#than telling a bisexual person to get over canon bisexual erasure

[werewolf-cuddles]

ivy being a lesbian in main canon is not bi erasure. shes still bi in the harley quinn show. so many bi characters in dc and youre mad cause the one whos been lesbian coded has been confirmed, get tf over it.

Earth Prime!Ivy has literally been referred to as bisexual in interviews before.

This is very blatantly bisexual erasure.

And you telling me, a person who is actually bisexual, that I just need to get over it comes across as extremely tone-deaf at best.

Imagine, if you will, that there is a character who has always been portrayed and explicitly described as a lesbian. Suddenly, that character is taken over by a new writer, who states in an interview that she is bisexual.

How would you feel in that situation? Would you feel hurt? Angry? Congratulations, now you understand how we feel having one of DC's most well known bisexual characters have her bisexuality erased.

[tippenfunkaport]

"She-Ra is bad bisexual rep because all the bi/pan characters end up in m/f relationships!"

Not true! Perfuma is bi/pan and she ends up with Scorpia!

"Oh, well I like to headcanon Perfuma as a lesbian."

...so then you understand that's not the show's fault, right? That that's just a problem you made up in your head?

-

Excuse me a second, I need to scream about this...

Because this has come up over and over (esp on Twitter and TikTok) with people who want to claim that every bi/pan SPOP character ends up in a m/f relationship... by conveniently pretending Perfuma is not canonically bi/pan herself. And every time they are asked to elaborate why they are ignoring her canon status, they give the same answer: that they consider Perfuma a lesbian because now that she's with a woman, she's "not bi anymore"

And... yeah... you know that's not how it works, right? That being bi/pan is not just a phase you get over? That a bi/pan woman dating another woman doesn't suddenly make her a lesbian any more than it makes a bi/pan person dating someone of the opposite gender magically straight?

The person you are currently dating does not change your bi/pan status. Ever. And insisting it does, especially just so you can score some points by making up an issue about a show to be mad about, is super GD harm harmful to the real bi/pan people in your life.

(This is the exact same thing The Owl House fandom does with Lumity and why Dana had to make Luz present a whole slideshow in the cartoon reminding everyone she is still very much bi even though Amity is a lesbian. TOH fans kept insisting because Luz is dating Amity now, she's a lesbian. Nope. Her and Amity can be married for a billion years and that wouldn't change Luz's orientation.)

"But I heard that someone's roommate's cousin who worked with someone on the show once liked a fanart that showed Scorfuma with the lesbian flag so it's basically canon!"

First of all, the legend of this grows daily and I think it's really telling that this archival obsessed fandom only talks about this mythical like and yet has never been able to produce a single screenshot of it.

But for the sake of argument, let's say that this really happened and actually exists, that someone related to the show, however distantly, liked fanart once that implied Perfuma was a lesbian somehow. That still doesn't make it canon. People related to the show and even ND himself have liked and reblogged all sorts of stuff that isn't canon, including g/a, and have been very clear that the only canon is what happens within the show itself.

And, in the show, Perfuma is canonically bi/pan. We see her crushing on Bow, She-Ra, Huntara and Scorpia. The fact that people want to pretend the Bow thing never happened when he's the only character we see her actually date over the run of the show AND it's a major Season 1 plot point is wild to me and just shows the lengths people will go for bi/pan erasure.

And I get that some people enjoy using Perfuma to tell a story about comphet or coming out as a lesbian later in life and I am fully in favor of doing your thing with your headcanons in fanworks. But when it reaches the point it has now where fans are attacking other fans for saying Perfuma is bi/pan or attacking the show for not having any bi/pan character in same sex relationships when Perfuma is CANONICALLY bi/pan is ridiculous. 

Keep in mind that your headcanon is literally just something you made up in your head. It's pretend. Fun, yes, but NOT something you can use as justification to attack people over!

Especially when it's something like this that causes real world harm by perpetuating harmful stereotypes about bi/pan people being "just a phase" or a temporary state that changes based on who you date.

[secretaccshhhh]

im ngl, not to like, be homophobic or have a case of homosexual erasure by having an opinion (im bisexual but shh let me cook for a second) i personally think its just a allegory and not literal- cuz like, everything ive seen out of the book of bill fandom wise is just: "he fucked the triangle you guys he fucked the triangle guys they had gay sex guys they fucked" and like, idk i find it kinda.. boring to just up and say "yep they were in a completely romantic relationship" ???? LIKE, IDK, I FIND IT MORE ENTHRALLING TO LIKE, MAKE PARALLELS TO THINGS THAN HAVE IT BE EXPLAINED OR CONFIRMED YK????? please tell me this makes a lick of sense

I’m never gonna get mad at anyone over any opinions they have on fictional characters dw.

I do personally like billford in a romantic sense, because the speculative triangle biology goes so hard and also the fanart. But in most cases I do agree that shipping does ruin the fandom experience somewhat. You’re more than entitled to your interpretation of them. Merry non canon billford charity kiss

[all-pacas]

being unfamiliar w house md i at least know of most main characters except for 13, mind explaining what their deal is to an outsider?

MY GIRL

So first of all let's just make it clear for the record. Tumblr loves her because 13 is a) played by Olivia Wilde so she's super pretty and b) a Canon Gay (bisexual). For a show like Hatecrimes MD, she's actually pretty fairly portrayed -- it's fetishized a little and joked about a lot, but she's shown in relationships with men and women, there's no bi erasure involved, when she does play into the All Bis Are Slutty trope, it's because she's having an elaborate mental breakdown and sleeping around to cope. Hilariously she's like the third person on the show to do this, so it doesn't even come off as "those slutty gays!"

(I mean. Arguably they're all slutty gays. But you know.)

AS FOR WHAT HER DEAL IS.

In s3 House fires/loses the original team of Foreman, Cameron, and Chase, and eventually (after as much stalling as he can get away with) hires a new team:

TAUB, sleezy little guy plastic surgeon, just here to have fun

KUTNER, Kal Penn playing an enthusiastic nerd here to have fun,

and 13, real name Remy Hadley.

To fuck with Cuddy, House originally hires 40-odd doctors -- anyone who sent him a resume -- and then began whittling them down one by one. To keep track, he'd given them all marathon placards. 13's number was, you guessed it, 13. Her whole gimmick was that she was "mysterious" -- House found her hard to read and she was good at not giving him any hints, and she played into it by refusing to talk about herself and continuing to go by "Thirteen" even once everyone else was introduced. Her name was later revealed, after she made the final team, but House keeps calling her 13, and he often jokes that people who call her Hadley don't know who she is. It sticks around as a nickname at work. Her personal friends/girlfriend/boyfriend tend to call her Remy, but her coworkers stick to the nickname.

It's kind of interesting to note that reception for her was actually kind of negative when the show started. She gets a LOT of character focus, far more than Kutner and Taub, and this was soon enough after losing the first team (Chase and Cameron in particular barely existed on the show for a while, Chase only becoming a major character again two and a half years later) that folks resented her "stealing the spotlight" or having main character syndrome. In retrospect, I don't think it's that bad, although it is definitely true she's favored over other characters.

Anyway.

Part of 13's secretiveness is because of the House Obligatory Tragic Backstory. 13's mother had Huntington's, a genetic disease that is fatal and super degenerative. So did her older brother. 13 knew she had a high chance of having it as well, but refused to get tested out of fear. She eventually does -- and oops, she has it as well. This means she's got about 10 years left to live, and fewer without symptoms. This causes her Existential Sex Bender and a general pattern of risk taking: it's a hard thing to cope with.

Meanwhile, she's on House's team. She's really good: creative and unflappable, if maybe not as devoted to diagnostics and the team as a "lifer" like Foreman or Chase are. She and House also grow close; refreshingly (COUGH Cameron) it's never treated as a shipping thing. He just... sees her becoming self destructive and cares enough to stop her; he cares about her.

13 is still notoriously secretive, and she literally vanishes in s7. Tells everyone she's going on vacation and cuts her phone lines. It turns out she goes to prison for over-prescribing meds... to her brother. She euthanized him, as he was suffering badly from Huntington's. Made it look like an accident, that he did it. This sort of destroys her: she feels like it was the right thing to do, it's what he wanted, but she still killed him. 13 tells House, and House offers to do the same to her when her Huntington's gets bad enough.

She doesn't stick around the team for long after getting out of prison. She meets a woman named Amy, and they fall in love; she and Amy go off to some Greek island to try and enjoy the 8-ish years 13 has left. (In episodic terms: she's on the team for s4+5 and most of 6; vanishes for almost all of s7 because she's in jail, and has only guest roles in s8.)

She briefly dates Foreman and it was just really weird. No chemistry. No idea what they saw in one another. The show is so bad at romance.

Most compellingly to me specifically, she and my boy Chase end up being really good friends. They had some Ship Tease for a while, the show might have been trying to set them up, but Olivia Wilde's career was taking off and she stopped being a regular on the show. This was, as far as Chase/13 is concerned, a good thing. Because the show is bad at romance. So instead they just become good friends. Chase also murdered a dude one time, and 13 ends up telling him about her brother. In the same episode, she calls him late at night for help and he just... shows up, no questions asked. They have a lot of shared issues: sick/dead mothers and complicated feelings about them, murder, Existential Sex Benders when they're depressed, and a dislike about talking about personal issues. They also are uniquely close to and good at reading House, and the show even goes so far as to refer to them as the "prodigal daughter/son" in relation to him. So fandom has sort of latched onto the idea of them as "like brother and sister," "best friends," which isn't super supported in canon (they ARE good friends, but no more), but... the venn diagram of these two is a circle.

Crucially, both 13 and Chase, despite putting on good fronts, are very lonely people. So is House. So it's nice to think they can have their own sad little found family, especially once House "dies" and might not bother letting his prettiest employees know.

[strangertheories]

the people in your ask box giving their reasons for not liking ronance is like. yes, you do you, but they are literally proving your point because what is it about a random f/f ship existing that makes people wanna argue against it ??? but yeah the anti ronance tag is truly a wild place.

This response is quite long, hence the read more! I kinda got off track and it goes into a discussion of canon vs headcanon and speaks a bit about Byler too.

If I were to be generous to Ronance antis, I think a lot of people are frustrated that there is a new canon bisexual character who's been introduced to the show but a lot of the fandom are ignoring her for a headcanon. And in general, members of this fandom and Ronance shippers are quite harsh against Rovickie and I don't think they'd be as harsh if it was an m/f pairing. Because it's the only canon gay pairing so far (I know it hasn't happened yet but it clearly will), people are expecting it to be this perfect romance like Jopper or Lumax but in eight minutes of screen time which is just impossible.

However, I think turning this defensiveness of people who ship Ronance is a bit unfair. So far, Vickie is just not an established character; she's barely had any screen time and she exists only to be Robin's girlfriend. At the moment, it feels a bit like pandering/fan service (although a lot of people make that criticism in bad faith because they view queer relationships as inherently woke or political which is bullshit). I can see the potential in the pairing and I guarantee I'll love them by the end of S5, but I've just not seen them interact as much. I am allowed to think that without it being problematic; just because a queer ship is canon representation doesn't mean I have to like it.

