#but that doesn't mean that side is correct :0

[spottedenchants]

Thinking on the passive I actually think you're right and that post is wrong after some googling, Essek must have 10 while asleep. Which means high wisdom or playing fast and loose with feats and such to back calculate

I see what you mean! I personally don't think that either calculation, Essek having a mid WIS score vs. Essek having a high WIS score, is verifiably incorrect. I see both as plausible :0 This is largely because it comes down to a directional interpretation of how Matt ruled 'meets it, beats it' for this interaction. That 9/10 split is a doozy. Hear me out >:3

In one interpretation, we have passive vs. action. An example of this would be PC passive perception vs. the DC of background goings-on (moments where Matt, unprompted, goes "So-and-So, you notice..."). If Essek's resting passive perception meets Fearne's 9 sleight of hand, then he 'just' beat her roll, as we saw. With bare-bones level 20 elf proficiency things, that ends up indicating his WIS score could be as low as 14.

In another interpretation, we have action vs. passive. An example of this would be an attack roll vs. AC. If Fearne's 9 sleight of hand meets Essek's resting passive perception, then she would have succeeded in her shenanigans. She did not succeed, meaning in this interpretation Essek's resting passive perception would be 10 to 'just' beat her roll. With bare-bones level 20 elf proficiency things and rounding taken into account, that ends up indicating his WIS score could be as high as 21 (ignoring stat caps).

Either way, we have more episodes with Essek upcoming and thus more opportunities to get some insight (ha- because WIS) into his numerical stats :D

[dont-open-dead-inside-25]

suffering 😁

[weebsinstash]

Kinda obsessed with the idea of a reader pregnant with Lucifer's kid and just he's really into it and wants to get married while the readers there being like damn I just wanted the bragging rights of saying I fucked the king of hell and now I have to be married to him !?!

Reader: ugh oh my god that dick was so fucking good, thanks Lucifer

Lucifer, currently painting sigils with his own blood on your tummy: oh my god, no, I know, right, it was amazing, I had an amazing time

Reader: hey uhhhhhhh by the way, what are you

Lucifer, taking a break from speaking ancient Latin incantations: oh hey, no don't worry about it it's totally cool I'm just, doing a thing here

Reader watching the very foundation of Hell shake around them like an earthquake as all the candles in the room burn higher and the unseen spirits of the damned sing comgratulatory praises for their dark lord: you know this kiiiiiiiiinda feels like you miiiiiight be doing something kinda sinister and magic-y right now

Lucifer, watching his symbol appear on your belly: whaaaaaaaaat, no, that's crazy! It's just a little.... surprise! Nothing to worry about! So hey also completely unrelated but I kind of need to splash some of this goat's blood on you--

I feel like sleeping or even FLIRTING with Lucifer is the ultimate case of fuck around and find out because at the very least you have an all powerful clingy depressed obsessive boyfriend in THE DEVIL and at his very worst you have you know THE DEVIL, treating you as his equal half, wanting all to bow before you, worship you, erecting churches with stained glass telling the Epic Tale of how you two fell in love, wanting you draped in fineries, at his side at all times, having only the best

I just feel like... he's one of those yandere that really could take you 0 to 100. You fuck the guy ONCE as like a drunken one night stand, a real "fuck it why not maybe it'll be fun" kinda romp, and then he's making plans behind your back about marriage because, well, he just loves you so much already that he can't see doing anything else! 🥰 like can you imagine going from getting cream pied to like only a week later some church is getting constructing with like biblical art of "oh how the king of hell met another and fell in love" and it's foretelling some epic saga that hasn't even. Happened yet. Like imagine the whiplash of finding out the guy you casually fucked is dedicating buildings to. A story of. How he impregnated and married you and you guys "lived happily ever after" and you still barely know him

I like the contrasting options of Lucifer intentionally impregnating you vs unintentionally because THE VISUAL of like. He's just nutted and you're laying there amd he looks down and suddenly there's this little glowing moving picture on your skin of a snake twining around, circling, becoming an apple with a heart or some-- this is a real specific genre of fetish I'm discussing here ok we don't need to like exactly describe whatever magical mark of pregnancy the devil gives you fjdnfjf. But the apple appears and he's blinking at it and, finally, it clicks, and he's all "BABY! B-BABY! IT'S A BABY HHHOHHHHH MY GOD" and he's like EXCITED but also just like. Do you think he'd get a little biblical drooling about 'your womb being blessed' or some shit. Your absolute fucking LUCK OR LACK THEFEOF if Lucifer turned out to ACCIDENTALLY BE CORRECT and you kind of WERE created to be his wife or end up with him, like GOD is up there, "yeah Luci I threw you a bone, enjoy it 👍" like SHIT the one time you ARE cosmically fated to have a mate and it's AFTER YOU DIE? It's also LUCIFER MORNINGSTAR???

I feel like, genuinely the only way Lucifer would mistreat the Reader is completely unintentionally, like he has a bout of depression and neglects you a little, or he becomes socially withdrawn and you think he doesn't like you but really he's just feeling sad or working on something that's really important to him. I mean. This is BESIDES the possibility of confinement but that's for your protection and it's not like you're in PRISON. This guy is clearly packed with goofy loving positive energy. He'll be taking you to the circus and to musicals with his daughter like you've always been a member of the family, getting you your own special throne to sit beside his own. He's having audience with like some wretched soul, there are flames, he's being TERRIFYING, telling them how they've betrayed him and he's going to tear their soul to pieces and sentencs them to eternal suffering, and then he turns to you, "I'm sorry am I making it too hot in here shnookums 🥰 I don't wanna make you and our lil hellion uncomfy 🥰" like.... truly, you got yourself a man that can do both

[chosos-mascara]

can u maybe do a jealous! gojo x manhunter!reader where gojo, reader, shoko, and geto are all just hanging around the city and reader is just "ooh look shoko, that guy's handsome" or "omg did u see that? that guy was totally a hottie" which got gojo all fired up and jealous? :0

jealous gojo x reader drabble (with shoko and suguru)

"I'm just saying, he's cute." Teasing tone and playful smirk, you glance toward Satoru to judge the reaction you so desperately wanted. You'd been correct to predict annoyance - he displays this through a scoff and harsh shake of head, right before biting back with a snarky comment.

"He's just as generic as the last guy." He speaks with a large amount of bitterness, eyes beneath tinted shades following said male until out of sight. Shoko brought an arm over your shoulders, catching onto the rouse much before the white head of hair would. "See, Satoru..." Her pause was merely for dramatic effect, a palm to forehead as she leaned against you for a little more support. "You don't get it. Women like a real man."

You could feel Gojo's eyes burning into the backs of your heads - he was too easy to get a rise out of. Suguru tuts beside him, narrowing his eyes toward his anger-fueled friend. He’s too shy to admit his feelings, yet had been so obviously in love with you.

"I think what Satoru is trying to say, is that -" He glances toward him with a sigh. "He cares about your well-being. Wouldn't want you dating someone who couldn't take care of you."

Satoru side eyes his friend behind his shades, parting lips to spit a reply, though reluctantly refraining. He instead puffs out a short breath, ignoring the twang of hurt within his chest to instead revert back to the personality he defaults to in times of stress.

"Nah, I don't care about that - just thinking that a guy like him wouldn't date you in a million years." Satoru's smile feels too forced, but you buy it. "Oh, really? Is that a challenge?"

You stop, turning on heal with hand on hip. Both Shoko and Suguru internally cringe, a shared glance to signify their shared concern.

"I'll go ask him out, then." Spoken through gritted teeth, you take a step forward - though you don't make it far before you have Suguru's hand meeting your shoulder, a hardened expression and gentle shake of head. "Let it go." Although the command had come across more intrusive than through anxiety, you take a shallow breath inward to calm yourself.

"You're right - I was just teasing Satoru." There's a pause following your sentence, though you ignore the stagnant air.

A tint of rose tickles Satoru's cheeks for only a few seconds, but you don't miss it. Through silence you focus your attention toward him, trying your best to hold a genuine expression while speaking slowly, shyly.

"I'm sorry."

Of course, Gojo doesn't show his relief in the matter, simply laughing before waltzing toward you, his arm firmly replacing Suguru's grip. "I knew you liked me."

You roll your eyes, but don't bite back. Satoru's embrace lasts much longer than it had needed to, getting to the school gate before he removes his possessiveness. But, your shoulders do feel a little colder without it.

an: the 'real man' comment made my skin crawl but reader is just teasing gojo ok they don't mean it

[ineffable-opinions]

Seme/uke - long response

A decolonial and subaltern take on three posts on seme/uke dynamics that aims to contextualize them while questioning ethnocentrism. I welcome alternative perspectives, corrections and criticisms.

Post #1: Seme/uke dynamics in Be Loved in House...  

@absolutebl responding to @echos-of-ivy

Seme – Uke

About two or more characters in a ship/pairing:

seme 攻め: top (the pitcher) (from origin - attack) also referred to as 左 (left)、タチ (tachi)、トップ (top)

uke 受け: bottom (the catcher) (from origin – receive / accept) also referred to as 右 (right)、ネコ(neko/cat)、ボトム (bottom)

riba リバ: verse (doesn't mind being either a top or a bottom) (from origin - reversible)

seme and uke are sourced from martial arts lingo: seme (martial arts), uke (martial arts) & is related to nanshoku tradition (depictied in ukiyo-e style painting below) of androphilia rather than western norms of queerness. Such differences in culture in queerness is seldom appreciated.

Spring Pastimes. Miyagawa Isshō, c. 1750

Sometimes, androphilic men use seme/uke/riba instead of the following terms which are popular in their queer community:

tachi タチ 凸 - top

neko ネコ 凹 - bottom

riba リバ 回 – verse

Other BL producing countries also have similar terms for seme/uke/riba. And those countries also have terms for top/bottom/verse/side in their queer communities.

For example,

In Chinese BL (danmei), seme/uke/riba -> gong (攻)/shou (受)/hu gong (互攻)[1]

In Chinese tongzhi community -

top: gong (攻) or 1 or 上 or 凸

bottom: shou (受) or  0 or 下 or 凹

verse:  bu fen (不分)or 0.5 or 10

side: 不10 or 纯爱[2]

四爱 (fourth love) is the Chinese term for heterosexual relationship wherein the woman tops. When fictionalized, such romances are referred to as GB (girl boy) romance as opposed to BG (boy girl) and the heroine is referred to as female gong 女攻め.

In Thai BL, seme/uke/riba -> me (เมะ)/ ke (เคะ)/ se (เซะ) & their queer community have these terms.

Evolution

When the work does not involve sexual acts, seme/uke/riba is assigned based on speculation (‘what if’) in line with audiences’ preference. There are a bunch of stuff that are employed to determine the dynamics but owing to variation in taste, audience don’t always agree with each other. Since seme/uke/riba archetypes rose to that status with the yaoi (doujin) boom with development of comiket, etc. tanbi, June, original shonen ai and other such types of BL don’t follow these archetypes. Live action which follows, to an extent, the latter tradition, such as Boys Love (2006), also don’t have uke/seme/riba archetypes, instead follows the archetypes that was popularized by tanbi literary movement. Tanbi literary movement was queer in more ways than one. It preceded/birthed BL (Mori Mari) and influenced it.

As no culture is passive recipient [pun intended], different glocalizations of seme/uke/riba dynamics exhibit different features, both within and outside Asia (eg. original English-language BL publication).

IRL

While being top/bottom/verse/side pertains to sexual preference/choices and acts or lack thereof, it is not devoid of other implications. Here are some interplay between these preferences/choices and the implications to consider:

Are these preference/choices innate or socially formed? Or both? Or neither?

What does it mean to be top/bottom/verse/side – within and outside the queer community?

Performance of masculinity, femininity, neither. Which masculinity/femininity? Is that masculinity/femininity performance – marginalized, soft, protest, hegemonic or amalgamated?

How local and global queer cultures influence it?

Is it some kind of conformation/attempt to fit in? If yes, what kind and why?

How are those choices impacted by history (including that of colonialism), legal/political implication (e.g.: pink certificate in Türkiye), local forms of patriarchy & heterosexism, class, nationality, race, skin color, caste, age, employment (including sex work) or lack thereof, physical location & avenues of exploration, abilities and disabilities, access to internet & other infrastructure, education (including sex education), health conditions and access to medical care, etc.

How do they form expectations regarding oneself and others?

While it can be argued that there shouldn’t be any other implication associated with such preference/choices, one can not simply wish them away as it is more often than not linked to certain social realities.

BL as well as gei comi are genres of fiction, telling tales of male androphilia – these are reproductions of imagination entwined with realities, reflecting desires, fantasies and biases plenty.

Conflation

I disagree that uke/seme/riba archetypes are conflated “casually” with bottom/top/verse in narratives and discussions around them. There is a difference that P’AbsoluteBL probably isn’t aware of:

Uke is the bottom in a ship. A character could be uke in a ship, seme or riba in another. For a character to be a ‘bottom’, he has to be sou uke or total/complete uke. It means no matter who he is paired with he will always be the uke.

Alternatively, a sou uke is a character that makes all other characters become seme for him and go after him.

Similarly, a character could be called ‘top’ when that character is a sou seme or total/complete seme. Unless a character is established as a sou seme or sou uke in the narrative, there is always a possibility that those characters are verse. While most BL involves set ships, it is not rare to find characters who are uke in one relationship becoming seme or riba in another. Sometimes, after a time skip, transmigration, reincarnation, etc. BL characters end up switching within a ship.

In Live Action

While there is plenty of riba ships in other BL media, live action has had very few.

These couples were riba in the novel:

Bai Luoyin and Gu Hai – Addicted – The censorship struck right after the couple had their first coitus interfemoris (based on the chronology in the novel).

Lu Feng and Cheng Yichen - A Round Trip to Love

Lan Yu and Chen Handong - Lan Yu

Dom/sub

While the P’AbsoluteBL is allowed to do whatever, I don’t think correlating dom/sub with seme/uke is a good idea in the context of BL because:

BL has a separate speculative fiction subgenre called dom-sub-verse (Dom/Subユニバース) which have its own conventions. It is one of the many subgenres that took inspiration from omegaverse and has grown parallel to it. It takes dominance and submission from the kink community and explores them as innate/biological traits.

