#i know this for a fact re: asexuality and i see no reason why it should be different with gayness or transness

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Hi,

Do you ever think on the first conversation Inej and Kaz had in Heleen's office? It feels like theres a lot there and I wondered if you have any thoughts on it. I come back a lot to when Inej asks Kaz if he convinced Per Haskell to buy out her indenture because "you like Suli girls" and Kaz answers "i don't know enough Suli girls to say"

that's a very interesting sort of snarky answer to me because he refutes the idea that he's the type to fetishize the Suli culture to the point of being "into" Suli women just because they are Suli. But also he doesn't just shut down the idea of him being into anyone. Which ... This is post Imogen debacle, he's resigned himself to not being "into" anyone at this point for several years. He doesn't care how people see him for it either. He could have been ruder or more just more direct about this, but he wasn't. And its like that with many of his early actions towards Inej. He's nicer than you'd think he'd be and its interesting becuase i don't get a sense that Kaz fell for Inej "at first sight", i think his love for her was gradual and snuck up on him (heh) so really everything he did at first and especially not demanding she gets a dregs tatto must have been from some basic sense of compassion, although he'd shank me for saying so.

Also, i always wondered how Kaz explained to Haskell why Inej didnt get a tattoo, then i re-read the books recently i realized omg i bet he totally probably just didn't?! Inej wasn't the type talk about it, she wears concealing clothes and is not very seen/social within the gang so my theory is that lazy ass Haskell didnt ask and assumed she got a tatto and kaz just let the assumption happen. Do you think that's believable?

Hi, thanks so much for your question - and so sorry it’s taken me an eternity to reply!

When I tell you that I think about this meeting once a week… well I’m hoping that you think “woah so cool she knows so much and thinks so in depth about these characters literary analysis is awesome” and not “Jesus Christ she’s insane”. But genuinely, the Kanej meeting is something I think about a lot and I think holds an awful lot of meaning.

The “you like Suli girls” “I don’t know enough Suli girls to say” to me is such a wonderful moment because, as you quite rightly said, it immediately refutes Kaz’s endorsement of the hyper-sexualisation of Suli culture that we see so prevalently in Kerch / Ketterdam (I’ve gone into this at length before but in a whistle stop tour think about the way the Menagerie customers talk about Inej and place so much emphasis on her skin colour, her bedroom at the Menagerie being a “farcical” version of a Suli caravan, the way “the Menagerie always stocked a Suli girl”, the Rare Spices billboard, etc). And this is so important for so many reasons, but in particular because the second Heleen exits the room and she’s alone with Kaz, Inej immediately tenses at the assumption that he is going to rape or assault her- “braced herself for what would come next, fingers twisting in her silks”. And what happens instead? He asks her for her name. Her name, that has been ignored and erased for an entire year as yet another roll of dehumanisation piled against her. Even though the pair discuss and make a clear understanding of the fact that this isn’t some kind of rescue mission and Inej’s world isn’t going to suddenly fix itself, this moment makes an instant connection for Inej between Kaz Brekker and safety. Because somehow, despite everything that’s happening, this moment in Tante Heleen’s office is the safest Inej has felt for an entire year. It’s also interesting that you mentioned he doesn’t shut down the idea of not being interested in anyone and I definitely agree with that, personally I don’t believe that Kaz is asexual although I know some people headcanon him that way it’s just not something that works for me and my perception of his character, and that’s because of situations like his attraction to Imogen and several situations he’s in with Inej. His exact words when considering being with Imogen are “he knew the things he was supposed to want. He did want those things”, which to me very clearly shows that he does experience sexual attraction and sexual desire, and the limiting factor is his ptsd and touch aversion rather than his sexuality/orientation. I agree that Kaz and Inej didn’t experience a love at first sight kind of moment, but I do think that this meeting really solidified their relationship to a level of immediate understanding between them, in essence an acknowledgment of them being “twin soldiers, marching on, pretending they were fine”. They are both able to see the other, clock that they understand to some extent, and respect each other.

Kaz is quite abrasive in this scene, but what always gets me is how confrontational Inej is able to be - “And what happens when you take their money, and you become a rich man?”. (The quote is something to that effect, sorry I don’t have my book with me right now). I think that a big aspect of her being able to summon the confidence to put herself against him so immediately is that she genuinely feels this level of safety with him, because this far he represents the opposite of everything that had tormented her. Or at the very least the polar end of a spectrum that she has been tormented by another part of. And controversially to the image of everything Inej has experienced in the Barrel so far, Kaz is amused by and enjoys her standing up to him, in fact he almost seems endeared by it saying “Then you can steal all my secrets too”.

And ohh the tattoo, or lack thereof, makes me so happy! It doesn’t require much reading between the lines to understand the relevance of Kaz not forcing Inej to take the Dregs tattoo on, she even says herself that he refused to be the one who marked her again, but I love the idea that he didn’t actually tell anyone she’s not got it!! I hadn’t considered this before but it makes perfect sense with everything we know about Inej’s relationship with the Dregs - Nina doesn’t know she lacks the tattoo, and Inej comments on the fact that the others can’t see her scars from having the Menagerie feather removed but that “they all knew it was there”, suggesting she keeps her forearms covered most of the time, and the emotional disconnect she feels from the rest of the Dregs is always discussed at an intellectual level and in the way she spends most of her time with Kaz or alone rather than with them rather than any dislike/distrust/etc of her because she didn’t take on the tattoo. I absolutely love this theory because it takes away any feeling of guilt around lacking the tattoo and also makes it a far more personal thing to be shared only between Kaz and herself.

Thank you so much, I’m so sorry it took me so long to reply, but I hope this made sense and that you enjoyed reading it! <3

#grishaverse #six of crows #leigh bardugo #crooked kingdom #inej ghafa #nina zenik #kaz brekker #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #matthias helvar #kanej #kanej headcanon #kanej brainrot #*cries in kanej* #kanej my beloved #kanej supremacy #kanej has my whole heart #soc meta #soc analyst #soc analysis #six of crows meta #six of crows analysis

[tossawary]

I'm re-reading PINTWILF and was suddenly wondering: considering how dense Shen Yuan is on SVSSS, how long do you think it will take him to realize Binghe has like, feelings, feelings for him?

I think he'll have to have it spelled out bluntly for him. But not necessarily because he's completely oblivious to the fact that he and Binghe are close and affectionate with each other in a "more than friends" way? I think by the end, even when he's still gently, jokingly encouraging Binghe to flirt with women, he'll have suspicions. Or... maybe... "he'll have hopes" is the better word?

See, one of the things I personally really like about MXTX's works is that while the protagonists are a little (or a lot) romantically oblivious sometimes, they're all capable of being very clever and observant, and I get a really strong vibe that their obliviousness is actually partly denial/disbelief that they would actually be allowed to have this thing (this person) that they come to really, really want. They often can't bring themselves to look at the idea directly. They know but also can't even bring themselves to think about it, because the rejection would hurt them too deeply, and rejection feels inevitable, by the world if not by the person they love, so they might as well blind themselves to the possibility of happiness.

It's a remarkably queer element that I vibe with on a personal level. It's also just one interpretation of things. Which is why, for example in MDZS fics, we get the spectrum of Genuinely Completely Oblivious Wei Wuxian to a Wei Wuxian who is so, so in love with Lan Wangji for so long but can't fully believe LWJ would ever like him back and, more importantly, doesn't want to "ruin" LWJ with everything that he is. (I am personally partial to interpretations which lean more towards the latter. I like obliviousness just fine, I like mixes of both, but the angst of love being known deep-down, but feeling unspeakable, being unthinkable, is delicious to me. The pining is so good.)

Now, Shen Yuan is a very different character to Wei Wuxian, just as SY is a very different character to Airplane. My personal interpretation is that each of the MXTX protagonists perform this "defensive obliviousness" in very different ways, to very different degrees, and for very different reasons. (I mean, for some of them, we're dealing with "loving me back would ruin your life and I love you too much to let you do that" and others are dealing with "if I reveal my love/lust to this person and they're not open to it, they might kill me for it".)

I actually went into SVSSS (SPOILERS) feeling really wary of the teacher-student angle, but my impression of their time together as teacher and student was that Shen Yuan's feelings for Luo Binghe were genuinely platonic. And while I make jokes about Shen Yuan being oblivious to LBH's feelings for him, he had a lot of really good reasons for thinking that Luo Binghe wanted to kill him at first upon their reunion. I think any romantic/sexual feelings only started to develop for SY upon their reunion and only became fully realized even later. My personal interpretation of Shen Yuan is that he's asexual (he reads as sooo ace to me), probably gay but possibly bi-romantic, sex-neutral or sex-favorable. (Though I also think that, in SVSSS, even married to Binghe, he still probably personally identifies mostly as "straight with an exception".)

I'm losing the thread of where I'm going with this because I'm desperately trying not to write like five different meta essays here.

In PINTWILF (SPOILERS), Shen Yuan is already in a different situation to SVSSS. Shang Qinghua is SY's mentor-figure and openly queer, openly in a relationship with a demon, and SQH has at least told SY that marrying all those wives in PIDW didn't make LBH happy. I can't remember if SQH ever directly hinted to SY that LBH might be into men, but the other family members aren't exactly 100% discrete or subtle about their teasing. Shen Yuan has a lot more space to get comfortable with his own queerness and LBH's queerness, though he has a lot of internalized homophobia to get through (and misogyny, my goodness, sometimes in SVSSS I really wanted to bop him on the head for his behavior around women even if he's simultaneously mocking the sexist tropes).

But there's still Shen Yuan's self-confidence and self-image to contend against. Even when he's not mentally slotted himself into the role of "teacher" and "betrayer", he's still had the time to mentally slot himself into the role of "older friend" and "confidant". Shen Yuan seems to view himself as a kind of boring person and he likes it that way, so while he would be happy to have Binghe as a partner, he likes him so very much, he can't quite shake the feeling that Binghe could do better and so it's best not to read too much into it. He's honestly happy enough just being friends (or so he tells himself) and doesn't want to "make it weird" unless Binghe takes the first step.

#marichromatic #ask tossawary #spoilers #pride is not the word #shen yuan #bingqiu #tossawary svsss #tossawary mdzs #wei wuxian #wangxian

[looniecartooni]

Ian said in a Bumblekast that Mimic might be asexual because he doesn’t actively seek relationships.

Ian also said in a Bumblekast that Mimic canonically has had a ten-year long- distance relationship with a guy he visits once a year on Valentine’s Day pretending to be someone different for the whole day as a personal joke.

