#like if two men are in a ship and someone writes them both as women thats completely fine

[ssaseaprince]

God, I hate people genderbending gay ships. We so rarely get queer representation, and most of the time, the fandoms have to come up with the main queer ships because 95% of shows don't have any. So we invent our own representation and create our own material based on them, and then people come in and turn it straight. If you want to interact with straight media, go write about the billions of straight relationships represented in media, don't turn our few, personally created, gay ships into straight ones. It's just so gross fr

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

PRIDE MONTH PROMPTS 2024

They are here!!

Last year I released them in May, and I asked you when I should release it this year. You agreed I should release it early/mid april. And I think the perfect time is now! You have plenty of time to prepare your things for June!

So, here are 30 prompts, 1 prompt per day, for all of June! Use them for writing, or for art, or why not for something else creative you can come up with?

I will now write all the prompts in the list if it's hard to read, plus some explanations/suggestion what you can do for them.

Day 1. Actually, I'm not straight. Someone kicking off pride month by telling their nearest and dearest that they aren't straight, like everyone seems to think!

Day 2. Surprise! We're dating! A couple comes out to their friends ;)

Day 3. Early signs. Early signs someone was not straight, or not cis. Or both!

Day 4. Gender euphoria. Euphoooooriaaaaa forever to end of time /j Ok no but yeah, someone experiencing gender euphoria :) It's great :)

Day 5. Surprise! We're engaged! Surprise engagement! Did people even know they were dating?

Day 6. Proposal. You can choose to show the proposal for the couple at day 5... or a brand new couple! :D

Day 7. Pride flags. Are they making pride flags? Buying pride flags? Identifying pride flags? So much you can do! :)

Day 8. Prideful baking. A return from last year! Who's baking? Are they doing it with pride? Are they making rainbow cakes? This is also a way to make some ships be cute together as they bake.

Day 9. Wedding. To quote Sam from Glee: "YEAH! COME ON GUYS! GAY MARRIAGE GOOD!"

Day 10. Shenanigans at the Pride Parade. Time to let those characters run wild at the pride parade!

Day 11. Coming out as trans. Pretty self explanatory I think ;)

Day 12. Planning for a child. Two women, two men, maybe a trans couple... any not-cishet couple are planning for a child <3 Are they adopting? IVF? However they're doing it, they're gonna get that child :)

Day 13. Two moms. Two mommies thriving with their kiddos!

Day 14. Are they dating or not? People are speculating the relationship of some people.

Day 15. First crush. Aww, someone's first crush! Have they ever felt this before?

Day 16. Alternate universe. Go crazy with this! This could mean anything from "a universe in which this ship is canon" to "they live in a fantasy world". Do whatever!

Day 17. Realizing they're ace. Self explanatory ;)

Day 18. Two dads. Two daddies on request (Sorry I've watched too much of Papás por encargo (Daddies on request) to not make that joke). They'll do anything for the kids!

Day 19. I thought everyone liked both? What??? They don't?????

Day 20. Fruity sleepover. Anything and everything can happen at a sleepover!

Day 21. Pining. They pine so hard and yet... will their crush ever notice?

Day 22. Secret dating. Or are they as they secret as they think? How much chaos do they end up in to keep this?

Day 23. Dinner. Maybe just a normal dinner in a queer friendgroup. Or maybe someone coming out at dinner. Maybe the first dinner at their partner's house. Or maybe someone's making dinner for their loved one.

Day 24. Confession. Coming out confession? Confession to your crush? Just a confession about your favorite food in the middle of a pride parade? Yeah, you decide!

Day 25. Date. THEY'RE ON A DATE THE BABIES!!! Is it a good date? I hope so!

Day 26. Gender is a construct. Not everything is binary.

Day 27. Queer group meeting. You can toy around with this a lot. A group meeting with closeted gays? A group meeting with every character from your different fandoms that you headcanon as bi that you want to interact in the group meeting for disaster bi's? A group meeting for aces just vibing? Maybe we'll meet a lot of different groups!

Day 28. Accidental coming out. Oops!

Day 29. Alternate time period. You want to play out a little love story but instead they live in the 1950s? Or maybe they live in the future! Maybe they live in the medieval times! Woah!

Day 30. Growing old together. Look at them now. Who knew they'd find each other in the world and now they're here?

I hope I'm gonna see some of you in pride month! It's always a pleasure! Also, when the time comes in June, and you want to use one of these prompts, don't forget to tag me ;)

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Propaganda:

For Orufrey: "They're tragic wlw who have devoted their lives to each other since they were kids. They live together, they cook together, they're raising four girls together and they're doing the best they can. Olruggio would do anything for Qifrey if Qifrey would just Let Him 😭 but Qifrey is dead-set on protecting Olruggio and keeping him safe and in the dark no matter what it costs... i cant 😭..."

"Man I don't know they just have the vibes. They have toxic yuri energy but they are two grown men. They've known each other since their apprentice days and have stuck together ever since. Qifrey's main magic type was something he took up because Olruggio proposed that he learned to control the water he feared. They live together away from most of society with Qifrey's four apprentices, living the sapphic cottagecore (ateliercore???) dream. Qifrey, due to the fact that his eyesight is very much failing, something which is very problematic when it comes to witches, who need their eyesight more than most, is getting very desperate to get all he lost to the Brimhats, the witches who took one of his eyes and his memories, and Olruggio ends up noticing this pursuit and is implied to have done this more than once. Qifrey does not want Olruggio to know about both his failing eyesight and his goals, so he ends up completely wiping Olruggio's memory of those things, and laments that Olruggio is a kind person, and one who would most likely forgive him again, but also one who would try to save him, even when he didn't want to be saved. He also apologized right up until the moment Olruggio's memories of his secret were gone. In general I think chapter 40 is the somewhat toxic guy yuri chapter ever. I'm very tired so I do not know how to explain any of this, I just thought "wow Orufrey reminds me of this one poll I saw on Tumblr" and then spent three days straight hunting for your blog before completely forgetting my reasoning for Orufrey being yuri right before I submitted this."

For Joongdok: "Well first of all Yoo Joonghyuk has a whole arc that is transfem coded as hell (has a power/technique that can technically only be used by women but somehow he can also use it, for a time he even turns into a woman to wield it and it's. Actually just let me get the quote "The ines of the face had changed but it was clearly Yoo Joonghyuk. No, it was even more than before.") that just kinda happens,, and doesn't get brought up again but anyway. Second of all just look at them. You see the vision. Also a bonus observation is that these two often get shipped in a poly ship with Han Sooyoung and whenever I see people make a "regular couple, yaoi couple, yuri couple, I see no difference love is love" meme with them the combination of which pair among these three is which of the categories is always different"

Note: This submission also mentions Han Sooyoung, but I decided to count this polyship submission as guy yuri as well.

"They love each other, they pretend they don't care for each other but all their actions prove they care too much, if you remove someone from the trio then the resulting duo is extremely dysfunctional, as evidenced by more than a million words of canon. Is it technically guy yuri? Well, Han Sooyoung is a woman, but in a way she's one of the guys. Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk are men, but the text heavily hints that Yoo Joonghyuk is a trans woman who's just too busy and stressed out to transition yet, and Kim Dokja has just never thought about his own gender a single day in his life. They made the world for each other, they went back in time countless times and waged countless wars for each other, they wrote and read and lived a story, their story, for each other and that's what saved them all. The way Han Sooyoung writes Yoo Joonghyuk's story to save Kim Dokja and loses herself in the process, the way Yoo Joonghyuk voluntarily lives the story to the point of losing himself too and even forgetting why he originally decided to do it, the way Kim Dokja read Han Sooyoung's story which was Yoo Joonghyuk's life and that's how he found himself, they all took so much from each other and gave so much of themselves to each other, this is all very yuri."

"they're so yuri you have no idea. they have every staple of a yuri ship. unwavering devotion. waiting dozens or thousands of years for each other. dooming themselves and the world for each other. so much yearning. i also see them genderbent a lot (including inn canon in the case of yjh) and they're right both of these people are women. i genuinely can't even see them strictly as men at this point they're just yjh and kdj and they are yuri do you understand."

"they're so yuri. the abscense of yuri is the presence of yuri etc etc. these two guys are all ABOUT abscenses. also one of them is a part time woman. the other guy is a guy but like in the same way a square is a rectangle. anyway they're so guyyuri to me. bonus points also because they have a mutual girlfriend and when she's present they're girlyaoi but that's not relevant to this specifically"

[writing-for-life]

Ok, I’m not going to get involved in a certain thread because I don’t want any drama and the line of argumentation leans too much to one side already (the views of the vocal majority in this fandom) for it to make much sense to contribute, but I had a few thoughts today:

In a fandom where people write AUs full of cows and merpeople and other shenanigans that have nothing to do with canon (or the actual characters, to be frank), they can’t do that for Calliope (or any other female character, for that matter)?

She doesn’t get to play in the sandbox?

We don’t have the imagination to turn her into one of the two dolls that kiss?

We have to keep her in character while everyone else can be turned into… whatever person (certainly neither the one of the comics nor the show)?

We constantly have to remember her strife and trauma and can’t invent (!, that’s what writing is about!) a different or new side to her? Or a better future? One in which she gets to be happy?

Or we can’t turn her into someone she canonically isn’t?

While all of this always, always works for Dream? Or the hairy guy?

And speaking of said guy: Do we have any reason to think Dream would treat him better than Nada? We’re automatically assuming he’d do the same thing to Calliope, but not to him? Or: Why do we assume he would do what he did to Nada to any other love interest, because canonically, there’s no evidence for that (we wrote about this on here before)? So no, that line of argument just doesn’t fly in my view.

