#is it really like saying canon supports adult/child romance?

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for...

Feb 14th

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1. Hellooo 🖤🖤 I am ITMF some plots where:

A) Wei Ying really really likes Lan Zhan and behaves like a besotted bird that he is: flutters arpund him, tries to get his attention, pokes at him, flirts, gives gifts, help and compliments, craves to spend time with him, all that stuff. Besotted, in love, reckless, one-point-focused and all that! And Lan Zhan is also a flustered boy in love, may be embarrassed of his reaction, but also loves the attention and reciprocates in his own way. All fluff and happy stuff, may be them as teenagers or adults, any setting.

B) More angst: Wei Ying is in love and tries to court Lan Zhan (maybe as described above, maybe more proper/official way). But Lan Zhan is either too strictly raised to accept such attention, or thinks it is a joke, or is too frustrated by Wei Ying, maybe even thinks he dislikes him. He is cold, aloof, maybe outright rude and dismissive, maybe even lashes out on Wei Ying. Seeing that he is not wanted, not as a lover or just a friend, Wei Ying gives up out of respect/hurt, distances himself, behaves proper, quiet, maybe even starts behaving as their difference in social standing says he should (i think i was that somewhere, & we know that's a bit nope, ofc). And that is when it hits Lan Zhan what he really wants and what he himself pushed away. Awkwardness, apologies, hesistance on Wei Ying's part, tentative reconciliation and accepted confessions. Any amount of angst, but please a happy ending 🥰

Thank you all so much! @shellennium

1A)

🧡 tear out the thread one by one from your skin (’til your bones feel embarrassed by all the attention) by lightningalwaysreturns (E, 40k, WangXian, Modern AU, Holidays, Getting Together, Professors, Pining, Spring, Fluff and Smut, Family, single dad lwj, so many novel refs, Explicit Sexual Content, service top lwj/power bottom wwx vibes)

The Black Sheep and The Flawless Jade by Theresa_Marxen (E, 51k, WangXian, JYL/JZX, NHS/OC, 3rd person pov, Modern, College/University, College dropout WWX, professor LWJ, thirsty WWX, disaster bisexual WWX, aggressive bottom WWX, Age Difference, Age gap relationship, mid-twenties WWX, sexy mid-forties LWJ, middle-aged LWJ, control freak but also secretly freak in the sheets top LWJ, the erotic allure of a partner who has his life together, the inherent eroticism of going to bed early, Slow Burn, Power Play, Tsundere, delayed gratification, Fluff, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Slice of Life, Everybody Lives, gege kink, didi kink, Breeding Kink)

1B)

When the Words Stop Coming by mrcformoso (T, 7k, WangXian, Canon Compliant, POV WWX, POV LWJ, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Pre-Sunshot Campaign, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Canonical Character Death, Love Confessions, Rejection, LWJ is a Panicked Gay, Temporarily Unrequited Love, Trauma, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, Sad with a Happy Ending)

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2. Hi! For an in the mood for rec, does anybody know some fics about wwx being a legend and badass in a positive way? Like everybody is awed by him like by hgj? I watched some tiktok mdzs edits and i desperatly crave soms good fics. Thanks♥

Dispersing Clouds by dreamingofcake (E, 283k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Genius WWX, Inventor WWX, Not Jiang Family Friendly, Abusive YZY, Canonical Child Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, Eventual Sex, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm (Background Character), Background Character Deaths, child deaths, Canon JC, Good Uncle LQR, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Cultivation Sect Politics, Homophobia, Heteronormativity, Feelings Realization, WWX is Not Oblivious)

🔒 Bright Voice Roughly Rendered Softly Silent by Preludian_Staves (T, 26k, WangXian, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Divergence, No Golden Core Transfer, Muteness, Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, Not JC Friendly, Confessions, Angst, Choking, Red String of Fate, Appearances by Paperman WWX, Inventor WWX, Good Uncle LQR, WWX Goes to Cloud Recesses, Feelings Realization, Caretaking, Supportive Lan Family, Genius WWX, Angst with a Happy Ending, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Protective LWJ, Protective Lan Family, Character Death (not wwx or lwj))

Practical Considerations by teawater, the_anthropologist (E, 97k, WangXian, JC & WWX, LXC & WWX, LQR & WWX, Arranged Marriage, Canon Divergence, Found Family, Spouses to Lovers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Politics, Scheming, Lán Elders are assholes, BAMF WWX, BAMF LWJ, eventually BAMF LXC, learning to make decisions, Learning Self-worth, Self-Esteem Issues, Sweet Wangxian, Domestic Fluff, Fix-It, JC is a big asshole, he improves somewhat but it’s open-ended, WWX learns to stand up for himself, Quote: Come Back to Gusu With Me, POV wwx, POV LWJ, POV JC, Golden Core Reveal, Teacher wwx, Golden Core Transfer Fix-It, Alcohol as a Coping Mechanism, Past Suicidal Thoughts, Post-Sunshot Campaign, WWX Protection Squad, Feelings Realization, WWX protector of the twin jades, Protective LWJ, Protective WWX, Protective LQR, Demonic Cultivator WWX, WWX is Loved, Married WangXian, Genius WWX, Everybody Lives)

and

Judge Softly by Chrononautical (E, 32k, WangXian, LSZ & WWX, LXC & LWJ, LXC & LQR, LQR & WWX, Accidental Voyeurism, Masturbation, Non-Consensual Mind Reading, Oblivious WWX, WWX Has Self-Worth Issues, Cloud Recesses, BAMF WWX, Genius WWX, sex makes WWX stupid, LQR Tries, It may be more accurate to say LQR learns to try, Suffering LQR, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Post-Canon Fix-It, mostly web series with a few influences from the broader canon, Ghosts, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gusu Lan Forehead Ribbon, Teacher LQR Mutual Pining, Longing, Playful Sex, Use Your Words, Canon-Typical Violence, Switching, Virgin WWX, Love Confessions) may also fit because the Lans learn to respect Wei Ying for his skills in these.

❤️ And Time Is But a Paper Moon by sami (M, 138k, WangXian, XiChengQing, Time Travel, Fix-It, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Healing, Mental Health Issues, PTSD, Hurt/Comfort, Depression, BAMF WWX, BAMF JC, BAMF LWJ, BAMF JYL, Getting Together, And Time is But a Paper Moon [PODFIC] by sami, Winterstar1412, [Podfic] Cold read of And Time Is But A Paper Moon by kisahawklin, multiple translations available)

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3. Hi I'm in the mood for 90k +word Yizhan or wangxian fics where Wei Ying or Xiao Zhan (YiZhan parts on a YiZhan post) has some kinda of midlife crisis cause he developes feelings for Lan Zhan or Wang Yibo when all his life he thought he was straight. Even fics with a similar vibe is okey would love it to also include AYuan . @wangxianbff

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4. Hi! Are there any "characters watching the series" fics but only with the junior quartet watching?

Would You Come Home? by s6115 (Not rated, 47k, wangxian, family feels, time travel fix-it, good uncle JC, journey of self-discovery, junior quartet dynamics, WWX called baba) this sort of works for both 4 & 5 since the junior quartet watch memories through talisman then yanks WWX into the future right before he dies so everything is pretty much the same technically

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5. Heyo, are there any fics where the juniors go back in time but they don't change anything, its just like witnessesing how Wangxian started and Wei Wuxian going through the worst time of his life. Fics like that, please let me know if there are, please and thank you😁 @yasssbassss

Would You Come Home? by s6115 (Not rated, 47k, wangxian, family feels, time travel fix-it, good uncle JC, journey of self-discovery, junior quartet dynamics, WWX called baba) (link in #4) this sort of works for both 4 & 5 since the junior quartet watch memories through talisman then yanks WWX into the future right before he dies so everything is pretty much the same technically

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6. Hello! For the next ITMF, does anyone know a fic where Lan Wangji is just done with his brother post canon? Like... Laying out to him everything he did to him and how he is being just like their father? Or Wei Wuxian doing it. I just want Lan Xichen facing reality. @lostandmessedup

Lan Xichen is confronted about his poor decisions in these 2 fics but by Lan Sizhui (hope that's okay since I don't know of any where Lan Zhan or Wei Ying do the confronting):

🔒💖 When has silence saved anyone? by Vrishchika (T, 6k, wangxian, LSZ & WWX & LWJ, post-canon, LXC  critical, family feels, angry LWJ & LSZ, LXC gets scolded)

this blood in my mouth by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 3k, WangXian, LSZ & WWX & LWJ, Post-Canon, POV LXC)

break by justdoityoufucker (orphan_account) (T, 3k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, LXC Critical, JC Critical, Canonical Character Death, Guānyīn Temple Scene, BAMF WN, Protective WN) Wen Ning confronts him during guanyin temple in break

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7. itmf fics that touch up in the issue of the nie's using resentment with their beast core sabers, and how they were persecuting wwx like for the almost the same thing @mepomene

The Core Issue by Hauntcats (T, 21k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Not JC Friendly)

Sunset, Sunrise by Ariana Deralte (ArianaDeralte) (T, 59k, WWX & WRH, WangXian, WIP, Time Travel Fix-It, Crack, Temporary Character Death, sorry I killed a-Yuan for a few paragraphs before the time travel, WWX is a Wen, Genius WWX, WRH gets to rewatch the series as a treat, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, in this house we acknowledge that all the sects have flaws, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, WWX Has ADHD, Bad Parents JFM & YZY, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Autistic LWJ, Loss of Limbs) the hypocrisy of the Nie's using resentful energy is addressed in The Core Issue and a bit in Sunset, Sunrise

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8. Hello! I’m looking for two kind of fics! A) Where WWX has either had enough of LWJ’s cold shoulder and he just ignores him now or he treats him like a stranger. Or fics where from the beginning WWX wants nothing to do with LWJ. I’m looking for fics where WWX doesn’t follow LWJ around all the time. B) Also! I’m looking for fics where LWJ messes up and WWX doesn’t forgive him so easily. There’s a lot of fics where everything is WWX’s fault and everyone hates him and LWJ doesn’t forgive him so easily. I’d like to see fics where it’s LWJ that messes up and he gets the cold shoulder instead from everyone and needs to grovel! @bigmeatycl0ws

8A)

💖 Echo, Murmur, Dream, Here by bluerainmist (M, 51k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Universe Alteration, the yiling patriarch survives, Angst with a Happy Ending, Catharsis, Slow Burn, Drama, Getting Together, Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Melancholy, Love, Mutual Pining, Reunions, Love Confessions, Eventual Smut, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Switching, Grief/Mourning, fucking while pining, Implied/Referenced Torture, Self-Harm, golden core transfer, Playing fast and loose with worldbuilding, Battle Scenes, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, implied / Referenced suicide attempt, Sect Leader WWX, YLLZ WWX, Yílíng Wèi Sect) this ones an AU but features a role-reversal where Lan Zhan pursues Wei Ying and Wei Ying does not immediately return his feelings

8B)

When the Words Stop Coming by mrcformoso (T, 7k, WangXian, Canon Compliant, POV WWX, POV LWJ, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Pre-Sunshot Campaign, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Canonical Character Death, Love Confessions, Rejection, LWJ is a Panicked Gay, Temporarily Unrequited Love, Trauma, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, Sad with a Happy Ending) (link in #1B) For 8b, it's more of WY doesn't accept LZ's feelings immediately and LZ has to work to be in WY's favor again

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9. Hello! ITMF a NHS centric fic, especially one focused on his time and scheming before WWX’s resurrection. I’ve seen fics talk about his cunning, but I’m fascinated by how his grief fueled years of anger and revenge seeking. I’m not really interested in non-canon pairings but it’s fine if they’re in the background. Thank you for the help!! @murderouswidowsmatter

I haven't read any fics that focus on Nie Huaisang's plotting his revenge after Wei Ying died. However, these two fics involve Nie Huaisang time traveling to prevent his brother's death:

playing the fool by via_the_cryptid (T, 18k, NHS & NMJ, WangXian, BAMF NHS, NHS Knows Everything, Time Travel Fix-It, for nhs at least, NHS-centric, Scheming NHS, Protective NMJ, NMJ Lives, WWX Lives, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Protective LWJ, Protective NHS, JYL and JZZ Live, JYL Knows Everything, Canon Divergence, NHS & WWX Friendship, POV NHS)

This Time Around by KouriArashi (T, 83k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Kid Fic, Families of Choice, Angst, Grief/Mourning, Politics, Class Issues, Past Child Abuse, Moral Ambiguity, Everybody Lives, Eventual Happy Ending)

Story-Shaped by lingering_song (T, 13k, NHS & WWX, wangxian, Post-Canon, Chief Cultivator LWJ, Inventor WWX, Found Family, NHS needs a new hobby, And apparently that’s spoiling his Wei-Xiong, Mentioned Character Death, Alcohol, Protective NHS, WangXian Endgame, Not JC Friendly, Not particularly gentry sects friendly overall tbh) is set post-canon but features some discussions about Nie Huaisang's scheming to avenge his brother and features Nie Huaisang then scheming to get Wei Ying a happy ending.

