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interact-if · 3 years

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I’m sending this in because it seems like I could get good opinions from not only you but also the people who follow you. I have an idea for an IF, and I’m very excited for the story. My question is, would people be offended if I made the playable MC physically female that identifies as female and all the ROs physically male that identify as male? I have seen some out there that are strictly M/M or F/F, and I’m so happy they exist because I feel that population is underserved. I just feel, not having the experience, I could bring justice to writing LGBTQ+ (and I don’t want to offend anyone in that community by writing something incorrect), mostly when it comes to sex (which I plan on including in my game). I support games that have those relationships in them and admire them, even play those games, and I don’t care who plays my game. The more the merrier! I still want the characters to be diverse. One of them will be of a descent that is based on Japanese culture and many others, based on Persian culture. I also want the playable MC to have any skin tone/features the player wants. I just want to know if this…will have people coming after me? I want to tell my story, but I don’t want to be attacked for it, if that makes sense?

I really don’t mean to offend anyone. I just don’t want to cause trouble, and I just want to respectfully ask for people’s opinions on this.

Hello! So, before diving into our response, we’d like to emphasize that we are but five individuals running a blog devoted to interactive fiction. We are neither the end-all-be-all voice on this matter nor necessarily a representative mouthpiece for the community.

First off, you can write whatever you would like to write; as the author, you have absolute control over what you produce, so nobody is going to stop you from writing what you want to write. It’s also important to write what you enjoy.

That said, the community is, in our experience, very inclusive, and largely devoted to providing a space for the queer community. We can understand the desire to have an appropriately inclusive and diverse game, and why you particularly want to turn to characters of color to bridge the gap; however, substituting characters of color for queer characters to claim diversity in a project is possibly something that will receive the wrong kind of attention. Furthermore, assuming that writing characters of color well is any less complex than writing queer characters potentially suggests that said characters could end up underdeveloped or tokenized. (See Nines' and Roast’s response below for more context)

All of that doesn’t mean you can’t make a game that’s genderlocked and restricted to M/F romance, and I don’t think anyone will be offended by such a game, but it might limit your audience. At the same time, there are (many) other visual novels that have this format, so it’s not something unheard of. As far as CoGs and text-based games go, as far as we’ve seen, they are rarely genderlocked unless for plot reasons, etc.

There is also a chance that you may receive feedback requesting that the MC be un-gender locked, or for additional ROs to be added of different gender, or for the ROs to be made gender selectable. These requests may be gentle, insistent, kind, or aggressive, and they may only occur at the beginning of your work, or may occur throughout your game development. Maybe they’ll never happen at all. It’s impossible to predict the future, but in our experience, we have often seen this occur to games in the past with RO gender imbalances, locks, etc.

As for searching for feedback, if you’re looking for feedback but you’re not pursuing the CoG format, may we suggest the Reddit subforum? It’s a little difficult for you to get the feedback/dialogue going here that you’d likely like to get, so Reddit’s format may be more conducive to your needs.

In the meanwhile, those who would like to provide their thoughts are encouraged to respond in the comments of this post. Please remember to be polite with your discussion!

— — —

The above is our general mod response; a few of us wanted to offer some individual thoughts as well, and those can be found below. These are personal opinions and reflect each individual mod’s thoughts, rather than a collective response.

While it can be a little daunting to write about something you’re not familiar with, writing often broaches topics with which we don’t personally have first-hand experience. Additionally, queer relationships are ultimately still relationships between people—they’re not all that different from heterosexual relationships. If you’re worried about the way you’re portraying your content, that’s something well-curated beta readers/testers (from the population you’re trying to represent) can help test for, and give feedback on. And on top of all of the above, that’s not to mention the potential issues associated with substituting in POC to replace queer people, which is perhaps not what your intention is, but is what it feels like your intention is (see Roast and Nines for all the ins and outs on why this is an issue). Ultimately, I stand by the opinion that on the most basic level, most will not be offended by a game that’s about a straight, cisgender female MC—yet some, or even many, may be off-put by such a game. I know I, personally, am. (P. S. Also consider that the MC has to interact with the other ROs that she isn’t romancing, as friends, enemies, acquaintances, what have you—having selectable ROs, for example, also allows the player to “diversify” their acquaintance group, if they so wish.) — Dani

I understand that this ask is coming from well-meaning intent but I would just like to state that writing characters of color is not easier than writing queer characters. One of them isn't a substitute for the other. Writing characters of color and writing queer characters are separate matters entirely, and both come with its own difficulties. Wanting your characters to be diverse, while admittedly lacking the perspective to back such identities, is still a murky water to navigate.

Personally speaking, and I really do have to be transparent about this, the way certain sentences were phrased in this ask rubbed me the wrong way. Still, I understand that this isn't malicious, just someone who is asking for guidance, which is something I can't fault. We all have to start somewhere, you know? That being said, if you really want to write diverse characters, my general advice is to do research. Lots and lots and lots of research. No author is exempt from that, honestly.

Find helpful articles, journals, studies, video essays, etc. to aid you in writing your characters. If you still feel like that's lacking in some way, which is a valid concern, being open to feedback from the appropriate people is also a good way to improve. The integrity of a project is important, but so is reasonable criticism against, for, or about it. Keep an open mind, educate yourself, and don't be afraid to ask for help or clarification should it be needed. — Nines

Nines says it well that queer people and poc are not interchangeable nor any 'easier' than the other. The fact that you're willing to do research and include characters of color yet not include queer characters tells me that you're afraid yet misconstruing how much effort actually gets put into cultural research.

There is a 'purity culture' that goes around tumblr that claims that diverse characters have to be perfect, have to have no flaws, cannot die, cannot have trauma, cannot face adversity, they must be perfect and good and happy.

I think this is bullshit.

I also think the backlash from this 'purity culture' community is what is creating so much fear in authors (including queer authors!!) in making characters with different backgrounds and identities than their own. In making queer characters with flaws and tragedy and negative characteristics.

If we only ever wrote what we knew, what we've personally experienced, fiction would be a very boring world.

Being afraid of representing a community wrong is a valid fear, but it shouldn't stop you from trying. You can write what you want to write, but it shouldn't be limited by fear.

Do your research. Get sensitivity readers. Be open to feedback. Be willing to be afraid, but do it anyway.

If, in the end, you decide to gender lock, make it an informed decision at the very least, and if you are including characters of color, know that that is a heavy amount of research too, and should be handled with the same care as what we've said on queer characters.

And like we've said before, we are not the voice of the community, we cannot give you permission or our blessing or flawless feedback, we are just five people running a blog. — Roast

Alright this was already mentioned a bit before but I wish to add my two cents: M/F relationships are the norm anywhere else in real life, and if you feel like there's no space for you and your relationships in a mostly-queer community then you might want to recheck if this is the community you wish to have as your target audience.

No one's going to be offended if your story is cishet, as we said, but you are extremely reducing your audience by doing such. The appeal of interactive fiction is that a good bunch of us have played female-mc-straight-love-interest visual novels in the past, having to endure being misgendered or romancing people we might not be attracted to.

The current interactive fiction community we're trying to promote has opened a million doors for everyone to explore themselves, so don't be surprised if your story, no matter how good, is ignored due to this aspect. Most of us have no interest in being forced to play as something we're not.

Again, we cannot tell you what you can or cannot do. We don't speak for the community, we speak for ourselves and for this blog. Maybe every comment we've made was incorrect and your game turns out to be successful, really, but it's what we believe you should keep in mind. — Cruz

Honestly, I don’t have much to add since everyone here mentioned and discussed important facets of this ask! At the end of the day, we are not a group who can or will ever dictate what you can or cannot write. That is not the purpose of the blog or the reason why we’re working as hard as we are.

There have always been games with this specific set of characteristics: gender locked MCs and/or ROs. Some people may enjoy it, others may not, for whatever reason.

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee anything in terms of how people will respond to a game, because people will react to content differently. All we can do is offer our perspective and the potential things that may happen in the future based on the experience the lovely devs above have had. (fellow interact-if mods, my beloved ❤️)

It’s always admirable for people to reach out when they’re unsure, and I’m sure there are infinitely more opinions that vary or are similar to the ones in this response. But there you have it, some of our thoughts!

Goodluck with your project! — Mars

#interact-if asks #anonymous #long post

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absolutebl · 4 years

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Linguistic Fun In Thai BL - Pronouns & Honorifics

Pronouns & Honorifics between Thai BL Couples

Couples that use polite pronouns with each other...

For example:

I = Pom (the younger male) or own name, Phi or P (the older person)

You = name (older to younger), P+name (younger to older) or just P (younger to older less formal)

P’ is technically an honorific but it can also function as a pronoun.

Note that all the above pictured couples have an age difference? That encourages a certain amount of politeness. You can see our two baby brats (Team & Duen) for exceptions to this. I’ll talk about them at the end.

Dean drops his honorifics a lot, but with everyone not just Pharm. His character is linguistically quite curt.

Also there is a slight variant in Solo & Gui. Solo adopts the pet name “Guitar” instead of using P’Gui or just P (for you). But he does this only after obtaining permission. So I’m still listing them under the polite-couple heading.

(Incidentally, Tan & Bunn in Manner of Death use the grown-up polite pronoun khun - you - with each other. Yet another way MoD is not BL.)

Couples that use rude informal pronouns with each other...

I = guu

You = mueng

Note that these couples are all the same age as each other? (Just FYI if you travel to Thailand as a tourist, please don’t use these pronouns.)

Couples that use mixed pronouns with each other...

Ae uses rude pronouns (guu/mueng), Pete uses VERY polite pronouns (he’s the only character I know who uses rao - old fashioned, cute, formal - for I/me as well as pom). They are the same age so honorifics don’t really come into play. Pete never defaults to rude pronouns even as a form of affection.

This linguistic difference is used by the narrative to stress the class and income gap between Pete and Ae. Also, Pete’s way of speaking showcases his shyness, stiffness, childishness, and loneliness. Finally, you can also see Pete use formality of address to extract himself from sticky social situations - he is very good with his wai.

Rome uses polite pronouns and honorifics. Pick uses rude pronouns. Which is somewhat okay given Pick is older than Rome, but still amusing as it emphasizes their personality differences. Also it’s one way in which we can see Rome given confidence in Pick’s affection since Pick doesn’t bother to maintain formality but drops to guu relatively quickly.

Tutor uses polite pronouns and honorifics with Fighter. Sometimes he uses them as if they were weapons to maintain distance. Fighter uses impolite pronouns with Tutor. Again this is a bit more okay because he is older, but also it shows a level of flirtatious interest and allowance.

Sib uses polite formal adult pronouns with Gene in Lovely Writer (kind of like how you might talk to you parent’s friend, or in an office workplace). You can spot this specifically with his use of khun for you. Gene uses polite-pronouns at first, but they have discussions several times about what is going on, because Gene is confused as to why Sib doesn’t just use P’Gene with him. Gene eventually gets annoyed enough to drop to rude pronouns. Sib states that he intends to eventually call Gene something else and continues to use khun. The extreme variant in their resulting registers is kinda hilarious.

Sky & Sun in Golden Blood I think are meant to be the same age (or Sun maybe older?) but Sky uses informal pronouns (as if he were older) while Sun uses formal pom etc... This is because of the class difference and the fact that Sun is household employee. Interestingly, when Sky is imagining talking to Sun in a romantic way he uses P’Sun, but not in person.

The Linguistic Brats of Thai BL...

Linguistically Team and Win are adorably aberrant.

Team drops the honorific P’ with Win almost immediately. While he maintains the use of polite pronouns, he usually calls Win hia. That’s brother as used by some Thai speakers who have Chinese heritage and is less formal than P’Win. It carries with it a certain quality of household intimacy. It is... erm... somewhat cheeky.

Win, on the other hand, uses rude pronouns, but then he does that with lots of people.

