#and i am interested in the platonic relationships

[stiffyck]

Can I talk about how ppl are seemingly unable to understand a deep relationship unless it's romantic or familial because it's been driving me insane recently. A relationship doesn't need to be romantic to be interesting and deep and meaningful.

[sugarcubetikki]

If you didn’t know, Christian Linke recently said that they weren’t intending to make Jayce and Viktor romantic but just to show a really close relationship between men which they believe is underrepresented in media.

Of course, as expected, antis have taken this as a way to shut down gay interpretations and bring up how “romanticising a relationship that is meant to be brotherly demeans it”. It is definitely important to have relationships that depict multiple forms of love and yes at its core we can all agree that Jayce and Viktor are two men who love each other.

I believe that despite what Christian Linke says, the way one chooses to interpret that love ultimately falls on the viewer, as their relationship/love can resonate with people in many different ways.

I personally view Jayvik to be partners, friends and lovers because it resonates with me as a queer fan. I personally see a lot of queercoding in the way they were written and that makes it hard for me to perceive them as not having a romantic love.

For example:

Viktor being shown to take Mel’s place in many scenes like Jayce hallucinating him with after Mel and he’s wearing her black eyeshadow.

Mel x Jayce sex scene overlaps with the scene of Viktor becoming entwined with the Hexcore in a way that it makes it difficult for you to even focus on Mel and Jayce.

Amanda mentioning that Viktor was projecting his relationship with Jayce onto Sky this season - the whole science-y bond.

Viktor making the “this is not the bedroom” joke when Mel catches him and Jayce trying to sneak into the lab.

This all resonates with me as queer comphet and their love for each other being superior to that of their romantic interests also feels very queer for me.

And I have the right to interpret them in that way. I respect the way Christian Link interprets them and has shown to depict them but I personally do not see their relationship in the same way and I believe characters are just as much as the audience’s as they are the creators so my interpretation is also valid.

(Also, creators genuinely don’t always agree with each other and they differ in opinions when it comes to interpretations of characters/relations whilst Christian Linke may not see their love as romantic. I believe there might be other creators who do which could explain some of the ambiguity in their scenes).

Also, to the antis, queer love is also a valid form of love, it can exist with/without physical intimacy and still be queer.

Perceiving Jayvik as queer does not demean their love for each other at all. Perceiving them as having a platonic or brotherly bond isn’t wrong either. All forms of love are pure. Queer or not. Jayce and Viktor’s love for each other is pure and can be seen no matter how you interpret it.

The beauty of a story or a piece of art is enabling the perceived to interpret it in a way it resonates with them and it may not be what the creator intended and it may not be what resonates with you but it is still a valid interpretation.

That is to say I also respect platonic readings of their relationship despite not personally seeing it because you have the right to interpret them in the way you want to. And I am asking you to do the same for me and give me the right to interpret them in the way I want to.

[jamethinks]

For me personally I can only enjoy a love story if there is a solid friendship underneath. If I can't see these two characters existing purely as friends then I am not going to get invested in the relationship. I've never been interested in love as much as I am interested in companionship.

This is one of the reasons why I love Twiyor so much. I love seeing them hang out and talk and be vulnerable with each other. I love watching them fall in love with each other and get closer. Opening up and just growing you know.

Which is why I can not engage with 99% of fandom content because it's all based on the idea that they are in love with each other and just don't know it yet. So the progress isn't them falling in love it's them understanding that they are in love which I fucking hate. I thought this was a slow burn thing. I can't read any of the twiyor fics bc its like they're already in love and have the relationship of two people that are in love and I just don't think anyone did anything to earn that.

If you don't drag your ass back and give me all the sweet interactions and intimate moments and map out the way the characters feeling go from platonic to romantic istg I am gonna get a gun-

When I say I love slow burn I mean I love slow burn. GIVE ME THE SLOW. Fuck that love at first sight shit. I want that first kiss to be blindsiding but also just so fucking right.

And for that reason the very random damianya fic where the author was a bit too fixated on Anya's period will remain one of my favourite sxf fics. That shit was so slow burn they still haven't gotten together yet. That's what I want.

