#they lack very much distinction from each other but they ARE multiple

[epiphainie]

why do you think bucktommy has been "hitting differently"? i love them don't get me wrong, but i don't think it's been written much differently than buck's previous love interests (yet)

Hi anon, 

I don't think I agree with you there. Well, first of all I think talking about all of Buck's previous romantic relationships as one thing is doing injustice to those different arcs and Buck's character journey. All served different purposes, all were written differently from each other. When I make the distinction that BuckTommy has been "hitting differently" what I mean is that it has what worked in those previous relationships as well as what was lacking. And I think the reason is twofold: the writers being intentional with their choices and how it's all been executed. 

Intention:

Just to be clear, I don't mean anyone has had endgame BuckTommy intentions. Tim has been very clear about how he doesn't plan that far ahead and it's hard to talk endgames with a procedural format like this. But we know they wrote the bi Buck arc with more care, hence being more intentional with their choices than some of his previous relationships. We know that their first kiss had taken multiple shapes before it ended up being this gentle, surprising but still mutual kiss. We know that they wanted to create a story where Buck felt connected to this guy but also safe and light. We know that they wanted to make Tommy a character who can be understanding and lead Buck as he stumbles. We know that Tim thought Lou's buy was important because he didn't want to repeat the same mistake of creating a LI who didn't fit with the rest of the cast etc.

Now you can say some of these fit previous LIs one way or another but it brings me to execution:

Many people talked about this before me, obviously, but I think the execution of everything they planned with Tommy has been great. I mean before their first kiss, this guy goes out of his way and shows up at Buck's to "clean the air" with this virtual stranger because he believes he caused bad blood between him and his friend. Not just that, he reassures Buck about his place in his friend's life and apologizes for making him feel excluded. Now as the audience we know Buck is the kid who'd get hurt on purpose so his dad would pay him attention, he's the guy who sued the fire department because he felt pushed out and isolated, but Tommy doesn't. I think an LI addressing one of Buck's core insecurities in such a direct and reassuring manner before even knowing him is a great way to set up why Buck would feel safe with and understood by him.

Another is that Tommy immediately meets Buck at that vulnerable place when he admits to being jealous of the 118's bond and Buck reassures him back. This for example, is something Abby had done with Buck imo but Buck back then didn't know himself enough to embrace his own insecurities and at a maturity level to address Abby's despite his best intentions. With Taylor, their whole issue was that they couldn't be honest and vulnerable with each other. BuckTommy in this aspect feels different because from the get-go as they're being honest and are on the same frequency when it comes to this.

Episode five, we see them on their failing date, then we see Buck being nervous that he fucked it up in the coffee scene. We've seen this Buck before, when he got into that anxious mode to make sure Abby knew he wasn't cheating on her. Obviously, the context and the stage of the relationship are very different and they both reassure Buck about it not being his fault. Great on both Tommy and Abby.

But then, the immediate follow-up in Abby's case is that she's leaving for abroad. I don't think Abby is being evil or mean with this decision (where I have a problem with is when she starts ghosting him and doesn't just end it, but that's another topic) but again knowing what we know about Buck as the audience, we know this is a big deal. We know this - and later Ali leaving - adds on his issues of feeling like he's not worth it, we know it leads to him basically trapping Taylor because he's so afraid she'll leave. Again, Tommy doesn't. But Tommy gives him a second chance and then shows up at the wedding.

You can say showing up on one date is not proof that Tommy will always be there for Buck, but I think the execution is so good in painting Tommy as very reliable concerning this. Because Tommy doesn't just show up. If the writers' only concern was to write Tommy out of the A plot of episode 6, he could just come to the ceremony and be like "my shift just ended". No, Tommy says he'll try his damnest to make it to the wedding and then he enters the hospital all rushed, haphazard, covered in soot, hair a mess. The dramatique of that entrance immediately validates in the audiences' mind that yeah this is a guy who will do his damnest to be there for Buck. It, again, addresses a core insecurity of Buck's.

Back half of the season doesn't do anything different but we again see Tommy notice Buck's emotional state, meet him in that vulnerable place, and also match his flirty vibe. They're comfortable; it feels earned even in such a short span because of the well execution of their initial arc. This to me what Buck said about Natalia when they thought the show wasn't coming back (and before that relationship was recontextualized as being a dud), about how he feels seen and comfortable etc. Only this time, there's intention, effort, and execution.

One final note in execution - and this is very ymmv because I've seen even from some BuckTommys that they wished they did this differently - I genuinely love how little BuckTommy there is in 7x03. More specifically, I love that Tommy's reintroduction to the series is not through being Buck's potential love interest. He's there in that episode for Hen, Chim, and Bobby. In 10 mins screentime he's quickly established with motives and personality quirks, is involved in the main plot, bounces off of other characters. Again, great execution of a thing Tim intended to do: a love interest who can fill more roles than just the love interest. This basically makes him in his own category in how purposeful and functional he can be as a character in the greater narrative. So yeah I think both as a person in-story and a character, Tommy has been hitting different.

[romchat]

The On1y One visual analysis (Ep. 6): Boys in blue

The first few minutes of Episode 6 were so gorgeously shot.

The use of negative space to portray Jiang Tian's loneliness, the claustrophobic framing to represent Sheng Wang's despair--the angst and longing were on full display. The On1y One uses quite a bit of camera movement so the static nature of each shot gave this sequence an emotional heaviness we hadn't yet experienced from the show. There was a distinct lack of the warm exasperation that usually permeates the characters' disagreements.

Also, the use of a dissolve edit in the top screenshot to create a sort of split screen dividing them? That hurt (so good). I really need to pay more attention to how the show does its editing.

Side Note: I’m not a color theory girlie but the consistent use of blue and orange to represent Tian and Wang's bedrooms really works here to highlight the separation. They're so right for each other but could not be further apart and the use of complementary hues elevates that tension on a visual level.

All the pain of those initial scenes just makes the second half of the episode that much sweeter.

Tian and Wang once again renegotiate their relationship by the window and the camera language celebrates their make-up by becoming more dynamic and free. You can feel Wang's almost indescribable awe at Tian grabbing his wrist with that gloriously slow pan from Tian's gently smiling face to Wang's.

But, once again, my favorite shot of the episode has to be this long take with multiple rack focuses, which casually meanders back and forth between Wang and Tian's fond gazes. In my analysis of Episode 5, I talk about how The On1y One likes doing long uninterrupted shots that keep both characters in frame and smoothly changes the focus between the two to mimic their emotional connection visually.

So I love the idea of this camera movement being Wang and Tian's visual love language so to speak. There's something very precious about the idea of these two in particular moving forward with no regret, unencumbered, and together.

[ofpd]

yes i would love an exr fic rec list ‼️

ok then here are some of my faves & why i like them! putting them in alphabetical order so i don't overthink the order lol

Beautiful & Good by @riotstarruika

possibly the only canon era fic i've read about enjolras and grantaire in a healthy & functional relationship—something that has to be earned in order to be realistic, and this fic earns very well. it explores both characters so interestingly and thoroughly and overall is so lovely to read.

epiphany by Abidatchery

i really love the specific ways in which they fail or refuse to communicate here, but slowly grow to see each other a bit better when forced to by circumstance. this fic also has such a distinct atmosphere that it's both about les amis & all of paris having a wild time, while it slowly focuses more on enjolras and grantaire as they start to be more in their own world with just each other.

Eyes to Serve, Hands to Learn by @myrmidryad

94k words about enjolras and grantaire doing bdsm in really interesting ways & developing their relationship! this fic is what really got me obsessed with exr bdsm & developed my thoughts about it a lot. also i like to refer to it as "enjolras is hot au" bc well he's so much hotter than the celibate & insane about sex & naturally blond enjolras we know from canon lmao

If Truth Is North by @lesamis

who doesn't love a road trip between two people whose thinking and communication styles are fundamentally deeply incompatible! this fic really gets at enjolras and grantaire's psyches in such interesting, nuanced, and insightful ways; they clash so perfectly but slowly begin to understand each other & help each other grow.

Into the Light by AnarchyLuvver69

ok so enjolras and grantaire only really see each other when they die......so what if they became ghosts & processed everything over the course of decades while watching over france

It's Not the Same Anymore by @shamedumpster

i love how much care this fic puts into all the characters and how it balances being quite heavy at times with being heartwarming and loving throughout. also despite its length i've read it over the course of just a couple days multiple times lmao

On the Path to Elysium by @thevagueambition

grantaire characterization of all time to me! he's so assholeish at times and depressed and dysfunctional but clearly deeply caring, especially towards his friends. also an impressively-researched exploration of canon era queerness and all the different ways that les amis relate to it.

Stages Of Light by fallingvoices

the thing about this fic is that it's crazyyy it has the kind of lack of communication between them that i love and the vibes are so off-putting in such a good way and overall well i just really love when authors are brave enough to make them really not work well together except maybe when it comes to sex

You never have to wonder; you never have to ask. by gamesformay

a fic about les amis surviving a modern au version of their failed rebellion and having to figure out what comes next, and enjolras and grantaire having to figure out what their relationship is after having thought for a moment they were going to die together. some really amazing vibes that give the impression that you're reading about a group of friends with real history together and catching a snippet of their lives in paris.

this is just a few of the fics i've really enjoyed; you can check out my bookmarks for more if you'd like!

[howtofightwrite]

I'm working on a monster apocalypse story. I've outlined how the monsters emerged and spread throughout the world, as well as the abilities some humans developed to combat them: physical, mental, and therapeutic powers. I also have ideas about the strength and intelligence of the monsters, including some rare unranked ones. The story includes four main powers - Companies, Government, Agencies, and Hunters. However, I'm stuck on how these powers will fight the monsters, how society will evolve, and how to allocate power among the four main groups, especially considering the presence of illegal agencies and hunters.

There's a few slightly goofy things here. Don't take this too harshly, and I suspect this is a translation issue, but “therapeutic,” is probably not the term you wanted. It sounds like, “I hunt monsters through the power of unlicensed chiropractic adjustments.” You may have meant pharmacological powers, as in characters who are chemically enhanced via drugs.

There's also a little bit a weirdness in terminology here, there's three categories of powers (physical, mental, and whatever augmentation you meant), and there's also four categories of powers.

There's a very basic rule of writing, where you don't want to reuse the same word multiple times in a sentence. Except, that also extrapolates out to larger contexts like this. Now, a “power,” can refer to anything from electrical energy, a paranormal ability, or a faction, up to deities. But, if you're going to use a term like this (at least in your world building) you probably want to use it in one specific way. So, for example, you might want to say characters have three broad categories of abilities, and belong to one of four factions.

This kind of word choice can also be very helpful for establishing tone. Consider for a moment how differently it reads if you have a setting “where characters are augmented in different ways, and then work for various powers in their world,” versus one “where characters gain various supernatural abilities and then work for various conspiracies.” Not much changed in the text itself, but the kind of world you're likely to build from that core statement will be radically different.

Now, using the same terms for both is a viable choice, and also has implications. Primarily that those powers derive directly from the powers your characters work for. In that case you would probably want to have a direct 1:1 mapping of abilities to factions. For example, the corporations augment characters (cybernetically, pharmaceutically, or however else), the agencies train psychic powers, the governments provide better tech and support, while the hunters... do something.

Another problem I see up front is a lack of specificity. There are over 200 governments in the world today, with radically different philosophies and approaches to problem solving. So, lumping all of them together under a single banner is peculiar.

