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starhvney · 1 month

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𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐏𝐀𝐆𝐄 | you can find the masterlist here!

hi! if you want to make a request, here’s what you should know.

before we get into specifics, just a quick side note for you!

please don’t hold back out of shyness or nervousness if you want to message me! i’m pretty anxious, especially when it comes to talking with strangers on the internet (usually it seems to be the opposite for a lot of people). just know that i won’t bite if you want to even message me hi or tell me something random! if i don’t understand your prompt, i’ll direct message you for clarification. the only time i won’t respond is if you’re being rude, you spam me, or the request goes against my “guidelines” for what i write. i will just ignore you.

𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐈 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑?

i will write both platonically and romantically for the men, and just platonically for the women! this applies to any of the characters in the mystreet or diaries universe. if there’s a character i don’t know well, i’ll still try my best to write them for you!

i will try to keep most characters in character, however some aspects might be rewritten to make them less… goofy or problematic?

a few examples:

i think garroth in the mystreet series going from smooth and suave to loosening up and becoming more loving and cheery was a cute development. however, turning him into a complete himbo idiot was a complete crime in my opinion.

i’ll write “kawaii~chan” as nana ashida. while her character arc of acting cute to stand out is really good, the name “kawaii~chan” is… well. you know.

another broader example is the whole aphmau can’t have a normal platonic relationship without the character falling in love with her deal…just no. and the potato nickname…

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐈 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄?

i will write in both the mystreet universe and the diaries universe. i know there were other spin-offs and series on aphmau’s channel, but i never watched them, so i can’t write for those. sorry!

i’ll write headcannons, fluff, hurt/comfort, spice, and angst. just know that when it comes to angst i don’t like to torture myself anymore than life already does, so it won’t be written without a happy ending or a hopeful open ending.

i might be open to writing nsfw, but if you’re young please don’t make that kind of request to me! it will make me uncomfortable. i can try and tell you not to read it too, but i know i obviously can’t stop you. i also read smut when i was fifteen. what i will say is that when it comes to that sort of thing, be very careful of who you talk to on the internet and what you’re reading! you can’t unread or unsee what you expose yourself to, and innocence is a precious thing. you should protect the peace that comes with it and don’t feel pressured to destroy it just because everyone else does. the internet can be a dangerous place. that being said i am a twenty year old woman writing fanfics about minecraft on tumblr, but i hope you take my advice seriously.

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈 𝐀𝐁𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄.

• gore. i don’t mean i won’t write about major injuries or violence, but explicit and over the top stuff in detail is too much for me.

• nonc*n. i find it very odd, and do not condone anyone reading or writing it. i may write antagonists who threaten it, but no character in my works or the ‘reader’ will experience it.

• anything inappropriate that has to do with minors or family members. same thing. if you’re into that you’re sick in the head and need help. i won’t hold back on saying that. it’s not normal or natural and it is most certainly not attractive.

• i won’t entertain any kind of gross or dark fetishes. period.

• obviously i also won’t write hateful things about any group or type of person, but i find it unnecessary to even say that, as it’s a given and the bare minimum standard everyone should have as a person.

𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓?

honestly, it doesn’t matter to me. you can request anything from the character and the genre you want or a full on prompt/scenario you want me to elaborate on! just be patient on my responses, as i’m sadly an adult with responsibilities.

the only thing that i ask is that you don't spam me with a bunch of vague prompts all at once! i don't mind someone who has requested before making more requests later on, but spamming me "write for this character." and "write for this character romantically even though you said you don't write romantically for them." within seconds of each other is really not cool. remember i'm a person and not a bot who fulfills your requests!

#requests #asks #aphmau #mystreet #minecraft diaries #x reader #mcd x reader #mystreet x reader

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theheightofdishonor · 3 years

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Teen Wolf triads are something that can be so personal, so here’s a list of my faves

Scott/Stiles/Allison

The OG trio. The gang that dies together might not stay together, but they’re still iconic.

Scott/Stiles/Lydia

Any Scott/Stiles/X dynamic is brilliant, but few more than this one. These three have been there since the beginning and they’ve gone through so much together. There’s no Teen Wolf without them.

Scott/Stiles/Derek

They were the driving force in S1&2 and had some absolutely iconic moments together. Hate that there wasn’t more of them after that.

Scott/Derek/Isaac

Mostly based on S2/3. I was very invested in Isaac’s struggle to pick between these two.

Scott/Stiles/Isaac

This triad’s dynamic completely changes between S2 and 3. In Season 2, Isaac, as part of Derek’s pack is a slightly antagonistic figure and it’s very much Scott&Stiles vs Isaac but in S3, Scott and Isaac grow closer while Isaac and Stiles erm, don’t. It’s very fun to watch.

Scott/Isaac/Allison

My ot3 and the only trio on this list that I 100% ship.

