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moongothic · 3 months

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When exactly do you think Crocodile realized Luffy was his son? Like was it still in Impel Down? Couldn't Iva have told him Luffy was Dragon's son and Croc go 'ah, guess my ex had more kids'? Or was it when Sengoku announced it during the war?

Bc, the thing is, in order for Croc to conclude Luffy was his (since he didn't know Dragon's or his son's full names, cuz otherwise he would've recognized Luffy in Alabasta and not have tried to kill his son 3 times💀) the only clue Croc would've had would be Luffy's age /exact birth date. And for that to happen, my theory is that Iva mentioned to Croc that Luffy was Dragon's son, then on the ship towards Marineford Croc took a moment to ask Luffy what his age and birthday was, just out of curiosity.

But idk how well that ties into Croc's 180 during the war to help Luffy and save Ace that one time.

I doubt Iva-chan brought up the subject to Crocodile at all, they had more important things to worry about when escaping from Impel Down, and while there was downtime when sailing to Marineford, we see Iva-chan and Luffy talk about this; Luffy clarifies to Iva-chan that Ace isn't his blood-relative, when Iva-chan had been under the impression Ace was also Dragon's son

The key thing here is that Iva-chan was whispering

Which means Iva-chan wouldn't have wanted to let anyone else on the ship find out about Luffy being Dragon's son at this point. Thus, regardless of what history Croc has with Ivankov (and the Revs), I doubt they would've told Crocodile about Luffy and Dragon at this point (like Iva-chan went out of their way to mention how Crocodile couldn't be trusted in ID). Also considdering Jinbei didn't hear what Iva-chan said here, there should be no way Crocodile could've overheard this convo either.

So between that, and the actual Reveal Scene which I've discussed in the past (and specifically how sus it is that we don't see Croc's reaction), yeah I'm inclined to believe that's when Crocodile would've realized Luffy was his, at the begining of the war

And as I've also discussed in the past, considdering the circumstances that lead to Luffy being raised by Garp, and how Dragon (and Crocodile too) would've been well aware of that from the begining. I don't think Dragon would've ever remarried or had another child with anybody else, and most importantly, I'm sure Crocodile would've known that too. So the second Crocodile heard Luffy was Dragon's kid, he would've been hit with the realization that Luffy had to be his. Like Dragon would've been insane if he went and had another child after Luffy was born, or he would've had to been cheating on Crocodile and while Dragon may be a loser he surely wouldn't be that kind of a loser. Like the options would've been that either that really is Croc's baby boy, or there's some kind of a mistake and it's not their kid.

(Interestingly, Crocodile did seem to continue to pursue Whitebeard even after the announcement from Sengoku, and only began assisting after 1) the battle had moved onto the square, 2) WB got both stabbed and 3) his crew had proved themselves to be a pain in the ass for Crocodile. So it's possible Crocodile only changed his objectives because his original plan had gone sour. But also, Crocodile jumps in to protect Luffy from Mihawk immidiately after Luffy shows off his Conqueror's Haki. And like. I dunno, he hadn't been in a hurry to assist Luffy until then, so if Crocodile had been kind of waiting for something to actually confirm to him that Luffy really was Dragon's son and not some random, bizarrely sturdy child... Yeah, the dumbass having fucking Conqueror's Haki could be it, the confirmation Crocodile needed.)

#Moon posting #Asks #Sir Crocodile #Crocodad #Sidenote but I think it would be funny if Dragon had no Conqueror's but Crocodile did #No reason I just think it'd be funny #More likely both have it but until Oda spills the beans I am sticking to my unfounded headcanon lmao

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huginsmemory · 4 months

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Plot Foils: On Ace, Robin, Marineford and Enies Lobby

Thought I'd put together a short lil meta on how Ace and Robin in the arcs of Marineford and Enies Lobby mirror each other within the plot, and what that thematically implies since I can't stop thinking about it and since any tradgedies immediately trigger my trap card of Write Meta Frantically. Also, note that there are spoilers for up to the time skip.

First, I'll start with the similarities between both Ace and Robin, and the arcs of Enies Lobby and Marineford, which can be laid out on the flow chart chart below, which I'll go into detail below, before digging into the themantic implications:

Parent figure involved with poneglyphs

mass violence by government in response to threat

survival of the character but widespread demonization of them

struggle with survivors guilt and suicidal inclinations

Acceptance into a found family, and who they are no matter their demonization

testing of the acceptance by capture of the World Government

resounding yes and declaration of War against the World Government by found family

do you want to live?

rescue/failure

1 and 2: Parent Figure and Mass Violence

Both Ace and Robin are survivors of violence from the government at a young age; Robin with the genocide of Ohara, and Ace with the hunting down and killing of babies in Baterilla after the execution of Gol D Roger. This violence by the world government is a response to both their parents being involved with poneglyphs, which threatens the power of the government (I also understand that Gol D Roger in his status of King of the Pirates was it's own impetus... but that's also intertwined with the poneglyphs in a way). Interestingly, both the parent figures desperately try to protect their children through denying or hiding the children away from the government as a form of protective love.

3 and 4: demonization, survivors guilt and suicidal inclinations

For both of them, their parents (or people's) demonization is transferred to their own lives. Robin quite literally becoming called a demon child and scorned by the world, while Ace is more round-about-ly called a demon child when talked about theoretically. Actually, even Dadan, who does love him, at one point calls him the devil's spawn (or some other variation, I can't remember exactly). As a result of the violence occurred by the government they both carry the feelings of survivor's guilt; and with their demonization, this guilt over being mere alive is compounded as the world repeatedly tells them that they should not exist. As a result, they both struggle with their own existence and suicidal ideology, unsure of what the world really tells them is true especially as both their parents are dead and cannot validate their existence. Also, as they are demonized, they are isolated from society, and other forms of love and acceptence from adults which could reassure them against such internalization of their demonization aren't really forthcoming. Although Ace has Luffy and Sabo for a good chunk of his childhood, and so is not entirely alone and rejected by everyone, he still clearly struggles with being alive and being accepted by others, especially adults and parental figures; this evidenced through his anger issues and his talk with Garp in which he asks if he should have been born (gonna fucking strangle Garp for being like 'Well I don't know' to a fucking KID who is asking if he should be alive or not). Robin on the other hand, is clearly alone and acutely lonely the majority of her life as she has to continue to be on the run, as she has a bounty placed on her head, and even kind people cannot accept her for long without the threat of the law.

ID: Ace asking Garp as a kid "would it have been better if I was never born?"

5: Acceptance

For both of them, their internalized suicidal thoughts and doubts becomes suppressed when they become incorporated into a family that accepts them wholeheartedly, breaking the stigma of their demonization. To Robin, this occurs when she begins to sail with the Strawhats who accepts her pretty quickly, not caring about her being a 'demon' in the eyes of the general populace and forgiving her for her previous transgressions against them; accepting her for who she truly is for the first time in her life since her very early childhood. Luffy, of course, I would bet sees the similarities between her and Ace; something that we the audience during the first read/watch though are oblivious too, but contextualized later make immense sense for why he has such strong feelings about Robin and suicidal characters. But I digress. For Ace this becomes suppressed when he is accepted into the family of Whitebeard; who is the first adult to not care about who his father is and still accepts him whole heartedly, to the point of seeing him as his own son. Again, Whitebeard and his family, like with the Strawhats and Robin, forgive Ace for his attempts of violence against them. This acceptence of them even spite their demonization, even in spite of them previously attempting to hurt or actually physically hurting the crew, allows them to begin to undo their internalized suicidal ideologies.

6, 7 and 8: capture, declaration of war and confessions

This acceptance by their found families ends up being tested as the World Government gets involved; for Robin in the Enies Lobby arc and with Ace, the Marineford arc as they are both captured as a result of them caring about their found families. For Ace, it is guilt over not recognizing Teach's dangerousness who was in his division, and the need to avenge his brother; for Robin, it is to ensure the survival of the Strawhats. As they are captured, the acceptance and love of their found family, in the face of both their demonization fully explained and having to fight against the World Government, is put to question; will their family declare war against the World Government and risk death to save them? The answer both times is a resounding yes. Yes, their found families love and care about them, those who have been told time and again by the majority of the world to be better off dead or never born at all are worth so much to their families that their families are willing to put their lives on the line to save them; in an ultimate display of acceptance and love. Both Ace and Robin initially refuse the attempt to save them, desperate for those they love to not get hurt, especially as they partially believe that they don't deserve to live, let alone be worth dying for. However, under the insistence of their found family who wants to save them, they both confess and cry out in desperation that they want to live, even after everything, even after questioning their own validity in being alive. However, here is when things begin to change in their parallels; compared to Robin's cry in Enies Lobby, Ace's cry is a lot more bitter, coming from the fact that Ace is already seeing those he cares about die before him to save him, such as Oars Jr. . Meanwhile in Enies Lobby, when Robin is asked if she wants to live, she has not already seen one of her crewmates die before her.

ID: first image of Robin crying as she declares she wants to live, second of Ace with his head bowed and crying saying 'why do I suddenly... Want... To live?!!!"

9: Rescue/failure and thematic implications

From here, it diverges further. Robin is saved in the end in Enies Lobby; there is no devastating death, and the Strawhats survive facing and declaring war against the World Government relatively without any negatives. Robin is told she is allowed to live, that she is allowed to want to live, and lives. The narrative of Enies Lobby showcases that the government will respond to potential threats to its power by mass violence excused through demonization of people or people groups; this dehumanization causes those who survive the initial violence to struggle with their mental health and the understanding of the value of their own life, as their life devalued by the world. In response to that, Oda displays and reminds the audience that no matter your perceived demonization, there will always be people who will accept you and love you for who you are and are willing to stand along side and fight for you to be recognized; no person is born illegal or wrong, that you are allowed to not only want to live but also to live, no matter what the world might say. This is directly implied with how Jaguar D. Saul tells Robin there will eventually in the future be someone that accepts and cares about her.

Building off of Enies Lobby, the same premise of the government enacting violence and the issue of demonization and mental health arises, as Ace is shackled to the scaffold and his parentage is revealed. However, unlike Robin, Ace is not that lucky; although he escapes the scaffold, it is his own inability to stand down that kills him in the end (something framed as heroic by the narrative which--yeah no sorry I don't think it's 'heroic'). He is told, right before his death, that he is accepted, he is loved, and that he is allowed to want to and to live no matter his heritage, by those who love him--but then he dies anyways, thanking everyone for accepting him. Marineford shows that, even if there are people who will accept you and love you, sometimes that doesn't stop the world from hating you to the point it kills you. It is realistic in that; if you are going to engage with these themes and topics, then you can't shy away from realistic depictions of what these systems actually does to people. Marineford and the death of Ace is built off of Enies Lobby and Robins rescue; Oda needed to show that yes, you can be loved and saved, before he was able to show--in a good way--that sometimes even the love of others isn't enough to shield you from a world that hates you. In the end, Ace was always meant to be set up to die, both as a narrative tool to display the violence of the authority of the government, in parallel to Robin being rescued in Enies Lobby, and as an impetus for Luffy to grow as a character.

To summarize:

Ace and Robin, through their false demonization by the World Government used as an excuse for mass violence, internalize this message and question the validity of their existence. This suicidal questioning is assauged by their acceptence into a found family which validates their existence. However, their capture by the World government reiterates their previous questioning, and bares their demonization to their families in a test of their acceptence. This causes a subsequent declaration of war by their families, who affirm their love and acceptence for the characters as they try to rescue them. Their arcs both deal with the demonization of people or people groups who threaten the power of the government, which is used as an excuse to eradicate these 'threats' to the government by mass murder, genocide and martyrdom. In exploring these systems, Oda touches on how people who are subject to such demonization often struggle with suicidal tendencies as they are told they should not exist, while also emphasizing that even through their demonization, these people (or people groups) will always find others who will love them for who they are, past the accusations and demonizations; no human is born illegal. As Robin in Enies Lobby is saved, this emphasizes that those who are demonized by the government will always eventually find people who will accept and love them no matter their demonization. Built off the back of this premise, Oda revisits this in the Marineford arc, but with a more somber cast, as this time Ace is not saved but dies, even after everything. In revisiting it with a different ending, Oda recognizes that sometimes, even being accepted and loved by people isn't enough to shield you from the harm of the government. (I mean also it had narrative implications of raising the stakes and giving luffy an impetus to get stronger but nevertheless...)

Application

The thing is, this is a tactic of demonization and dehumanization as a excuse for violence is one that has been used over and over again by governments and society all over our world. It's being used right now to excuse the genocide going on in Palestine. It has been/currently is being used against queer and trans folk, against POC, against Indigenous people, against unhoused people, against people with disabilities, against addicts. It's not something that's not applicable. It's highly applicable. By deliberately showcasing it, Oda validates those who are in minorities that have suffered under such systems of violence, often to the point of suicidal actions; he says instead it's ok, you are not who they tell you you are, you will find people who will accept you for who you are, you deserve to live.

But he also, in showcasing it, asks, what stereotypes and propaganda have you accepted? After all, being part of one minority doesn't mean you aren't able to be an oppressor. Are you standing there cheering when they enact violence? Or are you going to think beyond what you've been told and help them?

