#men not getting how I read a character as gay but being chill about it? all good

[macbooth]

I miss talking to straight men who know things about Shakespeare. just cause I think it’s healthy for me to hear someone say that they don’t get how I could see one of the faggiest characters ever written as gay. shout out to orlando asyoulikeit, cassius juliuscaesar, aufidius coriolanus, hamlet hamlet, and every antonio to exist. I’m sorry straight men think y’all are one of them

#shakespeare #as you like it #julius caesar #coriolanus #hamlet #the tempest #twelfth night #merchant of venice #in all honesty though it makes me remember that I talk about Shakespeare in a very gay circle and that not everyone thinks like that #and I get giddy cause it means I get to hear new perspectives and I click me little feet in glee #and hope they don’t get weird about it #men not getting how I read a character as gay but being chill about it? all good #men not getting how I read a character as gay and then getting annoyed at me for reading them as gay? mm okay sir it’s shakespeare #I become so bitchy so quickly #and I stand by it #macbooth original

[morerawerbreath]

Fictional Men Ranked Least to Most Likely to Eat Pussy

When I’m bored my powers turn to evil. Happy to announce that @earlymodernlesbian is not only is an enabler but wrote a gay companion piece which you can and should read here!!!! 

10. Mr. Rochester — Jane Eyre

No chance of oral here. Sorry, I don’t think he puts Jane first once in this book. She’s too busy being a ministering angel to ever consider anything above and beyond her wifely duty and I don’t think Rochester ever really stops being a narcissist long enough to consider her desires or even, you know, her life. I bet his french mistress asked him to do it once and he was like “ew, no”

9. Rhett Butler — Gone With the Wind

Rhett says shit like “you ought to be kissed and by someone who knows how,” and then I bet would go down on you one time just to show you what you were missing out on, and then he’d tease you about how much you liked it for months afterwards and refuse to do it again. Imagine how much more normal Scarlett might have been if she was getting regular oral.

8. Konstantin Levin — Anna Karenina

Definitely knows about eating pussy and can’t stop thinking about it. I think he might even shamefully obsess about it in conjunction with his dirty peasant laborer fantasies. However, he also has the ascetic monk thing going on so I bet he hardcore represses his desires to actually do it. That being said, I think if he ever got over himself he’d be way into it.

7. Mr Darcy — Pride and Prejudice

I’m not convinced Mr. Darcy even knows going down on girls is a thing, but once Bingley had filled him in I bet he would try it. Elizabeth I’m sure would not object but I can’t see this happening more than once or twice.

6. Oliver Mellors — Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Mellors has the distinct advantage and disadvantage of being the only character from a book that actually describes sex acts. If it was based solely on what he said (being turned on by getting women off, not shutting up about Connie’s ass, talking about how much he wants a “real” woman with a “real” body), I’d say absolutely he wants to get down there and would use the cringiest words possible to describe it. However, they textually do almost everything else so I feel like if he ate her out DH Lawrence would have told us 😔

EDIT: he goes down on her in the most recent movie!!! vindicated

5. Jonathan Harker — Dracula

Jonathan is obsessed with Mina (rightfully) and loves her to the end of the earth, so of course he’d do anything for her, including eat her out. However, there’s so much putting women on goddess pedestals in Dracula that he might just like, repeatedly kiss her between her legs and and be like, “am I doing this right?” and Mina would be like “I love you so much Jonathan” but she wouldn’t actually get off, you know? 

4. Heathcliff — Wuthering Heights

Someone who is willing to dig up your grave would definitely be down to lick your pussy. Cathy and Heathcliff are so rabid about each other I bet oral is like, one of the least weird things they would have done to each others bodies if they had the chance

3. Gabriel Oak — Far from the Madding Crowd

Not intimidated by Bathsheba’s independence and position of power. Could take care of her and spoil her if she ever let him and they both know it. Plus, not afraid to get down and dirty and do farm work for her. If a man cures your sheep and saves your hay before a storm, what else will he do for you? 👀

2. Mr. Knightley — Emma

Mr. Knightly is the definition of a service top. 100% confident in his masculinity and completely comfortable putting Emma’s needs and wants first, but not gonna let her get away with being high and mighty. Excellent combination of obsessed with her but still in charge. ;) She would get neurotic about it and he would tell her to chill out and he’d be right.

1. George Emerson — A Room with a View

George chugs his respect women juice and is so turned on by the idea of women as individuals with unique desires he can’t stand to see Lucy betray herself by marrying a robot. “I want you to have your own thoughts even when I hold you in my arms” ?!? “The desire to govern a woman lies very deep, and men and women must fight it together before they shall enter the Garden” !! What’s not to love about a pro-Eve humanist who enjoys swimming naked and is constantly telling everyone to be less embarrassed about desire and the body? No question George is going to be eating Lucy out every day of their lives and getting off on it himself.

Bonus: 

Marius Pontmercy — Les Misérables

Shy, but also French. Not sure which one wins out here. 

#pride and prejudice #emma #wuthering heights #a room with a view #far from the madding crowd #gone with the wind #anna karenina #lady chatterley's lover #dracula #jonathan harker #mr darcy #heathcliff #rhett butler #jane eyre #mr rochester #marius #les mis

[downbadspanishlad]

WARNING: Some of the following content may be slightly triggering due to discussion of abuse and trauma. Please don't read further if reading about that stuff could possibly hurt you! You're valid!

Masculinity in Baldur's Gate 3:

As a trans guy who didn't have with friendly male rolemodels growing up, the male companion characters in Baldur's Gate 3 mean so much to me.

While Astarion is clearly my favorite, I have a huge amount of love and appreciation for all the companion characters (male and female). But it's the several types of masculinity the male companion characters have that offer something for male and/or masculine folks like me to aspire to (in some way or another).

Disclaimer: I've unfortunately not had the time to interact much with Minsc, therefore I won't be including him in this post, but he seems like a lovely and cool dude overall, so please don't take his absence as a sign of me not liking him.

Astarion:

Astarion's interest in murder/violence and being mean are definitely not something to aspire to, but I do understand why he does what he does. His trauma is no excuse for his actions, but they do explain a lot.

I really like Astarion mainly due to how he is as a masculine character and how he's portrayed as an explicitly queer, slightly effeminate man with trauma.

In terms of being "explicitly queer," I mean this clip from this video:

As someone who doesn't neatly fit into the stereotype of being a trans man, let alone the expectations of what it means to be a "real man," Astarion's effeminate nature is something I deeply appreciate. 

(Note: That's not me trying to insinuate that trans guys me aren't "real men." It's solely about commenting on how men who are gender non-conforming in any way are told they're 'not real men').

He's very theatrical in his demeanor, and it's one of the things I love most about him. He's hilarious, he's fun, and he's able to be the way he is without being shamed and emasculated for it. I grew up + live in an area where being as theatrical and fun as Astarion is something that can get you shamed or even physically hurt for not being "man enough" in that way. 

As someone who exists somewhere on the bi/pan spectrum, I've loved seeing how the ladies of the BG3 fandom are totally chill with Astarion being pansexual. As a man with the capacity to find people of all genders (including women) attractive, I've often felt very insecure in my masculinity for being queer and "not masculine enough."

Guys like me usually get dismissed as being "only gay." That our sexuality isn't a real or valid thing, and that we're "lesser" than straight men because of our ability to find love with people regardless of their gender. Being feminine, in any capacity, as a man is a very terrifying thing due to the shame and violence we can experience for daring to be ourselves. 

And I don't want to equate my trauma with anything Astarion has been through (especially as someone who isn't a survivor of sexual violence), but I do find a lot of comfort in how Astarion's trauma is dealt with in his story.

So long as you (the player) treat him with the respect and dignity he deserves, Astarion is never shamed or made to feel "less than" for his trauma. The story of his trauma is treated with proper respect and care, and I absolutely love that. 

He makes me feel less alone and weird for how my own experience with abuse has left me with inner demons that I've yet to overcome. Like him, I experience night terrors due to my trauma. It's a very scary thing to deal with. And as a man, it makes me feel very small, ashamed, and pathetic. But seeing Astarion go through it and not having that be something he's shamed for is something I deeply appreciate. I know he's fictional, but seeing a character as cool as him going through that too makes me feel less alone and weird for it.

Wyll:

Wyll is a close second favorite character of mine. He's just an awesome, epic, badass guy! He's the kind of man I aspire to be. He does everything he can to help others, he cares deeply about doing what's right, he's a huge nerd/dork, and he's got the biggest heart amongst the companion characters (which says a lot in my opinion since he's got Karlach and Halsin as stiff competition for that category). He's very cool and lovely, and I really hate seeing how underappreciated he is as a character.

I absolutely love the meme of people saying that Wyll was the only origin character to dust himself off and head back to doing what he was doing before to get kidnapped and infected by the mindflayers. Man is too selfless and rad to take a break from helping the tiefling children how to fight.

I do want to give credit for this meme to this cool dude called Azeem (aka blackpurist).

As well as this post here on Tumblr.

Gale:

I'll admit, I didn’t really care for Gale at first. But the more I got to know him, the more I realized that this dude is (most certainly) on the spectrum. That's not a canon thing, but I absolutely believe that he is. Not a bad thing either (and I say that as someone who is also autistic). Honestly, realizing that many of his traits are autistic recontextualized certain things about him and helped me like him way more.

I really appreciate how straightforward Gale is as a communicator. The dude puts everything out in the open, for better or worse. He has no ulterior motives and does his best to make his intentions very clear. Love him or hate him, Gale is a dude you're not afraid of (unless you're a bad guy or something).