Isaac/Erica/Boyd

Ayy, it’s the OG Hale Pack aka 3 teens bonding over being thrown headfirst into something they weren’t prepared for and Derek’s horrible leadership. Isaac should’ve ran away with Erica and Boyd for solidarity’s sake.

Chris/Allison/Isaac

Chris’s struggle between hating Isaac for dating his daughter and wanting to adopt him is hilarious. One of my favourites.

Scott/Melissa/Isaac

Who didn’t completely melt at Isaac joining the McCall fam? The scene where they’re ‘guarding’ Melissa was so cute. As a bonus, it made Stiles’s animosity towards Isaac that much stronger. Will forever hate that this trio was more or less non-existent in 3b even though I love Chris/Allison/Isaac.

Derek/Cora/Peter

The non-dead Hales. Why oh why did Cora have to leave? Their family dynamic was great.

Allison/Lydia/Cora

I know they only had a couple scenes as a triad, but there was so potential. We love antagonism with underlying sexual tension. And ofc, the only thing better than 1 terrifying badass that can secretly be super sweet is 3 terrifying badasses.

Derek/Isaac/Boyd

At one point, the only non-dead members of the Hale Pack (TW quickly amended that). I always think of the S3a Loft scene where Boyd and Isaac skip school to protect Derek. Despite how awful of an alpha Derek’s been, they still care about him and he cares about them (as actual people and not just betas that he needs for power like he did originally)

Derek/Allison/Lydia.

Yes it’s my 5th s3 based trio in a row, but can you blame me? This is 100% based off the classroom scene in 3x02.

Allison/Lydia/Jackson

Although Lydia and Jackson were both awful in S1, their friendship with Allison and their immediately taking her under their wing was beyond precious. Additionally, it combines both the asshole-who’s-soft-towards-1-person- dynamic (jydia w/ allison) and assholes-who-secretly-care-about-each-other (jydia) And ofc, the underlying tension due to Jydia’s disdain towards Scott and later, Jackson and Allison’s experiences/knowledge of the supernatural.

Malia/Kira/Lydia

Comedy gold. Their scenes speak for themselves and we needed more.

Liam/Mason/Corey

Their S6a dynamic is sooo underrated and should’ve been given more screen time. I loved watching Liam and Corey struggle to get along for Mason’s sake because they want him to be happy. It was all very wholesome and one of the few things that made 6a worth watching.

Stiles/Scott/Liam

Aka the best part of S4.Their dynamic is so fun and well-balanced and infinitely better because they’re a triad. You’ve got Scott and Liam figuring out their mentor/mentee relationship with Stiles co-parenting and preventing the Scott/Liam dynamic from turning unhealthy. (Liam and Scott’s S6 dynamic veered way too close to parent/child for my taste. They need Stiles to balance it out) It’s also hilarious how quickly Liam accepts being aggressively adopted by two idiots who are barely older than him. And Stiles takes so easily to playing older brother/co-parent. It’s adorable. They’re adorable.

Erica/Allison/Lydia

Very similar dynamic to Allison/Lydia/Cora due to Cora and Erica’s similar personalities but also not, which has a lot to do with Allison and Lydia’s reactions to Erica’s weaponized feminity. Also, there’s a lot more history between these girls and I want to know everything about what Erica thinks of Lydia after going to school with her for years.

Sherriff/Melissa/Chris

Of the top of my head, I can only remember that time where they were trapped under the Nemeton and that’s simply unacceptable.

Sheriff/Noshiko/Melissa.

It’s a crime that this triad never got scenes. Especially after the Sheriff tried to arrest Kira. I know Melissa bitch slapped him but I wanted to watch these two badasses gang up on the Sheriff together. ( the Noshiko/Melissa dynamic would be so iconic.)

Victoria/Noshiko/Melissa

Another triad that never shared scenes (obviously because Vic is dead) but their power would’ve been off the charts. I want to make a joke about milfs, but I’ll refrain.

The Yukimura fam

Seemed appropriate since my last two also included. Noshiko.I love family dynamics and the Yukimuras are no exception. The attraction of this triad, for me, is mostly the dynamic between Kira and Noshiko and how Ken navigates between them. They’re also a trio that we didn’t see nearly enough of in S4 and 5. Like seriously, where were they? Noshiko’s on the dead pool, but she’s barely mentioned. (on a mostly unrelated note, how is the 900 yr old Kitsune worth less than a girl that just found about her kitsune powers?)

Derek/Allison/Scott

I don’t need to explain this one. The angst, the drama, Derek projecting Kate onto Allison and Allison trying to murder Derek and their evolution to reluctant allies with a good dash of Scallison and Scott navigating his own difficult relationship with Derek. Aka the complicated, tension fraught trio we all loved/should love. ( ok, I kind of explained it)

Derek/Scott/Liam

And here we have a two for one deal; two mentor/mentee dynamics in 1 triad. People much smarter than me have written about this trio in extensive detail, so all I’m saying is that Derek’s that one uncle who occasionally comes around and gives somewhat helpful advice.

