#that being said i dont inherently have anything against ships AS LONG AS they dont have weird age gaps or anything

[mucchans]

see despite my username i actually dont rly care for milgram ships 🫠 i do like mikomappi i think theyre very very cute and 030609 is good too platonically or romantically. but idk i prefer platonic/familial relationships so i prioritize those 👍 also i feel like a lot of milgram ships only exist bc the involved characters are close in age and not bc of actual chemistry [GETS SHOT]

[damnfandomproblems]

https://www.tumblr.com/damnfandomproblems/730443258208124929/from-responses-to-4292-it-is-for-everyone-that?source=share technically no unless they identify with any label that isnt just cis/het people on the ace spectrum are apart of the lgbt community. that description of the stereotypical straight relation ship of people who dont agree with lgbt community was just to remind people of the kind of people that have actually caused harm to the lgbt community in the past. if people want that lifestyle that's okay ofc do what you want its your life but historically these are the majority and its these people that have tried to demonize being gay or in anyway different speaking of im going to take this chance to say this to that one person who got offended by me calling lgbt people "deviant" "weird" or "queer" (i can no longer see exactly what you said bcuz i blocked you) its because we are. and me saying that isn't me saying its a bad thing. but there are those that believe that. to a cis/het person who doesn't agree with lgbt, ace people are still considered to be "weird", "deviant", and "queer". Anyway no the people you described are not inherently apart of the lgbt community. this argument is about the fact that some people think if you are not in some way in a homosexual relationship that you aren't actually apart of the lgbt community. like saying "bi or pan people aren't gay enough if they have a opposite sex partner, unless of of them is trans" However the ace spectrum deals more with HOW you are attracted to someone. you can experience no sexual attraction at all (some ace people still have sex for their partners or just because they can but feeling disgust towards sex is also common) aromantic people are much the same but with romance instead then there's Demi which are people who tend to only feel sexual or romantic or both attraction if they have a strong emotional attachment to someone. and there are more but those are the most common three gay people can feel this too. nonbinary couples also so why would there be an exception for straight people???? there's a lot more to the lgbt community than just gays and trans being straight or cis doesn't automatically disqualify you from being queer however however we still shouldn't shit on ALLIES or the concept of being straight or cis in general that description i gave was, again, just a reminder of who actually has caused problems for lgbt from the beginning. in America those are the kinds of people who've harmed us as have worked to make us seem less than human. the people who have tried to put themselves on a pedestal of perfection and normalcy and that being anything but is unnatural and a sin. that's why i say the lgbt community is for everyone but that. 1/2

 2/2 and allies are welcome here. it may not be the right community they need like say a pro kink community for those interested in evolving their sex life but the less we try and push these people away the better because in a way as long as they support us too and are working to tear down that "pedestal of perfection" conservatives have built then in a way they are and always been apart of the community. a community of people who have all felt the effects of being considered "not normal", "sinful", "disgusting". and much worse this is also why kink is at pride parades. they are people who have been considered much of what lgbt people have. and have always helped to fight for our rights. personally i cant wait for a day that lgbt includes cis/ het even without other labels or identities. because they are still both a sexuality and a gender identification. and as lgbt becomes more popular and widely accepted we are seeing more and more a sort of discrimination against cis/het people from members of the lgbt community. very largely seen with bi or pan people. and this heterophobia is not healthy and is often instigated by people who want to remain "different" and want something to bully and make themselves seen better, which is becoming easier to do since your more likely to get backlash for being straight and hating on gays for being gay. so in short, being apart of the lgbt community is more about connecting with people who've had similar experiences as you for your identity being """not normal""" while also fighting for ALL identities to be considered normal. and this includes cis/het people with "micro identifications" like the ace spectrum. (and personally i hope for the eventual dissolvement of the lgbt community entirely and we can all just exist) i am notorious for being bad at explanations so i can only hope this clears things up

This is a response to this ask.

[aiyexayen]

while im gathering the energy to continue our amazing discussion: i would love to hear of what youre currently working on!! also please i dont have anything against long answers idc about how winding it is how much ull end up rambling just share smth ure currently working on and that sparks ur passion if there is smth like that! <3

oh gosh! what am i working on? my energy is very scattered lately due to Health and Adult Bullshit but my brain is definitely still churning. let's see.

i wish i could say i was working on more word of honor stuff actively but tbh my brain is taking a vacation in stardew valley lately so apart from a few word of honor meme bits i'm picking away at, a lot of my creative output is elsewhere.

one of my current writing projects is a sdv au where The Farmer (player character) never takes over The Farm, and instead one of the other characters in town ends up buying it and moving in to get out of his shitty situation, and then he ends up getting close to another character and, you know. sparks. drama. gay. because as fun as self-insert stuff is in an inherently self-insert game, i am always jumping on random ship trains and rarepairs. (this one is sebastian/shane)

unsure if i'll ever post it or if it'll just be something i play with for awhile but it's been a fun idea to spin while i play the game myself and watch speedrunners and vibe.

i'm also spending some creative energy poking away at mods for said stardew valley. the pc version has a robust modding community and i've made a couple surface level visual mods before. lately i've been toying with the idea of a more in-depth character overhaul mod i'd be co-writing with someone, and we'll see if that goes anywhere. lots of story reworking to hash out and coding to learn if so.

oh! i do have a word of honor fic i'm very passionate about but have yet to put pen to page beyond writing the outline. it's a sequel to my fic everything that you're not supposed to do, which is about liu qianqiao joining tian chuang under zhou zishu's leadership close to the beginning of it, and the years she spent there with him and han ying. it's one of my favourite fics of mine and i want the sequel So Bad, i'm excited for it and the themes i'm going to explore in it. wen kexing finally gets to make an appearance, and liu qianqiao and han ying both get to figure out exactly who they want to be in the wake of tian chuang / zhou zishu being their everything. it's a lot about self-discovery and healing and fucked up gay shit. probably less about poisons than the first one but i'm sure we'll work something out.

[a few days later]

okay so i started writing this answer, and got distracted reading my outline of that very wip, and started writing on it, and now have most of a scene hashed out, and also i forgot to come back and hit send on this post.

so. i guess i'm a liar and i am in fact working on this story now too 😂

~proof~

[dyketubbo]

EDIT (10/7/21, og post made in August)

editing this post since apparently people are still finding it but anyways while im not going to take the post down because i personally just dont like deleting posts and i still agree with some of the things said id prefer that if you find this post that you just. didnt interact with it, at least not if youre not going to be respectful. this post is from august, before the clip of phil saying hes fine w qpr hcs (even if i have complicated feelings on that clip, i dont want to risk getting into discourse about this shit again).

it started a giant discussion and got me people harassing me and talking behind my back, one person even telling me people had groups talking about me, it got me being called arophobic, anti-polyam, claimed i was calling people racist and misogynistic, i got told i didnt have friends, i had people vague me and misinterpret what i said and meant, and through it all i had a total of maybe two or three people at most that disagreed with me and were respectful about it. everyone else that disagreed either resorted to vaguing me (or others that stood by me) or they insulted me to my face (in some cases insulting me then blocking me so i couldnt respond).

many of these people were adults. i had recently turned 16 the month before. i dont mean to pull the whole "oo im a minor and neurodivergent" card but the shit that came from this post, that had at the time barely even reached over 500 notes at the discourse's height, genuinely made me relapse in a way that i just. couldnt handle. i was on meds, i took care of my pets, i distracted myself, i talked to my friends, even talked to my therapist, and it didnt help because every time i came back i found another person giving me shit for it. one of my friends tried to defend me and got people targeting them, insulting them and saying increasingly concerning things about me, and they had to leave the fandom for a bit because of it.

i dont trust a good portion of the fandom because of this mess. i dont trust a lot of big blogs or aeduo fans or techno fans or phil fans because of this. its genuinely concerning to me that a post like this caused harassment, even in places i havent seen, maybe even to people i havent seen. even if this post is still vaguely accurate to how i feel about the situation (mainly, how i feel about it all overshadowing kristin and phils relationship) and i still stand by my idea that qprs count as shipping and that because they arent strictly platonic for many people that i cant be comfortable with qp aeduo, i just. dont want people interacting with this, at least not unless you just want to spread the info in this edit or because you want to say something respectfully. otherwise, i just. want this to be left behind me. even to this day i still get paranoia spikes and nearly panic remembering everything that happened because of this post, and being reminded of it just. sucks. if you want to clear anything up feel free to contact me in some way, but if you see this in the tags while browsing somehow, sorry for the long post, and thank you if you read all of this. have a good day

End of Edit (all text below unedited from when the post was originally made)

btw since kristins been confirmed to be canon multiple times over the past like few months and philza has expressed discomfort with shipping content that isnt him and his literal wife can we as a fandom agree to fucking quit it with treating c!emeraldduo as anything other than friends/family ^^ thatd be great. and yes i mean even the fuckin "platonic" marriage shit, even qpr hcs, just let them be friends.

please god stop acting as if a m/m relationship is inherently better than a m/f relationship especially considering how fuckin shittily the fandom treats kristin already, constantly making her out to be some skinny white girl instead of the fat woc she is. just like. let c!emeraldduo be besties, let c!phil and c!kristin be in a happy marriage, quit going against the cc boundaries because you prefer to ship two average white dudes rather than just accept that ones canonically married to the self-insert of his actor's wife. yall all about minorities until ones actually involved and then suddenly its all about your precious white cishet dudes. my god.

[uranismar]

A Caged Dog

Pairing: Little bit of Izzy/Lucius

Summary: Izzy Hands is a bitter little bitch who just needs to be looked after

———————————————————

Everything was fine until Blackbeard sent that fucking order to follow Stede Bonnet. I had my crew, my captain, my routine, and life. I knew him inside and out too, my captain, Blackbeard. He lost himself when we boarded this ship - The Revenge, what a stupid name- Lost himself to little Stede Bonnet, a pansy who decided becoming a pirate would be fun. Hes glorifying all the torture that I, no, that Blackbeard goes through, all the while weakening the man i once thought was undefeatable.

The only thing thats been worse than Stede fucking Bonnet has been his "crew" if you could even call them that. They sit around and talk about their feelings and make friends as if that has any bearing to a life on sea. The sea is miserable, the sea is survival. Being on a ship is having to forget you're starving and wounded just because there arent supplies. My captain, Edward, Blackbeard barely even looks at me now, too busy pining for Bonnet. Being here makes me feel trapped, id much rather go back to how it was before. I'm used to that. I know it and know it well, it's a part of me now. We are as well acquainted as i am with the back of Blackbeard's hand, his anger, his righteousness. I long for the sting of familiarity. I can sit with it, wallow in it comfortably.

This kindness around me, though, its too soft and unknown. Rocky seas and ive had a history of seasickness. Despite all of the things ive said and done they're still offering me shelter and to a certain extent their acceptance. One of them though, Lucius, has started to actually try and talk to me. I try to warn him to stay away through the usual comment of "Fuck off" but he doesnt seem to get it, or to get why. Tells me that im miserable and that hes the only one who will talk to me - Something i knew well enough.

He starts talking again and I try to edge away but he says he knows what "Break-ups" are like, that he can help me. A gruff shout from me of "This isnt a break-up you twat" and i feel a pressure in me that ive sat with for too long begin to build again. He stares at me like he can see it, like he can see into me and I'm more afraid than i think ive ever been

Everything goes silent and he starts walking towards me and theres that trapped feeling again, like a caged dog, because hes getting closer. Theres an inherent need to get away, get safe, dont let him use this lapse in judgement against you. Two more steps from him and I can feel my heart beating and my lungs are burning. He raises a hand and I'm shaking, eyes darting around looking at anything but him.

