#ship what you want but stop asserting that it’s canon

[arcane-vagabond]

I need some of you to stop trying to find homosexual romances in straight media and actually sit down and start supporting the LGBTQ+ media that’s already out there.

[milksnake-tea]

Imagine Yaoshi x Reader x Nanook. With how they act in lores and how there is not much canon information about the personalities + encounters or interactions yet. My brain already has so much ideas about what's gonna happen if we put them both together :)

pairing: nanook x gn!reader x yaoshi (general relationship hcs)

word count: 785

warnings: possible spoilers for hsr !! involves xianzhou stuff iykyk

a/n: it's the way that i knew this would be a request- also this got long i apologize HAHSHSHH

First off, congrats. I have no idea how you managed to coerce these two into sharing because the last thing either wanted was to share something with the other.

Compromise is absolutely fundamental in this relationship. Yaoshi and Nanook are Aeons whose ideologies are in direct conflict, and you'll have to act as their middle ground. Arguments aren't common (they both believe that they're above such petty disputes), but in the beginning of the relationship, the tension was undeniable.

Nanook firmly believes that civilization was a mistake, and neither Yaoshi nor you can change that. Yaoshi can pout and give Nanook the look all they want, but nothing is stopping Nanook from bringing planet after planet down.

Likewise, Yaoshi's gifts of immortality, along with their side effects of mara, tend to irk Nanook, only furthering their belief that destruction was the only salvation left for the universe (Yaoshi would continue to assert that the mara wasn't their fault).

But when you come into the picture, you force them to put their differences aside - because if there's one thing that the two of them can agree on, it's you. If it's for you, they're willing to push aside their ongoing war with one another. If it's you, they'll ignore the fact that they openly hated the other.

Yaoshi thought that such a cold being as Nanook wasn't deserving of a partner such as you. Nanook didn't love or embrace you like Yaoshi did, didn't cradle and pamper you like the Abundance.

As a result, Yaoshi loved to remind them of their negligence, although now, it's more of a playful jest if anything. They'd whine about how Nanook was barely home, despite Yaoshi constantly being on the run themselves, and the fact that as Aeons, they don't have a set "home".

For the most part, Nanook was unbothered by Yaoshi's remarks, with the most coming out of them being a roll of the eyes. They didn't care how their affection may have come across, the only thing mattering to them was that you were safe and happy.

The two of them used to fight over you all the time - Nanook would often snatch you right off of Yaoshi's lap, and Yaoshi would refuse to hand you over. But soon, they learned to tolerate the other's existence, and eventually that tolerance would turn into a begrudging adoration.

In this relationship, Yaoshi is inertly more affectionate (and possessive) than Nanook is. Nanook isn't... They're not exactly in tune with desires of any kind, much less the kind that comes with a romantic relationship. Yaoshi, on the other hand, is an empathetic soul who loves and sympathizes with creatures from all walks of life.

Yaoshi coddles you, and makes sure that not only are you loved, but that you feel loved. They are gentle and tender with you, often playing with your hands or hair, and pressing kisses wherever they can. They sing you praises to their Disciples and the Denizens, who adore you just as much as their Aeon.

On the other hand, Nanook's "love", if you could even call it that, comes in the form of protection. The Antimatter Legion, when they're not wreaking havoc upon other planets, become your personal bodyguards. Yaoshi in particular takes advantage of this, often using the Legion to fend off any Xianzhou ships looking to hunt them down.

But this isn't to say that Nanook doesn't have their moments. When they manage to pry you away from Yaoshi's arms, Nanook likes to hold you as they go about their business. You'd be laying in their arms, pressed against their chest as you watch the destruction of a planet as you would a movie. Rarely are any words said in these moments, but they are just as intimate as Yaoshi's affections.

The universe knows you as the Mediator, the tamer of the two most hated Aeons in the universe. Being the significant other of not one, but two Aeons certainly comes with its benefits - and that being that practically nothing can touch you. There are some who feel pity for you, others who envy you.

But there are also those such as the Aeon Xipe who are grateful for your existence, for you are responsible for keeping Yaoshi and Nanook in check. In Xipe's eyes, if such opposing Aeons as Yaoshi and Nanook can work in tandem, then there is hope for a unified universe.

All in all, this relationship can only work if each member puts forth the effort to make it work. It's rocky in the beginning, even more so than others, and requires so much more patience. But if you can manage to pull through, the rewards are sweeter than any fruit.

[cuubism]

Hope for the Future

~2k, Dreamling, 1589 era, post-Eleanor's death, dream conversations and revelations. cw death in childbirth

Dream and Hob meet at Eleanor's deathbed, in a fashion.

--

Ages ago I wrote Patron Saint, a fic about Hob's friendship with Death. For a while I wanted to write a companion piece from Dream's POV since Dreamling is a background ship in that fic but their trajectory is different from canon. But lbr it's been 2 years and I haven't done that-- early on, though, I did write one scene from Dream's POV because I wanted to flesh out a potential moment that Death mulls on in Patron Saint, when she was visiting Hob after Eleanor and the baby died:

“So many babies die,” Hob says. “Mothers, too, I—” he runs a hand through greasy, disheveled hair. “Do you think it will be better in the future? Because I haven’t seen that much improved. Not in my time.” “I imagine so, yes,” Death says. Dream would be able to answer this question for him better. Dream would be able to tell him what doctors might be imagining solutions to the problem, what midwives were dreaming of new ways to care for their charges. Hope for the future is Dream’s business, whether he accepts it or not. She wishes Dream were here. She has a strong feeling Hob would find even his stoic pretense at apathy comforting. Caring for others is strange like that.

Anyway I wanted that scene, I wrote that scene, I didn't write anything else to flesh out a companion piece but I think it stands on its own and can be understood even without reading the original fic.

--

Dream would assert that he did not care about Hob Gadling. He was not interested in Hob Gadling, beyond a passing curiosity in his approach to humanity, sated every hundred years. He was certainly not thinking about Hob Gadling, or his wife and small child and knighthood and other life goals he’d managed to accrue in this century. 

And yet, as he felt a particularly vicious nightmare go for Hob in his sleep, not long after their last meeting, he took note. 

He wasn’t sure why he took note. Perhaps because Hob had been on such a disgusting high last they’d met, it seemed strange for this to happen now. Perhaps because he knew this nightmare particularly well, had crafted it from deep in his own soul, as he so rarely did.

He followed the thread of the nightmare. 

Hob was running. Both from and after something at once. A darkness chased him. And another darkness retreated from him.

“Wait!” he yelled, reaching for it. Smoke slipped through his hands. Hob heaved for breath, stumbling to a stop as he ran out of air. He leaned on his knees, panting and coughing. “Wait,” he sobbed, but the darkness did not wait.

The other wave of darkness caught him, knocking him off his feet so he sprawled on the ground, hands scraping on the dirt. It didn’t attack him, just hovered over him like a blanket of fog, blocking the meager light. 

“You weren’t supposed to go,” Hob said into the darkness. It didn’t reply.

It was not an unreasonable nightmare for a father to have, Dream knew well enough. But the sharpness of those dark shadows – this nightmare was not pure fiction. It was drawing more from memory than he’d thought.

“Enough of this drama,” he commanded the nightmare. “Show me the truth of things.”

The scene of darkness faded to reveal an ordinary, if well-appointed bedroom. An air of sickness hovered, and death also – Dream could feel the echo of his sister near. 

A sickly woman, heavily pregnant, lay in the bed, and it was she that Dream knew was calling Death forth. She, and the tiny baby cradled in her womb, not quite ready to be born, and now would never be.

And Hob – not dying, he couldn’t, but he looked about as close to it as a man could come. Ashen, shaky, trembling.

“I love you,” he was saying, kissing Eleanor’s hand. “You know?”

This was still a dream, and this had all already occurred, Dream knew. There was nothing he could do here, not that he would. He turned to go, feeling stiff and cold in a way he decidedly did not like, when Hob looked up, and saw him.

Dream had not meant to be seen.

“My friend,” said Hob, surprise temporarily wiping the grief from his features. “You’re here.”

“I… am,” Dream conceded, and, drawn in despite himself, sat in a chair beside Hob. 

“I’m grateful for it,” said Hob. Dream didn’t know what he could possibly be providing that Hob was grateful for. Then, “There’s no hope, is there? I mean. I don’t know why I’d think you would know.”

Dream looked at the mother and baby before him. Hob had called him friend. A friend, he thought, would tell Hob that there was always hope. But that was not what Dream believed.

“I do not think so,” he said. “I am… sorry.”

Hob sighed. He was still holding Eleanor’s hand. “I have to tell you, I– whatever I might’ve said to you at our last meeting, I’m struggling to feel any of it right now.”

“That is understandable.” More understandable, Dream thought, than his declaration of Life is rich! that Dream had found so hard to swallow.

“I’ve known others who’ve lost wives, children,” Hob said, and Dream looked down. Hob would have no way of knowing who those others might have included. “But I guess I always thought, not me, never me, never my Eleanor. Not until she was old and gray, anyway. But I guess everyone thinks that, don’t they?”

“Perhaps.” Dream thought he himself had always known the cost would come due. Destiny might have said that was one of the reasons it did come due. You make your own end. But that would not help Hob.

“It’s got to get better,” Hob asserted. “It’s got to. It’s got to stop some day, doesn’t it? All these children, and mothers dying.”

The instinct to sneer at his optimism jumped up Dream’s throat, but he managed to bite it off. He did not want to be… cruel, he realized, to someone who was suffering. Especially within a dream; dreamers’ minds were not for him to subject to his own feelings.

“In Guangzhou,” he started slowly, the dreams coming to him like a light rainfall, “there is a doctor who has just crafted a new medicine to ease pain during childbirth. She has been dreaming of it for years. In Oyo, a healer is learning to tell earlier and earlier when a pregnancy is troubled, that they might intervene in time. A few months more, and they will have it. And down the street, here in London, a midwife is just planting the seeds for the hospital she will open to help unwed mothers with nowhere to turn.”