Win also applies emphasis to polite pronouns to make them seem sarcastic, e.g. nooong Pharm.

Bohn and Duen are a fascinating pair because they actually discuss honorifics and pronouns as a plot device in their story arc.

Duen drops the honorific and uses rude pronouns instantly with Bohn, even after realizing Bohn is older than him. This is SO RUDE. It’s difficult to articulate how extremely impolite this is. I think it’s one of the reasons Bohn likes Duen (obviously boy is attracted to brats).

Duen is the only younger character I have ever seen do this in a Thai drama. (I gasped more at Duen’s pronoun use than the punch that preceded it.)

This is why Thara is so confused when he encounters them in the clinic. Duen is throwing mueng and guu at Bohn like there is no tomorrow, but Thara knows Bohn is older.

When Thara asks if they are friends he means intimate close friends of long acquaintance, since it is so unusual to use rude pronouns across an age gap.

New Section MORE on...

Thai Pronouns & Honorifics when Seme/Uke is Age Flipped

So this concerns personal pronouns in Thai when the uke/seme dynamic is age flipped. So the older boy (who normally carries the linguistic power/dominance) is the uke (or romantic submissive character). In other words, we are talking about a conflict between linguistic D/s and relationship D/s.

KongpobArthit - SOTUS

MarkKit - Gen Y

MingKit - 2 Moons franchise

SoloGui - Oxygen

SibGene - Lovely Writer

This involves delving into the fact that when Kong and Arthit speak to each other, despite the fact that he is older, Arthit uses pom for I when we expect him to use phi.

On the other hand, Gui usually use phi with his seme under similar age dynamics and relationship circumstances. So Gui is linguistically acting like a polite seme (Dean in UWMA, for example). Kit uses rude pronouns, so he is linguistically acting like a rude seme (Pick in Puppy Honey, for example).

I could only check SOTUS S as SOTUS is off Netflix in my territory and hasn't been uploaded back to GMMTV's YouTube. So I'm not sure if this holds during KongArthit's initial meeting and warring romance.

In the opening sequence of SOTUS S (them waking up together and getting ready for work) Arthit used:

pom and (of all things) káo.

I want to say I'm wrong on the káo because that is very odd for Arthit's character (lovey-dovey and mostly quite girly/cutsie). He also used khun for you at Kong which is super formal, although he mostly just calls Kong by name, and in an annoyed tone. So he's kinda all over the place.

Kong stuck with phi & P'Arthit for you, and pom for I. Which is normal for a younger polite uke character (like Pharm). So Kong is sticking to polite age language rules (and not letting seme influence him).

I think the fact that they both use pom is more an aspect that despite their flipped power dynamic across the age barrier, Arthit is way more agro and tsundere than Gui. (But why not just drop to rude pronouns then, like tsundere Kit?) One would be tempted to say Arthit should push the phi under those circumstances but I think Arthit's attitude is more: I don't even need the phi. It is odd though, you're right. Maybe there's a bit of Arthit still holding Kong at arms length by not using guu/mung with him (which he does use with his friends)? Guu/mung carries with it a certain amount of invited informality that might be seen as encouragement by a younger seme. It's interesting.

I've described Kong and Arthit as coming off as somewhat ace and I think maybe their linguistics are a bit that way too?

Solo/Gui are also skewed tho. Gui refers to himself as phi but pretty much everyone knows that the power dynamic is actually the opposite. Solo makes that clear regularly because he uses the pet name Guitar without honorifics (once he attains permission) constantly, which a younger boy would normally get swatted for as disrespectful. And the way Solo says that pet name is like it's this gift he's been given by Gui. It's clear Solo knows to value the fact that he has been handed the romantic power, and the ability to drop honorifics. But he sticks to pom for I and never crosses that line.

These two are just way more comfortable and settled into their roles and dynamics from the get go. Also Gui is a VERY caring and polite but also occasionally parental and strict for a uke, for all he's a total softie he does act older with Solo regularly. So for all that this is a pretty firm seme/uke dynamic there's flexibility to it around acts of service. Stil Gui’s use of phi for I with Solo probably ties to the fact that he may be uke but he still feels older and wiser than Solo.

Kit uses rude informal with Ming in 2 Moons 2. Ming uses pom for I and phi for you, as if he were younger uke, during his attempts at courting. When they are cuddling or confessing later on in the series (Ep 9 for example), Ming drops the P' and just calls him Kit, no honorific, while still using pom for himself. So that's mixed informality and more what I would expect from a younger seme.

I guess there is at lot of linguistic meat to be had around younger seme's coupled to older ukes in Thai BL, because there is a clear honorific struggle resulting.

I mean Lovely Writer has a whole series of scripted chats about this. Since Sib is clearly an extremely dominant seme what he calls Gene is of deep concern to him. He refuses to use P'Gene (when they meet as adults) mostly because it's too submissive for what Sib wants from Gene. So he defaults to adult very formal Khun in order to cover his ultimate desire (and linguistic conundrum). This also makes Gene seem a whole generation older than Sib, though. And people around them find it weird, especially as Sib doesn’t do this with an other older boys - only gene.

They jump through a ton of pronoun hoops and honorifics during the course of their relationship as a result. They settle into the same pattern as MingKit in the end, with Gene using rude informal guu/mueng and Sib using Gene's name with no honorific and pom for I.

Real world note

Fluke (Pharm) calls Ohm (Dean) P'Ohm even though Fluke is a year older. The actors decided to do this between themselves, presumably partly based on personality and partly placed on the roles they played in Until We Meet Again. They found it easier to keep that dynamic on the promo circuit and have continued since.

Thus strict adherence to phi/nong based exclusively on age is not mandated IRL. Friends/lovers/coworkers/etc.. can alter language for social/cultural or interpersonal reasons. You can hear Santa & Earth on the Studio Wabi Sabi YouTube channel monkey around with this a lot. Earth is much older than Santa, but they very rarely use phi/nong.

That said, both Earth (LBC) and Fluke (UWMA) are out, so that could also come into play linguistically. Argh, so complicated.

Further Reading

More about the “I” first person pronoun in Thai.

More about the “you” second person pronoun in Thai.

More about the 3rd person in Thai, and the propensity to omit pronouns altogether.

More about honorifics.

One last note:

Third Person Singular = Gender Neutral

Something Thai BL fans don’t often understand early on is that third person singular pronouns are often genderless (it’s rarely she/he her/him, it’s more like singular they/them).

In other words, Thai speakers self gender and direct gender others in conversation. (”I” and “you” carry gender, politeness, and other cultural connotations.) But Thai speakers do not usually gender others when talking about them in third person (see káo). Despite what you’re taught in remedial Thai.

Also, many nouns that would carry gender in English don’t in Thai. For example, the word faen is usually translated as boyfriend/girlfriend, but it’s actually genderless and more weighted, like lover+special someone.

This is why, for example, Dean has to explain to his grandmother that he is dating a man in Until We Meet Again. This is also why translators find it difficult to do justice to the scene at the end of Love Sick 2 when Phun comes out to his dad (or does he?).

Maybe: “And your lover is serious about this relationship?”

Final note, I have made an extremely complicated subject as simple as I can for the purposes of greater BL understanding. And my own amusement. Read the articles linked above if you want something more nuanced and professional.

~ Armchair amateur dilettante signing off.

Updated to say the the TharnType Wedding Special finally hired a subber who used the Singular They!

(Incidentally all of this relates to the fact that Thai has registers which are based on many social factors, it’s really fun stuff. BL plays around with them too.)

Others in this series: Explaining Thai to the Bl Watcher, what you might want to know to understand the story and culture.

Also because the flipped power dynamic of a younger seme with an older uke complicates Thai pronouns and honorifics, I go deep into that because of a question about Kong & Arthit. Also talks about MingKit, MarkKit, SoloGui, and SibGene.

Explaining Thai to the Casual BL Watcher - It Has Registers

Linguistic Fun In Thai BL - Pronouns & Honorifics

BL Actors & Age Dynamics

Thai Pronouns & Honorifics when Seme/Uke is Age Flipped

Thai Honorifics Between Ages in BL and real life

(Original post is kept updated here.)

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annakie · 3 years

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So I decided to squeeze in a ME3 (only) playthrough to finally do MShep and an Engineer in ME3. I started this guy many years ago and never went very far with him, despite really loving the character design. BTW, I captioned all the screenshots above if you wanna clickthrough. So (re)meet Aldis. I tried to do his initial facial design off of Aldis Hodge, though I’m bad at creating/mimicking faces I think he still turned out as one of the most attractive mSheps I’ve ever seen, if I can say so mysellf without sounding too braggadocios. :) When I made him, there were a couple of goals I wanted to accomplish... Obviously, just finally do ME3 with a MShep. I did ME1 and ME2 with one even longer ago, but I romanced Liara in those and I really wanted to see a MShenko romance, to see the more gradual “Hey let’s get together” in ME3 instead of the “let’s reaffirm our relationship” like with my FemShep. I also wanted to do a more renegade playthrough, since it’s been many years since I did my Femshep Shakarian Renegade playthrough. He is still the “I’m nice to my crew, and I’ll try a diplomatic approach but my tolerance for bullshit is near zero.” And last, I’m just gonna wear a bunch of the dumb armors I almost never wear and just try and do things different in other ways than my main FemShep. Since the next time I do a full trilogy playthrough, it’ll be with my canon femshep in the Legacy and there may not be the possibility of mods then, I wanted a heavily modded run to see all the mods again, plus the improvements since my last ME3 playthrough about a year and a half ago. So this time I’m playing with:

Lights Effect as the FX mod

Girl Plays Game Hair Mods as DLC (Maleshep’s ”Macho” is the specific hair mod.)

Project Variety, which, btw means no Thanemod or Backoff. because they’re incompatible. Project Variety adds SO MUCH to the game, several of which are highlighed in the screenshots above.

Expanded Galaxy Mod (I have no idea how I can ever play without this mod again, gonna make the LE playthrough so hard and bland.)

Spectre Expansion Mod... also one I don’t ever want to live without in the future.

I have MEHEM installed because... yeah. I still don’t feel like not having a happy ending.

So of course Citadel Epilogue Mod to close out the game.

ME3 Recalibrated to fix all the lore and errors that need fixing.

And Better Journal to make quest descriptions better.

Casual Outfits for MShep. There’s also other new casual outfits installed for MShep and I don’t know where they came from, but I do love them. (See pics for more.)

Priority Earth Overhaul Mod to make the endgame even more epic. The creator also made Immersive Thessia which is sadly incompatible with Project Variety so for now I’m not using this... maybe a future playthrough will swap out PJ for Immersive Thessia, ThaneMod and BackOff again.

Omega Hub for extra Omega content post Omega-DLC, really looking forward to seeing the improvements in this one. It was just a fun 10-minute diversion last time I played through.

Ark Mod for extra missions that bridge the gap between ME3 and Andromeda.

Better Dreams for awesome and non-annoying dreaming... getting rid of The Kid as much as possible.

Alliance Warpack for more Companion outfits.

Citadel DLC Redone so most companions wear unique casual outfits during Citadel DLC

ME3 Opening Remaster to make those few seconds of the opening a little more epic.

Miranda Mod to have Miranda on the Normandy and give her cool stuff to do after Horizon. Also if you’re a Miranda Romancer gives her a better ME3 romance. Also better clothes.

Respawn - Mission Overhaul IDK why it’s hidden on the Nexus, but I had an old download I’m using. Makes combat more difficult by giving the bad guys more varied powers. A nice change of difficulty without making it crazy on normal.

Allers Redone to put Allers in a decent outfit. Still don’t know if I’m going to bother talking to her, though I did put her on the ship.

A Lot Of Videos 4k - I’m a 4k gamer finally.... I want what I can make look good... look good.

