#also it's just a pretty subject matter for a pretty man (biased)

[kenzan-kiwami]

finished the linework for my kashiwagi tattoo design idea :weary:

RGG Studio Hire Me Challenge [IMPOSSIBLE]

[rubberduckyrye]

Okay in all seriousness. There's something that I REALLY want to talk about as an open discussion with the fandom, but. This is not going to be a very nice thing to hear/talk about.

It's about how Gonta is treated by the fandom.

As a fan of all the V3 characters now, and as someone who has always been a fan of Gonta, and as someone who has many mental disabilities and two diagnosed neurodivergancies... I'm tired of playing nice about it.

You all need to stop being ableist towards Gonta.

I've mentioned in the past that I don't like shitting on personal interpretations. I don't like saying something is or is not canon because narration is just a big web of text that you try to decipher with your own personal biases, experiences, and thoughts. That's why two literary analysts analyzing the same text with the same literary criticism rules can come to wildly different conclusions--why people develop different headcanons from the same canonical information.

But one of the things that challenged my integrity is just how many people view Gonta as this innocent, naive, ignorant, baby boy who can do no harm/never has a complicated/dirty/violent/sexual thought in his life ever.

This incredibly ableist interpretation of the character bothered me for, well, obvious reasons (See: It's fucking ableist, need I say more?) but I never challenged it as harshly as I am now because to be frank, it's not my place to tell people how to HC a character. It still isn't. But I've pretty much given up on my integrity on the subject and have decided to go all in on discussing why this interpretation of Gonta is just. Really bad.

First of all, not to promote my own analyses here or anything, but I think this analysis I did of Gonta explains a LOT in regards to the ableism the cast gives him in canon. I also think that this subtle ableism is why the fandom is so bad with Gonta's characterization in headcanons and fanfic--because they've seen how the cast treats him, and they think it's normal. They don't see the microaggressions, they don't see the subtle ableism in the cast--they just see this big giant idiot who speaks like Tarzan in the English version (which... I don't actually know why people assume Tarzan (Thinking of Disney's version) is stupid. Like as a boy he had to reinvent the spear with no one to guide him on how to do it. He was able to strategize and outsmart "civilized" men in the final showdown. Still I digress) and don't see the literal genius behind his social awkwardness.

There is also another very important point I'm going to make in addition to this, and it's going to be very uncomfortable to Gonta fans who insist he's nothing but a sweet baby who only has pure thoughts. Especially to the fans who insist he "can't be sexual" or think it's weird to ship him with his peers.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but... Gonta blatantly has sexual desire and gets horny right in canon.

This is further clarified here:

It wasn't a matter of Gonta didn't want to touch her because touching someone in their underwear was inappropriate, or being flustered because she was in her underwear which is inappropriate...

It was literally a "weird feeling" that made him unable to approach her or touch her. A "weird feeling" that Miu makes pretty obvious as to what it was--sexual arousal.

He literally was sexually attracted to and felt sexual arousal from looking at Miu in her underwear. He had sexual feelings and thoughts about Miu. Why?

Because Gonta is a young man.

Gonta is a brilliant, talented young man who has normal human thoughts for someone his age--sexual desires, upsetting thoughts, complicated thoughts, ectect. He is not a child, he is not mentally stunted (I've been informed that people have literally said this on Ao3 for the NSFW Gonta fics, please for the love of god stop that)

I think the reason why Gonta fans typically want to keep him as a "pure baby child who can do no wrong" is because treating him like the young adult that he is makes it harder for them to justify Chapter 4. Every time I've seen a Gonta fan that hates Kokichi, it's always followed by the sentiment of "Kokichi manipulated and abused Gonta into killing Miu, so it's all Kokichi's fault." They're afraid of nuance and liking a character with the grey morality of genuinely thinking Mercy Killing the cast is a viable option, because it challenges their own morals about the character they adore.

To those people who read this and are upset: You can and should like Gonta! Gonta is a magnificent character who showcases the subtle way microaggressions can manifest and hurt people, he's a good-hearted person and a literal genius, he cares deeply for his friends and loves everyone with upmost sincerity.

But.

You need to re-evaluate your stance on Gonta if you think he's a stupid, naive fool who Kokichi manipulated. You need to re-evaluate why you think those thoughts, why you think Gonta being shipped with anyone is "Kinda weird" or "has weird consent problems" or "give you the ick." You have to challenge yourself and ask yourself uncomfortable questions in regards to why you treat Gonta like a child when canon has proven otherwise, why you think he cannot have violent or sexual thoughts, why he can't think mercy killing his class is the only way to save them.

This isn't an attack on you--but understand that these specific takes on Gonta? They are ableist in nature. They belittle and dismiss him, they treat him like a child, an idiot who can't think for himself--and you have to come to terms with the fact that Gonta is a far more complex character with complicated thoughts and feelings who is a young adult. Not a child. A young adult.

So again, ask yourself this: Why are you treating this young adult like he's a toddler?

[redjaybathood]

It's funny, as I'm reading the Robin Lives #1 again, how much disgust all the pages, all the replics and remarks, by Bruce, Dr Sara, another doctor, Alfred, or even Dick, can incurre in me - where it's pretty obvious the intent was the opposite.

And sure, I am biased, I admit it. But also... It doesn't mean I'm wrong.

I do think it's a failure on DeMatteis' part, how ableist the dialogue between Dr Benjamin Stoner and Batman. Okay, maybe it's just me - but the guy says that he took the job at Arkham Asylum to prove that no one, no matter how monstrous they appear, is beyond redemption. It sounds very noble, right? But it's actually full of shit. They're not redeeming them in Arkham. At best they provide somewhat lacking psychiatric care. Redemption is so outside of the realm of what institution like Arkham can possibly do, it's outright offensive to imply that their mental illness is what they need to be redeemed for - and not their crimes.

Mental illness is not a sin. Repeat it after me, DeMatties!

Anyway, the doctor thinking in this way rather shows him being self-centered ln his idea of compassion to those he thinks are monstrous, rather any actual ability to help them. It's no wonder he fails.

Anyway. I also despise the choice of outsider POV mixed with their insights into Batman's POV. It's like the author has never really been interested in Jason's psyche, or knew that it wouldn't work, what he was planning to write, if he took a closer look there.

He talks a lot about compassion even for monstrous, but I see no sincere compassion for Jason. Even Batman holding Jason's body - it's framed, again, with Batman's emotions, and it's guilt he feels. Self-flagellation for sure helps, yeah (no).

Overall, I can only say that, having a mental illness, and having family members with mental illness, especially such stigmatized one as schizophrenia - I don't like this writing at all.

Most people don't become violent criminals because they are traumatized, or have an inherited biological predisposition to madness that makes you want to cause other people suffering. I dunno what Sara is about. I do think it should be mandatory for writers to read at least some books on the subject they explore, if not, I dunno, do some research on their own.

Issue 2 starts with Stoner once again getting very emotional about little trapped man inside the Joker - whereas I think he just likes that idea based on principle, because he really would rather fail in his fantasy world than live in a bleak reality where men like Joker do what they do because it gives them satisfaction, and not because there's something more wrong with their brain than me or you - and Sara narrating on oh how difficult it is for Batman, be almost shattered by Jason's nervous breakdown.

We don't really see any evidence of that, of course, just her words. Which, knowing now what we know about their relationship, makes her biased too. It does make sense for her to be so focused on Bruce than Jason. It does make sense for the story to be focused on Bruce. Because it's not a story about Jason. And that's what disgust me. Not that it's not a Jason story and I am his fan - UtRH isn't a particularly Jason story; or The Hills; or - basically anything he's been in than RHatO and Task Force Z; I'm alright with it - but that it goes on and on about compassion and how these poor mentality ill souls need compassion and help. But Jason - who's going to become Jason by the end of issue 4 - is practically absent.

Like, if you don't give a shit, don't write about the issue. Because so far this story is all "how can we make Bruce seem good and the morals to reflect positive values for our society?". It is, if you allow me, hypocritical.

[kaijudyke]

alright, as promised, here is my personal venom reading guide as of right now, october 2024. disclaimer that this is not in any way intended to be definitive or universal and i am not an authority, i've just read a bunch of venom comics in the past five or so years and have strong feelings on the matter. there's some early stuff i would consider just objectively important for anyone who wants to read and understand venom, but there's also a lot of stuff that's on here because i personally like it (or not on here because i don't). it's highly subjective and informed by my personal opinions and biases. this is also specifically a guide to (primarily) eddie brock venom comics so if you're more interested in other hosts this will not be of much use to you. i have not read every venom comic in existence (there are a lot of them) and either way this is not intended to be an exhaustive list of The Only Comics You Should Read but if you're looking to start exploring the comics i think these are a pretty good place to start if you have remotely the same sensibilities as i do regarding these characters (which to be quite honest if you're getting your comic book recommendations from tumblr dot com you probably do). long disclaimer sorry but comics are SUCH a big and kind of scary topic. anyway the list is under the cut. starred titles are ones i consider particularly high priority if you're skipping around, either because they're plot-critical or because i think they're especially good. have fun

The alien costume arc — If you're able to read a collected edition you'll probably have an easier time than if you manually jump between comics, but I've included the full list anyway. This is a stupid way to publish a story. Comics are stupid. Unfortunately this one is also essential.

Setup — Mostly regular Spider-Man stuff with minor symbiote subplot; skippable or skimmable for symbiote highlights if desired. I would suggest skimming rather than skipping, since seeing how this arc actually played out in the comics is crucial to understanding the ways in which adaptations have warped people's perceptions of the Venom symbiote and of this storyline, which I personally think is a key part of learning to understand the symbiote as a character—there are some misconceptions you've probably picked up through cultural osmosis that you'll need to unlearn if you want to get to the heart of the character, and this is the place to start.

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8

The Amazing Spider-Man #252

Marvel Team-Up #141

The Spectacular Spider-Man #90

The Amazing Spider-Man #253

The Spectacular Spider-Man #91-#92

The Amazing Spider-Man #254

Marvel Team-Up #142-#143

The Amazing Spider-Man #255

Marvel Team-Up Annual #7

Marvel Team-Up #144

The Spectacular Spider-Man #93-#95

Marvel Team-Up #145

★ The Amazing Spider-Man #256-#258 — Even if you decide to skip the rest of the setup, you should read #258.

Marvel Team-Up #146

The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #4

The Amazing Spider-Man #259

The Spectacular Spider-Man #96-#97

Marvel Team-Up #147-#148

The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #18

The Amazing Spider-Man #260-#261

The Spectacular Spider-Man #98

Marvel Team-Up #149

The Amazing Spider-Man #262

The Spectacular Spider-Man #99

Marvel Team-Up #150

The Amazing Spider-Man #263

The Spectacular Spider-Man #100

Climax — Absolutely not skippable! You will never understand the core of Venom without reading the end of the alien costume arc.

★ Web of Spider-Man #1

Later takes on the alien costume arc:

★ The Amazing Spider-Man (2018) Annual #1 by Saladin Ahmed — MANDATORY. Essential reading for symbiote sympathizers. I have this comic on display on a shelf above my bed.

Deadpool: Back in Black (2016) by Cullen Bunn (5 issues)

Venom's appearances as a villain in David Michelinie's issues of The Amazing Spider-Man — Important if you want to understand Venom's history and motivations. Also fun!

★ The Amazing Spider-Man #300 — Venom’s first appearance.

The Amazing Spider-Man #315-#317

The Amazing Spider-Man #332-#333

★ The Amazing Spider-Man #344-#347

★ The Amazing Spider-Man #361-363 — Carnage’s first appearance.

