#seriously i don't understand why you need to know someone's gender to talk about them

[tunguszka20]

Me, adding my pronouns to my Discord profile: ő

[zorosbeau33]

Courting~ Natsu Dragneel Alpha Headcanon

❖ Fairy Tail, Natsu Dragneel x gender neutral reader

❖ Headcanon, Possible future series, fluff

❖ Tw: none~

❖ wc: 1045

❖ @tojiseviltwin @kimnamshiks ❖ Masterlist ❖

. ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

This is a alpha beta omega au~ Reader is assumed omega in this but you are free to decide for yourself~

. ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

To begin, to make this easy let us establish this Dragon Slayer is an alpha. If you did not know you might suspect he was a beta with how he is so careless and goofy. Not your stereotypical stern tough guy alpha.

Natsu doesn’t care if you see him as an alpha or not, and he doesn’t care if someone doesn’t believe he’s an alpha. His status as a dragon slayer and member of Fairy Tail is his pride not something decided by birth or gender. Gender, who cares about that, are you strong or funny or nice? Thus goes his priorities.

So needless to say he’s not really into the whole, he has to court you by rules xyz due to his secondary gender. He’s going to court you how he believes a dragon slayer and guild member (because you will be adopted into Fairy Tale if you're not in it already) should be treated.

It might have taken him a long while to realize he wants to court you though. At first he just knew he liked being around you, and isn’t that enough? Spending life going on adventures and laughing together are most important to him. 

Once or twice he feels like frowning or growling when he sees someone get really close to you. Not just proximity wise because he too is a skinship with all the friends kind of person. But seeing someone attempt to get close to you romantically or emotionally and nudge him aside and out of frame? He doesn’t understand why but it burns him up inside.

I hate to say it but he tries to train it off, or just cling onto you and insist on starting a job right now. No he hasn’t picked one and yes it might be midnight but it's the perfect time to start a quest! No really-

He may go and confide in Master or Mira Jane. He knows he may get teased for it but he can’t figure these emotions out, and it's imperative to him to know because it's becoming stronger. His anger (its jealousy), his thoughts about you, why your scent is smelling sweeter and sweeter to him, all of it.

Bless this poor boy's soul because he really couldn’t figure out why he was “hungry” when he smelled your scent. He thought he needed to eat more food or fire because we don't eat friends. Thankfully they explained it's a physical and emotional longing to be closer with you.

This was not his first birds-and-bees talk but it was the one that made him realize he wanted you, and without them having to say more Natsu realized he wanted you as his mate.

Thankfully he does know from seeing others do it, although he thought it stupid at the time, the basics on how to court someone

His heart cannot take this he's so jittery and happy as he bounds up to you, if it's night time he may have broken in but that's okay! To hand you some hand picked flowers and a snack. He’s pretty forward about this, not subtle on starting the courting process. 

“Why? Because I want you to be my mate partner too of course!” Queue big happy grin

Lucy has helped him go shopping several times for you, blankets for your now shared nest. Food gifts galore.

No seriously everywhere you go, and you go to all places together now unless you ask for some space. He gets you food.

You looked away for two seconds and he disappeared. Don't worry he’ll be back in ten minutes with something scrumptious for you. 

If he has to go on a mission without you, or if you decide to take some time to yourself, expect a small little sweet or scone to be placed on your desk or in your hands. They are often a shade of pink, or dragon themed so you’d think of him.

Not huge on you wearing his clothes, with the exception of his scarf. He adores seeing you in it before he started courting you because he hadn’t realized yet, now he is obsessed wrapping it around you both as you cuddle. Or do anything for that matter.

Natsu did realize it's not practical while walking only after clotheslining you once…or twice…

He is super attentive to your needs, perhaps not romantically, but he knows you’re hungry before you do. 

Shivering? Not around him he knew to warm you before you knew you were chilled.

Tired, and he somehow has drafted you for a cuddle and nap session or has told the other guild members to go away so you can nest in a corner where he can keep an eye and make sure you are safe

Guild member pissed you off, he’s already squaring up to fight with you

You are feeling needy? He's right there giving you a hug

It all stems from his fighting experience funnily enough. He’s gotten really really good at reading body language because of it and he has yours down to an art form.

Natsu is strong and independent despite his love of skinship and kinship. However he will always be longing to be just a little bit closer to you and his gifts sometimes reflect as much.

Never in his life before would he have wanted to buy a massage, but here he is getting vouchers for couples massages. He heard about it from Elfman and it was a lightbulb moment.

Matching funny hats at the amusement park

Small little quirky dates to places to do things together, like making matching earrings. Or a food tour of a town together, quality time is his utmost number one gift and treasure. It's the best thing you can give him too, volunteer to spend time together and he is over the moon.

This goes without saying but Natsu is above all else, protective. You are strong or weak, it doesn't change this, he will fight god and anyone who looks down on you or tries to hurt you. Even if it's a guildmate in a pre ordained face off, someone will need to hold him back. You are too precious to him to risk losing, so please stay by his side forever.

[awkward-tension-art]

Clones and Your Grief HC's

I’m coping with the fact that a family member died by writing headcanons for copy-paste-men. Yes, this is entirely self indulgent. Yes, I am writing based on what I had felt/gone through in the last 24 hours.

CW: Death of family member, reader is gender neutral, This isn’t proofread at all, grief, mourning, If i miss a tag lmk

Clones: Rex, Fives, Wolffe, Hunter, Echo, Wrecker, Tech, Crosshair

Minors DNI

You got the call this morning. Right before you got ready for work, you got the call of your family member passing away in the night. no warning. all so sudden.

It felt like you were struck with a speeder. Then, you felt nothing. 

Logically, you knew it was shock. Your brain was overloaded, and you were unable to process. You weren't incapacitated yet, so you got up.

You have work to do.

So you went to work, shutting down and doing what you needed to do in order to make it through the day. You were in a daze the entire time. 

Time went by too fast but also too slow.

You don’t even know when you got home. You just know that you clocked out and walked into your apartment. Unsurprisingly, your clone lover, who had a key, wanted to see you that night.

He took one look at you and knew something was seriously wrong.

When you told him, the grief finally hit you. 

Rex

Will hold you, remaining silent.

He's lost brothers on the field and was forced to continue as if nothing happened. He knows why you shut down due to shock that morning.

So he understands.

He's just going to hold you tightly, and not let go until you do.

Rex is well aware that sometimes talking about it isn't going to help. So he keeps quiet and lets you speak when your ready.

He's a silent comfort. Let's you come to him if you need him to hug you, listen to you or cuddle you.

Fives

Immediately his arms are around you and he's whispering comfort

He might get teary-eyed too out of pure empathy.

He knows grief. he knows pain. and he knows what your feeling. So he wants to help you through it.

He had shut down too before, and only truly felt the emotion afterward. He gets how numbness might hit you in waves.

He'll go with you to the funeral if you want. he just wants to be by your side to help you.

Expect a lot of cuddling, honestly. He just wants to hold you and not let go until he's certain your alright.

Wolffe

He was one of 4 survivors of his entire legion getting killed. Trust me, he knows the feeling of grief.

His brothers and him all leaned on each other through their grief, and he's going to do the same for you.

He'll ask what you need, and act accordingly.

He's a steadfast shoulder to cry on. Like Rex, he doesn't talk much.

You'll have to go to him, he isn't going to push or pry. He knows if he tries to force you to feel what your not ready to feel, it'll do more harm than good.

He'll hold you, keep you close and try to give you everything you need.

Hunter

He knows something is wrong even before you walk through your door.

He's the type to try and comfort with the usual words of 'It'll be ok' or 'they're in a better place.'

If this doesn't help you much, he's flexible and patient. He'll adapt to what you need from him. Space? you got it. Closeness? he's there.

He's going to catch on very quickly if you don't eat or drink properly, so he's going to be pushy in that regard.

Hunter isn't going to let you abandon yourself because of your grief.

Like I said, he's patient and flexible, he'll do whatever he needs to help you through your grief.

Echo

He's the softest out of all of them. He's going to hold you, kiss your face and just be there for you.

Like Fives, he's extremely empathetic. He'll shed a tear just because your crying.

He'll take care of you, honestly. bring you meals, brush your hair (if you want), help you to bed, everything.

Your his heart, and he's in actual pain that your grieving.

Though, if you shut down the same way you did that morning, he's going to worry

He understands how quickly someone can spiral in grief, and he's going to move the entire galaxy to help you.

Wrecker

Like Rex, he's holding you and never letting go.

