#some of the best ships are those from canon with no romance

[teafiend]

GIFs credited to @Nungchae (Twitter/X)

[scarrletmoon]

okay i know the Discourse™️ has been going on for way too long at this point, but

i think some people outside of the OFMD fandom don’t actually get why we’re particularly annoying about this show

OFMD is not the first queer show to ever exist. if anything, it's a late entry in decades of queer media. over a year and a half since the first few episodes aired, everyone knows that OFMD is queer. that doesn't make it particularly special

but back in March? this is the trailer that dropped in February of 2022, 2 weeks before the premier. if you're used to seeing queer chemistry in shows that aren't intended to be queer, you might see the hints between Ed and Stede here. but to most people? it's just a silly little pirate comedy. just guys being dudes. the trailer doesn't even hint at the other 2 canonical queer relationships in the show -- the closest it gets suggesting romance is the music and the pink in the poster

so when people watched this show in March 2022, they went into it expecting subtext and nothing else. to them, it was like watching Sherlock or Supernatural or Merlin in the 2010s. if you were in any of those fandoms -- especially Sherlock and Supernatural -- you know what it was like; constant jokes at our expense, being mocked for creating explicit fanwork, made fun of by the creators and within the show itself. if we saw queer subtext, that was our problem. this was a time when you pretended NOT to be in fandom, for fear of ridicule. we kept our fanwork to ourselves, we DID NOT share it with the cast, and we accepted that our favourite ships would probably never be canon. maybe one day, if we were lucky, we'd have a show where the subtext wasn't mockery as much as deliberate foreshadowing -- but that had to be YEARS away

right?

OFMD was never billed as a queer show, not in the beginning. there was no LGBTQ+ tag on (HBO) Max, it wasn't on anyone's list of upcoming queer shows in 2022, it flew under the radar through most of its first season. this was a show about pirates, and sure, some of them were queer. but not the LEADS. if you think they're romantically involved, that's must be fandom brain poisoning

except the 9th episode aired, and they kissed. and the show said "you're not crazy for thinking they have chemistry because they really do. it's been a romance this whole time". and in the 10th episode, Stede realizes that he's in love

(not mandating you watch this clip if you don't care for the show, but there's something that feels particularly earth shattering about no one saying the word gay but knowing that Stede's realizing he is, that it's completely unambiguous and explicit in a way that only straight romances are usually allowed to be)

this is why people freaked out about this show. no one knew. even the creator, David Jenkins, was surprised when WE were surprised that it was gay for real -- he set out to write a love story, using all the tried and true beats of a rom com. he'd never even heard of the term queerbaiting. he looked at historical Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet and thought "oh, there's something here" and just...wrote that, with very little fanfare, like it was inevitable. like it was obvious. of course Jim and Pam end up together. of course Buttercup and Westley end up together. what kind of disappointing ending would it be if You've Got Mail ended with the main characters just going their separate ways?

so of course Ed and Stede are in love

look, i get it. we're annoying and won't shut the fuck up about this show that seems mediocre at best. i watched the whole thing back in march, thought "huh, that was cool" and was sure that i'd forget about it in a few days

an hour after looking at fanart on twitter, i was lost in the fucking sauce

there's just so much to unpack from a mere 10 episodes. it covers racism, toxic masculinity, gender expression, sexuality, trauma and abuse. and i don't think we should overlook the fact that the non-white characters in this show get to be fully human in a way i haven't seen in my favourite shows in recent memory

additionally, most OFMD are 25 or older. we're not people who've been spoiled by queer rep, who don't get how hard it used to be, how you'd have to grovel for scraps, how shipping and fanfiction was a way to find queer rep where we thought there never would be. we've been here. we're annoying about this show because for a lot of us, it's the first time we've been treated like our queerness isn't an anomaly that needs to be relegated to its own section, that needs to be praised for the bare minimum of acknowledging that we exist. it's not pulling punches to avoid scaring away a straight audience. it just is.

OFMD for me is like when i watched Black Panther for the first time and realized that this is what white people felt all the time. have there been other black superhero movies? of course! does Disney fucking suck? BOY does it. but that was the first time i got to sit in a movie theater and watch a mainstream film that looked at Africa and said "look at how beautiful you are, exactly as you are"

and idk. i think that's really cool

[penguinsfly]

I unfortunately saw something I didn't want to see and that was my last straw. I'm fucking doing this.

Let's establish this first. Alastor is stated in the show to be asexual that is not up to discussion. He is also very heavily implied in the same conversation to be aromatic. 'An Ace in the hole' being used in context of him being with Charlie is also implying his aromanticism.

VIDEO

If that's not enough then here is Viv speaking about his romantic orientation. It's pretty clear despite the fact that afterwards she said it's okay to headcanon whatever (it's not but I will get o that later) that he is written purely as an aro ace character.

On top of that going by Alastor's interaction with Angel from the pilot and the first episode it is clear that he is sex repulsed. Not only that but on the fandom website he is stated to be touch averse with two sources which you can check out on the website.

Hazbin hotel wiki, Alastor page

Now we established that Alastor is canonically Asexual, Aromantic, Sex Repulsed and Touch Averse

As I also am all of the above I'll try to explain everything to the best of my ability as simply as I can.

Aromanticism and Asexuality.

I'm probably targeting the audience that knows those terms but regardless I will explain it anyway.

Aromantic - people that experience little to no romantic attraction towards any gender

Asexual - people that experience little to no sexual attraction towards any gender.

Little to no

Asexuality and aromanticism are spectrums in which people can feel certain attractions towards people but those attractions are less occurring or are defined by personal connection.

Diagram from AVEN website

However some people are at the end of the spectrum, they never felt attraction and that's valid. Alastor was stated to be aroace he wasn't written as demi or as gray he was written as aroace as in the end of the spectrum. His repulsion and not giving shit about romance or sex speaks for itself.

Representation

I do understand that everyone wants to be represented but it's so important to understand that aroace people are one of the most underrepresented queer groups in the media.

And I'm not here to scream about how I want my fav character to be just like me I don't care for it I'm way too confident in my orientation to rely on that however I'm tired of explaining to people what asexuality and aromanticism is just to receive 'are you sure' or 'you'll change your mind' or 'its not real' or the community favourite 'you'll find the right person' no I won't I'm not looking thank you very much (I just smile and nod to be polite and I'm sick of it).

'Harmless' buts like: 'He might be on the spectrum', 'AroAce people can still feel attraction' hurt the final outcome for all the people on the spectrum not only strictly aroaces because it allows people to write one shots with 'Demi Alastor' that falls in love in 2000 words because he is 'demi' (spoiler alert: they don't understand what that label means). It's just a cover, an opening, sneaky way to disregard his orientation, feel good about themselves and move on. Newsflash there is no moving on for aroace people it's our life.

Shipping

Shipping is just harmless fun right? Usually yes but not in this case. In the same way its not okay to ship gay characters with genders they are not attracted to.

It's erasure and since there is much less people identifying on aro/ace spectrums then there is gay or bi people our voices are being silenced. Not to mention that gay people received support from entire LGBTQIA+ community over the years in contrast to aro/ace specs who to this day are told that we are 'not queer enough' or 'not oppressed enough' often by other queer people.

And finally... FINALLY we get cannon Aro/Ace character that is clearly not interested in romance and sex. Character that beats stereotypes of boring and timid aro/ace people and what's the first people do? They ship him. Alastor's storyline provides so many points to be explored like 'what is his backstory', ' what's about his deal', ' how does he fit in in the found family trope' , 'does he care about hotel guests' yet people choose to write about the only thing that he is not interested in. As a heavily repulsed person that used to be horrified about the fact that I'll have to fall in love with somebody at some point before I found out what aro/ace is I find it repulsive and trust me he would too.

But Viv said it's okay!

Its the same point once again. What if Viv said that it's okay to ship gay Angel with woman. She doesn't have authority to say shit like that.

Queerplatonic relationships

I can't tell you not to do it I don't think he would be necessary interested in it but for fuck sake do your research and try to understand what queerplatonic means before you use it as a cover to shamelessly ship him. Respect the fact that he is sex repulsed and touch averse and you're fine.

Why can't you just avoid it?

First of all I shouldn't have to. Alastor's orientation should be respected in the fandom like any other orientation is. Second of all I've tried. I tried to only look up AroAce Alastor tag I've blocked over 80 people on tumblr alone (I just counted) to avoid to see anything that could trigger me and I'm not talking about slightly shippy posts or fanarts I'm talking about full blown disregard towards his orientation. Guess what it didn't work!

Archive of our own where do I start. I've used this website for over a decade and I could probably count days I didn't go there on my fingers. I'm fluent in AO3 I know which tags I should block. I know how to skim thorough the summary and tags to see if I'm interested. I've seen shit I'm a shipper I've been on ao3 for ten years but never had to mentally prepare myself to face queerphobia as I click on the tab.

Just use aro/ace Alastor tag.

I do and let me tell you people can't tag for shit or they just pretend to be clueless at this point. Besides see this?

there is more ff with Alastor/reader (disgusting) than there is Alastor with his canon orientation and to play the devils advocate for arophobic people there is more Angel/Alastor then his stated in the show sexuality. I understand that fandom goes back before the show was aired but Viv confirmed his orientation back then too.

Summary

I could go on and on bout different issues and maybe I will in the future but I'm not wasting anymore of this weekend on it. I'm ready to answer any questions as long as they are respectful.

