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#AND HE'S ACE!!!! QUITE GOOD REP TOO!!

absolutebl · 10 months

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Genuine Question: Given how much people hate problematic topics in BL eg: kp, mame, love syndrome, etc. why is everyone so damn excited about Only Friends? Like we know nothing about the show. It's GMMTV so how sexy is it going to get? you know, like it's GMMTV. I like the cast as much as anyone and particularly FirstKhao but I don't see this 'sexiness' everyone is going so crazy over? Is it some bts thing like I know the director is jojo and he's gay. Is that why everyone so excited? Is it because we just haven't gotten anything really brilliant this year that gets the whole BL fandom together and that's why people are hoping this will, is that what's going on? I like everyone involved well enough but 'sexy', 'crazy', 'problematic', 'high heat'... I don't get it.

Only Friends & Jojo

Genuine answer.

Okay so this question got me invested enough to get off the phone, over to the laptop, and onto hotel wifi, which means typos rather than dictation homophones, but there it is.

I guess what I am saying it...

mistakes will be made

From the tenor of your question methinks you have not watched Friend Zone? It's a 2 part series. Mostly messy hets but...

Also a TON of broad spectrum queer rep (lesbian, bi, ace, demi). Real queers, not sanitized for straight consumption.

Because yeah, GMMTV will get messy and go into higher heat levels in a late night way (not in a KP way).

But actually what has most people excited about Only Friends is it being sourced in this man:

Jojo Tichakorn Phukhaotong

Jojo is a screenwriter (originals) and director, openly gay, multifaceted and a little experimental, naturally talented (on the job trained - he's an archaeologist originally), and he is behind:

The Warp Effect, Friend Zone and MOST importantly (IMHO)...

3 Will Be Free

There are others too, but for the purposes of this post, those are the 3 that count. I think of him a little as the GMMTV director version of Ohm's acting.

Jojo specializes in:

ensemble pieces,

good chemistry (NOT necessarily high heat, so by this I mean actor chemistry with each other all around - couples, cast, team, production)

working with and finding actors within GMMTV's stable who work well together (even if that means busting up a pair),

a queer lens,

queer rep,

and often very messy story (as in he is not invested in the traditional beats of a romance, let alone a BL).

AND he can shoot action (this is a specific skill set for directors and it's NOT easy),

thus he will shoot his sex/intimacy & COMEDY scenes as if they WERE action sequences.

This makes his stuff particularly exciting to watch. It's dynamic, there's a lot of movement, the eye is caught and dragged places. He doesn't use dirty/peekaboo framing or central aperture or manga style (not with INTENT the way trained directors do). In fact he does none of those things I harp on about because I like the romance stuff.

He's not being clever with us. He's being honest, but still applying skill. His stuff not quite raw, but also not really directed. You can tell he gives his actors a script, throws them together and then instructs them to just BE THOSE CHARACTERS. He has a light touch, he trusts them. He's not fussy or nit-picky. He's not doing a million takes to get that sene exactly how he envisions it. His ensemble pieces are just that, group projects.

His eye is wide, even for intimacy, by which I mean: he controls and watches for multiple actors at once when there are a lot of them on screen together, without them feeling stiff.

His style is quite organic but not too gritty.

Struggling to understand what I mean?

For example, watch a Jojo "group of friends chatting" scene where everyone is just standing around then watch the same thing in, say, SCOY. You'll see what I mean. SCOY is also a very queer ensemble piece, but it will feel quite stiff, unnatural, and "planned" (staged) by comparison.

For the giffers out there you might notice that Jojo's stuff is particularly difficult to gif cleanly? This is why.

I find him an exciting director. I didn't cover him in my directors overview because at the time he hadn't done much BL (and frankly, he still hasn't). It's not his focus.

I think Only Friends is actually not likely to be very BL. Queer = yes, BL = NO. He won't hit the tropes and there is no reason to assume it will end happily for all couples (if any). That's not Jojo's point of view.

He doesn't play our game. As a result, some of those excited by the idea of this show (or excited the general enthusiasm & anticipation around it), may be doomed to disappointment.

It's one of the reasons you don't see me getting excited about it.

I'm a fan of specifically the fluffy side of BL, this will NOT be that. And I can appreciate a director without necessarily liking the stories he tells.

I am industry enough to acknowledge Jojo's skill (and I LOVE 3 Will Be Free - just not as a BL), but I don't always like his narratives. No matter how good he is, his stuff is not why I personally watch Thai BL.

It's GMMTV, so how sexy is it going to get?

Again, see Friend Zone. GMMTV has a late night pantheon, mostly for het, but they will get salacious. Lots of cheating and terrible decisions. There will be no archetypes. Characters will exist in grey areas, even the "good" characters. There will be no paladins in this show. No seme/uke.

To answer this frankly?

Only Friends will get soap opera or telenovella sexy but no more. So we will be in Midnight Chicken territory, not Bed Friends.

I think the words being bandied about:

'sexy', 'crazy', 'problematic', 'high heat'

are used here on tumblr (and in fandom) as an attempt to articulate expectations set up by Jojo's style.

Most viewers only react emotionally to the tenor of a director with this set of skills. That's fine, that's what the production company wants: A visceral emotional reaction.

But I hope I've managed to clarify from a film-critic perspective what's bringing this sensation about?

But ALSO seeing a bunch of, essentially, lower heat pure BL pairs, have to push themselves into messy queer spaces? (Notice GMMTV only let the more established actors into this one? No JoongDunk, no GeminiFourth)

This is probably really what everyone is excited about.

They are gonna see their favorites cheat, sleep around, be gay (not BL gay, but actual gay). Some are legitimately excited about this, some are shipper excited, and the BL-stans who don't know Jojo are doomed to disappointment.

I'm mostly excited by how messy this is gonna make the fandom.

Su su na.

(source)

#only friends the series #forthcoming bl #watch ABL eat crow #bl director #bl film ciritc #bl analysis #industry insider #messy gay #bl fandom #upcoming bl #2023 bl #khaotung thanawat #firstkhao #GMMTV #friend zone 2 #3 Will Be Free #The Warp Effect #Jojo Tichakorn Phukhaotong

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initforthelolzz · 11 months

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No one does queer representation quite like One Piece.

Allow me to explain in great detail.

I’m going to talk about the queer rep in Impel Down, and you’d best buckle up cause it’s rant time.

Impel Down is one of my favorite arcs because I love the story line, it’s downright hilarious, and Luffy’s struggle to rescue Ace is incredibly compelling.

But there is another reason why I love Impel Down so much, and that’s the queer rep that utterly knocked me off my feet.

Now, I’ve come to accept that queer representation in anime (not touching on any other media in this rant) is generally nonexistent or extremely rare… if you’re watching anything other than a BL.

On the rare occasion that we do find some LGBT rep it is usually extremely subtle, and shown exclusively in convoluted subtext and minuscule details that are easily overlooked. While this representation is so incredibly meaningful to everyone who’s able to pick it out, the subtly makes it all the more easy for homophobes to argue that it was never in the first place.

Keeping all this in mind, I finally picked up One Piece several months ago after refusing to watch it for a long-assed time (It was too long and I thought the art style was weird. Dear god have I eaten my words.) I’d heard on social media that One Piece was big on trans representation, but I wasn’t prepared at ALL for what I’d find in that department.

I had NOT expected to find One Piece’s treasure trove of LGBT characters in Impel Down of all pleases, and the shock factor made it so much better.

The arc had already been chaotic as fucking hell by the time Luffy reunited with Bon Clay, and their reunion made me tear up. Like dude!

I hadn’t been particularly attached to Bon Clay before but THIS ^ was it. This scene right here, he wormed his way into my heart istfg.

Can we appreciate this scene please?! The sparkles in the background?? The leg lifting?! The REUNION HUG?!?! I love this so dearly not just because it’s fucking ADORABLE but because of what it *says.*

Bon Clay is an outwardly queer character, and Luffy absolutely adores him. Those two are best friends and we treat queer people with respect and they are good people. We can be friends with them and allies with them and they aren’t something to shy away from just because they’re different.

Be fucking for real. The representation is so positive, and it never ceases to blow me away.

If you thought that this representation was enough YOU WERE WRONG because this BARELY SCRATCHED THE SURFACE.

Iva. Emperio Ivankov. The Queen of the Queers. He is a gender fluid ICON and a literal drag queen. His special attack is a wink that blows shit up. His Devil Fruit ability is quite literally hormone therapy.

Do I need to say more?

THATS RIGHT, I FUCKING DONT

Now, this is One Piece we’re talking about, so naturally characters are going to be wildly exaggerated but ARE YOU KIDDING

IVA’S ABILITY IS HORMONE THERAPY. HE CHANGES PEOPLE’S GENDER AS AN ATTACK. HIS POWER WORKS THROUGH SYRINGE NEEDLES THAT POP OUT FROM UNDER HIS ACRYLIC NAILS.

I love Iva so fucking much words cannot describe 😭

Oda didn’t just say “look, I made a queer character” he really said “fuck it, nuclear option it is.” It is literally impossible to ignore the fact that Iva is LGBT, and One Piece’s queer rep is SO IN YOUR FACE, especially in Impel Down. It’s impossible to ignore, which is the stark opposite from the usual business with “implied” queer characters in anime.

Implied? HAH.

There is a kingdom of gay people living INSIDE THE WALLS of the biggest prison in the world. They are led by a gender fluid drag queen and run a strip club bar in the middle of a fucking prison, where they drag new gays through the cracks in the walls to join them.

Dude.

I love One Piece so much.

All joking aside, the introduction of Iva and his kingdom of gays drove me to tears. Like deadass. The representation literally drove me to tears, I was sobbing.

Why? Because it was so positive.

Do you know how meaningful that is?

It made me fucking cry, man.

Iva’s speech introducing his gay kingdom, like goddamn. I can’t even remember exactly what he said because I was crying the whole time.

“We’re here and we’re queer.” That’s a quote from fucking One Piece, dude. I can’t, I can’t.

It wasn’t just the introduction of Iva’s kingdom or the LITERAL LESBIAN COUPLE SITTING AT THE BAR, it was the way the sense of community was presented.

We’re called the LGBTQ Community and I don’t know if Oda’s a member or not but HOT damn if he doesn’t know what it means to be a part of it.

I’m talking about the Luffy situation. He fought the Warden and got his ass handed to him. He was poisoned to all hell and about to die at 17 but Bon picked him up and carried him to Iva’s Kingdom. He’s wanted to meet Iva his whole life but by the time he did he was more worried about Luffy’s condition than anything else.

And then we find out that Luffy had insisted that Bon get medical treatment before he did. What a guy. When Iva got Luffy, he said that it was a lost cause to try and overcome the poison. But he was willing to give it a try anyway.

Let’s discuss.

Iva injected Luffy with hormones to help him beat the poison. Luffy underwent hormone therapy. (I will cling to this tidbit of information forever, YOU CANT TAKE IT FROM ME.) When Bon woke up, he demanded to see Luffy.

Iva warned him about what he would find, but brought Bon to Luffy at his request. When Bon found Luffy, he found his friend chained up and screaming in excruciating pain. We didn’t see Luffy in full at all during this time, but when Bon looked through the door he was horrified.

He got defensive. He started yelling at Iva, saying that the person inside that room was not the Luffy he knew.

Iva was firm, and told Bon that Luffy was going through a tough challenge, and he would be different afterwards, but he was still the same Luffy.

Do you see it? Can you read between the lines? This exchange made me sob all over again. Why? I urge you to think about it, to see the underlying message here.

Bon broke down into tears, realizing that Luffy was fighting for his life. He apologized and took back his harsh words.

Then he spent hours outside Luffy’s cell, screaming till his throat was raw and cheering him on. He couldn’t do anything to help Luffy, Luffy was fighting this battle on his own. But he could be there for him.

I ask you again, do you see it?

As the hours passed, others in Iva’s kingdom trickled out to see what Bon was doing. They told him to stop screaming, that it was useless. They mocked him, told him he was being a fool.

Then Iva stood up for him, and told them to see Bon for what he was doing. He couldn’t help Luffy, but he could cheer him on. He could be there for him.

Within moments, the entire kingdom was outside Luffy’s cell. Cheering him on. Encouraging him. Supporting him. They didn’t know who he was but they saw him fighting and immediately backed him up.

It isn’t just representation, merely the presence of a queer character or even an entire kingdom of gays that makes it meaningful. It’s how those characters are shown, how they behave.

Oda could have thrown in a queer character here and there and left it at that, but he went out of his way to show the incredible support system that this community provided. They jumped to Luffy’s aid. They were so supportive and cheered him on until he beat the poison. They fought alongside him… and you know what else?

When Luffy woke up, he accepted them in a heartbeat. He didn’t question anything, just saw a bunch of people and thought “huh. New friends!”

Oda’s representation is exaggerated as much as it is painstakingly accurate in nature and positive to a tee. Obviously it isn’t perfect. Iva and the squad were still mocked, called “freaks” and “weirdos.”

But it’s about Luffy. How Luffy behaves. How Luffy reacts. Even in the face of how the rest of society views Iva and his kingdom, Luffy sees them as friends and allies and doesn’t give a singular shit if they’re gay or not.

Luffy accepts everyone, and he doesn’t draw the line at queer people. The aroace king himself. You heard it here, Luffy is the ultimate ally.

