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aelinschild · 9 months ago

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Dropping this and running away.

Regular evenings seemed to come less frequently these days.

Aelin remembered when the drip of some leaky floorboard was the sole pace of her shifts. The dripdripdrip a marker of seconds passed. Ticking in the back of her skull like a pulse she'd long forgotten. A beating heart settled - put down. It's gentle sounding no different than a petulant child. Itching underneath her skin like the uncomfortable scratch of wool gone too long without washing.

She had grown fond of the noise, though. Like the hand of a clock steadily raced forward, so did that godsdamned floorboard. Racing against time, or the composition of the building in it's entirety. She didn't know. Didn't care.

Much of what she did here was just for the wad of cash slipped under worn tables. Hands cracked and peeling - slivers near her nail beds. The blood lasted on the money, so long as it stayed with her longer than a night.

It was why she was still here. Still watching the same game of poker begin for its thousandth consecutive time. Roucous chatter drowning out the drip. The sound of heavy coins denting the rotted wood.

Funny, how it was strong enough to pierce her skin and simultaneously bend to the weight of a piece of silver.

She didn't take well to the irony.

Her shifts had for so long been the same routine. Serve the regulars. Pocket a coin from the gaggle of grannies, crammed into the recess in the wall. A little alcove. Made great shadows to conceal the trick of fast hands and faster tongues. Wipe down the tacky residue that accumulated faster than she could keep track of. Argue with the old man from across the street - he didn't like the (outrageous) fractured neon lights. Pity for him, because when he was knee deep in his points, face red from exasperation, pulling out a chair had the most similar movements as a sly hand into a pocket. Cool cash crawling up her sleeve. He'd leave in a huff and Aelin would be a little lighter when she missed back behind the bar. Then the night would roll in on itself. Drunkenness a curse of this corner of the Earth, she was only powerful enough to keep her head above water and do her job. Close the bar. Count the cash. Wire it away and consider mourning the loss. Until she wouldn't and was back behind the counter.

That was her normal.

And so when her flagging gaze swept across the floor, the appearance of a new piece on the board made her falter. She wished there would be more reaction than the stuttering of her eyes, wished that she felt something deeper, drawn from newness, but there was nothing.

Nothing walked closer to her. She had the thought to smile, make herself pleasant, but the action didn't follow. Nothing laid large hands upon her bartop, the one to her right (nothing's left), crawling with whorls and scribbles. Like a child had gotten a hold of a tattoo gun. How unfortunate. Those hands - large, uncomfortably so - were attached to arms. Shocking, she supposed, as her eyes crawled up along the weaving tattoo. Golden skin and visible definition could have heated something in her. Maybe it did, maybe it had been so long she no longer knew what heated her core.

"...neat,"

Hm?

The dripdripdrip was gone. And with it took the clarity borne from acute annoyance. Hands, arms, shoulders... Was she warm? Or was she losing it?

"Love."

Like a fog had descended over her minds eye, snapped away as quickly as it had formed at the call of that petname. Love. What?

She balked. "Pardon?"

He - nothing, nothing of nothing who is nothing and of no effect to her - pursed his lips. Rolling the flesh between teeth, tightening the hinge of his jaw. Gods, there was definition there too. The angle of that jaw raised to high chedckbones, a tinge of red, pulsed with life. An overwhelming urge to follow that rise and fall, trace the hollows and contours. Feel along the strong brow that framed pine green eyes. Eye that sparkled. Eyes that tightened. Eyes lined with mirth...

"You work here?" He gruffed. The smirk in his eyes didn't reach his voice. But that voice... She'd love to compare it to crashing waves, smoothing over jagged rock. Endlessly leaving a print on what was considered impenetrable. But it instead stroke along a frayed edge in her. Breaking, rather than soothing.

A pause. Where were her words? "Yes."

"Right," he murmured. Muscles flexing as he rapped his knuckles along the worn bartop. She wanted to tell him to not. Grab his fist in her own and hold tight above the shitty wooden slab. Cover it with her own. "Then I'll get a whiskey. Neat."

Crawl over the tanned skin. "Of course." Trace the inked designs. "Just give me moment." Litter a marking somewhere.

Something tangible.

"Yes!"

She didn't know how it had really happened.

Well, she did. She had played her part, and now was enjoying the outcome. Somewhere along the lines of him ordering the whiskey, leaning only lightly against the barstool, delicately draped like he was ready to spring up at a moment notice. She had wandered around. Who knew that dust collected so quickly on tables that were just cleaned? Repetitive movements only let her drift into the sensation of green eyes pinned to her back. Lower, even.

She needed extra cleaner from the back. And it was only an accident that her hand grazed his upper thigh. She had practice in the deft movements that could steal a pretty coin, but her fingers didn't dig in, clasping around valuables. Rather, she had grazed the worn jean. Lighting a blaze, trailing the fire down to his knee.

It had pulsed in her core as she walked to the back room. The bar quieter, different to the usual rowdiness of a Saturday. She had swayed her hips a little more. Sensual machinations coming back like the flip of a switch. She felt a buzz in her head, unlike a dripdripdrip of a leaky floorboard.

It was stuffy. Her face so close to his, the height difference didn't serve them well at first, until he had hoisted her up around his waist. Her legs locking her tight. She had felt the heat of his body. Felt the heat through the clothes - get them off - felt the heat from her body, emanating out in a pulsing rhythm.

She had been panting. Breath coming out faster and faster as she wiggled her hips to tuck deeper into the hardness she felt pressing into her core. Writhing would get her nowhere when he was holding her in his arms. Her mouth found the underside of his jaw, and she sucked hard.

His groan was music to her ears.

Her apron fell. Ripped apart by those large hands. How much could they hold? He was surprisingly deft with unbuttoning the front of her dirty blouse. Button after button, down until he could rip it from her waistband, and shuck it off her shoulders.

Her bra was nothing special. Some department store sale piece, but it didn't matter, because it was off just as quickly and she was bare from the waist up.

"Off." She tugged at his shirt, taking a break from marking up his neck. She wanted to feel him against her. Skin to skin. She needed the contact more than anything. She was burning.

He had leaned her back, still in his hold. A little rough, her head nearly crashing into the wall they were pressed up agaisnt. She'd forgive him though, when he snaked one arm behind his head and expertly peeled the shirt from his torso.

Gods. Gods above, was this her lucky night. The tattoo wound all the way from his wrisr to his neck, matching like a puzzle along his chest. Corded with muscle, Built from genuine use, she could tell. This man was not built of aesthetics.

Her fingers found the hardened planes of his stomach, pressing lightly along the muscles. It tightened under her hand. Palms pushing agains the tautness of his abdomen, she didn't know whether to trail back up to his mouth, or push lower.

"Hold on," he bit out. Breathless just as she was.

She dug her nails into the shoulder she was tracing, his hand snaked to the button on his jeans. Her breaths came more rapidly now. Blood rushing through her ears. It was hands and tongues and teeth and no other thoughts. Nothing but what would come next. Nothing at all.

The zipper was so loud amongst their panting. But it was pulled down, and Aelin made a effort to shuck off her pants as well. But where her thighs were stretched around his waist kept her from making any further moves. She wanted nothing between them.

"Hurry up," she hissed, pressing herself back against him.

He shuddered when she pulled him tight, nails digging deeper. She hoped they would mark him. Stay with him longer then this moment. "Gods." It's not soft the way he shoves them closer into the wall. The way his hand is under her nondescript panties in seconds. Burning a trail along the most intimate skin. He stalls there for a second. Aelin is pulsing; in her head, in her blood, in her cunt.

His eyes find hers. Green and vibrant and swirling and dark. All blown wide with lust. He keeps her trapped there, pinned by his gaze while his fingers swipe along her folds. Through them, deeper until they wetten with the arousal she surely though was dripping down her leg by this point. He traces along for a moment, and she has half a mind to snap at him to hurry it up when his thumb is pressing into her clit so hard she sees stars.

She squeaks out a breathless yelp.

"You're soaking," he drawls, mouth coming down to the skin at the coloumn of her neck. He breaths into her, breathes her in. "Just waitin' for me, weren't you? All pretty behind your bar top."

She would roll her eyes if they weren't already at the back of her skull from the pleasure. He kept a steady hand on her clit while rough fingers slipped back through her folds, down to where she needed him most. Yes. The roar in her head heightened.

"Please..."

He hummed. "Please what?" A smirk, in voice or against her skin, she could not tell "Please who?"

Fuck. She hadn't gotten his name either. They had tumbled into the closet so quickly, bodies pressed so close, that introductions had been skipped. She thought she could make it throigh without his name. But this bastard was going to hold it over her head.

Fingers traced around her entrance; probing, waiting.

"Please... Sir. Fuck me."

He laughed. She jostled with the movement and his fingers pushed against her just right. "I'll let it slide," and with little pause, he pushed in. Slicking in quick, easy, the slide only assisted with the way she was falling apart in waiting for him. Two - two - fingers stretching her wide and pushing that rising wave higher. She keened a breathy whine when he curled those rough fingers. Pressing hard into that spot inside of her she could never reach herself.

His breath curled around her ear. He bit the shell of it before murmuring "But you better call me Rowan. No Gods or Sir. I want to hear my name from those pretty lips."

She nodded, feverish for more. He bared his teeth in a satisfied smile, increasing the pace of his fingers inside of her. She had hardly noticed when he swapped his thumb for the heel of his palm against her clit. But she felt it now. Pushing against her whole he slicked up her panties. The wave rose higher and higher.

"Rowan!" She cried. "Ah! Don't stop... Please."

"Wasn't even thinking of it, love." He kept her trapped under his gaze. And she wanted to look away when her jaw dropped in white-hot pleasure but something in his eyes promised to hurt if she did. "There you go, pretty girl." She moaned at his comment, riding high after the crashing of the orgasm. She could feel every press of his fingers inside her as he stilled them, still sensitive even after the rush of pleasure.

And oh, was she riding a fine line. Legs a little shaky and breath hurried. But when Rowan pulled out - to her displeasure - and brought those hands to his face, to his mouth, and licked her clean off of them.