I'm aware that he is a fictional character, it doesn't affect him in any way whatsoever but it does affect aromantic and asexual people keep it in mind.

If there are any mistakes grammar related I'm not sorry I'm fluent in English (not my first language) but I took 3h nap in between and I'm sleep deprived.

Have a nice day.

[llilyrose]

llilyrose spends her time analyzing aroace stuff. yay.

isat spoilers afoot

what i especially like about the way adrienne wrote mira's orientation is the lack of room for interpretation. yes they snuck aroace talk into fantasy france, but just stop and think for a minute. what would happen if mira just said "i'm aroace" or "i don't feel love the same way" instead of all the nuance we got to her character in the friend quest convo?

we know she's sex repulsed, we know she's romance repulsed. we know she loves fiction that has those things in it, loves interpreting fictional characters that way, but can't bare to see herself in that situation. it makes a lot of sense with regards to her location (vaugarde, a very sex-positive and romance-adamant country) and also with regards to herself (the way she feels about her environment). Of course she wouldn't blame other folk around her for engaging with their religion the "correct" way, of course she'd internalize all her feelings of being outcast and turn it back on herself.

The fandom respects this! Nobody ships her romantically, or sexually, because we know she's not into that. We know she would never and i know a bunch of people who would punch you for even thinking it!

Now what if Adrienne hadn't put this in the game? What if they had just said on their tumblr one day, "mira's aroace," or something. where would we be now? aspec shipping discourse would definitely take the reins. we'd have people shipping her in all kinds of different ways, bending the aroace character to the best of their ability because they could still be into sex, or romance, or whatever. this is TRUE, it's POSSIBLE, but there's no nuance. We wouldn't know the way Mira really feels about these things unless Adrienne told us, so a lot of people would either ignore/"work around" her identity or just wouldn't even know about it to begin with!

Introducing mira's orientation in the way adrienne did leaves no room for discourse. we know if she's sex-positive, sex-negative, how she reacted to finding out she was, etc. It provides so much more representation than a simple "I'm aroace" ever could. It's such a wide label, so finally having CONCRETE information about a canonical aroace's experiences with their orientation is so, so freeing and honestly quite refreshing. and it's worked into the story seamlessly!!!

She's not an emotionless carcass with no capacity for love, she's not outwardly detesting sex or romance at every possible moment, she's simply a well-rounded character who happens to be aroace. You have time to warm up to her before ever even finding out about her orientation! Or having any clue at all (barring maybe the suspicious sketches)!!!!! Aroace people are real!!! We're so real!!!!

Speaking of the suspicious sketches! We know siffrin's alloace (from, like, one line of dialogue), but we don't know if he's sex-repulsed. Adrienne's gone on record to say "aces can still have sex" in reference to siffrin, so I'm inclined to believe he has at least some sort of libido.

When looking at the sketches, both him and mira have a repulsed reaction. I think there are three possible reasons for Siffrin here!

Siffrin is sex-repulsed and has a visceral reaction to them because he thinks it's gross.

Siffrin has no libido because the stress overrides everything in his system. That combined with his ace identity would probably lead to a distaste for the papers.

Some people would NOT GET THE MEMO from the act 3 friendquest. Sometimes when you're writing you have to account for the gamers being really really dense. Some people didn't even understand the Isa friendquest was him coming out as trans basically. Since Ace characters are hard to "prove" unless they explicitly state they dislike sex, this line of dialogue might've just been there to drill it in that Siffrin is ace because the only other place we see that implication is one line in the friendquest. It could even have no tie to his relationship with sex, who knows?

one of these options is not like the others! /silly

I couldn't tell you which one of those it is, but i think at least one of them had to have hit the mark. It's a lot harder to decode siffrin's sexuality when we only get like 5 lines of dialogue total that vaguely even reference it

With this we come back to the issue from earlier: He could be demi, he could be ace, he could be sex-repulsed, he could not! Most people write them sex-repulsed and I'm personally on that bandwagon, but interpreting them a different way isn't any less correct unless you completely ignore the fact they're ace in the first place.

Even sex-positive aces have complicated relationships with sex. Some do it for the gratification, some simply have higher libido and can't think of a different way to get it out, and others only do it to please their partner.

I think writing an ace character as sex-positive should be seen as a character study instead of an excuse to ship two characters together. Is this character the type to even enjoy it in the first place? How often? How do they interact with it? Etc. Which I think is what Adrienne was talking about when she said "aces can still have sex." We don't know about siffrin's identity, we don't have a grasp on the nuance, but we do know he's ace and that he experiences love differently from the way mirabelle does, and the way isabeau does, and the way odile does, and what have you.

I love love love the representation we get in isat. An aroace, an alloace, and someone that a lot of fans headcanon as aroallo though it's unconfirmed. Even if Odile's not aro, we still get that line of dialogue about not finding romance suitable for her at the moment, which speaks true to a different experience altogether. No two characters experience love, experience life the same in isat. That's why i get to make a tumblr text post that's a bit too long exploring the different avenues adrienne took when writing the characters lol :')

[siflshonen]

I’d love to interpret bkdk as romantic but I will be honest, it is difficult to do when a het ship is being hinted at more explicitly. I’m still glad Horikoshi did not include a full-on confession though. We can do what we want in fics without having to rework canon.

Love your posts, thank you for your wonderful insights into bkdk. Your meta is always well-done.

I know this ask was originally meant for someone else, and you’re absolutely right that bakuhatsufallinlove does fantastic meta. You’re very wise to see how great of a job they do and it’s kind of you to say so. It’s also very kind of you to read my posts.

I’m about to not be quite so kind.

I hate Izuocha. And I’m annoyed by the insinuation that Ochako breaking down in tears over Himiko to Izuku - her big moment of bearing her emotions out in the open to him - is seen as an endgame romance, especially since the only other detail we have to go off of is Ochako smiling at Izuku in their hero suits when Todoroki is kinda doing the same thing, AND when I should DAMN WELL hope Ochako and Izuku are still friends and looking out for each other, especially since they bonded over the traumatic deaths of those they failed to save.

I’m insulted that Ochako’s confessions to Himiko are disregarded like that, or the tumultuous chaos she grapples with in her heart is brushed aside. I’m insulted by the insinuation that Ochako’s known love of seeing happy, smiling people is not acknowledged and instead her expressing joy over seeing that on Izuku’s face is painted over as being implied, for-sure romantic endgame. Maybe it is, sure. Anything is possible. I’m sure Himiko wants the best for Ochako and for her to be happy, and would probably think it was romantic that her feelings also reached Izuku by way of Ochako as being someone they mutually loved.

But Himiko is dead and it ripped Ochako apart, and her reaction to that is the last in-depth look we get at her feelings. Izuku recognizing that Ochako is a hero in her own right (not a heroine, aka a damsel for the hero to save and then end up with romantically per Japanese storytelling roles, not just “a female hero” like we think of it in English) is gratifying and wonderful. And I’m insulted by the insinuation that just because Izuku acknowledges that Ochako is and has been his hero and always saved him that this must mean that they are implied to be the romantic endgame. God forbid they mutually admire each other and respect each other and the story just ends there, and god forbid Izuku calling her his hero sends a totally different message.

Now, as for Katsuki. You cannot tell me that he doesn’t have some kind of deep feelings for Izuku. @bakuhatsufallinlove has posted extensively about unspoken feelings with a likewise unspoken understanding are common for Japanese romances, but I’ll admit I’m not here to talk about that.

Do you really want to tell me that Horikoshi-sensei allowing Katsuki and Izuku to keep their arms and have an implied handhold at the end doesn’t mean as much as whatever the fuck Ochako is doing in the final panel?

In Naruto, which BNHA takes many cues from, Sasuke and Naruto had their arms ripped off because the editor didn’t approve of the two of them holding hands in panel. Apparently, that’s too romantic and inappropriate for the male leads of a shonen. Given that, how interesting that the doctor recommended that Katsuki’s hand-holding arm be amputated. How interesting that Katsuki refuses. How interesting that Katsuki refuses while thinking not just of All Might, probably not really of All Might, but Izuku. How interesting that Izuku also keeps both arms, and we as readers are very certain they held hands even if it is not shown.

How interesting that Katsuki is not just the heart of Izuku’s mech suit project (and, in some respects, of the class,) but of Izuku’s image of victory, Izuku’s “Pro Hero with a quirk” origin, the heart of what he believes a real hero is like, and the literal actual heart of what he wanted to defend from ShigAFO multiple times over. How interesting that Katsuki’s story is in part him learning how to not be a burden to Izuku or used against him like, say, a heroine-damsel-in-distress might be used, AND it is also in part him learning to come to terms with his feelings for Izuku. In fact, we spend basically the whole manga dwelling on this with him. It’s that important that he reconciled Izuku with his heart and desires.

Izuku, who is so tearfully happy that Katsuki wants to be with him for the rest of their lives in whatever form that takes, even when they weren’t sure he was going to have a quirk and be able to be Katsuki’s superhero rival. Izuku, who is so happy to be with Kacchan and the class as a hero again, in part BECAUSE it is with Kacchan………….and everyone else on the next page.

Nothing is for sure. Nobody kissed or got married or whatever, sure. But you really want to tell me Izuocha is more heavily implied based on the ending?

Thanks for the ask. I’m sorry you feel that way. Get off my lawn.

