#i don't promise anything

[beanghostprincess]

musician!sanuso au in which usopp is a very famous singer (by 'very famous' meaning: being famous in specific, indie circles but, yeah, famous. he has a decent amount of fans) under the name of "sogeking" and sanji (who thinks, by the way, that he's extremely straight) falls in love with him and his voice. important fact: usopp wears the sogeking costume, so sanji doesn't know what he looks like.

basically, sanji is friends with robin, and franky (her boyfriend) knows a guy (brook) that can get them all (luffy and zoro too) tickets to see this sogeking guy. sanji doesn't actually want to go, if he's being honest, but it's robin's idea so of course he says yes. the thing is- she- she likes weird music, alright? her taste is a bit different from sanji's and he isn't sure about spending all night listening to some guy whispering weird stuff into a mic with a bit of an 80s energy and dark undertones. but, yeah, robin asks, so he goes.

on the other hand, usopp only wears the costume because he's always an anxious, insecure mess, and refuses to let others know he's the one singing. the only thing his father left him before going away was a guitar and the guy can't even play it now in front of others. awesome. and he never really intended to become "famous", it's just that kaya, nami and vivi (he's childhood best friends with kaya and met nami/vivi in high school) told him to participate in a music contest and one thing led to another and now he has a manager and plays for a lot of people who actually want to listen to him. he isn't complaining, but he's glad he's wearing a mask.

so, sanji goes to see sogeking.

and it kind of, sort of, definitely changes his life.

he's glad zoro is already chugging his third beer and does not care enough to look at sanji, because otherwise he would see the complete blushing mess he's been reduced to while listening to sogeking sing.

he falls in love. it can only be that. he keeps telling himself that it's just his voice. that it doesn't mean he likes men. but he knows the feeling of love all too well to ignore the way his heart is pounding against his chest with the sound of the drums.

he's fucked. he knows he's fucked. it's not just a fan thing. fuck. he wonders if this sogeking guy kisses the same way he sings.

the night goes on and he's hypnotized by sogeking, but it doesn't mean he isn't having a fucking crisis. the last song is playing when one of his friends asks him what is wrong with him (he doesn't remember who it is, maybe franky) and those simple words send him over the edge. because no, he's not fine. and no, he doesn't like a man. and god, he definitely isn't in love with a guy he doesn't even know and would never recognize without a mask.

which is a funny thought, having in mind what happens next.

sanji storms out of the concert to catch his breath because this has never, ever happened to him before. he believes in love at first sight. he's a romantic, after all. but this isn't it. this isn't about looks or fate. it's deeper than that. he can't get rid of sogeking's voice still playing in his mind. so he ends up in what seems to be an alleyway in the back of the building, and anxiously starts to smoke like the addict he is. he said he was going to quit this... he definitely isn't now.

oh, but he misses the way sogeking finishes his last song and runs away from the stage. he feels he's going to throw up. too many looks on him. too much noise. too much pressure. not even nami can stop him before he ends up in the same alleyway as sanji, leaning against the door and taking deep breaths. in and out in and out in and ou-

and well. fuck. turns out he isn't alone because now the most handsome guy he has ever laid his eyes upon is trying to guide him through his panic attack, which only causes him even more anxiety. he wants to kind of die right now, because at least he'll die staring at an angel.

sanji, on the other hand, just has the need to help him because he understands how fucked up these things are. so he helps him through it. helps the stranger calm down until they can finally speak properly together.

usopp thanks him, sanji says that it was nothing. and usopp says something like: "i'm sorry you had to, uh, help me. it's just- sometimes crowds are just too much, you know? people expect so much from you sometimes and you just can't take it. there are so many people here. why? it's not- fuck. i feel so damn isolated sometimes. i- i'm sorry. you probably don't want to hear-"

to which sanji responds with: "no. it's fine. i understand. i think i do."

"really?"

