#but as far as yuri ships go I've seen so little

[purpleleafsyt]

This might just be a me problem but I think it's so unfortunate that a lot of the new possible yuri ships for Dragons Rising don't have ship names or commonly agreed upon names where several new yaoi ships do have dedicated ship names

Fellow yuri enthusiasts we need to do better😔

[kursedmayo]

This is gonna be a a bit of a controversial take but to me Farcille to me is not very appealing since Falin and Marcille's relationship is a bit too complex to be boxed into a simple ship. There's both gay, platonic and familial implications and I don't think I've seen this type of relationship in media before actually.

In the Anime they really went all in on the yuri domtext- I refuse to call it subtext because its not, in fact sub (jk) but in the manga it's a bit more ambigious. In both media though they're portrayed as close, like way too close just to be friends. I think this might have to do with initial impressions, Marcille treating Falin like a little sister while Falin treats Marcille more like friend.

If you've read the Manga there was an implication that at some point Marcille wanted a younger sibling, but apparently she ended up being the youngest and the last child (if my memory serves correct). When she met Falin, she was a bit shy, tomboy-ish, and seemingly carefree when they met, which can sometimes be perceived as someone being pretty childish. Because of that, in her mind Marcille may have somewhat adopted the idea that Falin is younger than her and such, and then her subconscious childhood desires made her think of Falin as a little sister. I myself is more receptive to receiving or initiating touch with my brothers since I'm comfortable with them, so I can see why they're comfortable being physically close often.

This may also be why she dislikes Toshiro (Shuro) so much, she was particularly defensive of her little sister. I kinda doubt Falin discussed ever wanting to get into a relationship so maybe Marcille wanted to beat back unwanted suitors? At the same time this may just be her being jealous and not wanting to let Falin go, which can be interpreted to be something due to romantic feelings for Falin.

Meanwhile, when Falin met Marcille her impression was that she was a cool academic girl that took interest in her and befriended her. Marcille is most likely her first friend at that point and quickly became her best friend. She clearly admires Marcille and good LORD have you seen that bath house scene?? It was much less yurified in the Manga since Marcille was clearlu tired from using ancient magic and was having delayed reactions but I really dont think that was sisterly in any shape or form, it seems far too intimate. Keep in mind she was the one who initiated the hand locking in the bath house, not Marcille, so that may imply sometjing. So this brings me to my final conclusions.

Marcille probably thinks of Falin like a little sister or at least perceives Falin as someone younger than her that she wants to take care of. At the same time though her relationship with Falin is also hard to define completely by familiar or platonic because Laois is literally there for comparison and their relationships don't seem very similar to me.

On the other hand, Falin most likely sees Marcille as her best friend, someone either her equal or greater in skill or talent. When she has a slightly embarassing problem (like her constant flushed cheeks) she wants help with, she trusted Marcille enough to go straight to her instead of figuring it out herself so that says quite a lot, considering Falin seems to be of the independent type and don't like bothering people. However, there are also some odd vibes regarding her behavior with Marcille that prevents me from also waving Farcille off, so again I hesitate to box their relationship nearly into a single category.

So yeah. No hate to Farcille but I think I'd rather label these two weirdos with "???" instead of just friends, sisters or girlfriends. It feels a bit more accurate that way.

[laebrumme]

Arlefuri is Interesting, Actually

So I was put onto a twitter thread that's been circulating around the Arlefuri community, and I was feeling to be in a bit of a fighting mood and I found a couple points brought up by the author to be the starting point for some more interesting discussions regarding fandom culture, so I decided it wouldn't hurt to have a "little" discussion around this thread and the points that are brought up.

A quick reminder here that I am not going to link the thread or use the author's name anywhere in here because this is not an attack post. While I am here to defend a ship that I really like and see a lot of value in against a really silly twitter post, I am not here to attack or be aggressive to anyone. This is something we really need to understand and my least favorite part about twitter is how it discourages thoughtful and elaborate response, which is why I'm writing this on my tumblr instead of writing a QRT or something. I want this to be thought out and civil, and there's a very good chance that the thread was written entirely in good faith, however questionable some of the arguments made are.

the amount of arlefuri shippers ive seen that keep going "you just hate it bc its yuri" without actually seeing an explanation why its such a good ship and why they keep defending it like its so canon.

Something that I've noticed as someone who has only been engaging in fandom for about a year and a half now and who got to see Arlefuri pretty much grow from inception to now is that, after a while (especially on platforms such as twitter that are so thoroughly infected by hate and aggression) communities will develop defense mechanisms based on certain patterns of how they've been attacked before. Especially in communities which are highly antagonized for one reason or another, it's easier to have a short list of most-likely reasons someone is attacking their ship than to actually engage with the argument. One of the most reliable and effective canned arguments that one might find in a particularly combative yuri enthusiast's toolbelt is the "you don't like yuri," or, in more extreme examples, the misogyny argument.

I'm not going to get into the MLM vs WLW in fandom discourse here because, quite frankly, I'm not interested and it's completely not related to anything going on here, however the argument is common within WLW ship communities because of the tension that exists between MLM, m/f, and WLW communities, especially because in a huge number of fandoms, MLM far outnumbers the WLW. It's a reliable argument to so many because, more often than not, the anti's argument is coming from a place of anti-yuri sentiment.

In the case of Arlefuri, attacks are so frequent that, for those that decide not to block and move on, it's more efficient to pull out a tool from the toolbelt instead of engaging with each and every anti post. Arlefuri shippers are, to put it bluntly, sick and tired of it and just kinda want to do their own thing.

yes, this sounds very yuriphobic as smn who ships renheng but i do ship yuri ships like acheswan, bronseele, clorivia, eimiko, and many more. not that im against rarepairs, but arlefuri is hardly a rarepair anymore, and the way the shippers are defending it, makes it feel like its as implied as the ships i mentioned above

I mean, doesn't everyone do this? Something else I've noticed is that every single HYV ship that has even the smallest basis in the canon has people that consistently go on about how, because of certain observations regarding design/symbolism/voice lines, the ship is canon. It's important to remember, though, that lot of it is playful banter or reactions borne of excitement, and very rarely are people actually insisting that Arlefuri is canon or even implied to be canon. Because with the exception of HI3 bronseele, there isn't a single HYV ship (that I know of) that is downright confirmed. And yes, that even includes Acheswan.

I think the observation being made here is a result of two things: Arlefuri as a ship just getting bigger, and how fed-up Arlefuri shippers are of being antagonized. The first point is very obvious: the more people there are out there to talk about a ship, the more confident and loud those discussions are going to become. The second one though is more interesting because I think, as a community gets antagonized more and more, a very natural response to people talking poorly about a thing you like is to engage with it even more. A lot of people, instead of taking the fight back to those that are attacking the ship, instead back away from the argument and, as if almost spitefully, engage with the ship even more. Hell, I've even seen some of my fellow arlefuri shippers talk about how this discourse is going to make them ship arlefuri even harder. It's just a natural response almost.

Also I genuinely don't understand what rarepairs have to do with the discussion at hand. It's brought up again later in the thread, and even there I'm not sure what point it's trying to get across. There's a though process there, but whatever it is it isn't communicated in the thread, which is no fault of the thread author since twitter is stupidly restrictive as a platform for arguments and expressing thoughts (that's why I'm writing this on tumblr).

literally what is the 'flavor' and 'dynamic' in arlefuri other than 'happy and grumpy' and 'enemies to lovers'??? they barely have any backstory together other than "girl one traumatizes girl two and gives her cake as an apology because it doesnt benefit her to be on bad terms with girl two". there is nothing appealing about their relationship, and honestly i feel like furina should just be her own person without that romantic nonsense.

Well I'm glad you asked!

Arlefuri is a ship that has a lot of layers and a lot of different interpretations, and I think the only way to get a proper understanding of why so many find the ship appealing is to go out onto the Arlefuri tag on ao3 and read some of more popular fics that are out there. However, I'm going to offer my personal understanding of the ship and why I enjoy it so much.

