#you don't have to like every queer 'canon' ship it's okay lol

[cookie-lore-keeper]

All the Canon or Implied Canon Relationships in Cookie Run

For some reason, you cookies really like your romantic relationships. It's fine, though. I'm the exact same way. But, to fill your shipping needs, here are all the confirmed/implied romantic relationships in Cookie Run!

Cocoa Cookie and Mint Choco Cookie, obviously. Both have crushes on each other but they're both too shy to act on it, despite every Cookie already knowing and shipping them (I see you Mont Blance and Latte trying to dress Cocoa up for her not date. I also see you, Sparkling Cookie, who also clearly ships them)

Lime Cookie has a massive crush on Orange Cookie and tries her best to get her attention and impress her. She also gets jealous when other cookies show interest in Orange Cookie, lol

Pure Vanilla Cookie literally stated that he loved White Lily Cookie and even said, "Do I still have feelings... for White Lily Cookie?" In his dream, so that's confirmed. We don't know whether White Lily Cookie likes him back, but given all the shit they do for each other, I'd say she does

Sea Fairy Cookie and Moonlight Cookie are in love, and Sea Fairy literally abandoned her role as an elemental so she could forever gaze at the moon

Despite not being officially confirmed, it is so VERY heavily implied that Shadow Milk Cookie has feelings beyond obsession for Pure Vanilla Cookie. He is ECSTATIC over the idea of Pure Vanilla Cookie saying that they are "meant to be" and when Pure Vanilla Cookie says that he'll stay by his side forever. For fuck's sake, the two literally FUSE their souljam. Honestly, some romances can't be described by simple words. Sometimes it's described through obsession, corruption, awakening, and hatred.

Knight Cookie has a crush on Princess Cookie and literally has a dream where she was going to ask him to marry her, but he woke up before it could finish

Blue Lily Cookie has a crush on Lilybell Cookie, and it's implied that Lilybell likes her back (no, they are not sisters. No, Lilybell Cookie isn't a child. She is an adult, but she is just small).

Milk Cookie has a celebrity crush in Dark Choco Cookie

In the comics, Adventurer Cookie and Blackberry Cookie are married

Lord Oyster and White Pearl Cookie both had crushes on each other before shit hit the fan

In the comics, Fire Spirit Cookie had a crush on Cocoa Cookie

I'm actually not sure about this one since wikis can be edited by anyone, but I'll still count it. It's implied that Shining Glitter Cookie and Black Lemonade Cookie have feelings for each other

Cotton Candy Cookie has a crush on Pink Choco Cookie

Cotton Candy Cookie has a crush on Chili Pepper Cookie (shown on relationships chart. Honestly, she has a crush on everyone)

Cotton Candy Cookie has a crush on Roguefort Cookie and Roguefort Cookie is attracted to her.

Raspberry Mousse Cookie has a massive crush on Rose Cookie. Though, he seems to not know what it is and thinks that it's a curse...

Royal Berry Cookie and Jungleberry Cookie are married (does anyone except Hollyberry even care about them?)

Espresso Cookie and Madeleine Cookie.... kinda. Okay, I'm not really sure. I'm leaning toward "maybe" bcuz devsiss advertises it a lot more than other ships, but also, that could just be bcuz it's popular. Espresso Cookie seems to be annoyed by Madeleine Cookie's antics, but Madeleine Cookie seems to want to impress Espresso Cookie and he does view him as a friend and despite their differences, they are seen a lot together. Is it canon? Idk, probably queer-baiting. But ik that someone was going to say smthn, so I put it here. Put its status as: "Idk, it could be 🤷‍♂️"

Linzer Cookie and Créme Brûlée Cookie are exes, and it's implied they still have lingering feelings torwards each other

If I forgot anything, please tell me!

[se-hos]

do you even like macdennis if you can't handle the fact that mac is also a piece of shit to dennis

[remusawoooo]

anon here, excited to read the essay! i asked you because i really like your takes and i see people in the more canon-adjacent parts of the marauders fanbase to complain about the extremes of the fanon one, though personally ive never really seen anything Too extreme, tho thats probably just tantamount to how well i curate my spaces i suppose (ive seen people say that fanon makes remus really “alpha” or makes sirius “bimbofied” and while ive seen hints of those extremes here and there, mostly it looks like it varies from person to person. ive just seen remus be more assertive than he probably is in canon, or sirius being more dramatic and “fem” than he probably is in canon). from what i know people like exaggerating events (the prank, etc.) or shifting some personality traits, but i dont really think thats a bad thing - i personally enjoy it. as long as they dont completely turn characters into stereotypes (though its a pitfall of every fandom, i fear), then whatever its just camp.

people are allowed to criticize stuff like that though, not taking that away from anyone, i personally just dont really care enough to be totally accurate esp since this hyperfix is kind of the bottom of the barrel for me LMAO. but i ask mostly bc im just curious to see what other peoples opinions are, and bc i think - especially in a fanbase like this - that its incredibly important to be at least a little critical with your media experience and reflect on it. saying “oh fuck canon we’re just having fun” is fine and all, i dont think anyone is stopping you, i think the personalities people have made up for characters that have zero screen time are super fun and the little ships are not everyones tea but like its fine. but even still, people should be way more aware of what characters theyre dealing with and from what franchise, and like reflect on any biases you may have. if youre making shit up for a random DE character, or retconning some sutff, okay, whatever, but be sure to not defend or like suddenly turn to really weird rhetoric. idk i think its the bare minimum in a fanbase like this

i definitely rambled way too much here, super sorry op! i hope this doesnt bother you, feel free to reply or feel free to not. i just really like hearing peoples thoughts on things, and i like your takes and your blog so i hope i didnt catch you by surprise. i really am just an outsider trying to look in LOL

hello anon, I'm sorry I lost your ask. I was writing on my laptop and saved the draft (but apparently had to press on alt, and didn't do it) so I basically lost your question and half of my initial response. Ty for sending in another ask!! Not a bother at all, i find this very lovely :D 

I was mortified to find that someone who isn't really a part of the fandom was perceiving me while I was complaining about fictional characters ahahaha. still, thank you for validating me and asking my thoughts on the mischaracterization of marauders!! I do talk about it daily, unfortunately, and without any prompt too. I'll try to gather all my thoughts here. I don't necessarily come across fanon as much as I did when I reentered the fandom and honestly, I can not be more with you about curating your space !! at the end of the day, I am just here to have fun, and really, pointing out these issues is not a good time at all! But I do post a lot about these, I can't be bothered to bottle up any thoughts lol.

I think the major issue I have with current interpretations is the underlying bigotry that comes along with it. There is a lot of unchecked problematic content that doesn't sit right with me.

Flanderizing characters in fandom interpretations is not limited to marauders fandom obviously. any popular media will face this because so many of us want to interact with one character so their traits are simplified for easier consumption and to find a common ground. this is also not limited to new marauders fandom. even in the older era, leather jacket-wearing, motorbike-driving quintessential bad boy siruis was a thing. so I won't nitpick on silly simplifications.

I just want to say that this isn't about me wanting everyone to have the same interpretations as I do about the canon. I follow so many lovely people and I don't agree with all of their posts. But, we all just simply share the love for these characters in the text and form an imaginary community. So, if we were to remove all the issues I will mention, it is still very well possible to have different personal takes.