It involves characters who are identified as Dom(ドム), Sub(サブ), Switch(スウィッチ), and Usual/Normal/Neutral(ユージュアル/ノーマル/ニュートラル). Along with the standard elements of BDSM in fiction such as safeword, sub space, sub drop and aftercare, it also involves additional elements such as kneel(ニール), glare(グレア) and collar (カラー). There are commands コマンド (命令) that Dom gives to Sub. Sometimes elements borrowed from omegaverse such as heats/ruts, suppressants and professional Dom also appear in this sub-genre.

Dom×Sub ship: Dom is the seme & Sub is the uke.

eg. Hizamazuite Ai Wo Tou 『跪いて愛を問う』 & Rhetoric 『レトリック』 by 山田ノノノ Mijuku Na Boku Ha Shihai Wo Kou 『未熟な僕は支配を乞う 1』 by音海ちさ

Sub×Dom ship: Sub is the seme & Dom is the uke.

Jouzu Ni Dekita Ne Watasesan 『上手にできたね、渡瀬さん』 by 野萩あき Shoshinsha Dom Ha Hameraretai 『初心者Domはハメられたい』 by やんちゃ Gohoubi Ni Kubiwa Wo Kudasai (ご褒美に首輪をください) by Naruse Kano

Dom×Switch ship: Dom is the seme & Switch is the uke.

Sono Meirei De Ore Wo Abaite 『その命令で俺を暴いて』 by 小夏うみ れ愛の声で暴いて by 泉門くき いでおすわりしてみせて by 由元千子

Switch×Switch ship: One of the switches is the seme and the other the uke. 

強情なSwitchの躾け方 by ことぶき

Dom×Dom ship: One of the dom is the seme and the other the uke.

コマンドミー、プリーズ by 町田とまと サディスティックに暴かれたい by 星崎レオ (uke is a Dom, seme’s identity is not made clear) Kyousei Switch 『強制Switch』 by 彩田あまた

Like most BL genres, it is yet to make its way into live-action BL.

There are plenty of BDSM themed BL as well as training (調教) style BL where seme/riba/uke can be switch or sub or dom.

Problematizing the Problem

Hence, the argument that conflation of seme/uke with top/bottom is “a PROBLEM” is ironic. The main reason given for that argument is that “het consumers [would] conflate (egregiously & incorrectly) top with male/masculine and bottom with female/feminine.” Here are some things that I think is relevant to think about that:

Why would ‘het people’ or any people for that matter think in terms of male-female / masculine-feminine binaries? Do they think in those binaries only and not other binaries such as wen(文)-wu(武)? Why think in binaries and dichotomies at all? Don’t they not think in terms of multiplicity of genders/gender expressions such as various kinds of masculinities and femininities) based off on their local contexts? 

Do queer people not make such/similar conflations? (Hint: they do.)

Is it a problem? While this seems to be the popular notion, plenty of scholars from across the globe has dismantled it.

What exactly do P’AbsoluteBL think ‘het people’ conflate riba characters with? Feminine-feminine? Masculine-masculine? Neither? Both? Something else?

There are different conceptions of masculinities within a culture which get reflected in cultural goods, including BL, from there. Here are some really old depictions:

Qing dynasty Chinese Water and Land Ritual painting depicting a divine civil official and thunder god in military regalia. [Wen - wu]

Paintings of Padmapani and Vajrapani on either side of the Buddha, from cave 1 of the Ajanta Caves.

Moreover, if the problem is hinging on a particular understanding of seme/uke: the one in which seme is not feminine or uke is not masculine enough. If latter is the issue, it can be fixed by sticking to BL media with otokomae uke or macho uke. If former is the issue, there’s more than enough works with maiden seme and josou seme. If one is yet to encounter any such works, one is not looking far enough.

Masculinities in BL

Here are three central characters from Finder series embodies different types of masculinities – a lot of it is presentation, physical attributes, age, power and social standing. Akihito is a young and vivacious uke who happens to be short and sinewy. Asami Ryuichi is a supadari seme: a guy who is tall, well educated, high earning, with good looks. In addition, he cooks and cleans and cares when he wants to. Fei Long is tall, beautiful and cunning and can be regarded as a riba character. But can any of these characters considered not masculine by regular standards?  Isn’t Akihito masculine enough for his age? And if we are to compare Asami, we are sure to find him lacking but then give him time to grow. They have a dozen years between them. Moreover, can average men stand comparison with a super darling? But then in the grand setup of patriarchy, isn’t power concentrated in the hands of the older men who dominates even the super darlings, both in real world and fictional ones.

Ayase Yukiya & Kanou Somuku from No Money

Consider the case of Ayase, would you call him a “feminine” uke? Probably yes. He is small in stature - petite and cute. He is definitely very small in comparison to his seme Kanou. They probably have one of the most exaggerated size differences and an extreme case of the traditional pairing.

The traditional pairing comes from the customary practice of androphilia in pre-modern Japan. It involves relationship between a wakashu and a nenja or from the tradition of nanshoku. The former is not considered a man by the period’s standards and is considered a third gender by some scholars. The latter is considered as a mentor and lover for the former. While the traditional faded with ‘modernization’, tanbi literary movement (among others) kept alive remnants of it through the writings of the likes of Yukio Mishima.

Note that the youth on the left is wearing a kimono whose style (furisode) and color was considered appropriate for adolescents of both sexes but not adult men, which along with the partially shaved pate denotes the boy's wakashū age status while the exposed bare feet indicates the purely sexual demeanor.

The traditional pairing has clearly inspired Japanese mangaka both BL artists and others. Look at the wakashu in customary androgynous clothing, younger, fairer and even smaller than the nenja, with relatively less experience being embraced by nenja who is in customary male clothing.

Check out more shunga about nanshoku to see visual ancestor of “yaoi”. The visual legacy continued with the likes of Go Mishima. The queers did it first.

From the series "Mishima Go Book of Young Man" - Japan - 1972 (Showa 47)

Ayase in No Money fits into the wakashu ideal. Moreover, the creators of this manga explicitly differentiated between feminine uke with wakashu uke by juxtaposing Ayase with Someya who embodies traditional femininity.

Someya and Honda from Henshin Dekinai

Putting it into perspective, it is noticeable that many a BL involves similar pairing. A lot of criticism BL faces is when it sticks to nanshoku dynamics. Interestingly, critics who can’t imagine genders beyond masculine and feminine, fail to tell apart “feminine” characteristics from wakashu characteristics. But there is no dearth of such dynamics getting subverted in numerous ways in BL:

ship with younger, lower class, petite, androgynous or any combination of customary wakashu characteristics in seme/riba.

ship with all parties being of similar age, class, physical attributes, experience, etc.

Emancipation

Shouldn’t typical uke archetype be seen as an example of subversion of the main character masculinity that dominates media landscape? Shouldn’t they be exalted for being what they are? Uke archetype that allows all genders to project onto and gain pleasure from, is that any less than a marvel in itself?

Pursuer & Pursued

In order to analyses if there is a shift in seme-uke dynamic, the P’AbsoluteBL employs the following to categories who is active:

who is pursuing whom

who makes the first call in terms of declarations and physical touch

who seems to be more in charge of the relationship

In BL, these are never reserved for seme/uke/riba. Who takes on which role depends on the narrative. BL rarely have fixed pursuer-pursued. All parties involved in a ship take on active role in different circumstances.

Take, for example, the original edition of Ossan’s Love, Hasegawa Yukiya employs certain indirect tactics to pursuing Soichi Haruta such as cooking, cleaning and caring for him. (These are tasks that seme/riba/uke usually engage in lighter BLs to gain and retain the attention/affection of the one they are pursuing.) Hasegawa also engages in activities they do together as a means to grow closer. Once he learns of his love rival, he switches up the tactic. He pursues more directly and aggressively. Soichi rejects him. He withdraws and returns to the original tactic but without attempts to grow closer. Soichi feels the loss and tries to get close to Hasegawa but is brushed off. He does not back down. Instead, he takes on a more aggressive route of pursuit - making amends and chasing after Hasegawa.

What P’AbsoluteBL implies with “I think BLIHID’s main couple has a REALLY weak seme/uke dynamic from the get go” is made abundantly clear in with “ShiLei does a lot of active pursuit, also he’s very self actualized.” Here, using pursuer/pursued would have sufficed. Instead, P’AbsoluteBL chose to disappropriate established terms ‘seme/uke’ and imbibed them with implications of “active pursuit” as well as “self-actualization” [regarding queer identity] that seme/uke/riba doesn’t carry originally. Most of it based on biases built on equating all BL to one type of BL: the one with traditional pairing that follows royal road progression.

What P’AbsoluteBL actively avoids discussing is that Beloved in House is basically following the super popular ‘domineering president’ plot based on a BG romance.

Live Action Struggles

P’AbsoluteBL mentions an imagined ‘struggles around seme/uke’ in live-action BL. I think the actual issue plaguing live action BL is the struggle to balance business and other interests while being able to do justice to the diversity within BL as a media genre.

source: (chil-chil.net)

In the chart:

ほのぼの – heartwarming – Example: Restart After Come Back Home

コメディ – comedy – Cherry Magic

ダーク – dark – Sing in Love

シリアス – serious – Cornered Mouse Dream of Cheese

キュン – exciting (kyun) – Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice but to Kiss

Japan has trouble in diversifying its live-action in terms of sub-genres and treatment/mood. Even Thailand, despite the amount it produces have trouble offering variety. Riba couple, maiden seme, yarachin characters, yandere X yandere ship, etc. are either very rare or non-existent in live action BL. Moreover, live action BL is seldom explicit and are mostly in the speculative territory with seme/uke/riba dynamics, making it all the harder to diversify.

Tbh, what fascinated me the most is the “I kind of automatically cringed” part of the question. I would love to know what brought about that reaction. I am sure that it would help shed some light on discourse surrounding BL in general.

Post #2: Blushing Maiden Trope & Seme/Uke

Discussion (intended and in italics) between an anon, @heretherebedork & P’AbsoluteBL on actions and reactions during physical relationships.

The discussion centers around “the character placed into the stereotypically feminine role” being repulsed/reluctant/hesitant when it comes to physical relationships. It is directly attributed to “purity culture in BLs”.

BL have a complicated relationship with “purity” or being “clean”. Tanbi roots of BL hinged on sexuality and obsession with beauty to the point of decadence. Shonen ai (original meaning) works also had characters who are usually promiscuous for one reason or the other, never forming very deep relationship (at least not enough to stick to monogamous unions for long) yet endlessly entangled with other characters, often baffling non-queer characters in those works.

from Song of the Wind and Trees

*

[Inviting readers to hazard a guess: who is the seme and who is the uke. Answer at the end of this post.]

*

But how explicit the depiction of physical relationships has varied in BL with time and space. Japanese BL with the self-published BL (aniparo / yaoi – original meaning) boom saw very explicit depictions side by side with the commercial BL which have barely any explicit content or those which take a closed-door approach. Now Japanese BL have a wide range in terms of explicit content and have grown to incorporate elements from other genres including gei comi. Korean BL is similarly doing well. It is not uncommon to have chapters or parts of chapter in manhwa and novels dedicated to the celebration of physical relationships. Thai BL also have no dearth of explicit content, especially in web publishing. Chinese BL in its early days had lots of explicit content, especially in self-publishing. But as censors started taking notice and cracking down, authors and platforms clamped down. Most BL were purged of any & all explicit content. Some of it migrated to Taiwanese platforms, AO3 & other foreign hosts. Now all danmei published is “pure love” devoid of even allusion to depiction of any physical relationship beyond above neck action.

When it comes to BL live action, things are a little different. In Japan and to an extend abroad, there has always been overlap between audience of BL and audience of Japanese GVs and pink eiga. Moreover, early live-action Japanese BL was probably aimed exclusively at hardcore BL fans. They were way more explicit on average and did not always involve physical relationship between the main ship. Same seems true about early live-action Chinese BL. A Round Trip to Love Part 2 (2016) even had bondage and SM scenes which wasn’t there in the novel; but then it didn’t have the hard-earned happy ending the novel had either. But now, even dangai with “socialist brotherhood” (社会主义兄弟情) can’t be aired. Meanwhile, Japan’s average BL today lacks much explicit content. This isn’t to say that it doesn’t drop an occasional Sei no Gekiyaku (2020) once in a blue moon. Here are my speculations to why more of those doesn’t get made.

There is another reason for “purity culture” in BL.

Sathaporn Panichraksapong, an MD of GMMTV, a major producer of BL series, claimed that audience members who are mainly heterosexual women look for romantic relationships among the characters rather than sexual relationships.

We know that our audience are [sic] women. Women want to see only two boys having romantic moments together. They don't want to see sex. Sexual relationships in BL are for a gay audience. That's why in SOTUS the Series we have only two kissing scenes. With only these, audiences were already screaming. This is enough for them. (Interview with Sathaporn, GMMTV, 10 Aug. 2017)

Jirattikorn, Amporn. "Heterosexual Reading vs. Queering Thai Boys' Love Dramas among Chinese and Filipino Audiences." (2023).

As Jirattikorn goes on to highlight, this [wrong] perception about the audience (“women”) have changed ever since.

While early BL series tend to portray pure love without showing many sexual relationships, later BL series started to show more sex scenes between the two male lead characters.

Jirattikorn (2023)

“It’s always the character being pursued, who is typically in his first relationship, who Never Thinks Of Sex. They’re often very sweet and innocent and wide-eyed.”

While heretherebedork attributes it to “purity culture”, it can be argued that this has to do with what audience wanted:

I like the way they portray love in Thai BL. It is a kind of puppy love. BL of other nations, like Chinese BL, are darker. In Thai BL, two male characters often start off friends, then develop feelings for each other. It is very light, very sweet. (Krissy, f, 27, Philippines)

Jirattikorn (2023)

and what media houses thought they wanted, as evidenced by Jirattikorn’s interviews with BL fans. This is not to dismiss struggles with purity culture which is often a very slow part of decolonialization.

