#But I do agree with what the OP of that thread pointed out of like

[everwhovian]

OP, you are a wonder! All the angsty gems you're gifting to us absolutely made my last few days, we love suffering with our favorite characters <3

Would I be too greedy by coming in with another ask? I just finished rereading the AU where Jun-ho makes In-ho choose Yuna as they are both sick, and I was left wondering... how will Yuna take that promise? I feel like her and Jun-ho deserve to have a proper conversation over this... (bonus points if In-ho is actually listening in through the door or something) (no pressure though, I'm already really grateful for all that you've written for us)

Also, that 31st chapter is amazing! I'm losing my mind over how In-ho is seeing more and more of his brother in Young-Il... fuck, why are they all so doomed :(

No no no no no it's never too greedy to come with another ask! Thank you so much! It breaks my own heart how much In-ho sees Jun-ho in Young-il, yes.... yes doomed is the right word...

Yuna does not take the promise well... she's so fixated on scolding Jun-ho for that impossible decision that she kinda forgets that Jun-ho is only sixteen and as scared as she is... so she is a little mean to Jun-ho... she just loves him so much! And doesn't agree with the promise at all! So she chews him out for it.

(continuation of this part)

❛ ━━━━━━･❪ ○△□ ❫ ･━━━━━━ ❜

The wheels of the hospital bed squeak slightly as Jun-ho is pushed into the room, the nurse maneuvering carefully past monitors and IV poles. The room smells like antiseptic and faint vanilla from the lotion Yuna always keeps tucked in her drawer.

She’s lying propped up against the pillows, pale but awake, her dark hair pulled back in a loose bun. Her eyes light up when she sees him.

“Hi, stranger,” she says, voice scratchy but teasing.

Jun-ho’s lips twitch. “Hi, noona,” he replies, looking her over. “You look like shit.”

She snorts. “Takes one to know one.”

He grins as the nurse locks the brakes and lowers the bed. “Seriously, though, did they wheel you in from the morgue and forget to mention it?”

Yuna raises an eyebrow. “That’s rich coming from the human skeleton with IVs.”

He laughs, but it comes out weaker than he intends. Still, the sound fills the room in a way neither of them realized they missed. There’s a pause as the nurse finishes adjusting his monitors, says something about checking in on them later, and exits the room quietly.

Jun-ho sinks into the pillow and sighs. “Nice place. Shame about the decor.”

Yuna glances around. “I dunno. It’s growing on me. Who doesn’t love beige walls and existential dread?”

They share a grin, fragile and real.

For a moment, it almost feels normal.

But then Jun-ho catches it – her expression, the subtle shift. She’s still holding the smirk, but it’s hollow now. Strained. The amusement falters in her eyes. Something sharper creeps in around the edges. Her lips press together, and she looks at him for just a second too long.

He frowns. “What?”

Yuna doesn’t answer right away. She looks down at her blanket, fingers plucking at a loose thread. Her shoulders are tense.

Jun-ho’s stomach twists. “You know.”

Yuna exhales slowly, like she’s been holding that breath since he was wheeled in. She turns her head and stares at the ceiling.

“Of course I know,” she says. “He wouldn’t look at me. He kept saying things like ‘it’ll be okay’ and ‘don’t worry.’ You know how bad he is at lying.”

Jun-ho gives a weak laugh. “He’s the worst.”

“Truly. I’ve seen cats cover their shit with more subtlety.”

They both chuckle again, but it doesn’t last. The silence afterward is heavier. Like they’ve stepped into something they can’t joke their way out of.

She looks at him, unblinking. “He only says that when he’s already made the worst decision of his life.”

Jun-ho swallows hard. “Yuna –”

“You made him promise.”

He doesn’t answer.

“You made him choose me.”

Still nothing.

Yuna’s hand clenches the sheet.

“I was going to do that,” she says, voice shaking. “I was going to make the choice for him. I knew he’d never... I was going to tell him – beg him – to pick you.”

Jun-ho closes his eyes.

“But you beat me to it.” Her voice cracks. “You didn’t even let me do that for you,” she whispers. “You didn’t even let me try.”

Jun-ho turns his head toward her, his voice low. “I couldn’t let him choose.”

“You didn’t have to,” she says.

“I did.” His fingers twitch against the blanket. “I saw him... He broke, noona. I’ve never seen him break like that.”

Yuna’s throat bobs. “He told me he wouldn’t survive losing us...”

Jun-ho’s chest heaves. “I couldn’t... noona, he would have – I couldn’t let him!”

“You think I don’t know?” Her voice rises. “You think I don’t know how much he loves you? That I don’t see it every time he looks at you like you’re the only thing in the world that makes sense?”

Tears are in her eyes now, fierce and hot.

“You are everything to him, Jun-ho. I knew – I knew – he would pick you, even if it killed him. But I thought I could make it easier. I thought I could take that choice from him. Because you were always the right choice.”

He flinches.

“I’ve loved you like my own since you were seven. I was always going to choose you, too.”

“Please don't be angry” Jun-ho whispers.

“Jun-ho, you didn’t let me say it,” she cries. “Because you made the choice without me. Because you think your life is worth less than mine.”

“I don’t –”

“You do.” Her voice is sharp. “You do. You think you’re some afterthought, some clingy little brother who ruined his life by existing. But he built that life around you, Jun-ho. And I did, too.”

Jun-ho turns his face toward the window, jaw clenched tight. His shoulders rise slightly, like he’s bracing against a chill, but really, it’s to keep the sob from slipping out.

Yuna’s voice softens, but it’s no less firm.

“I want to live,” she says. “But not like this. Not at the cost of you.”

He starts to shake his head.

“No,” she cuts in. “Listen to me.”

Outside the door, In-ho freezes. He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. But now he’s rooted there, silent, his heart breaking all over again.

Inside, Yuna keeps going, tears slipping down her cheeks.

“I want to wake up and know you’re out there, getting better. Laughing too loud, stealing the last bite of food, making dumb jokes. I want to know that the world still has you in it.”

Jun-ho’s voice cracks. “It’s your world too.”

She nods. “And I was willing to let it go for you. You didn’t have to make that call alone.”

“I couldn’t risk him choosing wrong,” Jun-ho says, breathless. “I couldn’t let him lose you.”

Yuna laughs – broken, wet. “Do you hear yourself? You made him choose me. You are the loss, Jun-ho.”

He flinches like she’s struck him.

Then –

“I didn’t mean that,” she says, softer now. “But can’t you see? It’s not heroic. It’s cruel.”

Yuna swallows thickly and shifts as much as her failing body allows, reaching across the small gap between their beds. He bites his lip so hard it nearly breaks. His whole body shakes.

“I didn’t know what else to do,” he whispers. “He looked so… gone, Yuna. And I – I thought if I could just make the choice, it would hurt less. For both of you.”

Her voice wavers. “But you didn’t save him from the pain. You just made it lonelier.”

Jun-ho doesn’t speak.

He just sits there, shaking.

Yuna sees it – his fists clenched in the blankets, his eyes glassy and stubborn, the guilt eating him alive – but before the dam breaks, before he shatters completely, she speaks again.

Her voice is low. Fierce.

“And let me make one thing very clear,” she says. “I don’t accept it.”

Jun-ho blinks, startled.

“This promise,” she continues, jaw tight. “I don’t accept it. I don’t care that you made him choose. I don’t care what either of you think is noble or right or fair. I won’t stand for it.”

“Noona –” he tries, but she cuts him off.

“You don’t get to throw yourself away like that,” she says. “Not for me. Not for anyone.”

She leans forward, eyes burning into his.

