#when most of you would NEVER ship a canonically gay character with the 'other' gender. cause again. it would suck.

[knifearo]

ultimately when it comes to shipping and fandom space treatment of aspec characters i just don't accept "aro/ace people can still date/have sex" as an answer from nonaspecs. like yeah. mhm. okay. now i think we both know that you're not saying that out of real interest in the diversity of aspec experiences. so you can turn in your seventeen-page essay on why and how you plan to examine this character's aspec identity within the context of a romantic or sexual relationship complete with evidence from canon and peer reviews from multiple aspec people within the next week or i'm putting you in the pit from the edgar allen poe story

[scarrletmoon]

okay i know the Discourse™️ has been going on for way too long at this point, but

i think some people outside of the OFMD fandom don’t actually get why we’re particularly annoying about this show

OFMD is not the first queer show to ever exist. if anything, it's a late entry in decades of queer media. over a year and a half since the first few episodes aired, everyone knows that OFMD is queer. that doesn't make it particularly special

but back in March? this is the trailer that dropped in February of 2022, 2 weeks before the premier. if you're used to seeing queer chemistry in shows that aren't intended to be queer, you might see the hints between Ed and Stede here. but to most people? it's just a silly little pirate comedy. just guys being dudes. the trailer doesn't even hint at the other 2 canonical queer relationships in the show -- the closest it gets suggesting romance is the music and the pink in the poster

so when people watched this show in March 2022, they went into it expecting subtext and nothing else. to them, it was like watching Sherlock or Supernatural or Merlin in the 2010s. if you were in any of those fandoms -- especially Sherlock and Supernatural -- you know what it was like; constant jokes at our expense, being mocked for creating explicit fanwork, made fun of by the creators and within the show itself. if we saw queer subtext, that was our problem. this was a time when you pretended NOT to be in fandom, for fear of ridicule. we kept our fanwork to ourselves, we DID NOT share it with the cast, and we accepted that our favourite ships would probably never be canon. maybe one day, if we were lucky, we'd have a show where the subtext wasn't mockery as much as deliberate foreshadowing -- but that had to be YEARS away

right?

OFMD was never billed as a queer show, not in the beginning. there was no LGBTQ+ tag on (HBO) Max, it wasn't on anyone's list of upcoming queer shows in 2022, it flew under the radar through most of its first season. this was a show about pirates, and sure, some of them were queer. but not the LEADS. if you think they're romantically involved, that's must be fandom brain poisoning

except the 9th episode aired, and they kissed. and the show said "you're not crazy for thinking they have chemistry because they really do. it's been a romance this whole time". and in the 10th episode, Stede realizes that he's in love

(not mandating you watch this clip if you don't care for the show, but there's something that feels particularly earth shattering about no one saying the word gay but knowing that Stede's realizing he is, that it's completely unambiguous and explicit in a way that only straight romances are usually allowed to be)

this is why people freaked out about this show. no one knew. even the creator, David Jenkins, was surprised when WE were surprised that it was gay for real -- he set out to write a love story, using all the tried and true beats of a rom com. he'd never even heard of the term queerbaiting. he looked at historical Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet and thought "oh, there's something here" and just...wrote that, with very little fanfare, like it was inevitable. like it was obvious. of course Jim and Pam end up together. of course Buttercup and Westley end up together. what kind of disappointing ending would it be if You've Got Mail ended with the main characters just going their separate ways?

so of course Ed and Stede are in love

look, i get it. we're annoying and won't shut the fuck up about this show that seems mediocre at best. i watched the whole thing back in march, thought "huh, that was cool" and was sure that i'd forget about it in a few days

an hour after looking at fanart on twitter, i was lost in the fucking sauce

there's just so much to unpack from a mere 10 episodes. it covers racism, toxic masculinity, gender expression, sexuality, trauma and abuse. and i don't think we should overlook the fact that the non-white characters in this show get to be fully human in a way i haven't seen in my favourite shows in recent memory

additionally, most OFMD are 25 or older. we're not people who've been spoiled by queer rep, who don't get how hard it used to be, how you'd have to grovel for scraps, how shipping and fanfiction was a way to find queer rep where we thought there never would be. we've been here. we're annoying about this show because for a lot of us, it's the first time we've been treated like our queerness isn't an anomaly that needs to be relegated to its own section, that needs to be praised for the bare minimum of acknowledging that we exist. it's not pulling punches to avoid scaring away a straight audience. it just is.

OFMD for me is like when i watched Black Panther for the first time and realized that this is what white people felt all the time. have there been other black superhero movies? of course! does Disney fucking suck? BOY does it. but that was the first time i got to sit in a movie theater and watch a mainstream film that looked at Africa and said "look at how beautiful you are, exactly as you are"

and idk. i think that's really cool

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

why are people so against oliver and ryan talking about buddie, don't we want this, don't we want buddie to be canon? i'm sorry are we rooting for buck to end up with tommy or something, like I don't understand why so many people are saying stop asking them about buddie?

If we want Buddie then shouldn't we be asking buddie questions? I mean I'm so sorry but I'm just very confused, shouldn't we be happy that buddie is getting this much press and love? Why are we against it?

Okay, this is going to be a long one.

There are a few reasons why people are concerned about publications teasing Buddie happening and using the ship name and asking Oliver and Ryan about the ship. I'll try to be as concise as possible.

I would like to note, I'm not going to answer a bunch of questions about this. Other people have answered similar questions plenty of times, if you take a bit to look around 911blr. I'm sure @catdadeddie has gone into this a few times.

However, I understand that we are getting a lot of new fans this season, and so I want to try and explain comprehensively for those who haven't been around. I hope this covers everything.

Whenever a ship is between two people of the same gender as opposed to two people of the opposite gender (I know, I know, but we can't get into the gender spectrum right now just play along with me), everyone involved has to be very, very careful when it comes to talking about that ship ahead of said ship going canon.

It is very easy to slip into something called "queerbaiting." I'm assuming that you and most people online and in fandom by now have heard of this term but just in case: queerbaiting is when a show acts like a queer ship might happen in marketing and promotion in order to draw in a queer audience.

Historically, this was done by having a main character played by a woman have a romantic thing with another woman (flirting, even kissing!) who was a guest star, hinting at the main character's bisexuality/queerness, only for that guest star to never come back and for the show to act like it had never happened. This was done during something called, IIRC, "sweeps week" which was basically an important week for TV viewer ratings in the 90s. It was a way to boost your numbers by drawing in queer viewers with the promise of actual queer rep that then wasn't realized. It's a marketing tactic.

Nowadays the nature of queerbaiting has changed a bit. It's an overused term that frankly people love to (mis)use whenever a ship of theirs doesn't go canon and a show dares to do things like having two people (like say Ryan and Oliver) who play the two halves of the ship do an interview together (whether you ship Buddie or not, they are close friends, and it makes sense that they'd do a few interviews together - that is not queerbaiting). A good example of real queerbaiting is Rizzoli & Isles which, among other things, took out billboards and magazine spreads showing the characters (two women) in suggestively sexual and romantic positions and with slogans hinting that the two had more than just friendship together, then never, ever delivered on it and in fact laughed at the idea of the characters being gay for each other.

(I WAS THERE, GANDALF!!!)

Because of this unfortunate treatment of queer audiences and the (historic) dearth of actual queer characters and queer ships going canon (it's getting better but still), networks, showrunners, and so on have to be very careful when, say, they want to make a queer ship canon.

Look at how ABC handled Chenford, a popular ship in their show The Rookie. Chenford was not a planned ship - the fans adored the chemistry between the two characters (Lucy Chen and Tim Bradford), the writers liked the idea and decided to lean into it, ABC gave the go-ahead, and the ship officially got together and went canon last season. ABC heavily promoted Chenford and the ship and made a lot of jokes about it in the last couple of seasons leading into the ship going canon, using the ship heavily in their marketing.

ABC cannot necessarily do that with Buddie, because even if Buddie is going canon, until that happens, they could get accused of queerbaiting. There's a much bigger minefield to navigate because of this historic misuse of queer audiences and queer characters.

So whenever journalists and publications use a popular non-canonical queer ship name for clicks and fandom interest, if that ship doesn't immediately go canon or if the network/showrunner/etc doesn't say "yeah they're totally gonna kiss! with tongue!" people accuse the show of queerbaiting. This is unfair to the show for two reasons: one, the network is not going to bother sending "shut the fuck up" letters to every single damn publication out there for using a ship name in their headline and talking about a ship - they'll be accused of homophobia and it draws even MORE attention to the issue re: the Barbra Streisand effect (look it up); and two, the people involved in the show are NOT going to spoil the anticipation and surprise by admitting ANY ship is going to go canon before it does.

This is simple marketing - the movie trailer doesn't (or shouldn't, anyway) show you the ending of the movie or everything that happens in it. TV shows want you to tune in every week and speculate and guess. They're not gonna spoil a ship ahead of time.

This means that when journalists and articles pull this shit, they're putting the showrunner, the writers, the actors doing interviews, and the network in a bad situation that they can't really do anything about. Not without causing more mess.

So that's reason number one why a lot of us are annoyed: by yelling about Buddie, these articles and journalists are setting the cast and crew we love up to get yelled at for queerbaiting if Buddie doesn't immediately happen, and there's nothing the cast and crew can do about it, and it's all so the journalists and articles can use us, the fandom, for clicks. So we're also kinda getting used here, and it doesn't feel great.

The second reason we're annoyed about Buddie questions is that it's being asked of the actors who, nine times out of ten, have ZERO CONTROL OVER THE STORYLINES.

