#they saved me from my own lesbian ways

[symphorine]

taking a walk around arlathan forest! to go to d'meta's crossing

the tree people. wish we could comment on it??? its definitely creepy. some look like they got turned in very intense moments, some look pretty peaceful. when did this happen? is this something that happens continually? either way it sure gives a particular ambiance :')

little neve and bellara banter about the forest, I think just when seeing the first tree people. it also played the same when i came through with harding in previous playthrough.

Neve: Sounds like a lot happened here. Bellara: What hasn't happened? This area is where Tevinter magisters destroyed Arlathan City centuries ago. Whole lot of bloog magic during the war. Neve: And now? Bellara: Whatever Solas did stirred up everything again. Bellara: The old blood magic from the war... it never went away. Bellara: Ancient relics appear out of thin air, ruins float... Bellara: It's like... an old wound that never healed. And now it's bleeding again.

Letter we find on a desk overlooking the VJ's camp

A Lament for Fallen Elvhenan From a Veil Jumper's letter: I hear tall watchtowers once stood where these waters emptied into the sky, their torches lit to guide the weary traveler. Sometimes on still days, when the mist hangs low on the river, I can imagine the lighted path up to the golden spires of Arlathan, and the voices of my people calling me home. I know Elvhenan, our lost civilization, is not how I imagine it. Arlathan was a place of wonder and magic, and also of conflict and war, ruled by tyrants. Yet still I mourn it, and wishg that I could have seen it just once, and called it mine. Added below in different handwriting: These feelings are not yours alone. There is no sin in grieving what was lost, imperfect thought it was. -- Strife.

i like that we get to see a glimpse of complex feelings about all this in the veil jumpers. considering they are at the very least primarily dalish (if not all), I wish we could talk to them more, or overhear more dialogue about how they feel about the evanuris and the truth behind the legends they've been hearing all their lives! and how two of those gods are now walking thedas! it's especially nice to see this for strife, since we do talk to him more but we're mostly restricted by like, plot urgency. maybe it's different if you play a veil jumper rook?

getting to the boat, in that area we find two halla, one dead and one alive. irelin says later in davrin's personal quest that the veil jumpers have been so busy they've neglected to check on the halla, but they're literally minutes away from camp, so... idk. level population oversight maybe.

we find that first owl statue, which when activated (really fun to me that we get to hear rook hoot) shows this note:

EXPLORER'S JOURNAL: DISCOVERY I'm convinced these owls are more than statues. There's a power behind these silent guardians. I'm hesitant to tamper with them, but on the other hand, owls represent wisdom and transformation. I can't imagine a monument to such noble creatures would be harmful. -- Renay Limfort

D'Meta's Crossing is a big tone shift coming from arlathan forest and i LOVED IT, even before my warden rook said they sensed blight i was very excited to see fucked up things. and boy is that village fucked up. we've seen some of the new blight already, but this is a whole other level. i don't think there's anything in particular i want to note here though. aside from maybe the mayor's fate? if you send him to the wardens, he ends up saving a group of wardens in the hossberg wetlands later on. presumably, if you don't, they just die? as a warden i decided to bring him in, mainly because the situation is clearly getting dire really fast, and the more bodies to fight the blight, the better, but bellara was not happy about that :') he also has some lines about how he's trying to atone for what he did and seems sincere, which I suppose could play into the larger theme of regret in the game, but tbh it just felt relatively standard in terms of wardens shit.

also the dragon looks goooooood

some fun screenshots of the village and stuff:

i guess this is also the first encounter with ghilannain and glimpse into what she's doing - from the conversation with jahel, one of the veil jumpers, "a blood ritual, to release the blight" (which I guess is what caused the sinkhole to the deep roads that is now in the middle of the village?), from the dialogue with mayor julius "ghilannain's new creation", according to harding "so the gods could gain power from the blight". not sure exactly how this worked tbh. the blight already exists here, and both elgarnan and ghilannain are already blighted. but this is a conjecture from harding, and it's possible this was just ghilannain toying with the blight and seeing what she could with it now.

also at the end when you leave the mayor, he says that no one could withstand the influence of the gods, and bellara says "Watch me.", which I think is a GREAT parallel if you pick her to do the wards at the end and she becomes blighted and tells elgarnan that he's not her god while using the blight against him. bellaraaaaaa i love u. free gifset idea tbh

im probably not gonna say much about the extra varric narrations. the art is nice but i really do not care for them and in fact i think they detract from the game.

a codex entry from the veil jumpers (which i think actually is from before u go to the boat but my screenshots are not entirely in order):

Scouting Report: Apparition Expedition scouting report, Veil Jumper Caeda reporting: I was in the northernmost stretch of Arlathan Forest trying to find a way into the Gennelis ruin. We recently discovered an old journal that claimed a lost halla keeper found a room full of relics inside Gennelis, down in the labyrinth. The entrance was blocked by rubble. As I was getting ready to wedge myself through a gap, an apparition appeared in front of it. It seemed to be blocking my way. Whatever it was, it wasn't solid, so I think I could've passed through it, but it seemed to be waving its arms. It felt like a warning -- that I shouldn't enter the ruins. I didn't argue and turned and ran.

everybody give it up for genre aware veil jumper caeda who definitely saved his own life there. gives a little bit of insight on VJ missions again! he was alone in a part of the forest clearly far away and possibly dangerous - even before the apparition warned him away, he was going to go into an old ruined labyrinth, which cannot be a good idea. so I guess, while there are probably some members who do more ordinary things - hunting and foraging for food, trading, maintaining the camp, mapping the forest, patrolling - long expeditions alone in ruins don't seem out of the ordinary.

when we get back to the camp, we get to have a conversation with strife and irelin and morrigan appears! i did not expect her to be there this early so i was really surprised in my first pt. i feel like throughout the game she was very much used as a character to pad some gaps and give rook information, rather than... fully as who she is and what she can do, which is a shame. but then again, considering we couldn't import anything to do with her, I suppose her role had to remain pretty removed so her actions and dialogue didn't contradict things we might have done in previous games.

also morrigan and harding are pals I guess? they weren't particularly close in inquisition (i don't even know if morrigan /talked/ to harding then), but it could make sense that they've worked together more closely in the ten years since while harding was looking for solas.

I do think they could've stood to make morrigan look older, but she does have crow's feet and lines when her face moves, so it's not entirely half assed.

Some of the conversation:

Harding: Morrigan helped the Inquisition when Varric and I were part of it. She knew more about ancient magic than anyone except Solas. [...] Morrigan: As dangerous as Solas himself may be, his imprisonment of the gods was just. Morrigan: To leave them unchecked would have been the very end of Thedas. Rook: (So you know the Dread Wolf?) Just to be clear, you know your old friend Solas is actually the Dread Wolf? Morrigan: So I have come to learn. It rather explains how he knew such a great deal of ancient elven history... Morrigan: And why he became so vexed when I attempted to explain it to him.

she rolls her eyes when she says that last part. it is funny, but also i think bioware maybe poking fun at how people who played an elven inquisitor did not appreciate getting explained their own history by morrigan? idk maybe im reading too much into this. i give it a pass because I think it would make solas look like he just bit into a lemon to know someone called him and morrigan friends and I think that man should be bullied forever.

we then get some info from morrigan about the vi'revas, Solas's special eluvian, and his dagger, and onwards we go. bellara goes to the lighthouse to fix the eluvian, and rook, neve and harding go to the ritual site to get the lyrium dagger that solas used to open the fade, and also to stab varric.

