#Their reactions if they were girlies (hypothetical)

[garbage--account]

"Okay but imagine you are a girl now" said the weird interviewer, so i made another tierlist :

Disclaimer : incorrect use of tierlist, like usual + emotional content

Period 💅

[fluffypotatey]

Shadowpeach's reaction to believing the other is dating again

ANON I AM SO SORRY T^T i meant to reply to this the moment I read it then got distracted and now it’s almost 1am (edit: it is now 1:30 lmao)

anyway,

you have come to ask me, a girlie who is a sucker for unhealthy shadowpeach and long time lover of the jealousy & possessive tropes, about shadowpeach’s hypothetical reactions of the two monkeys believing the other is back in the dating scene?

well, obviously, they would be completely fine. absolutely no negative reactions or breakdowns or obsessive thoughts hindering their ability to function and be mentally healthy. of course.

jk i lied: THEY WOULD BE SO HORRIBLE LMAO

however, i feel like swk would be more subtle about it. like maybe he hears something out of context said by MK or Mei or Tang or Red Son or Sandy (who might have also jumped to the same conclusion) and is like “oh……” and then is oddly quiet for maybe a month, freaking out MK

also, SWK would have his own internal battle of wanting to see Macky to confirm but also not wanting to see Macackle because the confirmation would break him. but he would make so many excuses to see Macaroon by visiting Pigsy’s noodle shop then chicken out when the time does come (the funny part of me says that Pigsy is the only one aware of SWK’s true intentions and is very annoyed about it)

the anger doesn’t really come until SWK feels fed up with Macaroni’s “mixed signals,” meaning Macky’s very bad attempts at being civil/flirting. because “if Macky thinks he can just use my feelings while being in a relationship he can think again!” (despite Macky never being in a relationship but Wukong never confirmed this so is mad for the sake of this hypothetical SO and himself while struggling with his own very messy feelings. because he likes it when Mac has his attention on him, he likes it when Mac tries to woo him the same way he had tried when they were younger and ignorant, he likes it when Mac cannot help but look at Wukong, he likes it when he makes Mac forget all about that stupid significant other because Wukong and Mac used to be something and could still be that something if Mac just gave Wukong a chance or if they had never ended their old relationship like the way they did. if only, if only, if only, if only, if only—

with Macky, ahahahaaaaaaa hoo boy.

not subtle. very unsubtle. like, yes, even Wukong can see and notice Macky’s very unsubtle and unstable self but unlike everybody else who is aware of the reason, Wukong would just be confused on why Macky is always weirdly snappy and grabby and always feel the need to mention Wukong’s love life????

anyway, Macky would not react well. 1) because it feeds into his angry theory that Wukong found their relationship to be superficial and temporary 2) he has been revived for, uh, *checks watch* not very long, so imagine going through a severe break up and dying them being resurrected and trying to enact revenge on your ex (of whom the feelings are still too raw) but you’ve been out of time for so long that you cannot process shit 3) it is my belief that Macky had nobody else as close to him as Wukong was

so, Macky hearing through the very botched grapevine that Wukong is back in the dating scene? man’s is not handling it well. house/apartment/whatever establishment he was staying in is trashed. he replans his revenge against Wukong. he stalks Wukong obsessively bc he has to see that bastard in the act because maybe then he’ll be free. he would sabotage any and all attempts of demons, humans, whoever that whispers about pursuing Wukong because….reasons

(obviously the reasons are not the fact that Wukong moving on terrifies him, the fact that he can be so easily replaced hurts, the fact that he cannot let go despite everything, the fact that Wukong still smiles the same, that Wukong still laughs the same but it’s so much lighter, that he understood what it was like to be loved and cared about by Wukong. to have all of his attention on Macky, to hold him so gently even though these same hands could break him (and have), to be treasured and desired by someone so powerful. how could Mackarell give up something so precious? he is still selfish and has been deprived for f that love for too long. why on earth would he ever wish for someone else to have a piece of what he once had?)

so yeah i’d say they would be coping sO well :)

[c0rpsedemon]

like as time has gone on and everyone's gut reaction of 'the 80s weren't that long ago! that's not historical enough! she's just nostalgia bait! people didn't actually dress like that in the 80s! she doesn't have real problems!' to courtney has had time to simmer, everyone has slowly realized that yes, the 80s are a historical period and there's more distance between courtney's time and her release than molly's time and Her release and no one rlly has an issue w molly having been too contemporary, and yes, while no adult in the 80s was dressing like that, a 10 year old child allowed to pick her own clothes would absolutely throw on all the neon acessories she owns (babes i was doing that in the 2010s when i was her age), and the challenger explosion was actually p upsetting for a lot of people AND one of her friends? was hiv positive? she def had real issues?, and the final nail in the coffin for the courtney hate train was the release of the 90s twins where every accusation levelled against courtney was absolutely true (they dress like they're in their late teens, not 10 year olds, and follow a goty story structure, not a historical one, and the only thing that makes it clear they're meant to be historicals and not early gotys from their books is y2k, which, despite their dad working in it, isn't rlly explored).

meanwhile for caroline she lost her public enemy no. 1 spot when courtney came out and again w the twins but her hate has always been profoundly stupid. "waaa why would the doll line dedicated to teaching kids abt often forgotten events in history release a doll themed around a historical niche historical event that I don't remember from school on the 200th anniversary of it?" like babe do you hear yourself. if you only know the war of 1812 from the doll then that means she's doing her job well. and i do get the criticism of 'well they haven't done This One yet' but you do have to understand caroline was v deliberately released for the 200 year anniversary of her event. like she is not a normal release and thus this criticism is in bad faith. also a lot of other criticism i see of her is just straight up misogyny Bc She's A Pink Color Scheme Doll it's not even funny. i esp find it annoying that most caroline haters don't rlly bother to look into her that much and i've read soo many listicles that are like 'oh how original a white blonde doll from a time period no one cares abt who's so girly and never gets her hands dirty' and without fail kit kitterege is in their top 3. like bro she was regularly an accessory to espionage against the british. she helped rescue her father from jail. she works on her family's shipyard and does farm chores. you hate her bc she is pink and bc you don't care enough to do actual research on anything. i hear the complaint abt too many white blonde dolls but once again girl was Not a normal release and due to the war the war of 1812 played out not a lot of civillians were directly affected and the ones that were weren't rlly racially diverse, caroline is not a regular release, she is not meant to be an 1810s doll, she is a war of 1812 doll, and i have to say just this once i do think making her a doll of color, while hypothetically making her a good 1810s doll, would've detracted from Being A War Of 1812 Doll. also ag didn't have the blonde oversaturation issue it has now in 2012. and there's nothing wrong w being girly.

actually if i had to hand something to the 90s twins it'd probably be that now, thanks to them, courtney and my girl caroline no longer have the dishonor of being the most widely hated historicals (was going to say most widely hated ag dolls but nope. still tenney. it will never not be tenney. no one fucking likes tenney)

[morkleemelon]

nct ideal types 2021 :: dream

127 version | this has been on my mind for a bit and I wanted to write it down- these will consist of confirmed facts and then my own thoughts. the latter part is, as it sounds, strictly from my opinion and observation and may well not be accurate. this is just for fun! proceed~

mark lee:

confirmed: likes someone with long black hair who is nice (on air nct show)

my thoughts:

he moved to korea to train when he was like 13 and has been busy as a bee ever since. I don’t know his life but I feel like he hasn’t really had the chance to date much if at all yet. this brings me to think he would prefer someone who can lead in the relationship

he grew up christian and seems to still hold those ideals. although if he really liked someone it wouldn’t be an issue, this makes me think he would be drawn to someone with similar ideals

he laughs a lot and gets along well with people who are funny (haechan, yuta, jungwoo). I think that he would like someone with a good sense of humor

he doesn’t spend money lavishly and prefers to use what he has (i.e. the jansport backpack, not having youtube premium, keeping all the gifts he receives in his bag). all of this points to him preferring someone modest and not wasteful

mark got jisung a bracelet that costs over $1000 for his birthday (what a good bro I’m cry). he likes songs like ‘I got you’ by Bazzi (mark superm quarantine playlist) which is about spoiling a girl. this all makes me think that although he is frugal for himself, he likes spoiling others and would like to spoil his significant other

From Japan official book vol 1, mark said he wasn’t sure what his ideal first date would be, but he answered that it would be to go to a restaurant and have a good meal because he likes eating. So someone who’s down for simple dates and perhaps also good at cooking (because our boy can’t even make an egg)

From the same magazine, he said he doesn’t care about fashion and would like his partner to “wear what she likes”. Doesn’t seem like he goes for style much!

huang renjun:

confirmed: n/a

my thoughts:

I strongly feel like he would want to feel like the ‘man in the relationship’. he would want to feel protective over his partner and that’s why I think he would adore someone smaller than him

he’s full of chaotic rage energy (in the cutest way that would never actually hurt anybody). to balance out these vibes, renjun would match well with someone calm and sweet

looks-wise besides being a petite person, I can envision someone very cute, probably with shorter, un-dyed hair

renjun is into sci-fi movies and shows and confirmed he believes in aliens (weekly idol). I think he’d be drawn to someone with a big imagination who likes sci-fi as well

lee jeno:

confirmed: n/a

my thoughts:

jeno is really really shy (when he met yeeun from clc to mc together, they said they couldn’t even talk at first because it was so awkward). I think jeno would like someone more outgoing but not overwhelming

I feel like his ideal type is literally like renjun- a little fiesty and literally, little. jeno has mentioned that he loves renjun’s voice too, so perhaps he would be interested in someone with a nice voice

he works out a lot and likes physical activities like biking and going to the gym. I think he’d like someone who values fitness and health too

he loves animals and has 3 cats of his own despite being allergic. because of this, I think he’d like a person who loves animals too

lee haechan:

confirmed: someone with a nice voice/ singing voice. someone with shorter hair

my thoughts:

he’s so extroverted and craves attention from whoever he’s around, and that wouldn’t be an exception for the person he likes. he’d want someone who looks up to him and gives him attention

he’s still really young and even enjoys movies like the kissing booth (I’m sorry I had to bring it up because I think it’s important). ignoring the actual bad parts of that movie, I think he’s interested in that young love, dancing together at the arcade, kissing in the rain, come over to his house in secret, type relationship

haechan seems to be especially close friends with foreign swaggers line (mark, johnny, jaehyun) so I’m thinking that perhaps he likes the western vibe

during oshiete Japan, he and Yuta were the only ones who chose to give three roses to a hypothetical ‘lover’ (they had to choose between 4 types of roses to give). the psychologist said that this means haechan is “flirty and attention-seeking” which makes a lot of sense. this adds to my point that he would like someone who gives him a lot of attention and good reactions

during a recent fansign (1/23?) OP asked “what are things girls do that makes you flattered?” to which he answered “when I did something wrong and get scolded, that scary look makes me flattered”. although it’s a bit awkwardly translated, this insinuates that he likes it when he gets scolded by a girl. *jaemin voice* sexayyy. thus, I’m adding that haechan likes a someone strong headed and not afraid to scold him

na jaemin:

confirmed: n/a

my thoughts:

he has a sort of 180 personality where he’s either really energetic or prefers to be in the background. jeno says that jaemin hardly talks at the dorms after schedules because his social battery is dead. this is classic introvert behavior so I think he would vibe well with someone patient and calm

he’s the sweetest boy and he volunteers often for unicef and was even cast to sm while he was volunteering. he’d appreciate someone who shares similar values and likes helping others

