#not in reference to any specific character

[lilbabychilton]

A Slice of Life at Shift Change with, Jack Abbot

Jack Abbot x Reader

Not edited, and exactly what the title says. Just a little mundane, slightly fluffy slice of life with Jack Abbot. Trying to flex my writing muscles again. No warnings. (Reader referred to as pretty, otherwise not gender specific.) Let me know if you want to see any more "Slice of Life" content for any of the characters I write.

---

Your head was down on your workstation, resting on your forearms. You’d spent the better part of the last 10 minutes like this, trying to will away an oncoming headache and finish updating patient records for the night. 

“Rough night?” Asked a familiar voice from behind you, steady and dry with a lilt of teasing at the end. 

“Rough life.” You replied, picking up your head and furiously rubbing the sleep from your eyes. 

When you finally opened your eyes there was a steaming to-go cup sitting in front of you, and you smiled. Your gaze was met by Jack's intense yet kind eyes, and a besotted grin. He watched intently, scanning you over as if he was making sure you were still in one piece, while you picked up the cup and took a long, appreciative sip. 

“Jack Abbot, you’re an angel.” You hummed, before going in for another sip.

Dana scoffed at the idea of Jack being an angel, and Dr. Shen leaned against the counter and sighed dramatically, “how come you never bring me tea, Abbot?” 

Before Jack could answer, Dana laughed, “because you’re not nearly as pretty, Shen.” 

Shen gasped in mock offence, “I happen to be beautiful.” 

“Don’t hate the player, hate the game, John.” You replied, taking an exaggerated sip, never breaking eye contact as he walked away. 

Jack rolled his eyes with a chuckle, “where’s Robby?” 

“Debriefing everyone before the shift is over.” You replied, looking back towards the staff room where everyone was gathered. 

“He’s gonna be pissed you’re not in there.” Jack said with a barely concealed smirk on his lips. He found it hard not to smile while talking to you. 

“It’s a good thing I’ve got you to protect me from his wrath.” You countered, finally finishing the last of your patient notes for the night and logging off. 

“Some things are beyond even my abilities, Sweetheart.” Jack mumbled, before pressing his lips to your temple in a gentle kiss and starting to walk away.

“Are we still on for this weekend?” You called after him, getting up from your chair and walking towards the breakroom, to-go cup in hand. 

“Yeah, I’m picking the movie this time though.” He answered, as he picked up a tablet and prepared to go over some patient notes. 

“What’s wrong with the movies I pick?” You asked, furrowing your brows and feigning offence. 

“Because a man can only sit through so many Plant of the Apes movies, before he loses his mind.” He quipped, grinning from ear to ear at the memory of the weekend you spent together curled up in bed, eating popcorn, and marathoning movies. 

“You loved it. Asshole.” you grumbled, covertly flipping him off by scratching your nose with your middle finger, and then slipping into the staff room before he could respond. 

“Me-ow,” Jack mumbled to himself with a laugh, before turning his attention back to the patient notes.

[glasgalahad]

Dᴇʟɪᴠᴇʀᴇʀ's Sᴏʟᴀᴄᴇ.

"Encompass the world with your brilliance, my dear Deliverer- be bold, and unravel the fabric of suffering."

↠ I had such an incredible time creating this piece- genuinely, I believe it's the strongest, best work I've crafted this year. So much heart and soul was etched into every detail. I truly hope that effort and care shines through!

In terms of visuals, I tried to include a whole bunch of character/lore references, so feel free to let me know if any stand out to you!

Also, as a fun side note- I tend to create playlists to loop when working on larger/long-term projects so I can effectively capture a specific kind of energy. So, here's my Phainon-inspired one! It's not super long, but I think it's got a good mix of instrumental tracks, and I'll definitely keep updating it when I come across new music~

Playlist - 'Deliverance' ____________________________________________________________

Be sure to check out my previous HSR illustrations!

If you want to find me in-game, my handle is Glas- UID 621208255 / America Server.

GʟᴀsGᴀʟᴀʜᴀᴅ 2025 | Mᴀʏ ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇ ᴜsᴇᴅ/ʀᴇᴅɪsᴛʀɪʙᴜᴛᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴡʀɪᴛᴛᴇɴ ᴄᴏɴsᴇɴᴛ.

[castor-redd]

Do YOU want a free, greyscale headshot sketch of your Warden/Hawke/Inquisitor/Rook/other Dragon Age OC, or an NPC from any of the games??? Well boy do I possibly have a deal for you.

REPLY to this post with:

- The name of a character

- (Optional) Any specific things you want, like expression or angle or idk stuff like that

- For OCs specifically:

- At least one picture/link to a picture of your character I can use as a reference

- (Optional) Any notes about their appearance that may not be featured (I.e. maybe they have a scar that you can't put on them in-game or extra jewellry)

- (Optional) Tell me something or link to a blurb/bio/tag/etc. about your guy so I can read about them later :) I’ve been out of the fandom for so long that a lot of the people I used to follow have gone; it’d be nice to see what everyone’s got cooking nowadays.

BONUS if you want your sketch in colour: Send me an ask with a question from an ask game that is for/can be applied to Dragon Age. Include the link/source of the question, and mention that you’ve commented on this post. OR just ask me anything about my Dragon Age characters :) I love any chance to talk about them. Also if you do this please make sure the ref image you give me has semi-decent lighting for your character so I don’t botch their colour palette.

(A few ask games to pull from: Rook 1, Rook 2, Rook 3, Rook Origins, Warden, Warden Romance, Hawke, Hawke Romance, Inquisitor. If you’re the creator of one of these games, I’ll draw for you no matter when you post a comment, just by way of thanks :))

The first 20 folks will be guaranteed to get art; if you’re outside the first 20, I will do my best to get to you. But I have no idea what the reception to this will be, so um. I make no promises. 21? Totally feasible. 31? A little less so, but I’ll do my best :). It’s like 2am for me right now so I will probably start working on things tomorrow, and we’ll see how fast I can crank them out.

Examples of what you’ll get are below, except your art will be a little cleaner, larger, and a lot more square these were cropped out of a larger piece that was not intended to be close-up portraits, but um. My art tag is far too dusty for me to point to it for examples so sad cropping jobs it was.

(Unrelated but these are all my DA guys — two Wardens, Hawke, Inquisitor, Rook. If you ask me about them, it will make my day.)

[firstkanaphans]

Hi, I just wanted to ask if there's any gmmtv bl that showed a verse couple? 🥰

Since most of GMMTV's shows don't actually follow the characters into the bedroom, sex positions are usually implied rather than overt, but these are the couples that are at least strongly hinted at being verse.