[super-who-locked-me-in-here]

Pieces of media my mom has seen and the popular MLM ships in them that she doesn't think are gay:

MCU - Stucky (note that she does get a kick out of Stony stuff and she believes wholeheartedly that those two hate fucked in a not-filmed scene of Avengers 2012 so this is not about her thinking "oh Captain America is so straight-laced because he's the ideal American man" or anything)

MCU - Poolverine (she's fully aware and accepting of the fact that both Logan and Wade are canonically queer characters but she thinks all the flirting Wade did with Logan in the newest movie didn't necessarily mean anything because "he talks like that to everyone". Side note though: while she believes Wade should be with Vanessa, she does think that Logan can and should shoot his shot with Wade after Vanessa inevitably dies since he and Wade are both immortal. It's just that she thinks Wade should get his happy ending with Vanessa first.)

MCU - Lokius ("Mama have you ever seen a man fix another man's tie like that" "No but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen! I wouldn't know though; it's been like 15 years since I worked a corporate job.")

Sonyverse/Marvel - Symbrock ("They literally have a symbiotic relationship. That doesn't make them gay." So I showed her the comics where Eddie calls Venom "love" and gives birth to Venom's babies and she said "Fine you win but please never show me alien man birth ever again."

Supernatural - Destiel ("They're like Steve and Bucky! They're brothers in arms! They've been through hell and back together!" Note that she only watched through season 5 but she does know about a lot of their later interactions because I told her about them)

House M.D. - Hilson ("Dot I watched that whole show and they were never anything more than good friends" "What about when House admitted to thinking about Wilson during sex? What about that whole episode where they pretended to be gay for each other to prove a point to a neighbor and Wilson proposed? What about that whole episode where Wilson had to furnish the apartment and House told him not to let a woman tell him what to do but Wilson let House tell him what to do? What about the whole ending?" "Why can't two men just be close enough friends to joke about that stuff with each other?"

Real life - Me and my best friend of the same gender orientation who I've kissed multiple times and have had a requited crush on for years that neither of us have ever persued for logistical reasons (I literally used me and this friend to try and prove my mom wrong about Stucky and Destiel. I asked her if she thought me and this friend were like brothers and she said yes with a straight face)

Sherlock - Johnlock (to be fair this is the BBC ship name, but she doesn't think any iteration of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson are the slightest bit gay. "They're business partners and roommates.")

Our Flag Means Death - BlackHands (Should go ahead and say that I'm not really a BlackHands shipper myself; we both really enjoyed Stede and Ed's romance in the show. BUT it takes so much away from Izzy's character and his development if you don't acknowledge that he was jealous of Stede and in love with Ed, at least a little. My mom thought Izzy was just an extremely loyal first mate.)

Also, for the record, I'm not trying to call my mom out as homophobic. I'm queer and so are two of my siblings and she's very supportive of us. There are gay romcoms she enjoys like Our Flag Means Death and Red, White, and Royal Blue. The reason I'm making this list is because I think it's really funny how she doesn't understand the concept of queerbaiting (not that all of the above listed ships are queerbaiting). She thinks things are either explicitly straight or explicitly queer (whether it's gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc) and cannot comprehend the idea that some character relationships are deliberately pushing the boundaries of straight friendships into queer relationships to get more minority viewers and I think her explanations are funny.

[shibaraki]

🍉 ─ SPONSOR A WIP FOR GAZA

Hi friends!! I don't know how this will go but I wanted to participate and help contribute a little bit more to the fundraising efforts for Gaza set up by ficsforgaza. I’m taking things slower on the writing front this year so I only have a few to list, some longer than others. Even so, I hope some appeal to you and encourage you to give a donation.

RATE: $1 per 100 words

INSTRUCTIONS: donate to a vetted fundraiser of your choosing, take a screenshot of the donation confirmation (make sure your private information is censored) and send it to me along with the title of whatever WIP you're sponsoring!

Here’s an example:

hi monty! here's proof of my donation to child mohammed and family's gofundme. I'd like this to go toward the wip 'name your courage' :) ty!! [screenshot.png showing evidence of donation states that $5 was given, therefore 500 words will be written for the wip titled 'name your courage']

Upon receiving your ask (I won't be publishing them) I will amend the list below and prioritise progressing that WIP as well as keeping this post updated weekly. Just for clarity: I’ll be submitting redacted evidence I receive to @ficsforgaza to try and ensure that people are not sending those same screenshots to different writers.

TO AVOID BEING OVERWHELMED I HAVE MADE A DONATION WC GOAL FOR EACH WIP❗️Just to be clear—donations go towards progressing a WIP. The sole purpose of this is to encourage donations and spread awareness. Every little bit helps. Even if a fic doesn’t get completed right away I still appreciate your participation and promise to fulfil the WC goals.

🍉 ─ WIPS AVAILABLE:

↳ NAME YOUR COURAGE — BAKUGO KATSUKI #: GN AFAB reader, post canon au, quirkless discrimination, falling in love, social work, worldbuilding, angst + fluff + eventual smut

determined to reach deep inside himself and reconcile the shame that still lingers there, pro hero dynamight publicly aligns with a well-known quirkless charity organization. what he gains is greater than he could’ve imagined.

current wc: 12,932/20,000+ donated (goal) wc: 5,000/5,000 🎊 ☑️

↳ A MANY SPLENDORED THING — KUROO TETSURO #: GN AFAB reader, divorcee kuroo, best friends to lovers, heavy mutual pining, hurt/comfort, eventual smut + romance

you wonder, not for the first time, why tetsuro could never see what was right in front of him. it was as though the compass of his sharp intuition reversed polarity when you were in the vicinity. you’ve been in love with him since you were sixteen and he’s the one person that never noticed.

current wc: 13,962/20,000+ donated (goal) wc: 5,000/5,000 🎊 ☑️

↳ #HEARTBURN — TODOROKI SHOUTO [COLLAB FIC] #: GN reader, meet-cutes, social media + shipping, reader is a paramedic, strangers to friends to lovers, fluff + humour

who knew your run-ins with the suspiciously accident prone pro-hero shouto would capture the hearts of the general public—or that a bit of harmless flirting could have such inconvenient consequences?

current wc: 2,500/5,000 donated (goal) wc: 2,500/2,500 🎊 ☑️

↳ EMERGENCY CONTACT — AIZAWA SHOUTA #: GN reader, friends to lovers, fluff + humour, sexual tension, reader is an underground hero, adopted eri, getting together

when aizawa gives eri a special card with a number to call if there’s ever a big emergency and no one else is around who can help, he doesn't consider the fact that her idea of an emergency is vastly different from his.

current wc: 1,600/3,000 donated (goal) wc: 2,500/2,500 🎊

↳ THE STAG — OKKOTSU YUUTA [RETURNING WIP!] #: AFAB reader, courtesan au (no curses), courtesan yuuta, reader is a tailor, falling in (forbidden) love, fluff + angst, love letters

your hands were made to embroider, to cut fine silks and sew tales into fabric. from time to time they’ll find themselves touching a courtesans skin. it is only to measure, and never for pleasure.

current wc: 649/? donated (goal) wc: 2,000/2,000 🎊

↳ SOMETHING BORROWED — NANAMI KENTO [EVENT WIP!] #: AFAB GN reader, no curse au, neighbours to lovers, single parent nanami, foster kids yuji + sukuna, fake engagement, pining, getting together

the precious little you know about your neighbor is that he’s handsome, unmarried, and he has two long term foster sons. after the twins panic during an inspection and identify you as nanami’s fiancé, you’re left with the opportunity to learn more. 

current wc: 10,288/? donated (goal) wc: 250/2,000 ☑️

That’s all for now, though there is a possibility that I will add more WIPs later. And let me know if you’ve got any questions (or if I’ve missed anything lol).

It’s totally fine if you can’t donate or if none of these fics appeal to you!! Please feel free to check out the other writers on @ficsforgaza’s page if you’d rather sponsor some different fics, or even make requests to those accepting them ^_^ thank you guys!

HERE’S EVEN MORE WAYS TO HELP PALESTINE, AND DON’T FORGET YOUR DAILY CLICKS!

[yanderesimp2000]

husk x fem reader romance head canons sfw and nsfw portions

My first none - yandere post wow

TWS none husk is perfect

tags Snuggles, Flirting,romance, healthy relation ship, fluff,NSFW at the end ,energetic reader, short reader,playful reader

sorry for this being so short

SFW PORTION

-Husk is very protective not in a possesive way but if anyone trys to hurt you or exploit you he WILL beat their ass

-His fur is very soft so when you cant sleep his warm fur basically works as one of those cuddly weighted blankets

-although he dose not admit when he likes something your doing his body uncontrollably purrs so you always know when he likes something your doing

-Husk is HORRIBLE with affection he just doesn't know how to react to it so he just gets overwhelmed and anxious about what to do

-Husk can still be loving though when he sees your having a bad days he's quick to comfort you and make you feel better

-husk likes to dress you up he finds it nice to be able to buy things you like then make you look all pretty in them but whatever you were he doesn't fucking care

-he likes it when you play with his fur he purrs like a vacuum and practically is shoving you against him that's how much he enjoys it

-hes always tired so he's not to fond of your extremely energetic personality but he manages he loves you so much he could not give to shits

-hes fucking TERRIBLE at comfort even though he's protective you could come home balling your eyes out he would be mad that someone made you cry like that but would not know what to do other then awkwardly hugging you and taking you out to your favorite restaurant

-its easy to tease him since he has so many sensitive points you two can just be laying in bed together and you will just start blowing into his ears causing him to make the adorable low pitched growl you know and love you can even just gently run your fingers through his Tail or Wings and he will be that annoyed since those spots are sensitive