"really."

their friendship starts with relieved laughs of understanding and a panic attack in an alleyway after the concert that changed their lives.

they exchange numbers for some reason. maybe it's still the rush of the concert a few seconds ago or the sogeking inside of him, but usopp is the one to ask him. sanji seems a bit surprised, but doesn't mind in the slightest to keep seeing usopp. it might sound cheesy, but the cook seriously thinks they were meant to find each other. friendships are weird all the time and he has always been very poetic, after all.

i'm not gonna bore all of you with what happens in between because this is just a random thought i had on my way home from work, but basically:

sanji and usopp become close. almost even best friends. and usopp is completely head over heels for sanji, so of course he will never tell him about being sogeking. not only because it's an identity only his best friends know about, but because it's embarrassing, and refuses to lose what he has with sanji for this. sanji loves usopp. they're practically best friends now! and- and, well, okay. he has to admit there's something between them that he can't put a name to, but it's more than an intimate friendship. and, somehow, he seems to never be able to let go of sogeking. so he never makes a move on usopp. he's stupid for being in love with someone he doesn't even know, but sanji is a romantic, after all.

there will never be somebody else. he keeps saying that. it's sogeking for him.

usopp is glad sanji is always busy when he has concerts, so that way he doesn't need to lie to him and cancel any plans! (the truth is, sanji goes to those same concerts all the time and usopp never happens to see him because sanji is always afraid of being recognized. in theory, nobody knows about him being so head over heels for the singer. his friends don't know he's there, either).

but one day usopp recognizes him in the crows (it was just a matter of time) and instead of getting all anxious and running away like he thought he would if this happened, he just keeps singing for sanji and only sanji. and if the cook notices this, he doesn't move from where he's standing. he's hypnotized.

long story short, usopp has a crisis because he doesn't know if he should tell sanji the truth, now that he knows he's a fan of sogeking. because sogeking is this cool superhero singer and of course sanji likes him. but would he like him if he knew who he truly is? so he refuses to say anything, even if the girls keep telling him to be honest. and sanji is having a whole crisis because he's extremely in love and they haven't even fucking talked (little does he know haha). and, besides, there's usopp too. he- he really likes usopp too, he realizes. romantically. it could be love, if it wasn't for sogeking.

and i'm going to be honest with all of you, i have no idea what is going to happen. but even if i knew i wouldn't tell you because i like it enough to be a fanfic and y'all are probably going to have to wait.

[unreadpoppy]

Y'all

Remember how I said I had a Beauty and the Beast Raphael AU in mind?

Yeah so I'm gonna write it

EDIT: FIRST CHAPTER IS OUT

Read it on tumblr

Read it on AO3

[absolute-flaming-trash]

There is a small chance I’ll temporarily break hiatus tomorrow if only to drop some of the most angsty shit I’ve written in a while, because ya girl gets some surprisingly good ideas despite being in a low so deep it could compete in limbo.

[taffywabbit]

they should invent a new type of "staying in bed for 2-3 hours after you wake up repeatedly opening and closing apps on your phone" where it makes you feel awesome and energized and emotionally fulfilled

[basshole-astard]

PSA: i keep seeing posts about staying cool in extreme heat that include advice like "gatorade is bad actually!" and "don't drink fruit juice it'll just dehydrate you!" and neither of these are true!

regarding fruit juice: there's apparently a misconception that Any Sugar At All will dehydrate you, and that's simply not true. yes, sugar will make you pee more when consumed in large amounts, but 1) the natural sugar in fruits won't do this to you 2) great news! a lot of fruit juices exist without any added sugar in them! 3) honestly even having a glass of the fruit juice with added sugar won't completely dehydrate you as long as you're also drinking water throughout the day. if its hot you deserve a cold treat of a drink!!! can't go wrong with fruit juice!!!

regarding gatorade: maybe this isn't an every day drink, but guess what: if it's 110F/40C or hotter outside, and you don't have AC, or you're moving around a lot outside of the AC, and you're sweating buckets: that's when you drink a gatorade.

gatorade exists to replenish all the electrolytes (salt) and glucose (sugar) that you sweat out. YES it is meant for athletes to drink during intensive work outs and not necessarily for people who aren't doing that kind of exercise. BUT GUESS WHAT! when you're sweating buckets because you had to walk to the bus in extreme heat, that's intensive exercise. please feel free to drink a gatorade after that! that's its intended use case!!!!

no: neither of these drinks should be a total replacement for water. but drinking a lot of water and then treating yourself to a fruit juice with lunch is a good idea!!! drinking a gatorade becuase you just had to walk for 20 minutes in the heat is a good idea!!!