I’m NOT using ALOT this time -- I didn’t want to not be able to easily fix things should some mod installation be wonky. I figure the Legendary Edition is gonna be my big “Take ALL THE PRETTY SCREENSHOTS!!” time... this one is just for fun, and enjoying the mods and my pretty, pretty mShep.

Hey the new post editor SUCKS because I’ve run out of space for new paragraphs but I can add new bullet points. Anyway, I’ll probably make a few more screenshot posts as I progress through the game.

#mass effect #mass effect 3 #bioware #video games #mshep #mass effect mods #david anderson #james vega #kasumi goto #kaidan alenko #liara t'soni #annakie's mass effect stuff

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sweetheart-station · 4 years

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can i have general NSFW hcs of Aymeric and his (neutral-gender) WOL S/O?

I’m embarrassed at how fast I did this...I got so carried away...*swoons* Hopefully this is to your liking! My first nsfw ask! - Mod Venus

Aymeric de Borel

NSFW Headcanons

Let’s be honest, numerous people have dreamed of having the Lord Commander in their beds. But Aymeric’s heart belongs solely to his S/O: the Warrior of Light.

Due to his origins, he is not one for promiscuity or notches in his bedpost, and thus has little experience with matters of sex. He refuses to be that kind of man, and his heart would be unable to bear it because all he wants is a real love, not just to sate base desires.

Thankfully, he and his S/O found each other, and S/O has proven to be an honest person that he can trust his heart to, not just romantically, but as a friend, which means the world to him. For him, romance is built on trust, and sex should be no different. Perhaps even more dependent on it.

With that, Aymeric is a determined but sweet lover. Much like kissing, what works for him is his eagerness to please and willingness to learn every little thing that brings S/O pleasure. He takes time to listen for every clue his S/O leaves, whether they say it out loud or not. He quickly becomes a master musician playing their body like a harp.

He’s very versatile, willing to either lead or be led; whatever the mood calls for. He’s not too proud to let S/O be on top. As for positions, so long as it’s nothing too outlandish, he’s open to ideas. Sometimes he even surprises himself in the midst of it all. If his S/O switches it up in the middle and catches him off guard, he’ll be surprised, but can’t stop himself from grinning as their prowess as The Warrior of Light sneaks through.

Not one to be very rough, per say, but definitely passionate. He wants him and his S/O to feel everything; to let it swell just like his heart at the thought of them. He can also be slow and gentle, taking time to make them melt.

In other words...a master at foreplay. S/O swears he drags it on purpose because it’s his own form of gratification. He particularly enjoys kissing their hips and thighs, and those heated blue eyes peeking up through mussed black bangs nearly kills them every time.

Not opposed whatsoever to giving oral. That eloquent tongue of his isn’t just good for words. If S/O calls him out on this, he’ll be embarrassed, but he enjoys hearing the noises they make as he does so. He gets hot and bothered just by knowing he’s making the mighty Warrior of Light feel this way. And yes, he may or may not edge them on...he gets a bit greedy. But it’s hard to get mad at him when he flashes that charming and knowing smile. Damn him.

As I stated before, his ears are sensitive, so instead of just caressing his hair while his head is between their thighs, S/O should definitely tease the edges and back of his ears. It’s worth it to see him shudder and even let out an occasional moan and/or groan. Doing this while kissing will get it heated almost instantly, teeth included. Nipping or kissing the ears will have him damn near rip clothes off, so S/O better choose wisely.

Again, as I’ve said before, Aymeric loves to be touched. That carries over to the bedroom as well. He’ll just lean into the touch and let his eyes flutter shut as he feels goosebumps prick his skin, or he’ll lean back and let his mouth drop open in a drawn-out sigh as he savors the caress that stokes flames in his blood. Holding hands while he thrusts into them happens a lot during slower-paced sex.

Both he and his S/O have a fondness for kissing scars, old and new. Not necessarily arousing, but more tender and heartwarming. It’s a good way to slow the pace and just cherish each other, prolonging the intimacy. On that note, S/O needs to mind the place he got stabbed. It still hurts from time to time, so be careful.

A secret weakness of his besides his ears is his chest. Teasing his nipples will earn a gasp, a shiver, and a blush all at once. (He really gets embarrassed about this because he can’t deny it.) Perhaps it has something to do with wearing armor most of the time and letting himself be so vulnerable in front of someone so powerful.

Not loud, but vocal in a more subdued way. Deep murmurs of how attractive he finds their body, low sighs as he kisses them, and groans as he rocks into them at a steady tempo are just a part of the package. A bit of lighthearted banter can be expected too, depending on the mood. He can be intense and seductive or playful and cheeky.

Sex has happened outside of the bedroom all over the place in Borel Manor, always out of sight of others. He’s not going to actually risk being seen doing something scandalous in public, but there is a bit of a thrill in a little rendezvous just inside the walls of his home that people could be walking past unaware.

As for his body, Aymeric is not monstrous, but still well endowed. Well-proportioned and well-groomed, he’s above average length with a nice thickness and a slight curve upward when aroused. There’s also a beauty mark on the base that S/O can lovingly tease him for.

He has a good amount of endurance, too, (he’s not Commander for nothing, after all,) and can last more than two rounds in one night. His drive is a bit higher than one might think for someone so full of propriety, but he just...REALLY loves his S/O, and being apart from them for longer periods of time due to their duties as Warrior of Light makes him crave them more.

No matter how far gone he is, he’s always attentive to his S/O. If there’s a chance they aren’t enjoying themselves he stops immediately and asks about it to fix it. He’s good at aftercare too, whether it be the need for a glass of water or a cloth to clean up with, he’s already on it without being questioned.

Aymeric is a bit of a sucker post-coital cuddling. He also likes to fawn over them as they bask in their afterglow. (To be fair, S/O does the same. The man is too beautiful to be ignored in such a state.) With his dark hair a mess and his eyes a sparkling blue, he looks truly content; having found what he considers his soulmate and having them here, with him.

No matter how many years they are together, he never stops looking at S/O that way. To him, it has been a long, difficult road to paradise, and he will never take them for granted.

#aymeric de borel #aymeric de borel x reader #aymeric de borel headcanons #final fantasy #final fantasy 14 #ffxiv #lemon #midnight train #headcanons #headcanon blog #imagine blog #requests #ff14 #ffxiv headcanons

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arocharacteradvice · 4 years

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I'm demiromantic and recently wrote a sci-fi novel with an aro main character. I partially based his experiences off of my own, but I'm worried that it's not clear enough that he's aromantic. He's gay aromantic and has had a number of romantic/sexual relationships, but values his platonic bond with his best friend more. He realizes he's aromanitc during the book as he's in a romantic/sexual relationship, but there's a mismatch between his and his partner's (who's allo) feelings. (1/2)

(2/2) He's social and physically affectionate, so he thinks of romantic relationships as friendships with sex where you're allowed to be more affectionate. It's the difference between his and his partners feelings that makes him realize that isn't how it is for everyone. It hurts their relationship. His partner and others accuses him of being cold and he faces arophobia, but later he gets an apology and people around him validate him as loving and aro. Are there pitfalls I should be aware of?

Oh, this is another one of the two-part ask about the aromantic main character in my sci-fi novel from the demiromantic writer! I was hoping to make this a series and have him end up with the partner I mentioned in the last ask at the end, but with the understanding that he's aromantic and while he does care about his partner its not in a romantic way. They go into it openly knowing their feelings are mismatched. Do you think it's okay or still amatonormative to have him end in a monogamous qpr?

Hi!

So, first off, I really love that the character eventually gets an apology from his friends. I’m sure lots of us on the aro spectrum will find that very satisfying to read, myself included!

I also think your story has potential to be a really interesting portrayal of an aro piecing together how he’s different to others, as if I’ve understood properly it’s not a lack of feeling but a difference that makes him notice his aromanticism, and that’s another thing I’d love to read because we’re in desperate need of coming out stories and media that examines how aros question seeing as we’re realising a lack rather than a differing attraction. As you’re someone on the arospec who does experience attraction, I imagine pulling from your own experiences will be very useful in this case, though you can of course always ask aromantics to compare and contrast experiences if you need to.

As for making it clear your character is aromantic: I’ve written a post about this topic here, but the tl;dr is that you can just use the word. Explaining what this means for the character in the text is always good, but don’t feel like there’s anything stopping you from hitting your readers over the head with the specifics of what your character is and isn’t.

It’s difficult to think of specific pitfalls with what you’ve described. That doesn’t mean your writing has no awkward phrasing or dodgy implications, because I haven’t read it, but it seems like you’re covering bases by doing things like actively presenting arophobic characters as wrong and needing to grow. If you’re asexual, I would recommend following a few allosexual aros and maybe asking for further specific advice about writing a gay aro’s experience of a romantic/sexual experience, but that’s about it.

Whether or not it’s amatonormative to have an aro end up in a monogamous qpr is really about the specifics (again) of that situation. It’s far from inherently arophobic, as it’s the reality for lots of aros, but I agree that it’s something to be handled with care.

The biggest things that stick out for me are that a) the aro character is intended to end up with a previous partner who was arophobic to them in the past, and b) that you describe the two as having mismatched feelings. The first thing here means that you’re going to have to put a lot of work into showing how the alloromantic partner has grown and made it up to the aro, because otherwise as a reader I would struggle to feel convinced that the relationship would be healthy for the aro, and would likely have my romance repulsion triggered.

This isn’t to say it *is* unhealthy to write a relationship like this, just that I’m on high alert for situations that might trigger an aro character’s repulsion, especially as they are the character I’m likely to identify with, and I imagine that’s the same for a lot of romance repulsed people. If you decide you do want to write this relationship, I think you just need to sit down and go over the eventual relationship dynamic you’ve written like it’s a contract, and look for ‘loopholes’ that might lead to a reader not being convinced the aro is safe. And then fix them.

The second thing just concerns me because you can take ‘mismatched’ to mean they have different or unequal feelings towards their relationship. I think you may just have meant they have different base feelings about each other (romantic/platonic), and if so that’s fine and obviously fairly standard, but if not you may need to tweak a few things to make sure both characters are going into this relationship with the same intentions and ideas about what they want it to be.

Really, what I think you need to do is consider *why* you want the characters to end up together, because reasoning and intent are I think very important aspects of what makes something amatonormative. Does the idea of either character ending the series single make you feel sad or guilty? Do you feel that their relationship is just how your story would be expected to end? Do you not actually know why you want to write it? If yes to any of these, it might be amatonormative. Hopefully you figure out what’s best for you and your story.

Best wishes,

- Mod Kaladin

#aro #representation #qprs #mod kaladin #asks #anom #Anonymous

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paperback-writers-blog1 · 5 years

Text

Valentines Day

By: Mod McCartney

Rating: NC-17

Paring: John/Paul

Summery: One year ago John made the biggest mistake of his life. With Valentines Day approaching can he finally make it right?

Warning: Adult themes

John had always known he was a stupid man. He seemed to specialise in fucking himself over at every opportunity. Most of his successes were due to someone elses input. Usually he didn’t care. ‘Fuck it’ he’d say to himself and move on. However there was one mistake he could never move on from, no matter how hard he tried. It still haunted him a year later, the way he had lost Paul.