[thebestusernamepossible]

Literally going insane, might have to write fanfic for the first time in 2 years because the people™️ do not get my favorite female characters like I do and I feel the insurmountable urge to write her. I’m going to bite drywall why don’t ppl see her complexities. PLEASE STOP WRITING HER ETHIER AS DOMICILE MOM OR BITCH (or just for shipping) she is so so cool please guys please.

Also while I’m here, fandoms tendency to shove women in the ‘pure powerful goddess who can do no wrong’ box and then proceed to never give them an actual narrative role other than like ‘supportive’ or ‘took out a few background guys’. Like why DOES this incredibly badass and complex female character just get shunted into doinging some cool flips, getting praised about it (she’s the strongest fighter, so feminist wow) then never getting actnowleged as a 2 dimensional character.

I saw this a lot when I was in the Batman fandom, particularly with Cassandra Cain. She is a highly complex and interesting character, but in fandom she’s kind of shunted to ‘Badass therapy dog who takes care of the men’. Because even on the slight chance her backstory is brought up it’s always never delved into and mostly used to make her etheir more tragic and in need of support on a surface level or to let her be compassionate with the men characters who get their actual problems foucused on. It’s a unqiue kind of frustrating because it’s like almost letting the cool female character be cool, but it’s more like the idea of a badass women is shoved in your face, maybe joked about (or if we’re lucky she gets to beat up a few bad-guys), but ultimately treated like a cardboard cutout. Interestingly this actually isn’t entirely a female character thing, it’s also common with like old grandfather/grandmother characters and the elderly in general. But it’s usually badass women from what I see. :/ Why can’t fandom explore their stories (people do but why is it so much less), why can’t they be the prtags of cool AUs or time-travel fix-its, or crossover events

Idk I think I’m just frustrated, and I typed out more than I thought I would. Also Ive seen what happens to some other posts complaining about fandom misogyny, so please know if you’re a TERF, fuck off you have no place in this discussion. We will never agree, and frankly all of these points apply to canon Trans Women characters. Don’t say shit ill fucking end you.

[genderqueerdykes]

disabled intersex trans lesbian needs help saving up for rent while recovering from gallbladder removal surgery

hello, my name is equinox. im a multiply disabled intersex trans lesbian who had to get an emergency surgery to get its gallbladder removed on the 16th of October. i was unable to keep down food and was dizzy, lightheaded, nauseous, and on the verge of passing out which forced me to go to the ER to get an emergency surgery. i had to spend 4 days in the hospital while getting this surgery. apparently, the surgeons could tell just how badly it was affecting me just by seeing how things looked on the inside

i have to rest for about 4 weeks to properly recover. i cannot do much walking, lifting, bending, or most other physical activities during this time. my abdominal muscles and organs need time to recover, so i'm mostly bed bound for a month while my body heals. fortunately the surgery went very well and so far i'm having no complications with recovery. it's worth noting that i cannot over exert myself right now to make sure that the recovery period continues going smoothly

i need help saving up for rent, as my ability to work and even promote my own posts was being hindered drastically by the pain the stone stuck in the neck of my gallbladder was causing me. currently i need to not exert myself and to sleep when needed. my rent is only $178/month thanks to having been accepted into a housing program for severely disabled people. currently this and a small order i need to place from the grocery store for some things to aid in my recovery (throat lozenges to help with the sore throat caused by the breathing tube used during surgery, toilet paper, etc.) are the only things i need help saving up for. thanks to everyone who reads, shares and support, i cannot thank you all enough for all the help

$0/$178

if you're interested in helping, you can do so the following ways:

cash app: $glitterGraphix pay pal: glittergraphicnightmare @ gmail .com chime: $Equinoxian venmo: $Equinoxian

[pawsmos]

100th post special!!!

this is art for my “Prince and the Knight” AU ive been working on for some time now.. here’s a meal whace nation!!

lore under cut!

KEHRHHEEB J LOVE THEM SO MUCH DUDE

vvvv

(im not that good with writing nor am i well versed in medieval honorifics and terminology or anything like that so there may be anachronisms)

(this is a separate au from any other medieval aus!! I’ve seen those and love those though)

(the rest of the drdt cast also exists in this au too btw. im considering making charles a butler or a lord or something. none of the cast are the king or queen by the way! that’s aces parents / Eden’s parents. ace also still has all his siblings)

tw for mild homophobia

- Prince Ace, a soon-to-be king, is arranged to marry Princess Eden from a nearby kingdom.

- Both Ace and Eden are upset about the marriage, as Ace is gay (he’s subconsciously aware that he isn’t attracted to women) and Eden is lesbian.

- They both feel resigned to their fate despite their discontent.

- While coping on the back balcony, Ace meets Sir Whit, the newly promoted head of the royal guard. (somehow. who knows how whit got promoted tbh)

- They talk, during which Whit makes joking advances towards Ace.

- Ace, though flustered by Whit’s passes, thinks about the consequences of both liking a man and betraying the kingdom.

(he doesn’t personally care about the latter but he does fear that his father would… idk execute him or something. he is also in denial.)

- Much to Ace’s dismay, they become close friends. However, Whit is aware of the upcoming marriage, so he tries to shut off his own feelings to save himself from feeling bad.

- A few months pass, in which Whit helps Ace overcome his own fears and come to terms with his feelings and sexuality. They start slow (like doing horseback riding together haha), but end up routinely sneaking out together.

- On one particular night, on the same balcony they met, just a day before the wedding, something happens. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, Ace kisses Whit and REALLY likes it.

- He realizes that he wants this man. But, realizing that he might get caught, Ace runs away.

- Before the wedding, Ace and Eden finally meet. While preparing for the ceremony, they bond over their shared reluctance of their marriage.

- Eden confesses that she’s actually a lesbian, and there’s a lady back at her kingdom that she’s deeply in love with. (it’s arei LMFAO)

- Ace bluntly replies that he’s gay too.

- insert uhh lightbulb ding effect

- They conjure a plan to get married for convenience, and to appease their parents, but mostly so that they can pursue their own partners. They worry about the kiss though and the people who might be watching. Especially Whit and Arei.

- Skip to the wedding day, Whit suppresses his feelings (like usual) and claps while he watches someone he loves dearly get married off to another. Whit excuses himself from the wedding.

- For post-ceremonial reasons, Ace can’t apologize or even talk to Whit for another week.

i haven’t really thought about the rest but i assume that, once Ace is allowed to go out, he will be the one confessing his love to whit. whit gets “caught”, miscommunication,,,, idek they just… ARE IN LOVE. HAHA.. if you want to write any fics about this or make any art feel free! use the tag “#whace prince and knight au”

thank you!!

THANK YOU FOR READING MY CLICHE YAOI FANFIC ILY IF YOU GET THIS FAR.

THANK YOU FOR 75 FOLLOWERS TOO!!!!

id also like to say that i might start opening commissions because i need a form of making money. but umm i don’t know how to start a paypal or venmo or anything like that. LOL. digital gift cards could work i guess, uhhhh idk. dm me for info!

[not-the-cheese]

one sentence(ish) summaries of every magnus archive episode PART 2

(eps 61-110) thank u for the funny comments and tags on the last part i love u guys

the rest of these may take a while as i've caught up to where i am currently in the podcast but i will finish them like in a month i promise

----

61. the thrilling sequel to man does not open coffin: man DOES open coffin.

62. surely this doctor can find an easier way to scam people out of money than putting them in a little book.

