#I can’t tell if how I think of them is platonic queer platonic or romantic

[moraent-keys]

So I know a bunch of aroace people can’t really tell the difference between platonic and romantic (myself included), but do any other aroace people have this problem when it comes to ships? /genq i would like to know if others experience this

I can’t tell how I ship something or how I view relationships in general anymore and I’m confused

[beauspot]

Good Omens Is a Big Deal

With everything going on I haven’t acknowledged how grateful I am for what Neil (and John) did this season. I always saw Good Omens as a romantic story and everyone involved seemed to be super supportive of that. To actually see a follow through on those themes was wonderful though. To see Aziraphale continue to look at Crowley like he’s the earth, the moon, and the stars. To see Crowley continue to save his angel not because he needs them to, but because they love him.

To see them have their dinners, and give the other access to their prized possessions. To see them dance. They love each other. They are in love with each other and it’s not implied or a throwaway line that can be edited out.

It’s the beating heart at the center of the story.

And they weren’t meant to be. Neil himself will tell you when he and Terry wrote the book Aziraphale and Crowley were meant to be friends and that’s it. Over time their relationship evolved and where a lot of writers would simply ignore that and keep pushing forward Neil pivoted and said “you know what? let’s see where this goes.” The last time I can remember something like this happening was with Hannibal years ago, it’s so rare with queer pairings.

I know everyone was excited about the kiss and it is refreshing to see queer people actually get to kiss, it’s still not something that happens all the time, but that’s not what made them canonically queer to me. If they remained completely asexual and never kissed or showed interest in kissing one another I’d feel the same. While I always felt they were queer what sealed it for me were 3 things:

1. Nina and Maggie, a romantic pairing that parallel our angel and demon break down to Crowley how she and Aziraphale are partners (and it’s clear they don’t mean business partners, does Crowley look like he runs a bookshop?) but they never say what they’re really thinking. They go on to state how that’s all they needed, the obvious implication here being that Nina and Maggie shared their romantic feelings with one another and that Crowley and Aziraphale need to do the same. Upon hearing this Crowley takes that as a sign to confess his feelings.

2. Gabriel and Beelzebub, another pairing that parallels Crowley and Aziraphale who are also clearly in love with one another is something Crowley references while he is confessing his feelings. “If those two lovestruck idiots can go off together, so can we. Because I love you.”

3. Crowley and Aziraphale express plainly to each other that they need the other. Crowley says to Aziraphale he wants to stop pretending they aren’t a team, a group, a them.

Aziraphale says verbatim “We can be together.” and “I need you.” He doesn’t say “We can work together” or “I need you to help me” or some other cop out that a lot of other shows or movies might come up with to continue to bait their fans, while having plausible deniability.

They love each other and it’s not platonic.

To me, the kiss serves as a way to seal the deal for people who only understand queer love when it’s punching them in the face. That’s not to say queer people can’t like the kiss, it’s one of my favorite scenes in the show simply because of how heartbreaking it is, but they were a couple to me long before that. And to add onto that by making every other important pairing in the show queer as well? Nina and Maggie being happy sapphics who don’t die at the end. They’re not together, but the implication is that one day they will be. Two non-binary beings—Gabriel and Beelzebub—falling in love and choosing to be with one another forever. The angels and demons are all genderless and no one misgenders them and no one gives a FUCK.

That means so much to me and I genuinely cannot express how thankful I am that this show and this season were made. The only thing I can say is thank you for standing for something, because not everyone does.

[ppaper-airplanes]

I keep thinking about queer platonic attraction. Not necessarily in a way of “oh there’s a person” or anything. But just as a concept. As something I experience. I use the word coexist a lot when describing it. It’s the feeling of wanting to coexist with someone. I just want to be near them. I want to be intertwined, I want to climb into their skin. I want to know everything about them and for them to know everything about me. I want to have nights where we do stupid crafts and can’t stop laughing about some shit joke. I want to make playlists and have car rides. I want to listen to music in the kitchen while we try (and fail) to cook. I want to give them the tightest hug. I want us to have our favorite coffee shop and memorize each other’s orders. I want to have a little apartment and decorate it with random things.

When I tell allo people all this they say, “well that has to be romantic” because how else would I feel something so visceral, so deep? Idk. I think it’s crazy to discount something so beautiful and surreal simply because it’s not romantic.

[autistic-katara]

does it annoy tf out of anyone else that when a character says smthn like: “i’m not in love with [a male character], i was in love with [female character], it took me a while to accept and i’m incredibly scared telling you please don’t tell anyone” people immediately go “ah yes, canon lesbian, i don’t know how u can’t pick up on that”

meanwhile when a character says smthn like: “i’ve tried for years to force myself into a romantic relationship, thought it would ‘fix me’. but i realise now that’s not how it works, a romantic relationship won’t fix me and i honestly don’t think i was attracted to any of the people i tried to date, im going to swear of romantic relationships for life bcz i don’t experience romantic attraction, later guys ily platonically” 99% of the fans go “oh, ok. so they’re probably asexual but it’s definitely up to interpretation. wtf is ‘a romantic’, yeah they’re a romantic; in a romantic relationship with their ‘best friend’ who i ship them with and is basically canon. very homophobic of the author to make them explicitly state that they weren’t into them like that. they must hate gay people despite the rest of the queer characters in here…”

[miwiheroes]

I’ve seen some people say “you can’t just say its ‘bad writing’ only because Byler didn’t become endgame.” There are some films where the driving force for its success is the romantic storyline. Two people go on an adventure and you root for them to get together and there’s ups and downs and twists and turns and then in the final minutes they share a kiss and all is right in the world. THEN there’s a sequel and they break up and do it all over again just to get back together AGAIN in the end —that’s bad writing. It’s cheap writing. You’re back to square one. The driving force of strangers things success is NOT Mike and El as a couple. Period. Nobody wants to watch them break up just to get back together season after season. Even the GA is tired of their shit and thinks they’re better off apart. Everyone can see the cracks in their relationship even if they don’t have an answer yet as to why Mike is behaving this way. We haven’t had his POV in a while. We don’t know what’s going on in his head. People love to just chalk up his behavior to puberty or poor writing or just straight up believing that Mike is just a jerk now instead of doing a little digging and figuring out why. I 100% believe that if Mike didn’t go to California when he did he definitely would have been a victim of Vecna. No doubt in my mind because it’s obvious he’s struggling with something difficult. Something that has made it impossible for him to say that he loves his girlfriend for 2 whole seasons. Something that makes him push Will away. Mike being queer and in love with Will would make sense. It would plug up all of those little holes in his story so far. It would be an answer as to why he’s been behaving weirdly. It fits the pattern of how this show builds characters with layers and depth and builds storylines with cool twists and unexpected turns. A show that for an entire season had its audience intentionally believe in a Robin/Steve romantic pairing. To root for them to get together and to grow to love her—knowing full well that it wasn’t going to end as expected. That’s good writing. It’s great writing. You never want the writing in a show to feel predictable. That’s no fun. I argue that it ended better than it would have if they had just end up together. Would they have been a nice couple together? Yeah!—but instead of yet another straight relationship we have this beautiful platonic friendship that the show needed. The writing in this show is NOT BAD that’s the whole point. It would be out of character for a show that is centered on nerds, freaks, outcast and finding your true self and not conforming to what society deems normal to have the storyline of the traumatized gay kid end sadly in unrequited love just to continue the storyline of a failing relationship. Why is it so weird for people to think that they couldn’t do that same thing they did with Robin with Mike. Yeah some people might not buy it might say it came out of nowhere. BUT just because they might not have picked up on the hints doesn’t mean they weren’t there. Sometimes people need to have the answer to the equation first before they go back and look for those hints. To see the finished puzzle first to then begin to fill in those blanks. To prompt a rewatch of the series which shows like stranger things love to do because there are so many nuances in the dialogue and so many plot points hidden in subtext that you might not see in one watch. To have people eventually go “Oh, why didn’t I see that? That makes sense now!” To have those people who grew to hate Mike finally sympathize with him and to understand his struggles. To tell a better story— a story that usually isn’t told. A story that challenges the audience and makes them see things in a different way.

this was my last anonymous ask before i turned them off and it was super nice to see this <3 i agree with ya ofc on most of these things

[caas1]

My Aromantic & Asexual headcannons for stupid minecraft people (/aff) because what am I meant to do? Not project my sexuality onto my favorite characters??