-husk is basicly a walking cuddle pillow to you since your a little bit smaller he's just perfect to cuddle against husk hates it but dosnet say anything because he's a big pushover

NSFW PORTION 18+

he was shocked when you wanted him to be rough because in his eyes all he could think was "why does anyone wanna get hurt while being fucked"

even though he enjoys fucking you roughs he's really scared he could accidently hurt you so he's always making sure you have a safe word and stuff so your always comfortable

he loves it when you suck his dick your a sucker for praise and he know that so he "damn your fucking good at this" and "good girl your the best I've seen do this shit"

usually after a long day of work husk is tired but somehow your always fucking horny so that just leads to you 2 fucking while he's begging to just be able to go to sleep

he likes teasing you by rubbing his dick around the entrance of your pussy this is only when he's not tired but he seems to love how flustered you get and how much you beg for him to just "start fucking thrusting"

Husk at first was a very gentle lover making sure you were only doing safe and gentle sex but when you two started to explore some new fantasy the more he started to like things where he's taking the command but this dosent mean he's not asking you first though for consent

- when husk has the energy to fuck he just keeps on going and going and going until you pass out from exustion then he feels really bad and gives your breakfast in bed with ACHAHOL even though you've said multiple times you dislike it

[fategoflatass]

I used to be so against the slow burn trope. Not because I thought it was shit; it's just, I usually don't have the patience to wait whatever-amount-superior-to-three damn chapters for my dear ship to finally be able to look at each other without blushing and/or hold hands. Thus why you often times see me reading oneshots or fics with the "Established Relationship" tag on them.

So you can imagine just how surprised—or maybe not, maybe I just didn't think enough about it—I was when I realized my newest fixation's main pairing is—canonically—the embodiment of slow burn. Because holy shit they're taking their time.

Nothing against how Kusuriya develops its love story—quite the opposite, actually. The relationship between Jinshi and Maomao, two characters that are written as beautifully as their romance, is a rather realistic approach as to how the same or a similar dynamic would developed in real life. In such a complicated situation, with such complex feelings about emotions—both external and their own—and attachment, makes sense that it takes so long for the relationship to finally sail.

The problem is, I didn't know I was signing with the Devil the moment I decided to pick up the light novel. Ten volumes and nothing has happened. Nothing.

And you can say that technically things have happened, because they have. I mean, Jinshi is just so desperate for Maomao to give him the time of day, you know what I mean? And even that isn't enough anymore and thus he has committed some of the craziest shit I've seen in any romance. Which okay, I don't usually read these type of romances but still.

What I mean by "nothing" is just, their relationship hasn't changed status. I could also say that it seems to go nowhere, but that'd be lying. Since, you know, it has changed quite a lot—just not in the way my impatient ass wanted it to. Because he can be as honest with his feelings as he pleases, and those around them might be heavely conscious of the tension and thus constantly tease those lovebirds (as they should), but babygirl's not helping, you know?

And I get it, Maomao's not the best at expressing and understanding herself, and she's also way too busy worrying about going as unnoticed as possible (she should give up on that one already, tbh) while keeping her head where it should be. But like, I can't help feeling frustrated over it like ‼‼

GIRL, FUCK THE RULES. TAKE THAT PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A MAN AND RUNAWAY SOMEWHERE NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY YOU. YOU THEN CARRY THAT BITCH BRIDESTYLE TO THE CLOSEST CHURCH AND MAKE HIM YOUR WIFE. PROCEED TO FROG AROUND, EXPERIMENT WITH YOUR UTERUS AS MUCH AS YOU'D LIKE, AND THEN TEACH THE PRODUCTS OF YOUR PRACTICES AS YOUR OWN GUINEA PIG THE WAYS OF HERBAL MEDICINE. AS EASY AS THAT.

But she won't. She'll take her sweet ass time being in denial about both Jinshi's and her own feelings, then maybe she'll proceed to analize herself and find out that maybe, just maybe, that affection that she'd been feeling for that loser became something else. Did said affection also become something more complicated? Absolutely. Does she know how to deal with it? Hell no, but fuck it. If I learned something from school is that you always leave the hardest parts for later.

Now you see why I was so against reading slow burn?

And you wanna know the worst part? I loved it—I loved every second of it, every word, every page. Every scene that seemed to help the relationship advance, only for Maomao to say nope and leave like she owns the place, which at this point she fucking might.

It feels like I, as the reader, am in the middle of a heatwave and some sadistic bastard won't stop teasing me with ice cream—they put it in front of my face, close enough that I can smell the cold. Then take a spoon and eat little by little while staring directly to my eyes. At times they seem to show mercy and feed me a spoon, only for it to be a rather small quantity of serving—serving that tastes so damn good at first, only for it to have such a bitter aftertaste. But if I gotta have something in common with Jinshi is that I'll never be able to beat the masochist allegations, so I'll wait patiently for the next spoon and its corresponding and seemingly enless teasing from that faceless being.

So yeah, I'm still against it, only that now I understand the appeal—even if I have yet to find out about the whereabouts of my sanity while still mananing with the little I've left.

[ao3-top-batfam-ships-bracket]

Anon wants sources? Here:

https://slate.com/culture/2016/04/the-history-of-the-gay-subtext-of-batman-and-robin.html

This is why many people have historically shipped them together. When you don’t have any representation at all in the media, when your existence is reviled and you can’t even legally live your life peacefully, you take what you can get.

I don’t think young people understand how gay life was back then. Adult adoptions between couples were not uncommon-and no, it wasn’t always a man preying on someone 20 years younger than him. Couples 3 years apart were adopting each other because that was the only way to let your partner inherit your estate, to visit you in the hospital, to legally be family. It wasn’t a kink, it was a safety net. Is it so hard to understand then, why people would look at Batman and Robin, and see parallels? Especially in a visual medium, where images can say or imply things that would not be written out in a book? Especially in comics, where everyone is so overly muscled that Robin often doesn’t look or act like a kid, or even a teenager?

It’s okay not to ship them. I don’t ship them. Shipping has ALWAYS been about grabbing crumbs of subtext and implied tension regardless of what the canon source says. Roddenberry didn’t intend for people to ship Kirk and Spock. Spirk fanworks were literally hidden under tables at conventions and people would sit under the tables to browse and exchange things. Nowadays it’s not illegal to produce gay media. But at the height of gay panic, when discrimination was not only tacitly legal, but done by the laws themselves, and the only gay people in media, though few, were either villains or played off as a joke, is it so hard to understand why people would look at some of those runs, and put two fictional people in a relationship?

(At the very least, just use the back button and the mute button and move on instead of playing purity police over something that’s not real. )

Thank you for your thoughts! We recommend checking out the linked article.

We've also found some more articles and book chapters on this subject that people might appreciate:

Chapter "Panic and Aftermath" from Glen Weldon's "The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture".

Chapter "1954: Censorship and Queer Readings" from Will Brooker's "Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon".

Chapter "Batman, Deviance and Camp" by Andy Medhurts from the book "The Many Lives of the Batman. Critical Approaches to a Superhero and his Media".

Shyminsky, N. (2011). ‘‘Gay’’ Sidekicks: Queer Anxiety and the Narrative Straightening of the Superhero. Men and Masculinities, 14(3), 288-308.

Lang, R. (1990). Batman and Robin: A family romance. American imago, 47(3/4), 293-319.

York, C. (2000). All in the Family: Homophobia and Batman Comics in the 1950s. International Journal of Comic Art, 2(2), 100-110.

Best, M. (2005). Domesticity, homosociality, and male power in superhero comics of the 1950s. Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies, 6(1).

This article from 2005: "Gallery told to drop 'gay' Batman. DC Comics has ordered a New York gallery to remove pictures which show Batman and Robin kissing and embracing." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4167032.stm

This article from 2012: "Batman can't come out as gay – his character relies on him being in denial" by Will Brooker. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/28/batman-gay-character-relies-denial

And this sketch:

[crocodilenjoyer]

op fic recs

dont tell my professors.

on my way to believing by nervermordor | g | romance dawn arc | vaguely zoluna, nami-centric | 8.5k words | complete

A head pops up on the other side of Straw Hat; the last of the fading sunlight refracts off Roronoa’s earrings, winking at her. “Oh,” he says, sounding only mildly surprised to see her. “You’re here too.”

“What are you talking about? What’s going on?”

Roronoa grins. “Yeah. He does this.”

Nami props herself up a little higher on her already bruising elbow. Straw Hat’s got an arm wrapped around Roronoa, same as her, pinning him to his other side.

“Okay,” Nami says, feeling her third headache in as many hours beginning to creep up. “What is this?”

“How he sleeps, I guess. Been doing it since we started sailing together.”

“You’re joking.”

Roronoa shrugs.

“Well, how do we get him to let go?”

“Dunno. Haven’t figured that part out yet,” Roronoa says and then, because he’s no help at all, lays back down.

migratory animals by donutsandcoffee | t | ambiguous setting, roughly enies lobby-onwards | zosan | 1.4k | complete

Sanji is carefully placing a cherry on top of the ice cream, his hands nimble, soft, almost—gentle. But all Zoro sees is the way the hems of his pants are still soaked in blood from an earlier skirmish with a marine ship, red seeping into the cracks on the floorboard, spattering across the kitchen floor in a slow drip, drip, drip.