[coffin-ramblings]

In your opinion, what makes Andrew's interest in Ashley romantic rather than just sexual? Love your analyses and wanted your expert opinion, bc personally I'm kinda on the fence about it

I am very flattered that you like my analysts and consider me an expert! It is a great honor to be told that.

The first evidence Andrew is romantically in love with Ashley is this dialogue back in Episode 1. This was actually one of the big reasons why I did not check out Episode 2 for a long while because of how fucking weird Andrew is. I already knew he was weird and actually down bad for Ashley, but that moment really shows how deeply fucked up this guy is. What do you mean you think it's too romantic to commit suicide by jumping off the balcony with your sister? Even Ashley thinks he's weird there.

And then he explains that he thinks it's romantic because that'd mean their bodies would be be entangled together and have to be buried in the same coffin. Despite this, he likes that Ashley wants to join him, which wow, okay dude.

We now fast forward to chapter 2, where we get a lot more of incestuous hints from Andrew.

The first obvious one that you will always see is Andrew checking on Ashley because she's obviously in a bad mood having their burglary thwarted and having to talk with, cook for, and eat with their mother who abandoned them, likely sold them out, and wanted them dead. Ashley doesn't want to talk about it because this confirms her desire to sacrifice them and was hoping she didn't have to say it to Andrew, so she is also frustrated he's not picking that up either and being snappy. Andrew then thinks, "I want to hug her until she smiles", which okay, that's innocuous enough, but is then followed by, "I'm not going to do it, it's another thought that I wish I never had." What kind of thoughts do you have that makes you not want to hug your sister and comfort her Andrew? Isn't it a good thing you want to make her happy especially in this really shit day? And why are you blushing at that thought???

After that, you can have Andrew go talk with their mother and have this gem:

While it's easy to think Andrew thinking, "I don't want to grow fonder of Ashley because she's a bitch" if you see this the first time, notice that he starts blushing there. He very much does not want his romantic desires for Ashley intensified, nor does he ever want to be separated from her as we find out later on at the fireplace if you are on Burial route.

And before that, Andrew eats Ashley's mom-and-dad soup despite his obvious reluctance to and his outright refusal in Decay. He is only doing this to make Ashley happy, when the day before, he was holding back from just hugging her to cheer her up because of the fear that intimacy with Ashley will expose his feelings, which is why Ashley is surprised. That is, quite weirdly, a romantic gesture of Andrew.

And finally, no matter how you get Burial Sane, Andrew is still on better terms with her than before their parents died. Sure he's grumpy and aloof, but he still is happy to be with her and he doesn't start blaming her for their situation. This unnerves Ashley because she now realizes that he doesn't "need" her, but he's still hanging around for who knows how long and she can't guarantee he will stay.

It's easy to think that Andrew's feelings for Ashley is just sexual when the main focus has been Burial Questionable and the confirmation that they can have sex in Decay. Sane often gets neglected for being boring, "pointless", and Ashley being "out of character" for not teasing Andrew about the incest vision, but it is still a major route of the game and is worth analyzing. People often miss the main point of the game is that Andrew's and Ashley's (mostly) platonic relationship is already under a lot of strain due to their mutual distrust that the other will betray and/or leave them, Ashley being too stuck in the past in the most obvious form of being attached to Andy, and Andrew being cold to Ashley because he can't be honest with his affection for her. They have to rebuild their relationship as family and friends first before they can have a relatively healthy romantic relationship. Even after that obstacle, the fear of being rejected for their incestuous feelings is very real and valid when they're also family, and if the other leaves them for that or stops being on good terms with them, they are completely alone and/or heartbroken because they have no one left to love them and for them to love back.

This is why Andrew represses his romantic desire for Ashley, and Ashley can choose to stay platonic with him or tell Andrew that they will not have sex. They are both aware this really is not normal, they are most likely going to be rejected because it's abnormal, and they are afraid of what will happen after rejection. They value each other so much that they will be happy to give up their own desires if it means that they can still have each other around. That is also quite romantic, and needless to say, a very common experience for people who have trouble with confessing or never confessed their feelings to the people they love.