I also appreciate how passionate the man is about the stuff he's dedicated his life to (magic, which is most certainly his special interest). Gale is also very kind and open-minded, a good example of this being what he has to say about Astarion's vampirism. Gale's not my favorite guy, but he's an absolutely chill dude, and I'd totally be his friend if he were real.

Halsin:

So long as you save him and the Emerald Grove, Halsin is totally chill with you from the first moment you meet him. He's very kind, upfront, and non-judgemental, which is pretty cool.

I also really appreciate how much he cares about consent. Halsin is polyamorous, and if he expresses romantic interest in the player character and the player character happens to already be in a relationship, he makes sure to not pursue anything without the expressed consent of both the player character and their partner. 

I know caring about consent is a bare minimum thing to do, but unfortunately there are still a lot of people irl who don't care about it which is why I greatly appreciate how Halsin (and also BG3 as a game) treats consent as an essential, inherent part of romantic and sexual relationships. Very cool, indeed!! 😎💖🌟💫

#baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #halsin #wyll ravengard #astarion #gale dekarios #masculinity #trauma #gender shit #astarion bg3 #wyll bg3 #halsin bg3 #gale bg3

[tiofrean]

Oh boy... OH BOY... I was reading through comments and tags under that Flint vs. Stede post (and before that in Silver vs. Oluwande post) and OH BOY RANT INCOMING

Feel free to ignore. No, I'm prickly about this.

I LOVE how people are like "Black Sails fans are so mean why are they like that T.T ?" in the tags and comments.

LET ME TELL YOU.

So we have this show that has been marginalized and has been pushed to the side for years. A show that has excellent plot, wonderful intrigue, magnificent representation and well-written, 3D characters that are complex and relatable. You get your edgy queer men (whether you want to characterize Flint as gay or bi, doesn't change the fact that he likes dick whichever way), you get your edgy queer girls (Anne), you get your flamboyant whatever-the-fuck-Jack-Rackham-is (<3), you get sweet gays (Thomas), you get confused bisexuals (Eleanor, Silver), you get straight sweets (Miranda) and straight angery dicks (Woodes Rogers), and competent, edgy straights (Vane). Oh! A competent, master-of-the-house lesbian? Check (Max). You even have asexuals, or that is what I shall forever classify Billy as. You have a f/f sex scene in the first damn episode, ffs. You get threesomes (sexual, romantic), you get couples, you even have Silver in a brothel orgy.

But sexual representation is not ALL! You get goofy pirates (Jack Rackham), you get serious pirates (Blackbeard), you get balls of rage (Flint), you get chill, laid-back sea dogs (Gates), you get competent little weasels (Silver), you get incompetent rats (Dufrense). You also have marvelous extras and side characters (Beauclerc the marksman, Captain Fruit-Fruit, Idelle... OHMYGOD IDELLE <3333).

There's the political plot that's historically accurate, the story's plot that's Flint's big gay rage, there's the sociological context of being painted as a monster, there's the gold hunt, there are ships correctly operated by crews of more than five fucking people, there are guns, blood and realistic injuries. You get quotations and allusions to Shakespeare, Cervantes, Julius Caesar, Marcus Fucking Aurelius, a metric ton of other classical writers. You get so many tropes done right it's astonishing and too effing long to list them all here.

On top of that, there is the picturesque landscape, absolutely gorgeous ships and very accurate portrayal of how life looked back then.

We had to defend that show when it first came out, the actors had to fucking fight homophobic assholes upon the airing of season two (IMAGINE THAT), people who loved it had a hard time going around, although admittedly it's a "fandom" hard time, not a "real life" hard time. We persisted, we persevered, and now we're here, clinging to what's left of our fandom, because we are admittedly all over the place and we don't have "troops" on any one social media, which makes our numbers small in comparison to other fandoms, and makes fandom interactions very limited.

Now imagine that there aired a show... a pirate show promising a lot. And then the show turned out to be an office-type comedy with no lesbian/bi women representation (I may be wrong, but I did watch it out of curiosity, didn't see any, just guys). A show that the whole plot of is just a rendition of the Beauty and the Beast for pirate times with so many historical inaccuracies (couching your crew like a bunch of office workers? Plz. The way they speak and the concepts they talk of that weren't there? It's like they were sitting around a fire, holding hands and singing kumbaya). And don't get me wrong, there's place for those shows as well, and maybe it works for you (and great for you too!).

We tried to ignore it, really we did. We basically gave it the eyebrow-raise-huff-ignore thing that you do on the internet when you want someone to enjoy their stuff and are not interested in it yourself.

But you know what happened? Suddenly there were people on twitter tagging everyone and their dog from Black Sails with renditions of Flint/Izzy (Izzy who comes across as an extreme asshole at best and a homophobic shit at worst and you can't fault people for reading it like this). Let that sink in - our fandom babe Flint, who had his whole life ruined due to homophobia and homophobic assholes is suddenly being shipped with a guy who suspiciously fits the description a bit too much for our tastes. Wouldn't you get angry? Of course you would, we're all very protective of our babes. We are, you are, everyone is. We asked you not to do this, and while I admit that hurling curses your way might not have been the most polite way of asking you to stop, the message was clear enough. What does OFMD fandom do? They all double down. Double fucking down on fanfiction and tagging everything in BS again, pairing Flint and Izzy together, writing things way out of the realm of any possibilities because most of the writers didn't watch BS (I did read their comments on that. They weren't even sorry). If you take such character and throw him into a work of art that can and will be seen as controversial, you should at least have the decency to do your homework on the original work he comes from. Otherwise, to our eyes, you're taking the most wronged man from our beloved show, wronged due to his sexuality, and throw him together with a literal asshole just to see them fuck because they would look pretty (and that's an actual comment from one of the artists, I shit you not). Wouldn't you feel a bit angry about that? I bet you would.

What's worse, people loving Black Sails and not liking OFMD usually point out how narrow the representation is, how improbable the show is and how they're not remotely invested in the plot. It's a cheesy show for your average Sunday afternoon, don't make it into something it's not. It's not a political statement any more than Guess The Tune is.

What's more, when I've seen attempts at people pointing out the obvious flaws in plot, in logic (how many people crew that ship exactly? How is he not dead after being stabbed clean through with a sword?), all we've gotten was "Oh it's not that type of show, OBVIOUSLY", "it's just a comedy, duh" and my personal favorite "you just DON'T UNDERSTAND IT BOOMER". (I'm a late Millennial, thx). Every attempt was chucked out the window. What got me most, tho, was the high praise of OFMD IS THE FIRST SHOW TO [insert whatever queer thing it did supposedly]. No, it's not. There was even a post on twitter that debunked all those claims one by one. I get it, you're happy that you got your gay pirates, good for you. But give credit where credit's due, otherwise you're gonna piss off a lot of people. People who watched our show struggle and crawl so that your show can run today and be fine and accepted widely.

And personally, I felt disappointed watching it because of the lack of representation. Disappointed that Ed turned out to be just as rainbowy as Stede. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against rainbowy, ultra-sweet characters that are big softies. I love them. But not everyone in the lgbtq community is like that. Actually, it's the minority. There are your sweets, there are your glittery rainbows, but the majority is on the more... inconspicuous part of the scale. And there are edgy people (like myself) who don't like glitter, pink, feathers, fluff and a shitton of other things this show had in abundance. You know what made me wince while watching? When I realized that the only person who I could remotely like for the way they weren't so glittery-rainbowy-sweet was Izzy, and I hated him because he was an asshole. Even Jim got the fluffy af oranges arch. So not my (and others') cup of tea.

So yeah, our recent anger and rabidity is not based solely on one post about an insignificant poll (that you're winning only because our fandom is significantly smaller and most people are dispersed between different sites). It's all those things combined and it's the result of them.

And no, I'm not going to finish it with a "please forgive us if we seem a bit angery, we're coping". Flint wouldn't.

#black sails #rant #im not sorry #flint vs stede #silver vs oluwande #ofmd #the only time im using that tag #were angry and heres why

[leonscape]

i feel like we all perceive the suitors differently based on who we are and idk why or what compelled me to make this post but i’m sharing anyways

i’ve seen people hc sexualities and i feel like i have a unique view because im ace but i also don’t call characters gay just because? i have never developed feelings for anyone nor do i participate in discussions about who’s hot and who’s not. im kinda not wired that way so i feel like that makes my perspective different.

i think it’s interesting when people call the suitors gay and ship them because they’re actually straight, meant for a female audience. it’s not heterosexual content and i think it really comes down to how the characters are written, and the type of person viewing the characters.

disclaimer: this is my opinion you do not have to agree with it, but i do ask you to be respectful. you do not need to argue your opinion or against mine so let’s keep it chill

okay let’s start ^_^

jin is straight there’s literally no arguing this one. his love of women is very intense but he’s just being one of the bros unapologetically? i think everyone can agree on this one.

chevalier hear me out is ace. i bet he’s the type to read erotica with a straight face and it truly is for the plot. it doesn’t bother him and he doesn’t pay attention to that kind of thing. if we take out the otome aspect out of ikepri, he’d just be aroace fr. and i think this way because he tells emma to prove that romance and love has worth. so i don’t see him attracted to men and i don’t think he’s attracted to women either he just falls in love with emma because she’s the beauty to his beast romance?