Please Stop Spreading Misinformation About Drinks!!! It's fine if you drink things that aren't water!!!! Yes you should probably always be drinking water but drinking something else As Well isn't going to hurt you!!!! okay!!!! its fine!!!!!!

honestly so long as you are consistently getting Any (non-alcoholic) fluids in you, you're doing great!!!!!! okay!!!! i love you stay safe <3

[fl00mie]

oughh, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PALETTE<33 ofc took the chance to draw them as a found family, and ink being over-emotional as a plus💖💥 ahh, 21 years, i didn't know he had grown so much

i would've loved to do something WAY bigger but inspiration never came as it should:( hope this is okay!

palette roller by @angeutblogo ink sans by @/comyet dream sans by @/jokublog

[a-victorian-girl]

Working on one... Just for fun, we'll see what comes out of it 👀

this is very controversial but although yay fanfiction and yay fanart, i believe that fanvids are the ultimate piece of art for a hyperfixation

[d3rpydoods]

Damn, can't believe it's been like 3 months- Anyway, Erronjin has entered the stage!!! + the timelapse cause why not?

[romidoes]

“...how many more days again?” And for once, that’s a really easy one. No need for brain cells here. “None.” Change of plans. “Comin’ home in the mornin’.” Mickey laughs, and it’s music to his ears.  “Yeah, you fuckin’ are…” inspired by kinktober 2022 by @whatthebodygraspsnot chapter 2

leave it to me to focus on the 'romantic' bit in a fic focused on sex. i've been reading and re-reading this one so much and kept thinking of their eventual dramatic reunion which led me to draw them hugging. the reference comes from the same paparazzi shot as this other drawingi made. thought it would be cool to mention

[crimeronan]

i've seen a couple people in the notes of this very good post about fictional polyamory by @thebibliosphere say things along the lines of "oh, i've been doing it wrong :(" or "how do i know if i did this right??" or "i should probably give up and start over, i wrote this badly :(" and. no!!!!

(i AM seeing far MORE people say "oh, this clarified and helped me so much, i think i know how to fix issues i've been having with my own story" which. YES!!!!)

listen. if you're a monogamous person who's writing a polyamorous relationship, and you've been focusing mainly on The Triad and All Three Together All The Time as the endgame, that's literally fine. that's a perfectly acceptable and strong starting point for your plotting, imo. you do not need to give up on a story that you've started like this.

but the things discussed in the post Can and Should improve your execution!

you can keep the same plot beats and overall relationship arc 100%. polyamorous relationships are infinite in their formations, every one is unique. "basically a monogamous romance but with three people" Does exist, as a relationship type. you're not hashtag Misrepresenting (TM) poly people with it

BUT i do think it will help to read up on some poly people talking about how their relationships Differ from monogamous ones.

so i have outlined some basic important concepts about polyamory.

MORE IMPORTANTLY though, i've broken down some questions that you can answer throughout the writing process to strengthen your individual dyad relationships, your individual characterization, & your characters' individual feelings/experiences. this is a writing resource have fun

future kitkat butting in to say i spent over two hours writing this and it definitely needs a readmore. it is also NOT comprehensive. but everything should be pretty simple to follow! feel free to reblog if you find it helpful yourself or just want to reward me for how gotdan long this took KSLDKFJKDL.

i've grabbed quick links for a couple of the important concepts, some have SEO pitches in them but the info largely seems to be good. (if i missed anything Egregiously Gross on these sites i should be able to update the links with better ones later, since they're under the readmore.)

sidenote: this is NOT meant to be overwhelming, despite the length. if you can't read all of this, that's Okay. you do not need to give up on your writing.

here we go:

compersion!

compersion is a BIG thing in a lot of polyamorous relationships. it's joy derived from seeing two (or more) of your partners happy together, or joy derived from seeing your partner happy with someone else.

compersion is really important as a concept because it highlights that every individual relationship within a polycule is different -- and that that's a GOOD thing. it's sort of the inverse of jealousy.

by the "inverse of jealousy," i mean that instead of feeling left out and upset and possessive, you feel happy/joyous/content.

i can use personal experience as an example: it's a Relief for me when my partners receive joy/support/sex/romance/etc that i can't (or prefer not to) give them. and i love seeing my partners make each other laugh and be silly together.

it's 100% okay for a poly triad not to be together 100% of the time, it doesn't mean that the third member is being left out or not treated equally when two people do things alone together.

