#Not Necessarily A Healthy Ship

[thesoulesscollection]

What do Choc and Reg have going on between them?

Oh, I've been wanting to share this for some time! 

This dynamic was never meant to be a thing until I started talking with @catisteard and it kinda spiraled out from there to which I'm immensely thankful for. There's also so much more to it that I can't fully explain in this post that would make sense. Originally I intended for neither man to have interacted too much, instead Choc's sister, Honey would've taken the mantle somewhat, and Choc was meant to be a different person then what I now plan out for him. 

The relationship started off in their youth as a viciously heated rivalry between Reginald, a hot headed newcomer and Choc, the apple of Chief Wilford's eyes. In turn leading them to be constantly at each other's throats, often getting into petty fights, verbally or physically. 

Until sometime in their thirties it evolved to a strange on-off situationship when the two had decided to set up a motion in place to use the other as a literal stress reliever. An unhealthy codependent bond lasting for a couple years afterwards nobody knew of besides them. As the pair got older, seasoned with experience, was left to simmer as bitter exes? Whatever's there is cynical, filled with tension and snarky quips at the other's expense. 

Everyone knows Choc's a nice guy, unable to purposely harm a fly and think that Reginald is unnecessarily badgering the poor man. 

Although there are rare moments in the midst of their problems, they do have, at least close to, genuine moments of assumed care and respect for one another. 

[fmluder24]

Hate "The Field Where I Died" something fierce (not because of the father/daughter stuff most shippers do; I'm actually incredibly annoyed about more Holocaust appropriation targeting Duchovny but I digress) but Mulder wanting to believe in true love and soulmates so hard so instantly with so little "evidence" because he just wants to love and be loved so deeply and unfortunately that need was never fulfilled by his family or any major relationships (Phoebe, Diana, other work relationships like prior colleagues and bosses) in his life (including Scully at that point in Season 4 (and possibly ever imo)) is so SAD and COMPELLING

[giddlygoat]

hater has disturbing reoccurring dreams about wander crawling inside his ribcage that always have him waking up in a cold sweat [they just feel too real and hater can’t place why]. wander has reoccurring dreams of hater ceremoniously destroying him with the Disaster Blaster and it’s the one dream he doesn’t eagerly blab to sylvia about because he doesn’t know how to tell her that it never feels like a nightmare. soooo is anyone else sick in the head or is it just me

[insurged]

[keebwee]

no one will evr understand them like i do .... nobdoy will ever write them ciorrectly .. because they should nto be together at all they hate each other and would be horrible in a relationship but something deep and twisted inside me says they must for the plot. and i simply must consume ..... but no one does it right except 1 guy ive read.

[merdeva]

inara would romance : lae'zel, shadowheart or gale, and she'd bring out the worst in all of them. (maybe also astarion, but I do think she thinks he's a little........ weak? at least at first glance –– she would probably recommend astarion ascend, honestly.) like I think she's drawn to power, and while lae'zel and shadowheart are the ones she's immediately drawn to, especially physically, gale's potential as a wizard and his power calls to her. she's a little like mystra, in that way, except without the grooming and other weird shit. she thinks wyll and karlach are far too nice and naive.

[labwebs]

🕸..............should have once again not clicked on a spidey trend on twitter. can we stop pitting versions of characters against each other lol

[tcpdog]

you just don't know it yet but you love me and i love you the same one day we'll have a pretty wedding and i'll be your everything

we'll be together, yes, forever we will never, ever part oh you don't know it yet, but baby i've already got your heart

[notmoreflippingelves]

So I know, I know, we all hate it when people add comments and especially lengthy ones to posts that are no openly encouraging them. Nevertheless, I'm gonna do so in this particular case because the novel that I was writing in the tags just got too too long and I was frighteningly close to the tag limit.

The things that would fix Esteban Flores are (in roughly this order)

A found family (preferably one totally divorced from connections to his bio family) and/or a small child to take care of.

A heartfelt apology from his biological family (definitely Luisa, probably Elena, and maybe Francisco as well).

A hug x1000

Being shaken

Enough sleep

But most especially the first two.

Esteban's issues stem from being made to feel like an afterthought and/or an obligation to his family of origin. In his mind, he was not chosen or wanted. He was liked, loved even--but he was loved because he was familia--not because he was Esteban. He was not enough in and of himself, especially not when compared to Elena.