Zoro stares, fascinated. He can’t bring himself to look away.

(Or, Zoro and Sanji—terrible monsters, in love)

trouble is a friend of mine by taizi | t | ambiguous setting, sometime from wci to post-wano-ish | gen, straw hats, sanji-centric | 3.1k | complete

“I don’t buy it,” Pete retorts. “Someone like you? Some cook from East Blue? You’re probably worth a couple hundred thousand bellies at best, maybe a million, if your captain’s somebody.”

Sanji tilts his head back so that it rests against the dirty wall behind him. He’s still upright, somehow, through sheer stubbornness or spite. He doesn’t look like someone who only has tonight left to live. In fact, he looks sharp. There’s no better word for it. His expression is still as peaceable as it has been since he arrived, but watching him is like watching a knife slide out of its sheath. He is, abruptly, dangerous. A tool made for cutting.

“If you knew where I’ve been, you would be terrified of me,” he says.

stolen things by Origamidragons | t | roughly enies lobby-onwards | namivivi | 2.8k | complete

A catalogue of things stolen by, for, and from Princess Vivi of Alabasta with regards to a certain thief, as documented by her long-suffering captain of the guard.

see hope rise with the tide by Origamidragons | t | pre-canon with info from fishman island | gen, nami & jinbe | 3.2k | complete

“If you’re looking for Arlong, he’s inside,” she says, pointing at the monstrous building. Jinbe doesn’t look away from her, from the bruise over her eye. She can’t be older than thirteen or fourteen. Her fingers are worn red and raw. As he watches, a drop of blood drips to the ground.

A girl, with reddish hair and exhausted eyes and a ragged, forced smile, and it’s Koala but it’s not.

(Jinbe goes to check in on his brother, and finds some things that need to be set right.)

ocean breathes salty. by novks (thychesters) | t | ambiguous setting, post-timeskip | zolu | 2.7k | complete

“Do you think you can bench press me?” Luffy asks, interrupting him in the middle of a crunch, and Zoro pauses and says, “yeah, sure.”

now here you come by mugibaras (psalter) | e | set around ch. 956/ep. 957 | mishanks | 6.6k | complete

There’s a tightening feeling low in Shanks’ stomach as his gaze follows those long fingers wrap around the neck of the bottle, the candlelight lancing over a sharp cheekbone. Mihawk is terrifying before he is beautiful, but Shanks isn’t afraid of him, and Mihawk is so fucking pretty. The dim glow filtering in through the windows is beginning to tinge warm, reminding Shanks that they’re on borrowed time; he glances at the clock and decides. He reaches over before Mihawk can straighten and curls his fingers around the shell of his ear.

“Hey.”

Mihawk stills and looks at him from the corner of his eye, barely turning his head. The bottle is in his hand, and Shanks trails his fingers down Mihawk’s jaw to take the liquor from him and set it down on the table.

“Wanna bang?”

But Patience Boasts by Augment | t | post-wci | zolu and tagged as "sanji/the concept of love" | 9.4k | complete

Sanji and Zoro have very different love languages.

Standards by taizi | nr, probably g | post-timeskip | gen, straw hats | 2.4k

"You aren't planning on bringing that boy in with you tomorrow night, are you? Our restaurant has certain standards."

(In which the Straw Hats set out to prove their captain meets certain standards; whether he likes it or not.)

The Marks You Choose to Bear by ThisCat | g | post-timeskip, small reference to info from wci | gen, straw hats | 5.3k | complete

Usopp gets his hands on a tattoo machine.

Soon after, he gets his hands all over his crew.

as the world goes on its wicked way by taizi | t | ambiguous setting, post-zou | gen, straw hats, luffy-centric | 5.4k | complete

When they’re on the forecastle, with the helm just behind them and the figurehead casting them further in shadow, Usopp calls, “Raise the sails!”

Luffy’s gasp next to his ear is the best part of his entire day. 

The sails unfold in a great rolling crash of canvas. Even the striped gaff swings out, catching the wind. The whole sloop gives a powerful lurch as if she’s eager to sprint out of port on the back of whatever gale blows along next. 

And painted on the foresail, bold and bright and proud, is a grinning Jolly Roger in a yellow straw hat. 

“That’s mine,” Luffy whispers, hushed and awed. 

“Told you so,” Usopp says smugly. 

Lost in Translation by HyperbolicReverie | t | wano arc | gen, zoro-centric | 4.4k | complete

Ever since he'd left home, people had not stopped asking Zoro about his accent.

Or, the reason Zoro was allowed to wander around alone in Wano.

poly philtatos (the most loved by far) by swordsmans | t | post-fishman island, spoilers through wano | zolu, straw hats, zoro-centric | 24.8k | complete | MCD as a framing device

He keeps moving forward at a steady pace, resisting the urge to run because how fucking embarrassing would that be, running because he missed them, and as he breaks through the treeline he shouts, “Oi, oi—what took you guys so long? It's been—”

And then he freezes, because yes, actually—something is very, very wrong.

The Sunny is anchored just off shore, close enough to see the deck but far enough away that the crew has had to take the Mini Merry to make land. Scattered across the beach in various stages of chaos—rolling around, yelling, fighting—are his crew but not his crew, so similar and yet so, so different. They look younger, fresher, and whatthefuck there, on the deck of the Sunny just peering over the railing, he catches a flash of green—his own green hair—

“Ah, fuck,” he grunts, and then immediately turns back around because no, actually, he does not want to deal with this.

informal swordfighting, and the sorts by naturecalls111 | e | modern au, canon setting n/a | zosan | 6.5k | complete

It’s been a while since Sanji has gotten some action, which is the only reason why Zoro’s deplorable, barely-there attempt somehow works. Obviously.

got all my attention fixed on you (and you're just where you said you'd be) by nevermordor | g | pre-enies lobby | zolu | 7.5k words | complete

Luffy looks again at the bitemarks that he left on Zoro’s wrist. Zoro’s usually hurt, one way or another. Sometimes it’s definitely been Luffy’s fault too, but the bitemarks feel different. They ain’t like normal bruises or cuts. There’s something about seeing the shape of his teeth in Zoro’s skin. Something about the colors, the slightly paler insides of Zoro’s wrists, and the blueness of his veins, and the dark pink color of where Luffy bit him.

riptide by nevermordor | gen | post-alabasta | zolu | 6.7k | complete

Luffy unhinges his jaw and crams an entire breakfast ham down his throat. He chews reflectively a moment and then demands,

“Zoro, you wanna have a date tonight?”

Zoro answers by inhaling the rest of his orange juice through his nose and promptly spewing it everywhere.

“That a yes?”

--

Luffy and Zoro destroy a restaurant, end up lost, get in a bar fight with a bunch of pirates and go on their first date. Not necessarily in that order.

gather up all of the crew (it's time to ship out) by wildparsnip | t | post-arlong park | gen, east blue quintet | 3.5k | complete

“Sanji! It’s lunchtime, right? Now? Soon? Now, right?”

His legs are tight around Sanji’s waist and his arms have come around Sanji’s chest and crossed, grabbing the opposite shoulders, the whole length of his chest pressed tight and close. Sanji can feel the vibration when he talks, the snap of the rubber resonating in his bones.

Luffy’s hair is tickling the back of his neck.

The whole thing is – it’s –

For a long second Sanji is frozen.

“Sanji?”

It feels –

(The Straw Hat Pirates set sail in the East Blue.)

the hand that thieves by Origamidragons | t | pre-canon | gen, crocodile-centric | 2.8k | complete | cw brief ableism

If he gets caught stealing again, if he loses his other hand, he’ll never be a pirate. Never be anything besides a crippled beggar, pleading for scraps.

If he doesn’t steal, he’ll starve.

giving value to survival by yohoapirateslifeforme | t | pre-canon to shells town | gen, zoro-centric | 11k words | complete

Despite the fluid nature of his ambition, Zoro himself rarely changes: principles, directions, appearance. And when he does, he makes sure it's under the heavy influence of both long-term irritation and a healthy dose of the nearest hard liquor.

Or, Zoro is trans, surgeries cost money, and there's little to no verified adult supervision in his life.

a glance that holds the world and all its seas by JacknessofHearts | t | fishman island arc | sanuso | 6.4k | complete

“God, again?!” Usopp looks down at Sanji who's sitting against a column and tilting his head back while pressing a tissue against his bleeding nose.

“Shu' ub,” Sanji growls. Or, he tries to. It sounds rather unimpressive.

“You're terrible,” Usopp says but he can't hold back the fond smile that's been blooming all over his face again and again ever since he's stepped foot on the Sunny after returning to Sabaody.

*

It's the big party after defeating Hody Jones. Usopp gets Sanji away from all the mermaids. (Honestly, Sanji, these nosebleeds are disgusting.)

[tobiasdrake]

Inspired by some recent posts: What are your thoughts on people shipping Bulma and Goku?

Oh, my feelings on that ship are complicated.

I actually used to like that ship when I was younger. I've always been a fan of ships between characters who genuinely enjoy each other's company and work together to solve problems with minimal friction. When I was growing up, the go-to for canon ship writing was tension. Two characters are in tension with one another until they admit their true feelings and fall in love.

You could see it in anime with ships like Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo who absolutely, violently hate each other's guts 98% of the time but then occasionally are sweet together so you know they're really deeply in love. Japan loved tsundere romances back in the day. They were everywhere.

And you could see it in Western media like Han Solo and Leia Organa, where Han behaves as an aggressive sexual predator despite Leia's clear rebukes of his advances and it's supposed to be romantic because she's secretly in love with him the whole time.