P’AbsoluteBL goes further to the argument that “purity” is associated with seme/uke dynamics in BL and maps it to typical het pairing (BG):

The stronger the seme/uke dynamic (the more heterosexually dysmorphic and less actually gay) the more likely this trope will manifest. Simply put: the man (because he is hooah a MANLY MAN DUDE) wants sex but the woman (delicate pure flower of cleanliness and joy) does not. And if she does want it she is a DIRTY, worthless, whore - so she MUST protest sex (GASP) at every single turn. (Seme is acting the male and uke the female in these kinds of narratives.) *please sense my sarcasm dumb interwebs, mm’kay?*  

It’s true that the argument seems persuasive but is it right? Probably not. Seme, uke and riba characters can be divided into strong/weak categories based on their characterization - with the strong ones being those who pursue, take initiative, most likely to initiate intimacy at least for their first time, etc. and weak ones being those at the receiving end of pursuits and initiatives. Pairing a strong one with a weak one is probably more traditional –

strong riba x weak riba like in Addicted (at least before time skip)

strong seme x weak uke like in Old Fashioned Cupcake

weak seme x strong uke like in Saezurutori Wa Habatakanai (at least before time skip; pavam Doumeki)

compared to those with both parties being strong (which leads to delectable friction and sparks flying when done right) or both being weak (which leads to audience wondering: will either of them do something? No? Very well!).

BL’s sex negativity

Seme gets overwhelmed by his lust for uke, acts aggressively and has to be shut down or warned off. 

Not only seme, uke and riba characters does this too. P’AbsoluteBL attributes “getting overwhelmed by lust” and “acting aggressively” to seme when it can be attributed to both uke (襲い受け) and riba as well. Other than acting aggressively, characters may employ seduction (eg. Xia Shang Zhou in You Are Mine (2023) - tried and failed & Charlie in Pit Babe (2023) - successful) and/or manipulation (Color Recipe by Harada).

Seme won’t take no for an answer because his needs are too great and his needs take precedence (he’s “the man” after all) and the uke is just TOO CUTE how could anyone resist? (After all the seme is only gay for this one guy because he is so cute. Everything, therefor, is the uke and his cutenesses’ fault.) 

Moreover, P’AbsoluteBL is probably not aware of kawai seme who employ their cuteness to get uke to lower the guard and to seduce. Cuteness is clearly not a uke prerogative.

Like the sailor-costume wearing seme on the cover, cuteness is sometimes invoked through conventionally women’s clothing, cosplaying (maid, sailor, nurse), etc.

If the seme makes the choice to have sex for the uke, then the uke is not at fault and is still technically innocent. Only if an uke wants it, is he actually impure (or actually gay). In H4 when they both comfort and sex shame the bottom after the rape sequence, this is the narrative’s mentality. (A man who does not want sex is assumed to be able to fight another man off.)   Oh and ALSO, the seme must read the uke’s mind and know what the uke really wants.

I don’t even know what went into this argument. There is an entire subgenre: 調教 BL (training / conditioning) that is focused on pleasure training. If a character (seme/uke/riba) wants sex in a narrative, it usually only means that their partner is on the right track. Moreover, when a character wants, actively seeks and are denied intimacy for manipulation reasons, then their partner is made out to be cruel (either 鬼畜 or ゲス・クズ).

In other words, if the uke is interested in sex, he’s made impure by this interest.  Sex of any kind is an act of desperation and indicates lack of control and therefor diminishes both parties but particularly the uke, therefor the uke shouldn’t have to take responsibility of wanting sex, so the decision must be made by the seme for both of them. He is being a “good seme” by doing this. The uke, therefore MUST appear reluctant to have sex, or he is not a good/pure/virtuous person.

Honestly, I haven’t come across BL which gives off this kind of message. However, two-faced scummy characters (seme/uke/riba) get to employ hypocrisy, which includes slut-shaming, to humiliate characters they are shipped with but then such narratives are built to illicit hatred (for scummy characters) and angst and often punished with:

(a) unhappy ending for the couple

(b) breaking up of the ship

(c) groveling which may or may not end in redemption of the scum

(d) switching within ship – uke turns into riba/seme or seme turns into riba/uke – or shift in power dynamics (rich character becomes relatively poorer, junior from school becomes senior/superior in workplace).

A lot of readers find such dramatic plots satisfying and hence it is a successful subgenre.

*

Can you guess the seme in these 20 BL manga? Try this quiz on renta.

*

Post #3: How do they determine who will be archetype seme/uke?

Discussion regarding seme/uke determination in BL: @elynn0723 & P'AbsoluteBL (intended and in italics).

I think your confusion is partly nested in the fact that seme/uke is not about who fucks who, not really. Certainly not anymore. Seme/uke are narrative archetypes not physical acts.

Disappropritation. Discussed above.

I should say for the record that personality is NOT sexual preference. 

P’AbsoluteBL goes onto give examples (all of which are fictionalized in different genres – GB, BL, etc.) but probably due to being limited by lack of exposure, goes onto ask, “How weird that anyone would think queers do this.” Queers do this. If one is willing to look beyond LGBTQIA+ form of queerness (which is born and brought up in America), one can see queer possibilities. For example, Kothi-Panthi queerness in India/South Asia. It is probably a good idea to pay attention to it when generalizing queerness given how big India/South Asia’s (queer) population is. There are very many similar forms of queerness in other parts of Global South. In many cultures, sexuality doesn’t inform identity but sexual preference does.

[ Aside: Kothi-Panthi model of queerness

This model doesn’t work for whole of India – region (India is so big and heavily populated - different sexual cultures and practices); linguistics (different terms in different region, same terms different meanings in different region, decline of Farsi (used in queer spaces in Delhi) and other queer argot/cant and their replacement with American English internet slang); class & caste (LGBTQIA+ being self-identification of mostly urban/rurban, upper class, English educated v/self- identification common among the sex workers, working class and other lower classes in rural as well as urban spaces who are excluded from consumerist queerness);

NGOfication of queer movement & action; global queering and neoliberal take over leading to americanization –– intermixing & “gay” (and other terms) being used differently by different classes.]

How do they determine who will be archetype seme/uke?

P’AbsoluteBL points to narrative roles - who is “after” the relationship more, and then goes onto claim “the heroine is the main character, the love interest is her love interest. It’s decided for them because it’s a romance novel.” I don’t know if this helps explaining either seme/uke/riba archetypes in BL or pursued/pursuer. Aren’t there romances where hero pursues heroine and the other way around? Aren’t there romances where both party pursue each other?

Even if we assume that androphilic female audience is projecting the sexual mores & expectations imposed on them onto male characters, then by the very act aren’t they subverting those expectations.

How do they determine who tops?

P’AbsoluteBL provides the following schema:

seme = active pursuer

since active pursuer is “the male role”

he should do the penetrating

which has to be done

P’AbsoluteBL also gives a term for this association: heterosexual dysmorphia - "the idea that any couple must fit into predetermined binary gender roles". This is probably coming from a place of ignorance since the example given is confined to musings about sexism concerning the upper class in Global North. Also, at least in the ambit of Kothi-Panthi sexuality, fitting into masculine top-feminine bottom dynamic doesn’t place them into any predetermined binary gender roles. Instead, it only places them in the fluid space of multi-genders: can/are seamlessly float(ing) between being kinnar/hijra/ali and being “cis-men”.

If one is to ask the question: “Which one of you is The Girl?” to a kothi-panthi couple, the kothi would tell you without hesitation: “I am The Girl.” Might even asked you in turn, “Couldn’t you tell?”

Kothi [is the word used by] effeminate men who desire to be penetrated by "real" men whom they call ‘panthi’.

Queer Movements by Paromita Chakravarti & Aniruddha Dutta

Seme/uke/riba archetypes are imbibed with different traits and different spin on personalities that a seasoned BL sommelier might be able to spot easily but would confuse those who are less familiar with all that the genre has to offer. The following excerpt from an analysis by @ranchthoughts reflects the most popular idea about seme/uke dynamics.

Most BL shows can be read through a lens of seme/uke dynamics, which originated in yaoi. The seme is the “pursuer” character and the uke is the “pursued”. There are certain physical (height, skin colour, etc.), social (age, wealth, social capital, etc.), and personality (active vs. passive, extroverted vs. introverted, flirtier vs. shyer) markers which are typically associated with either the seme or the uke. For example, semes tend to be taller, wealthier, older, flirtier, tanner, more active, and have a higher social status, while ukes tend to be shorter, poorer, younger, shyer, paler, and have a lower social status. “Seme” and “uke” roles are also sometimes conflated with masculinity and femininity (semes are “masculine” and ukes are “feminine”) and sexual preferences (semes are dominant and tops and ukes are submissive and bottoms). There are also tropes associated with either the seme or the uke, like ukes typically give cheek kisses and semes forehead kisses. Thus, things like height, age, wealth, personality, presumed sexual preference, and the role they take in tropes can index the character’s status as a seme or a uke, and in turn the character’s identity as a seme or uke in the narrative (pursuer vs. pursued) indexes a character’s personality, sexual preferences, etc., however unrealistic and simplistic that is in real life. In a BL, we would expect the seme (pursuer) and uke (pursued) characters to exhibit most, if not all, of the associated seme or uke traits and roles in tropes, though this is not always true (and some BLs have little to no seme/uke dynamics at all).

There are two interesting things about such an understanding of seme/uke dynamics:

It closely resembles nenja/wakashu dynamics (and its cousins) in the customary and mostly age-stratified androphilia in pre-modern Japan.

Live action BL, at least the ones that were current and popular, stuck mainly to a single type of dynamic: pairing of one seme of a particular kind (スパダリ – super darling) with one uke of a particular kind (ヘタレ – milquetoast). There are barely any riba couple. It is painting picture of BL in monochromes. So much so that Bad Buddy and My School President were seen as some path breaking feat and a break away from “yaoi” tropes by live action audience, rather than seeing them having just another (or less familiar) set of yaoi / BL tropes.

What P’AbsoluteBL identifies as “heterosexual dysmorphia” in “yaoi” is basically what BL inherited from Japan’s pre-modern androphilia including “femininity” in uke from chiago, wakashu and androgynous Kabuki actors and (hyper)masculinity in seme from nenja and others who enacted “the male role”. BL did not passively receive any of these. And for moe, artists and audience alike, subverted it all.

This is true for all tropes that are attributed to seme/uke.

Height difference – Earliest BLs had petite bishonen pairings. Yaoi introduced height differences – all of them: tall seme x short uke short seme x tall uke (this is probably the most sexualized height difference) tall seme x tall uke (with little to no difference) both/all short riba CP/ship both/all tall riba CP/ship tall riba x short riba short riba x tall riba

Cuteness – Used to establish how irresistible a character (seme/uke/riba) is irrespective of their attitudes and behavior are. Oft part of seme’s seduction tactic, especially when uke has a weakness for cute things. Even when cuteness is not one of the seme’s attributes, it is invoked either actively by serving kawai in speech or through actions including cosplay; or passively like in the following example where a typical super darling seme, Asami Ryuichi from Finder unintentionally triggers moe in Takaba Akihito (his uke) by cuddling a baby.

Uke’s cuteness is exploited to establish a sou uke (an uke every other character turns seme for) or subvert the same like in No Money where one of the epitomes of bishonen cuteness, Ayase (uke), who manages to enthrall others however isn’t a sou uke as one might expect and thus subverts the wakashu trope. Moreover, Kanou (seme) wasn’t initially drawn to Ayase due to his cuteness but due to Ayase’s kindness that lifted him out of the abyss of despair, when Kanou was at his weakest.

3. Bulk – BL have main characters (seme/uke/riba) with varying bulk and body types. There is far less diversity when it comes to Live Action BL.

4. Blushing maiden/virginal innocent trope – applies to all sorts of BL characters.

Edit: Conclusion

1. Surprisingly, ethnocentrism and loud echo of colonial masculinity in particular seem to permeate the discourse surrounding BL.

2. I really wish live action BL would have as much diversity as other BL media. Why is it so slow to diversify? Is it because of business interests? Is sticking to super darling X milquetoast pairing with royal road progression a sensible business decision? Or is sexism promoting wrong impressions of what audience want?

3. How come the Japanese terms "seme" & "uke" are used a lot but not "riba"? Where did live action BL audience learn these terms?

***

Yaoi = [how P'AbsoluteBL uses it] synonym for ボーイズ ラブ (boys love) manga.

            = [popular use in anglophone BL manga fandom] BL manga with explicit content; as opposed to shonen ai.

            = [original meaning] derivative works, which were mostly plot-what-plot type, that are self-published (doujinshi)

Answer to a question posted above: Gilbert Cocteau – uke in Song of the Wind and Trees

Below is the seme: Serge Battour

from Song of the Wind and Trees

Earliest BL manga had very pretty seme/uke/riba characters (if we are to call them so) and were not too preoccupied with "manliness" or a single type of "masculinity". But, they were surely obsessed with bishonen.

-

[1] 互攻 is also used to indicate POV switching between gong and shou in fiction.

[2] 纯爱 is also used to indicates asexual androphilia.

CP/pairing - involves 2 characters. Ship - involves 2 or more characters.

Inviting @waitmyturtles and @lurkingshan to share your thoughts if any (since I have noticed you guys use the terms "seme" & "uke" as well). Hope you guys don't mind the mention.

[idialover]

!!NSFW!!!

My friends and I have a tradition of playing "does this character have sex" whenever we get into a new piece of media, because we always enjoy everything together, and today we spent a few hours discussing TWST charactrs. They found out that I now have a Tumblr blog and told me I should "post our very scientific findings for the interwebs" (Note that we are all between the ages of 16-17, so in the same age group as the characters)

Heartslabyul (general judgement): The virgin one

Riddle: no, and he somehow doesn't even know what sex is. You'd think he'd know with how much he studies about everything you learn in school, so even sex-ed but no, he doesn't know

Ace: gray area, no bitches respectfully, except maybe Deuce, but we couldn't agree on that, he would treat it as "it's just a prank bro, no homo"

Deuce: yeah, sure, I mean he's pretty okay looking, not often tho

Cater: he seems like he'd be a dicord kitten or an insta-thot, he tries but doesn't really succeed, maybe once or twice.

