#i understand in a way what you're saying

[heretherebedork]

Random Midnight Museum thought: Maybe it's just because I'm ace, but TBH I've never needed any romance (straight, gay, or otherwise) to have any 'physical' confirmation onscreen or on-page for it to still obviously be canon romance. For example, I've read so many of those old plot-heavy light-BL mangas where the leads not only never had a bed scene but some never even kissed, yet they were obviously still life partners in-story, and that was plenty fine enough for me. Or even elements like romances (of any persuasion) in some other plot-heavy stuff where, say, one character ends up sacrificing themself for the other a short while after mutually confessing or something, like okay sure they may have never gotten a chance to consummate the relationship or whatnot, but they were obviously still in love, and would obviously have been partners, you know? So to me all of that still counts as romance. I mean, don't get me wrong, I also do still enjoy seeing characters in fiction getting good and kissed/etc. (if they want to) just as much as the next person, haha. I'm just saying that if Museum does continue to go the no-kissing/etc.-onscreen route all the way through the ending, that wouldn't necessarily mean that the characters aren't still canon romantic partners in-story (and not just in all of our head-canons, which I fully admit I've been deep in right from the start right along with you, and am never gonna let die no matter what the narrative ends up saying, haha). Anyway. TL;DR: Maybe I'm just old and remember the time when high-heat (or really ANY heat) content wasn't as prevalent as we have now (plus, you know: ace), but like, just because there's no kissing/sexual stuff onscreen doesn't necessarily mean they're not still an actual couple? IDK, I just felt like adding that to all the discourse I've been seeing about this show in general, haha. 🤷‍♀️

Okay, as another ace (and, for that matter, mostly aro) person... this is an interesting ask that also goes a lot into how queer relationships are shown and characterized and what makes a relationship a life partner/romantic relationship and what that means and there are so many more qualified people to discuss this than me...

But I'm watching Midnight Musem and I watch a lot of BL and I have my own little subset of knowledge so let's try this... And if I fuck up, I'm doing my best.

The main issue here boils down to is... what makes a romance and what are looking for in a romance?

Like, when I talk about not expecting anything queer in Midnight Museum I am calling back to the days of my youth when any queerness in a mainstream show was in your imagination. I am calling back to the days when I called myself a slasher and I wrote all kinds of queer relationships into stories that were never, ever going to do that.

And that is what I expect from Midnight Museum.

But what I see here is a high correlation in your ask between high heat and confirmed romance and those are two very separate and very different issues that cannot be addressed in the same breath.

I have zero high heat thoughts about Midnight Museum. Even if they do make it queer and even if they do have romance it will not be high heat. It will be, most likely, a confession and a maybe maybe maybe kiss. Maybe. And that if it's confirmed queer in the show which I am very much not saying is going to happen.

And putting 'confirmed queer romance' and 'high heat' on the same level of importance is... something I'm not comfortable with, honestly.

When I say that I think KhathaDome isn't going to be canon or happen in the show, I don't mean 'they're not gonna fuck but the show will say they're in a relationship'. I mean 'the show is never going to mention or imply them to be in any form of romantic relationship'.

Yes, in the past, I have read and watched and enjoyed and loved many queer ships that were not canonically queer. No hesitation. I still do. I am planning to enjoy Midnight Museum, after all!

But your ask seems to imply that just the idea of them living together is enough to imply a relationship and that's just... not true, honestly. If the show implies they share a bed on the regular despite not needing to and live together and share a life or has a love confession? That'd be a confirmed queer relationship and then Midnight Museum would have given us the relationship as something that happened in the show, canonically.

I am struggling with this because, as someone who doesn't care about high heat at all and mostly ignores it even in shows I enjoy, I still find the idea that queer relationships can be just sort of vaguely implied in 2023 and still be considered enough.

If Midnight Museum gets to the same level of queer that Good Omens, I will be ecstatic. Because no, queerness is not 'just' about sex or making out or high heat. But it is about being queer and being in a relationship.

But I don't expect that here. At all. I expect the show to go on its merry way teasing us with hints of something but making sure that it always stays friendship in the show because that's what they're doing. Am I certain? No. Who knows? I don't know, I can't predict that stuff.