Here are some of my issues:

Queerness, Gender roles, and misogyny:

My biggest problem is the representations of queer relationships. the fandom packages these couples in a strange and obvious heteronormative mold where the individuals fit into male and female gender roles. mlm and wlw are now an “f/m”* stereotype and characterization gets affected by the ships. Heterosexual relationships shouldn't have these limitations either, anyway. There is no one way to be a woman or a man. With queer relationships in particular, we have reclaimed the word queer now but it was used to describe the unconventional weirdness in the relationship. We didn't fit into the normal portrayal of a loving relationship. So, it really bothers me, even in fiction, that queer ships are popularly consumed in a way that represents a traditional template. (*this is not about gender itself but the gender roles! f/m can very well be queer!). 

Let's take the biggest victim in this fandom: sirius.

Sirius’ portrayal concerning his gender and sexuality has heavily changed his characterization in the fanon. We have a character who is popularly headcanonned as trans and is it a coincidence that all their traits have changed from the og material? Sirius is suddenly vain, whiny, and dumb. Canon doesn't suggest this interpretation, it has to have stemmed from somewhere. It's the implicit bias. Sirius becomes a caricature of what a woman “should be”. When we focus on sexuality, there is the suddenly short twink sirius who has the same new traits- proving the point of fulfilling gender roles. These characteristics are a stand-in for the “female” role of the traditional relationship and it becomes more clear in the example of new age wolfstar. Remus is now the big alpha stoic manly man- the obvious stand-in for the “male” role. I could go on, it is apparent in the way you can see remus becomes a caretaker and sirius is taken care of.

The point I am trying to make is not to discourage gender/sexuality hc. I love them, keep them coming. But, why is female sirius not tall suddenly? It is not inherently bad at all to have a feminine and masculine pairing! But why do we need to change the constitutions of these characters to consume their relationship?

I'll keep dropping disclaimers because I hate being misinterpreted: I don't obviously mean every single person is doing this or that doing one of the things means doing the other too. 

Race:

It is related to the point above. I was personally so excited to see the popular desi james hc. Even in fanon, I have never seen such a prevalent and encouraged brown rep, it was quite sweet to come back to that. But the problem is the change of characteristics that comes with race hc. Desi james is also a manly dude who is big and buff as opposed to the white petite and delicate regulus within jegulus ship. The melanin is directly proportional to the manliness here. 

This is a propagation of race stereotypes. Maybe jegulus was a bad example because usually there are seen as blank templates. I will raise the argument that this can't be all we can come up with for blank canvases then. Either way, my point about race still stands when you repeatedly design interracial queer relationships so they fall into heteronormative roles. Anyway, same issue with wolfstar when there is a brown remus.

Canon, JKR, and hypocrisy:

Refusing to engage with source material is funny when we are picking characters out of it. the interpretations of the characters will be from their book. otherwise, they are just original characters with the same name. you can add onto the traits and a lot of the time fandom comes to a consensus regarding a few things! This is common in every fandom but I don't think I have seen such reluctance to not only critically engage with media but also shame others who do. We are surely in special circumstances with this fandom but I really do think jkr and how we navigate the fanon should be two different things.

Most of us don't condone jkr or even remotely agree with any nonsense she spews on the daily. Most of us can see the problematic nature of even consuming this media and staying in this fandom. It is one of the reasons I even left the fandom. Most of us are simply doing our best to engage carefully while distancing ourselves from her. So, it is quite laughable when some love to take the moral high ground for rejecting canon while still engaging with the same characters. (the rejection of canon in question being sirius’ height, lol)

(Sirius' height is quite a polarising fact apparently. Unfortunately, the point about height is also discussed so disingenuously. When I talk about sirius’ height, it is not really about him being 6 or 7 feet. It will not really impact my life. It is about what it represents. He is bimbofied as he becomes short. It's an issue of "WHY" again.)

Of course, this isn't an accusation of intentional bigotry from everyone here. The problem with this fandom is that the people in it tell themselves that it is progressive and to run away from the problematic creator as much as possible. We are not progressive if all we do is co-opt queer and racially diverse identities on such a superficial level. The bias manifests in subtle forms. I just wish we check ourselves from time to time, that's all. 

There is a lot of hostility when we try to discuss issues in the fanon. Things are interpreted in the most misguided way to just win the argument. Like I said in the beginning, we all just want to have a good time. That also means creating a welcoming space for vulnerable groups (especially when the same identities are used to pat yourselves on the backs for inclusivity points). I didn't even cover everything btw, I just wrote about the issues that concern me. queer and poc also partake in biased representations, I also probably have some biases that I didn't identify yet. I just think it would be super neat if everyone tried to make an effort to unlearn and engage with media without hurting anyone. 

I have other issues but they are all just super subjective opinions and smth I can ignore when others do. ex: I really don't like giving tragic backstories to bigots in the story. Not every supremacist loser has a trauma that forced them into oppressing people! There is also "tropeyfication" of all major ships. Just an overall issue in the reading world I think, though.

Anon, I didn't mean to make it preachy in any way btw. You probably asked for a silly little rant and I went full lecture mode, so I apologize for the tone shift!! I mentioned these because every other issue can be brought down to these imo. Like you said, I also don't have any fixation on everything being canon-compliant. I only complain by asking about the thought process behind certain kinds of changes, if that makes sense! I hope this wasn't a drag really and you can see where I am coming from. If I misspoke anywhere, pls lmk. Thanks for sharing your opinions too!!

This is a long long rant, anyone who read everything, you are wonderful and patient. Thank you for taking the time. This huge post and the content can make you think, “who cares this much?” or “it's not that serious” and yaa it really isn't that serious. The characters aren't real but we all are. the identities projected are real. so, it does matter to talk about this.

Everything said this is a fun place to be once you find your own corner in the playground.

[justeliiijah]

1:25 Siffrin!

submitted by @sammusbird my beloved <3

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

HOOO boy okay a lot of characters with anxiety, PTSD, and depression in media are shown as uwu soft or evil with NO in between and siffrin has a LOT OF NUANCE TO HIM. there was a lot of care and love put into how they react to the hopelessness of their situation and by god do i adore it.

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

dude is so fuCKING shape. also SUCH fun nonbinary rep??? give more queers knives. i know a lot of us have them but more. more should have them. me. give ME a knife.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

how do i draw him in color he looks Wrong

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

ace attorney bc i think it wld be funny. they wld get framed for a murder that they did commit somehow i can Feel it

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

dont kill me bc this is kind of hilarious but the song is called Time Travel by Never Shout Never it's linked lol. u can extrapolate abt who's talkin to who in the song but i imagine it's loop and siffrin

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

[thousand yard stare] hot and transmasc next question

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

fuck that lad up yall ur doing great

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

as king of angst every time i see siffrin unburdened with trauma i lose ten years off my life span (i don't have any real pet peeves and am not super active in the fandom!)

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

i can't even be roommates with my roommates, man

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

unfortunately i am a bit of an asshole and i also have ptsd i think we wld kill each other with our eyes immediately

11. Would you date this character?

we are the same type of fucked up so that is a solid dear god no

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

ftm (i am projecting ok). they are canon nb i believe but i don't know if. like. there's a canon depiction of them w top scars or some shit but it wld fuck!!!

