#but yeah tbh we feel similarly anon

[schizospec-culture-is]

Schizospec culture is being floored by learning that your shitty childhood quite literally, in terms of genuine scientific psychological labels for something you can be diagnosed with, made you delusional. Like, my childhood was so completely loveless that my entire perception of reality warped in compensation order for me to fucking survive it. I need to just sit with that for a minute, fucking hell.

That being said, I don’t actually care: I don’t accept that my so-called delusions are actually that, since they’re not harming anybody and are in fact vital to me staying functional. I feel like if I was forced to believe they’re actually delusions that my mind would break apart, so we’re just not going there thanks very much. My fictional family are 100% real and just live in an alternate reality, and it doesn’t matter if nobody else believes that because it doesn’t affect reality as I see it. In summary, I don’t suffer from insanity, I love every minute of it!

-

[bloggingboutburgers]

Hi again, it's the crunchy fish stick! (oops, late reply...been busy lol) You and your QPP are really cute and I'm happy for you guys!!

Honestly I reached out to begin with cause at the time there was this online friend who I wasn't sure if I was squishing or crushing on or not at the time (he felt similarly, but without the squish part) and we agreed to give it some time to see if we should try dating or just leave it as is...and I felt like I should research because of that to find out if a) maybe I'm arospec, b) maybe we should QPR, c) is it really that difficult to be long distance.... After an evening of research and some thinking afterwards, it turns out that I feel aroflux! (and if you feel aroflux then that means you are one, like with everything else) Soooooo we had a conversation and now we've been dating for almost a month despite being half the world apart/having a 10 hr gap (funny how that's kinda similar to you and your QPP lol) and it's nice

He's allocishet (is that actually offensive?? I still don't know ^^;) but it felt great that he actually listened to my idea of "should we QPR" (even though we didn't go with that) and he didn't mind that I'm aroflux and yeah, it was a good feeling. Hopefully we won't miss each other too much cause we're both kinda busy people and also unable to travel for some years...though I guess ping spree-ing (spamming) each other on Discord in our spare time helps lol

Ummm idk if it's okay to be prattling on so much with technically irrelevant stuff ^^; but it felt right to share. Tbh I feel like that other anon who said sex was like donuts to them, but for me it's romance--it's good and fun, enjoyable when it happens, but I could see myself living my life without it just fine. (though I've only been in an online situationship that ended badly before, until recently with my now-bf...) I think the idea that being without a romantic partner for life or being a forever virgin is the worst thing ever to happen...I think people who have that idea and mindset stuck in their heads are kind of silly tbh--there's so much to life outside of romance or sex! (I'm sure you know that fully well too lol, this is me agreeing) Although I'd like to try kissing and other romantic gestures or maaaaaybe sex in the future, they don't seem like goals to me atm--is this something allos could think too?

Now that I've started "the thoughts" and prattling, I think I could talk even more but I should stop now lol

Hope you feel awesome--cause both you and your work/comics are awesome--and this is the crunchy fish stick signing off for now because she has a tendency to go on too long!

(one last thought: QPRs are like super customizable t-shirts?? how's that take?)

Aaaaaaa hello!! Thank you so so much for sending news and sharing your experience, this was super heartwarming to read TwT I'm so glad it turned out well for you guys and I wish you the absolute best!! And good luck with the distance too! Though hey, if you're giving it a try it means you're confident you can deal with it, so I have faith in you guys^^ May you be happy and vibe the way you want to vibe!

(Also I quite like that take! My godson when I explained my QPR to him also used the word "customized" to sum it up in his own words, so that definitely resonates with my experience as well)

[journey-to-the-attic]

Dragon IK AU:

Im glad that you like the idea, it has been brewing in my head for a good while now. About Bailu, you dont need to know about her, what i meant is Bailu’s design is what i imagine Ik would look like with visible dragon traits. Just search up Bailu in google and see her design, it would somewhat fit Ik.

Now i originally imagine her to be a small bby dragon when she goes full dragon but i like the idea of Ik being able to be a BIG and little dragon because it would hilarious. Like the small human you’re trying to kill is suddenly a huge ass dragon, easily beat you up, then after beating you up, become a small little baby dragon. (Also do you know that small dragon zhongli merch plush? Yeah that’s small bby dragon Ik)

Now that you mention her powers that comes with being a chinese dragon, i feel like Levi would be the most helpful on trying to understand it. I dont think i mention this but Ik doesnt know she was half human and half dragon at all. All her life, she thought she was fully human, now she is actually a dragon with all these cool powers. But not everything comes easy the first time. Ik might have some crisis with the revelation she is a dragon (maybe??? I mean being an actual dragon that your home country worship isnt a small revelation). With Levi’s connection to the sea and such and also having Lotan, Levi can help Ik control her powers and Lotan can help with her getting used to her new form since hydra and chinese dragon are somewhat similar. (Also about the wish granting magic idea, maybe it’s best that Ik doesnt have that because Mammon would definitely use it to get more grimm or pay off his debts)

And about the god thing, wouldnt that make Ik a demigod? She’s half human from Zhao and half dragon from her mom, that’s essentially what a demigod is right? But tbh, i just see it like a half adeptus thing with Ganyu and Yanfei. Also the celestial realm… idk how they would feel with a demigod(?) being in devildom but what i do know it wouldnt be a pleasant one

What do you personally think the brothers feel about Ik being a dragon?

- 🐧 Anon

ah, gotcha! i'm always a sucker for this specific kind of dragon horn, so definitely a fan of this design (though not sure how to feel about the fact that bailu apparently isn't a child and just looks like that)

i think levi would definitely be ik's main guide for figuring out her new dragon abilities! they'd go out on a trip to the sea and just spend ages playing around with the water (though ik's control isn't great, so sometimes she'll accidentally start summoning a tsunami and levi has to jump in to get things under control)

i definitely wouldn't use the god aspect of chinese in a literal sense, but the celestial realm hearing of a 'functional demigod' appearing in the devildom would probably be cause for alarm. unlike the angel hybrid au though, they've got no claim to her custody despite the divine heritage, so i guess they'd just have to stew in it until they think of something...

as for the brothers, levi of course is super hyped!! mammon is similarly so ("hell yeah we can go flying together now!!!"), while satan is reassessing his animal tier list because ik's little dragon form might actually be even cuter than a cat. asmo's delighted by both big and little forms, because the former is magnificent and he loves getting to help shine her scales, and of course the latter is adorable

belphie probably tries to get ik to conjure up storms so that they'll cancel school. he basically uses her little dragon form as a hot water bottle, and meanwhile beel likes getting flown about when she's in Big form because he's normally the one doing the carrying, so this is a breath of fresh air!

lucifer's probably the only one who even considers the celestial realm's thoughts on this, but ultimately he's like "who gives a shit what they think" and starts a little diary to keep track of ik's growth (which he's very proud of)

[caluski]

I got an espresso with milk and it was SO cozy, its an artsy cafe with man many paintings including one on the ceiling and drawings and decorations strewn about (think, maximalism, walls covered in art, shelves covered in little decorations and fairy lights etc. But genuine, it wasn't like one of those super Instagrammable things you could tell this was just something someone liked instead of algorithmic coolness)! The drink was very nice, i was sleep deprived so i needed the warmth and the caffeine, and the music was whatever the lady running it put on YouTube. It did a lot of abrupt mood transitions as she queued up songs she liked regardless of cohesion which was very charming tbh! I hung out for a while to gather warmth and good vibes.

