otherwise exclusive long-term one. the base social unit of much of western society is the nuclear family, and the nuclear family is “ideally” produced by monogamous, cis-heterosexual, racially homogeneous reproductive sex. That is the norm by which all other sexual behaviour and activity is judged by.

and to be clear I’m not using “emotional” in an idealistic or moral sense, I am not using it as a shorthand for romantic feelings, I am purposefully using the language the graphic is using - I mean any emotion. Like just to be super clear, I’m not suggesting that people who have casual sex all secretly love the people they fuck, or that sex has to always be a serious emotional endeavour, or that people who do not feel sexual attraction to the people they have romantic feelings for are secretly lying, but that I don’t think sex is something that can be devoid of emotionality entirely. Like I think we are engaging in this Cartesian body/mind dualism where the physical acts we perform are somehow wholly separate from our emotional states. Pleasure has an emotional component to it, I don’t know how to articulate my experiences with pleasure that do not involve some level of emotionality, and emotionality has a physical character to it. Like in fact I think this graphic is treating emotions as ideal states - it reminds me of like old misogynistic psychological theory that described rationality as an absence of emotion, that to engage in rationality is to move away from emotion. It treats rationality as “out there,” objective, natural, detached from social influence, and emotion as “in here,” in our hearts, ruled by the social. And this distinction is made on the idea that the social world is detached from the physical world, which is pure idealism.

this is not a dismissal or denial of anyone who feels a disconnect between their sexual and romantic desires, such as asexual or aromantic people - while I am neither of those things, I have experienced intense physical desire for the person I’m fucking while actively dissociating during sex as a result of dysphoria/heteronormativity/etc etc. by the same token I have also felt emotionally compelled to be physically attracted to someone without actually feeling physical desire. These are both emotional states that were in conflict with my physical desires, or rather my physical desires as I understood them at the time. our ability to interpret and understand our desires is itself social! otherwise heteronormativity wouldn’t be a thing. We don’t have unmediated, unemotional access to physical desire, which I think this graphic is arguing, intentionally or not.

so having complicated, contradictory, disconnected, or otherwise ‘non-normative’ relationships to our emotional states vis a vis physical desire is obviously very real, and the reason they are real is because physical desire is also socially mediated and constructed. What and who we find attractive, why types of bodies, physical and character traits, etc are attractive to us are all part of (joker voice) society.

now, idk how you easily communicate this in graphic format. perhaps these things are unsuited to the medium of easily digestible graphics, or perhaps I’m limited in my imagination. either way I don’t think bifurcating emotional-desire-as-social and physical-desire-as-natural is particularly helpful

[komohine]

How are sheith shippers fetishizing gay men. Are you delusional? Misinformed? Lacking IQ?

Keith is not Asian btw, While we're at it, please prove to me all the damage sheith has done to the gay Asian male community.

Ok considering i have sheith shippers/defenders dni in my intro post and I really dont feel like wasting my time today ill try to keep it short and wont be responding to shit like this down the line. Next time save your breath though. Because idk if you knew this but dni stands for Do Not Interact. You are interacting. Stop that.

1) they’re brothers. Sure it’s revealed much later in the seasons, but the point is they have an incredibly strong familial relationship. If you started off shipping sheith when they weren’t explicitly defined as brothers, fine. But after their familial relationship is revealed the choice to continue shipping those two specifically comes off as strange as hell. Even stranger when you consider the multiple other available male characters that are not only more age appropriate but also dont have a familial relationship with them lmao. Also Shiro canonically gets married to a man. So the choice to continue shipping sheith has to go beyond just wanting to guys to kiss. The next common denominator? They’re both asian, so I must conclude that the need to ship them comes from that. The next next common denominator is that they’re related and some of you just have a thing for incest. But i still have faith in humanity so i wont accuse you of that even though i occasionally feel the urge to. I refuse to take “but but they have the most in show relationship development” as a reason because that just means you’re too fucking lazy to think of your own scenarios. Which is not true, because the amount of devious ass sheith shit I unfortunately stumble across means your collective neurons are actively firing away. Just for the wrong thing. You guys really saw the only real developed relationship (i use this word generally and not strictly romantically) between two guys in the show and decided that it must have romantic undertones. Beyond how its harmful to irl men and deters them from emotional maturity out of fear that any non toxic relationship between two men is automatically seen as romantic by some people, it’s just fundamentally mid yaoi because you guys cant fathom that 1) romance isn’t a core part of the show beyond allurance 2) that two guys can talk to eachother while smiling without wanting to fuck. Yall are in the same league as those guys who are addicted to step sister p0rn.

1.5) bcs i know someones gonna ask “why do you think sheith is incest”, its because shiro fulfills the kinship role of “sibling” for keith, or even “parent”. From here-on out simplified as “guardian”. Within anthropology there are numerous kinship systems which determine which family member is called what. Ex. In the hawaiian system, every male family member is called “father” and every female “mother”. No matter if they birthed you or not. In the linear (also known as esk/mo but that’s a word with heavy history) system, your parents are “mom/dad”, siblings are defined as “brother/sister”, and everyone else is “aunt/uncle” or “cousin”. This is the system commonly used in the west. Kinship systems define a lot of things, from inheritance to respect hierarchies. Another key thing they determine is incest taboo. The range of which this taboo applies differs depending on culture, which is why you’ll hear of two people, for example, cousins getting married. In the west that’s considered taboo, but it may not be in another culture. Kinship and its taboos also apply to non blood related relationships. Hence adoptive siblings, etc. And keith quite explicitly refers to shiro as his brother. Given the context of those scenes, it can be deduced that it’s not said in a way that is 1) casual, as the lingo would more likely be “sup bro” or the tone of voice would be significantly more casual, 2) indicative of anything other than a familial relationship, for if keith considered him a brother in arms he would’ve said something more along the lines up “on your feet, brother”. Keith saying “you’re like my brother” AND THEN DOUBLING DOWN TO “You’re my brother,” said in such a sincere tone of voice leaves little to be debated.