If Calliope and Dream have chemistry and people are able to acknowledge it (which most do), that on its own is enough to ship them. The chemistry argument works with every M/M ship. Why doesn’t it work with her?

Oh, she is allowed in gen fics (and I am a fan of those btw, but that’s past the point), or as a character with very little agency, or any personal or sexual desires. Even better if she serves the ship. That’s okay of course, I forgot. Reminds me of most of the women of the Sandman—I wonder why.

I just wish people would give the honest reason without going through all the mental gymnastics of why Dreamuse is not an interesting (or even bad or problematic) ship, and the other one is the best invention since sliced bread:

They want to see/imagine two guys together.

There, I said it, it wasn’t hard. It’s really as simple as that in fandom, it’s a predictable fantasy, and it’s the same in every fandom. The Sandman isn’t any different.

M/F ships are frowned upon because they’re “heteronormative”, and yet, (mostly) women proceed to project (mostly) heteronormative relationship dynamics on two guys of which they fancy at least one and use the other to project themselves on. Sometimes, they fancy both of them and get more of what they have the hots for. Good for them, there’s nothing wrong with it. We have oodles of research by now why some women prefer M/M porn; it’s not earth-shattering, groundbreaking or “queer-positive” (it sometimes fetishises homosexuality though, but that’s a different topic). It’s been like that since at least the times of Spirk, and probably longer. It’s actually a fairly (dare I utter the word on here?) straight female sexual fantasy. The queer-positivity everyone is so enamoured with is more than, and not singularly limited to, shipping M/M—as a bisexual woman, I personally can’t identify with that line of thinking at all, but other people’s mileage might vary…

If people are into smutty/explicit fanfic , that’s just how it works: Some women project on a female body while imagining to get railed by a guy, others prefer to imagine two guys because they fancy men. Again: Nothing wrong with it, but it’s also not as deep as people often pretend it is.

Yes, I wrote about that one before as well. That’s why I can do it again—“once your reputation is ruined” and all that 🤣

It’s ok to be horny for two guys without turning it into a brain-contorting statement every time.

It’s also okay to reflect on the wider implications of completely erasing women from EVERY fandom, especially if you identify as one.

Edited on May 27 since it’s obviously necessary:

If people’s main takeaway from this post is that it’s about criticising fetishising homosexuality, they clearly have a reading comprehension problem and should read it again. “Sometimes” doesn’t mean “always”, plus it wasn’t even a main point. I even said that fancying m/m is a fairly middle-of-the-road-fantasy, and that there’s nothing wrong with it. The internalised misogyny that shows in people who think they are “saving women from men” by completely erasing them from the narrative and only centering men is a different topic, but these two things aren’t the same.

If people’s main response to this post is, “Then write your own stuff,” they also have a reading comprehension problem and did not get at all what this is about. It’s also the slightly old getting standard response to anything that invites critical thinking, but that one isn’t all that surprising anymore. The assumption people aren’t writing their own stuff is also a bit… silly? But I imagine that misconception is down to the fact that those people never check any tags beyond one or two, and certainly never any that involve female characters.

Some people in the OP even made good points, and I didn’t criticise any of those because they are true.

This post is about the double standards people apply when they say why one ship (m/m) is more successful than the other (m/f):

Trauma? Never a problem when it’s Dream.

Relationship that somehow “shouldn’t work”? Never a problem in tropes like enemies to lovers and many others that are totally used for thee ship. Or with two people (read: men) they really want to see together.

Bending a character beyond recognition or giving them a totally different backstory, because that would solve the “relationship has run its course”-issue? Never a problem with the two guys who can be anything from a cow to a mafia boss. But the women? Nope, we have to remember their trauma and strife, keep them exactly as in the source material and protect their sacredness by completely ignoring them.

Still don’t get that this is not about a ship per se but the erasure of all women from stories bar being cheerleaders for thee m/m ship in some way? Okay, then that one’s really beyond anything I can explain, although I think some people just like to consciously misrepresent stuff or really don’t do anything but skim-read. That’s not on me I guess…

[demiaroacejolynekujo]

Brandon Rogers slutshaming a fictional minor (Octavia) for "cockblocking" a MLM ship is so disgusting. I've always known that Vivziepop (and maybe Brandon, too) was a Fujoshi as usually people and media that sexualizes and fetishizes Queer men and MLM relationships see women as some sort of threat to their ships, and as a result they will villianize and demonize those women.

Helluva Boss perfectly sets that up with Viv writing Stella to be some sort of evil bitch, when in actuality she's a woman whose justifiably angry at her husband for cheating on her. On top of that, we have Octavia, who just wants her father to pay attention to her, just for her to be reduced down as just another female character in the way of a MLM ship to happen.

I would like to point out that I've been in a similar situation as both Octavia and Stella. I've experienced infidelity twice in my life by my first two exes. My first ex tried to leave me for another girl who was already in another relationship (and it turned out he only dated me out of pity and had no feelings for me to begin with), and my second ex cheated on me with his previous ex and lied about the breakup between him and his ex. I'm also a child of divorce, and I have a father who would rather be with his girlfriend than seeing both my brother and I. So, as someone who experienced betrayal by both a parent and a partner, I find myself relating to Octavia and Stella and sympathizing with both of them.

People like Vivziepop and Brandon Rogers are usually extremely misogynistic and treat women poorly by reducing them down to being a bitch (Stella, Loona, Verosika, Vaggie, and maybe Lilith), be only known as the significant other of another character (Millie and Vaggie), or reduced down to just be another obstacle for a MLM ship to happen (Octavia and Stella). And it's really sad that Vivziepop, a woman, poorly handles her female characters, and there shouldn't be an excuse for it, too.

I honestly believe that Vivziepop really hates herself and must be dealing with some internalized misogyny. Women who have internalized misogyny view themselves as "not like other girls" and view other women with traits they don't like in a villiainzing lens. Which is why hyper femme characters like Verosika and Stella are characterized as being bitchy. While tomboy characters like Millie are the complete opposite of that and are shown to treat others kindly.

I wouldn't be surprised that when the second season of Hazbin Hotel comes out, Viv would probably plan on having Lucifer get with a male character, with Lilith (or Charlie) coming in serving like some sort of interference from that ship from happening. Because knowing her, if she wrote Octavia and Stella to be some sort of force to prevent Stolitz from happening, then she'll do the same thing with Charlie and Lilith if Lucifer gets with another male character.

[mariistyping]

The Glamorous Tale of the Soul King

(art and also story prompt by @elizabeths-storytime)

Summary: Luffy, worn out but excited from the days events, rallies the crew on the deck and asks Brook to tell them a story. As the crew’s resident showman he spins a tale of the difference between being human and being a skeleton.

Word count: 1146 words

Genre: fluff (?) with some angst thrown in because I can’t help it.

Tags/TW: obviously talks about brook's death. A little sadness tinged with skeletal puns.

((Note: I love brook 🥹 when I saw their post about this it broke me and I thought. What better way to start actually writing on here again. I hope you enjoy))

As the thrilling battle winds to a close, the straw hat crew follows Luffy as he laughs in the direction of the thousand sunny. The sun setting over the horizon set the perfect backdrop for another hard earned victory for the crew. As the last member graced the deck of the beloved ship, Sanji calls out loudly.

“Someone start a fire while I start dinner!” He said to no one in particular. The crew set off in various directions to perform tasks before the set off back into the waters of the new world to find their next resting place. Brook walked over to start the fire like Sanji asked, and Usopp followed behind him to help. The two worked in silence until the fire roared bright and they both sat back and sighed.

“Rough day out there huh?” Usopp said with a slight groan. Brook nods back at the man. “My bones are exhausted. All I want to do is close my eyes…” he paused for a moment before following up with “if I had any eyes!” Earning a boisterous laugh from himself while Usopp groaned again, a small smile playing on his lips.

The crew all meandered over to the fire as they finished up their tasks, the conversations growing into a collective small roar as the men and women gathered around the fire. Brook brought out his violin a soft grin on his mouth as a skeletal finger ran over the chipped wood. Many memories were made on this instrument. If it could talk the stories it would tell could hush bars filled with the rowdiest pirates. Brook sighed to himself in pleasant memories as he started up his favorite song.

“Yooooo yooo ho ho. Yooooo yooo ho ho~”

The skeleton man stood up and pranced around the group as he continued to play the song, gathering loud cheers and whoops as he played louder and more carefree. The sounds of the straw hat pirates bring forth still shot memories in his mind of his crew from long ago. As much as he loved the straw hats, he did mourn the way his fingers sounded when he still had human flesh. The strings sounded nasal, high pitched without the hard earned calluses of a flesh and blood musician. His playing faltered for just a second as his thoughts ran wild, but it was enough for Luffy to notice the off key note.

As Luffy sat in the spot next to where Brook was once sat, he eyed the skeleton quickly. He couldn’t help but crack a smile a the man’s enthusiasm as he bounced around, at times bouncing on one foot, playing his violin. To Luffy it was the greatest sound in the world because Brook was his musician.

As he finished up the song and the crew cheered, everyone dispersed into their own conversations filled with laughter and excitement. Brook took his seat back, a somber look on his face as he took a drink from the glass Sanji had placed before him.

“What’s up?” He heard a young, husky voice ask him. As he turned he was instantly greeted by the Luffy’s head extended to where he could look the man in the eye sockets without ever leaving his seat. Brook tried to feign innocence in the face of the young captain, attempting to wave him off.

