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parachutingkitten · 5 months

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Why is Pixane So Queer?

Some thoughts on Asexual Romance.

[warning, long post below the cut]

The Ninjago fandom had a very potent reaction to The Quest for the Lost Powers repeatedly describing Pixal and Zane as being 'very close friends'. This seemed quite contradictory to many who assumed the confession of undying love at the end of the last season might have been a small hint at a romantic relationship of some kind. However, after closer examination, it turns out Pixal and Zane don’t ever actually refer to themselves as a couple, and the show has never once referred to them being in an active relationship.

But there’s something here, right? Sure, it’s not explicitly stated, but you are lying to yourself if you can watch them and tell me there is zero romantic subtext going on here. A lot of people got very defensive that the children’s book stated they were friends, especially when it also seemingly confirmed that the much straighter straight boy ship, Kailor, was apparently canon, despite being only implied as a possible future for ages now. But I find this backlash to be a bit strange. Sure, Zane and Pix aren’t exactly ‘just friends’ but, what do you want them to say? That they’re boyfriend and girlfriend? You want these two to say they’re ‘going out’ with each other? You think these two robots are ‘dating’ each other, like they’re just susin’ out the partner pool. Are those the words that fit this relationship to you?

I found myself feeling weirdly offended at everyone, and I think the reason was that these two love-droids haven’t chosen to define their relationship in traditional terms, and so everyone’s insistence that they should be boxed into some sort of traditional term seems inherently strange. It’s like when two elderly people are dating, it feels weird when they say “this is my girlfriend” because despite it being factually true, there’s so much baggage that comes with the word, part of that implication being youth, which is directly at odds with the immediate situation. It’s the correctness of the word paired with the incorrectness of the societal implications which forces you to assess if those societal implications should exist. And that- that is what makes this relationship feel queer. That’s why there’s this undeniably different kinda energy radiating off of it. It’s that rejection of the traditional labels, the refusal to be put into a box, which forces it to be a-typical. But, why? Why does Pixane have this rejection of labels radiating off of it? Their ages, while being literally whack, are presented as being your typical teenage to young adult age romance. Their genders present as a typical hetero pairing. And it’s not like they don’t follow your typical cliche love at first sight plot. I mean, Pixal was pretty explicitly created as a generic love interest character. So, what is it? Why is this queer? Spoiler alert: It’s because they’re asexual.

So, what is asexuality? Strictly defined, it is a community of people who experience little to no sexual attraction to anyone. This is distinct from aromanticism, which is a lack of romantic attraction, and sexual engagement or urges which are their own separate boat, but often have overlap with asexuality. However, for our purposes, we are focused on just the sexual attraction part. You can think of it as the difference between finding someone hot and finding someone cute. That’s the distinction that made it click for me anyway.

Now, as a disclaimer, I am not going to be considering other queer interpretations of this relationship. Not to invalidate them, because of course they’re valid, but specifically because I feel there isn’t precedent for them in the text, and I feel there is for asexuality. This deep dive is particularly about validating asexuality as being queer, and so to do that we have to eliminate any other outstanding factors. People are extremely quick to pin asexual queerness to something else, and that in itself can feel invalidating, even if it’s only attempting to validate other communities as well. Asexual romance is so easily read as straight romance, that any queer undertones have to have an alternate explanation, because asexuality doesn’t seem like enough to cross the barrier. Yes, enby interpretations of Pixane are great, and fantastic, and I would die for your right to follow those headcanons, but to pin the in text queer vibes on the fact that they technically don’t have biological gender, despite having very clear presenting and unwavering genders in text seems like a real easy way to dismiss the asexual coding which is staring me in the face. While things like non-binary or aromantic readings validate communities who have immense oppression and are continually called fake or confused, which is insanely important, asexuality, especially as it stands apart from aromanticism, is often confused as not being a difference at all. You’re just pure! You’re just wholesome! You’re just so sweet and innocent! And yes… yes, I am, but also, it’s more than that. It’s fundamentally something different about the way my brain is wired, and I feel a need to defend the fact that it, specifically, is queer. And in no way am I trying to say that the aces are the most oppressed actually, I don’t want to start the oppression Olympics here, and if we were to, I would probably argue quite the opposite, but I am saying that there is oppression, and it comes from outside and inside of the community, and it is a thing. It’s a different flavor of thing that’s maybe not as severe, but also sits differently. Maybe it’s not as much a pressing thing as other things, but… it’s my thing. It’s what I feel. It’s something I can speak on. So, I’m going to speak on it.

Perhaps one of the largest factors asexuality has to offer is the necessary separation of romance and sex. The packaging of sexual attraction and romantic attraction is so ubiquitous that the term ace is often assumed to be referring to aro/ace people, despite there being a term for that… aro/ace! Asexuality is not an easy queerness to explain, precisely because of this deeply held integration. It’s not a difference of experience necessarily, it’s a lack of a certain experience. I’m not saying this is something you can’t understand, because, unless you’re aromantic, I know you understand it! You are going to be able to like and relate to and feel seen by asexual romances, because the main component it requires is that you have romantic attraction- which is most people. And so many people get confused when you point to an asexual thing and go “I get that! This! This is me!” Because they just respond with “You’re not special, I get that too. Is this supposed to be different?” And, yes, it is, primarily because everything else includes this giant other thing as well, which is sexuality.

When vegans get excited about finding a meal which is especially delicious and also meets their food restrictions, they get particularly excited. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy that same vegan meal- no doubt it probably tastes incredibly delicious to you as well. But you likely won’t get that same feeling of excitement, because you don’t live under the same restrictions as vegans do. That’s the same thing I feel when I see an asexually coded romance. I can enjoy the full meal without having to pick things out or ignore vital parts. I have no doubt that others can thoroughly enjoy asexual romances, but you’re going to have to look at it in context of all the dominant romance stories in the world to understand why it’s so different and special to me.

Now, have I cracked the code on asexual romance in media? No. I only have my own experience with asexuality to lean on, and the very limited discourse on the topic I’ve come across while discovering my identity. All of this is simply a theory based on my own thoughts and observations, but these are some explanations as to what might possibly be included in a framework for an asexually coded romance, at least to me.

So, what makes romance asexual? It’s not simply a lack of sexual suggestiveness. Any number of romances aren’t sexually suggestive, but still glaringly heteronormative- especially in children’s television. And it’s also not a lack of initial attraction, as that would throw Pixane out of the running for sure. Well, I have a few things which I feel may contribute to asexual coding of a romantic relationship, and wouldn’t you know, Pixane is a great example of all of them.

Asexual romance may, as many have remarked, come off as more innocent. When you shove all of the focus of characters onto the romantic, emotional connection, rather than any underlying sexual tension, things end up feeling extremely innocent to the layperson. You get the sort of old married couple effect. Two people deeply in love, who just sort of stare at each other in awe, and that others can comment on how cute they are. Again, asexuals don’t necessarily find anything hot. Cuteness is the main operative factor motivating their attraction, so it follows that their interactions would radiate that factor back at observers. The characters might in fact be very touchy, have sex, enjoy that physical touch, but that’s not at the forefront of anyone’s mind in the story. This is an aspect of Pixane that can be read very clearly. Their romance is quite easily described as pure and wholesome by all who have the pleasure of observing them. The way they interact with each other is extremely gentle and supportive, and their level of old married couple vibes is by far the highest of any pairings in the show (aside from perhaps the actual old married couple of Ed and Edna).

Asexual romance, I find to often be less conflict driven. Take the classic enemies to lovers plotline- it’s built on a tension between an innate irrational attraction, and a perceived logical personality conflict. While romantic attraction is certainly not always rational, from my understanding, sexual attraction is often rooted in factors that aren’t at all related to logical compatibility or personality. This means the enemies to lovers plot is primed to work much better when sexually charged, because it presents a clear path to create the hate/love conflict. Not to say that asexual enemies to lovers is impossible, or that asexual partners don’t have conflict between them, but that it is less of an obvious threat to incorporate into asexual romance. Because there are less factors and layers of attraction to get involved in, there’s less room for conflict and contradiction between them. It is much easier to get tangled up in a situation with more strings. Pixane is a relationship which certainly doesn’t hold much internal conflict. The one disagreement they did have is solved quite neatly with basic communication skills in the middle of season 8. Most of their conflict comes from external factors which separate them or cause misunderstanding, rather than conflict from within the characters themselves.

Asexual romance also has the obvious potential to challenge traditional dating norms. Because there is no impulse to escalate things physically, it makes sense that the progression of an asexual romance would differ from traditional relationships where that escalation is expected. Your asexual romance is bound to get emotionally intense with each other quicker, or at least have it be the focus of their story, because there is no other facet to deal with. Asexuals don’t commonly have sexual fantasies for themselves, but rather romantic fantasies. Not to say that most people don’t have romantic fantasies, but… that’s all we’ve got. And when your impulse is ‘let’s get married, and then maybe I guess we can kiss’, it might seem like things are progressing out of order to the average person. While asexuals don't all hate physical contact or even sexual connection, it isn't an attractive or motivating factor in the same way it is in most romances, so even on a base level, the level of physical contact is likely going to be less than average. Pixane progresses ridiculously out of order. Zane is willing to split his soul for her- it’s only at this point that they romantically hold hands for the first time. It’s the emotional connection between the two that comes first, and all classic tangible symbols of affection and romance that are secondary. The most pronounced physical contact we’ve seen is a cheek kiss, and their most common type of physical contact is enthusiastic hugging (which I’ll dive more into later).