The Amazing Spider-Man #374-#375

★ Venom: Lethal Protector (1993) by David Michelinie (6 issues) — Venom’s first solo comic and introduction as an antihero. 

Venom: Separation Anxiety (1994) by Howard Mackie (4 issues)

★ Planet of the Symbiotes (1995) by David Michelinie (5 issues) — An important piece of the puzzle in terms of understanding the symbiote as a character.

Part 1: The Amazing Spider-Man Super Special #1

Part 2: Spider-Man Super Special #1

Part 3: Venom Super Special #1

Part 4: The Spectacular Spider-Man Super Special #1

Part 5: Web of Spider-Man Super Special #1

Venom: Carnage Unleashed (1995) by Larry Hama (4 issues)

★ Venom: The Hunger (1996) by Len Kaminski (4 issues) — My favorite Venom comic!

Venom (2016) by Mike Costa (22 issues) — Symbrock central. As noted below, #159 and #160 are part of Venom Inc. and should be read in combination with the other relevant comics.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Venom Inc. (2017) by Dan Slott and Mike Costa (6 issues) — Really fascinating as an examination of how different characters view symbiotes.

Part 1: Venom Inc. Alpha (2017)

Part 2: The Amazing Spider-Man (2015) #792

Part 3: Venom (2016) #159

Part 4: The Amazing Spider-Man (2015) #793

Part 5: Venom (2016) #160

Part 6: Venom Inc. Omega (2018)

★ Venom: First Host (2018) by Mike Costa (5 issues) — A story that is interested in the ways in which symbiotes are vulnerable to their hosts in a way a lot of Marvel comics simply aren't. Also once again Symbrock central. Costa is probably the #1 Symbrock warrior, even if Kaminski is my personal hero on that front.

★ Venom: Lethal Protector (2022) by David Michelinie (5 issues) — There are no words I could possibly say that would be sufficient to convey to you how ecstatic I was when this comic was announced.

Venom: Lethal Protector II (2023) by David Michelinie (5 issues)

Venom: Separation Anxiety (2024) by David Michelinie (5 issues)

Supplementary material: 

Venomverse

Edge of Venomverse (2017) (5 issues)

Venomverse: War Stories (2017) (1 issue)

Venomverse (2017) by Cullen Bunn (5 issues)

★ Extreme Venomverse (2023) (5 issues) — Even if you read no other Venomverse comics, do yourself a favor and read the Black Cat story in Extreme Venomverse #2.

Death of the Venomverse (2023) by Cullen Bunn (5 issues)

Venomverse Reborn (2024) (4 issues) — Unfortunately colored by the bizarre nature of current Venom canon even more than Death of the Venomverse is, although neither are bad comics in and of themselves. If you want to avoid all of that entirely you can read from Edge of Venomverse through Extreme Venomverse and stop there. I don't really keep up with post-Cates Venom canon and every time I see anything about it it baffles me so deeply.

★ Superior Carnage (2013) Annual #1 by Cullen Bunn — I'm kind of obsessed with this comic. Please read it.

Hybrid (1996) by Evan Skolnick — Makes up the second half of each issue of the following comics. Definitely dated in some ways, but introduces some great symbiotes and a great host.

Venom: Along Came a Spider (1996) (4 issues)

Venom: The Hunted (1996) (4 issues)

Venom: Seed of Darkness (1997) by Len Kaminski (1 issue) — A oneshot about Eddie encountering a different mysterious shadowy alien being before he ever bonded with the symbiote, written by the author of The Hunger. Not essential reading but it's a fun little standalone sci-fi story with some nice Eddie characterization.

Phenethylamine by Leah Williams, in Marvel Comics Presents (2019) #5 — Not really a recommendation so much as... a public service announcement, I guess. Is this my favorite comic in the world? No, but it would feel negligent not to tell you it exists. There are better comics. There are comics with a better understanding of the characters. But this is the only one that's explicitly about Eddie having sex with the symbiote, so do with that what you will.

[m1d-45]

1.4k words of how well i think genshin characters would do in a slapfight competition

summary: what it says on the tin. here’s an example if you’ve never seen a slapfight. skip to ~3 min in.

i delayed the second part of ‘dearly beloved’ for this. /srs

spoilers for albedo, diluc, and childe lore. technically also for mondstat’s archon quest. i swear excessively and have heavy biases.

cast, in no order: beidou, albedo, kaeya, diluc, childe, kujou sara, tighnari, heizou, shenhe, xiao, kuki shinobu, ayato, hu tao, yanfei

masterlist

beidou

- don’t think i need to explain this one. number one, she’s a sailor. number two, she’s a claymore user.

- she’s built like a brick and i do not take criticism on the subject. you’re wrong.

- she’ll walk in, taking a wide stance and crossing her arms, staring down whatever unlucky individual is her opponent. doesn’t matter how cocky they are, how many comments they make about “i thought this was supposed to be a real challenge!” or whatever. as the guy passes off his coors lite beer and prepares, she doesn’t say a word.

- she’ll just lift her chin, maroon eyes daring them to move.

albedo

- “ooo but albedos made of chalk, he’ll just shatter”

- nope. as funny as that image is, you’re wrong. incorrect. false. he has the bone structure of a person, he bleeds, he bruises, all of it. even if he isn’t organic in nature, everything that he is is human.

- now that we’ve got that aside, he can take a slap. absolutely. he probably has in the past, for whatever reason.

- his skin is pale—what with being chalk—so the redness shows up easier, but that’s the only evidence he ever got slapped, really.

- the most reaction you’ll get from him is a small flex of his jaw, maybe his eyes will slip shut or flutter. besides that, it’s like he never got hit.

- god forbid his opponent try and taunt him. i don’t know if that’s allowed within the rules but it is an awful idea to try.

- every movement of his is calculated, the careful fold of his gloves as he slides them off not betraying any emotion. the countdown starts but he doesn’t even try to wind up, barely giving his opponent time to prepare before it hits.

- don’t let the pretty boy alchemist look fool you. that opponent is walking out bruised, both on his cheek and his ego.

kaeya

- need i go on /hj

- can and will talk shit. it’s a given, sorry

- doesn’t matter if his opponent is a wall of muscle, he’s putting a hand on his hip and flipping his hair back, a scary gleam in his exposed eye. even if he has to tilt his head up to make eye contact, he will not let that stop him.

- when the slap comes, his shoulders will turn and it’ll definitely twist his body—he’s thin, lean instead of bulky, that’s expected. what isn’t is the laugh that immediately comes out of him, his stare as sharp as the spikes on his wrist when he lifts a hand to cover his mouth.

- “oh, is that all?”

- such a shit talker he gets the only line of dialogue in this piece. i love him.

- firm believer that he would give a better punch, just because his hand is probably better built for that, but his slaps still hurt like a bitch.

diluc

- so many opinions on this guy.

- first point, he’s a claymore user. automatically gets a leg up, just because his arms are used to swinging quickly with a lot of force behind them. he’s built beneath that jacket, and it shows.

- another that would make a display out of taking off his gloves, except his is less dexter level clinical and more ‘quiet victorian man winds down for the evening with a cup of tea and his latest read.’

- i think he’d have a hard time regularly swinging with intent behind it, but then he starts imagining his opponent with a fatui’s mask and it gets a lot easier.

- speaking of: his batman darknight duties?

- he literally spends his nights swinging around a claymore, you think he can’t hit one (1) guy??

heizou

- i encourage every heizou-haver to reread his story about the martial arts competition or whatever at the tenryou commission.

- his fists were his weapon and he was the undisputed winner. it’s the exact same here. another pretty boy that hits harder than you’d expect.

- sorry his section is short but i cannot elaborate. it’s so obvious.

- he’d get far, but maybe like. top 15? he’s not built for the heavier hits, and would definitely get dazed after a hit from, say, beidou.

- he couldn’t tackle the harder hitters, he would 100% pass out if he went into like top 5 territory, but everybody up until then better pray.

shenhe

- need i go on pt2

- she would 100% crack a man’s jaw. straight up.

- her face barely moves from a hit, and her opponent’s hand? its like they hit concrete.

- another short section just because i don’t feel the need to explain myself.

- she’s like the better version of childe: all the intent and strength, but with enough concentration to follow every rule, even when it looks like she doesn’t.

xiao

- xiao

kuki shinobu

- she is the literal definition of ‘talk shit, get hit’

- replay her story quest and go down the option that has her saving the gang members. the whole ‘gang rules’ arc??

- her only barrier would be taking off her mask, and though i’m not gonna touch on that specifically, were she to compete?

- she’d get far. she’s not really built for giving out or taking slaps, but she’ll do pretty good. 6.75/10

yanfei

- similar vein to shinobu.

- not really one that’ll get far, but will compete for bragging rights and get a respectable distance through the tournament.

- definitely nothing to scoff at, she may be a catalyst user but she’s also half adepti.

- she’s also a lawyer, so you can bet she’s following every single rule and still kicking your ass.

- also, that giant book she lugs around everywhere? the one in her idle? she has to have some sort of strength to her slap.

honorable mentions:

tighnari

- he could tank hits!! but he cannot give them out

- could take a slap like he was made to do it. would have to put away his hair but that won’t stop him. it would look like it hurt, but he waves off whoever asks if he’s fine.

- however, he could not slap hard enough, i don’t think. bows aren’t really brute force weaponry, and he’s more a healer in practice

- (not in-game, like in-lore)

kujou sara

- same problem, really.

- could take a slap, could not dish it.

- probably has a lesser chance at it than tighnari, really.

- it’s not her fault! she’s a ranged fighter! bows just don’t require the same muscle

childe

- i know what you’re thinking and the answer is no.

- now, he can take a slap. wont be fazed. he can give a slap. his opponent will be knocked out instantly.

- but he could never compete in a slapfight.

- he’d walk up, his face probably barely moving from its spot. but when it’s time to hit… he could not follow the rules at all.

- he’s too eager! he’s gonna play dirty! instinct can and will kick in and he’s either gonna slide his foot for a better stance or just fuckin deck the other guy.

- if he were to follow the rules, he would win hands down. but he cannot follow the rules, and so he is disqualified.

- sad days.

hu tao

- do not get me wrong. she could and would do excellent in a slapfight.

- she has the strength, the muscle, she could take a hit, the only thing she’s lacking is the will.

- in lore, she is not one for fighting. that is the one and only thing keeping her from wrecking every other competitor.

- she literally wrangles spirits day to day. she’s a polearm user—dude the strength required to spin those things around daily, especially with her kit?? she drains her own hp daily and still does it

- she’s not here because of a skill issue, but because of her beliefs. and that’s fair.

ayato

- dainty pretty boy that would be more affected by slaps than he’d let on, but it’s obvious in the way he sways and his hand shakes.

- he’d do well initially, but would 100% lose to even heizou.

- sorry king :/

[compacflt]

okay here to pick ur mind…i know you’ve alluded to it throughout WWGTTAI and debriefing but do u think bottoming is something that i’ve struggled with throughout his relationship with mav-especially if he enjoyed it-bc it may have been “more gay” in his mind and therefore harder to excuse due to the inherent misogyny wrapped up in men’s homophobia? it’s something we’ve talked abt in my gender studies classes so i just wanted to know how you think your ice may have approached that due to the repression of his sexuality so throughly and for so long!

as always with questions like this there’s a diegetic (in-universe) answer and a non-diegetic (writing theory) answer so I’ll start with the diegetic answer (not tagging this as nsfw but obv refer to the subject matter & discretion advised):

he isn’t thinking about it. I mean, he has to think about the mechanics of it, because sure there’s a lot of prep work involved, but he’s not really thinking about what it means, because no one’s telling him to. He knows it’s “wrong” —but the whole thing is “wrong,” anyway! The fact that he’s doing anything with Maverick is already wrong... I think he categorizes things as “not-fucked-up” and ��yes-fucked-up” in his head, and any form of non-societally-approved contact with another man is “yes-fucked-up,” and there’s not really a sliding scale. Which is why Maverick’s weird extended hug thing right when Ice leaves TOPGUN (ch.4? I forget) is like literally the biggest deal in the world to him. I think Maverick could’ve actually groped him and he would’ve responded the same way. It’s all fucked-up, in his head. No difference between hugging/kissing/fucking/being fucked; it's all the same. There are the rules, and then there’s breaking the rules—no gray area in Ice’s mind (though note, in turn, Maverick’s analysis of Ice bending the rules—there is a gray area, just an unacknowledged one). 