“I will fight for you, Jun-ho. Do you hear me? I will fight with every ounce of strength I have left, even if it’s the last thing I do. Because you are mine. Because you are his. And we will not lose you.”

Jun-ho’s mouth parts, but the words won’t come. His throat is too tight.

Yuna sees it again now – the bravado peeled back, the trembling lip, the too-wide eyes he’s trying to hide. The guilt that doesn’t belong to him.

He looks so small. So impossibly young.

And all of this – this choice, this grief, this unbearable weight – it should never have been his to carry.

Jun-ho’s shoulders shake, silent sobs ripping through him. He curls inward, body trembling as if trying to disappear into himself.

“I’m sorry,” he chokes. “I’m sorry, noona.”

Yuna’s breath catches. All the anger, the heartbreak – the betrayal of having that choice stolen from her – melts under the sight of him like this. Not as the stubborn boy who made an impossible decision. But as what he truly is:

A sixteen-year-old kid.

Scared. Fragile. Trying so hard to be selfless, he forgot that his life mattered too.

“Oh, sweetheart,” she whispers, voice breaking. “Come here.”

Jun-ho shakes his head, tears streaking his face. “I’m sorry,” he chokes. “I’m so sorry. I just – I want you to live. I didn’t want him to – he always chooses me, noona. Always. I didn’t want to make him –”

Yuna doesn’t hesitate.

She pulls herself upright, wincing as she shifts even closer across the bed, and she reaches for him.

“Hey. Look at me. Jun-ho.”

He lifts his head, barely, and the second she sees the wreckage in his expression – cheeks flushed with crying, breath hitching – her heart splinters.

She leans across and cups his tear-streaked face in both hands.

“Oh, baby,” she whispers, brushing his hair back. “It’s okay. You’re okay. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But I –”

“No,” she says firmly. “You’re sixteen, Jun-ho. Sixteen. You’re still just a boy. And you were trying to protect the people you love. That makes you good.”

He tries to respond, but he can’t. His whole body shudders, broken sobs escaping his throat as he presses his forehead to her shoulder.

And Yuna holds him.

Arms wrapped tight around his thin frame, she lets him fall apart against her. She cards her fingers through his hair and whispers every soft thing she can think of.

“You were never a burden,” she murmurs into his hair, fiercely. “You’re our light. You always have been. I wish you could see yourself the way we see you.”

Jun-ho clutches at her like he’s drowning.

“Shh,” she breathes. “I’m here. I’m right here, and I love you so much, Jun-ho.”

She wraps both arms tighter around him, rocking him slightly like she used to when he was ten and feverish, curled on their couch under a blanket.

From the hallway, In-ho leans back against the wall, fists clenched, eyes brimming. He hears every word. Every sob. Every whispered reassurance.

And he wants to go in.

He wants to hold them both, take it all back, promise a world where none of this had to happen.

But he can’t.

All he can do is listen.

He sinks to his knees against the wall, burying his face in his hands, the weight of both their love pressing into him like a vice.

He had always feared losing one of them.

Now he knows: no matter how the choice ends, he’s already lost something he’ll never get back.

❛ ━━━━━━･❪ ○△□ ❫ ･━━━━━━ ❜

(A/N: so, I wouldn't call it a proper conversation cause they're both very emotional. But can you blame them?)

[teddykaczynski]

apparently theres this whole rule about how men should not wear cowboy boots with shorts. im finding article after article and reddit thread and thread about it and a big point is that. it makes you look gay. but they dont say it that way out right. they also say its fine for women to do it totally but if youre a man? no. this on reddit thread a guy asked the question and another dude answered saying no cause you may attract gay men (in a more subtle way) and then op replied to that guy saying he was bi and he doesnt care if he attracts men but also hes too masc for a lot of the men he meets cause he doesnt care about drag race. i dont think its that big a deal at all obviously i think most social rules like this are dumb but its very fascinating. what if its hot out. but then people are like if its hot enough for shorts its too hot for boots. i dont agree with that.

[regretevator-confessions]

If you can tell who this is, don’t out me please. I just want this out here. Also fair warning, I yapped a lot and this is directly about the server, since I lurk a lot in there. Sorry!

Some of the mods in the server feel.. very eh to me? A lot of threads that have been closed for “arguments” could’ve been solved with a simple working of striking or deleting the argument so it doesn’t absolutely murder the suggestion. It’s kind of upsetting to see that.

I think my main issue with this method as well is the fact that someone could do targetted harassment, say that someone is “possibly ableist” and then not get striked ALONE on that.

The only reason they were ‘possibly ableist‘ is because they “insulted his intelligence” by saying “real smart fella we got here”. That’s not ableism in the slightest I feel. Allowing people like this to roam the server, where they could throw around shit like that just because they were offended, is generally not that good of a strategy. It’s a great way to cause accusations and drama though.

Locking the thread instead of genuinely handling the situation and person who was targeting harassment (because people didn’t agree with his opinion, btw. he was public about ❌ing a suggestion so he could grief and the suggestion was to literally prevent griefing with a specific special floor, you figure it out. of course people aren’t going to agree with jack the griefer here.) is a very odd and unfair way of handling the situation. Why did that persons thread have to be locked for someone elses actions? Why kill an entire suggestion for that? There was one arugment in that thread. That one guy. And the entire thing gets shut down. How disappointing.

Also, he came into the suggestion saying it was a “skill issue suggestion” after he blocked the op, the op had blocked him back as well, so there was really no point to doing it. He was purposely causing shit at that rate, which should’ve been handled. but it wasn’t.

The server mods genuinely tire me sometimes. When it comes to handling things they’re not the best. Tickets go unanswered for days— which is especially bothersome to me personally.

Also the fact that some of the devs / VAs have several strikes or actively have made jokes that are banned in the server (ex the person in workshop having a 9/11 banner & Gregoriahs VA saying a 9/11 joke on donator stage) is insanely hypocritical. Whatever your stance is on these jokes are, I hope you can at least agree with it being heavily hypocritical and that they shouldn’t be made in a huge server like that.

Can’t make a KMS joke in that server either, but Stat saying kill yourself can certainly make it onto the starboard and not be taken down! It’s pure hypocrisy at some point. I don’t know, I don’t understand.

I really just wish that server was handled better. It feels like a mess they can barely control otherwise. I feel bad that they have to even deal with it— because it feels like a nightmare, but also I just feel concerned for the way the server is handled because of that bit.

They definitely need more mods at the very least. That server is way to big for that little amount of moderators.

..Also, why is Dandy’s World not unblacklisted yet? I don’t like the game at all, but at the very least, I know those assets were replaced and the drama is over. The whole reason of it still being blacklisted was the assets being in-game still, but they’re gone.

(+ Apparently Sr Pelo is blacklisted as well despite it not being listed anywhere? When emotes were being suggested, Spooky Month was shot down because ‘Sr Pelos a bad person’ when I don’t even know what the hell thats about. Spooky Month is literally everywhere I can think of so it stands out to me that specifically Axosun has a issue with it.. because of.. something???)

.

[sueske]

I recently saw this post: https://www.tumblr.com/t1sunfortunate/702023527979728896/the-unfortunate-reality-is-that-sns-just-isnt

And I was just baffled by it because like, there is reflexion there, but op seem to think that the fact that Naruto and Sasuke love each other is a retcon of the story??? I see a lot of Sasuke fans including my mutuals reblogging it and agreeing with it… I wonder if anyone is interested in debunking this

Idk how so many people reblogged a post that is just so wrong. Is it because it’s ‘well put together’ and sounds ‘intellectual’ that people are inclined to agree with it and think it checks out? Reminds me of this quote from afrogarou on tiktok actually:

Because how do you read Naruto and get this?