Ohhhh milky espresso is such a wonderful thing truly...... And the place sounds heavenly, I love it so much when they put up teeny tiny lights all over the place, it might sound cliche but it's the best thing, something truly unbelievably cozy about it, making you feel so at home and peaceful, with the place bright and lively but also unusually festive, like every silly little boring coffee is an event worthy of celebration, with every order being the most special thing the place could experience... And I love love love places that put up art, whether its some very personal stuff like something staff themselves have made or maybe their friends and family.... or the local artists, like the paintings and photographs and collages bought from universities or small galleries.... Its very lovely and genuine..... And while I feel for you regarding music being "unfit" for a café, I also just like you find it quite charming when staff plays their favorite playlists and albums! It's so adorable because while I usually am armed in my own earbuds in cafés, I also take notice of music playing and it's very cute when baristas and waiters play whatever they like. I think it says a lot about the place, that it's somewhere they feel safe enough in to stray away from some "corporate friendly" royalty free music, and it's specially so adorable when you see them behind the counter, talk about it and laugh and sing along or even switch back and forth to show each other the tracks they like... Its so so so cute.... But yeah I also get it if it's something you personally don't like, it can really throw u off the rhythm.... But it reminds me of when I saw żmijka, the café we stopped by actually seemed to be playing hozier's greatest hits (I assume from spotify) when we popped by.... I think his music, as beautiful and moving as it is, doesn't fit the casual feeling of cafés much, but it was so so so so wonderful because it was just around the time I was exploring his discography for the very first time, and I remember it was just few days after he dropped "de Selby part 2" as a single, but before "unreal unearth", and i remember I kept frowning and whining about it a little bit, but Żmija laughed and said that she remembers I disliked him, because Miłosz also wasn't a fan of his music, and i wondered, ah, is it a transmasc thing, then, such a sudden connection to a stranger.... But obviously, a few weeks later as unreal unearth has dropped, I couldn't just not listen to it, plus I loved that EP of his so much, similarly to Rose I loved "all things end" so very very much, it's such a beautifully moving track...... I think he's very talented, I mean I always knew that, it was more of a "hate the way he's spoken about online" thing, but my goodness...... Anyway, I do miss cafés so much, so so much... I've been living very modestly this past month, I wonder if I could go somewhere tomorrow, have an oat milk cappuccino and raise it to your name dear anon..... For now, I am logging back out, but thank u so much for sharing this, as always, I really appreciate it.... Please support your local non-chain cafés as much as you can, while I personally think the starbuckses and costas and neros look so so beautiful, there is still so much soul and love in the tiny little shops basically run by a few people with a passion..... Love u anon stay good and safe

[dgalerab]

Same long winded anon - Oh damn sorry if I came across like I was seeking validation for the way I see and interact with BNHA fandom/the series in general, that wasn't my intention. I just really enjoy the way you interpret the characters and how you tend to depict them really closely to canon and wanted to open up a dialogue because I find your takes insightful!

I also tend to be pretty fed up with most of the common portrayals of the characters so I completely understand you yelling into the void about it.

You bring up such an interesting point about how these surface level characterizations that we find annoying being really good for people just entering the fandom. Hell, I've even seen fics were people write in the notes that they've never seen the anime or read the manga and their knowledge is entirely from reading fics about it. It's really cool how these base understandings of character makes them so accessible to literally anyone and promotes community in ways that wasn't originally possible just amongst people who enjoyed the original source material.

But that being said YEAH most of these headcanons and characterizations bastardize the original character pretty badly so if you enjoy the character in their canon state or don't vibe with a popular headcanon you are screwed. When people go into talking about these sorts of headcanons like they are the default state of the characters and like anyone who doesn't accept those takes are going against canon it can be really frustrating. I think that probably comes from the same place of the community of fandom tbh. Like when everyone sees a character one way, you feel alienated and it can be hard to find people to enjoy the fandom with when most people don't interpret it at all similarly to how you do.

Also the connection you made between these entry-level headcanons and traditional conservative expression of family dynamics, gender and sex is interesting to me. I feel like a lot of English speaking spaces are dominated by Americans, so it makes sense that these sorts of views that are fed to Americans from birth as the default state of humans (and not... you know... deeply interwoven with religious background lmaooo) are what the fandom at large are desiring to see in the characters. It makes me wonder if Japanese fan spaces have a large amount of Dadzawa or not. Horikoshi himself has clearly pushed the narrative of Aizawa being protective and genuinely caring for his charges as the series has gone on, but if you compare the translations in the subs to the dub, the English voice actor uses more parental/possessive language when Aizawa refers to 1-A (two good examples are if you compare the dialogue between the sub and dub during the scene where Endeavour asks Aizawa to be his sidekick and the scenes preluding when he self amputated his leg where he is being protected by Midoriya and Bakugou).

I'll stop rambling now thank you for indulging me haha. It's always nice to talk about BNHA with someone else in their 30s. I feel like part of this very problem we are talking about is because of how young a lot of the fandom is oop.

oh absolutely no worries you didn't come off as confrontational i just like... sometimes i'll be like "i HATE this hc i'm hitting it like a piñata this STUPID thing" and someone will be like oh interesting i like that trope bc of such and such. and i'm there with my bat covered in piñata pieces like oooooo yeah no i. this was a bit much.

oh definitely i think a lot of fandom characterizations are very american and yes also very young. and like. listen if i'm a teenager watching the shows for teenagers i think i would also be like oh yeah. an adult. and sort of project various adult roles i've experienced onto them without really analyzing the ages. so. i understand ultimately some of it is (not that) old man yells at cloud.

but it's also a common thing in fandom to have characters be flattened down and yeah, i think there's an alienation where you're like YES i want talk about the characters but not the easily shareable versions of them. WHO is gonna wade into the mud with me. i'm TRYING to be deranged here.

[coredrill]

hi bravern bd novel anon i am going to screenshot your ask and reply to it under a readmore for spoilers!!!

no yeah that’s. so afaik the people who ARE upset about the novel are indeed upset for the reasons you mentioned, i just also think that 1) a LOT of english speakers assume that japanese fans all feel the same way in a monolithic fashion, which is not the case and 2) it’s still an outrageous “interpretation” to have LMAO.

as for 1), i obviously haven’t seen Every Single Take on the novel from jp fans, but like. i’ve been reading a decent amount, and a lot of them really like it, and a lot of them have even liked it since they first read it!!! the biggest consistent point of contention that i’ve seen about it on the whole is that lulu’s “they’ll never go back to being the same” line is confusing. otherwise a lot of them read the “not smith but bravern” thing as the same way you’d read any masked hero persona being invoked - the x-men say “cyclops” when he’s in battle/uniform, but “scott” when he’s in the x-mansion eating soup, for example, just with the extra context from this show. again not all jp fans like it, but i think eng bravern fans generally assume the amount of ppl who are down on it is bigger than it actually is bc of the language barrier and also bc some of the jp fans who dislike it are Loud LMAO.

