#rare fanart from me... of a fem woman too!!!

[phantomeros]

Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it.

[watermelinoe]

Can I get some weebfem thoughts on genderswap/genderbend fanfic and fanart? It really should be called sexswap, but you know what I mean. Personally, I enjoy it when it’s done well and doesn’t resort to gender stereotypes, and I noticed it used to be a lot more popular pre-2012, but now all I see are fanworks where the characters have been transed, and it just seems like such a pathetic cop-out to me. I think stereotypical shounen protagonist personalities like Naruto or Luffy (big eaters, ambitious dreamers, shameless, gross, loud, honest, dimwitted, fights everyone, wears heart on sleeve) become a hundred times more interesting and endearing when they’re written as female characters. It’s disappointing when art depicts Fem Naruto or Fem Luffy wearing skimpier versions of their iconic outfits or with their hair long, or when their canon personalities are switched to more submissive or “feminine” ones in fic, or when they’re written to be blatant self-inserts, but when I encounter the rare art or fic that leaves their canon outfits and personalities intact with the only difference being that they were born female and are indifferent about being female, it makes me so happy and I wish more fans created content like that. I think if we had more (or any) shounen manga with well-written tomboy protagonists, especially hetero tomboy protagonists, there would be less genderwoo in fandom. Being weird, gross, and unfeminine is considered unremarkable in a man but repulsive in a woman, so I think one reason for all the straight TIFs in fandom is that they’ve never seen a man—real or fictional—show any love towards a weird, gross, unfeminine woman (whereas lesbians love women like that) so straight TIFs who are weird, gross, or unfeminine believe that identifying as gay men is the only thing that will make their natural personalities acceptable, thereby making them worthy of a man’s love. But a boisterous GNC straight woman will always be cooler and more subversive to me than a “gay trans man”. And why are there no sweet, joyful tomboys? I can’t think of the last time I saw a tomboy character who wasn’t angry, depressed, or alone. They make it seem like turning your back on femininity means giving up all your positive emotions and relationships. It’d be nice to see a tomboy actually having fun and being loved for once. It’s exactly why characters like Naruto or Luffy would be so much better as females.

no but everything you said is spot-on. i remember when i still had my fandom tumblr in high school seeing the first debates about genderswapping being ""transphobic"" and thinking literally who cares. they're not real. i was a ~trans ally~ in that i defended trans people's pronouns irl but i thought most fandom gender discourse was stupid bc there were like, actual problems in the world lol. but now that you mention it yeah, genderswapping quietly went away after that for the most part and was replaced with trans headcanons :/

but that's my big problem with shounen anyway. i don't care about male narratives and male characters. if a manga goes too long without a girl doing something meaningful, i get bored. couldn't keep up with naruto, one piece, or fairy tail bc of that. whereas like you said, these protagonists would be totally compelling if they were female.

maka albarn from soul eater was an incredible shounen protagonist imo, but every single solid concept from that manga was ultimately overshadowed by the mangaka's degeneracy and misogyny (seriously do not even talk to me abt "boob madness"). if a woman had written soul eater it would've become a classic (and if u read soul eater fanfic like i did in high school, u can see average women writing circles around that basement-dweller ohkubo hfsjkgkg) bc men just cannot write! their work only encompasses the male half of the human experience, and reading it is like trying to enjoy a 3D movie with only one eye.

shounen does an incredible disservice to boys and girls by refusing to show female characters as classic shounen protagonists. loud, gross, a little thick, nonsexualized, single-minded, everything you described abt naruto and luffy. if they made female characters like that i would actually read shounen. lol.

[casualmaraudering]

/ so, inspired by a fanart i did recently have some fem sirius being a lesbian and having a lot of conflicting feelings!

cw: internalised homophobia, religious (catholic) themes, very brief contemplation of nudity (i guess)

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“-inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me,” Sirius slowly whispers to herself, head low, breathing in the scent of smoking incense and burning candle wax.

The chapel is empty - rightfully so, seeing as it is nearing 1 am by now. Only the faint light of the candles atop of the altar shines in the room - it’s far too cloudy for the moonlight to come through the stained glass. There’s no sounds in the air, aside an occasional ambience of the night.