anyways

Definite headcannons:

1)Etho is Asexual

2) Xisuma is lithosexual and lithoromantic (experiences attraction, but does not wish for it to be reciprocated)

3) Mumbo is Aroace

4) Shubble is Asexual ofc

5) Don’t remember why I decided this, but False is Demisexual (only develops feelings/attraction after creating a strong bond with someone) 👍 I think I saw other ppl w/ this headcannon and decided I liked it lol

Extra) Also Mumbo and Martyn and Scott and Cleo are my favorite Queer Platonic Relationships :D

Possible/thinking about/ones I like but don’t use myself headcannons:

1)Etho as sex-averse and romance-favorable demiromantic

2) I keep thinking about Doc as Aromantic but not completely sold on the idea

3) Used to headcannon Shubble as cupiosexual (Wanting a relationship, but not feeling attraction) before I realized romantic and sexual attraction were different things and so I could headcannon her as both a Lesbian and Asexual lol

4) Similar situation with Scar, used to headcannon him as Demisexual

5) The idea of Scar and Grian being aspec keeps coming back into my mind every so often and it’s so funny because they so aggressively give off those vibes sometimes, but also at other times I can’t see them as on the aro or ace spec either, so this is just a silly, “I like this concept”, type of thing

6) Etho being asexual and Bdubs being aromantic is also really funny to me, cuz like I ship them a lot and the idea of them not telling each other and just trying to awkwardly work around their own discomforts and preferences is really entertaining to me

7) TBH I could see Jimmy as somewhere on the asexual spectrum, but I would probably need more convincing

8) The Gempearl propaganda (mostly from Tubby…) and the aroace Pearl propaganda are constantly fighting each other in my brain. Honestly I think it would work to just make them a QPR

9) I also wouldn’t mind any aroace Xornoth stuff cuz I headcannon that he just really doesn’t like Joey back and wants to be left alone lol

10) I feel the Scott on the aromantic spectrum could also fit his character

11) I think at one point I also headcannoned Oli as aroace

12) Actually I could also see Joe Hills as aspec

13) Oh my gosh how could I almost forget about BigB?? That man is def aspec, at least in my opinion. Can never decide what I want to make him tho :^

Anyways that is definitely enough rambling, thx for reading this if you did lol

[pendwelling]

hi I had a question about a section of chapter 221 in twsb

When discussing the island of pleasure (where the admiral Emma corleone is) (not too sure about the accuracy of the names from mtl),

they talk about how things like polyandry polygamy are allowed there, and how they allow morally wrong things under the principle of free love.

most importantly, they say that monogamy is deeply rooted among continental people.

however, the history of Riester as a continental nation has the taking of multiple life partners with the practice of the Emperor taking a religious and a political partner.

anyway, I am confused as to why characters we generally align with morally (duhem) refer to things like polygamy (which also implies (i think?) a disapproval within Riester of polyamory as a whole) as morally incorrect with the blatant queer undertones of the main characters, as well as among side characters.

is the author trying to highlight the religious nature of Riester and the specific and at times contradictory nature of their religion or possibly religion in general? Marriage within religion (especially Christianity) is seen primarily a unity of people in god’s eyes. We saw yeseo officiate(?) someone taking a religious partner (I believe, it was a while back) and it was similar in nature, with asking for approval from the god of this world itself to be religious partners, with it giving them the thumbs up or down with the ceremony.

the largest difference with these two is that wasnt romantic in nature. So are the rules that as long as the partners aren’t romantic in nature, then the political/religious partnership is acceptable, and romantic marriage is only acceptable among two people? If these are true, what about her majesty for example? I genuinely cannot tell you whether her, Aurelie, and alexandre were all romantically or platonically involved, which think was on purpose on the author’s part. I believe that only alexandre and frederique were married, but once alexandre died, Aurelie became Cedric’s godmother, but was she as involved as a parental unit in Cedric’s life before alexandre died? Were the three of them raising him together his whole life, or was it mainly frederique and Alexandre until he died and aurelie became more present in Cedric’s life

idk man, is author trying to point out the potential conflict of the mcs’ mix of a queer platonic and (i think?) romantic relationship, especially among the judgemental nobles?

you don’t have to answer all the questions posed here btw!!

I know you probably can’t answer every question here (especially the ones about the authors motivation) I am just curious as to what your thoughts are about this as you are an expert with twsb lore/character, if you don’t feel like answering at all that’s also totally fine lmao okay I’ll stop yapping now

"You don't have to answer all the questions posed here" WHO DO YOU THINK I AM do not underestimate the sheer depths of my insanity over this novel (/J /LHHHH)

(On a more serious note now—) haha I will for sure do my best!!!!! You actually raise some very very interesting questions and that made me quite excited to think about because there are actually quite a bit of different factors to take into account here 👀 (intersectionality, if you will). Thank you for sending your question in 🙇‍♀️ I'll do my best to answer!

I would also like to preface this by warning you (and anyone else who might be reading) that my answer will at times require that I use context from way further into the novel, thus might spoil certain revelations and big mysteries (particularly regarding the nature of QPB and TWSB's religion!!!) In other words,

BIG SPOILER WARNING!! (200+, JUST THE ENTIRE NOVEL AND EVEN ENDING)

I'm not sure if you would have rathered a more spoiler-free answer, so I apologize in advance 😭 Apologies as well for any typos that might possible arise. This took a while to write LMAO

(With that said, we should first start with the world's religion!!!)

The Church of God is a religion practiced mainly in the Divine Kingdom of Venetiaan and the Riester Empire (though more so in the former rather than the latter). A huge aspect of this religion is how it sort of influences the behaviours of its believers, particularly around the main belief that if one lives their life in an interesting/exciting enough way and endures hardships, they will one day obtain the gaze/adoration of God, which is something that the beings of this word (at least, the ones who believe or fear God) will yearn for until the day they die [295]. A sort of greeting that believers even use is actually: "May the Lord be pleased with your life ('주신께서 당신의 생애에 기뻐하시기를.')" Later on as you read, it becomes increasingly obvious that the entity that is "God" would refer to either the author themselves, or the readers (in some ways, it is both). But in the larger case, the one the people of QPB yearn for the attention of actually that of the readers, thus, YOUR gaze—or rather, the ones who would be the target audience for a Romance-Fantasy genre story like "I Quit my Job, then I Became the Princess Bride" (QPB), (and then later on, "When the Third Wheel Strikes Back").

This is where it gets kinda(?) meta. Knowing that QPB is an All-Ages, G-Rated, non-explicit novel targeted primarily toward teenage girls and young women (think, Jung Eunseo), it's only natural that a country outside of the premise of QPB (Corleone) would be free from any expectations of said God(s), and thus, will act outside of the "genre". Therefore, what's being highlighted in an understated way is that a country like the Empire of Riester where the main cast of QPB primarily act will be constricted by the conventions of an R-15/G-Rated RoFan genre—but a place like Corleone can break free from the genre and be a full-on R-19+ and more explicit than it wants.

People openly show intimacy out in the open, gamble and play games on the streets, are more promiscuous(or maybe sexually liberated is the more correct term?) and freely flirt, casually dress sensually, and commit "crimes in the name of free love"—and crimes here refer to how, with Corleone being so open with how they regard love, their going-about with relationships and marriage is different, and could lead to people, say, as they put in 220: "kidnapped, proposed to, or forced into a (arranged) marriage" etc. Though notably, these extreme worries were directed towards Yeseo, whom no one in the party at that time believed would be able to fend off the love-enthusiastic people of Corleone (they pretty much indirectly call Yeseo somewhat of a doormat/someone who innocence/inexperience could easily get him roped into trouble... 😭). And on a grander scale beyond just the main characters, this all somehow manages to be played in a somewhat comedic light haha—even though Corleone is outside of God's gaze, it still has to stick to the overall more lighthearted genre in some way, right? If not QPB's, then TWSB's wkkwkkw (this surrealism/idealism, in some way, also has some meta merit to it, too, actually.)