(i have individual dates with my partners all the time! PLUS larger 3-and-4-person date nights.)

if the third member DOES feel jealous or left out, then the polycule can have a conversation to figure out what needs/wants aren't being met, and solve that. this happens semi-regularly in my polycule, as it will happen in any relationship (including monogamous ones)! it's just part of being an adult, sometimes you have to talk about feelings.

metamours!

a metamour is someone who is dating your partner, but ISN'T dating you. this may not be relevant for people writing closed three-person romantic sexual triads, but it's a super helpful term to know.

the linked article also lists different types of metamour relationships with some fun phrasing i hadn't heard before. the tl;dr is: sometimes you'll be domestic cohabitation friends, sometimes you'll be buddies with your own friendship, sometimes you might not interact much outside of parties, every relationship is different.

there's no one-size-fits-all requirement for metamour relationships. sometimes polyamorous people will end up dating their metamour after a while (has happened to me), sometimes polyamorous people will break up with one partner for normal life reasons, but remain friendly metamours.

the goal of polyamory is NOT for EVERYONE to fall in love. it is 100% okay if this happens in your story, it happens in real life too! but it is also 100% okay for characters to be metamours without ever becoming "more than friends."

(sidenote: try to kill any internalized "more than" that you have when it comes to friendship. friends are just as important and special and vital as partners.)

of course there are a million ways for messiness to occur with metamours within a complex polycule, exactly like with close-knit platonic friend groups. however this post is not about that! there's enough "here's how polyamory can go wrong" stuff out there already, so i'm focusing on the positives here :)

open versus closed polyamorous relationships!

i'm struggling to find an online article that reflects my experience without directly contradicting at least SOME stuff. so i'll give a quick rundown

google has a bunch of conflicting definitions of open relationships and whether open relationships are different from polyamory. the general consensus seems to be that an open relationship prioritizes one partnership (often a marriage), but that each partner can have extraneous flings or long-term commitments (most often sexual in nature).

this is not typically how i use the term wrt polyamory. the poly concept is pretty simple. a closed polyamorous relationship is one with boundaries like a monogamous one. there are multiple partners in the polycule, but they are not interested in having anybody new join said polycule.

an open polyamorous relationship tends to be more flexible -- it just means that IF someone in the polycule develops mutual feelings for a new person, it's fine for them to become part of said polycule if they want to! the relationship/person is open to newcomers.

some groups will need to negotiate this all together, others will just go "haha, you kids have fun." just depends on the individuals!

with open AND closed polyamorous relationships, the most important thing is making sure that there's respectful communication and that everyone is on the same page. but there's no one-size-fits-all way to do that.

i wish i could give you guys a prescriptive "You Must Do It This Way" guide, but that's.... basically the opposite of what polyamory is about, HAHA.

feelings for multiple people!

i was gonna tack this on to the previous section but decided it warranted its own lil bit.

a defining feature (....i'm told?) of monogamous relationships is that a monogamous person only has feelings for One individual at a time. they only want a relationship with one individual at a time. or, if they DO have feelings for multiple people simultaneously, they're still only comfortable dating one person at a time & being exclusive with that one person.

this is perfectly fine!

the poly experience is generally different from this. but once again..... polyamorous people all have different individual perspectives on this.

for me, i have never been able to draw hard boxes around romantic vs sexual vs platonic relationships, & i love many people at once. my personal polycule lacks many strict definitions beyond "these are my chosen people, i want to forge a life with them indefinitely, whatever shape that life takes"

some poly people feel explicit romantic or sexual attraction to multiple people at once, some poly people feel almost no romantic or sexual attraction at all. i'd say that MOST poly people feel different things for different partners, which is not a bad thing!

some poly people are even monogamous-leaning -- they have just chosen one romantic partner who is themselves part of a larger polycule. (so this monogamous-leaning person has at least one metamour!)

or alternatively, they might have one romantic partner AND a qpr, or other ways of defining relationships. (this is a factor in my own polycule!)

i made this its own point because if you're writing a straightforward triad, this is unlikely to come up in the story itself -- but it's worth thinking about how your characters develop/handle feelings outside of their partnerships.