Additionally, because physical affection is more of an afterthought, it would also make sense for labels to come slowly. If you have an incredibly close personal, soulful connection, but you haven’t kissed yet, it makes sense for people around you to assume you’re just really close friends, or perhaps just crushing on each other still. Terms like “girlfriend” and “boyfriend” invoke rather physical tactile images, and so to attempt to apply them to an asexual romance isn’t necessarily wrong but may feel a bit off putting because of this dissonance. Again, it’s this dissonance between the romantic meaning of the word, and the sexual undertones which forces discomfort onto the viewer. Pixal and Zane have yet to kiss each other after years of dancing around each other’s obvious romantic feelings. It remains unclear if they even are in an active romantic relationship at all, or are still mutually pinning, as no labels have been given to their relationship in show. I have no doubt part of this is the lack of planned dates or physical affection which are common outward signals of a traditional established relationship.

A lot of the saucy flirting which accompanies many classic heteronormative romances can seem rather pointless to asexuals. I would venture to say that asexuals are likely more direct and up front with their emotional vulnerability and feelings, because that’s the connection which they are seeking to make. To dance around it with innuendo and mind games is rather unproductive in achieving the end goal. There is less of a pressure to “perform” romance, and instead just be honestly romantic, because the romance isn’t a prelude to sex, or physical affection, it’s the end goal in and of itself. To only pretend to do it is entirely pointless. All of this is likely going to result in a romance which puts less focus on the “game of dating”. I mean, can you imagine Pixane ending up in a Jaya style love triangle? It’s almost an absurd pitch to make, right? There is no performativity to the Pixane relationship, it is exactly as it appears at first glance. And when Zane attempts more traditional, cheesy flirting tactics like in Ninjago Confidential, Pixal is nothing but confused and annoyed by his attempts.

The most prominent example which I feel exemplifies the inherently asexual coding of Pixane applies to many robotic romances- and it’s the characters’ relationship with skin. A lot of sexual suggestion and tension is based on skin. The revealing nature of skin exposure, the feeling of skin on skin being a sexual touchpoint, skin is essential to the sexual experience in most instances. This is part of the reason I love writing romance but have yet to write a kiss between anyone. The sexuality of a kiss is inherently uncomfortable to write for me because you’re encouraged to lean into the physical feeling of the touch of skin. Robots bring to the forefront the idea of this physical contact because their skin is often not exactly skin, and that in itself gives a sort of de facto distance from sexuality. There’s a moment which happens repeatedly with Pixane, and shows up in other robotic romances, like Wall-E and Eve, which I feel highlights this essential separation from the skin of sexuality. Pixane and Wall-Eve both have the ‘clink’ moment, in which intimate physical contact is made, (in Pixane’s case, all of their many hugs) and accentuated by the sound of their metal skin meeting with a loud clink. This sound not only highlights their lack of skin but serves to suck any sexual energy out of the interaction immediately and leaves it purely with the romance intended by the action. It’s not uncommon for people to find the sound humorous, precisely because of how desexualizing it is. It highlights the couples’ incapability of indulging in sexual skin on skin contact, and instead the closeness and companionship the act of touching provides.

And this is why I feel robots are in fact a decent candidate for asexual characters if done properly. Robots being coded as asexual can be a very negative stereotype, particularly when their asexuality is explicitly linked to their lack of emotion and feeling- but media about robots has been trending more positively recently. In fact, robots, if used correctly, may actually validate asexuality explicitly. Robotic characters are often used to explore the idea of what makes humanity human. If we give these robots human-like enough traits, when do they become human? Are they perhaps the most human? And it seems like fictional consensus agrees that sexuality is not required to achieve human status. Stripping away the excess human emotions may be part of what makes robots asexual (or aromatic, if your robot is also incapable of romantic love). The medium of robot literalizes the disconnect that asexuals have with their physical bodies, most notably their skin, and serves to put additional distance between the character and sexual contact, at least in the traditional sense. I mean, think about it, if you want your robot to be sexual, you need to go out of your way to establish that it has sexual capability, because no one is going to simply assume that your fictional robot was designed with that capability in mind. Why would it be, unless that was its explicit purpose? In a way, robots are sort of de facto asexual.

Pixane is queer because it’s asexual, and it’s asexual because they distill down only the purely romantic parts of a romantic relationship. They’re able to do this, in part because of their individual characterization, but also because of their robotic bodies, which make the separation between romance and sexuality just that much easier. They highlight the necessity to separate romance from all of the convoluted sexual layers which often accompany it, and so come out feeling distinctly untraditional and subversive.

That's the theory, again, all hyper based on my own personal experience with asexuality, which is of course not all encompassing. I'd love to hear your thoughts :)

#ninjago #pixane #pixal borg #zane julien #pixal ninjago #zane ninjago #asexuality #long one #parachuterants

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quasi-normalcy · 8 months

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Star Trek series rated by horniness (as rated by me, an asexual, so you know its objective):

Star Trek: The Original Series - what is there to say for the series that invented slashfic, fuck-or-die, and Thiess's theory of titillation in costuming? The universe is full of greased-up pecs and scantily clad women wondering what is this thing you call...love? It's easier to mention the episodes that *aren't* horny. 10/10, for how could it be otherwise?

Star Trek: The Animated Series - It's a Saturday morning cartoon series from the 70s, and yet... 3/10, for the surprising number of scantily clad muscular guys

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Oh, we *start* quite horny; Roddenberry is keen to let us know that the android has a penis in the second episode; but then Roddenberry dies, and by the final season even Troi is wearing a sensible duty uniform. 6/10 for Will Riker, though

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - We've got Quark's, where the women are scantily clad, the holosuites are for fucking, and the waiters give themselves ear infections from doing too much oo-mox on themselves. We've got Jadzia Dax, who has three hundred years worth of sexcapades in two genders and will tell you about them at the drop of a hat. We've got Bashir and his sad blue balls for the first two seasons. We've got Klingons breaking each other's clavicles to initiate coitus. And we've got an enemy power led by the perpetual mind-melting gangbang that canonically is the Great Link. 9/10

Star Trek: Voyager - Weirdly conservative in its sexual politics. I mean, it goes out of its way to stick poor Jeri Ryan in that body condom, and there's a whole episode about space whales wanting to fuck the ship, and another one about Janeway wanting to fuck an Irishman, and *two* episodes about Pon Farr...actually, you know what? 6/10.

Star Trek: Enterprise - You know what, let me tell you about this series; this series is like a 14-year-old asexual boy boasting about his supposed sexual conquests in the hopes that it will endear him to the cool kids. It doesn't work; there's nothing genuine about it and everyone knows it; no matter how many innuendos he throws in, it's clear that there's no joy in it for him and he'd be happier if he could just go off and read comic books. Secretly, he wishes his friends still wanted to play with action figures. -1/10

Star Trek: Discovery - The show presents us with wall-to-wall gays who just...never seem to shtup each other. Like, I of all people know that sex doesn't define queerness, but...really? I guess maybe they're afraid of being less than wholesome? Anyways, 2/10 for that time that the Emperor went off to fuck a couple of Orions in the middle of a dangerous secret mission on the Klingon homeworld.

Star Trek: Picard - A series so sexless that it can't even show its main canonical couple enjoying each other's company for more than 5 seconds each season. And yet the chaste Jurati/Borg Queen pairing manages to be the hottest thing ever in the history of fiction. Anyway, I guess they technically had Agnes sleep with Rios in the first season, so 1/10.

Star Trek: Lower Decks - Oooh boy, we're at the heavy hitter now, my god. Completely, unashamedly horny. Gene Roddenberry *wishes* he could have done that orgy scene that people on Twitter were freaking out about. 11/10

Star Trek: Prodigy- They're *kids*. 0/10

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Not really a lot, surprisingly given their TOS pastiche. Still, we get some stuff with Spock. 3/10.

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absolutebl · 11 months

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Hi!!! Your posts are always amazing and I have so many bookmarked because you create the best little collections. Anyway, I am in a big BL rut right now and I can't seem to get into anything. Any fast-paced, recs that can bring me out of my slump? Thanks so so much :)

Oooo, fast paced is pretty subjective lemme think...

Imma got with the narrative sense of the word pacing (rather than just an in-your-face fast-moving plot, although that too,) so: good tension, craft, and narrative. Here's my pulls - I went broad and into the well, in case you had seen some recent stuff.

10 Fast-Paced BLs to Pull You Out of a Slump

(I'm assuming you have seen KinnPorsche)

I did a quick pitch for each cause I'm drunk so maybe they're funny, all spelling errors are my own and the result of growing up in 3 different English speaking nations and 2 non-English ones.

Someone wanted more elevator pitches a while ago, here ya go!