I think he often doesn’t think or worry about himself. he goes out of his way to please others and help others and often disregards what he actually wants because of it (i.e. taking his shirt off at the dream show even though he was uncomfortable I’m so sad poor baby). he needs someone who is thoughtful and who reminds him when it’s time to stop and think of himself

looks-wise, I’m gonna be completely honest when I say I think he doesn’t go for looks. personality and morals are key

his favorite member of snsd is tiffany. he never confirmed if she was his ideal type, but perhaps he’s attracted to her bubbly, girly personality

zhong chenle:

confirmed: he’s only into girls (vlive)

my thoughts:

this may be a stretch, but in a live he was doing, chenle was talking about which member of wayv princesses was the prettiest. he said something along the lines of ‘ew they all looked weird’ but later admitted that kun was probably the only one who ‘looked okay’. kun was snow white which brings me to my first prediction which is that lele likes the classic chinese beauty (black hair, pale skin, elegant, gentle)

chenle loves winning and he loves to be praised. although his mbti shows that he’s an introvert, he would crave the full attention of his s/o. someone who looks only at him

during the from home live, he was asked to act out a scenario where he accidentally ate his girlfriend’s food. haechan (who was acting as the girlfriend) went “buy me 10 more” and chenle just went “okay :)”. ngl, kinda fell in love with him then but this makes me think he’d want someone to spoil

park jisung:

confirmed: likes it when people call him 오빠 (oppa) - take this how you will

my thoughts:

debuting at 14, I’m quite sure he hasn’t had the opportunity to have a relationship yet. this being said, he also seems quite innocent and shy which is why I think he would prefer someone who knows what they’re doing and isn’t afraid to speak their opinion

just from vibes, I think he would wanna be with someone like a best friend to him. someone who’s down to just hang out and talk, play video games and watch movies etc.

he’s quite tall (the tallest in dream) so I think he’d actually be ok with a tall person maybe even around the same height as him

maybe not a definite need, but I feel like he’d be impressed by someone who can dance well since dancing is such a big part of his life

[tinytinyshorty]

I stood watching the tv like a brain dead zombie as I was drying up the dishes. The slightly damp cloth worked its way around the already dry pan a numerous amount of times before I even realised I was doing it.

I was glued to the tv because of a very urgent news report had taken over every channel on the tv. They were saying tall alien beings had emerged from all parts of the world. They said to stay indoors and out of sight, keep lights off and keep quiet.

No one knew yet where they had come from or what they wanted but deep down I knew that this wasn't good. This wasn't some kind of hoax, something was about to happen. Something big... something giant.

"Lucy, your father and I are going to bed. It's late, I suggest you do too. It is a school night after all." Mum said strolling down the stairs.

"Mum I don't think school will be open tomorrow. Haven't you seen the news?" I asked, pointing a shaking finger at the television screen.

Mum tutted and rolled her eyes. "Do you believe everything they show on tv Lucy? Go on, get to bed!"

"But mum!" I insisted.

"Bed!" Mum hissed.

I reluctantly turned off the tv and collected my things before trudging up stairs to my room.

I didn't switch my light on, I guided my way by touch. Maybe what the news report said was still in the back of my head.

I stood at the foot of my window and peeked through the curtains. The night was dark as coal, I could just make out the shape of the barn and dad's pick up truck in the field.

I don't know what I was looking for until something caught my eye. It was like a little yellow spark behind the truck. Then a second one appeared.

"What the..." I mumbled under my breath.

I heard a door slam in the house followed by dad storming across the landing. I dashed to my door and caught dad by the back of his night shirt.

"There's something outside. I think someone's trying to steal my truck. It will be a group of teens thinking they're smart." He growled, pulling my hand off his shirt.

"Dad! You can't go out!" I cried. "What about the news!"

Dad chose to ignore me and carried on thumping down the stairs. I followed him, constantly stating facts about what the news said in hope that he might listen to at least one of them. He unlocked the front door and ran outside. He began frantically scanning the front yard.

Slight noises echoed around the yard, metal clanging and foot steps crunching on the pebbled drive. I stood a little behind dad, a few metres away at a guess.

"Come out you little bastards!" Dad shouted.

There's was peace before all hell broke loose. First a shape came from behind the truck, then it kept going! The dark shape grew and grew as it uncurled and revealed itself. My jaw dropped as it unfolded itself and stood to it's full height.

"Holy sh-" Dad couldn't finish his profanity as he turned on his heals and fled to the house.

I was frozen in fear. I still couldn't move, not even when dad ran past me. Not even when I saw the large figures hand reaching towards me. Not even a muscle. All I could do was stare, helpless. 

The creature snatched me up off the ground and my world went black as I was swarmed by flesh. It was warm and soft. I wasn't there long as I was quickly deposited into some place dark, I was surrounded by fabric.

I tried to stand up but kept loosing my balance and falling over.

"Let me go!" I yelled but I didn't receive an answer. I wasn't expecting one. It's not likely that something that has kidnapped you is going to let you go as soon as you ask.

I knew that news report wasn't fake! This was my parents fault! If they had just listened to me then none of this would have happened!

It was some time before I was brought back into light. I felt something pick me up by the back of my shirt and place me down on a cold surface.

I dared myself to open my eyes. My jaw slacked, I was in a castle. Candles provided some light which were positioned around the room at different points. It looked like one of those medieval castles you saw in history books. Only on a much much much larger scale! I felt so small.

I was sat on a large stone table, there was no where for me to run. I could jump off but I'm sure from this great height that it would kill me.

The creature that took me suddenly walked into the room. He was tall, broad chested and ugly looking. He looked like a giant, in fact I was certain he was a giant! I didn't want to believe it, all my instincts were screaming at me that giants didn't exist!

He walked over to me and gasped.

"Wait a second?" He said scratching his stubbled chin. "You're not the same human as before!"

I began to shake uncontrollably. I wanted to be anywhere but here!

The giant suddenly picked me up and held me close to his face. He stared at me hard as he seemed to be examining me.

"Nope definitely not." He grunted as he carefully placed me back down on the table top.

"Please let me go." I pleaded, my voice trembling.

"Ha! As if I would just like that." The giant laughed. "I can't unfortunately. It's a bit complicated."

The giant pulled out a chair from under the table and threw himself in it. He placed his grimy feet on the table top. The giant took out a small dull knife and started picking at his teeth with the tip of the blade. I gulped as I looked at the sharp teeth.

"What are you going to do with me?" I asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

The giant shrugged. "Dunno yet. I was meant to get that other human. Teach him a lesson or two."

He must be talking about dad!

"What human?" I asked.

"The one I was meant to get!" The giant snapped, irritated. I still didn't know if he meant my father or not. He sort of dodged the question.

The room went quiet, I didn't dare speak after being snapped at. The last thing I wanted was to anger the giant.

The giant carried on picking at his teeth then after a while he slowly glanced over at me, giving me an odd look. Almost like he forgot I was here all together!

"Gotta name then?" He asked bluntly.

"Lucy." I answered quickly.

The giant smiled and nodded. "How's it going Lucy?"

"Not very well, all things considered."

The giant laughed triumphantly, the laugher echoed off the stoney walls and ring like clumsy church bells in my head.

"No, I guess not!" He boomed.

"Do you have a name?" I asked boldly after his fit of laughter passed.

"It's sir to you." He grunted.

I nodded obediently. "Yes sir!"

The giant smiled and gave a light hearted chuckle. He then started picking the dirt from under his nails with the knife. His face was contorted with thought and his eyes seemed to be slightly glossed over.

Sir suddenly took his feet off the table and sighed. He crossed his arms and laid them on the table with his chin resting on top. I took a step or two backwards as his stare burrowed too deeply for comfort.

"What to do with you..." He mumbled and I wasn't sure if he meant for me to hear that or not. He couldn't exactly whisper or be quiet in any way it seemed.

He moved his hand and outstretched a finger to poke me in my middle, I tumbled back slightly as I was caught off guard. He chuckled when he saw my reaction. The laughter died but the warm smile remained.

He had flaming red hair that hung in messy curls down to his shoulders. He had a flat nose and eyes that shone even in the dim light. They were bright yellow, they must have been what I saw out of my bedroom window!

"Are you scared of me Lucy?" He asked curiously.

"I don't know." I mumbled.

I couldn't tell sir that I was terrified! I don't know how he would react, and he would know if I said I wasn't. I was shaking with fear, I couldn't hide it, he would know I was lying.

"You could learn to tolerate me though, hypothetically speaking?" Sir pressed.

"I think so." I replied honestly.

"Then that settles it!" Sir said, suddenly getting up from his chair.

"Settles what?"

"You'll stay here with me. Keep me company." He told me.

Dread filled my body. Stay here?! With a giant!? No way! Lord knows what a being of his size could do!

I shook my head and my lip started quivering. "Please... just let me go. I don't want to stay here... with you."

Sirs lips curled into a perfectly sinister smile. He leant closer to the table and I became very aware of my small size in his looming shadow. "You don't get much of a choice little girly."

I tried to swallowed past the lump in my throat. "Just take me back, I won't tell anyone-"

"I'm pretty sure that everyone already knows we have arrived. We made sure we made a grand entrance." He laughed. "I don't think you're understanding what I'm offering here. You're lucky Lucy."

"Why!?" I spat. "What element about this whole situation is lucky!?"

Sir snatched me up in his fist. His fingers curled around my body like I was surrounded by blood thirsty snakes.

"Them other giants, they want to concur. They don't care how many humans they have to go through to get this planet. The date of the apocalypse has arrived." He told me with a stern look spread across his face. "However, I can keep you safe and hidden away. Protected from those who want to harm you. All you have to do is comply and behave yourself."

"So I'll be a pet." I sneered.

"Pet, companion. Whichever. Means the same thing to me." He shrugged.

"And what if I say no?" I dared.

The giant raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "You really want to know the answer?"

I thought for a second then sighed. "No." I said simply.

He was going to kill me if I didn't stay here, I don't know if he would do it humanely or if he would draw it out and take enjoyment out of my suffering. Did I even have a choice? I valued my own life, and maybe this wouldn't be so bad? Not once I got to know him better...

But I wouldn't cosy up to him, no way. He was keeping me prisoner here. He had a cold heart even if he has brainwashed himself into thinking what he is doing is just.

"Where am I going to stay?" I asked, hugging my arms tightly around myself.

The giant thought for a second then left the room. He came back a moment later with some scraps of cloth and a pillow. Sir placed the pillow down on the table and laid the cloth pieces across it.