and for 2), like, idk. something being “vague” in the novel but clear in the show doesn’t make sense to me bc…..the show is the BASIS for the novel? i can see maybe being confused on some stuff if you haven’t watched the show first and don’t have context, and lulu’s line being unclear makes sense, but it’s one of those things where like. smith is bravern. isami knows smith is bravern. WE know isami knows smith is bravern. the novel treats this as a fact, and it assumes we do too, so when Known Bad Communicator Isami says “not smith but bravern”, it’s not throwing smithvern’s identity into question; it’s telling us something about isami’s view of smithvern as he tries to reconcile one person he originally knew as two. similarly, smith and bravern conversing isn’t throwing smithvern into question; it’s telling us something about his conflicted mental state. like, gwitch - as many times as bamco claims the relationship between the girls is Up For Interpretation, that doesn’t change the fact that they sure did get married!! so i just don’t think that a short follow-on story trusting its readers to know that its tone and characters and their motives can be inferred from the previous installment (which is also like, a full anime) is “vagueness”; i think it’s just. the story trusting its readers!!

also like. as a sumiisa liker. literally their favorite pastime is not talking to each other if i’m being quite honest LMAO. they obviously said they love each other but i don’t think they quite got to a point of Understanding the way, like, domon and rain did, yknow? as for leaving it open behind a paywall, i feel like that’s kinda The Point……like, it’s just putting things into place for follow-up if that happens, and if it doesn’t, the show gives a satisfying ending!! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

and i hope this doesn’t come off as me being frustrated with you anon, i’m absolutely not!!! and i certainly don’t speak japanese myself so this is all my google translated take on the story lmao, which i also personally did not go into unspoiled!! i’m also not saying you have to like it either, tbh i think the idea of smith henshin At All kinda undercuts the show.

it’s just one of those situations that makes me sad bc. literally SO OFTEN queer stories get read with the most bad-faith goggles possible, y’know? star trek discovery had its first nonbinary character and people got pissed bc they used she/her pronouns and had to have a “call me they/them please” scene in the 32nd century, but in actuality that was bc the IRL actor was still working through things and *asked* to use she/her. there are a million and one examples where characters with queercoded scenes in any medium never have a Big Explicit Confirmation Moment, and people are so quick to call it queerbaiting, and then we find out that there WAS a Moment and it got cut by some exec. and bravern(show) has been so openly earnest with its queer elements, especially with using bravern(character) as a multi-layered narrative tool to express smith/isami’s love, that it just sucks to see any fans jumping at the bit to do the same thing here imo :/

[aspecpplarebeautiful]

i read the faq, but i didnt see it there, so asking directly. im just confused about Why ace/aro are also umbrella terms when aspec/arospec exist. why would someone aspec call themselves ace and be mistaken for someone who experiences 0 sexual attraction whatsoever when they do experience it? when did they start being used as umbrella terms as well? i never heard of that until from this blog recently tbh so i'm curious when people started using it like one.

So the idea of ace as an umbrella term for the entire asexual spectrum community has been around since at least 2011 because people weren't sure if asexual umbrella was working well enough (source). (Aro can be used similarly, but at this time the two communities were very intertwined.)

Interestingly enough while the terms asexual spectrum and aromantic spectrum have both been around since at least 2006, when people have gone searching for when acespec and arospec started to emerge the earliest examples people have been able to find are from 2014-2016. But just going by my own experiences having been in this community since around 2009, even asexual spectrum and aromantic spectrum weren't terms I heard a lot until after acespec and arospec became more widespread.

So yeah, there's a lot of history there. And you can do even deeper dives into this history, and find a lot of debates. The definition of asexual especially has a really long complicated history and there has always been different definitions around.

So moving back into the present while 'no sexual attraction' is used a lot in outreach and awareness, asexuality itself has always covered a lot more experiences than that.

The Asexual page on the LGBTA Wiki for example defines asexuality as:

a sexual orientation defined by a lack of sexual attraction. Asexual experiences may also include: not wanting to have sex, not being interested in sex, not experiencing a sex drive/libido, or being repulsed by sex. Sexual attraction is defined as the desire to have sex with, or otherwise perform sexual acts with, another specific individual.

So even that is a bit broader than just not experiencing sexual attraction.

When it comes to experiencing some sexual attraction, it can definitely get a bit more complicated. And there are definitely people (all over the ace-spectrum, not just people who experience some sexual attraction, but not the full range allosexuals experience), who do find asexual and/or ace to be too limiting a label for them, and do prefer either something like gray-ace or acespec, or may even prefer to use a specific ace community label, like demisexual or fraysexual.

Aromanticism is similar, and if anything even more complicated because of how hard it is to define and conceptualize romantic attraction in the first place. If we were to do a strong divide between aromantic and not aromantic but still arospec based on attraction where does that leave people who aren't sure if they are experiencing romantic attraction or not? Or people who can't tell the difference between romantic and platonic feelings? Or the people who experience types of attraction like alterous which can have some romantic elements to it but isn't technically romantic attraction?

But again, there are arospec and gray-aro people who do not like aro and/aro aromantic as labels because they just don't fit their experiences or definitions.

So this is just a lot of words to say attraction and orientation are just really complex. And it's very hard to fit people and experiences into neat little boxes, and there's a certain point where instead of trying to follow strict definitions it just makes a lot more sense to tell people to go with the label that resonates the most for them. Or is the most useful way for them to identify.

This is a pretty long response, but I hope that all makes sense, Anon. But if you have more questions, want anything clarified or talked more about, please feel free. Otherwise I hope this helps.

All the best!

[olderthannetfic]

Ah, I do see your points, anon. I'm not going to post all your asks publicly because if you really feel that unsafe, it's probably best not to have a bigass chunk of your text for people to analyze and try to guess your identity from. I think one of the best points you made is about how close to home it hits when the non-fave is not only your fave but is similar to you in some way like demographic. You're not wrong for having those emotions. I do wonder if they make it hard to see how some other people feel similarly embattled on other axes.

TBH, I think one of the big problems here is that the large aggregate patterns you're talking about are racist, but most individual fics and fans are not really the problem. It's hard to know how to talk about this or who to tell to "fix" it when we're looking at free, hobbyist art.

A lot of people's tastes are certainly formed by shitty society, but once they're formed, they don't change fast if at all. Asking someone to rewrite their libido is a big ask, yet tumblr does it all the time as though it's as simple as snapping your fingers.

This leaves me with the sense that a lot of tumblr is... like... the political lesbians of porn fic or something: desire is not real, only choosing based on logic and politics. Or maybe people are so asexual that they just don't understand the lizard brain's "YES!" at some porn things and complete indifference to others?

I don't think it's great if great swaths of people feel like bottom!Nicky is super hot and top!Nicky fundamentally isn't, but I also don't think they can necessarily just turn it off like flipping a switch.

(If someone reading this doesn't like their current tastes and wants to attempt to alter them, I do think it's possible. What you should do is line up a large slate of media that prominently features characters of the ethnicity or whatever that you don't find hot/interesting. These should be leads whose emotional development drives the plot and is supposed to be central to the audience's enjoyment of the media. Watch/read/etc. this media all the time. All. The. Time. Try out many pieces because you won't like every character or every show, and we're looking for genuine enjoyment, not the fandom equivalent of a pity fuck. Spend enough time on this, and your unconscious sense of who's hot and interesting will eventually shift somewhat. This is a project you should expect to take a few years.)

But I digress.