Being by herself, and with no chance of anyone interrupting her, Sirius kneels at the kneeler in the main portion of the small chapel. Rather than in front of the main altar, she’s at the side one, with a marble statue of Virgin Mary right in the centre. She had been taught by a nanny - the one who cared for her since birth - that it’s Mary you should go to if you seek guidance and, most of all, forgiveness. The purest of souls, she had been, and that she continues to be, blessing peace onto those who truly seek it. It’s what she had believed in, and poured that belief into Sirius, urging her to pray, rosary in hand, every night before bed.

It has been years since then, though. Sirius’s view of the world is so much different, now that she’s nearly an adult woman. She has met a great number of people, read a great number of books. Her beliefs are so much more than what they’ve been when she was little, mindlessly following her parents’ every step and command. She is worth more than that, now she knows.

And yet, here she is, once again, kneeled with a rosary in hand, just as she had been as a child. Except when she was small, things had been so simple. That whirlwind of emotions inside her chest and constant battle in her mind were nowhere in sight, not the way they are now, ever-present, constantly nagging her and making it hard to breathe.

She prays for so many things. Forgiveness. Guidance. Knowledge. An answer of any kind, really. A push towards one of the sides of war her mind and soul are battling. She doesn’t know who to believe, she doesn’t know if she should feel dirty or proud, whether she should seek penance and plead remorse, or let go and follow her heart.

If only Mary could answer her. Just that one question. Yes, or no.

Is what the people say true? The nuns and pastors and her parents, are they right? When they say that people like her are a plague on this world, that they’ll burn in hell, is this what awaits her?

“Is it wrong of me to love a woman?”

No answer ever comes, of course. None ever does.

God works in mysterious ways, Father Connolly would say. Frankly, Sirius thinks he’s full of shit.

She has gone through almost twenty beads on her rosary when she hears the unmistakable sound of the chapel doors opening.

She freezes, breathing out quietly, squeezing the rosary in her hand, waiting for a teacher to call her name. She’s no stranger to detention, of course, but maybe this time she could talk her way out - she left her bed, yes, but only to pray in the chapel. Surely whatever nun caught her out of bed after curfew will understand that.

“Sirius?”

At the sound of that voice, her breath catches in her throat. The very same voice that got her kneeling here tonight, torn from the inside, aching with confusion. Burning with desire.

“Remus,” she replies, hoping her voice sounds at least a bit relaxed, not giving away the sudden pace of her heart and the coil in her stomach. She shoves the rosary into the pocket of her jacket, and she quickly turns around, standing up.

Remus walks towards her from the darkness, lit by the gentle candlelight. For the first time, Sirius sees her with her hair loose, falling in curling strands around her face and down past her shoulders, resting on her chest. She’s wearing a nightgown - a white, thin fabric, from the looks of it.

“Don’t let me interrupt,” Remus says at sudden, gesturing at the kneeler.

“I was done anyway,” Sirius replies with a smile. She sits down on the kneeler, trying to appear relaxed.

Remus nods, and steps closer to sit right next to Sirius, leaning against the brick wall of the altar, facing Sirius with her head just slightly cocked to the side.

“What are you out here for this late?”

Sirius chooses to shrug - she can’t exactly say why. It’s not like she could tell anyone at all, yet alone Remus of all people.

“Couldn’t sleep,” she replies finally.

“So you decided to pray?”

“You have said before that I’m ‘the religious type’,” Sirius reminds her with a smile. “It’s just… I had a nanny growing up. My parents are pretty well off, and it’s like a thing in our family to have someone take care of the kids full time. And that nanny would have me pray before bed, every single night. She said that if I ever need guidance or forgiveness or comfort, I should pray to Mary.”

“And you’re looking for guidance? Or forgiveness?” Remus nudges her with her shoulder, smiling in that particular way of hers that makes all of Sirius’s insides feel as if she’s on fire in the most pleasant of ways.

She looks gorgeous in the faint candlelight. Her hair is wild, curling here and there, a few strands over her face yet she doesn’t seem bothered by it. Sirius can just faintly see the scattering of freckles on her nose - a nose flushed red just slightly, likely cause of the cold outside. Her lips are red too - plump, smooth, soft.

And once she lets her eyes wander, Sirius can’t stop it. Her long neck, the necklace she always wears resting on it. Her collarbones, barely visible from under her hair. A few freckles disappearing under the edge of her gown.