Sun and Mork from Dark Blue Kiss

Ironically, this is probably still the best example and it's from all the way back in 2019.

Jim and Wen from Moonlight Chicken

Pat and Pran from Bad Buddy

As you can see, P'Aof really likes his verse characters because he's three out of three on this list so far. Throughout the series, both Pat and Pran ask the other to rate them, implying that they've both topped. Or at least I think they did. I scrolled through the whole series twice and couldn't find the clip of Pat asking so I could take a screenshot. I did learn that Sonya was in Bad Buddy, though. The more you know.

Yak and Dee in Wandee Goodday

Implied through the positioning of their rabbit and tiger toothbrushes. And also, I believe, by the costumes Yak wore when they were sneaking around. They were all references to famous Thai pornos but I have forgotten the specifics.

Others

Army talks explicitly about being verse in The Warp Effect, but he and Joe are never actually shown having verse sex because Joe doesn't like penetration

Boston in Only Friends is verse, but with two separate partners. He bottoms with Top and tops with Nick

[unexaltedonewhoisnotking]

Seeing as we have a bit over a month until the fight begins this year I think it’s time to release this from the drafts so I don’t have to copy paste the full thing lol…

So you want to know how ArtFight works

Well, here you go. This is more or less a copy of a post I was using a lot last year as well, just slightly updated. It's a little long so I'm keeping most of it under the read more

What even is it:

ArtFight is basically an annual art trading event in July, focused around players' original characters (fandom-based or otherwise) - although it might be more accurate to say art gifting, as you aren't necessarily organising individual trades where you make arts for User X and User X has already agreed to make art for you.

ArtFight includes most forms of visual art (no music or writing), both digital and traditional, but of course most people like to draw so you might see me refer to drawing in the rest of this post out of habit, even though it isn't limited to that. There are two teams, and when you submit art you earn points for your team! There isn't really a prize, just bragging rights I guess.

Where and when it’s hosted:

ArtFight is hosted on its own website: https://artfight.net

You’ll have to upload your characters there in order for them to be attacked - if you don’t have a character on the site, you can’t be attacked, but you can still attack others. A few people choose to remove or hide all of their characters specifically so they only give attacks instead of getting.

Technically you can upload a ‘character’ that is just a link to something like Toyhouse where you’ve got other characters hosted, instead of putting that information specifically on ArtFight, although there are some people who are less inclined to attack characters that require them to go off-site for information.

You can upload characters and edit their profiles, and bookmark other people's characters that you might want to attack later, at any point during the year, but the event itself is only open in July (specifically, noon on July 1st MST until noon on August 1st MST) - so that month is the only time you can submit attacks.

How to join:

First of all, make an account on the site!

Second, even in July, you can’t play (ie, submit/receive attacks) until you get on a team. That means that if you decide not to participate one year, nobody can attack your OCs against your will either, since by not choosing a team you simply won’t have made yourself available as a target.

How do you get a team, then:

Well, you can’t yet.

You’ll notice that if you make an account right now your username is greyish-brown, indicating that you aren’t on a team. A lot of users currently have purple or teal names, which represent the teams from last year (Stardust and Seafoam, respectively). Don’t worry, you aren’t being held back from anything - those team colours don’t mean anything for this year! The themes for the year should be announced in June and then team picking will become available.

What if you’re late to join the fight:

No worries! On my first year I only heard about it a couple days into the fight and thought I was too late to start… and then I realised halfway through the month that I was not, in fact, too late. You can make an account and join a team right up to the last day of the fight, so don’t feel scared of a late start! You won’t be prohibited from joining and you can still probably get a lot done. There’s no minimum number of attacks required, unless it’s just a goal you set for yourself.

The only thing about joining late is you’ll have missed out on the ‘early bird’ team picking - you’ll just be randomly assigned to a team instead of getting to choose. That said you’ve got two chances each year to ‘reroll’ if you prefer the other team. Personally, so far I’ve been excited to get randomly assigned (well, except last year. I saw purple and I wanted purple lol).

What the team themes do:

…nothing  really, they’re just for fun. Each year the theme changes and like I said above, we’re still a while away from hearing what they’ll be for this year.

You aren’t required to make your OCs or profile or anything match the theme, although some people do like to just for fun. One type of OC you might see is the ‘ArtFight sona’, which is, y’know, a sona inspired by your team for that year, uploaded as a character to be attacked.

Submitting a character:

At the top of the site there’s a button that says ‘Submit’, and then gives the option of ‘Submit a Character’. That button’s available year-round, during and outside of the fight.

ArtFight’s a bit finicky about image sizes, which can be annoying when uploading characters. When you’re uploading a character initially you can only add one image, but if you then go to edit the character you can add more images, up to 6 total. There is a description space for each character you upload where you can write information about their lore, design notes, etc, so you don’t need to squish all of that into images.

Like I said up above you can technically link off site instead of writing a profile for a character on the site. You can also put multiple characters in one slot on ArtFight, if you consider them a package deal.

Personal opinions/advice for uploading characters

You don’t necessarily need a full reference sheet, but at least having a fullbody artwork makes it a lot easier for people attacking. There are some people who won’t attack without a reference sheet, and others who won’t attack unless you have some non-ref sheet artwork to show your ‘investment’ in your own character, but honestly most people are just there to have fun and won’t mind as long as they have an idea of how to represent your OC - honestly, just put what you want to and what you think is worthwhile, the people with 'rules' about this stuff all have different rules and you don't have to abide by them.

Make sure to use the tagging system! A character can have up to 10 tags which make it easier for people to find them - it's not required, but it helps a lot. Some good things to include would be like genre/aesthetic - ‘fantasy’, ‘steampunk’, ‘superhero’ ‘modern’ - and, in the case of fan OCs, the original media. Tag if they’re a human or another species, and tag if they’re anthro or feral for furry characters. And if they have some distinct feature or motif tag that too! Maybe tag a distinct theme colour if they have one. You might not be able to fit everything in that tag limit, but those are ideas.

I’ve seen someone ask how many characters is a good number to have. Honestly, the answer will vary. You can have up to 100 at a time on the site but some people use that ‘link to Toyhouse or somewhere else’ idea to functionally add more. Personally, I’d say it’s just nice to give people some options when they want to attack you, so at least two or three… past that put as many as you like. But also, if you just have one blorbo you really want art of, there's nothing wrong with only uploading that one guy - and there are even a few users who only want to attack others for nothing in return, so they don't upload any characters

You can re-order your characters in the ‘manage characters’ page. A lot of people make sure that the characters they’d prefer to get art of are at the start of their list, and of course it’s handy to group characters from the same setting together.

