#I don't know about the swing or non rep

[palatine]

Actually, I like all cats~ It's was fun! I'll just sort out the confusing ones.

Favourite Cat- rum tum tugger, bombalurina, Mr. Mistoffelees

Favorite ship- tuggerlurina, tuggoffelees

Favourite Tom-  rum tum tugger,  Mr. Mistoffelees

CATS artist challenge template make by @sillybub

[alastors-antlers]

Being someone who sees a lot of talk about shipping Alastor (sexually, romantically) in fanworks, I just want to take some time to talk about both sides of the issue. It's long, I know - please, please bear with me until the end, and I hope you'll understand what I mean in a bit.

I hope this helps someone, but as an aroace person who understands the frustration and hurt, this is often how it feels to me:

Alastor, being one of the limited cases of aspec rep that I've seen and one of even fewer which I actually enjoyed, means a lot to me.

That being said, his canon rep establishes that he's aroace but not much about how this factors into his life or relationships at all -- and when there's a gap in canon, I turn to fanfiction, which tends to spotlight characters' queerness even when the source material doesn't or can't. Don't we all want to see ourselves in the media we engage with?

When I pull up AO3, there are already a good number of fics about him. Great! Some of them are definitely incredible; but as I read on, it starts to seem like a lot of fics I see acknowledge that he's asexual or aromantic in some way but don't really factor that into the story. It reads like you could have written the story without keeping his queer identity in mind, and it would've come out the same.

Even when representation that does resonate with me exists, it starts to be exhausting to pick through the slash tags to see which ones are written in an aspec-coded way, so I wonder if it would be easier to not read anything with slash at all. On the other hand, when you filter ships out completely, only a tiny fraction of the fanworks are left.

People often respond that aspec people can have relationships, and I think we tend to know that. They can have sex, some can experience sexual attraction in select situations, they can romance others beyond romantic attraction -- any combination of things. But some aroace people don't want either, and sometimes we're struggling to see ourselves in how Alastor is typically portrayed.

Out of all of the fics, sex-repulsed, totally aromantic Alastor isn't seen much. And when Alastor's limited canon seems to be pretty supportive of a reading where he is those things...

Sometimes, you start to feel lost. If fics were evenly distributed along the aroace spectrum of experiences, wouldn't you expect more fics of him being the "totally uninterested" brand of aroace? But there aren't. People seem to have a preference toward seeing him in relationships. Even if they mean well, it can make you think: what does that say about how we view asexuality/aromanticism as a whole?

Is there something less interesting about Alastor, when romance is taken out of the picture? Do others find him less appealing as a character if they can't see him dating, or in love, or having sex or wanting it? Why do we need romance, when romance is already everywhere else, when it doesn't even feel like he was originally really interested? It brings to mind a struggle to be societally accepted, even today.

Even when it's not technically wrong to write Alastor as you see him, being told that we should all be able to ship him however we want can feel like this:

It brings to mind people who try to swing in with misinformed good intentions, telling us "oh, you're aromantic? but you can still have romantic relationships, right? so you can still be normal." when all we want is to be okay outside of the normal.

Or trying to find a partner who can be with us, out of everyone who tells us "I know you don't enjoy sex, and that's okay, but I can't have a romantic relationship with you without it." and being so tired of hoping for someone who gets it.

Or talking with peers, and hearing them all commiserate and fawn over their experiences with love, then telling them about someone you like non-romantically and getting "aww, it sounds like somebody's got a crush!" but not being believed when you tell them it's not like that at all.

Alastor is not a big deal, not really, not in the grand scheme of things. But in an allonormative world, it can feel like a sudden splash of cold water when we were expecting a warm fire to sit around. Even within this ecosystem, we squint to see ourselves reflected.