80's and 90's Hollywood was all about women "playing hard to get". The cultural idea was that "No" means "Keep asking, big boy; I love it when you push my boundaries." Decades later it turned out a lot of people in Hollywood were sexual predators. Imagine that.

And I never really liked any of it. I wanted to see romances between characters who love and cherish each other, and make each other stronger through their mutual connection. I didn't want shows full of Shinji and Asuka romances, I wanted shows full of Frodo and Samwise romances.

This, I think, is why a lot of same-sex ships took off back in the day too; Heroes, especially male heroes, love nobody half as much as they love the best friend who fights by their side. They'll dump their girlfriends on the side of the road to go gallivanting off on a new adventure but they are ride-or-die for their bestie.

And I just. I couldn't help but look at that dynamic and ask, "How come the ride-or-die bestie that the hero's forever loyal to and whose emotional bond takes up half the story, isn't the love interest?" So, like a lot of people, I start shipping those dynamics over the canon ships.

Goku and Bulma aren't really ride-or-die besties. I mean, on Bulma's side, they are. But Goku's the kind of person who goes no contact with everyone for five years without notice and then shows up like "Hey guys, check out this cool technique I learned." Not out of malice or anything; That's just how he is. It's a special event any time you even get to see him. He has no ride-or-die bestie. He lives entirely in the moment.

But back in the day, when I didn't really know Goku or Bulma that well beyond what the dub was doing with Z, they seemed like they fit that mold. And I was about it.

These days, I have a much firmer grasp on the characters and I cannot imagine any version of a Goku and Bulma relationship that wouldn't feel skeevy and predatory on Bulma's part.

With Chi-Chi, there's the context that Chi-Chi's as much of a dimwitted naive backwoods hick as Goku is, so they mutually dumbassed themselves into a domestic situation neither truly understood. Bulma doesn't have that defense. She's cunning, well-educated, and extremely socially aware.

If Bulma and Goku had gotten together instead of Chi-Chi and Goku, it would have felt like Bulma taking advantage of Goku's naivety; Especially when that's literally something she tried to do the first day they ever met.

If Goku were a character that was more socially aware and, y'know, actually interested in romance at all, that would be a different story. But as it is, for both the integrity of the characters and their fantastic relationship with one another? I do think it's probably best that Goku was already spoken for before he became hot enough for Bulma to start considering him as a Himbo Arm-Candy upgrade from Yamcha. (Which she briefly did.)

[twosoulss77]

I don't know who needs to hear this, but you are allowed to have a favourite ship, canon or not, out of a particular show.

Shipping is just a way for artist and what not to explore different dynamics, or even their own. That’s why I believe we should let people enjoy what they like, without forcing our own image of a certain spectrum into them. Especially cause shaming those people, for trying to explore their identity through art, might cause actual harm to them or cause them to not enjoy doing what they like anymore, bc of hateful comments from someone who hides behind a fake identity to hate on a fictional ship, which in itself it’s a very sad and pathetic way to live, but just cause your life is miserable doesn’t mean you need to make others people’s life miserable you know. Go touch Grass when you feel like being a dick!!!

As an AroAce fellow with no desire for a sexual relationship, I applaud and adore all those people making content of my fav husbands, let it be a fics smut or just normal fluff, I love it all SO MUCH Hazbin Hotel ep 5 changed my whole chemistry, and Say what you will about radioapple / appleradio, but I will always be entertained by the idea of Lucifer angrily doing acts of kindness for Alastor because it's what ‘Charlie would want’, and Alastor being a stupid ‘Bambi’ and try to wiggle himself out of it at the beginning, but then realise that he actually doesn’t mind the king of hell company at all. Both slowly growing to actually tolerate and maybe even like being around the other. Exchanging snarky remarks in a more playful way, playing music together, telling dad jokes, hating on the same delusions glorified iPad …like there is so much potential there that it’s crazy how much it pisses people off. It might be cause I am a sucker for Enemies to Friends to Lovers, but by God if that isn’t the best trope.

I know there will be some smart people out there, that are gonna be like “Alastor is ace”, but so are half the people who ship him!!! I hate when people make assumption on us, on who and how we want to love. I might not be interested in participating in sexual stuff myself, but that doesn’t stop me to explore my own ace-spectrum with these two characters, who if they wanted to could and would kiss each other, Cause for one I says so, I have the power to make that happen *insert hysterical laugh* And second It was confirmed that Alastor is a repulsed Ace, but would also be down to date someone if they were strong asf, (Confirmed in a stream, take that with a grain of salt) still makes this ship more possible than others.

Al being Aroace, doesn't mean he can't date or have sex, he's just not all that interested in it, but that could also derive from the fact that he hasn’t found the right person yet, so it doesn’t feel important to him yet. (fun fact aromantic wasn't the part of my struggle accepting that I was aroace it was actually accepting I was ace bc of my hyper sexual tendencies)

Also Alastor being aro just makes radioapple infinitely more funny to me, or any relationship with him for that matter. He is just this 7 feet tall demon with zero interest in romance, but always managing to find himself having beef with someone, possibly a guy, and act like he is either about to kiss or kill him XD

I really needed to get this off my chest and I absolutely mean every thing I said in here. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, but you'll be surprised to see how much happier you will be when you stop focusing on what other people are doing and instead focus on what you like.

Thanks for listening 😊💜

[exo-raskreia]

Imma rant about Ichigo and Orihime cuz your blog has waken a outrageous fire in me!! And rightfully so! I agree with literally everything you said(btw Karin and hitsugaya are endgame for me too🤭🤭)

Ichihime makes literal sense and it genuinely sucks as a ship and i don't get why the shippers are satisfied with the results. I asked my friend who he wanted to be endgame and answered Ichigo and Orihime cuz they are a better fit. LITERALLY HOW?!! I didn't go psycho on him cuz if Ichigo and Rukia ain't your cup of tea then fine. But why are people answers automatically always Ichihime?? Is it cuz they are canon??? Where the hell was the build-up for it then?! It is nothing compare to ichigo/rukia or orihime with tatsuki/uryu. Idk if Kubo was trying to punk us by pairing them up or not. I feel like he didn't plan our their relationship properly! People say it was obvious from the beginning that ichigo likes her back but i sure as hell didn't see it! Maybe i'm just salty and refused to see the signs cuz Ichiruki is the best ship( and i had a crush on ichigo since forever soooo... 😖😖) ?? I've always been a rukia and ichigo fan rather cuz they actually had the chemistry and insane connection. I'm so mad that they weren't endgame. My girl Rukia was elite why didn't Ichigo went for her and vice versa?? Don't get me started on the poems, the speechs, the way ichigo always and always thinks of rukia. Like the ingredients for the cake was perfect, why the hell would you put gasoline in there💀💀

Some people say that cuz the show is shounen and not a romance, i shouldn't be upset about ichihime ending up together and not be mad of lack of their romance. I'm not expecting ichigo and orihime to have some epic EPIC love story or anything just make it more sense for ME at least. If Ichihime was some side-ship then i wouldn't care as much, but this is the MC of the show i want to see something greater than what we received! If they were to have a love story(ya know a real one) then they should've played it out like in Fruits basket

Ichigo and orihime actually remind me alot of kyo and tohru from fruits basket. And they're all very similar to think about it! Ichigo and Kyo: the grumpy orange haired protecters that have a heart of gold. Orihime and Tohru: the loveable sunshine character that are super traumatized but still manage to keep smiling. The only difference is that Kyo and Tohru actually have the emotional moments and had the chemistry and ya know they actually TALKED and were ACTUAL FRIENDS(as in kyo didn't treat tohru like a acquaintance) before dating. But since Orihime is so much like Ichigo's dead mom, their relationship would've been like Yuki and Tohru. I know the comparison might be dumb to do cuz they are very different anime and different genre but still!! Excuse me for caring so much about that my fav ain't canon. Yes this is a shounen anime but they could've at least squeezed in a bit of the love story of the mc to show they actually care about it. The MC of the show has a better and stronger bond with his bestie than his own wife. Like how is my girl Orihime not bothered by it?! Should've end up Tatsuku i swear. I mean they're literally Nana and Hachi!! 🍓🐶✨

I feel like orihime just exist to be his love interest and that's it! Girl had the potential to be a great character that ain't always there to be the love interest. Her becoming a housewife was insulting cuz what do you mean she ain't a robot destroying a city (i can't remember that scene from the earlier seasons but something in between those lines🤣) I do like Orihime enough but not that much cuz it's Ichigo this and Ichigo that. Like girl i get it. I wanted(and still do) him too but don't settle for being the second choice) HOMEGIRL YOU HAVE OTHER LUCKY DUCKS THAT WANNA BE WITH YOU!!

And another thing: I read somewhere that: just cuz Uryu had a crush Orihime that, that doesn't mean that Orihime should be together with him.... Okay then why can't that also imply to Ichigo and Orihime?? Like why just cuz "She'll fall for him in every lifetime" doesn't mean that he has to do the same too!! Rukia is already the queen of his heart mind you

BUT ANYWAYS!! It's a shounen after all so i shouldn't be expecting the mc to have a well-written love story and not to have high hopes of the MC love interest to be something more than that. But whatever at the end of the day they're CANON and have a kid together so all i can do is cry about it and live in fanfiction.