Really, getting Paul was not difficult. At least, it wasn’t as difficult as John imagined. He always saw Paul as this unobtainable, higher being. As much as John had pined for him, he would tell himself Paul would end up with someone as gorgeous and flawless as himself and they would be a sickeningly perfect couple in a perfect house with the perfect jobs. Ugh. Of course, Paul did have flaws. And he didn’t want the life John had imagined for him, basically dating a clone of himself. While John had been obsessing over this imaginary life for his crush while putting himself down, Paul had been noticing more and more similarities between them. At first they had seemed like total opposites but as they got to know each other more, Paul noticed a more… two sides of the same coin dynamic. They had very similar dreams and motivations, however would handle them in wildly opposing ways. But their extremes complimented each other. Paul, the sweet charmer could very easily smooth any damage or upset John caused. John, the wild spontaneous adventurer would encourage Paul out of his shell more, helped him be that little more daring and less under his father’s thumb. It was therefore much easier than he had imagined for him to get Paul. Paul was already smitten with John, cool, older and rebellious. One night of heavy drinking, John had simply turned up at Pauls home. Words failed him, but the booze made him bolder and he simply kissed the younger man. The next day he had woken up with Paul snuggled against his chest. After coffee and an explanation from Paul, they were boyfriends. Although nothing was officially said, it was more than obvious. They did everything together, went everywhere together and when they were apart were constantly talking or thinking about the other. When they finally found each other again their embraces and kisses were like they had been apart for years. Of course a candle burning that brightly wears out very quickly. John always cursed himself thinking about that night. What was worse, it was Valentines. John had planned a romantic surprise for Paul. With Mimi away for the week, he had planned a dinner and a little pamper session for Paul. He was excited but a little nervous. What if Paul didn’t like it? What if it was too much? So he did what he always did when he panicked. Drank. Just a beer for courage. That didn’t work as he hoped so maybe another. When the beers weren’t working, he dipped into whiskey. By the time Paul arrived (exactly on time as usual) John was roaring drunk. Paul wasn’t that bothered. He had seen it all. However because of his insecurities John was feeling particularly nasty. And with no one else to tease and snipe at, Paul was the only victim of his poisonous tongue. At first he had tried to ignore it, brush it off as John being drunk and stressed from the planning. But as the night wore on, with wine and Paul not reacting like John wanted, he got more vicious. Paul asked him to stop, why was he being like this? The tears in his doe eyes gave John that sick satisfaction that he was getting to his victim. John didn’t stop. He pushed and pushed until Paul just couldn’t take it. And as easily as the relationship had started, they had ended. John had woken up the next day on the couch. The only evidence of dinner was the neatly stacked dishes on the draining board, no doubt courtesy of Paul. Upstairs Johns room was untouched. The slightly cheesy romantic setting he had worked hard on was still there. Confused he had tried calling Paul and had been told in no uncertain terms by Mike to not call again. That only caused more confusion and John had to go to George for answers. George was Pauls best friend. John had no doubt he would tell him everything. It took a good few days but finally he got his answers. He immediately regretted it. He never meant to hurt Paul! He tried all sorts to get Paul back but to no avail. The damage had been done and was far too fresh. The problem was, George was dating John’s best friend. It made for some uncomfortable situations, mainly birthday celebrations.

Now a year later, and 2 days before Valentine’s Day, John was lying in his bed plagued by thoughts of Paul. He didn’t want to move on. He didn’t want to date others. He wanted Paul. He wanted to smother him in affection and hear that cute giggle, see those big eyes filled with adoration for him, kiss those soft lips again. Part of him thought Paul probably had someone new. He was too damn attractive and sweet to stay single for long. Still, John would curse himself forever if he didn’t at least try. He needed to know for certain he had completely ruined any chance. Tomorrow was the 13th and the day John would start this little plan. And despite the nerves creeping in, he wouldn’t touch a drop. He’d do this properly. After a little planning and preparation, John fell into an uneasy sleep.

********************************

Paul woke up bright and early as usual. At first, it was just an ordinary day. He wandered downstairs for some breakfast, thinking he might call around Georges later, see if he was up to anything. His thoughts were interrupted when he cast a glance over his dads’ paper. Feb 13th. Paul felt sick. Was it already nearly Valentine’s day? Fuck. He had had offers, of course he had. Including a very sweet one from George to hang out and have a ‘friends date’. He said Richie didn’t mind celebrating on a different day. But Paul declined them all. Because it shouldn’t be like this! He should be celebrating properly with John! Even after all this time he couldn’t believe the things John had said to him that night. But the conviction he said them… and the way he seemed to enjoy Pauls hurt. Paul sighed and made himself some tea. He found he couldn’t face the world today. Give it a few days and all the shops would be focused on Easter. Valentine’s Day would be a long forgotten memory until next year. When he had finished his drink he intended to hide away in his bedroom for as long as possible. He had no doubt George would be around to check on him. Paul spent the morning making his room into a little blanket fort, stocked it with snacks and drinks and plenty of entertainment. It had worked very well. He felt better in his little world where this damn holiday didn’t exist. It must have been two or three in the afternoon when Paul heard the knock at the door. He paused confused. He had been expecting George, but he wouldn’t knock. He figured maybe his dad or Mike had ordered something, and forced himself downstairs to answer the door. When he opened the door he was greeted with a woman in a uniform holding a rather large and pretty bouquet. Paul accepted the delivery, taking the card that went with it and thanking the lady. He thought nothing of it, assuming it was for Mike. He had stuff like this all the time. He played the field quite a bit and seemed to be perpetually stuck in the honeymoon period of relationships. He should’ve guessed there would be gifts for him today and probably tomorrow too. Paul took them to the sink to let them sit in water until Mike got home. He felt a little pang of sadness looking at them. Among the romantic red and pink roses were some of Pauls favourite flowers, simple daisies and lilies. He sighed, a little part of him wishing he had someone to send him something so sweet and romantic. He couldn’t help it. Paul was the romantic sort, totally putty for the very cute and often a little cheesy romantic surprises that came around this time of year. He had, in a wild moment, thought of sending something to John. But he wasn’t as taken by the romance as Paul and would probably think it was dumb or too slushy for him. With a little wistful sigh Paul went to put the card on the kitchen table so Mike would find it when he got in. He went to leave then did a double take. That couldn’t be right…. Could it? He carefully picked up the envelope again and re read it over and over as if his wishful thinking was making him see things. He traced his fingers over the print, maybe he could wipe away the delusion and would see Mikes name underneath. But no matter what he did, it still said in plain black print, Mr J. P. McCartney. Only a few people used or even knew his first name was James. Maybe it was George and Richie trying to help him feel better. Cautiously he opened it. The card slipped out into Pauls hand. He expected some cutesy cartoon or a for a special friend on the front. That was something George would do. But there wasn’t. It was… confusing yet slightly familiar. There was no words on the front, just pictures. Black and white photo fragments of places and events that called to Paul. He recognised the birthday cake in one photo, but the head had been cut off the person standing over it, no doubt blowing the candles. There were shots clearly taken around Liverpool, some of his favourite places to go around the Docks and parks. Occasionally there was an arm or foot of someone just peeking into shot. But they were horribly blurred, like it had been zoomed into. He carefully opened it, not sure if he should be scared by this or not. Inside there wasn’t many clues either. And it still had an ominous feeling about it. “I need answers. I know you do too.” Under that was an address, time and date. Paul recognised the place. It was a little restaurant he had been to a few times with… no. It couldn’t be… could it? John? That brought both pain and excitement. He never thought John meant those things he had said! He thought John would come to his senses and come round to explain but he never did. Paul knew nothing about the phone calls. He assumed John had meant to break up with him, but he never understood why. So yes. He did need answers. But what answers would John need? Looking back at the front of the card, it started making sense. The snapshots could very easily be from his time with John. And the flowers containing his favourites…. Paul quickly got a vase and sorted the flowers before taking it all up to his room. He set the vase and card on his desk and sat staring at them. Maybe it was just a way to get Pauls attention, it didn’t mean it was a date. It probably wasn’t. Then again… to get dinner out on the 14th reservations must have been made. It would be a little more expensive than a regular night. And why a restaurant where they had had a few of their dates if it was just to talk? In fact their first official date was there. Paul groaned. This was too confusing. Still… his curiosity was piqued. And if John wanted to explain what happened Paul would let him. He might even put in a little effort in his appearance. He had to calm down and not get carried away. This did not mean they would be getting back together. This did not mean they were going on a date. It could all be a twisted mind game, John was good at those. Still there was a tiny, hopeful part of Paul that he just couldn’t calm down. He needed it to be tomorrow already. When he noticed the date this morning he never expected to be excited for the next day.

*****************************************

That was phrase one complete. John checked his watch. Paul must have received the flowers by now. He was a little shocked he remembered Pauls favourites, he usually forgot stuff like that. John dropped as many hints that it was him without explicitly saying so. Using his full initials, his favourite flowers, booking the place of their first date, the snapshots of him and Paul. Paul was smart, he would probably figure it out easily. John hated the waiting that happened now. He paced and went for a wander around the streets. He tried to draw or play his guitar but nothing kept his attention for more than half an hour. The day stretched on for a ridiculous amount of time. He felt like the universe was adding hours just to annoy him and keep him from seeing his Paulie again. Finally a chance to end this year long torment. When it was an acceptable time to go to bed he rushed to his room. The sooner he fell asleep the sooner it would be tomorrow. He would spend the day making himself look as good as possible. It was hard but eventually he managed to fall asleep.

******************************************

Paul had had an awful nights sleep. His mind had been racing with all kinds of possibilities. He had weird dreams that kept waking him up. So he rose a little later in the morning. When he opened his eyes the first thing he saw were the flowers. Fuck! He looked at his clock. Alright there were still 8 hours to get ready. Paul got up and started looking through his clothes, searching for the best outfit. He felt giddy like a girl who had been asked on her very first date. He had to look his absolute best for two reasons. If there was a chance for him and John to get back together, he needed to be absolutely irresistible, so John would have no doubts. However, if Johns plan was to humiliate him publicly, if he looked his best he’d show John exactly what he was missing. It took him the entire morning to come up with the right shirt and trousers combo. With that settled he had to shower. It’d take most of the day for his hair to dry. He used a body wash he saved for special occasions. Once showered, he then went about making sure every part of him looked good. He used a facemask to give himself that fresh glow, he made sure his fingernails were clean and neat, he kept making sure his hair was drying straight and neat, He used lotion to make his skin soft,. From top to bottom there wasn’t an inch of Paul he didn’t pamper, clean and neaten. He had never looked so good. He even shaved back some of the hair that had grown over his hands and gave his eyebrows a little going over with the tweezers. No he wasn’t one for plucking his eyebrows, they naturally grew like they did but today was special. He checked the clock. 2 hours to go. Good. That gave him plenty of time to get into town. He didn’t want to rush and mess himself up again. He needed to take his time not only to preserve all the work he had done, but to keep himself calm. His heart was beating almost too fast as he left to catch the bus into the centre of Liverpool. Today was not the day to be walking. Of course this meant he would be in town an hour and a half early, but there was plenty to occupy his time. He strolled around the docks, had a coffee and did a little window shopping to kill time. Finally he realised he had 10 minutes to get to the restaurant. Ignoring his heart and shaking, Paul quickly checked his appearance in a nearby public bathroom then went to stand outside the meeting place.