Of course I’m not even scraping the surface on this topic and Oda’s representation is in no way perfect, but Impel Down remains the greatest example of queer rep that I’ve seen this far.

You gotta give credit where credit is due ✨

#one piece #✨✨✨#rant post #one piece analysis #opinions #hot take #luffy #bon clay #iva #emporio ivankov #monkey d luffy #lgbt representation #ayyyyy #the gays #luffy the ultimate ally

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smudgethebadbard · 20 days

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Y’know what. Screw it, random Harvey headcannon time:

This man is my personal little skrimblo, my grunkle if you will, so I have decided to compile my personal headcannons for him here for you folks!

His personal comfort show is Over the Garden Wall, I can imagine him listening to the soundtrack while he builds :]

He struggles with C-PTSD and RSD, which is possibly canon? Hinted at HEAVILY in his higher friendship/marriage dialogues. I just need him to know it’s gonna be okay ;-;

He enjoys antiquing and thrifting! I feel like he would heavily enjoy the pre-loved items, however making sure to properly cleaning them before he puts them away!

There is absolutely no evidence to prove this, but I feel like he would, or has collected coins. Really not sure why, I just feel like this fits him quite well.

Mentioned this in my last Harvey appreciation post, but I feel like he would be asexual or possibly demisexual! This might also be your local ace wanting more rep, but I get a strong vibe from this man.

He has a fear of getting tattoos. Both the commitment of having something on his body for so long, the risk of infection, and the fear of the actual process worry him, however he hopes to get one to represent Farmer soon :3

Harvey loves bugs. Another one I don’t have any evidence for, but I can just imagine him sitting on a bench outside with a little guy on his hand while he reads, or flipping over stones to make sure the pill bugs are doing well. (Also, he seems like the kind of person who had a bug hyperfixation, coming from someone with one)

He doesn’t know any instruments fluently per say, but he finds the mandolin to be a fun, and good instrument to play around with, especially learning songs for farmer!

He has a complex understanding of the International Phonetic Alphabet, and will go on happy rambles about etymology if farmer inquires! He is a doctor after all, and lots of medical terminology is based in latin, which has a deep connection with the IPA so this would make sense!

He is terrified of dogs, specifically small dogs. They just seem too evil and ill-intended, he cannot understand why these little goblins must be so aggressive, which is honestly valid

Anyways, that’s all i’ve got for now, but more coming soon possibly?? If folks want, I can do my headcannons for other characters as well!! Enjoy my friends :3

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0ciestiel0 · 3 months

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If I have one complaint about Hazbin Hotel and Alastor. One not silly complaint. It’s about having Alastor be a representative for asexuality. Bear with me for a hot minute when I say that.

From what we see of Alastor’s character, he’s not good. He’s a chaotic evil former serial killer. He’s a cannibal. And likely a psychopath. That’s how his character reads, in my opinion. Very Hannibal Lecter. As a human he was what, a serial killer cannibal? He’s been presented to us as the actually truly evil self-serving character.

So why does that matter? Why does Alastor being a psychopath matter? It matters because I don’t think a psychopath should be used to be a representation of any sexuality because they are inherently different. Their psychopathy puts them into a category of their own. They don’t form any relationship in a normal or healthy way, friendships, romantic relationships, family, they don’t develop them the same way because of their psychopathy. And their sexuality is tied to their psychopathy. There are sex motivated serial killers where their sexual preference is tied into who and why they kill. And then there’s killers like Hannibal or Alastor where sex is irrelevant because of how their psychopathy leads them to view the world and other people.

Which is very different from people who are asexual, gay, straight, bi, whatever. No matter the sexuality relationships are still formed the same. Just the degree of intimacy may change. But people who are asexual still most certainly form healthy friendships and relationships. But psychopaths don’t. They may mimic them, like Hannibal or Alastor, and wear a mask or person suit, but they do not have the same expression or understanding of relationships.

They don’t see people the same. And in say Hannibal or Alastor’s case, they likely don’t see people as anything but objects for them to use to further their goals and amusement, and see them as snacks.

I just think we should separate psychopaths from any form of representation in that sense. They are their own thing. And I wish creators would maybe understand that difference a little more. Because not only is it a little odd to think a psychopath is good rep, but it leads people to really misunderstand the character by giving them traits that they don’t have, humanizing them too much, because they get treated as a normal person whose just maybe flawed, like angel dust, vaggie, husk, sir pentious, etc, when they aren’t that. Psychopaths brains are just different and treating them like they aren’t is such a mischaracterization.

What makes those kinds of characters interesting is the psychopathy. It makes them uniquely different. It’s a type of thing that is not common. They are some of the most dangerous and manipulative kinds of characters. There’s so much to work with. They are their own thing that’s separate from other forms of representation. Which is psychopaths.

It’s also such a shame we don’t get more asexual characters represented in media. The number likely wouldn’t be high but it certainly doesn’t need to be as low as it is. It’s quite the spectrum to explore and I think there’s been a few missed opportunities with characters that media and creators dropped the ball on. And no hate or anything for seeing Alastor as ace rep and enjoying it. I can understand the reasoning. This is just my personal gripe with making psychopaths representation of anything other than a psychopath in general

#alastor #alastor the radio demon #hazbin hotel theories #hazbin hotel theory #hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #Alastor complaint #Hazbin hotel complaint

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kiatheinsomniac · 2 years

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Hi! I’ve been really enjoying your writing recently, especially your head canons. I think you really get the essence of the characters very well. This may be a weird request (and you can tell me if so!) but I was wondering what the main Assassins (if possibly also the Templars like Shay and Haytham) would react to a Latina/Hispanic reader. I’m Hispanic myself, and I’ve found no content that fits specifically to me; I always tell myself to just write the head cannons or fanfic myself, but I feel too shy honestly, and you’d do a far better job of it than I would!

Maybe the reader fits a lot of the stereotypes (kinda like I do) – likes dancing, cooking, likes speaking a lot of Spanish all the time, is somewhat social, very feminine, etc. I wonder what the different characters would genuinely think of this personality at first meeting, or maybe in their relationship?

Again, if you don’t feel comfortable with it, that’s cool! I still love your head canons!

notes: It's not a weird request at all and I'm so happy to know that you enjoy my writing and like my characterisations! And omg never be shy about sharing your writing! I'm sure it would be amazing!

This is my first time writing a Hispanic/Latina reader (I've mostly focused on the Hispanic aspect just for you!) so I'd love feedback and/or constructive criticism! Making my readers feel represented is very important to me and I'd like to make sure that I can give you good rep! I've tried to follow your request of the reader fitting a lot of the stereotypes listed and I hope that I've done so in a respectful way!

characters: Altaïr, Ezio, Edward, Haytham, Shay, Connor, Arno, Jacob

☾ ⋆ﾟ MASTERLIST / RULES / TAGLIST FORM

a l t a ï r :

As much as he's not really a social butterfly, he couldn't help but feel drawn to you before he even knew you all that well

He chalks it down to a feminine charm that you have (and your amazing and generous cooking! Though, I think it might take a bit of convincing to get him to dance with you lol)

He's very interested in your culture and shows a lot of interest on picking up Spanish seeing as you tend to speak it a lot (I can imagine he was interested in learning languages seeing as he likely spoke Arabic and Greek and probably spoke to Richard Lionheart in French) - he'll try and join you in speaking as he's going along the learning process!

I can see him as being interested to learn how to make the dishes you cook too! I think the two of you could have quite a few date nights where you both prepare dinner together of typical dishes from each other's cultures, having a little private dance around the kitchen with just the two of you with some music in the background as you teach each other the recipes.

e z i o :

I headcanon that Ezio speaks Spanish pretty well (whether fluently or not, I don't really have enough to go on) because of his communications with Maria and Aguilar as shown in AC Rebellion so he loves hearing you speak Spanish as it gives him a chance to test his skills when he speaks with you!

As a couple, you both take turns cooking and so your diets will be a mix of Mediterranean and Latin American cuisine

Being from an upper-class family, he would have head to learn courtly dances so I can 100% see Ezio as a dancer and he just loves to dance with you! You don't even need music, just a beat or a hummed melody and the two of you are dancing with each other!

I see Ezio as a very physically affectionate man and I can picture him just loving be be all cuddled up with you, maybe with you laying on his chest, while he asks you all about your home and listens with keen interest while you talk (I think he'll try and get these conversations going in Spanish too because he loves hearing you speak in it and it's a good chance for him to work on his language skills)

e d w a r d :

Edward might be Welsh but he's no stranger to this part of the world so (depending on what part of Latin America you're from) there's a chance he's experienced a bit of your culture!

He probably knows a handful of words and phrases in Spanish (just based off Spanish presence in the Caribbean in canon) but he can get a little lost when you speak it often. Does he make an effort to stop you? Absolutely not, he adores hearing you speak Spanish. Does he make an effort to learn it too? He does his best

Edward's very outgoing, no stranger to nights out and we see he likes music too so he strikes me as a dancer! Hen could dance entire nights away with you and honestly it's one of his favourite pastimes! He loves spending time with you and the way you smile as you dance is so beautiful to him, he just can't get enough!

Edward's travelled quite a bit so he loves to tell his own stories and hear other people's stories of where they've been and what they've seen so he's very eager to hear all about where you're from!

h a y t h a m :

Canonically, Haytham's fluent in Spanish (AC Forsaken) so the two of you can just weave between Spanish and English and he's not bothered in the slightest (in fact, he quite enjoys it!)

Being upper-class (and English where food in culture isn't really a big deal) I can't really picture Haytham as ever learning to cook for himself (despite a few very basic things) so please teach him how to cook the way you do because he loves everything you make!

And I can see him as the sort to try and surprise you with a romantic dinner where he's cooked all your favourites for you that you've taught him!

Haytham strikes me as the sort who studies things like History in his free time and I can see him taking up an interest in learning all about the history of your country and how things have caused your culture to develop! But, as much as he enjoys research, he likes laying down with you after a long day and just listening to your voice and it's nice to hear you excitedly talk about your home.

s h a y :

Another one who, like Edward, has travelled a bit and loves to both tell and hear stories, he wants to hear all about where you're from and what it's like for you there!

Shay isn't very familiar with Spanish (unlike French and Portuguese) but he'll make an effort to learn if you're Spanish-speaking! He's had to do it for wherever he travels to anyway so it's really nothing new for him. And if you speak Brazilian Portuguese, he'll make an effort to learn more of your language with the European Portuguese he knows as a foundation.

I can picture him as a a shy dancer but he can be convinced with some help from you! He's utterly enamoured with you and he finds you so charming that he just can't resist when you invite him to dance with you!

He enjoys your cooking and I see Shay as the sort of man who likes to cook for his partner often so he's keen to learn how to make your favourite dishes from you!

c o n n o r :

He's so quiet and reserved that you truly are a ray of sunshine for him with your sociable ways and it's honestly what draws him to you!

Like Altaïr, I can see his as a very reluctant dancer but with a lot of convincing (and when it's just the two of you) I can see him giving in and dancing with you, breaking out of his shell some and enjoying himself with you!

I'm pretty sure Connor only spoke a Native dialect and English but he likes to hear you speak Spanish a lot. He could honestly just sit with you and listen to you talk for hours, even if he can't understand you, because he just loves to watch the emotions play across your face and he'll just become lost in thoughts of how much he loves you.

He likes that you're quite sociable too because it means you can do a lot of the talking for him lol so in public he tends to follow your lead in social situations while he sticks close to your side.

a r n o :

Arno's big on the arts so if you can tell him about it, he'll love to hear all about the artists, writers, poets and music from your home country (even if he has to rely on translations)

Like Haytham, being upper-class, I can imagine it was never really important for him to learn how to cook for himself (running the café, he's learned how to bake but cooking still isn't much of a strong point) so the two of you have a sort of dynamic where you make the dinners and he makes the desserts!

He sort of treats it like a date and the two of you will be giggling and dancing around the kitchen together as you go about sorting everything out (but Arno is a very physically affectionate man and there have been instances where food has burned because he just couldn't let go of you or stop smothering you in kisses hehe)

He'll learn how to play some of your favourite songs in your mother tongue on the piano so that he can play while he hears you sing in your own language, regardless of your skill, he finds it romantic and he wants to surprise you by learning your favourite songs for you to sing along to!

j a c o b :

Thank the gods you can cook because he can't to save his life (Evie is so thankful for your skill in cooking because she no longer has to worry about Jacob burning the hideout down whenever he wants something to eat)

He does his best to learn little bits of Spanish for you and the first thing he went for was sweet nicknames for you to try and surprise you!

Like Edward, he's very outgoing and no stranger to night life so I think he could dance the night away with you. Oftentimes, he'll be hugging you, swaying you in his arms, and then he's humming a melody and the two of you are just dancing around the place together, he loves to be close to you and see the smile on your face!

I'm pretty sure it was mentioned that Jacob had never left Crawley before going to London (correct me if I'm wrong) so he could listen to you talk about where you're from forever. He laps up every single detail and asks lots of questions and he's set on going there with you one day. It's something that he often brings up because his world is just so small and yours seems so much bigger and different and he'd just love to see it with you one day!

☾ ⋆ﾟ Buy me a coffee? ✧⋆.・゜Want to be tagged?