Governments depend to be distinct entities from one another, (at least if we're ignoring the specific edge case of puppet governments.) How they interact with one another will reflect their shared and exclusive history with one another. This creates a complex and varied tapestry that is an absolute goldmine for worldbuilding. International relations shapes the world in a way few other things can compete with.

Similarly, “companies,” is incredibly vague. I can make some educated guesses, but it doesn't really tell me anything. Are these private mercenary bands, the military remnants of fallen nations, megacorporations, or something entirely different? Again, the real question you'd need to ask yourself is, “who are these companies?” They're not a monolithic, unified force. In the world before, they were probably in direct competition with each other, and that may have persisted into the apocalypse. Depending on the nature of the story you're trying to tell, is this going to be another case where you have some factions trying to ally with, or use the monsters for themselves? By, “therapeutic,” do you mean that some of these corporations are trying to graft monster parts onto their own loyal subjects, or looking for means to mind control the monsters, turning them into a domesticated combat force, loyal to them?

Agencies is probably one of the hardest to lock down, because that can refer to either a private or public organization. So this is either part of the companies or part of the governments. Unless the intent was to indicate that these were some kind of separate group, like a foundation, or even a guild.

I'm assuming with hunters, you mean freelance hunters. Because, anyone hunting monsters for any of the above groups could be considered, “a hunter,” but this one isn't a big deal.

So what do you do? You probably want to start with the specifics. You might have a general thought, like what you're describing at the top, but ultimately, that's a very brief stepping stone. You'd sketch that out, and then immediately flip over to detailing the various factions and kinds of characters in more depth. You don't necessarily need to have much detail when you're getting started with your story, but you should be able to, at least, name off most of the major factions that you know are important, and how they interact (with each other, and also with the story.)

A lot of world building lives or dies on how well your various factions interact with each other to create a credible gestalt.

-Starke

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[lakesbian]

welcome to my post about why blake and rose from the wildbow webserial "pact" are doppelgangers of each other, which fucks

a doppelganger is literally defined as someone who looks identical to another person (while being unrelated to them), and while rose and blake look very similar because they are male and female iterations of the same person, no one is going to be mistaking them for each other. so one may ask: then how in the world are they doppelgangers. (it's me, i asked myself that while trying to figure out why i instinctively called them doppelgangers.) to which the answer is: they tick virtually every other box that doppelgangers are associated with so precisely that they've managed to become the world's first set of doppelgangers who do not actually look identical

doppelgangers are frequently written as unnerving due to unclear origin and intent--a doppelganger's lack of appearance distinct from a preexisting character is often associated with lack of a distinct & traceable identity, which is consequently associated with lack of clear intent, which means potential for ill intent. they are often intuitively interpreted as a potential threat encroaching on a place in the world that only one person was supposed to be able to fill. the "evil twin" type of horror story, the idea of being interchangeable with someone or something else who steals your life. maybe they follow the theft up by ruining or hurting who or what you cared about. maybe they just keep living cheerfully in your place while you're locked out. either way, the core idea is the horror of being completely replaceable.

and that's fundamentally what blake and rose are polarized against each other over. the central determining factor in their relationship is the fact that, even before they realize it, they're in a fight over who gets to exist. they used to be the same person, but that person got ontologically torn in half, and only one of the halves can fit in the space in the universe where the whole used to be. only one half gets to have the house, and the friends, and the feelings, and the life.

when rose is first introduced to blake, it's mysteriously and abruptly. rose is clearly frazzled and confused herself, she states clear intent to help blake, and blake quickly receives proof that rose's message to him was life-saving. yet even before anything markedly suspicious occurs, he's still intrinsically afraid of--and right to be afraid of--theoretical hidden intent. rose is slated to replace him in his own life while he acts as a lamb to slaughter for her, she knows it, she hides it from him, and she does take his place as intended. it's only by a sort of cosmically fortunate misfortune that blake still exists afterwards to realize that his paranoia was validated and experience the rage and despair of watching her unknowingly reveal the mechanisms through which she deceived him to his friends, who are none the wiser about the fact that they ever knew him instead of rose.

then it's rose's turn after blake climbs back out of oblivion and barges back into her life--being erased from the universe's memory means that he was erased from her memory too, and now she's the one in the spot of questioning how she could ever prove that this person who looks exactly like her-but-wrong (and knows so much about her life, and talks like her sometimes, and acts like her sometimes) actually has the decent intents he claims he does. and after she learns where he truly came from--the cleaving of the person they both used to be--the fear is only stronger, because she knows that he has impetus to fight to replace her so that he can be the extant one.

and i've said all of this without citing specific excerpts from the book because it is much harder to find pact excerpts than worm excerpts, but i definitely remember multiple of the little moments that highlight these more overarching ideas: blake first seeing rose in the mirror and having to touch his chest and watch as the movement fails to align to verify that it's not him. blake finishing a sentence the same way as rose at the same time as her and rose's following displeasure. rose and blake's former friends standing in front of him once he's the one in the mirror, discussing him as a potential threat. it's Good. they both get their turn on being the doppelganger. they both get their turn on being the threat of replacement. it's good. when will the horror enjoying wormfans read pact and think about blake and rose with me.

[woahjo]

bird of prey (tendou x reader) - chapter 3

series masterlist | ao3

Pairing: Tendou x Reader, Bokuto x Reader

Series Summary: Satori Tendou is your best friend, but you fuck for fun.

Chapter Title: Act I, Scene 3 — Pomegranate

Chapter Summary: Work is a nice distraction sometimes. Satori uses it as his own personal way to forget the shit he doesn't want to think about. It's a shame that said shit walks through the front door.

Chapter Content Warnings: afab!reader, tendou's pov, college au, friends with benefits, no strings attached, angst, jealousy, competition, insecurity, tension, sexualization of a fruit (my bad), dirty pictures / suggestive conversation, multiple partners (not cheating)

Word Count: 5.4k

A/N: After many moons, she's back and in the same exact outfit she wore 6 months ago. crossposted to ao3 ofc.

< prev |next >

“So what if they're seeing someone else?” Wakatoshi says, tossing him the small, round figure they’d been throwing back and forth. “Has that stuff ever really bothered you before?” 

Satori is a contradictory person, he thinks. There is a lot about him that he feels defies definition. An unplaceable sense of desire that radiates from every crevice in his body. Something about him that he can both hide, but never hope to conceal. 

“Not really,” Satori responds. 

He’s reclined on his bed, his neck craned at an awkward angle against the headboard. Wakatoshi sits across the room at his desk chair, one foot pushing him absentmindedly back and forth. 

“So what’s the issue?” Wakatoshi questions, his baritone voice bouncing lightly off of the walls. 

“Not really sure,” Satori says, turning the object over in his hand before tossing it back. “I just don’t… like it.” 

“But you don’t wanna go out with them?” He raises the question like it baffles him, which Satori supposes that it does. Wakatoshi has always been… monogamous, for lack of a better term. When he likes something, he goes for it without thinking about anything else. 

Satori isn’t quite like that. That’s not to say that he’s considerate, because consideration requires a sort of awareness for others that Satori lacks in a very abstract sense, but he’s calculating. What Satori does, he does because he wants to and because it feels right, but he considers the dynamic of it. He thinks often about what “could be” in an extreme sense and then seeks out that thrill with whoever he has in mind. 

“It’s not really in the agreement,” Satori laughs dryly and with no particular disdain. 

“It could be,” Wakatoshi says, his ideal state of mind peering through. 

Satori just gives Wakatoshi a pointed glance before turning his attention to the window. 

Late November this time of year sees the beginning of snowfall and as December begins to get going in full swing, snow comes down often. Thick, powder-like clusters flurry past his window outside, clinging to the small divots on the outside of the window. It begins to crowd his view and if he were to glance out of the window, he’d see that the streetlight outside is hazy and looks somehow distant. 

“I like what we have going though,” he says, not with any particular sort of conviction. “It works for me and it’s nice. The sex is good and their company is great. It seems like a shame for it to end.” 

“They haven’t said anything about ending it yet though, have they?” He tilts his head. 

Satori shakes his head noncommittally, shrugging his shoulders briefly. 

It’s true that you haven’t. The two of you tip-toe carefully around the subject of your relationship to Bokuto, but you never break it off. Each time you finish and lay sweat-soaked and panting in each other’s company, Satori gets the distinct feeling that it’s coming, but it never quite does. The ball never drops and he vaguely feels like there’s a space there for him to speak. To maybe be the bigger person and do it himself. He doesn’t think he will though, he likes this far too much to end it. 

“Not yet,” Satori says. “But they’ve been seeing each other for more than a few weeks now and from what I know, it’s pretty regular, so… you know… matter of time, I guess.” 

Wakatoshi doesn’t really say anything. He’s never been a man of all too many words. Satori shouldn’t find his silence unsettling, but for some reason he does. It’s like a quiet confirmation. 

Satori is an idealistic person at times. The world, for him, is played in saturated color. It’s vibrant and it glitters. He’s never been all too preoccupied with the negative side of situations because when things sour, Satori is exceptionally good at cutting his losses. There’s fun and then there’s not fun and they exist in two completely different universes. Satori happens to exist in the fun one, where he never has to take anything all too seriously. 

Maybe it’s a negative quality of his. He sometimes thinks that if he never takes anything too seriously, he’ll never have to worry about getting hurt, and if he’s always having fun, there’s no room for pain. Satori doesn’t like pain or discomfort. He has a very low tolerance for it and he’s never been too keen to stick around and see where the limit is. Of course, the flip side of this is that Satori inadvertently causes pain wherever he goes. Carelessness acts as a sort of medium for it, one that he himself manages to circumvent. 

You have been the first arrangement where he’s avoided that particular discomfort. The discomfort of causing another person pain. You just get it and in the process, you get him. 

“The futon is in the closet,” Satori says, sinking down into his bed and pulling the comforter up to his chin. 

He hears Wakatoshi get up from the chair and it gives a distinct click as it moves back into its fully upright position. There’s the gentle squeak of the thin closet door, the soft sound of a blanket rustling, and then the click of the closet latch. Satori listens as Wakatoshi lays the futon out on the carpeted floor beside his bed, the distinct ruffle of it as he throws it out and slowly lays it down. As Wakatoshi crawls to lay down, Satori glances over at him, watching his friend’s broad body get under the blanket he’d laid out with it. 

“You know that it’s really impolite to make your guests get out their own futon, right?” Wakatoshi says absentmindedly as he settles in. 

“You’re more like family,” Satori grins, the corners of his lips curling up. “And since I’m older, you should do it yourself.” 

Wakatoshi blows a quick puff of air out of his nose and Satori gives a small chuckle as he settles in. There’s a long beat of silence as Satori turns out the light and they lay in the dark room. He can hear as Wakatoshi turns over and then finally settles and lays on his back. 

“I think it’s worth talking to them about,” Wakatoshi adds, picking up the previous conversation as if it had never stopped. “You’re stupid if you don’t.” 

Satori lets out one quick laugh. “Maybe I’m stupid, I don’t know.” 

Wakatoshi groans a little and Satori is a bit surprised to see him show that sort of frustration over something other than volleyball. He laughs a little and stares at the ceiling. 

“What?” 

He hears the sound of Wakatoshi shaking his head against the pillow. “Nothing. It just sounds to me like you like them.” 

“Well,” Satori muses. “I do. Obviously. They’re one of my best friends, how could I not?” 

“Like that?” Wakatoshi emphasizes.

Satori just sort of hums noncommittally and it isn’t long before the room has settled into silence, evened out by Wakatoshi’s breathing. 