Trey: no, because he actually wears a fedora, unironically. "he's as bland as the flour he uses in his cakes"-my friend#2

Savanaclaw (general judgement): Gahdayumm!!

Leona: YES! absoulutley 100% just look at him, but he'd be one of those lazy tops, is very casual about it, there isn't a lot to say because it's just so obvious that he is 100% a sex haver

Ruggie: Hard to say, he has an Italian souding name so maybe no, he hasn't yet discovered that he can earn quite a lot of money that way, or maybe he has (we couldn't agree on this)

Jack: gay wolf boyfirend fantasy so yes, big buff man go brrrr

Octavinelle (general judgement): ehhhh, fish go brrr

Azul: this was a very hard one to decide but in the end no, no real reason just doesn't seem like he would have it, he's on that alpha buisness grindset

Jade: Yes becazse friend#1 said so (she's a strong Jade stan) and everyone decided to let her have this one, but everybody else generally thinks he is Asexual (friend#1 is also ace)

Floyd: yes, he is bisexual in wicked and scheming ways and everybody is aware of that. Chaos bi, him and Jade are two side of a coin, all or nothing. He flirts by messing with people, mostly Riddle but as I've already said Riddle has no idea what's going on and just thinks Floyd has it out for him

Scarabia (general judgement): This was the hardest one to discuss

Kalim: He is very lovable, but no, for unknown reasons, boy has 0 rizz

Jamil: yeah, ig, normal 17 year old guy, he isn't basic like Trey, but he just doesn't have time because of Kalim

Pomefiore (general judgement): slayyy!

Vil: Yes, and his standards are surprisingly not as high as you'd think, we got very heated about how people often mischaracterize him as a very vain but he just wants people to be themselves and best version of themselves. Good for cardio

Rook: yes, in freaky kinky ways (see Rook alchemy card) he sometimes has touble finding people who are into the same stuff as him

Epel: no, beacause he is an "alpha male" in the worst ways possible

Ignihyde (General judgement): you'd think they be reddit mods, but they actually tumblr sexymen

Idia: yes, he has that disheveled rizz, the more they look like they haven't left the house since 2015 the better. We stan broken men in this household(blog), only on halloween tho that's when his confidence get's a bit better and he becomes and active member of society

Ortho: he is a robot based on a young child! NO!

Diasomnia (General judgement): oooh spooky~~

Malleus: yeah sure

Silver: gray are (they demanded I make that pun, pls forgive me)

Lillia: He is the most slay character, an old vampire/fae obviously yes. He has a lot of experience, best sex haver he's so amazing, Lillia for the win

Sebek: no

Staff (general judgement): a very mixed bag

Crowley: someone somwhere slept with him, he is kinda usless but he gets laid, look at his vacation outfit

Crewel: Definetly, high standards but he is correct, he gets to have high standards, he is the perfect man, not a DILF but also not not one

Trein: yes, loyal to his wife (rip tho), good husband 10/10 would trust him, good man

Vargas: Yeah, he's a typical good looking guy, he has never had a long term relationship but he doesn't want one

Sam: We debated for a long time and decided that yes he does have sex

[unabashedcroissanttreefan]

Okay Hello, no one knows me, I have 0 follower, I never post and no will read this but I HAD to share this Miguel O'hara/ Y/N thought, which can probably be applied to a lot of characters

Imagine : The sun is setting during a chill day in summer. In a cemetery, Miguel is sat before his sweet daughter's grave. How long has he been there ? Don't know, but when he arrived the sun was high in the blue sky. He talks to the rectangle marble stone in front of him, the picture of Gabriella never ceasing to smile.

The gravel crunches under the feet of someone, but Miguel doesn't seem to mind nor to even notice, focused on all the things he wants to tell his lovely Gabi.

The person stops in front of a grave, probably the one of someone they loved and cared for. A family member ? A friend ? Only them know. The scent of the flower bouquet they hold fill the air around. They stare at the name(s) written in golden engraved letters with a soft grin. A sigh passes through their lips as they slowly start to bend to place the colorful bouquet of hand-picked flowers, when their eyes drift to the broad figure of a man crouched on before another polished stone.

The person scan him, no ounce of judgment in their mind; He happily talks and chuckles to the photo despite the obvious remorse rolling down his cheeks.

A discreet grin is now drawn on their lips, endeared by the sight. They approach him, carefully stepping forward not to startle him, but he doesn't seem to have noticed them.

Miguel eagerly tells Gabriella about the latest news that happened in his Spider life ; how the cafeterias vending machine was completely destroyed after everyone fought for the last piece of some random candy he always found too sweet and doesn't understand the hype for, how he finally found one of Lyla's jokes funny, how he forgot what Jess looked like without her round belly and how healthy her baby is..

He is involved in each of his words.

A set of legs enter his vision. He immediately shoots his gaze up, ready to pick a fight with whoever interrupted him and Gabi in their one-sided conversation.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you.." The stranger embarrassly states. While he raises an eyebrow, still perplexed, they kneel down. Their face always showed a soft expression clearly displaying their lack of wrong intentions. Under his curious eyes, the person starts to choose some flowers in the lot, seriously thinking about the one that suited the best the framed, smiling girl. Happy of their second little bouquet, they proudly grin, and place the gathering of flowers on the grave, in front of the picture.

"I hope she isn't allergic to pollen" They say, offering a warm smile to the man, who, despite being dumbfounded by their action, seems to appreciate it.

Miguel chuckles.

"She was, but she loved flowers too much to care about it. I always had to carry allergy medication because of that"

They both chuckle. He was glad to share her memory with someone

"I can't blame her ! I always loved to go on walks just to pick every kind of flowers I came across to"

"Believe me, she did the same. The appartement was always full of dead flowers because she was too sad to throw them away"

Both of them laugh, and, the now 'not really a stranger anymore' settles on their rear and crosses their legs, eager to know more.

Jeez HAAAAAA

(Fanart not mine, I don't have the name of the artist, sadly.. I randomly picked it from my gallery, I'm really deeply sorry)

Also, I'm not a native English speaker, and since this is a drabble, I didn't take the time to look for translations or correct orthography, so don't hesitate to tell me if I made a mistake, that's how Iearn haha

[eff-plays]

Wyll really is just so ignored, I'm playing for the first time and just got to act three and jesus, first time seeing his dad in forever at gortash's ceremony thing and theres like no reaction from Wyll?? unless my game bugged which it's been doing more than a fair amount since patch 7.. Like a lot. I saw someone say that Wyll gets treated like Karlachs backpack and like yeah... that scene is about gortash and karlach mostly, Wyll and his dad are just kinda there?? Mean while astarions plotline about vampires doesnt really seem relevant to the story literally at all but theres so much content focusing on that.

HEY sorry for coming back here to yell. If you know all of this or don't care for my flabbergasted yelling then please don't mind me, apologies if this is nonsensical, I am bewildered and my mind has been servery boggled. I just fully took a second to notice that wyll has 1 (ONE) greeting if you've romanced him, I was a lil baffled so I spent a minute spamming everyone in camp and saying hi and ahahahahah, everyone but lae'zel and the side npcs has at least two for the approval I have with them, karlach has 4. So I went to the wiki and, lae'zel has 4 possible romantic greetings and everyone else have above 10 APART FROM WYLL, WHO HAS 1, some of those greetings are if you've broken up but Wyll apparently has 0 (ZERO) if you've broken up BECAUSE Wyll has 7 possible greetings TOTAL TOTAL!! lae'zel has the same amount of platonic greetings as Wyll does total, asstarion has 27, shadowheart has 36 , Karlach has 38. what the actual shit, I'm not sure if the wiki is outdated and they added more for patch 7 but like?????? I also just had that cutscene with mizora, we had just doomed either Wyll or his dad, his dad in my case (even though what Mizora was offering was his location and protection from all but us, doesn't mean that he's dead for sure but everyones acting like Wyll just sacrificed his dad for his freedom, EXCEPT for Karlack whos acting like I took the deal, they really refuse to fix any bugs that involve Wyll huh), and we just get one of those "talk to me" interactions in camp, you don't even get to talk to him about it after that, he just goes right back to "I'm here for you, always" and all the default dialogue options, like bro you dad apparently just had his death cemented and THATS ALL WE GET? thats all he gets? No extra lil bit of dialogue to reassure him seeing as we may have just killed his dad?? idk it feels very significant to his character seeing as he often talks about how much he adores his dad but no? I really regret romancing Wyll first, I'm just getting mad at the game and his treatment like damn. I'm so disappointed, usually fandom ignoring any and all poc in games is just their racism and I've no doubt thats still happening here but I really can't blame people for not latching onto Wyll, he's great and I love him but even when romancing him and no one else, every other companion seems to have so much more going on, cause they literally do, they have so much more content. I knew he had less, I've seen that reddit post about the amount of hours each companion gets but the greeting thing really just whacked me in the face. small and minor correction, i misread the 10 as a16 I believe, so astarion has 21 not 27 as i think i said before! STILL OVER DOUBLE WHAT WYLL HAS AHAHA

(I assumed these were the same person so I bundled them in one big ask)

Oh but remember, Larian ENSURES all their devs work on EXACTLY what they want to work on!!! :))))

This is also why I think Durgewyll is the big brain romance of the game. Because it's the only way to experience even slightly more Wyll content. Like?? ONE romance greeting that was BUGGED for until a much later patch? Like!!!!! GENUINELY THE FUCKING AUDACITY. They should be legit fr fr ashamed lmao. Also Neil Newbon glazing Larian for being soooooo inclusive and making such groundbreaking representation while their only Black character is in the fucking toilet.

Ugh. It sucks so bad lmao. It's frustrating too cuz there's nothing one can do. Clearly speaking up about it has done fuck-all. Even if they drop the world's biggest Wyll patch, it'll still be like oh ok so all that racism was just a funny joke I guess? "Haha tricked you all into thinking we were racist?" To be clear I do want a massive Wyll patch, but I'm still never getting a Larian game again even if they drop it. I'll mayhap pirate one but even so. They've shown their priorities and preferences. They're SOOOOOO keen on speaking to their fans and addressing every little piss-ass useless gripe as soon as possible, except when you ask about Wyll. Then it's radio silence. Because even acknowledging it, apologizing for it, would be inconvenient. It would make it a Big Deal that people would Talk About, and it would tarnish Larian's current status as the gamer audience darling. So better to pretend it's not happening. After all, the only people upset are just some Twitter randos, and nobody listens to those guys.

Whatever man. Theo Solomon saying peanits.

[je-brille-dans-la-nuit]

Watching TOS: Jim Kirk's Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Week

Can't a guy catch a break?

The city on the edge of forever - YEESS

Love a time travel with an ethics dilemma intertwined in a personal one!!!

Jim manipulating Spock in the most blatant way possible, basically saying "Excuse me. I sometimes expect too much of you." like come on! and Spock still taking the bait

The clothes, the living together, Spock building his diy computer and being bitchy about it all the while

The music everytime Jim talks with Edith is SO MUCH

The ending is very fucking horrible, oh Jim 😭😭😭

This episode delivers!

GUARDIAN: As correct as possible for you. Your science knowledge is obviously primitive. SPOCK: Really. KIRK: Annoyed, Spock?

I'm snickering

You? At his side like you've always been and always will be

Gifted insight indeed!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my heart

Captain. Even when he doesn't say it, he does.

I'm WEAK

KIRK: Spock, I believe I'm in love with Edith Keeler. SPOCK: Jim, Edith Keeler must die.

Why is he so dramatic over a woman he met a week ago i can'ttttt + everytime Spock calls him Jim it's something awful 😭

Side note: in the episode McCoy says he's "a surgeon, not a psychiatrist". But in Court Martial he's said to be "an expert in space psychology". I realize psychiatry =/= psychology, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

.

Operation - Annihilate!

I liked the episode but the ending left me very frustrated.

Look, when you decide to kill part of your main character's family, you're saying the stakes are HIGH in this episode. And for the most part, we see just that.

Shatner and Nimoy's acting is very very good I love it

I love Jim like that, I can totally buy the limited show of emotion at his brother and sister-in-law's death bc that's his thing, we've seen him do it: he stays focused, he's all tense but still efficient, in control. Even when Bones has to remind him,

KIRK: Help them. I don't care what it takes or costs. You've got to help them. MCCOY: Jim, aren't you forgetting something? There are over a million colonists on that planet down there, just as much your responsibility. They need your help, too.

That was good! That was high stakes both for Jim and his mission as captain!

Spock being attacked and in danger of dying adding to the urgency of the situation, yeah, that's great

Looove Spock in this, "Pain is a thing of the mind" and all that!!

"I am a Vulcan, I am a Vulcan. there is no pain." OH SPOCK

"I need you Spock, but we can't take any chances." Oh Jim

MCCOY: Captain, I understand your concern. Your affection for Spock, the fact that your nephew is the last survivor of your brother's family. KIRK: No, no, Bones. There's more than two lives at stake here. I cannot let it spread beyond this colony, even if it means destroying a million people down there.

The way Jim, Spock and Bones look at one another when Spock decides to sacrifice himself (well Jim had decided to sacrifice him anw) - when he gets out and Jim grabs him -

SOMEONE HUG JIM FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

And then... Jim ready to SNAP it was so dramatic and funny when he goes BoOones

Now to the thing I liked the least:

In the last minutes, Jim is so relieved to have Spock back, the banter is fun but... No word of his nephew?? I suppose he's healed but why is there 0 talk or emotional scene about it? Why is the emotion only about Spock?

Why did they choose to end this episode in such a light-hearted way? There's no emotional pay-off to Jim's family being decimated! It is driving me crazy!! You'd think it was a pretty important plot point!!

