#that’s so. like. that is such inherent romance

[avianyuh]

Romance Novels | Choi Seungcheol

“What are you reading?” Seungcheol questioned as he sat down beside you on your shared bed. He lightly pulled back the book, peeping onto the vast span of words decorating the pages. "You look so focused." He smiled. You smiled as you placed the book down on your chest. 

“No offense Cheol, but I don’t think you’d be overly interested in this one.” To that, Seungcheol raised an eyebrow in surprise at you. 

“Now why would you assume that? I read the last book you gave to me.” He explained as he reached his hand over to grab the book sprawled across your chest. There was something so inherently sweet about the fact you were comfortable enough to grab each other’s things and investigate. You’d do the same whenever you’d catch Seungcheol spending more time than usual on his computer. Kicking him out of his seat if you weren’t sitting in his lap, investigating what had your boyfriend so fascinated. 

“Well, the last book I gave you was a mystery so I knew you’d be entertained.” Seungcheol nodded his head before resting it onto your shoulder. “But this book is a romance novel and I know you hate watching rom-coms with me so I just assumed you wouldn’t want to read this one…”, you trailed off. 

“In my defense, that last movie you made me watch was horrible, even you lost interest after the first hour.” He laughed as he lifted his head to get a better look at you. You rolled your eyes and playfully pushed his face away. “What’s this book about?” he asked curiously, glimpsing down at the back cover. 

“You seriously want to know?” you said in surprise. When Seungcheol smiled, responding back with a resounding yes, you obeyed his wish. “The main character is this girl who moves to this new city. She doesn’t know anyone and she’s working at this new job which was the whole reason behind her move. Anyways, turns out that she hates the new job and all of her coworkers treat her like an outsider. So she’s walking home from work one day and she’s thinking about how she’s homesick and how she regrets moving.” You watched as Seungcheol laid down on his stomach, propping his head up with a pillow, looking invested. You found the image adorable as you continued explaining the plot of your book. “So she’s walking, it’s pouring rain and her emotions get the best of her. She breaks down in tears, and she’s keeping her head down and all of a sudden she crashes into someone. And it turns out to be this guy she went to High School with that she hasn’t seen in almost a decade. So he takes her to this coffee shop and he’s trying to comfort her and then they start catching up on life. But the whole point of the book is him trying to convince her to stay in the city, and then they start to develop feelings for each other…Well, I don’t want to say anything else because I don’t want to spoil it.” Seungcheol nodded his head understandingly. 

“How far along are you in the book?” He asked, handing it back to you. You skimmed through it, counting how many chapters you had left. 

“Uh, I’m on chapter 19 and there’s 23 in total so I’m almost done. Why, you want to read it? Romance isn't your thing”, you teased. 

“Would it make you happy if I read it?” Seungcheol responded back which in turn made your heart melt. "And that's not entirely true, I only like our romance. It's better than the books you read." You covered your face as you tried to conceal your giggles.

“Aw, Cheol, I told you that you wouldn’t like it.” you shook your head as you crawled towards him so that you were now also situated on your stomach, face to face with your boyfriend. He leaned in, placing a soft, chaste kiss on your lips. 

“I figured I wouldn’t but I like to get involved with your hobbies because your eyes light up when I talk about all of your favorite books. I love to see you excited and happy.” He whispered, caressing your cheek. 

“So do I.”, you answered as you both sat up, leaning back in for another kiss. 

{A/N: HAPPY 2025 EVERYONE! This is the first post of the year and I can't wait for the new stories this year will bring. As always love you and mwahhhh💋}

[signanothername]

Hey, so i saw your answered asks about how you portray platonic relationships as just as deep and valuable as romantic relationships, and I just want to say I really appreciate it.

As a cupioromantic, though I do really desire a relationship like that it has only ever been because there's so much more that is societally acceptable to do with a partner than a friend. I want to hug my bestie more often, hold hands with them all the time and give them kisses. I want to say 'I love you' to them and have everyone understand that it is strictly platonic. But unfortunately that isn't how the world works. (As emphasis, I even got bullied off of reddit once pretty much because I made a post about getting a gf and everyone kept telling me that I wasn't actually aro)

I honestly don't even know what I'm saying anymore. It's not like you drawing skeletons being hyperaffectionate without sexiness or romance involved will change the world. But it has certainly changed mine. I feel more comfortable and validated in my identity than ever before. I just want to say thank you for that.