#portgas d ace #ace op #nico robin #robin op #robin one piece #ace one piece #one piece #one piece spoilers #one piece meta #op meta #enies lobby #marineford #hugin rambles #hugin rambles op #sometimes im like ok wow oda did such a good job and other times im like *pointing* misogynist #also interesting that he has all this stuff about propaganda when really to actually understand past propaganda you need to like... engage #with the stereotypes and understand it deeper but then he still has shitty stereotypes #its a bit like a russian roulette on oh is he gonna portray this well or not #tw genocide #this fucking post has been the worst to make on tumblr since tumblr keeps insisting on not properly letting me put it together #lol honestly wasn't super interested in ace as a char and then marineford happened and they were like yeah hes kinda suicidal :/#and then i was like :OOOOO #i know his death is v narratively important but FUCK i hate it when theyre like oh this suicidal person now wants to live- oh oops!#nevermind they are dead now anyways teehee which makes me strangle authors but since the way its set up carries meaning its like.#hnnngh *fist clench* FINE

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gofancyninjaworld · 1 year

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as much as genos has proven himself to be a character damn near incapable of lying, i find it hard to believe the "becoming a cyborg" part of his backstory is recounted correctly. the human brain is weird and memory is fickle, especially surrounding traumatic events. kuseno just... doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would listen to a misguided childs plea for full-body cyborg modification and actually cave to it. it's entirely possible that ive gravely misunderstood his character, but im not buying the idea of a level-headed genius scientist having That Big of a lapse in judgement. i think it's more likely that genos's ability to recall events surrounding his villages destruction and cyborgification is lacking thanks to a whole lot of repressed trauma and his recollection of events isn't 100% accurate. hence, the whole "begging my doctor/adoptive grandfather to mechanize me almost entirely and quite possibly fuck me up mentally for life and having him actually go through with it" isn't an accurate retelling of what happened. kuseno still fucked up, but im inclined to believe he didn't fuck up quite that monumentally. ill leave off there, because if i continue this will quickly go from "short ask" to "full length college thesis" with how many hypotheticals are available to pick at when considering a situation like this, but id like to know what you personally make of it.

Oh, I believe Genos. Genos has stories to tell that sound totally unhinged and utterly unbelievable but are 100% true. However, we're missing something.

To get to that, let's go to Saitama and his incredible strength. If you ask Saitama how he got so strong, he says it's because he did 100 push ups, 100 squats, 100 sit ups, and ran 10 kilometers every day. Also, he didn't skip any meals, even if it was only a banana for breakfast, and he never used the heat or AC. That's all true, but that's not the whole story.

Flashy Flash is the only character to date who has grasped how utterly vital Saitama's environment was in enabling him to become who he is. Without living in a deprived part of town that slowly got beset by more and more powerful monsters, and dealing with the increasing loneliness of watching the people who once encouraged him pack up and leave, Saitama would never have had the graded challenges to break his limiter. He couldn't have done it anywhere else on the planet. But he has no idea.

Anyway, back to Genos. We are missing the context. As we've seen more of the pair, and we've learned more about cyborgs, it's become very clear that we're missing something important. Kuseno knows how to build powerful drones -- there's no need to endanger oneself personally. If one insists on being up close and personal, Kuseno has powerful body suits. And finally, extensive cyborg enhancements shorten one's life -- they don't save it or replace lost physical functionality. Brainwashing? No, ONE's writing of the Ninja Village shows that he understands coercive control very well and what its uses and limitations are. When it comes to Kuseno and Genos, most of the spokes in the wheel of control are missing: the doctor being happy to see Genos make his own money, associate with people he doesn't know, have conversations he's not privy to, and be overall more independent is the opposite of what a control freak does.

So, there's got to be a reason that the boy who would become Genos decided that only being a cyborg -- nay, only being an extreme cyborg -- would do. There's got to be a reason an old engineer took him up on it. We don't have this context. And we need it to understand. We don't need to agree, we don't need to approve. But ONE, at least let us understand.

Oh, the cyborg destroying towns thing? It's true. The only thing special about Genos's home town is that it's the LAST known massacre.

#OPM #asks #Genos #yes the most enduring mystery of the story continues #I trust we'll know why before it ends #I wish ONE luck on the timing

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chuckepisodes · 3 years

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Chuck vs. The Alma Mater Part 2

You were all in Casey's house now. Chuck was pacing back and forth while you were standing by the couch. Casey and Sarah were at Casey's desk looking over stuff. "So you don't know why I'm in the Intersect." Chuck stated. "Well, you didn't appear on the NSA radar until after Bryce sent you the Intersect." Casey said. "Same with the CIA." Sarah added. "Why don't I find that reassuring?" Chuck said staring at them. " The files that you saw were of you in college, right?" Sarah asked. " Yes, yes. Wait, what about Professor Fleming? I was in his class, he was CIA. Could that be it?" Chuck asked. "That's what I think." you said. "If we can find Fleming, maybe he could give us answers." Sarah said. " Okay. Let's do that." Chuck said agreeing to this idea. "It won't be easy." Sarah warned. " Intel suggests the professor's being hunted. The NSA interviewed one witness who ID'd a Magnus Einersson. He's an Icelandic spy." Casey said as you and Chuck walked over to them as Casey showed you the file of the spy on his computer. " I'm sorry, Iceland does espionage?" you asked, a little amazed. " Magnus buys and sells intel to the highest bidder. And Iceland isn't officially aware of his activities. It says here the crossbow is his weapon of choice." Casey explained "Oh, what, slingshot's too ineffective?" Chuck asked sarcastically.

Chuck was at work, chilling at the Nerd Herd desk, when he looked up and saw you coming in, on your break. Chuck smiled and waved you over. "Hey Y/N. What's up?" "Well...after all that I just wanted to check in on you and see how you were doing. I mean we haven't had a chance to talk about all of it yet and you know you’re my best friend and I care about you so...yeah. How are you?" Chuck smiled warmly at you. Things like this are just some of the reasons he falls in love with you more and more everyday. "Well uh...I don't know. Everything with Stanford and my professor being in the CIA this whole time and me being already apart of the Intersect? It's a lot to take in and I don't know how to feel about it honestly." "Fair enough." "What about you?" "What do you mean?" "Well after hearing all that, do you wonder if they may have been looking at you?" "I mean...yeah I guess. I mean I know that email was not meant for me but the fact that we are the same when it comes to that and can handle it as well... They must have known and been looking in on me too." Chuck nodded. "Do you still have your student ID to see if you flash on yourself?" "No... I got rid of it a long time ago. Guess I'll never really know right?" "Yeah..."

Casey then came walking up to the desk. "You didn't offer to kill Harry for Anna, did you?" Chuck asked "What?" you asked Chuck confused. "I'll explain later." "No. Why, you want me to kill him?" Casey asked. "No. No, just curious." "We just got a hit off a traffic camera in Hollywood." Casey said handing Chuck a photo. " That's Fleming." "Thanks intersect. You saved me a lot investigative work there. The DMV told me that." " Wow. Sarcasm, what a surprise." "What did we say about sarcasm Casey?" you said looking at him. "We located car Fleming's driving, local address. We're bringing him in a. s. a. p." " What do you need us for?" Chuck asked. " Yours is a friendly face. Professor sees you Chuck, he'll be more inclined to cooperate. Maybe Y/N's will help too. Copy?" "Yeah, except that I wasn't the professor's star pupil." "And he doesn't know me." "We leave in three." Casey said walking away. You turned back to Chuck and sighed. "What are we going to do?"

FLASHBACK "As you're aware, you scored perfectly on your midterm exam." Professor Fleming said. " Yeah, yeah. Well, I was up all night studying. It was a monster. No offense. " Chuck said. "You even aced the last section. Encoded images." " Yeah, those were just kind of a shot in the dark. " "You may be aware, I keep an answer key to every exam locked inside this office." " No, no, I wasn't aware of that." Chuck said honestly. "Really? Then how do you explain the midterm answer key... being found in your fraternity room? " "I'm sorry. You searched my room?" " We received the tip from a student this morning." " What? You got a tip about my room?" " I need to know how you broke into this office and stole the answers, Chuck." " I didn't steal anything." Chuck said getting defensive." I don't have to, I'm acing your class. " "Exactly. The student also claimed that you're selling copies. " "What?" " I know you're a scholarship student and Stanford is a very expensive school." " Look, whoever gave you your tip was lying. " "Our source was Bryce Larkin. Your roommate." Chuck was stunned.

Present Time

Casey was waving you both over. Chuck sighed. "I don't know. Come on Y/NN." he said softly getting up from his chair, and walking out with his hand on your back as he lead you out.

You were now all in the Nerd Herder, outside Professor Fleming's house, keeping watch. "We'll extract the professor as quickly as possible." Sarah said. " You'll keep watch? " Casey asked. "If we flash on any bad guys, one of us will call." you said. " Everything looks quiet, but..." Sarah started. " We know, we know, stay in the car." Chuck said. "Okay, good. Let's go." Sarah said. You got out of your seat so Sarah and Casey could get out of the car. Once they were both out, you sat back down in the passenger seat. You both watched as Casey and Sarah walked into his house. Not long after though, Chuck noticed the professor walking up. "It's Fleming." Chuck stated. "What?" Chuck pointed at the mirror where you saw the man walking up. "Are you sure?" "Definitely." Chuck looked over one more time then decided to get out of the car. "Professor Fleming! Hey!" Chuck shouted going after him. You got out of the car as well following them. Fleming turned around and saw you both and freaked out and ran. You and Chuck started to run after him too. "No, no, no, wait, professor, it's me, Chuck! Professor, stop! We're here to extract you! Glass Castle!" That made him stop and turn around to look at you both. " I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. But it's- It's Chuck. I was in your Psychology and Symbolism class at Stanford. I don't know if you remember me." "Chuck Bartowski. Of course I remember you." " Ha, ha. I guess it's not every day you kick a guy out of school, huh? At least, I hope not." The professor then looked over at you. "And this is my best friend, Y/N." "Nice to meet you Y/N." "You too." "So you're, uh, with the Agency now. Why didn't you say so?" " I don't think we're supposed to, really." Chuck said. "Oh you are too miss?" "Yeah I am too." you said, nodding your head. " Well, we have code phrases. Didn't they train you?" looking between the two of you. " We mostly just stay in the car." Chuck admitted. " Next time, if it's a dangerous situation, say, "Are you coming to the toga party? "" " "Are you coming... ? " A real code phrase. I like it. That's awesome." "What are we doing? Who's bringing me in?" Fleming asked. "Oh, right. Yeah. So Sarah and Casey will do that." you said. " But, um, I was wondering if I could ask you something first. Why did the CIA have a file on me at Stanford?" Chuck asked. " I'm sorry." All of a sudden, Fleming just fell forward onto Chuck and he quickly grabbed him, thinking it was a hug. "Oh, hey. Hey. Hey, hey, buddy. Let's not beat ourselves up. You know, the past is the past. Okay. Look, we didn't really know each other that well at college. And this is a little awkward, so..." Chuck said feeling uncomfortable now. As Chuck's hand went down his back though he felt something sticking out of it. "Oh, boy. " "What is it Chuck?" you asked concerned. You looked over and saw the harpoon in Fleming's back. "Oh God." You quickly went to Chuck's side to help him. "Hey, hey, hang in there. Hang in there." Fleming's weight became too much though and Chuck began to fall over bringing you along with them. " I put in- Give this to Bryce Larkin." Fleming said handing Chuck a piece of paper. " Bryce? Bryce Larkin? What-? What did Bryce have to do with this?" All of a sudden the man with the crossbow came over and he harpooned the paper out of Chuck's hand, making you scream a little when you saw how close it came to your head. "Ah. Ah. We are nobody, I swear." Chuck said. The man grabbed the paper and walked away. You then heard Casey and Sarah walk out of the house. " Casey, come on! Over here!" you yelled. "Man down, man down! Help me!"

You and Chuck were back at his place now. You were both in his room, sitting on his bed, trying to process all that happened. You knew this was hitting Chuck more too and you wanted to be there for him and to keep him company. All of a sudden you both heard a whistle and looked up to see Sarah and Casey staring in the window. You decided to get up and let them in. "I'm sorry, guys, but we have to talk." " Okay." you said as you went to sit back down beside Chuck. Sarah took the comfy seat in front of his bed while Casey took the chair by the window. "So how was the hospital? Is the professor gonna be okay?" Chuck asked. " They're putting him into surgery now. " Sarah said. "We can't talk to him, sort this mess out. You sure it was Magnus you saw?" Casey asked. " Gee, I don't know, Casey. How many psycho archers do you know?" Chuck said sarcastically." I asked Fleming about why I was in the Intersect. Should've brought him to you, sorry." " It's not your fault." you said. "I keep thinking about what he said. Why would he want me to bring those numbers to Bryce?" Chuck asked. " Bryce must have been one of his CIA contacts. Fleming was probably never told of his death." "List off the numbers you remember. " Casey said. "There were like 10 of them. A couple of nines." Chuck started. "Five, definitely started with a two." you added. " That's it? You two have a computer for a brain and that's all-?" " It was a very stressful situation, okay? We watched a guy get skewered by a crossbow." Chuck shouted. "Look, Fleming knew something. Before he fell, he said, "I'm sorry. " Why would he say that?" " I don't know, Chuck." Sarah said. "Yeah, well, I think he might know why I'm in the Intersect."

