#╳ │ ❝ & he speaks ❞ ( ask replies )

[prince-liest]

I’m a sex-repulsed ace, and reading the latest chapter of 666 (as well as your analysis here on Tumblr) made me realize that I have been subconsciously thinking about MY OWN sexuality from an allo perspective? And that it has kinda been messing me up?? Like, ever since I learned that sexual attraction was actually a Thing and that it’s Important To People, I had been carrying around a fear of being deficient in some way and not being able to love to the same extent as allos. (1)

Even though I know logically that’s complete garbage and totally untrue, I felt left out of the loop because people seemed to care strongly about this thing I couldn’t even imagine. Whenever it looked like a relationship might happen I panicked for a reason that I couldn’t understand. But now I’m starting to realize that it’s because I was subconsciously terrified of an ‘ulterior motive’ behind the other person’s reasons for wanting to be with me. (2) That part of the reason they even cared was because of something I don’t experience. So thank you, because this realization just clicked into place while reading your work. The thing is, this way of thinking was just internalized in such a way that I didn’t even realize it was there until literally this week. And I think you’re right; one of the main reasons behind that is because I’ve always consumed media written from an allo perspective. (3) If ace/aros are shown at all, they’re depicted as “lacking” and their character development usually revolves around being “fixed” by the story. When I was ~10 years old my mom sometimes let me watch the Big Bang Theory with her (looking back, maybe not the best decision). Anyways, there was one episode deep into the series where Sheldon (who for the past nineish seasons was probably the closest thing to mainstream ace rep) has sex with his girlfriend for the first time. (4) Afterwards, he says something along the lines of “that was better than I thought it would be”, and it’s presented as a Very Good Thing and a big step in their relationship. I think a lifetime of stuff like that makes it very easy to internalize aphobia and feel like the lesser part of the relationship. Or to feel like the other partner is making a huge sacrifice to be with you. That got wayy too long, sorry. All that was just a lot of words to say that I appreciate you. Take care of yourself!(5)

The portrayal of asexuality that you see in media being almost exclusively as you described is very tedious to me because it presumes that something is inherently lacking in aro/aceness rather than that feeling of "lacking" being something that is induced by societal norms. Actually, one of the things that I find additionally alienating is that fandom spaces specifically have been getting better and better about ace characters - but got damn does fandom not jive with aromanticism. Like, a character doesn't want to fuck? That's becoming a liiiittle more fine, it's 2024, we stan consent. But not shipping someone romantically?? Not so easy, now.

I'm glad that my work has been something that resonated with you in this respect! Alastor cares a lot about his reputation as a demon but is pretty blatantly a person who could not possibly give less of a shit about being "wrong" for not being experiencing romantic or sexual attraction. The explanation Viv gave at one point for his own understanding of himself (that he thinks he's just "waiting for the right woman") actually stuck out to me a lot because it's a very "well, nothing is wrong with me for not feeling anything, it's the world that's failed to produce a suitable person" perspective.

But having that kind of confident perspective of your own rightness in the world is really not often portrayed in media, or even in fandom, which even ten years ago was still in the throes of standardizing "Oh, no! Me, gay? These feelings are so wrong!" style m/m content and is honestly not that far off from essentially that for aro/ace characters.

Anyway, all of that is to say that there's not yet much out there that doesn't frame allo/amatonormative values as the default that "even aro/ace people can (and should want to) achieve," and that it's really fun to write a fic that is unequivocally from the perspective of a character who is aroace and doesn't see it as even remotely a fault in himself. Does he have moments where he's a little confused and trying to process how things fit for him? Absolutely. But he just doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who thinks he owes romance to Vox of all people, hahaha. I've written him trying to conform to allo/amatonormativity more with Mimzy, because I think the social standards of their time could push him into it, but Vox? Absolutely not, he does not respect Vox enough for it to even enter his mind.

And then, on the other hand, writing it from an aroace perspective centers the way that romantic and sexual interest can feel like a betrayal of a good thing. With a character like Alastor, it frames romantic and sexual attraction the same alien way that we usually see aromanticism and asexuality framed as.

In the end, this is just one of a plethora of different experiences that aro/ace people can have, but it's one that I really wanted to see represented more, so I'm very happy to write it. I'm glad that you're enjoying it!