So while Corleone's atmosphere may seem like a harsh and rowdy place, the culture there is just... how to say. Very enthusiastic and extreme about the idea of "romance". In a sense, it's almost as if, though this is a "land abandoned by God", the importance they place on the theatrics of Romance is interesting when considering how the original setting was a Romance story itself (though a different genre of one). I think I should also highlight how this arc takes influences from the Commedia dell'arte, whose conventional plotlines included themes of sex, love, jealousy, etc (amongst others). As such, the theatrics of Corleone—inspired by elements of Italian culture (like how Riester and Venetiaan have French and Dutch influences respectively)—maybe aren't that surprising. Looking back on the Italian Renaissance, we can note the abundance of works with increasing interest in lewd subjects, attributed in some way to the emerging secularization at the time. Boccaccio’s "The Decameron" is notably a rather anti-clerical, at times erotic, and witty work about different stories involving Love, and in the context of its time (following the emergence of the Black Death in Florence) would therefore be a document of an emerging worldview: a desire to be liberated from the control of the Church and eager to explore the world on its own terms (though, it did get banned by the Church for a while for its explicit nature LMAO)(but recirculated after being revised since it was so popular). Other Italian/Tuscan poets at the time were also finding enjoyment in writing funny, satirical, or even downright insulting poems, many of which also took on sensual subject matter, some more explicit than others. ((Just noticed I'm going on a tangent wkfhjdkd sorry for bringing up what I learnt in my Italian Renaissance class out of the blue haha, but I find that it is interestingly relevant to the portrayal of the Principality of Corleone and its theatrics/sensuality.))

SO CORLEONE. Italian Renaissance, Commedia dell'arte. Romance, Sensuality. Comedy, Theatre. Satire, Anti-clericalism... anti-clericalism within this context can refer to Corleone's rejection from God's gaze. The "genre" and "rating" Corleone is presenting is not what She wishes to see, thus, is "morally incorrect" in QPB's original worldview because it doesnt align with the larger genre expectations.

Anyhow, I had to reread this arc and some others, and from what I can remember and what I've seen in this reread, I don't think Marquis François Duhem ever calls out polygamy as a whole, specifically, for being "morally incorrect"—I'm more so inclined to believe they are referring to the blatant absence of TPO (haha), and the over-the-top actions and behaviours that the freedom and enthusiasm for romance sometimes lead to, but even more specifically, the carefree and spontaneous treatment around love and marriage. I don't believe sensuality is necessarily and solely portrayed in a completely negative/puritanical/critical light in this series (there are different ways sexuality is portrayed throughout the series with different sets of characters), but in this case, I believe it might come off as a bit critical because François is directly affected by personal circumstance: after all, in this same arc, when Admiral Emma Corleone was propositioning for François (and later on Jesse) to become "partners", was not exactly doing so for pure-hearted and genuine romantic reasons, but with the underlying tone and intent of the Admiral bedding them for certain gains, and nothing more. François, of course, doesn't exactly appreciate this kind of attention from the Admiral and is openly guarded while around her, evidently not receptive to the idea of becoming her second spouse (after kicking out the rest—which speaks to how lightly she treated those relations in the first place), and thus kind of projects an additional layer of negativity to this. (And I'm assuming you might? have already read further ahead by now, but François does have some genuine reasons to feel put off by Emma, particularly because of their history, and Emma's implied interest in François stemming from the despair he wore back when the Duhems' parents passed away. I think it's understandable that one would feel apprehensive towards someone who is one-sidedly attracted to your misery haha...)

Of course, outside of these specific circumstances, that isn't to say that people don't frown upon having more than one legal spouse (in Venetiaan, this is especially the case, but Riester too), but there are just multiple different factors involved. I think it's very fair to compare it to real-life Christian morality/belief of one-spouse-only, but of course, those who aren't fervently religious and/or are more open-minded will regard polyamory/gamy in a more welcoming light. In particular, we've seen characters before who've expressed outright opposition to the idea of their spouse having another lover, but this is of course different from polygamy—in Prince Consort Werner, Queen Christanne, and Priest Michael's case, it was not a balanced relationship between three people, but an individual cheating on their legal spouse with someone whom she actually loves (their relationship is quite complicated, but we won't be getting into that now haha, but point is—)

The act of cheating and having more than one lovers is seen as bad, without a doubt, but curiously enough, the people of the Divine Kingdom of Venetiaan actually show quite a positive reaction towards the Queen's relationship with the commoner priest Michael. "The Romance of a Century", I believe it was called, and despite this Leary being a case of infidelity that resulted in a child, why isn't the Queen's infidelity seen as completely negative? Well, it can absolutely go back to religion. Despite Venetiaan being the most religious country in the story, it seems very receptive to their Queen's story, and yet simultaneously it is this very religious fervour that makes it so. After all, the child born from the Queen's extramarital relation was born with golden blond hair and purple eyes symbolic of the Lord's love and divinity, therefore the existence of this child itself can be taken as a blessing from God, Herself.

So, is cheating bad? Yes. We've seen this before with Duke Sarnez who was once caught by his own daughter and her friends while he was intimate with an Imperial attendant in an office. Yet, we also see it with Queen Christanne towards her own legal spouse, but the reaction is different, because of the "blessings from God".

So, is having multiple consenting lovers in an equal-levelled relationship, bad? No. The story does point out that the ruler of Corleone, Lorenzo Corleone, has multiple concubines, but he isn't portrayed in a negative light, either. In fact, he is actually portrayed as a typical person—"an old gentleman" [665] he is actually described as. Courteous and rather kind, both to Yeseo and other known characters such as Aurélie, and actually becomes a great supporting character during the later war. Him having multiple legal wives isn't symbolic of him being a morally bad character, nor do Riesterian character treat him poorly for his cultural differences or marital affairs, either, and it is just that—cultural differences.

So is polygamy/polyamory wrong? No, but, the cultural differences and reservations about marriage/love between different countries will illicit different reactions depending on whom you ask.

Anyway, I hope I'm getting across my thoughts properly haha bc I think I'm sounding like a convoluted mess, but I'd also like to note that there have also canonically been conversations about queer relationships in the story itself—particularly between Princess Cornelisse and her would-be religious partner Isle Roosegaarde, whom Cornelisse promised to make her consort when they're older [670]. In this conversation, Isle remarks that she can't possibly be made Cornelisse's consort because they are both girls, but Cornelisse casually retorts that not even the Royal Family has such conservative and outdated views (which I think is kind of hilarious in retrospect, because it implies in a way that Werner, despite being a horrible person, at the very least doesn't discriminate on people's sexuality to the point where his own daughter is educated with this same view)(of course, unless you're Jesse, which means that everything about you is worthy of Werner's ire LMAO). BUT ANYHOW, point is, historically it seems that more conservative/traditional values have existed at some point, but the current reality is notably much more open-minded. It is fair to say that Monogamy and Polygamy co-existing in Corleone but not in Riester or Venetiaan might have something to do with each country's respective histories, as well as how strongly each nation respectively believes in the main religion (and how it would influence their beliefs). And when you take into account the context of whom the God of this religion is, we can also assume that the typical young QPB RoFan reader would not want an explicit environment where the people (characters) you love would be existing in a setting reminiscent of gritty, sensual harem genre (there is even MORE meta to be said about this, and that involves the "Creator" (writer) or the world, and their intent toward the Gods (readers), but just know that an adult theme is definitely out of the question when it comes to what appropriate subject matter to the target audience, or more specifically, a certain target reader 👀)

Anyway, I bring up historical conservatism and the more-progressive/liberal nature of the TWSB universe because the idea of polyamory in Riester actually, in a funny way, is kind of? accepted...? it really, really just depends on context.