It was later in the day now and you and Chuck were still chilling. You decided to walk over to Ellie's room and see what she was up to. Chuck walked in and you just chilled by the door. Ellie turned her head to look at you both. "You guys okay?" Chuck walked over to Ellie's bed and fell forward on it. You couldn't help but stifle a laugh when you saw that. "It's not late for you to change your mind about revisiting the old alma mater. And to cheer on for yours Y/N" she said as she was packing her suitcase for the weekend." Spending time with me and Devon." "Oh, please." Chuck said looking up at Ellie. "You just don't wanna be stuck in a car alone with Awesome's frat buddies." "Maybe, or maybe I'm your sister and I care about you, and you too Y/N." she said turning to you quickly before turning back to her brother. "And I think that going back to Stanford would help you to move on." "I love you, sis. And I'd take a lot of bullets for you... but five hours in a car with Awesome and his bros, that is asking too much. Besides, if I came, you wouldn't have room for your fun old foam finger." Chuck said grabbing it and pointing it in Ellie's face which made her laugh. "Stop it." "What is this?" " I don't know, but look at what I found." Ellie said holding up a book." See this?" " It was in my old college stuff. "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. "" "You still have that Chuck?" you asked amazed. "Yeah... Kinda forgot." " You want me to return it to the Stanford Library for you? " Ellie asked. "No. No, I'd kind of like to finish it. See how it ends."

" That book is like four years overdue." "What do you think Stanford's gonna do, huh? Expel me?" Chuck said jokingly. " Come on Y/NN." he said leading you out of Ellie's room. "I'll talk to you later Ellie." you said waving at her as she waved back. As you and Chuck walked down the hall, he looked at the book and stopped in the middle of the hall. You looked at him a little confused. "You okay Chuck?"

FLASHBACK Chuck and Bryce were having an intense game with nerf guns in the library. "You're a dead man, Chuck Bartowski." Bryce shouted, hiding. " All right. Come on, Bryce. Give it up, buddy. I know you're out of ammo, I've been counting." Bryce then appeared behind Chuck, hands in the air. "Buddy. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You wouldn't fire at an unarmed guy." " I might. It's hardly sportsmanlike." Chuck said with his gun pointed at him. "What's this?" Bryce said turning to the books on the shelf. He pulled one book out. "Gynecology for Geeks. You read this?" " No, is it a good read? " Bryce then fired his nerf gun and got Chuck on the forehead. "Got you. Larkin over Bartowski again." Present Time

"Chuck?" He then turned his head and looked at you. "I know what the numbers mean Y/N." "What?" "The paper. I know what they mean."

You and Chuck were now over at Casey's place once again.

"I know what the numbers mean. They're for a book in Stanford Library. Bryce had a place where he would stash stuff. He told Fleming about it. Fleming must have left the intel there for Bryce." Chuck explained. "It's a matter of time before Magnus figures it out and beats us to the book." "Bingo." " Unless we can beat him to it." "Bryce kept his stuff on the third floor. There was a turn..." Chuck was now struggling to remember." There was a turn... I'd have to be there to remember." You looked at Chuck wondering where he was going with this. He looked at you then back at Casey. "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but we have to go to Stanford." "What?" you asked shocked. "Cool." Casey said.

#Chuck Series Rewrite #Chuck #Chuck TV Series #Chuck x Reader #Chuck Bartowski #Chuck Bartowski x Reader #Zachary Levi

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natsunoomoi · 4 years

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FFVII Thoughts

-This whole thing with Jessie is so much filler it’s mostly unnecessary. Plus I feel like the whole impact of Jessie and her arc and even this filler is detracted by her being a former actress. Like I mentioned before I feel like her being an actress and known for toying with men kind of takes away from her crush on Cloud and makes it seem cheap. Also even though she’s someone’s daughter who is more tech inclined, I always thought of her as an engineer herself and like a former Shinra engineer that quit would have been a more powerful message than that of an actress. Even if you keep her Dad getting sick it adds an extra layer. Like say she worked in R&D and they like pushed an experimental mako enhancement for the plant too soon and she warned it would make people sick and it made her Dad sick. There’s a lot of ways her story would have been better and fit more nicely into the narrative. :/

-Even though Jessie annoys me, Biggs is kind of okay but he comes off to me as a little cliche. Wedge is kind of a little nicer.

-Aww, they took out the pickpocket on the train during the ID scan. That would have been a lot harder to deal with, but yeah.

-Good lord they stretched out these areas.

-Completely lost in this lamp and platform maze, but after a long time I finally figure out how to get out even with the items.

-Another maze and more reactor context change.

-Robot change where you can screw it over. That’s interesting.

-Yay Aerith!

-Dang Reno. You hard.

-OMG stupid ghosts get out of the way. I bet I have to trek all this way back to get this materia.

-This church is now also a crazy rat maze.

-Now onto roof rat maze.

-Ugh, why do I have to take the long way just to avoid Rude?

-Let me explore the town!

-Cloud and Aerith are way more helpful in this game. The kids have a secret hide out. Cool, I guess.

-Chadley is seriously simultaneously frustrating and useful.

-Yay I can go back and get crap from the church.

-Okay, so sneak out. Why tf is there a pot right outside my room that I can’t see?

-Okay, so there’s Aerith. We have a secret tunnel-ish. So many ladders. So much up and down.

-Out of that maze and yay they kept that scene where Aerith brings up Zack. Still not sure I’m liking all the foreshadowing cuz this was a spoiler in the original game.

-Tifa looks nice in that outfit. Like in general in this game though. They gave her a pretty thoughtful makeover that like captures the essence of her original profile, but also with some added tweaks in style that I actually like better. Like she didn’t have those thigh highs before, but those are a nice touch. And instead of her mini skirt her skirt is actually a skort and is pleated. Plus like the better boob support.

-Good lord Wall Mart is so involved now. So many alleys. Get out of the way yo!

-Leslie seems kind of cool, but I’m not sure cuz he works for a creep.

-Ugh hussle of trying to figure out how to get in. This sponsorship thing is new. I guess Corneo got more exclusive in this game.

-I have to go to the coloseum? Ugh, why?

-This crowd is full of haters.

-Okay winning over the crowd....

-I have an extra battle? WTF is this BS. I almost wish it was the Turks making a surprise appearance. That seems like a silly stupid thing the original would have done.

-Obviously Cloud caught someone else’s attention.

-Yay! Finally dress up time.

-Awesome. I’m doing a bunch of quests now.

-Whoops I didn’t level up my materia all the way. I got most of them so it’s doing fine but just the medicine thing.

-I saw a lot of people complaining about Jules, but he wasn’t so bad? I just needed to remember the rhythm and what I was doing by saying it so I could keep track of the pattern.

-Ugh, Johnny where you taking me? I have to wait for someone not yet.

-Oh Aerith looks nice. I like her outfit.

-Okay time to dress up Cloud.

-Whoa, Folia is a honeybee? Teh shock.

-What is this mini-game? It’s hard to keep rhythm and sometimes I actually can’t see the queue. Why do you design a mini-game where you can’t see the thing clearly?

-Oh shit I missed a track because I didn’t want to sit there and keep playing a frustrating mini-game. D:

-Yay! At least I got the cute dress. But real talk I kind of miss the old way to dress up Cloud only cuz I would want to see what the different colored wigs look like, but that whole storyline is very trans insensitive. Or even drag insensitive, so I understand why they changed it.

-Andrea is kind of cool. I was worried they were going to make him into some kind of flaming stereotype, but actually although he definitely has some flare, he’s a pretty well balanced character and none of the characters really judge him for his personal choices. Although definitely some judgement for the stuff they make them do, but that’s fair because you’re being subjected to it. Good on Cloud for following along.

-Okay time to take down this fat loser. So how does this work? How do you know who he’ll choose?

-Wait does he just choose Cloud every time? That’s a little less fun. I liked dressing Cloud up as the prettiest princess so that you could get him picked.

-This bit of them threatening Corneo’s private parts is still one of my favorite things. It was teh shock when I saw it the first time back in the day and I still enjoy it now.

-Ugh, the sewer. Also a lot of denial. But ugh the sewer.

-My sister was right. The train graveyard is creepier.

-Oh crap I forgot to steal from Eligor. !@#$@#%

-Alright climb the pillar. This is kind of slightly more fun with the extra scenes from Reno and Rude.

-Whoa, they saved Wedge. Cuz he originally totally ate it. Like straight fell off the pillar several stories and was unresponsive.

-Biggs and Jessie still die. That’s fine. I actually feel less sorry for Jessie dying than I did with the original. :/ I think because they managed to actually make her irritating with how over the top they made her.

-Aerith and Marlene is so cute!

-Helicopter shots are annoying, but I like hearing Reno. It’s sad that Fujiwara Keiji died two days after this came out. This is like the last thing he did probably. But his voice fit Reno really well. I don’t think it fit Ardyn well. Ardyn I think deserved a lower register, but I think Square gave him the part probably because of his diagnosis cuz I think Ardyn’s in-game struggle in a sense reflected his real life trials in some way only in the game he became immortal. Real life not so much, but immortalized in a sense through these works. I wonder if Square would have wanted it to come out sooner so that maybe he could have played it himself a little bit before passing, but they had to push the date for quality and stuff.

-I don’t know why, but I really like looking at Reno’s open shirt. Like I think the way they did his abs are a bit different from Advent Children. I think his shirt is even open wider than in AC. *checks* Yeah, it is. AC it’s buttoned up toward the top and just the top one or two are left open. And okay for real Remake has his shirt open even more than even in the original. Nevermind him buttoning up more for AC, but like in original FF7 polygon Reno and original Nomura art Reno looks like it’s only unbuttoned to about mid-pecs. Remake Reno is like down to like the top of his stomach. I guess I can’t complain about the equal opportunity fan service.

-Tseng is actually done pretty well, but I keep looking at him cuz he just strikes me as odd.... Oh wait is it his hair? Is that a hair tie? I don’t think he had a hair tie before. I think we were just supposed to assume he had his hair slicked back and kept in place by gel or hair spray. Also his face is interesting cuz I think they tried to make him actually look Chinese, but I think he just turned out looking kind of like Tamaki Hiroshi. Oh and Suwabe-san!

-LOL Rude carrying Reno like a rag doll.

-And there goes the plate. Oh, no, Wedge. I guess he did die. But the kitties. ;o;

-Let me explore Wall Market! Ugh, fine.

-That Kyrie chick seems kind of a little annoying. I kind of want to let Barret hit her. But I’m probably biased because I had a hot mess of a flatmate with that name and she like didn’t clean up after herself and left dirty dishes in her room and like pushed it up against her roommate’s bed. >.> Like passing responsibility over them to someone else. And I think she maybe broke one of my cups? And like tried to use my stuff without asking? Maybe stole some stuff too but idk. And like worst of all was like she sold her car so she could get money because she couldn’t hold down a job and like needed money and instead of like you know paying rent and bills, she spent it on shoes and make up and left the receipt out for us to find.

-Wall Market is...different in the day time.

-All teh quests.

-Okay Kyrie is still kind of annoying and stupid when you talk with her one on one, but she at least seems better than my flatmate.

-Oh old lady is the Angel.

-Findin’ all the birds. It kind of strikes me that they added this in cuz of how much time it takes to get places and it’s kind of like XV and even the XIV MMO, but not. I guess it’s a staple now with their newer titles because of how grand they make the scenery.

-Down in the sewer again....

-I just really wanna find Corneo’s stash.

-OMG I got a chase this little asshole now.

-Okay so now Leslie. Leslie is a good guy after all. Not a bad new character too. Nice decent development and stuff.

-But gdi Corneo’s still alive. I mean, I knew that cuz Wutai, but ugh.... I think he deserved at least a punch in the face.

-Okay so anyway I guess I’m going up now. Just going to finish up stuff before I go past the point of no return. Get all teh things I can from the coliseum and all that.

-Climbing, climbing. Oops I missed a thing. Was I supposed to?

-Gdi this helicopter thinger is annoying. I can’t slash any boxes. Just kick them around.

-Okay done so I guess I’m going in.

-...Is this a parking lot?

-Oh okay so here’s the entrance.

-Shinra headquarters actually looks like a bigger version of Square Enix’s headquarters in Higashi Shinjuku. I’ve been there pretty recently and also like to cut through the office building to get to Artnia cuz I don’t want to walk all the way around. Decor and stuff and specifics are definitely different, but like the double tower U-shaped look with the walkway in the middle thing is very much how the building is in Shinjuku. Specifics with the stairs and escalators are also different, but kind of the same deal with some amount of ambient lighting at night time and the lobby and such is still mostly open in the evening for people who work late or want to pass through. Some of the doors being locked or like certain staircases and such being roped off are a thing as well. I just know this cuz I often go to Artnia around dinner time when I’m there, so it’s generally after hours already.

-I think even the parking lot situation might even be the same? I’m not sure because I usually take the subway and that let’s out into the mini mall downstairs, but parking if you go there and do that is like subterranean for sure and would be the first layer if it was on a plate.

-I mean, the HQ is also technically kind of on a plate also. Cuz the mini-mall is like below normal street level, but it’s like more cool with like a Lawson’s and restaurants. Coming up from the subway is also a lot similar POV-wise to coming up through grappling hook too in terms of perspective.

-Getting the key. Getting a glove on the way. This part is kind of cool. I always liked this part of the game in the original too and exploring an empty office.

-This is suspicious. I have to take a tour...?

