#I don't need for it to be romantic it can be platonic also but. but. it doesn't seem there's any way It can happen anymore

[creatingblackcharacters]

Ice's Favorite Black Characters, OC Version:

Kairos (Kai) - Hades

Credit to top photo: @droodlebug

The way I picture Kairos in my mind versus my current art capabilities are not equivalent, so I tend to shy away from making art of Kai. But he's my baby too 😭 imma get there!

Name Meaning: "opportune time" (as a reference to Orpheus not turning around at the right time, but it's okay bc this time they have time 👍🏾)

Astrological Sign: Modern; Taurus/Gemini cusp

Afro-Greek in my Hades!AU, and Black biracial in my Modern AUs (where there's not like an "Earth" as we know it)

Parents: Orpheus and Eurydice

Role: Philia's best friend and platonic soulmate. He grounds Philia, and Philia helps him grow more confident. They're so close that her fathers don't care if he sleeps over or anything. Attached at the hip.

Physical Description: He's got a birthmark on his left jaw, and his nose grows large by the time he's a teenager. His hair tends to be back in an afro puff, and he likes to dye it green. In the Hades!AU, his hair is a bush, because Eurydice's hair is a tree as a dryad- it's a call to him inheriting his mother's 4C texture, and wearing it the same way she does 👍🏾

Orientation: Aromantic Bisexual

Kai likes to wear accessories, eyeshadow, and long skirts! You'll often see him with long skirts or really baggy khakis full of deep pockets for him to put everything. And he's got a LOT in his pockets. Art tools, notebooks for art and music, inspirations, cool rocks and leaves he's found, bugs, bug carcasses. He loves bugs.

Kai is deeply loving! He loves his family, he loves his friends, and he loves his creation- singing, playing music, art, fashion. he is a renaissance man when it comes to creation. Apollo would love this kid.

Kairos, like his parents, can sing. I'm talking SANGING singing. he can sing lil indie cute songs, but he could also hit an Aretha gospel note- it's just one of his many things he likes to do. He grew up in a home where that was encouraged! But unlike his parents, Kairos is also very introverted, so being on stage is not... He can do it, but he's not always happy up there. He is an artist for artistry's sake, not for fame.

He is a very shy, sensitive child that grows into a thoughtful, reserved adult. But he's never been a coward- he will say what needs to be said! He is as strong as any tree, with strong moral fiber. It also helps having two best friends that can beat the brakes off of just about anyone for disrespecting you 🤣 Full of love and joy and laughter, when he's with those he loves.

He is not the "jump into the middle of the fight" friend. He is the getaway driver friend. Again, when you got friends that can fight- and one that has to have the last damn word (Calix)- you got to be ready for these things lmao. He'll ride, he'd rather not die. He'll do it, but goddamn.

Kairos exists because I genuinely believe in characters having friends lol. Like even when they're in a romantic setting, there should be someone else in their life that also holds just as much sway. People act like boys and girls can't be friends and it's like... We can though. We don't have to be doing anything else. They can just be friends! And it matters! They're just that comfortable with each other!

[uncanny-tranny]

One thing I always appreciated about English is the fact that "love" as a word conceptually refers to all types of love - from familial, to romantic, to platonic, to sexual, to the love one feels for strangers - all forms of love are referred to with the same word. What I love about this is that love isn't placed on a hierarchy (in theory). To me, this feels almost egalitarian, where all forms of love can be valued in the same way

However, I think this is also a double-edged sword that works against how we express love. Because love so often is still viewed as hierarchical, the kinds of love we can express is narrowed. It's very normal to not express love unless it is familial or romantic, and thus, all other forms of love become unrecognized and unnamed. We've shut away part of humanity in the bid to emphasize certain behaviours and emotions, and I really think that works against us in the long run.

I don't necessarily think English needs new words for different types of love per se. I love that other languages have the distinction ("te quiero" is different than "te amo"), and I think that's a valuable communication device. What I think we ought to do, instead, is focus on emphasizing all love as intrinsically equal to each other. I think introducing new words without solving this issue will only introduce the same kind of strife we are experiencing now.

[malfiora]

Jaydick and Pragmatic Love

For some reason (*cough* neurodivergence *cough*) I like to get introspective about why I like the things I like. My love for jaydick came kinda naturally – a red/blue aesthetic between 2 dorks with canonically strong and complex feelings towards each other? Been there, done that, sign me up. But, like...why? Why was I obsessed with this ship? Why is the pairing itself so compelling, whether you ship them or not? I thought: "I don't know, it's the way they're coded as opposites but aren't really, and the way Jason admires Dick but also resents him a little, and the way that Dick's entire identity shifts when Jason comes along, I guess."