Ian has also said in another Bumblekast that Mimic thinks he did nothing wrong by abandoning and sacrificing his crew members to Eggman, hence why he still keeps his uniform- because he thinks it’s his. Also, the reason why he did it was because he was too afraid of the deadly consequences that would have come out of him being caught by Eggman hence he saved his own skin- yada yada yada...

A lot of people have complained that Mimic seemed kind of one dimensional in Tangle and Whisper. While that is still kind of how I feel and I think Ian mentioned that it was mostly intentional to make the Diamond Cutters sort of one dimensional and not very depth filled because they were meant to serve as more of a backstory for Whisper and kind of Mimic and while Ian doesn’t mind redeemable villains, he feels a quality is lost to them when they are redeemed.

Look- I’m not saying Mimic is a redeemable villain. Ian has repeatedly said that he is “a bad dude” with a list of reason on why he thinks Mimic is irredeemable and evil. I also don’t know what Evan Stanley quite has in mind for him moving forward as she is now head writer and has at least had some say in his design (Ian mentioned that in an email from Stanley that Mimic’s face looks like a skull because he purposely shifted it that way to look more intimidating and she is responsible for a lot of the designs as well as characters like Clutch). But in Tangle and Whisper (and kind of the Bumblekast too when Ian was asked this), Mimic does have a moment of guilt for destroying the Diamond Cutters before re-rationalizing that he was in it for the rewards and that friends/connections are “weaknesses”. 

I don’t know if we’ll ever get a backstory or will ever need one for Mimic before he was a Diamond Cutter, but from what I’ve pieced together from Ian’s explanations and possible headcannons as well as what we’ve seen in the comics is... Mimic’s behavior could be due to the fact he personally doesn’t like connecting with people and he sees them as a means to get a reward.

One could interpret that as an evil behavior (as he did literally sent a bunch of kids to their death to save themselves. One who may have even had a crush on him). But one could also argue that maybe Mimic doesn’t fully understand social connections because he himself hasn’t shown much of an interest unless he gets something out of it. Not having a desire to seek out social connections is a completely normal, non-villain thing to do. 

And the fact he finds it funny or just a means to an end (Ian mentioned in another Bumblekast that if Mimic, Whisper, and Tangle were ever to team up, Whisper would be the first to crack and attack Mimic because “he’s a professional” and would do what they need to do while Whisper can obviously not shake off the trauma that Mimic caused her) sort of suggests that maybe he doesn’t quite realize the extent of his anti-social/ lack of connection need affects him. He also, according from what I remember from the Bumblekast, doesn’t think he did anything wrong with the Diamond Cutters.

Mimic does still have the ability to make connections with people. We’ve seen him briefly question his actions when he watched the playback of the Diamond Cutters congratulating him. His actions still aren’t forgivable- he’s not afraid to literally backstab his companions to save his own skin. But it makes me wonder... if he knew more about his lack of wanting to make connections a bit better rather than chalking up his feelings to “friendship is a weakness” and doing what benefits him just because... would he have still turned his back on the Diamond Cutters or would he at least feel a bit more regret for what he has done?

A little extra thing I want to put in is Ian also mentioned in another nother Bumblekast that Mimic doesn’t have a particularly favorite food. He just kind of eats what satisfies him when he needs it (although someone in the room with Ian said that he might like street food when that came up. I’m not sure on the validity on that one though- we’ll have to wait for further info). Kind of adds to the whole idea that Mimic is kind of just doesn’t really feel the need to make connections which is okay. How that need has affected his actions towards other people is not okay. I doubt this concept will be explored much further, but it adds some more depth to his character kind of.

#I was originally just going to make a joke abot Mimic being ace and tricking people #but then I think I started to feel a little sympathetic because well- people who don't like making social connections do exist #and maybe mimic doesn't fully realize that it's just him that thinks friendship is weak or a means to an end #he could have also just rationalized that to justify his behavior (which he did) but then we would have probably seen more of a reaction #maybe its just him- maybe its trauma- who knows! #mimic the octopus #sonic idw #sonic idw theory #sonic theory #sonic the hedgehog #tangle and whisper #sonic IDW bad guys

[marshmallowprotection]

glad Jihyun is getting love but PLEASE be gentle and don't sporadically touch him without warning! this is an asexual man with a lot of trauma re: relationships (familial and romantic) and we don't want to put him in a bad mental place!

V definitely does struggle with a lot of trauma around relationships and how he imagines himself in them. It's complicated for him. He has said that he doesn't like to reveal parts of his body because he's insecure. That's why it always surprises me whenever the official media draws him in a swimsuit cause I know he’s not comfortable.

He doesn't get to talk about this in detail but it's mentioned enough for you to get the idea he’s wary of taking off his shirt and revealing himself. Personally, I always like to imagine that part of the reason why he doesn't like to show his body is because he has scars from the accident. People always tell him that he's the spitting image of his mother. It's hard to look in the mirror when he has to see her face and all of these scars from the accident. 

When you have scars like that, people always ask invasive questions and get into your business. It doesn't matter how much you try to advocate for yourself and make them stop asking. People want to know anything and everything when they see something. He doesn't want to talk about it. He wants to avoid talking about his mother and the accident as much as humanly possible. 

Cheritz won’t confirm he’s got any sort of burn scars from the house fire, but I think he does. Whenever he has to look at himself, he has to think about the fact that he got those scars and lost his mother at the same time. It was when he lost his mother that most of his self-confidence started to fade... but looking in the mirror if he was left with scars wouldn't make it any better for him.

The same can be said for his heart. He struggles with knowing if what he's feeling is love or not. Think about his dynamic with Rika! It took him a long time to realize what he felt wasn't love. He feels like he has a hard time identifying what is love and what isn't. That's why he took the time to travel and figure out more about himself before deciding that he wanted to pursue a romantic relationship with you in the first place. He needed to reflect and learn.

I genuinely do think from a serious place that if you get into a deep relationship with him you need to be aware of this aspect of him. He will talk about it with you. Don't take it lightly and don't ignore it if you get with him.

There are boundaries that he needs time and care to work on. It'll get easier but he still seems like he'll be skittish even as he starts to feel comfortable in his skin. It's not easy to unlearn insecurities and fears about yourself.  You make him feel good about himself. He just needs time to get to that place. It's hard to look in the mirror sometimes, so, only smack that butt of his with consent and glee.

This goes for any relationship, make sure to check your boundaries with your partner on what is and isn't comfortable.

No means no, always!

#ask #doridoripawaa #mod kait #character analysis #Ace V is so valid

[gingerbreadmonsters]

I feel like all empathy daemons are either too childlike to even know what being in love feels like (Caelum) or they are asexual (Cam)

i.... potentially?? this is a good point, anon, and i fear that you may have opened the pandora's box of lore theorising in my brain 🤠🤠

everything i'm about to say is extrapolated from the only two empathy demons we've actually met - caelum and regulus (i think cam is a serenity demon, and thus might operate on different rules?). as such, it's likely to be wildly wrong, but i just like speculating lmao

in my mind, empathy demons (at least when they're young) can be quite easily impressionable, and actually have significant problems figuring out where the acceptable boundaries for manipulating/commenting on/sharing other people's emotions - they know that humans like feeling happy, and that they can help (well, force) them to feel happy, so there can be a bit of trouble getting them to realise that they shouldn't just reach into a human's brain and turn on the happy juice for a few minutes.

(this is part of the reason why caelum and freelancer's relationship is so important for both of them - caelum needs someone who can show him a healthy perspective of what makes humans feel certain ways, and how he can control the effect he's having on people.)

to me, his general bluntness and willingness to directly tell freelancer how their emotions are changing in real time (although it is very endearing) suggests that his youth means he might not quite be familiar with the general etiquette surrounding stuff like that, where humans tend to be a lot less open with discussing/revealing emotions than demons (seeing as they're not used to the people around them always being able to directly sense their feelings).

that weird relationship with happiness intersects very bizarrely with concepts about love, romance, and relationships in general, and i'd guess that it takes most empathy demons quite a long time to figure out how to negotiate even very basic relationships with humans like platonic friendships, and romantic relationships are even harder.

(caelum and regulus can't really help us in that regard, seeing as caelum is a child and regulus is... well, regulus, and the fact that cam comments on the fact that he's worried about what post-escape regulus will do to his listener indicates that regulus is not a normal example of an empathy demon in a romantic relationship with a human. as such, i'll hold off on theorising about why those relationships might be so difficult in too much detail, if only from a lack of information.)

after all, it's a reasonable problem to have if you're a freshly-coalesced empathy demon: it sustains me, and it makes both me and my charge feel good, so i should create it at all opportunities, right? humans feeling happy is always a positive thing, i am able to induce happiness in humans at will, so why shouldn't i just create happiness at all times?

i might not say that all empathy demons don't know what love (well, romantic love at least) feels like - regulus certainly thinks he does, and he clearly experiences some form of sexual attraction/sex drive:

however, as we said before, regulus is not exactly a model empathy demon, so it's unclear just how different from the rest he is. it's possible that all empathy demons, at least at some point in their lives, are capable of feeling romantic and/or sexual attraction, but it's just as plausible that only some of them do.

or - and this is less likely, but still possible - it might be that regulus is more of an outlier than we thought, and he's sidestepped the general outlook of empathy demons to effectively condition himself into sexually desiring his listener (and/or feeling sexual attraction in general) because sex makes them feel good, and he's addicted to their feelings of pleasure and happiness. considering what we know about regulus, re: how unhinged he is and how much he craves his listener, i don't know that we can rule this out as a possibility entirely.

tldr: we just don't have enough information! we don't know enough typical, adult empathy demons to be able to make an educated guess about how your typical, adult empathy demon behaves. in my opinion i suspect that empathy demons are capable of love, in both a platonic and romantic sense, but whether or not they do feel it depends on things like their own mental/emotional maturity (i expect physical maturity too, but i don't know enough about how demons physically change as they grow older - we know that they coalesce fully formed, but it's unclear whether they retain that form forever, or if that form changes and matures as they grow older and more emotional mature. do demons go through puberty? this excludes incubi to some extent, as we know that they change their appearances at will, basically whenever they like), their personal and individual disposition towards those sorts of feelings, etc.