For example, there have been quite a few occasions, actually, of either friends of Cédric, Yeseo, and Christelle (CYC) or the general public themselves, alluding to or actively believing that the three of them are in a romantic relationship. One of these people was actually Marquis François Duhem himself, and he's funnily enough supposedly quite aware of the rumours floating around their relationship and at some point reaches a conclusion along the lines of "wow!!! so the rumours are true, you three really are like that—!" [468] (hahaha I do not think that he has any strong averse opinions on polyamory at all (Emma Corleone bugging him to be her next husband being a whole different case)). And earlier on in the story, we've even seen gossip tabloids who've placed immense interest on CYC's relationship, though this can of course either be interpreted in romantic or platonic lenses haha. Oh, and another notable person who even outright called CYC "lovers" was Jibril Diop, Cédric's 2nd cousin and a later addition to the main cast (more specifically, while talking with Yeseo, Jibril refers to Cédric and Christelle as Yeseo's lovers and asks him if he broke up with them since it's rare to find Yeseo all alone haha) [465]! But either way, it seems the opinion on having multiple lovers depends on a variety of different factors, from personal opinion, to religious beliefs, country, etc etc. Jibril Diop himself is actually someone whose character aligns more with Corleone's values and interests rather than Riester, since he's very free-spirited and loves dating and flirting and hates stuffy clothing, and is well-known in the Riesterian Beau Monde for his social affairs and activities in the different salons in the capital. He's even reportedly dated multiple people at once before, though it's unknown if these were open relationships or otherwise, so I can't really tell you any more than that haha. (If you haven't met him in the story yet, please anticipate his arrival. He's such a great character, I adore him greatly. He's sooooo fun as a new addition to the main cast hehe)

Anyhow, I'm sorry if I haven't given any clear-cut answers so far but rest assured!! It gets even more complicated!!!!!! 🙌🙌

SO!!! Knowing that different countries, cultures, and people regard Monogamy and Polygamy different, where does the Riesterian custom of having a Religious and Political Companion come into play? Well, in the first place, the tradition of choosing these two partners is solely a Riesterian custom, one that is also reserved for the Imperial Family (and collateral lines). A POLITICAL COMPANION to help the Imperial ruler politically, financially, or in any other diplomatic/transactional needs, (typically with a renowned noble family, or even a wealthy and affluent merchant family); and then a RELIGIOUS COMPANION to help guide the future ruler spiritually, an emotional and religious guide. Neither of the two roles are necessarily romantic, and the position as Political Companion does not require love—it is a political match first and foremost, though rulers such as Frédérique and her mother before her, Céline, were lucky in that they were able to marry people who they loved. The marriage is merely a formality so that the ruler could have an adequate spouse who fits all the requirements needed to support the ruler and fulfill the duties required of by a consort. Love is not a requirement, but it is still a legal marriage, thus a degree of respect for the arrangement is still expected.

So, what does that make a Religious Companion?

Religious Companionship via Covenant/Holy Contract Ceremony is special in that it requires the two individuals involved to swear their souls together and have them joined for eternity. This connection is beyond romantic or platonic love—in fact, a lot of the sentiments between the Master of the Covenant and the Patron Saint is very queerplatonic. It is metaphysical, it is something integral to the people involved, it is something only they alone can truly understand. It is hard not to regard the sharing of one's soul with another as not being romantic, as the very nature of the Holy Contract is intimate and requires, in the first place, a deep trust in the other person.

I believe the in-universe romance novel by Benjamin Giradin, "Reason, Emotion, and Divinity" (as the title is translated by the official webtoon team), displays a common trope regarding the complex arrangement of the main character (Heathcliff) who is caught up in a conflict between his Political (Jane) and Religious (Catherine) Companions [78]. It is noteworthy that, although Heathcliff is in a physical marriage to Jane, he is in a spiritual/mental marriage with Catherine and is the one whom his heart lays with. We can see, here, that this is an example of a relationship that is not equally "polygamous"—there is a lack of sincerity on one party's part towards the other, and the "spiritual marriage" is seen in a negative light as it is not fulfilling the role it should be. It's a very dramatic circumstance however and of course, is only one (fictional) example of the extent of the depths that a Religious Companionship might lead to, but we can take another example, too—this time, one from Riester's very history, told to us in Chapter 195:

Basically (recapping for anyone reading who might not know), roughly a thousand years prior to the current timeline, Empress Arianne Riester proposed that the Cardinal Phillipe (who had been her ally in unifying the fractured Empire following Venetiaan departure) become her second companion. Knowing that Arianne was already married at this point and was also not romantically in love with Philippe, the Cardinal rejected her, unwilling to take on a role similar to that of a concubine. But despite this rejection, Philippe did harbour unrequited love for Arianne, and gave in to her sincere proposal, though not without requirements. Philippe gave her tulips and said that even if they were not legally tied to each other, he was still and would still always be her ally, and the Empress wished for his formal companionship that strongly, then it would only be so if the Lord blessed their union and affirmed that it would be okay. The blessing later came in the form of the blossoming of never-before tulips. Since purple was a deeply religious symbol and tulips of that colour had never existed beforehand on the continent, the people took this as a religious sign, thus, a blessing from the Lord Herself. Thus, the two joined together and their union was the start of the tradition of the Religious Companionship in the Riester Empire for generations to come.

Interestingly, it is noted that every single Religious Companion of every Imperial Riesterian ruler to come after Arianne and Philippe, all died single [256]. In a sense, this is truly a marriage no different than a political one, and perhaps even deeper than that. While Philippe genuinely loved Arianne (one-sidedly), not all Religious Companionships are explicitly romantic, either. But again, it is undeniable that the Patron Saint in the Holy Contract is the one who holds the most power—if they do not sincerely wish to form a Covenant, it would not happen. So naturally, all Religious Companions feel strongly about their respective Master of the Covenant, and this intimacy could absolutely stem from love, or result in love.

SO, what can we make of Empress Frédérique's relationship with her Political Companion Alexandre, and her Religious Companion Aurélie?

Just like how the different examples of Political and Religious Companionship that we've seen above are different, Frédérique, Alexandre, and Aurélie (FAA) are also unique in their own way. Frédérique and Aurélie's relationship was the first to form, with Frédérique being the first to "fall for" Aurélie for the clarity of her ether and her sincerity in her tasks as an Imperial Priest. They were childhood friends following this and naturally grew very close, but the one who Frédérique later explicitly romantically falls for was Alexandre Blanquer (notably, she fell for him at first sight, similarly to how she did with Aurélie in the confessional hahaha. Frédérique is really the type of person who knows what she likes and strives to obtain them). FAA are truly special because all three of them managed to form very strong connections, not just with Frédérique, but between Aurélie and Alexandre, as well.

Frédérique and Aurélie note on numerous occasions how much Cédric's growing relationships remind them so much of their own childhoods and younger years back when Alexandre was alive, and it is very clear that they all loved each other. Perhaps this might not be the clear response you'd like from me? but I do not think it matters whether or not their relationship was romantic, sexual, or platonic.

Just the fact that they loved each other immensely, to the point of Aurélie even almost sacrificing her own life if it meant she could trade it for Alexandre's (which ultimately failed, though deteriorated her eye in the process, which is why she wears a monocle) [600]. Aurélie and Alexandre were not physically married, nor did they share souls and emotions like how Frédérique and Aurélie did, but despite this all, they managed to form deeply intertwined bonds despite at surface-level glance Frédérique being the "only link" between them. From the very start, they were all together a 3-person parental unit for Cédric the moment he was born, and Aurélie, though not his blood parent, was pretty much his second mom right from the get-go (in the official webtoon translation, he calls her "Aunt Aurélie") and naturally had been made the godmother since his parents are pretty much her partners, too. They were so close that Cédric's conception dream was actually dreamt by Aurélie—prior to his birth, she dreamt of being visited by a sun who came into her bedroom, before falling asleep together. It was reportedly a very cute dream, and I think it's very indicative of how close these three were for Aurélie to be the one to have the conception dream instead of Cédric's own parents. From the very very very start, they had always co-parented and cared for Cédric, and would have done anything for him. Their relationship is untraditional for the typical two-parent family unit, but they were true in this together right from the start, from every step of the way. During his childhood, Cédric was only awake for very short hours of the day, but whenever he was, Aurélie, without fail, always came and visited him in the mornings to read him stories, just because he liked it, and Frédérique and Alexandre would also join them for whatever small moment of family time they could get, when Cédric wasn't sleeping [600]. They raised, cared for, and loved this boy greatly, you cannot distinguish a difference in their love on the basis of whether they're Cédric's parents or not. They love him because he's their precious child, and that is that.

I like what you mentioned about how you were unable to figure out if their relationship was romantic or platonic, and how you said it was perhaps intentional on the author's part. Sookym never mentions queerplatonicism at all in their work, but the queercoding of this universe by mere virtue of the existence of all the implications brought forth by the lore and magic system itself allows for very queerplatonic/queercoded messages to saturate the work in its entirety—all due to the very nature of TWSB alone. I think QPR is the best way to describe Religious Companionship, and all the other very special and metaphysical bonds that appear between several characters throughout the entire novel. In FAA's case, it is clear that Frédérique loved Alexandre very dearly, and that their marriage was not even a necessarily political one (they practically eloped without the permission of Alexandre's family, and the Blanquers also disowned him when he went through with the marriage, so there was hardly any political gain there, other than Alexandre hinself being a 9th-Grade Mage), but it is EQUALLY CLEAR that Frédérique loves Aurélie, too. You will understand as you continue reading, but there are some incredibly intimate moments between these two that are both emotional AND physical.