Tldr: Shiro fulfills a guardian kinship role for Keith and thus the incest taboo applies to him.

1.6) also like? It’d be weird either way. Going by their canon age diff (season 1, 25-18 = SEVEN YEARS), and considering shiro met keith in middle school, and going by the oldest middle school age (15) bcs im feeling generous, shiro wouldve still been 22. If they just met once and never again till seasom 1, fine. Ship sheith however you want. But the fact is they met and then they formed a bond when shiro was significantly older and in a position of power over keith. Shiro was a mentor and guardian to keith whether you like it or not, and he stayed that way from when keith was young and impressionable until he was an adult. Yk what thats called? Raising a child. Imagine shipping that. Crazy. Imagine a 9 year old being raised by a 17 year old babysitter bcs of his absent parents. Suddenly when the 9 year old turns 18 he starts dating his babysitter. Thats freaky as hell, and i only increased the age gap by 2 years. Literally nothing else changed.

2) now why would they include a non aapi character in the mash up? Also, his source character from the og voltron is named “Keith Akira Kogane”. What non asian person is named that?

3) also the fact you need me to show you damage.. same vibe as “wdym he’s stalking you he’s just being friendly!! Show me how his so called stalking has put your life in danger”. Like imagine needing actual damage before even considering something bad.

[basilpaste]

May I ask about your opinions on Isafrin? Can be in any context, I just wanna know your opinions on the gays.

ohbgh okay its hard to put my thoughts in order about isafrin but like.

i enjoy them! i enjoy those two greatly!!!! i dont draw the two of them enough, but i sure do write about them plenty (glances at slay the savior).

i think i think its easy to boil isa down to like... easily flustered/embarrassed and pining all the time? when it comes to their dynamic? which i mean. hes plenty flustered a lot of the time, but there are so many moments where its really obvious how much isa cares about sif as a person and a friend over his romantic feelings. my favorite example is probably the conversation you can get about sifs cloak where isa repeatedly tries to distract people from looking at their face. i think the sus quest bathroom event between him and odile does that really well too.

and siffrin ALSO obviously cares about isa as a person a lot. even though they have a lot of very negative self talk stuff surrounding their more romantically inclined feelings towards him. in isas friendquest, their 'i could never be ashamed of knowing you.' moment gets me EVERY time. and then the stuff that gets added if you replay it. the like. 'you learned to make jokes because of him'. it fucks me UP.

they love each other so dearly and its not in an inherently conventional way all of the time and that makes it soso good. isafrin my beloved. i think they should hug. and isa should get to be casually intimate with sif. and sif can get used to it. and isa can slowly get closer and closer to them, his comedy partner, his friend. because its sif!!!! and siffrin took so long to let himself believe he was worthy of love. but isas patient! hes been here this whole time. its isa!!!!!!

um. good ship. thumbs up.

[sassykinzonline]

what’s your opinion on people who say sns is platonic? like i’ll see well done essays about sns and how they changed each other for the better and their love. then… theyll say its platonic.

is it just blissful ignorance or? 😭

oh wow this is a really good question, thank you.

um hm, i never really want to totally shit on anyone's interpretation of anything so long as its accurate to the information thats presented so im not really against any interpretation thats well-defended. i havent read the kind of opinion youre talking about so i cant really say anything more specific than that.

what i will say though is that i think sometimes some snsers get caught up in "fighting homophobia" that they kind of miss the essence of naruto and i's specific relationship: that we are every type of attraction and every kind of love. its obvious in the manga's arts, the different parallels, the words we use to describe each other, the progression of our relationship, the intimacy we share with each other, i could go on and on.

so, do i think our relationship is presented in a way thats exclusively platonic? nope and the only way you could come to that conclusion is either a) homophobia or b) genuinely not being able to grasp the storytelling elements in the manga (ie. you dont necessarily need to be able to understand or feel romantic/sexual attraction to see that the manga shows you it exists between us explicitly). the anime is a bit...worse but i still feel like most people have seen the anime ONLY and still feel discomfort because they cant figure out if we're gay or not, and ive never heard of another shonen anime with a problem that big.

however, the platonic element is a huge and important part of our relationship. there was no one among our "friends" that could truly understand, sympathize, or care for us. but at the same time, that wasnt enough. there's the familial element too, in the sense that we wanted the safety that we knew a family should make you feel. we knew the "family" we had (iruka and itachi) were broken. there's a professional side to it too, where our profession is so intimately tied to our sense of self that thats how we communicate our feelings to each other. there's a romantic element yes, the feeling of completion and feeling that someone is "for you". there's even a sexual/aesthetic element, where just the appearance of someone overwhelms your senses and consumes your body. i would also look at the relationships you have with other people and ask if they dont include different kinds of love/attraction despite mainly being one thing.

ultimately though, i think that the way the narrative is presented (and the way i feel), the point is meant to be that we have all those different types of love except because of our context (familial, political, social, whatever) its difficult to realize the romance that we both desperately wanted from the other. the manga presents the double suicide proposal as romantic, and thats the climax of the story. so the relationship should be looked at as a romantic one. at the same time though, if people feel like "well just because the manga says its a romantic relationship doesnt mean this is inherently romantic, theyre exclusive queer platonic soulmates that kiss and bone" or something then i think thats fine too. so long as they understand that naruto and i will always come before anyone else to each other, and that whatever we feel for the other is not only mutual but mutually desired and all encompassing.