She whined. A pitchy sound that worked its way out of her as he stared into her eyes, licking along the crevices between fingers. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but he quickly shoved those same fingers against her tongue and pressed down. Freezing her there.

"Taste like heaven, love. But that was only the first course"

Jeans ripped off and pants pulled down. She swapped the wall against her back for cold air. Stiffening nipples to an even harder peak than what they had come to in post-orgadmic bliss. More more more, she changed in her head. She was so sensitive and so ready and so-

She squeaked. He had pulled himself from the confines of his underwear. She has missed it. Blissed out with the feel of him against his chest, but he was there, notching against her entrance in hasty movements.

He eyes met hers, "Condom?"

Fuck her. "I'm on the pill."

His grin was feral. His grip tightened to a near bruising hold. She felt his cock prod at her entrance, and he pushed it around, catching on the arousal she had spilled. At least he had prepped her. She hadn't seen his size, had felt it, yes, but this man seemed like he was blessed, if only judging by what she had already seen.

The moment spans, and her what desire jumped thrpigh her at a rushing pace came to a near stall. The dripdripdrip threatening to return, when the air was punched from her lungs as he pushed up, up and into her in one stoke.

"Ah! Rowan!" She choked. Stretched so full she felt him in her stomach. Tears brimmed her eyes as the stretch ached. Gods, the prep wasn't enough, and the tight grip on him must have let him know, as he held still, caressing her back and down to her ass, before his hand snaked back around to her clit.

She moaned, sharp little breaths as he circled his finger with enough pressure to relax the tightness in her body. She hadn't noticed, but when she looked up to his eyes, wanting to see him fully, his jaw was tensed so tight that the muscles of his neck pulled. Was he in pain?

"Ah... Rowan, wh-whats wrong?" Her tears brimmed and fell over. A loosening in her core and a rushing through her mind. Every sensation was a fire lit inside of her, so much so that she didn't notice as the pain morphed into pleasure, and how she could feel every ridge, every vein, of his cock inside of her. Inside of her, gods, he needs to move.

"Nothing," he gave a shallow thrust, Aelin keened. "Jus' squeezing me so fuckin' tight I can barely breath."

"Y-yeah?" She laughed, salty lines tracing down her face. "Gonna come?"

The words were out of her mouth before she had really considered the implication of them. She was no sadist, liked the high better then the route there, but something in her tingled (beside his cock, nudging deeper and deeper with every breath) at the fire that lit in his eyes.

He laughed, a deep rumble from within, and moved. Soon, they were back up against the wall. Aelin squeezed him so tight, wanting some pleasure and wanting it now. And maybe she was egging him on more. But when Rowan tossed her legs up above the crook of his elbows - rendering her immobile - and pulled out, she almost came again there.

He pushed back in with so much force that her hands came up to cover her mouth. He set a relentless pace, hair falling over his brow and beads of sweat beginning to form at his brow. He leaned over her, pushing closer and closer and testing the limits of her flexibility. Aelin was still moaning, but it was punched out in a yelp every time his cock shoved deeper inside. The slick noises only added to the lewdness. "You gonna come? Huh, love? Gonna come for me now or do I need to fuck you harder?"

He was teasing her.

He leaned down, she dropped her hand, expecting his mouth to close over hers. But he just smirked. When his tongue traced the lines of her tears, licking all the way up her face, she closed her eyes and let go. Falling deeper into the sensation.

It wasn't long before he bored of licking her face. His mouth did finally come to her, and she let him into her mouth so fast that her head was spinning. He still thrusted in, a relentless thwap at every entrance inside of her, and she felt the wave rising again. She traced up his abs, winding around his shoulders to grip onto his hair and pull, just as he pushed in so deep she saw stars.

"Come," he growled. Tiny little movements only to plant himself deeper inside. The roaring came back to her head and she nearly screamed when it hit her. Harder than anything she felt before. Harder than she knew how to handle. Rowan groaned above her, and that was it.

He came inside her. Flooded her cunt so thoroughly it was actually uncomfortable. And it dripped down when he pulled out with little celebration. She whined at the loss of him. Whined more when he set her on her feet and stepped away.

"Thanks, love." He said, breathless and reverent. She felt lost in the aftermath. Head empty and body shocked.

"Yeah. Yeah, no problem...?" It came out as a question and she didn't know what to think. He grabbed a tissue from someplace and offered it to her. Well, at least he did something. Strange and beautiful man. Rowan, oh Rowan.

"Fucked you so hard you forget how to think, huh?" He smiled. Less feral than before, but still the edge of a knifes blade inside of those green eyes. She just nodded, reaching for her clothes that had been scattered on the floor.

She guessed that he was giving her space to come down, giving her a moment. But it crashed into the dirt when he gripped her chin between his forefinger and thumb and searched so deep into her eyes. He held her in his grip, both naked and reeling, and said, "don't shut me out, love." Before he pressed his lips to hers again. Kissing the roaring in her head to a stop and breathing something into her. Something she'd like to hold onto.

"I'll be back. Proper date and all soon, alright love?" He said as he stepped into his pants. Dressing with all the grace he had exhibited while fucking her a moment ago. What? He just moved for the door, shucking his shirt back over those beautiful shoulders and hiding the length of his tattoo. "Don't wander too far away anytime. I don't want to waste my time chasing."

The door opened, just a crack, "I'll see you soon, Aelin."

When Aelin was clothed and less in mental limbo, she pulled on the conversation (one-sided). Some deep, darker part of her was satisfied to see the nails marks she had driven into his back. Some tangible sore he'd no doubt have to clean up, if he wanted the blood off. She smiled to herself.

It wasn't until she was stepping out of the backroom that she realized Rowan had called her Aelin. Had said goodbye to Aelin.

She had never told him her name.

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asoulwithadream · 2 months ago

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Proof of why Hozier pre-read the Good Omens S2 scripts and made Unreal Unearth based on it.

The song is very obviously "Crowley", as will be explained in this analysis that was very much not fueled by overconsumption of sugary pastries. You may believe that there is one line that does recall Aziraphale more than our loveable sad demon, however I do have a theoretical explanation for that to maintain the strictly demonic narrator. This song, much like its original meaning, is about how he feels betrayed and tricked, or at least, deluded by his own hopes.

You know the distance never made a difference to me. This is the metaphorical distance between them, as angel and demon. They’re considered the opposite of each other. Good and bad. The locations of their respective headquarters, (the basement and the top of the building) is also a physical show of the distance between the two in management and creature type.

I swam a lake of fire, I'd have walked across the floor of any sea The lyrics say that he “SWAM” past-tense, so this would refer to actual things Crowley has done: he did step into a whirlwind of Hellfire disguised as Aziraphale, right? And he did run into a burning bookshop for him. Metaphorically, he did swim through a lot of fire. Ignored the vastness between all that can be seen and all that we believe Crowley believes that what he thought their relationship was (“us”), in the end, was just his own imagination or fantasy of what he wanted them to be. So I thought you were like an angel to me This is one of my favourite parallels in the song, due to the changing definition of “angel” throughout the song, and how it’s used in the phrasing. Here, “angel” becomes the goodness and kindness that Crowley sees in Aziraphale; how angels are traditionally viewed by humanity. Then, he adds “to me”, alluding to their special relationship, different from the usual angel/demon relations between Heaven and Hell. He thought that Aziraphale had been, was, and would be, good and kind, to him.

Funny how true colours shine in darkness and in secrecy To not only Crowley, but most beings, the secrecy here is God’s Ineffable Plan™, and the darkness is the Metatron’s manipulative meddling. In light of fulfilling it (through the Second Coming), Aziraphale shows his true colours by siding with the angels. If there were scarlet flags, they washed out in the mind of me Crowley justifies putting Aziraphale on a pedestal that “he didn’t deserve” (because of said betrayal) because he was so blinded by love and hope, that he couldn’t realise the extent of Aziraphale’s religious trauma and character. Where a blinding light shone on you every night and either side of my sleep In the Divine Comedy, Dante is blinded by light in order to see God. Aziraphale has been systematically coerced into siding with Heaven, and this blinding light is what he sees as his destiny and responsibility to the world and to God’s Plan™. I wouldn’t doubt that Crowley would have nightmares of this, considering that he canonically does sleep. Where you were held frozen like an angel to me Here is the second parallel of the term “angel”. Angel has now become what demons see angels like: cold, callous creatures, only different from demons by look and power. Aziraphale trapped himself (or “held” himself “frozen”) in his vision of a grander future, encouraged by the Metatron, which made him become distant and cold to Crowley in the time-span of a poorly-timed confession.

It ain't the being alone (sha-la-la) Here begins a part where Crowley seems to try convince both Aziraphale and himself that some of the consequences of the divorce don't really affect him, to emphasise the LAST effect, as will be explained below. Thus, being alone is a big part of being Hell’s representative on Earth, so that wouldn’t be the biggest hurt that Crowley experiences post-divorce. It ain't the empty home, baby (sha-la-la) Though I can imagine that the bookshop without Aziraphale is not the same, he could still find some nostalgic comfort in the place. And after all, it's as cold as his own apartment now. You know I'm good on my own (sha-la-la), sha-la-la, baby Crowley repeating the fact that he's alone. He reminds Aziraphale that he really doesn't care being by himself, maybe trying to get a jab at the angel by showing that "Us" can just be Crowley if h wants to. You know, it's more the being unknown So much of the living, love, is the being unknown What I believe hurt Crowley the most about the entire situation is that he thought that they knew each other and shared an incredibly special relationship given their circumstances (even if it was just platonic, and never ventured further). However, through choosing Heaven, the entire worth of their relationship seemed to shatter into pieces, as if Crowley never truly meant anything to Aziraphale, as if they were never friends. And that hurts particularly, because to Crowley, Aziraphale was the only one to ever truly know him.