clavis probably is also ace, gray ace. in my post about ace hc’s i said he’s probably ace and im pretty sure that was before his route came out and now after having played it, i still stand by that. i think sexual attraction isn’t important to clavis. i think he’s more worried about abandonment and figuring out if this person is his ride or die kind of person. i just think his priorities are different and maybe that’s why it seems like he comes off as ace. i do not see him being attracted to men.

leon is straight. maybe it’s jin’s influence and i see them as very similar. maybe it’s purely just my perception of him. i have heard that some people think his bi because everyone is charmed by him? but i just don’t see him reciprocating that kind of preference to guys. i think he also has a hard time reciprocating energy towards women too. idk i guess i imagined him talking to a nice girl, everything’s going well, but his stomach drops as he reminds himself that he’s a fake. he doesn’t let people get too close to him otherwise he will get eaten alive by the guilt from deceiving them but he’s also afraid to tell them. i mean how is he supposed to tell his partner when he hasn’t told his closest brothers? the brothers that he’s grown up with and grown close to? i also just think he’d be enthusiastic about being a dad and starting a family because he didn’t know his parents and he didn’t even have the luxury of having leon’s parents either so i think it would mean a lot to him to start a family and give his kids a mom and a dad. wait this isn’t a post about just leon i got carried away oops but does this mean i think leon is ace? nah he’s just afraid that his insecurity in his identity will damage the relationships he has and the illusion of leon.

yves is ace i don’t care what they say his spicy content feels very performative and fan service-y to me. i said he’s ace in my ace hc post too so i still stand by that. he gets embarrassed when he talks about it so i don’t think he’s really comfortable in his sexuality? me personally i project onto yves just a bit?? like im just gonna say that desire does not equal sexual attraction because i get confused and uncomfortable about it sometimes so i have to remind myself. i think he wants to participate in those types of acts but feels conflicted. also i know he’s the resident femboy and that’s more likely to get him labeled as gay or something but i actually don’t see him being into men but we know he’s an ally from that one bond story of his.

licht, i swear im not doing this on purpose because of my own biases, but he’s ace too bro. he doesn’t really pay attention to sexuality and attraction and stuff. or maybe the more traumatized or mentally ill they are the more i think they’re ace. wait that’s not true i’ll get to nokto after this. yeah idk licht is depressed af so he don’t have time to think “mmh men” or “mmh women” or “mmmhh both” there’s no attraction until after he established a relationship so yeah i guess he’s demisexual.

nokto is gay. okay fine i’ll say bi. weeell ok not naming names but kinda because it’s a small fandom and it’s not hard to figure out. but my perception of him has definitely been influenced by fandom. now i just think he likes men

luke is honestly i don’t know i guess he’s straight. he doesn’t do sus things and he just seems like what jin was like before his addiction to breasts and to “the sand in the hourglass” (assuming jin wasn’t always a pervert like that).

i do not have enough information on gilbert

keith is straight you cannot tell me he wouldn’t have a wife and 10 kids if he was born a commoner. he’d be a farmer just plowing the fields, growing medicinal plants, and providing for his family. he just seems like a straight up guy (see what i did there) making an honest living and obeying his wife who is in charge of the household.

silvio is another straight guy. attracted to women but doesn’t want to be because his money attracts the wrong kind of women.

rio also straight he’s probably only attracted to emma actually so yeah i know we joke about it but i think this guy really just only likes emma

finishing off the list strong with my sariel ace hc. yeah he’s giving the “i’m too busy with work/school” ace tbh. he’s like the professional guy that ignores the flirting but every once in a while it does affect him if he’s interested. but i don’t think he experiences much attraction and maybe he doesn’t have time either?

#will delete this later if ppl don’t reblog #i’m tired

[zee-has-commitment-issues]

twenty questions for fic writers

Thank you @altruistic-meme for the tag! 💜

How many works do you have on AO3? Currently sitting at 25 works!

What’s your total AO3 word count? 502,854 (holy shit)

What fandoms do you write for? Right now I only write for Young Royals. I might branch out in the future, but my mind is pretty all-consumed at the moment.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? (a list not one person is surprised by) 1. Simon Eriksson: Just Some Guy From Biology Simon is a little shit, but it's a whole lot of fun. 2. Screwed Erik lived, but things are still royally screwed up. 3. Love Bites The Hickey Crack Fic no one asked for. 4. Simon Eriksson: Not Really Just Some Guy An unhinged continuation of Simon Eriksson: Just Some Guy From Biology, in which Simon is still a little shit, but it's really not his fault this time. 5. You Have Reached The Voicemail Box Of... Humiliating table shenanigans.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? As often as I can! I try my best. I've gotten better at it more recently, but sometimes it still takes me a million years to reply. I apologize. But I really appreciate people who take the time to comment on my fics, and I try to let them know that.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? The Last Time which is ironically my least read fic. It is my masterpiece, though. My Nilcent no-happy-ending fic. Truly one of the best things I have ever written, in my humble opinion.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I couldn't figure it out, so I asked Dani. She says the answer is Simon Eriksson: Just Some Guy From Biology and she is probably right.

Do you get hate on fics? Not really. This fandom is pretty chill about that kind of stuff. The only thing was that there was one anon who told me I was too obsessed with Swedish while writing a fic. Even thought the show is... quite literally Swedish...

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Once. I wrote one blowjob. The readers said it was good, but I am very unsure. They may be lying to me. Also I don't like men and my beta is asexual so we are quite possibly the worst pair to be writing gay sex.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I haven't and I don't have any current plans to.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not a whole fic, no, but I have had someone steal a few paragraphs word for word 💀

Have you ever had a fic translated? Not translated, but I have had one of my fics turned into a podfic by @willesworld, which was super super cool! [Podfic] Simon Eriksson: Just Some Guy From Biology

What’s your all-time favorite ship? Wilmon of course! Although I have delulu'ed a bit too close to the sun with Nilcent and my quite literally made up Erik/Ebba.

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Lightning Strikes. It was a Felice and Walter friends fic that takes place in their second year. I realized recently that I have put Walter through the absolute ringer with his fanfictional queer journey and this story was literally no different and I felt bad. I stopped writing this fic because I felt bad for a fiction character going through a fan fiction plot.

What are your writing strengths? I have a really hard time giving myself compliments, especially with writing, so I'm not really sure. I think I do pretty well with characterizations, though.

What are your writing weaknesses? Grammar and being repetitive. My grammar sucks ass. Dani fixes way too much. And I feel like I'm quite repetitive. Not necessarily in a whole-plot kind of way, but in a small detail kind of way. If I like a little thing I added, I'll keep it going throughout the fic or multiple fics (ie. Walter's queer journey, Wilhelm's favorite color being green, Fredrika's nickname being Freddy)

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Go for it. I do it sometimes (but I usually add the translation somewhere). I think it's fun, and ultimately I write for me.

First fandom you wrote for? DIVERGENT LMFAO

Favorite fic you’ve written? Oh I love them all. It's like having to choose a favorite child. But I have some fics that are just way too close to my heart. Screwed is always going to be one that sticks out because it brought so many people around me and I met so many new friends. The Thing In The Mirror is very much a love letter to my own grief and I cherish it deeply. And Reckless Abandon has taken so much of my time to craft and plot that I lowkey might just turn it into a novel lmao.

tagging: @insomnaticwilmon @the-navistar-carol and @willesworld if y'all want to participate 💜

#tag game #fic questions #zee writes shit

[transxfiles]

this is legit just a mini rant about the results of the gayestshakespearecouples tournament thus far. it's me thinking out loud so feel free to scroll past bc i know i'm gonna sound insane

i firmly believe that people who voted rosencrantz & guildenstern in the gay shakespeare tournament have either never read hamlet, have not read it in decades, have very bad media literacy, or are basing their memories of ros and guil's relationship entirely on when they read "rosencrantz & guildenstern are dead". girl you cannot tell me that ros and guil are somehow more queer than hamlet and horatio in the original play. ros and guil have very little screen time in the actual text of the play itself they have like zero basis for queerness at all. now don't get me wrong if we're looking at the play "rosencrantz & guildenstern are dead" there's definitely something there, or at least you could pretend that there's something there considering that ros and guil actually get to, y'know, interact with each other on-page in that play. but no matter how many "rosencrantz & guildenstern are gay" jokes you make while reading the original text of hamlet you cannot deny the fact that those two men are only on page together like 3 times during which they barely talk to each other and also iirc the queerest they get is when one of them (either ros or guil i honestly cannot remember) remarks on hamlet's queerness which would only support horatio / hamlet gayness not ros and guil gayness. feeling insane about this i just cannot believe people thought that ros and guil were more textually queer in the original hamlet than hamlet and horatio were. horatio was not out here "goodnight, sweet prince"ing as hamlet died in his arms for y'all to say ros and guil were inherently more queer.

ALSO i know that in the tournament it was technically hamlet/horatio vs olivia/viola in the bracket and that makes sense like i'd say they're equally matched when it comes to being the gayest homosexuals in shakespeare so that's chill. but it's the fact that ROS AND GUIL were agaisnt BRUTUS AND CAESAR and somehow BRUTUS/CAESAR LOST??? girls. did we do the reading or did we just click the character names we recognized.

#feel free to ignore this i'm just insane over the fact that ros and guil made it this far with ZERO textual support backing their case up #I'M JUST!! #horatio did not say the goodnight sweet prince line to hamlet at the end of the play just for some tumblr users to say that #someone else was gonna be the first gay in shakespeare's masterpiece. don't worry mr horatio i saw your final monologue. #cricket.chatterbox #been thinking about this for a while HOW do y'all think that ros and guil are queer. god bless like i wish they were but DAMN thats a take #to say they're that queer.