In short, the allure of Arlefuri to me lies in a simple concept: safety.

I think a lot of the misunderstanding around Arlefuri and why Arlefuri gets accused of being proship so often lies in a misunderstanding of Furina's story and what Arlecchino represents in said story. Namely, Arle wasn't the only person that made Furina feel unsafe during the events of the archon quest. Literally everyone that was involved in that quest was doing practically the exact same thing that Arlecchino did: cornering her into a position which would force her to reveal her identity as "false" archon. So coming out of the archon quest in Fontaine, Furina has not a single soul she can trust in Fontaine anymore because of how thoroughly traumatized she was in those last few days of her run as archon. Every single person involved in discovering the truth behind the Oratrice betrayed Furina in every sense of the word.

Obviously, the game has to make Furina warm up to the traveler for marketing sake (which is one of the only gripes I have about Furina's story), but aside from that, she still has a distaste for people outside. Evidence of this can be seen with how she talks in two distinct vocal modes which I'll get into here more in a bit.

This is all to say that, one, Furina is starting from scratch relationship-wise and can trust nobody, and two, that Arlecchino is no more of an antagonist than anyone else. The only difference is that Arlecchino was more forward with it, and Furina had built her up in her head as the big bad that would finally out the entire operation (that's where Furina's fear of Arlecchino comes from).

Where this all gets interesting is when you consider Arlecchino as pretty much a symbol for all that betrayal that Furina faced. Arlecchino, just like the traveler and crew, cornered her in a position by complete surprise that would, with one more move, force her to either prove herself as archon in one way or another, before they discovered that there's more to the story and moving their attention elsewhere. When you consider Arlecchino as a symbol of that, then what a relationship w/ Arlecchino represents is Furina learning how to trust and feel safe in the presence of other people.

This is a dynamic I explore in my own fic, "What Do You Want?" and is something that is explored to even more depth in the Arlefuri bible, "A Fatui Harbinger in Lady Furina's Court." Hell, even the biggest chapter of my own fic which is the catalyst for the relationship that is explored for the rest of the fic is literally called "Safety." The entire point of the ship is for Furina to find safety in someone and, through Arlecchino, to learn for the first time in her 500 years of life how to trust and love people.

I could continue on about why I enjoy about Arlefuri all day, if you can't tell, and I could start discussing the nuances of their grumpy/happy dynamic and all the gender stuff and various other examples of incredible writing and interpretations of the ship, but I think you get the idea. There's depth here. You just have to look for it.

arlefuri shippers+ships are fine IF you acknowledge that your ship is barely even canon (maybe until more infois released) and that there is no reason to be defending them so hard over very very very little crumbs, when most of those crumbs are actually headcanons that you made up yourself.

Again, nobody is earnestly going out there and defending the canonicity of Arlefuri. We're defending something completely different which I'll discuss in the next section. But even then, why should we? Why is a ship okay only if we acknowledge the lack of canonicity in a ship? We all are taking part in a culture that was literally borne of taking one canon or another and doing really silly things w/ it. That's why our fandom ancestors borrowed the term "canon" from religious studies and applied it to fandom: they needed a way to differentiate the stuff that was officially a part of the media and what was being written by fans.

We're all here to have fun. We're playing with dolls and making them kiss. There is absolutely no harm in us doing our own thing and engaging in a ship just as, say, a renheng shipper would. Just because a ship isn't canon doesn't mean that the shippers have to wear big signs on their backs that say "our ship is not canon and we are aware of that." This point feels strangely targeted in that way.

im not an arlefuri hater, infact, i was indifferent to it because i knew many people would ship it eventually, but seeing the ship grow more and more and the shippers attacking nonshippers with NO explanation on why they are defending such a copium ship is starting to make me hate it.

Okay, here's where the main discussion point is, and this right here is why I'm writing this whole essay/response thing.

This is a strawman.

This is not happening.

Every single Arlefuri shipper I've personally talked to could not care less if you don't like Arlefuri. Not every ship is for everyone, and there's nothing wrong with that. But there's a very big difference between not liking a ship and antagonizing a ship.

One of the things I absolutely hate about fandom is how much power lies in the accusation of being "proship." If someone is able to accuse someone of being proship and that accusation sticks, whether it's true or not, that person is screwed. And the same thing goes for ships. If a ship is successfully labeled as "proship" then that means that everyone that might publicly engage with that ship is going to also be labeled as proship, and that means they're going to be antagonized, even if there is nothing wrong with the ship itself.

Because people misunderstand a single cutscene in the game, people tend to label Arlefuri as, at best, toxic, and at worst, proship. And after a while, this gets tiring, especially for a community that is relatively small.

As stated before, Arlefuri shippers are so tired of being attacked and accused of various things, and because of that, engaging with people that attack the thing that we like in a respectful way becomes really really hard, and at some point, these defense attempts have started to lean more and more aggressive.

This is where I think that perception of Arlefuri shippers being so militant come from: they're defending a ship that they like in a rather aggressive and fed-up way which is very easy to interpret as attacking people for just having opinions.

Like I said before, there's a big difference between not liking a ship and antagonizing a ship.

For some reason, so many people antagonize Arlefuri. And because of how much it happens, responses have become, more often than not, either canned as discussed before, or angry.

i am lgbtqia+, i support and love love lgbtqia+ ships (including hetero ships bht thats for another conversation) but i really dont see why arlefuri is such a popular ship.

I agree, that is a separate conversation, but I find it really odd that the author found it important to spend valuable characters pointing this out.

like i said before, rarepairs are fine and fun, go for it. but if youre going to mindlessly attack people without explaining your reason, you're going to be just like most neuvifuri shippers who like to see 'nonchalant tall person' have sex with 'smaller, more childish (mentally) and petite person'. its not the ship you like, maybe its just the image, the fantasy, the thought. or you're just projecting.

There is a lot to unpack with this last point.

First of all, setting aside accusing arlefuri shippers of attacking again which we've talked about, this is straight up infantilizing Furina. Again, I'm assuming this thread was written in good faith, but if it wasn't, that's an insidious thing to throw into the thread to make that implication. As much as I'm not a fan of nvfr shippers, even they don't deserve that.

Furina is bubbly and energetic, silly and a bit out there, but she is not childish. If you pay attention to any of the quests she's in post Masquerade of the Guilty, you'll notice that (at least in the English dub although I'm assuming it carries to other dubs as well) Furina has two vocal modes with which she speaks: one for when she's in public situations with people she isn't super familiar or trusting with, and one for when she's talking one-on-one with the traveler or otherwise in situations where she feels safe. That latter vocal mode is what almost all of her voice lines in the character menu are spoken in, and is what you can consider her true self (her Ousia version of herself) which is much more thoughtful, calm, and straightforward. When she is acting as her true self, she is incredibly mature and her 500 years of life and stress really start to show.

What I'm assuming the author is thinking of when they call Furina mentally childish is how she acts when she's around various people. This is an act. She still pretends to be someone she's not when she's out and about, and that version of herself (her Pneuma aligned self) is one that is designed to be as appealing as possible: energetic, silly, and slightly arrogant. Once again, it's a character, or if you're more partial to Autistic/neurodivergent Furina headcanons, it's her masking.