You called me "angel" for the first time, my heart leapt from me You could very clearly read this as from Aziraphale, however, it doesn’t make as much sense in the context of the song (as being predominantly Crowley coded), so I have another theory that could explain this line, that I, truthfully, like more: - Aziraphale has, through the history of their friendship, called Crowley a variation of “nice” due to different occasions (2500 BCE, 1793, 1827, 1941, 2019, and so on…) This calls back to the first usage of angel in the song, synonymous to the traditional qualities of holy beings (nice, kind, etc). Whilst Crowley does react negatively every time Aziraphale refers to him as such, imagine being seen for the first time in a positive light by someone you thought was your enemy after being condemned and judged as pure evil forever. Maybe this was what solidified Crowley’s feelings: the realisation (or, the fabrication of a delusion) that Aziraphale was different, that he was like him, that he could see through the pre-set prejudices. You smile now, I can see its pieces still stuck in your teeth Even in the end, during the 15 Minutes, you can still see Aziraphale smile, and I believe that Crowley recognised that Aziraphale in the one that was ultimately "betraying him". Of course, now there's this entirely new side of the angel, but I believe that in these moments he’s realising that both the angel he knew, and the angel he’s meeting now, were both Aziraphale all along. And what's left of it, I listen to it tick, every tedious beat Crowley’s hanging on to the last memories before they vanish completely. Their dying relationship is like a heart about to fail, a clock saying goodnight, and whilst I can imagine that Crowley would want to distance himself to avoid getting hurt any further, he would be able to completely, especially because of the lines after the next one. Going unknown as any angel to me Aziraphale, by becoming Head Archangel, has ceremoniously become the authority of Heaven itself, one of the many things that Crowley hates the most. By doing so, Aziraphale is now part of the group of angels that Crowley has as the second definition of “angel”. The ones that never knew him.

Do you know, I could break beneath the weight Of the goodness, love, I still carry for you? I know that even though all of this happened, Crowley still has his feelings for Aziraphale. If he didn’t the 15 Minutes wouldn’t have been so painful, especially considering the weight and length of their relationship: they’ve been through Hell (literally) and knowing someone for so long can not be erased within a day. And I think that despite Aziraphale’s actions, Crowley still loves him, and with time will come to understand him. That I'd walk so far just to take the injury of finally knowing you The "ironic" line delivery is very much a testament to Crowley’s character and how he behaves, and most importantly, the betrayal which he feels. Anyways, Crowley has sacrificed both material and emotional value for Aziraphale. Not only did he give up God’s Ineffable Plan™ (not only for the angel, but he was a part of the reason), but he abandoned his position and allies in Hell and completely isolated himself to be on his and Aziraphale’s side, and helped the angel with the Gabriel crisis and its implication all throughout Season 2. And not only that, but confessing is also a pretty demanding and difficult task. Everything he’s done was for the person he imagined Aziraphale to be, only to be hurt by who Aziraphale actually is and what he’d actually do. Sacrifices thrown to the side.

It ain't the being alone (sha-la-la) It ain't the empty home, baby (sha-la-la, sha-la-la, la-la-la) You know I'm good on my own (sha-la-la), sha-la-la, baby You know, it's more the being unknown

And there are some people, love, who are better unknown Another jab at Aziraphale, trying to convey that Crowley regrets ever taking the time to know, befriend, and fall in love with the angel. He’s trying to convince the both of them that this was a waste of time, and that it was never truly worth getting to know each other, if heartbreak was the only conclusion of their relationship.

#good omens #good omens s2 #good omens 2 #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #ineffable divorce #hozier #unreal unearth #unknown/nth

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rofax · 2 years ago

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Okay okay okay just saw Across the Spider-Verse and have A Thought. Hear me out:

Miguel is not a "true" Spider-Man.

(I KNOW he is a Spider-Man in comics but the movies are establishing their own canon so stay with me here.)

I feel like the movies planted a lot of flags about how he is so, so fundamentally different from the other Spiders. Consider:

• He enters and has a CAPE. Spider-Man doesn't wear capes. It's disrespectful.

• Why is he getting a musical sting that is reminiscent of Prowler's? Why does he get a villain score? Extra suspicious given the big end reveal about the universe with no Spider-Man.

• "I'm not a bad guy!" "You look like one!"

• Peter asking, "Spider-Man is supposed to be funny. Why aren't you funny?"

• He says he isn't like the other Spider-Man's. Maybe he means because he makes the hard choices. Maybe it's more than that.

• Comic Miguel injects himself to get the powers of the Earth-616 Spider-Man. This Miguel is also seen injecting himself to get his powers. There's not really any indication of when this started. I'm thinking it started AFTER he lost his "family".

• He found a world where he wasn't alone and took the place of that Miguel when he died. IIRC, at no point does it show either versions of that Miguel as Spider-Man. Just that this Miguel had a family and he wanted that (ala kingpin).

• When the big anomaly is destroying that reality, why does he not just thwip thwip away with his kid? Does he not have powers?

• He is furious at Miles for robbing a reality of its Spider-Man, but surely he did the same thing when left to take the other Miguel's place?? Unless he was never Spider-Man to begin with.

• Spider-Man dying isn't part of the spider canon we have been shown. Why would it be so disruptive for Miguel to take his place? JUST because he is an anomaly? The other Spiders in the first movie didn't fundamentally destabilize Miles' reality, they were just going to glitch apart themselves. It shouldn't have such a butterfly effect for Miguel to do what he did, unless maybe the original Miguel was adjacent to Spider-Man. Maybe he was the cop who died in that world. Maybe he was the Uncle Ben figure. Somehow his death was important to the Canon.

• Why does he not bring up his Uncle Ben or his cop-close-to-him dying? Why is his tragedy only the one he created and not the usual Spider canon?

• I know he's a cool cyberpunk Spider-Man but he's the ONLY one we see with different colored webs. He is very visually distinct from the others.

• "Are your sure you're a Spider-Man?"

Theory: Miguel was just a scientist who found a world where he wasn't alone and stepped into it. When he brought on destruction by being an anomaly to the Spider-Canon, he chose to become a Spider-Man to preserve the canon and keep the universes in tact... but he was never supposed to be a Spider-Man either, just like Miles. He doesn't follow the canon either.

Also I think because Miles and probably Miguel exist outside the Spider-Canon, they won't be bound by it and will be able to disrupt it. I feel like a significant portion of Miguel's redemption arc/Heel-Face-Turn is going to be realizing Miles is right and helping him because neither of them should have been Spider-Man but both of them became him anyway. Because anyone can wear the mask.

#across the spider verse spoilers #spiderman atsv #spiderman across the spiderverse #across the spider-verse spoilers #spoilers #miguel o'hara #spiderman 2099 #I JUST #I JUST THINK HE WOULDNT HAVE SO MANY MAJOR DIVERSIONS FROM SPIDER-MAN IF IT WASNT PLAYING AT SOMETHING

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davekat-sucks · 6 months ago

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i saw some draw humanstuck art today and drew meenah white, every single comment under the post was everyone saying “whitestck”, “white meenah scares me..” and someone even said “they whitewashed her..” you can’t white wash an alien with gray skin..

these are the same kind of hypocrites that when you ask them what the hell even makes meenah, the fucking alien, "black coded" they will then reveal their own racism through their very own reasoning, because they associate, for example, meenahs aggressiveness with black people, instead of associating it to the canon fact that all female trolls are aggressive and that hic was a violent genocidal conqueror of planets.

or another one ive seen, that Gamzee is "black coded" because the "coding" was he was portrayed as an, and I quote, "impossible to understand, dirty, drug-addled, ugly, stupid teen with an absent father and a religious devotion to rap/hip hop. Impossible to take seriously, until he becomes a violently abusive murderer because he got his drugs taken away"

but no, the real issue is the artist depicting the troll called sea hitler or the troll parodying ICP, two white rappers, as white... make it make fucking sense

id ask these people if they are americans and if they also believe that trolls speaking english makes them american in the first place, and if they say yes to both, then that also shows they are hypocrites again by their own logic

because, honestly and from what all of this tells me, not only some americans are racist enough to connect all these traits to a skin color, turning them into racial stereotypes, but also self-centered enough to miss that theyre doing exactly what "Americentrism" describes. judging an entire different culture, a planet of fucking ALIENS, as if its the USA, and centering everything around america and their issues as if their standards are the only valid interpretation of the story and characters.

and because all of this disgusting mindset is even encouraged by the current writer teams too, reminder that the hicu writers revealed that they made earth c to be literally just texas as an entire planet.

Pretty much. They say it is racist that Meenah is stereotyped black-coded. But if you headcanon them as anything else, it's racist still. At this point, what the fuck do these people want?! But yeah, most Westerners are self centered assholes. Why else they even go after stuff like anime/manga/video games and try to change the stuff there? Because they can't accept cultural differences that aren't United States. They can't accept some places have different moral standards than others. Technically, it was WHATPUMPKIN, not HICU, that made Earth C's flag just similar to Texas's. But it is still a point that James Roach and HICU do not want retcon or get rid of it. They want to """respect"""" the people who had worked on it. But considering the team behind it, why the fuck would you give them any benefit of the doubt?! TELL ME! James Roach and HICU were better off doing a hard ass reboot and wiped everything the previous team had made, out of existence. It is better than building on top of or dragging along the damage made within HS2/Beyond Canon. Because it just reminds people of the horrible past and the people behind it. Some may even think James Roach and HICU continuing to go along with it, means they technically still support people like Andrew Hussie and Kate Mitchell. And not just business standpoint, like they support them in beliefs and ideology.

#homestuck #homestuck fandom #WhatPumpkin #What Pumpkin #HICU #Homestuck Independent Creative Union #Homestuck 2 #HS2 #HS^2 #Homestuck2 #Homestuck Beyond Canon #HSBC

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bluestarlett · 1 month ago

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my mom writes poetry and wanted me to post some

she’s been writing a lot to deal with her grief and was wanting some sort of reach however she’s not super well-versed on social media so asked me to post some here.

Her first one she wrote about Will Wood, funnily enough. He’s a very important role model to her since she found his music after her dad died and it helped her through a lot. He also looks exactly like my dad lol

“The Old Gods Are Dead

More than two books gives me analysis paralysis Turns my prefrontal cortex gelatinous But here's my societal psychoanalysis

The Age of Anxiety Fear and false piety Only perceiving a fraction of Is it a quantum reaction When the TV became me And I became the tree That was up there on the screen

What the fuck does it all MEAN?