Satori supposes that there may be love there. There has to be. Maybe it’s not the kind Wakatoshi thinks he’s looking at, but Satori is near certain that it exists. 

—

Satori works part time in a small izakaya. It’s an out-of-the-way, run down place, but he likes it. At first, he only picked up the job to help pay for his car, since the shit-mobile’s expenses were dipping a little too far into savings, but now, he finds that it’s a nice escape. For some reason, the space feels like he’s just walked into a picture. 

It hasn’t been redecorated since the place opened and it’s dressed in a classic Japanese style. The space is small, no more than 8 tatami mats for the sitting area, giving it a pleasantly stuffy and crowded feel, and it always smells vaguely of barbecued meat and beer. Satori thought the smell was unpleasant at first. He didn’t like the way it clung to his clothes, giving the impression that he’d spent the evening drinking, but now he’s grown rather used to it. It’s become one of the many smells he sometimes carries with him. 

The outside of it is modest, just down a step from the sidewalk, with a small sliding door that is always open during daytime business hours. There’s a glowing neon sign just outside, protruding from the side of the building and into the alleyway. It’s the most marketing this place does, but that suits it fine. Most of its customers live in the neighborhood anyway and tourists are infrequent visitors, as there are far trendier bars in Sendai. 

The inside is homely and gives the distinct impression of having walked into somewhere familiar. Just inside the doorway, there is a small area to remove your shoes, along with cubbies lining the wall. As Satori enters, he sees a few pairs of shoes already inside and he slips his own off carefully and puts them in the staff section along the other side of the entryway. Haruna’s shoes are already in there. A pair of neat black flats, worn at the toes and creased just behind where the balls of her feet would be, tucked squarely into the left middle cubby. She stands on her tiptoes a lot. Akio’s shoes are also in the cubbies. He wears a pair of old white sneakers with soles so worn that they’re completely smooth in the center. 

His work shoes, the uniform ones meant for the kitchen and behind the bar, are just beyond the main room and around the corner. Satori enters the izakaya without a bow. He’s so accustomed to being here that he no longer does it and Haruna just tosses him a pointed look from where she’s rounding the corner to the staff area. 

“You’re late,” she comments. “Your shift started ten minutes ago.” 

Haruna has a pointed way of speaking. Her words are sharp on her tongue and almost nothing slips past her. 

“You keepin’ track of my punch card now, Runa?” Satori laughs, breezing past her to punch it in the old fashioned machine by the wall. It’s not even automatic. Satori has to physically push the stamp to make it work. 

“No, I’m keeping track of when I get to go home,” she scoffs. “We only have a thirty minute overlap today and I can’t leave if you’re not here.” 

“But I am here,” he teases. 

“You’re lucky Daisuke likes you so much,” Haruna scowls, scrunching her nose. 

Satori shrugs his shoulders and fastens his apron, walking behind the bar without a proper response. Haruna just shakes her head a little. 

She’s really not a bad person. Haruna is actually really enjoyable and Satori likes working with her, she’s just… particular about how she works. She doesn’t like working longer than she’s scheduled. It fucks up her mojo as she would put it. Satori finds it endearing, despite her being nearly six years older than him. 

Haruna actually works two jobs, one in a retail office and another here at the izakaya. Her other job is what the flats are for. He only ever sees her actual shoes on weekends. 

“What are you even doing here?” She says, coming to stand next to him behind the bar as she gathers small plates on a tray. “You don’t usually work Thursdays.” 

She’s right. Satori usually works on Sundays, Mondays, and Fridays. 

“Yasu called out, so I’m covering,” he states plainly. 

“Why are you doing that?” She pulls a face. 

Satori places a beer in front of a customer at the counter and then leans one hand on the bar. He lets his weight rest on his shoulder, causing it to rise to his ear as he tilts his head. 

“Are you not overjoyed to see me?” 

Haruna doesn’t dignify his tease with an answer and he clicks his tongue with mock-disappointment. 

“Needed a break,” he says. 

“So you came… to work?” She laughs, a plate topped with sprouts in her hand. “Yeah, right.” 

“Yeah,” he smirks, “I needed a break so I came to work. You gonna keep grilling me and wait for those bean sprouts to become full-blown mung beans or what?” 

“Smartass,” she mutters. 

Satori hums again and it’s not long before she’s back around the corner and serving a table on the far end of the izakaya. 

He falls quickly into a rhythm, calling back orders to Akio in the kitchen. Satori disappears a little when he works. It’s like he goes on autopilot. Satori doesn’t like rules, but when he goes into work by choice, especially when he feels he has a lot on his plate, he seems to appreciate the work flow a little more. Besides, his job is relatively relaxed. As long as Satori serves drinks and food, he’s golden. 

Of course, another one of his stress relief methods is photography. Pictures of the things he likes, beautiful things that some people find ugly or without taste. Usually sexual things—pornographic, as his classmates might say. In his second year, Satori did a photo series in his film photography course centered around a pomegranate. He only used one and he carved it up over the course of many days. He let the fruit bleed, nearly rot, and photographed it throughout the process. He liked the color of it, so red and inviting, and the photos seemed to give off the distinct tarte smell of the peel. His classmates said that it made them particularly uncomfortable and that the pomegranate, which was really just a fruit, no longer felt like something inanimate by the end of the photo series, but rather something alive—or something that was once alive. It’s a little abstract, but that’s exactly what Satori was going for. 

He can’t really take photos in this situation. Lately, you’ve been a bit of a muse to him. There are aspects of you he’d like to photograph and when Satori wants to photograph something, he can’t seem to stop thinking about it. He thought about that pomegranate for weeks. About the roundness of the juice-full seeds, the way they began to dry out and the ones that survived long enough to shine amongst the bunches of dried pulp. A small part of him regrets not eating it. 

Ideally, he’d like to disappear into the lens of his camera for a bit. Look at the world through the little window at the top of it and enjoy the December season behind glass. Maybe it was a bit of a hasty idea to make you the central point of his project for his self study class. After his conversation with Wakatoshi earlier this week, he’s afraid that the pictures will chronicle his marvelous, long overdue downfall. By the end of it, the photos will no longer be of your back from a few inches away, but rather of your face in a crowd of people he’s never met, surrounded on all sides and taken from feet away. He never wants to use a distance lens on you. He’d take your picture with a microscope if he could, if only to see the cellular composition of your skin. 

He’s deep in these thoughts when the inner paper door of the izakaya slides open with a thud and a raucous composition of three voices. His coworkers welcome them in, but Satori is so caught up in the thought of you and the pomegranate that he forgets, idly wiping at a glass in his hands and staring blankly at the shining, translucent rim. 

“Tendou?” A voice calls, baritone and confident. They sound almost surprised. 

He looks up from the class and is greeted with eager, gold eyes and thick expressive eyebrows. 

“Bokuto,” he says, his lips curling into a faux smile. So much for getting his mind off of things. “Fancy seeing you here.” 

“Well, we were in the area,” he laughs a little, motioning his head to the people who begin to seat themselves at the bar near him. 

There are two other people with him, a girl and a boy. The boy he recognizes as someone who usually hands around Bokuto, but he’s never seen the girl before. She’s got a mid-length, reddish-brown bob and calm eyes. She doesn’t look up as she peruses through the menu and Satori gets the distinct feeling that Haruna might like her. 

“You gonna drink, Akaashi?” Bokuto turns to his friend with a raised eyebrow. 

“Maybe,” he says, “If I get a beer are you gonna pressure me to drink four more afterwards?” 

“When have I ever done that?” Bokuto questions. 

“You do it every time we go out to drink,” the girl chimes in. “Why do you think you always have to beg him?” Then, she turns her attention to Satori. “Three beers and two orders of beef skewers, please.” 

“That’s so not true,” Bokuto responds indignantly. “But also, why end the party just ‘cause your glass is empty. Might as well get more.” 

“Here he goes,” the girl laughs. 

“Yukie, don’t just order for me,” Akaashi chides the girl for getting him a beer. 

“You know you’d have caved eventually,” she says calmly. “Let’s not go through all the back and forth this time. Bokuto’s a hard person to say no to.” 

“Hey, woah,” Bokuto turns to Akaashi and gives his friend a genuine look. “You never have to do anything you don’t want to. I’m just saying that I’ll be so crushed and sad and depressed if you cancel the order. That’s all.” 

Bokuto speaks earnestly, like he doesn’t realize how hypocritical he sounds as he talks and his friends chuckle pleasantly at his airheaded demeanor. It’s too late to cancel the order anyway. Satori eavesdrops on their conversation as he fills their glasses with the house beer. He’s already pouring the third. Akaashi is getting one whether he likes it or not. 

“Three beers,” Satori sets them down in front of each of them. “Skewers’ll be out in a second.” 

“Thanks man,” Bokuto says, pleased as he takes a sip of the amber liquid. “Drink up, Keiji.”

The grill is just behind the bar facing the guests. Since the izakaya is rather homestyle, Satori prepares and grills things like skewers directly in front of guests, though it’s not really for performance purposes. Right now, he wishes that Akio were in charge of cooking things like this. That way, Satori wouldn’t have to stand directly in front of Bokuto and his friends for all too long. No matter, he can deal with it. It’s not like he particularly dislikes Bokuto. 

“I thought you’d be with ____ tonight,” Bokuto says brightly as Satori places the first of the skewer sets on the grill. Akaashi gives him a somewhat mortified, sideways look. 

Satori smirks down at the grill and flips a skewer with one hand. His lips curl at the corners and he pleasantly takes in the idea that Bokuto had assumed you’d be with him. 

“What makes you think that?” He smiles, his words a little slimy. 

Bokuto shrugs his shoulders, leaning up to look at the meat on the grill. He doesn’t spare Satori a glance as he watches it. 

“Well, they’re usually with you no?” He says evenly. “Otherwise they’re with Yuki. Maybe Alice or Keiko. Oh, not this Yukie, though.” He jostles the girl’s shoulder and she lets out a huff of air as she struggles not to spill the drink held up to her mouth. 

Satori shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head briefly at the assumption that he wouldn’t have noticed that this Yukie is an entirely different person from the one he met at the party. Then, he gives Bokuto a slick grin and returns his attention to the meat on the grill, satisfied with Bokuto’s relief.  

“You know,” Bokuto starts, “I’m a little relieved they’re not with you right now. The idea was making me jealous.” 

Satori furrows his eyebrows and lets out a small laugh. Bokuto looks almost bashful, though not in an insecure way. Instead, the statement almost gives him an indiscernible look of unknowing confidence. Bokuto doesn’t have to worry about divulging this information to Satori because he doesn’t even view it as a competition. Neither does Satori really, but it irritates him that Bokuto is so nonchalant about his confidence. It’s almost like he’s sure that things will work out for him. Satori isn’t sure if that’s something with his personality or something that you told him, and the idea unsettles him. 

“Well, I’m here,” Satori says, plating two skewers of meat and starting on the next two. His eyes dart up to look at Bokuto over the tops of his cheeks, tone dipping slightly with the next part of his statement as his lips curl up in the corners. “And so are you. No harm, no foul.” 

Bokuto nods his head a little at the slight. He picks up on it, Satori can tell that much, but if it bothers him, he doesn’t let it show. The comment rolls off of Bokuto’s broad shoulders and he moves on to the next topic with an almost unintentional ease. Yukie glances up at Satori briefly, her expression closed and unreadable before she returns her gaze to Bokuto. 