Another really weird implication that comes out of this last point (at least to me) is that any and all Arlefuri content is just smut. That's obviously not true--just take my corpus of Arlefuri work as three examples out of however many. And I think it's not fair to judge the morality of most ships purely on the smut. Yes, sex can be a very useful tool for exploring the dynamics of characters, and that is used quite often in Arlefuri (same as literally every other ship known to fandom), but, w/r/t Arlefuri specifically, so much more interesting discussions exist outside of the bedroom, and some of the most seminal and impressive Arlefuri works are those that do not focus around sex. "A Fatui Harbinger in Lady Furina's Court" by DarlingMistaken, yes, is rated Explicit, but only because of one or two chapters. The entirety of the fic is an exploration of Furina's PTSD and the safety dynamic I talked about earlier. Eris's "All Bark No Bite" is completely Arlefuri sex free for the first 16 chapters and has a lot of interesting discussions of Furina's loneliness leading up to the smutty chapters. "Embers" by ChonkCatto is a slow burn romance which dives even deeper to the psychological trauma both Arlecchino and Furina have faced, as well as an exploration of Furina discovering her sexuality. And while I'm not a huge fan of tooting my own horn like this, I'm personally really proud of the discussions I have about power, trust, agency, and how love needn't be loud and passionate in my sister arlefuri fics, "What Do You Want?" and "There Must Be Something Here".

And I also want to point out that literally every ship any of us likes is purely because of the image, fantasy, and thought. That's the point of fandom. I know the author is particularly talking about the sexual side of things, but even then, that's why we do what we do. We like the idea of our favorite characters smooching, and so we make them smooch. Sometimes it's for reasons that takes an essay 3k words and counting to explain, and sometimes it's because "I find both of them hot." There's nothing wrong with that, and there never has been. If you want to read more about my thoughts on this topic specifically, you can read my previous post on here, "A Short Discussion on Fandom Culture"

Finally, I want to leave y'all with a reminder that discourse like this a fire that only you can fuel. Twitter as a platform is designed to both encourage saying things that will bait a reaction and to encourage responding to said bait in as reactionary of a way as possible. And because of the character restraints built into the app, that makes communicating your full thoughts incredibly difficult, and starts forcing people to rely on gotcha's and mantras instead of properly discussing things. And when people start echoing the same things over and over, distain in those spouting those mantras is developed in people, no matter the intention. So just block and move on. Take a page out of the fuqing shippers' book and just move on, because unless we all engage in long discussions over thousands of words, nobody is going to listen to each other because twitter is designed for people to not listen to each other.

This is a war that nobody is going to win, and it's so much better to pack up your things and return home from the front lines. It's so much better if you let people like what they like and not like what they don't like and say what they will say. We're all just a bunch of random ass nobodies beefing about fictional characters.

Just block and move on. It's so much better.

Trust me.

[sosadraws]

What is your favorite replika ship so far? Any close seconds worth mentioning as of yet? Also how does Smoke feel about Powder? Most of the cadre seems to somewhat dislike Powder but Smoke seems chill for the most part.

1- First things first, I must clarify that I ship not relying on how factible the pair is in cannon, but how interesting their hypothetical dynamics would be (which is how I come up with things like Falke x Beo, for example)

That being said, there's a certain fanfic that's going around and I think popularized Sieben x Jager. And you know what? Good. Star x Storch is a ship that I think can be very versatile: it can your typical enemies to lovers, the "good cop" and "bad cop" tropes, potential toxic yuri, "I can fix her" if one is mentoring the other etc.

Ok probably this one is kinda lame, but I also enjoy Falke x Adler. Listen, I loved their characterization in Birds of Prey and I love when a tall, powerful woman has a little dude that is very dedicated to her, you know?

Generally speaking I enjoy all replica pairings, but I've seen stuff like Kolibri x Ara, Storch x Mynah or Kolibri x Mynah that makes you go "oooh" when imagining how these characters would interact.

2- She doesn't mind her for the most part. Smoke is the type of person that makes a distinction between friends and coworkers, but even with people she doesn't like she remains polite.

However, one time Powder insinuated that Smoke was dating this particular Eule out of pure convenience ("Oh sure, I too would date the cook's assistant if I got free food in exchange 🙄"), and that angered her. But that was long ago and they're in good terms now.

[asklesbianonceler]

sending you Sellen for the asking game ✨️

Favorite thing about character:

I mean aside from being a huge baddie I love the confidence and mystique that veils her hubris. She's written so well to keep you strung along, making you expect she'll be harsh and rude but then being nothing but encouraging and "honest". Her praise and thankfulness and constantly telling you you've made her happy or proud when compared to every other NPC is so poignant and clearly worked to make people feel they had a nice relationship with her. They made her allure so clear and it's easy to tell how she was able to lead so many scholars to their death despite it all coming off as her warming up to you and respecting you.

Love that she's also like, "Ugh. Seluvis. Didn't want to hear about that guy again"

I like that she seemingly just pushes Rennala aside in the library. That's a big woman. Did she do that all by herself?

Least favorite thing:

Weird rendered, overly sexy anime drawings of her that I see on Twitter.

Headcanon:

I feel like she had all of her peers and most of her professors completely won over except for Rennala. Like I truly think all of them were eating out of her hand until the end and Rellanas ascension to headmaster is what did her in hence her extreme dislike of the Carians.

Brotp:

I like the one sided tarnished thinking they're her bro kinda thing.

Alternatively the Brotp is my int tarnished and her just both sitting there as orbs at the end. They don't speak but their crystals are charging. Every so often one of them just makes an uncomfortable little noise. It's parallel play.

Otp:

I want to see some Sellen toxic yuri. I have nothing more to say on the matter.

Notp:

Feel like I've seen her shipped with Seluvis. When it comes to Seluvis I want evil old many yaoi or nothing. He's got a doll of her in his room. Don't give him the shipping satisfaction.

Unpopular opinion:

I have to be honest I don't engage in Sellen discourse to know what's unpopular. I do not think she had good intentions for you though. I don't think she could be wifed up. Genuinely it seems like we are being shown exactly how she rose to such respect in the academy in the first place and her banishment in a lot of ways saved her and she learned nothing from it.

Quote:

"Splendid. I thank you. This pleases me. It's been far too long since I found a fellow kindred spirit. You must have a fabulous teacher."

Love that she's a little cheeky, but oh boy does she know how to get what she wants

Song:

I think a lot of Blood Ceremony songs have Sellen vibes. Morning of the Magicians is a good one, but a lot have heretical witch motifs

Pic

Is this my favorite? No but she's an NPC who stands there and I just redid this part of the quest and Idk this is just funny to me. Her arms look so ragdolled. Like it's a "toss the Muppet" pose. Mixed with the face that can't show any emotion. I know she's going through it but with the mask on its just goofy to me. Why did they leave the helmet on for this bit? In hindsight I really think they should have taken it off...

[itsdafinalbraincell]

Hey guys! I wrote a small spy-x-family one-shot. This is the first time I've posted any of my writings online, and I would love some comments and good-willed criticism. Thank you for reading!

Fandom: spy-x-family (manga/anime)

Pairings: Loid Forger/Yor Forger

Tags: fluff, oneshot

What was I made for

Yor curls up in her bed, a fist clenched around her trusty weapon. A cold breeze rustles the curtains, the full moon bathing the modest room in a lazy blue hue. Breathe, Yor, you are home. The familiar smell of the forger household fills her lungs, and her grip on the dagger loosens just a little less. She should be happy, after all, she completed the task given to her with only a scar across her chest- nothing short of a feat in her cruel line of work. But the breath never sat right in her chest, her heartbeat thumping out of her chest, her head filled to the brim with thought spiralling down locked basements in her mind. A sharp whistle catches the assassin’s attention, and in an instant she’s out of bed, weapon held ready in front of her face.

But the wind howled innocently, the curtains rustling in the moonlight. Yor sighs and sits down at the edge of her bed, eyes instinctively scanning for any danger that lurking in her shadows. Guilt floods her mind as scenarios of Anya and Loid being attacked and mauled simply because they are her family.

Aren’t they a cover family anyway? It was the voice of the woman she guarded on the ship, and she found it difficult to argue with it back then.

Why did I even want to argue, she is right. But the happiness they gave her was real, the protectiveness she felt for them was as real as it was with Yuri. Her mind runs around in the same circle as it did since the cruise. Can I really quit my assassin work and be normal?