#i fuckin RAMBLED my god #hey anon! i....uh..... hope you like it....??? #this is all total conjecture so feel free to cherry pick or to just ignore it all completely #redacted asmr #before i get any anons rattling around in my askbox - i do NOT agree with sexualising caelum (in case that was not abundantly clear) #he appears to be narratively framed as a child (e.g. being referred to as a 'bakadere demon boy' in the title of the baking cookies audio) #(nobody else gets the same age qualifier - for example cam is 'serenity daemon' not 'serenity daemon man') #idk what happened here but i had fun so #🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

[dykeotomy]

Hi!! It's me again!! Re: the ask I sent you long ago about gender sex & pronouns/similarities between libfem & radfem ideology

Logistically pronouns do equal gender, but I think it's the fact of us being able to use certain pronouns while not being that gender: (drawing from personal experience here so maybe this isnt a very valid argument) I for example enjoy being called a he and I really like being confused with a man mainly because it reaffirms my masculinity. As a gnc woman my masculinity being recognized this way is one of the happiest feelings I can get from social interactions & I bet that for many people it's like that too: they enjoy their femininity/masculinity/androgyny being recognized and being so present in how others view them, so going by different pronouns that dont equate your gender is like extending that feeling to almost every interaction you have & not just punctual ones. I feel like pronouns when used in this way are just a way to make us feel a little happier with ourselves.

When talking about an ideal world I feel like a lot of trans people would agree with you (specially non binary people in my experience they are the ones that advocate the most for gender abolition) masculinity/femininity should not make you less of a man/woman (and lets be honest trans people are the first ones to say that femininity≠womanhood/masculinity≠manhood) and it was never about that. It was simply that man is associated with masculinity and woman with femininity and since he/him are the male pronouns they are today associated with masculinity (at least thats the way it feels to me)

I believe the main reason trans people get dysphoria from gender roles is BECAUSE gender itself is associated with femininity/masculinity. I truly believe that if gender roles did not exist a part of dysphoria caused by gender roles would completely disappeared too: then the only dysphoria felt would be related to your biology

(Expanding on this: I dont believe dysphoria is solely caused by society as you believe because to me gender is simply how your brain registers itself: you just *know* you aren't a cat because your brain registers itself as a human. I believe a similar thing happens with gender: your brain registers itself as a man/woman/other and because your body doesnt reflect that it causes distress probably born from the confusion of your brain *thinking* it is male and your body telling it it's female and I think this extends today to social roles. If these were not to exist I dont think trans people would feel dysphoria from wearing a dress or a suit or engaging in certain activities etc. You'd still have the problem of terms like man/woman not feeling right cause in this perfect world they only refer to biology and a trans person's brain would still be confused by these words because it deeply believes its female/male. Another reason I believe transness as a concept doesnt uphold gender stereotypes inherently is the existence of gnc trans people. I think they just demonstrate that transness is born from dysphoria which is just your brain not connecting properly with the reality of your body)

I didn't pretend to ignore that abortion rights are being taken away from females & intersex people deliberately because we have historically been a medically oppressed group I just wanted to point out that this is a time of desperation for us and we should ignore our differences for the time being in the name of the greater good: for me this is why I believe things like queer discourse (aka asexuals being part/not part of the queer community, the whole pansexuality is biphobic debate, queer being used as an umbrella term mspec lesbians etc etc etc) should be topics to discuss once we've accomplished total equality. Of course most of us won't get to see the day where no one has to sit their parents or family and tell them they are gay and can simply bring their partner home one day and no one batting an eye, but we need to think about the greater good for the community: we need to stop the infighting and come together to overthrow heteronormativity & the same goes for feminism I believe that as of now we shouldn't stop and think about anyone's genitals and simply accept all help whether it comes from trans people or not.

I understand your argument about trans men having removed themselves from female spaces, but I think this is more an issue of bodily autonomy more than trans activism: females with dysphoria who took their own decision to transition being denied of their right to keep taking their own informed decisions and I think thats more of the current society's fault than trans activism because they dont advocate for males/females being denied of sex-specific medical care. The only group denying that are the oppressive systems and their aversion towards females making decisions on their own and taking advantage of their own biology (because really why would you adopt when you can already biologically get pregnant? I think this is just females who are comfortable enought with it making use of their biology while still being awarder the right of other respecting the decisions they made with their bodies aka transitioning) -L.A.

as a gnc woman i also get excited when people comment on my androgyny—i remember being a child and an old lady thought i was a boy and it didn’t bother me at all. i really don’t have a problem with people who like being confused for the opposite gender; i think it’s a non-issue. my main concern with pronouns is when we are actively having discussion that are about sex/gender/oppression/sexuality, and pronouns equating to sex are relevant and important

i don’t think trans and nonbinary people who advocate for gender abolition understand what gender abolition really is—either that, or we just have very different ideas of what it looks like. i have seen many trans people say that masculinity/femininity don’t make you less of a woman or man, but this means nothing when they can’t accurately describe what womanhood or manhood ARE. i have no interest in someone saying “a trans woman who doesn’t go on hormones, isn’t feminine, and doesn’t change their wardrobe is still a valid woman bc femininity does not equal womanhood” because nothing about that person’s material reality changed. how can someone be a “valid woman” if womanhood isn’t based in ANYTHING according to these people?

i don’t think gnc trans people prove much other than transness being influenced by social pressure many times. how many gnc people have just given up one day and decided it’d be easier to just live as the opposite gender because being gnc is hard? there’s so many stories like this. it’s really sad imo.

on actual sex dysphoria: mental illnesses should be treated as mental illnesses. i saw someone once compare sex dysphoria to body dysmorphia and it really resonated with me as someone who has an ED. nobody every tried to feed into my delusions about my body because they knew it was bad for me, even though confronting reality made me extremely upset. over time, it got easier. i don’t think there will ever be a day that i don’t find something about my body to nitpick, but my thoughts are manageable and no longer take over my whole existence. i feel as though sex dysphoria should be treated the same. somebody’s brain registering themselves as the incorrect sex does not give them the right to declare that they ARE that sex, because it is simply and factually incorrect. i think these people need genuine, empathetic medical care to get better rather than just being pumped full of hormones and told lies

i think most infighting is stupid but also inevitable. it’s human nature to discuss and debate every single thing that we find worthy of our attention. if it’s not productive discussion, it’s still gonna happen. of course i think that we should be able to put aside our difference in opinions in smaller fights to be able to come together for things that really matter in terms of life/death, but that doesn’t make smaller topics less important when the time is right. i don’t want to have to constantly be debating life altering things. sometimes i do find ace discourse interesting. yes i said it. yes im chronically online. i do see the irony in this

thanks for the ask :)

#asks

[spideyswebhead]

All the Books I Read This Spring-Summer

Cinder by Marissa Meyer | 3/5⭐

My friend wanted me to read this series, and I loved OUAT, so I gave it a shot! I really liked it but had some problems with how the virus was handled in the book.

Sadie by Courtney Summers | 5/5⭐

This was recommended to me by a mutual and it has become my favorite book, I read this back in February (I know technically winter but shut up) and I think about this book constantly. I'm already planning on re-reading it sometime this year.

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo | 2/5⭐

I'M FREE FROM THIS PART OF THE SERIES I hate these books so much, I could only get through because of Genya and Nikolai. And that is purely why it has 2 stars.

Heartstopper vol. 1 by Alice Oseman | 5/5⭐

A re-read for the show and my friend was reading it, I realized how much I had forgotten.

Fangs by Sarah Andersen | 4/5⭐

An adorable series of comics about a vampire and werewolf falling in love, seeing how that dynamic went was lovely and I love it. And the book is beautiful.

Loveless by Alice Oseman | 5/5⭐

This was my most anticipated book. I love it showed Georgia exploring with her sexuality and also having trouble accepting the fact she is aroace, I feel so many people can relate to that but specially people who are asexual and aromantic. But also showed QPP too with Georgia and Ronney. I saw myself a lot in this book honestly as a demisexual.

The Invisible Difference by Julie Dachez and Madamoiselle Caroline | 2/5⭐

I purely got it because it had autism in it, and at the time I had just learned about my diagnosis. The only reason it gets 2 stars is purely it did help bring light how France deals with autistic people, but also sad to read how behind they are. Honestly if you want someone who knows nothing to learn how it is for us, this is great, but I learned nothing while reading. And it uses quite outdated language.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman | 5/5⭐

This was a comfort re-read

Take A Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert | 4/5⭐

Compared to the first book, I loved this one so much more. Dani's commitment issues were handled so nicely and Zafir was so sweet towards Dani with wishes of keeping the fake relationship purely physical, but also recognize he wants more and be able to have a romantic relationship. But also the way his anxiety was dealt in this book I loved so much!

TBR This Fall -

The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

The King of Crows by Libba Bray

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman

#indie rambles #books #reading #fall tbr

[tyrannuspitch]

really funny how some ppl will be like “sorry but transgenders were only just invented so you get, at most, one (1) century into the past, and if you see your experiences in anyone further back, that’s ahistorical :(” and then ten minutes later they’re like “ICONIC WOMEN IN HISTORY: 1. this 20,000 year old mummy”, as if they have literally any reason to think a palaeolithic person was cisgender

#blah blah blah i'm not a historian and don't have a perfect solution to this #but i do get the feeling that ppl... underestimate things #like. things may be very different in specifics #but i feel like.. just logically speaking... #if you have society organised by assigned sex you will develop a system of gender #and if you have a system of gender you will end up with trans people #we just kind of happen #and like. hmm. slightly different thing but ppl are always saying #'well before this point the vocabulary for queerness was about what you DID not who you WERE' #'so they didn't distinguish gay and straight as identities or internal experiences like we do they saw it all as a choice' #as if vocabulary (generally determine by those in power) can 100% determine the self-concept of the *oppressed*? #like. the lack of vocab does not mean that there was no-one who *understood* themself as queer and closeted #as being Strange or Different or Broken and as idk having ~sinful desires~ or whatever #and having more in *common* with ppl who Did Queer Things than ppl who didn't *even if they never actually did them* #also like just bc cishets saw queerness as a choice does not necessarily mean queer ppl would agree with them lmao #like yeah they'd be influenced by those societal ideas of course! but they also have far more data to draw conclusions from #and might well agree with the v common feeling that at least like... queer ppl are predisposed to Doing Queer Things in a way others are not #i feel like this is common sense. #people thinking of themselves as gay or ace or trans does not begin with the coining of words for gayness or aceness or transness #i know this for a fact re: asexuality and i see no reason why it should be different with gayness or transness

[arotechno]

Jughead (2015), Issues 9-11: Discussion and Commentary

This brings us to the first arc written by Ryan North, who saw that the aroace Jughead train had left the station and simply could not resist tagging along for the ride. If you’ve followed anything about Jughead as a character at all, then you’ve probably seen many screenshots from these three issues before. It’s the Sabrina arc (that’s right, as in the teenage witch)!

I have a lot of analysis at the end of this one, so buckle up!

The gang ends up at Pop’s, as usual, where Jughead meets the shop’s new mascot, a talking burger lady. Jughead is, unsurprisingly, thrown off his game by this. After all, burgers are his one true love, but girls? He doesn’t really have an interest in them. It’s a confusing moment for him, and when his friends witness this, well… they assume he’s got a crush on her.