Hob stared at him. He seemed to be holding his breath.

“Dreamers abound,” Dream said, “but it takes time for their work to come to fruition.”

Hob continued to watch him. Something shifted in his eyes, as he looked at Dream. Dream wasn’t certain he liked it. 

“You know everything, don’t you?” Hob said.

“Not everything.”

“You know all of that,” Hob mused, “all these things that are happening. And… you still come to ask me if I wish to live?”

Dream bristled, and Hob raised his hands in surrender. “Never mind, never mind, forget I said anything. You’re entitled to your own feelings on the matter. Thank you, for those stories. It helps. Truly. And I’m glad that I’ll get to see it. One day.”

“‘One day,’” Dream echoed. “‘One day’ is a time when no children die and no famine walks the earth, when soldiers break their swords before the fight, and later bread with their enemies. One day is always one step into the future, Hob Gadling. Ever-moving.”

“Aye,” said Hob. “That’s the point.” 

Dream frowned. What pleasure could be derived from wanting and wanting, and never having, he could not fathom. He had crafted nightmares thus. What hope to find in hope itself continually being dashed?

“I look forward to seeing you every century, you know that?” Hob added. “No matter what else happens. Bad days, or good ones.”

Dream kept frowning, unsure of the connection.

“It’s important to have those things,” Hob said. He squeezed Eleanor’s still hand. “Even now. Especially now.” 

In Dream’s own… aftermath… he could not imagine finding comfort in anything. What help could some nebulous future date possibly be?

“If that is what helps you,” he said. 

Hob cast him a look like he just knew that Dream didn’t get it, and it rankled. But there was no true criticism in that look. Hob looked at him with an unfathomable fondness, always.

He turned back to Eleanor, just gazing at her face with an expression Dream found difficult to witness in its softness. Were this the waking world, she would have certainly passed by now. But moments could freeze indefinitely in the Dreaming.

“Do you think I’ll forget her?” Hob asked quietly, still looking at his wife. “The details of her face, I mean? Her voice? What she smelled like? My memory’s far from perfect, and there’s a lot of time for it to fade.”

Dream knew without having to actively make the vow to himself that he would be sending frequent dreams Hob’s way to ensure he did not. He should not do so. He should not interfere. 

But.

“There are some things one does not forget,” he said.

Hob swiped at his eyes. He was crying now. “S’pose you’re right.”

If Dream was any sort of friend – and he was not sure that he was, though Hob had declared him so – he would end this dream now and spare Hob any further torment of reliving this memory. 

Instead, he sat beside him, far longer than he intended. Sat in silence, listened to Hob’s breaths, his sniffles as he cried, the subtle movements of continued life. He stayed in this sea of human endings and sickness and grief. With Hob. Something unnameable sitting heavier and heavier within him. And more than once he told himself to rise and to end the dream, and he did not. 

“I’m glad you’re here,” Hob finally said, when much time had passed and they still sat side-by-side. And it was this that finally reminded Dream that he should not be.

“I should leave you,” he said, standing abruptly. “This dream is–”

“Wait.” Hob took his hand. Dream should– Dream should yank it away in offense. He should take his leave of Hob instantly for the familiarity, the daring. 

He did not. He merely stood frozen as Hob pressed his hand between both of his own. His touch was very warm.

“Keep all those things in mind,” Hob said. His eyes still glittered with tears, but his words were steady. “Those infinite things you know about the world. Wherever you’re going.”

“I have much in mind at all times,” Dream told him. Hob had no idea how much. 

Hob smiled at him sadly. “I’m sure. Just think about it, okay? Those doctors in those faraway places. Alright?”

Dream studied him, but gleaned no additional information from it. “Very well,” he said at last.

Hob squeezed his hand once more, then let him go.

A friend might comfort him again, in these circumstances. But Dream was not certain it was necessary. He could see in Hob, even now, the spine of a man who would not break, even when he was so far down.

It was… curious.

Hob bid him farewell, eyes just crinkling at the corners. “Until we meet again, dear stranger.”

Dream stepped back into the comforting arms of the Dreaming proper, discomfited by the moment in a way he could not quite pin down, and by his own willingness to stay and engage in it at all. To involve himself in Hob’s life in a way he had not intended. 

“Until then, Hob Gadling,” he said, letting the scene dissolve around them, “this dream is over.”

[mswyrr]

i find stories with long-term romantic relationships fascinating - especially marriage. and what i see in barb and cooper is that... she despairs first and stops caring what happens to other people, because the only thing she thinks she can do succesfully is protect the ones she loves. (and, given how bad things had gotten, can we say for sure she's wrong? can we really say if she had tried to fight Vault-Tec she wouldn't have ended up a ~mysteriously dead~ whistleblower? do we imagine nobody in the company tried to get the truth out?? did the majority of people in the America of 2077 even want to hear the truth? side note they didn't give barb the iconic "war... war never changes" line for her to be 100% evil - we will learn more and see dimensions of what went down in the past imo) and then cooper becomes lost to despair and stops caring about others too. they mirror each other - or, he follows her down the same despairing path.

there's also the level on which what barb loved about cooper--his sweetness, his loving, romantic nature--was ultimately the thing that she came to believe was good reason to treat him like their child and make major decisions for both her husband and their little girl without consulting him. their separation while he was at war and then the way he understood things radically different from her when he came back (how wilfully blind and naive he must have seemed) probably played heavily into this.

but i see both insight into how a couple can lead each other astray - down the path of despair - and how a major way to do that is to start thinking negatively of the very traits that drew you to someone instead of continuing to engage with those and let that person cooperate with you to shape your shared path forward in life.

(barb started seeing the sweet heart that had drawn her to cooper as a liability rather than an assert, to use corporate speak lol)

i'm genuinely excited for what more we'll learn about how this romance went tragic and in seeing barb and janey in the present storyline. i'm a multishipper and there's a lot neat to explore and all of that is valid - but i think, speaking in terms of what the narrative is doing with the canon ships, those are neat in the sense that we've got a tragic romance in the past that symbolically represents the world being broken -- and then a present day romance that's about two young people trying to make something better than the cruel hand they've been dealt

[tfwyouloveher2]

/r9k/Elsa Ten Years Later: A Retrospective

Ten years ago today, on July 22, 2014, r9kElsa is Suffering was completed.

If you're reading this, you probably already know the gravity of that event. Let's talk about it anyway :)

r9kElsa is Suffering was one of the earliest fan fiction works written for Frozen, its first chapter published only a few weeks after the movie's release, and was decidedly the most influential.

It was the first widely-read modern-alternate-universe take on Elsa's and Anna's characters, and the way it painted their relationship into a reluctant and tragic romance almost singlehandedly inspired the wider Elsanna ship.

Despite its legacy, it's not the most practiced prose, nor is the plot meticulously planned.

So why did it leave such a mark on its audience? And how was it conceived?

Come with me back to 2013 and we'll find out.

A History

Frozen was released on November 27, 2013, to unexpected critical acclaim and unprecedented box office success.

The internet was quickly buzzing with thoughts about it. A hundred communities in the far-flung reaches of a simpler Web gathered in their respective forums to articulate what the movie meant to them.

Within a few days, a few thoughts began to coalesce in many different places at once: these characters are important to us. They're relatable. They're inspiring.

And, in some strange new way, the scattered diaspora found that the message had spoken to their hearts: love is stronger than fear. There is hope.

The first Frozen fan fiction to gain any traction was "Songs of Ice and Snow", published on November 23 by a lucky author with the privilege of seeing a pre-screening of the movie. It would go on to reach almost 140,000 words over the next several months, and explored the characters in their canon environment, written to take place immediately after the events of the movie.

Soon though, another fic was written with a bold twist: For the First Time was published on December 3, and suggested something previously unexplored: a romantic angle to the sisters' relationship. Niche artists and shitposters had already asserted the notion, but this very early work fleshed out the idea into something surprisingly charming. If love is an open door, then For the First Time opened it just a crack, and readers everywhere were tempted by the glow from beyond.

One specific forum that was quick to latch on to the hard-to-swallow concept was /frz/, a thread on 4chan's /co/ dedicated to Frozen. The trolling effortlessly began to morph into ironic, then tongue-in-cheek, and finally occasionally genuine consideration of what this romance would mean. The trolling never stopped, of course; but in the margins, there was a growing understanding and even affection for this relationship. Why?

Like so much well-loved fiction, it was because people saw themselves in it.

In Elsa, some saw a shut-in who just didn't want to be ostracized anymore. Some saw a dutiful figure who couldn't allow herself to be happy.

In Anna, some saw a socially awkward romantic, starving for affection and acceptance. Others saw an endlessly forgiving empath.

And in both, they saw someone who might understand them.

And in that moment, they fell victim to the fantasy: that two people could be so different and yet could love each other so unreservedly. That two people could understand each other's failings and doubts and grief, that they could be so wounded by each other, and at the end of it all, still sacrifice everything for the other.

In a world of cynicism and transactional relationships, it turns out that these sisters bound by blood scratch an itch: a need to be accepted despite all our flaws. And in some corners of the internet, there grew an quiet desire to be loved like that.

It was in this context that an anonymous /co/ reader, usually only browsing the board for DC comics, began to engage with /frz/. She hadn't ever written fiction before, but at the moment unemployed, was sucked in by the concepts being set forth. She wrote a first chapter that was an exceptional attention grabber, starting with the line "She heard the crossbow bolt thud into her shoulder before she felt it." Many readers will recognize that opening line immediately from Frozen Fractals. The first chapter was initially published in a pastebin for /frz/ to read, on December 6, with promises of violence, cuteness, and sex. Despite very little initial response, the anon is fully engrossed in her work, and posts the next few chapters in the following two days.

