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creamco · 29 days ago

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—situationships in queer relationships ᝰ.ᐟ

dating is already a mess, but queer dating? a whole new level of confusion. and that’s where situationships come in. basically, it’s like you’re kind of together, but also... not really. no labels, no clear direction, just vibezzzz (and maybe some unresolved emotional tension lol)

queer people deal with situationships a lot. sometimes it’s intentional, sometimes it’s a trauma response, and sometimes it’s just the reality of modern dating. but before we dive into why this happens, let’s break down how situationships show up in different types of queer relationships.

note: i will not be talking about all queer types. just a few chosen ones, so that everybody can understand what i am talking about more or less.

╭┉┈ what are we?

gay situationships (mlm, gay men, bi/pan men, etc.)

commitment issues? check.

emotional vulnerability? no thanks.

hookup culture taking over? absolutely.

the gay dating scene is wild. a lot of it is built around casual connections— grindr, tinder, and the whole "no strings attached" mindset. some people are genuinely chill with that, but for others, it turns into a cycle of emotional detachment. they want something real, but they’re scared to admit it. situationship unlocked.

lesbian situationships (wlw, sapphic, bi/pan women, etc.)

is this a relationship or just extreme emotional closeness?

we’ve been "talking" for six months, should i say something?

overthinking every single text message.

wlw dynamics are weird because they can go from zero to moving in together fast. but when they don’t? it’s just months of deep emotional bonding with zero clarity. both people keep waiting for the other to define the relationship, and before you know it, you’re stuck in a "do we like each other or are we just best friends who hold hands and make out?" loop.

trans women + cishet men situationships

"i really like you, but i’m not ready to go public."

secret relationships & low-effort commitment.

fetishization vs. actual respect.

shemale assumption.

this one is rough. a lot of cishet men who date trans women aren’t actually ready to date trans women. they like the idea, but they’re scared of what people will think, so they keep it lowkey. sometimes it’s just internalized transphobia, sometimes it’s straight-up cowardice. either way, it leaves trans women stuck in situationships where they’re never treated like a real partner.

non-binary + genderqueer situationships

"i don’t believe in labels" (until it’s convenient).

people acting confused about attraction instead of just vibing.

getting misgendered in a relationship that isn’t even a relationship.

non-binary dating is weird because people either hyper-fixate on your gender identity or pretend it doesn’t exist. situationships happen a lot because partners don’t know how to navigate attraction outside the gender binary, so they just... avoid defining anything at all.

╭┉┈ why do situationships even happen in queer relationships?

fear of commitment (but make it ✨queer trauma✨)

rejection? abandonment? never feeling truly wanted? does these sound familiar :)

a lot of queer people grow up without healthy relationship role models.

choosing emotional safety over vulnerability.

bad communication (or just straight-up avoidance)

"we don’t need labels" = "i don’t want to talk about what this actually is."

waiting for the other person to bring it up.

assuming the other person wants the same thing without asking.

exploration & self-discovery

queer people often use situationships to figure out their sexuality/gender.

sometimes you don’t even know what you want yet, so defining it feels impossible.

personally talking, i'm kinda ok with this one if it's said before the situationship starts.

social stigma & external pressure

some people keep things casual because they’re scared of being outed.

others don’t want to deal with society’s expectations of what their relationship should look like.

so, what’s the impact of all this?

anxiety and emotional exhaustion from never knowing where you stand.

reinforcing a culture of non-commitment in queer spaces.

for some, it’s empowering. for others, it’s just sad.

the truth is, situationships aren’t inherently bad. they can be a way to explore relationships without pressure. but when they’re built on avoidance, miscommunication, or fear? that’s when it gets toxic. queer people deserve relationships that feel safe, stable, and fulfilling whether they come with a label or not.

╭┉┈ types of queer situationships & the unique struggles they bring

so let’s break down the different types of queer situationships, because every community has its own unique spin on these emotionally messy scenarios. and trust me, each one has its own flavor of confusion.

gay situationships (mlm, gay men, bi/pan men, etc.)

commitment? nah, let’s keep it casual.

emotions? uh, maybe later.

hookup culture taking over? you know it.

gay dating is tricky. like, on one hand, hookup culture is all about instant gratification, so it’s easy to fall into a situationship where no one is really sure what’s going on. maybe you’ve been texting, maybe you’ve hooked up a few times, but does that mean you’re together? well... not exactly.

fear of emotional vulnerability is huge here. a lot of gay men (and bi/pan men too) are scared to open up because they've been hurt before. maybe they've had bad experiences with rejection or discrimination, so instead of risking heartbreak, they keep things chill and avoid anything that resembles a real relationship.

toxic masculinity plays a role too. like, there's this idea that being too emotional or vulnerable makes you “weak” or less of a man. so, even if there’s a real connection, it stays unsaid or undefined.

grindr and dating apps don’t help. apps make everything seem like it’s either a hookup or nothing at all, which keeps everyone in the non-committal zone.

lesbian situationships (wlw, sapphic, bi/pan women, etc.)

"are we dating or just really close friends?"

"i’m emotionally invested, but do i even want to define this?"

"okay, so when do we become official?"

now, wlw situationships are a whole vibe. lesbians (and bi/pan women) have a unique problem: everything can get really intense emotionally, really fast. you’re spending hours texting, hanging out, sharing intimate details of your life, but then… is it a relationship? and if you don’t call it that, what are you even doing?

the "U-Haul" stereotype is a real thing, but not in the way people think. (U-Haul is a stereotype in lesbians which is about lesbians going from "hi, what's your name?" to "let's move in, get married and adopt a cat!") it’s not always about moving in right away, but it’s about how quickly emotions can get tangled, even if the commitment isn’t there yet. so when emotions are high and clarity is low, that’s prime situationship territory.

miscommunication is often the culprit. someone wants to make it official, but they’re scared to rock the boat, so they don’t say anything. meanwhile, the other person might be waiting for an official "let’s be a thing" moment and is too afraid to ask.

there’s also this fear of labeling—being queer, especially in spaces that aren’t always supportive, means avoiding labels that feel too limiting. but sometimes, that avoidance just creates more tension.

trans women + cishet men situationships

"i’m into you, but i’m not ready for everyone to know."

"i’m attracted to you, but am i allowed to love you publicly?"

"is this just a phase, or is it real?"

this one’s messy for a lot of reasons. cishet men dating trans women can face a ton of internalized issues, ranging from fetishization to shame. trans women often get stuck in situationships where they’re not treated like actual partners— just a "forbidden" attraction.

cis-het men who date trans women may not be ready to go public with it. they might worry about how society or their friends will react, especially if they’re not comfortable with their attraction to trans women.

fetishization is a huge issue here. trans women might get seen as "exotic" or a "novelty" rather than a partner, and that’s damaging. when this is the case, situationships become more about exploring an idea of a trans woman than respecting her as a real person. shemale? get a life.

transphobia also plays a huge role. many cishet men are in situationships because they don’t know how to process the relationship without internalized transphobia, and they might hide their dating life to avoid confrontation.

non-binary + genderqueer situationships

"wait, so what are we?"

"i’m not sure how to label this, so i’m not going to label it at all."

"how do we navigate this attraction without enforcing gender norms?"

non-binary and genderqueer people face a unique set of challenges in dating. dating outside the binary means avoiding labels, which can be freeing, but also confusing when it comes to navigating relationships.

many partners are unsure how to navigate attraction to non-binary folks because they’re not working with a clear gender binary. this can lead to a lot of unclear expectations.

misgendering is common—sometimes, people will call their non-binary partner by the wrong pronouns without thinking or because they don’t know better. and when a non-binary person is in a situationship, it’s harder to set boundaries or communicate feelings without feeling misunderstood.

situationships happen when the other person can’t move beyond their own confusion or limited understanding of gender. it’s easier to not define things than to face the discomfort of breaking out of the traditional relationship structure.

queerplatonic situationships (friends-to-lovers ambiguity, etc.)

"we’re super close, but am i actually in love with you?"

"i love you, but do i love you that way?"

"can we be queerplatonic partners and not define it as romantic?"

this one’s for all the queerplatonic relationships out there. these relationships are often intense, emotional, and deep—but they don’t always follow the usual romantic or friendship lines.

friends-to-lovers situationships are very real, and sometimes it’s hard to tell if you’re just really close friends or actually developing romantic feelings.

aro/ace spectrum dynamics can make things even more complicated because some people don’t experience attraction in the same way. when someone’s relationship doesn’t fit the traditional romantic mold, they’re left to figure out how to label it—or if they even need to.

emotional intimacy can be just as strong, if not stronger, than sexual attraction, leading to long-term situationships where no one feels the need to define the relationship beyond the emotional connection.

this is just a glimpse of how situationships show up across different queer relationships. each one has its own set of struggles, but they all have one thing in common— confusion and lack of clarity.

╭┉┈ why do queer situationships even happen?

let’s get into why situationships happen in the first place. like, why do so many queer people end up in these undefined, emotionally draining, sometimes fun-but-mostly-confusing relationships? well, it’s not just "modern dating culture." it runs way deeper than that.

commitment issues feat. queer trauma

rejection. abandonment. never feeling truly wanted.

growing up without healthy relationship models makes commitment terrifying.

emotional detachment becomes a defense mechanism.

so many queer people grew up in environments where love was conditional—or where they weren’t even allowed to explore love freely. if you’ve spent your whole life being told your identity is wrong or that you’ll never find a "real" partner, of course you’re gonna have issues with commitment.

fear of rejection is a huge factor. after years of being told "this isn’t real love" or "you’re just confused," it’s easy to internalize the idea that any relationship you form is temporary or unstable.

abandonment issues are real. a lot of queer people have been ghosted, cut off by family, or left behind by people who couldn’t "handle" their queerness. so, what do they do? they avoid deep emotional investment to protect themselves.

attachment styles come into play too. many queer people develop avoidant attachment, where they crave connection but push people away before they can be hurt. others fall into anxious attachment, where they latch onto someone who isn’t fully available, hoping they’ll finally be chosen.

bad communication (or straight-up avoidance)

"we don’t need labels" = "i don’t want to talk about what this actually is."

waiting for the other person to bring it up (spoiler: they won’t).

assuming the other person wants the same thing without asking.

queer dating can be messy because no one wants to be the one to define things.

a lot of people think avoiding labels = avoiding problems, but in reality, it just creates more problems.

there’s also this unspoken pressure in queer spaces to be super chill and low-maintenance—so bringing up "what are we?" feels like breaking some kind of sacred rule.

some people assume that because they vibe, they must be on the same page. but just because someone acts like your partner doesn’t mean they see themselves as one.

pro tip: if you don’t communicate, you’re not in a situationship— you’re just in a mess.

exploration & self-discovery (aka "am i actually into this person or am i just figuring myself out?")

sometimes, situationships happen because people are still figuring out their identity.

attraction can be confusing, and experimenting without commitment feels safer.

internalized homophobia or transphobia can make people hesitant to claim a relationship.

for a lot of queer people, dating = self-discovery.

maybe someone just came out and isn’t sure what they really want yet. so they end up in a situationship, using it as a low-pressure way to explore attraction.

some people think they want a situationship, but they’re actually just scared to admit they want something serious.

internalized homophobia or transphobia can also play a role. if someone has spent years suppressing their feelings, they might not know how to embrace a real relationship, so they keep things casual to protect themselves from judgment.

social stigma & being out

some people keep things casual because they’re scared of being outed.

relationships that don’t fit the "heteronormative mold" get questioned more.

certain queer identities aren’t always taken seriously in relationships.

not every queer person wants a situationship— sometimes, society forces them into one.

people who aren’t fully out might avoid defining a relationship to avoid drawing attention.

trans and non-binary people face extra scrutiny, so their partners might hesitate to acknowledge the relationship openly.

bisexual and pansexual people often get hit with "you’re just confused," which makes some partners hesitant to fully commit.

basically, the world still has a long way to go in respecting queer relationships, and that pressure seeps into how people date.

the hookup culture dilemma (i hate this one)

dating apps make it way too easy to keep things surface-level.

the fear of "settling" keeps people from committing.

ghosting and low-effort dating are normalized.

hookup culture isn’t inherently bad, but let’s be real—it feeds into situationships.

there’s always this feeling of "someone better might be out there," so people hesitate to commit.

casual relationships can be great, but when people start catching feelings and pretending they haven’t, things get messy.

ghosting, breadcrumbing (giving just enough attention to keep someone hooked), and non-committal dating have all become the norm. instead of breaking up, people just... disappear.

emotional intimacy ≠ romantic commitment

some people just crave deep connection without the relationship part.

queer friendships can be super intimate, making lines blurry.

some people don’t even want a traditional relationship.

not all situationships are about avoiding love— sometimes, it’s just about redefining what love is.

some people genuinely prefer deep emotional connections without the pressure of a romantic relationship.

queer friendships can be so emotionally intense that it feels like a relationship, even when it’s not.

some people are on the aromantic spectrum and don’t experience romantic attraction the same way, but still want closeness.

so while some situationships are accidental or messy, others are actually just a new way of looking at relationships that don’t follow the traditional dating structure.

so... are situationships good or bad?

tbh, it depends. situationships aren’t inherently bad, but they’re not always healthy either.

if both people are on the same page and genuinely happy? cool.

if one person wants more and the other is just stringing them along? yikes.

if it’s all based on fear, avoidance, or trauma? double yikes.

at the end of the day, queer people deserve relationships that make them feel safe, wanted, and respected— whether that’s a full-on committed relationship or a situationship that actually works for both people.