63. THE DARK ATE MY BROTHER IN LAW.

64. this is possibly the plot of laura croft tomb raider

65. mmm crumchy

66. what's the opposite of an unboxing video

67. as close to a coffeeshop au as you're going to get from this podcast

68. Doctors hate him! Man REFUSES to die from tuberculosis!

69. your college's psych department has the worst idea ever.

70. reverse death note

71. not even death will stop this woman from taking the british subway

72. man doesn't want to be low key racist in his last moments before getting eaten

73. police versus the second coming of dark jesus

74. lady is haunted by an ad for coffee

75. mike crew says "uh fuck it let's just put this guy on a skyscraper forever"

76. ryan from buzzfeed unsolved breaks into a train yard and suffers consequences

77. you're not a enough of a bitch to be my real mom

78. man gets harassed by his cousin and then exorcises him

79. you know that chase scene in scooby doo with the doors

80. stupid idiot motherfucking jurgen leitner

81. i have been personally victimized by the sequel to the hungry hungry caterpillar

82. pov: elias threatens to cancel you

83. mannequin takes matters into its own hands after people don't like its pitch for a new window display

84. a hoarder put newspaper on my friend's face :(

85. hey there's maybe a little man upon these stairs?

86. man gets got by a squiggly thing in the dark.

87. plumber is so oblivious to spooky happenings around him that it possibly saves his life.

88. guys i think this guy likes to dig

89. lesbian investment banker finds a new, less evil job: arson!

90. guy who turns people's bones starts a gym where he promises not to turn your bones! (he is lying)

91. i was stalked by lightning for 10 years and i all i got were these stupid scars

92. jonah magnus is a bad friend // another day another elias slay

93. ocd is no match for purple fuzz

94. let the bodies drop gently to the floor let the bodies drop gently to the floor

95. im so sorry my brain refuses to remember what the war ones were about but i think one guy got gently kissed on the forehead so that's pretty nice.

96. diversity wins! the not-quite-human delivery men who stole your identity and business are maybe gay?

97. man gets gaslighted by an entire town about a hole

98. 🎶mister sandman bring me a dream, actually don't, please stay far from me 🎶

99. another one bites the dust

100. archival assistants face off against the general public (they lose)

101. jon finally levels up high enough to unlock an eldritch horror's tragic backstory

102. LOCAL MAN MARRIES BUG

103. peppa eats a clown and they cover her in concrete instead of congratulating her.

104. pennywise stole my brother's skin

105. it's world war z baby

106. Something Big Is In Space.

107. man is interrogated about the time he saw thomas the train roasts people alive and also sans is there

108. actor is stalked by mask who liked his monologue so much that it tells its mask friends to come watch.

109. sometimes a family is just a serial killer's daughter and that guy who maybe killed some vampires

110. yeah man those spiders be eating

Part 1 |

[little-annie]

Happy Birthday @strangerthingswritersguild ❤️

M (Mentions of sexual activity and Eddie's 🍆) | WC 836 | Stobin & Steddie

It was Steve's 29th birthday and although Eddie had plans -rockstar duties- that didn't stop Robin from swooping in and saving the day.

Work couldn't be escaped, which sure, that was shitty, but Steve owned the place and still had to see through certain duties on a daily basis. Plus it gave him and Robin the opportunity to hash out their plans for the evening. On their way out of the shop they ordered pizza to Steve's apartment and set out to the closest gas station to procure a hoard of candy and a couple bottles of wine.

It was their constant gabbing back and forth that distracted Steve from Eddie's car in the parkade. 

Both he and Robin, oblivious to the fact of what was waiting in the apartment for Steve, they carried on.

By the time the elevator reached the 34th floor, a bag of Skittles had been demolished and Steve was laughing so hard he was hiccuping. With tears in his eyes and gasping for breath Steve was bent over wheezing when Robin opened the door to his and Eddie's apartment, leaving him momentarily blind to the sight before him.

But that didn't mean he missed the blood curdling scream released by Robin in the same instant Eddie's voice yelled out a happy, “Surprise!”

Popping upright with the joy that his boyfriend was home for his birthday, Steve was met with a very nude Eddie. There in his porcelain skin and tattooed glory, Eddie was laid out on their black leather couch, surrounded by rose petals, candles and chocolates.

Steve's heart fluttered with excitement.

And Robin's shuddered with horror. “Eddie! What the fuck!? Put your junk away!”

While Eddie calmly cupped himself on the couch not moving another inch from his position, Steve struggled to pull his eyes away as Robin's ire was turned towards him.

“I thought you said he wasn't going to be home, Dingus. How am I ever going get the image of Eddie's saggy nuts -

“-hey my nuts aren't saggy!”

- out of my head. It'll be forever burned into my retinas. I'll have to bleach my eyeballs or carve them out with a fucking spoon.”

Eddie's now grumbling to himself on the couch looking down at his crotch, most likely trying to hype himself up from Robin's early insult. Steve's sure he hears the whispered words of, ‘You're not saggy, you're perfectly normal and I love you.’ And with Eddie Steve can never be sure, but it's not a far off guess.

God how he loves that dork.

Steve can't believe Eddie flew in from his tour for his birthday.

Still shielding himself from Robin's delicate eyes, Eddie catches Steve's lingering stare and puckers his lips into a kiss, blowing it in Steve's direction while he continues to stand in the doorway with Robin.

Eventually he decides to tune back into her rant.

“- penis, Steve. I'm a lesbian, I shouldn't have to see anyone's dick. And we both know I've seen yours enough as is. Lord knows I can't forget last Halloween and the horror that it truly was. But Eddie's?! I didn't need to know it was pierced, let alone tattooed! Sure you probably would have told me eventually, but come on man, I didn't need to see it.”

It's the mention of such a tattoo that has Steve whipping his head back in Eddie's direction.

Eddie didn't have a tattoo there when he left.

Oh.

Oh.

As Steve catches on and Eddie sends him a wink, mouthing a sly ‘Surprise,’ he has to restrain him from shoving Robin out the door.

“Get out.”

Robin's rambling stops and she looks at Steve deeply offended, “Excuse me.”

He'll make it up to her later, but currently his rockstar boyfriend is laid out naked on their expensive couch with a new tattoo that Steve really feels the deep seeded need to taste, lick from the man's body, or suck from his skin. 

Truly any of the above works.

Robin rolls her eyes and groans, “But Steve-uh, the pizza.”

“I'll order a pizza to your damn apartment, Robby. But I swear to god if you don't leave in the next five seconds you're going to see a whole lot more than just a single dick.”

She scrunches her nose in disgust, “Boo you whore.”

“You know it.” Steve states proudly, “Now out, please. I swear once Eddie's gone we can do a pizza and wine night.”

Robin groans once again, but she does eventually leave with a pinch to Steve's ass and a snarky, “Don't get him pregnant!” sent in Eddie's general direction.

With the click of the door behind him, Steve sheds his clothes clumsily and hops from one foot to the other as he steps out of his jeans, then underwear, on his way to the couch.

With little to no grace he falls into Eddie's arms with a giggle, feeling the press of lips to his forehead and the whispered words of, “Happy Birthday, Baby,” to his skin.

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Finals

Propaganda Under Cut

Sakura Haruno

Her husband is gay and her author doesn't know how to write women. So many people say she's the worst but she. DESERVES. BETTER!!! Save her from this franchise.

