#this is in part because I just don't draw masculine character often enough and I wanted to force myself to practice it more.

[aplusod]

redesigned even more old ocs (and designed some for the first time, when they've just been a vague concept for the last 10+ years).

aplusod's character/world directory blog

[rikeijo]

Hello! :) Hope I don’t seem like I am trying to cause drama. 😅 I would like to ask how different and / or similar is the YOI fandom in Japan compared to the English fandom? Another thing I’m curious about is how do Japanese BL / GL fans view view Western shows with LGBT+ characters? For example does The Owl House have a lot of GL fans or do they not really care about the show?

Hello! Thank you for the message!

I don't think that it's trying to cause drama... In case of YoI and all the very unusual things that happened with this IP, if we try to understand why it happened, imo, it's impossible to see the whole picture without taking into consideration how Jp anime industry&fandom perceive LGBT+ related stuff.

The main difference is that, in case of anime like YoI, in Jp, majority of people think "fujoshi" when they see it, not "gay representation/ LGBT".

This is a quote from an article I happened to read recently (link) that answers a lot of your questions. A person, who works for a company that specializes in BL marketing, talks about Jp and Asian BLs.

"In Japanese BLs there is a lot of settings and cliches expected to appear in the story. There is so much that I'll only give you an example here, one that is difficult to explain in words - for example, the seme (the man that leads in the romantic relationship) is cool and the most popular person in the class, and on the other hand the uke (the man that is led) is more plain, and a bit of an natural airhead - this pattern is one of the classics. In BL, part of the culture is to enjoy those settings and story templates.

(...)

Of course, in the West, there are also BL stories called M/M, which portray romantic relationships between men and they have a lot of fans in Jp. But according to Tsutsui: "In the West, those stories are created more in the context of LGBT and are of a different kind that Japanese and Asian BLs."

(...)

Also, in BLs there is a lot of taboos, called "jirai, landmines". If you detonate those because you lack understanding [of the BL culture], users will immediately go away.

One example of a landmine is when seme and uke swap places, called "reverse"."

Of course, YoI isn't BL, but fans of YoI ships have exactly the same mindset: one uke, seme(s), enjoying our fantasies, not interested in LGBT. Obviously, it's not 100% of the fandom, but the vast majority is really like that.

VicYuu (Victor seme, Yuuri uke) is the most popular ship (seme the coolest character x uke the main character "I'd like to read shojo manga, but they have women there and I hate those" template is the most popular fujo template for every story - for example, in case of JJK, the most popular ship is... Gojo Satoru x Itadori Yuji (15) with almost 700 millions views in total on pixiv). So, that Yuuri doesn't look uke enough and Victor looks like a "fa*got with fake eyelashes" (that's a quote), when he should be a masculine seme, in a lot of arts is one reason why fujos started to hate members of YoI staff. Just like that person in the article said - for fujos, it's a landmine. I've talked about it a few times before - one of the most hated YoI staff member is Mitsurou, and there is plenty of reasons why she was targeted, but one is that the way she draws Yuuri and Victor is more similar to how "YuuVic" fanarts are drawn (and often you can basically tell the ship by how the person draws the characters)...

I don't know a lot about The Owl House, but of course, it has fans in Jp as well - only, I think that those fans (of Western LGBT shows in general) are more from the progressive side and there is little overlap with classic fujos (so a kind of BL/dojinshi fan). Another example, the Witch from Mercury was also popular with the progressive people of Jp twitter and they were also bashing the IP holders because of the marriage controversy... Of course, more progressive people read BLs, too, but many are against being labelled as "fujoshi"... That's generalization, but fujos are those people who labelled and still call heterosexual love "normal love" - I think that says a lot.

In my observation, YoI's Jp fandom is in majority fujo-fandom (2016 was a few years ago...). In 2023, however, more and more people are more open and know more about LGBT+ stuff, so there is also growing "progressive" population of fans on twitter etc. and those people gravitate towards different shows/have different interpretations compared to classic fujos.

So yeah, generally & simply speaking, in Jp, fujoshi, BL =/= LGBT. And btw, as I was labelled fujo-hater in the past, I don't think it's "bad" that fujos like to feminize their uke so much to self-insert and fantasize about the masculine seme(s) loving them, effectively making the ship into a heterosexual ship, because that's what they prefer (although when a grown-up woman is fantasizing about a tiny teenager having sex with a man twice his age and size, well... I'm not sure it's healthy) but I just don't think that it has much to do with LGBT rights and being allies or anything like that, and that it's something that should be acknowledged, too.

[comicaurora]

how do you keep names within a single culture sounding phonetically consistent? its something ive been struggling with a lot but you seem to be doing really well at it

I am?? That's a relief!

I guess the rule of thumb I use is considering which phonemes tend to show up in which languages/dialects and grouping similar ones into related names. Like if we take Greek heroes as an example, we could formulate a list of some good ones - Heracles, Perseus, Theseus, Achilles, Patroclus, Menelaus, Alexandros - and recognize some patterns. This space of characters features lots of three-syllable names where the final syllable sounds like "-eez" or "-us". There's also semi-frequent use of the "-kl-" phoneme in the middle of the names, and they tend to favor "-e-" and "-a-" vowel sounds outside of the final syllable. If we wanted to make names that sounded like they belonged in this space, we could start by drawing on these patterns.

Actually Greek is a good starting example, because it's responsible for a lot of English's reflexive assumptions about naming conventions. Female names like Clytemnestra, Atalanta, Sophia, Hippolyta, etc all end in "-a" because "-α" is a common feminine noun ender in Greek, in contrast to the masculine "-ος". Hebrew names like Sarah, Ariella, Ayla, Daniella, Devorah, etc do the same thing, some even being feminine versions of masculine names like David or Daniel, altered by adding an "-a" sound to the end. I don't know enough about linguistics to know if this is a coincidence or a common ancestry thing, but I think this is a large part of why we trend towards considering names that end in "-a" as more feminine.

Different languages have different common phonemes. The sound "-tsu-" is quite common in Japanese but is very rarely found in English or the romance languages. Slavic names often end in "-ov" or "-ovitz". Many Spanish surnames end with "-ez". Lots of cultures commonly feature family name components that mean "son of" like "fitz-", "mac-", "ben-" or (obviously) "-son".

And even within single groups, different phoneme patterns can be tied in with different things. A lot of Jewish family names started off as "ornamental surnames" adopted by families when the government demanded they stop with that inconvenient "son of-" or "daughter of-" tradition, and are thus constructed from simple German nouns of whatever was within line of sight at the time, like "Rosenbaum" (rose tree), "Goldstein" (gold rock), "Bloomenfeld" (flower field), "Hirsch" (deer), etc. Thus, the phoneme patterns of a lot of Jewish surnames draw on German origins and have very little in common with the phonemen patterns of Jewish first names like Sarah, Deborah, Noah, Elizabeth, Esther, Caleb, Nathaniel, Jacob, Gideon, etc.

If you're working entirely in a fantasy culture, rather than drawing on outside patterns you can just start your own. Most of my character names favor "-a-" and "-e-" vowel sounds, which helps them sound similar to one another. I also use "-l-" sounds more than other consonants, and as a result, Falst, Alinua and Kendal all kind of sounds like they belong in the same space. Erin and Tess, meanwhile, have the same short "-e-" sound in their names with none of that familiar "-a-" present, and Dainix - the most geographically and culturally far-flung - has two sounds not present in anyone else's names, an "-ay-" vowel sound and an "-ix" ender. What little we've seen of Ignan culture and naming conventions has other uses of the "-x-" consonant, mostly "ainox", which kind of helps make that seem like a unifying factor. To make sure things sound coherent when we deal with more Ignans, I might use those unique sounds more often, naming other ignans things like Rase or Lainn or Onix to produce a coherent *vibe*.

Personally as a strict no-conlanger I don't worldbuild the underlying logic behind these patterns, but frankly I don't think you need to. Just roll the sounds around in your head, pick out the patterns you want to explore, google them once to make sure you haven't accidentally recreated an obscure eastern european slur, and have a good time.

[stuffgoeswrong]

Heyy, for the ship game - soukoku and ranpoe?

Thanks for asking!

Soukoku

Don't ship it

Why don't you ship it?

I am like, constantly at war with myself on this ship to be honest. I was really on board with it when I first started BSD, and then I really liked Oda so I was like, hmmm, Dazai has two hands man. But that gradually fell away, and now maybe for a week one month I'll be really into it (mainly cause one artist or writer really just gets the dynamic right and piques my interest), but then most of the time I'm like, eh, so I went with this category. I agree with others who believe the fandom has really dumbed down the complexities of Dazai and Chuuya's characters for the sake of the ship and amped up the stereotypes. My biggest issue with Soukoku is the Chuuya feminization problem and how overly sexual their relationship is always portrayed. I once saw a post that said something about how Chuuya in canon embraces his masculinity and loves being a guy, and I hate when people take that away from him. For Dazai's part, I also don't love how he's always the one in control and who has a plan, etc. Just, a lot of reasons.

2. What would have made you like it?

If it wasn't the most popular ship and the fans were more chill about them. If they were just more open to other ships with potential too. Soukoku is literally in the top 100 (I think 20-30?) ao3 ships according to ColeyDoesThings's 2022 summary video. I like Dazai and Chuuya and their partnership, but I've grown to prefer their dynamic as best friends who argue like siblings.

3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

I'm sure I could think of something, but I've spat out a lot of my brain capacity already tonight. I like it sometimes, just trust me😅.

Ranpoe

Ship it

What made you ship it?

Oh gladly! I mean, it's Ranpo and Poe, how do I not ship them? I love opposing dynamics like theirs a lot, like where there's one outgoing half of a ship and the other is more introverted and they can help each other grow socially because of their differences. That was a big appeal for me, and them having some history aside from the main story leaves room for interpreted events which is always fun imo! Of course, the fact that they're in opposite organizations but it really does not matter to either of them past their second meeting is so funny and wholesome. Poe just continued to show up at the ADA and he and Ranpo share mysteries and cases, leaving room for inspiring each other.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

I like that it's wholesome and seems very natural I guess? I like that they have things in common and how it's actually healthy. I have stickers of them on my laptop actually! I've been trying to get through a 100k+ fic about Poe's life since summer and it's really good, so I'm glad there's balance in Ranpoe's relationship and appreciate how people can imagine them without each other too. And they're both so funny with each other?? Poe taking small competition things seriously that Ranpo doesn't, Ranpo being stunned at Poe's paycheck, I can't explain it, they just immediately become more enjoyable in each other's presence.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Not really on the ship, but Ranpo's not one of my top favorites, so I don't talk about this ship or draw for it very often. It's kind of just there in my mind as fanon and I feel like my brain is not creative enough to wonder about them day to day to find the intriguing and fun bits. I did think Ranposano was better at one point, but that was a very very brief time.

[dekusleftsock]

This is a silly question/topic so feel free to take your time, mostly propelled by a need to share observations on my part XD. Whenever I see adult pro hero Deku art, I only like the ones who keep Deku's haircut or make it longer. I've tried, but I just don't like Deku with an undercut. Then I noticed something cute: I love parallels between Shigaraki and Deku, and older Deku growing his hair out would be a cute parallel to Shigaraki and Deku growing to understand him. Do you think that would look cool? Side Note: I'm a bit of a fashion critic, so I often go looking at hairstyles and outfits. In general modern men's fashion is often lacking creativity compared to previous generations. I tried looking at androgynous fashion, but often it tended to be...oddly very gendered instead. It tries to use very traditionally masculine and feminine fashion instead of creating a unique look instead. This is not meant to be offensive in any sort of way, just an observation of mine. In my experience, fashion and beauty is at it's best when you create looks that work with your body instead of against it. Then again, regardless of gender a lot of fashion fails for me because it tries to force people to fit the outfit instead of making an outfit that works with the person. Interestingly enough, that's why celebrities often look so much more amazing in outfits than common people do. They often get outfits tailor made for them, with their bodies and strengths in mind. From what I've seen as an outsider, androgynous outfits have a tendency to fall flat because they try to make the person fit the outfit/agenda instead of creating an androgynous outfit that perfectly fits whoever that person actually is. Oddly enough, this is why I don't usually like short haired Deku. He's a chaotic mess and his hair adds to the impression, giving him short hair takes some of those qualities away. Katsuki's outfit works with me for the same reason. Some people have mentioned it having some androgynous hints to it, I think it works because it compliments him as a person instead of trying to force him to be something he isn't. I was wondering what someone who is actually trans would think though, since these are just me observations as a fashion nerd. Again, none of this is meant to offend. It's just an odd observation I've made about the mistakes people make when considering fashion and beauty of any type.

I actually love the idea of deku with long hair! I honestly have for a long time. It’s sad to see close to no one who actually like, draws him that way.

I’m not super great at fashion, but I definitely agree that things just aren’t made for peoples bodies. Instead they’re made to shape them in a way that fits the beauty standard (which is why I’m also really concerned about low rise jeans coming back into fashion. Bc of ED’s)

As for my opinions of androgynous fashion, I feel like people nowadays only perceive womens clothing as, yknow, womens clothing, and mens clothing is more so seen as androgynous. It’s probably due to the uptick in women wearing cheap working clothes (jeans mostly) during the 50’s. Ww2 happened, all the men were out at war, etc etc we know all that.

So because of this pre conceived notion that everyone wears jeans, hoodies and whatever else, than THAT must be androgynous clothing. When in reality, all clothing is androgynous! Frilly pink skirts are just as androgynous as overalls or something else.

It’s also made to cover up parts of your body. Specifically breasts because people don’t actually see non binary people as non binary and more just see them as “woman lite”. People being born male and therefore having to do other things to appear more androgynous just doesn’t exist to them.

And god forbid someone with breasts where ANYTHING that shows they exist in any light. You’re called a trender or some other stupid name.

But, back to Izuku and Katsuki, I love how both of their designs fit their characters. I think the reason why Katsuki’s hair and clothes actually fit HIM is because his parents are fashion designers. He yells at deku in one of the exclusive comics for the newest movie about how he can’t add a cape to his undercover clothes lol. I think he was talking about both practicality and also just how it would look.