Do you know why he continued to tend the cacao trees during the Dark Times? Yes, it was out of love for his family, but I think there's a bit more to it than that. His abuela shared something private and meaningful (i.e. how to take care of the cacao trees) with him that she didn't also share with Elena. He was welcomed into Luisa's world--if only for a moment. This was his, the rare thing that he didn't have to sacrifice to or share with Elena. No one could take this away from him--the moment of feeling seen and chosen. Not even the fact that this moment was very very much an anomaly and the rest of his youth (and his adulthood) consisted of him being shoved into the corner of some family portraits and left out of others entirely---and no one noticing this for years.

In "Something I Would Never Do," Esteban outright states "Years ago/ I did not know/Just how much they cared for me." He's just now realizing after 40+ years that his family just might love him (50+ years if you go back to when Esteban moved into palace); he's genuinely surprised about it and terrified that he's going to fuck it all up. Yes, Esteban has atrocious self-esteem, but these impressions did not come from nothing. Even now, his family keeps him largely at arm's length. He doesn't appear (or isn't even mentioned) in the two family vacation episodes, suggesting he was left behind. His Navidad plans (the ones he has been dreaming of , all alone for 41 years!) are rejected outright by Luisa, and no one even bothers to ask what the Dark Times were like or how he is coping. Everything has changed and yet nothing has changed. He's there, sometimes he is shown attention and affection, but he's still made to feel that he's not really a part of the family in the same way the others were.

All this is pretty bad in and of itself, but it's made worse by the fact that he's not getting his emotional needs fulfilled from outside the family any more than he is within it. As far as we can tell, Esteban's only real friends as a child were Elena and Victor. (Maybe Felicia as well, but she was far more Elena's friend than his). And neither Victor nor Elena could give Esteban what he needed: the feeling of being liked and chosen for himself and that alone.

Elena is family--the same family has made Esteban feel like an afterthought and obligation, merely liked at best and tolerated at worst. But that's oversimplifying things. Elena is also the impossible gold standard that Esteban will always be measuring himself against. (And it's especially galling that she was 1-2 years younger than him, and he was still nowhere near her level). She's the favorite (and Luisa is not subtle about hiding that fact), the priority, the important one. She's the one who has always been and will always be secure in power and confidence and their familia's love--the exact opposite of Esteban.

Victor, meanwhile, was a horrible influence on Esteban, and not just where Shuriki was concerned. His selfishness rubbed off on his amigo, and his competitiveness and callousness brought out every one of Esteban's insecurities and worst tendencies. It's also very strongly implied that their friendship (at least on Victor's side) was rooted in how 'useful' Esteban was. Through El Segundo, Victor got closer to power/the crown and also found someone that he could feel "superior" to. Someone that Victor could consistently beat at races, so that he could feel like a winner. Someone who wouldn't tell Victor to go to hell if he subjected unflattering nicknames upon.

So yeah, Esteban's childhood primary source of affection/attention outside his family were two people who exacerbated Esteban's already huge inferiority complex. One of whom was part of said family that enabled said inferiority complex in the first place, and the other of whom is wrapped up in the event that caused Esteban to lose his family as well.

And then, Elena was trapped in the amulet and Victor was banished from Avalor, and Esteban was without anyone at all for 41 years. His primary source of attention and affection during this time was the woman who conquered his kingdom and took away his family. Someone who had preyed upon his vulnerabilities from the very start and who kept him alive only so long as he remains obedient and "useful" to her. There's nothing even remotely close to equal or mutual about this dynamic, and Shuriki did even more damage on Esteban's already battered psyche than all of the others combined and multiplied by ten.

Even after Shuriki is gone, Esteban still doesn't have anyone in his life that voluntarily chose to be in his life. His entire social circle is comprised of people that he knows through his family and/or his role as chancellor (and later his magical abilities). There's Naomi, except there isn't, because their dynamic is rooted exclusively in their shared devotion to Elena and their roles on the Grand Council (which is also directly tied to Elena).

Similarly, Doña Paloma interacts with Esteban almost exclusively in reference to his role as Chancellor. Would she give him the time of day if he had no political power or influence?. Doubtful, especially as she seems to really dislike him most of the time. There's a bit more potential for a genuine friendship to develop with Julio or Professor Mendoza, but again, these connections were formed through Esteban's job and we don't really see any interactions that aren't in service to that.

Higgins is explicitly Esteban's employee and given how insensitive he can be to Esteban, it seems unlikely that he has any real non-professional loyalty or affection to him. Same with Armando, except things do seem to a bit more cordial between them.

Esteban seems to have a good rapport with Avalor's allies, especially Toshi and Shoji, but these are unlikely to be anything more than friendly diplomatic connections and ones separated by distance.