Our Dating Sim - nerds in love, reunion, deadlines, gaming, teasing, pining tiny idiots, ADORABLE

2. Semantic Error - you cannot be a BL fan and not have watched this, the ultimate enemies to lovers, also the prettiest

3. To My Star - neurotic actor (actual puppy), grumpy chef, sparks, cooking lessons, LOVE!

4. We Best Love - defines fast paced in romance, literally when asked why his character fell in love so fast Yu said, "well I only had one 20 minute episode." Yet... we BELIEVED IT.

5. HIStory 2: Crossing the Line - it's a perfect sports romance, don't bother me with trifles

6. Not Me - also how do you say antidisestablishmentarianism in Thai? + hot boys kissing who probably shouldn't be and convoluted soap opera identical twins plot... someone at GMMTV thought it made sense, we just here for the tattoos and the the Pride scene

7. The Eighth Sense - who let Korea be this angsty? SO MUCH TENSION.

8. Unintentional Love Story - omg the plot, forced into a totally understandable betrayal, falling in love despite himself, put into a corner he can't get out of, the AGONY, the eyes EMOTING at us in PAIN

9. HIStory 3: Trapped - hot cop falls in love with hotter mafia boss he is chasing for MURDER (bonus weirdly domesticated switch-blade wielding hit-man obsessed with geeky police tech support - COME ON)

10. Long Time No See - assassins, cat fishing, either side of a turf war, HOT sex scenes then even hotter beating the shit out of each other and kissing while COVERED IN BLOOD (this came from KOREA?)

There.

All kinds of flavors.

One of them just HAS to work!

If not, you could go for shorts. Try Strongberry:

(source)

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burst-of-iridescent · 2 months

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atla live action thoughts: episode 6

SPOILERS AHEAD

tw: opinions

things i liked:

love the moment where roku tells aang friends can be a liability and you can see in his face that he's thinking of sozin

koh lore is interesting. funnily enough i've also written koh being the son of the mother of faces in a fic before so i see netflix has been hitting up ao3

(for legal reasons, that was a joke)

i like zhao forcing zuko to turn aang over more than him capturing aang with the yuyan archers himself like in the original. this 100% feels like something animated zhao would do and it really drives home how much of a disadvantage zuko's at. this is the dynamic i wanted to see between the two of them

lmao @ zhao wanting to get every detail of his capture of the avatar in writing, and aang blowing air at him to send him falling over himself. they pulled that right from the original and it's great

BLUE SPIRIT TIME BABY

this fight (well the parts of it that i can see) is SO GOOD. pretty sure it's almost a shot for shot remake of the original and zuko and aang are working together seamlessly

oh i fucking LOVE that zuko and aang are trapped together and get to talk. zuko smiling despite himself... aang trying so earnestly to get through to him... the way zuko actually seems to be listening to him before he hears the word compassion... chef's kiss this was an INSPIRED change

"do you think we could've been friends too?"

the transitions from younger, happier zuko to older, traumatized zuko are fucking painful. the one where he looks into the mirror to see his unscarred, smiling self for just a moment before it flashes to his present reality... next time just shoot me netflix

"he will recover" "but he will never heal"

young zuko lying in bed sobbing as he's banished by his own father what if i killed myself

HIS CREW BEING THE 41st DIVISION HE LOST EVERYTHING TO PROTECT whichever writer suggested that needs a raise posthaste

"our prince" who is cutting all of these fucking onions

things i disliked/am conflicted about:

this is where the show suffers as an adaptation, because if the animation didn't exist, the agni kai would've been fine. zuko trying to dodge, having the chance to hurt ozai yet actively choosing not to out of love, being beaten up, pinned down and brutally burned as he whimpers in fear - all of that works on its own. it conveys zuko's compassion and ozai's brutality just fine, but not to the level that the cartoon does. the scene is brutal in both versions but animated zuko not even trying to fight, sobbing and begging on his knees, and being maimed anyway just hits harder than the netflix version

not sure if i saw it right but it seemed as though there were tears in ozai and azula's eyes??? i can maybe see it for this version of azula but in no world would ozai be crying over burning zuko. it feels like they're trying to make this version of ozai more complex but he was FINE as a classic villain

that being said, i do like ozai holding zuko's hand to his heart as he burns him. the symbolism of zuko trying to reach for his father's love while ozai permanently brands his cruelty on his son... ate

i don't even like roku in the animation all that much but his presence has been weirdly reduced in the show, even though he's the avatar aang is closest to. aang having to take on the burden of redeeming roku's failure is a significant part of their dynamic and i want more of that

hollywood i'm begging you to shoot night scenes that people can see because parts of the blue spirit and aang fight sequence were so dark i looked like the squinting lady meme

i really wish we'd still gotten the moment in the storm where zuko saved the helmsman. i know they kinda replaced it with the crew realizing they were only alive because of zuko's sacrifice, but they could've done both to show how much zuko still cares, even if he can't show it

how are we 3/4th of the way into the season and aang is STILL ONLY BENDING AIR

overall rating: 9/10. definitely the best of the series so far and i love how they expanded on zuko's backstory and his relationship to aang

#atla live action

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lazodiac · 11 days

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There seemingly won't be a Planeswalker's Guide to Thunder Junction, sad to say, so it's time to stop delaying this.

Outlaws of Thunder Junction is the most recent Magic the Gathering set to release, taking place on a "fresh" plane- a place that has no sentient, sapient life. Initially populated by the Atiin people, nomads from another plane that moved here when the Omenpaths opened up the multiverse, everyone who decided to come on down to the Junction and make a new life for themselves has given themselves a bit of that old west flare.

But the question is; where are all our new friends from? In a burst of intellectual curiosity and bad decision making, lets actually do our best to figure that out, starting with... (some ground rules: only the subject matter of the card art matters. Instants and Sorceries will try to divine where the spell and cast are from to the best of my abilities. Please note this is mostly arbitrary.)

WHITE

... cool way to start. Based on the artistry of the Eversaloon's entryway I'm calling Kaladesh, it has the appropriate spirals.

The original printing of this card is Innistrad so you might be tempted to say this lovely lady is from there, but the style of wings, the way she is channeling Thunder through her gun, and the general vibe of the art tells me this is Dominaria.

This delightful feller is endemic to Thunder Junction! The armor has an Esperite flare but I'm counting this as not from another plane.

Aven Interrupter is our first one that's like, actually obvious. Owl aven have only been seen on Arcavios so until told otherwise, this friend is from there!

While we're seemingly not getting a Planeswalker's Guide for Thunder Junction, it was mentioned on twitter that Felidar are native to the plane. The particular design of the cat and horns suggest creatures native to the American West as well.

This abomination (Affectionate) of a pun features a local oxen and a Thunderous wind whipper. As much as a magical spell can be, this is from Thunder Junction proper.

Another native creature to the plane. I love the fluffy beards on these critters.

Now look at this bad boy! There's absolutely no known place in Magic the Gathering that a rabbit person like this could exist... yet anyway! I'm thinking this guy is from Bloomburrow (as is the Mole person from Murders at Karlov Manor, incidentally).

While this is noted as a spirit, the fact that it's an animus suggests to me this is more of a living mirage than an actual person. Native to Thunder Junction.

Eriette is the weirdly sympathetic wicked witch of the Wilds of Eldraine storyline, so this stunningly beautiful piece of artwork is from that storybook plane.

There's no real defining characteristics on this card to really peg where it's from... except! IT was mentioned on Twitter that Spree cards were meant to evoke big Western films, and this one is The Magnificent Seven... which means this lone survivor's from Kamigawa, because it'd be funny (and the spooky aura radiating out of these guys feels like a Reckoner thing). Hey, I did say these would be arbitrary sometimes.

The incredibly cool horse(?) of Annie "Haseya" Flash, one of the main stars of the story. Fortune comes and goes as she pleases, but Annie always finds her when the chips are down. I love this creature, and love Annie. I choose to believe Fortune's from the Atiin homeplane and came with her.

There are not a lot of places Dwarves can be from in Magic the Gathering... this doesn't have the exact sort of filigree you'd expect from Kaladesh, but consider the fine work and the tools being employed, this lovely fellow is likely from there.

The Sterling Company, our villainous lawmen for the plane! I'll talk about their leader later, but based on him, his style, and the impeccable fashion of his men, I'm saying they're from New Capenna.

Goddest boy in the multiverse Kellan Okoson is here to lasso an entire train to safety with his fey-natured vines. While I'd love to say this is from Eldraine because Kellan is from there, this is the natural fey-gifts he inherited from his shitty father, so they're from Oko's Plane.

This polite kidnapper is pretty clearly from Eldraine. I wonder what she left in the cacti's place though...

This is a tricky one. The way Thunder works on the ol' Junction is that it needs a loop to radiate through- thus the horsehoe on the blade. But that, plus the inner tang also being a loop, suggests this is a former Zendikari sword, modified from climbing equipment to chaos-channeling shock-sword.

Annie Flash digs up her past for one final job, and looks sweet as hell doing it. This is from the Atiin's plane, I'd reckon.