A brace for impact and streams of tears i prepare for the known feeling of a sting from an unfamiliar hand - definitely NOT Edward's- but it doesnt come. Instead theres a feather-light touch and I realize I've never felt this vulnerable. My breath coming out in puffs panicked and racy but his just comes out in a sigh as he starts rubbing my cheeks wiping my tears. I close my eyes and let myself sit there, and I come to the conclusion that ive never felt this safe in my life. I stop thinking and let myself be pulled into safety and sink into it.

[crispyapplepies]

AkuRoku Defense pt 2

Axel and Roxas’s ship has had one of the most bizarre fandom journey’s i have ever come to witness. It has gone from being one of the most popular ships maybe ever, to being dead cancelled over a supposed age gap and I find that completely unfair, especially when it speaks to so many innocent people who emotionally depend on the ship, (yes innocent includes the spicy people because art literally is not a crime). So its time to defend it.

Brief Review on Nobodies vs Aging

First of all, l already explained in part 1 what the Nobodies Don’t Age thing means but I’ll go over it again briefly, since it can be confusing, though also many people seem to demand their hands be held rather than use their imaginations to understand. Even so, here’s the short version just for a review:

-A person in KH is made of a heart, body, and soul.

-The body reflects the heart in KH. (See: replica bodies taking on the appearance of the heart that’s inside them). 

-A nobody lacks a heart, making them just a body and soul. They’re advanced zombies of sorts.

Nobodies do not age because they have no heart for the body to reflect. This is why they won’t change until they form one. Change includes age

-Ergo, you can imagine any age you like for Axel to be nobodied, cuz he was frozen at that age and did not change for 10 years. Not until he met Roxas. 

We’ll come back to this again later.

Axel Loves Roxas Canonically

Second of all, Axel loves Roxas and you are allowed to interpret that as platonic, familial, or romantic, I don’t care as long as you’re not forcing that idea on others like the ship police. That said, people are allowed to explore how romantic this love potentially is. 

And what you might like to know is that the canon is even open to this. Axel’s love for Roxas is canonically expressed, and if you would like, you can even interpret that love as romantic. See below:

We are going to look at the japanese translation because AS ALWAYS good old SENA is here for the straights and erases the gay, like clockwork. 

In English, Axel says this:

Axel: I wanted to see Roxas. He...was the only one I liked... He made me feel...like I had a heart. It's kind of...funny... You make me feel...the same...

Axel’s line here in Japanese:

Axel: I wanted to see Roxas... I loved him. Being with him... it made me feel like I had a heart. I feel it from you, too... the same kind of....

You may notice that as romantic as the line “he made me feel like I had a heart” sounds, the original can be read as wAY gooier, specifically cuz of this word:

好き: "suki"

Now here’s the thing. Japanese is a pretty vague language which is why context is so important for these things, as well as what you say, and what you don’t say. 

“Suki” is a very key word here because it is often used in romantic confession scenes.

(I have no idea what this panel is from, I apologize lol) 

It CAN mean something casual, like “I love video games”, but considering Axel is saying this with his dying breath, I don’t think we should be treating it as some hyperbole. He is referring to a person and it is meaningful. However. It is still a word with plausible deniability. Japanese has several words for love, “ai” for example being one of the most inarguable means of referring to romantic love. So choosing “suki” still leaves room for the homophobes to disregard it as something not romantic. Which makes it objectively inconclusive. Here is the thing though… they specifically chose that word, suki, a word which IS so often used in a romantic context in many anime and manga. 

They also chose to use that word rather than something objectively platonic. Which means you also cannot conclude Axel did NOT mean it romantically. Given his devotion to Roxas, and the fact that they chose this word of all words for him to say… I’m personally going to assume it’s romantic. You are free not to interpret it that way. But I am because I am considering the fact that they did not choose something strictly platonic. 

(My translator friend actually freaked out when I showed her this, she’s translated and seen enough confession scenes to know what connotations that particular word comes with lol). 

If you’ve read my queer coding doc, you may recall I also go over how this is one of the most important tricks with queer coding. You write something that CAN be viewed as queer but with plausible deniability for straight people to ignore it. It’s a means of protecting oneself and the text from homophobic oppression. It is a legitimate practice. So even though it can be denied as a queer text, it can also very very well be viewed as a definite queer text. We are choosing to queer it here. It is not as explicit as it could be, but it is still very bold, suggestive coding considering the homophobic world we live in, and especially with KH2 being released in 2004. 

“But Age Gap!” (ughhhhh)

We’re back to this cuz I also finally have the Japanese version of that infamous page in the Day’s novel to look at.  

I hope you’ll forgive me if I get a little bit salty but I don’t like to repeat myself lol so I’m gonna try to keep this section short and to the point.

In this interview with Nomura, he expresses that nobodies do not age, and they exist as they were at the time of becoming a nobody. He then suggests Xemnas seems 30 ish.

Now I truly do not care to hold your hand through the process of thinking creatively because you should be using your own imagination, if you have one, to think critically and creatively about what this idea means.

Kingdom Hearts is a FANTASY game. Nobodies are a FANTASY concept. They can break ALL the rules about real life that you want them to. But I will go ahead and explain this for you even though I’ve already done it many times, in this very document even and in other meta posts.

The body reflects the heart. Nobodies are frozen as they are from the moment they are “born”, which is to say the moment they are created. Glorified zombies. They aren’t going to age unless they form a heart. Why does Xemnas look 30? He has a heart! Or he was formed 10 years after TerraNort defected. You tell me. Why did Ienzo age? I dunno, you tell me! Either he formed a heart and didn’t know it, (he’s passionate about his work, he loves Ansem the Wise, any number of things could’ve made him form a new heart), or he was nobodied later in life. Axel is frozen at whatever age he was when he was nobodied, all the while Ienzo could’ve been nobodied 10 years later. It’s a fantasy, and these are fantasy rules. That scenario can happen. YOU decide. Until the canon tells us for sure, your imaginations can run wild with explanations. Even if the canon does tell us, you can still imagine whatever you want for your own headcanons. Freedom is amazing, it’s salty and sweet. 

Now let’s talk about that annoying page in the Days novel people keep shoving in my face.

This one right here. The official english translation is this:

That’s not the worst translation I’ve seen them put out there. But let’s look closer at the Japanese:

 Here, Axel says he thinks Roxas is about 10 years separate from himself, but things like age don't exist for nobodies.

Already that’s making a lot more sense to me for nobodies since we are told nobodies do not age. As such Axel speaking like he is 10 years older would feels almost contradictory when he has no heart and cannot change. 

This wording is important. Recall me saying that Japanese is very vague so all of the context matters. No one is denying that 10 years passed between Birth By Sleep and Axel meeting Roxas. However. Nobodies don’t age.

(please dont make me explain that a third time in this essay alone)

The Japanese and English both express that age does not apply to nobodies, (as discussed above^^^^) and the Japanese furthers this with its wording. They have 10 years of separation between Axel being nobodied, and Roxas existing.  

Axel saying in English that Roxas is simply 10 years younger than himself is rather misleading considering the ambiguity of the original. I can’t fault the translators too much for not understanding this nobody concept so well because it is obviously confusing. However, I do not think Axel was saying Roxas is literally, in real life human somebody terms, 10 literal physical years younger than him. He is expressing that he became a nobody 10 years ago whereas this guy became a nobody very recently, and it shows with how little he can even function right now. A zombie who has been wandering around with no heart for 10 years meets a fresh zombie wandering around with no heart for 1 day. 

I know antis are gonna use it against us no matter what, but at least know that akuroku is not inherently pedophilia nor is it inherently an adult/minor ship.

In many of our headcanons, Axel was frozen at age 18 or 19, with Roxas being 16. Absolutely no one is required to view them with a big age gap because imagination is free and you literally have no right to police it, but also because the canon expresses these nobodies as beings outside of the realm of age. They do not operate under real life rules or somebody rules. Think of Steven Universe where Rose was thousands of years old but only “grew up” as a person when she fell in love with Greg, a human in his 20s-30s who asked her to consider other people’s feelings. Consider the mind of a nobody as a state of Neverland. You aren’t gonna age unless you step out of it and change. Mature. Isn’t it sad that Axel did not feel like he had a heart until Roxas? No wonder people ship it!

Coding is Obvious

Finally I wanna conclude on a simple thought. This interview right here? I’d be curious what the original Japanese actually says lol but the english translation of it says that romantic akuroku was not Nomura’s intent. 

Here’s the thing though. If you know anything about queer coding, you know that using romantic coding between 2 male characters is signaling something. It is not something you should ignore. It would not be there if the characters were meant to be viewed as objectively straight. And for something “unintentional”... there sure is a lot of coding at work here.

From Axel pinning Roxas down and asking him to come home in a very sexually suggestive pose,

to watching the sunset in sheer bliss together just enjoying the peace of reunion,

to watching the sunset together while talking about what LOVE is, specifICALLY romantic love,

To this. And I already told you what this was in Japanese.

I’m not saying Nomura lied…

But I am saying that a whole staff worked together to create these games, and it is very difficult for me to believe that no one thought to say “these characters appear to be romantic, let us change the scene to be more platonic” if the characters were not meant to be romantically suggestive. 

Tl;Dr I wanna live in the timeline where people let you ship akuroku lol

[la5t-res0rt]

this was written several weeks ago in response to asks i was receiving i am posting it now it is very long the longest i have ever made and it is not very well edited but here it is in this final essay i talk about how shitty rae is about black people in her writing as well as just me talking about how her writing sucks in general lets begin

hello everyone 

as you may know i have received a lot of anons in the last week or so about issues of racism in the beetlejuice community both just generally speaking and also within specific spaces 

i was very frustrated to not be getting the answers i wanted because i typically do not talk about what i do not see but in an effort to be better about discourse i went looking through discourse from before my time in the fandom and i also received some receipts and information from my followers and from some friends

keep in mind that the voices and thoughts of bipoc are not only incredibly important at all times but in this circumstance it is important that if a bipoc has something to add you listen and learn and be better

i admit that when this happened i wasnt aware of the extent of what occurred and im angry at myself for not doing more at that time and i want to work harder to make sure something like this doesnt go unnoticed again

im a hesitant to talk about months old discourse because i have been criticized for bringing up quote old new unquote but this is very important and i am willing to face whatever comes from to me

lets talk about this

content from our local racist idiot that may be months old but its important

putting my thoughts under a cut to spare the dash but before i begin obviously this is awful

lets fucking unpack this folks

right out the gate op states that she supports artistic freedom but then within a couple words she goes against that statement

being entirely canon compliant isnt artistic freedom and even so if this person has so much respect for canon they wouldnt be out here erasing lydias obvious disgust for beetlejuice in the movie or ignoring lydias age for the sake of shipping that shit isnt canon either 

also we love the quick jab at the musical there hilarious we love it dont we because god forbid a licensed and successful branch on a media have any standing in this conversation but whatever

now lets scroll down and talk about the term racebending

the term racebending was coined around 2009 in response to the avatar the last airbender movie a film in which the east asian races of the characters were erased by casting white actors in the three leading roles of aang sokka and katara 

whenever the term racebending is used in a negative light it is almost always a case of whitewashing like casting scarlett johansen in ghost in the shell or the casting of white actors of the prince of persia sands of time instead of iranian ones

this kind of racebending erases minorities from beeing seen in media and is wrong

all that being said however racebending has also been noted to have very positive after effects like the 1997 adaptation of cinderella or casting samuel jackson as nick fury in the marvel movies nick fury was originally a white guy can you even imagine