(You don't have to respond btw, I understand it might be awkward. I just really need to get this out. Sorry-)

Ah yes, the world continues to be arophopic and people being rude and making assumption about relationships that doesn’t concern them as per usual 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

Idk what’s hard about looking at two people being extremely affectionate and instead of thinking “wow they’re romantically involved” they think “wow they have a happy relationship whatever it may be”, it’s not that hard not to make assumptions and accept something as ambiguous until it’s explicitly stated

But alas, the human nature continues to not surprise me with its usual insensitivity

I’m sorry you had to endure that bullshit, you absolutely are a valid Aro and you absolutely can be in a relationship and still be Aro, never let anyone tell you otherwise <3

Not all Aros want to stay alone in a house, having a stable connection with someone, wanting to grow old with someone, isn’t inherently romantic in nature, and you can absolutely desire that stable connection and still be Aro af

But I’m genuinely glad my portrayal of these skelles made you feel validated, you deserve to feel validated <3333

Here’s some more affectionate skelles for you <333

[fourraccoonsinacoat]

Heinrix van Calox Lore & Headcannons

Don't mind me, I'm just over here chewing on some random thoughts about our favorite agent of the Inquisition. Playing around with some of it for a fic and writing it out because it helps me organize my thoughts.

Knight World Culture & Heinrix's Internalized Hatred of Psykers

Having grown up on a Knight World, Heinrix would possess an internalized hatred for psykers (generally called "witches" on Knight Worlds) that we see him continually struggle with.

In Warhammer lore, many Knight Worlds survived the Age of Strife due to the fact that these worlds tended to shun psykers and not take advantage of the benefits of advanced machinery. So, when the warp imploded and AI told humanity to get fucked, many Knight Worlds were spared from the horrors of the Age of Strife and went on existing as they always had, led by a doctrine of tradition.

The noble families that lord over Knight Worlds hold to a rigorous belief in honor, fealty, social status, obligation, discipline and self-mastery. This creed is only reinforced by the Throne Mechanicum when, at 18, a prospective Knight pilot bonds with their Imperial Knight suit. The Throne Mechanicum is the cybernetic control hub of an Imperial Knight, and it connects to the pilot via neural interface implants in the pilot's brain. Through this neural connection, the Throne Mechanicum implants positive associations with the concepts of honor, fealty, etc., when the pilot bonds with their Knight. And it continues to do so over the course of the Knight's life. This is why these beliefs are so ingrained in Knight World nobles - because it is constantly reinforced by their bonds with their Imperial Knight suits.

On Knight Worlds, being a psyker is to be something impure, rotten and dangerous. They are the antithesis of everything the nobles hold dear and their shunning of psykers was what kept many of those worlds safe during the Age of Strife. Psykers are seen as unpredictable, violent and corrupted by the warp, and thus have no place in Knight World society. If not outright killed, they are always exiled and sent away on the Imperial Black Ships, just as Heinrix's family did with him.

Though Heinrix never went through the Ritual of Becoming - the rite to bond with an Imperial Knight suit - he was certainly being prepared to and would have grown up with the belief that psykers are corrupted and dangerous. Thus, when his psyker abilities manifested during his adolescent years, everything he believed about psykers was turned inward and became truths about himself.

Time and experiences have altered and evolved his beliefs, and we see him show empathy and understanding for other psykers like Idira and the RT, if they are a psyker. However, at his core remains the belief that psykers are inherently lesser.

We see this time and again, especially on his romance route, with how he talks about himself and psykers, in general. During his romance scene in Commorragh, if the RT questions why he remains loyal to the Imperium, Heinrix will say that the Imperium "deemed me stable enough to keep me as a sanctioned psyker" - refering to the Imperium's sanctioning process for psykers the Imperium wants to enlist. In Heinrix's mind, it's only through the grace of the Imperium that a corrupted individual like him is allowed to live. Which brings me to...

Heinrix believes it's his duty to die for the Imperium.

Heinrix literally believes he owes his life to the Imperium of Man. He grew up believing psykers were evil and corrupt individuals, likely deserving of death. And then his own powers manifested and suddenly he was one of those evil and corrupt individuals.

