#Even tragic or problematic ones | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

charmandabear · 4 months

Text

Office Hours - Chapter One

Summary:

Your colleague Dr. Ancunin is a smug condescending bastard and you can't stand him. But you also can't get him out of your head.

Pairing: Astarion/F!Reader Rating: E Word Count: 5.2k Tags/Warnings: unprotected p in v sex, creampie, no breeding kink, masturbation, vaginal fingering, vampire bites, modern au, college/university au, urban fantasy, enemies to lovers, like the briefest mention of suicide while talking about Hamlet

This would not exist without @zipzoomzaria's gorgeous glasses screenshots because PROFESSOR, PLS. Go follow her bc her edits are out of this world. The masturbation scene is also heavily inspired by @astarionfreak's "Are You Satisfied, Darling?" If you haven't read it what are you doing???

Read on AO3 ~ Masterlist

There’s something about him that rubs you the wrong way. It could be his arrogance, or the condescending way he peers over his glasses at you and your other colleagues. It might be the overpriced cashmere turtlenecks that hug his figure perfectly or the stupid silver earrings adorning his stupid elf ears. But every time he opens his pretty little mouth you feel a snarl growing deep in your throat.

This is the first university you’ve worked at where the theatre and English departments shared an office. Theatre and music, sure, even theatre and dance. But theatre and English? It feels insulting, honestly. English PhDs are some of the snobbiest people you’ve ever met, and they always speak to you like a child. Is it because they’re unimpressed by your MFA, like it made you less deserving of your position? Who knows. But Astarion Ancunin is no different.

“Grace, would you mind making twelve copies of pages 219-254 when you get a chance?” You hand the administrative assistant the heavy book. “You can leave them in my mailbox, I’ll pick them up later.” Grace opens the book to the instructed page.

“Oh, Much Ado About Nothing! I love that one!” she squeals with delight. “That Beatrice and Benedick,” she sighs, stroking the Complete Works lovingly. You smile at her cordially.

“They’re great, they’re basically the non-problematic version of Kate and Petruchio,” you respond in agreement.

“How tragic that Taming’s writing is better.”

You whirl around to see Ancunin walking in looking at something on his phone. He doesn’t even look up as he inserts himself into your conversation. You glare at his interruption. He looks up at Grace, bypassing you completely.

“Good morning, Grace darling, how are you today?” He sweeps over to her and takes her hand in his, planting a kiss on her knuckles. Gods he’s fucking insufferable. Not to mention unprofessional. Grace, however, blushes and giggles like a schoolgirl.

“I’m doing well, Dr. Ancunin, and yourself?” The tiefling’s voice jumps up about three pitches and her tail starts swishing excitedly.

“Leagues better now that I’ve been blessed with your presence,” he coos at her, voice positively saccharine. It takes every ounce of your patience to keep from rolling your eyes. He casts his gaze to you, and even you need to turn away from those piercing red eyes.

“Good morning, professor. Starting Much Ado with your students, I take it?” he asks with a light smile that makes you bristle.

“Yes, it’s a great way for them to practice switching between verse and prose,” you respond coolly, more than a little defensive.

“Of course, one of his best.” He glances down at the volume still in Grace’s hands and his eyebrows raise, peering over the top of his round glasses. “Going with the Bevington, hmm? Interesting. I’m more of a Norton man, myself.” He runs a slender finger along the binding as you grit your teeth. Is he really patronizing you over your choice of edition of Shakespeare’s Complete Works? Of course, he’s an English scholar.

“The Norton is a great tool dramaturgically, but the Bevington is a much better resource for actors, so, yes.” Your voice is steady but there’s an undeniable venom in it. Can he tell how much he’s bothering you? Probably, he’s almost certainly getting enjoyment out of riling you up. His little smirk would seem to suggest it, at least.

“Well certainly, and who knows acting resources better than our resident classical acting expert?” he intones, voice still dripping with honey. You narrow your eyes at him, unsure if he’s taking another jab at your degree.

“Well, as much as I enjoy standing around and debating the merit of various editions of the Complete Works, I’m about to be late for a meeting. Grace, thank you so much, I’ll be back later to pick up those copies. Dr. Ancunin,” you turn to his smug face and he looks back at you innocently. “A pleasure, as always.” You grab your papers and leave the office, feeling the heat of his gaze boring into the back of your head as you leave.

***

“Yes, Thaniel, come on in, have a seat,” you call out to the freshman loitering in the hallway outside your office. He comes in and drops his overfull backpack next to the teal club chair across from your desk. You close your laptop and smile at him warmly.

“So, Hamlet, that’s ambitious! I think it’s a good choice for you, but it’ll be a lot of work,” you say, glancing at your own copy of the monologue.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m here,” Thaniel says nervously. “I’m fine with the scansion and stuff, that I get, but I still don’t get the actual words. And I know you said how important that is.”

“For sure, I can guarantee all of the bad Shakespeare you’ve seen has been because the actors had no idea what they were saying. Have you used the Lexicon?” Thaniel looks off to the side, embarrassed.

“No, I don’t really get how that works either,” he says, an air of chagrin creeping into his voice.

“No worries, it takes practice. Here, we’ll do a few lines together. So first off, to be or not to be, that’s fairly obvious, right?”

“Yeah, he’s talking about suicide, right?”

“Sure, but what is he actually saying about it? To take arms against a sea of troubles/And by opposing, end them. What’s ‘them’ referring to?”

“The sea of troubles?”

“Right, the aforementioned slings and arrows. So even though you might know what those words mean individually, look them up in the Lexicon to see if they have a different context here. But you’re right, he’s trying to figure out if it’s better to suffer through the shittiness of existence or to take your fate into your own hands and, well, end them.” You highlight the line and lean over your desk to show Thaniel. A voice pipes up from the doorway.

“That’s not exactly what he’s saying, you know.”

The paper crumples in your hand slightly as your fist instinctively tightens. You plaster a strained smile on your face and look up at him.

“Dr. Ancunin, thank you for gracing us with your presence. Care to elaborate?”

He’s leaning in the doorway, arms crossed, face in shadows. Your office is unusually dark because of the storm outside, and so the bright fluorescents in the hallway give him an almost ethereal halo effect

“It’s a common misconception that Hamlet is contemplating suicide here. Life and death, sure, but ‘to take arms’ isn’t metaphorical, it’s literal. He’s contemplating dying as a result of killing Claudius, not taking his own life,” he says, almost sounding bored. You stand abruptly, your office chair skidding backwards.

“How can that possibly be true? He says ‘to take arms against a sea of troubles.’ He’s using the active voice, deciding whether or not to continue his life or end it. To be or not to be. It’s the first line in the monologue. He’s not talking about the consequences of killing Claudius.” You try to keep your voice from shaking. You know that you don't sound nearly as eloquent as him, and it’s pissing you off. He shrugs nonchalantly.

“You’re oversimplifying it, it’s exceedingly more complicated than that. The whole soliloquy is filled with war imagery. He’s at war with himself, the part of him that wants to kill Claudius and the part of him that is afraid to die.” He pushes himself off the door frame and steps back into the hallway. “But apologies, please don’t let me interrupt your instruction.” And like that he was off, leaving you to stew in silence. Thaniel looks up at you and looks back at the doorway where he stood.

“Should I…” he starts, but you cut him off with a wave of your hand.

“Dr. Ancunin comes at this from a very different angle as an English academic. He’s more interested in the words on the page, rather than how they translate to the stage. But,” you sigh, loathe to give him any credit, “it’s a valid interpretation. We can go down that route, if you want, or we can look at it through this lens.” Thaniel chews his lip while he considers his options.

“I think what you said makes more sense, the suicide bit,” he finally decides. You nod and pull out your copies of the Shakespeare Lexicon.

“Great, let’s go over how to use the Lexicon again,” you say as you flip through the book, looking for the entry for ‘slings.’

***

You drop off your bag and toss your keys into a bowl on the counter. Fucking exhausting day. You unzip your boots and kick them vaguely in the direction of the shoe rack, stretching and curling your toes for relief. You hang up your wet coat and shake rain from your hair. Your eyes dart between the refrigerator, wherein resides a bottle of white wine, and the bathroom door, contemplating how good a hot bath would feel. Both? Both is good.

You pour yourself a generous glass of Riesling and strip your clothes on your way to the bathroom. One of the perks of living alone. Sitting naked on the edge of the tub, you sip your wine as the bath fills.

Fucking Ancunin.

You’re a little shocked at how much he got under your skin today. Normally you don’t think twice about him, excepting the few times you have the misfortune of passing him in the hallway. But today the fates decided to throw you together and your schedules aligned. Well, in your defense, you didn’t seek him out that second time, he was the one who decided to crash your office hours.

You don’t even like Hamlet that much. You certainly don’t care about alternative interpretations of “To be or not to be.” But you’re mostly annoyed because he had a fair point. His read makes Hamlet a more interesting character rather than a cowardly incel romanticizing suicide.

You slide into the bath, hissing slightly as the hot water flows over your chilled skin. Without prompting, Ancunin worms his way back into your thoughts. Hmmph. You take a gulp of wine to try to wash away the taste of the unpleasant image.

Well… not entirely unpleasant. He’s a good looking man, you’d be a fool to deny it. But gods he’s so smug. And interrupting your meeting with Thaniel was wildly inappropriate. Leaning your head against the edge of the tub, you try to focus your thoughts elsewhere. You’re not about to let him interrupt you again, and when he’s not even present, no less.

But there he is, in your mind, crimson eyes looking over the top of those metal frame glasses that you’re, like, 99% sure he doesn’t actually need to see. You take another swig of wine to drown his stupid face. With his stupid cheekbones. And his dumb fucking earrings that you want to bite.

Nine hells, what is happening? You’ve been drinking your wine quickly and aren’t thinking straight. You grab your phone and open Spotify, letting your daily mix play through the bluetooth speaker on the counter.

Now Playing: Hatefuck by The Bravery.

If I put my hands around your wrists, would you fight them?

If I put my fingers in your mouth, would you bite them?

By Mystra’s fucking grace, seriously? You growl at the growing heat between your legs. Between putting off dinner and chugging your wine, your head is swimming. You might be better off getting it out of your system.

The wine glass hits the tub edge with a clank as you angrily put it down and sink into the water up to your chin. You are satiating a purely physical need, nothing else.

You still shiver as you slip your hand between your legs, lightly running your finger up your slit. You can see his face, looking down on you through those glasses - those infuriating glasses - and your lips flutter. What does he look like under those sweaters? He’s so thin, but his clothes fit incredibly well. It’s not hard to imagine a sculpted body beneath. You spread your legs further and let the warm water tickle your folds.

His silvery curls would look so good between your legs, slender fingers wrapped around your thighs while he laps you up. At least then he’d shut up. A gentle moan escapes your lips as you run your finger along your inner lips, pretending it’s him. You could grab hold of those perfect locks, yanking on them to control where he can go, fucking his face.

You move your other hand up to your breast and start teasing your nipple, feeling his lips around it. You give it a little tug and groan, just like if he nipped at it.

You imagine sitting on his pretty face, pointed ears flushed and hair a mess. Your hips buck into your hand as they might on top of him and your toes curl. You make gentle circles around your clit, thinking of all the other uses for his silver tongue. You whine and squirm at the sensations of heat radiating through your body. You slip a finger inside and hiss as you can see his pale digits entering you in your mind’s eye. You curl it upwards and gasp, his imaginary eyes looking up at you through those long lashes and a smirk playing across his imaginary lips.

“Are you ready for more of me, darling?” You can hear him murmur into your ear.

“Yes, gods yes,” you reply breathlessly into the cold bathroom air. You slide another finger in and feel that delicious stretch. The ghost of him moans, coming undone at the sight of you. You could leave him speechless, for once.

You reach over the edge of the tub and grab the box of waterproof toys. You frantically sift through your collection of dildos, trying to find the right one. Here. It’s long and svelte like the rest of him, but bright shimmery purple. You suction it to the bottom of the tub and hover above it on your knees. It sways lightly in the water, tip of it teasing your pussy just like you’d love to do to him.