i read this piece from an academic that said quote writers can change the race and cultural specificity of central characters or pull a secondary character of color from the margins transforming them into the central protagonist unquote

racebending like the kind that rae is so heated about is the kind of creative freedom that leads to more representation of bipoc in media which will never be a bad thing ever no matter how pissy you get about it

designing a version of a character as a poc isnt serving to make them necessarily better it serves to give new perspective and perhaps the opportunity to connect even more deeply with a character it doesnt marginalize or erase white people it can uplift poc and if you think uplifting poc is wrong because it tears down white people or whatever youre a fucking moron and you need to get out of your podunk white folk town and see the real world

the numbers of times a bipoc particularly a bipoc that is also lgbt+ has been represented in media are dwarfed by what i as a white dude have seen myself represented in media is and that isnt okay that isnt equality and its something that should change not only in mainstream media but in fandom spaces as well

lets move down a bit further to the part about bullying straight people which is hilarious and lets also talk about the term fetishistic as well lets start with that

this person literally writes explicit pornography of a minor and an adult are we really going to let someone like that dictate what is and what isnt fetishistic

similarly to doing a positive racebend situation people may project lgbt+ headcanons on a character because its part of who they are and it helps them feel closer to the character and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that

depicting lgbt+ subject matter on existing characters isnt an inherently fetishistic action generally things only really become fetishistic when the media is being crafted and hyped by people who are outside of lgbt+ community for example how young teens used to flip a tit about yaoi or how chasers fetishize trans people

but drawing a character with top surgery scars or headcanoning them as trans is harmless and its just another way to interpret a character literally anone could be trans unless if their character bio says theyre cis and most of them dont go that deep so it really is open to interpretation and on the whole most creators encourage this sort of exploration because it is a good thing to get healthy representation out in the world

as for it being used to bully straights thats just funny i dont have anything else on that like if youre straight and you feel threatened and bullied because of someone headcanoning someone as anything that isnt cishet youre a fucking idiot and a weak baby idiot at that like the real world must fucking suck for you because lgbt+ people are everywhere and statistically a big chunk of your favorite characters arent cishet sorry be mad about it

lets roll down a bit further about the big meat of the issue which was when several artists were drawing interpretations of lydia as a black girl which i loved but clearly this person didnt love it because they have a very narrow and very racist and problematic view of what it means to be a black person

and before i move forward i must reiderate that i am a white person and you should listen to the thoughts of poc people like @fright-of-their-lives​ or @gender-chaotic it is not my place to explain what the black experience is like and it certainly isnt this persons either

implying that the story of a black person isnt worth telling unless if the character faces struggles like racism and prejudice is downright moronic 

why use the word kissable to describe a black persons lips now thats what i call fetishistic and its to another extreme if youre talking about a black version of lydia on top of that

the author of this post says herself that shes white so clearly shes the person whos an authority on the black experience and what it means to be a black person right am i reading that right or am i having a fucking conniption

how about allowing black characters to exist without having to struggle why cant a black version of lydia just be a goth teenager with a ghost problem who likes photography and is also black like she doesnt have to move to a hick town and get abused by racist folks she doesnt have to go through any more shit than she already goes through and if you honestly think thats the only way to tell a black persons story you need to get your brain cleaned

you know nothing about the complexities about being a black person and i dont either but you know wh odo black people who are doing black versions of canon characters they fucking know 

lets squiggle down just a bit further 

so the writer has issues with giving characters traits like a broad nose or larger lips if theyre a woman but if theyre a man suddenly its totally okay to go all ryan murphy ahs coven papa legba appropriation when approaching character design like are you fucking stupid do you hear yourself is that really how you see black men like what the fuck is wrong with you

none of the shit youre spewing takes bravery it takes ignorance and supreme levels of stupidity

do you really think you with your fic where a black lgbt+ woman is tortured and abused where you use the n word with a hard r to refer to her like that shits not okay its fucking depraved and yeah we know you love being shitty but like christ on a bike thats so much 

can we also talk about this

what the fuck is this fetishistic bull roar garbage calling this black character beyonce dressing her up in quote fuck me heels unquote are you are you seriously gonna write this and say its a shining example of how to write a black character youre basically saying ope here she is shes a sex icon haha im so progressive and i clealry understand the black experience hahahaha fuck you oh my god

on top of that theres a point where this character is only referred to as curly hair or the fact that the n word is used in the fic with the hard r like thats hands down not okay for you to use especially not in a manner like this jesus christ

oop heres a little more a sampling for you of the hell i am enduring in reading this drivel

oh boy lets put a leash on the angry black woman character lets put her in a leash and have the man imply hes a master like are you kidding me are you for real and what the fuck is with calling her shit like j lo and beyonce do you actually think thats clever at all are you just thinking of any poc that comes into your head for this 

also lydia fucking tells this girl that she shouldnt have lost her temper like she got fucking leashed im so tired why is this writing so problematic and also so bad

hold up before i lose my head lets look at some of her own comments on the matter of this character and what happens to her

hi hello youre just casually tossing the word lynch out there in the wide open world as if thats not a problem that is still real like are you fucking unhinged there have been multiple cases of this exact thing happening in our firepit of a country in the last five months alone like how can you still have shit like this up for people to read how can you be proud of work like this in this climate

and also what the fuck is that last bit 

what the actual fuck

i dont speak for black people as a white person but you do!? im sorry i had to get my punctuation out for that because wow thats fucking asinine just because one black person read your fic and didnt find the torture and abuse of your one black character abhorrant doesnt mean that the vast majority of people not only in the fandom but in the human population with decency are going to think its okay because its not 

i started this post hoping to be level headed and professional but jesus fucking christ this woman is something else white nationalism is alive and well folks and its name is rae

if you defend this woman you defend some truly abhorrant raecism

editors notes 

in order to get some perspective on these issues more fully some of the writing by the author was examined and on the whole it was pretty unreadable but i want to just call back to the very beginning of this essay where the person in question talked about holding canon in high regard but then in their writing they just go around giving people magic and shit and ignoring the end of the movie entirely like are you canon compliant or nah 

the writing doesnt even read like beetlejuice fanfic it reads as self indulgent fiction you could easily change the names and its just a bad fanfic from 2007

also can we talk about writing the lesbian character as an angry man hater like its 2020 dude and als olets touch on that girl on girl pandering while beetlejuice is just there like here we go fetishizing again wee

i cant find a way to work this into this already massive post but

im going to throw up

okay so thats a lot we have covered a lot today and im sure my ask box will regret it but this definitely should have been more picked apart when it happened

please feel free to add more to this i would love more perspectives than just my own.

[bridgyrose]

referring to suns involvement as just being a bit is bs sun was a big part of blakes arc since v1 ( and blacksun had actual buildup since v1 and never got sunk there was never a moment which sunk the blacksun ship the v6 ep 1 goodbye was just that a romantic goodbye we will resume when we meet again ( if bb shippers can ship bb and say it wasnt sunk after separated why not blacksun ) while bb didnt get any hints or buildup that portrayed them as more then friends or hinting at them getting together while blacksun did from the introduction with the slow motion camera focus when sun ran past blake and focusing on their faces with sun winking at blake and which is why if someone were to show that scene with burning the candles scene remove names and genders people would say the blacksun scene was romantic over bb scene which gave no reason to think it was anything more then a friend reaching out to another friend ( heck trying to use wink as evidence is dubious at best) while nothing for bb got hinted at being more then friends you have to do a lot of reaching like going well adam said he would destroy everything blake loved starting with her ( when to be blunt no that is not romantic saying someone loves someone else doesnt equal romantic love ( it includes friends and family who adam also tried to kill ) yang was just there and needed to be given a reason to be separated from yang . ( heck nothing in v6which bb shippers tried to claim was canon after the finale was inherently romantic moment for blake and yang ) if your best argument for bb is its lgbt rep / an f/f pairing first of all good writing is more important then whether a ships rep or not ( bb only has popularity over blacksun the direction change only happened because of popularity and certain people on crew shipping it ) second of all its not like bb was the only possible same sex ship for a member of team rwby there was freezerburn if its focused on two members of team rwby together or a lot of possibilities if you remove that restriction people saying bb was forced isnt misogyny its fact bb had no buildup from v1-v6 while blacksun did many would not have a problem with bb if they didnt buildup blacksun for so long calling bb forced isnt homophobia or bigotry ( seriously claiming misogyny for saying bb is forced is a new stupid take an example of insulting people over criticism ( the argument isnt about same sex ship vs het ship its good writing over bad writing and good writing is more important then the genders involved in a pairing if you ship a pairing just because of genders involved its a shallow reason

This is going to be a long post, so... everything will be under the cut.

You know what, I originally wasnt going to answer this, but I'm going to humor you since your whole ask is just.... amusing to me to read. First, I'm not sure why you're sending this to me. I'm a multishipper at heart and Bmblby isnt exactly a ship I like to ship, just happy to see that something is going to be canon in RWBY (and complain all you like, BB will become canon. There is and has been too much build up for it.) Secondly, I think you need to re organize your thoughts because I have a lot of issues with this ask. We'll take this part "which is why if someone were to show that scene with burning the candles scene remove names and genders people would say the blacksun scene was romantic over bb scene which gave no reason to think it was anything more then a friend reaching out to another friend" which honestly, I'm not sure what you're trying to say. What it sounds like you're trying to say is that if you remove names and gender of Blake and Yang and replaced them with anything else, then it would be just as romantic. Which is the point of that scene. It's meant to be taken romantically. A good romance scene is one that you can replace anyone from, put other characters, and still have it give that same vibe. Which it does. So I'm going to start tracking score here and set point 0 for anon and point 1 for... whatever it is you're trying to prove.

This next point throws me off though: "heck trying to use wink as evidence is dubious at best" because, you say, and I quote "while blacksun did from the introduction with the slow motion camera focus when sun ran past blake and focusing on their faces with sun winking at blake" which means somewhere along the line, which means you're already contradicting yourself. So, now the score is anon 0/ 2 for whatever it is you're trying to argue against.

Now, as far as Adam goes, you quote "you have to do a lot of reaching like going well adam said he would destroy everything blake loved starting with her ( when to be blunt no that is not romantic saying someone loves someone else doesnt equal romantic love ( it includes friends and family who adam also tried to kill ) yang was just there and needed to be given a reason to be separated from yang" I do have one solid question for you: why do you think there needed to be a reason for Yang and Blake to be separated? And if this was meant to not be romantic, then why even bother with Yang if she was just there? Because, I'll be honest, I think there's one part of that whole episode you missed:

This, is not the face you make if its just a friend that comes around to find you when your crazy ex is trying to hurt you. The only reason that Adam continues to say "starting with her" is because he recognized the sheer fear that Blake had that someone she cared about was going to get hurt. The only other parallel we have to that is Adam's line about Sun asking why Blake keeps having her friends fight for her. He didnt care about Sun as much as he did about Yang at that point. So, 0 for anon/ 3 for whatever it is you're against.

Now, lastly, you say that all you care about is good writing for the ships and that BB is not good writing. And while BS had some build up, where it officially died is Vol 4, not 6. Vol 4 and 5 reiterated over and over that Yang and Blake had been thinking about each other. Also, there's the fact that our reintroduction to Sun in vol 4 was basically him acting like a creepy stalker which anyone can admit is poor writing to have him and Blake get together after that. So... final tally is 0/4 meaning you, anon, lose.