I think that’s also why Izuku is.. uhm, himself

He’s really rocking those red shoes and knee length shorts ig

Anyway, narrative aside, god I wish horikoshi would give him even the SLIGHTEST SENSE OF FASHION AND HAIR CARE

I mean I can’t say I’m much better (I’ve got the straightest of straight hair alive lmfao. My hair does absolutely nothing) but like, CMON MAN-

I wish he would just grow it out. The undercut idea people have is just absolutely horrendous imo. Please, izuku, just grow it tf out

LIKE EITHER OF THESE SUIT HIM BETTER (mostly the one on the right) AND IT FITS NARRATIVELY

Another design pet peeve I have with the fandom is just how burly they wanna make him, which I am just, not at all okay with. Izuku represents healing from toxic masculinity, why tf would he be the most grade A definition of “the male gaze”? He’s not allmight, his arch is literally about not being allmight. Men are ALLOWED TO BE SHORT. They are ALLOWED TO NOT LOOK VISIBLY STRONG. Another example about how people just let the male gaze and patriarchy get in the way of characters who are supposed to directly contradict that! Yay!

People will be like “oh deku should learn how to be his own hero, hero society is failing him” and then in the same breath will say that he would be burly, number 1 in the leader boards always, he’s the symbol of peace, hope, etc

IDK GUYS

MAYBE THERE JUST SHOULDNT BE A SYMBOL FOR ANYTHING BC INDIVIDUALITY DOES NOTHING????

[bingusfound]

January 14th, Sunday

I've been studying most of my day because I am anticipating a lot of memorizing this college semester. I am a naturally forgetful person, so last semester for my German class, I developed a memorization strategy that was pretty up to par. It involved me doodling pictures to help me memorize how it is spelled and what it means in English. I often broke down the words into parts that were similar to English words and drew them together in some sort of crossover, as well as referencing their translated meaning. For instance, siblings in German is "geschwister", and to memorize it, I broke it down to the English words "guest" and "wisteria". I drew the guest profile pic you see on social media sites on top of a shoddy-looking plant. It was a decent strategy, but it had some pitfalls.

First off, I rarely incorporated the gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and their plural forms, which was dumb on my part, and second, it took a long while to memorize them since there were a bunch of words. Remembering what I drew most of the time eventually became a hassle. Near the end of the semester, I developed a better method where they weren't just random sketches but rather told a short story similar to that of a storyboard. I used a character that was originally a one-off throwaway, I guess because I found him charming, who I named Unfug (mischief in German), and drew his “comedic” escapades in elementary school. They were kinda raunchy and poorly written, but it got the job done.

It was a better tactic, and I enjoyed making them, but it just had one problem: it took even longer than the previous strategy. That second one I think took an hour just to think of a story and brainstorm how to incorporate the German vocab with its translation. The drawing took a while too despite them being crappy three-minute atrocities.

Today I experimented with a new strategy for my science class. I made up a new character, Moe Inquiry, and wrote a plot synopsis involving him instead of drawing it. The thing I changed was that I wrote the story instead of drawing it. I implemented the terms I needed to memorize into the writing, and funnily enough it worked perfectly. The issue I ran into was that I still found it to be taking too long; coming up with a story while shoehorning in specific words drained any sort of fun I originally had.

I managed to come up with what I think is the definitive strategy. I studied ten German terms (I am taking a second-level German class), including their genders and plural forms. I brought back Unfug, but instead of drawing stories, I wrote them again. This time, however, I wanted to make the stories like something out of a comic strip: random situations that he got into in the span of 24 hours, with emphasis on character traits and humor in the writing.

I think I might have found the holy grail. I managed to remember all the jokes and situations while spending a short amount of time creating the scenarios. I even drew quick sketches correlating to the comic-strip synopses (even quicker than my previous quick sketches), where I focused on memorization over creating the perfect story or perfect drawing or whatever. I don't want to celebrate too early, but I think I finally found my perfect memorization strategy.

[horse-girl-anthy]

What about Miki? I always assumed Juri was the masculine woman while Miki was the feminine man, playing with the themes of gender. Your Juri post makes me think he's a lot deeper too.

great question. honestly there's so much to chew on with RGU that I can't give you a thorough answer without pondering over it a while. off the top of my head, I’d say that Miki is the most feminized of the male characters, absolutely (except for ChuChu lol). his femininity stems from being younger than all the other characters--and maybe because he is a “failed prince.” his big loss is of his sunlit garden, and he believes he ruined it with his own hand. he failed to be strong, he failed to save his sister. 

nonetheless, Miki, like all young boys, is having to decide where he stands on patriarchy. even if he's on the bottom of the pile, he is still starting to see women as objects of desire; even if he immediately agrees when Utena says no one should be robbed of their personal freedom, his desire to possess his shining thing wins out in the end. 

Miki's foil is Kozue, though it could be argued that Touga is a foil of his, or at least an ideal he must struggle with. people often talk about Miki having a virgin-whore complex about his sister, which I think is a bit of an oversimplification, but is certainly there in the text. rather than miracles, Miki and Kozue are both concerned with purity; they struggle with maturation and sexuality, secretly wishing to return to the comfort of the nest. 

I don't know if I see Kozue as representing Miki's shadow self the same way that the Shiori/Juri/Ruka triangle works. in my opinion, while the male characters in RGU are important, the work is primarily concerned with exploring the "innner self" of girls, with the boys operating more as catalysts for their stories.

I'm getting a bit off topic here, but projection is central in the story, and the distinction that I would draw between Juri and Miki is in the kind of projection they take part in. as far as I've thought it out, the boys in RGU engage in "projective objectification," while the girls are “projective identifiers.” for example, Juri identifies her past self with Shiori; she’s projecting, but projecting herself. on the other hand, Miki projects an ideal on to Anthy, and this is something he wishes to “have.” (this doesn’t necessarily mean the girls are nicer; Juri takes her bitterness out on anyone who reminds her of her past innocence.)

so what is the end point for projective objectifiers? Ikuhara discusses extensively in this interview how, in his view, it is extremely difficult for men to escape from the desire to possess and control. but, he says, he loves the idea of a man “becoming one” with the object of his desire, or with desire itself. certainly in Kozue’s eyes, Miki already is the shining thing that he is seeking after. by wanting the Other enough, does he become it? Miki is just as much of an androgynous character as everyone else in RGU.

[lo-fi-charming]

People who are part of a marginalized group that you aren't are allowed to criticize how you portray them. You're not a trans man. Being non binary doesn't give you some magical immunity to having latent transphobia toward trans men. Yeah trans men can like their chests and long hair and feminine clothes, but when you only ever portray them with all those things (plus mostly drawing cis women alongside them) you comes off as someone who just thinks trans men are women.

whats up it's ya boi just got woken up by my cat at 6 am for her breakfast and saw this so im tired and annoyed at you and typing this all out on my phone so i can immediately go back to sleep Anyway,

1) never said it gives me immunity, just that I wasn't cis anymore, and mentioned it to explain why i removed the disclaimers

2) you are making SO many assumptions about me based entirely on how i draw ONE character. just because i draw jon most often with long-ish hair and Sometimes wearing more feminine clothing does not mean i only ever draw all trans men like that. i draw martin as trans, too - no top-op, but he's also fat and tall, typically only in "masculine" clothing. i also draw sasha trans, do you have a problem w her as well? oh i guess not since she's short and femme and has big enough boobs that you can assume she's just cis, bc only cis girls look like that (though her being fat too is probably pushing it for you!)

(you know, i have lots of my own characters yall don't see on here; if i had to say, i probably have more trans girls than trans guys, and girls overall, bc im gay about ladies. but no you're right the art of one character you exclusively see on my sequestered fandom blog gives you a great idea of my tastes overall)

3) you insist that my inclusion of drawing a trans man alongside a cis women = i think they're the same thing which is just REALLY WEIRD like ??? do people get less trans by association now?? i simply don't understand this point. am i no longer allowed to draw both and i have to chose one? (assuming youre the same anon as the first), you've got this weird fixation on how a trans man's (jon's?) body is 'the same as a cis woman's) but YOU'RE the one saying if a man has boobs and a vagina then he is the exact same beast as a cis woman. maybe actually Think about that for longer than a second and accept the fact that those physical traits do not a woman make. some men just look like this.

i agree it is important for people - especially those who are not part of The Group - to be Mindful of how they portray that group, but that doesn't mean not making things with or about said group. i mean what are you trying to tell me to do, even? stop drawing trans men period? or i can draw them but Only if they have top surgery? only if they look like cis men? only with other trans men? all of this sucks.

like this isn't criticism. you keep trying to accuse me of dodging criticism of my Apparent Transphobia, but you're the one making stupid rules about it. not to mention wilfully ignoring all the other trans men (you claim to be sooooo concerned about) who DO like my stuff, because it speaks to them and their experiences. so like. get tf over yourself and don't send me more messages like this, ill just delete them

[revchainsaw]

Pom Poko (1994)

Who's ready to cry at some Anime today with your beloved Rev. Chainsaw for tonight's Cult Film Tent Revival? It's Pom Poko.

The Message

Pom Poko is an environmentally charged full length animated feature from the legendary Studio Ghibli. Like many Ghibli films the themes of tradition vs novelty, and nature vs industry are incredibly present. This time as it relates to the trials and tribulations of a population of Tanuki (translated as Racoons for the english dub) as their home is being developed into a Tokyo suburb.

The narrative of Pom Poko plays out much like a Wes Anderson film. The story is linear but expansive and features several chains of events that occur over a long period of time that are tied together by the narrator. There is not honestly a specific main character, though most of the story is apparently told through the reflection of a young and talented male Tanuki named Shoukichi.

Tanuki are considered to be magical creatures in Japanese folklore. These Tanuki are presented in both the film and in the folklore as mischievous yet lazy shapeshifters with prominent testicles. These testicles are translated in the english dub as "racoon pouches". Shoukichi is considered talented in this story because he is a natural at transformation.

Shoukichi and his family of Tanuki engage in pranks, warfare, and even an all in all spiritual circus in many attempts to prevent the encroaching tokyo suburb from devouring their forest but it all seems lost as the humans inhabiting the area are either too dumb, self absorbed, or viciously uncaring to listen to these warning signs. Eventually the Tanuki of the forest are forced to abandon their war with the humans and instead must learn to adapt either via transformation or scavenging, to the fact that they are now urban creatures.

The Benediction

Best Character: Oroku

The Tanuki of Pom Poko are often depicted as carefee, hapless, easily distracted and lazy. Oroku seems to be the only creature in this group who operates with a level of common sense. She is not the wisest of the elders presented in the movie but she is herself a loveable character and the catalyst that stops the Tanuki from territorial disputes and keeps them focused on protecting themselves from the human threat. She is also a repository of the Tanuki culture. Every time Oroku has something to say, the audience feels like they have learned something, either about the real Japan or the world the film has built.

Worst Character: Make The Forest Great Again

Gonta is a walking toxic masculinity trope. All he wants to do is fight. He consistently refuses to listen to council and even stages a coup at one point. He is admired and even healed by those he betrays or bullies and never seems to really redeem himself in the movie. He's not evil, but just a big boring idiot. He's not even hateable enough for me to be happy when he dies. Instead it's just stupidly tragic and I hate him for that.

Best Sequence: The Big Debut

After all hope seems lost, and a greedy theme park owner took credit for an insane parade of goblins, ghosts, and ghouls that the Tanuki put on as a warning for the citizens of Tokyo to leave the forest alone, an elder Tanuki writes a letter to the news to take credit back from the greedy developers. One such news crew enters the forest believing the letter to be true. The shy creatures speak to the news crew from their hiding spots, but are urged by the humans to provide evidence on camera that they are not a hoax. What follows is a beautiful if ultimately forlorn display. The Tanuki and several forest animals, some Tanuki rapidly transforming into those forest animals, rush the camera crew in a sequence that can only be described as an animation orgasm. it's just almost too beautiful to look at.

Best Line: Can't See the Forest for the Trees

Theres a scene near the end where two children see the Tanuki on a hill from their balcony. As the children admire the animals, they draw the attention of their mother who says "wow, they usually don't come this close to the city." It's a throw away line, but it just filled me with anger. As the narrative of Pom Poko unfolds it almost slips past the viewer. The Tanuki are first on a farm, then they are fighting construction workers, and before you know it there seems to be a full city just outside their tree line. There's no montage that shows the development in full, it's very much like real life, that it sort of happens gradually and all at once. It's so frustrating to think back at the early part of the movie (which was not too far in the past, i think just one year) and remember that the spot where the mother felt so certain was "the city" had just been densely forested.

Summary

I remember seeing Pom Poko for the very first time when I was in High School. AMC was playing a different Ghibli film every night. It was animated and I was awake so I watched the whole thing. I remembered liking it and thinking that it felt relaxed. So the other day I got the wild hair up my butt to watch something easy. Boy was I wrong. If I could describe my experience with Pom Poko in one sentence it would be as follows: I wanted to watch the funny scrotum racoon cartoon and instead I ugly cried about colonialism and deforestation.

Overall Grade: A

[nightswithkookmin]

GOING ON A HIATUS

Thanks to everyone who's taken the time out to read my posts and has enjoyed it so far. It's really been fun and entertaining exchanging thoughts and having these much deeper ship discussions.

I thought this issue was gonna go away but I woke up this morning to more people messaging me about finding my last video analysis on several other platforms without appropriate credit.

But that's not disturbing. The disturbing part is the people sliding into people's DM'S on other platforms to get them to take down my video because they don't want people sharing my content on other platforms as they believe it would only make my blog popular.

For those worried about this whole credit business, thanks for showing this much concern for me? I really appreciate the love and concern if it's from a genuine place of concern. Thank you...

I think some of you already know this by now or might have figured it out, I am a law student, I am very much well aware what is and what isn't within my rights? Lol

I honestly didn't see this whole credit thingy as a big deal. It's not. Not to me. Lol. I repost people's photos without credit too all the time. Often, it's because I don't know who to credit and most time my lazy ass just forgets to. Lol. I think it's normal? It's inconsequential I mean.

The videos I use are usually often water marked by the appropriate owners so I don't go through the hustle of figuring this whole credit business out. If I should decide to come back here again I will check that habit of mine?

While this whole credit business is not a big deal to me, malicious slander and defamation to my character is and I don't take it lightly.

It has been brought to my attention that some Jikookers from Tumblr have since been sliding into people's DM's on other platforms asking them to take down my video and or remove the credit they give to my post.

They are telling people I am problematic, calling me the Taekook Lives of the Jikook community. That I have been spreading lies about Jikook, that the Jikook Tumblr community hates me or something like that and to further caricaturize me and make me appear more evil in order to get people to turn on me and hate me, they make up the most ridiculous lies about me claiming that I believe a notorious serial killer is innocent.