So, yeah, he isn’t really thinking about the implications of the specific act. Maybe he knows that he enjoys it, and that thinking about what it means that he enjoys it would ruin it, so he doesn’t think about it. Also, he’s operating under the unspoken assumption that there’s something “wrong” with Maverick and not with him, because remember that Maverick already confessed to engaging in same-sex acts in ch. 4. There’s something fundamentally “wrong” with Maverick, so anything Ice does automatically looks better in comparison, because (he thinks) his transgressions are isolated incidents, whereas Maverick’s are a known pattern—even if Ice’s “transgressions” amount to literally being fucked by another guy. Hey, well, at least I’m not as bad as rule-breaker Maverick, who does this all the time, apparently! 

In Ch. 8 I was kind of trying to harp on that fact with the use of the word “resentment” during Ice’s discussion of choice/free will—there is kind of a sense that Maverick did this to him against his will, as in, he wasn’t “yes-fucked-up” until he met Maverick/this whole FWB-situation started, and maybe there is some deep-seated resentment about the fact that he might have been “normal” if it weren’t for Maverick (he wouldn’t have been, but he doesn’t realize that). I was close to having him just say this outright in Ch. 8, but as I’ll talk about below, their relationship is already pretty toxic, and there were some lines of toxicity I didn’t want to cross explicitly.

As for the non-diegetic answer, AKA the reason I wrote it this way: I’m kind of hesitant to politicize sociosexual (esp. “hierarchical”) roles in fiction, because I feel like it’s an easy way to betray your own political biases (as a writer) towards male sexual roles—it’s just too slippery of a slope IMO. Especially once you introduce ranks and professional/financial power dynamic differences, I feel like it’s all-too easy to portray the relationship as incredibly and toxically sociopolitically unequal. Yeah, I guess it would make more sense for very-closeted Ice to top 100% of the time, but he’s already “hierarchically” above Maverick 100% of the time anyway—politically, professionally, financially, in terms of social respect, etc. I didn’t want their dynamic to be skewed all the way towards one character having all the social/external/traditionally masculine power, so I didn’t write it like that. That in and of itself is a political decision that betrays my beliefs about male sexuality, and might not make sense in-universe, with characters this repressed, but…I personally felt uncomfortable with the alternative.

I think I’ve explained this a couple times elsewhere, but I wanted Ice & Mav to be true equals in this fic, because it reflects the equality they achieve in canon— “You can be my wingman anytime” vs. “Bullshit, you can be mine.” They are canonically equals. And, yes, of course in a sexual relationship you can be “giver” or “taker” and still be “equal” with the other person, but—like, you see how it would be different, right? If you’re only ever the “giver,” in our society’s traditional understanding of gender roles, you have an insane amount of power over the other person, and I wanted Ice & Mav to be equals when they’re with each other. It’s why I was hesitant having like an actual D/S dynamic with them as well—and the lack of that dynamic is itself a plot point. Ice in ch. 8 rebels against what he thinks their dynamic is—namely, that Maverick always leads/gives the orders, and Ice always follows. He portrays himself as submissive in that moment (“I’ve never had a choice”), but in reality he has just as much control over this relationship as Maverick does—i.e. he is just as “dominant,” and wants it just as bad, he just can’t articulate that. Which is the point of his whole character arc. Their equality is the point, not the transgressiveness of the act itself.

Also related to his character arc is the passivity of the act of bottoming as well, which is maybe why it's "overrepresented" in the story (sorry coming back to add this graf after doing the tags already &then Having A Thought). Like if Ice's whole thing is following orders/not having a choice, which makes him a great naval officer but a deeply flawed and confused person, then it makes sense that his narrative focuses most on the following/passive act of "taking," not necessarily the more leading/active role of "giving." These are simplistic terms obv but hopefully you can see what I'm getting at.

[elialys]

It's interesting that it seems more proper to name P/0 child after Elizabeth than after Olivia's mother.(Elizabeth is a beautifully tragic name in the show and your fic,though.) Peter and Olivia's relationships with their own mothers are both complex but totally different. How do you understand their mother issues?

Thank you for your lovely question. I have so many feelings regarding Peter & Olivia and their relationships with their mothers. That’s a topic I’ve explored a few times in stories through the years; as someone who’s had a rather rocky relationship with my mother (to put it mildly), I know my perspective on this to be very biased, but to me, that’s the beauty of an emotionally intelligent show like Fringe. They show us just enough to get a feel of how various character dynamics are/were, all the while letting us imagine the rest.

I think it’s harder to know how Olivia’s relationship with her mother might have been, because we saw a lot less of Marylin that we did Elizabeth, and the Marylin we did see was exclusively Altlivia’s mom, who from what we know had quite a different life from Olivia’s mother. I know in this case, I’m definitely projecting my own experience. My mom also got into a relationship with someone abusive who made our lives hell for a few years, and the fallouts are extensive, long after that person is gone.

That’s why I always pictured Olivia’s childhood and relationship with her mother to be quite sad, unfortunately, since her father probably died when she was very young, then there was the abusive step dad, who she ended up shooting, only for him to traumatize her even further by sending her all those birthday cards, and then her mother dies when she was just fourteen—and I doubt those five years between the shooting and her death were happy years. But Olivia would have loved her mother no matter what, as shown on the show when she got to meet her mom’s alternate in the other universe, and the emotion of it literally broke her mind and got the other memories working.

Olivia felt strongly enough that it was her JOB to defend her mother to shoot a grown man with a gun when she was nine. That tells you so much about Olivia’s core personality (and trauma, did I mention trauma?)

Like I said, that topic is very personal to me and I have a hard time ever being objective about it, but it’s also important because of how I imagine Olivia as a mother with Etta. And that’s why I’ve always been so pained by people who misunderstand the things Olivia says about it in season 5, about her feeling like she was too ‘at odd’ and basically too messed up to deserve her little girl, and that her worrying so much instead of just appreciating having her led to them losing Etta, like a punishment.

I’m writing this right now and I don’t understand how people can misinterpret it enough to say things like “Olivia probably was cold and distant with Etta.” Like, over my DEAD BODY. She’s a traumatized human who lost her mother when she was still just a kid herself. That doesn’t mean she’s not capable of love or of being nurturing, it mostly means she probably worried herself sick over every thing and convinced herself that she was doomed to be terrible at it.

Ugh. I��m gonna need a drink before I can continue this.

ANYWAY. Peter and Elizabeth hahahaha

I think his relationship with his mom was pretty tragic and heartbreaking, too. I think that he would have loved his mother very, very much, just like Olivia loved hers, but I also think the Elizabeth he grew up with never recovered from losing her son and having to brainwash this version of Peter into thinking he was her child. We know she ended up committing suicide when he was nineteen, and from what we saw in 3x15 ‘Subject 13’, she struggled a lot with the whole fucking mess that was their life—and that was before Walter lost pieces of his brain and went insane. Now whether Elizabeth was struggling with alcoholism is up to interpretation. My reasoning has always been that the show wouldn’t have shown us Elizabeth drinking in that episode if it wasn’t meant to imply she ended up doing that a lot, so that tends to be my headcanon. Even without the possible alcoholism, I think we’re supposed to deduce from everything Peter says that she suffered from depression.

Either way, that poor man has had a SHIT childhood and adolescence. It sucks to grow up with a parent who suffers like this, it makes you feel responsible for them while also feeling absolutely helpless because you can’t really help, and also very angry because all of it is shit, honestly. In the context of the show, I can only imagine how torn and guilty Peter felt about his mother’s suicide, which happened after he left her. And that had to become that much worse after he learned the truth about his origins and realized he was basically ‘responsible’ for his mother’s ongoing misery.

Soooooo yeah. One of the things I love about Peter and Olivia is that I think they get that about each other, implicitly. Shit childhood/adolescence just shape you differently, and you can definitely tell when you meet other people who’ve had ‘similar’ experiences (can I say trauma again?) It definitely make them particularly suited for each other, as life partners and as parents.

[volfoss]

MT-011: The Shinsengumi (or The Shinsen-gumi)

TW: Suicide (seppuku is discussed a lot here and treated as a joke at times), murder

Summary of Plot: One of Tezuka’s historical works, The Shinsengumi is about the group (who basically act like a protection group of the area) of the same name that existed during the mid 19th century in Japan. The protagonist, Kyujuro Fukasa, witnesses his father being killed for shielding a samurai, and the man that saves Fukasa’s life is a member of the Shinsengumi and tells Fukasa to join the Shinsengumi. The story focuses on Fukasa joining the group and his quest for revenge against the man who killed his father. He befriends a very strong fighter named Daisuke Kamakiri while there, but despite that, he still starts to find issues with the group as he is forced into a scheme.

Characters: I LOVE Fukasa as a character, he is very well written. Kamakiri is also a really well written character with both the occasional comedic bits, but it’s very clear he is a serious threat in battle. The way revenge is handled between the different characters in this story works very well, with the connections between each character making for a riveting story.

Art: Tezuka’s art is always good (which I’m sure I’ll say for EVERY manga because I will be the first to admit I’m biased here) but I do really like how he tried to put in some elements of older Japanese artstyles here (specifically in the way the characters faces are drawn, it feels similar to the art I’ve seen from the Edo period (which coincidentally is when this manga takes place)). The art especially during the fireworks (keeping it vague for spoilers) is some of the best I’ve seen out of Tezuka so far.

Ending: The ending is bittersweet and quite honestly just perfect for the tone of the story. While there are some light bits in the manga overall, it has a lot of tragedy and I think the futility of revenge and fighting shines excellently through the ending.

Misc: I read this alongside Shinsengumi Imon Peace Maker (which is another manga, although this one is from the late 90s-early 2000s) to get a more complete picture of what was going on with the Shinsengumi as a group (since this manga focuses on the non-major players in the group and Peace Maker focuses on the major members). It’s a two series long plot, with Peace Maker (link to read here, on Comick) running for only 6 volumes and Peacemaker Kurogane running for 17 volumes (and still ongoing) (link to read here, on Comick). I did not read Peacemaker Kurogane (before posting this at least, I do plan on reading it eventually), but did read Peace Maker. Peace Maker is a slightly (not by much but at first) positive reading on the Shinsengumi, in comparison to Tezuka’s take on them, but both works are pretty critical of how the Shinsengumi used a lot of unnecessary violence and bad practices.

It’s most certainly not a required reading for this, but it’s something I’d wanted to read for a while and was relevant here. Both of them revolve around a child who witnesses their parent being killed and in search of revenge, joins the Shinsengumi, but struggles with guilt surrounding murder. The tone is not the most similar (as Peace Maker is more comedic and does have its serious moments but less so) but the subject matter is handled similarly. Neither of them are super historically accurate (even Tezuka himself admits that in the afterword) but I did want to bring up the other thing I was familiar with regarding the subject. I would also totally recommend Peace Maker if you want a slightly different take on the Shinsengumi after reading this and a really interesting exploration of trauma and the cycle of revenge (which Tezuka’s work also does excellent with this). In terms of TWs for that, there is a sexual assault scene and otherwise the tws that apply to The Shinsengumi apply here as well.