╭┉┈ how to escape (or survive) a queer situationship:

alright, so now we know why queer situationships happen. but what if you’re in one and you’re tired of the constant confusion? maybe you want more, maybe you want less, or maybe you just want to stop overthinking every interaction. whatever the case, here’s how to either escape the mess or survive it without losing your mind.

figure out what you actually want

do you want a relationship, or are you okay with the undefined chaos?

are you emotionally attached, or are you just vibing?

is this situation actually fulfilling, or are you just scared to let go?

before doing anything, ask yourself: what do i actually want?

if you do want a relationship, are you okay with waiting for the other person to be ready, or is that just gonna hurt you more?

if you don’t want a relationship, is the situationship actually healthy, or are you just avoiding commitment?

are you staying because you genuinely like this dynamic, or because you’re scared of being alone?

self-awareness is key. once you know what you want, you’ll know what your next step should be.

communicate (yes, even if it’s scary)

"so… what are we?" is a terrifying question, but necessary.

avoiding the talk = prolonging the mess.

be direct. like, painfully clear.

if you’re in a situationship, you need to talk about it—even if your brain is screaming "let’s just ignore this forever."

you don’t need a dramatic intervention, just a simple "hey, i just want to understand where we stand."

avoid vague questions like "what are we doing?" because that can be dodged. instead, try "do you see this as something serious or casual?"

if you’re scared they’ll get weird or distant after the convo, well… that’s kinda the point. better to know now than waste more time.

and remember: if someone refuses to have this conversation, that’s your answer.

set boundaries (because your feelings matter)

define what you are okay with.

don’t let the other person’s indecision dictate your self-worth.

if it feels like it’s draining you, it’s not worth it.

if you realize you’re unhappy, set some damn boundaries.

if you’re tired of the mixed signals, tell them you need clarity or you’re walking away.

if they only hit you up when they’re bored, make it clear you’re not just their emotional support system.

if they keep treating you like a partner but won’t say you’re one, stop letting them get away with it.

boundaries aren’t ultimatums—they’re self-respect.

accept their answer (even if it’s not what you wanted)

if they say they don’t want a relationship, believe them.

if they’re avoiding commitment, they’re choosing to.

don’t waste energy trying to "convince" them to want more.

sometimes, the hardest part isn’t the conversation—it’s accepting the outcome.

if they say they "aren’t ready for a relationship" but keep treating you like you’re dating, they’re ready for something, just not with you.

if they say "i don’t like labels," cool, but that doesn’t mean you have to be okay with it.

if they just keep stringing you along, that’s an answer too.

it sucks, but trust me— walking away from someone who won’t choose you is better than waiting for them to change.

if you stay, make sure it’s on your terms

does this situationship actually work for you?

are you getting what you need, or just what they’re willing to give?

if the dynamic changes, will you be okay with that?

not every situationship needs to end— some actually work if both people are okay with the setup.

if you’re genuinely fine with keeping things casual, make sure it’s because you want it, not because you feel stuck.

if your feelings change, be honest about it.

if it ever stops being fun, leave. simple.

the only rule? don’t settle for less than what you deserve.

remember you are not "too much" for wanting clarity

it’s not "dramatic" to want to know where you stand.

you deserve respect, whether it’s a relationship or not.

if they make you feel like you’re asking for too much, that’s a them problem.

queer people are often made to feel like they should be grateful for any form of love or attention, even if it’s half-hearted or inconsistent. but let’s be real:

you deserve someone who actually respects your time and emotions.

you’re allowed to want commitment, or clarity, or literally anything that makes you feel secure.

if someone makes you feel like your needs are a burden, they’re just proving they aren’t the right person for you.

tl;dr: know your worth, communicate, and don’t settle for bs

if you want more, ask for it. if they can’t give it, move on.

if you’re happy with the way things are, just make sure it’s actually what you want.

if you feel like you’re stuck in an emotional limbo, you probably are. get out.

whether you end the situationship, define it, or just learn from it, the goal is the same: you deserve relationships that make you feel secure, not ones that leave you constantly questioning where you stand.

╭┉┈ final thoughts: the real enemy is confusion, uncertainity

so, after all this, what’s the takeaway? are situationships evil? should queer people just delete dating apps, move to the woods, and never interact again? not exactly.

situationships aren’t bad. sometimes, they can be fun, low-pressure, and exactly what both people need. but when they’re built on avoidance, mixed signals, and unspoken expectations, they can become draining as hell.

the key isn’t to avoid situationships entirely— it’s to make sure that whatever dynamic you’re in, it’s one that actually works for you.

the queer dating reality check

queer dating is already complicated because society doesn’t give us the same relationship blueprints.

many of us carry baggage from growing up in environments that made us question our own worth.

because of this, many queer people settle for just enough love instead of what they actually want.

but here’s the truth: you are not "hard to love." you are not asking for too much. and you are not obligated to stay in a dynamic that makes you feel small.

situationship survival 101

whether you’re getting into one, stuck in one, or trying to move on from one, here’s what matters:

- know your own needs and boundaries.

- communicate (seriously, no more avoiding it).

- don’t accept less than what makes you feel valued.

- if you’re happy, cool. if you’re not, change something.

if a situationship works for you? great.

if it’s making you anxious and confused? you don’t have to stay in it.

at the end of the day, queer people deserve relationships that make them feel safe, wanted, and chosen— whether that’s a committed relationship, a casual situationship, or something in between.

you don’t need to settle for "almost love." you deserve the real thing.

[pictures are from pinterest]

#lgbt advice #lgbt awareness #lgbtqiia+#lgbtq community #lgbt community #situationships #mental health #mentally fucked #mentally exhausted #lgbtq #i am tired #i accidentally deleted the original post

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rafaelsilvasource · 2 years ago

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9-1-1: Lone Star’s Ronen Rubinstein and Rafael Silva on TV wedding and the beauty of queer love

9-1-1: Lone Star fans will finally see TK Strand (Ronen Rubinstein) and Carlos Reyes (Rafael Silva) get married in the two-part season four finale

BY REBECCA LEWIS | Hello! Magazine, May 2023

After four years, some false starts, and far too many near-death experiences, 9-1-1: Lone Star fans will finally see TK Strand (Ronen Rubinstein) and Carlos Reyes (Rafael Silva) get married in the two-part season four finale on Tuesday May 16, 8/7c. But it's not going to be smooth-sailing, as fans have already been promised a tragedy that will strike — and change the trajectory of their lives forever.

"It's a blessing to be given these storylines," Rafael, 28, says on the set of HELLO!'s digital cover shoot in Los Angeles, "It's not every day that you get a story like this with juicy scenes where you have to focus and step up."

Fans already know that Lyndsy Fonseca will return as Carlos' best friend Iris, but the two episodes will see other surprises on-screen as TK and Carlos — known by their portmanteau Tarlos — lean on each other as they work through the shocking complications.

Ronen and Rafael met in 2019 when they were cast as TK, an NYC firefighter who moves to Austin with his father, Captain Owen Strand (Rob Lowe), and Carlos, an openly gay Latino police officer in the Austin PD.

Their relationship has become the focal point for the Fox drama, and a beloved character all its own, and the decision to have them finally wed means so much to so many, especially at a time in the US when conservative legislation has been attacking the LGBTQ community, making this wedding all the more poignant and important.

Over the past four years, the two actors have built such a bond on and off-screen that even among all the "chaos around us on set," as Ronen describes it, they are able to stay focused on telling their stories.

That connection also helped Ronen, 29, come out publicly as bisexual in 2021; he credited Rafael at the time as one of a few people, along with wife Jessica Parker Kennedy and stylist Chaise Dennis, for encouraging and supporting him to live his truth.

"I shouldn't be here," says Ronen. "Little Ronen's from the slums of Staten Island, growing up as a degenerate and fighting, doing drugs, and not going to school, we don't really get to come full circle to this sort of position."

Truth and love are what Rafael and Ronen both hope is the lingering legacy of this show, and these characters, no matter how many more seasons it stays on air. "I hope this inspires people, in the simplest way, to say, Love yourself," said Rafael.

When you think back over the last four years, and see the growth of Tarlos as a couple, and TK and Carlos as individuals, has there been anything that has truly surprised you?

Ronen: Not surprised, but I am most proud of their communication skills! We've seen the evolution of these two, and what were terrible communication skills!

I mean, Carlos made TK a beautiful dinner and then he stormed out like a little bitch! But it's all thanks to the writers; the fact that they were able to connect all the moments up to this level of communication which we saw in episode 16, when Carlos says, "Even if you don't remember who I am, I will stay in this, and love you and stay with you and support you and I'll introduce myself, 'Hi, you're TK and I'm Carlos and we're soulmates.'"

How have TK and Carlos changed you as actors?

Ronen: I don't even know where I would start. It's changed me as a person but as an actor it definitely has taught me speed and efficiency. After Lone Star, I'll be ready for any sort of set in any sort of situation. We're on this massive production, but sometimes it still feels like you're in an independent film when you get a script the day before.

This show has also given me the opportunity to provide a life for myself, and my wife, that I didn't necessarily have growing up.

I shouldn't be here. Little Ronen's from the slums of Staten Island, growing up as a degenerate and fighting, doing drugs, not going to school, we don't really get to come full circle to this sort of position. It's a blessing.

Rafael: I wanted to go to grad school before I booked Lone Star, but God has a way of showing you that life is your school. When I booked Lone Star, I felt so inadequate but now I realize it's healthy to have some doubt — and I love the fact that I talk about this now without any sense of feeling like an impostor, because if we don't talk about these things, we dehumanize these very human experiences.

Carlos has allowed me to learn a lot just simply by watching, listening and playing. I'm extremely grateful that it has changed me as a professional, and also the way I see myself, and the kinds of stories I want to tell. Now I say, 'Know why you're doing something and don't be shy to be yourself, go for the truth,' and I think that's something that this show has truly required of Rafael.

What would you say to 2018 Rafael who cried in the bathroom after his audition?

Rafael: Do exactly what you did and be exactly who you were. It's OK to feel all of those feelings — like you don't belong here because that is what you were being told, but you had to be that person in that moment in order to be this person here today I don't think there's such a thing as a coincidence.

Jim Parrack (who plays Judd Ryder) says, "Coincidence is God's way of staying anonymous," and for me it's a sense of trusting life and the work — and when I speak of this, it comes from a place of humility and not necessarily any attachment to religious indoctrination that is going on today to put others down.

I want to make that very clear, that it comes from my relationship with God, [and] a world where everyone belongs, everyone has a place, everyone has a voice and no one needs to close themselves off or hide.

Ronen, what has it been like building your relationship with Rob Lowe?

Ronen: I walked into the audition room for our chemistry read, Rob went to shake my hand and he looked me right into the eyes and he said, "Yep, that's it." We had a spark from the moment we met, but when Rob's on set, there is no time to mess around, everybody brings their highest game, and that's also why I love our father-son scenes so much.

We're very lucky we get given really special storylines; from the moment we meet those two, the bond is so strong and it's just been a beautiful place to build from - and now he's my best man at the wedding.

Does the pressure of the meaning of 'Tarlos' to so many, and what it has become outside of the show, get to you?

Ronen: No, I don't let it get to me. I feel like a lot of pressure is self-made; I don't know if this is just the way I was raised but I am able to compartmentalize really well. I stick to the root of things:the character, the story.

I do appreciate seeing what the fans think and and feel, and this actor-fan relationship is becoming really beautifully interwoven, especially when you get to meet the fans, but I'm able to separate the two. The core of everything is always the work, because if these characters aren't fully lived in and we're not giving our everything, we're not giving our heart and soul to these characters? Then I don't know if fans would necessarily connect with them as intensely.

I won't share what me and Rafa talk about, but the beauty of this whole situation is that I've been able to lean on Rafa, and Rafa has been able to lean on me through all this, because nobody knows what we're going through except for us. Fans can feel that we really care about these two guys — and we care about them maybe more than anyone because it literally is on our shoulders.

But I'm just very lucky to be on this journey with Rafa, because this could be really stressful if you're working with someone that you don't get along with ,or vibe with, on a professional level.

Rafael: As soon as you start making it about you because you were listening to people's opinions, or the critics… As an actor I need to stay focused because at the end of the day, the reason why Carlos and TK get so much attention is because the focus has always been on the character.

In theater, it's always about making it about the other person. When you're doing a scene, always make it about the other person, and that's the work that as actors we need to do with our characters, make it about the character. Forget the noise.

What do you hope the legacy of Tarlos is?

Rafael: I hope it inspires people, in the simplest way, to say, Love yourself.

We had these two broken characters that reacted very differently to their brokenness. One of them abused substances, the other one isolated himself, and both were responses to trauma. When you neglect who you are it's because that's what you were shown from your closest people, so we had two broken characters who came together because I think they were both yearning for a deep connection, not only with each other but with themselves.

I can only hope these two characters and their love can inspire you to, if not completely love and believe in yourself, but to start that conversation with yourself.

#rafael silva #ronen rubinstein #tarlos #911 lone star #ls season 4 #ls 4 pr #ls press #interviews #ls 4 bts #may 2023 #hello magazine #quotes

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tarlossource · 2 years ago

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9-1-1: Lone Star’s Ronen Rubinstein and Rafael Silva on TV wedding and the beauty of queer love

9-1-1: Lone Star fans will finally see TK Strand (Ronen Rubinstein) and Carlos Reyes (Rafael Silva) get married in the two-part season four finale

When you think back over the last four years, and see the growth of Tarlos as a couple, and TK and Carlos as individuals, has there been anything that has truly surprised you?