I also think it's quite obvious a lot of people in this fandom haven't had any fandom experiences before. A very frequent response I get to shipping Ronance that I don't respond to (because I can't be bothered to reply every time) is that Nancy canonically likes Jonathan and that Robin canonically likes Vickie. Or that there's no proof that Nancy's gay.

The thing is, I'm not shipping Ronance because I think they're going to canonically get together, I ship them because I like their dynamic both hypothetically and in many on screen interactions they had. I just prefer rivals to lovers than two very similar girls (I know talking a lot doesn't make them the same person but it's all we've really seen of Vickie so far) getting together. When I ship a ship, it's not because it's the most canon, it's because it's the best dynamic.

I see this response to people who ship pairings like Will and Lucas where people will get annoyed because they act like Will hypothetically liking someone other than Mike is erasure which is so odd because I doubt anyone shipping that pairing actually thinks it will be canon, they just think it would be an interesting pairing to explore.

Or how when people try to convince you to ship Byler, they try to convince you why it'll be canon and not why it'll be good (I'm not talking about responding to Byler antis who tell you that it won't happen or talking to fellow Byler shippers, Byler proof and analysis is very valuable). This also applies in reverse when an anon tried to prove that Byler won't be canon...in response to me saying I like friends to lovers.

TL;DR: I'm not gonna ship Rovickie over Ronance just because it's the canon queer relationship. I ship based on whatever pairing is the most interesting to me instead of which one is the most attainable. I understand that lots of people like it and I'm cool with that, but sending me long asks explaining that Rovickie/Jancy are canon isn't going to change my mind on Ronance.

Also a lot of Ronance antis are Nancy antis and that's a whole thing that I've responded to before (check my post index under the Ronance section and go to Ronance and boy drama or the follow up or just click the words there).

[posi-pan]

seeing people in the qrts of ur loki is bi/pan tweet saying shit like “more proof bisexuals can’t have anything” or “stop trying to take away representation from bi people.”

like bitch, if u really want to play that game i’m 100% sure bi people have more rep than pan people. far more people know about bisexuality than pansexuality.

also, i was lol’ing at people only replying with “he’s literally bisexual” or something along those lines like it was a big own. like, you literally said he was bisexual?? just because you said he’s ALSO pan doesn’t mean he’s suddenly not bi anymore. reading comprehension 0/10

right like how is literally saying a character is bisexual erasing or stealing bi rep lmfao it's just so ridiculous. and i'm forever thankful for the people who are challenging those assholes on their bullshit. because i simply don't have the time or desire lmao.

and like yeah, if they wanna play that game, let's talk about how every mspec character is treated as default canon bi. let's talk about how every pan character is already called bi, whether it's purposeful erasure or ignorant assumptions. let's talk about how people use the bi umbrella to justify calling pan characters bi. let's talk about how people use the supposed interchangeability of bi and pan to justify calling pan characters bi. let's talk about how no one said a word when a character went from canon pan to canon bi.

they're coming so hard for me (publicly, in dms they're all "hey i just want to let you know xyz /gen" like fuck you lmao) when all i did was acknowledge a character being labeled bi and pan. i didn't (and don't) erase bi rep. i didn't (and don't) steal bi rep. hell, i didn't even give my personal opinion on it or any of the quotes, yet they're acting like i'm personally saying the character is only pansexual and supporting every person quoted and everything they're saying. i literally just compiled some quotes and said the characters are xzy based on them. it's not that fucking deep.

and if they're disregarding someone saying a character is pan because the person is problematic, then they better fucking disregard every single queer character who was confirmed or created by someone problematic. because if that shit only comes out when it's pansexuality, then they can shove that blatant panphobic garbage up their ass.

it's telling as fuck that they're only mad about loki and wonder woman. deadpool was first labeled omni, yet the only responses on that tweet i got were "no he's pan" and "omni isn't real" and even one "no he's bi". they love to pretend the first label used is the only true canon label and anything else is erasure, yet they're not applying that logic to deadpool. or other characters in that thread who had more than one label used over time.

(and don't get me started on the people harping on the quotes that are like "pan makes more sense" because "um why does pan make more sense? biphobic much?" when uh. assuming the only reason to think pan fits better or makes sense is biphobia is just really going full force with the panphobia.)

where was this outrage when annalise keating went from pan to bi? because i remember getting shit for my initial disappointment over that, even though it took me like five minutes to go from being upset to being like "whatever who cares she can be both". they are never consistent or fair in anything they say or do. they are panphobic, point blank and it shows in their hypocrisy and strawmanning.

this got really long and i kind of used the message as an excuse to rant some more about this lmao i'm sorry but thank you for seeing their bullshit for what it is. there are hundreds and hundreds of people harassing and dogpiling me, one even suicide baiting me. over the sexuality of a fictional character. so it's nice when other people are seeing it for what it is, too.

[kitkatopinions]

I always assumed Ironwood wasn't straight. I mean he's a dude in his 40s who's unmarried and has no previous family or children to speak of. Then again he did dance with Glynda that one time so who knows?

That's just the thing, there's no way of knowing. Here are things that literally would not go against Ironwood's suggested feelings for Glynda.

Asexual and Biromantic, Panromantic, or Heteroromantic. Bisexual and Biromantic, Panromantic, or Heteroromantic. Pansexual, and Biromantic, Panromantic, or Heteroromantic. Homosexual and biromantic, panromantic, or heteroromantic. Homosexual and homoromantic, but using compulsory heteronormativity (idc what MKEK said outside of canon, their own heteronormative writing in the early seasons makes it impossible to believe that there aren't things like Homophobia, transphobia, and sexism in the world of RWBY.) Asexual and Aromantic - Flirting does not mean that you're not aromantic. Heterosexual and Heteroromantic but trans, non-binary, or genderqueer (although he looks male-presenting, that's not an indication that he's definitely canon cisgender, and yes, he goes by he/him pronouns, but I have a non-binary sibling who mostly goes by she/her and stills calls herself my sister. You never know just by someone's appearance or even their pronouns.) Any of the above, and still not meaning anything really by his somewhat flirtatious tone and asking Glynda to dance in the same way that Yang winking at a White Fang member before attacking him says literally nothing about her canon sexuality since she's casually flirty, because he might just be casually flirty and that doesn't even mean that he's trying to appear straight even if the writers were clearly heteronormative themselves when they wrote everyone in the first three seasons before they decided to think about making Pilot Boi their first queer character. Heterosexual and heteroromantic and cisgengered.

Personally, I myself see James Ironwood as a bisexual, biromantic man who deeply respected Glynda, was attracted to her appearance, but more wanted something to be between them than actually having real feelings for her. But it's perfectly valid to headcanon any of the above.

Currently Ironwood's sexuality (and his gender for that matter) has yet to be confirmed. Even if the show writers stated that James Ironwood is just the straightest most straight, cis, non-LGBTQ+ character in their show, it still wouldn't be show proper canon, because Word of the Author is a broke system that many people threw out sometime around JK Rowling telling everyone wizards used to just pee and poop all over themselves at random and magic away the evidence. And even if the show writers wrote Qrow or Winter or something to say "Yeah, James is the straightest most straight cisgendered hetero guy we knew," post-death, it still would not be wrong to headcanon anything different.

James Ironwood is as gay as you want him to be, I guess is what I'm saying. James Ironwood is not a canon straight guy, I guess is also what I'm saying. It's deeply flawed and rooted in bi, ace, and pan erasure to assume that anyone is straight just because they make advances towards someone of the opposite gender. I already see so much biphobia specifically in the RWBY fandom, especially in regards to Blake, Yang, and even Qrow these days. It just really makes me frustrated that people have this mentality. Either they are Homosexuals or they are straight. Either Yang oogling men in season one means she's straight and now they're retconning her sexuality or Yang's a lesbian who was clearly just being comphet/Yang's a lesbian and if you're still clinging onto the first season, you're stupid. Either Blake's straight and it was wrong of the showrunners to 'pretend otherwise' to force her to be anything else or Blake's a lesbian and anyone still shipping her with Sun or other men are denial ridden homophobes themselves. Either Qrow is straight and anyone paying attention to lingering looks, hugs, and blushes are idiots reading into unintended framing or people shipping Qrow and Winter are just so stupid to ignore that Qrow winking at her meant nothing and people who read romantic tension in their fight have 'hetero goggles' on. Btw, there's nothing wrong in my opinion with headcanoning Yang as not attracted to men at all, Qrow as not attracted to women at all, or even Blake as not attracted to men at all and only thinking she had been. But that's not canon, and trying to enforce it is rooted in biphobia.

And now it's 'James is established straight from the get go,' because he said a somewhat flirty line to a woman and asked her to dance. It's very annoying. James is no more of a canon straight than Yang, Weiss, Blake, or Penny is. Expressing a very casual slight attraction towards someone of the opposite sex very much so doesn't determine someone's sexuality.

You're right, who knows? Nobody. Because currently, James Ironwood could be pretty much anything (even alive!) and we wouldn't know.

[rotationalsymmetry]

No queer people (barring some radfems) will actually admit that they’re effectively pressuring bisexuals to only act on their “gay” attractions and not their “straight” ones, and generally not call attention to being bi at all. (Or rather: to either do that or the exact opposite: to either pretend we’re gay or pretend we’re straight.)

And yet all the time: “bi now gay later”, “gay or at least bi”, ew gross bi women bringing their boyfriends to Pride, ew gross m/f ships ugh the straights are so boring, straight this het that, ew straight girls kissing other girls while drunk for attention, men are gross, cishet men are especially gross, being attracted to men is gross, throw the whole man out, men who date women are so predatory, wlw relationships are so pure and wholesome, hey check out this asshole boyfriend on Reddit/facebook/TikTok/whatever (while never sharing examples of asshole girlfriends — they’re there, I promise you), 20 “gay” books in the bookstore for every one “bi” book, and when they’re fiction the books with canon bi characters get called (and often marketed as) gay/lesbian fiction, not noticing when groups or whatever just say “gay and lesbian” and not “bi”, completely ignoring bi issues (invisibility/erasure, harmful stereotypes especially around promiscuity and cheating, lack of representation, sexual health (hey guess what, people who have sex with men and women have different sexual health concerns than people who don’t!), rampant DV rates, high rates of substance abuse, need for discussion groups and studies and so on focused on us, intersectional issues with being bi and also poor, poc, disabled, trans, immigrant, homeless, incarcerated, etc), talking about bi celebrities as though they’ve betrayed the community or stopped being queer if they get into a m/f relationship, calling probably-bi historical figures “gay”, using terms like “wlw” and “lesbian” interchangeably or using “wlw” or “queer” but in a context that implies all wlw don’t ever date or have sex with men, assuming gay people can represent bi people but bi people can’t represent gay people, accusing bi people of playing oppression olympics and claiming we’re more oppressed any time we suggest we might have any issues at all that strictly gay people don’t (ie merely making the case that we’re not strictly less oppressed in every single regard), bi people can’t use butch/femme terms those are lesbian only terms and it’s appropriation, that comphet doc that’s basically “hey if you’re bi but want to convince yourself you’re actually a lesbian, here’s how to do it!”*, etc etc etc etc.