Gods, to see him beg for your cunt. To see him reduced to a babbling mess, pleading to let him inside you. Your breath quickens at the mental image of him pulling on his own hair waiting for you to satisfy him. You sink down onto the dildo and your groan of pleasure mirrors what you’d like to hear from him.

You start sliding yourself on the purple dick, feeling its ridges glide against the walls of your cunt as you continue to finger your clit. You imagine your hand splayed across his chest, your black nails standing in contrast against his pale skin. You claw at the bottom of the tub as you increase your pace, desperate to see the pink raised skin that your nails leave behind. The fingers on your clit speed up as well, and you can feel yourself getting close.

“Oh gods, Astarion, don’t stop,” the words tumble from your mouth unbidden. You will absolutely hate yourself for that later, but right now all that matters is your ecstasy. You bounce atop the dildo, disregarding the water that splashes over the side of the tub as you chase your finish. Your moans increase in pitch and fervor as the various images of him in all sorts of positions flash through your mind. Between your thighs, sitting on his face, riding his dick, even fucking pegging him from behind because why the hell not?

“Astarion!” You cry out his name as you crash over the edge, legs shaking and pussy pulsing. Your orgasm reverberates throughout your whole body as you ride it out. Eventually, your movement slows and the water gently sways around you. You look down at your hand, milky juices swirling in the now tepid tub water.

Shit.

***

The next day at work, you avoid him like the plague. You keep your office door closed, usually an unthinkable act but entirely necessary right now. You double check the hallway before leaving to go teach, and then after class you immediately duck back into your office and close the door again. You even avoid the main office for fear of running into him there.

You can’t look at his face right now. You can’t possibly look him in the eye.

When 5:00 rolls around, you glance out into the hallway. Most of the other professors are leaving. To play it safe, you decide to work until 6 so that you can be sure that he’s gone when you leave. You absentmindedly grade performance responses. After you’ve read one paragraph about Miss Julie maybe a half dozen times, you realize that it’s probably time to go.

You slowly open the door and glance out into the hallway. You can’t tell from this angle if his door is open or not. You grab your bag and coat, take a deep breath, and make a beeline for the stairs. As you approach his office you realize it’s open.

Fuck.

It’s fine. You’ll just walk past it and get to the parking lot and then you won’t need to worry about it. He might not even be in there. Or if he is, he probably has his head down and won’t notice you walk by. It’s fine. You’ve got this.

“Oh, professor, a word?” His voice floats into the hallway right as you’re passing his door. Are you fucking kidding? You turn to see him sitting at his desk, head down, writing something. He doesn’t even look up at you. Prick.

“Yes?” you ask, not budging from your spot in the hall. He glances up at you over his glasses. Those fucking glasses. You want to rip them off his face and throw them out the window.

“Do you have a moment? I think we need to talk.” His voice is low and cool. Does he fucking know? There’s no way he can know.

Right?

You tentatively take a step into his office. It’s surprisingly cluttered for a man who always looks so put together, but it’s still warm and inviting. You can barely see the walls for being covered corner to corner in bookshelves full to bursting. He’s got a big mahogany desk in the middle of the room - significantly nicer than the university-issued one. It’s covered in stacks of papers, books, weird little knick knacks; it’s amazing how he’s able to get anything done on it. There are two chairs facing his desk, much like yours, but a rich plush velvet instead of a scratchy cotton weave. He’s got a scent diffuser somewhere, giving the room an aroma like an earthy spiced tea.

“Have a seat,” he says, gesturing to the cushy red chairs across from him. You stand there, clutching your bag, staring at him like a deer in the headlights. When he realizes you’re not going to sit, he gets up and crosses over to the door.

“Do you mind if I close this? It’s… a bit embarrassing,” he asks with a crooked smile. You can feel the heat in your cheeks rising. Your mouth goes dry and you try to swallow the lump forming in your throat.

There’s no way he knows.

Right?

But something compels you to nod, so he closes the door and walks back to his desk, but rather than sitting behind it, he leans back casually on the front of it. He’s taken off the blazer he usually wears and is down to just the turtleneck, sleeves pushed up just below his elbows. He crosses his arms in front of his chest as you stare, waiting.

“I wanted to… apologize. For yesterday.”

You blink at him, the conversation not going in the direction you expected. You had been so focused on yourself, that it took you a moment to realize what he was referring to.

“It was inappropriate to barge in on your meeting with your student. You were mid-instruction, and I needn’t have inserted myself into your conversation.” He leaned back on his hands, stretching out his lean figure to impossible proportions. The grip on your bag slackened and you couldn’t help but drag your gaze over the length of his body. He looks at you quizzically.

“I get the sense that you don’t very much like me,” he muses.

Now it’s his turn to give you the once-over, and you feel practically naked before him the way he looks at you. “Then again,” he adds, and pushes himself off his desk. He slowly advances toward you, though whether like someone approaching a vicious beast or a predator stalking its prey, it’s unclear. You retreat while holding his gaze until your back is flush against the door.

No escape now.

He gets precariously close to you and takes an unsettling whiff. When he speaks again, his voice is a husky growl.

“I think it’s entirely possible you like me… quite a bit.” He’s got at least a half foot on you, and he looks down on you with heavy-lidded eyes. The heat in your face has fully reached the tips of your ears now, and your breath comes out ragged.

“I’m sure I-” you start, but it comes out thick and raspy. You clear your throat and try again. “I’m sure I don't know what you mean,” you finally manage with all of the composure you can muster. He cocks an eyebrow at you, then slowly takes off those infuriating glasses.

“No? Then perhaps I’m mistaken, and your heart rate hasn’t increased by approximately 20 beats per second in the past few minutes.” His eyes continue boring into you. “And maybe that smell between your legs is completely unrelated.”

An undignified splutter comes out of you as you press your thighs closer together. He takes a half step back to let you respond.

“If I am indeed mistaken, then I’ve said my peace and you’re free to go.” The seductive honey is gone from his voice, and in its place is a politely professional tone. You fully feel that he’s giving you an out, that you can both laugh on this as an embarrassing moment and neither will bring it up ever again.

But on the other hand…

“You’re not mistaken,” you choke out in a whisper. The lazy smile is back and he lifts your chin with his index finger.

“What was that? Speak up.” His command weakens your knees and you wither under his gaze.

“You’re not wrong,” you say more boldly, trying to meet his energy. His smile broadens, and for the first time you notice two pointy fangs slip out beneath his upper lip.

Fucking

vampire??

That explains how he could track your heartbeat, and even more his ridiculously keen sense of smell. Doesn’t make it any less humiliating.

“No, I don’t suppose I am,” he snarls and suddenly he’s kissing you roughly, hands twisting in your hair and one knee sliding up between your legs. He pushes you against the door and lifts you off your feet slightly. You’re desperate just to keep up as he devours you, hands weakly grasping at his hips, shoulders, neck. But he’s fully in control of the kiss, and after a moment you let him take you.

He breaks the kiss but doesn’t pull away, and you’re both breathing heavily, air cycling between your lungs. Your head feels full of a thick fog and you can’t fully see straight. His hands are still in your hair, tight but not pulling - yet. You get the sense that might not last long.

He drops to his knees and you nearly double over from the sudden lack of support. He runs his nose and lips across the hem of your black denim skirt, inhaling again. Your fingers lace into his hair, but not even remotely in the dominant way from your fantasy. At this point you’re just trying not to collapse.

He looks up at you, flashing another fang-bearing grin. His hand slips up your skirt and his thumb runs across your pussy, barricaded by your sheer tights and panties.

“Darling, you’re positively soaked,” he hums contentedly. “You’d have a hard time hiding this from anyone.” You bite your lower lip, trying to keep the needy whines at bay. But when he fiercely rips the crotch of your tights and presses the flat of his tongue against the drenched gusset, you can’t stop the cry from escaping your throat. He sucks lasciviously, the debauched slurping noise ringing in your ears. Your knees buckle and he grabs hold of your hips, hiking your skirt up to your waist to get better access to your dripping cunt.

He stands and kisses you again, the taste of you lingering on

his lips. He grabs your ass and digs his fingers into your flesh, spreading them until you gasp into his kiss. In one fluid motion he sweeps up your legs and wraps them around his waist, carrying you over to that incredible mahogany desk.

He plops you down on the hardwood and you hear books and papers tumbling onto the floor behind you. He presses his bulge into your mound, this time the sound of both of your moans mingling pleasingly. He tears at your chiffon button down, trailing hungry kisses down your chest as you throw your head back in pleasure. He makes quick work of fully removing your top, though you’re certain he sacrificed some buttons in the process. You hardly care as you paw wantonly at the back of his neck, desperate for him to get his lips onto every single inch of you. He pulls the lace cup of your bra down with his teeth and starts sucking on your nipple, pressing his hand into the small of your back. You arch into him, his hands working you like a soft clay.

So much for the pleading mess that you pictured last night. Instead, you’re the one who's been reduced to shambles, begging for satisfaction.

“Puh-please,” you stutter, and those devilish eyes lock onto yours again. He snakes his way back up your chest and bites your lower lip.

“Puh-please what?” he mocks your stammering, but makes up for it when he rolls his hips forward, dragging that delicious hardness against you. You squirm, trying to pull him closer but he’s got your arms locked in his grip. His lips leave yours and ghost over the flesh of your neck. He very gently scrapes his fangs across your jugular, eliciting a ghoulish moan from you in return. By all the gods, you hadn’t even considered that as a part of it. His movement made it clear that he won’t bite unless you want him to.

But holy hells do you want him to.

“Gods Astarion,” you gasp, and you swear you can feel his cock twitch at the sound of his own name. “Fuck me then bite me, or the other way around I don’t care, but please get in me!” The string of words almost sounds foreign to your own ears, but you’re well beyond the point of trying to sound clever. In an instant, he’s undone his belt buckle and his erection springs forth, bouncing and already dripping precum. He roughly shoves your panties to the side and sinks his cock and teeth into you simultaneously, drawing out your cry of both pain and pleasure. You wrap your legs and arms around him, trying to pull him in deeper. You can feel his mouth filling up with your hot blood just as your cunt fills up with his dick.

You’re panting as you grow more lightheaded, clinging to his neck. Unthinkingly, your fingers stroke his ears, playing with those tiny silver hoops. He lurches and pulls away from your neck, looking absolutely feral with your blood dripping down his chin, which only sets you off more. You angle your hips toward him, trying to get him to start thrusting into you. He pushes your back down onto the desk and hooks his elbows beneath your knee high boots. Then he starts pounding into you properly, and you feel like you’re close to losing it. You grab onto the edge of the desk as he revs up his pace, his cock stretching you out as he keeps your legs close to your ears. You can feel the heat mounting in your core and you know it won’t be long before you come. But at this point you’re just trying to hold on for dear life.

“Fuck, gods, Astarion, I’m-” You finish before your sentence does. He doesn’t relent as the orgasm wracks your body, if anything, he fucks you harder. Just as you’ve barely come down off your climax, he pulls out and yanks you off the desk, spins you around and pushes your face down into the smooth mahogany, warmed from where you had just been. He enters you again, this time from behind, and already you’re working your way up to a second one. Your bare tits squish against the polished surface and he grabs your hair, pulling your head up and arching your back into him.

For the first time you notice the mirror on the opposite wall across from his desk. But rather than both of you, you only see yourself, disheveled and well-fucked, lips swollen from his abuse. Your hair is pulled up by an invisible force behind you. Another unexpected aspect of vampire fucking.

You desperately wish you could see his face because you can feel his thrusts getting more uneven and erratic. You try to turn to get a glimpse of him, but his grip on your hair remains tight. But even if you can’t see him, you can hear him, his grunts and the low string of incoherent swears pouring out of his mouth. The sound of him getting lost in you is enough, and your own moans start building and mixing with his, an utter symphony of epicurism.

His hips give a few more broken thrusts and you can feel his climax, setting off yours. The throbs of his cock match those wracking your cunt, and you hold onto the edge of the desk as the waves wash over you. Once they’ve come to an end he pulls out, and you can feel his semen dripping out of the sudden emptiness and running down your leg. You quietly say a thankful prayer for your IUD.