And digging a little deeper, I could finally put it into words: it's because Jason was made for Dick. In much the same way that Dick (and consequently Robin) was made to be Bruce's ward / Batman's partner, Jason was created to be someone Dick could conceivably pass his mantle to, someone he could see something of himself in and trust to take on the responsibility he'd been safeguarding for years so that he could finally go do something else (i.e. become Nightwing). Metatextually (i.e. between text and audience), this makes sense, especially given the logic that Jason needed to be similar enough to Dick for audiences to like him while being his own person so he wasn't just a shameless ripoff. (This logic evolved over time, hence retcons, but still.) But contextually (within a text, between characters), what must that look like?

If I had to put it in a single word, it seems like both fans and writers have settled on pragma. According to Greek philosophy-based types of love, pragma is the type of love based on personal qualities, a sense of duty/obligation, and long term commitment. There is compromise and mutual understanding here. It's the type of love most associated with married couples who have been together for a while.

What's awesome about this is it can coexist alongside other types of love, like philia (platonic), eros (lust-driven), or ludos (flirtatious). These secondary types are where I see the disconnect between shippers and antis, but pragma is still the foundation, not necessarily in a romantic way, but certainly in the commitment.

A few examples under the cut.

Nightwing (1996) #119-122. I wrote about this enough, and so has frog. Commitment, sense of duty/obligation

Nightwing (2016) #15. Jason and Dick being bros, and Jason being self aware and commenting on their coping mechanisms (i.e. violence). Long-term mutual understanding.

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016) Annual #1. stealing this from @the-mocking-robin to make a point. Admiration of personal qualities.

Grayson (vol. 4???). This one's just fun. Jason feels betrayed that Dick faked his death.

Nightwing (2021) Annual #1. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[yardsards]

people love an "i'll take care of you" "it's rotten work" "not to me, not if it's you" character dynamic until the character who needs to be taken care of is disabled. then it's supposedly fucked up and toxic for a person to have to take care of someone else.

[cosmic-chelonian]

The fact that there are so many lore inconsistencies in Dr Who is sometimes a good thing actually because it means I feel justified in having headcanons that vastly and grossly contradict show canon. If the writers can ignore things they don't like why can't I.

[moiraimyths]

Before we call anon rude because let’s see it from their perspective, imagine getting an entire feast to eat. That can be pretty hard to start with so much that’s going on, but if they start with one thing they know they’ll like (aka one character they like) that can be the start for them leaping to other characters to finish the story and the bigger story. I struggle the same way to start book series if I don’t have at least one character that drives me to read it, it’s all about what can be the hook to push them through. Sounds like the anon is neurodivergent (just a guess) so they might genuinely not see it as rude and see it as a solution to even play the game to start with.

Btw absolutely adore the game, the complex and rich characters making them all so unique is amazing. The art is so pleasing to the eyes I love it!! I’m waiting for it all to get out at once so I don’t get too impatient. Shae however interests me the most, which routes will have the most lore for them? Will there be routes that give more lore in general based on decisions you make or do they all share the same amount? (I mean general lore not just Shae lore)

Apologies; we are not trying to accuse any asker of being rude! We are simply explaining our perspective as the developers / are trying to broadly encourage folks to dip their toes into other areas of the story outside of the main route(s) they're interested in, especially considering some routes will be made available sooner than others, and these other routes will likely contain additional scenes/lore of everyone's fave(s) regardless! We want to give each main cast member an equal amount of love (and lore) regardless of their overall popularity, so our goal is not to tut-tut anyone for having strong preferences for one character over the others, but rather to explain that you may be surprised by how much *more* you learn about your preferred characters in the other routes. That's all!

For Shae... Well, they were a foot soldier for one of the worst periods of the War. Lore wise, any other story that touches on the War will likely have content relevant to them and their experiences. ^^

[duriens]

did the show just.... butcher devil's minion completely??

I didn't mind Armand's characterization in the show so far (well, kind of, except the fact that they turned him into a supervillain vs. saint Lestat) but the sudden reveal that Daniel Molloy was turned by Armand "out of spite", leaving him all alone to fend for himself apparently, really put me off. so not only there is little to no chance that devil's minion ever happened in the 70s or 80s, but also it's not gonna happen in 2022? because Daniel has already been turned, and the turning of Daniel is the culmination of Armand's and Daniel's relationship arc together, one that is for sure unhealthy and codependent and obsessive, but that was also tender and sweet in a very special way - no wonder that chapter has been a fan favorite for so many for so long. and they just.... discarded it like that?