Naruto and Sasuke understood each other’s loneliness from the start. They were two lonely kids and they recognised that in each other. which is why Sasuke came to Naruto’s defence in chapter 3 and overlooked his antics and chose to be nice to him instead. Which is why Sasuke said that naruto understands the pain of loneliness in vote1. Which is why in smol sns’ monologues, they speak of knowing the other was always alone. What they didn’t understand were each other’s actions in response to that loneliness that they then spent the entirety of the manga trying to figure out! Like. That’s the story. For Naruto, every arc ksa inclusive he thought about Sasuke and his feelings and his actions and trying to understand what he was doing, and reflected on his own actions towards sasuke. For Sasuke, he wondered why Naruto would be willing to go so far for him. Of course Sasuke was Naruto’s ‘driving force’ so he received a greater focus from Naruto’s side, while Sasuke’s driving force wasn’t Naruto. That doesn’t mean their relationship was a retcon. the thread that connected them from the start was loneliness. their journey to reaching an understanding ended in reconciliation. how do you miss the point that badly…

oh and about this-

it’s sasuke who says that in response to naruto.

The rest of it doesn’t even merit a response.

[nguyetmunff]

https://www.tumblr.com/domiamanelle/779274455438524417/rayne-and-finns-relationship-the-analysis?source=share

Do you agree with this post?

Well, the OP did say that they're a Rayne fan and they don't like Finn up front so this is par for the course imo. I agree with the general theories they listed since it's either explicitly stated by canon afterwards or I don't have enough proof to disprove their claims.

The difficult thing about Rayne is 90% of his actions that are visible to the readers are ridiculously convoluted and the remaining 10% is a backstory that make sense, so it's normal for the audience to latch onto that 10% to explain the character away, since any attempt at interpreting the 90% will be treading into headcanon territory.

Meanwhile, Finn's problem is 95% of his characterization falls perfectly within standard shonen sidekick territory and 5% is his relationship with Rayne. It's a dangerous combo since both their characters will inevitably be reduced down to each other alone.

OP list a lot of examples but I'll just pick one: the fight with Carpaccio. Power-wise, Finn isn't comparable to the likes of Lance, Dot, Mash and yet he's attending one of the top academy in the nation. It's a stretch to say he doesn't belong at Easton since it's been established with Wahlberg's leniency on Mash being magicless that Easton isn't meant to be a place for only powerful magic users to attend (the narrative itself follows the typical shonen route also doesn't help). This doesn't mean Finn is useless and should be taken out of the equation completely.

There are three ways to deal with Carpaccio: 1. fight him (the Mash route) 2. run away (Finn route) 3. immobilize him (I'm calling this the Lemon route since a fellow Mashle writer geniusly pointed out she's his worst enemy since Lemon can restrain him).

If we're doing CYOA—with Lance he's going the Lemon route since his gravity can immobilize Carpaccio. If it's Dot then he's going the Mash route, but I doubt Dot will win since he can't tank the explosion damages bounced back to him. Finn's magic doesn't necessarily harms Carpaccio, but it doesn't beat him either. Relying on his magic alone would mean defeat.

The reason why Finn was able to last is his resilience and loyalty to Mash. OP discounted it, but a stranger has no reason to endure stab wounds like Finn did. You could argue that Mash could've been there faster to save the stranger, but for most people one stab is their absolute limit. And the only reason Mash was so desperately running about searching to begin with is because Mash knew precisely the danger his friend is in: Finn had the only crystal left so he's the easy picking.

You could also argue that Carpaccio is the specific villian put in to make Finn shine, and at that point you might as well throw out the entire storyline since Mash was made to prove the magicless can live alongside the magic users despite most magicless not being as buff as he is.

Another thing I want to note is that Finn might've said "...then maybe my school life can continue as normal..." in the official English translation, but in the original he said 平穏, which roughly translates to 'peaceful/uneventful' which puts a different spin on OP's thread. Regardless, what qualifies as 'normal' vary from person to person; a starving orphan might think selling cans for coins is a perfectly normal job while a rich boy might baffle at the idea of a 9-5. What Finn thinks is 'normal' might not fit the definition of OP's normal even when we didn't know about his backstory.

An interesting character should be able to exist independently from another character, but honestly there are only so many characters we can hyperfixates on so I don't blame OP for not paying as much attention to Finn since Rayne is the more intriguing one. Rayne had his reasons, and we know his backstory, so it make sense to empathize with him, but that empathy doesn't have to extend to justifying his actions. I don't agree with them saying Finn also took part of the blame since Finn had no say in how Rayne treated him.

Rayne can think whatever he wants, and no conclusion is the right one since it was made from his perspective, but you can't blame Finn for being perceived as weak in Rayne's eyes and making him having to push Finn away for Finn's own sake (kinda like an abusive husband blaming his wife for making him want to hit her now that i think abt it). That's taking away both Finn and especially Rayne's agency as their own character. Rayne could be 'mad' all he wants about Finn not doing as Rayne thinks is best for him, but he doesn't get any say in how Finn wants to live his life. Finn isn't some doll that obediently agree with what people wants for him, especially if it's coming from a trusted family member who theoretically should've had his back no matter what he chooses in life.

Other than these three points I agree with OP about the other possible reasons why Rayne cut Finn off. Honestly anything goes since there's a lot we don't know about them since the manga already ended, so OP's interpretations are just as valid as yours or mine tbh

Komoto-sensei pls release another fanbook I beg u—

[ko-existing]

Nothing happened after that wedding venue, not on tumblr atleast. But I did found something slightly amusing😭

https://www.tumblr.com/stateswscarlet/722535405158825986/hi-scarlet-i-agree-with-your-recent-thread-on

The amount of limiting beliefs on this one my god, have had enough of this cause and effects, and I have no clue what's going on with people anymore💀

This is absolutely insane on so many levels. Holy shit. Illusory but insane. I'll still add a few illusory words because I want to. This applies to everyone, not just anon & OP.

Did anon ever say it "worked out" for them? Because I can't read out a thing from this.

I'm not judging anyone but the illusory issue I have with this is that 1. coaching is being offered "I couldn't afford your cheapest call without sacrificing on food for the week" is insane and you can't deny that. 2. How expensive is that call?? 3. What

K quit school too so that's fine but my problem is with "Quitting everything because of your own limitations and in HOPES it gets better". It's so huge you can physically see it across Space. It's not even KNOWING, it's HOPES.

"I quit going to work because I thought It'd mess up my Imagination"

"I had so little money left I wanted coaching from you but couldn't afford your cheapest call"

I can't put in words how mental this is. People are being fed limitations in a "limitless" communities or whatever they're called to the point of them believing every word they read and every word made up by themselves. They eat it up for breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks inbetween without noticing that this shit doesn't make sense.

They create more suffering than there ever was. Fueled by nothing but fear. And for what?

"You are limitless" -> creates a million limits

I'm not even trying to make anyone look bad but do you guys not see how hilarious this is? It was never meant to be this complicated. Why would you even stick to limitations? Why do you accept limitations? Why do you accept suffering by your own hand?

I agree that giving a hundred people advice is draining. We've been there, done that.

If you KNOW all is not what it is, there's no need charging anything for a call or an email where you'd 100% just repeat what you said in a post already. Cherry on top is that it's filled with limitations and not even "limitless" like they claim "We" are.

To anyone who ever thought about paying for anything. Do yourself a favor and don't buy coachings.

" " applies to everything and everyone without an exception in the same exact way.

[pepcono]

Accidentally got lost in the sauce while writing a reply and ended up with a shoddy essay. So I've polished it up a bit and packaged it in more proper essay format.

Special thanks to @\Undeaddream for always reminding me that sometimes the people you disagree with most are those you respect most.