Ahem, I'm done with my rant thank you 😌 (And yes anti-IchiRuki fans I'll still be salty in my 40s cuz of the ending and I will never shut up about it just cuz they have canonically have kids)

No worries, anon! You've come to the right place! Let it all out~

Not surprised your male friend would choose Ori. Typical. For dudes like him, her appearance, superficial crush on Ichigo, & the word "canon" being slapped on are enough for them, despite there not being any actual chemistry between IH. It is also a common trope in other manga/anime, so they convince themselves that it was meant to happen, but it doesn't mean it makes sense for every story, especially not in Bleach's case; it doesn't make narrative sense if they actually looked into it.

(Canon ≠ good. Just look up what went wrong in 'How I Met Your Mother' or even 'Game Of Thrones' S8).

(While on the subject, since Rukia is a much better written character than Ori, if she had a body like Ori's, & Ori like Rukia's, even less dudes would care about IH 🫢, since they never even have good arguments in favor of it that aren't the 3 things I mentioned already up top).

Ichigo & Rukia had the most chemistry in the entire manga/anime, & it baffles me when people didn't/don't (wanna) see it. I went into Bleach almost blind when I first started watching it & IR really stood out. Their bond is right in your face, playing along the border between platonic & romantic, making you wonder what exactly it is, but knowing they aren't just mere friends. In the manga, I was constantly awed & amused by how borderline romantic it came off as, despite having already watched the anime (which did not do the manga justice in many ways; and then antis claim IR was mostly anime-based, PLEASE 🙄). Kubo really wasn't playing when it came to these 2. What a freakin' troll.

Haven't watched Fruits Basket, but I can see what you mean. Grumpy & Sunshine is a fun trope, however, as you said, IH just didn't have what it takes. If Kubo had wanted to, he could have properly developed IH at some points in the manga, such as the Fullbring arc, & it wouldn't have to be anything big, as Bleach is not a romance. He could have opened the arc with those 2 already going out, like them holding hands as they head to school or something, maybe showing some flashbacks of them talking things out, comforting each other since HM to show how they got together. Instead, in those 17 months since Ichigo lost his powers & contact with Rukia, you're telling me Kubo couldn't make IH bond? Instead, Ori's still pathetically pining after him while Ichigo is still thinking of, longing for, Rukia! How am I supposed to believe IH was meant to be endgame?!

Orihime had more chemistry with other people than the man she ended up with 💀. I personally ship her with 2 other men (Ishida & Ulquiorra). She was different with them. One selflessly cared for her, had her at the forefront of his mind in her own rescue arc (unlike Ichigo), while the other challenged her, found her fascinating & wanted to learn more... Not to mention they both protected her from Ichigo a couple times in the HM arc.

She really did have potential to be a great character but it all kept going down the drain, never achieved her dreams nor goals. She kept regressing as the story went on, especially when it came to Ichigo. She was never able to encourage him nor fully support him & was usually a complete damsel in his presence (he even seemed annoyed by her during the Ywach fight, which mind u, she was only there cuz there was no one else left & Ichigo had no choice?). She was more interesting whenever she wasn't around him. All her best moments were when she wasn't thinking about him. Saving Tatsuki? Bonding with Ishida in SS, standing in front of him to protect him in the Fullbring arc? Bonding with Ulquiorra (the only good thing she did the whole HM arc)? She could've done more in HM but didn't. In TYBW, she didn't do anything special, couldn't even encourage Ichigo & was treated like a ragdoll by Ywach. This is how Kubo wanted us to remember her. She was mostly reduced to fanservice by the end (and she's still not as popular as Matsumoto or Yoruichi in that department 💀). I sometimes think he didn't like her all that much with how he treated her character...

While watching the anime, I seriously had been hoping she'd get over Ichigo in the SS arc when she wistfully said Rukia was a very special person to him who changed his world (oh, boy, was I in for disappointment). Right off the bat, there was nothing interesting/exciting about her interactions with Ichigo (I was shipping her with Ishida by this point). He was just so blasé with her, I almost felt bad for her & it only kept getting worse. I then hoped she'd finally get over him after the traumatic experience at the dome in HM, but her ongoing silly crush made my eyes roll & lose hope in it. LIKE GIRL, HE'S HUNG UP ON ANOTHER GIRL, & U SHOULD'VE STOPPED PUTTING HIM ON A PEDESTAL BY NOW; HE'S NO PRINCE CHARMING & ESPECIALLY NOT FOR U WHEN HE BARELY GAVE U A SECOND THOUGHT IN UR OWN RESCUE ARC & ALMOST GOT U KILLED LIKE 3 TIMES & U HAD TO GET SAVED BY ULQUIORRA & ISHIDA, LIKE-

Orihime doesn't have anything in common with Masaki other than maybe their appearance (which imo, Masaki looks more like short-haired Matsumoto anyway?). Besides the cheerful part, their personalities are very different. Masaki was more like Rukia: brave, strong, selfless, teasing & annoying Isshin/Ichigo, etc... IR has actual dynamic parallels with IsshiMasa in the narrative... Kubo just copied IR moments, especially considering he wrote as he went... So, don't be fooled by those morons who go by appearance alone & even those weird lines in one of the novels (Oedipus complex anyone?) instead of the legitimate parallels between IR & IM shown in the manga, such as these:

What was going thru Kubo's head if he supposedly "intended" for IH to happen? Ichigo & Ori had more chemistry with other characters than with each other. Kubo went about this all wrong. Bleach not being a romance is no excuse for shoddily pairing up characters in the end. In a few scenes scattered throughout the manga, he could've implied them. Every time they interacted, their relationship should've progressed somehow. And he actually did this with IchiRuki. (In regards to Naruto, for example, Kishimoto at least admitted he didn't put enough effort into his ships by saying romance was not his forte & he's not good at writing female characters, but at least most of the ships made sense & esp NaruHina had actual good moments scattered throughout the manga...).

Sigh, I've said this before, but why can't more battle shounens be like Fairy Tail when it comes to developing the ships throughout the story? There'd be less drama. Even Gintama did a better job at developing the main ships, lol, that if they became canon, hardly anyone would've been surprised (they were somewhat implied if u squint, tho 🤪).

There are theories Kubo wanted to spite Shounen Jump for their treatment over the years so he ended things this way (and maybe to spite the fans too, since his manga sales had been on the decline for years). Ever heard of the "choosing unhappiness" theories? Basically, remember that Ywach said he'd come back at Ichigo's happiest moment? Well, he didn't come back at Ichigo's wedding with Ori, not even at the birth of his son. He came back when Ichigo reunited with RUKIA after 10 years.

So what could this be telling us? That Ichigo chose to be unhappy by not getting with the one person who made him the happiest. Rukia gave him that push by choosing unhappiness first (since she knew Ichigo couldn't make the first attempt to) & married Renji, who in turn, also gave Ichigo that push to go for Ori. IR chose unhappiness to defeat Ywach. Could this actually be what Urahara meant when he said he'd leave everything to "Kurosaki-san & Kuchiki-san" after his defeat in TYBW?! (we deserved the IR tag-team we never got in the final fight, screw Kubo)

One could also say his friends chose unhappiness to help too? Ishida becoming a doctor he'd never expressed interest in & seeming isolated from the friend group (maybe not agreeing with the farce they're all in), Chad becoming a boxer instead of using his fists to protect, Ori marrying a man who doesn't love her & she knows never will, Renji marrying a woman who doesn't love him & never will (and whom I think he doesn't love either? My view on that here)... Isshin is nowhere in sight, could it be he also doesn't wanna be a part of this farce in which his own son chose to marry a woman he doesn't love?

Still, everything about this ending is so wrong, makes no sense, a bunch of retcons too. Heck, remember the rebuilding of Sokyoku Hill in SS? Made Ichigo destroying it meaningless 🙄.

Anyway, I didn't mean for this post to be too long. There's so much to rant about lol. There's also so much to make fun of 👀. As I said in this post, IH was never popular & never will be. Kubo himself can't bring himself to give them content & his affiliates (like Shounen Jump, Studio Pierrot, etc.) can't be bothered either, as IH doesn't sell. Canon for almost 10 years & still no official couple/family arts nor merch 😂. If they end up getting thrown a bone in the future, the fact it took them that long would still be laughable.

In the end, it's best to ignore canon, its fans, & engage with what you like. It also doesn't hurt to sometimes make fun of Bleach's failures~ Kubo has made it so easy, can you blame us? 🤷‍♀️

Also, glad u like HitsuKarin as well 🤭. Would you believe it's my #1 Bleach OTP? I had brainrot for it a few years ago, like I literally scoured almost every bit of content that I could find, & while it's died down, I just know that if Kubo &/or his affiliates were to feed us HK content now, I'd eat it up like a starving dog-

Sorry for the late reply, anon! 😓 Been having brainrot for a different fandom, if u can guess

[crimsonxe]

Because I'm particularly annoyed: To everyone within the LGBT+ and ships involving them circles, get this through your goddamn head. RWBY the "little" anime-inspired web show that:

subverts sexist and homophobic tropes from that inspiration

has a deep & mature story

respects its femme characters

that has had morons saying it was baiting for years

has a married wlw couple w/ child; 2 confirmed lesbian characters; 2 mlm characters in the novels; a bi MC (VA'd by a bi femme)/a sapphic MC (VA'd by an "on the spectrum" femme)/ and together a wlw MC pair; a trans character that isn't a joke

THAT show DELIVERED one of the most normalized via being treated no different to its hetero sibling ships, being within a non-world of gay, and not being spotlighted; well-developed; well-earned; 10 year steady slowburned; and mature CANON wlw romances around. That including having a bi character that feels bi not a lesbian character w/ a bi sticker slapped on cause not only does she have guys w/ feelings towards her as well as a former male romantic partner, but also has a femme w/ feelings towards her as well as a current femme partner in a non-world of gay. The fucking cherry on top: it has Beauty and the Beast at its core mixed with yin-yang.

