#if even despite his presumed homosexuality his family still loved him?

[local-limebug]

personally, i am not a truther of the very popular headcanon in the dbda fandom of edwin's parents being neglectful or abusive. of course, if you like that headcanon, that's cool too because it isn't contradicted by canon at all but as a tragedy enjoyer myself, i just feel like you guys are taking the flavour out of it.

st. hilarion's is a school for military kids. therefore, we know edwin's father (or male guardian) was likely military, and in 1916, almost definitely at war. and we know from one of the writers (i think? correct me if i'm wrong) that edwin's mother never hugged him, but that was because of edwardian etiquette, not because she didn't love him. his parents just acted like edwardian parents did.

we know so little about edwin's past and his life before hell, and there are so many possibilities as to why a presumably upper middle class boy's disappearance may be labeled an "act of god" whilst still having a family that loved him, starting with the fact that 5-6 other boys disappeared with him. in my opinion, although his death was very much a hate crime, it makes no sense for the "act of god" stuff to also be homophobia if every other kid in the dorm also disappeared.

like my first and most obvious idea is that he was mourned by his parents but since no one could find anything as to why all these boys just disappeared, all their clothes and belongings still in the dorm, that could have been labeled an "act of god" as a sort of consolation to the parents. that wherever the boys are now, it's a better place. in the deeply christian society back then, it would almost have been a comfort to the parents.

the second idea is that edwin's father died in the war around the same time that he did (or possibly before), and it's possible that edwin's mother simply didn't have the social standing or emotional strength to be able to do much about that. imagine losing your husband and son at once, being left a woman in edwardian england without any immediate male relative.

my other ideas are a bit out there, but maybe edwin's parents weren't even in the picture. like, we truly know nothing about his life, guys. this is why i mentioned "male guardian" in the second paragraph. if his parents were dead, and he was maybe being raised by a male relative in the military, then either one could fit. maybe the guardian died. maybe the guardian didn't care to look too hard for edwin.

even if you headcanon edwin with siblings like i do, these still make sense for the most part. maybe his father died and mother fell ill, or mother died before the war and father during it. sisters wouldn't have had much social standing anyway, and older brothers could have had the war or other siblings or their own families to deal with. younger brothers couldn't do shit, kids were ignored entirely back then. and again, terrible as the "act of god" stuff was, it was likely a hollow comfort for those left behind because they had no answers at all. what could they possibly do to solve edwin's case?

and god, aren't all of those options just so much worse than edwin simply not being liked by his parents? knowing that he once had a home, and a family that loved him, and now he doesn't? that they grieved him but were powerless to find him or rescue him and were likely haunted by his disappearance for the rest of their lives? and he can never go back to them to see them one last time or to say goodbye because by the time he escaped hell, they're all gone?

[audreydoeskaren]

do you know Chinese symbolism for homosexuality?

tw homophobia, pedophilia

Hi again, for gay men there are a couple really well known ones but I’m not sure if they were real or fabricated, because all the articles describing them always cite the same couple sources from Antiquity... I tried to verify them but the only articles that didn’t copy and paste from the same source came across as extremely homophobic, so I decided to give up. The most common and reliable one is probably 断袖 or “cut sleeve”, which I mentioned in a previous ask. I would like to use this opportunity to talk about some tangential but more important topics regarding homosexuality in China though.

As a followup to my previous ask where I said I'd look through some Ming and Qing novels to see how homosexuality was perceived at the time, the conclusion I (unfortunately) came to was that homophobia was very much alive and well in Chinese literature and society. A lot of people like to argue that gay people fared pretty well in China historically by either pointing to emperors who were or were rumored to be gay or time periods where gay sex was prevalent as a form of consumption. This is extremely shallow and also kind of Orientalist in my opinion, these arguments always go for the emperors and do not take nuance into consideration or dive into wider societal discourses on homosexuality in imperial China. If you research homosexuality in Europe by only looking at royalty, you’ll find plenty of homosexual behavior too, does that mean gay people had it very easy in Europe historically?? Not to mention that they usually don’t differentiate between dynasties, let alone centuries or decades, even though public opinion on homosexuality in China (or anywhere in the world tbh) could change very quickly. This is also sort of Orientalist, assuming “imperial China” to be a never changing entity with a never changing stance on homosexuality. Since I know nothing prior to the Ming Dynasty I’ll share some of my random findings on homosexuality and homophobia in the Ming, Qing and 20th century.

Gayness as disease

Nowadays the symbol of the cut sleeve is just a benign historical allusion but historically it seems that it was used in a negative and condemning sense, implying that people thought of homosexuality as a disease or deviation from the norm. The common phrase used for the cut sleeve is "断袖之癖", usually translated as "the passion of the cut sleeve" nowadays, but the meaning of the word 癖 here leans more toward "fetish", "obsession" or "hobby" with pathological connotations. I thought maybe this word had a different, nuanced meaning historically but it seems that it was used to describe what it means :(( The only silver lining is probably that with the progression of language it isn’t offensive anymore.

In a lot of popular novels from the Ming and Qing, homosexuality was depicted as a "perversion" and a decadent lifestyle that plagues morality, and gay characters were often either killed or straightened out by the end of the story. An example of this is the story 黄九郎 Huang Jiulang from the series 聊斋志异 Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by 蒲松龄 Pu Songling written in the 17th century. In this story, one of the protagonists was gay; he died after confessing his love to the other guy in a very fast paced bury your gays arc which somehow reminded me of the Supernatural finale, and reincarnated as a straight man because of his piety. Thanks I hate it. Pu uses the symbol of the cut sleeve to refer to the protagonist, presumably in a negative manner.

Gayness as power/status symbol

Another thing was that historically in China a lot of people confused homosexuality with pedophilia. This is a global thing, but its presence in China is often overlooked. This could be seen in the popularity of another term for homosexuality, "娈童", meaning something similar to "pederasty". I read somewhere that since the late Ming, pederasty was considered a type of tasteful consumption for high society, along with things like fashion, food, music and art. This was not equivalent to the "cut sleeve" or homosexuality as we know it nowadays, which refers to a personal sexual orientation, pederasty historically often refers to an imbalanced power dynamic where a wealthy, privileged man takes advantage of a young boy as a leisurely activity. It’s more to show off that someone in a position of privilege and wealth has the power to procure sexual objects, gender and age don’t matter much in this regard. I cannot help but cringe violently whenever someone brings up pederasty as proof of China’s historical “openness” toward gay people. Talk to me again when in this time and place you could marry someone of your sex (not a minor) and be considered a respectable couple instead of two jerks with a degenerate fetish (not saying that gay people have to marry, it’s just that the ability to do so is an important indicator of equality imo). Pedophilia and homosexuality are not one and the same good heavens.

I hypothesize that the reason why Chinese society was historically homophobic despite having no religious condemnation of homosexual individuals was the idea that having many concubines and male children was a status symbol for men. Women of marriageable age were seen more or less as commodities and male children could supposedly "continue the bloodline" 传香火 and were vessels for passing down prestige, so having them were of utmost importance to a privileged man. Being just gay or lesbian, however, meant that you didn't perform the "man strong working woman weak making babies" heteronormative family prototype, and was thus prone to criticism. When gay men didn’t have children they “couldn’t continue their bloodline” and were emasculated, when gay women didn’t have children they failed to “fulfill their duties as a woman” and were shamed.

It kind of makes sense considering how being bisexual was never a problem in comparison, especially for men. If you were a rich guy who had both male and female partners, you would still have children and concubines both male and female so nobody gives a shit. Emperor Zhengde of the Ming (reign 1505-21) was presumably bisexual and had both male and female lovers, nobody had a bone to pick with that; he famously liked to fuck around but those who criticized him did so for his debauchery instead of focusing on the gender of his partners.  This is different to homophobia in Europe where same sex attraction was considered evil and immoral in and of itself because of religious reasons, in China it was rather the other practical implications of homosexuality (not having children or a family) that attracted hate.

By the way can we just take a moment to talk about bi erasure in Chinese history. From all accounts of Emperor Zhengde I’ve read he comes across as extremely bisexual, but a lot of people try to make him a gay icon? I mean, he liked women too.

One interesting homophobic angle in ye olde China which I find kind of funny was straight women who wanted to climb the social ladder by marrying rich men talking shit about them after figuring out they were gay lmao. Historically, there were not so many work opportunities for women, so the easiest way to improve social standing was to marry a rich and powerful guy. Not saying that women didn't work, they did but their upward social mobility was restricted because they couldn't enter the imperial examination system which was how men became rich and powerful. This angle is relatively benign and kind of helps illustrate that historical Chinese homophobia was indeed fueled by classism and patriarchy.

Gayness as crime

I used to think that there were no anti-sodomy statutes in China (laws prohibiting sex between gay men), but it turns out that there was one decree in the Jiajing era (1521-67) and one in 1740, and private gay sex was not actually decriminalized until 1957. Same sex marriage is still not legal in China at time of writing. I couldn’t find detailed information on what these laws entailed or how they were enforced, but they’re enough to prove that homosexuality in China was legally punishable from the 16th century onward. On top of that, even when there was no law prohibiting private sex acts between people of the same sex, displays of gay affection such as kissing or holding hands could still be legally punished under “public indecency” or “hooliganism”, which was frequently what happened in the 20th century. 

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

In a hypothetical situation, on New Moon, when the Cullens and Bella are in the throne room, if all the Volturi become human, what would happen?

You know what, you get answered early, because this turns out to be delightful and I can’t help myself. Though it probably isn’t going where you think it’s going.

The first thing Edward does is Nelson Laugh. The tables have turned now! Where, once, Edward had to beg these men to deign to kill him, and then deign to spare the life of his love, now he is the one with the power. They are nothing now and have no control over him whatsoever.

Edward smugly leaves, a conquering hero, with his human bride and Alice in tow. Unlike in canon, he does not leave with an order to turn Bella or else. Bella will remain human and these old men can never boss him around again.

It’s a great day to be Edward Cullen. Until, of course, it isn’t.

When he gets home to Forks he finds out that Carlisle has boarded a plane to Italy.

With the Volturi all human, the world is in serious peril, and Carlisle is the only one that Aro’s going to trust to come to their aid. Beyond being Aro’s greatest friend, Carlisle is a known pacifist who has no designs on power, he is the only one in this situation who can be trusted.

For the next several decades, it’s going to be Carlisle’s job to turn the Volturi in waves until the coven is back at full strength. Until that time, the Cullens themselves are going to have to help take up the Volturi duties of putting the fear of god into vampires.

(Which, of course, will be blasphemy to most of the Cullens as Carlisle will have to explain why the law is even necessary and, yes, while this bloodies all of their hands they still must do this or risk the annihilation of mankind. No, Carlisle’s not happy about this either.)

So, just after leaving Italy, Edward is back in Italy, and his one true love is now surrounded by ravenous newborn vampires who are also the Volturi. It is, he thinks, the worst possible outcome.

He still refuses to turn Bella and, as they’re trying to keep the newborn numbers relatively in check, turning Bella is probably off the table for at least a few years. Though it is implied she’ll be turned eventually.

The reason Bella doesn’t get to go home is that the Cullens have a shortened version of the vote in which Carlisle says “Bella’s turning, she’s already disappeared without word to her father, let’s go to Italy”. So Edward gets no chance to buy time, or at least, not in America.

Bella’s just pleased she’s reunited with Edward and the family and, despite all the hungry vampires, loves the Tuscan landscape. Through sheer strength of will and constant guarding by a very upset Edward Cullen, Bella is not eaten immediately.

I imagine the first round of turnees are those who are considered most vital and had better control in their younger years.

This includes Aro, Marcus (so he can’t get tempted into killing himself), Chelsea, and Renata.

Caius probably just misses the cutoff (and is pissed about everything including that he’s going to owe so much to Carlisle Cullen) and will be turned in about a year or so. 

Aro fights hard for Jane and Alec to be turned but Carlisle refuses. While, yes, it’d be nice for them to finally be able to reach puberty if word gets out that Jane and Alec are not available then things will get very bad. Carlisle doesn’t care, he’s not doing it, ARO WILL JUST HAVE TO DEAL. There’s likely a ridiculous pretense wherein Aro concocts a scheme to pretend the twins are always somewhere else putting down some other rebellion you might have heard of.

This is all well and good, Edward’s lowkey upset but doesn’t do anything crazy, until, of course, he impregnates Bella. Now, we know Edward wasn’t exactly thrilled to sleep with Bella, and I do strongly believe he’s homosexual, but Bella will keep pushing and he is attracted to Bella’s scent above all else. So... I think eventually he’ll do it, give it a year or two.

Caius just dies, Edward demands somebody in this castle abort his wife, Aro has to be kept away from the fascinating pregnant woman lest he accidentally eat her, and Carlisle is a very busy man with no access to blood that doesn’t come directly from people. (When Aro undoubtedly figures out Bella needs blood, he probably suggests they do the usual method, Heidi might be human but she’s still very pretty and the whole scheme is still set up. Carlisle then has to sneak into a local hospital and steal blood. Probably accompanied by Afton, it’s terrible.)

And of course, just as Carlisle’s out stealing blood, Bella gives birth. Renata guards her from the other newborn vampires that might eat her and miraculously pulls through. Only, because Renata is using all of her concentration to a) guard Bella b) not eat Bella herself, this means Renesmee eats Bella. 

Renesmee grows up horrifically traumatized that she ate her own mother, Renata is mired in guilt for failing to save Bella, and Carlisle comes back to a horror movie scene and Aro licking Bella’s blood off the floor. IT WAS DELCIIOUS, CARLISLE!

Edward, whammied by Renesmee’s gift, can’t blame her but he likely does blame Renata and Carlisle for being absent at that moment. Edward probably debates between revenge and suicide and ultimately chooses suicide. He won’t be able to touch Renata and there’s nothing he can do to hurt Carlisle more than his own death (as that’s why Carlisle presumably brought Bella to Italy). Edward walks out into the sun, Aro is forced to kill him.

Now the Volturi have this half vampire baby. Caius is still human and hating every minute of this. Aro’s sad his petrification is gone and wonders how long it’ll take to get back (the answer is never, he can’t sit still that long again).

[klugpuuo]

almost every puyo~tet single-character headcanon wie have

every character we've put more than three minutes of thought into are gonna be in this post. this *does* leave out a lot of characters, but still includes so many that hopefully that'll make up for it. ^also i forgot about this entirely while writing and tried to add a few characters i literally never think about everat all so you get extra funny commentary i guess

welp! enjoy the ride. and dont forget to like, comment, and subscribe (/lh)

warnings: mentions food, implied self-harm, delusions (not inherently triggering but still), general violence, some madou-era content, death. (more to be added + ask to tag) none of the things mentioned are in much detail.

Madou Monogatari / OG Puyo~Puyo characters:

Arle – 16 (chronologically 20 due to the Madou time stop but doesn’t realize it), has PTSD and ADHD + nonbinary transfem + sex-repulsed and questioning (she/he/they)

Assorted headcanons:

-Her armor was made into a sort of magical puberty blocker by her grandmother, who knew Arle was trans and wanted her to live her life to the fullest. -Although she has never been in an (official) romantic relationship, she’s usually the first person her friends go to for relationship advice. -She stims a lot, usually by twirling her hair around or jumping.

Relationship headcanons:

Partners: She’s in a vaguely romantic relationship with Serilly. “Vaguely” as in they go on dates frequently, kiss a lot, and would live together if they could, but neither is sure if they are actually dating. Friends: She adores Ringo and Amitie and wants to protect both of them – not in the super creepy and sorta patronizing way, but in the “she really cares about them and their well-being” way. Despite thinking that Schezo is an absolute fool at times, she still cares about him quite a bit. She’s come to regret what she did all those years ago, and is determined to make sure that Schezo never remembers it.

-

Schezo – ~200, has ADHD and PTSD + transmasc + homosexual (he/it/gore)

Assorted headcanons:

-Although he can be away from his sword, it’s bonded to his body so strongly that if he is too far away from it for too long he becomes incredibly weak. -He borrowed a thesaurus from Aya and Klug and is not planning on ever giving it back. -He doesn’t remember a single thing that happened before Puyo~7, and can hardly remember anything from then until Puyo~Tetris 2. -After learning about tone indicators, he begins to put “/nx” at the end of *all* of his messages online. Although a few people make fun of him for it, many people find it either endearing or some form of cool, and he’s affectionately known as “the /nx anon” in a few social circles. -His main special interests are forging and dark magic (good for him <3)

Relationship headcanons:

Crushes: He has a slight crush on Lemres, and thinks that Incubus is.. interesting. He also thinks Witch is cute but can’t tell if that’s a crush or what. (Good) friends: He considers Arle to be his best friend, and she’s usually the first person he’d go to for anything. The two actually lived together for a while. Although he thinks Rulue is a fool at times, he still cares about her and thinks she’s pretty impressive. Enemies...?: He once was always looking to pick a fight with Satan, but after (rather awkwardly) remembering that he once saw the prince as a father, he mostly stopped doing that.

-

Rulue – ~40-ish?, experiences delusions + cis lass + questioning (she/her and a few neopronouns)

Assorted headcanons:

-She’s not sure why there are so many people who are like her and at this point she’s wondering if it really is just a coincidence. -She secretly wishes that she could join Arle, Schezo and Witch’s arm-wrestling sessions, but as they’ve been going on for so long without her she feels almost awkward asking. -Although she still experiences delusions sometimes, she’s gotten a lot better at telling what’s true and what’s false.

Relationship headcanons:

Partner… sorta?: She’s sort of in a QPR with Raffina, and they go on platonic dates a lot. (Good) friends: She’s quite good friends with Arle, especially since she’s no longer chasing after Satan. Speaking of Satan, as she’s no longer absolutely obsessed with him she’s actually beginning to get along well with him, and the two regularly have friendly battles.

-

Witch – >16, might be NT + cis lass + omni (she/it)

Assorted headcanons:

-The only thing she can transform people or things into without help of a potion is mushrooms. -She’s surprisingly strong and quite good at arm wrestling. -She’s not sure if she had any sort of neurodiversities, but she doesn’t really care either way.

Relationship headcanons:

Crushes…?: She might have feelings for Arle, but even she doesn’t have any clue. She’s also.. interested in Feli, as she sees Feli as quite the interesting person. Family: She’s an orphan, although she doesn’t mind it. (Good) friends: She’s okay-ish friends with Schezo, and the two usually do arm wrestling matches with Arle in their free time.

-

Satan – ~3000<, only god knows + cis trans man (somehow less than a joke) + pansexual (he/it)

Assorted headcanons:

-As he’s so old and has changed his physical appearance so many times, he’s completely forgotten his original sex, if he even had one. -After getting very literally schooled by Raffina, he realized that his plans to acquire Arle were just never going to work, and after a while of self-reflection he decided that he’d rather spend the rest of eternity doing other things he liked than chasing around an underage lass. -Due to having completely remade the world himself, he feels almost completely disconnected from it. All the people he used to know.. aren’t the same, and it’s destroying him.

Relationship headcanons:

Partners: Misses his dead wife a lot, but is now happily dating (nd half-joke married to) Ex (Chosen) family: After Satan had a good long think about everything, he realized that he did actually care about Lidelle a lot, and now properly sees her as a little sister. Friends: He’s on good terms with Rulue and actually properly hangs out with her sometimes. -

Serilly – >16, has anxiety and experiences delusions + trans lass + questioning (she/her)

Assorted headcanons:

-hgnggng operea

Relationship headcanons:

Partners: She may or may not be dating Arle. (Chosen) family: Although she’s presumably an orphan, she has Suketoudara, who she sees as an older brother figure. Best friend: She platonically loves Harpy a lot, and the two of them spend a lot of time together. - Suketoudara – ~30, NT + about as cis guy as a fish can get + polysexual (he/him)

Assorted headcanons:

-I literally do not think about this guy

Relationship headcanons:

Sibling serilly

Puyo Fever (2) characters:

Amitie – 14 and a half, autistic + binary transfem + fem-leaning panromantic (she/fae/flare)

Assorted headcanons:

-She found out that she was trans when she was 7 years old, and managed to convince her parents to let her transition when she was 12. -She taught herself how to bake, and Arle taught her how to cook more salty things. She regularly makes lunches for her friends, even if they already have their own. -She cares a lot about Sig’s ladybug friend and usually “babysits” them when Sig has to leave to wherever. -Raffina and her are the only two with two parents who haven’t divorced and/or died, but as Amitie's parents are almost always at work she doesn't get to talk to them very much. -She stims by twirling her hair when it’s long, or squishing a puyo-shaped stress ball when it’s short.

Relationship headcanons:

Partners: She’s in a QPR with Sig and Klug, and says she wouldn’t give it up for the world. Crushes: She has a huge crush on Ringo, and a squish on Ess, but she doesn’t think either of them feel the same way. (Chosen) family: She feels rather lucky having contact with both her mother and father, as most of her friends don’t have contact with their own parents. Also, she looks up to Arle a lot, and sees them as an older sibling. Friends(?): Nobody can tell what exactly her relationship with Raffina is, but the most common theory is that they’ve kissed at least twice. Even during Lidelle’s fight with Sig, Amitie supported her, knowing she truly did regret her actions and it was mostly just a big misunderstanding.

-

Klug – 14 and three quarts, autistic and has ADHD + transmasc nonbinary + ace/aroflux (he/they/wir)

Assorted headcanons:

-Although he had initially asked to be called by neopronouns just as a joke, he found he actually liked the wir/worm set a lot, and now tends to go by that exclusively on some days. -On one night he doesn’t remember, all of his cosmetic glasses were mysteriously destroyed, along with all his contact lenses. After that, he stuck to just one pair of functional glasses -He was gifted an “EiPod” by Ringo and Amitie, although only the latter took credit for it. -He stims by humming, writing, and aggressively cleaning his glasses.