Consider the "egg"

Consider the "cis men" who state things like "I really want to be a woman, but I'm not trans"

Consider those who wish they were trans so that they could escape the torture of their body but believe that it's something that happens to other people.

Consider those who are suffering, but are unable to accept the possibility they're trans.

In other words, the egg.

Some would believe that what harm is caused by classifying and naming this person is inexcusable, "it makes people uncomfortable," "it enforces gender norms," they argue.

Their thoughts dwell on those who believe themselves miscategorised, or those insulted by the insinuation that some of their characteristics could be seen as trans.

But do they stop and consider the egg?

Do they consider how people mobilise the position "you shouldn't tell someone they could be trans"?

The anti-egg position, although often coming from well meaning thought process, could very well do more harm than good.

Speaking anecdotally, I saw a yt comment thread where someone said: "Idk wtf is wrong with me. I really relate to this [a song about hating masculine features of ones body and wanting to be a girl] but I'm not a cis woman nor a trans woman, I am 100% sure I am not trans! Idk, am I just a freak or what?" Now maybe you dear reader see that and take them at their word, but I see someone who's in the same position as I was. Wanting desperately to be feminine, to escape my "male" puberty but due to internalised misogyny and transphobia is unable to admit why, unable to accept the solution.

Maybe what they need to hear is "it is ok to be a woman", "its ok to be trans", "you're not a freak for wanting this"

Maybe what they need to hear is "you don't need to suffer"

Some people did point this out in the replies, but each was met with similar statements of "you should insinuate they're a trans woman, that's rude" Maybe you, the reader, agree with that statement, maybe you're even right. But I know how I would've interpreted it. I would have seen it as a statement that I shouldn't consider the possibility, it would further cement the idea that "real trans people just know, because here's all these trans people sneering at that idea I could be trans"

But honestly, I'll be the first to admit "egg" is not the best term for this (But that's a whole other thing). But I instead bring this up to highlight that anti-egg discourse doesn't really stack up to the hype. It kinda reinforces that "just knowing" misconception.

In some people's haste to protect gnc men from the travesty of being compared to trans women (or worse, mistaken for trans women!), they don't stop to consider the egg.

But maybe you dear reader, don't see that, maybe you don't see your own denial and self hatred in "cis men", maybe you don't see someone reflecting internalised transphobia and misogyny that you yourself had to overcome.

And that's ok, not everyone has had the same experiences, some (probably) never even had dysphoria, a lucky few might have even never had to deal with internalised transphobia.

But bloody hell if you can't even acknowledge that not all eggs are even GNC in your post critiquing the term. You might want to reevaluate how complete your understanding is.

(also as an aside, egg can apply to "cis women" but the OP I was replying to didn't acknowledge it and as I repeatedly state, what's key "egg" is relating one's own experiences to them, something I do better with "cis men" eggs than "cis women" eggs)

[max1461]

Let me start a new post, regarding some discourse, so that we can avoid bothering OP and furthermore so that we can properly abstract away from (whatever turn out to be) the irrelevant points of the initial seed of discussion.

A woman flashed her boobs to some strangers in New York. Someone on twitter said this was sexual assault. I and other commenters contended it was no big deal. However, I added:

I do think there's a relevant distinction between simply being nude/topless/whatever in public, which I think should be regarded as perfectly socially acceptable, and flashing someone, which is kind of an inherently somewhat sexual performative act. I don't think that flashing in a context like this should probably be regarded as sexual assault, that seems a bit much. In general I think that people are (for the most part) sexual creatures, and so any free society is going to feature some amount of public display of sexuality, whatever form that takes, and there's nothing really wrong with that. It doesn't seem like any big deal to me that this girl flashed these people. But there definitely exist contexts where I think it's reasonable to consider flashing alone to be sexual assault or sexual harassment, and I don't think that should be elided. And I don't think it should be determined on crude grounds of gender or sex either; it's important to have some thoughtful and conceptually robust sense of when sexual acts, e.g. flashing people, are playful and harmless, and when they are in fact potentially threatening or boundary-violating.

Here the discussion split. In one thread, @sivavakkiyar said:

I agree with the nuance of total determination, but the applicability only makes sense now. There’s very good reason to suppose a man who took off his shirt on camera would not be considered ‘flashing’, even if he was flexing his pecs or whatever: the assumed sexual component, regardless of the intent of the woman involved, has to do with the inherent sexualization of…uh…female…presenting…nipples. We’re on the same page of ‘assault’ being ridiculous in this context, but even if you were to ask this woman ‘when you took off your shirt, you knew it was sexually suggestive, yes?’ and she said ‘yeah’, it wouldn’t really change the fundamental question—-I mean that’s obvious as a part of her joke, but—-the guy with pecs might equally be ‘yeah, I’m hot.’ You know?

And I replied:

Well yeah that's part of my point. There is totally a context in which a guy flexing his pecs at you, in some sufficiently aggressive or unwanted way, could be sexual harassment. But that doesn't mean that all men flexing in public is bad, or even all men flexing at someone in public is bad. The standards one takes up for this, whatever they are, should be gender neutral—which would unambiguously mean that women showing their bare chest in public would get vastly more accepted, not less.

In another thread, @wildgifthorses said:

It seems like this is just an area where it makes sense to have sex-asymmetric norms. Trying to make a workable sex-symmetric norm about this just leads to absurdity no matter what you do.

And added the following in the tags:

Here I would like to make my reply to wildgifthorses.

I think you have implicitly invoked, here, precisely the gender-neutral distinction which is relevant: reasonable knowledge that you are violating someone's boundaries and disregard for those boundaries in spite of the knowledge. Most men can be said to have a reasonable expectation that the average woman will be bothered by him flashing her his junk, and consider it a boundary violation. Most young women can reasonably expect that a crowd of passers-by will not feel violated by her flashing them her boobs. While there are sex- or gender-asymmetric facts about society being invoked in this sort of moral calculation, the underlying principle is fundamentally sex- and gender-symmetric. And why should it not be? I can think of plenty of contexts in which a man might be made very uncomfortable by a woman aggressively showing him her boobs, however common or not that happens to be, and in those scenarios I think it is very reasonable to say the woman is in the wrong.

We get absolutely nowhere good by making needlessly gendered distinctions in our abstract principles, as (in different ways) the last 10 years and the previous 5000 before that should make evident. I think until certain follies heretofore characteristic of human society are well behind us, we should probably err very far in the direction of absolute sex- and gender-insensitivity in our most abstract ethical principles, even if it runs us into trouble sometimes.

[doctorguilty]

Don't expect a lot more circus talk from me but gloomy wanted group chat opinions on this thread and the stuff I had to say about it is quite related to the ask I answered earlier

So if you ARE interested (I do believe some of you do go to here)

(I'm just gonna copypasta my discord messages)

Agree with the thread overall and this person's more fair approach to ragatha. She's certainly not an abuser. It is a big flaw of hers, though, that she tries really really hard to people please to the point where she comes of ingenuine or patronizing--The latter being I think that's how she makes pomni feel.

Now in Ragatha's defense, her bit of backstory drop in 5 shed some sad light to her behavior. Where it can be considered annoying to everyone else and sometimes even toxic, clearly it's coming from a place where her fawning behavior was exactly what was expected of her and thats, y'know, all she really knows how to do. And who can blame her? It doesn't take a psychologist to put the pieces together and imagine how her family would have responded if she even tried to speak up for herself. So when she finally lashes out and pomni and Jax, I also can't blame her. Pomni *said* it's okay to feel negative sometimes, and now that she's acting negative, oh, now it's not allowed?! Of course it's not, she's never been allowed! (Saying this from the perspective of Ragathas feelings)

When it comes to Pomni and Jax, like op said, it seems pomni appreciated that Jax lets his guard down a little around her, which speaks to how much pomni must make him feel safer to be himself (himself being, whoever he really is behind the bully mask he's putting on) where ragatha has only made pomni feel less like she truly knows who Ragatha is.