[ichirukilover]

I closed the door to Bl/each after the tragedy of 6/86 and briefly opened a window to LA, because well that pair is my weakness and it made me laugh how treacherously I/R it was.

So when weeks ago I saw a beautiful I/R fanart on Tik Tok (The anime came back, so the algorithm decided it was a good idea to torture me), and the response to a comment that said "They should have ended up together "was "READ THE MANGA", I was baffled. I mean, what did that mean? had I read a fake manga all those years and the "real manga" appeared Da Vinci Code-style after 2016? Was it all a Jump conspiracy? Have we been duped all this time?

That piqued my curiosity, so I wandered around several sites, reading publications from the "correct/canon/real manga" point of view; and well, you'll see even worse things the bible says.

Here are my favorites:

"The I/H was evident from the beginning, just read chapter 0": yes, because a one-shot that is a sketch of the general idea of a manga, that goes through many revisions and rewrites is absolutely determinant in the development of the main manga, and seriously, what exactly is the evidence?

"HM arc is the ultimate proof of I/H, he went to rescue her and even came back from the dead for her": well, so did her other friends and even R/enji and R/ukia, maybe they were all in love with her too. And about the resurrection...just...never mind.

"I/H are perfect for each other" Here I could do a whole essay from a psychological point of view that proves that it is an absolute fallacy and was more than clear in the FB arc, in real life they wouldn't work and would be a toxic couple. And God knows at least that boy needs therapy.

"O***ime looks like Ma/saki" * Bombastic side eye. Criminal, offensive side eye *

"O***ime deserves I/chigo”: Oh, so he was some kind of trophy for being a good girl, so it wasn't enough to objectify her, they also do the same with the boy.

"Ru/kia was a shinigami and I/chigo was a human, and she's much older than him, their relationship was impossible." *Everything but the rain entered the chat*.

"I/H fought together against Y/wach": And we all know how well they (he) did, right?

"W/D/k/A/L/Y": *sigh* that's what it looks like when you try to fix a mess and fail miserably.

"W/D/k/A/L/Y's scribble": ...

"Anime invented IR": The studio simply pushed something that was already implicit in the original material and they knew it would sell more, it's basic marketing. Most of us knew what was filler and what wasn't (rolls eyes).

And there definitely wasn't a parallel manga that magically made sense of that ending. What a disappointment.

And I/R are the delusional and lacking in compressive reading? It's so much easier to say you just don't like people ship I/R, instead of sending them to read the manga or giving lazy arguments. Pathetic.

This was long, but I just needed to vent or something, because I honestly found the whole situation absolutely hilarious.

My English is broken, so I hope I have been understood.

PS: So in my delusional mind I/R is right now enjoying his honeymoon on the beach *wink**wink*.

Blessings.

As someone that didn't leave after the ending and has seen all these "amazing points" take form and basically became the classic "IH and pro ending dudebro agenda" list, let me tell you, I was and still am baffled too. No matter how many times I read them, I still get shocked at how some really believe that bunch of BS, or better they keep repeating it untill they'll believe it.

You adressed them in a simple but direct and straight to the point way, I don't even need to add anything to what you said, agree to all of it, wait lol well maybe I could add the the pilot chapter lit has In0ue de0d at the end of it but what do we know, that doesn't seem to matter to them lol it doesn't have to make sense smh

In our delusional mind that ichiruki honeymoon on the beach is so vivid and real... I wonder why lmao

[sysmedsaresexist]

Me trying to math my way around how most systems are in AFAB bodies when trauma associated with DID/OSDD can happen to anyone, AFAB or not:

(Unless I'm wrong which then please correct me. I'm just not really sure the data there-)

It's actually true, for once! (in regards to Sophie stating a true fact)

Women are diagnosed with DID 9 times more often than men.

From the DSM:

More women have DID/OSDD than men, and there's thought to be three reasons why:

1) While all types of trauma can, and do, happen in alarming numbers to everyone regardless of biological sex, specific types of trauma do happen more frequently to those who are AFAB as opposed to AMAB.

Both (all? I'm not up-to-date on gender/sex stuff, feel free to educate me in return) sexes can experience all types of trauma, but certain types of trauma happen more often to girls. For example, the CDC reports that girls are about 3 times more likely to be a victim of childhood sexual abuse (and it goes the other way, too-- Statistics Canada reports that boys are more likely to experience physical abuse).

This leads into the second point.

2) The numbers on this topic are thought to be wrong.

Unfortunately, toxic masculinity is a bitch and it's believed that more men experience certain types of abuse than are being reported, AND that there are more cases of DID in males than are being reported (PDF, careful if on phone, but it's a REALLY good read).

Now, this doesn't change the first point. It's still believed that DID occurs more in AFAB individuals more than AMAB individuals, but it means that they think the numbers are closer together than it looks.

3) speaking of toxic masculinity, there's a flip side to the coin.

Just as much as men are taught to behave certain ways, so are girls. There are elements, both learned and biological, that make women more prone to behaviors that might contribute to the development of certain symptoms.

I really think that the numbers will start to even out because the number of men willing to report their DID will increase-- I like to think that society has become much more supportive on a larger scale, and there's been a huge shift towards talking about mental health, especially in males. Being on Twitter, I've seen a growth in the number of AMAB people talking about dissociation and DDs, and that's incredible.

The next generation is going to be so different, but it'll be another decade or more before these now-teens reach a point in their lives where they're able to join in on these studies and for the numbers to start to shift.

But after all of that

Let's not forget to acknowledge the sheer number of children that are being abused worldwide, regardless of their sex. Sure, men being more open about their mental health will start to bring to light a lot of the true numbers, and that's great and all-- but those numbers are ridiculous.

It shouldn't be like this.

It just shouldn't.

We should not be seeing the numbers that we're seeing.

The number of people who SHOULD be reporting DID should be 0. Zero. None.

[kelbunny]

Cordelia Glenbrook and Avlora for the character ask game!

:0 the most female characters of all time

Anyways...

Cordelia Glenbrook

First impression

I was fairly neutral about her, really just thinking of her as your stereotypical princess character. Pretty much she was only "Roland's sister" to me.

Impression now

3rd favorite Tristrat Character, and second favorite female character in media in general, second only to Avlora. Cordelia I am so sorry for doubting you.

I lover her character arc so hecking much, going from meek little princess to having a sharp wit and tongue. I really enjoy how instead of making her work to undamsel herself with physical strength, she does so using wit and alliances. Reminds me of why I like Paper Mario (at least the first two games) Peach so much, but instead of just using her damsel status to act as a spy like PM Peach does, she's also turning enemies to her side to eventually undamsel herself and take back her kingdom.

Also as a side note, bc of how good of a character she is for me, she subsequently ruined Gloria from BDii for me. I go from the best princess character I've seen to one that barely feels more than a cardboard cutout and the difference is real.

Favorite moment

I really like her turning point in her character arc after she learns of Roland's "death". She showed signs before, but it's really when she feels she starts using her wits, because as far as she knows at that point, no one will be coming to save her anymore, so she better start trying to do so as well, with this eventually culminating in turning Avlora to her side.

Another more minor one, but her mid battle conversation with Gustadolph during the golden route. Both the voice acting and the interaction itself, mwuah. Shows just how freaking much she had grown.

Idea for a story

I want to write, either as a fic or a comic, a post Golden interaction between her and Roland where they both come to terms of just how much they went through and how it affected them, and the relief that they hopefully wont have to go through it again.

Unpopular opinion

I've mentioned it before, but the fact I don't like Avlora/Cordelia as a ship.

As for another one, I personally prefer her over Geela as a healer. Yes her spells might be more expensive, but she heals tp faster, and her weapon skill feels more useful in the fact it can stack unlike Geela.

Favorite relationship

Look, just because I don't ship them, doesn't mean I still don't hecking love the dynamic between her and Avlora. Like I cannot words it right now but like *motions* them! The Duo! Do not separate!

Also the sibling relationship of her and Roland, but that is bc I am weak for sibling relationships in media.

Favorite headcanon

I made a post about this before, but the idea that Post-Golden Avlora starts teaching Cordelia swordfighting, specifically at Cordelia's request.

Avlora

First impression

I thought she was cool. I was pretty excided and hoping that she would eventually be playable bc who doesn't want the cool Knight Lady with a giant sword?

Impression now

Even cooler than originally thought! Even if she weren't playable she'd still be my favorite female character of all time. Like her dynamic with Cordelia, her characterization, how terrifying she is! It's all so good!

I remember learning she was the secret character for the golden route and being really excited and eager to get through the non golden endings so I could finally get her.

I remember telling my much younger siblings who were watching me on and off that there was a secret character for the Golden route, and they immediately guessed Avlora, and when I finally got to that part, got extremely excited they were correct.

Also, I love how Avlora is one of the few cases in video games where a boss joins you and still feels like a boss. I need to redo it at some point, but like a year ago I attempted a challenge where I try and beat every mock battle with only Avlora (with a few exceptions), and like, yeah I felt like the boss.

Favorite moment

I really like the Avlora battles, most notably the one in Wolffort and the one in the Gardens. Like that is how you make a boss terrifying.

As for story, the scene where she recognizes Cordelia's strength and pledges allegiance towards her, and how she sees that strength can be more than physical.

Idea for a story

I can't say I have one at the moment, at least not one I haven't written cough cough self promotion cough cough

Unpopular opinion

Other than not liking Cordelia x Avlora, I don't think I have one. I guess liking Avwell would maybe count haha.

Favorite relationship

I mentiond this in Cordelia's but the dynamic between her and Cordelia is so good I will mention it again.

Favorite headcanon

Same as the one listed in Cordelia's section. I want Avlora to teach Cordelia to stab.

[j2spntranscripts]

☆ 2007 Chicon (Jensen solo)

Official name: Creation Entertainment's SALUTE TO SUPERNATURAL, SMALLVILLE AND BUFFY/ANGEL Location: Hyatt Regency Woodfield, Chicago, Illinois Time: Sunday November 11, 2007, 9:40 am (GMT-6) Panelists: Jensen Ackles Last episode: 3x06 "Red Sky at Morning" Nov 8, 2007 Next episode: 3x07 "Fresh Blood" - Nov 15, 2007

Question Index: 1- spn 2x15; Dean eating caramels scene 2-Fav sporting event; Fav concert 3- Fav fan interaction 4- A Few Good Men; Future Projects, Plays; Plays vs Television 5- Most Embarrassing Thing While Drunk for J2 6- Acting; Emotional scenes; Emotional fallout counter-measures 7- Acting; line memorization techniques 8- spn 2x21; holding dead!Sam scene 9- JDM return rumor; Golfing; Fav Pro Golfers 10- Fears; of flying; Reprisal of Eric Brady; Fan gift 11- (Fan Report) unknown; 2x20 12- (Fan Report) unknown; S3 strained brother relationship 13- Props; Dean’s Jewelry meaning 14- Jensen on Alan Ackles; Devour 15- Stunts; Fight choreography 16-Jared's question

(video playlist/links and transcript below the cut)

(*if you notice any mistakes in the video transcripts or found more video coverage of the con please point them out thanks*👍) (*tumblr doesn't like dailymotion vids so I can only hyperlink them*) *Purple text: corrections/suggestions from @detailtilted

[click here]- jensen_cc1 by _sin_attract [click here]- jensen_cc2 by _sin_attract [click here]- jensen_cc3 by _sin_attract

◘Heres Jensen! By DegaDreamer◘ 0:00

“Wayward Son” by Kansas is playing as the Jensen walks up on stage. Cameras are flashing constantly. The crowd is screaming with applauds and cheers. Jensen punches down on the down beat. The audience gets louder. Jensen then slowly sits down.

•(0:12 DD) - introduction

Jensen: Hey! (audience squeals and claps) (smiles) That’s an intro. (audience laughs) That’s nice. How’s everybody doing? (audience cheers) Waking up yet? (mixed audience reaction) I’m not. (wipes face) (audience laughs) Woo! Those videos were kind of cool, huh?

◘Chicago November 2007 - Jensen Solo Panel - Enhanced Edition Con Video - V2.0 by DetailTilted◘- (0:08-14:23)

Audience: Yeah!

Jensen: Like that Ghostbuster one. (audience laughs) Why am I always eating? (audience laughs)

Audience memberA: (?I'd throw up?)

Audience memberB: Yeah, Really!

Jensen: (shakes head) It’s unbelievable. Every time, reading the script it’s like, “Oh, sausages. Great. Yeah.” (audience laughs) “Be eating those. Sandwich? Yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure.”

(on the flashing lights) I can’t see.. a thing. (audience laughs) (laughs and shakes his head) A sea of flashes. (audience laughs) Unbelievable.

(to creation staff) Alright, so, what are doing here? What do we- we, uh- okay.

Creation staff: Well, we got mics set up on both sides of the stage.

Jensen: (nods) okay.

Creation staff: And so, whenever you can have people come over and start the barrage. (audience laughs)

Jensen: Let’s, uh- yeah- Let’s-let’s get going. I agree. (audience laughs) Otherwise, it’s just me sitting here talking to myself… It’ll get boring real quick.

(audience denial) Ah, yeah, yeah…. (laughs, shakes his head, and readjusts his posistion) Here we go. (smiles) (audience laughs) Uhh, (looks back and forth) pick a side- pic- ah- Alright, (nods to his left) let’s go, uh, right here.

•(1:19 DT, 1:38 DD)- Chicon07JA;Q1- spn 2x15; Dean eating caramels scene

Fan: Hi Jensen, I’m Anne.

Jensen: Hi.