[moonshynecybin]

The current motogp grid is put into the hunger games who is winning?

so easily marc it is NOT even funny.... as babynflames has said if he got trapped in a situation where he needed to lop off a limb and it wouldnt effect his riding he'd get that done instantly np. he is insane he loves winning he EASILY compartmentalizes his other competitors as obstacles that he will shove aside in REAL LIFE let alone fictional hunger games world. hes taking it i fear. but he WILL come out the other side deeply scared both mentally and physically... maybe he DOES have to lop off his arm and they give him a prosthetic but sometimes it aches at night and he shivers...

anyways yaoi alert below the cut for those interested:

its the all-victor QUARTER QUELL where shit gets saucy in my opinion! vale as a fellow mentor... a well-liked victor that marc idolized as a kid who's been paraded around like a pony ever since... known for how fun (read: not fun comma scarring) his games were (vale was like 17 fuck ass bob big neon yellow tribute uniform internally screaming desperately playing to the cameras to survive. maybe won by doing equal parts looney tunes style pranks and his absolute ruthless efficiency with a blade.)

so him and marc see each other once a year for a few weeks around the games (similar to motogp they DO have to continually revisit the places they were most traumatized every year huh) and start a lil smth... gravitate towards each other when theyre both trapped in the capitol... wake up in each others beds most mornings and share looks across tables when the capitol socialites start soliloquizing... but they know cant do any more than that bc theyre in different districts (also: trauma.) so they keep it as casual as they can, even if marc's breath catches in his chest sometimes when vale looks at him, and when vale wakes up at home its with an arm reaching over the place in his bed he knows marc should be... and the capitol maybe doesnt know theyre fucking but IS certainly selling the friendship between two of its most popular victors to the cameras HARD... it is known that they tend to chat. it has been noted that they giggle. the panopticon has noticed the marc-being-a-weirdo-in-press-conferences stare.

anyways so the quell hits and marc gets reaped along with vale (who has been quietly supporting rebellious activity for years... gathering strength and numbers.... talking to the other aliens... using his icon status to sway the districts... ) and vale KNOWS the capitol will use marc against him. knows that they know he cares about him. knows that theyre doing this to get rid of them both—keep him in line. (actually in this scenario maybe marc pulled a katniss berry move to keep both him and alex alive. accidental revolutionary icon lol) and keeping marc close will only make the capitol try even harder to kill him which he cant STAND. and all marc knows is that suddenly vale pulls away hard, cold and abrupt. starts talking madddd shit about him in all of his interviews and press... and marc thinks vale is doing it to hype himself up to kill him in the arena and it KILLS him... he thought he was in tragic star crossed love... but he also keeps trying to convince himself he can bring himself to do the same when the time comes, even if it feels like a hole in his chest.... he has to get back to alex. so its awfullllllll until they get in the arena and (INSERT CATCHING FIRE PLOT WHERE THEY BUST TF OUTTA THERE...) and when marc wakes up, blinking and pale and groggy and without his prosthetic, vale is holding his hand by his bedside. and in a low, hoarse voice he starts to explain....

[lawrussoauto]

big fan of whatever weird fucked up family dynamic jessica louis and harvey have going on

[bitedownme]

Scarlett King what do you think about the hanged king ?

: Doesn't seem interested in answering this in more detail either. :

[corrodedcoughin]

Thinking about steddie future where they're both just average guys. No rockstars, no basketball players just two Normal men living a normal life because honestly? they deserve it. They deserve soft domesticity and happiness.

They both have jobs they like but don't love and they're happy with that. Eddie maybe becomes an electrician, working for someone else's company. His coworkers are chill, he gets to get out and work with his hands and that's more than he could have asked for. Steve is a physical therapist, or a manager in some business. He likes his team and the steady hours. He's not working for his dad which is a plus.

They buy a house together, that's not a mansion but it's not a trailer either. Steve does a lot of the dishes because Eddie hates it, hates the feeling of old food on the plates and cutlery. So Eddie will kiss Steve on the cheek and does the laundry because Steve fucking hates laundry. And sitting on the floor watching TV while he folds clothes is honestly sort of relaxing?? Love is doing the chores your partner hates.

Steve and Robin go out for brunch at least once a month, where they catch up and gossip for hours and hours and Steve comes home lighter with updates on Robin and Vickie. Eddie will have nightly phone calls with Wayne, where they talk and laugh and Eddie will eventually hand the phone over to Steve so he and Wayne can talk sports together. When he's in town Dustin will come over and stay in their spare room and they laugh and joke so much it's just like old times. They go over to Jeff's house for dinner on a semi regular basis, and it's nice having normal friends.

