disastaur

[disastaur]

Spoilers for Houseki no Kuni past the anime!

Finally completed my EucLapis reverse AU where Euclase is taken to the Moon and Lapis Lazuli is the one left behind. Includes the usual canonical mild body horror, heavy pining, and my usual themes of the contrast between love and eternity. Here's to hoping I get around to writing more and finishing up some drafts now that midterms are over!

#houseki no kuni #land of the lustrous #hnk au #euclase #hnk lapis lazuli #fanfiction

[disastaur]

A tad late, but here’s my full piece for @rutilezine! A huge thank you again to everyone to organized, participated in, and supported this project! Make sure to check out our work if you haven’t already! ^-^

#Rutile #fanfiction #houseki no kuni #hnk #land of the lustrous

[disastaur]

*breakdances* I’m absolutely not an entire week later to @yellowrutileweek what are you talking about lololol.

But anyways, I wanted to show my appreciation to @as-troz and YellowRutile, so I wrote this ^^;. I realized about halfway through that I didn’t know how to characterize Yellow but I did as all writers do and just bs’ed by way through by shoving romantic undertones in every line and praying.

But that’s enough rambling for now—I hope you all enjoy!

#yellowrutile weekend #yellowrutile weekend 2021 #yellowrutile #yellow #rutile #hnk #houseki no kuni #land of the lustrous #fanfic

[disastaur]

On ‘Genderbending’

Lately I’ve been seeing people discuss why ‘genderbending’ isn’t transphobic, or why it’s something that’s fine and should be accepted. Most of the people who have been discussing this are cis, which is an issue right off the bat, so I’m going to preface this post by saying that if you are not trans, you do not have the right to determine what is or is not transphobic. Full. Stop. So if you’re cis, and your first instinct is to argue with me on this, I would like for you to consider why you believe that you can recognize transphobia better than someone who is routinely subject to it. That being said, let’s get into this. 

To start off, what is ‘genderbending?’ Most fansites will define it as the act of ‘switching’ a character’s gender, but there’s already an issue with this. ‘Genderbending’, or ‘rule 63’ as is called in some circles, it not just about switching a character’s gender, it is about changing that character’s body as well. I have yet to see a ‘genderbent’ version of a male character who lacked breasts and a dfab body. This the first and most obvious reason why ‘genderbending’ is inherently transphobic - it assumes that physical traits and gender are the same thing, and that you cannot be female without also being dfab. This is cissexism, and this is transphobic. The message that ‘genderbending’ says is that you must have breasts and a vagina to be female, and you must have a penis and a flat chest to be male. I should not have to explain why that message is transphobic.

However, the way ‘genderbends’ are carried out also has distinctly transphobic implications in how it switches out the physical traits of characters to make them ‘the opposite gender’ ( the notion of there being ‘opposite genders’ is some fresh bullshit that I’ll cover later in this post ). For example, by giving a male character breasts and curves when ‘genderbending’ him, the message is clear that this character was cis to begin with. ‘Genderbending’ inherently implies that all characters are cisgender by default, and erases any possibility of these characters being trans. This is not as overtly transphobic as the first point, but it is harmful to trans people within fandom spaces, as the assumption that all characters are cis until explicitly stated otherwise pushes us out of media and removes whatever representation we might try to make for ourselves. 

The third issue with ‘genderbending’ is that it is always cis male <—> cis female, and nothing else. I have never seen people ‘genderbend’ characters by making them nonbinary or intersex. I have never seen a genderbend of a female character which made her a trans male instead. ‘Genderbending’ implies that there are only two options when it comes to gender: cis male and cis female. There is no such thing as nonbinary people within this ideology. Intersex people are laughable at best. Agender people are little better than a distant myth. ‘Genderbending’ ignores that it is impossible to make a character ‘the opposite gender’, because there is no such thing as an ‘opposite gender’. Gender is a spectrum, not a binary, but you wouldn’t know that from the way fandom spaces treat it. 