Over the next couple weeks, Frozen Fractals becomes the foremost image of the romantic portrayal of the sisters. The writing style is unpracticed, the character choices sometimes stretch disbelief, and the story is occasionally brutal; and yet, the work is outstanding.

The critical response is enormously positive, even reaching the point of other fiction authors in /frz/ asking the author -- having at this point earned the nickname "Fractals" or "Frac" -- for writing tips and constructive criticism. Additionally though, there are some constructive criticisms offered back, which undoubtedly aided Frac's later work.

During this same period, the image of Elsa being a broken, self-doubting recluse, while Anna waits determinedly for her to open her door to the world, begins to take a more distinct shape in the /frz/ threads.

Anons start to see Elsa as one of them.

And so it began, slowly at first. But over the next couple weeks, this idea started taking center stage in threads.

And then, the first greentext from the character of /r9k/Elsa:

There grew a consensus, a common understanding of who this persona was.

It was initially tongue-in-cheek. But later, like Elsa's monster, it was often the person that we most fear to be.

And the storm raged on.

Then, the next day, a turning point is reached: a greentext that realizes the core of the character. These 12 lines precipitated years of community fixation and the story that would come of her.

And the rest is history.

Over the next few days, an onslaught of r9kElsa greentexts are posted. For a short while, threads are overwhelmed with discussion of the character. People can't stop talking about it.

Some suggest temporarily banning it from threads so as to stop derailing every discussion.

Despite the proposed ban, some discussion continues behind spoiler tags. Frac is wrapping up Frozen Fractals and becoming increasingly engrossed in the character.

Then, finally, on the Winter Solstice 2013, Elsa's first birthday, tfw She Loves You is posted on Fictionpress.

Frac posts it under an alias in an ultimately-doomed effort to fly under the radar.

Over the next few days, up to and through Christmas 2013, Frac cannot stop writing. She writes ELEVEN CHAPTERS in four days. The rest of /frz/ is caught up in the r9k storm right along with her.

And then, there's a pause. A couple days go by without update. Finally, a few days later, chapter 12 Drawfriend is posted, and Frac seems a little burned out. Anons ask her what's up.

She realizes that her story is beginning to diverge from the greentexts that /frz/ has written. What started as a collection of one-shots based on scattershot 4chan replies is beginning to feel more important than that. None of the offered greentexts are hitting the spot like they used to. Somehow, the characters need more.

From this moment onward, Frac takes a new direction. Only a couple chapters after this point (16 and 21) are based on greentexts, and even those are loosely adapted. Instead, the fic ceases to be a collection of one-shots and starts forming into a true story, the story that everyone now knows and loves.

She posts the next chapter the same night. Chapter 13 Past is in the Past is a unique installment in the series, going back in time to detail the moment Elsa believes that she fell for Anna. It briefly scales back the angst and drama, and gives a cute slice-of-life of a simpler time for the characters. Some consider it the most human chapter in the story.

From this point on, the story progresses in a remarkable way. In case you haven't read it, I'll avoid too many major spoilers here. But as you can imagine, certain chapters (like 20: Implode-Explode) prompted clamorous reactions from the /frz/ threads.

After a few more weeks, other sites start taking notice of what's happening here. Tumblr picks up on the fic and begins rallying behind it. Artists begin painting r9kElsa portraits. It's when r9k starts wrapping up that r/Elsanna is founded and starts gaining traffic.

Other well-known stories also start being published once r9k hits its stride. During a very short period between mid-January and early February 2014, you see Extra! Extra!, A Formal Arrangement, Feel, Don't Conceal, Drum Major, You Are, A Snowflake in Spring, Winter Girl, the Cake Fic, and others published for the first time. Almost every modern-AU fic can trace its characterizations at least partially back to r9k. In some cases, e.g. Tessellate, much more than partially!

A Reason

If you read any post or thread from any Elsanna community in 2014, you'll find one thing repeated over and over: r9kElsa is Suffering brought me here. The story is the most common elevator pitch for the ship, because especially at that time, it meant something more to people than just sexy cartoon girls (though it undoubtedly meant that too).

In a world of isolation, where many traditional sources of community have been whittled away, people are desperate for hope.

This is the core of why Frozen succeeded so tremendously.

It came at exactly the right cultural moment, when both adults and teenagers the world over were feeling more alone than any prior point in history; and it showed that there's a reason to open your door. Even when you're feeling like there's no way out, like no one could ever see past your faults and doubts, you can remember that there IS hope. It's not in Prince Charming or a genie in a bottle. You can have hope in knowing that there are other people, broken in their own ways, who WILL love you for you. Unreservedly.

Frozen has been criticized for its resolution being too easy. "Love," they say, "what a shallow fix for everything!"

They are wrong. Love is an anomaly of nature. It breaks every rule. It is supernatural and spiritual and it is real life magic. And realizing that you can always choose to love the fixer-upper beside you is the surest way to thaw your own frozen heart.

r9kElsa is Suffering has likewise been criticized for its ending. Readers wanted to see something sexy, thrilling, or at least certain. Instead, they got something ambiguous and thoughtful.

Personally, the last two chapters are my favorites of the whole story.

We see a broken family trying to piece itself together. We see a father reckoning with his abject failure, and seeking a new way of living with his family. Any parent would feel overwhelmed, angry, afraid in that situation. He doesn't want to be consumed by fear and frustration. He just wants to love his daughters. And he does. Even after everything, he does.

And critically, he trusts Elsa to make the right decisions, even when he himself doesn't know what they are anymore.

And then, ultimately, in the final chapter, we read a beautiful mirror of the first. Elsa is in her room, but the curtains aren't shut anymore. Sunlight streams in through the window. Anna enters freely, their tension long released by their figurative walls having been dismantled.

In an often-overlooked moment of clarity, Elsa ceases to be consumed by her preferred method of isolation, her computer. Whereas in the first chapter, she can't look Anna in the eye, and only stares at her ever-illuminated computer screen; now, she does something new. She turns off her monitor and momentarily contemplates her reflection in the black mirror. Who is the woman she sees staring back at her?

She would be unrecognizable from the girl who sat in that chair six months before.

Finally, in the last moment, Elsa is faced with making the "right decision".

Unburdened by fear or requirement, she is prompted for the first time to determine honestly what the right thing is, for herself, for Anna, for their family.

She hesitates. What is right? Is it right to push Anna away?

She decides. She loves Anna, and she's never going to erect a wall between them again.

Her father asked her to remember what's important. Anna is what's important to her. All of the rules, all of the shame, all of the worries -- they don't matter.

You love her, and she loves you. That's all that matters.

Dear reader: today, now ten years older, remember what matters to you. Love the people in your life. Love boldly and selflessly and unreservedly, and frozen hearts will begin to thaw.

- tfwyouloveher

---

A/N: many thanks to the people and resources that made this retrospective achievable

frac, also known as @kate---kane and anonelsa, who so many of us have to thank (or curse?) for our years spent in this community

desuarchive.org and archived.moe make this digital archaeology possible

/frz/ will hate me for posting their activity across the web but I don't mind :)

there is a wealth of fascinating and entertaining material in the /frz/ threads of these archives. I spent weeks reading through old threads long considered lost for this post

neiromaru and @spooths are among the top connoiseurs of frozen fanfiction, and their ancient lists made this research much easier

the various archivists on r/elsanna and elsewhere who saved so many important pieces of fic history before they were deleted

the dropbox and mega archives were instrumental

enormous thanks to my editor, who ended up rewriting most of this post, but who wished to remain anonymous. seems unexpectedly appropriate :)

[userautumn]

Please don't feel the need to respond but I feel like you're one of the more level-headed shippers (ship-agnostic) so I wanted to get your opinion on something.

I personally believe Ryan Guzman when he repeatedly says Eddie is straight. Obviously, these can change any second and people are allowed to headcanon whatever they want, regardless of what the show tells us.

But seeing people use the juice bar scene to prove Eddie's a repressed gay man is a little weird. I just saw, "Eddie said he was straight. And then the priest told him to stop punishing himself (drinking bland water) and enjoyed what he really wanted (fruit juice)"

It kind of just feels like they're inadvertently calling him fruity, which is more pejorative than I think people realize when the person isn't canonically queer and the actor has asked to us to revisit why we think he secretly is.

I don't know, I guess I just wanted to know what you think. You're good about remembering this is a TV show but that it also has real world consequences every now and then <3

Howdy! 🤠

Oh man, ship-agnostic. Haha. That's great. I'm stealing that, thank you.

Yeah, since 8x6, I've also seen people directly and indirectly assert that Eddie is gay because of the fruit juice choice and, if we're being honest, I find that theory to be problematic. (Problematic in the way the word was meant to be defined, not in a these people should be cancelled way). Not even for the reasons you suggest, and not even because I disagree with the reading that Eddie is Queer (I don't), but because believing that the narrative is implying he's fruity is gross. "Fruity" is still a derogatory term. It's only in Gay/Queer circles that we use slurs or historically denigrating words to refer to each other casually.

But recontextualizing the existence of 9-1-1 outside the fandom bubble and realizing it's written overwhelmingly by heterosexual men should make people raise an eyebrow if indeed that were the implication (which, for the record, I don't think it was) because that's not a term anybody should be using for the Queer community unless they're Queer, and especially not if they're trying to handle such a potentially beautiful arc with care. You know?

I too believe Ryan when he says Eddie is straight. Mainly because 9-1-1 spent years skirting the line of ambiguity regarding how they handle Buddie and Eddie's sexuality specifically, only to throw that ambiguity out the window now. As you said, this could change at a moment's notice. But at this time, that definitely doesn't seem like the direction they're trying to go in. Which is unfortunate! But, alas. Nothing we can do about it from here, now is there? Lol.