You are my artificial perception That I'll take as an ugly lesson My father gave me music It feels like time to use it In a different way than I always did

Host your demons Feel the changing seasons Turn the mirror around As your ego starts to weaken

Do you ever wonder sometimes Maybe if we didn't distract ourselves and waste our lives Would we see what's just out of reach Parallel Our eyes unbleached

Hyperspace is just too loud That buzzing Beeping Screaming Sound

So I'll surrender all my wisdom and power To forget And consume brain rot for just an hour

It's lonely at the top You've gotta understand To be aware nonstop Is hell for any man

I'll keep posting my kids on Facebook I'll misunderstand some great books I'll do anything to gain looks I will fuck up some decent hooks All for the sake of shoulder shrug

Are drugs considered ‘media’ “Drugs” are what they're feeding ya So the Soylent Green And the American Dream Maintains efficacy This is how it has to be

You used to be a Dreamweaver But you got sick when Mother Earth caught a fever Please don't give up on her yet We can win this, I bet

But if you show those white flags You might spawn a system that lags Wake up in the metaverse No need for that last ride In an 80s hearse No need for primitive pride

Being God is boring To exist as odd and flawed sounds alluring Maybe I could invent the wheel After the chariot Try to have child And have to bury it

To be a lab rat is a blessing I'll take a stab at constant stressing Ponder if I'm the control group Wander through the mirrored maze room

But once in a while I recall that I was once The collective mind The nature of flux

Being God is lonely Being human is pain Solitude is holy Humanity is insane”

and this is one she wrote during her… second? Stay at a psychiatric ward.

“Unit Red Love Letter

The sun and the moon were sharing the sky 11 am lucky strike Wishing I was high

I lay in the grass A small patch just for one To dream about home And laying next to you

Marigold toes Covered in ashes and prose A sunflower sapling Thriving in the throes

Black n Mild An unsuspected teacher Sees an abandoned child Heartbreak Validated She knows we are to be liberated

Don't fall back down your own black holes Keep looking up, and don't forsake your goals

Your family is nothing Ina world so cold Don't let them crush your worth Don't give them your soul

Be defiant Boldly go Find the sun Fill the dark hole”

#poetry #writing #will wood #kind of #chonny's charming cosmic confluence #< tagging that because some of these lines remind me of cosmic #My mom is so cool everyone #reblogs > likes #btw

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trahald-the-burrower · 8 months ago

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When in the year was Sméagol born?

I was wondering when in the year Sméagol was born, mostly because I'm curious as to which stars he was born under (his horoscope, to put it simply). I do believe placement of the stars/planets when born can have an affect on one's personality.

So I started doing some research to try and figure it out.

My first questions were…

Q: Does the world of Middle-Earth have the same constellations as we do?

A: YES. Though they are referred to differently, they are the same stars. For example, Orion's Belt in Tolkien's world is known as Menelvagor's Shining Belt, and is seen in the night sky in Autumn (which fits with our world, as well).

This is important to know, because I can't decide the equivalent of Sméagol's horoscope in our world if he doesn't have our stars.

Q: Are there seasons in Middle-Earth? Do they have the equivalent of Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall?

A: YES. And, according to this map, the Gladden Fields experiences a cold winter and a warm summer.

This is important to know because the season is the ONLY THING I can use to figure out when Sméagol was born. We know the weather was nice (more on this below).

Q: Do hobbits count time the same way we do? Are there 24 hours in a day? 7 days a week? 12 months in a year? Are there 365.25 days in a year?

A: YES to all, though weekdays and months have different names, and each month has a period of 30 days (some extra days were added to their yearly calendar, so that there are 365 days a year, but they are not considered to be a part of a month).

This is important to know because I would have a very difficult time figuring out which stars were out during the time of Sméagol's birth if their years were shorter, or significantly dissimilar to ours in any way.

Q: On which months do the seasons fall? Do they fall on the same months as ours?

A: YES. Give or take a day or two. For example, Summer solstace for us is June 20th, and for them it is June 22nd.

This is important to know, because if Summer Solstace was in what we call January rather than June, the stars would be placed differently.

With all of these questions answered, I was then able to proceed. Like I said, the ONLY THING I have to determine Sméagol's birth date is the season -- the weather was quite nice on Sméagol's birthday (the day Déagol found the Ring/Sméagol took it). And I know this because not only were they fishing, but Déagol fell in and didn't suffer from hypothermia (if he had, I imagine it would have been mentioned. He seemed perfectly fine when he emerged), and Gandalf said "On a time they took a boat and went down to the Gladden Fields, where there were great beds of iris and flowering reeds."

These irises were the Yellow Iris/Yellow Flag, iris pseudacorus -- Tolkien states this in his notes.

Yellow Irises bloom in the Spring and Summer, from April to June (some say even up to the beginning of July).

New stalks of flowering reeds shoot in Spring, and flowers appear in late June.

With this information, we can say that Sméagol's birthday was in the Spring/Summer, somewhere from April to the beginning of July.

(I compared our yearly calendar with the hobbits' yearly calendar. It's different by only a day or two -- some months are the same. I can't say with certainty the exact day Sméagol's birth fell on, so those two days won't make much of a difference, anyway -- I can only give an estimate.)

At this point, I looked through the horoscopes that go from April to the beginning of July. Which are…

Aries (end of March to end of April) Taurus (end of April to end of May) Gemini (end of May to end of June) Cancer (end of June to end of July)

(I felt compelled to cross off Aries and Cancer, and put him closer to the middle, but I looked into the personality traits of each horoscope just to see.)

Aries Personality Traits: Confident, prideful, power-hungry, impatient, natural born leaders, impulsive, adventurous, headstrong.

Taurus Personality Traits: Kind, rational, dependable, trustworthy, loving, humble, greedy, resilient.

Gemini Personality Traits: Curious, cunning, deceptive, child-like, adaptable, dramatic, indecisive, playful.

Cancer Personality Traits: Artistic, imaginative, sensitive, moody, empathetic, kind, quirky, shy.

While I can see a bit of him in each horoscope, Gemini wins; it fits him almost to a T. The symbol for the sign is even two faces, and they are known as "The Twins" and for having two distinct sides.

I went a bit further, and while I can't know the exact date, I can guess. Gemini is from May 21 - June 20 (give or take a couple days for the hobbits).

June 22nd is the first day of Summer for hobbits (June 20th for us).

Frodo's birthday is September 22nd, and canonically this is the first day of Autumn in the Shire.

I thought it would really be quite fitting if Frodo's birthday was the last day of Summer/first day of Autumn while Sméagol's birthday was the last day of Spring/first day of Summer at June 22nd for hobbits (which, if we took a couple days off for the hobbit calendar, would be June 20th which is the last day of Gemini). It would fit their being opposites/mirroring one another. Depending on how you look at it, you could say Sméagol was born at the beginning of Summer and Frodo was born at the end of Summer (Sméagol being interested in roots and beginnings is a big part of his story).

So canonically: Sméagol's birthday is in Spring/Summer.

My headcanon: He's a Gemini and was born June 22nd.

#gollum #sméagol #smeagol #the lord of the rings #lord of the rings #lotr #jrr tolkien #frodo baggins #frodo #birthday

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joyswonderland1108 · 1 year ago

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This is for so-called OT7 Army

A gentle reminder that if you preach about being OT7 but refuse to vote for or support a member simply because of their solos, then kindly remove that lil 7 you dickhead.

Your hatred to solos should not be the decision maker for you because at the end of the day it is hurting the artist that you apparently love too.

You are free to root for whoever you want simply because they are your bias, you prefer them, you love them more, but using a lame ass excuse such as "I can't give akgaes the satisfaction of their fav reaching the top so i'll stay stubborn and support my fav or anyone that isn't their fav really"

Now please tell me how are those cunts who think like this even considered OT7?

Did i know beforehand that the same energy won't be returned if Jimin was to move to second place? YES VERY. I did mention it in a comment that if Jimin was to ever be in second place they would say "A lot of people didn't like the previous decision therefore vote for whoever you want". Also, If Jimin or JK were already in second place to begin with, tweets asking to focus on either one of them from supposed OT7 accounts wouldn't even exist.

When i tell you that my boys only have their solos and their OT7 stans to back them up and stand up for them, i'm not even joking.

I did see some other members stans who spoke up about this whole bullshit too so i would really like to thank them for reasoning with logic.

Some people wanted to get smart and qt or comment with SS from polls where "Army" voted the most for the option where they should just vote for the member who is leading in a category, but let me tell you why this is stupid.

First of all, you are dealing with a toxic ass fandom this should've already been the first red flag.

Second of all, this is just Twitter we are talking about, just a stan account(s), not some official page, not some official announcement that made it to the news. Many people don't follow everyone, many people are not as active on Twitter as other people, many people were just not on Twitter for some days, many people aren't even on Twitter, many people simply didn't vote.

Third of all, how do you even know if the votes are legit or not? Just because you seem like a nice person online how would i know if you didn't encourage your friends to vote for a certain category? How do i know if some people don't have 10 Twitter accounts they vote from for the same category.

Which leads me to the conclusion that making a decision based off of a fuckass poll in a social media platform is the most unreliable, most drama started shit ever. This is a HUGE fandom, but i'll take the numbers i used as an example with my friends: Let's take a group of 100 000 people, you made a poll for them, only 1000 of them got to vote on that poll before the timer comes to an end and the result of that poll is out. Tell me how on earth is 1000 people voting a reliable way to make a decision for the other 99 000 people?

Seriously, i hate how after all that these accounts start a victim fest the whole "I'm trying my best" and all the cries. Trying your best and avoiding tricky situations are two different things. Starting something knowing damn well whatever the result of it is will create drama later is absolutely unwise, don't just dive into doing something that you can't manage, if you can't manage a fandom with millions of people in it then please stop jumping on shit thinking you're doing a favor for everyone, you're just creating even more division and getting members even more hate.