And while I do agree that there is opportunity for other f/f ships between team rwby, me being a hardcore ladybug shipper, even I can see where the build up has come in between Blake and Yang. Contrary to your belief, it didnt come out of no where, you just ignored everything in favor for Sun. Blake is bisexual, there's no way around that. She can have feelings for both guys and girls. I have no doubt that she had a slight crush on Sun during the Beacon arc, but ultimately, she still had feelings for Yang too. You dont just seek someone out during initiation off a whim. You dont just say your first dance is already spoken for with another girl if you're planning on going with a guy. That coupled with the look of terror when she heard Yang just before Adam threatened her and then laying next to her and holding her hand after the fact isnt something you do as just friends

TL;DR: I dont ship bb, but I can see exactly where the build up has been. And since vol 1, bb has not only had fantastic, slowburn writing, its one of those relationships that is evolving from just friends to more than friends as each volume goes on. I'm sorry you're too blind to see it, but if even a ladybug shipper can see where bb is going, then I think you need a bit more help than just having everything explained to you.

and ps...

if you send another ask like this again

have someone proofread it to make sure you're not contradicting yourself. That's embarrassing on your part anon.

[kuromichad]

another thing about what’s changed pretty drastically in fandom culture (tbh culture in general) since when i was a kid is like. so, after several years of Anti Culture honestly i dont even have it in me to care anymore to have like, constant paranoia that someone out there is thoughtcriming by shipping the wrong things or even making violent porn of them, nobody should be literally dwelling on these things constantly lmao the specter of the problematic shipper is so deeply unhealthy and an unwinnable battle. what i feel is the acute issue, the thing we’ve actually made a LOT of progress on, is ‘does anybody even acknowledge that it’s rape/incest/etc and that it would rationally upset people.’ 

the danger of ‘rape culture’ is that it’s made up of things that are normal and treated like common sense, like ‘that’s just how it is.’ that’s what makes it a pervasive culture that creates unsafe situations, keeps victims from speaking up, enables perpetrators to do what they want and to get away with it. you get away with assault and harassment by convincing people that it doesn’t count. what was dangerous and hurtful to me about the content i saw was, like i said, that it was treated casually, that there was scarcely any acknowledgment that certain ships or kinks or specific portrayals of otherwise inoffensive tropes were more caustic, should be treated with more care. 

in the same way that romcoms will utilize what is objectively stalker behavior and have it be rewarded with the romance working out in the end, loads of fanfiction would involve rape/incest/csa and not acknowledge it-- either because the author genuinely doesn’t understand that’s what they’re portraying (which is the fault of generalized rape culture) or because it’s just inconvenient that anybody would be a killjoy loser about what they see as a totally made up concept that doesn’t affect anybody-- and have everything neatly tied up in the end with their ship getting together/fucking and everyone praising it in the comments as such great content. it was encouraged and common (Normalized) to see literally no difference between that kind of shit and any other fluffy happy uwu unproblematic fanworks because all of it was fictional and all of it was made by people having fun. nothing in it needed to be taken seriously and none of it should bother anybody.

clearly, this is not what things are like now!!! like of course things arent perfect but there’s exponentially more awareness among like, all people, especially in fandom as well, of the broader implications of everything, the seriousness of a given subject matter. when these things do happen by genuine accident it gets discussed, and it happens less because people are exposed to those discussions beforehand. and everyone is goddamn well aware of what makes a ship Problematic, the theory behind it, even if there’s a whole lot of debate about whether those rules are being enforced appropriately or in good faith. like, as much as it’s obnoxious and creepy for people to be like “yes i know i’m SOOOO problematic <3 i do all of this on purpose <3 i love being as EDGY as possible <3 kinkshaming is my kink <3” it’s literally a VERY GOOD THING that they actually fucking know it’s wrong. that’s a big fucking change. that’s the entire point of working against grooming because grooming is based on normalization... a person saying “i’m into this specifically because it’s taboo and i know exactly how wrong it is” is literally not normalizing it lmao.

basically im just. longwindedly repeating what i said before: the fact that people actually know now to have locked side accounts and separate aliases and shit for specific kinds of content is a sign that this discussion is working. acknowledging that certain shit is caustic and different and triggering is actually a big fucking deal in contrast to how shit used to be and that on its own is going a long way in protecting today’s kids. this is why it aggravates me so much that we’ve escalated to infiltrating intentionally private spaces just to... show these works to a much broader audience that the creator literally did not want and took measures to avoid. the ‘righteous’ person who goes EVERYONE LOOK AT THIS!!! is literally doing more damage than the person who was like ‘i know this is a sensitive matter and people who dont sign up for it shouldnt be exposed to it’ and had their trust violated. even if the latter person is the one that’s the Evil Pervert. 

if what’s in that private account is anything less than expressed intent/desire to actually harm real people then it should stay private because that means it’s literally inherently not the kind of thing that poses an immediate threat to people. maybe you view it as like, a Spiritual threat, metaphysical, religious, because of dwelling on it so much, spending so much time being afraid of what people are hiding, being crushed under the emotional burden of Everything In The World Is Unethical In Some Way, but that’s just. not healthy. and we do not agree. the tree that falls in the forest may still make a sound but it’s not one you would have heard if you weren’t putting yourself in its path. the tree falling ON you is a worse outcome than the sound alone if you hadn’t been there. Does that make sense

[miserybegins]

ok i gotta say it i have been seeing a LOT of BOLD opinions on the tl and i feel like i just have to get this off my chest because it has been bothering me that i feel like i can’t be myself on my own blog...

tons of ppl already know this but suddenly there is this huge deal about it but YES i personally believe there was a romantic relationship between frank and gerard. if you want to unfollow me for that fact alone thats fine theres nothing i can do lol if its that serious to you. i dont talk about it nearly as much as i used to before i remade but if i do i do tag it as ‘frerard’ so that you can blacklist it.

now im gonna go under the cut to explain my side of it, this is NOT proof of any kind or me trying to convince you its just me defending myself in light of some of the opinions i’ve seen recently

so to start i will say that i have been in this fandom for a long time. i lived through a lot of it and i made conclusions on what i saw. believing that there was a romantic relationship between them was pretty much standard for a really long time which is why im so confused now as to what happened in the few months between me losing my blog with 19k followers where i talked about frerard and no one cared to now where i see people being really aggressive over it...anyway

so like yea i grew up with it. its just a part of the mcr story to me. most of my friends that i follow tours with that have been long time fans feel the same. we’re respectful about it entirely, would never say anything to them god forbid or like i wont even mention it on twitter where someone liek frank could stumble upon it.

now for the misconceptions. i know one of the number ones is that its like a straight girl fantasy. i personally am trans masc and gay so that one is out the window. i think my identity has something to do with it bc i see tenderness between two men and im like wish that were me babey! but also “fantasy” is a terrible word for it because in my opinion of what happened between them its not...a happy story entirely. and i dont think theres anything like that between them now, i KNOW theyre in love with their wives entirely, i just think there is more to the story between them.

i saw a REALLY BOLD...and quite frankly infuriating take that people “ship” frerard inherently think that gay men can’t keep their hands off each other and sexualize them and think that the only reason they could have done the projekt rev stuff is because they couldn’t control themselves....which.....nah. projekt rev stuff is like on the BOTTOM of my list of reasons i believe there was a relationship between them. it was just so insulting to me to see that. i think a lot of the people who are so against it have like no concept of what people like me actually think...

also saw a take that frerard is a sin but thinking something happened between bert and gerard is fine. which is just annoying to me cause...theres plenty of proof for both and i dont think you can demonize something people are doing when you’re doing the same thing yourself that is all i will say!

and lastly: fanfiction. seen a lot of hate for fanfiction. most of you know i love unholyverse. it is just fine literature. i dont see the problem with fanfiction, to me the characters in fanfiction are so far removed from the real people, its just easier to get into a story when you have an idea of the characters already, idk. my thing is that i really don’t read any new fanfic, i read the old ones that i love and have read for years because i love the story.

but also i dont get why people are trying to renounce fanfiction when gerard has quite litrally said he doesnt care. he live tweeted himself reading a milk enema fanfic of people who were basically colleagues of his. there is no high horse for you to be on here lol.

anyway at the end of the day thats kind of my take on it, i just have been so annoyed by some of the takes ive seen recently and its made me afraid to like be myself on my blog. its not something i post about all the time or even every day anymore but it is a part of the mcr story to me so sometimes i will mention it i guess! idk why i felt like i needed to defend myself so much but i did if you read it all this way and still are angry about it feel free to message me and we can chat about it

[thanksfornothinguselessreptile]

A Shifting World Chapter 4: Goodbyes and Departures

First Chapter

<– Previous

Work Summary: Things have been going great since Hiccup and Toothless have defeated the Red Death. He has his father’s approval, a group of friends his own age, and is leading the integration of dragons and the Vikings of Berk. When neighboring tribes call together a meeting to discuss rumors of Vikings riding dragons, however, Stoick decides to keep their alliance with dragons under wraps. Hiccup must decide whether he should listen to his father or seek to teach the other Vikings of the archipelago the truths about dragons.

AO3

Rating: T

Characters: Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, Stoick, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout

Pairings: Minor Hiccup x Astrid

Chapter Summary: Hiccup makes a promise to his best friend. Meanwhile, the twins are the twins and Mildew is Mildew.

Chapter Warnings: Discussions of death and murder, food mention

“You guys are all so lucky,” Tuffnut said as he shook his head at the nearest ship. “You all get to go to the Thing and we don’t.”

“I’d kill for the opportunity to go.” The scariest thing about that statement, Hiccup decided, was that Ruffnut sounded like she genuinely meant it. “The Thing is the prime pranking opportunity, and none of you are going to take advantage of it!”

“We’ll keep that in mind, I promise,” Hiccup said. He found himself regretting that the twins wouldn’t be coming along, even if it cut down the risk of other tribes declaring war on Berk due to missing beards and painted helmets.

Still, with a whole village to terrorize and no one else in their friend group around to entertain them or hold them back, Hiccup was sure that the missed opportunity would soon be a long distant regret.

Luckily enough for Hiccup, if not for Berk, it turned out that many of his friends were coming along, too. Astrid’s mother, Phlegma, was among the Berk Council, as was Spitelout, Snotlout’s father; both had decided their children ought to come along and get a better understanding of the other tribes. Fishlegs, while he had a mother aboard their ship as a sailor, had been chosen to come because Stoick believed he could have potential as a future ambassador of Berk.

Beyond them, all of the Berk Council were going as well. Well, all except for one, who was heading this way with a frown.

Hiccup was suddenly very aware that the twins had seemed to have vanished into thin air. They must’ve pranked Gobber somewhat recently, then.

“Ah, Toothless, there you are!” Gobber said as he wagged the wooden hand cutout attached to his prosthetic arm attachment as he prepared a lecture. “Remember that you aren’t going on this trip, you sneaky reptile.”

Toothless grumbled in irritation and glanced over at Hiccup as if asking him to reverse the decision.

“Sorry, bud,” he said instead, and gave Toothless an apologetic smile. “You know that Dad would kill me if I smuggled you aboard.” And anyways, even if he did go through with showing the other tribes that dragons weren’t inherently violent and were actually amazing, intelligent beings who were willing to live in peace if humans were, he wanted Toothless here, safe, if things went wrong. Again.

Toothless snorted and shook his head, his pupils narrowing slightly.

“Don’t worry, bud, it won’t be for forever.” If Gobber wasn’t there, Hiccup would have told him he’d try and make it so he could go to the next one, too. However, Gobber was still there, listening. He wouldn’t exactly be the sort that would keep quiet if Hiccup started making plans to go against his father’s and chief’s wishes behind his back.