You can also set your character ‘permissions’, which are your rules or preferences about attacks you receive - you have global permissions that apply to all of your characters by default, and character-specific permissions that note unique rules or exceptions you’d like other users to keep in mind when creating art for you. Common things to mention in permissions might be if you’re okay with being included in “mass attacks” (I’ll get to those later), if you’re okay with artistic nudity for your characters, if you like their outfits to be changed, etc

Submitting an attack

An ‘attack’ is an art piece of another user’s character or characters - making attacks is how you earn points for your team. Again, use that ‘Submit’ button at the top of the page, and then choose ‘Submit an Attack’… Bear in mind that this option is only there during the Fight and only if you’re on a team!

Each character on the site has an ID code, which you’ll paste in when submitting an attack, to indicate what character it depicts. Then you’ll have to rate your attack in a few categories: Basically, you’ll give yourself points. When submitting an attack you’ll have to rate it in a few categories: how much of the character is visible? Did you use clean linework? Is it fully coloured and shaded? Is there a background? All of this works into the score that the site will display. The site has guidelines for attack rating with examples, but they change a little from year to year so you’d be better off looking for those than me trying to explain it here.

Friendly fire:

You usually attack the opposite team… but you can also attack people on your own team. It’s just worth fewer points - 20% of an equivalent attack on the other team, specifically.

Revenge:

When submitting an attack, if the recipient is somebody who already attacked you this year, you’ll see an option to mark the attack as revenge. It doesn’t impact the points, but it means that the two attacks will have a link to each other at the bottom of their pages.

Users can create revenge chains by repeatedly revenging each other. Some people make it a goal to create a long chain, others would rather leave it at one and done so they can focus on other people as well. There’s no obligation to take revenge, so don’t feel pressured.

Revenging is fun, but I’d recommend against saying that you will always do it. If you wind up getting burnt out or just get more attacks than you can deal with you might wind up breaking that promise.

Mass attacks:

Mass attacks are attacks that feature multiple characters - of course, more characters means more points! You can include your own characters in these, too.

Unlike revenge, mass attack isn’t an ‘official’ term and there isn’t anything to select when submitting an attack that will label it as a mass attack. You’d just keep adding more characters to the attack by the same method as normal - put in their ID and mark fullbody, halfbody or simple shaped for each one.

For a mass attack you designate one person as the main recipient; they’ll be the only person who can officially revenge it, although the others might still decide to attack you back as thanks.

If the main recipient is on the opposite team, you’ll get full points for the attack, regardless of the teams of the other characters in it. And likewise if the main recipient is on your team you’ll still only earn 20% regardless of the other characters.

There’s an upper limit of 100 characters per attack.

Finding characters to attack:

The first place to look is that ‘Browse’ button up at the top of the site. That can take you to a random character’s profile, or a random user’s profile. You can see all the most recently uploaded characters. And best of all, you can search for characters by their tags, like I mentioned.

Last year, Artfight changed the tag search slightly. It used to be that it would display a 48 randomly-selected characters from the tag, but nowadays the selection will be a group that were uploaded around a similar time to each other (what time will still be random with each time you search), which means that it might not display as many characters as it otherwise could. Keep retrying the search to see if anything new comes up!

And honestly, just trawling through the site, from the profile of someone who was included in a mass attack with you to an attack they made on someone else to a user that person was attacked by... something is bound to catch your eye

[cadence-the-hypnotic-floret]

The HDG Storm Scale

Hey, any fellow magic nerds? Probably. In Magic: The Gathering design, there's this useful heuristic tool called the "storm scale". It's essentially a scale that defines how likely it is for keywords to come back in future sets, from 1 (evergreen mechanics) to 10 (Probably never making that mistake again). The scale itself is named after its peak, Storm, an infamously broken mechanic.

I had the idea of doing that with HDG Tropes. Obviously, I speak only for myself, and I threw this together in like 20 minutes, but I think I'm on to something.

----------------

1-3: Evergreen tropes. Things that will probably show up in most HDG stories, and are very safe ground to tread.

----------------

1. Non-con (individual or systemic, it's in there), tentacles/vines, hypnosis, Disability

2. Basically any mainstream kink, Intox kink, drugging

3. Piss, CGL, ABDL, Vore, a variety of other unusual kinks made much more doable by the setting

----------------

4-6: Slightly Spicy. Things that are definitely possible in HDG, but which will want to be handled with some care.

----------------

4. Sexual Assault (HDG genre typical), Addiction, Gaslamping

5. Character Death, Identity Death, Kidnapping

6. Sexual Assault (Played straight), Euthanasia (Class-Os)

----------------

7-9: Watch Out! These are elements that have been done well in stories, but are famously landmines liable to break your story, the setting, or both!

----------------

7. Floret Endangerment

8. Affinification, reference to a character's abusive childhood

9. Mass Death.

----------------

10: Just don't! These are just axiomatically not okay in HDG. Yes, these are all things I've seen in fics... just very rarely good ones.

----------------

10: an affini intentionally abusing or abandoning their floret, an affini intentionally killing another xenosophont, feral xenosophonts killing an affini

(11: Underaged characters. Seriously. We just don't do that here.)

A few quick notes.

HDG is fundamentally fiction. It is a setting made up of stories, with a specific tone and vibe. Certain things will work better or worse within that story environment. The question of "can this happen in this world" is not actually the most important one. The more important question is "what story do I want to tell with this". A lot of the most famous stories in the setting go hard on difficult subjects, because they had something important to say about it. But... you should have something to say about it!

To take up the example of death: there are lots of great stories about grief, or about recovering from the grief of losing a loved one. People die. Sometimes suddenly and tragically. But when it comes to mass death... Removing the question of whether it could happen, what HDG story do you want to tell where countless sophonts dying is an important plot point? Are you sure it's not better served as original sci-fi, or fanfiction in a different setting?

To date, I have seen mass death done well in... I wanna say almost one story. One Analyst's Opinion earns this moment, and it's a powerful, and deeply horrifying moment that mostly works. Even then, I personally have (literary) issues with how it was handled, and it wreaks havoc on the Affini-Rinan contact timeline if taken with the seriousness it deserves.

EDIT: I have been reminded that No Gods No Masters features mass death and does it really, really well. The overall point still largely stands, I think.

[hp-confessions]

I really don’t agree with the view of the Marauders as an unequal or imbalanced friendship. Shipping and anti-shipping aside, I think that’s a major oversimplification, exaggeration, and unfair to all four characters.

