#inspired by people confused about the ship name

[mossfordays]

The funniest idea for the origin of nobleflower as a ship is that someone saw it as a tag for Narcissa and Lilly but knew the meaning of the name Alice so thought it was that and went from there

[anonymous-existences]

DCXDP Prompt 7

Dead Serious Ship but with a twist(?) of a sort. And Good Parents Fenton's + Casper High Classmates knows Danny is Phantom.

• Damian and Danny were Teenage Sweethearts and Danny was in Gotham due to Amity Park Stuff with his parents still taking down the GIW, up until they turned 18 when Damian suddenly became distant. He started canceling plans, distancing himself from his beloved, even going as far as no longer calling Danny by their usual pet names.

From Lovers to Strangers.

• Danny is confused on why Damian is suddenly so distant, until Damian just disappeared, he never contacted Danny at all. Danny's mind is now cluttered with overthinking thoughts that range from negative to dreadful thoughts, at first it was worry that Damian died but he sees an article of Damian being alive and well.... and with someone. Danny feels his heart break into a million goddamn pieces and seeks refuge in his family's arms and moving back to Amity Park.

• Damian's reason of disappearance was apparently for Danny's safety as Ra's had taken particular interest in the boy that has Lazarus Running in their DNA as if it is their blood and for Danny's safety Damian decided to distance himself, a specific mission that required him a partner to take down a specific organization is where the article comes from(Writer can change the last part, either way angst is inevitable).

• 2-3 years later Danny comes back to Gotham because a Ghost of his had something from their grave stolen, and it was stored in the Gotham Museum. Although Danny hates it he stays as it is his duty as A Halfa (Or a Ghost King) to retrieve his people's items from the other side of the veil. Danny happened to attend a gala in one of these occasions and Damian spots him.

Damian and Danny Part :

• Danny feels dread and hatred whenever he sees Damian, Damian is desperate to get him back.

Damian becomes possessive and the Batfam finally tone him down after Danny slaps him, This is mostly angst of Damian being unable to have Danny back as Danny finally settles into the Ghost Zone and Amity Park.

Summary Danny holds a grudge after thinking Damian cheated on him and ghosted him, Danny is not fine and when he does come back to Gotham for Ghost King/Halfa Duties Damian tries to pursue him again which ends with a lot of Vigilante and Phantom shenanigans along with Robin and Phantom romance where they both don't know about each other's Civilian life and when they do more heartbreak and chaos ensue.

Damian wants Danny back so bad and regrets letting his Beloved Polaris go for a mission and for not trusting himself or his family to be able to protect Danny, Danny doesn't like Damian because Damian brings back memories of the last that he truly, really wants to forget because everytime he thinks about it he wants to cry himself to sleep.

My thought is bittersweet ending but that's on the writer's choice or inspiration of this, thanks for reading my crack. I'll see y'all later.

[prettiestboyev]

DO NOT TOUCH ( bang chan )

sypnosis ! you're a member in stray kids, and you accidentally flex your abs to your stays. the members want a feel of your figure, but so did channie.

pairing ! idol!bangchan x idol!reader ( was written with male in mind, but pronouns are never mentioned so i suppose it can be read as fem or gn too )

cw ! jealous channie, suggestive but subtle moves on reader by channie, minho and i.n touching reader's abs, mentions that changbin and reader are shipped a lot, corny ass ending

a/n ! this was so shit im CRYING but its ok ig. PLEASE GUYS REQUESSTT im losing inspiration

Performing with your band like usual, the crowds shouting fanchants and you can, like always, hear the faint sound of people screaming your name. Who could blame them? You are one of the hottest idols in the industry.

You laughed mentally at your own egoistic thoughts, you believed everything except that. You were attractive, sure, but a lot of stays and people who biased you put you on a pedestal in your opinion.

As the music in your earpiece ended, signaling the close end of the concert, you felt a sudden heatwave on your body. Sweat, more than usual anyway, dripped down your leather outfit, you took the chance and grabbed the hem of your shirt and used it to wipe the droplets of sweat off your forehead, panting lively.

In that moment, you heard the faint sound of fans grow into something extreme, hints of "woah" and "damn" crawling in your ear aswell. You were a bit confused, did someone do something? Then you saw the looks your members were giving you. Oh.

Oh.

You chuckled, it going loud from the headset microphone you all wore, making the screams only worse. "Yes, yes, a man has abs and it's the end of the world." You joked, your charming voice sending fans into a state of swoon, and if possible, making them scream even louder.

"If it's you, then yeah" Changbin said into the microphone, making the fans squeal since you two were shipped a lot because fans can't stand idols being friends (you guys literally almost kissed once).

You laughed at him, hitting his shoulder lightly as a joke as your maknae, I.N. went up to you and hit your stomach. "Ouch!" You winced, hitting the younger male back as he laughed, complimenting your strong figure.

Minho then walked up, pulling your shirt and revealing the abs once more, the squeals that were finally dying down from your fans then grew in a wave of excitement from the move. "I never knew you worked out." He said quietly into the mic.

Though all your members gushed over your figure, the only person that you had your eyes on was Bang Chan, your leader, who was so fucking hot to you. I mean, who you thought was a great producer with very amazing humor, who just was attractive to you sometimes. Gosh, especially with his blonde luxurious curly ha-

"N/N, let's work out together sometime." He said to you, snapping you out of your very appropriate train of thoughts. You nodded, happily dreaming about the idea.

In Bang Chan's mind, he was fuming with jealousy. He wanted to rub his hands all over your abs just like his other members did, but that was just too out of character for Channie. He sighed, quietly, as he dealt with only touching your shoulders and subtly tracing the blades of them, making you chuckle.

You adjusted your microphone so your words wouldn't blast in the speakers, whispering in his ear with a mouth over your lips, so no magical lip- reader could expose you.

"Don't worry, you can touch me later, I can sense your grumpiness from here, Channie." The words placed a smile on his face.

He slapped your head teasingly, rubbing your hair as the fumes from earlier calmed down. After all, the other members could touch you and rub you all they like,

But he'll always be the one you'll dream about.

[ineffable-opinions]

"Top", "Bottom" Discussion in Unknown ep. 12

The Office Gossip Scene

[Edited on 10th May; changes under clarification headings]

Now that the Unknown has resurrected the conversation about gong shou, let’s talk about it. The what and the why, so to say. Thank you @1serotonindeficientgirl (whose post inspired mine).

I welcome critiques and corrections. So, please feel free to do so.

Scenes and subtitles

The discussion in the episode starts with Wei Qian’s staff gossiping about his relationship with Wei ZhiYuan. One of the staff members comments that Wei Qian is like a little lamb (小绵羊) when it comes to his little brother:

只要遇到他弟弟 就像小绵羊

Someone replies with the following idiom:

羊入虎口

(Literally: “a sheep enters a tiger's mouth”)

It means to enter a dangerous situation where one will certainly suffer [Source: Wiktionary].

The female employee (who witnessed their kiss) asks San Pang:

三胖哥谁是羊谁是虎啊 - Who is the lamb (羊; sheep) and who is the tiger (虎)?

This has some employees confused and they ask for an explanation. They receive the following reply:

就是攻跟受的差别啊 – [it means] between them, who is gong and who is shou?

One of the staff members repeats the unfamiliar terms:

攻受 – gong shou

and the fu-nu (腐女; fujoshi) offers an explanation:

好啦姊姊教你们 – let this elder sis explain

老虎看到羊会 – the tiger upon seeing the lamb…

Before she can complete her explanation, Wei Qian moves into the scene accompanied by the growl of a big cat. The gossipers disband.

In the end our fu-nu expresses their support for Wei Qian’s relationship with Wei ZhiYuan. Before she runs off, she throws him the question:

你们谁是攻谁是受啦 – between the two of you, who is gong and who is shou?

In the next shot Wei Qian is alone. He flexes his muscles and comments:

很明显吧 - It's obvious, isn't it?

[END OF SCENE]

Everyone at that office seems pretty close. The staff calls Wei “Qian ge” 谦哥 (first name + brother) and not as “Mr. Wei” (as the English subtitles suggests). Looks like Lao Xiong (emphasis on Lao = old) is the only one who clearly disapproves of such gossipmongering.

Notice how the terms gong and shou were translated directly into top and bottom in English subtitles. While that’s technically correct, there’s some nuance missing.

While there are tongzhi (同志;queer) people who use the terms gong and shou, these are not the most popular terms for top and bottom in the tongzhi community. This series specifically uses the terms gong (攻) and shou (受). Why? We’ll get to that in a minute.

In a BL, being shou means that character is the bottom in that particular ship. That character could be top, bottom, versatile or neither in another ship. A character is a bottom (as we use the term in English) only when that character is an absolute shou (sou uke in Japanese). An absolute shou is invariably shou. No matter which ship he becomes part of and no matter who he is paired with, he will be the shou. Similar difference exists between the terms “top” and “gong”.

English subtitles use ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ from the get-go. There is no need to explain what those terms mean. But that’s not the case with gong shou – only 腐 (fu) people (BL fans) really knows what those terms really mean and thus warrants explanation.   

Clarification

[Edited. Thank you @abstractelysium and @wen-kexing-apologist for contributing to the conversation.]

As noted in the convo, Wei Qian is pretty ferocious in the office and is only gentle when it comes to Wei ZhiYuan. So, it is normal that gossiping irrespective of topic would end as soon as he arrives. Also, I think Wei Qian didn’t get what gong shou means other than allusion to tiger and lamb. The original language dialogues don’t make it clear that gong and shou means top and bottom (in a ship). [The English subs gives off that impression since gong and shou were simply translated.] Moreover, those terms are danmei literacies that has entered dictionaries but not necessarily public knowledge.

It is like an insider joke for fu-people made possible by Wei Qian’s ignorance. That wouldn’t have worked on Wei ZhiYuan who read danmei while growing up. That wouldn’t have worked if the fu nu (fujoshi) stuck around to explain what that means.

Usually in such conversations in BL, fu-people are shown to be mistaken: they either mess up the ship/dynamic (Love By Chance 1) or the character(s) in the ship deliberately trick them (Counter Attack). It is almost always played out with seme/gong’s approval in BL - not sure if that dynamic between fu-people & seme aka gong character ever appeared in any live-action dynamic. The trigger of this scene is Wei ZhiYuan’s deliberate choice of actions: PDA, kiss in the office right in front of a staff member.

BL literacies

BL is a media genre in itself with different sub-genres, genre conventions and classic works. It sure has a lot of overlap with other genres:

Romance as well as GL – they coevolved. They share mothers and other ancestors.

Queer – Is it really a genre? Even if one were to ignore queer as method in academia, it is still so complex.