Of course, there are some reasons for ‘genderbending’ cis male characters into cis females that will always get brought up in discussions on the politics of ‘genderbending.’ The most frequent is that cis girls, who only see themselves as one-dimensional characters in media, want to have characters like them who are just as multifaceted and developed as the male characters that we are given, so they make their male faves female to give themselves the representation they desire. This is a decent reason for ‘genderbending’, but it does not excuse the fact that the way in which ‘genderbending’ is done is inherently transphobic, and it gives fans yet another excuse to ignore female characters in favor of focusing on their male faves. 

Another reason for ‘genderbending’ that I’ve heard is ‘it’s for the sake of character exploration - like, what if this character had been born as male/female instead?’ This excuse is cissexist and transphobic from first blush. The idea behind it is that someone ‘born as female’, aka with breasts/vagina will automatically be a cis female, allowing fans to explore what that character’s life would have been like if they were female. Why not explore the possibility of a character being designated female at birth, but still identifying as male? Why do you need a character to be cis for you to find their personality and life interesting to explore? Why do you automatically reject the notion of your fave being trans? If you want to explore what it would have been like for your male fave to have struggled with sexism, consider them being a trans woman, or a closeted dfab trans person.

As a closing statement, I want to make one thing very clear. ‘Genderbending’ does harm trans people. It perpetuates dangerous cissexist notions and the idea of a gender binary being a valid construct, erases nonbinary and intersex people, and others trans people. These are what we call microaggressions - they are not as dangerous as outright harassment and assault, but they enforce and support a system and ideology in which we are other, and we are worthy of hate and violence because we do not fit in. 

‘Genderbending’ is a transphobic practice, and if you engage in it, you need to be aware of and acknowledge this.

[disastaur]

let’s talk about racism in the danmei fandom

alright so originally i wrote this for twitter, but i felt like tumblr could benefit from it too. today we’re finally getting the long awaited “deconstruction of racism in the danmei fandom” post. and lemme preface this by saying- i’m chinese-american. i’m nblm. i do, in fact, have the cultural and historical background to know what i am talking about. so let’s get into it. 

this is gonna be a long post, because we have a lot to talk about. first, racism doesn’t have to be as blatant as calling me a chink, or saying all asians look the same, or not wanting to consume asian media, or making ching chong jokes.racism can be as subtle towards asians as it can towards any other race. if you think i shouldn’t have to say that, join the club, bc same. 

second, racism towards asians, especially in the west, has a long history of being overlooked and accepted. now, let’s talk about how racism dictates some of the takes you see in the fandom. firstly, what originally inspired this thread- the mxtx rumors and the jokes being made about her and censorship. now, obvs some ppl are gonna say that they were just jokes made in poor taste. and, sure. but they were jokes made in poor taste, steeped in racism. the jokes being made about mxtx going to jail happen bc ppl do not view her as a real person. not rlly. she’s an author, sure, the author of one of their favorite novels, but she’s not, like. a person with thoughts and feelings and a life. and that sort of casual lack of humanhood and agency given to danmei authors is rooted in the severely racist dehumanization of asians that’s prevalent in the west. this is something that can be seen other places, too- a good example being when parasite was notably nominated for every oscar category *except* the acting ones. 

it’s this lack of personhood, this lack of agency, that allows ppl to have takes like “censorship isn’t actually bad, and here’s why”. yes, this is a real take that i saw. this take argues that the cql is better than mdzs, bc it is “softer and less graphic”. in general, a lot of ppl have the take that mxtx’s works in particular are too graphic, with problematic sexual elements. now, i’ve talked before about how that’s a homophobic take bc gay relationships should also be allowed to be messy. but it’s also deeply entrenched in racism. it’s why white gays can have the take “this is Problematique and here’s why” and claim it’s not homophobic. 