For fuck's sake is it that hard for people to sit down and think carefully about shit before starting fires? Literally a whole useless ass drama when they could've just shut the fuck up.

Don't even tell me to vote for Jimin or for JK if they were the ones leading if you are NOT a Jimin or JK focused account because then even if one or the other is leading, saying it like that is still unfair to other members, unfair to other member's stans, unfair to people who never even agreed to a stupid poll or those who never even knew it existed.

Again. we are not blind, we see how shit unfolds and we (when i see we i don't mean solos) adapt to the situation, you don't need to fucking mention it, just stop creating chaos, stop creating division. We need a fandom cleanse, not more drama and more wars ffs.

Salutation.

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fountainpenguin · 8 months ago

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Identity Meta

Last June I made a post about asexuality in my FOP 'fics. This year, here's a post about notable ace and aro characters in my MCYT 'fics.

Also, bonus headcanons that aren't ace or aro, but which I'd written up for a Dog's Life author's note a couple months ago that got too long and was never posted. Enjoy!

#Dog's Life spoilers (up through Chapter 36) & #ridspoilers for random additional works, including in the post-Dog's Life timeline

Intro Note

This document discusses attraction. Some characters may not be attracted to someone you ship them with. These are notes for my fanfics; they are personal portrayals. You don't have to agree with them.

If this post makes you uncomfortable, please step away and/or don't interact. Thank you!

---

Correspondent System

Soul temperature:

Warm-Cool

Hot-Chilly

In both my Pixels Imperfect and Neighborhood Watch AUs, the correspondent system determines soulmates. All Double Life SMP soulbonds follow the correspondent system.

NW is a soulmate-normative [correspondent-normative] culture. Feeling attraction outside the correspondent system is considered queer. In the Pixels Imperfect universe, soul temperature is usually medical knowledge and not many people have a preference. However, some do (since it can impact the cuddle experience).

In the Pixels universe, many people would find you standoffish and close-minded if you expressed you prefer cuddling some temperatures, but avoid others

In the NW universe, many people would feel uncomfortable if you expressed sensual interest in any soul temperature other than your correspondent match

Also, in the Pixels Imperfect universe, the forehead is a sensitive area to touch. It’s where mobs and players touch each other while on love hearts. They don’t have the millions of nerves in their lips that Earth residents do - they weren’t programmed with that - so although they might be able to touch lips briefly (before phasing through each other’s skin due to lack of collision), it’s not very exciting for them.

It’s kind of like putting your hand on a piece of steak. It’s… definitely something. You can feel you’re touching steak. But not really sexy.

Pixels Notes

Pixels Imperfect is my series about MCYT characters living in a digital world. Grian is a Watcher who swapped places with the Grian who was originally born in this world, so now there's a digital-born Grian surviving a universe of flesh and a flesh-born Grian living in a world of code.

In Dog's Life Chapter 10, Grian got slapped in the face with the realization that sex doesn't exist in this digital universe; everyone is a hybrid who hatches from a dragon egg and they were not coded with the ability to reproduce. Not only that, but his friends don't know what kisses are, and don't really care.

I went through a lot of different concepts while shaping the world. One concept was to have no one address sexuality or romantic preference at all with everyone being aro/ace. I think that would've worked fine for a shorter and less in-depth 'fic, but I chose not to go that route since it meant erasing existing queer characters like Scott.

In mid-Dog's Life, Scott has a sheet of pride stickers that he claims came from Sims 4 players. This is because Sims 4 has a pride flag item with a lot of different colors, and in general, the characters first born into the Sims 4 world have a better grasp of some of those concepts than the characters born into a world where mobs are canonically genderless and sex doesn't exist.

Below, I've given some characters sensual preferences that are similar to sexuality. Some are classed as allo because of this sensuality comparison, but I wanted to explain for anyone who knows sex isn't a thing in this world.

So, here we go!

Grian - Cupioromantic

Grian doesn't feel romantic attraction, but desires a romantic relationship. He greatly enjoys and pursues activities he perceives as romantic (like cuddling and kissing), but doesn't need to feel romantic attraction to enjoy it... in theory. He's still working on that part throughout Dog's Life and, struggling with a lot of internalized aphobia.

I'd absolutely call him cupiosexual since his character crisis is about mourning what he lost by switching universes. By definition, he doesn't feel sexual attraction (because he has a digital body that runs on code instead of hormones), but desires a sexual relationship. He just can't have it and there's nothing he can do about it. It's definitely an important part of his identity.

In a world that does have sex - like NW AU - cupiosexual may not be the right label

I enjoy Grian's Dog's Life character arc a lot. He stresses about his arranged marriage with his wife, cheats on her chronically, burns all his bridges, and won't back down. He's out of control... Breaking up with BigB, begging Scar for a one-night stand, yelling at Scar about how it's rude if Scar doesn't want to be in a QPR with him, before swaying Bdubs (his basing body in their Dog's Life game) into teaching him about the love heart mechanic that does exist in the game.

He gets his one-night stand, then promptly flits back to BigB and begging him to take him back while a baffled Bdubs watches from the sidelines. He's an extremely contradictory and rapid-paced character and I love him for that.

I like writing Grian because he really is just ruining everything in his total desperation to get what he wants; he has complete tunnel vision and that might be his greatest flaw.

In his mind, the ends justify the means- Shrieking at Scar is fine if it means he might beg and guilt-trip his way into a one-night stand. He is having a hard time and it's mostly self-inflicted. There's a good reason why one of Dog's Life's tags is specifically for Cupioromantic Grian, lol.

Grian's aromanticism affects how he's written and what he portrays in his POV. Flirting is not in his default nature. He's the type to trot around and dig in the garbage looking for something, or he'll admire goods in a shop, but he doesn't find people attractive or feel a desire to engage with them physically.

Small exception: he likes cuddling his close friends. He'll walk up to his friends and touch them, but it's non-sexual to him.

All that said, he can be smooth and rizz you up when he wants to. He's not trying to be manipulative or fake: it's just that most of the time, he doesn't notice you, so when he's intentionally trying to flirt, he sometimes comes on too strong.

In Dog's Life, we see Grian struggle with internalized aphobia as well as paraphobia: a fear of sexual perversion (There's limited research, so this particular name might lean more into "having society shun you because people perceive you as gross"?)

For the purpose of this post, I'm using this word to mean "a fear of turning on others and being turned on." I suppose you could call him sex-repulsed... although, I don't think he's sex-repulsed as much as he's afraid of rejection. As you can imagine, this comes into conflict with Grian's cupio identity, but here are some reasons as to why he's like this:

- The Pixels and NW universes are locked in parallel. The Grian currently in the Pixels universe didn't grow up with Yandere High and EVO's suppressive culture, but the Grian currently in NW sure did. That plays into his feelings which - in its circular way - pings back to the Grian in the Pixels universe - Grian grew up in Neighborhood Watch's temperature-themed culture, which impacts engagement with his current peers. This upbringing left him with paranoia; he constantly feels judged. - Grian's paranoia leaves him fearing that the partners he likes (chilly souls) will judge him or dump him if they learn that he's into them. - Grian was manipulated and gaslit during his time at the EVO hub, so he cares very deeply about his ability to trust and understand himself. If he doubts himself, he starts to spiral. In Pixels Imperfect, this is indicated by pacing. Grian feels that if he can't trust himself, he's in danger, so he NEEDS to nail down his feelings or else bad things will happen to him - Someone being attracted to him when he isn't attracted to them implies they know something he doesn't, that they're thinking of him (stalking him? planning to hurt him??), or it places them in a position of perceived power over him. - Grian gets flustered when people imply he's into someone. If he denies it and the joke continues, it makes him feel like his friends don't believe him and will let people take advantage of him; we see hints of this in Dog's Life when he tells both Martyn and Scar that he hates others making assumptions about his interests. His identity is something he wants to figure out himself, and it's scary if you feel like your friends won't believe you when you say "I don't like this." - See also, Grian was betrothed to Scar in NW AU (because they were soulmates). He was already struggling with feelings of attraction (because Scar isn't a chilly soul), and that folds into his anxiety about his friends wink-wink, nudge-nudging him when Scar enters the room - In Dog's Life Chapter 27, Grian hinted that he pushes Scar away because he "can't trust Scar's mind not to wander," he "doesn't trust Scar to respect his boundaries," and that he might be into power fantasies because he likes the idea of saying No and being 100% confident that his partner will respect that. As you can imagine, it would hurt Scar's feelings to hear this. Grian deals with that by simply not having that uncomfortable conversation with him. #Best Solution (It is not) - Grian's self-defense mechanism is shoving things (or people) away. This often goes hand in hand with casting blame on them. Ex: He doesn't feel guilty for allegedly cheating on Scar with BigB, and if you confront him, he'll simply say his relationship with Scar was never defined, and as far as he's concerned, neither was Ren and BigB's. This is a subtle nod to his procrastination and avoidance tactics (i.e. not finishing his bases). If something gives him anxiety, he'll avoid it, but he does know the logical thing to do is confront the thing head-on. - Grian gets so defensive that he tends to overcorrect, leading people to believe he IS into Scar since he denies it so much (and again, not being believed is scary for him) - Basically, if he experiences any inkling of interest, his immediate response is "oh no, I feel cringe and scared." And if someone expresses interest in him, his self-defense mechanism is to either convince himself he liked them FIRST and they're not taking advantage of him, or swing in the other direction and furiously deny he likes them at all. - I write Grian with anxiety and he's prone to panic attacks (Messy childhood), which doesn't help

Paraphobia doesn't bring up a lot of search results. In fact, it's mainly just one page, and the research I found claims this fear of sexual perversion "occurs almost exclusively in men." I find that doubtful, so if there's anyone out there who knows more (or who knows a better word for what I'm describing), I'd love to learn more about this topic.

NW Grian - The funniest part about this for me is that, again... Grian swapped universes with another Grian. The Grian who's now in the Neighborhood Watch universe wasn't exactly flirty in his trauma-filled days as a Yandere High foreign exchange student, and reproductive talk was a no-no in EVO's restricted walls.