Relationship headcanons:

Partners: He’s in a QPR with Sig and Amitie, and secretly wants to leave Primp and travel the world with them both. Chosen family: He sees Feli as both a rival and a sister, and now has come to see Lemres as an older-sibling figure of sorts. Friend: He’s on good terms with Lidelle, and she’s one of the only people who’s younger than he is that he still treats with respect. Rivals(?): He thinks Raffina is pretty rude, and he never lets her go without remembering that he’s better friends with Amitie than she is for more than a month.

-

Sig – 15, autistic and has ADHD + transmasc demilad + biromantic (he/bug/they/it)

Assorted headcanons:

-Doesn’t consider any sort of bug to be his “favorite”, but has a soft spot for ladybeetles, stag beetles and fireflies. -After a failed attempt at acquiring Sig’s power, Aya accidentally gave Sig half of its own power, causing Sig to become slightly more than just a half-demon. -After he scratched himself one too many times, Amitie and Lidelle worked together to make a glove for Sig’s claw hand. -His main special interests are both bugs and history, and he usually stims by repeating words he likes.

Relationship headcanons:

Partners: He’s mostly queerplatonic, partially romantic partners with both Amitie and Klug. During the first half week of their relationship, he was the only one the two felt comfortable cuddling with, which he was completely fine with. Family: Although initially Sig and Aya were almost enemies, they managed to reach an agreement after being left alone together and now see each other as both family and friends. Friends: He’s pretty good friends with Lidelle, and he helps her with bug-related problems whenever she has any. He’s also pretty good friends with Raffina even if they don’t hang out much and he still has trouble with her name. Enemies: Schezo.

-

Raffina – 16, has (canonical) imposter syndrome + transfem + pansexual demiromantic (she/her)

Assorted headcanons:

-As her family is very upper middle class, she was able to medically transition almost immediately after coming out. -She once tried to start a Primp Town Fight Club. It did not go well. -She’s the only person aside from Amitie that has two parents that did not abandon her and are not divorced. Unlike Amitie, however, only her mother works, so she gets to talk to her father frequently.

Relationship headcanons:

Crush: She secretly wants to kiss Lidelle really badly. (Good) friends: Although she was slightly distanced from them during the whole fight ordeal, she’s quite good friends with all the ASK trio. She’s pretty friendly with Ess.

-

Lidelle – 14, has social anxiety + cis lass + questioning (she/her)

Assorted headcanons:

-She feels genuinely sorry for what she did and said to Sig and those bugs, and she’s proud of herself for apologizing. -She likes playing with marbles and has made pretty big marble “race” courses in the past. -She doubts her self-worth a lot, and is worried that others don’t take her very seriously.

Relationship headcanons:

Chosen family: Despite not having any surviving biological family, she’s found a family in the form of Draco and Satan, who have been taking care of her for some time now. Best friend: Lidelle hangs out with Raffina almost constantly, and she considers Raf to be her very best friend. Good friends.. again: After a very large fight with Sig over the fact that her flesh-eating plants killed some of his bugs, she and Sig stopped being friends for a bit. After a lot of talking with Amitie and Raffina, she realized her mistake, and she apologized to Sig – and to her surprise, Sig apologized back. Even during the fight, she and Amitie stayed friends, and Ami gave her a lot of emotional support. She looks up to Klug, although Klug sees her as an equal and even spares a warm smile for her during some of his most jerk-y moments.

-

Lemres – 35, autistic, has SAD and PTSD + transmasc and nonbinary + aroflux/aceflux (they/them, he/him and any candy-related neopronouns)

Assorted headcanons:

-They are actually entirely blind due to personal reasons, and sewed their eyes shut as to not freak others out too much. They “see” by feeling the magic of their environment, and cannot “see” in low-magic areas (they also cannot read faces. At all.) -They have a sort of “vacation house” near Primp which they visit during the summer or any free time they have. The fact that it was built so close to Primp was a coincidence, but something they like very much. -Schezo occasionally “visits” the vacation house for a few months before running off on some random adventure for whatever reason. -Their broom was broken, presumably by Witch as they had fought with her not too long before that. -Su has a certain type of magic that allows sucre to read minds (or at least meaning). -His type of magic does not work on demons for a plethora of reasons. -They usually stim by twirling their staff around and messing with what remains of their broom.

Relationship headcanons:

Partners: They’re in a weird sort-of relationship with Schezo. The relationship informally started after Schezo assisted Lemres during a restless period and it doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. (Chosen) family: Although they want to keep their distance from their biological family, they’ve found a new family in Primp in the form of the ASK trio (Good) friends: They’re very close to Accord, having know her since Highschool (and even before she made Poipoi).

-

Feli – 16 and a half, experiences delusions and has disorders + transfem + bisexual (she/her evi/evil go/goth)

Assorted headcanons:

-Rather compulsory heterosexuality with her. She doesn’t actually have that much love for Lemres, mainly just lust and a feeling that she has to date or marry him. -She personally believes sharing one’s birthday with someone else is a sign of extreme trust due to Zodiac reasons. -She feels like her gender is influenced by gothic aesthetics, but can’t really describe it further.

Relationship headcanons:

Crushes: She still very obviously has a crush on Lemres, although it’s starting to lessen now that Lemres is in a closed relationship. (Chosen) family: She sees Klug as an annoying little brother, although he’s marginally more mature than she is. (Good) friends: She’s pretty good friends with Lidelle and Raffina.

-

Accord/Poipoi – ???? + cis lass and agender respectively + god knows (she/her for accord, he/it for poipoi)

Assorted headcanons:

-Accord secretly really likes hitting things with her hammer to the point where she’d go quite far in order to get a chance to do so. However, she would never readily admit this as she finds it to be incredibly childish. -Only Accord knows what happened to Lemres’s eyes. -During Highschool, Accord enchanted a puppet and gave it its own thoughts, personality, dreams, etc. That puppet was quite obviously Poipoi.

Relationship headcanons:

(Good) friends: Accord is close friends with Lemres, having known him since Highschool (she was his upperclassman by a few years) and never passes up a chance to talk to him. Poipoi managed to make friends with Aya in a particularly independent moment where it ran away.

-

Ayashii – >800, has a lot of trauma + whats a gender + (it/any neos/they/he/she)

Assorted headcanons:

-It genuinely forgot what a gender was because gender is so unimportant to it. -It somehow found a way to continue being friends with the puppy it rescued, even going so far as to teaching them the difference between it and Klug. -As it has extreme claustrophobia, it tends to take very long walks whenever it’s using Klug’s body.

Relationship headcanons:

Crushes???: Aya has some interest in Lemres and Schezo, but isn’t entirely sure what kind of interest. (Chosen) family: It’s beginning to see Klug as a son of sorts, and recognizes Sig as its descendent. huh what: It doesn’t trust Accord at all, especially knowing (and being friends with) Poipoi as an individual.

-

Yu and Rei - ??? + phasmaeic + (both use she/he/they gho/ghost spec/spectre and dar/dark)

- - -

Relationship headcanons:

Puyo~7 characters:

Ringo – 16, ??? + questioning (demigirl?) + bisexual (she/they)

Assorted headcanons:

-She’s questioning pretty much every single thing about her identity and beliefs to the point where she’s actually been having frequent migraines because of it. -She’s not at all proud to admit it, but she’s not-so-secretly envious of Maguro’s “beauty beam”. -She eats a LOT of things that you’re not meant to eat, to the point where everyone except for Sig (who does the same) is worried for her.

Relationship headcanons:

Crushes: She has small crushes on both Amitie and Tee, although she likes Amitie a *bit* more. Epic friends: She’s best friends with Maguro, and he’s one of the few people she properly trusts (not for edgy reasons, just because). A lot of people assume she’s dating him, which makes her feel pretty uncomfortable, but she doesn’t feel like she can really blame them.

-

Maguro – 16, has ADHD and PTSD (latter from AU) + questioning + bisexual (he/they)

Assorted headcanons:

-He’s questioning the same stuff as Ringo, although he’s a lot more chill about it. -He was pretty scarred, emotionally and physically, after an unfortunate incident concerning a badly thought-out prank, a fishing net, and a timer set to one month -He remembers all of his trauma in perfect clarity, and has good memory overall.

Relationship headcanons:

Partner:He’s been in a romantic relationship with Tee for a few months, and so far it’s been really nice. Best friend: He’s best friends with Ringo, and he feels really comfortable around her. They share almost everything, and are planning on moving in together once they get the chance to have a proper house. Good friends: Although Ris moved away to study abroad a while back, they still send a lot of gifts and letters to him on a regular basis. Also, they’ve been staying in contact with Ess ever since the whole beauty pageant thing and the two go shopping when they’re both free.

-

Risukuma – 19, NT + trans man + male-leaning pansexual (he/him)

Assorted headcanons:

-He’s incredibly interested in all types of love -After graduating school, he decided to study abroad to learn more about other cultures (and of course, love). -He really likes music, even having written some of his own songs in the past. One of his favorite bands is IDKHOW.

Relationship headcanons:

Partner: Despite only having interacted a few times, he’s quite good “friends” with Ai. Good friends: After moving away from Suzuran, he’s not been able to hang out with Ringo or Maguro as much, but he still sends them letters and gifts on a regular basis. What: He does not want to know about Ecolo. Do not tell him about Ecolo.

-

Ecolo – ageless and has so many disorders (affectionate??) + gender + probably so (it/they/he/she/other in that order)

Assorted headcanons:

-If asked, it would describe its gender as “Once In A Lifetime” by Talking Heads. -It’s trying really really hard to respect Ringo’s boundaries nowadays, and not just because she refused to acknowledge its existence for a whole week after it accidentally hurt her. -It can change into its human form at will; however, if it wants to stay in that form for more than a few hours at a time, it has to actually sleep for several days straight. -In its humanoid form, it sports several scars. -It genuinely loves fidget spinners and has this really creepy one it carries everywhere.

Relationship headcanons:

Crush: You know it wants to kiss Ringo so bad. Friends: Ex-friends with Satan because Ringo hates him. Pretty alright friends with Ex and Marle, not entirely sure what to think about Squares. Uh…: After.. an accident it caused, Maguro started to be able to remember it.

Puyo~Tetris characters:

Tee – 16, + trans man + questioning (he/him)

Assorted headcanons:

-He can’t pronounce any name longer than four letters long. Somehow, the worst case of this is with Ringo and Maguro’s names. -Having transitioned at a very young age and only interacting with one lass for most of his life, he has a lot of internalized sexism. After Ringo points this out, he starts trying to work on it, but he hasn’t been doing very well so far. -He’s also trying really hard to find a balance between being too basic and too over-the-top, but..

Relationship headcanons:

Partner: He’s been in a romantic relationship with Maguro for a few months. It’s been really nice, but as this is his first relationship he tends to go all-out with everything, causing Maguro to get rather flustered. Crush: Although he’s very hesitant to admit it, he has a pretty big crush on Ringo and wants to kiss her. Chosen family: O is his parent, Ess and Ai are his siblings, and the twins are his messed up if true gay cousins. Friend: He’s pretty good friends with Sig because of their shared inability to correctly pronounce Raffina’s name.

-

O – infinite, ??? + ???? + probably gay? ????? (any and all pronouns)

Assorted headcanons:

-I cannot reasonably take myself seriously trying to make headcanons for this godforsaken cloud cube -Squares themself made this thing (on accident?) -Anger management issues incarnate

Relationship headcanons:

Parnter: Kissed Carbuncle once eChidle: Tee is its son

-

Ex – ~40, has autism, minor intrusive thoughts and (canon) depression + some form of Guy + yes (he/they)

Assorted headcanons:

-He’s not sure how he identifies gender- and sexuality-wise and feels as if he’s too old to try to figure that out (which isn’t true, but still) -He genuinely misses Ess and Ai a lot and is unendingly grateful for the chance to see them both again. -His intrusive thoughts are usually fairly easy to deal with, but can sometimes get pretty bad if he’s left alone for too long.

Relationship headcanons:

Partners: I’m pretty sure he has an ex-wife somewhere and that scares me. Also he kisses Satan every day of his life (Chosen) family: He misses his children, Ess and Ai, so much. (Good) friends: He’s become reluctant friends with Ecolo, and very good friends with Marle and Squares.

-

Jay & Elle – 13, autistic and have separation anxiety + nonbinary + ??? (they/them)

Assorted headcanons:

-Individually they’re okay with all pronouns, but nobody can reasonably refer to them as separate entities. -After a few people asked them, they stopped bullying Ai as much, but they still “prank” him a lot. -They were separated exactly once. It was not a very good time for them.

Relationship headcanons:

Partners:They’re queerplatonic partners with Yu and Rei, since that’s just kind of what happens when you’re two sets of evil twins who like bothering others. Friends: They don’t really have many friends as their creepiness scares people off a lot, but they like hanging out with Ecolo (even if they forget about it a lot)

-

Ai – 20, has pretty severe anxiety + transmasc + bisexual (he/him)

Assorted headcanons:

-He found out that he was trans after he managed to get a sort of wi-fi thing going during a five-month-long stay in a densely-packed asteroid belt. He had actually medically transitioned before that, but nobody on the SS Tetra had the word for it. -He has exactly one large scar from a prank gone horribly wrong. Otherwise, he’s not been seriously injured by anything the twins have done. - Recently he’s started to become slightly braver in general thanks to a lot of therapy and emotional support from his boyfriend, this has allowed him to stand up to the twins a lot more. He is also more physically strong, and plans to drop kick them both someday.

Relationship headcanons:

Partner: He kisses Risukuma on the daily Chosen family: As he canonically sees Ex as a father, he headcanonically sees Ess as a sister. Pure hatred(/j): He’s no longer as afraid of the tetra twins, and sometimes even manages to prank them back on good days.

-

Ess – ~15, only ex knows. Has serious abandonment issues, apparently canon(?!?!) PTSD, and so many things + cis demilass + lesbiab (she/they/ze)

Assorted headcanons:

-She actually has a job, and on the last weekend of every month she goes shopping with Maguro (or Amitie if he’s busy) on Saturday and Raffina on Sunday with the money she gets. -She kinda wishes that she were more physically strong for a multitude of minor reasons. -Ess doesn’t actually know how to say Ringo’s name and tries really hard to hide that fact.

Relationship headcanons:

Crushes:She’s absolutely in love with Amitie, although she’s in very deep denial about it. Chosen family: She sees Ai as a brother, and the two bond over the fact that Ex totally ditched them to go patch up dimensions or whatever. Speaking of Ex, she’s very recently found it in her heart to maybe forgive him for leaving her when she was young, although she still is a long ways away from seeing him as a father again. Friends: She and Raffina hang out and talk about their insecurities a lot.

-

Zed – uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (he/him)

Assorted headcanons:

-uhhhhhhhhhh -I genuinely don’t think of this guy He reminds me too much of my ex-chosen-father -…to be added.

Relationship headcanons:

Ess is his belovt daughter that’s all you need to know.

Additional headcanons:

-Most of the Madou Monogatari gang feel entirely disconnected from what’s left of their humanity, so they identify with it/its along with whichever other pronouns they use. -Sig, Dark Sig, and the evil Sig from Sig’s Secret are all different entities. -Speaking of Dark Sig, they can actually purr, although Sig himself cannot. Klug thinks this is incredibly interesting and actually conducted several half-serious experiments to try to figure out why. -All of the SS Tetra crew see each other as family, although some have more clearly defined views of that. None of them have any romantic or sexual interest in any other member.

[szazzle]

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (detail) by Joshua Reynolds (c. 1775-6)

MADE FAMOUS BY the novel of the same title and the accompanying film The Duchess (2008), Georgiana’s story has captivated me above many others, though I do not believe her story is entirely unique to women of her era.

Unlike her parents, who married in love, Georgiana was placed in an arranged marriage at 17 with William Cavendish, the 5th Duke of Devonshire. 

William was rather inattentive and emotionally distant from his wife, choosing to play cards most nights. He even tasked Georgiana to take care of his illegitimate daughter, Charlotte, after her birth mother passed. 

Georgiana’s husband continued to have numerous affairs with other women, including Georgiana’s close friend, Lady Elizabeth Foster, whom Georgiana met at a party in Bath and invited to live with her and the Duke upon hearing about Elizabeth’s separation from her husband, John Thomas Foster. Lady Elizabeth would remain lovers with the Duke of Devonshire for 25 years, living with the couple at their estate. She would go on to bear the Duke two children.

Lady Elizabeth with Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Guérin (c. 1791)

However, many believe Lady Elizabeth’s affair with the Duke of Devonshire was part of a cover-up of a romantic relationship with the Duchess herself. Many “affectionate” letters were written between the two over the years, while likely, no solid evidence confirms this relationship.

Despite the Duke’s affairs, Georgiana would go on to bear children for him. A daughter, Georgiana Dorothy, and a son, William George. Once the heir, William George, was born, social rules allowed Georgiana to take on a lover of her own.

Georgiana became involved with Charles Grey, who would eventually become Prime Minister, after becoming heavily involved in political affairs, which was highly uncommon for women at the time. Her public campaigning would become the subject of satire by the public, so she would eventually retreat to simply working behind the scenes for her party, the Whigs. (In essence, 18th century liberals)

During her affair with Grey, Georgiana would become pregnant with his daughter; a highly-unacceptable circumstance for women. She would be sent to France to carry out the pregnancy, where Georgiana felt isolated and feared for her health in childbirth. After she was born, the daughter, Eliza, would be brought up by the Grey family. Georgiana would often visit her in secret. 

Throughout her life, Georgiana would develop a raging gambling addiction, as well as a love for partying. However, her gambling addiction could be more accurately described as an addiction to “losing at cards;” presumably a trait inherited from her mother, who had the same problem. Georgiana racked up debts that would amount to millions in today’s standards. 

At the young age of 48, Georgiana would die from an infected liver in 1806. Her widower would go on to marry Lady Elizabeth to the dismay of Georgiana’s children. 

Portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (detail) by Thomas Gainsborough (c. 1785-7)

I find Georgiana’s story so interesting because she was such a powerful woman, as seen through her political activism, yet was still stuck in the societal standards of her time, which required women to be quiet and submissive. Georgiana’s likely affair with Lady Elizabeth is also quite interesting to me, as reports of homosexuality in history are often overlooked. 

Overall, Georgiana’s story is definitely a rollercoaster ride that was very interesting to research. However, I find the movie adaptation, The Duchess, to be partially unwatchable, as I am very sensitive to scenes depicting s*xual a*sault. The film also depicts Lady Elizabeth as a betrayer, rather than exploring the complex triangle between her, the Duchess, and the Duke.

[countryshitposts]

you are still the sons, and he the father

here's a whopping six thousand word fic i've been working on for two weeks so read it you piece of shits

Imsi and Jeguk try finding out why their father is absent from their lives everyday. The truth horrifies them both.

tw for: homophobia

It was a quiet and uneventful day in the Korean home. Chosen was humming to herself as she makes herself breakfast, having skipped out earlier due to errands in the market. She hears Daehan Jeguk and Imsi talking, but decides not to bother them.

"It is quite unnatural that father would disappear every now and then", Jeguk muses as he looks at the bright sun shining down on them, making the flowers move to its direction.

"How long has his strange disappearances been going on?", Imsi asks, looking at Chosen eating her food.

Jeguk thinks for a moment, "Ever since I have come here, he has been disappearing every now and then. There are slight differences in his appearance once he comes home though; wrinkled clothes, messy hair, and a red blush on his cheeks."

Imsi snorts, "I bet he visits brothels at times."

Jeguk chuckles, "Definitely. Although I have some suspicions on the 'brothel' subject."

"Why is that?"

Jeguk takes out a slip of parchment from his sleeves, stained, yet some characters readable. Imsi leans in to look at the parchment, and finds out that it is written in Chinese. Imsi raises a brow, trying to muster the characters and translate it. It is from a man named Ming, who happens to be the last dynasty before Qing had come along.

"It looks to be a letter", Jeguk says, "from a Chinese man."

Imsi rolls his eyes. "No shit Sherlock."

"Whenever father receives his letter", Jeguk continues, ignoring Imsi's statement, "he lights up and dresses himself up."

"Perhaps this man is one of his friends who encourages him to visit brothels?"

"Yes but-", Jeguk narrows his eyes, suspicious as he investigates the letter more, "-this man is using very flattering words in Chinese, too flattering for a friend."

"Let me see", Imsi says as he takes the letter from Jeguk, to inspect it full-heartedly. There were some very, very inappropriate innuendos and statements, but this man talks about how he loves their father with all their might. Imsi furrows a brow, as he looks at Jeguk with eyes wide of realization. "I think I already know why father disappears every so often."

"Yes? And what do we do about it?"

"I'll tell you later."

That night, their father, Joseon, comes back with a delighted expression on his face, covering his neck with his clothing. He did not eat with the rest of his family, claiming he has 'already eaten'. Imsi and Jeguk look towards the back of their father as he ascends towards the stairs.

Imsi leans in towards Jeguk, who was beside Chosen, "He has a lover. A male one."

"Please, this man might just be very affectionate, and our father would never dare cheat on our mother." Jeguk spoonfeeds Chosen, and she smiles in return. Imsi goes back towards his seat and resists the urge to gag at the couple in front of him.

"We'll see about that", Imsi whispers to himself, continuing to eat, trying to ignore the couple activng lovey-dovey in front of him.

-

Imsi and Jeguk settle out a plan: if their father receives another letter and disappears off into the floods of ancient men and women, they follow after him. They just want to see if their theories were right, and feel like Joseon has been keeping this secret long enough; it needs to be shed to the public light.