You’re both panting as he collapses onto your back, planting a half-hearted kiss on your spine. You weakly push yourself up off the desk and see the devastation of papers, smears and fluids. You turn yourself around and relish in his appearance. Your blood is splattered on his fine cream sweater, his usually perfectly coiffed curls damp and sticking to his forehead. You reach up and wipe the remainder of your blood off his chin. He smirks and kisses you, significantly more gently this time.

“That was good,” you murmur through steadying breaths, “but next time, keep the fucking glasses on.”

#astarion #astarion fanfic #astarion fic #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #baldurs gate astarion #baldurs gate fanfiction #astarion ancunin #astarion smut #baldurs gate smut #fanfiction #smut #professor astarion #astarion x reader #astarion x you #office hours

532 notes · View notes

avelera · 6 months

Text

Christ, I can’t even imagine what the takes would be if, like, “Titanic” came out today. “What did Jack do to deserve to die?” “Why was the narrative punishing Jack by making him die?” “The story is clearly problematic because Jack died instead of Cal.”

Like holy shit, sometimes characters die because it’s tragic. Because the creators are trying to make you feel something. Because fiction isn’t always about some Calvinist view of a character deserving their fate because all stories are meant to be one big religious passion play about who deserves to go to heaven and be redeemed or whatever and who we’re allowed to stone to death.

Sometimes it’s narratively unjust because you’re meant to be pained and outraged and feel a gaping hole in your heart wherein resides emotions you might never experience in day to day life because the whole point of fiction is to take you outside your everyday experience.

(And for the record, I’m sure those takes on Titanic would have existed if it corresponded with the existence of Twitter but thankfully I was blissfully unaware of all that because I was ten years old. Still. Dear lord, people.)

#ofmd #ofmd spoilers #you’re allowed to be upset!#but that’s a mark of a GOOD story not a BAD one ffs #tearing out my hair at you people sometimes

858 notes · View notes

whumpinggrounds · 1 year

Text

Overused Disability Tropes

Woohoo here we go. I expect this one to be a bit more controversial because I am using specific media as examples. I would really prefer if, when critiquing this post, you avoid defending specific media, and focus instead on what’s actually being said/represented about disabled communities. If you feel I’ve done a really grave injustice, you can come into my askbox/DMs/replies to talk to me about it, but I might not answer.

One more time: I am not interested in getting into a debate about whether something is a good show/movie/book/whatever. I’m not telling you it’s bad, or that you shouldn’t enjoy it! People can like whatever they want; I am only here to critique messaging. Do not yell at me about this.

Newest caveat aside, let’s get into it!

Inspiration Porn

Without a doubt, our biggest category! Term coined in 2012 by badass activist Stella Young, but the trope has been around for literal centuries. There are a few different kinds that I will talk about.

Disabled character/person is automatically noble/good because of their disability. A very early example would be A Christmas Carol’s Tiny Tim, or, arguably, Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Real life examples include the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon, or children’s hospital ads that exploit sad-eyed kids with visible illness or disability.

Having a disability does not automatically make you a kind/angelic/noble person. This many not seem harmful, and may even seem positive, but in reality, it is condescending, inaccurate, and sets bizarre standards for how disabled people should behave.

This portrayal is often intended to elicit pity from abled audiences, which is also problematic.

In these portrayals, disability is not something to be proud of or identify with, only something to be suffered through.

Disabled character person does something relatively mundane and we all need to celebrate that. This is less common in writing, but happens in the real world when people do things like post pictures of disabled people at the gym captioned “What’s your excuse?”

This is condescending, and implies that anything disabled people are capable of, abled people are automatically capable of.

Makes it seem like it’s an incredible feat for a disabled person to accomplish tasks.

Uses people’s actual lives and actual disabilities as a reminder of “how good abled life is.”

The “Supercrip” stereotype is a specific kind of inspiration porn in which disabled people are shown to be capable of amazing things, “in spite of” their disability.

The Paralympics have been criticized for this, with people saying that advertisements and understandings of the Paralympics frame the athletes as inspiring not because they are talented or accomplished, but because their talents and accomplishments are seen as “so unlikely.”

Other examples include the way we discuss famous figures like Stephen Hawking, Alan Turing, or even Beethoven. Movies like The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game frame the subjects’ diagnoses, whether actual or posited, as limitations that they had to miraculously break through in order to accomplish what they did. Discussions of Beethoven’s deafness focus on how incredible it was that he was able to overcome it and be a musician despite what is framed as a tragic acquisition of deafness.

The pity/heroism trap is a concise way of defining inspiration porn. If the media you’re creating or consuming inspires these emotions, and only these emotions, around disability, that is a representation that is centered on the feelings and perceptions of abled people. It’s reductive, it’s ableist, and it’s massively overdone.

Disabled Villains

To be clear, disabled people can and should be villains in fiction. The problem comes when disabled people are either objects of pity/saintly heroes, or villains, and there is no complexity to those representations. When there is so little disabled rep out there (less than 3.5% of characters in current media), having a disabled villain contributes to the othering of disability, as well as the idea that disability can make someone evil. There are also a few circumstances in which particular disabilities are used to represent evil, and I’ll talk about how that’s problematic.

Mentally ill villains are colossally overdone, particularly given that mentally ill people are more likely to be the victims of violence than perpetrators of it. This is true of all mental illness, including “””scary””” things like personality disorders or disorders on the schizoaffective spectrum. Mental illness is stigmatized enough without media framing mentally ill people as inherently bad or more suspectible to evil. This prejudice is known as sanism.

Explicit fictional examples of this include the Joker, or Kevin Wendell Crumb in Split.

People can also be coded as mentally ill without it being explicitly stated, and that’s also problematic and sanist. In the Marvel movie Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Wanda’s appearance and behavior are coded as mentally ill. This is used to make her “creepy.” Horror movies do this a lot - mental illness does not render someone creepy, and should not be used as a tool in this way.

Visible disability or difference to indicate evil is another common, incredibly offensive, and way overdone trope. This is mostly commonly done through facial difference, and the examples are endless. These portrayals equate disability or disfigurement with ugliness, and that ugliness with evil. It renders the disabled villain in question an outcast, undesirable, and uses their disability or difference to dehumanize these characters and separate them from others. This is incredibly prevalent and incredibly painful for people with visible disability or facial difference.

An example of visible disability indicating evil is Darth Vader’s prosthetics and vastly changed physical appearance that happen exactly in time with his switch to the dark side. In contrast, when Luke needs a prosthetic, it is lifelike and does not visually separate him from the rest of humanity/the light.

Dr. Who’s John Lumic is another example of the “Evil Cripple” trope.

Examples of facial difference indicating evil range from just about every James Bond movie, to Scar in the Lion King, Dr. Isabel Maru in Wonder Woman, Taskmaster in Black Widow, Captain Hook in Peter Pan, and even Doofenschmirtz-2 in Phineas and Ferb the Movie. Just because some of the portrayals are silly (looking at you, Phineas and Ferb) doesn’t make the coding of facially scarred villains any less hurtful.

A slightly different, but related phenomenon I’ll include here is the idea of the disability con. This is when a character fakes a disability for personal gain. This represents disabled people as potential fakers, and advances the idea that disabled people get special privileges that abled people can and should co-opt for their own reasons.

In The Usual Suspects, criminal mastermind Verbal Clint fakes disability to avoid suspicion and take advantage of others. In Arrested Development, a lawyer fakes blindness in order to gain the sympathy and pity of the jury.

In much more complex examples such as Sharp Objects, a mother with Munchausen by proxy fakes her daughter’s illness in order to receive attention and pity. Portrayals like this make Munchausen or MBP seem more common than it is, and introduce the idea that parents may be lying or coaching their children to lie about necessary medical treatment.

Disability as Morality

Sometimes, the disabled character themselves is a moral lesson, like Auggie in Wonder. Sheerly through existing, Auggie “teaches” his classmates about kindness, the evils of bullying, and not judging a book by its cover. This also fits well under inspiration porn. This is problematic, because the disabled character is defined in terms of how they advance the other characters’ morality and depth.

In the “Disabled for a Day” trope, an otherwise abled character experiences a temporary disability, learns a moral lesson, and is restored to full ability by the end of the episode/book/movie. Once again, disability is used as a plot device, rather than a complex experience, along with more permanent disability being rejected as impossible for heroes or main characters.

Examples include an episode of M*A*S*H where Hawkeye is temporarily blinded, an episode of Law and Order: SVU where Elliott Stabler is temporarily blinded, and an episode of Criminal Minds where Agent Hotchner experiences temporary hearing loss.

Real life examples include sensitivity trainings where participants are asked to wear a blindfold, headphones, or use a wheelchair for a given amount of time. This does not impart the lived experience of disability. It should not be used as a teaching tool.

Disabled people as inherently pure. This is related to inspiration porn and disabled people as noble, but is different in that it is usually appears in combination with developmental, cognitive, or intellectual disabilities. These characters are framed as sweet, “simple,” and a reminder to other characters to be cheerful, happy, or grateful.

Examples include Forrest Gump, Rain Man, I Am Sam, and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.

No matter what the stereotypes of a given diagnosis are (yes, I’m thinking of the automatic cheerfulness associated with Down Syndrome), disabled people have personalities. They are capable of being sad, angry, sarcastic, irritable, annoying - any number of things beyond good/sweet/pure. It is reductive to act otherwise.

Disability as Surreal

Less common than some of the others, but still worth thinking about!

Disabled characters are framed as mystical, magical, or other than human, a condition that is either created by or indicated through their disability status. This is especially common with little people.

“Disability superpower” is when a character compensates for, or is uniquely able to have a superpower because of, their disability. Common tropes include the Blind Seer, Blind Weapon Master, Genius Cripple and Super Wheel Chair.

Examples include Pam from Supernatural, Charles Xavier from X-Men, or the grandpa in Spy Kids.

Disability as Undesirable

Last and least favorite category here. Let’s go.

Disabled people as asexual or not sexually desirable. Disabled people can be asexual, obviously. When every portrayal is asexual, that’s a big problem. It frames disabled people as sexually undesirable or implies that it is impossible for people with disabilities to have rewarding, mutually satisfying sexual relationships.

Examples include The Fault in Our Stars or Artie in Glee.

Abandoned due to disability. Hate this trope. Often equates disability with weakness. Don’t want to talk about it. It’s all right there in the title. Don’t do it.

Examples: Quasimodo in Hunchback of Notre Dame, several kittens in the Warrior Cat series, several episodes of Law and Order: SVU, Bojack Horseman, and Vikings.

Discussed in 300 and Wolf of Wall Street.

Ancient cultures and animal nature are often cited as reasoning for this trope/practice. This is not founded in fact. Many ancient civilizations, including Sparta, cared for disabled people. Many animals care for disabled young. These examples should not be used to justify modern human society.

Disabled characters are ostracized for disability. Whether they act “““normal”““ or odd, characters with visible or merely detectable disabilities are treated differently.

Examples include pretty much every piece of media I’ve said so far. This is particularly prevalent for people with visible physical disabilities or neurodivergence. Also particularly prevalent for characters with albinism.

This is not necessarily an inaccurate portrayal - disabled people face a lot of discrimination and ableism. It is, however, very, very common.

Bury your disabled. What it says on the label.

Examples: Animorphs, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, American Horror Story, Criminal Minds, Dr. Who, Star Trek, The Wire.

Mercy killing is a subtrope of the above but disgusting enough that it deserves its own aside. I may make a separate post about this at some point because this post is kind of exhausting and depressing me.

Examples: Me Before You, Killing Eve, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Of Mice and Men, and Million Dollar Baby.

Disability-negating superpowers imply that disability is undesirable by solving it supernaturally instead of actually portraying it, and giving their character powers instead.

Examples include (arguably) Toph from Avatar: the Last Airbender, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Legend of Korra, Dr. Strange, and Daredevil.

Overcoming disability portrays disability as a hindrance and something that can be defeated through technology and/or willpower.

Fictional examples include WALL-E, Kill Bill, The Goonies, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Heidi, The Secret Garden, The Inheritance Cycle, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, The Big Bang Theory, Dr. Strangelove, Sherlock, The Witcher.

Real life examples include videos of wheelchair users standing from their chair to walk down the aisle at a wedding, or d/Deaf children “hearing” for the first time through cochlear implants.