Braeden/Malia/Scott

Braeden and Scott were great in S4. Braeden and Malia were great in S5. Scott and Malia are pretty great when they’re not in a relationship. Combine, and you get what had to be a kick-ass triad that’s sadly never canonly shown together (I think)

Melissa/Chris/Isaac

Not actually featured in the show, but Isaac deserves all the parental figures and I want to witness the surely epic custody battle between Chris and Melissa.

Malia/Scott/Peter

That this trio is on here is actually pretty funny because I hate both Scalia and the forced Peter/Malia bonding in S6. But I loved the scene where Peter warned Malia not to fall in love with Scott because a) he has absolutely 0 right to advise her on anything and b) because of the history between Scott and Peter. In a way, a relationship with Malia is just another thing tying Scott to someone that’s repeatedly caused harm to him and his friends and was the initial cause for all the pain he’s suffered in the last couple years. I just find this dynamic worth exploring.

Malia/Derek/Peter

The Hales 2.0. Derek and Malia deserve to bond over unwillingly being related to Peter, that scumbag.

Malia/Stiles/Peter

Stiles and Peter are so fun together and Stalia is my jam. Throw in an antagonistic Malia and Peter relationship and they’re entertaining as hell. Much more lighthearted than Malia/Scott/Peter.

Stiles/Malia/Lydia

To clarify, this has nothing to do with a love triangle and everything to do with how their personalities play off each other. It’s one of those trios where together, they’re either terrifying or absolute morons.

Stiles/Cora/Derek

Admittedly, my version of this is very Sterek+Cora and the hilarity of Stiles and his attraction to Hales but it’s also 3x snark and you really can’t go wrong.

Scott/Stiles/Melissa

It’s Melissa and her boys 1.0. This woman is by far the best parent on this show, and I love the specific dynamic among these three. Melissa might not always like Stiles, but she cares about him and there’s the mutual understanding that they both adore Scott and would do anything for him. Also, Mel being exasperated by the dumbass duo is always funny.

Kate/Allison/Chris

Lowkey another custody battle because Kate and Chris do fight to be the bigger influence on Allison This is such a tragic trio to me, and the lesson here is basically that sometimes love isn’t enough. Chris and Kate both genuinely love Allison and she loves them too but can’t have both and at some point, she has neither. Kate and Chris care about each other, but that’s not enough either. In the end, they all lose each other. There’s no happy ending for them, at least not with each other.

Derek/Stiles/Peter

Stiles just has chemistry (not necessarily romantic) with all Hales and this trio really shines through in 3x01 and in S3 in general. “Chess is Stiles’s game” asgdhfjgh. I wanted more of that very specific dynamic.

That was a hell lot longer than I thought it would be, but what can you do. Feel free to tell me your own opinions in the tags/comments.

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its-an-inxp-again · 3 years

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Hey

Idk if you ever got the answer to your thing. But I’m a person who is queer but regularly uses the term lesbian to make things simpler. I can tell you why I hate the phrase monosexual- it feels transphobic to me- I am not attracted to men at all, but I am attracted to women, non-binary folks, gender queer folks, and agender folks. If I was with a partner and they transitioned to be a man I would still love them. That wouldn’t change. Sexuality is fluid and calling someone monosexual seems to erase that and really put people in boxes. Everyone has exceptions. And as someone who has identified as bisexual and pansexual in the past and find those not to suit me and fit right (especially since I am not sexually/romantically attracted to people physically/based on appearances- it’s more about personality and what I could do with a person)

I don’t mean this in an antagonistic way, I really hope it doesn’t come off that way(I’m bad expressing myself sorry).

(I’m sorry, I know you’re not trying to be rude. My answer, however, will sound rude and upset because you touched upon some stuff that needs a lot of unpacking to me lmao. Just know this anger is not necessarily directed at you but at biphobia in general.)

Why do bisexual people may need to use the term monosexual?

A. It is descriptive

I see what you mean but as you said you're queer and lesbian is a term to make things simpler, right?

So I wouldnt call you monosexual because you’re clearly not attracted to only one gender (but if you want to who I am to stop you?). Monosexual is someone who is almost exclusively dating/is attracted to people of one gender. There are plenty trans people that are straight or gay that would NOT date a partner if they realized they were a different gender. For real: kat blaque made a video (here it is if youre interested) on youtube about this - she’s trans and she wants to date men and wouldnt feel comfortable on continuing dating if a partner of hers realized they were actually a trans woman all along. She wants to date guys not girls and that's FINE it just means A. She actually recognizes the girl gender, obviously B. She's straight af and that's wonderful! It’s not a box if that’s how her experience is and she likes it that way!

Also how is being monosexual transphobic? Cant a girl just like guys exclusively (both cis and trans) or like girls exclusively (both cis and trans)? It's not even enbyphobic since you dont need to be attracted to a person to support their rights. (Gay men arent attracted to women but can be 100% feminists.) Being open to fuck somebody is not the same as supporting their rights: fetishization is a thing. Again, I refer to the video Kat Blaque made.