Fan: I, um, in “Tall Tales” I’ve been curious about it, you stuff your mouth with the chocolate or whatever it was. (audience laughs) How much did you stuff in your face and did they CGI your mouth or? (audience laughs)

Jensen: (looks down and makes a big closed smile for a brief moment before taking a breath then answering) Those were caramels. Annd, they were real. Annnd, they were not sugar-free. (audience laughs) Annd those that- those were my cheeks. (audience laughs) I think I had, uh.. I want to say, each take I think I got in around.. fifteen? (audience oo’s)

Um.. and when you have that much sugar in your mouth- (audience laughs) I mean, I didn’t- I didn’t swallow it. I mean, as soon as the take was over I was like (mimics spitting it out) (audience laughs) But you get that much sugar in your mouth and my-my tongue started swelling up and my mouth was going numb. And it was just- it was ridiculous. I’m like, “This was the stupidest idea ever.” (audience laughs)

Um.. (looks at fan) but it was funny. (throws a hand up) (audience laughs) So, yeah, that’s- that-that was all real. That was all me. And it was, uh- it was actually my idea, so uh… (shakes his head, looks down, and throws a hand up) (audience laughs) I was supposed to grab a couple. (grabbing motion) And I was like, “You know this is going to be a lot funnier if I grab fifteen and shove ‘em in my mouth.” (nods) (audience laughs) (looks at fan) So, there you go.

Fan: That was great. Thank you.

Jensen: Yeah (looks towards his left and points to the next fan) Absolutely. How about over here?

•(2:36 DT)- Chicon07JA;Q2- Favorite sporting event; Fav concert

Fan: Hi, good morning. I’m Lindsey.

Jensen: Good morning.

Fan: I have two questions and you can answer either one. (Jensen: okay.) The best live sporting event you’ve been to or the best live concert.

◘Jensen's q&a by augustfading◘

Jensen: (looks up) Best live sporting event or concert. (Fan: whatever comes to your heart.) (inhales) Umm, well, the best live sporting event would probably have to be the first time I ever went and saw the Cowboys play. Uhh. (audience woo’s) Yeah. That was, uh- that was great.

Ummm, (sits up) and then the best- actually the best- well.. It was not the best concert, but I think I like- I just like the fact that it was my first concert ever, was uh- uh- it was actually at the same stadium, the Texas Stadium. Um, and it was the, uh, Michael Jackson Thriller tour. (audience laughs, cheers and claps) (shrugs)

How cool is my mom? (audience laughs) I was six year old and she drags me to Texas Stadium and it was the scariest thing of my life. (audience laughs) You know, it’s like this giant crowd and the stage is dark. And just, you know, these big monsters are like stomping out on stage. (audience laughs) And here come these people with, you know, swords- I mean, it was like a full on huge production, right? And I’m li-aaa- you know, I was like, “This is not Disney.” (audience laughs) But it was, uh- it was pretty spectacular. And I-I- I still remember- (gestures to head) I’ve- I’ve vivid kind of pictures of that in my mind. (audience giggles) So, that was cool.

Then I- I think the next concert I went was a Van Halen concert. (audience cheers) (nods) That one I went to on my own accord, So. (nods) (audience laughs)

Fan: Thank you.

Jensen: Yeah. (turns and looks to his right and points to the next fan) Over here. Okay. Here we go.

•(3:58 DT)- Chicon07JA;Q3- favorite fan interaction

Fan: Hi, (Jensen: Yeah.) my name is Jen. (Jensen: Hi.) Good morning. (Jensen: Good morning.) Um, I was wondering what your favorite, uh, gift from your fans you got?

Jensen: (looks up) Gift from my fans. Uuuh… that’s a good question. I, uh- you know- I- (rubs face) I-I’ll give you this instead. I’ll give you one of my fav fan stories. Uuum, It was, uh-

Audience member: Asylum? (audience laughs)

Jensen: What’s that?

Audience member: Asylum?

◘Favourite Fan Interaction by csnutty◘

◘Jensen at Supernatural Con by InsipidRamblings◘

Jensen: (laughs) No. This one- ah, this just pops in mind. It was many, many years ago. Uh- uhm- and I was, uh, when I was doing, ah-uh, “Days of Our Lives.” (audience woos) And, um.. and I was at a- at a mall.. uh, doing an appearance in a… Iii a-actually forget where it was, but it was a- kind of a two levels mall. And I’m on stage. (points up) And there’s people above- It’s like an open center, so the, you know, big crowd of people on the- on the railings.

◘Jensen Ackles at Chicago Con…3 by DegaDreamer◘

And I’m just talking to the crowd. Just like I am now. And I feel this tap on my head. (tilts head) (audience laughs) (looks up) And I look up. And this little girl has (mimics girl) fished down a pad and paper. (mimics writing) A paper, pad, and pen. (audience laughs and aw’s) A pad of paper and pen. And she just goes, (smiles and waves while looking down) (audience laughs) (throws a hand up and leans back) I was- that’s- that’s ingenuity right there. You’re getting an autograph for that one. (audience laughs)

(turns to fan) That was- that was kind of fun. That was kind of fun. Yeah. (turns to his left and nods) How about you over here?

•(5:28 DT, 0:56 DD)- Chicon07JA;Q4- A Few Good Men; Future Projects, Plays; Plays vs Television

Fan: Hi, um, I’m Ariel. (Jensen: Hi.) Um, I saw you opening night for “A Few Good Men.” (Jensen nods) You nailed that part by the way.

Jensen: (nods) Thank you. (audience cheers and claps)

◘Jensen Ackles by jjc7384◘

Fan: I was wondering do you plan on doing, uh, more plays, like do you prefer plays as opposed to television or?

Jensen: Um, eh- that wasn’t- you know, it wasn’t something that I-I wo- was consciously trying to-to get into. Uh, it was-it was more of something that just kind of stars aligned and- and, uh, I thought, “Wow, that would be really.. really cool.” And, I remember getting, uh- getting out of Fort Worth and-and starting our rehearsals- And I think it was like the second day of rehearsals, and-and I actually really.. started to understand the magnitude.. of.. the role. And-and how much… dialogue (deflates) I had. (audience laughs)

It's a 100-and-twenty-five-page play, you guys. And I’m-I’m in.. about ninety-eight percent of it. Um, I’m sure you guys remember the movie, “A Few Good Men,” how much Tom Cruise is on screen. So, it was- it was very daunting.

And I was just remember thinking, “What have I done?” (audience laughs) “We open in like two weeks.” And I-I’m pacing in my hotel room trying to figure out- how to, you know, learn these lines. And, uh, (shakes head) finally came around. And, you know, within a few days of- of rehearsal, but I just- I had ‘em all. And I don’t- I don’t know how it happened, but the brain is a funny thing and it worked. And, uh-

But it’s- it’s a really interesting, you know, it’s a much different medium then-then doing television or film obviously. Um, there’s that, uh.. that amazing sensation of- of gratification you get from a crowd. Um, that you don’t get, you know, with a bunch of sweaty crew guys. (audience laughs) Um, so i-in that aspect, it’s, uh- it’s definitely something that I.. hold in high regard. Um, I don’t know if I’ll be doing, uh, doing another one anytime soon. But, uh, that was definitely an experience I won’t forget.

Fan: Thank you. (Jensen nods then turns his right)

•(7:16 DT)- Chicon07JA;Q5- Most Embarrassing Thing While Drunk for J2; no answer given

Fan: Hello, Jensen. (Jensen: Hi.) I’m (?Carge?) Um, a little bit of a two-parter. What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done when you’ve been drunk? (audience laughs) (Jensen tilts his head) And what’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve seen Jared do? (audience laughs and claps)

Jensen looks up, smirks, and chuckles to himself. Then looks down and rubs his eye.

◘Jensen Q&A by DegaDreamer◘

Jensen: The most loaded question (?that I've heard?). (audience laughs)

Audience member: He comes on after you.

Jensen: That’s right he does, doesn’t he? (readjusts his position and exhales) Wow, uh, well, you know, I-I’m gonna say I probably don’t remember what I did. (audience laughs) Um, and that's probably a good- a good thing. Um, (tilts head) But, Jared? (scratches chin) (audience giggles) So many to choose from. (audience laughs)

◘Jensen's q&a by augustfading◘

Um, oh gosh, (shakes head) I don’t know. (some aw’s from the audience) Uh-e you know, you- you put me on the spot. I might have to come back to you on that one. (audience giggles) Um… let me think about it. (audience giggles) I’ll mull it over.

(turns to his left) Hi.

•(8:15 DT)- Chicon07JA;Q6- Acting; Emotional scenes; emotional fallout counter-measures

Fan: Hi, Jensen. I’m Sue. Dean’s gone through a lot of pain in the last.. few episodes. What do you do to unload that, when you've gone through such emotionally charged scenes?

Jensen: Drink like a fish. (audience laughs) No. Uh.. (laughs) Um, my mother is shaking her head somewhere.. (audience laughs) in Texas.

◘jensen_cc1 by _sin_attract◘

Um… no it’s, uh-e- actually it’s funny that you- that you (rubs forehead) that you say that. I just had a-a very, uh- very emotional, uh-uh, emotionally heavy day on uhh.. Wednesday. This past Wednesday. And it was a- a full day of just me. Jared had- had the day off.

And, um, it was a- a, you know, it-it- it’s very taxing. I would- I would rather do a (gestures) full day of stunt work than a full day of (gestures) emotional acting. Because it’s-it’s- there’s a difference between being, uh, physically, um, depleted and (gestures) emotionally depleted.

Um, so it’s, um, e-eh- as far as, you know, trying to-to deal with it. I just- I just try to go home and get some sleep. And- and you know.. (throws up hand) talk to my friends, and call my family, and, you know, remind myself of.. (laughs) why I’m actually doing this. (audience laughs)

Umm.. but it’s, you know, it’s just something that you do. And I’ve- I’ve been doing for the longest- it’s just, you know, I don’t even think of it. It’s just like, “Oh, well, you had a rough day today.” You know, and it’s just a, you know, (shrugs) for me it’s just a hard day at work.

Um, but it feels- there’s a certain gratification you get too, when at the end of the day when you know you- you really given it your all. And-and you’re- you’re that.. wrecked, as in that spent. At the end of the day it’s like, “Phew, I actually put in some good hours today.” So, I think that kind of gratification helps me get through it. (nods)

◘jensen_cc2 by _sin_attract◘

Fan: Thank you.

Jensen: (turns to his right) Hi!

•(10:00 DT, 0:20 SA)- Chicon07JA;Q7- Acting; line memorization techniques

Fan: Hi!

Jensen: How you doing?

Fan: Good. My name’s Rachel. (Jensen: Hi, Rachel.) Um, I was wondering how long it takes for you to memorize your lines and what kind of techniques you use.

Jensen: Um, (laughs) Well, (adjusts his position) after you, uh- after you been doing it for a- for a couple of years-uh-uh-um the same role I mean. Jared and I have gotten- and I don’t want to say we have gotten lazy. (audience giggles) But, um, we’ve gotten very quick at, uh- at the memorization process.

Um, it-it- it depends on, you know, how- like the stuff that I was talk- that I did last Wednesday. I-I went home on Tuesday night and-and spent about an hour going over it and looking at it, and trying to decide how I wanted to do it and what- how I want to play it. I don’t- I rarely do that (laughs). I usually, uh- Jared and I get picked up in the- in the mornings and- and ride to work, um, in- in the same, uh, truck. And so we- we generally go over our lines on our way to work.. then again in the- the hair and make-up trailer. And then we- we go and block it and shoot it.

So, um.. (snaps his fingers) Just the repetition. We can- I can read a-a two or three page scenes- or two or three page scene.. two or three times and have it memorized. (audience wow’s) So, I-I- I think it’s just- It’s like a muscle. The more you do it, the better you get at it.

Fan: Um, does “Ten-inch Hero” have a distributor yet?

Jensen: Not yet, we’re working on it. (nods) (audience aw’s, some woo and clap) (turns to his left) Hi.

•(11:23 DT, 1:43 SA)- Chicon07JA;Q8- Acting; spn 2x21; holding dead!Sam scene; spn 2x04; on the hood of the impala scene

Fan: Hi, I’m Carly. (Jensen: Hi.) Um, I’m just wondering in “All Hell Breaks Loose Part 1 & 2” (Jensen: Yeah) Where Jared.. dead, (Jensen: Yeah) (audience giggles) and you (laughs) had to like hold him- how were you able to pull that off? Because, that was like really good, when you were like- when he was like.. dead. (audience and Jensen laugh)

Jensen: (tilts head) I’ll tell you what, it’s some of the best work he’s ever done. (audience laughs) Umm, (readjust his position) You know, it-the- the cool thing with, uh- with this show and-and- and the two characters is, um- and-and working with Jared, um, is that we- you know, we work together.. so much that.. it’s not hard to.. see him, you know, like that, and then try to envision him like that. You know it’s-

Or-or.. um.. you know likes-ee- if I was doing- if I was fresh on a TV show and I didn’t really know the people I was working with.. I might have to think of somebody else in that position to kind of get me there emotionally. But, because he and I are such good friends and-and we work together so much it’s-it's like, you know, he’s- he's practically a brother to me anyway. (audience aw’s) And so it’s not that difficult to- (to audience) Shut up! (audience laughs) (shakes his head) I’m trying to talk to you people! (audience laughs)

(to Fan) Um.. and you know it’s-it’s just working with each other and, you know, h-e-he and I were (snaps fingers) just.. just able to do it, I guess. I-I don’t really know that there’s a formula for it. Um, but, uh, you know, it’s like I said, any of those kind of days are- they're very taxing.

And, I remember, uh.. definitely a scene where I-I’m talking to him and kind of breakdown and stuff. I-I went to.. to Kim Manners, who was filming that- who was directing that episode, (audience woo’s and claps) (nods) And, uh- and I said, “Alright, Kim. I gotta know what you're- what you're planning on doing for this, uh- this scene because I don’t know how many times I'm gonna be able to get through it.” (some audience aw’s) “Um, so-e-I, you know, if you could minimalize your- your shot list and just shoot it from, you know, two or three angles as opposed to six.. It’s gonna help me, because otherwise I’m just gonna dry up and.. be worthless.” (audience giggles) So-so, he did. He, you know- He and I collaborated a little bit and tried to figure out the best way to shoot it and the quickest way to get done, so that I’m not, you know, a total wreck-

And it’s always his episodes too. (throws his hand out) (audience laughs) Uh, you know, the-the.. (rubs face and exhales) Of course I’m going to forget the name of the episode, (rubs neck) but the, uh, where we’re- we're-

Audience members: Heart! Heart! Heart!