**************************************

Fuck fuck FUCK! Of course he was late! John was never any good at keeping time however part of it was not his fault, but two old women in the flower shop who would not stop talking while John waited to make his purchase. Of all times he had to be late… John sighed as he finally got off the bus. He checked his watch. Okay, only a five minutes late. Fashionably late. But he knew Paul was punctual and had no doubt he would already be there. He couldn’t leave him waiting. He smoothed down the smart shirt he had put on and did a speed walk to the place. As predicted, John saw Paul standing there. He had to stop as he was completely taken aback. It had been a while since John had really taken in Pauls appearance. But he had quite clearly grown a little more. He was taller than John remembered, his jaw was more defined but he still had those adorably chubby cheeks. The slight podge Paul used to complain about had pretty much gone. He was no longer that awkward teen but becoming an extremely attractive young man. Johns eyes unashamedly raked Paul while he could, while Paul was clueless that he was. His eyes finally tore from that gorgeous face down. Paul had curves. On some men it would look ridiculous but Paul carried it off flawlessly. His arse was perfectly round, hugged nicely by his choice of trousers, his thighs… John had to stop before he started drooling. Besides he noticed Paul looking around and getting more nervous. He knew if he didn’t go to him soon, Paul would think John had messed with him and he’d have blown his chance. John gave himself a little shake and took a deep breath. Mustering all the confidence he could he approached Paul. “Hey.” He said softly. Pauls head turned to look over and he seemed to freeze. In his head Paul was going to turn and say hey back. But something caught in his throat. He wasn’t used to seeing John so groomed. He looked so good. Was that effort? Had John put in effort for Paul? He tried to not get too excited by what that meant. Paul swallowed. “H… Hey.” He smiled. John melted hearing that voice and seeing that smile again. He then remembered what he was holding in his hand. “Oh fuck…I mean… damn… I mean I got ya these!” John got flustered and held out the rose and small box of chocolates for Paul. Paul couldn’t help the little giggle. John looked far too adorable that flustered. Johns cheeks were getting pinker. God he felt dumb. Paul took the gifts. “Thank you. They’re lovely.” His face fell a bit. “Sorry I… I didn’t get you anything.” John didn’t like how upset Paul looked at that. “No no no it’s okay ya didn’t have to. No ya shouldn’t have! I invited you! And… I have a lot of apologising to do.” John looked down ashamed. Paul bit his lip then in a daring move, reached forward with his free hand and held Johns. Johns head shot up. Encouraged, he smiled and gave Pauls hand a little squeeze. Paul looked even happier at that. “Right… well now. I believe I promised you dinner.” John announced, getting that bit of confidence back. As John acted more like himself, Paul relaxed with him. “Lead on.” Paul stood next to him, but didn’t let go of Johns hand. John grinned and took Paul inside. Of course it had been a late reservation so they didn’t exactly get the best table. But they got in and that was all that mattered. When they were sat, John ordered wine much to Pauls surprise. There was a bit of silence as they scoured the menus, the only bits of conversation being talking about what they may order. Once the food had been ordered and the wine poured, John took a moment to just take in what was happening. He was sat at dinner with Paul, something he thought would never happen again. Hell, he wouldn’t have given anyone a second chance if he had been treated like Paul had. That was what made Paul so amazing, so much better to John. And in the dim candle light he looked more beautiful than ever. However as John stared Paul got a little self-conscious. “Wh…What?” “Huh? Oh… nothin… s’just… I don’t think ya ever been more gorgeous...” Paul blushed heavily at that and busied himself with taking a drink. John thought he looked too adorable. He loved making Paul blush with compliments. “So… flirting are we Lennon?” Paul teased. Johns smile widened. “Of course. Who wouldn’t?” John felt another flutter as he made Paul blush again. Talking to him was just so easy. He found he didn’t want to talk about anything heavy just yet. No, this dinner was to make up for last years failure and to give him the chance to treat Paul like a princess. It went so smoothly, better than John could have imagined. Paul was receptive, laughing at Johns silly jokes, blushing when he was complimented and accepting John feeding him a bit of his food to try. He even fed John a bit. By the time it was finished, John was on cloud 9 and Paul was almost certain this was a dream now. John paid the bill and got up and held Pauls coat out for him, being the perfect gentleman. With linked arms they headed out into the night. “Now… it’s up to you… I don’t wanna pressure you but… Would ya like to come back to mine?” John asked nervously. Paul seemed to think about it. Memories of last year resurfaced making him falter a bit. However tonight had been perfect. John was clearly not drunk and besides, he knew they had a lot to talk about. Slowly Paul nodded. “Yeah…. Yeah I’d like that.” John felt a bubble of excitement rise in his chest. He had this chance to get Paul back! Instead of taking Paul to get a bus, he paid for a taxi. During the ride, Paul even put his head on Johns shoulder. Johns eyes widened and he shakily put an arm around Pauls waist. Fuck that felt good… it felt right, holding Paul against him in that protective way. Once inside Johns house, John carried on being the perfect gentleman, taking Pauls coat to hang up for him and making him a drink. He put on some music and sat with Paul. They had a little light chat to relax the atmosphere. Eventually, John couldn’t hold back anymore. “Look… Paul… I owe you the biggest apology. I was a fuckin idiot. I didn’t mean any of what I said. It were my own insecurities comin out… nothing to do with you. Ya… Ya fuckin perfect Paul. Too perfect for someone like me. I understand if ya just wanna take this night as an apology an we never see each other again. But… If ya would wanna… Would ya give me a chance ta treat ya like ya should have been all that time?” John just went ahead and blurted it all out before he lost his nerve. Paul listened carefully. He knew John could get nasty when he was drunk and if something was upsetting him or making him uncomfortable in any way he would lash out like he did. “It hurt I ain’t gonna deny that John. I ain’t ever been hurt like that before.” Paul started, making it clear to John this wouldn’t be a ‘forgive and forget’ thing. When John looked at Paul sadly, Paul took his hand. “However… Ya seem genuine. I believe ya know ya were an idiot. Ya learned from it. An… I would like ta give ya a second chance.” John looked at Paul with wide eyes. He was certain Paul was going to reject him! Without thinking, John pulled Paul close. “I’ve been dyin to do this all fuckin night.” With that he crushed his lips against Pauls, wrapping his arms around him. He felt another jolt when he felt Paul hold onto him tightly, grasping fistfuls of his shirt. John didn’t want to break the kiss. When they needed to breathe, John moved to kiss Pauls jaw and neck. He felt a shudder as he heard Pauls soft gasps and moans. He remembered Paul lost in throes of passion and to John there was never a more beautiful sight. No, he had to do this right. Although he could feel himself getting aroused by Paul, he pulled back. “I… I’m so grateful… ya fuckin amazin y’know that?” Paul blushed again. Before he could say anything, John stood up. “An someone as amazin as you deserves ta be spoilt.” He held out his hand. Paul looked at John confused but took his hand. John was going to give Paul that pamper session even if it was a year late. John took Paul up to his bedroom, where he had covered it in rose petals and little LED candles. On the bed was a towel and fluffy pillows. On the bedside table, a selection of scented oils. “I understand if it’s a little much… but I’d really like ta show ya what I wanted to give ya last year.” Paul looked at John with wide eyes. He had gone to all this effort! With a little smile, Paul nodded. “I’d like that.” He needed to know John hadn’t meant to be cruel, that his intentions had been sweet and romantic. John looked so happy at that. “If you don’t mind then… I would need you to remove that lovely shirt.” Paul was a little uncertain however he had to trust John. He reached down to unbutton the shirt. John frowned. No, Paul shouldn’t have to do anything. “Here, allow me.” He carefully reached down and started unbuttoning Pauls shirt, exposing his soft, milky skin. His hands were shaking and his breath coming in gasps as he got to see Pauls body again. He couldn’t resist appreciating it a bit. He bit his lip, noticing Paul had a little trail of black hair going down towards his pants. John couldn’t resist brushing it with his fingertips. Paul always loved hair being brushed and played with. Paul gasped a bit and his eyes fluttered. John swallowed, no he had to carry on. He couldn’t get swept up in his overwhelming urge to rip Pauls clothes off and have him right up against the wall. He had to pamper Paul. He carefully finished unbuttoning the shirt. Paul had definitely grown into his body more. His muscles were more defined. Despite having that feminine charm, Paul had an equally intoxicating manliness and John was completely taken. He carefully slipped Pauls shirt off him. “Alright darlin… On the bed… lie on ya stomach.” Paul looked confused but did so. John sat next to him. There was a pause before Paul felt something cold on his back. He hissed but before he could say anything he felt Johns hands instantly get to work, massaging him. Fuck he had no idea John was so good at it. Paul was quickly relaxed, resting his head on his arm, his eyes half closed. John smiled seeing Pauls reaction. He made sure Paul was relaxed all over. When he was done with Pauls back he bit his lip. “Hey… Paulie… Can I do ya front?” Paul looked up then carefully rolled so he was on his back. John felt a flutter seeing Paul lying on his bed like that. Swallowing again he resumed his massage, shaking a bit as his hands glided over Pauls stomach and chest. Paul suddenly gasped as one of Johns hands ran over a nipple. Paul looked up at John with unsure eyes. Of course he felt that heat pooling in his lower stomach as John ran his hands all over him. John recognised that look. It was almost identical to the one Paul had given just before they had sex for the first time. John knew then this was affecting Paul as much as it was him. “Shhh Macca…” John cooed, to keep him calm. “It’ll be alright… I won’t push… but I just wanna make ya feel good…If I go too far…. Just say… I’ll stop okay?” He understood that Paul might need easing back into it. Paul gave a little nod. John thought his heart was going to explode as he carefully undid Pauls trousers. “I’m just gonna give ya legs a little massage, okay?” He reassured Paul. Paul helped get his trousers off. John could see the stirrings of an erection in Pauls boxers. He had to ignore it and the urges he had to go directly there. Instead he carefully massaged Pauls thighs. As Paul relaxed, John got a little braver and moved to Pauls inner thigh. Pauls breath hitched and he opened his legs a little more. Encouraged, John slowly worked up them, alternating between legs. He could see Paul was now fully erect. Paul had propped himself up on his elbows to watch John. His eyes kept fluttering shut, his lips parted as he gasped. When John got near his cock, Paul let out a tiny moan. Johns eyes flicked up and he drank in the sight of Paul like this. He loved seeing Paul needy. “Is this alright Macca? Is this what ya want?” He asked. Paul nodded without hesitation. “P…Please… fuck…. John…” He gasped, his voice heavier with need. At that, John wasted no time. He reached up and gently stroked Paul through his boxers. Paul cried out, a mix of pleasure and relief at finally being touched. John went as slowly as he could, despite feeling like he was going to break the zip on his trousers soon. He spent some time just palming Paul through the material. Eventually he could hear a few little pleas in Pauls moaning. He needed more. And who was John to refuse? John slowly ran a hand down that trail of hair to Pauls boxers. Carefully, he pulled the waistband down, pulling the last piece of clothing from Paul. John couldn’t help the little moan as he exposed Paul completely. It felt like a lifetime since he had seen Paul naked and erect. He threw down Pauls boxers and took some time to just take it in. Paul moaned impatiently beneath him. John snapped back to reality. “Paul I… Fuck it!” John suddenly stood up and grabbed Pauls wrist. Paul was shocked and a little more turned on at Johns roughness and he yanked Paul up and pushed him against the wall. “I gotta have you Paul. An I can’t be sweet an slow. I gotta fuck ya till ya can’t see straight!” John held Pauls wrists against the wall as he kissed him roughly. Paul could do nothing but kiss back and moan. He had always loved it when John got like this. John paused briefly to feverishly yank off his own clothes. Paul bit his lip and watched as John got himself just as naked. Fuck he looked so good to Paul. Pauls eyes were drawn to Johns own erection and he felt a shiver of excitement. “John…. John please…” He moaned. John grinned hearing that. He’d never tire of it. “Alright love calm down. We gotta do this properly though.” John reached down and finally wrapped his hand around Pauls cock, stroking it roughly. “Ya not used ta bein fucked anymore are ya? I gotta make sure I don’t hurt ya… gotta make sure ya up ta goin all night.” Paul looked at John with wide eyes. All night? Though he had a feeling John would stop if he really asked him. Paul just let himself get lost in the feeling, moaning and gasping at what John was doing to him. John suddenly stopped. He went to a draw and got out a bottle of lube then knelt in front of Paul. “Alright ya needy boy… I got ya.” He grinned. While he was talking, John slicked up his fingers and reached up to tease Pauls hole. He groaned remembering the feelings of taking Paul. His desk still had scratches in it where he had fucked Paul mercilessly against it. Paul seemed to be having similar memories as he felt John tease. After a little teasing, John slowly pushed a finger in. Paul hissed and squirmed. John licked up Pauls cock, trying to distract him. It worked, as Paul was distracted long enough for John to slip in two fingers and properly prepare him. He suddenly stood up, lubing himself. “Alright Paul, I think ya ready.” John grabbed Pauls leg and lifted it to give himself an easier entrance. Paul was shaking with excitement as he felt John pressing his tip against his hole. Carefully he slipped into Paul. Both of the boys cried out in pleasure. Paul missed feeling so full and John missed feeling Paul around him. Paul wrapped his arms around John as he pushed all the way in. He ignored the tears welling up and helped John as he slowly moved inside him. “Fuck fuck fuck John…s…s’so good…yes!” Paul moaned right down Johns ear. John held Paul in place as he sped up. Unfortunately the position, while it helped push John into Paul deeper was tiring on both of them. When it got too much, John pulled out and spun Paul around, pushing him face first into the wall. He carefully lined himself up again then grabbed Pauls hips and slammed into him. Paul screamed out his pleasure, pushing back against John as he fucked him roughly. Sweat and tears poured yet they had no intention of slowing down. “Sh… Shit John…m…M’gonna cum! Gonna cum!” Paul cried as John slammed into him, hitting that oh so sweet spot inside him. At that John pulled out. Paul whined at the loss of feeling, the welling orgasm dying inside him. John turned Paul around again. “You’re not cumming just yet love.” Before Paul could answer John had gone to his desk. He swiped everything off then shoved Paul against it. Paul remembered the last time they had done this, how good it felt, how John could perfectly hit that sweet spot inside him. With Paul bent over his desk, John knelt down and licked up Pauls thigh. Paul gasped not expecting that. He moaned in frustration needing to feel John inside him again. He had been so close! John licked all the way up until he was at Pauls hole. It felt so exciting tasting himself there as he pushed his tongue inside Paul. Paul had never felt anything like it. His head was blank as John licked him and stroked his cock. John was a master at edging Paul. He knew how much to give and when to take it away. When Paul couldn’t take anymore teasing, John stood up and pushed into him again. “Yes! Yes John fuck yes yes yes!” Paul cried as John began fucking him mercilessly into the desk, scraping it along the floor a bit. Paul was sure he’d have a bruise on his stomach from this. He didn’t care. It wasn’t long before Paul was screaming that he wanted to cum. John listened and pulled away just at the last minute. “FUCK!” Paul screamed in frustration. “John please! Please let me cum! Need ta cum!” John pulled Paul up and kissed him. “I gotta watch ya cum though.” John explained before pushing Paul onto the bed. He’d let Paul cum now he would be able to see his face. He wrapped Pauls legs around his waist and pushed him again. This time no edging, no teasing. He wanted to see Paul lost in passion. Besides he couldn’t keep this up much longer himself. Paul threw his head back and cried loudly as John fucked him. He was a mess, his face red and tear streaked, sweat making his hair messy and John loved every damn second. He could feel Paul getting close again. “A… Alright Paulie…. Gonna… Gonna make ya cum…a…all over yaself…. Messy boy…” John groaned, reaching down to stroke Paul as he assaulted his sweet spot. “Yes! Yes John please please gonna cum gonna… gonna-” Paul came very suddenly. Loud and violently after all the teasing. John dragged out the orgasm as long as he could. The problem was seeing that, hearing that and feeling Paul around him he couldn’t hold back any longer. John came, filling Paul up. He collapsed on top of Paul. They took a moment, catching their breath and to come down. “Wow…” Paul gasped softly. John smiled at Paul and kissed him sweetly. He carefully pulled out of Paul. “C’mon lets get ya cleaned up.” John muttered. He pulled Paul to the bathroom where they had a quick shower. Paul just wanted to snuggle with John after that so was rushing a bit. Finally, John took him back to his bedroom where he threw the towel onto the floor to deal with in the morning. He wrapped Paul up in his arms and the covers. Neither cared about the mess around them of clothes and candles. All they cared about was each other. Paul buried his face in the crook of Johns neck. “I love you.” He muttered making Johns heart soar. “I love you too, so much Macca.” He replied kissing Pauls head. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