It‘s not always/usually actually cutting someone out of your social circle, telling someone to leave the group, or literally saying “there’s no such thing as being bi”, any more than terfs actually say “yeah we just hate trans women” or ace excleiionsts say “aces aren’t queer“ (they say “cishet aces aren’t queer”, which literally has the same meaning because it means aces are only queer if they have a queer identity other than being ace! It defines ace as not inherently queer.) It’s usually just… erasure and “ugh, men” and “straight-passing privilege” (ie: you’re less queer, you’re not really in need of attention and resources, and if you disagree with other queer people you’re speaking over people who are less privileged.) But that still has a huge effect.

(again: yes, there are things you experience/risk in relationships straight people see as gay that you don’t in relationships that they don’t. but there’s a huge gap between that concept and “so you’re basically straight”, but often when queer people say “straight passing privilege” they mean “not really a sexual minority/queer person, and someone who by definition doesn’t experience any downside to being bi relative to being straight” and that is not true.)

*I‘m sure there are many actual-lesbians who take a while to figure it out and need some help with “how do I know if I was dating that guy because I’m attracted to guys or just because I was expected to?” But the doc never once mentioning “and some people are bi, here’s a sign you might be bi” is kinda sus actually. Almost as though it was coming from a mentality of nobody is actually bi, ever.

[fluorescencefuture]

Homestuck^2: How I’d write the Omega Kids (and the Candy timeline villains)

I haven't reread Homestuck nor the epilogues in a while so correct me if I'm wrong with anything here. This was all in one go, too, so I probably missed something here or there. I'm also not a native English speaker so pardon some grammar errors.

In General

I’d give them a five-letter name scheme. Names of a group being the same length was a big deal in original HS (human first names had four letters, troll names had six, Ancestors had eight-letter titles, Cherubs had eight letters too, etc.), so it’s odd seeing this new group have names of varying length

I’d also give them all shirt symbols. It’s odd that something so iconic to Homestuck isn’t present in the new kids, either.

I'll write for both the canon post-canon with evil Jane and for my own version with different villains. Evil Jane happens because a highblood troll who hears of the old ways of Alternia attempts to kill her and take her crown, as she's technically the heiress. Jane wins, but she starts to see trolls and Alternian culture in a different light from then on. At first she was only trying to prevent the worst parts of Alternian culture from coming back, but over time grew to despise trolls, and ended up trying to force human culture onto Alternians.

The other Candy villains are a dangerous terrorist rebel group that wants to overthrow the creators and destroy them. They say the creators made the people, abandoned the people for years, then suddenly came back and decided they control the people. The group is made of humans, trolls, carapacians, and even consorts. The mysterious shadowed leader claims to be doing this for the people, but really, all they want is to have control for themselves, and they don't care if any innocents get in the way.

Harry Anderson

Has nothing to fix, he’s perfect as is

Okay but seriously, the guy is the kid with the least questionable things around him. He has no baggage from sharing the same name as an established character (ICP Harry Anderson doesn’t count), and he didn’t come from infidelity.

He also has actual color to his personality. He likes musicals and sewing. He has a good relationship with his dad. Like many kids with divorced parents, he wishes his parents were together again. What do the others have? Vrissy is just a slightly less aggressive Vriska. Tavros is just OG Tavros and Jake combined. Yiffy’s thing is being a dog girl named Yiffany Longstocking. The others could be fleshed out eventually, but with the slow pace and meandering plot we have right now, I doubt it.

If Jane's the villain, things would mostly go the same way. If Jane isn't the villain, it goes two ways: he decides to join Vrissy's guerilla anti-anti-creator group and fight because he wants to protect his parents, or he's just very anti-conflict and avoids the fight because he doesn't think he's up to it. He's frequently threatened but doesn't tell his parents about the threats. Eventually, he gets convinced to join and fight.

Vrissy

So Vrissy’s in relationships with guys who are technically her cousins. At first I was like “well, they’re not biologically related nor were they raised as family so it’s not weird”. But then Tavros called Kanaya “Aunt Kanaya” and now I’m thinking “oh god, that’s really weird”.

Now she’s just a troll girl from school. She's just close to Kanaya and Rose, but isn’t their kid. She isn’t related to anyone. Anyone except Vriska, who she was named after. Vrissy’s new nickname is just Vriss.

Alternatively, her name is something completely different. Honestly, it just seemed like a way to shoehorn in a Vriska for the story. Only for actual Vriska to come back anyway.

Uhh, Eshtha (from Jyeshtha, a Hindu nakshatra Scorpius is associated with)? Oriona (from Orion, the myth where Scorpius is mostly attributed to)? Naiaka (from Manaiakalani, as Hawaiians saw Scorpius as the demigod Maui’s fishhook)? Oh wait, I’ll have to make nicknames for those names too. Uh, Eshty, Riona, and Naiah.

Maybe have her have a personality that’s rather opposite to Vriska’s than have her as Vriska 2. She's more a perky goth, more cheerful and sweet. More "I knew you could do it!" than "So you can do something after all." A beast in battle, of course. She doesn't like to use her mind control powers, because she finds them disturbing.

If Vriska had to come back, the conflict would come from their conflicting personalities. Vriska would pretty much act the same way she did to (Vriska), but this time, Vriss doesn't take any of it and stands her ground.

Whether the villain is Jane or not, she's the one who decides to fight back, and she gets her friends and others to join her. The creators have been nothing but good to her, and she cares about them a lot, especially Rose and Kanaya. Not to mention they're also her friends' parents.

Tavros

Yeah, we’re gonna have to rename that kid. It never made sense to me why Jake and Jane named their kid after some guy they don’t know that well. I don’t remember everything from the Epilogues, but I’ll assume the reason was Gamzee or something. Also weird that Jane, who’s supposed to be racist to trolls, would just...let her kid be named after one.

Something old-ish would work. Flynn? Silas? Avery? Clyde? Niles? Louie?

He's moirails with this Vriss instead of kismeses. The Vrissy/Tavros kismesis also felt like re-hashing the kismesis that Vriska and OG Tavros kinda had.

If we went post-canon villain Jane, he'd be reluctant to join the rebellion and is more of a pacifist who would rather try to talk his mom out of it.

Alternatively, Jane and Jake are separated (but not divorced) and he lives with Jake. Because Jane was never terrible to him and Jake doesn't tell him how bad she's gotten, he disagrees with her but still tries to justify and rationalize that Jane's really doing it from a place of good intentions.

If the villain isn't Jane, then Jane and Jake have been hiding him away, and his friends can only see him when they visit him at his swanky home. You might say he's...housetrapped. He joins because his friends are in it, and doesn't quite grasp how serious things are until the rebels try to kill Jane (the rebels try to kill Jane first because you always kill the healer first).

He's in contact with a mysterious guide who's kinda spacy and a little terrifying at times. His friends think the guide might just be some creepy predator. It's revealed to be Candy Gamzee, out of the fridge and legitimately harmless, but untraceable and doing mysterious things behind the black. Again.

Come to think of it, Dirk's missing too...

Yiffany Longstocking

Yiffy is now the ectokid of Dave and Jade. She looks more like a DaveJade kid than JadeRose, really. Dave and Jade are also either happily married or coming close to an amicable divorce. Yeah, the toxic shit Jade did and the erasure of Dave's bisexuality also don't exist here. Jade, Dave, Karkat, and Terezi are backing Vrissy's anti-anti-creator group.

Her new name is something unisex. Riley? Logan? Robin? Sloan? Salem?

She spends a lot of time outside doing sports and doesn't talk much. She's not very close to the other three kids, but she's surprisingly pretty close to her Aunt Rose.

While Jade and Dave are out on a mission for Karkat (this is the mission Candy Dave dies), she gets kidnapped by the opposing force (Jane/the terrorists). She gets a shock collar forced on her, then is hidden away in a Boarding School for Inconvenient Girls, enrolled under the name "Yiffany Longstocking". Jade comes home to find that her family's been taken from her. Again.

Yiffy almost escapes, but she gets knocked out and taken back to base, where they lock her in a cage and treat her like a dog. She's still defiant to the end.

If Jane's the villain, Jake is inspired by Yiffy's defiance, grows some balls, exposes Yiffy's treatment to the press, and sets her free. She beats up the guards trying to stop her. Jake gets surrounded by more guards. In response, he pulls out his pistols and a one-liner, and bam, cliffhanger.

If it's the terrorist group, Terezi picks up on Yiffy's scent when they're in a base, and she's saved by the other three kids, where she immediately turns around and beats the crap out of the guards. They become proper friends from there.

The reunion panel still happens and this time it's her reuniting with her loving mother and aunt instead of...y'know.

BONUS: Sadstuck

Harry gets his own “im not a hero” speech after trying and “failing” to be the hero that John was

Vriss is eventually forced to use her mind control powers. It’s either a “Katara using bloodbending" situation, or she forces her friends to leave her behind when they want to stick by her.

Tavros finally witnesses his mother’s true nature when Jake defeats all the guards, but is stabbed from behind by Jane and killed. In the other version, it seems Jane is finally safe and able to come home to her son. Then she’s killed right in front of him.

After the big hug with Jade and Rose, Yiffy pulls away. She smiles, looks around behind them, and asks “Where’s Dad?”

So, please tell me what you think!

[clovis-enthusiast]

Lotsa Clovis headcanons that you can pry from my cold dead hands

Keep in mind that these are just MY HEADCANONS! None of this is canon unless specifically stated! Feel free to agree or disagree. I juts rlly love my boy and his cabin and will gush about them for hours if given the chance.

Since there is a lot, I’ll put them under the cut so as not to clutter ur feed with my rambling! So uh click ‘keep reading’ to see me babble about my all time favorite character! Hope u enjoy if u read em and always feel free to send me a message about ur own headcanons! (I’m always thinking of more, so this post might be updated every once in awhile!)

He is very French. He was born in France and lived there for a short while before he and his mother (the reason I say mother instead of parent is because it was hinted at in canon that he has a mother. my go to name for her is Camille) moved to the US due to monster related problems. (He has a French last name. Something like Valois is my go to.)

French is his first language but because he moved to the US when he was quite young, he is very fluent in English. He often switches between the two languages when he’s EXTRA sleepy without noticing leading to a lot of confusion (and you can bet that he DEFINITELY swears in French because not many people at camp can understand him when he does. Those who do have a newfound respect and fear for him.)

He was initially a longtime member of the Hermes cabin even though pretty much everyone could guess who his godly parent was.

Was DEFINITELY a part of Luke’s army at one point due to the fact that he looked up to Luke as the older demigod had always treated him like a little brother, AND his godly brother Morpheus was also on Kronos’s side of the war. However, Clovis did not stay with them for long once things began to get bad and returned to Camp Half Blood with time. (Morpheus and Clovis now have a strained relationship.)

Best friends with Lou Ellen Blackstone of the Hecate cabin. They were both temporarily on Luke’s side of the war and were held with suspicion and distrust when they returned to camp, so they tended to stick by each other while the other campers warmed back up to them. Because of this, they are now very close and are always goofing around (much to the annoyance of the other head counselors aside from the Stolls, of course.)