Even the steam from the skewers gets caught up in Bokuto’s social pull. It floats towards him evenly, almost as if it’s drawn to the openness of his expression. Satori idly works on the second plate of them, turning the wooden skewers with his bare hands over a crosshatch grill. Bokuto’s voice carries and as Satori busies himself with the remaining order of skewers, he can see the way other patrons of the izakaya glance at where he sits at the bar. He passes the plate over the counter, setting it down in front of the group. 

“Let me know if you need anything else,” he offers before starting off to the other end to help a few other patrons. 

Satori briefly studies the sort of looks Bokuto receives, his eyes slinking across strangers’ expressions. Most of them, it seems, are admiring. They look at him as if there is something there to be desired, something they’d like to take for themselves or experience. Bokuto carries on with his loud conversation obliviously and Satori wonders if he truly doesn’t notice that people are looking at him or if he’s so accustomed to it that it no longer phases him. It’s likely the latter and Tendou furrows his eyebrows momentarily before setting down a glass of dark beer in front of an older patron. She thanks him with a practiced smile, curling her shoulders forward as she takes a sip.

“Hey!” Bokuto calls from across the bar. His voice rises above the conversation in the room and if the whole room weren’t already aware of his presence, they certainly were now. “C’mere for a sec.” 

Bokuto waves Satori over casually and he obliges, slinking over and leaning forward on the bar with a raised eyebrow. Bokuto raises his glass of beer to his lips with open posture, tilting his head up slightly and taking a large gulp. There’s not a hint of shyness in his movements. All of it is executed with an oblivious, admirable confidence. 

“Yes?” Satori questions, glancing at the half empty beer in front of him. “You wanna prematurely order another drink?” 

Bokuto swallows and sets his glass down, shaking his head and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Akaashi makes a face at him. 

“Nah,” he says, leaning forward a little. “I wanted to ask you something.” 

Tendou raises an eyebrow and Bokuto offers him a broad smile that feels too friendly for their relationship. It’s all teeth, surrounded by full and round lips. 

“You and _____,” he starts. Yukie sighs heavily and glances at Akaashi, who shrugs his shoulders in a defeated manner. “What’s going on there?’ 

Satori is caught off guard by the question, though he really shouldn’t be. Bokuto has proven time and time again to be so forward that it borders on stupid. 

“Why do you ask?” He grins lightly. 

Bokuto gives Satori a bashful look, running his hand down his face to cover the expression he wears. It does little to hide it and the gaps in his fingers and color of his cheeks betray a recklessly confident emotion that makes Satori wonder through what light Bokuto even sees him. 

“Ah, well, you know,” Bokuto says. “We’ve been talking.” 

Satori nods slowly, subconsciously chewing the skin on the inside of his cheek. What he wouldn’t give to be able to leave this conversation. 

“So?” Boktuo presses. 

Satori’s lips curl up in the corners, his expression twisting into something cat-like and aware. It’s not quite friendly, but Satori’s never had that sort of face. 

“We’re friends,” he offers. 

“Friends?” Bokuto says, perking up a little. “What kind?” 

“Good friends,” Satori says, sticking his tongue in his cheek so that it rests over a sharp canine. 

Bokuto nods, his body language opening up a little bit. Satori examines the way he moves, the confidence in the breath he lets out, as if the idea that Satori might be lying has never even crossed his mind. That, or it betrays the idea that Bokuto doesn’t even view Satori as being in the same playing field. Both are irritatingly casual and he rolls his head over his shoulders as if to rid himself of the tension. 

“So you don’t mind?” Bokuto adds, his words a little more measured. “If I ask them out?” 

Satori momentarily grits his teeth, raising an eyebrow as he returns Bokuto’s gaze. On either side of him, Akaashi and Yukie are suspiciously minding their own business. 

“Why would I mind?” Satori answers, hiding the way his stomach clenches unpleasantly. He greases up his words with a curled smile, as if the idea is amusing to him. 

Bokuto looks at him for a moment before setting both of his hands on the counter and leaning back with a wide grin. 

“That’s good,” Bokuto says, his tone returning to the light and somewhat airheaded tone he usually maintains. “Probably would have made things awkward if you did when we start goin’ out.” 

Bokuto says this with his head angled down, picking up a skewer and taking a bite out of it. 

“Oh, this is good,” he says to Akaashi, putting the skewer in front of his face. “Try it.” 

Satori comes to the quick realization that Bokuto hadn’t been asking for permission. He’d been letting Satori know that he’ll be asking you out. It wasn’t a question of if he can, but rather a warning that it will happen regardless of what Satori wants. The arrogance of it makes his skin crawl. 

There’s a confidence about Bokuto when he talks about you. Something intrinsic within his person. A haughty, unabashed confidence that things will just work out for him, so much so that he hardly seems to notice when he says something arrogant. Even worse, his arrogance comes across as justified.

It’s rare that people genuinely get on Satori’s nerves, but Bokuto does. Bokuto grates on him like sandpaper and Satori can’t help but click his jaw as he turns around and returns to his duties. There’s something in the way he talks about you, as if you’ve already handed yourself over to him, that makes Satori feel uneasy. It would be unfair to say that you’re Satori’s. After all, it’s just sex, but he can’t help but feel some sort of possessiveness over you. You’re not just a fuck buddy either, you’re a friend, someone he connects with on a very real level. To have Bokuto reduce the relationship between the two of you to something as definable as “minding” provokes him. 

Of course, this sort of thing is likely inevitable. It’s not like Satori plans to put any sort of ring on your finger. Shit, he doesn’t even intend to put any sort of label on it. For Satori, this is fun. It’s fun he’s not exactly eager to give up. It’s his. This discomfort, however, toes the line and he can feel the way the urge to just let go creeps up on him. Satori’s never been all that much of a fighter, even when it comes to the things he adores. Boredom follows displeasure quite quickly with him. 

Bokuto and his friends linger for the larger portion of his shift, chatting idly. Like Yukie said, Bokuto pressures Akaashi into quite a few more drinks and by the time they leave, the two boys’ figures are swaying as if thrown softly off their axis, pushed and pulled by imaginary breezes. They settle their tab with cash on the counter and clamor out with a final wave. Yukie, the soberest of the group, stops in the doorway to give Satori a look that he can only interpret as apologetic. The sort of look you give someone who has started a losing battle. 

He laughs to himself at it, lowering his gaze as he clears away their plates and wipes down the counter. None of them even know the half of it. Not the way you whisper to him, the way you look at him, the curve of your body in his camera lens. What do they know about the two of you? 

—- 

The air outside is cold when Satori steps out of the izakaya and shuts the sliding door behind him. It makes his cheeks and nose feel like they’re being pinched and as he exhales, he can see the billow of clouded breath that leaves his open mouth. The street is calm in the way city streets get on weekdays in the late evening and the streetlamps create a familiar glow across the black pavement. He pulls his phone out of his coat pocket, studying for a moment the way his knuckles redden in the cold. 

Satori: Saw your boyfriend today. 

You: Not my boyfriend. 

Satori grins at your message, exhaling through his nose and shaking his head. He’s unable to hide his pleasure at the quickness of your response. 

You: Where? 

That’s a little less funny. 

Satori: Work.

You: I thought you didn’t work today? 

Satori: Someone called out. 

You: Sucks lol 

Satori tucks the device and his hands away in his coat pockets after liking the message, stepping further out into the street and starting off in the direction of his apartment. He focuses on his breathing, distracted by the way his breath comes in clouds that he leaves behind. His cheeks burn and his lips are chapped from the delicate nip of the cold. A thin layer of snow tucks itself away at the edge of the street, fading out into puddles on the road. 

Some part of Satori regrets the answer he’d given Bokuto. So noncommittal and careless. He’s never been one to give the whole truth, but it’s obvious to anyone that the two of you are fucking. Even his photography class knows it. 

For some reason, it makes Satori feel worse that Bokuto didn’t even squirm. He hadn’t even stopped to consider that maybe he’d lose. What Bokuto would be losing, he isn’t sure, but he knows that it never even crossed the other man’s mind. 

Satori hates losing. He’ll stop competing if it means he doesn’t have to admit that he did. He’d rather not play at all than get burned doing it. Even when he played volleyball, he’d been noncommittal. When his team lost in his final year of high school, he’d let it roll off of his shoulders because it was just for fun anyway, the thrill of the game. What’s fun about a game where he loses? Or worse, a game that he wasn’t even considered to compete in in the first place but thought he’d been playing all along. Yukie had given him a look like that, like he was only on the team to be kept from being left out. Satori likes high stakes, but he’ll take the bets he knows he can win.

His phone buzzes in his pocket as he gets back to his apartment, vibrating quietly in his pocket when he slides the key into his lock.

You sent an image 

You: How about something like this for your photography project? 

It’s a dimly lit photo of your legs, cut off just before the apex of your thighs where they meet your center. One knee is bent, leaning against the other outstretched leg, and in the mirror across from you he can just barely make out where your bare ass rests on your duvet cover, shadow hiding the place on you he most wants to see. He stares momentarily at the photo, feeling the way blood rushes to his lower half. 

Satori: I’d rather keep something like this for myself. 

You: Good, that’s who it’s meant for. 

[cmrosens]

Worldbuilding notes for queer normative fantasy societies... I have a lot of thoughts about this so here are some notes and questions around 3 of the main ones I have been thinking about recently.

1. How many different structures of formally recognised relationships are there outside of the monogamous spouse version?

If you want a society where relationships themselves are queered, moving away from a monogamous default, think about different forms of union and commitment and whether these can be legally recognised and what the legal/civil ramifications are.

Who recognises these relationships? What is the legal process to get them recognised? If there is no legal process then are we looking at a society where taxes are a communal responsibility and not levelled at individuals?

Is there freedom of movement and if so how much is affordable and feasible - does this have a bearing on queer people even in a queer normative world? What happens if the village is very small and has 3 queer people in it none of whom really like each other? Where do you go to find a partner if you can't travel far?

If the society thinks arranged marriages are normal and there is no concept of marrying for love, and no expectation of attraction only reasonable companionship, and you can have multiple spouses/formal partners for political reasons and to unite families (perhaps to formally team up and spread the cost of those communal taxes, etc) then you may end up with the situation of lots of different relationship structures and someone married off finally coming out as straight, and their formal partner wingmanning them to find someone else to be with.

2. Inheritance law and family connections

In a queer normative society, it would make sense for both biological kids and adopted or fostered kids to be equally accepted and no distinction drawn between them. This has extensive knock-on effects for how society is structured and

Legitimacy may not even mean anything in a society with multiple relationship structures. So how does this all work legally and socially and culturally and politically and economically?

First off: does it matter who your parents are and whether you have a firm grasp of your personal genealogy, or would people just give up on all that because it gets so muddy.

E.g.::::

"I am Bran son of Brom" means nothing when you actually mean, "I am Bran, my mother Ceris was the wife of Carl and she carried me to term and Brom didn't impregnate her, that was Roan, partner of Brom, but to be fair it might also be Carl because we can't really be sure on the timing there, and then Ceris and her other partner Sara both nursed me as a baby and then as a kid it was decided I would have more opportunities in life if I went to live with Brom and Roan and learned their trade, and then Brom as the higher earner and the one contributing most to the communal taxes thought he should be the one to formally adopt me, even though I still mostly lived with Ceris and Carl and Sara until I was 16, because then I would inherit more and be able to pursue a different career path and have money to travel, so when I say I am Bran son of Brom I mean only in the technical legal sense".

It also makes no sense here to say, "I am Bran son of Brom" and erase Ceris, Sara, Carl and Roan from that picture of yourself, particularly if the society is not patriarchal and therefore less likely to reckon lineage in a strict patrilineal way.