But the idea that the dichotomy is high heat versus low heat in this scenario is a false one. This about queer versus not queer and this is about a relationship versus a friendship. Implying a life partnership that they choose in each other is one thing and that would be welcome but that is not a guarantee and that is not what most of us are hoping for.

I do think that a kiss is important to many aspects of making a romantic relationship (I know @absolutebl holds to that strongly and I do agree with them) but I would be happy if this show even implied any kind of relationship...

Anyway.

This went on forever, I did my best to express this but what I'm really trying to say is that no one is implying that they're not going to be close and in each other's lives when we say it's not going to be a queer show, we're saying that the show itself is not going to embrace their relationship as a romantic one regardless of the heat level.

But I think the real answer is... no. It's not enough anymore to just vaguely imply that maybe they're in relationship but one that never involves kisses or saying the word or speaking of their love. It's not enough. The world is moving past that.

[trans-axolotl]

one of the reasons it's really hard for a lot of intersex people when intersex topics are on the news cycle is because the public's reaction reveals how little anyone knows or cares about intersex people, including people who call themselves our allies. almost every time intersex topics are trending, the discourse surrounding them is filled with misinformation. people who only learned today what the word intersex means jump into conversations and act like an authority. endosex/dyadic/perisex people get tripped up over things that are basically intersex 101, with tons of endosex people incorrectly arguing about the definition of intersex, who "counts," DSD terminology, and so much more. i've seen multiple endosex people say today that they've been "warning intersex people" and that we should have known that transphobia would catch up with us eventually, which is an absolutely absurd thing to say given the fact that consistently over the past ten years, it has often been intersex people sounding the alarm on sex-testing policies and also the fact that many, many intersex people are also trans, and already are facing the impacts of transphobia. there is an absolute failure from the general public to take intersex identity seriously; people seem not even able to fathom that intersex people have a community, history, and our own political resources. instead, endosex people somehow seem to think they're helping by bringing up half-remembered information from their high school biology class which usually isn't even relevant at all.

and this frustrates me so fucking much. not because i want to deny the impacts of transphobic oppression--i'm a trans intersex person, trust me when i say i am intimately aware of transphobia. this frustrates me because there is no way we can achieve collective liberation if our "allies" fail to even engage with basic intersex topics and are seemingly unaware of the many forms of intersex oppression that we are already facing every fucking day. if you are not aware of compulsory dyadism, if you are not aware of interphobia, if you are not aware of the many different ways that intersex people are directly and often violently targeted--how the fuck do you think we're going to dismantle all of these systems of oppression?

if you were truly an intersex ally, you would already KNOW that this is not new, and would not be surprised--interphobia in sports has been going on for decades. you would know that we do have a community, an identity, a history--you would have already read/listened/watched to intersex resources that give you the background information you need for allyship. you would know that although there is a really distinct lack of resources and political education, that intersex people ARE developing a political understanding of ourselves and our oppression--Cripping Intersex by Celeste Orr and their framework of compulsory dyadism is one example of how we're theorizing our oppression. It's absolutely fucking wild to me how few people I've seen actually use words like "interphobia" "intersexism" "compulsory dyadism" or "intersex oppression"--endosex people are seemingly incapable of recognizing that there is already an entrenched system of oppression towards intersex people that violently reshapes our bodies, restricts our autonomy, and attempts to eradicate intersex through a variety of medical and legal means.

you cannot treat intersex people like an afterthought. not just because we're meaningful parts of your community and deserving of solidarity, but also because intersex oppression impacts everyone!!! especially trans community--trans people will not be free until intersex people are free, so much of transphobia is shaped by compulsory dyadism, the mythical sex binary, all these ideas of enforced "biological sex" that are just as fake as the gender binary.

it makes me absolutely fucking livid every time this shit happens because it becomes so abundantly clear to me how little the average endosex person knows about intersex issues and also how little the average endosex person cares about changing that. i don't know what to say to get you to care, to get you to change that, but we fucking need it to happen and i, personally, am tired of constantly being grateful when i meet an endosex person who knows the bare minimum. i think we have a right to expect better and to demand that if you're going to call yourself our ally, you actually fucking listen to us when we tell you what that means.

okay for endosex people to reblog.