The Wrong Man by Remma3760 (Not Rated, 125k, WangXian, Sect Leader LWJ, Evil JGS, Canon Divergence, Golden Core Reveal, Major Character Death (not Wangxian)) The Wrong Man features Nie Huaisang discovering the Jin's plot against his brother and how he orchestrates their downfall.

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10. Hi! This is for ITMF, I apologize if you already replied to something similar, I couldn't find any similar asks. I'm in the mood for something d/s in the pov of the dom, doesn't matter if the dom is Lan Wangji or Wei Wuxian! Most d/s fics are in the pov of the sub, it's a struggle 😭 I loved Bend by Anaphoricae

🔒End Racism on the OTW - The light that he brings by raitala (E, 106k, WangXian, Modern AU, Kid Fic, Emotional Baggage, LWJ is on the Asexuality Spectrum, Neurodivergent LWJ, Hurt/Comfort, sugar daddy lwj, background OCs, background societal homophobia, Grief/Mourning, Under-negotiated Kink, Dom/sub Undertones, Mild Painplay, LXC cameo, Sharing a Bed, Family Feels, Nice LQR, Adoption, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Spit Kink, Slow Burn) I don't think this one ends up going *super* hard into d/s territory (I'm still in the middle of it!) but it's definitely a dynamic that's present, and from the perspective of the dom

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11. Hey!! Do you have any fics where WWX came back wrong from the burial mounds? Like not fully there mentally or possessed... anything really :) <3 @sleeplesssoporific

🔒 between the shadow and the soul by Reverie (cl410) (M, 22k, WangXian, JYL/WQ, JC/NHS, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Family, Dark WWX, Feral WWX, Memory Loss, Magic, Magical Realism, Protective LWJ, Protective JC, Protective JYL, Grief, BAMF WWX, POV Alternating, Mojo’s bookmark)

Grief Kindly Stopped by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 5k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Identity Porn, Angst with a Happy Ending, POV LWJ, AU after WWX gets dropped in the Burial Mounds, Light Horror, Fix-It)

🔒 Heart of hearts series by apathyinreverie (M, 40k, WangXian, Dark LWJ(Ish), Amnesia, WWX gets to be Not Okay after the BM, Hurt WWX, Recovery, Caring, Protective LWJ, Possessive LWJ, some definite manipulation but not everything is as it seems, not nearly as dark as the tags make it sound, Canon Divergence, Golden Core Reveal, Golden Core Transfer Fix-It, Domestic WangXian, Fluff, WWX Goes to Gusu, Possessive WWX, WWX happily atticwifing away, Sunshot Campaign, BAMF WWX, BAMF LWJ, Not Cultivation World Friendly)

🔒💙 A Heart Undying by NonsensicalRambling (M, 114k, WangXian, Undead WWX, Canon-Typical Violence, canon-typical dead things the burial mounds, Fix-It of Sorts, Canon Divergence, Eventual WangXian, No Yīn Tiger Seal, Morally Gray WWX, Animals Eating People, WWX’s questionable choices, Morally conflicted LWJ, Oblivious WWX, WWX Creates a Sect | Yiling Wei, YLLZ WWX, Sect Leader WWX, LWJ & WQ have an Understanding)

Looked so alive, turns out i’m not real by KatAnni (M, 36k, WangXian, LXC & LWJ, JYL & WWX & JC, Temporary Character Death, Angst with a Happy Ending, Sunshot Campaign, Canon-Typical Violence, Heavy Angst, Canon Temporary Character Death, Necromancy, Demonic Cultivation, Hurt WWX, Hurt LWJ, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Sentient Burial Mounds, WWX’s Three Months in the Burial Mounds, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Not Everyone Dies)

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12. Hello, Are there any fics where after LWJ drags WW back to Cloud Recesses, WW tries to seduce LWJ?

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13. can we have recs on omega lwj pretty please?

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14. Heylooo🫶 Love you guys.

IMTF fics where a-yuan is exposed to his parents being all lovey dovey. this could be like post canon maybe, during canon, or an au where he goes back to the past maybe during the cr arc. but anyway the point is its kinda like a-yuan being very clearly faced with the fact that his parents are stupid and gay and the yling laozu is not scary. (exhibit A: do you like mian-mian? *facepalm*) @body-inabyss-heart-inparadise

as i stumble homewards by the_pretzel (T, 27k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death - WWX, Found Family, Food Issues, Trauma, Canon-Typical Violence, LSZ pov, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff) is an AU featuring ghost Wei Ying who A-Yuan watches fall in love with Lan Zhan.

Important Distinctions by nagi_blue (T, 5k, gen, Background Relationships, Fluff and Crack, [Podfic] Important Distinctions by semperfiona_podfic (semperfiona)) may also work but Lan Sizhui doesn't realize that Wei Ying was the person Lan Zhan was in love with until the end of the story.

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15. Hello beautiful people! So, I know this is a controversial take in any queer fandom, but I was rereading a harmony between qin and se by Alaceron and I started craving somewhat straight Wangxian. I read one where he comes back in Qin Su's body too and I just love the concept, idk. Any Fem!WXX recs, with Male Lan Zhan? Thanks!!

Ps. I also love Anything for Wei Ying but apparently it has been deleted? Sad. @lostandmessedup

if there ever was a perfect couple this one qualifies by wildwestwind (E, 4k, WangXian, Gender Changes, Rope Bondage, Cunnilingus, anorgasmia, Consensual Non-Consent, in like the mildest possible way, Gentle Dominant LWJ, Masturbation, Lack of Communication, Fluff, arguably this entire fic is heterosexuality kink, the premise of this fic is that it would be hot if LWJ were a straight dude, conventional gender roles are fetishy, Idiots in Love, Female WWX)

Anything For Wei Ying by panda_desu (M, 44k, WangXian, Modern AU, Canon Divergence, Gender Changes, Genderbending, Genderswap only for wwx, Female WWX, Pregnancy, Fluff, Mutual Pining, attempt at RomCom, Misunderstandings, possible inaccurate wedding tradition, Non-Explicit Childbirth)

wing bones touching by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 8k, WIP, WangXian, Identity Porn, Female MXY, Good Person JGY, good person is probably pushing it but he's not evil) which is with a female Mo Xuanyu. It's an expansion of the Lady Mo Tumblr story, though so far definitely hasn't caught up, so if you want to know where the story is gonna go, the latest Tumblr part can be found here, with links to previous posts which can eventually get you back to part 1 (it's 61 parts, pretty sure Shana ran into post link limit)

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16. I've got a serious craving for head disciple WWX fics or fics that explore that time of his life or relations with other disciples. But I can't seem to find any. Preferably no Jiang bashing.

Fics set pre sunshot campaign not entirely focused on wangxian are good too. One again thank you for all your hard work. @shylurker111

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17. itmf: fics where wwx is political savy? something similar to "dispercing clouds" by dreamingofcake, or "pratical considerations" teawater

Chronicles of Sect Leader Wei Wuxian by Muggle_Diary (E, 85k, WIP, WangXian, XuanLi, JFM/YZY, CSSR/WCZ, LXC/LQY, NMJ/QS, WQ/OC, OFC/ OFC, JC/ OFC, Sect Leader WWX, BAMF WWX, BAMF LWJ, Genius WWX, Inventor WWX, Different First Meeting, Canon Divergence, Minor Character Death, Anal Sex, Top LWJ/Bottom WWX, Sex Toys, Explicit Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Rough Sex, Child Abuse, Child Death, War Hero WWX, Sunshot Campaign, No Golden Core Transfer, WWX Leaves the Yunmeng Jiang Sect, Cultivation Sect Politics, Wen Remnants Live, Abusive YZY, Abusive Jiang Family, Bad Parents JFM and YZY, JC Bashing, JFM and YZY Bashing, Yunmeng Jiang Sect Bashing, JYL and JZX Live, Jiang Family Bashing)

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[beifong-brainrot]

in your opinion, why do you believe Ozai hated Zuko so much? He physically scarred him, while he mentally scarred Azula

Honestly, this is a very layered question, because the life of the Fire Nation royal family seems to be very much filled with intrigue, subterfuge and spite. So much spite. It also depends on how much grace we want to give Ozai, whether we want to percieve him as a character with potential redeeming qualities. Don't get me wrong, all versions of canon compliant Ozai are morally deplorable, but it is possible to interpret him as a character more fleshed out than the cartoon villain he is on the surface level.

The reasoning for Ozai's treatment of Zuko can be traced back to Ozai and Ursa's very volatile relationship. It is plain to see that Ozai was an abusive husband, from the coercion of marriage and sexual relations, holding the abuse of their children over her head to physically grabbing and yanking Ursa.

It's hard to say whether Ozai just got off on the control he had over Ursa, or whether he genuinely wanted some kind of relationship with her. It seems like the family was at least comfortable for some time, and Ozai did appear to want to at least 'act out' romance with Ursa, kissing her on the cheek, and wanting her to call him 'my love'. Whether that be another level of control, or genuine, I can't really tell.

Whatver he wants from this relationship, all that is effectively shattered when Ursa begins sending letters to Ikem. Ozai seems so insecure due to this that he hires an elite assassin just to try and take down his wife's peasant ex boyfriend.

When Ursa lies in her letter, claiming Zuko as Ikem's son, Ozai confronts her. And he seems genuinely hurt, or at least distraught that Ursa wishes Zuko weren't his son. And so it appears he became especially cruel to Zuko to spite Ursa.

I want to highlight that it is difficult to blame Ursa for her actions, as she clearly isn't in a good place mentally due to what is happening to her

Another reason could be Ozai seeing Ursa favour Zuko over Azula. I go into this more here so I don't want to repeat myself. But I believe Ursa, unintentionally, isolated Azula. Now, whether or not Ozai saw this and reacted by favouring Azula and bullying Zuko. Or he saw his daughter was in a vulnerable position, prime for manipulation and control. Again, it depends on how nice we're being to Ozai here.

Azula really is just a more convenient child for Ozai. One of the reasons Ozai cites for perfering Azula is that she is a more talented firebender.

Zuko: You're like my sister. Everything always came easy to her. She's a firebending prodigy, and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born.

Azula is also, for all her cunning and glib, more susceptible to manipulation. Unlike Zuko, who has Ursa and Iroh, Azula lacked supportive adults in her life. I talk about how important support systems are in redemption arcs here.

I think Ozais displeasure with Zuko was that, he wasn't as easy to control as Azula. He spoke out of turn and had ideals that went against Ozai. I believe that this is why Ozai became so enraged by Zuko's behaviour and actions. Zuko unintentionally undermined him.

Iroh: Zuko had spoken out against the general's plan, but by doing so in the Fire Lord's war room, it was the Fire Lord whom he had disrespected.

Ozai, at his core, seems like a deeply insecure man. Most of his acomplishments aren't his own. His wife (who was secured for him by his father btw) is the one who masterminded the assassination of Azulon and Ozai's subsequent coronation. And while Iroh, the one whose titile Ozai essentially stole, was in disfavour for abandoning Ba Sing Se, he is still a decorated war general.

And Ozai isn't stupid, he probably knows he is pathetic. There's a reason he didn't want to share his glory on Sozin's comet with Azula. He's fucken insecure and makes it everyone else's problem.

And to some extent, I don't think Ozai really hates Zuko, at least not pre- Black Sun Day. Zuko tells us that his family was "happy once" and it's implied Ozai had been an at least passable father a t some time.

I simply think Ozai's pride, insecurity and spite towards Ursa took priority over whatever affection he had for his son.

I don't want this to seem like I'm making any excuses for Ozai, his actions towards Zuko and his entire family were deplorable. Him having his own rationale and reasonings doesn't moralise his behaviors. However, I do like to think that he isn't just a one note cartoonish villain and has his own motivations other than being a dick.

[bukatra]

I've watched spn and no I don't think wincest is inherent to the show??? Like maybe u don't have siblings that act the way they do, which is fair- most don't. And ofc they're codependent and toxic or whatever, but it's still very much brotherly love. Or if anything, Dean practically raised Sam. Wouldn't you do anything for the child u raised?

Your entire argument relies on some nonexistent line of familial behaviour that *you* think devolves into an incestuous one. I think you're the one not understanding what you just saw. Maybe read up on family dynamics and reevaluate your thoughts on wincest. I don't want this to become a lengthy discussion on boundaries.

I also do feel the need to point out that most of the people that ship wincest are def talking about a romantic relationship which is just incorrect as per the writers, actors and literally everyone else saying its not romantic. But ppl are allowed to be crazy about fictional characters so I don't really have anything much to say on that.