“Yes,” Toothless said with a disgruntled huff.  

Hiccup could understand why. He wasn’t too happy about having to leave his best friend either.

Anything else he had to say, however, was swallowed up by a loud yell several feet away.

“I’m telling you, Stoick, this must be a sign from the gods to give up this unholy alliance with the beasts.” Hiccup had heard that voice enough times since after the Battle of the Red Death that he frowned and prepared to sigh with exasperation even before properly recognizing its owner.

Just as there were dragons too affected by the years of conflict to want to move onto Berk, there were Vikings who resisted the peace with the dragons with their heels dug into the ground. But where dragons were happy enough to avoid Berk, Mildew had decided to make his “opinion” everyone’s problem.

And especially Hiccup’s and Stoick’s.

“If the other tribes catch wind of us ‘befriending’ these monsters–” Mildew swung his staff straight toward a nearby Monstrous Nightmare who’d just dropped off a pallet of supply crates tied into groups with fishnet, ignoring their filthy look “–then we might as well kiss our lives goodbye!”

Stoick, half turned toward Mildew and half toward the freshly delivered stack of supplies, rubbed at his head in a way that told Hiccup that he was sensing an oncoming headache. “You’ve already brought this up. For sixteen Gripe Days in a row.”

“And you wouldn’t listen!” Hiccup winced as the vibrations of the resulting slam of the staff end into the wooden dock made their way up his prosthesis. “But now that the other tribes have come knocking, maybe you’ll finally care!”

Stoick cast Mildew a glare so sharp Hiccup almost expected to result in Mildew bursting into flames without a dragon’s intervention. Unfortunately for all of Berk, it didn’t. “Enough, Mildew. I am sticking to the answer I’ve given you every time before. We are not driving the dragons away.”

Mildew’s voice dropped just a fraction, and turned even more bitter and accusing. “Is it something you’re willing to bet the whole village’s lives on?”

“I assure you,” Stoick said, his voice unyielding, “I have the village’s best interests on my mind. And, like it or not, that includes yours.”

“Besides,” Gobber said, walking from beside Hiccup up to Mildew, “is right before Stoick’s about to leave to ensure we continue living in peace really the time to bring this up? Especially since he heard it before?”

Mildew snorted, sounding for all the world like a particularly stubborn sheep not unlike the one that often followed him around.

“I thought so. Now I suggest you go back and tend to your cabbages, unless you want to help load up the ship.” Gobber used his hand prosthesis to gesture at the supplies.

With one last scowl and “Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you,” Mildew stormed off the docks, staff tapping each wooden board along the way.

“Thanks, Gobber,” Stoick said, sounding more relieved than he’d been since the announcement of the Thing.

Gobber shrugged. “Eh, I’ll just add it to list of stuff you’ll owe me for while you’re gone.” He shuddered overdramatically. “Including the Gripe Days you’ll be missing. Not looking forward to those, I’m telling you!”

Stoick laughed and shook his head. “It makes dealing with the other chiefs seem like a picnic.”

Hiccup and Toothless walked toward them. “Can’t you do something about his attitude problem?”

Stoick frowned and sighed. “He gets under my skin as much as yours, son, but I’m afraid I can’t.”

“What does he have against them, anyways?” He leaned over to pat Toothless’s side, to calm himself and his dragon. “They hardly attacked his farm.” Cabbage, to no one’s surprise, was hardly a dragon’s preferred delicacy. In fact, they seemed to avoid them more often than most other crops.

Gobber and Stoick shared a solemn look.

“You see, years ago he set his farm up there,” Gobber said, sounding like he was getting into a long story that had no happy ending. “No one particularly minded, given he was always that… well, Mildewy, for the lack of a better word.” He shrugged. “And he married a woman who was just as grumpy as he was, and they had kids who took after the both of them.”

If Gobber and Stoick hadn’t looked so serious, Hiccup would’ve shuddered at the thought of a family of Mildews.

“They all seemed happy, though, and they kept mostly to themselves, so everything was fine.” Stoick shook his head. “And then, one day, his wife and children were picking up supplies in town when a dragon raid hit.”

“It was the worst in decades.” Gobber bit his lip. “Our best could hardly keep up defending the town from the dragons.” He sighed and shook his head. “By the time dawn came and they retreated, so many had died, even those who hadn’t fought.”

“Including Mildew’s family.” Hiccup never thought he’d feel anything regarding sympathy for the man, but then again he’d always summed his irritability up to stubbornness beyond the usual Viking levels.

“And that wasn’t the end of it.” Stoick’s tone caused Hiccup to brace himself. “Mildew somehow got it into his head that we let them die intentionally because no one liked them.”

“Well, no one did like them,” Gobber jumped in with a conciliatory tone. “But no one hated them that much,” he added when Stoick glared at him.

“Everyone kind of understood that it was mostly the grief talking, and things kind of died down after a while.” Stoick stroked his beard. “And eventually he ended up taking another wife.”

“And that’s when a dragon came to his farm and burnt it to a crisp.” Gobber shook his head. “Mildew escaped. Not his wife.”

“And after he got over that, he married another woman. She was from the Northlander Tribe, I believe.” He glanced at Gobber as if to confirm.

Gobber nodded. “Aye. And I bet you can get what happened to her.”

Hiccup’s stomach clenched. “I’m guessing not a peaceful death by old age.”

“After that, he became obsessed with killing dragons.” Stoick stroked his beard, lost in thought.

“Not himself, of course.” Gobber shrugged a single shoulder. “Let’s just say he chose to keep a farm far from the raids for a reason. But he bought dragon parts off those who did kill them. Bones, scales, heads, the lot.”

Toothless made a nervous sound, and Hiccup reached over to scratch him under the ears in an attempt at reassurance. “Don’t worry, bud. No one’s getting your head.”

“He was always advocating for crueler ways of killing them off entirely, not just driving them off our land for good.” Stoick frowned. “In any case, any intention he had of making his peace with them died with his wives and children.”

“But now we can make sure that no one else has to go through that.” Hiccup knew that losing family to dragons hurt; he’d lost his own mother to a dragon when he was a baby, and that had definitely stung after finding out that it was the Red Death’s fault. Still, he couldn’t imagine preferring being at war with dragons to the peace they had now over it.

“I know, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.” Stoick placed a hand on Hiccup’s shoulder, being careful not to knock him over. “However, he’s been bitter since the day he was born, and circumstances only made him worse. When you’re chief, you’ll have to deal with worse than the likes of him.”

Hiccup resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Encouraging pep talk, Dad.”

Stoick shook his head and laughed, and the somber tone the conversation had taken seemed to disperse like that. “Next time, I’ll let it surprise you.” He glanced around the docks and the ship, scanning everything. “Well, it looks to me like we’re just about ready to set out here. You get on the ship and I’ll get the loose ends tied up.” With that, he walked off.

Hiccup turned back to Toothless. “Well, I guess it’s time to say goodbye, bud.”

Toothless warbled in a very unenthusiastic tone.

“I promise I’ll be back, with a whole new bunch of stories to tell you.” A gathering of Viking chiefs was certainly never boring, as Stoick had often been inclined to share. “I’m sure you will too, since the twins are staying behind.”

At that, Toothless snorted and rolled his eyes.

Hiccup couldn’t help but smile at that. “You never know, you might have too much fun watching them get in trouble to even notice I’m gone.”

Toothless snorted and shook his head. He didn’t sound particularly convinced.

“It’s just for a few weeks, I promise.” Hiccup held out an open hand. Toothless stared at it and hesitated, then leaned his head over until his nose met Hiccup’s palm.  “Take care while I’m gone.” He let himself give his best friend a crooked, mischievous smile and wagged a finger at him in warning. “And no helping Ruff and Tuff with their pranks, alright?”

Toothless seemed to raise the draconic equivalent of an eyebrow, but nodded. “Yes.”

With that, Hiccup forced himself up the gangplank and looked for a place to sit. It was going to be a long journey.

So this is probably the last chapter I’m posting to Tumblr before the Log Off Protest. While the next chapter will likely be published on AO3 around the same time next week, I won’t crosspost it to Tumblr until the protest is over and I log back in. After that, crossposting should continue as usual. Thank you!

Next –>

[raveneira]

KawaSara

Completely off topic of Todays episode but are people really that salty about the KawaSara ship? it’s literally SasuSaku all over again in terms of the arguments used against them

Which btw I still wanna know where are all the SasuSaku fans that apparently support KawaSara because its like SasuSaku [which it isnt in any way shape or form its completely unique in comparison imo] because I have yet to see anyone but anti’s making this claim

And yes Im a SasuSaku shipper and I ship KawaSara but not because I think its anything like SasuSaku because I dont

What I dont get isnt why people dont like the ship because to each their own, what I dont get is the bullshit reasoning on why KawaSara shippers are ‘bad’ or ‘delusional’ or the most common ‘he did nothing but insult her the entire chapter!’

No he did not, here’s what actually happened

For Kawaki’s first time trying Taiyaki Sarada suggests he try the custard one to which Kawaki defiantly chooses chocolate instead, Sarada asks if she could have a bite since she’s never tried the chocolate flavored one and Kawaki refuses because its his and why should he share it with an asshole like her

Kawaki desires freedom and to make his own decisions, Sarada suggested custard but Kawaki wanted to make his own decision and decided on chocolate which Kawaki surprisingly enjoyed, Sarada asks for a bite of HIS snack that HE chose for himself and belongs to him and takes offense to it which shows he probably doesnt get the concept of sharing the same way he wasnt familiar with what a snack was and took it as a sign of her wanting to take from him which makes her an asshole

You could take the Taiyaki as his free will so sharing it with Sarada would be like sharing or giving his free will to her which he doesnt wanna do

Then a kid ran into Kawaki and he reflexively attacked him but was stopped by Naruto, afterwards Sarada went over to the two boys to check on them and apologized for Kawaki’s actions, Sarada is a kind and caring person so naturally, she is angry at Kawaki for his outburst

He calls Sarada an asshole again which he calls everyone, ‘he didnt call Hinata, Himawari or Ino an asshole though!’  yeah and know why? because neither Hinata, Himawari nor Ino gave him a REASON to

Kawaki only addresses people as assholes that he feels is trying to control him, is hostile towards him, or just ticks him off

Hinata barely said two words to him, Himawari also hardly had any interaction with him and Ino was just being extra polite because of the ‘mission’ and had no reason to be hostile towards Kawaki nor him to her

Sarada on the other hand? she’s getting on his case for nearly killing an innocent kid for no reason, Kawaki tells her to shut up and brushes it off as just giving them a taste of the real world, Sarada PERSISTS yelling at him more for using his upbringing [which atm she doesnt know the full story] as an excuse for his behavior, this of course anger’s Kawaki but he doesnt yell at her or lash out and instead asks why she’s even coming along when it has nothing to do with her

Kawaki could have easily yelled at her the way she was at him especially when she played down his upbringing but instead, he just calls her an asshole and asks why she even bothered coming along

My point is Sarada is being hostile towards Kawaki, she’s yelling at him, telling him his actions were wrong when he believes they are justified, saying his upbringing is no excuse for his behavior, Kawaki doesnt like being talked down to and he definitely doesnt like being told what he should and shouldnt do which Sarada was doing and was thus an asshole

Sarada ONCE AGAIN gets on his case, this time for picking a random vase instead of choosing seriously which this time Kawaki does yell at her because again Kawaki does not like being told what to do

