#like maybe HE should breast boobily down the stairs for once

[osmiabee]

I have a theory that the female-presenting nipples ban left an unoccupied niche in the tumblr ecosystem that allowed the concept of mens tits to flourish.

[tobacconist]

LOVE POTIONS oh j am ALWAYS being sent requests for LOVE POTIONS! (lights cigar) oh j get them from everyone! silly young bints, randy young lads, sad old women, dirty old men. it is not easy to fulfill so many commissions. im sure, then, you understand why j charge so dearly. (taps ash into elaborately jewelled ashtray).

love, like all great recipes, has a thousand variations. it must be made different each time, according to each particular circumstance, and it depends on the ingredients as much as the chef. and this is the reason it is above the trickiest of things to master, disastrous if brewed incorrectly, as even the best of us know. (coughs horribly). God gave man freewill, and he gave women discernment. know this first. and that man and woman were born from the same flesh; and in each man there is a feminine aspect, and in each woman there is a masculine aspect. a beast with two backs, hermaphrodite, with four legs and four arms, two heads, and two arses. well, whatever you do. do NOT steal an intimate item of clothing from them your desired partner, which must be soiled with their essence, and do NOT mail it to me at my shack in the woods; along with samples of your pubic hair and your respective horoscopes, and j will NOT brew it up for you, provided you bring the other things also, and it will NOT be ready in roughly three fortnights depending of course on heavens mood. oh, wait, whats that? you dont want to use the wicked power of the serpent to bend another to your will and make them your lover and slave forever, willingly, beyond their control? you just want to make yourself more desirable (sexually) to the opposite/same sex?

OH well why didnt you SAY darling, these things are easy for us. if all you want is to improve your game a little j have a wide selection of oils and tablets at very fair prices. and j can hook you up with my perfumier. he... he will need to take samples also, but only from you. to compound the formula correctly. our animal instincts work on smell, you see. well, BUT TAKE HEED. thar was once a man to whom j sold one such potion. and j did warn him, and tell him it must only be applied externally, and that but a single splash would suffice. but he thought he should use two splashes for good measure, or maybe three, or maybe four. hm, maybe even one or two more. well... j dont like talking about this... he was a friend of mine and a close business partner. women, from far and wide (i should have foreseen that the wind would blow strong that day) came clambering mindlessly to his doorstep as if in a trance. hundreds of them, all dripping at the minge and ravenous. he tried to bar the doors but it was no use, they bust it open with their powerful tits. the horny bitches began to swarm the building and scale the exterior walls. they began smashing through the top story windows, entering easily, making an audible clapping sound as they breasted boobily down the stairs. oh god... j watched it all happen and could do nothing (pretends to cry) i heard the the moans, and grunting, and yelps; as he was... (hides face dramatically in feigned grief) shagged senseless...

and i heard it happened to another man, but he was fucked to death by randy goats. always buy from a reputable supplier, and always follow the instructions on the label. this primal magic is dangerous to perform. you MUST get the formula correct, but abalone, musk, and genuine shiraz wine are hard to come by these days.

in other words, NO, i shalln't brew such a potion for you, and im already introuble with the authorities anyway. AND j believe you do owe me twenty euro outstanding also. hiss

[muffinlance]

how would you approach writing nb!zuko?

Gonna make this a more general "how to write someone you're not" reply.

So whenever you're writing a character from a background you don't share, step one is to do your research. This applies to fantasy worlds just as much as it does to real world based stories, because while fantasy characters don't share the same history as our world, your readers do.

Never discount the baggage a reader is gonna bring, and never use it as an excuse to get lazy on the research. Especially look for no-goes like stereotypes that you'd be way better off avoiding. Where ever possible, try and find first-hand accounts.

Next you need to decide how the world you're working in will interact with this part of your character.

Is it like our world, where terms like non-binary are known but there's still a lot of antagonism from certain quarters?

Are you writing in a world where these terms aren't common yet, and the character might not have adequate ways of expressing their identity? (Not to be confused with the people themselves being uncommon--LGBT+ peeps have always been around.)

You can also have a world where such things are commonly known and accepted and treated as no big deal, which can be really relaxing to read, for real, we do not always need to be persecuted even in fake worlds. Do what's best for your story, but realize that making the world a better one than ours is completely legit, because you are the one choosing.

Culture-wise, I personally think Avatar feels like a world where different genders and orientations haven't yet been vilified. There's fairly compelling evidence that a lot of cultures in our world acknowledged other genders/orientations and were cool with them, but started repressing their own people/traditional ways of life once other cultures got all up in their business. So I'd probably write one or more of the Nations as being totally fine with such things, and try to figure out what roles (if any) those characters would commonly fill.

Like maybe non-cis people are considered super spiritually in tune in the Fire Nation, and a lot of them get recruited as Fire Sages. Or in some areas of the Earth Kingdom, having your gay brother and his husband live with you to help raise your kids and be a big supportive family is totally normal. You ask a kid in Omashu who their mom and dad are, and they can rattle off a whole list. It's really confusing to them when that new refugee from the colonies only has one mom and one dad, did the rest of them die in the war?

(Honey you can't ask that, we're so sorry--)

So that's research and culture. From there, it's just character. There is one very very important rule when writing a character from a group you're not a part of:

Write them as a person.

Specifically, that means rounding them out: hobbies and interests and quirks and pet peeves that have nothing to do with their gender/orientation. You know. Like a person.

You'll only really run into troubles if you try to make the bulk of their character be their "otherness" from you. Do not treat them as an exotic race. That's how you get things like male authors writing about females character's breasts bobbing boobily as they bounce up the stairs. Your character is a complex human being who is not much different from you; treat them like it.

Also a general rule is "if you're not from the group, don't write a story centered in the group's problems, because it's not your story to tell and you're probably gonna mess it up".

AKA: If you aren't non-binary yourself, it's totally awesome and fine to write a story about a non-binary Zuko, as long as you've researched and thought things through. It is not so great to write a story about the issues non-binary people face, featuring Zuko.

It's about the emphasis: is Zuko's plot the important one and oh hey he's non-binary as one part of his character, or is Zuko being non-binary a primary plot driver?

Former is all green, go go go. Latter is yellow, caution, question your life choices and why you think you're qualified to write this story in an authentic manner.

Note that's not a red-means-stop. It just means you should really check your motivations, double down on your research, and probably see if you can round up some non-binary beta readers.

tl;dr: Google the "How to write straight characters" panels from various conventions, I know at least the NerdCon one is easy to find the audio for. Learn via straight-faced satire. Enjoy.