She isn’t wearing a bra, Sirius notes, cursing herself for even noticing. And yet, when Remus leans back on her forearms and turns her head to look around her chapel, stretching her body in an outright sinful way, Sirius can’t not look. The curve of her breasts hidden by the thin fabric - just barely there and yet at the same time drawing her eyes in, taunting her.

“Say,” Sirius says at last - slowly, carefully choosing every word that falls out of her mouth, still letting her eyes bask in the glory of the woman before her. “-do you think that if something is out of your control - you try to go against it as much as you can, but it’s not possible… is it sin? You can’t help it no matter how hard you try, it’s like… engraved into you. Is it still unforgivable?”

Remus is silent for a moment, her head still turned forward towards the chapel. And so Sirius’s eyes remain fixed on her, the curve of her body, the way the fabric falls around those curves, covering some but still letting her see just enough of her silhouette.

Licking her lips, Sirius’s mind wanders back to the thoughts she rarely lets herself have - what would she look like without that nightgown covering her? What would it be like to see her here, posing on display, her whole body uncovered and shameless?

Is loving a woman so bad, if clearly women were made to be worshipped? Sirius can’t imagine not letting her eyes sway around Remus’s body, wishing so badly to as much as see it, touch it just once. It would only be natural to follow those desires. And if this is the forbidden fruit, as if Eve were the forbidden fruit… Adam had succumbed to her. How can Sirius not?

“You are who you are,” Remus answers. She turns back towards Sirius, scooting a bit closer. “-and don’t the texts say that God made us in his image?”

“They do, but-”

“Then how could something within your nature be wrong? If it’s that much out of your control that you can do nothing to stop it, how different is it from breathing? From eating? From living? It’s a natural part of you, and it was intended to be a part of you. You don’t need to ask for forgiveness if there’s nothing to forgive.”

Sirius lets her eyes hit the floor, breathing slowly.

If what Remus says is true, why has she heard, over and over, that people like her are not welcome within their communities? Why have all of their teachers preached against it and acted as if it’s the greatest sin one could commit?

“I know a lot of people talk, but often enough, they don’t know what they’re talking about,” Remus continues, seemingly reading into Sirius’s thoughts or straight into her soul. “We’ve had so many classes on it, read through pretty much every page of the Bible. Do you remember any lines that said it’s sinful? Even one?”

She doesn’t. Maybe she’s forgotten, but honestly, she would have remembered. It would be engraved into her conscience just like everything she had heard people say about it. Her thoughts circle around it every night, when she can’t sleep. Every word, every threat, every stab right in the heart. Sinful, unnatural, wrong, Adam, Eve, Hell.

And yet she doesn’t remember stumbling onto it in the one source that does matter most.

“Of course, you could always read through it again, but I don’t see the point, honestly,” Remus keeps talking, shrugging at her, once again with that smile. “I can tell you, if Mary could tell you, she’d say that you’re good. It might seem terrifying at first, but you’re not the only one that feels this way.”

Sirius blinks slowly, brows furrowed in confusion. It’s as if-

“D-do-... are you-... what?”

Remus laughs - and truly, it is a marvellous sound, one Sirius could compare to what she thinks a choir of angels would likely sound like - and she gets up, brushing off any dirt from her gown.

“I know what you’re talking about, yes,” she confirms, taking a step back, but turning around so she can still look Sirius in the face. “Trust me when I say it - you aren’t the only one.”

She smiles, and Sirius feels like her brain isn’t quite catching up with what’s going on at the moment. And then Remus takes a few steps towards her and brushes a strand of Sirius’s hair behind her ear, her face close enough that Sirius sees the reflection of flickering candles in her honey eyes.

It’s a short, fleeting moment - Remus is there, with her eyes and freckles and hair and nose and smile and smell of chocolate and vanilla -and then she’s gone, taking a step back, then two, then three.

“I’ll see you around. Goodnight, Sirius.”

She steps away. Turns around. And with that she leaves, her white gown fluttering with her movement, her hair bouncing with her step, disappearing into the darkness. Sirius is left to herself in the empty chapel, heart hammering, chest flaming with emotion, stomach tight with desire.

God have mercy on me.