like, is this sort of a soulmateship, 'these are the only ones for me' type deal? in which they won't fall in love with anyone else, and can be fairly certain of that?

that's pretty close to typical monogamous standards but you Can make it work. just be thoughtful with it

alternatively, can you see any of these characters falling in love Again after the happily-ever-after? and how would the triad approach it, if so? what would they all need to talk about beforehand, and what feelings would everybody have about the situation?

it's worth considering these questions even if the hypothetical will never feature in your actual canon, because knowing the answers to these questions will help you understand all of the individuals & their relationship(s) MUCH better.

i've been typing this for nearly two hours and there's a lot more i COULD say because... there's just a lot to say. i'll close out with some quick questions that you can ask yourself when developing the dyad dynamics within your triad

first, take a page and create a separate section for each individual dyad. then answer these questions for every pair:

how does each pair act when alone?

how do they act differently alone compared to when they're with their third partner?

are there any elements of this dyad (romantic, sexual, financial, domestic, etc) that these two people DON'T have with the third partner?

if so, what are they?

are there any boundaries or hard limits within this dyad that aren't shared with the third partner?

if so, what are they?

partner 3 goes out of town alone for a few weeks. what are the remaining two doing in their absence?

(doesn't have to be anything special, it's just to get a sense of how the two interact on a day-by-day basis without the third there)

what is something that each partner in the dyad admires about the other -- that they DON'T necessarily see in the third partner?

what problem do These Two Specifically need to solve in the story before their relationship will work?

how is that problem DIFFERENT from the problems being solved within the other two dyads?

doing this for ALL THREE dyads is VITAL imo. that way, you develop complex and nuanced and different relationships that all have unique dynamics.

those questions should be enough to get you started, i hope

then After you've charted the differences in relationships, you can start to jot down similarities in the overarching triad. what does one person admire in Both of their partners? what are activities that all three like to do together? what are boundaries or discussions that all three share?

but the main goal is to figure out how to Differentiate each relationship!

a polycule is only as strong as the individual relationships within it. if two people are struggling with their own relationship, adding a third person won't fix that.

(UNLESS the third person is the catalyst for those two to, like, Actually Communicate And Work Their Shit Out. i just mean that the old adage of "maybe if we just add a third-" works about as well to fix a miserable non-communicative marriage as, uh, "maybe if we have a baby-")

AND FINALLY.

if you're not sure whether your poly romance reads organically to poly people, you can hire a sensitivity reader with poly experience. if you can't afford that, you can read up on polyamorous resources like a glossary of terms & articles actually written by poly people. (and stories written by poly people!)

you can also just.... ask poly people questions, if they're open to it. i like talking about polyamory and my own relationships so you're welcome to send asks if u want, i just can't guarantee i'll answer bc my energy levels fluctuate a lot and i don't always have time.

polyamorous people are in an uphill battle for positive representation right now & so the LAST thing i want to see is authors giving up on their stories bc they're worried about getting things Wrong. well-meaning and positive stories that treat this kind of love as normal, healthy, & aspirational are So So So Needed. even if you guys end up with some funky-feeling details.

seriously, if you're monogamous then you probably don't have a full idea of Just How Nasty a lot of people can get about polyamory. i wish it DIDN'T mean so much for you guys to want to write nice stories about us, but it does mean a lot. and it means a lot that you want to do it WELL.

in conclusion. this is not a prescriptive guide, it's just a way to raise questions. and also, you all are doing FINE.

[nocek]

Self fulfilling dog dad curse from the previous comic has self-fulfilled!. Threat of promised snoodie from another comic also has been fulfilled. And to tie it all up Deadpool's last visit was either this nsfw dream or just regular pestering.

and oh my god this one took forever >.< Idk if it was some sort of artblock, or I'm loosing like my fixation (oh god please no >.< I don't have a new one) but I don't actually have another comic idea and it's scary >.<

Please keep your fingers crossed I'll get over it >.<

[racingghost]

S: "I was promised a makeout with tongue if we won, Kimi, so give me some!" K: "Bwoah!"

---

Well I'm super tired, but I can now put this poll behind me! Thank you to everyone who voted Simi 💪 We got into it never really intending to win, but rather to shove Simi all over your faces... but we ended up with the best prize: Simi ressurgence and a bunch of new shippers!