[etoilesbienne]

hi i know youre really into learning spanish and so am i so i wanted to ask because i dont really understand

when do i use "amo" and when do i use "quiero"?

i know the exact translations but they mean the same thing in some scenarios so like when do i use each??

for example what do i use when im talking to a partner (vs) when im talking to a family member (vs) when im talking to a friend etc

and which do i use to say things that i like, like if i wanted to say "i love eggs" (more than like, "gusto") ??

sorry if you dont know or want to answer but google wasnt answering my questions ?!

HI SO TAKE ANYTHING I SAY WITH A HUGE GRAIN OF SALT AND IF ANY SPANISH SPEAKERS WANT TO CORRECT ME FEEL FREE TO (ill try to rb all the ones i see)

te quiero mucho literally means "i really want you" (quiero means "i want" in particular, so like "i want strawberries" would be quiero fresas)

te quiero mucho's actual usage is more in reference to "i want to spend time with you" however and is, like, afaik only used when talking to larger groups of fans or acquaintances or casual friends.

TE AMO is "i love you" but in a much more serious way. like this isn't something you tell people frivolously it's like between lovers & family members.

tbf the way i've been thinking about it is more like it's switched in english and spanish, "i want you" is a very serious phrase to say in english in the romantic context, like how te amo is in spanish (though much less sexual than "i want you" is). and then something like "love you!" is casual in english like how te quiero mucho is.

ill be honest ive never really been in a situation when speaking spanish to have to say anything beyond me gusta for liking things, so i can't really help much there

[thrashkink-coven]

hii!! im so so sorry if this is considered a weird question and by all means you can delete this/ect, but i wanted to ask: how do you know when your deity loves you? i know it may sound stupid and/or weird but i genuinely have so many issues trusting it.. my deity is very loving to me, hes never been mean to me, ignored me, or anything! and hes so understanding and stuff about everything i tell him, hes really the best deity i couldve asked for. but for some reason i still cant feel loved all the time/all the way. it may have something to do with the fact im aroace, havent done much (hardly any at all really) shadow work, the trauma, or something in between or even all of the above, but i want to trust it, i want to trust him. but the feeling comes rarely then fades almost as soon as i get it. i dont know if its a thing of maybe its because im in the closet about my practices due to it being unsafe to do it openly, or because me and my deity have only worked together for maybe a month or around 6-4 weeks, and i still need the time to feel associated with him & his energy, im unsure and its a little scary/invalidating :( i see so many other witches be so absolutely happy and set in stone with their love for their deities and the deities love for them, but i just cant? i really really know i love my deity and stuff, but, its all just so confusing and sad/aggravating. anyway, thank you for your time <33

(im sorry for the enormous dump haha)

Hi,

Thanks for asking!

Our relationship with our deities are very different to our relationships with humans in many ways, but in some ways they are also extremely similar. Maybe you’ve never been in a romantic relationship, but oftentimes even when we are with the person that we love and we’re 100% confident that they love us back with all their heart, we can still become nervous and wonder if our relationships are legitimate or “real”. This is something that can occur with any kind of relationship. It may have absolutely nothing to do with the actions of the other party and more to do with how we view ourselves. If we don’t think we are worthy to be in their presence we will often unfairly assume their negative opinion of us- even if they have done nothing to indicate that. It’s important to consider what circumstances in your life might have lead you to feel this way, chances are it has nothing to do with them.

In the context of Gods, they are funnily enough, without bodies. Which means that they can’t always be present in extremely obvious ways. You may find yourself getting anxious if a partner or friend doesn’t reach out for a few days, but that doesn’t at all mean that your friend or partner didn’t think about you at all during that time. There is this very common misconception in spiritual circles that devotees interact directly with their Gods every single day, that we can feel their influence at all times and that they are always super close to us- and that’s just not true.

In the case of Lucifer, I reach out to him at least once a day in some way, but I don’t always feel his overwhelming warmth and light all the time. In fact, sometimes I don’t feel anything and that’s just fine. My devotion is partially a gift to him but also a gift to myself, I don’t just do this so he’ll pop up and do a little dance for me lol, my love of worshipping is part of the deal.

For an entity like Jophiel who is an angel, I don’t necessarily even want to feel his presence all the time because he’s just a lot to deal with on a daily basis. In fact I only really interact with Jophiel directly once every few months if that. He probably wouldn’t be very pleased by frivolous interactions either- actually he’s just straight up told me he doesn’t like it lol. His presence is something that can always be found but isn’t always appropriate or necessary. That doesn’t at all mean that Jophiel and I have a weaker relationship by any means, rather that we are so confident in our relationship that we can handle the distance. I know that if I make a genuine call he will answer, and there are times he just happens to be closer to me for whatever reason. In the same way, sometimes he’s just farther away. Jophiel is pure love and I know he feels no ill will towards me, love shows itself in many ways, not just the ways that are the most obvious. If I admire a stranger or study the beauty of a snowflake, Jophiel will always be there.