🏷️@gojohater101 @writing-noah @ayameiris4 @veryfancydoilies @Asuni921 @daddyadler @havatnah @aarnodorian @elfaoulyyy @b3k1720

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00just-a-pancake00 · 2 years

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The Bet (Kirishima, Midoriya, and Iida)

This is a fic based off from a pic I commissioned @skribblz to make a few days ago. Thank you so much, I love your art and I can't wait to commission you again someday >:3 Fic inspired from Bro Code by @fanfic-chan

"Hey, Midoriya!" Kirishima called the green bean. "Oh! Hey Kirishima!" smiled Midoriya, Iida beside him as he smiled too at his friend, "Have you studied for the test today?" "You bet! Bet I can beat you and Midoriya once the scores are out." he grinned with confidence hence he had a good study session with Bakugou last night. "Quite invigorating! Although, I would see you losing to your own bet, Kirishima-kun." Iida reprimanded a little, a chop from his arm. "You saying I couldn't do it?" He asked, raising a brow, feeling more cocky than usual.

Midoriya was silent hearing his classmates argue over the bet, Mic coming in with the test papers as they all sat down. Eijirou and Tenya feeling competitive.

..........

After the test, Mic then returns the test papers for their English Summative as everyone was rather excited except for Sero's whining hence he struggles due to his Hispanic languages. "GOT 38/50!!" Mina squealed. "That's a good improvement!" Momo smiled at her, "Keep studying and you'll ace all tests." "Lucky, I got 33..." Sero giggled. "How much did you get, Tenya?" Midoriya and Uraraka asks as they inched closer to Iida hence he always aces English class tests. "49/50. Just once mark." He replied, the two happy for him as they clapped. He then heard Kaminari pipe in impressed as he looked at Eijirou's score. "Dude I'm jealous!!" The electric blonde pouted as he looked.

"All that studying paid off! You just need to have the dedication!!" Kirishima smiled at him before seeing Iida approach him. Midoriya and Uraraka following.

"Tenya."

"Eijirou."

"How was your score?" "Just one mark."

'Just ONE mark?! I'm screwed-' Kirishima thought with a drop of sweat trickling from the side of his head.

"Got two marks..." he admits, "Fine! I lost the bet!" He huffed feeling playful defeat, Tenya looking at him as he chuckled.

"No need to act defeated. At least you have a good score. But that doesn't mean you are not safe from the stakes." Iida praises, assuring him, making the redhead shiver since it was not working of being assured.

"W-What Stakes-?" Kirishima made a quivering smile, Midoriya smiling.

"You get tickles once we are back at the dorms!" reminded the green bean, Iida nodding as Uraraka and Kaminari laughed at him. Kiri is doomed. The best way to do it is to evade.

.........

"C'mohohon Ihihiiidaahaha!! Pleeheaseee!!! M-MIDORIYA, STOHOP HEHELPING!!!" Squealed the redhead, kicking his foot from the grip of the class rep. Iida's fingers touching and tickling the foot, the pads of his fingers sending tickly messages to the redhead's brain. It was not helping either as Midoriya was holding his elbow together while attacking his side and tummy.

"Geez, Kirishima-kun, you are so ticklish!" Midoriya laughed, prodding a rib as it extracted a squeal from Kirishima.

"Yeah, if you have not underestimated me, you could have avoided this~" cooed the class rep as he kept scribbling, now using five fingers to tickle his foot.

"NOHOAHAHAHAHAAH!!!!!" Squealed Eijirou, trying to reach out to him before Midoriya pulled his arms back.

"Remember~ If you raise your arms down, this would last longer~" Teased the bean, giving Kirishima warning tickles on his armpit as he squealed.

"THIHHIHIS IHIS NOHOT FAHAHAIR!!! AHAHA!!!!!" He threw his head back and released more laughs from his mouth.

God knows when would this end. Kiri swore to himself that he should never challenge and bet with the class rep ever again on a test...

#sfw tickles #bnha tickles #Ficz #ler!iida #lee!kirishima #ler!midoriya #friends of pancake

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dustymagpie · 1 year

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Meet the blorbos!

Esme Richards, Alvin "V" Richards, Seraphim Reed, Wembley, Richard "Dick" Ripper, and Scott Dodd.

This already needs an update!

Esme Richards

Former nomad. Only daughter with four brothers, one of which is V.

Partner of Viktor Vektor.

Loves driving in open stretches of road where she can just put her foot down.

Smokes too much, but is cutting down.

AU 1 (semi-retired): Works as a sales rep for Kiroshi Optics.

AU 2: She is a ripperdoc who becomes a rival of Viktor’s. #rival ripper AU

There is also a vampire AU (#vimpire AU) and a showgirl AU (#the crooner and the showgirl), plus an “evil” AU (#evil esme #villainous vik)

Terrible cook – She never really improves, she can do enough not to starve (just about)

Alvin Richards

My V!

Former nomad. Youngest of five, Esme is his older Sister.

Bi/grey ace.

An incident when he was little left him in a coma with fluid on the brain and a badly damaged arm. It was touch and go for a while. It happened while trailing after the older kids in the clan, he slipped and fell off a cliff edge, he doesn’t remember a thing.

Was in a relationship with Jackie and Misty. He is still very good friends with Misty, they tried to make it work between them after Jackie, but without him, they were just not compatable romantically. Is currently with River (Misty has tretened River that if he ever hurts Alvin...).

Is generally quite chill but has a fierce temper on him (Jackie has literally had to pull him off a scav before).

A big hugger (You have been warned!)

Richards Ripper

Militech brat from a prominent Militech family.

Severe PTSD and memory loss. Cannot remember his childhood or how he came to be in Night City.

Insomniac – has nightmare/night terrors due to what happened in his time with Militech.

Former BD star, part retired high class escort, model, philanthropist and teacher. He likes to keep himself busy and he had found that with teaching. He covers topics from basic sex acts to more advanced ones to sex without any of these via online classes on the NC equivalent of only fans and with in-person classes.

Lover of old B-movies

Current boo, Cillian Moran

Seraphim "Sera" Reed

Pink! Trashy! Trashy and pink!

Artist, fashion designer, entrepreneur. She hopes to one day own her own boutique one day selling the clothes she designed.

With Muamar "El Capitán" Reyes. They eventually have a very unplanned child together. All healthy but she has a very hard time during and after.

Wembley’s younger sister. Sera helps him with customising clothes and outfits to help express what he was trying to convey when he was exploring gender and it sparked Sera's love of fashion.

Argumentative, she loves a good “spirited” debate.

Tall and rarely seen without heels of some sort.

Wembley

Hairdresser and fixer informant – Always remember to tip your hairdresser!

Spent a large part of his childhood trying to find a gender, pronouns and name that he felt fitted him. His family were always supportive (although his mom was miffed that he didn’t pick one of the names she had put on the list of new names for him). He eventually settled in he/him pronouns but even then, they don’t fell 100% right.

Has slept with Muamar. He occasionally like to sleep with his clients and Muamar was one of them, happened long before Sera met him. (She thinks it’s funny AF!)

Hates body hair (on him) the full body tattoo covers any hint of it. But he did concede that a bit of facial hair suits him.

Friends with Richard (he cuts his hair and Richard is a big tipper *wink wink*) he was there for Richard during the grey hair meltdown. Best friend, lover, enemy of Scott. He hates his face.

Scott Dodd

Orphan

Gets into lot of fights, partially because of his resting bitch face, partially because he runs his mouth off a lot.

Has had his face jewellery ripped out a few too many times, so he replaced his earlobes and sections of his lips with chrome to stop it happening again, (one time was by Wembley).

FWB with Mateo.

Best friend, lover, enemy of Wembley. He used to bully him when they were younger.

A big softy really!

#cyberpunk 2077 #esme richards #alvin richards #seraphim reed #wembley #richard ripper #scott dodd #meet the blorbos #my ocs

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itwoodbeprefect · 7 months

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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 🤍

thank you!! ❤ sooo @actingcamplibrarian also sent me this one, and i'm going to take this opportunity to cheat (shamelessly!) and just. give another five fics. because there are more than ten of them on ao3, and because i can.

so again (mhuahaha), from five different fandoms, in no particular order:

Silly wrong but vivid right [sga, john/rodney]

i adore this now, but i went through a weird thing while writing it where i really loved the first half, and then i had to end it somehow and i came up with something that i didn't like very much, and i ended up posting it anyway because i still liked the first half a lot and felt it deserved to see the light of day. which is interesting to me because when i reread it now it doesn't feel wildly out of balance at all, and it all fits just fine, and i just still really really like the idea of 1) gay john getting some freedom and actually taking it, 2) rodney on the sidelines having Weird Feelings about it and drawing a very wrong conclusion, and 3) both of them still being idiots, at the end of the day.

Tell me the sky is falling now [starsky/hutch]

i like the way i opened this! and the way it ended too, and nearly all of what's in the middle. most of all though i like starsky Finding Out and being confused and maybe trying to freak out but hutch is right there, and he loves hutch, and he doesn't want to freak hutch out, and then he comes to some other conclusions, because it's hutch, and he's starsky, and that's the important part. this is one of those fics that i keep sort of almost rewriting in the sense that i have very similar ideas for a story and then have to try to figure out how to bend that new idea into a shape that's at least slightly unique so i don't actually end up writing a pale imitation of this one.

Cause if we’re all gonna die (Now’s the time to be alive) [h50, steve/danny]

in terms of my h50 fic this is definitely on the older side, but i still firmly stand by the headcanon behind this, i like that it has a good dosis of team banter, and it has some lines that i think of fondly from time to time, like this: He tumbles until he’s kissing Danny, awkwardly boxing Danny and his soft heat in against the cold and rough wall, not quite sure yet if this big bang is a creation myth or a mass extinction event. and, of course, taking the sappiness a step further still: Everything that comes after this point in time will forever be witnessed by eyes that have to send images off to be processed in a brain that also stores the memory of this kiss, which logically and inescapably prevents anything from ever being experienced the same as before.

Coming Up Aces [911, eddie/buck]

i don't know if i'd call this one a favorite writing-wise (at least overall - there are definitely parts that i do really like), but it does rank on a list of favorite fics i've written in the sense that, just. the way people connect with fic like this means something to me. and one of the things it means is that there should be more ace rep in (mainstream) media so people don't have to have these huge epiphany-like moments only while reading fic, but another is just feelings, big and warm and human.

Abandon your sad history (and meet me in the fire) [top gun, iceman/maverick]

top gun is A Movie, for sure, and i'd been trying to write some fic for it for a while when this finally came together. i loved playing with identities here, and the extended metaphors pretty much wrote themselves (iceman!), and every time i reread it and come to the line that mentions iceman is drinking an old fashioned while trying to fend off maverick's very queer advances i give myself a little pat on the back for subtle jokes.

#my fic #i was going to give the mr. blandings fic as the last one but then i came across the top gun one and that edged it out #but mr. blandings is here too in my heart. you ask me for five fics and i give you eleven #*#tag stuff #h50 #starsky and hutch #top gun #911 #sga

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aspecpplarebeautiful · 1 year

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Hi! so i’m aroace, and my best friend is really having a hard time understanding what that means, and how i could possibly not be attracted to anyone. she’s super supportive, she just can’t quite wrap her head around it, can’t get past the idea that everyone MUST be attracted to someone. i keep trying to explain it to her, but nothing’s really getting through. can you offer any advice on how to help someone else understand what it means to be ace? maybe a few variations of the definition(s) of ace?

Two explanations that have sometimes worked for me is if you look at gay as attracted to your own gender, straight as attracted to different genders, pan as attracted to all genders, aroace is attracted to no genders.

Another is characters like Data (if you know Star Trek, but similar characters can work too) was programmed to be able to eat by his creator. He doesn't have to and doesn't usually do it, and doesn't feel any kind of urge to eat or hunger either. He's just capable of it he chooses to. Not experiencing attraction can be similar, it's not about whether you can, but whether you feel that drive and that pull through attraction for romance and sex.

Another tact you can try is to look at all the expectations there is on what you're supposed to experience when it comes to romance and sex and deconstruct that a bit. And how there's actually a lot of unsaid assumptions and expectations when you actually lay it out.

Fictional characters may work too if you know any ace/aro rep you thought was well done (I know Loveless by Alice Oseman does a really good job describing what it's like to be aroace, the author is aroace too). Or characters who show ace/aro traits that you can point at and be like 'it's like that'.

I'll throw it out to followers too, if anyone has any advice of their own or things that have worked for you, please share!

All the best, Anon! Good luck!

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just-some-guy-at-shiz · 7 months

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Okay, so I’ve got the stupidest AU idea:

When Boq encounters Elphaba after the intermission she became the “Wicked Witch,” he’s spooked and looking around for a weapon. But as soon as she says she won’t hurt him, and appeals to having known him in school, he jumps at the chance to get away from Nessa, and begs Elphaba to let him work for her instead. She’s a little offput and unconvinced by how quickly he’s willing to switch his political alignment, but he manages to convince her that he’s secretly harbored sympathy for her cause. He reminds her how much he admired Dr. Dillamond and his teaching back at Shiz, insists he’s helped an Animal or two on the run in some small ways, says he wished he could do more but he doesn’t have a head for organized protest and doesn’t know how to truly be of use, but if only he had Elphaba to rally behind. And besides, surely she could use a companion that didn’t fail Home Ec, but in fact aced it and knows lots of helpful farming trivia and can totally do her laundry without messing up the intricate beadwork on that fancy new Broadway-costume-cloak she’s got on. What’d’ya say? Need a lackey?