[lady-of-the-spirit]

Fandom + Joan for the meta ask game!

JOAN!!!! ❤❤❤ thank you for asking! I love talking about her.

For the sake of not conflicting timelines or universes, I stuck with my oc canon where Booker doesn't betray the Guard and things happen normally up until the point where Merrick's men ruin everything and kidnap Joe and Nicky. None of that shit happens. Just some weird new team dynamics forming since they've got TWO new immortals hanging out with them. (I also feel the need to share this ask about Copley for info on that situation and my oc canon.)

Put this whole thing under a read more because it got LONG.

What do you think the fandom for your character would be like? Are they a fan favorite, a love to hate villain, derided for whatever reason, or something else?

Honestly I don't know! I think Joan is a pretty harmless character, she's just chilling and doing her own thing, so she wouldn't be hated. The Old Guard fandom is pretty good about loving all the characters, so she's gonna be fine. I think she'll be especially loved by the people who like characters who just want to do their own thing without getting dragged into plot shenanigans lmao. Hopefully Joan would be to the aroace fans what Nicky and Joe and Andy and Quynh are to the gay fans - the rep they're looking for in action movies. But more critically, because this fandom gives unequal attention to the women vs the guys, I think Joan would unfortunately fall into a similar category as Niles, which is often "the side character who's there to be the best friend supporting the main ship/the newbie to the experienced older ones" if not ignored completely. But for the ones who don't do this, I think she'd be the cool character who just does her own thing, who has a journey of her own that's fun to analyze and talk about! And a long, kinda sad history that would have a lot of potential for fics!

What feelings does your character most often instill in their fans? Affection? A desire to protect? Open lust? A love/hate dynamic? Why do you think their fans feel this way?

Definitely a desire to protect! Girl has been on her own FOREVER! she has anxiety! But also I can see people wanting to be her lmao she lives on her own, pretty securely I might add, she's got a cat, she's best friends with the crows, she's living that Ursula from Kiki's Delivery Service life. Joan's just a normal person, living her life, she just has had a long time to figure out what she wants her life to look like and make it happen, and I can see fans finding wish fulfillment in her.

By contrast, what would their haters dislike about your character? Is it a petty complaint? A mischaracterization of the character or their intentions? Are they just a woman in a largely male-centric series?

I can see common complaints being that she's "boring". Which honestly is fair. She's meant to be boring - or at least have a boring life. She's not an action hero, she's not a warrior, she's a civilian. She wants a normal life, or as normal a life as she can have.

Joan also has issues with how she deals with her frustration over the whole "I wasn't alone but I thought I was" situation. She tries really hard not to take it out on the old guard, but sometimes it slips out without her meaning to even though she knows it wasn't anyone's fault and it was just shitty luck. When it does slip out, it ends up directed at Andy as the leader of the group. I can see some fans having issues with that, since people have similar issues with how Booker felt alone in his grief despite having his friends.

What controversies/drama would your character incite in fandom?

She's pretty low-drama, but since fandoms can be pretty casually or not so casually aphobic, her being aroace could be an issue. I feel like the old guard fandom is better than other fandoms, but I haven't seen all corners of the fandom and ngl I don't want to.

Joan's attitude towards her immortality and how she lives her life is in conflict with Andy's attitude, and that causes some conflict between them, so I can see the fandom getting into discourse over their respective philosophies. But since the movie takes the philosophy that nihilism isn't the answer, or at least that trying to make things better isn't meaningless, I can't see this being a huge controversial topic. maybe in smaller corners of the fandom.

What fan-material would exist for your character in fandom?

There'd probably be angsty artwork of her being alone and feeling lonely lmao. I can see a lot of fics analyzing her loneliness and anxiety through the centuries. Fics that explore how she navigated the centuries alone, as well as lots of fics where she almost meets the guard but just misses them, or aus where she did find them. Fics where she and the guard are just hanging out and being a found family together. I can see some angsty aus where she ends up captured before canon and Nile dreams of her and they're like "Wait there's another one of us out there BEING TORTURED???" and they go save her.

Is your character the subject of ‘imagines’ or ‘x reader’ style blogs?

Well, I haven't seen many imagines for The Old Guard in the first place, but since Joan's aroace, I sure hope not!

Are there any tropes fandom would put upon your character, for better or for worse?

"Hates romance." She hates it in regards to herself, but otherwise she just doesn't care about it. (You react with digust at the idea of dating your friend one time and you get labelled for life...)

I think people would also try to make her a woobie but like, even though she has had a rough time of it she's not miserable. She's learned to live her life as it comes, and yeah, she's lonely, she has her traumas, but she's still enjoying her life.

People might also assign her as a character who simply has the worst luck or the worst timing and. Honestly I think that would be kinda funny so I don't mind it.

What would be the ‘incorrect but wildly popular’ interpretation of your character in fandom?

The fandom would try and make Joan and Andy have conflict all the time and that's simply not true. Their philosophies clash. They have some beef, but that's mostly to do with their own issues and how it connects to the other. They themselves actually get along and respect each other a lot. They do have some conflict, but they still get along outside of that.

also I feel like people would make Joan a little "too anxious"? She does have anxiety but I feel like they would overdo it somehow, I don't know.

What corners of fandom would consider your character blorbo material?

I feel like The Old Guard fandom blorbo-fies all of the characters pretty well. But I really hope that the aroace members of the fandom would like her and make her their blorbo! Like that's the dream for me.

oc meta ask list!

#thank you again for asking! #love her #my ocs #joan #ask #goldheartedchaoticdisaster

[condomatsu]

this isn’t to attack you or anything but i think that hussie has been pretty explicit with kanaya being a lesbian in numerous bouts of commentary. the formspring response definitely could’ve been worded better, but hussie’s response to the question “is kanaya a lesbian” being “i thought that was obvious” followed by an overt over justification on how to conceptualize a troll being gay in a society with zero concept of monosexuality is far from what i’d consider a “horrific statement” that people are just “following blindly” lmfao. id honestly recommend rereading the formspring response and also. idk. talking to lesbians who’ve been latching onto kanaya for well over decade. i digress on people needing to lighten up with rose somewhat, but you should understand that lesbian readings for rose have tons of precedent and are FAR from invalid. hussie themselves called rose a lesbian in the book commentary for “[S] Seer: Descend” which i don’t necessarily think speaks for intent but like. it isn’t like the writing isn’t there. even in canon itself, act 6 especially (which whether people like it or not, is still half of the comic)

i think in general it just reads really weird to imply that people reading two very lesbian coded characters as lesbians is the problem with the current fandom reception for rose and kanaya as opposed to fandoms just being very male orientated and people generally being incapable of investing themselves in the inner lives of female characters. like shipping them with men would suddenly whoosh this problem away lmfao. i honestly think you’re getting mad at the wrong people, fandom is always ship-centric, you as a proshipper should be especially aware of this. and at least with rose i think this is very much a non-issue, in regards to people making plenty of content for her that isn’t just rosemary. idk, i probably didn’t word this as well as i could, but i think in general you should think more about how you talk about lesbians in fandom and lesbian readings, because it verges close to uncomfortably lesbophobic when you try to talk about it like it’s some plague ruining female characters

I think you misinterpreted my ramblings? Or didn't read it all, or I just explained myself very badly.

If Hussie stated they're lesbians and not other sexualities, my apologies, I must have missed it. But that wasn't even the point, so I guess I'll clarify it now.

1. I didn't said that Kanaya being lesbian is 'horrorific', the WORDS Hussie used to describe her sexuality are. I can't believe I have to say this, but homosexuality is NOT a fetish for your same gender, and Hussie used those words to describe Kanaya's homosexuality.

2. I NEVER said that character being lesbian/LGBT+ in general are the problem, nor headcanoning them as such is. WHAT I SAID is that reducing a character to one single characteristic is bad, rosemary was a pretest to talk about this because - as I hope you've read after that - I talk about other female characters and the problem of seeing them as black and white and nothing else.

3. I don't want to accuse you, really, but you give me the serious impression you've read the first paragraphs and not the rest. Like, I've talked about Vrirezi (more or less in the same way I did with rosemary), Nepeta and Feferi too, yet you're focusing only on one part I've clearly used as an incipit and fandom complain. But maybe I'm in the bad mood idk, you can skip this point, I'm sorry for accusing you.

4. I NEVER said that 'pairing Rose/Kanaya with boys will fix them' or whatever bullshit you're saying. I really don't know where it comes from honestly. What I said is that everyone is entitled of their headcanon and that people should chill out if somebody shipped Rose or Kanaya with boys, BUT I've also said that you're entitled to feel uncomfortable about it and not wanting those shippers to interact with you. AND I specified that them being always paired together, posting/reblogging/drawing/etc about them only as a couple and not individual characters is NOT the problem - as I do it myself with a mlm ship I love, it would be hypocrite of me to say something like that.

5. I didn't specify it (my bad), but this is something that affects mlm ships/male characters too. I didn't write it because I don't think it's a problem, why? Because male characters are more viewed as their own person and with more complexity than female characters, both in fandom spaces and, unfortunately, in medias too.

6. Finally, THE problem I was trying to get across is the "black and white" mentality that kills characterization, reducing a character only to one specific thing about them - such as making rosemary "the lesbians" and nothing else, or Feferi "the good progressist troll" or the "bitch who used Eridan", etc (I made other examples but whatever). This IS BAD FOR MALE CHARACTERS TOO, but in a place where female characters struggle to be more than a little point in media, with less characterization then a vacuum cleaner, and are hated on in fandom places simply because they exist and being sexualized/objectified and nothing else, I think we should treat those few female characters that are well written with the same respect we do with male characters. This means seeing them as a whole and not limiting ourself to one part of them.