[remusawoooo]

anon here, excited to read the essay! i asked you because i really like your takes and i see people in the more canon-adjacent parts of the marauders fanbase to complain about the extremes of the fanon one, though personally ive never really seen anything Too extreme, tho thats probably just tantamount to how well i curate my spaces i suppose (ive seen people say that fanon makes remus really “alpha” or makes sirius “bimbofied” and while ive seen hints of those extremes here and there, mostly it looks like it varies from person to person. ive just seen remus be more assertive than he probably is in canon, or sirius being more dramatic and “fem” than he probably is in canon). from what i know people like exaggerating events (the prank, etc.) or shifting some personality traits, but i dont really think thats a bad thing - i personally enjoy it. as long as they dont completely turn characters into stereotypes (though its a pitfall of every fandom, i fear), then whatever its just camp.

people are allowed to criticize stuff like that though, not taking that away from anyone, i personally just dont really care enough to be totally accurate esp since this hyperfix is kind of the bottom of the barrel for me LMAO. but i ask mostly bc im just curious to see what other peoples opinions are, and bc i think - especially in a fanbase like this - that its incredibly important to be at least a little critical with your media experience and reflect on it. saying “oh fuck canon we’re just having fun” is fine and all, i dont think anyone is stopping you, i think the personalities people have made up for characters that have zero screen time are super fun and the little ships are not everyones tea but like its fine. but even still, people should be way more aware of what characters theyre dealing with and from what franchise, and like reflect on any biases you may have. if youre making shit up for a random DE character, or retconning some sutff, okay, whatever, but be sure to not defend or like suddenly turn to really weird rhetoric. idk i think its the bare minimum in a fanbase like this

i definitely rambled way too much here, super sorry op! i hope this doesnt bother you, feel free to reply or feel free to not. i just really like hearing peoples thoughts on things, and i like your takes and your blog so i hope i didnt catch you by surprise. i really am just an outsider trying to look in LOL

hello anon, I'm sorry I lost your ask. I was writing on my laptop and saved the draft (but apparently had to press on alt, and didn't do it) so I basically lost your question and half of my initial response. Ty for sending in another ask!! Not a bother at all, i find this very lovely :D 

I was mortified to find that someone who isn't really a part of the fandom was perceiving me while I was complaining about fictional characters ahahaha. still, thank you for validating me and asking my thoughts on the mischaracterization of marauders!! I do talk about it daily, unfortunately, and without any prompt too. I'll try to gather all my thoughts here. I don't necessarily come across fanon as much as I did when I reentered the fandom and honestly, I can not be more with you about curating your space !! at the end of the day, I am just here to have fun, and really, pointing out these issues is not a good time at all! But I do post a lot about these, I can't be bothered to bottle up any thoughts lol.

I think the major issue I have with current interpretations is the underlying bigotry that comes along with it. There is a lot of unchecked problematic content that doesn't sit right with me.

Flanderizing characters in fandom interpretations is not limited to marauders fandom obviously. any popular media will face this because so many of us want to interact with one character so their traits are simplified for easier consumption and to find a common ground. this is also not limited to new marauders fandom. even in the older era, leather jacket-wearing, motorbike-driving quintessential bad boy siruis was a thing. so I won't nitpick on silly simplifications.

I just want to say that this isn't about me wanting everyone to have the same interpretations as I do about the canon. I follow so many lovely people and I don't agree with all of their posts. But, we all just simply share the love for these characters in the text and form an imaginary community. So, if we were to remove all the issues I will mention, it is still very well possible to have different personal takes.

Here are some of my issues:

Queerness, Gender roles, and misogyny:

My biggest problem is the representations of queer relationships. the fandom packages these couples in a strange and obvious heteronormative mold where the individuals fit into male and female gender roles. mlm and wlw are now an “f/m”* stereotype and characterization gets affected by the ships. Heterosexual relationships shouldn't have these limitations either, anyway. There is no one way to be a woman or a man. With queer relationships in particular, we have reclaimed the word queer now but it was used to describe the unconventional weirdness in the relationship. We didn't fit into the normal portrayal of a loving relationship. So, it really bothers me, even in fiction, that queer ships are popularly consumed in a way that represents a traditional template. (*this is not about gender itself but the gender roles! f/m can very well be queer!). 

Let's take the biggest victim in this fandom: sirius.

Sirius’ portrayal concerning his gender and sexuality has heavily changed his characterization in the fanon. We have a character who is popularly headcanonned as trans and is it a coincidence that all their traits have changed from the og material? Sirius is suddenly vain, whiny, and dumb. Canon doesn't suggest this interpretation, it has to have stemmed from somewhere. It's the implicit bias. Sirius becomes a caricature of what a woman “should be”. When we focus on sexuality, there is the suddenly short twink sirius who has the same new traits- proving the point of fulfilling gender roles. These characteristics are a stand-in for the “female” role of the traditional relationship and it becomes more clear in the example of new age wolfstar. Remus is now the big alpha stoic manly man- the obvious stand-in for the “male” role. I could go on, it is apparent in the way you can see remus becomes a caretaker and sirius is taken care of.

The point I am trying to make is not to discourage gender/sexuality hc. I love them, keep them coming. But, why is female sirius not tall suddenly? It is not inherently bad at all to have a feminine and masculine pairing! But why do we need to change the constitutions of these characters to consume their relationship?

I'll keep dropping disclaimers because I hate being misinterpreted: I don't obviously mean every single person is doing this or that doing one of the things means doing the other too. 

Race:

It is related to the point above. I was personally so excited to see the popular desi james hc. Even in fanon, I have never seen such a prevalent and encouraged brown rep, it was quite sweet to come back to that. But the problem is the change of characteristics that comes with race hc. Desi james is also a manly dude who is big and buff as opposed to the white petite and delicate regulus within jegulus ship. The melanin is directly proportional to the manliness here. 

This is a propagation of race stereotypes. Maybe jegulus was a bad example because usually there are seen as blank templates. I will raise the argument that this can't be all we can come up with for blank canvases then. Either way, my point about race still stands when you repeatedly design interracial queer relationships so they fall into heteronormative roles. Anyway, same issue with wolfstar when there is a brown remus.

Canon, JKR, and hypocrisy:

Refusing to engage with source material is funny when we are picking characters out of it. the interpretations of the characters will be from their book. otherwise, they are just original characters with the same name. you can add onto the traits and a lot of the time fandom comes to a consensus regarding a few things! This is common in every fandom but I don't think I have seen such reluctance to not only critically engage with media but also shame others who do. We are surely in special circumstances with this fandom but I really do think jkr and how we navigate the fanon should be two different things.

Most of us don't condone jkr or even remotely agree with any nonsense she spews on the daily. Most of us can see the problematic nature of even consuming this media and staying in this fandom. It is one of the reasons I even left the fandom. Most of us are simply doing our best to engage carefully while distancing ourselves from her. So, it is quite laughable when some love to take the moral high ground for rejecting canon while still engaging with the same characters. (the rejection of canon in question being sirius’ height, lol)

(Sirius' height is quite a polarising fact apparently. Unfortunately, the point about height is also discussed so disingenuously. When I talk about sirius’ height, it is not really about him being 6 or 7 feet. It will not really impact my life. It is about what it represents. He is bimbofied as he becomes short. It's an issue of "WHY" again.)

Of course, this isn't an accusation of intentional bigotry from everyone here. The problem with this fandom is that the people in it tell themselves that it is progressive and to run away from the problematic creator as much as possible. We are not progressive if all we do is co-opt queer and racially diverse identities on such a superficial level. The bias manifests in subtle forms. I just wish we check ourselves from time to time, that's all. 

There is a lot of hostility when we try to discuss issues in the fanon. Things are interpreted in the most misguided way to just win the argument. Like I said in the beginning, we all just want to have a good time. That also means creating a welcoming space for vulnerable groups (especially when the same identities are used to pat yourselves on the backs for inclusivity points). I didn't even cover everything btw, I just wrote about the issues that concern me. queer and poc also partake in biased representations, I also probably have some biases that I didn't identify yet. I just think it would be super neat if everyone tried to make an effort to unlearn and engage with media without hurting anyone. 

I have other issues but they are all just super subjective opinions and smth I can ignore when others do. ex: I really don't like giving tragic backstories to bigots in the story. Not every supremacist loser has a trauma that forced them into oppressing people! There is also "tropeyfication" of all major ships. Just an overall issue in the reading world I think, though.

Anon, I didn't mean to make it preachy in any way btw. You probably asked for a silly little rant and I went full lecture mode, so I apologize for the tone shift!! I mentioned these because every other issue can be brought down to these imo. Like you said, I also don't have any fixation on everything being canon-compliant. I only complain by asking about the thought process behind certain kinds of changes, if that makes sense! I hope this wasn't a drag really and you can see where I am coming from. If I misspoke anywhere, pls lmk. Thanks for sharing your opinions too!!

This is a long long rant, anyone who read everything, you are wonderful and patient. Thank you for taking the time. This huge post and the content can make you think, “who cares this much?” or “it's not that serious” and yaa it really isn't that serious. The characters aren't real but we all are. the identities projected are real. so, it does matter to talk about this.

Everything said this is a fun place to be once you find your own corner in the playground.

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 2

Propaganda Under Cut

Gwen Cooper

she literally did nothing worse than the rest of the team yet so many people hate her guts and there is a literal gwen bashing tag for her on ao3. just cause she's a complicated character and confident and assertive and oh yeah she had sexual tension with jack harkness who ended up w ianto in the end. god forbid.

fans think she "gets in the way" of the canon m/m pairing of the series just because she has straightbait scenes with one of the two guys. when in reality she literally has a husband and has been nothing but supportive of her friends and their relationship 😭 she tends to be written as like super insensitive and spoiled and its unbearable 

An amazing, badass woman who has a complicated relationship with Jack Harkness, 1/2 of “Janto,” the ship she “gets in the way of.” People use this slight complication to decide they HATE HER and turn her into this vile, evil, vindictive person. She often tries killing Ianto (other half of “Janto”) in many poorly-written fics, simply so that everyone can realise how badly they treat poor, poor Ianto. This makes Jack fall harder in love with Ianto xoxo Mwuah Mwuah and Gwen is hated and killed. This occurrence is so common that it has its own tag on AO3: “Gwen Bashing.” The writing, again, is always very bad, and solely created to make people hate Gwen. She’s chill in the actual show though. Very supportive of the two men and their relationship, and is literally happily married. She is not at all like what people make her out to be.