"There." He beamed proudly. "Are you hungry?"

I shook my head.

"Well then, you'd best be off to bed then. We've got a big day of getting to know each other tomorrow and I want you in your best state of mind."

Sir picked me up by hooking his index finger around my middle and laying me down in the centre of the pillow.

He smiled softly at me then went around the room blowing out the candles one by one. I settled myself down and tried to keep my eyes closed. The sooner sir thinks I'm asleep the sooner he would surely leave.

Coldness plagued my body, I began to shiver as it nipped at my skin. I heard the giant mumble something then he briskly left the room.

I peered out of a half open eye, curiosity getting the better of me. The giant strode back into the room with a thick woollen blanket in his hand. I quickly closed my eyes again.

He must have thought I was asleep as he didn't try to speak to me. He gently placed the woollen blanket over my body, he pulled it up to my shoulder to keep me warmer. He sighed and whispered;

"I'll protect you little one. I promise."

[megashadowdragon]

If jaune has grimm in him it will activate due to a strong desire to destroy/kill

dustypotion . tumblr . com/post/190591003007/also-not-to-continue-to-clown-but-penny-with-the#notes

also, not to continue to clown but

penny, with the maiden powers, didn’t react to the silver eyes. that means cinder’s weakness in volume 3 was absolutely to do with the METHOD of receiving the powers; the grimm beetle bonded with her and caused her to become part grimm before she got even got the grimm arm.

also, this further proves that people don’t respond to the brightness of the silver eyes, since no one but cinder did, which begs the question -

why is jaune arc the only other human to have ever reacted to the silver eye power?

and why did he shield his eyes in the exact same way cinder did this volume?

hawkeyedflame . tumblr . com/post/152581160728/on-rubys-elusive-character-development-or-why

“ jaune is a foil To Ruby. She’s a prodigy who quickly became a deadly warrior at a young age and is welcomed into Beacon two years early as a result while Jaune is a hard worker who progresses slowly and had to lie his way into Beacon because of his nonexistent combat background. Ruby is a strategist specialized on pre-defined team attacks and wields a self-made weapon capable of long range combat. Jaune is a tactician specialized in creating new team attacks according to his analysis on the battlefield and wields a family heirloom only capable of close range combat. Ruby has a rather broken family but they fully support her decision to become a huntress while Jaune’s family is large and united but they don’t support his choices nor have any faith on him. Ruby is a tomboy who dominates the battlefield but doesn’t enjoy dancing whereas Jaune tends to act girly and is initially terrible at fighting but also a great dancer. The more you look into them as a pair, the more contrasts that can be spotted in the details.”

jaune has a more “feminine way of dealing with emotions” while ruby has the more masculine way of dealing with emotions

aminoapps . com/c/rwby/page/blog/why-its-good-for-jaunes-semblance-to-be-a-support-type/xpp7_XQ4s2u6RGX2zboa6JwM2XMekWGZd68

“Joan of Arc is known for breaking gender stereotypes about what it meant to be a woman. And if you think about it in a lot of ways Jaune doesn’t fit into the stereotypical “man box.” We are don’t “men don’t cry.” He wears his emotions on his sleeve. While in the real world men (and in the world of RWBY BOTH men and women ARGUABLY) are told to be strong. And that many people superficially equate physical strength with heroism (Raven?) it is fitting that Jaune’s semblance doesn’t so much doesn’t so much empower himself, as it empowers others. (as well as himself but its more effective on others in the team since they are more skilled than him) The so called “Feminine” strength.” P.S. Hmm as a follow-up to my The Importance Of Foils Part 2 post. I think that Ruby, despite being a girl, fits into the “man box” better than anyone else including it’s UNHEALTHY WAYS OF DEALING WITH EMOTIONS. The only difference is on remnant, it’s not because a man doesn’t cry. But because “a hero doesn’t cry.”

ruby first activated her silver eyes leading to her to learn about them when she saw pyrrha jaunes partner impaled by cinder and burnt to ash failing to save pyrrha  her awakening being in reaction to her death while jaune activated his semblance and realized what it was when he saw rubys partner weiss  impaled by cinder and  was able to save her  life awakening his semblance to do so allowing him to learn what his semblance was ( which is a good example this is an example of them being foils  and how its been shown and effected their storys )

it would fit for jaune to have powers related to the god of darkness given that  ruby has powers related to the god of light (silver eyes)

Silver-Eyed Warriors have powers that are fueled by strong desires to preserve life.

According to Maria, the key to using the power of one's silver eyes is to focus on the relationship the wielder has with their loved ones and protecting them. This is consistent with the reactive uses of Ruby's eyes in the past

so it would fit for jaunes god of darkness powers to be fueled by a desire to take life if the key is to focus on the people  he hates and wants to destroy 

and while rubys powers relate to her eyes having her emit energy from her eyes ( which fits with how the god of light in his dragon form had silver eyes ) 

jaunes power to relate to his body like either his body transforming to a state like salems  or abit more like having grimm bone plating  except for jaune it will be like armor a grimm knight

megashadowdragon . tumblr . com/post/190688307462/jaune-will-be-able-to-steal-someones-magic-for-his/embed

(possibly gaining the ability  to take  the magic from those he kills which would allow him to get his hands on the maidens powers ( jaunes inspiration joan of arc

magic was the god of darknessś gift to the world and god of darkness made the grimm so it fits that cinder uses her grimm arm to take the maidens power into her so if jaune ends up having some grimm in him he will be able to steal the maidens power and gain magic for himself  ( imagine if jaune ends up taking the fall maidens powers away from her and gaining it for himself making  it reminds me of what cinder once said its not about overpowering your enemies its about taking away what power they have  imagine cinders reaction )

jaune arcs inspiration is joan of arc archive . joan-of-arc . org/joanofarc_letter_july_17_1429 . html

joan of arc was canonized by the church as the holy maiden

and joan of arc  often referred to herself as la Pucelle, which roughly translates as the Maiden

en . wikipedia . org/wiki/Name_of_Joan_of_Arc

and the four people with magic that the show talked about this season is  called the four maidens and  joan of arc was a woman took a role that many at the time believed could only be filled by a man as a military leader ( joan of arc broke the  ¨rules ¨ (the social norm)  in a sense   ,  and jaune arc would be breaking the only women can be maidens rules  

darkness consuming light ( this reminds me of an old suggestion about jaune devouring the auras/souls of people he kills and getting a power boost from that   and there is a theory that grimm grow not just due to age but due to killing people and eating them that either eating humans causes them to grow or that when they eat the body they also eat the soul to grow         ) 

dustypotion . tumblr . com/post/190253061317/so-yknow-how-grimm-eat-only-humans-and-fanus

First of all, I completely forgot that Grimm actually DO eat people, since we’ve never really seen a Grimm do it in the show. I re-watched the WOR about them and noted that scientists don’t really know why Grimm feed, and their hypothesis is that they simply choose to. That’s backed only by the fact Grimm can last long amounts of time without eating things, which shows they don’t need it to survive, and the actual insides of Grimm can’t really be studied since they evaporate, sometimes instantly if hit with enough force.

We assume Grimm like Alpha Beowolves, Ursa Majors, Giant Nevermores and Megoliaths simply grow without sustenance for a long time, simply gaining mass and more spikes as time goes on. But maybe, just maybe, feeding on the corpses of those left after village attacks might also be what helps them become giant Grimm. Megoliaths, since they’re known to avoid settlements, might bide their time by going through already destroyed villages and picking through the rubble for food there.

NOW, we have to discuss, since I’m assuming this is based on Jaune being a descendent of Salem and hypothetically having that “essence of destruction” per the theory, whether Jaune has enough hidden “Grimm physiology” in order for this to work. This also raises some questions about Salem; is she aware she could commit cannibalism to gain strength? Does she simply not, because either her magic is enough or she’s not that deranged? Has she done it? I’m gonna guess she hasn’t done it, since her being a motherfucking cannibal takes away lots of sympathy points already (but I guess if she wanted to commit genocide, which was totally a thing, this is by all accounts not as bad). Does she ever get urges to eat people, since the Grimm do it regularly for “enjoyment”?

Jaune, unlike Salem, looks entirely human. But if we’re to believe him flinching at the Silver Eyes and his rather destructive outbursts are a symptom of having some sort of Grimm physiology, that means that there is a case that if Jaune were to accidentally consume blood involuntarily, most likely through getting covered in blood and not reacting fast enough, he could gain a power boost. But how would that manifest? How would that power him up? It couldn’t possibly be through his aura or semblance. Physical strength, maybe? Possibly even adopting a more Grimm look? Him getting an even worse, or uncontrollable temper?

A lot to think about. Thanks for launching me into an essay on this because, although there’s a good chance RWBY won’t do this, it is intensely fucked up but people have also experimented with souls, experimented with Grimm, we’ve watched people die on screen and honestly, Brunswick was a thing, so maybe it’s not too fucked up for the show itself.

Also, something I’m gonna quickly add onto this; blood, particularly in the music of the show, is mentioned quite a lot despite the fact that RWBY isn’t all that gory.

“Bloody evolution” (This Will Be The Day + All Things Must Die)

“And the skies rain blood” (I May Fall)

“It’s your blood that’s red like roses” (Red Like Roses pt.2)

“Those children you mislead, you’ll watch them all bleed” (Divide)

“Maybe it’s red like roses, maybe it’s the pool of blood” (When It Falls)

“The blood’s going to stain, but it won’t be mine” (I’m The One)

“Primal, bloodshed, that’s all that’s left to do” (From Shadows)

“This is where I lay waste, and you go home bleeding” (Ignite)

“Blood for blood, it’s time to die” (One Thing)

“A mystery of blood and bone” (Lusus Naturae - this one’s interesting, because out of all people who aren’t Salem, Dr. Merlot has studied grimm more successfully more than any other; the fact he mentions blood when Grimm don’t have any might be telling)

So, it would make sense that maybe Grimm consuming people - and hence their blood - might be important.

(I  cant help but imagine grimmified jaune with the grimmbone plating shaped like actual  full body armor a grimm knight )

( the next part is something I am not serious about but just thought I would say it 

so if thats true what if when jaune  ( who is of humanity 2.0 mostly ) kills someone he does in fact absorb the soul to gain a power boost  having an ability that salem doesnt have and may be because his semblance has his own aura make contact with anothers)

( also I cant help but think of how jaune and cinder are foils and cinder tried to take ravens magic away what if jaune ends up taking the spring maidens power away raven

plus jaunes inspiration is joan of arc  who hated bandits and raven destroyed xion village which jaune used to go to with his family alot so he would have had friends there

and I have noticed that team jnprs first team fight was against a deathstalker grim and they shot its pincer off and ruby cut tyrian ( scorpion faunus tail)  and team rwbys first team fight was a nevermore  ( raven ) grimm where ruby cut off its head  so what if raven gets her head cut off by jaune absorbing her magic/soul 

(  joan of arc had a  hatred for bandits and ravens tribed destroyed a village where jaune used to visit with his family so he likely had friends there and ren would hate bandits because they attack villages causing the grimm to come and his own village got destroyed by grimm

@spoonoftar

@thehtg-therealone

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

1/2 I just finished binge-ing ST and have been scrolling through the byler tag the past few days. I think it was you who said that you changed your view of Mike from bi to gay-in-denial. Sorry, if I'm wrong, but if not, what's your opinion on the fact that Mike almost refuses to look at El after her shopping trip? At first, I attributed it to shame and avoiding her anger, but then I realized that the disgusted and confused look on his face might also be the realization he doesn't like...