#McLennon #mclennon fic #paul mccartney #John Lennon #valentines #valentines day #ModMcCartney

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yourbookcouldbegayer · 5 years

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That question with the cryptid or something is linked to the question I sent some time ago about a bi-queen... You asked for the last part and for some more details, if I'm not wrong. Even if Tumblr ate the first part there is a chance you still have it, because I copied a bit of the text in the beginning to make sure got the whole question. However I can send it all again if you wish, let me know - maybe it's easier for you this way than doing that bloody puzzle. Hhhhhh I hate Tumblr sometimes

Sorry for taking so long with this, it was a bit of a puzzle but:

I'll assume the questions was if it was alright to make the queen bi but not have that be a part of her character that's necessarily explored. The answer is yes, unless her psyche is investigated by the narrative/she interacts with other women who she would realistically be attracted to. I don't know her character, but she comes off as rather distant and reserved, so not making any attraction explicit seems like it would be natural. In short, if your story delves into her mind and her sexuality isn't brought up when it should be, it's a bad. If it is, even if it's just a passing comment, it's good.

-Mod Nagi

Because it is long and confusing I’m putting what we did get of this under the cut:

I have a serie that covers and arc of many years (200.000y approximately), and many characters enter and exit the picture in this long time. MC (female) is a divine like creature that pays little attention to the small things. For example, one of my queens has a great arc that will lead to the end of a dark era. Her story is mostly related to wars, politics, grey morality and personal growth, because these are the reasons that lead her and MC to interact. (1/3)

The only occasions where it is stated that the queen is Bi (she is married to a man she loves, but he is an academic and she's the one holding the reign, so MC interacts little with him) is when she is gifted a female slave as a concubine. She gifts the slave at MC for her medical experiments claiming that she doesn't even have time for her husband, let alone for some pretty thighs, and this is the only reason MC knows about this concubine. (2/3)

because they seemed fit with the characters, but now I am a bit worried it can be seen as queer baiting. For other informations... The only character the queen interacts on a personal level other than her husband is an incredibly ancient dragon. There are other queer character, but they are also "difficult to spot", unless they act in such an extreme way that MC is forced to focus on it - like her (elf) servant who attempts suicide just to try to guilt her into sleeping with him. But (2/4)

(peculiar kinks aside) there are literally no reason why a queer human should act this way, also because she is generally a green six limbed drooling criptid . Also, few people would try to disrespect a divine creature in such a way. For another example, she knows that some of the priests/priestess who venerate her have homosexual relationships, but it is marely stated in a "If I thought it to be wrong I would warn my servants against such acts" phrase that she says in response (3/4)

to an homophobic comment. But that's it. She doesn't stop to think about who loves who, because she really doesn't care about it. It can be guessed (two girls being relieved when they discover they will not be punished for being found sleeping in the same bedroom for ex), but the narrative of her temples deals with so many things that romance falls on background. If you have some questions please ask, I don't know what kind of informations you may need (4/4)

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aro-aceplace · 6 years

Text

Sence we’re getting so many asks about the names for various orientations I thought I would post an updated version of our aspec orientation dictionary. This dictionary also exists here on our blog and is frequently updated, but something screwy is going on with the bolding on that page right now so it might be hard to read. There’s also a copy of it here in the Quicksand font because I find that that’s easier for folks with dyslexia and other LD’s to read then Arial is.

Note: this is not a complete list. A-spec terminology is constantly growing and changing and it’s hard to keep track of every single term, so if I missed an orientation please let me know, I’ll be happy to add it!

-mod Yarrow

Abrosexual/Abroromantic: Having an orientation or feelings about it that constantly change and cannot be pinned down for this reason.

Aceflux/ Aroflux: When someone’s sexual/ romantic orientation fluctuates but always stays on the aro/ace spectrum.

Acespike/ Arospike: When someone usually doesn’t feel sexual/romantic attraction but occasionally rapidly skyrockets into intense attraction, then plummeting down to asexuality/aromanticism again.

Acoromantic/Acosexual: Asexual/Aromantic(spec) because of negative past experiences. (similar to Caedromantic/Caedsexual)

Adfecturomantic/Affecturomantic/Adfectual/Adfomantic: Is someone whose romantic attraction is affected by their neurodivergency.

Aegosexual/Aegoromantic: Feeling attraction and desire only for situations that do not involve one’s self.

Aliquasexual/ Aliquaromantic: Not normally feeling attraction, but feeling it on occasion under specific circumstances.

Amicussexual/Amicusromantic: When you are only attracted to people you’re also platonically attracted to.

Antisexual/Antiromantic: Would rather not develop platonic/romantic/sexual feelings for people, but does anyway.

Apressexual/ Apresromantic: Only feeling attraction after another form of attraction is felt.

Aromantic/ Asexual: When someone doesn’t feel sexual/ romantic attraction to anyone

Arovague/ Acevague: Aromanticism or asexuality that is heavily influenced by neurodiversity (also known as Adfecturomantic / Adfectusexual)

Apresromantic/ Apresexual: An orientation where romantic/sexual attraction is felt only after another type of attraction is formed.

Apothisexual/ Apothiromatic: A specific term for when someone on the asexual/ aromantic spectrum is sex repulsed or romance repulsed. (Also known as ARCsexual/ ARCromantic)

Autochrissexual/ Autochrisromantic: When someone feels sexual arousal/ romantic attraction for something, but from a distance, as if they were someone else, and have no desire to do that thing themselves (Also known as Aegosexual/ Aegoromantic or Autochorrisromantic / Autochorrissexual).

Bellusromantic: When someone is fine with cute fluffy stuff with anyone but doesn’t want a relationship at all.

Burstsexual/ Burstromantic: An orientation where a type of attraction will occur in a sudden burst, then vanish or fade away.

Borearomantic/ Boreasexual: an orientation that seems to revolve around one person in particular. (can also be defined as an exception to one’s orientation, ie, someone who identifies as homosexual/homoromantic feeling attraction to someone of a different gender)

Caedromantic/ Caedsexual: The feeling that romantic or sexual attraction was taken away due to past trauma -for PTSD and trauma survivors

Cassexual/ Cassromantic: Feeling utterly indifferent to attraction, believing it isn’t important.

Ceasesexual/ Ceaseromantic: Usually being allosexual/romantic, but occasionally having a complete loss of attraction for a period of time before feeling it again.

Cupiosexual/ Cupioromantic: When someone does not experience sexual/ romantic attraction, but still desires a sexual/ romantic relationship. (Also known as kalossexual/ kalosromantic and Icularomantic/ Icularsexual)

Demisexual/ Demiromantic: When someone is only sexually/ romantically attracted to people they already have a strong emotional connection with.

Dreadsexual/ Dreadromantic: An orientation that fluctuates from feeling no attraction to feeling attraction. When attraction is felt, it is accompanied by a strong feeling of dread or anxiety.

Duosexual/ Duoromantic: Having two or more well-defined orientations that you switch between (e.g. cupiosexual and fraysexual).

Durasexual/Duraromantic: Rarely experiencing attraction, but when it happens it lasts for a long time.

Fictosexual/ Fictoromantic: When someone only feels sexually/romantically attracted to fictional characters.

Freysexual/ Freyromantic: When Someone is sexually/ romantically attracted to those they are less familiar with but after a while, the “excitement” of meeting the new person dies down and you are perfectly content on just being friends.

Greysexual/ Greyromantic: When someone only feels sexual/ romantic attraction rarely. This term can also be a general term for identifying as somewhere on the aro/ace spectrum.

Lamvanosexual/ Iamvanoromantic: Feeling uncomfortable doing sexual/romantic things to someone, but being willing to receive sexual and romantic acts.

Lithsexual/Lithromantic : When someone feels sexual/ romantic attraction towards others and also enjoys romantic/ sexual relationships in theory, but does not need that affection to be reciprocated. An Akoinsexual/ Akoinromantic person may also experience sexual attraction until those feelings are reciprocated. (Also known as Akoinsexual/ Akoinromantic)

Idemromantic: When someone Categorizes relationships and feelings as platonic or romantic but experiences no notable internal differences

Inactoromantic: When someone experiences romantic attraction and wants a romantic relationship but doesn’t like romantic actions. (Also known as initiaromantic.)