Elphaba agrees on the principle that the more people on her side the better (and also being reminded how long it’s been since she’s done laundry), and having helped Nessa, she sets off with Boq as her new sidekick. Nessa is dumbstruck and heartbroken that Boq is so eager to leave her (and with her own sister!!), but she doesn’t get a chance to cast any ill-advised magic. Boq gets to keep his flesh another day.

This is not the stupid part of the AU. So far this is actually rather plausible.

Anyway, Boq helps Elphaba for a little while. It doesn’t bother him at all, because he has about zero political opinions, and is neither supportive of Animal-racists nor quite as critical of them as he should be. Trying to help the Animals’ cause serves him well at the moment, so for self-preservation’s sake, he gives it his all. Boq’s motto for life is to just survive in whatever situation he’s stuck in, and do whatever emotional labor is necessary to be convincing(ish). So sure, he’s a passionate activist, abso-totally-lutely 👍. But then he gets the chance at a better position, and decides to flip his political opinions again and talk his way into somebody else’s good graces.

Actually, Elphaba goes straight from Nessa’s to the Wizard’s place, so either we change things so there’s more time in between events (my preference), or there’s no “illegal Animal-helping montage” and Boq never has to prove his commitment to being Elphaba’s not-so-evil henchman. But at some point, Elphaba goes to the Wizard to rescue the winged Monkeys and give him a stern talking to, and Boq sees his chance to be protected by the most powerful person in Oz. Boq, morally grey as he is, doesn’t hesitate.

Elphaba tries to sneak in and set the Monkeys free without anyone noticing her until it’s too late. Boq was instructed to go around to the other side of the cage to help her, or he snuck off, or something else happened that separated them, but as soon as he’s out of Elphaba’s sight, Boq runs to the nearest guards and the Wizard and raises the alarm. The Witch is here! Elphaba barely escapes being caught, but doesn’t manage to free the Monkeys. She doesn’t realize Boq is the one who alerted the guards, and assumes he’s been captured and arrested and imprisoned, and makes plans to free him when she comes back for the Monkeys.

Boq, meanwhile, is pleading his case to the Wizard. He claims that he was imprisoned by the Wicked Witch and forced to serve her, do lots of horrible anti-government things, but he never forgot his true loyalty. As soon as he had a chance to betray the Witch, he took it, risking his life in the hope that he might provide some small bit of aid to the wonderful Wizard who has done so much in the fight against wickedness. If the Wizard would have him, Boq would like nothing more than to enter the Wizard’s service as a way of repenting for the deeds he did at the Witch’s bidding, and to join the fight against evil by helping the most good person there is. :3

The Wizard, a seasoned conman, sees right through the flattery. And he’s impressed. It’s clumsy, of course, ameturish and obviously over-exaggerated, but it has potential. Boq reminds the Wizard of himself. Only acting in his own self-interest. Just clever enough to convince people to like him. Just a good enough actor to seem happy and admiring when he’s not. Just a straight liar when it comes to flattery, and good enough at bending the truth to fit his cause the rest of the time. Above all, they’re both opportunists. The Wizard hires Boq as a personal attendant (aka do whatever random tasks boss needs at the moment), but secretly the Wizard is considering Boq as a sort of successor. If he can train that natural talent as a conman, and get rid of the few morals that might interfere with things, then in time, Boq might be exactly the person he needs. He’ll promise Boq power, which equals safety, and that’s all he’ll need to say.

So Boq gets a snazzy green uniform and works for the Wizard for a while. He hopes he’ll run into Glinda now and then, considering they work in the same building for the same person, but tough luck, buddy.

Before long, Elphaba comes back trying to free the Monkeys again. She expects to have to rescue Boq too, so she’s surprised to be met upon arrival by Boq himself, looking like a very green bellhop. She initially thinks he might have been pressed into service, but the look on his face tells her all she needs to know. Sellout. It’s like Glinda all over again, groveling in submission to feed ambition and all. She’s furious that he betrayed her, and swears never to give anyone the benefit of the doubt ever again. 🎵 No benefit of the doubt / Will I giiiiiive / Agaaaaaaiiiiinnnnnn 🎵 and all that jazz. Boq says sorry not sorry, the fugitive life isn’t for me, I saw my chance and took it, and you’re stupid if you wouldn’t have done the same in my shoes. I work for the literal Wizard now. I have a snazzy uniform and health insurance. It doesn’t get better than this. lmao you wish you were me. ;)

Anyway. The Wizard was expecting Elphaba to return for the Monkeys, and Boq was sent to meet her when she snuck in and bring her to the Wizard’s throne room so she and the Wizard could chat. He does just that, with Elphaba fuming at him all through the hallways until they get where they’re going, which makes it a really awkward trip.

The following encounter goes roughly the same. The Wizard does a more professional version of Boq’s “put a nice spin on the truth to win them over” tactic, and almost convinces Elphaba to trade her rebellion for the Monkeys’ freedom, but then she sees Dr. Dillamond and tells the Wizard no, I’m nothing like you, I’ll never join you, as protagonists do, and makes her exit.

When Boq is summoned back in after this disappointing (to the Wizard) result, he’s more than a little horrified at seeing what Dr. Dillamond has become. Boq may be self-serving, but he’s not heartless (ha), and he may not have cared that the Wizard was behind the whole silencing-Animals thing, but he had yet to be asked to actually interact with the Animals the Wizard has captive. Maybe he didn’t think the situation was that bad for the Animals, or maybe it’s just harder to ignore injustice when you have to look it in the eye, but the Wizard notices Boq’s weakening resolve.

Boq knows that the conversation with Elphaba was supposed to go a little differently, and asks what now? The Wizard sighs all regretfully, in the way that’s very ominous coming from villains like him, and looks at the cage where his winged Monkeys used to be. He says that he had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, because he had such high hopes for Boq (another ominous thing for a villain to say). Given more time, Boq could have learned to shut away old ideals and become powerful, influential, etc. etc. etc. But the Wizard has become a little desperate, and it’s time for the backup plan, and Boq is the perfect, candidate (because… I don’t know, some reason ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).

Madame Morrible shows up, standing behind Boq so he can’t try to leave. Ominous trifecta!!!

The Wizard tells Boq that nothing is going to change, not really. Boq can still have all he’s ever wanted… as long as he continues to do as he’s told.

This. Is where it becomes stupid. I mean, I like it, but so far this AU has been fairly well-thought-up. The last bit is the part that makes me cringe self-consciously a little. But good news, cringe culture is dead, so I’m just gonna keep going.

Soon after the last, there’s some kind of third interaction between Elphaba and the Wizard. Don’t ask me how they get in the same space, they just do. Also Elphaba is hovering on her broom out of reach. She has the high ground!!! The Wizard says something to the effect of “you stole away my spies. So I had to make a replacement.” And Elphaba is like “more spies?” thinking oh man how many rescues am I gonna have to do in one week? Then the Wizard says “better than just spies. I have created the perfect soldier… for catching witches.” A blur flies out from behind a curtain and straight towards Elphaba in midair. She’s shocked to find her hands being tied by Boq, still wearing emerald city green, but having a pair of feathery wings and looking very ill at ease with the whole situation. Also in pain, very much in pain. This isn’t the result of a magic spell, not with Elphaba on the opposing team. This whole (literal) operation was like 20% Morrible magic tops, and the rest was questionable mad science. The Wizard didn’t even give Boq three full days to recover, and Boq is not only in pain but terrified he’s gonna pull out the stitches on those wings and plummet to his death, or bleed out from his back if the fall doesn’t kill him.

Suffice to say that working for the Wizard no longer feels like a “safe” job.

Elphaba basically says just that, trying to convince Boq to let her go by asking him if he’s really willing to suffer like this for the Wizard’s sake of all people. Stop making your “I’m on the clock” decidedly neutral face and answer me honestly, do you want this? Because you look miserable.

She can see that she’s winning him over. He loosens his grip on her.

Elphaba then launches into her recruitment campaign. She tells Boq to think of everything he’s been through, and how the winged Monkeys were forced into this exact same scenario before she rescued them, and that Animals are suffering like this or worse every single day, and if he would want someone to help him when he’s suffering than surely he can do the same and support the Animals’ efforts to push back against—

Elphaba is then interrupted by the Wizard, who put a lot of effort into this hyperobedient flying soldier of his and doesn’t want to see all that psychological manipulation go to waste. The Wizard talks again about how Elphaba is evil and he’s good, and how Boq is just like him and he’s proud of all the Boq has done, and if Boq stands by the Wizard, he can have power and fame even, everything he’s ever wanted—

And this is where Boq interjects to say that he’s never cared about power or fame or saving anybody. Literally all he’s ever wanted is to just get on with his own life like a normal person, without having to do weird and difficult things like this! Neither Elphaba or the Wizard care about him, they just care about how they can use him. And, you know, fair enough, because that’s exactly how Boq thinks of them as well. Glad we’re all on the same page.

Boq unties Elphaba’s hands, but makes no further move to do anything helpful to either side of this argument. He glides to a landing, exhaling in relief at no longer having to put stress on wings that haven’t even healed yet, and says that he’s not going with either of them, please and thank you. He’s going to leave right now, and don’t they dare try following him, or… else! In the short term, he is going to find someplace to get a decent coffee, and in the long term he is going to find a nice quiet farm to work on or a tradesman to apprentice for or perhaps even risk trying to fly over the great desert at some point just to get away from ALL THE CRAZINESS AROUND HERE. GOOD DAY TO YOU BOTH. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR REBELLION OR ATTEMPTS TO DEFEAT SAID REBELLION. BOQ OUT!

And he throws up his hands in exasperation and turns on his heel and marches away.

This isn’t bad. It’s just the wings bit that’s a little badly written, because it’s sort of unnecessary. I think I just like it for the drama. We can’t have (musical) Boq without a little transformation-related body horror at some point, now can we? He’s just lucky it’s not as all-encompassing this time.

Really though, the fact that it’s unnecessary and dramatic maybe just adds to the humor. Like, wow, good job giving me wings and making me look like a super powerful protagonist, I’m going to squander that immediately by wanting nothing to do with flying or protagonist-ing. You chose the wrong test subject, loser.

#wicked #wicked musical #boq bfeeson #elphaba thropp #wicked AU #I think I give him a little too much credit sometimes #is he really this opportunistic?#I suppose it works because he’s not doing any of this out of ambition. he’s just trying to get out of situations he dislikes #more desperation than manipulation

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illumoonated · 1 year

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Thoughts about Wednesday (the show)

I wished i liked the Wednesday show more. Truly. But...

...the writing felt half-assed. The characters felt lazy. The addams family felt not quite weird enough. It seemed to be a very safe (somewhat boring) reboot that ppl are groveling over simply bc they want winclair to be canon (which, fine do your thing -- but you're setting yourselves up for heartbreak bc these writers/showrunners give zero effs about making wednesday canonically queer). The love triangle was actually painful to watch.

There was throw-away "representation" with her being asked if she was into someone a "guy...or you know, a girl?" to get woke points. Someone else pointed it out too, but the black male mayor being told he doesn't "know what it's like to be not heard" was so incredibly tone deaf it threw me off. As well as the only real POCs having a personality being the actual Addams crew.

(The siren queen bee was cool but she like immediately became Wednesday's bestie after 2 minutes of a heart to heart at a dance? Idk she felt wasted/characterized too quickly to feel impactful when she helped in the last episode. There was no emotional "oomph" to her being on Wednesday's team.) ((Also there was the aapi vampire who smiled once and had a single line of dialogue or smth...? wish we got more from her bc that's a cool-ass concept of being stuck in a place like nevermore where ppl know you're an immortal--like I was waiting for a big reveal to be pulled from this vamp being like "hey I knew your parents when they went here, oh, that fancy book you need? I have read all the nevermore books so many times I can just rewrite it for you by memory, where's your typewriter?")) Basically none of the students "banded together" for Wednesday in a believable way. They just...did....?

And if the intent was to simply get a flavor of the month moody white boi as Wednesday's love interest -- fine, but you didn't even make them likeable (not the actors' faults, bc they were clearly given no direction other than "go and be in love w wednesday for no reason bc she's MC"). And Wednesday as a character would avoid the moody bois and possessive "nice guys" like the plague (pun not intended) and would find interest in a strange/true social outcast more. (If she's gotta be with a boy make sure it's like whatshisface in Addams Family Values who is nerdy and nervous and a true social outcast that Wednesday had a real banter/challenge with instead of gross obsession/ownership like fuccboi #1 and #2. Again, not the actors' faults.)

I am so torn as an ace person bc I want her to be aroace so badly (and I believe it would be an appropriate identity for her). I also don't want to be the ace person being like "no winclair shouldn't be canon" bc I want sapphic stories to be represented but I hate how any close platonic relationships are automatically romanticized/ran away with despite how the characters feel about the other person. Again, if this is a friends(roomates) to lovers story fine. But there's zero chance that'll happen with the writing where it's currently at (I mean, they can change this but rn I don't see it happening).