Now, there are exceptions. Jennifer Love Hewitt, who plays Maddie, has pushed back on a couple storylines that were given to her and has therefore had a strong hand in shaping Maddie's character. One infamous (in a positive way) example is that Maddie and Eddie were supposed to be an endgame couple. JLH, however, immediately loved the character of Chimney and clicked with Chim's actor Kenneth Choi, so she asked if Maddie could get with Chim instead, feeling he'd be a better fit for her character. And lo, both the beautiful ship Madney and the insanity that is Buddie shipping was born because Buck ended up stepping into that co-parenting-Chris role that Maddie obviously would've originally filled.

However, it should be noted that JLH was an established star before coming onto 9-1-1, and her husband is friends with Tim the showrunner. I would argue that the only other two actors who have any power on their storylines are Peter and Angela, the latter because she can do whatever she wants forever, and the former because (like Angela) he is an executive producer on the show.

It's not that actors never ever get to have a say ever, but the writers, showrunner, and network have much more power. They create the storylines, they make the decisions. Not actors. So when the actors are repeatedly asked about a ship, they're put in an awkward position where they might not even know the full storyline for their character that season and now they need to answer in a way that doesn't reveal any information they do know, but also doesn't insult shippers or dash their hopes. This is a double minefield for queer ships because, again: historic insults to queer fans and characters, nobody wants to be offensive.

The third reason is that this fandom has, historically, treated Tim, Oliver, and others like absolute dogshit over Buddie not going canon. Oliver's left Twitter and taken big social media breaks because of how he was yelled at online. It's not cool, guys. Vent all you want but directing it at the cast and crew isn't okay and maybe if it was just you talking sternly that would be fine (maybe) but when it's dozens of people? It's bullying. Full stop.

Every single time Buddie has not gone canon instantly, the actors and others have gotten verbally abused on social media. Every time the actors have been asked about Buddie and not said "ohmygod yes I want it to happen so bad" (they are not allowed to say this because it might create false hope because again: historical queerbaiting) they've gotten yelled at. We are tired of the actors getting yelled at over something over which they have no control.

The fourth reason is that Oliver, especially, has gotten asked about Buddie a LOT. A lot. The poor man is very tired. He's been cornered about Buddie and asked about it aggressively by certain journalists (one journalist, Max Gao, actually tried to corner Gavin who plays Chris over Buddie - this was a few years ago so Gavin was even younger than he is now and I personally think that is an incredibly unfairly loaded question to give to a child).

If I may dive into speculation for a moment, given how the actors have been SO gleeful about the move to ABC, the fact that they've admitted ABC is letting them do storylines and little moments that FOX wouldn't, and a few other things I won't get into here because this damn thing is long enough already... I suspect FOX would not let Buddie happen. If this is the case, then actors being asked about Buddie is even more loaded because they are being asked questions about it and they can't say "yeah we want to but the network won't let us." THEY WILL GET FIRED FOR THIS.

But, whether or not my speculation is true, the fact remains that when you are repeatedly, over and over, aggressively asked if this fan ship is going to happen or not, you get tired. There's only so many times that someone can give a diplomatic answer before you just want to snap "stop fucking asking me!" Journalists love to take advantage of fandom and social media chatter to get attention for their articles so asking over and over again about Buddie isn't because they genuinely care or think it'll happen, it's to get shippers reading their article, and so bombarding the actors and writers with this question when they've already kinda said their peace a lot about it is frustrating. Just! Leave them alone!

And AGAIN: if this was a M/F ship there could maybe be room for teasing the will-they-won't-they but because of historically bad treatment of queer characters and fans, THEY CANNOT DO THAT. So the only option open to them is to KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT. And keeping one's mouth shut and threading that diplomatic needle for years is EXHAUSTING.

We do want Buddie to be canon, nonny, and in my opinion we are going to get it. All this recent PR supports that, (again: in my opinion).

However, we have seen Oliver get bombarded with what he thinks about Buddie until the cows come home, and he deserves a break. There's nothing new he can say, there's nothing new he's allowed to say. We have seen other parts of the fandom scream that we're being queerbaited because Buddie didn't instantly go canon, without any consideration for the fact that a) queerbaiting is a marketing tactic and b) there might be other factors at play preventing it going canon. We have seen journalists take advantage of us, the shippers, in order to get attention, and we have seen them create an awkward and embarrassing atmosphere in interviews by repeatedly asking about the ship. We have seen shippers make us look bad by hounding the cast and crew on social media about Buddie, treating every woman actress who plays a Buck/Eddie love interest like shit (yes, I know about Edy, but she could be a saint and parts of the fandom would still go onto Instagram to call her names), and generally being absolute pills that would tempt any showrunner, actor, or writer to say "y'know what fuck 'em let's not make Buddie canon I'm not rewarding this shitty behavior."

"If we want Buddie then shouldn't we be asking Buddie questions?" No. Not like journalists and fans have been. It's something to bring up - in my opinion - sparingly and with an awareness of how queer storylines and ships and fandom have been mocked, ignored, baited, and so on over the years. They don't ask about Buddie because they give a shit. They ask because they want our clicks for their ad revenue and they want our retweets and likes and comments. And it's certainly not something to bombard the actors with on social media and bitch at them if it doesn't happen. It just makes the rest of fandom look bad and makes us look like children.

Additionally: These are not new questions! They're not only asking these questions now that it looks like Buddie will go canon, with serious hope and consideration based on the marketing and storylines. They've been asking this since season fucking two, when Buddie was clearly not planned, just to get fangirl (gn) clicks. They wanted to get attention and teehee over how Oliver/Ryan/whoever reacted to people thinking Buck and Eddie should touch dicks. 'Kay?

We know the pattern. So when every piece of media is screaming BUDDIE!!! we are not seeing it as "OMG could we go canon?" We see it as another round of being taken advantage of for article attention, another round of parts of the fandom being bullies and yelling about being baited, and another round of the actors being backed into uncomfortable corners.

That's why we're concerned, worried, and annoyed.

*collapses* I hope this covered everything and explained it all.

[thelostgirl21]

Tips for those of you that wish to enjoy Geraskier as a romantic couple, without erasing Jaskier's greyromantic (more specifically sapioromantic) identity.

Alright, here's the deal...

I've recently gone on a very long rant re: how queer baiting has conditioned most of us, in the queer community, to read any emotionally intimate friendship between two same-gender characters as romance.

Because:

A) The lack of officially acknowledged same-gender relationships on screen - in major TV shows and series that aren't specifically about LGBTQ+ themes - has put us in a situation where, if he want to enjoy any same-gender romance at all, we are forced to interpret close "officially platonic" (*cough*StormPilot*cough*) pairings as romantic couples.

B) The TV and movie industries have been purposefully encouraging such perceptions, and inserting as many "romantic cues" as they can into such same-gender "friendships", to keep their LGBTQ+ audience involved in those stories without alienating their more conservative audiences by having to depict some actual queer romances.

So, not only are non-queer people under the impression that it's perfectly typical, for same-gender friends, to constantly become so emotionally and physically close and intimate with each other that they behave as if they are almost dating while also being 100% straight.

But, they don't realize that there is barely any equivalent of straight men/women characters on screen developing such emotionally and physically intimate friendships without them inevitably "getting together" romantically at some point.

Unless one of them is already romantically taken, that is (and even there, a dreaded "love triangle" may occur and they'll still wind up together anyway!).

But, if the boy and the girl are both straight and available, and they behave as you would expect a married couple at some point, obviously they are romantically/sexually into each other! What else?!

If it's two same-gender characters, however?!

Well, it's obviously a friendship all the way (while nevertheless often heavily dousing that friendships with romantic subtext).

And sadly, the way queer baiting has been heavily messing with our perceptions of platonic vs romantic relationships is putting the aromantic community at a huge disadvantage.

What huge disadvantage, I hear you ask?

I mean, after all, if all those emotionally close and intimate relaltionships remain platonic in canon, shouldn't people on the aromantic spectrum be happy about it, and feel represented? Don't they have tons of "queerplatonic ships" to choose from, and enjoy as such?

Sadly, no.

The answer is firm and resounding NO.

Wanna know why?

Because, most of the time, whenever a relationship might read as "potentially queerplatonic", it is virtually never acknowledged as such.

It is virtually never about them.

It has absolutely nothing to do with both, or one, of those characters being on the aromantic spectrum.

When we talk about classic models of "bromances", those are virtually always occurring between two men that are assumed to be otherwise straight (or, at least, one of them is, ex: Jace Herondale & Alec Lightwood from "Shadowhunters"), or two women that are assumed to be otherwise straight (or, at least, one of them is).

When "bromances" occur between a man and a woman (I'm thinking Steve and Robin, from "Stranger Things"), it is usually because one of them is gay.

The implication and the message being sent to us with all those close friendships is thus a very clear:

"You can only achieve such emotionally close (queer)platonic friendships, and/or companionships, because you are not sexually compatible.

Otherwise, you would already be forming a romantic couple, and/or secretly longing to be in one.

If Robin wasn't a lesbian, she and Steve would obviously be dating."

And the reason why Steve and Nancy still love each other that deeply - despite no longer being a couple - is because they still have romantic feelings for each other despite Nancy also having romantic feelings for Jonathan and having chosen him as a romantic partner...

So, that has nothing to do with queerplatonic relationships, either, at all!

Also, can someone please sit these three kids down and have a good discussion regarding polyamorous relationships with them? Thank you!

So, how could anyone on the aromantic spectrum identify with those friendships, and/or feel represented by them, when they are always treated as being either "lesser than" a romance, or "a consolation price" when romance isn't an option?

That's not even bad representation, it's a complete lack of representation!

Yet aromantic love (be it defined as alterous, platonic, etc.) can be as beautiful, intense, and sincere as a romance, and there's a deep, almost spiritual connection there.

It is not "lesser than", but simply different.

The kind of emotional intimacy you share, and the way you connect together with the person you "platonically/alterously fell in love with" feels different.