This is an iconic page in the “aro Jughead” canon. Here we have Betty trying really hard to be a good friend and doing what in her mind is the best for him, trying to help him through what she and the others perceive as his first crush. Jughead, meanwhile, is diving headfirst into a spiral of confusion (and later, discomfort) at the idea of having any sort of interest in another person.

I want to give my utmost respect to Ryan North for explicitly having Jughead say that he doesn’t get crushes. It’s not the only time that North does this during this arc, and I think it makes all the difference between making this awkward and relatable rather than making it seem like Jughead is being stripped of or “cured” of being aro.

Betty pushes Jughead to talk to Sabrina (the burger lady—it’s Sabrina), and after a while of running into each other day in and day out as Jughead frequents Pop’s on a regular basis, they strike up a friendship. Jughead has gotten what he wanted—to be friends with the cool burger lady—and he seems genuinely satisfied.

…But unfortunately, things do not go as planned for Jughead. The next time they see each other, Sabrina asks Jughead out. And Jughead, in true stereotypical oblivious aro fashion, agrees, without realizing until it is much, much too late that what he has just agreed to is a date. Like, a real date.

If you think about it, Jughead has probably never been asked on a real date before. And this is something I ABSOLUTELY would have done (and may still do today, if I’m completely honest with myself) as a teenager. Jughead’s immediate regret is so palpable here, and so relatable to me as an aromantic.

In his panic, Jughead turns to his friends for help. They are… not helpful. They’re trying to be helpful, sure, but whereas Jughead doesn’t really seem to want to go through with this at all, his friends are more set on giving him romantic advice (with varying degrees of usefulness). Jughead really has to go out of his way to defend himself and insists on multiple occasions that he thinks the girl in the burger costume is cool and interesting, but that he doesn’t like-like her, he doesn’t even really know her!

Unfortunately for Jughead, he ends up going on the date. And who does he call for help? His only other openly queer friend (I say openly because let’s be real with ourselves, none of those kids are cishet), Kevin Keller.

And okay, this scene with Kevin is genuinely kind of funny. You get the impression that Kevin has had a lot of practice dealing with straight bullshit, and that he’s more than a little disappointed that Jughead’s “big emergency” turned out to be something this totally mundane and not worth his time.

Ultimately, Kevin is also super not helpful, even after Jughead steals his phone in an attempt to get him to come to the table and diffuse the awkward situation Jughead has found himself in. So Jughead resorts to what I can only assume is plan Z, which is to call Archie for backup.

Only semi-related, I really love the way Ryan North writes conversations between these two. It just feels really genuine and believable. And anyway, I don’t know what Jughead was expecting, but resident himbo Archie Andrews is of no help to him, and only ends up making things a hell of a lot worse.

This leads to Sabrina rushing off to the bathroom and casting multiple spells to try to get Jughead to at least play along, if not outright fall in love with her, all of which fail spectacularly and only end up making her far angrier with him. I don’t blame her for being upset—the date was a total disaster, and right at the moment Jughead was about to be honest with her, Archie showed up and made things worse. Sabrina storms out, and vows that she’ll get revenge on Jughead for this, somehow.

All of Sabrina’s subsequent spells on Jughead also backfire. She tries to make him fail his classes, and he passes with flying colors; she tries to make him spend the whole day with resident asshole Reggie, but he ends up befriending him against all odds. She even ends up unleashing a giant eldritch horror by accident, and—well, that’s not important.

In the end, Jughead decides to make things right. He never meant to hurt Sabrina, and she seems to be in a tough spot, having just moved to town, so he brings her some food as a peace offering and explains what really happened. And Sabrina is… surprisingly receptive, in fact more receptive than Jughead’s friends were when he came to them for help, despite the fact that this is something they should already understand about him. Being upset with Jughead wasn’t doing her any favors, so Sabrina already seems to be at peace with what happened and is more than willing to forgive him and be his friend despite all that transpired between them.

This is a really great scene. There’s a nuance to it—the way Jughead acted on their date was unfair, both to Sabrina and to himself. He needed to be honest from the beginning, but instead, he just kept trying to escape. At the same time, Sabrina gets it, and it wasn’t very cool of her to try to use magic to get what she wanted, either (not that Jughead knows she did that).

Jughead helps Sabrina re-enroll in her old school and quit her job at Pop’s to move back in with her aunts, so that she can live out the rest of her teenage years the way she’s supposed to. Afterwards, Sabrina and Jughead both seem really happy, and thus volume two ends on a positive, quiet note.

I really like this arc, for the reasons I’ve already stated and more. It’s funny and awkward and endearing (I say that a lot about this series, don’t I?), and it portrays a realistic and relatable aromantic problem without it being aboutaromanticism. It’s more about Jughead being honest about his feelings and making a new friend than about Jughead being aro, even though that contextualizes the situation. A great deal of the series is about that—Jughead being honest with himself and others. In the first arc, it’s Jughead shaking off a persona of apathy. In the second, it’s Jughead being honest with Archie about their friendship and the way Archie’s behavior has been making him feel. Here, it’s about Jughead being honest about who he is at his core, and accepting it about himself—and Sabrina accepts it, too, no questions asked. Even if he never says “I’m aromantic,” the sentiment is there plain as day, and it’s a refreshing beat for the story to land on.

That said, I do have a bone to pick with this arc. There’s a line in the sand here between Zdarsky and North. In the last arc, we saw Zdarsky portray that really subtle but meaningful interaction between Archie and Jughead, in which Archie seems not only keenly aware of Jughead being aromantic—even without the word—but also tacitly supportive of him, such that he knows immediately when he’s crossed a line. Here, we see Ryan North take a bit of a step back from that, such that Archie may be aware of Jughead’s orientation but seems way too quick to assume all that’s changed the moment there’s even a sliver of possibility that Jughead has a crush. That’s the reality of having different writers stepping in to interpret the same characters in loosely connected stories like this, but it still bothers me. I prefer Zdarsky’s style of storytelling in general, but in particular I also prefer his portrayal of Archie, as much as Ryan North’s on-the-nose aro moments and undying love for Reggie make me very happy. As a whole, nobody ever stops to ask Jughead what he wants, they only tell him what they think Sabrina wants. Jughead says so himself:

I suppose one could make the argument that Jughead’s friends, or even Jughead himself, are only really aware of the asexual bit (if at all—for all we know Veronica and Reggie have no idea, for example) and that’s why they don’t only never mention aromanticism but also sometimes seem ignorant of it. It’s possible that the aro side of Jughead’s orientation is still something he doesn’t have the words for, despite it being a truth he knows about himself, and in fact I think that would have been an interesting angle to take, had this series continued beyond 15 issues. But what I have an issue with isn’t so much the fact that Jughead’s friends are unhelpful (because let’s be real, sadly a lot of us have been there), but the fact that never are they asked to apologize for pushing him to do something he so clearly didn’t want to do. Whether he or they know he’s aromantic or not, he was clearly uncomfortable with the idea of going on this date—and not just due to a lack of experience. I would have liked it had Archie, or Betty, or Kevin apologized, or even once asked him what he really wanted. Betty comes the closest, by talking it out with him in the first place, but even she still earnestly pushes him to go through with the date anyway.

Anyway, there are two arcs left for me to discuss, and frankly I’m not as enthused by either of them as I was for these past three, for a variety of reasons. The Ryan North train continues for one more arc, and then it’s on to Mark Waid and Ian Flynn’s big finish. Those two updates might come a little slower. Until then, I was going to include a compilation of Jughead looking uncomfortable, but I've only got one image slot left thanks to tumblr, so instead I leave you with this:

Same, Jughead. Huge same.

#mr. north i promise i respect you #techno's jughead reread #aro #aromantic #aro jughead #ace jughead #aroace jughead #jughead #jughead jones #jughead comics #op #long post

[sazandorable]

About moderating and banning content on AO3!

Okay so! I haven’t had the spoons to do this for a while but I cracked and ranted about it on twitter which is... not... conducive to long rants, so!

This is a h u g e discussion part of the l o n g history that led to the creation of AO3, which older, more informed, and more articulate people have talked about at length and can be found around if you look (I reblog some of it in my AO3 and fandom history tags for the curious). So I won’t go into that here, nor into the practical reasons why it’s not even possible to put that system in place anyway.

Arbitrarily, or the purpose of this post, because it’s the biggest topic I’ve seen brought up lately, I’ll be talking about fic depicting underage characters in se*ual situations, but honestly I could hold the exact same conversation on literally any controversial content.

This is about why you, specifically, if you are a content creator and especially if you are marginalised and especially if you are queer and especially especially if you are sensitive to fiction depicting certain things... do not, actually, want a banning system on AO3.

What? Of course we do. There’s a lot of p*do shit on AO3 and p*do shit is gross. No one should condone that, wtf? It would be easy to do — just periodically delete the entire Underage tag!

What will happen if that is done is that people will re-upload and continue to write it, they’ll just stop tagging and you will run into it with zero warning nor ability to filter it out. Again, this is not a theoretical — we know this is what happens. When I was a teen, adult content (all adult content) was not allowed on FF.NET; it was everywhere regardless, and without tags. The exact same thing happened on tumblr when adult content was banned as well. It’s not a matter of “staff not handling it well” — it just doesn’t work.

To keep safe the people who need to be able to exclude that tag, that tag needs to exist and be used.

Well, shucks. A reporting system then?

A reporting system would operate in one of two ways:

-an algorithm, which would delete a lot of stuff we wouldn’t want it to delete.

-humans, which is... the bigger problem.

An algorithm sounds great. We do want it to delete everything.

Okay. What about the daddy k*nk fics between consenting adult characters? What about the fics featuring characters that are children in the canon but are adults in the fic? What about the fics about teenagers exploring their se*uality together, written by adults about the experiences they remember having or wish they could have had? What about the thousands of SasuNaru and Drarry and other shounen and YA fics that will get written, by teens or by people who remember being teens? What about the se*ually explicit fic written by teens who are se*ually active in real life? What about the fics about CSA as trauma, about healing from it? What about the fics written by survivors of CSA to cope about their trauma? What about the fics that clearly show that it’s evil and traumatic? What about the super dark, harrowing, but beautiful and artistic that I’m glad I read even though it fucked me up for days? What about the ones that were really shitty but also horribly hot?

Well, some of these are still not okay, but maybe some might be. It depends on how it’s written. We’ll have humans moderating content and deciding, then.

Okay.

The thing is, I don’t know which of the things I just listed were okay for you to be depicted in fiction and which were too much. Odds are I don’t agree with you. Odds are if I asked 10 people randomly picked off the street, not everyone would agree.

Odds are, even if AO3 arbitrarily decided on which of those are allowed and which are not, you would not agree with their choice, and you would still be unhappy with the decision. (Or you would be happy, but your friends wouldn’t.)