What Does This Mean for Your Writing?

First of all, congratulations for making it this far!

Now, as I have said again and again, I’m not going to tell you what to write. I’ll ask some questions to hopefully help guide your process.

What tropes might you be playing into when writing disabled characters? Why do you find these tropes compelling, or worth writing about? How prevalent are these tropes? How harmful are they? What messages do they send to actual disabled people?

Just because they are common tropes does not mean they are universally awful. Cool fantasy or futuristic workarounds are not necessarily bad rep. Showing the ugly realities of ableism is not necessarily bad rep. It’s just a very, very common representation of disability, and it’s worth thinking about why it’s so common, and why you’re writing it.

As always, conduct your own research, know your own characters and story, and make your own decisions. If you have questions, concerns, or comments, please hit me up! Add your own information! This is not monolithic whatsoever.

Happy writing!

#disability writing guide #writing disabled characters #disability #disability representation #disability justice #writing advice #disability tropes #writing tropes #ableism #sanism

1K notes · View notes

saionjeans · 4 months

Text

ok so. miki’s sunlit garden is the literal sunlit garden where he and kozue played piano together as children. it’s the defining version of this narrative device, and in a way, it’s the most straightforward. miki is leaving the garden and entering the world of teenagers. he is scared of growing up, and he misses the effortless, uncomplicated bond he shared with his sister when they were children, before being inculcated into a world of sexual power and abuse, before his parents divorced and his beautiful nuclear family was rent asunder by real-world complications. i genuinely think every 13-ish year old goes through this grief and a desire to hold onto the past, to remain in this perfect nostalgic bubble through which you view your childhood. it’s probably the most universal and identifiable instance of the motif of the sunlit garden.

then it gets more complicated. nanami’s sunlit garden is her memories of short-haired touga, of her big brother showing her his affection, making her feel special, worthy, and loved. but unlike miki, she doesn’t miss being a part of the ideal nuclear family. for one thing, both she and touga are adopted. of course, she doesn’t actually know that, but it nonetheless problematizes the bioessentialist logic upon which the nuclear family [abuse factory] structure is predicated. secondly, it’s clear that she was always the scapegoat to touga’s golden child. which is why it’s not that she loves her sibling as an extension of her childhood nostalgia, but that her entire value system fundamentally revolves around touga, because he was the only person in her formative years who ever showed her the slightest sliver of affection. and in all her memories of him, he has short hair (like dios, like miki), because subconsciously she doesn’t even want him to be her Prince, her patriarchal savior, she wanted him to be someone who loved her because she inherently deserves love. she does treat him like her prince in the present, but that’s only because it’s how her love for him must take form in ohtori. deep down, she doesn’t want a prince, a lover, or even a brother; she wants a friend who will love her for nothing. but she has no way of expressing that, not in a world that claims true friendship is for fools. so instead she values him for their biological ties, for his status as a kiryuu, for his patriarchal role as the eldest son in their perfect nuclear family. and she refuses to acknowledge how she demeans herself in the process of worshipping him, how she’ll drown herself and cook herself and cage herself, debase herself and dehumanize herself for his illusory love. and that is what the sunlit garden means to nanami.

as for saionji, the sunlit garden also constitutes his memories with touga, of a “before” that is much more definable in the sense that there is clearly a moment where it becomes “after.” one day they are riding their bike through the rain after kendo practice, and they decide to take shelter in a church. and saionji sees touga become someone he fears and also envies. someone who wields the power to project something eternal, to inspire, to save. and he exerts his power in a subtly violent way, by transgressing invisible boundaries. saionji cannot harness that power, so he attempts to exert it clumsily, through immediate, obvious, physical forms of violence. it never quite packs the same punch as touga’s manipulation, no matter how hard he tries. but what saionji really longs for is not to possess touga’s power, but to go back to the way things were before touga decided he wanted power. touga thinks true friendship is for fools, but like nanami, all saionji wants is to be touga’s true friend. and isn’t that just tragic?

of course, that’s not all saionji wants. but his desire is complicated by the fact that he clearly also resents the sexual acts he is being put through by touga, even if in other circumstances, it could be what he wanted. juri’s situation, her sunlit garden, is similar to saionji’s in this respect. all she wants is shiori, but she doesn’t want the shiori she is being presented with. she wants the shiori from an illusory idealized past in which they were true friends, before shiori betrayed her and revealed her ugly feelings in the process. like miki with kozue, nanami and saionji with touga, utena and anthy with dios, mikage with mamiya, juri is idealizing a version of the object of her affection who never really existed. shiori’s ugly feelings were always latent. unlike miki’s sunlit garden, nanami’s flashback to touga’s party and sea of photographs, or saionji’s memories of touga tenderly wrapping his hand, juri does not even have memories of shiori that are not defined by her betrayal. yes she has shiori reaching out, holding a rose, saying “believe in miracles and they will know your heart,” but it’s an obvious fiction. juri doesn’t know shiori at all, and the shiori juri knows is not the shiori she loves. the sunlit garden is always a garden of illusion.

utena’s sunlit garden, which opens many episodes, is perhaps the most obvious example of this fact. she completely rewrote her own formative memory to better suit the dominant patriarchal narratives she was forced to adopt all her life. and you can say that akio actively tampered with her memories, but functionally speaking, that’s the same thing. even more so than the others, her sunlit garden is a palimpsest; she idealizes a past and a prince that never actually existed. sure akio and anthy exist, but her “prince” is not either of them. the locus of her will to live, that eternal thing, is a fiction. but her desire to help others in need is genuine. and that is what differentiates utena’s sunlit garden first and foremost. it is not founded on a selfish desire to cling to a perfect past of illusion, but on the selfless desire to keep moving forward in hopes of a better future. they all want to hold onto something eternal, including utena in her desire to keep her parents with her, and all of those desires are perfectly understandable and eminently sympathetic, but utena is different because that day that akio showed her anthy’s suffering, utena’s desire shifted from a memory to a telos.

mikage’s sunlit garden thus becomes a cautionary tale to all the members of the student council who wish to live in a memory, perfectly suspended, pinned in place like a butterfly on display. just as a caterpillar must become a butterfly, a child must enter the world of adults. mamiya is beautiful because he has the luxury of dying young, of being immortalized on a carousel, of never losing his innocence. mikage is what happens to people who idealize eternity through escaping into nostalgia. the world keeps moving on without them, and they become ghosts, trapped in a past that no one can recall.

so what of akio? he uses people’s sunlit gardens against them, he manipulates time and memory, feeds off nostalgia and the grief of lost childhood. he cultivates his garden to resemble golden days, and as he invites you through his gates, ensnares you. so what does that mean, when his goal, too, is to achieve eternity? above all he wants to forge a sword that will break through the closed gates and reinstate his former glory. of anyone in ohtori, he is the one most deeply entrenched in his oh so cozy coffin. for all that he knows his promises to be illusory, he also clings to that logic, he also mourns dios. he longs for his golden days despite knowing that they’re untenable, despite being well aware of the toll it took on anthy. and even fully aware of the extent of his exploitation, of the fundamental illusion of eternity, he still attempts to attain it, he still instantiates himself in a cycle on the carousel, condemned to ghosthood, a butterfly pinned in place.

finally, we must look to the absent figure, the outlier. what, or rather who, is touga’s sunlit garden? the movie tells us it is utena, that he embodied the princely role in the truest sense and that this is his deepest aspiration. but i don’t know if that’s necessarily how i read him. anthy and touga are foils, two sides of the same coin. anthy doesn’t have a “sunlit garden” per se, because she has long given up on the idea of returning to a time when she loved dios, before the swords of hatred pierced her heart. but she has a literal sunlit garden, and her role is to tend the flowers in it and never leave. she has a literal coffin, guarded carefully in the chambers of her heart. anthy knows better than to cling to an idealized past, but still, she cannot find a way to move forward. so she gets stuck in a circular present, where both past and future are illusory concepts. it is not enough to simply know that the past is gone, one must also strive for a better future. it is why utena and anthy’s promise to drink tea and laugh together in ten years is just so powerful within ohtori’s timeless walls. i’d bet anything that touga also doesn’t have an idealized past. if, again, we use the movie to inform our understanding of him, he was always aware of the abuse that pervaded his world, he was never an innocent. but instead of desiring reform, like utena, of wanting to save those suffering, he wants to be the one inflicting that suffering as much as possible. to cope, he accepts his abuse as a necessary consequence of existence, and assumes that anyone capable of abusing him is simply more powerful, and thus deserves to exert their power over him, just as he deserves to exert his power over those less powerful than he is. so like anthy, he doesn’t have a sunlit garden, but he has a coffin, and a garden, and a carousel. and like anthy, he must choose for himself whether he wishes to remain a complicit victim, or to leave his cozy coffin and find a way to move forward. and that, only time can tell.

312 notes · View notes

would-this-pokemon-be-a-friend · 6 months

Note

How good would Absol be as a pet? Both Regular or service/working pet. The horn might be problematic at most I fear but I would like to know your opinion.

They may have a historically bad reputation, and some pretty intimidating claws, but at heart, absols are sweety-pies. They’re certainly shy, but they love helping people. An absol would make a great pet for a lot of owners, but not all.

The biggest issue with absols, it turns out, is their size. At almost four feet tall, they’re gonna be much too big for a lot of owners. Having spent time with some pretty big dogs in my life, I know that it can sometimes be difficult to make room for them, especially if they’re snuggly. Fans of bigger pets: an absol might be just right for you.

Tragically, absols have been treated with a lot of hostility and hatred by humans for many years (Platinum), and as a result they rarely show themselves to humans. Using the powerful horn on their heads, absols are capable of predicting natural disasters (Sapphire), and they, out of the kidneys of their hearts, constantly want to warn humans about them to protect them (Diamond/Pearl). In the past, this was misinterpreted as them causing natural disasters, earning them the moniker of “the disaster pokémon” (Ruby) and making them the target of violence (Platinum). When you consider all of this, it becomes clear that they would be excellent pets. If you were to win the trust and love of an absol, we know that they will care about you right back. They will want to protect you and everyone around by warning of disasters before they happen. Be warned, though: there’s still a lot of stigma surrounding absols. People of older generations still distrust and despise them, and may not understand you’re wanting to bring one into your home and neighborhood (Ultra Moon).

Perhaps surprisingly, given their reputation and appearance, absols aren’t exceptionally dangerous. Given their size and claws, moves like Night Slash raise an eyebrow, sure. Perish Song could make you faint, which anyone could tell you can be dangerous depending on the circumstances. Future Sight…well…it certainly looks painful. But, that all being said, absols are unlikely to use these moves on people. Even when faced with violence in the past, they chose to flee rather than fight. They have a calm disposition (Moon) and an affinity for humanity. Accidents still can happen, of course, so these moves still carry a penalty, but they’re less of a concern with absols than many dark-type pokémon.

While their size and abilities ensure that they would not be the best choice for every home, there are many cases in which an absol would make a great pet. As a final, interesting note: absols are said to have a lifespan of 100 years (Emerald)! This means that an absol will be a pet that you can bet on being around for a long time, and may even outlive you! Adopting an absol can be a big commitment, but it has a good chance of paying off in many years of loving companionship.

#pokémon #pokemon #Absol #pkmn irl #PR-B

280 notes · View notes

riceballannie · 1 year

Text

When you slowly realize that the love you have for Neil and Andrew as a couple stems from the fact that, even though they're a mess of two of the most fucked up people in existence with loads of issues and trauma, they still manage to establish a, in comparison to other book couples, suprisingly healthy and non-toxic relationship with each other.

They might not have what some might call a conventional relationship - there are no whispered sweet nothings, elaborate love declarations and romantic candle-lit dinners.

However, what they do have works well for them and it's mutual respect for each other, they feel safe and comfortable with each other and they take special care in asking for their partner's consent and accepting given boundaries.

Which honestly should be the bare minimum in any relationship but somehow Neil and Andrew seem to succeed in it, while others apparently struggle to accept a simple "No" in real life.

Even a lot of other book couples, despite having a lot of typically romantic scenes with each other, veer uncomfortably close to the direction of absolutely shit communication, emotional manipulation, dubious consent and straight-up SA.