This guy could really be from anywhere, which is kind of the point of Thunder Junction- to give up your old life for a spell and see if a new you will work out. But the fact that his potions are so classical Fantasy Potions I'm saying he's from Dominaria.

This delightful little critter is native to Thunder Junction, and what a cutie he is. Did you know Prairie Dogs were a type of squirrel before seeing this card, because I didn't!

Fundamentally I have no real indication of where this guy could be from... but he's from Prosperity, the Sterling Company's roost, and his suit's got a bit of an armoured look to it... so I'm gonna say Kamigawa.

Look some of these just flatly aren't actually doable. The drones bouncing around suggests it could be from one of the planes that got those, but ultimately I think I'm going to have to put this as "yeah I got nothing".

I could have swore there was somewhere in the Wilds of Eldraine story that said these particular blue and white bovines belonged to the giants of the sky... and while I can't find it, I wanna say they're from Eldraine anyway. So I will, it just fits dangit!

This is definitely native to Thunder Junction. It's just got the vibe, you know?

Choke this one up to New Capenna- and if you think that's wrong, blame the Sterlings for having such fine coats.

Ditto for this one- though I'll note that the carriage and the train from the above card absolutely have that Kaladeshi vibe.

It' always fun to see what exactly gets turned into an instant or sorcery spell in flavor-first sets like this. This friend is from Thunder Junction, positive.

Another Sterling, another New Capenna ex-pat looking to make a name for herself. If it helps one of the city's of the plane, Omenport, leads directly to New Capenna, making it one of the most likely planes for people to naturally come from.

I will stop calling Sterling Company mooks New Capennan's when they stop looking like people from New Capenna. This is a sort of Aven you'd find there design wise.

Cute, designing a shield like a deputy star. This has no real markers signifying the people using it, but the subject of the art is clearly the shield itself, and this bad boy was made on Thunder Junction baby.

Only 30 images are allowed per port so check in soon for PART 2.

#Outlaws of Thunder Junction #Magic the Gathering #OTJ #planeswalker #white mana #nerd stuff

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x011011x · 1 month

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Hello there! I'm not sure if you take yandere requests but I'm assuming that you are

Can i request a short fic yandere Cater Diamond x gn! Reader? Just.. Uh, horror-ish maybe? The reader knows about Cater's weirdly obsessive tendencies and is trying to subtly avoid him

“Did you sleep well? Don’t lie to me, I watched you.”

They Wouldn't Believe You

Yandere!Cater x NonReciprocating!Reader Horror

Trigger warnings: Stalking, violence, blood, isolation, mentions of sexual behaviour, Cater is a whole ahh trigger warning in this fic ngl

Word count: 2.8k+

This is my first time doing requests so I'll be looking forward to any criticisms you have!! It was really fun writing this and I really got into the mood by the end but I was too scared of making this too long for a short fic. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this story!! <3

He walked behind you and while you didn't look at him, you knew he was looking at you, dissecting you with his chemically green eyes.

Static buzzed in your ears. You wanted to look back, just to confirm whether you were right. You knew you were, but you almost didn't want to believe it. He was someone you had loved. Someone you had trusted. Now he had become but a shell of who he was to you before, ailed with twisted obsession for you– which only the Great Sevens knew how he developed.

You tried resisting the urge to look him in the eyes, but giving that primal response to your fear was much stronger than what your brain could logically think out. You looked back, knowing it would fuel his fire more.

Sick green eyes looked back at you, like beautiful emeralds tainted with blot. His lips were curled up in a disturbing smile, pearly whites perfectly ready to tear through your flesh if he was met with rejection again. His eyes looked at you but they weren't exactly focused, like the gaze of a delusional man.

A soft blush creeped up on his cheeks.

"Hey, (Name)! Been a while since we last spoke. Cay-cay missed you~!"

At first, you were quite fond of the redhead. Cater seemed like the fun, carefree upperclassman. A far cry from someone as rigid and strict as Riddle. You just thought he was so cool. He had tons of Magicam followers, he was in a band as the guitarist. He was also so sweet to you. He always treated you to lunch and he even helped you buy your first phone.

Later you realised that how nice he was could be better defined by the word 'eerie', rather than 'welcoming'.

You'd often catch him staring at you, but he didn't look away when you caught him. Rather, the man approached you in such a friendly manner, you'd feel compelled to think that you were the one who saw wrong. You'd often feel guilty that you were taking a well meaning upperclassman in such a bad light.

On a random day, you and your group were hanging out just as usual. You watched as Ace and Deuce bantered about something stupid, like who would paint the roses. Ace exclaimed, drawing out the other boy's name, "Deuceeeee! I painted the rose just yesterday! How can you do this to me?"

Before Ace could babble on further, the jade eyed man slapped his palms on the ginger's face, "Ace! Don't lie! How could've you painted the roses yesterday when I myself painted them?"

Ace shoved Deuce's hand away from his face and retorted back, clutching onto his chest as if he was accused of a grave crime he didn't do in front of a judge, "Dude, I was doing the eastern side of the maze! I swear to the Great Sevens!"

"Ohh. I was doing the western side."

"Then, it's neither of our duties today, you idiot! Did you leave your brain back in your room?"

"Wait, but Mr. Diamond said that it's our duty today?"

"No, it's not! He lied to you, you dumbass. Gosh, deduction is not your greatest forte. Is it, buddy?"

"Are ya picking a fight about this?!"

You laughed softly as you them argue and sometimes even hit each other. Before Ace could open his mouth to spew some more of his nonsense, they both seemed to go quiet together. You and Grim looked at each other and then at them, they were also uncomfortably looking at each other and then at you.

You wondered if they wanted to say something to you, but before you could get any word out, Grim beat you to it, "Why are you two looking at my henchman like that?" He asked curiously, looking at you, trying to see if there's anything wrong with you. "They seem fine to me."

"It's uh- it's nothing really," the orange eyed boy stammered.

Deuce followed up, agreeing with Ace "Yeah, we have nothing suspicious to say about Mr. Diamond at all."

"Dude!"

"Oh- Um… uhh…"

That day you found out that Cater liked you. It wasn't mutual, at all. You thought of him as a friend and a close one at that. But, you weren't offended by him liking you at all. Rather, you felt the need to make things clear between you two so that you could continue on with your friendship.

So you decided to call him to the main street and resolve the issue together.

The autumn leaves cracked under your feet as you walked down the main street on campus. You waited patiently for the young man, fingers nervously drumming against the side of your outer thighs. You were tired from the day, but the thought of Cater liking you ran like marathons in your head. You walked in circles without realising, tensed with how to approach the issue as politely as possible.

'He could do way better than me with how popular he is. Is he insane?'

Sweat ran down your forehead. You wiped it off with a sigh. Your heart beat painfully against your ribs. You trusted him, you truly did. You didn't doubt him even once in the half an year you two had been friends. Maybe it was precisely because he was an expert at keeping such troubling emotions to himself and only put up the most acceptable version of himself is why you trusted him so much?

You stopped in your tracks when you heard an airy voice behind you, cheerfully calling out to you.

"(Name)!"

You turned to look at him. (E/C) eyes bored into his green ones. He looked like a mess, a hard day from his head resting against the desk from when he had been sleeping in class. You laughed as you saw him run up to you, heaving loudly.

"Hey Cater," you greeted him softly, reaching up to rake your fingers through his hair to set it in place, "Your hair looks a mess."

"Aha! Looks like I'm getting advice from the best hair stylist in town!" he closed his eyes as he felt your soft fingers touch his scalp. His face looked content and peaceful whenever you touched him. You couldn't believe all this time it was because he liked you.

After you were done, you moved back, thumb holding your chin. Your face feigned the focus of an artist precisely scrutinising their art for any imperfections. Honestly, Cater was beautiful enough to be a piece of art. You knew he had a low self esteem, and it saddened you. You knew you shouldn't say anything misleading, but you couldn't help yourself, "You look beautiful, Cater."

He fluttered his eyes open, the smile dissolving from his face. For a few seconds, he looked at you with an unreadable expression on his face. A gentle smile spread on his lips, reaching his eyes as the forest-like hues looked back at you with admiration. He cooed, "Thanks, (Name). Appreciate the sentiment."

You both spent some time just looking at each other, smiling stupidly in the simplistic joy of such a trivial moment of your day. You wanted to forget about what Ace and Deuce had told you, the thoughts still tugged at the back of your heart painfully. You wanted to say something but you contemplated your cards in a hassle, thinking it might ruin everything you both had. The sweet friendship you cherished so much.

Before you could speak, he asked himself, "So? What did you call me here for?"

'Ah. Yeah. I need to say something,' you thought. You hesitated, the words stuck in your throat. You looked down at the ground, opening and closing your mouth like a beached fish, not knowing what to say. A hand rested itself on your shoulder. That caught your attention as you looked up at the redhead. He was still smiling yet something felt… sickening about his eyes. It was a sentiment you could never utter to him.

He looked down at you and his eyes held a sort of harrowing glint you'd seen before in him. It seemed as though his gaze was piercing into your soul. For the first time, his eyes seemed less like the calming forest and more like burning chemicals.