In this example, the implications of saying, "I am Bran son of Brom" are that you don't KNOW who your other connections are and you have had a childhood lacking in all the other communal connections others have had. You only know Brom. Were you hermits, living apart from society in a lonely, mountainous region somewhere? That would make sense. But people might still look at you once you say "I am Bran son of Brom" and wait a bit and then be like, "...Brom, and...??"

Like you wouldn't say that. You would instead say something like, "I am Bran of Seven Oaks" because the place is what everyone has in common, or you might say "I am Bran, of the Seven Oaks community" if the people are more important than their location.

Or would communities like this have their own assigned name, if not based on location, then on something else? A symbol or glyph that represents different groups and people adopt this glyph when they enter into a new community, but keep records of the previous ones they have been connected to until there is a whole string of glyphs after their name as a shorthand record of their entire network of relationships? Is this marked on their skin or on some item they wear? Formally inscribed in ledgers and public records?

Do these glyphs appear as a straight line, a row or column, or is there a cobweb or star shape with different sections/points meaning different things, and these symbols/glyohs/letters or whatever are placed in the web or star points?

That might be a cool item of jewellery with things carved on beads and beads added to it, or a massive back tattoo that gets added to all the time until for some it covers their whole body like a map of all the people they have connected with in some official way through their entire lives, especially if you adopt a kid and add in that kid's connections that are now connected to you.

How would people react to those with very few beads and few connections? Would they treat them with pity or with suspicion? What is the story of "Bran son of Brom"??

3. Patriarchy vs Matriarchy vs ....????

First, let's not pretend Matriarchy is a utopia. It is the same thing as patriarchy except women are in charge, and is equally as toxic in terms of structure. A society where 50% of citizens are subject to gender-based power structures is not a good one regardless of which gender is in charge.

Also, this still presents the normative of a gender binary, so you would still have structural oppression of genders who do not conform to or are perceived to undermine that binary. Up to you if your society is like that, but one to consider.

Also if we are talking about a queer normative society with one of those "gender plague" situations so everyone with an X or Y chromosome is dead, trans people and non binary people would still exist, still presenting in the applicable way. Intersex people would still exist, and people who present as "the sex that doesn't get the plague" may still contract it and die of it if you have it linked to chromosomes, because unless you do chromosomal testing you won't always know to look at someone what they have. So there is all that to think about.

Eliminating all cis men from a society doesn't actually get rid of men or masc-presenting people, but it does open things up for a less binary society in general.

If we aren't playing with dodgy science, and we have a queer normative society but you do want to explore some hierarchical structures within it, there are lots of other ways you can do that unrelated to gender.

In fact it doesn't make sense for this fantasy society in the "Bran son of Brom" example to have "gender roles" at all, so what is the internal family structure like in terms of power balance? Is this more about dominant personality vs democracy (just because you agree one person is in charge means nothing in practice if there is a more charismatic option that undermines this elected choice). Is it to do with earning power? If things are decided at communal meetings, who chairs them and why? What is the knock on logical effect on society on a larger scale?

So much stuff to think about there tbh

[lesser-vissir]

So I read that lame genderkoolaid post and a few by other prominent transunity bloggers, specifically in regards to their ideas regarding the existence of misandry and the framework they've developed in order to describe transphobia. The system, which I don't believe they've actually coined despite loving to make new words, which I will call multisexism.

Multisexism is the idea that sexism is a multivector space containing several "sexisms". There are three main sexism I've seen them identify (misogyny, misandry, and misandrogyny [nbphobia {also Miss Androgyny is a killer drag name}]). Some other sexisms I've seen them identify are a sexism against multigender people and a sexism against intersex people. Since this framework is built around identifying sexisms I would posit there is room for them to add a few more. A possible add would be a modified misandrogyny that specifically targets xenogenders.

From this multisexism space, transunionists argue that transphobia (and gender based oppression as a whole) is a cross product of multiple sexisms, usually a unique cross product for every given person based on how much that person **personally** identifies with experiencing a certain type of sexism.

In this line, transmisogyny and transmisandry become catchall terms for the sexism cross-products experienced by people that identify as transfem or transmasc. This an important distinction since they do not view each person as experiencing the same cross product. Thus transmisogyny and transmisandry are not concrete terms describing a system of oppression but a vague term referring to the many ways a individual people experience bigotry.

I believe this is the core reason behind why they get into so many fights with so-called serano-esque transfeminists.

Multisexism is a very obviously flawed framework of oppression for the simple reason that it is unable to identify benefactors of their various sexisms. Some of them are lifted wholesale from existing oppression frameworks (misogyny, exorsexism) and as a result some of the ways they talk about oppression have made their way into their critiques as well. One good example of this is the term patriarchy. Despite multisexism not being able to identify an oppressor class, they still call the general concept of sex based oppression "patriarchy" even though they make absurd claims like "men suffer under the patriarchy". I wouldn't be surprised if they soon remove patriarchy from their vocabulary and swap it for something else.

Traditional oppression frameworks posit that oppression exists because the oppressor class benefits from the subjugation of the oppressed class. Since multisexism lacks an oppressor class we can conclude that they believe sexism exists because different sexes exist. This explains why they create a sexism for every perceived "sex": male, female, sexless, multisex, intersex. A list which maps roughly with western gender theory, but with intersex thrown in.

One the bigger reasons I said multisexism as ideology is flawed is because it does not present an endgame. Since there is no oppressor class to dismantle, no patriarchy to fight save the specter of bigotry, there is no way given within the framework of multisexism to **end** sexism.

On a similar note, it does not offer an explanation for why sex exists. Since there is no oppressor sex, transunionists are unable to say why the boundaries of the sexes were constructed. Even if they say or believe sex does not exist they only do so because the feminist theory they used as a partial basis says so as well. In this regard, transunity is bioessentialist in that is believes sex is real and inherent, except that they add new sexisms whenever they feel the need to classify a new one.

Why exactly do tranunionists believe they need to have this framework then? Transmisandry is not a new concept, I can find posts from at least as early 2013 making the same points about its existence and complaining that transfems talking about transmisogyny and how AFAB trans people perpetuate it in trans spaces.

Taking them as face value for their own claims on why multisexism must exist, it is because they needed a framework within which it is possible to account for how cis people view trans people as their AGAB.

"ive seen trans men (often those who harass other transmascs in the name of "transfem allyship") insist that trans men cant be subject to misogyny because we're men and to say otherwise is misgendering. and like im sorry but we cannot do meaningful anti-transphobic activism if we are shaping our view of transphobia on "never ever ever implying that anyone sees trans people as anything but the gender they say they are & that that might shape the kind of transphobia they face" like thats just. not realistic." - genderkoolaid

I actually agree with this sentiment (genderkoolaid's asides, well, aside), and I believe most other transfeminists also do. I believe that AGAB is important when discussing transphobia and acknowledging that is not misgendering. In seems odder to me that genderkoolaid would agree with this sentiment since it is the basis of the terms TME/TMA, a framework ey and other transunionists despise.

Assuming this was the only reason to create the multisexism framework, it would be quite easy to dismiss it. Taking a materialist feminist approach and treating sex based oppression as a dialectic is far more capable of handling AGAB's effects on transphobia without having to say things like "trans men experience misogyny because they are seen as women."

This is because a dialectic view of sex based oppression allows us to talk about men and women as classes because there is an understanding that they do not exist except in opposition to each other. Thus saying things like "women's clothing doesn't have pockets" does not misgender AFAB enbies who may also wear clothing without pockets instead of the ludicrous statement "AFAB clothing doesn't have pockets." (Real example btw)

This also allows us to explain oppression through the interaction of the classes of men and women. Misogyny is the way through which men (as a class) are privileged over women (as a class). Exorsexism is the way through which people who do not neatly fit into these constructed classes are forcibly pushed into them. Transphobia is the way in which dissonance between a person and their class is punished.

In one paragraph a dialectic analysis of sex based oppression does more to explain why its various forms exist then multisexism and the transunionists ever will. [As an aside, any toxic masculinity or other supposed harms men face from patriarchy according to MRAs is really just transphobia or, as we shall see, transmisogyny.]

Something ironic is that sexist men have an inherent understanding of this. I once saw an instagram reel wherein the joke "There's 76 genders? Wooohoooo, that means there's now 75 genders men are better than!" was made, showing a better understanding of the dynamics of misogyny (and transmisogyny for that matter) than I've ever seen from a transunionist even if the person in question though the framework was a good one.

We can also use this dialectic framework to analyze and justify why transmisogyny is a separate oppressive axis with distinct benefactor classes.

When we look at the transphobia nonbinary people and transmascs face, largely it is a matter of forcing the individual into one of the two classes: Men™ and Women™. This can be seen from the way TERFs will attempt to make transmascs detransition.

Another insight we can make is about the treatment of AFAB enbies vs AMAB enbies. Since Women™ are an oppressed class, the barrier to entry, so to speak, is lower. This can be seen from the way that Women™ are largely allowed under patriarchy to do things that Men™ do (even if they are seen as inherently inferior) but that Men™ are disbarred from doing things that Women™ do, to the point where if enough Men™ do it, it becomes a Male Thing ie. programming. Of course, that isn't to say that there aren't some misogynists who still thing women shouldn't wear pants, they are not a majority opinion. In fact, most feminist gains have been in expanding Woman™ roles rather than in deconstructing the class dynamic altogether. Something that can only be done by transfeminism since only it focuses on destroying both classes.

Bit of a detour, but the point I was making wrt AFAB enbies was that for a lot of people, it is easier to stomach a Woman™ that is gender non-conforming (in the right ways) than a Man™ who is gender non-conforming (in any way). The generalized form of this is that Women™ are allowed to participate in roles that are for Men™, but neither Men™ nor Women™ are allowed to reject the roles they are given. This can be applied to several other aspects such as why a lesbian rejecting attraction to men is seen as a more offensive statement than saying they are attracted to women. [Hint: its because attraction to women is a thing Men™ do so Women™ are allowed to do it more often they than they are allowed to deny their own role as a Woman™, which is to be attracted to men]

There's much more to be said on the topic, especially wrt how transmascs are treated as Women™ until they pass and can be treated as Men™, which honestly describes a good 90% of so called transmisandry. But! I want to talk about transmisogyny.

Julia Serano posited that there is in fact a third class in sex based oppression, that of the Transvestite™. One of the biggest indicators that this class exists is that trans women are considered neither Men™ nor Women™ once they have transitioned, or even once they have articulated that they are women. This is something that other trans people do not experience. Examples for which can be seen in the oft-debated femboy, and the treatment of AFAB trans people.

Another big indicator can be found in some of the posts by transunionists arguing that transmisogyny can be experiences by anyone. Why is it there there are dozens of posts about non-trans women getting mistaken for trans women and facing violence, but none about non-trans men getting mistaken for trans men and facing violence? It is a strong argument for the existence of the Transvestite™ class.

Serano, has said for more than I could fit here so I will leave it at that and refer you to literally any literature on transfeminism.

Anyways, I think that is more than enough to prove that a dialectical feminism is far more useful for analysis than multisexism. Why then, do transunionists use it? Because it removes accountability for men.

If there is no benefactor class, then there is no real reason to analyze of deconstruct behaviors that benefit them. Thus the only reason transunity exists as an ideology is to disenfranchise trans women. There is no other way to explain their ideological foundations.