-I guess this is interesting to learn about the company and stuff.

-Weird movie theater. Oh look a spoiler hallucination in the theater. It’s nice to see more of Sephiroth.

-Oh yeah the mayor. That’s a bit of a change that he’s secretly Avalanche. Whatever cool. Yay I got a weapon.

-I gotta do a battle simulator. Oh great I guess if I want items I have to sit here and do all the simulators.

-Oh look it’s Chadley. I have turn ins. Take my stuff.

-Okay so hike upstairs....oh shit they’re going in. Sneak slowly behind and like go around and explore stuff.

-Found the toilet. Haha. Tifa yells at Cloud if he goes in the wrong one. Good.

-This is a nice bathroom.

-Okay up in the vent.

-Interesting extra context and oh yeah Palmer saw Sephiroth.

-Hojo is more gross looking than I remember. Like piled on extra creep factor for him.

-Following into the lab. I guess I should be glad he wasn’t a dumbass and trying to mate Aerith with Red XIII.

-Interesting that it’s only now that they’re really making good use of Those Who Fight Further. I don’t think I’ve really heard it all that often before.

-Yay! Yamaguchi Kappei!

-This part getting serious with Sephiroth is appropriate, but kind of different with him starting to freak out.

-Oooh, Turks scene! It’s nice that they know they are fan favorites now and they put them in more scenes. I wish it would actually play their theme every time they show up like it used to. That’s what made them badass too.

-Aww, Aerith’s room.

-Interesting they are talking in Aerith’s room instead of getting captured and Aerith talking through the wall.

-Shinra science experiment...You’re probably not entirely wrong.

-Huh, wisdom from Red XIII. That’s different context.

-Wow, that’s different. Pointing out a different greater enemy so early. I guess it makes sense Aerith would know because of the whispers she hears, but also it kind of sucks the mystery of the progression of the original story.

-Dang, Sephiroth and Cloud confrontation-ish now? Not going to mysteriously take a body and stab the President?

-Oh joy another crazy rat maze.

-Hojo is definitely more gross than he used to be.

-Oh, nope. Just different order. There’s the trail of blood.

-Well, “blood”. Jenova blood is now apparently purple bubbling ooze.

-President Shinra is just hanging?! DISAPPOINTED. I liked it better when you just showed up and he had a giant sword in his back. Also wondering if you’d be blamed for it, but yeah, sword in the back!

-This is what you get for showing mercy. :/ Sword in back was better.

-Oh shut up already so Rufus can take over.

-Oh you get to watch the sword in the back.

-WTF. He’s not supposed to stab your party.

-Ghost things protecting fate is weird. But also I have some theories like the game is conscious that it’s a remake or something and for some reason they’re repeating history, but some things are different because people don’t do things in exactly the same way but certain things are fated to happen so they have to be preserved.

-Interesting that this game shows the cloaked figures going back and forth between Sephy. Kind of takes away the fun from years of debate on the subject about wtf is happening.

-And here’s Rufus. Still better than his Dad.

-I like that there’s more Turks footage than the original.

-Kind of nice that there’s more tender moments between Tifa and Cloud or rather we can experience them bonding more first hand.

-Did they make Wedge die in a different spot?

-Motorcycle bit is a bit different. Boss on motorcycle is kind of hard. Died once.

-I think it’s just cuz it’s a Remake that they added him here, but Sephiroth is at the end of the highway and I kind of think it sucks. :/ Cuz like it shouldn’t be like this.

-Why is Zack alive? Oh I think this is a flashback. Aww, this is supposed to be a hidden thing. ;o; Stop feeding them all the stuff. Let them find it.

-Whisper monsters...Okay this is just some kind of an AU. Like not really entirely a remake, but a different game in the same timeline cuz Sephy figured out somehow how to alter time and space. Aerith knows kind of what’s up because she became god essentially during AC. Would also explain why the game itself is giving away so many damn spoilers too.

-Holy shit, is Zack dead or not? D:

-Okay I looked up a thing and it said his death is ambiguous, but he’s never seen. Zack was an actual SOLDIER too so he could be a cloaked guy for all we know. But also at the end of AC it was both him and Aerith chilling together welcoming people to the lifestream so who the hell knows what she did.

-Biggs is alive?!

-So okay, if this is an AU things can change and I’m less gripey about the weird things that happened. Cuz it’s like just another pinpoint on the timeline that kind of has pseudo time travel and when you repeat things over again they’re not always exactly the same. I suppose for Square itself it’d be kind of boring to make an actual Remake because they don’t want to take away from the original and they want people to still buy that too cuz it was so good even though the graphics didn’t age so well. Instead they slapped Remake on a new title and trolled us all into thinking they actually did it when actually it’s like a timey wimey thing.

#ffviir spoilers

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famous-aces · 5 years

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Morrissey

Who: Steven Patrick Morrissey

What: Musician

Where: English (Active, internationally)

When: May 22, 1959 - Present

(Image Description: a black and white photo of Morrissey from 1992. He is a young white man in his early thirties with dark hair and eyes. His hair is short and messy. He has thick eyebrows and a strong jawline. He is smiling very slightly. He is wearing a pale knit sweater. End ID)

Morrisey is one of those world-famous single named singers: Cher, Sting, Prince, Madonna, Morrissey. Perhaps a little Bono as, while he is more ironic and droll than the U2 frontman, he also has a reputation for douche-baggery. Morrissey is famous for his music's bleak drama blended with bleak humor, sexually ambiguousness, themes of the past and self-reflection, and being an all around "anti-pop idol".

Morrissey made a name for himself as the frontman for The Smiths in the 1980s (1982-87), but has a successful solo career since 1988 with only a brief hiatus from '98-'03. His most beloved albums include The Queen is Dead (1986), Strangeways, Here We Come (1987), Viva Hate (1988), Your Arsenal (1992), Vauxhall and I (1994), You are the Quarry (2004), Years of Refusal (2009). His most recey album (California Son) came out in February of this year (2019).

He is outspoken politically on, for example, vegetarianism and animal rights and against the monarchy and Americanization. In 2006 a BBC poll voted him the second greatest living British cultural icon.

I admit that while I like the Smiths well enough I had never liked them enough to really follow Morrissey's career, which is odd as I do like the whole punk/new wave/post punk scene very much. But I started listening to him a bit for this and a bit depressing but quite good.

(Image description: a photo of the Smiths backstage in 1984 by Tom Sheehan. From left to right Andy Rourke [a white man with brown hair and a leather jacket. Below that he has on a shirt with what I think is a crow on it. He has his bass slung around his neck and his hands behind his back. He has his head slightly cocked], Morrissey [wearing a striped shirt with a low neck, long necklaces, and square glasses. He has his arms crossed], Mike Joyce [pale with black hair spiked up and his bangs falling into his face. He has on a Smiths t-shirt and is mostly hidden behind the others], and Johnny Marr [pale with a black mop top with long bangs, he is thin with an angular face, he is wearing a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He has his guitar slung around his neck and fingers on the frets.] End ID)

Orientation: Humasexual (A word of Morrissey's own creation meaning "attracted to humans" but I will go into why, in Morrissey's case, it seems to fit under the asexual umbrella.)

I'm breaking my own rule here. Morrissey does not call himself "asexual," but uses his own term: humasexual. But as he defines the term and the nature of his sexual/romantic orientation it fits under the aspec umbrella. At one point Morrissey identifed as a bisexual who "hates sex" and later a "non-practicing bisexual," but be later abandoned that terminology. By the 2010s he was very open on the exact nature of his orientation.

While I would not go up to him and demand he identify as aspec the experience he describes does fit in fairly neatly into our letter of the Alphabet Soup. Again, I would not demand anything of him. He is a human person. Sexual orientation is, in the end, highly personal and individual. Do not be The Guy/Gal/Person. In the end everyone is entitled to name and define their own experience.

It may seem odd that a man who writes a lot about sex/sexual desire in his music could be asexual, but I don't think writing is necessarily indicative of the writer's true feelings. Morrissey agrees, saying time and time again from his earliest fame that he is writing a general story, not a biography. He says of his lyrics that "It was very important for me to try and write for everybody...nothing is ever open and shut.". Remember, while the artist always leaves a trace of themself in their art it is not always in the most obvious way.

I believe his humasexual might be closer to demi (or perhaps gray) than it is to utterly asexual. Aspec, but not at the zero/zero point, when we get to the quotes section I will explain further. Morrissey is definitely not aromantic. But he was intentionally celibate until his mid-thirties. It was then he had his first serious relationship, all by his own admission, not being interested in sex much before that. He still seems to have stints of celibacy. Sex as a "maybe" or a shrug rather than a necessity. And again it took a deep personal connection to his partner for him to even feel the urge to have sex. Indeed, he claimed to "hate" sex before that.

I hope to clear things up in the quotes section when I let Morrissey speak for himself, which he has done, extensively. I included quotes from his most recent public discussion on the matter from 2013.

(Image Description: a more recent photo of Morrissey performing on stage this one in color. He has graying hair now and is slightly larger than he was as a younger man, though he is not overweight. He is just less trim. He is wearing a dark suit. His face is wracked with emotion, eyes closed, mouth open. He has one hand in front of him, open palmed. The other holds the mic to his mouth. End ID)

“Unfortunately, I am not homosexual. In technical fact, I am humasexual. I am attracted to humans. But, of course . . . not many.”

-Morrissey in a statement from October 2013 (quoted by Time Magazine. Emphasis in original as it is the same in multiple sources) (I think this should be obvious. Again, labels are entirely up to the person using them and thus I am not applying one to Morrissey, but clearly he could stand under the ace umbrella mspec romantically and aspec sexually)

"[F]or the first time in my life the eternal ‘I’ becomes ‘we’, as, finally, I can get on with someone, Jake [Owen Walters] and I neither sought not needed company other than our own for the whirlwind stretch to come.”

-Morrissey in his 2013 memoir Autobiography. (Walters was his first serious relationship. The relationship began in 1994 and ended in 1996. It describes sentiment echoed by many demisexuals "'I' becomes 'we'" and "finally I can get on with someone". Also the idea of solitude may reflect an aspec relationship.)

"Girls remained mysteriously attracted to me, and I had no idea why, since although each fumbling foray hit the target, nothing electrifying took place, and I turned a thousand corners without caring … Far more exciting were the array of stylish racing bikes that my father would bring home.”

-Morrissey on being a teenager in that same memoir

"I don't recognise such terms as heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, and I think it's important that there's someone in pop music who's like that. These words do great damage, they confuse people and they make people feel unhappy so I want to do away with them."

-Morrissey in a 1985 interview. (I don't agree with him in the least, my label makes me very happy and I know it makes many other people happy [although I did feel like this before I had my asexual label.] I think he might have been projecting. I think his not quite fitting into anything made him uncomfortable and it shows why he might not be inclined to stick to a traditional label and instead invent his own.)

[Nick] Kent: …[Y]out write a lot about homosexual longing.

Morrissey: I've always said that I leave things very open and that I sing about people. Without limitation. And I don't think that automatically makes me homosexual.

Kent: What about...sexual relationships?

Morrissey: I don't have relationships at all. It's out of the question.

Kent: Why?

Morrissey: Partly because I have always been attracted to men or women who were never attracted to me. And I was never attracted to men or women who were attracted to me. So that's the problem. I've never met the right person.

-A 1985 interview with Nick Kent, quoted by David Brent in Morrissey: Scandal and Passion (2004) (not finding "the right person" seems quite demi to me. He also says that is "part" of the reason. So there is probably a more complicated reason too. Also of note, Morrissey doesn't like Kent [or at least didn't at the time] so odds are he was disinclined to further articulate his most personal life to him. But that is purely speculation and it is dicey waters even speculating that much.)

(Image Description: the album cover of You are the Quarry. It shows Morrissey on a red background holding an old fashioned Tommy gun and wearing an old fashioned pin stripe suit. He takes up most of the left side of the image. Beside him on the right it says "Morrissey, You are the Quarry." End ID)

#lgbtq #queer #asexual #ace #20th century #europe #bi #21st century #modern #english #british #entertainers #musicians #bio #Morrissey

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tokiro07 · 5 years

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There’s two DLC slots left (assuming there’s only going to be one season pass), and there’s a lot of ways it can shake out, so I’m gonna cast as wide a net as I can so I have a decent chance of being right

The one thing that we can say for absolute certain is that the two characters will either be from a Nintendo property (1st or 2nd party) or from a 3rd party property that has been on a Nintendo system before

Since this post ended up getting kind of messy, I’m going to be highlighting the ones that I think are the most likely from each developer or category

If it’s from a Nintendo property, then it’d either be:

Someone from a relatively long-standing Nintendo franchise that doesn’t have a fighter or Assist Trophy yet; the best I can think of would be the Wars franchise (probably Andy), the Excite franchise (probably Excitebiker), Chibi-Robo, Custom Robo (one of the models of Ray), or Rhythm Heaven (if Spirits are out, then probably Tibby or Marshall, but if Spirits are in, Karate Joe or the Chorus Kids)

A character from a recent game or series such as BoxBoy (Qbby) or Ever Oasis (Tethu) which have been gaining some attention lately, or upcoming Nintendo game, like Astral Chain (Akira Howard), Daemon x Machina (either the pilot or the mech), or some other game that we don’t know about yet

A character from an older Nintendo game that may have only had one or two games, like Balloon Fight, Mach Rider, StarTropics (Mike Jones), or any others that don’t have a fighter or Assist Trophy

For 3rd parties, it could be from a developer already represented in Smash:

Of the 3rd parties already in, Bandai-Namco is the only one that only has one series as opposed to two (not counting Bayonetta, technically 2nd party, or Banjo, a former 2nd party), which is especially odd given their involvement in the creation of the game itself; their new series could be Dark Souls (most likely the Chosen Undead), Klonoa, Katamari (the Prince of All Cosmos), Dig Dug (Taizo Hori), Tower of Druaga (Gil), Tekken (Heihachi), Soulcalibur (Nightmare), or the Tales franchise (probably Lloyd). Alternatively, Bandai specifically could get in on the action with either Tamagotchi (Mametchi) or its more action-oriented counterpart Digimon (probably Agumon), which both started out as Game-and-Watch style digital toys and evolved into video game franchises in their own right, though Digimon had a much greater focus on that

Sega, who technically only has one (Sonic), since Persona was an acquired property rather than an original property, could get Alex Kidd, NiGHTs, Super Monkey Ball (AiAi), or Virtua Fighter (Akira Yuki, who already has a Mii costume), though their most likely addition would probably be Puyo Puyo (most likely Arle), as despite being another acquired property (from Compile), it is most heavily associated with Sega and is currently one of their most popular franchises. They could also get other Sonic characters, like Tails or Eggman, but I’m mostly leaning towards new franchises. Also, though I don’t believe it has any real shot, Sega does make the Vocaloid rhythm games, Project Diva, so there’s a non-zero chance that we could get Miku.