The biggest example that comes immediately to mind is right after Frédérique and Aurélie had to be separated for a long time during the Riester-Venetiaan war, upon reuniting, the two of them immediately spent the night together, and the morning after has Frédérique hugging Aurélie around the waist while in bed [850], and the scene is played completely naturally, as if this is a routine that isn't unusual for them and that has probably happened before. Of course, this happened because being apart for too long is literally physically painful for Frédérique, so being physically close to Aurélie and receiving her ether in the most direct way possible would remedy that, but in the first place, if they were not incredibly close, the physical nature of their relationship would not be as crazily intimate—to the point of sharing a bed and being in semi-states of undress, and physically touchy with each other in a scene epitomizing domesticity. They love each other and that's that. They are literal soulmates and partners, and we don't need to know anymore. The love they have for each other is something only they themselves would understand, and the love they had for Alexandre is something that also belongs to them.

With all these different presentations of love, affection, and queerplatonicism between different characters, I do not think there is actually much conflict that CYC themselves would face in becoming partners. Everyone in Riester and in other nations as well understand that the bond that Empress Frédérique and Cardinal Aurélie is integral and important, and there is never any criticism there on Frédérique's intimacy with Aurélie, even when it is well known that Frédérique wildly loved Alexandre. The only issue, in fact, that arises about CYC's potential partnership, was Yeseo (as Jesse), being from Venetiaan, and then later on, was mostly internal doubt and dilemma from Yeseo himself. Outside forces never disapprove of the three of them having any sort of relationship, and whatever criticism they ever face is not because of any romantic conflict or say gender bias (like I said before, homophobia doesn't exist in the widespread view, and if it does, it happened in the past as is now seen as stupid WKJJJK), but because of the requirements that the position of Political Companion and Religious Companion require, respectively. But Christelle Rambouillet and Jung Yeseo are probably the only ones that can fit the requirements of these two symbolic and physical positions the best, with Christelle, even after discarding the ducal Sarnez name, obtaining military achievements and notable contributions to the Empire and becoming the "Star of the Navy", and her incredibly positive public image and reputation as a national hero within the Empire will undoubtedly dissuade any criticisms of her worthiness of being a Political Companion. Yeseo, meanwhile, (again, sorry if you didn't want all these spoilers in this reply 😭) is the renowned Palace Lord of Juliette, the Marquis of Sérénité, an Incarnation of God and an Angel of the Lord, and is His Holiness the Pope, himself.

Yeseo and Christelle become some of THE most accomplished people in the Empire, and anyone who tries to push their sons or daughters into the symbolic roles of Religious and Political Companions for the Crown Prince of the Great Riester Empire, will have to compete with these two reputational behemoths hahaha. At the start of the story, the conflict between CYC's potential Companionship has always been political, with the question of who could possibly fit these roles the best and aid Cédric, once he inherits the throne. Politics and schematics have always been the question here, and you could even say that emotions have very little to do with this decision—in fact, we've seen before that Cédric would have gone with anyone Frédérique and Aurélie would have chosen for him, since that's what it means to be a Crown Prince and fulfill his duties. Of course, that isn't to say that FredAu would want Cédric miserable, but it is clear that politics always take precedence, unless extraordinary circumstances arise enough to the point of being able to discard traditional political moves.

Initially, Christelle de Sarnez was the best candidate for Cédric Political Companion because not only was the Sarnez Family a (now formerly) reputable family and strong supporter of the Empress, but the marriage would also bring with it the Blessing of the Azure Ocean, which Cédric had needed at the time. Of course, this initial setting falls flat, but Ham Ga-in, as Christelle Rambouillet, later makes an enormous name for herself and becomes even more renown that she would have been as a "Duke's daughter".

As for Jesse Venetiaan, while his ether was the more noble and pure, and his divine power was incredibly notable, his biggest flaw in the eyes of Riester-Venetiaan politics was that Jesse was a foreigner from the opposing country. This flaw, however, is immediately rectified once Jung Yeseo separates from the identity of Jesse Venetiaan (and there's a LOT more context, but it'll take way too long to explain) and becomes the "Moon of the Empire", rather than that of the Divine Kingdom. Once it is made known that Yeseo's allegiances and loyalty are clearly with Riester, the political doubt, implications, and hesitation on him being Cédric's potential Religious Partner naturally fades, all most if not all Riesterians are extremely enthusiastic about their potential union (in fact, many characters are often surprised that they haven't already officialized it, or haven't done it earlier LMAO).

In short, it's always politics, politics, politics. Riesterian nobles ultimately don't place much importance about whether or not CYC are romantic, platonic, queerplatonic—what matters in their eyes is always POLITICS and if the candidates for the future Emperor's Companions will be fitting of the roles they will have to play. CYC's own feelings are their own and whether or not they, in this Companionship, become romantic or platonic, or remain heavily queerplatonically coded, is their own personal affairs, so long as each of them are able to accomplish their respective duties. Of course, there will always be an interest in the nature of their relationship because gossip and curiosity in any country is unavoidable, especially when it concerns such important people like CYC, but the nature of it, in a political lenses, has little to do with whether or not they are fitting as partners. I personally believe that in any way one can spin it, CYC will still be the perfect pairing regardless, and Cédric choosing candidates that do not understand the depths of his soul is unfathomable to me—Yeseo and Christelle are, quite literally, the only ones (in a meta sense, as well). And on the topic of politics, the question of heirs will also naturally follow, and I am very!!! glad to say that this question gets very masterfully solved by the author haha! I am very content with it and it's a bit humorously in retrospect how it happens, but ultimately was a very smart move that allows for this question to be resolved (without having any of the MCs contradict whatever we might think of them!) and allows for readers to naturally conclude whatever outcome they prefer best after the main story ends! (But if you or anyone reading this is interested in knowing more about the Heir Question, feel free to refer to this post where I go into depth about it!)

Anyway, this response has really gone on for a....... very very long time. It took me a while write this out and make sure I got all my facts right LMAO, but I hope I was able to answer, even if only in some way, your questions and help your curiosity!!! 🥹😭🙌🙌

[aro-culture-is]

i’m like 99% sure you can ask for advice here so here goes

so, basically i have a queerplatonic/platonic crush on my band president. AND I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT KNOW HOW I DEAL WITH IT. so, for some context we started talking last year because i just joined the school and the bad and we started talking around mid-year and we weren’t that close orginally but there was this night we had a long, deep convo and after that we started to get really close. after two months, i started to have strong feelings for her (but not romantic) and i think it’s a platonic or queerplatonic crush and i didn’t really go to school and band that often for a while because of autoimmune disease and when i was there i tried not to make it seem like i’m too excited to see her which kinda makes me worried that she thinks i’m iggoring her but we text a lot so. anyway, even though we usually don’t interact irl that much [:(] we still do sometimes, and whenever my score has a rest i always look at her. especially when she has a solo. one time we went to experience this colleg band thing and i asked for a hug and she accepted❤️ i wanna hug her again. i do kinda wanna get touchy with her but not TOO MUCH, y’know? besides, i’m shy/nervous around her and anyway, she’s alloromantic. but anyway, today during our cca fair we kind of kept on kinda locking eyes (accidentally?? idk. but i know i was doing it on purpose) and it made my aromantic heart flutter

anyways so i don’t know what to do should i say i have a platonic/qpr crush on her? though i can’t tell which one it is…..

uhhhhh so, as a nonpartnering sort, I think I'm gonna give some general advice, and leave the specifics to the crowd.

broadly: do you know her views on queer stuff? could you casually bring up "oh, I was reading a queer story --", or if you know she's queer-friendly, "oh, out of curiosity, how many of the flags do you know?" type of stuff? Just, get a general vibe of her views of 1) queer people, 2) what she does and doesn't know or think she knows, and 3) if she knows about aromanticism, what she thinks it is and how she feels about aro folks.

I like to start there personally, because it gives you a lot better of a place to start a conversation about your own identity if you have a common ground on what feelings and definitions are being used. It's really easy, I find, for someone to confidently state they know what something is / what you mean, and be totally off base to the point that you're having totally separate conversations and don't even know it.