7. I also said you can not do that! Do whatever the fuck you want lol. BUT don't genuinely reduce them to their (romantic) relationship with others, wether they're girls or boys.

Hope that cleared up! I'm at school rn so I can't do much to respond :") but I'm obviously not homophobic nor against headcanons/canons of whatever type, I'm not stupid :/

EDIT: I'm at home now :D I can say other stuff I wanted before but didn't have time:

8. "Fandom always was about shipping" uuh nope? Fandom is about EVERYTHING fan interact with, create, etc. It's about memes, it's about fanarts, it's about analysis, it's about cosplays, AND shipping (etc). Shipping is a big portion, sure, but let's not pretend it is the whole thing, alright? But if you engage and want to engage only with that part, that's great! I do that too for the most part. Just recognize that's not the only thing present in fandoms and there are many many people who are not interested in it.

9. I can see why people might consider pre-act6 rosemary interaction as romantic, but that's not necessarily that. Many (in the past) never even considered the two to be "potential partners" and there's a reason. And yeah, I wanted to see their interactions more and see their bond deeping before going straight to the WOOP, MARRIED! But that's a canon complain, not really a fandom complain.

10. Yes, there are people incapable to invest themselves in female characters' stories etc, but I feel that's one of the consequences of the huge lack of well written female characters in media and such (but I'm not an expert and I didn't dig in it too much, feel free to correct me if you know more).

11. I'm sorry but "this is not an attack" but then you said I stated lesbophobic opinions, so are you mad?? Sorry??

#homestuck

[feline-evil]

I would love to here you info dump about your ocs if you want to?

Grinning evily, I SHALL DO SO!

So ik its been a while since i've really drawn or talked about my boys but a refresher for everyone is i have an OC universe/story loosely titled Flesh and Bone with is a The Thing inspired story featuring my Oc's Clay, Damien and Jack! All three work on a shady arctic base run by an evil corp unbeknownst to them, and after a sequence of horrible incidence and creature attacks Clay is 'killed' only to come back as! Some sort of slopbeast thing monster! He's cool and chill though, not a threat to anyone; hes a wet bag of nerves desperately trying to maintain his shape as the man he was once before, because thats who he is!! It's a story about identity (both in all my main cast being trans men but also in the more metaphorical and subtextual reading of. Clays whole deal lmao) and exploring what that means, and its also about three gay fruits experiencing THE HORRORS!

I have not written it, it's far too big a task rn, but thats the basic idea <3 everyone can always feel free to check the flesh and bone tag or any oc tags (ie oc: damien, oc: clay, oc: jack ect) on my blog to see stuuuuuuff about it!

MORE BELOW THE CUT, LIKE WAY WAY MORE SO MUCH LMAO, and as always heads up for horror themed when it comes to my lil oc's and their world <3

Lately a lot of what i've been thinking about with my oc's has been the physical changes that happen throughout the time they spend trapped in that research base, because they are there for a LONG time they do look different than they do at the start! Obviously there's the general stuff like Damien's hair growing long and the roots showing, Clay's facial hair getting scruffy and his hair getting long and unruly too, jack cutting all his long hair off (too dangerous to wield a flamethrower frequently with all that hair in the way in his learned opinion); but then there's the more physical side of going through this really tough time too, more than just aesthetic changes like hair and clothing changes. The most obvious is yes, Clay IS just a writhing mass of meat that replicates the appearance he wants to be seen as; yes including his clothes his scarf has a heartbeat don't worry about it. But then there's stuff that's not Whatever the hell Clay's deal is; Jack loses a leg, they all gain a multitude of new scars, this is a long, tough situation to survive and none of them are untouched by this- but thats part of the point! You can go through traumatic stuff and you can make it through, it might change you, it might change stuff about you, sometimes in ways you cant undo, but you can still make it through!! And you can still be loved as you rightfully deserved, and you can live a long happy peaceful life!! Thats a big part of the heart of *waves hands* what i am doing in my head with my oc's.

When i can draw for longer periods again i'd like to make reference sheets with 3 views of each character on each, a before, during, and after.

Another thing i've been thinking of lately is the day comes back after 'dying'! And its both horrific and later funny so i like it a lot.

So. Thing style monster drags him away screaming from the base, he is torn to shreds, the last person to see him alive is Damien and he watches that thing tear him *apart*. Everyones pretty certain he's very dead.

Days pass.

Then Clay wakes up in a hollowed out ice cave, one thats been melted into this larger open space by the pile of dead flesh and meat that has been dumped inside it, the pile that he has also been dumped in. It reeks, its horrific, he has to climb and clamber his way to the top in a state of abject disgust and horror; he doesn't remember how he got here. He doesn't remember anything past that thing getting a hold of him. (Unbeknownst to him he IS that thing but he'll figure that out later, he kind of does know that to an extent but not on any conscious level nor is he willing to accept it to much later, boys in denial. When it killed him and ate his flesh for some reason it fucked the beast up and fully replaced whatever it was before with his memories and consciousness so this is him now, the body he had before is gone, this is Clay now)

The only way out of this cave is a very narrow passage leading up, he starts to try and crawl in. Too tight, he doesn't fit. He keeps trying and trying in sobbing desperation until....he.....does fit. Shoulders give way, he slides in, this gap too small to rightfully fit his head through he is somehow now fitting through. He's going to pretend he isn't, he's not a stupid man but he fully cannot cope with comprehending his body moving as if boneless right now, his brain cannot cope nor begin to even parse the possibility that he is morphing like slimy slipper meatgoop to fit through here. He escapes, collapses out there on the ice for a bit miles from the base. He cries for a bit. Repeats in his head over and over that that hole was big enough for him, it was normal, he crawled normally, it was normal and fine. And then he eventually starts walking through freezing winds and blizzards in the direction he hopes the base is.

NOT FUNNY YET I KNOW, BARE WITH ME. ITS THE NEXT BIT OK

Clay reaches the base eventually and climbs through a window, enters the currently empty dining hall. He's back! He is. So so mentally checked out and traumatised and FUCKED from his experience that all he can think to do is just....go back to normal, pretend it never happened. He sits down. Pours himself a coffee in his favourite mug.

Footsteps echo closer, people are coming.....

jack and Damien walk in and freeze. They stare at Clay.

Clay stares at them.

'H-hey!' He says, waving over, 'you uh! You guys are up early!'

DAMIEN GRABS JACKS ARM, GET THE FLAMETHROWER HE SAYS

CLAY GOES OOP!!!!!

(Art of this moment memorialised forever by my beloved boyfriend @subsequentibis btw!!)

AND CLAY THEN SCHWOOPS LIKE LIQUIDY MEAT UP INTO A CEILING VENT AND REASSURES HIMSELF THAT THE GRATE WAS DEFINITELY OFF THE VENT AND HE DIDNT JUST FIT THROUGH TINY TINY HOLES ITS FINE ITS NORMAL ITS FINE ITS FINE, AND HIDES IN THE VENTS FOR A BIT. LMAO, LOVE MY SILLY COMEDY BIT

#jay talkin #flesh and bone #oc: clay #oc: damien #oc: jack #tag for answerin asks

[tfw-no-tennis]

onepiece liveblogs 811-812

yea babeyyyyy

811!!

wow caesar just completely unable to read the room huh. not even charming like when luffy does it 🙄

get his ass chopper

sanji looks so chill w his sunglasses on lol he looks like he's about to go cruising around in a convertible

luv the strawhats fucking up enemies

so all the women in one piece are drawn w/yuri legs but honestly brook and sanji have it a bit too lol

also obligatory - I haaate how the women look in modern one piece style, I miss the style from the beginning of the show sooo much, everyone was so cute ughhghhgh

the men too honestly why is everyone all roided out. why are the necks Like That

n e wayz

nah sanji don't listen to caesar of all people re: the minks

nami and wanda gay meetcute fighting <3

like liiiiterally nami pinning and straddling wanda????? nami my beloved lesbian

OOOOBHHHH chopper taking charge and triaging oooooobbhh I loooove when he does medical stuff awbhh

^biased bc I'm currently in medicine school

NAAMI ILY NAMI

chopper forcing caesar to help...yes get his ass chopper<3

omg nekomamushia Large. like I knew that but seeing sanjji climb on him puts it in perspective lol

all the straw hats helping w the medical stuff <333

nami wanda mistaken enemies to lovers speedrun

I luv franky did u know

chopper pulling day AND night shifts he's such a dedicated Dr aww

luffy's like fuck yes I wanna meet the giant cat guy

loving the subtle full moon foreshadowing w/the minks

brook should do some musical exposition

THE DRAMA I LOVE IT YUMMMMMMMM

omg pekoms I was wondering when he'd appear

this is so tense and it's taking so long to find out where sanji went I can't even imagine reading this live lol

812!

awwww nojiko and genzo!!!! <333

so many people in this arc wearing sunglasses lol

sanji becomes a furry then gets kidnapped: the arc

nami seeing sanji being annoying like :|

Kill Him Nami

yea I don't wanna see momo's human form either bc of that haircut 😅 ik it's traditional but uh. oof

caesar's evil thought bubbles of 'why must I be forced to do non-evil things' lmfaoooo

'the animal kingdom pirates'? that aint is chief lol

also me reading that as animal cracker pirates lmfao

HHHHHHHHHHHH THE DRAMATIC TENSION (for me, upon reread, seeing caesar freak out bc he thinks the big mom pirates are here for him, BUT THEY'RE REALLY HERE FOR SANJI...ok and caesar but ALSO SANJI)

'when did we become bros' ok get his ass sanji.

wowww caesar fucked over big mom. Good Going Moron lol

I do love when sanji gets to be like. strategic. that's one of my favorite aspects of his character, and it separates him nicely from zoro & luffy, the other main fighters - I especially love early on in the story when sanji will go full sneaky and run off to ruin the enemies plans before anyone realizes what's happening

so yea I love him being in charge here

him glaring down at bege...does sanji have any idea that bege is here for him??? I don't remember but hhhhhh juicy

brook is like. comically tall and skinny lol

HAHAHAHA the panel of pekoms hugging sanji is FANTASTIC lol

damnnnnn I forgot that pekoms was willing to let sanji go and take the fall w/big mom...