2/2 the girly look. I haven’t re-watched the other scenes yet to see how he looks at her after that, but if I recall, that’s when their relationship becomes the most forced. I’m conflicted, though, because in season 1, he did genuinely seem to think she was pretty in the wig and dress.

That wasn’t me, but I’d be glad to enter my thoughts into this topic.

I’ve read the thoughts of others, such as @kaypeace21, who see Mike as being gay. I’m not saying I 100% agree necessarily, but there are certainly compelling arguments out there. Everything you say here seems to have validity to it, so let’s talk a walk through that breakup scene.

I personally subscribe to the idea that Mike is just “going through the motions” in his relationship with El. Whether that’s because he simply thinks there’s just a right way to do it, or because his heart really just isn’t in it, remains to be seen. What we can see though is that he’s doing everything he thinks he’s supposed to do to the point that he listens to everything Lucas tells him. We already know that both his mother and sister got themselves into relationships that they were expected to be in, so it basically runs in the family.

If we assume, for the sake of argument, that your theory is correct that Mike’s issues lies in El now looking like a girl, I might be able to lend a little psychological weight to it, though it doesn’t count as proof per se. In psychology there is a defense mechanism called displacement. Displacement is when we take a feeling or impulse that would be anxiety-inducing or socially unacceptable and displace it onto a more acceptable target. In this case, Mike being turned off by El’s new feminine look wouldn’t be something he’d want to express. Instead, he latches onto the fact that El shouldn’t be out and about and uses that to express his negative reaction. This would hypothetically protect Mike from having to acknowledge that he doesn’t like El appearing more feminine.

Mike also uses rationalization to avoid accepting any unwanted feelings after he is dumped. He makes it all about El and Max conspiring against him rather than accepting that he screwed up (or that he doesn’t care as much as he really should).  

We can see another pair of defense mechanism in play in his relationship with Will: repression and sublimation. Again, we will need to assume that Mike and Will’s feelings for each other are beyond normal friendship to the point of being socially unacceptable (at least in the 80s). Since these feelings are socially unacceptable and anxiety inducing, expressing them would be seen as a negative by both boys. The thoughts would need to be repressed, but the more subconscious impulses would remain. To get around this, the impulses could be sublimated towards a more socially acceptable aspect of their relationship: D&D. This game is very symbolic of their relationship, and one just has to look at how afraid Mike is that Will is moving on from D&D at the end. 

Of course, there are other possible explanations for these events, but we’re still able to back up the idea that Mike doesn’t really like El, or perhaps girls in general. 

[crescentmoonrider]

Electrolysis

Girls are cute. That’s just a fact of life, just like the sky being blue, or Tanjirou’s sound being so kind it’s heartbreaking.

Zenitsu on the other hand is anything but. He’s never liked seeing himself in mirrors. His eyes are too big and kind of buggy, he has an overbite that makes him look like a rat, and now, on top of it all, his hair turned to this weird, unnatural color. It doesn’t surprise him that girls keep rejecting him, when they are so cute and he isn’t.

The thing is, Zenitsu really loves girls. He loves their cute faces and their eyes and the softness of their skin, the way they put combs and hairpins and bows in their hair, their perfume and their make-up and the way they move so that everything they do looks beautiful and elegant. He loves their kimonos, the pretty patterns and soft colors and delicate fabric. He loves the way girls laugh, the way they sing, the way they talk.

Even when a girl’s face isn’t super amazing, there is always something to love, be it the shine of her hair or the way her eyes crinkle when she laughs or a soft and delicate voice. Zenitsu doesn’t know how anyone could not love girls. How anyone could not want to make them happy.

Kaigaku made girls cry when he talked. Not always, not when they were praising him or when he was in a good mood, but if someone, anyone had the gall to mention Zenitsu’s status as gramps’ student in front of Kaigaku, he would become terrible. And he would make girls cry. Girls who loved him, often, because Kaigaku looked good even if he was an asshole.

Kaigaku made girls cry, and then Zenitsu would fight him, and then Zenitsu would end up beaten on the ground, because he was weak, still is weak, and it was fair of Kaigaku to hate having anything to do with him. It was horrible to live with, and disgusting of him to make other people pay for it, but it was fair.

Zenitsu wouldn’t want anything to do with himself either.

He hasn’t met a girl who wasn’t wonderful in her own right. Even if she was clumsy, or cowardly, or cried a lot. Because girls are just that great, in a way guys can never be, in a way Zenitsu can never be.

When he meets Inosuke, when he sees that absurdly beautiful face of his, something twists in Zenitsu’s gut. It doesn’t make sense, he thinks. Inosuke is everything a girl isn’t, brash and annoying and loud and violent, with muscles so stiff they feel like bones, and a skin that Zenitsu is pretty sure he could use to sand wood down. Inosuke is a guy, almost disgustingly so, but roll him up in a pretty kimono and get him to shut up and anyone would be fooled into thinking he isn’t.

It makes Zenitsu sick.

There’s something wrong with him, he knows that. Inosuke’s face doesn’t make sense, but neither does Zenitsu’s reaction. He makes himself sick. The way his stomach turns whenever Inosuke takes off that mask of his, the feeling of something bubbling right under Zenitsu’s skin, it disgusts him. He has every reason to be angry at Inosuke most of the time, but the most visceral one is absurd. It feels like envy. It makes no sense. What would he be envious of ? He doesn’t want a girl’s face, having one wouldn’t change what he is, wouldn’t make him cute or amazing like all girls are. He’d still be cowardly and useless Zenitsu, with no redeeming quality.

He doesn’t want Inosuke’s cute looks. He just wants to tear his own face off.

And then, just as Zenitsu has grown used to this new feeling, just as he’s decided to crush it with all his determination every time it comes up, and pretend it doesn’t exist, then comes Uzui Tengen and his mission.

That guy pisses Zenitsu off, first of all. He’s loud and arrogant and adorned with jewelry that would make any girl turn green with envy. And he has three wives. Three. He has the incredible luck of sharing his life with three beautiful and amazing girls and he wastes it by sending them away to dangerous missions. To the flower district, even.

If Zenitsu had three wives, or even just one, he would never put her in harm’s way. He would do his best to keep her safe, because she would be more precious than his own life, because she would have chosen him even though he is himself, because he would love and cherish her, and because seeing her hurt would probably kill him.

He would kill himself before he let any harm come to his hypothetical wife. Zenitsu knows that as surely as he knows the sky is blue. And Uzui Tengen not only let harm come to his three wives, he sent them in its way himself. It’s unforgivable. It makes Zenitsu furious.

Uzui Tengen makes Zenitsu sit in front of a mirror and massacres his face with make-up, and Zenitsu wants to die. Looking at his own reflection in a way he never does, never wants to do, and being faced once more with the reality of his irrevocable ugliness. Tanjirou’s kind smile and Inosuke’s cute girly looks are just as ruined, but it brings little comfort. Zenitsu knows even someone skilled wouldn’t have been able to make him look like the girl he is supposed to play for this mission.

The same familiar twist of his gut almost paralyses him with that same unknown feeling of sickness. He wants to break that mirror, wants to take the shards and use them to get rid of that disgusting face of his. Surely it would make the mission go better. Surely.

But he doesn’t, and he isn’t surprised when he is the only one left, the only one who wasn’t picked by any of the houses, because of course he is and of course he wasn’t. No one would ever mistake him for a girl, not even dressed in the cutest kimono and with make-up that doesn’t look like absolute garbage. It makes his stomach turn, makes him so, so angry at Uzui Tengen that he might start crying. It’s that guy’s fault, everything is that guy’s fault, the sickness in Zenitsu’s gut and the way even being surrounded by cute girls doesn’t make him feel better.

It might almost make feel him worse, and that’s something Zenitsu hates most of all. Because that’s just not how it works. Because he loves girls, loves being around them. Girls make him happy.

And now even that is ruined.

When he gets in Kyougoku house, it’s only because the owner took pity on him. Only because of the anger and disgust and twisted feeling he can’t get rid of. She thinks it’s resentment, and Zenitsu decides she is right because it’s the only thing that makes sense.

He tries not to wonder how it would feel to actually be mistaken for a girl, how it would feel to go around in a nice kimono, to look at mirrors and find the person looking back to be cute.

At one point in between missions, he bought a kanzashi for Nezuko, that he never gave her. He didn’t think it through at the time, he simply saw the peach flowers and loved it so much he just had to buy it. It was only when the shop owner asked him if it was for his girlfriend that Zenitsu had realized he had wanted it for himself. But that wasn’t right, of course that wasn’t right, so he told himself it was a gift for Nezuko, even though peach flowers aren’t her at all, even though cherry blossoms, or an autumnal motif would suit her much better.

He still carries that kanzashi with him. Doesn’t know what to do with it. He has it during this mission too, hidden in his obi, and it burns through his clothes like lightning coursing through his body, spreading like the branches of a tree that took root right under the kanzashi, right over Zenitsu’s stomach.

The last time Zenitsu was struck by lightning, his hair changed color.

He wonders what will change this time around.

[kaibuntsu]

The Dragon of No Words - #2

Word count: 5112

Warning: Gorey violence.

You can also read it here: My website | Wattpad

Divider: Freepik

     Emrys woke up to some soreness in his legs. He silently complained about it, until the images of some humongous creature trying to eat him flashed in his mind. Oh yeah...that happened. He thought that was just a really vivid absurd nightmare about him escaping his family's legacy or something.

     He got up, fighting the soreness, unwilling to bend to its pleas, and headed towards the kitchen. A deep rumbling sound stopped him in the hallway, coming from the guest room across his own bedroom. Eyebrow raised, he peeked inside the guest room.

     Ah, yes. Another thing he forgot that happened yesterday.

     A giant eight feet tall dragon was sleeping on his stomach, with the mattress dragged from the iron bed frame down to the floor, probably to prevent his long legs from dangling off the frame. The way he slept and his all-black coloration made him look like a gigantic mutant sea urchin that swayed gently every time he breathed and snored. It certainly was a funny sight.

     Emrys' lips twisted to a small smile and decided to leave him asleep. He continued to the kitchen and checked his fridge to see what he could make. There was a lack of meat in his fridge, not even some seafood. Avi seemed to prefer meat, and honestly, from his looks alone, he couldn't be anything else but a carnivore. Also he ate a lot. Normally, whenever Emrys cooked meatloaf, he would have most of it to spare as leftovers that could feed him for days. Last night, Avi finished them all clean. The whole tin. Gone. A big carnivorous ice-and-fire-breathing monster needs a large meal. Go figure.