Tezuka’s historical works have always worked excellently for me (for the ones I’ve read so far at least) and this one is no exception. I do however feel that certain cultural elements for this one (as it is largely based on real people) are not given as many notes/focus as I feel they should be in a more detailed translation. That could just be my preference for having a more scholarly translation that DOES explain references that an English speaking audience might not get, as well as thoughts behind translating certain things the way they were (Vertical did great with this for their Black Jack release, and in non-Tezuka manga, Saint Young Men has my personal ideal of translation notes (with often 10 pages at the end of each volume). It makes sense with that specific one with how many references there are, and with this one also having a lot of historical references, I find myself wishing that was the case for The Shinsengumi as well).

While with how many Shinsengumi members there were and how much history they had, having a complete list of members in the manga or even just adding more historical context in general would have been a lot of work, but it would be really beneficial to the reader, I feel. The translation definitely is good (minus the severe amount of typos in the summary page) but I just find myself wishing it was a bit better. Emanga did similar work with the Crime and Punishment manga, with not including a lot of notes and just letting the work speak for itself mostly, but I find it a bit more frustrating here because of it being based off of real people and not a novel that is pretty easy to access. If you do want more information on the Shinsengumi as a group, there are many books written about them, and Shinsengumi Archives on Tumblr has an entire tag dedicated to member lists, and this post here about how the member lists were shifting through time. There aren’t many books about it in English (and the main one (Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps by Romulus Hillsborough) that is written by a man, who, four years after, he published his book, wrote a post defending Japan’s actions during WWII). As much as I VERY much hesitate to source a Reddit thread on anything, this one has a top comment (by u/NientedeNada) that really goes into their history (with sources) and has a few book recommendations. The one book that I do think is seeming to be a good resource is A Guide on Shinsengumi: the background and management by Stephane Lun, although take that with a grain of salt as I did not read it (as despite ALL of this in the misc. section, Tezuka did make The Shinsengumi a pretty easy to understand manga). Tezuka in English, as always, is a great resource and gets into the manga itself a bit more (link).

Overall Thoughts: I could be biased due to enjoying Tezuka’s historical work a LOT but I think the way revenge is handled in this, as well as the spectacular writing makes it a joy to read. I don’t have a bunch to say on it due to not wanting to spoil it, but sincerely, it is one of the best ones I’ve read from him in a while. Especially for it being just one volume, it is truly impressive how the story flows perfectly and doesn’t feel rushed at all. Please, go read this. 8.5/10

[irithnova]

Were the Mongols really that stinky?

Me trying to summarise/simplify notes I've found on the Internet. But also this is me trying to defend Mongolia ‼️😔✋🐴

(Editing this to re-work the Yassa and Mamluk part as the source I have used to explain it was most likely biased. )

The hygiene practices of the Mongols have been documented by the Mongols and foreigners alike. Apparently, according to some historical resources, the Mongols smelled so bad that you could actually smell them incoming, and that during battle, their stench actually helped them. This seems like a ridiculous exaggeration to be honest, and probably was written by people who were subjected by the Mongols and therefore were very butthurt. All soldiers on a campaign, no matter where they're from, can smell pretty bad.

It is said that the Mongols would not bathe, in fear of angering the water dragons which controlled the waters. This was recorded by the 15th century Mamluk Historian al-Maqrizi. It is true that the Mongols were a shamanistic people, however the mention of dragons is peculiar. The appearance of dragons in original Turco-mongol mythology is almost absent, and dragons are more used in Chinese and tibetan mythology.

In addition, do we really know if the whole "not bathing in running water" thing was truly what was happening with the Mongols, or was it another mistranslation after centuries and centuries of copying things and translating things? François Pétis de la Croix, a French historian of the 18th century, had access to Al-Maqrizi's original work. François came to a different conclusion to his findings - that bathing in running water was banned only during thunderstorms. Both because it was dangerous and also to show respect to Tengri.

Then, in the 20th century, George Vernadsky, who was a Russian-American historian, came to agree with François Pétis de la Croix's conclusion. He agreed that this law was not as restrictive as we may have originally believed. Further, let's remember that they were "banned" from using "running water". Surely that means they could have collected water in jugs and used that or something?

There is also issues with Al-Maqrizi's original source - he is not really regarded as a reliable one. His information on the Yassa was apparently given to him by a man called Abu-Hashim, who claimed that he saw the whole of the Yassa in the libraries of Baghdad during his political exile.

Abu-Hashim is an obscure historical figure and little is known about him and his works, if he even had any.

What Al-Maqrizi thought to be the Yassa was actually just a small list of punishment for offences from the Mongol Criminal law.

Al-Maqrizi also fails to admit that he borrowed pretty heavily from the scholar Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umar in his works on the Mongols. Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umar based his works off of Ata-Malik Juvayni, who was a respected official in the Ilkhanate. Further, Ata-Malik Juvayni wrote the book "History of the world conquerer". This was probably the most unbiased account of the Mongol conquests of Chinggis Khan at the time.

Considering this, you may think. Oh! So it was kind of based off of a reputable source. Must be legit then. But no, Al-Maqrizi, as we can further see in this post, omitted many things from the works he was influenced by, because he had a pretty sour bias against the Mongols.

Juvayni, in his work, records how bathing was banned during certain times of the day during spring and summer months, during which thunderstorms were common. Al-Maqrizi makes no mention of this.

It could be argued that Juvayni himself was biased in trying to make the Mongols look good. Some argue that this "bathing in midday was banned" fiasco was written in by Juvayni to demonstrate the mercy of Chagatai Khan when he pardoned a poor Muslim who was caught bathing in midday. But honestly that seems like a weird thing for Juvayni to lie about, even if it was to make Chagatai look good, so I agree with the original conclusion.

Let's also not forget that Al-Maqrizi lived during the time of the Egyptian Mamluks in 1364-1442. He definitely had a sour opinion of the Mongols, especially the Golden Horde and Ilkhanate, who were the products of the brutal conquest of Muslim-majority states.

It is rumoured that the some of the Yassa codes may have been used to administer affairs in with the Mamluks, however accounts of this are greatly exaggerated. However the Muslim Mamluks certainly knew of the Yassa and were very cautious and critical of it.

Al-Maqrizi, during this time, was very adamant and vocal about the Yassa being satanic, hmm I wonder why (hint: he had a sour opinion of the Mongols).

Considering all of this, can we truly believe what Al-Maqrizi said about the Mongols hygiene practices? Even other historians at the time had this strong bias against the Mongols, and we should really be taking what they say with a pinch of salt (probably like. 100kg of salt tbh)

In addition, I've seen a Mongolian answer this question online, and they said that in those times, Mongolias used ointments of animal origin to rub dirt off of the skin - similar to the inuits. Let's also remember that "running" water was not allowed to be used, and not allowed during thunderstorms. Running water was more often seen in nature settings for the Mongols in those times, and the fact that you weren't allowed to use running water during thunderstorms? Yeah honestly to me that just seems like respecting nature/Tengri and avoiding danger if anything.

So basically. They probably didn't smell that much worse than anyone else during the time!

DEFENDING MONGOLIA‼️ LEAVE HIM ALONE

[becauseimanicequeen]

Pride Month Watch: The Warp Effect (ep 1-4)

I've put this off for far too long. It's about damn time to watch The Warp Effect. And what better time to do it than during Pride Month?

I'm going into this knowing very little about the show. I know which actors are in it, I know that New's character ends up in the future after some shit happens, and I know it's a Jojo show. That's about it.

Let's dive in!

I'm only 15 minutes into this show and Fluke's character is my favorite. Can't remember his name, but he's my favorite.

Oh, his name is Army.

Don't know why I have to fall for the bully, but here we are... (Same old story when it comes to me and fictional characters, lol.)

Look at this intelligent, serious, amazing woman...

Then Alex cuts in with his inner monologue when she's laying out some facts and being serious...

Dude, are you even listening? Hate to break it to you, but if you're into women, periods are your business too.

Ice is such a little shit for constantly throwing his brother under the bus.

I LOVE HIM!

Oh, lord. Silvy (Mollie) is out to kill me.

But I don't mind. I don't mind. AT. ALL.

This scene...

Dude, a dick alone isn't always enough. I hate to break it to you, but your dick is not magical. Just saying.

Seriously...

She never said she hates men. She said women can have orgasms without dicks. That's a fact. Interpreting that as hate against men is your problem.

Hating men has nothing to do with one's sexuality.

Now, get out of the fucking way so she can go hook up with Alex (who happens to be a dude, btw). Because I'm pretty sure this is about to happen. And that's how much she hates men...

Wait, Army's a doc in the future? Oh, lord...

Why is he so fine?

As a former metalhead...

The Slipknot and Metallica posters sent me down memory lane. Is this a Jojo thing? Rock bands were also a feature in Only Friends (and he was a screenwriter and director for both).

I didn’t expect this…

But it also makes sense, in a way. (So this is the predecessor to the dog mask in Playboyy?)

This man…

I love him so much.

Hi Pepzi!

Irl director of KinnPorsche and My Stand-In.

I love Jean…

With my entire heart!

I didn’t think I could love her more, but look at her place…

There’s art everywhere. As a visual artist myself, I have a huge soft spot for people who love art. Yes, I’m biased like that.

But I also love Army…

And all his shenanigans. I’m biased like this too, lol.

See…

Women don’t need dicks to feel pleasure.

The way Army looks at Joe…

Makes me love him so much more. The things his gaze made me feel were illegal. (It also makes me even more excited for Your Dear Daddy. Give it to me! Right now!)

Relatable…

I love how real this show feels (tackling subjects like real menstruation issues, showing that safe sex is important, being sex-positive, and everything being messy just like real life is/can be, etc.) and having good representation (different sexualities, and now we have a non-binary character in Mollie, whom I absolutely love). I’m only four episodes into the show and I’m invested. Give me more.

Kim’s reaction to this conversation is so me…

Considering peeps with vaginas can have a great time and orgasm using only fingers, it doesn’t matter how big your dick is honey. Just saying.

All it took was a brief meeting with Joe and Army is gone…

Right down memory lane...

Good for him. Good for us.

Oh, my man is totally gone…

He wants Joe and I want him to want Joe.

And Joe... He's lost in the sauce…

In a locker room… At his workplace… These men… lmao.

Btw, why do I get the feeling that Army outed Joe in the past? And that's why Joe was so hostile at first. Could be wrong about this, though...

I’m loving this series so far. I love the mess, the chaos, the diverse characters, Mollie, the women, Army and Joe, the women, Ice being an ice-cold bitch to his brother, and did I mention the women?

I want to see more, so it's time to dive into the next episode.

[wingsfromwhere]

My point about people woobifying serial killers and murderers and making fan bases around them and even making shows where murder is cool and bad ass is to point to the societal treatment of murder and heinous unjustified crimes as something that can be admired. These murders also do get sentences that will allow them to see the outside world again. My point is that murder is a much more heinous crime than rape or domestic abuse but our culture around the latter two is so volatile that people will call for harsh death sentences, long sentences, or completely forgo the idea of redemption because they want to paint sexual crimes and domestic abuse as especially heinous. It , of course, is not especially heinous because murdered people can't recover and had their lives taken from them as opposed to sexual crimes and domestic abuse, which are frankly not as bad. My point is public outcry and perception for these crimes is too skewed and too irrational. You should be angrier and more upset and more critical of murderers especially serial murderers than you are of someone who hit their wife in an argument or someone who raped someone. It's pretty obvious what I'm saying but you ofc are exhibiting the exact type of irrationality I'm calling out because what I'm saying is true and you don't have a real argument against it so you have to resort to the same societal tendency to create an air of irrational disgust around something to avoid the fact that the people who claim some moral righteousness are in fact very vain and not that moral in the first place.