Sexuality IS fluid but to some people (like me and you) it is more than others. Some people don’t feel comfortable dating people that dont fall into the gender theyre usually attracted to and thats 100% okay.

B. It helps in talking about biphobia and panphobia in society

Biphobia and panphobia are for the large part based on the assumption that you cant be attracted to more than one gender (not even non-binary and so on) and that if you do you're weird/disgusting/mentally ill/a sexual predator. I can tell you 100% that's the narrative both straight and gay people can and may perpetuate since I struggle w this kind of shit every single time Im attracted to someone no matter their gender (YES, EVEN IF THEY'RE A GUY, BECAUSE THE OTHER DAY I WAS ATTRACTED TO A GIRL AND NOW I FEEL LIKE A FUCKING ANIMAL THAT CANT CONTROL ITSELF, even though it makes NO sense because if it was two girls or two boys the actual number of people my hormones activated to wouldnt change, but it would make my experience not subjected to biphobia!). I’m not saying gay people are the same as straight people. But I do feel alienated BOTH from heteronormative society AND from (subtly biphobic) gay spaces because of my bisexuality. I costantly feel like I’m outside both of those worlds and you know how humans are: I just need a term to encompass it all easily, to say “I don’t identify with any of this” (which is both straight and strictly gay spaces: ie, monosexual). To me is literally the same as saying non-bisexual/non-pansexual.

I dont mean to say lesbians or gays have it easier or are just like straight people. But we do have different experiences and I need terms to express that. It honestly doesnt matter to me if you identify as lesbian or queer (though I think you’re implying you’re more queer than anything). But I do need a term to talk about how society at large treats sexuality; ie, as a monosexual thing. Another concept that’s been thrown around is bi erasure. A strictly monosexual society is bound to view a girl dating a girl (or girl presenting) as if theyre both LESBIANS and erase a queer person the moment they’re in a m/f relationship, because people cant COMPUTE that it may not be the case and that the girl dating a cis straight dude isnt betraying her queerness.To think so is basic biphobia.

In some ways, I think it’s the same as when transgender people started using the term cisgender - which is applicable to both straight people and queer/gay people. They simply needed a term which meant “not-trans” as they were saying “I dont identify with this” (ie the cisgender experience). Does it imply that cisgender people, no matter if queer, have something in common? Yeah, yeah it does. Does it imply that queer people are just the same as straight people, or face no oppression? Of course not. Seeing people being offended upon being called monosexual feels like people being offended upon being called cis to me.

Also, saying that the terms bisexual people use are transphobic is almost implying that bisexuality is inherently transphobic? Or reeks to me of that kind of rhetoric. I use the terms I need to use, just like any other marginilized group does, and nobody outside of that group has any right of denying me that. It’s like I’m trying to create a safe space for myself and people like me and yall come around to judge us YET AGAIN. And I'm just tired of hearing this bullshit. I could accept this kind of criticism only if it came from a trans person themselves, I guess? But it’s not usually trans people who accuse us of being transphobic, in fact, many trans people identify as bisexual and use bisexual terminology lmfao.

“Hearts not parts” rhetoric

Finally, about personality being superior to physical appearance. That's amazing but I do want to note that, not you necessarily, but many people who are into the “hearts not parts” rhetoric are, how can I say this. Slut-shaming people? I’m not sure if you are doing this but I feel it needs to be said just to be sure. A lesbian trans woman can be just attracted to a girl for her physical appearance and just want to fuck her - and THAT'S OKAY. That's fine. I am a sexually attracted to people and that doesnt mean I have to form a deep bond first. Sex positivity is about accepting that people can feel like this and not shame them for this. "Hearts not parts” rhetoric has in the past infantilized, sanitized or outright shamed other queer experiences. It's fine if you feel that way but dont start acting like you're morally superior because of that. That's catholicism with extra steps. My bisexuality its not the symptom of some predatory and animalistic thing that should be purified into something more palatable and less sexual. That’s the same thing they used to say about gay people and now gay (biphobic) people are using this against us. That’s also the kind of thing trans women (especially if they’re sapphic) constantly hear every fucking day. Queer people have a good part of their discrimination rooted in the shaming of purely sexual desires. Forcing ourselves to be more palatable and less sexual is just respectability politics. I’m tired of it. (This is obviously different from being on the asexual spectrum: but you dont see ace people going around pretending they’re morally superior than everybody else, and many are actually very sex positive) You would still love your partner if they were a different gender: that’s great, but that’s not how some (most) people feel, and they aren’t superficial because of this, just different from you.

Also, I think you’d really benefit from hearing a trans person say they don’t care if someone has genitalia preferences. Here it is. This obviously doesnt mean that every trans person will feel like she does, but it does mean that we can’t generalize trans experiences/preferences/what they feel transphobia is. Just like straight people dont get to say what’s homophobic or not, cis people dont get to say what’s transphobic or not. The definition of those terms relies entirely on the community that is targeted by these things.