He doesnt like being controlled for obvious reasons, Kawaki wants freedom from Jigen and Kara etc and to have free will which is something he wasnt allowed to have so Sarada or anyone else getting on his case about anything triggers a negative reaction from him because he doesn't want to be controlled which he feels Sarada is trying to do by butting in when it has nothing to do with her

The only reason Naruto even gets some respect is because he’s powerful and goes out of his way to be nice to him but he doesnt really like being told what to do by Naruto either but he knows that he has no choice in the matter since he stands no chance of escaping

Kawaki himself is not inherently bad nor does he hate people just for the hell of it, as Naruto said ‘dont you have any sense of sociability?’ to which Kawaki sarcastically replies ‘Hmph...unfortunately it was caused by my bad upbringing’ in reference to what Sarada said earlier

But we see Kawaki does have empathy since he did and does feel bad about breaking the vase and he is going out of his way to make it up to Boruto even though they dont exactly get along Kawaki IS capable of feeling remorse and compassion, he’s just traumatized and doesnt exactly have much experience socially

Bottom line is Kawaki is still very socially inexperienced and is always on edge and on the defensive never knowing when someone’s going to try and hurt him, he has serious trust issues and rightfully so so his treatment of Sarada shouldnt really have been a surprise and even Sarada herself doesnt feed into Kawaki’s insult [the way Boruto does] and just ignores it

If Sarada doesnt care and isnt fazed by the insult why’s the fandom? Sarada’s clearly capable of handling Kawaki, she isnt afraid of him nor does she back down from him and stands her ground

But I love how all the anti’s main argument is about the insult and zero potential when literally this happened after all that

When Sarada see’s Kawaki’s frightened reaction in dropping the vase from his PTSD she realizes Kawaki’s past might be more traumatic then she thought, seeing Naruto hug him and tell him he’s safe here also probably tipped her off to how much Kawaki was really struggling which is when this happened

Sarada tells Kawaki he can rely on her and come to her whenever since she too wants to be Hokage like Naruto is and as Hokage, it is their duty to be there for those in need which in this case is Kawaki

This shows Sarada’s change in attitude towards him from thinking hes just a rude jerk to seeing how frightened he really is, even after Kawaki was rude to her, in the end, she STILL offers to be there for him and to come to her if anything troubles him

Naruto even says that their friends now which Kawaki doesn't deny and just tells Naruto its none of his business ‘shithead’

Funny how he says this to Naruto even after he hugged and comforted him moments ago but its no big deal then right? Im done

I could go on with more panels and go more in-depth with my points but that honestly isnt necessary because the chapter spoke for itself, Kawaki is a very damaged kid with a terrible upbringing and because of it has terrible social skills but isnt a bad person and just wants freedom from those who wish to control and use him

His hostility towards Sarada was reconciled at the end and so was Sarada’s hostility towards him so really the whole ‘he was rude/insulted her!’ or ‘they hate each other!’ or my favorite ‘they have zero potential!’ arguments are all debunked within the chapter

Oh and about the zero potential thing, Sarada mentioning how she’s aiming to be the Hokage too shortly after Naruto hugged and comforted him after his panic attack seems like pretty clear potential to me

She’s basically saying she’s willing to be there for him the way Naruto’s there for him right now which is a pretty good set up for their relationship since Kawaki REALLY needs that support and comfort and most importantly security, if Sarada can offer him that then thats a pretty good start that could build up to something more

But we’re a long ways off from that so I dont even see the big deal yet but apparently anti’s just had to start BS accusing SS shippers of shipping KS because we think its like SasuSaku which I cannot stress enough it ISNT and the only ones who think they ARE is the anti’s themselves so I donno man

All Im sayin is I ship it because I see the potential bond there and I think most of the KS shippers do too, if your anti-KS thats fine but please stop the BS because we all know what its really about

[yvvaine]

I was wondering if any [past or present] Jonerys, Pro-Daenerys fans like myself feel this way.....?

Firstly Id say please be nice i just enjoy analyzing the shit out of fandoms I like, (im a history/polysci major ((with an emphasis on Peace Justice and & Conflict Studies)) all i do is analyze and try to be diplomatic lmao) but considering all they petty drama between both ships as well as pro/anti Daenerys stans ON BOTH SIDES I’m going to be “That Person” and at least ask for people to be respectful/civil, I want to hear from everyone and their metas/what they think which is why i tagged like, all the tags, no matter if you love her/the ship or cant stand it, as long as everyone can keep civil So firstly I’ve loved Dany both books and show from the beginning. She’s gorgeous, wants to be the best person she can be, and her hair/fashion style game is always ON POINT.  That being said, somewhere around season 5 i think i’ve found my opinion on her cooling a little bit, ep after ep, till now. Like I still like her bc she was my first character love on the show but I’ve def soured in my opinion on her. Maybe it’s because I love learning about the subject that im more baised (im hoping thats the case) but she just seemed to have no interest in actual governance, just the reputation (esp of being the ‘rebel queen’)/the awe/the power/the thrill of the adoration that went along with it to the point where I feel like though she still wants to be a ‘good queen’ or at least wants to be seen that way, she doesnt want to do much work for the title. Like yeah she freed all the slaves and that was a def progressive and awesome move on her part (major props! slavery is sin and im glad someone recognized that who had the power to do something about it) but she didnt handle that aftermath or ensuing problems well at all nor really mulled heavily on the subject to find the best solution. She just got fustrated with pretty basic/common (albeit complex in themselves) issues of standard governance and kind of went agh! fuck this! (obv not actual quotes but that was the vibe I got). And then ESPECIALLY after season 7 her character has kind of nagged at me in the back of brain which i hate but its inherent like its just a feeling i cant help it?? I just dont know why to be honest that Im feeling so negative towards this character i used to love.  The whole ‘ bEnD thE knEe ‘ thing w/ Jon and yet pinning it on Jon’s pride not equally on his and her own was more than a little hypocritical, when hon they can discuss it later like at that point they have two common enemies the WW and Cersei they both want to do away with, and then again with the Bend the Knee or Die bit w/ the Lannister soldiers. In fact the whole sequence before that point felt kind of villinous I dearsay, I mean  deliberately burning the harvest that most of westeros needs for the winter or even strategically not willing to try, and well, nOOt intentionally burn the food considering its winter, the harvest is over (so likely not much is gonna grow in the time being) when she has a G I A N T ass army of her own to think of feeding???? Like i get it is war shit happens soldiers die but the F O O D ? Was that an impuslive in the moment mistake or did she just not give a fuck? And back to the aftermath scene/Bend the Knee 2.0, her speech was again quite hypocritical...and burning dickon?????? not willing to keep prisoners???? either bend or die??? I actually am glad she did away with Papa Tarly bc he was an awful human, but dickon????? a young idealistic man about to loose his father??? the heir to a major ally/house???? And honestly that bend or die strategy is soooooo dumb bc now she cant trust any of them like theyre only bending the knee out of self preservation homie, no one wants to die. they bend  the knee to survive and now they all of the sudden think youre their queen? Nah fam, prisoners were better, all you got are spies in your camps or people willing to backstab you at the smallest promise of coin. And i dont want that for my girl

IDK the whole “im gonna BREAK THE WHEEL,,,,,,,,yet im stating my claim mainly on my housename (aka the predominant force of said wheel for a literal dynasty) and the fact that i can scare people who otherwise are unconvinced bc lets be real westeros has had a bad run of rulers a lot of which were Targs in the past couple decades, into submission bc ill burn you otherwise???” doesnt sit well with me nor does it feel like the character ive been rooting for the past five-ish seasons. She just doesnt seem to put into effort on understanding Westeros, why things go wrong, being self-critical or sharing the blame,thinking on what a “good” ruler would do.... anyone else feeling this way and if so do you think this is just shitty writing? D&D butchering her character? or a new arc for her? perhaps the way shes always been? She just seems like a tantruming child bratty and entitled idk (a beautiful child but still)  As for jonerys...... im not gonna go into it much but how are other shippers happy????????? I honestly dont understand. I was SO looking forward to this season/this ship. like so much! But it felt so forced? And i know a lot of people claim its cause its rushed but tbh we’ve had a lot of romances in a similar time frame that felt like A C T U A L romances.....even Talisa/Robb who the Northerners will prob compare any of this too were so much better. THIS WAS MY EPIC SHIP DUDE. I feel the dany side of things (took a while but theres def heart eyes) and yet Jon???? He felt hollow. Still does even after sex. Im so disapointed but more than that I cant see the romance or the chemistry. He looks constipated. Hes never smiled like with his teeth around her the way hes done w others he cares deepily about (ygritte, toramund, sansa, even fkin gendry in the first scene they had together). He never reveals anything about himself. And between the “my queen” ep (and remember he was look warm when discussing her to toramund throughout it) and the previous the only thing that changed was that he saw the actual difference dragons made against WW. You could argue she saved them all too but that doesnt make you fall in love w someone out of the blue and also people have saved his ass before and??? Sansa w the vale anyone??? (Not an argument for jonsa js its happened) (though ill admit ive transitioned to loathing jonerys and loving jonsa more as a potential couple in the space of seven eps where if you asked me I wouldve been like PSH u cray. I never thought it would happen in a mill years but D&D ruined my ship and here i am! Shipping aside tho since its best too look at these things as neutral as possible).  Anyways the sigh of his after she left and when he pretended to be asleep.... idk. The only scene that felt genuine and where Jon smiled and it didnt look like a full on grimace and they actually kinda joked around was really nice and at the pit at the finale and if they do a LOT more of basic romance stuff like that I could ship it again but. It was followed by boatsex and boy.  I was hoping boatsex might rekindle my like for the two together. I could see the chemistry the passion. I was hoping the passion would overwhelm me and make up for the rest. But instead......like there was no foreplay, it lasted 2 seconds, and it was overplayed by brans voice and a reminder of future conflict or at the very least major angst b/w the two. i didnt see the parallel between regear and lyanna playing alongside their scene as anything romantic or that it should be taken as such. and the look they shared.... I was hoping jon would bring it bc Dany’s look in her eyes is like soooo smitten and adorable and say what you will I still have a space in my heart for her and still dont want her to suffer, but again Jon looks like oh shit/constipated. And not in a good oh shit way either.  There is a bunch more too but Imma stop there bc Im just tired at this point.  So many things were just....off this season. And it cant all be blamed on the “rushed” time frame. I’ve read the undercover lover theory and hon it makes the most sense (not perfect sense but still, more than what we’ve been poorly spoon fed) but im not willing to believe it just yet. Still, maybe D&D are just butchering a lot of things like making the romance believable and stuff for the sake of time that could be true i guess. But they like to go AHA GOT U so  Idk I dont find a lot of meta in the jonerys tag bc honestly (((((i think its bc the tag and ship are more popular and theirs more people both good and bad)))) it doesnt seem like snowballing theories is something all fans take really well in the tag at all. But whatever. I really want to know, is there any meta or theories im missing to either validate the icky feeling Im haveing about D or her “romance” or on the flipside anything that might make me change my mind about it? Theories, meta people! I just want to reiderate im not trying to hate on anyone or any point of view and I will flag any comment anti one ship or person or another if its plain hateful or rude. I just want to understand it and see what Im missing, esp because of how much I was looking forward to her arc and jonerys’ dynamic and how much the words “falling short” dont seem to cover it. And to see if im not the only one to either have critique on the ship or her character [or even actually change ships] Also i apologize for how much ive said “IDK” i just..... I DONT KNOW 

[themaryiestsuetoeversue]

romance meme thing

tagged: @discguise

tagging: @hohoholdup, @shiftxdxquilibrium, @sayurismiles, @orlandodell, whoever else wants to steal it

repost, dont reblog

Name: Poppy Somma  Nicknames: Variations of the scientific names for chemicals derived from the plant she’s named after, linguistic plant jokes, status titles Gender: Ciswoman Orientation: Lesbian Preferred pet names: Any positive feminine term of endearment in her partner’s first language. Relationship status: single, much to her chagrin

Favorite canon ship: OCs...don’t have canon ships...and nothing has happened officially on this blog yet? @fractacrystalli might count as a canon ship, idk Favorite non-canon ships: nothing has been finalized but @rottenmiso‘s femtag and @peppermint-passions‘s rae come to mind. i’m v open to shipping as long as i’m given a headsup/have permission lol

A quick note on shipping: I am multiship but single ship for each verse? RN i technically have: 1. terrorau pokemon, 0 ships. nonterror pokeau: infinite slots open, each ship is its own verse. Japanau: infinite slots, each ship is its own verse. Persona au: 0 atm. Vampau: infinite slots. WOD au: 0. Poppy herself is not against polyamory, she just does not believe that she herself has the ability to manage it well. She’s not against TRYING, but if I go for it, please don’t expect it to be hunky dory immediately. There’d be a learning curve and it may or may not work out. That’s how life works. For monogamous relationships, I don’t need exact detailed plotting, but I’d appreciate a heads up if you want to ship and you’d need to be comfortable that it won’t be 100% smooth sailing either. Poppy is a difficult person to deal with, relationship strain is going to happen. I want the bad as well as the good in a ship. If I can’t see any interesting potential in a possible ship, I will decline. 