I don't give a single fuck about how their lips softly meet under the glowing moonlight after a heartfelt love confession when the relationship is otherwise filled with overwhelmingly possessive jealousy that restricts their partner's freedom immensely, supposed sexy and dominant growls of "You belong to me/You are mine" that make their partner out to be more of a prized possession and decisions made on behalf of their partner for their "own good" without actually respecting their choices and agency - a problematic relationship where the needs and wants of one partner completely overshadows those of the other until they don't even exist as separate individiuals anymore.

I'd rather have a relationship like Neil and Andrew's - unconventional but strong where trust, consent and mutual respect is a given.

It's tragic that the bar is so low.

The bar is in fucking hell.

#Your book faves could NEVER #Respect and consent and trust should be the minimum in any relationship #But people apparently really seem to struggle with that #I like my couples unconventional but unproblematic #neil josten #andrew minyard #aftg #andreil #aftg neil #aftg andrew #aftg trilogy #aftg andreil #all for the game #the foxhole court #aftg shitpost #booklr

1K notes · View notes

badass-queer-couples-battle · 7 months

Text

Propaganda:

For Orufrey: "They're tragic wlw who have devoted their lives to each other since they were kids. They live together, they cook together, they're raising four girls together and they're doing the best they can. Olruggio would do anything for Qifrey if Qifrey would just Let Him 😭 but Qifrey is dead-set on protecting Olruggio and keeping him safe and in the dark no matter what it costs... i cant 😭..."

"Man I don't know they just have the vibes. They have toxic yuri energy but they are two grown men. They've known each other since their apprentice days and have stuck together ever since. Qifrey's main magic type was something he took up because Olruggio proposed that he learned to control the water he feared. They live together away from most of society with Qifrey's four apprentices, living the sapphic cottagecore (ateliercore???) dream. Qifrey, due to the fact that his eyesight is very much failing, something which is very problematic when it comes to witches, who need their eyesight more than most, is getting very desperate to get all he lost to the Brimhats, the witches who took one of his eyes and his memories, and Olruggio ends up noticing this pursuit and is implied to have done this more than once. Qifrey does not want Olruggio to know about both his failing eyesight and his goals, so he ends up completely wiping Olruggio's memory of those things, and laments that Olruggio is a kind person, and one who would most likely forgive him again, but also one who would try to save him, even when he didn't want to be saved. He also apologized right up until the moment Olruggio's memories of his secret were gone. In general I think chapter 40 is the somewhat toxic guy yuri chapter ever. I'm very tired so I do not know how to explain any of this, I just thought "wow Orufrey reminds me of this one poll I saw on Tumblr" and then spent three days straight hunting for your blog before completely forgetting my reasoning for Orufrey being yuri right before I submitted this."

For Joongdok: "Well first of all Yoo Joonghyuk has a whole arc that is transfem coded as hell (has a power/technique that can technically only be used by women but somehow he can also use it, for a time he even turns into a woman to wield it and it's. Actually just let me get the quote "The ines of the face had changed but it was clearly Yoo Joonghyuk. No, it was even more than before.") that just kinda happens,, and doesn't get brought up again but anyway. Second of all just look at them. You see the vision. Also a bonus observation is that these two often get shipped in a poly ship with Han Sooyoung and whenever I see people make a "regular couple, yaoi couple, yuri couple, I see no difference love is love" meme with them the combination of which pair among these three is which of the categories is always different"

Note: This submission also mentions Han Sooyoung, but I decided to count this polyship submission as guy yuri as well.

"They love each other, they pretend they don't care for each other but all their actions prove they care too much, if you remove someone from the trio then the resulting duo is extremely dysfunctional, as evidenced by more than a million words of canon. Is it technically guy yuri? Well, Han Sooyoung is a woman, but in a way she's one of the guys. Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk are men, but the text heavily hints that Yoo Joonghyuk is a trans woman who's just too busy and stressed out to transition yet, and Kim Dokja has just never thought about his own gender a single day in his life. They made the world for each other, they went back in time countless times and waged countless wars for each other, they wrote and read and lived a story, their story, for each other and that's what saved them all. The way Han Sooyoung writes Yoo Joonghyuk's story to save Kim Dokja and loses herself in the process, the way Yoo Joonghyuk voluntarily lives the story to the point of losing himself too and even forgetting why he originally decided to do it, the way Kim Dokja read Han Sooyoung's story which was Yoo Joonghyuk's life and that's how he found himself, they all took so much from each other and gave so much of themselves to each other, this is all very yuri."

"they're so yuri you have no idea. they have every staple of a yuri ship. unwavering devotion. waiting dozens or thousands of years for each other. dooming themselves and the world for each other. so much yearning. i also see them genderbent a lot (including inn canon in the case of yjh) and they're right both of these people are women. i genuinely can't even see them strictly as men at this point they're just yjh and kdj and they are yuri do you understand."

"they're so yuri. the abscense of yuri is the presence of yuri etc etc. these two guys are all ABOUT abscenses. also one of them is a part time woman. the other guy is a guy but like in the same way a square is a rectangle. anyway they're so guyyuri to me. bonus points also because they have a mutual girlfriend and when she's present they're girlyaoi but that's not relevant to this specifically"

#guy yuri round 2 #orufrey #joongdok #witch hat atelier #omniscient reader's viewpoint #orv #wha #olruggio #qifrey #yoo joonghyuk #kim dokja

296 notes · View notes

veliseraptor · 2 months

Note

Top five spiciest untamed opinions!

man, I've been in my own little corner of fandom for long enough that I feel like I struggle a little to parse what is spicy of my opinions and what isn't, but here's a go at it

The Untamed is a show with complex, morally grey characters that's telling a slightly different but not inherently inferior story. Maybe I'm just a bit defensive about this, and I have with time come to appreciate a lot of things about the novel over the way they play out in the show, but The Untamed was the first version of the story that I fell in love with and I think at least some of the criticisms of it overstate the degree to which it morally simplifies the story. I think, whether because of requirements of censorship or other reasons, that the moral messiness of the story is subtler, I don't think it's absent, and while Jin Guangyao in particular falls victim to a pretty intense villain edit the narrative still has plenty of sympathy for him (even if the audience, all too often, does not). I think it's telling a slightly different story (as others have discussed), but I think it's a strong adaptation that still works with the underlying themes of the text.

However, that being said, The lessening of Wei Wuxian's culpability, as in the introduction of the second flautist, weakens his character. I feel like the character of Wei Wuxian as we see him in The Untamed still has the recognizable flaws of the character from the novel - I think the degree to which they're sometimes claimed to be toned down is overstated, which I think I've written some about before. He's still at least a little arrogant, causes problems, has a definite temper, and doesn't always respect other peoples' choices, among other things. But what The Untamed does do is remove some of his culpability, or at least temper it - both for Jin Zixuan's death and the massacre at Nightless City, which are two moments that contribute to a strong tragic arc in the first life, which makes for a more powerful (imo) arc in the second life. Removing, or at least lessening, Wei Wuxian's culpability for Jin Zixuan's death and Jiang Yanli's death makes him more a victim of circumstance than of his own human flaws, and at least for me, a character who is doomed by their own flaws is a far more compelling one than one who just happens to fall victim to outside forces. It makes him, I would argue, more passive and less of an active force, and I think the culpability for those two deaths - and the loss of control that causes it - makes for a more powerful narrative than that of a man who is victimized by someone else's actions.

Jin Guangyao was a good Chief Cultivator. I see people talk about him as though he was corrupt and evil and just plotting all the time, but the Bad Things™ he does mostly happen before his tenure as Chief Cultivator and, even taking those into account, have a limited impact on the world at large (with the exception of Nie Mingjue's death, but even that I would argue has more personal repercussions than broader political ones). As far as his responsibility for the cultivation world at large, we have no evidence prior to his downfall that he is negatively perceived by people, except for the fact of his birth/origins.

this is more MDZS-related than Untamed specific, but: MXTX deserves praise for writing "problematic" and messy queer sex, but it's just not hot. I don't have a whole lot to add on this one, but one of my least favorite parts of some corners of The Untamed fandom are people who are thoroughgoing MXTX antis who are quick to cry about the ~problematic~ aspects of Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian's sex life (which, honestly, I think are overstated a lot of the time, as is the weirdness of the sex scenes); however, in my opinion, the sex scenes as they stand just aren't very sexy, and I don't think that's intentional (as it arguably is in SVSSS). The sex scenes may be a shortcoming in the text, perhaps, but not the one certain people think it is.

this is again a stronger argument in the novel but I think it's present in the show as well: Jin Guangyao and Wei Wuxian are "there but for the grace of god" foils, but not in the sense of Jin Guangyao being "Wei Wuxian if he made bad moral choices" but in the sense of "who Wei Wuxian could've been if his circumstances were different." I've definitely written about this before and how much it drives me nuts the way people treat narrative foils in this story in general as Goofus and Gallant style duos, but this is a specific one. I think Jin Guangyao is an example of a story that runs alongside Wei Wuxian's, but ends in a different place, and I think the story isn't saying that he ends in that place because of something inherently worse about Jin Guangyao, but because of the way his circumstances happen to diverge from Wei Wuxian's in specific key ways. In some ways his ending is even a near beat-for-beat rewrite of Wei Wuxian's death, and Wei Wuxian receives the grace of a second life not because of any inherent merit, but actually because of his bad reputation. I think this goes for Xue Yang, too, actually.

I absolutely know I'm forgetting things and there are probably things back in my bitchy opinions tag that I could dig out, but here's at least a few that came to mind.

#conversating #maester of spreadsheets #lise has opinions #none of these feel so bitchy they need to go in the bitchy opinions tag but just in case i think i'll #lise's aggressively bitchy opinions about irrelevant and unimportant matters #lise memes #top five meme #the sad queer cultivators show

72 notes · View notes

yallcantread · 11 months

Text

Before delving into the current drama circulating, I'd like to emphasize that this controversy seems rather pointless, and people are getting upset over nothing. It's important for me to clarify that I have no personal connection with Taylor Swift or Matty Healy. I appreciate both of their artistic work. I am not being compensated by anyone to express my thoughts on this matter.

Who am I? I'm a small artist who creates music. While I have some connections with labels, I'm still in the process of establishing myself. I'm sharing this perspective using a separate account to avoid making it about me. I won't be promoting my music or seeking followers in this context.

The reason I'm addressing this issue is that no one else seems willing to provide context in these situations, not even the so-called "news" applications. TikTok and Twitter have become breeding grounds for misinformation, as people seek attention and likes. It's disheartening to witness how easily words like "Nazi" or "racist" are thrown around simply because someone doesn't approve of the person an artist is dating.

As an artist myself, it's concerning to see how quickly people believe things based on out-of-context 60-second videos or viral and impulsive tweets sourced from TikTok and Twitter. I understand that neither Matty Healy nor Taylor Swift should have to address this situation, and it's unlikely that they will.

This thread aims to offer context and explanations for some of Matty Healy's controversial and "problematic" comments. It includes discussions about the infamous "ghetto gaggers" comment and the recent ice spice comment. Unfortunately, the community on the 1975 subreddit seems unhelpful as they discourage discussions about current events, even when seeking clarity or defending the group. A very useless subreddit with useless mods. Every topic will have sources.

1. “Matty Healy is Islamophobic.”

Let's address the misconception that Matty Healy is Islamophobic. His views on religion are not targeted solely at Islam; he holds an anti-organized religion stance. It is essential to understand that his concerns lie with the principles of organized religions as a whole, including Islam. People often label him as Islamophobic because he retweeted tweets from Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a well-known Somali activist who has left Islam and openly shares her reasons for doing so. Ayaan Hirsi Ali speaks out against various issues that women and young girls face, drawing from her own experiences as a former Muslim woman.

A particular incident that left an impression on me was when Ayaan Hirsi Ali made a short film discussing her departure from Islam and the oppression faced by women. As a result, both she and the director of the film received death threats. Tragically, her friend, the director, was later murdered by an Islamic terrorist. By retweeting the account of this credible and respected woman, Matty Healy was not displaying Islamophobia.

