#there is ONE character (reyna) that shouldn't be shipped with people

[wrongcaitlyn]

for pride month how abt we don't ignore the aro/ace rep that rick has given us with the hunters of artemis. this is a reminder that they are not allowed to date girls. and reyna's arc in toa is not of her realizing she is a lesbian, it is of her realizing that she is ace (very heavily implied aroace, even if rick hasn't said that exactly).

[ellilyre]

Reyna is aro/aroace and you shouldn't ship her

(by an aro guy)(please read (especially if you ship her romantically)

(simple lexicon : aromantic = little/no romantic attraction. asexual = little/no sexual attraction. alloromantic = average romantic attraction.)

Here I mostly talk about aromantism bc 1)as its children books there are not mentions of sexual attractions 2)I am aro but not ace, and I do not want to talk for a community I am not part of.

I can't find the screenshot but Rick said she's ace. Ace ≠ aro, but I wouldn't be surprised if Rick (a white cishet man (love him tho)) doesn't know the difference between the 2 (just like many queer ppl active within the community). So I assume he means she's aroace.

The discourse she has in ToA where she explains she doesn't need a romo partner is the most aro-coded thing I've ever seen a character said. I teared up because it's the first time I see a character actually vocalizing what I feel.

Shipping Reyna romantically is just like shipping Nico with a woman.

"But aro ppl can still date !"

Yes they can (i have dated romantically both before and after figuring out my aromantism). The questions "can we ship aro characters" is often talked about in the aro community, and one answer often comes up :

Most aro ppl are not comfortable with allo ppl shipping aro characters.

To me, this sentence feels like an excuse to ship her and ignore what aromantic is (in most cases) about. You want to give her the label so you're inclusive and an ally, but you don't want to commit to it and actually address her identity bc it would change from your habits (shipping).

You have every character. You can take any characters and ship them. There are less a-spect characters than homo/bi/trans characters. Often, if we call a character aro-coded we get called homophobic for "ignoring" the bond they have with a same-sex character (that could very well be platonic). In 19 years, Reyna is the first character that I actually can relate to.

Why can't Reyna's identity be as important and respected as Nico's ? Do you only care about queer representation when it work for your ships ? Do your support stops when the identities are not longer "fun" ? I am genuinely asking these questions.

Do not erase her identity and what she represents for many people. Shipping is less important than queer representation.

[knifvd]

SHIPPING INFO — ♥ answer the following for your muses so people know how shipping works on your blog !!

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER(S)?

i write a lot of original characters , so any of the ships i have with my writing partners ( katarina/mirage w/spookyhubby , aiko/eiji w/solivcgant , jay/django w/puckish-rogue , aiko/el w/cupid ) . i have a lot of original characters that i don't write anymore , but i love their old ships too , but the main reason i don't write them is because people wouldn't be interested in them :( as ppl r barely interested in my ocs rn a;lskjdfa;lskjdf

but in terms of canon characters i don't have any really big ships that are canon , i have preferred ships that i have for them even though i don't write them necessarily , but the others would be ( sage/yoru w/galaxythixf , sage/reyna , sage/viper , neon/fade , soraka/voli w/valhiir , soraka/therapy , soraka/sett , soraka/pantheon , lux/jinx , lux/caitlyn w/ferinehuntress , soraka/vayne , uhh ... i just be rattling this shit off give me a moment ... viktor/jayce , mc/eiji w/solivcgant , mc/seven , ethan/therapy , chara/therapy ... sage/jett ) although the list isn't extensive , and doesn't cover everything : i think chemistry is the most important in a ship and if two characters have it then i'm always gonna consider them an otp LMAO !

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?

it very much depends on where those muses are in life ; generally for younger muses i don't really believe or like age gaps more than 2 - 3 years , esp with muses that are ... at the very least below the age of 20 , but i base it very much off what i think and find comfortable in relationships in my life . like , katarina is around 28? 29 and one of her main ships is around 39 , but i find that more appropriate since they're both well and full adults .

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED NSFW?

i think a lot of it borders on suggestive when you're mentioning arousal , but any touching of things that necessarily would be covered by underwear is enough to call it nsfw in my book .