They adopt a very annoying cat who will climb all over them in bed and meow in their faces when they don't wake up to feed it breakfast in time. Steve will go for jogs on a Saturday morning, coming home to Eddie reading in bed. Some old western book Wayne recommended to him. There's a steaming cup of coffee waiting on their bedside tables that Eddie's prepared.

They take time off of work and go on a week long vacation because they can do that now. They do dorky touristy things and Eddie buys a mug to send to Wayne. Steve takes a lot of dorky photos of the two of them.

Idk they deserve to be normal and alive and happy with no upside down anymore <3

Oh I love this! I had actually been thinking about tradesman Eddie for a little bit I am so, so glad you’ve come up with this!

I can so completely see him learning a trade and just getting employed and put through his time by a small local employer! He has to go through his exams and that part of it worries him when he first gets the job but his team end up being really supportive and Steve stays up late with him, practicing circuits and wiring and quizzing him on currents and volts. Eddie returning the favour, letting Steve mark up his muscles and be a living anatomy dummy. Sure it gets a little sexy from time to time but more often than not it’s just them testing each other as Steve identifies bones and Eddie talks about parallel circuits.

The monthly brunches mentally and physically revive Steve after working extended hours with patients that he really does want the best for but a jobs a job and it can get pretty tiring. They joke that they rebalance each others chakras but they really do feel realigned after their meet ups. Eddie can see it to, sometimes he’ll come pick them up when it’s been a boozy brunch and delights in seeing them happy and light, clambering over each other to tell Eddie something about one of the waiters or an especially good dish they ordered. When he drops Robin home Steve sits in the front and looks at peace and Eddie feels the same way.

Their weekends are for them, sometimes that means staying home and cleaning the whole place between ordering food in and sometimes that means going on a day trip and taking Wayne around all the antique spots around the county and seeing what horrors they can uncover. Top spot currently sits with Wayne’s find of a doll whose limbs had been replaced with horse legs and had the head of a fish. Of course they bought it.

Every time they go on a holiday they make sure to send postcards to everyone, including themselves, seeing if they’ll get home before the postcard does. Steve keeps them in a photo album, each with a Polaroid of them next to it. Sometimes taken by a stranger, sometimes just a close up of their faces squashed together. It’s Eddie’s favourite thing to go through on their anniversary, or any day really, just loves being reminded that this is the life they get to have.

It’s mundane, dare say even normal, but they love it. Steve comes home every night, happy to put his scrubs in the washing machine next to Eddie’s uniform, happy to be where he feels loved.

[fisheito]

@trainto1925 and now u got ME thinkin!!!

wondering when eiden would have gotten good enough at plushie making to create his entire harem in doll form. ...possibly around the time blade showed up. eiden got a lot of practice making thousands of Eiden Plushies as gifts 🤣

imagining how eiden starts to do a lot of impromptu "visualisation" exercises when blade joins the roster

BLADE: but why was lil yakumo embarrassed when i showed garugaru the box in front of-- EIDEN: (sighing goodnaturedly) ok, say..um *grabs the nearest two items* pretend this cup is garu, and this spoon is yakumo---

after some repetition, eiden wonders if blade will understand better if he just has dolls representing everyone thus begins the plushie brigade

[melverie]

on a scale of 1 to satan how bbg is mephisto

Satan has had far more time to establish his place as the ultimate babygirl (to me at least), so I can't give Mephisto the honor of being anywhere near his level but man the devs are making sure that he's at least getting close

I mean he

is the local horsegirl

apparently has a massive sweet tooth

stakes his entire self-worth on being useful to the future ruler of the land

seems to be great with kids

is super diligent. Just look at how much effort he is putting into journalism despite absolutely having no interest in pursuing that field in the future

is an honorary member of the Anti-Lucifer League, yet refuses to spread any false information about him in the school newspaper and mostly ends up singing his praises instead

runs said newspaper (and as someone who did the same for a year, I respect that a lot)

isn't really all that interested in MC, which is a nice change of pace

and finally, seems to dye his hair purple which makes him look like an eggplant <3

Also when he saved MC from falling on the ground and then brushed it off afterwards because he "only did what anyone would have done" back in season 4? That part was so good

ALSO Solmare could easily give him the perfect blushing face. Just look at him

[oh-my-chocolate]

laurence: temeraire is a fully realized individual :)

laurence, when another dragon is also a fully realized individual:

laurence: on my way to the dragon training grounds where the dragons are trained! boy i wonder who will train these dragons

[wingsofhcpe]

"why are you in Germany if you don't speak German" idk man why are all of YOUR stupid fuckin countrymen in Greece every summer even tho they don't speak greek OR english??? huh??? wanna play old fucker????