Kairi

kairi is the third protagonist of the kingdom hearts series and the third member of the destiny trio, alongside fan favorites sora and riku. sora/riku shippers HATE kairi, and will go out of their way to discount her at every turn. the hate for her ranges from typical "she's a boring bitch" to fans of soriku making five-hour long video essays reassuring their fellow shippers that the big bad kairi won't show up in the next installment – to quote one video, "she's in a box. she's on the shelf. four walls, no door." kairi is the greatest bogeyman the soriku fandom has ever known, to the point where most of said video essays and fanon meta posts focus not on why sora and riku should get together, but rather on why they don't like kairi.

Literally has a 100+ page Google doc fan theory writing her out of the narrative and putting all of her (few) canonical accomplishments onto half of the popular m/m ship (soriku). Don't even get me started on how her memory was completely written out of the canon plot of re:coded. KH is a nightmare to explain so dude trust me she is THE victim of yaoi

She is so fundamental to the plot and themes and narratives of game and yet it is near impossible to find anything about her thats not ship bashing pre-mlm with the other two characters. I dont even care if she ends up with one of the main characters i just want fans to see her as a cool character to love or like, anything other than “annoying comphet girl.” You can write your mlm but pleaae stop inventing comphet where it doesnt exist. She does not even get to spend time with sora ever?? Why does everyone see her as a threat and a thing to destroy?? Let her have friends so help me

[olderthannetfic]

I have a lot respect for you but it's frustrating to the discussion on fandom and racism boiled down to a few fic interpretation arguments and then thoroughly dismissed.

--

That's inevitable when the campaign gave off vibes that were so strongly at odds with its assertion that it wasn't about which fic is bad.

I think the other problem is that none of us have any actual answers other than better blocking features or more ways to customize search for a given user.

How do you solve racism?

I don't think callouts are that useful most of the time, though I will signal boost when fairly credible posts about situations like that TOG one come around. I think privately giving friends support is useful, but that's not something you do at scale or that you mandate for other people. I don't think that shadowbanning fic by removing it from basic AO3 searches is desirable. I don't think increasing one ship vs. another's content is meaningful. I do think posts about gross media tropes can be useful if they're well-researched.

I was watching a speech by Beverly Daniel Tatum the other day, and she was talking about strategies that work offline. A lot of it boiled down to raising kids in multicultural neighborhoods and sending them to diverse schools. She had some examples where it had worked, but getting people to stop being NIMBY assholes so that housing and schools can actually be fixed is extremely difficult.

I think a lot of problems in fandom are symptoms that show up far downstream of the actual causes, and it's not that easy to solve anything here. It's not that we shouldn't oppose racism, but most of the suggestions I've seen just don't address what's actually going on (like canon screwing over a character and making them less popular as a consequence). A lot of fandom activism strikes me as rats in a barrel. People cling to the illusion that they can fix things here because it's less daunting than the reality that they're going to have to fight Hollywood or that they're not going to see that much success in their lifetime even if they do their activism well.

A nonwhite friend said something to me the other day about just wanting to stop hearing about anti-racist activism in fandom, full stop. They don't come here for that, and they're tired. I think it's a common sentiment and is part of why more of the informed people don't weigh in.

I post the majority of asks I get. If people have stories about fandom racism, I'll post them. It's just that the ones I've gotten are all like "I was harassed for writing my own identity wrong" with a plea to chill the fuck out and stop assuming things.

If people have practical suggestions, I'll post those too. I just think few of us have any really useful ideas.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

At this point, I feel like Lukanette and Adrigami would have worked better as the endgame ships.

Luka's calm presence balances Marinette's anxiety. They're always working towards a common creative goal.

Adrien encourages Kagami to rebel and have fun like he did while Kagami encourages Adrien to be more assertive.

I think you'd probably hate Lukanette and Adrigami if they got as much focus as the love square. The little we saw of them really didn't paint them as meaningfully healthier.

Lukanette painted Luka as an overly indulgent and overly passive pushover who was written more like a mentor than a boyfriend. I was straight up uncomfortable with how fine he was with being a clear rebound. The scene where the kwamis sent him pictures of the Adrien posters in Marinette's room right before their date made me want to grab him by the shoulders and shout, "She is not ready to date you yet! Don't settle like this!"

He could clearly communicate the issues he eventually had with the obvious lying, so he's not a total pushover, but I think Marinette needs someone a little less chill and indulgent and Luka needs someone a little more self aware who is willing to push him a bit.

That's actually why I like Lukagami if I must pick a canon pairing for him. I could totally see Kagami blowing up at him for being so passive whereas Marinette would likely remain oblivious to the passivity. Something like that scene from Risk where Kagami blew up on Adrien:

Kagami: (angrily) Adrien, I saw you on TV this morning, and I know that you don't want to leave. Once again, you let your father decide for you! (harshly) How long are you going to remain his puppet, Adrien? Adrien: (shocked) But... my cousin is gonna talk to him, and- Kagami: (annoyed) This just keeps getting better. You're letting your COUSIN do things for you now? Who's pulling the strings of your life? Your cousin? Your father? Me, when we were together? It's never YOU! You're only good at doing what people tell you to do! Dare to cut your strings, Adrien! (stops and contemplates for a moment, then genuinely apologizes for her harsh manner) ...Forgive me if I hurt you. (hangs up sadly)

This sort of tough love seems like the kind of thing Luka would take to heart, but not be hurt by because he's so chill. On the other hand, I think it's a terrible match for Adrien as he's a pretty sensitive guy with a lot of self worth issues, which is why I don't like Adrigami. Their brief relationship was mostly Kagami steamrolling him and I don't see that changing any time soon. For all of Marinette's flaws, at the very least she never pushed Adrien to be something he wasn't and she does tend to be very gentle with people when she knows they're hurting, which is the kind of support Adrien probably needs. The tough love approach is a really terrible approach for most people. I mean, do you really think stuff like the above exchange would be positive for Adrien's mental health in the long run? At least Luka would communicate if Kagami's approach was hurting him. Adrien would just take it and say nothing like he always does.

Of course, this is all based on what the show did and I don't think a single relationship in the show comes across all that well. The best by far is Ivan and Mylène and even there we still got an episode where it's revealed that Ivan's planning to do nothing but be a house husband when discussing what to study in lycée which was certainly a choice the writers made for a 14-year-old boy and his 14-year-old girlfriend... I don't mind that they've talked about the idea, it is possible to end up happily married to someone you got together with at a young age, but maybe don't imply that your characters are planning to start popping out babies as soon as they turn 18 or even sooner? Because that's how that line comes across in the context when it's given.

In summary, I wouldn't call Lukanette or Adrigami a NOTP, I think there's probably versions of the ships I'd genuinely like (especially Lukanette*), I just don't see them as superior to the love square and I'm mainly in this fandom for the identity shenanigans. You don't get more identity shenanigans than the love square unless you completely rewrite the show's base concept, so I don't have any interest in looking at alternative pairings for Adrien or Martinette. Every pairing the show gave us needs work and, for all its flaws, I do think the love square works fine if you actually let them have character arcs. Their main issue is communication and that's about it. It's a similar issue to why Marinette tends to come across so poorly. She's the main character, so the bad writing effects her more than any other character. The love square is the main ship, so we get the most bad writing about it.

*I actually tried to read Lukanette stuff when I first came to the fandom because I liked his character, but everything I tried was using Lukanette to salt on Adrien and hard pass.

[the-blind-assassin-12]

So Darkness I Became

1200 words for 1200 followers #7

A/N: Hi friends! Welcome to the 12-A-Palooza! This event is my way of saying thank you for sticking with me. Your support and kindness toward me and my writing is out of this world and I’m grateful for every last one of you! The idea for this one jumped up and bit me on the nose almost immediately, and I know it’s a little out there, but I hope you still enjoy it! This takes place in the time before Din rejoins the covert, when he’s still just going from bounty to bounty to pass the time without Grogu and trying to figure out what the heck to do with the damn Darksaber. I have two more requests for Din for this event, and right now I *think* one of them might be a follow up to this... but we’ll see.  💚

Warnings: not much, honestly. mild angst and canon-typical danger. 

Requested By: @prolix-yuy​ Song: Cosmic Love Character Choice: LJ gave me the options of Din or Ezra, correctly asserting that this song is perfect for both of the space boys - and to my surprise, being an Ezra girl, I decided to go with Dinjamin. Thank you for sending this one in, darling! I hope you enjoy where I took it! 

Summary: You and Din have been working together for a while now, but there are still more things that you don’t know about each other than you do. That doesn’t stop you from feeling how you feel, though. When Din follows a lead that he hopes will yield information on the Darksaber’s previous owners, you find out if those feelings are enough to make you risk everything to help him. 

“Stay with the ship.” 

Those were his last words to you before disappearing through the door. The hefty metal plate slammed shut behind him, the sound echoing in the empty hull and resonating through your bones. Watching him go felt wrong - cold and final. Though you tried, you couldn’t stave off the thought that he wouldn’t return. 

No. You swallowed hard. He will. He always does. 

The two of you had been working together for a year. It had been a partnership of desperation at first - you out of ammo and on the run from the brothers of some Klatooinian capo you’d turned in, and Din armed to the teeth but without a ride off-world. He’d helped you dispatch the brothers, and you’d taken him where he needed to go, and then you had meant to part ways. But before you could refuel, he had shown back up at the spaceport with a handful of bounty pucks and the proposition of teaming up and splitting the profits on them. 