The one tweet thing is a very toxic pattern. If TOG fandom is doing that, guys, please try to be more conscious of holding the actors of color to a higher standard (or the women or whomever). I know this often comes from a place of paying more attention to our own and wanting to set a good standard, but the effect is that minorities can't fuck up ever while white dudes get infinite passes.

Okay, on to the fic thing... Gotta say, my instant reaction to that description is "Ooh!"--as it would be for the same scenario with the characters reversed. (Ships who start out trying to kill each other are my favorite! x1000 if they're resurrecting style immortals and they literally do.) I can see how it would feel like slamming into a brick wall if you aren't kinky in just the right way and you didn't know it was coming though.

Part of why I react so strongly to a lot of discourse that runs along these lines is that I am a naturally extremely kinky person. It's not so much about what I do (which as a deeply lazy person in a long distance relationship is essentially nothing), but it's absolutely how I'm wired.

And I can tell you that my quotidian experience in fandom is sharing something I don't even realize is a big deal only to have someone I like, respect, and trust react in horror and tell me that it's triggering and awful and should not be allowed in fandom spaces because it makes "people" unsafe. It's such an instant, kneejerk reaction they don't even realize I was sharing it because it spoke to the very core of me. Lesson learned, friend. Lesson learned.

That sounds a bit off topic, I know, but bear with me: The point of that anecdote is that it's pretty common for me to get people trying to raise my awareness of things I have already thought deeply about while denying my essential humanity and not even realizing. As a kinky person who likes to make my fave the top (and generally a conflicted sadist), this constant request to explain and justify is exhausting.

I doubt most of the top!Joe fans have this precise problem simply because people who make their fave the top are much less common in fandom than people who make their fave the bottom, but I see a similar pattern with fans who are just fundamentally wired for rape fantasies (one of the most common fantasies that exists) vs. fans who just don't get rape fantasies at all. Or substitute your BDSM/kinky/messed up fantasy trope of choice. Covertly radical feminist attitudes towards kink and power are on the rise in fandom, and as a naturally kinky person, boy do I notice it!

I know that it feels like crucial activism to share these insights about why the ratio of top!Joe is hurtful, and the pain you feel is real. But it's also the case that it's a big ask to want people to listen. (Not me. Obviously, I routinely choose to engage with discourse. I mean overall.) The reason for that is that you're only seeing a fraction of what they do or who they are, and you don't know how many previous people they've listened to how many previous times. It's a very different situation from someone whose job is making some major TV series or movie or something. That person does, in my opinion, owe you some amount of listening.

Now, I'm not saying no top Joe fan was ever a jerk. I'll bet they were. There's a tendency to be rude and to publicly air your schadenfreude when you feel like everyone has been yelling at you. What I am saying is that a lot of the problem here boils down to conflicting needs, and that means there isn't a good solution. It's a situation where people are genuinely hurt, but I don't necessarily agree that other people have harmed them.

I like that you did an actual count of the explicit fics, btw. It's good to look at the real numbers. I see too little of that in these situations. My off the cuff reaction is that 2/3 to 1/3 is not a bad ratio at all compared to many fandoms, but yeah, it definitely shows a strong trend, and that can be painful. (I have a fandom where I think there's maybe like 1 bottom so-and-so fic in the entire zine era fandom. One. It's pretty extreme.)

I guess my thinking here overall is: What is the practical solution? What are we hoping to gain? What is reasonable to ask of people?

And it can't be "Well, if they would just listen..." That's just a sneaky way of saying "If you haven't done it my way, it's because you haven't listened to me yet."

So the question I would ask of people is this:

What does a non-racist fic where Joe tops look like?

What does a non-racist sex pollen, dubcon, or even noncon fic where Joe tops look like?

And if you say the latter is impossible... well... sadists exist everywhere in the world. So do doms. So do people who prefer to top in a purely physical sense. People with rape fantasies where they're the rapist exist (people who are not actually rapists, I mean). None of this is restricted to any one group. We can't categorically say fic like that about Joe is coming from a place of racism without denying the fundamental humanity of kinky MENA people who'd want to make Joe like themselves or like their ideal partner. (Yes, I agree this won't be the majority of fic writers writing top!Joe, but this is a place to start for figuring out what the better version would look like.)

IDK, maybe you're that kinkster yourself, but your asks gave me the vibe that you don't really get the drive towards those darker kinds of fics and what might be motivating it besides stereotypes and shittiness.

If we can answer these kinds of questions, we can better critique the way people write what they write without telling them all of their taste is bad and they should just stop writing. Even if we think the latter is true, it isn't going to get us anywhere. Figuring out how to make Joe more multidimensional in the fic they already want to write or finding very specific wording that should be avoided might actually work.

Beyond that, the actions I think are productive would be running prompt fests, exchanges, or other events for bottom!Joe or for top!Joe where he's the main character and the fics are required to be from his POV. Themed collections and recs lists are great. (I've seen a bit of this going around in TOG fandom in the past, and that's an excellent approach! Keep it up!) Positive actions tend to work better here. Make more of what you want. Promote what you want to see.

I don't mean this in some fluffy magical thinking way: you aren't going to change that ratio radically just by the power of positivity. But I've seen this kind of thing play out in many, many fandoms, and going after the people who write what you don't like, even in a well-intentioned effort to educate and even in a polite, kind way doesn't do much. A few people feel guilty. A few feel defensive. A lot ignore you. The overall fic doesn't change. It's not a good use of your limited time and energy.

I'm off to look up that fic to see what I think of it in practice, but I'm going to post this before tumblr manages to eat it.

[suckishima]

reading some of your character analyses has made me view the boys from a different perspective and it’s just so mind blowing to me how articulate you are with your words that you swayed my opinions on them!! i haven’t gone through all of the asks but if you haven’t yet, could you do suna? he’s my absolute fav and i’m really curious about how you view him

Aww, thank you!! It's been a lot of fun for me to answer all these, especially for the characters I hadn't really thought about too deeply before haha. Suna is one of those characters for me too tbh 😆 so hopefully I'll have something interesting to say

First impression: i was kind of intrigued by him right away if i remember correctly. he seemed pretty disinterested and but simultaneously mildly amused by the twins' antics, and i thought that was a fun combo. plus, since haikyuu is a sports anime and has so much emphasis on hunger/passion for the game, i'm always interested to see how the more toned down characters will be portrayed. like he initially looks like he doesn't wanna be there, but he's a starter on a nationally ranked team so he must like the sport etc (and i knew furudate wouldn't just give us tsukki 2.0, despite their seemingly similar presentations) so yeah i remember being kind of keeping an eye out for his character when he was first intro'd. also also, his twisty band bend spike was cool and interesting

Impression now: i'm kind of bummed we don't get to see more of him as an individual bc tbh i'm still kind of in that intrigued state and don't feel like i've gotten a ton more info about him. i think it would be easy to say that he's just kind of bored and/or isn't easily amused bc of his expression most of the time, but tbh i don't really see either of those being true. i think he actually is pretty easily amused, he just doesn't outwardly express himself much. like with the always taking pictures of the twins bc he thinks it's funny/wants to use it as blackmail against him—or even during the match against karasuno and how he's like constantly thinking about how tsukki is blocking and whether tsukki is or isn't messing with him etc. like, suna definitely seems to have a passion for volleyball based on all of his actions and the little inner thoughts we get from him. i also imagine him to be a pretty hard worker for whatever reason—i dont see him wanting to skip out on practices or only do half the work like say, kunimi does for example