What I'm saying is that the Grian in the NW world also probably doesn't know sex isn't a thing in the Pixels universe. However, he does struggle with one thing that Dog's Life readers just learned about in Chapter 36:

Grian is non-correspondent. He's a warm soul who's exclusively into chilly souls, and not his correspondent match: cool souls.

Neighborhood Watch is a very correspondent-normative world, so Grian's considered queer in NW and struggles with that. In Dog's Life, Grian confessed these feelings to BigB, who was confused because... in the Pixels universe, soul temperature isn't a big deal. Grian shifted into a high anxiety mode and made statements like "I thought I was going through a phase and would grow out of it."

There's a whole talk we could have about how if Grian had roleplayed attraction to Scar in Double Life, that would've made his soul (which is connected to the NW universe) feel attraction to Scar... and by that logic, he's now added "I am attracted to Bdubs" to his body's canon (as he's about to roleplay attraction on-screen in a season that's canon in the NW world).

Or was he already attracted to Bdubs because this was always going to happen? Food for thought.

tl;dr - Grian is "Attraction makes me anxious, but it's the umbrella embodying the intimacy I want, so I desire it." But if you put him in that situation and took away his anxiety, he'd be delighted to engage in the behaviors he enjoys (and receive the romantic affection he desires) and would probably stop fussing about it.

I think his fatal flaw is that he knows this is exactly what will happen - Grian is very aware of his anxiety and the effect it has on him, and he's familiar with breaking through those walls to obtain what he's after and finally be at peace - and that's what leads him on this self-destructive course of scrambling to get there, even if it means infidelity and begging along the way.

"Done is better than perfect" could be his motto, and that's not the kind of attitude you want to bring to your relationships.

Grian's past trauma may possibly influence his identity, but even if it does, he's valid.

TwoMuchGrian - Arospec

TwoMuchGrian's identity is a lot less detailed, but it's fun to talk about. Two is Grian's twin brother. He has a fluid, undefined relationship with Joel's twin LazyBeans26, AKA PiglinMyNose. Here are some excerpts of their relationship from my meta doc:

- Flirt regularly, but don’t cuddle as much as you’d think. Lots of hair brushing, preening, and just hanging out to do crafts and have pajama parties - Probably some kind of QPR, but if you asked them if they’re dating, married, friends, etc. they would just say “Yes.”

Two and Pig definitely see each other as "special" or each other's favorite. I'd say their relationship is similar to whatever Grian has with Mumbo: a dear friendship that tumbles into fixation sometimes. Two is probably just as weird about Pig and probably builds shrines to him too.

Other meta notes I find funny:

Acts like BadTimeWithScar disgusts him - they’re rival captains in the competitive camming field - but they work together a lot and are good friends. They hang around MumboDrone a lot and sometimes pull him in for cuddles

- See “Here’s to the Health of Married Men” (BadTime asked Two to dance and Two got huffy, but agreed) & “No One Likes the Opening Band” (Sports captain rivalry) - Cuddle and carrot more than you’d think. Possibly some kind of ��friends with benefits” hate you / I don’t actually hate you rivalry - Two will get huffy and deny associating with BadTime in his private life and will instead treat Pig as his closest companion (Holding his hand, staying over for sleepovers, spending holidays together etc.) - Two is captain of the Jade Jaguars on the competitive camming field. He takes care of his fellow cameras. - Was briefly in a polyamorous relationship with Pig and WellsGlazes. Glaze backed out after a few weeks because she found it exhausting to keep up with two people. Technically that relationship was never dissolved between Pig and Two, so “they’re in an amorous relationship” would probably define their otherwise unlabeled affection - Once invited SnifferMyFeet to join the ambiguous relationship since Sniff is buddies with Pig, but Sniff turned him down

To me, Two embodies this idea of chasing sensuality without romantic attraction. Grian cares enough about the romantic side of things that cupioromantic feels like the right label for him.

Two likes the physical presence of a person. He's less content with long-distance signs of affection and he's really into things like hair brushing, cuddling, and flirting, with emphasis on teasing. He and Pig are really into cosplay and I'm just waiting for the perfect opportunity to have someone walk into them dressed fancy or silly with zero context.

Mumbo - Quoiromantic

Quoiromantic: Not being able to distinguish romantic from platonic attraction and therefore feeling unsure if you've experienced it. It may be used by those wishing to express they felt something strong, but their instinct isn't to call it romantic; nonetheless, it's too notable to wave off and pretend it never happened.

For Mumbo specifically, I think all the lines of his platonic, romantic, and sensual attraction blur.

I previously spoke about how I arrived at Mumbo's orientation in the end notes of One and a Half Birds Chapter 11, so you can check that out if you like.

To me, Mumbo's the perfect example of goofing around and living his life, letting the chips fall where they may. Marriage to Martyn? Sure! He loves to play with his friend and he'll follow bits like breadcrumbs.

Mumbo looks at Grian's cuddly nature and covers it under the umbrella of "This is what my relationship with Grian is like." He does that with each of his friends, so each person ends up creating their own dynamic with him. He doesn't really sort his friends by relationship type, but by their personalities and preferences.

Possibly, this is a result of jumping from a loner life into a social group of physically affectionate friends at a young age. Pixels Mumbo is a wandering trader and I feel like they're quite a social species, so that may play into it as well

Martyn found this very annoying when they were married, which was a small plot point in One and a Half Birds. Mumbo focused on Martyn's behavior, which was a lot of Martyn snuggling him in bed for a night, but leaving by morning (Possibly because phantoms are active at night and wandering traders are not).

In that 'fic, Mumbo implied several times that he saw Martyn more like his friend with benefits than his husband, which frustrated Martyn, who valued the husband title and felt like Mumbo was brushing him off. Martyn offered to share souls with Mumbo and he meant it. For all his trickery in the Life series, Martyn considers himself an honorable man and was planning to follow through. Mumbo was uneasy, feeling that Martyn couldn't commit.

To a degree, I feel Mumbo and Grian have similar interests: they're both likely to enjoy gestures and activities that are commonly viewed as romantic (like kissing, flirting), but these situations don't make them feel like they're experiencing romantic attractions.

Like Grian, Mumbo also struggles with trauma in his past that may impact his relationship with intimacy. This is discussed in One and a Half Birds; one of the things Mumbo confesses to Martyn is that he feels like he's better with long-distance relationships, but that he greatly appreciates Martyn for letting him take the lead.

Fun Fact: In NW AU, Mumbo is soulmates with Lizzie: the other Life series member who plays in the same seasons Mumbo does, and doesn't when he isn't there.

I enjoy Double Life, so one thing I like doing throughout my 'fics is, I try to hone in on what makes each soulmate pair feel like soulmates. Double Life was the wrong environment for some of them, but I wanted to emphasize that they were paired and they vibe well with their partner.

Lizzie and Joel are a little unconventional in their relationship, in that they really enjoy chasing and killing each other... the inherent intimacy of taking someone's life. I feel like Mumbo and Lizzie would connect well there.

In One and a Half Birds, Mumbo flirted with Martyn by urging him to chew on his soul. Martyn and Mumbo weren't chasing each other around, but it's a similar way of trusting your partner with your safety.

Lizzie is curious and clever. In Last Life, she set aside hidden storage chests, she rigged traps around her base, and iirc, she also set up the teleporting lever that brought her back to the Fairy Fort. She likes honing in on artistic details. I think Mumbo would've loved having a base that blended beauty and redstone.

In the Pixels Imperfect universe, they have no reason to believe they're soulmates (since neither participated in that season), but I have a draft where Mumbo takes Lizzie on a minecart ride and it makes me happy. Even if they don't know it, they vibe.

Mumbo is a cool soul and Lizzie a warm; they're correspondent. Joel and Lizzie are a warm-warm pair

BONUS: I made this post about Ahasbands (Mumbo/Martyn) and I find it very funny that several people reblogged and tagged it with variations of aro/ace Mumbo. Correct!!

I love platonically married Mumbo. Does he know what's going on? No. Is he committed to the bit? Absolutely.

Scar - Recipromantic

Scar is recipromantic (and/or reciprosexual in a relevant universe).

He feels attraction only after someone has expressed their feelings to him. Or, if they haven't expressed it verbally, they've heavily implied their interest.

He heavily implies this in Dog's Life Chapter 22, when Scar says he never minded Grian wasn't romantically interested in him (but that he would've accepted and responded if he was, or if he wanted to roleplay a relationship).

In a recent 'fic comment, I said Scar's attitude makes him perfect for the lekking behavior I'd already given the vex hybrids. A lek is a group of animals that display for their mates (It's often a male displaying for a female, hoping she'd choose him). Scar's like that: he'll make himself available, but he wants someone to take an interest in him.

In that comment, I also mused that in the Pixels Imperfect universe, mobs are genderless and either one might have the baby, so they might be divided into groups like "one who approaches" and "one who receives or rejects advances." In the wild, this would mean one mob produces love hearts and the other one decides whether they want to engage.

I feel like Scar tends to see the world using this view... He'll look at people, smile, welcome them, and fan his wings, but he won't get up and pursue. He waits. If he feels your interest is genuine - which could take many weeks or just half an hour - he'll probably accept your advances. But if he senses you're ingenuine, he'll kindly turn you down.

Above, I said Grian tends to wander around and he doesn't usually approach people to flirt. Scar definitely clocked him as "not interested" early on (and thus removed Grian from his list of suitors). However, if Grian started flirting with him, Scar would put him back on the list.

Scar is passionate - and keen to explore romantic and sensual opportunities if he wants to - but it's important to him that his partner enjoys his company. He's not big on one-night stands, though he might enjoy one with someone who'd wooed him for a while.

Obvious conflict... Dog's Life Grian begging Scar for a one-night stand so he can experience romance.

It's important to me that Scar always tries to support Grian as best he can. For example, he may experience a bit of surprise or sadness that Grian prefers flirting with BigB to flirting with him, but he will always support Grian loving whom he wants.