The relationship dynamic you may achieve together, and the kind of commitment you may choose to make with those friends (that may even become life partners), as well as your needs and expectations, tend to be different than what would be expected of a romantic partnerships, although there can be many overlaps.

Aromantic forms of platonic/alterous love aren't a consolation price when romance isn't an option!

They deserve to be seen and treated as a first choice.

Those relationships provide a unique and profoundly valuable way of emotionally and sometimes even physically (because physical attraction can be sensual rather than sexual, and there are best friends that are comfortable enough to be sexually intimate together without any desire to form a romantic couple, too, by the way) connecting and being intimate with another person.

And what currently makes Geraskier unique in canon, is that they've established that Jaskier, at the very least, would have been 100% compatible with Geralt romantically and sexually (given he's a panromantic pansexual).

What makes the way Jaskier has been canonically falling in love with Geralt different from the usual BrOTPs the queer community are usually offered, however, is the fact that Jaskier's desires for Geralt are not romantic, but platonic in the way aromantic people are known to experience love.

Jaskier having no romantic crush for Geralt would thus not prevent him, at all, from wanting to share a loving relationship, and even perhaps queerplatonic partnership with him.

He could still love him in an amorous way. He could still yearn for sharing some sensual (or even sexual) intimacy with him.

Between having what people typically consider "purely platonic" and "purely romantic" feelings, there is a wonderful universe of affections and attractions for Jaskier and Geralt to explore together!

And aromantic people can experience the same level of heartbreak and loss upon losing their "best friend in the whole wide world" than they would a romantic partner.

I mean, when you listen to Jaskier sing:

Did you ever even care With your swords and your stupid hair?

in "Burn Butcher Burn", I've always felt like it was a callback to the very first things that Jaskier physically noticed about Geralt, and what initally sparked his (platonic? alterous? sensual? sexual? aesthetic? all of the above? other?) attraction for him!

If we compare the way Geralt and Jaskier behave together on screen with queerplatonic partners in real life, there is no proof of anything romantic going on.

I can't stress this enough.

HOWEVER, sadly, queerplatonic partnerships aren't really ever explored and acknowledged as such on screen. So, most people are very unfamiliar with them.

Instead, the TV and movie industry typically makes same-gender characters behave in an amorous manner to suggest romance and bait their queer audience.

AND it took them 4 FREAKING YEAR (we're actually a bit closer to 5 now) to confirm that Jaskier fell in love with Geralt platonically, rather than romantically, while canonically establishing Radovid as being Jaskier's very first sapioromantic crush.

This is where real life collides with fiction in a deeply heartbreaking way, to me...

Because during those 4 years, the queer community has been reading Geraskier as a romantic couple the way they've been taught and conditioned to identify queer romance on screen.

Most of them likely haven't even considered the possibility that Jaskier could have been on the aromantic spectrum, and thus "squishing" (hard) on Geralt rather than "crushing" (romantically) on him.

I don't believe that any of those fans would have had any desire to ignore and/or reject aromantic love and/queerplatonic relationships representation, if they'd known earlier on that Jaskier simply wasn't someone that experiences romantic desires (unless certain very specific conditions are met).

And 2 complete seasons is a very long time for romantic Geraskier fans to get profoundly attached to their ship, and feel somewhat gaslighted by the show's producers and writers when suddenly they're told "Oh no, they were 'just friends' all along! Nothing romantic to see here!"

(Of course, with the establishment of Jaskier as a greyromantic, they were never 'just friends' in the typical sense, but I've feeling that many fans have missed how significant Jaskier experiencing his very first crush was to the narrative.)

So, I believe that the knee-jerk response of pure disbelief that Geraskier could have been representing anything other than a romance can be expected and understood within that context.

HOWEVER, the unfortunate consequence is how that anger and disbelief has lead some fans to claiming that Geraskier can only be read as romantic.

Using some arguments such as: only someone romantically in love with Geralt could ever have experienced the level of heartbreak that Jaskier did, and written a song such as "Burn Butcher Burn", following their breakup.

I've seen some arguing that, if Jaskier's feelings had been "platonic", he wouldn't have been so hurt by their "break-up".

What those that have been shipping Geraskier romantically for over 4 years are truly expressing, I believe, is:

"Once again, I feel like I've been emotionally used and baited by the TV industry that keep on denying any romantic intent whenever they heavily layer a same-gender friendships with romantic subtext; and I can't agree with what they've done, or accept that Geraskier should be read as platonic!"

And I do hear you, I get it, I see how wrong it is that you have been made to feel that way, and I do not believe that you should be forced to embrace Geraskier as being aromantic / queerplatonic, or made to feel guilty for wishing to continue to ship Geraskier romantically.

But what I want to help you realize, is that by using such arguments, what your fellow queer siblings, on the aromantic spectrum, are hearing is:

"The way you love not only does not exist, but even if it did it can't be as strong, nor as valuable, as romantic love."

And that's not okay. The anger and hurt you feel is okay and 100% justified, but insisting that aromantics are not capable of such love, by saying that Jaskier's behavior with Geralt has always been obviously romantic, is not okay!

If you've been using those arguments before, first take the time to acknowledge how you feel, realize that you are not to blame for those feelings, remember you're still an amazing person, and take a fucking deep breath, alright?

Because you're 100% entitled to blame the people that have kept messing with your head and your perceptions through their queerbaiting practices for those mistakes you just made.

If we go purely by classic TV show queerbaiting standards, that relationship did seemingly present itself as romantic. You weren't wrong for seeing romance there.

But queerbaiting isn't real life.

Remember this: queerbaiting is not at all representative of how relationships work in reality.

In reality, you have romantic same-gender relationships that read as romantic and that are romantic.

In reality, you also have queerplatonic relationships that people often mistake as romantic, but are nevertheless queerplatonic.

In reality, queerplatonic relationships do happen between same-gender partners, but also between sexually compatible men and women, too.

In a strongly stereotyped TV and movie world, where relationships are oversimplified and watered down to follow rigid rules and expectations, canon Geraskier is a relationship that feels refreshingly real.

This is the kind of friendship I have with some of my own best friends. I know at least 5 friends (and maybe more, but they're the first 5 faces that popped to mind), for whom I've got 100% platonic feelings for, that I'd feel 100% comfortable rubbing chamomile onto their lovely bottom, alright?

On TV? Thanks to a legacy of queerbaiting, such a scene feels gay as hell!

In real life? Look, if you've pulled a muscle in your buttocks, and a massage will do you good? Pants down, my friend! Pass me that chamomile oil, I'm here for you buddy!

You're a heterosexual man and I'm a pansexual woman? I don't see how that changes anything to the task at hand! Or how that would be supposed to make me suddenly develop romantic feelings for you I've never had! You don't suddenly fall romantically in love with a best friend just because you've *gasped* "touched the butt", for frak's sake!

Just... give me a moment to recover from that ludicrous idea...

So, you want that butt massage or not, dude?

The physical contact might be affectionate, sensual, and feel intimate... but friendships are emotionally and quite often physically (though a bit more rarely sexually) intimate, too.

And demisexuals, like myself, might actually tend to favor and enjoy sensual intimacy (tender caresses, kisses, snuggles, etc.) more than they enjoy sexual intimacy, even with their romantic partners.

So, I can't blame any of you for how you might have instinctively responded to the announcement of Geraskier being canonically platonic.

But, now that it's done, and you've hopefully let that frustration out, I am inviting you to shake off all that queerbaiting conditioning, reclaim power over your own mind, and reflect on how love happens in real life, outside of those distorted TV standards.

I am inviting you to reflect on how those arguments might accidentally be invalidating the love that is experienced by another marginalized queer community.

And hopefully, bringing some measure of comfort to the aromantic community, as well, by letting them know that the vast majority of Geraskier fans that did have that knee-jerk reaction of saying "Geraskier is obviously romantic because there's no way Jaskier would have responded like this, or loved him so much, if there was no romance!" likely have been reacting that way because the TV and movie industries have been constantly "teasing them" with romance, while laughing in their faces and telling them that they are crazy for reading romance into those dynamics (hence why I'm calling it downright gaslighting)!

As aromantics, you did not deserve having your own sexual identity invalidated.

After all, I think this is literally the first time that aromantics have been offered some actual representation on a show that does not specifically revolve around queer characters or queerness, and a chance to openly explore a (queer)platonic ship where one of the two characters is an acknowledged greyromantic.

The last thing you need, is to have people come and mock Jaskier and Geralt's relationship, by saying that it can't be anything other than romance.

But, knowing where that hostile response towards the idea that Geraskier might be platonic comes from, might help you hopefully understand that the hostility wasn't meant for you, and that I'm sure the vast majority of the fans of that pairing would have been more careful, with the way they've been expressing their own hurt, if they'd realized the kind of message it sent.

Because if there are people that should understand how having their own sexuality being erased in fandom hurts - ex: whenever someone decides that they are going to start writing a canonically bisexual or pansexual characters as either straight or gay, depending on the gender of the character they are pairing them with - it should be bisexuals and pansexuals.

So, if you are unfamiliar with sapioromantism, here's what to know:

Sapioromantics are greyromantics that experience romantic attraction towards a person in response to the way they perceive that person's intellect.

This is what awakens their desire to form a romantic bond with another person and, under the right circumstances (because I'm guessing they might also need to find the other person aesthetically attractive, for example), allows them to fall romantically in love.

Otherwise, they can still fall in love with people, but platonically/alterously.

The show officially decided, this season, that Jaskier was to experience his very first crush with Radovid, feel confused about his feelings, sense that there's something different about the way he's attracted towards him, etc.

BUT there's no obligation for you to follow the show canon when it comes to Geraskier.

There's no obligation, at all, to give up on Geraskier as a romantic ship or pairing.

The fact is that Geralt is a deeply intelligent and insightful man, too. So, it's not unrealistic that a sapioromantic could have been attracted to that side of him, and fallen in love with Geralt romantically as well.