Let me quote Taiwanese tongzhi author Chiang-Sheng Kuo:

… what exactly is queer literature? Is it queer literature if queer people like to read it, or is it only queer literature if there are queer characters in the books? Or is it an appendage of the queer movement? If a queer author writes a book without queer characters, does that represent a certain aspect of queer culture?

(You can find the whole interview here.)

Just as danmei (耽美; Chinese BL) has its roots in Japanese BL, so is gong (攻) and shou (受) from seme (攻め) uke (受け).

gong shou aka seme uke dynamics

Mother of BL, Mori Mari, didn’t come up with it, nor did her father Mori Ogai. Both she and her father, among the other dozen tanbi (耽美; same writing as danmei but different readings cause different languages, and different meanings cause different cultures) authors inherited it from authors before them who wrote on contemporaneous and historic Japanese male androphilia.

Spring Pastimes. Miyagawa Isshō, c. 1750 | seme uke dynamics in nanshoku pre-dates BL by hundreds of years.

While there is no dearth of riba (versatile) characters in BL, seme uke dynamics is:

a genre specialty. There are similar words in use in GL as well.

an enduring connection to the past of where BL was born.

remnants of a particular model of queerness; an alternative to LGBTQIA+ form of queerness.

What’s there in the scene

There is something hidden in the euphemistic explanation. On the face of it tiger devouring a lamb would be allusion to tiger gong devouring (topping) lamb shou.

But then tiger is a big cat and lamb is a herbivore. Neko (ネコ), the Japanese queer term for “bottom” means cat (etymology is obscure with this one). The term herbivore (草食) when used to describe a man means that man is masculine in a non-hegemonic way. In the series, Wei Qian embodies the hegemonic masculinity while Wei ZhiYuan is a quintessential grass-eater.

So, the description of lamb being devoured by a tiger would not be associated as simply as with the terms gong and shou especially when it comes from Taiwan which has been historically more connected to Japanese BL than any other BL producers (Sinophone or otherwise). This connection was highlighted during 魏之远 Wei ZhiYuan's naming scene where Le Ge used the borrowed Japanese possessive particle (の; no).

の = 之 (zhī)

The big cat sound effect for Wei Qian in particular adds to this. Wei Qian’s character is best described as a queen shou.

女王受 Queen shou: A shou who is as proud as a queen, and would devour gong. (source)

Wei Qian and Wei ZhiYuan’s ship is best described by Priest (the author of Da Ge, source novel of Unknown):

经典款毒舌女王和屁颠屁颠的忠犬组合 – paring of a classic, sharp-tongued queen and a tail-wagging loyal dog.

BL literacies & Affective learning

BL kind of has its own language (with words like gong shou), which fans use to share ideas and feelings. This secret language is what academics call ‘literacies.’ BL fans are all in on this and have their own ‘ways of behaving, interacting, valuing, thinking, believing, speaking, and often reading and writing’. Through ‘various visual, conceptual and textual literacies’, BL fans weave ‘an intertextual database of narrative and visual tropes which readers draw upon to interpret BL’. BL literacies is learnt through ‘affective hermeneutics – a set way of gaining knowledge through feelings.’ Audience learn BL literacies from BL works ‘which eventually leads to their active engagement’ with other BL fans. (source; Kristine Michelle L. Santos explains it in the context of Japanese BL but it applies to all BL media irrespective of where it is from.)

That scene in Unknown was set up to familiarize audience with BL literacies – not only those specific words but also the larger practice of imagining character pairing and indulging in that imagination. This is evident from the overall jubilant tone of the scene and the camera work. It is a celebration of moe. That is why we have a character who is not only a fu-nu but also willing to be openly fu-nu in that setting, sharing BL literacies and her colleagues interested to learn. 

For other examples, check out Thomas Baudinette’s book Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture. He has a chapter dedicated to explaining how genre conventions were taught to the early audience of Thai BL through similar scenes.

Why must they do this? Why break the fourth wall like this? To get more people interested in the intricacies of BL and to get them to participate in the culture. BL is created by fu-people and BL literacies are their tools and source of joy. BL must draw in more people to keep BL culture going. Commercialized BL we have today is the result of an affective culture formed over the years. It is built on years of labor of authors and their audience. I mean, look at the Unknown. This BL employs the well-developed Loyal Dog gong x Queen shou dynamics. Apart from that which the series took from the novel, it also drew upon other common BL beats to tease the relationship between Dr. Lin and his senior.  

Teaching BL literacies is political. When Mainland Chinese government gets dangai productions to change names and relationships of characters (among other things), it is to prevent live-action audience from discovering BL as a genre with it disruptive potential. It is not only character's names and relationships that are changed. There are entire sub-genres of danmei (such as 高干) that got wiped out by censorship.

When a Taiwanese BL not only retains the character names & relationships and shows relatively explicit intimate scenes but also actively promotes BL literacies, it is an act of resistance. Discussion of gong shou, being genre specialty, manages to do so. Interestingly, they are doing it in an adaptation of a novel by Priest who has a particular reputation with self-censorship. That scene is not part of the source novel.

Heterosexual & gong shou

Association of bottom with the feminine (female or otherwise) has its roots in medicalization (and pathologization) of homosexuality in the west (such as through theories by scientists and doctors like Richard von Krafft-Ebing). This “knowledge” subsequently spread across the globe and was adopted to varying degrees and forms.

Moreover, the terms gong and shou applies to heterosexual pairing too.

BG (boy girl) ships have male gong and female shou

GB (girl boy) ships have female gong and male shou. [If this is interesting unfamiliar territory, check out the series Dong Lan Xue (2023).]

Moreover, if one is willing to look beyond LGBTQIA+ form of queerness (which is born and brought up in America), one can see other queer possibilities. For example, Kothi-Panthi queerness in South Asia which is characterized by explicit presentation of top bottom dynamics. There are very many similar forms of queerness in other parts of Global South.

In many cultures, sexuality doesn’t inform identity but sexual preference does. That’s why is you are to ask a kothi-panthi couple which one of you is the bottom, the kothi would tell you without hesitation: “I am.” Might even asked you in turn, “Couldn’t you tell?” For them, sexual preference (being kothi) rather than sexual orientation takes center stage. This is the inverse of how LGBTQIA+ form of queerness looks at it. While LGBTQIA+ model of queerness focuses on sexual orientation (being pan, ace, gay, etc.) as something that can be freely discussed but sexual preference (top, bottom, versatile, side, etc.) is considered private.

*Just to be clear, “kothi” is a term of self-identification. It means that the person is a bottom. Panthi is not self-identification. That’s how kothi address the men who top them. 

While thanks to westernization LGBTQIA+ form of queerness enjoys more visibility, I think it is better to consider it as one type of queerness rather than the only model of queerness. Gong shou dynamics doesn’t fit into LGBTQIA+ form of queerness because it comes from another, much-older nanshoku model of queerness that made its way into Japan from China, hundreds of years ago. Friction between different models of queerness is common where ever they interact. In 1970s, Japan was witness to public debates between a younger, westernized Japanese queer activist Itō Satoru and other Japanese queer activists such as Fushimi Noriaki and Tōgō Ken who were rooted in indigenous tradition of male-male sexuality.

[Itō Satoru’s] insistence on the necessity of adopting western models of gay identity and coming out have brought him into conflict with other activists such as Fushimi Noriaki and veteran campaigner Tōgō Ken.

Interpretation and Orientalism: Outing Japan's Sexual Minorities to the English-Speaking World by Mark McLelland

Clarification

[Edited. Thank you @wen-kexing-apologist for contributing to the conversation.]

Under the LGBTQ+ model of queerness, it maybe considered inappropriate to have conversation about “top” “bottom”, especially in the office, going as far as to ask that to Qian ge. From that perspective, the BL audience (especially those who are unfamiliar with the terms gong and shou) are fair in their assessment of that scene being out of place or outright offensive.

I think things might have been a bit different if the subtitles retained the terms gong shou instead of “top” “bottom” since they aren’t exactly the same thing. That would have had the desired effect (of introducing BL literacies - gong shou in the context of 强强 (strong gong x strong shou) pairing) without unintended consequence.

What is considered rude under the LGBTQ+ framework is an essential part of fu culture. It is like addressing Wei Qian as just Qian – that could be considered rude in the original language but pretty normal in English. Different cultures, different norms, so to speak. It is only polite to be mindful of the cultural differences and avoid discussing about sexual preference where it is considered inappropriate.

As for the normalization of fu culture (especially discussions of gong shou), in my opinion the didactic scope of Unknown is undermined by the very fact that it is primarily a gǔkē danmei (via adoption (收养)) with tongyangxi vibes (highlighted multiple times by San Pang in the novel) associated with Wei ZhiYuan.

Somehow fu-culture gets judged by those who consume products of that culture. Everyone is happy with fu-cultural products as long as fu-people don't discuss who is gong and who is shou.

Why are fu-culture and BL always judged based on a culturally alien lgbtq+ form of queerness? Why must BL be arm-twisted to fit into norms of lgbtq+ form of queerness just because that is the most mainstream form of queerness?

-

That’s not much a conclusion but this is already so long. I really hope it gives you something to think about.

If you are interested, here's more.

[kit-williams]

Null Serf continuation:

Konrad ended up making her his personal assistant.

It made sense, she was well educated, an efficient worker and her abilities directly benefited him.

This only made her more disliked by the other workers, clearly, something had to be wrong with her for her to be trusted by the Night Haunter of all people.

She didn't mind, these people never accepted her into their group, they don't even know her name.

Speaking of names, the primarch had recently told her to call him by his first name, Konrad. It felt unnervingly comfortable in her mouth, he was a primarch and she was a mere baseline, she thought it would be more awkward than it was.

In exchange she told him her name, Nyx. It was only fair. Besides it was better than Konrad calling her his serf, or his assistant.

Although she was a bit self conscious about her name as it wasn't common among her fellow citizens Konrad loved it.

Apparently in old terran, it meant "Night". She shouldn't have been surprised since darkness inspired names were common for blank children taken in by the Astra Telepathica.

It seemed fitting that in the end she would end up by the Night Haunter's side.

With her at his side, much of Konrad's job involving paperwork was handled. Something that relieved him greatly. One less thing to worry about.

There was some friction between her and the Marines at first, with them wondering why their father would trust a mere baseline so much, it all became clear soon afterwards.

Sevatar remembered it clearly, the entire shop had been in chaos as his father had been incapacitated by another vision. He had made it to his father's quarters, he was about to help him up when; "The serf, call the serf."

He was certain he had misheard. Sevatar was aware that his father was somewhat attached to that odd serf but why would he want her now of all times? Regardless, he complied and sent word for the Primarch's personal serf.