Scar is my fix-it for anything I've ever read that villainizes a character or IRL person (often a woman or aspec person) for not returning someone's affection. I love drama, but I do feel uneasy reading about a character who loves their friendships, but a friend develops feelings for them and decides the friendship can't continue, and/or becomes aggressive.

Scar is allowed to have a range of emotions - and sometimes he gets quite upset or feels like things are unfair - but he will never bash Grian for not being attracted to him.

In Dog's Life, there are multiple times that Scar tells Grian (and even SnifferMyFeet, unprompted) that he "isn't mad about BigB." This tends to be a thing Scar fixates on when Double Life comes up in conversation- In fact, he even said this to BigB in a recent chapter, also unprompted.

I think "I don't hate you" is a thing that Scar really clings to. He clings to this idea that he's doing the right thing even if he feels like others are being cruel or unfair.

Scar would be a great partner to someone who wanted to be with him (and he's had some lovers in the past) but Grian isn't into him and Scar doesn't want him to think he has to be.

tbh, even though I often portray Scar as lonely or stressed throughout the BigB arc, I think some part of him is grateful that at least he knows Grian's not pretending to be attracted to him.

On occasion, Grian's antics or words will really push him over the edge... but despite their conflicts, Grian and Scar are soulmates. They connect well when they're both communicating. Unfortunately, they both try to suppress their issues with the other, leading conversations to be a bit explosive when those things come out. They do have issues, but they're also great at coming back to each other and supporting each other.

The meta doc I'm drawing from has this note: "Grian's cupio-, Mumbo's quoi-, and Scar's recipromantic. They don't know what this means and probably never will, but they're learning more about themselves as they experiment, which is where Pixels Imperfect's complex stories come in." I think that about sums it up.

Pearl & Gem - Aroace

Pearl and Gem are my aroace gals. Not only do I love aroace characters, but they were a good fit in my early outline days since I was aware their creators don't enjoy romantic/sexual ship dynamics.

One thing that was very important to me when designing Pearl's character in my 'fics is that I really wanted her friends to be aware of her aroace identity and respect it. Here's a detail I enjoy (Pixels universe), but may not be obvious unless you think about it:

Everyone in New Star Station [who has their own room] has roommates, except for one. That one is Pearl. In other chapters, we hear that New Star is short on rooms, yet Pearl has a large space all to herself. Scott gave her the same amount of kitchen and living room access that all her friends gets, but she gets to live her dream loner life.

Throughout Dog's Life, we see hints of conflict between Scott and Pearl that seems to revolve around Scott wanting to move in with her (to express he's fond of her and enjoys her company) while Pearl would prefer he doesn't (because she sees this as Scott not respecting her space).

I have a WIP called "With Acid In Your Eyes" where Pearl and Scott live in the NW world in a queerplatonic soulmate marriage (because... divorce quartet should be married if they're going to claim they went through divorce; #change my mind). I specifically set my first chapter up to imply that Scott's gay identity is often acknowledged (in-universe), but Pearl's isn't.

i.e. Pearl's sister told Scott he was queerbaiting the entire neighborhood because he's in a straight-passing relationship, but she didn't say that to Pearl, who is the other half of the straight-passing relationship

It may not come across perfectly in future chapters (since it's not the main plot,) but Scott and Pearl are not in a QPR "just because Scott is gay and Pearl's a girl." They're in that QPR because it's what they BOTH want; Pearl could be straight and they'd still be in that QPR.

They are two soulmates who love and support each other, but they're also very aware that they have different interests, so they have an open marriage. Nonetheless, Chapter 1 depicts Scott and Pearl cuddling and discussing their relationship boundaries again.

Specifically, Scott cites a rule that he's allowed to flirt with his crush Jimmy, but Jimmy stays out of the bedroom he shares with Pearl. NW Scott is very big on respecting Pearl and assuring her that he cares deeply for her and I love that for him.

It's very important to me that Pearl's friends don't flirt with her because they respect that she doesn't want them to. And not "Because that's my sister" or "Because she feels like a sister to me."

I recently went through my blog and removed the Skyblings tag from my stuff because it made me uncomfortable to imply a sibling relationship when I portray those characters as unrelated friends.

I don't mind if other people like this tag. I greatly enjoy Grian and Pearl as siblings, but because they're not related in my fanfics - and I specifically portray Pearl as aroace - I don't like tagging my posts with it. I want Pearl and her aroace identity to stand apart from the other characters and potential sibling connections.

Also, the other characters should be allowed to think she's sexy.

Etho - Diagnosed with QPR Awkwardness

During Dog's Life, Etho isn't sure what his identity is. This is a nod to his NW self, whom I'll discuss below.

It may not be stated outright in Dog's Life (depending on where it goes, though I 100% see him having this conversation with Cleo), but Etho is correspondent-normative; he's a cool soul exclusively into warm souls.

But... he hasn't noticed. At the moment, Etho will just admit he likes cuddling. However, he gets shy and avoids admitting much more.

Etho's soulmate is Joel, a warm soul. Etho fixates on Joel because a surprising number of people in Etho's life are the three other soul types: hot, cool, and chilly. Joel is the first person Etho ever cuddled with who was specifically warm, and it flipped a switch inside him he didn't know he had.

In Dog's Life, Etho struggles with his attraction to SnifferMyFeet, which makes him feel weird because logically, he knows Sniff and Joel are separate people and he feels guilty for projecting his feelings of Joel onto Sniff.

But... Sniff is also a warm soul, and he's playing into the same patterns Etho saw with Joel... Very confusing for Etho.

In-universe, Etho wouldn't be considered queer. Or at least, he wouldn't be seen as queer in NW world, which doesn't really care about gender and really fixates on temperature. It's very funny to me that he's the equivalent of straight while he's pining over men

In Scar's section, I mentioned Scar's worldview of "approach vs. accept or reject." In the same comment where I brought this up, I also mused with the commenter that I think Etho's the same way: he will also wait for someone to flirt with him. Joel and Sniff are both people who will approach, so they're very good at drawing Etho in.

Hilariously, I think Cleo is also this way - as in, they're open to offers but would rather wait than pursue - which is very funny in the context of Secret Life. Cleo (iirc) stated her alliance with Etho was platonic. I feel like romance-chasing, will-make-a-move-if-he-wants-to cupioromantic Grian walked into that dynamic and was immediately exasperated.

Grian POV: I can't believe neither is making a move, especially when there's already married life roleplay from Limited Life they can build on. They clearly both want each other :| Cleo and Etho POV: /chilling like two cats on a chair

In Arsenic Waltz (NW AU), Etho and Cleo meet when they're on Red life. They pal around for a while and later conceive Scar Clocker... while still on Red. It's only after Etho gets up to Yellow life that he realizes there's a disconnect in his feelings for her. Nonetheless, Scar's existence ties him to Cleo, so Etho sticks around and tries to be a good dad (later fathering Bdubs too).

You could describe the Etho-Cleo relationship as platonic or possibly queerplatonic, but Etho would probably struggle to wrap his head around those ideas.

NW society would love holding up the Clocker divorce drama as a warning for "all the bad things that will happen to your life if you go against the correspondent system." This probably plays into Etho's guilt, leading him to stay as long as he does, trying to make their life seem quaint and perfect on the outside

In Cleo's section below, I discuss how I feel she chooses partners logically. To me, Etho is someone who would think he's logical, but he tends to follow his heart. I have an upcoming draft where Etho suggests someone seduce their partner for information, and when everyone gives him weird looks, he mutters, "It would work on me."

Coincidentally, Etho kept avoiding SnifferMyFeet's questions about his past with Joel for most of Dog's Life, up until Sniff flirted with him in Chapter 33 and Etho finally spilled the things Sniff kept asking about. Yeah...

If you get him comfy, he will just talk. He loves cuddling and pillow talk.

Bonus Etho info:

- In Dog's Life Chapter 28, Bdubs heavily implies Etho wants kids... or at the very least wants something to cuddle. Throughout Dog's Life, it's noted that Etho is touch-starved. His bedroom features a large collection of plushes that he cuddles when he's lonely - In Chapter 31, Etho tells Sniff he likes his rings because they made him feel excited, like Sniff is expressing interest in him (circling back to that bit about how Etho tends to wait for someone to approach him and flirt) - In "Canadian Idiot," Etho daydreams about sneaking back to his singleplayer server without rinsing off the Double Life mod, allowing him to feel Joel's pain even though Joel rinsed his half of the mod off - In "The Man He Sets His Spawn With" and "I Love You (You're Obsessed)", Joel finds out Etho's been secretly wearing the Double Life mod. He's not happy - In "No One Likes the Opening Band," SnifferMyFeet plays the sport of competitive camming with Etho as his partner (i.e. Etho does the combat and Sniff does the camera work). Sniff wears a white ring representing Etho and a striped ring representing PiglinMyNose. We don't know what this ring means for them, but presumably Etho likes when Sniff wears it

I really like the songs for Etho's two early Dog's Life chapters (in my 'fic playlist): "Surface Pressure" from Disney's Encanto and "Never Blue" by Maggie Jean Martin (particularly the moment in the latter song where the singer breaks and screams).

I feel these embody his character really well: he desperately wants affection, but especially cuddles and commitment. He feels like everyone around him gets swept up in romance, but he doesn't quite get it or isn't allowed to have it. He's constantly torn between trying to be so cool that someone asks him out and also feeling uncomfortable, like people are only interested in him due to perceived social status.

Joel really swept Etho up, in the sense that Etho really connected with someone who was willingly spending time with him, getting to know him, and might even like him. SnifferMyFeet plays into that vibe too, with the "added bonus" of not going home to Lizzie at night. And the added con of, y'know... Sniff not wanting to be Joel 2.0 even though he has all Joel's Double Life memories and enjoys Etho's company.

Man, I love Dog's Life... I love goofy Snetho drama... it's so silly.

Martyn - Funky Identity (Cool, Chilly, Feminine)

Martyn's an allo who greatly admires femininity. In the Pixels Imperfect series, I play him as very sensual, in that he would undeniably be feeling sexual attraction if he lived in a universe where that was a thing.