TL;DR 1. wednesday shows how thirsty we all are for true queer rep/romantic or otherwise

2. the love triangle trope (esp the cishet ones) have to be damn good in this day and age to be worthwhile (the triangles in 1899 come to mind as good, current examples involving fleshed out characters with chemistry)

3. the show is trying to earn woke points without committing,

4. the addams family is mischaracterized from the source material,

5. this reboot entry is safe, lazy, and predictable from a plot, character, and worldbuilding standpoint (I was expecting far out weird/spooky shit like the Sabrina netflix series tbh and was really disappointed in how safe this reboot played it)

6. I wish I wanted winclair to be canon but i don't and I wish I did so ppl don't think i'm being "too ace" or "anti-" bc anytime platonic relationships occur between two pretty ppl the internet loses its mind and disregards what the characters actually feel about each other (reinforcing that friendship < romance)

#wednesday #wednesday netflix #the addams family #wednesday addams

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writethelifeyouwant · 2 years

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Website Exclusive Masterlist

Don't Shoot

Dean x Reader | 1k | Dark / Smut | Knife Play, Hostage Situation, Dub Con, Degradation, Cuckolding, Oral Sex, Death Threats You would do anything to talk your way out of this situation alive, except it’s going to take a lot more than talking to convince Dean Winchester to let you walk free.

Lights Out

Sam x Reader | 1.1k | Smut | Birthday Surprises, Birthday Sex, Sensory Deprivation, Blindfolds, Vibrators, Oral Sex (F Rec), Multiple Orgasms, Filming Sex, Praise Kink Sam has lined up quite a few surprises for your birthday this year, each one sexier than the last.

Let's Play Pretend

Dean x Sister!Reader | Angst/Smut| currently posting angst, daddy issues, abandonment issues, hurt/comfort, in a sick and twisted way, virgin!Reader, seeking validation, daddy!kink, daddy!dean, incest!kink, drunk kissing | Dubious Consent (Reader is drunk), Sibling Incest, Predatory/Manipulative Dean It’s your eighteenth birthday, your dad promised you he would be back to celebrate with you and Dean, and like an absolute idiot you had believed him. You shouldn’t be surprised, he’d never shown up for things like your birthday before. Maybe it’s time to cut your losses and admit to yourself that he doesn’t really care; you’ll never be good enough for him, or anyone else for that matter.

The Hunter

Sam x Dean (AU, non related) | 3k | Dark / Smut | Non Supernatural AU, Serial Killer AU, FBI AU, Serial Killer!Sam, FBI Agent!Dean, Behavioural Profiler!Dean, Paralytic Drugs, Knife Kink, Blood Kink, Torture, Mutilation, Non Traditional Rape | Murder, Gore, Non Con, MCDSSA Dean Winchester has been on the case of ‘The Hunter’ for months, and he thinks he might finally be closing in on him. Their profile is solid, and it’s just a matter of time before he makes a mistake that gets him caught – right?

The Prey

Sam x Reader | 3k | Dark / Smut | Sequel to The Hunter | Non Supernatural AU, Serial Killer AU, Serial Killer!Sam, Angst, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Revenge, Smut, Blow Job, Deepthroating, Dirty Talk, Hair Pulling, Condoms, Brief Knife Kink | Murder, Gore, MCD SSA Dean Winchester lost his life in pursuit of the serial killer everyone called The Hunter. Now Y/N has vowed to avenge her brother’s death, but will her mission make her The Hunter’s prey, just like her brother had been?

They Don't Make 'Em Like You Anymore

Dean x Reader | 1k | Smut Adjacent | thirsting, fwb, semi-public masturbation (f)

When The Smoke Clears

Wincest x Sister!Reader | 5k | Dark / Smut | Incest, Non Con, Non Con Drug Use, Wincest (brothers and brothers x sister) Somnophilia, Dirty Talk, P in V, Intercrural Sex, Degradation/Humiliation, Cunnilingus, Double Penetration, Anal Fingering, Creampie, Handcuffs, F/F Sex, Coerced Sex, Forced Orgasms, Orgy, Anal Sex, Breeding Kink, Unprotected Sex

Dry Run

Duke (Cordell) x Gina (PlusSize!Reader) | Mini Series | Angst / Smut | currently posting Cordell’s first night as ‘Duke’ for the new undercover mission was meant to be a dry run; a test to see how well he can improv, build up his rep, see how far he can lose himself – but chance produces the perfect pair of legs for him to do it between, and soon he’s in too deep.

Do Your Duty

Soldier Boy x Reader | Mini Series | Dark/Smut | currently posting Dark AF, Virgin!Reader, Naive!Reader, Innocent!Reader, kind of Stockholm Syndrome-y, Cult Brainwashing, Child Marriage, Grooming, Loss of Virginity, Sex Slavery, Sexual Abuse | Underage, Cult Brainwashing Being raised in the Church of the Collective, you’ve had one goal all your life: do your duty as a wife. When the time comes for the Church to choose your husband, you can’t believe you’re lucky enough to be given as a welcoming offer to Soldier Boy, the Church’s newest member.

Calendar Boys

Jensen x Reader | 3k | Smut | Sexy Santa, Calendar Shoot, Awful Christmas Puns, Strip Tease/Lap Dance, Praise Kink, Daddy!Jensen, Daddy Dom / Little Girl, Humiliation, Thumb Sucking, Pussy Spanking, Masturbation (M), Anal Creampie Random Acts is releasing a charity calendar. When Jensen sees his outfit for December, he swears he’s gonna kill Misha; Y/N swears she’s going to kiss him.

Delta Delta Delta

Reader x Literally Fucking Everyone | Dark/Smut | Mini Series | Currently Posting College AU, Greek life, rush week, sorority rushing, fraternity rushing, hazing, Virgin!Reader, Innocent!Reader, loss of virginity, predator/prey, gangbang, cumdump, degradation, punishment | Noncon/Dubcon Danneel and Tiffany are the biggest names on campus. The twins are gorgeous, top of their class, and co-presidents of the Delta Delta Delta sorority chapter at their college. When their little sister Y/N arrives at college, everyone expects her to follow in her older sisters’ footsteps; especially Dee and Tee.

Everything's Bigger In Texas - Part 2

Jared x Reader x Jensen | 2.7k | Smut/Fluff only one bed, high school friends, friends to lovers, size kink, crack, J2 hilarity, boys being competitive, teasing, making out, pre-smut, Jensen’s a voyeur, Jared’s a ‘big boy’ You decide to drive up to Dallas to surprise your old high school buddy, Jared, while he’s there for a convention.

Four Eyes

Jared x Amanda (personalised) | 1k | Fluff | fluff, insecurities, hurt/comfort, glasses are cute, college party, minor intoxication, first kiss Jared reveals a secret while he and Amanda get ready for a frat party.

Fuck You

Jared x Jensen | 7k | Mini Series | Angst season one, early days, prank wars, idiots to lovers, Jensen’s a bit of an asshole but he means well, angsty, that one major fight they had, happy ending Jared and Jensen hit it off from day one. They were more than best friends, they were like brothers, just like Sam and Dean – and everyone loved reminding them of that.

I Knew It

Jared x Amanda (Personalised) | 1k | Fluff fluff, date night, picnic Jared’s a doofus, but that’s why Amanda loves him.

No Competition

Jared x Reader (Jensen's Sister) / dark!Jensen x sister!Reader | 1.2k | Dark, Smut, Crack Dom!Jensen,Sub!Reader, Dark!Jensen, BDSM play, filming sex, blindfolds, restraints, this is a fucked up scenario my dudes | Dub-con/Non-con (depends how you look at it), Incest, Physical Assault Jared is dating Jensen’s little sister. He needs some bedroom related advice, but he can’t ask Jensen, that’s just inappropriate.

Pussyzilla

Danneel Harris x Jared Padalecki / Danneel Harris x Female!Reader | Mini Series | 11k | Smut/Dark-ish Age Difference, College!Reader, Female!Reader, Lesbian!Reader, Memorial Day weekend, family barbecue, complaints about exes, unsatisfactory sex life, M/F sex, reverse cowgirl, vanilla sex, domme!Danneel, sub!Reader, voyeurism, exhibitionism, female masturbation, orgasms, Restraints, Filming Sex, Oral Sex, Fingering, Cum Play, Strap On, Vibrator, Overstimulation, Power Play, Dirty Talk, Mommy Kink | Infidelity, Dub Con, Non-negotiated Kinks, Filming without knowledge/consent, Manipulation / Blackmail Y/N goes to visit her friend Edie for the long weekend and her annual Memorial Day barbecue. Edie usually hates bringing friends over because they inevitably get a crush on her dad, Jared, but Y/N is gay, so she doesn’t have anything to worry about this time. Unluckily for Edie, her dad has a new girlfriend – and Danneel is exactly Y/N’s type.

Who's Your Daddy

Dom!Jensen x Sub!Reader x Switch!Jared | 4.2k | Smut | Dom!Jensen, Switch!Jared, Sub!Reader, BDSM lifestyle, collaring, Jensen is definitely too intimidating / presumptive but Y/N is into it so it works out haha, oral sex (m rec), Deepthroating, spanking (with belt), praise kink Y/N’s shift at the Painted Palm Bar takes an unexpected turn when some customers want her to serve them something a little different.

Wife Swap

Jared x Danneel / Jensen x Genevieve (+J2 / Jenneel / Jarevieve) | 4.9k | Smut dom /sub, bondage, daddy kink, bratty sub, humiliation, punishment, cuckolding, girls night, gossip, talk about sex lives, couple swap, simulated somnophilia, knife kink, death threats, ravishment, doggy style, hair pulling, name calling, begging | Non Con Role Play Jared and Jensen both have wonderful marriages and incredible sex lives, which is helped by the fact that their wives are happy to let them continue their clandestine relationship with each other on the side. When Danneel and Genevieve start gossipping during a girls night while their husbands are at a convention, it’s revealed that there’s something lacking in their sex lives that their own husbands haven’t been able to provide… but each other’s might just do the trick.

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newpathwrites · 5 months

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Series Masterlist Main Masterlist

VII. Questions

Jai’s sorrow and turmoil over this - that nearly broke his heart.

Being different was not a tragedy.

Din wished he could look Jai in the eyes for this conversation, but the intercom would have to do for now.

“Ad’ika,” Din started, tone soft as was possible through the modulator. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. You are not the only one who doesn’t experience these things. I know because I don’t, either. I think that’s why Omera thought we should talk.”

Summary: Jai is questioning just about every aspect of their life as they reach young adulthood, and who else would they turn to for help but their family?

Note: If you haven’t, I highly recommend reading the brief prequel “Kindred Spirits” to better understand the history of Din and Jai’s somewhat special bond.

Jai is dealing with a lot here. What do they want to do with their life? Will they serve the tribe or do something else? And do they want to do it with a partner at their side? (Everyone seems to think they should… but Jai’s not so sure.) These aren’t easy questions, but they’ve got a peer and confidant in Winta, a wise and motherly advisor in Omera, and a kindred spirit in Din - who may be able to help the most.

I’ve been hinting at it all along, and none of my stories would be complete without ace and aro rep, so… surprise, surprise - Jai is aroace! There’s some other queer representation here, too.

Warnings: Angst, discussions of sex and sex repulsion, questioning one’s gender identity, questioning one’s sexual and romantic orientation, anxiety around ‘coming out’, and one vague allusion to masturbation.

Read on AO3

————————————————————————

Jai had hoped that once faces were revealed and the official standing of their family unit was finalized that the Sorgani rumor mill might quiet down a bit… but no such luck. Gossip was clearly an ingrained habit in these parts, and there was no stopping it. And now that Jai was typically going helmetless, they had found that, in fact, much of the whispering was spoken loud enough to be heard without audio enhancement.

“Winta seems rather interested in the boy two huts over… looks like a good match…”

“Do you think Jai will pair off? I bet they’ll head to Mandalore… not cut out for farming.”

“Why did they even bother getting married? Din hasn’t even given up the armor…”

The rest of the family didn’t seem to pay it much mind. The talk surrounding Winta and the boy was in actuality quite true, and Din and Omera were admittedly much too old to care at this point about any rumors passed around about their relationship or Din’s devotion to the creed.

Everyone was rather settled. Grogu was maturing and controlling his powers well, Winta was excelling in her unofficial Mandalorian training when she wasn’t fawning over the boy in question, and Din and Omera seemed very happy with their (finally) publicly acknowledged commitment.

Jai, though, was in an uncomfortable position. They were now coming of age, and it was time once and for all to make decisions. But the constant, whispered predictions and judgements were not helpful, serving only to increase their internal conflict and confusion.

Neither staying on Sorgan or heading to Mandalore felt right… so what then? All Jai knew was that they wanted to do something meaningful, and they hoped to use their intelligence, their one natural gift and by far their greatest asset, to do it. But how? The covert never taught these things. A life of fighting and weaponry was assumed and an intellectual one an unthinkable shame… though Jai certainly knew better now.

And the talk of Jai pairing off… the idea felt strange and even oddly repulsive… But wasn’t that what everyone was supposed to want? Even Din, so much like Jai in many ways and a long-time loner of his own accord, ultimately found happiness in a romantic partner. Was Jai not “everyone”, then?

How in the galaxy were they going to figure this out?