So yeah, my boy literally does not interact with a single character on the show without at least one of them doing so out of obligation/duty/job requirement and/or ulterior motive. Fifty years later and almost nothing has changed, Esteban still has nothing and no one to call his own.

[legogender]

finlays will see a terrible abusive dynamic in ninjago and be like 'is anyone gonna think abt that daily' and not wait for an answer

[aceofbooks-creative-anthologies]

I still haven't posted anything about ace x senku (because fuck him), but I'm thinking about how that ship handles our dynamic.

Fundamentally, ace x senku and mikace are the same exact ship. INTP x INTP at our very worst. Competitive and methodical and lofty goals and misunderstandings and over analyzing motivations.

But where mikace becomes very codependent very quickly, even just as friends - ace x senku is forced apart right when we would have become codependent, and have to grow as individuals separately from each other. I think Senku is dead for a good while. Senku has to learn how to work through his blocks without me there to bounce ideas off of.

Which is why Ryusui is an important part of ace x senku. I have to learn to heal from Senku's "betrayals" (yes, plural) and Ryusui provides the love and understanding for me to do that. Ryusui grounds me and shows me a different way of viewing the world. I haven't figured out our break-up yet, but I know that it's going to be amicable and as friends. Ryusui is going to realize that the person I need, now that I've grown and healed, isn't him. And he'll be okay with it because he just wants to see me happy.

Mikace doesn't learn how to exist without each other. We break up every other week. We make our friends pick sides. When we're younger (17/18) we get into cat fights. More than once, we've both ended up with black eyes and sprained wrists or ankles because we thought a sparring match would help solve an argument. We do eventually grow as individuals, but all of our growth happens much too late in the relationship and only after a dozen or so interventions, led by Takemichi.

So yeah, mikace and ace x senku are the same ship, fundamentally. They both bring out the worst in me, and I believe I'd bring out the worst in them (this is also why mikace is exclusively final timeskip). But because of a correctly timed Tsukasa, ace x senku is a much healthier ship (when we get there, eventually; it's pretty toxic for a long while after the empire is dissolved).

[elluminis]

One Piece Fic Recs

Unsurprisingly, I’ve read a ton of one piece fics in my day! I thought it might be interesting to make a list of some of my favorites, organized by the main ship. Fics with a ❤️ are an all-time favorite—doesn’t mean they’re necessarily any better, but they make my heart happy :)

Gen:

Already Forever by taizi (NR)

A character study on Luffy, told from Nami’s perspective :)

Fishbowl by taizi (NR) ❤️

Hi this fic is absolutely heartbreaking. There’s a fantastic comic adaptation on tumblr that I’ll have to find and link here (edit: found it), but suffice to say—this fic resonates with a lot of people for a very good reason. Just…read it. You won’t regret it.

Hide The Knives by SrirachaBunny (G)

When Red-Haired Shanks stops by the Moby Dick, Ace’s crewmates come to the horrifying conclusion that since he failed to kill Whitebeard, surely he’ll try to take the other emperor’s head next, right? Fortunately (and to their infinite confusion), they prove to be incredibly wrong.

How I Wanted to Follow You by longingparadise (G)

A bittersweet, POV Outsider future fic. Long after the death of the second Pirate King, it’s become customary for crews seeking the One Piece to stop by a small town in the East Blue, where the Pirate King’s own first mate now resides…

The Many Marriages of the Straw Hat Pirates by LadyCrimsonAndBlack (G)

Basically, how many times can the Strawhats get married to one another for tax benefits?

blow my blues away by LadyCrimsonAndBlack (T)

In which the Strawhats manage to get arrested for everything but piracy.

Losing Time (You Can’t Go Home Again) by HyperbolicReverie (T) ❤️

Law is a character that I adore with all of my heart, and this is an absolutely fantastic character study. This fic had me sobbing in the best possible way.

Numismatics by HyperbolicReverie (T)

The best way I could describe this fic is a POV Outsider semi-character study on Law?? HyperbolicReverie does Law character studies like no other I stg 😭

trouble is a friend of mine by taizi (T)

Is my adoration for POV Outsider showing? In which Sanji is captured, and some inmates chat with him :)

whatever you can still betray by midnightluck (T)

Ace doesn’t make a lot of sense, when you think about it. So the only possible conclusion is that he’s a marine spy, right?