Yes, James & Sirius were undoubtedly the closest to each other. They were a double act, they were inseparable, they had two-way mirrors + matching t-shirts + identical fluid movements, they trusted and adored each other beyond all others. That is perfectly okay. You know who else had a similar dynamic, and who James & Sirius were explicitly compared to? Fred & George Weasley. They were twins and did everything together, but that didn’t stop them from being good friends with Lee Jordan, nor did it stop them from being a sibling-duo within the wider Weasley family. I have never seen anyone deride those dynamics as imbalanced, and certainly not “toxic”, so why are people suddenly obsessed with referring to James & Sirius in such a way? It is very common and very normal for friend groups to have a pair who are the closest to each other, that doesn’t change the fact that the group itself is close-knit. There’s a reason Sirius put up a photograph of ALL FOUR FRIENDS in his bedroom rather than just him and James.

I also don’t understand the fanon emphasis on Remus and Peter supposedly feeling “excluded” from the group and jealous that James & Sirius were so close when canon goes out of its way to emphasize the exact opposite. It’s made clear that Remus and Peter felt happily included in the group:

“To Sirius’s right stood Pettigrew, more than a head shorter, plump and watery-eyed, flushed with pleasure at his inclusion in this coolest of gangs, with the much-admired rebels that James and Sirius had been. On James’s left was Lupin, even then a little shabby looking, but he had the same air of delighted surprise at finding himself liked and included.”

The very foundation of the Marauders is one of inclusion. The whole point of Remus’s backstory is that he found acceptance and comfort with his “three great friends”, that they broke the law and became animagi just so that they could keep him company during full moons, that his otherwise-painful transformations became the happiest times of his life specifically because of their actions to the point. Even when after Remus's death, he looked happy to be back in the Forbidden Forest because it reminded him of their adolescent wanderings together. I don’t understand how people can twist and rewrite this dynamic into one of exclusion and imbalance. What on earth is the point?

I get that fanon often experiments with group dynamics to make them more complex and angsty, which are then automatically viewed as "more realistic" (they're not). But I don’t think the Marauders make sense unless their friendship (rather than its assumed drawbacks – and at any rate, all friendships inevitably have problems, they don’t diminish the characters’ closeness) is given centre stage, because that’s what primarily drives their story. The reason James, Sirius and Peter became animagi is because they loved Remus and wanted to keep him company. They were a little patronizing to Peter, but they looked after him and would have died for him, which is exactly what makes his betrayal so shocking and tragic.

Honestly, the way I’ve seen people call the Marauders “toxic” and “dysfunctional”, it’s like they've forgotten how messy the Golden Trio were and how much they fought with each other in canon, and have instead softened and overlooked all their bad or complicated moments. Paradoxically, they accept the worst possible interpretations of all four Marauders (especially Sirius) to make their claims believable. It doesn't seem fair or logical to me - quite the opposite.

I also think the idea of the Marauders being imbalanced partly stems from perception of James being the central and most-liked friend who kept the group together … even though that is 100% fanon and has no explicit basis in the text (one of the very first things we’re told about the Marauders is that James and Sirius were both ringleaders). It makes no sense to use that perception of James as the base-point of a canon compliant analysis, because it is simply your personal interpretation of canon that others can interpret very differently.

~

[contrastkig]

kinda want to get into kigurumi ngl but idk how

Admittedly this is one of those things where everyone's journey is a bit different but I can at least share what I did and what I've picked up over the years~

(this might get a bit long, but I'll try and keep it as brief as possible whilst still giving the fullest picture I can) (Hi, this is Contrast from an hour later, I'm so so so sorry at how long this has gotten. I can only hope it is helpful)

I suppose to start off, what actually is considered a "proper" kig by the community?

By and large, popular opinion leans towards it requiring two things; A fully body covering zentai suit (called a Hadatai within the community) and of course the mask itself. The latter doesn't even have to be anime styled, there's also quite a few kigs these days that have "BJD" (Ball Jointed Doll) and hard shell furry kig masks.

There admittedly is a little controversy around whether a hadatai is strictly necessary, still often being discussed/debated, so it's definitely not set in stone. Ultimately it's up you what you want and how you want to do things, with or without the bodysuit, with a silly carboard box on your head instead of a mask, go wild if it makes you happy.

The world is yours!

With that out of the way, assuming you do want to go the route of anime mask and/or bodysuit, it's a good idea to decide what kind character you want to be.

It's of course not a problem if there isn't any one specific character you want to be, there are options out there for OCs and even these things called "generics" which are a mask maker's own designed characters that you can change the hair and eye colours.

The Masks Themselves (Structure and Designs):

After this, it's a good idea to know what kinds of options are available to you in terms of how the makers design the masks around what you want and also the typical different kinds of mask "shells" you can choose from.

Starting with the physical shells, there are primarily two ways masks are made, to the limits of my very limited knowledge: •Injection moulding It's the older method that's generally more expensive but also has been argued to be more durable. Most makers who use injection moulding almost always have a focus on Semi-Customs and/or Generics but are willing to do full customs for high prices.

•3D printing With the recent boom in popularity and affordability, it seems to be that most masks these days are made via printing, especially from the newer makers. It's a ton more versatile on average and designs tend to be much more 1 to 1 with the references you provide. On top of this 3D printed masks tend to be significantly cheaper than their injection moulded counterparts.

Beyond this though, there is also the design of the shell itself. This is a ton more fluid and varies a lot from maker to maker but the three general "baselines" the community generally talks about are: •Half Masks These tend to be small sized masks that only cover the front of your head with the mask itself, the back usually having a strap/net of some kind to keep it on your head. This is then covered by the wig.

•2/3rd shells These tend to be roughly what the majority of masks fits under. Less a strict measurement so much as a vague community definition but the idea is it's a mask that covers roughly 2/3rds of your head, often with a bit of netting/elastic/padding going around the lower back part of your head. •Full shell Exactly what you'd expect, these are the kinds of masks that completely covers your head, usually in two or more parts, two of which that hinges together and clamps around your entire head and is quite popular for both people who like to move around a ton without worrying about the mask coming off and also people who just enjoy the total enclosure. It is also not uncommon for lewd kigs to order a full mask with special lock fitted so that it wont open unless you have the key... Full shell masks also sometimes come with the option of different face plates so you can have multiple expressions for the same mask.