He had tweeted:

“I saw a film about Islam the other night, with people saying things like ‘I’m a Muslim and I’m white’ or ‘I’m a Muslim and I’m an American’ or ‘I’m a Muslim and I'm a patriot.’ You didn't see any ‘I’m a Muslim and I’m gay.’ Or ‘I used to be a Muslim and I'm fine”

And

“Isis are cutting little girls heads off and you want to challenge a non-religious, humanist perspective? I don’t understand the world at all.”

Criticism ensued following these retweets, especially during a time when openly expressing any criticism of Islam was considered unacceptable. Matty Healy received criticism on Twitter for the retweets.

One individual, who was both a Harry Styles fan and a Muslim, expressed disagreement and sought to educate him on Islam. Matty Healy's response, "I resent being 'educated' on religion by a Harry Styles fan account. Not having a go at him obvs, but it's hard to take seriously," should be understood in the context of a young fan displaying bias in favor of her own religion due to her age and limited perspective.

While Matty Healy acknowledged the criticism, it's worth noting that engaging in debates with young individuals on Twitter, particularly those in the age range of 12-22, is not his preference. He rightfully points out that trying to argue with someone who lacks the necessary understanding or context can be unproductive.

In this case, it wasn't about dismissing the person's views solely because they were a fan of Harry Styles, but rather because of the combination of their young age and their inclination to defend their own religious beliefs without considering broader perspectives. It's worth noting that engaging in meaningful discussions on complex topics like religion requires an open mind and a willingness to consider multiple viewpoints.

It's important to acknowledge that many religions have historically exhibited forms of sexism and misogyny.

2. “Kissing fans/underage fans”

Don’t know where this particular rumor started but here we go.

So, in 2022 during a concert a fan who was of age (22!!) had a sign that was like “it’s my birthday be my first kiss” and kept waving the sign. Matty noticed it and kept asking her over and over again that she was of age, had a stage crew member check her ID, asked her if it was okay, and then it happened.

In another incident, he kissed a 24-year-old fan, and various individuals attempted to speak on her behalf, claiming that she felt uncomfortable. She came out and said differently.

Regarding the notion that "kissing a fan is an imbalance of power," it can be argued that this statement is overly simplistic. While it is true that celebrities kissing their fans is not an everyday occurrence, it does happen on occasion. One example is Halsey, who has been involved in such incidents (although there was controversy surrounding one instance where there were allegations of the fan possibly being underage, the veracity of which I cannot confirm). It is important to consider each situation individually rather than making sweeping generalizations about power dynamics in all such cases.

Some individuals criticized him for checking IDs before kissing fans, with one viral tweet implying that his thoroughness in verifying the ages of the fans he invites on stage to kiss suggests he has engaged in sexual activities with underage girls. However, such insinuations are unfounded and unwarranted. It is not unreasonable for him to check IDs as a precautionary measure and ensure that he is engaging with consenting adults. In fact, verifying the age of participants is a responsible and necessary action given the potential legal and ethical implications. Therefore, labeling his actions as weird or inappropriate for checking IDs is unjustified.

3. “Matty Healy is a Nazi”

No, he isn't. This particular criticism appears to be the most unfounded of them all, as if words have lost their meaning. Before addressing it, however, I want to express my dislike for certain fans who deny that he imitated a Nazi salute. It's evident that he did an imitation as a satirical reference to self-identified Nazi, Kanye West. The context is important: during a performance of the socially conscious anthem 'Love It If We Made It,' he made the salute while singing the lyric 'Thank you Kanye, very cool!' which references Trump's infamous tweet thanking Kanye for his endorsement. Matty has discussed this further in his statements.

I’m a history buff. So I know a lot about most history, but mostly fascist history. But let’s talk more about “what/who is a Nazi/what do modern day nazis believe in?”

Nothing that Matty Healy believes in. The modern day Nazi is mostly known as a “Neo-Nazi.” Neo-Nazi literally means “new-Nazi” or “revived Nazi” and it refers to people who have adopted ideologies similar to those first identified with the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany under Hitler between 1933 and 1945. “Nazi” is a contraction of the German words meaning “National Socialism”. Nazis used to be more so known for their opposition to communism and for their mastery in propaganda.

Another controversial way this song was involved in yet another controversy was when it was first mentioned that an innocent black man named George Floyd had died at the hands of a police officer (a Nazi) named Derek Chauvin.

In response to this incident, many celebrities and individuals with platforms spoke out about the situation. In a now-deleted tweet, the singer wrote, 'If you truly believe that 'ALL LIVES MATTER,' you need to stop facilitating the end of black ones.' Healy included a link to the band's song 'Love It if We Made It,' which addresses racism and police brutality through its lyrics.

Many people falsely expressed outrage and insinuated that he did it for 'views' or to 'promote his music.' Firstly, such a claim is preposterous, considering the song was released in 2018, and in 2019 alone, nearly 1,000 people were killed by the police. It is important to note that artists do not primarily generate income from streaming, but rather from touring and selling merchandise. Though I haven't had the chance to tour myself, based on the discussions I've had, it is a significant source of income for artists, covering their expenses. That's precisely why merchandise is sold at concerts. To put it into perspective, artists typically keep 85% of their touring revenue from each venue. If they sell items like shirts, hoodies, vinyls, hats, and more, at an average price of $25, selling 200-500 items would generate $5,000-$12,500 from merchandise sales alone.

If he had intended to profit from the situation, he would have done so through merchandise, using George Floyd's face or name to make money in connection with his lyrics. Sharing a link to his song when an issue arises does not make it about him; it is his way of expressing his thoughts on the crisis. I tend to ramble a bit, but with my music, I attempt to address questions in a more structured manner. I assume that when Matty shared the link, his intention was to convey 'this is how I feel about it,' as people were urging him to speak up.

He subsequently apologized and clarified his intent, stating, 'Sorry I did not link my song in that tweet to make it about me. It's just that the song is literally about this disgusting situation and expresses it more eloquently than I can on Twitter.”

4. Matty Healy watches torture p*rn of black women/C*MTOWN, The Adam Friedland show/ghetto gaggers.

Firstly, if you're not familiar with the podcast Cum Town, it can be summarized as exactly what you'd expect. The episodes of Cum Town usually ran for approximately 60 minutes and were predominantly improvised. The show primarily revolves around a collection of explicit sexual humor and political commentary. Additionally, The Adam Friedland show can be regarded as a spin-off of Cum Town.

According to Wikipedia and feedback from listeners of the podcast, a prevalent theme of the show is centered around crude puns, rhymes, and sexually explicit scenarios, often involving well-known figures like Louis C.K., humorously referred to as "Louis SeemsGay." The show also occasionally incorporates ethnic and racial stereotypes into its comedic repertoire.

The humor of the show is primarily based on dark comedy, often featuring jokes that mock racial stereotypes and those who perpetuate or believe in them. It shares a similar style to that of South Park and many stand-up comedians. However, it's important to note that if this type of humor doesn't resonate with you, it simply may not be your cup of tea. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and personal preferences. Cum Town/The Adam Friedland show are leftist shows. They use vulgarity as a way to make their point, they’re considered “Dirtbag Left.” Click orgins of this Wikipedia page and you’ll see it listed as an example.

On February 9, 2023, Matty Healy appeared as a guest on the Adam Friedland show. Interestingly, this episode gained attention as people were searching for things to criticize Matty Healy for, starting with the Nazi salute controversy. Subsequently, they discovered a podcast episode featuring Matty Healy on TAFS, which they then seized upon.

During a random part of the show, Adam Friedland brought up a story claiming that Matty Healy was caught watching explicit content called Ghetto Gaggers by a person named Olive, who had gone back to retrieve her water bottle. Adam chuckled as he shared the story, mentioning that immediately after hanging out, explicit content played on the tv via airplay mode. Matty responded by questioning the behavior of airplaying pornography and even jokingly calling it psychopathic. The following conversation is a transcript of what was said by who and when. The conversation is color coded. Adam will be red, Matty will be purple and Nick will be green. As I don’t want to keep going “and ____ responds” over and over again.

Adam goes on laughing saying

“30 seconds after the hang just hardcore pornography. I heard that story and the only thing that bothered me was the air playing”

And Matty responds

“what you text me immediately being like I need the info on this story. Like how psychopathic do you have to be to like airplay porn on the TV?”

then Adam goes on and says

“I remember when porn on the phone became a thing and everybody’s like oh this is weird and it’s like no this is what I always wanted to be, i want to be hun hunched over have the phone jammed in my face you know jacking off on my own face”

“Edging for two days”

“Yeah crumpled up”

Nick says “well you’ve been doing porn on the Apple Watch”

Matty sarcastically says “oh no way for real? :O”

“that would be so sick”

“Like images. This is how James Bond jacks off”

“yeah just a yoga class filled with fat black women and one guy just on his phone, one guy jacking off and people were like “are you jacking off to us? and they’re pleasantly surprised yeah and he’s like no there’s women of size on my watch, my Apple Watch and then they say yeah you’re fired from Apple, you’re fired from coming up with that idea”

Well i was there it wasn’t just 30 seconds it was the combination of the fact that was you’re not exaggerating it’s just 30 seconds like you guys were still waiting outside she came back in i was already flustered like i was dressed as guy who was jacking off so i had untucked shirt and i think it literally was ghetto gaggers was on the tv it’s just somebody getting like brutalized and it wasn’t like some cool sceney New York art girl it wasn’t like “oh I’m sorry it doesn’t matter “ (matty says this imitating a rough, dirty person with like rasp) but it was little Olive, who comes in” (matty starts doing a preppy British imitation of Olive) and says “I’m so sorry-“

Adam chimes in with “yeah she’s like britishly apologizing”

And matty goes non chantly “and I’m like yeah it’s fine, it’s fine it’s okay. Well 10 minutes would’ve been fine but 30 seconds was like it was kinda almost like i was worried that was offensive”

“I think when you’re a guy living alone the order of operations is you before you go to sleep you just have to Jack off”

“you said to me, you said to me”

And Adam cuts him off like “sorry I’ve got a story to tell” and he talks about a guy he used to live with(?) who brought home a girl, had dinner, he struck out she got drunk and slept on the couch he went inside his room and started blasting pornography loud hoping she’d hear it and I’m trying to sleep” and the whole group laughs at it.

Then Adam goes to speak about a product for an ad or whatever . And that’s literally it .

(38:40) is the beginning of the conversation.

It seems like the conversation between Matty Healy and Adam Friedland involved sarcasm, but certain individuals deliberately shortened the podcast clip to create a misleading impression. Consequently, people who came across that shortened clip may have started watching it without understanding the context and thus formed misconceptions.

In my personal opinion, it is evident that the story shared during the podcast episode was not genuine. Upon watching the full clip, it becomes clear that the story lacks coherence and does not align with the overall context. It seems to have been created on a whim, similar to other improvised scenes they engage in during the show. Taking the full clip into account and examining the story in its entirety, it becomes apparent that the narrative was not meant to be taken seriously or as an accurate account of events.

When Matty retells the story, he claims that Adam and Nick were waiting outside his trailer while he engaged in the act for precisely 30 seconds. It seems illogical for Adam to text Matty for details if they were already waiting outside the trailer. Additionally, if Matty was indeed watching explicit content and masturbating, it is reasonable to assume that the trailer door would be locked, making it unlikely for others to witness the act.

Overall, it is important to approach this story with skepticism. Believing that Matty watched Ghetto Gaggers solely based on this account seems unfounded and lacks credibility.

I want to clarify that I don’t believe Adam Friedland watches Ghetto Gaggers, either. My understanding of Ghetto Gaggers is similar to his, I believe. Before I explain how I even know of such content, I want to emphasize that I am not a fan of pornography in any form.

On Twitter, there is a prevalent joke or gimmick among popular male accounts, often known for copying and pasting tweets or becoming the target of jokes from their own followers. When these accounts gain viral tweets, it is common for someone to reply with an inappropriate video or picture, seeking a reaction from others. These videos are often extreme and fall into the realm of unethical pornography, deliberately posted to provoke a response.