Man you should post sources when you make these claims, who is letting murderers go without life in prison or the death penalty. I dont doubt you, but ive never heard of it and feel like you are cherry picking. Obviously murder is worse than assault, i didnt even argue this in the last ask. Litterally didnt even mention it. I just questioned why you think murderers dont get the death sentence and why you keep attaching a subjective influence on an objective problem.

If murder is worse than assult, then congratulations it dosnt matter what people think because the court knows the difference. If the court dosnt know the difference then your argument should be with the us govt and justice department. Do you live in brazil where all justice is from lynch mobs? (Sorry for the racist remark Brazilians) Why do you care what people think? If a judge is being biased then sure, but give me a source, then ill stand right by you.

But really it seems like your entire point is that you wish people hated murder more than assault. I think you have a skewed perception, or you surround yourself with people that have skewed perceptions. This sounds like an opinion id only find on twitter because in real life nobody thinks this way. I think the arguement you should be making is that online people should touch grass and realize murder is only outdone by torture, wich is debatably overlapping in some regards to assault.

Now i hate to ask you this, since i know you cant answer, but do you think the dead are glad they died quickly or that they would prefer to live in constant agony? Like i said, unfair question, but i think your argument is more grey than the black and white you think it is. From a legal persective i think its mostly black and white, so who cares? And from a societal perspective its grey and case by case, so who cares wich is worse objectively? Go touch grass

[nerdylilpeebee]

1) HOW is it misogynistic to point out the FACT feminists wouldn't have been able to achieve anything without the help of men? You are still not explaining that.

And no, you said "complete lack of power." Don't backtrack now.

And I never said it made me morally superior or that it took away from misogynistic men. Just that men were absolutely fucking necessary in the fight for equality and always will be.

2) Uh, yeah no. XD No they don't. Most feminists actively spread sexism against men. No matter what they claim, that flies completely in the face of the idea that they view it as bad.

And therein lies ONE OF the issues. "Not as bad as misogyny." Right, cuz men's lives being viewed as expendable is totally not as bad as, what, women being viewed as "lesser" in some places? Women being denied education in SOME places? Female infants being killed in CHINA while men are the majority of those killed GLOBALLY??? I'd say they're pretty equally fucking bad. Disagreeing kinda proves my point that feminists are sexists.

And yeah, no. Feminists don't fight against the worldview that women are innocent. That is the farthest thing from the truth that has ever been fucking stated. Half of y'all won't even acknowledge that women rape, that women abuse. Shit, the amount of times I've seen RADFEMS ALONE claim that little boys who have been raped by older women are the predators and not the victims is fucking ASTONISHING. Feminists do not believe women are not innocent. Maybe they oppose specifically "innocent child bearers" but even that isn't fully accurate given the narratives spread by radfems to argue that trans women aren't women.

Also, men's inequalities go a lot further than longer sentences and biases in child custody.

In domestic abuse situations, it is standard practice to arrest the men regardless of who is covered in bruises.

Women have an entire movement screaming "believe all women" but men get laughed at when abused (people have done experiments for this, no one steps in when a woman hits a man in public, but they definitely do for the reverse), and the only time feminists have even TRIED to get people to believe male victims of rape is when they were FAMOUS male victims of male rapists. Elsewise, no one cares to push for "believe all victims" when it comes to male victims of rape or abuse, least of all feminists.

Their lives are considered less important in a crisis than a woman's, and wanting to survive over a woman is considered scummy and selfish. Also a view feminists don't oppose.

Their lives are considered expendable in the medical field, so they are the majority of text subjects for new drugs. Something portrayed as sexist towards women. Cuz how dare society not use women as guinea pigs?

As a child, if a boy is raped and gets the woman who raped him pregnant, his rapist can, with full backing from the law, demand child support from him. She will face no fucking consequences for being legally recognized as having raped a child in this situation. The priority will be the child support, not punishing the child rapist.

Speaking of children being raped, people won't even talk about male victims of human trafficking (especially sex trafficking), and doing so is considered sexist despite them making up the majority of human trafficking victims (with women only taking sex trafficking, and that's going by numbers that likely can't account for the actual numbers).

And honestly this isn't even the full extent of them. I didn't even include societal bias against men that gets them portrayed as threats by default, or the draft only targeting men and feminists being opposed to even trying to end it, or the fact that even today a woman can cry rape and get a man killed and there will be people who cheer her for it, then fall silent if later it turns out she just didn't want her parents to know she had sex before marriage.

Men's inequalities go further than 2 things, and to blame it on some "patriarchy" ignores that women have had just as large a hand in these inequalities as any man did. Feminism especially is responsible, given it's opposition to stuff like making the legal definition of rape gender neutral.

This blog’s a dumpster fire, mate. There are countless posts with you arguing with feminists (not even radfems most of the time) for calling out misogyny and quite frankly it’s disgusting. You continually discuss misandry while mocking those who do the same for misogyny, or telling them that they’re using misogyny as a ‘justification for their misandry’. I know you hate women but try and make it a little less obvious, yeah?

Except I don't hate women, and every instance of me doing what you describe is a genuine, valid criticism of what they're doing. You trying to take them out of context to paint them as misogyny is hilarious, but still stupid.

[fictitiousbeing]

ANIMATED ADDITION

Hello lovelies! It's been awhile, but here we go again. This time however is a little different. I have now compiled a list of animated men I have crushed on throughout the years. Oh and once again you can see that I clearly have a type... Oh well.

***The following 10 animated men were selected simply because they were the first to pop into my head, and are presented in no particular order.

Masterlist

1. Trevor Belmont voiced by Richard Armitage from the series Catlevania (2017-2021).

Belmont is in need of a good long bath, but you just know he gives the best reluctant cuddles.

2. Flynn Rider voiced by Zachary Levi in Tangled (2010).

Flynn is way pretty.. Maybe too pretty.

3. Sinbad voiced by Brad Pitt in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and (2003).

Sinbad is as bad as they come, a complete f*ckboi.

4. Dimitri voiced by John Cusack in Anastasia (1997).

Gives off whirlwind romance vibes.

5. Little Creek voiced by Daniel Studi in Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron Herd (2002).

My spirit is in desperate need of a good long ride.

6. Kocoum voiced by James Apaumut Fall in Pocahontas (1995).

Never understood how anyone could choose John Smith over this Indge-beauty.

7. David voiced by Jason Scott Lee in Lilo and Stitch (2002).

He could lite my life on fire and ride my wave anytime.

8. Sitka voiced by D. B. Sweeney in Brother Bear (2003).

We stan a man who protects his family.

9. Shang voiced by BD Wong in Mulan (1998).

Shang could be a real horses ass, but he also had his moments.

10. Moses voiced by Val Kilmer in the Prince of Egypt (1998).

I'm not religious, but this man is godly.

I have to add, for my own personal reasons, that I do not condone cultural appropriation. All sensitive cultural subject matter should be mindful/respectful, properly researched, and advised by the appropriate groups, peoples, and demographic and avoid cultural biases, stereotypes, and negative connotations.

As an Indigenous person from North America, I understand the damages movie interpretations such as Disney's Pocahontas has on the perception of my people.

The characters from culturally sensitive movies listed above are not meant to perpetuate any negative connotations they carry. I included them because they are childhood favourites. There is a lack of Indigenous representation in a broader sense, and even more so when it comes to positive representations. The characters and films mentioned above were, at times, the only media content I was able to relate to/sympathize with as a child.

*** I do not condone any form of cultural appropriation. However, I can only speak specifically to my own people and for myself.

[scribeofpnakotis]

Izzy Hands & Dean Winchester- The Only Retirement We Get Is Death

Yeah that’s right, I’m finally doing it. First of all, I do want to make it clear that this is heavily reliant on @autisticandroids SPN meta, as I point blank refuse to subject myself to rewatching Supernatural for what is honestly MOSTLY an OFMD post.

Secondly, the customary disclosing of personal biases. I fucking hate Izzy Hands. He is an extremely effective rom-com villain and a fantastic example of character writing/top-notch acting, but as a character I despise him. As far as I’m concerned that ‘x’ tattoo is a target for my fist. I also Do Not Like canon Dean (fanon Dean is a different guy at this point & we will not be discussing him in this post). I was a Sam Girl back in the day, and although I am no longer a) a girl or b) attracted to men, my allegiance remains.

Now, to the meat of the issue.

I’ll start with the point that initially struck me with these two characters, which is specifically Izzy’s line in episode 4 “the only retirement we get is… death.” Now I can’t recall if it’s word-for-word (as I said, I’m not rewatching SPN for this) but this is absolutely a sentiment that Dean has expressed at least once with regards to being a hunter, and I’d go as far as to say it’s almost a thesis statement for the show overall. Like the writers do seem to enjoy repeatedly driving it home for the characters and audience that there is no escape from the lifestyle. Mary tries to leave & dies. Sam tries to leave, dead girlfriend. Dean tries to leave, SUCKS at it & Lisa&Ben lose their memories of him and are never mentioned again.

Now, this is handled very differently in OFMD. There are a few reasons for this (it’s a romcom, not a very gory genre soap to begin with) but I think the core of it is that the shows have almost diametrically opposed views of traditional masculinity. Supernatural is ultimately very fatalistic, and is also presenting its take on masculinity as represented by the hunter lifestyle as something aspirational. “This is who you are.” It says. “This is how things will go for you, you don’t have a choice in the matter.” OFMD is saying “That’s dumb actually. People should get to choose how they live, how they love & how they express themselves.” (it’s very queer philosophically & I love it). So when Izzy says ‘The only retirement we get is death’ he is presented pretty explicitly as being wrong. Ed can totally retire if he wants to. He should get to take his soft frilly BF to a secluded tropical island and live out the rest of their days in adorable romantic bliss. Izzy is being a dickhead by attempting to deny him that.

This brings us to my second point, which is that structurally, within the context of their shows, both Izzy and Dean are, at least partially, actively preventing another character from escaping a life in which they feel trapped. For both of them, this takes the form of a lot of policing that character’s expression of their masculinity. Like this sort of goes away to an extent in later seasons of SPN, but early show Sam was uh. Pretty fucking femme for 2005, let’s put it that way. A lot of the humour/interpersonal bitching in early seasons is based on Sam wanting to have nicer things, or eat healthier food (burger/salad dichotomy) or just generally act in a way that Dean very obviously is trying not to call him slurs about. It’s easy to miss because the shows are framed differently, but this is the exact dynamic Izzy has with Ed. Ed is not that femme tbh but the way Izzy reacts to him wanting to wear nicer clothes/go to flash parties/make out with a fancy man is very similar to like S1 Dean getting this close to calling Sam a f*g.

(join me in a moment of silence to mourn the loss of AU supernatural where Sam is explicitly queer in the show)

The thing is, again, Izzy is explicitly shown to be in the wrong for acting like this. He’s literally the romcom villain. Ed is right for wanting to escape the toxically masculine world of traditional piracy. Whereas in SPN, because the show frames the hunter lifestyle as aspirational (it’s the american dream! Road trips! Credit card fraud!) we’re… kind of set up to agree with Dean? Like it is portrayed as a tragedy when Sam’s girlfriend of the week gets fridged, but ultimately, the narrative supports Dean’s position that it’s ‘once a hunter, always a hunter’. There is literally no escape, and you should stop trying before you get more people hurt or killed. 