Likewise with an entity like Faviel, he kind of just does what he wants. By his very nature he is a free flyer. Sometimes he literally does straight up ignore me and that’s okay too. Sometimes I can tell he’s around but actively declining my call. He knows the difference between my genuine need for him and my random passive curiosity. He’s not my pet so he doesn’t stand by my leg all the time.

I’ve seen some hellenic devotees express that some of their Gods feel farther away during certain seasons (Apollon in the winter for example) so they amp up their offerings and celebrations to welcome them back in the spring. Your deities’ absence is the time to think about them most. There’s no need to mourn that which hasn’t died.

I can’t tell you for a 100% fact whether any given God loves us in the same way we experience love- because some of them genuinely just don’t. In the same way that you’re aroace, some Gods genuinely just don’t care about those kinds of relationships with humans lol- but in those cases it is quite easy to tell. Sometimes that level of intimacy isn’t necessary for the work being done. And yes, sometimes a God will definitely just reject you (HERMES REJECTED ME AT FIRST CAN YOU BELIEVE!?!)

But if you already have experienced a genuine connection then worrying about that is of no benefit to you.

These entities don’t really just sit around and wait for us to text them lol, they are very busy and important spirits with roles and things they need to do just like we do. Faviel is a messenger, Lucifer is a King, Jophiel is a chief and archangel, I’m sure your God is the God of something pretty important too. These fellas got work to do!

If Lucifer got mad at me whenever I was doing anything other than worshipping him, he’d probably think I didn’t care very much about him either- which isn’t very fair!

In my relationship with Lucifer especially, confidence was of the utmost importance. Simply put, if Lucifer put no effort in and did nothing in response to my calls, I wouldn’t be his devotee. I know that sounds harsh but it was Lucifer himself that taught me that I am worthy of being in his space, he does respect me and love me and I needed to be 100% confident and aware of that before he took me on. He actually scolded me a few times for “begging” him to appear because it seemed pathetic and he does not work with pathetic people. When you make that call you should be confident in your audacity to do so, you are more than worthy of an answer, there is no need to beg or worry.

If I worried that Lucifer doesn’t care about me every time I didn’t feel his presence that would be a way of casting doubt onto him. I need to be confident in our relationship even when it isn’t abundantly clear. I need to be able to find the light even when I can’t see it.

So in your case, maybe the reason why that feeling of love fades so quickly for you because as soon as you start to notice it, you start to question it and wonder if it’s really there. And then of course it won’t be- because you’re no longer feeling it but analyzing it. The next time you have this feeling allow your mind to go quiet and just let it happen. Don’t worry about anything else, feel it and cherish it and you will eventually become familiar and confident in it.

You got this!

[spicybylerpolls]

so i think most people who are anti foah on here (including any discussion of noah and finn at all, even their work together) are not worried about us speculating on like whether there's feelings involved - because you can be attracted to someone or acknowledge their beauty without feelings - but rather they think that discussing them at all is almost like... i dont know, gossiping? or talking behind someone's back?

like, especially portraying a romantic relationship on screen, it would be very childish to still act disgusted by a co-star just to stop people around you saying 'ooooooh'... wouldnt it? unless you are genuinely repulsed by someone, once you become an adult you typically dont act that way. you get to an age where you can straight up say 'yeah, that person is beautiful' or attractive or what not, and you can say that about friends too, without anyone thinking you are falling in love with them.

i really remember the harry potter cast doing this and it was such a joy to see them grow up and acknowledge these things rather than just blush in interviews and pretend they never had crushes on each other.

or if you genuinely are repulsed by someone, you would deal with that in a mature way. especially if you were working professionally - i mean youre doing a job, but that still involves emotion and both disgust and attraction could be part of that.

i know the duffers hammed up the kiss between finn and millie, but hopefully that was cos they were kids (i didnt love that they did that, though we will never have full context), and hopefully for byler everything would be treated with respect. that also doesnt mean you totally lose the excitement and juice - love and attraction turns people of all ages into puddles - but rather that it is also still just a scene, and treated like any other scene, in service to the story.

for example, why is it taboo for an actor to be totally into a love scene, but not totally excited and joyful doing a scene on a ferris wheel or biking down a hill? why is there shame in the natural emotive expression, even when performing? and why is there shame in us discussing or anticipating that? we are essentially being spectators of the joy of human emotion - its why people love stories. stories are designed to make us think these people are real. why are characters, intrinsically, any different to real people in terms of the way we interact with them?

is it because they cannot be touched by us and we cant hurt them?

yes. but that leads us back to the nuance of shipping two irl actors and discussing human behaviour. this blog is unlikely to reach finn or noah. we are discussing them in relation to mike and will, not paparazzi'ing them outside their homes. this isn't a tabloid. its a tumblr blog.

maybe there are some people who edit together miniscule interview moments and invent fictions between real people. but again thats very different to just picking up on human behaviour and discussing it, as two people would over dinner, when they realise their mutual friends have got a thing going on.

i also think noah being gay brings a lot of discomfort to people because there is not even that plausible deniability of he and finn just doing a job. but like, he might he enjoy it? but so might finn? if they do, why is that bad? why can't they be professional AND enjoy it? just like they would filming a scene biking down a hill?

so my point is that people who are anti foah seem to be anti any discussion of finn and noah, even re: their work. they somehow can't separate this kind of discussion about creating art and being human from the juvenile idea of harassing two actors, despite the time-honoured human enjoyment of talking about other humans.

and re: finn's sexuality, the most common poll answer is... i dont have enough info to speculate. WELL DUH. thats why its called speculation? if you had enough info, you would have a solid answer lmao! its like byler evidence all over again. thousands of pages of tiny things that could be evidence, when all you need is one solid reason why they'll have a romance, like the way they look at each other, or, i dont know, the narrative itself?

wow this has got so out of hand. im going to end here lmaoooooooo

all very fascinating points, nonny!