I will say, while it can't be said Jax is "stealing" pomni from a friendship ragatha simply didn't have with her, he does use his developing friendship to taunt Ragatha, which *is* cruel. And also.. it understandably stings, trying so so hard to make a friend, being agreeable and fawning, fumbling it .. and losing it to the *meanest* guy you know. Like, he wasn't even nice to *pomni* for the greater portion of their time together.

I overall think fandoms tendency to look at EVERYTHING as an abuser-victim dynamic is what makes these discussions so frustrating. Because that's *not* the dynamic. *everyone* has their flaws. Even gangle behaved inconsiderately when she was running the show, and she's otherwise the meekest of the group. They're all in a toxic *situation* to say the very least. One that brings the worst out of everyone.

My issue is when Jax's whole sympathy moment occurs, suddenly everyone's pointing the finger at the female character who's like, totally the bad guy all along because she's mean to him and not understanding he's so tragic!!! Like yeah. So is everyone. I don't see Zooble dunking someone in a deep fryer. Like c'mon now. Jax still has a the biggest list of transgressions here

[cafefakevz]

Referring to the previous post: While I certainly don't agree with OP on everything they wrote, they have a point. Before anyone feels offended let me try to elaborate on this. First of all, something I can agree with: Roleplaying in dms is a pain in the ass. I tried it many times, I still do it sparingly but it's inconvenient and annoying to me. Dms cannot be filtered and separated from ooc, they can't be tagged, bookmarked (via like), drafted or queued, there's literally no way to come back for a text at a later point without endlessly scrolling up and wasting time while searching for the thing. Like, idk why anyone would voluntarily do this to themselves and their partners?! Whenever someone tries to dm me in-character I'm very reluctant to reply because of all the reasons I just mentioned. Unfortunately, rping in dms seems to be the most popular form of interacting in FakeVz. Yes, it's private but at what cost?

Tumblr comes with one of the best build-in features that a roleplayer can dream of, threadable replies, but 90% of our community refuses to make use of them. Not only can reblogs be threaded, they can be tagged, you can talk to each other in the tags ooc without breaking immersion of the text (but you have the ooc attached to the actual text you're talking about!!, while dms just get lost after a while), they can be bookmarked, drafted and queued and with a good tagging system they can be found again years after they've been posted, even on a blog with thousands of posts. You also get automatically notified when your partner replies. And you get all this while having ONE blog. You don't have to make "groups" (sideblogs) and it's easy to keep track of everything. It feels as if Tumblr has invented this feature for us roleplayers, it's THAT good honestly. But the FakeVz is like: "Nay." I don't understand this. Our old pinboard didn't came with all these convenient features, it was time-sensitive and finding a post from years back involved hours and hours of searching and scrolling.

I know that some folks resort to private sideblogs which are a middleground and compromise. I have a private sideblog for me and my main writing partner and not for all of the money in the world I would ever drop or abandon this form of interaction, I enjoy it so much. Having a decent tagging system, we write different verses and share other things on this blog while staying halfway organized. But sideblogs have their downsides as well. They require that you commit to longterm-writing with the other person. Having agreed on writing together and plotting beforehand is mandatory and therefore sideblogs feel as if they come with lots of conditions before you even start and get to write the very first word. That is a barrier for me personally and I cannot commit to more than one person with this level of investment. Sideblogs are generally not made for spontaneous ice-breaking, unprompted interactions, receiving prompts and fast back-and-forth banter. They also pile up quickly for people who are more capable of having lots of writing partners. I don't know, but I wouldn't want to have 20 sideblogs when I could have all those interactions on my one main blog instead.

As stated, I don't agree with OP that everyone should be obligated to do one true form of roleplay. But I get the point, that the Tumblr rpc is well established for very good reasons. They utilze Tumblr's features to their best potential and have years of experience, they even offer tons of resources for us to use, write scripts with quality of life features and whatnot. They know their business, it's highly fascinating to me and I genuinely hope that one day some more people here would be a bit more appreciative of our "new home". Instead I have seen people insulting and talking shit about others who were actually curious, willing to learn and put in the work to educate themselves about Tumblr etiquette, to eventually being able to branch out and do both, FakeVz and Tumblr rp. They run their blogs bilingual to be welcoming to a variety of partners, they offer help and put themselves out there and as a result they get alienated from a good portion of the community instead of being respected for their effort.

There's another thing where I agree with OP. It's my personal opinion, so no offense intended. I find it extremely frustrating when I come across a potentially interesting blog and there's no writing or any other in-character text on it. For a roleplayer there's no better self-advertisement in the world than their writing - it's more important than anything else. And I mainly address those who submit to our community blog, actively searching for partners. I have some time on hand and decide to check out their blog and then it's completely inaccessible. No tags, no nav, no info, no prompts which I could send, not a single text for reference to get an idea if we could match with each other, literally nothing but aesthetics and some musing posts. They advertise and send an ask to the FakeVz Blog and then put in zero effort to actually make their blog appealing to others, and I don't talk about fancy aesthetics, I mean basic accessibilty here. I am literally forced to reach out via dm and go in blind because they do not offer me anything else to look up or read through or interact with BEFORE I decide to talk to them. Then they maybe have a "no pb" rule on top of it all which basically prevents me from reaching out ooc to plot with them. I know that this is a bit of an extreme example but it happens. And sometimes I also think those are the ones who complain the loudest about how bored they are and that they have no one to write with. It doesn't even occur to them that they're maybe at fault for their situation. Instead of sitting down and working on their blog and their attitude they submit again on the community blog sounding more and more entitled and aggressive with each entry they send. I have an issue with this sort of behaviour and posts like this will never make me want to reach out to this person. I understand why OP was talking about "low effort blogs" they might have came across here. They exist.

Generally speaking, I don't think the "oldschool way of FakeVz" is wrong but for me personally, this system is flawed because it is so narrow and restricting in its nature. You either talk to someone in their dms or you don't. And here's where I'm out in lots of cases because reaching out to someone via dm is a hurdle for me and definitely outside of my personal comfort zone. It is too binding to me, it feels obligatory and a lot of blogs don't offer any other way to interact with them despite Tumblr's fantastic features such as the askbox, prompts, etc. I agree with both commenters on the post, that no one should be forced to do something they're not comfortable with. Respecting each other's privacy and boundaries is mandatory. But on the other hand I genuinely hope more people will open up to other and more possibities the rp here offers. Maybe you don't want to share your novels with your very personal character story that you write with your shipping partner, and that's totally okay. But, like, other kind of small interactions that are not on such a deep, personal level can be considered to be written on the dashboard for example, just to get started. Start out small, be firm with what you want to share and what not, make yourself comfortable with the thought of writing on your blog in the future? Be highly selective about the content you write publicly, don't overstep your own boundaries. I think it could make our community better and healthier in the long run, communities thrive from visibly active members and public interactions. And I can only speak for myself here but I love seeing people writing with each other on the dash, it is highly inspiring and motivating for me. There are so many blogs I admire from afar even if I have never talked to their muns (and quite likely never will). It's essential for my Tumblr experience. Some are incredibly talented and also super kind and lovely when they post ooc. I don't know but, these are the sorts of vibes I enjoy seeing here. And even if I am very private and closed off myself, I do have public writing on my blog and to post this somehow feels easier to me than going into a stranger's dms.