Personally, heres what I think is happening *IN CANON* i.e, this is what i think is going through their heads and hearts during their actions onscreen:

Dean and Sam are codependant to the point that they dont have a sense of self outside of their relationship and role of the other brother. Most of the emotional support/intimacy/nurturing/trust/etc that adults typically get from romantic or sexual partners is gotten via their brother. They struggle to create bonds with other people that are beyond friend or casual sexual partners. Deans connection to Castiel is a rare exception. They fill very similar roles in their day to day life as husbands or wives do in normal peoples lives. Due to their lifes, privacy is near impossible and its so rare that its almost seen as a breach of trust to keep anything at all a secret(i.e, having interests, posessions, relationships, etc that the brother is unaware of is shoking and both have gotten angry about the other having anything in their lives that they are unaware of)

So basically, a large amount of what constitutes their relationship are things typically attributed to sexual or romantic partners.

This is what is often referred to as the canonical wincest or weirdcest.

Do i think they had sex canonically? Hell no.

Do i think they ever talked about their relationship canonically? Hell no.

Do i think they knew that their relationship skewed way closer to the kind of dynamic usually seen in couples? Yes.

In fact i think that most of the back and forth of their dynamic (pushing the other one away only to yank him back in, one season they think they need to split up. The next season they are saying thwyll never leave each other) is just them becoming aware that they are basically acting emotionally the way most romantic partners do, freaking out, trying to distance themselves only to realize they are all they have. They cant reach this level of intimacy with someone else.

I dont think they ever did more than hug. But emotionally they filulfill the same needs normally found in a commited sexual and romantic relationship.

Perhaps as someone who is asexual and aromantic whose had relationships that were long term committed relationships where we cohabited and raised pets and children together all while being very reliant on each other for emotional support and intimacy and validation without any sex or romance involver, I am able to look at these two brothers and easily see that they are basically in a queer platonic partnership.

[eleasis20]

Mystra Didn't Groom Gale as a Child

the timeline doesn't allow for it. idk if this has already been disproven, but I haven't seen it said so I will.

if you really like this plot, there's definately wiggle room to make it work for an adult Gale, but in general the Pedophilia/child grooming is not supported by canon in any way.

(All info taken from FR Wiki's for Mystra/Mystryl/Midnight)

To get right to the point:

Mystra was "dead" until Gale was in his twenties.

Presuming that Gale is in his mid thirties, as seems to be the general consensus, he should have been born in 1457 in order to be 35 in 1492.

Mystra was MIA presumed dead from 1385 until 1479. The Mad God Cyric, who had killed Bhaal, supposedly killed Mystra in 1385 causing the Spellplague (which I'm not gonna touch). She was discovered weakened and living in the body of a bear by Elminster in 1479.

A lot of the theories about Gale being groomed tend to stem from this letter you get at the Reunion Party if Gale Ascended as the God of Ambition.

but this event would have taken place around 1465, while Mystra was still MIA. Elminster would have approached Gale under his own intuition and for his own reasons, Mystra had no part in Gale's introduction to the Weave, to Elminster or to the Worship of Mystra. She also had no involvement in his education and wouldn't have known or seen him as a child.

Gale would have been about 22 when Mystra was rediscovered by Elminster, and he would have been 30 when Mystra returned to full strength in 1487.

The only relationship Gale could have had with Mystra was an informed adult one as she was unable to contact anyone, including Elminster, for his entire youth.

This is not to say that Mystra's romance with Gale was particularly moral of her. As his God and the person controlling the Weave, which is what Gale has built his livelihood on, she had too much power in their relationship for it to ever be wholly equal. Gale would have been put under some pressure to appeal to his Goddess, whether he was conscious of it or not.

However, the counterpoint to this is Elminster, who also had a romance with Mystra early in his life, and left it as one of her Chosen, an immortal and powerful Wizard with little to no repercussions.

Tl;dr

Mystra couldn't have groomed Gale because she was weakened/isolated, MIA, presumed dead until he was about 22.

If you're particularly attached to the grooming plot, I do think it can still be twisted to work with this canon. Either from the perspective of Gale as a devout and Mystra as his God, or from Elminster potentially scouting out Mystra's next great romances for her.

I'm not too fond of the latter, because I feel it doesn't fit Elminster's character.

[iamnmbr3]

Since you’re on the character asks and your thoughts are enjoyable to read maybe pick one of the non-Harry try-wizard tournament champions? I like them pretty evenly so your thoughts on any of them would be cool to hear, so pick your favourite/whoever you have most to say about/roll a dice to decide at your discretion?

What a lovely ask! You're so kind. I'm going to go with Fleur Delacour.

How I feel about this character

The way she showed her devotion to Bill at the end of book 6? Absolutely iconic. Best written intentionally romantic moment in the whole series. Hands down. No contest. The way she handled that dragon? Immaculate. The judges were just mean and veelaphobic and also JKR is super weird about her female characters.

Also kudos to her for being the only character when Harry got picked as a Champion in book 4 to be like 'no this is ridiculous he's too young.' Yeah she was a little harsh about it maybe. But wow. One of the only responsible adults in the whole series. Child me was like 'omg she's so mean' but now I'm like 'you go girl.' She should've been there to roast all of Dumbledore's questionable decisions. Can you imagine. Dumbledore: Don't worry. I have a plan. Fleur: Eez eet child endangerment again?

I genuinely enjoy her as a character and also find the way her identity as a part human who is fetishized to some extent and viewed as Other but not demonized in the way werewolves or half giants or half trolls are in her world to be fascinating fodder for a lot of interesting character work.

Also, I always have a soft spot for characters who I feel the narrative is actively telling me to dislike. I prefer stories that let the reader come to their own conclusions. As soon as I feel the story is too forcefully and artificially shoving down my throat "you must like this character" or "you must dislike this other character,” especially when it's not justified by what we actually see in the text, then I kind of want to do the opposite. So if you think my girl Fleur did something rude no she didn't or if she did that was her emotional support rude comment and she deserved to go off.

For real though. She put up with so much hate from Molly and the whole Weasley family for literally no reason. She deserved to be a little snarky. Ginny is so mean to her for literally no reason and the narrative wants us to laugh along and cheer on this immature, unkind highschool meangirl behavior as though it's some epic #girlboss moment when it's just mean. And Fleur's parents meanwhile are absolutely lovely (probably because Fleur covered for her in-laws and didn't tell her parents how she had been treated lest her full Veela grandmother show up and start throwing fireballs at them all).

You go Fleur. You never did anything wrong in your life. Ever.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

I love her with Bill. I think Bill and Fleur are by far the best handled canon romance in the series. (Well, best handled intentionally canon romance - we all know JKR wrote a 7 book drarry epic but that was an accident lolol). They are so sweet together and so devoted to each other - despite any obstacles (including unsupportive family members). And they really compliment each other so well and just yeah. It's so sweet.

On a semi-crack level I do also like the idea of Fleur/Luna though because they both can be very blunt and directly state difficult truths in a way that can make others uncomfortable or seem rude. They do this in very different ways and also have very different outlooks but I think it makes them interestingly complimentary. And they'd both be confident and self assured enough to handle each other and not take offense. I feel like Fleur and Luna flirting would be so hilariously direct and entertaining. (Though it'd probably have to be postwar as. I think Fleur would be likely to scoff at Crumple-Horned Snorkacks).

I can also totally picture a Bill/Fleur/Luna poly relationship. I feel like it'd end up being improbably chill and functional somehow despite the big personalities. The three would probably be off living their best lives and eating metaphorical popcorn while all the other characters spent years having epic relationship drama.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

I want to see her and Charlie hanging out so badly. After seeing her take on that dragon Charlie was probably pulling all kinds of shenanigans to get her together with one of his siblings because he doesn't want to get married but also oh merlin he needs this woman to be part of his family. Give me the Charlie and Fleur epic friendship and dragon taming duo.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I don't think Bill was attracted to her because he likes "glamour." I think he saw her as the brave, loving, and intelligent person that she is.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I wish other characters had apologized to her and stopped mocking her and treating her horribly.

[bxtonpxss]

SHIPPING INFO. answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog.

what’s your OTP for your muse(s)?

Neya & Thor are the only two applicable options here when it comes to things outside platonic/familial relationships. Opacho is 5 and Jack is also just a baby, but she's like best frienemies with Faolan. I know when you hear OTP its usually referring to romance but I'm super big on platonic relationships being OTPs!

That being said Neya x chemistry, she's not overly complex but Neya is a kind-hearted and deeply supportive type of character who despite often being in situations where she's in way over her head, is willing to persevere and overcome whatever obstacle that may be, especially when it involves people she cares about! If our characters build a relationship through our writing then I will never say no to it! This also applies to Thor! They have a good relationship built through us writing together and/or chatting about stuff via messages I'll never say no.

what are you willing to RP when it comes to shipping?

Pretty much anything, except you know the obvious and universal no no's.

how large does the age gap have to be to make it uncomfortable?

Hoo boy ok. So, Neya, for her era (and the author even states this in the manga) at 16 she's considered an adult. On that alone I'd do 2 years younger and 4 years older cause I'm just trying to think of how it'd be from her time period. Now, this ONLY applies specifically for [main verse || itsuwaribito] when she's in her canon universe or some other feudal-era settings. I understand she's still 16 and other people don't vibe with that, I don't force anything on people (at least not intentionally, if you ever feel like I write something that makes you uncomfortable please tell me!) and romance is never my first or main priority, I like crushes/gradual friends to dating/lovers etc when writing anyway. This also obvi needs to be discussed first cause duh. Also, I'm fine with like 'x character looks 16/17 but is actually 100+ years old' (I’m an Inuyasha girly uwu, so we love a good demon/immortal s/o pairing).

For the verse where she's stuck in the future, [verse || under a rock] she is by modern-day laws legally underage. I'd go for 2 at most maybe 3 years older, 1 year younger. For the sub-main verse set at the end of the series with her running her village [verse || nanushi] she's canonically an adult there so I can deal with 10 years older or whatever and when it comes to the monsters/demons/immortal characters, so long as both parties are consenting adults it's cool!

Thor's a talking rodent. He's adult age and would be considered a young adult by human standards I suppose. So as long as the other creature is adult-aged it wouldn't matter to him. I can't put too much thought into this one, trying to make the math make sense is gonna hurt my brain, but obviously NO child-age creatures.

are you selective when shipping?

Can't really say, like excluding Coschu x Surgechu, which happened gradually through jubilantsparks and I's constant gushing about our chus via DMs I've never really shipped seriously with anyone else before so I can't really give an honest opinion about it *kanye shrug*

how far do steamy moments have to go before they’re considered NSFW?

When they start undressing and getting real handsy, but none of that will ever be happening here so no need to worry!

Who are other muses you ship your muse with?

For Thor, specifically in his Lt. Surge Raichu verse (affectionately shortened to Surgechu) I shipped him with jubilantsparks' Fem!Pikachu OC Elysia who had a Cosplay Pikachu verse (affectionately shortened to Coschu). Coschu x Surgechu was fun and I miss them :') Also, Thor and Elysia in general were my favorite platonic OTP that could have easily become romantic cause they loved and cared for each other so much as best friends who could have just as easily become something more if they wanted to </3

NeRiya with Jade's Iriya . We've had many discussions about this enemies-to-friends/maybe more slow burn/redemption arc for Iriya. I cherish it deeply and Iriya deserved better than what he got in canon ; n ;

does one have to ask to ship with you?

Hmm, not really? I have a very chill and go-with-the-flow type of mindset when it comes to building relationships and shipping in general. The more our characters interact, get to know each other and the closer they become the better! If there's ever a certain aspect of their relationship you wanna discuss with me privately or plot, then just shoot me a message!

Also, I never assume anything so if you're invested off the rip in wanting to pursue the ship beyond them being friends then once again just message me. I'm here to have fun and write with folks, so go for it I will most likely never say no lmao. Crushes on Neya or Thor are also 100% ok, even if it's one-sided I have no problems with it, you don't even gotta ask me for that.

how often do you like to ship?

I've only had two (2) actual ships during my entire time here on this site. I have a bad case of anxiety brain when it actually comes to shipping and I never wanna assume or push anyone into doing anything so it's rare I ever approach. I'll just sit and vibe and settle with my time in the friendzone while making up scenarios in my head like the dork I am.

are you multiship?

Ok, after getting some answers on what multishipping is from an RP standpoint, I want to say yes I am. I'd have no issues with having multiple ship partners. Every character interaction is like in their own separate universes so like I can't understand limiting myself as a single ship. This is subject to change but like I said, I barely have any shipping experience.

are you ship obsessed or ship more-or-less?

More-or-less! As stated above I don't really ask or approach first for ships soooo if it happens it happens. I'm down for shipping off of chemistry through a gradually built relationship!

what is your favorite ship in your current fandom?

ooh chile I'm in a bunch of fandoms lol so I'll just go with the fandoms for my muses specifically. For Pkmn it'll always be ShinHika/Paul x Dawn/ Ikarishipping. Pokeani can pry that dynamic from my cold dead hands.

I like all the potential pairings within Utsuho's group, but that'd be too much to list. Gin x Kin, Neya x Uzume, Neya x Hikae, Hikae x Iwashi.

For SK I was a sucker for Hao x Tamao back in the day. It still could've been cute if Takei didn't turn Tamao into Anna 2.0. I find her whole personality shift weird.

finally, how does one ship with you?