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

feel free to assume what i mean from this bc i'm not adding context

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

i am not a fashion bitch but i think someone shld give him a choker

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

surprisingly canon for once! isafrin <3

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

mira or odile w siff. those mfs are his besties stop trying to make them kiss. also mira is aroace

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

loopfrin. ironically my bf @codacheetah is extremely abnormal abt this one lol

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

mira and siffrin's relationship makes me fuckign emotional literally dont look at me???? but siffrin and odile too bc like. they share that lack of ability to Know where they come from (if only partially on odile's part). and bonn-- okay i think. i think all of their relationships are insanely complex and important ok

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

not applicable tbh. i do think that he shld kick the king in the wiener tho

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

mira my beloevd <333

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

i havent posted fic since like. 2017

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

i love the introspection abt the recovery i've seen!!! like, ppl showing how they think siffrin copes after the fact.

as for dislike,,, hm. i don't love the Other People Loop aus despite how intriguing they are because,,, well. there's a Reason to me that it was siffrin, a reason that their desperation to stay was so powerful. they are singularly capable of that level of need, i think.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

man its gotta be

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

ur gonna laugh but. like s4 jon sims. i think they wld get along but jon is far more of a loser

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

honestly i think i thought they were a very malleable char? like, that he wld change w the player's decisions. and i wasn't wrong entirely, because that's. how story driven gaming works, but siffrin has a much stronger personality and identity than i thought. i also thought they were in space for some reason i did NOT listen to coda's rants

26. FREEBIE QUESTION!!

hes a cutie :3

[lautity]

1, 4, 5, 11, 15, 16, 17, 23 with lautity/holyphone for the otp ask game :3 (no pressure to do all of these btw, i'm just really curious to hear other people's opinions on them since i dont see to many lautity shippers in the wild </3)

Ask game

HEHE its totally okay you could have sent me the whole book.....im so obsessed with them rn its not even funny. i <3 my niche ship nobody else thinks about. and im so sorry for how long this is...stuck it under a cut for safety

also note many of these answers are in the context of my silly fic/AU  but u do not have to read it to understand i included context where necessary. mostly i think abt them in terms of my AU but i think most of these are canon applicable as well

1. Who most initiates PDA?

Funny question for these two. Steph is by far more comfortable with PDA and treats it very casually, but she would probably have to slow down and match Grace's pace while she's still adjusting to being visibly in a queer relationship (especially in Hatchetfield/where she risks bumping into family or people from her congregation).

I think Grace is extremely affectionate though and once she's more comfortable (or just living somewhere she's less well known) she would probably initiate at least as much as Steph, if not more. I think she would get into the habit of hand-holding every time they're outside at some point and it would just be muscle memory to grab Steph's hand when they're walking side by side.

4. How did they first meet?

In Slow they met in middle school! Grace joined in 7th grade after attending a religious primary school, Steph failed 7th grade (too many skipped classes) and was taking it for the second time when Grace got there. They don't really interact significantly until a year or two later, but they're in the same homeroom pretty much every year in school, so they're always aware of each other in passing.

5. What is their love language?

I think for Grace the thing that makes her feel most comforted is probably physical touch, but the 'above and beyond' thing for her (and what she holds as a sign of the utmost commitment, at least on her part) is quality time. She's really punctual because she feels it's the best way to show that she cares and wants to be there + she's pedantic about attending her friend's events to show her support. She's also clingy in a 'following Steph around the house' way, she just loves to have company and another person around. Especially if that person is her girlfriend (someone who wants her around. She has not experienced much of this </3)

Steph probably appreciates words of affirmation quite a lot, especially if they're well thought-out. Also enjoys quality time (though she does need Some alone time) and is usually cool without fancy going-out stuff. Prefers casual, appreciates when people make time for her and enjoys the attention of being alone with someone. I think physical touch and being touchy is like breathing to her, just second nature with her friends and especially her partner. Throwing herself across laps and using people as pillows, always bumping shoulders. Stuff like that. it's very casual to her and it's a language for her in that it's how she says 'I feel safe and comfortable around you".

11. Which member is more physically affectionate?

I sort of already talked about this LOL but I think Grace is more intentionally affectionate and is more likely to initiate cuddling or kissing (once they get over the Afraid To Initiate bit of very newly-out Grace). But obviously Steph is always just touching her anyways, often unconsciously (initially this makes Grace's head explode. but she figures it out eventually) so while everything Grace does is thought out Steph is just always being touchy without realizing it because of how relaxed/comfortable she is. I think they're pretty equally matched on like volume but Grace does initiate more Big acts of affection

15. Who is more likely to make an impulsive decision and who is the voice of reason?

Steph has ADHD (to me.) and bad impulse control so she tends to be very spontaneous. I think a lot of the time she'll do things on a whim, even if they're risky, and say whatever comes to her mind. Grace is good at talking her into more safe activities and derailing her when she's feeling righteous and wants to pick a fight with someone twice her size over an insult to one of her friends.

Grace tends to be really unpredictable and impulsive when she's emotional at all and Steph gradually gets better at handling this and calming her down as they're together for longer. Not so much a voice of reason as a source of comfort for her.

Steph is the one online shopping and showing Grace her phone every 5 minutes just for her to go "no, we don't need another one" LOL

16. Who stays up way too late and who tries to drag them to bed?

Steph and her fuckass sleep schedule from parties and arguing online vs Grace, who has never stayed up past midnight, wakes up at 6:30 AM on weekends, makes her bed every morning, never snoozes an alarm... I think even when Grace drags Steph to bed "on time" (still an hour later than she'd like) Steph is just not a morning person and loves getting to sleep in and wake up slowly. Grace eventually learns to appreciate being cozy in bed for a little bit longer, but she never really stops waking up earlier than Steph and getting tons of things done before she even stirs.

17. Who fell in love first?

Hehe. Grace fell first, Steph fell harder/faster. Grace had like... this steadily building crush she didn't know was a crush. I think it probably started when they were in a group project together and Steph kept bumping their knees together under the table. She called them friends once and Grace pretty much did the entire project to please her. And even once Steph started ignoring her in class again she remained unusually fixated on her salvation and helping her. Around Abstinence Camp (summer before sophomore year/10th grade) Steph catches on to the fact that Grace genuinely wants to help her and tries to be nicer. They get more hostile again when Steph is outed as bisexual and Grace discovers what gay people are and that she isn't supposed to like them (but she can save them!). At the point where NPMD begins (around the beginning of their senior year) Steph has not had a non-religious interaction with Grace in over a year, and she is extremely sick of it.

(Slow is an everyone lives AU that has Max sleep with Grace before most of the events of NPMD, and the Waylon prank is both revenge and blackmail so she can force him to 'admit' to lying about it, hopefully preserving her reputations + preventing it from getting back to her parents. Everyone else is in on it for the same reasons as canon, and only Steph knows that Grace slept with Max at the point of the prank)

After finding out about Grace and Max, Steph just starts kind of pitying her because she knows how vicious gossip of this nature is and how cruel people are. So she's like okay, this girl really needs a friend, I can do that for now + being friends with Steph Lauter does give you some level of social standing which she figures she can lend to Grace for awhile. And Grace is still sort of annoying at first. But seeing her passionate + happy during the prank, orchestrating everything, awakens some really long-buried feelings about the weird girl in her homeroom who always tried too hard to relate every book to God, and who had come over to her house and described every research note to Steph while she assembled their poster by herself; Steph had SpongeBob reruns playing (which Grace was apparently not allowed to watch, so she sat with her back to the television) and was mostly tuning her out. They got 100% on their poster, and Steph stopped talking to Grace when her friends started to comment on it.