Joseon was humming a Chinese melody when Imsi first encounters him. Imsi was just standing by the front lawn, admiring the beautiful flowers littered along the way and appreciating its beauty, when a mailman had scared the life out of him. He says it is for his father, and Imsi takes it from his hands. He narrows his eyes as he carefully unravels it, hoping that once he gives it to Joseon he wouldn't notice the differences.

Imsi furrows his brow as he reads through the letter. This man, just like from the previous letters, has been using very flattering words and sexual innuendos, much to Imsi's embarrassment and dismay. Despite all this, he can feel disgust churn inside of him as he realizes that this man - Ming, he reminds himself - is seemingly seducing their father with his words, and their foolsome of a father has agreed to be swayed into this... atrocity. A crime. Imsi tries not to crumple the paper, but he has the urge to do it, to go to Ming's home and hurt him, and shout at his father for being a sodomite.

The letter ends with another statement of love and care, telling Joseon to meet him at the palace. Imsi carefully puts the letter back to his place, plasters on a straight face despite his disgust and anger, and walks towards Joseon. He can't even unsee his father, the man who had taught him morals and philosophy in his life, a homosexual. A disgusting, grieving homosexual.

"Father, someone has given me this letter. Says it's for you." Imsi tries to look at his father's eyes, but breaks eye contact with him after a few seconds. No matter how much he tries, he cannot look at him in the eye.

"Oh, thank you son", Joseon says as he takes the letter out of Imsi's hand, unfolding it to read its contents. To Imsi's disgust, his father's face starts to redden, his dark eyes shining brightly, rivalling the sun. Imsi's face contorts in disgust, and it deepens when Joseon chuckles and folds the letter, looking at his youngest son with a slight smile.

"Tell the others I am going away for a trip Imsi", Joseon says, holding up a hand to ruffle his hair, but Imsi steps backward, not wanting to be touched. "Ah, it seems you have grown out of my touches."

Imsi nods, playing along. "Honestly, it is quite embarrassing for me to be held like that father." He says with a fake smile.

Joseon laughs light-heartedly, as he goes inside to change. Imsi follows him back to the house, and leans on the table, trying not to listen to Jeguk and Chosen flirting. He elbows Jeguk after the couple laspes into a comfortable silence.

"We follow father", Imsi says, the word 'father' now foreign on his lips, as if this brand new secret he and Jeguk discovered made them think there was more to Joseon than just being their father. He was a sinful man. "We catch him with this 'Ming' person, and we'll see if he truly has a... male lover." Imsi shudders at those last words, while Jeguk purses his lips.

"Alright, we'll see if our current hypothesis is correct", Jeguk says.

"You mean my hypothesis?"

Jeguk gives him a lopsided smile. "I changed my mind of father having an overly clingy friend."

-

Once their father bid farewell to them, they start to follow him discreetly, letting him walk distant steps so they can keep up with him while maintaining their cover. Once Joseon reaches a beautiful looking palace with Chinese carved across the gates, did they realize that Ming was, say, royalty. Perhaps even richer than their family. This man must be quite important in Joseon and others' lives. After all, he did say something about how a person made his life special and exciting, they just didn't think of it that way.

They spot their father looking through the beautiful scenery of the Chinese' much, much better-looking garden, to the brothers' jealousy. It had fountains, a pond with a curved bridge, the waters clear and full of lilies. They silently walk over it, marvelling the scenario, before turning back to their task. Their task was to put an end to their father's crimes, once and for all. They silently follow Joseon into the palace, hide past the dragon throne where many of the old Chinese dynasties still live, until they reach a beautiful place, comparable to a paradise. It was just like the garden they've seen at front, but much more natural, comfortable, and nostalgic. They then spot Joseon walking towards a man - Ming, presumably - and a familiar woman snuggling up to a man. Perhaps that was her husband.

Imsi and Jeguk hide behind the hedges, trimmed just above their height, as they continue watching their father with narrowed eyes. Joseon was smiling, a blush forming on his cheeks, and the twins can't help but feel disgusted. How could their father abandon his virtues by devouring one's own gender? How could he abandon his masculinity?

Ming noticeably smiles as he sees Joseon nearing him, and the two embrace. Much to the twins' disgust and horror, the two share a kiss on the lips.

"You've joined us again, my Chaoxian", Ming says. Jeguk furrows his brows.

But father had hated that name Qing had always called him, he thinks to himself. But then he looks almost sad, like someone had called him that in a special, meaningful way.

"I'll always join you, even to the afterlife, Myeong", Joseon says softly.

Imsi had remembered seeing his father in tears one night, whispering the name 'Myeong' over and over again, hugging a small painting in his hands. He suddenly can't help but feel sick, remembering how he thought Joseon was crying over a loved one. He was crying over a loved one, but he didn't expect it to be like that. Not even his queens can console him of his old 'friend'.

"Dad, you have to taste the peaches that Ming has harvested recently in his garden", the girl, who was the only woman in the group exclaims, and her husband chuckles.

"I will", Joseon says, chuckling, sitting on Ming's lap, much to his observing sons' dismay.

Imsi and Jeguk look at each other, confuzzled at what they had just heard come out of the girl's mouth.

Father? Jeguk mouths to Imsi, and shrugs, feeling jealousy coming back to him, a conflicting emotional storm wishing to wreck his ship of happiness, like it always does for his whole life. He can feel a cloud of emotions churning inside of him, waiting to burst.

And it did, when he sees Joseon and Ming passionately making out. He angrily steps forward, wanting to shout at his father, but his brother beats him to it, having enough of this tomfoolery.

"Father." Jeguk's tone was full of anger, his face seething with rage. The girl and her husband look up at the newcomer, while Joseon and Ming quickly break apart. Imsi is very quick to follow, crossing his arms while standing beside his brother, both of them giving each other support.

"Jeguk? Imsi?" Joseon's tone was panicked, as he stands up from where he was sitting. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Checking up on you", Jeguk spits, "you've been disappearing from our home for so many years, we didn't think to care where you have gone."

"We let those years slide", Imsi replies, anger evident. "We let those years slide because we thought you were innocent and were attending meetings."

Ming stands up, clearly disliking the attitude his lover's sons were displaying. "And your father is innocent! How dare you talk to your father like that!"

"This is none of your business", Jeguk snipes, giving Ming a cold hard glare, "this is between me, my brother, and our father."

"Tell us, father", Imsi says, the last word full of poison and Joseon visibly flinches. "Do you feel satisfied of letting a man - a man! - touch you that way? Do you feel like you are comitting a crime, an atrocity? Because we certainly think you are!"

"And you dare replace us as your sons with this girl?!", Jeguk says, pointing at Ryukyu, who was ready to defend herself and her father figures, but Malacca holds her down, glaring daggers at the two brothers. "Does becoming a parent increase your chance to be a virtuous man that needs respect?"

Joseon comes up empty with words, mind blank, body shaking.

Good, Imsi thinks, let him be ashamed of himself.

Joseon turns to look at Ming, then back at his sons with a remorseful look. He walks to them, tries to touch them, but they both back away. Joseon's brown eyes immediately fill with tears, but he tries to hide it by furrowing his brow.

"Y-you dare disrespect your father like this?", he says sternly. "Who gave you the right to insult your father's decisions?"

"You're no longer our father", Jeguk says, looking at him with an unreadable face, crossing his arms.

Joseon's stern façade breaks, his face contorting to a face of surprise and heartbreak. "Ex-excuse me?"

"You lost the right to be called our father."

Without a word, Jeguk and Imsi walk out of the gardens, feeling everyone's eyes upon him. Tears start to stream down Joseon's face, as he watches the sons he had loved and lost in life turn their backs on him for his choices.

-

"Those were your sons?", Malacca says disbelieving as he tries to comfort his father figure, while also calming his wife down, who was absolutely fuming and vowing to flip Joseon's sons on the nearest table. "They are more ill-mannered than Ayutthaya, in my opinion."

"That's because you two often fight for my attention", Ryukyu deadpans, "and now he's just asking for that Portugese bastard to remember him."

Meanwhile, the two lovers were also deep in discussion, with Joseon breaking down into sobs while Ming soothes him, rubbing circles on his back. Ming carresses his lover and tries to calm him down.

"I don't understand", Joseon cries into Ming's clothes, "they loved me with all their heart. They adored and idolized me, even when I proved to be weak. How did this-" he motions to he and Ming- "change everything?"

"Love, I think that your sons have been influenced by Qing's mentality", Ming says with a general distaste on his mouth, as he carresses his lover with gentleness and love. "Perhaps they have become close-minded over the years, thinking that love amongst males is forbidden, sinful and atrocious. Kids these days."

"You know, I was looking forward to meet your sons", Malacca blurts in, "you said they were the most wonderful people."

"They are, Malacca", Joseon sighs, "their beliefs are just... slanted."

"'Slanted' as in you and dad?", Ryukyu jokes, and the tense atmosphere in the room turns light as the others let out a few chuckles.

"No one controls the way you love someone", Ming softly says, "they should know that. You should have taught them that back in the days of life."

Joseon doesn't say a word, preferring for his mind to talk to him about the situation at hand, at the prospect he was promptly disowned by his own children. And for what? His unconditional love towards Myeong? He and Myeong had been separated for so long, for so many years, the sea never coming back to crash on the shore, instead, slowly receeding from the golden sand until it dries up, leaving everyone lonely in its wake. He knew that Ming can never come back to him, seeing his corpse in front of him, breaking him and his spirit.

He gently traces a finger around Ming's neck, a thin line made by the rope that had marked the fate of his lover, that had marked the rest of their lives with heartbreak and strife. Ming winces as he looks at Joseon eyeing his wound, reminding him of all his mistakes and sorrows. Ming puts his arms around Joseon, in order to comfort him, and himself.

Their faces were so close together, each feeling each others' breaths on their faces, their eyes telling each other the same thing. Their lips bridge the distance between them, and Joseon tastes the sweet flavor of peach as he explores the inside of his lover, hearing the other sigh and grunt in pleasure, running a hand through Joseon's hair. The man was pleased as he leans more into Ming's warmth, craving for more, more, more. Ming tugs on his hair and Joseon lets out a breathy moan, breaking apart from Ming with hunger in his eyes, grinding his arousal on to Ming's knee. Ming smirks at him, putting a finger on his chin, both their eyes levelled once again. Joseon can see the power, lust and dominance Ming's golden eyes, their smirk turning into a cheshire cat's grin.

"How about we...", Ming tugs at Joseon's hanbok, and he does not protest, already knowing deep inside him he is enjoying this. "... blow off some steam?"

Joseon replies with another kiss on Ming's lips, as he lets himself be carried by his man to another room, leaving the room to Ryukyu and Malacca.

"Since we have the room to ourselves-" Malacca starts but is cut off by lips on his, and he kisses back, already knowing what his wife needs.

-

Jeguk feels conflicted. After confronting his father, there was a strangled mess of emotions inside of him, a tangled knot refusing to untangle. It was a mess of problems compiled one by one, making him weak in his footsteps, but he carries on, the once bright, beautiful and shining light in the sky burning him through his skin, like he had done a wrong doing and deserved to be burned alive for it. It singes him, clawing through his clothes, skin, hair, bones, until he is nothing but ashes standing in the desert.

When he sees Chosen, however, planting beautiful flowers in their front lawn, the feelings fade, as it is replaced by feelings of fluttering love, like back in the old days of them frolicking in the fields or kissing in the stables whenever no one was there. His beloved sees him and she waves, smiling delightfully, and just like that the memories of his confrontation fades, as he runs to Chosen and hugs her, spinning her around and loving the way she laughs.

Imsi stays silent, no interjection nor bittersweet remark to their flirtations.

After a few more chuckles, Jeguk puts her down, and she looks at Imsi, standing tensely, eyes straight ahead, looking through the couple.

"Imsi, are you okay?", she asks, sounding concerned. Imsi looks at her but doesn't say anything as he walks through the couple like they're ghosts and walks into the house, closing the door with a loud slam, making Chosen flinch and cling on to Jeguk, old memories surging up. He comforts her, soothing her by singing to her lullabies, until she feels better.

"I'm sorry for my brother's attitude, nae salang", Jeguk says as he wipes some of Chosen's tears that spilled from her eyes, "we had a confrontation with our father today."

"Is that why you and Imsi vanished with Joseon all of a sudden?", Chosen asks, burying her face into Jeguk's chest. "Gwaenchanh-a boiji anh-a."

Jeguk sighs, leading his wife inside, his fingers rubbing her palms to make her feel better. He finds Imsi, seated near the tables, head on his hands. "It is because... our father did something horrible, atrocious, sinful."

Chosen gasps, "Mwo?"

Before Jeguk can open his mouth, Imsi intervenes, sounding troubled. "We found our father kissing another man. He did not deserve to be called our father anymore."

Chosen's surprised face is then replaced by furrowed brows and a confused look. "Geuge daya?"

"Well-"

"You disowned your father for loving another man?" Her tone was angry and disbelieving. She lets go of Jeguk, much to her husband's surprise. Imsi looks up from where he was sitting, raising a brow, his mind still brewing up trouble.

"Chosen-", Jeguk tries to respond, but it seems she was not yet done.

"Joseon raised you two! He taught you everything the world has to offer! He loved you both with all his heart, all his soul. Then you say he is not your father anymore for loving another man? That is irrational!"

Imsi stands up, frowning and crossing his arms, staring at her, but she surprisingly remains unfazed in front of the two brothers.

"You don't know him the way we did." Jeguk looks at his brother, who seems to be feeling the same amount of troublesome amount of feelings, trying to destroy his walls with big tidal waves, angry and rumbling and as dark as the sky. It was trying to destroy them both, a rift creating deep inside them and trying to open the gap more.

"If I knew him the way you did I would respect my father's wishes", Chosen shoots back. Imsi keeps his mouth shut, and it was Jeguk's turn to speak up.

"Chosen, don't you understand? Our father had lied to us, kept us in the dark about this atrocity, even tried to defend himself once he is faced with us! He does not deserve to be called our father! To be part of our family!"

Chosen shakes her head, her anger disappating, replaced with a worried look. "I would be angry my own father would hide such a secret from me, but would I cast him away because he is in love with another man? No."

Imsi and Jeguk look at each other, then back at Chosen, who was staring at them.

After a minute of silence, Chosen speaks up.

"Please talk to your father."

"I do not wish to", Imsi replies, and Jeguk himself is surprised by the way Imsi answers her. It was always Jeguk who was stubborn and not complying anyone's orders. Jeguk also wants to deny his wife's suggestion, but something inside him stops. Like there was a yearning in his heart for something more.

So Jeguk makes his choices.

Either he cuts their father out of their afterlives for eternity, or he and his brother accepts him for who he is.

Both sound hard to do.

So he does the latter, taking Imsi's wrist, much to his younger brother's confusion.

"Wait you're certainly not-", Imsi starts, but he sees Jeguk's face, and he sighs. "Y-you feel it too, don't you?"

Jeguk nods, "I feel like we made a mistake."

Imsi takes his brother's hand. "That needs to be right?"

Jeguk nods, embracing him. "That needs to become right."

-

Imsi was imagining all scenarios running around his head as he and Jeguk walk back towards the palace. His thoughts were screaming at him, trying to control his every movement as he and Jeguk come closer to the place they felt touch their hearts so badly to the point both of them feel each other's guilt so distantly. After his confrontation with his father, he can't help but feel his inside tear apart, as if it wasn't meant for him to disrespect his father like that.

He remembered his father tucking him in bed at night after their mother died, singing the same bedtime lullaby their mother once did, and help him be lulled to sleep. He remembered his father letting him read anything in their vast library, and listening to the wonderful stories Imsi had read, acting it out and becoming in sync with his imagination. He remembered his father lecturing and berating him for pulling on his brother's hair too much. And he remembered the corpse of his father, lying in his room, crimson staining the floors, looking as sad as he was in his life.

"Are you alright?", Jeguk asks him.

"Not at all", Imsi replies while shaking his head, running a hand through his hair. "I just have these stupid thoughts of guilt. I am rather conflicted, as of now. Firstly, seeing our father kiss another man is sinful, second, he is being unfaithful to our mother, and third, he's been lying to us, telling us that that man was his friend every time he mourns him. He was not, he was so much more than that."

"I too am not", Jeguk replies sincerely, as they near the palace. "But it is the first time Chosen had spoken her opinions of the matter at hand. She is never this loud before, so I believe we have done something wrong."

Imsi lightly smirks. "Sounds like you're whipped."

Jeguk shakes his head, "I never get those slang words you are speaking of."

Both of them enter the gates of the front palace with small serene smiles, their silence comfortable. They look at the big, wooden door, made of mahogany and rich textures of wood. It was intimidating, especially the dragon head holding the knob, daring them to hold it and summon forth the great dynasties from beyond. Imsi has the audacity to do reckless things more than his brother, though. So he is the one who holds the brass handle, knocking it against the door. He and Jeguk wait for someone to open the door, or tell them they have permission for opening it.

The door opens, a small creak echoing into the room beyond, and Jeguk and Imsi take a step back, to find an unfamiliar man on the door. He looks at them with a raised brow, intimidating and sharp eyes staring back at them.

"May I help you?", he asks curtly, and Imsi tries hard not to scowl, as he lets Jeguk do the talking.

"We are looking for, erm, Chaoxian?", Jeguk says, stumbling on his words. He looks up at the fallen dynasty in front of him. "Was that the right name for 'Joseon'?"

"Ah, you're the two who dare trespass in our palace with no invitation", the man says. "I do not think my son will let you come in again."

"Why don't you actually install gates to avoid trespassers", Imsi says under his breath, before looking up at the man - apparently Ming's father - and replying with, "we're here to talk to our father."

The man pretends to consider their request, but shakes his head no. "I am sorry but my son's lover does not need visitors right now."

Imsi can feel frustration seeping into his veins, his hands clenching to fists. He looks at Jeguk, who seems to be glaring at the man.

"Look, Yuan - or whatever your name is - we just want to talk to our father, to apologize to him", Jeguk calmly says, but there is a hint of indignance in his voice.

The man's eyes widen as his serious face morphs into one of irritation. "Yuan? You two think I'm Yuan? The person who murdered me and most of my family? The person who made my dear son's life a hellbent adventure? Perhaps I have not introduced myself properly-" he switches to a calmer voice- "my name is Song, last dynasty, along with Jurchen, before that Mongol usurper came along. I think you all know who my son is; Ming."

"What is going on here, father?", a familiar voice asks as Song's son joins him on the doorway, looking down at the two brothers. He looks at them emotionlessly and sighs. "Have you come to torment your father once again?"

Imsi shakes his head, "No sir, we come here to talk to him personally."

Ming tilts his head. "Are you sure you're not going to call him names and explode on him like last time?"

Jeguk nods. "We promise."

Ming nods, widening the doorway. "Well then, it seems you are invited to enter the palace."

Jeguk and Imsi step inside, admiring every single detail on the walls, floors, and ceiling, never really noticing or minding them before due to how they want to explode on their father. The walls were hypnotizing them, commanding the brothers to come closer and embrace its beautiful patterns. The ceiling was giving them all the light they need, laughing at them as they stare up. Ming beckons them to follow, and they do, passing the great wide and lengthy hallway, to the throne room, its size incomparable to anything they've seen in the real life. The thrones were not empty anymore; seated were the great Chinese dynasties, from the mythical Xia and the last dynasty Qing, who was left out, along with a man who looked a lot like him. Yuan, Imsi guesses. They were all with their families, singing, laughing, eating happily like they never had in their first lives. Everyone's eyes turn to look at the two brothers and Ming escorting them.

"Wait, aren't they not the two who insulted their father?", asks the one before Song, who has now occupied his seat.

"For loving another man?", the person seated on the first throne snorts as he fills himself a glass of wine.

"They disrespected their father because of his preferences?", Yuan speaks up but everyone - except Qing - gives him a warning glare, and he seals his lips shut.

("Your father outlawed homosexuality during his reign." One says.)

"Back in our days, we didn't have a care in the world if we love men or women", says the only woman seated on the throne, Great Jin. "We only have one objective in life and it is to marry."

"We already know why these two boys are close-minded of preferences", Ming stares directly at Qing, who holds it for a few seconds before looking away to pretend being enchanted by the walls. Ming looks back at Jeguk and Imsi with a smile, looking old yet... parental. "Come, your dear father is this way."

Jeguk and Imsi follow Ming out of the noisy throne room, an awkward silence consuming them. Imsi looks at Ming, looking far ahead at the large empty hallways full of vases or trinkets or tapestries, each of them having a slight history in them. Imsi then glances at a tapestry of Ming, stepping on a body which seems to be Yuan. Ming had over thrown Yuan, Imsi guesses. Imsi's curiosity starts to spill over the walls he had built around to control himself, and since the hallways were quite large and silent, he decides to ask the first question running around his mind.

"Sir Ming, how did you and my father meet?", Imsi asks.

Ming turns his head to look at him, a slight surprise tinted on his dark eyes and smiles kindly, his cheeks showing the slightest red. "Well, I met your father back when I was a young child; I have been living in the streets ever since Yuan has dethroned my father. I was travelling from region to region to ask citizens to join my cause against the Yuan, but either they were too scared of the immense power the foreigner had or they do not believe a strange, thin child as the true heir of the late Song. So I travelled with only the little food I have to the Korean peninsula, and I found a notable candidate to help me rebel against the foreigners."

A small sigh escapes Ming's lips, incredibly love struck. Imsi wonders if the way a man loves the same gender as he has the same affection as loving another woman. He wonders if all love was the same, if they should be held in a general view. They walk into the beautiful gardens, and the two brothers admire their surroundings, a paradise of the lost, a combination of all beautiful and ugly things. The pond was full of clear water, lily pads on it as the fountains let out bright, sparkly, water.