Yennefer is another smart, brilliant woman that can absolutely be romantically shipped with a sapioromantic.

There are many, many different types of intelligence, and what Radovid appears to specifically be displaying is more specifically high levels of emotional/relational intelligence, true.

But that's how the show decided to portray the specifics of Jaskier's sapioromantism.

And you won't be erasing a character's sexual identity if you decide to have your own version of Jaskier romantically connecting with other forms of intelligence.

People mention that Geralt, in the books, uses way more words than on the show, and would apparently rather discuss philosophy with Jaskier, at times, than hunt monsters.

You won't be disrespecting or erasing the aromantic community if you make Jaskier become romantically attracted to other models of human intellect.

You really don't have to accept Geraskier as a platonic ship after having grown attached to them as romantic partners for over 4 years! I don't believe it would ever be fair to ask that of you or even remotely necessary!

And, as far as I'm concerned, I'd never dare tell you that you "misread" Geraskier as romantic. I think Joey Batey might have been exploring the idea of Jaskier being an aromantic or greyromantic seeking a queerplatonic relationship with Geralt since seasons one, yes...

However, as he said in interviews, he had never received any clear answer regarding his portrayal of Jaskier's queerness before Season 3.

So, you couldn't really have "misread" something they hadn't fully made up their minds about now, could you?

Queerplatonic relationships do often read as romantic, too, as they tend to share many similarities.

What hurts, is when Jaskier's behavior and the strength of his love for Geralt is being used as proof that his emotions can't be platonic, and/or ignore that Jaskier is being portrayed as a greyromantic in Season 3.

Aromantic representation matters.

I'm therefore hoping that we can find the right balance between allowing everyone to ship their favorite character(s) with who they want romantically if they need to; while at the same time avoiding to erase Jaskier's sapioromantism, and/or arguing that platonic/alterous attractions can't be as important nor as strong as romantic attractions.

I think with a little empathy, the queer community can find the right point of balance between everyone's needs, and be given the opportunity to ship and enjoy Geraskier (queer)platonically and romantically, without invalidating Jaskier's sexuality in the process either way.

I know this post is similar to that other one I'd made, but I've heard few a-spec people saying that they'd had to stop following certain fans, because of the way those fans were were aggressively arguing that it was impossible for Jaskier to have been loving Geralt platonically in Season 1 and Season 2.

And so, I felt it needed to be said again, with this time giving a bit more importance to the aromantic side of that issue, and offering fans that ship Geraskier as a romantic pairing some information on what sapioromantism is, and how you can make Jaskier's greyromantic identity work as part of your own romances and headcanons.

You could decide to have Jaskier experience romantic feelings for the very first time with Geralt (instead of Radovid), and be adorably awkward about it! The possibilities are pretty much endless!

I just hope you can realize that what's happening on the show is not yet again another case of "Stormpilot" or "Stucky", or any other same-gender straight guys acting queer together!

Geraskier is canonically queer. Possibly queerplatonic, but most definitely queer, because Jaskier is a pan greyromantic that fell in love with Geralt in a platonic/alterous way, and might have experienced sensual and sexual desires for him.

It's a queer ship, regardless of whether you ship them platonically or romantically.

Personally, I think I'm likely to enjoy

But that is entirely up to you.

Just please be mindful that, when you start mocking the idea of Jaskier and Geralt having platonic feelings for each other, you are ridiculing a canonically queer ship, as well as the type of love experienced by a canonically queer greyromantic character, though.

This is what I have a problem with.

And no, saying "Well, I can headcanon that Jaskier isn't a greyromantic because he hadn't come out as greyromantic in Season 1 and Season 2, so I'll continue to write him as being able to fall romantically in love with anyone!" is not okay.

Back in 2012, when Mass Effect 3 came out, Kaidan Alenko was revealed to be a canonically bisexual character, available to be romanced by both fem!Shep and m!Shep.

However, since some women were uncomfortable with Kaidan's bisexuality, they decided to continue writing him as straight in fanfiction arguing that, because he could only be romanced by fem!Shep in ME1 (and everyone had thus assumed he was straight since 2008) they were allowed to continue to write him as straight, and ignore the character having been established as bisexual in the 3rd game.

Yet, the fact that Kaidan is bisexual, rather than straight, does not create any obstacle for him to be in a romance with fem! Shep!

There is no rational reason to headcanon him, or continue writing him, as a straight character moving forward once he's come out as bisexual!

"Well, my Kaidan Alenko is straight!"

Congratulations! You are expressing a biphobic view of the character!

Understandingly, the bisexual and pansexual communities were angry about it, and called them out on it.

So, let's not put the aromantic community through the same thing, shall we?

Because there is absolutely no reason to ignore Jaskier being on the aromantic spectrum while romantically pairing him with Geralt, Yennefer, or even both!

If you purely go by the books or the games, it's another story. They have their own canon.

But if you are writing / using the TV show character, Jaskier being a sapioromantic has been made canon, and is not creating any obstacle for him to experience romantic love for other characters than Radovid.

Other characters are plenty intelligent enough to realistically spark a sapioromantic connection with him, should you wish to!

Have Jaskier be intrigued/enamored with some of their intellectual features, and you'll be doing just fine.

If you're unsure how to do that, simply ask.

Ex: once that romantic spark has been ignited, you don't need to have the character continue to constantly obsess about the other character's intellect... I'm demisexual, and I don't keep obsessing about how trustworthy I find my sexual partner to be, despite the fact that my own sexual desires are usually "sparked" by a deep sense of trust/emotional safety with the other person.

There is also the notion that you can occasionally find yourself with an exception that feels different without the character themselves knowing why. Ex: a friend that identified as a lesbian (romantically and sexually) found herself desiring a man for the first time and, to this day, she still has no clue what was special about THAT man, but she decided to go with her instincts rather than "Oh no! It doesn't fit my label or established orientation, and therefore I shall skip a chance at romantic love and sex with this wonderful man!"

You want to introduce a bit of flexibility to Jaskier's sapioromantic instincts? You can do it respectfully, while still finding a way to point out, in your writing, that him having a crush on Geralt, Yennefer, or [insert name of the character here] is still an uncommon occurance.

You can enjoy what you love, without erasing a canonically queer character's identity to suit your own romantic narrative, is basically what I'm saying.

And you can enjoy your own romantic ship, especially, without mocking or belittling a canonically queer aromantic ship (Geraskier).

The rest is 100% up to you!

Our sweet aromantic sisters, brothers, and non-binary siblings deserve some love and visibility, too. And to enjoy things that have been made canonically theirs without becoming the unfortunate casualties of other people's disappointment.

If you hadn't realised canon Geraskier was a queer ship, and/or understood/noticed that Jaskier was being portrayed as a greyromantic that experiences romantic attraction for the first time in Season 3, it's okay.

Once again, I'm not taking the time to explain all this to blame those that jumped on the "b-but... Jaskier so obviously has romantic feelings for Geralt!" conclusion.

Had they been a sexually straight man and woman on a TV show, chances are they'd be "romantic endgame" or at least go through a "romantic phase" (a practice that is deeply wrong and damaging, too, IMHO, and does not allow to properly represent what platonic / alterous love is, and/or offer queerplatonic relationships any actual visibility), yes.

And, like every instance of queerbaiting, it ended up with the close emotional and physical intimacy between them not leading to any romantic conclusion.

But it did lead to a very much queer conclusion, and Jaskier having been portrayed as a character that fell in love with Geralt aromantically, thus being highly representative of a queer community.

This is that "but" that I sincerely hope you now understand, and will be treating with the same care and respect that you want others to show the representation of your own sexuality.

If you are a fellow panromantic/pansexual, or even bisexual, omnisexual, polysexual, etc. Yes, the representation also affects you / is close to you.

But Jaskier has been canonically established as more than pan. He's also a-spec on the romantic side, and it's actually the first label that Batey used to describe his romance with Radovid.

That his romantic desires be triggered specifically by the way he connects with a person's intellect, rather than their gender, matters to the community it represents.

Now that it has been brought to your attention, please do not lose sight of that over your own joy of him being queer, and romantically/sexually compatible with men. It's all I'm humbly asking of you.

[shootingstarrfish]

Omg hiii I looove oversharing about my blorbos 😋

Anyway Simeon is my favorite guy ever and has been since the beginning I'm completely obsessed with him bc he's literally perfect tell my WHY on gods green earth he's always getting swept under the rug. Why does this man never get any attention and when he does why is he mischaracterized. He's got it all. He's tall and handsome in kind of an ethereal effeminate way, he's sweet and kind but not a pushover, he's one of the most tragic characters in the game, he's the perfect muse for a religious trauma arc, a corruption arc, a "the calm collected one who's always having a good time finally snaps and goes apeshit" arc, I mean come on. Come on. Every time I remember that his main sin is wrath despite him being SO chill and gentle on the outside I want to giggle a little bit. My beautiful princess with identity issues and slutty waist I'm so sorry everyone ignores you

Solomon though. I don't remember how I felt about him at first (other than lots of gender envy) but he wasn't a favorite until I came back to the fandom after being absent for ages. Like damn this man is everything. He's so complicated /pos that I cant even articulate why I love him so much but he's so well written (maybe one of the only ones who are written halfway decently) and SO tragic. The way he's so desperately in love with the mc and is forced to watch them go for literally anyone else but would still do anything for them and ask for nothing but a little bit of loyalty in return is scrumptious. Also the way immortality just kinda fucks you up after a while when you're only human. I've been very tempted to put him in a poly ship with my mc and Simeon bc he deserves it but for now he just has to watch from afar as the man he loves endlessly makes out with his best friend that he also kinda sorta has a little crush on bc making the gays suffer brings me copious amounts of joy. He's also the "always totally calm and collected no matter what but actually has really strong feelings that he works to keep in check" type like Simeon and I love that for him. One of the fics I'm reading has him once become so panicked over the MC's wellbeing that he completely loses his composure. Yelling, trembling, the whole nine yards and it was fucking glorious, I love seeing characters like him break.