Also on the topic of characters reading pretty damn queer. Both of these sad fictional men are deeply, deeply repressed about their sexualities. Like they’re so far in the closet they’re having adventures together in Narnia. This is explicit and canonical with Izzy- he’s in love with Ed. A good portion of his hatred for Stede is actually jealousy (whether or not he can admit that to himself). He fully cried a bit when he thought they were fucking in episode 6. I don’t think this is news to anyone in the fandom.

Dean is… a little more complicated, let’s say. I don’t think it’s controversial to say he’s canonically straight, at least in terms of what the writers actually seemed to intend regarding his character. However um. Look. I don’t ship wincest. I never shipped wincest. Honestly the whole concept squicks me the hell out. But I think we have to accept that the ship was huge for a reason, and only part of that was people having incest fetishes. There’s also the matter of that siren turning into a ‘replacement little brother’ that one time, and of course I would be remiss to ignore the issue of Destiel. (eleven fucking seasons of queerbaiting holy shit how did we live like that?)

Izzy and Dean also both respond to their own queerness in very similar ways- namely by retreating into very strictly defined, pre-existing roles so that they don’t have to think about all the ways in which they don’t fit in. For Izzy, this takes the form of his slavish devotion to the concept of being a ‘real pirate’ (read: real man). ‘Real pirates’ in his book, take pleasure only in violence and conquest, they might fuck but they never love, and they certainly don’t talk about their feelings. This then spills over into his dynamic with Ed- the ‘devoted first mate/captain’ thing they have going on is as close as he can allow himself to get to an actual relationship, so when Ed starts flirting like a normal person with someone else, it turns his whole world on its head.

Similarly, Dean has devoted himself to doing the ‘red-blooded american man’ thing, almost to his own detriment. He’s convinced himself that he just isn’t meant for any kind of stability or long-term happiness and self-sabotages every time he feels like he might be getting close. By the time the show ended, he was, God, I think in his fifties? And still pretty much only had drunken one-night stands with disposable extras. Like, even ignoring his whole thing with Castiel, he’d entirely given up on the idea of a long-term relationship with a woman (the only kind he’d be ‘allowed’ under the white-picket-fence, nuclear family ideal he freaking lionizes), if he ever seriously entertained it at all.

So, I think the main reason this comparison stands up is that Supernatural and OFMD are both, textually, using a particular fictionalized lifestyle as a metaphor for a particular style of masculinity. In SPN, hunting is representative of a very, uh, stylized form of american manhood, one centred around the concepts of personal freedom and extreme self-reliance. Violence is also absolutely central to this style of masculinity.

In OFMD, piracy actually represents a lot of things. For Stede, it’s freedom from heteronormativity. For Ed, it’s a chain tying him to a version of himself he’s desperate to escape. For Izzy, saliently to my point here, piracy is representative of the particular form of masculinity by which he judges himself and others. It’s about the intersection of violence and freedom, and being strong enough to never really need another person. The tragedy of which is, of course, that you can then never really want another person.

I think, to bring this home, that Izzy would thrive in the violent, emotionally constipated world of Supernatural. I think, conversely that Dean would absolutely fucking hate it in queer pirate rom-com land.

If anyone writes a crossover fic I will read the hell out of it.

[bbangsoonie]

goal: your heart

member: sunwoo genre: fluff word count: 5,423 synopsis: due to a budget cut, you have to follow the soccer team around for both the school newspaper and yearbook despite knowing nothing about sports. before you know it, you find yourself warming up to the team’s star player, who you swore was the most annoying and arrogant person ever.

a/n: this is a part of the star player collab with @atbzkingdom​ for sunwoo’s birthday! (also, this will be written with the american academic calander in mind)

You knew exactly what you were doing. You were the top student of both your class and school and the leader of many clubs. Your college application was full of achievements and your essay exquisitely written. The only problem? You had no idea what to do after graduation. You didn’t know where you wanted to go or what you wanted to study.

Growing up, everyone told you that you’d eventually find something you love. By senior year, you thought you would at least have an idea by now.

But nope, you were even more lost if anything. Dream job? That was just a capitalistic lie meant to make people happy to slave away for money.

Grumbling, you listened as your friends rambled on about the campuses they visited. It was only the first day back and everyone was already obsessing over one thing and one thing only.

“Y/n, you’re so lucky,” Juyeon pouted. “You don’t have to worry about getting into a university. Your stats are literally perfect.”

“I have other things to stress over,” you groaned. “At least you know what you wanna pursue.”

“Y/n has other things to worry about. She’s about to graduate without ever finding love,” Younghoon teased.

“It’s all our fault,” Jaehyun squinted as he pinched his nose bridge. “We raised her standards too high. I’m sorry, Y/n, that I can’t take responsibility.”

The notebook in your hand threatened to fly over to his seat. Luckily for him, he was saved by Juyeon’s very unnatural attempt at changing the subject. He inquired about the school newspaper that was barely spared in a major budget cut last year.

Thinking about it made you sigh. You had poured in so much effort over the years for the paper and it was almost taken from you. The school was cutting funds for a lot of clubs and diverting the money to the many sports teams that brought home trophies.

A part of the negotiations to save the newspaper club was to feature more sports events and student athletes in order to garner support for the teams. You weren’t pleased with the decision. Your plate was already full without trying to inflate the ego of players who had a god superiority complex. Jaehyun was a great example of the type of jock you didn’t want to raise on a high pedestal.

You had also promised Kevin, the president of the yearbook committee, to help out with photographing games since you had to attend them anyway. Despite the many tasks assigned to you, you were relieved that you could spend your last year continuing to write articles.

“Does that mean you’ll get to come to practice with us? The basketball team is always on my ass about introducing them to you. Now I can finally stop being pestered to be the middleman,” Jaehyun grinned.

“No shot,” Younghoon shook his head. “My swim team has already tried but Y/n puts up a cold front.”

“Hey, I’m a delicately guarded rose with sharp thorns,” you joked, making Jaehyun pretend to gag. This time, the notebook hit his arm.

“No one is good enough for our Y/n,” Juyeon defended. You turned around to coo at him and said something about him being the only nice one as Younghoon guffawed.

The first day of soccer practice meant you had to stay behind after dismissal to meet the team. The coach introduced you to the players and beamed when he got to the last one.

“This is our ace, Sunwoo. Although I’m sure you know that already,” he said proudly.

To be honest, you had no idea who he was. The school was too big to know everyone and you had absolutely no interest in sports. You rarely even went to Juyeon and Jaehyun’s basketball games and Younghoon’s swim meets.

Not wanting to offend anyone, you simply smiled. Sunwoo, catching your hesitance, raised a brow. However, he kept quiet until he approached you during one of his breaks.

“Do you really not know me?” he asked as he took a seat next to you on the bleachers.

Surprised by his sudden question, you blankly stared at the boy in front of you. Sweat was dripping from his hair but he paid it no attention as he chugged an entire water bottle.

“How cocky are you?” you scoffed.

“You really don’t know our soccer team’s star player, Kim Sunwoo?” he gaped.

“Sorry to disappoint but I really don’t care or know much about soccer. Or any other sports for that matter,” you shrugged.

“You’re going to write about the soccer team… when you don’t even know who we are or what we’re doing?” he asked incredulously.

“That’s why I’m here to observe,” you snapped back.

Finding you amusing, he finally wiped away his sweat as the coach blew his whistle to gather the players again.

Sunwoo always gave it his best but for some reason he found himself practicing extra hard that day. Knowing your eyes were on him motivated him to show off his skills by annoying his teammates and stealing the spotlight. After his third goal in a row, he looked at you to see your reaction but was baffled to see you busy writing something down.

Frustrated and peeved, he kicked at the grass with a huff.

When practice came to an end, he snuck up behind you to see what you were so intently focused on. Reading the notes on your notebook, he hummed.

“So that’s what you were doing instead of watching me,” he mused.

You were listing physical traits and personality attributes of each player. He scanned the paper for his name and frowned when he saw what you wrote about him.

“Arrogant and conceited? That’s all you have to say about me?” he whined.

“What? It’s true,” you deadpanned.

“Haknyeon gets “tall, bubbly, and extroverted” but I get “arrogant and conceited”? That’s not fair. This is biased journalism!” he exclaimed.

Realizing that practice was over, you gathered your belongings and stood up to leave. With his cheeks puffed, he watched as you left the field. You were unlike any person he had ever encountered.

“Sunwoo? Kim Sunwoo?” Younghoon repeated with his eyes wide. “The soccer caption Kim Sunwoo?”

Jaehyun and Juyeon’s chopsticks froze midair in shock. Finding their reactions odd, you nodded as you took another bite of your lunch.

“I can’t believe the lady killer got rejected by the man hater,” Jaehyun broke out into a fit of laughter.

“Now that’s a title I’d like to see on the school newspaper,” Younghoon snickered.

“Okay, first of all, I did not reject him because he did not come on to me,” you rolled your eyes. “Secondly, who the hell is he anyway? Why do you all know him?”

“He’s notorious for his fuckboy image. Although I think that’s an exaggerated reputation,” Juyeon said you picked out all the vegetables from your plate. He willingly moved them to his own and you smiled gratefully in response.

“So my first impression of him was correct,” you said.

“He’s not that bad. He’s actually pretty cool. Rumors don’t do the sweet guy justice,” Juyeon explained.

“Our lovely Juyeon sees the good in everyone,” Younghoon gushed as he pet his friend, earning him a smack on the back of his head.

“We were partners for a history project,” Juyeon clarified. “I got to know him a bit and he’s a good guy. Just enjoys attention a little too much. Like Jaehyun.”

Weirdly offended, Jaehyun scowled. You shrugged it off, returning your attention back to your food. You had no intentions of getting to know Sunwoo anyway. At least, that was the plan until he bombarded you in the hallway while you were walking to class.

He blocked your path with that irritating smirk on his face. Exasperated, you asked him what he wanted.

“So I’ve been thinking about what you said yesterday,” he started.

“Oh, so you do think?”

“Hey!”

“Do you think you can move and get out of my way?”

“Anyway, as the president of the newspaper club who’s in charge of covering the soccer team, I think you lack way too much information about the sport. And our school’s players.”

“How do you know I’m the president?”

“I asked around.”

You look at his eyes, trying to peer through any ulterior motives. He was being suspiciously generous. But he wasn’t entirely wrong. Even you thought it was ridiculous that a person who didn’t know a thing about soccer had to write articles about it.

You were also aware that any interviews with the athletes would be surface level stuff that all the students probably already knew. You were the only one out of the loop.

You pursed your lips, annoyed that he was right. Realizing that you were in agreeance, Sunwoo grinned.

“I am offering you the very special privilege to follow me around and learn everything there is to know about the team. For the paper of course,” he quickly added the last part after seeing the look on your face. “I can teach you about both soccer and my teammates.”

After pondering his proposal, you finally nodded.

“Deal,” you eyed his happy expression. “What do you want in return?”

He was taken aback by your question. He hadn’t expected you to assume that he would demand compensation. Your presence and attention were what he was after in the first place. However, he couldn’t let the opportunity pass by.

“Bubble tea,” he declared after some thought. “You can treat me to bubble tea after practice and I can tutor you then.”

“Fine,” you sighed before pushing him aside to make it to class before the bell rang. He was left behind with a stupid smile on his face.

The first tutoring session was extremely awkward for you. You weren’t used to hanging out with guys other than Juyeon, Younghoon, and Jaehyun. They were the only members of the male species you didn’t despise. This riled up Sunwoo’s competitive side. He was determined to get close to you.

He couldn’t stand having someone not like him. He was used to being on friendly terms with everyone—including teachers and even wallflowers. He had a strong desire to receive acknowledgement from everyone.