“Oh nothing Luffy. Just memories of a bygone era lurking up on me.” The skeleton laughed mirthlessly, no smile to be seen on the bottom half of his skull. Luffy cocked his brow and patted a hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Come on Brook. Tell me why you’re so sad!” The captain clapped his hand a few times before sitting up in his seat hushing the rest of the crew. Luffy knew that Brook had a deeper story to tell and he wanted to hear it clearly.

Brook, suddenly aware of all the eyes on him, felt what would be heat run up to his face. That was the worst part about being dead, he thought. He could still imagine the sensations of emotions in his bones, but he couldn’t actually felt them. He shook off the thought and looked around grateful no one could tell he was blushing.

“Ok. Ok..”

~over 50 years ago~

As Brook walked out onto the deck of the ship he shared with the rest of the crew of the Rumbar Pirates, the salty sea air encircled him in a warm summer breeze. He breathed in the smell of the ocean and sighed as he felt the sun shine down on his tanned skin. He held his violin in one hand, and as he woke up a little bit more, he started playing a joyful melody comprised of his favorite song. As his calloused fingers masterfully picked over the chipped strings he felt truly at peace, the music washing a soothing glow over the entire area.

His musical ramblings spurred his crew mates from their various places on the boat and they joined him, a rally of singing, dancing, and drinking, the exertion causing red cheeks and boisterous laughter. The crew in that moment really was a picturesque view of brotherhood and friendship.

Then the accident happened.

Brook remembers waking up cold and alone, his fingers only bones. He would’ve cried had his body been able to produce tears. He missed how his skin felt in the sun, how his sweat rolled down his cheek, and how his fingers picked gently and carefully over the strings of his now ancient instrument.

Every night Brook played his favorite song to put himself to sleep, but instead of the feelings of joy and camaraderie he now only heard melancholy and remorse as he plucked his boned fingers against the weathered strings of the violin. His fingers slipped too often to form a coherent song and the notes were too different for him to like anyways. At least his voice still worked.

~present~

As Brook spun his melancholy tale, the crew had varied reactions ranging from understanding to crying. Brook paused and looked at the faces of his new crew, and for a brief second he thought he could see the faces from long ago. He blinked and they were gone again, but as his current friends faces returned to view he could help but feel a strong sense of love.

While his old crew’s time had passed, he still had his, and the new bonds he had made would stand by his side like the bonds of the Rumbar Pirates once did.

“I thought once that these boney fingers of mine would never make another soul happy again.” He said stretching out his fingers in front of him. “I have to say you guys made me hear my notes differently again.”

He smiled a boney smile. “You put the soul back in the king.”

[chaifootsteps]

hey chai, long post incoming--i'm slowly chipping away at a draft of a vivzie drama masterpost i'll be phrasing as "why are people mad at vivziepop" for new-comers. i'll be including screenshots where i can and small summaries for things. that said, this is my rough list, have i missed anything that you can think of, or any specifics you think outta be mentioned?

VivziePop General Issues - Some from the Past that still happen in the Present

Inability to Handle Criticism / Confrontation

Transphobia

Misogynistic Tendencies

Issues with Improper Crediting / "Stealing" Ideas

Liking Tweets of Fans and Otherwise Who Agree with Her / Praise Her / Defend Her

Most of both her series’ “charm” is thanks to people other than her

Despite having two "LGBT+ friendly" series she primarily focuses on gay men and hasn't been the most LGBT+ friendly in other areas (acephobia, transphobia, lack of rep for queer women/wlw, thinks polyamory is just an excuse to cheat)

Conflicts between Vivzie putting forth an image of a struggling small-time creator who pulled herself up by the bootstraps and made it VS. circumstantial evidence that she is very well off financially and always has been; had her schooling paid for, spent a summer in Paris, takes expensive trips, makes expensive purchases, and lives in a million dollar house with multiple bedrooms and a pool

Testimonies of Ex-Employees and Friends

Erin Frost

KenDraws

Salem

VivziePop “Canon Events” of the Past and Present (20??-Present)

The Snake Tub & Creepy Fanart

Blaire White Fanart

Nazi Sausage Party Fan-Characters from blog “i-hate-jewce”

Starvader Drama

DollCreep / JayJay/Jiji Drama

Viv guilt-tripped a Patron for trying to get at least a partial refund for a financial emergency--many feel that while Viv was in the right for not wanting to refund the Patron, she handled it extremely poorly

Viv's 2018 "Apology"

Support of Angel Dust x Valentino as a “r*pe ships”

Her sister apologized on her behalf to someone she cyber bullied and her sister cited Viv as “having a problem” cyberbullying people. [Kedi's consequent reaching out to the sister having heard she was being a mediator for said person resulted in Viv saying Kedi was stalking her family.]

Viv kicking the original Hazbin Hotel pilot cast after saying she’d fight to keep them onboard [Michael has stated it was not a union issue and explained how he was even willing to shoulder the cost of having him on the show but was still let go.]

Viv saying redesigns are "disrespectful"

VivziePop Opinions of Other Artists

“I could destroy her” and everything else shitty she said about Kyra -- Kyra’s "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" comic & tweets People Suspect Are About Vivzie

Calling Tracy Annoying

Ashley (Creator of Far-Fetched)

- Viv wasn’t happy with Hunicast’s popularity (mainly run by Ashley) and was mad people were mistaking Ashley for the creator of Hazbin Hotel despite Ashley always making sure to correct people. - Viv learned something personal about Ashley that she used to make fun of her behind her back. - Allegedly one of the reasons Viv kicked most the original VA cast of Hazbin Hotel were due to them associating with Ashley. - Allegedly didn’t like that Ashley was leaving to work on her own indie pilot (Far-Fetched)

Bullying KediKatzen for having a similar art style, accusing Kedi of stalking her and her family, cyberbullying Kedi

SpindleHorse Related (VivziePop’s Animation Studio)

Rushed, Disorganized, Unprofessional Productions

Favoritism by Viv

“Cliquey” Behavior from Executives

Tight Deadlines

Underpaying

Working on other projects / working multiple jobs was generally frowned upon and discouraged.

In at least two instances Viv actually went out of her way to try and keep people from being hired elsewhere. - In one she told Ashley that Erin was "mentally unstable" - In another she told Nico Colaleo (Ollie & Scoops) not to hire “her artists” aka people working on her project(s).

VivziePop Criticisms Specific to Her Writing

Being Known to Skip Development to “Get to the Good Stuff”

Revealing / Confirming Story and World Lore via Liking Tweets, Making Tweets, or Behind a Patreon Paywall, instead of writing them into the series itself

Adding New Ideas Just Because She Likes Them, with Little Regard for how they Affect the Story

Rushing Characters’ Development and/or Retconning Characters to fit New Plots / Ideas

Apparent Lack of Research, Or At Least Poor Execution, of Her Ideas, Resulting in “Wasted Potential”

Concern over Mis-Management of “Morally Gray” and “Abusive” Character / Relationship Dynamics

Concern over apparent increasing themes of Inc*st in Helluva Boss

VivziePop Criticisms Specific to Her Art / Character Design

Over-Detailed Character Designs

Confusing Character Designs

Character Designs with Too Many Colors

Art style / designs that are “not animation friendly” --As well as her personal quality of art deteriorating over time

Animation is jittery, moving too much, or moving too fast

What Happened with Lackadaisy

VivziePop allegedly wanted to be on the Lackadaisy production in the past, but didn’t get hired

VivziePop has called Lackadaisy Creator Tracy “annoying” for “being active” in an animation channel on Discord

VivziePop tweeted a screenshot of a $5,000 Pledge to Lackadaisy’s backer-kit [which would’ve given Spindlehorse an Associate Producer’s credit on the future Lackadaisy productions]

Lackadaisy Crew Member ZeBirdBrain passive-aggresively replied that “since Medrano couldn’t be bothered to share the donation link, here it is!” And that money amount didn’t matter, every little bit counts.

It was revealed by SH Animator Mel in reply to ZeBirdBrain that the donation came from multiple team-members at SH (VivziePop did not mention this in her donation tweet.)

ZeBirdBrain deleted her original tweet.

ZeBirdBrain was harassed by VivziePop fans to be fired

Fans found tweets in ZeBirdBrain’s likes that appeared to be transphobic

One of ZeBirdBrain’s friends, a trans man, spoke up in defense of Ze, that Ze had known them since before their transition in 2013 and had been nothing but supportive.

Lackadaisy Co-Creator Fable, a trans masc, chimed in that they were made aware of the tweets, they looked into the matter, and were satisfied with the explanations they were given and hoped that would be enough for everyone.

[Fighting continued between fans and Lackadaisy crew members but the general consensus from the Lackadaisy crew seemed to be that they knew Ze to be a supportive ally, the liked tweets were a debated subject even in trans circles w/trans folk on both sides of the argument, Ze uses/used her likes as bookmarks rather than using the bookmark feature, and the reason Ze wasn’t saying all this herself was out of fear the rabid fandom wouldn’t take her word for it and would instead slander her further.]

Later, Lackadaisy’s Backer-Kit campaign ended, at which point Backer-Kit begins processing all the payments.

VivziePop posts a screenshot that “Spindlehorse’s” donation was denied.

Tracy replied to Viv’s tweet professionally, saying they had explained to SH the reason for the denial in private.

Viv’s fanbase became increasingly volatile towards this, claiming Tracy was “unprofessional” and “just should’ve accepted the money” and everyone should “boycott Lackadaisy”

Tracy, on one of her servers, not only elaborated more on the Ze incident (repeating much of what had already been said), but also revealed they had actually reached out to Spindlehorse in private, well before the campaign ended, and requested that they withdraw their donation. Spindlehorse refused.

i think that's about it--and obv where screenshots are available they will be linked in the full post i eventually make.