Capcom, who already have Megaman and Street Fighter, could potentially get Monster Hunter (as the Rathalos is already a boss), Ace Attorney (Phoenix Wright), Devil May Cry (Dante), or possibly even Resident Evil (Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, or most likely Leon Kennedy, since he has the closest ties with Nintendo)

Konami, who already have Metal Gear and Castlevania, could potentially get Frogger (an icon of arcade gaming), Silent Hill (unlikely, but Pyramid Head is a horror icon, so it wouldn’t be too far-fetched), Mystical Ninja (Goemon), or Contra (Bill Rizer/Lance Bean). If Bomberman weren’t already an Assist Trophy, I’d say he was a strong contender as a Hudson rep, though Bonk is still in the running there

If you consider Banjo-Kazooie a Microsoft property, then it’s possible that Microsoft allowed Nintendo to use it on the condition that they get another character in as well, though this seems unlikely. If that’s the case, though, they’d most likely go with Minecraft (Steve/Alex), since as far as I know that’s the only property of their’s that’s ever been on a Nintendo platform outside of other Rare properties, though maybe that hypothetical deal would open the gates for series that have never been on a Nintendo console, like Halo (Master Chief)

Square Enix most likely won’t get another one, but they do own Taito, formerly a major studio in their own right, and thus could reasonably get Bubble Bobble (Bub/Bob) or even Space Invaders, though I’m not sure how viable that would be. For Square Enix themselves, the Mana series (likely Randi) or even Kingdom Hearts (Sora) would be good choices, but I don’t see it happening

If Nintendo wants to keep bringing in other companies, though, there are still four more of the top 10 biggest gaming companies in Japan that aren’t in yet:

Tecmo-Koei has pretty close ties with Nintendo, co-owning the Fatal Frame franchise, which already has an Assist Trophy; chances are good they’d go with Ninja Gaiden (Ryu Hayabusa), since that’s one of the iconic classic Nintendo games, though they could also potentially go with Dead or Alive (Kasumi) or Dynasty Warriors (though for the life of me I don’t know who they could go with. Lu Bu?)

Level-5, who frequently gets help from Nintendo with international publishing, would most likely go with Professor Layton or Yokai Watch (likely Jibanyan), though Inazuma Eleven (Mamoru Endou) or Ni no Kuni (Oliver, Evan, or Roland) would also work in a pinch. Interestingly, Level-5 also owns Comcept, so Mighty no. 9 (Beck) is a possibility, but an exceedingly slim one

Sony, Nintendo’s most major rival, doesn’t have much to offer since most of their first party games aren’t on Nintendo systems, and their most significant viable IP, Crash Bandicoot, is currently owned by Activision, so even if Crash got in, it’s hard to say that it would be as a Sony rep. Still, Crash is a gaming icon and former mascot of Sony, which would heavily symbolize the rivalry between Sony and Nintendo even if ownership has changed hands. If being on a Nintendo system isn’t an issue, Little Big Planet (Sackboy), Sly Cooper, or God of War (Kratos) would all be excellent choices. Interestingly, everything I’ve said so far has been developed by Sony’s American or European subsidiaries. For Japanese studios, their most likely reps would probably be Ape Escape (Spike) or Gravity Rush (Kat). Sony also currently owns Q*Bert (formerly owned by Gottlieb), who would be a perfect representative of arcade gaming, though I don’t imagine Sony would pick Q*Bert over any of their original IPs if given the choice.

Marvelous, who happens to be making Daemon x Machina with Nintendo, frequently releases their games on Nintendo platforms; by far their biggest series is Story of Seasons (likely Pete with Sara as an alternate costume, though other player characters such as Mark, Pony, Toy, Claire, Henry and Holly would also work), or its spinoff, Rune Factory (likely Raguna), but Muramasa (Momohime/Kisuke) would be a fairly strong contender if only because of popularity. They also own Senran Kagura (Asuka), which got its start on Nintendo consoles and still remains there to this day. Its risque nature makes me hesitant to call it viable or likely, though that certainly didn’t stop Bayonetta, but either way Story of Seasons feels a lot more likely. There’s also Little King’s Story (Corobo), but that’s a fairly niche title, I think

More in line with Microsoft, there are also a number of particularly big Western companies with a lot of support for getting into Smash

The biggest is probably Ubisoft, who is definitely the Western company on the best terms with Nintendo; they would most likely use Rayman, especially since he’s had a trophy and a Spirit, though a Rabbid is also possible. Assassin’s Creed (probably Ezio or Altair), Prince of Persia, or even Starlink (Mason Rana) may all work, but Rayman is definitely the best bet

A representative from Bethesda, another major Western company which seems to be on at least friendly terms with Nintendo; since Bethesda owns Id, I’m inclined to say Doom (Doomslayer), though I would think that Bethesda would want to use one of their original properties, so potentially Elder Scrolls (Dovahkin). Fallout (likely Vaultboy) may work too, but that’s also an acquired property

Though mostly inactive now, Atari was once one of the pillars of the video game industry. Unfortunately, they don’t really have many iconic characters that are particularly viable, but as I’ve said in the past, the Centipede would make a really interesting fighter

Activision Blizzard doesn’t have much that’s been playable on Nintendo, though there are games from both Activision and Blizzard individually: Activision could potentially contribute Call of Duty (Private Martin?), but they did acquire Spyro and Crash from Sony, so that would probably be a better fit for Smash, though it’s hard to say if they’d use someone else’s mascot; on Blizzard’s side, Overwatch (Tracer) was recently announced to be coming to Switch, and Diablo has gotten a lot of attention from Nintendo, what with the Diablo variant Switch and the Loot Goblin amiibo, though I’m not sure who would be a viable representative

Warner Bros. Interactive doesn’t really have a ton to offer since it mostly does licensed games, but it does publish NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat (Scorpion or Sub-Zero), one of the most iconic fighting games of all time, and 5th Cell’s Scribblenauts (Maxwell). The latter certainly isn’t as iconic as Mortal Kombat in terms of video game history, but it’s at least a lot easier to associate with WB

The Tetris Company doesn’t explicitly have any characters of their own as far as I know, though Tetrominos are a surprisingly popular choice. I however propose that they could use Tee from Puyo Puyo Tetris, as he is the closest thing to a Tetris character that there is. Unfortunately he’s probably considered a Sega character since he was designed by Sonic Team, but who knows, maybe the Tetris Company co-owns him

EA has...uh...the Sims, which used to belong to Nintendo? Dr. Wright from SimCity is already an Assist Trophy, but Nintendo never lost the rights to the character, so that doesn’t really count. They don’t really have much else that’s useful. Plants vs Zombies? Need for Speed? Dragon Age...? Regardless, EA has said that they are distancing themselves from the Switch (though they immediately backtracked on that statement), which seems evident since they don’t appear to be putting the new PvZ on Switch, so it feels unlikely that they’d get any representation in Smash at all

CD Projekt Red is getting Witcher III on Switch, and people really love Geralt, so maybe? Doesn’t seem super likely, but not impossible

Take-Two Interactive has GTA and LA Noire, but I’m not sure if those are viable

Epic Games has Fortnite which...I guess could just have eight different outfits? I don’t know anything about Fortnite

Some smaller Japanese studios (smaller than the top 10, not necessarily indie) may also be decent choices, since they have games with enough history to warrant being in Smash:

SNK has King of Fighters/Fatal Fury (Terry Bogard or Mai Shiranui) and Metal Slug (Marco/Tarma). SNK has officially gotten Fatal Fury’s Terry in Smash, seemingly to represent the Neo Geo system, which honestly I should have considered would make SNK a stronger contender

Cooking Mama Limited has...Cooking Mama

Nippon Ichi Software has Disgaea (Laharl)

ArcSystem Works has BlazBlue (Ragna), Guilty Gear (Sol Badguy), and iconic beat-em-up series Double Dragon (Billy/Jimmy Lee) since acquiring Technos Japan from Data East

Grasshopper Manufacture has No More Heroes (Travis Touchdown), which has had pretty much its entire history on Nintendo systems

Natsume is probably the least likely of this entire post, but they have what is currently called Harvest Moon (Farmer?) and their more well known original title, Medabots (Metabee or Rokusho) which is surprisingly still going

And of course, there’s the indies, both Japanese and Western:

Nicalis currently has the rights to indie forerunner Cave Story (Quote), and are the current publishers of classic SNES series Umihara Kawase, but the real star for them is definitely Cave Story

WayForward’s Shantae is already a Spirit in Smash, so of indies, I think she has the best bet, but only if Spirits don’t preclude fighter status

Not technically indie, but Inti Creates broke off from Capcom several years ago and released Azure Striker Gunvolt (Gunvolt) before teaming up with various indie developers to help them with their projects, so I’m gonna go ahead and count them. They also have Gal*Gun (Ekoro), Dragon: Marked for Death (likely Empress) and now have the rights to Blaster Master (Jason) from Sunsoft. If they only have the license and the rights still belong to Sunsoft though, then chalk Sunsoft and Blaster Master up in the smaller studios category above

Toby Fox’s Undertale (Frisk) has a lot of demand, so it only seems fair to put it on this list

For the sake of acknowledgment, Yacht Club’s Shovel Knight is the only indie to have an Assist Trophy, so while I doubt Shovel Knight is going to be in the DLC, he could come up in a future Smash

Devolver Digital is getting pretty big lately and has a ton to offer, and with their flagship series Hotline Miami (Jacket) confirmed to be coming to Switch, their chances have certainly improved. The Messenger and Enter the Gungeon would both work too, but Hotline Miami is definitely the go-to for Devolver

Gears for Breakfast’s A Hat in Time (Hat Kid) is the latest indie darling making the rounds, and with its imminent release on Switch, its chances have only gone up

Similarly, Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight is gaining a lot of traction, to the point that its sequel had its own segment at E3 this year

Brace Yourself Games’ Crypt of the Necrodancer (Cadence) has a crossover with Legend of Zelda, an honor that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen an indie game get from Nintendo before

Choice Provisions’ Bit.Trip (CommanderVideo) had a trophy in Smash 4, making it the first indie to be acknowledged in Smash, although CommanderVideo did not receive a Spirit in Ultimate. They’re also the current publishers of Bubsy, which...I would hope doesn’t get in

Edmund McMillen has at least two successful indies, Super Meat Boy and Binding of Isaac, and while I don’t think either of them will make it, I felt that they were at least worth mentioning

StudioMDHR’s Cuphead is on Switch and ostensibly getting a physical release soon, and from what I’ve seen is one of the most hotly requested indies for Smash

Similarly to Cave Story, Kikiyama’s Yume Nikki (Madotsuki) was wildly influential for the indie scene and would be very interesting, though highly unlikely, for Smash

Speaking of influential indies, Team Shanghai Alice’s Touhou Project (Reimu Hakurei) is one that I see a fair bit of clamor for, especially now that it’s getting console games

Supergiant Games’ Bastion (the Kid) is yet another influential indie game, and also interestingly enough was published by Warner Bros. Interactive, so if Mortal Kombat doesn’t work out, this is another good option

And of course, how could I forget Matt Makes Games’ Celeste (Madeline), a game with tremendous pull by fans to get into Smash

If I think of any I missed that I think have a decent chance, I’ll add them in later

#super smash bros #super smash bros ultimate #smash ultimate #fighter pass

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kaelidae · 5 years

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tagged by hawk

1. Do you believe in love at first sight? i mean, i believe you can look at a person and feel an inclination to love them, that you can form a connection with someone in a matter of minutes, sure. but ‘true love’ and ‘soul mates’ etc are all complete crap. the truth is that you can love anyone if both of you are willing to have open communication and you’re a little bit romantic and you two like spending time together. being on a quest to find The One sounds really dumb to me but what do i know im ace

2. What is your earliest memory? i’m being held by my dad, looking over his shoulder into the house we lived in at the time. i see through the open door of my bedroom. i remember the dark brown of the door, the tan of the paint, a shelf nailed to the wall, and darkness. it frightens and fascinates me.

or, from the same house, the same year: i’m in the bathroom looking at the door and the toilet paper roll. my feet are up on the colorful stool that we still have around somewhere. i’m thinking about the size of people and age and adulthood and childhood. i decide that i can’t imagine being an adult, and i form the theory that people start existing at a certain size and stay that size forever. i will always be two and small and my parents have always been big. after all, that’s how adam and eve worked.