racism against asians has long since created a trend of sexualizing them- thinking asian men are sexy while also removing their sexual agency. asian men can be sexy, but they can’t actually *have sex*. not explicitly. there’s a historical, real world element to this. “not fats no femmes no asians” could definitely be seen on ppls grindr profiles, back in the day. asians can be sexy, sure. look at kpop boys. but they can’t be sexual. they’re infantilized. they have to remain pure and wholesome, or they’re dragged as problematic and homophobic and fetishizing, a word that’s thrown around so often it’s practically lost meaning. fetishizing is my ex-bf telling me i’m sexy bc* i’m asian, it’s bl/yaoi fans approaching a gay couple on the bus and gushing over how “cute and yaoi they are.” fetishizing is *not* showing your 2 male main charas having explicit sex. if it is, then every white fan in danmei is fetishizing asians. 

but i digress- back to the point about racism. the fact that ppl can argue about censorship shows that they, as a whole, aren’t considering the ramifications of censorship on the literal country it exists in, and it’s citizens. i, obvs, do not live in china. but i’ve got relatives who do, and who did. i’ve got relatives who fled china. not everything is about you and the media you want to consume. and then, of course, there’s the casual racism. the everyday racism. the racism that lies in things like saying all the names are too similar and it’s hard to keep track of them. the racism in saying things like “i’m just here to have fun,,,like sure, i’d persevere through dostoevsky, but this is danmei”, as if danmei is somehow inferior, as if danmei isn’t meant to be critically engaged with, as if danmei doesn’t tackle and critically explore some of the deepest and darkest issues. 

asian media is often presented that way, from kung fu movies to danmei. there is a type of racism, of eurocentrism, that exists in the belief that western media has deeper, more engaging morals. asian media is more “fun”. asian media is almost entirely based on morals and deep thought, it’s just not based in western ones. for example, two of my favorite authors are haruki murakami and kazuo ishiguro. both are japanese authors, who’s works i’ve heard westerners describe as weird and without a point, when in fact they are simply telling stories with innately eastern asian morals and teachings. it’s the same type of racism that causes ppl to make jokes about asian food, to not view it as a craft the same way they do french food. it’s asian- it must be “less than”, be inferior, be inherently not worth as much. 

casual racism about asians is normalized, which isn’t a word i use often. it’s normalized to the point where ppl don’t even realize they have that sort of implicit bias, and we know ppl don’t rlly come on the internet to think critically. but unintentional racism is still racism. it still has an impact, still does damage. ppl need to think intentionally and critically in how they consume and interact with media not made for them, but they don’t, instead choosing to come in with their preexisting biases, and bc of that, it’s easy for fandom members to dismiss the cultural concerns of chinese ppl within the fandom. it’s easy, for example, to say “calling them martial brothers is incest apologism”, ignoring the inherent cultural roots of martial brothers. 

now, we’re gonna get in to the current “drama”. i do not ship chengxian. i think that even bears repeating. i Do Not ship chengxian. i have written them, in a modern au, as adopted brothers. but there is a real historical and culture relevance to the idea of martial brothers, of community, that westerners willfully refuse to hear, claiming instead that “you’re disregarding adopted families!” no. that’s not what’s happening at all. what’s happening is ppl are refusing to look at their own, western bias, and placing western values on an eastern idea. community raising of children, community family bonds without being adopted families, is important in east asian culture. there is a long history of community being whats important, and ppl don’t get that you can be a “communal/community family” without being considered familial. jyl choosing to view wwx as her brother, bc he is a martial brother, and chengxian being in love, are things that can technically coexist. whether or not you choose to perceive them as such, refusing to acknowledge the real history of martial brothers, and scremaing “incest apologism” whenever someone tries to explain it, is inherently racist. it’s you assuming you know my culture better than me. it’s you assuming your western ideas are the only ones that exist. which is, at its core, the basis for most racism in the danmei fandom. 

most racism in the danmei fandom comes from this idea that casual racism against asians isn’t *really* racism, and therefore asians don’t *really* get to have a say, and it shouldn’t matter anyway bc we’re lucky you’re even engaging with danmei, with asian content, since it’s shallow and inferior anyway. the racism comes from a place of moral superiority, of ownership, of this assumption that westerners are entitled to not just consume danmei but also bring their western lens and apply it to something that was never written for them in the first place.