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?

um . yeah . i think a lot of shipping comes from the muses chemistry , obviously , but a lot of it also comes from how much chemistry i have with the mun outside of it . a lot of times if i don't feel comfortable with a mun it'll be a lot harder to ship with me .

WHO ARE OTHER CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH?

see question 1 . but also , therapy .

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?

yes . generally , yes , especially if you want to pursue something outside of flirty based chemistry threads or asks . but also , if you want to ship with one of my characters based on what you've seen on the dash , i'm a dm away . i'm not as scary as you guys might percieve me as .

ARE YOU SHIP-OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?

... no ? to both ? i think all relationships ( romantic , kinship , friendship , familial , etc ) to muses are an integral part of developing the muse you have , obviously , but your entire muse shouldn't revolve around one ship / ships , they're more than just the people they're connected to .

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?

i'm a multifandom blog . pls don't ask me that . for valorant i guess it'd be sage/reyna , sage/yoru , sage/omen and sage/jett , for league it'd be ... lux/jinx? i guess? or aphelios/sett or ezreal/ekko and ... a lot of others ; there's like 130+ champs in league BAHA . i don't have many fandoms outside of that .

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?

ask . unless you're cupid or ori then we're forceshipping already /lh but yeah ! i love shipping , and i suck at responding , so please , if you want to ship , please just ask me , and if i say no , that just means i can't see it for the two you mentioned , but that doesn't mean no to shipping with you in GENERAL ! so please , feel free to ask me / dm me or add me on discord ( as of 26/10 , it's soworakas ) !

tagged by : stolen ! tagging : @spookyhubby , @dhmpire , @daemonry , @toxichem , @galaxythixf , @ferinehuntress , @vonerde , @puckish-rogue , @bitterseadrop and you , the person reading this !

[takaraphoenix]

In TOA, Riordan wrote that the entire camp was trying to find a mate for Reyna and that everyone but Jason knew about her conversation with Venus, making her the target of gossip, pity, and unwanted recommendations. He then had her join the hunters of Artemis and later declared on twitter that he wrote her as an asexual character.

Omitting the fact that no one at Camp Jupiter mentioned Reyna's love life in HOO and that that seems more like a indirect criticism to fans, does any of the character's conclusion make sense?

I mean, there was talk of Reyna's love life in HoO, specifically from Reyna herself who expressed interest in Percy, and before that from Jason about them perhaps being involved in TLH (before, ya know, Riordan retconned that there was never-ever-ever anything between them because Riordan has this warped perception that any other attractions invalidate the current one, so to booster Jason and Piper, Jason could not possibly have an ex-girlfriend).

It was part of what made Reyna so incredibly interesting in HoO, because she had unfulfilled romantic plotlines whereas Riordan tends to herd characters off like that ship was named Arc II and not Argo II.

That being said, I think that the conclusion both makes total sense as well as not making sense at all, so let me elaborate.

Firstly, the not making sense part. Her being asexual reads very much like an allo doing the most surface level reading up on aspec identities.

Because what he wrote for her very much reads more as an aroace identity than an allo ace identity, and thus reads like an allo author who doesn't know how to separate sexual attraction from romantic attraction and just conflates them.

If she were actually asexual, there is no... no reason to join the Riordan-version of a cloister (I have many negative thoughts on his interpretation of the hunt) and avoid all advances, there is no reason to hide away from romantic advances and avoid them all at all cost?

She'd still experience romantic attraction as an asexual person, so why shouldn't she go on dates, meet people, get into a relationship?

It would actually have been a great way to have her come out as asexual to her partner and explain that while she does feel romantic attraction, she may not be interested in sex (and I am saying "may" because many asexual people are interested in sex, despite not feeling sexual attraction).

All of that, coupled with the twitter outing, makes it not really feel... fulfilling. It makes it feel half-assed through and through, both in the research on this identity department, as well as the coming out. Because there is nothing more frustrating than when writers prove to be too incompetent to put their story on actual paper and instead of giving a character a fulfilling arc and a real, canonical coming out, they just post some random tweet like that's worth shit.

Sure, hearing the author confirm a queer identity even in a non-canonical setting can be rewarding in that it recognizes a queer identity, but... it's not representation, it's a cop-out. Representation happens in the canon medium at hand.