He's going to try and distract you, make jokes, get you outside into the sun, or get you moving at the very least

He won't allow you to close yourself off. He'll give you space, but he won't let you shut him down completely.

Also wants to attend the funeral with you, if you allow him. He'd be holding your hand the entire time. Though, if it's a family-only event, he understands.

He's pretty quick to pick up on what you need. You need someone to hold you? he's there. You need to get your grief-driven anger out? He's got a pipe ready and some scrap piles that need beating up.

He's going to be by your side through it all.

Tech

First thing he asks is 'What happened?'

Admittedly, he gives some standard responses, such as 'I'm sorry for your loss' and other things like that.

If it doesn't help much, he stumbles slightly. He knows your going through mourning. He knows whats happening logically. but he can't logic his way through this.

So, Tech is going to act with his gut feeling, and try his best to help and comfort you.

He does some researching and looks more into how best to help you through your grief. He's fully prepared depending on the stage of grief you've hit.

He'll talk you through the bargaining phase. Help you get your anger out. Make sure your eating and taking care of yourself through the depression phase.

He's with you, to the best of his ability.

Crosshair

He's not going to say a lot. his words are minimal at best, instead opting to physically comfort you.

He becomes...protective. more so than usual.

It's because your at an extremely vulnerable position emotionally and mentally. He'll be damned if he lets something or someone cause you any more pain and grief.

He's going to attend the funeral with you. if its family-only he's going to go anyway and remain at a distance. Practically shadow you.

Crosshair is going to be extremely sweet and soft holding you. He doesn't want you to bottle up your emotions, so he's going to just wrap his arms around you and let you cry.

Again, his comfort is more physical rather than verbal.

[sukunasweetheart]

can i just say i love your fics SMMMM my serotonin boost fr!!! what do we think abt him with an s/o who has a lot of admirers 👁

THANK YOUU here is a treat 4 u <3

sorry i ended up doing too much and also going off-topic a bit oops

it ended up becoming modern au!sukuna 😭 forgive me (gender neutral reader)

sukuna is so used to being the one overshadowing the others - he's used to being the one admired, revered, respected, for his power and intelligence. it's safe to say he'd also be used to seeing people fight each other just for a lick of his attention - desiring for even just a glance from his way. so it's a given that he's not used to feelings of possessiveness or jealousy.

but now that he has you, someone who always has others admiring you from both closeby and afar, he's beginning to understand those petty sensations and thoughts. he's obviously never one to be insecure about your popularity, on most occasions, he even likes to make a show of it - he enjoys seeing them gnashing their teeth with envy as he flaunts his relationship with you in front of their faces - "see this? all mine," he seems to say, as he openly kisses you in public.

but when it catches him on a bad day, perhaps following a bad argument, he sees you with someone who is obviously interested in being more than just a friend to you (which you're not aware of, frustratingly so), and he starts feeling sick to his stomach. with everyone else who came before you, sukuna would simply tell them "don't like it? then leave," whenever they voiced complaints to him about their relationship... but now it's the opposite of what he wants. just the thought of you being with someone that isn't him gets his heart dropping to the ground, making him feel restless.

he knows he isn't the best at being soft. nor at using the kindest words when he gets heated. he'll always be more selfish than selfless, and he's not the most emotionally intelligent. it's unlike him to use words like 'i'm sorry' or 'i love you' so he's uneasy for the moment where you might find someone who'll be everything that he isn't amongst your sea of admirers, and that you'll leave him and never look back.

it's simply so humiliating, feeling this way... he's not sure what to do about it. you seem to be seriously upset this time around, and he knows brushing past it or glossing over it using his usual charm (which is a bad habit that he has) isn't going to work. you're not acknowledging him or responding to his texts properly or saying good morning or goodnight and it's driving him insane because he misses it... you're not looking at him. he's the one gazing at you, longingly.

sukuna will pin you down eventually, somewhere, somehow, and trap you so that you're not able to avoid him any longer. he'll drag you away from your stupid little crowd of spectators and talk to you in private, where'll spend ten minutes trying to apologise in a strange, roundabout and aggressive way because he knows it's his own damn fault. you know him, so you're able to recognise that he's trying to say sorry. your gaze is still elsewhere, looking off to the side instead of him. and that bothers him immensely.

"why won't you look at me?" god, he sounds so sad and pathetic.

truth is, sukuna now simply withers out and dies a little without your attention. what can he do to have that spotlight upon him once again? why are your eyes on anybody, anything, that isn't him? pay attention to me, and me only.

when you finally spare him a glance, he feels like breathing again. and he'll fight tooth and nail to keep that gaze of yours on him. fuck your insignificant and measly admirers. he's all you need, and sukuna's going to make sure of it. (he'll compromise for you, if he has to.)

he's definitely overstimming you in bed that night, in order to catch up on all the lost pride and attention that you'd deprived him of.

tagging; @gojos-thot-patrol <3 hope its to your liking.. even tho its not as angsty as i originally intended it to be haha

Masterlist

[evelynpr]

bakugou for the character ask game?

Truly the teenage boy, shonen deuteragonist, love interest coded, gay asshole, of all time.

My first impression - Woah I did not understand why people were so into this guy. Like I get it, he's a flawed and loud pretty boy, he gets character development, and probably gay, but seriously him??? His mouth is so fucking foul and he is so up his ass. - I was meh with this character, enjoyed him in fan content, but just did not get why people were sooo into this guy.

My impression now - I cried in "Light Fades To Rain". Twice. - My god his growth...his will, his persistence, and by god his love for Izuku is so ridiculous and powerful I just cannot help but admire the little shithead. - He is also a lot more to me than I expected, with the whole "foul mouth shit", "high expectations bullshit", "violent urges", and "dedicating your whole life and love to someone you love and admire" and that...that makes me feel quite conflicted.

Favorite thing about that character - The thing about Bakugou is that...you just cannot help but wish you had the same kind of persistence, strength, will, and power that he does. I love how all this is initially so shallow and selfish, then grows to wanting to be a better and truer hero. He really learns and changes and is just an unstoppable force of nature, it's genuinely incredible and beautiful to watch.

Least favorite thing - I wished that the overall writing did go harder in making him stop bad-mouthing people and...everything so much. You can tell he did grow to respect and care for people around him more, but by gods he is sooo bad at communicating his feelings right now. (tbf, he is so fucking young and traumatized) - Also, really please stop hitting people. I get a knee-jerk reaction to that kind of physical violence sometimes ngl.

Favorite line/scene - There are so many. I already mentioned his death in "Light Fades to Rain" so I'll mention a different one - Team Bakugou in Class A vs B was so goddamn good, for being a monumental milestone of his character. How much he trusted his teammates and put himself in danger to save others, winning in the end. No injuries, no failures, truly a perfect beautiful victory. How he also pushes Deku to keep getting better afterwards in his usual constipated-ass language too. Man I just love that battle to death.

Favorite interaction that character has with another - (me pulling out scenes that aren't bkdk centered here hahaha) - I fucking LOVED the Bakugou vs Ochako fight. It made me love Ochako so so much as a kid. I really wished we had a follow-up to that battle, and it genuinely changed my life. - I love how it really shows just how focused and rational he is in battle. How he truly respects his opponents, Ochako in this case, and the sports festival really establishes so much about him.

A character that I wish that character would interact with more - Speaking of which...OCHAKO VS BAKUGO 2 COME ONNNN - There is SO MUCH these two need to talk about. How to save people, who they want to save, who saved them, never underestimating each other, how they changed and grew. I just love these two characters to bits, that's why I need them to FIGHT AND TALK SO BADDDD - Additional: Also Toga (see my post on Toga right before this one lmao), Shoto (because I still don't really get their friendship but its hilarious, and I love Shoto)

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character - I legit cannot think of anything here...like for Toga...I am so sorry my brain is blanking T__T - It's hard to be a massive anger-issue filled, victory-focused, die for their lover (twice), amazing chef, all at once, kinda guy...you know?

A headcanon about that character - I am a believer in trans!fem Bakugo in the future. He's so ridiculously angry for some reason, voice always cracking, and just on-edge for some reason. Idk I just think its hilarious and satisfying if he transed his gender in the future and became happier and more comfortable.

A song that reminds of that character - I also have a Bkdk playlist in the making! Here's some bkg focused songs in character development order: - Boys will be Bugs, President Perfect, Top of my School, Oh No!, I'm Gonna Win, The Last of the Real Ones, Skyfall, Die For You, Set Fire to the Rain

An unpopular opinion about that character - Like Toga, he actually isn't possessive. I think he quite well understands and accepts that Izuku is a very loving person that many people are easily drawn to (I mean, he'd be a hypocrite if he didn't understand that). - He is protective instead of possessive. He keeps an eye out for anything and anyone who could possibly actually hurt Izuku, but he doesn't hold him back at all in hanging around with others, and when other people fall for Izuku either. - He is actually quite skinny, and doesn't have the big thick buff guy build. Those go to Izuku and Iida more imo.