She feels bad for treating Grace that way + she is genuinely letting herself know this person for the first time and finding that she likes her. Like. Genuinely finds her smart and funny and interesting. She's sort of insane under duress, but it's endearing. But Steph does not pursue people, people come to her, so she sort of brushes it into the back of her mind, because there is no world in which Grace Chasity realizes her obvious queerness before she's 30.

Once she knows Grace likes her shes giggling and kicking her feet and extremely extremely excited about everything but she is trying So Hard to be normal and not rush her. She's sort of flattered about being Grace's first girl(friend?) and really really wants to give her a good experience and treat her well (the way she wishes her first partner had treated her). She is very happy and the only thing she really wishes is that Grace would apologize less and trust her a little more.

[kiawren]

It's a bit awkward talking about selfshipping other than kiawren cuz I've done like no build up for it so it's like here. If anyone cares LMAO but since I posted some non kiawren things just now might as well do it a little more lol

This is gonna be about Ekko arcane

I've found a way of selfshipping with him I'm pretty comfortable with. Not that I even post about him at all😭 Kiawren is still my constant, but for the sake of lore which is fun to ideate for anyway

Since it's established there's maaany alternate universes not just within arcane but the lol verse btw I know NOTHING about league of legends I dont intend to know much more I'm just winging it

Ok ekko and powder are canon in one universe, from the lens of viewing tropes in shows it's nice to imagine them together in all others, as in, that one canon verse is representative of their other verses that theyre fated to be together. So in the original verse they're originally enemies but it's like a 'rule' they're supposed to be together so they get together eventually.

But what if it's not the case of fate but choice? Ekko said he gave up on her in the original verse, he told vi powder is gone there's only jinx. I agree with fanon they get together by the end of s2 but not cuz it's ship logic that they're meant to be, but I think it was a deliberate choice to talk. First and foremost to reach out and talk and spark the love again. It was his choice to reach out to her again just like it was his choice to distance himself from her and convince himself there was no saving her.

What I'm saying is ekko is jinx's/powder's lover not because he's just Meant to be in every universe but becuz he made choices whether or not to love her.

These choices are individual to him in individual universes. With countless universes, there's probbaly some where he did not visit the au and saw realised jinx's potential in powder. In these versions of himself, he stayed in the mindset where he gave up on jinx (Not to mean he completely doesn't care for her anymore, he evidently does but they don't eventually reconnect, and stay on opposite ends)

It is these versions that I think he has the Choice and potential to love other people. Doesn't have to be my s/i but he has that freedom to. His character shouldn't be tied to jinx, it's his choice whether or not he made the steps to love her or not. And in some circumstances in some verses maybe he didn't make the realisations to. Which is just a neutral thing in itself, not a bad thing, it's just his choice you know

Awkwardly pivoting to my s/i here but in the og verse, it is this period of time in s1 where he gave up on jinx, that they get together and likely eventually break off, Or in some alternate verse where ekko and jinx do not get together and he and s/i are a thing throughout

I feel like this doesn't bend the rules that Timebomb Are Always A Thing, but gives ekko the autonomy and choices to love who he does. Which is also cool for timebomb becuz it means he loves jinx out of his own choice and will to help her, not just cuz it was written that they are inevitably a thing.

But I'm not ignoring the versions of him that undoubtedly love jinx, I feel like it's an indispensable part of his character, but crucially not his Entire character!! that he would put in the work to help and love her. Cuz he's has the heart to which is what I love about him.

Okay now to the wider lol verse.... Ekko and Ezreal.... I was like ok... Let's see what their deal is... And turns out they're basically canon? (in one verse– pulsefire) The writer mentioned them when talking about the difficulty of establishing queer characters in media (source)

But I liked the Ekko from the arcane show, I'm pretty sure his lol character has some differences.

Riot said the arcane verse is canon within the lol verse, so that means in general, it isn't even a Rule that ekko and jinx always end up together. I mean as nice as it is that theres many versions of them together. Like it's actually pretty cute haha.

But ultimatelyyyy Ekko always has a choice for who he wants to love and be together with

[imaginarylungfish]

Can I ask your top 10 fav fics ever (from any fandom, if you don't mind)?

Also, just curious, is there a story behind your name "imaginarylungfish "?

yes, you most definitely can! alright, here we go!

The Distance of Differences: this is my all-time favorite fic. it actually got me into todobakudeku for good. before reading this, i really only into tododeku and never bakudeku or todobaku. but damn, the storyline was really interesting, and the characterizations were great. i loved the dynamic between shouto, katsuki, and izuku. plus, i liked seeing how they all interacted with their classmates years later. i go back to this fic when i'm having a bad day cause i know it'll cheer me up!

Don't Say Goodbye: this one sticks out as a favorite of mine for similar reasons to the last one: an interesting storyline and great characterizations. i really liked how respectful and thoughtful sasaki and miyano were of each other (nothing new, but great to see it lasted into adulthood). plus, it was just cool to see them be able be a little family.

Ten Years, One Torch: this is my favorite tododeku fic. probably because i think the characterizations are pretty on point and because if shouto and izuku are together, then i need katsuki and eijirou to be together too lol. i just think the background ships are really spot on which helped me fall in love with this fic.

Look at Me, I Hear You: i normally am not one to find alternate universe fics enjoyable, but this was an exception (probably because the characterizations were still spot on). i really liked how katsuki and eijirou find a way to communicate with each other even with their challenges. i used to be pretty sick/disabled, so i think i have a soft spot for fics that show disabilities in a way that is just a normal part of living.

Your Hand in Mine (In Every Universe): so i'm not a huge bakudeku fan (i'm really only into bakudeku if it's todobakudeku) but this fic was really creative and i really enjoyed it. i think the characterization of katsuki was really spot on, even with the different versions of him.

Falling in Love at the Photo Shop: i think i'm a sucker for some oblivious-in-love fics like this. it's just really cute when two characters already act like a couple, then they realize they love each other. this is the story i wish was canon lol

Love, or Something Like That: kinda similar to the last fic's reasoning. oblivious-in-love and acting like a couple. it was nice to have a fic about kazurei after the christmas party/pre-time skip. this is what i wish happened lol

Bakugo Katsuki's Guide to Ignoring PTSD: ok so i know i said i don't really like alternate universe fics, but i like this one okayyy? probably because i also have ptsd and it was just really relatable. i also love how katsuki's friends are just there for him. plus, todobakudeku!

Of Duckies, Justice, and Life's Other Mysteries: ok so i haven't posted this anywhere before because it's not a finished fic (and i do hope the writer finishes it!!). but i really like this fic--it takes up my brain space lol. it feels like a cross between link click and buddy daddies, so it's up my alley. i love the premise and just wish there was more!