To use an example: in high school I had a friend who... lovingly, he grew up rich and sheltered, and probably only was not diagnosed as autistic because he was low support needs. His social skills were, lovingly again, as well informed as he could make them, but executed like a train wreck that most everyone attributed to "boy genius is a little weird". (He was, simultaneously, the heart throb of our school, and a lot of guys realized some queerness because of him, but that's a whole other funny story)

He was super nice about me coming out as trans, but clearly in a "he's confused but got the spirit" way. No idea what I meant, but he knew it meant a lot to me. A few weeks after that, he quietly admitted, "I thought it was about like, gender roles like cooking and cleaning and stuff, and I'm starting to get the impression I might not be right about that."

...

So, I now recommend everyone start with "let's get on the same page about what things mean" before having any big identity chats lol. It often leads to a quiet revelation on their side that you're guiding it to "Hi, I am that identity", but also puts it in a place where they're free to ask questions, and in my experience, treat it a little more thoughtfully and seriously than if it were a fly-by "heyyyyy i am aro and i am scared of this conversation, bye!" that can happen with enough anxiety. totally (/sarcasm) not speaking from experience.

hope that helps? from there, just... keep up communicating, leveling the knowledge field, and if a relationship is what you want, do the work. talk about what that means for you. ask what it means to her. talk about if that's compatible, and how conflicts might be navigated. if that goes well, congrats! if not, congrats! you've probably avoided the messier options, even if it isn't what you'd like.

[aaronminyardthebettertwin]

Sexuality Hc for the Slytherin skittles (how I think they would describe/express/say it) this could be muggles au but doesn’t have to be.

Regulus as gay and he also calls himself gay (if he has to, he has issues and preferred not to say but to show it). His friends find out through implied stuff and jokes. He has a little pride pin on the inside of his coat next to a cute black cat and a frog one (Pandora gave him that one).

Dorcas as a lesbian who calls herself a d*ke to make other people uncomfortable. She is in your face about it and has caused fistfights and won them. Had a phase of trying to be more masculine after she figured herself out but came to the concussion that she doesn’t give a fuck and is now as fem or not as she wants to be at any given moment.

Pandora as unlabelled if you ask her about she will just stare at you till you change the subject. She is not ashamed of her past or present partners but sexuality and gender where never really her thing she has more important things to think, talk and argue about (only her own, if it’s in general or about rights and stuff she does talk about it). She does fight and protests for rights and all but she never felt like defining her own.

Evan as gray-ace (if sexual attraction mostly men, romantic attraction is weird for him he can’t really differentiate between platonic and romantic and is a little bit in love with all of his friends. Yes that’s a raven cycle reverence) . He doesn’t like explaining though, so if it’s just surface level talking he’ll call himself ace (if he thinks the person knows what that is), gay, queer. He used to call himself bi but that lead to questions and he really doesn’t want to be quiz Ed or stuck explaining.

Barty as queer. If you ask him what his orientation is he will tell you he is sexual. He doesn’t care what is in someone’s pants the exact opposite way Evan doesn’t. It’s human-ish he is/was probably attracted to it. But sexual attraction alone is not something he bases of of if he likes someone and would like to sleep or date them though he is very picky with his partners and personality takes a big rule in that. He is also very open and bash about it his first coming out was shouting it form some roof “I am fucking queer”, he informed his classmates by stepping on a table and declaring “I like fucking boys too!” start climbing down, turning around to add “too as in girls and guys and stuff in between!” regulus: “barty get of the table nobody cares and I don’t want your shoes in my eggs” mcgonagall: “ mr. Crouch jr. detention, please get of that table and refrain from yelling at breakfast and using such vulgar language” mumbled: “ that’s homophobic” Evan: “bee she literally has a wife. she is not homophobic!”

Bonus:

Xeno as genderqueer. If you asked them he’ll tell you she likes girls. The gender makes it queer without any other extras so they don’t really think any label fits. She is not very confrontational about it. They just live his life like they want to.

[pally-plate]

I just learned about alterous attraction and…

It perfectly describes how I feel. I don’t think google really explains it very well, so I’ll explain it how I saw it explained.

So basically, it’s the a-nonbinary version of love (a-nonbinary is where you’re outside of the binary as well as removed from the nonbinary spectrum, you’re your own thing.).

So, romantic is one end of the spectrum, and platonic is the other end. Queer-platonic is everywhere else on the spectrum. But alterous attraction is completely separated from the spectrum. It’s just its own type of attraction.

‘Romantic’ can also be replaced with any other type of attraction, such as sexual, aesthetic, sensual, etc, I’m just focusing on romantic attraction since that’s the one I was most confused about, so it’s the one I connect with the most.

I used this analogy to explain it to one of my friends and I think I got it down perfectly, exactly how I feel:

My attraction is like: warhead vs a Swedish fish. (Romantic and platonic attraction.) If you eat them both at once, it’s both sour and sweet at the same time, and you can’t really tell where one candy starts and the other ends. (Both of them mixed together would be queerplatonic attraction). But my attraction to people is more like a tart nerds candy. It’s still candy, and it still has a bit of sour and a bit of sweet mixed in, but at the end of the day, it’s its own flavor.

Feel free to use this analogy if you wish, no need to credit me, but please keep it related to alterous attraction if you do choose to use it.

But yeah, I’m very proud of this analogy, as it perfectly describes how I feel attraction to other people.

[livinginsunnyhell]

White Lies (And Other Hidden Truths)

Buck frowns suddenly, “What about Maddie and Chim?”

“What about them?” Eddie asks.

“Am I going to get an angry phone call from Maddie? Is Hen going to tell Chimney and Maddie? Do I need to do damage control?” Buck asks. He’s proud of himself for being so calm about all of this when the last thing he wants to do is listen to his sister yell at him or worse, be hurt about not knowing about his fake-but-slowly-turning-into-a-real-engagement. Although is it still a real engagement when they are best friends who love each other but aren’t in love with each other? A queer-platonic-engagement?

(Although maybe queer-one-sided-romantic-love-engagement might be a better way to describe it. It can’t be platonic if one party likes the other, can it?)

“Maddie and Chim?” Eddie repeats. “Uh…I don’t think so?”

“You don’t think so as a question or you don’t think so as a statement because I really don’t want Maddie to find out about our engagement like this.” The wobble on Maddie’s lips will kill him if she’s the last to know or his arm will really hurt from where she hits him in anger. These days it’s hard to know what she’ll do.

“Hen and Karen won’t say anything,” Eddie puts the cup of coffee in front of Buck and sits back down. “I don’t think…”

“Eddie! I really don’t want Maddie finding out like this. First Bobby and Athena and now Hen and Karen! She and Chris are going to be the last to know. And honestly, they should’ve been the first. What are we supposed to do?” Buck exclaims.

“Well, you just said we are engaged,” Eddie says. “Problem solved. We’re getting married.”

“Is that – is that what you want?” Buck chokes out.

He tries to catch Eddie’s eye, but he’s staring down into his cup of coffee.

“So we are engaged then?” Buck presses. “Like for real?”

Finally, Eddie looks up and nods, taking a sip of coffee as if he’s recounting his day to Buck. As if it’s no big deal that they are both agreeing to enter a marriage together. With each other. As if Buck’s heart isn’t racing as Eddie meets his gaze and says ‘yes. I want you forever.’

“Yeah, if you want to be engaged,” Eddie says, calm as the ocean on a clear day.

“Well, if you want to be engaged.”

Buck narrows his eyes. He can’t make out a hint of what’s going through Eddie’s head. Is he being serious? Does he really want to get married? Is he agreeing just to avoid hurting Buck’s feelings? Is he saying ‘yes’ because it’s the only option to stop his parents from getting Chris? Is—

“Do you really want to adopt Chris?” Eddie’s voice is so soft, and his eyes are bright with things Buck’s not sure how to articulate, but he knows how it makes him feel. Like he has someone he can lean on during the tough times. Like he can look forward to coming home every night. Like he can close his eyes, fall, and know someone’s got his back.

He’s not sure if he’s imagining the fondness, the devotion, and the love, but he definitely sees the hope and the recognition that Buck is willing to go all the way – he’s all in – for both of the Diaz boys.

Buck can only nod. His throat is constricted, and he swallows a few times to clear it. His voice is hoarse when he says, “Yeah, I do. And – and getting married to you is – if you’ll have me then – then we should do this. But I don’t want you to do this if you – if it’s not what you want. I don’t want to like pressure you or make you uncomfortable—”

“Yes.”