Opinion on true love: It exists, and it can happen more than once, and it’s ideal but it’s not a thing she expects can happen for herself.  Opinion on love at first sight: She kinda thinks most people - herself included - only experience the shallowest form of love at first sight - infatuation, temporary lust, etc. - but she also believes that if you follow up on that, it can turn into something deeper and that there’s nothing inherently wrong with quick flash in the pan flings as long as all parties involved agree to it.  How ‘romantic’ are they: As much as her partner allows tbh. Given permission, she’ll go over the top and put in all of the effort to making things perfect, but her partner’s comfort is more important than her own, so if they aren’t a fan of too much romance, she’ll tone it down as much as she can. (she still prefers someone who will let her be a sap on occasion tho)

ideal physical traits: i did a post on this a while ago but: femme, counterculture aesthetics, or occult aesthetics, especially vampire, she thinks asians are cute purely on an aesthetic level but its literally so far down on her list it might as well not be a checkbox ideal personality traits: patient, warm, affectionate, calm, good at domestic tasks to pick up her slack, doesn’t MIND picking up her slack in the first place, appreciates her scientific enthusiasm and neurodivergence, is nerdy enough themselves that they can have common interests, let’s her mother them and mothers her in return, has to be okay with cats, has to be okay with intimacy and commitment, loyalty Unattractive physical traits: not much but what she does have are a few deal breakers: bad personal hygiene (she’s good at this herself but sometimes her living space is a mess. having two messy people in one living space doesn’t bode well.) visibly a senior citizen.  Unattractive personality traits: controlling, overbearing, anything on the “Are they abusing you” checklist, can’t keep secrets, actively harasses people in service positions, hates cats, is ableist and doesn’t even attempt to change, doesn’t take responsibility seriously, refuses to compromise over anything, refuses to commit or share any emotional intimacy at all ever in any way, can’t keep promises ideal date: stay inside cuddling the s.o while doing something quiet OR indulging in a shared interest together. Do they have a type?: Yamato nadeshiko archetype (simply because it tends to come bundled with all the nurturing and domestic skills she needs to compensate for her lack of them), shy-blue haired girl (they tend to be nerdy), supernatural creatures, especially vampires, neurodivergent people because they tend to understand her life struggles better, nerds in general, goths in general, shy shrinking violets in general

Average relationship length: She only ever had one and it lasted a few months at most. 

preferred nonsexual intimacy: cuddling, touch, sharing secrets, pouring their hearts out to each other, deep discussions, quality time Commitment level: she will literally die for you and expects you to do the same for her. She views dating as a way to find your partner and probably rushes into wanting to be serious too fast, to be honest. Opinion of public affection: 100% okay and natural. She has sex in public nightclub bathrooms, so I mean...It’s love, it’s nature, if you don’t like, don’t look. That being said, PDA has it’s place and out on the street in daylight holding up foot traffic is not the place to have a quickie. Past relationships: One: Tina. It was intense, toxic, and didn’t last very long, although when it occurred in her life depends on the verse.

[lunuanaki]

Your favorite ship. I'm talking about the one that gives you the butterflies and happy feel good feelings. Talk to me about that. I wanna know what your brain words say about it. :)

THANK YOU, SYN, FOR SENDING ME THIS MESSAGE WHEN NO ONE ELSE WOULD because probably they know what’s going to happen and they don’t want any part of it---  *glares at entire dash like that one picture of the assmad cartoon pig*

I’m going to cut this because it’ll definitely get long, but... if you wanna know what kind of ships I would throw myself in front of a ruby dragon for, you’re boutta find out... I’m gonna explain it for the unfamiliar as well, though. So I get to talk more. I don’t know how anyone on this website could dislike this ship. Fight me. Anyone who reads this and agrees gets the warm fuzzy feeling of my everlasting favour. 

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

It’s Velka and Gwyndolin, is anyone surprised?! Nahhh... BUT LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THEM BC I BET YOU DONT KNOW EM?!For those unfamiliar with Dark S//ouls, Gwyndolin is the youngest child of the Great Lord Gwyn, God of War/Sun/Lightning, all that big noisy man stuff. Gwyndolin was born weak and fragile and corpse-white, so, realising he wasn’t much of a trophy child, Gwyn raised him as a girl. Gwyn’s rejection never quite sat well with him, though - he’s always been insecure about his appearance and how others interpret it. He hates being stared at, and has been known to kill servants who aren’t careful where they look. Actually, he’s not fussy about murder in general, but he does have a strong sense of who deserves it and who doesn’t.Gwyndolin’s talents lie in moon-related magic and archery. As an adult, he still presents as female, he’s still horribly weak in a physical sense, paper-white, and for unspecified-in-canon reasons, has six or eight snakes where his legs should be (he still has legs, but the snakes tend to boost him off the floor). I’m not going to link any images. Picture white silk, gold, delicate, intricately made bows and faintly glowing arrows, and a gold mask he hides his face behind that mimics the shape of the sun his dad is so obsessed with.His canon personality is cold and apathetic; this is no tragic princess to be rescued. Suggest as much, or try to cross him, and he will kill you where you stand, with a shot so fast you’d never see him draw the arrow, or raise his staff. He leads a covenant of followers who hunt down sinners. As proof that they killed for their master, these followers tear off their victim’s ear and bring it to his doorstep for his approval. He’s pure grace and moonlight, and the definition of the phrase “glass cannon”. He knows his place, and even though he will never be a true part of Gwyn’s family, at least to his father, he works to support them. You can kill him in-game; if you do, the sun will go out. It was an illusion. The sun went out in Anor Londo centuries ago; Gwyndolin has been maintaining the false image of its better days, as a comfort to visiting Undead, even though it must grate at his soul to do it. His title is Dark Sun. This is not his natural habitat. 

Velka. Velka is a name, and a concept. That’s all we get in-game. She appeared in the third game as a statue (that confirmed my headcanon appearance for her to be spot on). Her title is Goddess of Sin. She’s known for being sneaky, “eccentric witch”, difficult, changeable. Gwyn’s friendship with her was always rocky; she could see his pride and his self interest, and he knew she waited for the day he met her judgement. Flames help him; after the massacre of the dragons, if he ever knelt at her feet, it would be the last thing he did. If Gwyn is the sun, she is the darkness waiting for him to sink below the horizon. Her covenant are absolvers of sin, for a price, their faces covered to separate them from the material world. She has no concept of the Christian idea of sin, because that just doesn’t exist in Lordran. Sin is decided based on her moral compass - conflicting philosophies, like the Way of White, might claim she has none, because she sees no inherent sin in drinking, or sex, or gambling, as long as no ill intent or effect is there. She only wears black, silver, and that one splash of red, the wedding ring from the husband she outlived. She was human once; not a born Lord like Gwyndolin. That mortal vitality is still about her; she never had the luxury of living without the concept of death. Picture extremely long, thick black hair (that she’s famous for in game), crystal-clear lavender eyes, blood red lips, porcelain-coloured skin and purple dark circles, lace and velvet. Her mother taught her to scheme and spy her way up. Gwyndolin was naturally suspicious of her at first, as he should have been. But their covenants had a mutual interest, and she began to supply her list of unrepentant sinners for his covenant to hunt down. It became a bonding ritual, I think both of them enjoyed it more than they’d admit. 

Gwyndolin to begin to get. Jealous. Velka was known for spending nights with anyone she pleased, servant to knight, never getting attached to any of them. There were rumours that the crown prince of sunlight himself was on that list. Gwyndolin seemed to be the only one she wouldn’t look at in that way. Was that because of the way he looked? Did she pity or avoid him the way everyone else did, even after all this time? Every hour she spent with one of them was one she wasn’t with him. His own anger at her is confusing to him, because he’s never had any interest in anyone, male or female, not like this. It was, she said, because she valued him more than one of her throwaways. She paid close attention to him, enough to know he didn’t like to be approached like that, or looked at. Whenever people had shown interest in him before, he’d assumed they were mocking him. She didn’t want to make him feel the way they did, so she was content with the distance she stayed at, as long as she could pride herself on being the one he was most comfortable with. It was selfish, really, but she liked being his favourite, so she’d do anything to stay that way. Velka does not recognise the word love, because she’s never experienced it before, so she doesn’t use it, not yet.

When they finally stopped dancing around each other, her reputation for impropriety died, along with anyone who spoke about her like that in front of Gwyndolin. Gwyndolin is extremely possessive, and Velka, for once, finds she wants to be possessed. There’s still no power imbalance, though. With her support, Gwyndolin’s confidence can develop (she’s so proud of everything he does). With his favour, she can’t be sidelined as badly as before. They have to be careful as a couple, because it’s dangerous to be seen that way. Not because “Gwyn won’t approve of her”, but because between them, with their combined covenants, Gwyn’s distrust of her, and the growing unrest among Gwyn’s human subjects, they present a very real threat to the throne, and as if to prove their point, Gwyn will soon exile his own son and heir for less.

They’re like Morticia and Gomez, if all that overly romantic stuff were silent. Because they don’t need to say anything. Like the time he panicked over an instinctive murder of a wayward servant, and she helped him clean the blood off his hands and let him calm down alone when she wanted to kiss him until he remembered how much more important he was than such a silly mistake as that - to her, and who else matters? Or the time someone made an untoward comment about her at the dinner table and no one saw Gwyndolin draw the arrow, just the sight of it hit the speaker and kill them instantly. She only laughed as politely as she could, because he already knows how much she adores his overprotective homicidal tendencies, and he thrives off it. Her sense of justice has a blind spot that exists just for him, and she can forgive him anything.

There’s a little piece of lore in the game that says Velka sided against the gods in a war, and lost. The AU that could happen if they won gives me life. If they won, she wouldn’t have taken Gwyn’s place herself, she would have given it to Gwyndolin. They would make a terrifying but brilliant leader between them. The sun would set in Anor Londo for good, and Gwyndolin’s intelligence and clarity would get a chance to prove itself more useful than Gwyn’s brute force and genocide tactics. Gwyndolin isn’t much for titles, but you can be damn sure Velka would take it. If it made Gwyn turn in his grave to hear her called Queen, she’d insist on it, after the way she watched him treat Gwyndolin. As if he weren’t worthy of Gwyn’s pathetic legacy. 