Now I have since deleted my YT account because I don't want my colleagues to find out I am into shipping too lol- shipping is a guilty pleasure of mine and I know how this fandom works unfortunately. I've been a silent part of it since 2014. I mean it's started already. The Doxing and shit.

The original post under which these replies are from couldn't save sadly as my account has been deleted but you can see from my notifications the general feel of what my interests outside shipping looks like.

I am interested in a myriad of topics, from literature, Aliens, writing, Harry Potter, history, activism, advocacy, philosophy, law, politics, NASA, and mystery and murder among other things.

My quora is mostly filled with notifications from my Book community and True crime community and often I do share my thoughts and answer questions with regards to the psychology of murderers, legal evidence, notorious villains in literature- well I guess now you know the kind of lawyer I want to be if and when I'm able to complete law school.

But what has my interest in these topics got to do with Jikook and shipping please?? How does this prove I hate Jikook and spread lies about them?

This Kookie Min Monsta person slipped into someone's DMS and asked the person who had put up my video analysis to take it down or discredit me because to her I am problematic. She is not the only one.

You want so bad to paint me black- no pun intended just to win an argument? You claim I am the evil malicious person here but I am not the one sliding into people's dms trying to take credit away from people for their hardwork, spreading hate and negative energy, making things up to manipulate people's perception of others and get them to hate and turn on them- and all because of A SHIP? Damn. This is pathetic.

Who died and made you the gatekeeper of the jikook shipping community? Honestly antics like these don't work on me try again.

I made a video commentary on my Booktube YT account- yes I am part of the book YouTube community as well sue me or better still slip into their inboxes and tell them I voted for Trump therefore I hate chipmunks.

The commentary I made on YT months ago was when I was in the highs of finding a new passion and it was on Ann Rule's book, The Stranger Besides Me- a true crime novel on Ted Bundy which I found so poorly written that at the end of the book it left with me wondering whether or not Ted Bundy was guilty at all!

The Author's writing style which deviates from most writing styles of True Crime novels I have read gave me trust issues as I stated in the video. It felt more as if she was writing a made up fictional novel than an actual True Crime novel but because she knew Ted Bundy in person she made it seem as if we just had to believe her account.

Then there was this whole thing about the police not being able to match the DNA samples taken from his rape victims, to his own Semen because his Semen was DNAless- in lay man's terms. I'll spare you the technicalities involved.

As I stated in that video, I do believe Ted Bundy was guilty but I do not have much faith in the Judicial system, or criminal procedures or even the Author of that book- a sentiment most people within the true crime community share as well. We just had differing views on whether the writer's style took away from the narrative and waters down on the extent of Bundy's guilt.

We had a Similar conversation about Chris Watt. If the community I was engaging in didn't have a problem with my commentary why do you? Please don't meddle in things you know nothing about. It's embarrassing.

The conversation about whether or not Ted Bundy is innocent is moot but a philosophical one. It has nothing to do with Ted Bundy's guilt but more so the criminal procedures involved in his case and the different accounts that exists surrounding his case.

He was electrocuted, he confessed to his crimes no damn person with brains would think or assume he is innocent and I never said anything of that nature drew any conclusions to that effect.

Besides, I moved on from Ted Bundy a long time ago. Now I am into the Serial Killer who writes death poems and signs it off with drawings of the size of his dick at his crime scenes- mind your own business please or don't and let's have an intellectual discourse about him? Lmho.

I am also into cat memes if you care to know and have a whole IG dedicated to cat memes. I believe human beings are the most dumbest species in all the galaxies and when the Aliens arrive I am snitching.

When my mind is at rest, I often wonder if Aliens have masculinity complex and if they do whether or not their masculinity is contingent on the size of their dicks or whether they have to engage in a battle to the death with an alien grizzly bear to determine who is the man.

I love BTS memes too- a little too much and often end up debating over the internet with random people over whether BTS memes are funnier than cat memes- I'm weird, true. But how does all of that make me a bad person?

It's crazy how these people can go on these other platforms to ask people to take down the credits to my posts as well as my posts itself but can't ask people who run to these other platforms with misinterpretations of my work to take those down.

Instead they come on here to call me out for people's interpretations of my work?? It doesn't work that way. You are the author of your own opinion and interpretation of other people's work. You don't call out the original author for someone's opinion of their work. If that were so I would be emailing Stephanie Meyer for Anna Todd and her After series. Get some education.

I have since blocked this person and others whose Tumblr I have been able to find thanks to all those that's helped me finding them on here.

My gf also tried reaching out to the persons who shared my post after we realised this was becoming an issue and had asked them to credit her or my blog- but honestly I don't care about that yet she won't give it a rest. Lol. My ride or die this one. Sigh.

However, we realized soon that this is not about 'stealing' credit- can't call someone out for not giving credit when I suck at that myself. Lol.

This is about people's malicious intentions and their attempts to silence me and take away my right to freedom of expression however way that they can. This is wrong and evil.

I honestly don't care for all these ship politics these people are engaged in. I've had enough intelligent conversations to know the distinction between arguments that flows from bruised egos and actual conversations around a subject matter.

This whole I am right, she is wrong politics... y'all get that the point of having an opinion is not to be right, right? We all cant have the same perspective and you can't call someone a liar for holding views that is different from yours. That is a bizarre mentality to have.

As I stated in my post, that content I made was a rebuttal to the Taekook theories running around on the internet alleging JK glared at Tae when he pulled on his shoulder because he was jealous Tae and Jin were having fun behind him. He wasn't. He was worried Tae was gonna expose him and JM holding hands behind Suga.

If you don't think they were holding hands then Taekookers were right and his reaction was because he was Jealous of Taejin I guess...

But thats your truth. That's not my truth. I don't believe Taekook is real. JK isn't jealous of Taejin he is not Twelve- but then again he was sneaking around behind Suga holding his boyfriend's hands so I guess he is twelve? Lol. Jikook!

Do you.

But please stop the evil malicious attacks and seek immediate help. There is such a thing as right and wrong and this is just plain wrong. Your Karma and chakra are in the negative nodes and you need to fix it. It is not funny anymore.

Thank you to everyone who has shown genuine concerns for me in the past few days and thank you so much for trying to stand up for me. There are good people on here and I have met and interacted with a lot of them and thank you so much for such a wonderful experience and insightful discussions.

I don't hate people because of our differences in thoughts, beliefs, opinions. There's always room for dissenting opinions in every sphere. At the very least, we can agree to disagree and shake on it. But You can't make up shit about people just to prove your opinion is right and their opinions and views which differ from yours are 'wrong.

I am not a victim though, and they are not bullies, psst. They are just vile pathetic human beings exposing the greens of their insides. What you do says more about who you are as a person and human being. And this is who they are.

Just be a nice decent human being. That's what this world needs. Fix whatever is broken inside of you and free your mind and spirit. Hate is never the answer.

I'm going to be away for a while because I have studies, work and other interests I want to pursue at the moment- it's just my AADD flaring up so if you see me henceforth raving about Nana at least you'd know why. Lol. She's wrecking my Jimin bias. Lmho.

Spread positivity, do the right thing, stand up for a good cause and keep supporting Jikook. Jikook is real.

Until we meet again.

Signed,

GOLDY

[thesharondefenseleague]

mlm imo werent sexualized to the degree that wlw were in most canon media mostly because of the male gaze. Gay and Lesbian relationships or moments got very limited representation. One was probably more sympathetic but also heart breaking like say brokeback mountain. One was explicit but depicted as grotesque or twisted or perverted or immoral in some way. And the last version was the titillating version. In western media because of the assumed straight male gaze lesbians making out to titlate guys was a common thing like say in Jennifer's body. The equivalent of that with guys wasnt really that common not in western media. Not that wlw couldn't like that content but it was made to be fanservice for men .

So thats what I kind of mean by wlw were sexualized at least in western media. This equivalent with mlm in fandom never really existed they never made out for girls to find hot in the same way. It was never marketed like oh look hot guys making out. Fandom did that but not canon.

As for comic book men being sexualized kind of. There is definitely the unrealistic beauty standards but theres that debate of was it for the purpose of titillating women? Or a result of toxic masculinity putting this unattainable unsustainable goal for men. Maybe both? But both in comics and the movies they are based on the posing and clothing and moments with women get made to clearly sexualize them . It especially ovbious with comics with them twisting their bodies so their boobs and butts are jutting out. Or like movie moments like Bruce landing in Natasha's clevage. Or angles where you are staring down a female character's shirt or she has a boob window for some contrived reason. Or just reasons to give full page spreads of them in skimpy clothing.

Its rare men get depicted like this or posed like this. And when they do it often stands out because its not the norm. It's something unique. Not true with men. Even in form fitting spandex they are often posed and framed to make to make them look powerful or intelligent or to reveal things about their character.

Again not that men never get sexualized or that fanservice is always bad. Or that its not a concern that men are having these terrible body image issues. But just that for women for the sexualization its so pervasive and constant was my point.

Its just as bad in wlw in canon as it is for women in relationships with men in canon when it comes to that sexualization but i hear so much more about the problems about the wlw ship than the mlw ship. Like to use DC as a example i hear so much about how people sexualized or mishandle harleyivy but compared to that i hear very little about batcat in comparison even though Catwoman is often just as sexualized in that ship.

As for misogyny in shipping wars yes it definetly exists and is a problem as is racism and homophobia. But my issue is mostly that the problem isnt because the main popular ships are mlm. But so often I see the argument framed that way.

Like shipping wars existed between m/w ships and still do today. And they are still often pretty misogynistic towards the woman in the other ship. I don't even have to look at other fandoms I remember Steggy vs Starton getting real ugly.

Mysogny in fandom doesn't uniquely pop up when mlm are the more popular ship. Its often just as bad in fandoms where m/w is the popular ship. But people just bring it up alot more they make it bout valuing the men over the women .

Well i mean that goes both ways you could say its homophobic for valuing the straight ship as better than the gay one or liking it more. But either way its stupid they dont care bout sexism or homophobia only that their ship is more popular.

Thats the sentiment of all ship wars the gender dynamics and racial make up change nothing. Nothing except the bullshit you use for the ship war.

The problem is that people are being homophobic and mysogynistic and racist not just in regards to fictional characters but towards real people just to win a ship war. It comes out so easily. Thats the problem imo.

Mysogny for example i think isnt discussed as much when its a m/w vs m/w ship war or drama because as both ships have women it can't be used to slander the other ship. But when its drama between fans of a m/m and m/w it comes out alot again not because anyone really cares but because now because one ship lacks a woman it can be used as fodder for what people actually care about. Tearing down the other ship.

Again not that mlm fandom doesnt have mysogny. They definetly do. But they aren't mysogynistic because they ship two guys together. Thats not proof they hate women. Having a ship with women isnt proof that you aren't sexist towards women. There might be homophobia in fandoms of mlm ships and mysogny in fandoms of m/w ships.

But in the drama between a m/w and m/m ships that doesn't get brought up because no one cares if that problem can't be used to show that someone only doesn't ship your ship if they are bigoted against it. Who cares about misogyny if your ship is two guys? Who cares about homophobia if your ship is straight?

No one because they cared about the popularity of their ship not the actual issues.

Gonna under under the cut for length again.

This is a lot to read so I'm gonna respond paragraph by paragraph and hope for the best in terms of comprehension.

When it comes to media made about the LGBTQ+ community, you have to keep in mind when it was made, who made it, and who was it made for. And that it's been shown that straight women have had the same reactions to mlm content as straight men to wlw content. QaF was dumbfounded to find that the majority of their audience was straight women when the show's sex scenes were 95% between two or more men and yet that's what they ran with because hey, it got the views. The views of mlm and wlw content in the mainstream media before then was minimized, despite how fucked a lot of the other content could be. If by "most canon media" being directed at the male gaze being summer blockbusters, and more specifically comic book movies, then sure. If we step out of that box, then not really. The film examples you chose are interesting because BB is portrayed exactly how the author of the original short story wrote it which was meant to be heartbreaking since it was a tragic dramatic piece while JB has a woman who wrote and another woman who directed it while purposefully trying to allow to actress to have a level of sexuality without exploiting her as past directors have (also neither of the main characters are lesbians - one is bi, the other I think is straight but maybe questioning?).

The sexualization of wlw in modern western media is definitely a thing. I mean, the first Iron Man film has stewardesses on the private jet pole dancing if I remember correctly. It took until 2016 to stop sexualizing Scarlett in every movie: the changing scene in IM2, the lowered zipper in A1, the ass shot in Cap 2, the boob faceplant in AoU (in your third paragraph, but mentioning it here anyway). It's a joke that you know when a man directs a wlw indie film during the sex scenes. But the mlm equivalent did exist alongside it, and it's what kicked off the century.

Comics and their movies were always for men. The male bodies are male wish fulfilment for their physical appearance. The women are male wish fulfilment for their dream girls. Funnily enough, one of the least sexualized women in comics I've ever read is Sharon. She's rarely, if ever, drawn to be sexualized for the audience. I'm not even sure she's even been in those swimsuit issues Marvel did years ago. And it shows heavily that Marvel struggles to know how to appeal to women without being aggressively in your face about it. The best example of them appealing without pandering is WV, and the worst is the group shots the Russos did in IW and Endgame, especially the latter.

But the men get those poses in the movies too. Thor bathed shirtless for no reason in TDW. There's a scene in Endgame dedicated to talking about Steve's ass. Pratt in GotG. Rudd in Ant-Man. Most actors are expected to look good shirtless and put themselves through intense shit to look that way. So do the women, but they aren't doing it to have the glamor shots of their muscles. And the MCU is not the only film franchise like this. Most, if not all, franchises with majority or entirely male leads expects them all to look like bodybuilders. And I'm gonna take back that it's just for the male audience, because these bodies are meant to appeal to women who are intended to thirst for these actors too. They think these bodies is what will bring women to the theaters.

None of this will change, as you say, that women's sexualization is "constant and pervasive". The film industry is just a part of the larger whole of media. Television and advertising have a treatment of women that's beyond whatever you or I say because there are decades worth of shit to go through that would take dozens of essays worth of writing to fully divulge beyond "please stop it's gross".

Now DC is a whole other ballgame. They're pretty infamous for their artists' sexualization of heroines and villainesses. Harley, Ivy, and Selina are definitely pretty bad, but when I remember what I've seen drawn of Kara, Kori, or sometimes Barbara... But outside of one artist, I think Harley and Ivy as a couple have been drawn tamely. Can't say the same for Selina, because they just can't not draw every part of her body even when she's fully clothed.