[allzelemonz]

Mistake: Micah Bell X Male Reader

Pronouns: None Mentioned, Reader referred to as ‘boy’ Physical Sex: AMAB Rating: E/Smut, language Warnings: Micah Bell is his own warning, drinking, anal sex, rough sex, multiple orgasms, flashbacks, hair pulling, no mention of Reader drinking, top Reader and bottom Micah Summary: You wake up in a peculiar situation and slowly remember what happened last night. Part 1, Part 2

The quiet is unfamiliar as you wake up. The comfort is as well, especially the light pressure on your chest and the tight hold around your ribs. As you open your eyes you find the sight of a wooden ceiling rather than a cloth tent unsettling. You’re not in camp. When you look down you see a headful of blond hair and you remember.

He laughs when Arthur stumbles down the stairs and lands in the mud. A few deputies take notice and approach the fallen outlaw. Micah and you have the sense to duck into the alley.

“Looks like ol’ Morgan’s spendin’ the night in jail.” He grins as he looks out to see the man dragged to his feet.

“He overdid it.” You sigh, leaning against the wall. “We should head back before they bust you too.”

“Worried about me, cowpoke?” Micah asks, stepping in front of you.

He’s pinning you without trying, just standing a little too close for you to move away.

Micah stirs, adjusting himself to get more comfortable as he cuddles against your chest. His arm is solidly around you and his fingers have a tight hold against your skin. You can feel the hair on his face against your chest and the occasional exhale from his nose. There is a distinct lack of clothing on both of you.

Micah falls back onto the bed and you’re on him in seconds. All you want to do is get another whimper out of Micah, like the one he let slip when you pulled his hair in the alley. He’s already taking his shirt off as he returns the needy kiss. Your hands go to his pants and unfasten them as quickly as you can, the new idea of fucking Micah sensless driving your actions along.

His legs are tangled with yours, one of his hiked up as far as your hips. You rest your head back as you try to process your current issue. Facing Micah, facing the gang, after this would be the most awkward experience of your life. It doesn’t matter how nice it feels having Micah clinging to you, how surprisingly soft his hair feels against your skin. You fucked Micah Bell and you don’t know how to handle it.

Micah has his face buried in the sheets, fists gripping the soft fabric as he lets out muffled whimpers. You rock into him, slow so he can really feel it.

“Ya can do better than that, cowboy.” Micah whispers, his voice a bit of a higher pitch. “Show a fella a good time…”

You run your hand over his spine to touch the marks you left on his neck. “You want something specific, Micah?”

He groans when you push him down, his dick rubbing against the sheets. “Fuck me like ya mean it.”

“All in good time.” You mutter, leaning over him to press a kiss to his shoulder as you continue slowly fucking him.

You move as carefully as possible, lifting Micah’s arm and slowly sliding out from under him. You catch his head and lower it onto the bed very slowly. As you stand you can see much more of the damage. Micah’s neck is covered in lasting bruises, his hips sport a few as well. As you round the bed you see the mess, the stains that will probably be very hard to get out despite the similar color of the sheets and the ruined state of Micah’s intimacy that shows how rough you got with him.

Your hips slam into his and even the pillow he’s biting down on doesn’t help the cry that escapes when you hit that nice spot inside of him. He’s lifted his ass for you and you hold it in place, fingers digging into his skin as he tries to move with you. Your name falls from his lips as he cums again, you don’t remember how many times it’s happened. The sheets beneath him are so covered and he’s so full. There’s no telling how many times you’ve made each other release, but at this point you could keep fucking Micah until the world burns around you.

You search for your clothes. They’re scattered around the room and you have to pick half of them from Micah’s belongings. Every step you take is slow and careful, not wanting to make a sound. The last things you grab are your boots, holding them as you walk to the door.

Micah falls against the mattress, rolling away from the mess of his own release and settling so he can breathe. You sit back on your knees, looking over him, over your work. His skin is flushed red, his dick soft and spent, and he winces when he lays a certain way from the ache in his ass. You come over to him and press a long and gentle kiss to his lips. He returns it, sighing as you lay down beside him.

“Been wantin’ ya ta do that fer a long time.” He mutters as he curls into you.

You look down at him as he settles against your chest. “That right?”

He hooks an arm around you and hums. “Little more than that.”

“A little more?” You ask as you put an arm around him.

“Don’t make me say it.” He grumbles, burying his nose into your chest.

“You sweet on me, Micah?”

“Shut up.”

“You seem sweet on me.”

He hums in an annoyed tone.

You smile, relaxing back into the soft bed.

For a moment you hesitate, remembering the conversation and the confession likely brought on by drunkenness. But it’s Micah. You’d never hear the end of it, you’re certainly never going to live it down, and you can only hope that since the insomniac is drunk enough to fall asleep and let down his guard that he’s drunk enough to forget about all of this. You turn the handle of the door slowly and step into the hall, putting your boots on once the door is closed again. Then you walk down the hall and out of the hotel just in time to see Arthur stumble out of the sheriff's office.

[mantisgodsdomain]

Can u perchance turn the pale king into some sort of bird... Different bug eldritch horror than a snake

We like to think that the worship of a god can directly impact the forms that they can appear in, as well as the way they're seen. We want to clean this up and add some more lore later, here - apocryphal depictions are fun to toy with, with gods.

[With the region's prior population overwhelmingly favoring The Radiance, often depicted in similar forms, it is perhaps inevitable that the region's previous artistic shorthands and predispositions carried forward into worship of this newer god, particularly as His domain overlapped so much with The Radiance. The Star, though it turns up consistently across a multitude of paintings, is always simply a low presence - attributed, perhaps, to the Pale King's lack of desire to be confused with his predecessor, especially as worship of the Pale King and worship of The Radiance were often pitted against each other in this time. As the symbol could easily be confused with that of his predecessor, The Star was discouraged as a depiction, and at some times explicitly not allowed. Still, it remained as a consistent motif throughout the years, even occasionally being used as a symbol of both gods at once.

The Sword-beak is quite facinating, by comparison - though it incorporates many details formerly seen in depictions of The Radiance, particularly in depicting the god as a feathered fleshbeast. Still, it is unique in how it depicts this aspect - whereas The Radiance is most often depicted as a larger, rounder beast, with a heart-shape for a face, The Sword-beak towers over the scene, depicted as a long, stretched-out beast with a many-sided beak. Depicted by some artists, the feathers of the beast itself are seen as nails or similar tools.

Commonly, He is explicitly shown as being "above" His kingdom when depicted in this form - though gifts and tools from its feathers may fall down from above, He himself does not see or hear the bugs below, too massive of a presence to acknowledge the peasantry below. This, as such, is in direct contrast to many depictions of The Radiance in Her own feathered beast depictions, often still shown as among Her moths even when She is a beast of a nature wholly different from theirs.

The Sword-beak's detached nature meant it was more frequently used for satirical depictions of the King, or political art, than art made for sake of worship. As such, it was prone to coming under fire from those who believed that all depictions of Him made in such a way were purely for the sake of mockery, or those who believed it was too similar to prior depictions of The Radiance – notably, there are multiple records from this time showing a trend towards accusing artists who chose to depict him in this way of worship of The Radiance, despite this depiction being very notably distinct from Her own featherbeast depictions, both in terms of literal form and in terms of stylism.]

[zombieheroine]

TFP and Alien Character Design

My introduction to the Transformers franchise were bayformers (accidentally) and Transformers: Prime (on purpose), and given their designs it took me a while to come around for the classic (and more marketable) boxy designs. I’d like to specifically take a moment to appreciate TFP, since I feel it sells the “alien robots” part the best. 

I absolutely love how TFP’s artists have taken liberties and given each bot their own, distinctive look instead of sticking to a formula (aka a toy mould). I especially adore how, while clearly humanoid and analogous to us, they manage to look very alien.

Every bot has a humanoid form with a head, a torso, and four limbs, two legs and two hands to be precise. Predacons and Insecticons aside, there are many more subtle variations that make the bots look distinctly less human. One obvious point is the lack of noses on any of them, and I feel like it’s a bit controversial to say that’s a good choice. I appreciate it, because while it changes the profile only a little, it highlights that the bots don’t need a nose, not for breathing or for forming sounds. I know the “making sounds to talk” part is undermined by the fact that they have mouths that move to their speech, but I see that being more due to keeping them pleasant to watch, especially since “mouth doesn’t match the sounds” is generally understood more as poor or lazy animation rather than a decision on character design and storytelling. Also mouth or even eyes are not necessary for the bots, not for speaking or seeing. Both Soundwave and Shockwave have designs where their heads don’t (at least obviously) have mouths or eyes. Soundwave’s visor could hide a face, but we know for sure from Shockwave’s design that it’s not a certainity for their species. Soundwave’s design even calls to question the rule of four limbs, because we don’t know how his tentacles function: Are they limbs he was born with? Are they some sort of a device or a modification installed on his natural frame? Could they be extra arms instead of data cables? Could every bot theoretically have extra limbs installed?

Airachnid also has multiple limbs at her disposal, in her spider form. Interestingly, she seems to have two alt forms, the spider one and the helicopter, while her bot form also has two arms and two legs. However, she seems to be an outlier, considering that she has been “inspired” by other alien species on her galactic travels (her own words), and the reaction from other bots, for example Breakdown’s comment “the extra arms freak me out”. What Airachnid and Soundwave share is that their “extra limbs” are different from their arms and legs, which might mean that they are more like the wheels or wings of the alt forms other bots have.

Shockwave’s head is pretty obviously inspired by a security camera, which supports his uncanny, emotionless image. He has one eye and not much else, being an example of bots forming speech entirely with a device/organ, the voice box, in their throat (see also: Bumblebee’s mutism). In fact, Shockwave’s head is so small and strangely structured around the single eye that it makes me question if his CPU is somewhere else on his body. Once again, this opens possibilities to how Cybertronians function: The head doesn’t necessarily carry as much importance to them as it does to humans.

Various smaller details in the designs deserve a shoutout as well: The different shapes of hands and fingers, made of different materials and varying proportions. There are different kinds of eyes, and not varying only in colour, but also shape, size, quantity, and if they have a visible iris and pupil or not. The bot and vehicle modes are clearly linked, largely corresponding with the shape and weight of the vehicle mode, and parts of machienery visible.

Given all of the above, all sorts of mods and changes that would be either very difficult or impossible for human body, might not be so to Cybetronians. Their humanoid shape seems much more incidental when youconsider all the alien aspects worked into the designs and the story.

[ruthlesslistener]

Mating Systems Among Tribes in Hallownest

Because I have a midterm on sexual selection tommorrow and this is an interesting topic to begin with. Please note that in this case, monogamy/polygamy-polyandry do not refer to the social preferences of the bugs, but the mating system itself: a bug in a polygamous society, for example, may have a social bond with one individual, but mate multiply because that is the most efficient way for their species post-civilization. It varies. Also because these are bug-people, the mating systems are scrambled up with social systems, so it's not a 1-1 as we see it in the wild.

*No explicit content is actually in this post, hence the lack of a mature label

Beetle Tribe: Overall favors lifetime or genetic monogamy, with a sprinkling of polygamy in differential beetle species that have persisted from pre-civilization times. Competition for the other's affection is fierce, and mates are jealously guarded, with biparental care resulting in distinct family groups. Pairbonds can be broken, but it is very rare, and during the duration of the pairbond, genetic monogamy (essentially, no cheating/open relationships) is expected. While Hallownest is by no means a strictly beetle society, the City of Tears is where most of the beetle tribe resides, and so the culture tends to be beetle-dominated. Being openly promiscuous isn't seen as a moral faliure, but it is heavily frowned upon because it's seen as inviting conflict, as many beetles still compete physically to impress their partners.