Now, to get into how the makers generally design your mask, once again the community has come up with general categories:

• Generics As mentioned before these are the own-brand designs of the makers themselves. You are usually limited to just changing the eye and hair colour but sometimes you can do a bit more like pupil/eyebrow design as well as even choose from slightly different hair options in some cases.

•Semi-Customs As the name suggestions, these masks are literally semi-customisable. The maker will start with a face shape from a bunch of options they give you and from there they will completely change the the eyes, mouth and sometimes rarely the nose in order to match that face with your character. •Full Customs Once again fairly easy to understand. These masks are made from the ground up, fully custom to what you've asked for. Often a ton more expensive but it's generally possible to communicate with the maker over changes and things you want during the creation process.

Well...that was a lot alas, but that should be pretty much everything important to know right off the bat.

Hadatai, the full bodysuit thing:

Thankfully a lot less to say here. The major thing really is that there are three well known places to get a hadatai:

Cantillon, MWF and GKO.

All are generally considered solid, have somewhat differing prices and offer slightly different things. There are links to all three in the guidebook below and more besides too.

Cantillon and MWF are Taobao stores though so can be a bit difficult to order from without an agent. If you don't mind the increased price for the increased convenience, DAME is a UK mask maker that offers Cantillon and MWF hadatai on their website. I believe in GKO in particular offers nonstandard skin colours too so if you wanted a blue skinned character or such, that's definitely an option available. Last I heard they also offer patterned hadatai as well so could even have tattoos or body marks. Just make sure your measurements are as accurate as you can get them, it helps an absolute ton to get someone to help if you can. It's not a deal breaker if not, no worries, but accurate as possible really helps prevent things like seams breaking if too small or baggy fabric if too big.

Kigurumi Resources:

With all that out the way, now seems like a good time to share these:

The former is a list of most of the known mask makers with price ranges and descriptions of what kinds of things they do. The latter is a small resource I made of pictures of the kinds of mask a fair few of the makers produce to give some idea of their style, since every maker tends to have their own design styles and quirks.

On top of these, one of the more well known community spaces is the Kigurumi International Group discord server. If you ever wanted to chat with others and ask more specific questions to the community at large this can be a handy place to be. If you are european based, there is also the Kigging.com discord server. It's less of a general community space and far more focused on arranging kigurumi meets at conventions, hotels and more besides. Often you don't even need a kig to show up to these, we're always in need of more photographers and handlers~

Outside of these there is increasingly more kigs than ever before, many of us are more than happy to ask questions so never hesitate to reach out for questions and advice~ Twitter (regretfully) probably has the highest amount of kigs in one place but we're generally all over the place these days, there's even a kigurumi reddit community (although sometimes pictures shared there can be a bit nsfw, just a heads up).

Shout out to @lyria-kig, dear friend and also a friendly tumblr kig who's happy to help out and answer questions herself if you want another perspective on things. If you've read all this thank you so much for justifying the time I spent on this.

I once again cannot apologise enough that it got so wordy.

orz

[cripplecharacters]

This isn't my character, but I was playing a game where a character is physically disabled and using a wheelchair. She got into a car crash and suffered from nerve damage, resulting in both of her legs being paralysed. Her doctor told her she could walk again if she underwent a rehabilitation program, but she refused.

Prior to her car crash, she had lost her best friend, and had attempted to bury her grief in her work, becoming more demanding and difficult, which resulted in her co-workers disliking her attitude. The car crash that left her disabled was caused by her running over a red light in the middle of her stress and frustration.

After the accident, she reflected on herself and worked on becoming a better and more reasonable person to work with. Hence, the reason of her decision to refuse rehabilitation is to have her loss of her legs to serve as an anchor to remind herself not to lose herself in her own world and to neglect the feelings of the people around her.

It has been written that her disability doesn't affect her career (she's a film director), and she's still a successful person when we're introduced to her.

Still, I wanted to ask if having a character refuse rehabilitation for their disability a bad writing choice? And if a character wanting to stay disabled to remind themselves of an important life experience harmful to the disabled community in any way?

Hello!

I'm not familiar with the game you're referring to but from the sound of it, it seems to be falling into the Disability as Punishment trope.

The issue isn't necessarily with the character declining rehabilitation. Disabled people decline treatment options all the time for a variety of reasons. Maybe they aren't comfortable with the risks or side effects of the treatment, maybe the treatment process isn't feasible for their lifestyle, maybe they've tried other options and just don't want to keep going with it.

The problem with this case is the context around why the character declines the treatment/rehabilitation. We've talked a lot about the Disability as Punishment trope in the past (you can find some of these posts by scrolling through the #disability as punishment tag).

I'm hesitant to speak more about this specific case for a few reasons. The first is that, as mentioned, I'm unfamiliar with the source media and I don't know anything about the context besides what you've mentioned. Without knowing the full story, I can't tell you if it's a "bad" writing choice or not. The other reason is that we're a blog for writing advice -- not media reviews -- and I'd like to keep this as on topic as possible.

That said, there are a few things to consider if you want to make similar writing choices in your own work.

The first is what kind of message you may be sending, either intentionally or unintentionally. Is disability being portrayed as a "fair punishment" for the character's actions or is their decision something that is shown as being fueled by their grief? Does their decision end up changing at all or do they feel any regret about their decision?

I think this kind of thing (a character declining rehabilitation because they want to remind themself to be better) has potential to work in stories dealing with growth, acceptance, and grief but I'd be skeptical if it's just something in the background that's never addressed.

It's also worth exploring why the character would make this rather drastic decision. It feels odd to me that somebody would make this decision simply to "remind themself" not to do something and punish themself for doing it in the first place.

It feels very trivializing to those of us that didn't get a choice in the matter.

But yeah, without knowing more about the context and the character, I can't say much about the media itself. I'd suggest taking a look through the Disability as Punishment tag, though. It has some helpful information and answers to similar asks.

