#i love how they’re all different flavors of gay lol

[sircarrieart]

Doodles of the vampire/werewolf trio!! I adore these guys

+ close ups of the text!!

[nami-moittli]

Ok, thinking again about how both Jonathan and Joseph are bisexual and poly n stuff, but they’re very much different flavors of bi poly

Like, with Jonathan, he’s in love with both Erina and Speedwagon. Ofc, at the time he could only be publicly monogamous and straight bc ✨1800s✨ but he’s still dating both of them (and married, in Erina’s case). However, I do think that Erina and Speedwagon aren’t together. They’re both fine with the arrangement, more than fine really, they’re good friends themselves, but Speedwagon is gay and Erina has no romantic interest in him (to me, at least, if you think all three of them are together then that’s your headcanon!) Also, I think that Erina’s the token straight, but she’s very supportive. Probably the one who told Speedwagon to try to ask out Jonathan, if we’re being real here lol

Then we get to part 2 with Joseph, Caesar and Suzie Q. Caesar and Suzie have probably been friends for a while, with Suzie being Lisa Lisa’s assistant and Caesar being her student, they’ve known each other for a while and get along quite well. When Joseph finally gets added to the equation they have a sort of friendly rivalry, “may the best one win” type situation because (unfortunately (-Caesar)) they both like him. One day Joseph calls both of them out and is like, “I really love you both, so I was wondering if you were fine with me dating both of you at the same time” and at first they’re a bit surprised, but Suzie agrees and eventually so does Caesar. After a while though, both Caesar and Suzie realize that they’re not just in love with Joseph but each other too. Anyway they’re all bisexual and polyamorous

In conclusion, joneriwagon (to me) is, *jonathan voice* “This is my wife Erina and my boyfriend Speedwagon!” And Caejoseq is three bisexual poly people all dating each other, if that makes sense

[musicalmoritz]

What are your thoughts on SakuNene?

YIPPEE another ship ask. I’m just gonna get right into it and say that I LOVE Sakunene. Character foil ships are a personal favorite of mine (Togachako and AkuAtsu how I love you dearly). I like how the similarities are drawn with each other down to their appearances, their color palettes compliment each other well and they both have the same micro bang lol

But really, them both being assistants to supernaturals yet on two different sides of good vs. evil. Sakura’s character being independent almost to a fault whereas Nene struggles with depending too much on others. Nene being emotional and wearing her heart on her sleeve vs. Sakura struggling to tell others that she cares about them. Nene making a wish out of love and Sakura making one out of destruction. The protagonist and the antagonist. It makes so much sense, they even have the gay ass trope of one of them trying to kill the other. The fact that it wasn’t personal makes it even better, Sakura has nothing against Nene and tries to be very polite and professional with her even when they’re at odds

This is also my number one ship to use as evidence for Nene being bi. I mean, come on, she basically had a crush on her. Comparing her to a porcelain doll when they first met, being completely in awe of her, blushing wildly when she got close, telling herself not to get distracted just because Sakura’s a “babe,” and then proceeding to get distracted anyways. I also think the bit of Nene thinking Sakura was Hanako’s ex is funny af, it reminds me of the song “Obsessed” by Olivia Rodrigo. I’ve been meaning to write a fic abt that but I’m not sure when I have time given all my other fic plans

I like these two best as toxic yuri, some of the fics are cute but I need more with some drama going on (I don’t mean that as slander for the fluff fics btw those are super cute and I love them). Like every TBHK femslash ship, I’ve already read through their entire ao3 tag. There was one I read where Sakura was stalking Nene, it was crazy dark but really good (“Dear Nene-Chan!” by Agilo on ao3 if you want to check it out). One of the best flavors of ships is “I just want to see them tear each other apart” and that is how I feel about Sakunene

Thank you for the ask, I had a lot of fun answering this one!

[yersina]

Any book/webnovel/manga/manhwa recs?

Oh boy. I’ll list a few for each!

Books

Lighthearted - Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (very quick read that felt approachable when I hadn’t read Real Books in a while)

Sci-fi - All Systems Red by Martha Wells (it’s a novella, so it’s short, but there’s a ton of world building and existential crises packed in there lol. Kinda also has an episodic vibe to it)

Educational - Disability Visibility by multiple authors, edited by Alice Wong (quintessential disability rights anthology. There’s also a website!)

Webnovels

Most people who visit my blog already know about sctir I think, but I’ll recommend it anyway—S-Classes That I Raised by Geunseo, which also has a manhwa

Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint by 싱숑 (Sing Syong?), which also has a manhwa

I also gently recommend most series by mxtx (墨香铜臭), which are a pretty different flavor from the above two, but are also pretty good. Lots of xianxia flavored gay angst

Manga

Have been obsessed with Kaiju No. 8 recently

Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime) by Fuse, which also has a novel and an anime. The series that cemented my love for isekai

Miira no Kaikata (How to Keep a Mummy) by Utsugi Kakeru, which also has an anime. A cute, feel good story that I absolutely love

Isekai Yakkyoku (Parallel World Pharmacy) by Takayama Liz, aka fuck big pharma. Also has an anime

Manhwa

Solo Leveling by Chugong, which technically also has a webnovel, but I experienced it solely as a manhwa and anime

I don’t actually read a lot of manhwa now that I think about it. I’ll throw Trash of the Count’s Family out there I guess?? That one’s also a webnovel too

Those are the ones that come to the top of my mind for me, so they’re probably not super surprising if you’re someone who’s relatively familiar with what I post about? Hopefully there’s something new and fun in there for you to explore tho! :)

[jeffandcyrusgetrevenge]

Suddenly obsessed with this idea, wow.

The vision flashing before my eyes is that when they do the setup for his tv wife spraining her ankle on the way home from the football game (?) (is that what happened? it’s been like 20 years since I watched this movie) he helps her but he only has eyes for the running back. At first the execs don’t clue in, they just think he’s not that interested in the girl they set him up with, but soon it becomes clear he’s harboring a serious crush. They tell the running back to go with it, but the actor who plays him is straight and kind of weirded out by the whole thing, so every interaction is stiff and awkward. Under the radar, an actual gay actor they hired to play a local loner has a few moments of gay solidarity with Truman via the Shared Look of Gay Understanding™️. The show editors finally realize something is up when they come across a very fleeting attempt by Truman at a kiss (guess who wasn’t gonna waste time pining after Mr. Running Back forever) that Local Loner kindly but firmly brushes aside. Unfortunately for him, he gets promoted to series regular after this and is instructed to return Truman’s affections. He becomes the fake TV boyfriend, and his obvious discomfort in the role gives the story arc a flavor of “see how miserable gay people are?” Eventually he gives his notice, and gets written off the show going off to take care of his ailing mother in a different state. We never hear from him again. Truman is sad and lonely. He’s sort of half-closeted, where his friends and family kind of know and kind of don’t — he never felt secure enough in that relationship to talk about it much. That’s when the network hits him with the Slutty Hunk, a borderline sleazy muscle bound gentleman who works at a construction site near Truman’s office and wolf whistles at him every morning. Truman does not care for this. Truman decides to take a vow of celibacy. The network puts a series of hot men (& women) in his vicinity but nothing seems to take. They’re all too thirsty. Truman craves connection.

Meanwhile, the actor that played Local Loner has joined a small group of political activists protesting the show, and the fact that he had such a big role in Truman’s life at one point is brought up again and again — sometimes to call him a hypocrite, sometimes to point out how deep his motivations are. The media loves drama. He always insists that it was wrong for the network to put him in that situation, and it was wrong for him to go along with it for so long. Conservative pundits take this and run with it, spinning it into a homophobic lecture about the shamelessness of the liberal media. Local Loner has to set them straight — in his first official coming out, at a time when most gay actors dodged the question at best, he takes a stand and says, No, I’m gay, and there’s nothing wrong with that — but lying to a man about his whole entire life and filming him for the entertainment of the masses, putting him in fake relationships and breaking his heart just for ratings — THAT’S wrong.

I don’t know where I’m going with this anymore but that’s what came to me lol

What if the Truman show did a queerbait arc

[wolf-queer-discourse]

Adventures in Aphobia #3

My last two Adventures in Aphobia both took on similar flavors of eye-rolling at shameless, obvious bigotry to anyone willing to look or care. But today, I found a different type of aphobia, and I’m actually eager to talk about this one. Have a read of this first.