This looks amazing to me, and also you're doing god's work; something like this was insanely needed.

[ginabaker1666]

You Belong To Me

From the Love Letter Series

Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal x Josephine Harris (OFC)

The revelation that Robert Rosenthal does in fact love his best friend, Josephine Harris, comes too little too late as he’s getting ready to ship out to England. With a promise to write exchanged on the train platform, and an even bigger pinky promise that he come home to her, Rosie and Jo forge a romance detailed in their letters. Now that he’s returned home, he intends to make good on his promises.

“I’d better see you at Minton’s…”

He remembered the good natured teasing in his own voice as he began his semi-goodbye to Crosby on the hardstand the day they left Thorpe Abbotts. Croz had chuckled and promised he’d see him there; a sense of familiarity between the two as they felt their lives back home creeping upon them.

Now… well, now he was standing in front of the bar at Minton’s, fingers tapping idly on the short rocks glass in his hand, eyes sweeping over the sea of people. Men in their dress uniforms, pressed sharp; women wearing their favorite red lipstick and best stockings, all crowded together on the dance floor while the band played on.

New York was still swept up in the victory of the war; sweethearts who couldn’t get enough of dancing with their soldier who had just come home. Men looking to meet someone, to quell the ache of the last few years with a female companion.

Bringing the glass to his lips, Rosie let the familiar taste of the scotch soothe him, as he continued his people watching. Thinking back on it, sure, he had told Crosby that in no uncertain terms he’d be at Minton’s upon getting home; but it was a sentence almost identical to the one he had spoken moments before he shipped out, that resonated with him like the aftershocks of ringing a bell.

He couldn’t help but conjure up his own vision of red lips, smooth skin and a bright smile; the piece of home he had taken with him to East Anglia, and carried close to his heart (in the breast pocket of his uniform) on every single mission.

Josephine.

They had been childhood friends who grew up on the same block. Their moms were almost always having coffee together or, if the weather was nice, out on the stoop of their homes while Robert and Josephine played on the sidewalk. As kids, he had called her Jo, and she affectionately called him Robbie; and his Ma, well, his Ma would just shake her head with a fond smile and chuckle, muttering about how one day he would see it.

He’s twenty-eight now and he finally sees it, though, he supposes he saw it long before he shipped out. He had wanted to run down the block, knock on her door until her mother answered with a scowl on her face at all the noise, but something had stopped him. His Ma had said he thinks too much, but the laundry list of what-if’s had violently plagued him before deciding no, on his behalf. How could he drop that revelation on her, and then leave for god knows how long? His Ma had taught him better than that.

What he had asked her instead, was if he could write to her; but when the words tumbled forth past his lips, one or two getting tangled in his wiry mustache, she was already asking him the same thing.

“Would it be alright if I wrote to you?”

The pair both fell silent, before a soft laugh escaped Jo’s lips, and he knew he would be counting the days until he was able to hear it again.

“Should have known you’d beat me to the punch.” He grinned, head shaking in jest.

Jo just smiled and threw her arms around him, holding him close for as many minutes as she could before the conductor at Grand Central Station called for the ‘All Aboard.”

“Robbie…” She had looked up at him, big brown eyes filled with unshed tears for him; for this war, and if he had to guess, herself.

“I’ll meet you at Minton’s as soon as I’m back.” He had assured her, thumb swiping under her cheek to catch the first tear.

“You promise?”

He hated to make promises when the future was so uncertain for them, but, this was Josephine and he would be damned if he didn’t attempt to make her smile one more time before he got on that train.

“I’ll do you one better,” He grinned, holding out his right hand. “I pinky promise you, I’ll be at Minton’s, waiting for you.”

It was as close as he could get to saying ‘I Love You’.

Jo grinned, hooking the pinky of her own hand with his, just as the conductor yelled the last call for passengers.

“I’ll be waiting for your letters…” he had whispered, pulling her close once more. “With bated breath, Jo.”

“Not nearly as much as I’ll be waiting for yours,” She sniffled softly before leaning up and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Come home to me in one piece, Robbie, please.”

That had been then. Before Thorpe Abbotts, Rosie's Riveters, twenty-five successful missions and reupping for a second tour. Before he had bailed out over Russia, before the horrors of Nuremberg and a hell of a journey back to base. He often thought back to that night after he had returned to East Anglia, sitting in the Officers Club with Croz, wondering if they were becoming the monsters they had been sent to fight.

No, they hadn’t become the monsters, but he had felt that the longer he was away from home the more he lost bits and pieces of himself from the ‘before’ and had to learn to live with the Robert Rosenthal of ‘after’. Would she like the ‘after’. The thought entered his mind so quickly, he almost missed it. Hell, he was still processing it all, and as he turned back to face the bar for a refill, his gaze caught on the entrance of the club.

There she was, his Jo, purse clutched in her hands as she looked around the crowded room for a familiar face. Dark brown eyes scanning over the bodies packed in like sardines, brown curls immaculately pinned up, bright red lips pursed in concentration. Abandoning his empty glass, he smoothed a hand over his curls, straightened his jacket, and pushed off the bar. Weaving his way through the throngs of people, he kept his gaze locked on her, as his feet carried him across the floor.

Rosie felt everything around him fade into a dull buzz as soon as her eyes found his. He pushed his way to the edge of the crowd, finally coming to a stop in front of her. Now, face to face, Rosie and Jo could do nothing more than stare at each other. Neither wanted to be the first to speak, to break the bubble around them, but both felt compelled to do something.

“I promised, didn’t I?” Rosie broke the silence with a smile.

He just barely made out his name falling from her lips before she was in his arms. He caught her with ease and held on tight. It was proof that she was real, that he was home, and there was nothing to fear as they stood at the entrance to Minton’s. Nobody spared them a glance as they sidestepped the couple, a sort of mutual understanding as so many others reunited under the same roof.

“Let me look at you,” Jo had pulled away first, but only letting go of him enough to let her hands slide down his arms to take his. “Home in one piece I see.

“As requested,” Rosie grinned, giving her delicate hands a squeeze. “And as promised.”

“You know better than anyone, that to break a pinky promise is as good as treason, Robert Rosenthal.”

“And you should know that I don’t make pinky promises with just anyone, Josephine Harris.”

“Well, now that we’ve settled that…” she trailed off, a teasing grin on her lips as Rosie began to guide her towards where he had spotted an empty table near the back. Close enough to get to the dance floor when they were ready, but far enough back that they could talk and still hear each other over the din of music and other patrons.

“Are dirty martinis still your poison, or did that change while I was gone?”

“Nothing’s changed,” she looked up at him as if to reassure him that it wasn’t just her cocktail order that remained the same, but the sentiments they exchanged in their numerous letters while he had been over in England. “Everything is exactly as you left it.”

In lieu of a response, he pulled out the chair for her, holding it steady as she slid gracefully into the offered seat, before moving to the chair across from hers.

Instead of sitting, Rosie moved the empty chair next to the one Jo was currently occupying, so that he could sit closer to her, as opposed to having the table between them. Once he was happy with the placement, he lowered himself into the vacant space, body turned at an angle so he could face his companion. He just barely caught a waiter moving in their direction, and flagged the gentleman down, promptly ordering Jo her aforementioned martini, and another scotch for himself. Once the waiter was gone, Rosie’s warm, much larger hand, covered Jo’s, his palms still rough from countless hours behind the yolk, causing him to internally wince as he felt her soft skin against his. The thought was quickly snuffed out as her hand turned upward to his, their palms meeting before her fingers intertwined with his on the table top.

“I missed you,” Jo spoke first this time, breaking the silence. “So much, Robbie.”

“I missed you too. Like you wouldn’t believe,” He admitted. “Your letters, they were the only thing I looked forward to. Just don’t tell my Ma that.”

“Your secret’s safe with me, Major.” She teased.

Rosie made a show of wiping the back of his hand across his forehead, mustache twitching upward as he smiled at Jo, stopping only when the waiter returned with their drinks. He watched as she lifted the martini glass to her lips; delicate fingers holding the top of the glass, nails painted a bright red, her eyes watching him over the rim as she took her first sip. He felt parched, regardless of the drink in front of him, as he watched her move with such precision and grace. Something he had missed sorely over the last few years, and fully intended on appreciating now that he could.

“Did they make it right?” He asked.

“Perfect,” She nodded, placing the glass back on the table. “Just as good as I remember.”

“It can’t have been that long since the last time you were here.” Rosie spoke, lifting his own glass to his lips.

“I haven’t been since… well, since the night before you left.”

“Minton’s is your favorite place! You mean to tell me you haven’t been here since–”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Jo finished for him.

Her confession hung in the air, Rosie both shocked but warmed at the thought that she hadn’t been here without him and that the last time she was here had been with him. That she reserved this place as something that belonged to just them. He felt there was no better time than to drop his own truth bomb; he only hoped it didn’t send her running back out the door.

“Since we’re confessing things,” He started carefully. “I uh.. I want you to know that I carried your picture with me while I was gone.”

“…you did?”

“Every day,” he nodded. “I took you on every mission with me.”

He wasn’t sure what to expect after confessing all of that to her, but the glistening of her own eyes as she looked back at him wasn’t it.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what… I didn’t mean to make you cry, Jo.”

“Shush,” She spoke quickly, one finger over his lips. “You wonderful, handsome man.”

His eyebrow quirked in response. It was all he could do given that her finger was still over his lips, and she had asked him to stop talking. But he wanted to do more than just keep talking. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her silly, and then take her on the dance floor and spin her around until they were both giddy and dizzy and drunk on each other. And then he wanted to kiss her some more. All too gently, he took her hand in his, moved it away from his lips, and carefully tugged her towards him until she was close enough for him to wrap her up in his arms.