Now, if he actually pulls through with this and has Reyna come out in one of the approximately 125 coming PJOverse books that he's going to write? Because it is worth noting that we're not talking about a closed story here and that his tweet could just be a "hey, guys, it's a slow build up and the coming out is gonna happen later but I want to clarify that yes, this is canon". That's the good faith argument here.

And on that note, I want to say why it is a satisfying conclusion, particularly for me as an asexual lesbian.

One of my favorite characters of all time is ace? Holy shit, that's a massive win! A leading character in one of the biggest YA series of all time is canonically ace? Hades yes, that is amazing and could do so much for visibility and also for helping younger aces figure themselves out earlier (provided, of course, that he actually puts the conclusion in a book).

I'm an even bigger fan of late coming out stories. Stories of queer people who pretended to be like everyone else around them to fit in and may have even lied to themselves.

Because there's a modern trend of gold-star-ism. As in, these queers came out of the womb queer, they have always known they were x identity!! Now, those very much exist, but the amount of this kind of representation in media very much warps the perception. Because not everybody always knew and many queer people struggle for varying amounts of time with finding their identity.

It's never 'too late' to confirm a character as any queer label, because real actual queer people may go through allo/CIS/het pretenses before coming out and if you take a character you previously portrayed in such a way and give them a journey into realizing they may be any share of queer, that is still a valid portrayal of real experiences and, even if on a meta-level it may be a "retcon" in that the author may not have always considered this character queer, it still very much checks out in-universe as a realistic journey.

Lastly, I want to get into the part about indirect criticism of fans. The way you put that, I'm not a hundred percent sure what you mean, but I'm assuming you're referring to the many fans who headcanon Reyna, or go a step farther and think she should be canonically a lesbian. I do remember backlash from that side of the fandom in regards to this.

But... again, as an asexual lesbian, I don't entirely see a problem there unless you do not actually know what asexuality means. Because she could very well still be a lesbian. You could still headcanon her as a lesbian. So, this isn't exactly something Riordan did that spites and destroys that headcanon, and the uproar about it was equally... pointless? The only way this could have been an indirect criticism toward fans would have been if he indeed just conflated aro and ace, and if the fans who took offense, also conflate aro and ace.

So, that's my answer to your question. It is most definitely not a perfect way of handling this and I hope he does something more with this in future books that truly puts this identity into a canonical framework, I hope he differentiates aromantic and asexual identities here more clearly, but I'm glad for any representation to come out of even clumsy writing.

[duckprintspress]

Our monthly “created works round-ups” are Duck Prints Press’s opportunity to spotlight some of the amazing work that people working with us have done that ISN’T linked to their work with Duck Prints Press. We include fanworks, outside publications, and anything else that creators feel like sharing with y’all! Inclusion is voluntary and includes anything that they decided “hey, I want to put this on the created work’s round-up!”

Check out what they’ve shared with us this month…

-

Strife by Smehur / @smehur

art || darksiders || no ships || general audiences || no major warnings apply || complete

summary: Strife playing with his magic on some long forgotten world.

TUMBLR - INSTAGRAM - TWITTER

-

Ikarose by Elsin / @lostinthewinterwood

fiction || the good place || platonic or familial || kamilah al-jamil & tahani al-jamil || general audiences || creator choses not to use warnings || 1,105 || complete

summary: Icarus, in dual.

(or: what's it like, to be Kamilah Al-Jamil?)

other tags: Character Study, Relationship Study, Canonical Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Mythology, Magic, A Study in Metaphor, Narrative Ghost Tahani Al-Jamil

AO3

-

in hellish darkness (even skulls shine like stars) by nottesilhouette / @nottesilhouette

fiction || percy jackson & the olympians || platonic or familial || teen & up || no major warnings apply || 2,098 || complete

summary: Nico and Reyna make their way back from Greece, the Statue of Athena in tow. Along the way, they talk about loneliness, being left behind, and love.

other tags: cw: depression, cw: PTSD

TUMBLR - AO3

-

Not a Spiral but a Spring by Shadaras / @shadaras

fiction || quanzhi gaoshou | the king's avatar - hudie lan || platonic or familial || fang xuecai & team thunderclap || teen & up || no major warnings apply || 44,628 || complete

summary: Team Thunderclap trades Captain Xiao Shiqin to Team Excellent Era in exchange for Liu Hao—slotted to become Thunderclap's new captain—and He Ming.