(i also remember moving from that house, putting my dollhouse in the backseat of an aunt and uncle’s car. i remember by grandma telling me i was eating too many brownies and i would get diarrhea, whatever that was. i remember playing kitchen with my mom, pretending to order a pizza, and the plastic play pizza we had was missing a slice. i wanted to pretend to call the cops and mom thought i was actually asking to call real life 911. i told her about this memory this year and we laughed about it)

skip forward about two years. we’re in a new house. i’m walking down what i think of as the more ominous hallway, really just the area formed by the backside of the kitchen counter and the wall facing the driveway. it’s dim. there are dust motes floating in the weak light from the window. i feel oblivion reaching for me, ready to swallow me at any second. but the dust motes are quite lovely.

never underestimate what very small children can comprehend and how deep their thoughts can be. they’ve never seen anything before so everything can effect them deeply.

3. Describe your favorite type of pizza? breadeux, buttery soft crust, not too much sauce, pepperoni

4. Would you rather be the smartest moron or dumbest genius? smartest moron. i’m already something of a dumb genius and i dont like the feeling of being so close and yet not quite there.

5. Where did you go on your last vacation? indiana

6. What’s one of your worst habits? biting the inside of my mouth

7. What is the best piece of advice that you’ve received? the best way to succeed is to actively care about people. received from the airpack guy at the firehouse when i first joined, and he’s followed through on his advice. i hope to follow the example.

8. Have you ever been in any youtube videos? yeah ive posted some stuff in my beskar but i’m a little bit shy about selfies/videos of myself

9. What are your three must have smart phone apps? messenger, camera, and spotify

10. What do you wear to sleep? im not comfortable answering questions about my sleeping habits. no one should know anything about what i am like unconscious. unless it’s a funny story.

11. If you were invisible for a day, what would you do? id go to an environment that usually would stress me out and see if no one being able to tell im there changes how it effects me at all. then id take some really rad pictures of me making things float

#ask meme

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teal-bandit · 6 years

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Some thoughts on IDs, labels, and my own personal experiences

So, it's pride month. It's also my birthday. I was talking to my mom a couple weeks ago about the statistics on our and the new generation and how we identify our sexuality/gender/romantic orientation. Now, my mom is a very old fashioned, pretty conservative woman. Not a whole lot of open-minded inclinations (although she's had plenty of run-ins with LBGT folk). I came out to her as ace about 2 years ago-- which she was okay? with after I explained what it was and what the implications are. But, during our conversation, when I mentioned that IDing that way technically means I'm not straight, she suddenly had a problem with it. She tried to tell me that my problems with my father and general distrust of men is probably the reason I feel that way, and then told me that I take things "to the extreme" with the labels.

Here's my thing: the label isn't something I try to fit. I didn't know there was such a thing as being unattracted in that way. I thought friends with benefits meant you claimed to be dating someone to avoid actually dating; I didn't realize that, most times, thinking someone was "hot" meant you wanted to have sex with them. When I found that label, I found a description of my experiences. I found a community of people who felt the same way. I found validation for not feeling certain things that I would have been expected to feel otherwise. I don't try to be ace. I *am* ace.

I don't try to be greygender. I discovered a few months back that the experiences I've felt my whole life can be summed up into one word; I finally had a word to describe what I couldn't put into words as a child or as an adult. I have a community for how I experience gender now. I feel more comfortable in myself because I know now that there's not something wrong with me. I came out to one of my friends a couple months ago and my sister in law just this month. I don't know that I'll ever be able to come out to my mom about it; she still firmly believes in a gender binary and is terrified that the way I am might be "wrong" or a sin. God forbid I ever decide to start dating based on my own preferences (quoi-panromantic, but don't tell her that), because I don't believe in traditional gender roles and I believe you should be in a relationship with someone you love regardless of anything else.

Idk, I feel like the abundance of labels and the access we have to information and definitions has helped so many people to connect to each other and to themselves. It's so critical, now more than ever, to stand up for and respect each other. As bad as some things still are and with as bleak as things seem so often with government bias and with antis and radicals, as a community, I believe we are stronger and more connected than ever before.

I'm so proud of all of us; I've never been so happy to be part of such a large group of people.

#pride month #lbgtq #lbgtqcommunity #lbgtpride #ace pride #nb pride #greygender #long post #bandit talks

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radiqueer · 6 years

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I’ve been trying to figure out how to contribute to the “born this way” conversation, but I’m not fully sure how to articulate my ideas. For me I feel like my identity... like I feel I was “born this way” like I’ve had intermittent dysphoria for as long as I can remember. But also as far as mspec labels go I could ID as pan, or poly, or Omni, but I’ve always felt bi fits and that’s the identity I choose. My partner tho, feels that they, more than anything, chose to be bi (1/2)

My partner feels that they had no inclination towards being anything other than a straight man until well into their thirties, when, due to a lot of factors, they decided any company was good company and decided to see if they liked being with men. They had a good experience, and they feel they could have left it at that but CHOSE to continue to pursue their attraction to men, and then much more recently, in doing their own research about gender identity and being around me (2/3 oops)

They chose to question their gender identity (which as of right now is inconclusive), and my partner feels happy as a bi questioning person, but also felt happy as a straight man and could have remained so but chose to be happy a different way. Idk it’s complicated/messy and I don’t really get it but it’s how my partner feels and I believe them. And then Political lesbianism is a thing. Idk it’s hard for me to wrap my head around I wish I could contribute more. It’s def not one size fits all tho

this makes a ton of sense, thanks for sharing!

I feel like - in a lot of ways, being queer and identifying as queer changed me as a person. it changed everything, from the way I think about and approach new topics, the way I see myself and the world, my politics, my tastes in books and art. queerness is fundamental to me, but I can conceive not being queer. if I didn’t know it was an option to identify this way, if I didn’t grow in a home that encouraged me to question and pursue new avenues, I would be a different person. and I cannot with any certainty say that I would definitely identify as queer at some point, if not at 14 then at 17, 19, 25, 40. I think I am happier for being queer, because it is relieving to share an experience and a community (things which have been difficult for me in the past) with people who love and support me. I like having a voice and an opinion on issues. I like my politics. I don’t like being discriminated against, but who does?

there are so many ways to have a fluid identity. you can be the same person all your life with the same experiences and label yourself differently over time. like your partner. one could be happy in one’s assigned roles but happier in a different set that they sought out and choose (kudos to your partner for keeping an open mind and allowing themselves to be happy in a non-normative way, btw), you can have a fluid identity that changes with time, you can be one thing and identify as another, you can refuse a labels on principle, you can be a political lesbian (or it’s equivalents, I suppose? I don’t know if we have something analogous to political lesbianism in other queer subgroups. I think certain parts of the ace community are the closest we’ve come)

the problem is the idea that there’s only one way to be and feel about queerness and identity and labels. which, IME, is what the BTW crowd seeks to do - normalise us because we are an expression of naturally occurring human diversity. we deserve equality because we are people, just slightly different, and we didn’t choose to be this way any more than you did. it’s not our fault! give us some money! [/s]

people who are written over by this narrative, in no particular order:

questioning people who don’t even know whether they’re straight - they may or may not be

nb people who are often told we are special snowflakes, a symptoms of the excesses of liberal/left wing politics. that we wouldn’t exist if not for the internet [true of me if not for you / ymmv]

bisexual and mspec people

people with fluid identities

people who choose to present a certain way

political [orientation]

people who are choosing to not labels themselves out of fear

people whose identity is informed by trauma

etc

the problem is the dichotomy that seems to be essential to this debate - that you can only have one or the other, that people on one side keep trying to erase the opposing narrative. I frankly don’t know. I’ve only been a part of this debate for a few months and all my thoughts about BTW are informed by personal experience and what I have stumbled across on tumblr. not a comprehensive start by any means. but ime it’s always the BTWs who are trying to shove differing narratives away, and not the choicers. maybe @korrasera and i have different experiences! in fact, I think we have very different experiences

The problem I’m trying to highlight, the whole reason I made this post, is that I’ve never seen someone suggest that only BTW is valid. In fact, the only times I’ve ever seen people discussing BTW was to specifically suggest that we have to do whatever we can to erase it as an idea because they perceive it as being inherently exclusionary, as though the existence of people who were BTW meant that people could not be queer, gay, lesbian, or trans without having been born in that state. I think it’s a reasonable assumption to consider such intentions as being somewhat noble, since they’re meant to criticize and deconstruct social constructs of legitimacy, but I literally never see the topic raised without it being ‘let’s get rid of the idea that BTW people exist, it’s not true and it hurts the cause’.

[emphasis added all mine; taken from this post]

I have a different experience. I’ve seen BTW discussed as the only right way to be, and not only by exclusionists (I wouldn’t be able to find receipts on this - I remade my blog recently, and lost all my likes and the people I was following). even when I talk to people irl, I’m forced to resort to a narrative I don’t have any stake in to get my point across, a narrative that doesn’t help me. it’s frustrating and alienating. and I still don’t think we should do away with BTW. I think we make room for people like me to exist and talk, and define clearly what it means so more people can figure out whether or not they fit.

I read around some while I was writing this post, so here’s some stuff tangential but essential to my thoughts:

this post about the relationship of radfems to what constitutes essential womanhood

this post by the same user about why some people may choose a certain labels

another post by the same user

this post, which possibly everyone has read, but I was thinking about this part (emphasis mine)

My girlfriend Marna has been a queer activist since the late 80s. She’s told me about the incredible deliberation and debates LGBTQ+ activists had, in the late 90s and early 00s as the community began to see past the AIDS crisis and immediate goals of “surviving a plague” and “burying our dead.” There were a lot of things we wanted to achieve, but we had to decide how to allocate our scarce reserves of money, labour, publicity, and public goodwiil. Those were the discussions that decided the next big goals we’d pursue were same-sex marriage equality and legal recognition of medical gender transition.

From hearing her tell it, it seems like it was actually a wrenching decision, because it absolutely left a lot of people in the dust. A lot of people, her included, had broad agendas based on sexual freedom and the rights of people to do whatever they wanted with their bodies and consenting partners—and they agreed to put their broader concerns aside and drill down, very specifically, onto the rights of cis gays and lesbians to marry, and the ability to legally change your sex and gender.

As a political tactic it was terrifically effective. […]

Activists of 20 years ago chose to sideline and diminish efforts to blur and abolish the gender binary. Efforts to promote alternative family structures, including polyamorous families and non-sexual bonds between non-related adults. Efforts to fight the Christian cultural message that sex is dirty, sinful, bad, and in need of containment. Efforts to promote sexual pleasure as a positive good.

I couldn’t tell you why these posts stuck out to me while I was writing this, but they do a better job, by and large, of contextualising what I’ve said here

#sorry for hijacking ur point into a longwinded ramble #it stands pretty damn well on its own #im just rambly #original #born this way

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flamewyrmz · 6 years

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a late night rant from twitter im putting in one place, because its a trainwreck of several threads there. mostly copy/paste and still not proofread, but a collection of thoughts on gender, sexuality, personal identity, and love and support within the lgbtq community. i do really lay myself bare here so id like to ask that if you disagree or have criticism you do so respectfully and with that in mind, thank you <3 and if this means something to you itd mean the world to me if you shared it

dunno if ive said this here before but like. if you think you might be bi/pan but youre on the fence cos maybe youve never had a crush on a nonfictional guy or get more crushes on guys than on girls and you find yourself tied up in knots like "well im gay but im also attracted to nonbinary people unless theyre mostly woman-aligned but i dont wanna say im bi/pan because then people will think i like girls and like i like them theoretically but--" let go. just say fuck it! im bi/pan!

try it out and if it doesnt feel right it doesnt feel right and thats fine and in the end no matter what youll have learned a little about yourself. this is actually my advice on any gender/sexuality dilemmas you might be having. go wild. try it out. see how it feels. dont feel like you have to confine yourself to something just because youve stuck with it for some amount of time.

if youre questioning dive right into the deep end! no matter how it goes youll be a better swimmer in the end. its all not quite rigid and a little fluid anyways (for some more than others obv) so if youre unsure, man... go for it. its ok to backpedal

this is important advice to me because ive struggled with it multiple times in the past and this has only recently clicked and i really wish it had sooner. first it was with being... not straight in general. like i was actively dating someone of the same gender and i never considered that that meant, uh, im not straight. always "do you like boys or girl?" "uhhhhhhhhh. uh. UH"

then with being in the range of aro/ace spect. then with being nonbinary! then with being nb but primarily male. and then goddammit im just a boy. accepting that God I Love Men And Only Men (and with it that i *wasnt* aro or ace in ANY capacity) and then, very recently (like up until a couple months ago. like im p sure this year. not 2017), going back on that and admitting i was bi. it is so so freeing to just say "fuck it" and test those waters!

