#how it actually both applies and does not apply to twilight

[fuckmeyer]

Wiggins!) the bizarre thing about the vampire men in the cullen family all seem to be at least subconsciously what Smeyer wants Bella to have but can’t seem to get over her initial vision of what she saw in her drafts or whatever. It’s odd that every single one of the Cullen men are like strongly devoted (but mostly devoid of personality because it’s so Bella centric) but when you compare them to Edward they seem interesting in some ways. Like Narratively we’re supposed to have this threat that Edward is constantly holding back from killer her but I don’t feel like we see that. Conversely, Jasper is constantly the one who is suffering about human smells and is the more vampire-like. But he’s also a glorified lap dog. So it’s like ‘oh he’s a monster but he’ll never hurt me” (things Alice has said out loud. Man even psychics slip up. I swear her powers weren’t so accurate until Smeyer needed an excuse for plot reasons)

Emmett feels like when some women say they like waifish guys because they don’t want to seem like they’re vapid for liking “big dudes with muscles” so of course you pair Emmett with the “shallow blonde”

Carlisle, I swear only exists so Edward has someone to model but I would also argue that he’s proto-Edward before whatever reworking she had to do when writing Twilight for a YA audience and brought him back as a different character.

Yeah a rant

hello again bestie Wiglet! (note to self: learn Photoshop so i can shop Jacob's bad wig onto a pic of Piglet)

this is such an interesting take! thanks for sharing. i totally see what you're saying. in all the Cullen men we see both a blend of softness & devotion *and*, interestingly enough, a patchwork of patriarchal ideas of what a man "should" be. & this idea comes to the forefront with the depiction of the love interests

smeyer wants us to see Edward as the chivalric gentlemen from the Days of Yore. we see this in the opening doors, the cutsey little romance taglines ("you are my life now," "look after my heart; i've left it with you," "so the lion fell in love" etc), the knight saving the damsel in distress, the expensive tokens of his affection, etc.

at the same time, in both Edward & Jacob we see the crude traits of the Patriarchy Dreamboat kinda guy. if i had to sum it up, it's like the guy you see in 80s movies. "bad boy." "opposites attract." he's a jerk. he's a hunk. he's domineering. he's allowed to show emotion only & especially if that emotion is anger. he's persistent in his efforts to get the girl, going so far as to kiss her without her consent if it's For a Good Cause (Edward in New Moon post-Volterra, Jacob in Eclipse). he's a cool guy who's In Control 👉😎👉

perhaps that's why the Twilight saga appealed so such a large swath of women & girls. the women, who grew up with the notion that they could have the true love of their dreams so long as they submitted to the patriarchal social contract, saw the contract being fulfilled in Edward. (i.e., "you can be the king if you treat me like a princess.")

on the other hand, the 90s/00s girlies who grew up in the midst of a feminist revolution & who could see the glimmer of a dismantled patriarchy on the horizon were attracted to Edward for the flashes of radical feminist love they saw: the unapologetic expressions of emotion, the honesty of him sharing his vulnerabilities & weaknesses, Bella's ability to override Edward's will when necessary, etc.

sorry, i know this isn't really the crux of the rant you submitted, but it is extremely interesting to see these contradictions playing out in all the male characters of the saga. it's almost like smeyer is having this internal debate with herself without even realizing it...

[ddarker-dreams]

Worthy Motivator.

Blade x Reader.

Warnings: Typical Blade morbidity, Blade's slightly yan because I can never write him as Normal, and not SFW implications. Word count: 1k.

Author notes are at the end of the story!

Washcloth in hand, you wipe away the perspiration clinging to your skin. 

While doing so, you squint, an act your reflection obediently mimics, confirming that yes; this disheveled figure is indeed you. You smooth out your hair, moisturize your face, then apply a light layer of toner. The process is completed in a timely fashion. A few hand motions made midair dim the bathroom’s lights.

Yawning, the door slides open at your behest, retreating into the wall like a turtle does its shell. The room is dome-shaped and customized to your liking. A light birch wood floor, pale pink walls, and windows showcasing scenery of a tulip field stretching on for miles. Windmills dot the distance, turning at their leisure. Gentle orange hues from two rising suns envelop the room in a cozy glow. 

If you hadn’t known any better, you’d believe you were actually on the planet Ethos, not traversing the cold, unforgiving space between galaxies.

While playing with the settings to change the time being depicted to twilight, it finally dawns on you that you’re not alone. 

Blazing eyes freeze you in place and your breath catches in your throat. 

“Blade,” you greet, wincing at how gracelessly the word rolls from your tongue, “I didn’t expect…” 

You cut yourself off, figuring that finishing the sentence will strengthen the bizarre atmosphere. What can be said, anyway? ‘Thanks for that,’ or ‘couldn’t have done it without you,’ maybe? Both options seem equally terrible. To make matters worse, he doesn’t explain why he’s stuck around. He continues to stand beside your nightstand, arms crossed over his chest, his lips drawn in a straight line. 

You’re the only one boasting signs of your previous tryst, the most obvious being your unsteady gait. Hoping to convey some decorum, you clasp your hands behind your back and straighten your posture. Surely, he’ll spill whatever’s on his mind and then make himself scarce. That’s been his modus operandi ever since this undefined relationship stumbled into existence. You tried not to take it personally. You’re both adults, if he doesn’t want to stick around for pillow talk, you won’t fault him for it. 

His eyes sear through your being. 

“You’re going to Illij.” 

You blink, thrown off by the flat delivery and the intentions it conceals. He’s either painfully blunt or cryptic in his word choice. It’d be nice if he could find a middle ground between both extremes, but that’s wishful thinking. 

With unusual impatience, he adds, “Alone.” 

Ah. 

A certain magenta-haired beauty’s previous words resurface in your mind. 

“—Alone? Not taking Bladie along for the ride?” she had tutted. “You’ll hurt his feelings.” 

You thought she was teasing, as she’s wont to do, yet your developing dilemma proves otherwise. That, or you couldn’t bring yourself to acknowledge the truth in her words. 

Whilst shifting your weight from one foot to another, you meekly reply, “Kafka gave me permission.” 

He has the audacity to roll his eyes at you. 

“Permission, huh?” 

The condescension corrodes your former sheepishness. 

Placing a hand on your hips, you reply, “That’s the word I used, yes.” 

Your room pulsates with palpable tension. He stands to his full height — having been seated on your bed’s edge — sauntering over like a cat poised to pounce. You cross your arms over your chest as the distance shrinks. He’s yet to fully dress himself, wearing only his signature gray pants. His bare torso is marred with innumerable scars that vary in length and angle. Every time you both succumb to the heat of passion, his bandages occupy a new spot, depending on the circumstances of his latest battles. Presently, the cloth coils around his midsection and upper left arm. 

He’s close enough now for you to notice the latter unraveling. 

It isn’t anything logical that urges you forward. The sentiment resides deep in the recesses of your psyche, unsuccessfully shoved down by denial and trepidation. This formless substance takes shape as you meet him halfway. Blade towers over you. Given the massive gap in your abilities, you should fear him, but you know your pounding heart isn’t spurred by negative emotion. 

Much to his perplexity, you set aside the nascent quarrel, focusing your attention elsewhere. Nimble fingers resecure the rebellious cloth. 

“You’re terrible at taking care of yourself,” you mutter. “Honestly, what am I s’posed to do with you…?” 

It’s subtle, but this shift in tone relaxes his muscles. That is, until you admit: 

“I don’t like you being my bodyguard.”

Confusion contorts his countenance, then something more raw; something dangerously intimate. 

“I don’t like seeing you get hurt because of me,” you continue, lowering both your voice and head. “It’s… it’s awful and— and then— you don’t even care!” 

Hoping to avoid further humiliation, you stop there, taking deep breaths to prevent tears from flowing. This wasn’t the direction you wanted the evening to take. You wanted to take a bath, dip into a game Silver Wolf wouldn’t stop raving about, and then prepare for your imminent trip. The trip that’d put thousands of lightyears between you and a man whose blood spilled for your sake could rival an ocean. 

“I’ll be fine on my own. I’ve got Silv’s disguise software and she knows how to track me. So — I don’t know — take it easy, or something. You’ve got the month off.” 

His response is immediate. “I can’t.”

“Wh— did you not hear anything I just said?” you sputter. 

“I heard,” he confirms. He raises his hand to the bandage you rewrapped, as if trying to savor your lingering warmth. “When you’re gone, I cannot ‘take it easy.’” 

Blade uses your stupefaction to his advantage. He takes your much smaller hand into his and places it over his heart. It thumps at a slow, steady pace, like it hasn’t been obliterated and formed anew thousands of times. Your fingers twitch. His body, though colder than the average person’s, emits just enough warmth to indicate life. You feel the raised, textured skin that’s present above his every vital organ. It speaks of untold horrors; untold suffering. 

His chest rumbles as he says, “If I’ve no choice but to live… you’d make for a worthwhile reason.” 

You rest your forehead against his chest and squeeze your eyes shut. 

Kafka… are you sure it isn’t my feelings that’re in the most danger? 

A/N: owing to mental illness, aside from nexus, i devised another storyline for (slightly) less unhinged blade, this time with a stellaron hunter reader. while it has the material to make a series, i don't plan on starting up another multi-chaptered work until i make further progress into my current project 😭 still, i'm happy to talk about it if anyone's curious! here are some tidbits that give additional story context for this universe:

reader isn't super thrilled to be a stellaron hunter. a desperate situation ended in them joining the ranks. they're the emanator of the aeon of illumination, whose name i'm still undecided on. essentially, they're a 'consumer of stars,' capable of absorbing + storing well. you guessed it. stars. as you can imagine, this ability can provide immeasurable energy or devastation depending on its usage.

as a consequence, when reader's performing the sealing process, they're extremely vulnerable. it isn't exactly subtle, people tend to notice when their nearby sun is going cyaaaaaa ✌ and try to stop them. that's where bladie comes in. he kills anything and anyone that threatens them.

ethos is a pretty meadow planet that's known for harvesting clean energy (hydro, solar, wind) and using minimum technology. most of its inhabitants go their entire lives without ever seeing a computer. long distance communication is carried out through a dedicated fleet of carrier pigeons.

illij is a laissez-faire paradise. consumerism galore. ads projected in the night sky, ads projected in your dreams in certain low income areas where people can't afford space adblock™. it's a lot but sometimes reader appreciates the distraction.

[corrodedcoffins-blog]

Soft Launch

luke hughes x actress!reader

note: please don't look up the date of kick a ginger day cause it does not line up but please let me have this

y/n_l/n

liked by jackhughes, sabrinacarpenter, and others

tagged: @/sabrinacarpenter, @/naileadevora

y/n_l/n: spot the difference, level impossible

view all comments

july 9

max1989: you even have the twilight filter over both this is level impossible

jenna_: wtf is ethan edwards doing in y/n's comments??