Thunderclap’s Vice-captain, Fang Xuecai, is uncertain how this trade will impact the team in Season Nine, but he's going to do his best to ensure the team plays their best. After all, a team is more than one person; losing their captain shouldn't mean losing their identity or their spirit. However, Season Nine of the Glory Professional Alliance will test this belief in a myriad of unexpected ways...

other tags: ESports, Toxic Workplace Relationship, Friendship, Teamwork, Character Study

AO3

​-

Happy reading and happy creating! 😀

Who We Are: Duck Prints Press LLC is an independent publisher. We work with fan creators to publish their original work. We are particularly dedicated to publishing stories and art featuring characters from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Love what we do? Sign up for our monthly newsletter and get previews, behind-the-scenes information, coupons, and more! Want to support the Press, read about us behind-the-scenes, learn what’s coming down the pipeline, get exclusive teasers, and claim free stories? Back us on Patreon monthly!

[1940snico]

PJO/HOO/TOA ships (and how I view them)

Percabeth: the mvp since the beginning. If you don't ship it, then you'll be thrown out of the fandom.

Frazel: The pair of cinnamon rolls who do NOT deserve all this shit that the gods are giving them. They do handle it quite well though.

Solangelo: no one really saw it coming but ITS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING EVER FIGHT ME ON THIS I DARE YOU

Theyna: Not canon but so heavily implied that I consider it canon. I mean Reyna found Thalia's eyes distracting ???

Caleo: I will say it. I hate this. It shouldn't have happened. In my opinion, Leo should have been asexual. That would have been great for his character because it says he gets along better with machines than people like his father. I'm sorry but ace leo for the win.

Jasper: I don't really ship it. It seems too forced. It could have more story to it.

Jercy: I ship it but only outside of canon. It's fucking amazing and funny, but percabeth is too strong.

Pipabeth: I like it. I don't have too much of an opinion on it though.

Lazel: 1. ace leo 2. Hazel only was confused because he's a lot like Sammy. Leo is not Sammy though.

Perico: Nooooooooooooooooo. Nico's thing is getting over his crush on Percy. Percy isn't even his type!

Jasico: Jason is there for Nico. That's it. Nico wouldn't be dumb enough to fall for the strong handsome leader twice.

Valdangelo: No. No. No. No. No. They do NOT have good chemistry at all. I'd rather have Perico as canon.

Those are all the ships I'm doing because I'm tired.

[wyrdest]

PJO/HOO/TOA ships (and how I view them)

Percabeth: the mvp since the beginning. If you don't ship it, then you'll be thrown out of the fandom.

Frazel: The pair of cinnamon rolls who do NOT deserve all this shit that the gods are giving them. They do handle it quite well though.

Solangelo: no one really saw it coming but ITS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING EVER FIGHT ME ON THIS I DARE YOU

Theyna: Not canon but so heavily implied that I consider it canon. I mean Reyna found Thalia's eyes distracting ???

Caleo: I will say it. I hate this. It shouldn't have happened. In my opinion, Leo should have been asexual. That would have been great for his character because it says he gets along better with machines than people like his father. I'm sorry but ace leo for the win.

Jasper: I don't really ship it. It seems too forced. It could have more story to it.

Jercy: I ship it but only outside of canon. It's fucking amazing and funny, but percabeth is too strong.

Pipabeth: I like it. I don't have too much of an opinion on it though.

Lazel: 1. ace leo 2. Hazel only was confused because he's a lot like Sammy. Leo is not Sammy though.

Perico: Nooooooooooooooooo. Nico's thing is getting over his crush on Percy. Percy isn't even his type!

Jasico: Jason is there for Nico. That's it. Nico wouldn't be dumb enough to fall for the strong handsome leader twice.

Valdangelo: No. No. No. No. No. They do NOT have good chemistry at all. I'd rather have Perico as canon.

Those are all the ships I'm doing because I'm tired.