Favorite moment: well since im a sucker for how the characters personalities are shown through the sport itself, i really do like the mental back and forth between him and tsukki with their blocking. they each have a plan and they each think it's working well until they get to the point that they realize the other one's plan isn't really what they thought it was. and they way the two of their personalities specifically react by being like fake polite is just really funny to me. plus that line suna says about tsukki where he's like "yeahh he's the least aggressive blocker i've ever met" is really interesting to me too, i'm always like "so then do you consider yourself to be more aggressive than him??" bc i personally had seen them similarly ish in terms of playstyle up until then so, that was kind of telling for me in terms of how he sees himself too

Idea for a story: 😬 sorry i kinda got nothing. my brain lives almost entirely in canon-land and since we get so little of him i struggle to think of anything where he'd be the star, i just need more info

Unpopular opinion: yoo anon number 2! i agree with you haha. i don't really see him as a stoner. (tbh i dont see any of the athletes who are at this level being full on stoners 🤷‍♀️)

Favorite relationship: hmmmmmm this is also tough for me haha, we rarely see him interact with anyone that i can remember. i guess probably just both the twins, it does seem like they all have a pretty good relationship and i can imagine them hanging out outside of practice

Favorite headcanon: he regularly goes to the chiropractor

[kakashihasibs]

dog enthusiast anon here! it's true that harnesses can mess up a dogs shoulders, and if dogs are stepping stiffly in their boots i'm sure that could cause eventual pain or undue stress on joints or muscles too, but so can injured paws— a well fit harness, well suited to it's purpose, can distribute stress from a line or leash across the body (like harnesses used by dogs in weight-pulling competitions, or sled racing, which pull across the body when they're hitched to sleds or weights) similarly, well fit dog boots can protect dogs feet while still allowing them enough movement and traction that the dog doesn't feel like they have to step carefully. I'm in a similar position to you, I don't want to put my dog in boots, because I know getting my dog used to them will be a whole ordeal of "look at this new object! treat. sniff the object! treat. touch the object! treat. object touches your foot! treat—" etc where it may be a while before my dog is O.K. with them, if not ever 100% comfortable, ...but at the same time, shitheads keep breaking glass all over all of my favorite hiking trails :( which mean cut pads or no hiking. :(

at some point it becomes "are repeated injuries worse for her paws, or are boots worse for her paws?" and as time goes on, and at the moment I'm leaning a little bit more towards injuries being worse, because at least the boots I can take off at home, and there are some sports that mandate boots to protect dogs feet? mostly races in tough climates like sled racing, but if dogs that do these sports are mandated to wear them for running over such long periods...they must not be the worst thing, or at least, not worse than the snow.

anyway, I've been looking at "Canine Equipment Ultimate Trail Dog Boots" because they're kind of like a sock in design, with good treads on the bottom, and most people report that as long as you use the velcro strap to fit it around the dogs ankle properly, they won't fall off

but i hope that either they dump some dirt over the gravel, or that u find another good place for running though, bc I can absolutely understand not wanting to do boots

Yeah we have a sleepypod harness for the car and a much lighter harness for regular walking that fits pretty well. Probably could stand to be a little tighter around her chest so it doesn't move as much but it's high enough on her shoulders that it works for walking.

Tbh we only leave her collar on at the dog park so we can have a handle to grab if needed. Yaknow x_x

But we've actually had snow boots on her before. they velcroed but they still came off with activity. Just havent had good luck with shoes and Leia but like look at this:

Ugh x_x i knew something like this was gonna happen when they said they're gonna cover the grass 😒 other dog owners were complaining about mud but there's a dog bath right outside the dog park 🙄

But yeah we're gonna ask our vet for recommendations on Wednesday and I'll check out the boots u mentioned as well

I just worry about dog's gates bc my childhood dog had a lot of problems in her later years from an injury she hid and it wasn't a good situation 😔

[mithliya]

I am bi, and I do fully accept that lesbians prob have it harder. But I get what anon is saying about bisexual being associated with “alphabet soup nonsense”, it’s really fucking annoying. All the queerios (straights) pushing demisexual and pansexual and genderqueer etc etc have made it so that quite a lot of the time when I say I’m bi I get an eye roll or somebody telling me I’m an idiot and this identity crap has gone too far. I’m just attracted to both sexes ffs. We’ve always been here.

yeah i can imagine that :/ tbh as a lesbian i think we’re often either associated with it or othered by our own “alphabet soup” community bc of assumptions that we’re hateful for being homosexual… so it just feels like we aren’t accepted anywhere to me. and im sure bis who speak against that stuff feel similarly.. luckily no one says “this identity crap has gone too far” over me saying im a lesbian tho. i guess that’s a consequence specifically of bisexuality having only become more known around the 80s

[bisluthq]

I hate Harry for… believing that he wasn’t a virgin when he was 16? Huh? I’m very much no an anti. I love this man to death and I’m going to multiple shows in the next few weeks. It’s just bizarre to me that a blog that I frequent (for different reasons than Harry, I love Taylor too), talks so confidently about one of my favorite artists while also saying so much rubbish (with love, but you say a lot of rubbish and pass it as fact 😭)

I have nothing against you or your anons. You guys are genuinely funny and entertaining I love your takes and discussions and I love reading back when I have some time off, but you’re often way off about Harry, which is normal because you don’t have the level of knowledge you do with, for instance, Taylor or even Karlie. But you guys, you can ask! Pls the assumptions sometimes cjencnannfnsg

I don’t think Harry was a stud at 15 😆 (or even now fksnfnang). I just think he was popular, good at sports, and had sex because he and his friends/family said so. I’m actually against the whole notion of Harry as a womanizer, I think he’s very tame considering he could be fucking everything that moves. I think most of the stuff pedalled by the media is rubbish. I don’t think he ever cheated on anyone, that he can’t keep it in his pants, or that he’s defined by sex.

I don’t wanna be shady but it feels low key slut shamey that you’re talking about 15/16 year olds having sex as if it was an insult. I lost my virginity at 14 and I’m a fully functional adult with a healthy sex life who’s only slutty for her boyfriend of 2 years.

Perhaps culture is slightly different? Harry is from a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. I identify (I’m from the east of England but similarly my town was also very small). Alcohol and sex become more normalized at a younger age because… there’s nothing else to do rip. It doesn’t become promiscuous (some do but those are outliers) or like, unhealthy. Typically everyone dates everyone because the dating pool is so small, and then longish relationships end up in sex perhaps more often than they do in bigger towns (my comparison point is my friends so it’s not a scientific study). By the time you go to Uni you fall into step with everyone else more or less, but you tend to have more (fumbly) experience than others.

It’s why statements like “they looked like kids and probably weren’t fucking” are so bizarre to me. We all looked like kids and most of us were fucking at that age 😭 He grew up in the early 2000s in England not in the 1950s.

I’ll more readily believe Taylor didn’t have that experience growing up since both Pennsylvania and Tennessee, at least from a pop culture standpoint, seem a bit more “uptight” in that sense.

With that said, Caroline Flack was a perv, and whatever Harry’s experience was when he met Taylor didn’t make the relationship any less… weird, to say the least. I’m not arguing that whatsoever.