[redux-iterum]

Thank you both for the kind words, I very much appreciate them. I'm sorry you also lost a pet recently, Electric - it's worse than I remember every time. I just have to be content knowing he's in a better place and he won't have to suffer lymphoma and arthritis anymore. I do feel a distant, flaring fury at his previous owner for never taking him to the vet (I suspect we could have prevented that intestinal cancer if he'd caught the gut problems in time and gave enough of a shit to take care of it), but it's not productive. What's done is done. Even if I'd pay good money to get away with throttling the motherfucker.

I actually debated on if I should put him down today, because over the weekend he perked up on some medicine and seemed to be going uphill a little - though if I was even a little late to give him that medicine, he would shut down and huddle in pain. When I brought that up to the vet, he sadly told me that the dosage Rocky was on should have cured him completely, not just made him more or less stable, if this was fixable. I'm eternally grateful for his honesty when he said that putting it off would just make things harder for me, and potentially worse for Rocky if the medicine stopped working. I ended up making the decision to do it today, as miserable as it made me.

It's funny. Geno's death was difficult and extremely painful, but somehow Rocky was the harder one to put down. At least with Geno, I had fourteen years with him, and I knew those years were good. Rocky was such a brief blip in my life, and yet I spent the entire weekend and drive to the vet trying to find a way out of putting him down today and wondering if I was doing the right thing. Odd thing to happen.

[claitea]

THIS EVENT WAS MADE FOR MEEEEE

[fanworldbuildingfun]

So… yandere!Altaïr x Desmond… where Altaïr has the social grace of a cat when it comes to romantic gestures and believes that killing people he thinks are annoying Desmond or a threat to his safety is a good sign of his affection. Since he can’t just give Desmond a feather stained in blood (that would be ‘tacky’), he gives him gifts that once belonged to his targets. (1/2)

(2/2) Desmond knows they’re from people he killed but mistakes them as actual sanctioned kills from the Brotherhood because everyone Altaïr kills are bad people anyway. Desmond knows Altaïr is giving him gifts that came from his targets but he just assumes it’s Altaïr’s way of giving gifts since Masyaf doesn’t give him extra money, only enough for travel expenses. Until Altaïr presents him a very familiar dagger. Al Mualim’s favored dagger.

So… Let’s start it off with the premise that Altaїr begins his courtship without informing Desmond of it

And that Desmond is not within the Brotherhood, or, indeed, had any direct contact with them

In the moment between touching the Eye and awaking, the only thing that Desmond felt was heat. Searing, piercing, all-encompassing heat that set every single nerve in his body ablaze. It left little space for anything but feeling it crawl through his body. He didn’t think he even had a chance to scream. But…

It softened, eventually. Concentrated on one side. Slid across his arm and clothing like a warm, unwanted blanket. A blanket he was… Laying on?

It took a few moments for Desmond to realize he was no longer in the Temple. He wasn’t even standing

And the ground beneath his body scorched

It takes a while for Desmond to reach a city, any city, and he is in no hurry to move on. So… He starts settling in. Find himself a place to stay. Makes nice with the locals. Avoids the guards. Rests.

Takes odd jobs here and there, from helping to carry things to a one-off where he penned a letter for someone and got paid for it

It takes him weeks before he even realizes the city he is in is Damascus, and even that comes because he overhears a merchant complaining about something or other being too expensive there. That makes Desmond realize just where he is, if not when. The when comes when Desmond goes out to do some recon on his own and almost manages to run into an Informant

(But that, is another story entirely… Suffice to say, the informant shook his tail – but left Desmond be the one to have to deal with them)

That… Complicates things, for Desmond. Because now that he no longer has the bliss of ignorance on his side, he has to be careful. Careful to avoid not just the guards and Templars, but to stay boring enough to remain off Brotherhood’s radar. He is just settling in, and he doesn’t even know if he wants to do more than keep himself in shape and run his slowly flourishing scribe business.

In the end, it was his decision to stay anonymous that did him in

Desmond developed a reputation for being a reliable, discreet scribe – and at some point, he ended up penning a letter for someone who would end up passing it on to the local Bureau. Where it would raise questions – because the hand it is written in mirrors Altaїr’s hand. What luck, then, that the man is in town – and can be sent to investigate the oddity?