“I should have kissed you that day at the train station,” Rosie started. “I was convinced you wouldn’t want me the same way I wanted you, and there were so many what-if’s, and then I was leaving. Truth be told, I should have kissed you long before the train station.”

“I’ve always been yours, Robbie,” She smiled. “We just took the scenic route.”

And then there was silence, save for the gasp that Jo let loose as Rosie’s lips finally descended on hers. Firm, yet gentle, and with the slight tickle of his mustache, he poured every ounce of himself into making sure she knew just how much he loved her without words. Because the words had been written in many letters over the course of years; phrased with care and longing for each other, a desire that grew much like stoking the flames of a campfire until it reached the point of blazing uncontrollably and there was no turning back. For Rosie and Jo, the fire burned and neither cared to put it out, or attempt to quell the flames.

When they finally pulled apart, the need for oxygen too great to withstand, neither could stop their smiles from growing. There it was. Their love for the ages, that they had planted, grown and nurtured during the days of war, was finally seen blooming under the dim lighting of Minton’s Jazz Club.

“I love you, Jo.”

“I love you too,” She grinned. “More than I could have ever said in any letter.”

“Yet somehow, I always knew. I wonder how that happened.” He teased her, leaning forward to press his lips to hers again.

The smart remark she had been ready to dish his way died on her lips as the band began playing a song that had Rosie tapping out a beat, eyes widening with mirth as he grabbed Jo’s hand and stood, pulling her up with him.

“Come on, pretty girl, let's dance!”

He led them through the crowd of people until they reached the dance floor, and then he found them a spot where he could hold her close and spin her in his arms until his heart's content. The band played on, an Artie Shaw tune that had Rosie laughing to himself as he thought back to the sound of his crew imitating him as they sat around the poker table at the Flak House, way back when. It was a story he had only briefly shared in a letter that he had written from Coombe House during a night he couldn’t find sleep. But now, the sounds of Artie Shaw brought him a smile, as the woman in his arms smiled back at him.

The band moved into a slower song, and Rosie pulled Jo closer, pressing their bodies together as they moved together, cheek to cheek.

“You really took my picture with you on every flight?” She spoke quietly, her voice for his ears only.

“I did,” Rosie nodded. “I kept it in my jacket, close to me. Except for that one time.”

“You know… when your mother got that telegram from the War Department that you had gone down, she ran down the block to our house so I could read it.”

“Oh honey…”

“I refused to believe you had left me without a proper chance at us. Selfish as it may seem, I couldn’t picture my life without you.”

“You won’t have to; not now, or ever. I promise, I’m not going anywhere ever again where you can’t go too.”

“Pinky promise?”

“More than that,” He grinned, before pressing his lips to her own. When they pulled apart they couldn’t help the smiles that took hold. “We can seal this one with a kiss.”

Read Part 2 Here

A/N: Thanks for reading! This series will continue for Rosie & Jo, so if you enjoyed this, please like, comment, reblog- whichever is your poison. Feedback is always welcome & my ask box is always open. If you want to be added to my tag list, or removed, let me know!

Tag List:

@winniemaywebber @rosiesriveter @bobparkhurst @victoryrollsandredlips @bcolfanfic @rowdy-redhead @sagesolsticewrites @major-mads @footprintsinthesxnd

[that-ari-blogger]

Idealism

One reading of Wicked that I have noticed to be particularly popular is as a love story between Glinda and Elphie, and I actually subscribe to this idea. What Is This Feeling is often interpreted as a love song, repressed emotions and all that, but here is where I disagree.

Wicked is a satire, and so What Is This Feeling is a satire of the love-at-first-sight trope. The relationship takes time, and doesn't actually work out in the end, that's part of the tragedy of the story.

I would argue that this song sets up why the romance falls apart, but also why it is so compelling to discuss.

Let me explain.

Spoilers Ahead

According to the Cabridge Dictionary, "Idealism" can be defined as the following:

"The belief that your ideals can be achieved, often when this does not seem likely to others"

There are other definitions pertaining to philosophy and principals, but this is the definition I will be working under, and here is the interesting question: Of the two named characters present in What Is This Feeling, who is the idealist? I will come back to this.

A massive attraction of the Glinda x Elphaba ship is the idea that opposites attract, and that certainly seems to be on display here. The opening of the song establishes once again who these characters are, and while their relationships with family is interesting, my favourite example of their dynamic is this:

Thats some good character writing right there. Galinda is almost aggressively indirect, dancing around the subject to avoid actually saying anything, while Elphaba is direct, and realistic. It's a neat little comedy beat, and this song is comedic in nature, but it's also fascinating.

"There's been some confusion for you see my roommate is..."

"Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and all together quite impossible to describe."

"Blonde"

This is our first look at the old Galinda, and she's... a schemer. She doesn't do anything herself, instead preferring that others take action or even say things for her. She will take an artsy path to ensure someone else walks down the road the way she wants them to.

Galinda is charismatic and has weaponised that fact.

Elphaba, on the other hand, is awkward and blunt, but intelligent, and there is something to that. There is a stereotype of historical witchcraft as "women who were clever" and while there is some truth to it, history rejects simplicity.

I recommend Crash Course's video on the subject but put simply: The Witch-hunts in history were based almost entirely on fear and anger, with the remainder made up of prejudice and superstition. Encyclopedia Brittanica puts the number of people killed between forty-thousand and sixty thousand, both men and women (I couldn't find any explicit mention of non-binary folk executed for witchcraft, so I guess we got out of this one. Good work team).

What is important to understand is that witches were societal outcasts, anyone who there was prejudice against could be tried as a witch. Women who was mildly intelligent or, heaven forbid, had opinions, were often targets of this prejudice in such a heavily patriarchal society.

So, where does Elphaba slot into this? Well, she's an outcast from society because of her skin colour, and she's clever. She is very intentionally invoking the history and popular culture depiction of the witch (something her original incarnation in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz definitely contributed to) to invoke sympathy in the audience, or at least, to invoke antipathy for those who call her a witch.

The rest of this song doubles down on the differences between the two, and the fact that this causes them to fall apart instead of together is important here.

This the setup for a love song, right? These are symptoms of powerful emotions and at this point in a romantic story, you would expect the meet cute. But the song pulls the rug out from underneath you.

"My pulse is rushing"

"My head is reeling"

"My face is flushing"

"What is this feeling?"

Love at first sight is rare in real life, but it is common in fiction. The prince and princess meet and fall instantly head over heels, etc. But once again, Wicked is a satire, and it goes in a different direction. Part of this musical is the relationship between these two being built up from scratch, and this song establishes that baseline.

"Loathing

Unadulterated loathing"

But why do these two fall apart in the end? I mentioned that this song foreshadows that, and what did I mean by that?

I asked earlier on in this post which one of the two witches is the idealist, and I think the answer is Elphaba. She believes in honesty and kindness and is hopeful to a fault (remember The Wizard And I?), which is in contrast to Galinda's remarkably utilitarian mindset. Galinda says what she needs to say and wants nothing more than the spotlight.

Don't get me wrong, wanting attention isn't a sin, that's not what I mean here. I'm trying to say that Galinda doesn't have far reaching dreams for herself, she wants personal happiness, nothing more. Or so she thinks.

My thesis for this series about the songs in Wicked is that the musical is about the collision of dreams and reality, and its interesting how that works with the characters.

Galinda is incredibly shallow, but she ends up getting inspired by her friend. Elphaba's hope and ideals brush off on Galinda over time, not enough to be noticeable to her, but enough that when Galinda gets everything she wants, she is unsatisfied.

That's why the relationship doesn't work out in the end. Elphaba has ambitions to make the world a better place, and Galinda doesn't realise that she does too until it is far too late.

Final Thoughts

Please don't misinterpret this post. This isn't that Glinda x Elphaba is a bad ship or even that it isn't a valid reading of the story. It is, and I will explain in future posts as to why that is the case. All I am trying to say is that this song is explicitly antiromantic, and that factors into the queer reading of the musical.

I will, however, say this: "Gelphie" is such an awful name for a ship. Like, come on folks, you could have gone with anything, but "Gelphie"?

In all seriousness, this is the third post in a series about Wicked, next week I will be talking about Dancing Through Life, a song that is remarkably complex for a character trying his hardest to be simple. So, stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[tr3ns-d3ath-d3ity]

"LGBTQA+ is one of the most accepting communities, you're not being targeted by other queer people!! 😤​😡​"

Aight, time for the list of things related to my queer identity I've been yelled at for by other LGBTQA+ people (for context: I am an oriented aroace, trans, queer, and polyamorous dude):

・Being a trans man.

・Identifying as queer/calling myself queer.

・Saying that gay And mlm are two different things, just like wlw and lesbian are two different things

・Saying that trans women are women.

・Being attracted to men.

・Not being attracted to women and people on the genderqueer/nonbinary spectrum.

・Being oriented aroace.

・Not being monogamous.

・Talking about genuinely loving men.

・Being aspec and having npd (quote the girl who yelled at me for that: "your npd made you aroace, you're just to selfish to commit to genuine love lol.").

・Not being lesbian.

・Not being pan.

・Saying that I support mspec gays/lesbians because it’s not my place to judge other people’s identities just because I may not fully understand them.

・Saying mspec, the multi spectrum, or multiromantic/multisexual (to include ply, pan, omni, bi, neptunic, uranic, and every other pluralian sexuality) instead of just bi.

・Saying that nonbinary people can present themselves as masculine, androgynous, neutral, or feminine as they want, and still be nonbinary.