I think it's hard not to talk about fandom misogyny outside of m/m ships because of how often popular m/m shippers have rooted their shipping into misogyny. And even with m/f ship wars, a lot of the time the "faulted" character is always the woman when majority of the time it's the man who sucks. I don't get why everyone is fighting for who should kiss Steve because Steve sucks and they'd be better off without him. But because Steve is the object of affection for our fave, we have to fight off everyone else.

Don't look at other fandoms for m/f ship wars. We don't appreciate how tame we were, even at our worst. I'm serious, I've seen so much worse.

I think why the topic of misogyny comes up more with m/m ships is because they follow a similar principle of the male characters being more developed in canon and fanon so it's who people gravitate towards.

There is definitely layers of homophobia in fandom, but there's many versions of how we see it. Homophobes who won't ship anything that's not m/f. Homophobes who ship m/m but won't support IRL rights. People who love m/m but abhor f/f, and vice-versa. The shippers who use them for personal fodder. But the sexism is more prevalent than the homophobia. And the racism way more than both combined.

And it does cause a lot of ammo, and much of it severely unjustified, in ship wars. Literally the bullshit I've seen pulled out of thin air to accuse Sharon of not being worthy because someone said she's a racist for [they literally had no reason just called her one because we said Sam and Sharon are friends because they are] and other nonsense.

The real world repercussions of the homophobia, the sexism, and the racism in fandom... there's just so much. Like we are all still people, and yet we decide because we hide behind screens to be antagonistic, and use homophobic, sexist, and racist shit to attack each other over ships just because we want to paint the other person as crazy, I guess? If you can't see that there are no enemies in ship wars and that the other side is still people, maybe you need to sit out and log off. It's baffling how often it still happens to people. Then it's no longer about ships, it's about who is an asshole.

I will say that Steve and Peggy vs Steve and Sharon is probably the only m/f ship war I've seen where misogyny is talked about. Is, not was, because it still is. Both sides call the others misogynistic. I don't think either side is, but you can see in individuals. Those who tweeted at a certain actress that she was a slut for kissing her costar certainly are though.

You are right that shipping m/m isn't inherently sexist. But tearing down women in those ships to prop up m/m has made me stop shipping certain characters altogether. People, seriously, we don't have to justify why we like them! We can just like them! And other characters can still exist! It's never been that deep.

And you're right, the popularity of the ship helps people ignore any deeper issues within them and this is a power used to silence valid criticism if it pops up.

(I hope I answered everything well for you.)

~Mod R

[prompts-of-a-dreamer]

I'd like to request a jjba matchup please! Any character from any part is fine. I'm a straight gal. :) I'm glad my last comment about your headcanons made you happy.

At first I'm shy and introverted and it takes a while for me to open up. I feel like my resting b*tch face scares people away sometimes, haha. After a few months, I finally show my true colors: goofy, very weird, tomboy and down-to-earth. If my friends had to describe me, they'd say I'm the goofy idiot of the group. I like laughing and making other people laugh. Hell, I even make corny dad jokes. I'm a very honest person, also super sarcastic and overprotective. I have a sailor's mouth lol. At times when I'm upset, I don't know when to shut up and I say hurtful things. I overthink things a lot and it really slows me down to the point where I get depressed and I completely shut down. I hold a strong passion for art and music because they're the only things that get me by. People tell me a lot that I'm a pretty girl, so my confidence is on point. However, on rare occasions I find myself wishing if I could just get rid of my naturally chubby cheeks. I'm 5'6', leo (INFP-T) and I get along with most people. I get along with a lot of geminis, aquarius, libras, aries and tauruses. When something isn't right between me and another person, I want to talk things out and understand their side. I'm a good person to come to when people need to get some weight off their chest and I'm especially generous to friends and people I love. I often come up with the dumbest questions/scenarios to talk about when I'm bored. I like the idea of going around and pulling harmless pranks on people. I've never had a boyfriend before, but if I did have one I'd be very affectionate and clingy. I'd cause play fights and give him stupid nicknames. He's the only one I'd ever show my soft and girly side to.

thank you!

Hi, this is my first time doing matchups, so I’m sorry if this doesn’t fit, but here’s what I think. JJBA has a lot of characters, but I’ll narrow it down from parts 1-5 because I haven’t fully read the manga yet. 

I have some character headcanons for this, and I’ll rank it by compatibility:

1. Joseph Joestar (Part 2)

At first you two would bicker and quarrel a lot. He’d note your shyness and how quiet you are, practically taunting you to say something, even if it is out of annoyance towards him.

He’d do some goofy stuff, pulling pranks on people, but you caught him while he was on his hideout. With a displeased look on your face, you pursed your lips. He tried explaining his elaborate prank on Caesar.

At first, you were trying so hard to keep a stern look on him, so that he’d stop goofing around. You didn’t dare to show him your ‘crackhead’ side yet, you two just weren’t close enough for you to do that.

But his weirdly appealing ridiculousness soon got the best of you, and you couldn’t help but laugh at him.

He was surprised by your laugh. “Oh my god!”

It was a long and slow progress, but you were finally ready to show how amused you were, at first by witnessing his pranks, soon followed by you giving ideas and suggestions. Before you knew it, you started helping him set them up, taunt Caesar, and hide with Joseph near the trap, spying on the unknowing Caesar.

Caesar seems really irritated at you two, trying hard to not let his guard now whenever either of you are around. If he catches you two together, a funny, ironic confrontation happens, because it’s two against one.

One of the most memorable moments of you and him is when he made you try ink spaghetti.

He seems like he doesn’t care about little things, but he gave you a silent compliment when he accidentally encountered you singing and playing music.

You have a competition on who’d make the worst (and by worst I mean best, corniest) jokes. Caesar hates it when you hold one of those competitions around him, he’d just get up and leave the room.

He might unintentionally tease you about your cheeks (sorry! chubby cheeks are cute, don’t feel bad!) but when he sees that it bothers you, he’ll try so hard to lift your spirits up again.

“Hey, (y/n)! I didn’t mean it like that, I’m sorry! Your cheeks are cute, if they were asses I’d slap them.”

He’d pinch your cheeks to make you stop sulking.

“Your cheeks are fine, now cheer up.”

The relationship between you and Joseph could be entire platonic, one-sided, or romantic, though I’d advise you to stay friends. You two make a great duo, but Joseph is emotionally shallow, he doesn’t show much affection, at least not until you die a tragic death, crushed by a stone, leaving him behind. Only then will he show how valuable you were as a person to him.

If he’s into you, he makes a lot of sexual innuendos. The Barney-Robin type of chemistry from ‘How I Met Your Mother’.

He doesn’t like cuddling.

But he likes play fights and weird nicknames. 

2. Josuke Higashikata

Josuke would be the best friend type of boyfriend. The one you can talk to, play games, but also share sentimental moments with.

It might be a little awkward at first between you and him, but once the ice cracks, the conversation doesn’t tire out.

Congratulations, you unlocked an achievement: Josuke’s bed head. 

Do not tease him about his hair, unless you need a quick, free way off the planet.

He enjoys seeing you do your hobbies. He might sing with you.

If you were upset, he’d be shocked a little bit, but tries his best to be understanding and to comfort you. He’d let you lay your head on his lap or ask if you wanted any food.

He won’t force you to talk, if you don’t answer his “What’s wrong, baby?”, he’ll just rub your shoulder and stay next to you, an ear ready for consolidation. But he’ll leave you alone if you ask him to.

Fights do happen, but you usually talk it out after a couple days.  

He rolls his eyes when you say one of your corny dad jokes.

But he likes the harmless pranks.

Playing video games together, with you wearing his hoodie/clothes.

He’s not afraid to show some vulnerability, though at first he might try to stop the tears during a sad movie.

During horror movies, he’ll show little to no reaction. Not out of toxic masculinity, but he just needs a little more to actually get him scared.

He’s really glad to show you his nephew. He thinks the age difference is cool.

3. Jonathan Joestar

You and Jonathan would make a good couple.

He would be understanding and would compliment on how beautiful you are.

Loves to see you draw, paint, or hear you sing. He doesn’t join in on it, though, he’s a little shy.

Would never make you cry. If he did, he’d never forgive himself for being so ungentlemanly. Let him repent his sins for a while.

5′6″ is by no means short but Jonathan is BUILT. He’d pick you up, bridal style, and carry you around.

Doesn’t mind cuddling.

Doesn’t like your dad jokes. He doesn’t hate it, but he could live without it.

Other headcanons with random characters:

Art rivalry with Kakyoin. You don’t even get to talk to Rohan, he hates you if you were around Josuke.

Polnareff would definitely flirt with you.

Doing weird, random, goofy shit with Mista and Narancia.

Abbacchio either hates your dad jokes or joins you in making them. His retorts are horribly unfunny.

And that concludes my assessment of these characters. Thank you for reading.

[thedeadflag]

so this is something I've been mulling over for a while now - do you reckon it'd be possible to make a version of a/b/o that isn't fundamentally transphobic, or would it reach the point of "this is so different that you might as well not call it a/b/o" before that? off the top of my head you'd have to take out all elements of g!p, mpreg, and biological essentialism, and it'd probably be possible to write a version of a/b/o with that framework, but I don't know if I'm missing anything.

a/b/o is a reactionary trope that relies on cissexism-derived biological essentialism to function. Like, that’s the engine that powers the bdsm/power dynamics, cisheteronormative breeding/family building, “dub/non-con”, etc. elements that draw people to it, and led people to create it in the first place. 

Like, my best attempt at describing a non-transphobic, non-shitty typical a/b/o adjacent fic would include:

Werewolves (let’s face it, werewolves can be really cool if written well, and there’s a lot of really good ways to write them, a lot of ways to subvert tired subtropes within the trope)

Found Family-focused family/pack building (because wolves often adopt wolves from other packs into their own, blood lineage isn’t really a thing; much like vampires being created, newly turned werewolves of any age can be considered their sire’s child; if it needs to have a pregnancy arc between two men or two women, there’s IVF/IUI, or magically/spiritually-induced pregnancies, and of course writing a fully fledged complex trans character with their own non-pregnancy arc and virtues/flaws/goals/etc. and getting relevant trans beta writers who aren't your friends to keep it on track if you’re a cis writer)

A flexible, non-binary gendered society (rather than the rigidly structured biology-is-destiny a/b/o society) that’s trans inclusive either explicitly, or implicitly if it’s a new social universe with different rules. 

If mating seasons have to exist, they’re cultural more than biological, and no biological processes that could impede or trouble a person’s ability to properly consent. 

No inherent, glorified or reified power dynamics, certainly none rooted in or fostered through biology. 

That doesn’t seem very much at all like a/b/o to me. It’s a werewolf AU, which is the reason why a/b/o was created in the first place. It wasn’t enough. It needed something more than just a supernatural bent

I’ll continue on below for a bit on some simplified functions of a/b/o, but it’s mostly just some ramblings.

-

Like, to quote the originators of the genre/trope:

I'd like to see Alpha male Jared, and Bitch male Jensen. Jensen is a snotty prude (think Lady from lady and the tramp) he may be a bitch male but he's not just going to let anybody take a go at his sweet little ass...until he meets Jared...then prudey little Jensen turns cock slut for Jared. Bonus points for J2 being OTP, Jensen was a virgin before Jared, and now that they met each other, it's for life.

...

There are three types of men, alpha males, beta males, and omega males. Alpha males are like any ordinary guy with the exception of their cocks, they work just like canines (the knot, tons of cum, strong breeders, etc) The beta male, is an ordinary guy without the special cock. Omega males are capable of child bearing and often called bitch males.

Like, I want you to look at that real close and see what’s going on in there.

This was created to be a trope where there’s a world where women, as we explicitly know them, don’t exist, but where a subgroup of men take up the functional role of the woman in the heteronormative social structure of the world. It’s also not surprising that (assumedly cis) women created and initiated the spread of this trope.

Look at the language used. This is heavily, explicitly gendered for a reason. If you’ve read much of anything about how the male gaze impacts female sexuality, you’ll know a common response is for women to position themselves out of the proverbial frame entirely, so that no part of them can explicitly exist as an object, where they can take on the role of a subject. There’s no women whose experiences will directly link to her own and her own perceptions, comfort/discomfort/etc.

However, many of these women also have been heavily affected by the male gaze and heteronormativity, and that combined with not knowing what a real gay male relationship is like, what it looks like, what experiences might be unique to it...they fill in the blanks with their own conditioning. 

And maybe seeing a lot of that toxic masculinity in media content was unsettling because of how women get treated in that content, and how they in turn might feel in those shoes. But if a MAN, even if it’s a heavily female-coded man, were to undergo that...well, it’d be easier to appreciate those tropes and dynamics they’ve been force-fed to believe were arousing, hot, desirable. Especially if they can have two hot men in it. They can enjoy that self-created taboo, bypass their own discomfort and insecurity, and project it onto a type of person different enough to suspend their disbelief and maintain that difference, even if they’re pumping that guy full of all the typical misogynistic tropes and experiences they’re not comfortable having directed towards them and other women.

In short, it’s a way to get off on heteronormative norms/tropes, using another as a vehicle in order to keep up their cognitive dissonance.

Of course, this eventually spilled out into the Het fandom (makes perfect sense, since many of the a/b/o originators and proponents were het women), and then worked its way into Femslash fandom by piggybacking on g!p in order to meet the necessary criteria for PiV sex. 

Just, in this case, you necessarily shift some of the puzzle pieces around. Trans women take the place of the “alpha”, acting as an acceptable vehicle for a toxic masculine cis man, since lesbians aren’t into men. Even if the trans woman is generally written, in nearly every way aside from part of her body, as a toxic cis man. The original a/b/o’s “Bitch Male”/Omega Male is swapped out for the  Omega Female, usually a spunkier, more in your face version outside of romantic/sexual contexts in the media content, but let’s be real here, she’s still by and large submissive when it comes down to it. 

In a world where more wlw grew up feeling predatory for their attraction to other women, for feeling sinful, for being rejected from female intimacy het women enjoyed with each other after coming out, etc., it’s pretty common for a lot of lesbians to lack initiative, not be able to read or communicate romantic/sexual cues between each other...to essentially be “useless lesbians’ as the joke goes,and to feel isolated and undesirable. 