PEKOMS OH NO does he actually die I don't remember. doubt it

ok bege's power is like. SO weird and One Piece™ and also cool??? like wtf. his nickname is 'gang' and like. yeah. he is a whole gang bc he's a castle with a bunch of shrunken dudes in him lol

Bag Of Holding Ass Powers..

ngl i fucking LOVE in one piece when a character is like 'I have the ____-____ fruit. I'm a ____man' like idk why but that tickles me lol

like bege saying 'I have the castle-castle fruit. I'm a castle man' fantastic 10/10

omg I forgot abt bege's guy who looks like a cross between chrollo hxh and ryuk deathnote and is also named vito (godfather reference that I now understand after watching it lol)

like mannnnn it's so weird that they all go inside bege lmao but also it makes sense. bc its one piece

I feel like sanji must know something is up, with everyone else chained up on the floor and he's at the table talking to bege - though it could be that sanji's the one in charge, but stiiiiill...

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THERE IT IS THERE IT IS THERE IT ISSSSSSSSSSSSS

SOOOOOOO FUCKING HYPE legit probably my favorite cliffhanger in all of one piece MANNNNNNNNN

like. listen. AUGHHHHH so much. the 'chapter 800+ secret family reveal' WOULD NOT WORK in like 99.9% of stories but it flows PERFECTLY in one piece bc there is such a precedent for this sort of thing!! for the sort of behavior where you never ever talk about your 'real' (biological) family or where you came from bc IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT!!! OF ONE PIECE!!!!! that the characters get to CHOOSE where they belong and who their family is

(also this reveal happening so late makes the sabo reveal - the 'chapter 500+ secret amnesiac brother reveal' - seem practically early lol)

and like, obviously this theme of choosing your family is handled a lot - like everything with ace, who does exactly this ^ and yet is still burdened by his blood

but ok what I'm getting at is that in basically any other story, a reveal about one of the main characters coming this late would be suuuuuch a stupid asspull, but in this case, it's one of the best writing decisions in the story in ages

like half the straw hats have mysterious/unknown biological origins - nami, zoro (outside of SBSs), franky, sanji (before now), brook (ig lol)...even luffy's mom and robin's dad and stuff are never mentioned. and none of this is ever really remarked upon - they DO have family, even if it isn't by blood

so the story sets this standard that the found family is The family and it doesn't matter where the characters came from. and this is the 'right' way of going about things, that the straw hats and other 'good guys' support

however, not everyone in the story agrees with this. which is huuuuge and so so juicy. like, ace gets to choose his brothers and his pirate dad/family, but the world govt will NOT forget or ignore his biological parentage, and they kill him for that. GODDDD it's so goooood

so you get the POV charaters (straw hats) who believe that where you came from biologically doesn't matter, and a lot of the antagonist characters who think it DOES matter.

so this creates the perfect atmosphere for us to never hear about the vinsmokes, bc we're seeing things via the straw hats, and sanji would never want or need to mention them, ever

the antagonists, though...different story. so that allows the perfect time for a reveal here!!!!

and HHHHH there are some EXCELLENT little tidbits earlier in the story - obviously sanji mentioning he's from north blue, and even his name w/the 'three'...it's stuff that's so small that it can easily be brushed aside if it doesn't amount to anything, but since it did we can look back and be like oh shiiiit

even him calling himself mr prince!!! like...he technically IS a prince by blood!!!

and like, ik a lot of people thought he'd be a celestial dragon, but I think it's better this way, bc if he DID have knowledge of the celestial dragons, even from when he was a kid, that would be useful in a way that would make it look bad if he witheld the knowledge previously, whereas the vinsmokes existing and sanji knowing about them doesn't really help anything...anyways, rambling.

so I love the last panel here, with sanji just looking completely shocked and horrified. because it isn't like he's really been hiding his past on purpose - he thought it didn't matter where he was originally from, because with the straw hats, it DIDN'T!!

but I feel like he had to have thought about it at least sometimes - what would happen if the vinsmokes came looking for him for whatever reason

but at the same time, we find out later that they basically kicked him out and told him to never come back, so he probably thought he'd never have to deal with them again (though I feel like he had to have wondered if he'd ever run into them in his travels...)

aaaanyways okay this is getting long and this is literally just the beginning of my long meta rants I'm sure. more to come soon!

#ehell yeahhhhh #lj reads one piece

[falsebooles123]

Car Trouble and a Full Scredule - Diary of a Big Ole Gay - 3/26/23

Hey Whores, I'm back after what feels like a ridicolous long week.

Let Me get into it. Monday morning my second kitchen job cuts my hours because they got a new guy. He seems pretty Chill, Then both the business meetings and date I had planned on monday got reschreduled for the middle of the week. My car has been acting up so I had to deal with the stress of driving a ticking time bomb that I don't know whats wrong with it to work because I need the money. and my scredule changed again friday like a couple hours before work. That was when I set up my second checking and spent a bunch of money because my bills had already came out. It was like 40 bucks but y'know what I deserved to treat myself. Also this was the weekend so not only did we have a shitshow of a friday prime rib night dinner but I also got to finally do a dinner service on the line. The fact that they have a bonified dishwasher now instead of just recreating that thing were your mom passive-aggresively bitches about the dishes because no one else will wash them.

(I'm the mom in this context, also this was the only gif I could find that didn't give people seizures or was literally porn.)

so I had a lot going on. I also watched a bunch of TV and did manage to catch a few films since the last week we did this.

Caged! (1950) dir. John Cromwell

Some people have called this this the Godmother of the Women in Prison movies and you wouldn't be remised to notice its DNA in later films and shows like Orange is the New Black.

I talked about it in a lot more depth on Letterboxd so I'll try my best to summerize.

First the movie is about a young ingenue named marie who is sent to an all-women prison on trumped up charges, the film makes a point to discuss the cruelity from the prison guards, including the trunchbullian Matron Harper, the lack of resources for the prisoners, and how oftentimes this type of uncivil atmosphere and lack of real resources to reintergrate them into society cause most of these women to return or in marie's case enter into a life of crime.

Luckily we have fixed all these issues in the prison system and thats totally not the same issues we have today /s

As I have said this is the Proto-Woman in Prison film, perhaps the ur-WIP movie and thus the question is raised.

What About The Lesbians!!!!????

So first I will say that this film is not textually queer, Marie is not eating kitty the second she gets into lockup but the film I will say has a queer sensibility.

I'm just going to quote my Letterboxd Review.

"and the answer is probably. I've haven't read the book that this is based on so I can't tell you if Kellog talked about it but this is a womens prison honey we can guess. We have to remember that this is in the middle of the haes code and so you couldn't have a character just be like, "hi, I like women". That being said there are a few choice lines that hint at that kind of thing. Kitty mentions that after awhile "You don't even think about men, you just fall out of the habit", a newspaper discusses prison immorrality, which probably is reffering to like gambling and smoking cigerettes but might hint at a more siturational inversion so to speak. 

Outside of these supposed oblique references there is the culteral queerness of it. The aestetic aspect of queer coding. First there is obviosly a lot of butchness about this film. we have just a fuckton of these butch tops in this film from Kitty(Betty Garde), Elvira (Lee Patrick) to the trunchbullian Everlyn Harper (Hope Emerson), to even the prison warden Benton (Agnes Moorehead). they all have this kind of dominant aggression to them. This masculinization. 

And this trope continues, Marie has her head shaved at a crucial part of the film and there is the repeated motif of the women doing rollcall were they have to speak there last names first, Marie Allen, now being called ALLEN, marie. Its literally patronymic. 

On one hand we can absoulutely interpret this trope as a comment on how prison dehumanized women, talking away there individality especially there vanity. The social way that they are able to express themselves. And this is emphasized a lot actually, the gift of lipstick at christmas, the head shaving, the fact that Marie asks for a brush during her mugshot and the guard quips back, "why theres no men here".

And I think its important to recognize that this type of dehumanization is different from mens prisons because our sense of vanity is different. A man can affirm his gender by getting jacked in prison but a women can't affirm herself along traditional feminity the system is designed in a certain way to masculinize that experience. In some small sense the very notion of a womans prison is a queer space outside of its constuct as a gynocentric space. 