Favorite picture - I never really thought of this much??? I love art of him being softer, more solemn, quiet and contemplative even. I guess I'll go pick out some favs right now...

Here they are! Hope you enjoy the post lmao

[psychelis-new]

pick a pile: "Who are/will be your friends"

take a breath and choose the photo or number that calls you the most to read about how your friends see you and/or how you may be meeting your new friends and what they will think about you/how they will see you. Also no offence for the pics choice, I love sheeps.

don’t take the reading too seriously. only take what resonates with you and leave the rest. if you're not called by any pile, let this reading slid as it may not hold messages for you. if you're called by more than one pile, there may be messages in each of those piles. remember that is a general reading and some things may not resonate with you. energies can change and readings are based on present ones (as you read); you're always in charge of your life.

(photos found on unsplash)

- ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

1 2 3 4

’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

pile 1

These are people that are pretty similar to you. You may be knowing them for a lot now, for some they may be childhood friends or something. You just need to look at them to be able to read their mind and understand what they think. Huge deep bond. For others, they may be part of your soul family or a past life partner/friend/connection. Okay there are two situations here: 1) you know them so deep down, every small detail about the other, that basically you are the same person and you support each other and care and really talk like 24/7 about any little thing that happens and you are very aware of how the other changed through the years (it could be also for new people: you talk a lot and tell the other everything about your life in a few days); 2) you have been knowing each other for long (or even just met) but you don't really know the other's favorite color, for example. It's a slightly different type of friendship. It's close, it's caring, but it's not as deep as one would imagine. You may even go a few days/weeks without talking and it's fine, when you meet again, it's like nothing happened. The care, the support, the help are there in whatever case. And it works for y'all, so why not. In both cases I think it involves you and another max. 2 people, not more (but it could be just 1). You may be kinda introverted people or just enjoy some time off occasionally, to recharge or do your own things. But you end up being there for the other if they need, no matter what. You may even sleep to each other's place to be able to share your experiences during the evening/night. For many of you I feel it's a same gender friendship for others is a different gender one, and for a few ones this person may turn into your romantic partner.

song: tú | maye

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pile 2

Very protective friends. They kinda shield you. If you meet someone new, maybe even a love interest, they are pretty jealous of you and need to know everything about this person before feeling okay with you going out with them. They may even stalk this person on socials? Masculine/boss energy, but it doesn't have to be a male person ofc (or people... actually I'm getting 3-4 people, so it could even be mixed). You may be knowing them from high school or college/university, for some of you they may be your colleagues. Very grounded, stable energy, I am feeling like those superhero that stand in front of you to protect you from a possible danger. This may turn into something toxic tbh, cause they should trust you and let you leave your life the way you need... it's just that they don't want you to suffer, probably cause you've been suffering a lot through your life. It's very nice and cute of them ofc, but it's also their codependency talking: be aware of this and talk things out with them if they are a bit too controlling and protective of you. They may be needing to work on themselves, on these parts of them, these triggers. The moment they realize all this with your help, things will change for everyone and be more easy to afford. Find a way to compromise, to come together to an healthier point with time and patience. They will change their approach and point of view on life and on you, and accept that you can and need to experience your life as you're an adult and you can take care of you too. And you can even get hurt while living. But you can survive, they'll know. And they'll be there to support you whenever you need. Huge older brother/sister energy. Even crush energy for a few (you are their crush).

song: boyfriend | dove cameron

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pile 3

Huge "squad" energy. You may be all the same gender and like to go out and enjoy all together. If someone is missing for any issue, you feel their absence and find ways to be with them anyway maybe through a phone call. Let's say one person of your team is ill, you may renounce to a night out and go to their place to cheer them up and be with them. You totally do anything together. I think it's about 4-5 people here, including you. You like to go out at night especially, go to parties/pubs and dance together. Maybe you like to make fun of guys/people trying to approach you (if applicable)? But sometimes it's different... I see you, not gonna go there with this reading, sorry. :) I think you may share courses too, maybe college or dancing courses, or play in a sport team (even cheeleaders?)... something like that. You spend a lot of time together also during the day. You like shopping together, eating together... you talk a lot too. There's some kind of sisterhood or brotherhood here. You're there to help each other, your are totally a group, like "bro's before ho's". Together you're stronger, like nothing can hit you and having the others' support is fundamental. But from cards it seems you don't always talk about heavy stuff or past stuff (before you got together), at least not with everyone there. That's probably something you may need to do, to be more open about anything you don't like or how you really feel inside. It's true that y'all enjoy being together but if you feel down, not all of your friends may notice or you (or one friend) may hide that. Your squad is strong, please find ways to talk about your mental health together: you can get out of any personal problem also thanks to your friends, you don't have to hide and push it all down night after night. Take courage and speak up, you will be understood by your friends (or ask your friends to speak if you feel something isn't right with them). None of you is a burden for the others, you should know that.

song: i choose you | mario

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pile 4

Your friends are or will be pretty different from you (etnicity, background, upbringing, culture, ideas, "social class"...). They are very caring of you, very kind and generous and indeed, very different even among them. They see you as very sweet and they kinda feel protective of you but in an healthy way. It feels like y'all complete each other. You learn a lot from each other too. Lot of fun times together, lot of laughs, but also nice talks at night even on heavy topics or sharing your lives' experiences. They may help you heal some parts of you that still need work (maybe some fears or insecurities about yourself and how you can be perceived by others/in relationships of any type), they'll help you be more focused and determined, more you. Very supportive group. They help you also working towards your dreams, finding your true call and desire and create your own dream outcome. They help you know yourself better too. Just by communicating with them, you find ways to reach your inner side more easily. They balance you very well, and help you stay balanced. It may be a spiritual connection too, they may be part (all of them or just a few) of your soul family, and you may be supposed to meet them at a specific time in your life. Some of you may be trying to manifest them in their life atm, it will happen the moment you let go and trust, especially yourself (work on your inner world to decide what you really want out of a friendship). There's no judgment here, it's a pure friendship. For some it may involve a slightly large group (around 5-6 or a few more people but no more than 8), for others it's 3-4 or less.

song: angel of mine | monica

[damnfandomproblems]

respond to a reply on this post: https://www.tumblr.com/damnfandomproblems/758279107941466112/fandom-problem-5461-cishet-being-used-to?source=share

"are you seriously equating making fun of a marginalized group to making fun of like, idk gender reveal parties or whatever people in your fandom make fun of cishets for doing? Like I don't mock people based on their sexuality but tell me that you do understand the difference between someone making fun of a marginalized group with a high suicide rate and someone poking fun at straight people.(Also, for the folks making racism comparisons: I'm white and when people make white people jokes about like, white people love avocado toast! White people love yoga and saying buddy! or whatever, 1) I don't mind 2) that's much different than a white person making fun of say, Black people.)"

As a poc, and specifically a queer (cisbi) native american (tlingit) who grew up around cishet white people, when it comes to online and fannish spaces I have noticed that people tend to cross the line from making harmless fun to just straight up expressing and encouraging hatred

While this is definitely a minority of people who believe and act out on these beliefs, there is a problem of people truly believing that cishet white people are all genuinely evil and inherently evil at that, and that the only way to "fix" (cleanse) the world of all problems would to be committed genocide in fandom spaces. They immediately assume the worse and dehumanize and rejected similarities they may share with cishet white people. It's absolutely prejudice and need to not only be called out, but utterly tossed in the bin

I get feeling uncomfortable or even wary of people who appart of the same kind of people who have oppressed you because you are not sure if they too have been indoctrinated into the bigotry, but we live in the modern era, more often then not you'll find that most cishet white people just don't care about poc and queer stuff

Cishet whites aren't responsible for crimes they weren't even alive for, that their ancestors committed. They are far more often ignorant because the education system is shit and has a lot racism/ableism/etc baked into foundation ontop of not really being how to do own research, then they are intentionally malicious and bigoted, and the best way to prevent them from being indoctrinated into bigotry is to just, expose them queers and poc who are chill with them and are willing to educate. Insulting them and assuming they want to hurt minorities just because they're cishet whites is the best way to push them into radical hands that will instead pain queers and poc as the ones who just want to hurt others for being cishet whites, because "obviously" why else would they immediately assume you want hurt them unless they want to hurt you?