Ronen: Not surprised, but I am most proud of their communication skills! We've seen the evolution of these two, and what were terrible communication skills!

How have TK and Carlos changed you as actors?

This show has also given me the opportunity to provide a life for myself, and my wife, that I didn't necessarily have growing up.

What would you say to 2018 Rafael who cried in the bathroom after his audition?

Does the pressure of the meaning of 'Tarlos' to so many, and what it has become outside of the show, get to you?

But I'm just very lucky to be on this journey with Rafa, because this could be really stressful if you're working with someone that you don't get along with ,or vibe with, on a professional level.

What do you hope the legacy of Tarlos is?

Rafael: I hope it inspires people, in the simplest way, to say, Love yourself.

I can only hope these two characters and their love can inspire you to, if not completely love and believe in yourself, but to start that conversation with yourself.

#press #tarlos #tk strand #carlos reyes #911 lone star #tk strand x carlos reyes #ronen rubinstein #rafael silva

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manycrows · 6 months ago

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My reasoning, starting with the Harmonious Arrangement and working clockwise:

CIA and Trans Rights War Profiteering: Both are enjoying the taste of boot leather and forming a bond based on the fact that other leftists just don't seem to like their takes.

Trans Rights and Money is Queer: self-explanatory.

Money is Queer and TFW No Bestie: These guys were the ends of the loop I made, but I feel like Bestieless could find a sense of community by asking Money about finances and stuff, and getting infodumped on.

Bestieless and Xi Jinping Hamilton: theater kids are notoriously friendly, especially if they sense they can indoctrinate you. Bestieless would absolutely cave to the pressure. Also, Hamilton fans evoke the era of tumblr where people called basically any insult a slur, and thusly would avoid using words that would be hurtful to their fragile friend.

Hamilton and Cute Korean Slurs: Similar energies between kpop stans and hardcore broadway people, might bond over the songs they consider rap and/or taylor swift.

Slurs and Hunter Gatherer Shoplifter: Turns out they were already twitter moots

Shoplifter and Capitalist Aliens: Capitalist Aliens has put a lot of thought into economics and aliens, and I think that the anticapitalist nature of shoplifting, and the way that the lifter has justified it as human nature would give them hope that humans aren't inherently capitalist.

Aliens and Tobacco Connection: Tobacco connection strikes me as someone who probably believes in aliens, and would come to agree with Aliens pretty quickly.

Tobacco Connection and Cyber Communist Bezos: I think that Tobacco would think that Bezos fan is naive, but would be uplifted by their innocence. Both are rallying around something most people in their circles agree are harmful.

Cyber Bezos and Working Class CIA: Working Class CIA would absolutely feed on Cyber Bezos's lack of critical thinking to talk about how surveillance is good. Both leave the party satisfied.

Now, the chaos table, clockwise again:

Cute Korean Slurs and TFW No Bestie: First off, Kpop stan twitter account would say bestie all the time. Secondly, Bestieless would try and make friends with Slurs, and Slurs would correctly assume that they're a poser, and call their thousands of followers to destroy Bestieless's self esteem.

Bestieless and Tobacco Connection: In my head, Tobacco Connection is one of the kinda mean tumblr gays who smoke, and wouldn't have time for the bullshit of avoiding a word to make someone comfy.

Tobacco and Money is Queer: Money is Queer would probably agree with Tobacco's argument that smoking is important for the American queer community, and Tobacco would immediately rethink their position because of dislike for the guy.

Money is Queer and Women be Shoplifting: Gay Spending vs. Female Theft: FIGHT!

Shoplifting and Working Class CIA: Lifter and a fed.

CIA and Xi Jinping Hamilton: CIA would happily smash the illusion of patriotism that Lin Manuel Miranda so carefully built up over thousands of hours of song, causing the Hamilton fan to short circuit and explode.

Hamilton and Trans Raytheon: Trans Raytheon is past this Steven Universe stuff. We need big guns and we need them NOW.

Trans Raytheon and Capitalist Aliens: Aliens chews Raytheon out for jumping to armament so quickly, because it's scaring the aliens. Trans Raytheon calls them a transphobe.

Capitalist Aliens and Cyber Bezos: Cyber Bezos thinks that Amazon making first contact would be a good idea, and Aliens bites down on their jugular hard.

Cyber Bezos and Slurs are Cute: the inherent meanness to a lot of parts of stan twitter makes Cyber Bezos reconsider their optimistic trust in humanity.

Where am I in all this? I hired CIA guy to kill me so I wouldn't need to attend the party.

it's been a bad year for essential workers, mental health, small businesses and probably many of the people reading this, but it's been a great year for hot takes

#long post #crows adds to a post #idk what to tag this as. also I'm sorry #I spent quite a while on this and drew out a lot of graphs

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fubukiswifenoimnotjoking · 4 years ago

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One Punch Man ship reviews bc I’m bored

WARNING: BIG ONE PUNCH MAN WEBCOMIC AND MANGA SPOILERS

GenoSai: do I even have to say it?? They compliment each other so well and are already besties. They make me so happy and I love their love. Genos literally came into Saitama’s life and brought so much new life and excitement when Saitama thought he’d never get any. Genos gives him love and appreciation all the time and never abandons him. Saitama isn’t connected to his feelings, but he cares about Genos and would do just about anything for him, to keep him safe. Genos constantly teases Saitama and Saitama grumbles and takes it with some banter, Genos is super emotional and Saitama does his best to comfort him, they fucking love shopping together and just hanging out period, they talk about the dumbest shit and somehow they still understand each other with the one brain cell they both share. It takes Genos forever to realize his feelings are deeper and Saitama has to be TOLD by their friends that he should fucking realize his feelings already. Just...I could keep going but I’ll stop! 2718873737839439/10 (let’s not talk about the age gap btw, 6 years isn’t bad and Genos is a legal adult.)

FubuSai: the stereotypical straight ship ppl gravitate to. Eh. I can see it, but at the same time I feel like they don’t completely compliment each other. Are they a hot couple? Duh. But I feel like their pride and communication issues would get in the way. 4/10

TatsuSai: hnghhhh. Someone mentioned this before, can’t remember who, but Saitama literally thinks she’s a child in canon. So that just....makes it gross. Same problems as FubuSai but worse. I’d rather see them as hesitant friends w a weird bond. 0/10

SonSai/SonicSai/idk the ship name: eh, toxic. Cant see them getting past communication issues and pride, again. Plus Sonic wants to kill his ass. Also, I just feel no romantic tension?? Even in fanfic it just falls flat for me. 3/10

MumenSai: a favorite!! Wish I saw it more, it’s very cute. Mumen is so kind and would absolutely be there to help him w self esteem and just help him be a better person period. And Saitama would have a cute little kind guy to tease and open up to. I could maybe see Mumen’s kindness getting on Saitama’s nerves when he’s in a bad mood bc Mumen almost never snaps and Saitama feels shittier, or maybe Mumen being mad at Saitama for being kinda lazy at home while Mumen is working his ass off and he’s like babe I just got home, please stop playing the fucking game and pay attention to me I have a concussion again. Prob too nitpicky on this one, heh, but 8.4/10

Genos x Sonic: wtf? As a crack ship, sure. That’s hilarious. But as a serious ship, 1.3/10 bc I could MAYBE see them bond over their love of my chemical romance or sum.

Anyone x Puri: -128382839287473828739219833468282/10. Fuck Puri.

TatsuKing: eh. Indifferent on this one too. I can see them getting along and Tatsu being the mean but supportive gf in public, but a sweet gf in private. King could be like her calm oasis of video games and sweet blonde shy bf. I sway more towards ace/aro King and queer non binary Tatsu, but this is still good. 6/10

FubuPsy/Fubuki x Psykos/idk: hell yeah!! This series NEEDS more wlw ships, both for me to project onto and to cry over. Prob my fav Fubuki ship, cuz they’ve known each other since they were young and had a tenuous friendship. I didn’t use to ship it until I saw that scene in the wc after the MA arc (u know the one) but here we are. They’re big personalities so any interaction is bound to be chaotic at first, but I really think they’d work. Pride put to the side, Psykos could be someone for Fubuki to finally rely on other than the Blizzard Bunch, someone to confide in, a badass partner to fight monsters with, talk about nothing for hours with, be a super fashionable #girlboss couple with, and someone who would really see her for who she is-especially w Psykos knowledge of her from the past. Hell, Psykos might even know her better than Tatsumaki. Fubuki could be an anchor to her like she currently is in the wc, providing a quiet comfort and making her open up little by little. Would prob be toxic at first bc of the MA arc and their desire for power, but is a very good ship I think. 9/10

Speedal/Sonic x Mumen: an old fav! Sonic would have a hard time not hating Mumen at first bc he’s the picture definition of a hero, sum he hates. But hanging out with him would show him Mumen is a GOOD guy genuinely and he’d be like ohhhh shit I’m in love w this man. Mumen would thoroughly appreciate someone to make him live a little, break some rules and stand up to ppl when they talk over him. He’d DEFINITELY be upset when finding out Sonic is an assassin, but would prob be conflicted bc he knows Sonic is a good person despite that. Would prob make Sonic give up on killing for them to be together. Sucks bc of the assassin thing and bc they haven’t met in canon! So we’re not sure how they’d interact with each other, sigh. 7.4/10

Okamaitachi x Bushidrill: a very underrated ship! To be clear, I headcanon Kama as a trans woman and so does most of the fandom. Anyway, very sweet and already built as a friendship bc of their partnership under Atomic Samurai. I can’t remember who writes fic and makes art of them on tumblr but AAAAA it’s so good! Very sweet. Basically depicted Bushi as a nervous himbo who’s honest about his feelings but scared to say them and Kama as a sweet lady who’s crazy about Bushi. Very sweet. Want more of them!! 6.1/10

OneZon/Zombieman x One Shotter: never even thought of the ship till I saw @megidolan art work! Very wholesome, and from what little we know of Shotter we know he’s a sort of nervous yet strong willed guy, and Zombieman would totally help him calm down bc he’s so chill. I could see them sharing cigarettes and talking shit on heroes while cuddling u know? 7/10 only because I don’t see enough of it but very good concept.

Mumarou/Mumen x Garou: a lot of ppl are gonna hate me for this but....I don’t like it. I’ve tried! I just—idk. I’ve read so many good fics about them that make me like it a bit, but the concept is just eh. I think their relationship is, in most reps, really cliche angsty stuff. I wish I could elaborate I just...gah! Basically, there’s better ships for the both of them imo. Sorry!! 4.3/10

Sonic x Flashy/SonFlash: yes!! Prob my fav Sonic ship. They have soooo much tension, it’s almost worse than Genos’ tension w Saitama. Flashy LITERALLY poisoned Sonic so that he wouldn’t be forced to kill him at the ninja graduation. He cares. They’ll never say it out loud, but they care. They have someone who understands what they went through in each other and someone they’re both so similar to, yet so different from. Sonic is more vocal about his expressions and let’s people know it while Flashy often keeps things to himself, they could really influence the other to be more this or that. I could see a lot of comfort with these two, and not much is needed for relationship development; they already have so much unspoken between them after meeting for the first time in years. Love it. Wish I saw it more! 10/11

KingSai: wonderful! Out of the few ppl Saitama is close to, def my second fav pick for a ship for him. There’s a post saying how Saitama doesn’t cut King off when he’s going on rants about games and stuff bc he’s talking TO Saitama, not at him like Genos tends to do on accident. They’re already great buddies! Saitama could find a shy gamer man who he can talk to about manga and stuff and also a passionate bf who could break out of his shell w Saitama and be himself with no lies. King can have someone to protect him, duh, someone who finally understands his weird sense of humor, and someone to shower him in the love and kindness he deserves when Saitama is in the mood to be all out like that w his affections. Plus he’s Saitama’s anchor and brings him back down when he’s super anxious and depressed and tells him what’s up that he needs to fix without sugarcoating it. Would def have a bunch of inside jokes and go on dates that are just staying inside playing video games all night. Domestic af. 10/10

Fubuki x Mizuki: my first wlw Fubuki ship! Hard to find but very good. Mizuki is this big ball of kindness, energy, and raw power that would make Fubuki go ‘Ohhhhhhh, big pretty lady make brain go brrr.’ I could see Mizuki grounding Fubuki when she’s in over her head, giving her random gifts bc she saw sum and thought of her, doing a marathon run and wildly waving at Fubuki in the crowd, and all around being a dependable woman confident in herself and in love with a mysterious esper. Prob a little shy when it comes to anything physical bc she loves Fubuki so much and is overwhelmed by the realness of being w her. Fubuki gives Mizuki advice on ‘acting like a proper hero’ or whatever and though Mizuki thinks she doesn’t need it, Fubuki still helps her a lot w her career and being taken more seriously by others. Would give Mizuki someone who loves her for who she is and would go wild on her in private when she can be open about her affection, would be someone Mizuki could exercise with and listen intently to Mizuki’s physical knowledge, and would absolutely bandage her when she’s all banged up. Hnghh love this ship. It’s only behind the FubuPsy ship juuuuust a little bc they haven’t met in canon so we can’t be sure about their interactions and stuff. 8.8/10, I love WOMEN

Batarou: how could I go this far without mentioning them?! They have SOOOO much tension in the centichoro fight, like come on. Both snarky assholes who are huge softies one the inside, Badd being the more logical one (still a himbo, tho) and Garou being the more chaotic one. Probably take forever to admit their feelings bc they’re so prideful and stupid <3 flirt through constant wrestling matches and it takes Genos saying ‘they should kiss already, they’re getting on his nerves’ for them to finally realize what’s up. (@rayadraws has a great au where Garou Genos and Badd are a chaotic friend squad and Genos is the only brain of the group, haha. Very good au y’all check it out!) Would constantly pick on each other affectionately and switch into concerned SO when the other is hurt like the big teddy bears they are. Raise Zenko together for sure. Garou would fumble being romantic and Badd would find it both hilarious and cute. 11/12