A part of her desperately wants to experience a normal life, but another one knew her job also kept her family safe. Yor wonders which was the one that truly cared for them. She sighs in defeat, wanting nothing more than some temporary peace. So, she does what always calms her nerves.

Yor walks across to the kitchen, rubbing her eyes to ward off the tiredness. She picks up a pair of scissors and snips a small packet of coffee powder, idly going through the soothing motions of making her favourite drink. For a moment her shoulders relax, but it was short-lived. A soft but unmistakable creak of feet on wooden floorboards snaps her senses back into action. Her body reacts before her mind, the air wheezes past her ears as she sends the scissors hurtling across the kitchen- only to be deflected by a startled blond man. Yor’s eyes widen in abject horror.

“L-loid! I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to I thought it was an intruder I took defence classes from my brother-”

“Hey- hey, Yor. Calm down, please. It’s ok really. Take a deep breath, Yor.” Loid’s calm firm voice soothes her nerves almost as well as coffee does. She sniffles and waits for a moment before inhaling deeply. Her shoulders drop again, and this time it feels lighter.

“I’m sorry” Yor feels her own voice feel far away “I didn’t mean to- do all that. I hope Anya wasn’t disturbed, she has school from tomorrow.”

Loid blinks for a moment and then smiles. “Anya sleeps like a rock. An earthquake could come through and she would be none the wiser.”

Yor musters a weak smile in response. Her not-husband husband’s eyebrows knit into a rare frown, eyes filled with a concern she has only ever seen in her brother’s. “Yor, I know it’s not my place to ask you this, but is everything alright?” His expression changes immediately into one of disbelief, like he couldn’t believe the words that spilled out of him any more than Yor could. “You don’t have to answer it of course, I just wanted to- I mean I wanted to make sure-” there was an uncharacteristic panic in his stature that made the assassin feel oddly comforted.

“I understand, Loid. Thank you for your concern. It’s just that I- find it difficult to sleep sometimes.” She sounds rather lame to her own ears, but Loid seems to buy it.

“Well in that case, I can keep you company. I find it difficult to sleep sometimes too.” He smiles and takes the packet of coffee from her hands, silently taking over the process.

“T-thank you, Loid.” Yor says, trying very hard not to turn into a beetroot.

They settle on the sofa with their drinks, the ticking of the living room clock feeling the comfortable silence. It feels odd without Anya cheerfully recounting her day at school or Bond trying to poison himself with caffeine, but it’s a difference that Yor welcomes. She inhales in the scent of her coffee, and for the first time since the cruise, the breath sits right in her chest.

[sassysnowperson]

Hades 2 (occasionally) Toxic Yuri Shipping Tier List

Anyone who knows the Hades series knows it's for The Bisexuals, but anyone who has played Hades 2 knows it Loves Women. And considering that love, I think we should talk about the F/F shipping options for our protagonist, with the characters we've seen this far.

(spoilers Abound! And I've avoided blood family members [probably, it's greek myth so who knows really] partially due to personal preference, partially because I didn't want to type that much and it was an easy cut)

I know. I know! I have trash rarepair shipping opinions, but lets get into it:

Nope

Melinoë/Nemesis - I KNOW. The F/F relationship set up to be the canon romance! The Hot Stronk Lady with thighs that could crush you! Size Difference! I KNOW. But Nemesis is just. No. Someone described her as petulant and that felt right. She's sulky, she's got her own issues, she's taking it out on you. It wouldn't be enemies to lovers, it'd be fucking that person you're in a group project with who hates group projects and decides to go off and do their own thing while actively sabotaging you even though you have a shared fucking grade and DON'T MAKE YOUR ISSUES MY PROBLEM TO FIX, NEMESIS.

Not for me, but I see it (aka the kink bracket)

Melinoë/Circe: While Circe's outward persona is a little too syrupy for me, I fully admit that sex with someone who can make you bigger or smaller (or an animal, though as far as we know Melinoë hasn't ticked her off that much) has some FAB kink potential. *chefkiss*

Melinoë/Hecate: Melinoë wants praise, Hecate wants her to stop thinking of her like a mother. Let's have sex about it! Also. Abs. I mean come on ABS.

Melinoë/Scylla: Tentacles. And you can't tell me Scylla doesn't want to have sex with (someone she thinks is) a groupie.

Cute

Melinoë/Echo: Echo deserves hot rebound sex, Melinoë could use a break after the grimness of the mourning fields. I definitely see this one as a FWB situation, heavy on the mutual benefit. And having sex with someone made out of stone is. it has potential.

Melinoë/Arachne: She got fucked over by the gods, now she gets to fuck a god! I don't think I have the right kinks to really get into the sex here, but I'll just say bondage and leave it at that. But I'm fascinated by the chemistry between them. Arachne in the game is adorable, but she's also a character that really highlights injustice, and breaks through some of Melinoë's naivete about the supposed "good"-ness of her Olympian relatives. She strikes me as someone who is Very Angry but has also gone to a lot of therapy about it, and actually has a pretty good handle on her values and is carefully choosing her actions in line with that. There's something interesting there.

Melinoë/Selene: To be totally honest, this one almost went in nope, but I liked the comedy of having Nemesis hanging out there by herself too much. I just don't see a lot of chemistry. But, thinking about why, I realize that Selene is very kind and supportive, and helpful, and a little distant. So is Melinoë. They'd both need to put in a lot of work to connect emotionally, instead of believing the things they do for each other are enough. And I think there's a very interesting story in that. Well done, Selene, you've earned your place in the cute bracket.

Hot

Melinoë/Dora: Dora's the most low-stakes friend Melinoë's got. She doesn't care if Mel saves the world, she just wants to hang out and chill. Mel desperately needs that energy in her life. This is, genuinely, the F/F ship I think would be best for Melinoë's long-term mental health. She needs to let go of the idea that she's only useful for the things she does, and she needs to know how to have fun. Also, ghost sex could be very hot, you know?

Melinoë/Medea: Despite what I said about Dora, this is the HOT bracket, not the healthy or good for you bracket. And evil witch that's on your side with a taste for vengeance and a titty window is HOT. Do I think it's good? No! Do I think that Medea can effortlessly give Melinoë five orgasms in a row and leave Melinoë so mindblown that she forgets she's an anxious perfectionist mess for five seconds? Yes! And then Medea can curse her enemies and send Melinoë on her way. Melinoë is pretty sure she should have some emotions about this but is too fucked out to manage any.

Melinoë/Eris: The trash ship that got me to write this whole bracket in the first place. Eris. Brat who REGULARLY SHOOTS ME WITH THE GUN SHE STOLE FROM MY BROTHER ERIS. Whyyyy do I have so many feelings about Eris??? Well, maybe because here's the enemies to lovers that actually feels earned. Melinoë is an anxious do-gooder who has been raised by people that both love her tremendously and have (accidentally) trained her to view her value primarily in her utility. Eris is the scapegoat youngest child who has ADHD in the sort of way that comes with Fuck You demand avoidance and is out on her own for the first time, making mistakes and happy in them. I think they should have a fantastically toxic and doomed fling now (the immortal equivalent of undergrand college student age) and then come back together in the immortal equivilant of their late thirties once Eris learns that personal satisfaction can come in ways that don't harm other people and Melinoë learns that her own joy is a thing worth striving for along with her other goals. They admit that they learned a lot from each other, laugh about how stupid they were when they were young, brunch just to "catch up", and then eight hours and nine orgasms later they admit they never really got over each other and decide to give it another shot. Do you see my vision? Do you see it???

(thanks to it'snowonder's Hades 2 All Characters Tier List for the rankings image)

[lych33dragoncookie]

Lychee dragon cookie for the ask meme!!!

grins

Sexuality Headcanon: ABSOLUTE SEX GOD DO NOT APPROACH NO MATTER WHAT OR WHO, AVOID AT ALL COSTS YOU WILL GET YOUR SOUL SUCKED THROUGH YOUR DICK AND GET YOUR PEPSI STOLEN. also probably somewhere on the aro spectrum? maybe demi idk Gender Headcanon: Agender, probably. Fem leaning of course, but considering all the dragons are they/them they probably have no concern for the standard human concept of gender. In my mind they're probably she/they, though.