He was surprised at how quickly she arrived, and most surprising of all, she kneeled down and touched his father's forehead. That seemed to do the trick.

Konrad's breathing evened out and he closed his eyes. The madness seemingly ebbing away.

Sevatar was perplexed. How in the fracking galaxy had she managed that?!

Word spread and several Nightlords personally made a visit to her to see what all the fuss was about. Most left even more confused than before, there didn't seem to be anything notable about her. Except for the ones cursed with precognition. They felt soothed in her presence. That was how the rest of the legion found out about her status as a null.

They weren't the only one to find out her true classification. The other serfs on board were spooked by the increasing number of Nightlords making visits to the serf quarters and her reveal as a Null only strengthened their resolve. Something had to be done about this soulless demon.

One day, when the primarch was on Terra on political business, they spied her in her comfortable quarters, hunched over paperwork.

The fact that such a demonic creature was treated better than them, loyal, servants of the emperor was an outrage. They deserved to be respected by the emperor's angels, they deserved to be commended by their primarch for their hard work. Instead it all went to her.

Just as she was leaving the room, an audible crunch was heard. A hammer straight to the head, according to the ship apothecary. She will make a recovery, but it was only due to the physical weakness of the serf that there wasn't more damage.

Nyx was kept in a coma.

The astartes killed the perpetrator immediately, they knew their father's rage would be immeasurable when he came back.

The worst part was that Konrad vanished for a few days after he got the news. No one knew what actually happened, but from the drastically fewer serfs around it was easy enough to put the pieces together.

Konrad brooded in his room as it returned to its previously messy state. "Stupid baselines thinking too highly of themselves."

He needed a way for everyone to give her the respect she deserved. That was when it hit him. He smiled, it seemed that he had a plan.

Konrad wondered how his boys would react to having a mother.

SOOOOO I'm loving this and if you feel the need to drop another part in my inbox please feel free

[darklinaforever]

I don't understand some people's obsession with the age difference between Edwin and the Cat King.

Yes, Edwin is a perennial 16 year old.

But the Cat King isn't even human. He is literally a cat deity. And as someone @jaks21 pointed out to me in the comments, the Cat King has the overall behavior of a cat : "I think it's also being forgotten that the cat king isn't human. He can shift into human form, but he is essentially a cat. This is all cat behavior. They have absolutely no sense of personal space (unless it's their own), they like the thrill of the hunt and they like to play."

Soon people will talk to me about zoophilia maybe ?

Beyond that, the Cat King's behavior seems to be quite immature most of the time as well.

So why are people absolutely trying to categorize him as a straight-up adult when he's not a human being ? Who tells you that his brain works like a human's ? Who tells you he's not a baby compared to other supernatural beings ?

It's all well and good to judge Edwin for his reality on the show, but give the same courtesy to the Cat King in this case, otherwise it just seems designed to unnecessarily lower the ship.

Also, if we want to speak realistically... since the Catwin plot revolves around Edwin finally coming to terms with his sexual orientation through his attraction to the Cat King (even if we know that there is also an important emotional context involved ) well it seems to me that Edwin is exactly the age of consent required for sexual relations, namely 16 years old.

Sexual maturity is not the same as legal age making you an adult and I feel like people often confuse the two.

I also find it paradoxical to say that Edwin, who lived more than a century, is judged as not being able to date an almost immortal divinity (because yes, one day the Cat King will no longer have his 9 lives and will therefore die for of good) clearly outside human norms because he happens to be a Cat King and not having at all the behavior of an human adult, or even of a real human, under the pretext that Edwin has his brain blocked at age 16 years old.

But many people will also say that Edward in Twilight cannot love Bella, a teenager, on the pretext that he has lived several centuries due to being a vampire, even if this type of vampire in this universe mentally stops evolving at the age where they were transformed, making Edwin an eternal teenager of 17 years old. Yet he is considered disgusting for wanting to be with a human teenager of almost the same age mentally ?(Be careful, I'm not saying that Twilight is an excellent and brilliant story, I'm just talking about the context of the age difference between the protagonists and the ridiculous discourse around it)

The battles over the age difference in fiction featuring supernatural beings are almost never consistent. And for good reason, I find it useless !

Because most of the time, the supernatural creature does not meet human standards in order to be associated with the younger person (at least if this person is actually younger, in the term of non-majority, because otherwise, as long as everyone is an adult we don't care). Or if it is not the creature that follows a particular pattern, we are for example transported into a universe inspired by a particular era, where the legal age is then different.

So, we must stop judging imaginary beings as if they were human adults, it makes no sense.

Yes. Edwin has been a 16 year old ghost for a very long time and technically cannot mature beyond this age. Tragic. But in the show, which is not the comics, it doesn't really matter. Edwin remains a character with an arc and evolution. So he has undeniably experienced things as a ghost that allow him to change and evolve in his own way.

Of course, it can be confusing, but Edwin's case aside, the Cat King does not meet human standards. And he clearly doesn't behave like a human. Even less that of an adult human. So stop judging him as such.

Essentially the Cat King resembles in his behavior a mixture of... well, a cat, since that's what he is, and a form of immature teenager.

That the Cat King is older than Edwin doesn't matter if he doesn't have a maturity greater than Edwin.

Once again, the Cat King clearly doesn't have the mentality or maturity of most healthy adults of our world. So why absolutely try to judge him as such ? Again, that doesn't make sense.

The Cat King is a being to be judged outside of our realistic standards.

Plus, being uncomfortable with the Cat King & Edwin relationship because Edwin is 16... seems ridiculous again.

Although I would love for the show to make Catwin canon in the future I doubt that will be the case (but good if it happens !), as things stand the Cat King only seemed to be a tool to allow Edwin to open up a little more about himself, in particular about accepting his sexuality, even if not only that. So, since the sexual aspect is very much emphasized in this relationship, it must be taken into account. And Edwin is a 16 year old teenager. Not only do adolescents inevitably have a period of trouble linked to sex, but in fiction the treatment of sexuality is sometimes done through a creature outside the norms of reality, therefore fanciful, often morally dubious.

It’s a classic trope in the world of fiction !

And if that makes you uncomfortable... well I don't know what to do for you.

Again, as I said before, Edwin is of the required age of consent in terms of sexual relations.

So how does it shock you to see someone old enough to explore their sexuality find themselves in a sexuality-related scenario with the classic trope of a fantasy creature to do so ?

This kind of controversy is beyond me! We're talking about fictional characters of a supernatural nature !

[dcdreamblog]

So what exactly was the timeline of events for the so called reign of the supermen? The confusion on the side of the news reporters makes events hard to sort through, and the 2019 documentary didn't actually make things clearer. And then all the conspiracy theories around the event make it harder to actually find information (putting aside Coast City or the theories that the current Superman is one of the impostors, I've seen people claim one of the impostor supermen replaced Clark Kent the Daily Planet reporter for some reason.)

Ok, that last one is just omnipresent especially if you're FROM Metropolis and know Clark Kent as a public figure of some note. He's like, THE guy for some reason getting wrapped up in conspiracy theories of this kind. If you see someone ranting about him being Superman they are either A. a conspiracy buff or B. REALLY butthurt because they shipped people in real life and the Reporter Barbie didn't kiss the He-Man doll.

The "Reign of the Supermen" is a loose term describing a period of about 5 months in Metropolis following Superman's battle and seeming death against the monster known as Doomsday. Superman's death was an intensely traumatic experience for the superhero community, the world at large and especially Metropolis in specific.

(The famous image of Superman's body laying in the center of Daily Planet plaza, his longtime friend Lois Lane wailing a lament over the fallen hero)

Superman's funeral was one of the most attended public events in Metropolis history and THE most viewed event in the history of the Galaxy Broadcasting Company where it aired live. However, within days of the hero being laid to rest, not one, but four new heroes came out and either attempted to fill Superman's shoes or claimed to be Superman himself reborn.

(The famous collage topping the Daily Planet spread where "Reign of the Supermen" was first coined. Left to right: The Man of Steel, The Man of Tomorrow, The Metropolis Kid and The Last Son of Krypton)

The Man of Steel: Appearing in Metropolis in connection to an uptick in gang activity using the highly advanced "Toastmaster" energy weapons, The Man of Steel never actually made a claim that he was Superman reborn. Simply claiming to be following the original's example although conspiracies abounded as they did about EVERYTHING during the period. Of course we known now that this hero, who currently goes by just "Steel" is in reality genius mechanical engineer John Henry Irons who was indeed inspired by Superman after Superman saved his life during a construction accident. Irons continues on as Steel to this day, where he is one of Superman's closest allies and a premiere defender of Washington DC.

The Man of Tomorrow: Appeared to rescue the then president from an assassination attempt, becoming the most publically prominent of the "Supermen" and one of the two claiming to be the true Superman reborn, having reconstructed his body using Kryptonian technology. Because of his action saving the president's life he was endorsed by the White House as the "true" Superman which gave him a lot of public leeway to do...something terrible...

In reality of course this "Cyborg Superman" was Hank Henshaw, a formerly deceased scientist who blamed Superman for the death of his fellow astronauts after an experimental space craft left the entire crew mutated and ultimately dead. His personality having taken control of some of the technology in Superman's Fortress of Solitude and seeking to use Superman's good name to ruin the hero posthumously. At this moment in time his inert body is in possession of STAR Labs where he is being studied as part of a sentence passed down by the Green Lantern Corps for what we are told are innumerable crimes against galactic life.

The Metropolis Kid: Seemingly a teenager who appeared out of nowhere, stopping the newly appeared villain Sidearm from robbing a public ATM. He never claimed to be related to the original Superman and was open with his origins to the public. He had been created by Cadmus Labratories for some unknown purpose, had broken out of their facilities and was now seeking to use his powers for good (and fame, and pretty girls). His heart was in the right place but he was 6 parts willpower to 1 part brains and 0 parts self control, earning rebukes from Steel AND Guardian after his poor forethought cost a helicopter pilot his life.

Since then however he has been a well known and publically beloved teen superhero, serving with distinction on Young Justice, the Teen Titans and more. He is still publically active and beloved as a hero. He and Steel probably require the least explanation. If you found this blog you know who they are.

The Last Son of Krypton: Was the most physically similar to Superman at first glance, however was instantly distrusted by the public due to his brutal and violent methods despite claiming to be the real Superman healed by Kryptonian science. His claim, however, was publically rejected when Lois Lane and the rest of the staff at the Daily Planet (those who would obviously know Superman best) publically denounced him. He was first on the scene during the Coast City tragedy and was blamed for the attack in its direct aftermath.