Odds are, different AO3 content moderators might not agree on whether a given fic qualifies or not — is it artistic enough? Does it show enough that these actions are evil and wrong? Can the author prove they’re a teenager? Can the author prove they are a CSA victim? Can the author prove that this is to help them cope with their trauma? The author seem to be functioning alright, they mustn’t really be traumatised!

You know what I mean! There’s absolute, objectively gross shit out there that is not artistic and should not be published.

I agree that there’s vile stuff out there that makes me sick and that I think is very clearly just ped*philic trash. But there is no way to, 1) stop those from getting published anyway, 2) take those down and preserve the safety of everything else.

If we start forbidding some things, there’s two ways to go about it.

One single, clear, arbitrary rule — for instance, absolutely no adult content featuring characters under 18 (leaving aside the fact that this would not even work for the reason cited above). So we lose all the stuff from teenagers, all the coming of age stories about adolescence, all the stuff from CSA survivors; people who need to write it can’t publish it anymore, and people who need to read it can’t anymore either (and as a cool bonus, they’re told it’s wrong and made to feel bad about it). Depending on whether the rules applies to characters that are under 18 in the canon, we lose entire fandoms.

Or, subjective moderation by humans, according to what they estimate to be gross.

Let’s assume all moderators can agree on what’s gross or not.

If there is a system in place to ban some underage works because “gross shit”, then that means other gross stuff can be taken down on account of being gross and harmful.

Yeah! Gross stuff should be taken down! Come on, surely everyone agrees on what’s gross and harmful.

Ah.

But the problem is.

Here is a list of things I have seen — with my eyes seen — called harmful to be depicted in fiction:

Murder

Non-con

Inc*st

Cannibalism

Torture

Self-harm

Mental illness

Drugs

Racism

K*nk

Non-negotiated k*nk, but healthy k*nk is ok

Spanking k*nk

BDSM where the woman is a bottom, but woman top is ok

Healthy depictions of BDSM

Unhealthy depictions of BDSM

Queer people doing bad things

Abusive relationships

Rival/Enemies to lovers

Redemption stories

A happy relationship between a 17 yo and an 18 yo

A happy relationship between a 20 yo and a 60 yo

A happy relationship between a boss and their employee, or a college teacher and a student

A happy relationship between a 14 yo boy and an older teenage boy, because that’s reminiscent of older men preying on younger gay boys IRL

Se*ual content featuring a character whose age is unclear in canon and some people headcanon them as being underage, some as being a young adult

Loving, consensual fluff between characters that are evil villains, because it romanticises them and their actions

Dark content shipping female characters

Fluffy content shipping female characters, because it’s misogynistic to act like lesbians are only soft all the time

Consensual s*x featuring a canonically asexual character, because it implies that all aces can and should still have se*

Fics about the same canonically asexual character hating s*x, because that erases the experience of s*x-positive aces

Shipping a character who is perceived by some fans as queer-coded with a character of a different s*x

The tendency to ship a black character with white characters

Fluffy drunk s*x, because that’s not actually consensual

Sleep s*x, because that’s not actually consensual

Trans characters not experiencing dysphoria, because that idealises the trans experience

Consensual s*x between adults that are not married

LGBT+ content, because kids shouldn’t see that.

I guarantee you: you, I, and 10 random people plucked from the street will not agree on what, in that list, is and isn’t okay to publish and consume fiction of.

So why should your taste be the one followed? Why should it be the taste of mods you don’t know? Why should anyone get to dictate? What if the mods think your OTP is gross and your NOTP is fine?

This is the slippery slope argument.

Yes, it is the slippery slope argument. Because we know it happens. Because we’ve been there, because I’ve seen it happen myself twice already and I’m not even thirty. Because we know people do complain loudly about all of these things.

And because the second there is a banning system in place, assholes will use the system to abuse it and get stuff they just don’t like taken down using the “it is gross” argument, and one day you’ll wake up and the beautiful fic that helped you come to terms with your abuse/trauma/identity/orientation/k*nk for feet will be taken down and wonderful vulnerable creative people will have been harassed out of fandom because they argued with 1 person who didn’t like their foot k*nk fic that happened to also feature, for instance, a CSA trauma backstory.

Again: not exaggerating. Not theoretical. It happens, we know it happens, AO3 was created literally because it happens.

I still fucking hate that stuff.

That is completely fine and normal. No one likes everything. Me too! Most of the dark stuff is niche and the creators know only few people will like it the same way they do.

(For the record, I get grossed out and triggered by fics about an asexual character who does not like s*x having s*x with their partner to make them happy. Deep in my gut everything screams that that’s fucked up, terrifying and harmful, how can people write that. But I recognise that there are people who love and need that, and I leave those people and their content alone.

OTOH, I read a lot of otherwise dark shit and I enjoy it in the same way I enjoyed, say, Hannibal, in the same way some people enjoy true crime documentaries, horror movies or r*pe fantasy k*nk. It helps me explore stuff that I like to see in fiction, in a safe, controlled way. I’m also asexual, 90% s*x-repulsed IRL, and, obviously, I would never abuse a child. For that matter, I wouldn’t kill and eat people, either, nor would I do 90% of the tamer k*nky stuff I read.

Of course, Hannibal was fucked up and lots of people probably think Hannibal was gross and should not have been aired — but as exemplified by the fact that it was created, aired and watched, lots of people thought it was fine, interesting and even fun to watch.)

You can and should curate your experience and protect yourself. The AO3 website now allows you to exclude certain tags, and people have developed tools to help with that such as plugins that save your filters or hide fics that contain certain words.

But no, it isn’t going to, and it shouldn’t, get banned.

#ao3 #fandom history #aaaaand that's all im going to tag

[not-poignant]

If you had to shuffle up aaaaaall your fae tales pairings what would they be! How would the dynamic be! ^^

Oooo this is tough. I mean so many of them wouldn't work. Gwyn, for example, couldn't be paired with any woman character, because he's extremely gay, with zero capacity for attraction/interest in women.

Which is why he's never been paired with women!

There's also the fact that some of these characters have - at least in my mind - been created to not be matched up with some of my pre-existing characters. While I love multi-shipping, and Gwyn is very obviously the fandom bicycle (i.e. he will take a ride with anyone who is a dude), I don't just want to write identical versions of each character or dynamic, which means so many permutations of shuffling just wouldn't work, and aren't intended to work for me. So for the folks out there who enjoy multi-shipping these characters, I'm answering personally, please don't let what I think harsh your wildest fantasies for these characters.

But okay, for the sake of interest's sake I'm going to look at the main pairings:

Gwyn/Augus // Mosk/Eran // Efnisien/Arden // Gulvi/Fenwrel and as a side character let's include Ash as well. I'm excluding Ondine/Julvia, because I don't see them as a main pairing, and because Ondine, like Gwyn, is extremely gay and wouldn't want to sleep with any of our boys, and isn't interested in Gulvi or Fenwrel, lmao. Mosk is also extremely gay. I'm not matching him with any of the women. Likewise, Efnisien has never shown any signs of being genuinely sexually attracted to anyone, so outside of the core pairings, I'm not pairing him with anyone else. Please assume that I'm pretty much always referring to FFS Efnisien with the exception of the Gwyn/Efnisien pairing, lol.

I'm going to do some shuffles re: Gulvi and Fenwrel but not all of them because this post is already very long and I'm tired.

First things first, I have already written some shuffles!

We already have fics for:

Augus/Ash

Gwyn/Ash

Gwyn/Augus/Ash

And we already know that:

Augus/Mosk would work, because that's in The Ice Plague #3. (We can see that the dynamic would probably be soft and careful on Augus' behalf, though he'd still be dominant, and Mosk would still be a sulky, bratty, lazy submissive).

Augus/Eran would NOT work, outside of a mentor/student relationship, which they already have! Eran is too much of a top, and it's been made clear he's already uncomfortable with some of what Augus shows him, even from a non-sexual perspective. We also know that Eran doesn't mind some voyeurism, but he couldn't handle Augus at all on a relationship level. And I think Arden/Eran is the same here, for similar reasons.

So I don't really need to cover these, because they've already got chapters, or whole-ass fics dedicated to them.

Now let's go through what's remaining, and feasible (i.e. I'm not going to bother pairing Gwyn with any of the women characters, because it would just never work).

The shuffles leftover:

Gwyn/Mosk: I don't see this making a great relationship. This is getting two relatively lazy bottoms in the same room. They could maybe work out in some oneshots where Gwyn was mindlessly fucking after a battle (which could potentially lead to Mosk getting seriously hurt with zero aftercare and would almost certainly be a 'just about rapefic'). And they could maybe work out as a couple who realised they had some things in common as friends, before realising they were almost completely incompatible sexually (Gwyn doesn't like rope, Mosk does. Gwyn is actually a big sadist when he does top, and Mosk tends to get damaged by that. Mosk isn't interested in topping ever, Gwyn needs that. And Mosk isn't a sexual sadist, and Gwyn needs that), and going back to just being friends. Verdict: 'That was awkward, can we just stay friends?'

Gwyn/Efnisien: Efnisien is canonically Gwyn's torturer, impotent and asexual, and Gwyn has never felt a shred of attraction to him in his life. We've already seen how they work as a 'couple.' It's terribad. Verdict: Terribad.

Gwyn/Arden: This could work for Gwyn, but I don't think it would work for Arden. Arden's a good enough dominant that he could definitely satisfy Gwyn's needs for the most part (though Gwyn is switchy in SOTS and that wouldn't work for Arden at all, lol). But all we know of Arden is that he's been completely uninterested in romantic relationships until he met Efnisien, and for folks reading the comment responses, we know he's already met Gwyn. So we know Arden had no romantic interest in Gwyn. Verdict: Probably good for play parties and demos, but Arden is more likely to mentor Gwyn than to actually be with him. Sexually they're mooooostly compatible. Though I doubt it'd work out in the long-term, or in any monogamous sense.

Gwyn/Eran: If Eran had more experience behind him as a top, I think this could actually work. I think Eran would need to be on a more level playing field with Gwyn (i.e. if he was younger, or Eran was more experienced), for Eran to consider it, and vice versa. And I think Eran isn't emotionally intelligent enough or perhaps experienced/seasoned enough to actually really lead Gwyn through say - transformative scenes like Augus does. Gwyn would also probably need more pain than Eran is comfortable providing. Verdict: Generally compatible, but both might have to put up with doing more or less than is generally ideal for them.