"They told you, didn't they?" he posed a simple question, voice light with his signature lul. His grip on your shoulder tightened.

You bit your lips. You didn't want to rat your friends out and possibly get them in trouble. You had never felt this way… this scared because of Cater. Even though he still sounded sweet. Oh so sweet. But you could see how his other hand was clenched tightly, you could see his jaw flexing against the side of his face. He was angry. You thought that maybe he ought to be, being told on by underclassmen, but only if he was anyone else but the man you trusted.

Your dearest upperclassman. Someone you considered one of your best friends

"Y-yeah.." you muttered out, scared to lie to him when he was in such a state.

As lean as he was, he was still stronger than you as a mage. One snap of his fingers and there'd be enough of him to beat you to a pulp. You didn't know how he was when he was angry and you didn't want to take your chances.

'It hurts.' you thought. Your shoulder had gone numb already. As if he could read your mind, the green eyed man took his hand off of you.

"Well? What's your answer, (Name)? Surely you wouldn't disappoint poor Cay-cay!" he asked, looking expectant.

"About that.." this was the moment. You had to make things right. You couldn't let him live in delusion. This was still your friend, a person you held close. You sighed with regret before announcing, "Cater, I'm sorry to say but I can't accept your feelings."

It felt as though time stopped. Cater looked at you and you looked back at him, both wordless. He looked like he had something to say but he kept his words to himself, nothing could suddenly grow the same sentiments in you that he had in himself for you.

The breeze was cool but it felt searingly hot against your skin for the few moments you had to wait for a response. But, Cater didn't resort to anger. Rather, with that same complex, unreadable expression from before, he turned on his back. He waved at you with a wink, "No worries! See you tomorrow, (Name)."

Knowing him, you had trusted that he wouldn't take rejection badly. But you were almost dumbfounded how easily he took it. It's as if the biggest burden was lifted off of your chest. Now you could return to your regular life where Cater and you are best friends.

Nothing more, nothing less.

You hated him. You hated him. You hated him.

You didn't know why that creep was approaching you right now. A manic look on his face, as if he just recovered from frantic hysteria. He muttered out, "Can we talk for a while?"

You clutched onto the gash on your arm that he had inflicted on you two months ago after luring you into his bedroom for a 'movie night' that went way south. He exclaimed that it was a way to keep you all for him now that the jig was up. Cut you up, so that you could be his in life and beyond the bar of death. Embrace him with the promise of eternity, even if it meant your demise. You couldn't understand his logic, obviously.

"You haven't loved someone like that, you know?"

It was only by a sliver of a chance that Trey heard you scream and came to your rescue. But you couldn't tell him that it was Cater who cut you. Not when Cater dropped the knife at your feet right before he came in. Not when Cater looked so worried about that cut, asking if you were okay. Not when Cater hurriedly went to find the first aid kit, as if he wasn't the reason you needed one in the first place.

You couldn't tell Trey with all those things into account. He wouldn't believe you.

It was horrible what Cater had started doing to you.

He would send you letters in a completely different handwriting describing things only he knew about. He'd describe all the violent things he wanted to do to you and the men you talked to because of how jealous he was. He would swear he would kidnap you and marry you. How no one could stop him, not even you. As the letters progressed, so did the nauseating scribbles that came along with it, each one describing what he's planning in a nonchalant tone.

He was outside your window. You couldn't wake Grim up. You were ashamed to.

That's what he had made you. Ashamed. And hateful. And fearful. And regretful, regretful that you had ever trusted a man like that. Ashamed to say what was happening to anyone. They wouldn't believe you. They wouldn't believe you. They wouldn't believe you. And even if they did, they'd think you're the problem. You're the weak one. Or maybe that, he wasn't, in fact, "Violating you like that at all, you're just delusional".

When you came back home from school, you'd find your clothes taken, only for the next letter you receive to describe how much he enjoyed using your clothes to sate his sexual urges. It was so humiliating. You'd cry as you read the letters. Maybe he'd get rid of the clothes before you could report him. And then, the fingers would be pointed at you. You'd be the one sworn at. You'd be the one who'd be shunned.

No one would believe you.

You hadn't seen him since that night. And now there he was. Your devil, standing right in front of you. You wanted to run, you wanted to scream. You knew you had to do something. But, it was the middle of the day. Everyone was around. How would you explain your situation to everyone even if you were to react that way? He was friends with everyone, there was hardly anyone who disliked him. And then there was you, infamous of all students for no good reasons at all.

He took a few steps closer to you. You took one singular step back. You opened your mouth to request, "Please, go away."

"No! (Name)!" He looked like he was prepared to get on his knees to beg you to stay. "Let's… chat. I love your scent, but nothing's cuter than your voice~! I've missed it…" he paused, before shortly adding with a certain baritone that made you tremble, "I've missed you."

"Cater, it's not like that between us-" you tried getting away as he came close to you but before you could, he grabbed onto your wrists.

"You don't know what it's like between us. Our relationship is special and-" he stopped, observing you for a moment before another sickening smile bloomed on his face, "You've developed eyebags. Those must be because you're worried about Cay-cay. I sweaaaar, I'll love them too! I think they're pretty cute!"

"It's…" you tried moving your hand away it wouldn't budge. His grip was painlessly binding, undoubtedly it could turn into crushing in mere seconds, "It's not because of you, you motherfucker!"

"Really? Then whose letters are those that you read late at night?"

What.

"What?"

"Those letters!" he shakes you, a bit harshly. Enough to get your heart stuck in your throat as he demanded to know "Whose are those?!"

"Y-yours," you blurted out, scared of what he would do to you if he thought that the letters were from someone else.

"See? Wasn't so tough to admit it, now was it? The letters are pretty romantic, aren't they?"

You looked at him dumbfounded. He describes gutting Ace as though it's just like making fish fillet even though by day he and the other ginger boy make a pretty good pair. He thinks that is romantic? But, it was more absurd that he knew you stayed up at night reading his letters. Wordlessly, he knew that is what you were most perplexed by, and he chuckled sweetly, "Oh Dear Sevens, your face can be put up in Magicam right now. Talk about #earlyhalloween."

You didn't know how he was making light of the situation. It was as if he had forgotten the morale reasoning behind his own acts.

"Tell you what, cutie? You can drop the whole distant act now. They might get suspicious and even if you said anything they-"

"...Wouldn't believe me."

For all you were concerned, you were dealing with people from the moment you woke up till the moment you went to bed. Yet, he had so meticulously managed to isolate you. You grit your teeth and thought to yourself that it would be different if he wasn't a mage. But, would it be any different? You wondered.

He smiled at you.

His eyes reminded you of green radium. But everyone would object. They would tell you his eyes were more like the gentle forest.

After all, they all stopped believing you.

Don't copy my work okay!? >:((

Though taking inspiration is always welcome <33

Be sure to like, comment and reblog if you like this fic, it'll definitely help in my goals of becoming popular.

#disney twst #twisted wonderland #twst #tw.dark content #tw.yandere #heartslabyul #cater diamond x reader #cater diamond

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shihalyfie · 2 months

Note

I hate spamming you... But I only see your blog recently, and I have so much things to say. Ao3 and Twitter are not better, so I think I should just use Tumblr. I really love Digimon, but sometimes, there are problems that continually crop up throughout the length of the Digimon franchise (even in the realm of characters and relationships, which is what Digimon does best). What problems do you think is the most serious? May you keep your blog wonderful like this.

I haven't had a lot of free time lately, but I would definitely say Tumblr is the best place to ask this kind of thing because the other places are too short-form, haha. Thank you for stopping by!

Uh, well...I honestly don't think I can answer this question because the word "problems" is so wide-spanning and subjective. Firstly, there'd be the question of what problems we're even talking about (Writing technical issues? "Problematic" content?), but even if we did define that, that kind of issue is so subjective that I can't tell you what's the most serious or critically in need of addressing or what. What's problematic for one person can be validating for another. People and society are multifaceted, and even if there are things I could say "it could have been done better," I can't say I would completely invalidate it because perhaps someone has their own way of life that relates to it. And so on and so forth.

Even in terms of writing technicals, I've often said on this blog that the parts about 02 that can make it frustrating or messy are also what makes it unique. For instance, you could say it's overloaded/weirdly paced and is terrible at communicating its themes upfront, but because of that, it has way more depth than you could expect a 50-episode anime to have and goes into territory you wouldn't see in most series. I don't think I'd trade in those factors for anything else, because I've accepted that Objectively Perfect media doesn't (and shouldn't) exist anyway. Fiction is about emotion and feelings, and by nature the imperfection of it is a necessary factor to reflect the imperfection of emotion and feelings.

I'm sure everyone has their own answer to this question (and I'm sure everyone wants to list off their own gripes, but please say that in your own space instead of reblogging this post with them because I don't want to have to go through a ton of trash-talking just to get through my notifications), but me personally, if I had to think of something glaring and serious that needs addressing right now, I'm not sure if I could come up with something immediate, and even little things here and there like "please be a bit more conscientious about how you portray your girls" are vague blanket statements that will have different meanings depending on the Digimon work to the extent I don't think it's something I can reduce to a single answer. So I know it sounds like a cop-out, but I think my honest answer really is "it's way more complicated than that."