If Andrew merely had sexual feelings for Ashley, he can just keep dating and having sex with other women that look like her and move on. Even though Ashley doesn't like it and resents him for that, at least they still have a relationship, which is better than none at all for Andrew. It is much more difficult for Andrew when he is romantically in love with her, and he actively has to hide it away from her in hopes she won't reject him. He tried to make the best of dating Julia to try to get rid of his romantic and sexual feelings for Ashley, but even that is not enough. As seen in the Voicemails video, he needs to imagine Julia's Ashley to say romantic declarations of love to her, but that makes him sad.

On a more meta level, and one a lot of fans forget, is that TCOAAL is a psychological horror game. It is so much more revolting and well, horrifying that Andrew has romantic feelings for Ashley. My revulsion at Andrew was so strong that I stayed away from the game for months, planning to wait until Episode 3 because I want Julia to show up so I can root for her because neither sibling was sympathetic enough for me. If it was just Andrew being very sexually touchy with Ashley, I and many others would have thought he is sexually abusive or he only sees Ashley as a sex doll, and thus find it easier to root for Ashley and hope she leaves him or retaliates against him. But it is way more fascinating and accurate to a codependency that there is no clear abuser-and-victim or good guy and bad guy dynamic, that the siblings are mutually horrible to each other, but also mutually in love and lust for each other. Nemlei makes their romance an integral part of the game's horror, which is a masterful display of her skill as a creator to blend two seemingly opposite feelings into one work of art.

[kwillow]

regarding romance involving your characters, im aware you've talked about how you likely wont engage in making content surrounding that topic (WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY FINE obviously), but do you mind if others do? i personally find a lot of enjoyment in those kinds of scenarios and itd be good to know if thats something you're fine with when it comes to your own creations. (im sure you get enough asks about romance already, apologies!!)

and related to this, are there any strict boundaries or hard lines youd prefer not to be crossed when it comes to fan content of them? even anything that just makes you uncomfortable; if youre alright with sharing, that is <:-} i would really like to know just to be certain

Hi there! This is a very kind and conscientious message; thank you for that. ^^

Short answer: sure, I don't mind if people want to make romantic-themed art or writing with my characters. It's flattering!

I don't really have much in the way of hard limits when it comes to depictions of my characters (not counting nsfw/kink art, where I'm also pretty permissive but want to be communicated with in advance), but here are some personal boundaries when it comes to how people treat me, the human:

My characters aren't able to be "claimed" by people for exclusive shipping purposes (either with other characters or for self-shipping). When people get jealous of either other people who want to ship themselves or their characters with mine, or jealous of the characters' in-story love interests, it creates a highly uncomfortable situation for me.

I'm happy for people to enjoy their romantic fantasies with my characters, but I am not included in that bargain. Liking my character does not mean one knows or is in any kind of relationship with me, platonic or otherwise (especially not otherwise).

Likewise, I probably won't reciprocate a lot of self-shipping or Your OCxMy OC type stuff. Of course I'll comment and appreciate the effort and the expression of being interested in my silly stories! But I won't necessarily make a lot of ship art in return or trade head-canons or what have you (again, I just am not super into shipping and I have my own story stuff I already don't have time to draw orz).

My characters aren't made to be boyfriend material. I also have not drawn/written/shown every part of their awful personalities or actions. In the future, I might reveal something about them that makes them unappealing or unsexy. People can ignore the unpleasant qualities I give my characters in their fantasies/fics, but I won't change how I write or draw the character to make them better suited to someone's tastes (yes this is something people have asked me to do).

I feel like stating some of these things makes me look a bit neurotic, like "oh come on, that's not going to happen," but unfortunately all of these things have happened to me before when people got, I guess, a liiiittle too romantically invested in my characters.

So really, I don't have many boundaries in the way of content. Go forth and write or draw or just imagine what pleases you (general you). Write them getting married, having unrequited crushes, being one of the last survivors of the Titanic and sacrificing themselves so that the other character can live her best life beyond their doomed romance, etcetera.

All I ask is that the appreciation is centered on the character as an imaginary being, and I, the real and very boring human woman, am largely ignored in the equation and not pulled in to do matchmaking, officiate any weddings, or act as a conduit to manifest a tulpa.

[the-night-puncher]

I get why people love when companions have specific sexualities and it does make for great storytelling when they get to take that into account...