Definitely had a thing for Nico di Angelo in the past. As the two boys are both the sons of underworld gods, Clovis had already felt a certain tug towards him. When he heard Nico’s story from the camp’s rumor mill (thank Lacy and Mitchell for that one) he became utterly infatuated. Over time, his curiosity turned more into a little crush which then became a BIG crush, but as neither Clovis nor Nico are really all that great with normal human interaction, the son of Hypnos’s flirting techniques sort of went unnoticed. That’s why Nico seems to be the only one being pulled into Clovis’s dreams at any given time despite Clovis being a ‘very strong dreamer.’ The truth is that Clovis has full control over who enters HIS dreamscapes. He tries desperately to impress Nico and help him out wherever he can, but when Nico eventually chooses Will to be his boyfriend, Clovis, though a bit sad that his first crush in a long time didn’t share the feelings, is VERY supportive. He loves to tease Nico about how hopelessly head-over-heels the broody teenager is over his sunshiney boyfriend. And if the two were ever to break up for whatever reason in the future? Well, Clovis is definitely still up for a shot.

Clovis and Nico are still VERY close. Clovis is one of the only people that Nico feels comfortable enough to be himself around and often confides in him whenever his negative thinking gets the best of him. Clovis also plays a big part in Nico regaining the memories of his past when he’s ready which he will forever be thankful for. The two obviously spend a lot of time together in dreams and greet one another in a warm fashion whenever they come across each other by chance at camp. This confuses literally everyone because literally no one has ever seen them interact before?? How are they friends?? 

Has HISTORY with Drew. No one is really sure what kind of history (it seems as if there was a little bit of memory erasure throughout the camp on the situation... hm...) but most people speculate that the two shared a romantic relation at one point in time. Turns out, they were NOT compatible, and the whole thing went up in flames. Drew still holds a huge grudge against Clovis who acts as though he could honestly care less. He still treats her politely though there have definitely been some not-so-subtle nasty looks cast across the campfire towards her direction before.

Also very close with Lacy and Mitchell from the Aphrodite cabin. Lacy feels terrible about Drew’s trash-talking and rumor-spreading and eventually works up the courage to say hi. They became fast friends, and Lacy definitely has a bit of a puppy-dog crush on him, but she is much too young for Clovis. He sees her as a little sister and allows her to put makeup on him, do his hair, and even tries on dresses and such just to make her smile. Mitchell, on the other hand, became friends with Clovis out of spite in all honesty and ended up liking the sleepy blond a lot more than he thought he would. He might have a teeeeeny tiiiiiny crush on him. Don’t tell Lacy.

Close with Pollux of the Dionysus cabin. Pollux sees a lot of Castor when he looks at Clovis which is a huge comfort to him. The two counselors have a lot of deep talks late at night, and Clovis always makes sure that Pollux is sleeping well without being haunted by nightmares. Dionysus would never admit it, but he is very thankful that someone cares that much about his only son.

Good friends with Rachel Elizabeth Dare surprisingly! He helps her out often, and the two like to sit and chat about mythology, artwork, and prophecies in the big house and at the campfire.

Has allies and friends in high places. Due to his powerful dreaming, he’s been to quite a few strange places and met quite a few strange people... or you could call them the gods, I guess. He knows a lot of the gods and goddesses from all kinds of mythologies (though obviously more of the Greek ones than anything) and they seem to like him well enough for some reason. (Probably because he’s one of the only demigods who doesn’t want to strangle them and doesn’t mind listening to them complain about petty godly things.) He often has little chats with them where he keeps them updated with the going ons of Camp Half Blood and they keep him updated about... godly drama. He kinda lives for it tbh. It’s part of the reason why he’s so informed about the gods.(Annabeth is maybe just the tiniest bit jealous.)

He’s a year round camper because it would be much too dangerous for him to go back to living with his mother. He stays in contact with her via dreams, letters, and Iris messages though!

MUCH more powerful than he lets on. He just doesn’t like conflict. 

One of his most frightening abilities is the ability to summon terrible creatures from people’s nightmares and use them to fight. He doesn’t like to do this as it can be very traumatizing for the people he uses it against, AND it’s not always a guarantee that the nightmare creatures will obey him.

His other more battle-ready powers are the ability to put an entire battle field into a deep slumber and memory alteration/erasure. He can use his memory alteration/erasure on monsters of weaker defenses AND demigods (though he feels much more comfortable using it on monsters.) He uses these powers to alter how monsters/enemies perceive demigods. Because of this, there are quite a few friendly hellhounds and scythian dracanae wandering about the camp. All of his powers are VERY draining and take a lot of concentration in order to work as intended. He will often sleep for days after a battle because of this.

He is also capable of fighting whilst asleep. In fact, his senses are heightened, and he tends to perform better this way. He also heals much faster while he is asleep. 

It is speculated that he will either grow wings from his head or his back, but it will not happen until he grows older. It’s a rare trait that few Hypnos kids (and Thanatos kids) develop, but due to Clovis’s power level, everyone is pretty much waiting for it to happen.

He can change his appearance at will in his dreams, but his aura is still the same, so he can still be identified pretty easily by people who know him personally. (As a side note, his eyes pretty much change color on their own to reflect the mood of the dreamscape he’s currently in. Gold, emerald, and violet are the most common colors. His true eye color is blue.)

Doesn’t really care about gender all that much. He has absolutely no problem with people referring to him using any pronouns (she/he/they) and is quite comfortable with himself in general. Many demigods who are questioning their gender comes to talk to him about it, and he’s always open to hearing them out and giving them advice.

VERY bisexual. Likes girls, guys, literally anyone who can keep him awake and interested for more than five seconds.

The unofficial official camp therapist.The role used to belong to Will Solace, but the truth is that the son of Apollo is much more comfortable dealing with physical ailments and problems he can fix medically than he is with dealing with feelings and mental ailments. Clovis is a very good listener despite the popular belief that he’s too busy nodding off to actually hold a conversation with properly and has a very calming aura that helps people feel safe enough to be vulnerable with him.

The go to babysitter of camp. Due to his Hypnos kid vibes, he is able to keep even the most rambunctious demigod and satyr children under control. His nap times are legendary. 

VERY big on respecting people’s privacy and boundaries. He tries his best not to enter any dreams uninvited, and he never talks about what goes on in people’s dreams ever. He also NEVER looks into people’s memories without their permission. He makes sure his siblings follow these guidelines strictly.

He literally lets anyone come into the Hypnos cabin at any time to get a good rest. The cabin has an open door policy.

New campers are often allowed to stay with the Hypnos cabin if they’d rather not face the chaos of the Hermes cabin.

Contrary to popular belief, his cabin is actually NOT the messiest cabin. The Hermes cabin wins that one though they’re followed closely by the Ares and Hephaestus cabins.

He and his siblings are some of the closest in the camp. They meet up and hang out in each other’s dreamscapes and have family nights. Clovis is the oldest AND is a head counselor, so he is very protective and responsible when it comes to his siblings.

Gives AMAZING massages. Leo and the entirety of the Hephaestus and Ares cabins are regular customers. Fight me. 

Actually a very good strategist when it comes to battles and such given that he’s awake enough to actually communicate his ideas. If you get them on your Capture the Team game, you’re already doing good. Annabeth and the Athena cabin love the competition, and they’re nearly unstoppable when they work together with him.

Clovis suffers from TERRIBLE narcolepsy, even for a son of Hypnos. It’s gotten him into a lot of bad and dangerous situations such as falling asleep mid battle, mid conversation, and even in the bath once when he was little. He has developed a fear of heights and water due to his condition.

Holds a lot of frustrations towards himself. Frustrated that he ever turned against the camp that offered him a home, frustrated that he couldn’t help Jason restore his memories, frustrated that couldn’t help more in the war against Gaea, just... frustrated. He tries to sleep off these negative moods because he doesn’t like to bring people down.

Absolutely not opposed to cuddling with people who are okay with it (he always asks first!) It’s a surefire way to get a good night’s rest since you’re so close to him, plus he’s very soft and warm!

Has a good singing voice, but just isn’t confident enough with it. He pushes through his insecurities to sing lullabies to those who really need them though. His lullabies are unmatched. 

Adores cats with all of his heart due to their lazy and relaxed nature, but he knows that he could never be able to care for one well enough. 

ALWAYS wears pajamas. Like all the time. Chiron has given up on enforcing the dress code. He also made sure to have custom made camp bracelets instead of necklaces to be sure that none of the Hypnos kids are choked/strangled by them if they happen to fall asleep in a bad place or position.

Lives in the past. Old movies, old music, old slang, you name it. I mean, he practically sleeps for the majority of his life, so it’s not all that surprising that he’s a bit behind the times. He thinks the modern age moves much too fast for him to keep up with.

The demigods of camp take turns making sure Clovis and his siblings are taking care of themselves. Walking them to the showers and dining pavilion, making sure they get a little sunlight each day, and the bare minimum of training.

He is the best boy.That is the only FACT that I do not accept criticism on. Thank you.

[cheddar-the-dog]

b99 podcast episode 2:

relationship goals

@jake-and-ames and I have summarized what we think are the highlights of the second episode of the brooklyn nine-nine podcast. maybe those of you who can’t listen to the podcast for whatever reason can profit from it a bit

it’s under the cut because it’s quite long

[[MORE]]

Part 1 with David Phillips, Tony Nahar, Dirk Blocker, Joel McKinnon Miller

a season that’s focussed on Ensemble rather than singular performances

not filmed on stage usually but practical locations (rooms with walls)

3 cameras and their crews —> “single camera” style but multiple cameras that open opportunities to cross-shoot scenes

MEJ plays in the B99 softball team

they have 35 background actors of which 90% were there since s1

Scully and Hitchcock almost never have full storylines and often have punchlines or chime in (requires timing)

S7 spoilers around minute 14 but I blanked out tbh

Episode 12 of Season 2 The Beach House is a very significant episode for the cast and crew

Beach House Cold Open is where Holt spilled soup on his pants and Andy only needed one take for him to go into Holt’s office and spill soup on his own pants

Whole episode was originally Boyle story and his divorce but they went ensemble because it didn’t work

the Amy-Drink-Scale and 6-Drink-Amy (aka Gina’s Sasquatch) is elaborated throughout the episode (not revealed though if there is a 7-Drink-Amy)

Boyle’s borderline creepy lines are discussed around Minute 25

they spent 2 days shooting on location in Malibu and some of the cast stayed overnight and got to know each other more (Andy, Joel, Joe, Melissa and Chelsea and her then boyfriend now husband Jordan Peele)

it was so far away that on the first day when their call time was 7 AM they started shooting at 10:30 AM and it was hot but they had to pretend it’s winter

“Scully is a quintessential rennesaince man” - Joel McKinnon Miller

The bubbles in the hot tub were silent

there were lots of alts and the cast and crew just had fun and tried making each other break and corpse the scene - especially Andre

they intentionally made Holt apologize as an example of how a boss can behave vs how he would be expected to behave (Jake apologizing to him)

Part 2: Stephanie Beatriz, Laura McCreary, Luke Del Tredici

relationships (friendships, romantic relationships, bromances and Rosas coming out)

Steph doesn’t get recognized on the streets because of voice and mannerisms

in the beginning it was more focused on the Rosa/Charles relationship than Jake/Amy because Jake needed a lot of character work before they could think about getting them together/ him more fitting to Amy