In reality the "Last Son" was The Eradicator, a piece of Kryptonian technology that had come under Superman's care and viewed itself as a "defender" of Kryptonian culture and heritage. He remained active on and off as a superhero for several years as well as a villainous presence when his programming was hijacked to various malicious ends. To my current knowledge the program is "dead" but god knows for how long. Coast City: (Please be advised the Coast City tragedy is still an open wound for many people. If you do not wish to go any further this is your chance to bow out. Respect and deference to the people of Coast City and their families will be expected and enforced on this blog)

On August 28th an alien craft appeared above Coast City, California. Both The Last Son of Krypton and The Man of Tomorrow respond to the ship as it releases a series of alien devices into the city's airspace. Approximately 80 minutes after they first entered the craft, the devices detonate in an explosion the likes of which dwarf even the most devastating of atomic discharges. 7 Million men, women and children lost their lives in an instant. It is, to this day the single deadliest event in human history. God willing nothing else will ever come close.

The world is stunned. It takes 7 hours for the true severity of the attack to be understood as all communications infrastructure from one of California's largest cities vanishes in an instant. The Man of Tomorrow limps back to civilization and blames the Last Son of Krypton for the disaster. Green Lantern, Steel, Superboy and Supergirl converge on the site. In the following days the entire population of San Georgio county is listed as a casualty of the strike, not a single survivor is discovered within the county's borders.

It is eventually revealed that the "Man of Tomorrow" is responsible, having allied himself with the alien tyrant Mongul attempting to transform the Earth into a "Warworld", a feared class of galactic weapon. It is through these events that the true Superman returns, regaining his powers. Through the combined efforts of Superman, Supergirl, Green Lantern, Superboy, Steel and the Eradicator a similar attack on Metropolis' 11 million people is barely averted.

I was...not alive when Coast City was destroyed. I only grew up in its aftermath. Where the idea of alien tyrants and conquerors, something we had known about for years suddenly came home for us as a society, as a species. 7 million souls wiped from existence, atomized, by one weapon. By one alien with the right trigger to pull. A vibrant west coast metropolis reduced to a blasted crater. 7 million holes left in families around the world.

There were no drills, no duck and cover PSAs, everyone knew that if something of its like showed up again there would be no time and no place to hide. Mongul was officially remanded to Earth's custody by the Green Lantern Corps, citing a "do as thou wilt" clause allowing planets to punish those guilty of genocide outside of galactic trial and treaty. Calls for his execution are stymied for 2 years. He eventually dies in custody due to an opaque supervillain conflict.

Eventually, under the Horne administration, Coast City is officially refounded. It is to this day known as "The City Without Fear" and every year on the anniversary green lanterns are hung in the windows of the city's homes and businesses. Its population is now 2 million strong.

I know that all sounds like derailing from "The Reign of the Supermen" but drill right down to it and that's the legacy. We attached so much trust to Superman, his iconography, his name. We were so grief stricken by his loss that we pinned all our hope on the first man to wear his face and lie to us: and 7 million people paid the price.

Superman has said that his take away from the event is thus: "I learned how dangerous it is...wha...what could happen if I let this world believe it couldn't live without me. Now I have better plans for when I'm gone. I made things clear this time, to the people who need to know."

[hana-no-seiiki]

But like the ship trope where PERSON A looks like a childish brat on the outside but is actually the stable, mature one in the relationship

while PERSON B is the opposite wherein they’re super stoic, cool-headed but is actually super petty and aggressive at times.

tw/cw: soft yandere themes, seggs but not explicit

😤🫸🏽🫷🏽

That but with Villain and/or Vigilante! Reader and Yandere! Damian.

I’ve seen this a lot in Damian Wayne works so credits go to those amazing writers that inspired me to have my own take on this!! A lot of this is just a rehash/amalgamation of what people have already written but with some of my input and thoughts…lots and lots of thoughts.

Anyways, you seem like the type of person to ruin another’s life for the sake of it. Just your wicked whims. You’re notorious for stealing massive amounts of properties or (in case of Vigilante) beat if not kill people who you deem unredeemable.

MINORS/AGELESS BLOGS DONT GO BEYOND THIS POINT

VER I : I’m thinking second gen Catwoman/Batman + CatNoir/Ladybug (both the OG anime concept and the series) dynamic, just gn reader.

You’re always clinging unto to Robin/New Batman. Saying sweet nothings and flirting with him, if not full on making out/having sex with the vigilante. You like the dude, really. But your heart remains with Damian Wayne. Robin/Batman just really reminded you of him sometimes.

Hatefucking. Hatefucking happens a lot. Robin/Batman loves pinning you to the walls/floors of alleyways before you two get down and dirty.

Whereas, people (namely his fellow vigilantes) think he’s done with you, but he’s probably the biggest [Villain Name] fanboy out there.

He knows basically everything about you except your true identity. Which is somehow completely inaccessible to him.

Little does he know that it was actually his own doing, locking your civilian self’s private information as a favor between friends.

But because of this he misunderstands and thinks you’re even more of a genius or something because you managed to outwit him!! You!! Are!! So!! Damn!! Amazing!!

Damian acts cold with everybody. He’s a brooding guy. He doesn’t express much. Only about 1% of what he’s feeling actually gets put into action and/or words.

So the fact that he insists on taking on missions where he has to face you, assists you if you aren’t harming anyone, or actually indulges in your flirtation is a big thing.

So it’s safe to say when he found out you liked someone else other than him, that you were just using him to get yourself to feel better about not having said dude he gets petty.

You two used to have this pact, to never interfere with each other’s civilian lives and to respect your secret identities (of which he’s tried to breach remotely several times). But all that goes up in flames as he stalks you after a heist. Following you home.

He finds out about your secret identity, your ‘unrequited’ love for him, and you two begin dating. But you’re still oblivious about his other identity.

Damian kinda has a kink for it ngl. Like he’ll charm you as Robin/Batman even as you tell him you’re already dating someone else.

Like it’s so adorable how you keep resisting him, telling him how much you love his civilian counterpart.

But then he still proceeds to fuck your brains out as a Vigilante.

Man didn’t know he was into roleplaying until this moment. Like he’ll murmur stuff like “You say you love him, but nothing beats this. I’ve already carved a place inside you, Beloved. A place shaped in my image.”

Or “Where did your ‘undying love’ go, hm? Nowhere. You’re right back with me. Complete undone within moments of my touch.”

Things go a little awry though when you, ever the mature/communicative one in the relationship attempt to break up because Robin/Batman is leaving you confused as to how you truly feel. In addition to you not want to cuck your beautiful (soon to be ex) boyfriend any longer.

VER II: Is more on Vigilante x Vigilante. Similar to the one above except your relationship is a lot more professional and less hate-fuckey. You know of each other’s civilian/vigilante selves.

You’ve always admired Damian. Despite being quite close in age, you always saw him as a younger brother if not like a son almost. Witnessing him grow up and mature alongside you.

But your doting nature always came off a tad bit romantic. Flirtatious even. You tended to be a playful person after all. Hell you even call him Babe or Baby like that’s totally normal for you to call friends that.

A lot of your friends and colleagues always laugh at Damian’s expense whenever you arrive to come nag and/or flirt with him. It’s honestly hilarious. Judging from his murderous aura, people always thought that he wanted you 6 feet under.

The truth of the matter was that his glares and thoughts of murder were all directed to everyone else but you.

Damian never felt so at home and at peace with anyone or anything but his pets in life.

He’d be damned if anything happens to you.

Still, it frustrates him. He knows that you only see him as sibling almost. That you’d die for him but never date him. That despite your honeyed words he’s probably neck deep in the friendzone.

And so to the absolute surprise of everybody, he starts flirting back.

e.g. murdering those who slighted you and/or gazed upon your visage for too long, delivering their remains to your doorstep, amongst a bouquet flowers of course, and the occasional chocolates

You eventually fall in love back, though you ask him to tone it down on the violence.

- might edit more soon, but for now adios!!!

[winterillustrates]

WHAT YOUR FAV TWST CHARACTER SAYS ABT YOU!! (CRACK VERSION)

Ace: I'd hate you (/affectionately).

Deuce: I'd propose to your mom.

Cater: You need hugs. And followers.

Trey: You're as sweet as the cakes he makes. Also, you're his dentist.

Riddle: Mother issues. Same.

Leona: You have that one sibling you hate and one you pretend to hate.

Ruggie: You'd rob me and I'd call it our 'meet cute'.

Jack: I'd imitate you to look cool, ngl.

Azul: "Shady businessman/woman/enby? That has got to be my favorite genre." looking ass and I'd never judge you for that.

Jade: I'd bring you peace offerings almost everyday.

Floyd: You owe me a 150,000 worded essay on why and how your standards dropped so low.

Kalim: You want to be as optimistic as him, and you honestly deserve more credit for it. Plus, you cry yourself to sleep while hugging his plushie, cause it feels like he's crying with you. He probably is.

Jamil: I owe you a 300,000 worded essay on why he's the best, and I'd better get an agreement for each paragraph.

Vil: You love breaking gender norms and you hardly ever flop. You make long winded essays on character designs or "Ooh, shiny". No in-between. Also, you memorized his last name.

Rook: You kinda freaky and into yanderes. I'm into yanderes, but I hate this dude, so idk. I'd definitely say "I know what you are" to you, and you'd be thinking "She thinks I'm gay/bi/queer" and I'd be thinking "They're a serial killer".

Epel: You love the "Innocent girl who's a spawn of satan" and probably are one, yourself.

Idia: You "win" online arguments by doxing. That and your fav brother from Obey Me is Leviathan. Don't lie to me.

Ortho: You've always wanted a robotic younger brother!

Malleus: You're the majority. Congrats. (Also you have abandonment issues and ship MalYuu. Not that I can blame you, honestly).

Lilia: You say, "Ow, my hip hurts" then does the latest tik tok dance, no sweat.

Silver: You liked the mystery shrouding him. Plus, you love the found family trope.

Sebek: You see through his loud demeanor and really like his loyalty to his friends that aren't Malleus.

Yuu: You love yourself and I love you. <3

Grim: You're a snitch.

Sam: You are waiting for him to sing "Friends On The Other Side". You watched that one animatic by Laizyboy?? (Remind me the name)

Vargas: You actually thought eating raw eggs would make you strong. ... LOL. Jk. You ARE Vargas. I'm sorry, but how did he get THAT high in 2024 popularity polls?!?

Crewel: You have good taste. Might also be into getting praised.

Trien: VALID. YOU WANT A GRANDFATHER IN YOUR LIFE, RN.

Lucifer (^'s cat): Hello..............IDIA SHROUD.