Society isn't built for us. It can be exhausting to be reminded of that.

~~~

I hope to support people writing Alastor as any variation of aspec, or not even aspec at all. At the end of the day, I think that fanon is really whatever you want it to be, and everyone has their own reasons for writing what they find enjoyable. They should be allowed to do so, and I want to believe that people do what they do with good intentions.

They want to imagine scenarios with the templates of characters they love, and that's okay; even beyond sexuality/queer identities/etc., fan interpretations of characters can be incredibly, wildly different from who they really are in the story anyway, and that's what I try to remind myself. But still, I also can't help feeling disappointed about the aroace representation we could have seen.

(Is Alastor canonically sex-repulsed? Uhh, maybe. If I had to guess, that'd be my top guess, but this might be a hot take: I wouldn't really say there's enough to go off of considering that this view is supported by Angel propositioning him both times, and it's not like Alastor is a particularly big fan of Angel at those points anyway lol)

To my fellow aroaces struggling with Alastor's fandom rep: if you need a break from it all; if you need to block the tags that you hate; if you need to talk to someone about how you're feeling; that's okay. It makes sense that you'd want more representation in a way that helps you feel seen and validated and less alone. I can't speak for everyone, but I think I get it.

I don't have any solutions for how you're feeling, because sometimes I'm feeling the same way. I understand that you want others to get your position and you have the right to express your feelings, but even if you're correct, often being angry or frustrated won't help change others' minds, so let's try to save our energy and take care of ourselves.

Something that helps me to think about is that even now, asexuality is gaining more visibility. We're gaining support. Real change is happening in the world that's helping incredible amounts of aspec people feel freer to be themselves. And maybe one day, we won't be reaching to protect our scraps of representation.

Let's fight until that day together <3

[torialefay]

6 with CHANGBIN…… 😩

One Hell of a Workout 💣

boyfriend!changbin x horny!fem!reader smut

✨ synopsis: your & your boyfriend's sleep schedule is fucked up, which in turn means your gym schedule is also fucked up. late night workout sessions may end up not being so bad 👀

✨ wc: ~2k

✨ warnings: smut ahead- minors DNI; cursing; unprotected sex, public sex

• you knew you shouldn't, but you couldn't help it. changbin just looked too fucking good.

• you'd gone to the gym with him superrr late. not because you were particularly dedicated, but because it is currently only 5 PM in the country you just got back from... and seeing his arms and shoulders as he worked out was never a bad sight.

• something about the smell of him and the way his little curls stuck to his head once he started to sweat got you riled up more than anything else in the world.

• as you were finishing your squat reps, you couldn't help but to watch the contour of the muscles in his back out of the corner of your eye. you were the only person bin would workout in front of without a shirt on. and god, the way he looked at the end of his lat pulldowns... let's just say you were starting to get wet, and not from the sweat.

• you weren't quite sure what it was. why you were so horny all of a sudden. you'd usually never be this side tracked about him. BUT with bin having shows every night recently, he didn't always have the time, energy, or opportunity to be intimate with you... and this was the result. too much pent up desire.

• after clearing your weights and getting a drink of water, you watched changbin as he laid down to start his bench press. the way his arms bulged just by angling them up to grab the bar was so yummy that you couldn't stand it.

• "want me to spot, babe?" you asked, trying to sound as non-chalant as possible.

• "i don't know how much you'll be able to help if i get crushed, but sure why not," he said, chuckling to himself.

• you bit your lip as you walked over, about to situate yourself over top of him.

• swinging your leg over his hips, it took everything in you not to sit down and straddle him.

• "good?" he asked.

• "you're good. you got this!" he'd already done his warming up, so he was moving onto something a bit more challenging.

• as he removed the bar and began to pump his arms up, you helped him count. "1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... 9... 10."

• "aghh," he let out a deep breath, moving the bar back onto the rack.

• "well, this is a pretty sight," he said, moving his head down to look at you over top of him.

• 'this i can work with,' you thought.

• you smirked at him before lowering your pelvis, letting yourself rest right on top of his hips. you were hoping the contact would work in your favor.