(note: prison cosmetology is absolutely a thing and women perform a lot of amazing feats of ingenuity, from like tattoing on eyebrows to making makeup out of magazine ink and deoderant but note that these are ways of subverting a system not a byproduct of that system)

Even if we except the trope of a womans prison as a non-normative gendered space its also important to notice that one of the main conflicts in this film is not just between trunchbully Harper and her cruality against Marie, but also between the power struggle of "Corrupting" Marie by the hands of Evelyn and Kitty, who both want her to join there crime syndicate. Marie at one points says "If I said No to Kitty why would I say yes to you". Both of these characters are maternal in a sense but they also take on a very lesbian coding. Evelyn makes a point to gift the women feminine products for christmas, (makeup and a handmirror). In a straight lens its another commentary on femeninity and Evelyns power in the system through a queer lens its almost courtship. This is the type of thing you could buy your girlfriend as a present. In some ways A Life of Crime and Criminal Gayness are symbolic analogs to each other"

Honestly if you were a fan of Orange is the New Black or just like Butch Crime Donnas then this is a pretty good time. Another one of those "This is honestly not that gay but it was an absolute iconic piece of cinema so thank you" movies.

Tea and Sympathy (1956) dir Vincente Minnelli

This was one of those films that took me like a week to watch.

So I've quoted vito russo like 15 times at this point so let me just summerize the vibe. Basically theres a guy in this movie whose a sissy, he dances, he's in theater, he even sews. Wow, what a faggot. and none of the other boys want him to play in their raindeer games because he threatens there fragile masculinity. What I'm saying is that the first half of this TWO HOUR FILM, is just him being bullied for being a sissy.

I'm also saying this shit was highly triggering as both a cocksucker and a limp-wrist soyboy.

(oh god I just had a truamatic flashback were a church mom and her daughter were mocking me for being a limp-wrist faggot and I didn't understand why they asked me to do the limp wrist gesture. and so i'm just puzzled at this random gesture they wanted me to reinnact while my father is just visable angry sitting besides me. Honestly first fuck them and also my dad might be a homophobic asshole but at least he had the decency to never call me a slur.)

so childhood truama and complicated relationship with my father aside after we get through the very long and insuffrable queer misery porn we get to the actually fun part of the movie where there are HORNY MILFS. HORNY MILFS IN YOUR AREA.

THESE WOMAN WANT TO FUCK! NO CREDIT CARDS! HOOKUPS ONLY! CLICK NOW!!!!

yeah basically this movie is two hours of this guy making moves on his landlords wife while the guy is out hanging out with a bunch of twinks.

as I said in my extremly long write-up on the topic. T&S is absolutely a good film in showcasing what this type of homophobia and toxic masculinity is like and it was controversal for a reason but I also want to recognize that as a queer person this shit was hard to sit through.

so for a bit of fun yet another LB quote.

Because this shit is true to life. It feels very reminescent of my own experiences with homophobia. The kind that is more subtle and exclusionary and so while this is a objectively subversive and provokative film. I'm still going to relegate it to "Things I'm making Straight People watch during pride month while I leave the room". Its a double feature with brokeback mountain. Whats that.... thats four hours of Queer Misery Porn. Well too damn bad. Maybe if you stopped sharing those proto-terf facebook memes we could have watched Cruising or Rocky Horror. Sit Down, Shut Up, and relive my childhood trauma and daddy issues straiggot.

The Strange One (1957) dir. Jack Garfein

One of the weirdest episodes of Haze Him I've ever seen.

Jokes aside The Strange One is basically this drama set at a military academy. Person with a real name. Jocko De Paris, (I'm not making that up), is basically one of those rich assholes who is also criminal insane. He manipulates a group of other cadets into getting a guy expelled for being drunk.

Why did he do this. Well if you believe morissey (yes that Morissey), its because Paris is a little bit of a closet queen.

This film is weirdly homoerotic for no discernable reason. The queerness of the characters have nothing to do with it the director was like I'm going to make a movie with deep ideas about the nature of evil and tyranny and also everyones going to kind want to suck dick.

Another one of those films thats honestly kinda slow but I still think about the visuals.

Everything Else I Watched This Week

oof ok I finished Re: Mind, loved it messy moe drama made no goddamn sense would watch again.

Tried to watch Circus of Fear which is a Rialto Crime Movie but not one of the Krimi Films. Also Really Boring.

Also binged the second season of carole and tuesday. I loved it, the shows not perfect but I had so much fun with it.

I also saw Free Guy which.... was fun. I'm sorry but not every blockbuster is going to be worth adding to the Falseboolesey Hall of Fame. Also its like a second-rate Lego Movie which is without any irony. A modern Classic.

(this is non-negotiable. The lego movie is a deep introspection on the apollian vs dionysian drives, an exploration of childhood and adult perspectives and are fear of the joy of choas. It also may literally be cladestine Agritprop)

I also tried to have a Falsebooles123 Kinema movie night. I watched Grandma's Boy which people mention a lot as the prime example of like the sissy trope but honestly I don't remember anything about the film. I kinda just blanked out.

anyway whores. I have an entire week off starting tomorrow so its going to be a lot of editing, yard work, and doing some prep stuff for april which will be so busy. I'm excited through. I'm also very close to watching all the films I could find in the internet archive so theres that. woot woot.

#first gay kiss #Queer Cinema #Slurs(Reclaimed) #Homophobia #diary #Caged (1950) #Tea and Sympathy (1956) #The Strange One (1957)

[kideternity]

jack wwbn. also peter parker

I don’t like peter enough to like, have actually created thoughts about him outside of my overall perception and how he treats other characters 😭 so im skipping him. BUT, for Jack-

-Overall opinion of them: light of my life he means everything to me. I know I say this for a lot of characters because a lot of characters mean everything to me but Jack does hold a very special place in my heart and that place is helping me accept liking men. His only flaw is being a 70s character because I keep forgetting how much I hate reading the word vomit of older comics and it’s one of the main things why I haven’t been able to finish ALL his appearances yet but godamn I will one day

– Gender/sexuality headcanons: GAY GAY HOMOSEXUAL GAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I refuse to see Jack as anything but gay he is into men he loves men len kaminski didnt write jack not finding girls attractive anymore for people to think he wants a GIRLFRIEND. Also has trans man and leather gay swag

– Favorite moment in canon: there’s a lot of them but probably this entire like epilogue panel from Len Kaminski's “Children of the night” and especially the line “I am something unique and wonderful.” Snif snif okay gayboy!!!

– Favorite moment in a fanwork: none because Jack ain’t got fucking fans 😭😭😭😭😭 IG this one like traditional drawing I saw one time where it was jack smiling hanging out with the midnight sons that was cute 🤔

– Favorite line, in canon or otherwise: Reiterating again here the line above ^ “I am something unique and wonderful.”

– Characters I love seeing them interact with: Jack unfortunately doesn’t interact with a lot of people but TBH even though he's seen as a meme rn I actually really really love Jack's friendship with Morbius the living vampire I think they’re such an incredibly endearing pairing they’re literally boy best friends in love forever. They've tried to kill each other five times. Also that one arc where he meets Danny Ketch ghost rider and it feels like He's giving him gay advice the entire time is funny LMAO I wish he got to interact more with some of the larger marvel universe and other horror themed characters like Blade he like kinda gets slotted in a box of only getting to interact w ppl who show up in anything he's also in syndrome

– Last thing before sleeping headcanons: IDK what the fuck this one means. Howl at the moon perhaps for fun

– Sleeping habits headcanons: Insert Howling at the moon here too. This is kinda based on one story he was in but I think Jack also is a very extreme late night snacker

– First thing after waking up headcanons: I- I guess go to the bathroom get cleaned up????? Like a normal person?????? I dont get these last few questions but okay fine whatever

– Favorite locations headcanon: Jack tends to travel a lot in my experience but I imagine he's probably fond of his hometown still as well as any sort of very lush, forested area. Probably places with a lot of gas stations and car/bike culture too because he was like a literal biker in the 90s. They should let Jack go back to Romania I bet he'd fucking love it there. Chilling in the mountains you know

This wasn’t apart of the questions im just slotting it in here but they should have let Jack be the xkids Gym teacher btw back when the xmen were cool and actually had the academy still literally IDC IDC He'd be a good teacher he'd tell them to love themselves and to kill cops

#jack russell #werewolf by night #midnight sons #marvel #dinu yells in the void #chek's post #thank you beloved friend. i love jack. feel free to continue sending these everyone though i will warn you that if its a character- #-i dont actually think a lot about usually then i will be forced to skip them because i aint got si #shit* to say. thank you

[mayasdeluca]

Acting coach anon here: my 2 cents on straight actor playing LGBTQ+ characters and why we still don’t have bigger representation especially in higher budget projects.

-Acting is literally becoming someone else, so it’s part of their job to do so. Do I think queer people should have the same chance of straight actors, absofuckinglutely, but unfortunately isn’t like that, so that’s also why no many actors are out, at the end it’s rare that the best actors take the part especially in big budget projects, it’s the most popular that get casted, it’s not always about talent, but how much they sell, how much audience they bring in, how much online interaction they create, it’s a money industry after all…so money it’s the first goal, and that’s simply the truth.

-Coming out as an actor is still not a great career move, Hollywood pretend they are open about it, but they are not as much as it looks like.

-Many projects with queer stories and characters do not make the light of day because a lot of A/B list actors refuse to play LGBT+ roles, for a bunch or reasons: the backlash of audience especially the LGBTQ+ one and how abrasive they become toward them and the fact that they are not part of the community and so on.(obviously not all fans, but just look how much drama small shows as S19, The100, Dickinson and so on created and how people become nasty or obsessed towards some actresses, especially when they are not gay).

Yes it’s amazing how actresses discover their queerness by playing these characters, but it’s their own journey, and people should chill out and stay out of their personal life and avoid speculating and such, be respectful and happy they even share some of it, we queer people know how hard is to come to term with out identity, imagine and actor doing so publicly or on TV and social media, it’s fucking scary, and it could be dangerous for their career as well.