Okay so I think we agree. Maybe he had sex with his girlfriend. Maybe he had had two girlfriends even by the time he was 16 that he’d had sex with. He didn’t have a ton of them because his girlfriends have kinda been outed or come forward, even that baby girlfriend. He wasn’t the coolest guy in his town pre X Factor (that’s pretty obvious tbh).

He was legit just some guy, Caroline was a perv, he wasn’t sexually experienced at 16 (neither were you at 16 even though you’d been sexually actively for 2 years like because no one is tbh in that period unless they were very abused), and like both the pregnancy shit and the virginity shit were jokey points made with an element of truth to them and idk what else to say lmao.

Like we agree dude.

We don’t know exactly when Harry had sex because we aren’t him (and his family and friends aren’t good indicators because boys that age LIE dude like that’s a hallmark of that age).

Kids are just kids man, barring really radical cultural differences (East v West vibes) it’s all the same tbh factoring in yeah size of town and whatnot.

Also at a certain point, we know he lies about sex because he said like 3 sexual partners to GQ and he either has a weird definition of sex or is lying or could’ve been lying before like we don’t KNOW which is my point. Teenage boys LIE about this shit and they exaggerate for the most part.

[twelvedaysinaugust]

Going off of the previous Anon about L's response to the apple fiasco, I also feel similarly and its hard for me to take into account what was said because L seemed so pressed and offended at the mere suggestion of him being an ally but look at him now. I mean his concerts are literally two pride flags away from being a pride parade. And the comfort and safety he provides for his queer fans. Only the brave. Receipts from all kinds of fans about how supportive and nice he is to the queer fans and how he always is respectful.

For me, the Louis in 1d and Louis now are two very different people. And after Harry's interview and just the general shittiness the boys went through, I'm having trouble believing we saw who Louis was during 1d. I believe the authenticity that came across during x factor because that felt very real to me but tbh a lot of Louis during 1d now that I think back to it seems, scripted? And I don't mean that in an offensive way. It's just, I'm now realizing we never knew any of the boys at all. Harry used to look so charming and confident and now I read today's interview and he describes being in a constant state of anxiety and fear. I've never seen that from him on most occasions. Liam used to be the calm one, the mediator and always looked like he was having fun and yet he described how he turned to alcohol as a way to numb everything out during that time.

And we see Louis now. Who's a ray of sunshine. Yes, he's definitely more gaurded and protective but the sincerity shines through. Especially when we're talking about the queer community. He's been nothing short of sweet and supportive to his fans who he adores. So it's hard for me to associate the same man who was so angry at even being called an ally to the person who's been able to create a beautiful environment at every concert for his queer fans to feel safe. It literally just doesn't make sense to me. That Louis feels real to me. Not the aggressive, rude person the media definitely tried to portray especially during 2014-2015.

Yeah, I agree. Even if Louis is not queer himself, the way he's interacted with queer fans and the queer contestants on X-Factor has always had an element of understanding and compassion. I know a lot of people (myself included) feel like it goes beyond mere allyship, but that's beside the point. What I'm trying to say is that Louis comes across as particularly kind, gentle, and understanding the vast majority of the time. And then he has these outbursts that just seem completely out of proportion to the situation (like the rainbow Apple t-shirt debacle, the phone call with the Larrie UA). Obviously, there's overwhelming emotion (and impulsivity) underlying it, but it seems so out of character. And his response is so strong and ferocious that it makes you kind of take a step back and say, "Okay, he's saying he's straight and calling Larries crazy... I think I might be misreading something." Obviously, it's Louis' life, not mine. Whatever his exact situation, I have compassion for him. But his behavior feels very contradictory and hard to understand sometimes.

[aspoonofsugar]

Emerald and Cinder will meet at any time. What do you think is Cinder's reaction to knowing that Emerald decided to switch sides? What do you think Emerald's reaction will be when she sees Cinder again?

Hello anon,

I really hope their confrontation happens in the next two episodes and is not delayed for plot reasons :’’’)

Anyway, we’ll see.

That said, I think it should be a meaningful moment for Emerald, so that she can cement her redemption. As other people have noticed, Emerald’s main obstacle to leave Salem has never been Salem herself.

She has shown multiple times that she dislikes Salem and what she is doing:

Emerald: I just... (sighs) Cinder was the only family I ever had. She cared about me, taught me things... But without her here, I don't know if what we're doing--

And she is not eager to inflict pain on others. Tbh I would say Emerald is a pretty empathetic character:

She tries to mask her empathy behind a though girl act, but it is clear she can’t really ignore others’ pain.

In short, Emerald never fit in Salem’s faction and she only stayed there because she believed in Cinder’s return.

However, it is not that while at Salem things have stayed the same:

Emerald: Cinder! We failed because of Cinder...

Mercury: Wake up, already... Cinder doesn't care about you! She doesn't care about either of us!

She has been forced by Salem to recognize Cinder’s failure and Mercury has told her directly Cinder does not care.

From what he says here:

Mercury: Would you stop trying to protect her already? She doesn’t care about you.

I think they might have gone through this conversation multiple times.

In short, Emerald’s image of Cinder has been challenged while Cinder was not there. Moreover, when Cinder came back things did not get better:

Emerald: If she doesn’t want to, I’ll come. I’ve been working on my Semblance. I can help. I won’t tell anybody.

Cinder: How much did you overhear?

Cinder: Both of you, get out. I’ll let you know when you’re needed next.

Emerald has tried to help Cinder and to spend some time with her to reaffirm their bond.

However, Cinder has been ignoring Emerald because she has been too wrapped up in her own need to reaffirm herself.

This has led to two short moments, which I read as foreshadowing and I thought they needed some pay-off.

This is the first:

Whose payoff has already been given tbh and it is this:

Penny sees how self-destructive and desperate Emerald is and decides to let her go. Similarly, Emerald sees Penny at her most self-destructive and chooses to make a small step in the right direction and to help helping her. As a follow-up she even uses her illusions to save Penny, when she had used her powers to kill her back at Beacon.

This is the second:

And it is probably important for Emerald’s idea of Cinder.

My interpretation of this small moment is that Emerald saw in Cinder and Salem’s dynamic a mirror of her own relationship with Cinder. In short, I think it is the moment where everything Mercury told her about Cinder and Cinder’s mistreatment of her cling together and Emerald finally realizes the truth.

After all, it is after this moment that Emerald makes some weak attempts to rebel against Salem and to leave. She spies on Hazle and Oscar and tries to convince Mercury not to go to Vacuo (and basically to leave with her). Finally she decides to leave with Hazel.

These actions are interesting given Emerald’s character because one question pops up immediately...what about Cinder?

Emerald’s devotion to Cinder has been explored too much to be left unsolved and a small moment of realization is just not enough to end this plot-line. For that moment to truly matter it needs to be at least addressed in a confrontation.

As for how this confrontation will go I can see different scenarios, which depend on how much Emerald has truly been able to realize the truth about Cinder. They also depend on how much Cinder has been able to get back in control of herself after Watts’s speech.

1) Emerald’s moment of realization, together with Mercury’s warnings, Hazel’s sacrifice and short time with the heroes help her realize Cinder does not care about her when they meet again and Emerald is able to fight/call her out.