Zombie mask/Amai x Zombieman:

So. I don’t like Amai Mask and I used to hate him, BUT the webcomic and fic have really helped me calm down on him (he’s still a dick tho), so it’s easier to want to ship him and stuff. Bc of Amai’s anger issues and controlling behavior, I could see this relationship being super toxic and icky—but I think they have some form of understanding that pulls Amai back from being a complete dick, you know? Start off as fuck buddies and slowly form something else from spending companionable time together other than screwing. Zombieman pulls Amai back from his angry fits and soothes him over with his logic. Talk maaaaaad shit about heroes, but only when they’re alone because Zombieman knows Amai will talk loud af about the heroes they’re roasting and Zombie doesn’t wanna stop a fight from happening. Zombieman loves making Amai flustered and has a secret check list in his head of all the things that get Amai red faced. Loves to listen to Amai rant about things for hours and loves to watch his face go through almost cartoon like expressions as he talks. He won’t admit it, but Zombie loves to be spoiled by Amai’s shit tons of cash and often takes rides in Amai’s limos when he wants to smoke and think to himself. Amai has a hard time realizing how his feelings have changed, but gets hit hard with it when he wakes up to Zombie making them breakfast one morning while wearing Amai’s underwear. Amai also loves to spoil Zombie and takes him out to restaurants and buys him cool new weapons on the weekends. @batneko has pretty much gotten me into this ship and I strongly suggest looking at their works! 7.9/10

DemonKnight/Genos x Zero/Drive Knight: I’m pretty sure this used to be a crack ship before the past like 10 manga chapters—and now here we are! Not a fav bc 1. ZERO LEFT GENOS TO SELF DESTRUCT AFTER THEY COMBINED TO FORM THE FUCKING JET HE WAS JUST LIKE lol bye SO LIKE if he left him to die that’s super hard for me to forgive and ship grrr 2. Disregarding the manga’s canon and looking at the wc, while I love the little trip they went on where Zero demonstrated his abilities and helped Genos kill monsters, it’s super sus. He knew alllll of this info on Metal Knight and was super supportive and understanding when Genos said he needed time to think. Like,,,what are his intentions? We know so little about him—is he trying to trick Genos or was he being sincere? THAT STUFF ASIDE, they’re a really fun ship. They’re both huge fucking nerds and can keep up with their talk on robotics for hours, they’re both cyborgs so they understand each other’s pain, and they’re both super cool and angsty. I think they could really settle into a deep bond that can go platonic or romantic, just depends. Genos needs more ppl in his life so hell yeah! Plus, he can really let go with Zero bc they don’t have that teacher/student relationship and Zero, if he’s really a sincere and kind guy like in the wc, can be there for Genos and listen to him. Don’t have much to say on this ship other than @wellthisisembarrassing makes GORGEOUS art of them! 6.3/10

Webuiko/Suiko x Webigaza: YEAH I KNOW THEY HAVENT INTERACTED IN CANON AND WE DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT THEM BUT HEAR ME OUT. Webigaza—cool af determined cyborg idol who’s surprisingly down to earth when talking with Child Emperor. Suiko—sassy and honest fighter who doesn’t take shit and is very passionate. Suiko would go to talk to Web then immediately freak out bc aaaa she’s way prettier than she thought, she can’t do this! Web would have to gently encourage Suiko to talk and at first is like ‘ah man, must be an adoring fan, ugh I’m so tired. At least she’s hot’ but when Suiko snaps out of her shyness Web is like oh! She’s super cool wtf. Always bump into each other during fights and help each other get fixed up, Suiko using her muscle power to lift Web’s pieces (and give Web a great view of Suiko’s muscles holy SHIT) and Web would patch Suiko up. Not to be stereotypical, but they’re def a masc/femme couple. I love the idea of this ship soooo much and I really hope they interact! 6.6/10 only bc they haven’t met 😭😭😭 look them up on here! There’s some great art of them by a few blogs

Dr. Kuseno x Bang: pretty sure @baldyborg came up with this one! Super cute. Just two old dudes finding a nice friendship in each other, maybe after Bang helps carry Genos to Kuseno’s after a day of fighting. Bang would find Kuseno to be a very cute little nerd man and would be sooo impressed by Kuseno’s mad scientist skills. Kuseno would be super impressed when seeing Bang in action too. They’d prob talk as soon as they meet each other and Genos would be in the background like you guys it’s been an hour, please fix me I’m on the verge of death 🧍🏻Bang would give Kuseno advice on training techniques to teach Genos and advice on making his bodies more martial arts ready or sum, meanwhile Kuseno would give his take on how to be kinder to Garou so that Bang would learn to repair the relationship with a gentleness he’s seemingly lacking (yes I’m talking about the chapter where he and Garou start fighting and Bang is just not doing enough to reach out to Garou, he’s being a callous old man! So yeah I’m still mad about that). Genos and Saitama would prob be out on a date and Saitama would be like oh theres Bang, wonder what he’s doing? Then Kuseno would walk up and kiss Bang and Genos and Sai would be shocked like SIRS 👬 Genos would tell Bang he doesn’t need another adoptive dad and Bang would be like....ok.... I see them retiring in a cottage together and Bang would become a huge softie. Yes I’m actively ignoring chapter 141 of the wc, shut up. 7.6/10

TankTop master x Mumen: they have a nice friendship going on in the manga right now! Just bros supporting bros. Tank is the picture definition of a muscly himbo and Mumen is his cute passionate bf. Also workout buddies af!! Don’t have much to say other than pretty good ship, just not a fav. 5.2/10

To sum it up—

GenoSai: 2718873737839439/10, Batarou: 11/12, SonFlash: 10/11, KingSai: 10/10, FubuPsy: 9/10, Fubuki x Mizuki: 8.8/10, MumenSai: 8.4/10, ZombieMask: 7.9/10, Dr. Kuseno x Bang: 7.6/10, Speedal: 7.4/10, OneZon: 7/10, Webuiko: 6.6/10, DemonKnight: 6.3/10, Okamaitachi x Bushidrill: 6.1/10, TatsuKing: 6/10, TankTop Master x Mumen: 5.2/10, Mumarou: 4.3/10, FubuSai: 4/10, SonSai: 3/10, Genos x Sonic: 1.3/10, TatsuSai: 0/10, anyone x Puri: -1283828319833468282/10

If there’s any ships I left out, it’s bc I don’t know them, don’t wanna talk about them, or just don’t have an opinion strong enough. Also, I know there are some poly ships like Genos x Saitama x Fubuki, but I’ve read only one fic about that (it was pretty good, here’s the link https://archiveofourown.org/works/5406992 ) so I don’t feel like talking about it. Hope no ones offended! All my opinion here :)

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freddiekluger · 4 years ago

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I am all ears for your season 3 cap's big gay awakening ideas 👀👀

alright, you asked so sit down and strap in

before we get started- a few details are recycled/repurposed from earlier headcanons/ask answers (characterisation is like that), and i came up with all this a couple weeks back, so any overlap with other peoples suggestions is totally unintentional! i’ve just been finding the energy to properly write them up as originally i riffed them with a friend late at night lmao

the captain: homo evolution

introduction (scroll down if you’re not bothered for the hardcore analysis/logic)

this isn’t necessarily what i think WILL happen as much as how i would do it. over the past two seasons of Ghosts, we’ve seen the captain’s main character arc being centred around him loosening up, from learning to value mike, alison, and the other ghosts more as equals than soldiers/means to an end to the season 2 finale, where cap is not only expressing an interest in flowers and fashion (distinctly un-soldierly pursuits) but joining the party and other men (the direct opposite of About Last Night, in which cap bah humbugs partying/’gay abandon’ and is left speechless by the mere presence of a mostly naked man). that being said, the captain is still the captain: his character is still centred around this need for rules and structure and he still finds his identity in the archetypal WW2 military man- all of his incremental moves towards a more ‘modern’ perspective have ultimately been made possible because, like Ben said on twitter, the captain isn’t CONSCIOUSLY aware that he’s gay. he has the underlying feeling that he’s different, he knows of his tendency to attach himself to specific men and form incredibly close bonds (and, as demonstrated by his attempts to hide them, is at least somewhat aware that that’s not the norm), but in his mind he’s written that off as merely “not being a ladies man”.

the captain is from the 1940s- it’s one thing for him to see and be supportive of a same-gender wedding in present day England where gay=legal unions, marketed doritos, and homophobia being still present but generally frowned upon, and another thing entirely for him to have to apply it to himself. we’ve already seen that the captain appears to be stuck in the past more than any of the other ghosts (”the war is over!” “is it, alison? is it?”- he also references the past more frequently than most of the others), and in his past sodomite gay=punishable by imprisonment and chemical castration, back alley hookups, and the constant threat of blackmail and violence. obviously, despite all this, there was a vibrant underground queer history taking place in England during this time & not all of the above is accurate, but it’s what cap would have seen, and the England of the early 20th century is denoted as being a particularly brutal period for lgbtq+ folks (the destruction of the first world war exacerbated rage and frustration, and lgbtq+ people weren’t the only gorup to end up on the receiving end of that, but i digress). this is basiclly just a really long way of me saying that the captain compartmentalising to that degree was, and to some extent is, a survival mechanism. confronting his homoseuxality means confronting what it means for a 1940s man to be a dreaded homosexual, and all of that directly conflicts with the image of ‘the Captain’ he’s built in his mind.

we’ve seen this in Redding Weddy, where the captain is aware that Havers means/meant more to him than was normal for a captain/2ic relationship (he does attempts to hide his affection- “i shall miss you, Havers. by which of course i mean we shall miss you “he left me, i mean he left for the front”), but is never able to fully verbalise WHY, and it only takes a series of increasingly dramatic prompts before he will even mention the idea of Havers, let alone begin to articulate their relationship.

all this just goes to prove that for the captain to properly ‘come out’, there needs to be an external inciting incident- he could easily have gone on shadowing attractive men whenever they visit and avoiding interrogating those feelings for another seventy years if Button house remained without alison and mike.

while at least julian, pat, and robin have noticed that the cap is not the most heteroseual of men (they’re the only ghosts who have visibly reacted when cap says gay shit), they all appear to have decided to just not mention it, which makes alison and mike our wildcards. not only has alison’s ability to see and communicate with the ghosts already connected them more to the modern world than they ever have been, alison, and mike by extension, has a personal stake in the wellbeing/general growth of the ghosts. happy ghosts=happy house, and like it or not some of them are even beginning to become friends. [i probably didn’t need to write all this like explaining my decisions, but i think figuring out the motivations behind everyon just develops the flavour and lets us have a sexy and accurate headcanon]

so,

the episode

while the captain might not consciously know he’s a fruit (derogatory), he is well and truly terrible at concealing the thirst (it’s not his fault things just keep slipping out!)- i love the idea of just having a supercut near the beginning of the episode that just shows that the captain has gotten even GAYER since last season, with slip ups becoming almost a daily occurence, but it’s getting to the point where it’s actually becoming a serious hazard. last week, he was supposed to be looking out for alison while attempted to put up blinds, but one of mike’s friends (who was over ‘helping out’, which mostly meant eating chips and covering himself in paint) walked through the room with his shirt off and paint handprints on the seat of his shorts, distracting the captain from realising that alison’s stepladder was about to give way.

with the increased presence of non elderly men in the house (the previous owner wasn’t exactly the life of the party) the captain is getting gayer and gayer, but he’s also becoming more and more defensive, while his brisk demeanour and need for control regresses to much more of a season 1 state (a subconscious attempt to regain control as things get close to spilling over). it’s not the first time his repression has almost slipped, he spent much of his life surrounded by soldiers after all, but with no war and no corporeal body he’s got almost nothing to distract himself from it. needless to say, between the safety hazards and the almost agressive defensiveness which derails any interaction, something needs to be done about the captain.

throughout the week, alison tries to find the opportune time to talk to the captain about what’s going on with him for everyone’s sake, but cap keeps masterfully evading any ‘deep’ talk with willful misunderstanding or just straight up dismissal (which at times gets a bit rude), and alison really doesn’t have the time- her and mike are caught up with managing the first official room redecoration and butting heads with a passive agressive delivery driver. insert general shenangigans, but at some point the captain’s whole “accidentally sabotage something by being distracted and then attack anyone who dares even look at him the wrong way afterwards” act causes alison to exasperatedly blurt out “we all know you’re gay! we get it! you like men! you can drop the act!”. there’s no malice or anything but, as we know, when alison gets run ragged things don’t tend to come out quite right.

everything falls silent (and mike is vaguely confused), and the captain just looks like a deer in headlights. as alison catches her breath, pat pipes up with a “it’s alright, cap, we don’t mind- now we can focus on the task at hand”. the captain sort of regains his composure and once again attempts to brush them all off with a scoff and a “i haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about. if any of us is distracted, i-it’s... kitty!” but it’s easy to tell he looks rattled. most of his words don’t come out right, and after trying to blame kitty for their failures (she just had the unfortunate luck of being in his line of sight), he ends up doing an awkward little walk away which quickly turns into a full on sprint. mike, having finished processing alison yelling about gay shit to the air and kind of pieced together what must have happened awkwardly chimes in with “it’s okay to be gay!”- alison just pats him on the back (”yeah no he’s gone, mike.” “gone?” “sprinted away.” “huh”)

the episode continues with the captain flat out avoiding alison and the other ghosts to an almost funny extent as the other plots continue. it takes a bit for alison to realise why the captain reacted so badly (in fact, it’s actually mike who remembers that he’s 1940s ghost- “he’s probably just scared and taking it out on everyone else”). while thomas and julian vote for leaving the captain be so they can have some peace and quiet, fanny/pat/alison/robin decide someone needs to talk to him (fanny surprised everyone but after all, she got murdered because her husband had to live in secrecy- if talking to the captain will avert any further crises, she’s happy to make sure someone else does it for her). kitty’s still upset about being singled out, but she knows better than anyone that sometimes all you need is a friend- cue realisation no. 2.