• "babyyy, come on now," he said, throwing his head back in a tiny giggle. he definitely thought you were joking.

• "what's the matter?" you asked, big eyed, moving your hands down to rest on the sides of his torso, tight from the extra core exercises he'd been doing lately.

• "you know you can't be doing this. come on, you've gotta stand back up," he said smiling up at you. he was about to shake his head laughing in disbelief.

• "but why?" you teased, letting your hands trail further inwards and run gently up and down his abdomen.

• "why?!" he moved his head to look left and right. "because we are literally in the gym right now! in public!"

• you smiled playfully as you ever so slightly began to move your hips up and down on him. just the tiniest bit to gage his reaction.

• "technically," you started, "this is a *private gym... and who else is gonna be here at 3 in the morning?"

• when you sensed no hesitancy on his side, you let yourself grind a little harder, making full contact with what you could now feel as his bulge. you wanted to go slowly. to make sure that every last centimeter of him felt you.

• "ah fuck," he smiled while exhaling loudly. "you're not gonna make this easy, are you?"

• "if you realllly don't want it," you let your hands wander to his chest, massaging into him, "then say it and i'll stop."

• you couldn't help the smile on your face. knowing that he was putty underneath you. hoping he'd just give in already. hoping you could give each other what you knew you both desperately needed.

• bin didn't say anything. he just shut his eyes, looking like he was concentrating on some imaginary thing in his head.

• when he held that position and didn't go on to say anything, you took it as your cue to stop. you slowly brought your hands back to yourself and halted your hips from rocking on him.

• "i'm sorry binnie, i don't know what got into me," you mumbled, now feeling embarrassed at the ordeal, your own boyfriend not able to look at you. you slowly began to stand back up just over top of him.

• before you could think another thought, changbin's hands gripped hard on your hips, pushing you back down on him.

• "i didn't say to stop," he mumbled lowly, as if the words were coming from deep within his chest. it wasn't anger in his voice. it was more of a... whine? a plea? ... something that made you horny.

• with a victorious smile on your face, you reveled in his actions, taking this opportunity to get what you desperately needed.

• "feels that good, huh?" you toyed with him a bit before starting to pick up speed again, grinding back and forth over his clothed cock.

• "hush," he said, covering his smile with his hands. he felt like there was no way this was really happening to him right now. no way that this was his reality.

• you took your time, slowly and sweetly grinding on him until you felt your clit begin to throb. all of the sensation had built up, leaving it swollen and exposed to your underwear, steadily and deliciously.

• "oh fuck," you moaned, throwing your head back and savoring the way that changbin's hard shaft fit so perfectly between your lips, massaging you without even trying.

• as you heard light moans escaping changbin's mouth, you quickly slid down him slightly so you could palm him through his shorts. his cock was rock solid, and as you stroked up and down, he began to wince. as bad as he wanted to cover it up, you knew he was getting overly worked up.

• "i wanna take these off," you pleaded, pulling on the waistband of his shorts and boxers.

• toying around with them for a bit, you slowly pulled up and shimmied them down until they were around changbin's ankle, leaving him exposed.

• as you stood, you took the opportunity to slide your pants down, taking one leg out and then the other so you could throw the clothing on the floor beside you.

• changbin propped himself up by leaning his elbows on the bench. his eyes now full of light and wonder, he took in the sight of your lower body now unclothed for him in the middle of the gym. his safe haven and safe space... now absolutely stained with lustful thoughts.

• throwing yourself back onto him, you straddled his lap for a bit, letting his tip get covered in your juices. you felt your breath hitch just a bit as you rubbed up and down just the right spot.

• when you were satisfied with your plan, you quickly lifted your hips up and guided him to your entrance. in one swift motion, you removed your hand from his cock and instead left it to rest on his stomach.

• you felt yourself relax around him as you sank down, devouring every last centimeter.

• changbin sucked his teeth in slightly at the feeling of his dick pushing inside you, relaxing once he was fully in and you were finally stretched around him.

• you knew you had plenty of time, and you wanted to enjoy every last, tiny inch of movement between you two.

• as you angled your body forward, you moved both hands up until they were pressing into changbin's chest.

