#that's a rhetorical question it's never

[slushglow]

okay okay so I’m curious, how would your emo usagi and leo like become official. Is it like they just gradually get closer and they like acknowledge it at some point and have it like that because it’s nice OR do they run around each other until one of them confesses OR do they sit down and talk about it? I really like your word vomit, gives me a good time figure out the characters! (Would it be okay if I write about them?)

okay so i have a silly idea . but it makes me giggle so just hear me out

ngl i still haven't decided who falls first . i think i might make a poll on either twitter or insta and see what everyone else thinks just bc i'm so torn like i could see literally EITHER of them falling first !!! UGH

anyways . so i think at some point in their friendship they r like flirtatious in that "haha i would so marry my best friend fr they're such a catch 🤪✌️" kind of way and it's just one of their inside jokes u know . like leo buys usagi a coffee before visiting him at work and usagi is like "god i could kiss u rn" BAHAHAHA stuff like that u know ???

and they never think anything of it bc it's just natural and some friendships roll like that !!! it was never meant to be that srs for them .

well one day i just imagine leo looking at usagi and like the guy is smiling for once and leo is like . man he has such a nice smile he should do it more often . i would so marry him. wait . OH FUCK . ITS NOT A JOKE ANYMORE !!!! WEE WOO WEE WOO !!!!!!! LMFAO

i imagine leo kind of freaking out at first bc usagi has never seemed to care about that kind of stuff and shows no interest in other people so leo always kinda assumed that usagi just didn't want a relationship ever . they never talked about relationships much and usagi just rolled with the unserious flirtatious jokes and leo's already had his freak out about being gay (or somewhere adjacent) a good while ago and things remained the same between them . but like this changes p much everything !! (except it doesn't but i'll explain that later)

leo actually cannot see himself spending his life with anyone else. he could date other people but usagi is ALWAYS going to be his person and he knows that he's usagi's without even having to ask . it's been that way for yrs at this point . they have seen each other at their worst and their best . like that's his mf HOMIE . but he's scared about how this is going to change their relationship bc he doesn't want to lose one of the best people he's ever met or have their dynamic off kilter so he sits on it for a while, and he's just falling deeper the whole time !!

well little does he know that usagi actually feels the same way, but he's fine if their relationship never goes anywhere . he doesn't think it would change much in the scheme of things but he still doesn't ask leo outright bc he's fine just being friends, but leo is the first person he's ever felt this way about (i hc him as being on the ace/aro spectrum) and he also doesn't want to lose their dynamic but he's not as freaked out bc like i said, he's never cared much for relationship stuff !!! it's not something he ever thought he would get to receive or reciprocate so he just never put it in his priority cards u know ??? but leo is just so endearing that he can't help but be like man . i would be so cool being w this guy for the rest of my life HAHAHA

well one night they're just hanging out like usual i think and leo literally cannot BEAR IT anymore bc he has been sitting on his feelings for so long, but usagi has also never made him feel stupid or like anything he says is weird or anything u know ?? like usagi just GETS HIM and it's always been easy to talk to each other (once they got past the first stages of becoming friends lol) so leo just outright asks "if i asked u to marry me would u actually" and that's not what he meant to say at all but it's already out there and usagi is looking at him and leo is like OH FUCK OH FUCK WHY DID I SAY THAT FUCK PREPARE TO JUMP OFF THIS ROOF AND PORTAL THE FUCK AWAY

and hes just expecting the worst bc usagi is silent for a sec, but then he's just like "yeah. i would." all blunt as hell and leo is like 😦 HOLY SHIT but then usagi is like "but that's a stupid thing to ask considering u haven't even asked me to be ur bf yet idiot" and he's all 🤨🤨 but inside he is . so happy

and leo is so fucking giddy he is smiling like an idiot and he grabs usagi's hands and he's like "my homie in future matrimony lmfao" and usagi LAUGHS bc leo is such a dumbass but he's endearing as fuck and leo is so happy he made usagi laugh bc he can remember a time when the guy barely even smiled and it's just crazy how much they've both changed each other for the better .

and then hes like "no balls u won't kiss me rn" and usagi rolls his eyes bc that's such moronic way to ask for a kiss but he does it anyway and boom . two idiots giggling on a rooftop kissin n shit LOL

and then it's just natural the way they fall into each other and they r still best friends that just happen to kiss and it's like nothing ever changed at all . they're still as close as before and if anything they somehow get CLOSER .