Just write with me! I don't care how many asks or threads we end up having. I cannot reiterate how much I adore relationship building in writing. We write enough threads together and our characters grow to like each other or something I'm 100% down to clown! Also, If you don't suffer from perpetual cold feet like me, just shoot me an IM and let's talk about it! Easy peasy, promise I don't bite!

Nabbed from: @gamenu initially, but I've been seeing other moots do it too! Tagging: @sillymuses, @lostusagis, @museguided, @despairforme, + anyone who sees this!

[nobodyexpectsthe]

hc + 💕

he was a late bloomer in all things romantic!

ok my obligatory tl;dr - i think writing romances as a malleable protagonist is so hard and i never want to presume a relationship, especially since the game has a dynamic relationship system and how people feel about pirith depends on how they think their character would take to his actions. and as he is a chronic fuckup (who, in his first playthrough, romanced iron bull & let the chargers die which did not end well) please know i welcome all kinds of relationships, platonic, romantic, and negative.

but, by default, he did not have a canon romance. but he did have a crush.

as he was forced to mature very quickly (losing his parents at a young age, needing to raise his brothers, training to become the next keeper) and that meant he always felt out of sorts with his peers. too much like the only adult in the room to bond properly with people his age, and too much like a child (even as he reached his twenties) to bond with those older. case and point, he definitely had fleeting baby crush on merril when they met at gatherings, but she's also almost a decade his senior.

it never really bothered him. he was content to love the clan as its leader, he didn't need the fulfillment of a lover.

so truth be told? pirith's first crush was probably solas. i don't think it was a particularly obvious crush, all things considered, he didn't even realize that's what it was. he just wanted to be near to solas, to learn from him. it was the first time he ever met someone who felt as out of sorts with the world as he did and he craved that connection. while he has other companions he's close to, he didn't feel the same drive just to sit by them and listen to them speak as he did for solas.

he only realized how he felt in the older elf's eventual absence and later betrayal.

and by then he had no clan, few friends, and just an aching loneliness he didn't know how fill. though he took to the role of inquisitor with the same intensity that he took to the role of keeper, but it's a different sort of thing. his heart is more closed off, his inner circle are the only people who know him and even then there's a good chance he keeps them at arms length.

so all of this is to say, despite the impassive facade he puts on, he's desperately lonely. he wants to be loved and understood as much as anyone else, but he recognizes his position makes him easy to manipulate and he has been manipulated in the past.

he will take lovers, but it's a strictly physical thing as he only does so in service of the inquisition. he has had a few affairs with orlesian nobles (set up by briala) to strengthen their ties and support to his cause.

this isn't to say pirith isn't romancable, but he requires a great deal of patience - and someone who is capable of punching through the walls he's built up around himself. you'll get him in bed before you get to hold his hand or tell him he matters. he's more likely to treat it with suspicion than he is to openly recipriocate, even if he does.

[darklinaforever]

GRRM mentioning Daemyra as his fav thing, is not cause he ships them he said is the way to see his grey shades switching between light and darkness and not to be pessimist but this sounds like the abusive side won't stop. He also said that cause Daemon literally have no significant bonds despite her, after Viserys is dead. Let's see what he will say when Nettles enters in the game. Again im not hating im just saying whatever you think about the book, show is different and Ryan made Daemon a predator. Come on, stop being blind and accept the facts like, “i spared you you were a child” and then marry Laena who's younger, meanwhile none blink an eye when Viserys married Alicent cause he's the king so who give a fuck?, none blink an eye when Criston sleeps with Rhaenyra and he's older but his look is younger, Ryan chose on purpose. None blink an eye when Harwin literally put children in Rhaenyra's belly when she was supposed to be the so called “child” right cause we don't see that so let's pretend it's ok lol S2 Alys saying “a girl child you once bounched on your knee” girl, don't get me wrong i love Daemon but it's a fact the show is BIAS on him and labeled him as predator and shitty father which make impossible the idea of Daemon loving Nettles as daughter. It's just common sense, putting aside the book. Im pissing off cause Ryan keep pointing out Daemon doesn't love Rhaenyra, he groomed her despite we didn't even see that happening on screen. Ryan said he loves Rhaenyra in ep 4 when she was younger. Ryan said he's growing apart from her when she's adult. Emma said the relationship is toxic and suggested it's grooming. It's hard to support something when your opponent is the showrunner and Emma don't understand Rhaenyra and her love for Daemon, constantly supporting Rhaenycent make it worse. Daemyra is doomed from the beginning.

I will answer something very, very simple. The producers may have wanted to write Daemon as a predator, or a groomer, but they did not succeed. They have no idea what these words really mean. So they are really stupid. Or they simply don't accept having written a romance, after seeing some shitty comments full of morality. I would obviously prefer the second, but since they look really stupid I would say that the first is the most realistic. They have no idea what they are writing. Seriously, these people have no consistency between what they write and what they say. I mean... They write Aegon II as a complete rapist and find a way to defend him in an interview, while at the same time trying to say that Daemon has nothing good about him... These people have a very serious problem. Or talk about this whole non-existent Rhaenicent romance on screen. Honestly, this series is astounding stupid. Beyond that, I've always said that the series was crap compared to the book, that's nothing new. Yes, Daemyra has toxic aspects in the series. But once again the series is not the book. But even in the show, Daemon isn't a predator or a groomer. Rhaenyra is literally 19 years old in episode 4. Even Daemon marrying Laena is nothing shocking. There is supposed to have been 4 years between episodes 2 and 4. Laena was 12 when she appeared in episode 2, so she is supposed to be 16, or close to it, in the 5th. 16 is the age of majority in Westeros and girls may marry before that anyway. Also... the writers created a non-existent problem with Rhaena. But in itself, there is no problem with Baela. He is seen teaching her High Valyrian. She kisses him. When Laena dies, he is between his two daughters and seems not to know what to do to comfort them and he has a hand gesture that conveys his uneasiness. He looks at Baela. Then he told Viserys that Pentos and his house and that of his daughters. We also see that Baela kept a correspondence with Daemon. He toasts the children's engagement. There is also the cut scene of Baela where she says she is a dragon rider like her father, considered canon by Ryan. Brief. Daemon doesn't seem like a super bad father in the series, especially compared to everyone else. Even in that they failed (even though they had additional positive scenes between Daemon and his daughters at that). I would say that Laena's sentence sums up the situation on Daemon and fatherhood pretty well. He's doing his best. In itself, the only real parental problem he has is with Rhaena. and it's ridiculous when we look at the character of Daemon and the workings of House Targaryen. These people have no idea what they are adapting. But in any case, the series is not canon. So relatively, I don't care what's going on in there. Also, if I mentioned GRRM talking about Daemyra it's simply because he never talks about Daemon with the other supposed women in his life. Which... coming from the creator himself must necessarily mean something.

[bougiebutchbitch]

I love kakagai, I think it's the ship that makes sense the most but what I dislike is how kakagai shippers saying it's canon, kakaobi shippers saying it's canon, kakairu shippers saying it's canon, hell even kakasaku and kakanaru shippers are claiming it's canon too just because Kakashi cared about them ಠ益ಠ Does canon mean that I like it so everyone else has to like it too now? It's infuriating to me that everyone likes to sexualize every beautiful relationship in Naruto then claim it's canon

okayyyyy I think you might need to take a step back, nonnie.

Is this really such a big issue? Are people attacking you personally, or are they just stating their personal interpretations of canon, and because they don't align with your own, you're getting upset and coming into people's inboxes to try and make it an argument?

Basic rule of Tumblr: if people say what you don't like... block them. Don't react. Don't come into people's inboxes, don't post hate in the tags where fans will see it.

By all means, share your negative opinions! Your tumblr blog is your own. But you need to take measures to ensure the fans won't see it, otherwise you're not venting. You're trying to start a fight.

And come off anon so I can block you properly lmao

Look, people have different interpretations of 'canon'. Just because, for all we know, Kishimoto intended every single character except the creepy pedo-coded villain to be read as cishet, it doesn't mean there isn't canon subtext, however unintentional, that people can pick up on and adore.

Sure, the canon content can be read completely as platonic. But honestly, I'm a little weirded out at how you seem to think that seeing hints of a romantic relationship in canon between men in a children's show is ‘sexualisation’.

Where might that train of thought be coming from??? HMMMM I WONDER. :stares at the Don’t Say Gay bill, and every other argument that queer content is somehow inherently sexual:

Obviously, I'm not a fan of teacher/student ships. At the end of the day, I'm a firm believer in 'everyone can write what they want so long as they tag it properly so I can avoid it'. But seeing an adult and a child who are very close, and perceiving them as 'romantically involved', is a WHOLE lot different from seeing two adult male characters and thinking 'oh I can see a canon subtextual romantic relationship here'.

I don't really think they should be compared like this. I'm sure this wasn't your intention, but it kinda makes it sound like you're putting them on a moral playing field, which... no. :/

Of course, I may be being uncharitable. I admit that this whole issue might just be a muddle of terms. I and a lot of people use 'canon' to mean 'content in the source material'. This is different from 'Word of God', which means 'word of the author'. The two do not always align. However, if you see 'canon' as meaning 'both the source material and Word of God in combination', I can see that you might be upset that people are going against Kishimoto's personal views. I still don't think this is an excuse for actually bothering shippers about this, but I can understand it.

But the point remains: I haven't seen anyone say 'this is a canon ship and therefore you have to ship it'. Why would they? Everyone knows that shipping doesn't 'have' to follow canon anyway. A canon ship is of no greater or lesser worth than a non-canon one.

If people are implying otherwise, they're asses - but in that case, why come for the entire kakagai fandom, rather than just blocking those Schrodinger's Assholes who I've never had the misfortune to meet?

I just. I cannot see how people interpreting a romantic element in a canonically close relationship that is only assumed to be platonic because the couple is m/m rather than m/f is hurting you, anon. And it definitely doesn’t justify harrassment, which is what my original post was about.

[mae-i-scribble]

One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to fandom/media interpretation in general is that seemingly whenever something tries to explore the emotion of love in a nuanced or non-straightforward manner everyone and their mother jumps to the conclusion that it’s inherently romantic in nature. I don’t know if this is my aroace brain speaking, but it’s something I’ve never understood when clearly the author doesn’t mean it in a romantic sense. The two examples I’m thinking of are Violet Evergarden and Ancient Magus Bride.

Violet Evergarden is about a child soldier, Violet post-war trying to discover what emotions are, so that she can better understand the major who sacrificed his life for her. She’s specifically fixated on the notion of love, because the major told her once that he loved her and she’s struggled to understand what he meant by that. As the show goes on, she begins to discover just what these emotions mean, both to other people and to herself. Now, it needs to be said again that she was a child soldier, the major was around 30 if I remember correctly. Either way very much an established adult when he found Violet when she was like 8-10. Naturally he meant that he loves her in a familial way, everything the show does supports this interpretation, the only obscurity comes from Violet’s perspective because she doesn’t understand his meaning at first. Take a big fat guess as to half the posts I saw about their relationship framed it. Yep, “oh how gross he was in love with a child,” “this show is gross,” “its so sad how he was in love but now they can never be together T-T.” Like. What the fuck y’all. What the actual fuck. Did we watch the same show????? It’s legitimately baffling that just because the word love is used that is the assumption made in direct contradiction to what canon is saying.

Ancient Magus Bride has it much, much worse unfortunately, because it’s a much more,,, morally suspect look at what love is, or more specifically, the nature of human relationships. Chise and Elias have a bond that cannot be easily summed up in a few words (which is the entire point), and they see a lot of various twists and turns in their dynamic as they learn  not only to live with each other but come into their own and grow. Now, a lot of people assume Ancient Magus Bride is a romance because of how it starts out, with Elias stating that he bought Chise to be his bride. However, as you read further, specifically into the 40′s, Elias reveals that he only said the word bride because he understood it to be people who spend their lives together, and wanted to cut corners by making his student and bride the same thing. Elias, as an inhuman creature, does not have the capability for empathy or understanding emotions/concepts as humans do, which is what leads to a lot of the suspect situations in the beginning of the story because he doesn’t get the implications of what he’s doing.The author herself has even mentioned in official interviews that she doesn’t see their relationship as romantic (not that it stopped anyone), along with the entire story rejecting such an interpretation because shoving Chise and Elias into such a box goes against what it’s saying about the messy nature of relationships. Additionally, much like Violet Evergarden but worse, Chise is 16 while Elias is a being 100s of years old (although without the emotional intelligence to match). Either way though, their dynamic for the beginning of the show is very much of Elias trying to control Chise. He withholds information from her, manipulates her into trusting him more easily, does things behind her back that he knows she wouldn’t approve of. And that is important, I appreciate that aspect being there because it’s all completely necessary to show just what kind of person Elias is, and how his standards are vastly different compared to human ones. But a lot of the whole “EliasxChise is soooo good” hype came from anime only watchers- and is that really the dynamic yall wanted? Really? Especially when the anime watered down the resolution to that conflict? More importantly, imagine being braindead and also having no taste at all simultaneously. You take so many interesting aspects of their dynamic by just going “and theyre in love UwU” because you ignore their complexities. On top of being really fucking gross in my opinion.