Crash Course on Intoxication: i realize i don't have many satosugu fic favs because there story is just usually depressing. but hey look, here's an alternative universe fic (lol maybe i'm okay with alt uni fics idk). this one also isn't finished but i really like it so far. it i think how gojo acts in this fic is relatable for me (as i was a closeted queer in college) and idk the characterizations are believable to me.

wow, that was fun!

now, imaginarylungfish? well, my favorite animal is a lungfish. why? lungfish live in drought-ridden environments. so, when there is water, they breathe through their gills. but when the water dries up, they secrete mucous that forms a protective cocoon around themselves. they go into torpor (like hibernation) while breathing with their lungs until the water returns. i think that is amazing! they are super resilient and idk i find that cool.

the imaginary part is just cause idk i feel like i have a big imagination sometimes and also, what is real anyway? what if we're all just imagining life... spoopy

[idwsonicshowdown]

Okay, you might be wondering why you should vote for TekAmy if you've never read StC or heard of Tekno. Especially why you should vote for it over SonAmy, which you probably have heard of. Well, I'm here as an elderly TekAmy shipper to tell you why: First of all, the Tekno/Amy ship is semi-canon:

This scene is for a standalone comic called "Exit: Sonic" written by series writer Nigel Kitching and published on the fansite Sonic the Comic: Online. You can check it out here Even though this comic is obviously released in a fanon capacity, I think it holds a lot of volume that one of the the series' main writers would establish a future where Amy & Tekno are living together and have a child together. While it's obviously not an aspect of her character that SEGA would recognise, it means that this version of Amy is queer and that's important to me Also, our AroAce icon, Sonic, not only supports them here, but is the godfather of their child :D But what about in the actual StC itself? Well, there's TONS of Amy & Tekno in that. So much so that I could make walls of images of them together, but here's a few that a quick Google search found:

One thing I hear a lot in the Sonic fandom is that it'd be cool to see the girl characters get more focus. We're getting that in IDW now and we got that a bit in Archie too, but I cannot stress how much Amy & Tekno there was in StC. And this was back in the 90s! I'd pick up this comic every two weeks and could almost be sure I'd get to read Amy & Tekno's adventures. They were just two girls travelling through dimensions together and having (often wacky) adventures. Who doesn't want that? Also, Amy has said many times (and sees no reason to stop saying!) that Tekno is useful to have around:

I can't remember the context for this one, but Tekno appreciates Amy's puns:

So we have two gals who like to go on adventures together, love each other's company and have the writer's blessing that they get together later on. THAT'S SO COOL!! It also means a lot to me personally, as I've said a lot in the past. While I don't draw often, I do draw for these two. Here are some TekAmy doodles (feat. Sallicole) that I've done in recent years:

And I've been shipping them for a long time! Here's some old TekAmy art (including cringe human art lol) of them that I did waaay back in 2005 & 2006:

Anyway, that's it! A big wall of just I love TekAmy and think they deserve a shot at the title of Best Amy Ship on Tumblr Dot Com. Sonic supports them, too!

Round 4

This poll is for the version of Sonic/Amy from the current Sonic media (e.g. Sonic Frontiers, The Murder of Sonic, IDW, etc.) vs Tekno/Amy from Fleetway's Sonic the Comic All ships included were submitted to us. This tournament does not accept insults towards either ship - use propaganda to uplift your fave, not put down the opponent

[nyxi-pixie]

Have you watched the Korra series? Korra (the main character) has a romance 'arc' with another series, Mako, you think that they would totally be the end game (at least from the GA perspective), but Korra actually gets together with another female character at the end of the series. Most of the time, due to heteronormativeness, people think that a straight relationship would be the default and don't even consider the possibility of a queer romance happening later on (or in the background). Yeah, it started out with a straight couple, and so what lol. Korra and Mako also had a toxic relationship btw, they often fought and weren't honest with each other. Did they love each other?Sure, they were a team after all and cared for each other deeply.... but that doesn't mean that their relationship was workable romantically at some point.

Now, if Byler happens, we'll get the same arguments (as we are already getting anyway) that Byler was forced out of nowhere and the 'main straight relationship of the series got destroyed out of nowhere'. Never mind that the relationship itself was giving red flags and was obviously not going to work out. But god forbid that a queer relationship happens later on in the series.

KORRASAMI REFERENCES??? IN MY ASKS???? thank you for this one anon i used to be Obsessed with them and im so glad you brought this up bc omg ur so right. yeah straight fans will complain about things like this every time it happens because they refuse to see past the comfort of their heteronormativity and see that queer characters have been coded as such for ages.

it does make me laugh when they latch desperately onto a super unhealthy relationship just cos it was/is canon and straight they fr defend it to the death and its like??? okay?

i just hate how much queer ships have to be built up before they can happen compared to straight ones lol. imagine if people said jancy came out of nowhere and it was ruining stancy (sure hardcore stancy enjoyers might say that but GA?? nope.)

[t4tmoreid]

tell me your denelope thoughts dearest!!!!!!

denelope my beloved 💕 to be totally honest they're not my number one in terms of personal shipping preference ONLY because i tend to lean more towards moreid and penemily (and because some very weird people and fetishistic interpretations of them semi-ruined the pairing for me lol), but in terms of pairings that would've actually worked really well in canon i don't think there's any way that morcia isn't at the top of that list. their foundation is just so strong and their chemistry is SO good, and i don't think anyone can deny that the connection they have is really special and important to both of them and could have EASILY transcended the platonic and crossed into romantic territory without it feeling forced or unnatural within the actual narrative of the show. like when you think about how much we actually got in canon-- the god given solace line, the ending of exit wounds, "just talk to me penelope" "okay what should i talk about" "i don't care just talk"-- like theres truly wayyyyy too much to name even BEYOND the standard flirting and sexual innuendos that are present in pretty much every episode,,,

also i know we already talked about this on the discord cj, but morcia is the only cm ship that i actually think should have been made canon on the show. like there are pairings like moreid and penemily that i think could have worked within canon and been really interesting and good if cbs wasn't homophobic and if we could actually trust them to write queer relationships properly and appropriately wskfjhdkjskj, but morcia is the one that really just feels like missed potential ig? like they built such a strong foundation for a really interesting and complex and strong relationship and i think it would've been really compelling for them to just take it that one step further.

there's also soooo much i could say about denelope and fatphobia lol (like how fatphobia was a BIG part of why denelope wasn't actually made canon and also why people choose this pairing to champion their "b-b-but purely platonic male/female friendship representation 🥺" cause lol) but it's late and i don't feel like getting into it right now LOL. also to be clear thats not to say that i don't love platonic denelope because i DO, i love their relationship in every capacity and i think even platonically denelope is a really deep and interesting relationship to explore, but i also think that no matter what individual preference people have for whether they think the dynamic between derek and penelope is purely platonic or should have become romantic, thats still an important conversation to have ykwim

i definitely have more thoughts on this but i forget what i was gonna say LOL, anyway i love denelope and i love you cj beloved thank you for sending this <33

ask me my (brutally honest) opinion about a ship!

[rpbetter]

Wha-? Now people are labeling muns who just play devil's advocate and don't have strong feelings either way about what other people write? I didn't sign up to be a 'proshipper' just for not caring what other people ship. I don't care about a lot of things. Why the label for this particular thing? It sounds so dumb, like a way to yank in more muns who just want to mind their own business into drama and 'sides'. I agree with your post, I'm just angry at the rpc for being babies. And the labels...

I'm always angry at the RPC for being babies and the labels, it's alright, Anon.