hell, you find something you resonate with but looks a little silly? go for it! use those bun/buns/bunself pronouns. go with stargender! ace-flux demibiromantic? hell yeah rock that shit! it can always change and you can always decide its not right and go back! h4y dudes

all of that especially goes for teens who dont know what the fuck theyre doing. im only 20 yea and barely 20 at that but man i wish id heard this sooner

and please dont take that as me saying "well if youre a lesbian sexuality is fluid and maybe youre actually bi"! hell no. if youre a lesbian and you KNOW youre and lesbian and couldnt ever be anything else then rock on you funky little lesbian! but if you id as a lesbian but are teetering on something like "well im attracted to some fictional and theoretical men but not any real ones and maybe its just compulsory heterosexuality but im not sure and--" dont be afraid to try a different label. its all what feels right to you and theres absolutely no harm

people bash on like. """mogai genders""" and nounself pronouns and the split attraction model and all that and like. yeah! those things can hurt people! personally i struggled with the split attraction bit combined with how broadly people define the ace spectrum. it can be used to hurt. and it is used to hurt. sometimes its deliberate, sometimes its not. but the hurt is there. but its not inherently good or bad.

and yeah, some of it sounds silly. hell, it sounds silly to me sometimes! but to some people hearing that label makes everything click into place, even if just for a little bit, and i take that very seriously. it is one of the best feelings in the world and i want as many lgbtq people (of any age) to experience it.

for some people it feels right to zoom waaaaaaay in and section it into lots of little bits and for others its "fuck it! i dont know shit! im just queer!" and those are both equally valid (that words been thru 12 garbage disposals but i cant think of a better one) maybe you go back n forth and thats fine too! as long as youre open to it changing or being wrong it cant hurt and, like i said, its one of the best possible feelings to have it click like that

as an aside: being bi can *totally* mean "im attracted to men and nonbinary people are long are they arent primarily woman-aligned" or it can mean "im attracted to everyone fuck it" personally? i use bi over pan because i feel like it better encapsulates that i *do* have preferences (i say this all the time but God I Love Men) but ultimately gender doesnt really matter to me cos everyones cute and hot and generally attractive and im not leaving anyone out because im just a little more inclined to kissing boys. but thats me!

as Another aside: i do still to some degree identify with uhh this is gonna sound contradictory but agender boy? or more like boy agender? boygender with left none? i just dont personally feel like its worth taking the time to explain over n over. but it used to be, for me, n i dont regret that a single bit! i wouldnt regret that even if i *didnt* still feel that way in any capacity. honestly?

i dont regret any of the ways ive identified in the past even though feeling stuck and cornered into some got a little harmful to me (and if youve gone through somethin similar and DO regret it and wish youd never heard whatever term you used thats good too. im very strongly advocating for "use whatever labels you want and if it dont fit it dont fit" here but if they did hurt you and youre still hurting about it i understand 100% just dont use it to pull others down. if it concerns you say your piece and let them decide)

this is personally a little hard to admit so bear with me here

honestly? ANY sort of strong identity didnt start developing in me until i was.... 14 or so? and very slowly at that. like gender evened out around 18 and sexuality just a few months ago LMAO. but up until i was a teenager i didnt really feel much of anything re: gender or attraction (and the attraction thing is pretty normal for kids and even teens tbqh!)

and i just.... didnt really think about it! i had This Name and apparently was a girl and i didnt really get what it was like to BE a girl but thats what people said and i didnt know there were other options so i went with it! the name didnt bother me either (except for when people made jokes about a Certain Historical Figure with the same one. just thinking about that i get tired)

and when it came time to actually grapple with the whole concept of being *into* people i just kinda... slunk away! no joke until like 10th grade if someone started a rumor that i was dating x or y had a crush on me i would start to avoid them entirely. lost a friend in 4th grade that way but then in hs hed turned into a TOTAL DICK so no loss there. i think part of that was also people making the assumption that i was straight though? big shrug!

i didnt even realize attraction was a thing i had until i got asked out and just kind of "oh wow??? that sounds so nice??? i feel the same??? yes??" and thats WHY i went thru varying aro/ace labels. cos it unfolded slowly (which again is totally normal if youre a teenager, so dont worry about it if youre going thru that. roll with the punches. and if youre a teen and youve got it figured out? thats totally normal too!)

and the gender thing was similar once i learned that it was an actual possibility (especially being nb, and ESPECIALLY especially being agender) i slowly just... poked at it until i figured something out (fun fact: what set me off to finally go "fuck it im not a girl at all" was being stuck in an awful hair salon chair while my mom got a haircut that took FOREVERRRRRRRRR and i was having godawful period cramps. like i knew not being a girl wouldnt DO anything about them but i made that decision then n there n didnt look back!)

and then i kept pokin at it and watching it like the seed id planted finally started to sprout and i realized i didnt actually know what kind of seed it WAS. i guess ive always been very nebulous in those aspects and its just now forming into something solid. like i said, its a little hard to admit and i... dont think ive actually talked about this in this depth before to, like, anyone?

because the "oh ive always known" narrative is the only one you ever see in popular media and sometimes even from the community itself! and theres nothing wrong with having always known! but theres also nothing wrong with being like me! but i still feel a little anxious talking about it like it somehow means im a sham.

hell, id even go so far as to say i WAS a girl as a kid! i WAS varying shades of agender and nonbinary and ???? as a teen, and i AM, like, 95% a guy right now! maybe in a few years ill be something else. none of those things contradict each other. things like that can change! its not set in stone (but like i said: for some people it is! or, like, set in slime that you left out for 5 years so now its pretty much a rock but if you really try it still squishes into something else?? none of these things invalidate the others! were all unique).

i wouldnt say that at any point ive been cis or straight, cos even when i just went with being a girl and stuff it was always a little ??? but, yknow. even if i HAD been those things at some point it wouldnt matter to me? things just are the way they are and were the way they were

im making myself really vulnerable here and my thought process is a mess and i ramble and repeat myself and my memory and attention span is like 2 seconds and i dont proofread but. its important i think. i dont have a lot of followers and fewer still thatre active but... that really doesnt matter.

maybe someone will retweet at least one of these messy, messy threads. maybe link it to a friend. maybe screenshot it and post it on tumblr [note: LMAO YEAH AND ITS YOU DUMBASS], or to keep for themself. if any of my words help anyone out even a little then it matters and honestly? then its the most important thing in the whole danged world. if even one person sees any of the things ive said tonight and it means *anything* to them, even if just "oh, im not alone in this" then ive succeeded here.

i dont want any of us to ever feel trapped or alone because shit! lifes too fuckin short for that! its goddamn hard being anything but cisgender and straight! sometimes it sucks! like really sucks! there have been so many times ive broken down completely over being trans and felt like, for myself, its the most awful thing in the world. its why prides so important. its why community is so important.

because even when the pressure of the world brings you down so low you think youll never escape theres something or someone there to take your hand and pull you back up, put you on your feet, and say "i know its hard. and itll get hard again. but i believe in you, and youre strong enough for this, and im here with you through every step". that goes for anyone but especially goes for us. and im not just talking about lgbtq youth here. all of us. which is *why* im laying myself completely bare here.

most of this stuff? ive either never talked about or only vaguely mentioned. but im putting it out there. because there was a point where i needed it but didnt have it, and even if its just one person, i want to give someone this advice so at least they dont have to deal with the same stuff i did. and if youre reading this? i love you. im here for you. im my dms are always open and if for some reason they arent its almost definitely an accident and if you say something ill reopen them.

and if youre someone who hates me? maybe even mutually? if it came down to it id let you come to me at your lowest moment, no questions asked, no judgement held, and at the end of it still be the same kind of enemies we were before and never speak again. there are some exceptions of course but honestly ill forgive a lot for someone who needs that kind of support. and if youre one of the people this applies to, i know youll probably never take me up on it. i dont expect you to. i dont expect you to even for a second be comfortable with that idea. thats fine. but if for some reason you ever need it, its there.

i can count on one hand the ex friends that i wouldnt give that to and thats ONLY because theyve legitimately hurt me and left lasting damage (and for some of them? its mutual. and im sorry for that, regardless of how i feel about your treatment of me im truly sorry for my actions. that probably sounds fake and anyway i digress)

and if youre a complete stranger? someone who follows me but has never interacted with anything ive posted? a mutual i havent spoken to yet? im here. and im bumbling, and awkward, and not the best at comfort but you can always come to me if you need someone. im only one man and im under a lot of stress but i swear ill do the best i can, even if its only reading and replying 3 days later and even then just listening and offer whatever gentle comfort or reassurance youll accept.

because thats important to me. thats the impact i want to leave on this world. i dont ever want anyone to feel as small, as scared, as worthless, as alone as i have. im no fighter. im not going to lead any revolutions and hell im too anxious to even go to protests but im here for support. im here to help and heal. and thats important too

and if you listened to that? thank you. if you just skimmed? thank you for that too. if you shared it with someone? thank you (so much). and if you dont? thank you anyways, just for the time

just know this: i love you. i dont care who you are, if youre reading this i love you and im behind you 100%. im here if you need it. stay strong, do something that makes you smile if only for a moment. take that leap of faith. dont restrict yourself for even a second

i meant to go to bed at least two hours ago so goodnight <3 be safe, drink some water, if you have any kind of pet give it some love. take care of yourself. youre the most important person in your own world and never forget that, even if you dont think you are. even if theres something or someone you treasure above everything else. dont diminish your own worth! you are alive, and you are here, and theres nothing more important than that, really. the things you love matter more than anything else. hold them close

#sorry for all the linebreaks i want this to be as easy to process as possible #this is definitely ok to reblog and if you feel even the slightest urge to i encourage it

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larissaloki · 6 years

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Tagged by @im-tops-bottom

1. Name: Lara

2. Nickname: larzy, kitten, Doris and snugglebunny

3. Height: 5ft 4/5 ish?

4. Oriented: I'm panromantic grey-ace genderfluid :) possibly grey-aro as i don't seem to experience a lot of romantic feelings but not sure!

5. Nationality: half British and half South African :)

6. Favourite fruit: pears or watermelon!

7. Favourite season: autumn

8. Favourite plant: lillies!!

9. Favourite scent: freshly made lemon cake!

10. Favourite colour: purple and blue!

11. Favourite animal: all! But i absolutely love octopuses at mo and felines!

12. Tea, coffee or hot chocolate: ooooh tea!

13: average hours of sleep: um..6?

14: dogs or cats: both! But i am more inclined to love cats!

15: favourite fictional character: Tony stark, Bucky barnes, Loki or M'baku or Okeyo or shuri. Take your pick! :D i love all characters!

16: dream trip: any cat cafe

17. When was your blog created: um... About 1-2 years ago? Ivs lost track of time!

18. Number of followers: 72!

19. Random fact: once i start a series of something i have to finish it. Even land before time. Each tims they brought out new movies i had to watch them no matter how old i am!

20. (make up question) i was given a question by @im-tops-bottom of which century wouls i rather live in and why: well id love to live in a century where we had wooly mammoths still. The ice age. I think it would be interesting to see what the early humans would have looked like!

My questions for th ones I'll tag is : what fashion would you love to dress in if you had the means?

Tagging:

@lolsparklingstuff

@pixieslikemymuses (which ever blog you are using!)

@seven-oomen

@makeyamad

@hurricanesass

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yaocsupport · 6 years

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When Writing Asexual Characters

Kind of a rant and tagged as discourse in case some of it sounds…discoursy.

So, since I’m asexual myself, I wanted to make a list of things I would like to see in an ace character or general do’s and don'ts.

(Note: when I say ace, I usually mean aro too since I lump them together for the most part. I will specify when talking about each on specifically.)

So let’s see. Things I know as an ace person:

-do remember that asexuality is about not feeling attraction, specifically sexual/romantic.

-do remember, just because we don’t feel attraction that doesn’t mean we don’t want to date/have sex. Those are personal things that we can chose to engage in, our lack of attraction is not chosen.

-don’t sexualize us or our orientation. (saying its tmi, or talking about our sex life) That would be kinda like saying being gay or bi is tmi and it’s not. No orientation is inherently sexual, it just tells who you’re attracted too.

-don’t desexualize us either. We are not “uwu pure ace babies who never have sex/date”.

-the majority who might think that are young or new aces who have had the “ace is not liking sex” thing drilled into their heads. (in my experience. And usually you can correct them.)

-we are not better than others because we are ace.

-asexual =/= celibate. Celibacy is a choice and it’s faith based, usually.

-asexuality is a spectrum. We cover things like demisexual/romantic and grey ace among other things.

-aspec is not an autism term as far as I can find. I checked with my brother’s therapist, with one patient of her’s who IDed as ace, and many on here have said it too. No internet search has turned up anything either.

-AROMANTIC PEOPLE EXIST AND THEY ARE NOT UNFEELING OR ABUSIVE PARTNERS!!!!!!

-not being attracted in a romantic way does not mean that we will neglect our partners emotionally. We are not using them for sex. There is a lot more that goes into a relationship than romance and/or sex. And while were on the subject…

-asexual terms for how we feel about sex: ~sex favorable/positive ~sex indifferent/neutral ~sex repulsed/negative -aromantic terms for how we feel about romance: ~romance favorable/positive ~romance indifferent/neutral ~romance repulsed/negative (Note: Most of us that I know of prefer the favorable/indifferent/repulsed version and not only aces or aros can be like this.)