————————————————————

“You’re doing really well, Winta.” Lifting their eyebrows in jest, Jai added, “You might even give Din a run for his money one of these days.”

The two teenagers had made a habit of training most afternoons, keeping Jai on their toes and allowing Winta to practice with someone closer to her own size who wouldn’t hold back the way Din always did. The man just couldn’t help it - protective of his found daughter to the core.

Winta plopped down next to Jai on the grass, reaching for the canteen as she smirked. “Ha ha, very funny… poking fun at the auretti…”

“No, I’m serious, Winta,” Jai reassured her, not meaning to sound sarcastic before. “You’re doing incredible for someone who didn’t start training until they were older. Din has been very impressed with you - no joke, I swear.”

Winta’s face betrayed her surprise. “Oh… Thank you...” She turned to look at Jai squarely, hoping they understood her earnestness. “It’s very important to me that I can help take care of the village one day, and I wouldn’t have been able to learn any of this without you. Thank you for everything you’ve done to help me, Jai. I really do appreciate it.”

“You’re talking like our training together is over, Winta.”

“Well, isn’t it? Soon, anyway?” Winta looked at them pointedly. “Have you decided yet what you want to do?”

Jai couldn’t hold back a deep sigh, the questioning and frustration never too far behind them. “I don’t think I can stay here… farming is not meant for me.”

“I think the village would agree,” Winta interjected, lightening the mood with a good-natured jab.

Jai gave her a little nudge with their shoulder. “Well, that’s not very nice… but it’s absolutely true.” They paused for a moment in contemplation. “Working with the tribe makes sense - and it doesn’t feel right to abandon it after spending my entire life as a Mandalorian. But… I love learning, and I always grieved the fact that I would never have the opportunity to get a real education in the covert… Maybe right now is my chance… if I can figure out how to make it happen, anyway.”

Winta nodded along thoughtfully before offering a suggestion. “Why don’t you figure out if it’s even a possibility? See if you can get into a university somewhere. Then you won’t have to wonder about it anymore - you’ll know.”

“That’s good advice, Winta.” Jai met her eyes and smiled, adding, “I think you’re going to make a great mom someday.”

Winta smiled with her eyes at that. “Thanks, Jai. I hope so.”

It appeared that Winta had never questioned for even a moment what she wanted from her life. She was going to get married and have children, farm krill, and protect her village from harm. Simple, clean, and honorable. Winta’s future was decidedly clear, and she was content with every part of it. Why couldn’t Jai be so sure of anything?

Jai had been quiet just a little too long, staring off into the distance in thought. Winta knew well what that meant…

“You alright?” She tapped their knee with her hand gently.

Jai looked back at her with a strange intensity. “How do you know?” They clarified in response to Winta’s bewildered expression, “How do you know that you want to get married? And that you like boys? And that you’d want to… do the thing you have to do to have children? I can’t understand it.”

Winta’s eyes were wide and startled, taking in the personal nature of Jai’s question, as well as the profound way in which they’d asked it.

Jai shook their head in shame, realizing their error. “I’m sorry - that’s not an appropriate thing to ask.”

But despite her discomfort with the nature of their inquiry, Winta understood that Jai was asking on account of their own confusion - and she was always happy to be of help to her kind but socially awkward sibling who struggled so much with all manner of human intimacy.

She grabbed Jai’s hand and squeezed once before releasing it, letting them know she wasn’t upset. “It’s okay.” Winta took a deep breath, giving herself a moment to think how to explain it. “Jai, may I ask you a personal question? You don’t have to answer, but I have a feeling it will help.”

They nodded vigorously, willing to tell her anything she wanted to know if it would help to understand this.

“Jai, how do you know that you aren’t a girl?”

Whoa , that caught them a bit off guard. Nobody had ever asked them that point blank before.

But the answer was simple. “I just… know… I knew as soon as I was old enough to understand what ‘being a girl’ even meant. I never questioned it - I just knew I wasn’t a girl… or a boy… Having no gender is just part of me.”

“Exactly,” Winta replied gently. “I just know. I don’t have to think about it. It’s never even been a question to me whether I feel attracted to boys or want to get married… or ‘do the thing you have to do to have children’. I just know I want those things - it’s part of who I am.”

The analogy made some sense, actually, but when it came to the thought of future relationships, Jai didn’t just know. “You’re younger than me… I figured I’d feel those sorts of things when I’m older, but… I’m already of age. That’s weird, isn’t it?”

Winta shrugged. “I don’t know, Jai. Most people our age have these feelings, but I’m sure some people feel them later than usual. So you’ve never liked anyone that way? You can’t even imagine doing those things… like even theoretically?”

Jai shook their head sadly, whispering, “No. Never.”

“Hmmm… Have you talked to Din about this?”

Jai looked at her incredulously before asking, “Do you want us both to die of mortification?”

“What?!” Winta exclaimed. “You talk to Din about everything!”

Jai’s voice dropped again to a whisper. “Not feelings… and I can’t talk to him about… sex .”

Okay, yeah … Winta could understand that. “Why don’t you talk to Mama, then? She’s talked to me about it some. She won’t make you feel embarrassed. I promise.”

Talking to Omera did sound quite a bit less daunting than broaching this topic with Din. “Okay, I’ll think about it.”

————————————————————

It was a quiet afternoon. Work in the ponds had finished early, and Winta and Jai had taken Grogu outside to play and practice with his force skills. For once, Din and Omera had a few minutes alone, and they chose to spend them how they often did - chatting at their kitchen table. After all, it was conversation, sitting in the dark on Omera’s porch many late evenings, which had brought them together in the first place.

“Have you visited Jai in the barn recently?” Omera questioned, chuckling quietly, as she took a seat next to Din at the kitchen table with two cups of caf. “I think books are going to start tumbling out of the windows.”

Din huffed as he took a sip of the hot drink. “Imagine what it was like to fit all those into the starfighter.”

This had been a source of some amusement for Din these last few years. Jai, so much like himself in demeanor and rarely showing any signs of outward excitement, would absolutely light up with happiness at the site of a bookstore. He’d lost count of the number of shops they’d visited over the course of their many travels in service to Bo-Katan, Jai always walking away with as many purchases as they could carry. And the subjects were many and varied - if Jai didn’t already know it, they were going to read about it.

It had even become a bit of a joke in the village that if Jai couldn’t be found, you knew where to find them - in the barn or on the porch or sitting out in the grass somewhere voraciously consuming every bit of written knowledge they could get their hands on. But while it was a point of jest, it was not done without affection and pride. Jai might very well be the most intelligent and educated person to ever step foot on their little planet - and one who never once behaved as if they were better or smarter than any of the hardworking krill farmers who lived there.

Omera grinned over her steaming cup. “What did they pick up in Coruscant on your last mission? Astrophysics? Hydraulic engineering? Existential philosophy?”

“Probably all of those,” Din laughed. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to tell you about Coruscant.”

That got Omera’s attention. Din had always made a point to keep his work with the tribe separate from his life on Sorgan, rarely speaking about missions and never sharing details.

“Oh?” Omera asked casually as she took another sip, inwardly burning with curiosity and surprise.

“Yeah, something interesting happened,” Din started, setting down his mug and fully facing his lovely partner. “On our way back to the shipyard, we passed by one of the big universities there, and they had one of the largest libraries I’ve ever seen. We had to leave our weapons at the door, but we were able to go in and look around. You should have seen Jai in there, Omera. I would have thought they’d found their way to the Manda.”

Omera smiled broadly, always happy to know that her exceedingly muted and introverted foundling was still capable of finding joy in this life. “I can imagine. How’d you manage to get Jai out of there without any books?”

“Logic,” he huffed. “Only way to do it with them. Books aren’t allowed to leave the campus. But anyway, that’s not the point. After the library, they stood on the street for a good five minutes just… staring at the university building.” He paused, running a hand through his hair as he often did when he was thinking. “I don’t know why it never occurred to me before - but what’s stopping them from going? We have more than enough credits saved up - may as well use them for something worthwhile…”

Well, kriff … Omera couldn’t believe her idiocy on this matter. Of course Jai should go to university. Why hadn’t any of them ever thought of that? Stars, it seemed so obvious now. “Well, did you go inside? Get some information?”

Din shook his head, frustrated. “No, there was a sign outside detailing their strict “no weapons” policy. Jai eventually just turned and kept walking down the street - seemed sort of sad.”

Now Omera was on a mission of her own. “Alright. You need to go back, Din. Even if Jai has to leave their entire get-up on the ship, they need to go inside and talk to the… admitters… or whatever they’re called these days. The resol'nare doesn’t preclude an education, does it?”

“Nope,” he answered quickly. “Not at all…”

She nodded, the determination he admired so much lighting up her eyes. “Okay, then… Let’s make it happen. Are you going back to Coruscant any time soon?”

Din nodded, glad that Omera was so forcefully in agreement that they should pursue this idea. “Bo-Katan has been having us meet a contact there, and we’re due to go again in a few weeks. I was thinking before we head back to Trask, I can try to get Jai into the university for a visit - leave their weapons in the ship.”

“Alright, we have a plan,” Omera exclaimed with authority. The teen had been conflicted about their future for so long… Finally, they’d found the answer. The education Jai had always longed for was well within reach - they’d just not considered the option until it was dropped right into their laps.

“I enjoy seeing you like this, cyare…” Din said with a light smirk playing at his lips. “…even more than watching you shoot…”

Omera eyed him for a moment and then took him by surprise, leaning forward quickly to capture his mouth with her own, deepening the kiss slightly before pulling away. “Don’t you go starting something when the children could come back any second, Din Djarin. You can flirt with me tonight when they’re all in bed.”

Din actually looked a bit taken aback, stumbling through a response. “I wasn’t… I don’t think I even know how to… I just find your determination… attractive…”

Oh, Din… So literal and so very genuine… She should really know better by now that he meant every word he spoke - with very little subtext.

“Well, then,” she whispered, as she pulled on his collar to bring his face closer to hers while he watched her in mild bewilderment. “I guess I’ll be flirting with you… ” She pressed her lips again to his and didn’t pull away this time, content to enjoy these few minutes of intimacy with the man she loved during this blessed time alone together. They’d hear the children’s footsteps on the porch, anyway, right?

————————————————————

“Jai, sweetheart,” Omera called across the small hut. “You’ve been loitering outside my kitchen all morning. Why don’t you just tell me what’s going on, hmmm…?”

Their head appeared around the corner, eyes wide with surprise. “How did you know?”

“I know your footsteps - not as heavy as Din’s,” Omera chuckled lightly. “And normally you’re out reading on the porch at this time of day. I heard you pacing out there.” Omera didn’t stop her work but kept moving about the small kitchen area as she waited for Jai to start talking. It was always easier for them to speak their mind when the attention wasn’t fully pointed in their direction. “Here, come help me with this while we talk.”

The distraction was helpful, actually. Din had told Jai once that Omera had a gift for making hard conversations easier, and well, she was definitely making it easier right now. Jai wasn’t sure they could speak on this topic if she’d been looking them in the face.

They started hesitantly, face burning with some embarrassment. “Uhmmm… I have some questions about… adult things …”

Ah. Omera had wondered over the last couple of years if this conversation was coming. She imagined that Jai hadn’t been formally taught anything about romantic or sexual relations before spending their early adolescence fighting for survival after the destruction of the covert. Perhaps they’d read about it… but reading alone could not prepare one for the reality of adult relationships.

“Go ahead, Jai. Ask me anything you want to know. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.” Omera kept her tone as casual as possible, trying to keep the conversation just… normal . She’d found it was the best way to handle this kind of thing.

Jai ripped off the bandage and got right to it.

“Well… what is attraction supposed to feel like? How do you know that you like someone that way?”

Stars , they were starting with the hardest questions first.

“Okay,” Omera started. “That’s a difficult question, Jai, because I imagine every person experiences it a bit differently. But… I think wanting to spend all of your time with someone, to get to know them more personally or intimately than other people, to be physically close to them, to want their life intertwined with yours… Those are some of the ways…”

Well, kriff . Jai really hadn’t ever felt that way about anyone. And the idea of being physically close… they couldn’t understand that at all. They were quiet for a moment, rolling all of that around in their mind, before moving on rather bluntly, reminding Omera so much of their adoptive father. “What is the appeal of these physical things? Like kissing… it seems pretty gross and unhygienic to me .”

Omera couldn’t help huffing out a small laugh. “Well, when you’re attracted to someone, it doesn’t feel that way. And if they’re good at it, the sensations are quite enjoyable.”

Nope , Jai couldn’t imagine that being enjoyable in any way. With the exception of the rare affectionate hug or brief touch from their found family, who’d always been respectful of Jai’s rather rigid boundaries, the idea of unnecessary physical contact of any kind was almost repulsive. And if kissing sounded unpleasant, then sex would be a sensory nightmare.

“Is sex the same way? It's hard for me to understand why in the galaxy anyone would want to do that…” Jai made a face then, one almost of disgust, as they continued, apparently having overcome their shyness, “…naked… parts touching…”

Well , this was not the conversation Omera had expected. She figured Jai might come to her when they did feel these things, confused about how to handle them. But it seemed Jai was more confused because they didn’t . It was difficult for her to relate here.