Get the fuck over this notion of "oh that's just RWBY" in a head-up-ones-own-ass obnoxious manner. Before it was the goddamn "well BB isn't confirmed, its just been hinted/teased" even with the show making it fucking blatantly clear it was happening, including soft-canonizing it via a character directly bringing up the mutual romantic feelings going on between the two tying it to her own ones towards the other part of the sibling hetero pair of the show. Now after its been given one of the best most beautifully done scenes in the entire show w/ a goddamn song written by an LGBT+ artist and sung by both them & another LGBT+ femme to canonize them; its STILL being treated/view like its both bait/non-canon and/or lesser than other pairs. Its especially fucking rich when I know some people who'd sing the praises of Warrior Nun and Avatrice, which is in the same goddamn vein as RWBY and BB with both being great ships and shows. If anyone tried to pull this shit with that show & that pairing, you'd get your damn ass torn apart and you know it; but RWBY isn't given that same respect. Caitvi/Violyn (Arcane) gets more damn respect and technically speaking its not even fucking canon yet, its still in the phase that either v4-7 BB was at. Where its been heavily implied & teased to the point of me going with it as soft-canon, yet not a damn soul would scoff at it being mentioned within LGBT+ ships. But once again RWBY is different.

Those that pull this shit are:

the shit-for-brains know-nothings that either want to shit on the show because of their own hoity-toity its too below us bullshit or haven't bothered to actually watch the damn show

the bigoted incel pieces of shit that just don't support LGBT+ yet infest our spaces;

the antis that don't care what was built up, they're salty bitches that just can't stand their pair didn't happen

the entitled ass LGBT+ that think all LGBT+ should be rushed, spotlighted at the center of the story, and aimed at an LGBT+ audience instead of normalized for a general audience.

So if you're going to thumb your nose at the show and its rep, then fuck you and go fuck your damn self. You're no damn better than the incels and chuds. And don't even think to reach for any LGBT+ cards cause I've got my own one. They're canon and they're great get that through your fucking heads, that little web show fucking delivered. Don't like it? Fine, I don't really care. But don't you fucking dare thumb your damn nose at it and not expect to get dragged over the damn coals by me.

[mikkeneko]

What we miss when we don't talk about friendship (in MDZS)

I'd like to open with the statement that this is not about shipping -- none of my thesis is to say "don't ship this" or "this ship isn't real." People can and have shipped whatever the hell they want and should continue to do so for as long as it makes you happy. It's not even a question of "sure you can ship it but it's not CANON," because the MXTX canon is wonderfully good at being ambiguous and supporting multiple interpretations.

What this thesis is to say is that some of these themes and motifs to explore are about friendship, and they don't tend to get talked about much, because people are mostly focused on the romantic and sexual dimensions of a dynamic. Romantic and sexual dimensions are great, but they don't annihilate or even subsume platonic dimensions -- yes, sometimes you can be a lover and a friend, but sometimes you can just be a friend and not a lover and that's no less important. As a post I saw recently said which stuck with me -- don't remember the poster, alas, but it was something in the vein of -- "it's not about the intensity of the relationship, but the flavor of it." Platonic character dynamics can be just as obsessive and consuming as romantic dynamics, they can be discussed and analyzed separately without needing to invalidate romantic and sexual dynamics.

So! That disclaimer aside, let's talk about: FRIENDSHIP IN MDZS, and what we miss when we don't talk about friendship as a dynamic in this story separate from romantic and sexual interest. Friendship shows up repeatedly in this story with its own sub-plots and arcs and undercurrents and hazards separate from the romance that's going on, and it's mostly going on with the Lans.

Part 1: Lan Xichen and friendship

A cornerstone of this analysis has to do with a meta post I read very early on in the fandom about the Lans when viewed through a Confucian lens. Lan Qiren in particular is a very, very Confucian character, and he raised his nephews to those traditions and values. The pertinent one here is the topic of the "Five relationships" which outline the relationships that a man of authority can expect to have throughout his lifetime: self to ancestors, self to descendents, self to authorities and subordinates, self to marriage partners, and self to friends. Each one comes with a set of strictures and requirements which when added up combine to a world that is very, very emotionally taxing and extremely short on interpersonal and emotional support. He is expected to obey and submit to guidance from his seniors, but he can't ask them for help. He is expected to lead and govern his subjects, but he can never be wrong or show weakness or doubt. It's especially important, I think, that Lan Xichen is raised to expect that even any romantic relationship he might have (read: marriage to a woman) would not actually be emotionally supportive to him in any meaningful way; it would be another set of obligations to uphold, another place he would be expected to be remote and poised and never show weakness or ask for help.

The exception is friendship. Friendship is the only relationship structure Lan Xichen can have in his life that has any hope of actually being nurturing and emotionally supporting to him, a place he can let down his guard and ask for help with the expectation of receiving it. It becomes very clear from very early on that friendship means everything to Lan Xichen as a character. He enters the story with a strong, supportive friendship with one of the only true peers a man of station can have (Nie Mingjue) and it's clear that this has formatively set his expectation of what a friendship can and should be. Lan Xichen really wants to be the Friendship Is Magic guy. He believes that friendship is the best way to solve problems, and that everybody would be able to solve their problems if only they had a friendship like his, and that belief is a lot of what runs him into a meat grinder later in the story. He thinks that Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao are capable of maintaining a friendship post-war, and does not understand why they cannot, and his attempts to friend-matchmake the two of them ultimately lead both to disaster.

Part 2: Lan Wangji and friendship

The header says Lan Wangji, but this is actually about Lan Xichen again, and about Wei Wuxian. A pretty common joke in the fandom is that Lan Xichen is "the #1 WangXian shipper," that he recognizes Lan Wangji's sexual and romantic attraction to Wei Wuxian from very early on and supports him in pursuing such a relationship. It's a nice joke, but I think it misses the mark, because the looming specter of their parents' disastrous and traumatic marriage means that Lan Xichen would never approach the idea of his brother entering into a romantic relationship so cavalierly. (Lan Qiren, in some ways, had a clearer notion of what shape Lan Wangji's interest in Wei Wuxian had the potential to be than Lan Xichen did, perhaps because he doesn't have the same obsession with friendship; if he has any close friendships of his own, we're not shown them.)

Lan Xichen is not encouraging Lan Wangji to have a romantic summer fling. Lan Xichen encourages his association with Wei Wuxian specifically because he thinks Lan Wangji needs friends. Not just in the sense of any parent or adult wanting their child to make friends, but specifically in the context of these restrictive hierarchical relationships that hem in their world. Lan Xichen is afraid that Lan Wangji will be alone, and emotionally starved, and have no one he can ask for help or rely on, because that is his experience of a world without friendship. (Lan Wangji, of course, is not in the same position as Lan Xichen because he has Lan Xichen to rely on.) Lan Xichen wants Lan Wangji to have the same kind of friendship that he himself has with Nie Mingjue, and he thinks that Wei Wuxian has the potential to be that kind of friend. That is the context in which he encourages their association, and tries to arrange for them to have time together, and to become closer; not as a potential romantic partner but as a steadfast emotional and logistical support through Lan Wangji's adult life.

If Lan Xichen knew that Lan Wangji would fall in love with Wei Wuxian (had already started to,) I'm not at all sure that he would have encouraged that. In pretty much any arc past the Lan Lectures, he doesn't, both because Wei Wuxian stopped being a good candidate for supportive friendship (he's clearly got too much of his own shit going on) and because he realizes that what is developing in Lan Wangji bears very little resemblence to his own relationships. He might not outright try to sabotage the relationship but he's clearly worried about its potential to bring disaster on Wangji -- and he's very correct to be worried, as it turns out.

Part 3: Lan Sizhui and friendship

So, All Of That Happens; Wei Wuxian dies, Lan Wangji is laid low for years and seems poised to grieve for the rest of his life; Nie Mingjue dies and takes Lan Xichen's support with him. Now we come to the present day, and the present day has Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi.

Let's take a moment to step back and ask from an analytical perspective: Why is Lan Jingyi, as a character, in the story? Assuming that in a novel as polished as MDZS, each element is included for good reasons. Why is Lan Jingyi in the story and why is he Lan Sizhui's best friend? In the new world we're introduced to, the Lan are already represented, and very positively represented by Lan Sizhui. Lan Jingyi provides a convenient avenue for both exposition-dumping and sass -- saying the things that everyone else is too polite to say -- but we could have gotten that through another character (Jin Ling also plays this role) or introduced another Junior who isn't Lan, like Ouyang Zizhen. Why is it important to the story that Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi are friends?

The Juniors in general represent hope for the world to change, hope for the new generation. In Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi, we see that the terrible loneliness that drove their seniors to disaster in the previous generation, is averted. Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi have a friendship that is close and true, and we are never given reason to doubt it. Their priorities are aligned; it's unlikely that Sect politics or personality conflicts will ever drive them apart. They have what Lan Xichen craved: a friendship that will support them through tragedy and disaster. Their friendship stands to demonstrate that in the new generation, things will get better.