Something to understand about the Imperium is that sanctioned psykers are rare in Warhammer lore. While there are not any concrete numbers, conjecture from Warhammer books, etc., puts the ratio of those identified as psykers by the Inquisition as one in one billion. Then, in order to sustain the Astronomican, roughly 1,000 psykers perrish daily after being locked inside coffin-like devices bound to the Golden Throne. Inside, their essence is extracted and used to power the Astronomican. Psykers are constantly being shipped to Terra in order to fuel the Golden Throne, and the Imperium is, of course, holding onto backlogs of psykers in case ships don't come in or Terra gets cut off. This is what the majority of psykers in the Imperium are used for, and not many psykers are deemed worthwhile enough to go through sanctioning, which is also limited by the number of sanctioning implants available. Remember, no one is making these devices anymore.

The existence of a psyker in the 40k universe is not a happy one. If you manage to not get sacrificed to the Golden Throne, or used as a test subject or whatever else the Imperium is doing with psykers these days, the most common way to serve as a sanctioned psyker is to become an Astropath. Which sounds like it sucks. Very few are chosen for other service.

Considering all of this, it's hardly surprising that Heinrix feels he owes his loyalty to the Imperium. The Imperium allowed him to live. And then the Inquisition came along and saw something in him worth making him an acolyte for.

After being disowned by his family and having his implants ripped from his body, Heinrix likely thought all that awaited him after the Black Ship was death as a sacrifice to the Golden Throne. And yet he was pardoned and given another chance at life, as long as he uses that life to serve the Imperium.

If the RT passes a Persuasion check to get Heinrix to talk about what happened when he used the cogitator on Kiava Gamma, he even concludes his explanation by saying his "path leads to one place, and one place only."

This man fully expects to, and is ready to, die for the Imperium. The Imperium is the only thing giving him purpose. The Imperium accepted him after his family disowned him. The Imperium is all he has, and he will use the life they allowed him to keep and serve them faithfully until that life is used up. In his mind, he deserves nothing more and ought to be happy to be given the opportunity to exist and serve.

Heinrix is extremely self-concious about his appearance.

We get a hint about this in Act 5 when talking to Tanakia, a member of Calcazar's retinue. She mocks him by talking about the attention he paid to his hair and eyes, a sore point for Heinrix considering that, by the time he joined the Inquisition, he's lost an eye and had a chunk carved out of his head in order to remove various implants.

During his romance scene in Commorragh, he refers to himself as a "maimed freak" and talks about how he used his biomancy to repair his damaged cranium and eye in order to "look more like a human again."

If you're romancing Heinrix, he even leaves after you release him in the Anatomical Opera. When you find him in the Pit, he talks about how he didn't want the others, or the RT, to see him in the condition he was in.

Considering his childhood as a noble on a Knight World, care for appearance would be something strongly instilled within him. Knight Worlds are feudal worlds with highly aristocratic societies, so the concept of presenting a buttoned-up and well-kempt appearance would be important for children of noble families.

Heinrix talks about spending years working to reconstruct his eye, which I think also hints at him having a fastitidious and perfectionist personality. I have a personal headcannon that he dislikes the fact he wasn't able to perfectly match his original eye color, and it's a sore spot for him.

Okay, this is a lot longer than I originally intended for it to be. I've got more, but need to stop turning this man over and over in my head and get some actual work done.

[grumfield]

thinking about that post of urs re: dark romance and how infantilizing and lowkey misogynistic the discourse can be. like do these women know they’re are romanticizing something that is #bad and #harmful, someone save these silly creatures from the horrors infecting their pure minds. and then like if someone would to propose that lRambo or John wick were romanticizing murder and it’s very concerning so many men are into it that it’d be seen as ridiculous. anyway that thought of urs is very true and very prescient especially with the 2024 Nosferatu.

Literally the media politics of what media thing causes “irreparable damage” is so rooted in misogyny and funnily enough ties a lot into the actual theme of Nosferafu which makes the discourse all the more ironic.

And what’s crazier is the things that so much of the discourse is chalked up to the idea that women are inherently incapable of separating enjoyment from personal desire when it comes to depiction of specially sexual subjects when literally George R R Martin—or any male artist for that matter—can portray or discuss it without scrutiny.