[rxttenfish]

putting this over here and not on my rp blog because i just feel more comfortable talking over here lately and because this isnt even BAD or me complaining, just saying a thing i noticed and being entertained, but i worry that people will think im being rude

theres like, this bingo card meme going around in my circles lately, where you make one for your muse, specifically of their "type" when it comes to romantic partners

so i make one for miranda, as you do, and i include a box on there that says "respects her sister", because. you know. a vital thing to miranda.

and its funny that all of the other muses who have marked that off are ones who neither i nor bellanda nor miranda would say COULD mark that off

namely because like. why is respecting bellanda so important?

because shes miranda's sister. and even more than that, she has been, for all of miranda's life, both her only friend and her caretaker. bellanda is one of those people that miranda trusts with literally EVERYTHING, and is wholly incapable of thinking bellanda can ever hurt her, let alone hurting bellanda in turn. bellanda's opinion is final to miranda, she is what matters above everyone else, and either her potential paramours accept that theyre always going to be playing second fiddle to bellanda or they leave miranda's life. so much of what miranda does is dependent on bellanda and she is basically everything miranda has.

which is important context, because the reason why not just any single person can mark off themselves as respecting bellanda, is because bellanda is going to be mean as hell to them. bellanda doesn't trust landfolk, very seldom trusts other merfolk, and is highly suspicious of ANYONE who tries to get too close to miranda. for very good reasons, sure, but also this means she is going to try to drive them away as much as she can without upsetting miranda. and like, miranda knows bellanda is doing this. she knows she will insult, berate, and even try to physically hurt people who bellanda perceives as a threat, and miranda knows why bellanda does this, and thus she will give bellanda a very loose leash. again, miranda takes bellanda's side in everything that matters, and her loyalty to her comes first before everyone else.

as you can imagine, this is not an ideal situation to be sandwiched between. you cant even really DO anything, because trying to do anything against bellanda immediately sours miranda's opinion of someone, and bellanda is never really going to do something she knows would be over the line for miranda. the only option is winning bellanda's favor, and thats a tall order when she already mistrusts and suspects them for a full list of potential manipulations and careless blunders that bellanda won't be sharing with them. shes tough, shes strict, and shes very set into what she knows to be true and whats allowed her and miranda to survive this long.

hell, it's why aaravi is one of the very VERY few people to do well with bellanda, because shes already used to people hating her and suspecting her. already knowing that out of the gate and knowing bellanda's type (from her own experiences with gruff older slayers), getting the reassurance from miranda that she actually is good and sweet and funny was enough for her.

but you see the problem still. you see why this is such a dealbreaker for so many muses. you see why its specifically phrased as RESPECTING bellanda, because if you dont fully understand why she has to do all of this and be this way, then you arent going to make it.

[aemiron-main]

I dont mean to be rude, but why are you so against Henry being George? in the audition tapes "Betty" that you admit is probably patty, is seen interacting with George the whole time, in his tape, he only interacts with her too, and in the promo shots Louis is always with Ella, so what would be your explanation for that? I know we will know everything in exactly one month but I always see you saying that and it's been bothering me, im just really curious, could you explain?

Hey there, anon! No worries about being rude at all, I’m more than happy to explain and clarify! <3

So, it’s not really a matter of me being “against” Henry being George- it’s simply a matter of me thinking that the evidence doesn’t fully support him being George. It’s like. I’m not *against* the idea that dragons exist and are secretly living underground in cool dragon cities- hell, I’d love that! But I don’t see the evidence to support said underground dragons, and the same applies for George being Henry.

So, I’ve talked in a bunch of posts about why I don’t think that George is Henry, but I’m going to summarize the main reasons right here for you:

1.) The Ages

This collider article talked about TFS leaks & the fact that Patty had romantic feelings for George:

And that article describes both Patty and George as being at least 14 years old.

And when we look at the audition tapes, we can see that Patty is at least 15 years old, because she mentions that the confession booth has been her hiding place for the past 15 years:

However, Henry Creel is canonically 12 years old:

And even if you don’t think that the newspapers are reliable/somehow think that’s a production error, THIS is not a 15 year old boy- even his actor was 12 at the time:

So, this means that in order for Henry to be George, they’re either a.) going to do a romance between a 15+ year old girl and a 12 year old boy, which would be like S1 Nancy dating S1 Dustin for context & I think that’s extremely unlikely or b.) they’re retconning Henry’s canon age in the play/ignoring canon, which makes absolutely no sense and is extremely unlikely because the play has been confirmed repeatedly to be canon:

So, unless they REALLY pull some timeline weirdness with Henry’s age, there’s not really any possible way for him to be George AND for the play to be canon- unless they have a 15+ year old dating a 12 year old, which I really don’t think they’ll do.

2.) The Personality

George is absolutely nothing like Henry personality- wise. Based on what we see in the audition tapes, George is snarky and opinionated, whereas Henry, as a child, is shy and silent.