[dreams-of-revelry]

morning essay #1

Do you ever bare your soul to a large group of people and become frustrated when they tell you what to do without listening to you?

I do, despite knowing that the responses to me baring my soul are very often uncomfortable and unhelpful. Probably because I know that people are only trying their best, or I believe in the idea that people act on the basis of something they think is good/believe in. And I also dislike being called naive for knowing and believing this.

Why? That knowledge and the consequential belief system are evidence of people like me carrying forward a culture of wisdom, nuance, and emotional fluency. It's not naivety about the future, nor is it being trapped in nostalgia for the past. It's existing in a state of constant negotiation and adjustment to what's going on around me. Isn't that an emotionally sophisticated state? To deal with the sort of constant contradictions that we face today? It's quietly revolutionary.

When I first woke up this morning and looked at my phone, there was a Reddit notification from a thread called r/leaves signalling me to immediately leap into action. I have no idea how I woke up and ended up there so quickly, but my goodness this person just spewed their guts over a post and the replies were instantly concerning. Let us just say two things: first, I am a researcher of some kind, and second, the precise content of this thread is not particularly important for getting the point that this morning essay is trying to put across. The simple facts are (a) that someone presented a community with some profound contradictions:

wishful thinking v suicidal thinking

self-help v self-hatred

talking openly v punishing oneself

and (b) that clearly anyone should* first cultivate the positive here and then validate (while still ultimately dismissing) the negative here. The 30+ replies after 3 hours, rapidly counting, and reading through them ultimately convinced me for a moment that I might in fact be out of touch with reality myself. What I thought was an empathetic reply of my own, constructed with the utmost care of a researcher in this area, was (and is still) being ignored by the Reddit masses. I am not all that surprised given that the rules of the community at hand here very clearly states that [l]ittle, if any, authentic progress can be made while you're high," amongst other things.

But my reply, because of my underlying thinking about people, goes on to serve as a translation between generations. It's emotionally aware but still really cautious, it's hyperconnected but echoes the OP's loneliness with sincerity, and it provides a stable and grounding response that doesn't rely on archetypical societal rules/authority.

Yeah... That doesn't tend to go down well with people. You'd think that "centrism" would be praised for its achievement of balance, yet it has been turned into a dirty word over the last little while. In a world (and clearly a Reddit thread) of division, the middle balance does not fully agree with either side.

And that's a problem we see when judges decide legal cases, or when politicians try to speak for all the people instead of just one group of people, or even when charities and NGOs spread their efforts too thin. The point of this morning essay is that all of this can seem exceptionally suffocating, but younger people are changing.

Raised on "follow your passion!" and "hustle and you'll make it!" but entered adulthood during economic turmoil, global wars, gig work, COVID, and a mental health crisis - and still in the end, we are neither fully disillusioned nor fully cynical. We share in common a thread of being deeply realistic and still boundlessly hopeful.

How amazing is that?

[goon-account]

wrt that one post that got some random idiot mad and also led to me getting blocked by a mutual in law.

i am pretty sure i managed to completely miss that ask in the screenshot somehow. since i was barely holding my eyes open. "i want to manipulate people but i Don't want to manipulate any living creature" is kinda sorta an utterly nonsensical statement so if i did notice it i would almost definitely point out that the anon seems to live in some kind of a hell dimension.

the mutual in law joined into the argument a few reblogs in and probably didn't see my original tags in which i talked about yknow. wanting to manipulate people because my brain is wired incorrectly. so unlike the random idiot they likely thought the op is somewhat normal and just really hates desirdae people. however, based on some replies of theirs i can easily deduce they're a complete moron so even if i put a little aesthetic banner with some pretty sparkles and a hardly legible font saying i fit in the definition of desirmanipulator and just don't want to use cutesy flags and long words to describe my diseases in the post there's a decent chance they'd misinterpret it in a novel way and throw a few insults at gladion[headmate] for something like, me supposedly saying people have to use still frames from execution videos as flags or some other bullshit.

random idiot also doesn't know what Tags is. and expects everyone to censor themselves whenever they say anything negative on this god forsaken site, so that negative posts won't appear in searches. because surely making screenreader users listen to their device stuttering out complete nonsense is whatever, but forcing some cunt who doesn't know basic things about this website to see people who don't like something they like is tantamount to breaking into their house to beat them with a beer bottle. maybe you should start identifying as a desirgrassfondler and harmlessly transition by leaving your house for a moment and touching some of that green stuff that kinda starts from the dirt and goes up. better yet, desirnotahypocrite. you could transition by doing stuff like. if you whine about how telling a random pissy stranger no one in this thread will enter heaven is ableist because it supposedly equates symptoms of mental illness to sin (note: attacking strangers online ain't exactly a symptom of mental illness), don't follow it up by saying people ought to throw blind people under the bus for your comfort.

also i agree w gladion[headmate], no one in that thread will enter heaven. like i don't exactly believe in any gods or a heaven or other shit but even if heaven is genuinely a thing no one from that thread will enter it. this includes me of fucking course.

[aquaburst3]

Well, Book 7 is officially done on the JP server. I feel comfortable giving my thoughts on it as a whole and rank it. Honestly, this arc sucks. Because...

For starters, this arc was FAR too long. This arc is twice the length of Pomefiore, and took almost 3 fucking years to complete.

Worse yet, that time wasn't utilized well. A popular blogger said that they felt this arc was too ambitious and struggled to resolve its complex storylines, leaving many unanswered questions and loose plot threads. I completely agree. I think that's large part thanks to the large amount pointless filler. The runtime could've been cut in half if it just added a quick montage for all of the dream sequences besides Ace's and possibly Leona's. The time we spent pointlessly farting around in those stupid dreams could've been used to... geez, I don't know, tying up the numerous loose plot threads it set up.

I feel like this arc suffered from the same issue as Book 6 did, ie introducing plot points and worldbuilding that come straight the fuck out of nowhere. Things like the egg shit, Lilia's connection with Malleus' father, and more were only dropped in this arc without any hints to them before. But, this also has the added issue of quickly resolving some of these issues right after they're introduced. Ace suddenly starts whining about not being powerful enough compared to the others, when he never shown any sign of that before. After doing this a few times in the next part, he's rewarded with a super OP Unique Magic that's not even used in the climax. Malleus' issues are the same deal. In his overblot flashback, it says that Malleus is like Elsa where he's so powerful that he decided to isolate himself from others. This issue was never alluded to or hinted at in the slightest. It was just introduced right at the end. I'm not exaggerating that this whole set up is is like if Elsa's powers, issues or trauma were never explained until five minutes before the ending of the movie. It's just shit writing. Why introduce these things if they are gonna be resolved five minutes later?

A lot of the dream sequences for the boys are also either stupid (Epel, Riddle and Trey) or just plain ol boring (Ruggie, Jack and the Tweels). Some of them make the boys so OOC that they genuinely make me wonder if Yana even understands her own characters like Jamil and Vil's. That level of bad. Yes, I know that some of it is thanks to Malleus not understanding them or their true desires, but the way Vil and Jamil acted in them seemed like genuine writing on Yana's part, so that's on her. While Leona's on the surface fit that, his was also clouded by his depression and fear, so he gets a pass. Though, the same can't be said for those other two.

I knew from the start that they never gonna TRULY commit to killing anyone off, but it really sucks that Lilia died for 5 seconds before magically being revived with the Power of Love. While I'm glad that Lilia's alive, he's fucking awesome, but couldn't Yana think of a better way of pulling that off than the equivalent of Peter Pan turning to the audience and asking us to believe harder in fairies? It's also retroactively a slap in the face for Idia, who lost his brother and spent years mourning his death. Why wasn't his love powerful enough to bring back the dead? (Would add Rollo to that list, since I can't stand him, fuck him.) Yana could've made it just so that the horn and the ring were what did it instead of adding the rest of that bs on to lesson that blow.