She pulled out a chair and gestured to Jai to sit down, setting herself in the one beside it. This needed to be a more serious talk, apparently. “Sweetheart, sex isn’t just putting parts together. It can be about sharing yourself with another person and enjoying that intimacy. But it’s also about very nice physical sensations… euphoric, really, if you’re doing it right. That’s why people enjoy it so much. Personally, I think the nice parts far outweigh the gross ones. Do you understand the… mechanics?”

Jai flushed noticeably as Omera spoke, but she would never be so cruel as to mention it. In fact, Jai was aware of that euphoric feeling - but it was a deeply personal thing, one they used to regain focus or help them sleep - not something they ever desired to share with another person. There was absolutely nothing sexual about it.

“No, I… I do understand why people like the feeling. I’m aware of… arousal and orgasm… and mechanics ( yes, of course , they’d read about it… in depth…) . It’s the participation of the other person that sounds terribly uncomfortable to me. Stars , I don’t even like someone touching me with all my clothes on.”

The look on Omera’s face told them everything. She could not relate to this - same as Winta, even if neither would ever be unkind about it. Maybe there really was something wrong with them…

Omera shook her head and laid her hand briefly over Jai’s where it rested on the table. “That’s okay, Jai. Plenty of people are averse to touch, and I imagine many of them feel similarly. Sex doesn’t have to be part of a relationship if that’s not what you want.”

Jai was glad for the reassurance, but there it was again - the assumption that they should want a relationship in the first place.

“What if I’m not interested in a relationship at all? I feel like I’m not even capable of feeling attracted to someone in these ways. I’m basically an adult now… and I never have… can’t even picture it…”

Omera was in over her head here, and she knew it. She couldn’t fathom personally what Jai was describing. It wasn’t typical… but it also didn’t seem like a pathology…. Jai was different, certainly, but not abnormal .

And throughout this conversation something nudged at the edge of her consciousness - a memory… a similarity… a nighttime conversation on the porch… a first kiss…

Din .

He’d explained to her that night that he wasn’t like other people - that attraction wasn’t a simple and natural thing for him, but a very rare one nurtured only by a kind of intimate connection which his profession didn’t generally allow. And going without had really never bothered him… until the day he realized he’d fallen for her without even trying.

Din and Jai weren’t entirely the same, of course… but truly, the similarities were uncanny.

“Jai,” Omera addressed them gently, recognizing the distress clearly showing on their face, “I’ll admit that I’m having a hard time understanding this. But Din… the two of you understand each other… in a special way that the rest of us just cannot. I think you should talk to him. I have a feeling he’ll understand better.”

The teenager met her eyes, shaking their head in disagreement. “No, I can’t… I talk to Din about many things… but not stuff like this… I think he’ll combust if I even bring it up.”

Omera couldn’t help but chuckle. “You don’t have to get into the uncomfortable details - just explain your experience to him. You two have so much in common, I’m sure he’ll be more helpful than I have been.”

“You really think I should?” Jai absolutely could not discuss the parts or the mechanics with him. But the feelings… or lack thereof… maybe they could handle that. Din really was so much like them in many ways.

Omera nodded kindly, reaching a hand over to tuck a stray dash of hair back over Jai’s ear. “I really do, sweetheart.”

Jai sighed loudly, huffing a bit at the end. “ Dank farrik … alright…”

————————————————————

The meeting with the contact had gone faster than expected, and Din was glad for it. That left plenty of time for what he and Omera had planned on Jai’s behalf.

Their route back to the shipyard brought them once again in front of the university, and it was as if a magnetic force pulled Jai toward it, stopping and turning to face the grand building for a moment to admire from afar.

Din sidled up beside them before venturing, “You want to go inside?”

Jai’s helmet whipped around to face him, surprised. “But… no weapons allowed…” They pointed toward the signage next to the door.

Din turned on his heel and gestured to Jai to follow. “Come on - you can leave the weapons on the ship. Then we’ll come back and see if you can meet with them.”

“Are you being serious?” Jai honestly couldn’t believe that this was happening - that they might have a chance.

When was Din ever not serious about anything? “Of course I’m being serious, Jai. Let’s go - the office will only be open a few more hours.”

Well, he didn’t have to tell Jai twice.

Despite the creed they still tended to follow around outsiders, Jai decided it was best to visit the university devoid of the helmet and armor. Their situation was already a bit strange - no need to call further attention to their unusual background by walking in faceless, covered head to toe in metal. But when Din pulled off his own helmet and began methodically removing plates of armor and stacking them on his seat in the cockpit, Jai couldn’t believe their eyes.

“Din…?”

“I don’t want to send you in alone… This way we won’t call too much attention.” He paused, looking down at the plain, entirely black clothing he wore under the flight suit, nothing like the colorful, professional attire they’d seen most wearing around the bustling campus, before adding casually, “Though I suppose we’ll still stand out a bit.”

Jai was absolutely awed - Din wouldn’t even go completely armorless on Sorgan… nevermind Coruscant. “I can’t believe you’d do that for me…”

Din turned to them then with a smile filled with the love and pride of a parent, laying a hand solidly on their shoulder. “Believe it - because we’re going to get you into that school.”

————————————————————

The visit to the university was a smashing success. The advisor they’d met with took an immediate interest in Jai - this teenager of Mandalorian upbringing who lacked any conventional education but spoke with the confidence and maturity of a worldly soul many years their senior. Given the exceptional circumstances, they’d allowed Jai to take the placement exam right then and there to gauge their preparedness to matriculate in such an institution… which of course they passed with flying colors, scoring in the highest decile. Extra impressive considering they were almost entirely self-taught.

Din felt like a fish out of water in this place, but he did his best to play the part of the supportive father - not that any acting was required on that front. He only wanted what was best for Jai… and gosh was he proud. He’d always known they were special in this way, since they were a young child even, and to see their potential realized right before his eyes was an incredible privilege.

Jai was cool and composed throughout, but their excitement gave way the moment they were back out on the street in front of the university, thick bundles of informational packets and application materials in tow, throwing themselves at Din in happiness.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you…” they chanted genuinely as they embraced their guardian. “This was so amazing, Din.”

Din chuckled, patting their back fondly. “I’m proud of you, verd’ika. You really blew it out of the water.”

He couldn’t contain an amused grin as they made their way back to the shipyard. Din was quite certain he’d never heard Jai talk so much as they were right now, chattering on and on about which programs and concentrations they might consider.

But the flight back to Trask was quiet, more so than usual, something Din now recognized as a sign of heavy contemplation on Jai’s part.

“Jai,” he crackled through the intercom, already slightly muffled by his modulator, armor now back in place. “What are you thinking so hard about back there? I would have thought this would be an easy decision.” Jai didn’t reply right away, so Din offered a bit of wise reassurance. “You know - you don’t necessarily have to choose one thing over another. You can get your education now and then decide to join Bo-Katan later with more skills under your belt if that’s what you want. And you know Sorgan is your home… no matter how much you’re away.”

They sighed loud enough for Din to pick it up over the intercom - Jai did learn from the best, didn’t they?

Finally their voice came through the cockpit speaker. “Yeah, I know. I think I want to go to the university. I’m still not sure what I want to do after that, but now I’ll have some extra time to figure it out at least.” There was something almost sad and anxious in their voice - so unexpected after the happiness they’d expressed just an hour or so ago after their visit to the school.

“What’s wrong, kid? Something’s bothering you. Tell me about it.” It wasn’t like Jai to be quite this somber. Come to think of it, they’d been a little too quiet these last few weeks.

Jai groaned. “It’s embarrassing…”

“Hey,” Din interjected. “I’m not here to judge.”

Jai took a deep breath and let it out slowly, releasing their nerves at the idea of discussing this topic with a man who was basically their father. “I think there might be something wrong with me…”

Din reacted on instinct immediately. “What? Are you sick? What’s going on?” Jai could hear the panic in his tone, thinking them ill or in danger. They dropped their helmeted head into their hands in embarrassment and frustration.

“ Dank farrik … I’m fine.” Jai punctuated the last word as they looked back up. “I just… I don’t really feel the same way about… things… that other people my age do…”

Din hesitated - they were being weirdly vague here despite the reassurance that all was well. “Okay… Such as…”

“Uhmmm…” Jai winced under the visor. “Such as… romantic relationships… and physical things…”

Heart dropping in his stomach, totally unprepared for such a conversation, Din replied a bit shakily, “You mean… sex?”

“Yeah…”

Din cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Wouldn’t you rather talk to Omera about this?”

“That’s what I thought, too,” Jai huffed. “But Omera said I should talk to you - said you might understand me better.”

“She did, huh?” He’d have to talk to her later about springing this sort of uncomfortable thing on him unexpectedly. But this was what being a parent was all about, right? Jai didn’t have any other adults in their life who they trusted. So Din was going to have to swallow his own self-consciousness and help his kid . “Alright, Jai. Tell me how you’re feeling.”

Jai was desperate for answers, and so, despite their trepidation, they poured out everything - how they’d never felt drawn to a person in these ways, couldn’t imagine it even being a possibility, didn’t think they’d ever want to have sex or get married or have children… They shared their fear that there was something inherently wrong or broken inside of them… that being how they were was weird and embarrassing… something they should carry around with shame and sadness for the rest of their life.

It didn’t take long for Din to understand why Omera had sent Jai to him . He could relate in many ways - not all of them, because in the end he was capable of feeling these things under the right circumstances, however rarely - but still, he’d spent most of his life feeling similarly “unattracted” and uninterested. Jai’s sorrow and turmoil over this, though - that nearly broke his heart.

Being different was not a tragedy.

Din wished he could look Jai in the eyes for this conversation, but the intercom would have to do for now.

Jai couldn’t hide their shock at that. “But… you and Omera…”

“Yeah, I know. But, Jai, she’s literally the only person I’ve felt that way about in my entire forty-something years. Until her, I felt a lot like you do.”

“Oh… So are you saying that I’ll feel different when I meet the right person?” Jai still couldn’t wrap their head around the idea of that at all.

Din was quick to correct them. “No, Jai. We can’t see the future, but you sound pretty certain that you don’t want that. I was never entirely opposed to the idea - it just didn’t interest me. And I always thought that if I ever had the opportunity to really get to know someone that I might like to try having a relationship, but I just figured it would never happen - and that was fine with me.”

Jai was still a bit confused. “Okay, but the… physical stuff … Did the idea repulse you this way? Or you just weren’t interested in it before her?” Jai wasn’t clueless - they knew what went on behind closed doors even if they wished they didn’t.

Din considered for a moment and huffed out a small laugh. “Repulsed is definitely not the right word - maybe more like indifferent. I was curious at your age even though I never felt drawn to any specific person. But I never enjoyed it the way other people seemed to… and eventually I decided I really just didn’t like it all that much, at least not when it was casual and impersonal… and resolved to just not bother about it unless lightning struck and the right person came along.”

“But then lightning did strike…. You met Omera…”

“Exactly. Before her, I never had these feelings for anyone . And Jai… it wasn’t love at first sight… or even lust. It took a long period of friendship before I felt anything at all like that.” Din paused in thought. “It’s my understanding that’s not exactly… typical… but I can’t imagine myself being any other way.”

Wow… okay… This was helpful, actually. So not feeling attraction and being uninterested in sex and relationships wasn’t a problem , at least not in Din’s mind, and while Din was open to the possibility and capable of experiencing it rarely , it was still okay if Jai felt it never . They just fell at two different points on a spectrum. But Jai still had some questions - mostly to satisfy their own curiosity now. This was all so confusing.

“If it’s not too personal… How does it work? Because Omera isn’t like you.”

Din chuckled. “No, she’s not. All of this comes much more naturally to her. But she was patient with me… very patient.”

“Well,” Jai hummed. “If I was ever going to have a relationship - which I’m not - but if I was, I’d want to be like you and Omera. You’re very good for each other.”

Din smiled under the helmet. “Thanks, Jai, I like to think so, too. You feel better about this now?”

“I really do.” They shook their head in disbelief. “Thank you so much, Din.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied warmly. “We can talk any time, alright?”

Jai remained quiet for the remainder of the trip, but at least the mood in the small spacecraft was lighter, less oppressive.

And when Jai sobbed into their pillow that night in their quarters on Trask, Din understood that it was the pressure valve releasing - finally letting go of a burden they’d carried in private for far too long. He’d done the same some years ago, the night he’d given his child away to the Jedi - in the very same barn on Sorgan Jai now considered their home, soothed by a kind friend who would one day become his loving partner.

And when Din came in to sit by their bed and silently run a comforting hand over their back, they let him - this man who had understood them for as long as they could remember, who was at once their brother in arms and yet now their father in every other way that mattered.

How silly to think there was anything they couldn’t tell him.

————————————————————

“Did Jai talk to you about… anything…?” Omera questioned, lazily running her fingers over Din’s naked chest in the afterglow of their reunion.

He looked down at her pointedly before responding, voice dripping with his typical brand of sarcasm and mild annoyance. “ Yes . A little warning would have been nice, cyare.”

Omera couldn’t help but giggle at his tone. “I’m sorry, love. I wanted to protect Jai’s privacy… But I knew you could help them with this more than I could. Did you have a good talk?”

“Yeah. I think they feel better about the whole thing now.” Din didn’t say anything more. He and Jai had always had an unspoken understanding. The rare vulnerability they allowed each other stayed between them - a pact between comrades and a promise among aliit. Jai had spent the better part of a night sobbing in his arms, years of pent up confusion and turmoil released all at once - but not another living soul would ever know about it.