Augus/Efnisien: HA! Hilarious. Verdict: Someone's getting murdered! (Hint: It's Efnisien)

Augus/Arden: As with Augus/Eran, this would only really work in a mentor/student capacity, but in this case, Arden would likely be the mentor. I don't even think they'd make good friends (and I know that, because Arden and Augus know each other in FFS, and they're not good friends). Verdict: 'Hey thanks for platonically letting me teach you how to whip the ever-loving shit out of your partner, but if you try to dominate me, I'm kicking you out of the club.'

Augus/Fenwrel: Oh yes, Augus is pansexual and attracted to Fenwrel, we can consider this! Fenwrel, like Augus, is a dominant and a top, as well as a healer, and Augus and Fenwrel talked frankly about their chemistry in The Court of Five Thrones. They were attracted to each other. In a sexual relationship, I think Augus would very carefully cede authority to Fenwrel, on the proviso that she respected him and communicated with him clearly. It wouldn't work as a long-term monogamous relationship, but I actually think they could have some very powerful scenes together, with the combination of Augus' wary trust, and Fenwrel's careful but firm domination style. This is the only time I've ever repeatedly daydreamed about Augus getting pegged. It's very enjoyable. Verdict: Probably hot as fuck, with a side order of 'I'm in control, but very lovingly.'

Augus/Gulvi: Nope. Not even. Gulvi's a bottom, but she doesn't consider Augus remotely attractive. And Gulvi is definitely not Augus' type - too crass and chaotic in nature. If she turned up on his doorstep as a client before they met, he'd turn her away. Verdict: Someone's getting stabbed! (Hint: It's Augus).

Mosk/Efnisien: This is like the problem with Mosk and Gwyn, but even worse, because Efnisien doesn't ever switch, and he's not a bratty lazy submissive, he's an extremely eager to please, earnest, focused submissive who would consider Mosk's style of submission as being very rude and even offensive. But outside of that, the idea of imagining them kissing or touching each other is very nice. I actually think Mosk would have to take the lead with that, which means they wouldn't get much further than that. Did I mention Mosk is lazy? I can see this working with Efnisien having more experience at BDSM clubs, and quietly making out with Mosk while Arden and Eran looked on protectively. They couldn't organise having sex or a scene together to save their lives. Verdict: If someone else instigates it, it could happen. Maybe.

Mosk/Arden: This could definitely work in a kink club. But as a relationship, Arden would have zero interest in Mosk's style of submission. He clearly doesn't want a brat, he wants someone who is earnest and eager to be obedient. He'd only ever take Mosk on, if Mosk wanted to be trained into learning protocol, and I think Mosk would feel like he wasn't being very accepted as who he is, which he wouldn't be. About the only way they would work is in like, a non-sexual cuddle pile, lol. Mosk would totally hire Arden to hug him. Verdict: Probably make for some very discipline-focused scenes where Mosk feels a bit lost afterwards and Arden is like 'he's so not my type.'

Mosk/Ash: Ash doesn't do long-term romantic relationships, but this would definitely work. Mosk likes Ash's glamour, and is very open to it, and Ash likes using his glamour. He also likes sexually exhausting his partners and overwhelming them, and this is something that Mosk is drawn to. While there wouldn't be ropes or some of the other aspects of control, Ash is very free re: controlling people with his body and pinning them down. He's not an overt sadist like Augus, but he's still a sadist re: limit-pushing and pleasure-pushing as well as forced orgasms. Everything about that works for Mosk. And I think Ash would very much enjoy fucking someone like Mosk, because he's responsive, emotional, clingy, and pouty, and Ash would find that both hot and adorable. Verdict: Absolutely this would work, as long as Mosk didn't expect it to be long-term. Pure combustion if they ever got in a room together.

Arden/Ash: A whole lot of no. For a start, Ash is turned off by BDSM gear, scenes and toys (he's literally borderline triggered, and absolutely squicked, by the idea of it all even in The Wildness Within), and he's not interested in formal labels like 'dominance' and 'submission.' You'd never find him in a kink club. Likewise, Arden isn't interested in sleeping with anyone who isn't interested in the scene, he doesn't 'do vanilla.' And while Ash isn't vanilla, Arden has no way of knowing that. They're also both Extreme Top Energy. I don't even think they'd enjoy the experience of kissing, without it becoming a play for power. Verdict: Plug A does not go into Plug A.

*

Alright! I think we're good!

#asks and answers #fae tales #fae tales verse #fae tales AU #fae tales hypotheticals #gwyn ap nudd #augus each uisge #mosk manytrees #eran iliakambar #gulvi dubna vajat #fenwrel the mouse-maiden #ash glashtyn #multishipping #i think i've realised that mosk/ash is actually a pretty great pairing that i'd never considered before #and that gwyn/eran could be surprisingly good #in an AU scenario

[inevitably-johnlocked]

People complaining about 'queer baiting' when they ought to be more concerned about the amount of fetishisation that occurs when people ship two men lol

Hey Nonny,

I’m gonna assume you’re not trying to be a dick, and are coming from a good place, though you taking the time out to put this ask in a weird serif font is leaving me wondering if you’re trying to stand on a soapbox, but I’m going to ignore that for now, and I ask anyone replying to this post to please also grant that same respect. I only wish to educate, learn, and interact, after all. 

I get what you’re trying to say re: queerbaiting, I really do. And fetishization is a problem, I agree. 

Let’s tackle the queerbaiting first.

Let it be known to you that a large majority of the people calling “queerbaiting” are queer people and academics. I know the false stigma that “fandom is full of stupid little girls” still exists and is something that, quite frankly, this ask is implying and therefore helping to perpetuate. It’s not. Honestly, with this take you have here, you’re disregarding and invalidating the feelings of millions of other queer people who genuinely feel when something is queerbaiting because it’s something they have experienced over and over and OVER again and media just “LOL OOPS SORRY WON’T DO IT AGAIN”. 

Disney is a perfect example of this. How many “first LGBT characters” has Disney had now? At least one a year for the past decade.

Listen, the people who initially called it out years ago for Sherlock were older folks who have lived decades of media constantly teasing gay relationships and then not following through with it at the end... literally “baiting” queer people to watch their shows because more people = more money.

Anyway, Gattiss confirmed he used homoerotic subtext to bait people, so I don’t know what else to say on this matter. That link also has some additional articles and sources that came out regarding the queerbaiting aspect of Sherlock, and they’re all good reads, so I do recommend checking them out.

Some other interesting reads, if only so you can gain some empathy for the others who DO see it as queerbaiting:

Gender and Queer Fan Labour on Tumblr: The Case of BBC’s Sherlock (Webarchive link, so give it a few to load)

The Elephant in the Room: Authorship, Queerbaiting and Sherlock

Queerbaiting in Sherlock 

PODCAST: Queerbaiting in Sherlock

From Queer Reading to Queerbaiting - DiVA Portal

And as I’ve mentioned in past posts, I personally believe Sherlock IS queerrbaiting WITHOUT a confirmation in S5. They had the chance to stop it in S3, and instead they ramped it up. And yes, if you only watch Sherlock and omit S3 and TAB completely, I can see the queerbaiting argument null and void. But instead they made the episode that John was supposed to be getting married the gayest episode in the whole series, next to TAB. So I dunno, my friend.

Now, I shall discuss the very thin line of fetishization vs shipping.

I am not a professional AND I am a fairly recently-realized member of the LGBT community, so I don’t feel it’s my place to tell you what’s what. 

There’s a really interesting Tumblr post by LGBT+ Weekly about this very thing that I think offers a “both sides” approach: Shipping and queer fetishization. And this interesting and on-point post here: About Fandom, Slash, and Fetishizing Gay Men.

From here, I can only offer my opinion, not fact, and I am open to being educated. 

Yes, absolutely some people fetishize LGBT relationships. I’m NOT going to say there aren’t. But a majority of people ship ANY ship because it helps them understand themselves. It’s just that simple, and to tell someone that them shipping characters is bad / no good / fetishization can be harmful to them and make them fear “being gay”. Shipping characters is a way of disconnecting themselves from, well, themselves, and it’s a “safe place” to “come out” or discover themselves.

To me, you’re breaking down fetishization as “I like reading about two people fucking” and nothing beyond that, and not taking into account that many people like a pairing because of chemistry, or because someone sees themselves in a character and are exploring their own sexuality through it. If that’s the case, then I guess all M/F ships are are fetishizations? Why is it only M/M that people decry “fetishization”, when F/F is apparently not (clarification: it totally can also be)? So, is me liking Johnlock any different than my Zutara ship? Why? 

Plus, the reason so many people ship M/M ships is because there’s just SO MANY MALE CHARACTERS ON ANY GIVEN SHOW. 

I get what you’re trying to say, Nonny, I really do. And I know the definition of fetish. But AGAIN, these are characters, not real people, and you’re disregarding other aspects of shipping. Not everyone reads smut to get off. And even if they did, why is that so bad for some people? Personally, I read it because I enjoy reading stories about my favourite characters enjoying being together. I enjoy the dynamic, the possibilities, the chemistry and the love. That it’s never too late to find your person. That two broken souls can help heal each other.

Anyway, TL;DR of all this is: 

YOUR experience is NOT someone else’s experience. 

You didn’t see Sherlock as queerbaiting? Fine, but please understand there’s a reason so many other people DO and it’s not just fandom saying it. The general audience also has said it’s queerbaiting.

You see shipping as fetishization? Okay, and that’s fine. Your definition of fetishization means fictional people having sex, I guess. Maybe I’m just genuinely naïve, but... isn’t that kind of... TERF-y or homophobic? I mean... many people use same-sex shipping and assorted headcanons to help them understand themselves and their sexuality. And why is M/F shipping NOT fetishization, given the broad definition you’re implying by your ask? And I don’t want to get too deep into asexuality, but read up on aegosexuality. Are you then saying aces are fetishists too? Seems like aces can’t enjoy anything, I guess.

They’re fictional characters. Not real people.

Look, I’m stupid and naïve, I get that. And if I have the wrong take here, I’m genuinely interested in hearing your respectful thoughts, along with other people’s. Just, please respect and understand that everyone is not YOU. It’s rather selfish to think that your experiences are everyone else’s, if I’m being honest.

I’m not asking for you to “see my side of things”, just to have a bit of empathy, is all. It can go a long way in a world where just being who you are can get you killed. Fandom and shipping is an escape for a lot of people, because reality is a cruel son of a bitch.

All this said, Nonny, I just want you to be safe and healthy. If discussions of shipping and queerbaiting bother you, please black list the tags, get out of fandom, and please take care of yourself.

#steph replies #queerbaiting #queerbaiting vs fetishization #chatting with nonnies #my thoughts #Anonymous #help steph learn things #sexuality

[thefisherqueen]

Review of The Green Knight

As a lover of Arthurian legend and medieval reenactment and a once-upon medieval literature student, the new movie The Green Knight of course was on my to-watch list. Especially after reading qqueenofhades’ excellent essay. I finally watched the movie last week. And I have some Thoughts to share.