So writing a F/F fic where some hot woman modeled in the image of some hot cis woman pursues you? Takes the initiative sexually/romantically? Doesn’t beat around the bush, but is blatant? Who can’t control her lust around you? Who can give you the perfect nuclear family you’ve been conditioned to want in order to feel value in our heteronormative world, but were told you weren’t worthy of or could never feasibly attain? Who gives you a sexual encounter you have some education in and some emotional stake in due to common conditioning of PiV sex > all else? Who can give you plausible deniability for a number of contexts due to a lack of ability to explicitly consent? etc. etc.

Like, yeah, that’s going to feel comfortable for a lot out there. That’s going to seem pretty hot/arousing. It’s a way to get off on the norms and expectations thrown on women in society, but in a way that lets them distance themselves ever so slightly from men by shifting it from text to subtext, explicit to implicit.

Don’t just take my word for it, though. Here’s a few snippets from one of the most popular g!p/omegaverse femslash writers (if not the most popular) that help illustrate how/why this trope has found an audience

Why Do I Write G!P?The elephant in the room. It arouses me, but it’s also a form of self-comfort. I grew up in a very fundamentalist home. Women being with women was at first unspoken, and then derided, both by my church and at home. I felt insanely guilty for my attractions, so I developed ‘cheat codes’ to deal with it.

It was okay if the woman I had sex with in my dreams had a penis, for example. It was okay if she forced me to have sex with her. It was okay if we basically simulated heterosexual sex.

Because of my childhood (which included conversion therapy), I found myself falling into heterosexual roleplay patterns, at least sexually. It was a lingering thing from my childhood.

It’s still there, and I know I’ll never be rid of it.

...

I associate penetration with power. You know, being steeped in sexism from an early age turned some problematic thoughts into kinky lemonade. And since I’m a femme sub, taking power away from the top by ‘penetrating’ them can ruin the mood for me. I mean, I can write power bottom scenes with the best of them, and I enjoy them, but… *shrug* if I’m going to write omegaverse or g!p, someone’s getting fucked, and it’s not the top.

There are rules to a/b/o. There are specific reasons it’s sought out, read, and created, and that’s why it’s hard to imagine a version of it without those harmful elements, because the trope requires them for the audience to be satisfied.

It’s why all gay male a/b/o fits a pretty specific pattern. it’s why femslash a/b/o fits a very specific pattern. There’s nearly no deviation as a rule, because there are so many parts that have to be in play and functioning in a specific way in order to get the desired result. 

I could go on for hours about this, and the above is all a pretty damn simplified take of what’s going on in a/b/o for it to exist in the way it does and meet the needs of the audience, and I’ve already written a lot about this in the past, so I’ll try to cut it short here.

[whetstonefires]

Hey so random ask but, I see a lot of people calling Tim drake sexist, I personally don't think he is but what are your thoughts on that.

Oof. Okay.

Technically I can’t just say he’s not, because as the product of a sexist society he, like any other dude and to a lesser extent any person, has got some passive sexist attitudes baked in there.

It tends to surface in things like, when he went on that first big solo adventure when the Robin comic launched, that started in Paris? And he wound up hunting King Snake with Lady Shiva and this one rogue federal agent, a black man, and he got very decisive. Shiva says something cutting about white men, and she has a point, in that if either of his adult companions of the moment were also white men Tim would probably have been somewhat more conscious of the fact that he was thirteen.

That unconscious prioritization that DC’s sexist narrative tends to favor? That is sexism, and also racism, and it’s valuable to draw attention to it, though not, I feel, to blame it all on Tim because quite often he hasn’t actually done anything, the universe around him has just colluded to make him look good.

(Of course this doesn’t happen much anymore, but back when he was the Main Character it did. Comics is a sexist community in a sexist culture, so of course Tim got some of that muck on him.)

But most of the accusations you see going around are about tearing him down on Steph’s behalf, and that’s...murkier.

Because honestly Tim is less sexist than most of the men in his profession. Significantly less so than Bruce or Dick. I literally cannot imagine Tim talking about a loved one the way Dick used to talk about Kori, or a new acquaintance the way Dick did a lot of the one-episode women from his ‘90s Nightwing solo series. He wasn’t bad to them exactly, he was honestly very normal and probably above average, but the incredible, controlling arrogance and casual sexualization is still hard to get through, sometimes. Almost more so for how much more it comes out when he’s talking behind their backs. And Bruce...well, Bruce and gender is an entire deal I’m not going to try to unpack here.

And I cannot see Tim ever using ‘girl’ as an insult, the way Damian does.

Tim’s interactions with the ladies on Young Justice, for example, tended to be a lot less emphatically gendered than Dick’s interactions with the ladies of the Teen Titans, or even Bruce’s in the Justice League, though there are fewer women there and less casual interaction.

And to a considerable extent this was because the passage of ten years had modernized writing norms, and to a considerable extent this was because his demographic was younger than the Titans and therefore less sexualization was expected of the writers. Young Justice built on some stuff Marvel had been doing with young teams and broke some ground that Marvel has built on even further lately. (Seriously what is with Marvel’s young team books lately they’re incredible.) But there was also that Tim as an individual cares less about gender than most of his family.

(In some ways Jason may care even less, but he also leans really hard into performative masculinity and thought flirting was a reasonable way to interact with older women as a teenager, and he’s been being written by Scott Lobdell for ten years even if I have a hard time thinking of that as canon, so his data is mixed.)

Or take the case of this young freedom fighter (/terrorist) who happens to wear Robin colors, who Tim meets at one point in Europe. Dava. The story creates situations where Tim gets a weird mind-altering stimulant transferred orally to him by Dava, and then from him to Shiva when he’s giving her CPR, and Tim rather notably doesn’t have a single narration box or speech bubble that treats these as ‘kisses’ that he has somehow benefited from obtaining.

Later he crawl-drags Dava’s knocked-out-by-Shiva body out of the middle of the bloodbath Shiva is now staging, because he’s in no state to do anything to stop it, which he hates, and while this is certainly the comic arranging things to put Dava in a damsel status relative to Tim, Tim does not at any point frame it that way.

He is really good about not disrespecting Dava, honestly. It’s an interesting storyline partly for that reason, though it’s not the only time it comes up.

Tim was constantly meeting Troubled Young Women who could kick his ass and whom he respected considerably in most senses, but whom he was able to convince that their particular approach to violence was somehow flawed and needed to be re-thought. Thereby allowing there to be Strong Female Characters but keep the balance of the world in order and not worry the readership, by placing the male lead in a subtle power position even if he had gotten his ass kicked.

It was like. An entire genre. Tied to the way Shiva kept popping in as Incredibly Terrifying Supporting Cast.

This was a major way DC was using female characters in and immediately after the 90s and tbh in some ways it was more progressive than what they tend to do now, even as certain parts of the framing set my teeth on edge.

(Compare ‘Tim on drugs manages to hit Shiva hard enough to take her down because she didn’t expect lethal force from him so he has to do CPR’ to the more recent Red Robin story where we spend a couple of pages with him laying out to her face how she came to town to fulfill a contract on him but he brilliantly out-thought her and she ate the drugged chocolates he sent her so He Wins. Bleh.)

Steph stands out for hanging around instead of being a one-off appearance, and for not really rethinking her life in response to Tim much at all, while also not being a villain.

The crux of the issue is, Tim slid into talking down to Steph on a semi-regular basis, especially when trying to get her to stop vigilante-ing, which he’s getting backlash for some twenty-odd years later, mostly by people blaming him for her narrative deprioritization because it’s more satisfying than blaming DC.

And a major form this takes is declaring him generally sexist.

And the thing is, I’m sure his unconscious view of himself as more competent to make judgment calls because Main Character Demographic did play into the way he approached those conversations! I have never met a dude with any self-confidence whatsoever for whom that wasn’t a factor. Sexism, like racism, is the air we breathe, you have to actively extricate yourself from it and even then it will crop up at odd moments.

Classism played into it, too--especially once he knew she was a C-list villain’s daughter; there was that sense that often crops up in Batman properties that not only does greater access to resources make it safer and less self-destructive for the moneyed class to go vigilante-ing, noblesse oblige means it’s also somehow more just. The old ‘the outsider has a more objective approach’ canard. This was even more subtextual than the gender stuff, but I’m sure it was there.

Intellectual elitism is sort of a subset of both that and gender issues--Tim knows he’s smart, it’s the core of his pride, and Steph is not as smart in the same ways and has not had the same educational opportunites, and there are definitely moments of high-handedness tied to this.

And then there was the territorial aspect; it was official Bat policy to discourage all other Gotham vigilantes, usually in a much more absolute and commanding way than Tim ever tried, not to take them in and train them.

That might have been an option for Bruce if he’d wanted to, but it wasn’t really on the table for Tim unless he wanted to stage an intense campaign to totally disrupt his own life in order to bring this person who introduced herself by hitting him in the face with a brick after he mistook her for a villain into private Bat training and spaces. They’d known each other for a while and been having this argument in various forms most of that time, before they ever dated.

Please also remember that the last time Tim wanted to take a troubled blond under his and Bruce’s wings and show them the ropes and make sure they could do this safely as part of a personal healing process that would help everyone, that person took less than a week after starting to show signs of instability to have a complete psychotic break, beat him into the ground, build a brick wall in the Batcave to keep him out, lock down the computers, and start killing criminals with the knife-hands he added to the Batsuit, while failing to prioritize civilian safety.

This was not that long before Steph’s debut. If I were Tim I would not trust myself to sponsor further new team members either!

All of these things besides the Azrael trauma are directly from Bruce, who is often way more emphatic and more of an ass about them. Robin was mirroring Batman (consider the way he talks to Selina sometimes egad, sometimes it only doesn’t look awful because she’s playing along) and following Bat-policy; it is totally nonsensical to hold Tim accountable for this and not Bruce.

It’s also important to note that Tim wasn’t significantly less condescending to Anarky or the General, who were white guys around his age with roughly his class background whom he was trying to talk out of villainy, and honestly Lonnie’s motives were baller. (The original Anarky was a hacktivist based on a design somebody drew up for the third Robin, but Tim got made instead.) Tim’s entire character design back to his first appearance holds that when he’s trying to talk someone into something he tends to fall into a lecturing approach.

This can be very annoying! The first time he did it to Nightwing he got grabbed and shaken and snarled at. And of course it’s worse when he’s talking down a demographic slope, rather than up one.

I am very aware of how fucking annoying it is when guys do this, even if it is their normal mode of interaction. I have come very near to punching faces over it, when it’s really bad.

Tim doesn’t usually approach that line, but the problem is his writers didn’t seem to know the line was there, so if you’re reading some of his interactions with Steph from the perspective of having that chip on your shoulder already, especially if you’re not immersed in the narrative’s assumption that he is The Main Character, especially now that language norms have shifted slightly so wording that was considered neutral in the 90s is now obnoxious, it can ironically make a deeper impression than the much more blatant and decided sexism going on all around him.

So that’s my take on the situation. Tim has some mild passive gender prejudice which he has never taken enough notice of to seriously compensate for, made more visible by being in a deeply sexist world and by being kind of an annoying person sometimes, and this has been blown wildly out of proportion by people who feel that he and Steph are in competition to be The One Who Was Not An Asshole in that relationship.

This is not a winnable competition. They were both assholes sometimes, and even if you could prove Tim was a terrible boyfriend/person it wouldn’t validate all of Steph’s behavior--she was often forced to behave very badly or stupidly, because back then one of her major narrative functions was as a stick for the writers to hit Tim with.

And the thing is. If you’re going to exculpate Steph of awful behavior because it was ‘just’ the writers being sexist, let alone let Dick off the hook on similar grounds, I think it’s really unfair and messed up to then turn around and hold Tim-the-individual accountable for sexism that mostly wasn’t even situated in him so much as baked into the narrative, though to his benefit.

Like. When sexism (or other -ism) benefits people in real life it can be useful to draw their attention to their systemic advantages if they seem not to get it, but drawing Tim’s attention to his narrative prioritization would be extraordinarily meta (lol somebody write that fic). And in neither situation is it productive or fair (though I do know it is so so tempting) to treat the very existence of someone’s privilege as an offense they have personally committed.

They literally cannot help that. That’s how systemic works.

[spiftynifty]

How come it seems like lm and jds can talk more candidly about their intentions regarding other ships like allurance and even k/l but not sheith? I don't understand why they can clarify things like allurance and how it was there from the beginning or flat out state that they never intended for k/l to be a thing, but when it comes to the topic of shiro and keith they won't just clarify what they did or did not intend/want their relationship to be? I'm confused by it. :(

Ooof this is an excellent question and I suspect a complicated one. 

First off, they can be candid about Allurance because 1) it’s a hetero couple (and therefore “acceptable” to executives and conservative parents) and 2) it was strongly implied and built up for almost the entirety of the series before they officially, canonically, became a couple. There’s no ambiguity there. They can be candid about kl because Allurance technically “kills” the ship by virtue of existing, but more importantly kl is the fanship that they have been directly asked about on more than one occasion and probably straight up badgered about it more times than we’re aware of. When your production studio gets blackmailed in the hopes of making k/l canon, that ship is being brought to your attention. 

Also, Afterbuzz is run by kl fans who have anti-like tendencies. They angle kl questions in nearly every interview, and I was pretty miffed by the way in this interview they heavily, heavily implied that only Sheith fans hated s8 “because their ship didn’t become canon” and yet in the same breath talked about how Allurance wasn’t good and came out of nowhere (something JDS delightfully shut down). In the live chat for the recent interview, people from all ship alignments kept begging the hosts to ask about why SK’s friendship wasn’t included in the final season. In the saltiest tone you can imagine, one of the more vocal kl hosts decided to answer the question (”they helped each other grow and evolve and since they’ve done that, we don’t need to see their friendship anymore, it got lots of screentime in other seasons”) and never let the showrunners actually speak on it, instead moving swiftly to another topic that aligned more with the hosts’ own interests. It was almost like she was afraid of what the answer would be. Was she afraid they’d say “well actually, on the matter of that, Sheith was our intended endgame” or was she trying to save them from having to talk about something NDAs prevented them from talking about? 

So why CAN’T they talk Sheith? I have a few theories. This gets long and a little rambly, so I’ve thrown it under a cut. 

1) Don’t ask, don’t tell. Except for post-s7, the showrunners themselves have never been asked about Sheith’s relationship in an interview. I think most Sheiths were afraid of rocking the boat and potentially upending a SK endgame by drawing too much attention to it. We were/are definitely the quieter side of the primary vld ships and honestly most of us were not expecting our ship to be canon. 