Look, the bar of respect for ace people is so low it’s all the way in hell, but I mean, to many people, especially allosexual people, they may look at this post and think, “No, this isn’t aphobia. The poster wasn’t blatantly cruel.” But what some fail to realize is that politeness can be the thinnest of veils over the ugliest of takes. Polite bigotry gaslights the victims into thinking they can’t be upset about this.

So what’s the deal with this post?

PARAGRAPH #1 starts off innocently enough, saying ace discourse wouldn’t exist if people recognized complex relationships to sex and relationships. Even taken on its own, I do not agree with this. Ace discourse ranges all the way from outright denial of asexual existence to the strong hatred for and exclusion of aces from the queer community. Nearly everyone recognizes people have complex relationships to sex...that...that doesn’t mean ace people won’t be discriminated against. In fact, it’s an argument aphobes use constantly to try and gaslight ace people into erasing themselves. Ace discourse comes from a lot of places, but at the end of the day, it all stems from people’s refusal to acknowledge ace people and their unique experiences. This poster absolutely does not get to say “IT’s CoMpLicAteD”, and expect ace people to just disappear. Honestly, it’d be better and more honest if they said “Lol, ace people should go fuck themselves and hop to the back of the line with everyone else.”

PARAGRAPH #2 and #3 are not very objectionable on their own. Everything said is true. Society has very complicated views on sex, and life happens to all people. The ugly part of this is that the poster is setting up an argument here in which they will hand wave ace people into the “everyone else” crowd and pretend as if we’re all just too similar and no labels should even exist.

This is literally what enby-phobes do. They say “Well, gender is COMPLICATED”, which is true, but then they say “So like...aren’t we all really nonbinary when we think about it? Why should enby people label themselves?” I swear we’ve all seen this. The poster is agender. This argument could easily be whipped in their face. Different forms of bigotry can share very clear overlaps, and it’s very important to acknowledge where these arguments come from and why they exist. It exists as a way to shut people up. It happens to bi people too! Every day, people come out as bi and someone tells them “pff, everyone thinks girls are hot. I had a crush on my best friend once, that doesn’t mean I’m not straight! All people are like this!” Let’s call out this erasure where we see it. It’s not the same thing, and if anyone saying stuff like this truly believes what they’re saying, maybe they’re the ones who need to reevaluate their own identity.

PARAGRAPH #4 dips its ugly toes straight into blatant aphobia, having the gall to call ace and aro people “obsessed” with pretending their relationships with sex and romance are wholly unique and different. Nah, fuck right off with that bullshit. The poster even goes on to say ace people have created entire new social classes. Uh...WHAT? Is there some secret ace society with a caste system living in the shadows?? What is this person talking about?? I suppose you can’t be a true bigot unless you have some vague grievance to weakly hand-gesture at that you couldn’t prove given 20 years to do so. For the love of my sanity, just say you hate ace people! It’s okay! (I mean, not actually, but Jesus Christ does it save us all some time). They also say things like “somehow excluded from”. Replace asexual people with nonbinary people and take a joyride through this section, because the arguments are scarily similar. What would it take for this poster to acknowledge ace and aro people have their own experiences? Seriously, what? What holds you back from doing this?

It’s also funny to note the actual lack of substance to this argument. The poster is not giving any specific examples or even bringing up what being ace and aro mean. Yes, there is a pretty noticeable difference between feeling sexual attraction and not feeling sexual attraction. How many “allo” people do you know that say they’ve NEVER experienced this? Come on. The poster reduces asexuality and aromanticism down to allo people’s, in their own words, hyper-specific contexts where they don’t want sex or love. At least the poster admits any circumstance that allo people are comparable to ace people are extremely specific. But for real, are we hinging a whole argument on a few very specific examples of allo people having some similarity to ace people?

“Nothing about your relationship to sex or love makes you more or less LGBT. If you are gay and don’t want to have sex, ever, you are still gay. “

Mini strawman alert for the idea any ace person thinks you’re less gay if you’re also ace. And bonus points for an aphobe who refuses to use the definition of asexuality: not experiencing sexual attraction, and instead goes for “don’t want to have sex”. For the last. Fucking. Time. Not wanting to have sex and being asexual are NOT the same. Don’t make me pour gasoline in my eyes every time I see this.

After this, the poster goes on a tangent, which by the tone, seems to think it's very inspiring, and says no matter how you want to have sex (including only certain days of the week), you’re still straight! It’s so fucking condescending and gross to talk ace people out of their own identity like this.

“EVERY person who is heterosexual is different in how they perform or experience.”

Oh. My. GOD. THEY DIDN’T EVEN SAY STRAIGHT. THEY SAID HETEROSEXUAL. WUGGYUEGYUG. God help me. Can one be both bisexual and heterosexual? No…? Okay. So then. How is one both asexual AND heterosexual? What single brain cell in this poster’s head was responsible for this Chad of a sentence? I—

*deep breath* 

So. It’s interesting how the poster says “perform or experience it”. Asexuality is an identity. It is not a performance, and it is not defined by your actions. A straight person not having sex does not become asexual. And sure...people with the same label can experience their sexuality differently, but...to a point, guys. You can’t experience your sexuality out of the DEFINITION of the label. Heterosexual: Sexual attraction to the opposite gender. Asexual: Sexual attraction to no one. If a “heterosexual” isn’t sexually attracted to anyone, they are by definition, not heterosexual. It takes insane mental gymnastics to make this argument, so A for flexibility, I guess? 

“Gayness, straightness, and bisexuality are not defined by HOW you do or don’t want sex or HOW you do or don’t want to date, it’s just defined by WHO you want to be with.”

The first part of the sentence is correct, but it also defeats this person’s entire argument. Ace people AGREE with this. Being asexual is not the act of not having sex!! It’s not experiencing sexual attraction! You can google this! The second part of the sentence is mostly correct, depending on your interpretation. The issue is in part with the words the poster used: gayness, straightness and bisexuality. These words are not all equivalents. Gay could refer to sexual and or romantic orientation. Thus an ace gay person. Straightness is not actually an equal word to gayness. This is because straight is an exclusive term for a normative sexuality (in society’s eyes) in terms of sexual and romantic attraction. Some ace people DO call themselves straight, though it’s inaccurate. Ace people can be heteroromantic, but because being straight is so exclusive, you need to be both sexually AND romantically attracted to only the opposite gender.

The post basically ends telling ace people they’re all actually straight and were just confused the whole time. Lovely. And an erasure of gay aces too! Believe it or not, gay ace people do not like having their ace identities erased. Who’d have guessed?

Honestly, if anything this post is just kind of sad. A sad reflection of what people believe and how they truly do not see their own bigotry. They believe they’re freeing ace people from an incorrect label. They’re the heroes.

They’ll say “it’s okay, you’re not asexual” as if they've like...lifted a burden off of ace people. Like, “Oh, you think I’m not asexual? Cool, cool. Glad you cleared that up for me!” It’s sad how aphobes think, some very genuinely, that asexuality is just some high school party that went off the rails, and we’re all just coming out of the drunken haze, ready to go home. Ready to all laugh about it later, tease one another about how wild and silly it all was. 

Having your identity erased like this is fucking horrible, and I hope people like this can take a look in the mirror and see themselves clearly. All ace and aro people have a right to their identity, whether gay, bi, heteroromantic or anything else. End of story.

[ackackh]

Hi, your Secret Santa here! I would love to hear your thoughts on Walt, Walt and Ray's dynamic and any headcanons you may have about them :D

Hello, nice to meet you!

Oh, Walt, I adore him. He’s interesting because he seems to have a different energy from most of the others, like he obviously has the same gross dude humor but he willingly lets others enjoy the limelight. Idk I think of him as a sort of grounding presence. Part of the reason everyone feels fucked up after the bridge is not only because Walt is typically cheerful but also because he’s a grounding rod for the team’s energy. And then he’s just–gone. And what do they do without him?

With Ray that’s how I think of him. Someone who understands Ray and is that soft place to land. They take care of each other and they’re oftentimes opposites but that’s what makes their dynamic so great!

I have many headcanons that all contradict each other lol. But a big one is that Ray was the one able to take Walt out of his fog. Once they’re stateside they miss each other, and Walt finds his previous relationships didn’t evolve with him. Who else knows him like Ray does?