・Literally just. wearing green eyeshadow????? (quote the person who yelled at me for that: “t hat's a lesbian color, bro, you're literally appropriating lesbian culture by that.")

・Presenting masculine.

・Using he/him pronouns.

・Referring to the D-Slur as tThe D-Slur (y'all want me to say a slur I can't reclaim?????).

・Saying that the og polyamory flag (the blue-red-black one with the yellow pi symbol in the middle) looks neat.

・Not using any of the new polyamory flags because I prefer the blue-red-black + pi symbol one.

・Asking if there’s a word for nonbinary people who are exclusively/only attracted to other nonbinary people.

・Hating non-men who fetishize achillean relationships.

・Being specifically Half-Asian and queer.

・Writing books about exclusively queer men/non-women, mostly to cope with trauma stuff (apparently if your writing doesn't consist of a trillion sapphics, two gay fathers that get three seconds of screentime, and the occasionally non-human nonbinary person, it's automatically bad writing???? Okay damn. Sorry for focusing on my own experiences, I guess?).

・Not necessarily wanting to get married or have a romantic/sexual relationship.

・Shipping two characters in a queerplatonic way instead of a sexual/romantic one.

・Headcanoning a popular fandom character as aroace.

・Mentioning aroallo people.

・Saying that straight asexuals and straights aromantics are LGBTQA+ since that's what the A stands for.

・Not being T4T (I just wanna love men in peace fuck off with your "but cis men are horrible!! 🥺🤢😱 Limit yourself to trans men because I said so!! 😤🤬🤬"-Bullshit).

・Using someone’s neopronouns.

・Supporting xenogender people.

・Headcanoning a canonically lesbian character as trans female.

・Saying that I want more representation of achillean, aroace, trans, and asexual men in media.

・Asking asking someone who knew I used he/him pronouns to not refer to me with they/them (like, girlie, that’s called misgendering).

・Mentioning that women can be aroallo.

・Saying that people who don’t label their genders/sexualities can be LGBTQA+ too.

・Saying that two pan women I know in reallife dating each other aren’t lesbians because... they’re both pan?

・Mentioning that queer men should always be welcome in queer spaces.

・Saying that amab nonbinary folks can be lesbian.

・Wanting to go on T.

・Jokingly referring to my tiddies and my pussy as boys.

And last but not least,

・Saying "people", "y'all", "esteemed guests", or "everyone present" instead of "ladies and gentlemen".

I dunno, homie, I actually do feel a little targeted here.

[sea-owl]

@amybonehouse you might appreciate this

Set in the what if gothic featheringtons au / portia addams au

First post found here

Portia comes over to see Violet in a yellow dress and Edmund in a yellow cravat and vest.

Portia: Oh no! My dear friends who are you in mourning for? I can summon their spirit!

Edmund and Violet: Our monogamy

I still maintain the fact that any au I write regarding the Edmund x Violet x Portia ship the first to fall is Violet. Violet has always come off to me as someone who falls in love fast. Sometimes, she doesn't even know it. That doesn't mean her love isn't true or fickel, she had a more loving upbringing than most, so she doesn't really have that many hang-ups about it.

So Violet falls first, and it shocks her to her core when she has the realization. Not that she fell for another woman, no she's had thoughts about men and women all the time, before Anthony came along her and Edmund used to admire pretty girls together. No what shocks her is that it's her friend, and they're both married. Violet is still happily in love with her husband and Portia . . .well she's not in love per say. But she finds joy in finding new ways to scare her husband. Violet also puzzles because while she is having new feelings for Portia, the ones for Edmund haven't dimmed in the slightest.

Violet consults with Lady Danbury, while not fully telling her, she kind of hints at it.

Lady Danbury rolled her eyes. "That is not unusual girl. Look at all the remarried widows and widowers who still love their first spouse yet also loves the second. Just because it's happening at the same time for you does not mean it's impossible."

Violet blushed, she didn't say it was her having the feelings. Oh well, guess she can't get anything past Lady Danbury.

Violet concluded the next step was to talk to Edmund. But before she could she caught herself and her husband staring a second too long at Portia's chest in her tight black dress. Edmund was shocked at himself when he realized, Violet was relieved her husband also was looking. They can stare respectfully together.

They never did anything while Lord Featherington was still alive because they would never dare to put Portia in a scandalous situation like that. For one she is there friend, and two despite how eccentric the Spanish woman is they're not quiet sure she go for something like that.

Then came the death of Lord Featherington, and Portia said fuck this place I'm going home. Portia packed up herself and her daughters and made sure the Featherington estate could self run with minor need for her oversight before returning to Spain. But she did leave her two friends a set of arras, 13 coins each, made out of silver.

"Keep this as a promise," she told them.

After that the feelings cooled and they honest to god thought they were back to feelings of friendship. It's not like they're completely cut off from their friend she still sends letters.

They were wrong.

Featherington House sat empty for years but then one day servants were spotted opening it up. Whispers began to travel about the creepy family who used to live there who haunted the ton.

Edmund and Violet were having tea and watching some of the servants move about across the street. All of them carried black curtains and dark wooded furniture.

"It's strange, the ton whispers as if a ghost has moved in," Violet commented. Edmund hummed in agreement as he sipped his tea.

"Well wouldn't that be fun if a ghost did move in!"

Edmund choked on his tea, Violet's heart sped up.

Portia smiled at them from the doorway. "Sadly we are not so lucky."

A woman popped up behind from Portia. She was dressed in a dark purple jewel toned dress. "Just us with 12 children."

Edmund and Violet glanced at one another. Uh who was this?

[deathmetalunicorn1]

HELLLO like i said ill be requesting and i read your rules so i hope this is fine.

Can you do young!Asl x f!reader like when Sabo and Ace was 10 and luffy was 7, reader here is 11. Reader wears a completely hair,chest and neck covering hijab and an muslim thob. Can you write a scenario where young!Asl meet f!reader when luffy and Ace were competing in their daily battle and while that happned that happned luffy hat flew off his head and flew away in the wind and Sabo,Ace and luffy go to find it and when they were looking aound they meet f!reader just walking in the forest with luffy hat on her head. Ace,Sabo and luffy hide behind a bush because they dont know about readers clothing and think she might be some dangerous pirate or assassin because living with moutain bandits dont really teach you about diffrent people around the world. But ofc luffy comes out the bush and trys to attack f!reader but she was able to pin him to the ground before he can do anything GIRL POWER and ace and sabo grab there metal pipe and they begin fighting with f!reader and at the end she gets beated by them and when she relize they want luffy hat she apologizes and gives luffy hat, blah blah *talking* (you can do this part between when they fight and back to Dadan place) when they reach Dadans place ofc her and the bandits want to fie because now they are taking care of 4 children now but luckly f!reader is actully helpful so Dadan actully like her.

How reader got on Mt.Cove

Reader was on a cruise with some of her relatives then a huge storm hit and broke the ship and she ploped into the ocean not able to swim because of the harsh waves then she passes out when her head hits a rock then later she washes up in shore in the forest and she wakes up and starts walking around then meets the brothers and when she gets to Dadans place they give her some bandages to heal up and she explains why she wear her clothing like this. Ace and luffy dont care, Ace still suspicous. Sabo intense listing. (So basically women in islam wear theses clothing because The hijab is about observing modesty and according to Islamic law should begin from the age of puberty. In Islam's sacred book, the Qur'an, two verses talk about the notion of hijab and how modesty should be observed by both Muslim men and women)

Sorry if this is to much

-You’re not completely sure where you were. It had been about two days since the storm that hit the ship your family was on, sending you into the rough waters below.

-You woke up, luckily, on a nearby island, after being unable to swim, but you were by yourself, you couldn’t see anyone else from the ship, the crew you had gotten to know or your family, there was nobody.

-You adjusted your hijab after removing your hood, only for a moment, making sure everything was covered and secure before you made sure your appearance was acceptable before you started walking through the dense forest, looking for someone else who would hopefully help you.

-You found some fruit trees along your way, picking just two for the moment, eating as you walked, listening for the sounds of other people, but so far there wasn’t any luck.

-You entered a small clearing, one that looked like it had been cleared out for a campsite, but here was no evidence of anyone being there for days, which made you pout slightly, a sigh leaving your lips.

-The wind picked up a bit and you held your hands to your cheeks, to keep your hood from blowing upwards, halting for just a moment before you heard a sound of something hitting a tree and you looked up, seeing a simple straw hat with a bright red band around it.

-This was a sign of civilization! Or so you hoped, as it was man-made as you picked up the hat before putting it on your head, to shield your eyes a bit as you looked around.

-It was only moments later when you heard a voice, “Give me back my hat!!” you turned, seeing a young boy, a small scar on his cheek, leaping out of the bushes to attack you.

-Your eyes went wide, only for a moment, before you dodged his blow, ducking down and he slammed into the tree behind you.

-You turned quickly, worried he had hurt himself but before you could ask him you heard two more voices, “Get away from Luffy!!” you saw two more boys, one with blond hair, wearing what looked to be a suit, and a boy who looked similar to Luffy, with freckles across his cheeks, both of them holding weapons.

-You ducked down again, dodging their weapons before you leg sweeped Ace, sending him to the ground before you rolled out of Sabo’s wait, “Wait I’m not-” you squeaked, only barely dodging another blow from Luffy who swung at you again.

-Sabo was the one who froze before he whacked both Ace and Luffy on their heads with his fist, sending them both to the ground with lumps on their heads, “That’s a girl!”

-A few minutes later you handed Luffy his hat back, after you explained you found it while looking for other people. Luffy beamed at you, “Thanks for finding my hat Y/N! It blew off when we were fighting earlier!”