Also I have to talk a little about Lucifer. He's not generally a favorite but I just think it's funny how I went from hating his guts bc I thought he was an asshole to to liking him a lot bc I have a weak spot for big brother characters. He loves his family so so so much and just has trouble showing it properly!! He's still an asshole and an uptight prick but I like that about him now. My mc had the same development with him as I did, he went from "I hate this motherfucker I wanna kill him also he kinda scares me" to "this is my big brother we are holding hands :)" in the span of like a year and a half and it's really funny. Lucifer thought he was finally getting a sensible housemate and friend but ended up getting another insufferable, headache indicung little brother figure instead. Also I kinda have a non canon ship between him and my MC's father bc the idea is SO funny but also a little cute bc they compliment each other real well. My mc would become homophobic so fast if he found out and thinking about it is incredibly entertaining

thank u for oversharing teehee <333

the side characters are sooo fun and interesting i wish so badly that theyd get to be ever so slightly less on the side :,D

the dynamic between your mc and simeon and solomon PAIN UGH i love it.. <333 my heart hurts for solo but the yearning.... MMM

and absolutely felt about lucifer, i wish i could hate him and leave it at that but he makes it so hard. i have such a complicated relationship with this man but i cant bring myself to genuinely hate him hahaha

[kimium]

What are your favourite things about Chrobin (FEH) as a ship? Feel free to expand as much or as little as you want in terms of details! 💜

Aw, thanks friend! I'm super excited to answer this question! For anyone who isn't aware, Chrobin is the name of a ship from Fire Emblem Awakening (Chrom/Robin). They also appear in the mobile game, Fire Emblem Heroes (FEH).

Note: When I talk about Robin in general, I use gender neutral pronouns (they/them). Unless I'm talking about a specific Robin from FEH.

I also have spoilers for Fire Emblem Awakening here.

Let's get started!

Reasons I love Chrobin

I think the core reason why I love Chrobin so much is summed up nicely in this post HERE (not my post). I highly recommend reading it to understand the full picture, but in general:

I like Chrobin because it wasn't intended to be "canon" yet recently Intelligence Systems (I.S.) seems to be pushing it as a "heavily implied canon pairing".

I think it's so funny that within the game proper I.S. strongly intended/hinted that Sumia is Chrom's "canon wife". Yet in recent material for Fire Emblem Awakening (in Heroes), this perspective has shifted drastically to focus on Robin. And that the first time we as a player base saw this "unofficial shift" was in the Valentine Banner with Duo Chrom.

Now, I know the logical answer to why they paired Duo Valentine Chrom with Male Robin is because they didn't "want to suggest a canon pairing with Female Robin". However, when past Valentine Duo units HAVE been canon couples/ very strongly hinted canon couples (such as Alm/Celica), there was no way the fandom was going to sit and go "yeah, this is 100% heteronormative". Nope! Instead I saw fanart for months after that banner's drop with all the gay Chrobin dancing across my dashboard.

However, the cherry on top is how it seems I.S. is leaning into Male Robin/Chrom HARD. I'm still not over the Engage paralogue, I.S. They're spirits. Together. In a Ring. Are you kidding me??

Also, I love how I.S. simply isn't separating Chrom and Robin. Look at our most recent example is with our new Young Awakening banner dropping tomorrow. I.S. is once again did NOT separating Chrom and Robin (this time a duo unit with Female Robin in lead). I hope this won't be the last time I.S. strongly "suggests" Chrobin because I'm loving this.

Love is presented as both a character flaw and strength regarding Chrom's death at Robin's hands.

Due to being a strong Chrobin shipper, every time I think about the bad timeline, I want to scream my feelings out to the world. Chrom dies by Robin's hand only because they're possessed by the Fell Dragon, Grima. There could have been other ways to kill Chrom, I'm certain, but the implication that having Robin do it was the most efficient way to do it? That Chrom would never see that coming because of the trust, loyalty, love, and devotion to Robin?

(Or what about Lucina? If Robin is one of her parents this means Lucina willingly travelled back to the past knowing she has to kill Robin. That's the entire point of time travel is to stop the apocalypse. The only way is to kill Grima's vessel AKA Robin. Yet, she can't do it.)

Are you kidding me, I.S.?? I need to scream into my pillow all my feelings.

They always had chemistry (my opinion) in their supports, but Heroes and Engage only added more.

Look. I walked into Awakening blind and I 100% firmly believed in my first play through that Chrobin was end game. I thought their relationship dynamic was interesting and clearly charged with "they are more than just friends" energy. We add in the Duo conversation/dialogue from the Awakening Valentine banner + Engage's entire paralogue with them?? I'm looking at I.S. like I'm looking into the camera from The Office.

And there you have it friend. I know I have other reasons why I like this ship but here are my core reasons. I hope you like this answer!

[happyk44]

Having written yet another Percicobeth drabble (or ficlet? Probably? Like the difference is in word count, right? And I'm idk how long that one was but feels long-ish), I'm thinking about comments I've gotten (and ignored) on my other Percicobeth stuff, people complaining that Nico is gay so he can't be in a relationship with Annabeth and ofc my first instinct is to go "I was here long before Nico was gay, and shipped this ship, I'm not gonna abandon it just because the owner of the boats made up something new. I've been in this boat for over a decade. You think I give a shit if the owner suddenly says my boat isn't made for the deep waters I've been taking her into this whole time?"

And that of course is totally valid. I don't think people need to give up ships or headcanons or whatever else they've had for a long time just because something changed or became official in canon. But I also don't think it matters what people ship, irrespective of canon anyway. Like, yeah, in the heydays of fandom, shipping canon gay characters with female characters was really frowned upon because there were so little canon gay characters, it was annoying to see them scrubbed out for a m/f ship, but it's not really like that anymore. But also, tbh, as annoying as it was, I never really gave too much of a shit because fandom is fandom. People like what they like. And most of the time they retconned them to be bi, not straight so who gives a shit 🤷‍♂️ just block that person if you want and move along

But that also reminds me that I did get a comment complaining that by making Nico "bi", other people will feel like it's okay to make him straight, which a) that's not how that works and b) I'm not making him bisexual, I'm saying Annabeth is his exception.

In all my years of being in the PJO fandom, the only two girls I've ever shipped Nico with was Thalia (whooo, go early days PJO!) and Annabeth. And Thalia/Nico was never a big ship to me tbh. I think I may have actively shipped it for like a few months, and even then I didn't really seek it out. If I did read it, it was usually because they were a secondary relationship in a fic with a really fascinating plot. Like the only two fics I can remember reading with them as a pairing was a time travel kidfic, and this fic where the gods faded due to lack of belief so the kids had to take their spot as gods. And both fics had an ensemble cast and a plot I wish I remembered more.

So basically - it's really just Annabeth.

And truly and honestly, and this is just for me, I don't care how you guys approach it, but I never write Percicobeth with intention of Nico being bisexual. Even in the way back, when canon gay Nico was just a dream, I always just saw Percicobeth as "Nico is really gay, but Annabeth is hot so it doesn't matter for her". And I think a lot of people saw the ship that way too.

And for all that people talk about sexuality being fluid, it's really baffling to me that some people can't wrap their minds around a fictional relationship where a gay male character hooks up with a girl he really likes, but otherwise isn't attracted to other girls.

It happens in couples where a person transitions but their partner stays with them because they love them too much. Would they look at that gender on other people with the same vibrant romantic/sexual attraction? No. But on their partner it looks good, and that's all that matters. And all the jokes about gay men kissing twinks that turn out to be lesbians thinking they were kissing another lesbian.

Also I swear when I was, like, thirteen or so, people used to use the label homoflexible/heteroflexible, which basically meant "I'm gay/straight, but if you're hot enough, I might be interested". I wonder what happened to it 🤔 but yeah, anyway - sexuality is fluid, people kiss and date and fuck who they want, and sometimes who they want is not always what their label says, and it's really up to them if they want to change it.

So in summation. Yeah, I know Nico is gay. But I've shipped Percicobeth for over a decade, and I'm gonna keep shipping it because it makes me happy. And when I write the ship, Nico is still gay, but either Annabeth is hot enough that he doesn't care, or they end up having a really deep connection and friendship outside of their relationship to Percy, that they end up hooking up anyway.

Also sometimes I write Percicobeth as "she fucks Percy and he fucks Percy, but they don't fuck each other, they just scheme together different ways to fuck with Percy", because sometimes that's what polyamory is! Sometimes it's "I'm dating X, and X is dating me and Y, but I'm just good friends with Y, and Y is just good friends with me" and that's okay too. It doesn't always have to be everyone is in love and dating each other.

The world contains multitudes.

And at the end of the day, I write what I want.