For extra flavor, I also grew up in VA and I understand the church culture there and how it just beats down the idea that you could be different (ie gay). Like I am very much not straight or cis and it took me 24 years or so to realize that I was, for example, in love with my best friend growing up because it never occurred to me that it could be the case! So if Walt is unaware that he is in fact, head over heels for Ray because like, Ray’s not a girl, it would make some sense. I love that “oh shit am I in love with my bestie?” shit.

Off the top of my head that’s what I got. I’m at work so my brain is mostly rot right now but please feel free to message me some more!

[mira--mira]

Another OOT question!

I know some people believe that Madara (adult) is misogynistic because of what he told Tsunade in the fourth war (about her being a weak woman) and that's a totally valid opinion! Taking into account that OOT's Madara clearly is not like that, I want to know what is your opinion regarding this. Personally, I think he didn't mean that because she is a woman she is weak, but that she is simply a woman and she is weak (like saying that she is a weak shinobi)

This got long lol

Honestly I've seen a few different theories, the "he's just a misogynist", the "Kishimoto knew he was getting backlash for how he portrays women so Madara said that and then Tsunade proved him wrong" (despite ultimately being beat), the "it was a mistranslation/comma theory and should have been read as 'you're weak, woman'" (I think is spiritually the same point you mention), the extremely creepy "well he hates women/doesn't like them this is obviously another hint he's gay" (which while this one is usually presented jokingly I dislike it so much. Male homosexuality has no intrinsic tie to misogyny and it just makes me so uncomfortable even as a joke.) However, my ultimate opinion is every character is some flavor of misogynist because Kishimoto is one and writes them like that in a mix of on purpose and by accident. This is kind of tricky because I don't know the man, I haven't consumed any content of his outside Naruto, and I don't make a habit of reading interviews or anything promotional about his writing process, so I'm reluctant to speak with any kind of definite authority but reading the manga or just watching the anime, in general, is just...terrible if you're focusing on how he portrays women and treats them like characters. This is a great essay that I like, but here are some main points that stick out to me about Kishimoto writing women.

First there are all the "missing women." By all accounts, ninja society should be split decently 50/50 on the sex ratio just like irl but...there's always one girl on a team of two boys. Besides Kurenai (and Tsume who's a special jonin but I'll count her) what prominent reoccurring female jonin do we see? Besides Anko what chunin? Count all the male characters you can and then the women and girls. Why are so many mothers housewives in magic ninja world with superpowers? Mikoto, Kushina, Yoshino, etc. How many of them don't even get named despite their husbands getting that basic acknowledgment? Ino's mom, Shino's mom, Choji's mom, Hinata's mom, Neji's mom, Gai's mom, Madara's mom, Hashirama's mom, etc.? Why out of every possible count of the Akatsuki is Konan the only woman (unless Taka is counted and then Karin is a member)?

Then there are types of women themselves. They're not allowed depth and most women's personalities can be divided by angry/shy dynamic as their main personality trait. They're always medics, always love interests, they never get to use their power to the extreme be taken seriously they're always handicapped by the narrative (see Konan and her powers as the biggest damn example of this). Sakura and Ino are the closest thing to actual friends two women are because there are so few of them in-universe but a big chunk of their relationship revolves around Sasuke. Even in that, women's relationships are ultimately dependent on men. Not even Tsunade is exempt from this. She never references Mito as an influence or major part of her character. Her biggest influences are Dan and Nawaki, her lover and her brother respectively. Her other influences were Hashirama, Hiruzen, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya. Shizune is the only woman she interacts with on a regular basis before Sakura but her story doesn't revolve around her relationship with Shizune, it's not even a major part narratively. Mei, the other extremely powerful woman with two kekkei genkai, who took over from Yagura and tried to restore Kiri's reputation from the bloody mist...is obsessed with marriage. Somehow I doubt if she'd been a man, that detail would have been kept.

I will not even begin to address the fucking mess Jiraiya is and how it's disgusting that he objectives Tsunade down to her body measurements and peeps on her in the bath all while claiming to be her friend.

And the saddest thing is this isn't just a Kishimoto problem. These are common things that are still present in media today. I hate the excuse "I don't know how to write women" it's just that, a lazy excuse. Ultimately I have no idea how canon Madara was supposed to come across with that line. I'm just not surprised or horrified by it at this point because there are so many other problems in the narrative.

OoT is my self-indulgent little fic where 95% of OCs of any kind will be women to try and drag that damn sex ratio back to even something decent and where all the looked over women will, at the very least, be given a fucking name. And I think I've mentioned in a comment or two on the fic, maybe even in one of the notes, but just in case I haven't it brings me sweet, sweet joy to headcanon the two most powerful men of their time, Hashirama and Madara, as momma's boys whose relationships with their mothers (especially Madara because of that line) cannot be overlooked or understated to understanding their characters in that AU. It's my fuck you to Kishimoto's way of handling women. And, I guess I'll announce it here lol, I'm reworking Kaguya's role in the narrative too and she's no longer getting scrapped in OoT because I'm going to make her make sense and work without alien bullshit and a flat female antagonist who appeared too late and didn't get proper build up.

[spockandawe]

What are your favorite chinese webnovels? What are some of the differences youve noticed between cnovels and other types of novels?

That second question is really, REALLY interesting, and I really want to answer it well, and I am REALLY sure I’m going to do a bad job of answering it, so let me just noodle about that first question for a minute while I try to think XD

I went through some of my TOP-top favorite novels in more detail yesterday, but generally speaking, mxtx and meatbun are both at the top of the pack. They’re really good at writing compelling main characters and balancing piles of angst with plenty of humor and pulling everything together into a very satisfying ending (which is something I don’t alwaysssss see, even in some of the novels I really like). After them, The Disabled Tyrant’s Pet Palm Fish (transmigration, ancient chinese prince falls in love with pet fish) and Golden Stage (ancient chinese gay arranged marriage between bitter enemies(?)) are two novels that I love a lot, which both have very cute romances and go a bit lighter on the main character suffering front, and which I broadly recommend to anyone who’s interested in the genre. They didn’t end stick the landing QUITE as hard as an svsss or tgcf, but they still were very nice.

Then, let me see. I’m trying to remember which books I’ve read in the last year, and am doing a terrible job, haha. I will say that a book I enjoyed for like... eighty percent of it and then the ending let me down terribly was The Dreamer In The Spring Boudoir (modern day career woman transmigrates into barely-fantasy ancient china novel as the disliked primary wife of a nobleman), which is also the only straight webnovel I’ve read so far. The main character and romance were delightful, but that ending... haha, wow, I felt betrayed. But I did like the first half very much!! I’m idly contemplating a deliberately-partial reread. Then I’m currently like two chapters away from catching up with the current translation of The Wife Is First (ancient chinese prince lives out time travel fixit fic, determined to treat his spouse better this time around). I’m also catching up on Heroic Death System (transmigration, across MANY universes, where the goal is to die heroically in each one, and also maybeeeee to find his boyfriend in each one. this shit gets fucking bananas. in one of them, he emotionally seduces his boyfriend while he’s a dolphin. in another one, he’s a sentient mushroom. i’m in the middle of a section titled ‘I Am An Evil Pen’. yes, like a writing utensil type of pen. this is the weirdest book I’ve read so far). Oh, and Thousand Autumns (righteous sect leader gets sabotaged and loses a fight, wakes up blind and amnesiac, demonic sect leader is like ‘lol i bet i can turn him evil’ and accidentally catches feelings along the way).

What else... I’m keeping up with (but behind on) some others. First, there’s How To Survive As A Villain (modern terminally ill CEO transmigrates into stallion novel, wakes up as villain, accidentally seduces hero). Then, we’ve got Transmigrating Into The Body Of The Heartthrob’s Cannon Fodder Childhood Friend (only modern webnovel I’ve read, young man transmigrates into beginning of gratuitous whump book, back in high school, and is determined to protect the protagonist from all the canonical suffering). Then there’s Pulling Together A Villain Reformation Strategy (guy transmigrates into story as the hero’s childhood friend who will eventually become his enemy and get killed, successfully acts out his part and dies, completely fails to realize he’s broken his friend’s heart in the process... and then wakes up in another character’s body). And then there’s The Villain’s White Lotus Halo (a transmigrator keeps bouncing from universe to universe as a cannon fodder villain, who gets like half a line before being killed. he tries to purchase an upgrade package so he can be a COOL villain instead, but accidentally gets sold a ‘white lotus halo’ package instead, so that no matter what he does, everyone is just DEEPLY moved by his appearance and is positive he did nothing wrong). All of those are EXTREMELY delightful. You may notice a running transmigration theme, which....... yeah, I think there are a TON of delightful stories in the webnovel scene that deal with this genre, which seem so rare in English language media.