"Your father was royalty, crown prince of the kingdom his father, Goguryeo, had managed", Ming continues as they pass the butterfly-filled flower bushes, with Jeguk caressing a beautifully patterned butterfly, reminding him of Chosen. "He usually walks to commoner streets in the morning, unguarded."

"Father never even set foot in commoner villages without dozens of guards at his side", Jeguk whispers into Imsi's ear, and Imsi nods.

"I met him once his figure sweeps close to my hiding place", Ming says. "I know that this boy was my ticket to Yuan's palace, and so I surprised him by jumping on his way. Let's just say that Chaoxian had stumbled backwards and commanded me to never set foot near the marketplace. I shot back by saying I was Song's son and therefore heir to the dragon throne, but he replied that I am a madman. With that, he runs back to his palace, perhaps to whine of his misfortune during the day."

"But you and father met again and again, and spent more time", Jeguk assumes as he lets the butterfly fly back to the flowers, as they near the tall peach trees.

"Indeed, my boy", Ming nods as he stands on his tiptoes and reaches to the lowest tree branch, taking three bountiful and healthy peaches and giving two of it to Jeguk and Imsi, who bow to him and silently thank Ming. "He slowly believed I am the rightful heir to the throne, and so he lets me in the palace one day and asks his servants to feed me and give me a warm bath. His parents were quite suspicious of me, thinking I am a con who wants the family fortune, but Chaoxian assures them there is no need to worry. He too, despises Yuan and wishes to expel him. He hires dozens of master fighters, but one of them I had the pleasure to replace as my father in a worth while: Red Turban. He had two sons, Xia and Zhou who are incredibly jealous of my swordsmanship as I train more and more. As I grew healthier and smarter, I started to want something else more than familial fondness and friendly hugs. I desired more, craved more, wanted more than what I have.

"Chaoxian has started eyeing me as well. It seemed that he had been observing my physique and health, and his friendly eyes and smiles turn to one of want and desire as he surveys my body every time we train. It made him distracted from his work. It made me distracted from my goal. One night, Chaoxian had the absolute courage to monitor me and my swordsmanship; the conversation escalated from a friendly one to dozens of flirtatious comments and innuendos to the point we both gave in to our desire." Ming looks at both Jeguk and Imsi, clearly listening with the eyes of intrigued children.

Ming and the brothers reach the end of the garden, into another huge hallway, but this time they had rooms with plaques on their doors. Imsi muses that they must all be large to accomodate many peoples; he passes a sign that reads 'Manchukuo, Fengtian, and Yihetuan', and he guesses that those three brothers share the same room.

"When I died, I left my dear Chaoxian all alone, mourning my death", Ming says. "I felt guilty, too guilty, but I know he will move on from my death and deem me a past love, and have children with his brand new queen." He stares at Jeguk and Imsi with a face of genuine sadness.

"He didn't, though", Jeguk says, "ever since he were alive he would absently stare into nothingness, weep at a single mention of you, hold a day in your honor, and hoard his room with artifacts back when he was young and happy."

"But did your father love you with all his heart?", Ming asks as they stop near a door with the pinyin reading, 'Chaoxian'.

"Yes", Imsi replies, realization striking deep within him as his heart bleeds to see his father and hug him once again. "His love for us was beyond his queens."

Ming smiles. "Then you have replaced me as the love of his life after my death."

Jeguk and Imsi stare at each other, realization striking in as their memories with their father surfaced in their mind, the eyes their father had displayed towards Ming had the same level of affection as he looks back at his twin sons, enjoying the happy lives they had once lead.

"I will ask my love if he wishes to talk to you both at this time", Ming says as he knocks on the door and slips in, looking back at them with his dark eyes glinted with delight. Ming closes the door, face to face with his large bed, with a body lying on it, sleeping soundly. He shakes his head as he fondly smiles, approaching Chaoxian and gently shaking him awake. The man in question stirs from his sleep, moving his blankets and turning to face him, tired eyes and an annoyed look.

"What is it Ming?", Joseon asks rudely, "we had just pleasured ourselves a while ago and I wish to sleep."

"But that means you cannot talk to your sons." Ming plays innocent. Joseon's eyes stop being tired at once as a look of surprise come across his face.

"M-my sons? They are here?" Joseon immediately shoots up, ignoring the pain on his back as he tries to look for his clothes. "You only notified me of my son's arrival now?"

Ming shrugs, "They came shortly after I made sure you were sound asleep."

Joseon groans as he finds his clothes and dresses himself up, making sure his hair looks kept and his appearance presentable. "I'm still sore and stressed."

Ming chuckles. "Don't fret, my love. You'll rest sooner or later." Joseon makes a motion for him to open the door and let his sons in, and so Ming obeys, as in comes Joseon and Imsi, slowly and carefully. "I'll leave you all to talk." With that, Ming closes the door with him on the other side.

Joseon looks at his sons, eyes darting from a sheepish Jeguk to an awkward Imsi. The three of them were all waiting for the other party to speak up, to tell what's on their minds. Joseon lightly sighs as he nears his sons; both make a slight hesitation if they should stay in their place but neither took a step backwards as Joseon's arms wrap around then in an embrace. Imsi and Jeguk hug back, missing their father even if it had just been an hour or two. Joseon leans back, looking at his sons with a smile.

"I'm sorry-"

"No, we both are sorry", Jeguk interrupts their father. "We're sorry for treating you as if you are second class, as a sinful monster, and disrespecting you."

"We're sorry that we have never been considerate of your feelings", Imsi says, tears filling his eyes. "I never thought you'd-"

"And I apologize for neglecting my duties as a father", Joseon says, "I love you more than what the world has offered me."

"We love you as well, father", Jeguk replies with a sad smile. "We almost gave you up for your preferences."

"You are both forgiven." Joseon kisses them lightly on the top of their foreheads, and they both feel wamth surge inside them, a piece in their hearts finally attaching itself together again.

-

"It seems that we haven't met properly yet", Jeguk says, bowing to the woman his father had deemed as a daughter of his. "I am Daehan Jeguk, former heir to my father Joseon's throne."

The woman rolls her eyes, curtsying. "I've known you since both you and your brother were babes, yet you only regard me as an ally and not a friend. No matter; I am Ryukyu."

Malacca eyes Jeguk and Ryukyu talking, furrowing his brows. He feels someone touch his arm, and he turns his head to find Jeguk's twin brother.

"You do know that Jeguk is married, right?", Imsi points out like the clever little weasel he is.

"Yes", Malacca replies with a frown. "But I still don't like how close he is to my wife."

"Sultanate, I don't know about you but my brother would never cheat on his wife that has suffered too much." Imsi's last statement was vague as he asks for another glass of wine from a servant.

"Why? What happened to his wife?"

"Teikoku."

Malacca blinks and widens his eyes in realization. "Oh."

Imsi takes a sip of his wine as he bumps into another man, who did not take kindly to this assault. The man turns and faces him, face stone-cold and eyes glaring towards Imsi, who was muttering out apologies.

"You should be sorry", the man tells him through a low, cold voice.

"Ayutthaya!", a jovial and elderly voice sounds through the croud, and it breaks the intimidating air Ayutthaya had created, making Imsi exhale a breath of relief and thank Myeong. Myeong approaches them, silk robes and all, as he smiles pleasantly towards Imsi and frowns at Ayutthaya. "Now now, what have I told you about scaring new family members?"

Imsi blinks, clearly surprised at what Myeong had said. Family. He and Jeguk are now part of Myeong's - clearly - large family? He looks around to find most of Myeong's tributaries chatting amongst themselves or tasting the sweet treats the servants had cooked for them, and he realizes he can finally have more than one brother; he can have all.

"Wait, me and Jeguk are part of your family now?", Imsi asks, mouth agape.

Ayutthaya scoffs and rolls his eyes. "Of course, you idiot. Haven't you heard that your father has married Ming?"

Imsi blinks. "Married?"

Myeong looks sheepish. "Oh, we're really sorry we didn't-"

"No, it's fine", Imsi cuts in and gives Myeong a hug. "I think I feel found."

Ming smiles as he embraces the young boy back, savoring his warmth. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Ayutthaya give the two a slight smile before it turns to a frown once he notices Jeguk and the others approaching them. The man groans as Ming and Imsi part.

Joseon pats Ayutthaya on the head as he embraces Ming and gives him a shy kiss on the cheek, making the room errupt in a cheer, save for Jeguk who modestly claps and Imsi who smiles at them. Ayutthaya was cheering along as well, crossing his arms.

"Hey Jeguk", Imsi whispers to his older brother, who was busily pouring himself a drink.

"Yes?"

"Do you feel the slightest bit weirded out when father kissed Myeong?"

A pause from Jeguk, hesitation. "A little bit, yes." He turns and he and Imsi watch Ming and Joseon kiss and hug each other tightly, like they were meant to be, like they were soulmates.

"But if father is happy, I am happy too."

[quillheart-blog]

This week in Micronations:

I was looking up Monaco history to learn more about their foundation as a pirate nation and instead I found out something else wonderful. So we all know about Grace Kelly and how she was married in to the monarchy in the ‘50s. But before that, there was a succession crisis!

(And yes, this post has something to do with Lupin III. Read on...)

Apparently Prince Albert I (1880s Arctic Explorer) had a son, Prince Louis II (reigned during WWII and retired a Brigadier General in France's army), but Louis was an only child himself and didn't have any children by the time he was almost 50 and was unmarried as well.

It's amazing that he managed to pull off being unmarried that long at all but I'm sure he and his father sailing around the world for years at a time helped. Still, after a while, people pressured him, and he ended up having a kid with the Parisian-nightclub-hostess-daughter of his ship's laundry lady. That child, Charlotte, then became the 'adopted princess', adopted pretty close after WWI, and is the matriarch from which the modern rulers hail.

As the heir-apparent princess, she had two children, one boy and one girl, but then divorced her husband for "his homosexuality". The day her son, Prince Ranier III, came of age, she renounced her claim to the throne, passing it to him, and then later left Monaco entirely with an "Italian doctor" lover. Her dad, Prince Louis II, officiated over the marriage and divorce and the title passing, because he was the sovereign still. AWKWARD. He'd also picked her husband, so I have to wonder if his gaydar was going off and he liked the guy or something.

But then, it gets even better: she moves to Paris, and eventually ends up running a rehibilitation home for ex-cons out of her mansion, despite the wishes of her family, and lives with her lover, "a noted French former jewel thief.*"

(*Named Rene the Cane of all goddamned things.)

Meanwhile, Prince Louis's cousin, a Duke from Germany, was first in line to Monaco before all this, and also Lithuania and Alsace-Lorraine, wherever the hell that is/was. He was a prince of Wuttenberg (some place in Germany) but couldn't inherit that because of the left-hand marriage of his parents. So after WWI, dude didn't get ANY of those titles because of political drama and restructuring and ever since his heirs (not him) have been suing Monaco and France for damages. And the only reason Charlotte ever came into being at all, presumably, was because France threw a fit about "a German" coming to rule Monaco and switching its allegiance.

This place and its family drama just keep getting better. It's like a freaking tellanovella and I love it. Also of note: Rainier had three children who had three children who had three children (and are still going), more or less, so the gayness got bred out of the family I’m thinking. They learned their lesson, it seems, or at the very least are making up for lost time. So how does this fit into our tiny fandom? Well in the end I came to this conclusion: Campaign for Rene the Cane to be Grandpa Lupin and for Albert d’ Andressy to be related somehow to Duke Wutta-Dick of Germany. Please. It would make Lupin’s French-Italian flare make soooooo much sense, Albert Andressy would be a much more interesting and dangerous character IMO, Great-Great Grandpa Prince Albert I + Rene is basically everything Lupin is, and suddenly everyone would be a Disney prince(ss). The end.

[nikwells-blog]

PROFILE

TITLE: The Despondent

FULL NAME: Nikoli Wells

USED NAME(S): Nikoli, Nik (by friends and family only)

AGE AND D.O.B.: 18 & 30 Dec 1969

OCCUPATION: College student, freshman

WEAPON: Recurve bow

GENDER AND PRONOUNS: Cisgender & he/him

SEXUALITY: Homosexual Demiromantic

FACECLAIM: Tom Holland

PERSONALITY

Nikoli has always come across as untrusting, especially now. He’s a victim of physical abuse by his birth parents, which shows with his deep distrust of older men and that will be apparent almost right away. He comes across as kind of cold and standoffish to those that meet him for the first time, which can often be kind of jarring to people that meet him for the first time. Nikoli doesn’t open up to most people right away and if he ever does, then that says something about that person. He doesn’t trust people easily. He’s the type to spend a lot of time alone, rather than with a large group of people. In fact, the only time he ever really comes out of his shell is when he’s around his brother, Sasha. To most people, Nikoli comes across as someone extremely sad and closed-off. He obviously has walls that people will have a difficult time getting through. Nikoli seems to be a very angry boy to anyone that doesn’t know him.

However, once someone’s worked enough, they can clearly see that Nikoli is someone that wears his emotions on his sleeve. In fact, anyone that spends time around Sasha and Nikoli will clearly see that Nikoli is far more emotional than his brother. He’s someone that feels his emotions deeply and is a sad soul. He’s afraid and doesn’t know what he’s doing. People that stick around long enough will be able to see those insecurities quite easily. Though Nikoli doesn’t like to look weak, it’s very difficult for him to hide what he’s feeling. Those that will get to know him, will be able to see his emotions clearly. He might seem bitter and angry on the outside, but really, he’s just terrified. People who know him well enough to be able to read him are probably people that will be allowed to call him Nik. And these are the people that will probably know him well enough to know that he likes other people more than he lets on -- and that other’s opinions mean more than he wants them to. 

PLOTS

PATCH UPS / Nikoli is a risk taker, though he knows his own boundaries. He won’t go so far as to get himself seriously injured. However, he’s also dumb enough to get himself into sticky situations. Nikoli has no clue about anything medical -- and won’t know what to do when he gets hurt. These don’t have to be things that a nurse or doctor would be able to heal, but literally anyone that knows anything about healing. Nikoli wouldn’t know how to sterilize a knife before using it for healing -- or what works best to stop bleeding. He’s clueless when it comes to these sorts of things. 

     - Character A: Someone not fully trained in anything medical, but would know the basics. Character A will be someone that Nikoli might eventually feel comfortable with enough that he’d go to for minor injuries. They could be a mom, someone that was in medical school but never graduated, or someone that just knows a little bit about survival and has learned things from getting hurt themselves. ( 0 / 1 )

     - Character B: Someone trained in the medical profession. Character B would be someone that Nikoli would probably go to for more serious medical conditions. He probably wouldn’t seek them out, they’d probably found him after he’s done something really stupid. This person would have to either be a nurse or a doctor of some sort. ( 0 / 1 ) 

                    TOTAL SLOTS: ( 0 / 2 ) 

THIEF IN THE NIGHT / Nikoli has begun dabbling in stealing to survive. He’s not perfect and makes stupid mistakes. He will do what he can to cover his tracks so he’s not caught. But it’s also fun to see hat happens if he is caught by someone. Most of the time, he’s quiet and can spot traps. But he is still learning to spot hidden traps and hasn’t yet mastered the ability to disarm them. 

     - Character C: Someone well trained at tracking finds him after they steal something from him. Nikoli stole something important, or maybe just food. Whatever it was and whatever happens when they meet up can be plotted out in more depth depending on what the other character would end up doing. ( 0 / 1 )

     - Character D: Someone that just happens to catch Nikoli in the act of stealing something. He’d be trying to steal something from Character D and it can be anything: their weapon, an important item they keep with them, food, or something entirely different. Main thing is that he’s caught by this person. Details can be discussed. ( 0 / 1 ) 

                   TOTAL SLOTS: ( 0 / 2 ) 

WHAT AM I DOING? / “I know what I’m doing.” - Nikoli Wells, before doing something he obviously has no idea how to do. A determined young man, he’ll try something and push if he thinks it’s the right thing. He tries not to do anything that will get himself in to too much trouble, but he’s not always successful in that. Someone that catches him in a moment of weakness. Where he’s gotten in over his head. This isn’t undead specific. It can be something mundane like Nikoli trying to fish, cook food, or even hunt. But he clearly isn’t capable of what he’s trying to do and needs help. This plot has a few different outcomes -- 

     - Character E:  This character will be someone willing to help. The specifics of the plot can be discussed of course -- since it really doesn’t matter what they’re doing. ( 0 / 2 ) 

     - Character F: This character will be someone unwilling to help. They’ll either be there when he makes a fool out of himself or they just leave him there, begging for help. ( 0 / 1 ) 

     - Character G: This character will be someone willing to help as long as they get something out of it. Someone that would help, if they get something from helping. This character would make some deal with Nikoli, which can be discussed. ( 0 / 1 ) 

     - Character H: This character is going to be someone that seems like they’re helping, but it’s really to get him in a better position so they can manipulate him. Details can be discussed, but it’s someone that would probably want to hurt him. ( 0 / 1 ) 

                   TOTAL SLOTS: ( 0 / 5 )

RELATIONSHIPS

NPCs: 

PETER WELLS / father (45 years old): Presumed dead 

LINDSAY WELLS / mother (44 years old): Presumed dead 

TESSA WELLS / aunt (39 years old): Alive 

PLAYABLE CHARACTERS: 

SASHA WELLS / brother (16-17 years old): Sasha is the complete opposite of Nik in almost every way. The two are thick as thieves despite being different from each other. Sasha’s softness balances out Nikoli’s bitterness. It’s clear that Nikoli cares very much for his brother and will do anything to keep him alive. The two clearly are very close and while they might fight over some things, they’re still brothers. (Note: I’m going to send in a WC for this, but if anyone has any interest please message me!) 

FRIENDS FROM HIGH SCHOOL / (16-19 years old): Nikoli was the exact same as he is now in high school without the added bonus of paranoid. However, he still was able to make friends of his own. 

FRIENDS OF SASHA’S / (16-19 years old): While Nikoli made his own friends in high school, he also had friends of Sasha’s that he was probably close to. Friends of his brother’s that he’s also friends with may be interested in playing.

ENEMIES / (any age): Nikoli will probably make plenty of enemies throughout the game. He tends to be one of those people that never apologizes for the mistakes they make unless it’s to someone that they really care about. Enemies are bound to come up at some point, even if he doesn’t want them to. This could be anyone from someone he stole from to someone that he just rubs the wrong way. 

LOVE INTEREST / (18-24 years old): Nikoli is a huge romantic at heart. He wants a love story like the Wells had, where everything was perfect and nothing went wrong. While it is the apocalypse and he can’t always trust everyone, he still wants to find someone to spend the rest of his life with. Chemistry is a must with this one though and I do have a very specific image in mind. Nikoli is homosexual and demiromantic, so this is something that needs to be taken into account. (Note: Later on in the game, I’ll probably send in a wanted connection for this with more details on exactly what I have in mind, unless he has good chemistry with someone.) 

[scriptlgbt]

Catholicism-Related Homophobia Masterpost

Hello!

Mod Deryn here, as your local Roman Catholic gal, here to talk to you about some common comments/’arguments’/views/ideologies held/made by homophobic Catholics, and what your characters can say back to them.

TW for transphobia, homophobia, religion, and general bleh-ness.

I want to start off by saying that any self-respecting Catholic that actually practices what they preach would not be homophobic, because it literally goes against the 10 Commandments (basically the ten rules that you’re not supposed to break ever because they’re especially bad sins), and violates the second-most important commandment, which is to love your neighbour as yourself (Matthew 22:39). We as laypeople explicitly do not have the right to judge (much less punish) anyone, no matter what. We are called to love everyone. 

Anyway, your homophobic Catholic is likely to be more of a ‘conservative Catholic,’ so to speak, rooting their arguments in traditionalism and condemning more progressive stances in Catholicism that are pro-LGBT. (Please keep in mind that while many Catholics refer to God as a He, I refer to Them as They, and will thus refer to Them as that).

Common Arguments that your Homophobic Catholic Character May Use and How to Confront Them:

1. The Genesis Argument (AKA Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve) This is a very common “argument,” and basically centres on the idea that in the first creation story (and yes!! there are two included in Genesis!!) God creates Adam (the first man) and then Eve (the first woman). In the second Genesis story, God tries to find the perfect ‘companion’ for Adam, and when nothing works, They make Adam fall asleep and pull out Adam’s rib and make a new human (Eve) out of that rib. Implausible as it sounds, it is one of the two possible explanations of creation that exist in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, as well as the first book of the Torah.

It is important to realize that in the original Hebrew text, the first human is referred to as Ish, which means ‘humankind,’ and then, when Eve is created, they are then referred to as ish and isha (man and woman). Basically, men weren’t created first because just ‘humanity’ was created first. (To be fair, this is more of a side-note than anything, but I do find it important to note).

How to Confront this Argument:

A) Have your character point out that this creation story is, quite frankly, just that. A story. The Bible includes two separate accounts of creation for just this reason, to make it clear that the creation story is a story, not an actual account of reality. (And no, I’m not being a heretic, this is literally what’s taught in religion class. Ask my religion teacher with a Masters in Religious Education). The use of repetition in the first story (i.e. “And there was evening and there was morning, the [x] day”), the largely symbolic language, and other, subtler hints are meant to clue in the readers that the creation story is largely symbolic and not an account of real events. Most of Genesis is like this; stories and things that must be taken into the context of the time they were written in in order to fully understand what the messages are.