#shiha's ask box #digimon multi series talk #ozoraslegend

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obstinaterixatrix · 20 days

Text

also went on a paddle boat with sister, it was fun I haven’t done it in like 7 years. we stopped by a book store, and

1) there’s a physical copy of A Hero in the Demon King’s Castle which was surprising to me because syohei(/inutoki)’s got really off-beat style so I’ve figured they’d be too niche to be licensed, plus it had a dust jacket WITH author/artist bio AND the extra comics on the actual cover… I didn’t get it because I’m not quite ride or die for it, but I am reconsidering because syohei’s art is just really fun. plus it’s just a well-printed book, how often do you see manga printed in eng with dust jackets? I’ll probably reread it and see if I Really Do Want It. if anyone wants a bit of a wacky read with interesting art, give it a look. I actually… really like inutoki & syohei’s other anthology more because I really like the love interest of the main oneshot but it also has one oneshot that’s pretty vicious to the point I’m not sure I’d actually get a physical copy lol

2) speaking of pretty vicious, a physical copy of one of asada nemui’s works was there which I think is pretty cool, her art is sooo interesting to look at. it’s not as crazy as syohei’s, but it just feels… direct? impactful? just an appealing style. I wouldn’t buy a physical copy of that one, but I’d get one of sleeping dead… I’d consider getting the anthology but she really paired two of my favorite oneshots while having the main story have My Hardline Exclusion Criteria 😞 I’d get the other anthology tho, no hard no’s in that one. where was I going with this? well, if you like strange morose rancid toxic romances, definitely look up asada nemui and also a list of content warnings

3) on that note, it made sense to list manga alphabetically by title back when it’d take up a single shelf max, but I think book stores really need to rethink manga shelving, especially since more bl with smut/het with smut/yuri with smut is getting licensed and distributed

3a) by the way there were quite a few yuri titles, which is a cool change! I already had the one I liked

3b) buy ‘5 seconds before a witch falls in love’ it’s so good. I LOVE the main story. I am lukewarm on the other oneshot. the main story is SOOOO fun, zeniko sumiya has kind of a more shounen-esque art style and she usually draws bl so you need to treasure her fun & dumb witch/witch hunter shenanigans

3c) I mistyped shenanigans as shenanigals lmao that kinda fits still

3a) and the other ~15 I’ve read and dropped because I wasn’t interested in them (I showed sister the cover of SHWD—like, I also want muscular women but I cannot get over some of the anatomy, those are beach balls attached to her chest? like it’s not the aesthetic of Anime Titty Jiggle Physics but I really cannot get over it) but I’m glad there’s more yuri. mostly. I hate that the gamer one is there, the art and writing is so weirdly uncomfortably… H for something that is a SFW slice of life, and I didn’t like a few of the other series that sister pointed out because they were really. too long with not enough sense of direction/momentum to have satisfying character/relationship progression. BUT IT’S GOOD THAT MORE YURI IS BEING LICENSED.

3) anyway I was thinking that there should probably be more a delineation between either genres or age of audience, but at the same time, that’s tricky—having an 18+ section could make it uncomfortable for folks who enjoy being able to browse without a glaring neon sign that indicates they’re looking at smut, dividing by genre can make it tough for folks who want to take a look at gay romances/lgbtq autobio more surreptitiously,

3d) well, I would imagine it’s less of a huge deal now than it was ~15 years ago, but homophobia still is a thing

3) so in the end I have no defined conclusion to my thoughts on manga shelving in english-speaking countries

4) I saw several copies of nagisa furuya’s works! I might go back for number call, that was the first one of hers I’ve read and it’s really cute. I was telling sister, this might sound bad but I like how… standard her art & writing is, it’s very clean and pleasant, her low(ish)-stakes slice of life fluff is really good. also nice to have sfw options for introducing folks to bl

5) this is completely unrelated to this bookstore trip but a couple of weeks ago I saw an m/f romance and was like. do I know this artist from bl??? but I looked up the artist and didn’t see anything I would recognize, it’s just… the way older men is drawn is so…

5) like I know I’m stupid biased because I read an inadvisable amount of bl but he looks like a guy straight out of my miserable office worker bls. I feel like I should know him from bl. I guess I just forget that m/f fans also like older men because all the josei romances I’m involuntarily exposed to are very (…) Like That

5a) mangaplanet REALLY needs to reorganize its genre divisions. hardcore josei smut shouldn’t be lumped with shoujo. hentai should not be lumped with shounen. guys what is going on there

5) but I’ve been thinking of reading it because even by style alone it looks like it’ll at least be unique m/f (though, if I’m gonna read m/f, my preference would be for a miserable older office lady and kinda punk-ish younger guy, but oh well…) it’s just, the cognitive dissonance of squinting at this guy and being like. you belong in a bl.

6) I need to get back out of the habit of reading bls to pass out at 2am 😔 for a while I finally dragged myself back to sleeping at 1am with my baby leash (screen lock) but I’m back in my bad habits. I could at least look at the unhinged horror m/f racher’s been begging me to read just to diversify what I’m pouring into my brain. oh, also sister gave me night is short walk on girl to read and the writer really did deserve all his awards, his character voice is extremely arresting

#my ramblings

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undiscovered-horizon · 1 year

Note

Bestieee it’s me again i hope ur doing well, I loved the headcanons u wrote for Eddie 😩 I also couldn’t resist I had to make this request ( I have so many ideas luv so buckle up) I’m a sucker for some angst to fluff so what if the reader ends up having a huge argument with Eddie over him getting locked up maybe even reader walks out ( to get some fresh or something but Eddie thinks the reader wants to end it )

Honestly do whatever u want bestie I’m sure it’s gonna be great either ways

Wassup we love a returning friend!🌺 Came out quite short

🫀REQUESTS ARE OPEN🫀 || Batman-inspired playlist

"Hopeless opus" - Riddler x Reader

WORDCOUNT: ~ 1k

[TW: self-hate, intrusive thoughts, couple fighting, misunderstanding, unconstructive coping mechanisms, referenced panic attack]

A couple, however one would define the term, stands for a few. A handful. Maybe two or three. In any case, it's always more than one. Despite that, Eddie seemed unable or unwilling to exit the loner mindset. He wasn't alone, in any sense of the word but still acted that way.

Anytime he was going through something difficult or at least somewhat troubling, he'd become even more closed off than he usually was - a house haunted from within. His eyes would become weirdly vacant as if his ghost had truly left his body to finish some business elsewhere. It worried you to no end, there was only so much a man could take. Despite always being there to listen to whatever was going through your head, Eddie never let you return that intimate favour.

"What's on your mind?" you asked although you knew very well he wasn't going to suddenly let his emotions pour out. Hopefully, you could at least plant an idea in his head; an idea that there was someone who cared, who was willing to listen despite it all.

"Nothing," he answered without even looking at you.

"You've been a little... off lately, Eddie," you continued hesitantly. He was a man of impressive emotional lability and it often takes very little for his mood to be changed. "I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine."

"You can talk to me about anything, anytime. You know that, right?"

Eddie sat right up, suddenly distracted from his work. He let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes. How long has he gone without sleep?

"You wouldn't understand, anyway," he said quietly. "No one can."

"Talking about it might help you," you suggested as you gently placed a hand on his shoulder. To your surprise, Eddie frantically moved away from you.

"No one understands! No one knows what I've been through!"

"I want to but you have to talk to me first."

"How could you possibly understand?" Eddie raised his voice. Despite it not being out of the ordinary, you could never quite fight the hurt in your chest - you're not supposed to be yelling at those you love. "You've always had everything you could want or need, never had to beg or go hungry so others could eat. You don't know what it's like to lose everything you had. To always be a failure. You're just like the rest of them, born with a silver spoon in your mouth. You can't possibly understand."

For a moment you remained quiet, unsure how to respond to his raging accusations. Although you were together, there seemed to be an unbreakable wall still separating your worlds. No matter how hard to tried to tear it down, something inside Edward was reluctant to do so.

"That's unfair, Eddie," you broke the tense silence.

"Unfair? Do yo-"

"Just..." You raised your hand to stop him. "Just stop, save your breath."

You didn't wait for his answer, at the time you didn't even want to hear it. The whole situation was becoming too much and you could feel your grasp on your own emotions slowly slipping away - if that ordeal went on for a moment longer, it was going to escalate. How could he just dismiss all of your effort at getting to understand him? Did he not see it? Did he not care?

Eddie simply stared as you took your jacket and left the apartment, the front door shutting loudly behind you. Your muffled steps in the corridor quickly disappeared as you headed for the exit.

You were... gone.

His legs suddenly gave out and Eddie fell to the floor. It seemed as if gravity had lost its grip on the entire world, making it sway before his eyes. There was a stinging pain in his chest that made it difficult, if not impossible, to breathe. Eddie could hear his own frenzied heartbeat in his ears - a deafening hum along with rushing blood. It was hard to say whether he was aware that his body began gently rocking back and forth.