[maddy-ferguson]

Kinda the same energy as l**mi*****

you censoring it is so funny😭 (it's lesbian mlvn) but yeah i was gonna say, i was afraid it was too mean but it definitely has the same energy to me, especially the way it's being done these past few weeks. genderbending stuff has never been my thing not really i can be like imagine if they were boys/girls for five minutes for fun (i got an ask like that about jackieshauna recently) but what prompted this recent lesbyler movement is the whole you don't care about rovickie so you hate lesbians accusations...accusations that annoy me just as much as the next person i said so in june. but if the answer you have to "you don't care about lesbian ships" is "yes i do look i made the gays lesbians instead" then i'm very sorry but you made the accusation look more legit to me😭 obviously i don't think people doing it are lesbophobes that would be nonsensical since most of them are queer women/lesbians themselves but it's just a very strange way to go about beating the allegations. making characters that aren't women (in this case lesbians) women (in this case lesbians) to prove that you care about women (in this case lesbians) doesn't really work, it's not very convincing.

i've said before that i would have loved for a relationship that i see as having the most care put into it, with the most build up and narrative significance in one of the biggest shows to be a lesbian relationship because well of course i would i'm a lesbian myself but you know...there's other shows out there...with great lesbian ships...and saying you wished this particular ship were lesbians irks me because it makes it sound like the experiences are interchangeable? when they're really not, it's queer boys in the 80s for a reason. of course the experiences are similar in a lot of ways, that's why literally most bylers are queer women, because it hits close to home for a lot of us too. but i'm tempted to say if you don't like that the experiences are still different, if you don't like that they chose to highlight the gay guy in the 80s experience or if you would love lesbyler sooo much more then maybe...find actual lesbian ships idk. i know no other ship/show will be the same but it really just rubs me the wrong way it feels disrespectful in so many different ways.

i think it's weird to imply that any lesbian ship is inherently better and more interesting (not talking about personal taste) and that a gay ship is lesser on account of being a gay ship, and when your answer to "if you think this gay ship with four seasons of build up is more interesting than this lesbian ship with three scenes you hate lesbians" is making the gay ship lesbians you're not exactly disagreeing with them to me. i know it's being creative and like an au or whatever but the way this recent resurgence came about reads as feeling guilty for liking a gay ship better to me and i just have to say you don't have to do all that...especially because making the one canon gay character a lesbian just is not impressive pro-lesbian activism😭 is canon sexuality erasure no longer a fandom crime what's the world coming to!

any attempt at making a ship "more progressive" than it is is bound to fail and feel fake to me and at least when it's lesbian mlvn it's going from a straight ship to a lesbian ship (as much as i dislike lesbian mlvn lol), when it's lesbian byler...like changing their gender so they can be lesbians and going see i like lesbians instead of being or getting invested in lesbian ships and actual lesbian characters is proving the haters right in a way to me sorry. you don't have to apologize for being interested in byler more it's really not that serious.

[karl-raccoon-in-a-teacup]

kunikida, oda, mushitaro, and a fella of ur choosing :3

Kunikida!

Sexuality Headcanon: Bi, I'm not sure he knows about the being attracted to men part yet.

Gender Headcanon: Honestly your transmasc headcanon for him is slowly seeping into my own headcanons, so...

A ship I have with said character: I like most Kunikida ships I've seen, but soft spot for the specific flavor of Kunichuu that's popped up in my Agency Chuuya AU. By accident. Did you know they can be so domestic. And they have a dog.

A BROTP I have with said character: Kunikida and Katai's dynamic does indeed warm my heart, and thank god it's canon. But Kunikida and Atsushi are also so iconic...

A NOTP I have with said character: Nothing comes to mind? As I've said I like most Kunikida ships I've seen.

A random headcanon: I think delinquent Kunikida is a fairly popular headcanon, but I do adore it, whether full-on delinquent or just him being a lot more crass/rude in high school. I also think the scheduling is something he did not have when he first met Katai, developing that over the years and being in full force by the time he joined the Agency.

General Opinion over said character: A very solid character all around, and one of the ones I think is the most difficult to morally corrupt. I want to see more of him coming into his role as the Agency's future leader, and just... more of him, honestly.

Oda!

Sexuality Headcanon: He's never thought about it. Very possibly pan though.

Gender Headcanon: He's a guy and he's pretty chill with that, not all that complicated.

A ship I have with said character: Odango... the inherent tragedy of it compels me so...

A BROTP I have with said character: Buraiha Trio, and all the friendships he has in it, and I will never stop thinking about them until the day I do.

A NOTP I have with said character: Od.azai, onesided or otherwise, isn't my cup of tea.

A random headcanon: Unlike what the old accountant claimed, Oda would have been much happier in the information department than out on his usual missions. Maybe in other timelines, he would transfer to there, and live a much more peaceful life- even if he still wouldn't become a writer.

General Opinion over said character: Excellent narrator of the Dark Era and a very well-executed character.

Mushitaro!

Sexuality Headcanon: Gay.

Gender Headcanon: Pretty sure he's just a cis guy but check in later

A ship I have with said character: Mushiango would you like to hear about Mushiango-

A BROTP I have with said character: Off the topic of my head his dynamic with Kyouka is really funny. They should continue to have that goofy ass interactions in the future.

A NOTP I have with said character: Nothing I've seen has been a particular yuck.

A random headcanon: Thanks to this fic by @feralshadowdemon my beloved sibling, his highschool fantasy was to have his first kiss under a sakura tree with the petals falling down.

General Opinion over said character: My little meow meow of a man I love him so much.

Fella of my choosing: YOSANO! Because I miss her and want to talk about her!

Sexuality Headcanon: Aro-ace Yosano is a concept that compels me more and more as time goes on.

Gender Headcanon: She's a very big fan of being a woman.

A ship I have with said character: None, really?

A BROTP I have with said character: Ranpo and her are so... they have such a long history...

A NOTP I have with said character: I'm not a huge fan of Ko.usano, but considering the amount of female characters I understand why it's a thing, so you guys stand strong and have fun out there.

A random headcanon: One of the first things Ranpo and her bonded over all those years ago was their mutual love of sweets. Even now they both like nothing more than to have a good chat over sweets- and neither feel the need censor the gritty details of their cases or operations just because they're enjoying a nice treat.

General Opinion over said character: I love her so much and her character is so compelling and hey, have you ever thought about the parallels between her and Kyouka? Have you? Please?

[fvedyazai]

Fyodor and Chuuya for the character ask game

oooh ty for the ask! sorry for how long and messy it is i have lots of thoughts just not very coherent

ok fedya first:

Sexuality Headcanon: bi but denies it. lowkey just anyone with white hair huh. actually yk what?? aroallo. hes soooo aro omg (projecting). fyodor himself would be very no-label tho.

Gender Headcanon: um usually just cis actually. cis guy or cis woman. but valleykey's fics are so so good and xir fyodor gender fuckery is so fun. again i think fyodor is pretty no-label. could have queer vibes, but would never tell you. OMG ESPECIALLY IF FEDYA TAKES OVER OTHER PEOPLE'S BODIES wait i wanna see him take over a woman. genderfluid fyodor?

A ship I have with said character: fyosig :3 theyre my toxic yuri. i ship fedya with so many people but him and sigma's relationship is so interesting and brain itching omg. in canon itd be so toxic and bad and fucked up and in my aus its also that but sometimes its fluffy.

A BROTP I have with said character: um. yk what? agatha and fyodor. i want to see what their relationship is like... but for now im just imagining them drinking tea and talking shit abt fitzgerald and stuff.

A NOTP I have with said character: ummm i rarely have notp's. i am super non-judgmental when it comes to stuff like this in fandom. fyodors one of those characters that pretty much every ship i see is super cool

A random headcanon: strawberries. he likes strawberries. idk just thinking abt fyodor and bloody fruit hehe (pomegranates!! he'd struggle opening pomegranates he'd need help from kolya or other)

General Opinion over said character: very cool!! asagiri is hurting my brain with all the lore drops abt him that actually isnt enough explanation of lore. i love fyodor and his religious symbolism omgggg

chuuya!:

Sexuality Headcanon: um gay or bi w/ very masc preference. hes the guy who'd think he's gay and then realize hes bisexual, not the other way around. theres a fave fic of mine with transfem dazai? chuuya is sure hes into men and then after dazais two year defection he comes to the basement and sees the most gorgeous woman ever and is like "oh wait nevermind" also i think he'd be into yosano. but thats it for the women he's attracted to.

Gender Headcanon: trans masc loser :) love him

A ship I have with said character: sigchuu. i have a legend of zelda au with them and omg <3 <3 chuuya would fix sigma. but not really. anyways sigchuu my beloved <3 they have similar pasts if you look close enough... theyre so silly!!

A BROTP I have with said character: tachihara and chuuya!! i mean obviously the flags ofc but i was just reading some fics and omg tachihara and chuuya are besties. they need to hang out more

A NOTP I have with said character: again... i dont think theres anyone here... tho maybe i'll say romantic skk. platonic and queerplatonic skk is so cool and more fitting i think. i'll still read romantic skk fics tho

A random headcanon: ummm hmm i dont think about chuuya enough for this huh. i think he'd be into theatre but it'd be a guilty pleasure. in the privacy of his own home, he's jamming out to rock musicals, but in public he'd never squeak a word about theatre bc hes so embarrassed.

General Opinion over said character: so cool!! hes so awesome. i like him. i like how hes so powerful but then also just so chill. as much as people are sad about how little we see him in canon, i really like how he'll only pop in once a while. good for him for skipping out on the canon's bullshit all the time hehe

haha sorry for how long this is!! i dont have any solid headcanons really, theres so many ideas out there i cant pick lol

ask game

[sorcerous-caress]

Semi-related to the bob debacle I really hate pepole that label the companions as ayersexual/tavsexual they are all queer individuals! That shouldn’t be erased and ignored but it especially egregiously for poor Bob who canonically has male love interest.

Especially when it's people who never paid attention to his dialogue or done his romance who claim that bobtarion isn't queer with a clear preference for men.

People can't deal with bi/pan characters fr. They either claim he never liked men bc they didn't see it, so it must have never happened! So he is straight in their views.

Or people who ignore the word "preference" and instead run to the hills with the rest of the sentence, claiming he is strickly gay and any bobtarion ships with women and non-men are homophobic.

I'm literally bi with clear preference for men, yet I've mostly dated women. Being bi with preference isn't hetro/gay with extra spice.

Like I genuinely believe that even in a world where playersexual wasn't the norm, bobtarion would still be queer and like all genders.

The playersexual thing started as a good thing in games, especially with their accidental inclusiveity by making everyone and their grandma bi or pan. But now people are using it as a cheap excuse to erease character's queerness?