“Yes, I’m making you uncomfortable?”

“No, I mean, yes, if you want to do this, let’s do it. Let’s get married. You can adopt Chris and everything—”

“What?”

Christopher is standing there staring at them as if he’s never seen them before with his mouth open in shock.

The beginning

Latest chapter

[orionsangel86]

I’m not sure how much sense this will make since it’s almost midnight, but am I crazy for thinking how insane it is for Charles to go “I can’t say that I’m in love with you back or anything” and then immediately follow up with “but there’s no one else who I’d go to Hell for”? Cause like, my brain doesn’t know how to not interpret that as Charles reciprocating Edwin’s specific type of love, but not realizing it. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a super religious household so I already have some predispositions about Heaven and Hell, but my point of view for that is just thinking that someone better be pretty damn special for me to go to Hell for them. Like a wife or kid kind of special.

I don't think its crazy to interpret it that way at all. I think its rare to find that level of devotion among two people and when used as a trope it is usually related to extreme romantic love - see the OG Orpheus and Euridice as the prime example. Charles comparing himself to Orpheus in that moment (however naively because he didn't know how the story ended) is far more telling than he seems to realise.

That's not to say that only people with romantic/passionate feelings for someone can experience that level of devotion. Familial and forms of queer platonic love can also certainly be that devoted, and I have seen a lot of people talking about how they view the boys relationship as a queer platonic one, where Charles in particular, doesn't need to feel romantic love in order to be completely devoted to Edwin. I think that's a really great form of representation and can go someway to explaining how much of a deep and profound bond the two have (as a SPN fan I do not use that term lightly lol).

Though I think throughout the series we see Charles display forms of jealousy towards Edwin's connection with Monty and the Cat King, and he does also confirm he likes Crystal because she reminds him of Edwin - even he was joking at the time. I also think it was lovely that in the confession he doesn't once say that he isn't into guys, or that he doesn't think he could ever feel something more romantic for Edwin. He just says he isn't in love with him at that point. Whether or not that particular statement was the whole truth or just Charles' own form of denial and inability to properly process the confession since they were literally running away from a horrible giant spider doll demon from Hell at that point in time remains to be seen.

I think enough hints have also been dropped during cast and writer interviews that if they get a season two, it will go some way to explore Charles' own feelings and build on the aftermath of that confession. Whatever the situation between them is, it is the primary relationship of the show and it is quite clearly built on love and devotion regardless of what forms they or we interpret that as. They have literally forever to figure it out, and I really hope we get to watch at least some of that!

[livingthedragonlife]

Arospec Awareness Week Ask Game

Back at it again, answering an entire ask game all at once, this time for Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week!

[link to the game in question]

1. Where are you on the aromantic spectrum?

I do not know <3 I have been calling myself an aromantic allosexual/aroallo or just aromantic, and I don’t really feel like I need to get more specific than that.

2. What are some other labels you have tried out?

When I discovered the term “cupioromantic” (someone who experiences little to no romantic attraction, but still wants to be in a romantic relationship), I thought it described a lot of my experiences very well. I connect to it for a lot of reasons, not just because I’m also polyamorous, but also because I’ve always been fascinated with romance and stuff, even if I don’t actually feel it. But it just never stuck? Aroallo just feels more important to me and my identity, even if cupioromantic hits a very particular part very closely. I’m comfortable just saying “I’m aromantic and polyamorous” or “I’m aromantic and in two relationships” rather than labelling it with something so specific.

3. How long have you identified as aro-spec?

Not very long! Within the last few months, I’d say.

4. How old were you when you first heard the term?

Oh man, like, high school? I’ve known ABOUT being aromantic forever, I just didn’t connect it to my own experiences until very recently.

5. Are you SAM [Split Attraction Model] or non-SAM?

Technically? I’m aromantic and bisexual, but I don’t really think about it like… a “model” or anything. I’m just who I am.

6. Do you wear a white ring?

No, but I wear a lot of other rings though.

7. Are you out?

I don’t “come out” anymore. If someone asks, I will tell them, but I’m not in the business of making a big presentation of it.

8. What are some aro headcanons you have?

Uhhh I don’t really have many headcanons in general. I just make OCs when I want representation lmao

more under the cut!

9. Are you romance favorable, indifferent, adverse, or repulsed?

Favorable, for sure. Romance and love to me is just a social shorthand to say, “I can about someone very much and want them in my life long-term.” Whether or not that’s what everyone else means when they say, “I love you,” that’s what I mean. Regardless of whether or not I feel the “romance” feeling, I still care a lot about my partners and friends.

10. Are you in a QPR [Queer-Platonic Relationship]? Do you want one?

I’m a relationship anarchist, so maybe? The label doesn’t matter to me so much as the negotiation, but I have been craving some flavor of FWB lately, and like… the concept of “sexual love” compels me a lot. A relationship that’s based almost entirely on sex and sexual attraction, without the need for romance or even platonic attraction, but is still very emotionally intimate. Idk. If that’s a QPR then yes.

11. Are you in a romantic relationship? Do you want one?

I’m in two! Polyamorous aromanticism!!! Two is enough for me though, I can’t imagine trying to schedule a third long-term partner into this.

12. Tag at least one aro-spec blogger on tumblr to help grow connections

I’m going to tag some specifically aroallo bloggers who really helped me when I was figuring out my stuff: @alloaroworlds @loveless-arobee @arosunflower

13. Do you know any facts about aro history?

I knew about the aro white ring/ace black ring thing, which is very cute, but honestly not really. I am very new to the scene and don’t know a ton about aromanticism in history.

14. What piece of media that you like has a canon aro-spec character?

My own books. I don’t know dsafsgdhfjg

15. What’s your ideal friendship?

I don’t know, I’ve never really thought about it. Someone who is nice to me and we can do fun activities together. Someone who I can invite to lunch and we can hang out and go look at various stores. I do miss having IRL friends I could lay my head on or be casually touchy with. Idk “ideal” is such a hard thing for me, nobody is ever going to live up to my ultimate expectations. Everyone is different and experiences friendship differently. I’d rather have like… the best possible relationships with each individual person, rather than look for The Ultimate Friend.

16. Did you have a good discount chocolate day? (the day after Valentine’s Day)

I got so much fucking chocolate. A traditional chocolate heart and two giant Hershey kisses. I ate it all within like three days and it was awesome.

17. What are some issues you have faced from being aro-spec? (if you’re comfortable answering)

Well, it was pretty difficult to explain to my alloromantic partners that I do not and have never been romantically attracted to them, but don’t worry about it we can still be dating. For obvious reasons, it took some explanation and working out what our relationship(s) are going to be going forward. It was difficult to articulate what I felt, because it’s hard to describe a lack of a feeling.

I used to feel really guilty when I didn’t feel the “correct feelings” toward my partners, and I thought it made me a bad person. I thought it meant that I’d have to break up with them, because obviously a romantic relationship can’t exist without romance, right? But that idea made me upset, so I concluded that the panic and sadness I felt at the thought of breaking up with my partners was romantic attraction. I convinced myself that as long as I got sad at the idea of losing someone important to me, that it meant I was in love. It was not healthy, and it didn’t make me feel any better!!! I was still monumentally stressed and guilty about how I felt (or the lack of how I felt), and I used to spend hours second-guessing myself about whether or not I was being a shit partner for not having the correct emotions. It was exhausting and I’m glad I don’t have to do that anymore.

18. What are some positive experiences you have had from being aro-spec?

Being able to free myself from the chains of other people’s definitions. I don’t have any requirements for my relationships, nothing but what me and the other person involved agree. I can feel how I feel without shame, I can embrace new kinds of relationships and explore myself more honestly. I don’t have to panic about being a bad person every fucking day. Being aromantic is one of the best things to ever happen to me.

[spirit-meets-the-b0ne]

In the middle of my HotD rewatch

The gyroscope of interpretation on this show has been at the forefront of my rewatch along with now having read some of the script and read/watched cast interviews.

This one inference made by Olivia Cooke (via Sarah Hess) has plagued me for the first few episodes.

Now, now I know these waters are really muddy what with a few obvious conceptual things: "isn't this queer baiting" "if it wasn't it wouldn't be good sapphic representation anyway" "this is an actors interpretation" blah blah blah. I'm not arguing any of that.