I hope this wasnt excessively confusing but I wanted to make my point clear.

#ask #anon ask #sometimes i say stuff #tw biphobia #tw transphobia #tw panphobia #tw queerphobia #lgbt #lgbtqia

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justaweirddruid · 3 years

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I say this as a Fjorester shipper who is 100% ambivalent about W*dojest — I genuinely am, I’m not trying to pull some fake fandom credentials for credit — but your post about Liam was needlessly antagonist, and really not fair

Liam has done nothing disrespectful to Fjord or Jester, or to Laura and Travis. He has never tried to take a Fjorester moment and make it about Caleb — even when he saw them cuddle for the first time and acknowledged it, the Fjorester moment was already over and it was fine, it was fair game for Liam to say that (WJ shippers, on the other hand, are *constantly* making Fjorester moments about Caleb, but I’m not talking about them) Caleb has never once implied that Fjord and Jester shouldn’t be in a relationship together, and neither has Liam. And Liam has confirmed that he had no intention of having Caleb pursue Jester romantically, so it’s not like there’s a secret plan for Caleb to break up Fjord and Jester. And really, Liam was so excited and proud of Travis in episode 118! He meta-teased them in episode 119! Liam is happy and approves of Fjorester.

Yeah, it’s easy for Liam, speaking for Caleb, to gush about my Beauyasha! It’s easy for Caleb to be happy for them. His feelings for Jester (which themselves are not disrespectful in anyway — Jester treats Caleb with kindness and love and consideration, because she treats all of her friends that way, and Caleb is/has been deprived of that kind of attention — it’s not some weak excuse made by Liam to create dramatic tension to say that Caleb has developed feelings for Jester) and even his arguable attraction to Fjord make things more difficult. And that’s totally fair.

And unlike Beauyasha, Liam had no reason to describe his feelings about Fjorester on Talks Machina! The Beauyasha date already happened, and it was a lovely and grand moment — while Caleb had yet to talk to either Fjord or Jester about their relationship, so Liam has no reason to go in depth about his feelings for his friend’s fake relationship on Talks. It would be much more impactful to address it in character, during the game, and as far as I’m concerned, that discussion will happen. So long as there are no surprising perma-deaths that make that discussion impossible, Liam probably wants Caleb to talk to one or both of them about it. We have been inundated with emotional conversations lately, we’ll have a dozen more before they fight the Tombtakers, and it will be fair game for Liam to talk about it as much as anyone wants him to on Talks after that.

I know that there are people who hate Liam no matter what he does, and take all of his choices in bad faith. I’m not one of them, I love Liam, but you might be one of those fans — idk you, I just saw your post in the fjorester tag and thought, wow, that’s not at all the interpretation I made at all. Your post might have just been your form of venting, and you almost certainly weren’t expecting an anon to write an essay in your asks, so feel free to delete this without any guilt. But I feel like your post really missed the mark and implies that Liam isn’t a supportive friend or player at the table, and imposes fan-created ship drama onto the players

Hey anon

I wrote a long post replying to all the things you mentioned because I disagree with most of them, but I decided that I don't wanna add to the discourse today because I know we won't change each other's mind.

So just the most important points:

- I'm not a Liam hater, although I'm not surprised you said this because since the campaign started every time someone tries to criticize Liam or Caleb, people try to discredit them as just mindless haters that complain about everything they do.

I like Liam as a person, I like him in every other CR content, I liked Vax as a character and the twins were my favorite part of vox machina. I just don't like his playstyle when it comes to romance (since C1) and I was never a big fan of Caleb (since way before wj was even a possibility)

- Second, the thing that bothers me is not the ship itself. But the fact he made a point to show Caleb acknowledging fjorester (aka Jester's choice when it comes to her romantic relationships), but still didn't change the way Caleb behaves with her. That moment would've been the perfect way to close this chapter in Caleb's story in a meaningful way.

I know feelings don't simply disappear, but is it really necessary to bring them up all the time now? I mean, just look at Pikelan in C1, Scanlan never stopped loving Pike, but when he realized things needed to change, he stopped bringing it up all the time and focused on other important things for his story.

I know both ships are completely different, but you can understand what I mean. If Caleb is aware he needs to move on, than why bring it up all the time? Or at least have him *talk* to someone (not fjord or jester because I think this would be even worse) about it instead of just narrating everything in an unnecessary way, have it be a way to show growth instead of being a weird guy in a corner staring at an unaware woman.

- Finally, I don't think Liam is doing this in bad faith, maybe he's not even aware. Media spent decades showing these type of stories. How many movies and tv shows do we see where a guy showing affection for an unavailable woman is portrait as the highlight of romance? I'm not surprised one of them thinks this too and chose to include it in his character story.

My only comfort is knowing Critical Role is not a scripted show, otherwise we know how this would end.