Which makes a good transition point to what’s different about the cnovel scene! I’ve seen hardly any transmigration stories in English, and I’ve got a couple go-to examples for when I’m trying to explain it, but like. Only a couple. Which is such a shame! Like, there’s the default idea of ‘I was reading this book and then I woke up inside the book!!’ but it’s clearly such an established genre that people are playing with it in all kinds of interesting ways, like in The Villain’s White Lotus Halo or Heroic Death System setups. It’s kind of wild to me, because it seems like such a gimme for a nice easy story structure? Whatever kind of world you want to present, there’s no need to introduce it to the reader from the ground up, or find a good way to hook them in. Either the main character read the book in question and can explain the premise and why we should care in pov, or the main character is new to the universe too, and trying to find their own footing. I enjoy it a lot! I’ve sampled transmigration books that didn’t grab me, but I’ve sampled way more that did. 

And then, the one semi-technical answer I thought of to this question was the way that these novels tend to handle pov. It’s not a hard-and-fast rule that regular novels are restricted to one pov, or that pov can only change at hard breaks in the story, but if I saw a bog-standard american novel glide from pov to pov the way these novels regularly do, I would tend to wonder if it was sloppiness or a mistake, or I would grump to myself about how I don’t like omniscient third person pov. And I still don’t know exactly what I think about this, or why it’s different in here, but I’m pretty sure I like it a lot, especially for stories where the romance tends to play a large part :V 

I used to read a lot of Books About Writing, and read plenty of stuff about why you don’t DO this, but.... I like it! In dtppf, Jing-wang can’t talk, and when Li Yu is a fish, he can’t talk, and drifting from one of their perspectives to the other gives me lots of useful information about how they’re both feeling. Could that be conveyed through restricted pov? Maybe! But I’m typesetting the svsss extras right now, and I’m in the bing-ge vs bing-mei section, and we get a few brief flashes of bing-ge’s thoughts, and it’s so NICE. It’s information I would not have otherwise received, because Shen Qingqiu sure wasn’t going to notice it. But early in the story, that pov was withheld from me, which also made sense (or hua cheng’s pov was withheld from me FOREVER, which makes me so sad ;u;). There don’t seem to be any hard and fast rules, which makes me really nervous about writing fic and trying to match the style, but I do like it a lot! 

And I’m definitely not able to articulate this in the way that I would like to, or speak with any real authority (I’m not that widely read in the cnovel scene, and i’m not very genre-adventurous in english), but there’s something about the role that the romances play in these stories that’s different from what I’m used to expecting, and it’s VERY tasty to me. I only rarely read romance novels, because I’m not often interested in the romance as a primary plot driver, but the romances in these books play a more substantial role than I’m used to expecting. And I’m into it! It’s a balance closer to what I’d expect from, like, a shippy longform fanfic. Which covers a lot of ground and is NOT a precise measure, but there’s more emotional weight given to the romance than I would expect, but without the romance carrying ALL of the emotional weight, and it strikes a perfect balance for me in a way I’m not used to encountering. Now, some of this could definitely be due to me not finding the right authors, or right subgenres, or whatever. But in the genres I inhabit, it’s a subtle difference, but one I find compelling.

Oh, one last thing. The cultural differences, duh :P I’m only familiar with things like, say, ancient chinese court etiquette through a lens of fan-translated novels like these, and I didn’t grow up steeped in the culture in a way I’m used to the trappings of something like medieval european courts. But there’s a distinct flavor to the social dynamics of these novels, from the formal levels down to the casual, and I know it’s super intricate and detailed and that authors play with differing degrees of historical accuracy vs fictional fun, and I wish I was better equipped to speak to the nature of any of this. But I find it really compelling! I recognize that it’s only new to ME because I didn’t seek out chinese media before now. And, the point that I originally wanted to get to before I got super distracted: the flirting. The flirting and teasing are a very different flavor from what I would expect in most english language media, and I love it, even if I can’t speak to how much of that is purely cultural, and how much of it is like... the conventions of How Fiction Is Written varying by culture, if that makes sense. I adore seeing what flirting and affection and indulgence and attentiveness look like in different settings, and these books, with their heavy romantic focus, absolutely deliver.

[bigskydreaming]

So, how far do you think Jasons booktastes goes? Is he like a hard-core classic fan or does it variate between his moods?

Absolutely the latter, IMO. I know there’s a tendency to lean hard into the idea that Jason’s just all about the classics, but I think overall we have a rather finite and white European and American skewed 'definition’ of what constitutes a classic in the first place, and you know me and my classist rantings.....unless you don’t but whatever, now you do, I’m personally leery of over-emphasizing Jason’s sophisticated reading palette or whatever as like, some kind of pushback against his otherwise lower-class origin because I don’t think its necessary. I mean who knows if that’s how its intended in any given specific situation, but I definitely feel like there’s a general undercurrent of that threaded through a lot of Jason’s depictions overall that I’m like ‘no thanks’ to.

I think Jason’s all over the place as a reader. His only defining characteristic as a reader IMO is that he’s a voracious one, and he reads anything and everything he can get his hands on, and finds something appealing and in new and different ways in every genre. I think as his skills develop as Robin and a detective, he hungrily reads mystery novels to see how quickly he can figure out who did it. I think he reads true crime to try and solve it ahead of the book’s conclusions the same way we’ve seen Dick solve cases watching America’s Most Wanted. 

I think before traveling was an option for Jason, living with Bruce, he enjoyed travel guides/pieces and nonfiction, to get a sense of places far away from Gotham. I think once he was living with Bruce and encountering colleagues of his dad’s who were literally from other planets and had advanced technology and magic, he had a growing personal collection of fantasy and sci-fi books just so when he did get a chance to join Bruce when he was around other heroes he could be like “okay I read in this one book where they did this spell are there any real spells like that huh huh?” or “so in this one series they had a spaceship that could do this do you know of any spaceships that are like that like could that be real?” I think he loves mythology because a) he’s gay duh and b) Diana is an actual Amazon, like why wouldn’t you love mythology when you could fact-check Edith Hamilton against an actual Amazon it just makes sense.

I think he’s got shelves full of old-school dimestore pulp fiction novels, the long-running series kinds, because he doesn’t think cheap equals bad and also they’re just fun. And also also, he loves the serialized nature of a lot of works because one of the biggest evidences of stability in his young life, before ADITF, like, one of the things that finally got him thinking like wow this is like how I live now huh, was the realization that when before, the unpredictable nature of his life meant he kinda just had to read things in one go and not count on ever being able to follow up on them, like......when living with Bruce, he suddenly just realized one day that like, all those series that have so many more books in them than I could ever read in one go, the kind of things you’re meant to RETURN to, to follow along over periods of months and years.....I can do that now, here. 

And even after his return as the Red Hood, once he slowly started settling into his new life and put his focus not just towards reacting to his trauma but trying to build beyond that again and have actual hobbies, interests, etc.....one of the biggest evidences to him that he could do that, be more than JUST the Red Hood, was literally no different from when he first had that epiphany living with Bruce. When he looked into all those series that he perhaps never got to finish, or that were still ongoing when he was killed, and found an unexpected continuity in the reminder and awareness that they were still out there, waiting for him to finish them, that they were still being published, available for him to catch up......that his life had ended, but then he came back so maybe it was more just interrupted. That so many things are different now from how they were before, but some things are still the same, that he’s so different now but in some ways he IS still the same.

Like yeah, sure, I do think he’s got plenty of Jane Austen on his shelves, but he’s also got Octavia Butler and Ursula K. LeGuin and Mary Shelley not once but twice....nah let’s go wild and make it five times....cuz I think he’s got very specific SYSTEMS for how his books are arranged, one of those particular things that arose from the awareness that he actually COULD be particular about his books, that it was entirely up to him......and once he found out that Frankenstein’s Monster existed he was like okay but is the book based on that or was that based on the book, did art imitate life or did life imitate art I HAVE TO KNOW IF IT GOES IN FICTION OR NON-FICTION! And so Alfred and Bruce and Dick and Barbara all had the same idea of like, why not both, both is good, and gave him an extra copy and so he ended up with like five copies of Frankenstein.