Just that Olivia's head canon held against this scene hits SO MUCH HARDER

Because I gotta say MY GOD imagine how that strikes Alicent if at some point her mother caught them together. Before they even really knew what they were doing (objectively to the tune of they were 13/14 not fully clear on platonic/romantic love) her mother impressed upon them it was wrong. When they denied and in some way or another Alicent/Rhaenyra saying "she never touched me." Only for Alicent to hear it echoed back to her years later like this... Knowing that even in her naïveté she would recognize the truth. That Alicent’s mother, naturally, kept this contained. Which honestly plays more to truly making Alicent more complex by the way she saw what “scandal” her mother covered up for her only for her to act out some perversion of this with Aegon when she’s a mother. A learned behavior twisted in the worst way, because that's what she knew.

Listen I fully understand that this show is NOT taking this angle even though there seems to be a huge division between what some writers and actors are playing to and the editors at HBO imaginably being like "what's all this gay shit?" BUT

I think it's part of what this show missed about TRAGEDY and I mean come on you want drama???? These girlies were ready to hand it to you on a silver plater! In this context I needed:

Rhaenyra being devastated by the news that Alicent was going to be marrying her father. The sheer heartbreak of “this can’t be happening” and knowing she would have lost Alicent to a husband but not THIS. Show her with Syrax, confiding in her dragon because now she has no other friend to talk to - I’m just saying if they were going with the context of “Fire & Blood itself is an unreliable narrator and only shows certain people’s views” - then a scene like this disrupts nothing. Tell me how when they prayed together and Alicent told her to "kneel with me" that part of Rhaenyra prayed for that world where they flew off on dragon back and ate cake.

Alicent being devastated - having her heart torn in two, crying behind every closed door knowing she was going to break the heart of her best friend. The deleted scene does give a peak of that being the case - but again it could/should have been included. Show me Alicent begging Rhaenyra to forgive her and desperately saying she loves her. I think one of the things that Team Green argues the most could have been explored by this avenue, Alicent is a victim of her marriage - it would be inherently more compelling if in the process she is also losing the closest thing to a "first love" she had. Show me Alicent at her desk writing letters to Rhae once a week and then ceremoniously burning them in the braziers. Alicent leaning more into religion as a means of getting out from under her repressed desires and past actions.

Show me both women struggling in their adulthood to even remember why they held "such childhood affections" for each other. Knock the fucking wind out of me with a line like, "the worst part of it all was that they only ever wanted to love each other."

To me one of the worst parts of this production (of which there's a few) has got to be this was the apex of completely missed opportunities to explore. In the premise of "going by unreliable sources" their queerness would be suppressed information. I even think it plays into the dynamic between Rhae-Alicent-Criston in a kind of "Jennifer's Body" way where Rhae was really only interested in him as the object of Alicent's desires which I believe is made a little clearer in the books. A kind of "see this could have been us if you didn't marry my bag-of-bones father" for Rhaenyra who clearly had no aversion to consorts.

I'm sorry to go on this rant, and yes I KNOW - the counter arguments for many of these points. I would even argue some of them further such as the sapphic representation not being invalidated simply because both women do end up with men in the source material. If this was the case then why was "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" received so well? This at the very least to say if they made Alicent and Rhaenyra explicitly queer it would still be less controversial than what the queer men on that show got … Still its not even to say "it's a better way" to explore more of Rhaenyra and Alicent's characters but its at least A WAY to do it. More than we got. Surely both sides could agree on that.

Sorry, now I'm just being pedantic. As a queer woman naturally I have a bias but I still think this was objectively a missed opportunity to explore. Both girl's back stories could have been enriched and tbh a lot of HOTD fans I know also had the same complaint that the time skip came in too early. I think it also makes things less likely to be so divisive between TG and TB when you look at the central pillars of this conflict. You can truly grieve for Alicent and Rhaenyra and what they lost already while on the verge of losing it all. Anyway, I gotta go cry about my divorced lesbian war wives.

[strawberryflavoredsapphic]

A bunch of videos on Comphet, internalized homophobia and trying to figure out if it’s Comphet or attraction that helped me. These (mostly) just other lesbian’s experiences. It’s ok if you don’t relate to them. And relating to them doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a lesbian either bc people can’t put their whole life story into a video.

Anyways, I found these to be more helpful than the “am i a lesbian?” Masterdoc.

TikTok 1: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8j59gEV/ Get rid of it: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8j5Q3RA/ Experience 1: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8j54mbS/ How to tell: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8j5HJH8/ Platonic vs romantic love: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8j5V1fx/ Experience 2: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8j5Swcw/ Loneliness: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8j5WAeY/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8jaRUx2/ Why do lesbians date men before knowing they’re lesbian: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8j5T9PB/ Experience 3: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8j5GVJK/ Carrd: https://href.li/?https://howdoiknowimalesbian.carrd.co Understanding attraction: https://www.tumblr.com/ghostisventing/725035378401296385 Internalized homophobia: https://youtu.be/K7WvHTl_Q7I?si=lH3d__Rr6DMORNqq YouTube: https://youtu.be/HGS5zoqNnSk?si=rAD9qaBI3MYn4JzV Bi vs lesbians: https://youtu.be/9X1DTtpABxc?si=cNmkXErMzXMvfDFr https://youtu.be/s6KA8RB4sQg?si=fS7SHvFxM0pClLOp https://youtu.be/n_nvfr0sH-Y?si=D9q5D0NxJ8wgUonA Comphet: https://youtu.be/t1FpEi28ciE?si=dxBTQ-Ltf7gxncuO

[webanglikethat]

grant x tristan is such an interesting pair. what's that old post about "not romantic not platonic but something more devoted" or something like that? they give me those vibes

anon you get it !!!! they are SO devoted and that is something I’ve kind of explored in my grantristan fic! their dynamic drives me insane because they’ve known each other since early teenagehood and so their bond is really deep, which is constantly explained throughout the story through scenes where tristan for example says he’s talked about a specific topic only with grant before. or when grant brings up how close they are. they know each other so well, how could they not after all those years? and it’s also very devastating because tristan talks about how, despite wanting to expose everyone’s crimes, he still doesn’t want to hurt anyone, because that is what his father is good at. and yet, he accidentally hurts grant by hooking up with sophie, and though he didn’t know, it still dented their bond. and then, if you cheat on a monogamous route, they get into a fight when they find out jaynie is dating both and grant accuses tristan of being jealous of him and tristan says it’s not like that and that grant deserves a better world than the corrupt one they were brought up in. after james step in, grant says he will never be able to forgive him and that it was one too many times. so basically, the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree, it circled the hill and founds its way back to the same old soil, and it can’t leave. and I think it’s so devastating to see all of this through queer lenses !!!! the same boy you’ve known since before knowing who you wanted to be is the one who refuses to listen to you, to know you. and it’s him you love, it’s him you look for when the night falls and the sleep rises. it’s his bed you seek, his presence that reminds you of all the good things this world still has to give you. and you won’t call it love, but you’ll still ask for it. and when you want to hide from the world, you can’t hide from him — he knows you too well, too well immersed in the lexicon of your existence. and so he asks you to be part of his scheme, to expose all of your families — and sure, your parents aren’t the best, but still, blood is blood, and blood is life, and they gave you that, so you should stick by them. but you don’t, and you accept his proposal, and you try to come to terms with your family being exposed and stripped of their power. all because it’s him. after the articles are out in the public, jaynie notices how “tristan turns away with a hunch in his shoulders” and she can tell he feels guilty. and maybe it’s cowardice, maybe it’s denial, but granf just can’t betray his family like that. and he wants tristan to understand, and while on some levels he can, he simply can’t on others. in the anti capitalist, she finds it good how he (tristan) keeps his values, even if it involves going against his friends. and that’s what makes it so agonizing, because in every iteration of their story, no matter what path you take, the weight of their history—whether they’ll name it romantic or not—presses into every choice they make. even when they’re fighting, even when grant is furious and says things he can never take back, even when tristan resigns himself to the idea that grant might never forgive him, the connection doesn’t break. it can’t break. there is something between them that’s impossible to untangle, impossible to explain, because it’s more than friendship, more than romance, more than ideology; it’s just them. and whether they want to or not, whether they admit it or not, they’ll always be looking for each other in the wreckage, even when they’re the ones to cause it