SueMe_13: more importantly why are him and y/n so buddy-buddy

e.edwards.stan: isn't she dating luke?

zebra_zegras_11: WHAT?! 😲

julien.bakers_wife: i ain't never seen two pretty best friends cause i see three

naileadevora: we look so hot 😍😍

y/n liked this comment

edwards.73: what does the redhead have on her face?

y/n_l/n: ..a face mask?

edwards.73: no i know that i was talking about the other redhead

y/n_l/n: your just sour i rejected you cause i have a bf

enchanted.by.y/n: YOU HAVE A WHAT???

edwards.73: idk what you see in that kid

danelle1989: possible her and jack are dating? like are we sure it's luke

steph_43: that's what i'm saying because she's like the same age as jack

all_too.unwell: jack in the likes and ethan in the comments her and luke are not being very subtle

y/n_l/n

liked by miagoth0, lhughes_06, and others

y/n_l/n: photo dump.. also taking new friend applications because all my 'friends'' kicked me today #keepinggingerssafe

view all comments

september 6

pheobe.86: he got her flowers 💕

emma.loves.y/n: the bar is on the floor

drysdalelove_: i still think she's dating jack 🤷‍♀️

conner_mcdavid_fan: can't believe luke picked out those gorgeous flowers

matilda_styles: someone cooked there

_inlovewith.caufield: someone = y/n

alex.turtle: looking like a date..

tswift_1213: your kinda right

marauders.fans: it could just be a friend like Sabrina or Billie or Dove

brina.and.y/n_fan: she would have tagged them if it was a friend

snow.lands.on.top_ofME: how do i apply?

billiebosanova: don't know who would want to date her

your-so-gorgeous: those flowers are y/n if she were flowers

jackhughes: i wonder who bought those flowers..👀

burrows_darling: he love causing a little chaos

bedard_lover: proof she's dating jack not luke!

hannah.montana_stan: quick y/n look out! there's a man in that car!

cold_as_youuu: chaotic y/n photo dumps are my favourite!

lacy_: luke liked!!

im_a_mirrorball: who?

lacy_: 💀

y/n_l/n

liked by _quinnhughes, taylorswift, and others

y/n_l/n: when i get my paris by taylor swift moment>>>

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september 25

the.c0ck.22: more flowers, where do i find a man like this

loving_lhughes: that is just so obviously jack to me

nico.13.wife: its okay to be wrong 😊

laurieandamy: that cuddle position>>

kaylor.ships.13: she's so overhyped

y/n.dani_: his hands holding her thighs like that 🥵

gerwig_film_fan: that dress is so pretty

y/n_l/n

liked by lhughes_06, dylanduke25, and others

tagged: lhughes_06

y/n_l/n: the rumours are terrible and cruel, but honey must of them are true... so this is my man, ya'll been wondering thought i should show him off and show off how much i love him

also have to address this. am i okay?? i went to a football game and a hockey game this week, someone please check on me.

view all comments

october 7

y/n.alltoowell: girl you don't have to hide his face you tagged him

carmen_lana: y/n is getting too unhinged with that last pic

trevorzegras: still don't know how you pulled this off lukey

jackhughes: it is a fucking mystery

y/n_l/n: have you seen him?

jackhughes: thats gross

hughes_love: she's so absolutely real for that

inlovewith.hughesbrothers: luke keep it pg!

loverofdogs: no clue what luke sees in her, he could do so much better

trevorzegras: could you introduce me to taylor now?

colecaufield: me too!!

_quinnhughes: so happy for you and lukey i mean he's been in love with you since he was 15

lhughes_06: dude shut up

y/n_l/n: thank you for being the only one to actually say their happy for us!!

jackhughes: you know im happy for you both i just still can't believe it

wes.and.libby: they are so hot in the last pic 😍

jackhughes: lukey! watch those hands

edwards.73: still don't know what you see in this kid

dylanduke25: it's insane he pulled her

y/n_l/n: let me say this again have you seen him?

lhughes_06: thanks gorgeous

jackhughes: 🤮

potter.wife: i don't know who i want to be more

nai_my_girl: no i know i want to be luke

wonderland_stan: his hand placement 🥵 everyday i fall more in love with this man

lhughes_06: you're so gorgeous

y/n_l/n: you're perfect 😭

never.a.god: y/n and taylor in their wag era

ethan.e.wife: luke hughes, king of manifestation

lhughes_06: i love you too

y/n_l/n: i love you more

lhughes_06: i love you most

y/n_l/n: 💗💗💗

[teddywesworl]

different anon but re: sex scenes ask, i’m curious to see how you lay out things to outline for continuity of characterization, and what the drive and stakes are in a scene to avoid the sexual archetypes. would you mind sharing what that process looks like for you? really admire your technical breakdowns of writing (yes even and especially when they end up being ‘controversial’)

ok so. I had to take this ask to a word doc to get all my thoughts in order, so that’s your fair warning about how involved my answer is going to be.

First off, I gotta say I always think it’s funny and strange which “takes” of mine get people in a twist, because it’s very frequently the really basic foundational stuff that you would be taught in the first week or two of any introductory fiction writing class. One time, multiple people blocked me on twitter for saying that every paragraph should serve the whole and that readers will get bored if you go on tangents that have nothing to do with the core drive of the story. There was a qrt with the ‘no fun allowed’ robot. I was basically explaining what “kill your darlings” actually means, but even that was too much.

That said, I think the key to continuity of character in sex scenes is very simple: treat sex as any other action, and treat sex scenes like any other scene.

Naturally, that’s easier said than done, because it contains within itself a pair of mandates:

Get your character fundamentals down before attempting to apply them to sex, and

Deconstruct your own relationship with DHSM archetypes.

Yes, sorry, the almost three hour long Contrapoints Twilight video really is the best framework I’ve ever encountered for breaking down cultural norms concerning sex in fiction (and irl tbh), and I think it’s required viewing for anyone who really wants to deliberately subvert those norms.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Step one: character fundamentals.

In the simplest possible terms, good smut is character work. You’re taking blorbo and putting them in a situation. Often, this is a deeply vulnerable situation wrapped up in a lot of emotions. What kind of emotions are they feeling? Do they feel vulnerable? How do they respond to that vulnerability? Are the blorbos boning out of love? Affection? Frustration? Fear of loss? Is it a hatefuck? Multiple of the above? That’s layer one.

Next layer down: are both (or however many) parties here for the same reason, or are their motivations and experiences different? Everyone in a story has their own drives which may be in conflict with one another or, at the very least, play off of one another in interesting ways; the same principle should apply to sex scenes.

Example.

This is from chapter 2 of baseless fabric:

Rook’s fingers bury themselves in Lucanis’s hair, her nails scraping his scalp. “I’ll show you,” she says, and then—oh, yes—tongues and teeth and spit! Rook’s arms around Lucanis’s neck. Arching backs and sweet sighs and a pleasure that fogs Lucanis’s mind. Rook pulls at Lucanis, and Lucanis tries to keep his hips away. He is embarrassed at how quickly he has grown hard; he is alarmed that he could be so forward, so presumptuous as to expose himself in this way and to seek this kind of pleasure in her. Why? asks Spite. It is for her. She came to you for this. Lucanis struggles against this reasoning, though he knows that Spite is correct. That strange despair deep within grows fat on this knowledge. He is still afraid, and it was such long and difficult work to accept that he would never be desired in this way by a person he desired in turn.

Three parties are involved in this scene: Spite, Lucanis, and Rook.

Spite has no sexual attraction or sex drive per se, because he is a non-corporeal entity to whom those concepts are kind of alien, but he enjoys physical pleasure and has an emotional attachment to both Lucanis and Rook, so there’s no reason to believe he wouldn’t enjoy sex. He experiences everything Lucanis’s body does, and he has a front row seat to the inner workings of Lucanis’s fucked up little brain. In the video game as written, one could argue that Spite’s core drive is essentially to help Lucanis first survive and then recover from extraordinary trauma (out of. Spite. literally). He picks apart Lucanis’s fear and self-hatred and exposes all of it to Rook, in full confidence that Rook can fix it.

Lucanis, meanwhile, is a big ol’ demi virgin who (I was just talking w @ofcrowsanddragons about this last night) has come to view his own basic human needs as monstrous. It’s dangerous for him to need anything. Even sleep! He’s had both physical and emotional vulnerability drilled out of him from a very young age! He can’t let anyone know he needs! What if his needs are exploited? What if someone notices he needs something and takes advantage? For Lucanis, I imagine that allowing himself to be vulnerable in a safe, controlled way that feels good, with someone he trusts entirely, would be… woof. Very intense.

Rook is the wild card in terms of fanfic and character study, because, as a customizable PC, she could be anything. And she might be physically undescribed in my fics, but the character choices I’ve made aren’t by mistake; I’m writing about The Lucanis Romance, after all, and that provides opportunities for Rook to play both partner and foil. And so: my Rook is sexually experienced, shameless, and a bit vulgar, and she grew up poor. She’s Lucanis’s opposite in a lot of ways, and she serves to highlight his hangups by contrast. He talks down at himself for “seeking pleasure in her,” while her desire for him is uncomplicated. She wants this guy. She cares for him. It feels good when he touches her. On its own, maybe that’s not super interesting fodder for fiction, but she and Spite force Lucanis to reckon with his irrational self-talk and maladaptive coping mechanisms. She can get away with being a bit two-dimensional, because her main function in the story is to challenge his perspective.

The climax (lol) of the fic is arguably the following line in chapter 3: “The despair of fulfillment, the anguish of joy—he thinks he is not made for such things, and so he fights them, even desperate as he is to submit.” Everything in this first encounter between Lucanis and Rook builds toward that final evolution of the idea that Lucanis fears his own emotional needs and resists their fulfillment.

Et voila: Lucanis’s character is examined and has the opportunity to develop through sex!

Still, I admit, all of this is easier said than done. Character study of any kind takes practice to get a feel for, and writing effective character-driven sex requires that you be aware of your own relationship with culturally imposed norms.

Step two: becoming an archetype understander

Watch the Contrapoints video if you haven’t. Yes, in full. I promise it’s worth it. But if you want to save it for later and keep reading this post now, DHSM stands for Default Heterosexual Sado-Masochism, and it’s an extremely useful framework for understanding how patriarchal romantic and sexual roles are organized.

Natalie Wynn defines DHSM as “a division of sexuality into bipolar roles,” as follows:

She goes on: “In reality, none of these roles are interchangeable or even necessarily correlated. Being masculine does not imply being a top, and neither imply being dominant. […] But in DHSM, these roles are assumed to be bundled together and assumed to belong to the sexuality of men.”

I contend that when we are reading E-rated fanfiction and we cross that jarring threshold from in-character plot to out-of-character smut, we have most often just encountered the author deferring to cultural sex scene-writing norms prescribed by DHSM. And, importantly, the sex scene doesn’t have to be heterosexual for DHSM to be in the room!