It was only supposed to be until he saved up enough for his own ship. But that mark had come and gone and you were still a team of two, and though neither of you had opened up, neither of you seemed eager to suggest that you split up, the unspoken threat of loneliness enough to keep you tethered. 

Even when the types of jobs you took became more personal than profitable, like the one that you were currently on. On Dathomir. 

The name alone was enough to chill you. You had never set foot there, and you never intended to. Dathomir was dangerous, its landscape as unforgiving as the creatures that inhabited it. But its history of malevolence left the planet scarred in ways that terrified you. You’d heard rumors of a vergence there, a well of Dark side energy that was powerful enough to corrupt anyone who fell prey to it, especially those who were in tune with the Force.

Like me. 

You shuddered, recalling what you’d said to convince him not to chase whatever knowledge he sought, careful not to reveal your secret. “Dathomir’s a one-way ticket, Djarin. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to die in a bog.” 

You’d always hidden your abilities, knowing that it was your best chance at survival - and that meant that despite spending the last year with him, Din didn’t know. You weren’t sure how he would react to learning that you were Force-sensitive, but if it meant losing him you weren’t willing to risk it. Just like you weren’t sure how he’d react to learning that you had started to develop feelings for him. You kept those to yourself, too. 

He’d answered with a tilt of his helmet. “I won’t ask you to follow me. But if there’s something I can learn there about this?” He gestured to the hilt at his waist. “I have to go. This is the Way.” 

You knew as soon as he used that phrase there was no changing his mind. All you could hope for was an urgent call to pull him away before you reached the Quelli sector. It never came. 

So you waited, eyes glued to the monitor that tracked his location. You held your breath as you watched the little throb of light descend into a cave. That same cold feeling you had when he left slithered through every fiber of your being as the beacon on the screen blinked - and then blacked out. 

Your heart lurched. With shaking hands you smacked the monitor, hoping it was a glitch, but the beacon was gone. No! 

You were half-way down the ladder before the comm link on your wrist crackled, his voice coming through speaking your name. “You – right. – shouldn’t have – here. You – – go!“ 

“Din!” Your pulse smashed against your eardrums as you responded. “ I’m not leaving you. I’m…” You choked on tears you didn’t know were falling. “I’m coming.” 

“No.” More interference bled through the speaker. Beneath it you could hear him groan in pain. “You – “ He let out another distressed sound. “Go!” 

And then the comm cut out, too. 

In that instant, you made the choice that you realized never was one. Nothing could keep you from going after him, not even your fear of the Dark side. You didn’t even stop to arm yourself, bypassing the weapons locker and heading straight for the door, leaping from the ship. Without turning back, you raised your right hand across your body and over your shoulder, swiveling your wrist so that your palm faced the sky, and then clenching your fist and bringing it back down, the door of the ship slamming shut. 

Without the beacon or the comms you would have to focus to find him. You silenced your thoughts as you ran, concentrating on Din - on the way his solid presence felt beside you, on the way you could feel his heartbeat when you reached across the cockpit with the Force. You followed your instincts until you were at the mouth of the cave he had disappeared into, and then it wasn’t just a feeling. 

You could hear his heart beating in the dark. 

It was slow and weak, but the rhythm was unmistakably his. You pushed further into the cave until the air was thick and you couldn’t see beyond your nose. The relief you felt was fleeting, though, as suddenly the space was lit with an eerie green light… reflecting off Beskar armor. 

At the far end of the cave, near what appeared to be an altar, you saw him slumped against the stone, glowing green tendrils coiled around his chest. 

“He is ours.” A disembodied voice hissed.

“He has brought it back to us. The Darksaber.” 

“And now he is our soldier.” 

To your horror, the visor on Din’s helmet glowed the same green as he hovered to his feet, and you knew there was only one thing you could do to save him - the thing you feared the most. But you didn’t hesitate. Reaching far beyond your limits, you tapped into the Darkness, harnessing it instead of pushing it away. 

“No.” You growled, slowly shaking your head and reaching out with your right hand. Curling your fingers and twisting your wrist in the air, you ripped the hilt of the obsidian blade from Din’s belt. “You will not use him. You will not take him.” The sword flew to your grasp and you ignited it instantly. “You will release him, or I will destroy this cave and you along with it.” 

It felt like crumbling, letting that much power flow through you. But you fought it, focusing on the faint sound of his heartbeat. The voices shrieked and wailed, retreating into the Darkness. Just as you thought you would break, Din was released from his trance. 

As soon as he was free you dropped to your knees, panting and dizzy, but before you lost consciousness you felt his gloved hands land on your shoulders. At his touch you felt a wave of calm wash over you, your name the last thing you heard before you fell into his arms. 

Safe. We’re safe now, Din. 

.

.

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[the-lonelyshepherd]

what are your thoughts on travnat?

me personally i dint really like them together but really like both of their characters separately

OH OKAYYY OKAYY IVE BEEN LIKE CHANGING A LOT ON THID RECENTLY

so originally i was of a pretty similar opinion. like i liked both of them (i ddint like travis at first but i love him now after a rewatch soo) but i didn’t want them to be togetehr. mostly bc of like the “toxicity” and other ships i liked more or wtv. then i realized i’m watching fucking yellowjackets. there is no healthy ship ima be real. Not even taivan or lottielee, they’re all fucked up. And so like i realized that they’re actually?? such and interesting pairing??

bc okay you have these two relative outcasts to the group. they’re both kinda dicks (affectionate). they both have daddy issues. and they both get chosen as the hunters. HOWEVER travis’ big problem is w his toxic masculinity, right?? but the whole thing is that through spending time w nat it DECONSTRUCTS it bc like. she’s better than him at shooting, she’s assertive in return etc etc.

and they play off of each other in?? such an interesting way?? like the fucking. the ring scene. NOBODY TALKS ABOUT THIS??? I need to dig up my dead dad to get his ring. it’s for my brother i act like i hate my brother but i love him so much. i am using the wreckage of the plane that killed my father to dig him up. and you are there and you are helping me and when i vomit over my fathers open grave you take over and you cut his finger off to get the ring. to do what i couldn’t for my brother. and in just a few months you will be the reason my brother is dead. THROWING UP YHEY MAKE ME PHYSICALLY ILL

like obv they’re bad for each other. but they’re also so like….. grrrrhrhhrhrhhhhh….. like the most popular fandom ships are lottienat and jackieshauna. and i love both of them. those are some fucked up ships in canon (not wtv fanon for them is… fanon lottienatters please stay away from me). So like travnat?? isn’t that bad. and it’s so so compelling and we should all think about them much more together.

in conclusion travnat dynamic is so evil and twisted i love them they should never kiss but also they should kiss but they should be friends please be friends travnat i want you to be happy please please please no don’t do that travnat no stop please

[schmem14]

 5 Underrated HP Ships (+ Recs!)

@lumosatnight thanks for the tag! I love this! Read Lani’s list HERE

1. Hermione Granger/Remus Lupin

I know what you’re thinking, didn’t Remus make this mistake with Tonks already? And what about Sirius?? (I HC Wolfstar for sure) BUT If Remus were attracted to women, I think that this age gap ship makes more sense than Remadora. I think it has a lovely, erudite feel to it. Hermione needs someone who will challenge her, and Remus needs someone to ground him when he gets insecure (as we know he does.)

Recs: 

Those Who Can, Teach by @inlovewithforever (E, 12.4 k)  Sixty Minutes by @mightbewriting (E, 5.4 k) 

2. Draco Malfoy/Neville Longbottom

This is such a NICHE ship that embodies one of my favourite dynamics--the Slytherin/Hufflepuff relationship. I know Neville is not a Hufflepuff, but he has a lot of those personality traits. He’s soft, thoughtful, and quietly assertive. He’s a good-natured teddy bear who won’t necessarily let you walk all over him but is honest and forgiving in the purest way. Enter post-War Draco, made surly and self-deprecating by his downfall. He’s jagged around the edges, unwilling to accept love willingly. He just needs someone to coax him out of his prickly shell. 

Recs: 

The Ugly Duckling and the Peacock by @vukovich (E, 12.3 k) All This and Heaven, Too by meansgirl (E, 103.7 k)

3. Pansy Parkinson/Percy Weasley

A HOT combination. I almost don’t know how to describe these two. Neither get a lot of love in canon because they’re both intense people in unpleasant ways, but when they’re older and a bit wiser, these traits make them the ultimate power couple. Pansy likes to get under Percy’s skin, and Percy loves playing mind games. These two are also the ones I most picture having a forbidden romance (yes, there’s a rec for that!) Also, Percy is totally a Slytherin in lion’s clothing. That was an incorrect house placement for sure. 

Mile End by @pacific-rimbaud (E, 8.3 k) The Secretary by @pacific-rimbaud (E, 45.9 k)

4. Pansy Parkinson/Luna Lovegood

This ship took me by surprise during the Rare Pair Fest last year, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. I see Pansy as someone who is boxed in by expectations, repressed pain, and fear. Luna is the opposite. She’s free-spirited, otherworldly, and she feels everything with her whole soul open to it. It’s a beautiful pairing with lots of healing potential. 

Landlocked, Oceanbound by @nanneramma (T, 7.4 k)

5. Draco Malfoy/Ronald Weasley

Don’t slam the breaks just yet, and hear me out. These two are so dynamic that this ship could go ANY WAY YOU WANT. Throw Harry in there, and you have some peak tension and jealousy and love triangle perfection. Maybe a humbled Draco finding that Ron is actually quite lovely? Or, Draco composing an entire song titled Weasley is our King (the Drarry obsession potential could indeed to extended to include Ron)? Or, forced proximity homoerotic hate fest? OMG, I am all in. Bisexual Ron is one of my new favourite HC’s, so I’m adding as a sub-pairing that Draco/Ron/Hermione is surprisingly delicious. I read this one brilliant fic and then sobbed because I want MOAR of them and it doesn’t exist. 