Limnosexual/ Limnoromantic: Attraction only piqued by depictions of acts of attraction (eg drawings or writing), not the acts themselves in real life (similar to fictosexual/ fictoromantic).

Malasexual/Malaromantic: When someone only experiences attraction during maladaptive daydreams

Metaromantic: Only experiencing attraction that is unable to be defined by strict terms of platonic or romantic.

Nebula-romantic/ Nebula-sexual: Difficulty distinguishing romantic/sexual and platonic attraction due to neurodiversity

Novisexual/Noviromantic: Feeling complicated attraction or lack thereof in such a way that it is difficult or impossible to fit into one word or term.

Omniaromantic: Is someone who feels no romantic attraction whatsoever. In no way, shape, or form do they fall in love or feel any attraction to anyone. They are asensual, have no aesthetic attraction to others, and no squishes. They can experience platonic love or familial love, though not all do so. This term was made to make a distinction between being on the aromantic spectrum and specify from the common definition of aromantic person, since saying someone is “aromantic” could mean they could be demiromantic, gray-aromantic, and such other types of aromantics who do feel sensual, have aesthetic attraction and such.

Placiosexual/ Placioromantic: When someone feels little to no desire to receive sexual/romantic acts but expresses interest/desire in performing them on someone else.

Platonisexual/ Platoniromantic: When someone feels no difference between platonic and romantic attraction.

Polarsexual/ Polarromantic: Switching between being either extremely attracted and not at all attracted.

Post rubor: Is someone who quickly gets crushes/squishes/etc on others, but after the initial excitement of said crush/etc vanishes so do their feelings.

Presexual/ Preromantic: A placeholder term for when someone feels that they have not experienced attraction enough to know their orientation yet.

Propeestsexual/ Propeestromantic: An aro/ace spec identity which feels like a mix of many (any more than two a-spec identities) that all are a part of your identity

Quoisexual/ Quoiromantic: Is when someone experiences sexual attraction in a way that is not typical of allosexuals individuals, but doesn’t knowing where they fit on the asexual spectrum; or not identifying with any of the existing labels./ Feeling as if the concept of romance or sexual attraction, etc. is inapplicable or nonsensical to one’s self.(Also known as wtfsexual)

Recipsexual/ Recipromantic: When someone feels sexual/ romantic attraction only after realizing someone is sexually/ romantically attracted to them.

Requeissexual/Requeromantic: When someone feels limited or no sexual/romantic attraction/interest/activity due to some form of emotional exhaustion or trauma.

Schromantic: Is someone who is aromantic and romantic at the same time, or some mix of the two. Frequently described in terms of Schrödinger’s cat as having the possibility of being romantic and aromantic at the same time

Singulusexual/ Singuluromantic: Only experiencing one type of attraction towards people (i.e. if you experience sexual attraction towards a person, you won’t feel romantic/alterous/platonic attraction towards them).

Thymsexual/ Thymromantic: Feeling attraction which varies depending on emotional state.

#asexual #aromantic #Aspec #aroace #aspec positivity #ace positivity #aro positivity #safe for ace #safe for aro #safe for a #actuallyasexual #actuallyaromantic #this ace blabbers #mod yarrow

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naruto-oc-reviews · 5 years

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Can you do a pairing guide for Sasuke? I doing a fanfiction that is set in part 2 canon that builds up the foundation for a relationship for my oc and Sasuke and then make a sequel fic in the blank period where they actually fall in love because for me it's unrealistic for Sasuke to be with anyone in the canon story because he's so obsessed with revenge

Hi anon! So so sorry for the super long wait! We’ve got quite a long response, from multiple mods, to hopefully accommodate for the delay. Since the response got so lengthy, It’ll be under the cut:

Mod Hisui:

I think you seem to be aware of the biggest issues with pairing with Sasuke: he’s so obsessed with his revenge that romance is damn near impossible within the canon storyline. You’ve also already decided to have the romance happen during the blank period, which I think is a wise decision. You didn’t give a lot of details, so I’m wondering:

When did they meet? Where is your OC from? That would play a big part in their relationship, because of the context of the whole Uchiha clan massacre. How much do they know about him prior to actually meeting?

Once they’ve met, what exactly is their relationship? Do they only meet in passing every now and then coincidentally, or does your OC join up with him and Team Taka?

How romantic do you want them to end up being? Honestly I have a very difficult time seeing him in any romantic relationship at all, so if you want them to be very romantic, there should be a VERY gradual buildup.

A few things I would caution you against:

I don’t think it would be wise to go the route of your OC being one of Orochimaru’s experiments, unless they’re part of Team Taka. Even so, Sasuke gathered that team because he believed them to be useful to him in reaching his goal, and while he values them more than he would value an acquaintance, I don’t think he would see them in much of a romantic light due to how he’s assigned them somewhat of a professional role rather than one of friendship.

Don’t make your OC ignore his looks just for the sake of being “different from his crazy fangirls.” In context, he seems to be so handsome that it’s not really easy to ignore. Unless your OC is the type to not pay attention to physical attraction, of course, but it has to fit with their character. But still, I don’t think Sasuke would value your OC more for ignoring his looks.

Sasuke would probably like someone who lets him be when he needs time alone. Clingy is NOT the way to go here. Conversely, someone who argues with or contradicts him would likely put him off too. The way I see it, the two would need to be able to peacefully coexist, and while precise communication is usually a vital part of a relationship, I think Sasuke would respond best to someone who understands him without him needing to explain himself. Trust him to do what he needs, but also have enough concern for him to not let him go COMPLETELY off the deep end.

Pairing with Sasuke WELL is extremely difficult. Your character will probably need to be very complex, and it’s definitely a good idea for them to have a motive of their own, rather than just aimlessly following him and what he wants. Don’t let your OC just be a follower, make sure that they’re equals, but your OC will have to earn his respect, which isn’t an easy feat.

Mod Nagi

I completely agree with you, pairing with Sasuke during the canon is extremely difficult since he’s so fixated on revenge.

The period I recommend pairing with Sasuke is after post 4th Ninja War. I imagine that during Sasuke’s travels he could potentially meet your OC? Or if they’ve already encountered each other temporarily in part 2, then they can meet again several years later. It’s up to you as to how you want this relationship but I imagine Sasuke to be much different after the war. Regarding relationships, I still don’t see him craving a romantic relationship immediately but rather he would meet someone and develop a slow-burn trustworthy bond with him would be great and more realistic. You also have to keep in mind that he does want to keep the Uchiha legacy ongoing so he could potentially bring up the topic of children, but only if he’s able to see your OC as a life-long partner.

Mod Shin

In my honest opinion, Sasuke is the hardest character to pair with in the Naruto series. He is arguably one of the most complex, fleshed-out characters to have ever come from Kishimoto as much of Sasuke’s character is gathered through context. There is more to him than initially lead on to be, surprisingly. I know it can be hard to analyze Sasuke’s character as a whole since even Kishimoto/the anime at times will portray him as nothing more than an “emo asshole” whose desire for revenge clouds his better judgement, but this doesn’t explain who he is as a whole. While it is important to who he is as a person, I don’t believe this is the only defining feature of Sasuke. To effectively pair with Sasuke, and to honestly just understand his character in general, you have to look past him as a person and understand the entirety of his life.

You need to have a clear understanding of the Uchiha clan, their history, their relationship with Konohagakure, and the events that lead up to the massacre. I know this is a lot, and I would very gladly go into detail about this for you, but this post is already incredibly long and we would honestly be here all day if I did that. So, I highly suggest looking at other analyses and think pieces that go into detail about all of the above in order to not only gain a better understanding of Sasuke but to also form your own opinion on how to effectively pair with him.

Since you didn’t give much detail about your character, and the other mods already gave very good feedback, I am going to try to keep this as broad as possible while also slightly touching on some of what they mentioned. Before I do that, though, I just want to say you’re already on the right track with pairing as I genuinely believe that the Blank Period is the only time in Sasuke’s life that it would be plausible to be shipped with. Now, onto some of my own cautions and advice when it comes to pairing with him:

Since you intend on writing fanfiction, I highly suggest making these pieces the slowest slow-burn fic the fandom has ever seen. I think it’s excellent that you chose to hold off on their romance until the Blank Period, but in all honesty, I think you should continue to hold off on it so you can keep building up their relationship. This is your story, so of course you can write it any way you want, but with the Blank Period essentially being the first time in his life he isn’t driven by revenge, it opens up many opportunities for your character react with him in ways not possible in Shippuden. I would say this is one of the best ways to help characterize Sasuke, as if you leap into their relationship too fast he’ll become incredibly out-of-character.

There are very few people that Sasuke has a genuine relationship with in his life, and even less so with those he can trust. Your character will have to not only prove themselves as worthy and reliable to him in Shippuden, but also as someone who Sasuke is able to trust. It will take time, and you will have to have legitimate reasonings for everything said above.

That being said, the few positive relationship that Sasuke does have are incredibly important to him. While your character doesn’t have to be on the same level as his relationship with Team Taka or Naruto, they will have to greatly impact his life in a way that makes him want to actually have a relationship with your character. Taking a look at his interactions and feelings towards Naruto, Team Taka, Itachi, Orochimaru, and whoever else is present in his life is a good way to judge how he’s going to treat your character based on their personality.

Sasuke, without a doubt, is a very traumatized individual, and it’s very clear that he has some form of PTSD. While I don’t suggest going into full detail on these things if you don’t have a clear, defined understanding of what they are, it should be prominent that Sasuke is heavily affected by everything that’s happened in his life. If you intend for him to fully open up to your character, they need to be someone who’s able to handle these negative emotions as well as someone who understands boundaries of when to comfort him or when to leave him be. You should only write about this when you feel that their relationship has reached a point where Sasuke can safely and assuredly express these negative feelings.

I know this last one is rather obvious, but i’ve seen a countless number of people characterize Sasuke as either of these two things, so I have to blatantly point out that Sasuke is neither emotionless nor emotional. It is going to take time for Sasuke to open up to your character, even after he trusts them, but that does not make him emotionless; likewise, when Sasuke does begin to open up to them, he is not going to let them know everything at once and will more than likely not have a mental breakdown about it, so he will not suddenly become over emotional. It can be difficult to write a character that isn’t one to show emotion often, so my best advice to you, especially as a writer, is to heavily rely on body language to portray Sasuke’s thoughts and feelings. While this is vital when writing every kind of character, I believe it’s the most important when writing about a character like Sasuke. This makes it so that Sasuke doesn’t seem emotionless, and it allows you to write how he’s feeling without him actually expressing them himself.

#m:hisui #m:nagi #m:shin #ask

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aro-culture-is · 3 years

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I think I’m aro??? But I’m genuinely not sure. I like the idea of romance? But when applied to me all I feel is the fight or flight instinct kicking in. But if I’m honest, I’ve never seen much difference between romance and having a best friend. Besides like, life partners and (ew) making out. I love the idea of life partners, but every time I’ve been in a romantic relationship, all I feel is trapped and uncomfortable, and guilty, because I feel like every time I interact with them I’m lying, or their feelings are much stronger than mine. I have a difficult time distinguishing my feelings from platonic and romantic, because I can’t pick out that many differences. I think I’ve had crushes, where I was fantasizing about them, but when I look at those fantasies, there wasn’t a lot of difference from things I’d do with a friend. I’ve always thought my feelings for people would yo-yo, and I thought that was normal. I can remember when I thought of the feelings as romantic, and all that really differed was maybe more cuddling and life partnership. I don’t see a lot more to gain from a romantic relationship compared to a normal friendship, besides heightened commitment and intimacy. I’ve always thought I got crushes easily, but now I’m thinking I might have been confusing them with squishes. I don’t feel like I have the right to call myself aro when I can’t tell what my feelings were. Idk if this is asking for advice or just venting, but like. Ahhhhhh???