Almost all (Old Testament) Bible stories are not meant to be taken literally, and your Catholic homophobe will likely be the die-hard ‘the bible said this so it must be true.’ If that is the case, your character could mention some other things the bible mentions that are somewhat ridiculous in a modern context and have to be taken in the context they were written in - for example, in Leviticus 19:19, God instructs the people that “[they should] not wear clothing woven of two types of material.” Given that that includes most fabric nowadays, something has to give.

2. “The Bible says homosexuality is wrong!!” (AKA - I’m going to pretend I read this passage so I have a reason to be uncomfortable with you).

Your character is likely to be referencing either the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19) or that one line from Romans (You Know What I Mean).

(Rape Mention TW)

To sum up, in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, the people there are like, super sinful, so God wants to destroy them all a la flood style. But Abraham (God’s Main Dude - Jewish, Muslim, and Catholic people all trace their lineage back to him, I believe) was like ‘hey, wait a second there God, I have family there, don’t kill them.’ So to ‘test’ Sodom and Gomorrah, God sent two angels in disguise as humans to go visit Abraham’s family, who welcomes them in. However, the rest of the residents of Sodom all go to Lot (Abraham’s family - I can’t remember the exact relation), but they go to Lot’s house and demand to be allowed the permission of sleeping with Lot’s guests (the angels). Lot, being a good person, doesn’t do that.

The next morning, the angels tell Lot and his family to clear out before they destroy the two cities, they do so (although Lot’s wife looks back and gets turned into a pillar of salt), and are thus saved.

(End Rape TW)

This story has been interpreted in two major ways - one is that it is a warning against homosexuality, the other being that it’s a warning against inhospitality. The second one, in context, makes more sense. Lot is spared, not because he didn’t display any homosexual tendencies, but because he was a good host and tried to protect the angels. His wife, despite being not described as gay in any way, is turned into a pillar of salt because she disobeys their guests’ wishes.

Basically - the main biblical story that Catholics use to preach against homosexuality is a misunderstanding of the text.

The line in Romans about homosexuality is based off this story, in most interpretations, and is thus also based on a misunderstanding of the text, and thus unreasonable to take into consideration.

How Your Character Could Confront This Argument:

Assuming your character had read the passages in question (which isn’t necessarily untrue to life - when I first began realizing I was gay, I started scanning as much of the bible as possible to find out what the Bible actually said about homosexuality. However, I will admit that that’s a rather uncommon reaction, especially if your character has not been raised in a very faith-immersed environment. A character with less knowledge about this background could instead point out the inadequacies of the Bible as a set of rules to live one’s life (Jesus Himself did not follow all the rules that the Pharisees had set - for one example, He would heal people on Shabbat, regardless of the fact that it was supposed to be a day where you did very little - I don’t know the exact rules, but He wasn’t supposed to be healing people).

Not only that, but Jesus (who set out the New Commandments and basically was sent out into the world to create a new era of Love and, depending on who you talked to, basically voided the majority of the Old Testament) never actually said anything about homosexuality, and the Old Testament is where the majority of homophobic arguments are found, showing that a lot of people who use these arguments are ignoring the part of Bible they’re arguably supposed to be paying the most attention to.

3. God Hates X Group!

Nope. God is Love. The two words are literally interchangeable throughout the Bible. Remember that passage from Corinthians - Love is patient, Love is kind?

Now think... God is patient, God is kind. Slow to anger, rich in kindness...

In the Beginning, Love created the heavens and the earth.

It goes on.

The spiritual embodiment of love literally cannot hate. It’s just... not possible. Not only is this person presuming to know what an all-powerful and presumably omniscient deity believes in and thinks, they are also presuming to believe that God would hate Their own creation.

Again in the New Testament, there are a startling amount of parables about tax collectors. Why? Everyone hated tax collectors. They were often corrupt, took money for themselves, and sometimes left families destitute. It was a pretty common feeling among the people that these collectors were destined for hell (and good riddance!). However, Jesus goes on up there and tells them that tax collectors, prostitutes... all these people who are condemned by the public? They’re going to heaven first. Why? Because they’re still God’s children, no matter what, and God doesn’t hate them.

How to Have Your Characters Refute This Argument:

“Oh, I thought your God was a loving God?”

Listen, God literally sent Their own progeny, their only child, to be humiliated, tortured, and then killed. Why? To save everyone. No matter who, or what, or how, or why, they’re ALL being saved. Anything else violates Catholic teaching.

4. “You must be fruitful and multiply!” (AKA: Being gay is wrong because you can’t naturally reproduce).

Transphobia aside, this view is (again) based heavily on Genesis, which was written in 1400 BCE. It’s worth keeping in mind the context in which this was written (child mortality rates were high, people didn’t live very long, having lots of children was almost necessary because of mortality rates, etc). Using hermeneutics (the modern study of the Bible, taking into account context, storytelling format, authors’ bias, and so much more), we are able to make better judgements in relation to what the Bible says.

Now, it is generally understood that people aren’t required to have twelve children in order to obey God because that doesn’t make sense within a modern era. There are blessed single people who do not choose to be nuns but choose to live single and are thus sanctified (my grade six teacher is one, though I forget the exact title). All members of the clergy do not have children - priests because they represent God, and nuns and monks because of spiritual obligations to God. Obviously, if so many members (and important members!) of the church - both lay and clergy - are considered just as sacred as those who did have children, it stands to reason that the only thing that truly matters is their dedication to God, not the number of children they had.

Besides that, adoption is a thing, surrogacy and artificial insemination is a thing, and this is ultimately an outdated worldview.

How To Have Your Character Refute This:

If your homophobic character uses that exact line, consider having your character point out how long ago that part of the Bible was written. Alternatively, they could point out the number of LGBT+ couples/families seeking out adoptions and other methods of having children, point out the transphobia in their statements, or otherwise find flaws in their logic as seen.

-

TL;DR: In my opinion, while there are absolutely many interpretations of the Bible, hatred is not one of them, and using Roman Catholicism to justify homophobia is upsetting, to say the least, because using God to promote hatred goes against the whole point of a religion based on love.

Most of these arguments can be easily refuted by someone reminding the prosecutor that Roman Catholicism is about love, not hate.

And if refutation isn’t enough, maybe hitting them over the head with a bible will do it (but I generally don’t endorse doing that. Violence doesn’t really work).

Best of luck writing!

-Mod Deryn

All bible transcripts come from the New Revised Standard Edition Bible.

[angryhausfrau-writes]

Something Old and Something New - Chapter 8: Dinner...

“I feel like an idiot.”

BJ curls into Peg's side and she wraps her arms around him. And they're still standing right outside of the hotel room door, blocking the hallway. But her husband clearly needs this right now – and she won't be the one to pull away.

“I just – I just spent so long getting ready to see Hawkeye, you know? And then he wasn't there. It was Trapper!”

And BJ's voice is full of anguish. Peg holds him closer.

“I know dear, I know,” she soothes.

He had clearly been thrown for a loop. And she can understand why. He'd been both looking forward to the reunion and dreading it for weeks now. He'd stood in their hotel room tying and untying and retying his tie in an expression of nervous excitement – and a desire for everything to be perfect for his and Hawkeye's reunion. And that's been shot in the foot, now, hasn't it? But there's nothing either of them can do about it now.

And they are running a bit late at this point. Late enough that Trapper has disappeared downstairs with the wedding present and they're left standing alone in the empty hallway. Late enough that she doesn't have the time to comfort him like she wants to.

None of this is going how they wanted it to. But it will all turn out all right, she's sure. Because the two of them are here together and they'll figure things out - come hell or high water. So she holds BJ tight once more and then gentles his head out of the crook of her neck. A position that he'd had to contort himself into, bending his knees to reach – and that can't have been comfortable at all.

“BJ, look at me. You're not an idiot. And I'm sure Hawkeye is downstairs with the others, waiting for us.”

The “So let's get a move on, huh?” is silent but heavily implied. And he can't really argue with that – much as he just wants to spend the whole reception in his room where it's safe. Where he doesn't have to confront his feelings for Hawkeye. Where he doesn't have to have the coming awkward conversation of just what, exactly, those feelings are. Where he doesn't have to come face-to-face with Trapper – the lover of the man he's in love with, and who he just made an idiot out of himself in-front of.

At least things can't get any worse, impressions-wise. And Hawkeye's already seen him at pretty much his worst anyway and they're still friends.

“Ok, yeah. Let's head down.”

--

Trapper makes the long, awkward slog to the gift table at the front of the reception hall. And it feels like all the rich fuckers are staring at him – cussing him out with their eyes for daring to be late, and be him, and pollute their refinement with his presence. And Jesus fucking Christ, he hates Back Bay. Charles had better fucking appreciate this.

And he ain't feeling too fucking charitable towards BJ for making him this late – and therefor the center of attention like this - either.

But Trapper's had plenty of practice bullshitting his way through poncy parties where people just barely tolerate his presence – left over from his college days at Dartmouth and the yearly holiday shitshow with his ex-wife's family – so he keeps his back straight and his face blank and his seething pissed-offedness locked up tight.

He delivers the gift. And Max owes him so fucking big for this. But also, he's glad this is happening to him and not her and Soon Li. Cuz that would prolly get about a million times worse for them than it is for him. And Max would mouth off at someone – or Soon Li would, cuz she ain't one to be condescended to either. And then whatever rich fucker'd started it would get even more upset. And that wouldn't end well for anyone.

Trapper can see the whole scenario play out piece by piece – and it ends with Max and Soon Li getting kicked out. And then the party wouldn't be no fun at all. So it's just as well she's a conniving little bastard who knows just how to play him.

But he ain't gonna let it go that easy, either. Not when he can prolly knock her down another five percent or so on that lingerie price via guilt trip, anyway.

Task complete, Trapper swings by the bar cuz he's noticed that none of the tables have any drinks other than booze at them. And maybe Marjory made sure Hawkeye's got something he can drink - but he wouldn't bet on it, given that even the kids got champagne to toast the happy couple – whenever they actually show up. And some of the kids are clearly parroting their parents in describing the bouquet of the wine or whatever else bullshit. Which, Jesus Christ. Imagine being a wine snob at eight.

So anyway, Trapper gets Hawkeye a Shirley Temple, which nets him a weird look from the bartender, but it ain't like he gives a shit about what he thinks either. Thought even the reception's bartender is posher than just about anyone else Trapper's ever regularly interacted with. Only the best at this wedding, apparently.

And then finally, Hawk's drink in hand, he makes his way over to his designated table, and thank God that's over with. And thank God that they – all the MASH contingent, plus Letta and her husband – have been put at an out of the way table so none of the Emersons or Winchesters or Oakes will have to look at them. And maybe that should feel like a snub, but Trapper's honestly glad he won't have to put up with any of the sneers and glares he got walking into the reception while he's eating dinner.

--

“Hawk!” BJ exclaims and goes tearing across the ballroom toward a tall, thin man with salt and pepper hair and an old fashioned tuxedo, sitting next to a man who appears to be a priest. Which seems rather out of character for the description she has of Hawkeye Pierce. But the man stands at her husband's shout.

And responds with an equally exuberant, “Beej!” before getting pulled into a bear hug.

At least BJ's anxiety about seeing Hawkeye again appears to have abated.

Peg approaches more sedately than her husband, so they've broken apart by the time she gets close.

“The infamous Hawkeye Pierce, I presume?”

He looks different from the grainy black-and-white photos she's caught glimpses of in passing, when cleaning BJ's study or when they'd been passed around to her and Erin if BJ'd been telling bedtime stories about Korea and in a particularly nostalgic mood. The man in those photographs had looked gaunt and tired and overall worn down by the mundane horrors of war. This man here is vibrant and alive and full of the kind of childish mischief most people outgrow a decade or so earlier. But despite the differences, this man is undoubtedly Hawkeye.

He grins and holds out a hand. “And you must be Peg! It's wonderful to finally meet you in person.” Then his expression turns sly. “BJ, you've been holding out on me. Your stories didn't come close to doing her justice.”

Peg finds herself grinning despite herself. Hawkeye is quite the charmer - no wonder her husband had been so taken with him.

“Hey, hands off my wife! Go bother your own date.” BJ pretends affront.

“Would that I could, but alas, Margaret has run off to the powder room with Kat and half the other women at the table. They're either unionizing or planning a bank robbery.” He turns conspiratorially to Peg. “If you want to get in on the ground floor of the heist, I'd cut out now.”

Peg laughs. “I think I'll wait a few more years to start a life of crime. At least until the children are a little older.”

“I'm just surprised Margaret agreed to be seen with you,” BJ chimes in.

“Well, it was between me and Trapper – and Kat drew the short straw in the date department.” Hawkeye grins at Trapper, who's just arrived at the table, presumably from dropping off the wedding present.

“Ouch,” Trapper says, not sounding very hurt. “Just for that, you're getting your own drink next time, Hawkeye.”

But he's smiling as he hands over the glass of whatever it is. And Peg watches as their fingers brush and linger. And she sees how Trapper angles himself around Hawkeye, pressing against him in a way that would look innocuous if you didn't know better.

Peg hadn't been entirely certain that her husband wasn't reading too much into things. That Hawkeye and Trapper weren't simply very close friends, the way she assumed BJ and Hawkeye had been. Friends forged in war and terror – and closer than brothers for it.

But it turns out that BJ's in love with Hawkeye.

And then she'd thought that maybe BJ was reading too much into Trapper and Hawkeye's relationship because of how he felt about Hawkeye. Like if Hawkeye really was a homosexual and in a relationship with Trapper, then there was a chance for BJ too. And maybe it's all just wishful thinking.

But it's fairly obvious, now, that BJ was right. And that Hawkeye's relationship with Trapper is more than simple friendship. Which has some potentially unfortunate implications for BJ's chances with Hawkeye. Which Peg doesn't really know whether to be happy or disappointed about, she honestly doesn't.

And now the conversation has foundered with her focus on Trapper and Hawkeye – and on the two of them together– and BJ's focus on her reaction. So she endeavors to set those thoughts aside for now and return to the social niceties.

“Who's Kat?” Peg asks. BJ hadn't mentioned her in any of his stories about Korea. Maybe she left before he got there.

“Margaret's roommate,” Hawkeye supplies. With perhaps a touch of emphasis. Hmmm.

“So you're on a double date?”

Trapper laughs. “Just like old times. Though I don't remember them running out on us quite this fast in Korea.”

“That's just because there were fewer places to hide.” And that's how Peg meets Major Margaret Houlihan. BJ really was not exaggerating about her in his stories at all.

--

Finally, Charles and Marjory and all the rest of the wedding party show up – so Trapper'd been glared at for nothing. He guesses the rich get to decide how late is fashionable and how late is rude and everyone else just has to lump it. But their arrival seems to be the signal for everyone to sit down and shut up so that a succession of really boring people can make terrible speeches about how great Charles and/or Marjory are. All without really seeming to know them at all.

Trapper's a little jealous of Hawkeye, BJ, Peg, and the Padre cuz they're carrying on a silent conversation in sign language the whole time – even with the other three way down the table - and that looks like a lot more fun than trying to actually pay attention. But Trapper does have Kat whispering sarcastic commentary in his ear. And sure, it's mostly so he'll whisper it into Margaret's ear like some kinda lesbian to lesbian telegraph service. But he'll take what he can get at this point.

And God, he'd forgotten how much fun Kat is. Not that Margaret ain't a good time – but Kat has one hell of a sharp tongue and Trapper's counting on her running commentary to make this upper-crust shitshow of a wedding reception bearable. Since all the Back Bay snobs are gonna be gossiping about Trapper and his friends all night, he may as well get his own entertainment outta them.

And then Honoria joins their table after the speeches finish up and dinner gets started. And she's apparently stolen a bottle of top-shelf champagne from the head table to get their portion of the party started early.

“Shouldn't you be in the wedding party?” Hawkeye asks her after turning down a wine glass of champagne. “You know, since your brother is the one getting married.”

“And your dress looks an awful lot like a bridesmaid dress,” Trapper adds. “You on the lamb?”

“It-t's tr-true,” Honoria says, with a dramatic hand to her brow. “I confess, I've run aw-way from home.”

“They gonna come hunt you down?” Trapper's a little wary of causing more of a scene this early in the proceedings.

“Ooh, do you need a disguise?” Hawkeye asks, delighted at the prospect. “How bout you and Max swap outfits, you're about the same size.”

“And I look absolutely stunning in teal, it has to be said,” Max adds from down the table.

She laughs. “Th-thanks, but I doubt th-they mind I've gone missing. Less chance of embarrassing th-the family w-way over here.”

“I'm sure that's not true,” Margaret chimes in. “Charles always spoke very fondly of you, Honoria.”

“And you seem like a fun gal to spend time with,” Kat adds with intent.

Trapper bets her and Margaret will run off somewhere with Honoria the minute they can get away with it. Not that he can really blame them for jumping at a good time when it lands in front of them. He's just a little sore that his built in dance partner is gonna abandon him – given that was the whole point in getting a date to this shindig. He'll have to hope there's someone in the rest of herd of MASH vets and their partners that wants to take a spin around the dance floor.

“In fairness,” Hawkeye says, interrupting some pretty heavy eye contact between the three women, “Charles is too busy making eyes at Marjory to notice a herd of elephants stampeding through the ballroom – much less that his sister is missing.”

Trapper looks up at the happy couple. “I'll say this for 'em. They do genuinely seem to be in love.”

If Winchester gets to looking any sappier, he's gonna have little hearts coming outta his eyes like in a cartoon.

“Isn't it something,” Radar interjects in an awed tone.

“Radar! Come sit with us, it's been an eternity since I've seen you.” Hawkeye pats the seat next to him. They've all started playing musical chairs as various couples swap with each other, using the time it's taking for the servers to reach their table at the back of the room to catch up with everyone they've missed talking to, either upstairs or before the festivities got underway.

“You saw me upstairs ten minutes ago,” Radar grumbles under his breath. But he sits with them readily enough. And brings his date along as well.

Their whole table's completely ignoring the fancy little place cards set out for them – and given that Honoria's stolen a chair from some other table, that appears to be spreading across the whole room. Trapper can spot at least one surreptitious chair theft happening while the former owner is busy at the bar. And some of the guests are just baldly demanding others give up their seats since their own have gone missing and they're obviously much more important. It genuinely feels like things may come to blows – or the posh equivalent – at some point this evening. So at least there's that to look forward to.

And it's good to know that the 4077 can still sow chaos wherever they go. Though hopefully it doesn't get them booted out before dinner's even served.

And it's nice to catch up with Radar. He's changed a lot since Trapper'd last seen him – and even since Hawkeye had, apparently. And it ain't really a surprise. He'd been just a kid back in Korea, stuck in a shit situation with way too much on his shoulders. But now he's really come into himself, it seems like.

Radar talks about running the farm – and it sounds like him and Park Sung are doing a good job of it. Not that he's one to judge or anything. The depth of his experience with rural living amounts to going to visit Hawkeye's dad and a few semi-disastrous Boyscout camping trips as a kid. But he's glad Radar's happy. And his Ma's apparently doing fine too.

But mostly, Radar talks about Patricia – his date to this little shindig and who's been pulled into a conversation about nursing by Margaret and Kat. Leaving Radar to gush over how smart and pretty and all around wonderful she is - to Trapper and Hawkeye's amusement. To hear Radar talk, she's invented penicillin and polio vaccines all in one.

Finally, Radar pauses to take a breath and Hawkeye mock whispers, “Do I hear wedding bells?” And at Radar's blushing nod, he sniffs dramatically and pretends to wipe his eyes with a handkerchief. “They grow up so fast, don't they Trapper?”

“Seems like just yesterday we were conspiring to get him a date.”

“Yeah, after his fiance threw him over – jokes on her,” Hawkeye says, pinching Radar's cheek, “Radar's grown up to be quite the catch.”

“Oh, cut it out you guys. I ain't some dumb kid no more. And me and Patricia are engaged now, anyway. So I ain't thought about Lindy Sue in forever.”

“Engaged!” Hawkeye gasps, affronted. “And you didn't tell us? Does family mean nothing to you?”

Radar looks abashed and mumbles “I didn't figure you'd wanna come all the way out to Ottumwa for the wedding so I didn't bother sending nothing out. Id'a told you after I was actually hitched.”

And it makes sense, given Radar'd been left at the altar before. He wouldn't wanna jinx nothing by spreading things around. But it looks like both of them are in this thing for the long haul.

So Trapper throws an arm around his shoulders. “Radar, Radar, Radar. It's us.”

“Your Aunt and Uncle,” Hawkeye continues. “We threatened to adopt you.”

“And those threats ain't made lightly.”

“Of course we'd come to Iowa for the wedding.”

Radar blushes. It's a little embarrassing – them talking like they're his kinda parents still – but it's nice too. “Thanks you guys. I'll make sure to invite you once I know when it's happening.”

It sure won't be as grand as this one is. But it'd be real nice to have his friends there – Hawkeye and Trapper and maybe Max and Soon Li'd wanna come down for the wedding. It ain't that far from Toledo to Ottumwa. And maybe Colonel Potter'd wanna be there. He ain't Colonel Blake, but he'd done his best to look after Radar – just like Radar'd done his best to look after him. And it'd be real nice have the Father there, even if he'd have a pastor to officiate.

Radar leans back in his chair, closes his eyes, and lets himself open up to the future like a sunflower opening up to the sun. Till now, he'd been real careful to keep whatever it is lets him look squeezed shut tight, just in case he'd see something he don't wanna see. Like Patty leaving him like Lindy Su'd done – not that he's been thinkin on that or nothing. Or maybe he'd see some other kinda disaster befall them that'd keep 'em from getting hitched. And he's still scared of all that.

But here, with all his friends, it feels like things are gonna work out just fine. And like it ain't gonna hurt to let the future in.

Eventually, Radar and Patricia leave – running off to go talk to Max and the Padre about their engagement, looks like. And Trapper doesn't mind that. He knows they'll have time to chat again later if they want.