Deepnest: Group-living promiscuity with group care of the offspring, though a variety of species means some variation in breeding systems. This breeding system came about because female spiders still have the very strong desire to eat their mate in the height of passion, which means permanant pairbonding just doesn't work. This behavior also evolved because mating multiply ALSO increases the odds that someone is there to stop you from eating your mate, which keeps the gene pool nice and open. Spiderlings are reared together and are tracked through the mother's lineage, with the whole village expected to provide for them. Socially speaking, having multiple casual partners is extremely common, and multiple significant romantic bonds can also arise, though they are expected to remain fluid.

The Hive: Eusocial polyandry, obviously. They haven't changed much from how they were before grouped civilizations were a thing. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The Shrumal Warriors: they continue to breed as mushrooms do. Don't ask, it's complicated.

The Mantis Tribe: Polyandry is more common, with females competing fiercely for males, and higher-ranking females have multiple mates. They also have the instinct to eat their partner still knocking around in there, but the fact that there's only one species that makes up their tribe means that competition is much more fierce, so males are a resource that must be hoarded, with the highest-ranking females having the luxury to do what they wish with them and high-ranking males having the luxury of more mates available to pick from. Socially speaking, there is no difference between male and female rank, and biparental care is common up until the young reaches its adolescent moult, after which they are raised communally so that they can start to establish their role in the pecking order.

Moths/Butterflies: Lek-display polygynandry with group rearing of offspring and scattered groups of socially affectionate partners that are not necessarily sexually exclusive to each other. Essentially, both males and females will do displays to attract mates, and mating with multiple partners can happen even if this display results in the start of a romantic relationship occurring. Because paternity can be scrambled in clutches, individuals tend to recognize the wing patterns of those they mated with, and deposit their eggs together to be reared in a large extended family of siblings and half-siblings. First the family takes care of the child, and then the rest of the village. This mostly differs from the spider way of doing it in that with spiders, the one who produced the egg generally gets the most parent recognition, while in this system the displays allow for at least some memory of who sired who.

Wyrms: Serial monogamy. I know I said that PK is polyamorous (and he is), but serial monogamy is when a pair is only monogamous for a breeding season, and may either mate again next year or choose different partners. So socially, he might have multiple romantic partners, but if he breeds with an individual (say, Herrah), he will remain with her until the clutch is hatched and the offspring is in a stable position (in theory). In the wild, wyrms live in a harsh climate where resources are scattered or fiercely guarded, meaning that feeding their young takes a lot of effort, and potential partners are often far away or dangerous to encounter. A pair that went through the rigorous ritualistic pre-mating fights to establish the bond will nest together for just long enough to see the offspring leave the nest, but will also mate multiply if other wyrms cross their paths just in case their partner's genetic contribution wasn't good enough + to confuse paternity (as a wastelander wyrm will kill any offspring it doesn't think is its own- so if you coupled up with another wyrm, you either hope their genes were good enough, or you mate so many times with them that a mixed-paternity clutch makes it difficult to sus out which wyrmling belongs to who). So, essentially, they're socially monogamous but have open relationships and may not join up next breeding period; wyrms like PK who stay with one or two mates and do not seek out more sexual partners on the regular are very rare

Mosskin: Tbh I have no idea how these guys function, but imma go with lifetime monogamy with biparental care and an expectation of genetic monogamy. Essentially, they pick a life partner, mate only with them, and care only for their own offspring, because even if Greenpath seems lush with fruits, the dangers of the acid pools means that the stakes for childcare are pretty darn high.

The Snail Shamans: It's a scramble, made even worse with their declining numbers. They used to have social monogamy going on, but post-void civ fall, it's become more of a free-for-all out of necessity. Bloodlines are still tracked, though, so inbreeding is kept as minimal as possible.

[crazydaisy710]

What is a Mandalorian?

I don't know about you, but do you ever think of the scene where Bo-Katan accuses Boba Fett of not being a Mandalorian, and he goes, "I never said I was." And you, as the viewer are like, "Well, what does it take to be a Mandalorian?"

Okay, so let's talk about that. (I'm not going to claim to be an expert on Mandalorian culture because there are plenty of people who truly are and I deeply admire them. And keep in mind that some parts of the Mandalorian culture are still Legends/EU and other parts are canon.)

This is a crash course on Mandalorians. Buckle up.

For those of you who are not obsessed with Mandalorian culture, there are these rules/guidelines all Mandalorians follow to keep the culture alive. It's called The Resol'nare, Mandalorian Code, the Supercommando Codex, etc. There are six pretty simple rules from the Resol'nare, a Legends/EU text. The Mandalorian Mercs and others use this to understand Mandalorian culture due to a lack of written rules/guidelines and information from canon.

Wear Beskar Armor

Speak Mando’a (The Mandalorian language)

Defend the family (Create a family, foster the culture, protect each other)

Help the clan to succeed. (Contribute to your broad, extended family so everyone can benefit from the clan)

Raise children as Mandalorians (through adoption and offspring)

Rally to the cause of the Manda’lor (the leader of the Mandalorians

All Mandalorians are familiar with these rules and seem to follow them to whatever extent they interpret them.

The cult Din Djarin is in, The Children of the Watch, is incredibly traditional. The Children of the Watch are probably an offshoot of Death Watch, but they're also super religious, and through Din Djarin, we know they call their idea of the Resol'nare "The Way," which is also called "The Way of the Mandalore." It has a tie-in of rules that dictate how a Mandalorian acts called the Mandalorian Creed, but honestly, it sounds like the Boy Scout's Scout Law, a list of values/code of honor everyone should follow but doesn't always.

We don't really know much about the Creed/Way, but we know it includes keeping your word, having a very superstitious view of how the Darksaber and leadership structure is passed down, and not taking off your helmet. And obviously, in super religious fashion, breaking one of these rules means "no longer being Mandalorian." AKA, try to break these rules and you'll lose the entire structure you have only ever been familiar with. Which is the position Din is in at the moment.

But not all Mandalorians believe in this strict interpretation of what a Mandalorian is, especially not people like Sabine Wren or even Bo-Katan, who is apparently very stingy with the title.

This is because the term "Mandalorian" means way too many things:

A language- Mando'a

A planet- Mandalore

A network of planets conquered by previous Mandos- Mandalorian Space

A religion- The Way of the Mandalore

A belief system- the Code

A culture/way of life

A leader- Mand'alor

The first leader of Mandalore was literally named "Mandalor the Great"

A series of wars and factions

A person- Mando

Manda literally means like "soul/spirit of Mandalore," to lose it means you have no soul and is also what Mandalorians call Heaven

A type of bounty hunter/mercenary who wears distinct armor

A TV show

Din Djarin to most people IRL

It's a lot! It's confusing, intentionally, and I've spent a lot of time learning about it. I guarantee I've missed at least one concept that falls under the list. So, again, what is a Mandalorian?

And by that, I mean, what is a person who follows the specific way of living called Mandalorian?

Is it a bounty hunter? Probably not; that's more of an optional profession. There are multiple examples of Mandalorians who never were bounty hunters, some who once were, and others who have always been. Boba Fett is/was a bounty hunter, and he's not Mandalorian, but Din Djarin, who collects bounties to support his clan/cult, is not.

Is it a person who was distinctly born on Mandalore or its conquered planets? No, the Mandalorian code encourages its people to adopt others and teach them what it means to be a Mandalorian. Din Djarin was not born on a Mando planet, was adopted, and then found someone to adopt later on.

Do you have to wear the armor? Maybe? Definitely not all the time, including the helmet. Satine Kryze and her followers don't, but some of them do. Alrich Wren is never seen wearing armor, but the rest of his family is.

Do you have to speak the language? Honestly, so little Mando'a has been spoken in the Star Wars universe that you can't even try to know if any Mandos know it. But there are examples of people reading it. Boba uses his chain code to show who he is and is descended from.

Do you have to be a warrior? Yes, for sure. Maybe not a violent person, but someone ready and willing to fight.

How important is family to a Mandalorian? EVERYTHING, family is everything. But, consider Sabine Wren, who left her family because she shamed them, or Bo-Katan Kryze, who was so against her sister's ideas she joined a group that wanted to kill her. And later is upset her sister was murdered (you can't have both, Bo). So, it's important, but it can be complicated. Boba Fett has a great attachment to family and continuously seems to be honoring his father. (This is also why they hate Jedi, who have no family/attachments.)

Do you have to have children? It's probably an important part, but let's remember that the only Mandos we know who have children are the parents of other Mandos. (Ursa and Alrich Wren, Jango Fett, maybe Satine Kryze) Bo-Katan literally says she's the last of her clan, so she's 100% failed on that part.

Do you have to follow the leader of Mandalore? Honestly, if they could just figure out who that person is and why, this would all be much easier. The debate about the Darksaber, how it's possessed, and who is a legitimate leader is too long to add to this post. Unfortunately, disrupting the governmental structure of the Mandalorians because no one can agree on anything is key to destroying them. That's why most Mandos are concerned about clans and families.

Do you have to hate Jedi? Debatable. Din Djarin does not seem to know he must immediately hate every Jedi he meets. Sabine Wren literally lives with two of them for six years despite other Mandalorians, her mother and Fenn Rau, advising her not to trust them. Ahsoka has so many ties to Mandalore even Bo-Katan likes her. Clones were taught to implicitly trust Jedi.

To put it frankly, Bo-Katan's statement probably has more to do with the fact that Boba is a clone and the looming yet unanswered question in Clone Wars, "Are clones beings with rights?" It's easy to think as a more traditional Mandalorian, Bo-Katan, who once led the terrorist group Death Watch, would be offended that the Kaminoans would pick someone from her close-knit, irreplaceable culture to create millions of disposable weapons. It doesn't matter that there were soldiers like Rex who believed in brotherhood and fought like Mandalorians because that's how they were trained (Rex is a Gen 1 Clone and would've been taught by Jango Fett) and knew Mando'a. Her culture was exploited over and over for other people's gain.

It's unclear how the range of Mandalorians (orthodox to unconventional) feel the same way, but it's something to keep in mind.

So, some defining parts of being a person who can call themselves a Mandalorian:

They have a complex family system that is supposed to be built to protect each other.

They wear distinct armor made from beskar to inform others of their origin and protect themselves.

They follow a leader, and how they are determined as a leader is extremely debatable.

They believe in a set of values that include maintaining honor in all circumstances (they are basically medieval knights).

They pass down the core parts of the culture, if possible.

Be badass (probably a part of the values).

They fight for distinct causes. Fighting for the protection of Mandalore and its way of life is the most important.

You can lose your identity as a Mandalorian, but not because of silly rules like exposing yourself to the elements. *I plan to elaborate in another post

These are what I've interpreted and are definitely not in any particular order. Because Star Wars limits the amount of information to know about Mandalorians, hopefully, there will be more when season 3 of The Mandalorian comes out. Although I expect most of the rules will be from The Children of the Watch or other traditional groups who are just trying to survive, it seems that Din will explore what a Mandalorian is in season 3.

Thank you for making it this far!

[wifiwuxians]

On one hand, I do get anon's point. The first few times I saw Xunyang fanart I just thought it was a Xuexiao AU and didn't look too much closer because I don't go there and I abide by the "don't like, don't click" philosophy of life. On the other hand, this is MDZS. MDZS, in my humble opinion, is chalk full of character designs that are way too similar. Especially when you're using CQL as the basis. I freely admit to squinting at Wangxian fanart sometimes, especially in modern AU's, and asking myself "is this Wangxian or Xuexiao?"