George is a loner, much like Henry, but that also fits with Allen Munson (who we’ll come back to later), and being a loner also applies to characters like Hopper, and even Bob- being a loner isn’t something unique to Henry. Hell, even being a “pale, moody, new kid loner,” like the description from that Collider article isn’t unique to Henry. That could apply to both Allen and Lonnie.

George snarks about Betty being “prom queen,” and dramatically tells her “that’s your cue”- you have to watch the audition tapes to see/hear what I mean, but the way he speaks and the way his lines are written is such a far cry from Henry- hell, Henry doesn’t even talk that way/his dialogue isnt written that way when he’s giving a dramatic monologue in the show in 1979- and Henry as a child is silent every time we see him and doesn’t have any of the same mannerisms as George.

3.) The “Powers”

Something that people love to cite as evidence that George is Henry is the idea that George has powers based on some of his scenes in the auditions. However, those scenes are actually great evidence that George isn’t Henry, because when you watch those scenes, the way George describes what’s going on is polar opposite to the way Henry describes his powers & the way we see Henry’s powers working.

George, for example, talks about hearing voices in his head telling him to do bad things/hurt people- something that Henry never mentions, not even during his 1979 monologue. George also seems to be afraid of his supposed powers, whereas Henry seems to see them as something natural/as a tool/as part of him realizing that it was other people who were broken, not him.

I actually think that the voices that George is hearing are the result of that weird radio broadcast that’s supposedly killing people that’s mentioned in TFS. And I think that his experience with Patty/seemingly seeing eachother in the void/teleporting/whatever that was is far more likely to be tied to Patty having powers, especially with all of Patty’s El parallels (the scenes where Patty talks about her mother), and with how frequently articles about TFS talk about how important Patty is going to be to the plot:

So, again, it’s not a matter of “oh I really HATE the idea of Henry being George, so I’m going to pretend it’s not true even though it is,” it’s instead a matter of “if Henry is George, I’m fine with it, I’m just really not convinced that he Is George & am somewhat frustrated by people acting like it’s confirmed that he’s George when it’s not confirmed at all and when there’s multiple aspects of George that don’t align with Henry & contradict Henry’s canon lore such as the age stuff”

Also, I’ve never denied that Patty and Henry are going to have scenes together- I figured they’d have scenes together even before the audition tapes, because they have that parallel at the Crele house window vs the church window in the TFS animated teaser trailer! And Louis and Ella being together isn’t really something that I need to explain, because I’ve literally never denied that Henry and Patty are going to have scenes together & all of my analysis re: Henry and George and Patty has been done with the assumption that Henry and Patty are going to interact frequently regardless of who George is. Now, like I talked about in this post, regardless of whether Henry is George or not, I don’t think that Henry and Patty are going to be a romantic couple. My thing is that I simply don’t agree that it’s firm/clear-cut that Henry is George. Me not agreeing that Henry is George doesn’t mean that I think that Henry and Patty won’t interact- it simply means that I don’t think that the George that we saw in the leaked audition takes is Henry/I don’t think that George was the code name for Henry.

And to more specifically answer your question about the connection between George and Patty’s interacting mostly with eachother in the audition tapes vs Henry and Patty being put together in promo stuff:

First of all, the reason why Patty and George seem to “only” interact with eachother in the audition is because the scenes chosen for the audition happen to be with eachother- both of their auditions read the same two scenes, just different sides of it.

So, Patty could have 500 scenes with other characters and those two scenes could be the ONLY scenes she has with George in the whole play (I’m not saying that’s the truth, but just as a hyperbolic example), and we would have no idea because we’re only seeing the tiny tiny snippet scenes that were used for auditions.

Second of all, like I said earlier, Patty and Henry interacting frequently in the play is not news to me.

Like, I just don’t really see the firm link between the auditions and the promo stuff/I don’t see how that points to Henry being George. Patty and George interacting frequently and Patty and Henry interacting frequently doesn’t mean that Henry is George. It just means that Patty (as we know) is a core character who’s going to be interacting frequently with multiple characters.

Third of all, regardless of how often they put Patty and Henry together in promo stuff, and regardless of how often George and Patty interact in the audition tapes, that still doesn’t change all of the issues that don’t align with George being Henry (all of the stuff that I mentioned earlier), especially since the play has repeatedly been confirmed to be canon material & the Duffers have even been talking with the TFS team while writing S5 & making the TFS team change things so that everything aligns lore-wise:

So, all of the evidence that points to Henry not being George isn’t something that can just be overlooked because it’s a separate play/they aren’t just taking creative liberties with ages etc because it’s all canon & they’re working hard to make sure that it all lines up lore-wise with the show. And lore-wise, Henry is 12, which doesn’t line up with Patty’s age (based on her comments in the audition about how long she’s been hiding in the confession booth throughout her life), and also doesn’t align with George talking about prom and prom queen etc.

Hopefully this answers your questions, anon! :DD

It’s not a matter of me not wanting Henry to be George- it’s simply a matter of me not believing that he is George. I’m far more inclined to believe that Allen Munson is George, especially since the auditions didn’t use codenames for characters who aren’t brand-new characters (such as Hopper, his audition didn’t have a codename), so it wouldn’t make sense for them to use a code name for Henry. But it WOULD make sense for them to use a code name for Allen Munson, because he’s technically a new character, just like Patty.