     "Well then, I guess I have to hit the farmer's market," Emrys sighed. He should have been able to surmise that the food expenses would spike when he offered Avi the job.

     By the time Emrys came back home from the market, Avi was already awake. In his hands were two avocados. Emrys blinked in confusion as he set down his bags of groceries. "Huh..." he croaked. "I thought you only eat meat?" he asked the dragon.

     Avi shook his head before plopping one avocado into his long toothy snout. There was a series of loud munching, much louder than normal chewing an avocado should sound. Emrys kept watching while he rummaged his groceries; he just couldn't help but study this odd creature. But the longer he watched, the more he noticed that Avi was having a lot more trouble with the avocado than he thought. Not too long after, the dragon's tongue unrolled from inside his snout, its end curling around a circular object. The avocado seed.

     Emrys' eyes widened, not sure if he was more surprised by Avi's ability to remove the seed from his mouth or by how long and prehensile his tongue was. His amazement turned into disgust, however, when Avi dropped the seed straight to the trash bin and raised the other avocado to his mouth. He rushed to the dragon and took the avocado from his hands, to his protest. "Let me teach you how to serve yourself an avocado, okay? Watch."

     He took a small kitchen knife from the drawer and began cutting the avocado in half, circling around the seed inside. His cut was very clean and smooth, and he made it very easy to dispose the seed that Avi chirruped at the spectacle. Emrys wasn't done with just cutting the fruit in half; he set aside one half and scooped out the meat of the fruit from its skin with surgeon-like precision, further impressing the dragon. He made a purring sound that was in the same note as when someone says, "Ooh!" His vocal reaction stroked Emrys' ego a small bit.

     "Here you go. Catch!" He tossed the skinned and deseeded fruit to the air. There was a split second of regret, he probably should not have done that. He would hate to see a good avocado go to waste. To his relief, however, Avi's snout caught them without fail. "Nice catch," he complimented, walking back to his groceries. Avi decided to help out, surprising Emrys yet again with good manners. Would it be too soon to say he didn't regret his decision yesterday? He shall see later on.

     He took out a pre-made roast chicken that he bought from the market. If Avi could finish a whole tin of meatloaf, he was positive he could eat an entire chicken by himself. "I have no time to make a full breakfast for us, so here's yours," Emrys handed the chicken to his new employee. "I have a deal to make later today, so you better be at your best. We'll be seeing my father again."

     Avi simply grunted at the mention of Eamon; the man still left some bitter taste in his mouth, but he obliged. He sat at the dining table, his tail slipping through the gap at the back of his chair, and was about to take out the chicken from its packing when he noticed the price tag on the meal. He hummed in acknowledgment and began wolfing down the poultry while his boss ate next to him. Emrys couldn't help but studying the way he carefully ripped the poultry's parts even though he could easily chomp the whole thing. It wasn't pristine, but Avi was surprisingly tidy with his table manners, even if he never used cutleries. He was so...civilized. Very unlike the monsters that attacked yesterday, or the other monsters that attacked his clients in the past.

     Even Avi's body structure was very different. The monsters that he had seen attacking and eating people were very horrific, yesterday's monsters alone were very animalistic. Avi still had the beast aspect to him, but he looked closer to a human but with his four-fingered hands and clawed feet. Emrys' brain began tickling the ideas of his new employee's background, how he ended up in that small container inside another bigger container. He was constructing a hypothetical scenario, despite his very limited knowledge of space travels, when he looked at the clock and remembered that he had an appointment to go to in a few hours.

     The hypothesizing will have to continue later on...

     The arms dealer was quick to wash himself and was clean and ready to go within less than thirty minutes. He headed towards the door and suddenly froze. He totally forgot the hassle of sneaking Avi into his apartment. He hesitantly turned to the dragon, mouth opening and closing as he struggled to find the words to relay to his employee. "Um...can I trust you to not cause a racket going downstairs?" he asked.

     The spikes on Avi's back shifted and straightened up, a low hum rumbled from his chest. He turned towards the window and opened it, his head turning to look around the environment. He looked back to Emrys and pointed downward. The human raised an eyebrow and walked over next to the dragon so he could see what he was pointing at.

     Nothing in particular. Just the empty, dark back alley of his apartment building.

     "You'll jump out to the back alley? I know this isn't a very tall building, but wouldn't you break your knees landing that hard?"

     Avi shook his head, and initially, Emrys thought he meant his knees will be fine, but then Avi spread his hands on the nearest wall and started crawling on it like a gecko. Once his entire body was hugging the wall, he released his hands, and his feet effortlessly kept him adhered to the surface. Then it all clicked to him; Avi did not have to jump down, he could just crawl or walk or even run on the wall. Jumping would have aroused suspicion from residents that faced the same back alley, but if he crawled on the wall, no one would notice. It was genius—and awfully convenient.

     "Oh, I guess I can park my van closer to the back alley exit." Then he gasped, "I can smuggle bigger weapons easier now!" He was washed with a momentary rush of excitement, but he had to fan them down and focus on the task at hand. "Okay, you wait here. I'll take the van out. Wait for my signal."

     Emrys left quickly to the parking lot while Avi waited on the balcony still. It only took a short few minutes until his red-haired head popped out of the back alley exit and waved at the dragon. Avi took an extra precaution to not walk or run on the wall, sticking with the gecko style of wall climbing. Then the two were off to the harbor. Avi's first day at work was about to begin.

     Avi enjoyed the sea air hitting against his face, he let out his tongue flailing about in the winds.

     Emrys...his face was buried inside a large plastic barrel, his pale skin was ghostlike. Every so often, the sound of his soul leaving his body would come out from his mouth, along with his breakfast from yesterday.

     "Remind me again how you're my son?" Eamon groaned, eyes not leaving the yacht's windshield.

     "You fucked—hrrk—my mother!"

     "Oh, right. Good point. Still, your sisters handled the waves just fine and they're all girly girls! What are you even, lad?" Eamon shook his head, chuckling to himself. Unbeknownst to him, behind him, Emrys shot him a bitter look. Suddenly, Avi burst into his view, towering over his short stature and baring his teeth towards him. Eamon screeched but his hands refused to leave the steering wheel, his seafarer life had taught him to keep steering the ship even when danger is right in front of his face. "What the fuck do you want?!"

     Emrys retched some more before raising a hand to signal the growling black dragon in front of his father. "It's alright, Avi..." he commanded through a heavy wheeze. "Stand down. Go enjoy the sea air again like you've been doing before."

     Avi left the captain's view, snorting at his face one last time before retreating to sit as comfortably as his tailed rump could do next to his boss. His head tilted slightly towards the hunched over Emrys, then faint red lights ignited from the crevices of his body. He placed a large black hand on Emrys' back and slowly and gently rubbed him, to his boss' surprise.

     "What are you..." Emrys almost protested, but he was quick to realize the high temperature Avi was emanating. It wasn't very high that it was searing hot, but he certainly was warmer than when they shook hands the day before. The temperature that came out of him reminded him of his electric heating blanket he uses every winter. It was soothing. It made him forgot that he was miserable and seasick seconds before. "Thanks..." he muttered.

     Avi purred and nodded in response.

     It was another thirty minutes until Emrys could feel a rush of relief from his ordeal. A bigger ship was afloat in the middle of the open ocean. A man waved a flag to signal Eamon and his crew from the starboard of the ship. Eamon turned the wheel, prompting the vessel to make a turn before stopping side by side with the other bigger ship. The crew threw the anchor while the crew of the ship across prepared a waterproof-painted plank for their guests to walk on.

     Avi's larger than life presence made the other ship's crew almost slipped and fell into the sea from the sheer shock of seeing him. Every time a person squawked or gasped, Avi made a heavy chuffing noise, and Emrys had no idea why but it was interesting to see it happen every time someone got spooked.

     "Welcome, my friends—aaaaaahhh bozhe—!" the host of the other ship yelled as he watched the black dragon hunched over the doorway into his luxurious office in the middle of his deceptively drab-looking ship.

     "It's okay, Mikhail, the giant lizard's with us. Well, with my son, more specifically..." Eamon explained, peeking over his shoulder in case Avi was to growl at him for calling him a lizard. Avi did nothing, but the old pirate could sense the death stare from that eyeless face.

     The Russian crime lord panted, eyes wide staring at the dragon who stood at the other end of the room, behind his young boss. His eyes darted from the hulking monstrosity to the two Irish men he invited, back and forth. Eamon had a more exasperated look to him, like he was thinking he knew this sort of thing would happen, while his red-haired son simply smiled. "You sure...?" he squeaked.

     "Oh, yes. He'll only attack if you attack first. I hired him as my bodyguard, after all," Emrys said. He crossed his legs in his seat and leaned back. "So, shall we discuss business? How will my wares serve your needs?"

     While his boss and the crime lord were discussing, Avi listened. The crime lord would go on tangents about his feats. One time he and his men did this, one time they did that, one time he got caught doing this and that to escape, and on and on. Avi would pretend to yawn, exposing his rows of teeth, and caused Mikhail to imagine what would happen if a mad scientist cross-breed a goblin shark with a fangtooth moray eel. The sight alone made him forget what he was rambling about, until Emrys brought the conversation back on track again. At which point, Avi's tail swished side to side slowly.

     As amusing as it was to intimidate the crime lord with his presence, something else in this deceptive Russian vessel disturbed him. It was faint at first, but the longer he stayed inside this vessel, he started to catch a hint. He heard mutterings of the crew from outside the door. They were all speaking in Russian, but he didn't need to be fluent in that language to notice the concern in their voices. He kept catching one word being repeated a few times: the name Sergei. Whatever was concerning these people had something to do with this Sergei person. Avi made a low whining sound to turn Emrys' attention to him.

     The red-haired arms dealer turned in his seat, mild annoyance in his green eyes. "What is it? I told you not to disturb me."

     Avi simply pointed at the door while making short grunting noises.

     "You want to go outside?"

     Avi nodded.

     "The ship's getting too cramped for your style, isn't it? Alright, fine. Mister Mikhail, would you be so kind to alert your people not to shoot at my personnel. Not that I'm afraid of losing him, but for your people's sake."

     The crime lord grimaced and alerted his men not to attack a bipedal black dragon when they see him and to just politely tell him off in case he gets near a restricted area. He also mentioned that the dragon understands English. Once he finished alerting his men, he received an approving nod from both Emrys and the dragon. Avi, however, added a warning glance to Mikhail. "I-I promise I won't harm your master!" he blurted, sensing the sternness from Avi's eyeless face.

      "It's okay, Avi. This isn't my first time doing business with him. Besides, I got good ol' Dad by my side."

     Avi huffed, but soon left the room, spooking the guards outside the door for the second time. He whimpered slightly, feeling a little bad for leaving Emrys unguarded. It was his job to guard him, but he had to violate that agreement for a bit to ease the rattling suspicion he felt.