Crowley: You are someone who wishes they could escape from their responsibilities as much as him. "He's a deadbeat, but he's a funny one."

Chenya: You like characters that are on crack.

Rielle: I...-- Is that even a character, dude?

Neige: You're the minority. Congrats. (Also, you are so confused abt the hate Neige receives)

Rollo: CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, you aren't strictly religious. You also hate the double standards he's shown. And you think he looks actually kinda cute.

Fellow: You love seeing NRC boys get reckted.

Gidel: You think he's the cutest character in Disney. No one can/wants to change your mind.

Skully: You convinced him to skip the mandatory, "Twisted Wonderland is NOT an otome game".

Najma: You love fem!Jamil. Plus, you are the younger sibling that is secretly a little demon. As an older sibling, I'm sorry, but I will expose you at the slightest chance.

Dilia (Deuce's Mom): You're one of those people that Captain Man from Henry Danger was inspired from.

Marja (Epel’s granmama. Thx, https://www.tumblr.com/gremlinvapor): As a Marja lover, you love your grandmother and love hearing stories about her! And your grandma is low key a badass.

SCARABIA STUDENT B: W...who... who are you? Waiting until the ending for this guy. ... Idek what to say, honestly...

Mickey Mouse (Thx, https://www.tumblr.com/gremlinvapor): I’m the Donald to your Mickey. And you are probably so popular. Oh, you are also a cheap stake who fakes to like change, but actually despises it. You only like twst to be ‘woke’, but you don’t even like the characters or talk abt them.

(THIS WAS A JOKE. IF YOU ACTUALLY RELATE TO THESE RANDOM THOUGHTS I TYPED, THEN WOW I AM SHOCKED. Seriously, Idc who's your favorite, and I was not trying to discriminate or anything.

I tried to include all characters I could think of atm, but you are free to request more and I'll shove them in! These aren't even my opinions, I'm just tryna be entertaining.

If you'd like, guess my favorite(s)!

If I misspelt some characters names, I'm sorry and please politely correct me, thank you.)

[leeneir]

Duo AU; Pro Gamer Iso x Violinist!Reader (Part 1)

I check the iso x reader tag EVERYDAY. FOR ISO CONTENT. Sadly, Iso isn't that popular. Sigh. Guess I'll do it myself.

AU inspired by those public pianist trends on yt and my Iso x OC ship as always. Along with that one toxic pro gamer Iso x reader on here, i fking love that au sm. (Hes not toxic in this one tho lol)

Pro Valorant player Zhao Yu, better known by his internet name "Dead Lilac" is a mechanically gifted one-trick main whose name is famous all over the gaming community.

Professional Violinist "Reader", famous for their musical talent and prodigal like abilities, having climbed up the ranks and becoming renowed in the music community and on social media.

Iso finishes up a stream with a sigh, the ratio of wins to losses was bad today, how disappointing. Zhao Yu lays in bed, taking a brief moment of rest before he continued on with his day.

His roommate Omen is playing with the cat when he goes to the kitchen to get something to eat, they talk for a bit, and the cat starts purring at his feet. He picks it up and just does a stare off with the thing while it paws at his face (without claws), and blows a rasberry. Omen chuckles.

Omen brings up the fact that his friends are going out for an outting later, Zhao Yu decides to get ready. He wears his signature hoodie ofc.

Jamie, Sunwoo, Tala, Tayane, and Mateo come along. Sadly, Ryo couldn't come. He was too busy with his drift practice or whatever. Tala says her brother was just too lazy to come.

They all meet up at the mall where they go shopping and do whatever, discussing random whatnots and getting up to antics. And then they find a piano in public and Jamie tells Zhao Yu to play something, they'll record it and post it online because why not? He's really good at playing it too.

Zhao Yu decides to humor them and gets on the piano, trying to think of a piece to play before he starts.

His fingers cross the keys with grace and practiced ease, playing a romantic classical version of a popular song. Zhao Yu finds himself lost in the music piece as strangers began turning heads and pausing in their step. He can feel his friends' eyes on him as Phoenix' camera records him, and he finds himself becoming more confident with each note he plays.

Unbeknowst to him, as he was nearing the chorus, one stranger came up and opened a peculiar shaped bag, pulling out a violin out of it. The moment Zhao Yu plays the chorus note, a new instrument joined him.

He almost paused, but his fingers kept playing. Somehow, he and the violinist were perfectly in sync. He turned his head without lifting his fingers, and he see's the stranger playing the instrument, and he's awed by their ability.

More people crowd around as they watch the duet, enchanted by the melody and harmony while Jamie continues recording. Zhao Yu and the stranger play until the end of the song. When they finished, the whole crowd applauded and cheered. It sort of reminded Zhao Yu of the music recitals he did when he was younger.

He gets off the piano and approaches his duet, complimenting them on their skill and giving his name, which the stranger responded with their own.

Reader and Zhao Yu chat about the piece they just played, and Jamie and Mateo run in with the video, showing it to both of them. It's then that Zhao Yu saw Reader passing by before they decided to play, and he's amazed at how easily they synced up to him without missing a note.

Mateo then says that he was a fan of Reader which promptly confused Zhao Yu. Was Reader someone famous? Jamie asked for permission to post the video which Reader granted without issue.

They continued talking for a moment up until Reader said that they had an appointment to get to and excused themself.

By the time that was over, Zhao Yu's friend group went nuts. Apparently having held themselves back from "ruining his chances", whatever that meant. Jamie and Mateo however couldn't hold themselves which is why they approached. Sunwoo proceeded to shake him uncontrollably for not getting Reader's number. When he asked why he needed it, Tala called him a "lonely bastard".

He asks if they knew her since Mateo did, and he was told that Reader was a social media influencer known for their violin talent.

Jamie sent the video to Zhao Yu's editor and they continued on with their hangout. Though, the duet still played on the back of his mind throughtout.

Timeskip to later that night, Zhao Yu realized that maybe he should have gotten Reader's number, and also why Tala called him lonely. Omen watched the video too and acknowledged Reader's social media presence which made Zhao Yu wonder just how popular they were if even his roommate knew about them.

The next day, Iso's editor had the video ready and posted. And it was doing numbers.

As it turns out, a duet between a pro gramer and a famous violinist was bound to go viral and become so popular that it was trending on every platform.

Both to his confusion and surprise, his fans went crazy with the shipping. He knew what it was only because his online group and team engaged in such antics. Although he wasn't sure how Reader would react. He only just recently followed them on their socials and was surprised to find out that they were already a follower.

His twitch chat wouldn't shut up about the duet and he recounted the story of how that moment came to be. And they went haywire. Zhao Yu found ship edits of him and Reader from the duet video and things were getting out of hand. He was worried of how this would affect them considering they weren't part of this side of the community, much less even in this community.

He found a response from Reader regarding the duet, and to his relief it was mostly positive. They even addressed a part of the response directly to him, asking if they should record an official one if he wanted to.

Now, Zhao Yu was open to collabs. But for some reason, this one had him staring at his screen for minutes as the type bar blinked in the chat box, it was Reader's instagram.

He decided that it wouldn't hurt to add some music content into his gaming content and wanted to reach out to Reader to inquire about that collab idea they proposed. Except... he was nervous.

Why was he though? It made no sense. Zhao Yu didn't get nervous, so why was he? He's done this dozens of times, so why was it any different now?

Mustering up all the courage he could, he typed a few letters and sent the message without leaving room to think it over.

On Reader's phone, a notification popped up from instagram messages. They opened it up, it was from Iso?!

"Hey" they read.

Yknow, this has been sitting in my drafts for 3 weeks. Finally glad i got this out even if some parts are uncohseive

[mad-serotonin]

who are your top ten favorite black clover and ships? talk about them! (welcome back to the fandom, always loved your art)

I’m thinking you meant top 10 CHARACTERS and top 10 ships. Here’s the characters for now! I have another ask for ships and since that’s gonna take me a bit more time to really think about you’ll get those soon with that ask I promise!

My top 10:

1. Finral

Already talked about him in depth so I’ll let everyone else shine here lol

2. Magna

The manliest man. The actual best underdog character in Shonen. Like Tabata knew what he was doing during the Heart kingdom training arc. (Vague manga spoilers for spade arc) Having to work insanely hard to catch up to everyone when they can do something you can’t and finding a way to accomplish something no one else can do????? That’s such a real experience and he’s so admirable.

The literal best friend you could have in this world. He’s so silly and supportive and awesome. Design wise one of my fav character designs ever he’s so sick. I should probably make a solo post about him too cuz I could go deep into his character.

3. Rill

THE ARTIST’S BEST FRIEND!!!! I heart him so much and the approach to his upbringing was so beautiful. His destruction circling around a lack of direction and inspiration for his work is so insanely relatable. And just seeing him be so carefree and happy in battle creating art 😭 I wanna be him.

Winner for the Clover Kingdom’s best laugh. Cutest character design he is so fluffy and pastel. I want to see more of his magic it’s made some of the best battle scenes in the show with just how much freedom there is with its imagery.

He’s so baby I just love him. Also shout out to him for changing the squad name for azure deer from gray deer. I can’t remember if it was explicitly stated but I KNOW that he did that.

4. Asta

The boy of the hour. Honorary spot at #1 because he is the one of the most successfully written Shonen protagonists of his archetype. Really love taking the going for the top motivation and giving a depth to it outside of personal ambition and having the concentration be on changing the world for the better. The purest soul.

Asta is so important. He not only motivates and inspires EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. within the story. But also inspires so many people irl. Like i literally think “would this make Asta proud” when I do stuff sometimes JSJDHDDHHD and it motivates me to get through rough times.

He’s a cutie patootie and he breaks all expectations for what characters would typically do when faced with conflicts like he is. He truly is one of a kind and brings out the best in everyone.

I absolutely love the aspect of his character where he’s literally everyone’s lil brother. He just cares and trusts everyone on his team and fights for them SIMPLY because they are teammates no questions asked. Every time I rewatch the series I just admire the effect he has on their world and how it spreads one step at a time with each adventure. So many things wouldn’t have been possible without him being himself in situations and setting people straight in understanding their world. (This fact stands true even if not considering the anti magic as a factor. It’s all him baby.)

5. Langris

UGHHHHH I could write another essay but I shan’t. He is such a wonderfully complex character who has been so forcefully shaped into a figurehead of a group that represents strength, giving him such a terrible egotistical, yet self loathing view of himself. And despite all of it he genuinely wants to love and be loved outside of those factors. He’s just a very confused kid who needs genuine support instead of ego-feeding elitist parents HDHDHDH.