And these two aren’t the only example of this. In general I think plenty of relationships would be far better off being explored as the nuanced, complex things that they are without slapping an “in love” label on them. (Jayce and Viktor from Arcane come to mind for me, what they have going on as friends and the importance the narrative places on that friendships is so much more valuable to me then any shipping). And again, I’m left wondering if this is an aroace thing, bc talking with a friend who is also aroace about her experiences in researching romance literature and what allo people find rewarding about a romance is like reading about an alien species. Do yall just live like this???? It’s so sad you are missing out on so much

[phoenixyfriend]

Commander Buir

Follow-up to this post. Not in any particular order, just spitballing ideas, with contributions from several friends on discord.

Like presumably it takes long enough for them all to meet up again that Anakin and Cody do, in fact, end up treating each other like family, just so I can have that good good "well, guess I'm Dad now" energy. Shmi isn't entirely sure what's going on but she's not a slave anymore and her kid seems to like this rando mando, so.

Anakin gets to have a mom and two dads, though one of the dads is arguably younger than him.

Also when they all meet up again and Cody explains the "General Skywalker got shrunk" thing, there are three reactions: (General) Obi-Wan: Oh, Anakin. Obi-Wan: [gestures to take him, ends up with an armful of clingy padatoddler] Anakin: You can't blame this on me, Obi. Obi-Wan, a little teary, because babies cause emotions: Of course I can, you absurd human being. ------ Rex: That's... my general. Anakin: I am, Captain. Rex: Cool cool cool I'm gonna go stand where I can't, uh, break you. Anakin: I'm not THAT fragile! ------ Ahsoka: [gasp] Skyguy is SKYKID! Anakin: Padawan, this is-- Ahsoka, grabbing him and cuddling: Oh my goodness you're adorable this is the best day ever. Anakin: This is humiliating, Snips, put me down. Ahsoka: Never.

Anakin hates being a toddler because of the lack of independence but Cody keeps picking him up when he's cranky and just holding him until he falls asleep and that's... nice.......

- The brain limitations aren't quite as bad as the situation with Sokanth and Ylliben in the other AU, but - Even if his brain is mostly adjusted he’s still got a tiny body with different needs that he’s not used to. Like, he needs to sleep more but he’s got more energy than usual when he’s awake and it’s all weird.

Cody carrying around toddler Anakin like "God you give me ulcers but you're adorable, you little shit."

Inconveniently tiny body aside, Anakin has a pretty great time in this au. His family are all together and safe and within reach. His wife isn't around, but toddler brain means he doesn't have the Romance Drive, so that's not as bad as it could be It could be significantly worse.

@atagotiak asked: Does Anakin get annoyed about being called cute? - To which I say, He bites the first few times but Shmi tells him that's Naughty so he stops. - Babies are cute so you packbond with them before they’re annoying, Anakin is cute as a self defense mechanism - He’s extra annoying so he needs to be extra cute

You know how you need to keep an eye on toddlers so they don't, like, fall down the stairs or put something toxic in their mouth? - They need to keep an eye on Anakin specifically so he doesn't rewire the ship they're in while they're in hyperspace. - He has less self control on account of being smol. He still has all the mechanical knowledge! Just less comprehension of y’know, consequences.

Anakin, with a sippy cup: This is demeaning. Ahsoka: Your hands don't work great enough to avoid accidents yet. Anakin: It's still embarrassing.

General Kenobi can't just kill Maul, not when Maul is baby right now (sixteen, which is baby enough) so he just. Kinda. Kidnaps a baby Sith. (It's fine. He's fine.)

General Kenobi (not to be confused with Padawan Kenobi) decides to declare Maul his new padawan because someone has to deal with this teenager, and Plo already claimed the rest of Ahsoka's training. And Anakin's three, so.

"What do we do with Maul?" "Eh, I can handle him. I dealt with teenage Anakin getting arrested for illegal pod-racing twice a month, I can work with this."

Maul bites, but only slightly more often than Anakin, it's fine

Ahsoka definitely bullies Maul whenever possible

Consider: Rex holding very still because Anakin wanted to be tall, so he climbed Rex. Being unexpectedly climbed is better than being unexpectedly yeeted. It's still extremely nerve-wracking. - Cody is perfectly capable of running around with a backpacking toddler General, but Rex freezes like a statue. - Ahsoka finds this hilarious

You know how little kids like to be thrown around and swung in circles and stuff like that? This must get even more ridiculous with force users. Can throw a child real high and catch them safely. - Rex panics whenever Ahsoka throws her chibified Master

Literally everyone except Rex loves being yeeted. Even Maul can appreciate a good tactical yeet no shut up he's not having fun this is TRAINING - Rex is Suffering - Cody, a very Tired Dad, deserves to mock his vod'ika a little, as stress relief - Rex, a certified Little Brother, shoves Cody off something tall. Jokes on him, Cody thinks freefall is fun too.

Tia asked: So the people who didn’t exist yet got flung bodily back in time and Anakin did the mental time travel. Why did Obi-Wan not become Padawan Kenobi? (I mean “because I want it that way” is def a good enough answer I’m just wondering if there’s any reason.) - Which, well, it really was mostly "I want to" but here's two options, both of which come down to Blame Daughter and Father. 1. They figured a responsible adult Jedi Master was needed to convince people. 2. Nobody was supposed to get de-aged but Daughter figured they needed to make Anakin less liable to kill things for a few years. - Also IDK the Force God-Manifestations also took away any risk of rapid aging and early death from the clones because uhhhhhhhhhhh I said so

Rex and Ahsoka are fumbling their way through a relationship where ages are just really confusing and awkward, so they're keeping it to just kisses and cuddles for a bit.

Cody is so tired he doesn't even realize anyone's hitting on him until it's been three years of co-parenting with Shmi and his General. - Somehow Anakin knows Cody is in a relationship before Cody does. Cody has never been so embarrassed. - How did he manage to be less observant than Skywalker? -- it was sabotage; all his brain cells were taken up in managing said Skywalker -- Because Skywalker was up at three in the morning whacking a training droid with a stick so he didn't have the energy for Relationships

Also Shmi's come-ons are super subtle, while the General's are... well, Cody's gotten very used to ignoring anything ambiguous on that end because fraternization rules, and also because Obi-Wan flirts a lot with everyone. So.

Please imagine Cody and General Kenobi walking around with Anakin tucked into a toddler sling while they do whatever work they've ended up with at the Temple. - Yes, Cody is helping the Jedi figure out the best plan of attack to take down this slave ring because his grasp on tactics is phenomenal and he knows how to deploy people at greatest efficiency, but also he's got a nosy toddler on his hip who keeps offering his own insane-but-competent ideas. - General Kenobi ends up with a Council Seat just on account of, like, being the kind of person he is. As often as not, he's got Anakin tucked into his robes, chewing on the ear of a stuffed tooka or something.

IDK what Shmi's doing but apparently Legends had it that some of the administrative and support positions in the Temple were held by non-Jedi civilians? So probably something like that.

GENERAL KENOBI LECTURING PADAWAN MAUL WHILE ANAKIN'S BALANCED ON HIS HIP AND GLARING AT MAUL FOR STEALING HIS DAD

General Kenobi: Ahsoka's babysitting. Anakin: I'm her master, I don't need babysitting, this is-- General Kenobi: Fine, then you need supervision, so that you don't blow up a training salle again. Anakin: And you think Ahsoka would stop me? General Kenobi, eye twitching: Fine, I'm leaving you with Plo.

Even if he’s mentally an adult Anakin always needs supervision Look at canon! Anakin was left without supervision for like two days and he became a Sith

Quinlan gets distracted by how attractive General Kenobi is and tells Obi-Wan "dude, you're gonna be so hot once you can get rid of the stupid haircut" and Obi-Wan pushes him into the nearest pond.

They end up with this weird "Uncle Jango" situation (uncle to Anakin, via weird brotherhood-ish to Cody) because Rex and Cody are just like "Uhhhhhhhhh yeah okay" about him eventually, and Jango just like. Drops by. Trying to Earn Affection Of Blood Kin by bringing weird gifts for them and their (ugh) Jedi.

"Okay, Rex'ika, I stopped by Shili--" "What?" "--and apparently this is a delicacy there, so just... your girlfriend will like it." "She's not my girlfriend." "..." "Okay, I can't call her my girlfriend. Jedi have rules about that sort of thing, and--" "This will make your Jedi happy, probably. Just take it, kid."

Baby Anakin got his arm back but for some inexplicable reason still has The Eye Scar. He matches Buir.

[multi-lefaiye]

so,,, tftgs,,, speak your thoughts,,,

hi i apologize, you sent me this ask over a week ago, ty for the interest in my thoughts about my silly little blorbos <3

so i'm gonna take this opportunity to summarize my Jack Townsend Is Trans of Gender Manifesto, which is a character study i've been writing on and off for a few months now talking about jack's transness. because i've decided he's trans and no one can take that from me <3

under the cut, i'm gonna give a quick summary of each chapter in my outline. also, as a disclaimer, the intent here isn't to prove that jack is trans or anything--while there are things in the series that make me think he is, i wanted this to be more of an exploration of the idea than anything.

also, some of this operates very heavily on my headcanons and slight AUs of the series, but my thoughts about how his transness would come into play in his life still stand.

anyway let's go <3 this got really fucking long

(content warnings: mentions of child abuse, transphobia, racism, and cults--none of these are discussed in detail but all of them are mentioned/referenced so please tread lightly!! there are also some mentions of romance if that bothers anyone, but those are also minor)

Chapter One: Spencer Middleton

so before i get into this chapter, i have to establish my general headcanons/little AU centering around the idea of jack and spencer being childhood friends. i decided to take that into account for here, because i love the potential drama and angst that adds to their relationship in canon. essentially, i love the idea that spencer and jack both come from very unhealthy households and gravitate towards each other as two abused kids looking for someone who understood.

i'm not gonna go into all my thoughts about spencer and jack's backgrounds here, but for a long time, they were each the only ones the other really felt they could trust. most of the adults in their lives consistently failed them, and while they weren't the ONLY kids in their grade being abused (as that is an unfortunately common occurrence in that town), they found friendship in each other and became protective of each other.

as a result, spencer is the first person who knew about jack being trans. at the time, jack didn't fully understand his feelings or any of the quote-unquote "right" terminology. all he knew was that he wasn't a girl, and he didn't know what to do about it, nor that being trans wasn't something that was accepted in their shitty small town.

one day, after jack stole some of his foster brother's clothes so he could dress like a boy, he just ended up blurting to spencer that he doesn't think he's a girl. and, at first, spencer was certainly confused, but he wasn't upset. he didn't really react at all, which wasn't unusual--spencer had never been a very outwardly emotional person, and jack didn't mind. really, spencer being casual about it actually helped a lot with his confidence, because it reassured him more than anything else that there wasn't anything wrong with feeling that way.

as they got older, spencer and jack began to grow apart, but spencer never once disrespected jack's gender in that time or outed him without his wishes. once jack began to socially transition, even long after they stopped talking, spencer was very respectful the few times they did interact. essentially, spencer was a good ally and a good friend, and even long after he and jack stopped being friends, he never used that moment of vulnerability against jack.

because spencer middleton sucks so much, but he's not THAT bad.

Chapter Two: Sabine

during middle school, jack befriends a girl named sabine, and the two quickly become close. sabine is jack's only real friend in the world once he and spencer stop talking, and so naturally, she's the next person he comes out to. and sabine IMMEDIATELY becomes a huge supporter of jack and helps him change his name and gender marker legally.

i do want to say, in the sabine chapter i'm very much leaning into the fact that the town where tftgs takes place is weird as hell, as a way to explain how jack would be able to transition without facing a lot of backlash or it being mentioned. and because i genuinely think that a townsperson suddenly changing their name and gender is far from the weirdest thing to happen in town.

jack never really finds out exactly how sabine is able to accomplish it, but in high school, she helps him socially transition and get all of his paperwork in order, to the point that the town kinda just... forgets that jack was ever any different than he is now. essentially, my idea for jack being trans is that he is living 100% stealth--ultimately, that's the safest option for him, and he does believe he lucked out in more ways than one because he does pass as a cis guy very easily even before he starts to medically transition in his 20s.

in high school, jack and sabine start dating, and she's his biggest and loudest supporter. while she would never out him as trans, as doing so would be genuinely unsafe, she was very openly proud of her boyfriend. and also it's important to me that you know that i headcanon sabine as being significantly taller than jack. he's her short king <3

unfortunately, though, like many good things in jack's life, his relationship with sabine doesn't last. things end the way they did in canon, with sabine in a coma. jack never gets the chance to really thank her for anything she helped him with or did for him.