Also, literally every time he ends up with a case or aware of a case where vampires or werewolves or aliens or gods are involved, you can find a whole new section of fiction and nonfiction on the related subject in his room, and he’s scribbled all throughout the margins like LOL WELL THIS ISNT RIGHT and NOPE GOT THIS WRONG and IF THIS AUTHOR WAS ALIVE TODAY I WOULD TELL THEM RIGHT TO THEIR STUPID FACE ABOUT HOW NOT ACCURATE THEIR SAFETY PROTOCOLS FOR DEALING WITH VAMPIRES ARE LIKE THATS THE LAST TIME I BRING GARLIC TO A VAMPIRE FIGHT AND THINK IM DOING ANYTHING BUT SMELLING LIKE A TASTY PASTA FLAVORED TREAT, LIKE THANKS FOR NOTHING YOU ABSOLUTE HACK.

(Also I think Jason thinks Poe’s a pretentious boor, mostly because I find it funny to script scenes in my head where Jason just goes OFF about various authors and his Opinions on them, but he still likes his stuff for the mood and is like DONT @ ME, IM COMPLICATED, but this is entirely because of an old personal headcanon of mine where like, the frequent references to the gothic nature of Gotham tied to Jason’s very Gothammite nature resulted in my brain doing a What If where Jason either post-Robin-where-he-didn’t-die or even post-Red Hood picks a raven themed ensemble and calls himself something like Nevermore, and is like, Caw Caw, Im Gotham, Bitch).

In summation, I think Jason is eclectic as hell, and like, if its a book, and he’s got the time, he’s gotta read it because duh, that’s just the law of the jungle, he’s like lololol what there’s a book and I’m just what, just not going to read it? That’s what you think? LMAO that makes no sense you sound so dumb right now.

[tequiladimples]

I hope this doesn't come off as rude, but I saw that you dislike when collision is branded het cause you're not het, but no one's talking about you personally? like for me, I really like collision but I can understand the criticism in a way and that isn't an attack on you (or an attack at all lol). again hope I'm not rude but idk it seems unnecessary to get upset, it's better to take it as constructive criticism

sigh i don't think ur rude but it simply isn't constructive.

look i’ll talk abt this one more time n then i Beg we can put it to rest! (this is gna be a lot of word vomit but if i'm elaborative now i hope i won't have to talk abt this ever again)

i’m deeply insecure abt many aspects of collision. i don’t really keep that a secret. i also know some ppl don't like fantasy, some ppl don't like the kinds of dynamics i like, some ppl don't vibe with my style of writing (hell, i barely vibe with my style of writing). those things are fine. i can't control that and i don't take that personally. the reason why this is the one critique i do take personally is because it genuinely presumes wrongful, harmful things about me and my values, especially when i've made deliberate efforts to avoid writing the exact flavor of fic they're accusing me of having written. just because people don’t mean for what they say to reflect back on me, doesn’t stop it from doing so.

the thing about calling something a “het fic” is that the term brings along certain connotations which i don’t stand by at all and feel deeply uncomfortable and distraught to possibly have created. i’ve gone over this godforsaken story again and again just to be absolutely sure i didn’t actually do so. when people say “het fic” they generally don’t mean “boy meets girl and they fall in love”, they mean “super rude and mean boy meets uptight virtuous girl and makes her fall in dependence with him through manipulation and treating her like shit until she behaves how he wants.” and that is straight up not the fic i wrote. i’m not stupid. i know the dynamic i went with is widely and easily misused and there’s a lot of fiction depicting really bad, uneven, unhealthy relationships through it. i knew this going in, and i’ve tried persistently to avoid making those same mistakes. 

skipping over the fact that they’re both boys (bc duh)--harry doesn't exhibit any real manipulative power over louis. collision harry is a grumpy, fruity little nerd who happened upon a really unfortunate lot in life and managed to trick himself into believing he's evil for like half a second of the story and his resolves crumble like a danish pastry the moment he receives his first hug. he's kind of aloof and arrogant, and understandably hardened from his past, but he's not bad. he's just lost. that's the basis of his character arc. now on the other hand, louis has harry wrapped around his finger starting like chapter 4. harry’s the one who opens up emotionally first, harry’s the one desperately seeking louis’ approval and caring about his opinion, harry’s the one who makes himself vulnerable continuously throughout the entire story. the only time louis makes himself vulnerable on a comparable scale is during the smut scenes, and even then, harry is gentle and attentive and puts louis first. louis is less experienced than harry in that area, but he isn't scared or intimidated by harry, and he has full reigns of the progression and nature of their relationship as a whole. that’s kind of how it needs to go with tough x soft dynamics for the power balance to not feel uneven, and i wrote the story accordingly. if you then happen to still be so blindly determined to associate soft/small with weakness (and thereby uh, womanhood ig) that you still felt like louis had an inferior position to harry solely because he is indeed soft/small, that sounds quite frankly like a you problem.

now, the whole point of louis’ character is that he’s underestimated. sure, he’s naive and self-centered and sheltered from the real world--that’s the basis of his character arc. those things all change. but louis isn’t ever weak. like idk who apparently needs to hear this but you can be small and simultaneously not be a pushover. the two aren’t mutually exclusive. there isn’t a single time louis takes shit in this story, especially not from harry; he gives back as good as he gets every time. oh! and then he literally saves the entire universe and the execution of that whole thing was his idea alone. i tried really hard to underline how strong-willed and full of grit he is to contrast what others think of him. if you think he’s portrayed as a meek and frail damsel, you missed the point. once again, i feel like we circle back to this misconception of louis being kind of naive and physically small = louis being inferior = louis being female. just do some soul searching.

(i could also get into the fact that for a bunch of people who don’t know these boys personally (no matter how much we like to think we do), this fandom is weirdly opinionated about characterization. especially regarding sexual stuff. i know creating a version for ourselves of who we think these boys are based on things we recognize in ourselves or things we find endearing is part of the comfort with loving them. but that doesn’t really equate to actually knowing them, and besides, this is fan fiction; no one’s opting to write a biography, anyway. being experimental and explorative and putting different aspects of their personalities in different lightings is what makes fic fun. if someone’s writing harmful or one-dimensional characters, that’s one thing, and preferences is again whatever floats your boat. but the “out of character” argument feels mostly really strange to me. this is a bit of a tangent, though.)

lastly, the thing is that i will and i do take it personally if someone insinuates that a character--a gay character--that i, a lesbian, construed is a secret vessel for expressing heterosexual attraction. if someone calls louis a “self-insert”, that does reflect back on me. and to elaborate on that--i don’t particularly love to bring it up, but it's quite disheartening to pour personal PTSD experiences into a character and rly put effort into doing it right and justice and underline growth and healing, just to find out people disregard all that completely in favor of declaring that my self-projection lies in the attraction to a man--which is to say, the one thing i couldn’t possibly feel more estranged from. it's so incredibly tactless. i feel thoroughly whiny at this point but how is that not supposed to make me a little sad?

anyway. none of this is to say that you can’t dislike or critique collision. you can. sometimes ppl don’t like things. but i hope i’m clear about where i’m coming from with my discomfort now. people’s preferences and dislikes are indeed not mine to be hurt by, but these things are. this definitely got unnecessarily long and i probably look like i take myself unbearably seriously (i promise i don’t), so i’m sorry. but at least i've said everything now, and if i encounter this sort of rhetoric in the future, i have something to redirect people to. also anon, none of this is directly pointed at you, i know you mean well. take care <3

[jrueships]

i know you posted it like 5 days ago but please go into detail about joel/brad i am intrigued

OKAY SO . It all started with 'bradley beal keeps trolling the sixers, SPECIFICALLY joel embiid' and embiid's response was just "Shut up" which honestly kingshit like wizards were getting swept why is bradley going insane asylum???? BUT after the games they...

SO ... what *I* read into it was rivals who banter and annoy each other incessantly but just enough to create the romantic tension of a begrudgingly respect. We all KNOW about Joel's kinda very cocky humor. Though he IS cognizant of his confidence, so he brags with a purpose (unlike pg who just does it for ego really). He wants to get in opponets' heads and make em mad. A true troll! But with beal it was different. Bradley fought hard against them even if they were outclassed and he didn't lose any hope, and I think joel can really respect that. He never gave into any old teasing technique and joel didn't really try any against him tbh! And I think that's because he knew he didn't have to because Brad is just a kinda laid back cheeky kinda guy now! Also bradley can take Joel's jokes and taunts really well instead of just getting mad and giving up. It seems like a ship that has very good back to forth banter where there isn't a clear aggravater for all the clashes. Sometimes beal is the little shit. Sometimes joel!!! It's an even matched battle of the wits and the comedy!!!