Silver's dad and Malleus' mother's character designs are extremely lazy. Silver's dad looks exactly like him with long blonde hair. Malleus' mom looks like him in a dress.

The narrative seemed too scared to truly hold Malleus accountable for what he did. The story kept stressing how the damage he did was 'contained', how no one died (even though people technically died, but whatever), how only some NRC students were injured, how the buildings he damaged got patched up easily with magic, etc. It even had the gaul to point out how plenty of other mages caused great disasters like Malleus. (Including Mickey, if the Sorcerer's Apprentice nod is anything to go by...which is confusing. How can he be in another world and a historical figure there?) It makes it seem like it's hand waving his actions by pointing out that others did the same. While he did have one of his horns sliced off, it will grow back and it's painted as a good thing, because he was so uber powerful before and needed to be depowered to be set free, so that doesn't count. Why is Malleus only throwing a party for the NRC characters when his actions harmed plenty of other people? Shouldn't he also be apologizing to S.T.Y.X., his country, and all other countries? I don't want him to be thrown into the Shadow Realm or something, especially since none of the other characters were given that treatment, but having him take steps to amend those relationships would've been nice. (Yes, the others got off pretty lightly too, but that doesn't excuse Malleus getting this treatment either. They ALL should have consequences for their actions.)

A lot of the lore around Malleus' magic doesn't make much sense. For starters, up till his fucking flashback, I kept on wondering, "How the fuck is Malleus still alive after keeping this shit up for DAYS?" It was never explained until the end. Yes, he was always one of the most powerful mages in the world and draws magic from his surroundings, but even that should have its limits. The whole "stores magic in his horns" thing was also weird. Why wasn't his weakness iron? That's a well established weakness of the fae. It was even in the fucking Maleficent movie!

Like a lot of the other arcs and events before it, it added unnecessary Disney references, even ones that don't fit or actively harm the story that it wanted to tell. For example, Silver wears the Dawn Knight Armour. This is an obvious reference to the animated Sleeping Beauty movie. It's extremely out of character for him to wear this, especially since that's the same armour that his father murdered Malleus' mother in. Same goes for the whole "slicing off Malleus' horn" thing, except that's even worse since the writers for Maleficent said that the whole "cutting off Maleficent's wings" thing was a straight up allegory for rape, so it's tasteless and makes zero sense symbolically.

I'm confused about how Lilia's Unique Magic works. How is he able to summon both of Silver's parents there? Leah never went to that castle. Why did he summon them and not Malleus' dad, who is supposedly his closest friend and former lover in that poly relationship he had with Malleus' parents? Wouldn't he want him to be there? It feels like the game broke its own logic just to have a cute scene at the end.

If I were to rank this, it would be right above Ignihyde. That's not saying much. That's the second worst arc in the game so far in my opinion. The only things that make it better than one are the lack of infuriating mini games, Leona and Ace's dream did add to their characters, the scene where Ace is vulnerable with Yuu is touching...even that's in a vacuum and it didn't turn the characters into dumbasses for the sake of the plot, including that instance at the end where Vil was turned into one to make Malleus look better.

I'm sticking to my guns and creating my own take on this arc for my own rewrite fic. I'm pretty sure whatever I come up with would be far better than this dumpster fire. Considering that I'm not a professional writer and probably mediocre at best, that's really sad.

I'm glad this trainwreck of an arc came to an end. Who knows? Since this arc literally took before my 30s to finally fucking complete (my 30th is this November), maybe the next arc will take before my 40th knowing my luck.

[thrilling-oneway]

The queer thread didn't really get critiqued for shipping purposes though, it was mostly critiqued for the abundance of harmful western stereotypes slapped onto an asian cast and media (Tsukasa is emotional therefore feminine (misogyny!) therefore queer) and borderline if not outright racist inclusions (such as VBS gets partying, drugs, sex related content) which is a strange thing to say about the group based on street music which originated from black culture.

I don't think it's fair to write it off as just that when this is the type of rhetoric that sends discussion of queerness back several years by boxing queer behavior in via homophobic stereotypes. It's really truly incredibly regressive.

ftr i did not read past like the first few tweets of that thread when i posted that ask. i went back and read the full thing later and yeah it was very...how to put this, Not Good and some of their characterisations were incorrect too, airi's section stuck out to me in particular

there were several things wrong with that thread for a start, which you've already pointed out and yeah after reading the thread i totally agree that the OP was rightfully called out. historically when the topic of queercoding has popped up in this fandom (in any way actually, not just applying to like Rui or An) it tends to get jumped on pretty quickly by people arguing about shipping. that's why i mentioned it and it's what the anon was talking about (i don't even know if they were talking about the same thread but i'm assuming they were)

i get what the OP was going for. they wanted to make a thread about queercoding that people couldn't start ship discourse over, which, fair enough. they just executed it absolutely terribly. also like the thing is that most of the queercoding is done through relationships, as with, most queer characters lol. you have to talk about shipping if you want to talk about how the prsk characters are queercoded. talking about visual codes and non-relationship related stuff can only cover mizuki, and shiho/rui/debatably akito to some degree for each. LIKE THEY LITERALLY SKIPPED MINORI BECAUSE ALL HER QUEERCODING RELIES ON HER ATTRACTION TO OTHER CHARACTERS.

i've been talking about their errors and doing actual research into the topics all day on my twitter actually! like full wikipedia deep dive on the japanese version of the site and i've been reading articles and blogs for like the past half hour. it kinda bummed me out that people were calling out the thread for its eurocentrism and stereotyping but wouldn't provide any corrections (i don't blame anyone for not making a second thread lol i just think it would've been cool) so i decided to do the research myself and then post it on my private twitter with 4 followers. but i've had a lot of fun with it! i'll put some of my tweets under the cut

don't take all of this 100% seriously, it's mostly just me making little commentaries on my research (i'm still going actuallyoh hey when did it gets to midnight)

i also posted a powerpoint with some examples of queercoding (including shipping stuff) in the game here (this was pre-6 hour google deepdive though, but most of it still applies)

[goldenteaset]

NSFW

Thanks to this post I can't stop thinking about how much Trimax!Legato's Iron Maiden looks like, to quote OP, "a sex/stress/stim toy". And since Iron Maidens are supposed to have people inside, and there's a suspicious hole in the center...hmm.

Legato x Fem!OCs (can be self-inserts if you wish) headcanons under the cut! They're a fair bit different than my usual style, the roughness especially, but that's not a bad thing? It fits this Legato, at least.

Tags: Captivity/confinement, dubcon, body control, fondling, oral sex, rough PIV sex, mindbreak

There were no women in the fortress Legato was kept in, so his tastes are wide-roaming. He's fascinated by relatively-innocent women though.

Usually they're delivered by his servants or he seeks them out himself.

Getting women into the Iron Maiden is a matter of using his threads, but he particularly likes it if they're charmed by his looks already to do whatever he asks.

"You are a pretty one...for a human. Here, I'll 'help' you in. You'll be quite comfortable--I need you that way."

The Iron Maiden is Lost Technology corrupted to Legato's needs.

The "breasts" in particular can synchronize with the victim's, so he can fondle them from the outside while they squirm in delicious confusion and arousal inside

Speaking of the inside, it's self-cleaning and surprisingly comfortable despite the shackles at the hands and feet. About the comfort level of a velvet-lined coffin, perhaps?