-You were confused, tilting your head to the side, “Why were you guys fighting?” Sabo explained they fought every day to get stronger, but this time Ace hit him, “Shut up! Don’t tell this spy what we’re doing!”

-You blinked, your eyes going wide before you held a hand to your chest, “You think I’m a spy?!” the three looked at you, Sabo looking sheepish, Luffy smiling, and Ace glaring before Luffy spoke, “That’s what we all decided you were- that or an assassin, since you look like a ninja!”

-You tilted your head to the other side, “What’s a ninja?” they all looked at you, a bit surprised by your words before Ace sighed out loudly, “Fine. Let’s take you to Dadan, she would know what to do with you.”

-You thanked him warmly for his help, which made his cheeks burn, hearing your words as he turned, bristling lightly, “Yeah whatever!”

-Needless to say, when you arrived at Dadan’s place, the home of the Mountain Bandits, she and the others weren’t pleased to see a fourth child there, Dadan quickly yelling at the three boys for bringing another mouth to feed.

-By the end of the day, you were Dadan’s favorite.

-You told her and the others of the storm you had been caught in, before falling overboard and waking up on this island, and how you were looking for others to help you find your family or your ship.

-Dadan agreed to help, sending out some of her men to try to gather information and you thanked her warmly, agreeing to help where you could, to pay back her kindness, which quickly earned you brownie points with her.

-During dinner, Dadan asked you about your clothes, as she had never seen anything like it before. You explained that in your religion, as stated in your holy book, the Qur’an, which stated that both men and women should observe modesty while out in public, and this is how you were taught to dress by your family.

-Many thought it was a bit odd, as they had never heard anything like that before, Luffy and Sabo weren’t bothered, mainly because Luffy was convinced you were a ninja, but Ace wasn’t so sure, still not trusting you. But then again he was like that with everyone.

-Dadan was okay with your explanation, as she voiced, “There’s a whole world out there with different cultures and religions boys. Once you’re strong enough to get out of my house you can go find them.”

-Luffy cheered at the prospect of adventure, something Sabo and Ace couldn’t help but grin at, and you couldn’t help but smile, seeing their sense of adventure. It was refreshing really, as you wanted to explore as well, going on an adventure.

-You couldn’t wait to find out what tomorrow held for you, looking at it as an adventure, in a sense, as you smiled, glad that you had found such good people to help you in your time of need.

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Propaganda:

For Joongdok: "Well first of all Yoo Joonghyuk has a whole arc that is transfem coded as hell (has a power/technique that can technically only be used by women but somehow he can also use it, for a time he even turns into a woman to wield it and it's. Actually just let me get the quote "The ines of the face had changed but it was clearly Yoo Joonghyuk. No, it was even more than before.") that just kinda happens,, and doesn't get brought up again but anyway. Second of all just look at them. You see the vision. Also a bonus observation is that these two often get shipped in a poly ship with Han Sooyoung and whenever I see people make a "regular couple, yaoi couple, yuri couple, I see no difference love is love" meme with them the combination of which pair among these three is which of the categories is always different"

Note: This submission also mentions Han Sooyoung, but I decided to count this polyship submission as guy yuri as well.

"They love each other, they pretend they don't care for each other but all their actions prove they care too much, if you remove someone from the trio then the resulting duo is extremely dysfunctional, as evidenced by more than a million words of canon. Is it technically guy yuri? Well, Han Sooyoung is a woman, but in a way she's one of the guys. Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk are men, but the text heavily hints that Yoo Joonghyuk is a trans woman who's just too busy and stressed out to transition yet, and Kim Dokja has just never thought about his own gender a single day in his life. They made the world for each other, they went back in time countless times and waged countless wars for each other, they wrote and read and lived a story, their story, for each other and that's what saved them all. The way Han Sooyoung writes Yoo Joonghyuk's story to save Kim Dokja and loses herself in the process, the way Yoo Joonghyuk voluntarily lives the story to the point of losing himself too and even forgetting why he originally decided to do it, the way Kim Dokja read Han Sooyoung's story which was Yoo Joonghyuk's life and that's how he found himself, they all took so much from each other and gave so much of themselves to each other, this is all very yuri."

"they're so yuri you have no idea. they have every staple of a yuri ship. unwavering devotion. waiting dozens or thousands of years for each other. dooming themselves and the world for each other. so much yearning. i also see them genderbent a lot (including inn canon in the case of yjh) and they're right both of these people are women. i genuinely can't even see them strictly as men at this point they're just yjh and kdj and they are yuri do you understand."

"they're so yuri. the abscense of yuri is the presence of yuri etc etc. these two guys are all ABOUT abscenses. also one of them is a part time woman. the other guy is a guy but like in the same way a square is a rectangle. anyway they're so guyyuri to me. bonus points also because they have a mutual girlfriend and when she's present they're girlyaoi but that's not relevant to this specifically"

For Destiel: "There’s got something wrong with her(complementary)"

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

911 Thoughts

Haven't watched the new episode yet, so bare with me. I have some thoughts on the recent Bi-Buck stuff and they are semi conflicting and all over the place so I am putting it all in one post.

Firstly: The show has always been queer, it had gay characters since the start. I agree that it's not just gay now.

Buck being Bi is still amazing and huge. For many reasons: the figuring it out late rep, and the fact that we have seen hints for ages, we have all been here we have all seen it, and it finally happen. 7 Seasons in.

I do think it's good for Buck to explore dating men and figuring stuff out before jumping into buddie (if we are getting buddie)

I like Tommy. I think he and Buck have a nice chemestry.

I understand why people like the Even bit, but personal pet peeve. I hate when characters do that. Like at least give me a scene where Buck gets asked if he wants to be called Evan. I don't know I hate when someone has a prefer way to be called and then another character ingores that. At least give me a scene where he asks. Like ok I can assume Buck is ok with it and maybe he asked off screen, but like let me see it.

That said, it's not nearly as annoying then when Anna full named Eddie. That shit got my nerves. It felt like it was full naming him like you would a child who is in trouble.

Speaking of which: If no buddie, can we all agree that Eddie should be single. I don't know what it is about 911 that lets them write amazing female characters and then renders them unable to write a decent one for Eddie to play off, I don't know why someone that I know can have chemestry with women (Ryan Guzman) suddenly is unable to have any in this role. But it's painful to watch. The man has moved on from his dead wife, he just likes to be single. If the writers can't have a love interest that feels like it's there for more reasons then to remind people Eddie is straight by giving him emotional scenes with women instead of just with Buck then they just fucking need to stop and keep him single.

Like I said I like Tommy, and I do not think that Buck being Bi is useless or lessen if we don't get buddie.

That said if we are not getting buddie I will forever find it a little sus that they give Buck a male love interest that is so similar to Eddie.

I still want buddie. Not just because it's a ship between two main characters, who are equal in the series, and it would be the first gay ship between main characters in the show (SIDE NOTE: I can't help but notice that despite HenRen being amazing, they are the only major romantic relationship of the show that is One Main and One Side character, and it's the gay one. Like yes 911 has always been gay but it has not always been equal) but also beacause it would be first slow burn multi season gay ship in tv history (at least in the west).

Think about it, the hets have many ships like that, multi seasons arcs, slowly showing us them falling for each other. Pam and Jim; Booth and Bones; The main ships from Parks and Recs (I don't remember the names); Amy and Jake from B99. And many many more. But with gay ships if they are both main characters (rare) it always starts in the first season they got introuduced. Or they are already together, or they get a side character. I am not saying those are lesser ships, and sometimes that is the good choice for a show but I want my gay multi season slowburn (and don't say suprenatural I am not counting that)

GIVE ME DEMI EDDIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hawkogurl]

i love your corpse harry au (& what i've read of your other spider-man stuff), especially the way you write harry. i'm pretty new to writing and was hoping you'd have some advice on getting a good handle on a character's motivation/voice

idk if you take these kind of questions so if not: favorite trope that gets a lot of hate & least favorite trope that gets a lot of love? thx

Thanks for sending! I love to talk.

As for the first part? That’s hard. I think my writing style leans more introspective, so it can kind of vary based on what you’re going for. Because I tend to think about these movies very specifically, I found how I write about characters on my personal analysis, look deeper than the surface. Hell, take notes on shit. I also recommend the novelizations for learning how characters tic. Especially for characters other than Peter, you get a lot more about how they think because you actually spend more time in their heads and you get more of a look into their thought process and what effects how they act. The novels are good. Read them in general. I have files available on request because they slap.

But honestly? Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to be perfect. Especially if you’re new to it, make sure you’re having fun above everything. I personally tend to obsess over the mechanics of storytelling and character analysis, sure, but that’s what I find enjoyable. If doing the same makes you like something less, don’t! Especially when you’re starting out, I also think it’s more beneficial to work out more of the mechanics of writing itself. At the same time you learn characterization, learn how to vary sentence structure, to write engaging and descriptive prose without it feeling suffocating, find your personal style. And don’t expect it to be fast. The people you admire have been doing this for years. For another thing, read more. Genuinely, it’ll help you write better. I am a better writer when I’ve been engaging with things that have good writing.

As for part two of the ask, I guess there’s a couple things? I’m insistent upon writing with more emphasis on Harry’s mental illness, both because I’m tired of so much focus on Norman’s non existent illness (that’s the most neurotypical man I’ve ever seen) while ignoring the character they probably actually intended to be read as mentally ill. I also insistently defend and focus on MJ’s reasons for doing things because as a lesbian I’m hyper aware of all fandoms favor for white men that’s caused by a lot of subconscious misogyny and racism and fans are always more critical of women than men.