Hating anyone for things they cannot control (race, gender, sexuality, etcetera) only breeds more hate. Yeah, don't tolerating bigots, but if genuinely can't stand a certain demographic of people ignore them rather then going out of your way to hate them. Educate if you can, or shut up when talking to people who haven't don't anything to you beyond offend your sensibly for committing the crime of being born a certain way, because otherwise you're just feeding into the genuinely malicious and bigoted peoples hands and making it easier for them to take the ignorant and make them malicious too

Hatred at the end of the day is hatred, sure, it might not be the racist or homophobic flavor of hatred, but it's still hatered. And no one should hate anyone, at least not for the things they can't control (because fuck pedos/rape-philies in general and murders and genuine racists of course, they can all go get shot, don't get me wrong and twist my words like I know some of y'all are just dying to do)

Posting as a response to a previous problem.

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

My (non-Jewish) anthropology professor made a really incorrect statement about the idea of Jews as “God’s chosen people”. When I (also non-Jewish but try to keep informed) corrected him, he brought up something else that sounded wrong to me: supposedly only Reform Judaism allows for conversion? I didn’t know enough to contest it at the time, but that really does not sound true to my ear, from the way I’ve heard Jewish people talk about it. Is there any truth to that?

Yeah, the Chosen People thing is often wildly and antisemitically misinterpreted to mean "We think we're G-d's Specialest Selected Elite People and the only people G-d actually loves and cares about" -- which like. Could not be further from the truth. What it actually means is: We were selected to do the project of the mitzvot of the Torah, which is a lot of extra homework that other people don't need to do but someone needs to do it. It's a lot more like "chosen to do the dishes" of the spiritual world than "chosen to be special." Now. Is there definitely some pride of place in doing the extra work? Sure! But at the same time, Jewish eschatology has always made room for non-Jews. We absolutely think non-Jews who live good lives and are decent, moral people have a solid place in the world to come. We aren't angling for a everyone to become Jewish because, kind of by definition, not everyone needs to do the ritual mitzvot. Live ethical lives and be decent to each other and us? Sure. Lay tefillin and daven three times a day and (during the Temple times) offer sacrifices and wave lulav fronds during Sukkot and eat matzah on Pesach and keep kosher and keep Shabbat? Etc.? Nope, that's our task and ours alone.

Now! If you feel personally called to living a life of Torah and believe that you have a Jewish soul and should be made part of Am Yisrael, the Jewish people, you can go through the lengthy process of conversion and (essentially) become a member of the Tribe? Yeah, you can do that. You better be real sure and go into it eyes open. You're going to need to be persistent and dedicated to studying and being present in the community. It's not encouraged, and traditionally rabbis would turn someone asking to convert away three times before accepting them as a student to make sure they were serious. In modern times, most rabbis are a bit more welcoming, but will still push you to seriously consider why you want to be Jewish. If the answer is still yes for you, then you can do it, if you must. Most gerim (converts) describe an experience very similar to how transgender folks describe our gender journeys - we can't be any other way, and wouldn't want to be. I'm both a convert and trans, and my sense of understanding myself as both non-binary and as a Jew are deeply held and equally compelling.

All branches of rabbinic Judaism accept converts. Some have a more strenuous process than others, and some take on very few converts. The more traditional the movement, the more likely it is that the person will be encouraged to explore other options. The reason for this is that the more traditional the movement, the more serious they take the binding nature of the commandments, and therefore adding another Jew (especially one who has so much to learn in a comparatively short time rather than being raised in it) is a risk that the person will revert back to their old ways or find something else later. Since we are judged collectively (Torah is a group project) and the future world to come hinges on us scrupulously observing the mitzvot (according to the more traditional movements) it is imperative that any late additions to the People be very serious and rigorous in their observance.

The liberal movements are a lot less intense about that, although it's also a spectrum. The Reform movement does not hold the ritual mitzvot to be binding, only the ethical mitzvot. They therefore lack the same incentive to avoid failed conversions. The Conservative/Masorti movement and some of the other traditional egalitarian communities do hold the mitzvot as binding, but are a lot more flexible about their expectations that everyone follow them. It's a lot more of a "do your best; we're here to support you" vibe. (That's my branch that I converted through.)

Each branch, to be clear, has their strengths and weaknesses, their merits and their drawbacks. Every Jew brings something to the table. The Reform movement (and similarly liberal smaller movements) are probably the most welcoming to gerim and have the fewest hoops to jump through, but every branch has a process and some amount of converts. Those that choose a more traditional movement typically support, respect, and value the extra hoops of the traditional movements and are willing to work within that system; at least that's how it was for me. I wanted it to be rigorous so that I was prepared and certain; I got that out of my giyur process. Other people have different needs and value systems that are equally valid.

[our-queer-experience]

I saw a trans person on tiktok talking about deadnames and how trans people need to stop, basically, stop being so sensitive about stuff. She said specifically "I want this cry baby era of trans people to end" and how trans people need to be more accepting of their deadnames and stop letting it hurt when people know them and use them and....I don't know, it just rubbed me the wrong way.

I can understand not letting things get to you and taking the power of transphobes to hurt you away from them, and I can understand that and do that with certain things, but I really disagree with what she said about deadnames.

Im glad she has a good enough relationship with her deadname to use it openly, but for her to say "it's a part of you, its a part of who you are" is just so ignorant. Like, your experience is not universal, no ones experience is universal. And she might just be talking into the void of the internet, but a lot of us are sensitive! I can have thick skin with transphobes and still admit that that stuff hurts my feelings. I'm not going to stop being sensitive inside just because I'm putting a mask on and pretending it doesn't hurt. It hurts.

Im glad she can hear her deadname without cringing, but I've hated my birth name quite literally my entire life. I remember hating it as young as seven. I've never liked it. My name is synonymous with everyone who has ever hurt me, its synonymous with my shitty family. When someone uses that name all I hear is "I don't see you." I don't even like thinking it.

So she can have her experience, and she can call me a cry baby trans person all she wants. But my deadname is not me, it is not a part of me, it has nothing to do with the real me. And if me preferring people calling me a tranny and a faggot over calling me by my deadname makes me a cry baby sensitive trans person then so be it.

i think the biggest problem lots of trans activists have is that we focus on the idea of a universal experience, and if not everyone fits that then, well, they should.

i think its great that trans people are allowed to be sensitive. where i’m positioned…

the friend groups im in and the relationships i have with my friends parents is kinda dependent on me being the good transgender. i’m pretty gender conforming, which is a personal thing, but it allows me a level of trust. for example, if a parent is supportive but just doesn’t understand gnc trans people who arent exclusively homosexual, they feel comfortable asking me rather than the internet, which would probably give them bad information. and if i’m misgendered or deadnamed, i have a “grin and bear it” mentality- not because i want to, but because if i have to explain to those cis friends why puberty blockers for preteens(11-13) are ok, they’re more likely to see me as a serious and trusted source. this even extends to other things- when the “cringy” trans person said acab, one of our friends who isnt too into politics got really reactionary about it. when they came to me, i was capable of explaining it in a way that got him to consider it seriously. even if he’s still pro-cop.

so, yeah. i love it when other trans people are allowed to be sensitive. i love it when we can be angry and sad and anxious and upset without facing consequences, and i think that’s progress

[runningpsychic]

Why Goodbye Volcano High resonates with me as...

...a musician

As a musician, it's hard not to immediately identify with Fang. What musician doesn't want their music to be heard, to play at music festivals, and have music as their career. I can wax poetic about how music is about self expression and it doesn't matter if I have an audience, but in the end, I still want my music to be heard, and enjoyed. And Fang is on track to making this their entire career.

Making music has been a minor hobby for me. Even as a kid, I knew there's almost no chance I can make it as a musician, so I went down the route of being a software engineer instead. It's such a minor part of my life that I don't even bother identifying as a musician, I just fool around with instruments. But something about GVH ignited that passion in me, and during my first playthrough, I wrote six songs inspired by themes in the game. Even if I'll stay an amateur, I want to make the most from life, and not let the fire die. (See last section)

All that said, I felt very bad for Fang throughout the game. I know how tough the life of a full time musician is. The industry is just completely screwed. And unlike me, Fang doesn't have another option other than music. The game also drives it in that Fang's friends all have viable career paths, while Fang doesn't. But then, the meteor throws an interesting wrench into this, as now Fang is the only one who achieved their dreams. I'm not sure what the point of this paragraph is besides fuck capitalism, give musicians a living wage.