with the captain avoiding everyone, sending in a regular emissary isn’t going to work. they need to find the least threatening person possible, with no agenda or history other than being there to help (a friend, if you will)- cue everyone looking at mike.

a quick offscreen briefing later, we see mike wandering out to the field where the captain has exiled himself- remember that up until this point, the captain was still in conscious denial about his sexuality, so being forced to confront it head on (and finding out that apparently everyone ‘knew’, which for cap would feel like an intimate invasion of privacy/forced vulnerability) would rattle him to the point of self-exile- he might not be able to run from his sexuality, but he can run from people. the thing is, mike can’t see or hear the ghosts, which means the captain can’t be frightened off by any expectations (mike actually talks to/at cap while facing completely the wrong direction, but consdiering the above point, this works rather well).

the captain was alternating between pacing, fiddling with his swagger stick, and sitting, but he unconsciously stands to attention as mike wanders over. he’s used to mike not being able to see them, so mike asking to sit down takes him by surprise, disrupting his instinct to flee again.

mike begins a little awkwardly (”mind if i sit?” *silence* “...i’m just gonna assume that’s a no. or is it a yes? yeah anyways i’m just gonna sit. so... heard you’ve been going through a rough patch”), and the captain almost scoffs and wanders off, but something about the clumsy earnestness in mike’s voice, the captain’s vulnerable state, and the fact that it’s been so long since cap has had anyone actually check in on him, that he stays put. he keeps standing and staring away from button house, and mike keeps speaking to the empty air to his left, and alison and the ghosts stay hidden behind their bush a few metres away, but at least the captain is listening. for the first time in weeks, he’s not on the offensive.

“i can’t actually see or hear you, so i’m just gonna talk and assume you’re listening. alison mentioned you have a habit of running away but, um, maybe don’t do that please?”

“my mate daniel's gay. uh, homosexual, you’d probably say- did you have gay when you were alive? did it just mean happy? anyway, he didn’t come out- that means tell people- until he left high school. we all kind of guessed it, the other kids at school gave him a real tough time for it, but he just squashed it down. couldn’t imagine that all the things people were shouting at him were true, so he ignored it. he’s doing good now though. got married to his husband last year, currently runs a bookshop. so that’s nice.”

it goes quiet for a bit. the captain hasn’t moved, and we’re still only seeing shots of him from the back, but there’s a little less tension in his stance than there was before. mike clears his throat before continuing.

“i’m guessing you’re probably pretty scared right now. i would be- i mean not that you should be, you shouldn’t, but coming from your... situation, i’m guessing it’d be hard. no one’s saying you have to be anything you’re not ready to be, but lots of things that are scary are actually not bad. airplanes, skydiving, clowns- well, not the clown from that movie, but he gives clowns a bad rep- i’m sure there are plenty of lovely clowns out in the world. still give me the creeps though.” the captain makes a captain-y noise of assent about the clown comment- he never liked them either.

mike glances over to the bush where alison and the ghosts were attempting to listen in (they could only catch every few words- mary got particularly concerned about why mike had referenced clowns), and the captain still hasn’t run away, so alison motions for mike to keep going. he starts telling the captain a story from his uni days. it’s got nothing to do with the captain, or being gay, or self-acceptance, or anything like that- it’s just a standard tale of comedic but inventive problem solving. the captain sits himself down next to mike (to his right, avoiding mike’s gaze, and still staring away from button house), muttering that his legs are getting a bit tired. he sits there for a while, and mike just talks. sometimes he circles back to the gay thing, sometimes he just asks the captain questions, before remembering that he can’t actually hear any answer, but then he keeps asking anyway, thinking that cap might need to talk. he doesn’t at first, but slowly he offers up a word or two. and then a sentence, and then maybe more- mike will accidentally cut the captain off, or leave the silence to long, but the captain doesn’t mind (it’s a nice reminder that nothing he says will actually go on to have consequence). at one point, mike gets out his phone to show the captain photos of his mate daniel and daniel's husband, not just their wedding day but casual photos- couples drinks with him and alison, dinners at each other's places, the bookshop.

alison and the other ghosts have long gone, and the sun is just about to sink below the horizon by the time the captain stands himself back up with the traditional knee crack and grunt. he looks at mike and nods, giving him a simple thank you before turning to walk (not run) back to button house, head held slightly higher and looking more relaxed than he’s been all episode. the captain has still got a lot to figure out, but at least it’s a start.

[i love the dramatic ending but the implication is that alison has to go and fetch mike bc he has no ideas cap has left and is prepared to keep going lol- also by no means is cap suddenly going to ditch his characterisation and become a yas kween gay right away, i didn’t go into the aftermath bc this is alreayd fucking LONG but let me know if you want follow up????}

EDIT: i've rbed this with the follow up/part 2 attached!

EDIT 2, much later: switched out mike's reference to his 'younger brother' to a school friend, since the christmas special confirmed mike only has sisters and we're all about accuracy here

#bbc ghosts #ghosts bbc #the captain #ben willbond #bbc ghosts captain #bbc ghosts headcanon #ghosts headcanon #lgbt #lgbtq #gay #mlm

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asleepinawell · 4 years ago

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How has poi changed your life? Genuinely curious, I love this show

I got this ask in May '20 and am only now answering it. :')

part of the problem with answering it is that half of the answer would be to the question of 'how has fandom changed your life' where poi is the fandom I've been the most active in and where fandom made the most difference. and that's a long story

my first draft of this was over 2k words long, and went back much further in time explaining how i had and hadn’t fit into queer spaces and fandom throughout my life. I edited it way back but it’s still long-ish, so you can read it below the break

many years ago, when I got my first full time job in my chosen industry my senior year of college I was so busy that I couldn't function. massive unhealthy amounts of overtime and a toxic work environment. (don't work at tech start-ups, kids!!!) my social life vanished. strikethrough on livejournal happened right then too and fandom, which i’d only been a silent participant in at that point, kind of went quiet for a while and by the time it started regrouping I was so busy that I didn't know about it. several awful years later I quit my job, spent several months in my room in my parents' house trying to recover from massive burn out (see my comment about tech start-ups), and then got a job on the opposite coast and left behind my whole circle of friends some of whom made up my entire connection to the queer community at that time.

making friends after college is very hard when you're an introvert and just generally don't like socializing that much. making queer friends can be even harder since there's fewer places to meet them and there's often an underlying question of dating/sex that hovers around awkwardly when sometimes what you want is just an absolutely no romo/no sex friendship. so while I did make a few queer friends eventually, I didn't have that same sort of community I did before I'd moved and I missed it

(I would be remiss in not saying that the queer friends i made in this time are all amazing and wonderful and some are still my close friends and very important to me. The thing I’m highlighting here was the lack of feeling like I was part of a larger queer community).

fast forward a bit. I get sick. like really really sick. I'm in and out of the ER, I'm missing tons of work, I'm mostly bed-ridden. I think after the last few years people can more easily appreciate how intensely lonely and surreal being stuck at home by yourself non stop can be when you're not used to it. sometime right before that I'd joined tumblr for the sole purpose of looking at cat pictures on my phone during boring meetings. I wasn't really aware that this was where fandom had migrated to (it was in fact possible to use tumblr without intersecting with fandom). but stuck home alone with time to kill I started looking for art and gifs of the tv and games I was consuming and stumbled into fandom tumblr and specifically queer femslash fandom.

I kind of poked around the territory and eventually fell into the carmilla fandom which became the first fandom I actually created content for. a few of my fics had a decent audience and while I was never part of the central core of the fandom I made some good friends there. some of y'all probably followed me back then. I eventually drifted away from carmilla for a lot of reasons I won't get into and stumbled right into poi. this would have been between seasons 4 and 5, late 2015-early 2016.

my health problems get more exciting and I end up in the hospital. I have vague memories of watching poi on my laptop in my hospital bed (vague because I was on a lot of morphine). I actually posted some fic while I was in the hospital (would have been the end of my carmilla run still).

and I get out of the hospital (early 2016) and am somewhat better but it's pretty clear that I'm going to have chronic health issues probably for the rest of my life. my social life, such as it was, was mostly dead, a lot of stuff I used to do for fun was much harder to manage. I'm still spending a ton of time at home (not even counting covid) and I have bad days where I feel terrible and can't do much. but I'll come back to that

I think most of us remember 2016. the year tv show runners fully embraced the bury your gays trope (and sometimes the fridging trope at the same time as a bonus!) and, by autostraddle's tally, 30 queer female characters in tv shows died. and then on top of that we had the actual real world tragedy of the pulse nightclub shootings. it was a massively depressing time all around for queer people

s5 of poi aired that year. I know people have different opinions on s5 of poi, and that's valid. I hated it. and I really intensely hated how it treated root and shaw. there aren't enough words to express how fucking angry I was after s5. or rather, there are 319,678 words.

I wrote a fic many of you may have read called sliding towards chaos that rewrote the entirety of poi from mid-s3 onwards. it got pretty popular lol. I put so much into writing it, too. it was basically a second full time job for me and a great way to take my mind off the fact I was still having health problems and all the crazy shit going on in the world (we had a presidential election in the US in 2016 :)))) it did not go well!)

i'm very proud of writing stc, and even if I think it isn't my strongest writing (which is good! improving over time is good!), it was what really connected me to a lot of other people in the fandom. I felt part of the fandom community in a way I hadn't with carmilla and it was an intensely queer community built around shared interests

one of the problems with finding queer friend groups out in the 'real world' is you're often gathering to meet based on the uniting factor of being queer, and your interests may vary greatly. fandom is amazing because it lets you find queer people who you share all these interests with and who you can bond with over them and collaborate with and that's just so so important. does fandom have a ton of issues and toxicity and bigotry? yes, absolutely. but it also has so much good to offer

through stc and later fics I became close friends with some really really cool people in the fandom (including my favorite writer and my favorite artist). these are people I'm still very close friends with. some of them I've hung out with offline and the ones I haven't are mostly because they live too far away. after years of not having my own queer circle of friends I have found one again and one I can usually participate in even with my health problems and that is such an important thing to me

on a creative front, the fic writing and the gif making I've done have both taught me an enormous amount and been a very positive part of my life. working collaboratively on comics has been one of the coolest things I've done. there is just so much good that came out of me seeing one shoot gif on tumblr dot com years ago and being like hmm looks gay I'm in

and in terms of the actual content of the show, I think a lot of the reason I was drawn to it (other than my lingering crush on fred from angel) was that root and shaw felt so uniquely and wonderfully queer in a way few f/f ships I'd seen had before. shaw being bi and reading as aro to me (I've talked about that here) and root being a chaotic computer nerd just felt so relatable to me and their relationship with each other made sense to me in a way that few others had. and the specific draw that they had for some fans probably has a lot to do with why I found friends in this fandom who I really clicked with

so yeah. I don't know how to sum this up. fandom can be a great way to find your people and engage your creativity and I think that's very sexy

#mp #asks #I added the read more line on mobile so I hope it actually works #personal

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blackholeofcreativity · 1 year ago

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As a neurodivergent person i had a very similar experience with my sexuality but a very different one with my gender.

I was, admittedly, taught early on that being gay was taboo. However, as a teen i got really into social justice, and in 11th grade found myself in the queer friend group of the grade - both things which really helped unlearn all the internalized homophobia. Importantly, at this point i still identified as cishet. Come college, i meet this girl and fall head over heels for her. I’m in denial until she tells me she knows i’m straight but she finds me hella attractive. My brain short circuits, i ask to kiss her, and we spend a year together as girlfriends. It was just an “oh” kind of realization - like huh, i’m into at least one girl, guess i’m bi now. Time to tell my high school peeps that i’m not actually the token straight friend anymore! I was only truly worried about my parents, but mostly because i worried they’d judge me and treat me differently, not that i’d lose their love or support.

Gender, on the other hand, was something i struggled with since i was small. I always felt like i was not enough of a girl, i wasn’t as feminine as society told me i should be - at the time i didn’t know that gender was just a performance for most people. I thought i was just weird, alien, destined to be alone. In elementary school, i became friends with the tomboys in my class. I felt power in not being “what girls should be”. However i never *truly* fit in because there was still a lot about femininity that i saw in myself and genuinely enjoyed - but i tried to be a better tomboy.

Then, in middle school, i begun identifying as “not like other girls”. I didn’t fit in or have any friends, and that built resentment in me for the “other girls”, who seemed to so effortlessly fit in and find friends and boys who were interested in them. I was jealous, but i also had a twisted sense of superiority - i now recognized gender as a performance and thought all “other girls” were stuck conforming to a rigid presentation in order to fit in. They were suffering in their bonds of traditional femininity, whereas i was free to be true to myself - even though i was alone, i felt powerful, like i had gained some secret knowledge that none of them had the guts to face. I also found feminism (the toxic, terfy exclusionary kind) and thought of them as complicit in their own oppression, only by being like me could they be true feminists.