Though I think joel is definitely better at the new gen z humor while bradley is still kinda catching up. He makes joel cringe sometimes but joel can't help but continue being invested in his funny little antics!

Also um .. height difference lol . BUT really what drew me to it was their bickering dynamic. Both probably finding the other super annoying but can't help but be amused by the other's shenanigans!!! Joel could easily just. Push bradley over and smite him but he doesn't because bradley is just Too funny to banter with and doesn't back down!

ALSO also they both have similar styles on helping the rookies! Like they're both actually really supportive to them but also LOVE to pull at their strings and make them groan like embarrassed teenagers. It's a teasing kind of platonic love! Idk I'm weak for couples who'd make great 'parents' to the rookies. Joel properly calls his rookies his "little ones" and Brad calls his rookies "his kiddos"

BUT the main fic that is fueling this is my wip superhero au fic about them going against Ice Trae (trae with ice powers. I know. I get 5 damage everytime I write their superhero names.) And his (sidekick) supervillain partner Cool Collins (john Collins with .. wind powers. So he can like. Carry and aim the icicles trae makes. Shoot em out LMAO). The battle happens on Washington turf so beal, a B class hero with simple wizard powers (silly magic tricks), is there to stop him but to his surprise, The Process, Joel embiid whose powers basically increase the longer a fight goes on but restart when a fight is done, jumps 'to his aid' mainly because he doesn't believe Beal is strong enough to fend off the two villains LMAO. He's just there to rub in his strength to Beal's face. Banter ensues, they both kinda get in each other's ways. It's two dumb people vs two dumb people because trae and John are also very dumb. They have chemistry but they're just... really stupid. Like in one part trae needs to hydrate for more ice so john gets him a glass of water... from the lake. Trae spits it out and I like "bro wtf why did u give me salt water???? That just dehydrates u more??" And john genuinely is surprised at his negative reaction, "??? What do u mean it dehydrated u?? It's WATER??? that's literally the opposite of its??? Function???? Sorry I wanted your water to have some flavor in it bro! What are you???white??? Can't stand salt?????"

And meanwhile brad and Joel are just competing against each other by showing off their powers. Joel just collapses an innocent building to show off then brad rebuilds it. It's just a ton of dumb people being dumb with each other

But there's mandatory "one person saves the other but then they get saved by the other". Joel pushes beal out of the way and shields him from a collapsing giant icicle that just shatters all cool against his durable back. He kinda smirks down at Beal underneath him and goes "you're welcome, little man" and beal rolls his eyes and laughs. But then a blast of wind sends them tumbling too close off a cliff. Beal grabs hold of a ledge and catches the falling joel by creating a teleporting portal under him. Joel lands safely and Beal, while still scrambling for purchase on a cliff, grins at him all cheeky-like and replies "my pleasure, big man"

BUT YEAH... it's just a really good dynamic! I'm a sucker for good switching banter despite my hatred for writing dialogue 😭 but like even younger Joel and Brad are so good with each other. Younger Brad was a lot more snappy and moody so I think joel would have a lot of fun bothering him LMFAO. They cameo in my highschool theater tech markelle fultz x jazz piano player theater geek de'aaron fox.

Basically joel is on the tech crew as well, a senior/junior (I'm still deciding). But he's SUPPOSED to be supervising markelle and helping him with the lights and sound during a jazz concert but of COURSE he's too unbothered to and just spends the night playing nintendogs on the ds (he's just there for the mandatory community service hours) . When he finally notices that markelle is drifting off with the spotlight and keeps aiming it at Fox instead of Donovan during his drum solo, joel kind of gets up and is like "hey... I should stop this..."

But then he thinks and sits back down like "hrm... nah I'm too lazy lol. I still need to teach my dog how to sit." And just goes back to not helping.

So bradley, a senior/junior stage manager calls them on their shared radio. First fultz picks up the walkie talkie so brad is all nice to him and has a kinder tone like "heey fultz buddy<3 can you please put Joel on the radio please? Thank you dude, you're doing greaat <3!!" And as soon as Joel gets on the radio he just starts screaming at him KABDISJWBDA like "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOIN EMBIID?? yOU DUMB BITCH!!! GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND REPOSITION THAT LIGHT!!!" And joel just replies "no." So then beal reveals the reason why joel is letting markelle get away with taking the spotlight off donovan's drum solo, which is "YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS THAT DONOVAN TOOK YOUR SPOT ON THE JAZZ 1 BAND BECAUSE /YOU/ GOT KiCKED OUT FOR PLAYING THE PORN SONG ON THE XYLOPHONE." which REALLY gets joel going because it's true lmao. They start arguing on the phone, joel defending his actions by saying "fultz is MY little. He can do whatever he wants!!" And brad replying "Shut the fuck up. Go be a supervisor and fix your shit!!"

Eventually they get so caught up in arguing with each other that they just forget about the whole situation altogether because they're THAT angry with each other.

Markelle eventually repositions the light when he comes to the gay epiphany that fox doesn't NEED a spotlight to shine because he'll always be beautiful no matter what or smthin so he shines it back on Donovan and everything resumes normally

buT yEAH! There's my essay that really doesn't explain why my mind works the way it does <3 but it's written anyways LMFAO I hoped it helped somewhat!!!! THANK you for asking I LOVE talking about my nonsense rarepairs even if they still end up being nonsense LMAO

[rahleeyah]

Birthday anon (again!!!) here. I loved you last chapter of Hell of a View, I really like how you write Kathy, like a normal person (I guess) and I cannot wait for Elliot to tell the kids. I mean it was due, if my dad was having a baby with another woman I would definitely want a heads up (at the very least).

Also following up from the religion “issue”, I definitely agree that it is different from person to person (here too obviously) but the vibe I am getting here in Italy is much more like the first friend you described, especially among younger generations (and that’s maybe why I do kind of relate, even if I am an only child - I do have a huge ass family on my dad’s side, even though that’s more due to the fact where I lived has been a very poor area for a long time, where people mainly were agricultural workers) but also the vibe is that private sins matter a lot more if the community knows about them than by themselves.

Also, I will look up in details what Evangelicals are (cause to tell the truth I have no idea). I’m so sorry for your friend who got the marriage annulled, it is not common at all (here at least, I even asked my parents if they knew somebody who did that - because they are from another generation - and they said: no, why? There’s divorce isn’t it?) and from what I know it’s very hard and expensive. I agree that American Catholics (and religion in general I must admit) is a lot louder: I once hosted a kid from probably the Mid-West, who used at least a kg of his luggage for a huge (huge) Latin Bible, asked me if I could read it (sorry kid, Latin and Italian are not exactly the same thing) and then proceeded to ask me if it was true in Italy women go to the beach topless (which sometimes yes, but the French are big on that one). Overall it was very funny, but it really shocked me.

Hoped to get a smile on your face with my blabbering, if you ever want to visit this side of the Atlantic (and if I’m still here) I will de-anonize and be a tourist guide, it’s the minimum I can do for what you’ve done form me! ❤️

Kisses from Rome xx

Thank you so much anon! It was important to me to keep Kathy and Elliot friends in this story bc at this point in canon they are still friends. They're playing nice at mass when the twins get confirmed. They're having drinks, even going so far as to talk about getting back together. I left that bit out of my story but the point is that she didn't cut him off, didn't hate him; she just couldn't live with him anymore and when she doesn't have to they do all right. They care about each other, they want to take care of their kids. So it felt right for the story to keep their relationship friendly. They've been separated like two years at this point, so Kathy's got some distance and isn't trying to get him back, so there's no need for her to be super OTT jealous.

And your story about the exchange student made me lol first up I only know the one person who's gotten an annulment, it's not common here, either, my understanding is it's a long, very involved process with very strict requirements, so that's why it was my example of somebody who takes their faith very, very seriously. If she'd just gotten divorced, she couldn't get remarried in the church, and that mattered a lot to her.