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

[boundwithpurple]

hello! i was just wondering if you had any good recommendations for medieval history books, particularly ones that would be good for getting a grounding in the period. i really admire the amount of research you put into the historical aspects of your fanfiction, particularly in the consideration put into depictions of characters’ personal and sexual lives in their (fantasy) historical contexts, and was hoping to start trying to incorporate similar research elements into my own fantasy fiction. thank you! :) (& also your latest fic was so so good)

thank you for your kind words! i don’t have any recommendations for general overviews, but i can give an eclectic list of recently-ish read non-fiction about medieval europe that has personally inspired me, either about ways i can use it for asoiaf world building or for possible original fiction (both original fantasy worldbuilding and historical fiction). because it is me there is a heavy focus on gender and sexuality in these selections.

crossing borders: love between women in medieval french and arabic literatures, sahar amer

fragmentation and redemption: essays on gender and the human body in medieval religion, catherine walker bynum

the shape of sex: nonbinary gender from genesis to the renaissance, leah devun

in the skin of a beast: sovereignty and animality in medieval france, peggy mccracken

slaves and warriors in medieval britain and ireland, 800 -1200, david wyatt

same sex love and desire among women in the middle ages ed. francesca canadé sautman and pamela sheingorn

eleanor of acquitaine: lord and lady ed. bonnie wheeler and john c. parsons

in general i think it’s better to just dive into monographs on subjects you find interesting than very broad, general surveys. it’s ok if you don’t understand everything or feel occasionally out of your depth - you will learn something, and something worthwhile about whatever area you want to explore. you can take as much time as you like to pursue leads on things that confuse you and then return to the book. imo a tightly argued and narrowly focused academic work or collection of essays is a lot more bang for your buck (by which i mean valuable time) than a big survey published by a popular press, so that’s what i have to offer. then build from the references you find intriguing and the bibliography. you’ll learn a lot this way!

an example of how this work is i read the collection of walker essays and there is one that deals a lot with lactation in medieval mysticism, and this gave me a great grounding for some rhaenicent porn related to this (forthcoming) - thinking of how people conceived of physical motherhood and the gendered body and sustenance and need and its connection to the specific patriarchal structures of high medieval europe and its religious thought is a meaty way to approach the question of lesbian porn between these two women for whom motherhood (coerced to various degrees) is so essential and must be processed into their sexual landscapes in light of a dominant, pervasive religious framework. i think the general principle can work for original work as well. read curiously and it will just kind of come to you and make everything a bit richer and more alien.

[starleska]

Popping in for a Doctor Who-related ramble from the perspective of someone who knows only a few things BUT am incredibly tempted to start watching it thanks to some friends of mine and the Mr Ring-A-Ding Tumblr craze... wait, who said that:

I don't know how many folks noticed this, but - as I'm a bit of an animation nerd - I noticed something in this video of Lux/Mr Ring-A-Ding clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St6HSXeaB1E

In the timestamps 1:22-1:23, 1:33-1:38 and 2:37-2:39, I could be overthinking things but I swear he pulled a "Milt Kahl head shake/swaggle" (or at least some version of it).

If you're not familiar with what I'm talking about, Milt Kahl was a very renowned animator who worked on a lot of Disney movies and was known for animating characters doing this pretty expressive gesture (yes, there is also an entire compilation of those specific scenes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDyaZvQQaNo

2. Although I have a very surface-level understanding of the Pantheon of Discord (I have to quickly thank you for your posts explaining that bit of DW lore), I do adore the concept of it.

So much so (also thanks for my ongoing obsession over Lux/Mr Ring-A-Ding) that I've pondered over the idea of two extra gods (fan OCs?):

Arcoíris, the God of Art

Seimei, the God of (biological) Life 

Details are still nebulous, but I'm liking how they look in my head - as well as their potential dynamics with the other Pantheon members.

first of all: a huge welcome to the Doctor Who fandom!!! 🥳 we always love getting new fans, and entering because a handsome villain caught your eye is very common indeed 😉 second: oh you absolute genius, you're so right!!! i'm familiar with the Milt Kahl head swaggle but the only one i caught was the bit where Mr. Ring-A-Ding is adjusting his bow-tie: subtle yet absolutely there!! that little satisfied smile is key, and it's giving me flashbacks to both The Jungle Book and Robin Hood 👀 amazing catch!! with your fab animation knowledge, perhaps you can help solve another mystery:

do you have any idea what that animation reference is at 2:03, on the word 'sounds', where Mr. Ring-A-Ding's eyes move back and forth in a very sinister way? it looks so familiar and i know it's referencing something, just can't place what 🙈💖 third: i am absolutely adoring both of these OC concepts, oh my goodness!!! excellent names too—Arcoíris would be a marvellous complement to the God of Light 😉💖 i'm sure lots of people (myself included) would love to see your OC concepts if you chose to sketch them! very curious as to what forms they'd have...👀 and oh my goodness, don't worry at all about not knowing some of the Doctor Who lore, that's part and parcel of being a fan 😂 the great news is that there will always be someone who knows more lore than you, so you can just kick back and relax, vibing with whatever stories/concepts/characters you like the most!! :3c

[sortingmyideas]

I love how whenever I see someone trying to "debunk" a character being aro/ace, their reasons boil down to:

"It wasn't explicitly said on screen."

Not considered mandatory for most other sexualities, but apparently it is for this one. I wonder why. What could the reason for this double standard possibly be?

"The writer and/or character didn't/don't know about the term aro/ace."

And that makes it impossible for said character to fit it?? I (and plenty of others) didn't know about the term asexual until I was almost an adult, does that mean we weren't ace?? C'mon. If the creator somehow didn't know about the term "gay", but they wrote their male characters liking like men, there'd be no argument.

"The character looks/acts attractive."

Because appearance dictates sexuality, right? Because a character dressing or looking or acting a certain way can't be for any other reason, right? That makes sense.

"The way they interacted with x was flirty."

Most of the time the "flirting" that is being referred to is just casual interaction. Hugging, comforting, holding hands. All things that are not inherently romantic or sexual.

"Even if the creator outright says it, if it's not explicitly stated onscreen, it's not canon."

Again, this is not a requirement for any other sexuality. A creator says one of their male characters is gay? No debate. He's gay. You're terrible if you ship him with a woman. Creator says they're aro/ace? The character didn't specifically say it on screen, so it's up for interpretation.

"Even if they are aro/ace, if they're sex/romance repulsed/adverse, it's a stereotype."

If you genuinely believe that a character disliking sex and/or romance makes them a harmful stereotype, fuck you. Repulsed aro/ace are not stereotypes and you need to stop acting like we are. You do not care about the aro/ace community. Fuck off.

I'm sure there's plenty more, the amount of excuses people will pull to ignore aro/aces is almost impressive, but I can't be bothered to write them right now.

If the idea of a character being canonically aro/ace really bothers you so much, you need to figure out why that is and deal with it. Yes, it's fiction, but a lot of you are making your stance on our community very clear.

If you can't see how any of these quotes (and yes, these are actual things I've seen people say, plenty of them being quite common) are problematic, imagine if they were being said about a trans/gay/lesbian/bi character. Is it a problem now?

Quit trying to pretend you give a fuck about us if seeing a character that might be aro/ace makes you immediately jump to find a way to ignore or debunk it.