So I just think that the similar character designs are just in-keeping with the overall theme of how similar all the MDZS character designs are. I can't really speak for the personalities though because I never read the fic, Xuexiao is a big nope for me but OC x Canon is a bigger nope for me. I do like OC x OC though, so if you ever wind up shipping Wen Xun with another OC I'll be there to eat that up. I also absolutely support you making your content for it, it's not for me but a lot of your other content is.

So yeah, while I understand where anon's confusion is coming from, I don't really think it's entirely fair considering the general lack of distinction between MDZS character designs. If you had designed WX in a way that didn't look similar to other characters from the series, he probably would have stood out way too much standing next to the canon characters. This isn't YGO where the more outlandish the character design, the more they fit in with the rest of the cast. Or even WOH where there's clearly a lot of effort put in by the character designers to make each character have distinct hair styles and outfits. MDZS and CQL are full of characters with similar hair who wear similar uniforms and unless the artist is really skilled at drawing distinct facial features, the characters will inevitably look similar.

I'm sorry for the super long ask. I just wanted to defend your choices in designing him the way you did. I think you did a very good job following the themes of how the character designs in MDZS are very limited and you did give him distinct features that allowed him to be recognized. Unless you chose to draw a design that didn't fit well with the theme of the other characters, WX was bound to look similar to at least one other MDZS character, if not multiple characters. And the fact that you used a different CQL character as the basis for the design and he wound up looking so similar to XXC is just proof of how insanely similar all these character designs are.

On that note, I do think it would be funny to talk about WC and XXC having similar character designs. I never thought that they did and it's been a very long time since I looked at CQL but I think it'd be super funny to explore an AU where they do look similar. XXC being a long lost Wen heir? Or maybe they just coincidentally look similar and it's a "prince and the pauper" situation?

if i ever make a Xun x OC AU i will let you know, i do roleplay w him on here sometimes so it isn't outside the realm of possibility that it could happen

that said it is SO unfair to judge me on the "they look similar" thing because of what you just said! everyone in cql has similar hair, what do you want from me. he wasn't going to get short hair. i don't like short hair. LOL and also, cql xxc doesn't even really have that hair (though he does humorously have the strands at the front which i only noticed later)

so if the only person (kind of) getting anon's point is someone who admittedly doesn't like or really care abt the OC or story... well. everyone who has read it has said it's unfounded

it is hilarious to think maybe xxc is a wen heir and id love a prince and pauper thing... 🎶 I'm just like you, you're just like me 🎶 but truly Chao does not look like him either i promise. GKJFKDJFLD

but still again i am sorry but they don't look THAT similar. Xun having the same hair as manhua XXC is such an unfair standard to hold me to when everyone else in that verse is drawn with the cql design KRNRKFJDKF

[gogojetters]

Foz's Age - A Go Jetters Mini-Essay

If you've been in the Go Jetters fandom as long as I have, you'll know a lot about the characters, and have seen a lot of people making easy mistakes, because they haven't seen much media outside of the show itself. One of the biggest misconceptions I see floating around is the age of Go Jetter Foz. While none of the Go Jetters have explicitly stated ages in the show, the description for the show lists them as being "Go Jet Academy Seniors", which would place them at 16-17 years of age.

However, what a lot of people don't know is that this age range does not actually apply to Foz, and there is a LOT of times this information has been stated! A lot of people can be confused by the spread of misinformation, as well as fan content, so this essay is meant to help people out, by compiling all of the places that this has been said, that being mentioning of Foz's age range and status, with links, and then piece it all together for you to get a proper estimate of Foz's age, and what it means in the bigger picture. All of this information is from official sources.

Common Misconceptions

The biggest misconception regarding Foz's age, as stated before, is that Foz is the same age as the other Go Jetters. This is admittedly an easy mistake to make, as almost every description of the show doesn't make this distinction, mostly for the sake of simplicity. However, in other places, this is solved, namely the individual character biographies for the four Go Jetters. The pitch bio also mentions the fact of the Go Jetters being final year students. However, Foz's biography from this source has not been released to the public at the time of writing this. Nonetheless, there are other biographies which can be looked at which may have similar information.

Character Biographies

All of the Go Jetters characters have received multiple character biographies over the years, which aim to tell viewers a little something about each of the characters. I will be looking at two specific biographies, both taken from the Go Jetters Magazine- an official source linked to the show, the information shared in which lining up with the show.

The first of which is the "Funky Fact Files"- short character biographies about the four main Go Jetters, and Ubercorn. Foz's listed "Did You Know?" fact cites him as the youngest of the Go Jetter crew.

Later in another magazine, a "Fact Card" is included with a figurine of Foz. This bio shares almost the same information, again stating as his additional fact that he is the youngest member of the Go Jetters crew. The fact that these two sources back-up each other shows consistency, an important element to proving that Foz being the youngest isn't just a one-off statement.

(Image taken by rocketrhs11 on Discord, thus the lack of link)

Go Jetters Magazine

There's one other statement from the Go Jetters Official magazine, which isn't part of a character biography that is VERY important to note. That is the following statement, given within the magazine itself: "Foz is so clever that he skipped years at the Go Jet Academy to join the Go Jetters!". The use of the word 'years' plural is interesting, as that implies that he skipped a minimum of two academy years, rather than just one. The source confirms his young age again, through this statement.

(Image taken by fandoms2023#7756 on Discord, thus the lack of link)

Producer Interview

In an interview from October 2015, around the time of the show's release, the producers for the show sat down and answered some questions about the show, its plot, the process, and of course, the characters. When asked "Can you tell us a bit about each of the characters and what inspired them?", the producers made sure to mention that Foz was the youngest, using the term "child prodigy" to describe him. He is the only Go Jetter to be referred to as a child in this interview, and they again point out that he is the youngest of the team.

Pre-Production and Alternate Character Versions

While Foz's Titch Hikers and 2014 Game counterparts are not the same character as he is, they are part of the evolution that resulted in the final Foz, and share many of his traits, being his early counterparts and all.

Titch Hikers

In the Titch Hikers biography for "Didge", Foz's early-series counterpart, he is described as being the baby of the group. The use of this word, as well as sentences describing him as short and squidgy, infers him to be of a young age, when compared to the others, who are not described with such language. This is the youngest any version of Foz has ever been described to be. Additionally, his voice in the short pilot by Seed Animation is done by a child actor. The Titch Hikers concept and IP dates back to 2012, meaning that Foz being young in comparison to his team was always a planned aspect of his character.

Go Jetters (2014 Game)

There are two separate biographies for the version of Foz, or Sceimi, featured in the 2014 video game, which went on to inspire Go Jetters.

The first of which is from the game itself, and is only available in Gaelic. Translated to English, the text reads: "hi explorers! I'm Sceimi, the youngest but the smartest person in the team, and I have a plan. My favorite endings are volcanoes by far… kaBOOOm!!". Once again, the relevant part of this description is the mentioning of Foz's age range.

The other biography written for Foz is from the Cbeebies Grown-Ups page, where there is a section aimed at telling parents about the personalities of the four Go Jetters. While, like the other early biographies, they do not apply to the Foz from the Go Jetters TV Series, it is stated, once again, that he is the youngest Go Jetter. The exact wording of the statement being "Although he’s the youngest of the Go Jetters, Foz is the brains of the outfit, and it’s usually him who comes up with a plan to save the day".

What does this mean? (Conclusion)

With all this put together, it tells us, the viewers, one clear message. Foz is younger than his teammates, Xuli, Kyan and Lars, and by at least 2 years, minimum. Combined with the knowledge of his weight (mentioned in Series 2's Wolong Panda Reserve), and the implications that Foz was Tala's classmate prior to him becoming a Go Jetter (Series 3's Honey Bee Hijack, inferred only) Foz's rough age can be placed at 12-13 years old, which is 3-4 years younger than his Go Jetter teammates. Not a huge gap, but a big enough gap for people to need to be aware about it, and keep it in mind for the future.

Thank-You for Reading! Feel Free to share this mini-essay about, I did all of this in my spare time for free and appreciate all the attention I can get to this. I will be posting this to other social media if and when I can!! And maybe one day, we'll be zooming through the clouds above you!

-Tomm (GoGoJetters Moderator).

[gffa]

Oh my word, thank you for such a lovely, detailed reply to my ask about comics???? I was expecting to be redirected to some links or blogs, which is ofc great too, but thanks so much for taking the time to type out and formulate all that for me?? I’ve never actually read a comic before so your first paragraph was a bit mind blowing (I had no idea comics worked like that, I thought each comic was like a chapter in the same book ahaha). I also had NO idea about the different eras but it already makes so much of what I’ve seen from the fandom make so much more sense, so thank you for that! (It’s reminds me, like, where people in history never bothered to write down stuff they thought was obvious bc it was obvious to them and then people came along and went ???, so following with this metaphor, thank you for making me “???” lol)

Anyways, sorry, super rambly ask, but thank you so much for taking the time and effort to reply so succinctly and also thoroughly, and also explaining what pieces of media are significant and why so… like seriously, that was so nice of you and I’m??? Ajahwjehrh??? Thank you sssm, once my exams are over I’m definitely gonna have a new media obsession :)

Aww, you're very welcome! I'm glad that I could help ease the way for you! As someone who started with Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond as my first real understanding of these characters (cultural osmosis doesn't count!), it was kind of a hard leap into comics, trying to understand how all of this fit together. To be fair, I don't want to give the impression that there's no coherency in comics from one author to another--it's very clear that a lot of authors are big fans of other authors' runs or they're building on stuff that came before their own run, but I emphasize the lack of consistency between authors because you absolutely cannot rely on that consistency being there, even if it often happens. You cannot pick up a comic from 20 years ago and expect the story to be exactly the same, because it's constantly being retold--authors want to be able to tell flashback stories at multiple points in the timeline, like take Dick Grayson, that "Robin & Batman" series I recommended is a retelling of their early days, of how Dick came up with the Robin costume, and it changes things (like gave him pants this time around, which I'm fine with) and I love that we can get retellings, because now I get to choose if I want to read that one or one of the older ones! We get a lot of really fun new stories able to be told, updated versions that weren't written back in the 1940s with different social norms, and I think that helps keep the comics fresh and interesting! And you're not wrong that some comics are like a different chapter in a single book! That's what Star Wars comics are aiming to be (well, within their own three distinct continuities) or what a lot of non-mainline DC/Marvel comics are like. It's just the main shared world superhero comics are a constantly shifting landscape! (To be fair to fandom not talking about a lot of this, it's also because the different eras are HELLA complicated to talk about if you haven't been reading comics regularly and broadly for 20+ years, like I had a solid grip on things until I left, and now I've been back for five months and I'm STILL fuzzy on just what Dawn of DC even is. It's hard to talk about stuff when you have a fuzzy idea of something, enough to pick up a comic and read, but can't explain high level detail in a post that would take you an hour just to write out all the weird little connections that lead up to an event!) But also thank you for letting me know your level of familiarity with cultural osmosis and what you're interested in getting into! Often times it's hard to know, "Okay, do I have to explain the different Robins or has cultural osmosis taught you enough that we can skip straight to the finer details?" because I love writing out broader views of the characters, but I don't want to patronize someone who is just looking for recs for starting places when making the jump to comics! I want to drag you guys in, but sometimes that requires tailoring things a bit more to where a given person is at/how much they know/what they're specifically intrigued by! Give me more info and I won't shut up in trying to reel you in. :D