What he does mind is that BJ steals Radar's vacated seat, plopping himself right between him and Hawkeye.

BJ'd been kinda hovering in the background for a while now, like Hawkeye had suddenly gained a blond, over-earnest shadow. And Trapper figures he's probably missed seeing Hawkeye everyday like Trapper knows he had after getting home, so he can't begrudge them wanting to catch up. And he has a wallet full of kid pictures and enough public-appropriate stories from work they oughtta make it through dinner ok. If BJ even deigns to talk to him, that is.

He seems real fixed on talking to Hawkeye – and only Hawkeye. Margaret barely warrants a distracted nod and Trapper doesn't even get that.

But it ain't like they've ever been close, so he just shrugs it off and goes to talk to BJ's wife. She's small and blond and pretty – and bears a striking resemblance to Louise. It's a little uncanny, if Trapper's being honest.

Mrs. “Peg, call me Peg” Hunnicutt seems like a nice gal, though. Shame about her husband.

And that's maybe a little too catty. So he turns to engage Peg in conversation about her real estate career – and the interior decorating that goes along with it - cuz it seems polite and she's kinda being ignored by BJ, too. And maybe not his favorite topic – or one that he knows anything about, given that he'd pretty much left his house like Louise had had it, plus a few additions from Hawkeye and his dad – but it beats trying to horn in where he ain't wanted.

Seeing Hawkeye is... seeing Hawkeye is indescribable. BJ almost can't believe that he's real and here and sitting next to him. Close enough that BJ can feel Hawkeye – electric and chaotic and full of an infectious joy that's not exactly settling but that feels familiar like home and bright shiny new all at once. Magnetic in a way that makes BJ have to fight not to touch him, press against his side, throw an arm around his shoulders, pull him into another hug and just never let go.

He turns sideways a little in his seat to more fully face Hawkeye and it brings their knees bumping together under the table and it's like there's a live wire running through him lighting him up and he can't fucking stand it.

Can't keep hold of the thread of whatever story Hawkeye's telling because he's too busy watching the dance of his hands. Too busy feeling the press of his leg when he leans towards BJ during an especially emphatic point. Too busy looking at Hawkeye's face – split by a huge grin and with his eyes all crinkled up in mirth and shining with joy as he tells the punchline of a joke.

He can't bear to tear himself away.

And then Hawkeye's leaning behind BJ to talk to Trapper and the little world he's built around just the two of them comes crashing down. Because, oh yeah, there's other people in the room aside from him and Hawkeye.

All the ambient noise of the room rushes back in – including Hawkeye rattling his glass of ice meaningfully at Trapper.

Who's leaning around BJ to smirk at Hawkeye – and there's an intensity so very visible in his eyes. “Why Hawk, would you like another drink?”

Hawkeye effects a “who, me?” expression, which just prompts Trapper to roll his eyes and take the glass from him – hands brushing and lingering – and BJ has to turn away.

Trapper stands and turns to the ladies. “You want a drink, Maggie? Kat?”

Kat waves him away but Margaret orders, “Scotch and water, tall,” with all the strength and steel of a military command.

“Yes ma'am!” Trapper sketches a sarcastic little salute. And then he turns to Peg. “How 'bout you, Peg? What're you drinking?” And he seems very familiar, leaning towards her in a way BJ doesn't particularly like.

“I'll be buying Peg's drinks,” BJ interjects. Where does Trapper get off flirting with his wife?

Trapper looks a little taken aback – and maybe BJ shouldn't have been so quick to jump down his throat. It's just that things between him and Peg have been a little – not strained, never that – but different. Like they're standing at the precipice of something neither of them can see and trusting that everything will be ok if they jump. So BJ's maybe been a little protective of her.

Luckily, Trapper just shrugs and says, “C'mon then” over his shoulder as he heads to the bar. And he seems completely relaxed walking through the crowded room, even as BJ wilts a little under the bald stares of the other wedding guests.

Although some of his self-consciousness may have something to do with being alone with Trapper without the buffer of Hawkeye – or even Charles – to ease the conversation along. And the way Trapper's lounging at the bar, all broad shoulders and long, lean body – seeming perfectly at ease – doesn't help any. And neither does the way Trapper plucks the cherry out of Hawkeye's drink, puts the whole thing in his mouth, stem and all, before pulling the stem back out, tied in a perfect little knot - which he places back in the glass like some kind of trophy or calling card or something.

BJ squirms a little in what's probably jealousy.

He downs his double Scotch in one and orders another. But the feeling is still there whenever he catches a glance of Trapper out of the corner of his eye – still sprawling on his barstool like he owns the whole damn hotel.

And it doesn't help when they get back to the table and he puts a big, possessive hand on Hawkeye's shoulder as he hands over his drink. Yes, definitely jealousy - and nothing else. Because what else could it possibly be?

And jealousy is something he's been trying to be better about. But hasn't exactly been easy – particularly with Trapper right there in front of him, flaunting his closeness with Hawkeye.

“Don't forget to tip your waiter,” Trapper jokes as he hands over Margaret's Scotch.

“Oh, I'll give you a tip and a whole lot more later tonight.”

Hawkeye's lascivious whisper right into his ear makes Trapper almost forget where he is and who he's with. But all he says is, “I look forward to it.” And then turns his gaze towards Margaret and Kat – two much more socially acceptable targets for whatever the hell his expression looks like right now.

And Margaret just smiles knowingly at him, bless her. “I don't know, Trapper. You took an awfully long time bringing a lady a drink. I'm not sure I care for the service at this establishment.”

No, she wouldn't, would she.

He laughs. “It's not my fault some pompous asshole ordered a punch Romaine – to be made immediately, of course – right in the middle of the bartender making your drink. I had to sit there for fifteen goddamn minutes while the poor guy chipped ice.”

“Oh! Is that why my cherry's already been plucked?”

BJ chokes quietly on his drink.

“Sorry Hawk. I know how much you like to watch.”

Hawkeye opens his mouth for a rebuttal, but Margaret interrupts them by asking after the girls. Probably for the best, cuz they're being maybe a little too overt. BJ's giving them a kinda weird look, anyway. And the change in conversational topic means Trapper gets to show off Becky and Cathy's school pictures and a real nice snapshot from when they all went up to Maine to visit Hawkeye's dad.

Despite Hawkeye's insistence that Trapper loves his daughters more than just about anything else, BJ is still surprised when he pulls out a series of photos of his daughters and shows them to Margaret. Who passes them around to Kat and then Peg.

“Oh, Trapper, they're lovely!” Peg exclaims.

“That's Cathy.” Trapper leans over her to point out which daughter is which – and BJ has to stop himself from doing something stupid. Like tackling him from across the table.

“And that's Becky. She's smart as a whip – got that from my ex-wife, along with her looks, thank God.”

“Oh, I don't think you do too badly,” Hawkeye interjects glibly.

Trapper studiously ignores him. “And that's all of us at the beach in Maine with Hawk's dad and Steve and Millie.”

Peg laughs. “Here, BJ. You'll get a kick out of this.” She hands over the photo – and BJ's a little afraid of what might be in it to make Peg so certain he'll want to see it.

And oh boy. There's Hawkeye in swim trunks - and nothing else. And sure, BJ's seen him in his skivvies plenty – one of the dubious pleasures of living together in an army tent with no privacy and a roommate with even less shame. But this is different. This is... wow.

BJ's almost glad when the waiters show up to serve them dinner and he has to hand the photograph back to Trapper. But only almost. Because what he really wants to do is look at it long enough the planes and lines of Hawkeye's sunkissed skin are burned into his memory forever.

Maybe Hawkeye'd like to come out to California sometime – he's talked about it before in some of his letters. Then BJ would be the one throwing a casual arm over Hawkeye's naked shoulder. The one Hawkeye would lean into to keep his balance on the shifting sands.

Instead, it's Trapper that's standing there with his arm around Hawkeye's shoulders and with Hawkeye pressing into Trapper's side. Trapper standing there tan and built and – BJ will admit, but only under duress – attractive. The crooked grin and aviator sunglasses certainly don't detract from that impression and BJ wants to punch the non-photograph version right in his stupid, handsome face.

Because, the thing is, is that Trapper's not a bad looking guy, objectively speaking. BJ can see why Hawkeye might want to be with him – with his movie-star looks and his secretive little smirk. Flirtatiousness practically oozes out of him like an oil slick.

But that's the thing – he never seems sincere. Through all of their interactions – and now, through all of Trapper's interactions with Peg and Margaret and Kat and even Hawkeye – BJ has never once gotten the sense that Trapper has actually displayed a genuine emotion. He just sits there joking and flirting indiscriminately like none of it matters – like none of it means anything.

And BJ thinks Hawkeye deserves better.

Dinner's really nice. Lots of laughing and joking around and yelling down the table to pass the salt and elbowing each other in the ribs cuz they're all packed together like sardines. It's almost like being back in the mess tent – minus the accompanying horrors of the Korean war.

And they tell stories from Korea, all shouting over one another and arguing about how events actually transpired. BJ joins in for most of the ones from his tenure at the front. Including stories of pranks he'd played on Frank and Charles and even Hawkeye – which causes him to elbow BJ in the ribs while Trapper leans around him to grin at Hawkeye in silent laughter. And Margaret even chimes in with little tidbits about Frank Burns that none of the rest of them had even known about, so that's fun. Particularly the part about him having a weird thing for her feet. Just lovely. Hawkeye is so glad he's learned this little fact.

“Between Frank and feet and Ponobscott and fingers, I feel like you tend to attract a very peculiar class of man, Maggie,” Kat says.

So it's just as well I've given them up, now isn't it, her eyebrows seem to say in response. And it really, really is.

“Wonder what that says about us, Trap, given that she wanted to jump your bones and actually jumped mine.”

Trapper laughs. “Don't worry Margaret, Hawkeye's into completely normal things like getting stepped on by women in high heels. You have nothing to worry about there.”

BJ blushes as Hawkeye practically launches himself across his lap to slap a hand over Trapper's mouth. “Shut up, Trap. Now she's never gonna wear those leather hip boots around me.”

Kat raises an eyebrow at Margaret who just smiles demurely. She makes a mental note because that. That bears future investigation.

Meanwhile, Trapper has licked Hawkeye's hand in a bid to get it off his mouth. And poor BJ's looking a little squashed with Hawkeye still half in his lap. And a little red in the face.

Probably because Hawkeye is now exclaiming, “Gross, Trap. Stop that – I know where your mouth has been.”

Trapper waggles his eyebrows lecherously. “And I know where your hand's been.”

Hawkeye laughs and runs his wet hand through Trapper's hair to dry it off. And their faces are right in front of BJ's when Hawkeye's hand catches in Trapper's curly hair and it's like time stops. They're just staring into each other's eyes – expressions full of such naked desire – and it's like BJ's caught in some kind of sexually charged force-field. And he's got to get out from between them, he's just got to.

Luckily, Peg rescues him by nudging Trapper in the shoulder – conveniently knocking him and Hawkeye out of their trance – and saying, “Why don't you swap with BJ? I'd like to spend some time talking to my own husband tonight.”

And Trapper agrees readily enough. Probably because it means he gets to sit next to Hawkeye too. But BJ can't bring himself to mind too much, not when he's got Peg's hand on his thigh and Hawkeye and Trapper have stopped looking at each other like they want to devour one another. Though Trapper pretty obviously has his leg pressed into Hawkeye's under the table – the way BJ had until just moments ago.

But he doesn't really want to think about that right now. So he gets down to the business of eating dinner and lets the chatter and laughter blend into a wash of background noise. The only thing that's real is him and his fork and Peg's small, soft hand on his leg.

BJ's gone a little quiet, Hawkeye notices. Quiet like he'd gotten towards the end of his visit to Boston. But maybe that's just how he is now. Hawkeye himself had gone through a similar change after the war, so he's not one to judge. And he's more than capable of filling the silences with stories of the better parts of the war – helped along by Trapper, who remembers some good ones that Hawkeye has half forgotten about.

And even though BJ isn't saying much, Hawkeye's enjoying getting to sit next to him. Just sort of soaking in his presence. Because he has missed BJ a whole hell of a lot over the years since Korea. And they have an unspecified number of days after the reunion to visit with one another, anyway.

Maybe BJ will open up a little more when it's just the two of them. Well, the two of them plus Peg. Who's an absolute delight and Hawkeye can more than understand why BJ's completely and utterly besotted with her. Which Trapper obviously picks up on, cuz he tips Hawkeye a very knowing look when Peg starts talking about the injustice of the government mandated redlined neighborhoods in San Francisco.

She's truly a woman after his own heart. And he's really looking forward to getting to know her better over the next few days.

But the dinner conversation mostly stays light. Funny stories from work, or joking flirtation with the women at their table. And he and Trapper fall back into their little double act from Korea pretty easily – just treading the line of overt camp and humorous insinuation, with Maggie and Kat playing along happily enough – and Peg, once she figures out the game. And she's very good at it – which makes sense, given that she's married to a man who makes terrible puns on an hourly basis.

All in all, it's like being at a better version of the 4077. One without death or bombs or rats or death. Plus, the food's a whole hell of a lot better than army food. Not a single powdered egg in sight – and Hawkeye's more than grateful. Though all the talking he's doing means he doesn't have very much time for eating and he has to pawn the rest of his plate off to Trapper. Who's never exactly been shy about eating Hawkeye's food, invited to or not.

Trapper takes the plate of mushed together potatoes and vegetables – stirred together by Hawkeye as a pretense that he was actually eating the food, rather than just playing with it – with a grimace. But he ain't one to waste food. And it means something to Hawkeye to give it to him.

“You're lucky I love you,” Trapper whispers into Hawkeye's ear.

He throws his head back in a laugh. As if Trapper has said some uproariously funny joke, rather than a declaration of love – framed as a tease or not. And it lets him slap his hand down on Trapper's thigh – totally accidentally, of course, and not at all an excuse to touch him intimately in public. It's a gesture that absolutely doesn't end in a gentle caress of said thigh. Or in Trapper slapping a hand to Hawkeye's shoulder in shared mirth – a hand that ends up with the thumb stroking gently at the nape of his neck.

Hawkeye feels something inside him settle at the gesture. At the reminder that Trapper's here with him and they're home and that Korea is just funny stories and distant memories to be rehashed with friends. He bumps his shoulder gently against Trapper's in appreciation and understanding. And then steals his dessert.

“You just did all this so you could eat all my cake while I finished your vegetables, you little sneak,” Trapper says with a mock glare. It's obvious he doesn't really mind – and he ought to be used to Hawkeye stealing his dessert by now, anyway.

But Hawkeye's feeling generous, so he holds out his fork. “Fine, you can have one bite.”

“Wow, thanks, Hawk. One whole bite of my own cake.”

But he takes it anyway.

And they probably can't get away with much more than that in such a public setting. BJ's already giving them a weird look. But for now, it's enough.

[archiveacademics]

“There are no wives...”

So let’s talk a little bit about slash.

Slash, if you’ll remember from the definition post, is fanfic stories written about same sex couples. The first and still very popular couple being K/S (the name deriving from the / in the middle), otherwise known as Kirk/Spock. Long before the portmanteau names craze because a thing (Drarry, anyone?), / was the way to name your pairs.

I’ve just been reading The Fanfiction Studies Reader, edited by  Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse. Specifically I’ve been reading Part 2, Fan Identiy and Feminism. The three articles therein are “Pornography by Women for Women, with Love” by Joanna Russ, “Romantic Myth, Transcendence, and Star Trek Zines” by Patricia Frazer Lamb and Diana L Veith, and “The Sex Lives of Cult Television Characters” by Sara Gwennllian Jones. 

So let me introduce slash with a quote from Jones:

“Almost every imaginable seduction scenario, narrative context, emotional import and sexual practice is somewhere described in slash fiction.”

Alright, pack up, I think we can go home. That’s a thorough description of slash if I’ve ever read one.

But seriously, slash is a an amazingly diverse genre, so much that:

“If [it] may be described as a “genre,” then its only convention is that it describes erotic encounters between television characters (or, more rarely, film characters) of the same sex.” (Jones)

If you have further questions about what slash fiction is, definitely check out “5 Things You Should Know About Slash Fiction” by JR Thorpe on Bustle. But I’m going to move on from here.

The question becomes, why are people (read: women) (but not entirely, but as far as researchers can tell it is mostly women who read and write this stuff) so obsessed with Kirk and Spock’s love life? Why can’t the two men just live together in peace?

Well, for one, they’re not technically both “men.” One is an alien. And while, yes, Spock is male, he’s not a human male and that, argue both Russ, and Lamb and Veith, is part of why the K/S pair is so endearingly well loved. While Russ is more talking about the kind of stuff that gets written, while Lamb and Veith are specifically engaging with the K/S relationship, both articles make a point of how both Kirk and Spock can be seen coded as both masculine and feminine. There’s a great graphic in the Lamb and Veith piece that lays out which characteristics of the men are which.

It is, both articles argue, a relationship between two true equals, in a way that heterosexual relationships in a patriarchal society can never be. And while both men take their turns as the more feminine coded partner, neither is stripped of his masculinity by being “feminine.” Lamb and Veith argue that this kind of behavior is indicative of what women really yearn for; both to be equal partners with their, well, partners and also for men to be allowed to be vulnerable without losing their sense of masculinity.

“A behavior many women presumably yearn to share with a man, to receive and reciprocate—for both partners to be capable, independent; for each to contribute a loving strength and to be loved for that strength, not for weakness; for each to be permitted occasionally to be weaker and vulnerable without having to be passive, dominated, or afraid.”

While many have argued that slash is written in opposition to the text, by which I mean that slash is written despite the source text, not because of it, Jones argues that slash is the obvious result of the way cult TV shows have to function.

Basically, she argues that since cult TV shows take place in wondrous worlds full of action and adventure, there’s no time or place for a traditional heterosexual love story. And it is a story. 

“Heterosexuality is as much a matter of social practice as it is of sexual practice. As social practice, it assumes a narrative form of its own, with plot points of courtship, marriage, domesticity, reproduction, child-rearing, provision for a family. [The] narrative form is, arguable, the most embedded and pervasive foundational structure of ordinary reality.”

Thus, no heterosexual relationship may go beyond the stage of dating. Buffy and Angel can never be together, Mulder and Scully can’t even get as far as Buffy and Angel. There must always be something in the way, lest the relationship fall into the narrative structure and become boring, losing all of the wonder and adventure that make cult TV shows as good as they are. 

The other option, of course, is a same sex partnership. Kirk and Spock, or Xena and Gabrielle. There is no worry that these men and women will fall into the heterosexual narrative and out of interesting TV. Thus, the relationships that are read as homosexual are, in fact, supposed to be read that way. 

I agree with Jones, but I don’t think that invalidates the points that Russ, and Lamb and Veith make regarding why women like slash so much. The Fanfiction Studies readers seems to portray the two as in contention with each other. I rather view them as...well, more in harmony. Side by side. Pals. Like Kirk and Spock. 

And that brings me to my title. It’s a quote from the Lamb and Veith article that I really liked. They talk about Kirk’s need to go on adventures and fight bad guys. And instead of holding his beloved back, Spock, who knows that to ask Kirk to remain safe would be to ignore everything that Kirk is, instead goes with him, to stay by his side and keep him safe. 

“There are no wives. No one stays home to worry or do the laundry.”

[princess-in-a-tower]

Sansa Stark & Arianne Martell: The Hard Road to Marriage

With a first look, Arianne Martell and Sansa Stark are as different in terms of personality, as the sun and the moon. Arianne is fierce-tempered and sultry, while Sansa is meek and demure. Arianne is all fire, while Sansa is ice-cold. Yet, there are many parallels to be had between them. Out of all those parallels, here we will examine the ones concerning their marriage options and the male attention they have attracted in general throughout their lives.

Arianne Martell had grown up expecting that one day she would wed some great lord of her father’s choosing. That was what princesses were for, she had been taught… though, admittedly, her uncle Oberyn had taken a different view of matters. “If you would wed, wed,” the Red Viper had told his own daughters. “If not, take your pleasure where you find it. There’s little enough of it in this world. Choose well, though. If you saddle yourself with a fool or a brute, don’t look to me to rid you of him. I gave you the tools to do that for yourself.”

The freedom that Prince Oberyn allowed his bastard daughters had never been shared by Prince Doran’s lawful heir. Arianne must wed; she had accepted that. Drey had wanted her, she knew; so had his brother Deziel, the Knight of Lemonwood.

A Feast for Crows - The Princess In The Tower

Here we not only learn that Arianne shares Sansa’s view on marriage, but also that, as a teen she was desired by the Dalt brothers, Drey and Deziel, who had been her friends since childhood. Yet none of them ever dared ask for her hand. Something similar, as we know, has happened to Sansa, even though she never found out about it.

He remembered a time when he had thought that Lord Eddard Stark might marry him to Sansa and claim him for a son, but that had only been a child’s fancy. 

A Dance with Dragons - Reek I

Theon Greyjoy, who grew up in Winterfell as Eddard Stark’s ward also desired Sansa and dreamed of taking her as his wife, but he, like the Dalt brothers, never asked her father for it.

Daemon Sand had gone so far as to ask for her hand. Daemon was bastard-born, however, and Prince Doran did not mean for her to wed a Dornishman. Arianne had accepted that as well.

A Feast for Crows - The Princess In The Tower

Elia was her cousin, but half a child, and Daemon Sand… things had never been the same between her and the Bastard of Godsgrace after her father refused his offer for her hand. He was a boy then, and bastard born, no fit consort for a princess of Dorne, he should have known better. And it was my father’s will, not mine. 