“Good, I’m glad,” Omera sighed as she snuggled closer, wrapping an arm around his middle. “Can you imagine having ‘the talk’ with Grogu? Winta and Jai were probably easy in comparison.”

Din snorted. “Well, if we’re really lucky, we’ll be dead by then.”

“Din!” she reprimanded him. She had to admit, though, it was rather funny. And how rare to see this lighter, playful side of her partner.

But Din became quiet after that, the sort of quiet she now understood was pensive. “You’re thinking loudly, love. Anything you’d like to share?”

He looked at her strangely then, almost like he was nervous - a rare state for him. “Uhhh… there’s something I’ve always wanted to tell you… but I wasn’t sure if…” He paused as if gathering his wits and then pressed on with a bit more confidence. “I told Jai that I’d never had feelings for anyone else before you… but it’s not true.”

Omera wasn’t exactly surprised by this information, though it was unexpected. Sure, Din had always insinuated that he’d not had any other romantic relationships in his life, but they hadn’t met until they were already middle aged with a lifetime of prior experiences under their belts. Of course there were probably others. Omera had a husband in her past who she had loved dearly, and she’d told Din quite a lot about him. Why would Din be so nervous about sharing this with her?

“He was my best friend… as a child on Aq Vetina…”

If Omera was shocked to learn that Din had once loved a boy, she didn’t show it. She simply smiled at him warmly as she so often did when he shared something new about himself. “Tell me about him.”

And so he told her everything he could remember.

He and the boy next door had become fast friends when their mothers started a communal garden on the patch of land between their two homes, and they quickly grew attached. And though it was the innocent kind of love typical of youth, it was very much real. The two boys spoke often of getting married one day and tending a garden of their own. Had they both survived the attack on their settlement, maybe they would have done just that. Din would never know.

As Din got older and never developed such feelings for anyone else, he wondered if this Mandalorian version of himself simply wasn’t built for romantic relationships… or if maybe that boy was meant to be the one great love of his life… and that Din’s only chance at happiness died with him on Aq Vetina.

It was cathartic, really, to speak out loud what this boy had meant to him after so many years holding him only in memory - and to know that his wife understood and accepted it so tacitly… that was liberating. He’d kept this from her for so long.

His fingers slipped through her hair as he spoke, lips brushing the top of her head. “I never looked at anyone that same way again until you.” It had happened slowly as they’d become closer, and it had taken him by surprise when it finally manifested itself in his conscious awareness. He hadn’t thought he was capable of falling in love again.

“Well, I’m glad you did,” Omera replied softly. “Do you think about him a lot?”

Din nodded, a sad smile turning somewhat brighter. “Winta reminds me of him sometimes… with her well-intentioned schemes… spreading joy and happiness everywhere she goes…. He was like that, too.”

“Thank you for telling me about him, sweetheart. I know it’s hard for you to talk about your childhood.”

He kissed the top of her head in response, and she hugged him tighter. “You make it easier.”

“Can I ask you something personal?” She lifted herself off his torso and swiveled to face him as he gestured for her to continue with that trademark tilt of his head. “So have you been intimate with both women and men?”

There it was again - the fear . She could see it in his face, but he’d already decided to tell her everything it seemed. “Yes… I don’t have a gender preference… on the very rare occasions I indulged, anyway.” He met her eyes before adding cautiously, “Does that bother you?”

She reassured him gently with a hand to his heart and a soft smile. “How could I not love something that’s part of who you are?”

All of his fears dissolved in that moment. Dank farrik , this woman never ceased to amaze him. “I’m honestly not sure why you love me in the first place… but I thank the Maker for it daily.”

Omera leaned forward to kiss him softly. “You don’t ever have to be afraid to talk to me… about anything .”

“I know,” he replied quietly. “I love you, Omera. Thank you… for being you.”

“I love you, too, Din - every part. Don’t ever doubt it.”

————————————————————

As much as the village loved to gossip, so did it love a grand celebration. Jai didn’t much like being the center of attention - it was quite horrible actually… but they appreciated the intention behind it nonetheless. Winta, of course, had been the one to let it slip, and how could they not celebrate one of their own being admitted to university? The first from their small village no less?

On more than one occasion during this joyful event, a well-meaning elder would stop Jai to suggest they might be a good match for one of the other young people in the village. And for once, Jai knew exactly how to respond - with the truth. “I’m not interested in relationships. I think you’ll find a better match elsewhere.” And it felt good - free of the pressure of societal expectations. Jai had no need for those.

The rest of the family was happy and proud, of course, but there was a bittersweetness to it, too. They would miss Jai dearly, an integral member of their family whose absence would be felt every day. And so too would Winta have a life of her own someday soon. Din and Omera would still have Grogu for some time, but things would be different…

Their family would change and evolve again and again in the years to come… but they would remain family just the same… and a strong one at that…

To be continued…

————————————————————

There you have it… Jai is aroace… and Din is demi and bi… These are my headcanons, and I will not be taking questions :-) Their queerness is one more thing Din and Jai have in common.

Stay tuned for an epilogue of sorts to close out the series. We’ll jump ahead to show what our lovely family is doing in the future.

Thank you for reading!

#din djarin x omera #mandomera #the mandalorian fanfiction #din djarin fanfiction #non binary original character #aroace original character #demisexual din djarin #demiromantic din djarin #bisexual din djarin #a new creed #how to build a clan #newpathwrites

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augustameretrix · 10 months

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ok I might be over sulemio not getting a kiss because of the gundam main couple treatment (which isn’t even true by the way) yadda yadda HOWEVER. I still feel like there’s stuff, entire scenes even, missing - which I guess goes for the entirety of s2:

- someone pointed out that in their reunion in episode 22 Suletta doesn’t explicitly forgive Miorine, instead only urges her to move forward together, which I think it’s perfect because at that moment there’s other more pressing shit going on and they can’t do much more than set a new basis for their relationship. What I would have liked is a subsequent scene in which they actually build on it. I guess we did get Miorine telling Guel to back off and assisting Suletta in raising the Calibarn’s score (beautiful scene btw) showing that she can be relied upon again but... I dunno what about a tiny scene for just the two of them? alone?

- no tomatoes in the finale. arguably they’re more of a Notrette thing, but they’re also about Miorine and Suletta, both in and of themselves (Suletta is the first to be given a tomato and allowed in the greenhouse etc) and insofar as Notrette is Miorine’s mother. Just like we see Suletta achieving her dream of living with her family and working on building a school (or two) thanks to Miorine, we should see Miorine achieving her dream of going to Earth and continuing her mother’s tomato legacy thanks to Suletta. Miorine’s symbol of connection to her mother, to Suletta and to others is missing from the finale.

- a wedding. this should be self-explanatory. you (the show) can’t have “marriage” as one of your main themes, set up an expectation through a lot of dialogue, double down on said expectation despite the multiple chances to subvert it and then not show the wedding. cmon. guess a wedding would’ve entailed a kiss (there we go) so it’s no good. hmmm.

and finally, but this comes down to personal taste, what struck me when I first started watching (UC) gundam is that some scenes have a distinctly erotic tone. yknow it has the kind of scenes you watch and youre like “wait what is thi-oooh its like that ok“. so among the main couples you have kamille cornering fa against a wall and pressing his whole body against her, nina draping herself over uraki because he’s too rough with the gundam’s levers, amuro and char tumbling in the grass and so on. I quit like this aspect of the show because it makes a lot of sense for a bunch of emotional teens/young adults/grown-ass adults to be horny on top of everything.

for reference, the closest gwitch comes to this is in ep 8 or so when Shaddiq is at the greenhouse and Miorine is looking up at him while laying on her back while the camera lingers on her legs. as far as I’m concerned sulemio don’t get one such scene, what they have is lots of rather sweet and wholesome scenes, which is FINE because it still gets the point across, but it’s- we could’ve had more layers to it by gundam’s own standards is what I’m saying (btw if the writers intended sulemio to be canonical ace rep they should’ve inserted something to that effect, otherwise it’s just a lazy post hoc cop-out a-la-jkr). Instead to me it feels like either the writers or the producers consciously chickened out of explicit gay stuff and settled with the whole uwu cute wlw vibe. yes really, I think it’s that simple.

like - you’ve got an engagement, you’ve got the theme of premarital sex in the tempest, play with that concept a little bit! you already reference utena, why not give a nod to its most sensual aspects? have Earth House raunchily and mercilessly teasing Suletta, have Miorine be more forward and Suletta more repressed, show us that these two girlfriends want each other in a more base sense! there were so many possibilities. but maybe it’s just me

#all in all the finale wasnt bad but it was the worthy conclusion of a lackluster second cours #still fun i gotta say #the fun factor is the major thing gwitch has going on imo together with the art #sulemio #the witch from mercury #gundam the witch from mercury #gwitch #gundam

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queer-and-dear-books · 2 years

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Title: Never Been Kissed

Author: Timothy Janovsky

Genre: New Adult Fiction | Drama | Romance | LGBTQ+

Content Warnings: Mentioned Biphobia | Homophobia

Overall Rating: 9.4/10

Personal Opinion: One of my all-time favorite tropes is childhood friends that reconnect and become lovers. Wren and Derick give me that in this novel. They are adorable and soft and they leave me tenderhearted with almost every single one of their interactions. Another one of my all-time favorite tropes are happy endings and this serves one of the happiest epilogues I’ve seen in a book. So I highly recommend reading it if you haven’t.

Couple Classification: Wren Roland X Derick Haverford = Nerd X Prep

Do I Own This Book? Nope.

Spoilers Below For My Likes & Dislikes:

Likes:

- The most fabulous part of this book is when Wren and Derick promised to do better with their communication. That is all I’ve ever wanted in a book. And yeah, the lack of clear, honest communication at the start is tragic but the fact that they’d reached the point of wanting to do better and putting in the work to do better makes it all worth it, in my opinion. Plus, I absolutely understand why Derick chose not to tell Wren about the demolition given the circumstances. Likewise, I also understand Wren’s blow-up when he found out.

- The ending of this story is quite possibly the happiest that it could’ve been. Everyone gets what they want and it is magnificent. Wren is the new owner of Wiley’s Drive-In and he published a book! Derick reconciled with his family and was allowed to get any job he wanted (choosing to stay on as the social media manager at Wiley’s) instead of following in his dad’s footsteps. Alice was able to sell her place and she reclaimed her fame as a badass woman director. Avery and Stacia are still together, Mateo and Brandon are still together, Wren and Derick are implied to be engaged! I love happy epilogues and this was just so good.

- I’m glad Mateo’s firing wasn’t framed as something Wren did wrong. He was right and I’m so glad Mateo apologized for not doing his job properly.

- Oscar is such a great side character. He sort of exists to elevate other voices and he fulfills that role perfectly. I love when a character does one job and does it well. That sounds weird but it’s true.

- The friendship between Alice and Wren was honestly just adorable. When they watched a movie together, I was deeply moved. Just seeing Alice open up to someone after being an isolated recluse for years is just so sweet. And it makes me so happy that she was able to reclaim her fame.

- I am a sucker for childhood friends to lovers. Wren and Derick have so much history together and it is adorable. I love the flashbacks because they meld so well with the story and it gives us so much more depth to their relationship. To how much Derick means to Wren even though Derick had hurt him before.

- Their present day interactions were adorable too though. The best part was probably the cuddle session on the couch in the basement after watching a bunch of POV Disney ride videos. It’s so unique to this book and it’s so tender and soft. And the fact that Derick was upstairs in the morning making pancakes just fills me with that domestic sweetness that I love.

- Demisexual representation! I love ace rep of any kind really but that conversation between Wren and Brandon was just so insightful. And I love that there is no shame surrounding Wren exploring his sexuality in his twenties.

Dislikes:

- Wren sometimes frustrates me. Mostly when he flat out ignores Derick or tries to stop Derick from talking. He admits that he should not have done that so I forgive him somewhat. But it’s still frustrating that he did that at all. I’m actually more willing to forgive him for the second time he does it. Because the first, when Derick tries to apologize for ghosting Wren, was just unnecessary. It went on for so long and for what.

- Mateo being a bad employee just sucks because I just got so annoyed with him. It made me wonder how he was going to act like a friend to someone who got him the job when he won’t even do it properly? And how is he gonna act like it’s not his fault for almost causing an accident when he’s literally staring at his phone during work! He should’ve been reprimanded earlier but I get not wanting to cross blurred friendship/co-worker lines.

- Derick ghosting Wren sucked! I think this one is personal though. Because it is my absolute worst fear. I’m a socially anxious person and I love my friends. And it was pretty obvious that Wren and Derick were really close up until college. So the ghosting just rips my soul out and tears it into shreds. Then Derick said he didn’t feel the same way but then sent those mixed messages and it was just infuriating. He made me feel frustrated. And I do not like that in a love interest of a book. If they frustrate me, in the beginning especially, it’s difficult for me to see them as good for the protagonist. Even if Wren says they help each other be better, I just… ugh. Communicate better! Thank fuck he promised to do that.

#Booklr #Booksbooksbooks #Book Blog #Book Review #Book Recs #Never Been Kissed #Timothy Janovsky #LGBTQ #Queer Books #Queer Lit #Queer Representation #Asexuality

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