If I seem particularly annoyed about the whole thing/about Henry supposedly being George, it’s not actually because I despise the idea- I’m annoyed a.) because the evidence doesnt support it and b.) because people are acting like it’s confirmed canon that Henry is George & trying to dunk on me for being wrong about him not being George when the reality is that it’s not confirmed whatsoever. The casting announcements didn’t give us ANY new information about who George was- all the casting did was tell us that Henry was going to be in the play- something we already knew! None of the code names have been revealed. There’s nothing in the casting that proves that George is Henry, and yet, for some reason, people are acting like it’s confirmed, which is where i get frustrated. I’m not even frustrated that people disagree with me, just frustrated that they’re acting like it’s concrete confirmed canon when it’s absolutely not.

Anyway, thank you again, anon! :DD If I seemed annoyed with you at all, I’m not, that’s just how i talk/I’m slightly frustrated with Other People acting like it’s 100000% confirmed that Henry is George.

[natasha-in-space]

Hey so i too read your yooseven hc post but I wonder how would seven show his care towards yoosung cuz in that post i mainly see yoosung is like mainly the who is the "giver". And im not saying its bad (please dont take my words negatively) because i can also see seven himself feeling like yoosung is the one who "does more" than him in the relationship and perhaps may feel insecure about it from time to time because he never really had someone go this far for him, its not something he is used to.

And at the same time, while seven for most of his life have been the "caregiver" mainly because he is aware that he is the stronger twin and the one who could do something (so its more out of necessity) yoosung on the other hand has the innate need to be needed and be the "bigger" person even tho unlike seven he never had to feel the compulsion to be the said "bigger" person out of necessity because he has always been the youngest both in rfa and his family but he wants to be someone his loved ones can rely on because thats what makes him feel personally fulfilled, thats his love language. I hope im making sense

So i can see yoosung struggling in that aspect in the relationship with basically anyone he is been with including seven so I also wonder how it would be like in their relationship with seven as a dynamic

Hmm, yes, yes, I can totally see what you're talking about, anon! Relationships are messy, romantic or platonic, so it's only a given for both of them having to face a few difficulties, these ones included. Now, this is only my personal interpretation based on how I portray these characters, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt!

All I can say is that it's a process. A messy one. It all depends on the context. Do they confess their feelings to each other before taking care of Mint Eye? After? Does Yoosung have to deal with Saeyoung's avoidance like his mc's do during his route? Or do they have no time for that? Small details like these do matter in the long run. There are many, many ways you can write them getting together, and that's what makes it fun to play around with in the first place.

When it comes to the already established relationship... I believe they'll make it work. Not without a couple of mishaps, of course. Yoosung, in comparison to Saeyoung, is someone who is very open to communication, and he has no problem with openly talking about his feelings and asking Saeyoung to do the same. Saeyoung, on the other hand, will have some struggles with that aspect. It'll take him some time to move on from his previous ways of dealing with any difficulties, however big or small. This might lead to some conflicts between the two.

It's always hard to see your loved one pretending like everything's alright or outright denying that there's a problem when you know they don't have to do it alone. Saeyoung does this from the place of love, he really does. He doesn't want to burden anyone with his struggles and he'd much rather use this anxious energy to make his loved ones happy instead of making them needlessly worry. It's not healthy, but it's the only way he knows how to deal with his issues. For Yoosung, this might come across as Saeyoung not trusting him to understand what he's going through, and that stings. It's like Saeyoung thinks he's not strong enough to handle it. Yoosung has a... personal grudge against anyone keeping secrets from him. For a good reason. So, yes, this can become a major problem for them.

But, that doesn't mean they can't make it work. They care about one another. Saeyoung is not smothering Yoosung with gifts or putting up a lighthearted facade in front of him out of annoyance. He's doing it because he genuinely believes that's the right thing to do. I truly think Yoosung can figure it out. He's a deeply empathetic person at heart. He might get frustrated at times and he might need some time to get his thoughts in order, but he knows Saeyoung cares for him. And he knows when he's having a hard time. The tricky part is figuring out how to have this important talk.

It's really about balance. No relationship is perfect, just like none of us are perfect. Neither Yoosung nor Saeyoung had a serious romantic relationship before, so it's going to be very clumsy at times, but that's okay. At the end of the day, Saeyoung would never want to hurt the ones he loves most. He is willing to take notice when his actions start having a negative effect on Yoosung, and he is more than willing to apologize. As for Yoosung, he wants to know the real Saeyoung, more than anything. He might get a bit heated and pushy at times, but he will learn how to be more mature.

As for the way they show affection to one another... again, it's about communication. Saeyoung is the type of person who will show his love through his actions, while Yoosung is more on a verbal side. I truly think they know each other well enough where these differences won't be a problem. Saeyoung doesn't mind getting all mushy and romantic at times to see Yoosung blush and giggle. Meanwhile, Yoosung knows Saeyoung's gifts are so much more than just physical objects.

I guess you could say... they are learning together?

[sys-confessions]

Hey, I'm the one who went to their s/o's system and all that fun stuff.

My boyfriend only fronted to talk to our co host and then I didn't know what to do once I took front so I masked as him and said we're going to bed. Since then, he hasn't fronted.

When he does front again, I want to try and work things out between me and him but I'm unsure on what to do and/or say since I have trouble with apologizing and I only say 'i didn't mean to..' or 'dont mean to..'

Do you have any advice on how to figure this out? This is my first ever romantic relationship and I don't know what to do in these situations.

Welcome back anon. I'd like to apologize if our answer is a bit disjointed or doesn't make much sense. We are still sick and quite dissociated, but feel free to come ask us again anytime, or even reach out to us in our main blog's DMs. We will do our best to support you.