Oh, and for the record, another aro/ace (on any part of the spectrum) saying it's okay to act like this doesn't mean it is or that you should.

[ingravinoveritas]

Interesting, is it not, that the Romeo and Juliet photos with the most chemistry are the ones with his male co-stars?

Hi, Anon! This is in reference to this post, for anyone who hasn't seen it, featuring production photos of David when he was in the RSC staging of Romeo & Juliet in 2000.

Your observation that the R&J photos where David has the most chemistry are with his male costars is indeed interesting...but also not surprising. Well, let's first take a look at a few particular photos that stood out:

When I say that it's not surprising, it's because we don't have to look any further than David himself, who wrote an entire essay about this production in 2005. From his words, the chemistry and homoerotic undertones to Romeo and the male characters' relationships--especially Romeo and Mercutio (Adrian Schiller, in the first picture)--were absolutely intentional:

"It certainly seems from the text of the play that Mercutio doesn't entirely applaud Romeo's interest in girls. He bombards Romeo with criticism and lewd innuendo about his mooning after Rosaline. Adrian Schiller (playing Mercutio) felt sure that this endless vitriol must be based on something more than locker room horseplay and that the character's fury must stem from a feeling, however subconscious, of sexual jealousy and betrayal. We had no trouble finding this in the playing of the scenes. "

There are many factors that go into the staging of a play--what the director wants/envisions, how/where the play is set (i.e., a conventional/traditional staging vs. a more contemporary one), and how the actors interpret the characters and their relationship to each other. Shakespearean plays in particular are (in my opinion, at least) always a tug-of-war between conveying the author's intended meaning--even references that are narrowly specific to the Elizabethan era--and a larger and more timeless universal message that speaks to a modern audience.

Romeo & Juliet is a play that has had tremendous resonance and countless adaptations over the centuries. (The play itself is an adaptation of the story of Pyramus & Thisbe, originally penned by Ovid.) We can look at those different adaptations and see what each cast/crew brought that others didn't...and it seems clear that David made a purposeful choice to highlight the queer/homoerotic subtext between Romeo and Mercutio.

This also seems to be the starting point for David revisiting these themes throughout various other Shakespeare plays in which he has acted, in ways both subtle (Benedick in Much Ado; Hamlet) and more overt. In particular, his deliberate choice to play Richard II as androgynous and his idea to have Richard and Bolingbroke passionately kiss during one moment in the play. And again, all those factors mentioned above are still pertinent, but we can start to see a pattern in David's readings of these plays that is unique and specific to him.

Which finally brings me to one other line in the above-mentioned essay, still talking about the relationship between Romeo and Mercutio (bold emphasis mine):

"The further Romeo moves away from his 'childhood' friends into the grown-up world of heterosexual desire, the more Mercutio rages and the less Romeo is affected by him."

Almost immediately, I was struck by that line--"The grown-up world of heterosexual desire." Especially in the context of the homosexual undertone of this production of Romeo & Juliet. As we've said, what goes into the staging of a play involves many different factors, but a clear one in this case is David's reading of it/collaboration with another actor. In addition, many actors bring elements of lived experience to their roles, and that made me think of what David experienced when it came to gay relationships and growing up in the 1980s.

In most (if not all cases), gay relationships on television or in movies in the '80s/'90s were shown as tragedies--something that was sinful, unhealthy, and (more often than not) ended in death. This is where the "Bury your gays" trope in media comes from, as such plot lines sadly became so common over time. Another trope that (at least in my estimation) was less common but still present is the idea of queer people "experimenting" in childhood but ultimately having to give up those relationships/hide those feelings when they grew up, in favor of doing what was "expected" instead.

What both of those things mean is that David (and so many others) had no model or picture of a healthy gay relationship in adulthood to look to--to see as something that he could potentially have. Because it did not exist, and never could. So it became this thing that was relegated to childhood--that same-sex attractions are immature and something you grow out of/leave behind for a "real" (straight) relationship--essentially the concept we know now as compulsory heterosexuality (or "comphet").

It sounds so patently absurd to us in 2025 that it's almost impossible to imagine...but this is the world David grew up in. These are the messages that he internalized. And the heartbreaking and long-lasting effect of that on him seems borne out and clear as day in his writing of this essay, and in how he came to view the relationship between Romeo and Mercutio.

So yes, going back to your question, it is interesting to see that chemistry, and when we look at everything surrounding it, the pieces very much start to come together. It's been 20 years since David wrote that essay, and I just wonder if, given time and the shifting attitudes in society, perhaps he is able to see things differently now. For his sake, I hope so...

[basedonconjecture]

OC Wardrobe

thanks for the tag @thesummerstorms!! I similarly spent way too long on Canva (fortunately my Pinterest hoard provided, haha)

gonna tag @mythals-whore, @hyperions-light, @thedissonantverses, @biowaredisasterbisexual, @introvertedfangrl, and @complikatedd for this oneeeeeee (ik you’re all busy but it’s fun if you get a chance and want to!) and ofc anyone who sees this and wants to do it is welcome to tag me (:

I did both a canon and modern au version bc I love dressing up characters 😭 It’s not required to explain themmm but I love to yap about my thought process for these things. Clothes say a lot about characters okokok so you’re all subjected to my wardrobe headcanons now. (The hex codes on the color palette is mostly for my future reference but I thought they were a fun detail!)

Edit: yes I forgot to include her picture bc I was in a rush to finish before I had to run out the door it’s fineeeee I added it below 🫠

✧ CANON/MAIN UNIVERSE

Starting right from the top:

FORMAL WEAR • While Selora’s official contracts were all pretty standard fare (thefts, espionage, the occasional assassination — she wasn’t impressing anybody) where she word the typical Crow uniform of leathers, masks, and cloaks, the jobs she did off the record for Viago required her wardrobe be a bit more diverse. All of the clothes she collected in that time were specific to the job, and she’s recycled some of them since they were expensive, but there’s a few gowns in there she’s fond of. The style of them is definitely reflected in her choices post-canon. As seen above, she prefers cleaner, slimmer lines that still allow for a lot of movement without a ton of fanfare wrt decoration. As time goes on, her formal style does get more dramatic and severe. The only times she ever has to dress that way post-VG is on Official House Business (whether its De Riva or Dellamorte) and/or as the partner of the First Talon—so she’s usually trying to be as intimidating as possible. It also a way for her to draw thicker mental/emotional boundaries between that Selora and the real Selora.