I do hate a lot more things than I like. I love being critical, it’s in my soul to be analytically critical of things. I hate how a lot of sm3 rewrites will effectively make Harry into a psychopathic crazy slasher villain. Ignoring the ableism to making the guy who hallucinates into That, I also think it’s a major case of throwing the baby out with the bath water with sm3. Harry was never going to be that kind of villain. His arc was always going to be about breaking out of the cycle of abuse by defying his father and becoming his own person. I’m also generally annoyed when fics insist on calling Norman “neglectful” or a “bad father” instead of just saying he was emotionally abusive. It feels like they just think it’s a dirty word someone can’t come back from so they mislabel things. Also a sort of cartoonish example of how if someone doesn’t hit you or shout at you, your experiences will be doubted.

I hate it when fans of other mlm peter ships write Harry as an abusive ex. Just make an oc.

This is pettier and I’ll admit it, but I hate it when raimi Harry is just arbitrarily shoved with a woman. I can give MJ a pass, I have my read of it but if you can sell me on it I’ll allow it. But most of the time, it just feels like Obligatory Heterosexual Love Interest. I’ve found fics that can sell me on it, there’s this one on ffnet I dug up where he ended up with Gwen that I thought was fine less for Harrygwen and more because they wrote them both well. If you can sell me on it I’ll let it slide but it’s like, semi obvious to me when throwing his ass with a woman is more part of like… people seeing a love story as an obligatory part of a happy ending or someone not liking it when Harry is read as queer. It’s fine if you don’t read him as queer but if your romance sucks I’m gonna say your romance sucks. Romantic love is not a prerequisite to a happy ending. He can be happy single because he has friends. Give him some cats. Make him adopt a kid.

It’s somewhat connected, but I also hate a lot of like… sloppier Norman redemptions. I maintain my stance that no character is ever irredeemable because it’s about change but even pushing aside my personal belief I don’t think Norman would ever change, the guy is the Greek god of doubling down, people never let him take responsibility for his actions or otherwise narratively excuse him. I can’t walk two feet without finding it excused by the mental illness people headcanon onto him because mcu decided to write offensive tropes against people with DID onto him or finding a way to blame poor Emily/Caroline when we aren’t supposed to take Norman at his word that she was a bitch or completely misunderstanding the narrative purpose of Ambrose Osborn in the comics to use him as an excuse and also minimize the ways he emotionally abuses Harry. I also hate the way people will say anything but that he was abusive. He was abusive. I know it feels like a bad word you can’t come back from, but he was abusive. Just say it. Him being abusive doesn’t mean he can’t stop being abusive if you want to write that. Ambrose exists to create a cycle of abuse. Narratively, it needs to be a cycle. Harry is the one who actually breaks it. It can’t work with Norman because a major aspect of Harry breaking the cycle is that he is softer than Norman, that he has dozens of traits that Norman doesn’t have. There’s significance to that.

I honestly just hate a lot of Norman writing. I don’t think redeeming him is impossible because of my general worldview and I’ve read fics that have done it. (Really it was fic singular and it’s because they didn’t shy away from what a POS he is) but among those is like. Christ, it’s so wild to see fics in which he’s a father figure to MJ as if he didn’t both ogle her, a girl 30-40 years his junior and also threaten to rape her as the goblin. Like. That’s wild. That’s absolutely wild.

I also hate DID Norman headcanons. How am I not supposed to think it’s wildly insulting to write a character as a system when the only reason people started seeing him as one was because of the MCU’s ableist writing decisions in NWH that connected him to negative stereotypes against people with DID and OSDD. Stereotypes that the trilogy itself put actual work into avoiding because even in 2002 those writers understood that the good alter bad alter trope is terrible.

I will say that none of Hollys extended Norman writing hatred is directed at people who are currently in the fandom. That was more like, circa 2021-2022 NWH fandom things that made me want to die.

[avelera]

Giving Sanctuary "Behind the Scenes" - On Masculinity

Inspired by Ep. 1.03 of "The Last of Us" in which there is a line when one canonically gay male character tells his also canonically gay male partner, "You were my purpose."

I was so excited by this line because I saw it as confirmation that I'd written men in love well, or at least as well as I could. So much so that I turned to my partner and explained to him that it felt like something of a personal victory to see these two very masculine gay characters in the show defining their love for one another as specifically a purpose, much as I have Hob inch his way towards admitting he wants to be (effectively) married to Dream in Giving Sanctuary by calling looking after Dream "his purpose". I was also very pleased when my partner confirmed that, yes, as a man, it felt very true and authentic to him to have both the characters in the show and Hob as I've written him define their relationships that way, within the bounds of masculinity and masculine pride.

I watched the episode with my partner (a big TLOU fan), with whom I have a lot of discussions around masculinity because as a writer, particularly of adult m/m ships, I want the men I write to actually feel like men, and my partner is wonderfully open with me in these discussions of how to make male characters actually feel like men, instead of feeling like men written by women. I doubt I can ever achieve men-written-by-men levels of accuracy as strictly as if the male characters I write were written by a man (all gender language in this is meant inclusively, btw, assume I always mean "female/male-identifying" etc) but I think there are a lot of common tropes and pitfalls the largely-but-not-exclusively female writerly space of fanfic tend to fall into, which I try to avoid.

One is that while there is the joke that male writers tend to write women "breasting boobily down the stairs" ie, always focused on their physical characteristic, there is the reverse weakness that's less talked about of women writers writing male characters as more willing to be emotionally vulnerable than most men usually are/are socialized to be. Not saying it's a good or a bad thing, just that male characters written by women writers are, on the balance, less concerned with masculine pride or against displaying emotion than actual men tend to be. I wrote about this extensively elsewhere.

When I started writing Giving Sanctuary, I knew it was going to be a sentimental, emotionally charged, and vulnerable story, but I didn't want to go overboard and have Hob or Dream, both canonically proud men, fall overboard into woobification.

So, how does one get these two proud, male-identifying people/entities to do something so emotionally vulnerable and sentimental as decide to move in together so they can talk about their feelings and form essentially a two-man grieving father support group? You make it an exchange. Not crassly transactional, as such. But Dream is far too proud to simply accept someone doting on him, he will push back and while he has people like Lucienne and Jessamy in his life, he often ignores their attempts to care for him, and clearly having them around hasn't been enough because he can always pull rank on them and blow off their advice.

Likewise, Hob is at his lowest. He'll accept any material help given at this point, but that's him at his absolute lowest point. Once he got his feet under him at all he would begin to demur and push back against Dream just giving him things. He would want to pull his weight. He would feel awkward about having been so emotionally vulnerable in front of someone as proud as Dream, even if Hob at 300+ years old and having gone through as much as he has is someone (as I write him, at least) who is very in touch with his emotions and who has a half dozen lifetime's worth of practice at emotional resilience. He's good at it.

But by making it so Hob looking after Dream is repayment for Dream looking after Hob, it allows Dream to chill out a bit about someone telling him what to do, or look after him. It's now couched in The Rules and An Agreement. Dream sees that Lucienne is afraid of him (in ch. 3) and realizes that, combined with how good he felt being able to open up to Hob about how much losing Orpheus hurt him, brings him to the revelation (without the fishbowl) that he doesn't like the person he's become and he wants to get better. Hob has shown emotional wisdom and so Dream is willing to admit that having someone more skilled at navigating emotion and healing take charge of his personal life for a bit is a "practical" way of getting out of this hole he realizes he's in.

Likewise, by classifying it as a transaction of sorts, Hob feel less like a charity case and more like he has a job. Given that he has no material goods to pay Dream with (not that he'd need/want them) this means a lot to Hob. Hob is (in my mind, but there's canonical evidence to back this up) very much a materialist and a hedonist. He feels like absolute garbage that he can't fulfill the role of a provider towards Dream, or anyone at this point. He defines his worth by the value of the stuff that he owns and the amount of gold in his possession.

Crass as he might have been in 1589, Hob was at the top of the world and the happiest we ever see him as someone who has reached an inconceivable pinnacle of wealth and status for someone of his birth. The man was a bandit, you can't tell me he doesn't take having money very seriously. (This is also a story in which money, class, and resources is not always necessarily central but it's always present as a concern for Hob, even as it's barely something that even occurs to Dream, and that's very deliberate. The fact that part of Hob's healing is accomplished by fulfilling his physical needs and giving him a safe space and privacy to heal is not an accident.)

So anyway, all of this is to say, that before Hob is ready to admit (what in his time period is legally impossible) that he wants to marry Dream, and what given their past relationship seems emotionally impossible, that Hob would be allowed to love Dream the way he wants to, it's easier to define looking after Dream as the more neutral "purpose" in his life. This is something he can speak of openly with Dream even before admitting any romantic feelings. Very close friends could, in theory, make a similar pact to look after one another. Men who do not want to admit emotional vulnerability can openly speak of having a job and a purpose and couching this emotional caretaking and vulnerability in those terms makes it easier within the bounds of certain cultural definitions of masculinity to do so. It's Dream and Hob saying, "We're not just babying one another, we're not just gushing about our sad feelings to each other, rather, we're recognizing that our emotional states do matter and they've cratered enough that we can't pull our actual lives as we want them back together until we deal with this." It just so happens, in this instance, that this emotional vulnerability leads to romantic love.

And, as I said, I felt incredibly gratified when this very male character, written and performed by a man, used similar words to define the act of caretaking as a "purpose" to someone he loved because while Hob as I write him isn't nearly that emotionally reserved, he does have that backbone of masculinity and the need to be a caretaker and a provider within a masculine framework so the resonance of terminology meant a lot.