Daniel's a vampire, he's been turned out of spite, it's heavily hinted that it happened either immediately after Dubai or very little time later. I really doubt there has been time/interest to do any sort of chase, or one that culminates into the sort of feelings Armand and Daniel develop for each other, at least. Daniel destroyed Armand in the eyes of his lover and I really don't think there's any sort of love story brewing there. Doesn't seem it happened in the past either, cause there's not a single hint at the Alice theory in this episode and I thought that if it was true, we'd have another little crumb before the season was over.

What about Armand's line that making fledglings repulsed/repulses him? That was a really important piece of characterization and they didn't even let us see him work through that when turning Daniel. Book Armand sees the process as something worse than killing, and that is why he never did it. He finally concedes because of love for Daniel, however obsessive it is, because Daniel is begging him on his death bed, because he needs him forever and Daniel needs him, too. From repulsion to acceptance because of a pure, absolute sentiment. Show Armand turns Daniel Molloy because he's full of spite. Why would they take the 'Armand is a super villain and theres nothing else to him' route and give him a petty vedetta for that one act that is so important for him in the book, as a character? Why??

and why did they have the talamasca guy tell Daniel 'you should be scared of the other one' when literally they made Armand the dude who kills and turns Daniel, whereas Louis is his best friend?? It just doesn't make sense. There's quite a bit that doesn't make sense to me in this last episode. But I gotta admit, the treatment of Armand's and Daniel's characters has baffled me. even if I weren't a devil minion's fan or a fan of these two characters specifically, it would've rubbed me the wrong way.

I don't know. I guess we'll see what they do next; hoping that there is more to that event than a simple 'oh he turned u cause u ruined his life' and Armand fucking off into the sunset forever (not quite, lol). maybe we'll find out it was all an elaborate plot from Daniel who knew he was paying with fire and counted on Armand to be so mad he would do the one act he found repulsive: finally making a vampire. maybe that's it, and Daniel had decided at some point during the sessions that he didn't want to die, that he wanted the gift. maybe he never changed his mind about it since the 70s. maybe he played Armand. manipulating the manipulator? makes sense in a way, I guess, but boy is it a waste to not serve on a silver platter all those sad and tender and raw and odd feelings that the devil's minion chapter already had prepared for us.

[hephaestuscrew]

I'm still thinking about that scene in Victoriocity S3E7 where Fleet runs back towards the Beast so as to lure it into the path of the train...

Clara's exclamation of 'Teamwork, Fleet!' after Fleet says he's got a plan reflects her conviction that any plan that Fleet has will be a shared plan, something they do together.

This conviction is a kind of trust, and that trust is part of the reason Clara takes a moment to realise Fleet has headed back towards the Beast. She trusts that he's following behind her. She keeps talking to him, her words full of optimism.

When she realises Fleet isn't there, she immediately realises what that must mean he's done, and her voice sounds more small and scared than I think we've ever heard it before.

Fleet's attempt at self-sacrifice is a kind of betrayal of Clara's trust, but when he echoes her celebration of their teamwork in a more somber tone, I think it suggests that he understands the weight of that betrayal.

If Fleet's plan is that Clara won't realise he's gone until it's already too late, then he thinks "Teamwork, Clara" will be the last words he'll ever speak to her. In what he imagines will be their final conversation, Fleet affirms Clara's understanding of them as a team who work well together, even as he is making a choice that rejects the possibility of their teamwork in this scenario. It's a recognition of what their dynamic has meant. It's a goodbye and an apology, even if Clara doesn't understand it as such at first.

I don't think Fleet sounds scared as he initially faces down the train. When he shouts "Yeah, this way, you stupid machine! Come on then!", he sounds defiant and grimly determined.

In fact, I don't think he sounds afraid until Clara appears, until she might be at risk of being in the path of the Beast or the train as well. It's when he shouts "Clara, stay back for God's sake!" and "Please, get back!" that there's real fear and desperation in his voice. He can confront the idea of giving his own life, but not the idea that doing so might put Clara in danger.

Another thing about these lines is that the move from 'stay back' to 'get back' suggests that Clara didn't obey his first instruction but got closer to him (and therefore to the path of the Beast and the train) between those two lines.

Then Fleet gives what might be another attempt at his last words: "I'm sorry! I'm sorry."  A repeated apology before an attempted self-sacrifice is an implicit acknowledgement of how much losing him would hurt Clara. He regrets causing her pain.

Even so, he's accepted that he is about to die and that it'd be worth it to destroy the Beast. But Clara very much hasn't accepted either those things. She's still trying to yell over the noise of the train; she's pulling off her ring to throw at him.