Jake/Amy: pacing but also they don’t know how long they have, there’s no opportunity to really plan years ahead - if they would’ve know how long they have they would’ve held back longer with the romance but they knew from the beginning that they’re endgame

they try to avoid making Amy only “the wife”

“RIP Cheddar Number 3” - Laura McCreary

Rosa/Charles: they had Charles pining over Rosa in the pilot and according to Luke you repeat a lot of storylines in the beginning of a series because you’re trying to figure out who these characters are but as the show grew older so did the writers and eventually they realized it felt very inappropriate to not take no for an answer (Luke describes it as a “mistake” to not resolve it sooner)

Steph felt like it was inappropriate early on but didn’t have the courage to go to the writers and tell them how she felt because she was scared of losing her job and she didn’t know how things worked in that particular workplace bc she originally is a theatre actress

Charles and Rosa remain friends though and their relationship grows stronger. So much so that Rosa comes out to him first which Steph loved a lot

MEJ is still waiting for the vow renewal of Holt and Kevin (he pitched another idea during that episode)

Boyle/Peralta: McCreary said that because Jake can’t really mess up at his job because of stakes and he’s not perfect they made him mess up a lot with Charles’ friendship (also the ladies but mainly Charles)

Rosa had a good amount of relationships

“She’s trying. I don’t know if she’s living it but she’s trying.” - Steph

Rosa/Adrian: very opposite characters and she described Jason abd Pimento respectively as loose canons. Mantzoukas also taught Steph how to relax more in scenes (she’s praising his improv skills a lot as well as “he’s like a thorough bred dressage horse but kinda like crazy” - Stephanie Beatriz)

Rosa/Marcus: first on screen relationship that the writers used to get a Rosa/Holt dynamic going

Steph played Rosa queer from the beginning (she built on talking about Tonya Harding being hot for example)

the coming out episode: Steph was involved in creating the 99th episode and the coming out of her character a lot - she wanted Rosa to use the word bisexual repeatedly and the language that was used is a lot of what she had to hear personally. She talks about bi-erasure as well

The writers wanted to incorporate real life experiences into their show more to make it authentic and it was important to them to involve Steph and not just go for it because they had nobody who could speak for her specific experience

they emphasize the complexity of the characters and not just token diversity for brownie points. also different takes on classic masculinity tropes (a subject that repeats often also in Episode 1)

it’s meant to be a socially relevant show but they want to normalize the subjects they target and don’t make it 30 minutes of education and “here’s everything that’s wrong with x”

Terry/Sharon: a stable loving marriage between two black people

“Title of your sex tape” is a favorite joke, and since the series starts with established dynamics everyone in the squad is cool with joking about it/ it doesn’t feel inappropriate in their workplace because they’ve known each other for quite a long time

there’s a cut scene from the s6 finale where the vulture heard Jake say “title of your sex tape” and stole it to use himself which Jake in return hated more than anything he did, ever. And a similar instance (also a cut scene) where Hitchcock heard it and stole it as well

[unfolded73]

love this director's cut idea! ⭐for any section you want to talk about!

I decided to do a director’s commentary on “The Things We Don’t Speak Aloud” because I have a lot of thoughts about Marcy and Clint Brewer. Below the cut for length:

Ask me for a director’s commentary of one of my fics or a section of a fic

Marcy looked around at the motel room she’d just stepped into while Clint muscled his suitcase over the threshold and closed the door. The decorations were… unique, that was probably the kindest thing she could say about them. Hopelessly out of date to be sure, but perhaps people liked the kitsch, she thought charitably. Perhaps that was why nothing appeared to have been updated in decades. She lifted her small suitcase onto the bed and went to unzip it, her mind already focusing on how she wanted to arrange her things in the drawers.

“Are we going to talk about what just happened?” Clint asked, making no similar moves toward unpacking.

She felt a spike of anxiety go through her, making her palms sweat. “Clint, until we know for sure what they were talking about, I don’t know if it’s fair to—”

So I super identify with the Brewer family and their apparent willingness to avoid difficult subjects. I was raised the same way, unfortunately. It was an open secret that my uncle was gay, and despite supporting him (somewhat; my mom’s attitudes on homosexuality were ok but not great), my mother never spoke to him about it. Ever. For 50 years. So I understand how Patrick could go more than a year without telling his parents about being gay / about David. And I figure he probably learned that avoidance from his parents.

“It seemed pretty clear what they were talking about, Marcy,” Clint said. “He literally said, ‘a business relationship and a romantic relationship.’ What else could he have meant?”

She dropped the sweater she’d been refolding and met her husband’s eyes. “So Patrick and… and David…”

“I guess so.”

“But if they’re a couple, why wouldn’t Patrick say anything? We aren’t homophobic.” She picked up the sweater again. “Maybe David’s father is confused. Or jumping to conclusions because they spend a lot of time together working at the store.”

Clint squinted at her. “He lives here and probably sees his son all the time. I don’t think he would have said it that way if they weren’t a couple.”

“But Patrick dated Rachel for years!” She paused, thinking it through while she went over and put the sweater in one of the dresser drawers. “I guess he could be bisexual.”

Bisexual erasure, particularly for men, is real. I think about it a lot more now that my own son identifies as bi. So I struggle when I write scenes like this because, on the one hand, no, Patrick doesn’t seem to be bi. We can assume that since David says he’s gay in MTP, that’s probably how Patrick himself identifies, and it’s consistent with him saying he didn’t know before David what right was supposed to feel like. But he could be bi/pan, as far as his parents know at this point, and I don’t want it to seem like I as the author wouldn’t consider that if I had only the info the Brewers have. But also, I figure the Brewers would assume he was gay because that seems more in-line with who they are. And it happens to be true. So I did give Marcy the thought here that, ok, maybe he’s bi. And then had Clint say, maybe, but also he did break up with Rachel a lot and run away. I wrote it similarly in My Heartbeat Shows the Fear.

“That’s possible. Or it’s possible that he was trying very hard not to be gay, and that’s why ultimately things didn’t work out with Rachel. It would explain a lot. They way they kept breaking up. The way he ran away to start a new life somewhere else.” He sat down on the bed.

Marcy shook her head, a hand coming up to her mouth to hold in… she didn’t know what. “No, that’s… surely he would have talked to us if he was feeling that way. And he was happy with Rachel for a long time.”

“Was he?”

Marcy began unpacking more quickly, needing to accomplish a task, needing to move. “Yes, of course he was happy.”

“Not happy enough, though. Maybe he’s happier with David.”

She slumped her shoulders, suddenly exhausted. They’d gotten up before dawn to make this drive and the long hours on the road were taking their toll. “Should we maybe take a nap?”

Marcy does not want to talk about this anymore. Using sleep to avoid things is another thing I do.

Her husband nodded, recognizing the request for what it was — a plea not to talk about this anymore. “Good idea. I don’t think I’m going to be able to stay awake for a party if I don’t have a little rest.”

She put her suitcase aside and took off her shoes and stretched out next to her husband on top of the bedspread. Clint reached out for her hand, and she squeezed his fingers in return.

Marcy thought about the conversations she’d had with David on the phone. The way he talked about the store and the way he talked about Patrick. The way he talked about how smart Patrick was about the business. It hadn’t escaped her notice the way David spoke — the cadence and timbre of his voice, the uptilt of it on certain phrases, his encyclopedic knowledge of skin care products — yes, she’d assumed David was gay when she bothered to think about it at all. She’d mostly just thought that David seemed nice, based on his unfailing politeness with her.

Another tough one, because David isn’t gay, he’s pan. But most people probably assume he’s gay, based on stereotypes, and I figured Marcy would too.

Meanwhile, she’d gotten used to a certain amount of distance from her son. He’d barely spoken to them at all for the first couple of months after he left town, other than to say he was safe and that he needed a fresh start. Then came news of the business he was starting with David, and Patrick had begun to sound excited on the phone, talking about David’s vision for the store. He’d had a lot to say about what a good idea it was that David had, and how skilled he was with vendors and customers. She began to sift her memory of those glowing compliments through this new filter, where maybe her son had romantic feelings for his business partner. It made a certain kind of sense, now that she thought about it. It explained why any mention of Rachel caused him to shut down.

I do like imagining Patrick being unable to keep from bringing the topic of David up, even though he couldn’t bring himself to say they were a couple. Maybe hoping his parents guessed.

It perhaps explained, she realized with a sick feeling in her stomach, why any time she asked if he was dating anyone, he denied it and quickly changed the subject.

She didn’t think she’d be able to sleep, but Marcy did doze off briefly. She awoke after about a half hour to Clint puttering around with the tea kettle. Sitting up, she put her feet on the floor, her stomach still queasy with anxiety.

“So why didn’t he want to tell us?”

“Maybe… maybe they aren’t telling other people at all?” Clint posited.

“Mr. Rose knows. That weird Roland person knows. Both of them assumed we knew!” Then it hit her. “David assumed we knew. Right? If they’re out to people here, and he invited us to Patrick’s party…” She thought again about how warm David always was with her on the phone, taking time out of his day to ask after her health or make small talk with her when she called the store. The way he spoke about Patrick, which she never questioned because of course they knew each other well — they ran a business together. “What do we do now?”

Clint’s eyes widened. “I have no idea.”

There was a knock on the door.

Marcy went over and opened it, revealing Johnny Rose’s worried face and expressive eyebrows on the other side.

“Hi, Marcy. Mind if I come in to chat?”

“Johnny… yes, of course,” she said, widening the opening to admit him.

So this was the seed idea of this fic. In canon, David gets there first and Johnny shortly thereafter. I thought it would be interesting to switch it and see what happened.

He clasped his hands together, eyes darting around the room. “I wanted to apologize to you both for speaking out of turn earlier. And saying… things that I assumed you… but it seems I was, er, that is, that I jumped to conclusions about…”

I enjoy writing Johnny when he’s flustered.

Marcy tried to rescue him. “You assumed we knew that Patrick and David are dating.”

Johnny cleared his throat. “Yes. And I just wanted to say, as a parent myself, that the important thing is that they’re happy. That’s all that matters. Who our kids love doesn’t matter.”

I figured he’d say essentially the same thing he did in canon here. That the important thing was that their kids were happy. 

“Johnny, we don’t have a problem with Patrick being gay.” She looked over at Clint, who shook his head.

“No,” he said in agreement.

Johnny’s whole demeanor changed, his shoulders dropping as he smiled with relief. “Oh! Good, that’s good!”

They all smiled at each other for a second, unsure what to say next.

“Yes, anyway, we love Patrick,” Johnny said, rocking on his heels. “I probably should have said earlier, I was only skeptical about him and David at first. It’s been obvious for a while that they’re good for each other. Patrick’s become like a member of the family.”

I wish we had gotten to see Johnny’s skepticism about juggling a romantic and a business relationship on the show. That does seem in-character for him, and I would have liked to have seen him trying to talk to David about it, about guarding his heart and his parts and his business. I’m sure it would have been a disaster of a conversation but I would have enjoyed it.

“How, um, how long have they been together?” Marcy asked.

“Since not long after the store opened, as I recall.” Johnny said.

Heart pounding, Marcy dropped onto the bed next to where her husband was sitting. “Oh.”

“That’s a long time,” Clint said.