The Winds of Winter - Arianne I

The first man to ask for Arianne’s hand in marriage was Daemon Sand, the handsome bastard of Godsgrace, who is Arianne’s age. Before the marriage offer, Arianne had already given Daemon her virginity, presumably because she was in love with him, but after her father refused to give Daemon her hand, things between them were not the same again.

The first man to ask for Sansa’s hand in marriage was another bastard, Joffrey “Baratheon”, who was not only handsome but also the same age as Sansa Stark. Since Eddard did not know Joffrey was a bastard, he consented to the match, despite his aversion to the bastard prince, but he rushed to terminate it the moment he found out about Joffrey’s parentage. Just like Arianne, after Sansa’s father terminated the betrothal, Sansa’s relationship with Joffrey was never again the same. She never gave her virginity to Joffrey though, despite the fact that she was in love with him.

One year King Robert’s brother came to visit and she did her best to seduce him, but she was half a girl and Lord Renly seemed more bemused than inflamed by her overtures.

A Feast for Crows - The Princess In The Tower

According to Arianne, her next “love-interest” was Renly Baratheon, who not only had the right family name, but he was every young girl’s dream as well, with his good looks and his charisma. Of course, Arianne’s attempts at seducing him fell into the void, since Renly was homosexual.

Sansa’s constant crush throughout the books was none other than Ser Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers. Loras is also a charismatic young man, skillful with the sword and fair of face. Like Renly, he is something like a Westeros celebrity. Sansa, following on Arianne’s footsteps, tried to capture his attention, yet it proved to be an impossible task, because Loras, as Renly, preferred the company of men. It is also quite ironic that Loras and Renly were a couple, but I digress…

Later, when Hoster Tully asked her to come to Riverrun and meet his heir, she lit candles to the Maid in thanks, but Prince Doran had declined the invitation.

A Feast for Crows - The Princess In The Tower

The next “marriage proposal” for Arianne came from the Lord Paramount of the Trident, Hoster Tully, on behalf of his son and heir, Edmure, who had remained a bachelor for years, refusing settle down with any woman.

Ser Kevan got back to his feet. “It is the wish of the King’s Grace that his loyal councillor Petyr Baelish be rewarded for faithful service to crown and realm. Be it known that Lord Baelish is granted the castle of Harrenhal with all its attendant lands and incomes, there to make his seat and rule henceforth as Lord Paramount of the Trident.

A Clash of Kings - Sansa VIII

At the end of ACOK, the Crown declared Petyr Baelish the Lord Paramount of the Trident, despite the fact that Edmure was still alive at the time.

I would have made Sansa a good marriage. A Lannister marriage. Not Joff, of course, but Lancel might have suited, or one of his younger brothers. Petyr Baelish had offered to wed the girl himself, she recalled, but of course that was impossible; he was much too lowborn.

A Dance with Dragons - Cersei II

The timeframe of Littlefinger’s proposal for Sansa’s hand is not exactly clear in Cercei’s narrative. Taking the basic facts into account though, it’s safe to assume it happened the moment he informed Cercei of Olenna’s plot to marry Sansa to Willas. So, according to Cercei, the new Lord Paramount of the Trident, who had also avoided marriage for many years, asked for a princess’ hand. And like Edmure, he got thwarted.

The princess might even have considered Willas Tyrell, crippled leg and all, but her father refused to send her to Highgarden to meet him. She tried to go despite him, with Tyene’s help… but Prince Oberyn caught them at Vaith and brought them back.

A Feast for Crows - The Princess In The Tower

That cannot even be considered a parallel. This is the exact same thing happening to two different girls. Arianne tried to sneak off to Highgarden to meet Willas with the help of Tyene, while Sansa tried to escape to Highgarden to meet Willas with the help of the Tyrells. Both of them failed and never got to meet the elusive Willas.

That same year, Prince Doran tried to betroth her to Ben Beesbury, a minor lordling who was eighty if he was a day, and as blind as he was toothless.

Beesbury died a few years later. That gave her some small comfort in her present pass; she could not be forced to marry him if he was dead. And the Lord of the Crossing had wed again, so she was safe from him as well. Eldon Estermont is still alive and unwed, though. Lord Rosby and Lord Grandison as well. Grandison was called the Greybeard, but by the time she’d met him his beard had gone snow white.

At the welcoming feast, he had gone to sleep between the fish course and the meat. Drey called that apt, since his sigil was a sleeping lion. Garin challenged her to see if she could tie a knot in his beard without waking him, but Arianne refrained.

Grandison had seemed a pleasant fellow, less querulous than Estermont and more robust than Rosby. She would never marry him, however. Not even if Hotah stands behind me with his axe.

A Feast for Crows - The Princess In The Tower

From that point on Doran, Arianne’s father, started pursuing betrothals for her, yet they were all extremely insulting to her person. All of the men he sent proposals to were old, sick, frail and dying. Arianne declined them all in defiance. In this excerpt she is even thinking that she wouldn’t marry Grandison, whose sigil is a sleeping lion, even if Hotah stood behind her with an axe.

“I understand your reluctance. Cry if you must. In your place, I would likely rip my hair out. He’s a loathsome little imp, no doubt of it, but marry him you shall.”

“You can’t make me.”

“Of course we can. You may come along quietly and say your vows as befits a lady, or you may struggle and scream and make a spectacle for the stableboys to titter over, but you will end up wedded and bedded all the same.” The queen opened the door. Ser Meryn Trant and Ser Osmund Kettleblack were waiting without, in the white scale armor of the Kingsguard. “Escort Lady Sansa to the sept,” she told them. “Carry her if you must, but try not to tear the gown, it was very costly-”

Sansa tried to run, but Cersei’s handmaid caught her before she’d gone a yard. Ser Meryn Trant gave her a look that made her cringe, but Kettleblack touched her almost gently and said, “Do as you’re told, sweetling, it won’t be so bad. Wolves are supposed to be brave, aren’t they?”

Brave. Sansa took a deep breath. I am a Stark, yes, I can be brave. They were all looking at her, the way they had looked at her that day in the yard when Ser Boros Blount had torn her clothes off. It had been the Imp who saved her from a beating that day, the same man who was waiting for her now. He is not so bad as the rest of them, she told herself. “I’ll go.”

A Storm of Swords - Sansa III

Sansa, unlike Arianne, was indeed escorted to the Sept to wed Tyrion at sword-point. Her husband to be, had also a lion as his sigil and even though he was not as old as Grandison, he was a dwarf and that was possibly an even more humiliating match for a princess. It is also quite notable that Sansa thinks Tyrion is not as bad as the rest, something Arianne thought of Grandison as well.

Another parallel could also be made between Lord Rosby and Sweetrobin, who was Sansa’s betrothed for a short while. Both Rosby and Robin Arryn had been extremely sick for many years, despite their extreme wealth and good name, suffering from an illness no Maester could treat.

As for the rest of the old men, Beesbury, Estermont and Frey, there are no men in Sansa’s story to compare them to, because Sansa has not had as many betrothal offers as Arianne. Despite that, I believe they generally represent every older man who has desired Sansa while she was still a child.

Arianne watched him warily. He is highborn enough to make a worthy consort, she thought. Father would question my good sense, but our children would be as beautiful as dragonlords. If there was a handsomer man in Dorne, she did not know him. Ser Gerold Dayne had an aquiline nose, high cheekbones, a strong jaw. He kept his face clean-shaven, but his thick hair fell to his collar like a silver glacier, divided by a streak of midnight black. He has a cruel mouth, though, and a crueler tongue.

A Feast for Crows - The Queenmaker

Another man who captured Arianne’s eye was Ser Gerold Dayne, the Knight of High Hermitage, who goes by the name Darkstar. He is a handsome man and a skilled swordsman, but he is also a ruthless killer, with a cruel mouth and a crueler tongue. Even though Arianne notes that he is highborn enough to be her consort, he is in fact just the head of a knightly cadet branch of House Dayne (in short a landed knight).

Sansa Stark had a complex relationship with her very own “bad-boy”, Sandor Clegane. Of course the Hound had never been described as an attractive man, much less a handsome one, but the way his character was depicted is quite similar to Darkstar’s. Both of them would kill a child without remorse (Darkstar failed to kill Myrcella, while the Hound actually killed Mycah quite savagely). Both of them are members of a knightly cadet branch, since the Cleganes are also landed knights, and both of them are depicted as skilled and dangerous with a sword. It is also notable that they are also described as cruel men with cruel mouths.

As the boy’s lips touched her own she found herself thinking of another kiss. She could still remember how it felt, when his cruel mouth pressed down on her own. He had come to Sansa in the darkness as green fire filled the sky.

A Feast for Crows - Alayne II

If TWOW had been published, maybe a parallel could be made between Harry the Heir and Ser Arys Oakheart, considering Sansa is trying to seduce Harry, just like Arianne seduced Ser Arys. But TWOW is not complete yet, so I will not fabricate parallels where there are none as of yet.

As for the rest of the parallels, it is obvious that not everything fits perfectly. Theon was one person, while the Dalts were two, Daemon Sand is probably a good man who loved Arianne, while Joffrey was a sadistic psychopath, Robin Arryn is a child while Rosby is an old man, Darkstar is handsome while the Hound looked hideous and not all the older Lords match up. Despite all that, there are still too many parallels between Sansa and Arianne in regards to marriage and male attention to dismiss as coincidental.

[queermediastudies]

Philadelphia: How Hollywood Made a Queer Story Straight

Few films can be revered for their breakout texts like Philadelphia (1993). The film centers on young lawyer Andrew Beckett (played by Tom Hanks) battling AIDs in the early 1990s. When his disease, and subsequently his sexual orientation, can no longer be hidden from his colleagues, Beckett is fired. He approaches Joe Miller (played by Denzel Washington) to represent him in a wrongful dismissal suit against his former employers, and Philadelphia follows the trial and progression of the disease and the ramifications of the HIV/AIDs epidemic on the people in Beckett’s life. Philadelphia was a breakout text for a number of reasons, including themes of the conflict between heteronormative Christian beliefs and the LGBTQ community, the explicit acknowledgement that AIDs was not just a “gay disease” but could affect everyone, including straight women, and fostered dialogue and awareness about the disease itself. Philadelphia may have been groundbreaking in its representation of a queer man with AIDs, but the film still relies on a heteronormative lens to tell the story to attract heteronormative audiences, relies on the theme of tolerance, and de-sexualizes the queer couples in the film.

The history of AIDs is a tragic one that has not yet ended. In the early 1980s, the increasing death of gay men of the same disease sparked the inquiry in what was called gay cancer or the gay disease, largely referred to then as GRID, or Gay Related Immune Deficiency, or Kaopsi’s sarcoma. The mass media and medical field largely ignored the burgeoning problem until actor Rock Hudson was diagnosed and died from the illness. Many journalists and media personnel were reluctant to report on the AIDs epidemic because of deep rooted prejudice and fear of discrimination, as Gross (2001) points out, “any reporter suggesting an AIDs-related to his or her editor would be provoking the question, why are you interested? The implication that wouldn’t need to be spelled out was, are you interested in something that affects gay men because you are gay yourself?” (101). This not only delayed wide spread information and acknowledgement of the disease, but it also stunted information on how to avoid and prevent infection for critical communities that needed it. It was not until 1987 that President Ronald Reagan acknowledged and said the word AIDs publically, after hundreds of thousands of men had already died. The prejudice and discrimination of at risk communities set back science and public awareness to the detriment of those people. 

As seen in Hollywood films that tackle minority representation and sexuality, movies rely on a heteronormative characters through which to explore “taboo” topics. Philadelphia is no different as Miller, who admits to being homophobic, takes on the case representing a gay man and how he comes to terms with his own bigotry and fears surrounding the AIDs epidemic. The fear of being labeled as gay permeated various aspects of life for heterosexual men during the time, something that was explored in the film as well. After Miller shook hands with Beckett before realizing he had AIDs, he became concerned that he had contracted the virus. He immediately went to the doctor to find out if he was infected, the doctor attempted to draw blood to test for HIV, which he rejected because he didn’t need “the AIDs test,” presumably because this could imply he engaged in sexual acts with other men, something he did not want to endure. Later, as he explains his beliefs against homosexuality, he says, “you can call me old-fashioned, you can call conservative, just call me a man” (Bozman & Demme). His statement is something that many heteronormative men can relate to, that they see queer men as less-than and not entirely men. Eventually, Miller takes on Beckett’s case, and the film follows his perceived inner growth and eventual tolerance of Beckett’s sexuality, something that has been prominent as LGBTQ people and communities become more mainstream and integrated into society, but tolerance does nothing to actually help, integrate, and admire the community for the differences they bring to society.

Tolerance and acceptance of LGBTQ people may seem positive and progressive on the surface, but the negative connotations and hollowness of the words undercut the progression of rights and liberties gained by those communities. Philadelphia not only follows a gay man with AIDs seeking justice, it also follows a heterosexual man as he experiences an internal conflict of bigotry and exposure and understanding of the discrimination Beckett faces, and whether or not that is truly acceptable in society. The journey of Miller going to the doctor after shaking hands with Beckett after he announces he has AIDs, to the end of the film where he willingly sits on the side of Beckett’s hospital bed and helps him put on his oxygen mask and touching his face. On the surface, this seems like a touching end to a personal journey of inner growth towards accepting a man he once feared and despised. However, as Walters (2014) argues, “Acceptance is the handmaiden of tolerance, and both are inadequate and even dangerous modes for accessing real social inclusion and change” (3). Miller’s actions are admirable, but he still demonstrates a level of insecurity with the idea of homosexuality and queerness throughout the film that seem to demonstrate his selectivity in his preferences, almost saying “this one gay guy and his partner are decent, but homosexuality is still weird to me.”

As Philadelphia is seen through a heteronormative lens, queer characters are de-sexualized to make the story more palatable to the audience. Sexual themes are evident throughout the film as medical professionals and queer men explain how AIDs is actually contracted, the characters in relationships themselves are hardly sexualized. Beckett’s partner Miguel Alvarez (played by Antonio Banderas) is portrayed as a care taker, one who loves his partner and is tasked with caring for his as his days dwindle. The characters are seen holding hands, touching each other’s face, and dancing with each other at a party, but never kissing, fully embracing, or even lying in bed together like most couples do. Beckett and Alvarez are portrayed as “different in a non-obvious, non-threatening way so [they] can be easily and thoroughly assimilated” into the heteronormative lens of the film (Sewell, 2001, p. 271). This detracts from Beckett’s sexual identity, as he is demonstrated to be an intelligent lawyer, family man, and beloved friend, but his romantic relationship is dulled down so audiences can be comfortable with a story about a gay man, without ever fully experiencing his full narrative.

Ultimately, the issues surrounding the heteronormative lens of the film, themes of tolerance, and de-sexualized queer characters perpetuate the notion that queerness is something that is immoral or unacceptable in society. These representations purport that even in a story centered around LGBTQ issues, heteronormativity is the way to view these issues and “come to terms” with them. As a young, white, bisexual, college educated woman, the movie made me confront what I believed (still somewhat believe) to be a very important film in the broader context of AIDs awareness and the effects it had (and had) on the lives touched by it. I cannot fully understand the discrimination and pain felt by Beckett and his family members, but I can learn and further engage with history to understand why this movie is still important, despite some flaws with the way Hollywood engages with queer texts.

Bozman, R. M. (Producer), & Demme, J. (Director). (1993). Philadelphia [Motion Picture]. United States: TriStar Pictures.

Gross, L. (2001). AIDs and the Media: Rumors of a “Gay Cancer.” In Up From Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Media in America (pp. 94–109). New York: Columbia University Press.

Sewell Jr, E. H. (2001). Queer Characters in Comic Strips. Comics and Ideology. (pp. 251–274).

Walters, S. D. (2014). Introduction: That’s So Gay! (Or Is It?). In The Tolerance Trap: How God, Genes, and Good Intentions Are Sabotaging Gay Equality (pp. 1–16). New York: New York University Press.

By Abigail Quint

[whimsical-writer]

Okay Rooster Teeth

“Spoilers for Red vs Blue season 15 up to episode 7 beneath the cut. It’s a long post.

From Lopez’s “Tumblr’s going to hate this” joke in Episode 15.6 I get that you’re all used to getting irrational flame and hate over the smallest things from Tumblr users. As someone who enjoys being on the website, even I can admit Tumblr has some seriously ugly parts to it, such as call out culture. Some people where will scream and rage and hate on anything they deem to be “problematic”.

This post will not be like that.

I have no idea if you guys will read this, or if you’ll take away what I hope you will from it. Even if you don’t, this doesn’t just apply to you. This applies to all content creators. This is something I both need from the content I consume and that I must be aware of when I create my own works.

In episode 15.2, Kaikaina Grif makes two “bi-phase” jokes. In episode 15.7, there’s a long gag about Tucker having fathered many child and is raising a fuss about paying child support, and is generally playing the part of the absent black father.

Both these jokes made me incredibly uncomfortable. 

I wasn’t upset, not in the sense of being hurt by these jokes, nor was I angry. I watch more Rooster Teeth content than just Red vs Blue. I know from watching these other shows that you guys are good people who try to do good. I know that many of your employees are some form of queer, or PoC, or both. I’m aware that you try to be accepting of different faiths, sexulaities, and cultures. The atmosphere that you produce on your podcasts, behind the scenes, live shows, and at cons is one that is fun, easy going, accepting, and funny. It’s because I am aware of these things that I know that these jokes you make are just that. Jokes. You don’t mean harm by them. But both these jokes play on stereotypes that are legitimately harmful to those they are about.

I’ll start with Kai’s bi-phase joke first, as I am someone who is attracted to multiple genders. People who are bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, however they identify, and are attracted to multiple genders and sexs are treated with suspicion, looked down upon, and harassed by both heterosexual and homosexual people. Both groups tell them that they are “faking for attention”, “just going through a phase”, and / or “you’ll have to pick a side”. Many people say that they don’t want to date people who are attracted to multiple genders because they are more likely to cheat or carry STIs. People who are attracted to multiple genders often have their gender erased, “You’re dating this person, so right now you’re straight / gay”, and in media, characters who are confirmed attracted to multiple genders will not use terms like bisexual or pansexual, instead using phrasing such as “I like people”, or “I don’t like labels”, and these media characters often fulfil the stereotype of the cheating bisexual, or show a distaste for “being tied down”. For those who are heterosexual, this may not seem like a big deal but for those of us who are queer, we have a very important part of our identity denied on a near daily basis, so when many characters instead refusing to name their identity it can be upsetting.  Having characters who represent us is hugely important because it shows we are not alone. It gives us someone to look up to. And, in a way that’s just really hard to explain properly, it just makes us feel good to see a character who’s like us. It makes us smile, it can make us cry. 

Kaikaina Grif is a character who is very beloved by the community. Since we didn’t have too much canon facts about Kai to build our stories and art off, we had to do a lot of inventing on our own, but the core of Kai came from her actions in the Blood Gulch Chronicles. It was well accepted that Kaikaina Grif was bisexual, from her comment that Tex is badass and hot, and that that thought did not change upon realizing Tex was a woman. 

When Kai showed up in the season 15 trailer, no one expected her to be exactly like we had written. We understood, in general, that there was going to be a difference between “fanon” and canon. But Kaikaina’s bi-phrase joke took a lot of us by surprised and took away one of the core things about Kai’s character. I understand that Kai is supposed to be a sexual, no filter character whose lines are often written to invoke the “wait, what?” gag, but the fact she was bisexual was important to many of us because of the above reasons. The bi-phase joke not only perpetuated the stereotype that bisexual people are “undecided”, it took away a character who represented us, and turned a character we love into just a joke. We knew Kai would not get the same level of characterization the main characters would. We understand what a side character is. But even minor characters, even in a mostly humorous show, shouldn’t have their sexuality reduced to a joke. Kai’s even more special than other side characters, because she’s related to one of the main characters!

This is why the bi-phase joke made me and many others uncomfortable. It showed yet again that people consider attraction to multiple genders to be something that no one takes seriously or understands.

The next joke is the long gag about Tucker having sired who knows how many children and is going to be the absent father for all of them while whining about paying child support. I want to preface this explanation by stating I am not a person of colour, I am white, so many of my feelings and thoughts on this come from my PoC friends and acquaintances. If anything I say is wrong or offensive, please let me know and I will do my best to correct it and myself.

Lavernius Tucker is another beloved character of the community. Many of us believe Tucker has had some of the most character growth of all the Blood Gulch Crew, even when you include Wash and Carolina. We watched him grow from a young, inexperienced soldier to perhaps the best soldier of the Blood Gulch Crew. In many ways, the Chorus trilogy is Tucker’s trilogy, because of how much he learns and grows over the course of it. 

Tucker is a black character. Taking the only canon black character and painting him the sex driven absent father is a huge problem. Again, this is from my understanding of it, but black men have the stereotype as being sexual deviants who don’t care for their children. This is wrong and untrue, but people who believe this look down upon or distrust or outright hate black men because of it. Black men are seen as terrible fathers, despite any and all evidence to the contrary.  This is hugely harmful to black men, especially black fathers, who are distrusted around children, even their own. Black men are also seen as sexual predators because of these stereotypes. Reproducing this stereotype in media only makes the matter worse.

We are aware that a huge part of Tucker’s personality is his sexual nature, but at many points in the show it’s implied or outright stated that Tucker doesn’t actually and has never done much sleeping around. In season 11, Tucker implies to Wash that he slept with an entire bachelorette party. Wash questions him about it and Tucker admits that it didn’t really happen. The joke with Tucker was never that he sleeps around, it was that he was trying to look cool by saying that he did. By season 11, he had largely moved past that. He still made jokes of a sexual nature, that will always be Tucker, but the writing showed that he was not the “sexual deviant” type.