I think it's a good illustration of how Clara's optimism is a kind of strength. She always believes that they can "make a new plan" and that it'll be one in which no one has to die. I think Archibald Fleet needs someone like that, someone who'll tell him to drop to the ground when his death advances from both sides, someone who - even in a dark tunnel with an murderous metal monster and a speeding train - won't stop shouting that there's hope.

[lycanr0t]

the thing about aplatonicism is that just like aromanticism and asexualism, it doesn't inherently mean you don't want friendships, every individual apl person has different needs and wants in regards to friendship and each person will go about it differently.

I for example am aplatonic and don't specifically feel platonic attraction as in, i don't feel a drive to befriend people. I don't get "friend crushes" or ever get the desire to befriend specific people. I am personally, very open to the possibility of friendship if someone else approaches me and we vibe. I am not platonically attracted to them, but I also do get enjoyment from socializing with others in that way and can become attached to them, etc. Platonic attraction does not equal caring about someone/being good to them. Attraction is not moral in that way. it just is.

Just like how some ace people still enjoy sex, even without sexual attraction. Some aplatonic people still enjoy friendship, and some don't. And that's okay! There are so many types of relationships out there that people can form and explore what makes them happiest and it looks different for every person and that's such a wonderful thing.

[altschmerzes]

it's just that sometimes you're so... impossibly happy and full of so much incredible joy that you gotta post about it on the internet otherwise you may get on the roof with a bullhorn yknow.

[rottewanges]

my boys <3

[transparent of wilbur under the cut]

[my-past-disgusts-me]

Stayed up way too late drawing a followup comic for what I posted on my art account. I looove these fucking idiots

[kingdomoftyto]

My feelings go back and forth a lot on Vashwood as a ship because I feel like no one Understands Them Like I Do because their relationship is so different and varied across their different incarnations, but then they have an interaction like this:

... and I'm like. Yeah. Fucked-up soulmates.

[lilbugprincess]

so not to be gay (just kidding! I'm super gay forever!) but I am... comfortable enough with my partner now that I think I'd like to eventually live with him.

Which is wack! Because after my first serious relationship went really sour and ended before I could fuck with my life by moving in with him, I kinda put the thought of cohabitating with a partner aside? Even when I was dating people? And YES that was the aromantic, I know that now but

I'm in my thirties now, I know who I am and what I want in life, I've got a job I like, I'm paying off my student loans and working on building my credit score... I'm mature enough that this is like.

This is planning. This is... something I want. I like him, I'd like spending time with him (when we want--we don't need to be together all the time). I don't want to share a bedroom, but I'd like to share meals. He said he's good at dishes, so I don't mind handling laundry. We have to visit each other first, but we've known each other for six years and dated for two of em. We're definitely not rushing.

IDK, this is just really foreign to me. Thinking of this as something I want. Knowing that we have to work to be in a place where it can happen, but... I'm taking concrete action so it can be possible one day. It's pretty scary, honestly. I like him, but I still worry that I'll fuck it up, or we'll discover we're completely incompatible in some strange way we haven't found, or it'll just... fall apart. But I can't dwell on those fears, right?

Anyway, I'm just rambling aloud! I still have to pay off the student loans, and all. And we might not live together as JUST us, I'd be up for nabbing someone else. I might meet someone new, he might. Could still get into that hype house, all that. But I'm looking at a future, with someone else, and being happy about that.

And the me of 10 years ago would have never imagined such a thing was even possible~

[linagram]

thinking about yueriku again and. the fact that they are basically mahiru and her bf but like.. in a reverse au..

like wdym riku's t2 vd is called "the never-ending cycle of mutual pain". yue liked riku so much and gave him so much attention but that felt suffocating to riku and at the same time he couldn't end their friendship. both mahiru and riku's crimes have something to do with suicide, though riku's case is more ambiguous. and the reverse part is that in mahiru's case, it was her boyfriend (so the one "being suffocated") who ended up dying and in riku's case, it's yue (the one "suffocating him") who ended up as his victim.

like wow. okay. okay

[spring-lxcked]

evil evil man but he can't date sb who doesn't enjoy physical affection from him because he's so damn needy. he sees his partner sitting down and he either has to be in their lap or as close to them as possible. even if he falls asleep next to his partner not cuddling, they'll still wake up with him half on top of them. kisses as greetings and goodbyes and because he's bored and yes there's a 43.25% chance he'll try to turn it into a makeout even if they're busy with something. partner is like "you're distracting me" and he's literally rubbing his face against theirs like "no i'm not." and he'll start this shit in the pre-dating """Platonic""" phase too if the person will let him and he likes them enough.