One of the most important things you can do as you’re writing sex is to ensure that you are aware of the cultural pressure to conform to this false dichotomy.  Notice I didn’t even say ‘don’t conform;’ there are certainly ways to examine & play with DHSM while nominally conforming to it. However, DHSM is omnipresent as a basic assumption in mainstream romance and romantic subplot, and you may be surprised at the extent to which the average person automatically reaches for it while writing. In fact, once you start seeing it, you may not be able to stop.

One of the things I really like about Lucanis as a character is his relationship to DHSM. He’s an assassin, arguably a professional predator. He is extremely rich, and he ends the story with a nation-shaping amount of political power. He is also, quite literally, possessed. His whole personal arc is about his fraught relationship with agency. His romance arc requires that you, the player, pursue him to a much more dramatic degree than any of the other companions, just to get to the point of acknowledged flirtation. He breaks the assumed role. He looks like the Latin Lover trope sprouted wings; but that’s not him.

This is, frankly, why a large proportion of the Rookanis ao3 tag bums me out: there’s so much fic in there that pulls back toward that assumption of bipolarity, flattening him as a result. Lucanis as an aggressive or dominant lover does nothing for me, because I feel that it misunderstands his approach to intimacy.

Now what?

I’ve just said an embarrassing number of words about writing pornography. But how does one synthesize all this stuff?

Here’s an exercise I recommend:

Pick a pairing of your choice and consider each character’s relationship with the DHSM dichotomy. Deliberately run down those columns above and decide which character more closely matches each descriptor in each pair, individually—if they match either, which they may not! Examine the ways in which that pairing might break bipolarity.

Then, try to come up with a sexual scenario that demonstrates that break in DHSM. This is a valuable exercise because it attacks both points simultaneously: it forces you to think of your character fundamentals, and it directly challenges the archetypes.

To use the same baseless fabric example, Rook is clearly the pursuer, but she’s got an exhibitionist streak, and she very much desires penetration:

She leans back, rests her weight on her hands, and deliberately opens the vee of her thighs. Her chemise drapes across them, and it hides very little. There is a shadow beneath, intensified by the flicker of the hearth, and Lucanis’s eye is drawn inexorably down—

Later in the same scene, Spite's POV refers to the act of penetrating Rook as surrender:

The body knows what to do. The instinct for it is ancient and innate, and the rhythm is made at the conjunction of Lucanis’s flesh and heart and mind. It is surrender, a hopeless exposure of underbelly and throat, and it feels good. Lucanis plants one hand on the table and rolls his hips.

Lucanis also acknowledges, multiple times, that he had his own preconceived notions about how sex is supposed to go, which Rook has challenged. For example:

Rook hums and smiles and closes the narrow gap between them. What begins as a simple press of lips develops into the luxuriant slide of tongues, Lucanis pushing the hem of her chemise up so he can bury his hand between her thighs. Rook hooks a knee over Lucanis’s hip and tugs him in until he acquiesces and thrusts into her. It is all slow and lazy. Soft. It feels the way Lucanis always thought it should, except in the ways he couldn’t have foreseen. His body aches from the violence of the previous day, and Rook’s must, as well; the pleasure cuts through the pain, colors it, transforms it into something almost sweet. Rook’s arms coil around him, and she makes the most beautiful little sounds.

(Uh oh, buddy! That's a little masochistic of you!)

If you are working deliberately to improve your character-driven sex scenes, I strongly recommend starting with short (up to like 3k words) ficlets as practice. Pick a trope or two to toss in for extra “put the blorbos in situations” sauce. Forced proximity! Drunken confessions! Hurt/comfort! Fuck or die! Etc. All great fun. Alternately, sometimes you will simply be possessed by the knowledge that certain characters will have certain kinks. Like Lucanis and somnophilia (you get it, right? I don’t even have to explain why. Isn’t that neat?).

As a side benefit, doing this exercise thoughtfully will make you better at character writing more generally. No, really. Spending this time analyzing characters’ relationships to intimacy will help you understand what makes them tick in so many other ways.

Let me sum up.

So, in summary: good smut is character work, and you need your character fundamentals first. However, cultural norms impose the division of sexuality into bipolar roles. Breaking that bipolarity subverts a subconscious expectation, adds tension and interest, and forces both writer and reader to really think about the characters in front of them.

Does that……. Does that answer your question about process?? I swear I didn’t start with the intent to write two thousand earth words about this. And also, I don’t typically sit down and think to myself “how will I break DHSM today?” I have enough practice at this point (and a deep enough obsession with the function of social power) that my disdain for DHSM automatically inserts itself into basically everything I write. I do think these two pieces (1. character first and 2. fuck DHSM) make up the foundation of how I approach smut, though, so hopefully this has been a useful response!!

[beannoss]

Off the back of this great post by @hermy-97 about Endo's choice in Twilight's alias last names and specifically the comedy therein, I had MANY THOUGHTS! But in a DIFFERENT DIRECTION! I didn't want to hijack the original post though, so am jumping off separately. (Manga spoilers discussed herein)

Following in OP's footsteps and borrowing here from Google's definition, here's what Google says for 'forge':

1. make or shape (a metal object) by heating it in a fire or furnace and beating or hammering it. (eg: "he forged a great suit of black armor") 2. create (a relationship or new conditions). (eg: "the two women forged a close bond") 3. produce a copy or imitation of (a document, signature, banknote, or work or art) for the purpose of deception. (eg: "the signature on the check was forged")

As OP covered off meaning three, I wanted to look more at meanings one and two!

I’d personally argue number one also applies if taken as metaphor.

1. make or shape (a metal object) by heating it in a fire or furnace and beating or hammering it.

I think it works broadly for how trauma can sometimes feel (for better and, more often, for worse), but more specifically in the context of Twilight & SxF, I think about how 'forged' is often used as a metaphor for people's experiences of war, speaking to how those experiences shape them (particularly: 'forged in the crucible of war'). Indeed, ash is a frequent motif throughout Twilight's backstory chapters:

Personally I'd say its reasonable to extend the metaphor back further into Twilight's adolescence and childhood, given how (understandably) angry, hurt and grief-stricken it left him, leading him into the military (undoubtedly though he also, ironically, joined the army as a means of survival: food, shelter, a desperation to do something and have some form of regularity even if it was within the context of the military and a war campaign, etc). Of course this could also apply to many other adults in the series, and their experiences of the two wars.

I’d say definition two applies as well; OP noted Twilight's honeypot missions in this instance, and I think it carries further, outside of either honeypot or other missions.

2. create (a relationship or new conditions).

It can be taken as a whole within the Forger household, after all Twilight did create the Forgers. But more importantly to me, this meaning applies particularly by way of what Anya and Yor are doing within the family, their choices and aims, and how they’re influencing and shaping the Forgers. And then, of course, Twilight’s choices in return, both under the explicit guise of for the mission and those times when the mission is curiously (ahem) absent from or delayed in his thought process. They three are forging something real, regardless of what the family began as, and regardless of how they may be looking at it presently.

I'd tend to say that, of our three, Anya is doing this most intentionally: I know Twilight does a lot as Loid, and I think the tone he set for the family actually does impact this collective act of creation fairly substantially. However, he still tells himself the family is temporary: maybe it's nice while it lasts but it will end and that's that. Whereas Anya is, insofar as she can conceive of it as a five year old, very deliberately trying to create bonds and smooth possible fissures, with an explicit view of everlasting. Which makes sense, since she's the only family member who knows the full circumstances, even if she doesn't and can't (and shouldn't) understand how complex it all is.

Yor, of course, also does a lot but again, I don't think she sees it as a specific project; in part because our favourite assassin isn't known for her forward planning, and also because it's simply how she moves through the world. And that's speaking: that Yor's impulses, instincts and choices build into forever-types of foundations, without her necessarily thinking of them that way. There are many tragedies within SxF but the one I think of with Yor particularly is that she is such a community person and particularly a community builder, but due to her traumas and circumstances, she hadn't had the opportunity to live that part of herself. It's one of my favourite things, watching her come into her own and live out her values and priorities inside and outside the home. /side track. All of which to say, she is, definitionally, a forger. As here, where she creates bonds with not only her colleagues but demonstrates connecting threads across generations and individual experiences.

The definition around creating something also applies to Twilight’s mission in Strix — preventing war actually also necessitates the forging of bonds. It’s unclear how things will shake out with, for instance, Yuri, but Twilight-as-Loid-Forger is already a positive presence in several circles (his hospital job for instance) and Yor’s presence is also increasingly positive (at work and it seems possibly/probably with Melinda) and Anya’s also making positive waves in her circles (with Becky, and while I think Damian's trajectory is a bit less linear, I know others argue that she's positively influencing him as well).

(If I wanted to go deeper, I'd also borrow a Watsonian perspective and chat a bit about what it says about Twilight to choose the name Forger, given his clear wants for family and his equal surety he can't ever have one, even from the first few pages of the manga... Perhaps in another meta.)

I think it's also worth noting that although Endo goes to this particular joke well a few times, Forger stands distinct. Neither 'Phony' (def: not genuine, fraudulent) nor 'Spoof(y)' (def: imitate for comedic effect; hoax or trick someone) have any sort of additional meaning along the lines of actual creation. And of course, in the case of Spoofy, Twilight is tricking the military; and with Fiona, bless her, any sort of romantic relationship with Twilight would only ever be fraudulent.

I wanted to round things out with one more definition, this time taken from duckduckgo's:

"To advance gradually but steadily."

If that isn't the tune of the Forger family and Spy x Family generally, I don't know what is.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hey! I was wondering. Does it still counts as plagiarism if one of your ideas gets tweaked, but the premise and even the character's motivation and personality remains the same in the story, although is with another name? (Not even the name if honest.)

How could I protect my work from this? More important, is there any way or it is possible to protect ideas? Or the protection only applies for the work itself?

Thanks in advance!

Tweaked Ideas and Plagiarism

Premises and ideas can't be protected. It's how the premise and ideas are executed that matters. One of my favorite examples of this is The Vampire Diaries vs Twilight. Premise-wise, they're almost identical...