I believe (and I could be wrong, because for the most part, I tried to stay out of any and all fandom-related things for years and years - I just want to enjoy the movie/shows/books, I don't need or want to discourse about that shit, you know?) that all of those terms originated in fandom, outside/predating transfer to the RPC.

I know when I encountered them initially, it was in fandom, not the RPC part of fandom...and at that time, it was just the label of people being "antis." A label they gave themselves by, literally, asserting themselves as "anti-character here-."

It's been my supposition that the RPC's transition to being more canon character and fandom-based than OC-preferred led to an organic transfer of more fandom-specific terminology (and behaviors). As places like twitter and tumblr became hubs of fandom and RPCs, they brought tags to the table. While that is an absolutely wonderful thing, it also means that we all started out tagging things with good intentions, only meant to be tags. You could tag something, pulling from a random fandom here, "anti-Daryl Dixon" from TWD and the plethora of fans who love that character could block it. It was a peacekeeping measure at that state, not a flag for discourse and drama.

Tag-language influencing and becoming an organic part of language, in general, is a whole other, though fascinating, topic, so I'm going to just leave that there. The point is, it happened.

And unfortunately, you quickly got people popping "anti-whatever" in their bios and blog descriptions. Not as a means of allowing others to avoid it, but as a means of making it really clear that they despised the character, fandom, ship, whatever. With purity culture 3.5 hitting in earnest, the reasons for despising those things became raised stakes. It wasn't a basis of simply disliking them anymore - you needed a dissertation how this thing was morally objectionable and destroying the world. Anyone disagreeing with you, by that logic, is morally reprehensible themselves and must be stopped. Raised stakes.

Actions cause reactions, too. People started making it clear that they were "pro" whatever, too. These became opposing designations, and honestly, I'm not sure who started up "proshipper" first. I only know I saw it being used negatively first, that doesn't mean it happened that way! What I've seen has been the entire ship/write/like what you want crowd being given that label negatively and taking it up themselves in the same way people are given to take up a lot of things they've been negatively called.

By "what I've seen," I don't just mean witnessing it happening in the wild lol it happened to me, as well. I reblogged a post about how shipping wasn't activism, and got an anon informing me that I was a disgusting proshipper (every time I reblog that, I get at least one person popping off in my RP inboxes, actually, it hasn't slowed down any). At which point, I, too, was very much like, I'm a what now? Yes, I am okay with shipping? What the hell is this person even on about?

So, it's my theory that in response to the anti movement, some people stated that they were "pro-ship and let ship" and thus...we got to be "disgusting proshippers."

Regardless, it absolutely is just another way of labeling people in order to single them out and/or keep feeding drama, yes.

And again, I feel you. I know labels, good, bad, reclaimed, whatever, seem to give a lot of people a grounded sense of identity, but I've always been uncomfortable with them. I don't understand the need for them, even if I get that they make others feel a certain way. I just want to feel the way I do, be the person I am, and have that person engaged with based singularly on my actions.

It's alright if someone else wants to freely label themselves in a way they feel is positive (though, I do wish that younger people, especially in the queer community didn't have this batshit pressure to do so, and correctly, the first time), but they've always felt threatening and restrictive to me.

As such, having people create and bestow a label on me for the purpose of designating me a problem is kind of an uncomfortable realization of why I feel negative about them. I don't like it, and it's part of why I don't like the bullshit of making this distinction in DNIs. By doing so, they're literally as hell singling people out...with a negative label they gave them for the criminal act of feeling like it's absurd to police fiction, instead, expecting adults to behave like adults when engaging with fiction and each other.

It's honestly forcing hostility and drama, when the point of being ship/write/like and let ship/write/like is not having that hostility and drama. It's merely a live and let live mentality, that's what y'all are attacking! The labeling is a rotting cherry on top that is so indicative of this same, legitimately problematic, behavior that goes on in the extremism I talked about in the post you referenced. It's...gross, let's just say that.

And I'm really sorry that it makes you upset, too! You don't have to label yourself, you can reject that and refuse to engage with those using it in this negative way. That makes me feel considerably less annoyed and disturbed! I'll totally joke about it, as I do fall into the designated parameters of being both "proship" and "anti-anti," but I don't actually label myself thus. I only consider myself a reasonable adult who has better and more serious shit going on than to worry about what fiction someone else is writing or enjoying.

Just...do be aware that, like myself and others, you're likely to be labeled if one of these hostile parties sees you reblog the "wrong" thing or make the "wrong" statement. You are being labeled in those DNIs for your viewpoint of wishing to avoid absurd drama. So, I'd advise, for your peace of mind, to try to avoid blogs stating that they're "anti" anything but drama/bullying etc., or who feel it necessary to put up those DNIs. You are who they're talking about, they just don't know it because you're not labeling yourself or being otherwise obvious about it :/

Try your best to avoid that changing, you deserve to peacefully enjoy RP! As disturbing as it is, as rightfully upset about it as you are, maybe it's a good thing you found out? In this way, I mean. Without someone bringing it to your inbox hatefully. Now you know what it means, that they mean you, and you can stay away from it! Try to look at it that way - there will always be people weirdly desperate to make their drama hobby everyone else's problem, you can only make an effort to stay out of it if you know what to look for, right?

I hope any of this made you feel better about the fresh hell that is the RPC lol keep doing you, Anon! You're not the problem, infantile drama mongers are <3

[ceoandslutler]

they didn't even have the decency to tag me when they replied like,,,

@chimeridae ...you called fanfic "child porn", how did i put words in your mouth by saying you were equating it to something real? child porn is a real thing. fan fiction is literally what it says on the tin— fan-made fiction. and yes, most fanfic authors are women and/or queer, pointing that out isn't wrong. i don't need a therapist if i write about ships involving underage characters because it's not always an indication of mental illness (although many mentally ill/traumatised people do use it as a coping mechanism). BUT i haven't even done that, i have never written underage pwp fic! not that there's anything wrong with it but im just better at writing adults because im an adult who likes to write about adults fucking and most of my experiences have just been... nasty sex? lol idek why im explaining myself to you. i literally have one fic up and the character who is canonically 13 has been aged up to his early 20s and then him and his demon manservant fuck nasty. so what now? should i tell the therapist that someone online thinks that i shouldn't write fanfic of a character i only see as a doll which i can age up or contextualise to my liking? okay whatever. i don't need a therapist at the moment but the nhs is free so if i ever do, i will hit them up. but i don't need one right now. i just think people should be allowed to write whatever fan fiction they want. we can all use our heads (i hope) and not act on every piece of fiction we read. and please, go read my reblog on that original post to someone who has the same viewpoint as you.

and also, op, legendary move to call me 'ceo' lmao

@chimeridae @ceoandslutler

Well, I would tag that guy but whatever.

See the thing is: sexual fictional content of children in any capacity is not "child porn" in the way you're saying, basically. They're not legally the same. They're not conceptually the same.

So this is why Ceo said you're equating them. "Child porn" is illegal because it features real children. There are Real victims and systems of exploitation.

To call lolisho or whatever Child porn is to say hentai where rape occurs is exactly the same as real rape. But that's obviously not true. No one actually got hurt drawing the hentai. No one actually got hurt drawing the lolisho.

And re: if you like that thing please go to therapy? People DO go to therapy for it. All the time. And yeah, a good therapist will tell you it's fine. It's not hurting anyone.