And even outside of fantasy like John Wick or romance, this also happens when it comes to trying to take a more serious lens because IMO women’s art is inherently viewed as quaint or indulgent in the cultural mindset. Unless it is intentionally masculinized it is viewed as worth no more than a quilt or any other kind of textile art because they are culturally viewed as “lesser” due to their gendered associations.

So to that extent portrayals of sensuality or “problematic content”—unless done blatantly—is viewed as flippant or of less worth than “serious” art any is less respected, therefore without worth or serious thought.

As much as I have beef with Colleen Hoover’s behavior as a person, the treatment of her work is really an exceptional example of this. A story about overcoming abuse cannot have merit because it is made by a “women’s fiction” author and has a romance thread with another person. It is inherently trashy.

[getsuuna]

real, and let me make this even worse by adding a little something :D

in the Light Novel, Masachika has NEVER asked him about Kanae, never teased him about Kanae, never asked him anything about Kanae😭😭 that one illustration was taken soooo out of context and it can have many possibilities and none of them is inherently romantic

friendly little reminder for the Fandom that Sanemi blushed once because of Masachika.

he got out of the mansion after getting treatment by Kanae (and after actively comparing her touch to his mother's...to which he luckily did NOT blush btw) and he saw Masachika there waiting for him, and he suddenly got "dizzy" and then Masa approaches him and asks him why he's red😭😭 he realized, just like Kanae told him earlier, that Masachika cared about him and saw him as a kind person,,, and he must've been really flustered/embarrassed.

so that illustration either refers to that, since Novels' illustrations always have context in the text itself, or it's the lighthearted teasing about romance in general and maybe Masachika might've mentioned Kanae off-screen as an example just to make it more embarrassing given the fact they both knew her personally

and there could be more interpretations, but in either case, Sanemi only blushed out of embarrassment 😭 that's a teenage tsundere right there, it was funny to see and there's nothing really deep in it

so at last, we don't even know if Sanemi liked her or was just fond of her calming presence, but Kanae sure as hell didn't show any signs of liking him more than a stubborn and impulsive acquaintance or friend at best🖐🏻

Gyomei isn't omniscient, he speculates and that's it... ObaMitsu is entirely different from SaneKana for lots of reasons, one of which is that they were obvious from the start and even Muichiro noticed Obanai liked her ...tbf the only mf that didn't notice was Sanemi, given the fact he's canonically dense to romance other than canonically uninterested; which is why, even if he had a tiny teenage crush it was absolutely meaningless as we clearly saw; the rest is pure misinformation that some toxic shippers had spread around getting advantage of the fact that so many people in this Fandom are 1) children 2) illiterate 3) delusional 4) naive 5) all (or some) of the above

ohhh and don't get me started about GiyuShino shippers and how delusional they can be, no wonder that SaneKana shippers are usually GiyuShino shippers as well😭😭😭 no hate to the nice shippers of both, but y'all are rare. I especially don't mind GiyuShino because at least there are some interactions and potential, if we ignore 90% of Shinobu's character arc, that is... I love Shinobu too dearly to pair her up with a male sorry, but GiyuShino isn't as bad as SaneKana imo, I used to ship it too before reading the manga and other canon media and now I see both GiyuShino and SaneKana as besties..their platonic counterparts are just peak

srry for this yet another rant😭😭

Does anyone else get pissed off when someone is naming all the dead people that sanemi considered important and they mention kanae for some reason???

"Poor sanemi he lost his mother, genya, his other siblings, masachika and kanae" what does kanae even contribute to his character at all??? I saw a person get jumped by ppl on twitter cuz they mentioned how she is not important to sanemi's character at all and shit I agree; she literally did nothing to be even considered important to him, sanemi doesn't even have some special dialogue abt her or anything

[suoulfillem]

what’s crazy to me is i remember nothing about the last season of house besides the last episode where house fakes his death to avoid going to prison so he can be with wilson in the few months he has left to live before dying of cancer and they travel off into the sunset on motorbikes together. peak romance

[rendevok]