But vld ships and the ship wars are notorious across geekdom for vitriol and death threats, and the creators didn’t want to add any fodder to either side. In the middle of production it would have benefited no one for the EPs to say, “yeah sheith is meant to be viewed romantically” or “no, we can’t go back and change the story to make that true”. Either one would have resulted in an uptick of harassment from antis towards them, towards other fans. And nevermind the production side where DW/WEP weren’t ready for even a hint of m/m until right before s7 dropped. It was only AFTER they got the greenlight on gay Shiro that showrunners could finally be vague and say “some people will interpret [sk] as brothers, others will say it’s 100% confirmed they’re in a relationship”. Which is, in my opinion, a pretty interesting way to respond to that question. But again, if that interviewer hadn’t been brave enough to ask it, I highly doubt it’s something that the showrunners themselves would have ever brought up.

2) Sheith was actually intended to be romantic, but was blocked. We know now that Adam being greenlit as Shiro’s boyfriend happened right before (like a week or less) before s7 dropped. This was a show that had been in production for almost 4 years by this point, and the showrunners stated they picked Shiro to be their rep early on in the process. When they planted that idea in executive’s heads is anyone’s guess, as is when the proper fight for it began. I suspect their immediate team of directors, writers, and in-house producers were well aware and supportive, but kicking that up the chain was another story. I also have a suspicion that it wasn’t until season 6 was complete that the matter was brought up because greenlighting everything we got in s6 knowing Shiro was gay the whole time puts a lot of eyes on Keith. 

And really, it was Keith who was the problem all along. 

In every version of Voltron, Keith is the main protagonist. He’s the leader of the team, the primary “image” of Voltron, and thus, certain things about him need to be maintained. I’m not sure if this is sheer coincidence or not, but he is the only person on the team who stayed visually the same to his OG counterpart. All of the other paladins have gone from white dudes (and a white lady) to POC, or have had a genderswap. There is much debate about Keith’s race with people creating their own headcanons but ultimately Keith can pass as white. While the handbook states Lance is Cuban, Hunk is half black-half Samoan, Shiro is Japanese and even Pidge gets “Italian”, Keith is just listed as... human. Which is a surefire way to not upset fans who have HC’d him as POC while also not-NOT saying he’s white. Everybody “wins”. 

In addition I’m confident a major stipulation of the OG Voltron owners (the “gatekeepers”, as a few of the VAs and the showrunners themselves have darkly alluded to) was that Keith could not be LGBT. We know now he was meant to end up with Acxa, a fact that was already obvious to many of us from their Weblum meetcute. But that relationship was never scripted. 

Setting aside the fact that the OG Voltron owners (WEP) didn’t want Keith to be LGBT, I’m sure executives at Dreamworks would have struggled with the idea as well. Shiro stans can come at me all they like about this but Keith was always meant to be the primary protagonist of the show, of every version of Voltron, and making the main, masculine hero of a well-trodden, oft-rebooted franchise gay/bi would have been an ENORMOUS move for animation. Making him end up with the other main, masculine hero would have honestly broken the internet and the minds of countless conservative executives, and been a major benchmark not just for cartoons, but ALL media. Animation often trails behind TV and movies in terms of social progress because something something “protect the chillllldrennn”. And right now I’m struggling to think of a popular live action TV show, or movie, with an older audience, where the main masculine hero is lgbt, and in a relationship with the other main masculine hero. Feel free to offer me examples in replies but the fact that I’m struggling to think of anything is pretty telling. In short, if this revolutionary move still isn’t happening for the live action 13+ audience, asking for it to happen on a cartoon with a 7-11yo boy demographic is like asking for the moon. Keith couldn’t be gay, because immediately it would have been obvious to anyone that he was already very much in love with the other LGBT character on the show. Hell, it’s already pretty obvious in canon that this is the case, and dodging the question about his sexuality is dodging the confirmation that he’s in love with Shiro. 

I’d like to believe that one of the solutions to the Adam Problem that was proposed was that KEITH ends up with Shiro, but they were laughed out of the office. The pair’s incredibly close bond aside, it would have been the absolute easiest fix production-wise. They already have their shared history doing most of the legwork, all that’d have to be changed is:

-adding Shiro to the L/K scene in 8x01, just sitting there as Keith encouraged Lance.-Re-recording a couple of Shiro’s lines in 8x05 to make him seem at least somewhat upset that Keith was kidnapped-Showing Keith and Shiro hanging out in the video episode. You could just use the shot of Keith and Pidge but replace Pidge with Shiro.

And the best part is, you could change just one or two of these and then do the wedding epilogue you always intended (but write something that doesn’t insist Shiro retired) but with Keith instead of Rando. Not to mention, there is a slight, slight possibility there was a S/K scene (or two) cut along the way. I strongly disagree with the theories that have floated around about the “massive edits” done to s8, but I think there could be truth to the idea that a Sheith scene was cut to make room for Crew Member, or an effort made to downplay the Sheith friendship that comes off way more intimate than any interaction Shiro has with [man]. It’s more likely that SK scenes never existed at all in this season as the showrunners had to cave to pressures to “have more action”, had no idea what to do with Shiro besides relegate him to a stiff cardboard general, and perhaps had to follow strict instructions about the kind of friendliness an out & proud gay man could show to the men he’d enjoyed good interactions with before. 

All this to say, the Sheith battle is messy. It’s fine for the showrunners to say “getting the greenlight for Shiro was a battle” because it’s a battle they won that makes everyone look pretty good. It makes Dreamworks look like they Learned Something and are going to be more open to LGBT content in future properties. It makes WEP look not-terrible because they can add “allowed a character who wasn’t really an OG Voltron character to be gay” to their list of “generous” things they allowed for this re-envisioning of their property. It’s self-congrats all around.

Blocking Sheith has the opposite effect. It reveals that WEP is homophobic because they could allow Pidge to be a girl and Allura to be black but making the hero a non-straight man? That’s TOO FAR. It reveals that Dreamworks higherups are homophobic because they weren’t ready for two LGBT protagonists, just one plus a background character with 3 lines who is literally never named. No one wins, and to be asked about Shiro and Keith and be honest about it could potentially be the showrunners saying, “god, we wanted to, but we were blocked at every single turn”. And thus DW and WEP are the outed villains of the story.

3) Shiro and Keith were never meant to be read as romantic. The showrunners don’t say anything because there’s simply nothing to say. Sometimes the most incredible ships are happy accidents. Sometimes people genuinely don’t realize what they’re doing. I felt a little disheartened watching the AB interview because the way they talked about wanting to include more [man], or how they “hoped viewers would read between the lines” re:Shiro/Curtains, was so casual and flippant it was like they genuinely thought most people would be fine with Shirando if only there had been more scenes between them, as though completely severing Shiro’s relationship with Keith and instead only showing scenes of Shiro bonding with a new character would come off as a good move rather than a baffling (and somewhat hurtful) one. 

I do believe that certain directors were absolutely fans of the pair and angled in what they could. Chris Palmer is behind the famous “shiro loves you baby” art and responsible for the eps that include Shiro’s gay panic, the Sheith hug, “As many times as it takes”, Shiro falling into Keith’s arms, and “We have to stop, Shiro’s out there!!” among others. Steve Ahn was the director behind 2x01, 3x01 with heavily grieving Keith, Blade of Marmora, and the episode where Keith screams Shiro’s name so loud he astral projects and then Shiro holds his hands over the controls. He also got really soft when he talked about the pair in an episode of Form Podcast (before JDS kinda hastily shut him down). And even Eugene Lee, he directed The Black Paladins which is an episode so Sheith I still can’t believe it’s real, and 7x01, the other episode so Sheith I can’t believe it’s real. All three of these guys were the original series directors, which is pretty inchresting. 

But that doesn’t mean the showrunners were necessarily onboard. Maybe it was really important to them to show a positive male friendship since that never happens in media, just as they felt having Allura sacrifice herself was a powerful feminist move. However the thing I keep circling back to is JDS’ early interview about The Winter Soldier and how if he ever got the chance to do that, he hoped it would be in the future when things could be more progressive, hinting that he wanted to throw more overt romantic undertones if he himself ever got a fight like that to write or direct. It’s pretty interesting that he wrote the Black Paladins, which mirrors the Stucky fight in Winter Soldier so much that it actually rotoscopes one of Bucky’s moves. I’d also point out that JDS’ favorite characters are Shiro and Keith, and I find it impossible to be a fan of both and not also be a fan of how much they love each other, and how much that love straddles the line between romantic love and friendship.

This got long, but I hope it was helpful. The likely final-ever showrunner interview will be on Let’s Voltron sometime this month, and I do hope that now that the series is over someone is brave enough to ask them, “so... what was going on between Shiro and Keith? In a perfect world, what would have happened there?”. In a way it doesn’t matter though. There is always the risk of them saying “nothing was going on there” and us agonizing over whether that was a lie to protect their careers or bald-faced honesty in the face of an NDA or fucks-given that might have expired with their contracts. 

But I think the best we can hope for is the same situation that happened with the Avatar creators and that live action movie: 3 years from now when the NDAs are well and truly expired, JDS & LM may come out and say, “SO, on the matter of Shiro and Keith, it’s time to come clean.”

[ignis-scientia-estrogen-brigade]

I've got an idea- first time the Strategist picked up a male lover. Don't care what flavor of guy. I'm honestly very interested to know what you think would catch his eye enough to test the waters. Sexy eloquent times to make my queer heart sing, please and thank you? (P.S. bonus points for a neck tie of any sort being involved.)

[ISEB Author’s Note #1: I’ve had this Ask sitting in my inbox for ages, and it was one I had looked forward to tackling for a long time. Sadly, the demands of real life seemed to distract me every time I sat down to work on it; in an effort to wrap it up once and for all, I admittedly rushed through the prose a bit more than I would’ve liked. Likewise, I tried to avoid a specific dilemma that often crops up in fanfiction—the premise of two male paramours written 100% for the consumption of a female demographic—but as I am not a gay man myself, my attempts may have ultimately proved futile. For any of my followers who choose to skip this particular fic, I’m going to try very hard to get through at least one other Ask in my inbox before the day is over, so stay tuned!]

[ISEB Author’s Note #2: If you’ve kept up with any of my other fics at this point, you may be asking yourself why I avoid naming the paramours who happen to cross paths with everyone’s favorite strategist. The answer is simple: It gives the reader the option of projecting either themselves or their own OCs onto the characters in question. By naming them, I feel like it confines the story to my own personal headcanons; without the pesky limitations of names or titles, the reader is at liberty to imagine Ignis Scientia fellating Ronald McDonald, for all I care. That said, I fear I will be unable to circumvent the issue of naming the protagonist in my next work of Specs fanfiction; the best I can hope for is that you’ll come to love that character as much as I have!]

Ignis x Male Suitor; 6800 Words

Redunkulously NSFW

He isn’t quite sure where the palace rumors about him originated from; contrary to popular belief, the strategist didn’t actually entertain a plethora of paramours all at once. It was hard enough keeping tabs on the three men who were entrusted to his care, and juggling several partners without the others’ knowledge was just asking for trouble.

The gossip was doubly bewildering to Ignis Scientia considering he hadn’t bedded a lover for the first time until considerably recently—much to the teasing of his friends. Even Prompto, the bumbling idiot around women that he was, had managed to cajole a bored classmate into sleeping with him well before Ignis had ever shared himself privately with another. But he hadn’t been in the same kind of hurry to exercise his sexual prowess like the others; establishing one’s virility was all relative, and physical intimacy was no more or less a validation of masculinity than slitting an enemy’s throat.

But he had eventually taken part in a man’s customary right of passage, and the rumors about him had begun to spread within the Citadel like wildfire not long after. He wonders if his proclivity for indulging in an evening drink at the same bar several of the royal Kingsglaive frequented has piqued the curiosity of more inquisitive observers—the seedy underbelly of Crown City was fertile breeding grounds for palace whispers, and the women who visited the establishment on the regular were indeed quite beautiful—but that’s not precisely why he comes here.

It’s actually because of the bartender; specifically, the delectable cocktail he creates using aged Altissian scotch with a twist of Duscaen orange rind is what prompts the strategist’s returning patronage. Ebony is inarguably his preferred beverage of choice, but there’s nothing quite like a stiff drink after spending an entire afternoon walloping on his undisciplined pupils to ease the tension in his shoulders. If he didn’t have to get up so early every morning to prepare his royal charge for the day ahead, Ignis might not have any reason to leave the bar at all.

It also helps that the man behind the counter is easy on the eyes; maybe it’s because his clipped accent draws attention to his strong jawline when he elongates his syllables, or perhaps it’s simply because the strategist appreciates someone who isn’t afraid of donning a pair of classic suspenders. The bartender often pairs them with a crisp button-down shirt and necktie—both in varying shades of black, per the royal dress code—and he hasn’t been absent once since Ignis took up his admittedly fallible habit.

Which is why he’s somewhat perplexed to find that the mixologist is not at his usual post when he strolls into the tavern that night. The strategist is reticent to inquire into the man’s whereabouts for fear of perpetuating even more rumors about himself—behind the safety of Insomnia’s walls, bored Kingsglaive seemingly have little better to do than to hypothesize about the relationship status of a lowly Crownsguard—so he spends several minutes casually wandering the floor’s perimeter in search of the only company he cares to entertain at this particular establishment.

It’s only after he’s poked his nose into every corner and booth—keenly aware of the probing stares the Kingsglaive have trained on him—that he steps back outside and into the brisk night air. The smell of smoking tobacco wafts through his nostrils, and he follows the odor around the corner of the building until he finds its source: A gentleman is leaning against a brick wall in the alleyway behind the bar, nursing a cigarette and dressed in a crisp button-down shirt, necktie, and suspenders.

“For a moment, I thought I was going to have to construct my own concoction this evening,” Ignis says as he stops beside the man.

“Sorry,” the bartender chuckles. “Just taking a short break. Standing on my feet for hours on end gets the better of me sometimes.”

The strategist runs a hand along one of his own sore biceps. “I can relate. If I didn’t have your alcoholic curatives to look forward to, I fear I would have to resort to acquainting myself with Crown City University’s local fraternity chapter. Either that, or I’d have to learn how to pour myself a proper glass of scotch.”

The man snorts softly. “I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing what some of my patrons on the other side of the bar might come up with.”

“I have some skill in backward-engineering recipes,” Ignis concedes, “but there’s an art to zesting an orange I haven’t quite mastered yet.”