Then came high school. During the first two years, i was dealing with a newly presenting chronic illness - not much time or mental space to obsess over the intricacies of gender. I was still “not like other girls” but i was also thinking “maybe other girls… aren’t actually that bad? Maybe they’re not the villains in my story?” And i made more friends. I was still grappling with the fact that i wasn’t feminine enough, but i also wasn’t overly masculine when it came up.

Throughout all of this time, i wasn’t incredibly aware of the existence of trans people. Like rationally, i knew they existed by the time i finished middle school, but it was never something i thought of, and i never actually met anyone who was trans, so it was never something that factored into any of my gender analises. I was, however, increasingly aware of the gay community - and increasingly supportive of them.

Skip to the final years of high school. I found myself in a group of queers for the first time in my life, regularly interacting with people of different sexualities for the first time in my life. Queue me finding out that one of my friends identified as nonbinary. “Nonbinary,” i thought, “what the hell is that?”

“It’s when a person feels like they’re neither a boy nor a girl. They go by they/them pronouns, instead of either she/her or he/him.” My friend explained. That was news to me, i didn’t know that was possible. And pronouns? Weird, but i wanna be a good ally and i love that friend, so i tried to take it in stride. Unknowingly, i started absorbing the “requirements” of being trans and nonbinary. That friend was very androgynous, used they/them pronouns, was bisexual, the works. Nothing like me, at the time. It didn’t help that the entire group was “tumblr gays” - but i don’t judge because that’s all we had access to at the time.

Come college and i accidentally create a group solely consisting of queer folks. And finally, i find myself with access to a real queer community. I’ve started questioning my gender properly at this point, but felt that i couldn’t claim a trans identity because i didn’t want to change how i presented (i know, accidental transmedicalist take alert). I didn’t want to transition, so i thought that excluded me from being trans in any way. But with the continuous support of my community, i grew to accept that i have a wonky gender, and my feelings are all that matter. Claiming a label would take nothing from other trans folks, and they don’t have to be permanent.

Now, i am a proud nonbinary girl. I haven’t come out to most people in my life because i feel no need to. I feel comfortable being perceived as a woman, and only share my wonky gender with the people i trust. Nothing has changed externally, but internally, i am at peace with being not quite a girl - in peace with my gender for the first time in my life. I understand myself better, and that’s all i really needed.

Circling back to your point, OP, i can relate partially to your experiences. And i feel like it is so important to stop defining the queer experience via suffering, like you said. I think i would’ve accepted my trans identity at least a few years sooner had i not equated the trans experience with being at risk of experiencing transphobia, having body dysmorphia, etc. And if it would have changed my situation, i can only imagine that others would benefit incredibly from this shift too. Queer suffering is not the only queer experience, and we should try to emphasize that more when we can. And good god everyone deserves to find an irl queer community, because tumblr queerness can be so limiting it becomes suffocating.

so guys turns out that being raised by queer people alienates me from the queer experience. probably not a good thing

#rant #gender #enby #nonbinary #nonbinary girl #enby girl

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icy-blue-rose · 4 years ago

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Okay I just HAVE TO get this off my chest right now.

I was watching the new episode of 2.43 seiin koukou danshi volley-bu, and well, I decided to check out the comment section because hey! I want to hear what other fans of the series have to say, liked, and so on.

Instead however-

I was met by the most horrid comment section it reminded me why I usually dont actually interact with the anime community (and usually just talk to myself or make posts like this one that nobody will read aha)

But shit, I like, felt so uncomfortable.

Now before I rant a bit, if anyone skimming this may get offended let me make something clear.

If you just arent into the series, or don't like the show/series, then that's fair.

I have literally no problem if you dont like the show, or are simply expressing that you just dont like it and list your own reasons, I completely respect people's opinions and right to openly criticize series, even if I dont agree with it.

However, the following, while I wont actually attack people for it, just made me so uncomfortable for liking the show that I had to talk about it.

So here we go.

2.43 seiin koukou danshi volley-bu is not a sports shonen and so you shouldnt expect it to be written and animated like one.

People are free to say they dont like the animation, artstyle, or way the series is written, we all have our personal tastes.

But, like, it felt like non of the people commenting had a single brain cell.

No I am not exaggerating.

This series is written is a very particular way, one that I'm ABSOLUTELY loving.

I'm not fond of most writing styles and usually have a hard time reading novels but this one I particularly enjoy.

However, it felt like everyone was bashing it for how it's being written, not understanding what the author is doing or setting up, not even understanding the basic structure or style the author has used for their series.

It honestly made alot of the people complaining sound really dumb, no offence, but you all sound stupid.

Then there were our typical HUGE swarm of "ewww gaaaay, omg he blushed, omg so cringe, ewwww"

Which I mean, every sports anime has so I'm used to the endless flood of these types of comments but I find them really annoying because dont get me wrong.

I'm Queer.

I like LGBT anime/manga but I also really enjoy Yaoi and Yuri in it's pure ridiculous form at times (not I'm not saying all BL or GL is the same, I dont think I need to get into this rn)

And of course I enjoy shamelessly shipping and headcanoning characters as well, whatever I want because it's fun and I am aloud to HEADCANON all I want.

So or course I like to jokingly ship sports anime characters for fun, even if I dont genuinly ship it , or sometimes do.

Because I like certain relationship dynamics they can have that are never explored in anime/manga.

However, being serious for a second, I dont genuinly go around saying characters are "Gay for sure 100% yeeee"

People blush at their friends. People and characters can have deep bonds and relationships that arent romantic whatsoever and can STILL feel more like a romance than a real romance, despite it not being intended in that way at all.

It's so stupid to bash a character for "ewww gaaaay shit" when they blush at, someone they genuinly care about and have a non romantic relationship with?

Idk it just makes them seem dumb, internet trolls suck and I usually ignore them, I just feel like complaining today.

In the end I must say, the most annoying group of people in the comments were, as any 2.43 seiin koukou danshi volley-bu fan has seen, the fucking haikyuu fandom.

I feel like I should note that I love haikyuu, I do, it's great, for a sports shonen I do enjoy it alot.

After all I do love me some sports shonens.

But haikyuu fans need to buy some brain cells or critical thinking abilities.

Listen, to all the normal haikyuu fans like myself, I salute you and this is in no way direct towards any of you.

It's for the....other ones.

Haikyuu and 2.43 seiin koukou danshi volley-bu have a couple things in common.

Volleyball

Their source material started getting serialized around the same times

Some character designs look similar.

And I'd say that's about it.

Neither one "copied" a premise from the other.

Okay? Haikyuu fans? For fuck sake? Can you stop "omg they really are running out of ideas huh"

"Omg this is a haikyuu rip off"

"Omg this is a watered down shitty haikyuu knockoff"

I'm going to shoot myself I swear to god shut up.

No.

And fucking no.

It isnt. They started coming out in the same few years, and start completely different, a knock off? How?

I dont even see it one bit.

Now on the topic of some similar character designs.

To put it in a way haikyuu fans would understand, I've seen over 12 Kageyama "lookalikes" in anime, ones from LONG BEFORE haikyuu, and long after.

It's literally a common thing in any media platform, but we've all seen the same character design used before in diffrent shows.

It's not new, character designs were not stolen, please get a fucking brain cell.

Also he looks more like Saiki.K in most of the anime shots in my opinion.

Now, if you like haikyuu and you're looking for another sports shonen to

Live up to the hype, have the same premise kinda or just that awesome animation and typical sports shonen storyline you love to fill the void until another haikyuu season comes out.

Just feel like watching another sports shonen in general.

It isnt the show for you.

Now if you want to check out a volleyball show, check it out and form your own opinion on it and for the love of god dont compare it to haikyuu.

It's a sports drama.

If you like shes like Stars Align, Battery, or even Ahiru no Sora (which I feel has a nice balance of sports and drama, rather then focusing on either category, it balances both really well) then this is a show for you to check out.

I've watched I think 4 diffrent baseball anime? Maybe 5?

I never once compared them to each other while watching.

While comparisons are fun to do! I love reading about parallels, series that inspired other series and examples of how it was done and all that awesome jazz!

It's not the same as actively comparing a show to another one while you watch it.

Especially when they arent even in the same genre category.

Anyways this probably seems like a pointless rant but the comment section actually crushed my week long built up excitement for the new episode, cause I had the misfortune of opening it first to see who else was hyped and enjoyed the episode, only to find well, all of this crap.

And fans like me who tried to politely digress and explain how the writing style is different than the average sports series, or explain why it's written how it is, alot of them got met with SWARMS of more ignorant and just plain ride comments.

Also all my "you're fucking stupid" comments in this rant, are directed towards those people in particular.

Now if you are simply genuinly confused about why there are time skips, why it's written how it is, or any other things, this is not directed at you.

Not at all.

Not understanding a writing/directing style is a completely innocent thing and there are many fans who would be happy to explain it.

The hate is directly towards the arrogant, annoying, internet trolls and haikyuu fandom who has been getting annoying lately? Especially about this show.

#2.43 seiin high school boys volleyball team #2.43 seiin koukou danshi volley bu #2.43 #2.43: seiin koukou danshi volley bu #opinions #rambles

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satrangee-ray · 4 years ago

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Meet my MC: About the Present

Inara Hepburn (she/they)

More below the cut—

Career:

Inara has recently taken over as the Leader of the Diagnostics Team, Bloom Edenbrook, from the former DT head and current Chief of Medicine, Dr. Ethan Ramsey. Applications for the fourth open position has been received, (Landrat had applied, lol), and after a consultation with the Chief and the board, Dr. Aquino (immunologist), who had previously been considered for the same position has been recruited.

With Bloom's complete withdrawal of control from the functioning of any internal teams, Inara has brought back the voting procedure for selection of cases. So, unless there's any emergency in which the leader needs to make an immediate decision, all cases accepted shall now require the consent of majority members in the team. In case there's a 2-2 situation, the case which the leader sides with gets selected.

On days when she gets lesser or easier cases, Inara makes time to visit Baz and Elijah in the research lab and enquire about their latest mind-blowing discoveries. Though she will never consider shifting to full time research, she had had too much fun interacting with the mice on her first time there, and she wants to know more in that department.

Inara is also working on a third book, their first non-fiction one, specifically a memoir to document their 3-year long rollercoaster ride of a residency. The book is called 'Hepburn's Stethoscope'.

They have a verified, monetized YouTube channel, and a Pictagram page, where they post assertive, informative, and satirical content regarding the healthcare industry, myths and loopholes, as well as the queer community, its current socio-economic-cultural standing, practical ways to deal with queerphobia, and allyship. The full sum of money obtained from these are donated to a Boston based queer charity Inara works closely with.

Friends and family dynamics:

The only relatives in her bloodline, i.e. her aunt's family, occasionally converse with her virtually. Though she never goes into talking much about her feelings, they are more or less aware of her whereabouts.

Vaani and Ayan continue to remain thick as thieves with her. The three still obsessively share every single detail of their lives with each other in their group chat.

Apart from their two closest friends and a personal diary, Inara had always found small talk worthless, and most other people unsuitable for a meaningful conversation, let alone deep personal bonds. But after Edenbrook, everything has changed. Now Inara has a whole gang of friends comprising themselves, Sienna, Jackie, Aurora, Elijah, Bryce, Rafael and Kyra. They are all like a set of long lost siblings, somehow united by medicine, destined to share the most wholesome bond for an entire lifetime.

Naveen is the cool grandpa Inara didn't know they needed, and over music and teasing Ethan, they both have grown quite close. At work, the trio is often called the 'three musketeers of Edenbrook' by their colleagues. They are known for conquering mysteries that conquer humankind through generations.

Relationship with their LI:

There is no doubt that Inara's path to getting together with Ethan, or even initially forming an honest friendship, was rocky. There were too many walls built up around both of them, and disintegrating every single one took time. But by the end of Inara's second year, they both had managed to start officially dating. After a year now, they are in a committed relationship, co-parenting their pup Jenner.

Ethan had popped the moving in question at the end of her residency, and Inara was initially hesitant, cause as much as she wanted to stay with her partner, she didn't want to reside in someone's house free of any monetary contribution from her side. After several discussions regarding this matter, the couple decided to let Inara fund most of the domestic groceries, and hence they moved into Ethan's condo together.

As individuals, Ethan and Inara are extremely similar in certain aspects, and vastly different in others. Their morals, principles, limited social energy, outlook on the medical industry, and political views could easily align with each other; to some extent even their part time pessimism when it comes to themselves. But their go-to drink orders, general music taste and tolerance level for interns might qualify as some things that two might differ on. They try to keep up with the best of both worlds, though! Inara accompanies Ethan on opera dates, Ethan reads and marvels at translated lyrics of Rabindra Sangeet. They tried swapping their patent cosmopolitan and scotch neat at the bar one evening, only to spit out the very first sip they took, and Inara had conducted a whole orientation for Ethan on why intern wrangling is essential, enriching, and to be conducted with grace.

The nicknames they have for each other are oddly time, place, and mood specific, so here we go–

1. Ethan @ Inara: Darling, Love (on a usual day); Nars (when he's just so done with them), Rookie (on special occasions, when he can't help but be overwhelmed by their sheer brilliance, or the magnitude of his unadulterated love for them).

2. Inara @ Ethan: E (all day every day), Ramsey (posing a challenge or threat purposes); Baby (teasing purposes); literally any and every ethyl group compound under the sun (purpose of expressing annoyance, greater the annoyance, longer and more complicated the compound).