• you let yourself lean into the luscious rhythm you had before, slowly grinding forward and backward around him.

• as you went, you slowly built up your pace. you didn't mean for it to happen already, but with each movement of your hips, your clit began to pulse, begging for more.

• as you rocked back and forth, back and forth, you heard a few disgruntled moans from changbin, encouraging you to keep going.

• you threw your head back in pleasure as you started violently thrusting yourself up on him, the sensation becoming too great for you to bear.

• faster, faster, faster, chasing that sweet realesse until "fuckkkkkkkk" was all you could say.

• you immediately started twitching around changbin as you rode out your high, his hands coming around to stabilize your ass and hold you down on him until you were completely finished.

• trying to catch your breath, you leaned down onto your arms, closer to changbin's chest. your body was so exhausted, you weren't sure what to do next.

• but changbin had his own plans. before you knew what was happening, his arms had wrapped around you completely, pulling your face and stomach flat onto him as he began to violently buck his hips up and thrust inside of you.

• and jesus christ did it feel good.

• deep, guttural moans flew out of his mouth with each sharp thrust, with the sound of skin slapping following right after. the pace was quickly becoming too much to handle.

• cursing under his breath, changbin easily wrapped his hands into your hair and pulled, arching your back for him and letting him get a good look at your face.

• you moaned out as you focused on all of him. the feeling of his tip hitting your cervix repeatedly. the aggression on his face while looking at you. the one hand that was now urgently squeezing your ass, definitely leaving bruises behind.

• he was just too fucking good.

• "this what you wanted baby?!" changbin spat as you quivered over top of him.

• "ahh fuck," he bit down, focusing his eyes on your face and the way your tits bounced every time he pounded into you.

• as his thrusts got harder and sloppier, you knew he was close. with one final yank of your hair, he pulled you all the way back to arch your ass just perfectly for him. he loved the sight of you losing your breath over it.

• one, two, three more thrusts, and "oh fuck. oh fuck. aghhhhh fuckkkkk," he moaned out as he came, letting go of your hair and letting your body fall lifeless on top of him as he continued to fuck into you and ride out his high.

• like his own little rag doll, he used you until he absolutely couldn't stand it anymore. he was completely drained and overstimulated.

• you both laid there for a few seconds, panting heavily to catch your breath. laying on top of him, you heard his heart beat continuing to slow in his chest as he rested and regained his conscience.

• once you'd both calmed down, you finally got the chance to get words out.

• "that was too fucking good, binnie," you smiled, going up to peck him on the lips.

• "that was one hell of a workout," he laughed, beginning to sit up now. you, still seated in his lap, got a perfect view of his face and sweaty curls as he rested now on his tailbone.

• "seeeee," you teased, "we should do it again sometime." you coyly smiled.

• "you might just talk me into it," changbin said, leaning his forehead on yours.

• you both sat in solidarity for a moment, just admiring one another before changbin broke the peace. "i love you and all, but we've gotta put our pants back on." he looked down at the haphazardly strewn clothes around him.

• "and we should probably wipe this thing down about 5 times before we leave," you giggled before standing up.

---------------------------

✨ if you enjoyed, please consider liking, commenting, and/or re-blogging <3

✨ check out my masterlist for more

[suzy-queued]

🪐⚡weekly tag wednesday⚡🪐

✨ it's that time again!! lets answer some really random questions for fun ✨

Thank you for the tag, @deedala

name: Deena (or, when Deanna and I merge, something like Deeeannna)

age: 49er

astrological sign: ♈

upon which continent do you reside: North America

tell us how you're feeling right now using 3-5 emojis: 🤩💦🧘‍♀️🐈❤️

whats your favorite flavor of gum? Cinnamon

whats the last movie you watched? Blade Runner, at the request of my younger son who had never seen it. I was proud of him for calling out Decker's non-con sex scene.

what was your worst subject in high school? English.

whats the job you stayed at for the shortest period of time? A couple of short-lived college summer jobs. One was assisting an interior decorator. One was a phone/customer service rep at a photo-finishing studio.

whats your favorite thing to do at an amusement park? Those big swings that go in a circle, where your feet are dangling down.

what condiments go on top of the perfect hot dog (meat or plant-based)? Spicy mustard and ketchup. I don't know anyone who actually puts mayo on a hot dog (looking at you, Cam and Noel).