Ship: Incredibly tough pick, I'm honestly mostly between Shadow Milk and Cotton Candy, depending on if I want them to be enabled (made worse) or if I want them to have nice things. Basically toxic yuri vs healthy yuri, your pick BROTP: Uuuuuuuhhh I. Genuinely don't think I have any options here? Lychee kinda just... Hates everyone, for the most part. Rambutan maybe??? But that could just as easily go on Ship, so... Yeah, no idea. NOTP: Obviously all of the dragons would go here big duh they're related, but as far as plausible ones go, again, no idea. They're even totally indifferent towards Snake Fruit, for the most part, so I don't think I can pick anyone here.

Random Headcanon: OK THIS ONE ISN'T RANDOM BUT LET'S GET THIS OUT OF THE WAY; THIS IS NOT A CHILD. I've seen quite a few people interpret them as such and while I somewhat understand the sentiment THAT'S A SUCCUBUS, THIS CHARACTER IS DESIGNED AND THEMED AFTER SUCCUBI, sure they don't actually have sex with you and steal your energy and/or kill you, but the visual traits are absolutely there and they do still charm/hypnotize people and steal their energy that way with a bunch of heart imagery attached, alongside the little black bat-like wings that are so customary in pop culture succubus depictions. And that's not even considering all the ridiculously slutty lines that they have. Seriously, it's almost baffling this kind of character can make it into Cookie Run, let alone Ovenbreak, but I'm here for it <3. Anyways, they still are probably the youngest of the dragons even if they're an adult. That, or... Maybe they're a runt? No following, smaller size, powers that focus less on actual destruction or raw power and more on getting what they need through other more manipulative methods... Hell, they're probably the weakest of the dragons, as far as physical force alone goes. Unless later updates give us evidence of the contrary, maybe it's the lack of worship and power compared to the other dragons that made them such a powerhungry conniving little shithead.

General opinion: ... I mean. Look at my blog.

This one is perfect. A match made in heaven for me. I love jesters, my one set of neopronouns is jest/jestself, my sona is a jester, and they have shaped my identity on a near fundamental level. Add on top of that the succubus motifs, the :3 mouth and the little fangs, the personality, the axe (second favorite weapon right behind hammers), the color palette (dark purple, pink, black, white and greenish cyan?! fuck yes please), how much of a whore they are in general, their entire vibe, and... Yeah, they're perfect. Not only are they just like me fr, but I am wildly attracted to them and absolutely adore very single second they're onscreen. I love you Lychee Dragon Cookie you're the absolute best <3

[seeingteacupsindragons]

Hello....Do you mind if I ask your top 5 (or top 10) favorite moments from any media that you love (books, anime/manga, tv series, movies, games, etc)? Thanks if you want to answer. Sorry if I ask too much....

Ah, I don't think I can do favorite moments. How about "Moments that overloaded me so much I needed to stop short and process"? Because favorite or not, these ones all impacted me very deeply.

1. That bit in Noragami Aragoto when Yukine sacrifices his name for Yato's safety and becomes a Blessed Vessel.

Look, I had to pause the show for about 20 minutes when watching it for the first time because I was so Overcome. I was watching with my little brother, and he had the same reaction. We spent the twenty minutes incoherently making noises at each other in the middle of the night until we could finally calm down enough to continue.

Something about how far Yukine came from a frustrated, sullen kid who was acting out because he had been hurt and traumatized so badly, to willing to give up everything for the person who risked everything for him was just. Wow. Wowwww. 1000/10 character arc.

2. This moment toward the end of The Furies of Calderon when Tavi had messed something up and his uncle wasn't speaking to him, and he had gone so silent and cowed, and Amara was like, "Huh, I've seen actual abuse, but this hurt this kid so quietly?"

Because all I could think of was how I knew exactly what it was like to make a small mistake trying to help someone else and lose everything for it because of the way my parents acted, even though absolutely no one understood what it would mean for me or that my parents would not forgive.

I cried. I don't know if I was supposed to? But I did.

3. Viktor launching himself at Yuuri to kiss him in episode 7 of Yuri!!! On ICE

I watched this one live, so there was no need to pause the show or anything to process. But I do remember around that point in the episode, I stood up and spent the credits/etc. raking my hand through my hair, pressing my lips together, trying to hold it together because What did I just see?

I then frantically DM'd all my friends to message me immediately after they'd seen the episode, and then went for two separate runs in November in the Upper Midwest without a jacket, trying to settle whatever I was. Doing. Emotionally.

Ahhhhh!!!!

Ahhh!

4. Toward the end of Trick of the Light when Zeke and Griffin confessed to finally having got together

Because back in high school when I was reading this, I had spent the entire book shipping them and telling myself it was a proper urban fantasy novel, not a romance novel, it wasn't a schlocky BL manga, of course they weren't going to--WHAT? THEY DID???

I screamed. I threw the book (library book. Ooops!). I was mad, but at myself, but why, that was the environment I had been lead to believe in? But? No.

5. The end of the last episode of the Nabari no Ou anime.

When I tell you I cried. I cried for, legitimately, hours. A friend and I had stayed up almost all weekend in college shotgunning the series, it was 10am on Sunday morning after having not slept all night, I went back to my dorm room after starting my sobbing session, and could not sleep, because oh my God.

I don't usually cry to visual media. It doesn't usually hit as hard. Yoite....Yoite brought me to pieces.

6. Jeff getting outed in volume 10 of The Case Files of Jeweler Richard

I'm pretty sure I kept suffering through machine translation of the novel after that, but my brain was still focusing on processing...that...Jeff...was gay. I don't think I stayed up much longer that night. Because. Because. BECAUSE.

Lots more, probably, but this is my most memorable ones for right now.

Laters!

[violadiaries]

Hi,

I've been seeing things like this a lot, so why not introduce myself here :)

I go by Viola or Josi or Jo, whatever suits your fancy (you could also try to call me by the name of one of my comfort characters...I think...I guess)

I was born in Summer 1997...do the math about my age yourself will you ;)

I like video games and animes and Mangas and stuff...you know?

I also cosplay occasionally, some results are further down here or for newer ones @whirlwindsdiary

I write fanfiction for my favourite idiots...xD on AO3 under the same name :)

I take my time answering stuff, like I really take my time, but I swear unless it has been half a year I will answer messages

English is not my native language (I'm German, hate me or not for it...) but I do have a certificate stating I'm on native speaker level :D

More down there :)

Selection of Fandoms I like (obvs. not all but a few xD):

Tales of (Berseria, Vesperia, Arise, Abyss, Symphonia to some extent...and like...I have a love hate relationship with Zestiria, like...I don't like the game but I like characters, music and concepts from the game and I adore ToZX)

Tensura

Final Fantasy (esp. 4, 6 and 12, the others too but those three are my yays :D)

SpyXFamily

Fire Emblem (Awakening, Fates, Three Houses are the only ones I've played so far, with others on my to-be- played list)

I've been killing Slimes for 300 years

Pixel Horror RPGs (Ib, Mad Father, Yume Nikki, Angels of Death, Forest of Drizzling Rain are the ones comming to mind right now, probably forgot some I've seen and like)

Danganronpa, a little bit

Nier

My Isekai Life

FNaF to some extent

The Hobbit and LotR

...ect. (I can't think of more rn sorry xD)

Next, my comfort Characters:

Leon Cromwell (Tensura)

Zaveid (ToB/ToZ)

Kain Highwind (Final Fantasy IV)

Don't asks for my reasoning I can't explain but these three idiots just resonate with me ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Ships (a selection) (dni instead of hate alrighty? Great :D):