[disastaur]

Gemtober day 4 : Euclase I love them so much

[disastaur]

Okay but imagine you’ve been living in your best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s basement for over a decade when suddenly your best friend calls you up and asks you to come over and help him win a fight. you go over and win it but then you’re still like super angry and shit so your best friend serenades you with my heart will go on so you calm down. except in this world celine dion is a six foot something beefcake who gets jealous of how close you are to your best friend, and is currently standing right there looking as pissy as always. also your best friend’s brother, who is also jealous of your relationship with your best friend, is there so you just fucking book it into some bushes or something. that’s wen ning’s experience at dafan mountain.

[disastaur]

The titles HanGuang Jun 含光君 and YiLing LaoZu / YiLing Patriarch 夷陵老祖 are given to Lan Zhan and Wei Ying by their fellow cultivators and plebs as a sign of respect (and fear, in the latter’s case). I want to talk about the connotations, considering the translations I’ve seen so far.

The YiLing Patriarch is quite straight forward. The word “Patriarch” here doesn’t have anything to do with patriarchy, since the original Chinese words LaoZu 老祖 is a unisex term. The characters separately mean “old” and “ancestor” but the combined term is typically used in reference to the founder of a religious sect.

YiLing is simply a place name, literally the Yi Hill. However, it sounds a lot more sinister and ghastly in the original language because of the connotations. The character Yi is historically used to refer to barbarous and uncivilized regions to the east of ancient China, while the character Ling refers to hills and mounds of dirt that are often associated with mausoleums. Yeah, it sounds worse than it looks in the show.

This title is about Wei Ying’s place of origin where a grandmaster established himself (people are starting to forget he was from YunMeng originally because they’re so fearful of him) and his unorthodox powers (he’s the first one to successfully harness the darks arts). The reverence is inseparable from abhorrence.

On the other hand, HanGuang Jun is a title that praises Lan Zhan’s integrity. Jun 君 is a character (literally “lord”) with multiple meanings, but here it is attached to the end of a name to show respect. The characters HanGuang 含光 separately and literally means “holds/envelops light”, and in the novel it is taken from a widely circulated legend about several of the main characters, which specifically goes like this about Lan Zhan:

景行含光藍忘機   JingXing HanGuang Lan WangJi

The first two characters are taken from an ancient collection of poems, and describe a person of upright and faultless disposition. The next two characters, Han Guang, refer to a harboring of light. To me, it’s not the light part that’s interesting, but the state of harboring that defines the most significant cultural nuances.

If you ask older Chinese women the kind of jewelry they prefer, some might tell you pearls or jade. If you ask these ladies why they don’t like diamonds, they’ll tell you diamonds are too shiny, and traditional Chinese culture values subtlety. It is (or at least was) considered a form of virtue if you don’t flaunt your brightness in other people’s eyes; so the polite thing to do, if you’re brilliant as flames, is to shield that light so you aren’t so in-your-face about it.

Here I must give props to Lan WangJi’s actor Wang Yibo. Early reaction from the Chinese audience had some unfavorable reviews that criticized his lack of facial expressions, but these folks later retracted their opinions, because they realized that he’s actually doing a superb job with his eyes and his body, considering the limitations. The script gives him less than a handful of lines in most episodes.

You can see how he seldom looks directly at anyone in the eye, unless he’s about to kill you, or (later on) if you’re Wei Ying. If you don’t know him well, he seems unconfrontational with those downcast and shielded eyes, almost to the point of hesitance; but as soon as you step over the line (sometimes a line named Wei Ying), you’ll feel the sharpness of that fierce light in his eyes like a blade to your throat. Just ask Fairy the spiritual dog.

Related meta posts Courtesy names | Courtesy names 2 | Honorific titles | Name meanings | Genealogy register | Sanren

[disastaur]

Okay I don’t know if this is a demanding or rude ask, but I was wondering if you would want to list the things that support lan zhan being autistic? It’s a thought i had myself but i’m not autistic or very well informed and felt unsure about if anything i thought was good supporting evidence or just stereotypes about autism. (I got here from your post about mandarin compared to other languages if you’re wondering.)