🗸 17-year old "non-magical" girl protagonist 🗸 (she's actually secretly magical... sort of...) 🗸 Protagonist has parental issues 🗸 Mystical small town setting 🗸 Protagonist unaware of town's supernatural undercurrent 🗸 Protagonist meets hot "born-in-a-prior-century" vampire at school 🗸 His senses allow him to identify her among all other students 🗸 They fall in love 🗸 She gets sucked into supernatural shenanigans 🗸 She finds out she has friends who are secretly supernatural 🗸 Dangerous ancient council creates more shenanigans 🗸 Eventually she becomes a vampire

It looks bad on paper, but it's the myriad differences that make these stories completely unique. First, Bella is the polar opposite of Elena in terms of personality and situation. Bella's parents are alive but immature, Elena's parents died in a tragic accident. Bella moved to Forks to live with her father, Elena grew up in Mystic Falls. Edward was born in 1901, Stefan was born in 1846 (TV, 1490 books.) Edward has a big adoptive family. Stefan has his brother. Edward can't read Bella's mind, Stefan can read Elena's mind. Bella's supernatural friends are wolf shifters who are part of the local Indigenous tribe; Elena's supernatural friends include a werewolf, witch, and a vampire hunter. Bella can shield her mind from mind readers, Elena is a doppelgänger. Bella and friends fight an ancient council of vampires who micromanage the vampire world, Elena and friends fight a town council made up of anti-vampire humans.

The point is, the actual stories are very, very different despite the similarities in premise.

Now, I will say that if the premise is genuinely the same, and the character has the same appearance, personality, and even a similar name, that's a bit concerning. If you take a brutally honest look at the two works and find more similarities than differences, it's possible this person did over borrow. The problem is there may not be much you can do about it, but it depends on the situation. If you're both published but you published first, it's something you can take up with your agent or publisher, or if you don't have one, you can contact a copyright lawyer to explore your options. It's costly, however. If you can't afford this option, you can contact them and ask them to take it down, but they're not obligated to. Outside of that, there isn't much you can do.

There honestly isn't much you can do to protect yourself from plagiarism. It's part of the risk we take in putting our work out there. Again, if you're agented, have a publisher, or can hire a copyright attorney, you may find you have some legal recourse, especially if the plagiarism is glaring and they're making money off what they stole. Otherwise, you just have to grin and bear it. But the truth is, given the wealth of stories being published every day, plagiarism isn't that common of an occurrence. (Although, it's increasing now somewhat with the advent of AI...)

And I'll tell you, the harsh reality is you may feel like a work is so similar to yours it must be an intentional rip-off, but our brains have a way of making mountains out of molehills when it comes to spotting similarities. Nine out of ten times it's just not as similar as you think it is.

Other relevant posts:

Similarities vs Plagiarism Plagiarism vs Reference vs Inspiration Beta Reader Sees Similarity with Existing Character Does My Book/Story Already Exist Taking Inspiration from Another Story’s Premise Afraid of Ideas Being Stolen or Copied Once Shared Afraid of Plagiarism Accusation

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[rist-ix]

Gosh, I'm so sorry, I hate to be annoying and nit-picky and coming out as a Twihard, but Edward actually does not mature or change over the years as a vampire. Canonically, Twilight vampire are incapable of maturing or developing in any sort of way past the point they were turned. Nothing about them can change or grow or develop. They stay frozen physically and at the mental age that they were when they were changed. They're meant to be "frozen" in almost every sense of the word. That's why Twilight vampire children are illegal, cuz they will never "grow" or gain the maturity necessary to keep vampirism a secret and to not be a menace, lol. So, in canon, Edward is still 17 not only physically, but emotionally and mentally too - a 17 year old from the 1900s, but a 17 year old nonetheless.

But all that aside, maybe it's just me, but personally I do not care about these types of age gaps in immortal ships. The dynamics are often all about power imbalances and exploring that, it's sort of the whole point. It's what makes them interesting. Bloom may not be 16 when she meets Valtor, but he still holds a considerable amount of power over her (both magic-wise and experience wise), and that's the whole point. The push and pull of that, and how that could push Bloom to grow. And how interestingly you can explore that dynamic for both characters. That, to me, is what matters the most in ships involving immortal beings.

And the same even applies to Edward and Bella. Edward may still be a 17 year old mentally and emotionally speaking, but he's also like... not human. And he's a murderer! Try as he, and the rest of the Cullens, might to cling to their humanity, they're not human and that informs every single thing about them. And Twilight vampires are like ridiculously strong and powerful, so Edward brings all of that into his dynamic with Bella (plus the fact that he really wants to kill her and is trying hard not to). And that's the whole point, that's what's interesting and compelling. So shying away from those messed-up elements is just pointless to me. Like the age gap at the point is the least messed up thing in those dynamics lmao. And all those things are features of the monster/villain boyfriend trope, not bugs.

I am so sorry, this has been rotting in the back of my askbox for so long and I have no idea what the context for this ask was, but u go buddy! Give us that twilight trivia! Give us the deep age lore! Give us the controversy!

[haljathefangirlcat]

Help. I think I'm actually hooked on the 2024 Fallen series. Yeah, Fallen like the paranormal romance YA Lauren Kate novel that I never read because every plot summary made it sound like simply another Twilight rip-off thing with a brooding male lead who just had to treat the Too Stupid To Live female lead like shit from the get-go "for her own good" or whatever. Also Fallen like the movie adaptation I'm like 98% sure I did watch at least once when it aired on tv and I said "eh, let's give it a try" but I remember absolutely nothing of except it being bland and boring and maaaybe also the opening scene.

I said "eh, let's give it a try" again with the series because my mom was like "oh, I heard this is good." And... it actually is good?? Not "masterpiece" or "pretty much flawless" good, or even "I'll probably still be obsessing over this in a few years" good, maybe, but "this feels pretty well-paced and I'm having fun and feeling emotions (and even feels), I'm actually curious about the solution to the mystery (even if I already know what I assume will be the main part of it) and care about the main cast of characters and want to find out more about the more minor ones, and... well, I just want to keep watching this to the end" good. "Do I have the wrong Fallen entirely in mind or was I just being a dick way back when" good.

I'm also glad to report that, four episodes in, the male lead is not a brooding asshole, the heroine does some very, very risky stuff but actually plans it through with her friends and allies instead of going off alone for no good reason except artificially amp up the drama, and I quite like them both. I don't particularly ship them (yet?), but their romance isn't some kind of grating insta-melodrama that just keeps building up and up to obscure anything interesting in the show, either. They're kind of cute, actually. I could do without the hints of a love triangle already sprinkled here and there, but the same "well, at least it's not being focused on ad nauseam" applies. And it's compensated by the fact I mostly like the other guy (in a kind of light "wanna put him in a petri dish and study him" way, at that) and also the male lead gets to have platonic female friends he cares about without the female lead needing to have a conniption over it. Plus, the way the characters go about expressing attraction feels a lot more understated than I would have expected. Which may be a weird thing to like in a romance series, but it just fits?? Between the horrors and all the deaths and gaslighting and "fuck it, we need a way to break out/find the truth"??

I have no idea how much was really changed from the book, or how. I do know that at certain points I happened to think "oh, god, here's Quirky Best Friend/Quirky Anxious Loser Best Friend/Unreasonably Petty Bitch 1/Unreasonably Petty Bitch 2 to really bring in that 2k YA Spirit. Can't avoid the high school dynamics even in a mental-institution/rehab-centre-as-a-front-for-some-kind-of-creepy-sect setting, I guess"... and now I really need all those girls to make it out okay, please.

Hell, I'm even interested in the creepy sect people. And not just in a "the heroes suck so bad that I'll get what I can from the villains" sense. I genuinely like that they disagree on how to run and protect their little cult and they seem to have their own motivations and inner struggles, and that the implication that they may be doing it all for A Higher Purpose doesn't make any of it seem any less fucked up and terrible and hurtful.

I'm not sure I'd wholeheartedly rec this show without a "yeah, the setting is literally a mental-institution/rehab-centre-as-a-front-for-some-kind-of-creepy-sect, and it goes into some really dark places in that context" caveat, as well as another one about how I'm not qualified to talk about how realistic or tactful its portrayals of mental illness, self-harm, anger management issues, emotional and mental abuse, etc. may be. I can say there's a sexually abusive relationship in it that I found depressingly believable in its build-up, with the actual sexual abuse itself kept mercifully off-screen. Aside from all this, there's a non-white character who tends to act as a bit of a handyman/Guy Who Finds Useful Stuff for the white leads' plans? But I feel he has potential to be more than that and I hope he gets some more depth or development.

All in all? I've seen Tumblr go crazy over things I found way worse in quality. And I might have a couple of femslash ships for it already. So, I'm hoping for both a second season and at least a bit of a fandom, lol.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What if canon twilight proceeded as normal, except at some point through Bella's haze of low self-esteem and depression, Edward said something Edward-y about Rosalie (for example) and bella kinda goes "er, what". Instead of talking to him about it, she talks to one of her school friends about it within ear shot of the Cullens. I assume Edward would do his best Edward-y job of explaining it away, but would anything come of it?

Caveat

I mean, Edward says Edward-y things, especially about Rosalie, all the time. The ones about Rosalie are the ones that raise the least red flags for Bella as she views Rosalie as a potential threat who she doesn't want Edward attracted to at all. Bella's just glad he's not into Rosalie instead of her.

Bella's "er what?" moments are few and far between but canonically they've usually centered around Jacob and Edward's mutual animosity and Edward's refusal to let her anywhere near Jacob. Sadly, her most beautiful one is a cut scene in which Edward tried to subtly grant her a scholarship she never applied for so she could attend Dartmouth and she went "Edward, is this fucking you?" and Edward trying to convince her that it's not, in fact, him when it is clearly him and gets upset when Bella refuses to believe he had nothing to do with it. The other one is when Edward throws a fit in Breaking Dawn and finally gets Bella an uber expensive car to replace the Truck, Bella is mortified and has to drive super car and is very very embarrassed about it.

But basically, point being, even when Bella has had her "huh???" moments or when she really isn't on board with a thing, she usually finds herself either doing it any way or engaging in an extreme battle of wills with Edward in which both of them wait to see who can out-stubborn the other.

As for Bella's other friends... HA... I think you forget Bella doesn't have friends. Bella has the trappings of friends, mainly in Angela, but Bella prefers Angela because Angela doesn't stick her nose into things or ask questions or even care all that much from what we saw in Edward's head. Jessica, who does seem to care quite a bit, never had the same relationship with Bella after New Moon and even before then Bella had never liked her all that much. We never see Bella ever approach them about anything, not ever personal problems, just anything (Bella's big moment is asking to work on graduation things with Angela and asking Jessica and the gang to the movies to get Charlie off her back in New Moon). And talking about Edward? Forget about it. Bella barely wanted to talk about Edward with Jessica when it was good news and she was very flattered about Edward's attention and actually mildly interested in telling Jessica how amazing it was.

Even Jacob, Bella never wants to talk about Edward with him, in part because Jacob despises Edward and makes that quite clear and views himself as a romantic rival and makes that quite clear, but also because Bella just doesn't want to talk about Edward with him. Bella doesn't want to talk about Edward or things Edward says or does with anybody, that's for Bella and not something she has any interest in discussing with anyone else.