The bartender takes a drag off his cigarette and shakes his head. “Perhaps, but nothing someone of your talents with a knife couldn’t acquire. At least, if the grumblings of the bruised Kingsglave inside are to be believed.”

Ignis’ lips twist into a wry grin; he spends most of his time at the Citadel tutoring the palace’s lower security detail in the study of hand-to-hand combat—that is, when he’s not occupied with his duties to the crown prince—but is remiss to pass up any opportunity to humble Regis’ more arrogant bodyguards whenever they offer to cross daggers with him. “Come now—surely Nyx isn’t still bitter about the finger I broke?”

“Only slightly,” the bartender demurs, and withdraws a small case from his trouser pocket. “Cigarette?”

The strategist hesitates briefly, then plucks one from the outstretched box. “Sure.”

The bartender then ignites a lighter in his direction, and Ignis leans over to kindle his smoke. His face is in close enough proximity to the man that he can smell the subtle fragrance of his cologne; his cheeks warm slightly when the aroma activates a deeper, more primal area of his brain, and he joins his impromptu counterpart against the wall as the chemicals in the tobacco work their magic through his tight muscles.

“At the risk of sounding like I’m prying,” he says through a hazy exhale, “what is a fit young gentleman like yourself doing working as a bartender in Insomnia? The Citadel’s recruitment offices would positively wring their hands in delight if they saw you walk through their front doors.”

He’s not wrong about the fit part; the strategist surmises only a blind person could miss the sharp definition of the bartender’s torso beneath his tailored shirt. But the man plays coy, and brushes his observation aside with a curious flick of his wrist. “I’m not as young as I look,” he says.

“Oh? How old are you, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Thirty-two,” he replies. “And if you don’t mind my asking, how old are you?”

It’s not often the strategist feels encumbered by the age gap between him and his elders, but the bartender’s soulful eyes seemingly penetrate his deepest insecurities. “Nineteen going on forty, according to my friends,” he quips.

“Scarcely more than a child. I bet you haven’t even seen the world yet, have you?”

Ignis busies himself with his cigarette, if only to avert the older man’s probing gaze. “Not precisely, no.”

The man then grows quiet; after a while, he takes a final drag off his smoke and crushes the discarded butt beneath his heel. “To answer your question, I’m not as fit as I look, either. I was living in Tenebrae when the Imperial assault there occurred.”

The strategist ruminates over the meaning behind his mention for a long moment, until the pieces click into place. “Were you injured?”

The bartender kicks his right foot against the brick wall, and Ignis can hear the faint clink of metal. “Lost my leg below the knee in a daemon attack.”

An inkling of guilt trickles through Ignis’ gut, and he frowns. “My apologies.”

“None the worse for wear,” the man says jovially, “but it does limit my professional options a tad.”

“You probably presume I’m an naïve anklebiter who is unaware of the true dangers of Eos prowling just beyond the city’s walls.” The strategist gnaws on his lip as he tosses aside his own cigarette butt. “I suppose that would not be an entirely inaccurate observation.”

“Not at all.” The bartender resumes his place against the wall, only now he’s a step closer to Ignis, near enough that he can sense the warmth emanating from under the man’s tunic. “Although I do wonder sometimes why you show up to this place all alone night after night, when the palace rumors that have reached my ears suggest you are anything but lonely.”

“I’m going to have to do something about those pesky palace rumors,” Ignis mutters irritably. “It’s a small wonder the entire constituency of Insomnia doesn’t think I keep intimate company with a pack of Sabertusks by now.”

“What intimate company do you keep, then?”

His gaze suddenly darts over to the bartender. “Come again?”

The man has one eyebrow cocked in his direction, the faintest hint of a grin touching his lips. “Was that impolite of me to ask?”

“No, it’s just—” In an uncharacteristic loss of composure, the strategist finds himself stumbling over his words. “I should think you would hardly find the interests of a mere Crownsguard entertaining, when there are undoubtably more important individuals that vie for your attention.”

“The Kingsglaive only talk to me because they think I’m easy to impress. Libertus Ostium is evidently harboring a behemoth-sized phallus beneath his royal raiments, if one were to believe even a fraction of his boasting.”

Ignis can’t quite stifle a laugh. “Libertus walks around like a nudist in the Citadel’s locker rooms, so I know it’s not that big.”

“I know it’s not, either.”

The way the bartender tosses him an mischievous wink gives the strategist pause. “…right.”

“So do the beasts of greater Lucis truly tickle your fancy?” the man continues. “Or is there more to your unassuming character than meets the eye?”

Ignis glances cautiously over at him, not entirely confident in his own ability to read between the lines. “I find an exceptional intellect to be most intriguing, above all else.”

“That’s not exactly the narrowest of requisites.”

The strategist views his own sexuality in the same manner as the approach to warfare; tried and tested methods are often the most applicable policy, but are wholly conditional depending on the circumstances. “I suppose that hinges upon your definition of narrow.”

“So then, whereabouts would you assess my intellect?”

The lines are becoming more distinct now, and Ignis offers him a small smile. “I think anyone who has overcome the tremendous amount of adversity you have is certainly worth getting to know better.”

The man purses his lips in thought, and for the briefest of instants Ignis ponders what it might be like to feel the bartender’s warm breath on his neck. Then his companion abruptly pushes himself away from the wall and moves to exit the alleyway. “If you care to learn more about my exceptional intellect,” he calls out over his shoulder, “I live in the biggest apartment complex on Twelfth Street. I’m off at midnight.”

Biggest apartment complex on Twelfth Street isn’t the most explicit of directions, Ignis surmises, considering 12th Street ran the entire length of Crown City. But the strategist has the advantage of logic on his side, and there are a few hints he can infer from what little he knows about the bartender.

The man has a prosthetic leg, which meant that the radius of walking distance he was limited to was no more than ten or so blocks from the bar. It was conceivable he might’ve driven to his place of employment, but as the metropolitan area where the tavern was located offered very little street parking, it seemed rather unlikely. Within those constraints, that left two possible structures for consideration; one was a story taller that the other, but the shorter one spanned a greater width along its facade.

So Ignis situates himself equidistant from the two apartment buildings, and waits silently beneath a flickering street lamp in the hopes of picking up on another, more audible clue. On weeknights like this, the roads and alleyways were quiet enough to hear the sound of footfalls on the sidewalk, and indeed the strategist is rewarded by the soft grinding of a mechanical joint not long after the top of the hour.

“It appears my enigmatic instructions gave you far less trouble than I had anticipated,” the bartender says, as he steps out of the shadows and into the brassy light. “I suppose they don’t call you The Strategist without due cause.”

“If your intention was to be purposefully vague,” Ignis counters, “I wonder why you bothered inviting me to your residence in the first place.”

“One can never be too careful, what with the eyes of the crown peering through every nook and cranny of this city.” The man stops beside him and looks him up and down once. “Besides, there’s something to be said about gauging a person’s interest with discretion.”

Ignis raises a dubious eyebrow. “So you were testing me?”

The man’s gaze settles in on his own. “Just curious to see how far your youthful inquisitiveness would lead you.”

Admittedly, the women who had attempted to play bashful games with him in the past had held the strategist’s attention scarcely beyond a single heartbeat. But the bartender was neither bashful nor a woman, and Ignis can’t help but be more than a little intrigued. “Truth be told, I was hoping it would lead me to that drink I never got this evening.”

His pulse elevates slightly when bartender flashes him a wide grin before heading off in the direction of the taller of the two structures. “I’ll have to charge you a premium for dipping into my own inventory. Good Altissian scotch is hard to come by these days.”

The strategist trails a few paces behind him, the subtle sound of creaking metal echoing in the bartender’s wake. “Unless you have an automated teller machine squirreled away somewhere inside your apartment, you’ll have to settle for a more informal method of compensation.”

“I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement.”

Ignis takes note of his companion’s thinly veiled insinuation as he follows him down a footpath terminating in a corner unit at the end of the complex. The man then withdraws a set of keys from his pocket and unlocks an ornate front door; serving drinks to thirsty palace guards is clearly a prosperous business venture, the strategist surmises, if he’s able to afford such posh accommodations in a part of Crown City as upper-class as this. The bartender plays the consummate gentleman, holding the door open for Ignis patiently until he is fully inside the dwelling.

The strategist focuses his attention on the furnishings of the room when the bartender taps a light switch on the wall; there’s nothing particularly out of the ordinary beyond the usual bachelor décor—high ceilings, leather furniture, an array of liquor bottles displayed behind a glass cabinet in the kitchen—but a curious oil painting on the wall catches his eye.

“The Birth of Eos,” Ignis comments, sifting through the assortment of useless information he keeps filed away in his mind at all times. “It’s not often you see classical Tenebraen art this far from where it originated. You mentioned you were present during the Imperial invasion—are you from there originally?”

The bartender is already in the kitchen, retrieving a couple of glass tumblers from an overhead shelf. “I am. Most of my family relocated to Crown City after the assault, but I still have a few cousins living there. I assume you’ve never been to Tenebrae?”

“I have not,” Ignis says, “but Noctis spent some months there as a child, and regaled its beauty to me many times.”

“It truly is a lovely place, when it’s not crawling with Magitek infantry.” The man rummages through the refrigerator for a moment before withdrawing an orange from the crisper and setting it on the kitchen counter. “I seem to recall a royal retinue gracing the country with their presence for a time. The prince was recuperating from a daemon attack, am I correct?”

“Indeed.”

“Nasty beasts—the one interaction I had with them was once too many for my liking.” He then unsheathes a paring knife and deftly peels off a strip of rind from the orange. “May I ask how long you’ve been in service to the crown?”

“As long as I can remember,” Ignis murmurs, his attention still wrapped up in the details of the Astral depicted in the image. “I was recruited as somewhat of plaything for Noct when I was six years old.”

“If you’d had the choice, would you have done things differently? Explored other avenues?”

“I’ve… never really given it much thought, to be honest.” He finally tears his eyes away from the painting just in time to see the bartender uncorking a bottle of scotch and pouring a splash over both tumblers. “The circumstances I found myself in as a child seemingly dictated my lot in life.”

“I suppose there are far less honorable professions than that of a royal Crownsguard.” The man drops a twist of orange rind into each glass, then strolls over to where Ignis is standing before offering him one of the drinks. “Like bartending, for instance.”

“Bartending is absolutely an honorable profession. Just imagine how dreary the world would be without the simple joy of drinking oneself to oblivion.” The strategist smiles at his counterpart as he raises his tumbler to his lips. “What do I owe you?”

The bartender narrows his eyes. “How about an answer to a personal inquiry?”

“All right.”

“Are you virtuous?”

Ignis nearly chokes on his scotch. “Am I what?”

“Perhaps ‘unsullied’ is the word I was looking for.”

He then frowns, not entirely sure where the bartender’s line of questioning is headed. “Certainly not. I wouldn’t be having to field salacious whispers about myself if I were.”

The bartender takes a long sip of his drink before setting his glass down on a nearby end table. “I only ask because I never quite know what gossip to believe. Perhaps if the one set of rumors were untrue, the other rumors I’ve heard might be false as well.”

The strategist’s brow furrows. “What other rumors?”

“That you’ve engaged exclusively with women.”

“That… is not false, no.”

The bartender takes a step closer to Ignis, near enough that he can smell the scotch on the man’s breath. “Does the notion of entertaining the company of men trouble to you?”

The strategist’s eyes fall on the bartender’s necktie, and he briefly calculates the amount of time it would take to fashion it into a makeshift manacle. “I should think not. One willing body is as warm as another.”

“But you can’t speak from experience?”

“I cannot.”

The bartender tilts his head thoughtfully to one side. “How curious.”

Ignis’ grip tightens around his cold beverage, the hackles on his neck tingling in mild irritation. “I’m not intimidated, if that’s what you’re implying.”

“Are you sure about that?”

For a long moment, the two men stare each other down in silence; then the bartender casually reaches over and plucks the tumbler from Ignis’ hand before closing the distance between them. The strategist’s breath catches in his throat when the man runs his fingers lightly across his bare cheek, and his spectacled eyes fall shut when their lips finally meet.

There was something to be said about all the things that made women so delightfully feminine—small statures, dainty fingers, rosy lips that teased Ignis in all the right places. But the raw energy the strategist could taste on the tip of the bartender’s tongue was unlike anything he’d experienced before; the smell of the man’s cologne mingling with the oaky flavor of aged Altissian scotch muddles his senses and sends electrical impulses firing from his brain down to his feet with lightning speed.

Ignis clutches at the bartender’s necktie absentmindedly, if only to stop his knees from giving out from under him entirely. He has nothing to fear, however, because his companion’s hands are already circling around his waist, his strong fingers gripping the small of his back. He presses his chest up against the man’s torso, and for all the effort the nineteen-year-old strategist has made at crafting a mature and collected demeanor, he suddenly finds himself succumbing to the childish desire of wanting to be held.

But the bartender stifles his juvenile instinct by breaking their kiss, stepping backward a pace before Ignis can drag him to the nearest flat surface and strip him of his clothes entirely. “If this is your first attempt at wielding a sword,” he says as he reaches for Ignis’ glass, “you might want to finish this first.”

“My expertise admittedly lies with the lance, but there are some notable similarities.” The strategist grudgingly accepts the drink from the bartender’s hand and knocks it back in one swig. “How different could it be?”

His counterpart is already making his way toward a room at the end of a hallway, and Ignis abandons his empty tumbler before trailing him through the open door. A large bed is situated in the center of the space, and the bartender loosens his necktie as he lowers himself onto the edge of it. “I presume if you haven’t entangled yourself with a man before, you might have some inquiries as to the delegation of certain tasks.”

The strategist hesitates as he watches him discard his tie on a nearby pillow. “I suppose my expectations do align a bit more toward the traditional.”

The bartender then unbuttons the top two closures of his shirt, and Ignis catches a glimpse of his smooth collarbone. “I’ll tell you what,” the man says. “I have trouble being on my knees for too long a time. If you can spare me the effort of overexerting my right leg, I’ll let you play whatever role you like to your heart’s content.”

“An agreeable strategy,” Ignis replies, and slowly makes his way toward the bedside.

The bartender’s skin is as soft as he imagined it would be when the strategist finally traces his fingers along the lines of his chest. His hands then move to tug on the elastic of his suspenders, and a flutter of anticipation stirs in his belly when he slips them down past the man’s firm shoulders. His companion’s eyes never leave his own, and he waits unflinching while Ignis tackles the rest of his shirt buttons.