Oh! I’m not the only one who’s had this thought, but here’s some things off the top of my head

He really, really, really is semiverbal. He Does Not Talk Much, and in fact seems to refuse to speak at all if he does not perfectly know what he’s going to say. (Which is probably why, um. He completely fails to tell WWX “hey uh I SAVED YOUR SON” bc like, how even do you say that? He doesn’t know, so he just... doesn’t say it. Whoops.)

His face clearly does not naturally Do Big Expressions, to the point that most people see his face as blank all of the time. (...because of this, he never makes any effort to conceal the expressions he does have, which are very, very heart-on-his-sleeve.)

The Rules Bro. Obviously not every autistic person will go gung-ho on rules, but LWJ seems to find it comforting that How To Live has already been spelled out for him. 3000 explicit rules: he can do that. (Unspoken social rules: not so much.)

He also, up until WWX, just... assumes that everyone else actually believes the rules they say they do. That they will try to help resentful spirits before killing them; that they will do this not worrying about status and if the spirit/monster is “cool enough” to give them some kind of social points for killing. It’s only when WWX saves some genocide victims and is then derided, often with absolute falsehoods, that LWJ realizes that no one else ever really cared about upholding the rules of conduct at all.

Also, strong sense of justice is a common autistic trait (although his sense of justice is less intense than WWX’s.)

Actually, so is loyalty

Plus, the whole social background of everyone assuming he thinks he’s ~above~ the rest of them because uhhhh he doesn’t smile or talk much, it MUST be because he just thinks he’s so cool... is very relatable.

[disastaur]

Hewwo.♡ I love your houseki no kuni fics! What got you into euclapis?

Hello! Thank you so much for reading my fics, I’m really glad that you like them! I actually got into euclapis from bouncing around on ao3 and randomly clicking on fics that interested me. I think the fic that made me fall into the hole of euclapis was Acher_nar’s “What are the odds?” but I highly recommend checking out everybody who writes euclapis! I’m pretty sure we all have the same brain that’s weak for the romance that comes from someone sneaky and smart and their unbothered but equally smart rival/equal ^.^

#houseki no kuni #hnk #land of the lustrous #anonymous

[disastaur]

FE Fic Rec List

Not art, but noticed some FE writers weren’t getting as much love as they deserve (it’s hard work!!) so I put together a little rec list based on my tastes! Check it out here!

[disastaur]

Can this man take an ordinary photo?

[disastaur]

Arvis takes the kids to McDonalds

[disastaur]

Has this been done yet? I feel like it has.

#the sleuth of ming dynasty #tsomd #sui zhou #tang fan #wang zhi #i should be working but instead i'm procrastinating and meme-ing

[disastaur]

Reblog if you write fanfic and would be totally down with your followers coming into you askbox and talking to you about your fic

[disastaur]

ok but i think the reason why i love wei ying and wen qing's friendship so much is because wy makes her childish... wq clearly had to grow up far too quickly in order to protect her brother&family and she just seems so .. mature .. but then later u see wy riling her up and u see them having petty arguments over potatoes and turnips and farming competitions (i love them so much!!!!! ) and its all just so so sweet ,,,they're like 2 peas from the same pod, outwardly you would think they are vastly different with wy expressing himself with childish antics and wq acting as a mother if anything but once u pair the 2 together they kind of level eachother out and create this ultimate form of friendship and what im saying is i feel ROBBED and i want more scenes of them being idiot bros

[disastaur]

PLEASE do me and yourselves a favor. Shipping costs less with the USPS by a massive margin and it's a cornerstone of our public services. Sign the White House petition to keep it alive.

If you've been reblogging my post about Amazon, then please reblog this too. (Did you know Amazon's shipping costs are in part so cheap because they use USPS to offset their costs? Yeah.)