I’m very passionate about him. And I am SO PROUD of his character development through the story. Especially with his relationship with Finral. (I will for sure write a whole separate essay discussing them sometime soon). He was written so well both in his antagonistic position which in my eyes was very much mostly out of his control (not completely he’s not totally excused ✋🏻). Seeing him make genuine effort to change his outlook and behavior to rebuild a healthy sibling relationship, to support his brother and motivate him to improve himself as well, AND to remove himself from a position of high status when he knows he’s no longer the one suited for it really just proves how much he has grown. His complexity in his character just makes him so interesting and I want to see him and Finral team up more please I beg there was not enough. HAHSHSHS

6. Luck

I always loved Luck’s story and the exploration on his ability to express his emotions as time goes on is so good. Like the elf battle always makes me SOB he’s so good. I genuinely am obsessed with his friendship with Magna they are the best duo ever. He’s such a lil weirdo and his antics are just so perfectly lil brother energy to the rest of the squad. I will say Tabata had PEAK WRITING with his unwavering fear in battle that made the perfect set up for the seriousness of the Spade arc when they show him not wanting to fight ABSOLUTELY beautiful setup and reward right there. He’s a baby boy who doesn’t need to be protected but I want to anyways.

7. Klaus

OUR 👏🏻 KING 👏🏻 OF 👏🏻 CHARACTER 👏🏻 GROWTH👏🏻! Literally perfection how this man goes from prickly noble to Asta and Yuno’s number 1 fan. He has the perfect older brother energy and really became just an absolute sweetheart. I adore his support for Asta so much it always makes me laugh when they pan to him doing some weird stuff in hopes that it helps him out.

His magic is also so cool and damn I wish Tabata would give him some more badass spells because he could do SO MUCH. Give him a suit of magic armor mayhaps idk but it’s such a fun magic for him. Also design wise I love his hair and his features are just so pleasing. ESPECIALLY during the elf arc my god he looked like a model. I just think he’s very pretty HDHXHDHD. BUT YES an absolute king and deserves all the love.

8. Mars

Oooooo we need more of him in the manga. I swear the coolest dudes are underutilized this man is so sick. I love Mars’ story and I’m so glad that he reocurred in the story the way he did. He was really the perfect set up for the diamond kingdom being in the plot at all. But he himself. AN ABSOLUTE SWEETHEART he’s so good. He and Fana are precious together and I really admire his strength and commitment to his goals throughout his whole story. He had some of the coolest magic and I desperately need a Mars and Asta team up with their massive swords.

One of the best character designs from silhouette, outfit, colors and all. He is very handsome and just a cool dude overall. Y’all need to make more fan art of him I don’t see enough. I’ll make some too I promise.

9. Leopold

The king of not being in the story enough. For REAL he is so powerful and cool and he’s one of Asta’s rivals too I NEED a triple team up of him asta and yuno it would be FIRE absolute pun intended hehe

I love how straightforward he is, he’s so motivated and such a strong mage. I hope he gets to lead the crimson lions one day he absolutely deserves the position. He is the best friend of best friends. Being supportive of Asta from the start and being one of the least “noble” of all the other squads immediately solidified him as a favorite to me. And he just continued to kick butt and be a cool lad. His power is fun and I desperately wanna see him make full blown fire tornadoes NSHXHDH it would be SICK. but yeAH he is such an awesome character and a perfect rival and I think he deserves more screen time. I will for sure be drawing him again soon.

10. Yami

That’s our DAD 🫵🏻

God I will say this with all the confidence in the world he is the BEST WRITTEN DANG TEAM LEADER in Shonen. Like Tabata really said let this silly goofy man rescue all of these outcasts and be their dad and help them grow and I cannot handle any moment from any character without thinking about Yami’s influence. HE HAS DONE SO MUCH FOR EVERYONE.

The smartest idea ever translated from brain to paper was making this man a walking poop joke. LIKE INGENIOUS. I always find it funny and I always will. Make this absolute badass a true dad. He poop and he make bad joke. Honestly the funniest character.

His story from what I’ve gotten to is so interesting. It was so worth the wait to get to see more about him but even so his story just in the clover kingdom is so wonderful. I love how he really sets up the themes Asta stands for before he even gets to the squad. Where all of the change in the kingdom that happens wouldn’t have been done without him (a foreigner) and his whole team of unloved and unwanted individuals who were seen as worthless. Literally showing the world how wrong they are. Yami is best dad and he always will be.

Special shout out to William, Vanessa, and Gordon they deserve to be up here. Also David cuz I think he’s pretty and I love his magic but he is SO background character it hurts.

In the end I would have loved to talk about more of them but It’s hard picking favorites with this show. Literally everyone is written so well and I love them.

Thank you for the ask sorry if i went on a tangent a couple times LOL

[jeonscatalyst]

I keep thinking about the billboard eyes debate about who's eyes it could be & the theories, if it could be him really revealing his future partner like Taeyang did, who he seems to have taken a lot of inspiration from on Muse. The more I think about it, I'm leaning toward the eyes being someone "WE" the fans are familiar with, that he has some kind of public relationship with already, because putting some random girl or guys eyes he's dating behind the scenes, that we aren't familiar with, never seen him with, wouldn't make sense to reveal it this way, like I'm with this person you have never seen with me, here are their eyeballs, so you can stop shipping me with so and so, when all it does is add more confusion. You know what I mean. I don't think he would go through that trouble to publicly announce on a billboard in a video seen by millions to introduce his real "stranger" partner that way, UNLESS there was already some familiarity there already that he knew fans would pick up on and recognize. It would be basically introducing a complete stranger to the world as your partner in a very cryptic way since its just their eyeballs. You would probably just go the natural way first before doing something big like that, like start going out with them publicly or publicly linking yourself to them, to ease people in like the way Tae did and was dropping hints about him and jennie even before the hacker exposed him. Like testing waters Following jennie and then going out with her in public to Jeju and being spotted with her even before the leaks happened and then after the leaks both wearing the same clothes and couple jewelry from the picture, before eventually going public together in paris. This is why I think if jimin was trying to announce who his heart belongs too this way, then most likely it makes sense for it to be someone people are already familiar with. Someone he knows people are familiar with, someone he had been dropping hints with beforehand. And well I can name someone who fits that role right now, because we seen it for years, but esp this past year. Does this make sense to anyone else, cause I don't see Jimin waking up and saying "my GF or BF" no one has ever seen with me, I think I'm just gonna add their eyes on a billboard, they won't be confused at all. Probably not the best plan since the majority of people think its Jk's eyes, even non believers. And def not the brightest plan, esp going from billboard eyes dropping, straight into AYS cause that only convinced people more its Jk's eyes with all that flirting and tension we saw. And if those ain't JK's eyes. Well you gotta feel sorry for that person after AYS, cause that ain't your man. Sorry. Just saying.

Hey anon,

I think we are putting a lot of thought into those billboards eyes to be honest. Is it possible that those eyes meant something? Sure but it is also possible that they were just some random person’s eyes…..or maybe even someone we do know but that doesn’t necessarily mean there is more to it.

Just like you, I too had obsessed over those eyes especially when I found out that Taeyang had his wife’s face on a billboard in one of his songs and Jimin has always admired Taeyang and wanted to somewhat follow his footsteps so the math is mathing and it isn’t exactly delusional to think that he might do something like that since it’s not impossible but I also realized that sometimes, somethings really don’t mean anything more.

I would admit that sometimes those eyes look a lot like Jk’s that I get shook and start to think there is no way those aren’t Jk’s eyes but other times I tell myself that maybe they are not and we are just seeing what we want to see or what we wish is the truth lol. I am at a point where that is a Jikook maybe to me. I am completely 50/50 on the possibility that it is or not.

As for whether Jimin would choose to put a complet stranger, I don’t see why not. I mean before Taeyang put his wife on that billboard I don’t think people knew about her no? So it is possible that it might be someone who we don’t know and haven’t seen around Jimin……but as I said, the eyes on the billboard might just be for effect and not mean anything more.

For now, I keep my thoughts on it at 50/50 and if someday we get to confirm that it was indeed someone we know and suspect, then……..

[funnypages]

In 2025, Tintin is entering the public domain in the US

The character of Tintin, of The Adventures of Tintin, one of my favorite comics from when I was a kid, is entering the public domain in 2025 (in the US) so I'm rereading the series and thought I'd give some history on the comic, as I dont know how well known he is among younger Americans

Who is Tintin?

Tintin, created 1929 by Belgian cartoonist Hergé (real name Georges Prosper Remi), is an ambiguously young investigative reporter and amateur detective who travels the world investigating criminal networks, hunting for treasure, exploring far away places, and solving mysteries. His enemies include crime bosses, foreign dictators, drug smugglers, human traffickers, and sorcerers. Hergé wrote 23 Tintin Adventures (as well as a partially finished 24th story published a few years after his death) from 1929-1976.

Tintin's allies and recurring cast include (L-R in bottom image): Professor Cuthbert Calculus (Tryphon Tournesol in OG French) a hard of hearing but brilliant scientist, Captain Haddock a foul mouthed alchololic ships captain (and Tintin's closest friend), Snowy (Milou) his smarter than normal dog, Detectives Thomson and Thompson (Dupont et Dupond) bumbling identical twin detectives, and Bianca Castafiore an Italian opera singer who Tintin often bumps into on his travels

Tintin and Spielberg

I would say most Americans, particularly younger ones, if they have heard of Tintin, it is from the 2011 CGI Spielberg movie

The story goes that Spielberg, after the first Indiana Jones movie came out, was on vacation in Europe and was confused about why so many European reviews (positively) compared Indiana Jones to "Tintin." He then read some of the comics, fell in love with them, and go in contact with Hergé, who he discovered was a big fan of his work. This led to an agreement that Spielberg would be the one to adapt his comics into a movie.

Tintin and Racism

Where should I start? So we need to address the elephant in the room about Tintin. Several of the early stories are quit racist, although I will give some more context about them

The most infamous Tintin story is the 2nd one, Tintin in the Congo, involves Tintin going to the 1930s Belgian Congo and encountering indigenous people there. It is just as bad as you would expect (although I have seen some articles from Congolese people, that it is so bad it wraps around to being hilarious, but of course YMMV). In addition the series as a whole does have some problematic portrayals of POC, I would say the worst being Indigenous Americans and Arab/Middle Easterners

That being said, I will give Hergé credit and say that you do see his views evolve over the 60 years he was writing these stories, and he does make a significant shift early on. The 5th Tintin story The Blue Lotus, involves Tintin going to 1930s Shanghai. Hergé knew basically nothing about China and had previously had some very steyoticpal Asian characters in earlier stories, but on the advice of a friend, he decided to get in contact with several Chinese students studying at universities in Brussels. There he met sculptor Zhang Chongren, who became a life long friend of Hergé and educated him on issues of imperialism in China. The end result is The Blue Lotus is (for 1936) a surprisingly nuanced and sympathetic portrayal of China and its people, with the main villains being Japanese and European imperialists, and Zhang even inspiring a character Chang Chong-Chen, who is a recurring character across the whole series.