Johnny’s face fell as he probably realized that he’d once again delivered cataclysmic news to Patrick’s parents. It wasn’t just that he’d kept his sexual identity and his relationship with David a secret. He’d kept it a secret for over a year.

Ugh, the timeline. In 5x14, David says “two years ago”. But there seems to have only been one Christmas since they started dating. So I just figure David was severely rounding up when he said 2 years and that it’s really been more like a year and a half at that point, idk. Jeremy Bearimy.

“You know, it can be a hard thing for kids to talk about with their parents,” Johnny said. “Goodness knows David and I haven’t always talked about what was going on in his life.”

Marcy latched onto that. Perhaps she had an expert here, someone who’d been through what they were going through. “Was it hard for David to come out to you and your wife?”

Johnny pulled over one of the chairs and sat down. “Well, it was different with David. Moira assumed he was gay from a fairly young age.” He threw up his hands. “I wasn’t sure, myself, but I figured he’d tell us when he was ready. Then when he was eighteen, he told us he was bisexual. Then later, he amended it to ‘pansexual’.” Marcy looked at Clint and saw that he looked just as confused as she felt. “The labels can be confusing,” Johnny continued, “and I know I said some things I shouldn’t have, at first. Asked him if it wouldn’t be easier if he picked a gender. Which I realize wasn’t… helpful. Or fair of me. I just wanted him to be happy. And he is now! So.” He shrugged, laughing awkwardly.

I tend to just go with the fanon that when David came out as pansexual to his parents, it was probably a surprise to them that he wasn’t gay. 

“But you always knew he wasn’t… straight,” Marcy said, disappointed that the Roses’ experience didn’t really mirror theirs that closely after all.

“Yes, I suppose we did know that. Moira knew, at least. She’s always understood David better than… anyway.” A shadow flitted across his face that looked a lot like guilt. “But I’m not sure it matters when we know. It only matters that we support our kids.”

It’s also fanon that Moira was quicker to support David than Johnny was, but that’s based on the pretty solid evidence of her very firm “It’s not a phase” to Johnny in S1. Not that I think Johnny ever rejected David outright, but he clearly has struggled with David’s identity on some level, based on his convo with Roland in S1.

Marcy nodded. “We do support him, of course we do. Of course we do,” she repeated, a lump rising in her throat. She felt Clint’s hand take hers, and she was afraid to look at him lest she start to cry in earnest.

“The thought that he didn’t think he could talk to us about this,” Clint said.

“When David’s obviously so important to him,” Marcy added.

Johnny looked at them with sympathy, and clearly with no idea what to say.

The shape of their failure as parents was starting to coalesce in her mind. The fact that while they’d never said anything bad about gay people in Patrick’s presence, they’d probably never said anything good either. The fact that ‘girlfriend’ and ‘wife’ were always the words they used when talking to young Patrick about what might happen when he grew up. The way she’d always encouraged him to try to patch things up with Rachel.

So here’s where I struggle with the concept of the Brewers as these lovely, accepting parents, because while I suspect that by 201(whatever year this is in the show), their feelings about queer people are positive, I don’t think they were necessarily that way when Patrick was growing up. I raised my kids with no particular expectations as to the gender of people they might want to date, and I doubt the Brewers were like that. I also think (and I used my own mother as a model for this) that when they talked about tolerance of gay people, it was with an air of “well, it’s not a choice, they can’t help it, so we need to love them.” The thing that communicated to me as a kid was that being gay was gross and icky and on some level, bad. But I’m sure if you’d have asked my mom, she would have patted herself on the back for her acceptance and “tolerance.” But people evolve, and gay marriage has been around now for long enough (especially in Canada) that a lot of minds have changed, and I count the Brewers among that number. They stepped up when they had to, and they were beaming and proud at the wedding. They also could have done things differently and perhaps made Patrick’s journey easier. But then he wouldn’t be with David, so. 

“Is Patrick happy?” she asked Johnny, embarrassed that she didn’t know and that this near-stranger likely did. But she had to ask. She was desperate to know.

Johnny hesitated, perhaps realizing what a complicated question that was to ask about anyone. “He certainly seems happy. But you can ask him yourself tonight, right?”

There was another knock at the door.

Marcy opened it to a tall man with dark hair and Johnny Rose’s expressive eyebrows. He was clutching a gift basket to his chest and looking apprehensive. It could only be one person. “David?” she asked.

“Mrs. Brewer, Mr. Brewer, hi. I’m—”

“David!” his father said, standing. “Come on in. The Brewers and I were just having a nice chat.”

David looked even more apprehensive at that as he shuffled into the room, eyeing his father with suspicion. “Why?”

Marcy took the gift basket from David, letting his hurried explanation about its contents drift by without paying it any attention. “David?” She still felt like she was on the verge of tears, even more so now that she was faced with the man that her son had apparently fallen in love with. “Can I give you a hug?”

[saras-almanac]

I don’t know if i am getting to deep about this (probably) but i’m kinda sad that robert got to briefly talk about his feelings saying there’s stuff he’s done keeping him awake at night at the worst possible time. i just wish they explored more of this when he actually had a support network around him. and he probably meant trying to kill paddy and chas, but that’s not the point. i don’t know guess it just upsets me a bit that we got an insight into his feelings at a horrible time.

Thank you so much for this ask because I could talk about #JusticeforRobert centric storylines until I die. And to be honest, I probably will because… he just deserved one? And the fact that there is/was so much potential for things to explore with Robert and the show just sort of chose not to, is annoying. Especially because Ryan could have carried an intense storyline (he literally carried 2017) and Danny/Aaron could have been this supportive husband. It would have been great for the people around them to really see Aaron supporting Robert through something. They sort of did that with the reunion 2.0 and Seb storyline (and even Rebecca’s disappearance) but it wasn’t really enough. 

The biggest frustration, sort of like you said, is that we just didn’t spend a lot of time with Robert’s feelings on things. I’m not trying to say we got nothing, but the BIG storylines that should have put Robert front and center (his coming out, his shooting, his reluctance to fatherhood, his prison sentence) shove his feelings and Robert to the side in lieu of someone else, someone who might be “more important” or needing the focus more. Now I could say that it’s sort of Robert’s character to hide his feelings because he doesn’t like showing them and being vulnerable while also never wanting to be a burden to anyone, that’s not really an excuse for the show to choose that path. 

Under the cut because this became a monster on points I have literally no idea of whether or not you wanted to read about! 

Robert’s Coming Out – What we could have had. 

Now, as a bisexual, I wish we’d have gotten more of Robert’s POV as he was outed against his will and the fallout. Even if we didn’t get it right away, they wrote in multiple times where people call him gay or throw his sexuality in his face and Robert never really got a chance to fight back for that. He stands up the most with Aaron and while the other times might just be a matter of, It’s really not worth it to fight for this cause the other person clearly doesn’t care… It just shouldn’t have taken so long to get the reveal and backstory of how his sexuality (and suppression) has affected him. 

Again, I would never want to take that moment in the woods away because it was literally perfect: the context, the reveal, the desperation of just wanting to be himself with Aaron. But there’s no reason that we couldn’t have been privy to some of Robert’s thoughts about this before that point. Especially after his shooting. 

Robert’s Shooting – Was Robert even there for that? 

I’m gonna be honest and say that I’m probably the most annoyed about this lack of storyline for Robert. He was literally shot and it became all about Andy and Aaron. While their stories played a massive part in everything that happened, it came at the complete erasure of Robert. He was shot. His entire life was changed. He thought someone he loved, someone who loved him–all of him and even the awful parts–tried to kill him. That literally shook Robert down to his core. We see it in the two instances where Robert is faced with that reality. But then he realizes Andy’s behind it, gets Aaron out of prison, and it’s literally never brought up again. Don’t you think that might have caused a shift in Robert? A fear or an even bigger desperation to prove himself? Or that his fear that he wasn’t worth it and no one could ever really love him was back in full force? 

But the show decided to not give any time to that. 

They also didn’t give any time to Robert’s recovery any focus at all. There’s the comment with Adam and Andy when Vic first brings Robert back from the hospital where they comment on how he doesn’t look like himself. I think there’s a scene where Robert first goes to the pub, but all the Dingles are mad at him because Aaron’s in prison… Though that’s not Robert’s fault? He was the one who shot? He literally was in a coma for like a month… But sure? I guess, go off on him Dingles? It all makes sense that Aaron would be angry because, as much as he claimed to hate Robert, he’d never try to kill him. And I think, honestly, the fact that Robert thought so for even a little while probably cut Aaron. 

But other than those two scenes, Robert’s basically right as rain. Except for the moment his stitches tear after saving Andy from the car. 

This period of time is meant to be Robert’s metamorphosis. He’s changing from scheming, angry, bitter chancer to someone who actively wants to be better and is, ultimately, looking for love. The problem is, it’s not really present. Not really. He says to Lawrence in the hell plot that was 2017, that it took the bullet to the chest to come to terms with his sexuality and himself. But where was that? Why did we not see that? 

We saw the one, beautiful, shining moment that showed (a bit) that Robert was trying to be better, to do better as his shooting and realizing just how much he’s hurt people, people he did care about. Robert goes to court for Chrissie’s trial and speaks out in her defense, taking responsibility for upsetting Chrissie and giving her a defense. It was unexpected and beautiful… but then they did nothing with that? They sort of forgot it and, of course, they had to go back to be antagonist towards each other. Which fine. 

The only thing we really get after Robert’s shooting, is his determination to win Aaron back. Which is wonderful and I loved it, but it was about Robert trying to prove himself to Aaron, not really about showing us the changes. We did get them, his current ending storyline is proof of that, but it just sort of feels like a little bit of a wasted opportunity to really explore Robert’s character and the regrets he had. 

I think the biggest Robert-focused (if we can call it that) storyline that showcased his changes, would be the abuse era and how he literally put everything on hold to be there for Aaron, as much as he possibly could. And it was great, but I just feel like they could have done more with Robert before this point. So we as the viewer could know how much Robert changed and how badly he wanted Aaron back, how much he loved him. But they chose not to. 

And then after they got back together, there was no real storyline for Robert. Yes, he was present for Liv going to youth offenders, but that was clearly framed as Aaron’s “obstacle.” His seizure and running himself ragged, was more about what might be happening to Rebecca. It’s fine that he’s not front and center always because… it’s an ensemble show, but I really feel like any story he might have been the center for, they shifted the focus so it wasn’t on him. 

Okay so 2017… Yes, Robert and his breakdown was a focus… but like… It wasn’t that good? I get that the writers were like, he’s regressing cause of his breakup with Aaron and that’s true on one hand… but it also felt a bit… over-the-top? It wasn’t nuanced, but Robert was the focus so I guess, be careful what you wish for, Sara. (That’s on me). 

Basically, I completely understand your frustration that we got a small glimpse into Robert’s state of mind right before he’s leaving. I am taking that more as a way to prove to himself and Aaron that Robert deserves to be in prison. He’s messed up, hurt people, and done so many things that he’s ashamed of and/or regrets, so this is his penance. (It’s bullshit, babe. You don’t deserve any of this). So if they don’t try and use it as a way for Robert to push Aaron away which… will suck if that’s the route they’re choosing. Because… no. Literally, have Robert tell Aaron not to visit him because he gave himself up so Aaron could have a life. And Aaron could cry and argue that he doesn’t want a life that doesn’t include Robert in it. Then Robert, switching tactics, says that it’s killing him to only see Aaron once a week, talk every few days–it killed him when Aaron was inside and it’s going to kill him to do this for the next 20 years. So he tells Aaron to please, let him go because it’s just going to be too hard for Robert to see him in prison visiting rooms. (Of course, this means that Aaron can’t get Seb because… then Robert doesn’t get to see his son either? But whatever.) 