My baby girl my bestie my best friend. She committed the crime of um being written by kishimoto who both doesn’t know how to write women and somehow writes men in the gayest way possible specifically naruto and sasuke. Like the thing is naruto and sasuke ARE gay and also she gets so much hate for the crime of kishimoto writing her one dimensionally in love with sasuke. I know her personally she is a butch lesbian to me just trust me she’s in love with Ino and has a lesbian thing going on with Karin okay just trust me. My everything. She needs to divorce the loveless lavender marriage she’s in 

What is there to say, even? The OG Threat to my 90s anime brain, the only woman I've ever hated with such a passion she made me turn away from the color pink. I used to write fics with my friend where she got left behind on purpose so our OCs could join the Naruto and Sasuke team instead. I loathed this bitch until I was 16 and realized the author simply couldnt write women and decided it was time to make peace with Sakura. It is not her fault she's vaguely written and obsessive over Sasuke. She deserves better. Sasuke and Naruto still should be together and Sakura shouldnt be with Sasuke but I no longer believe this because I hate Sakura, it is because I love her. She deserves a spouse who will actually put in the time to treat her like the hero she is.

Misa Amane

she gets treated in-canon the way fandoms treat female characters that Threaten an m/m ship. it's like, "oh why don't you go sit in the corner and be pretty, misa, while the Men have intelligent conversation and pretend they aren't ten seconds from fucking each other, doesn't that sound nice?" it's infuriating. and MAYBE it's better now but i remember her getting treated the same way in fanfiction too, like we all need to do just as badly by our female secondary characters as fucking tsugumi ohba, but with the added insult of making her be alternately oblivious of the relationship between light and L or actively trying to sabotage it—incompetently, of course, because god forbid misa be allowed dignity or moments of cleverness.

she's one of the first characters I think of when I consider old school fandom misogyny. The annoying bitch and clingy crazy gf allegations were AFTER HER ASS. She's also a lot more intelligent than people gave her credit for, but most seem inclined to take the Very Biased word of our unreliable, narcissistic narrator and his homoerotic arch nemesis and claim that just because she's bubbly and into romance that she's also a complete moron. Which is blatantly untrue. Everyone was afraid of Misa girlbossing too hard. Killing people and devoting yourself to the deranged twink of your dreams even though you know he'll never love you back??? Having a hardcore goth aesthetic and being so Hot even literal Death Gods are into you?? God forbid women do ANYTHING!

Not only is she the victim of yaoi culture, she is the victim of early 2000s misogyny by an author that wanted to introduce a girl character because he knew his male rivals were getting too homoerotic. She is a goth bimbo icon who portrays what I think is one of the few callouts for stan culture and what parasocial relationships can do to both the stan and the idol. The fact that she is a toxic fan of Kira and also hot, funny, sociable is tragic in its own way, which I think the author did try to touch on but was too misogynistic too really get through. Of course, she was reduced to villain status by the fandom and anime alike because she got in the way of the supposed romance in their psychological horror anime

[yandere-daydreams]

Title: Unrequited.

Pairings: Arlecchino x Reader x Furina (Genshin).

Word Count: 1.1k.

TW: Reader Doesn't Have A Gender But Everyone Here Is A Melodramatic Lesbian. Live Dove: Tender and Sweet.

[Part Two]

Arlecchino has never struggled to find her way to you.

She would have, if she needed to. That was something she prided herself on: her perseverance when it came to all things, her determination when it came to her pursuits – romantic or otherwise. When she was in Snezhnaya, she dreamed each night of crossing oceans and climbing mountains and tearing apart the Tsaritsa and all of her many soldiers with her own monstrous hands if only to win the chance of finding her way back to your side, and when she was in Fontaine, there was nothing – not her duties as a Harbinger, not the fate of her nation, and only very rarely her beloved children – that could keep her away from you. Fortunately (more so for the rest of Teyvat than for her), she never had to go through so much effort.

No matter how distant she might’ve been, you were always exactly where she'd left you: at the right hand of Lady Furina, Protector and God of Fontaine, or as Arlecchino had come to think of her, the only person you would ever cross oceans to be with.

Also, coincidentally, the only person thick-skulled enough not to pay you a second glance.

She found you watching your dearly beloved from your usually crow’s nest; a balcony that overlooked the rest of the venue, your eyes cast downward towards the ballroom and a sickeningly tender smile painted across your lips. As Arlecchino neared you, she could see what you were so transfixed by and weather the wave of nausea that accompanied the sight of Lady Furina holding court with a handful of Fontaine’s elite, her hands moving excitedly as she recited some practiced monologue Arlecchino could only be thankful she was too far to hear. An exasperated sigh escaped her lips as she came to stand beside you, extending a flute of champagne which you gladly accepted. She had invited you back to her manor when she first discovered your fondness for such fine things, practically begged you to sample the finest wines and bourbons in her vast collection, but you only shook your had and told her that Furina would need your held reviewing case files for her next trial, grinning like an idiot all the while. If she hadn’t been so endeared by your smile, she might’ve hated you for how thoughtlessly you dismissed her.

“The orchestra is half-way decent, tonight.” She rested a hand on the crook of your arm, let her head lilt to the side. “Care to join me for a dance?”

Your love-struck smile widened. “No, thank you. I’m saving my first for her.” A quick nod towards Furina, one of her boots now propped on a chair provided by one of her audience members. “She’s been working on her waltz, lately – she only stepped on my feet twice while we were practicing this afternoon.”

You said it as if Furina had plucked the moon from the sky and gifted it to you on a silver chain. Arlecchino couldn’t help but scoff. “I have no idea what you see in her. She would starve to death if you weren’t there to remind her to eat.” You sighed wistfully and she took a generous sip from her own drink before going on. “She’s a poor excuse for an entertainer, let alone an archon. If it wasn’t for that judge of hers, she’d have a revolution on her hands in a matter of hours.”  

“You’re only saying that because you don’t know her. She might not have Monsieur Neuvillette’s resolution, but she’s not trying to be Monsieur Neuvillette.” For the first time since the start of your conversation, you looked towards Arlecchino and she could’ve sworn the rest of the ballroom ceased to exist. If she’d been a weaker woman, she would’ve fallen to one knee and presented the ring she kept in her breast pocket when she knew she would see you, would’ve drawn her sword and pleaded with you to drive it through her heart, but your attention turned back to your archon and the temptation faded back into more of a wishful fancy than a possible reality. “She’s wonderful, and brilliant, and she makes me laugh. Whenever I picture myself happy, I picture myself with her. I love her.” She’d heard you say it a thousand times before, and yet, her heart seemed to break in an entirely new way every time those words – coated in such a saccharine affection – trickled off of your tongue. She was glad she was not a weaker woman, upon further thought; if she was, you would’ve done her in months ago. “She’s everything to me.”

She couldn’t help herself. As delicate as she tried to be with you, there would always be a part of her that couldn’t help but twist the knife. “Doesn’t it hurt?” And then, when you hummed for clarification, “Loving someone so incapable of loving you back?”

You let out a breath of a laugh, the noise like windchimes and wedding bells. “I don’t know, Lord Arlecchino.” You glanced over your shoulder. “Does it?”

Ah, there it was.

Despite everything, she’d fallen for a sadist after all.

She let the corner of her mouth curl upward. “More than I could ever say.”

This time, your laugh was more throaty, more full-hearted. “What a sorry sight we must make, too pining romantics mourning lost love at a party.” Your tone dipped into something more genuine, albeit still playful. “My first dance is taken, but would it be too much of an insult to offer you my second?”