“I must admit,” the bartender says in a low voice, “I was expecting a bit more jittering from a man who’s only practice is with the fairer sex. Do they temper your nerves in steel at the Citadel?”

The strategist snorts softly as he liberates his partner from his tunic. “Not quite. The drink helped.”

He then covers the bartender’s mouth with his own before he can respond with a clever retort, dropping his hands to the man’s waist to release his belt buckle. At the back of his mind, Ignis knows this is little more than a momentary tryst, a mutual understanding between two men simply in need of alleviating a bit of life’s pressures; still, the bartender is tender in his touch, caressing the strategist’s jawline with gentle fingers and nipping softly at his lower lip.

Ignis then drops to his knees and eases the bartender out of his trousers; he isn’t quite sure what he was expecting his own reaction to be, but the sight of the man’s right leg causes his heart to seize up in his chest. Aluminum plates and copper wiring shaped into a respectable facsimile of calf muscles and an ankle joint encases everything below the knee, and Ignis runs his hand along the bartender’s thigh before stopping just above the artificial limb.

“You don’t have to worry about dancing around my feelings,” the man says quietly. “I can hardly even remember how it happened nowadays.”

Ignis had seen the visible scars carved into those in service to the crown who had been involved in action on the Imperial front; he’d even seen the emotional impact the terrors of the night had had on his closest friend. But he had never borne witness to the horrors of bloodshed in such close quarters before, and suddenly it felt as if the war against the Empire was right outside his doorstep.

The strategist glides tentative fingers down the man’s right leg, noting the transition between the warmth of his skin and the coolness of the polished metal. “Does it hurt?”

The bartender offers him a cheeky grin. “Only when I kick someone.”

The tension in his chest ebbs, and Ignis brushes a cheek against the inside of the man’s thigh. “Do warn me if you happen to be ticklish, then. In my experience, tooth enamel is rather weak against metal.”

He can feel the bartender’s hands sift through his hair when he moves to relieve him from his briefs; the strategist was scarcely bashful in the presence of bare flesh, but his cheeks unconsciously redden when he lays eyes on his partner’s burgeoning erection that matches the pressure in his own trousers. The dull ache of intoxication is causing his head to swim, although whether it was from the alcohol he consumed earlier, or simply a side effect of his increasingly demanding libido, Ignis isn’t quite sure.

And while he may have had little experience with manipulating a sword, the strategist knows what he likes whenever he happens to be on the receiving end of a lover’s generosity; his hands move instinctively to grip at the base of the bartender’s strengthening rigidity, his mouth enveloping him fully, his tongue pressing hard against the sensitive part just below the head. His partner’s fingers tighten around his temples once before drifting down the back of his neck; he is quiet in his reaction to Ignis’ gentle probing, but the fingernails the strategist can feel digging through the fabric of his shirt speak volumes.

Ignis takes this as a positive sign, and settles in more comfortably between the bartender’s legs. He then allows one of his hands to circle around the man’s artificial calf—he isn’t sure whether his partner has any feeling below his right knee, but the smooth metal is enjoyable to the touch nonetheless—and supplements his oral machinations with the other. The bartender’s own hands eventually let go of their vice grip over his shoulders and drift down the front of his chest, and Ignis can feel the buttons of his shirt loosen with each passing stroke of his tongue.

He pauses only briefly to give the bartender free rein to discard his shirt on the floor, glancing up as the man leans down to steal a kiss. Then Ignis returns his attention to the task at hand, closing his eyes against the sensation of warm flesh thrusting hard against the back of his throat. The scent of cologne and scotch and male pheromones that swirl in the air around his nostrils serves only to urge the strategist onward, and he reaches down to loosen the zipper of his trousers to relieve himself of the pressure plaguing his own groin.

The bartender remains silent, but Ignis can sense the man’s breath shortening in his lungs, can feel the pulsing of blood locked tightly inside the tissue of his shaft. And he can hear the sound of his mechanical ankle flexing and clenching in time with Ignis’ movements, until his tremors reach all the way to his hands and he tilts the strategist’s chin up with trembling fingers.

“Perhaps it would be best if we moved on to other things,” he says hoarsely. “I wouldn’t want to dirty up your spectacles.”

The strategist levels him with a malevolent grin, and draws himself up to his full height. The bartender’s hands drift to the waistband of his trousers, tracing his fingertips lightly over Ignis’ arousal before tugging on the pockets of his pants and dropping them to the floor. The strategist rakes his gaze over his partner’s taut abdomen when he pushes himself onto the bed and reaches for a drawer in the nightstand; after a moment, the man withdraws a small bottle and tosses it in Ignis’ direction.

“For your own pleasure,” he offers. “If you need more, there’s plenty where that came from.”

Ignis eyes the vial of lubricant in his hand; if a full bottle wasn’t enough to prime the evening’s activities, the strategist had grossly underestimated the proportions of his own equipment. But before he can even remove his smallclothes, the bartender rolls over onto his chest and props himself on his elbows.

Ignis finally abandons his briefs on the floor and eases himself onto the bed beside his lover. “If you don’t mind,” he says, as he gestures for the bartender to assume a comfortable position on his back, “I generally like to see my partners’ faces in the heat of the moment.”

“Missionary? Really?” The man lets out a laugh. “I should think you were an old maid, with that sort of taste.”

The strategist tucks the bottle of lubricant beneath his arm and plucks the long-forgotten tie up off the pillow. “There are ways of reinventing the familiar.”

The man’s eyes widen as Ignis gathers his wrists above his head. “If you were hoping to avoid a metal foot to the teeth, this might not be the best course of action.”

The strategist loops the tie around the back of the headboard and secures the bartender’s hands. “A calculated risk.”

When he is satisfied with the strength of his knot, Ignis rocks back on his knees and rids himself of his last remaining accoutrement: his glasses. There was something about the absence of the familiar weight across the bridge of his nose that made him feel even more naked and vulnerable than being nude in front of a lover; perhaps it was the comments he inevitably received from his paramours on how different he looked without them that triggered his insecurities about his own image.

But the bartender mercifully makes no wry quips about his youthful features, and instead watches with curiosity as Ignis uncaps the vial of lubricant; cold serum drips down into his palm, and gooseflesh ripples through his skin when he touches the viscous liquid to his screaming erection. He then pours a generous amount over his partner’s loins, spreading the fluid across the man’s shivering flesh with warm hands, until he stops to press a finger inside the most sensitive and intimate part of his lover’s body.

Only then does the bartender finally make a sound; Ignis introduces a second finger, and is rewarded not with a kick to the jaw, but a louder, more audible gasp from the man. The exploration of discovery was wholly universal, the strategist surmises, and probing a man’s canal was not all that different than teasing the sex of a woman. He leans over and nuzzles his nose against his partner’s neck, his hand still buried between his thighs, and the bartender tilts his face toward the strategist’s in a furious attempt to meet his lips.

Ignis indulges in his desire, but only briefly, because it isn’t long before the man’s hips are quivering and his insistence is making itself known. The strategist withdraws his hand and positions himself above the bartender, then reaches down for the base of his own shaft and nudges the head against the entrance of his lover’s body; the lubrication has its intended effect, and the strategist’s elbows nearly give out from under him when he presses his heat inside his partner.

It was an altogether different sensation than what Ignis had experienced in the past; the taut walls of a man were more rigid, the muscles tightening against his ardor more acute, than the soft folds of a woman. He ceases all movement for an instant to allow for the sudden dizziness in his head to pass, and moves to rest his cheek against the bartender’s chiseled torso until his mind is clear enough to actively quell the throbbing in his loins.

When he is certain his body won’t betray him and spill his seed unceremoniously within five seconds of penetrating him, Ignis finally lifts his head to cover the bartender’s parted mouth with his own. His kiss is gentle at first, then more urgent as buries himself fully inside his partner; the man arches his ribcage and wraps his ankles around the back of the strategist’s knees—his left leg warm, his right cool to the touch—until their two bodies are nearly as one and his partner’s hard-as-stone manhood is trapped between both their abdomens.

Ignis grips at the sheets on either side of the bartender’s head when he begins to move, if only to protect the man from his fingernails that are desperate to mark their territory. But he can’t safeguard his partner from his teeth, and indeed the strategist is unable to resist the urge to leave a trail of gentle love bites down the man’s collarbone. His lover’s arms strain against the shackles of the necktie, so Ignis teases his tongue along the inside of the man’s biceps in an effort to distract him from the knot fettering his wrists.

The strategist eventually settles his hips into a comfortable rhythm, and studies the planes of his lover’s face as he seeks out visual and audible clues that might reveal to him the thoughts turning behind the bartender’s mind. He can see his jaw clench tightly when Ignis meets the edge of his resistance, can hear the carnal growl coming from deep within his throat; he can also feel the warm droplets pooling onto his partner’s abdomen, a telltale sign of the man’s ardor inching ever closer to its breaking point.

So Ignis doubles his efforts, and aims for the same firm spot he can feel with each passing drive of his hips. The bartender’s thighs are gripped tightly around his waist, his moans growing louder in his ears, his arms fighting the ties that bind them. Ignis bites down hard on the inside of his cheek in a rapidly failing attempt at mitigating his own rising fervor; it doesn’t help that lubricant smothering both of their flesh makes the strategist’s thrusts glide with the ease and pleasure of a well-oiled machine.

The bartender’s eyes suddenly flash with a fire that catches Ignis off guard. “Untie me,” he whispers.

The strategist hesitates for a moment, then leans down to touch his lips lightly to his partner’s cheek. “It won’t be much longer, I promise.”

The man levels him with a steely gaze. “Do it before I break this headboard, damn it.”

It doesn’t take a strategist to pick up on the deadly seriousness of the bartender’s voice; he immediately moves to loosen the knot, and the man’s hands are on his buttocks the instant they are freed. His mouth seeks out Ignis’ with a hunger of a rabid Voretooth, and he grinds his hips agonizingly against the strategist’s aching loins; even Ignis, the silent lover he often was, cannot entirely contain the gasp that escapes his lungs, and he closes his eyes when his partner’s writhing intensifies beneath him.

This isn’t precisely how the strategist had planned things to occur; drawing out sensual pleasure was a marathon, not a race, and he’d hoped to prolong his partner’s ecstasy at least a little longer than it had taken him to down his cocktail. But the bartender’s fingers clawing urgently at his lower back is doing nothing to impede the familiar pressure constricting the base of his shaft, and his body has wrenched his own free will away from him in favor of progressing autonomously through his thrusts.

It’s his partner’s climax that ultimately tips him over the edge, and the strategist has but a heartbeat to register the sensation of warm, milky fluid squeezing through the tight space between their bellies. Then his own orgasm is tearing through him, so he yields himself over to the inevitable; he grits his teeth as his hips jerk in time with the pulse of his contractions. When the final wave of his climax has exhausted itself, he summons the last of his self discipline and gingerly lowers himself to the bartender’s chest rather than collapsing under the weight of his own mass entirely.

The older man rakes his hands gently through Ignis’ scalp and they lay in silence, their hearts beating nearly as one. The strategist resists the urge to laugh aloud at the ludicrous notion that there was something inherently immoral or emasculating about bedding a gentleman; sword or sheath, one willing body was truly as warm as another. After a moment, Ignis pushes himself off his partner and reaches for his spectacles resting on the nightstand.

The bartender peers over at him as he settles his glasses across the bridge of his nose. Admittedly, this was the part of the evening that Ignis was always the most tentative of; his loyalty is first and foremost to the crown, and he recognizes the damage he risks to his credibility with each surreptitious dalliance he engages himself in. It’s why he hides behind a cold and aloof demeanor whenever he returns his lenses to his face; feelings of longing and affection would only get in the way of a man who has sworn his allegiance to a life of royal service.

Mercifully, the bartender makes no indication of a desire for pillow talk; he simply retrieves a hand towel stored in a drawer in the nightstand and wipes the fluid from his belly in silence. Ignis’ heart aches inside his chest at the painful austerity of their resolution, but it’s the price he must pay as a Crownsguard, a fleeting moment of euphoria in an otherwise restrained existence.

The bartender then offers the towel in the direction of the strategist. “Care for a cup of coffee?”

He takes the rag and cleans up the product of his own desire between his thighs. “If you happen to have Ebony, I’d be in your debt.”

The man tosses his legs—mechanical or otherwise—over the side of the bed and draws himself upright. “I’d be an embarrassment to my vocation if I brewed anything less than the best.”

Ignis watches as the man quickly throws on his briefs and trousers before exiting the bedroom. He then glances around in search of his own wardrobe—how his shirt ended up all the way in the threshold of the door, he can’t quite remember—and dresses in silence, an odd sense of dismay washing over him. In hindsight, bedding the one person in all of Insomnia who knew just how to pour a proper glass of scotch perhaps went against his better judgment.

The alluring aroma of freshly-brewed coffee is already swirling in the air when the strategist finally moves into the living room. The bartender is leaning against the kitchen counter, his arms crossed over his bare chest, his flat abdomen on full display for Ignis’ viewing pleasure. “Is everything all right?” the man asks. “You seem to be mired in a cloud of melancholy, all of a sudden.”

Ignis adjusts his spectacles out of nervous habit. “I was just thinking it might be best if I gave up my drinking habit for a while.”

The bartender frowns. “Are you worried about what I’ll say? I’ll have you know that no one keeps secrets in Crown City better than I do.”

“I’ve heard that before,” the strategist mutters, “but loose lips appear to follow me wherever I go.”

The man then retrieves two mugs from a cabinet, topping them both off with Ebony before moving to stop beside Ignis. “Libertus’ reputation seems to be no worse for wear, despite my best efforts,” he teases.

The strategist accepts the mug the bartender is holding out for him and grimaces. “Your discretion is appreciated.”

“If you choose to distance yourself from your fallibilities, I’ll try not to take it personally.” The bartender sips at his Ebony and touches a hand to the small of Ignis’ back. “But a little youthful capriciousness scarcely tarnished a man’s respectability. I should think your name might be famous across Lucis one day.”

“‘The Philanderer’ doesn’t exactly have the ring I was hoping for.”

“You have nothing to fear—‘The Strategist’ has already taken root in the minds of others. It may have reached the ears of even Tenebrae by now.” The bartender then leans over and presses a chaste kiss to Ignis’ cheek. “If you ever happen to make it there, do be on the lookout for the floating castles—they are truly a sight to behold.”