But that also means some of them will be straight and I'm literally going to scream and cry if I can't gay date all the boys

[skeletal-butterflyy]

Mike loves taking care of people. He loved taking of el in season one, and he loved taking care of will in season two, he loves feeling needed. He desperately wants to be the knight(paladin) that will sees him as. Mike and el love each other but not the way that mike and will do. Mike was only able to say he loves el because will told him that “el” would always need him no matter what:

Mike even says that he knows el doesn’t need him and that’s why they’re having problems. It isn’t mikes monologue that gets her out of Vecna’s vines, it’s max. We even see it in the last scene of s4 where el is separated from the rest of the group. She’s become independent, doesn’t need just mike, as a romantic interest, she’s not a damsel in distress. What she does need is the support of her friends and family.

You know who does need mike though? Will! He makes it clear through the painting and his monologue in the van scene, and we see how happy this makes mike, to know he really is needed. That’s why byler works.

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads

The Spider And Her Demons

YA Australian urban fantasy/horror

about a Malaysian-Chinese girl who’s half spider-demon, just trying to keep her head down and survive high school

when she accidentally kills and eats a man in front of the most popular girl at school, they strike up a strange friendship and she starts to learn more about herself and the supernatural world

aroacespec/sapphic ish

[kindaorangey]

i haven't gotten there in my rewatch yet so i can't remember how much of an obvious reading this is, but i think daniel choosing to rat armand out at the end isn't as simple as him stirring the pot or needing to chase the journalistic satisfaction - it is both of those things, but there's also a more calculated side to it of him trying to get in louis' good books.

he doesn't believe he's going to make it out of there alive, he doesn't trust louis, but he trusts armand less, and he and louis have a level of mutual respect and emotional connection. he's told, "you fear armand, you should fear the other one," and so he rolls the dice, throws his lot in with louis, unravels armand's lies and hopes it's enough for louis to make sure he lives.

[roomba-mangga]

top image is the version i read first and while it did wring my heart like a wet rag the translation in my physical copy went the extra mile and beat me to death with a club in an alleyway

(bonus tears: the fact that they're parallel to thistle and delgal and this is what thistle might have said to him if they got to talk)

[imogenkol]

With each new leak and crumb of information we get about season 2 of Andor, the more I become equal parts excited and terrified for Bix.

It looks like they might be going in a darker direction for her, which makes sense given the horrifying torture she endured and the losses she suffered. Bix must feel so lost in the year before the season opens, plus she has a lot of anger and needs to put it somewhere.

“If I’m giving up everything… I wanna win.”

Oof. That line has been echoing in my head for the past day or so. Bix is all in. While I do think she’s a rebel at heart, I believe that “the cause” is secondary to her. She’s fighting for her now — for her home and her community, a place she longs to return to, but deep down knows it will never be the same, not for her at least… Bix is fighting for revenge. I believe that will be her purpose and driving force this season.

My deepest fear for her is becoming an accessory to Cassian. Becoming a prop for his losses and pain. I’ve said it before, but I really don’t think a rekindled romance between the two of them would serve either of their stories in any way.

Bix needs to find her sense of self again, who she is apart from Cassian. Apart from Ferrix, even. I want her to journey inwards to the darkest depths of her soul — to give in to the urges that scare her. I want her to frighten those around her, not because they’re afraid for her, but because they’re afraid of her. No one is sure what she’s willing to do anymore. She’s not even sure. And then I want her to come out of the other side of that and be a steadfast force of nature.

It would not serve her to move backwards. To accept Cassian as a partner again after the numerous times he has disappointed her, broken her trust, broken her heart. I feel like she’s learned her lesson too many times, especially so after the corpo incident. I do want to see them rebuild that trust and affection they have for each other, but with an unspoken understanding that they will never be romantic again.

The worst thing I feel like they could do to Bix is have her die for Cassian. That would just take so much away from her story. She has already suffered so much for him that to have her die as a means to further his own journey would really just be so disrespectful to such an interesting character.