"Of course she left you, you idiot," he hissed at himself. "Moron. Loser. You don't deserve her. What did you expect, you're unlovable and disgusting, she's better off without you."

Shame was washing over you. It didn't feel right to suddenly leave, especially when you knew just how much Eddie can get into his own head. But the alternative was escalating the situation and that wasn't any better.

Anger had long gone left you. As you were quietly opening the front door to your shared apartment, you only felt sad, wanting to make up as soon as you could. You knew Eddie has been through things you couldn't relate to and perhaps that meant that he needed a little more mercy and patience than you had previously thought.

"Eddie?" He couldn't be sure whether your voice wasn't a figment of his lovesick imagination. You saw him curled in the corner of the room, panting irregularly. Suddenly feeling a wave of fear wash over you, you dropped your jacket and quickly walked towards him. "Dear God, are you alright?"

Frantically, he lifted his head. His gaze was unfocused as if he couldn't quite see you. Through his blurry, teary vision, he could just make out the outline of your silhouette.

"You're... back?" he asked. His voice cracked. Normally he'd beat himself up about that, 'cool guys don't get voice cracks' but at the time there were more important things at hand.

"Sure I am," you answered as you sat next to him on the floor. His trembling hands felt hot against your cold skin. "I live here, don't I?" you asked with a nervous chuckle. Eddie never got like that before and so you weren't sure what to think or do.

"I... I thought you left me."

"Leave you?" You were surprised by his far-fetched conclusion. What on Earth gave him that idea? "No, I just needed to catch my breath and calm down."

Your heart broke seeing him so desperate and completely hopeless. It was as if misery had his face. Feeling tears pool in your own eyes, seeing a man broken beyond what was considered humane, you reached to embrace him and place your head in the crook of his neck.

"I'm not leaving you, Eddie," you whispered in a trembling voice before softly kissing his cheek. "I love you too much."

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catkin-morgs-kookaburralover · 2 months

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Writing Newsletter #1: March 2024

So! Lil author's note to explain this. I decided to start up a newsletter, monthly, but until I get around to figuring out website hosting &c., to post on here instead of emails. Once I get that sorted, I'll switch this to email, and there'll be a newsletter signup gift of two stories - Ever Changing, Ever Near (hosted on my website until recently) and A Fragile Solace. Together, in unedited form, they're around 3k. They're Inklings stories, both of which were highly commended in the separate competitions I wrote them for. Anyway, if you want to be on the taglist for this monthly newsletter, say the word and I'll add you.

Writing update

Lately, my main project has been Patience, Changing. It’s a story about autism, changes in routine and loving despite the inconvenience. There’s also a spice of mental health in there, because I’m me and that’s what I do. Also my protagonists are eleven and twelve years old. Very fun. Rhona is incredibly over-dramatic and while in some ways she’s justified, in other ways she’s just not—I’ve written a couple of scenes from her perspective that I intend to cut, just because I love her so much. (It’s meant to be all from Patience’s POV.) An interesting thing that I’ve noted in the last few days is the inclusion of a character I’d intended to be already gone before the story began, but on a whim I decided to change the timeline. If you’ve read The Patience of Hope, the character I’m referring to is Hannah—Patience’s aunt, who dies of anorexia complications long before. However, I’ve chosen to include her in Patience, Changing because as someone who suffers from anorexia myself, I felt it was important to include the possible outcomes. I’m not entirely sure what her role in this story is, but I’m discovering that she is very important to Patience, so we’ll see when she dies. I’ll have to edit The Patience of Hope to change that detail, but that’s okay.

This is the second time I’ve made myself cry over a character I originally wrote as dead before I wrote them before they died, but anyway.

In terms of word count, I’ve written 80k of assorted Patience content since I started writing the novella in mid-December, so I’m pretty happy with that.

Reading update

At the moment I’m reading Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle for Lent (well—Lent-ish), as well as Cry of the Raven by Morgan L. Busse. This is my first time reading both, and I’m tremendously excited to finish them both. The first Ravenwood book was one of my favourites for a long time and I only recently read Flight of the Raven for the first time. It lived up to my expectations.

I’ll have more to put in this section next newsletter when there’s been a definable sense of time since the last one, so. Yeah.

Ramble

Hi. This is just an area where I can ramble about whatever. Since I’m new to this whole newsletter thing, this one is pretty empty. I’m considering how I want to do this thing—considering whether I add in a Goals section or not, or whether I try and get back to posting on my blog, but anyway. Hopefully here on out will become more polished, or something. This was a pretty last-minute idea—I’ve been kicking around the idea of creating a writing newsletter for a While, but until now didn’t actually get round to it.

Anyway, please contact me and let me know what works best or what you’d most like to see! I need the advice.

Drabble

Under Pressure

“Patience!” he called.

She turned to him with relief, pressing her hands to her face in distress. “Oh, Nathan!” she said, leaning a little towards him. “Why can’t I just—be normal?”

“You’re normal—for you,” he said gently. “The public perception of ‘normal’ is so weirdly skewed it’s crazy. Don’t think any less of yourself just because you can’t handle that.” He gestured to the party they had both left behind. “You’re fine, Patience.”

“I’m autistic,” she said bitterly. “I’ll never cope with the world.”

“That’s not your fault.” He didn’t touch her, only smiled, and she was comforted.

Photo

#newsletter #author newsletter #indie newsletter #indie author

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drfaustus · 6 months

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Just finished coriolanus and I.....hngngng something about violence as a metaphor for queer love and the way that this play is so focused on masculine identity through violence.....

yeah, yeah. i feel you. on returning to the play for a seminar paper, i was so struck by how in some ways, coriolanus himself is a figure of that ideal of masculinity-as-defined-by-violence taken too far. so far that it completely disfigures him. i was fascinated by how often he is imagined by others as disjointed wounded body parts. menenius and volumnia meticulously recount each of his wounds and where they sit on him—one on the shoulder, the left arm, on the neck, two on the thigh. twenty-seven in total following the taking of corioles. cominius calls him "a thing of blood" (2.2.104), whatever the hell that means. menenius even claims "the wounds become him" (2.1.120). he's engulfed by wounds—unique in the sense that they represent something physical—the literal scarred tissue on the body—but also something lacking. a cut is an empty space. i don't even know what to say about the citizen who claims they should stick their tongue in his wounds and speak for them—a weirdly specific violation. god and when he's told to sit put in the senate to hear the stories of his wounds recounted once again for political points, and has to plead to be let leave to try to heal, to become whole again. and all this because he's so good at being the pinnacle of violent masculinity—but really, it's that he's not allowed to be anything more than that at all. and it's all good until it's a threat to rome!

and the queer intimacy. the homoeroticism present is almost so weirdly blatant that it feels like there isn't much to say about it. i remember reading it last year for class and we all just laughed through my professor reading aufidius recounting his gay ass dreams about coriolanus because like. what the hell. shakespeare's most marlowe moment of all time honestly. and i mean, soldiers on the battlefield enter into a space where they're surrounded only by other men with the unique peril of the threat of violence that brings them together in comradery, and like, yeah, sometimes also gay sex i guess. certainly, violence is a part of it here too. coriolanus's use of the wedding bed metaphor comes with the elation of seeing comunius on the battlefield. but the moment with aufidius in 4.5 feels different to me because it's almost like a moment where the homoeroticism is off the battlefield, i am always struck by how coriolanus is essentially like "you can slit my throat and i'd completely understand." he expects aufidius to enact violence on him. but aufidius embraces him ("here i clip the anvil of my sword." clip means to embrace. but the anvil and sword kinda problematize my point here i guess, they're image of war, too). maybe the violence can never be escaped actually, wait maybe that's why their intimacy fails too. anyway. literally had that revelation while rereading this to post it.

#like yeah the man has absolutely rancid political takes but the politics have always been the least interesting part to me #coriolanus #shakespeare #also convinced that the complete 180 that aufidius takes between 4.5 and 4.7 #is the result of either extremely exhilarating or weirdly disappointing gay sex that happened that we don't get to see #those two can not be normal with each other #cant imagine their sex would be any different #also sorry this is long and doesn't really have a neat conclusion #the paper is still really a wip if you can't tell

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phineasandferbtheories · 1 year

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Phieas and Ferb

ooo i haven’t given much thought to this one outside of canon weirdly enough!

ok first things first: they’re very close. obviously.

and we know that they’ve been that way since the beginning (see: that one episode where they become babies and immediately get along)

anyway

i think as they grew closer, their inventions got more complex

teamwork makes the dream work and all that

and they have hella connections everywhere, so they’re fantastic at networking

not actually part of this, i just felt like saying it. putting the ad in adhd and all that

but for inventions: as the show goes on, we very clearly see that they do a lot of smaller side projects

example: those baseball things in into the second dimension

i’d like to say that they do those alone, but that isn’t really canon. it’s canon in my heart, though.

so with that headcanon in mind, it shows that they’re constantly willing to work together

however, they’re both very. um. distractable.

ppl hc phineas as adhd and ferb as autistic but they’re both both. to me. in my heart i know it’s true.

and honestly, when you have both? kinda lonely ngl

but with someone else like that, it’s really just. fantastic

and it’s a specific type of closeness that’s hard to define or imitate in any other scenario

ok but back to the distractable thing (lol irony): sometimes they just. forget to listen to each other

example: spy mission betty bus yada yada yada

but i don’t rlly see that getting in the way of their closeness. they just see it as something that’s part of the other that, though sometimes difficult, makes it easier to be themselves around each other simply because if they do the same thing, it’ll be understood and not held against them

which is rlly nice :)

anyway, back to inventing: as seen in the episode with bully bromance in it, neither of them can stand to go long without inventing

which, for most people, is pretty hard to understand

both due to the fact that for most ppl, inventing is a difficult and long process and most ppl quite simply don’t have obsessions like that

the type that itches at your brain and makes u feel like ur losing it until u go and do the Thing

…i rlly wanna go play my saxophone

regardless! my point: both of them have a lot of traits that they share that most ppl simply won’t understand

example: candace in general lmao. two way street with that one tho

and i could go with the whole “only they understand each other” thing but that’s stupid and i hate it

but there’s very few ppl that understand them and for most of they it quite simply isn’t at the level that they understand each other

thankfully, though, they aren’t too codependent on each other, as seen in act your age and that time where they talk to their mom in the future

anyway in conclusion: they love each other lots and very much prefer life with the other around

thanks for the ask!