Jensen: (shakes head) No, no. (audience laughs) (tilts head) Although, yeah, that was him too. (audience laughs) No, where we’re sitting on the, uh- at the end of the episode were sitting at the front- on the front of the hood, and I say-

Audience: Oooh.

Audience member: Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things.

Jensen: (nods) Thank you. (audience giggles) And.. I remember that scene where I’m like, you know, “He’s your dad too. And I shouldn’t be so hard on you and all that stuff.” And-and I got so wrecked after that, I had to take a walk down the road, because I was so messed up. And there was- I’m just like, “Kim! Man!" (audience laughs) "You better quit that.” (audience chuckles) So, it’s just (throws hand up) there’s really no formula for it.

Fan: Thank you.

Jensen: Yeah. (turns to his right)

•(4:44 SA)- Chicon07JA;Q9- JDM return rumor; Golfing; Fav Pro Golfers

Fan: Hi! (Jensen: Hi!) I’m Cher. (Jensen: Hi!) Um, I’m two-part question. (Jensen: Alright) First of all, I heard that Robert Singer said Jeffery Dean Morgan might be back on.. this season. I’m wondering if you know anything about that?

Jensen: I have no idea. (Fan: Okay) (audience giggles) (laughs) Yeah, Bob doesn’t tell- doesn’t tell me a whole lot. (Fan: Okay)

“Hey, Bob, was that good? Did you like that take?” (makes a face) “Oh, you’re one of those actors?” (looks down briefly)

(audience laughs) (nods) That’s Bob.

Fan: Okay. And, to congratulate you on acing (?eighth?) and, uh,-

Jensen: (laughs and nods) Oh, thank you. (Fan: Yeah) She’s speaking about the hole in one I made this past, uh, this summer. (audience giggles)

◘Chicago November 2007 - Jensen Solo Panel - Enhanced Edition Con Video - V2.0 by DetailTilted ◘ -(14:39-16:21)

Fan: Oh yeah. And then I thought maybe a-any Pro-Am tournament, (?don’t you think, in Balboa? or ?or do you think about that?)? (audience giggles)

Jensen: You know I- I don’t want to paint the wrong picture. I’m not like, some, you know, uhhh, Phil Mickelson here or anything like that. I just- (shrugs) I just like to get out and play, you know, hit a ball, right? Um, but, uh.. ee-If I- If I have time I would love to do some of those- some of those, uh.. tournaments, but I just don’t have any time. (laughs)

Fan: Okay.

Jensen: It sounds fun. (audience giggles) I hear it’s cool. (audience giggles) But, unfortunately I’m stuck up in rainy Vancouver with Jared all day long. (audience laughs then some aw) (shakes his head) (audience laughs) Such a sensitive crowd. (audience laughs) Jeeze. Um-

Fan: Do you have any favorite golfers?

Jensen: I’m sorry? (leans in)

Fan: You have any favorite pro golfers?

Jensen: Oh…I don’t know that there’s one specific that.. Woody Austin’s kind of fun. (Fan: Oh.) Because he breaks clubs over his head. (nods) (audience laughs) (fist pumps) I feel his pain. (audience laughs)

Thank you. (nods) (Fan: Thank you) (turns to his left) Hi.

•(15:43 DT, 6:20 SA)- Chicon07JA;Q10- Fears; of flying; Reprisal of Eric Brady; Fan gift

Fan: Good morning. Two quick questions and a tiny comment. (Jensen: Okay.) Um, first, regarding “Phantom Traveler.” (Jensen: Yes.) Do you share Dean’s sentiment regarding flying?

Jensen: (laughs) (audience laughs) No.

Fan: You did a great job acting like someone who’s afraid of flying.

Jensen: Acting like an idiot? (audience laughs) I do that a lot. Uh, no. I-I’ve fly way to often to-to be f- I’m us-I’m the guy that is asleep before we taxi out to the runway.

Fan: Thanks (Jensen: Yeah) Um, and is there any possibility of you returning, even in- in a cameo scenario, to your role as Eric Brady? (audience gives mixed reaction) …His name has been brought up a lot lately.

Jensen: Yeahh, you know, I got a call from Ken Corday last year. Uh, Ken Corday is the, uh, the owner of “Days of Our Lives.” Um, and he wanted me to come back for- I forget what-what the- the event was going on, but- (some answers called out from the audience) I’m sure some of you probably know. (audience laughs) (smiles) Uh, for like, um.. for like a half a dozen episodes or something. And I was like, “You know what? Yeah, let me see.” But we just couldn’t work out the dates.

So, I- as long as I, you know, as I keep as busy as I am.. I probably won’t. But, you never know.

Fan: Um, we’ll hope for it. (Jensen: Yeah) Uh, the comment is, the bracelet I’ve left for you is a gift in the photo op room. (Jensen: Yes) I made it. I didn’t buy it. (?I just want you to know?) (Jensen nods) (audience laughs) (?pictures on it?) like this one, but it’s peridot.

Jensen: Thank you. (nods) (audience laughs) Thank you very very much. (smiles) (turns to his right) Hi!

•(7:47 SA)- Chicon07JA;Q11- unknown; 2x20

Fan: Hi! Um,

-No footage available-

• Chicon07JA;Q12- unknown; S3 strained brother relationship

-No footage available except for the tail end of the answer-

Fan Reports: *warning: fan reports are often times accounts of an event where the poster relies mostly on their own memories and biases. As a source it can't be fully verified unless there is video footage that can accompany it. Therefore fan reports should not be taken as the unquestionable truth, but instead of a likely possibility of things said.

◘Chicago November 2007 - Jensen Solo Panel - Enhanced Edition Con Video - V2.0 by DetailTilted◘ - (16:37-18:51)

Jensen: -Hopefully, it progresses. Um, I don’t know what’s going to happen with this writers’ strike. But, um, there’s- that’s going to be a- a very interesting plot.. point, is the- the brothers’ relationship. So it’s really cool. And, I’m very excited. I hope that.. the writers quit crying over spilled milk (?and just write?). (some of the audience laughs most oo’s) (smiles)

◘jensen_cc3 by _sin_attract◘

I’m just kidding. I’m just- (audience giggles) (swipes hand repeatedly) No, they- actually I hope that they get what they want ‘cause that way we get what I- what we-we want when we go to negotiations. (audience giggles) (nods) (Fan: Thank you) Thank you. (turns to his left) Hi!

•(17:07 DT, 0:14 SA)- Chicon07JA;Q13- Props; Dean’s Jewelry meaning

Fan: Hi! Dean’s jewelry, the necklace, the ring, the bracelet, are we ever going to know-

Jensen: I don’t know (looks down) (audience and fan laugh) (wipes his face and mouth) I (laughs) I honestly don’t know. Uhh, (laughs) No, what it was is (?Sam?, ?Pam?, or ?and?)- I- I don’t know if you guys have heard this before, but- or heard me said this before. But, uh, in the beginning when we were doing the pilot I said, “You know, I-I want this guy to have s-s- things, because he’s- he’s, you know, he’s in this supernatural world and he travels around. He’s probably got amulets and- and things that are, you know, associated with what he does.”

◘Jensen and Jared at Creation Con 6 by sarahmonious)◘

So, the costume designer at- at that point, and myself kind of went through this whole, you know, stuff of, you know- She just dumped a box out onto a table (audience giggles) and she’s like, “This is all the stuff that I’ve had, you know, accumulated through the years on all the projects I’ve worked on.” So, we kind of, like, went sifting through it a little bit. And I-I saw something that was really cool and I saw another thing that was really cool, and I was like, “Yeah, okay. Let’s- let’s do this- let’s do these.”

And-and of course, I had to okay them with- with Eric. And he looked at them and he’s like, “Okay, we’ll come up with reasons why you have those.” (audience chuckles) I was like, (shrugs) “Whatever.” (audience laughs) He has not. (audience laughs)

Fan: Is the ring a spinner ring? (Jensen: What’s that?) Is the ring a spinner ring?

Jensen: No, it’s not. (Fan: Oh.) The ring is- was, uum.. It was a- a ring I actually had, uh, personally, um, that I.. no longer- I don’t even know where that thing is. Um, (audience giggles) but they just made a- a replica of that. Um, and I just say that it’s.. the- my beer opening ring. (audience laughs) ‘Cause if you notice I (mimics opening a beer with a ring) crack beers with it. And that’s really the only.. use it has. (audience laughs) It’s so Dean doesn’t have to carry around a can opener. (audience laughs) or a bottle opener yeah. (turns to his right) Hi.

•(1:59 SA)- Chicon07JA;Q14- Jensen on Alan Ackles; Devour

Fan: Hi, uh, first off, thank you for sharing your weekend with us (Jensen: [nods] Yeah) and for all the long hours you’ve put in. (audience cheers and claps. Jensen looks down and then up nodding) Um, talk to us about the experience on Devour working with your father.

Jensen: Um.. Yeah, that was- that was intense. Uh… ieh- I don’t know if, uh- I did a- I did a- a movie. A very, very low budget, uh, (audience laughs) film. (laughs) Uh.. it didn’t really turn out the way I thought it would. (laughs) (audience giggles) In fact, I remember watching it and going, “What is happening?” (audience laughs) “I don’t even remember this.”

Um, but they- they cast my actual father to play my father in the- in- in the movie. And, uh, it was really.. it was really cool. It was something that I always wanted to do. I mean, you know, watching my dad, uh.. um, as I grew up, uh you know, in doing, uh- He’s an actor, kind of a commercial actor in Dallas. And, so, he would do commercials and he would do, you know, stuff like that, and tv shows now and again. He, you know, played half a dozen roles on- on any television show that would film down there.

◘Chicago November 2007 - Jensen Solo Panel - Enhanced Edition Con Video - V2.0 by DetailTilted ◘ - (19:06-21:15)

So, watching him was actually kind of- because I got all my little quirks and stuff from him. And I always wanted to work with him. And so, that was really- it was really neat to-to-to be able to play opposite of him. He-he- he thinks I showed him up on- on screen and I think the opposite. (audience chuckles) So, (nods) it’s kind of a mutual respect there, (nods) yeah. Thanks for asking. (turns to his left) Hey.

•(3:29 SA, 19:27 DT)- Chicon07JA;Q15- Stunts; fight choreography

Fan: Hi, Jensen. Call me Deb. (Jensen: hi) I wanted to thank you anyways, because friends and I came up to Vancouver this past spring (Jensen: yeah) and, um, for "What is and What Should Never Be.” We waited around and hung out–

Jensen: You’re the Jersey girl.

Fan: Rhode Island!

Jensen: (nods) Rhode Island girl. (audience laughs)

Fan: We brought yah that big basket of candy and the- those doggy (Jensen: that’s right.) snacks for Jared's dogs, (Jensen: That’s right.) you know, to be eaten (?in Dallas?). (laughs) (Jensen: that’s right.)

But I wanted to ask you 'cause, like, the more conversation with Jared and I didn’t get to talk to you that much about your fighting. You guys have been fighting for a while. I loved that fight in “Skin,” it was like, so clean. (Jensen: Yeah [laughs]) And I wanted to know, you’ve been doing it in Dark Angel, you’ve been doing it in this, do you guys progress? I mean, do you work on it? Do you like- ‘Cause I’ve been doing stunts and fighting for 16 years and it’s constant classes even now. (Jensen: Right.) So, do you have to constantly keep it going?

Jensen: Um.. No. We don’t- I mean, we.. I’d like to say, “Yeah. We train day in and day out.” But, we just- we don’t have time. So, we try to stay in shape as much as possible. You know, get in the gym and- and.. just keep our bodies, you know uh, athletic. (audience mhmms and then giggles) Um, but I- I honestly think that- (audience catcalls) How do you guys go there so quickly? (audience laughs) It’s amazing. (audience yells things out and one person yelled, “It’s not hard.”) Um, (adjust his sit and shakes his head) I’ll leave that one alone. (audience laughs)

•(3:29 SA, 20:46 DT)- Chicon07JA;Q16- Jared’s question

Jared: (off stage) This question is from anonymous. (Jensen smiles and rubs his brow) What do you say to the accusation that Jared- (audience screams and claps)

Jared walks up on the edge of the stage with a big grin looking at Jensen.

Jared: -Is a lot better looking and, uh, (walking closer to the middle of the stage) and that the success of the show has been- it’s an anonymous question. I don’t know who it was. (audience laughs) He was- he was very handsome.

Fan: Hey, Jared! You’re stepping on my toes here!

Jared: (hunches down) (to fan) Sorry. Sorry.

Jared scurries off to the end of the stage and then starts to talk to one of the ?bodyguards? off stage.

Fan: (?It’s frustrating?) I’m working here. (audience laughs)

Jared kind of reels back while looking at Jensen with a smile on his face.

Jensen: (to Jared grinning) Yeah, now your screwed aren’t yah.

The audience laughs. Jared puts his head in his hands and hunches over. Then places his hands in the pleading position. The audience laughs.

Jared: I-

Fan: Don’t mess with the fight wo- the fight (?choreographer?)!

◘Jensen and Jared at Creation Con 7 by sarahmonious)◘

Jared: (going to the middle of the stage with a hand raised in surrender) I know- I know better than that. I know better than that.

Jensen: (to Jared) Uh, I’m sorry sir. What was your question? (audience laughs)

Jared: (puts a hand to his chest) Oh, not mine. Not mine. Not mine. (Jensen: Oh, okay.) It was anonymous.

◘Jared and Jensen by augustfading)◘

Jensen: And what was the question?

Jared: What would you say to the, um, many say true accusations that (Jensen: uh huh) Jared- or Jared’s character- that’s my character, Sam. (audience laughs) was.. better looking, (audience laughs and cheers) smarter, (walks up to Jensen and rests his arm on Jensen’s shoulder) taller, (audience laughs and some scream) younger (shrugs) Okay, we can lose younger. (swipes his hand) Uh, then- then your character.