Moon dance 🌕✨

[mephoj]

late night chat

[vaguely-concerned]

rook x lucanis: romance with a commentary track! solas and spite contribute with their thoughts and opinions along the way whether anyone wants them to or not. it's like a MST3K episode up in here as you try to get hot and heavy. in. in the pantry. love among the radishes at the end of the world (rifftrax version)

[yappacadaver]

Crazy wild shit man

[frnkiebby]

literally me today~🎃

[mermaidsirennikita]

romance hero: *kidnaps heroine, sleeps with anything that moves, keeps secrets, gets overprotective, shuts the heroine out at the slightest conflict*

romance readers: BOOK BOYFRIEND! he perhaps provided a warm brick for her feet, or is rich, or simply hot

romance heroine: *is rude*

romance readers: WOW. I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS MAN HAS SO LITTLE SELF-RESPECT. HOW CAN HE POSSIBLY ABIDE BY THIS MISERABLE HUMAN BEING BREATHING HIS AIR. DNF,

[specialagentartemis]

something I see a lot, and feel like I have to remind myself regularly not to fall into the trap of:

It’s easy to relate to a character. It’s easy to see yourself in them, to see them as Like You. There’s power in that.

But I’ve met several people now who’ve gotten really angry and upset with me for not liking their fave, or for having a very different interpretation of the character than they do. People who relate so hard to a character, project so hard onto a character, that me not liking them, me acknowledging that the character is a villain, or me just having a different interpretation of that character’s relationships and motives, feels like an attack on them as a person—and they respond to me as such.

I’ve seen it happen enough that I try to consciously remind myself. Other’s people’s interpretations of a character are not an attack on me. I know who I am and that will not change if other people are wrong about have a different perspective on my favorite character.

[wyrmsgatebait]

You know how things can go so terribly south if you totally ignore a companion's questline...well I've been thinking about how none of the companions ask Tav about their own problems. I'm just thinking about what it might be like to reach the end of the adventure-everyone's questlines tied up in neat bows, the Absolute thwarted, city saved. Everyone's patting themselves on the backs and talking about settling down now that things are finally peaceful, all the while Tav is just standing there shattered. They let so many leads go. People they loved had died while they were tending to their party's problems. They helped others get well-deserved vengeance but no one has even asked why they need to leave camp to be alone each night. Tav just thought if they gave it their all to aiding others and kept patient then someone would offer a hand to them.

[spacedlexi]

so often i see people try to downplay violet and minervas relationship like it wasnt Real enough or was some Inferior Romance that her relationship with clementine could Never compare to, and i find it so annoying and boring

she LOVED minerva!! and its okay that she did!! she was her first love!! childhood best friends turned girlfriends!! seeing her being so heartbroken and miserable about what happened to minnie, how deeply and desperately she missed her, hugging that bed frame so pathetically. but clementine makes her CARE again. makes her LOVE again. slowly violet becomes comfortable with the idea of opening her heart up to people again, after trying so hard not to because the pain of losing people she cared about was too much to bear (especially when she blamed herself for them being gone)

then she learns minnie didnt die. shes falling in love with clem while grappling with the fact that minnie might still be out there??

then she meets minnie in the woods. but minnie has changed just like she has. theyre both different people now. and slowly violet is forced to come to terms with the fact that the person she loved so deeply isnt that person anymore??

violet at the beginning mourning minerva and blaming herself, to shooting her to save clems life. she LOVED minerva once, but she doesnt like the person she is now. and shes not gonna let her hurt anyone else she cares about. shes done mourning her by the time they get to the bridge, only crying out for tenn

like idk i just find their relationship evolution to be so interesting and sad as shit. the fact that they once loved each other so much and it has now come to this?? but violet makes her choice and she Chooses clementine, because she admires and loves clementine, probably similar to the way she used to admire and love minerva if the way she talked about her is any indication

i just think "i never thought i would ever feel this way again" is way more interesting than "wow minnie Never made me feel like This"

[kainebell]

shipwrecked is so fun when you don’t have a bitch in your ear yapping about how it’s just plotless smut. For one thing, it’s one of the least smutty 17+ books (it’s very obviously more focused on romantic development than sexual tension, especially since you have an easier time surviving the book if you’ve strengthened your bond enough), and for another, who would I be to turn my nose up at a begrudgingly tender relationship between two stubborn assholes, even if the plot is lacking 😌🙏