The real question is always: Is it hurting you to think about? Well, that is something a therapist could work on. But why do something if it doesn't bring you any level of comfort. People don't typically do that. What hurts people is feeling constantly shamed for their interests because random people on the internet keep telling them they're a REAL pedophile when all they've ever done is think maybe Kevin and Edd from Ed, Edd, and Eddy should like do the nasty.

And fictional children are largely NOTHING LIKE REAL CHILDREN, in my experience and probably also in yours. If they're not Overly sophisticated and exceptional, they're exaggerated. And barely physically resemble real children to begin with. There is a HUGE gap between real child and Edd from Ed, Edd, and Eddy.

Fun fact: I am a clinical mental health professional. That is my Job. I would never look a client in the eye after they disclosed something like this to me and think "wow they're fucked" or "ew go die", which for some reason is what antis seem to think is acceptable. This is what we're talking about.

So kindly: stay out of others business when it comes to their little fictional ships. It doesn't matter and it doesn't effect you.

[itsclydebitches]

1. It really bothers me people use LGBT people to deflect criticism. No spoilers, but The Last of Us 2 has story issues. A lot of confusing writing decisions and overall lackluster compared to the first. It's a disappointment for me. A group of people don't like the game because it has lesbians and trans characters. Those people are shitty. Problem is people group all critics of the game as those bigots when there is legit criticism from people who aren't those bigots.

Ngl, finding that balance is really hard. Like: 

Me: Hmm. First 100% canonical queer character is the would-be murderer of her crush’s parents and uses those unrequited feelings as an excuse for her actions. That makes me very uncomfortable 

Others: Oh, so you hate lesbians and bi women. I get it. 

Me: I am a bi woman?? Which is why I’d like some representation that’s not all doom and gloom. I get that it’s a preference but it’s still a valid one. Not all of us want “problematic” rep but rather something more loving and stable. Like Blake and Yang. I think they could be really good moving forward

Others: They absolutely could not. Here’s an extensive list of every way that their romance has been “forced” on the viewers. They single-handedly ruined RWBY

Me: Okay Number One, there isn’t actually a canonical relationship yet so I don’t think we should be discussing their situation like there is--

Others: OH so you’re one of those aphobic critics who just ignore all the buildup and coding we’ve gotten. It’s not a “real” relationship unless you kiss, huh? 

Me: No! I’m saying that RWBY hasn’t given us anything irrefutable, something to get the bigots off our backs. I 100% believe that the coding reads as romantic but if we never go past coding that’s going to turn into queer baiting, something we’ve been criticizing for years. This need for canonization doesn’t exclude the potential for any sexuality, including making one or both of them ace, but RT needs to have them come out in some way in order to solidify that rep. The “Dumbledore was always gay” argument isn’t enough for 2020.

Others: Do you have any idea how rare it is to have a lesbian or bi relationship in media?? Of course they need to kiss. You claiming they don’t just proves how out of touch you are.

Me: ...okay, can we just agree that it’s impossible for one ship to please everyone and this is why we need LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of representation so that two characters aren’t trying to shoulder the weight of everyone’s identity? We’re moving on. Number Two, Blake/Yang has been no more “forced” than thousands of straight ships out there. If we can accept a guy and a girl being madly in love after looking at each other once, why does a queer couple need a dissertation’s worth of evidence to “prove” that love? 

Also Me, a Volume Later: Hey, I love Blake/Yang but they’re caught up in this whole “protagonists can do no wrong” theme which means that not only are they written as really co-dependent but that co-dependence has led them to making reckless choices without consulting others. Can we maybe let them talk to the other team members? Learn from their mistakes? The relationship - when we hopefully get it - will read as much more healthy and compelling if we let them grow as characters. Here I’m criticizing the depiction of a (potentially) queer relationship, not arguing over whether that relationship has a right to exist at all. Sure, queer characters have the right to be written “badly” just like their straight counterparts, but considering RWBY as its own, autonomous story, don’t we want the writing to be the best it can be? I don’t need to be a world renowned pastry chef to “justify” making a cake. The cake is allowed to be shitty. But wouldn’t I want to try and improve my baking skills if given the chance? Surely we can give queer characters the same pass straight couples get while also pointing out ways to improve their depiction? 

Others: Ah ha! You do hate them! 

Sadly it’s a lose-lose, anon. If you support queer ships you get backlash. If you criticize the writing of queer ships you get backlash. I’ve gotten angry messages about it all. All you can really do is listen when you feel it’s warranted, stick to your beliefs when it’s not, and block/delete at your discretion :/

(Also I’ve been meaning to play The Last of Us at some point so that’s something to look forward to now lol) 

[alleyskywalker]

Okay, that was interesting! May I ask you for round two? "The life you choose" (I just love how you portrayed all characters in this one, and I love my girl Sonya so much my heart aches for her every time I reread this work), "You and Me" series (I liked the whole story very much, even tho I don't ship danatole :D) and "Thing Without a Name" (The prompt and pairing itself were quite interesting and curious to me, and the fic turned out to be brilliant or i just love angsty slash UST, lol)

The Life You Choose

This was written as a yuletide treat and it was interesting to me that the recipient, from what I recall, wanted to see Boris and Sonya interactions. Mostly, this ended up as a bit of a character study of Boris thought the lense of how he perceives other characters, as well as a look at Sonya though the eyes of someone who is kind of an outsider (at least by this point) but enough of an insider that the dynamics of the situation aren’t totally lost on him.

It was a chance for little dips into dynamics like Boris’ marriage, which I imagine to be no necessarily without sex, but not at all romantic and more of a practical partnership. The sort of thing where they may be very content married to each other and compatible but they mostly live pretty separate lives. (This, in contrast to Berg/Vera, whose marriage I see as having genuinely romantic undertones.) But this is only kind of hinted at here, granted.

The interesting thing with Sonya and Boris are parallels between them - neither of them had the socioeconomic privilege of the Rostovs but grew p, to one extent or another, in the Rostov household. Both had close friends in the Rostov family (Natasha and Nikolai respectively). Both had romantic feelings/intentions for a Rostov child (Nikolai and Natasha respectively). And they’re both fairly practical, reasonable people. These parallels are imperfect, obviously, but they are there and Boris, judgemental as he is, latches on to them. He also latches on to the differences he perceives - Sonya had stayed in the Rostovs “shadow” while Boris had made something of himself and his life. He feels a little sorry for Sonya because he thinks he empathizes with her. He’s kind of wrong and kind of right.

Thing Without A Name

This was written for LGBT Fest, which had a tendency to explore issues like homophobia and other queer issues through fic. (Not necessarily issue!fic but…focused on sexuality/gender themes of the more serious type than just like…your usual Everyone Is Gay fluff lol.) But, really, I think this is kind of how I’d see a period-realistic get-together between Nikolai and Dolokhov happening with Dolokhov being more certain and aware of himself and his desires while NIkolai flounders badly with all the internalized homophobia and finds every excuse in the world for his feelings. Um. Also Nikolai is so painfully gay even in canon, come on.