We definitely understand your struggles. Though it was in a very different context, we've also had to deal with alters harming others, even if they didn't mean to, or simply because they didn't know what else to do. We'll mostly approach this situation from a general in-sys point of view, rather than specifically a romantic relationship, but let us know if you'd rather have advice on how to speak to your partner.

We've rambled a lot, so our answer can be found under the read more.

First, I'm not sure how useful this reminder is but : an alter cannot die. An alter also cannot get hurt in the inner world. (Psychogenic pains are a different thing, of course, and are very real, however, as long as the body is safe, remember that so are all alters.) Your partner is safe.

Second, we are strong believers that an alter's actions in a system should be approached in context of what is happening inside the system, but also outside of it. Perhaps there is some stressor or trigger that was/is not noticed that could have led to this whole thing? Or perhaps some kind of event is happening in your inner world? Unfortunately, this often means having to do a lot of introspection, and it's not always easy (because of dissociation, amnesic barriers, etc).

However, keep in mind that your system, the entirety of it, was created to help all of you survive through traumatic events. You are a team. What happens in the inner world as a whole is often directly representative of what is happening in your present or past. You may want to try to reach out to your gatekeeper(s) and/or inner self helper(s) for their input on the situation. Having a different point of view from the same system is often very helpful!

Also, having trouble apologizing is not really the issue right now. As it seems you're actually quite stressed out over the situation and your boyfriend might also be. If you manage to communicate with him, perhaps you could try asking him his version of what happened.

Try approaching the issue as a team. If you are unable to apologize with words, you can most certainly apologize through actions.

While feeling guilty about it is a very normal reaction, but make sure that it doesn't hinder you on reaching what your goal should be : making sure this doesn't happen again. This might be difficult, but as long as you stick together, you will recover.

[casualavocados]

talking about ep6 and how much it means to me is...hard actually. sometimes. because there are so many reasons. reasons that feel silly to me on occassion and reasons that have all been said before but i have to say again because it will never not get to me, how rare it is to see any of this. rare in a bl and rare in entertainment in general tbh.

i can’t believe this show is allowed to have lines like “when there are other people around, talking to you feels like a matter of life and death.” / “what can we do? we’re just born this way.” and have the context not be about homophobia. the way pat and pran get to go out to the market and get groceries together like it’s nothing, be told they look cute together in passing without consequences, experiencing those things they missed out on in high school - which alludes to the way queer ppl irl share many of those domestic moments later in life. the way pran comes downstairs when pat rings his doorbell and hangs back and watches their parents confront is explicitly a metaphor for wanting and being drawn to something you know you should not or cannot have, mixed with the feelings of being something “different” than what your parents want for you.

these moments just hit so hard. they are so small. and yet they mean so much. 

then ofc there’s the huge focus on communication this episode - the way pat hurts and struggles and tries over and over to reach out to pran, slowly learning to meet pran where he is, all along respecting pran’s boundaries enough to not cause a scene himself but also not backing down from his own needs. it’s simply something i dont see often enough in romantic relationships in television. so much that’s portrayed to the world focuses on miscommunication and dishonesty rather than how worth it vulnerability can be. 

something that also stands out to me that started in this ep in particular (that’s why im bringing it up), is the way any sexual implications that arise are never used for jokes that play off the fact that pat and pran are a mlm couple. they’re taken seriously instead. like i’m not sure how to say this right, but the sexual tension feels so real because attention isn’t called to it. it’s just something that happens. and a lot of this also has to do with the fact that neither pat nor pran ever devolve into heteronormative, misogynistic gender roles as well (which i could talk about forever especially in the context of bl but i wont here). there are no onlookers pushing their own agendas onto the main characters ever in this series, not romantically, and not sexually. 

(not even korn in ep9 feels that way to me, because he comes across as a goofball who wants the best for his friend(s), an observer rather than someone trying to push his way into business that isn’t his. also imo he’s speedrunning his bi realization in that ep as well so he gets a pass and a pat on the head). 

and because of all that, to my astonishment, i have never once felt any second hand embarrassment watching pat and pran. whether it's a serious scene like the newspaper game in ep6 or a silly scene like the one in pat’s room in ep7 - everything feels like it’s just for them. not catering to the audience. they’re allowed to be goofy, they’re allowed to be serious, they’re allowed to be visibly attracted to each other - without the show making a big deal out of it. and to me, that makes it a big deal. the fact that it is so normal. and ofc so much meta has been written about the casual physical intimacy in this show - the fact how on the other hand, not every touch between them has sexual undertones. that they can just exist in each other’s space and it be normal.

(and i feel like that’s where a lot of disagreement comes from, from a minority of audience members. i’ve seen takes where people thought pat and pran acted more like friends than lovers once their relationship actually became romantic - and i feel like not only does that point to the twisted societal pressure to differentiate between what classifies as “romantic” and “platonic”, but also the stigma that every act between same sex couples is inherently sexual, and therefore “dirty”. so simply put, the people who have those takes just don’t understand what this series has done.)

because for real, any other bl would have shown the physicality of pat and pran’s affection and interest in each other very differently. 

idk it just really gets to me. it’s spread throughout the rest of the show ofc but i specifically remember watching ep6 for the first time and being so shocked by how subtle the difference i saw in this series was - and also shocked by how much it meant to me to see it.

so yeah, this is just a silly romcom. but also no, it’s so much more than that. and episode 5 might be the ep that began that shift, but episode 6, for me at least, is the one that solidified it. and the rest of the show just continued to do the work to prove that.