     The ship's interior was agonizingly restrictive. Avi was thankful he did not have very broad shoulders or else, coupled with how long his shoulder spikes were, he would have a very bad time moving around. At his situation currently, he was slim enough to fit through the tunnel that was the ship's interior. He could not say the same with his height, though. He had to hunch his body almost halfway to compensate the lack of vertical space and to avoid his horns scraping the lights off the ceiling.

     He moved further into the ship, enduring the claustrophobic torture. His heightened olfactory sense caught strange scents. He thought it may be just fish, until he remembered this ship was not a fishing ship. It definitely didn't smell human. He tried to follow the scent, which only lead him further down the ship, where the corridors got narrower. No one was watching over the passage downstairs, so he assumed it would be fine if he just wandered there. Mikhail had given him permission, after all, sort of.

     The odd smell was stronger once he set his feet on the lower decks. The only way was forward, so he continued following his nose's lead, which ended on a heavy bulkheaded door with a single round window. Avi hunched further so his face was on the same level as the window, a low purr rumbling from the center of his chest as he peeked curiously into the door. A tanned fist smacked onto the window glass; someone was inside and their face was pale with dread and pain.

     "Help me, please! It hurts! It hurts so much! Please!!" the person begged in Russian. Avi did not understand a single word the man said, but from his tone alone, he could sense the man was in great pain.

      Avi looked down to the man's other hand, clutching his chest tightly. The smell came from that area on his chest. His low purr turned into a subtle snarl and he backed away slowly.

     "No! No! Please don't leave—aaarkh!" The man's voice cut out before blood-curdling scream broke through his throat, and even the screams only lasted shortly before being replaced by other horrendous noises. Noises that made Avi's blood riling and his armor plates rattling. The dragon hissed, backing further away from the door.

     "Drakon! This area is off limits!" a crew member barked from the top of the stairs. He was a little afraid of Avi, seeing how he was hissing and growling, but then he heard the banging on the door where the agonized man was locked in. "Sergei? What is happening?" he asked, his fear of Avi's behavior dissipated momentarily. He climbed down the stairs to approach his crewmate, but Avi stopped him by hissing right at his face.

     At the sound of Avi's hissing, a screech came from Sergei's quarter, shocking the crew member. He stuttered, "S-Sergei?" but instead of an answer from his crewmate, a grotesque clawed hands smashed the small window on the bulkhead. It ripped the bulkhead apart like thin wood, revealing a creature like a mutated angler fish with long arms and legs. The crew member nearly tripped from fright, but Avi put him back on his feet, letting the man run while he braced his body to clash with the finned nightmare.

     The fish-like monster was smaller than Avi, but it was faster and more feral. It chose to ignore Avi and chase the human with mouth full of water, but the dragon stopped it, wrangling it by its neck and pinning it to the floor. Avi's body lights turned to red, hot air oozed out of his armored scales and his mouth. If he could overheat this creature without damaging the ship, it would be ideal. At least, until Emrys and his father evacuated to their yacht.

     The finned monster thrashed and scratched, its claws tore through Avi's less armored chest, drawing purple blood from his veins, but the dragon did not relent. He kept spiking his heat temperature, opening his mouth to show off the flames rising from inside his throat. The finned monster screeched and pushed Avi's jaws up, but its hands were then restrained by Avi's other hand and tail. The creature screeched and soon opened its own mouth. Torrents of water ran from its mouth and straight into Avi's fiery throat, throwing the dragon off guard as he choked. His hold loosened, allowing the vaguely humanoid fish monster to escape and began preying on people.

     Avi snarled, upset that he got played like a fool. The larger monster chased his smaller opponent, tackling it and crashing against walls. Frightened crew members pulled out their guns and started shooting, but all the bullets ricocheted off upon impact on either his or the fish monster's skin. Some of the bullets were returned to their shooters, causing more casualty than there were supposed to be. Emrys, Eamon, and their Russian crime lord associate soon came out of the main office only to witness the quarrel between the two monsters, one of which, upon noticing them, scrambled its way with wide-opened mouth. Avi hopped onto the smaller monster's back, sinking his blade-like teeth into the fish's shoulder.

     Emrys watched the two monsters thrashed and wrestled against each other—the smaller one kept clawing Avi's snout and head until it left bloody marks. Avi dragged his opponent outside, far away from his employer. As he forced his opponent to fight outside, Mikhail's bodyguards followed them with a large bazooka in their hands. Seeing one of the men just pulled a weapon that big out of somewhere in the ship caused an anxious stir inside Emrys' belly.

     "Get ready to fire!" the bodyguards exclaimed, aiming the weapon at the two quarreling monsters.

     "Avi, incoming!" Emrys bellowed, forcing his throat to make the loudest voice he had ever produced. That will render him voiceless for the rest of the week.

     Hearing his boss' warning, Avi heaved the smaller monster, still clamped in his snout, and forced it to shield him from the oncoming bazooka. The projectile rocketed towards them; it hit them with such a great force they were sent flying to the ocean. Avi could feel the heat of the explosion and the shrapnels from the warhead hitting his face, but it was exactly the kind of force he needed. With the opponent stunned from the impact, Avi sank his teeth one more time and gnashed the beast's neck off as his spiky back crashed into the cold sea water.

      Emrys ignored the fact that part of the ship was burning from the explosion earlier and ran over to the side of the ship. His jade eyes scanned the waters, looking for signs of his black draconic companion. "Oh God, what if he can't swim..." he muttered to himself. The longer he searched, the more his worry turned into panic, and he started pacing to look for a ring buoy when the sea's surface crashed from the underside.

     Avi sprang out of the cold salt water, red ethereal-looking energy blasting from the spikes on his back. He landed on the ship safely, though his knees gave out the moment his feet touched the firm surface of the ship. He dropped the two separated pieces of the fish monster by his side before falling on all fours, wheezing and coughing out the sea water from his systems. The energy that was blasting from his back dissipated, along with the lights from the crevices of his armor.

     Emrys hurried to the dragon's side, reluctant to touch him from how much heat wave he could felt just inches away from him. "Jesus, you're all hurt," he said. He eyed the gashes across Avi's face and chest, noticing for the first time the color of his blood. "Your blood...is purple.... Huh."

     Avi grabbed the head of his now dead opponent and tossed it to the direction of where Eamon and Mikhail were. The two older men squealed at the decapitated head thrown at them that they jumped to each other's arms for protection. Avi pointed a finger at one of them, at the Russian crime lord, specifically. It was up to Emrys to interpret what Avi wanted to say.The red-head scratched his head. "You think the monster has anything to do with Mikhail?" he asked. The dragon nodded weakly, shifting position to sitting down. Emrys turned to his associate, a questioning look on his face.

     "I don't know anything about this...thing!" Mikhail retorted, trying not to look at the gaping monster head splayed in front of his toes.

     "Well, Avi definitely thinks so. Where did this creature come from anyway?" Emrys asked.

     "S-Sergei's room," a shaken crewmate chimed in. A look of fear still lingered on his face from the time Avi pulled him away from the initial attack. "It—it came from Sergei's room. Sergei's gone," the man continued to stammer.

     Emrys' look of confusion continued to intensify as he pressed on. "Okay, alright, why don't we start from the beginning? No, you start from the beginning. Our lives were nearly lost and according to my bodyguard, I think, you've been keeping it all along."

     "No! I swear I don't know anything about this creature!" Mikhail defended. "S-Sergei is one of my men. H-hired him a few years ago, he's a sickly guy, said he escaped some shady facility somewhere in the middle of Siberia! I swear! That's what he told me!" Mikhail's shaking worsened that he needed support. His bodyguards lead him to the nearest chair before leaving to assess the damage caused by the monster duel. "I don't know... I really don't know..."

     Avi growled but only briefly. Now that the threat was gone, he could focus on his injuries. Only now did he realize how much the claw marks sting. His body ignited red again, his body temperature rose dramatically that Emrys had to move away from him because of how uncomfortable the heat he generated was. However, from the heat, something amazing happened. The bleeding slowed down and the cuts sewed themselves close gradually. The healing stopped once the first layer of skin closed the wounds and Avi's body temperature dropped to an acceptable level.

     "Wow..." Emrys gasped. "You're so full of surprises."

     Avi purred appreciatively, waving his tail left and right, but Emrys could see the dragon seemed less energetic than when he woke up this morning. He placed a hand on Avi's spiky shoulder as he stood up.

     "We'll go home soon, don't worry. There's just a teeny bit more business I need to attend to."

     "What do you mean? I thought you had a deal already?" Eamon said.

     "I did, and I was gonna leave it at that, but then something from his property damaged my one and only attendant."

     "But I told you I don't know anything about that monster!" Mikhail protested.

     "That doesn't hide the fact that the thing came out from one of your quarters, does it? Don't you feel the least bit responsible? If Avi hadn't fought as hard as he did, lord knows what would happen to your business when you're eaten by that bastard." Emrys approached the Russian crime lord, arms crossed and a smug grin on his face. "Five percent is enough, Mikhail."

     The Russian crime lord gritted his teeth, insulted by the young arms dealer's gall to manipulate him like this, yet at the same time powerless to fight back. The terrifyingly large black dragon of his just survived a bazooka shot unscathed. The injuries he got were caused by a fellow monster, not one of his weapons. He glanced to Avi, considering his options. "Fine. I do owe you one," the crime lord grumbled. He called one of his bodyguards, spoke something to him in Russian, and sent him away. He then turned to Eamon, "Your child is a real talker. Worthy successor, Eamon."

     "Not much of a sea leg, though," the elderly pirate groaned. Emrys' lower eyelid twitched at the discussion.

     "Well, if you don't want him, I'll take him. My business will flourish with him at the helm."

     Emrys suppressed a distasteful gritting of his teeth and stormed his way back to Avi's side. He simply sat sulking next to the dragon, his back facing the older men talking and teasing each other. It wasn't until his payment and the 'damage fee' was brought did he return with a smug look on his face. Yet, he did not intend to dawdle among these people. He did promise Avi they would go home.

     "Hey, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I saw you flying," Emrys said, helping Avi up to his feet again. The dragon made a questioning grunt with his head tilted to the side, but he nodded. Emrys' grin grew. "Awesome! If you still have some energy left, can you fly me back to the van?"

     Avi nodded and let his ethereal wings flare to their fullest, showing Emrys its form more clearly. They had the general outline of bat wings, but were made of some energy current that weaved into lines and markings, giving them an almost runic look. They were the same as his 'eyes' that popped occasionally. Seeing how his powers work, Emrys could safely assume that the property of the wings reflected the elemental powers the dragon was using. Since both red and white colors were present, it would appear Avi was keeping them balanced this time around.

     "H-hold on!" Eamon's protest broke through the moment of wonder. "You can't stand a cruise on the yacht but you can handle flying?"