You and Me (trilogy)

Ok, honestly, there’s no way I can do a proper but concise commentary of this entire trilogy lol. Are there aspects or parts you’re most interested in? The idea of this whole thing was so write a Danatole story that weaves through canon and plausibly writes the ship into the canon events. The first fic in the series was a Yuletide treat that go out of control and, thus, ended up not only with a secondary Dolokhov/Nikolai ship but also the Anatole/Pierre teenage affair headcanons and Pierre’s one-sided crush on Bolkonsky and some implied Dolokhov/Denisov friends with benefits lol.  This fic also has the “Dolokhov and Helene are BFFs and plan the duel for practical considerations” thing that I enjoy from time to time. And, god, it was so fun to write them as close friends who banter and care about each other but aren’t in love, even though I ship them. This series was basically a big collection of my canon-compliant headcanons in a world where Dolokhov and Anatole are gay (bi in Anatole’s case) and together xD

I think I should add that these fics/this series were written a long time ago and I”m not actually that happy with the writing itself. The headcanons still hold though lmao.

[gallaghersgal]

Fanfic asks: #1, #7, #13, #22, #24, #29, #35, #47, #48 :))) I love your writing

omg anon tysm 💕💞💖💕❤💗💗💞💕

1. What was the first fandom you got involved in? Well the first fandomy things I read were Harry Potter and then pjo/hoo stuff, but then I didnt really get involved in a fandom until I became obsessed with Dear Evan Hansen and Newsies, and, well, now I'm here!

7. List your NOTPs from each fandom you've been in.

Harry Potter: Harry/Ron

Pjo/hoo/all that: Percy/literally anyone other than Annabeth. They're my babies and I love them. I'm sure there are others but its been so long since I read those lol

Hamilton: literally everything that isnt "canon" bc its history and I'm a history nerd, so I just can't ship that stuff

Dear Evan Hansen: I'm not super opposed to it, but I just dont really ship Alana with anyone, I hc that she's on the ace/aro spectrum

Newsies: I dont hate them, but I'm not a fan of Jack/Spot, Race/Jack and Race/Kath... Tbh I'm pretty plain and boring for newsies, I stick mostly with the more common pairings, with a few rarepairs (unrelated but hhhh do y'all remember when ralbert was a rarepair ahbsnaj my baby boys theyve grown so much

Supernatural: Sam/Dean. Its literally incest y'all are fucking insane. No apologies. Also Cas/Meg bc Twist and Shout traumatized me.

Marvel: STONY!!! Idk why y'all, i just do. not. ship it. But I can see where people are coming from so I guess its not exactly a NOTP... Anyway others are thor/loki, thor/valkyrie tony/rhodey, thats about it

Star wars: r*ylo. luke×leia. kylo×anyone. I'm pretty sure anything else is fair game tbh, its space and everyone is queer, let them have their fun

Psych: Shawn/Gus, Shawn/Lassiter, Lassiter/Juliet. Yes, I hc Shawn as bi, but that doesnt mean I ship him w/ any of the guys in the show... Shawn and Juliet are soulmates. Period.

13. Any NoTPs? Anon, sweet baby ily, you either picked random numbers or accidentally said both of these... Either way its the thought that counts babe <3

22. Is there anything you regret writing? Ugh yes I had this Stucky fic where Steve was a tiny asthmatic dude just living his life and Bucky was the strong one armed contractor that was fixing his deck and there was super weird sexual tension and it was badly written. I have since deleted it from ao3, my fic doc, and my memory. It lives on within the depths of the mind of my bestie/beta reader/editor/confidant/number one supporter @thelazyhero-ttums who read it and was the one who made me realize how terrible it was. It was a rude awakening but im glad I had it bc it made me the writer I am today lmao

24. What fic do you desperately need to rewrite or edit? Hshsjajs RIGHT AND RECONCILIATION!!! Right and Reconciliation are the first two newsies fics I ever wrote. The plot is solid and could be great if I just rewrote it... My aforementioned bestie is the leader (and sole member) of the Rewrite Right and Reconciliation crusade but tbh I don't think ill ever rewrite them unless theres a college assignment thats like Rewrite Something You Wrote In Middle School Even Though You Hate It

29. Do you have a beta reader? Why/Why not? I don't have an official beta reader, but between running things by @natthemess, my bestie from before, my friend missa, usually about 80% of every fic I post has been read before I post it bc I thrive on,the validation of my friends

35. Do you write drabbles? If so, what do you normally write them about? Okay so by technical definition a drabble is 100 words or less, but I consider everything under like 750 to be a drabble, so by those rules yes I write drabbles. I actually have a series of Assorted Newsies Drabbles on my ao3, and I mostly write them about fluffy stuff, a lot of soft cuddly morning fics, little projections of things I'm feeling if ive had a particularly bad day/strong emotion stuff like that

47. Archive, fanfic.net or Tumblr: which do you prefer to post and why? Archive and Tumblr. Archive bc its the Superior Fanfic Site, and tumblr bc I feel like it boosts my platform. Also yes, I shamelessly linked my ao3 up there in the question, check it out if you like :P

48. Do you leave reviews when you read fanfiction? Why? Yes. Yes! YES!!! Why, you ask? Because I am an author and I know how it feels to have 600 hits, 100 odd kudos and 12 comments (including your own replies to comments.) It just hurts a lot knowing literally only 1% of people took the time to comment. Literally all it takes is a "I loved this! Great writing!!" Or a "HAHAJSHAJJSHS BABIE,BABIES BABIEST ILY" that shit makes my day.

[mxlfoydraco]

Do you think Hinny is heteronormative? I see a lot of Drarry shippers saying that it is and i like both so i don't know how to feel about that

That’s an interesting question anon, but i don’t think it has a clear answer. Heteronormativity, by definition is “the attitude that heterosexuality is the only normal and natural expression of sexuality”. Does the protagonist marrying his teenage sweetheart and having three kids sound like it’s in accordance with that definition? Does that kind of an ending normalize heterosexuality as the happily ever after? Well, i can’t say that it doesn’t. The key point is however, if this is the same kind of heteronormativity that actively overrules any possibility of a queer representation. Every cishet couple is can be considered heteronormative to a degree in my opinion, but there’s a difference between discussing why the epilogue felt heteronormative and why the suggestive Scorpius/Rose ending of The Cursed Child felt like a slap in the face. Further, there should be some nuance when we’re discussing why the epilogue plays into heteronormativity. When a Harry/Draco shippers says H/G had no canon basis or came out of nowhere it sounds kind of comical, you know? There’s a new fad in fandoms where people claim superiority of their preferred pairings through moral crusades, which is absolutely not okay. I don’t like the idea of people using heteronormativity for that kind of agenda. Heteronormativity is why i grew up thinking being anything other than cis and het wasn’t even an option. It’s hurtful and damadging to a lot of people, and not a tool to ship bash. There’s also the obvious fact that fanon is not canon. The H/G in my head is based on canon H/G, but not the same. Harry/Ginny in my head is a bisexual couple, for starters. If someone told me i was enforcing heteronormativity by enjoying H/G every now and then, i’d just link them to my favorite H/G pegging fic lol. As a bisexual woman, i deserve to read and write bisexual characters in M/F relationships as well. That has nothing to do with heteronormativity because my version of these characters aren’t straight. It’s important to know when to generalize and when to focus on individual experiences. Critiqueing canon content is good, it means you’re interested and invested enough to dig deeper. Accusing and insulting random people online because they like to read and write about certain fictional characters? That’s not good.