I just wish people respected a woman's choice to pursue romance with whoever she wants and realized that a grown ass man pinning for his friend for a year while fully aware she doesn't feel the same is not romantic.

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ghostswillunderstand · 5 years

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Love in the time of Plaguelings or, The Outpost Season 2 and its romance plots

A bit late the party and it isn't even a particularly popular party at that, but I just had to get some of my thoughts out into the internet-ether.

First and foremost, I recall seeing someone(probably on Tumblr) remarking that the show was "depressingly straight" or some such and it is hard not to agree.

Now I don't think everything needs to be as queer as queer can be(it certainly doesn’t hurt though) and it is not like one can't do straight-romance well(watch High Seas on Netflix to see one recent and great example), but with The Outpost the lack of queerness is compounded by the terrible straightness we are given.

Here is something I never thought I would say: For the majority of the first season I kind of liked the little love triangle we had between Talon, Garret, and Gwynn. It felt refreshing to me because all three were aware of it but none of them allowed it to ruin the growing friendship between them. Garret is in love with Gwynn but has the hots for Talon, Talon has the hots for Garret but is friends with Gwynn and is content to be friends w/ sexual tension with Garret. Gwynn is with Garret, is friends with Talon, and is aware of the aforementioned sexual tension between her love and her friend. It just isn't that big of a deal for the most part, at least until the end of the season where they ruin this pleasant dynamic.

I wrote the above to kind of highlight that the show can do a decent(not great but far from terrible) romance, so the junk we get in Season 2 isn't just my lust for a Gwynn+Talon pairing coloring my view of things.

Season 2 tries to give each of the two female leads new romantic partners and they are both disasters. I actually don't mind Tobin as a character unto himself but pairing him with Gwynn does real harm to her character. The show seems to think that because he stops drinking(for purely selfish reasons) that he is no longer the boorish dick that he was before, the guy who basically walked up to a Queen he was trying to convince to marry him and said "Wanna fuck?" and then, when shot down, immediately asked her handmaiden the same. And when you have Gwynn falling for this it immediately makes her look incredibly foolish. It seems clear they are aiming for a Han and Leia type of dynamic but we never had to watch Han being a gross piece of shit for multiple episodes and then get told to ignore all that because...? Seriously, Tobin's whole "I'll stop drinking and become a better man!" thing is just so poorly conceived.

If they had played this all out nice and slow with their relationship portrayed as the political maneuver it is and nothing more, letting a romance grow out of that at a deliberate pace, I could probably see it working. But as it is, the Tobin of the second half of the season is basically a different character than his initial portrayal, the only way to accept who he is in the second half is to ignore who he was in the first. It is madness. And then to add insult to injury, we now have to contend with a probable Tobin+Gwynn+Garret triangle which is about as much "Thanks, I hate it!" as you can get.

Zed, on the other hand, is just terrible outright. Terrible and boring. He and Talon don't even really get along which makes their pairing just head-scratching. I'm not sure calling it a romance is even fair all things considered, their entire dynamic is so plot-heavy(she is no longer the last of her people, he can teach her stuff, we got to find the key, blahblahblah) that it feels like there is absolutely nothing between them as people, the only thing the have going is the fact that they don't see eye to eye on anything. So when they first get to it I was completely taken by surprise and not in a good way. Nothing between them had been leading to this and yet here we suddenly were, fucking on the side of a road.

The show seems to have latched onto the 'opposites attract' concept but did it in the worst way imaginable, employed on the show it is less 'opposites attract' and more 'people who don't like each other, like each other' and it feels as awkward as that statement sounds.

Outside of the character dynamics, the big thing is chemistry. Jessica Green and Imogen Waterhouse have it in a way that their characters don't with the men they are saddled with. Whenever Talon and Gwynn are put together on screen there is a spark in the air, whether there is a light playfulness or heavy tension the scenes between them carry a weight that isn't there for anyone else(well at least in a romantic sense, Elinor and Gertie have a great antagonist thing going on and Garret and his father really sell their conflicted bond quite well).

The show has Gwynn and Tobin having dinner together, she brings him lunch, she ogles him from afar, and none of it registers as well as any single scene between the two ladies. Scenes that have no romance in mind in the text itself.

It eventually reaches a point where you start to notice that the show seems like it wants the two ladies to always be apart, that despite being the two most important characters they have relatively few scenes together. Talon is just kind of off doing her thing for long stretches, dealing with the whole Blackbloods and all that but she does it all fairly dispassionately, it is only when Gwynn is involved(and generally in danger) that she gets all heroic and passionate. Talon riding off to save Gwynn, her Pirates of the Caribbean-esque fanfare blaring, is like the pinnacle of romantic heroism, but she is confusedly not going to save her love but rather her 'friend'.

Just a friend doing everything the love interest should be doing.

But of course Tobin, who Talon had just slapped for being a useless drunkard, tags along and we get some completely hollow "My how you have changed, Tobin." even though he hasn't really. And having been injured in Gwynn's rescue, Tobin receives the 'wounded warrior gets bedside romantic moment' with Gwynn even though he didn't do much besides get shot with a bunch of arrows.