-QPP and QPR are used to describe our relationships. QPR is “Queer Platonic Relationship” and QPP is “Queer Platonic Partner”. Not everyone uses them.

My advice? Write us like people. Unless your story is explicitly about the struggles of an ace person, then you shouldn’t go too deep into their orientation. If you aren’t ace, I wouldn’t recommend it writing an ace-centric story.

You can have them say things like:

- “I don’t really like anyone like that.”

- “I’m not interested in sex/romance.” (This is a little stale tho, and can apply to other people. But for some of us, it’s simply easier than explaining asexuality. You can’t have just that line.)

- “I’m asexual.” (If it comes up.)

Something from my own writing was:

“So you and this Aidan guy, you ever…ya know? Were you guys, like…intimate?”

“…are you asking if I had sex with Aidan?”

“Yeah.”

“I guess. We did some things, but I never really felt any inclination to do anything like that. Even with Aidan as my partner, I couldn’t like him that way. Though, it was fun.”

(It’s still a wip so I’ll polish this up later. Some context these are twenty year old guys and the one asking has a crush on the ace boy. Later the ace boy mentions not feeling romantic feelings as he doesn’t completely get dating.)

Sex/romance favorable aces/aros would be great to see more of.

Just, more ace/aro characters in general. I rarely find them and when I do, there’s usually tons of people fighting about them not being ace/aro.

Ace/aro characters who use the SAM, those who don’t. It isn’t hard to briefly mention these things and go.

An ace/aro character who teams up with someone everyone else adores. They can admit, yeah, they see the appeal but they don’t love them until they know them.

An aro character who constantly helps support their partner emotionally. Who shows them a lot of love and respect. If they aren’t romance repulsed, they sometimes go on dates, or if they are they indulge their partner in a date once in a while.

A lot of these can be used for other character’s orientations too. Just…write us like real people. Why is that so hard?

@herefortheace @ungracefulace @ anyone else who’s ace and has anything they would like to add or correct.

#kinda discoursy soooo #ace discourse #aro discourse #ace positivity #aro positivity #asexuality #asexual #aromantic #aromantism #writing #writing tips #a rant

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activatingaggro · 6 years

Note

It's been a couple of days, but I totally missed people reblogging memes, so: B, C, H, K, and S?

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

Enemies-to-lovers! Enemies-to-friends. Anything that hugely and dramatically changes CR.

Friends to enemies is a huge favourite, but only if they kiss. Sorry.

“These two characters are romantically inclined, but not admitting it, and oh no, now they have to share a bed / pretend to be married / publicly flirt or make-out, and O O P S, FEELINGS.”

This only never appears on tumblr because I’m classy. You’re welcome.

Platonic soulmates! Or those sitches where characters just click, instantly, with someone that they really, really, /really/ should fucking not have. I want the drama, the self-loathing, the spirals of mutual distress, because you just fell in love with the spy you’re supposed to capture and you’re still going to shoot him in the face, rifp.

Blood swaps. I don’t do magic anons, but please let it be known that I absolutely would write a long, massive thread with either of the birdrails having to successfully impersonate seadwellers, or with another character having to pretend to be a wildly different caste. I want the cultural shock, the privilege gain/loss, the struggle of looking in the mirror and seeing something totally wrong - or delightfully right, per society’s standards of behaviours - and the intricacies of caste behaviour.

“You’re incredibly important to me, but now I’m going to have to betray you, because MORALS.” Or vice-versa! Any situation where a character’s morals come up against their preferences, basically, and morals win out, and everyone has to deal with the backlash. GIVE ME CHARACTERS STANDING BY THEIR CONVICTIONS AND PAYING THE PRICE.

H: How would you describe your style?

HOW GROUCHY AM I TODAY IN DESCRIBING THIS is the real question. uwu

I put a lot of focus on narrative, and a lot of focus on minor details! I like to note what characters are paying attention to, and letting it (hopefully) say something about themselves: ID rarely notices people’s appearances unless they’re violet, or unless it’s in his face, and he misses a lot of details period. Sipara is constantly assessing if she can kill someone, and how. Riccin is constantly speculating on what quadrant they can fit someone in. Pheres is constantly assessing if he’s about to get killed.

My main focus while writing narratives is ensuring that you can strip all the names and still, hopefully, tell which character is telling the story! This is in roleplay. In writing, I try to put a lot more focus on the actual scenes, and a lot less focus on the narrative: my absolute ideal of style, for individual stuff, has to be WATCH THE ROOTS by Lionpyh, or pretty much any story of Isozyme’s.

Individual stuff where the focus is on a story rather than the characters, I really like crisp, clipped lines, and in roleplay stuff, I like longer, narrative-focused ones.

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

Back when Pheres had gills as his default: he gets found out by a seadweller who collects mutants, and yanked into her collection, so he starts off a long-haul plan to escape that involves wooing her flush, but accidentally ends up genuinely falling for his own ploy in a fucked up stockholmian sitch. So Sipara finally manages to yank enough strings to get the info to come and rescue him, a year or so in, murders her way through the facility, collects Pheres -

- and he’s a mess, because oh, no, don’t kill her! She can be fixed! Don’t, don’t don’t -

And Sipara kills her, anyway, and they have a pile in the middle of this awful, bloody facility, and everything is terrible, and everyone is crying, and I think it eventually results in an incredibly ace, weird blur of , where the two of them dissolve into even harder codependence then they started off the blog with.

I have art of this somewhere on this blog, actually!

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

Pheres is directly inspired by the fact my definitive memories of my teenage years included a lot of my friends being exploited/harmed by significantly older men at 13-18 under the guise of ~*relationships*~, and our flailing attempts to figure out how to navigate romance/relationships in a context that was defined by that kind of abusive fuckery.

Pheres is subsequently a trashfire in a way that’s meant to examine and prod at that in a different context! How do these situations happen and exist in Alternian contexts? And if the foundation upon which you’ve learned to build relationships was fucked up from the get-go, how does that affect you as you grow older, and how do you learn to fix it?

And a lot of Pheres’s general encounters with his customers reflect negative experiences that I have had with folks, or that my friends have had with people, just amped up to fit the Alternian context. Someone who’s previously been civil getting in your face shrieking because WAS THAT DISRESPECTFUL, ARE YOU BEING UPPITY – gets twisted into a customer shanking him over something equally minor.

C: What character do you identify with most?

I deliberately don’t really identify with most of my characters, haha. It’s part of my IC-OOC barrier: I love them, and I love writing them, but the majority are morally incompatible with my own viewpoints, or have done horrific shit that can’t be overlooked in the name of identification.

With that said, the specific traits I put in that I hook onto the most:

ID’s general ennui towards strong emotions is something I relate to! ID finds it detrimental to himself, at points, and gets delighted over having strong emotions on the rare instances it happens - I, on the other hand, am just thoroughly disinclined towards them completely when it comes to myself. HARD LOGIC ONLY.

Which has led to interesting character gaps between my portrayal of ID and others perceptions of him, I think? I personally view his largest flaws as his lack of empathy and his history of fucking over everyone around him on a whim - a lot of people view one of his largest flaws as not emotionally connecting to his romantic partners. Different writers view different aspects of a character as relatable, and it’s neat to see.

Sipara’s temper issues! She’s got a (physical) parallel of my anger issues from when I was a baby, and the same levels of “I MUST CONTROL EVERYTHING”. She’s totally a feral goblin of a hellchild, but I find it #relatable, even while I’m like “yeah, girl’s batshit”.

Pheres’s general control freak issues, and his inability to disengage from people that he really should, because what if they feel bad? =:( Also, his general desire to take responsibility over everyone and shove them into his nest to be mothered, lbr here.

Riccin’s desire to just roll with the fucking blows when it comes to their interpersonal relationships.This has come up with Orivar, it’s come up with Videle, it’s come up with Gliese - if you push them, they’ll fold, because their focus tends to be more on “keep the peace” with friends and quads, moreso than “keep my own personal interests in mind”.

#8tea #thank you for the ask!#ask meme

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famous-aces · 5 years

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Edmonia Lewis

Who: Wildfire Mary Edmonia Lewis

What: Artist

Where: American (active largely in Italy)

When: July 4, 1844? - September 17, 1907

(Image Description: A black and white photo of Lewis circa 1870. She is a dark skinned young black woman with short dark hair parted down the middle. She has a broad nose, a roundish face, and a slight smile. She is wearing a relatively simple dress, with ruffles at the bottom and wrists. She has a velvety shawl or other cover over one shoulder. She sits confidently with one arm resting on the arm of her chair. End ID)

Lewis was an accomplished sculptor who earned wealth and recognition for her art. She became the first African-American (her father was a freeman) and the first Native American (her mother was Ojibwe) to achieve international fame for her art.

She grew up as an orphan, raised by her mother's nomadic tribe, something she would always look back on fondly. As a preteen she left for art school to follow her artistic aspersions. At this point she dropped her Native American name, Wildfire.

Only a few years later escaped being lynched by an angry mob who accused her of attempting to kill some of her white female classmates before she could actually graduate. But even with this little training and even less of a reputation Lewis was able to find her first real work during the American Civil War when she sold portrait busts of abolitionists and Union war heroes. The funds from this got her out of the US, where she knew her race (both Black and Native American) would keep her from fame and fortune.

She went to Italy where she picked up the popular neoclassical style, which made her very financially successful. She still combined themes of her Native- and African-American cultures and themes therefrom. She lived most of the rest of her life in Rome, but she had a show of her works in San Francisco in 1872, very rare for an artist of her races and gender. She was included on Molefi Kete Asante's list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

(Image description: Anna Quincy Waterston, 1866. A white marble portrait bust by Edmonia Lewis of the sort that would make her popular. Waterson was one of her patrons and a poet who (with her husband) helped Lewis purchase marble when she first arrived in Rome. It shows an elegant 19th century woman with her hair up in a complicated braid and wearing lacy top/dress [it is only a bust]. She has a slight smile. It is in a largely idealized neoclassical style but there are some notes of personality. End ID)

Probable Orientation: Lesbian aro or aroace with a platonic inclination toward women

(Image description: Old Arrow Maker, 1872. A moderately sized statue showing two Native American people, an older man who is carving an arrow and his daughter who is weaving/plaiting a small mat in her lap. The man is half risen, looking surprised, the woman looks more curious. They both have long hair and headbands. Both wear necklaces, hers of beads, his of claws. They both wear fur and moccasins. At their feet is a dead deer. These are specifically Minnehaha and her father from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Song of Hiawatha" [1855], based on an actual Ojibwa Nanabozho story. They are looking up at Hiawatha who has brought the deer to them. Hiawatha was from Lewis's mother's tribe, the Ojibwa, who loves [and is loved by] Minnehaha despite her being from the rival Dakota tribe. End ID)

Lewis is our first potentially non-ace.

Lewis largely lived alone although she enjoyed the company of other women and spent her time with known lesbians. She traveled with many women, worked closely with them, and had close relationships notably with actress Charlotte Cushman and fellow sculptor Harriet Hosmer. Most of these women were artists so arguably she spent time with them for work, but I call bullshit on that, especially since those travels include a transatlantic trip with four women in one cabin, Lewis being the only sculptor among that group.

The incident that nearly cost her her life Oberlin art school when Lewis was roughly 15 is also tied to her potential orientation. After she spent an afternoon with some white classmates two of them, both female, became ill. Upon inspection it was determined they had been dosed with Spanish Fly. Lewis had given them drinks earlier in the evening, so she was accused of poisoning them. She was acquitted and never took the stand, but despite this she was nearly beaten to death by locals for attempting to "poison" white girls. There is no proof she is responsible for it given the racism at the time there is no reason to believe she wasn't falsely accused. But there is a chance she did put Spanish Fly in their wine in an attempt to arouse them.

However Lewis never had a long-term partner or relationship. Cushman and Hosmer were romantically/sexually involved with one another, but Lewis was not mentioned as part of the relationship. Very little of Lewis's personal writing survives, but none of it makes any mention of any romantic or sexual partner. When she discusses beauty it tends to be for the natural world and the life of her childhood rather than for people of any gender. And the ship's manifest I cited (four women sharing a cabin) may actually be coincidence. Two of the women were twin sisters and all three of the other women were French, just visiting and there is no record of them knowing Lewis before they got on the ship. They could have been roomed together because of lack of space.

With no firm evidence that her relationships with any women (including the artists she hung out with) was sexual or romantic, it could be that she was just drawn to people like her, queer female artists. Or she may have been sexually involved with them without feeling romantic attraction. It is important to note she consciously lived alone whenever she could, only rooming with others out of necessity. She had many friends but no romantic partners.

(Image description: The Death of Cleopatra, 1876. It is a roughly life sized sculpture of Cleopatra in death. Although she is still beautiful and neoclassically depicted Cleopatra's pose is more natural and "ghastly" as she dies with her breast exposed and falls back into her throne. One hand lies limply on her lap, the other hanging over the arm of the throne. She is wearing jewelry and her Egyptian crown. Her robe/dress is long and flowing with a thin belt at the waist. The throne is decorated with sphinx heads on the arms and flowers on the back. Cleopatra and her death were often depicted but rarely with any sense of realism or real horror. The sculpture was thought to be lost for nearly a century before it turned up in a dump in the 1980s. End ID)

29 notes · View notes