But omg this kid with the latin bible. When I was in high school we hosted a German exchange student for a while - and she was super lovely and we had so much fun and I got to go and stay with her family in Germany and it was like honestly the best experience of my teenage years BUT ANYWAY - and she was really surprised by how big a deal church was in my small town. Everybody went to church. Twice on Sundays, and Wednesday nights, and more if there were special programs or things going on. Growing up it was not uncommon for me to spend all day on Sunday at church; go to Sunday School, go to service, get some lunch, back for choir practice, then Sunday night church things, service for the grownups and programs for the kids. And the exchange student, she was like you live like this? And I was like oh my god I know tell me about it.

A fun thing that I just remembered is there was definitely a night when me and one of my friends were hanging out with the exchange student WATCHING SVU AND TRYING TO EXPLAIN TO HER THAT LIV AND EL WERE IN LOVE so like. I've always been like this (I have no idea if this is true or not but in my bones I believe it was Fault. It would have been 2006 ish so it feels possible)

Anyway. Especially in rural areas American Christianity, whatever the flavor, tends to be pervasive, and sheltered. America is culturally Christian whether it wants to accept that or not, and when you grow up in an environment where everyone looks and acts just like you it's shocking to step out into the real world and realize that's not true. Everybody goes to church and sex is taboo and the gay abortionists are coming for your guns and that's all you know if that's all you ever see. Hopefully this kid's horizons expanded a little while he was abroad lmao

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #355

“despite all my rage, i am still just a rat in a cage”

Have you ever shared a shower or bath with someone as an adult? No, only as a kid. What kind of pizza toppings do you like? Meats or jalapenos. When did you first take a shot of alcohol? Never, and I'm not interested. Did you babysit for money when you were in middle school? No. Who is your favorite band? How long have they been? Ozzy Osbourne, since middle school. Has the last person you kissed ever been to your house? My old house, yes. Not the one I currently live in. Have you ever been to a spa? Only because my friend at the time took me. When talking on the phone, do you place it against your left or right ear? My right. What’s your favourite Lunchables meal? The nachos one. Do you like Bob Marley? NO. Omg his voice is awful. Have you ever eaten at Golden Corral? Yeah. I'm not a big fan. Do you sit and eat dinner at the same table with your family? We only ever do that if my sister is over (she comes for dinner once a week). Are you listening to any music right now? If so, what are you listening to? Yeah, Violet Orlandi's cover of "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" by The Smashing Pumpkins. God she's so beautiful and talented and asdfjkaljddkfjlwkee FUCK I'm gay for her. Who was the last person to make you genuinely smile? Watching Mark. :') Is there something you want to say to someone but can’t/won’t? Yeah. Do you like men who have a sensitive side? Yes. Please be in touch with your emotions, for the love of God. Have you ever tried to get someone into a certain band/artist? Not persistently, no, but Mini is a case where me mentioning them enough got her to listen to them. Metallica, by the way. They're her favorite band because of mwah, haha. Have you ever carved you and someone else’s initials into a tree? It's possible, but I don't believe so. Do you like Dairy Queen? Love it. They're Oreo Cupfection thing is BOMB. Is there anyone you know with an amazing personal success story? Yes. I have a friend Shannen who first was a widely-recognized photographer in the state, and now she's a fashion designer (or something like that) up in New York. Is there a song in a different language that you can sing? A number of Rammstein songs. How do you feel about bands that use pyrotechnics in live concerts? So long they're well-made for safety reasons, I don't care much. They do seem a bit unnecessary, though; like just look at James Hetfield's accident that burned half his body because of standing in the wrong place. It seems easy to fuck up and get in a dangerous range. Ever fallen down a hole? No. Do you like bananas? Yeah. How long do you normally spend in the shower? Not even 10 minutes, usually. I've never understood how people can take such long showers. Have you ever been a featured member on any website? Yeah, on a Silent Hill fansite. Have you ever had any weird pets? Not by my standards. A ball python morph is as "weird" as it gets. Are you currently talking to/texting/instant messaging anyone? Nope. Have you ever experienced insomnia? Ugh, yes. I went through a horrible insomnia spell, and I still have an awful time trying to fall asleep. Do you like egg nog? Nooo. Would you ever wear Converse with a prom/formal dress? I'm not opposed to it, but realistically I'd probably wear something more traditionally suiting just because. Do you prefer hot chocolate with or without marshmallows? Without. How many different people of the opposite sex have you cried over? I've cried all the oceans over just one lol. Would you rather be a surgeon or mortician? Being a mortician actually doesn't sound awful, weird as it sounds. It sounds almost relaxing if I could just be alone with some music doing my job. Would rather be a musician or a painter? A painter. Would you rather write your own book or make your own movie? I'd love to write a book. At home, do you have a trampoline? No. When you are about to go to bed, do you put on some sort of noise? No. What is your favorite Christmas movie? Jim Carrey's How The Grinch Stole Christmas. And what about your favorite Christmas song? Probably "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" or whatever it's called. "Carol of the Bells" too, of course. What is your ultimate favorite stocking stuffer? Haha, okay so it seems to be an unspoken rule that Mom always gets us Slim Jims for our stockings, and that's obviously the best considering my sisters and I loooove them yet still don't buy them much. You're making me ready for Christmas, lol. After Halloween, do you sort out all of your candy into little piles? I did as a kid, and then my sisters and I would trade what we preferred. When you listen to music with headphones, do you keep the volume low enough to hear surrounding noise faintly, or do you blast it? It's honestly pretty loud. What did you have for breakfast this morning? Cold pizza from dinner leftovers last night. What’s the largest animal you’ve ever had as a pet? Our late boxer mix, Cali. She was a big 'ole pup. Do you own any kind of helmet? No. Out of everything currently in your refrigerator, what food or drink is your favorite? Food: strawberries. Drink: Mountain Lightning. What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had? Either when I skinned my knees so deep that pus was visible, or when I fainted onto my chin and got a short, but very deep cut. Do you like the taste of cough syrup? No. What is something you like to have conversations about? I like talking about deep stuff, like where we came from, our unique feelings and beliefs, conspiracy theories and cryptids, mysterious stuff like that, too. And don't forget animals. And Mark, haha. What all is in the trunk of your car? I don't have a car, and I don't remember what's in Mom's trunk, even though I helped bring in groceries just the other day. Do you ever put fruit on your cereal? Ew, no. Is your heat or air conditioning currently on? Our AC is currently on because it's too damn hot. The weather here has been so up and down, it's wild. Have you ever fallen off of a horse? No. Which do you value more, your appearance or your intelligence? Honestly? I'd be dumber than I already am if it meant being happy with how I look, because my appearance now is a key factor to my depression. When was the last time you drove something other than a car or truck? Oh jeez... I have no idea. I don't think since I've driven a golf cart at someone's b-day party as a kid. Were your grandparents present when you were born? No. If you drink/smoke, how often do you do these things? I don't smoke, and I only have a drink or two very rarely, usually just on special occasions. What do you think of fast food? I like it way more than I wish I did. What website do you spend the most time on and why? YouTube, because I'm always listening to and/or watching something. What’s the most amount of time you’ve spent online? Is this usual for you? In one non-stop setting, I don't want to know. I pretty much only exist on the computer. When it comes to travel, what kinds of places intrigue you most? Mountainous, loads of nature, cooler/cold, mysterious locations... stuff like that. Do you think humans colonizing Mars is a good idea? Would you go, if you could? If we learn from our goddamn mistakes and not fuck up its environment, it could be healthy or even life-saving for humanity, but I'd prefer to stay on Earth as long as possible. What is the farthest you’ve walked in one day and what made you do it? I dunno, maybe at Disney World or something like that as a kid. What is something important that’s often on your mind lately? Physical health stuff. I'm worried about a lot of things relating to that. What about something unimportant, but you can’t stop thinking about it? I don't know about "unimportant," at least to me. Do you like oatmeal? If so, what kinds of things do you like in it? Yeah. I only really eat the cinnamon apple ones; I always use milk and sprinkle some sugar in there, and it's delicious. What was going on the last time you felt nostalgic? When Mom and I stopped at Jason's house to bring the family some treats following his mother's death. I stayed in the car and couldn't even look towards the house, but yeah. So many memories just stampeded me. How much attention do you pay to the movements of the stars and planets, and do you believe they influence anything? I pay zero attention to it; I don't believe they have influence over people in any way. What is the most difficult or involved video game you’ve ever played? I guess you could say World of Warcraft. It's definitely the most involved, like I've been playing it almost consistently since 2014, and I used to be in a Heroic raid team, which certainly wasn't easy. Then there's some achievements I busted my ass to get. Which accent do you find most sexy, alluring or appealing? British is where it's at. Which accent do you find most annoying, disturbing, or bothersome? Extremely Southern ones. Can you cry on cue? Is it any kind of useful? No. Does it take you a while to actually get jokes? Embarrassingly, it frequently does. Can you wear socks to bed or does it annoy you? Ugh, I could never. I hate the feeling of socks. Have you ever bleached your hair? By myself, no, but a professional has to dye it. Do you like jelly beans? They're okay. It really depends on the flavor, and even then I can't eat a lot of them. Do you have trouble sleeping when it’s storming? Yes, but not because it scares me, but rather that I'm just jumpy. Subtle thunder isn't so bad, and I LOVE the drone of heavy rain, but once you add booming thunder and strong flashes of lightning, it's too disruptive for me to fall asleep easily. Who was the last person you know that graduated? (high school or college) My not-so-little sister is just about to finish her Master's lakdsjfakwe I'm so proud of her. Were you happy or sad when you found out your babysitter was coming? I think I was always kinda bummed out, even though I liked my babysitters. I had horrible separation anxiety from my mom. Did you have a boyfriend in kindergarten? No, but I did have this one guy who'd been like obsessed with me since pre-k and would always chase me to hug and kiss me. In pre-k it was awful, but he still did it sometimes in kindergarten, despite the teachers getting on him about it. It's actually a memory I forgot for a very long time, like I think my brain tried to oppress it, and I wonder if it has anything to do with my fear of people standing behind me, men specifically, and being raped. Did you ever read the Magic Treehouse series? Oh yes, I was obsessed! Who was your best friend in elementary school? It jumped between Brianna, Kim, and Quiata. Did you ever watch The Land Before Time movies? YESSSSS. I even had the computer game. Did you collect anything when you were a kid? Stickers. I'd put them on my dresser everywhere to the point it was absolutely covered. Did you get an allowance? No. Not because my parents didn't want to or anything, but rather they couldn't afford allowances to three kids. Were you into American Girl dolls? Nah. I got one, but I think it was mostly so my sisters and I each had our own. Nicole, however, was sooooo into them. Were you friends with your childhood neighbors? Some, yeah, especially the boy down my street named D'Andre. We would hang out ALL the time, be it at each other's houses or just riding our bikes. He actually got married very recently and I'm so happy for him, ahhhhh!! What was your biggest fear when you were a kid? Thunderstorms. Did you ever play the "Reader Rabbit" computer games? Oh my god, YES. The one where you were hosting a surprise birthday party was my absolute favorite. Did your parents let you drink soda growing up? Yes. .-. What was your favorite kind of cake as a kid? Chocolate, of course.