Cassian as well I feel would not benefit from a rekindled romance. He is still finding his way in the galaxy. Diego Luna even said that Cassian starts the season still conflicted. Once his commitment to the cause is cemented, there won’t be much left of himself to give and Bix deserves so much more than that. It would be disappointing and unnecessary to see a weak excuse for a relationship between them where neither is able or willing to give it their all until it eventually fizzles out one final time — or until god forbid Bix dies.

Vel and Cinta already exist to explore that type of dynamic, it would feel a little redundant and possibly even take away from the complexities of their relationship (that we’ve barely scratched the surface of) if there were two similar dynamics happening parallel to each other on screen.

I would love to see Bix and Cassian be close again. There’s a lot of potential to create a unique and fascinating dynamic between them considering all their history, but it would be so refreshing to see a more familial type of bond form as opposed to a romantic one, and to see how these characters navigate that new dynamic.

Also while Bix’s likely death would and should affect Cassian, I truly hope that if she does go out… she goes out fighting for her own cause.

[prolibytherium]

I don't care about ""romance"" or """hurt and comfort""" where issues are (temporarily or otherwise) resolved via effusive declarations of love and devotion and praise I want to read more fucked up people fumbling their way through their best approximations of intimacy and human vulnerability like "What are you doing. Oh ew wtf are you crying? Are you good? Don't get snot on my shirt" etc but no one understand smy visions

[bmegrl9124]

I have to ask, while I do ship Sydney & Carmy together romantically, I wouldn’t be mad if they didn’t end up together. I’m just here for a well-written story that makes sense for the characters. Prior to me shipping Sydney & Carmy, I believed that they would become good friends & business partners in the end, but I was still open to a possible romance, if it made sense.

That being said, I haven’t really seen any in-depth analysis of Sydney & Carmy’s relationship from those who consider them strictly platonic (i.e. brother & sister dynamic, mentor/mentee dynamic, etc.). I have to be honest, I only ever see people say that they see them as brother & sister, or mentor/mentee whenever people say that they ship them, or that they can see them dating or becoming romantic in the end, like as a way to shoot down those views.

So, for those who do view them as only platonic, what has the show shown you that leads you to believe what you do about their relationship?

[lil-miss]

I would love to see your take on "Understand My Ship In Five Minutes" with ZADR ^_^

Thanks for the ask!!

I’m going to do this like a timed essay and just set a timer for 5 minutes and write until it goes off.

Do you like aliens? Do you like sci-fi? Do you like weird and/or fucked up bullshit? Well if you said yes I have the ship for you! Imagine a weird middle schooler (terribly relatable, I know) and instead of being cripplingly lonely they have one person who is just as weird as them, lonely as them, and understands them implicitly. Doesn’t that sound great? WELL TOO BAD! They hate each other but in like a complex frenemies kinda way where they both care for and respect each other but in the context of wanting to beat the shit out of each other. They grow up in this strange complex relationship that slowly develops into a romance that neither one of them want to acknowledge but that they both crave desperately. So now it’s yearning until one of them breaks.

That’s the best way I can explain the appeal more generally.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Note: this is exactly the same for both normal and fem ZaDr but fem ZaDr had lesbianism which is just bonus points.

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

Sometimes I feel that Barnaby and Wally have this friendship like big bro/Lil bro, and Howdy being Barnabys bf has to put up with a lot of Wallys shenanigans for Barnaby (doesn't mind cause he also adores Wally I'm a big bro way)

i view them (as a trio) Similarly! though a little to the Left cause i don't view Barnaby & Wally's relationship as big/lil bro. rn to me they're very close friends - borderline queerplatonic! like... Wally is Barnaby's special little guy, yk?

so in my mind, in this trio, Wally's not exactly a. uh. third wheel to Barnaby/Howdy i suppose? oh this is difficult to translate into words - he's part of the relationship without being Part of it if that makes any sense? like of course he's gonna be With them a lot. Barnaby's not gonna be like "ok go do something else so i can make doe eyes at Howdy". that's his Little Buddy. they're gonna Include him as much as possible, i'd imagine. and i doubt Wally would mind being around while they flirt chat. he'd probably love being Barnaby's "wingman"

[allgremlinart]

do you guys think that if I started to singlehandedly drag the Bone (1991) fandom back from the brink of vanishing off the face of the Earth Netflix will un-cancel the animated series ...? everybody get their dad on here*