Chapter Three: Deputy Tom

okay so this is the one i really wanted to talk about. the deputy tom chapter, rather than going over a specific time period in jack's life, focuses on one conversation he had with tom during a time they were both alone in the gas station.

deputy tom was one of the only people who actually knew about jack being trans, or at least one of the few who seemed to remember that. for the most part, though, he never really mentions it or treats jack any differently. he is a bit protective of jack, though, and eventually he explains why to him, a few weeks before his (tom's) death.

essentially this chapter is me wanting to explore tom as a queer character as well. i don't think he would use specific labels for himself for the most part, but as an older queer man in a shitty small town, he feels partially responsible for helping the next generation of queer people thrive. he talks to jack about things, and like... jack doesn't exactly open up to tom, but tom talks to jack about his life and some of his experiences.

tom's intent here is to give jack advice. he knows jack has been doing pretty well for himself, all things considered, but he wants to make sure the poor kid's gonna be okay once tom isn't there anymore. i will say, tom doesn't know at this point that he's going to die, but he knows he's getting older and he just wants to make sure that the man he views as a son is gonna be alright without him.

i also had the thought earlier today that tom could also be trans and living stealth, and that could be something for him and jack to connect on.

essentially i have a lot of strong feelings about queer elders being there for younger queer people, and that's what the tom chapter is.

Chapter Four: Vanessa Riggin

the vanessa chapter is a bit shorter, but it's kind of a reverse on the tom chapter in which jack is now the older queer person for a younger queer person to look up to. because yeah vanessa is also trans <3

initially, jack doesn't intend to tell vanessa that he's trans. it's not really anyone's business after all, and he knows by now that it's safer for him to keep that to himself and let people just assume he's cis. however, one day while he's working with vanessa, she actually comes out to HIM.

jack is a little caught off guard, and vanessa starts talking about trouble she's been having and essentially like... seeking jack out for advice. and when jack asks her why she's telling him, she says that he's just... someone she feels like she can trust. he's touched, and he's abruptly reminded of the conversation he had with tom some time before.

cue jack and vanessa having a hushed, kinda sweet conversation about gender and sexuality, and like. jack isn't that much older than vanessa by any means, but he feels like an older brother figure in that moment, and it feels good to pass on tom's advice. he just hopes that vanessa is going to be okay.

Chapter Five: Jerry Pascal

jack ends up coming out to jerry a couple of months into knowing him, because he figures out rather quickly that jerry is someone he can trust in that regard. jerry's never subtle about his own gender fuckery, but he also never pushed jack to come out (even though he did suspect jack may not be cis).

at first, jerry doesn't really react, which jack once again honestly appreciates. because at heart, jack doesn't want people to make a big deal about him being trans, even if they're doing so in support. it's just not who he is personally, and i know i keep reiterating this but it's also much safer for him that way.

things continue as normal for the next few weeks, and jack ends up actually kinda thinking that like... jerry might not have fully registered jack coming out to him. which is a very real possibility, all things considered, and a part of jack is actually a little disappointed, which surprises him. because this is a very deeply personal thing about him, and since jerry is one of his only real friends now, he'd hope it'd be important to him, too.

eventually, though, and i haven't worked out all the exact details of it, jerry and jack have another conversation about it. they talk about their different approaches to their queerness, with jerry being very openly queer regardless of the consequences and jack being queer very much on the down-low. neither holds any judgment for the other in that regard, they just share their different perspectives.

i also want to explore a bit about how i think queerness was handled among mathmetists (the cult jerry was part of), which i don't quite know how to put into words yet but... trust me... i have thoughts.

of course, it's not a completely mature conversation, as jerry can't help but be very jerry-ish as they talk, but it's a good talk for both of them. they're best bros no matter what, after all. (and also more than a little gay, let's be real)

Chapter Six: Amelia O'Brien

this is another kinda shorter chapter, focusing on a specific interaction between the two characters rather than a larger look at their relationship.

anyway, jack comes out to o'brien as trans almost entirely by accident. it happens one day while she's giving him a ride to work after his leg injury and the death of deputy arnold, and essentially like. jack is so nervous around her, because he thinks she doesn't like him, that he ends up rambling about whatever he can think of. and, on this particular day, he ends up blurting that he's trans.

once he registers what he said, jack panics, as even though amelia isn't a native to the town, he has no way of knowing at that point if she's someone he can safely come out to. plus, there is the element of her being a cop--while jack has had some good experiences with individual officers (like deputy tom), as a whole he knows better than to trust them.

amelia pulls over so they can talk, and she manages to calm him down quickly enough. however, for a bit it's a pretty fuckin' tense conversation, to put it lightly. once he's calm, she tells him that it's fine, and she's not going to tell anyone else. and though she may not be able to relate to his exact experiences, she does understand--after all, very few people know she's a lesbian.

what follows is another conversation about their different approaches to and experiences with their queerness, focusing on the fact that both of them are very much stealth and are very careful about who they come out to (most of the time at least).

i also want to explore in this chapter a bit of the animosity that exists within the queer community, not between these two necessarily but through some of amelia's personal experiences. as a non-binary lesbian of color, she's certainly seen some shit.

(to clarify, i don't want to write amelia's experiences as the definitive experience of women of color (especially black women) in the community, because it's not my place to do that for several reasons, but i also don't want to pretend that her race wouldn't come up at all. the books don't shy away from some of the racism amelia experiences, and i don't want to either. however, i do want to be respectful as a white author and not speak over anyone, so if/when i do get to writing this chapter i will do my due diligence to research and speak to people of color in the community who are comfortable discussing their experiences in that regard.)

i also am gonna keep in mind the fact that amelia is a cop, though i won't frame the issue as "people are so mean to cops in the community for no reason :(" b/c no <3 and instead just... try to earnestly explore amelia o'brien as a character.

anyway, the chapter ends with jack and amelia kinda coming to an understanding with each other. if nothing else, they can commiserate a little about how fucking awful this shitty little small town is, even if the reasons they're both treated badly are very different.

Chapter Seven: Rosa Vasquez

okay this chapter might be the shortest one, but it's one that i feel passionate about and have a lot of feelings about. essentially, this one explores the fact that (at least in my headcanon) rosa is also trans.

rosa and jack clock each other as trans pretty quickly, but they each assume that the other has good reasons for not saying anything about it, so it takes a while for them to say anything to each other. for a while, they enjoy kind of a quiet solidarity with each other--it's a pretty big driving force behind their friendship early on. (not to say that they're only friends b/c they have this in common, but it's something they relate to each other on.)

eventually, it does come up, and rosa and jack have a conversation about it as well. essentially, whereas the last chapter discusses some of the unfortunate animosity within the community, this one focuses a lot more on uplifting each other and finding common ground even through different experiences.

plus mtf/ftm trans solidarity means so so fucking much to me, and i just think it'd be very sweet for these two to have this big thing that they can relate to each other about.

Chapter Eight: Antonio

aaaand we are finally at the end of the journey. so, this chapter is also very heavily an AU, taking place in a timeline where antonio never died. because i think if antonio had survived, then jack would have eventually come out to him, but as it stands antonio probably would've died without knowing.

but i love antonio so dearly so i'm writing about him <3 he gets to live <3

essentially, jack decided that antonio is one person he is never, ever, ever going to come out to as trans. not because he thinks antonio would react badly or be unsafe to tell about that, but... well, at this point, antonio lost all of jack's trust. jack doesn't want to share something so deeply personal with someone he doesn't feel like he can trust or be close to, even if he doesn't think he'll necessarily be in any danger as a result.

antonio actually picked up on something a little Not Cisgender about jack at some point, or perhaps he had access to information about jack and knew beforehand. however, he never mentioned it, because this is one thing he would never want to hold over someone's head. still, after everything with the dark god goes down, he wants to prove to jack that he's someone jack can trust.

for a few weeks, antonio tries to find ways to subtly show jack that he's someone who can be trusted. not necessarily with that, but just in general. eventually, jack calls him on it, and the two have the conversation that is the focus of this chapter.

and here's where we talk about antonio being gay, and similar to amelia, he and jack have a conversation about different experiences with the community as a whole. trust is a big theme here, and antonio is honest about the fact that he already knew. however, he never said anything to anyone, because it's not his secret to tell.

one thing i also want to do in this chapter is plant seeds for a later thing i want to write about antonio in this AU realizing his own non-binary-ness. because no one at this gas station is cis <3

the chapter ends with jack and antonio not necessarily rekindling their friendship, but coming to an understanding with each other.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Can we take a moment to talk about what a tragic character Minerva is? Y’all know that for the longest time I haven’t been the biggest fan of her, and honestly I’m still not? but I think I might’ve had a breakthrough on why that is. 

Whenever I’ve asked around to see why people find her so appealing or why they consider her their favorite, I’ll get answers like, “she’s such a complex character and she deserved a redemption arc!” or “she should’ve come back to the school with us! Let Minnie be happy, you cowards! Telltale did her dirty! I could write paragraph after paragraph about her!” all sorts of things along those lines… but like, no one seems to want to actually talk about her. I find that interesting? Since when I do follow up with a “care to explain further?” I get nothing. Radio static. Like…. no, talk to me please, I just wanna understand-

Minerva within the context of TFS is such a tragedy. She grew up in a school for troubled youth where all the adults left them for death at the start of the breakout, they had walkers trying to eat the living all around them, and I’m sure she saw her fair share of traumatic violence and despair… but on the bright side, she always had her twin sister, Sophie, and little brother, Tenn. She had her friend and eventual girlfriend, Violet. She had music, and a dorm full of pretty paintings done by Sophie. She and Louis composed a song together to make everyone feel better. There are worse places to live than the school. 

Then one day she got traded away to a bunch of raiders against her will, having no idea what the hell these people were gonna do to her and Sophie. They were made to be soldiers to fight in a war that had nothing to do with them. The delta fucking broke her. If we’re to believe Lilly’s story about the twins, they started their brainwashing process early on when Sophie was still alive, and it seems like Minerva was easier to control as Sophie was still planning a way out and causing trouble. Then, when Sophie convinced her to steal a boat and get the hell out, they got caught and the delta forced her to murder her own twin sister. 

Like…. I’m sorry, not only did Minerva kill her own sister, but she was made to believe that was the right thing to do? That line she says about how she had to prove her loyalty to the place she calls home? That shit’s ingrained in her brain, you can tell that isn’t the first time she’s heard or said that very thing. That is what made her family to the delta. Delta is her home now, her family. Sophie was just a thing that needed to be dealt with. You keep your head down, do as you’re told, and you survive.  You survive and you get to go home, eat a hot meal, take a shower, and be with your delta family.  If not, you end up like Sophie.

What’s also fucked is that Minerva actually cares about these people now. Think about that. After everything they did to her and made her do, she’s been trained to see them as her family and obey. When you save Louis and he kills Dorian, Minerva actually cries out and is visibly hurt by her death. When she’s with the other raiders on land, she's screaming at walkers to get away from them. She cares about the people who made her kill Sophie… and no one ever talks about that??

She fucking hates Clementine. Clementine is just another thing in Minnie’s way. I know the part of the fandom likes to ship these two together and they think it’s hot when they fight and shit, but within the canon text, Minerva wants Clementine gone. Dead. She is the thing stopping her from having her old family merge with her new family. If Clementine hadn’t made them fight, they all would’ve been captured and they’d all be a delta family now. She would’ve had Tenn back. 

Clementine is the problem, she made everyone fight back and that’s why people are dead. Minerva hates her for it… it’s not a “I hate you but like the sexual tension, y’know?” that I see people pretend it is, it’s “you are ruining everything and if I have to, I will kill you myself and I won’t give a second thought about it when they toss your body overboard.”

Like….. seriously, think about how fucked up all of this is. Minerva is a husk of who she was before she was taken away. Sure, you do have to keep in mind that when Tenn and Violet are describing her, their sights are a bit clouded, y’know? But I do believe that she was someone who was kind and cared about people, she wanted to make people feel safe and comforted. 

Now she’s a brainwashed soldier who won’t help the people she used to call friends when they’re about to get limbs cut off. She won’t hesitate to knock someone unconscious or threaten a child.  She’s willing to trick them into being captured with no regard for what’s going to happen to them. … all she knows is this was the mission, and now they all get to be together again back at the delta. 

Then when she finds out there’s a bomb on the boat, she ditches Violet to blow up with it in order to make it to land herself. She loses her shit seeing everyone die and gets her face chewed off by a walker… and then she tries to blow Clementine and AJ up with a grenade. 

Oh, and who can forget the fact that she tracks the group down with plans of murdering Tenn so that they can go to a better place together? And she’ll take down anyone who gets in her way?

Like….. jesus christ, Minerva’s waaaaay too far gone. It’s awful. 

I think that’s what stumps me about why she’s so loved in the way that she is. It’s not that I don’t understand why she’s complex and well-written, I get that perfectly fine. She’s a compelling character study when you comb over all her scenes and take different factors into account.

What I don’t understand is why we tend to just throw everything interesting about her away? For what? 

These days, I never see anyone talking about any of this unless they’re insisting she deserved a redemption arc which…. Eh, I’ll touch on this later. What I mostly see here and mostly other platforms is how great it would be if she and Clementine made out, or hey what if she and Violet got back together if she did come back to the school? Or they just….the best term I have for this is “uwu-ify.” As in she’s reduced to a caricature of a tall, pretty, mean, white lesbian who has “good damage.” 