In response to such replies, the OP hides the video from being directly seen in the replies. Another person, either the OP or a follower, then quote tweets the popular tweet with a message like “DON’T CHECK HIDDEN/DON’T CLICK HIDDEN/DON’T LOOK AT HIDDEN,” intending to entice others to view the hidden content. This is a specific aspect of Twitter culture that might not be familiar if you are not active on the platform.

can provide examples of tweets that employ this gimmick and hide content using GG (Ghetto Gaggers) if needed. A lot of the “DONT CHECK HIDDEN” with ghetto gaggers clips have been deleted or the accounts have been removed so struggling to find any account where the hidden video is that but that’s alright. Just type in “DONT CHECK HIDDEN” on twitter search bar. Also, NSFW for a lot of these examples.

1. Nsfw (look at the replies)

2. hidden reply (the account that posted the hidden comment is notorious for posting such content. I did a quick scroll and already saw black fetish content)

3. Yeah I’m not showing anymore for your sake and mine.

5. “Matty Healy trashes Ice Spice, says racially charged comments at her, said racist things about her made fun of her”

Other part to bring up was the Ice Spice thing? Ice Spice, the rapper isn’t Hawaiian or Asian in any sense, the hosts and Matty know this. Matty didn’t say anything racist about her, the hosts made the joke. I don’t believe people know that Matty Healy is British because the ones in the podcast that even make such remarks are clearly American. The following is a transcript of the conversation:

Matty: “Ice spice, you know who that is?”

Adam: “Nick does know who she is. She’s like one of the spice girls”

Matty: “She’s a rapper from the Spice Girls.”

Adam: “Inuit Spice Girl. Just this chubby Chinese lady.”

Adam: *Mimicking Asian accents* “I rap music.” Do they talk like that?

Matty:” They don’t talk with a Chinese accent.”

Nick: It’s more Hawaiian style.

Adam: *Pops mouth*

Matty: “Yeah, more Hawaiian. Welcome to Hawaii.”

Adam: “Locals only.”

Matty: “Yeah, that’s what Ice Spice is like.”

Nick: “She’s a very attractive woman who released one song, and basically everyone…”

Adam: “So, you slide into her DMs and go, ‘So what are you, a f**king Eskimo?’”

Matty: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I was like, you f**king dumb- yeah.”

That was the extent of the interaction, which was clearly intended as satire. Matty did not make any racist remarks.

It’s worth noting that Adam is known for doing impressions, as mentioned on his Wikipedia page. Mocking accents can be seen as humorous to some people, and the intention behind such humor is often to be offensive. The concept is that the joke would not be funny if it weren’t offensive. However, if you don’t find it funny, that’s okay. If you consider laughing at such corny satirical jokes as racist, then the same argument could be applied to shows like Family Guy, South Park, and others that make fun of certain beliefs. It’s important to recognize that Matty did not participate in the impressions.

In my view, racism goes beyond stereotypical accents of certain groups and involves systemic discrimination. People who grew up during the “your fave is problematic” era on Tumblr may have been influenced in a way that hyper-focuses on superficial issues like hairstyles and tattoos in different languages, while real issues affecting black people and other minorities, such as employment, housing, and food insecurity, are neglected due to factors like bad credit or minor offenses.

It’s crucial to choose our battles wisely and prioritize addressing systemic racism and inequality rather than getting caught up in trivial matters.

Regardless of personal opinions or feelings, it seems likely that they will continue to see each other. There have been previous reports and articles suggesting that they had a romantic history. One article, dated back to 2015, quoted Matty Healy discussing his troubled relationship with the press. It mentioned his connection to Taylor Swift, explaining that although nothing happened between them, the media’s interest in Swift created an unsettling presence for Healy. He expressed his discomfort with being scrutinized and judged by the world of fame.

It’s interesting to observe that people are now acting concerned about their involvement together, while they remained silent when Taylor Swift performed “The City” at one of the 1975 concerts or when Matty Healy assisted her with her album. It’s worth noting that they had a previous relationship as well.

It can be exhausting to witness Matty Healy’s name trending for trivial reasons, and it’s frustrating to see the out-of-context video from the Adam Friedland show circulating repeatedly. Moreover, labeling him as a bigot is far from accurate, as he has shown support for various political causes.

To gain a more comprehensive understanding, I would recommend watching the following videos where he expresses his views on specific political issues: there’s so much more but I CBA to find them but you can

1. Abortion

2. Gay rights/donated to LGBTQ center in England

#matty the 1975 #taylornation #taylor swift #matty healy #the 1975 #ice spice #taylor swift icons #matty Healy icons #taylor and matty #midnights #taylors version #celebrities #music #deuxmoi #important

225 notes · View notes

redpenship · 4 months

Text

Many fans bemoan Sonic's characterization in issue 50. Why does he talk so much? they wonder. Should he be moralizing at someone he just met? they post on Tumblr/Twitter, the websites for moralizing at people you just met. As a comic fan, should I really be expected to read more than 40 words of dialogue on a single page?

All of these are valid critiques. However, I believe the debate around Sonic's characterization distracts from the issue's most problematic content: the destruction of gay men in the Sonic IDW universe.

The first incident is obvious: the relationship of Doctor Starline and Doctor Eggman. Despite being two men in a relationship, their relationship is very obviously lesbian-coded. As we all know, lesbians get divorced at higher rates compared to hetero- or m/m homosexual couples (source). This is sometimes attributed to the lesbian phenomenon of "u-hauling", in which lesbians move in together very shortly after dating. Now stuck in close quarters despite never truly testing the boundaries of their relationship, they are prone to discover love-breaking flaws in one another that ultimately destroy their romance affair. Eggman and Starline's relationship follows a similar cycle: they meet, move in together, and then tragically break up because they discover irreconcilable differences between each other. Their relationship is lesbian-coded, whether done intentionally by the writers or not.

This is the first affront committed against gay men. Lesbian-coding them is problematic, as lesbian and gay relationship cycles are unique and cannot be swapped around carelessly. Male homosexual romance is particularly distinct. Allow me to outline an example here: typically, the two men begin as rivals who dislike each other for a variety of reasons. This rivalry ebbs due to conflict or mutual interest in helping one another with a problem, such as figuring out what to do when there is only one bed in a hotel room or one of them is going through that "time of the year". Any intrinsic binaries dividing them, be they sociological or biological, play heavily into the flourishing romance--heteronormativity is what makes gay relationships exciting, after all. The two men then realize that they may be attracted to each other despite their rivalry, forgiving each other for past sins even as severe as trying to crash a space station into the planet. They are then free to comfortably fall back into the fictional gender roles ascribed to them, reflecting dominant and submissive positions, and--huh? Sonadow omegaverse doesn't reflect the complexities of IRL gay relationships at all? Weird.

Moving on, I have now established that the lesbian-coding of Starline and Eggman's relationship was one of IDW's first offenses against gay men. The next offense is even grander than the first, so hold on tight!

Within the Sonic universe, Eggman has always stood in defiance of gender roles. His insistence on wearing pants, despite bottoms being a degenerate garment for women only, has always set him aside from other men in the series. Issue 50 undermines his anti-masculine position by reincorporating him into the hetero-patriarchy via intimate violence.

It is common knowledge that drone operators are kinda gay (source). Real soldiers kill other men in close combat wherein their life is likewise in danger. A man killing another man, dominating him while sweaty and short of breath and tussled up, is a strictly masculine affair. Drone operators do not experience such a masculine version of killing. Queer theorist Cara Daggett asserts that the spatiotemporal disorientation of drone warfare emasculates drone operators, as they kill from afar without bearing any of the risks associated with normal combat. A hypermasculine designs and messaging around drones fail to disguise their reality as genderqueer bodies.

This theory can be easily applied to Doctor Eggman. In games and most comics, he does not directly engage with any foes--he prefers to fight with robots and mech suits. His badniks and other robots (such as Metal Sonic) therefore turn into genderqueer bodies as they deny him "masculine killing" by disorienting his spatiotemporal axis relative to his enemies. When this is combined with his insistence on wearing pants, it becomes clear that always operated in defiance to hetero-patriarchal norms. He is a gay man.

In issue 50, this becomes unclear. Doctor Eggman reorients his spatiotemporal axis by grabbing the platypus by his leg and smashing him into the ground. With this one action, Eggman openly embraces his role in the heteropartriarchy by engaging in close combat. The queer ideal of Doctor Eggman is dead.

Starline is gone. Eggman is effectively a heterosexual man. No one cares about Don and Nite. In one issue, the IDW writing team has destroyed the status of gay men in their comics and reduced them to nothing.

Remember this post next time you so proudly post about how many lesbians there are in the comics. Their empire has been manufactured by the systematic removal of gay men in the comics. Do not let the cute wlw or questionable Sonic characterization distract you from this fact!

a/n: sorry, this got away from me. big /j for everything here.

#sonic the hedgehog #idw sonic #dr eggman #redposts

81 notes · View notes

spiritedscorpio · 1 year

Text

Mine - Osamu Dazai

Warnings: Mentioning of murder, blood, knife play, possessiveness, degradation, breeding.

Despite his flirtatious nature, Dazai actually didn’t have a serious partner until you. He was fairly afraid of rejection so it took a while for him to actually ask you out but when he did, you instantly agreed. Even though you had known each other for over 5 years, your relationship hadn’t changed drastically until last year. He recruited you because of your mind reading ability and because of it you often got called to investigate cases along with him and Ranpo. With your mind reading ability, Ranpo’s deduction skills, and Dazai’s smarts and connections, the three of you were unstoppable.

The current case you were investigating was regarding a series of murders. All the victims had short black hair and were in their late 40s to early 50s. Ranpo soon deducted that these acts were somewhat out of revenge and the killer had some tragic family issues. Soon you were able to find the culprit based on the locations of the murders. He was a young man, no older than 25. Despite his identity just being revealed to the three of you, he had a terrible reputation on the news; everyone was calling him a monster and saying they wished he would just disappear. Dazai and Ranpo examined the most recent body while you kept an eye on the culprit. He was kneeling on the ground and mumbling barely audible sentences. “Monster... I’m not a monster...”

He was shaking and gripping at his hair before he grabbed onto your ankles. “You! You don’t think I’m a monster to do you? I swear... I...” he was choking on his sobs.

Like the majority of the members in the Detective agency, you came from a problematic family so you understood him. You kneeled down to his level. “You’re not a monster” You placed a hand in his shoulder. “You’re just hurting and you’ll get the help you need soon" Your smile and tone was genuine.

By now Dazai was watching your interaction. The way you treated an "evil" and broken man with such kindness reminded him too much of how you were when he met you. You both worked for the Port Mafia previously so you learned of all his crimes and occasionally worked together. He came off as pretty odd but the more you worked together, you noticed his humor was somewhat of a coping mechanism-- it was something you had in common. Regardless of his reputation or the things he had done, you always treated him with a kindness that no one ever had before and felt he didn't deserve. The current situation was too familiar and he couldn't allow it. You were one of the few people he had been vulnerable with and something inside him simply couldn't let anyone else get the same treatment you gave him. As per usual, he didn't say what he was really thinking and just interrupted your conversation while wearing a fake cheery smile. "It truly is an unfortunate situation you were in and while I understand your motives..." He swiftly moved behind the culprit to handcuff him. "That doesn't excuse your actions"

"Ranpo, you take him in, y/n and I are going to check out the other crime scenes. He agreed since it meant he would be able to avoid doing paper work for longer. You and Dazai got in his car and drove to what you thought was the crime scene but when you looked out the window, you saw your apartment. "What are we doing here?"

"Oh there's just a few things I forgot earlier, mind giving me a hand?" His tone and smile convinced you.

You agreed and went inside with him, not suspecting anything. He walked in after you and silently locked the door. You turned to face him. "Where is the stuff you need?"

"It should be in the bedroom" he said and you quickly headed there leaving him smiling; admiring how naïve you could be.

While you were looking through a box in the closet he entered the room and leaned against a wall. "Y/n do you love me?" he asked abruptly.

"What? Of course I do"

"Interesting... Then why were you giving that man earlier the time of day?"

"I..." you tried to protest but he didn't give you the chance.

"Do you need attention from every man around you? If not I don't see why you'd treat scum like him that well." He had you backed up against the wall, cowering before him, flustered, and unable to speak.