- Compare Grian's fairly tame mental/external response to almost kissing Cleo in Dog's Life Chapter 20 to Martyn's strong physical/internal response to Cleo texting him in Chapter 21. - Grian did react with interest and excitement, but his strongest response was grabbing his hair and leaning back, which he only did after he fed Cleo bread from between his lips, which was very close to kissing her: something he's very much interested in, but probably perceives as more romantic than sexual. ^ Martyn kept taking time-out breaks to pace and talk himself down from his piqued interest. Grian - Dog's Life poster child for pacing - didn't even do that when having a flirty face to face conversation with her. Cleo's texts definitely elicited a sensual response in Martyn. They talk about this in Chapter 26 when Martyn asks her to stop texting him stuff if she's not interested in him... to Cleo's confusion, as she didn't think her texts were sensual). - I feel like it's also worth pointing out that in Chapter 21, Martyn sent shirtless pictures of himself to his husband (Mumbo) in a blatant attempt to rizz him up. ^ Grian is the type who would send Mumbo a picture of his chest because he saw a splotch on it and wanted to ask for advice (or because he spilled sauce on it and it made a funny picture). Mumbo would cough and splurt because Grian just sent him a shirtless pic. It would take Grian a while to remember that there's a sexual connotation if you send stuff like that to your friends

Martyn's queerness is that he's exclusively into cuddling cool/chilly souls in a universe where temperature preference is uncommon (Grian, Joel, and Etho are the only others confirmed to care about temperature, and they prefer chilly, warm, and warm respectively). He's also into femininity.

Ex: Martyn probably has a crush on Ariana Griande even if he knows she's Grian in drag (and that Grian is a warm soul )

Martyn's attraction to femininity is a mirror of Martyn's IRL gynesexuality, though it's played in a way I thought was fun. Specifically, making Martyn interested in cool and chilly souls lets me play his marriage to Mumbo as something that involved attraction. Martyn is attracted to one side of the temperature spectrum... He likes a wider range of people than "good, proper people" do, but he's not crossing over that center line the way Cleo is.

Cleo favors extremes in the temperature scale over mild temperatures (i.e. they prefer hot and chilly souls, though they may be interested in some warm and cool souls... especially those close to the hot or chilly ends of the scale), paralleling their IRL bisexual identity.

Martyn still flirted with Mumbo and enjoyed his company, and he was sad when the Ahasbands relationship ended (even though it was probably for the best since Martyn tended to put a lot more into that relationship than Mumbo was).

In Dog's Life, Martyn is faced with the moral dilemma of continuing to wait for his betrothed (NettyPlays) to return from her offline world, where she's been cut off from him for about 4 IRL years, or hitting the dating scene again.

Netty woke up with a betrothal ring on her finger while Martyn didn't (Implying his creator didn't see reason to give him one).

Over time, we learn Martyn struggled with his attraction to Netty and told her that he wasn't rejecting her forever, but he needed more time to think. When he did ask her out, she went offline (due to IRL Netty removing herself from the YouTube space to care for her and Martyn's daughter around that time).

Knowing what we do about Martyn, it's likely Netty is a warm or hot soul, which isn't what Pixels Martyn is into.

- There's a very real possibility that Martyn is fascinated with Cleo because she has red hair. In NW AU (where mobs are gendered), female phantoms are red, which would definitely line up with Martyn's gynesexuality. [Phantoms were red in their OG color concept] - Pixels Martyn wouldn't know that's the feminine phantom color because it's not sex-linked in his world. It's possible he's picking up interest from his parallel universe counterpart, who definitely views the color as feminine (and finds Cleo very attractive). - Is a redstone-covered Mumbo also perceived as feminine and perhaps attractive to Martyn? The world may never know

In NW AU, Martyn was once a high-profile individual (the Red King's hand), so he risks more backlash about his non-correspondent identity than Cleo does. Arsenic Lace is my upcoming 'fic about Martyn meeting his soulmate, Cleo Clocker: divorced civilian mom with two teen kids.

Martyn has very high hopes that Cleo will accept and love him. Although he identifies as queer, he tends to keep his head down because he's essentially "straight passing," especially when he's with his soulmate. He's still under the queer umbrella, but he doesn't always talk about it... Yeah, I think Cleo - who is very open about their identity - is looking for someone who's more open about theirs.

Pixels Martyn is the same way: he's into cool and chilly souls, but not interested in warm and hot ones. BigB is a chilly soul - Grian's interest - and the correspondent rule means Ren is a hot soul. Ren finds Martyn attractive because he's an undead monster who could eat him. Martyn sees Ren as an aesthetically attractive and super fun BFF.

In the Pixels universe, Martyn and Ren embody a relationship that's supposedly prevalent, but isn't always shown: the on-and-off relationship culture. Sometimes, Ren and Martyn are QPPs for 100 days, which is usually defined by them taking stronger notice of the other (i.e. stopping by for visits daily instead of infrequently) and being more touchy-feely. Sometimes they describe themselves as friends who are not currently in a QPP.

This drives Grian nuts. He's a foreigner to the culture and is still coming to terms with the fact that this on-and-off relationships are quite common in the Pixels world

On a side note, cool and chilly souls aren't tied to femininity. Martyn's identity is just an example of things that are similar. You could just as easily spin him to have an interest in warm and hot souls, or in only the mild temperatures (mild and cool), etc.

However, it wouldn't make sense for him to be into, say, cool and hot, because those are opposites that don't fit in a category like "both mild" or "both extreme." Martyn's identity encompasses similar things.

He definitely has a type and Cleo definitely checks a lot of boxes:

Temperature? Chilly

Femininity? Long red hair, commonly wears fashion associated with femininity such as dresses and jewelry

Undead, like a phantom? Yes

Likes to dig and/or roleplay being buried alive? Yes

Large, sexy wingspan? While wearing elytra, yeah (See also, "Mum's the Word")

Prone to pithy one-liners? Absolutely

Loud with him, which is also in line with the courtship behavior of a famously noisy species? ... Hey man, I'm just saying Double Life was very confusing for him.

Cleo doesn't play well into the phantom courtship behavior of letting him provide for her, but you can't win them all.

Cleo - Aspec

Pixels Imperfect Cleo is an interesting case in that I specifically... don't delve into her aspec identity. I think on some level, Cleo is in the same quoiromantic boat that Mumbo is. She's ambiguous, mostly because IRL Cleo is bisexual and I don't want another identity to take too strong of a precedent.

That said, I really enjoy playing aspec Cleo off allo Martyn. As mentioned in Martyn's section, NW Cleo is into a variety of soul temperatures with a preference for hot and chilly.

I feel Character Cleo prefers logic when it comes to partner selection. For all his faults - like risk-taking and blame deflection - Martyn can be very sweet. He gives many gifts... but Cleo's not going to fall head over heels for him. He needs to work hard to prove he's a good match.

Martyn is also a logical person. He tries to paint himself as a good partner by providing gifts and resources, but this isn't enough to impress Cleo. Cleo would rather have someone who's there for comfort and emotional strength (or at the very least is humble and doesn't push blame on them).

Ren is another person who flirts with Cleo, but doesn't get much of a response even though (like Martyn) he's a hot soul and therefore falls within Cleo's "extreme temperature" interest category. Cleo just hasn't seen something that wins them over, and/or maybe Ren is flirting at a time they're interested in someone else.

Etho is another person who flirts with Cleo a little, but his ways are more subtle (and/or don't meet expectations); he's also within the mild half of the temperature scale and not the extreme half, so theoretically less attractive to Cleo than Martyn or Ren.

NW Cleo is committed to Scar and Bdubs... probably more than they're committed to Etho, who's perceived as flaky (despite his frequent attempts to be a good dad). They get along okay, but it's a rocky relationship to be sure.

I also play Cleo as trying to avoid polycules, which is a nod to their comment from a Decked Out 2 stream where Scar asked Cub if he'd be the new Clocker dad and Cleo's response was "We are not forming a polycule." Every now and then, the opportunity for a poly relationship comes up in 'fic, but she's not into that.

Bonus - Sniff (He/They)

Here's an end note I was going to include in Dog's Life Chapter 34, when SnifferMyFeet struggles to select a Pride sticker from Scott's sheet and Scott finally tells him to take one that "means he likes dating multiple people":

There's a polysexual pride flag in Sims 4; that's Sniff's sticker. There's a bigender flag too. I spent too much time wondering if you can identify as bigender when you feel you have two he/him personas duking out in your head. I don't see why not and this is Sniff to me. I considered they/them pronouns for Sniff when he was introduced, but felt other characters would interpret this as "I am speaking to someone who embodies both Grian and Joel" and that would make Sniff uncomfortable. So, there's some meta for you: Sniff is nonbinary - probably bigender - but uses he/him and will actively shut down they/them usage due to trust issues. Only Pig is trusted to use they/them (it's more he/they in practice). Pig is genderfluid and uses different pronouns in different situations with different people. He's even roleplayed as someone's husband and someone else's sister at the same time. Sniff adores Pig and holds him on a pedestal as the coolest person ever... Pig is just so cool and inspiring and Sniff wants to hang out with him all the time. He just shows that affection by killing him and laughing about it. Two and Pig have an unlabeled relationship… they "Yes, And" off each other 24/7. They are each other's gay best friend and wife and boyfriend, you feel me?

Sniff already has issues with people calling him Grian or Joel, so he's definitely not ready to put he/they pronouns on the table. But he does connect with them and uses them privately in the future. Maybe publicly someday.

Also, bonus shout-out for Etho trying to explain his relationship with Joel at the end of Dog's Life Chapter 33 and Sniff says "Oh! You're like me and Pig!" I think it's cute.

And one more bonus shout-out to Joel and Lizzie, who adore each other and show that love by hunting each other down in the woods. Cuddles are more for brutal murder aftercare than "the main event," I think.

Thanks for reading! If you'd like to share your thoughts or ask for elaboration, you can send me an Ask.

Asks stating you dislike this post's content will be ignored. Positivity and fandom fun only, please!

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