[frogsare-friends]

"war on palestine" "war on gaza" "israel palestine war" "israel palestine conflict" actually it's none of those things, it's a genocide and an ethnic cleansing, hope this helps!!

[sorealis]

writing fics is so funny. writing ongoing ones is even more so

while no one owes me any comments, they're obviously nice to get. every single one, even if it's just hearts or something

i'm mostly amused by this, but i can't stop thinking about how often people write "can't wait to see what comes next" and then i post what comes next and they just... disappear. never come back. delete their bookmark and i see i've lost a subscriber who i assume was that person.

it just gets me wondering what was the thing that made them go "yeah nope actually i'm not finishing this"

[gingermintpepper]

In my Zeus bag today so I'm just gonna put it out there that exactly none of the great Ancient Greek warrior-heroes stayed loyal and faithful and completely monogamous and yet none of them have their greatness questioned nor do we question why they had the cultural prominence that they did and still do.

Jason, the brilliant leader of the Argo, got cold feet when it came to Medea - already put off by some of her magic and then exiled from his birthland because of her political ploys, he took Creusa to bed and fully intended on marrying her despite not properly dissolving things with Medea.

Theseus was a fierce warrior and an incredibly talented king but he had a horrible temper and was almost fatally weak to women. This is the man who got imprisoned in the Underworld for trying to get a friend laid, the man who started the whole Attic War because he couldn't keep his legs closed.

And we cannot at all forget Heracles for whom a not inconsiderable amount of his joy in life was loving people then losing the people around him that he loved. Wives, children, serving boys, mentors, Heracles had a list of lovers - male and female - long enough to rival some gods and even after completing his labours and coming down to the end of his life, he did not have one wife but three.

And y'know what, just because he's a cultural darling, I'll put Achilles up here too because that man was a Theseus type where he was fantastic at the thing he was born to do (that is, fight whereas Theseus' was to rule) but that was not enough to eclipse his horrid temper and his weakness to young pretty things. This is the man that killed two of Apollo's sons because they wouldn't let him hit - Tenes because he refused to let Achilles have his sister and Troilus who refused Achilles so vehemently that he ran into Apollo's temple to avoid him and still couldn't escape.

All four of these men are still celebrated as great heroes and men. All four of these men are given the dignity of nuance, of having their flaws treated as just that, flaws which enrich their character and can be used to discuss the wider cultural point of what truly makes a hero heroic. All four of these men still have their legacies respected.

Why can that same mindset not be applied to Zeus? Zeus, who was a warrior-king raised in seclusion apart from his family. Zeus who must have learned to embrace the violence of thunder for every time he cried as a babe, the Corybantes would bang their shields to hide the sound. Zeus learned to be great because being good would not see the universe's affairs in its order.

The wonderful thing about sympathy is that we never run out of it. There's no rule stopping us from being sympathetic to multiple plights at once, there's no law that necessitate things always exist on the good-evil binary. Yes, Zeus sentenced Prometheus to sufferation in Tartarus for what (to us) seems like a cruel reason. Prometheus only wanted to help humans! But when you think about Prometheus' actions from a king's perspective, the narrative is completely different: Prometheus stole divine knowledge and gifted it to humans after Zeus explicitly told him not to. And this was after Prometheus cheated all the gods out of a huge portion of wealth by having humans keep the best part of a sacrifice's meat while the gods must delight themselves with bones, fat and skin. Yes, Zeus gave Persephone away to Hades without consulting Demeter but what king consults a woman who is not his wife about the arrangement of his daughter's marriage to another king? Yes, Zeus breaks the marriage vows he set with Hera despite his love of her but what is the Master of Fate if not its staunchest slave?

The nuance is there. Even in his most bizarre actions, the nuance and logic and reason is there. The Ancient Greeks weren't a daft people, they worshipped Zeus as their primary god for a reason and they did not associate him with half the vices modern audiences take issue with. Zeus was a father, a visitor, a protector, a fair judge of character, a guide for the lost, the arbiter of revenge for those that had been wronged, a pillar of strength for those who needed it and a shield to protect those who made their home among the biting snakes. His children were reflections of him, extensions of his will who acted both as his mercy and as his retribution, his brothers and sisters deferred to him because he was wise as well as powerful. Zeus didn't become king by accident and it is a damn shame he does not get more respect.