This isn't to knock on Bella, it's just a part of her personality, and I think a part of having grown up with Renee who from the little we see of her makes it very clear that she doesn't want to hear about Bella. (Note how little we see of her throughout the series and how little she questions even when she is questioning things such as why Bella moved, why she's getting married right out of high school, or anything). Bella's grown up in an environment where it's all about Renee and no one wants to hear what the fuck Bella is doing or thinking, which means she's not going to be the type to share her business with anyone at all.

Basically, you're asking Bella to be an entirely different person.

Bella Becomes an Entirely Different Person for Two Seconds

Alright, Bella tells Angela that Edward says some mean things about Rosalie because an SI has infected her brain. The other Cullens wouldn't snitch, I don't think, as nothing good would come of it. It doesn't even matter, it's high school gossip, and Rosalie knows full well Edward says shit about her all the time (to his credit or lack thereof, he's not even talking behind her back, he does it to her face)

If Edward's there, I imagine he pulls Bella aside to assure her he and Rosalie just have a difficult sibling relationship but that they fight sometimes and do care about each other. Bella, being an only child, hasn't really seen or experienced much of this personally and doesn't get how annoying even beloved siblings can be.

Bella returns to being Bella and has 0 problems with Edward.

[cto10121]

How Romance in Fiction Works

For this Valentine’s Day I dedicate this to all the “Romeo and Juliet/Twilight/[insert X] isn’t a romance!!1!1” clownery out there, because now I have to contend with the depressing fact that people—and not just illiterate randos, actual bookish people perhaps too used to the Hero’s Journey template—have no clue what romance in fiction (as the main plot) works. And no, it has nothing to do with ~fantasy or ~wish fulfillment or ~everyone is nice and in love and nobody’s mean or cheats ever!!!1!1 It has to do with the goals of a romance. I’ll be focusing largely on literature, but technically this can also apply to TV, movies, and other dramatic mediums.

(Disclaimer: I will not be talking about romance as a genre, either the knight/damsel tradition or the HEA conventions of modern American romance fiction. The former has nothing to do with romantic love and the latter has nothing to do with the art of fiction but what sells, so don’t @me. It should also go without saying that I won’t be talking about romance as a subplot to the main plot. You lot already know too much about that already.)

Romance IRL vs. Fiction

So romance in real life can be literally anything and occur anywhere and at any time. No duh. That is true for *waves hand vaguely* everything in reality. Fiction, however, is a different story. It must, in short, make sense. There is plot, character, tone, as well as your literary techniques and devices. Otherwise the romance will not work or be implausible. So far, the same as most any other fiction.

Where romance differs from most fiction, however, lies in its purpose. I like it to call it The Romance Novel Paradox. To whit: Romance in fiction functions on the premise that the couple cannot be together because of X reasons. As soon as the couple resolve all of their issues and be together fully, that’s when the romantic story is over.

Thus, the task of the romance writer is to prevent the couple from getting together before the point where they absolutely need to be. So in a way, writing a romance…is fundamentally writing an anti-romance.

Sounds crazy and weird and hard? It is. That’s exactly why writing romance is so hard in the first place. You have to juggle these two separate and opposite tensions tugging and tearing at the work. You literally have to do two things at the same time along with all the other things required of writing a romance.

The Goals

So with all this in mind, the goals of the romance is as follows:

That the couple meet and fall in love

That the couple enjoy and even consummate their love

That the couple overcome any obstacles that threaten their relationship

That the couple be successful in being true to their love and the first 3 goals.

The Plot(s)

Romances actually have two kinds of plot. I’ll just call them the Courtship Plot and the Love Story Plot respectfully.

The Courtship Plot essentially deals with the inner conflicts/obstacles that prevent the couple from being in love or falling for each other. This could be as short as a scene or two or as long as a whole book/movie/TV show, depending on the medium and intentions.

Beginning/Set Up: Establishes both the world, its stakes, and/or the romantic couple. Oftentimes, though, a romance does start with a different character(s) entirely who talk about the couple before they appear.

Inciting Incident: This is when the couple first meet. This could range anywhere from love at first sight (instalove) to absolute abhorrence (rivals/enemies to lovers).

Courtship/Investigation: Even if the couple does do instalove, they must first get an understanding of each other’s intentions, the depth of love/attraction, personality, etc. This time also includes Proofs of Love, in which the lovers each provide proof of their love for each other through words, acts of service, etc.

Internal Conflicts/Obstacles: These relate to the couple’s inner conflicts/hangups that prevent them from entering a relationship and what they must do to overcome those. In this type of plot they will mostly be internal but there can be some external obstacles as well.

Separation of the Lovers: Most often because of misunderstandings/internal hangups, but it can also be because of actual external shit beyond their control.

Resolution: These inner conflicts are resolved and the couple can get together properly. Traditionally this is shown through marriage (Cheers, bells, and Hymen the God of Marriage arrives to officiate your wedding. Congrats!). Or simply living together/dating.

This is more or less the plot of a romantic comedy, but this can be the plot of romantic drama as well, especially if those internal conflicts are truly heavy. There may also be some external conflict happening, but it’s usually not as significant as the internal ones.

The Love Plot, or Love Story, is concerned with the the love/relationship of a couple as well. However, it is less focused on the courtship side and more on the external conflicts/obstacles that threaten their love. To whit:

Courtship (Abridged): Some Love Plots may include this, but it is not strictly necessary. If they, it’s mostly in abridged form, quick montage, small flashback, or simply just as Proofs of Love.

Couple Is In Love (Status Quo): Most Love Plots begin with the lovers already together and in love.

External Conflicts/Obstacles: These include anything that prevents the lovers from getting together or keeps them apart. Family doesn’t approve, society doesn’t approve, natural events occur, personal enemies, other love interests, etc. Sometimes the couple has an internal conflict going on, but mostly not for this

Separation of the Lovers: Almost always temporarily and literally, due to above External Conflicts and, on occasion, Internal Conflicts. Very rarely metaphorically.

The Lovers Reunite: Almost always, although some media may skip this part.

Couple Triumphs (Or Not): The couple succeeds in vanquishing all obstacles and they come out stronger than ever, yay! Or they don’t and they die and/or their love dies, oh no! Yes, the latter is definitely an option and actually not an uncommon one with these plots.

The Love Story Plot does have its downside in that it can be harder for the audience to care very much for the couple if they haven’t spent at least some time getting to know them and their love. However, it is preferred traditionally if just because of the dramatic and much-clearer stakes involved. The lovers’ characters are also revealed/developed through adversity, which is always a plus.

So all romances are effectively love stories. However, not all romances are love stories. Most romances tend to have both, mostly in one or two books. In Epic Romance this is stretched to three or four at the most. Beyond four the book/TV show/thing turns from a romance into a full-blown soap opera (coughOutlandercough).

So here are a few examples of romances often classified as such and why they count as romances. I’ll start with two works people most insist are not romances: Romeo and Juliet and Twilight.

Example 1: Romeo and Juliet

Though tons of Internet clowns insist to this day that Romeo and Juliet is not a romance and is a comedy/satire/what have you, it skews closely to the Romance plot as outlined.

Romeo and Juliet:

Courtship Plot: Two families in a patriarchal, violent, and conservative society hate each other (Beginning/Set Up). They meet at a ball and fall in love (Inciting Incident). But of course they are heirs of two feuding families (Obstacle 1). However, Juliet is worried that Romeo is just playing with her (Internal Conflict) while Romeo is worried Juliet might choose to refuse him after all (Internal Conflict). As proof Juliet asks Romeo to arrange for their marriage and Romeo agrees right away (Resolution). Romeo pretends he is over Rosaline with Mercutio and Benvolio and meets with the Nurse to arrange the marriage (Proof of Love). They then get married and renew their commitment to each other (Couple Triumphs).

Love Story: This is the latter half of the play. Tybalt kills Mercutio, so Romeo kills Tybalt and gets banished (Obstacle 2), Juliet forgives him (Proof of Love), they make love (Proof of Love), and say goodbye to each other (Separation of the Lovers). Juliet is then forced to marry Paris by her parents (Obstacle 3) and so with the help of the Friar she fakes her death (Resolution). But Romeo doesn’t get the news in time due to plague (Obstacle 4), and so goes to her tomb and kills himself; Juliet wakes up and does the same (Couple Defeated…Triumphs?).

So obviously Romeo and Juliet is a love story in just plot alone. But is it also a romance? As you can see, they end up dead and do not succeed in having a full relationship.

That said. Romeo and Juliet do succeed in keeping their love for each other true and pure. They do not cheat each other, think about cheating on each other, or decide not to pursue their relationship. And that, I feel, is more important than the fact that they could not be together in life. So yes, I do think theirs is a romance too, and why most people consider it to be one.

Example 2: Twilight

Speaking of another work that gets a lot of hate for no good reason, Twilight! And of course you have the antis insist this isn’t a romance either. Unfortunately for them the plot hews even more closer to the romance plot and even has more of a Courtship Arc. To whit:

Twilight:

Courtship Plot: Bella goes to Forks to please her narcissistic mother and worries about fitting in (Beginning/Set Up). She meets Edward on the first day of her new school (Inciting Incident). Unfortunately Edward wants to eat her (Obstacle 1) and leaves for three days later. They meet again and talk about each other (Courtship). Edward then saves Bella from the van the next day (Obstacle 2). This, however, does not bring them together and they don’t speak for one month until Edward gets jealous of Mike Newton (Obstacle 3). Edward and Bella become tentative friends and Edward takes Bella to the nurse’s office when she gets dizzy smelling blood (Obstacle 4). He insists on driving her home and they talk (Courtship). Bella and Edward spend the weekend apart but still thinking about each other; Bella learns what he is (Courtship). Bella then goes to Port Angeles with friends and Edward rescues her from rapists (Obstacle 4). They then talk (Courtship) and Edward admits he is a vampire. The next day Bella and Edward go public about their situation (Courtship) and they talk at lunch, clarifying their feelings for each other; Edward invites Bella to the meadow on the weekend. Billy Black learns of their relationship and tries to warn Bella (Obstacle 5). Edward and Bella meet in the meadow and confess their love for each other (Courtship). Edward successfully resists his bloodlust all for his love for Bella (Resolution of Obstacle 1).

Love Story: This is basically the latter half of Twilight and the rest of the series. Edward saves Bella from James (Obstacle 1) and the lovers are together again (Lovers Triumph).

New Moon:

Love Story: Bella and Edward are in love (Status Quo), but then Jasper tries to eat her and Edward’s self-loathing and desire for Bella to have a regular human life kicks in (Obstacle 2). Edward lies to Bella and tells her he doesn’t want to be with her and she accepts it (Separation of the Couple). For six months the two are barely functional. Eventually Bella’s need for adrenaline leads her to a friendship with Jacob (Obstacle 3–yes, this counts) and starts to love him despite herself. Laurent arrives and tries to eat Bella (Obstacle 4) and tells her that Victoria is out there trying to hunt her as revenge (Obstacle 5). But then Alice comes and Jacob unintentionally tells Edward that Bella is dead; Edward decides to commit suicide (Obstacle 6). Bella saves Edward from the Volturi (Obstacle 7) and they are reunited (Reunion of the Lovers).