There are a lot of things to like about this movie. It was delightfully non-sensational and devoid of GoT-like violence and political power struggles. There was some really beautiful cinematography, partly thanks to the beautiful Irish mountains this movie was shot in. I love that TGK not just adopted, but instead reworked the legend. The main moral themes and outcomes, while not a literal copy, felt authentic to the Christian medieval context of the poem, involving questions around honor, courage, hospitality, greatness, humility and what it means to be a good knight, or even a good person. The movie made it beautifully clear that Gawain’s main problem could have been avoided had he just given the Green Knight a scratch, but because he chose to behead the knight while said knight was lying kneeling and harmless at his feet, there is no escaping from facing the consequence of that action, which is neatly echoed throughout the movie. The green knight, the knight with the green belt and the lord who goes hunting in the green. The lover, the saint and the temptress. What you give, you will receive, and the other way around. The cast was great (too asexual to be thirsty for Dev Patel, though, sorry). The messing up of the mistaken image of medieval europe as just white is also always appreciated. I too liked that the film didn’t care to explain some of the wonders and mysteries, like the giants and the saint who lost her head, they just were accepted as part of that world. Being somewhat puzzled and enchanted is sadly rare in media nowadays where everything has to be explained or else it’s a ‘plot hole’. The liberty this movie takes with time, with multiple possible versions playing out and the reoccuring circular motives were impressive. However, the film as a whole didn’t quite work for me and I don’t really care to rewatch it. I think there are two fundamental reasons why.

The first is that the viewer isn’t given reason to care about the main character. I think this choice is deliberate, as we see Arthur asking Gawain to tell a tale of himself to get to know him, and Gawain replies that he has none, and after Gawain takes on the Green Knight’s challenge as an opportunity to gain a tale for himself. Questions about telling and re-telling tales and achieving greatness are a central theme. However, this narrative choice poses a problem, as it results in a movie where we see Gawain wrestle through difficulties on his quest and he’s this strange identity-less puppet, escaped from the children’s puppet show. We as audience are set up to be detached from him, which makes it hard to root for his success or even his survival, despite how pretty and sad Dev Patel may look in a dirty-and-distressed state. This could have been solved without removing those identity themes by giving Gawain, if not great deeds, at least some establishment of his character at the start of the film. He doesn’t have to be likable, but he has to be something more than a drinker and brawler with a faint sense of wanting to prove himself. That is just not enough to make us attached to Gawain’s wellbeing and involved in the quality of his decision making. The rest of the movie doesn't quite build Gawain’s character either. We get that he’s uncertain and afraid, yes, but his actions remain inconsistent, his motivations unclear. His main character arch - that he needs to give up the protection of the enchanted green belt, needs to face fear and consequences rather than to rely on the treacherous protection of witchcraft - doesn’t come off the ground because we only learn close to the very end that the belt is a problem to the completion of his quest. That’s no arch, that’s an exhausting flat march and a sudden steep slope right before the finish line.   

The second problem ties into the first. Namely, you don’t need a strong emotional tie to the characters if there’s a light tone, an adventure with a side dish of some fun and humor perhaps. This movie, however, is anything but light. It’s dark. It’s grim. It’s cold. It’s wet. There’s exactly zero humor. Above all, it’s slow. So slow. Apart from an emotional connection, you also need a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat amount of story tension for this kind of dramatic tone and slow pace to work, and the script just doesn’t build that tension. A shot of Gawain riding through the moor after he leaves his home is just that: the confrontation with the Green Knight is still far away, there’s no looming threat we’re aware of, there’s nothing else to be told or resolved. Together with our emotional detachment it makes for a movie that switches between boring and ridiculously overdramatic, while occasionally looking stunning and taking on deeper questions and parallels. Overall it just makes for a frustrating viewer experience that lacks impact. I was left with a thorough “meh”. Which is a shame, because this movie is very interesting and could have been so good. That clever panning shot showing Gawain as a tied up skeleton should have been devastating. I should have been shouting “No DON”T do that, you IDIOT!” at the screen the moment Gawain scares away his adorable guardian fox. Instead, I couldn’t care less. Come on, Green Knight. Off with his head.    

Some final details to note: erotic movie scenes are normally already awkward, but the scenes in this movie take the usual akwardness next level. At least it’s handled consistently - whether straight or homoerotic, it’s basically all a dissapointment. (That cum shot has scarred my brain forever). Which has its own merit, I guess, but does make for an odd contrast to the camera’s loving, even somewhat objectiving depiction of Dev Patel and the way about every character tenderly touches his face. I’m left wondering what the point was of this choice. It tells something about Gawain’s failure to meet chivalry standards, maybe.  

The scenes which show witchcraft was used to make the Green Knight appear were rather cliché and I don’t think they added anything, as the Christian morality and consequences of relying on witchcraft are already addressed in the theme of the enchanted green belt. Also, it’s frustrating to keep seeing scratched-in runes used as literal magic. As far as our limited knowledge goes, runes were a whole writing system, magical only in the sense that writing something down can have a power of its own. Please, movie makers, think of something original.

Also, torches are terrible for indoor lighting. They burn out quickly and are horribly sooty, so it’s lanterns or candles you want indoors. But the use of the pentacle shown as a common talisman for protection rather than a specific symbol for evil or magic was nice. I’m not equipped to comment much on the choice of costumes and they didn't try to be accurate to a specific historic period and place anyway, but would have loved to see more men in long robes like the beautiful ones they gave king Arthur. Somehow, medieval themed movies only seem to go for the pants and knee-length tunic style for men, while long dress-like garments were in fact very common. Gawain’s beautifully patterned yellow mantle was the brightest point of the entire movie.      

#the green knight #Dev Patel #movie #film #review #medieval #history #medieval literature #chivalry #arthur legend #movie critique

[willowcrowned]

TCW is mostly just very bad, but sometimes it’s so bad it’s good. The prime example of this? The episode where the premise is that Ziro, Jabba’s southern drag queen cousin, has just been broken out of jail by a blue guy with a hat fetish named Cad Bane, and Obi-Wan and his periodic hookup Quinlan Vos have to go get him back. This is just the premise.

Let me explain my thoughts further by way of a recap:

Ziro goes back to his home planet of Swamp Planet and gets imprisoned by the council of slugs, including a weirdly buff one, who are all related to him, making this basically a family reunion but with hired dancers and tons of guns. Now, as it turns out, Ziro’s lip-injectioned frog pop star beard ex girlfriend actually WORKS for the council of slugs, and, in a truly touching scene that I couldn’t stop cackling at, she uses her proboscis lips to kiss him through the cell bars. Cut to Obi-Wan bitching about Quinlan Vos. Cut back to Swamp Planet. 

Frog GF breaks Ziro out of jail and brings them to his... mother? spawner? Hutt biology is never really explained. In any case, the mountain of opaque jello with hands that is possibly Ziro’s mother or, in a less-popular reading, his sugar momma, lends him a ship to get off planet to Teth, where Ziro has hidden a journal full of dirt on each and every member of the slut council. The slug council is understandably mad about this, which is why they imprisoned him in the first place. (I am just now realizing that I forgot to mention the Dirt Journal. Let me assure you that, while a majorly important device for this episode, the Dirt Journal is in no way central to the enjoyment of it. It’s not like anyone watches tcw for the plot.) Cut to Obi-Wan and Biceps McGee bitching at each other, talking to the slug council, etc. Then they go talk to Jello Mountain— Obi-Wan flirts, Quinlan wrecks some shit, typical stuff. I cannot emphasize enough how you really could not expect anything different from these two.

Cut back to Frog GF and Ziro, who are at Ziro’s... father’s(?) grave. Again, I think Hutts are supposed to reproduce asexually, but I respect Filoni for deciding that they Fuck. Brilliant stuff, man. Truly revolutionary. Ziro retrieves the Dirt Journal, turns to Frog GF, about to betray her... and she fucking shoots him. She fucking shoots him on his father’s grave and takes the journal. I think she even blows him a kiss as he squirms about dramatically in his death throes, but I’ll be honest, I was laughing too hard at this point to pay attention.

Then! Obi-Wan, Quinlan, and Blue-Man-Group-Knockoff show up, see Ziro dead, and (for no apparent reason) have a dramatic fight about it. Personally, I think it’s a metaphor for something else, but justifying that would require re-examining every duel in tcw for gay subtext and that would take forever. (I’d like to clarify that the reason it would take forever is not because of the lack of gay subtext, but in fact because of the exact opposite.) Obi-Wan flirts with both of them, Quinlan is annoyed that Obi-Wan is flirting with someone who isn’t him (and is much more annoyed by that, may I add, than the idea of Obi-Wan flirting with someone trying to kill them), and Cad Bane is. (understandably) Mildly turned on. Obi-Wan and Quinlan Vos get tossed off (a cliff) and Bane loses his hat but escapes with his lil jetpack shoes.

Does the episode end with Obi-Wan and Quinlan capturing Bane? Does it end with them getting the Dirt Journal? Does it end with the implied threesome I was half-expecting? Absolutely not. You know what it does end with?

It ends with Frog GF giving the Dirt Journal to Jabba and revealing that she was a double agent all along, and that this was all an elaborate setup to get revenge on her southern drag queen slug ex boyfriend. 

Roll Credits.