Lawlu:

Not a Ball or a Chain by HollowIsTheWorld (T)

In which Law desperately hopes that his soulmate is platonic, but somehow, Luffy manages to prove him wrong. I absolutely adore a lawlu fic where they’re both explicitly ace/aro-spec :)

Practicality is Useless Around Here by Ghosty_bee (T)

Wherein Law is dragged into the world of the supernatural against his will by the unstoppable force that is Luffy.

Something in a Smile by Pneumatic (T)

One of the few things I like more than a soulmate AU is a soulmate AU where they aren’t actually soulmates. Feat. platonic soulmates Luffy and Zoro :)

A Smile in My Veins by betsib (M)

Vampire!Law is just trying to live his life as a doctor when he stumbles upon paranormal investigator!Luffy at a bar. Feat. my favorite found family Strawhat vibes, a good supernatural AU, and a healthy serving of lawlu :)

Heart by lovely_hina (M) ❤️

In which Law spends a little more time nursing Luffy back to health following the events of Marineford, and Luffy offers him the warmth and comfort that he hadn’t known he’d been missing.

Until we drown by chenziee (T-M)

My favorite type of omegaverse, which is nontraditional! Basically, sex-repulsed omega!Law meets sex-neutral alpha!Luffy. You know me and my love of asexual lawlu :)

Acclimating by justira (E) ❤️

My holy grail of ace/aro-spec lawlu. Just…absolutely fantastic.

Curiouser by xairylle (E)

In which Luffy finds Law reading aloud to be extremely hot :)

I could drown myself in someone like you by sweetdd (M-E) ❤️

I am OBSESSED with everything Dee writes and this is one of the many series of fics that they’ve written that I adore. Feat. childhood friends!lawlu :)

Inhuman Potential by sydneyxface (E) ❤️

Feat. pathologist!Law, vampire!Luffy, a fantastic mystery/thriller plot line, and some wonderful smut :)

Many Hands by AsterC (E)

What if a fic started as filthy smut and then chapter two turned into a complex character study, through the lens of BDSM? *smacks hood of car* this fic has everything!

Matters of the Heart by sweetdd (E) ❤️

I think this fic changed my brain chemistry. The sugar baby!Luffy and sugar daddy!Law AU that I never knew I needed, complete with fantastic smut, heart-wrenchingly human characters, and the unbreakable bond of the ASL brothers :)

My heart’s an autoclave by macabrekawaii (G-E) ❤️

This is actually a series of interconnected oneshots, but it explores one of my favorite lawlu dynamics, which is aro/ace-spec identities and their influence on intimacy. There’s also some zosan and Shachi/Penguin, but I think this series belongs under the lawlu category :)

Marcace:

think once, feel twice by charlie_mou (T) ❤️

I absolutely adore this fic. A soulmate AU where soulmates can feel each other’s strong emotions (and maybe more)? This fic has all my favorite things—an author who has a verifiable treasure trove of info (this time, on sailing and navigation), realistic therapy, and some real fucked up mental health (Ace my beloved).

Zolu:

into flame by kurgaya (T)

Feat. phoenix!Zoro and agender!Luffy. I don’t read zolu very frequently since I have a clear bias for zosan but that just means every zolu fic I recommend is very good 😤

Zosan:

To Brighter Futures by Cherry_Sundae (T)

A future fic, after Luffy has become King of the Pirates. Sometimes, it takes a little extra time and a kick in the ass for things to finally fall into place :)

Cradle and All by Hazel_Athena (T)

It’s Hazel_Athena, the patron saint of T-rated zosan fics! This is a series of accidental child acquisition zosan, and it’s absolutely fantastic :)

Divinity in Your Eyes by rkdlkai (T)

I don’t know how to properly describe this fic? It’s like…a Greek myth, plus a soulmate AU. Good stuff :)

Easy Love by 8ball (T)

In which the entire crew is whammied by a love spell, but Zoro’s been in love with Sanji for a lot longer than a day.

Facade by Hazel_Athena (T) ❤️

The fake-dating AU that WCI needed!

First Breath of Air by Hazel_Athena (T) ❤️

An absolutely brutal late escape from Germa AU :)

Interim Arrangements by Hazel_Athena (T) ❤️

After the Strawhats take down Big Mom, Judge is forced to find a new pirate group to ally himself with. And who better than the group strong enough to take down Big Mom herself?

Merman Verse by Hazel_Athena (T) ❤️

A series of fics—in which a merman washes up on the shores of Germa, and Sanji is hopelessly kind.

Retrograde by Hazel_Athena (T)

In which amnesia is a bitch.

To Have and to Hold by Hazel_Athena (T) ❤️

In which Sanji leaves for Whole Cake Island, but there’s one problem—he’s already married.