And this is how Desmond and Altaїr meetTo the end of his days, Desmond would not be able to explain how he managed to keep a straight face when the door (and yes! He finally had a door!) to his house/office opened and in walked his ancestor. 

* * * 

From there I see Desmond managing, somehow, to play himself off as a civilian to Altaїr, and one Altaїr takes a liking to visiting. Mixing business with pleasure, as it were - because Desmond still has the habit of monitoring his surroundings, and with his livelyhood literally consiting of writing down information...

Sometimes, he is able to share more information with Altaїr than even the Bureau can provide. He just makes sure to wrap it out as part of casual conversation - sometimes as gossip, sometimes worded as an anecdote. A straight warning, when he can get away with it. Somehow, this ends up with him writing letters to Malik whenever Altaїr stumbles into his shop dead on his feet

(yes, I am using this as an excuse for Malik and Desmond being penpals. Altaїr even names Malik as his sibling, in what Desmond supposes is an attempted moment of discretion)

And that is where I can see Altaїr starting to go yandere. At first it’s well meaning - keeping away undesirables to keep one of his better informants safe. Then, as the talks grow longer and stray away from work matters - because he doesn’t want to see Desmond hurt

It’s not that he intended to start bringing Desmond gifts - it was something more of an... Overcorrection. See, one time during a friendly argument Desmond ended up throwing a feather at Altaїr, that somehow managed to get stuck in his hood. And it was somewhat of a reflex to use it the next time Altaїr had to get rid of a guard that paid a littlee too much attention to Desmond’s shop. And with Desmond acting just close enough to how a Dai’s role - it was as much of a reflex to present him with the bloodied feather when they next met

Altaїr took the panic on Desmond’s face as an aversion (it wasn’t; but Desmond went through several cycles of “oh shit he knows” in the few brief minuted it took for Altaїr to speak again) - and next time, it was a trinket he snatched instead

It takes a few gifts before Desmond’s belief that he managed to play incognito melts away like fog under morning sun

A set of cups he recognized from one of the assassinations he remembers Altaїr performing in the rich district

A sash from a particularly noisy merchant in the local souk

A bracelet he had once seen on a... Particularly lingy lady who would not leave him be whenever they crossed paths on the city square

And the hoard keeps growing, to the point Desmond is cautiously making sure everything is stashed out of direct line of sight. No need for someone else to recognize what these were, right? But it’s difficult, because Altaїr is visiting often these days - and Desmond doesn’t realize that the information he has been leaking to him is speeding things along Too fast, even. Because someone among Dai makes a note of this in their report to Masyaf. And Dsmond becomes a person of interest - to either be recruited, or removed Which... Doesn’t go nearly as seamlessly as it would have for any other person. Why? Because Desmond is known. And he left enough hints around people started questionin Al Mualim - Malik being chief of them. When Altaїr brought his own doubts to Malik? That was one of the last nails Naturally When Altaїr brought Al Mualim’s blade to Desmond Desmond finally had his full blown freak out

[randommusicalfluff]

PLEASE tell me that dev has said "a fairy? peri the fairy?!?!" at least once

I, someone who has no relation at all with the writers team or creative team on FOP:NW, can absolutely confirm without a doubt that he HAS said this at least once

[keiyaku-tako]

AZU LETS PLAY CARS 🏎🚗 vroom vroom vrooooom nyiiiiiwwwwwwww

What.

[desertduality]

Anyone have tips for writing Cub? It’s my first time trying and I’m overthinking everything /lh

[fudge24-7]

Ok while I do agree what caine did is messed up, I don't see anyone coming to his defense with this point, and I feel like it should be considered more

Tadc spoilers ahead for episode 2 if you don't have the tags filtered:

Caine didn't have any way to know gumigoo was centient, I know it was easy to forget that when we as the audience could clearly see it, I did too for a moment but, when you think about it, he didn't see gumigoo become self aware like we did. Like he's said he only has eyes on the circus, and while I don't 100% trust every word he says, the fact he didn't just close the portal the moment gumigoo approached, or hell intervene the moment pomni mentioned bringing him back, Instead just seeming surprised when he noticed gumigoo there, it shows to me that he really doesn't see what happens there, so he most likely didn't know. from his perspective pomni just got way too attached to a character he created, he had no way to know why she did or that he was more then what he made him now