and the rest is history 😎

i'll probably clean this up a little bit one day but i think that's my overall word vomit for how i think it would go . i'm not a huge fan of miscommunication or one sided pining and stuff or them running around being miserable about each other . i just don't see it going that way cause they're already so close u know ?? these dudes deserve to be happy and be able to confide in each other !! they've both already had such shitty things happen to them (usagi's backstory will be explained in the future soonish . leo's is self explanatory LMFAO) so i wanted their get together to be sweet and earnest . LOL

okay lots of word vomit again so sorry HAHAHA

to answer ur other question i don't mind at all !! IN FACT PLSSSS PLS TAG ME IN WHATEVER U WRITE WHEREVER U WRITE IT SO I CAN GO APESHIT AT U HAHAHA

okay i hope this answered all ur questions . also SOOO sorry it took me so long to answer ur ask i had to sit on this for a while bc i wanted to give u a concrete answer . i've always had this scenario in my head for them tho i just needed a way to articulate it clearly lmao . THANKS SO MUCH FOR UR ASK 🥰🥰🥰

[mxtxfanatic]

Fandom Gripe #23: I know that fandom is in some deep denial about its treatment of female characters that are canonically involved with fan favorite m/m ships, but do y’all realize that when you disappear female characters from the narrative wholesale to push the idea that your canonically straight fav was “secretly gay all along!” you’re making several bad implications? That 1) bi men don’t exist, 2) bi men do exist, but those who have genuinely loved a woman before cannot genuinely love a man after that (therefore bi men don’t exist in practice), 3) women cannot inspire genuine love and devotion in men, therefore any relationship with a woman is “lesser” than the one they later have a man (see previous parenthesis), or 4) to acknowledge the existence of a lovable woman who isn’t a terrible person, where if a relationship previously existed, it did not end because of “incompatibility,” is enough to destabilize the present relationship between two queer men?

Because why is the tgcf fandom allergic to acknowledging that He Xuan had a whole ass fiancée that he loved? Why does no one ever seem to remember that the kidnappings and murders of He Xuan’s sister and fiancée were the final straws that sent him on his rampage, and he still keeps a shrine to them in the present-day of the story? Why is her entire existence and significance to He Xuan as a man, character, and to his character arc disappeared in favor of pushing Shi Qingxuan—the brother of the man responsible for his fiancée’s death—into that same role, as if to say that her impact on He Xuan is significant... just not when it's from her? Why does He Xuan’s life in fandom essentially begin not just after her death but because of it?

[spider-man-2o99]

individual stills of miguel Scampering on all fours and showing off his more distinct individual movement style (that he has because of his spider-man's Similar-but-still-distinctly-Weird-and-unique powers as compared to the more-graceful Others) so that i don't have 2 keep rewinding the clip(s) to see it. im REALLY excited to see him scuttling and skittering all over the place in the film just like he does in the comics-- and, like, seriously, Miguel Specifically being just. made Massive for some reason in his atsv design will never NOT be funny to me hes SO freakin Bouncy why did they Do That.

don't be Weird on my post or i'll kill you for real

[fieldworm]

Don't know if anybody has considered this but. Can Scarah talk to Holt and Jackson at the same time. Is Scarah the only one who can see them both at the same time... Guys... *looks derranged* is Scarah capable of visiting their headspace..

[teapetal44]

The state of the league of villains during act 3 is so sad man. Compress literally gave his ass for the league, got arrested and nobody gaf. Twice’s demise amounted to nothing, nobody cared. The whole discrimination arc Spinner was involved in was a mess. Suddenly Hori decided he cared about realism in his story so Toga dropped like a fly from a simple blood transfusion. Dabi is forced to sit and listen to Endeavor whine and yap about how sad he is about being an abusive pos, all the while nobody actually cares and he never got any real repercussions besides his family being (justifyingly) mean to him. Shigaraki was sidelined for a boring villain and was stripped off all his autonomy and agency.

[feathertailedcentipede]

would it be fair to say that "asexuals can still have sex though" is pretty much the same as saying "lesbians can still fuck men though"?

[surreal-duck]

would you guys still love me if i start ocposting for no reason out of nowhere

[butchviking]

why is "if you have a problem with transwomen in your bathrooms mind your own business/stay home" always directed at women. why's it never at men. if men have a problem w transwomen using the sex-segregated facilities that match their sex then they can get the fuck over themselves or stay at home. how about that.

[straightlightyagami]

I deeply regret having found out about tumors with teeth and hair and so on being a thing

[lover-of-mine]

One thing I will never understand is why some of y'all get so mad about Buck and Eddie being roughly the same age. I don't understand how people can learn that Eddie only enlisted when Shannon got pregnant and not just assume he was 18/19 when that happened. In what world a 23 yo would panic enlisted because his girlfriend got pregnant? I don't get it.

[justfriendsbestthings]

Who volunteers to explain hands up

[dingoskidneys]

How much of the self is present in the ancestor?

[hellshee]

if jace and luke have no ill feelings for aemond, then why did they look so disappointed and annoyed when they realized he was good during the training scene?? isn’t that your uncle who you feel bad that they lost an eye when they were maybe 10?? aren’t you glad he could still be this good even if he was at a disadvantage? hmmm

[presiding]

What is your favourite thing about Billie Lurk?