Saying the company is just pandering to the audience and not actually being inclusive so you should definitely believe their headcanon when they tell you this character is straight/gay and ignore the canon.

Like fuck dude why are you walking backwards? Even if that theory was correct, why erease the accidental queer representation??? Why force this biphobia on something because the company may not have had the purest intentions.

Also just so we are clear, Larian doesn't do playersexual, not until Divinity 2 and Baldur's Gate 3. All their old games besides it had a romance restriction based on gender.

So I genuinely believe they actually meant it in a queer way when they made the characters attracted to all genders. Because they never did it before in any other Baldur's Gate game! They had no reason or expectation to do it now. They're not in it just for the money either because Baldur's Gate was a cult classic rather than a known title like Assassin's creed. The game in early access flew under the radar for so many years! And all characters were queer since day fucking one!

And each character expresses some of their queerness in their own way. The most vocal about it is bobtarion, so it's so fucking wild to me how people go "actually it's problematic of you to assume he is queer just bc he is flamboyant" my brother in christ what plane of existence do you live on? Did we play the same game?? When did him being flamboyant or feminine ever come up in this conversation of his queerness? I swear half these people didn't even bother playing the game, and the other half never did his romance.

No one is "headcanoning" bobtarion as bi and queer bc we saw a hint of eyeliner on his upperlid. We literally know he is queer bc he metaphorically is screaming it at the top of his lungs during all of the acts. He literally flirts with Wyll and Gale during Act 1 so many times.

Shadowheart hits on Karlach! Which is besides the point, but I felt like bringing it up because she too gets treated as "fanon lesbian but canon hetro" character when she is so fucking bi/pan in canon.

People are so used to companies never including queer characters that they are ereasing actual queer representation by lumping it as merely "playersexual pandering" and belitting their queerness by claiming it's just headcanons when it is in the fucking game in canon.

[adrinoir]

Headcanon pronouns + sexual orientations for some of the Miraculous characters:

These are particularly characters that don't seem like they're straight and/or cis to me. Yes, I know I have A LOT of them lol. These are just fun headcanons, don't take them too seriously. Comment or reblog if you have any other headcanons that I didn't mention!

Marinette - she/her, bi. She totally likes Kagami at least a little bit. We see that in Ikari Gozen and Mr. Pigeon 72. She has a stronger preference for guys, but she definitely likes girls, too.

Adrien - he/him (trans), demi + bi-curious. He may act as a hot shot flirt as Cat Noir, but notice how nervous he gets when Kagami and Ladybug get real close to him. Gives off a lot of demi energy. I also have had a trans headcanon for years for many reasons (feel free to look at my 3 posts on these lol)

Alya - she/they, bi. Alya gives me vibes that she’s not a fan of labels, hence why she’s okay with gender neutral pronouns. I also like to think she used to girl crush on Ladybug before learning she’s Marinette.

Chloe - she/her, lesbian. She also seems like she had a girl crush on LB. Plus, the way she acts towards Adrien seems…hmmm…comphet. She moreso sees him as good eye candy and her cute fellow rich friend. Notice how in Animaestro when she finds out Marinette likes Adrien, she doesn’t even bother fighting her over him, just kinda pokes fun at her for a moment. She acts so much more herself around Sabrina, and got so intimidated by Kagami. I don’t know. She just seems like a closest lez to me, or maybe just doesn’t know her sexuality yet.

Sabrina - she/her, bi. She seems to like Chloe as a bit more than a friend, js. She unhealthily worships her and plays alongside her as Cat Noir (mind you, Ladynoir is shipped by MOST of Paris). But, she also liked that boy in the NY special. Bi it is.

Zoe - she/her, bi (or lesbian). Everything about her behavior towards Marinette and fashion sense just screams gay. Enough said.

Kagami - she/her, lesbian. Her behavior with Adrien also gives off comphet energy. She genuinely cares about Adrien, just not in the way she originally thought. Meanwhile, when she first interacts with Marinette alone, she’s so nervous in trying to get to know her better. Although, I wouldn’t be mad if the Lukagami ship ever became canon.

Luka - they/he, pan. Luka is so chill, I feel like he’s just okay with any kind of pronoun for himself and likes who he likes. Similar to Alya, doesn’t seem like he would care about labels.

Juleka - she/her, demi + lesbian. This should not be surprising, do I even need to explain? lol

Rose - she/they, bi. It's pretty much canon that she's bi - she was crushing on Prince Ali, then her and Juleka started dating. She's very fem but also seems pretty chill about pronouns.

Nathaniel - they/he, bi. This is also canon that he's bi - he had feelings for Marinette and Ladybug, but then got attracted to Marc real quick (and I'd like to think they're dating). He also dresses very artsy and androgynous, which I love.

Marc - he/him (trans), demi + gay. His last name Anciel translates to "Rainbow" - that says a lot in itself. He's got a very soft voice and features. He's definitely had feelings for Nathaniel from the moment he saw his comics online.

Alix - they/she, aro-ace. Alix has never shown to have any sort of attraction to anyone. She's got her good friends and does her own thing. She strikes me as nonbinary too, for whatever reason.

[emptypassicn]

@nebula-drcams        sent ;;

        “  8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about ”

From ;; 🔥 choose violence ask game 🔥 // Currently Accepting

All of them /hj

Full serious ramble shoved under the cut since it got long.

But in all seriousness there is a good handful more actually of opinions that I just find to be wrong in the fandoms I write in so time to ramble about a few.

A big obvious one is the iterations of characters that are fandom made but go against canon. These are your infantilizations of Tweek and Pip from Southpark, Drake from DT17, and sometimes Quackerjack from DWD. Also your "edgy anime twink bad boy" versions of Craig, Mole, or Damien from South Park as examples. I particularly have a hatred for the "edgy anime twink bad boy" Mole iteration because it is just SO insanely wrong to me. It always makes him 6'0" or taller, thin and twink-ish but also conventionally buff with abs, and weirdly "clean" looking for Mole. It's just extremely wrong to me.

Another is popular headcanons that I feel are just extremely wrong that don't technically change the "main iteration" of the character to not reflect their canon state. For me these are things like general opinions I tend to see where Damien or Mole are 6'0" which feels incredibly wrong to me. Or stuff like making a character notably shorter than another when they just aren't?? Like I have no idea if this is genuinely common or it was just "here's a weird amount of this getting recommended to you" but I've seen a lot of stuff where people make Quackerjack notably shorter than Megavolt when he really isn't?? Most media I've seen with them tend to portray them as pretty close in height. Also, an extension of this one includes sexuality headcanons. Things like "Pip is gay" is really just grating and wrong to me because he canonically likes women like have you seen his episode?? His original media??? The original novel has the man spending the whole fuckin' book wanting a woman. A headcanon like that I can't help but immediately judge the person for because to me that shows they probably do not give a shit about the canon of the character or their original media and all they're in for is shipping probably. This is because most people I meet who do that literally only do it for the shipping. There have been some people I met who make a character who's canonically shown interest in the opposite gender / sex gay or lesbian and didn't do it just to have gay ships but those don't tend to be the common part of the fandom. They're always just a couple of people who see the character beyond "uwu gay wittle bean" when doing that, never the common fandom opinion.

Now, this is one of my biggest annoyances in common fandom opinion. Relationships. Notably I tend to get the MOST annoyed with common opinions on Pip and Damien's relationship / Pip and Herbert's relationship. I also occasionally get annoyed by Mole and Gregory's. Pip and Damien gets me the most annoyed because it's always so wrong. You'll see everyone either go "Damien is Pip's best friend" or "Pip has no friends" when both are just canonically wrong. Herbert Pocket would be Pip's best friend, Pip's other friends include Butters and Dougie. It gets me annoyed because literally Pip and Herbert are integral to one another in their original media, it's like heresy imo to separate them like that or to replace their status to one another with someone else. They're quite literally the best example of "platonic soulmates" I've ever seen. I cannot over state how stupid ignoring Herbert's existence to make Damien into Pip's "best friend" is to me and just how factually wrong it is to assign anyone but him "best friend" status for Pip.

As for Mole and Gregory, I don't get as annoyed about it? But I really hate how "Mole does things for Gregory" seems to be the common status quo in the fandom. And I don't just mean "Mole works with / for Gregory sometimes". I mean he's treated like some kind of fucking lackey or lap dog / guard dog for Gregory, only there to do things to protect or please Gregory with Gregory never doing shit for him. Half the time it'll go as far as Mole forcing himself to do something he doesn't want to or would hate doing just to appease Gregory because apparently people can't let them compromise. It always is shown to have to be Gregory's way or no way. Mole doesn't get to have his own way or do what he wants if it upsets Gregory. It's basically just "Mole doesn't get to be happy in their relationship" or "Mole is happy serving Gregory in their relationship" and this goes for both platonic and romantic versions of their relationship I've seen be the common opinion in the fandom. It's just so... wrong of an opinion to have about them and feels super ooc for Mole.

[phatburd]

violence!: 4, 14, 22

4. what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

If we’re talking about my most recent block, it was on Reddit where the dude tried to argue gender essentialism at me. Basically, he asserted that my call to write women like people was bullshit and that women should be written like women (weak and helpless). Yeah, I did not and do not have the emotional bandwidth to deal with that shit.

Even better though, when other people in the thread brought up Ellen Ripley as an example of where a role was originally written for a man but Sigourney Weaver was cast instead. The dude then stated he had never watched any of the Alien movies, but he read the Wikipedia article on Ripley and assumed she must be a boring and poorly written character because she was a woman.

Yeah, dude … delete your fucking account. All of your accounts, everywhere.

Tumblr blocks? Yeah, it was the Nth blog that posted the TOG van speech verbatim and declared JoeNicky to be the most perfect thing ever. Went into the blog, found their AO3, blocked that, then blocked their Tumblr. Because clearly this person and I have nothing to say to each other, and I’m tired and I get petty when I’m tired.