The victim can see and hear Legato through a "visor" of sorts over her eyes and binaural headphones. (This is usually why they agree to enter in the first place, they can still see him)

There's always a vibrator or "suction device" between the victims legs at the lowest setting.

"...For the time being, that is."

He usually enjoys teasing her first: whispering in her ear through the headphones, fondling her, tweaking her brain so that her arousal steadily grows, and she begins to beg...

As time passes and he explores his tastes, he finds he enjoys having the victim's sex stick out of the Maiden's small opening, for him to taste and fondle as he wishes. It's a meal he's rarely enjoyed, after all, and he loves seeing and feeling her delicate flesh pulse helplessly before climax.

And it's amusing, too, to hear her think she's done with him.

Several more rounds of feasting follow, slower each time. Heedless of the pleas.

Sometimes he has little patience for such niceties. In times such as those, he simply tweaks her brain as before but faster, heedless of the free-floating surreality it may cause.

Regardless of his methods, at some point he'll "relent" and the Iron Maiden will slide the woman into position to take him, with her entrance in front of the small opening in the center.

Regardless of what option he chooses, the sex toy will increase in speed to better "incentivize" her.

That is the last bit of kindness she'll receive from him.

The Iron Maiden shudders violently with each thrust, no matter how slow. It serves as a buffer between him and all his weight, pressing in deeper. Deeper. All without reserve or remorse.

It's more than a little worrying when he comes, too, heavy and far more than a human should.

She thinks he's done, he has to be. She's lost count of how many times she's shuddered with pleasure thanks to his compelling her mind and body to do so.

He isn't done.

Not in an hour, nor two, nor three.

By the time he is finished...there's usually not much of her old self left. And she's happier than he'd have preferred, giggling in a sex-induced haze through the headphones at him.

It's troubling, but perhaps a better outcome than he expected.

[etruatcaelum]

scene: Oscar meeting Ironwood

He hangs back while the others speak to the general. There’s a feeling in his chest—like the way sutures pull at skin—a kind of tugging pain he’s coming to know as the loose threads of Ozpin weaving into himself. It makes him kind of nauseous; it heralds the tilting sensation of deja vu.

Oscar knows this place. The pale marbled walls, the starlit paths curving away from the crest of Atlas Academy in the center of the floor: the city meant to hold up the sky.

Yet in the margins of that alien familiarity, he can feel the shape of something else, too. The tall, broad-shouldered man before them—chuckling under his breath when Ruby admits to having stolen the airship that brought them here—that man is the leader of a kingdom. If the firmament rests on the foundations of Atlas, then it is General Ironwood who carries the weight of it on his shoulders.

And here he is, greeting the people Oscar’s come to think of as friends like they’re his friends, too. Oscar isn’t anybody. He’s just some farmboy. But he’s standing in the office of one of the most powerful men in the world like he belongs here, and—and it all just seems more real somehow, suddenly.

He’s… like, important, now.

Not because of anything special about him, or even Ozpin. He’s just found his way– or at least been led into the company of people who Do Important Things. This is his normal now. He is the kind of person who talks to people who rule entire countries.

Oh no. Oh gods–

“—with Ozpin gone,” the general says, and Oscar just about jumps out of his skin. “I needed my own team of people I could trust. So yes, I told them. The Ace-Ops, too.”

Oscar stands ramrod-straight. He doesn’t like the way his stomach twists over the thought of Ironwood bringing new people into the secret without checking in first—he thinks more allies are only for the better. Ozpin can take his lying and sulk with it forever, thanks.

So he listens without interjection, heart hammering, while the general outlines his reasoning—and his plan. It’s all… a lot. The elderly Winter Maiden (pushing ninety now, he knows without needing to be told); the Staff of Creation, the point of withdrawing Atlas into itself and locking it up tight.

He can’t say that he thinks of the politics of the moment or whether Ironwood is really making the right calls—some of it sounds good, or at least as close to it as can be expected under the circumstances, and some makes the hairs on the back of his neck prickle with unease. Maybe his own; maybe Ozpin. But as first impressions go: General Ironwood is upfront with them, straightforward in a way that soothes the acid sting of Ozpin’s expansive dishonesty.

Things will, Oscar thinks, be okay.

…The others don’t seem to agree with that assessment. Qrow sounds almost as wary as he had at Haven when he says, “Oz spent his whole life—many lives—keeping this secret.”

And where did that get him? Oscar wants to snap, but Ironwood beats him to it.

“I know. But since Beacon, things have changed. Without him here to guide us, all I can do is use my best judgement.”

The atmosphere inside the office shifts almost imperceptibly as everyone—every one of Oscar’s new friends—sort of twitch in his direction. His shoulders hike up.

I’m not him!! Not– not yet, at least—

“…What is it?”

The general’s eyes are a very dark blue, almost the color of the cobalt floor, and meeting them demands honesty. “Actually,” he mumbles, “Oz isn’t… completely gone.”

Because he didn’t even have the decency to leave all the way.

“Uh, Oscar here,” Qrow rasps, “he’s the next Ozpin.”

Just another one of his lives–

Worse than that horrible reminder is the way Ironwood’s whole face lights up with joy—and unmistakable relief. Oscar withers on the spot as the general approaches him. “Oz? I’m so glad you’re here! I didn’t think you—”

He drops to one knee in front of Oscar, who cringes and forces out, “Not—quite. He’s kind of… um, gone, at the moment.”

Ironwood’s smile drops. Clouds of perplexed concern roll in to replace it. He says, “That’s… not normal. How did he—?”

“We don’t know!”

Ruby.

…Ruby?

Oscar snaps his head around to stare at her so hard his neck pops. We do know! We know exactly why he–

“We were in a train crash,” Ruby says, eyes wide and guileless and scared, “and ever since, well—Oz wasn’t there anymore!”

Silence.

Oscar gapes at her. Everyone else but Ironwood and his lieutenants is staring at Ruby too, grim-faced. None of them speak up to contradict her, and Ruby herself is standing very still—still in a way he recognizes as trying to stop herself from trembling—so Oscar doesn’t say anything, either. Even though it opens up a deep pit in his stomach.

Ironwood sighs, sounding crushed. “That’s the worst news yet.”

He gets up: he turns and paces away, bent like he feels the weight of the heavens on his shoulders anew after this fleeting reprieve, and the hollow feeling in Oscar’s gut fills up with something bitterly unpleasant. Like he’s nothing, unless he’s Ozpin.

“Did you learn anything from him about the relics, before…?”

“He told us the lamp can answer three questions,” Ruby says slowly, “…but all the questions were used up already.”

“Right,” the general mutters distractedly, “right.” He stops at the window and stares, the weary hunch in his shoulders slowly relaxing as he resets himself. “Ozpin told us that too, once upon a time.”

There’s a shadow in his eyes when he turns around, a flicker of distrust—although whether it’s for them or Ozpin, Oscar can’t tell. Still: he finds Oscar’s eye again and smiles warmly.

“At least we have you, Oscar. You’re safe here in Atlas. Maybe together we can figure out how to bring Ozpin back.”

It’s not the prospect of Oz returning that puts a grin on his face so much as it is the general acknowledging him as something more than a placeholder. “Thank you, sir!” He straightens up—hand twitching—(is he supposed to salute, or is that only something soldiers do?) “–I mean. General? …uh, Ironwood?”

Nailed it! Now if only the floor would open up and swallow him, please.

But at least his complete ignorance of the proper etiquette isn’t egregious enough to do more than incite another indulgent chuckle. He takes a deep breath, jittery, as Ironwood’s attention moves back to Ruby, the lamp—(the lie)—Oscar shuts his eyes.

So that all could have gone better, but it could have gone a lot worse, too. Mixed bag. But on balance, he’d call it a good talk.