#tcw is often just a dumpster fire #but sometimes it is a dumpster fire that is also made up of exploding fireworks #you should really really look away #but you can't #you just. can't #this episode and the episode where R2 and 3PO meet some fairies are my favorites #I think the reasons should be obvious #star wars #tcw #the hunt for ziro #ziro the hutt #obi wan kenobi #quinlan vos #cad bane #star wars: the clone wars

[narrators-journal]

A run-in with a succubus

Here we go, another entry in the dr stone modern Monster AU or whatever. This idea just is so much fun to me, so yeah, expect more ship-focused writing or something lololol. Either way, I hope you enjoy my dumb little ideas~

Succubi and Incubi were arguably the bane of a monster hunter's existence. They were born of already dead souls, so they couldn't be perma-killed like a vampire or werewolf could, they often came with a slew of powers that varied from demon to demon in exact powers and strength, so each one was basically an rng-decided-encounter. Senku, however, didn't really mind dealing with sex demons. So, when he was called to deal with a particularly powerful seeming demon who was harassing an entire neighborhood, he didn't mind and just set to work on sniffing out the sex demon. It didn't hurt that the twenty-year-old hunter had fun drawing out the demon lurking around in the darkness of the night. He enjoyed having the chance to make dry ice bombs, light garbage can fires, or do anything to stir up drama in the quiet neighborhood to cover the fact that he was marking specific spots with symbols that he'd later use to banish the succubus from the area until his ruckus finally drew the attention he wanted and the street's temperature dropped a noticeable and sudden amount, one of the biggest signs that a demon was in the area. The thought of a demon now zeroing in on him in the chilly night honestly sent a thrill down the hunter's spine, or, more-so, Senku was excited to confront a creature he could maybe question and mine for information on his species. However, before he could try to bring back any bit of possibly helpful information about sex demons, he'd have to actually encounter the demon he's supposed to be hunting. So, he just returned to acting like an annoying teen or troublemaker who broke into yards and stole a few things before painting a half finished symbol beside a stranger's trampoline and flopping onto the bouncy piece of equipment to stretch out and wait out the demon. I guess now it's up to waiting. Senku thought with a sigh, hating this period in hunting monsters, having to wait. At least with sex demons, they were pretty easy to lure, despite what his slightly snobby mentor, Xeno Wingfield, always told him. All he had to do was get the demon's attention and then wait for the creature to approach him to attempt to feed. Luckily, maybe, for the apprentice hunter, he ended up dozing off completely on the trampoline, only stirring when he felt himself bounce when the tightly woven surface of the trampoline was jostled. When he woke up with a jump, Senku's crimson eyes were met with a sight that he wasn't exactly used to seeing. In general, the leek-haired man wasn't super experienced with sex, so the sight of someone straddling him with half lidded eyes and a coy smirk was already a surprise, but the added temporary shock of the two tails, one to match each half of his split-colored hair and small, equally mismatched horns sent his brain for a loop in the first few moments of him being awake.         "Ah! I see you've woken up!" the succubus cooed, his hands sliding up the hunter's chest until they were chest to chest with the demon's hips wiggling to make his tails sway as rhythmically as a pendulum, "good morning handsome~ I don't think you'd mind if I maybe had a little nibble from you, would you?" The hunter blinked at the demon's words, taking a moment to register the situation before shaking his head, which seemed to shock the demon. Props to the succubus though, because he adjusted very quickly, just cupping Senku's cheek and sending a wave of tingly sensations across his pale skin. However, it was like the warm, euphoric feeling didn't sink in, didn't reach his brain to turn off the common sense as the creature spoke again,           "Come on now, if you're awake, might as well have a bit of fun with a succubus, right? I'm told I'm quite the catch.~" he tried, giving the man a quick kiss, and while it wasn't at all bad, it didn't spark a hormonal reaction the sex demon seemed to be seeking. "Why aren't you falling under my spell?" he huffed, his dark blue eyes shining with frustration and confusion, but all Senku could do was stare while the demon pushed himself back into a sitting position with lashing tails.             "I’m sorry, was I supposed to do something specific? Was the kiss supposed to do something?" He asked, making the sex demon growl at him,            "It's already weird that you woke up when I was trying to feed on you, but you're not supposed to just shrug off my magic. You're supposed to be horny putty in my hands right now, not laying there staring up at me like a kid during his first damned time." he complained, and all the odd-haired man could do again was shrug at him.             "I get the sense I've maybe offended you..."             "No, I'm not offended." he huffed, "I'm just frustrated. I think I need a moment," with that, he rolled off of the hunter, making him bounce on the lawn toy as the cranky demon sat up, now a distance away, to pout. So, Senku sat up and sat on the edge of the trampoline against the mesh barrier around the circumference of the thing, politely waiting a small stretch of time before trying to question his new companion.              "So, uh, why do you have two tails? Is that normal for incubi and succubi?" He asked after a long moment, turning his red eyes back to the succubus to watch the twin tails flick and lash before the sex demon spoke,             "Kinda rude to ask about my biology before even asking for my name."             "Well, alright, my name's Ishigami Senku, what's yours?" that got the apprentice hunter a dirty look, but he did answer,             "Asagiri Gen," he gave a nod, then repeated his question,             "So, why do you have two tails? Is that normal for sex demons?" He watched said tails fall and send a ripple across the taut surface as Gen sighed,             "I come from a line of strong sex demons, the two tails are a feature I inherited from my family, like how you look like your family has a resemblance to one another, this is my line's shared feature for the most part. No, I do not know the biological reason beyond that, it's just something I have." With that, they returned to a momentary silence, full of Gen throwing inquisitive looks towards the man sent there to banish him, trying to get a read on his intimate details, but the leek wasn't giving him any cues as to any deep dark fetishes or secrets, he was watching him, but with the same curiosity a scientist had towards the lab rat he'd just gotten, not a hint of lust or desire in his body language.               "How often do you have to feed?" The monster hunter asked as the sex demon turned to face him, meeting his own question-filled gaze with his own,              "Y’know what? I'll answer your questions if you answer mine, how about that?" Gen offered, giving him a sweet smile while his tails returned to their gentle swaying, and he pretty eagerly nodded, "Great! I can go about 3 months without food if I feed for a month or so straight. Are you into men?" The blunt question made the hunter blink a bit, but he shook the small shock off,              "Yeah, all of my crushes have been men. Are sex demons all bi? Do you have, like, a 'status quo' sort of sexuality?" As he spoke, the succubus moved closer to him, casually answering as he crawled over as seductively as possible,             "Not that I've seen, though I personally am bisexual, but I generally prefer to go for men~" he hummed, putting his hands on the leek-haired man's thighs so that he got another wave of tingly warm sensations as he leaned closer to his face "How many people have you slept with, dear Senku?" The hunter thought a bit, not reacting strongly to the buzzing feeling across his skin nor how close Gen's face was to his when he spoke,              "I haven't slept with anyone, I rarely get the urge to have sex at all, dear...Asagiri," he hummed, and the sex demon's face turned to a look of 'aha' for a moment,              "Senku, are you asexual at all?" He huffed, narrowing his dark blue eyes at the leek, already knowing the answer, but he answered nonetheless,             "I am gray-ace and homoromantic, I think," he gave another infuriating shrug, "haven't put much thought into the labels." At that, Gen pushed himself off of the hunter, flopping back onto the trampoline and making the hunter bounce briefly into the air,                 "God DAMN IT." He groaned, his tails once again lashing in frustration. So, for a moment or two longer, they sat in silence, until the succubus spoke once again, "I know you're here to banish me from the neighborhood, just go ahead and do it." that honestly surprised the hunter-in-training, making him raise his eyebrows at the demon,               "Really? No fight? No argument?" The monster sat up with a long sigh,               "Yeah, I can't exactly fight you, I'm as physically strong as you are without my powers of seduction," he pointed out, "it wouldn't be that much of a fight," He had a point with that, Senku wasn't that physically strong, so he didn't bother arguing and just climbed out of the trampoline's little barrier and hopped down to the lawn. While he got his paint out of his equipment bag, Gen laid on his stomach and watched him grumpily. Why is he still so pissy about not feeding off me? Senku thought, finally just asking while he tried to re-activate the paint,             "Why are you so grumpy about me not being into you? Haven't you run into an asexual before?" The succubus jumped a bit at the sudden question, but once again covered it pretty quickly,             "I have run into asexuals before, but I was wanting to feed on you, you're really cute." he admitted, and the hunter snorted, beginning to finish up the symbol he'd painted beforehand,             "Well, if it's any consolation, if we run into each other when you're not being a nuisance, maybe you can try to, y'know, properly seduce me." he suggested, and that made the demon perk up and quickly agree. With that, Senku finished up the symbol and Gen was thrown from the neighborhood. Yeah, sure, he'd likely go somewhere else to feed, but the leek's job was done, so he was satisfied and simply returned home with a smile.

#Sengen #dr stone #drst #dr stone au #monster au #succubus!Gen #Monster hunter!Senku #scenario #au

[darlingofdots]

Hey Jo! I just read your fic about sex repulsed Harrow, which I liked a lot, it was sweet and so nice. And if you're ok with it, would mind expanding that thought? Like, I thought about this many times reading the books but something about Harrow's explicit desire for the Body told me she wasn't actually that sex-repulsed. Anyway, it's such an interesting take and I'd love to hear more! Thank you, and have a nice day!

Okay first of all, thank you for reading my fic! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I wasn’t really sure how to answer this, but importantly this response isn’t really aimed at you, specifically, @ohlynchs, but part of a longer series of thoughts I’ve been having re: asexuality and fandom.

So I wouldn’t say Harrow’s relationship with and concept of the Body is sexual at all; she turns to the Body in moments when she is above all desperate for any kind of comfort, because it is the only “person” around who can provide that in a way Harrow considers safe. When she says “please”, we don’t know what she’s asking for! Sure, it could be sexual, but it could also just be a hug, or a pat on the head. When I think about ace!Harrow, I don’t think of the Body as a manifestation of her sexual desires. It’s also really common, especially when you’re unsure or conflicted about your asexuality, to come up with some kind of hypothetical in which you wouldn’t be but that feels safe, because it’s so far removed from reality that it doesn’t feel like a threat. No matter who or what the Body really is, to Harrow it is first and foremost a hallucination. You could also argue that she could be using sex as a form of self-harm (and the Body is already a manifestation of the time she was fully prepared to kill herself), the way you might get blackout drunk.

Secondly, I’m afraid there’s a running theme in fandom that if you say “this character is ace to me”, you will probably be asked to defend your reading. People are much happier to accept and/or claim a character is gay/bi/etc, often in spite of canon material! There’s absolutely no indication of, for instance, Camilla’s sexuality in the books, but if I’d said “I read Cam as a lesbian”, nobody would question that (in fact, one might argue that it’s a widely accepted reading in the fandom). It’s an unfortunate fact that the reasons people cite as to why they don’t think a character is asexual usually directly echo the way ace people are interrogated about their sexuality all the time: are you sure you’re not just traumatised/repressed/gay/religious? Prove it. You’ve read porn, I saw you kiss someone once, are you sure?

I don’t think that’s what you intended, or that everyone who questions an asexual interpretation is acephobic, not at all! But the effect is just so similar, and it’s so exhausting, especially in light of the rampant acephobia in recent years even within the queer community. Asexuality is complicated, has a lot of different nuances, and differs from person to person. If I say a character feels ace to me and you don’t understand why, or you disagree, that’s fine. I’m not asking you to agree with me. But please consider the effect your words might have. Please ask yourself if you would question a different interpretation the same way. There’s little enough representation for us as it is, and we constantly have to explain ourselves in real life already; don’t make us defend why we see ourselves in a character too.

#jo replies #the locked tomb #harrowhark nonagesimus #my writing #asexuality #to be clear i don't care how you interpret a character #whatever resinates with you is amazing #but i'm asking the community in general to extend that same courtesy to asexuals #ohlynchs