Eclipse:

Love Story: Bella and Edward are in love (Status Quo), but Bella wants to keep her friendship with Jacob (Obstacle 3). Jacob is also opposed to Bella being with Edward for both ethical and personal reasons (Obstacle 3 again). Victoria is still hunting Bella but now she is making a whole new army (Obstacle 5 again). Bella realizes she loves Jacob in a potential-love-interest-way (Obstacle 3) but still chooses Edward (Resolution). The lovers decide to get marries (Couple Triumphs).

Breaking Dawn:

Bella and Edward get married (Status Quo). Bella and Edward make love, leaving Bella happy but bruised, which pains Edward so much he refuses to make love to her again (Obstacle 1). Bella seduces him successfully (Resolution) but then falls pregnant (Obstacle 2). The pregnancy is high risk, causing dissension between the two (Obstacle 3) but Bella convinces Edward to go along with her plan (Resolution). Bella delivers her baby and turns into a vampire (Resolution). She learns the ropes of vampirism (Obstacle 4) and harbors no romantic feelings for Jacob anymore; Jacob imprinted on Renesmee so he has no more love for Bella (Resolution). Irina finds out about Renesmee and think she is an immortal child, and tells the Volturi (Obstacle 5). This leads the Cullens to call their friends and prepare for any eventuality, and Bella learns to use her power (Obstacle 6). The Volturi come and try various excuses to execute the Cullens (Obstacle 7) but they are able to defend themselves aptly. The Volturi leave and Bella and Edward can finally be together with their little family (Couple Triumphs).

As you can see, a lot of Twilight's Obstacles double as Proofs of Love what with Edward and Bella saving each other constantly. That is perfectly acceptable and in fact a very common doubling in romance.

What Is Not A Romance?

Romances do have to have some provisos, a couple of quid pro quos. Again, though, there are some exceptions and writers can and will break the rules successfully.

They must be requited. Unrequited love on either side does not a main romance plot make. Unrequited love is mostly a romance subplot if that or as part of a love triangle.

They cannot be abusive (to each other). The lovers of a romance do not have to be good people at all. In fact, they (yes, it has to be both) can be bad or villainous…to other people. That said, their love must be actually mutual and good for each other, even redemptive. A couple who is bad for the world and each other defeats the point of a romance. Mutual enmity does not count (see: Enemies to Lovers).

Their love must be main plot. If the couple is not the focus of the plot, then it’s not a romance but a romance subplot. Subplots can be as complete or incomplete as they like, developed or underdeveloped, but they are subplots for a reason.

Can a romance focus on a beta couple as well? Generally no. In American romance novels, authors do set up the couple for the next installment, but that is not quite the same as page time and development. Romances focus on one couple at a time—once that couple’s love story is done, writers can move on to another couple’s romance. Stories that have more than one couple tend to be something else entirely.

What about second chance romance? Second chance romance is essentially the same as the Courtship Plot, since the work very rarely talks about the lovers’ relationship before they separated. So in plotwise it’s basically just like meeting each other for the first time.

What about love triangles? Unless Character C is framed as an obstacle in the overarching narrative, then love triangles do not really count; they are more for coming-of-age or slice-of-life fodder. Polyamorous couples, however, should count in theory if their story has the romance plot. But of course, that is the rarest kind of all.

Keep Calm and Love On

There are some unconventional romances out there, for sure. But they are ultimately rare; the standard romance plot should fit most works accepted as such. As always, romantic tropes and dynamics are neither good or bad—they all largely depend on the the execution.

The only plot that may be confusable with the romance is the marriage plot, which is something different. Marriage Plots are essentially comedies of manners and they may or may not include romantic love or attraction as a major plot element. They are less about the couple’s erotic compatibility and more about their social compatibility. Austen’s works come the readiest to mind; a contemporary example would probably be Crazy Rich Asians. Otherwise Marriage Plots have much of the same beats as a romance.

So if you’re not sure if X is a romance, see how it fits within this plot. Nine times out of ten, you should get your answer.

[luimagines]

Honestly, wind being four's decendant lives rent free in my brain. Like how they would figure it out and what their reactions would be.

Like four would only realize it when they're in wind's hourse and sees his c

Shield hanging there. At first he's a bit skeptical and asks for a closer a look, but then he sees his initials carved in it and he knows for sure! He's awkward, but also excited. He didn't think he would have any of the links as his decendant, but here we are. He tries to talk to wind more and be a good role model. Also teach him smithing! Of course when they're a little further in the bond he will tell him about his adventures and the ministry in general.

Meanwhile wind might actually be a little disappointed? He's been idolizing Time for a while now and when he heard that twilight is his decendant he might've secretly hoped to be one too. Instead though, four is his ancestor! He wants to be happy, if only to make four happy, but when everyone's asleep he might cry out of jealousy.

After that though he does push himself to at least get to know four more, because this is such a rare chance to have it would be a waste if he only cried and whined about how he's not related to time.

Eventually he does rather appreciate four and actually bonds with the guy! He shows the things he makes to four and watched while four is smithing and actively learn the craft.

YES!!!!

First of all, I loved this headcanon when I first joined LU. It made me so stupid happy. Toon Links have to stick together and all that jazz. And I love found family just... being family. There's so much potential for so many things!!!

And the thing is- I fully agree with Wind either being in denial or just not accepting it right away. Because he does idolize Time in a way because he's the hero Wind has to both look up to- in his world and in the group.

Where as Four is just.... the dude is shorter than he is. That's some mental gymnastics for any 13- year- old. It's like looks at a kid your age but being told that's your uncle. Those families exist but you cannot tell me that that relationship is going to be the same since they're so close in age. That's going to apply here as well if we're going that route.

And the thing is Four would also want to know so many things about Wind and his family and learn his legacy and how they even came to be- but I don't think Wind is going to b able to answer any of those questions. Which would be a little disappointing, but there's not much Four would be able to do about it.

[connoisseursdecomfort]

Information, Understanding and Empathy: A Character Study on Franky, Yuri and Nightfall (Part 1 maybe)

It’s me overthinking again~

It is probably safe to say that these three are the most obsessive characters in the sxf universe. They are all obsessive with the notion of love in very different ways. Yuri wants to be the most important one in Yor’s life. Nightfall wants to marry Twilight. And Franky wants to get laid find a partner.

In a sense they all “know” a lot about their “targets”. Yuri is Yor’s brother. They grow up together. Nightfall is trained by Twilight and probably knows best about his spy self. Franky is a stalker digs out every single piece of information he could find about his love interest(s). And they are certainly good at digging out information - Franky is an informant, Yuri is a secret police and Nightfall is a spy. This is what they do. But somehow they seemingly fail to connect to the ones they love. Having the information itself doesn’t automatically translate to having an understanding of it. Knowing someone doesn’t mean that you connect with them.

In many ways, Franky is like Nightfall - while Nightfall is obsessed with one (1) person, Franky is obsessed with many. They both went to great lengths, trying to get as much info as possible, and they did end up knowing a lot about their taget(s). I feel like this has been stated a lot only about Nightfall, but it also applies to Franky - even if they know that many facts about their target(s), they just don’t seem to connect. Nightfall knows how Twilight operates. She knows the aliases and fake identities he used. She knows (well, knew) his preferences for coffee. And somehow she still can’t really understand him.

Franky, on the other hand, never even gets to really talk to the girl(s) he likes.

The most obvious reason, which happens to be the biggest theme of the story, is that people have a hidden side that they won’t show to other people, even to the ones closest to them. 

Whereever there is information there is misinformation. Where there are interpretations there are misinterpretations.

Nightfall is in love with the facade of Twilight - she thinks she knows him well, but the fact is Twilight is so entangled in his own lies he is actually still gradually rediscovering himself.

More importantly, they already have had something in mind before even confirming if the info they have in hand is true. As opposed to Twilight’s approach to dealing with his targets:

Their preconceptions, or expectations, have prevented them from getting a more accurate read on both the persons and the info. At the end, Nightfall, so eager to please Twilight and make him see that she is a better fit as his wife, couldn’t even tell that he’s annoyed at some of her decisions. Franky is so in love with the idea of love itself, his hope that someone will date him overweighs his actual need of connecting with someone. Or maybe this is just his internal conflict in which he refrains from building real connections due to his job but couldn’t resist his urge to just be with someone. It does seem that it doesn’t matter who he is with, and he doesn’t have problems moving on to another one.

And that is weirdly telling about their jobs. Gathering intelligence does give nations and countries a sense of security. But that really doesn’t mean relations can be established out of that. Imagine if the girls Franky is after know about the things he has on them. Sometimes it’s not even about diplomacy. And sometimes it is this false sense of security that makes the heads of states think that a real connection between the countries doesn’t matter as much.

But it still takes more than the information they have to understand and connect with others. And this is where Yuri comes in. Yuri’s situation is very different from Nightfall and Franky, because A. it’s not romantic; and B. it’s not one-sided. Yuri, unlike Nightfall and Franky, was the only one who truly understood and connected with Yor. When the story started, Yuri has moved out as he’s got a job, but he is still mentally stuck in the past. On the other hand, Yor understands it’s time to move on. This is where the disconnection starts.

While the main focus of Spy x Family has always been on a fake family, and how it gradually becomes more real over time, to contrast with the Forgers, there are also these real but dysfunctional families. I’m not talking about the Desmonds who are detached from each other. I’m talking about the Briars here.

The Briars is the polar opposite of the Desmonds. Yor and Yuri love each other, despite all the secrets they keep from each other. However, as Yor moves further away from being a Briar and becomes more and more a Forger, we see Yuri holding onto his previous understanding of Yor.

And that is the trickiest part about family and friends isn’t it? No matter how much you love someone, and how much you understand them, it requires a lot of effort to renew the connection or understanding constantly.

(manga spoiler ahead)

Chapter 68 is really Yuri desperately holding onto the last bit of the Yor he once was so familiar with, and miserably fails. He wants to make food that she used to like, and tries to be the help she used to need, but Yor has moved on. It’s not that Yor is a totally different person now. She still likes apple-flavoured whistle candies, and she still loves her baby brother. It’s just that this is an upgraded Yor and Yuri needs to update the whole system in order to be compatible. Because even real family members who love each other very much don’t get automatically compatible. It takes effort to connect with others.

And that’s why I feel that Ep 24/ Chapter 35 is that important. Twilight was making his observations - basically collecting info and making plans - but if it’s one-sided, Endo wouldn’t make it work. It’s not like Twilight doesn’t know where Yor’s insecurities lie. It’s not that his observations are totally untrue. All the information he has on her doesn’t work unless he speaks to her. In order to truly communicate with Yor, he has to offer a piece of his true self and resonate with her. It is a precious moment because both make themselves vulnerable in order to communicate.