It is no secret that both Ethan and Inara have had a pretty troubled past, and the hurdles along their relationship have only resurfaced the trauma. So, they have mutually decided to enter therapy, and they both believe that moving forward, it would help them build a future together based solely on love, trust, and honesty, devoid of any baggage from the past.

That was it! My entry for today... tell me how you liked it. I'm enjoying this moodboard making way to much for my own liking, watch me be obsessed ya'll. Good day <3.

Tagging: @openheartfanfics @adiehardfan @barbean

#choices open heart #open heart fanfiction #mc x ethan #dr ethan ramsey #naveen banerji #open heart gang #meet my mc #Inara Hepburn

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extorchic · 4 years ago

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Sk8 the Infinity is my obsession but it ends up next week

Sk8 is special, it became kind of like an obsession in just about a month. I got invested in the story and 've grown to really care about the characters, specially Reki and Langa. I want to write a bit (well not really “a bit” because there’s a lot in my head) about Renga, I haven’t been as passionate for a ship in a while, it’s taken over my blog, for example. So by clicking “Read more” there’s some sort of a timeline of their interactions, some personal thoughts and its impact on me, as a gay man and rep and so on.

Now, some may argue that since it's a sports anime, it's supposed to focus on skateboarding BUT, the relationship between the characters takes the spotlight more often than in other shows of the genre. This may be a staple on Hiroko Utsumi's works, which has been previously portrayed in Free!, but I've seen that Sk8 has taken this to an eleven.

The relationship between Reki and Langa is one that grows progressively throughout the series, and skateboarding seems to be a sort of vehicle for that to happen:

They start as strangers that have found a common interest in skating, Reki had previously lost a friend and was desperately looking for someone to share his passion with and Langa had lost his father and his passion for snowboarding, which had sunk him in a state of disinterest for everything. This changes when they meet.

In episode 2 we see their bond expanding as Reki teaches Langa the basics and in episode 3 their friendship is solidly cemented.

Episodes 4 and 5 shows how this friendship grows into outright concern for each other safety, episode 6 once again show how protective they can be to each other but also introduces Reki's self-esteem issues which lead to...

Episode 7, the rift. Reki feels that he's getting left behind, maybe some bits of jealousy, and Langa's just too focused on feeling the thrill that is skateboarding that he just doesn't notice Reki's issue, that's why he thinks he wouldn't mind him breaking their promise. Episode 8 shows how heart-wrenching is for Langa to have this distance between him and Reki.

It is at this point that the relationship loses all the chances it had to be platonic, at least for me. Aside from the scene between Langa and his mom which seems to confirm that he indeed feels more that friendship, it also shows Reki longing for him but fearful of a reunion. That's why he goes undercover to see his race (after Joe's suggestion), and in episode 9, he not only defends Langa from people talking on his back, but also it's him calling Langa's name that gives the latter the boost to defeat Joe. Of course I can't avoid mentioning how Langa feels absolutely no thrill skateboarding unless Reki's there with him (as in "it's meaningless without you") and the beat of his heart returns only after he hears Reki calling for him.

Episode 10 has Langa continuing looking for Reki, as he's finally realized how much he cherish him and their relationship, but Reki still had to go through his own conflicting thoughts and emotions, which similar to what happened last episode, only surface when confronted to someone (Tadashi in this case) talking against something he loves, which makes him realize he loves skateboarding and doing it with Langa more than having any negative emotion.

Their reunion is probably the most emotional moment in the series: They skate together and enjoy it to the max, and not only that, Langa also tells Reki how much he means to him, not because Reki needed a compliment, but because Langa was overflowing with admiration for him. Then they share their mutual desire to skate with each other for eternity. Finally episode 11 shows them behaving like they used to, but Langa's more conscious on how he must appreciate what's dear to him and Reki finally going forward without fear. The renewed bond also boosts Reki during his race with Adam.

So, after all of this, it's safe to say that the show's plot relies HEAVILY on this relationship, more so than on skating itself despite also being centric to the story. Despite this, there are still some people, yes, "dude-bros" that argue on how they're "just friends" or "bros being bros". I'd disagree by saying that in even very close platonic friendships or even sibling relationships, there's a sense of separation, a division of some sort. It is also true that it's important to represent male platonic bonding, but Reki and Langa's relationship and how it’s been built goes a lot deeper than that just being platonic.

Is this LGBTQ+ representative? I've listed only some narrative points that very strongly suggest a romantic subtext, besides them there are plenty of visual features that support this approach (the eyes reflection thing, color-coding, symbolism, two freaking men in a love hotel, even if it was played for laughs) as well as the merchandise (specially the CindeReki CD drama). However, without a very explicit reveal or a confirmation, it'd be all left as subtextual speculation. And it'd be a bummer because we need this kind of rep, we need to see stories where two people meet after having left some traumatic experience, grow to care for each other and help each other to overcome those traumas, through laughing and sharing activities that they can both enjoy and be passionate about, even if there's obstacles on the way, so much so that when they're apart the pain is unbearable. I mean, of that isn't love, what is it?

As a gay man myself I've felt related to these two characters, in a way they already represent me, personally. But if that happened to end up as just fan interpretation, I’d feel something is missing somehow, dissatisified dissappointed to an extent, but I wouldn’t resent the series, nor the creators. The series relies heavily on the relationship for its narrative but it also offers other things: Amazing animation and music, lovable characters, an enticing story, I can tell it’s done with passion and most importantly it’s a lot of fun! Emotional, but fun! As I mentioned, it’s made me feel so many things in a single month and has inspired me as well. Besides, it’s quite apparent that they do love each other, they mean the world to each other. If I speak completely honestly, I just want the two of them to skate together in Okinawa infinitely forever, and that’s what they want to do. Maybe if we focus too much and judge on whether it is or not rep, maybe we can’t enjoy the series at its maximum, Yes, it is annoying to see some fans dismissing the romantic potential, but the normalizaton of sexual orientation diversity is, to this day, a work in process. I guess the best thing we can do is show our best side to the world, as queer people in general and as allies.

Now don’t get me wrong, I still freaking want this ship to be indisputably romantic in the canon, maybe more than I’ve wanted any of my ships ever before, and there’s still an episode left, I hadn’t lost hope, and hoping is the main thing you can do at the shipping game. What else can be done? To ship with honor, respecting everyone (fellow fans, creators, staff on the internet) and not getting into needless arguments or just creating a bad atomosphere in the fandom. It is a community after all, we need to get along, live and let live.

#sk8 #sk_8 #sk8 the infinty #sk8 renga #sk8 reki #sk8 langa #personal thoughts #This comes from a shipper who is very passionate for the pairing but also wants to be respectful

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apollos-favourite-bastard · 4 years ago

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I’m going to say this once, and honestly probably several more times while defending my stance, but here goes- Gate keepers are bad people, and almost everyone agrees on that. We all hate the people who gatekeep different bits of culture, as is right. They’re selfish people, and arrogant, too, believing that they get to dictate who does and doesn’t get to participate in something. The act of gatekeeping is, in and of itself, hostile and bigoted. It depends on one placing their own self higher than those around them and passing judgement, trying to push someone out of a space because they find that they are more rightfully entitled to that space than someone else.

There are two very bad fronts of this in the LGBTQIA+ community in particular. The first, which is very well known and acknowledged, but not what this post is about, are TERFs and other groups that are transphobic in nature. Fuck TERFs is an extremely common sentiment on tumblr, as it should be, because fuck TERFs. TERFs are bigots, and their stance comes from a place of bigotry. We mostly all agree on this, except for the TERFs who think that they’re rightful and justified in their bigotry, and nothing that I say, think, feel or do is going to change that. Until they recognize their own bigotry and realize that they don’t want to be hate filled sacks of pus shaped like a human, they’re going to continue to be hate filled sacks of pus shaped like a human. However, most of the LGBTQIA+ community agrees that TERFs are bigots and wants nothing to do with them.

So, why do we give aro/ace exclusionists a pass? Why do we, as a community, not band together to fight it the same way that we do with TERFs? Why do we look at this gatekeeping of our community and not feel disgust in the same way that we do with TERFs? Why do some people in our community think that they have the right to exclude others?

Well, I have a theory about that, although I’m going to say up front that it’s just my opinion. Ace/aro people have, for quite a long time, been partially invisible. Up until the advent and popularization of social media, and even to this day in a way, the LGBTQIA+ community has been pretty heavily segregated. At first, this was out of necessity. People opened gay and lesbian bars and clubs decades ago, out of necessity. We built specific spaces for ourselves because that was literally crucial to our survival. While our communities banded together when necessary, there was always a sort of rivalry or distaste for other members of the community if they fell under a different letter. This was heavily present all the way up until the early 2010s. As a teenager in the aughties, I saw so many examples of queer people who didn’t like other letters on principle, because they had nothing in common with one another, and that hasn’t exactly vanished. I knew gay men who hated lesbians, lesbians who hated gay men, both who hated bisexual people- The list goes on.

Then Myspace and Facebook happened, and people began finding solidarity with one another without having to be in a shared space. People began sharing their experiences, and became more comfortable expressing themselves. While pride has existed for decades, it wasn’t nearly as accepted or widespread as it became AFTER social media exposed people to the realization that these communities encompass more people than they realized, and also encompassed people that they knew and cared about. It eased the way for a second wave of the LGBTQIA+ rights movement that helped the community gain several rights, including marriage rights, adoption rights and legal protections. It eased tensions, particularly in the gay and lesbian communities, and paved the way for the more solidarity focused community that we have today.

HOWEVER

After gaining these things, many members of the community decided that that was enough. Discrimination against gays and lesbians had lessened, and acceptance had become more mainstream, so they stopped giving a shit. Trans issues didn’t affect them, so they didn’t care. Ace issues didn’t affect them, so they didn’t care, and they stopped fighting for the other members of the community. That doesn’t apply to everyone, but it applies to more people than anyone should be comfortable with.

Like I said before, the communities were pretty segregated, and we continue to be. What so many people don’t realize is that our community only has strength together. People under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella represent a sizeable chunk of the population, but each individual group doesn’t represent that much on their own. We don’t have power on our own. Unlike religious or racial minorities, the LGBTQIA+ community is completely random. Anyone could fit into it. The people in our community don’t necessarily have the same experiences. And while shared experience was a founding principle of our community out of necessity, it cannot continue to be so.

Let me explain that point, because I feel like people are not going to realize that it’s the entire point of this post unless I highlight it. Defining our community based on trauma and discrimination was, at the time, necessary. In order to increase our safety, we clumped together, because there’s strength in numbers. There’s also the completely human desire for community because as a species we are not designed to go at it completely alone. Shared experience is a good foundation for that, and if that shared experience is negative, it can make those bonds all the stronger. But that also creates a system wherein the validity of people’s experiences is judged on a sliding scale, which creates the even more unpleasant sliding scale of validity applied to a person’s existence and position in our community.

In particular, this is applied to aro/ace people, bisexual people, and transgender and nonbinary people. There are so many arguments that I could write a book on the subject, but there are more talented and knowledgeable people than I am who have written on the subject, and I implore people to seek out literature and media that can help them understand these things. But I made this post, and I’m going to talk about the main argument that I have seen applied, which is privilege.

Privilege is something I know all too well about having, as a cis white man. It has kept me safe where other people would not have been, and given me more power than I have deserved at times. I do my best to amplify voices that are shouted over, without speaking over them myself, and while I hope I have done a good job of that, I know and openly acknowledge that I am not perfect and have probably messed up too many times to count. I know that when I was younger, I certainly was not as supportive as I could or should have been to people who needed that support, because I saw someone different than I am reaching out for help, and decided it wasn’t my problem. That made me part of the problem. Over time, I have been humbled, sometimes painfully, and forced to recognize that privilege. I am not proud of things that I have done and said. I am embarrassed by who I used to be, and strive every day to be better than I was the day before. I don’t always get it right, but I am trying.

The point of that isn’t to pat myself on the back, or say ‘look how much I’ve grown!’. It’s to tell you that I have been in that place. I have seen someone different than I am and decided to keep quiet and turn a blind eye to their suffering. I have thought to myself ‘they haven’t had to struggle with the things that I have had to struggle with, so it’s not my business’. It’s also to say that privilege is a WILDLY inappropriate way to gauge someone’s position in a community.

Our community cannot and must not continue to use the meter-stick of privilege to judge the validity of someone’s worth and place in our community. It promotes its own kind of bigotry. That’s not to say that cis or white people in the community shouldn’t examine their own experiences and privilege, because we should. What I mean is that it shouldn’t be used to JUDGE someone else. Aro/Ace people and bisexual people have somehow gotten the reputation as having privilege because they are’ more easily able to blend with cishet society’, and are therefore safer and less oppressed, but that’s a bullshit argument. Trauma and oppression cannot continue to be the way we determine someone’s worth. What we should be fighting for is for discrimination to end, not for people who are more oppressed to be the only valid voices in our community. It is tearing our community apart when we need to stand together.

Otherwise we aren’t a community, we’re just a bunch of different people only standing with those who are like us, and nobody else, which is exactly how systems of oppression have been maintained throughout all of human history. People point to the most different group from themselves and say ‘they’re different, and different is bad, so they’re bad’. That’s the insidious nature of bigotry at work, and I refuse to allow myself to fall into that trap. I refuse to be a part of the problem anymore, and that means that I’m not going to keep quiet on subjects like discrimination against people just because their experiences are different than my own.

People who gatekeep communities are coming from a place of bigotry, and it has to stop. People have to speak up about it, and I hope that they do it better and less rambling than I have. TERFs and exclusionists and racists are too prevalent in this community, and we have let their bigotry form the insidious cracks that will tear this community apart if they aren’t spoken out against.