2) Emerald has more or less realized the truth and this has made her able to leave both Salem and Cinder. However, her feelings are still too confused and too fresh and when she meets Cinder she stumbles and is indecisive.

a) Cinder is back in control and will try once again to manipulate Emerald when she sees her.

b) Cinder will lash out at her.

A mix of these different reactions is also possible.

In short, I think this confrontation, if it happens, will be the end of their relationship. Either because Emerald will be able to call Cinder out or because Cinder will hurt her in a way that will force Emerald to face the truth and move on.

As for what this confrontation may mean for Cinder, I think that the one way it has to matter for her arc is if it is the cherry on top to her spiral this volume. This volume Cinder has been forced to aknowledge both her recent failures and her painful past.

Not only that, but has shown to be out of touch with how her “disciples” feel. She has treated both Emerald and Mercury as a given. She has already been punished for this:

Mercury: Yeah about that, Salem’s got other plans for me. I’m not gonna be taking orders from you anymore.

The problem is that Cinder clearly sees both Emerald and Mercury as extensions of herself and forgets they are their own people with needs and wishes.

It is important that she gets called out for the way she has treated the only person who truly cared about her. She needs to realize her mistakes if she wants to grow.

At the same time, I think this confrontation should help Emerald becoming more proactive in her redemption. Emerald’s flaw is that she is emotionally dependent. This is why she has tricked herself into believing Cinder was her family. This is also why she was not strong enough to leave alone, but tried to leave with Mercury and then found a way out through Hazel. Right now she is with the heroes both because she deep down wants to help, but also because she wants to belong somewhere. This is not a wrong wish and Emerald will definately get it. However, given the potential of her character and the amount of focus she received, she should still face her mistakes and struggle to fix them.

In particular, she needs a personal objective she can work towards in an acitve way, rather than in a reactive one. As for now, I think this personal objective will have to do with helping Mercury since they are presented as complementary since the beginning. Probably Emerald’s path forward will be about helping Mercury just like Hazel helped her (without the redemptive death). However, she can’t do it until she stays fixated on Cinder.

At least, this is one way it might play out.

Thank you for the ask!

[mallowstep]

For the love of god, please consider renaming some cats, I've seen names like

"One-Eye, Halftail, Oddfoot, FLIPCLAW (what kind of prefix is 'Flip'?) Twigbranch, Clawface etc. Don't get me started on those atrocious SkyClan names with KITTYPET PREFIXES

Harrybrook, Snookthorn, Rileypool

Like tf?

so i'm going to start with saying! as a general rule, i love these names. i will address them each in turn, but i don't have a problem with warriors having "bad names," i have a problem with names that don't make sense given their context.

it does not make sense for blackfoot to be named blackkit, when he's mostly white. (and, as a colorpoint cat, i assume, would be born entirely white.) etc.

but i have no problem with bellaleaf, because well, yeah! makes sense to me.

after all, leaf was named leafdapple, why shouldn't bella be named bellaleaf.

i'm going to discuss each name you brought up in turn, and then, under the cut, i'm going to ramble about naming philosphies.

one-eye: i'm fine with this. i don't mind cats being named after their disabilities, not when it's an established part of warriors culture. (even if it doesn't happen anymore because people would be pissed about it.) i don't know if i think it's right, or if i think cats would have a problem with it, but i think it's good. i'd like to think most cats wouldn't have a problem with it, though. that said, for one-eye in particular, her name was already white-eye, so it feels redundant. food for thought, i suppose.

halftail: i'm not okay with this, because he lost...half his tail? trust me, as someone who had a cat with half a tail, you don't notice it. doesn't make sense. he can keep sparrowpelt, altho tbh i almost always forget about him.

oddfoot: oops i forget him initially! i actually assumed he was named odd because of numbers or something, but apparently it’s a deadfoot situation. we don’t know his kit name, so i’ll assume he was named as either an apprentice or a warrior to fit. it wouldn’t make sense for him to just have the prefix odd, and i’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he didn’t. if he did, however, i would have a problem with it because that makes his name a compound name, not because his leader renamed him.

flipclaw: i don't have a problem with it. what kind of name is flipkit? the kind of name a mother would give who looks a lot like the cat who traumatized her, i think. more importantly, i think it's cute! doesn't bother me. would i name an oc flipkit? probably not, but that's just me.

twigbranch: oh no i love her name. i love it! it's so cute. it means something, too! it has meaning. nope. no one is taking twigbranch away from me. i love it.

clawface: mixed. i don't really have a problem with a cat being named clawkit, but it feels...violent. shrug. i don't like it, but like, i also don't like sandynose.

and i won't directly address skyclan because uh i already stated my thoughts on them.

skyclan in particular, tho, it actually makes a lot of sense for their names to be like that. there is no reason to apply any clan norms to skyclan names.

i really hope they keep their names, too. tradition and legacy of names is important to them (pebbleshine and violetshine for the most direct example, but it's everywhere), and i want that to stay. i love that leafstar named her kit harrykit. never change skyclan.

as always, i want to say that i do not have a problem with anyone's methodology of naming cats. i do not care. i support every single name in existence (barring certain combinations of color and "-face," and anything in that vein), and i do not want to come across as telling you what you should do.

that includes you, anon! i do not think you should listen to me when i say i like these names. i think you should rename them whatever you want. (i strongly suggest reconsidering skyclan renames, tho. there's established reasons in canon for them to have those names, and i think it's a cool cultural thing worth exploring. i keep meaning to write a funny lil one-shot about it.)

but you know! if you want to rename them, go for it! i support you!

that said, here is what i think (and i am not an authority on this in any way, shape, or form) about names:

i've written extensively about naming traditions in the clans. if you want to read that, "names. leaders. meaning" and "names part two" are where i recommend you look. (note: first link is to my main, before i migrated warriors content here.)

i'm not going to go over any of that in detail, because well, i'd rather talk about something new?

anyway, i don't think there's a reason to rename the vast majority of cats. i have very, very, few rules. heck, in ashes, i even had squilf come out and say that there's not even a problem with cats sharing a prefix.

the two cats i have renamed are yellowstorm and runningcloud, both for very specific reasons: -fang is a suffix that only makes sense if you're a warrior, and yellowfang names runningpaw runningnose, but in this au, sagewhisker names him, and she doesn't seem like the type to give that kind of name.

in yellowfang's secret, which i do generally treat as canon, yellowfang explains runningnose's name. i don't have a problem with her giving that name to him in the slightest. i just don't think sagewhisker would, and that overrode my general conservative approach to cat names.

but i do think, to an extent, cats are named for the world around them. i explored this in "without warning," where cats can be named after all sorts of strange things (elevator is my favourite), because well, they don't know what strange names are and are not.

so, for example, if there was a kit named, say, chaffinchkit, i would probably rename them, because i've set my warriors in the pnw, and there are no chaffinches in america.

i would just name the kit finchkit, because really, a chaffinch just a specific type of finch anyway.

i also refuse to name a kit maggotkit. there are probably other canonical prefixes in this nature that i refuse, but maggot is the big one that comes to mind.

but i don't care that ferns are green and cats aren't green. maybe it's a name passed down through the generations, one they don't even remember the origin of, but now, it is a thunderclan name.

or maybe, it is given to a riverclan cat simply because their mother thinks ferns are nice and soft.

none of that matters to me, because i personally find limiting name to appearance is incredibly boring, and gives up a really nice chance to worldbuild.

in "fair is the night," ivypool and tigerheart have a brief conversation exploring this.