The absent father type is also not the kind of person Tucker is. Shortly after Junior is born, Tucker describes the “ideal father-son relationship” as, “you know, where I only see him every other weekend and on holidays.”. The writing and his actions after that quickly show another story. Tucker is upset by the idea of Wyoming and Omega kidnapping his child so they can use him in their plot to dominate the galaxy. When the ship explodes at the end of season 5 and Junior presumably dies, he tells Church that he is leaving Blood Gulch, as in deserting his post, fleeing the army, and stripping himself of a paycheque, in order to find a way to get Junior back. Once he does, he spends months with Junior as ambassadors between the Humans and the races of the Covenant. In season 11, when Wash asks “didn’t you give birth to an alien baby?”, Tucker is immediately defensive and snaps “don’t bring family into this”. When the subject comes up with Doyle in season 13, Tucker goes from being sullen about describing his experience with Crunchbite, to being bright, happy, and enthused when talking about Junior. He proclaims, “FUCK YEAH, Junior is awesome! Here he is on his fifth grade basketball team,” and pulls out a picture of Junior he has been carrying on his person! Tucker is shown, time and time again, to feel protective of his son, to clearly care about his son, and to love his son with his whole heart. 

So to have Tucker brush off child support with “Uh, no dude, Junior’s got a basketball scholarship” is not incharacter given his actions with Junior before. Even if Junior is of an age where he’s in college and receiving scholarships, Tucker’s actions before show that, upon hearing and assuming it’s Junior who needs money or support of any kind, he probably would have been concerned about Junior. Continuing on from that, while no one expects Tucker to be able to a present father involved with every possible child he had (it’s implied there are many), he is shown to be responsible. All of the Chorus trilogy is about Tucker being responsible! 

Like with Kaikaina, this joke not only supports negative stereotypes but is removing a core part of the character. For Tucker especially, it feels like years of character development were sacrificed to make a gag. 

While I did talk about the consequences these jokes had to the characters and narrative, this is also about the negative impact this sort of humor can have over all.

Again, people who work at Rooster Teeth, I watch a lot of your content. I am well aware that, at the very least, the vast majority of you are good people. You’re not people who hate people for the colour of their skin, or their sexuality or what have you. You write this jokes out of a good nature. You’re ribbing, prodding. You’re not seriously believing that bisexuals are going through phases or that black men make terrible fathers. 

The problem is, not everyone watches all of your content. Maybe they don’t realize there’s more to Rooster Teeth than the one or two shows they’re watching, or maybe they’re not interested in the behind the scenes footage or podcasts. So when a joke, such as the bi-phase joke, comes along, it can tell people “oh, the creators of this thing don’t like people like me”. It hurts so much to find out that someone you admire and look up to despises who you are, or, in extreme cases, would be happy to see you and anyone like you dead. People who don’t watch all of your content, or who feel the gap between your words and actions too large, are going to feel pushed away. The parts of the show they do love are going to start leaving a bitter taste in their mouth. As a hopeful one day content creator myself, I know I’d never want to make anyone who enjoys my work to feel like that, and I know no one at Rooster Teeth would ever want to make anyone feel like they were hated for who they are.

Another problem is that, even if someone does watch a lot of your content, they themselves might be a terrible person.

I love the Rooster Teeth community. I’ve found myself a nice little corner where we encourage each other in writing fanfics and original stories, in drawing, in animation, anything. We’re an accepting group from all walks of life who have in common a love for Red vs Blue and other Rooster Teeth shows. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt so welcome among an internet community. We help each other out through difficult times and make people feel loved and welcome.

But not everyone is like this. Any time people gather together, there’s going to be people who are not good. I’m not just talking internet trolls, I mean legitimately racists, sexist, homophobic, what-have-you, or some combination of these things. These people, when they hear jokes that rely on negative stereotypes to be funny, on some level they are thinking “ah yes, it’s okay for me to think these things. I’m not wrong.”. It’s not on a conscious level, but when it comes to some offensive jokes, this is what making them does. It encourages people to continue to think that way.

Rooster Teeth, you write amazing, humorous shows. And I’m aware that dark humor can exist, I’m aware that it’s sometimes totally in character for a character to make a tasteless joke! It’s just really important to make these jokes the right way, and that’s by showing in the writing that the joke was wrong to say.

You guys have actually done this before in Red vs Blue! In season 11, Tucker makes a joke about the hundreds of others on the ship flying the Reds and Blues home about having died horribly in the crash, only weeks after it happened. This is met with silence from Caboose and a flat “proud of yourself” from Wash. It’s clear that Tucker was in the wrong for making that joke.

That is how you can write offensive jokes into a show. Whether it be an antagonist or flawed protagonist, if the writing shows “this behaviour that is occurring shouldn’t be accepted or encouraged. Not only do we as content creators do not believe it, we’re making it clear,” then that’s great! I’m not saying stop the pacing of the scene to have a five minute lecture about why bisexuality isn’t a phase. It just has to be a line or a visual cue to show it. Not every bad joke can be fixed this way. No one is perfect. I don’t expect you guys to churn out perfect, flawless stories where no one is offended. That’s not possible. I understand that there’s going to be times when something sneaks by the radar or, because of your personal experiences, you may not realize why something isn’t cool to say. That’s just part of being human.

Again, everyone at Rooster Teeth, this isn’t meant to be read as an angry, hurt letter. This isn’t a “you guys suck” post. I love Rooster Teeth, I love Red vs Blue, I love your writing! You guys all work together to produce some of my favourite shows, animated or live action. It’s my dream to work for Rooster Teeth animation one day, to see some of the stories I’ve been working as shows on the Rooster Teeth website. I don’t wish failure upon the company, any individual, or any of your shows. I’m writing this because I want to see you guys keep improving your storytelling. And you’ve all massively improved over the years! If I watch content from 3,4,5 years ago and compare it with today’s latest episodes, it’s amazing to see just how much you’ve all grown as a company. 

I want to make it clear that so far, that little community I mentioned?

So far we’ve love this season. Some parts have sat better with some of us than others, but overall we’re excited! We’re enjoying ourselves! We’re shrieking in a chatroom together, coming up with wild theory after wild theory, crying when the emotions get high, bouncing excitedly when plot gets revealed! Any complaints or criticism we have comes from the fact we love this show! We love it and we watch it to enjoy it, to analyze it, to get our creative juices going. 

I hope you’ve read this all the way to the end. I know this is just my thoughts and perspective, but I hope you give thought to what I, and many others, think about the show and the writing. 

[ivoryandbonerpg-blog]

                               ♔ THEODORE NOTT ♔

( the basics. )

AGE: 19 LINEAGE: Pureblood SCHOOL / ALUMNI: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry HOUSE: Slytherin ALLIANCE: Neutral

( personality. )

✓ / ✗ : sardonic, inquisitive, sly, cold, intelligent

( biography. )

• In a grand state with weathered stone and dark, antique furniture located in the hidden magical community just outside Hertfordshire, Theodore Nott was born and raised. His family was quiet, both in temperament and power, and Theodore was taught from a very young age that it is far better to listen and learn than to talk and overwhelm. A naturally quiet, almost shy young boy, Theodore spent much of his youth before Hogwarts holed up in his room, reading from the various tomes and texts his family’s library provided for him. Though he loved reading grand works of fiction, from the famed tales of Beedle the Bard to the Legend of Merlin, he was a studious and eager young boy who consumed all forms of knowledge he could. He read up on histories of Great Britain and its magic system; of King  Arthur and his knights and the influence of magic in his society; of the Dark Ages and witch burnings in the United States. Reading--and learning, more specifically--were Theo’s greatest joys in life. If he struggled with making lasting friendships with other children, he could easily turn to his books to rely on. But, like with any useful gift, Theodore’s father pounced on his son’s ability to learn and retain knowledge at an alarming rate. Perseus Nott, the sole surviving patriarchal member of the Nott family legacy, wished for his child and sole heir to be intelligent and skilled enough to silently take on any of the other students at the magical school which his parents would choose for him. Theodore was groomed from a young age to be a silent, deadly weapon for his father to use as he so pleased.

• Though Theodore’s relationship with his father was cold and distant at best, with Theo often feeling like a tool being used for destruction and espionage, his relationship with his mother was warm and affectionate. Adela Nott’s love for her son knew no bounds; she encouraged his passions and pursuits behind closed doors, where Theodore’s father wouldn’t hear or know of them, and shielded her son from the darkness that plagued their family as best as she could. She was a woman strong in spirit but poor in health, who gave everything she had to protect her son from becoming the man her husband wished him to grow into. When Theodore failed, whether it was in terms of memorizing things his father told him or executing certain tasks that were demanded of him, Adela was blamed for their child’s failures. The first time Theodore saw his father lay a hand upon his mother, he was six years old. Theodore had failed to put his picture books away after looking through them, and Perseus blamed his wife for his son’s inability to follow instructions. Though Theodore wept and clung to his mother, desperate to protect her, it wasn’t enough. It was never enough. As Theodore grew older and the accountability for his actions increased, so did the severity of his mother’s injuries. She was a failing woman in ill health with a deteriorating spirit, and try as he might to save her by consistently doing his best work, Theodore was never enough for his father’s approval. Perseus’ wrath, presumably worsened in the time of the First Wizarding War and from serving among Lord Voldemort’s ranks, was boundless, and the limits of his control were pushed to their limits. When Theo was ten, shortly before his acceptance letter to Hogwarts came, his father and mother were feuding over where to send their son. Adela didn’t wish for her son to attend school so far away from them by going to Durmstrang, and Perseus didn’t believe Hogwarts was good enough for a Pureblood with a history such as theirs. The fight escalated, and when Adela dared to raise her voice and fight for her son’s right to choose for himself, Perseus struck his wife out of anger, hard enough to send her toppling over the balcony of their grand estate and to a fatal fall far below. Theodore, from the shadows, watched in agony and despair, screaming his mother’s name as if his voice could rip through the very fabric of time and fate itself to save her.

• Life in the Nott household was never the same after the death of Adela Nott. The passion and joy Theodore had previously exhibited flickered out like the flame of a candle. Though his father would not directly take accountability for the death of his wife, deeming her death accidental, the guilt and anger over ending his wife’s life ate Perseus Nott up from the inside out. And rather than blame himself for his own atrocious actions, he directed his cold hatred and vengeance towards his son. Theodore’s failures had been grand disappointments before--a blot on the Nott name itself--but Perseus’ new attitude towards his son was something else entirely. In Perseus’ eyes, the death of Adela was Theodore’s fault and his alone to bear: after all, if they hadn’t been arguing about Theodore, Adela would still be here...right? Theodore, without his mother’s kindness and warm affection enveloping itself around him, like a protective enchantment, folded in on himself. He lost all interest in the world around him. When he was rejected from Durmstrang but accepted into Hogwarts, he took his father’s venomous words and behavior as apathetically as he could manage. There was no point to magic school anymore; no point whatsoever in learning new things. He had no mother to share his findings with anymore--no one who genuinely cared enough about what he had to bring to the world. Theodore had been a quiet but kind child before the passing of Adela--afterwards, his shyness was taken as coldness; his kindness warped into a sardonic sense of humor and blunt cynicism. He cared little for his classmates at Hogwarts; didn’t even particularly care when he had been sorted into Slytherin House--a fact that would have made his father content, at the very least. Theodore kept to himself for the most part, really only making an effort to communicate with Draco Malfoy, a childhood friend who was a familiar face among a sea of unknown.

• Theodore was often seen as brooding and darkly sarcastic by many of his schoolmates for his reserved attitude. He continued to dedicate himself to reading and studying; learning, while not as big of a personal passion as it once was, remained the one constant in his life. Though he remained friends with Draco--and even gained a strange, silent sort of friendship with Blaise Zabini--the first few years of Theo’s education was spent decided reserved and isolated from many of his schoolmates and companions. He spent bitter holidays in silence with his father, who gave Theodore Christmas and birthday gifts with disdain but otherwise ignored him. As Theodore grew older and his marks improved, along with the chances of the Dark Lord rising to power once more, Perseus Nott chose--for the first time since his wife’s death--to notice his son. This was, in his eyes, what the Nott family had been working towards in the years following the initial disappearance of the Dark Lord. He wished for his son to join the ranks of all the other Death Eaters, despite Theodore’s detachment to their entire movement. He didn’t wish to be associated with anything directly linked to his father and his family name--didn’t believe in the Death Eaters, as one of their own was responsible for the death of his own mother. While Draco turned near ravenous at the mere mention of Lord Voldemort’s Inner Circle, setting himself as an example of Pureblood supremacy among his friends, Theodore continued to withdraw into himself. Blaise, the only other member of their friend group who did not seem particularly enthused by the thought of war and overturning their current government, was a steadfast ally during these times. And when Hogwarts disbanded and Dark Magic took over, Theodore collected his belongings and fled with his friends rather than face a year of working directly under the Dark Lord.

• Now, much to the distaste and anger of his father, Theodore is living at the Zabini household while he attempts to figure out what his next move is. Perseus Nott is desperate for his son to join the ranks of Death Eaters and reinstate himself as a member of the Nott family legacy and will go by whatever means necessary to achieve those goals. Blaise, equally as undecided in this war against the wizarding world, is Theodore’s only means of safety in a world thrown completely upside down. And with Draco fleeing the Death Eaters and joining the Order of the Phoenix to protect his family, Theodore is certain of only one thing: these disasters are just the beginning. And if reading up on wars and tyranny have taught him anything, it’s that the bloodshed will paint the world a deep shade of red. And Theodore sorely doubts there will be any survivors.

( sexuality. )

Homosexual

( connections. )

⚔ Draco Malfoy: One of Draco’s closest friends, both through childhood and at Hogwarts, Theodore is worried about the outcome of Draco during the Second Wizarding War. His friend has made some dangerous choices already, and Theodore fears that this war will kill him before it’s over and done with.

⚔ Blaise Zabini: Blaise has proven to be the only person in Theodore’s life whose beliefs and actions reflect his own. Theodore is endlessly grateful to Blaise for letting him live in the Zabini household while he gets his life together and figures out what course of action to take next. 

the role of THEODORE NOTT is currently CLOSED.

[haragurokitty]

http://www.nippon.com/en/currents/d00253/

Sexual Minorities in Japan: The Myth of Tolerance

Last year a graduate student at Hitotsubashi University killed himself after he was outed as gay. His family has taken the university and the student who exposed him to court. Despite superficial acceptance in popular entertainment, deep-rooted prejudices and discrimination against sexual minorities remain strong in Japan.

In August 2015, a male graduate student in the law department at Hitotsubashi University took his own life, several months after he was “outed” as gay on the texting app Line. In August this year, his family took the university and the person who exposed him to court for damages. According to reports in the Asahi Shimbun and other media, the student confessed to a classmate that he was sexually attracted to him in April last year, while the two men were students at the university. The classmate reacted by exposing the man as homosexual to seven members of their peer group using the Line app. The man’s family is seeking damages for the mental anguish caused by this unsought-for exposure and is suing the university for damages for failing to take appropriate measures when the troubled student consulted a university helpline for advice before taking his life.

A Misleading Reputation for Tolerance

Whenever the subject of discrimination comes up, people like to claim that Japan has traditionally been tolerant toward sexual minorities. As far as homosexuality is concerned, people point to the romantic relationships between men and adolescent boys that were common among the samurai and Buddhist priests in medieval and early modern Japan. The relationships between the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and Zeami (the founder of the Nō drama) and the warlord Oda Nobunaga and his young vassal Mori Ranmaru are particularly well-known examples. Relationships of this kind were known as danshoku. The writings of Ihara Saikaku depict danshoku relationships as having been common among ordinary merchants and townsmen during the seventeenth century. Attitudes to transgendered individuals also seem permissive at first glance. Cross-dressing is found relatively often in Japanese culture. The best-known examples are the onnagata actors who play female roles in kabuki and the all-women Takarazuka drama troupe, but during festivals and other special occasions it has always been relatively common for people to dress in the clothing of the opposite sex.

Today, a number of popular TV celebrities are cross-dressers. Matsuko Deluxe, for example, a prominent cross-dressing man, is a ubiquitous presence on television variety shows and commercials, and transgender entertainer Haruna Ai is another popular TV personality. “Boys’ love,” a sensuous genre of novels and manga treating the subject of romance among young men, is increasingly popular overseas as part of the “Cool Japan” phenomenon. And people often point out that Japan has never had a religious proscription against homosexuality such as that found in Christianity and Islam. Gay people have not generally been subject to legal punishment or violence.

Based on these facts, people often conclude that LGBT discrimination is not a problem in Japan and that Japanese people are generally tolerant toward sexual minorities. In fact, however, this apparent tolerance is only one aspect of a more complicated reality.

Laughed at, Ignored, and Avoided

What kind of responses can a person who identifies as gay or transgender expect in Japan? Unfortunately, the reality for most people is that they will have to get used to being regarded as “weird” or deviant, laughed at, avoided, or outright ignored. In some cases, they may even face violence.

Until 1991, Kōjien, one of the standard dictionaries in Japan, defined homosexuality as “abnormal sexual desire.” And it was only in 1995 that the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology announced that it did not regard homosexuality as a mental illness, finally bringing it in line with global standards. The view of homosexuality as a kind of perversion has still not been entirely eradicated on a personal level even today.

Whenever a phenomenon or person identified in any way with sexual minorities is mentioned in Japan, you can almost guarantee that the immediate result will be mockery and uneasy laughter. Presumably by joining in the laughter people hope to prove to themselves and others that they are “not like that.” These jokes are recycled on television, and repeated in schools and workplaces, until they permeate communities throughout the country.

But when people realize that the butt of the joke is not a television personality but a flesh-and-blood member of their immediate circles, the sad reality is that that person is likely to be avoided or treated with open contempt.

Widespread Prejudice in the Workplace

In November 2015, a survey carried out under the auspices of the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research and a number of academics, asked respondents how they would feel if they found out that a member of their social circle was gay. A sizeable proportion of respondents replied that they would feel “displeased” or “somewhat displeased” across all the various scenarios envisaged: 39% in the case of a neighbor, 42% in the case of a co-worker, and 72% in the case of their own child. More than 70% of male managers in their forties said they would be “displeased” to find that a workplace colleague was gay. And around a third of people feel “resistance” to the idea of working alongside a gay or bisexual person, according to a survey carried out by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation in August this year.

This reluctance to accept gay people can lead to bullying, harassment, and violence. In 2000, three youths carried out a series of attacks on gay people in a park in Shinkiba in Tokyo, in which one person died. At the trial, one of the perpetrators admitted that “it’s safe to attack gays because they don’t report it to the police.”

Behind these attitudes is a widespread feeling that belonging to a sexual minority is simply a matter of what people get up to privately in bed. There is still little understanding of the fact that this is an issue that can involve all aspects of a person’s being. LGBT people are talked about in hushed tones, and are ignored in the country’s legal and other systems. The effect is that in many cases, sexual minorities simply cease to exist and are not seen as a presence in schools, workplaces, and homes.

The first legal case to test the human rights of gay people in Japan was the Fuchū Youth House case in 1991, when an accommodation facility run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government refused permission for a homosexual rights group to use the accommodation. Although the court found in favor of the group that was discriminated against, ironically the case has had the effect of highlighting the extent to which the wider society prefers to ignore sexual minorities. In 1997, the Tokyo High Court handed down a judgment that said “It is necessary for government bodies to show meticulous consideration for homosexuals, as a minority, and to ensure their rights and interests are upheld. It is unacceptable for a public authority to be indifferent to or ignorant of these points.” Nevertheless, even 20 years later there is still no legislation in place allowing same-sex marriage or protecting the human rights of sexual minorities in Japan.

Overcoming Exclusion and Isolation

These numerous examples—mocking people, regarding them as deviant, avoiding or ignoring them altogether, and in extreme cases, carrying out violence against them—make it clear that Japan can hardly be described as a place that is truly tolerant of sexual minorities. Most LGBT people keep their identity closely hidden and live in fear of what might happen if their secret is ever exposed. They can rarely rely on social support, and in fact very few sources of such support exist. They are forced to cope with social exclusion and isolation, and thoughts of suicide are notoriously high among sexual minorities. In the case of the Hitotsubashi University graduate student I mentioned at the start of this article, it seems certain that the unexpected exposure of his identity as a gay man and the inadequate response of the university authorities when he sought advice ultimately led him to take his own life.

A glimmer of good news can be seen in the recent decision by several local authorities to recognize same-sex partnerships, and in the changes that are starting to take place in some companies as a result. These changes are part of a wider social movement toward wider recognition of the rights of the LGBT community. During last year’s local elections and the elections for the upper house this year, increasing numbers of candidates and parties came forward to speak up on behalf of sexual minorities. Many people now expect the extraordinary session of the Diet this autumn to feature some kind of debate on legislation to protect LGBT rights. Most heartening of all is the fact that growing numbers of people are stepping forward to fight back against prejudice and discrimination.

Of course it would be premature to be too optimistic about these developments. But I hope that in time these changes will help to get rid of the misunderstandings and prejudices that many people continue to hold, and will lead to a situation in which it is taken for granted that sexual minorities will always make up a certain proportion of people in our workplaces, schools, local communities, and families. I hope that with time people will come to terms with the basic truth that all of us encounter LGBT people in our daily lives. Perhaps this would go some small way to making amends for the loneliness and desperation that chased one desperate graduate student to his death last year.

(Originally published in Japanese on October 4, 2016. Banner photo: Participants at the Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2016 take part in a parade in the streets of Shibuya in Tokyo on May 8, 2016. Around 5,000 members of the LGBT community and their supporters marched for wider acceptance of sexual diversity and lifestyles. © Jiji.)