◘Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki at Chicago Con…4 by DegaDreamer◘

Jensen: you have to ride shotgun.

◘Chicago November 2007 - Jensen Solo Panel - Enhanced Edition Con Video - V2.0 by DetailTilted ◘ -(21:16-21:54)

The audience oo’s and cheers. Jared lifts up his hands and shrugs walking a little bit away from Jensen. Then Jared walks back to Jensen and rubs and squeezes his shoulders.

•(6:10 SA, 0:43 S, 0:36 A, 21:24 DT) – Closing

Jared: My turn. (slaps Jensen’s shoulder) Get out of here.

Jensen: Is it? Alr- Am I outta here? (stands up) Alright, guys. That’s it. That’s all. (audience aw’s) I- I gotta go.

Jared: (to audience) He’s coming back. He’s coming back. (audience cheers and claps) right after-

Jensen: I’ll be back.

Jared: (goes to sit down and then sits back up) It’s a warm seat.

Jensen: (starts walking off) I’m gonna think about that drunk question. (audience screams and claps)

Jared: Can I have a-

Jensen: (walks off stage) Thanks guys. (audience cheers)

Jared’s Panel starts.

[subarus-gentle-butterfly]

what r miu’s relationships with all the sakamakis :0 ?

I actually have a post about her relationships with canon characters here! But it's a bit outdated, so I'll add some more about it in this ask.

SHU SAKAMAKI AND MIU

I had actually planned on Miu and shu being together instead of subaru and Miu at one point. But that was such a lie. Anyways.

In canon:

Miu wants to see him as an older brother. She kind of likes that he's low maintenance, fairly lazy and keeps to himself.

When instructed to or really just whenever she goes around his areas of the house, she'll tidy up after him.

She likes to talk music with him every now and then, and she finds it a little entertaining to see and hear his reactions to certain more modern songs that aren't classical.

Shu is one of the only other Sakamaki boys who she can find comfort in. Shu is just pretty chill. She's just glad he isn't always chasing after her like the triplets or moving her things around. She has some respect for him because of it.

REIJI SAKAMAKI AND MIU

Miu and Reiji are actually in my plans as a side ship.

In canon:

Reiji was the one who made the ultimate decision that she could stay at the mansion when she first arrived. Because of that, she has a not-very-correct view of him being a very kind and hospitable person. Of course, the Reiji that we know from the games is not so kind as Miu thinks.

Because he allowed her to stay, she's kind of put him on a pedestal. She feels like she deeply owes him and is quick to answer to his requests and commands. Of course, she's not doing everything. Subaru is quite possessive.

She often does a lot of the chores around the house because of Reiji asking her to do them.

He thinks she has lousy manners, but there was always improvement to come.

He will chastise her for forgetting to knock before entering his lab or room or leaving something out that should be put away or the way that she eats sometimes.

Miu takes fascination in his library and his knowledge. She often asks him about books and if she can borrow any. If he allows her to borrow one, she takes upmost care not to damage said book in the slightest. She treasures it.

Sometimes he reminds her about her dad, but not in a triggering way.... for the most part. His scoldings sometimes leave her with a bad feeling that happens to be too familiar for her liking... at least this man doesn't hurt her in the same ways.

I headcanon that Reiji pities her for having so many scars, and thinks her "addiction" is kind of stupid.

I also think after a while of her staying with the 6 brothers, that he would grow to think of her more positively and maybe he would be open to the idea of seeing her as a little sibling. Of course, that's a giant maybe.

AYATO SAKAMAKI AND MIU

Ayato and Miu don't entirely get along. But in certain verses/aus, they are able to.

In canon:

Miu is lowkey(read: highkey) afraid of him. He's like those mean popular guys in novels that are total jerks to her.

He teases her all the time, like taking her things and hiding them around the mansion, ripping up papers she's worked on just for the fun of it, and of course calling her names. He' a total bully.

She doesn't think she would ever be able to be friends with this guy or even see him as a brother at this point.

Some of the things Ayato has said have been a bit cruel and sometimes they hit too close to home. She doesn't like it one bit. Especially with how cocky he is.

She does secretly take pride in how much smarter she is than him academically. Bro's grades are atrocious compared to Miu's, and she had the most absences of her age group. She missed a lot of school because of her home life, yet she's always been quick to learn. She doesn't think she's better than him in general, but she does think she's a bit smarter at the very least.

She honestly thinks Ayato might be the worst of the triplets. But deep down, she does want to have a better relationship with him. At his core, he doesn't seem like a bad person. He just annoys her so often that it's hard for her to remember that he's really not too different from her and that he's not entirely bad.

LAITO SAKAMAKI AND MIU

Not a lot to say here tbh.

In canon:

Miu doesn't entirely feel safe or comfortable around him. Nothing against him, he just has some sort of vibe to him that she doesn't like.

He's made comments about her in passing and has called her inappropriate names before that she very much disliked and she thinks he's just a bit too much.

She hates how easily he can make her feel small and like a piece of meat with just one look or "joke". A lot of his lewd comments are either completely lost on her or they get her so uncomfortably flustered that most of the time, she just tries to ignore him.

She really wishes she didn't judge him so much, because again, this is her found family and she wants to see the boys as older brothers, but in the beginning she's not very well liked.

But she thinks Laito plays too much, and she hates being alone with him. It's just a vibe she gets from him that can sometimes end up making her nauseous.

Later on, she grows to love him as a brother and think some of his jokes would be funny, but that's about it.

KANATO SAKAMAKI AND MIU

Kanato is kind of a hit or miss just in general. One wrong move and then you're probably dead before you know it.

Miu enjoys sweets and likes stuffed toys. She's glad one of these boys has similar tastes. However, she is lowkey terrified of him because of his hot and cold nature. And how easily his mood can change for the worse.

She feels like she has to be careful around him all the time. She does her best to stay on his good side. She can't predict anything about him, so she's almost always a little on edge around him.

She does her best to cook sweets for him, but she's not the best cook. Normally, she can do very well just by following a recipe, but when she messes up, she almost has a breakdown just thinking of what Kanato might do to her.

Because of this, she takes her time when cooking and triple-checks everything before proceeding.

She knows how to sew and often comes up with little clothes for Teddy that are not always appreciated, but she tries to be as friendly as possible. Mostly because she wants Kanato to like her.

She has heard some cruel things from him before about her scars, though. So whenever she's around him, she makes extra effort not to show any of them to him by accident.

She wants him to like her at least. That's for sure. She thinks he's cute, and she can tolerate him very well. She does her best to show him support when she can and tries to at least act as some kind of friend, even when it's not very easy.

[giantchasm]

milgram jumpscare :0 i'd love to hear your voting takes for each of the prisoners

As a note, I'm not in on the Deeplore, I'm just a casual fan who was showed the PVs by a friend and given the basic rundown, but:

Haruka: Don't forgive. I actively dislike this guy. Maybe I'm just a bitch or whatever but I look at his story and my only reaction is "I'm also autistic and also have mommy issues and you don't see me killing both animals and people. Seems like a skill issue."

Yuno: Forgive. This one isn't even a question. Girl could literally be getting repeatedly pregnant solely to have abortions and I'd still be like "You go, girl!" It's funny that she seems to think people are only forgiving her/voting her innocent because they perceive her as some naive little girl. Like... no. I'd vote this way for anyone and everyone in this situation.

Fuuta: Controversial, maybe, but forgive. While he definitely got caught up in a toxic cycle, it's pretty clear he has intense regret over what he did. And also like... I think the behavior he exhibits is something everyone on the internet falls into a little bit and needs to try and unlearn. Not going to throw stones in glass houses.

Muu: Trying to decide how I feel. Definitely one of my favorites of the group, but as for the verdict...? Maybe don't forgive, but with sympathy for her? I dunno. She's clearly a very complicated person. I'm easily won over by #girlboss #buggirl swag, though. I watched Mean Girls on a plane recently and learned afterwards there's a theory that Janice used to be a popular girl before becoming an outcast and I think it's hilarious that that's potentially exactly what happened to Mu. Except if, like, attempting to sabotage Regina's life via new student, Janice snapped and gored her with a boxcutter.

Shidou: If I'm being real it's still borderline impossible to tell what this dude even did with how vague and symbolism-based his PVs is. Like he definitely harvested organs or something but as for the actual details I've no damn idea. Either way I'm voting forgive, though, because he actively doesn't want us to and I think doing the opposite of what he wants is funny.

Mahiru: Forgive. She clearly wasn't the healthiest partner but seemingly the relationship she was in was unhealthy on both sides. She doesn't deserve to be called a murderer over whatever weird toxic codependent thing they had going on.

Kazui: Forgive. As far as I can tell, either he asked for a divorce or is gay, neither of which is a crime. I understand why he feels bad about it, but he barely even did anything.

Amane: Forgive. Self explanatory. Literal child in a cult. I get why people voted her guilty in round one to try and teach her a lesson about the toxic mindset she had drilled into her, but it clearly didn't work. Leave fixing that shit to the therapists and not to the prison system.

Mikoto: Don't forgive for being a Tumblr Sexyman. Another one whose deal I'm not sure I fully understand. I mean, clearly he has DID, but I also can't tell if it's the host or the alter who even committed the murder, nor whether the alter (if he did it) did it for a good reason or not. For now I'll say tentatively don't forgive, but if it comes out whoever he killed was like. A threat to Mikoto, then John was just kind of doing his job as a protector. But like I mentioned: I don't even know if he's the one who did it, so who friggin' knows. Not me, that's for sure.

Kotoko: Don't forgive. Killing predatory evil men or whatever was cool and based, but she very much crossed a line by beating the shit out of the other prisoners. Approving of her prior actions gave her a twisted god complex and the impression that it's morally correct for her to serve as judge, jury and executioner, which just isn't true. Vigilante justice is a dangerous road to travel down.

[mymanymerrymuses]

I showed my mum pictures of every muse on my blog and got some HILARIOUS descriptions of who they are as people, so now I am sharing this.

Please enjoy. I did.

Okay here's my blog promo picture, which is what I used to show her all the muses. I'm going to go row by row and tell you how she described each character (some were in pairs, I'll say when that happened)

First, Asahi: "Almost like Clark Kent. A geek sat in his office and then he goes and does something amazing." 8/10. He's not superman but he is surprisingly good when he steps onto the court.

Norman: "Wants to be a private eye." 5/10 not quite accurate, but I could see it.

Gemima, who got paired up with Conny: "They're just annoying. Just look at them, you know they're annoying." 1/10 it was funny, but they're very sweet little girls.

Bruce: "Thinks he's gorgeous." 0/10 ma'am you do not know the self-hatred this man possesses.

Kili hilariously got paired with Fili, and my mother said they both look like they're thinking: "Where the fuck did I park my horse?" 25/10. She has never seen the hobbit and I laughed SO HARD because she knew if anyone was going to lose a horse it was those two idiots.

Jedediah was missed because she recognised him and wouldn't have had to guess his character.

Oikawa: "Boring." 2/10 it's funny because he'd be so insulted, but he's far too dramatic to ever be boring.

Ray: "Angry." 10/10 perfectly accurate.

Emma: "A trendsetter." 7/10 Technically she did inspire an entire crazy escape plan, so I'll take it.

Camilo: "The annoying friend who sings everything." 5/10 accurate, but I deducted points because despite loving Encanto and having watched it multiple times, my mum did not recognise Camilo and thought he was a girl XD

Pietro: "Super fast. If he ran it would be fast. If he rode a horse it would be fast. He'd want to be moving fast." 8/10 I think the icon gave her too big a clue (though she said she didn't realise he was running and thought his hand was up because his wrist was broken), but I would LOVE to see Pietro's superspeed transfer to a horse.

Ori: "He has a speech impediment and is a bit slow." 0/10 more of an unfair judgement than my mother usually gives people, and not accurate at all. Ori is very smart and I love him.

Revali: "Bit of a mean bastard." 10/10 perfect yes he is.

Yamaguchi: "Looks shocked at the world." 9/10 he is, in fact, intimidated by most of the world, so I'll accept that as a correct answer.

Kagari: "Wants to be in a boyband." 8/10 not correct but given that my depiction of Kagari is deaf, I did laugh quite hard at the irony.

Don: "Know-it-all. Thinks he knows everyone's secrets and he doesn't." 3/10 Don does like to think he knows more than he does, but he definitely doesn't think he's really super smart and knows everything about everyone.

Bilbo she vaguely recognised (enough to know he was a Hobbit) but had nothing to say about him.

Thaumas: "Physically strong." 6/10 his whole character is he's too pretty and wants to be left alone because too many people are into him, but there's nothing to say he isn't also physically strong.

Viktor: "What happened to it's eyes?" 9/10 I have no words.

Tsukishima: "He has a 'fuck off' expression." 10/10 yes he does.

Hawthorn and Attalea she had nothing to say for because she 'wasn't sure what was happening'.

Damien: "That's Billy Bullshit. He's two-faced." 3/10 technically he keeps the two sides of himself very separate, but he's not mean or bitchy and he's learning to embrace every part of himself and I love him for that.

Piers: "Scary." 6/10 he's a sweetheart but many young pokemon trainers would agree with my mum XD

Miguel: "Geeky gay Jesus." 10/10 not accurate but sheer perfect anyway.

Nori: "He's a wannabe wizard." 9/10 not AT ALL but I loved that anyway.

Tyler: "He wants to be a personal trainer but he can't." 4/10 it was funny but he dresses that way because he's gay and also we have watched Turning Red more than once so again, I don't know how she didn't recognise him at all.

Kenma: "A sulky teenager." 9/10 yep. Yep he is XD

Lucien: "He looks gay." 9/10 he would be very happy to know that he is not being mistaken for a heterosexual being

Jack got missed because, like Jedediah, she knew who he was.

Ryan: "He thinks he's the strongest but he cries if he can't find the red skittles." 10/10 I have NO IDEA why she went for skittles but she's completely right.

Takuto: "Tarty, because she reminds me of somebody." 6/10 well yes, Takuto could be described as a tart, but is not a she, and now I want to know who he reminds her of XD