People insist that Telltale are cowards or bastards because their predictions of her turning on the delta to save Clem and crew didn’t happen. Instead, Minerva ends up being the final baddie you gotta get away from, and she ends up taking someone down with her. But did you really expect to just do a 180 and suddenly decide being brainwashed for over a year was lame and Clementine and friends are cool? Gonna help them out and be with Tenn again? Sure, there’s some left over trauma but love conquers and fixes everything, right?

Uh…. no? That’s not how people work? Honestly, if we entertain the idea that Minerva wasn’t bit and somehow didn’t murder Clementine when they all got back to the school…. romance is the last thing she is ever gonna think of??

I think that’s what bothers me most when reading these au’s and rants about redemption and the entire idea of clemerva as a whole. It’s the same thing that I see happen with Violet- Minerva only has value to fans if she’s in a wlw relationship. By herself, she doesn’t matter. They don’t care about her canon story, they don’t care about Sophie, they don’t care about discussing what could’ve happened if she and Tenn reunited under better circumstances or had a healing recovery together. But why?

Throwing a girlfriend at her isn’t some band aid that’s gonna cover up all the bad she went through?? Having an enemies to lovers romance with Clementine isn’t going to fix a years worth of brainwashing, trauma or the fact that she murdered her own sister and the delta told her she's proved her worth to them?? 

Having the support of those around her is a good thing, don’t get me wrong. The idea of the Ericson crew as a whole trying to help her out and do the best they can to accommodate her is bittersweet since there’s only so much they can do. They’re not trained therapists, which is what Minerva would need and plenty of years ahead of her to work through and come to terms with everything that happened as well as taking steps forward. I’m not saying that she shouldn’t have friends or that she couldn’t have a healthy romantic relationship someday... but that isn’t the solution, y’know? 

I don’t know how else to explain this, but it makes me feel weird that all of this stuff is flat out overlooked or doesn’t appear to matter to fans of her. 

Look, I get it. We all want these characters to be happy. AU’s are a thing, after all. Sometimes we want to forget about the bad things and focus on the good that bring us comfort. You wanna gush about the idea of an AU where the twins never got traded, the raiders didn’t exist, and Clementine got to meet them the way they were before? I feel that, AU’s are super comforting and fun to explore, and my point isn’t to try and shame anyone who has an AU you like this. 

Hell, you think I don’t have days where I pretend mute Louis isn’t a thing because the whole concept of Louis having his tongue cut out of his mouth breaks my fucking heart? No, lot’s of days I just want to forget everything about that route, I want to set aside all the bad and just intake as much clouis fluff as I can get…. But that doesn’t mean I always ignore or refuse to acknowledge the bad just because I don’t like it. I fucking hate the fact that Louis loses his tongue when you don’t save him, but guess what? That’s a canon route you can play, just like any other route, and the possibilities that come with a mute Louis are vast and compelling. 

This is how it is for me… my favorite characters are my favorite for a reason, and I take all the bad with the good. Louis isn’t perfect, and I don’t want him to be. I was to dive into his backstory about why did that to his parents, I like to talk about what he went through with Marlon’s murder and his feelings about AJ and Clementine at the point, I like to view his love of music as bittersweet. He can stand on his own, and while he is a love interest for Clementine, that isn’t his only purpose. 

I know everyone’s different, they express their love for characters in their own ways, but I do have a genuine question: do you guys actually like Minerva?

Believe it or not, I’m not trying to step on toes or make everyone feel defensive which I know is how people will react to this. “You’re just saying all of this to make us feel bad for shipping clemerva! You don’t even like Minnie so you don’t get to say shit!” yeah yeah, I hear you and look, it’s true that she’s not my favorite character. I know I’ve said I hate her in the past but upon reflection and throwing out fandom interpretations.... I don’t hate her. I get it now. She’s a great character study to dissect and analyze and I think she deserves more than what the writers and the fandom have given her. 

And yeah, what I do hate is clemerva, and I’ve explained why. It’s not for me, it makes me uncomfortable, but at the end of the day, who cares? Me not liking it doesn’t mean anything to those who create AU’s for them. They have their reasons, they can do as they please as long as they’re not hurting anyone. I’m just here pointing out things I see and things that bother me in hopes of starting a discussion.

There’s my ramble about Minerva. I’m gonna go make some tea now. 

[random-bi-writer]

You've finished Monkie Kid! What's your opinion on the characters?

I love them. I love this show, it's like The Owl House but Lego which basically makes Lego Eda canon.

Okay, here's my opinions. I'll only say the major characters.

Mk = Baby boy, really self aware that he has issues but hasn't gone to therapy but for the love of god get therapy, abandonment issues. Pure of Heart, Dumb of Ass. He gives off Demiboy and Gay vibes.

Mei = She's so chaotic I love her. Also needs therapy. Will kill without hesitation and I love that. I really thought she and Mk are related but turns out they aren't? She gives off Demigirl and Lesbian vibes.

Pigsy = Mk's dad. So grumpy but he really loves his family. So protective, I stan. The moment I saw him the first thing I thought is; He's Bi.

Sandy = Himbo. Baby but Adult. Hides his trauma through kindness. He gives off AroAce vibes, but I respect people who ship him with the spider from his flower episode.

Tang = I was so sure that this guy was the bio dad of Mk and Mei, but they're not??? He's still a dad though, goofy and always hungry. His infodumping and fangirling over artifacts reminds me of some people in the Amphibia fandom. The moment I saw him how he acts towards the Spider Queen on her debut, I knew that this man is Gay.

Sun Wukong = Mk's dead beat dad. At least he tries to be a dad but sir stop fueling your son's abandonment issues. Trans and Pan.

Macaque = I was so sure that he and Wukong are biologically brothers but everyone says they're not??? I was so confused when I saw shipping art and fics of them. The cool and bastard uncle. He's like Louie from Ducktales but he has more issues. Pretty sure he's a dad now but so busy so he asks Pigsy to care of the child for him and makes sure he visits. Nb and DemiAce

Red Son = Chaotic Zuko. Major Daddy issues. If he ever dates Mk, he and Mei would annoy each other a lot. Trans, cause no sane person would ever name their son; Red Son. He's also Gay.

DBK and Princess Iron Fan = The only straight people in this series. They're suprisingly wholesome with each other and their son. Iron Fan has witnessed Red's transitioning and supports it while DBK didn't and is so confused but at least tries.

Spider Queen = First thing I thought is that she's a Lesbian. At least she has standards when it comes to villainy. I'm not really sure if she and her henchmen are still alive.

Jin and Yin = Love their dumbasses but I will never forgive them for making Mk and Mei straight in their debut episode. Pretty sure they don't care about gender and romance.

Ne Zha = Petal boy. He's so serious, sir take a break. I think he's Aro? I don't know, he gives off the vibes.

Bai He = Apperantly, this is the LBD's host's name. Good god, she's younger than I thought, I thought she's the same age as Mk. She needs so much therapy and hugs. And Also Macaque being her dad. I want to say that she's questioning her gender and sexuality since she's a kid and all.

Lady Bone Demon = Means well but wrong way to do it. Every time I see her I keep thinking; Mk's mom, and I hate it. Bisexual.

[harmfulot]

Hi!! Before you read this or try to take this down please just consider reading this instead of being so hateful. I don’t mean to spread hate onto any shippers but I do believe that Inuyasha’s fandom has a major problem that needs to be addressed. Trigger warning for pedophila,child p*rn and grooming.

Why Sessrin is problematic.

Sessrin is a very popular ship among the Inuyasha community. If you are a shipper of this pair you won’t have to worry for lack of content for it. Rin is a injured child character that is introduced in the original Inuyasha manga in issue 14. She meets Sesshomaru in the forest and even though she is going through a lot at such a young age her kind self still tries to help him out. Sesshomaru at first does not care for this child who is tending to him. He tells her to mind her business and has her leave. Soon after Rin is killed by Kouga’s pack of wolves and Sesshomaru with his demon power scented her blood and comes to save her with his Tenseiga. After this Sessshomaru decides to take in Rin and protect her even though he had a hatred for humans. A “similarly” shippers like to compare Inuyasha and Kagome’s relationship with but their relationship is not written with romantic tensions..

The reason why Rin was written and VERY important in Inuyasha is because she is the reason why Sesshomaru became a better person. He no longer hated humans or wanted to go against his brother. This broken human child Rin looked up to Sesshomaru who was a powerful older demon. Sesshomaru grew a soft side and it was because of her caring innocence. You could easily see their connection as father and daughter or Sesshomaru as a guardian for her. Never did he have the thought of getting with her when she got older and Rin never developed a crush on him. Why? Because she is a child who lost her parents and now has this person who protects her like one. People may say that Jaken was the father figure for Rin but I don’t agree because unlike Sesshomaru he did not care for Rin and only handled her to please his lord. Jaken would call Rin many negative things and go off at her. Rin was annoyed by Jaken. He is certainly not a parent figure for her. Sesshomaru provided a stay aside him to lead for Rin which she followed. Rin was no longer alone. She had Sesshomaru’s company now. Even if he was not very good at taking care of her he never wanted her to get hurt or killed again. He is new to this “taking care of people” thing after all especially humans...young humans. Sessrin would destroy the growth of Sesshomaru because it can’t be denyed that their relationship represents this much more than a romance waiting to happen. When Kagura came along Rin told Jaken joyfully she bet Kagura had a crush on Sesshomaru this small moment reminds you she a is a child that lost her parents and could be seeing this as a opportunity for Kagura to become her adoptive mother. And most Sesshomaru cosplayers would use their daughter to cosplay for Rin. Usually making the picture taken seem like Sesshomaru is protecting Rin or having them both share a cute bonding moment. Why? Because that is how their relationship is meant to be established. For a Sessrin cosplay to work people would have to age up Rin and her design or else the cosplayers would receive negative feedback. Now moving on to how aging up Rin is not okay either.

People claim they only would like to see these two get together once Rin is older but that is almost as bad as shipping Sessrin while she is a child. Sesshomaru saw Rin grow up. He raised her for a while as his own this needs to stop being denied in the fandom. For Sesshomaru to impregnate Rin is out of character. And seems like a sick fanasty. He is not that kind of character. He wouldn’t touch Rin in that matter. Even if she was in her late 20’s. He respected child Rin and would still respect her older. Sessrin is like if a babysitter got together with the person they use to take care of as a kid. It’s disturbing!! Not cute. Rin does not deserve to be fedished.

It’s actually terrifying how much child p*rn there is of Rin. I feel so ashamed by even coming across one by mistake. Don’t use the excuse that Rin is a fictional character. Enough with that excuse. Let’s throw that excuse away. That excuse of “it’s fictional it does not matter..” only works for certain things like when someone assigns headcanons for their favorite character or ships a non-canon pair that isn’t problematic. Not when we are speaking of drawing nsfw of a fictional child. And fictional or not. Rin is a child and every grown person who has drawn smut of her should be ashamed and even arrested. If you see a fictional child in this matter what knows what could you lead you up to see an actual kid as this too. It’s a big problem because there are so many people who have gotten away with this. It’s so easy to find a image of child Rin without any of her clothes on or being r*ped by Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru would never r*pe anyone. It’s quite sad. Kagome was saved from being sexually assaulted by Mukostu because of Sesshomaru. People has even brought doujinshi comics of Sessrin making love or may I call it child p*rn in disguise? Be honest with yourself. It really is just that.

Everyone finding out would be horrified. Excluding Hanyo No Yashahime which majorly changed the characters. Sesshomaru and Rin being together would make everyone uncomfortable even Miroku who has before asked a child if she would bare his kid. Which Inuyasha,Kagome,and Sango reacted very badly to. And was yelled at for it. They do not tolerate pedos nor grooming. Kagome especially would be against. She referred Rin as the girl many times and puzzled together that Sesshomaru took care for Rin. Many people bring up that Kouga proposed to Ayame when she was a kid but remember that was never in the original. Sunrise created Ayame and added this other plot in order for Kouga to have someone at the end. Which is sad because this could have worked if Ayame met Kouga and gained a crush on him instead. She was a cute character after all. In the manga Kouga remains by himself since Kagome stayed with Inuyasha. Now I am definitely not a fan of Kouga and Ayame. I despise the fact Sunrise only created her to be Kouga’s romance interest but having him tell her he would marry her once she was older was even worse. This was a choice Sunrise made not Kouga’s original character. The reason why Kagome does not call out Kouga on this is because she did not know Ayame was a child at the time he proposed. He never mentioned it but if he did I’m certain Kagome would have not tried to keep setting them up together knowing this information. And just a reminder that even in real life some Inuyasha voice actors such as Richard Ian Cox and David Kaye voice actor for Sesshomaru does not support Sessrin. Adding on shipping Rin with Sesshomaru is like shipping Shippo with Inuyasha or Kagome. Weird right?? In the Manga Sesshomaru’s Mother Inukimi says that Sesshomaru is like his father in the strangest of ways after saving Rin again. No this doesn’t mean that he will soon come to love her romantically because Inukimi did add “In the strangest of ways” and refers to Rin as a girl like Kagome. She means that Sesshomaru had now changed and that he cared about someone who was a human like his dad who also cared for them even though they are both demons.