...an enby

Fang really made me more comfortable about being non-binary. It's amazing seeing enby representation that doesn't feel shoehorned in, or merely an afterthought. It's actually integral to the story. Both Fang and Sage struggle having their parents take their identities seriously, and that mirrors my own fears of not being taken seriously as an enby myself, which leads me to only come out as non-binary to my closest friends, and just remain a binary trans woman to everyone else.

It's honestly amazing to see everyone in Caldera Bay being accepting of the queer cast, like being queer isn't a big deal at all. And that's how it should be. Everyone just calls Fang by their name and pronouns (except their parents of course), and no one seems to mind that Reed brought Alvin to prom. This really makes me feel more comfortable about my identity, and I feel proud to be queer. We don't owe them normal.

...an immigrant

It's so rare to see stories about the intersection of being trans and being an immigrant, so when I read Rosa's story, I felt it must've been written by someone who also has first hand experience. There's a distinct feel from my family that me being trans is a "western" thing, not something they could ever understand. Or worse, that I'm being corrupted by "the west" in some way by moving there. There's so much extended family I can never see again because I'm now an abomination of the family tree.

I find it really difficult to talk about this as I fear I'd be misread as being racist for suggesting that my home country is more queerphobic or something, but that isn't my point. I just want to tell my story, and my experience of being alienated for both culture and gender, in both my origin and destination countries, is one that most folks can't emphasize with. (Venba also does do a good job with the culture part, so you should check that out too)

There's a separate rant about how this brand of queerphobia was actually planted by Christian missionaries and not at all "traditional culture", but that's for another time.

...someone struggling with mental health

I've been obsessed with the game for months since I played it. I went through what everyone calls "Dino depression", but I think it really helped me, and it was the game I needed to play at this moment in my life. I struggle with depression and burnout. At times it can be hard to know what the point is, or feel that any of this is worth it. The first few weeks after the game, I actually felt more depressed, as I thought about what the point of life is if it all is temporary anyway, and what I would do if a meteor were to hit in 8 months. And I was scared, because I felt like my life wasn't under my control. Over time, I've learned to think about it more positively. If life is temporary, then it's up to me to make the most of it. If life has no meaning, it's up to me to make my own meaning. I have amazing friends around me, and I still have tons of music to make.

[themuseinthewoods]

Headcanons for coming out to the characters Troy (2004)

thank you @streets-in-paradise for encouraging me to just go ahead and write this, I really needed that. Your my biggest supporter writing for this fandom anyway, I seriously appreciate you so much.

I'm bisexual, and imagining these guys reacting well had really helped me, I wanna put it out there so maybe somebody will also find comfort in this. Covers both modern and ancient times.

It doesn't matter which part of the rainbow you are, I tried to cover all bases. Love y'all!

I use Queer and LGBTQIA+ as umbrella terms

Characters are Achilles, Patroclus, Hector, Paris, Helen, Briseis, Thetis (Achilles mother), and Odyessus

this is basically pure fluff. fluffier then cotton.

Achilles

Okay, your attracted to more than one gender? good for you! thanks for telling him.

you don't want a relationship or sex with anyone? Send em his way, he'll either sleep with them or tell them off for trying to get with you

your not the gender that you were assigned at birth or non-binary? he's confused, but he will do his best to understand.

if this is in the ye old Greek era, he's very supportive and very protective. He prides himself in the fact that you trust him to keep your secret or to know this about you if it isn't a secret and he will defend you against anyone

he's added a couple names to his 'i have killed list' for you

If its modern era, well, he can't kill people for you but he will protect you.

will take you to pride parades/events, he'll let you do his makeup/hair, he's not wearing an outfit besides a t-shirt that says safe person

for both eras, your family doesn't accept you? fuck that, they don't deserves you, he's your family now, come on, his moms your mom now and Patroclus is your new cousin

he gives good (if not aggressively encouraging) pep talks and will hold you while you cry, if you need to, although he doesn't believe you have any reason to cry because he has a very fuck the haters approach

Patroclus someone please make more gifs of him

poor, sweet, innocent child

he knows the basics, but he is gonna ask so many questions for you regarding everything

he's so supportive though

thinks (knows) you're so brave to tell him this, you're his new role model

ye old Greek era, he will include it in any ballads he writes including you and what makes you so unique

in modern era, he knows.

oh fuck, he knows more then YOU do

he may be a little straight boy but HE HAS BEEN TRAINING FOR THIS

will go to pride parades/events, you want to dress him up with makeup and hair? sure, but only if you want him too

for the both, he will support you, even if you have others, he's your personal cheerleader

Hector

okay so, this guy

this guy will realize through you all the issues with troys support systems for LGBTQIA+ are kinda lacking and in both the ye old Greek era and modern times, depending which one

he's a lil confuzled, ngl, but he will take every idea he has for you for tweaking and opinions until its the best it can be

hes a quiet supporter most of the time, there is obviously more to you then your identity as someone who is Queer, your a separate person, duh

he gives the best hugs though, and he'll let you cry over something related to it for a while, he will eventually tell you that whatever it is doesn't deserve your tears or your time

your family doesn't support? whether you were kicked out or cut off, he's got you

you live with him and his fam in the palace and he acts like you have always been there

Paris

Asks so many questions when you first come out

cries because omg you trust him enough to tell him something so personal, what did he do to deserve this?

big supporter, even if he sometimes forgets, he is really trying his hardest

gives me bi vibes so much honestly

take him to pride events and he will cry because you trust him so much

Helen

shes so confused at first

not because she doesn't know what you mean by why you look so scared

she'd hope that at least her past would help you know that you will never be judged by her unless you are a violent, hateful bastard we don't like Menalaus here folks-

so protective

she'll do pride events, heck she'll host them, go all out with the rainbow decor

adopts you as a part of her family whether yours supports it or not

Briseis make more gifs of her please

this sweet girl hugs you so tightly

she's so excited, shes gonna tell you other people she's heard of and she is gonna tell you which God or Goddess is gonna favor you the most

will help you with anything

transitioning? she'll get you clothes that make you feel more like yourself

non-binary? will find you outfits that have no gender

attracted to a certain type or multiple? shes your wing woman

not attracted to anyone? that's fine, in her eyes your even stronger then the gods

will dress up and do her hair and makeup for pride

Thetis (goddess and mother of Achilles)

supportive mum <3

hugs you so tightly all the time now

in modern times, she'll get a t-shirt that says free mom hugs, with a rainbow next to it

she is so supportive, she brings everything from condoms and snacks, to painkillers and friendship bracelets, to water and a spear change of clothes and shoes

in ye old Greek era, she will get her son to kill anyone who is to rude

Odyessus

supportive

might just say "huh, cool. thanks for telling me"

hugs you more often though

i don't know what else to write

he's only going to pride events if you beg

will end anyone who harms you

love y'all so much!

hugs, hugs to everyone.

[velvetvexations]

That sounds a lot like my interpretation of Boys Will Be Bugs~!

I bent over backwards and crafted an elaborate theory as to why Eminem's Abracadabra isn't too terribly transphobic, I can't judge anyone for making excuses for the media that's important to them.

I don't think characters just being heroic and sympathetic necessarily covers getting something like this badly wrong, but a lot of other Velveteers also chimed in, including this anon:

(Just realized this is pretty silly, feel free to ignore me/not answer this, I just saw One Piece mentioned and the hyperfixation jumped out.) But just to go to bat for One Piece a smidge as someone who is trans and read all of it, while yeah Okama(Queen Ivan) leaned very transmisognistc(which was made worse in the anime for some reason??) the intention for him, his subjects, and the other gender fluid character, Bon Clay, was meant to be good. It fell HELLA short, but there was an attempt at least. However!! I did want to add, the comic has been going on for a long time, and by one of the more recent arcs with two new, very clearly openly trans characters, things are MUCH better! The transfem one, Kiku, says outright when asked that she's a woman at heart which is accepted by everyone, and her story was really sweet and made me tear up(her anger is never treated as predatory or masculine, she's allowed to just be a woman who is also a samurai), and the other transmasc one, Yamato, is referred to as a boy by everyone despite him not changing his presentation at all, which is pretty rad imo given how hostile people can be to transmasc people with breasts, and both characters are allowed to bathe in the baths that match their genders at the end of the arc. They were still a little messy in the "yeah this wasn't written by a trans person" way, and certain misogynistic/transphobic parts of of the fandom on reddit get a little weird about Yamato, but I didn't see anything glaringly wrong with the way either of them was written like with Okama or Bon Clay. The vibe I got from the comic was that early on Oda meant well and included some characters who were intended to be positive rep but were messy and fell very short, but as time passed he figured it out and the more recent ones are genuinely phenomenal rep. Ofc that doesn't mean you need to read/watch OP(especially since again the transmisogny is worse in the anime?? still don't understand what happened there but Oda had no control over it) like god I would never tell anyone to do that lol, but I did want to just chime in and offer a perspective from someone who read it and felt like the more recent rep was really good and worth mentioning. Oda has his issues for sure, and has a lot to make up for, but based on what I've read he IS making up for it.