By having Robert frame it as what he needs–to be alone and not be constantly reminded of what he’s missing–it’s the only, only way I could see Aaron not fighting and pushing him. Because they would always and will always sacrifice their own happiness for their husband’s security and needs. (But I assume they won’t.)

Obviously, I want Aaron to fight to stay with Robert because why would he want to be without him? Why would he just give up on the love of his life, especially knowing how hard and lonely prison is? And it’s not like Robert’s family gives any sort of fuck about him. 

So after this week, I’ll probably live in my own canon of them staying together and Robert’s solicitor and new prison BFF DC Pierce working on an appeal to lessen Robert’s charge from murder to manslaughter because… it’s fiction and it can be done–and they love Robert as much as us. So he gets out in a much smaller sentence. And also… all the massive AUs and Canon divergents that I want to write that might actually address some of these storylines and making Robert if not a main player, at least an equal player. (If anyone’s interested in them in the future.) 

Thank you for giving me something to focus on and to write this massive essay for no reason but to procrastinate my Robert Week fics… (I don’t have tomorrow’s yet. Oops.) 

[takaraphoenix]

I just saw a take that really makes me fundamentally angry.

Trying to forbid people from headcanoning a female character as a lesbian and calling it “bi erasure” because it ignores her canon male love interests. And honestly? Fuck you hard.

This new fandom trend of “My headcanon is closer to canon than your headcanon so my headcanon is more valid and yours is invalid” is so fucking harmful and just so bad, I have never seen it extended this way though, I’ve only ever seen this ““hot take”“ applied to ships.

Bi erasure is a thing that exists. People bending over backwards with not just canon bi characters but also bisexual celebrities to present them as either straight or gay, depending on their current relationship status. And that’s shitty.

And yes, I fact checked just to be sure, after I read that ““hot take”“. This character is not canonically bisexual. She is canonically straight. And if you start going around and policing headcanons on canonically straight characters, then you are the one being shitty.

Because lesbians exist. We actually do. And we want representation too. And we want to have headcanons too. And we want to identify with characters too.

And how in the world is it in any way fair or reasonable to say “No. You only get the literal handful of canonically existing lesbians. We however, we get the canon bisexuals and all of the canon straights because we are allowed to headcanon them as bisexuals. You’re not allowed to project your own sexuality onto those characters though.”.

Do you even realize just how fucking lesbophobic you sound there?

We’re talking about a canonically straight character here. Not a canonically bisexual character.

And while we, as a whole, have somehow agreed that canon LGBT+ rep is not to be bent out of shape - also known as “don’t do bi erasure” too, you know - we also kind of had this fun thing going on where the straights are fair game. Don’t try to take that away from people.

Do you know how pathetically few lesbian characters there are? In general? Because it sure as shit ain’t many. Those few characters are all the lesbians I am allowed to use? Yeah? Again: Fuck you, because no, they are not.

Are you familiar with beards? Or with the experience of “Oh shit, I can’t be gay, let’s Try Being Straight”? Or with people who only realize their sexuality later in life? A person - and thus also a fictional character - can very well realize that they’re a lesbian even after exclusively having been in relationships with male characters. So headcanoning a straight character into a lesbian is by far not unrealistic or out of this world.

But, actually, that doesn’t even matter. We’re talking headcanons here. And if lesbians identify with a canonically straight female character and want to write her as a lesbian then they can as well erase the canon male partners too, just pretend they never even dated to begin with if that is how they want to write it. Because that’s what fandom is, it’s playing pretend. It’s changing canon.

Don’t wield bi-erasure like a weapon if it’s not about bi-erasure. Someone having a different headcanon than you does not make it bi-erasure, that’s the biggest bullshit I have heard in a while.

No one’s threatening the authors to retcon the character into being an actual lesbian. No one’s forcing you to conform to this headcanon either. And no one’s telling you you’re not allowed to headcanon them as being bisexual.

Just let lesbians have their headcanons about straight characters, just the way you are having your bisexual headcanon about this character, and everyone just... sticks to their own corner of the fandom and has fun with their headcanons and with people sharing their headcanons.

Don’t police other people’s headcanons and pretend your headcanon is superior or actual canon when it isn’t. Because it’s genuinely hurtful and if young, impressionable lesbians see it, it can actually be harmful because they will start thinking they’re not allowed to participate in fandom to the same capacity as everybody else. Seriously, just don’t be an asshole.

[divagonzo]

Unpopular Opinion: many things been said against Romione shippers/Fic demonizing Lavender to make Hermione look better But I haven't seen as much complaining about the demonizing of Dean Thomas in Hinny fics set in HBP and afterwards. I lost count how many times I have recently (and by popular Hinny authors!) read fics where Dean was demanding,pushing and trying to pressure poor Ginny into having sex/was bad at it and then being a petty and bitter towards Harry. it reeks of racism. 1/2

2/2 I mean I feel it's partly JKR fault because she went out of her way to make both Michael Corner & Dean Thomas ''horrible boyfriends' (which in Dean case is BS the only thing in canon showing friction is Dean 'pushing' Ginny through the portrait and that can be just as much about Ginny trying to be a 'strong independent woman who needs no man') but if Lavender can get sympathy in fic so should Dean, who we've seen more in the books and who came across as good decent guy.

PS, also getting tired of the biphobia i've seen in some corner of the Seamus & Pavender fandom about how Seamus-Dean-Lavender-Parvati were really gay/lesbian all along and their m/f relationship was fake. Because of apparently bisexuals didn't exist until now... [eyeroll]

I need my demarcation line.

‘ello Nonnie. Fancy a cuppa?

I guess I’ve not been reading much lately over on the other side of my Canon ship (aka Harry & Ginny) to have come across any Dean discourse much anything that could be construed as demonization. (Then again, I have been busy so...)

Damn this got long quickly. Under a cutline just out of necessity.

If I am hearing you correctly, the fic writers are choosing to paint Dean in a negative light to emphasize why Ginny would want to break it off with him before getting with Harry. I must have my head in a hole because the only one I’ve read involving Dean in the last few months was the lovely one from @floreatcastellumposts and that was how Dean and Harry interacted in DH at Shell Cottage. (I admit I do have some appreciation for the subtle angst and how troubled Harry is and how few people he trusts in his life. Been there, done that, binned the t-shirt.)

I’ll also agree completely how HBP altered the characters considerably to make the plot work, including Dean, who up ‘til they was either a wallflower or a background character turn into a problematic male character (and also one of the few Men of Color in the entire series which I find more troubling but I digress.) because of the forcing the plot to have Ginny make him redundant before getting with Harry.

Fic writers can take those small nuggets of information and expand the ideas for such (even if I find it personally squicky AF to have a 16-year-old and Under 16 having those physical relations. *shudder* (Heck, I have problems writing any Linny Under 18 fic that involves anything more than hand holding - but then that’s my Ace showing there.) but to take it to such an extreme and petty expansion of idea is, well, not my cup of tea at all. (There’s plenty I will nope right out of and walk away without commenting if there is a tag I see that will make me shudder or get squicked.) But him being petty and sullen and bitter that he did (in those fics) have s* with Ginny and was bad at it?

I wish the trope of “immediate sex god” would die a thousand papercut deaths because most guys at 16-19 can barely control themselves, much less think of the other person to make the experience a memorable one. (And let’s expand that to 15-95 but I digress.) There’s a reason it’s called wham/bam/thank you ma’am. That’s about how long it takes at that age for a guy. (oops! Showing my age there.)

I personally have zero issues with Dean and Seamus as a ship even if I will never write it (I won’t write MLM having dated 2 in the closet and one stayed in because of safety reasons) but those who do can do.

I do find that The Author did make a bit of a mess of the characterizations in book six (and I won’t even get into how there is a discord of continuity of ethnic heritage involving Lavender Brown) including how Dean was made to look like he was being possessive when for all we know, he was being kind and Ginny was in a foul mood.

But let’s hit on that PostScript which to me is the enormous hippogriff in the room.

Admittedly, Biphobia and Bise/xual erasure is prevalent and it’s upsetting, even to me, the cranky Crusty Ace Dragon. Telling someone that they aren’t what they claim (either saying their straight, really are gay but in denial, or gonna cheat and would you just pick one and stick with it? absolute rubbish.

(I’m intentionally not touching on Pansexual but I can later if need be.)

I’ve heard of plenty who get told they are likely to cheat because they are bisexual. I’ve heard plenty who get told would you make up your mind? and the ever-present, “You can’t be bi because you’re in a het relationship” like that has any bearing on who you are as a person. Hubs and I are visually in a het relationship but we’re not since we’re both Ace Spectrum (aka not-straight - him being Grey and me being Demi) but no one dares tell him such. No one dares mention that to me, either. (Especially after my repeated diatribes on gatekeeping I experienced in the 90s while wandering the alphabet wastelands.)

Frankly, it’s disgusting. And let’s talk about those who want even more bloody gatekeeping, referring to gay men and lesbian women as “Are you a Gold Star XXX?” which is the most epic bullshit I’ve read this year (and that’s taking some serious liberties but I digress.) What kind of bullshit is this, a damn purity test? Not everyone realized coming out of the womb they were gay. Some came to it later. Some stayed in the closet for safety reasons. Some stayed in because it was a no big deal otherwise.

But to tie it all in.... to invalidate the experiences of Lavender and Seamus (and Dean, too) as calling it fake is rude at best, insulting at worst. Now it could be said as performative (which plenty who aren’t straight do go through ‘til they know for certain - or at least did back in the dark ages) but then there are so many under the LGBTQIA umbrella who have had performative relationships to either fit in, hide, or trying to get another to cure them before accepting they were, in fact, not straight. But then that’s the thing about dating in your teens and early 20s - learning who you are but also what interests you and what traits you would want in a long-term partner (if that is a goal) and also what traits are a hell naw breaker for you.

But to expect some kind of irrational purity from the outset and slandering those who had to find their own way down winding roads to where they are happy and content with who they are (with gender and expression and orientation and preferences) and to have all of those experiences invalidated because you’re not pure enough for someone hateful and vicious and unworthy of someone who has probably gone through hell and back just to find their identity of who they are.

The hypocrisy of it stinks worse than I do after a full day of hiking in 25* temps.

So in short, Seamus and Lavender were never fake. Performative, maybe, but not fake. Dean and Ginny dating? Never fake. Erasing any possibility that Seamus, Dean and/or Lavender are Bisexual? That stinks highly.

Quit fetishizing MLM and WLW single-sex relationship. 

[mazqueen]

I’ve seen a handful of posts/some replies to me/etc explaining why people think she’s a lesbian and not bisexual, but I haven’t really seen anyone talk about why Petra is bisexual and not a lesbian even though I see a lot of people who do think she’s bi, like I do. So I’ve volunteered to do the honors because I have a lot of feelings about Petra Solano and I have no life. And obviously I’m not claiming I’m right, or anyone is wrong? But this is really just the way I see it, how I feel about it.