(Answers are obvious possibly but i love when people talk about her👍)

thanks for the ask!! YEAH ME TOO I love when people talk about Billie! I can't say I have a favourite thing specifically, but I can explain why she's my fav. apologies for not taking this qn literally, but -

short answer: she’s really cool

& you can stop reading there, or, for the maybe 2 mutuals who might have time to read this my thoughts on her as a character, her meta, and her character as raw potential...

long answer:

i considered making this entire thing a gush so you could read a gush about Billie. but, part of what draws me to her is that she’s not always well written, and in fandom she’s underrated for a literal protagonist.

since you ask...

billie is a cool character

when I played Dh2 (hadn't played Dh1), I was excited to see a black woman with disabilities who was captaining a massive ship by herself. wow.

then I discovered Billie’s backstory with Deirdre, the way she responded to that, then having to survive while living on the run, and her bisexuality. as well as her history with daud & delilah. fascinating!

she’s an outsider who has so much to lose, and knows what it's like to lose everything - having lost everything not once but three times - but nevertheless speaks truth to power. she's so brave! she went and helped Emily & Corvo and she must have known they might kill her! plus, she’s smart, she’s funny, she gets shit done, she’s gorgeous.

but... the meta

mild critique of fandom & arkane incoming.

skip this bit if you want - you've been warned twice now - jump to tired Hayao Miyazaki and read from there if you'd like my thoughts on writing her.

i thought Death of the Outsider was going to be amazing and then... well. *sad trombone* i've written about that before so i won't keep banging on. i figured others must be disappointed too, so I joined a few fandom spaces in hopes of finding camaraderie.

most people with complaints about DotO didn’t like how the Outsider and Daud were handled. which is valid & I agree. but it seemed like most paid no attention to Billie; when people talk about her it’s with respect to Daud, as opposed to in her own right. you could argue for fandom misogyny because people don’t talk about adult Emily Kaldwin that much either, but in Billie's case, it’s misogynoir (compare & contrast with the popularity of thomas, particularly the popularity of thomas portrayed as a white man for no particular reason that i've been able to discern - i keep asking around, is it in the books???).

i think this is a LOT better now than it used to be, which is fantastic. or perhaps i have found the correct echo-chamber? ha.

ultimately, The Fandom is a fraction of the entire picture, and not even the important bit since The Fandom is not who these games are made for. you can't make money relying on only your hardcore fans even if all of them spent a fortune on merch, this is true for any AAA game.

while it's true that Billie is underrated from a fandom perspective - but Billie as an underwritten protagonist is squarely Arkane’s fault.

it was reasonable when she was a side character - the lack of info in Dh2 makes perfect sense (if anything there was more lore in Dh2 which is kind of wild)-

- but as a protagonist in Death of the Outsider?

.... there’s lousy writing, and there’s whatever is going on with Billie Lurk, a black woman who mostly exists as a foil or saviour for light-skinned characters. In her own game there’s barely any of her own lore except where it's relevant to saving two dudes.

lore hints at, but barely touches on what race means in the Dh universe (xenophobia is stronger in Dh1; separate essay i guess), but Arkane has patted themselves on the back for portraying non-white characters, which feels like the same thing as the aesthetic of diversity we're seeing in advertising currently because it’s in marketing trend guides. it's self-congratulatory and it's a missed opportunity for deeper storytelling.

you can see an example of diversity at its most shallow in the way that Billie’s written: there’s little engagement with her as an entire person with history & wants & preferences, and the world she walks through in that game feels like it has nothing to do with her. you could make a case for alienation as a theme, but then, how do you handle the titular premise of 'Dishonored' without ever letting Billie make changes in an environment without a chaos system? it's disappointing from that angle too.

in my opinion, whatever it's worth, it was an accident Arkane created such an awesome character - they needed someone to betray daud. congrats billie.

all this said, it makes her an underdog as far as characters to enjoy & create art & stories for. it's nice to find so many like-minded, switched on people! <3

billie's character potential

she’s got a wealth of unexplored lore, being deeply intertwined with both Karnaca & Dunwall’s fates & criminal underbellies, as well as her connections to the witches & whalers, and three Empresses.

she’s lived a few distinct lifetimes and in the games we get to meet her at two peaks (KoD & DotO) & a low (Dh2 as Meagan).

her voice is very distinct, her dry & often dark humour is entertaining & fun to write. her perspective is really interesting - she’s had the widest variety of void-powers of anyone canonically, and she’s also lived through the highest highs and lowest lows.

she's got everything going for her :) i couldn't really pick a fav thing!

[sanchoyo]

watching a lot of cooking videos lately (great for background noise while working) and just saw one where a cat hops on the KITCHEN COUNTER while the lady is cooking 🤢 that is disgusting do ppl rly let their animals up there!! that kitty has stepped in its litter box maam!!! or it could shed on that counter!!! and you're prepping food up there rn!! ew!!!

[starlene]

Will the Les Mis discourse ever cease.