#pnf #phineas and ferb #ferb #ferb fletcher #phineas flynn #phineas #pnf headcanon #phineas and ferb headcanon #pnf theory #ask #this was fun >:)

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archer3-13 · 1 year

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Fire Emblem Engage: The Four Hounds, Execution and Intent

got past ch23 of engage, gameplay wise its a fun enough chapter using map environmental damage gimmicks in a way that generally works. as you can tell from the title though, thats not why im making this post. I'm making this post because spoiler warning:

this is where the four hounds and the plotlines tied to that whole group basically culminate. id be surprised anyways if anything more comes of them, but at this point i feel confident enough at their part in the story to comment on it.

under the cut

the tl:dr of it all is that the four hounds are a villain quartet idea i love in concept, but find lacking in execution in regards to their place in the story.

but what do i mean by that? well, we'll start by going over the concept of what engage wants the four hounds to be. at the bare minimum the four hounds are our evil quartet/mini group for the game, a timed honored tradition not just in fe but across media of all sorts. in terms of general archetypes we have

zephia: evil sexy female group leader and bosses right hand mauvier: the honorable obviously going to heel turn or die tragically guy griss: the crazy one in it ostensibly for the lols possibly for another reason marni: small bratty child who was duped into it with candy

and if they were just the bare minimum I probably wouldnt have much more to say on the matter, but the game does give them some extra narrative teeth and its something that kinda flew past my head for the majority of the game because it didnt feel that important. we will get to that.

but essentially, ya know how in ch10/11, the snippet of the scene marketing decided to use to tease the four hounds pre release? when zephia notes how the four hounds are 'like a family'? shes not just saying that she literally means that, its their 'unique selling point' so to speak as an evil group. aside from their evil archtypes you can also map them like this

zephia: mommy mauvier: daddy griss: son marni: daughter

and to give the game credit where its due, when that realization did finally hit i'll admit, i appreciated the four hounds and what was going on with them a lot more. the irrational attachment mauvier and marni display to zephia despite how awful of a person she is makes sense, why mauvier is being so weirdly passive about all the things the hounds are doing especially to veyle despite clearly taking issue with it makes sense, why marni wants to go back to the hounds and mauvier fuckin encourages her to go makes sense.

a lot of what im mentioning there is pretty clearly suppose to be irrational behavior taken for emotional reasons of course. the game presents it as such, but it was always the context of why the characters were acting irrationally that got lost. the deathbed clarification between griss and zephia does clear up a lot of that confusion, atleast for me, and brings some interesting weight to previous storybeats. the four hounds are a family, but a clearly dysfunctional one serving a dark god.

and it tracks with what in retrospect are the wider themes of engage, family and what defines the individual in relation to them. veyles struggle for recognition from her father sombron to the point of believing in his lies until forcibly confronted with the truth, veyles evil alter ego being the complete opposite of veyle in every way except in the desire to be sombrons daughter, ivy and hortensia having had a loving father in hyacinth until his obsession with the fell dragon saw him willing to abandon his own daughters for power, alcrysts and diamants father being described as a paradoxical fierce warrior and gentle family man, alears relation to lumera and how they decide to be family by choice instead of family by circumstance etc.

which is why i will ultimantly say that watching griss and zephias death scene chocked me ever so slightly [in that good emotional release way] with griss providing a gentle reprieve in their dying moments, with a genuinely kinda beautiful final shot of their corpses lying next to each other with griss holding on to zephias hand in the end.

how, fucking, ever.

you'll notice how when describing their death cutscene i pretty much exclusively focus on griss leaving zephia out of the descriptor entirely despite the cutscene being just as much about her as griss. and thats because well i can definitely understand and appreciate the concept intellectually

execution is another matter

were introduced to the four hounds fairly early on in engage, over ten chapters before their whole plotline culminates. and right off the bat i'll note that the screen time for these chucklefucks is kinda wasted in a lot of instances. when they do appear in story they usually could just be replaced with bit villains, and i mean that from both a gameplay and story perspective but for this post story is the more important aspect.

so! the distribution and utilization of their screen time is already wonky and uneven. that'd hurt things even if it was executed really well. but, as i said it isn't and i can point to two primary factors in that matter that i feel needed some serious tweaking to get this to work

the interaction of the hounds as a family unit

and zephia herself

so, starting with the easier problem [in my opinion], the hounds and the time they spend interacting. if the idea were suppose to be grasping is that the hounds are like a family unit, if a very fucked up one, then its important that when the hounds are on screen interacting with each other that their interactions always carry a very distinctive family dynamic to them. and this is the first hurdle engage trips over with the hounds because frankly they dont.

dont what? dont interact all that often as a group, dont interact like a family. as stated their screen time is already wonky, but even when the group is all together on screen is very heavily weighted either to zephia talking mad shit, or to evil veyle/veyle interactions. that leads us into the second part of this problem, and its that even when the four hounds are all together interacting they never really feel like a family, even an off brand one. they feel like evil coworkers in an organization brought together as colleagues to do missions as they try and impress their superior for individual merit.

and thats a problem, cause if we are suppose to feel sad for their 'family' when it starts fraying at the edges, when the ideological and moral weight and contradictions of their actions and individual perspectives start clashing and tear the family asunder, suppose to feel bad when mommy and daddy start fighting because mommys an evil bitch who stabbed their daughter, then they need to feel like a family right from the get go and in every interaction and appearance they make.

which brings us to what i would consider the bigger problem. zephia herself. why is she a problem? because shes the biggest impediment outside of screen time and dialogue distribution inn getting this group to work and feel like an actual family. and screen time and dialogue distribution? giving the four hounds room to interact and feel like a family? thats a writing issue sure but a fairly easily fixable one you just have to give and write them more lines of interacting like a family.

zephia however simply does not work character wise as a mother figure for the four hounds family unit. even if you tried to get them to interact more like a family unit youd run into the problem that shes written exclusively as sombrons evil sexy secretary. and yes secretaries can be mothers but thats not the point.

in order to get this idea of the four hounds as a family unit across, and not the facade of one but an actual pseudo sort of family unit that were suppose to feel for as a family unit, then you need to have characters capable of displaying affection and compassion for each other. and zephia just cant do that the way shes written, itd be like trying to write petrine [or aversa really, who zephia shares way more writing dna with] in a domestic family situation. they're both characters that are too outwardly cruel and cold to realistically manage that without feeling either disingenious, as zephia felt the entire time i was playing whenever she mentioned the four hounds as a family unit which is part of why it didnt stick with me at first, or just feeling out of character.

and unfortunately the only way you could practically fix that, is by rewriting zephias character to one that would fit what the story wants to convey. at which point she becomes a different character, just one sharing zephias face.

best solution i can think of is to shift zephia from a aversa type as it were to more of an eremyia type if that makes sense. cause eremyias big thing in the fe12 assassin sub plot is how she outwardly presents the facade of a kindly matron of a church orphanage well underneath shes a cruel and cold taskmaster of an assassin cult for gharnefs objectives. if zephia had at least been somewhat similar, presenting a wholesome motherly facade before letting the teeth out to achieve sombrons objectives, then i feel things would have hit a lot better in regards to the four hounds and their plotlines.

it would make more sense why the group stays together despite the horrific shit they do, it would hit harder when the cracks form, it would be more shocking when marni gets stabbed by zephia, more impactful when mauvier declares his intent to kill zephia, and more heartbreaking when zephia belatedly realizes she wasted her opportunity for a real family of sorts by taking the four hounds for granted and similarly more heartbreaking when griss lets the facade drop for a moment to comfort zephia before passing away himself.

but... they didnt. or atleast it doesnt come across that way in the english translation. and thats why i consider it a really good concept, with poor execution.

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #four hounds #zephia #griss #marni #mauvier #spoilers

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