After this point I would make an argument that you see a much better shift in Hergé's depictions of POC. They are still often of their time, but if you compare them to his earlier stories they are significantly more nuanced and sympathetic. Two examples of this are

The Seven Crystal Balls/Prisoners of the Sun - stories 13-14, that call out and criticize Western archeologists looting Indigenous American artifacts

The Castafiore Emerald - story 21, that has a significant subplot involving a local Roma community, with the characters being disgusted at how they are treated by local people and cops and how they are scapegoated for the central crime of the story. Its honestly a portrayal that would be considered pretty progressive for 2025 Belgium, let alone 1961.

What would I like to see in new Tintin stories?

So it's worth noting that A) Tintin is only in the public domain in the US and B) only characters that appear in the original 1929 comic (i.e. Tintin and Snowy) are entering PD; Haddock, Calculus, and the others wouldn't enter till later.

However here are a few ideas for future Tintin stories I would like to see

Remake the first 2 stories - The first two Tintin stories - Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and Tintin in the Congo - are not good. Not just story wise but they lack the art style and tone of the series as a whole. I would like to see the two stories remade with better sensibilities and tone constant to the rest of the series.

Who Dun Its and Ghost Stories - Go full Agatha Cristie/Scooby Doo and have Tintin solving mysteries and debunking stuff.

Adventure Archeologist - There is a reason why people have made the Indiana Jones/Tintin connection. Some of the best Tintin stories involve him going on treasure hunts and honestly all 5 of the IJ movies could be Tintin stories with some tweaks. Have Tintin go on adventures to find Atlantis, El Dorado, Noah's Ark, and Excalibur.

Lovecraftian Horror - Artist Murray Groat did some great covers years back of Tintin/Lovecraft stories and yeah, I want this. You could easily make At the Mountains of Madness a Tintin story.

[carionto]

The Final Frontier

The name of a very successful intergalactic bar and lounge enterprise, started by a couple of Humans who were really into this thing called "Live Action Role Playing".

At first, it was just Hannah and Kiri Ledaini dressed up in classic Star Trek outfits running a small bar out of their modified civilian WaToyoGenTa model Cruiser Millano, with some thematically appropriate games set up in part of the cargo hold. They thought about remodeling it into one of the famous Enterprise ships, but there were a lot of people doing that already, so the couple went with a more Mass Effect inspired design.

While most of their Human customers understood what the shtick was, it actually became a problem when an Alien would visit, as everyone was in character, so there were a few instances where "The Final Frontier" was the first physical contact for them with Humans and mistook the role-played interactions as actual diplomatic ones instead.

Suffice to say, a number of diplomats were very confused (and disappointed) when they tried to negotiate trade agreements with official Human emissaries to their system about fictional technology. Well, currently fictional. We're working on transporters, but it's... messy.

Once business was booming, and people started setting up franchises and copy-cat businesses, the two suddenly found themselves at some tables of actual diplomatic relationships panels due to their extensive experience with directly meeting and often ending up employing Alien "RPers" at their bars. This, in turn, caused further misunderstandings, to the point where they had to break the one rule of roleplay and institute a policy to break character with first time non-Human guests.

While never fun to do, it was a bit too stressful getting mistaken for the actual embassy and having to explain to the infinitely varying Alien court systems that "No, we were not trying to manipulate your people or spread misinformation about Humanity and the rest of the Galaxy, we're just playing pretend and having fun. Also, this alcohol is not a chemical weapon, we consume it just fine, please don't throw us in prison."

Nowadays, while the blatant advertising of it being fake turns off some people, "The Final Frontier" enjoys a respectable reputation for fine drink and cultural exchange opportunities. There is now a massive rotation of these lounge-bar-ships, each employing some of the most diverse crews in the Galaxy, and themed around a piece of pop culture from whoever runs the ship. At this point your chance of running into a Trekkie bar are less than one percent.

There are rumors of a traveler who has made it their life's goal to be the rogue with a heart of gold who shoots off a witty one-liner before passing out (for real) on the local delicacy at every single "Final Frontier".

[a-fluffer-nutter]

Best Asset, Biggest Weakness

A/N - Day 16 of Tickletober is "Cackle" and I chose to write for One Piece! I hella ship Zosan, so here is some Pre-timeskip and early Zosan fluff. I headcanon that Sanji had never been tickled before joining the crew and it was something he learned about on the ship. I hope you all enjoy and I am tagging the bestie @silentsamlikesham as they are the person who inspired me to write One Piece.

Word Count: 2,812

            “Robin!” Luffy squealed as he collapsed onto the deck, sliding to the floor against a barrel. Unable to say anything else, Luffy slipped into hysterical laughter as Robin used her Devil Fruit to create multiple hands that apparated from beneath the wooden deck and surround her captain, each hand’s fingers wiggling into each of his most ticklish spots.

            Having been startled by Luffy’s shout, Sanji had darted out of the kitchen and stood in the doorway, eyes wide and muscles tense, ready to fight. Once he got the gist of what had caused the commotion, Sanji allowed himself to relax, letting out a deep sigh. Instead of going back to the kitchen, Sanji lingered and stared at Luffy, watching the scene in front of him. Head tilting slightly to the side, Sanji watched, his face neutral.

            Parallel to the cook, Zoro sat against a crate full of supplies, arms behind his back with his head resting on his palms. Zoro had watched the beginning of this scene and how Luffy was making puns to make Nami and Robin laugh. While Robin had been enjoying it, Nami was clearly annoyed and wanted to be left alone to sunbathe in peace. Zoro had noticed Nami leaning over to whisper into Robin’s ear, her hand covering her face so Zoro couldn’t read her lips. Letting out a pretty little laugh, Robin looked over at Nami and nodded. Crossing her forearms, Robin’s Devil Fruit powers had activated, setting the stage for this moment.

            As Sanji burst out of the kitchen, Zoro’s attention was drawn to him, the sudden movement lighting up his reflexes. Zoro watched the chef closely, confused by Sanji’s general reaction to the events taking place. Sanji looked curious, a bit confused even; his eyes narrowed, and his lips set into the slight frown he always had when he was deep in thought. The man only retreated back into the kitchen once Usopp had called out his name and followed him back inside.

            Not one to typically meddle with Sanji’s thoughts, Zoro compartmentalized the man’s actions into a list of things he was going to get back to later. Sanji was an interesting man, to say the least. People outside of the crew could potentially see him as one note, his general infatuation of women or his terrifying combat abilities being the only thing others saw of him. Having been sailing with him for a while now, Zoro had caught onto Sanji’s complexities, as he had done with the rest of the crew. Zoro may hold a bit of malice for the man, but he didn’t hate him. They were opposites, in a way, but as some would say: opposites attract.

Not wanting to act of his thoughts now, Zoro stayed in his spot and turned his attention back to his captain, who was now reaching for Chopper to use him as a shield. Chopper screamed for help as he laughed hysterically, yelling profanities at Luffy for getting him into his current predicament. A huff of amusement escaped Zoro’s nose as he wore a soft smile, taking in the moment fondly.

Glowering at Zoro’s presence, Sanji tried to ignore the man as he cleaned up the kitchen. Dinner had just concluded, and everyone was going off to bed or, in Franky’s case, keep his eyes on the sea from the crow’s nest. Sanji usually cleaned up in complete silence, everyone scampering away as if they were afraid that he was going to make them wash dishes. The quiet was something Sanji had to get used to at first, as his previous cooking experience was in a busy kitchen, he began to enjoy it. Now, whenever anyone lingered behind after their meal, Sanji would either be irritated or concerned something was wrong. Tonight, it was the former.

            “Stupid Marimo,” grumbling under his breath, Sanji focused on the large pot he was washing, trying to not think about the man who was sitting on the countertop behind him. Figuring if he didn’t make any sort of acknowledgement to the man, Zoro would eventually grow bored and leave.

            Zoro watched Sanji like a hawk, analyzing all his movements as he gracefully stepped around his kitchen, reaching for dirty utensils to clean in a way that was so smooth it seemed like his steps were a choreographed dance. Planning on how to make first contact with Sanji, Zoro let out pondering hum. Startled by the noise, Sanji instinctively snapped his head toward it and frowned, having gone against his desire to completely ignore Zoro. Annoyance flickering in his eyes as his met Zoro’s, Sanji let out a huff before turning back to the sink to finish rinsing a smaller plate.

            “Why were you acting weird earlier?” not knowing if it was the rum beginning to flood through his bloodstream or out of general curiosity, Zoro found himself breaking the silence between the two of them.

            “Hm?” Sanji straightened as he whipped out his towel to dry the dripping plate in his hand. “What do you mean?”

            “When Robin was messing with Luffy,” Zoro stated.

            “I thought we were being attacked,” Sanji replied, placing the dry, pristine plate on top of a tower of matching plates. “Luffy wasn’t exactly being quiet.”

            “After that,” Zoro replied instantly, leaving Sanji no time to change the subject. “Why were you watching them.”

            Sanji felt his cheeks flush as he applied more soap to his sponge. The suds trickled down the off-white plate as the sponge squeaked against the ceramic.

            “You were watching them too,” Sanji snapped, his tone slipping from neutral to frustration. “I was just seeing what they were doing. Robin was being adorable as always…”

            “You looked confused,” his voice remained calm and steady, a matter of fact statement. “Why were you confused?”

            Frozen in place, Sanji stared down at the soapy water that circled the drain, having just shut off the faucet so the remaining drips splattered against the dirty water in a controlled rhythm. Mind blank, Sanji could feel his heart beating, fearing that Zoro could hear it.

            “I don’t know,” Sanji’s shoulders dropped as he set the plate he was holding to the side and let his hands fall to his sides. “The touching…it’s weird…to me.”

            “Tickling?” Zoro questioned, his voice dropping a bit lower.

            “I’ve just never really seen it before,” Sanji shrugged, letting out a sigh. “Everyone here is so…affectionate. I don’t get it. I’ve just never had that before.”

            Staying silent, Zoro took a small swig from the bottle of rum in hand, letting Sanji’s words linger in the air.