And, honestly, that makes me really happy! Oda always seemed like a cool guy and it's great to know he is in fact a real cool guy. According to @changelingfangs in the replies, he's friends with people in the subculture he based a lot of those characters on.

They're now just openly accusing me of not being a trans woman because trans women don't identify as AMAB and I'm apparently hostile to every trans woman that talks about transmisogyny.

...no?

It's a good theory and I think that plays a part in it for sure, but I think mostly it's just thinking it's the worse thing because it's their group's oppression. It again kinna goes back to that Lennon/Ono song with the n-word in the title, that's just how radical feminism works, trans/misogyny is the only thing that really matters.

Still, interesting thread to have spotted here and I think it's in that soup somewhere.

imagine thinking using a meme format is asserting a cultural claim to it

like seriously, has any Black person ever said that there was something wrong with "deracializing" either or even both characters in the Dis _ Look So Mad meme by substituting them with white characters?

[sparkles-oflight]

I wasn't going to post this. I saw everyone jumping on the "let me tell you my emotional connection to joker out" train and I wasn't going to participate because.....well....my annoying ass already said everything there needs to be said through tags on random posts (I should really learn how to shut my mouth).

But now it's 4 am (thank you Rosa Linn, I can't say that seriously ever again), I'm having trouble sleeping since I'm not fully recovered from my cold, so, fuck it.

I'll go on a rant so... I'll add the little thing that "divides" the post so that is easier to skip

Ah....where to start...I could tell you how I started enjoying joker out but that's a wholeass post on itself...

So, I'm going to start with how I connect to each member.

Bojan, you were the one who "opened the doors" to me. Frontman doing his service. In Bojan I saw a lot about myself. I saw a guy who loves to make bad puns, who loves languages and brag about their multicultural knowledge. I saw a guy who can be awkward at times, who deal with anxiety problems... Who says they'll stay away from Social media and then proceeds to post the most unhinged things. I saw someone who likes to understand societies as well (please be my tutor, I really need to pass sociology this is year) and likes to fight stereotypes.

Kris told us Bojan's parents can be a bit more judgy and without going into a lot of details, I'll say I also understand that so much (I didn't want to bring sexuality into this, but even if Bojan turns out to be straight, I still relate to all the pressure is parents must put on him just because he goes against "the norm" in the Balkans).

Kris...my bitch.

(Jk jk, I love him a lot).

How do I start?

Kris and I honestly have a lot of common too. The whole "bullying for falling at being one gender" thing hits so close. I don't talk about my gender much but I currently identify as a enby/gender fluid. However, for most of my life I was terrified of failing as a girl.

I remember coming home and asking my mom why was I different from the other girls (NOT IN THE WAY YOU ARE THINKING, PLS, I'M QUITE LITERALLY JUST NOT A GIRL 😅) and she would reply stuff like "Of course you are like the others, you have a vagina like them" - this sounds so bad and it made me feel so much worse because it didn't provide me with an answer at all to the bullying I endured. I had short hair, liked "boyish" things and so I was called a boy (+I got transphobic comments too ✌🏽😙). I was never as close with the girls because of it and boys would also exclude me from being too close to them. I was in the middle and I had to change my personality countless times to fit my assigned gender.

Now that I'm in university, I finally figured myself out and it's so refreshing waking up to see myself with short hair again, with more "genderless" clothes, having no problems with my little "moustachio" and being able to appreciate what I see in the mirror... learning to love myself.

Kris as we know him identifies as a man. He, however, also learned how to break the gender stigma (AND THAT OUTFIT IS A FUCKING STATEMENT) and learned that having confidence in himself is all that matters. No matter how long your hair is, no matter how you dance or sing, no matter the color of your pants. Be yourself and be proud of you are is really what matters!

Jan....I actually don't have a lot to say (I think I wasted most my words with Kris), but just like Kris I also love how comfortable Jan feels in himself and how little he seems to care about what others think. I love his sense of humor and his style. I love his voice and how sometimes he can get a little embarrassed off-stage...I would just really love to have him as a best friend honestly. He probably zones out instead of listening, but oh well 😅

Naceeeeee, my teddy bear. I also don't have the energy to dive too deep in the topic, but as someone who also struggled with body image issues, I'm so proud whenever Nace feels comfortable on his own skin. It's refreshing.

But obviously I gotta mention that post. It's kinda funny to me that he wrote that when I'm currently writing a story for my script class about how it is to live with divorced parents and how the feeling of belonging is something we strive for.

It's something I definitely struggled with all my life and it's getting worse as time goes on. It's so refreshing to see another person go through and talk about it and seeing that they reached the happy ending I'm also looking for...

Jure le chatton. You know I don't usually talk much about you because we know nothing about your life. However, that interview where you said you asked your mom why you were problematic, hit me hard. For a lot of reasons I have mentioned before, but also because I'm considered problematic by both my parents. I don't want to get into many details... It's 4m after all.

There's one thing I was going to mention on Bojan's part, but I figured it would fit the whole band.

I really really am looking up to these guys. They are around my age and they have done so much already. I have been stuck in the past couple of years due to my depression - and realistically I never thought of actually turning 18, let alone 20 - and seeing how much they worked hard makes me want to work hard myself. I haven't been able to, but hopefully I will...

Also, everyday I have been waking up in a good mood knowing I have met some incredible people thanks to this fandom and the boys! Like, excuse people actually care about what I write, what???? 😅

It's been a great experience so far. Let's see what this will bring me in the future :)

[lolia21]

I guess this is just what I do on this website now... 

Ok lets Go! 

One Piece, Law, and Femininity

Preface: Three warnings and a Request

Warning!!!

Let's get this out the way. I do ship Law and Luffy. That doesn’t matter to this particular theory/analysis but it's better to be upfront about one's personal biases. I don't think it's canon nor do I think it ever will be. But if anyone wants to use this for their own ship theories, have at it. 

This writing “theory” I have doesn’t apply to children because they kind of inherently fall into a third category. Their age tends to naturally make them more vulnerable and in need of assistance. When it comes to gendered writing children tend to get a pass. There are many reasons why but that's not what this is about.

Sanji is a newer and only other expectation to this “theory”.  More on that at the end. 

Request: If you don't think Yamato is a dude, this is not for you. The whole point of talking about feminism in this regard is to talk about how femininity is performed and perceived. Gender is a social construct and how we construct it is important to the feminine conversation. If you cant accept and understand that... read a few essays and come back later. Seriously I am talking about roles, behavior and presentations of gender here. Also I want to support my son (he’s older than me but, still). 

Part 1: Oda Writes the Backstories of Female Characters the Same Way he Draws Them.

A lot of people push back on the idea that Oda only knows how to draw the same female character by pointing at characters like Big Mom or Dandan. So I would like to change the phrasing. Oda only knows how to draw attractive women characters one way. When they're old hags, he's got options. But if they’re even supposed to be mildly attractive then he’s got one option in a variety of colors and accessories. He writes their backstories in roughly the same way. They have a lot of big differences. I can honestly say most important people in one piece have unique and interesting back stories and goals. But the skeleton of almost all the women are the same. I only say almost because One Piece has a stupid amount of characters and there is a 10% chance that some minor character from some obscure island in East Blue somehow flew under my radar. But this rule does apply to all the main women characters. Let's talk about it. 

1a. Oda Loves Taking Away Women's Autonomy. 

Seriously Oda cannot resist putting women in positions where they are either slaves, or working in a group that they are opposed to, or living under constant threat of imprisonment, or some combination of those. Nami was enslaved at a young age by Arlong, Robin had to join CP9 because she needed protection from the world government and then almost got imprisoned by enies lobby. Vivi joined Cp9 to save her country. Hiyori spent years living with and presumably fxcking a man she hated hoping that one day someone else would be strong enough to defeat Kaido to get revenge. There are countless cases of women, specifically women, being sold to Celestial Dragons for the sole purpose of sexual slavery. Like shows up so fxcking often. Aces mom had to hold her child in her stomach for an extra 15  months to him from the marines and probably died because of it.  If Oda is writing an important woman character who is relatively young you better believe she spent years of her life not being in control of it. And if she's older, she either a mom of some kind or was a badass and settled down because some man in her life died, or both. 