She moved to speak, to tell you that you could dig your heel into her foot and spit in her face and she would still be able to thank you sincerely for sparing her so much of your attention, but a melodical voice called your name and instantly, you were stolen away by a head of white hair and two mismatched eyes emerging at the top of the nearest staircase, still glowing with the zeal of a performer post-applause. Furina latched onto you with all she was worth; arms wrapping around your own as she pressed herself into your side. “Evidently, you have forgotten your duties to your goddess,” Furina started properly, her little speech already rehearsed to perfection. “Must I remind you that I am always to be the center of your attention?”

“Never, my lady.” And, in an instant, Arlecchino was gone to you, nothing more than a momentary distraction you would not be returning to for as long as Furina held you in her spotlight. “In fact, I believe you still owe me a dance.”

The reminder was unnecessary. Furina was already pulling you back down to the ballroom floor, already spouting off something about how cruel it would be of her to deny such an earnest request from her most faithful servant, about how foolish you are for believing her memory would be so fallible as to forget even the most trivial of promises. With a ragged breath, Arlecchino took up your post, watching dutifully as you were pulled into (what could be called by the most generous of onlookers) a terribly mangled waltz. It was proof of Furina’s fortune that she’d found the only person in Teyvat with the fortitude and patience to be so hopelessly in love with her.

It was proof to your fortune that, even when faced with the wrath of gods, Arlecchino was not one to give up so easily.

[barb-l]

As a desperate lesbian who has been wanting a sapphic Wednesday portrayed for AAAAGES now, I still can't believe these things that the show gave me:

THE Wednesday Addams being shown jealous of a character that barely has any lines MULTIPLE times just because Enid mayyybe wants to choose said minor character as a roomie/bestie over her

BFFs Thing and Enid ganging up on Wednesday over her fashion sense and her pouting about it

Wednesday, who takes pride in her independence and relishes in isolation, admitting to have missed anyone is unthinkable. But she did! In her own way. Even if she was roundabout with her admittance, the fact that she got called out by both Thing and the goddamn villain shows how down bad she was during that fallout with Enid

"Thing said he missed you" and the way she visibly struggles against her nature to say "Skip the tape" with the tape symbolizing her breaking down her walls for Enid

something about Thornhill, who is played by an actress who also used to play Wednesday, telling this new Wednesday that she has to admit someday how much Enid has come to mean to her is just... ugh. Will never get over how much it adds so many layers to Wednesday's self-denial.

she held off all the insults in her bottomless vocabulary so she wouldn't completely offend Enid over the snood she made for her. She sugarcoated her words for Enid, which Wednesday NEVER does. In fact, it's the opposite of what she always does!

Enid VS Tyler bearing so much resemblance to that classic trope where the Love Interest saves the girl from the other Love Interest, even being a parallel to the fight between Gomez and Garret over Morticia

Enid lamented how she would never find a mate because she's not a real werewolf and would hence die alone, to which Wednesday remarks that it's a good thing in episode one. To emphasize Wednesday's apparent indifference to isolation, she is told that her nature as a raven means that she is fated to be alone like Enid feared for herself. In the finale, after Wednesday accepts that she doesn't want to be alone in the wake of her fallout with Enid, Enid finally wolfs out to save Wednesday. Enid made Wednesday realize that she doesn't actually like being alone, at least not when it meant she wouldn't have Enid by her side. In turn, Wednesday's life being threatened gave Enid the push to finally wolf out and, supposedly, now be given an opportunity to be eligible for a mate. I mean... I don't have high hopes, but the narrative is making it too easy to make it look like they were meant for each other

The heavy implication that Wednesday joined the Poe Cup because Bianca specifically said she wanted to make Enid cry over losing. The fact that she always deflected whenever Enid tried to confirm that Wednesday is doing it for her, but she never outright denied it!

"The mark you have left on me is indelible" and "I'll think of you" about Enid aksnnzzinsosnsj she gets sooooo sappy for herrrr

THE HUG. For people she's very very soft for, like her family, she only ever let THEM touch her. She's never show to start or reciprocate. SHE pulls Enid back into her. She holds Enid just as tightly, despite the injuries and despite Enid's pink coat. Enid toughens up for her but Wednesday is so vulnerable for her my god im so ill for them 💀

[serqphites]

Thinking of g!p lee harker with a mommy kink….

oh my fucking god you might be onto something…

i’d also like to make it known that i have never written for men/dicks(?) before because i’m a big old lesbian so im sorry if it’s not accurate!

warnings! g!p, not pulling out, breeding? mommy issues, crying during sex

—✦—✦—✦—✦—✦—✦—✦—✦—✦—✦—✦—✦—✦—✦—✦—✦—

heavy thoughts of lee waking up with morning wood…

the two of you spooning, her dick poking into your back as she squirms uncontrollably, desperate to not wake you.

well jokes on her because you were already awake!

deciding to mess with her, you back your ass up against her growing bulge. god the noises she makes.

“really lee? this early?” your tone is mocking as you chuckle at her, feeling your girlfriend jump slightly upon unexpectedly hearing your voice.

less than a minute later you’re grinding your ass against her hard cock through her boxers, precum seeping through and leaking onto your pj bottoms.

lee is embarrassed to tell you she has a mommy kink (i mean girly we know what ur moms like it’s kinda obvious)

“do you think we could try something tonight?” someone tell me why is bro looking at you like a stray kitten begging for food??

“of course baby, what’d you have in mind?” needless to say you aren’t shocked when she reveals she’d like to try out calling you mommy. you’d definitely noticed before that she seemed to enjoy being taken care of. like yeah sure who wouldn’t? but with lee you could just feel how different it was. it felt more like something she craved rather than something she simply enjoyed.

some examples include; why did she blush so fiercely when you brushed her hair? why did she get so shy if you showed you were proud of her? why did she always get a hard on if you cared a little too deeply for her…? (not that that’s physically possible bc hello?? save me awkward lesbian)

cut to that same night, lees hands gripping the backs of your thighs as you straddle her lap. you could feel her growing beneath you, your hips naturally beginning to roll against it, her bulge hitting your clit almost perfectly.

you now find yourself sat on lees hard cock, her girth filling you in a way only she could. you wanted her so bad, needed her so bad. yet you didn’t move.

“baby… please?” she sounds so fucking pathetic underneath you, her hips bucking as she grows needier and needier for your pleasure.

“baby? i thought you wanted to call me something else tonight” lee whimpers at your voice alone.

“please… mommy please- need you s’bad” yeah you’re bouncing on it.

she’s a fucking mess, her eyes sealed shut as she assists your bounces down onto her throbbing dick.

“you’re doing so good lee, so good for mommy” despite your head being rolled back with your own eyes also squeezed shut, you still don’t miss the way your girlfriends thrusts speed up and the whimpers slowly turn into quiet cries.

you panic momentarily, stopping and moving to face her once more. before you even get a chance to ask if she was okay lee has started bouncing you in and out of herself once more, her nails digging into your hips as she more than just guides your bounces this time.

“good tears… please don’t stop… fuck- fuck mommy please don’t stop… m’so close” all you needed to hear was good tears before you continued your previous movements, this time rolling your hips on every bounce to help push lee over the edge.

her cries turn into pants, her pants eventually coming to a halt before a long exaggerated moan escapes from her lips, her warm seed filling up your cunt just perfectly. that ends up doing it for you also, lee biting her lip so hard she draws blood as she jolts underneath you, only enduring the overstimulating sensations to allow you to ride out your high.

once you’re both settled into bed and ready for sleep, you turn to face your extremely smiley girlfriend.