[starcurtain]

Just caught up with Natlan's archon quest and lord help me, I have a burning need to see Alhaitham and Ororon interact.

I truly feel that they would vibe perfectly. Not in a ship way, but like, in the way of Kaveh quietly wailing: "For archons' sake, he's brought another tacky thing into the house. Traveler, please do something; they've been staring eye to eye over the coffee table for like an hour now but haven't said a single word. I don't know what to do. Send help."

[monotone-artist]

[id in alt]

some idw redraws

[epiphainie]

i can't with all these "the show is highlighting tommy's jealousy, they're planting seeds that it will cause problems" takes like bffr. he mentioned being envious over the 118's dynamic twice, sure, but in what world (literally how?) would that cause a relationship problem? do yall expect him to be in cahoots with gerrard behind their back and murder buck to take over his life or something?? like even with the hyperbole aside, i genuinely cannot see how they can turn this into relationship drama without going against everything they showed us with tommy so far

[siryyeet]

Oh you have complicated feelings towards Germany? Let me make 91836373 assumptions about it with my piss poor understanding of history, not listen to germans at all and then come to a horrendously bad and false conclusion on why that is! Also I think you germans should stop feeling guilty and be proud of your country again!

[lichilly]

joseph the man that you are........ head in hands

cw nightmare mention, gender neutral reader

The moon peeks through the curtains, casting a calming white light that paints shifting shapes on your creaky apartment floor. The only sounds filling your apartment are the distant sound of passing cars and Joseph’s steady breathing beside you.

Your eyes drift over to his form, tracing the outline of his being. He’s sleeping on his side, face mushed into the pillows, a heavy arm draped over your waist . You've never noticed how long his eyelashes are until now.

He shifts, eyebrows knitting together before his eyes gently peek open.

You contemplate pretending to be asleep, but it’s too late—his eyes flutter fully open, meeting yours. Your cheeks warm, caught in the act of watching him sleep for who knows how long.

He doesn’t mention it.

“You okay?”

His voice is deeper than usual, thick with sleep as he rubs his eyes and looks at you.

Your fingers grasp at a nearby blanket, fiddling with the fabric absently as you search for the right words.

He scans your face when you don’t answer, dark eyes scanning yours. He lets out a soft huff, his eyes softening when he finds what he’s looking for.

“Nightmare?” He asks gently

You hum, nodding your head as memories of the grim scenes replayed over your glossy eyes. Over, and over again.

The arm around your waist tightens, pulling you closer. His chest is warm against your cheek, a comforting contrast to the cool air drifting through the open window.

His heartbeat fills your ear, drumming softly as his chest rose and fell. Has he always been this warm?

“You don’t have to talk about it,” he whispers.

You burrow deeper into his chest, trying to hide the greedy intakes of his scent—ashy cigarettes, leather, and summer air—a scent you could happily lose yourself in.

A rough hand dips into your hair, curling around the base of your head and cupping it gently. The warmth bleeds through your scalp, cascading down your body in waves as you fight the urge to shiver. He pets at your scalp, blunt fingernails gently scratching skin. It’s almost overwhelming—the scent of him, the warmth he radiates, how he makes you feel cared for so effortlessly. It’s addicting how easily he loves you.

[lunarharp]

i wanted to put these four together chatting, cooking, dancing, and trust

[ittybittyremy]

I really hate the use of the word "hypocrite" in the CR fandom because it doesn't let people appreciate the nuances of the characters/situations. This is not to say that the characters don't have their hypocritical moments. I just think there are people who slap the word on a character and call it a day, not even bothering to try to understand it.

I have more to say but TLDR: Hypocrisy is a fact but it feels like an insult because it implies that there is no reason that the contrast of ideas exists.

You won't like to hear this but everybody (including you) is/will be a hypocrite at some point. There are many cases of this, some more severe than others.