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

Making the bottom in an m/m ship extremely feminized, sometimes straight up infantilized. This isn’t to say there aren’t feminine gay dudes in RL, because there are. I’m talking about fan works.

I don’t know if it’s out of ignorance, sexism, misogyny, or just boring-ass heteronormativity, this idea that someone has to be the “girl” in a same-sex pairing. And every time I see it, I’m reminded of this little cartoon:

I don’t really get top/bottom discourse and especially the need to assign specific personality traits to the top or the bottom. It was something I set out to not do in my m/m Bessimu fics. I wanted to write them as equals, and I think I succeeded.

(FWIW, I see Bessimu as both being switches, because that’s more fun. I also find it hot to write Bessières as a power bottom dom and Murat as the submissive service top, and it’s not what one would expect when judging them by their public personas.)

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

From The Old Guard? Those three and a half thousand years that Andy spent alone as the only immortal on the planet (as far as anyone knows).

I’ve been wanting to explore that period and, yes, it’s fucking intimidating. Historical documentation is more miss than hit once you start going back to certain points in human history.

Three and a half thousand years is a really fucking long time. What did Andy do, where did she go? What did she see? There’s a lot of potential to mine there, and maybe I’ll do it someday.

For the Napoleonics? Joseph Fouché is a fucking amoral bastard, but I think people forget he tried to save Marshal Ney. Ney, being Ney, was either politically naive, stubborn, and/or he just wanted to fucking die already when he refused Fouché’s offer of fake papers and an passport to sneak out of France in the aftermath of Napoleon’s second abdication.

(I’ve also read that Laurent de Gouvion St. Cyr was the one who offered the passport and papers, so take the above with the proverbial grain of salt. St. Cyr did vote for exile in the final trial, which lends weight to that too.)

I also have a shitload of question marks around Bessières’ final years and the way it gets treated by academics, but that may be better off in a post of its own.

For Star Trek ... no one ever really talks about what kind of influence Sisko might have had on the Bajorans other than just being the Emissary/Space Jesus. Like, did baseball become a national sport and baseball leagues spring up all over the planet? Is there ticky-tacky Emissary merchandise one can purchase, like humans have in real life of the Pope?

(Sisko did show up on a pack of Bajoran tarot cards in Lower Decks, and I squealed over that, ngl.)

Thanks for asking! 😘

[cqlfeels]

Wen ning our beloved 🧡

A-Ning!! 🖤❤️🖤

...I feel like you won't like my answers because they'll probably go counter to how you headcanon him

Sexuality Headcanon: For most of his life, he's in the general vicinity of gay, but after Literally Dying, he would probably identify as caedsexual if he had the framework to know that's a possibility, but as he doesn't, he would probably go with just ace. He remains homoromantic though

Gender Headcanon: I'm trying and failing to figure out a good way to explain my headcanon. When he's alive, I headcanon he identifies as cismale but It's Complicated because whenever he fails at typically male pursuits (and he does fairly often) the consequences are way out of proportion (because Wen.) and so his relationship with gender is intrinsically tied to anxiety. And then after his death, one of the (many) aspects of his identity he loses is any connection to gender, so he ends up identifying as agender but in a really messed up way where that both does and doesn't fit right. And then post-canon after he gets to process his laundry list of traumas he probably settles for something like demigender or graygender

A ship I have with said character: I can see him having crushes at most, but not really beyond that, so you could sell me on almost any WN ship as long as nothing really happens. That's not because uwu innocent boi! It's very setting-dependent - I think he'd want to take relationships really slow (his feelings are canonically very intense and he is down for treason and more frighteningly quickly, I know, but I think he'd do all this and then feel uncomfortable doing anything overtly romantic) and canon just doesn't allow him that opportunity to take his time. In a modern (or otherwise peaceful) au I could very easily see him dating just about any character tbh. But as I don't usually go for aus, that still leaves me at "I don't really ship anyone with him"

A BROTP I have with said character: W👏W👏X! WQ, of course, and definitely LSZ. I wish we knew more about his relationship with the Burial Mounds crew, too

A NOTP I have with said character: It's not a notp, but the hardest ship to sell me on is WWX/WN. A crush on WN's part, sure, I can see it. But I tend to headcanon WWX projects his JC issues onto WN somewhat and just wouldn't be able to see WN as anything but a brother. But again, that's setting-specific. I can see it happening in any number of aus, so it's not a notp..... but I'd need some characterization work to sell me on it even then

A random headcanon: He loves the idea of playing a musical instrument but is deeply uncomfortable with the idea of other people hearing him play, so he never tries to learn. He does get his wish when LSZ teaches him the guqin veeeery non-threateningly as they travel (but he still only plays if he's alone)

General Opinion over said character: I love him! It's weird that I don't talk about him more because he was one of my favorite characters when I first read the novel, actually!

[vacantgodling]

hanzo

you’ve asked about the behemoth you’ve unlocked the gates—

Sexuality Headcanon: gay gay homosexual gay. i think hanzo’s sexuality in my mind teeters from him being so casual about it that you’d think he’s always known (imo he has) or it’s a source of a lot of grief because of the expectations of the head of the clan to bear children (imo it is).

so, to me, he knows he likes men, and he’s too straightforward to deny it, and in his time wandering he’s sought out quickies with men, but i also think it’s a source of stress and shame for him. esp if you get into any of my transzo headcanons the territory gets even messier. but at the same time i can see him being divorced from the desires of the clan as he gets older. like once he gets to 35 he’s kind of like i mean, fuck it—it’s already been some time and i want what i want so it is what it is. i seriously think trauma+his personality make him struggle in developing like actual close relationships in general let alone romantic ones but he is gay and he wants to be with a dude romantically to Me.

Gender Headcanon: tbh i headcanon transzo more often than ciszo but i do tend to write ciszo more often it’s weird lol. but i think it would be an interesting angle to explore if the clan kind of influenced him to be a man and unpacking his struggles with that but ultimately deciding that he’s a man on his own terms but that’s brain rot thoughts for three am—

A ship I have with said character: the only hanzo ship i have and ever will have is with cassidy. otp for life.

i think a lot of the reason i don’t ship hanzo with other characters (largest contender could be bap but i think he and genji or niran work better) is just realistically because when i put their stories and traumas side by side they have the most opportunity to really gain something out of being with one another. what they gain is understanding: someone who gets them on their roughest days, who can talk them down from a panic attack, who they can share a look with and just understand. the chemistry is there physically (see the “pretty handy with that bow” & “good looks are not enough” voicelines which STILL drive me insane by the way — and yes i know hanzo says the good looks are not enough kill line to several people HOWEVER it confirms that he’s only into men for me because he’s ONLY ever said that line to men. i think he only says it to cassidy, reinhardt, and baptiste that i’ve heard? usually when i play hanzo it is a CLUSTERFUCK and i’m SWEATING so there may be more that i’ve missed but he only says it to men confirmed. That and his va being gay is definitely 👀 but that’s a whole other convo).

they would never let the other one get away with their shit, but at the same time they like to pretend their loners when they desperately crave to be understood and have someone to lean on. i think when it comes down to it baptiste is almost TOO adjusted. he and han are similar in that they’ve done things in their past they’re not proud of, but baptiste isn’t running from it; he’s actively trying to make a difference and make it better and in many ways i don’t think hanzo is there yet, and more than likely he’d probably compare himself to bap and feel like he’s not good enough to even stand by him as a friend or coworker let alone romantic interest. similarly COULD be said about cass but there’s something about him that’s extremely disarming to hanzo i feel like.

i could wax poetics about their relationship for deadass fucking hours however i am going to move on before this becomes an entire dissertation.

A BROTP I have with said character: the one that appears in cage is hana and hanzo! i think their friendship is cute, helpful, elder brother/uncle with younger sister/niece energy. basically everything kiriko will never be LMAO. a lot of the reason i do care about this friendship so much kind of stems from my own headcanons about hana and her story which are entirely deviated from canon and WILL make an appearance in cage later on. but i think the two of them are more alike than it would initially seem—hana’s just better adjusted and more outgoing than hanzo. and every fic i’ve ever read that has them as friends has made me emo.

A NOTP I have with said character: hanzo with anyone who isn’t cassidy LMAO.

if i am serious though, hanzo and akande? like bro i understand enemies to lovers and corruption arc are popular ship tropes but i want hanzo to be well fed, well fucked, safe and happy and with akande that would not happen lmao. i don’t think he has the delicacy and tact to manage to break through han’s barriers and to love him genuinely or tender and i think hanzo (clearly) has trauma around authority so akande trying to take the lead in their relationship would be so fucking rough. like it’s toxic and while toxic relationships can be fun to write it ain’t fun for me because hanzo’s the love of my life and i want the best for him 😭

A random headcanon: HANZO IS INTO VISUAL KEI AND I WILL DIE ON THIS FUCKING HILL FUCK BLIZZARD FOR GIVING KIRIKO THAT VKEI SKIN ITS BOTH BAD AND HAN DESERVES IT MORE FUCK YALL SO MUCH. you mean to tell me that this broody angsty s.o.b wouldn’t be into the gazette?? buck tick????? x japan??? dir en grey???? kill yourself like i’m biting and maiming. i think he’d be more into the grungier and darker groups tbh like more of a dir en grey fan bc of their lyricism and imagery… and it’s also lowkey one of the (many) reasons why cage is named cage. cuz cage is a dir en grey song lmao.

General Opinion over said character: he’s the love of my life. like i have never connected with nor been as obsessed with than hanzo and i’m going to go to my grave loving this man. seriously considering getting a shimada clan tattoo just bc i love hanzo so fucking much (i’m just broke) and he consumes my thoughts just as much as hya lmao.