It's interesting because when you look at Yuri and Nightfall, they are relying on the false sense of security they get from their previous observations on Twilight and Yor. They try so hard to puff up to show that they are stronger and better, when this is not what Twilight and Yor even need.

(Might write a part 2 because I still believe that Endo gave Twilight, Yor and Anya different strengths, and you will have to combine their strengths in order to gain real understanding. But that’s it for now. Bye.)

[atopvisenyashill]

im gonna have to agree; daemon is the root of all evil in the dance apparently and if he’s gone, everything is fine is a very weird way to look at it when all in all, he only really pushed viserys to name rhaenyra heir in the end.

like, you’d think he was warging into these characters and making them choose to do stupid shit. otto being so open with his ambitions and getting booted from kings landing is daemon’s fault somehow. alicent worrying for her children’s lives even when daemon wasn’t around is daemons fault somehow. hell, the overall theme of the dance is daemon’s fault somehow even if he’s pushing to not go full blown fire and blood in the beginning and only when lower when the greens went low.

and I say this as someone who doesn’t care about him one way or another, guy is not doing half the legwork for the majority of the dance to be his fault.

yes oh my god and the post i had made that i got a few annoying replies/reblogs on was so annoying bc like, it started off as a little au "what if viserys refused to put himself in the running for the gc 101" and like obviously daemon is going to do some crazy shit but eye had been thinking about how this affects corlys & rhaenys bc viserys abdicating really opens the door for corlys and he is very good at politicking and rhaenys is very well liked AND at that point they had two kids and daemon was point blank refusing to fuck his own wife. next thing i know people are in my replies like "well if daemon wasn't such a RAGING MONSTER to poor innocent otto and if corlys didn't PERSONALLY HOLD VAEMOND DOWN SO RHAENYRA AND DAEMON COULD MURDER HIM maybe the dance never would have happened" and i am going to start PEELING PAINT OFF THE WALLS if people don't stop acting like daemon is the only person in the dance with ambition & an inclination towards violence as if otto isn't practically daring rhaenyra to go to war with him instead of actually making sure that there is a peaceful transfer of power once viserys dies. and anyways in both canons Corlys is on death's door when the Vaemond stuff happens, of all the things to lay at his feet I would say the most egregious thing he does is, ya know, his raging misogyny when it comes to the driftmark inheritance but of course no, it is Most Feminist to talk about how evil and vile and completely at fault for everything Rhaenyra I mean Daemon is for the entire dance. once again, i know it's crazy talk but i am not thinking about daemon 24/7 and hyperfocusing on a character you hate that much is a dumb way of engaging with this series.

guy is not doing half the legwork for the majority of the dance to be his fault.

but YES exactly it's like. Viserys doesn't actually make the succession more confusing, he is doing exactly what Jaehaerys did but in a more stupid way. He makes it very clear that he has every intention of keeping Rhaenyra as his heir, he literally has Jace in his lap on the throne at one point and makes a comment like "one day you'll rule from this seat." Does he do anything particularly useful to ensure Rhaenyra will follow him? Objectively, the answer is no. But acting like he made succession more complicated because "well andal law" as if Jaehaerys doesn't also flout andal tradition and then not elaborate on why he's doing so, and ignoring the fact that misogyny does play a huge role in not only Jaehaerys' decisions, and not only Otto Hightower's decisions, but also in the very concept of Andal tradition is simply taking this fandomified, bs "team" thing a la twilight and thg and trying to apply that to this series. Well sorry but this is a lot more complicated than "which boyfriend is better" and Daemon is not the only bad actor in the dance. He can literally only be in so many places at once (and like. he also stops being a menace for several years while married to Laena and in his early marriage to Rhaenyra. if otto is so fucking butthurt about the velaryon boys maybe he should have asked laenor why he refuses to fuck his wife. but he doesn't because he doesn't actually care about a peaceful transfer of power, he cares about getting his own blood on that throne, just like Corlys, just like Daemon, just like Viserys.).

[firestorm09890]

Kingdom Hearts: Nobody Anatomy, Physiology, Psychology, Ontology??? headcanons

saw people talking about more monstrous Nobodies a bit ago (okay it was a long while ago at this point, this has been in drafts for ages) and that reminded me to share some of my thoughts. it spiraled kind of out of control and now this post is ridiculously long. three parts: the physical side, the less physical side, and other thoughts. most of it’s under the cut. enjoy

The physical side

All of these apply to ALL Nobodies, not just the funny squiggly ones.

Alrighty, here’s my proposal: Nobodies don’t have any internal organs. Even the ones that retain their human form. They may look and act like they’ve got regular human body processes, but I like to think that it’s just a hollow imitation. This is why every single Nobody has an absolutely snatched waist

So they’d lack both their metaphysical hearts and their real hearts!

The Organization was founded by a bunch of researchers who got into this mess via unethical human experimentation so you know they tried to pin down the specifics of Nobody biology early on, but every time they tried to use any medical equipment it would come up empty or just straight up not work. And then none of them were willing to get vivisected for the cause lmao

I think the greater Nobodies (human-shaped ones) are made up of the same weird, rubbery flexible stuff that lesser Nobodies are, but just don’t have that flexibility because hey! They’ve got a human form to maintain! They may seem human, but on a biological level, they’re closer to the squiggly guys than an actual human. This is why it’s possible for Xemnas to turn greater Nobodies into Dusks. We never see him do it, but I doubt it’s an empty threat. I don’t think there were any other greater Nobodies in the Organization in the past, but he’s probably transformed one of the specialized Nobodies, like a Dancer or Dragoon, into one of the lowest-ranked ones, like Dusks or Creepers or something.

All Nobodies have the Nobody sigil somewhere on them. For lesser Nobodies it’s easily visible, but for greater Nobodies, it’s on their backs, and since they’re always wearing those coats, no one ever sees it.

If a Nobody is cut, they don’t bleed- instead, little wisps of darkness leak out of the wound, like what happens in the Org’s death animations but on a smaller scale. They can heal faster than regular humans thanks to ✨something something darkness and nothingness✨.

Though Nobodies are supposedly shunned by both light and darkness, they are more aligned with dark than light. Any Nobody can wield light, not just Roxas (as shown by Zexion in Chain of Memories), but it takes great difficulty. However, they can wield darkness with ease.

Nobodies do need to sleep as regularly as humans, but can last much longer without food or water. Rest? Yes! Nutrience? Unimportant

They have no body heat- that’s a corpse, baby!!! That does bring up some questions about thermoregulation. I don’t feel like thinking about it tbh. There’s lots of questions in this vein: can Nobodies get drunk? I think they probably can’t. In 358/2 Days, Demyx says “Wait, training!? That sounds like work, which means sweating. Which is gross.” and that... complicates things! I could chalk it up to how a lot of people in Organization XIII have a tendency to keep acting like they’re humans and nothing’s changed, even though it has.

Nobodies are “born” in any world in the Realm Between. Roxas first appeared in Twilight Town, but some might have shown up by Castle Oblivion, or even the Mysterious Tower (god bless). Showing up in The World That Never Was is probably the most common.

The less physical side

It’s quite an unlikely coincidence that every apprentice of Ansem the Wise had a standout, super strong heart that allowed them to retain their human forms as Nobodies. I think it had something to do with being stabbed by a keyblade, not just their wills alone. That would also align with 9-12 being tied to a keyblade legacy. A strong will is important, yes, but you only get to be human-looking if there was a keyblade involved.

In a Nobody, the most important part of this will is the will to live. Should that ever wane, they Nobody will begin to destabilize, and eventually, they will return to nothingness.

Nobodies have hearts, and they do not have hearts. They have feelings, and they do not have feelings. It’s like the observer effect in quantum mechanics. Anyone who can sense hearts or feelings or whatever will not be able to sense anything from a Nobody, no matter how far along in development that heart may be, reinforcing the belief that yeah there’s nothing there. But there is... and also there isn’t. Both statements are true. A friend described it as “Schrödinger’s Feelings” and it’s the most accurate “Schrodinger’s ____” joke I’ve ever seen made. Someone else described it as depression which is also accurate (source: i’ve had depression). There are bouts of emotion occasionally, but those emotions are dulled (and usually negative) and most of the time there’s only suffocating apathy.

There is some truth to the statement that Nobodies’ feelings are simply recreations of what they might’ve felt back when they had hearts, but it’s also bogus. Memories are important to the makeup of a Nobody, but that statement is often used as an excuse that covers up the reality that there was a feeling there. It’s very easy to lie to yourself when there’s mostly data supporting your argument and any evidence against is less common and easily disputed by “logic” like this.

The most prominent “feelings” in Nobodies are an intense sense of longing and dissatisfaction. For some, the longing is for a heart, but for others it is aimless. That was the idea behind all the Nobodies having little hobbies like cooking and puzzles and reading magazines in the manga. They’re trying to fill that void with anything they can.

In one of the novels, Demyx, #1 proponent of the idea that Nobodies do have hearts actually, gives us this:

I play and play, but I can’t make a satisfying sound.

In truth, I know I won’t be satisfied in all eternity.

If you don’t have a heart, there’s no such thing as satisfaction.

You don’t even think you want to be satisfied.

And yeah, the novels aren’t canon, but it’s still interesting to see and think about. Nothing you do is good enough to fill that emptiness, but you can barely bring yourself to care about it anyway. Yep, depression!

Nobodies are prone to a high amount of introspection. It’s an inherited trait all Nobodies share- if you manage to survive past humanity in a bizarre fucked up state like this, you’re naturally going to be thinking about it. However, they’re all also incredibly bad at it, and generally do a horrible job at self-reflection. This is just an unfortunate coincidence

A Nobody can regrow a heart if they make connections, and are seen and acknowledged by others. Pretty sure that’s just canon. HOWEVER, Nobodies cannot help each other grow hearts- this is why none of the Organization regrew hearts after 10 years of being around each other, and despite connections within the group. 0+0 is still 0, after all. That’s what makes the policy of going undetected on missions so insidious. They’re never allowed the chance to regrow a heart. I’ve already talked about it somewhere else, but this is why Roxas grows a heart so fast- he ignores that rule, for the most part. Axel’s interactions with Sora are also what kickstarts his heart growth.

Hypothetically, since someone doesn’t have to remember a memory for Castle Oblivion to draw on it, the mechanics with the cards and the rooms could have been used to help Xemnas recall his past- considering how much time he spent talking to Aqua’s armor, I think that’s something he might’ve been interested in. HOWEVER! Since the Twilight Town card came from the memories on the other side of Sora’s heart, I propose that the properties of Castle Oblivion would have no effect on Nobodies. RIP.