“take it you enjoyed it?”

“not at all” with a sarcastic roll of her eyes, she leans over to press one last kiss to your soft lips before you two say your goodnights, both falling asleep fantasising about your earlier activities.

[wordslikesilver]

Wait. Oh my god I just. Something clicked and I need to be held now. St Trina is supposed to represent the part of Miquella that was able to heal others, genuinely and truly heal them, such that even the sickness would kneel and swear loyalty to her, for taking away its pain and misery (source: putrescent knight). Miquella’s needle represents a stop gap. A way of holding back and shielding one from the influence of outer gods. Pure, unalloyed kindness that can relieve you of even the pain of the scarlet rot, so long as it remains within you.

So when… when Malenia ripped out the needle… and sacrificed all her pride, honour and humanity in order to let the scarlet flower bloom in her fight with Radahn to guarantee her victory no matter the cost (Millicent is her humanity trying to return to herself, she is literally the rejection of the scarlet rot that Malenia feels, ejected from her body during the first blooming, I’ve gotta do a whole post on Millicent because she’s a fascinating character study with world building context of the DLC added)…

Doesn’t that mean she ripped out the literal kindness she felt from her own brother in order to do what she did? Dude wtf hold me. But wait it’s even worse because not only can she no longer feel her brother’s kindness protecting her, she didn’t have anyone or any way to put back the rot goddess. Unless… it was Finlay. Because as stated by putrescent knight’s remembrance, to be loved is to be healed (St Trina is Miquella’s love). So not only did Finlay carry the Scarlet Bloom all the way back to the Haligtree from Caelid, when Malenia awoke alone without her brother there anymore to help her heal making her bloom all over again, Finlay stepped in to help save her from herself. To be loved is to be healed. And Malenia was definitely both loved and healed because when we find her… she’s asleep. And St Trina, saint of healing and sleep, is love.

ELDEN RING LESBIANS CONFIRMED???

[jamiepaige]

Constant Companions Closeup #9: OBJECT OF AFFECTION

(also on spotify!)

O, wayward soul, I beg of thee an ear; Companionship, a Constant of desire, is all too fleeting. Would thee quell this fire? My love, do you know what you want to hear?

Welcome back to the Constant Companions Closeups - a series of in-depth dives into the songs off of my latest album, Constant Companions! Yesterday was some gay shit (Liaison) and today is some more gay shit (Object of Affection)

---

I'm usually pretty good about letting go of the things I make and letting them live imperfectly, but there is exactly one released song of mine that I've ever been actively unhappy with the final product of, that I haven't been able to let go of my displeasure with.

Honor Majesty, off of Autumn Every Day.

It's not that it's a bad song, or that it didn't have good ideas! In fact, I genuinely think it shares more with the music I make now than a lot of my older work does. Rather, it was incredibly rushed and full of uninspired choices I made for the sake of completing the song rather than making it the best version of itself, and it ultimately ended up falling incredibly flat relative to what I wanted it to be!

I really like the intersection of synthpop/electropop and fantasy. One of my favorite musicians ever is Baths, whose album Romaplasm is chock full of this exact thematic and sonic intersection, and it's so deeply inspiring to me that it still gets put on whenever I want to dream things up. I've always wanted to make things like that! Bubbly and fantastical, brimming with a sense of magic so pervasive it makes even the mundane seem mystic.

...Also I'm just a fantasy dork okay. I like wizards and shit. Sue me

I've been wanting to make a grandiose and fantastical story song for years, and my single attempt to do so felt like it missed the mark entirely. I did touch on fantasy a couple times on Bittersweet, but ultimately, when I started working on this album, I knew exactly what I wanted to take a second crack at.

---

The intended story in question here is fairly vague, but to sum it up as literally as possible:

A rebellious, disobedient, gender-questioning prince has mildly inconvenienced "his" royal lineage one too many times. Their solution is to invoke magicks widely regarded as heretical - what's a fantasy monarchy without some hypocrisy - to seal their "son's" soul within an automaton body, rendering "him" a perfect, subservient doll.

This doll is promptly spirited away under cover of darkness by a mage, and is granted free will once again. She experiences the crushing weight of newfound self-awareness and nearly spirals out of control, before realizing the mage who saved her is the same - a doll. It turns out being a magical-mechanical construct has its perks if you are TRANSGENDER. then they overthrow the monarchy and fuck nasty or whatever idk this is where the story gives way to things like "metaphor"

this is a song about artifice and being transgender

Seriously, though, I know that being an electronic-music-producing transgender lesbian with a thing about dolls or robots or whatever is a major endless-store-shelves-of-identical-buzz-lightyear-action-figures moment on my part, but dammit, I own a copy of Logic Pro and a genuine leather wizard hat, I inject estrogen into my stomach fat every Wednesday, and I think ball joints are cute. I'm posting this on Tumblr, for gods sake, I am unconcerned as an active choice

---

With the exception of Liaison, the entirety of Constant Companions utilizes only three unique vocal synth characters - ANRI, Gumi, and Teto. This trifecta was born organically from simply being the vocal synths I enjoy using the most, and in this song, I wanted to use all three of them almost like one single singer, freely shifting intonation based on the context. I messed with this idea before on Ballroom, my voice meshing and melting into Gumi V3's voice, but it felt especially appropriate for this context; Plus, I feel like there aren't a lot of examples of vocal synths being used/recontextualized in this way, and that's a shame in my opinion!!

I really want to do more story-driven songwriting like this in the future as well. Now that I'm a bonafide VocaloP I've been floating the idea of doing a song series with this trio... I'm mostly just worried I'll want to get too ambitious with it.

Off the top of my head, Object of Affection references at least eight other songs of mine - Honor Majesty is an obvious one, but it also directly samples parts of Autumn Every Day, and lyrically references genuinely just a bunch of things. I'm probably forgetting some, even!

I know I'm the Leitmotif Lover, but it's a lot even by my standards. However, this song's entire existence already served to satisfy a fairly self-indulgent desire, and these days, I don't deal in half measures. I think the final product serves as a lovely little look back at where I've come from, though, and perhaps even a little glimpse into the future!

That all being said, Object of Affection in some sense is also a love letter to a beloved part of my creative process - the voice memo. A lot of the audio I've provided with these posts have been recordings off my phone for good reason! Not only are the chops at the beginning of the song entirely comprised of edited recordings I got on my phone, but the sample at the very end happens to be from a particularly legendary recording, never before heard by the public...

Until now. I present to you an excerpt from "the worst beat on planet earth", featuring none other than unit.0.

That's about it for today!! If you have any questions, I'll gladly answer them below, but otherwise, I'll be back here tomorrow to talk about this album's title track laid askew - My Darling, My Companion!

[scififettuccine]

Victoria Neuman x Fem!Reader: Darts

Pairing: Victoria Neuman x Fem!Reader

Summary: Quick One-Shot Hurt/Comfort! Your girlfriend finds you playing darts in your office, and she can tell that something is up. If there's one thing Victoria doesn't like, it's seeing her girlfriend upset.