Eizen x Zaveid (EiZavie)

Van Aifread x Zaveid (VanZavie)

Aifread x Zaveid x Eizen (VanZavEizen)

Rokurou Rangetsu x Velvet Crowe (RokuVel)

Puppy Love Edna x Laphicet

Crack Ship Innominat (the moments he's not a brat) x Silva

Alisha Diphda x Rose (RoseAli)

Flynn Scifo x Yuri Lowell (Fluri)

Estellise "Estelle" Sidos Heurassein x Rita Mordio (Ristelle)

Theodore "Golbez" Harvey x Kain Highwind (GolKai)

Cecil Harvey x Rosa Joanna Farrell Harvey

Luca x Porom

Basch x Balthier

Guy Crimson x Leon Cromwell

Sylvain Jose Gautier x Felix Hugo Fraldarius

My faves (again...a selection xD):

Zaveid (ToB/ToZ)

Eizen (ToB/ToZ...I know he's a dragon in ToZ...I like dragons)

Van Aifread (ToB)

Rokurou Rangetsu (ToB)

Ichirou "Shigure" Rangetsu (ToB)

Edna (ToB/ToZ)

Alisha Diphda (ToZ)

Flynn Scifo (ToV)

Yuri Lowell (ToV)

Patty Fleur (ToV)

Leon Cromwell (Tensura)

Guy Crimson (Tensura)

Rigur (Tensura)

Vesta (Tensura)

Kain Highwind (FFIV)

Theodore "Golbez" Harvey (FFIV)

Edward Chris Von Muir (FFIV)

Sabin Rene Figaro (FFVI)

Edgar Roni Figaro (FFVI)

Shadow (FFVI)

Other things I like:

Fluff

Enemies -> Friends -> Lovers (the Enemies -> Friends step is very, very important for this!)

Friends -> Lovers

AUs

Dragons! <3

the colours green and purple

Reading

Music

Feel free to drop a message if you wanna know more about me :)

[mr-glove]

Massive lore/plot info dump

The reason why I'm doing this is if I don't put this out I feel like the [REDACTED] in my head will get me

Just a bit of background

I like yuri and Shantae x Risky has high potential for great stories. And I've been sitting with this story for a while. I've red stories of this ship on AO3 all great but there was just something missing to me, the 3 examples stories on AO3 are (spoilers for these 3).

My precious treasure by CEproductions [finished]: the idea that Shantae and Risky have a secret relationship behind everyones back and the danger of being found out is thrilling. But it's short.

Rogue tides by MalkavianCake [finished]: the idea that both Shantae and Risky need each other for adventure and Shantae joining Risky's crew and maybe have a child together. It's also kinda short and doesn't have any fallow up.

Daughter of the morning by Hardman5509: Shantae carrying Risky's child and Shantae realising that she acctually has fallen for Risky is wonderful and all. But the artist hasn't [as of writing this post] not updated it since 2017, that kinda makes be pissed

And my mind having ADHD + autism and making up stories as it does. It started very small but than it spiraled into something that I just couldn't keep in my head anymore. So what's this long term AU about?

The full serues will be called "The princess and the pirate"

The first thing is that I wanted this AU to span over a long period of time and games [tho I have the tendence to switch from game to game and story to not get bored] and I know ½ Genie Hero is suppose to be a soft reboot but it has a lot of potential if it took place in the same time-line. Also I want to write Shantae having multiple "phases" in her relationship with Risky.

And now for a little synopsis. Shantae 1-3 (even tho 2 hasn't come out yet) I will not write that, maybe in the far of future I will write it as a doomed prequal like the Star wars epsidodes. But the important part is at the end of Revenge Shantae discovers something about herself.

6 months later, ½ way through Pirates Curse Shantae and Risky WILL do the dirty deed (R18+). And at the end of it Shantae and Risky decide to keep their relationship a secret from everyone.

Now after that Shantae and Risky will go on adventures behinds Shantae's friends back, the Genie With 2 Lifes (GW2L) volume. This wil have 13 arcs spread over 1 year. And it includes as Shantae visiting Risky's new island, going on a few raids with her, finding genie artifacts and of course the Valentine special and more. Shantae will also gain the new transformations seen in ½ Genie Hero and a original one. I want to write a reason how and why Shantae has those in the ½ Genie Hero game.

Now ½ Genie Hero (½gh). It will start near the couples anniversary but thanks to [REDACTED for spoilers] it's get interupted and their relationship goes public with all the effects that fallow. It will also have some changes, including 2 defectors, 1 "level" removed and replaced with 2-3 new locations, a new/original transformation, a little glimps about Risky's past and don't worry, Shantae will get her well deserved anniversary gift.

Now I didn't want for 7 Sirens to take immidiatley after ½ Genie hero. I wan to give the 2 some breathing room about that they don't need to hide anymore. This shorter volume the 2 will meet a silver haired hunter and give Shantae another original transformation. More pirate gear and [REDACTED]

7 Sirens is a bit of a road block for me both because I haven't played it in a long time nor finished it but I want to make sure that this adventure is just the coupme having a realy weird first vacation

Now there is a gap because I don't know if Wayforward is gonna make another/more Shantae game(s) in the future so I'll skip it for now and go the Future parts of my AU [again I tend to jump form arc to arc to not get bored]

Shantae Future: and of course I want Shantae and Risky to get married, but let's just say that the honeymoon got an unexpected extension and after that the couple will have to deal with a bun in the oven.

I even have some drafts of the next Generation. Including Shantae's ½ genie daughter and her friends going on their own adventures. Like at the age of 10 she sneaks out of the house to find a genie artifact or at the age of 13 going to my version of Africa

[dragynkeep]

i WISH we didn't need an on-screen kiss for two gay characters to be considered canon. i WISH we didn't need them to explicitly say they are a couple for two gay characters to be considered canon. i WISH we could just show them doing romantic stuff and have people understand that that means the two are romantically together, but unfortunately, so much media has skirted around the idea of gay people in the past w/o ever explicitly confirming it (or playing it off as them being best bros) that we NEED a kiss, we NEED explicit confirmation to make sure that these two characters are together, or else we'll feel left in the dark.

I remember when SK8 the Infinity ended, and the two main characters (both male) skated off into the sunrise, people were debating whether or not they were canon. I mean, I personally see them as canon. With this ending, the official wedding art of them, and the drama CD where one plays Cinderella and the other plays Prince Charming, I think they're pretty canon. But, with how badly so many pieces of media have queerbaited their audiences, I don't really blame anyone for thinking they still aren't canon.

I've seen a similar problem with bees shippers, even within their community. Some think Blake and Yang officially became canon after that forehead touch after killing Adam, and some are still waiting for them to become CANON canon with a kiss. Even with Blake and Yang's toxic co-dependency, many fans still see them as non-canon.

Hell, even WITH canon kisses some ships don't get confirmed 😭. I remember when Yuri on Ice came out, and THE KISS happened, and THE RINGS were bought, and one character literally MENTIONED MARRIAGE...and I saw SO MANY FANS STILL HESITANT TO CALL THEM CANON. "The kiss could have been a hug!" "The rings could be friendship rings!" "The marriage thing could be a joke!" I hate that we constantly have to try to jump through these hoops all the time.