            “It was weird to me too. At first,” Zoro placed his bottle down beside him. Zoro had been with Luffy for months before Sanji joined the crew, having experienced various forms of touch from the captain, Nami, and Usopp. It wasn’t something he was used to, having been preoccupied with his training and role of a pirate hunter, Zoro hadn’t received affectionate touch in years. With all the hugs, high-fives, gentle hands on his shoulder or hand and the occasional poke to the side, Zoro quickly became accustomed to the friendly touch. With how long they had been at sea with Sanji, Zoro assumed the cook had grown used to it too. Granted, with only knowing the smallest bits of Sanji’s past and having met Zeff in person, Zoro could see where Sanji was coming from. To Zoro, Sanji’s life was likely one with little touch or affection, the only positivity being Zeff not completely hating a dish he had invented. He understood that completely.

            “I’m just not used to it,” Sanji lamented. “The hugging and the…uh, what did you call it?”

            “Tickling?”

            “Yeah, that. I don’t even know what that is.”

            “You don’t?” Zoro had to control himself as he nearly stuttered from shock. Knowing Luffy, Zoro had figured their captain had tickled the daylights out of Sanji before; Luffy having started tickle fights with Usopp, Nami, and the swordsman himself as some sort of initiation into the Straw Hats. Granted, life got busy immediately after Sanji joined the crew, and while Zoro had seen Luffy and Chopper or Franky get into little tickle fights along with Usopp, it seemed that Luffy had accidentally skipped over Sanji.

            “It’s just people touching each other to make the other laugh. It just seems weird,” Sanji rolled his neck, letting the vertebrae pop to release tension.

            “It can be fun,” Zoro admitted.

            “You having fun with something like tickling?” Sanji turned around to face Zoro, wearing a shy smile of disbelief. Zoro shrugged in response.

            “You wouldn’t know if you’ve never tried it before,” Zoro said, then watched the gears begin to turn in Sanji’s head as he pondered his response.

            “I guess that’s true,” with a click of his tongue, Sanji glanced back over at the sink, avoiding Zoro’s eyes.

            “If you want to try it, I won’t tell the others,” Zoro’s tone was even and sincere, making sure Sanji didn’t think he was teasing him.

            “What do I have to do?” voice near silent, Sanji kept avoiding Zoro’s eyes as the swordsman slipped off the counter and landed on the floor with a thud. Sanji was about to call him a “brute,” but held his tongue, given the circumstances.

            Approaching Sanji, Zoro put his hand on the man’s shoulder and maneuvered him so Sanji was facing him, his lower back pressed into the countertop. There was a million things Zoro could say at Sanji’s expense in this moment, however Zoro wanted to maintain the trust the two had going in this scenario. Sanji confiding in Zoro of all people about something so trivial was something that didn’t need to be tainted by petty jabs and insults.

            “Just try not to kick me,” Zoro allowed a small smile to form on his lips in attempt to ease the tension.

            Curious eyes followed Zoro’s hands as they reached out and grabbed onto Sanji’s sides just beneath his narrow ribcage. Flinching from the touch, Zoro gave Sanji time to readjust and relax before Zoro actually did anything. Once stilled, Zoro began to softly knead into skin.

            Letting out a grunt, Sanji slapped a hand over his mouth to muffle any other noises. Looking into Zoro’s eyes to reconfirm his consent to this touch, Sanji looked back down and watched Zoro’s large hands travel up his torso, fingers following the gaps between Sanji’s ribs.

            “Feels weird,” Sanji lowered his hand so his voice wasn’t muffled. The man found himself trying not to press his arms down against his sides to get Zoro’s hands away from him. To combat this, Sanji reached back with both hands and gripped the edge of countertop and held on like his life depended on it.

            “It’s supposed to,” Zoro replied softly, letting his short, blunt nails gently scrape along each rib as his hands continued to climb up Sanji’s thin torso. Wiggling a bit beneath the touch, Sanji’s breath hitched as Zoro reached the top of his ribcage. Fingers pausing, Sanji began to squirm in anticipation as if he knew what was coming. Glancing up at Zoro’s face, the other man’s grin switched from being kind to one that was almost predatory.

            “Shi-hit!” Sanji squeaked before slipping into hysterical laughter, one that was quiet and breathy, unlike his usual sarcastic laugh. Amused on how Sanji’s arms stayed steady, white knuckling the counter, Zoro’s fingers danced around in the hollows of Sanji’s arms.

            “Seems like you’re ticklish, curly,” Zoro allowed himself to tease after listening to Sanji’s laughter for a bit, wanting to see how the man would react to his words.

            “You’re making it worse,” Sanji’s laughter rose in pitch for a moment, his knees bending enough that the change in height was noticeable to Zoro.

            “If I talk about how ticklish you are, it makes it worse?” he questioned, but already knew the answer. Laughter rising again, Sanji leaned forward and rested his head into Zoro’s chest, nodding into him. While he was never going to say it aloud, Zoro saw this little action as endearing and adorable. While his feelings for the man were conflicted, Zoro only had fondness for Sanji in this moment.

            “Why?” Sanji began to giggle and scrunch up his shoulders as Zoro started to flutter his fingers along the man’s neck.

            “Why is your neck ticklish or why does it tickle more when I tease you?”

            “Both,” Sanji’s shoulders bounced as he threw his head back, Zoro switching his tactics and began to scribble his fingers all along Sanji’s belly.

            “It just does,” Zoro found himself shrugging, but then catching Sanji as his hands slipped and his knees buckled. As carefully as possible, Zoro guided Sanji to the floor where he continued to tickle Sanji’s middle.

            Blond hair messily covering his eyes, Sanji hugged himself as he leaned against the side of the counter, his laugh light and pleasant to listen to, in Zoro’s personal opinion. Needing to readjust his position, Zoro placed a hand on Sanji’s thigh and accidentally squeezed it as he shifted. This small action extracted a loud belly laugh, which made Zoro freeze.

            “The cook’s best assets are his weak point, isn’t that right Giggles?” tone purely mischievous, Zoro pulled Sanji’s legs into his lap and began to lightly squeeze the powerful thighs sporadically.

            “Fuck!” was all Sanji could utter as he was lost in this own hysteria, his laughter loud and contagious. Zoro couldn’t help but lightly laugh along, Sanji’s laugh sounded so sweet and carefree, like nothing else in the world mattered except for joy and laughter.

            “Easy there, Blondie,” Zoro let out a soft chuckle as Sanji began to cackle, flailing his arms the second Zoro began to tickle the underside of his knees. Even through the fabric of his pants, Zoro’s soft fingers were deadly, sending electrical shocks through his nervous system, triggering wild cackles which starkly contrasted all his other, softer, and sweeter, laughs. “Found you sweet spot, didn’t I?”

            “It tickles so bad,” Sanji squealed the second Zoro skittered his fingers over his knee. “Marimo-ho-ho! I can’t tahahake it!”

            “Guess I know how I’m going to stop you from fighting me in the future,” smirking, Zoro switched to rubbing Sanji’s thighs, putting enough pressure into his touch to tell Sanji’s nerves that the fun was over, the ticklish stimuli was gone.

            “I’d kill you, Mosshead,” Sanji said after a moment of silence, taking the time to regulate his breathing and recover physically and mentally.

            “I’d like to see you try, Giggles,” Zoro countered by fluttering his fingers over Sanji’s belly. Syrupy sweet giggles poured from his lips as he shoved Zoro’s hands away, smiling bright in a manner that Zoro had never seen the man do before. “What’d you think?”

            “Wasn’t too bad,” Sanji rested his head back. “I can see why the rest of the crew likes it.”

            “We’ll have to drag you into the next tickle fight Luffy starts,” Zoro chuckled as Sanji flashed him a halfhearted glare, his wide grin and sparkles in his eyes chased away any potential malice he could inflict on Zoro.

            “I’ll drag you into it with me,” Sanji patted Zoro’s leg when the realization hit. “You’re ticklish too, aren’t you?”

            “Well, uh…yes,” a rosy, pink blush painted his cheeks as he rubbed the back of his neck. Zoro would normally lie in a situation such as this one, however he had practically admitted to it earlier. Lying would just get Sanji to prove his statement was false. At least this way, Zoro was had a higher chance of not being tickled to death by Sanji, though having the cook’s hands all over him wasn’t the worst thing he could think of in the moment. “Not as badly as you are though.”

            “Oh yeah?” Sanji raised his brows in disbelief.

Before Zoro could react, Sanji reached over and danced his fingers across Zoro’s ribs. With a squeak, Zoro pushed himself away from the other man as he swatted away the offending hand.

“With a reaction like that, I think you might be lying to me Marimo,” Sanji teased, wiggling his fingers in the air to taunt the other man.

“Oh, shut up,” Zoro growled with little spite behind it. Despite sensing Sanji’s micro-movements, Zoro found himself remaining still as Sanji lunged forward to grab his leg, dragging the man back to his previous spot. Crawling over him, Sanji plopped down onto Zoro’s thighs, fluttering his fingers a few inches above Zoro’s midsection.

“Listen to you, Giggles,” Sanji jested as Zoro began to shake beneath Sanji’s weight, quiet giggles resonating from the man as he could almost feel the phantom touch across his skin.

Despite not knowing what tickling was until that night, Zoro discovered amazingly fast that Sanji was an excellent tickler and someone who should not be trifled with.

[boringkate]

Hi Kate, I am planning to DIY transition using hrt cafe but i am so confused about what to get. I was thinking gels cause it looks like the easiest/safest but I don't know, also I don't know which ones ship to canada. Thanks and you are a total inspiration ❤️

If you're asking what I take then I take 4mg of oral estrogen a day + 100mg of spironolactone a day. There's no shortage of annoying people who will tell you that what I've been doing to great effect for over a decade is "wrong" though and that their hyper specific regiment is the only correct way, so there's really no winning. You do you. If gels sound preferable then use gels (I don't know anything about gel dosages though)!

For which sites ship to Canada: You can figure it out through trial and error. I don't think I've ever used a site that didn't ask me for my address (and tell me if they refused to ship there) before asking me to pay. You can also go to r/transdiy and do a search for a site's name + the word canada and see if any locals have any excperience with it.

I've mostly been ordering (and successfully receiving packages in Canada) from DashPCT lately (it's one of the cheaper options for what I take), but I will say that the way they handle payment and communication is pretty jank (ignore the email address you're given when you place the order, check the contact us tab, check the transfer wise tab instead of assuming the address you used last time is still valid, send them any questions you have, and expect to wait).

Glancing at what sites are listed under the gels section: I've used otokonopharma (which people seem to adore because of the anime branding, but I don't like that they press their own tablets or that they don't use blister packs because I think they shorted me on tablets once + I've had tablets from them break up and turn to dust in shipping) and favskinhouse (they had the fastest shipping I've ever used and really went the extra mile to obscure what they were sending, but eventually one of my packages from them got grabbed by customs anyway although that was probably just bad luck). Never tried any of the other sites offering gels.