It’s funny how the sequel claims girl power but does not know how to treat it’s female characters. Kagome and Sango are both introduced as Inuyasha and Miroku’s wives instead of their actual character. Now if you not a woman please do not have a say in this unless you wish to agree but this is very sexist Sunrise. I’m not exaggerating how upsetting and disrespectful it is to see you introduce these strong main female role models like this. Inuyasha and Miroku were not titled as husbands of...so why were Kagome and Sango? I’m sure 99% of audience would know who is married to who. Women are not objects or tools Sunrise. Kagome is the main character of Inuyasha even if his name is on title. She is the reason why got to meet these characters. Sunrise has done female characters dirty many times like making Ayame obessed with Kouga when she could have been a neat character but what they did to Rin takes the cake. Rin is introduced as “The girl who adores Sesshomaru” but apparently now that girl is the mother of his children. Shame on you Sunrise!! We only saw Rin ever as a child even when series ended aging her up to become Sesshomaru’s wife without knowing how she is as a grown person is not a good example for your younger female audience to view. This could have been avoided.

Even though I’m a minor who only been in this fandom for half a year I gather a lot of knowledge of how far this fandom goes. It was definitely most popular around early 2000’s and many say it was their first anime with their first anime crush being Sesshomaru. Inuyasha was an anime I did not look content for till later after finishing season 2. When I discovered Sessrin I was real confused and thought to myself it was just a small part of the fandom but I could have been more wrong. Many accounts I followed that involved Inuyasha shipped Sessrin. Even after finishing many Inuyasha episodes I was very confused on why this was a thing and how could have it gotten so big. I thought something magical would have happened like Rin turning out to be someone much older but that never happened. I was wrong. This ship is just pedophila and nothing else. And I’m sure if Sesshomaru wasn’t “attractive” Sessrin wouldn’t be big. Going back to people crushing on Sesshomaru when they were younger I’m sure the reason Sessrin is not more discussed about for how toxic it is online is because besides people being scared,people like to insert themselves as Rin but this has to stop. Adults should not pair a child and grown up together even if the child is now grown. Especially grown ups with kids. This is not good example to set for your kids. I’ve seen many minors being harassed online for disliking Sessrin by adults. Which is super immature and should be in trouble for. Netruals must know that is not a ship war because there have been people who have gotten horrible hate and were told very graphic things by Sessrin shippers. ( By the way I’m sorry to anyone who has been hurt online even Sessrin shippers. I do not support Sessrin but no one should be told awful things. ) Many Inuyasha fans which dislike Sessrin have left Twitter and Tumblr because of how much hate they have gotten. This is not okay. People should be able to voice their opinion on something without being told to commit s*icide or hoping they get r*ped.

And your point? This sequel is being written in the 21th century. We could write it however we please not everything has to be “accurate” and also this state is just supporting the idea of children being wed with a grown up was okay before because the age of consent was different. Ugh..but this claim is just another excuse. Please stop using it. Many things in the past were allowed which wouldn’t be allowed today. So no this is not a valid reason to ship Rin with Sesshomaru.

Sunrise should not be off the hook for using child Rin clips for the opening as the daughters are shown. It was a wrong decision to make them seem like “moments” since now many actual pedophiles will support this pair as well. Even before this continuing was announced Sessrin was a big thing and “adult Rin” was not. Sunrise should not be supporting Sessrin at all. Nor anyone in the Inuyasha crew. They have many young fans watching and supporting this anime and they are being influenced and will grow up to think grooming is okay when it’s not. Again in 2021 this can not be allowed and it shouldn’t have ever. This sequel was not necessary. The anime ended fine.

If Rin is the mom I will no longer support Hanyo No Yashahime. I’m sorry but I will sadly have to drop it. There are a lot of reasons why Sessrin should not be a thing and Sunrise should know many themselves,because they have joined along these character’s journeys and seen through scripts who they are. And what Sessrin is pedophila and grooming that happened to get a lot of support which is why it is hard to find more people within online media discuss it. I sure do hope it does because I am tired of seeing only few doing it. We need more awareness of how problematic grooming pairs are in anime media. No more portraying children to grow up as romance interests for people they were raised by. Let’s keep Sesshomaru and Rin’s relationship wholesome. There is no need for them to get together. At the end of the day Rin owns Sesshomaru nothing and he knows that. Let’s start viewing them from a different point of view. Let’s see more fanart of them acting like father and daughter. I love that. Thank you and have a good day.

[baya-ni]

The Queer Appeal of Sk8

Recently @mulberrymelancholy reblogged a post of mine with a truly galaxy brain take about how Sk8 “is a show made for queer fans” and generally how sports anime often depicts love and relationships in a way that’s more accessible and relatable to ace/arospec people than other mainstream media does.

Just, *chef’s kiss* fucking brilliant. I urge you to read their post here (note I’m referring to the reblog not the actual post).

And basically, it got me thinking about this concept of Sk8 as a Queer Show, and the kinds of stories and dynamics that tend to attract queer audiences in droves, regardless of whether its queerness is made explicit or hell, whether that queerness was intended.

And that’s what I’ve been pondering: What are the cues, markers, or coding, in Sk8 that set off the community’s collective gaydar?

I obviously can’t speak for the community. So here’s what aspects of the show intrigued me and what, for me, marks Sk8 as a Queer Show beyond the subtextual queer romances: a punk/alternative aesthetic, Found Family, Shadow as a drag persona, and The Hands.

1.) The Punk Aesthetic

All three of the above screenshots are taken from Ep 1, and every single one of them depicts background characters. They’re nameless and ultimately unimportant characters, yet each of them designed so distinctly and so unique from one another, one could mistake each of them for the main character(s) of another story.

Of what little I know about Punk subculture, I do know this: that the ethos of Punk is heavily built around a celebration of individuality and non-conformity. Sk8 seems to have incorporated this ethos into the very fabric its worldbuilding, and the aesthetics and culture upon which it takes inspiration appeals specifically to a queer audience.

I don’t really need to explain why Punk has such deep ties with the queer community. For decades, queer people have found community and acceptance within punk spaces, and punk ideology is something that I think is just ingrained in the queer consciousness as both lived experience and a survival tactic.

Therefore, a show that adopts punk aesthetics is, by association, already paying homage to Queer culture, intentional or not.

Queer fans notice this- like recognizes like.

2.) Found Family

This also needs little explanation.

Too often, queer individuals cannot rely on their “born into” families for support and acceptance. Too often, we are abused, neglected, and abandoned by those who we were taught would “always be there for us.”

And so, a universal experience for queer people has been redefining the meaning of Family, having to build our families from scratch, finding brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers in people with whom we have no blood relation, and forming communities tied together by shared lived experience rather than shared genetics.

And this idea of Found Family is also built into Sk8′s narrative.

Like, for example, the way that Reki promises MIYA that he and Langa will “never disappear from [his] sight,” filling the void that MIYA felt after his friends abandoned him.

And in the way that JOE becomes a paternal figure for Reki, teaching him ways to improve in skateboarding, and ensuring that Reki doesn’t self isolate when he’s feeling insecure.

And in the whole Ep 6 business with Hiromi acting as babysitter to the Gang.

Hell, even ADAM (derogatory) is associated with this trope. Abused as a child, he finds solace in an underground skateboarding community and culture he helped create- his own found family (or some powertrippy version of it anyway).

Again, queer fans see themselves depicted in the show, but this time in the way that the show gives importance to Found Family relationships between its characters.

3.) Shadow and Drag

This is one that’s more of an association that I personally made. But I was intrigued by the way that Hiromi adopts his SHADOW persona. He wears SHADOW like a mask, and adopts a personality seemingly so opposite to his day-to-day behavior.

Further, the theatricality and general “gender fuckery” of his SHADOW persona, to me, just seemed so similar to a the characteristics of a drag persona (I don’t know a whole lot about drag but enough that I’m drawing superficial similarities).

There’s also this aspect of a “double life” that he, and actually all the other adult characters of the show, have to adopt, which is a way of living that I’m sure a lot of queer viewers see themselves reflected in.

4.) The Hands

Ohhhh the Hands.

One of the things I noticed very early on is the way the show constantly draws our attention to Reki’s hands, which I thought was a little strange for an anime about skating. After all, skating doesn’t really involve the hands, or at least the show doesn’t really draw attention to hands within the context of skating.

I count 3 times so far between Eps 1-9 in which hands are the focus of the frame.

First, when Reki teaches Langa how to fist pump after Langa lands his first ollie, second, when Reki and Langa make their Promise, and finally, when Langa saves Reki from falling off his board.

And you know what they say, twice is a coincidence but thrice is a motif (no one else actually says this I think I’m the only one who says this lol).

I’m not really certain why hands seem to be such a shared fixation among queer people (at least among those I interact with). All I know is that gay people are just fucking obsessed with them.

I have a Theory as to why, and at this point I’d love for other people to chime in and “compare notes” if you will, but I think it basically has to do with repression. And in the same way that queer people have had to redefine the meaning of family, we’ve also had to redefine intimacy.

Being overtly physically affectionate with someone of the same sex, even if they’re your significant other, or often specifically BECAUSE they’re your significant other, can still be dangerous, even now despite the “progression” of society. Queer people know this, this vigilant surveillance of our environment and ourselves, always asking ourselves, “Am I safe enough to be myself?”

Already, Western culture is pretty touch-averse. That is, it’s considered taboo to touch someone unless they’re a family member or a romantic partner. And to touch a person of the same sex in any way that could be misconstrued as romantic (which is most things tbh) is a big no no.

There’s just A Lot to unpack there.

But basically I think that queer people, by necessity, have had to learn to romanticize mundane or unconventional ways of being physically intimate so that we can continue to be romantic with one another without “being caught” so to speak.

Kissing and hugging is too obvious. But a handshake that lingers for just a second too long is much more likely to go unnoticed, braiding someone’s hair can easily be explained away as just lending a helping hand, touching palms to “compare hand sizes” is just good fun.

But for queer people, these brief and seemingly insignificant touches hold greater meaning, because it’s all we are allowed, and all we allow ourselves, to exchange with others.

God, I’ve gone off and rambled again. What’s my point? Basically that the way the show draws attention to Reki’s hands, and specifically how they’re so often framed with Langa’s hands, is one of the major reasons why I clocked Sk8 as a Queer. It’s just something that resonated with me and my own experience of queerness, and I know that I’m not the only one who noticed either.

~

So in conclusion, uhhhh yeah Sk8 the Infinity is just a super gay show, and it’s not even because of the homo-romantic subtext (that at this point is really just Text).

Because what’s important to understand is that Queerness isn’t just about same-sex romance.

Queer Love isn’t just shared between wives/girlfriends, husbands/boyfriends, and all their in-betweens. Queer Love can be two best friends who come out together, queer siblings who rely and support one another, a gay teacher who helps guide one of their questioning students, a queer community pitching in to help a struggling member.

And that all ties with another important thing to consider, that what we refer to as the “queer experience” or “queer culture” isn’t universal. In fact, it wrongly lumps together the unique experiences and struggles of queer BIPOC all under one umbrella that’s primary White and middle class.

So I think what drives a lot of my frustration about labeling a show like Sk8 as Queerbait is this very issue of considering queerness and queer representation within such narrow standards, and mandating that a show must pass a certain threshold of explicit queerness to be considered good representation.

I get that someone might only feel represented by an indisputable canonization of a same-sex couple. That’s fine. But labeling Sk8 as Queerbait for that reason alone ignores the vast array of other queer experiences.

The aspects of Sk8 that resonate most deeply with my own experiences of queerness is in the way that Reki and Langa share intimacy through skating (intricate rituals heyo). For me, them officially getting together ultimately doesn’t matter- I’ll consider Sk8 a Queer show regardless.

Similarly, @mulberrymelancholy​ finds ace/arospec representation in that very absence of an on-screen kiss. A bisexual man might find representation in Reki, not because he enters a canon relationship, but in the depiction of Reki’s coming of age, growing up and navigating adolescent relationships. A non-binary person might feel represented through CHERRY’s androgyny.

That’s the thing, I don’t know how this show will resonate with other members of the queer community, and it’d be wrong to make a judgement on Sk8′s queer representation based on my experiences alone.

That being said, Straight people definitely don’t get to judge Sk8 as Queerbait. Y’all can watch and enjoy the show, we WANT you to enjoy these kinds of shows, and we want you to share these shows and contribute to the normalization and celebration of these kinds of narratives.

But understand that you don’t have a right to tell us whether or not Sk8 has good or bad queer representation.

And even members of the queer community are on thin ice. Your experience of queerness is not universal. Listen to the other members of your community, and respect that what you might find lacking in this show may be the exact representation that someone else needs.