Word Count: 1.25k

Warnings: Darts (?), mentions of Homelander, mentions of Homelander being a whore, mentions of family death, glass cuts, corrupt government system, Vicky being a raging lesbian

Notes: I wrote this after playing darts for 3 hours. As you can see the concept has infected my brain. IF YOU DON"T UNDERSTAND HOW CRICKET WORKS WITH DARTS I'M VERY SORRY. (And honestly I don't know if the way my family plays is exactly right so don't come after me Dart Experts.) I know I put up a pole, and this option lost by a long shot, but half of it was already written and I needed to finish it since it was super gut wrenching <3

Your parents had added to the growing number of many unnecessary obituaries that came out of Homelander’s career. It happened around this time, ten years ago. Your parents had owned a bakery in the city, and on a hot day ten summers back, someone attempted to rob their small business. Of course, after the authorities were called, Vought added their golden boy to the scene. They must have expected some sort of heroic story, with a headline like “The Seven’s Homelander saves the lives of two elderly bakers, and keeps the beloved business open.” But instead of that headline, they weren't mentioned in any headline…Only in the obituary section of a few local newspapers due to Vought covering up Homelander’s sloppy use of his heat vision. The last you saw of your parents' bodies was the bottom half of one…and the top half of the other. You were twenty, planning your parent’s funeral all on your own from your dorm room halfway across the country. All Vought sent was a card extending their deepest condolences, signed by the company's CEO, and Homelander himself. Since then? You’ve had a vendetta against Homelander and Vought as a whole. Coincidentally, that's how you met your girlfriend, Victoria Neuman, and started working for The Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs.

You had been in your office all day, admittedly drowning yourself in work so you didn't have to think about it all. But once there was nothing else to drown yourself in, you cracked open another redbull and decided to play a game of darts. Since you didn't have a partner, you just decided to time yourself to see how long it would take you to clear the scoreboard: Three twenties, three nineteens, three eighteens, three seventeens, three sixteens, three fifteens, and three bullseyes. And of course…all your attempts were aimed at the sympathy card that had turned ten years old this morning. You played darts often, so you had gotten down to the bullseyes within 10 minutes. Yet the more you missed, the more you got upset…the more your mind drifted. You thought about what might have happened had you not gone off to college.

Double ninteens.

You thought about what might have happened had you just stayed and helped to better the family business.

Double sixteens.

You thought about what would have happened if you would have answered the phone when they called you earlier that day.

Shattered glass.

You gasped as the last dart you threw hit the frame you had hung on the wall, housing a photo of you and your parents holding a photo of you and your parents at your highschool graduation. You shook your head as you walked over to the mess…the dart you had thrown had pierced right through the center of the photo…right through your face. It was lodged deep into the wall, due to the force of your throw. You wanted to cry, scream out of frustration even…But a voice broke you out of your thoughts.

“Everything alright in here, pretty girl…?” You heard the voice of your girlfriend and turned around, stepping over a bit to try and hide the mess of glass shards. When your eyes met hers, there was a concerned look on her face.

“Yeah…Yeah. It’s all good, Vic. I just knocked a picture frame off the wall.” You said, desperately trying to make your voice sound a little more upbeat than it truly was. Vicky raised a brow and looked up at the dart sticking out of the wall, then over to the dart board, and then to the card that was push-pinned to the dart board. Her gaze immediately softened, and her heart dropped.

“Baby…” She started, walking further into your office so she could close the door behind her. You shook your head and turned back around, trying to pick up some of the bigger glass shards with your hands.

“I’m fine. It’s not-” You cut yourself off with a wince as a piece of the glass slit your palm. “Shit-” Vicky shook her head and quickly moved to your side. She took your hand and turned your palm so the glass you had collected would fall back into the pile.

“You’re not fine. And you’re clearly not thinking straight if you're picking up broken glass with your bare hands, you're smarter than that.” Vicky sighed, moving to untuck her dress shirt so she could wipe the blood from your palm. It was moments like these where you truly understood how much Vicky cared about you. She would ruin a perfectly white dress shirt just to wipe blood off of a small cut. “You’ve gotta talk to me, pretty girl…What’s going on? You’ve been in here all day, there's 3 empty cans of RedBull on your desk, and you just threw a dart through a picture frame. Talk. Now.” You sighed and tried to pull your hand away, to which she held it a bit tighter.

“I can’t fucking stand it. How Vought gets off scott free after every fucked up thing they do. I was twenty years old, planning my parents' funeral from my dorm room. And what was he doing? Probably getting sucked off by some higher up for ‘a job well done.’ My parents were the only people I had. I sat in the first pew of that church alone. Completely and utterly alone.” You paused to take a breath, and pointed to the card pinned to the dart board. “That’s all I got. That’s all I have to show for it. I got…what? A fifty cent card with a bogus apology and two signatures on it? My parents were-” You choked on your words. “My parents were fucking sliced in half-” Your voice seemed to have left you as Vicky pulled you against her chest, being careful of the pile of glass shards.

“I know, baby…I know.” She cooed softly, tracing patterns on your back. Admittedly, you just sobbed into her shoulder, clutching onto her blazer as if it would disappear if you didn't. The two of you just sat like that. You couldn't even say how long. It was just the two of you, Vicky whispering comforting words to you as you let the ten years of suppressed emotions finally find some relief. “You are so strong, honey…And so incredibly loved, I want you to know that. You never have to hide these things from me. Whenever you want to talk about it, I'm here. I don’t care if I’m at a meeting with the god damn president…I’ll get to you as fast as I can.” Vicky pulled your face off her shoulder, and wiped your tears ever so gently. “I love you…So fucking much. It hurts me to see you like this.” Vicky herself was almost choked up at the sight of you in such sadness. She kissed your lips softly, before she moved to press her forehead against yours, her hands holding both sides of your face. “What can I do to make you feel even just a little bit better…? Say the word and it's yours.” She whispered. You swallowed and took a breath as you placed your hands over hers.

“Ice cream…and a Band-Aid.” You replied softly. Vicky laughed and squeezed your cheeks ever so slightly. 

“That's it? Just ice cream and a Band-Aid? You could have anything and you chose ice cream and a Band-Aid?” She smiled and shook her head, pressing another gentle kiss to your lips.

“Yeah…That’s it.” You replied softly.

“Alright pretty girl…what flavor?”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well...what can I say? Shes my favorite. Hope you liked it as much as I did, most likely starting either Butcher x Supe!Reader or Soldier Boy x Sidekick!Reader real soon depending on the results of the pole...It's been really really close! Adieu!

[coochiequeens]

An update to an older story that’s goods news!

When Jenny Nguyen signed the lease to create her dream bar, she wasn’t sure it would stay open for more than a few months.

But earlier this month, 43-year-old Nguyen’s first-of-its-kind establishment in Portland, Oregon, celebrated its one-year anniversary. Aptly named The Sports Bra, it’s a sports bar where only women athletes appear on the TVs.

Business has been good, despite the niche business model and record inflation sending food and beverage prices soaring. The Sports Bra brought in $944,000 in revenue in the eight months it was open in 2022, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

It was profitable in that first year of business, Nguyen adds.

“It turns out, it’s pretty universal — that feeling of being a women’s sports fan and going into a public place, like a sports bar, and having a difficult time finding a place to show a [women’s] game, especially when there are other men’s sports playing,” Nguyen says.

Initially, she wasn’t sure the idea would work at all. The vast majority of money and attention historically goes to men’s sports only — a big reason why The Sports Bra was reportedly the country’s first bar to only play women’s sports on TV.

It’s also not the kind of thing Nguyen would ordinarily do: She describes herself as “very cautious, risk averse.” But her obsession with women’s sports and frustration with its lack of representation on television screens drove her to empty her life savings — about $27,000 — and give it a try.

“Me, personally, I thought the idea was brilliant and that [it was] what the world needs,” Nguyen says. “But I had no idea that the world would want it. I just wanted to give it a shot.”