1b. Women Need to be Saved in Order to Achieve their Goals and Men Need to be Supported. 

This is gonna be a little hard to explain but it all comes down to how problems are solved, who solves them and why. Kinda. I think the best way to explain it would be to give an example. Lets look at the first two members of the Strawhat Crew. Zoro’s goal is to be the strongest swordsman. Simple enough. He tries to fight Mihawk the moment they meet, he loses and swears to grow stronger and defeat him.  Nami has two goals, or more accurately she needs to accomplish one goal in order to achieve her true goal. Nami needs to get out from under Arlongs control in order to achieve her goal of mapping the whole world. She also wants her family to be able to live in peace and not be broke. Unless she accomplishes that first goal, she cannot accomplish the other two. She needs to be saved in order to continue her story. Because she’s  unable to save herself. Which is reasonable. She's just a person and Arlong is a super strong fish demon man. So Luffy saves her. He punches her problem away real good and she is now finally free to do what she wants. If you know anything about Laws character I'm sure you can see where this is going . Robin is the same, Luffy punches away the people that want to control her real good and declares that he will fight the entire world to let her have the chance to live freely.  

I brought this up with my dad and he brought up a great point. Marineford. He said well Luffy lost pretty bad in the paramount war and needed to be saved by many people. Even costing him Ace. But, I would like to point out that the people who did that, Akainu and Blackbeard are still roaming free. Luffy needed to be saved in the moment but he’s still going to be the one to resolve the issue. Like Luffy, Zoro, Franky, Jinbei, and Brook have all needed saving at some point during a fight. But they always get to square up and finish the ones that are important to them. And their goals don't require them to be saved before trying to achieve them. The point comes down to who's allowed to deal with the finishing blow to their main goals/ problems. Luffy isn’t going to punch Mihawk for Zoror, or make Ussops dad respect him, or whatever the fuck Jinbei wants. But he did fight Arlong for Nami, Cp9 for Robin and Doffy for Law. 

1c. Girls got to College to Get More Knowledge, Boys Go to Jupiter to Get More Stupider

The women of One Piece are objectively smarter than the men. Emotionally and Intellectually. Women in One Piece are normally more patient, less stubborn and willing to retreat when they have to. They also don’t get as love sick as the men. I mean Boa lets her feelings for Luffy get her into insane shit, but that's the joke. Like One Piece women aren’t really known for having someone's looks  affect them. There's a reason there is a most Beautiful Woman in the world with no male counterpart. Like Smoker is Zaddy and no one cares. Most of the guy characters who are overly sneaky and plotting are villains or assholes. That's not to say there aren’t smart men characters, Franky is a genius at his craft. But being smart and careful isn’t part of his character or reflected in his behavior. 

 Part II: Trafalgar D. Water Law,  The Saddest Little Uwu 

I haven't loved Law since the first time I saw him. I have loved him since punk hazard though which is pretty fxcking long. His strong Emo vibes and general refusal to go along with any of Luffy’s bits seemingly for the sole sake of keeping up an image that not one present cared about really endured him to me. I’m pretty trad goth and he reminds me of those emo kids that refused to wear pink or be nice just because they thought it wasn’t hard core enough. Then as the show goes on he develops into one of those healthy goths who know that being an outsider is about showing vulnerability, kindness and maybe dressing in a lil pastel. I really like Law and his weird role in the story so far. Ok, my I love Law rants are done let's get to what we need to get to.

Law before One Piece:

Trafalgar D. Waterlaw was born in Fleavance. He lived a pretty happy normal life, a doctor father, nurse mother and cute baby sister. Until he was about 7 or 8? Around that time the town of fleavance started experiencing some unknown illness. I will say in our real world it is pretty similar to what silicosis actually does to you. Minus the Vitiligo and some other symptoms.  In the world of One Piece its called amber lead poisoning and its almost completely fatal if not properly treated Which is hard to do on its own. But it's even harder in Law's case since the neighboring towns and probably the world government didn't really know what amber lead poisoning was or how it spread either. So they said fxck it, burn it down, kill everyone and call it a day. Problem solved!

So yeah, Law's family is dead, he escaped Flevance by hiding among corpses, and now he is slowly and painfully dying. 

Then it gets worse, it gets so much worse before it gets better. He pulls a Tim Drake and forces his way into the DonQuixote Family by threatening to kill himself and everyone else with a bomb. Because seeing everyone you know and love die painfully and then have the government cover that up will do that to you. Doffy sees a lot of himself in Law and decides, “yeah, this’ll do”. 

Doffys’ nicer but objectively less cool younger brother Corazon also sees a lot of Doffy in Law and decides to immediately put a stop to that shit. He slowly and secretly teaches Law how to enjoy at least some aspects of life. Shows him the first and true affection he’s been shown since his entire village died. It ‘s great. And then, TLDR, Corazon decides to betray Doffy, gets caught, stuff the Ope- Ope Fruit down Law's Throat so he can cure himself and then get shot to Death after saying I love you to Law for what is seemingly the first and last time. Also Sengokou was there.

We don’t really have a clear idea what Law did after this but we do know a few things. 

He became a pirate with the sole purpose of taking down Doflamingo 

 He seems to have chosen a submarine as a pirate ship in order to better hide from Doflamingo and also make it harder to attack him. Because Doffy is a devil fruit user. Even though Law is also a devil fruit user and this puts him in extreme danger. Especially since...

 He made a crew of people who are seemingly doctors 1st, friends 2nd and fighter 6th. Like none of Laws crew members appear to be even mildly good at fighting. I’m pretty sure Chopper could take most of them. 

He names his crew the Heart Pirates after Cora. Which implies that Spanish, just like real world Spanish, is canon in One Piece. And that also reminds me that Law is talking like a nun in his flashback. Is Law catholic? Or was he raised catholic? Either way it adds to the uwu and the trauma of it all. If you know, you know.

 He started working with Caesar Clown, a man he fxcking hates. In order to get closer to Doflamingos secrety secrets.

Pre-time  Skip Law

I’m skipping when we see him in Sabaody because all we learn is that he's edgy and has a bear. When we see him again after Marineford it's actually kind of interesting because we learn he’s also first and foremost a doctor before being a pirate. He saves Luffys life because that's what doctors do and Luffy doesn’t seem like a bad dude. 

Now the good shit.

Post Time Skip Law 

My booooyyy! Love of my life, my sad lil uwu. Law is introduced as one of the coolest, coldest, scariest Warlords. He will literally rip your fxckin heart out. Evanescence playing in the background and all. Luffy immediately undermines thats by not thinking he’s any of those things and tying chopper to his head. But we got a whole episode and a half of thinking he was actually too cool for school. Like we all thought he Shanks when he’s actually just Mihawk. Like his cool but also pretty easy to bully if he likes you even a lil and will let you get away with a lot. It’s just hard to get him to like you, at first. So we get through punk hazard, see what a glass canon Law is and move to Dressrosa. 

In between those two points we also see how sad Law is and how similar he is to both Robin and Nami in behavior. He was Robins darks sense of humor (from the trauma)  and general introvertedness (trauma!?) with Namis greed (did i mention trauma). Which makes sense for the back story we learn about. 

Dressrosa: The Holy Grail of Uwu Law 

Law, Luffy and Doflamingo in Dressrosa is what happens when you put Nami and Robins backstory in a blender with crack cocaine and Katya (the drag queen). It’s just this sad tired uwu man,that came to commit murder suicide, trying and failing to accomplish that goal. Only to be figuratively and literally dragged along by a lunatic that barely knows him. Like Law went to Dresrosa not hoping he would die but assuming he would and not really caring. He didn't have an exit strategy because he didn’t think he was exiting. His plan was to use Luffy as a shield, Ceasar as bait and then murder suicide himself and Domflamingo out of existence. He was so desolate by the time his second fight with him ended. He had no hope, his plans had failed and he even dragged a bunch of innocent people into the crossfire. He would die, the people of Dressrosa would die, the Strawhats would suffer and maybe die and all for Laws’ fruitless revenge. Then Luffy stopped that foot. And Law decided to stay. And Luffy beat up Doffy. And Law was free. For the first time in over ten years Law was free. 