#ace positivity #aro positivity #ace and aro people are ALWAYS welcome #I will always stand with you

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koryuoftheriverflow · 6 years ago

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Cap’s always been a gay icon. I wish Endgame had remembered that.

After the movie I couldn’t help but feel betrayed by that ending, for various reasons: chief among them was the blatant disregard for the subtext present in the 3 cap movies.

Cap’s character has been interpreted as bisexual for a very long time now (first in the comics and then in the MCU), and for a reason.

We all knew nothing was gonna happen between Steve and Bucky, but we also didn’t suspect that we were going to be given a healty dose of no homo. Because that’s ultimately what poor Peggy was reduced to.

I can only assume it was done to put the nail in the gay coffin once and for all, after the debate that happened in the last couple of years about Steve’s relationship with Bucky in the movies and also in the comics. We all remember the reviews after The Winter Soldier and Civil War, the #givecapaboyfriend thing on twitter and the 180 Marvel pulled on Planet Hulk, going as far as to change an actual panel because Steve and Bucky were holding hands in victory in it. Like, the straights are wild.

So, I wasn’t expecting much from the announcement that we were getting a gay character in Endgame: I already suspected they were going to be minor. But, in light of that ending, I think Joe Russo’s character was only there to avoid accusations of homophobia. And it’s honestly disheartening because that scene could have been great!

Let me explain.

Again, I’m not delusional enough to believe that they would make Steve canonically bisexual: I know the world we live in and the company that owns the MCU. But! Captain America has been a gay icon for decades and it would have been nice to see him at least show support, or acknowledge in some way that he understood the man’s struggle.

I say this, because everytime gay rep is brought up in relation to Cap, I remember one of my favourite issues from the comics.

In Volume 1 #296, Cap is trying to save his childhood friend Arnie Roth (MCU!Bucky is a mix of the Bucky from the comics and Arnie, in this regard) who’s been kidnapped by Baron Zemo and Mother Superior. In a previous issue Arnie’s boyfriend Michael had been abducted as well.

Cap goes to the rescue!

When Cap finds Arnie, he is under some kind of mind control and gives a speech about how being gay is something shameful; he says that the nazis were right to lock them away in the camps and that their love isn’t real and natural. He then accuses Steve of being homosexual as well. Why would he still be his friend otherwise? At this point, Arnie manages to overcome the brainwashing (I wonder who else fought being mind controlled for Steve...)

Cap finally breaks down the barrier put in place by Zemo and Mother Superior to stop him from rescuing his friend. Arnie is drained and collapses in front of him.

Now here comes my favourite part.

Captain America gently cradles his friend in his arms and tells him that his love for Michael is pure and exactly the same as his love for Bernie (Cap’s girlfriend at the time). It is the people who don’t accept him the ones who should be ashamed. Steve’s mind then goes immediately to Bucky who, like Michael (unfortunately dead) is another victim in his “private little war”. It’s not explicitly spelled out, obviously, but it’s very telling that Cap, who’s been accused in the previous panel of being “one of us” immediately thinks about his long lost friend in relation to a gay couple. Just saying...

Now, shipping goggles aside, I think it is very interesting that Cap defines homophobes as a disease. The choice of words isn’t casual at all.

This issue is from August 1984. Let that sink in.

We’re in the middle of the AIDS epidemic, at a time when Reagan was happy to let the gay community die and this disease was still called GRID. And yet! Captain America, symbol of the nation, was fighting tooth and nail to save his openly gay friend from the clutches of Nazi monsters who didn’t accept him or his love for another man.

Steve not only defends his friend, but draws a perfect parallel between Arnie’s gay relationship with Michael and his love story with a woman, effectively equating these two types of bond, no differences at all between the two.

So you understand now why I am genuinly upset that in the year of our Lord 2019 we got this sorry excuse of representation, and a regression of Steve’s character that ignores all the subtext built up in his 3 solo movies for the sake of a heterosexual relationship that was over before even starting.

When a comic book from 35 years ago, from what has been one of the darkest moments in queer history, treats the gay community with a compassion and respect that are totally lacking in a movie filmed in the allegedly modern days of meaningful representation, well... you know that something’s rotten.

#endgame spoilers #endgame #a4 spoilers #stucky #captain america #comics #forever bitter about this #my stuff #meta #marvel meta #marvel #bucky barnes #arnie roth #cap and politics #bi!steve

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dhbelzinone · 5 years ago

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𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓯𝓲𝓵𝓮𝓼 (ᴬⁿᵈ ᴬˡˡ ᵀʰᵃᵗ ᴶᵃᶻᶻ)

𝓞𝓞𝓒 𝓘𝓷𝓽𝓻𝓸 𝓟𝓸𝓼𝓽

Hi hello I’ve never done anything like this before but it looks like there’s a blog specifically for ooc intros so here’s my best. ♡

Hi my name is Sal, I go by they/them/theirs, and I’m a med school reject turned gender studies honors student. I’m currently working on a thesis about sex worker rights so I’m balls deep I can be in the industry without the good money and devoting the rest of my undergrad career to fighting for their right to make theirs. I’m also an artist and run an indie if y'all wanna see more of my muse’s roots. Bel’s been my emotional support muse for a good while and has gone through more character development than I have my entire lifetime, so although she may seem like a big softie compared to the rest of the muse crowd here, here’s hoping she can hold her own!

Bel Zinone Abridged: Devil’s Highway Vers.

Her mama is an undocumented immigrant who fought tooth and nail for her piece of the American dream. Much of this was due to the help of a vigilante organization that helped her flee from Europe, but her reputation was volatile enough to charm them into seeking out her membership.

Thanks to their international influence, she was able to keep running with the Wallflowers across the continental U. S. She soon settled down with her husband, a high profile (albeit black market) doctor, and raised her two children beneath the protection of the empire they built all the way from the city underbelly up to the high class elite.

Bel and her older brother Beau were relatively spoiled children until he left for the army and the family secrets started to leak. Adolescence was already hard on her, with her elusive sexuality and growing dysphoria yanking her identity chains, but as soon as she discovered her parents’ reign over the criminal underground, Bel doubted the authenticity of her upbringing and fled to the southern inlands with the resolve to make it on her own.

Little did she know that she’d find herself right smack in the middle of a gang war of the very nature she tried to escape. However, this time was going to be different. She wasn’t going to be at their mercy.

They were going to be at hers, for she offered one of the few medical resources in the entire desert that didn’t come with the liability of a paper trail.

In the meantime, she floats between bunny ranches, strip clubs, and the odd burlesque show. When she’s not working, she can be found frequenting bars, on Instagram, streaming her cam, tinkering with her Widowmaker, or looking for a good meatball sub.

Whereas she would’ve used her earnings to run as far away as possible from her past, Bel ironically finds solace in the lucrative lifestyle, calling a cozy studio apartment home and splurging on the occasional odds and ends that make the closeted queer life she embodies just a bit more bearable.

Relationships for her? I’m not gonna lie: despite the past rancor she’s had for her parent’s occupations, she genuinely wants to help and support people, patching them up so they’re good to go back to whatever they were doing without judgement. Her view of the life’s changed and she’s come to understand the institutions (as well as will) that brings people to commit and run with crime. She’s yet to make peace with her family, but she’s come to terms with the blood she’s from and wants to make a difference in peoples’ lives. That being said:

Give her your tired, your poor, your horny

A job @ Paradise, maybe? Maybe she could learn about the surrounding gang activity from other dancers / affiliates or Kimi when she applies?

Maybe she could’ve known Esmeray from medical school?

Seeing other muses in the medical field are inspiring some joint black market clinic potential~

Maybe she could’ve known Rodrigo from when he was doing his work, possibly from Backpage before it got shut down?

On this note, maybe Nikki too? (Hello~)

If there are any other queer muses around, maybe they can shine a community light on her? Potentially while she’s yanking a shank out of their shoulder?

If there are any single muses too, I’d love to develop a ride-or-die boo or friend for her.

Last but not least, if we still need prospects and other make characters I’d be game af to have Beau go AWOL and trade his fatigues for a potential patch (maybe through the Mexican border with Nikki, if she’s gonna hate Bel asdkjfnaks). ♡

𝓐𝓹𝓹𝓵𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷

OUT OF CHARACTER

INTRODUCTION: Sal (24) they/them/theirs ; PST ACTIVITY: I'm in my last year of undergraduate study and will have class three days a week on average. I'll be online at least once a day and will be able to devote most of my week to nitty-gritty writing as well as plotting. PASSCODE: angel wings and/or crown MISCELLANEOUS: I've been running an indie oc rp blog for almost five years (same character @belzinone) and this will be my first group/skeleton/rl fc rp. I'm worried about being ignored/left behind/largely uninvolved in threads and plotting because that has largely been my experience in discord server rp groups, but y'all seem to have good administration going on so I'm not feeling so worried anymore. I look forward to the experience if you'll have me. :)

IN CHARACTER

NAME: Bel Zinone DATE OF BIRTH: (March/08/1991) (28) PLACE OF BIRTH: San Francisco, California GENDER/PRONOUNS: demifemme｜she/her/hers AFFILIATION: N/A RANKING: N/A OCCUPATION: freelance sex worker, hitwoman, & black market physician FACE CLAIM: Antonia Thomas

BIOGRAPHY

triggers: domestic violence, murder, abuse, misandry, severe burns, sex work Her mother was an undocumented immigrant, fleeing from her orphaned past and domestic abuse in the Italian slums. A headstrong, promiscuous, and violent woman, it wasn't long until she found sisterhood amongst a like-minded gang of vigilante women with international influence called the Wallflowers, well-versed in her infamy and coming to her aid while she was pregnant with her son and escaping prosecution for murdering her husband. Risa Zinone, codenamed La Eglantina, docked in New York city, giving birth to her son Beau Zinone and raising him with the rest of her sorella while continuing her bloodthirsty occupation of murdering abusive men and liberating survivors from their regimes of terror. However, one could only run with the Wallflowers for so long before beginning to challenge their belief system, however righteous it claimed to be. The murderer mother fell in love with the black market doctor who saved her life and once again fled across the country and retired so she could live a peaceful life with him, safe from the constraints and watchful eyes of the sisterhood, but not without heavy cost. She suffered major burns to her entire body by a fire and had to undergo near total facial reconstruction, a miracle performed by the love of her life. In exchange for her life, she'd no longer bear resemblance to her children. Thus Bel Zinone was born on the opposite side of the country as her brother, hilly San Franscisco. She was a wildly rambunctious child, calmed only by the sounds of her brother's guitar strings and a profound interest in her father's work. Little did she know, her living was earned via the illicit means of her parents and their continued association with the country's underbelly. Shambled by the loss of one of their most valuable members, the Wallflowers had undergone a civil war. A near complete overhaul of organizational structure and creed had taken place, leading to an abysmal divide between the matriarchal supremacy of days past and the new order. Enemies of the new regime all around the world were sought out, assassinated, and replaced with a stronger, more diverse membership. During that witch hunt, Risa was reinstated into the Wallflowers with her husband Dmitri and the power couple ruled the pacific branch. The Zinone's hid their criminal affiliations well. Dmitri, a renowned surgeon specializing in the central nervous system, Risa, an uptown socialite who moonlighted cabaret clubs as a jazz singer. Their children had a generous, almost spotless adolescence until Beau graduated high school and joined the military. He was an upstanding, self-righteous man, yet his fatigues all but killed the respect his little sister had for him. As the Zinone siblings grew up, their parents had to try all that much harder to hide their criminal affiliations, often leaving the two with ample bonding time and hiding various criminal survival skills (like how to fight and use firearms among other things) under the guise of "street smarts". Combined with her surfacing struggles with her sexuality and gender identity, Beau's abandonment was very hard on Bel. Her high school antics began to resemble those of her mother during her youth, starting fights, finishing others' fights, and getting dress coded nearly every day. If not for physical altercations, the young lady spent most of her time in the principal's office for getting into arguments with teachers and staff over technicalities in her STEM courses and exposing discrimination in curriculums and attitudes throughout. If not for her parents' powerful influence, she never would've dodged juvie, let alone made it to college. Fortunately, she found her calling and started settling down as soon as her father invited her to his workplace in the hospital. College was a breeze for her, even as a fierce insistence to be independent led to her paying her own tuition. She was no party animal or sorority sister, but the continuing troubles she had with her sexuality and gender identity pushed her towards casual sex work and the porn industry when work-study wasn't enough. Bel was steadily making her way through adult life, planning to devote the rest of it to medicine like her father. However, as she started having to use her special "survival skills" more and more, she slowly began to realize there was more to her parents than she thought. The Wallflowers were growing in influence, and La Eglantina's daughter was growing a bounty on her head as well. By the time she cornered her parents with the truth, she was already well into medical school and bore nods of her mother's pseudonym and her father's occupation on her back. The betrayal she felt when her brother left her resurfaced as she uncovered her parents lies, spurring her to cut her familial ties and live her own life exclusively by her own means. Bel rejected her father's footsteps in favor of sex work, something she pursued entirely of her own volition, and eventually found herself amongst the "bunny ranches" in Las Vegas, where her life in the crossfire between the Sinners and Jokers would begin. CHARACTER QUOTE: "Do no harm but take no shit." CHARACTER ANTHEM: Half God Half Devil｜In This Moment

EDIT: Risa Zinone fled from Europe as a result of Romani persecution.

P.S.: I reiterate that this is my first group/skeleton/rl fc rp. This is all pretty overwhelming so please have patience with me and for those of y’all who have a lot of experience with these things, please help me out <3

#info

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