     Emrys shrugged. "Flying has better view. That's all." He turned to Avi again, eyeing him up and down. "So...should I climb on your back or—whoa!" Without cue, Avi went on ahead and picked his boss up with just one arm, carrying him like a toddler. Emrys' fingers tightened around the suitcase full of money while he coiled his arms around Avi's neck. His cheeks burned feeling the firm muscles acting as a seating cushion. He always knew Avi was strong—he had seen him tear two hostile monsters into two twice already—but being a receiver of his display of strength was an entirely unique experience.

     The dragon began flapping his wings, hitting the top of the ship with powerful air currents strong enough to even make it wobble. His feet gradually left the ground. He nodded at Eamon and everyone else, bidding his own version of farewell, before taking off with a booming flap of his wings. The sound of Emrys cheering from the speed he was taken was the last thing to be heard by everyone on the ships.

[seraphiixa]

@ikkaku-of-heart​ wrote: This was nice, spending time with another woman. As much as she loved her boys, there was just something uniquely satisfying about feminine company. Not that the Rear Admiral was especially girly, what with her button downs and slacks, but the same could easily be said about Ikkaku. They were two peas in a pod, really, dressing practical and making it look damn good.

Lyra’s offer, followed by her awkward clarification, earned a snort of laughter from the engineer. It would be too easy to tease her about that slip of the tongue. Too easy and potentially too risky.

However, Ikkaku was starting to wonder if she should step up her game a little. Make sure Lyra knew that, if she was interested, the feeling was mutual. But not too overtly so as to not make her uncomfortable or drastically affect their friendship.

So she smiled and replied, “Dinner and drinks with a gorgeous Marine? Sounds like a great night out. And I definitely feel comfortable having a few drinks with you; I know you’re not the type to take advantage of little ol’ me.” Despite them being on opposing sides, she really did trust Lyra not to do anything should Ikkaku get drunk, whether it be sexual or just arresting her while her guard was down.

Though the offer was accepted, Ikkaku didn’t move, being perfectly content to stay like that until they had some kind of plan in place. She was not giving up her comfortable spot prematurely. “Got any specific place in mind? I know there’s a tavern by the docks, but I don’t think it’s the most reputable. Or at least, I saw a bar brawl through the window, though that might be a one-off thing.”

     A gorgeous Marine...? Lyra blinked and slowly turned her face away bashfully for the moment of flattery to look out over the harbor, which was darkening now. Thank goodness Ikkaku couldn’t see her reaction in this dim light. Allowing herself to romanced by a pirate? A farcical fantasy. The treachery of it... !  But of course Lyra would not take advantage of Ikkaku. Lyra held honor and chivalry in high regard, always had... ... ... 

     ... ... ... Ikkaku thought she was gorgeous? Lyra could not let go of the thought. She had been called beautiful many times before, by many different people, but something stirred inside her. Her heart bubbled. She wanted to be called beautiful by Ikkaku. And furthermore --- the feeling was mutual. An evening out with a lively, daring, and endearing woman like Ikkaku; Lyra was grateful for the opportunity and would not waste it.

     She took a deep breath through her nose and let the blush she had developed recede, stroking her thumb along Ikkaku’s side rather absentmindedly once or twice... actually, it never stopped. She affectionately stroked Ikkaku’s side for a few minutes.

     A disreputable tavern by the docks in a harbor town? It sounded like the perfect place for pirates, scallywags, and all manner of criminals. First, she worried about anyone picking fights with Ikkaku, and a stern expression crossed the Rear Admiral’s face. The Heart pirates were infamous, after all. Lyra did not track or study them; she did not know their enemies or who they had wronged in the past who may wish to pick a fight with a lone Heart on their own in a tavern. The thought of it made her grind her teeth slightly, irritated at the thought. Should anyone even look at Ikkaku wrong... no need getting aggravated over hypotheticals. It struck her then; she was protective of Ikkaku.

     Secondly, far less importantly, what if someone recognized her? A former follower of Absolute Justice, Lyra did not exactly have many admirers on the seas outside of the Navy. She would hate for that to interrupt their evening out.

     “The tavern sounds lovely. I believe it will be fine: I have a Heart pirate to protect me,” she said with a sly smile.

     She gently gripped Ikkaku’s waist to gain her attention if she didn’t already have it, “Shall we go?”

[paraffin-penguin]

Let's talk Osototo (an obnoxiously long headcanon post)

- Oso is the first to meet her. He was 10, and their mom needed someone to run down to the fishmonger’s. Oso was saddled with the chore after everybody else bailed. The fishmonger had a daughter, and when she hands Oso his change with a bright smile, it’s love at first sight and the kid sprints home to tell his brothers about the prettiest girl he’s ever seen. The next day there are 6 times as many little boys outside Totoko’s family’s shop, all with the same face, so her dad takes the day off thinking he’s hallucinating from being overworked.

- Totoko was, aside from their parents (and even they made mistakes sometimes), the only person who could tell the sextuplets apart as children, or at the very least pick Osomatsu out from the rest. The reason stemming from her being a child who wanted to be worshipped and adored, so she’s able to perceive to an extent how much somebody likes her, and out of the 6 it was simply a fact that Oso liked her the most.

- The other 5 falling for Totoko was more an effect of Follow The Leader rather than genuine feelings on an individual level. Oso was the dominant personality, so it’s only natural that the girl he liked would also be “liked” by all his brothers. It doesn’t help that Oso would talk about her any chance he’d get: “Totoko-chan was cute today too, wasn’t she?” “Totoko-chan’s so smart..! In class today–” “Hey, hey, did you know? Totoko-chan does ballet! Let’s go see her!!” Rounding up everyone to go see Totoko or come up with harebrained schemes to impress her and win her heart were always initiated by Oso (which is the case even in adulthood – for instance, the oil magnate incident).

- Totoko used to be taller than Oso. A thing she liked to do back then was slowly walk towards him with her hands behind her back and a falsely gentle smile on her face. She’d loom over the shorter boy purely to enjoy his reaction: Oso would be frozen stiff, scared, but also completely smitten. Totoko liked that nervous, lopsided grin, and Oso liked those initial hints of Totoko’s true wicked nature.

- In middle school, just how much Follow The Leader influenced the other brothers regarding Totoko became obvious. The 5 of them got crushes on other girls – Choro who’s just discovering idol culture at this time gets hit with an especially bad case of lovesickness every other week – but Oso, while notorious for his *ahem* love of girls, never seemed to actually have feelings for any of the ones he tried to hit on (with little success, of course). For other girls it was the typical hormone-driven stuff: skirt-flipping, bra-snapping, catcalling. The grandest and most earnest displays of affection were always reserved for Totoko: the heart-eyes, the swooning, the “Totoko-chan, you’re so cute!”, “Totoko-chan, you need anything?”, “Totoko-chan, do your best!”, the gifts of sweets and toys and choreographed group performances (there must’ve at least been 1 or 2). All for her. Only for her.

- In highschool, Oso takes Totoko on an aquarium date. A secret from his brothers for fear of great bodily injury, but there was no real occasion other than he had free time and extra cash (did he get lucky or did he work for it? There’s no telling what’s up to luck or foresight with this miraculous idiot). They go through the exhibits and Totoko’s actually having a good time. He buys her a shark plush, then climbs into the shark tank with the intention of catching one of the baby sharks for Totoko to take home and raise (this boy later grows up to ride a tiger and a cheetah, the phrase “dangerous animal” means shit to him). Aquarium staff stops him and they’re banned. Years later Oso asks Totoko about the shark plush and she says she’s lost it, but that’s a lie – it’s in her closet hidden behind boxes of unsold idol merch, and she digs it out every so often to either cuddle with it in her sleep or beat the stuffing out of it.

- They were dance partners in P.E. Pairs were assigned randomly, and when Oso’s and Totoko’s names were called together Oso literally jumped for joy, whooping maniacally before being tackled to the ground by the other Matsunos in the class (Choro was definitely one of them). Oso was a surprisingly good dancer, and Totoko appreciated that he made a conscious effort never to upstage her.

- In adulthood, Oso is the brother most likely to go see Totoko by himself. It’s not even intentional sometimes. He’ll be out walking around town and if he’s not feeling pachinko or horse racing, his mind will eventually wander to what’s Totoko doing? Where would she be, around this time? His feet will end up leading him to her house or the next place he guesses she might be. Oso’s gifted with luck where it doesn’t benefit him monetarily, and that’s why he’s able to catch Totoko outside the matchmaking agency (like really, what was he doing in that area by himself..?).

- Oso likes pigtails. It’s why he likes schoolgirls and little sister types, and if you look through his porn stash, pigtails are definitely a recurring theme. It’s why he chose Chibimi over Iyayo despite the latter having a larger chest, something you’d think Fast Hands Oniichan would gravitate to, but no. What he prefers is girly and cute with a side of selfishness and greed. Who else is like that? None other than the girl whose signature hairstyle hasn’t changed in over 10 years.

- And now for something bittersweet. There’s no way they would end up together, not the way they are – Totoko’s standards are ridiculously high and apparently she’s pretty and smart enough to nab someone that meets them, while Oso’s objectively trash. But no matter what happens, and especially if through some aligning of the planets they start going out but the universe rights itself at the last moment and they break up, Oso will always love Totoko. She’ll always be the prettiest girl he’s ever seen. His first love. The girl he’ll never get over because “liking her” is part of his identity. It used to be part of the sextuplets’ collective identity – they were the troublemaking demons who crushed on the same girl and chased her all over the neighborhood – but the other 5 will probably grow out of both the troublemaking and the crush (some of them already have in canon, even with episode 24 being a joke). Everyone except Oso, because he’s most attached to the story’s original setting. Being obsessively in love with Totoko at that point would be partially fueled by his stubbornness to “stay in character“. Totoko will most likely marry someone else – someone rich and respectable – but Oso would still hover near her, happily flirting. And Totoko would let him. “Gotta respect the man’s dedication – he’s liked the same girl since he was 10” would be part of the reason, but most of it would be that Totoko needs the setting just as much as Oso does. She’s constantly starved for attention and Oso, the devoted childhood friend with a perpetually open schedule, is a convenient source of attention. There might be some reciprocal love on Totoko’s side. Something has to have grown there, after all these years, but Totoko doesn’t seem the type to want to define it. What they have in that hypothetical future works, and if she overthinks it then, she might begin to remember Oso’s wide-eyed, blushing face from that day she gave him a bunch of 5-yen coins and their hands brushed, and she might regret.

[trans-advice]

Do you have any advice for me? Im trans ftm and out to no one. Today my mom and I were talking and she said if i was trans to tell her and how she pretty much know that I am, but she said it harshly and was yelling at me. She said she would love me still but then the next day she will tell me that she raised a daughter and not a son and that I'm a girl. I dress very masculine and she says she's disappointed and wanted to have a girly girl. What should I do? Do you think I should come out?

TLDR

Get prepared to leave/runaway. It looks like it’s getting ugly & it could get worse. Also there’s the risk of getting outed. In the meantime, while you prepare as much as you can, stay in the closet until you know you have some safety if it’s a bad reaction. Call your aesthetic “Butch” if your mom’s all like “be girly girl” up in your face. Might still get you grief, but it’s the partial truth.