Wano: Then He Stayed

Because he didn’t plan to make it this far. I laughed out loud when Law said they were enemies after Wano ended. Motherfxcker who? Law you don’t want to be pirate king. You barely want to be a pirate! Frankly at this point I think the only thing keeping Law from a non-deadly early retirement is Luffy, his bounty, and pride. And he can get rid (ignore) of two of those things (you won’t guess which!).  Law fought and almost died in Wano to fulfill the deal he made with Luffy. Even though Luffy would not have begrudged him on reneging on that deal. Law told him it was made in bad faith and he had fxck all to gain from fighting Kaido. But he did it, he believed in Luffy and Luffy punched the problem away like always. 

And this ends the story of the Saddest Uwu Boi, Trafalgar D. WaterLaw. 

Part III: You Have to See What I’m Getting At. 

Law’ backstory and character development is just that of any main woman character. Sad thing happened when he was a kid, putting him on the radar/ partially in debt to a bad man. He spent most of his life running from this bad man by working for/ with people he hated. He met Luffy. He tried to fight the bad man and system but didn’t have the strength of heart and/ or body to defeat him. Luffy punched the bad man real good and told Law he was pretty without makeup, he didn’t need it. Law was finally able to move freely as a person and decided to support Luffy in his immediate goals (and probably his long term ones too. Let's be honest he has nothing else to do)  even though that puts him and his crew in even more danger. But now he knew, Luffy would punch that danger just as good as the previous bad man. 

Honestly I don't know what this means or what purpose this knowledge serves. Like, this doesn’t change my opinion that lulaw will never be canon. This doesn’t change how I view Law as a character. This doesn’t change how I view Oda as a writer. This only serves the purpose of excising these thoughts from my head and putting them permanently on a website filled with people who will call me horrible things for even admitting I ship Luffy with anyone. So that's something I guess. 

About Sanji:

Sanji is going through a weird, unexpected but good character transformation right now. His writing is becoming more Law/Robin-esque. Which is weird and unexpected but very good. I have thoughts on that but its for a different post. I don't think it undermines my point though because this shift is relatively recent, only happening in the Whole Cake island arc and not fully forming until near the end of Wano. This either means a shift in how Oda choses to write male characters or a shift in how he views Sanjis’ role in the narrative. Only time will tell. 

*This unrelated but I’ m realizing Law shows just as much tiddy as Robin and Nami too.*

[nalyra-dreaming]

https://www.tumblr.com/downstairsbar/707757426731057152/do-you-think-in-the-show-louis-actually-feels

this user has very good and thorough posts on race and patriarchy in the amc iwtv

tbh, I don't necessarily want you to argue for/against just a different perspective

pls don't block me (i usually don't engage but i enjoy reading all your commentary about the books) and this is meant in good faith. you can tell me it's rude if you find it so.

i think your analysis is very thoughtful and thorough especially wrt the books. i do think your analysis (especially where the show is concerned) could use a bit of engaging with patriarchy and race (which are two things the show is very insistent about)

anne wasn't good with race but her commentary on patriarchy in the books is very clear esp wrt to gender and sexuality

Thank you for your input! I have to say I find them very hard to read, there's almost no structure to their posts, but it is good if you like them and their content?! (No shade! Seriously.)

To be honest most of my commentary is based on asks, so a lot of what you criticize here might be a reflection of the direction these take.

I am very loathe labeling Louis as a woman tbh. Anne gave him feminine traits, and he is perceived as soft, and the most human, but he is also one of the most predatory of them. And he is not called arsonist for funsies. And as a gay man he is no woman. And I stand by the point that you cannot reduce them to top/bottom either.

Jacob took those feminine aspects and enhanced them even more (on purpose), and the show makes some very poignant observations about marriage, status, gender-conformity and the patriarchy, especially after Claudia's turning, because that is when it spirals into it, imho. Here is a post that I reblogged on this a while back. The meta level of it all is its own commentary (the books that Louis reads, the imagery they use), I can recommend the various meta posts in regards to this!

Season 1 is from Louis' point of view. As someone coming from the books I am very aware of how some of it will change. And of course that informs my own take on it all. The meta commentary of the show will stay of course... but Louis' POV will change. And the meta commentary will change with it. Now, of course they addressed these things on purpose. But what will they address when they get to a war-ravaged Europe? Or the theater (actually that meta level on the meta level I seriously cannot wait for)...

To be honest, I don't quite get what that anon ask wants to discuss there either. On one hand the question addresses the "thing" in the first few episodes, and then "his mental and emotional space with Claudia" as his last refuge, which... doesn't fit. We have three episodes without Claudia, four with. And you cannot analyze the behavior without defining the "thing" Lestat does either. What is that thing. The cheating? The way Lestat cannot see the way Louis cannot escape his own status because of his race? How vampirism cannot be the freedom he was promised?

And... I really cannot see where Louis' attempt as "claiming the marriage contract" would be seen as histrionics. What do they mean by that? The laughter before the "of course"? That has very different reasons, and interpreting that this way shows in turn a basic lack of understanding the characters imho. I mean Sam and Jacob have talked about that. At length. *shrugs*

I am happy to give you my views, but please give me a proper question, and not one that contradicts itself?^^ That is not meant mean in any way (and no, I would never block you for this, no worries, I've said it before, it's about the "tone" :)), but if you want my opinion you will need to accept that I do come from the books... which means I know why Lestat did some things.

Louis... doesn't. (So his POV cannot reflect that.)

Not yet.

[taroraine]

Gotta love when you tell people, who claim they totally respect the things you are telling them, something and they turn it on you as soon as they think they can prove a point or get a cheap laugh out of it.

For example, a while back I had a conversation with someone, who claims to respect people's gender identity, about pick up lines. As soon as I disagreed with him, his response was "well, you're a woman (I'm fucking not and he knows that) you would be okay with it if it was someone you found attractive." Like holy shit, why can't you accept an answer? Why do you have to pull out both sexism (he honestly pulls a lot of this "all women are xyz" shit) and disregarding my identity just to defend your point. It's infuriating, and I don't know how to respond. Do I point out the sexism or the disregard for my identity? Because I know damn well if I get into an argument over it I am only going to get to discuss one point and not the other.

It also happens when I bring up dating in general. I will be talking about how people shouldn't need to be in a relationship in order to be happy, and he will be like "well, you have to understand that you're aro (I'm not. He knows this. He just doesn't give a fuck apparently because he alreafy has a narrative in his head fhat he is dead fucking set on) So you're just not going to get it" and I want to tear my hair out because it's like yeah, go ahead I guess and just ignore all of the shit I have ever told you about me or my opinions so you can feel fucking right. I could bring up data about how that isn't actually the reason most people who abstain from dating give, but it doesn't matter because they have already made up their minds and think painting me as crazy is better than actually discussing things. I'm just a cheap punchline tbat they think they can pull out to make their point at my expense.

Idk. I guess my feelings kindof boiled over today because I was in a conversation where he brought up mental health stuff, and I mentioned bringing something I had made to my first session when I get a new one, because I finally had exactly what I had been going on in my mind laid out in an easy to understand way, showed it to a friend who gave their verdict on it, and I said "I just need a licensed professional to give their opinion." Since I am 95% sure they are right, but don't have a clue where to start with actually working on it. I told the person I was talking to that the conversation was strictly between us because everything I said was in an attempt to get him to understand why I do some of the things I do (really I just wanted the jokes/jab about me always working & people pleasing to stop, and for him to stop insisting that it is so fucking easy to "just relax." I know it may seem harmless, but it really gets under my skin because do I want to be this way? No, but he knows the stuff going on surrounding it and should know it's not something I like joking about, and I thought that if he knew I was working on a solution it would get him to stop), and I thought he would take it as seriously as he takes everyone else's problems, but nope. This dude starts cracking jokes about it, just a couple hours later, even when I had directly asked him not to bring it up outside of that one conversation. At this point I am just glad I didn't tell him what exactly I was suspecting, but it just blows my mind that someone can claim to care about things so much, but as soon as they are asked for even a little bit of consideration, they throw all of their values, as well as my clearly set (and dear god don't get me started on how long it took me to work up to trying to set those) boundaries, out.

It's just like, what's the fucking point? What's the point of trying to communicate what you think/do and why when at the end of the day even the people who claim to care/take that stuff seriously don't follow through on those claims? It's kindof fucking hard to follow the cliche fucking advice of "oh! Just ask for help/reach oht" when the people who claim to be safe are far fucking frkm it, and insome cases actively make it worse. I'd be better off just never talking about any of this shit, because at least then I am giving them less to mock and can convince myself they were making honest mistakes instead of deliberately disregard how I feel about things. I'm pretty sure I would be better off if I just never opened my mouth again.

Tl;dr: communicantion is bullshit and a scam. Don't even fucking bother