I’ll start from an outside perspective and why I think Petra as bisexual is important: bi visibility.

We already have three confirmed lesbians in canon. Rose, Luisa and Krishna. All of whom have been around throughout seasons despite not being regulars. Granted, so far it’s been poor representation overall but regardless of how they’re written, they’re there. People are pretty much assuming JR is also a lesbian. I don’t know if this is something they’ll confirm but regardless. So I’m thinking what are the chances the writers would add another lesbian onto the list when bisexual is a very clear (and for me makes more sense) option for Petra? Plus they’d have to re-explain Petra’s past with men both romantically and sexually into something less than what it’s been already canonically portrayed in order for them to portray her as a lesbian. I don’t know how they’d do that without veering into bi erasure because that’s certainly how it’s going to feel for me and I’ll get into that more later when I talk about why I think Petra being bisexual fits her story within JTV’s narrative.

The only bi character we’ve had is Adam, who is not a main/recurring over a long span of time the way Rose, Luisa and Krishna are. I’ve seen/talked to some people suggesting the episode was also in some way a precursor to Petra’s biwakening. They knew they were going toward that direction with Petra’s character, so they inserted Adam correcting misassumptions including and specifically focusing on: that bisexuality isn’t a pitstop to being gay. I initially felt the timing of Adam’s departure was insulting, given he left not two seconds after it was revealed he’s bi, but if it’s true that the episode was at the same time a precursor to what’s happening with Petra right now, everything actually kind of fits into place. This way they can tell Petra’s story with hopefully the chunk of misinformed audiences’ misconceptions about bisexuality already corrected as well, and it makes sense for it to have been Adam and not Petra do so especially because Adam will have had time to understand this more than Petra would at the place she’s at right now. He’s definitely in a better position than Petra to clarify bi misconceptions since this would be new territory for Petra that she’s only starting to explore and might not have a full understanding of yet.

(Also mildly significant, Gina Rodriguez retweeted bisexual Petra and while that isn’t an official confirmation, they’re filmed up to 4x13 by now soooo… she knows more than we do, there’s that to consider.)

Petra as bisexual would be such a good representation. Petra as a lesbian would be good representation for lesbians but personally, I feel would deadass be horrible for bisexuals especially the bi erasure that would happen, imo, which is already such a problem for bi’s to begin with. So I don’t see how that could possibly end well.

Now, I’ll talk about why apart from being good bi representation, I also think bisexuality fits into Petra’s narrative and doesn’t clash with what’s already canon as opposed to her being a lesbian.

I’ve seen some suggest Petra’s a closeted lesbian. Closeted suggests she’s aware, but that she’s keeping her sexuality a secret. I don’t think this is the case because first, Petra doesn’t strike me as the type to hide something like that and deny herself. In the last episode, she tells Jane in one of her voice memos that if you want something, you go get it or something similar. I can see her being in denial over a short amount of time at best, or confused. But denying herself for a long period of time? Not very Petra-like for me. Second, and I suppose more significantly. The narrator said ‘sexual awakening’ in the last episode after she woke up from her JR dream, confirming that it was… well, an awakening. Which means she wasn’t aware she was attracted to women before. That’s already canon, confirmed.

Moving from that, I’ve seen a few others suggest she’s a lesbian because of her problematic relationships with men in the past. And while I know this has been the experience of some and that’s valid, in Petra’s situation in particular, I truly feel that her unhealthy/problematic relationships have more to do with (1) who and how Petra is and how she treats people in general and/or (2) her being gullible and her inability to judge people whether they’re good or bad / their intentions, etc in general (not just people she’s dated) rather than the gender of the people she’s dated. Why? Because Petra doesn’t only have problematic romantic relationships with men. Petra has had problematic relationships with literally every single person at one point or another in every aspect of her life (familial, platonic, romantic) so far, save for the twins.

This is a list of all the people in or have been Petra’s life that we’ve seen her interact with: Magda, Milos, Lachlan, Rafael, Roman, Jane, Chuck, Krishna, Anezka, Luisa, JR.

Let’s start with Magda. Her mother. That relationship was problematic as hell. Manipulation, lies, death threats, you name it. This is self explanatory and has less to do with Petra and more to do with Magda though I do think her mother is the root cause of a lot of her problematic ways because she played such a huge role in Petra’s development as a child. This problematic relationship lasted because Magda’s been lying for her for years and she had no clue. Because as I’ve mentioned before, Petra can be very gullible when it comes to people. She likes to think she’s a good judge of character but she’s honestly just… not. Take a look at Milos (turned out to be an abusive pos), Lachlan (she believed him in s1 and thought she was playing him, turns out he played her), Roman (turned out to be a kidnapper working for Sin Rostro), Chuck (not as bad as the others but still a liar), Anezka (do I even need to get into this), and finally JR (who has been pardoned now and proven herself...so far, but I’m not just gonna ignore the fact that she started out with the intention of framing Petra and Petra totally missed that). These are problematic men and women she let into her life. I’ll reiterate that it’s a common theme for Petra to do so in all aspects of her life, not just in romantic relationships with males.

Krishna, Jane, Rafael and Luisa are all different relationships but I do think all of them fall under problematic relationships in the first category I mentioned : that it has to do with who and how Petra is, the way she acts etc. She doesn’t really treat Krishna well. Luisa… not exactly either. She’s tried to manipulate Luisa several times on the show now. Her relationship with Jane, as much as my Jetra heart hurts to say? Is rocky at best. Petra’s done a lot of shit to Jane, and if Jane wasn’t such a forgiving person they’d never have reached what they are now. And I’d like to point out that what they are now? Uh. Not exactly something I’d describe as healthy either (though less problematic than others yeah). As for Rafael, I’d say this is more both of them contributing to the occasional problematic af nature of their relationship.

Bottomline: Problematic and/or unhealthy relationships for Petra has been, like I said, with LITERALLY every person in her life at one point or another, in all types of relationships she’s had. Not just with men, not just romantically with men. So I can’t attribute her problematic romantic relationships with men to her being a lesbian subconsciously, or unconsciously. If she actually had a healthy relationship in any other aspect with someone? Anyone? Any one person then yeah, I’d consider it. But there isn’t. And the closest we’ve gotten to Petra having a healthy romantic relationship with anyone is with Raf. So let’s talk about that and bi erasure.

Rafael was (is) the most prominent man in her life. Rafael, whom she married. Rafael, whom she fell so deeply in love with, and I do believe that Petra loved him as much as she was capable of, as much as she knew how to, all things, especially her problematic past, considered. Rafael, whom we’ve seen flashbacks of Petra in the happiest we’ve seen her throughout anything we’ve seen on the show so far. (We see her smiling at JR the same way as Raf!) At the very least, in the flashbacks we’ve been given (since s1 gets a bit complicated), I’ve always felt like the love she felt for Rafael was real. Genuine. It never felt forced, it never felt fake. Let me list a few instances that explicitly show Petra’s feelings for Raf were real and not forced, not fake: I remember in s1, she admitted how hard it was to see Rafael and Jane together, building a family. And that was something that she and Rafael were supposed to have. The heartache there was real. When she told Rafael ‘I never stopped loving you.’ That felt real to me. And it wasn’t just me. The narrator confirmed it was real, ‘Turns out, it's easy to give a good performance when what you are saying is actually true.’ Petra, who told Zaz she hasn’t cried since she was a child, Petra who rarely breaks down in front of other people, Petra, who thinks crying would mean embarrassing herself couldn’t help but cry anyway. Even when they were no longer together, and Petra was still lowkey in love with him? I remember she made that one stupid decision about the alcohol license permit because she let her feelings for Rafael get in the way. She caved and let Raf have his way, even though she had nothing to gain from it. A lot of us have done stupid things for love. And there are more but the point is, her romantic relationship with Rafael has always felt real to me.

Petra and Rafael fell apart because of two outside circumstances that they weren’t able to handle as a couple: miscarriage, cancer. Before that? They were happy. Building a family together. But those are huge things for people to go through and they were young. They didn’t know better, I don’t think they knew how to handle things when it came to it. The people giving them advice? Magda, whom we know is trash I mean come on, she basically tells Petra to use sex to her advantage and Luisa, whom I recall was encouraging Raf to leave Petra and be honest (without malice though!) but idk? No one ever tried giving them an advice I feel would be more appropriate for a marriage like: How about they give the relationship a try, actually make an effort and try to make things work. Maybe go to couples therapy. Something, anything that involves at least an attempt at fixing things. Because the fact is they fell apart and they never tried to mend it until 1x02/3 but it was too late by then. Like I said, they didn’t know better. And I think the fact that those two grew up with trash parents also contributes to how they handled problems when they arose. Parents are crucial to a child’s development. But just because they fell apart, doesn’t mean the time that they were happy and in love doesn’t count. They do count. Her relationship, marriage with Rafael, a male, counts. Just because it fell apart, doesn’t mean Petra wasn’t in love with him. I know JTV likes to pretend sometimes that all Petrael ever were was problematic but they weren’t always.There are scenes to prove it. External forces caused them to crumble, yes. After that, it was a roller coaster, yes. But that relationship, the feelings they had, more importantly that Petra had was genuine, romantically, sexually. To say that it isn’t when the narrator has confirmed it was or to lessen it or whatever, personally? is bi erasure to me. And while in s4 Petra realizes Raf isn’t what she wants anymore, it doesn’t change the fact that he was exactly what she wanted in the past. People ARE capable of having real feelings for someone in the past and then moving on. To negate her feelings in the past because she feels differently romantically now, is bi erasure.

…especially when literally in the last episode she talks about her sexual attraction for Raf. So much so that she gets herself worked up : look at her in the scene once she starts talking about sex, you can see how it affects her. That scene was the build up for Petra having that sex dream. Her JR dream was a combination of Petra working herself up with thoughts of how good Raf is in bed along with her attraction to JR she wasn’t fully aware of. Bi.Sexual. It also isn’t the first time they’ve touched on Petra and Raf’s sex life. s3, the narrator thought it was noteworthy they had sex thrice, Raf whispering to Petra about Paris? felt sexual to me too. Petra’s relationship with Roman? Significant in its sexual aspect too. Petra’s sexual attraction to men? Real. As real as her sexual attraction to women. (Briefly bringing up the way Petra looked at Luisa’s boobs early s4, which I now think was put there intentionally.) If Petra having sex with JR in the future turns out to be the most amazing sex she’s had? It doesn’t make her not bisexual. If Petra falls in love with JR and her love is deeper for JR than it was with Raf?  It doesn’t make her not bisexual.

And so yeah. With all of that, if Petra doesn’t turn out to be bisexual in canon? It’ll feel like bi erasure to me. It’s been outrightly conveyed more than once that her feelings, romantic and sexual, for her male partners (not all of them because she was just using some lol) were real. Taking that back to fit a narrative where Petra is a lesbian would feel like rewriting it (and I can see how it can be done, for sure) and would leave loopholes, imo. That’s just me. Anyway, I’ve yet to read other theories that have made me believe otherwise sooo. But until JTV confirms it, it’s hard to conclude anything, really.