"ThunderClan is different," he says. "You don't use names in the same way. You don't know the Ivy before you. But ShadowClan isn't like that. Dawnpelt knows Dawncloud and Flametail knows Flamefur, but...I have Tigerstar." "That seems ineffective," Ivypool says. "You can get more mileage out of your names. Here, Ivy is for grey kits, right? But wiry ones. We need strong roots. And Dove is for grey kits, or white ones, but its for the ones who are born soft."

they go on, but i would never pass up an opportunity to explore that type of thing. (and yes i see the typo)

similarly, i like the renaming system. i am like, this close to saying i love it.

the only reason i don't make brightheart lostface in everything i write is because it'd be too much of a headache to remind people, and i also don't want to needlessly invite arguments about it.

she keeps her name in "saccharine tithes of love and glory" because it's the kind of au where i can throw small things like that, without worrying, because it fits, tonally.

i wish it didn't set a fic in a very specific tone, but it does, and so, i usually use brightheart.

(also, it's clear that she prefers brightheart in the books, and i respect that. i don't think, in my culture, that makes sense for her, but i've talked about my works as being on a spectrum between canon and me, and most stuff is far enough away from me that i call her brightheart.)

anyway.

part of it is, renaming cats is imposing my rules over canon. i feel that saying "flipclaw should be named something else" asserts that my world is correct, and canon is wrong.

like, tallstar as a name does not make sense in my windclan. a kit can't be tall, and i've established that windclan names are very literal. but i've let it go, because i chose to make that a rule, and now i live with it.

i hope i didn't come off as prescriptivist, here, because i honestly believe if you want to rename cats, you should. i'd even be happy to discuss alternatives.

for clawface, might i suggest scorchface? (the suffix is malleable, frankly, but i don't feel like thinking much about it.) scorch deliberately has negative connotations in shadowclan, so you keep the same effect as clawface. especially since it just kind of sounds ominous.

but as for what i will do, it is not rename cats. i like their names (especially skyclan's), in all their idiosyncratic glory.

[insfiringyou]

Thanks anon for the post below, our reply is in the comments as you submitted it instead of as an ask :)

I liked the anon asking why V is like he is as a character. I enjoyed thinking about it because tbh I also really, REALLY struggle with him 😒😒😒. Hearing admins and other readers explore him has been helpful.

So I was thinking the bullying history for sure and also a lack of siblings. Maybe real V has some siblings way younger than him? I don’t know about real-life or character V’s sibling status, but I don’t think he’s mentioned siblings in the story.

No hate at all to real-life only children!! And as we see with YS (who is mature & thoughtful) not all only children in the story have V’s struggles. I think though when you have a big, dreamy, kind of demanding personality, similarish-aged (lol) siblings help because you are forced to think of and accommodate others from early in life. It can’t just be about you and your desires. I think it’s also a good reality check because most siblings tease you and call you out on your bullshit. Because they grow up with you, if you’re close enough as siblings, they see your patterns, you know? Like maybe V’s parents don’t know his dating habits much, but if V had a sibling or 2 that he really loved (maybe an older sibling would’ve been good for him and maybe, specifically, a sister who V really thinks is awesome and really respects) they could say like “hey you treat the girls you date like fictional characters. They are full people and you need to respect that.” And maybe V would take it to heart, you know? I think sister (instead of brother) because V already has weird masculinity stuff going on. Maybe he’d feel competitive with a brother like for his dad’s love or to be more manly or whatever. But a sister with a strong personality who’s a little more realistic than him (while still valuing openness and loving him) a lot would’ve been good I think. Also seeing women in a more realistic light from when he was young I think would’ve been helpful for him.

I feel like he’s in this weird spot where he doesn’t have someone he’s close to who can really push him and help him see himself and his behaviors differently/accurately without also leading him to think he’s horrible and developing poor self-esteem. For ex, I feel if RM or Suga tried to sort of “lecture” him, he’d feel really stressed and ashamed inside (because he ultimately respects and loves them) and would then blow up to protect himself or would really shut down and get depressed/have a bad self-image for a while.

Whereas I think a sibling can sometimes strike this balance of dragging you and really forcing you to see reality but, because you also know their issues, have a similar family background/were raised similarly, and because there’s this sense of unconditional love you can count on, you sort of cry it out/hash it out/yell it out and grow without hating yourself or severely damaging the relationship (obvs with healthy siblings and I’m saying V would benefit from a healthy sibling dynamic).

Like how he’s just ignoring the members? I feel a sibling (again a close, loving one!) would be like bothering V until he engaged, you know? Leaving messages like “what the eff is wrong with you?! Answer my calls,” “what are you dead? Pick up,” “hiding with your head in the sand are you?!” You know like pushing his buttons but with the intention of showing him there’s someone out there that’s not like “giving up on him.” Or the sibling could be someone that just drops by unannounced, nagging V bit, and like pushing him to engage a bit. I just don’t think he could hide from a sibling the way he does the members. And I think his false persona would be immediately seen and called out by a sibling, especially when he used the persona as a defense mechanism. V hiding instead of dealing with things is one of his big issues and maybe a sibling would help with that a bit.

For ex, after his cheating JK could’ve “hid” like V and just dropped off. He could’ve been so ashamed and embarrassed that he just shut YS and everyone out and disappeared. And he was ashamed and embarrassed and yet he still did his work and he didn’t completely shut everyone out. And when YS gives him the chance to earn her love back, JK is 100% vulnerable (“I totally messed up, I still love you so much, I feel so stupid…” like he let his feelings be known). I think, if I remember correctly, he even admits his wrong to RM or someone? It’s so healthy, you know? I totally fucked up, but I’m going to be vulnerable and honest, and I’m going to do better. And that energy encourages both personal growth (because you see and admit your faults) AND love and respect from others (which V wants so much but doesn’t seem to understand how to get it). Like admins always say, V wants love and respect but puts on a fake persona to try and get it versus being vulnerable because he’s so scared of being vulnerable. Maybe a sibling who would sort of “force” vulnerability because they’d be close and could see V clearly would help.

And the sibling could kind of say like “get over yourself; you’re neither the worst or the best” and would pull V of his isolated musings and self-protective mode a bit because loving siblings have a way of doing that. And yeah he has Cass who kinda pushes him/calls him out, but I think he’s the type that needs a more consistent person to do that for him who he also knows loves him unconditionally and thinks highly of him overall. Just my thoughts of course!!

I obvs love JK and YS so much lol 😍. I like that they’re more casual but still have heart to hearts in little ways like when YS wanted to know if JK liked her blonde hair better or when JK kind of felt embarrassed about not getting YS more nuanced, “mature” gifts for Valentine’s and instead getting more like stereotypical sweet things that have a more “teens in love” vibe lol. I do think, if admins ever want to, it’d be interesting to hear him talk to her about his career a bit. Does he like his pop songs? Does he wish he could sing some other things? I know part of his character development is identity formation because he’s so sweet and easygoing that he’s a little more easily influenced by others and not as sure who he is. And of course he’s still on the younger side. Anyway, if it ever fits a YS/JK story, I’d love to hear him open up to her about his thoughts on his solo career/career trajectory! Ok that’s more than enough words, bye lol!