Perhaps that was why so many girls fell for him.

Nevertheless, the wall around you remained thick and high. Just as he was well known for his playboy persona, you were infamous for never letting guys in. You cold heartedly turned down any and every guy who asked you out. And there had been a lot.

Sunwoo, on the other hand, was excited to spend time with you. Bubble tea was just an excuse to meet you outside of school grounds.

His phone dinged, notifying him of a text. Haknyeon had sent him a screenshot of a post made on the school’s gossip page and wrote “this you?”. He snorted at the content speculating his relationship status after supposedly receiving another confession and rolled his eyes. Curious, you asked him what he was looking at.

“Ah, it’s nothing,” he shook his head as he put the device away. “Just the stupid tea account.”

“Oh you mean that anonymously run social media page that popped up over summer break?” you frowned.

You hated everything about it. It spread rumors, without fact-checking, and started drama. It resulted in both a breakup and the end of a friendship in the span of two months. It was exactly what you and the school newspaper stood against.

Nothing could be done to stop the false information and invasion of privacy because it wasn’t officially affiliated with the school and the students continued to feed into it. People even sent in stories to be posted.

“So tell me what you do know about soccer,” he leaned in and propped his chin on the palms of his hands.

“I know the very basics from catching glimpses of the World Cup,” you leaned back on your chair, making him pout.

“Well, to be honest, explaining the rules is a lot easier to do when directly pointing things out during a game. There’s a match airing tonight. Do you want to come over and watch it with me?” he asked expectantly.

“We can watch the replay tomorrow during study hall,” you said.

“Then we can start by talking about me today,” he chirped. “My squad number is 19 because 9 is usually worn by centre forwards but I wanted to be special and added a 1 in front of it. I’m the centre forward, which is the main striker. That means playing offensive is my main objective. Which is why I’m the highest scorer on the team.”

You wanted to wipe the smug look off his face. It irked you how he so easily bragged about himself.

“I also really like movies and can play the guitar. A true all-rounder and romanticist,” he smiled.

He continued to reveal fun facts about himself for another half an hour. It was only at the end that you realized most of it was useless when writing for the paper. You groaned, realizing you had fallen for his trap.

Still, you learned some things about soccer and his position in the team. Following him to the cafe hadn’t been a complete waste of your time.

The next day, Sunwoo hunted you down to make sure you kept your promise about watching the game together. He dragged you to the computer room during study hall and pulled out the earbuds he prepared. He had purposely rummaged through his drawers the night before to the share wired ones with you.

You had to admit he was extremely helpful when explaining the rules and strategies of soccer. Despite being uncomfortable with the proximity of his body to yours, he was a great teacher. He made everything sound so simple. After you began to understand the game, you even found yourself enjoying the match.

After spending a week with him, you hated that you couldn’t say you still disliked him. After all, you two met almost every day for hours.

You had a gut feeling that you would come to regret it and were proven right. You had a bad feeling the moment you saw Jaehyun run up to you as if his life depended on it. Panting, he barely pulled himself together to show you the post that made him immediately report to you.

“KSW and Y/INITIALS seen cozily spending time together. Will he be the one to finally break through her?” you read aloud.

A photo of your backs from the computer room and a mosaicked side shot of you two at the cafe were attached to the title. The comments under the post were even more ridiculous.

“A challenge to be anticipated.”

“Poor girl will only end up as one of his many heartbroken playthings.”

“I know who KSW is. Who’s Y/INITIALS??”

“The legendary man hater? With a guy?? Wow how good must he be 👀”

“Damn so she rejected me for him?”

Your blood boiled and you shoved the phone away. Trying to calm yourself down, you closed your eyes and took a deep breath. And failed.

“What is this, fucking Dispatch?” you exploded. A few students passing by stared at your outburst and widened their eyes when they saw that it was you. You sighed, knowing that the whole school saw the post.

“I’m not a celebrity! Why are people so invested in fake rumors about me?” you yelled, trying to keep your voice to a whisper as you pulled Jaehyun into an empty classroom.

“I’m sure it’ll blow over,” he assured.

“If I ever find out who the admin of this page is, I will ruin them,” you glowered.

You almost didn’t go to the soccer practice that day. But you knew that avoiding him would only add fuel to the fire so you sucked it up and went to the field after school as usual. You heard the hushed murmurs that stirred among the team when you arrived and you wanted to turn back around and leave.

Before you could, however, Sunwoo appeared and shut everyone up with a warning glare. He announced that the coach would be late and to start by running laps.

You were more annoyed than upset about the post. It just stupefied you that people really had nothing better to do than gossip about you. You didn’t think you were that interesting.

You were so close to escaping after practice but Sunwoo caught you trying to sneak away. He stood in front of you, crossing his arms as if to ask where you were going. Giving up, you muttered a “fine” and waited for him to change out of his uniform.

This time, you two wordlessly agreed to go to a different cafe. With the bubble teas on the table in front of you, you sat in silence until Sunwoo finally spoke up.

“Don’t mind what the post or others say,” he huffed.

“I’m not too bothered by it,” you shrugged.

“Good. Because I want to get to know you as just Y/n and Sunwoo. Through whatever you wish to tell and show me. I feel like we’re always just talking about me.”

His words left you speechless. Juyeon hadn’t been kidding when he mentioned how thoughtful Sunwoo was. You felt your heart warm as you smiled.

“Well what do you want to know about me?” you asked.

“Anything. Everything.”

So you spilled about your interests, hobbies, and goals. It was strange. Although it hadn’t been long since you met him, you felt comfortable around him. He made you feel at ease and you didn’t think twice about opening up to him.

You told him about your struggles as a high achieving student. About the pressure you felt and how embarrassing it was to tell people that you didn’t have any dreams.

With your grades, all the teachers expected you to apply to medical school. On the other hand, your parents encouraged you to work towards a high paying and stable salary as a corporation employee. Your friends suggested that you go for something in journalism because of your passion and commitment to the school newspaper.

But the club was just something you did for fun. You didn’t know if you liked it enough to pursue it as a career.

Sunwoo listened attentively as you went on about your concerns. From the outside, you looked like you had your life together. You were the perfect student and the girl that many guys chased after. But as he spent more time with you, it became clear that you were very uncomfortable with boys.

“Can I ask how you got so close with the Bermuda line?” he asked.

“The Bermuda line? What’s that?”

“You’ve never heard of the term? Juyeon, Jaehyun, and Younghoon are called the Bermuda line because they’re the most popular athletes out of all the sports teams. The girls say that once you fall for them, you’re stuck in between them forever because you can’t get out.”

You hadn’t laughed that hard in so long. You knew they had fans but found it hilarious how the trio even had a nickname.

“Oh man, I can’t wait to make fun of them for this,” you laughed, nearly in tears.

When he told you that they actually took great pride in the title, you bursted out in laughter again. Their self love truly was on another level.

“So how’d you end up friends?” he asked again.

“Juyeon, I’ve known since middle school. We were in the same class for all three years. Jaehyun didn’t go to the same school as us but he was friends with Juyeon because they played basketball together. I met him and Younghoon at the end of freshman year. They kinda crash landed into my life but we really clicked so that’s why I still bless them with my friendship.”

Sunwoo giggled at your own overwhelming confidence. He loved that you never sold yourself short. He didn’t notice he had been staring at you until you pointed it out. Blushing, he insisted that it was nothing and took another sip of his bubble tea.

Two months passed by and you eventually came to call Sunwoo a friend. Younghoon teased you about him being more than a friend and at first, you thought he was crazy. But with him planting the idea in your head, you began to question your own feelings. Cursing Younghoon, you blamed him for confusing you.

As the designated photographer, you tagged along to the soccer team’s last match. The entire team was nervous as it would determine the winner of the tournament. Even Sunwoo was anxious.

Before the game started, you offered him a supportive smile and he felt all worries lifted off his shoulders. He erased all thoughts of winning and losing and just concentrated on the ball. He wanted to enjoy the last match of the season and look cool in front of you. That was all that mattered to him.

Fortunately, he got both plus the win. The crowd erupted into cheers as he scored the winning goal just seconds before the whistle was blown to signal the end of the game. His knees fell to the ground and his teammates rushed to surround him.

Seeing how happy he looked brought a smile to your lips. He jumped up and scanned the bleachers for your face. When he finally spotted you, he broke away from his team to run up to you and embrace you in a giant hug.

Caught off guard, you froze as his teammates hooted and applauded. You felt your cheeks heat up at the attention.

“Congratulations,” you chuckled, patting his back. “You did well.”

“Did you get a lot of pretty pictures of me?” he grinned, pulling away to look at you.

“No, I only took pictures of Haknyeon,” you joked. By now, he was used to your teasing and simply ruffled your hair in response.

“There’s gonna be an after party tonight,” he brought up carefully. “I’d really like it if you came. Only if you’re okay with that type of scene though.”

Surprised, you nodded before you fully thought it through.

That was how you ended up moping at Jaehyun’s house. The invitation was extended to the Bermuda line as well and they were all planning on dragging you there. Younghoon was excited at the thought of finally going to a party with the whole group and Juyeon was picking out an outfit for you from Jaehyun’s sister’s closet.

“I don’t know if I trust your fashion sense,” she made a face at the top he held up.

This was your first party and you weren’t sure how you felt about it. There was a reason you hadn’t gone to one throughout your high school years.

Nonetheless, you were dressed up in an outfit that definitely reflected Jaehyun’s sister’s style more than yours. She fawned over how pretty you were and urged you to go with the boys.

So you walked through the doors and into the house vibrating with music. Everyone who recognized you was shocked to see you there. Feeling awkward, you stuck by Jaehyun’s side as you maneuvered around the throng of people. When he finally caught sight of Sunwoo, he dipped and left you alone with him.

“Thanks for coming,” he shouted over the loud music.

“Thanks for inviting me,” you shouted back.

Sunwoo offered you a drink, which you declined. Following your choice, he opted for a soda instead as well. You weren’t much of a dancer so you enjoyed people watching instead. It was fascinating to see your classmates have so much fun.

You giggled when you saw Juyeon be so painfully oblivious to a girl’s advances and walked away to dance with Younghoon. Meanwhile, Jaehyun was having the time of his life flirting with girls. You blocked your eyesight when you saw him leaning in to kiss one of them.

“Ugh, gross,” you cringed. “I do not need to know this side of my best friend’s love life.”

Laughing, Sunwoo offered to take you outside for some fresh air and a change of scenery. You gladly agreed and let him guide you to the backyard.

The night sky was full of tranquility that contrasted the chaos that ensued indoors. You sat on the grass and Sunwoo joined next to you.

“You look beautiful today,” he commented.

“Only today?” you laughed.

“Especially today,” he answered in a serious manner. His sincerity made you clear your throat and look away. He stunned you by cupping your face with his hands.

“Can I kiss you?” he asked.

“Are you drunk?” you blinked.

“I haven’t had a single sip of alcohol.”

His voice was slow and raspy. Your heart was beating faster than you wanted it to and you knew the corners of your lips were betraying you.

“You can either lean in or pull away,” he said as he brought his lips closer to yours.

Your heart now felt like it was about to jump out of your chest. Red alarms were going off in your head and you didn’t know what to do. All you knew was what you were only a few centimeters away from kissing Sunwoo.

So you did what any insane person would do and closed the gap between your lips. You wanted to punch him when you felt him smirk but he pulled you closer and held onto you tightly.

The weekend passed without much changes in your relationship with Sunwoo. You were worried that you had either ruined your friendship or that he was sick of you but Juyeon reassured you that he probably wanted to talk about it in person. Anxiously, you overthought things until Monday finally arrived.