-A production company will not approve a big project without big name to carry it, its not a smart move….they won’t do it.

-Few out/trans actor/actress get big roles and mostly because their talent it’s unbelievable and undeniable and most got famous before coming out( Sarah Paulson, Jodie Foster, Elliot Page, Kristen Stewart, even less gay men actor)

-A lot of actresses that previously played gay characters, because of the online comments harassment and whatnot, refuse now to play more queer roles, and as I stated, one of the main reason it’s the backlash they received for not being really part of the community, I could name names but it’s pretty clear if you look online at the biggest iconic lesbian character in the last 5/10 years.

So what I’m saying: acting it’s THEIR job let them do it, it would be awesome if people got casted for their talent, queer or not, but unfortunately isn’t always like this.

I could write lots about it and there are some Tumblr accounts in here of ppl that work in the industry and they have a wider knowledge about the production part of the industry, my observations come from personal interaction with queer actresses and talking with my producer friends and some from reading from other queer industry blogger, so I do not want to say it’s always 100% like this but general audience and fans only know 5% of what’s going on behind a production.

My point is to always be respectful of other people life, job and personal journey.

Hi acting coach anon!

All very good points and I agree, it's their journey and their privacy when it comes to their personal life and we all have to be respectful of that. And you're right that a lot of the time it comes down to the most popular actor getting the role because they want that drawn in audience from the start. Money is always their first priority. And I'm sure it's not easy to come out in the industry which makes it even more important when actors are comfortable enough to do so and share with fans publicly and it shouldn't be scrutinized by the public.

As others have also mentioned and I agree with too, I think the focus should more be about the lgbtq+ rep in the writer's room and behind the scenes as opposed to the actors. All they can do is act, like you said, that's their job. So while I'm sure the people BTS face some of the same struggles as actors would with coming out or feeling comfortable to express their true identity, I feel like that representation is most important so that we get the best positive representation on screen as possible.

#asks #anon #acting coach anon

[aromanticbuck]

I just cheered at your response to your latest ask. I've only been in the 911 fandom since start of S7 but I am really struggling with so many people making Buck's Bi storyline about Eddie. People watch an entire episode through their shipping lenses and it's become so frustrating because this is about BUCK being queer and having positive experiences with men/Tommy. I simply don't read into every buck/eddie interaction the way everyone else seems to because if you step away - it's often not that deep. I think the shippers need to realise that a general viewer of the show and the way the script is at the moment - buddie romantically is not there. Maybe it will be at some point which would be great but my god - let Buck experience this without people constantly making it all about Eddie.

I've written so many posts about it at this point that I've lost count but yes. Exactly.

This is a storyline about Buck realizing his sexuality. Realistically, BuckTommy isn't going to be endgame. Statistically, that's just not going to happen - but they're really cute and I want them to be together for a little while. I love their relationship and how healthy it is. There's communication, and growth, and a sexuality realization arc, and that's so rare to see on TV anymore. I'm so used to my favorite (queer) ships either not being canon or being put through so much drama for the sake of drama that I wish they weren't canon (I think the only exception I can think of here is HenRen), and it's especially rare to see a bisexuality arc treated with so much care and love without it being a stepping-stone to being gay (Netflix you know what you did).

I wish the storyline was treated as well by the fandom as it is by the cast and the writers. Lou and Oliver are doing a fantastic job, and I hope they get to keep doing this job, because I love seeing BuckTommy on my screen. I think they have really good chemistry!

But I know that, realistically, the fandom is just going to keep being Like This. I've been in big fandoms before, and the most popular ships do have a lot of chill fans (I like to think I'm part of that group, but I haven't seen me from the outside, so I'm not a reliable source there), but the ones that are like this - making everything about their ship even when a scene has nothing to do with it, and sometimes nothing to do with either character - are just so loud that they drown everyone else out.

And it sucks, but that's why we curate our own experiences online to the best of our ability. I'm going to try to keep having fun (and write more Kinkley fic when I have time this weekend) and do my best to ignore the loud fans during the hiatus. Hopefully things will quiet down while we're between episodes, or at least the block button will be easier to use (thank goodness for KXit so I can block specific posts, or else I would lose my mind)

And, if you ever need to vent about something, believe me, I will understand. Feel free to message me - either through anon again here in my ask box, or if you want to privately communicate - and I'll commiserate with you happily. 💜

#answered #anon #anonymouse #alex says things #fandoms are big and loud and i am tired

[maglors-anion-gap]

15, 22, 32

-@outofangband

[from this ask game]

15. How do you write smut scenes? Do you get very visual or detailed? How important is it to be realistic?

In the technical sense, I outline smut scenes the way I outline most scenes: I start with my brainstorm outline, which is very basic physical blocking, very plain subject verb object style.  Then I add emotional indicators.  Then I add dialogue.  Then I go back and edit for all of the good and juicy bits, figurative or otherwise evocative language etc.  I workshop the grammar a little bit, vary things up a bit.  I like to pick an author to ape, see how close I can get to their pastiche.  You've read it already ;) but my MSV fic is coming out tomorrow and I tried to mimic cormac mccarthy (all the pretty horses) - I don't think I super succeeded, but it was a fun exercise and I like what I produced. 

I'm getting better at being detailed.  In general I have an issue writing anything lengthy, but as I get more comfortable with writing I get more comfortable with this too.  And I have a certain amount of stylistic liberty with fic that I wouldn't have with original fiction because fan communities are pretty chill about viewing erotica as a valid means for communicating themes.  I'm not a big fan of erotica that is very physical/visual to the point that it's not detailed in other ways?  I'm very big on, like, the atmosphere and character introspection, openness or reticence between characters, what is communicated between the character and reader, or narrator and reader.  I like to include those sorts of details, and physical details that are metaphorical or fantastical.  I spent a lot of time thinking about horses during the aforementioned MSV fic, and wildness and skittishness and beauty like that, the equine and the erotic etc etc.

Paradoxically, I like to be realistic but I love to write things that aren't realistic.  Like, there's a certain amount of eroticism to the fantastical and the unachievable, you know?  People don't have inflation kinks because they think it's attainable, it's just hot (to them, ig). I kind of just expect people to go into the scene with good faith like "is this hot? then it's good." Tiresomely picking apart the realism of a scene is boring to me and annoying.  Don't yuck other people's yum.  Otoh I definitely draw from real life; one of the best things I read recently was a treatise on gay sex written by a gay guy who likes reading gay fanfiction.  It was kind of validating to hear him say "no you don't need three fingers... or any fingers... I don't know where people got this idea," because I was like "gotta include the fingers, or people will accuse me of being a Fake Gay Guy and an Irresponsible Fetishist" (people love saying this about trans men online) - when like.  yeah ymmv but many ppl really don't need the fingers.

22. Are there certain types of writing you won’t do? (style, pov, genre, tropes, etc)

Hmm so I really hate the hard and fast "you should never do X" rules.  The general rule I operate on is that anything is valid if you can do it really really well.  Make that rule your bitch. I just don't labor under the delusion that I'm good at everything, and because this is a fannish pursuit of mine I don't spend energy honing the styles that I don't enjoy all that much.  So that said, I don't do first person POV.  I dislike writing first person POV for the same reason I don't enjoy reading first person POV or reader insert fic - I don't want to be in the story, I am not there, I am a voyeur.  Is this dysphoria? Is this a desire to dissociate (?) completely into the character themself?  Sure.  I don't write second person, but as much as some people hate it, this is actually less off-putting to me than first person, and there are a couple writers who have successfully broken the mold and done the impossible - really good second person pov fic.  Maybe I like it better because it has the same vibe as those narrator monologues from the Iliad or Shakespear - "speak, oh muse…" etc etc.  I'm not sure why.  It's the "being ordered around" of it all - it's your POV but it's being dictated to you, you're being steered around by the narrative, you're a puppet not a person (no, don't do anything freudian with that, aha). I won't say there's a trope I won't do, but I'm not a fan of high school, and I rarely do modern AUs.  I'm very confused why fanfiction.net had a special genre tag for "westerns." 

32. Name three of your favorite fanfic writers.

You know this is a really difficult question, right?  And there are zero right answers?  There are less fraught questions posed by mothers in law. (ily)

Actually, you're one of them! You have no idea how often I refer back to your ecology master lists!  You really occupy this niche that no one else is; no one is doing the secondborn-posting like you are! except maybe user Elwing, so I'm gonna say the two of you are tied for "my favorite secondborn writers in the fandom." 

Something really cool I saw recently was in a fic Skyeventide wrote, using a ton of footnotes? It was like, part fic, part research paper, there were notes all over the place explaining linguistic etymology and settings and stuff like it was an in-world text? I'm probably not remembering this quite right, and this is not really sounding super flattering, I promise that it is.  I love that sort of style and it was really cool to read because my favorite thing is to read annotated books (shakespear, jane eyre, translations of non-english texts) where I can flip back and forth and read the commentary and exposition as I go through the book.  What is lost in the translation, or changed in the translation, or what is unique about this idiom and what can we learn from that, what are the double meanings, what is the impact on the tone, etc etc.  There was just a lot of effort put into it and it was really cool.  Also, separate fic (i think), convinced me that eol and curufin hooked up once and yes. i'll integrate that into my worldview.

person number three is i-am-a-lonely-visitor because no one else is doing trans porn, trans tears, and trans love like i-a-a-l-v.  Singlehandedly gotten me on the trans man celebrian bandwagon. singing your praises kissing your feet etc etc.