[wearetheunholyfamily]

Newish to the fandom, what's wrong with mage!garrett/fenris?

this is gonna get really long lol sorry ALSO do keep in mind that this is all formed by my experiences and I’m not saying the ship itself is necessarily problematic, I just never want to see or hear about it or Garrett again

I mean.. I won’t lie, part of it is because I can’t stand Garrett in general, especially if he’s purple. Playing fem Tabris, where Garrett’s va voices the noble who kidnaps you and your friends and rapes your cousin, really didn’t help, but default purple mage Garrett is legit almost every single Hawke I see for da2 content and he’s either with Fenris or, on the rare occasion, Ander$. I forced myself to play male Hawke the first time I played da2 because I always play a woman and I was miserable every second, and that’s on me, but it did leave me somewhat less open to Garrett content right off the bat, and I never expected him to be 97% of the Hawkes I see.

taking a character I didn’t much care for then inundating me with only that character wherever I look with an overdone personality I don’t like after years of everyone pretending it’s the only option has led to me hating both

now, as for default(it’s always default)!mage!almost certainly purple!Garrett/Fenris…. it’s a ship involving someone I hate with a character I like, which already has me going ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°), but not only is it everywhere, it’s the base similarities to Danarius that really kill it for me.

If I were Fenris, and my life before escaping and making friends were entirely serving and being raped/tortured by a mage with a beard, I would not then seek out a romance with a mage with a similar beard and a voice not too dissimilar from his. like. that seems perfectly reasonable, right? I know I have taken several characteristics that would seem to others, harmless, off the table to accept in a future partner bc I wouldn’t want to be reminded of my abusive ex, and it’s not a wild assumption to think another survivor might do so.

Of course, given the nature of romances in games, the characters being romanced don’t say no unless you’re playing a character of the wrong gender (where applicable) or you fail a certain relationship check, like when Cullen breaks things off with you if you encourage him to take lyrium again. This doesn’t mean I can’t be uncomfortable with dynamics the code of the game can’t account for, like physical characteristics!

I could probably go on but I’m really sick and I have a headache and I think I’ve made my point so. rant almost over lol. I can’t attach it to this bc of the app but I will reblog this ask with a screenshot of some extremely squicky (totally sfw) default mage Garrett/Fenris fanart to show u what hammered it home for me!

[trulycertain]

Me, trying to explain the entirety of what I know about Overwatch to a mutual:

“So, from what I’ve osmosed through dash and occasional wiki-ing and the trailers, there’s...

some sad soldiery old dude who was presumed dead and has lost all his friends, who might be absolutely gorgeous but I mean I rarely ever get to see his face? Weird laser visor thing? Angry Biker Captain America?

absolutely gorgeous ripped Russian lady

absolutely gorgeous... ninja archer dude? who's not very good at wearing shirts? and has lovely tattoos? 

absolutely gorgeous but kind of a jerk dude who got maybe-killed and resurrected as an eldritch abomination and was best friends with sad retired soldier dude and it basically seems to be a total Steve Rogers/Tony Stark ripoff right down to "blond dude and beardy dude and transhumanism and super soldier program," and I am down with this

honestly why even call yourself Reaper, I know you’re some sort of mall goth but “Gabriel Reyes” is an absolutely lovely name and has such a nice sound to it

Hanzo and Zarya’s names are lovely, too, this series seems to be good at that

wait where was I

oh yes

cowboy who seems to enjoy cheesy lines 

gorgeous purple lady who wears a very impractical tacsuit but apparently everyone likes having their chest out in this game 

gorgeous purple lady who is not actually purple but wears a lot of purple and hacker?

angel healer lass who might have accidentally made Reaper... Reaper?

punchy dude voiced by Terry Crews, awesome

absolutely gorgeous scary fem!David Bowie anti-healer

absolutely gorgeous retired sniper woman who’s fed up of the retired super soldiers’ shit?

and her daughter who... has a mech suit? 

gamer girl? 

dwarven... smith? 

some kind of trapped in and out of time lass who's a lesbian? and British? and tends to say really stereotypical English things that sound like they're written by teaboos? 

big German? bloke whose design is basically Thor after a long and really hard fight

and that bloke's daughter? niece?

robot Zen master

cute ninja’s resurrected cyborg brother?

robot who doesn't want to fight?

And there are some cool skins?

And I really like the fanart?

You go, Overwatch fans, you seem fun

Oh god I know nothing

But I eavesdrop on this fandom anyway

Something something daredevil and lifeguard skins?”