So we are left with two awesome ladies who are given romantic partners/relationships that seem to be anchored only by the fact that the guys are handsome(and they are). But that certainly isn't enough, especially on a show where everyone is attractive. The show couldn't even cast the nerd/clown role without getting a handsome fuck in there. And speaking of Janzo, his relationship with Naya is something I'm still not sure of honestly. It was simple and sweet, which goes a long way, but not exactly riveting to watch. And then you get to the big moment and I think it was brilliant...maybe?

And I would be foolish to not mention that the show thankfully kept the sexy train going even when casting actresses over the age of 50. I am eternally grateful that Glynis Barber at 63 has been on my screen as of late, she can get it any day of the week.

Oh my, Auntie Gertrusha.

Now my little rant has come to an end and I don't really have a way to wrap it up. It feels weird to write so many words about this for a show like The Outpost. It is a fun little show of modest means and modest aims, that maybe doesn't deserve to bear the weight of such scrutiny. Scrutiny of things that it appears to have no real interest in.

But I quite like The Outpost, I like this type of meat-and-potatoes fantasy that we don't really get anymore, and isn’t thinking too much about a show the ultimate sign of love?. With swords aplenty, evil to be thwarted, honest-to-god comic characters(I can't adequately explain just how much I loved Munt in Season 2), I feel The Outpost is worth that admiration but in the center of all this fun swords-and-demons-and-whatnot we do have these feckless romances just dragging my enjoyment down.

It just sucks that after all these years, seeing the television landscape grow as it has, we still only have Xena and Gabrielle. I don't expect them to be toppled off their mighty thrones but it saddens me that no one ever even tries, that one of the reasons they sit on said thrones is because there is no one to even challenge them.

But, hey, Munt on a donkey. It isn't all bad.

#the outpost #the cw #fantasy #sword and sorcery #queer fantasy

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taromancies-blog · 6 years

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♡

pre-established relationship meme

friends. childhood friends / work friends / family friends / recently friends / turning antagonistic / turning into something romantic / stable / falling apart / friendship of need / friendship of circumstance / pen - pals or internet friends / coworkers / partners / other (TEAM UP! TO COMMUNICATE W SPIRITS!!!!!!!!!!!).

romance. childhood sweethearts / newly entered / soulmates / skinny love / unrequited from my muses side / unrequited from your muses side / friends with benefits / awkward / fading / turning toxic / toxic and destructive / other (opposites attract / different worlds colliding) .

familial bond. sibling bond / older sibling figure to your muse / younger sibling figure to your muse / parental figure to your muse / parental figure to your muse / guardian figure / legal guardian / other ( SASS Y?!?!? SIBLINGS ??!?!?!?!? ) .

enemies. dangerous to themselves / dangerous to others / unpredictable / passionate / rivals / petty / developing into a sexual tension / developing into a romantic tension / based off family matters / based of circumstance / based of professional matters / based of misunderstandings or lies / other .

some plot bunnies !!

talk to me about red, who begrudgingly hates the concept of family after being straight up stolen, and who can’t stand the idea of siblings, WANTS JJ AS HER GODDAMN SISTER THIS FUCKING INSTANT !!!!!!

potential way to meet: an exorcism jj’s working on goes horribly wrong. cue: fortune-teller to save the day ???

them learning each other’s tricks of the tradea nd respecting each other for their different approaches to things and just ? GOOD

EMPOWERED WOMEN EMPOWERING WOMEN

paranormal investigator ???? meet the headless horseman who just came into the room to have his fortune read

snuggleparties and being lazy at reds house feat. jake as a footwarmer

PLEASE ust sjdfdoingsgngksd i just love jj and red is so smitten w jj’s personality she wants to protect her and keep her safe and give her the worlda nd watch her ROCK EVERYONES SOCCK OFF

#KJSDFKLJSFKLSJDGNSKLGNGKL #happymediium

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zalrb · 6 years

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i kinda get what that anon meant by it kinda being contradicting of you to ship bonnie and kai. kai may not be as bad as damon but he’s still an abusive piece of shit. why would you want bonnie w someone like that lol no sense

1. I read somewhere once that Tumblr has the psychological mindset of a 7 year old and I feel like I confront that daily simply because nuance doesn’t seem to be a concept that anons grasp. I don’t have to like one form of ship, I don’t have to stick to one kind of dynamic, the reasons I ship Bonkai are completely different from the reasons I ship Stelena and you know what, that’s OK.