Other thoughts

I’m not saying Ansem the Wise and Yensid were right about Nobodies! I do think they’re different from humans on a fundamental level, but demonizing them is Not Cool

On the idea that Nobodies aren’t meant to exist: Well. Just like before it’s total bogus bc the main perpetrators of that idea were either bigoted about it or liars or both but I think it’s a little more complicated than “everyone is flat wrong about this”. Nobodies are essentially naturally-occurring byproducts of Heartless. Most Nobodies (or, at least, the lesser ones, based on that one cutscene in kh2 where hearts rain down on The World That Never Was and we see a bunch of Dusks grasping for them) seem to have a drive to reclaim the heart they’ve lost- if reclaimed, that would mean they wouldn’t be a Nobody anymore. Creatures born in worlds of neither light nor darkness, created only through the destruction of another and only some of the time, who don’t even want to exist like this themselves... that’s what “Nobodies aren’t meant to exist” means to me, I think. BEAR IN MIND “MEANT” IS NOT THE SAME AS “DESERVE”

And then! There’s Nobodies who defy that! Or, uh, Nobody, singular. Roxas goes “bro I don’t care I want to exist as I am” and he does that (Naminé... didn’t really seem to share that opinion, if I’m remembering correctly. Probably because DiZ hammered it into her head that she didn’t deserve to exist). I wish we had seen something like that from one of the regular Nobodies- why should recompletion and/or regaining a heart be the ideal? Why do they have to die again in order to be “right”? It just further perpetuates that idea DiZ and Yensid pushed in kh2: Nobodies are Wrong and shouldn’t be around. Unless you’re special like Roxas or Naminé in which case it’s okay. But for everyone else it’s recomplete or bust... anyway this is a tangent I did not mean to go on with this post-

I think it’s interesting, how they’re made of nothingness and their existence is “nonexistent”. Nothingness is, as an element, something, as opposed to true nothing, which is the absence of anything. Nonexistence implies existence. It’s like how in math, sometimes an answer to a problem will be DNE-- that’s Nobodies, and “nothingness”. “Does not exist”, but in writing the answer, it does exist, as a nonexistent entity. As opposed to just... not having a math problem at all, and therefore not having a place to write a solution. That is true nothingness- all the Nobodies of people whose hearts weren’t strong enough to create Nobodies fall under this category. They don’t exist for real. Nothing as something vs nothing as nothing- ah fuck I just realized this is the second time I’ve used a math analogy for kingdom hearts. shit

in conclusion

that’s all of it. probably. i like nobodies a whole lot. now that i’m thinking about it i should’ve made this multiple posts instead of one huge one. if you read all of this you earn my undying love

[captorations]

tw: animal death (nonviolent, elderly.) long post which also features kittens named after TLT characters, to which the warning does not apply.

this is Twilight. he was named for the streaks of orange on his belly, which were even more pronounced as a kitten. not for the vampire series, thank you very much; that nonsense didn't take off until a few months after i named him. he was chosen to be a ten-year-old's first pet because his response to being picked up by a human, as a recently-captured feral kitten, was to purr. not stress-purr, either. his default response to any kind of attention was to purr, absurdly loudly, and this never changed at any point in his life.

he could be grouchy and unpredictable at times, and he never cared for other cats in his space, but he was quite content to live his life alongside mine. he was never a lapcat, preferring instead to curl up somewhere nearby and burst out into purring if i so much as looked at him. i learned his language, able to determine the difference between and meanings of his vocalizations, and he learned mine, responding to his name and offering attention when i was upset. one of the first times Twilight ever came up on my bed with me, when we were both very small, was after a nightmare. sure enough, he was often at my side as i struggled with constant nightmares throughout last year.

but, well. you read the warning. he passed in february, peacefully and painlessly. i miss him dearly. he was my companion for what will for a few years yet count as the majority of my life, and i will always be grateful to him for waiting to go until the evening my partner arrived back home, so she could be with me when he went.

he was, and i recognize that i am quite lucky to have avoided it for so long, the first lost loved one i've had to grieve. and i did grieve. i always will, a little bit. i may have cried while writing this. that's one of the reasons i didn't talk about it here until now.

the other reason is a happier one. i wanted to have good news along with the bad. and i do!

of course i'd thought about what i would do when Twilight passed. my plan was to find a bonded pair of adult cats in need of adoption. but then, as Twilight started to inch past the division between "old cat" and "elderly cat," my partner happened to befriend a feral breeding pair and work to socialize each year's kittens to, hopefully, make it more possible for them to be domesticated by someone else. no TNR programs out there in the sticks, and it wouldn't be ethical to try to domesticate the feral adults.

so. when Twilight passed, and once i had recovered from the worst of it, our attention turned to this year's kittens. it wasn't by any means a guarantee. we couldn't steal them at the ideal age, as the mother was clever and cautious, and taught them to be the same. all the more so because my partner had stolen one of a previous litter to be her mother's pet.

there were so many factors going into this. how many kittens would there be? how many would, and unfortunately this was something we could do nothing about, survive long enough to be socialized and captured? would they like us? would we be forced to make a heartbreaking choice, leaving one or even multiple kittens to remain wild, with all the danger and hardship that entails?

well, the answers to those questions are, in order: two, both, yes, and no. in other words, everything went perfectly. and i'm very glad it did, because i can't even pretend i didn't practically fall in love with them on sight.

i honestly thought my partner was messing with me when she reported a black cat with gold eyes and a grey cat with silver eyes. that couldn't be real. there was no fucking way the universe was handing me two kittens that perfectly match major characters from the locked tomb series, i.e. the most powerful influence on me since homestuck itself.

but no, that's what actually happened. and even though the grey kitten's eyes eventually turned gold too, it hardly mattered, when their personalities started lining up with the characters they resembled. i didn't plan to name my next cats after tlt characters. in fact, i'm a little wary of giving animals the names of characters at all, even derivatives thereof; i prefer to appreciate them as their own selves, not a reflection of another.

however, i make a policy of not ignoring serendipity. we captured them effortlessly, mostly thanks to my partner's work in socializing them. both my partner and i had name ideas, but we agreed not to discuss them until the kittens had been examined by a vet, both in case of health concerns and to confirm genders. sure, gender is fake, and even faker for pets, but whatever.

the vet visit was yesterday, and as we suspected, both are female. so, after comparing notes and compromising on names, i present to you: Nona and Millie, respectively.

i actually had planned to name the black kitten "Hark," but my partner convinced me otherwise, and honestly she's right. Nona suits her better, in personality, in her capacity for violence (against toys, neither has scratched or bitten us even once since capture) hidden by a meek and easily spooked front, and in her habit of following Millie's lead but sometimes wandering off and trying new things and/or getting into trouble. i'll get over the weirdness of the directly copied name soon enough. it's already led to fun sentences, like "Nona spent the entire ride home hiding under a towel." (Nona likes to hang out under things. Millie prefers to climb things. in my partner's terms, Nona is a bush cat and Millie is a tree cat.)

meanwhile, Millie is a double reference. she's mostly named for Camilla Hect, but also for the Millie from warrior cats, who is one of the MVPs of the series, fight me. as mentioned, Millie usually takes the lead between the two. she's a little more cautious about new things, but will accept them after Nona inevitably tries them first. she defaults to protecting Nona when they're both spooked, taking point in the defensive huddle.

please appreciate Nona hiding in the top right photo. she is a black cat who knows she's a black cat, and acts appropriately.

they've adjusted incredibly well. it took about a week for them to be indistinguishable from domestic-born cats, at least when they're around me. my partner handled socialization, getting them accustomed to humans enough that we could capture them with minimal stress. i'm handling domestication, the process of guiding them through their new environment and the expectations of exclusively indoor, household animals. (these expectations are: being cute, not causing too much chaos, keeping us company, and seeking attention at whatever frequency they choose.)

we're both very good with animals, but i have the advantage of being raised by two veterinarians. so even though they were almost four months old on capture, older than is recommended for domestication attempts, i was pretty damn sure i could pull it off. and i did, not least because they're both very smart and adaptable in their own right.

so! thank you for reading this absurdly long post about the personal life of an altogether fairly generic tumblr user. as a reward, you get a video of Millie being annoyed at Nona for going somewhere she can't follow. (note: when Millie goes somewhere Nona can't follow, Nona gets sad and upset and meows pitifully about it.)

[threebooksoneplot]

ok so this is a hypothetical scenario bc i listen to a buncha pods about books and sometimes the podcasters have Bad Takes and will b like "i think people generally think [insert bad take]" and i always want to scream and reach out to them like: no. respectfully, i luv ur pod, but shut up ur wrong, or at least to be like: if ur gonna insist on having this take at least acknowledge that there are also other takes out there pls n thanks (yall do this its gr8 im here for it!) anyway i was wondering if someone said something to that effect to you would you be like: ok noted thanks for the feedback ... or would you be like: anyway ur wrong actually bye what would ur response to this incredibly vague hypothetical scenario be?? im curious! thanks for indulging me/my curiosity lol ... ok thats all bye

I mean, I (G) feel like we've definitely done both of those things at different times! kinda depends on the take. like, does the phrase "it's not that deep" apply? then we're probably gonna go for a jokey "you're wrong" Response B. In fact, I'd say 90% of the time when we go for Response B we are joking (James did nothing wrong and Victoria should get to kill Bella as a treat.)

but in general we tryyyyyy to leave room for nuance and point out where we ourselves are biased? you guys are the best judge of whether or not we succeed at that, lol. personally I think the key is just doing what you said above, and acknowledging other takes exist. our experiences are not universal! we try to keep our finger on the pulse (haha vampire jokes) of what other fans are saying even as we acknowledge that "other fans" is a HUGE and diverse category that includes everyone from Cheryl in the Bite Me Edward facebook group who's been writing edbella fic on ff.net since 2009 to Emersyn on tiktok who saw Twilight for the first time last year to Princess Weekes, who just released a new video essay on how not all critiques of the series are bad faith vitriol.

it's also why we have guests! shannon and I are in such close agreement on most things that we knew from the start we wanted to introduce more diversity of opinions, lol.

we ourselves definitely have opinions of the reactionary "we've heard this take we disagree with one too many times online and now we can't help but rip it to shreds when it comes up" variety (stan renee for clear skin) but consider this our re-upped commitment to pointing out to the audience whenever that's the case. we know some of you guys probably like, touch grass and may not be aware of the niche online twilight discourse that poisons our brains 24/7

overall, New Moon has been a great place to build up our "acknowledge that other takes exist" muscles! it feels like every 5 pages we were both stopping to be like "well I don't find this compelling, but I can see why someone else...might...like this." it's definitely opened up my perspective to reread the books after years of being in fandom and being exposed to so many opinions.

so, yeah: it's a boring answer, but our response to the hypothetical situation would depend on the hypothetical take. we hope (and continue to work) to always leave room in our Serious discussions for other points of view!!