[jackswolfe]

i was tagged by the love of my life, my girlfriend and my wife all in one apparently? @lucamarinellli​ thanks boo x 

what is the color of your hairbrush? black

name a food you never eat: anything that came out of the sea like please put it back

are you typically too warm or too cold? either too cold or too warm, i’m never comfortable

what were you doing 45 mins ago? i think making icons lkdjfg

what’s your favorite candy bar? the cadbury dairy milk caramel one 🥺

have you ever been to a professional sports game? no... i’m gay your honour

what is the last thing you said out loud? “ciao” lmao

what is your favorite ice cream? ben and jerry’s phish food it’s heavenly !!!

what was the last thing you had to drink? strawberry tea 🥺 

do you like your wallet? i don’t have a wallet ldkjfg my cardholder is cute though it’s holo!!

what is the last thing you ate? i can’t remember tbh

did you buy any new clothes last weekend? nope

what’s the last sporting event you watched? please refer back to question 6

what is your favorite flavor of popcorn? caramel !!

who is the last person you sent a text message to? my friend ryan

ever been camping? no i hate everything that it would entail like not sleeping in a cosy and warm bed, eating canned food and insects !

do you take vitamins? myeah 🥺

do you regularly attend a place of worship? my blog is a place of worship for marwan kenzari 

do you have a tan? i am translucent 

do you prefer Chinese or pizza? pizza 🥺

do you drink your soda through a straw? sometimes because it’s too bubbly !!

what color socks do you usually wear? pink 🥺

do you ever drive above the speed limit? i don’t drive (even though i can)

what terrifies you? bugs. and the thought that we might never get an old guard sequel 🥺

look to your left, what do you see? t’is my little teddy bear whom i named bearnard

what chore do you hate most? any...

what do you think of when you hear an Australian accent? “oh they’re from australia !”

what’s your favorite soda? coke zero !

do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? i don’t eat fast food but i guess i’d just go in ldkfjg

what’s your favorite number? 28 🥺

who’s the last person you talked to? my mamma 

favorite cut of beef? i’m veggietarian and when i do break it because i sometimes get rlly sick i never eat red meat

last song you listened to? sun may shine by tamino 🥺

last book you read? it was a neuroanatomy textbook lkjdfg

favorite day of the week? friday !! or wednesdays because no class sksksks

can you say the alphabet backwards? i can barely say it when it’s in the right order your honour

how do you like your coffee? lots of almond milk and with foam !! so i guess cappuccino lol 

favorite pair of shoes? my docs 🥺

time you normally get up? 8-9 ish when i don’t have uni and 7 when i do !!

what do you prefer, sunrise or sunsets? sunrise 🥺

how many blankets on your bed? 4 !!! fuck !!!

describe your kitchen plates. i don’t have a set i just have different ones uhhh but my favourite one is shaped like a triangle and it looks like red stone?? i don’t know but ask me for pics it’s rlly pretty !!!

describe your kitchen at the moment. you don’t want to know

do you have a favorite alcoholic drink? i don’t drink alcohol 🥺 am babie !!

do you play cards? nope

what color is your car? my parents’ car is this dark blue and it has some sparkly bits its rlly cute in the sunlight

can you change a tire? who the fuck can

your favorite state? the state of Anxiety 💕

favorite job you’ve had? i sometimes teach neuroscience classes at UCL lkfdjg it’s neat !

tagging: @theoldkenzari @andyandromache @nico-di-genova @ignoredendgame @nilequynh @nilefreemans @yusufnicolo @coffeebeannate @nicolorenaldigenovia @calebcovington @kingyusuf @permetstu  if you’ve already done this ignore me lfjdkg

[piduai]

jojo!!

Favorite character: josuke! and dio but lately it’s mostly josuke

Least Favorite character: kakyoin, j*taro, polnareff, bucciarati and diavolo

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): i don’t ship anything in jojo but rohan/josuke and giorno/mista are cute. also i will probably be into dio/pucci when i finally see what their deal is but it’s only a theory

Character I find most attractive: josuke’s mom, kira’s wife, and the beautician blond lady... milf zone do not look at me i didn’t choose this... also yukako but. she looks so much like my mother’s uni time photos it’s uncanny, i think i may have a problem

Character I would marry: i know literally nothing about yasuho except that i want to date her she looks like a manic pixie dream girl. MY manic pixie dream girl.........

Character I would be best friends with: i’d like to befriend josuke!! when he moves to tokyo we could hit the gay district every weekend as besties and i could introduce him to all the places i know gay dudes get their hook-ups... we’d sing karaoke in the random underground bars... josuke is so good i’d love to befriend him

a random thought: people who take jojo seriously and cancel each other over it baffle me to no end, it’s just a talking kaleidoscope it isn’t supposed to make any sense 

An unpopular opinion: no idea how unpopular this is but bloody stream > great days > everything else

my canon OTP: no

Non-canon OTP: no

most badass character: giorno. he is INSANE.

pairing I am not a fan of: i don’t HATE it i don’t even notp it but josuke/okuyasu only work as a friendship best bros dynamic to me and i happen to love both of them so since both of their tags are like 80% ship content i have the name blocked lol. i really do not hate it tho! but the fact that people ship in jojo at all was a complete shocker to me lmao each time i see a new ship i’m like whoa

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): idk dude they’re just different flavors of gummy bears

favourite friendship: josuke & okuyasu! they’re the same as sugimoto & shiraishi :) josuke is a smart kid but when he’s together with okuyasu he loses all of his braincells. toss mikitaka into the mix and it’s pandemonium. also trish & giorno are mean girls and should have gotten more bonding i think. tho if they did trish would definitely be mean to giorno and everyone who’s ever been mean to him died so...

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: i want to adopt star platinum. i love it. without the master tho just the stand