CASUAL/EVERYDAY WEAR • Generally speaking, when she’s not dressed in her leathers, she’s wearing much simpler clothing. Oversized shirts in really light breathable fabrics, like linen or silk, in single colors or very subtle patterns. As seen above, she is drawn to dark-on-darks and florals that remind her of flowers/plants in Antiva—ivy, in particular, but jasmine, as well, and, later, grapevines 👀 Trousers tend to be a bit more fitted. Again, for movement primarily. She gets cagey if she feels like there’s too much fabric to be able to run or climb, if necessary. As you can also see, her casual wear does veer more toward masculine lines than her formal wear does. While she’ll mostly rock the deep-V, she’ll also layer with vests, and jackets in similar cuts that will disguise her body more if she’s not feelin’ being perceived~ as feminine as usual that day. Does she have squishy gender feelings? Yes, but they’re mostly subconscious, and she has a job to do.

ACCESSORIES • She does have multiple piercings in each ear, but changes out the jewelry pretty regularly, if she wears any at all. Being an elf, she’s not often in the mood to draw attention to her ears over much, so she tends to choose really simple pieces, usually with a snake motif over a crow one, out of habit. She doesn’t own many things that would outright identify her either as a Crow or as a De Riva for practicality but she finds ways around it when she can. The choker/necklace pictured is similar to the garrote necklace she wore to Caterina’s (fake) funeral and, when she’s working, most of her necklaces have a similar function to them. When she’s not working, she wears one similar to that pictured on the end of the bottom row. It’s not super accurate to the real thing, but she wears two rings on a chain: an inscribed gold ring Lucanis gave her as a personal gift, and his mother’s opal ring once she stops being weird about it. She also has other rings, mostly compartment rings meant for hiding poisons in, that she’ll wear depending on the job. The only ring she wears consistently post-canon is the signet ring (pictured) with her personal insignia on it, which is how she signs off letters with orders as House Dellamorte’s spymaster, so they know it’s from her. She keeps it on her so it can’t get stolen or replicated without her knowledge. Obviously, also included, is her chatelaine belt and knives (:

Her work gear is pretty self-explanatory: leather armor with enough flexibility to allow for her fighting style, supple boots, multiple holsters for blades. (If you’re wondering wtf she sleeps in, I’m sorry to say….mostly her small clothes or Lucanis’ shirts, if there’s a need for modesty, otherwise it’s her birthday suit baybeee).

✧ MODERN AU

I don’t have much to add here, I think it’s pretty straight forward. The mix of masculine and feminine silhouettes carries over into a modern context—sometimes more one than the other—but it depends on what she’s doing. I don’t yet have a solid grasp on what the modern version of the Crows looks like but I do know most of her work is still on the backend for either Viago or Teia or both of them. If anything, she’s the one likely still gathering intel, cooking the books, and running the numbers on whatever they’ve got going on, using that big brain of hers, rather than being front and center in Crow business. Whatever allows her to be less flashy. Her interest in jewelry carries over there as well so potentially something to with that on the De Riva end of things. We shall see, we shall see, but it’s all still percolating.

[kupidachillea]

My only problem with retellings (mainly mythology based ones) is that the people who read them tend to take it all as fact. Not all, but majority. And then they have the nerve to argue with people that read the myths and say ‘actually you’re wrong- this didn’t happen’. Bruh. I have nothing against retellings but it shouldn’t be taken as fact- it’s a good introduction to the source material and a fun read because there are references to the original.

The main issue I see this with is Epic the Musical, The Song of Achilles and Percy Jackson books. I know the last two get dogged on a lot but for good reason. Percy Jackson is a good introduction for young people to get into Greek mythology but shouldn’t be taken as fact. I remember having an argument with my friend that told me Perseus is the son of Poseidon when in actuality he isn’t…he’s Zeus’ son. 💀

Now when it comes to TSOA I haven’t read the book because I really don’t have any interest in it but from what I’ve heard…it’s a far cry from the Iliad itself. Switch up in characters and personalities. I think people were calling Thetis a bad mother and hating on Deidamia, evening going as far as to call her a rapist? And all for what? It’s kind of sad. Again..not everyone is like this but a good handful.

The original screen shot it from this person in Twitter

and finally Epic the Musical. Now at first I loved epic the musical even though it wasn’t accurate but it was still fun listening to the songs and the creativity. But then it grew a fandom, of course no problem..but then most people started being annoying. The creator of the musical himself said to go read the Odyssey and not take the musical as fact. But people don’t really listen. A small example of people not checking their facts is I see most assuming that Telemachus is 15….that is a grown ass man😭. Then we have the mix ups of Helios and Apollon. They for some reason will be hell-bent on trying to convince you that the cows belonged to Apollon. And while it’s true that Apollon had cattle..these specifically were Helios’.

well..that’s all for now, I just wanted to a rant a bit.

[smiling-party]

784085307190624256 OH MY GOD I HATE HOW NORMA'S ORIENTATION WAS TREATED. sorry. i know there are bigger more important things to worry about right now. but oh my god it pisses me off to no end. sorry this will be a long rant

for context I'M alloaro, and norma was my favorite cometcare character. she was also THE FIRST AND ONLY canon alloaro rep i have ever seen in any media. i was happy about it but even when it was announced i was side-eyeing kc because of the way it was handled

for context, the first and only time norma is referred to as aromantic is when she's jealous that eve is spending time with scrap instead of her, and it was confirmed she was aromantic in a separate post right before she blew up at eve for no reason. it never said she was aromantic in-comic, her profiles were never changed to reflect that, and the time it WAS revealed was..... right before she acts selfish and clingy and starts an argument out of literally nowhere. with how hemera is treated (see: qprs used as an excuse to ship stem) and the general lack of rep i found it distasteful because it felt like it was directly implying that being aromantic is being selfish and unpleasant to be around

so i was SO PISSED OFF. WHEN I LEARNED IT'S JUST A COVERUP. i sincerely don't think norma was EVER aromantic i think it was just to hide the fucking secret canon kindred lore garbage. like oh, she was never aromantic, she's just jealous that someone else is dating her SISTER. the whole "i'm scared of being left behind by my friend, the one person who understands me" WASN'T meant to reflect the very common aromantic experience it was just a thinly veiled way for kc to ship them openly and then probably get off on the fact that none of us knew the actual intention behind it

and again reiterating that there are bigger things to be angry and upset and betrayed over. i just need to get this specifically off my chest because being alloaro is a very very important part of my personal identity and seeing it be used as a fucking COVERUP for a grown ass woman's pedo incest fantasy so she could stealth post evorma publicly is so fucking insulting. what a fucking joke

.