Reasoning

Oy. I’m scared.

It doesn’t sound like your mom is educated about gender identity at all. Like maybe if she’s noticed you dealing with voice dysphoria or stuff like that, but I’m going to guess no, because she said she wants you to be a “girly girl”, which as a genderfluid person between feminine gender identity & non-binary indentity, I know about the aesthetics of “Butch” & “Femme” (so calling you a “trans boy”, instead of like a “tomboy”, is a flag for ignorance).

So, um, “girly” is basically another word for “femme”. Her clarification seemed to be based on her wanting you to engage in that aesthetic. Whether she thinks you actually are a boy or not, or understands the difference between sex & gender roles, or even assigned​ gender identity & actual gender identity, is not clear, and likely to be obstructive if/when you come out.

Not saying it’s on you, but I don’t want to totally villianize your mom. So Devil’s Advocate: I don’t exactly blame her for wanting someone to do girly stuff with because femme is somewhat stigmatized, but it’s also assimilation. So with her engaging in that activity/ritual with her hypothetical daughter (hypothetical because you’re actually her son) it can be kind of like from that angle unappreciative. (Effie Trinket popped into my mind like just now. lol.)

However, your mom’s not appreciating that you’re not a girl; you’re a boy. Therefore this set of assimilation rituals categorized as femme (performed by women) is not going to affirm/help you (because you’ll still have the stress the closet & likely interalize self-hate.) Granted, there are femme guys, but they get stigmatized so it’s not the same assimilation/survival flavor as mother & daughter doing/performing femme. [1]

So your mom is intolerant. She might still love you as a boy, but, and this is a big but, her skill-set might be restricted & that grief might not play well at all, (not your fault. It’s just how it is.) especially in the immediate future following you coming out to your mom. Therefore, you need to prepare for the worst.

I’m sorry about your mom, dude,I wish you peace & love– Eve

PS

[1]

An unlikely compromises could be, you ask her to take you shopping in your Butch style & her femme style synthesized. Then again I like doing that kind of stuff, not necessarily you, so. Eek. That’s why I said unlikely. Extension of the girly-girl as performance could be drag? I’m sorry, I know these are unlikely, I just wanted to to give you as many thoughts/ideas for you to use.

[sapphiresea]

1-29 hehehehehehhehehe.... if not all the evens lol!

 pride month questionnaire.    

what is your sexuality? i’m an ace-spec lesbian.

what do gender do you identify as? cisgender female.

how long have you been aware of your sexuality/gender? oh gosh. i really de-sexualized myself for a long time because i couldn’t stand the thought of being with a guy and i just didn’t think being with a woman was an option... but i remember being acutely aware of it when i was about 13 years old, panicking, and then doing my best to repress it.

do you have any preferences? eyes are a really big thing for me. not necessarily shape or color. i just really love being able to look into a woman’s eyes and see a sparkle. but mostly i look for someone i can laugh with and be real with, you know? it’s really important with me to be with someone i can be myself around and who wants to enjoy life with me.

share a positive memory about coming out! aside from the fact that literally no one was shocked i’m gay and everyone was shocked that i was dating someone besides my best friend... well, shortly after i came out to my best friend, i went to visit her. i was staying with her family, who didn’t know ( and still doesn’t know ) that i’m into girls. her cousin, a grown woman who was raised very, very conservative had actually never heard of gay people before and we were sitting there watching glee with her and kurt came on the screen. tina explained to her cousin that he was interested in men the way a lot of men are interested in women and her cousin looked horrified. i mean, she gasped and exclaimed, “surely there must be some kind of cure for these people!” or something along those lines. she was mortified. and my best friend, without missing a beat, jumped in and shut it down, telling her that there’s nothing wrong with gay people and there doesn’t need to be a ‘cure.’ and i just remember it positively because she said something when she knew i couldn’t without outing myself, and i just very much appreciated it.

how do you feel about pride month? pride all day every day. i mean, where i live, for no logical reason, our pride isn’t until september, so it’s mostly just on the internet that i celebrate in june. but hey, it gives me more reason to make gay jokes, so i’m all for it. but more than that, considering our history and all the lgbtqia+ community has been through to be seen as people, yeah, i think pride month is extremely important. i just think we need to do more to educate everyone – both in and out of the community – on our history and how far we’ve come...not to mention how far we still have to go.

do you participate in pride related events? any other events? surprisingly, not a lot? i’ve been to a few, and i’m definitely going to pride this year, but the community here isn’t very large and a lot of the events are outdoors or in bars, and considering i can’t drink or be in the sun, i don’t often have much to do, you know?

how do you feel about lgbtq roles in media? i feel like a lot of them are very narrow. most of the roles are cis white male gays, and even then, they’re quite clichéd. lesbians get killed off or end up with tragic endings. bisexual women are erased. bisexual men barely even exist at all. and then there’s, like, one or two trans characters on all of media that tend to be played by cis people. we’ve certainly gotten better with representation, but there is a very long way to go from here. and maybe once it stops being ‘brave’ for a straight/cis actor to play a gay/trans role and we’re not heralding a movie for great representation when there’s one throwaway line about a female character potentially having a girlfriend that’s not even confirmed by more than a shrug ( looking at you, power rangers ), i’ll start taking it more seriously as progress.

do you feel pride in who you are? yes. i would like to be as gay as possible. life might be easier if you’re straight, but god, at what cost???

who has been your supportive idols in your self discovery? i’m lucky and a lot of the people ( though certainly not all ) have been pretty supportive of me. but i didn’t know any gay people growing up. mostly, i found self-acceptance through media. watching olivia and natalia fall in love on guiding light was the first time i let myself consider my sexuality. through that fandom, i met a couple older lesbians – most notably, marie, who i called my nana, and who acted as a mentor. she took me under her wing and really encouraged me to love myself. portia de rossi also had a big influence. reading her book, i really connected with her. so while i’ve never met her, i would say she was a very important figure in my journey, as well.

tell us about your first crush? my first crush – though, thanks to compulsory heterosexuality and heteronormativity, i didn’t recognize it at the time – was on a blonde girl in my third grade class named sam. we met her first day at school when we literally wore the same shirt but in different colors ( mine was purple, hers was blue ) and we thought that was really cool, so we started hanging out at recess. she straddled a line between being a tomboy and a girly-girl in a way i can’t explain. i was entranced by her. i would’ve followed her anywhere like a lost little puppy. she moved away to another province after a few months and because it pre-dated the internet being such a big thing, we lost touch instantly. i never did find out what happened to her. but i swear for those few months, my little eight year-old self was in love.

what sort of advice to have you lgbtq teens? take your time coming out and telling people. you aren’t lying by being in the closet. your safety and comfort comes above all else. but try to find people – even if they’re online – who will accept you for you and who you can be yourself around. being lgbtqia+ is not something to be ashamed of, no matter how many people try to tell you otherwise.

have you come out to friends and family? yes. most people know i’m gay, especially since i can’t keep myself from making terrible jokes about it all the time. i’ve outed myself a lot just for a laugh. the only people who don’t know are my best friend’s family. it sucks, but it’s because of the culture they grew up in and i get it. i don’t like it, but i get it. and i love them too much to risk them hating me.

how do you feel about the term “coming out” ? i don’t really have feelings about it, but it does tend to get that diana ross song stuck in my head.

do you believe there is a “closet” to come out of? yes. there is one big closet from which we all emerge.

any tips on coming out? just do it in your own time. do it in a way in which you feel comfortable. the rest is up to you, honestly. there’s no one right way to do it.

what’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to lgbtq characterization in media? aside from being killed off? aside from never letting the actual lgbtqia+ people play the lgbtqia+ characters? aside from representation being celebrated when it’s just a tiny hint that a character might not be straight or cis? ...lack of puns. almost every non-cishet person i know makes so many jokes about their gender/orientation all the time for their own amusement. if we could replace the disgusting homophobic/transphobic jokes that are like “lol look at these weird queer people!” with lighthearted jokes from the lgbtqia+ character, i would be stoked. but address the actual problems first and then get to that one.

what’s your favorite parts of lgbtq characterization in media? i mean... representation is so freaking important because it not only allows us to accept ourselves, but helps people outside the community to actually see us as humans. i swear if it wasn’t for will & grace, my parents would’ve had a very different reaction to my coming out. but i also just really love seeing cute wlw being cute. also this was my favorite thing to ever happen.

what did your teachers say about the lgbtqa community in school? most of my teachers played the hypotheticals, if they acknowledged the community at all. they spoke of it in debate terms like none of us existed for real. most of them just ignored the subject altogether. the only time i remember it being specifically addressed was in eighth grade when my music teacher’s son came out and she gave us all a big anti-homophobia speech. she said, “one in ten people is gay, which means at least two of you are.” and that was when i promptly turned bright red and internally panicked because my first thought was, “i wonder who the other one is...” followed by “oh my god, no. no. no. i’m not gay!!!” lol nice try, thirteen year old me.

do you practice safe sex with the same gender? i mean i’m ace-spec and i don’t have a lot of sex... but like.... since i’ve never had sex with someone who could get me pregnant or who has stds.... umm... no... but where tf would you even get a dental dam? has anyone even seen those?

what’s an absolute turn off for you in the opposite/same gender? no sense of humor. i dated a girl who i swear could not laugh. not just at my jokes, but i barely saw her crack a smile in three dates, and that’s as long as we lasted. i was just so not into it.

what’s an absolute turn on for you in the opposite/same gender? dimples. and making me laugh.

how do you feel about lgbtq clubs/apps/websites? yes. more of those, please. i mean, it’s not like i can walk into a starbucks and meet other wlw. i’ve literally only ever met one in the wild and, oh my goodness, let me tell you, we glomped on to one another so quickly. but everyone else, i’ve met over the internet or on an app.

how do you feel about the term “queer” ? i personally like it and use it often. i mean, all of the words in the acronym, every identity has been used as a slur before, and i can and will reclaim it. but i also respect that a lot of people don’t feel the same way. i won’t use it to describe someone if i know it makes them uncomfortable.

how does you country view the lgbtq community? generally we’re pretty well accepted, but you know, there are assholes everywhere. and i also live in the most conservative part of the country, which is fun.

favorite lgbtq actor/actress? well, i mean, i’m obviously a big kate mckinnon fan. i also really love portia de rossi.

any tips for heterosexual and/or cisgender people on how to handle lgbtq events/news? be open-minded and challenge your own biases.

what’s the most annoying question you have ever gotten? “can i watch?” seriously. i’ve been asked that too often. it’s not funny and it’s definitely not attractive. just fuck off.

how do you feel about receiving questions about your sexuality/gender? i’m fine with it as long as people are asking out of curiosity and a desire to learn, you know? if they’re not questioning whether i’m really a lesbian or whatever, i’m totally cool with it. oh! unless they’re asking for details about my sex life or something gross.