Idk where I'm going with this. I guess I just wish we could be a little more vague about LGBT rep instead of having to explicitly say things, because when things are explicitly said (ex.: randomly having a character explicitly say "I'm trans" if their arc isn't focused on their trans identity) it can feel weird and stilted. If a straight couple had official wedding art and a drama CD where they played Cinderella and Prince Charming, everyone would know they were canon. If a straight couple touched foreheads and held hands and acted all lovey-dovey, everyone would know they were canon. If a straight couple kissed and bought rings and talked about marriage, EVERYONE WOULD KNOW THEY WERE CANON. I hate queerbating. Fuck that.

absolutely agree. i wish that we didn’t have to depend on these majority straight writers to do the absolute most to confirm queer characters when non queer relationships can be confirmed with so little; & it’s very much a vicious circle. if we try to break out of it, it can basically feel like we’re rewarding non queer writers for barely acknowledging their queer characters just for some diversity as tokens instead of having them fleshed out like their non queer characters  /  relationships are.

especially if the creators themselves have a disparity between how they treat their queer & non queer characters. take rwby for example; the three non queer relationships were given far more depth & time dedicated to them than the one queer flagship we have. while arkos got three whole volumes of this will they, won’t they exploring the characters feelings & renora had a whole relationship arc complete with confession & kiss, bees have had to be reduced to the same stupid forehead touch for years & years. all while the crew behind rwby have marketed them to hell & back knowing that fans will buy any bees merch, while denying them any explicit on screen representation. the queer representation of rwby has been shoddy at best anyways but the issue of bees & how that has been handled is particularly egregious.

i too wish we didn’t have to beg & rummage for all these scraps to confirm & then still wonder if they truly are canon, if we are truly getting that representation. i hope that with more queer stories being told by queer creators like we have recently, that this can change & we can let go of some of that fear & doubt.

[theygotlost]

angela cross and/or francis ^_^

ANGELA!

favorite thing about them: that she was a genetic scientist #womeninstem AND ALSO THAT SHES LIKE TWICE AS TALL AS RATCHET #girlboss #feminism least favorite thing about them: that she disappeared without a trace and was never mentioned again!!! that insomniac tried to sweep her very existence under the rug when reestablishing the lore! angela I will #neverforget you favorite line: the post credits scene where ratchet's like "whatever happened to qwark?" and angela says smugly "I heard he got a new job at megacorp 😏" smash cut to qwark getting his balls exploded in a saw trap. LOL! brOTP: I liked her partnership with ratchet and clank and I liked that she wasn't really portrayed as a love interest. I think they would hang out as friends OTP: some people ship her romantically with ratchet and thats fine i guess but idc.... angela and RIVET though......

nOTP: I think ratchet and rivet and maybe sasha are the only people I've seen shipped with angela and I don't really hate any of those. love and light random headcanon: This only makes sense if you're obsessed with rac lore but I think the reason rivet knew angela is cause she's originally from rivet's dimension. For some reason she made her way to ratchet's dimension for the events of going commando but probably returned shortly after, which is why everyone acts like she doesn't exist. This would at least reconcile the fact that she was there in gc but then a few years later ratchet is now "the only lombax left in the universe". um.... except for azimuth. the ratchet and clank lore is hot garbage. unpopular opinion: for some reason angela didn't have a tail which everyone immediately assumed meant that female lombaxes don't have tails and males do. but thats stupid. maybe she was just fucked up? maybe she lost her tail in the yuri war??? ever think of that? this is not to discredit the trans rivet headcanon I still think that's real. but not because of the tail thing. she simply has transfem swag. song i associate with them: idk any kind of girlboss song. sorry i havent really thought about it favorite picture of them: this is a fan rendering but i really like it cause it's a more high def version of her ps2 model that's not absolutely horny like all other angela fanart and fan models. this is how I would want her to look if she ever makes another appearance

FRANCIS

favorite thing about them: HES SO FAIL. he's supposed to be "cool older brother who's awesome" BUT HE SUCKS SO MUCH. least favorite thing about them: i won't lie i don't think his actor is very good. obviously francis is my favorite character in the show but he's one of the weakest actors his performance can just be really awkward sometimes favorite line: I can't think of any specific line but it's always funny when spangler creates some new rule or punishment and he turns tot he other cadets and is like JOIN ME IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TYRANNY AND OPPRESSION! WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT OUR CHAINS! brOTP: not exactly what this question is asking but I love the episodes where he gets to come home and hang out with his brothers!! Usually the 90s/2000s character archetype of "edgy mean older brother" will ruthlessly torment their younger siblings for no reason and just be really cruel so I like that he genuinely cares about his younger brothers and tries to protect them from bullies and stuff. and I like that malcolm reese and dewey really miss him when he's away and get excited when he calls or visits. reminds me of when I came home from college for christmas break and my little brother hugged me so aggressively I toppled over. OTP/NOTP: I don't have many thoughts here so im just combining these questions. so far there's not really anyone to ship him with since any girl he likes is a one off character who ends up hating him by the end of the episode. i guess if you're desperate enough for malcolm in the middle yaoi you could pair him with one of the other cadets or with richie but i dont feel that vibe. random headcanon: in that gay francis dream i had it was an episode where its revealed the whole family has making bets for years as to when francis will come out. he kisses a guy and then reese punches malcolm and is like "lol you owe be 5 bucks doofus 😆" unpopular opinion: im not super involved in the mitm+ community yet so idk if this is unpopular but I don't think francis needs a subplot in every single episode (im halfway through season 2 so idk how the writing will change over the course of the show). If it ties into the A plot or if he's home from military school then I think it's fine but a lot of episodes will have perfectly fine sitcom-standard A plot and B plot with the rest of the family and still try to squeeze in a C plot for francis that will have a screentime of like, 2 MINUTES. and is it really worth it? most of the time it would have been better if they just padded out the other 2 plots and gave francis more screentime in a different episode instead of giving me whiplash from transitioning between scenes that are like 5 seconds long. song i associate with them: im trying to not listen to songs and think "this is for my blorbo francis XD" so if i ever make a francis playlist i need you to shoot me im too far gone man. but lately ive been listening to a lot of beck which i think is the quintessential vibe for 90s/2000s edgy teen guys. im a loser baby why dont you kill me ❤ favorite picture of them: i like this one where he is on the phone and scared. me when im on the phone and scared

[addershade]

A Semi-Stuctured Rant on Antishipping, Fujoshi Culture and the monetization of Homosexuality in Japanese and American Media

Antishippers are homophobic and it's bothering me. But also so are fujoshis and that bothers me too

Part One: Antishippers

Where there sails a ship ship so to the antishippers let fly their flags. A common argument I see painted on the bows of their warships is 'This character hasnt been stated as gay yet don't ship them with them.'

This is such a problematic sentence I don't even know where to begin. The fact that people view the default state of sexuality as 'straight until declared gay' creates the stigma that being homosexual is in some way deviant or taboo.

As an example: nobody has a problem with Todoroki being shipped with Momo despite them having minimal character interaction and very little shared dialogue in the show. Yet because they have been seen together in one (1) episode it has even been assumed canon on the same level as Izuku and Ochako which it quite simply is not.

Compare this to Bakugo and Kirishima who have several scenes together, most in even more intimate settings than Todoroki and Momo (study date, walking home at sunset together, the money scene, the rescue, I could go on) yet since the creator has not OUTRIGHT stated that either of these two are gay they have been assumed straight. Antishippers never go after TodoMomo in the same way they do KiriBaku.

I've seen people go as far as to say it would never happen, the creator would never do something so radical as to include one (1) gay couple. Despite the already pretty strong LGBTQ+ presence in the show with characters like Tiger, Big Sis Magne and Toga. These three have their own problems (an issue for another time) but they are there and that's a big step forward that people like to forget about.

Also, is the concept of 'we don't get good gay representation in the media so we write our own' really such a hard thing to grasp? Because it shouldn't be. Gay representation in media is scarce and even if its there it might not be handled sensitively (cough cough banana fish cough) and people naturally would want to go out of their way to provide it for themselves. Because representation is important. Straight, cis, white men really wouldn't understand because they are represented in literally everything all the time so I geuss they can't really fathom not being able look at the main character and go 'it me.' Which is why they put up such a fuss about every single time a woman is cast as the lead role. In anything. But I digress.

My point is basically this: Characters with undefined sexualities are obviously going to draw people in and be used as a comfortable, familiar and interesting starting point to create someone you can resonate with on a deeper level. Especially if there's nothing contradicting your head canon. And even if there is, who cares? There's plenty of straight characters already, representation is not pie and also they aren't real people so thats an extra helping of 'it shouldn't bother you.'