A Weasel in the Hamptons (has a sequel!) by @peachpety (E, 15.4 k) The Evergreen Game (this is THE Draco/Ron/Hermione that made me go feral) by imaginarium_imperfecta (E, 57.2 k)

Tagging @vukovich, @nanneramma, @the-francakes, @mugsdontlie, @holygnocchi, @broomsticks to do your own list if you’re feeling inspired <3

[ssruis]

i like youre posts, thoughts on ruinene ?

As a romantic dynamic: I don’t really think abt them that way… it’s the unrepentant emunene/ruikasa bias. Also a lot of rui & nene’s interactions read as very… sibling-like? To *me*. Personally. I hesitate to say sibling-like, because people get really weird about assigning family dynamics to characters who aren’t related or raised as siblings and have never referred to each other as siblings (“it’s basically incest” no it is not what are you on), but it’s something similar to that imo. Gestures at nene’s new 3rd anniversary 2* card story where Rui is like “I remember when you were reading picture books… and now you’re reading more advanced books… how time flies…” & she’s like “stop treating me like a kid 😑” despite being him being only one year older than her.

I don’t have anything against it (& I think taking shipping fictional characters seriously enough to fight over it is ridiculous), it’s just not for me & I don’t see it romantically. But for the people who do: you do you have fun enjoy yourselves. (I also personally think Rui is gay coded but again. Idc if people disagree it doesn’t affect me I’m glad they’re having fun. Also that’s a hot button topic & I don’t want the people who do take this shit too seriously to hunt me down with pitchforks and torches please go outside it’s not that deep.)

As a platonic dynamic/going off what’s in canon: I’m so obsessed with them (as I am with all wxs dynamics). They’re so fascinating to me. They make me so sad. Another reason I hate the “they’re siblings” thing is it feels like a boring restrictive box people want to shove their dynamic into that does a disservice to how interesting it is. It waters it down.

Nene was the only person Rui really had as a friend when he was a kid, and the only person who trusted in him and his ideas. They grew their love for theatre together. At some point they grew distant - we don’t know why, but my personal take on it is this:

1. Rui slowly growing to think he would never find anyone who got him after experiencing rejection after rejection, and pushing Nene away. A combination of “I need to leave her before she leaves me, this way it will hurt less because it’s My Choice”, “I shouldn’t inflict myself upon other people it’s better for everyone if I stay by myself”, and “Nene has her own friends now I would just be dragging her down.”

2. Nene having her own friends (new troupe) and slowly pulling back - or, at least, not actively trying to prevent him pushing her away. “I don’t want to experience the same social rejection, and I don’t know how to help Rui, there’s nothing I can do.” Nene, especially in the early days, has never been very assertive, and I don’t think favoring blending into the background over standing out (in a potentially embarrassing way) due to Rui’s stunts and ideas would be out of character for her.

3. I don’t think they went to the same middle school/junior high (I could be wrong) (did they even go to the same elementary school?) which meant they didn’t spend time together without one of them reaching out, which became increasingly rare.

I don’t think either of them are to blame. Or they share equal blame, depending on how you look at it. I see people placing more of the blame on Nene though, which is… Nene get behind me. Leave her alone. If you held my prsk account at gunpoint and said “ok but seriously who is more to blame for the relationship breakdown you have choose or your 4*s are gone forever” I would say Rui. Wouldn’t even have to think about it. Given his abandonment issues/avoidant tendencies/habit of pushing others away/pre main story mindset, it’s what makes the most sense.

They don’t really reconnect until the main story, and even then I wholeheartedly believe Rui was less interested in reconnecting than he was interested in getting Nene to perform again. He accepts Tsukasa’s invitation to WxS under the condition that he gets to bring in a fourth member and then immediately tries to leave the second Tsukasa is like “I don’t want to die wtf.” like he doesn’t even try that hard to convince him he just goes “ok bye have fun nene :).”

Rui builds Nene a robot so she can perform again which - I’ve talked about it before briefly, I need to talk about it at length at some point, but while that’s very sweet it’s also… not helpful. Not in the long run, at least. It wasn’t a *bad* thing, it was just the only solution he was capable of offering. It was a bandaid over a gaping wound situation - Nene couldn’t hide behind a robot forever. Rui couldn’t always be there to fix nenerobo, she couldn’t pursue performing seriously behind a robot, and she *wanted* to be on stage again. What Nene needed was the courage to get on stage again, and Rui didn’t have the skill set to help with that, because it was something Nene needed to find on her own (with support).

The thing about them in the early days is they both enabled each other to stagnate in situations they weren’t happy with. Maybe more so Rui than Nene, in that he literally built he a robot to allow her to avoid confronting her anxiety around performing, but Nene also lacked the ability to challenge or discourage Rui’s “I’m better off on my own” mindset. The tragic consequences of two people who lack social skills (one of which has pretty severe social anxiety) trying to help each other. Nothing really gets done.

(As an aside: this is why the emu+nene and tsukasa+rui dynamics are so crucial. Yes even outside of a ship dynamic I promise I’m accounting for my own bias. Emu+tsukasa did actually have the ability to encourage nene+rui to come out of their shells - Emu is Nene’s no.1 hype man and always encourages her in everything she does and pushes her outside her comfort zone socially. Nene doesn’t have to guess at what Emu is thinking & get caught up in the weeds of anxiety bc Emu will just tell her outright. Rui credits Tsukasa specifically with giving him the chance to change for a reason, and Mizuki/pandemonium NPCs point out that Rui has seemed so much happier and less closed off since becoming Tsukasa’s friend. Pointing @ the thing Rui’s CV said about as you like it.)

There’s still some degree of guilt on Nene’s side wrt being unable to help Rui even now, but that’s lessened over the course of the story. There’s a lot that goes unsaid between them about their shared past, but they also understand each other incredibly well after knowing each other for ~10 years. By virtue of knowing each other forever they’re both well acquainted with how the other’s mind works.

Nene can tell what’s bothering Rui in wonder halloween before even he realizes it, and she understands that he struggles to explain/articulate his feelings and issues in curtain call. Rui is tuned into Nene’s anxiety saw trap of a mind and is well versed in getting her to realize she’s overthinking things (I.e. “why don’t you just ask tsukasa what he did in the acting camp” in her emu3 2* card. I think that’s the right card) as well as getting her to speak up (shutting emu up with a donut in one of the earlier nene card stories so nene has a chance to talk. source here is just trust me I don’t want to hunt the card down).

Nene is always in his corner, and the reverse is true. They want each other to be happy and they’re so so so pleased that the other is doing better now. Nene often points out that Rui seems happier, and Rui is very proud of how far Nene has grown both on the stage and off it. Love their dynamic it’s so good… I care them…

[north-blue-hearts]

Heart of Gold

CisFem Reader x Trafalgar Law

CW: ptsd, trauma, depictions/implications of suicide and suicidal ideation, language, violence, blood, canonical character death, mature themes and events 18+

Chapter 16: Well in Hand

Not much changed in the day to day of life on the Polar Tang. Your hand found Law’s when the two of you were near enough, and he’d kiss the top of your head in passing, no matter who was around. It was a little embarrassing at first, but the ease with which the crew accepted it, and the frequency of his small actions helped.

Your usual duties continued without interruption. You aided with making meals, learned more about the functions of the sub, and spent what spare moments you could with Law in his office. There was a different tension that built up between you two during these times, but you kept each other on task with continued research, reading and musings.

News from the gulls came in when you’d surface for air or laundry needs. One of the Warlords had been imprisoned for trying to take over a desert island nation, but aside from one of them, the Warlords weren’t your concern. The news had irritated Law, but only in passing, and you imagined, not because of Sir Crocodile.

“Doflamingo was credited with having brought the plot to light for the marines to handle.” You glance over at Law. “The move doesn’t make any sense.”

“Part of a plan that’s mostly obscure?” Law prompts and you shake your head.

“If Donquixote had complete control over who the next two Warlords were going to be, then sure.” You say, brows furrowed. “You could argue he was moving the pieces off the board that do him no good while trying to tighten a hold on all the Warlords for his own gain. But he’s in a business relationship with Kaido, as you’ve said. The other Warlords would do him little good. Duplicitous partnerships like that would only implode on him in the end.”

You consider the news for a few more moments, taking into account all you knew about Doflamingo and the other warlords from what Law and the crew had taught you.

“Is it… I mean.” You groan in frustration, setting the paper aside, and leveling a disbelieving look at Law. “Did he truly make such a move purely because he could?”

“He does enjoy setting off distractions for no reason other than the chaos they could cause.” Law explains.

“… What a chaotic little gremlin.” You mutter and Law nearly snorts.

“We’ll be at the next island tomorrow, are you ready?” He asks, shifting the topic to something more important.

“As I can be.” You admit with a heavy sigh. “Being preemptively anxious does no good, but I can’t stop it.”

Law puts a hand over yours, standing a little closer. “No matter what, we’ll get it figured out.”

You twine your fingers between his and smile. “Is it too much to ask that you kiss me even if I can’t leave the ship?”

He raises his brow inquisitively. “I wasn’t aware I was going to kiss you if you could leave the ship.” He teases.

You turn toward him with a smile. “It was a bit more that I expected I would kiss you, if I was successful.”

He leans down toward you, and you can feel the blood rush to your face. “You don’t have to earn a kiss.”

“Yes, well, no, I know, but in – in front of the crew.” You stammer, eyes focused on his lips.

“Even then.” He asserts, his free hand cupping your face gently as he leans down the rest of the way and kisses you softly.

“We-we’re getting off,” your words are halted by another soft kiss, this one ending in a sly smirk. “Task.” You finish softly. He kisses you again and you can feel a need bubbling up in you.