Your Place in the Sky by Harubo (T)

In which Zoro is always lost, but Sanji can always find him.

Burning Man by neoglaceon (M) ❤️

This is the fic that opened my eyes to the wonder that is trans!Zoro. Just…an absolutely gorgeous fic.

Deep by CharlieNozaki (M) ❤️

Yet another fic that altered my brain chemistry! This is one of the fics that made me absolutely obsessed with mermaid AUs :)

Fate’s Requiem by three_days_late (G-M) ❤️

This is actually two fics, but they’re both fantastic. Yet another instance of soulmates that aren’t quite what they seem :)

A heavy heart to carry by inkinmyheart (E)

Another supernatural AU, feat. vampire!Sanji and bounty hunter!Zoro. I don’t want to say any more because my favorite part of this fic is a blatant spoiler, but it’s worth the read!

Akkorokamui by Harubo (E)

What can I say, I love a mermaid AU with a side of porn and a sprinkling of cosmic horror!

Ambiguous Ambrosia by auspizien (E) ❤️

Another supernatural AU? In my fic recs? Feat. vampire!Sanji, werewolf!Zoro, and my favorite brand of Strawhat found family :)

caught by onceuponamoon (E)

Well if it isn’t my favorite type of Sanji, which is Sanji with some gender! Plus, an added bonus of trans!Zoro! If my favorite brand of lawlu is ace/aro-spec fuckery, then my favorite brand of zosan is gender fuckery :)

Fingers Only by SweetyGreeny (E)

This is just porn lol. In which one thing leads to another, but Sanji is stubborn and Zoro likes to tempt him.

Horrors Not Yet Known by Trixree (E) ❤️

In which Zoro has a nipple piercing, and Sanji cannot handle it. Featuring some of my favorite dynamics—chaotic Strawhat crew, Sanji with Gender, and dumb shit that gets really emotional.

In Your Dreams by VioletHyena (E) ❤️

What can I say, I love an incubus cambion AU! In which Zoro is a sex demon and Sanji is his best source of food :)

Koe by Nadare (E) ❤️

In which learning to cut steel leaves Zoro with an unintended side effect—he can hear the voices of everything, and it’s slowly driving him crazy. Luckily, getting close to a certain cook helps to quiet the voices…

Language of Loss, Language of Love by 8ball (E)

I find fics that explore a world where the Blues all speak different languages absolutely fascinating—all the more when you factor in everything that Sanji is :)

Language of love by averybidisaster (E)

In which Sanji speaks French, and Zoro decides the only reasonable way to learn if Sanji is into men is to secretly learn French, too.

Midnight Sun by brunetta6 and Springtime4Persephone (E) ❤️

I could not tell you why exactly I’m so obsessed with this fic, but I’m full on hyperfixated. This is a very loose Twilight AU—in the sense that it takes place in Forks, Washington and has vampires and werewolves. I love a good supernatural AU and this fic is basically tailor made for me! (Edit: after rereading this fic, I must add that it has lore and world-building galore that makes it incredibly re-readable, in a way that has me bouncing off the walls in anticipation for the sequel. PLEASE read it.)

Predisposed Defiance by auspizien (E)

The obligatory Omegaverse fic. What can I say, I love a soulmate AU!

Quench by auspizien (E) ❤️

Hiii I’m absolutely feral for this fic. Feat. tree-fucker Sanji and my absolute favorite vibe for a work of fiction to have, which is mystical and fantastical with a bonus of Fucked Up.

Tell Me What to Do by rkdlkai (E) ❤️

This one is just…pure filth. But pure filth that’s right up my alley! In which Zoro accidentally eats a devil fruit that forces people to obey his every command, and Sanji takes that in the direction that any logical person would.

The Wreckage of Greed by Balderdashfromafool (E)

This fic is just one step away from my favorite vibe any piece of fiction can have—which, that specific combo of fantasy and mysticism is really hard to hit, so I’ll damn as well take what this fic can give me. In which Sanji is traded away in an arranged marriage to the demon king Zoro, but finds him to be far kinder than originally anticipated…

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

In response to the Mile High Job post, I hate that Parker implies that poor flight attendant slept her way to a promotion/better shift. Her day is super weird but her cat is fine and her life is saved. That rumor, however, might stick and that didn't really feel like Leverage to me.

Agreed!