Of course, as the series goes, in the third game, Gwyndolin is gone. Reportedly cannibalised by a cult leader and his apprentice while he was weak and sick. Velka’s verse for that revolves around her finding and saving him - whatever that means. 

If anyone stuck with me this long, please offer me emotional support, because I am compromised. I haven’t run out of words or feelings, I’ve run out of energy to convey them. These two are precious to me. Not only is there all this intensity and unrelenting devotion behind them, they take the usual framework for a hetero relationship, shatter it and piece it back together in completely the “wrong” order. Velka has some of the masculine traits, the forcefulness of her mannerisms, the proactively destructive one, however undercover it might be. Gwyndolin is the formal, delicate, princessly one, and has to be pushed to react badly. Both of them are beautiful, in totally opposing ways. You would usually expect the  female to be the sexually inexperienced one and the male to be the opposite, but that’s flipped on its head as well. And yet, the hyper-feminine one is Velka. Gwyndolin is androgynous, even in feminine clothing. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a pairing where each one adds to the others’ existence to such a degree as they do. I reject the events of the second and third games and substitute my own, because anything else is a waste of one of the best pairs I’ve seen in anything, ever. I don’t think I’ll ever top some of the threads I did with enasaliin with these two, honestly, I might as well log out and never come back. I have to go do some starters now. My heart hurts. ;-;

[fromfelidae]

OK guys hear me out on this but- I think that the entire TAZ world, or at least the seven red-robes are running on a constant majoras mask/refuge year long loop that resets with the earth being devoured by The Hunger, and that there is a second voidfish that (up until now) kept this a secret

There will be a tl;dr at the end

SECOND VOIDFISH

UPDATE: CONFIRMED AS OF EPISODE 58

This is up first because its less of a theory and is something I have no doubts about happening in canon. There is a second fully functioning voidfish out there, and it is blocking memories from *everyone*

- First and foremost, the huge memory gaps each of the boys find that they have in the eleventh hour when June is going back through their memories, emphasized by the fact Magnus’ had the biggest gap

- This is made especially evident by Magnus remembering a book floating in the voidfish tank, I strongly believe that this was the book of the “lonely journal keeper” keeping record of all the events of the red robes, it was destroyed by the voidfish, explaining the huge memory static in THB

- Magnus only began remembering because he died, this ones obvious because the episode started off with an explanation of how voidfish cannot suppress memory from beyond the grave.

- The reason it is coming back so slowly (shoutout to Brian for figuring this out) is because of how unconventionally Magnus died, he was seperated from his body, killed, and then possessed another body. If he had died ‘normally’ his memories wouldve been restored in a similar manner to when they drank the voidfish water

- This is also how Barry remembers! he was dead- with this information, we could argue that literally any living person could be a red robe without knowing

update: now we know who the red robes are

- (EDIT): Its possible the second void fish is the “EGG BABE” the voidfish told Magnus about! given that communication is difficult, the voidfish could have matured enough to be able to consume and hide memories as well

LOOP THEORY

Getting it out of the way now, Refuge is the biggest foreshadowing for this theory, (see more at the end of this post), the entire arc in and of itself was basis for what the entire world is like.

I believe that the world, is being looped in a Refuge-esc style.

I’m not sure where it starts, but it ends with the world, each individual plane, being eaten by The Hunger. akin to how each loop in Refuge ended with being eaten by the purple worm.

The only difference being not every loop is exactly the same, things are different slightly each time- which explains why there were two suns, and the sky was purple in Magnus’ memory. I think that was his origin before the loops began.

evidence:

- (UPDATE) The vision the voidfish showed Magnus "12 multicolored circles rotating in perfect harmony with one another" Then a Bright white circle flies into the center, and the circles begin to make more intricate movements and rhythms until a large black circle appears and consumes all the other circles. Eventually the white light breaks from the black circle and the entire pattern repeats.”

It’s unclear right now what the white circle is, but the large black one is clearly the 13th plane, The Hunger. The scene the voidfish is describing is what has been happening over and over in the loop, repeating when The Hunger consumes all (and the white plane escapes).

- In the eleventh hour Griffin tells the boys that something about dying like this is ‘familiar’, while theyve gotten close to death before in the podcast theyve never truly died, how could it be familar if they hadn’t been reliving an even bigger loop unknowingly for years

- Kravitz states the boys have died more than anyone hes seen before! He acts as though he cant understand /how/, this was before the 11th hour so there’s literally no explanation other than they’ve been dying over and over again from the hunger, on a loop (EDIT: it was bought to my attention that Kravitz stated they have different death counts! taako having the least and merle having the most- while this complicates things i still think the loop is possible)

(EDIT 2.0: SOLVED!! by @stalllme in this post here)

- Barry Bluejeans turning to Magnus and saying “next time”, theyve been trying to save the world over and over in each loop, unable to succeed (until now??)

- This quote from Istus  "Our existence is made up of countless realities where the same people are just doing the same actions at the same time in parallel worlds throughout the echoes of creation, except for you! The three of you are the only three that there are doing the things the three of you do here in this world! When I say that you’re unique, I’m not being flattering, I’m being quite literal… The three of you are anomalies, and I certainly have god-like powers and I don’t like to brag, but I’ve never known anything like the three of you and I don’t know why that is, but I’m intrigued…”

This is relevant because this is going to be the loop that they break.

- It’s important also, because THB broke the loop in refuge, foreshadowing that they could potentially break the one around the world

-  Another helper on the “loops but everything is slightly different” is @martypines’s theory that the second sun in the purple sky that Magnus saw could be a base for the red robes! similar to the bureaus except, well, a sun

every arc is foreshadowing for end game

1 (here there be gerblins) - basically Barry Bluejeans’ origin story, cant be asked to expect much from here seeing as griffin had barely started fleshing out the story until halfway through the arc

2 (murder on the rockport limited) - (UPDATED: thanks to this anon!) murder on the rockport limited taught us and the boys not to trust people by their first expectations, similar to the attitude shown towards the redrobes. that attention to detail, a keen eye and the boy detective are key to solving a mystery

3 (petals to the metal) - Introduces us to the fact not everyone who takes a relic is evil, and more importantly, the sheer strength and power that love has. Hurley is able to break the thrall the sash has on Sloane through the power of her love.

4 (crystal kingdom) - The astral plane got introduced the most prominently here, showing us the ability to pass between them, the fact people live on past death, and that multiple dimensions do exist. There was probably a lot more important exposition I’ve forgotten.

5 (the eleventh hour) - The most important arc imo!! The entire concept of looping is introduced here, that a whole town can be completely unaware theyre reliving the same day over and over again, resetting as they are all killed. It also introduces the concept that red robes arent inherently evil

6 (the suffering game) - Unsure as of the moment, it was very endgame.

MISC BUT STILL IMPORTANT

Magnus and the red robes were collecting information about the loops, and trying to fight against it. I also strongly believe that they are the seven birds in the prophecy.

- This is backed up by the book being destroyed in the voidfish tank, I believe that was written by “The Lonely Journal-Keeper”

UPDATE: CONFIRMED: this is what lucretia was doing

- This would explain the reason Magnus knew to protect the chalice in Refuge! because the red robes had already figured out the global loop that was happening, and it was almost an unintentional test run?

EDIT: I believe LUP was the leader of the redrobes, and might be still alive but very out of action. (UPDATE: Davenport was the leader, chalupa theory got confirmed) I strongly believe she was the one speaking to Taako through telecommunication (no other female redrobe has been introduced by name excluding her, it makes the most sense!)

I think shes the leader, or at least, was very strongly important to their ‘family’ (in barrys words) because of the strong emotional connection Taako feels, he cant distinguish it but its there. LUP meant a lot to all of the redrobes when they were alive, i mean, she was able to convince Taako ‘dont trust anybody or anything’ to trust Barry. (UPDATE: Chalupa theory was correct)

prophecies and their continued relevance

" But I saw a brilliant light heralded by seven birds flying tirelessly from the storm. I saw seven birds: the twins, the lover, the protector, the lonely journal keeper, the peacemaker, and the wordless one.”"

I am almost certain that the birds in Maureen’s prophecy are the red robes. the lonely journal seeker would be the one who wrote the book we saw getting fed to the voidfish. this is backed up by “A Brilliant light[...] flying tirelessly from the storm”, i believe the light is the silver ship we saw in Magnus’ memories.

(UPDATE: confirmed, and

taako & chalupa = the twins barry = the lover magnus = the protector lucretia = the lonely journal keeper merle = the peacemaker davenport = the wordless one)

“In the future, you will be offered a terrible choice, between two options that will determine the fate of reality itself. In this moment of crisis, remember: There is always a third option.”

"And I cannot make the difficult decision that lies at the end of your quest for you, but I can grant you the time that you need to make that decision."

This is the choice that will determine the fate of both the world and the astral plane, it’s also what Istus said she would give the boys time to choose as seen in the second quote. She’s granting them the time they need to find and make that third choice

The first one just looks like an ocean made out of tar, with a black sky above it, and this tar is like bubbling, and you see some stuff moving under the surface of the tar but you can’t make out what it is, and that’s on the left picture. And the one on the right is just a grey world, covered in ash, that is just completely barren and lifeless.

Shoutout to bee for figuring this out a few weeks back! This is what we believe the boys will have to choice between, saving the astral plane (1st) or saving the physical (2nd). I am not as confident in HOW this will play out, but it is relevant.

UPDATE: all but confirmed that these are descriptions of what the astral/physical planes are becoming due to the hunger!!

-  "I have one last prophecy for you, Taako. Something you will need to know. In your hour of greatest need, you will find the power that you seek from the man wreathed in flames."

speaks for itself

the patches THB recieved were red robe patches

-  And they’re these dark blue circle, like, iron-on emblems. And inside of each of these blue fabric circles, there are twelve more circles, all of different colors around the outside of each badge. And in the middle is a word that’s written in a language that none of you recognize. You cannot read, you cannot make out what the word is, what these badges are for, because you cannot read the word in the middle. And tucked in between these three badges is a note that says, “For Your Eyes Only”

- "(..) Sewn into its breast you see a familiar sight- you see a circular patch with a design containing twelve multi-colored circles and a sort of shifting imparsible text in the middle of it. Only Magnus, you can read that text plain as day, it says “I.P.R.E.”

update: basically confirmed, these were THEIR redrobe patches

TL;DR

Time is looping on repeat, every loop being a slight variant but always ending with The Hunger swallowing the world whole, causing a reset.

The vision the voidfish showed Magnus is the happenings of every loop.

Refuge’s entire existence is foreshadowing for the global loop

There is a second voidfish suppressing everyone’s memories of said loops, especially the red robes. the reason Magnus and Lich-Barry remember is because they died (CONFIRMED)

This means that literally anyone alive could be another red robe without knowing

The red robes are a group of seven, who worked together to gather information about the loop and try to break it.

LUP was the leader of the red robes (it was davenport)

The patches the boys received in the candlenights lunar interlude are red robe patches (CONFIRMED)

Maureen’s prophecy about the seven birds is about the red robes

Paloma's prophecy about making the third choice is about THB choosing between the astral and physical plane somehow, possibly by breaking the loop

Istus used her divine power to give the boys more time to make the third choice, which is, to break the loop

here is my tag for this theory! if you have any additions, questions or find mistakes please send an ask!! i love discussing it ^_^