“I do believe you’re trying to seduce me, Mr. Trafalgar.” You say teasingly.

His golden eyes find yours, and there’s a shift in the gaze, a change in the air, and you can feel tension pull taut through everything.

“Do you want me to honestly try?” He questions in a voice sweet, and low, and dangerous, and terribly, terribly tempting.

“I, um, that’s – I mean.” You press your lips together and look away.

Law kisses you on the forehead before leaning back and giving you space. “No for the moment then.” He answers for you, giving you time to step back and straighten up on your own before he lets go of you entirely.

You excuse yourself long enough to make some tea, giving you both time to cool off a little, and providing a small break from all the research. The rest of the evening goes well, and the next day the Polar Tang is anchored in a cove on the new island.

The whole crew is on deck as Jean Bart and Bepo set up the gangplank from the ship to the shore. Law’s holding your hand as you watch the two work.

“The crew’s here for support, but if you want privacy, I can order them below deck.” He says quietly.

You shake your head. “I appreciate the support.” Your hand tightens against his. “We’re going to do this the same as before, yes?”

“Almost.” Law says, nodding toward Jean and Bepo who are waiting on the island. “Jean will lift you up if you can’t make it and see if that helps. If not, he’ll bring you back up here. I will only ever be a word away, okay?”

You nod taking another few deep breaths to try and keep yourself calm.

“I’ll head down first, then.” Law says, leading you forward gently as he steps over the railing, guiding your descent as he had on the other island.

The hardest part about trying a second time, was that you weren’t sure what was effecting you. Was your heart racing because you were nervous about things going wrong, or was it racing because things were going wrong? You focused on your breathing, and on Law, knowing that even if he had to risk you throwing up, he wouldn’t let you suffer trying to reach the island or the ship.

Halfway down the gangplank you stop. Law takes a few more steps, and then waits quietly. You take things one step at a time, assessing how you’re feeling with each step closer to the island you get. You want to know where the line is, more than anything else, but you also don’t want to assume your baseline anxiety isn’t covering that line up.

Law covers the rest of the gangplank, stepping onto the island and giving Jean Bart space to go get you if needed. You take each step slowly, eyes on the gangplank. You don’t want to look at the island, you don’t want to know where it is in relation to you, so you just keep your eyes on the path beneath your feet.

Each step feels like relief. Each pace forward is another small victory, and you can feel yourself slowly relaxing. You start to look up from your slow movement forward, glancing at the island, and glancing at Law. Another step. Another. It was slow going, but you couldn’t risk rushing it.

Your foot set down on the gangplank again and a zing hit your chest like a small jolt. You nearly gasped, and you knew your face betrayed you when you heard Law call out your name. You took another step despite it and the small jolt tightened, gripping your heart like it had before and making it hard to breathe. Frustration and confusion are painted across your face as Law orders Jean to get you.

The large man clears the distance between you and the island easily and picks you up, steadying you against his shoulder.

“Bell?” He asks, waiting for you to tell him to go to the ship or the island.

“T-toward the island,” you manage. “One step.”

Jean takes a step toward the island and the fear that comes over you tenses your entire body. He doesn’t even ask after that, heading toward the ship as quickly as he can, and setting you on your feet on the deck.

You put the backs of your hands against your eyes. “Dammit.” You swear in frustration.

There’s a tentative hand on your shoulder and when you don’t shrug it off, Ikkaku gives you a hug. “Sorry.” She offers quietly, and you can feel the rest of the crew around you. Different hands squeeze your shoulders, a few people pat your back. You can feel Jean Bart’s massive hand rest on your head for a moment before Bepo hugs you along with Ikkaku.

After a few moments you hear Law’s voice.

“(Y/N).”

“I’m okay.” You reply quietly, and Ikkaku and Bepo step back. You sigh deeply and move your hands away. Your eyes are red, but only a little, as you managed to keep your tears in.

“You don’t have to do that anymore.” Law assures you, running his fingers over your hair before you lean forward and set your head against his chest. He strokes your hair a few more times as you let your tears fall. They don’t fall to the deck, instead soaking into his shirt, but it wouldn’t matter.

Frustration only comes out as salt.

“It doesn’t make any sense!” You shout your frustration into his chest, muffling the sound of your raised voice a little before leaning back. “I traveled a lot, even before I was on the run, even before everything went wrong! I never, ever, had an issue with being on an island.”

“We’re not done experimenting.” Law says evenly. “We’re no where near exhausting all our options.”

“… Yeah. Yes, you’re right.” You say flatly.

Law leans down and kisses your forehead. “It’s okay to be frustrated.”

You nod. “It’s just… I was okay with the idea of staying on the submarine for as long as I could, but now that I know I cannot leave it, I want to.”

“That sounds pretty normal.” Shachi says, and immediately slaps a hand over his mouth. “Sorry, Bell.”

“He’s got a point.” Ikkaku adds. “Like when you injure a leg or your back and the captain tell you not to walk around-.”

“-unless absolutely necessary.” The entire crew chimes in with Ikkaku and Law grunts, a frown on his face.

“The second he says that I swear I remember a dozen things I need to do that require walking.” Uni admits.

“Bed rest is the worst.” Clione adds. “Especially if you don’t adhere to it.”

Hakugan snorts, smiling at you before he clarifies, jerking his thumb at Clione. “He got caught walking around so much Cap’n made him sleep in his office so he could keep an eye on him.”

The crew laughs and you manage to smile easily.

“Thank you.” You say as the laughter dies down. “I feel better, and I appreciate everyone’s help.”

“Do you want to try it without your heart now? Or later?” Law questions.

You look off the ship toward the island, and then back to Law. “Now’s fine.” You agree and smile. “That’s quite the way to put it.”

“You have a bad reaction to Shambles, have you had a bad reaction to anything else?” He asks as he takes a step back and creates a room.

You shake your head. “No, but I also haven’t had any of my internal organs removed by the fruit, either.”

Law nods. “You’re going to feel a little weak, but if you feel any pain let me know.” He explains. “This shouldn’t hurt at all.”

“Certainly.” You nod as Law puts his hand out toward you.

“Mes.”

The sensation of being cut, without the pain of being cut, slipped through your body like a hair across your tongue. Uncomfortable, and a little unsettling, but not painful. You could feel the shift in your body as it felt like you had to stretch to connect to your heart, but there was nothing alarming.

Your hand goes to the new hole in your chest before you look up at Law. His eyes are wide, focused on the cube in his hand.

Everything stops.

The heart in Law’s hand is golden.

[cerberusmahou]

We get just as much from Katara’s POV about Aang than we also do with her about Jet, if not more. In both ATLA and NATLA, Jet straight up manipulates Katara, and in NATLA it’s worse because he tells her that she only has the power that she does because of him. Whereas in ATLA and NATLA Aang is Katara’s number one supporter when it comes to almost everything (Kiawentiio herself said that he played a huge part in her bending growth and that they are both physically and spiritually bonded). So I’m confused as to why you think Jetara gives Katara agency, but Kataang doesn’t.

Let me start by clarifying that english isn't my language and I'm aware I can come out as aggressive. I apologize beforehand if my reply reads that way. However, I prefer being clear and assertive over being too polite and confusing.

I don't want to be part of ship wars either, so I won't reply to other questions like this if asked again, but I think it may be worth explaining once to avoid future confusion.

With this said, let me reply to your question.

I have never stated anything like that, so don't put words in my mouth I never said.

I am a Kataang. They're one of my favourite ATLA ships. If they weren't I wouldn't have drawn them because I value my time.

What I said is that while I love them I also wish the writers put more emphasis in Katara's perspective precisely because they're the canon choice. You can love something and, at the same time, be critical of it. I'm also critical of Jet's writing.

I don't think Jet gives Katara more agency than Aang does and I don't think Jetara is a healthier ship than Kataang either. You don't know why I like them. Ask me if you're curious, but stop assuming.

Aang is one of my favourite characters. He is kind, sweet, empathetic, funny and loves Katara genuinely. He is an incredibly good friend to Katara and one of the people who supports her goals and dreams the most. He wants good things for her and that's why I think they're cute together and good for each other.

However, as romance, their canon writing is objectively flawed. Both in the series and the comics, as their romance is writen from Aang's perspective. Katara is Aang's dream girl and the series frames her love as a reward. In fact, all the guys get a girl as a reward for their actions.

That's not a problem in fanfiction or idealized romance books, I enjoy that as well, but I have my beef with this happening in a series for children. Especially one where there is so much emphasis on growth and morals. It sets unrealistic and harmful expectations for all genders.

So, yes, I wish we had more scenes of Katara talking about her problems to him, I wish Katara had more agency with Aang, and I wish there were more scenes like the Fire Nation dance where you can see her crush develop - because we get all of this from Aang's side, but not so much from Katara's. That's not criticism against Aang, and that's not hating on Kataang, it's criticism against the author's writing choice. My complaints are level-entry feminism and I think we, as Kataang fans, should acknowledge its flaws along its strenghts.

That said, I also think ATLA is a product of its time. And one that aged very well. Back then, that's how most couples were written, as a male dream. This is a flaw, but a strength is that Katara's writing was more than revolutionary, especially considering she's the love interest.

All these facts can coexist and be true.

I get your frustration because I love Aang as well and I know about the anti-Kataang thing, but I'm afraid you're aiming at the wrong target.

I like Jet as a character and I like Jetara for other reasons, I don't ship them because i think he's a better suitor for Katara. I don't ship with that mindset. I have said this before, but I tend to focus on drawing what I can't find and wish to see - and there is a lot of Kataang for me to enjoy passively.

Aang, Katara, and Jet are fictional characters. Anyone can write them with anyone and enjoy exploring different scenarios.

Hope I explained myself properly. If you have any other questions I'll be happy to have a friendly chat.