The thing with Leverage is that it's a show from the late 2000s; it feels contemporary, but actually it is a bit dated. And, like all shows, it had some problematic elements, which get a bit more Obviously Problematic as time goes by (I am just waiting for someone to write a lengthy call-out post in 5 years' time and for the Discourse to start.) For example, Tumblr loves to declare that Leverage has a "canon" throuple, but if anyone read that and then watched the show they would be profoundly disappointed - while it's a fantastic ship with a great many shippy instances, Elliot has a lot of onscreen No Homo moments, and frequently is shown sleeping with random women (I personally read him as aromantic). Similarly, there are two big relationships in that show: Nate/Sophie, and Parker/Hardison. And we all wax lyrical about the brilliance of Parker/Hardison and how healthy it is, and for good reason; but we gloss over how unbearably "I hate my wife/father I cannot click the book" Boomer humour Nate/Sophie is.

(He literally calls her a shrew in one episode. She throws a tantrum and sulks if he doesn't remember the exact details of how/where they met. She's stereotypically 'romantic' and he's stereotypically 'cynical' and she has to Save Him From Himself, and he self-deprecatingly says he should just know when to stop arguing because she's always right. Like... it is a grubby and uncomfortable dynamic; but, it's also aimed at a different segment of the audience that is older than me, and that's okay, actually. It just means I don't much care for the ship myself.)

Anyway, this is one other such instance. Clearly someone in the writers' room thought that was a funny joke, and not enough people disagreed, and so in it went. What's nice is that Sandi McCree, who plays the other flight attendant that stays on the plane, actually kind of saves that joke for me with her performance. When Parker first boards and declares that her co-worker is not coming in, McCree looks disgruntled at the sudden change to her staff list when she wasn't informed; she's annoyed at management. Then Parker makes the sleeping-with-pilots comment, and McCree looks disgusted and furious -

An expression she then pulls at Parker every time she sees her for the rest of the episode, even when Parker is technically not doing anything particularly weird. It's not necessarily intentional on McCree's part (Parker IS very weird in this episode, so it very much can be a response to that), but to me it means you can read it as "This woman is absolutely furious at the lateral sexism of this white girl because We Love And Support Each Other On This Plane." So, for me, between that and the aforementioned revelations of the day (the plane was brought down by the domestic terrorists of a Fortune 500 company, but saved by... a few unexplained Official People who snuck aboard??? And the other flight attendant was made to miss the plane after all under mysterious circumstances and was not promoted??? What???), I don't think Sandi McCree's character wouldn't put those pieces together.

[traumatizedforthebit]

My Mauraders era headcannons!

Starting off strong- Ships:

• Platonic moonwater and/or fake dating to make James & Sirius jealous (and vise versa for prongsfoot)

• Bartylus was 100% a “horny teenagers figuring shit out�� type of relationship, basically fwb with strong platonic love. Regulus also played a huge part in Rosekiller getting together

• Wolfstar being incredibly PDA for the bit, being obnoxiously all over each other in public, I’m talking aggressively horny & absolutely filthy, but in private being gentle & slow

• Jegulus where James never really got past the butterflies faze, being married for years and still freaking the fuck out when Reg flirts with him. Transmasc Regulus being confident/demanding and cis James absolutely melting for it

• Rosekiller but it’s needy attention whore Barty and Evan who will completely ignore him just to make him more needy, but also soft and snuggly when they want to be

• Enemies to lovers Dorlene

General character HCs:

• Trans masc reg ( @my-castles-crumbling ‘s clandestine my beloved)

• French Black brothers

• POC Rosier twins

• Tattoo artist Evan

• Tattooed af Barty

• POC James

• Peter is 100% a girls girl, incredible taste in fashion and a huge gossip

• Lily is not the Hermione 1.0 geniuses character, she’s a good student but not really outstanding

• Reg and Sirius have a healthy relationship

• Bi James

• Aroace spectrum Peter

• Chronically ill/ mobility aid user Remus

• Barty is an incredible artist (seriously if you haven’t read choke chain by amandarin_orange21 you haven’t lived)

• Literally anyone being trans masc (I’m transmasc, any transmasc character and you’ll see my feet kicking)

• Rosekiller open relationship and/or just flirting with any and everyone

• Sirius & James tell eachother absolutely everything, no matter how personal, Same with Dorcas & Reg

• Regulus, Barty, Evan Trio

• Hopeless romantic James

• Pandora is a cat person okay this is just fact

• Dorcas is the Skittles mom friend

• platonic Jilly but James is just a dumbass and Lily makes sure he doesn’t die

I definitely have more I just can’t think of them right now

Okay now just random stuff not necessarily HCs:

• Im such a sucker for a collage AU, Barty, Evan & Reg roommates

• Truth or dare type confessions oh my god yes

• surprisingly I like streamer AUs a lot where Chat is shipping them (cough cough, feel free to recommend some)

• again trans Regulus black getting the respect he deserves

• skittles being absolutely feral

• Best friends brother/ Brothers best friend Jegulus

• Roadtrip AU

• Rosekillerstarchaser or Barty/Evan/Regulus

• Study buddies moonwater

• Texting/groupchats

Okey dokey that’s all that comes to mind but prepare for more (and please ask questions I could talk about this forever)

[hell-fm]

As someone who is NOT touch-averse and moreso sex-favorable or sex-neutral (depending on my hormone level) and still discovering themselves when it comes to what my needs and wants in life are even though I am in my mid30s, I find The Ace Discourse around Alastor very stressful and unhelpful.

How both ends of this discourse talk about it and choose to portray Alastor feels very black and white to me, when that doesn’t reflect my experiences of romance and sex at all. And by this I don’t mean that theres a valid way of doing it and a nonvalid way of doing it. I think it’s more about how I would love people to understand relationships the way I see them and to explore the literal grey areas there.

I guess at some point we as a community need to spell the problems out, so I’ll try..,,

I think the biggest issue here mostly is that plenty of ppl who are ace and even sex-repulsed irl feel attraction to fictional characters and in many such cases that character is Alastor, they want to see him fuck or get fucked. So they like sexual and romantic content with him and try to write him to be demiromantic or sex-favorable or both or whatever else… and that is very valid and fair, because that does reflect the reality of many aroace people. Sometimes people completely erase the nuances there for the sake of smut and romance and I do not particularly like that, but I also lowkey just don’t care? My personal mantra after many years of being a messy fandom bitch is don’t like don’t read. People who like sexual and romantic content with Alastor often say they experience harassment from others who are lowkey just homophobic but use the fact that Alastor is ace as a reason to verbally attack them or threaten to dox them. The claim here is that those people are always allos, which I don’t think is necessarily true. However, I definitely have seen allos do this.

Other aces who are sex-repulsed even in fiction see Alastor as sex-repulsed and romance-repulsed ( I don’t even think theyre wrong at all, that is a very accurate observation from what you see in canon) and get annoyed because so much content with Alastor doesn’t reflect that at all. And that is also a very valid thing to be upset about! It is very unfortunate that Alastor is one of the few ace characters that fans get at all and he happens to be the most shipped guy. I understand why that is annoying, upsetting and feels unfair. I just also think that to claim the problem are allos and this is how allos mistreat ace representation not only erases aroace ppl who are Alastor shippers, but also conflates fanmade, transgressive content with the show. I just don’t think it’s healthy to get mad at people for liking the blorbo differently, especially considering that the ace spectrum is actually fairly wide and thus includes many, many different forms of handling sex and relationships and there simply isn’t just one way to represent it.

The issue here is getting into The Discourse about it, because it wont lead anywhere. Hence why people usually recommend that everyone stays in their lane, which I think is the startest thing you can do. At the end of the day it often seems like semantics to me anyways. One group claims *they said drawing Alastor smut is wrong because he is ace, but ace people can fuck!!!* and the other group claims *Claiming that it’s wrong to say this character is sex-repulsed because some ace people fuck is stupid!!!* and I think both are right. I just think you need to agree to disagree on this one, my dudes. Theres literally no way around it.

However, interestingly what oftentimes falls flat here is the most underrepresented form of aroace realities in fandom, which is the *somewhere in between*. The Alastor that I rarely see in fanfics or fanart, the one who fucks not for sexual pleasure, but to gain something. Or to be entertained. Or out of a masochistic of even sadistic desire. Or to form bonds, to maintain a relationship.

Point 1: sex-favorable doesn’t necessarily mean demisexual. And this is where it gets tricky.

I feel like many aces who maybe are younger, or have always been aware of being ace and/or who grew up with the identity labels maybe can’t imagine sex to be anything but something you consent to with great enthusiasm and desire for sexual pleasure. Many people who are so indifferent to sex or even repulsed by it consider this the only valid form of consent, because that is the line they would never cross. The problem just is that this is not what it’s like for many sex-favorable aces.