How The Sports Bra went from running joke to reality

Nguyen is a lifelong basketball fan who played the sport at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, before tearing her ACL. She’s also a longtime restaurant worker who spent three years as Reed College’s executive chef.

In 2018, Nguyen and a group of friends wanted to watch the NCAA women’s basketball championship game. They went to a mostly empty sports bar and still had to plead with a bartender to switch one of the smallest TVs — which played without sound — from a men’s sport to the women’s championship game, she recalls.

Together, they jumped up and down celebrating “one of the best games I’ve ever seen,” Nguyen says, as a buzzer-beating three-point shot sealed the championship title for Notre Dame. Afterward, she was struck by the normalcy of her situation.

″[We’d] gotten so used to watching a game like that in the way that we did,” she says, adding that they’d only find better viewing conditions “if we had our own place.”

Days later, she channeled her disappointment into a hypothetical: What would she name her bar? “The very first thing that came into my mind was The Sports Bra,” Nguyen says. “And once I thought it, I couldn’t un-think it, you know? It was catchy. I thought it was hilarious.”

For years, she joked about it. Then, the fallout from social justice movements like #MeToo and the country’s racial reckoning after George Floyd’s murder left her wanting to make a meaningful impact on the world and her community.

Nguyen, who came out as a lesbian at age 17, says she doesn’t always feel welcome at most traditional sports bars. The Sports Bra could help her, and anyone else who’d rarely felt accepted in other sports establishments, feel like she belonged.

“I thought about, if we can even get one kid in here and have them feel like they belong in sports, it’d be worth it,” she says.

Helping other women’s sports bars get started

At first, Nguyen had her savings, and $40,000 in loans cobbled together from friends and family. That would keep The Sports Bra afloat for three months, based on her cost estimates for labor, inventory and other overhead.

In February 2022, she launched a Kickstarter to raise $48,000 — enough money for an extra six-month financial cushion, to build up the sort of regular clientele any bar or restaurant needs to survive long-term.

To Nguyen’s surprise, the campaign raised more than $105,000 in just 30 days, thanks to a viral article in online food publication Eater. “At that moment, when I was looking at that Kickstarter graph, I thought to myself, ‘This might work,’” she says.

But the money, which came from around the country and world, was no guarantee of success. Actual people in Portland still needed to frequent the bar.

Today, there’s often a line out the door. Women’s basketball icons like Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi showed up, for an event sponsored by Buick, earlier this month. Ginny Gilder, co-owner of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, has even waited in line to watch her team play on The Sports Bra’s TVs, Nguyen says.

That’s a far cry from the Kickstarter days, which Nguyen says only happened after she was denied business loans by multiple banks and small business associations. The denials commonly cited the high risk of a unique concept run by a first-time entrepreneur during a pandemic, she adds.

Even the bar’s core concept is a struggle: It’s hard to find enough women’s sporting events to fill up the televisions. Only about 5% of all TV sports coverage focuses on female athletes, according to a 2021 University of Southern California study.

Nguyen says she’s taken to reaching out directly to sports networks and streaming services, some of which have hooked her up with access to more women’s sports content. She also spends an inordinate amount of time “scouring” TV listings, a process she likens to “taking a machete and chopping through a jungle.”

But she’s no longer alone. Another bar specializing in women’s sports has opened in nearby Seattle, and Nguyen says she’s in touch with a handful of other prospective entrepreneurs asking her for advice on opening similar visions in other cities.

“I would love to have as many people experience the feeling people experience when they walk through these doors,” she says. “It feels very selfish to keep it to this one building that holds 40 people at a time.”

[olderthannetfic]

Most of my fandoms are books and my personal peeve is when people interpret a POV character as gay/lesbian based on their lack of attraction to the opposite gender and not on the presence of their attraction to the same gender (I should probably phrase this in a way that's more inclusive to non-binary people but let's not be kidding ourselves, that's not how the people I'm talking about think about it).

There's a character in one of my main fandoms who's frequently interpreted as a lesbian because she has a lot of guys interested in her and she sees them all as dear friends and is dreading marriage (it's a historical setting). The thing is, we have lengthy passages from her POV and she spends 80% of them surrounded by really attractive women and she sees all of THEM as dear friends too.

The book has other POVs where you can tell when the character is horny for someone, and it also has a couple of canonically wlw women whose POVs and reactions make it obvious that they're attracted to other women.

I don't know, obviously everyone can have all the headcanons they like but there's something that annoys me about the presumption that being gay/lesbian is the "absence of 'normal' (heteronormative) attraction" and not the presence of attraction to your own gender. I would personally headcanon the character I described as ace or demi or something like that - she just seems entirely disinterested in sex or romance and doesn't seem to "get" it.

A fun corollary to this is that men written by mediocre female authors and women written by mediocre male authors often come off as queer to me because the author didn't bother to imagine how a het person of that gender would see others. E.g. Harry Potter often coming off as really gay because JKR puts her entire pussy into telling us when a male side character is hot whereas she couldn't write someone being attracted to a woman to save her life.

There's also a bunch of old school fantasy authors who have their female characters describing other female characters' bodies because that's what the male authors are into, and rightly there's been feminist pushback against it, but every time I see a complaint along the lines of "Why is this woman noticing other women's boobs and curves no woman thinks that way" my brain goes "It's because she wants to fuck the women, like me, I'm a woman and I think that way, don't take away the tiddies from me thank you <3"

--

[thegayloragenda]

Okay my last post before the show starts:

At the beginning of this tour I was closeted. Being an avid Gaylor / ally was the only way I could fathom bringing up queerness in my Bible Belt town. Gaylors get a lot of flack for being delusional, but I’m not delusional. I’m empathetic. The least interesting thing to me about all of this is the muses and I truly would go cold-turkey on Kaylor or Swiftgron or anyone else if I believed she truly was bothered by those things. I support her muses as a way to celebrate her queerness. There’s no one I hope she ends up with other than her own peace of mind because fracturing yourself truly does break you down in a way that feels very isolating and soul-damaging.

In a non-mirrorball way, I have seen Taylor say SO many of the things that I’ve said. Now I’m mostly out and it feels like I’m standing on hopeful yet rocky ground. I know the feelings of hesitation. I know the feelings of regret. I know how it feels to lose the love of your life because you’re frozen with fear about your safety and acceptance. I have felt the deep fear of the relationship failing and being so embarrassing because you took the leap of faith to follow your heart. I have been in self-sabotage mode because of a woman. There aren’t straight musicians who capture that feeling quite like Taylor does. It feels personal. And maybe that’s just how good she is at her craft.

I am proud to be a lesbian and I am proud to go down with this ship if that’s where it’s headed. And if by some chance she’s going to keep playing this game, I’m going to support her when and if she is ready — even if I have to step away from her fandom for a bit. My heart will stay with her and so will my hope.

To me, being a Gaylor is about being receptive and open and soft-hearted towards the possibility that she DOES feel trapped and she IS scared. It’s to acknowledge the effort she has made to communicate her queerness and make a safe space for her to land. Maybe that’s parasocial. I don’t mean to be. I just want to give her back the relief and freedom she gave me. I just wanted to help and to be a part of a movement that could save lives.

And for what it’s worth, it IS cool that you said all that. The coolest.

Thank you, Taylor. For everything. I love you to the moon and to Saturn.

And to this community….God I fucking love you. You saved my life. I cannot repay you. Thank you thank you thank you for giving me the courage to be myself. You guys are amazing and I’m so proud of us.

Great now I’m crying into my day old tea.