"That's it isn't it? You're an attention whore" He let out a chuckle. "I'm afraid that won't work because... He tilted your head up so you were making direct eye contact with him.

"You're mine"

He smashed his lips onto yours, exploring your mouth when you gasped at the sudden action. There was a certain unfamiliar feeling of anger in the kiss. "Get on your knees" he commanded once you parted.

You unbuckled his pants and pulled both them and his boxers down. There was no time for you to do anything on your own before he gripped your hair and forced his cock into your mouth. You took sharp inhales through you nose as he pushed your head down the entirety of his cock, leaving your nose brushing against his abdomen. "T-that's right, put that slutty mouth of yours to good use" He tried to suppress his noises of pleasure to seem more dominant but you still noticed how his voice slightly wavered. His grip on your hair tightened, allowing him to thrust into your throat, using it for his own pleasure. Words of degradation fell from his lips as he went on about how this is what you were made for. You couldn’t deny the fact that you were really turned on as you brought one of your hands into your pants and rubbed circles over your clothed clit.

He let out another chuckle, “Are you really getting off on this? Getting off on being my little fucktoy? How pathetic”

“Anyways stop that, if you’re going to get off, it’s going to be because of me". You whined in response but obeyed, placing your hands on his thighs to prevent you from touching yourself. As he used your throat you let out whimpers and moans that were muffled by his cock but still brought him closer to his release.

"You're gonna swallow for me okay?" It sounded like a suggestion although you both knew he wasn't giving you a choice. After a few more thrusts, he came with a loud groan and you swallowed, using the back of your thumb to catch anything that spilled out. He told you to get on the bed after removing your clothes, leaving you completely nude.

You started to feel self-conscious and crossed your limbs to hide your body. “Don’t get all shy on me now” He nudged your legs open with his knees and attached his lips to your neck. He used the sound of your moans to find your sweet spot and focused his attention on it. After decorating your neck with hickeys, he sank his teeth into the same spot, drawing a little blood. You let out a gasp from the sudden action but soon enjoyed the mixture of pain and pleasure as he licked over the bite mark. His hand travelled down to your cunt and found that you were soaking. “My, aren’t you enjoying this. You’re enjoying me marking what’s mine?”

He didn’t even wait for your response before trailing his lips down to your breasts, nibbling and sucking on the tender skin. Soft moans left your mouth as his mouth sucked on one of your nipples and his fingers fiddled with the other. He finally made his way to your thighs but before he did anything, he removed the clothing on his upper body revealing the full glory of his naked form. When he returned to your thighs, you thought he would tend to your aching cunt but instead you were greeted by a cool metal feeling on your left inner thigh.

“W-what are you doing?” He didn’t respond and instead continued what he was doing. You focused on the movements the blade made and you realized it was his name. He wrote his name, on your thigh. A place where no one would see it but you both would know it’s there. You shouldn’t have found it that hot. He collected the few drops of blood on his tongue before embellishing the word with a few hickeys. He roughly propped you up against the wall and slid into you easily due to your arousal. No time was given for you to adjust to his size before he began thrusting into you, already moving at a fast pace. His grip on your hips was tight and likely guaranteed a mark being left to add to the collection of markings.

The grimace on your face when he first entered you had been washed away with no traces. "Well look at that! All of a sudden you're taking my cock so well, but I bet I'm not the only one you'd spread your slutty legs for huh?" You couldn't form a full sentence so you shook your head furiously. His right hand snaked up your body and his fingers wrapped around your neck. "You have a voice, correct? Then use it"

"N-No" you choked out.

His fingers tightened around your neck, applying pressure to it but still allowing you to breathe. Your noises began to sound weak and strained as an uncanny grin spread on the brunettes face. "No, I-I'm yours, only yours" you said between moans.

His hand released your neck and returned to your hip. Your body was spared no mercy and with the way it was being treated so roughly, tears began to fill your eyes. Dazai would be a liar to say he wasn't enjoying your reactions. Despite how much he may be bothered by you paying a lot of attention to others or men being overly attentive around you, none of them would get to see you like this or be this close to you. Only he could make you feel this good. After a few more thrusts, he felt your walls clench around him. He gave you a certain look and you immediately knew what he wanted from you. "Please..." You said, your voice breathy. "Let me cum"

A slight smirk spread across his face. "Fine" he spat. "If you're that needy" As if on cue you came seconds later, your back arching against the wall. Once you came down from your high, the sensations began to feel overstimulating yet his pace didn’t slow down. In fact he seemed to speed up his movements, clearly enjoying the way you whimpered and squirmed beneath him. Tears continued to fill your eyes and run down your cheeks but that didn't make him spare your body any mercy, instead he just kissed your tears away before pulling you into a kiss, muffling each others noises. He soon reached his own orgasm however he pulled out first, spilling his cum on your lower stomach. You were soon moved onto your back and he threw both of your legs onto his shoulders, allowing him to reach the deepest parts of you. His cock and hands worked to make you come undone, your inner sweet spots all being hit as your nipples were stimulated with his talented fingers. The room was filled with your high pitched whimpers and his low groans, both increasing in volume as you grew closer to your next release. His fingers travelled down your body and to your clit where he drew small circles, surprisingly bringing you to your next release rather quickly. Memories of you and that guy earlier filled his mind and his nails dug into your sides, he was still fairly angry however he still felt his release nearing. “You’re mine, got that?” he said, his aura completely changed.

You nodded in response even though you didn’t completely hear him and didn’t really care what he said, you were willing to do anything to keep him from stopping.

“And I’m gonna breed this greedy little cunt of yours“ He felt you shudder under him and pulsate around his cock. “You like that idea, hm? Should I indulge you in your naughty desires?” He continued however by this point he was having a conversation with himself and was going off of your body’s reactions.

As he continued to thrust into you, his name and moans left your lips, fueling his actions. “Yeah... I’m gonna fuck a baby into you” he huffed out, wrapping his arms around your thighs. After a few thrusts, he filled you with his final load, groaning loudly. When he pulled out, he stopped to watch the way his cum dripped out of you before laying down next to you. Once your breathing settled you finally spoke up.

“You know that I know what you’re thinking right?” You looked up at the brunette.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”

“You were worrying about that guy” You rested your forearms on his abdomen but he averted your gaze.

“See, I’m right!”

“So what if you are?” He said, trying to defend his ego.

“So, you’re worrying about nothing, you know how empathetic I am and besides I only love you” After pressing a kiss to his lips he still seemed bothered causing you to pout. You finally got a smile out of him after peppering his face with kisses. “Geez, I love you too”

“So, are we going back to the agency?”

“I don’t wanna” he complained, letting his head fall onto your shoulder.

“Fine but you’re coming up with a good excuse, Kunikida’s gonna be mad”

“Deal” he smiled, settling in bed with you in his arms.

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd dazai #bsd smut #dazai osamu #dazai x reader #dazai x you #fanfic #bsd fanfic #dazaibsd

291 notes · View notes

alsopartgekkos · 1 year

Text

A Sallow Grave - what did go wrong and why

So, a try to delve a bit into the whole quest situation, because for one I love trying to analyse stuff, and Seb has some unearthing of his sallow ass to do. Buckle up.

Spoilers for Sebastian Sallow’s questline, mentions of death, psychological abuse and just general rumblings in no particular order.

Part one of idk how many.

And for a start probably I need to say, that nothing in that questline was okay. And though I do not agree with Sebastian's actions, it’s interesting to see how everything led to this exact outcome, and how he is, undoubtedly, more a result of his upbringing and problematic teenagehood, rather than was inclined or destined to something inherently.

So let's start up with early childhood, shall we?

Little is known about the twins in earlier years, but they were raised in a full family, and their parents were described as passionate academics, passing thirst for knowledge and optimistic, open minded mindset to their children. It’s noted that they would spend days in the cellar, probably often leaving both Sebastian and Anne to themselves, which undoubtedly resulted in a strong bond between the two. Even years later for Sebastian it's never only just “my sister”, he underlines multiple times that Ann is his twin, the other missing half.

However tragic events come to pass, and due incident Mr. and Ms. Sallow are gone, and since it’s noted that usually children with magical ability exhibit it by the age of seven, the twins could’ve been between age 5 to 7, where children undergo most important psychological development. They were left on their own, just the two of them, Sebastian subconsciously later opting the role of a fatherly figure, a protector, probably the elder twin. They also left their home - the place holding happiest memories, for Feldcroft and living with their uncle.

Let us not actually forget that technically, and by Victorian standards no less, both Anne and Sebastian are orphans. Yes, they live with Solomon and he does provide for them, but they are perceived as two different entities altogether. There’s Solomon Sallow, separately, and there are the twins, and although it is never truly stated or hinted whenever wizards had different, more prodigious social structure, Sebastian and Solomon do verbally differentiate between the family. And they’re lucky in a way, because staying with close family is still better than any other sort of a magical orphanage.

The trick is, though, that Solomon as a person, probably was not ready for what he was dealing with, nor has the qualities of a child caretaker. He’s a former Auror: sure, providing safety for two kids, but he’s a battle worn veteran, who gave up the work of his life, plagued by his own wrongdoings [and not having luxury of therapy, let’s be honest], possibly troubled feelings against his brother and most likely PTSD in the form of rage fits. Which is no good thing for a child to be around.

[Enter the fanon territory, following by the post here, I do think there was some sort of sibling rivalry between Solomon and his brother, and I think that he was to a degree enamoured with the twins' mother. It’s really easy to spot in their conversations, that being “his father’s son” is his own trauma projected into a child, whilst Sebastian can’t comprehend why it’s a bad thing. For him father is a happy memory and a role model, this bright inquisitive mind. For Solomon his brother is, probably, an example of passion going too far, of obsession, his own lost opportunities. And he sees Sebastian growing to be just the same, even before Anne is cursed he’d been this way, so I assume there’s something going on there. Besides well asserting dominance in the household, bc somebody didn’t live well though Aedipus complex I guess.]

Being tasked with bringing up two kids isn’t easy even for a full family, let alone a man with issues, so we start at that. And before Hogwarts became an outlet for both Sebastian and Anne, about 5 years passed, where both of them were mostly formed as people.

We can assume from what both Anne and Sebastian tell, the relationship with their uncle has always been tense. And it’s easy to see why except for the above.

In the scene where he destroys a Shivelfig he is the one to get verbally aggressive first, and when blames his own outburst and Anne’s following seizure to be Sebastian’s fault. And something tells me that’s not the first time such an argument arises. [As Anne mentions below]

It’s certainly a gaslighting tactic to justify himself [Seb and his uncle have lots in common haven't they sometimes]. And that “what have you done” rhetoric stays with his uncle for the rest of the narrative, and is ultimately a poor communication method. He also intrudes in their safe moment of connection, overseeing the conversation, not to mention that he intrudes in their personal space with little regard to understand what happens [not even minding MC as a matter of fact].

After a shot argument he practically sends Sebastian, who only arrived, off, perfectly knowing what kind of bond the siblings have. It is a cruel thing to do, no matter how well justified. And acts with utter nerve as if nothing happened, casually dismissing MC in the conversation, getting quickly frustrated if their point of view does not align with his. It’s something many have experienced with a strict [and often unloving] parent. Not to mention he apologises on behalf of his nephew for some reason, not on his own, like sir you were rude.

[an interesting tidbit: he’s not looking at Sebastian. He’s looking straight at Anne, as if to make sure she understands that she shall not hope for the best and accept his better judgement as the only outcome. As Sebastian says “she’s not herself” ever since she stayed with Solomon, and if that isn’t a red flag well idk.]

And if you look at Sebastian [actually two times, second being with the relic], he’s absolutely helpless. His tantrums and his anger is not the first reaction to aggression. It’s fear. He watches hopelessly, brows raised and ashamed, how his uncle turns his achievements, his work into nothingness and he does not respond back immediately. [Which can be another form of response to domestic abuse] Because there’s still a child there, who is listening to what is said to him. And it’s absolutely heartbreaking to see.

#sebastian sallow #hogwarts legacy #anne sallow #solomon sallow #sebastian sallow headcanon #if only these two could speak words through their mouths this whole shit could've been avoided #send uncle to therapy

257 notes · View notes