As a small example, I hate the sound of other people clicking their pens repeatedly but I click my pen repeatedly all the time. Is that hypocritical? Yes! You could slap that label call it that and call it a day and it wouldn't be technically wrong. However, you could also figure out why these contrasts exist. In my case, my thing with noises has to do with control. I don't mind my pen clicking because I can choose the tempo and decide when to stop it. But others make that exact same noise, I can't control it and I don't know when it'll stop.

Hypocrisy is a fact but it feels like an insult because it implies that there is no reason that the contrast of ideas exists.

This is not meant to say that all hypocrisy makes sense or has reason. Reasonless hypocrisy is one of the foundations of prejudice/discrimination but that's a whole other conversation.

There will also be reasons of hypocrisies existing that you disagree with. However, just because you disagree with the reason doesn't mean that the reason does not exist.

Back to Critical Role

I made this post because of people's reactions to Ashton regarding their views on the gods versus the primordials. During the CR Cooldown, the cast calls Asthon out for their hypocrisy of their views on the gods versus the titans. This is what Taliesin says about it:

"It's the difference between the feeling of being small in front of someone rather than being small in front of everything. Is really what happened, which is instead of having the smallness and raging at the big person, it was 'I'm in the middle of this.' [Asthon] didn't feel separated from it... It was more feeling the place in the cosmos, rather than actual people going 'oh it's you' and you're like 'fuck'."

Of course, you can understand Ashton’s hypocrisy and disagree with the reasoning. That's fine, as long as you see their reasons and acknowledge that they exist. It may not make sense to you but it makes sense to the character.

[beneathsilverstars]

Drew some family portraits to figure out how I want to draw everyone!! I was so brave and basically kept them in canon greyscale even though coloring is my favorite thing in the world 😤

[thelaurenshippen]

genuinely think it's good and healthy to follow at least one person in each of your fandoms who reblogs good gifsets but has just...absolutely dogshit takes on the show, or who ships that ship you despise. keeps things fresh. keeps things grounded. you gotta stay humble

[ispridestillasin]

So I decided to watch a bit of Bridgerton with my mother, which I'm not really interested in (I don't really like period pieces unless it's a fanfic for a ship I like) but it's a show she enjoys so I sometimes catch her watching it and join her, and literally the only takeaway from the stuff I've seen with her is that Colin, Lord Debling, and Penelope should have all been poly

[the-way-astray]

alright everybody can we please stop tagging me/talking about me in the notes of pro keefe/sokeefe posts. i know strieefe has made it so that it's really funny to talk about how much i love him and how much i'm in denial when i say negative things about him under those posts (and that's all in good fun and not the problem), but we have to think about the fact that the ops are just trying to make a positive post and probably don't want a keefe hater in their notes /srs

[ot3]

this flavor of trans guy misogyny where they do rhetorical backflips to explain why them not caring about women is good, actually, and since cis men are also misogynists a lot of the time we should all just stop complaining about it.

[mayasaura]

I just want to talk about the nursery being painted and the purpose of the Tomb to be without a door. Anastasia had a family - and putting to the side the pact with Alecto there's some implicit symbolism to John asking for the workers of the Ninth to die constructing the Tomb with that image of new life. (Still can't articulate my disbelief that he went and didn't think that asking Anastasia of all people, The one who lost her cavalier to him, would have problems)

Yeah. Especially finding this out about the Ninth, where nurseries becoming tombs is a thing we're sensitive about.

On one level we've always known Anastasia had a family. Like, we know she's Harrow's direct ancestor. You can't be heir to the line of someone who never had children. But the nursery.... Yeah. It really hammers it in. Her friends painted a nursery mint green for her children.

And now it's a tomb.

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

wanna ask how you feel about the eridan bpd headcanon/theory(?? not sure what to call it!) you're so good at your character analysis and i'd love to see your outlook on it

Since I don't have a degree or any formal training in psychology, I feel deeply uncomfortable diagnosing characters. I've made an autism joke before but only because I'm on the spectrum. He's definitely traumatized and anxious, but I mean those as descriptors of his behavior rather than capital-D Diagnoses. I try to focus on those when I can - the cause and effect of cognition, self-image, and behavior - and those factors may very well match up with DSM criteria, but I try not to touch an actual diagnosis with a ten foot pole unless the author has explicitly stated that X character has Y condition.