Point 2: Sexual attraction is not the same as a libido. You can be ace and not feel sexual attraction, but have a functioning libido

The reason why Heat/Rut works so well as a trope for aces who ship Alastor is because sometimes that is what it feels like for us. Hormonal fluctuations causing your body to seek out sexual stimulation while you personally really wouldnt know who to go to for it, because arousal is just a bodily reaction to you, not something that you want to happen. This might be confusing for many allos, because they also have a concept of difference between attraction and libido, but it’s important to point out that aces experience NO attraction. Or in the case of demisexuals, just very little attraction. Many aces experience attraction to concepts or if they are sexually experienced, they might have physical Pavlovian responses. But there’s no day to day attraction to people in the same way allos experience it.

Point 3: sex-neutrality and the problem if seeing sex as either inherently positive or inherently negative

Something I find myself relating to the most is a very neutral relationship to sex and I feel like that it something I never be talked about online. Not in fandom, not on Instagram. It feels like being a unicorn because if you are not either avoiding sex like the plague or enthusiastically consenting, you are not able to consent to sex somehow.

Idk if this has to do with people either never having had sex, or only having bad experiences or being a young allo and not understanding that sex is more than just plap plap plap uhn uhn SPLOURCH, but there’s a lot of reasons to have sex with someone CONSENSUALLY without it being about sexual pleasure. In my personal experience, I found the physical connection during sex very unique and powerful, it feels like a very neutral way of connecting to someone. It is very hard to explain with words, but I think it’s mostly about trust building and getting to know your partner physically in the most intimate way possible. Especially aces who arent aro often say this is why they have sex. It’s not something they need, but it’s about counting freckles, smiling at each other and feeling skin and just intimacy in general.

Having peaked into a few texts about psychoanalysis makes you realize that both allos and aces have sex for many reasons other than just sexual attraction.

In less romantic cases, ppl have sex because they enjoy the power dynamic, sometimes it’s to get your mind off of other things or because it’s a means to an end. Maybe even because you enjoy the vulnerability. Some people have sex because they think it’s just what you do, even if you technically don’t have to do it. And none of these scenarios happen nonconsensually to these people, because they just don’t think much of it and sex isn’t a big deal to them. That is the Definition of being sex-neutral. It’s also why some sex workers are ace and only find this out about themselves when they stop sex work and realize they don’t really miss having sex at all, but also don’t feel particularly bad about having done it.

Point 4: Aces love kink

I could write an entire essay about being ace and BDSM, this is still one of these topics where theres so much ressources online and people still get surprised when you tell them about it, but I already spend a lot of time on this post and would like to either never talk about this or maybe make a big post sometime in the future when people least expect it.

But just so you know: BDSM isn’t about sex, sex can play a role in it and does so for many people, but especially no-touch domsub, bondage, sadism and masochism can be activities that happen without sex being ever a part of it. Not even an afterthought.

I have read quite a few fanfics where any of these 4 points were explored with Alastor and I think it would do good for people to consider these options more for cool and interesting dynamics that are more unusual, especially considering the specifically weird flavor of Alastor. But at the end of the day people can write whatever they want and it’s not my business. If this post reaches even just one person and they feel like they gained new insights, that’s a win for me!

[johnskleats]

All this aside, bestie...if you want to watch the original show then watch that. If you like the layout and structure and so on more in the original, then watch that instead. No one is forcing you to watch the adaptation, and I do stress:

Adaptation

Because it's not a remake. Remakes are lazy, non-transformative, and artistically abhorrent. This is an adaptation, which by nature of the very genre, is obligated to be a transformative, new interpretation of an existing work.

If you don't like the new lens, the adaptation isn't for you, and that's fine.

Food for thought: if you feel the original is perfect and that no added perspective is enlightening or illuminating the original IP...then the adaptation wasn't even made for you. It was made for us.

Correction... we see Aangs crush/infatuation/love from the beginning, not Katara's.

Katara doesn't actually start having feelings for Aang until after she has her fortune read by Aunt Wu and she takes it seriously. Then it's not until Sokka says something about Aang being a powerful bender that Katara sees that her fortune is 'true'.

Why do I hate this?

Because it leaves no room for Katara to make up her own mind about who she should be with and how she should feel. It takes away her ability to choose and she will ultimately not see any other possibilities other than what she is told to believe. The fact that the writers did this just... ugh. No. It limits Katara to one choice and one alone.

It's not a good choice because she ends up in a semi toxic relationship with a man who favors one child over two others because he can airbend.

Also, if it does happen in the Live Action, then that's fine if they do it right. I honestly would be thrilled if there was no romantic subplot because then no one will be happy.

Also, I wanted to explain why I do screenshots of topics. It's because I can control who sees this better. I don't want the antis reblogging my words and using shallow arguments to come at me. So this is my way of controlling the discourse.