cincinnati chili, thoughts? It tastes fine, but it reminds me of a very specific time in my life that I would rather forget.

do you sleep with a plushie? Nah, there are too many cats in the bed for that.

how do you feel about thunderstorms? Yes, please. Give me all of them. Every day. Dramatic lightning, hail, dark clouds, wind.

what's the last animal you touched? My sweet kitty Shadow who is on the mend after getting attacked by some animal. He has a hurt paw and is on antibiotics. He is loving and grateful that we are taking care of him.

grab the nearest item with words on it that ISNT a book and tell me the final word: "Knives!!" It's a coupon from my older son for him to sharpen all of our kitchen knives.

have you ever forgotten to do an assignment until the night before its due? Have I ever *not* done this?

I'll tag ... @francesrose3 @energievie @blue-disco-lights @doshiart @rereadanon

[missing-sock-misto]

🐱✍️🔥

🐱 Who's your favorite song cat and why?

Mr. Mistoffelees! I love the facets to his character; he’s shy and quiet and aloof, but he’s also flashy and dramatic. There are so many versions and interpretations to his character, from a mute kitten to a right-hand singer to Munkustrap, to an eldritch creature you aren’t sure is actually a cat. Plus he’s just so unabashedly ✨Fabulous✨, and it’s funny to see that a musical made in the 80’s, during the height of homophobia and the aids crisis, stumbled into making the hero of the night an extremely gay cat.

✍️ If you had total creative control over a production of Cats, what would you change and why?

So I answered it here, but that one was really focused on a replica/revival style version, so I’ll answer for a nonreplica idea here.

I put the disclaimer that non-replica’s are a bit of a blind spot for me, so I might just say an idea that’s already been done. But yeah- I like the idea of a masquerade style non-rep, where each cat gets a specific aesthetic and dance style.

Victoria is traditional ballet obviously, Misto is acro-modern ballet. Jennyanydots is tap, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser are swing dancers. Skimble could be Scottish dance. Make Tugger a stripper or something Idk lol. The Jellicle Ball is a montage of various ballroom dances, with the Pas-de-deaux being a Waltz featuring Plato and Victoria.

There is a precedent for Macavity being a participant during his own number, so it could be a Tango or Rumba, where he alternates dance partners with Demeter and Bomba (HE DOESN'T SING). I imagine he’s not Literally there, it’s like, a very dark stage, and he enters and leaves spotlights on verses. It’s more the memory of his presence that the girls are dancing with, kind of like the “Cell Block Tango” in Chicago. He’s dressed in a suit with red trim and has a death mask or something.

But everyone is wearing masks with various degree of coverage, and cat ear like head pieces. But I’m imagining very elaborate dresses and costumes, a ballroom set design.

🔥 Share one (1) hot take/opinion about the show/fandom/etc

I really like Revival. It makes me sad when people bash it so much, cause while I don’t agree with all of the artistic choices made, I like a lot of them and find them interesting. But I know any defense I make of it will make me sound like I'm bashing the OG, when that isn't my intention, so I don't say anything.

[klausalvatores]

I started watching AM bc of j*rus. I saw a lot of people shipping them so I decided to give it a try, no matter how hard I tried to shipp them I couldn't, like don't get me wrong I thought Cyrus' crush on Jonah was cute, but I never felt the "chemistry" that everyone was talking about, I never saw "heart eyes" on Jonah. Sometimes I wonder if I'm watching the same show as them. Them tyrus happened and well, they had everything j*rus didn't have (at least for me), to be honest.

I had a similar experience as you kinda. I mostly started watching bc I wanted a show that reps Asians in a non-stereotypical way (the only other show I know of was shadowhunters but it got cancelled and it sent me in a deep depression so I joined the andi mack fandom instead but I was a casual viewer for awhile) and I also knew about J*rus and their popularity so when I first started watching, I shipped them thinking it would actually happen but now I believe Jonah is straight and Cyrus’ idolization of him was unhealthy. I was still sorta shipping J*rus even after the swing scene (like I wanted to keep an open mind) with Tyrus but I definitely felt an immediate spark between TJ and Cyrus so I definitely preferred them over J*rus. I don’t remember the exact ep I stopped shipping J*rus but it was before Cyrus admitted he was over him… I mean like after awhile I realized it was never gonna happen and I wasn’t gonna pretend to be okay with J*rus when Tyrus is way healthier and has better chemistry so that’s when I officially announced J*rus as “dead to me”