Wanting to keep yourself busy until you met Sunwoo, you stopped by the club room early in the morning to import the photos from the last game. Shortly after you connected the camera to the computer, you heard a knock on the door.

Startled, you looked at the door and saw Jacob sheepishly poking his head through the door. You told him to come in and he took a seat next to you.

“Kevin told me to drop by before class for an interview,” he said. You nearly facepalmed. You had completely forgotten about that. You were supposed to interview him for the paper.

“Oh yeah! Hold on, let me go get my notebook,” you searched through your backpack to find it.

The volleyball player was this month’s star of the month and you had to write a piece on his past achievements. He was extremely kind and was careful not to use any advanced sports terminology to make sure anyone could easily read the interview, which you were grateful for.

Before you parted, he gave you a side hug out of habit and apologized when he realized that it was only his first time meeting you. You laughed it off and insisted that now you could be friends since you two hugged already. Relieved that you weren’t disturbed, he happily waved goodbye to you as he walked away.

Being in a different class than Sunwoo meant that you had to wait until lunch period to see him. You honestly didn’t even know if you wanted to see him. You weren’t ready to face him yet.

When the bell finally rang and it was time for lunch, Juyeon forced you to go to the cafeteria instead of hiding out in an empty classroom. The moment you sat down with your tray, however, you felt all eyes on you. Your stomach dropped, knowing it couldn’t be good news.

“Y/n, is this true..?” Jaehyun asked, showing you the new post on the gossip page. You hated that you were always right about bad intuitions.

KSW and Y/INITIALS caught making out at last night’s party… is BJY a side hoe?

You had no idea when a photo was taken in the brief second you and Jacob hugged that morning. When you scrolled and saw the next part, your heart dropped.

A shocking revelation of history: Y/INITIALS and SYJ used to date in freshman year. Does this have anything to do with the swimmer and basketball players always next to her?

You felt your breath caught in your throat as you read through the comments.

“Isn’t BJY on the volleyball team and SYJ on the baseball team?”

“Wow she clearly has a type.”

“I guess athletes just hit it well 👀”

“And here I thought KSW was the hoe… who’s playing with who?”

“Aye so KSW finally managed to break through her. Thanks for my $10 bro.”

“Aren’t the basketball players LJY and LJH? And the swimmer KYH? The Bermuda line, right?? I always thought she had a thing with one of them.”

“So much for the icy Y/INITIALS. She was acting all pretentious when she was already having all her fun.”

Juyeon grabbed the phone out of your hands and glared at Jaehyun. You never thought your past relationship would ever get exposed. There were only a handful of people who knew about it and it had stayed hidden under the rug up until now. It was something you wanted to bury and never think about ever again.

Shakily, you got up and ran out of the cafeteria with Younghoon calling out after you. You ran as fast as you could. You didn’t stop until you busted through the doors and collapsed on the rooftop. Your lungs were on fire and you closed your eyes to stop the ringing in your ears.

Meanwhile, Sunwoo was running across the school to find you. When he didn’t see you in the club room, he changed his target and sought out Eric.

“Is it true?” he demanded when he finally saw his friend.

“I can’t believe people already figured out that it’s me,” Eric sighed.

“Is it true?” Sunwoo repeated.

“Yes, yes, it’s true,” he answered with his hands up in defeat. “She never wanted anyone to find out. We didn’t exactly end on good terms. It’s something I’m not proud of.”

“What happened?” he asked, trying to contain his anger. “What did you do to her?”

“I…” Eric trailed off. “I cheated on her.”

“What the hell, Eric?” Sunwoo yelled.

“I-I was stupid! And young. It’s the biggest mistake I made in my life,” he admitted.

Frustrated, Sunwoo left and ran off in search of you again. When you weren’t anywhere to be found, he checked the rooftop as a last resort. He didn’t expect to actually see you there.

“Y/n,” he breathed. You felt a lump form in your throat. It was the first time he had addressed you by your name.

“Get away from me,” you glared. “Was I nothing but a bet to you? Was I just a challenge for you to win?”

“Y/n, I never placed bets on you. I don’t know what other people have been betting on but I have always been genuine with you,” he affirmed.

You refused to let your tears fall. There was no way Kim Sunwoo was going to see you cry.

“I like you,” he confessed. “I like you a lot. I meant to say this that night but got too flustered. So I wanted to tell you today. Whenever I see you, the butterflies in my stomach won’t go away. When I don’t see you, I miss you like crazy. You inspire me to become a better person and all I want to do is hold you and call you mine.”

And now Kim Sunwoo has officially seen you cry. He bent down to wrap his arms around you as you sobbed into his shoulder.

“You’re an asshole,” you mumbled after you calmed down.

“I think you mean the opposite,” he chuckled. “Whatever barriers you put up to protect yourself, I’m going to take them down one by one. With you. Together.”

“Who said I’m helping?” you muttered.

“Then I guess I have to work twice as hard to prove myself,” he softly smiled.

“This is embarrassing,” you groaned.

“This will only be embarrassing for me if you reject me,” his hand reached out to the nape of his neck. “So what do you say? Will you go out with me?”

“I’ll think about it,” you huffed, prompting a chuckle from him.

[ibijau]

I don't think I've seen this anywhere (and if you know of any fics that do have this concept, please link!), but what if the events of MDZS (all media) was actually based on history within a modern AU of MDZS?

So like, as an example, you have people speculating whether or not Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were lovers or not in the same way people do with some real historical figures today, some theories that say Nie Huaisang orchestrated everything that go mostly ignored by everyone except those in the #NieHuaisangDidIt community because it's Nie Huaisang, who is largely remembered as a relatively harmless sect leader, etc... Some even still think the Yiling Patriarch was pure evil, though the novel, shows, and audio drama have since made this an unpopular opinion to have.

And then there's Wei Wuxian, be it through reincarnation with regained memories or immortality, listening to all of this in the background.

“I'm just saying that you wrote your thesis on him, so of course you're biased,” Jin Guangyao said. “There's no way Nie Huaisang organised all this. Everyone in that period agrees that he was so stupid he could barely do basic additions!”

“I have a phd and I can't count either,” Nie Huaisang countered. “Listen, I tell you, the proof is all there if you just look.”

Of course, they weren’t called Nie Huaisang and Jin Guangyao, not in this life, but Wei Wuxian wasn't good with names. In fact, after centuries of being alive, he was worse with names than he'd ever been. Thankfully, this crowd Lan Wangji and him had become friends with didn't mind at all the nicknames he'd picked for them.

“And I can prove that Jin Guangyao didn't even die, and made a name for himself in Japan,” Jin Guangyao retorted. “There's this Han man who suddenly appears out of nowhere in the Japanese court, claiming to know great magic, and...”

“Yes, I've seen the movie too,” Nie Huaisang yawned, taking another sip of his bubble tea.

Jin Guangyao went red and purple, while Wei Wuxian tried to hide a snicker. If there was one sure way to piss of Jin Guangyao, it was by mentioning that recent movie that had come out, very loosely inspired by a series of blog articles he'd written years ago when he was still a student. The inspiration was loose enough that he hadn't been involved in the process at all, because the scenarist had pretended they just happened to have come to the same conclusion.

It wasn't a bad movie, Wei Wuxian thought. It wasn't a goodone either, but he quite liked the actor who played Lan Wangji in it (Wei Wuxian himself wasn't part of the plot, sadly, on account of being officially dead by then), and the fight scenes were pretty fun. Besides, he felt like Jin Guangyao should have liked it even better than he did.

The actor playing him was the tallest member of the cast after all.

“I hope you choke on your tea,” Jin Guangyao muttered, to which Nie Huaisang answered with a bright grin.

It was about to devolve into a fight (an animated academic discussion, Jin Guangyao would have called it) when Lan Xichen entered the boba place, radiant as always. She ordered her own tea (plain black tea but with extra sugar and the sweetest fillings available, as usual) and sat with them, apparently oblivious to the adoration with which Jin Guangyao and Nie Huaisang gazed upon her.

Wei Wuxian had a bet going on with Jiang Cheng about which man would ask her out first in this life. He also had a bet going on with Jin Ling regarding whether anyone would dare ask her out at all. Wei Wuxian would have tried to help the matter, but Lan Wangji wouldn't allow it, worried for his sibling. A needless worry, Wei Wuxian thought. Lan Xichen was doing well for herself in this life, and so were the other two. Going into academia had been a great way for them to channel their lingering resentment. Their fight had almost never gotten physical in this life.

“I'm sorry for being late, jiejie wanted me to help her order something from overseas,” Lan Xichen apologised, smiling warmly. “I hope I didn't interrupt anything important? You seemed to be chatting, no?”

“We were talking about Guangyao's movie,” Nie Huaisang cheerfully answered.

Jin Guangyao looked about ready to murder him, but Lan Xichen just laughed in that sweet, careless way of hers and in a second both men had forgotten their previous argument.

“Oh, that reminds me, I brought something that might make you laugh,” she said, digging into her handbag. “It's in your field of study... in a manner of speaking.”

She put a book on the table. On the cover were two handsome young men, one dressed in black and carrying a flute, the other in white holding a bright sword. Above them, bold characters professed that this book was called “The Founder of Demonic Cultivation”.

Wei Wuxian's drink went the wrong way, and he nearly died coughing on a tapioca pearl. When everyone was sure that he wouldn't choke so stupidly, they all turned their attention back to the book.

“What's that?” Jin Guangyao asked.

“It's a danmei novel,” Lan Xichen explained, a spot of red on her cheeks. “Jiejie lent it to me the other day, and as soon as I started reading I realised the subject was... familiar. It's about Wei Wuxian. The real one I mean,” she added with a smile to Wei Wuxian who pretended to be fascinated by his bubble tea. “It's, ah... very creative. It takes liberties with some of the events, but, ah, it's very well written.”

“Wonderful, more fiction,” Jin Guangyao muttered.

Meanwhile, Nie Huaisang eagerly grabbed the book and started browsing it with hungry eyes. He had theories about that, too. Mostly, about the exact nature of Wei Wuxian's relationship with Jiang Cheng, which he had once explained to Wei Wuxian with far more details than the immortal would ever have cared to hear... and he hoped Jiang Cheng himself would never hear about it.

In fairness to Nie Huaisang though, his arguments had been very convincing, and Wei Wuxian would have had doubts, if he hadn't been married to Lan Wangji for over a thousand years.

“Oh, Lan Wangji,” Nie Huaisang grumbled, closing the book and sliding it back toward Lan Xichen. “I suppose I see the appeal, but there's really no evidence whatsoever in their case, you know?”

“We know,” Lan Xichen said with an indulgent smile.

“Now, Jiang Wanyin and him, on the other hand...”

“You people are obsessed with romance!” Jin Guangyao complained. “His relationship to Jiang Wanyin was platonic!”

Wei Wuxian distractedly nodded. That was indeed true.

“And so was his relationship to Lan Wangji,” Jin Guangyao added with a disgusted glare at the book.

Wei Wuxian grimaced. That was very much not true.

“From the letters I've read, I think in today's world, the Yiling Patriarch would probably be asexual,” Jin Guangyao argued. “Not that I particularly approve of using modern terminology to describe the sexuality of long dead people, but if you consider everything we know about him, then... are you ok?”

“Peachy,” Wei Wuxian coughed, trying not to burst out laughing. Jin Guangyao's pride was still a delicate thing in this life. “Hey, Xichen-jie, mind if I borrow that book until we meet again? I think Lan Zhan would love it.”

“Sure, I don't see why not.”

Wei Wuxian grinned, and pocketed the book.

Lan Wangji and him were going to have a good laugh that night, as they always did whenever someone wrote a new story about them.