Oh I forgot to mention this rant only extends to fictional character antishippers because I think shipping real people is icky and shouldn't happen regardless of sexuality.

Part Two: Fujoshi Culture

Yes there are straight gals and guys that fetishise it (the male version is a fudanshi at least get it right people) and that's gross and unforgivable please stop doing it.

I would argue however this epidemic is caused by the fact that media, eastern and western alike, refuses to normalise gay relationships. Which means they see it as this sick fetish thing and call it 'sinning.' The literal terms fudanshi and fujoshi are derogatory and paint enjoying 'yaoi' as a guilty pleasure, something to be ashamed of and ridiculed.

And I'd bet my bottom dollar that Japan would want to keep it that way because it does work to sell their mangas.

Nagisa really sums up the whole issue in 50 percent off here's the clip:

https://youtu.be/c_xwtbrXbZM

Part Three: Western Focus

I just want to point out how half hearted and overly subtle these relationships have to be, like you're sneaking it past the republicans like the producers dirty little secret.

Good examples from both sides are Bubbeline, KoraSami, All of Voltron and Literally Any Gay Man In Anime Except Yuri on Ice. Although Yuri on Ice is still pretty coy about admitting that their characters are in a gay relationship.

KoraSami, Bubbeline and Shiro x Shiro's flashback buddy are all western depictions. Being gay in western media is much less commercialised and much less marketable, which is why the main issue with all of these were the writers pushing for something that was then only really confirmed either in: a very heavily fought for kiss last episode or the love story told entirely in (two bros chilling in a hot tub style) flashbacks where said love interest dies in the same episode. None of these are good representation and I don't think I have to spell out why.

Anyway this is another video that sums it up better than I can

https://youtu.be/TOj4WfQPNlk

Part 4: The Bad, The Worse and the Ugly

tw: s*xual a*sault mentioned (part 5 is safe)

I'll be quick

Anime like Banana Fish and Black Butler really like to perpetuate the stereotype that gay men are only gay because they have been r*ped by sick, twisted older men.

As a gay man who has been s*xually a*ssulted in the way that they like to pretend defined my sexuality I can say that this is insulting, triggering and Never. Ever. Handled. Properly. Anime has some issues with sexuality as a whole but it really takes the cake when characters like Ash are abused in real time in the anime and then it's used to 'justify' their promiscuity with men moving forward.

Banana Fish in no way handles the sexual assault tactfully, no matter what people have said to me.

This is an extract I agree with heavily from a pretty well written article (Banana Fish spoilers) :

I mentioned earlier the finale sent an awful message to new viewers. Ash’s story was about survival so for him to easily give up, in the end, sent a horrible message to survivors of sexual violence because it not only told them a moment of vulnerability would get them killed, but the only way survivors could find any peace was through death. The fact that Ash gave up, told survivors they could never escape from their traumas and despite all their efforts, they would never be able to heal from their abusive circumstances.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thatnerdyboliviane.com/2019/01/21/banana-fish-a-bittersweet-experience/amp/

'Kill your gays' is a bad trope in any case but really was an especially poor choice here.

Part 5: Sex Sells and Gay Sex Advertises

I've mentioned above how manga and anime likes to package gay relationships into problematic little bundles and sell it to straight women as a curiosity or oddity. But I really think that it needs to be talked about more. Things shouldn't be more interesting to you just because they're gay, and fetishising minorities is never okay in any context.

I think it's important to note that really the attitudes in both Western and Japanese media are actually the exact same. That being, Gay people are 'others' and should at all costs be hidden away into corners. The only real difference is that Japan is known for selling that kind of content, lumping it in the same category as tentacle hentai and... I don't know any other categories but the point stands. Whereas western media tends to just sequester it into a corner and hope it gets past censorship boards and Karen's. Money is at the forefront of both of these descisions.

It's a real problem that both sides of the anime culture are so problematic. One side is way too into it and the other can't begin to process it.

Here's a video by the same person that covers basically the same ground that's concerning me so much.

https://youtu.be/t3FKlqDocQ4

Part 6: In conclusion

I feel like this is something that is worth being angry about. I'm just sick of how being gay is treated at the moment in anime, tv and film, and how it's being received by straight audiences. The LGBTQ+ community barely seems to get a real say half of the time because people are too busy being head over heels that the author confirmed in an interview that a character is bi or gay but never follows through with it in universe. Or when you try and create content for yourself and get criticised like you were supposed to be happy about what little representation you get in mainstream media. Like shows do the bare minimum and then we're supposed to be happy about it. But I ain't. And I don't think many other people are either.

TLDR:

Gay people being treated like a taboo little secret on both sides of the issue is insulting and gross and never leads to anything good.

[mandareeboo]

I have some suggestions on anime for liveblogging (the first two I've suggested before, but bears repeating):

If your looking for something kid-friendly: "Little Witch Academia" is lighthearted and fun, with a cast of great female characters and honestly a better magical school story than Harry Potter (the fandom is also pretty yuri-centric with pretty much everyone shipping Akko the main girl with her female rival. I have not watched The Owl House, but most of what I've seen on Tumblr gives me some pretty big LWA vibes. They both seem to have adult mentor with a former friend turned sympathetic villain)

Another good one, "Digimon Adventure" is a fun action adventure cartoon from the late 90s that's better than any Saturday morning cartoon made to sell toys has any right to being.

If your looking for something funny, wholesome and cute, but a bit edgy with it's humor at times: "Zombieland Saga" and "Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun" are both anime currently airing their second seasons, and are really good. (Don't let the titles fool you, the "monsters" in these series are mostly goofy and loveable. Both have "found family" vibes. In fact Iruma Kun is literally about a sweet kid with a shitty family being adopted into better one, and making friends with a bunch of misfit demon kids.)

If your looking for something kid friendly, but gets a LOT darker as time goes on: "Digimon Tamers" is what happens if you give a kids monster taming anime to a writer mostly known for writing lovecraftian and psychological horror. But most of that darkness is in the last third of the series, which works since you care more about the characters at that point. It's got a lot of wholesome and cute aspects too, since theirs more emphasis on raising the digimon, and the main one starts out as basically a big friendly excitable puppy in the body of a fire breathing dinosaur.

If your looking for something with action, and some darker and scarier moments, but also with funny parts, and a lot of eccentric and weird characters: "Soul Eater" is one of my fav shonen series. I should warn you though, the first few episodes are pretty fanservicey, but iirc that gets toned down as time goes on. (First three episodes were based on what's basically pilot chapters, so are kind of tonally different from the main series ended up as)

Looking for something darker and more violent, but with good characters and story like Fullmetal or Madoka: "Re:Zero" is one of the best isekai anime out there and really keeps you on the edge of your seat. It's like groundhog day in a fantasy world, but replace "start over when you wake up the next day" with "start over when you die". It's also got a lot of great female characters ( Btw, some people have called it a harem anime, due to the male lead, and large cast of female characters, but I disagree, since only three of them are ever really treated as romantic interests so far, and it takes a looooong time for each of those relationships to develop, while most harem anime have at least 5+ girls that fall for the guy in the episode their introduced )

Lot's of options!!!! I'll go through them in order.

Little Witch Academia- watched part of episode one, but am otherwise unspoiled!

Digimon Adventure/Tamers- I've never seen any digimon before! I was a pokemon kiddo, with the slightest hint of beyblade. I think I'd rather learn via video games on that one lol.

Zombieland Saga- also a possibility!

Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun- I've seen a decent chunk of the episodes! Very silly, very fun.

Soul Eater- This is actually a bit of an odd one for me, because I DID watch it as a kid, but I remember practically nothing about it! I know that Soul can play piano and there was a weird red man in there, but that's pretty much it. I'd be happy to liveblog it semi-blind if peeps wanted that tho.

Re:Zero- Also possible!