2. Yes, Kai did shitty things because as a villain his role was to do shitty things, what I would ship of BK is a dark, non-redemptive dynamic. I have said this repeatedly. And I mean repeatedly. From a previous post:

…nor had I really seen a man approach Bonnie in this manner, there’s an instant intrigue on Kai’s part and it was a good contrast to Damon who spent his time constantly putting Bonnie down while with Kai “I just wanted to feel your hand on my chest” “Don’t listen to him Bonnie” like he was actively courting/seducing Bonnie and on the flipside of that, he saw her as a worthy opponent; he never underestimated her intelligence or her power, in fact he wanted to unleash it, he wanted her to realize just how much power she had whereas with opponents like Klaus, they’re constantly underestimating her and it was nice to see someone believe in Bonnie even if in a twisted sort of way.

And then when Kai merged with Luke and was able to feel … I had my issues with it because I have an issue with TVD turning their antagonists into sappy, woe-is-me, I-had-a-hard-life characters, there always seems to be a need to stamp them with some sort of redemptive quality and I found Kai so refreshing because he had none of that but when he did feel, he was preoccupied with Bonnie. He was preoccupied with wanting to see her, wanting to get her to forgive him, wanting her to give him another chance, wanting her to see that he changed, he couldn’t stop thinking about her and that never happened before.

Bonnie has never really been anyone’s first choice — not even Jeremy, he chose Anna over Bonnie (”Why are you thinking about me when you’re calling her?” “I didn’t know that I was! I guess I never stop thinking about you”) and Anna had decided to let him go in 3x07 and that’s how he was able to move on because she forced him to — to the point that Kai risked dying so Jeremy could go back to the nineties to leave a clue for her, he played more of an instrumental part in her return than Elena did. (And to add to this even with BE, Enzo had to put her down and pine after Lily who had to die before he even looked at Bonnie). Bonkai is a relationship that is actually about Bonnie

The second reason why I ship Bonkai is because of the potential of what number 1 offers. I write Bonkai fanfiction and my fanfiction is grounded in the fact that Bonnie and Kai would not be a healthy relationship because I mean I don’t have any delusions about their dynamic: she killed him, he terrorized her, they manipulated each other and yet throughout these dangerous, bloody fights these two had, there was still this tension between them.

And I never thought TVD portrayed consuming relationships properly, never portrayed a I-hate-you-so-much-and-yet-I’m-obsessed-with-you-this-sucks-but-it-can’t-ever-stop relationship properly and I felt like that could be Bonkai. A scenario in which Bonnie is so resentful and angry and hurt that her friends did a terrible job in rescuing her, which makes her think about all of the things she’s done and given up for the people around her that sort of shifts her perspective of them so that when she gets back from the 90s, she’s not the same person she was before. She can’t connect to the people she had so many times previously sacrificed for, she’s numb and she’s completely disengaged and doesn’t feel anything but not a part of this world except for when she thinks about Kai or sees Kai because she’s overcome with rage at what he’s done to her, she’s overcome with hate, these violent emotions that are almost terrifying to experience but make her feel alive because she’s feeling something but when she’s confronted with him that same sexual tension is still there, which disgusts her but which is so intense that it can’t be ignored and which she is perversely grateful for because it’s something else she can feel. While on the other hand, Kai is battling having emotions surrounding Bonnie at all, conflicted and torn up with all of these feelings he never asked for or wanted but can’t get rid of and that are as overpowering as Bonnie’s savage sexual attraction to him and it all cumulates into a consuming, intense and yes, toxic relationship. Because Bonkai to me isn’t a great redemptive romance, Kai actually isn’t boyfriend material but instead of being JP about it and being a hypocrite about it (because how the hell is Damon boyfriend material either) I would play with that — what happens when a man who isn’t boyfriend material is in this relationship with a woman he has such strong, dangerous feelings for while that woman has equally dangerous feelings about him and actually hates him but can’t stop herself from being in some sort of relationship with him? Because that’s the thing about consuming and toxic relationships, they can be unhealthy and they can be passionate and they can be excellent vehicles for character exploration (Spuffy is a very good example of this) and I think it would be so interesting to explore Bonnie through this lens. Because a) as I’ve said before, TVD never really explores a woman feeling something dangerous, feeling something dark and feeling something they can’t stand but actually can’t help feeling for a dangerous and morally repulsive man, instead what they have is a woman feeling romantic, gooey feelings for the wrong man and that’s what makes it “dark” the fact that the man is dangerous, the feelings themselves are not, which is why when Elena says “missing Bonnie makes me sad, missing Damon makes me dangerous” her feelings aren’t actually dangerous, what she feels isn’t actually dark, what she feels is just supposed to be regular emotions times ten that she does something supposedly crazy but with Bonnie I would make Kai bring out her more impulsive and darker emotions, which he already did in the prison world considering that Bonnie had never actually killed anyone before meeting Kai and I would have that connect to her magic, see how experiencing such intense and savage emotions that scare her for a man she hates affects her abilities as a witch, who she is as a witch, what she does as a witch; I mean the possibilities of that are endless.

3. I realize people can’t wrap their heads around knowing a ship would be problematic but understanding the paths that it could take these two characters on and shipping it for those problematic qualities. There’s an inherent desire to excuse and defend.

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