Hi! So uhhhh wow, that described pretty intimately how I experience being in a romantic relationship. Your identity is yours to decide, as always, but in all honesty, you’ve described in great detail a number of things that I consider part of my aromantic experience, and that I understand a number of aros also experience.

Additionally, you may find it useful to look into the label quioromantic, or wtfromantic. Both are used to describe an aro-spec orientation in which people cannot distinguish between romantic and platonic attraction.

I hope this helps.

- mod kee

disclaimer under readmore:

Hi, I'm an internet stranger. I am one person. I will speak from my personal perspective. I happen to be more visible in the aro community than some, and this puts me in a unique position where I am asked many types of questions. I will do my best, but I am not representative of all aromantic people, or even my specific identities of non-sam or loveless. Sometimes, I might say something and later disagree with that stance. Treat me as the unqualified stranger I am.

#not aro culture #aro #aromantic #actually aro #actually aromantic #ask #mod kee #am i aro #Anonymous

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aroworlds · 6 years

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Are you aro-spec or questioning? Are you creative? If you answer “yes” to both questions, I invite you to participate in our series of Aro-Spec Artist Profiles: interviews with aro-spec creatives on being aro-spec, the aro-spec community and their creativity.

This is a chance for the aro-spec community to get to know, support, celebrate and promote the creators who are the backbone of this blog, while also featuring creative aro-specs whose work doesn’t fit our usual content parameters.

Your creations don’t have to relate in any way to being aro-spec. You can talk website design, crafts, cooking, masonry–any kind of creativity merits a profile! Creators of fanworks are more than welcome to participate, as are independent, emerging and amateur aro-spec creators. If you’ve made anything and you want to talk about it, this is for you!

To participate, all you have to do is copy and paste the following template into a Tumblr submission. Your submission will be formatted into a new post and added to the queue, so depending on my workload, pain levels and the number of other participants, it may take a few days or more to be posted.

Things to consider:

If you’d prefer to not have your primary blog attached to the submission, please submit via anon. You will need an email address to do this, but nobody but the mod will have access to it.

All discussions about your creativity need to be safe for work. You can link to not safe for work content if you advise for this, but everything that can be seen, heard or read (text, images, embedded videos or music clips) on the profile post itself must be SFW.

You may answer as many or as few of the questions as suits you–you do not have to answer them all.

There is no deadline. Participate whenever!

You don’t have to be following this blog. If you list a Tumblr account in your response that can be @ mentioned, you’ll get that alert when I post the profile.

Profiles will be listed on a master page accessible via the description box or sidebar. If you’d prefer not to be listed here, please mention this at the top of your submission.

If you want one of your images to be an author/artist photo, by all means include one.

Profile submissions shouldn’t include any content not allowable in the Unacceptable Content section of the about page.

Much of the introductory section will be rephrased into an introductory paragraph and a links section, so please be aware that it won’t be presented in the profile as you enter it below.

Ready to participate? Copy the following text into a submission and answer away!

Introductory Questions

Name: [Username, pen name or real name, to whatever degree is comfortable.]

Tumblr blog: [If you’re not listing your Tumblr username as your name.]

Tumblr side blogs: [If you have any other blogs you want to promote, go for it.]

Website/other social media: [Link to any website that isn’t Tumblr!]

Patreon, PayPal or Ko-Fi: [Or links for any account to which aros can donate to support your creativity.]

Vendor or publisher links: [Etsy, Amazon, Wattpad: link us anywhere folks can get or find your creative works.]

Creative expertise: [Name the area/s of creativity you want to talk about.]

Aro-spec identities: [Tell us how you are aro-spec.]

Other identities: [If there’s anything else important to how you identify, mention it here. For example, this is where I’d tell people I’m genderless and autistic.]

Pronouns: [This is so I don’t refer to you in third person with the wrong pronoun set, which would be terrible.]

Preferred language/identity words: [For example, I’d say that I prefer the word “person” over “enby” and I do not like language that is historically associated with a binary gender used in reference to me.]

URLs to five (5) images or other embeddable content you wish featured in your profile: [If you have any art examples, cover images, author photos, embeddable videos or visual material, upload it somewhere and paste the URLs here so I can download said images and insert them into the post (or embed the video). Please keep images sized for uploading to Tumblr at 1000 pixels wide or less.]

If you wish, you can embed these images at the top of the submission; I’ll just save them and add them to the post myself. Tumblr can be horribly dodgy about letting you do this, so uploading and linking me may be more effective.

I may do a little Photoshopping in terms of arranging images together, depending on size, dimension and post content (for example, positioning three smaller images together in a row to make a single image easier to place in the post). This will involve the placement of two or more images on a transparent background. I will not change your images in any way.

Conversational Questions

Can you share with us your story in being aro-spec? [Tell us here how you feel, conceptualise or connect to your aro-spec identity, or us how you came to identify as aro-spec. This is not about affirming any traditional aro-spec narrative but celebrating the diversity of aro narrative, identity and experience. It is perfectly okay to have little or no narrative relating to this.]

Can you share with us the story behind your creativity? [Tell us here how you feel, conceptualise or connect to your creative identity, or tell us how and why you came to create what you do. Again, this is not about forcing ourselves into traditional narrative spaces. It is perfectly okay to have little or no narrative relating to this.]

Are there any particular ways your aro-spec experience is expressed in your art? [I am not asking here that your art be aro, although if it is, please discuss it! If you write romance differently because you’re aro, that counts. If you focus more on platonic relationships because you’re aro, that counts. If you really like the colour green because you’re aro, that counts. If your aromanticism doesn’t shape your creativity, tell us that, too.]

What challenges do you face as an aro-spec artist? [You might talk about how amatonormativity, aromisia or aro-antagonism shape, impact or limit you as a creative; or you might talk about how being aro-spec makes it difficult to write romantic attraction. Or something else entirely–whatever speaks to you!]

How do you connect to the aro-spec and a-spec communities as an aro-spec person? [Tell us something about your relationship, as an aro-spec person, to the aro-spec or a-spec communities. It can be love, it can be frustration, it can be a lack of connection or a list of improvements–anything. I think aro-spec folks have a lot of feelings here, so I want to give folks space to discuss this if they choose.]

How do you connect to your creative community as an aro-spec person? [Tell us something about your relationship, as an aro-spec person, to your creative community. Do you feel accepted and understood? Do you feel isolated or erased? For example, I feel extremely alienated from other writers by being aro! There’s important conversational space in discussing how being aro-spec shapes our place in our creative spaces, so feel free to talk here.]

How can the aro-spec community best help you as a creative? [Answers like “reblog my book posts” or “donate to my Patreon” seem pushy, but these are what I’m hoping to get. You’re a marginalised creator in a tiny community, and you need our support. Tell us, freely, how best we can support you, because the idea that creators shouldn’t ask this directly does everyone a disservice.]

Can you share with us something about your current project? [Tell us about your characters, your latest design, something you’ve made, your favourite line, the plot of your comic, anything. Go wild. This does not have to relate in any way to anything aro-spec.]

Have you any forthcoming works we should look forward to? [Tell us what we should get excited about. Provide descriptions, blurbs, teaser trailers, teaser images, sound clips, whatever. If you have links, include them. Go wild. This does not have to relate in any way to anything aro-spec.]

Ready to share with us your creativity? Submit here!

#aro spec artist profiles #mod chatter #text #link #long post #very long post #undescribed #aroworlds #support our aro spec creatives if you can #mod k.a.

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jimsturgessnews · 6 years

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Actor Jim Sturgess, recently seen in BBC drama Hard Sun with Agyness Deyn, divides his time between Hollywood movies and songwriting. He talks to The Cork about constantly getting beaten up, the similarities between film and music, and swapping his skateboard T-shirts for a bespoke English Cut suit. As a fixture on the red carpet at Hollywood film premieres, Jim Sturgess has had to get used to being decked out by brands. “I remember the first time I got put in a suit,” the Wandsworth-born actor recalls. “I got on my bike the next day and delivered it back to them. They were like, ‘No, no, it’s yours, you can have it.’ I was like, ‘Are you joking?’” Even now, selecting from English Cut’s vast menu is a novel experience for someone accustomed to choosing from a rail of off-the-peg suits. “It’s like ordering a salad in America,” he says of the bespoke process, speaking like a man who spends extended periods of time in health-conscious Los Angeles for work. “You have a million options: do you want three buttons or two? I got quite into it. You start off thinking, ‘Oh, I don’t mind.’ Then you go, ‘Actually, let me see what pleated trousers look like … ’” After chewing it over, Sturgess settled on a rustic dark green. “I have a load of black and grey suits, so it was a chance to create something a bit different,” he explains. “It’s got a sort of tweed feel, a bit boxier than I’d typically go for … I’m sounding like a pro now, aren’t I?” His self-conscious laugh betrays that tailoring is not his, well, strong suit. “I live in Dickies trousers and a pair of white canvas shoes,” confesses the fresh-faced 39-year-old, who could comfortably pass for a twentysomething and still dresses, by his own admission, like a teenage skateboarder, even if he no longer actually skates in the park like he did when he was a teenager growing up in Surrey. “I sort of still think that I do, but I don’t,” he says. “Last year, I was messing around on my board, and I fell off and really hurt myself. Like, it hurt and hurt for a long time. You start to learn the hard way that your body’s not the same as it once was. Plus I have to go and throw myself around and get beaten up for work. You get injuries, and it makes life pretty difficult.” “You have a million options: do you want three buttons or two? I got quite into it. You start off thinking, ‘Oh, I don’t mind.’ Then you go, ‘Actually, let me see what pleated trousers look like’” Sturgess does seem to have a history of being on the receiving end of on-screen violence, from 2008 thriller Fifty Dead Men Walking, in which he played a British agent infiltrating the IRA, with Sir Ben Kingsley as his handler, to 2016 US TV series Feed the Beast, in which he played a Bronx chef with David Schwimmer as his fellow restaurateur. “I’ve got a punchable face,” Sturgess quips. “I suppose I’m attracted to stories that have an edge. Now I just assume that’s what acting is: getting beaten up.” Most recently, he was punched in the face by model-slash-actress Agyness Deyn – with a brass knuckle – for Hard Sun. (She learnt Israeli special forces fighting system Krav Maga for the role.) Written by Neil Cross, the scribe behind Idris Elba series Luther, the pre-apocalyptic BBC series stars Sturgess and Deyn as police detectives who inadvertently uncover a government-level conspiracy to conceal the inconvenient truth that the sun is going to destroy the Earth in five years. As knowledge of impending doom becomes more widespread, the fabric of society begins to unravel. At the time of writing, Sturgess has been selling Hard Sun to audiences in America. “They get bombarded with a lot of regal stuff, and they have a particular idea of what England looks like and sounds like,” he says. “It’s nice to show another side of London – a bit more contemporary.” Less like, say, 2008’s Tudor period drama The Other Boleyn Girl, where he played the brother of Natalie Portman’s Anne and Scarlett Johansson’s Mary, with Eric Bana as Henry VIII. Besides, Hard Sun is “very international”, even if it’s set in the UK: “If you live on this planet, you’re definitely involved.” Hard Sun also involved Sturgess wearing a suit every day, something he’d usually only do on special occasions. “It killed the joy,” he says. “I remember going to the Baftas, so I got out of one suit that I’d been wearing for months and put on another. Normally I’m pretty scruffy, so to put on a suit is quite a big change. It’s nice to put something on occasionally and feel a bit … You just feel different in a suit, don’t you?” Sturgess feels different whenever he gets into costume for a role. “It’s when the character comes alive, when you put on his clothes and the shoes that he wears,” he says. “It’s your identity. When you put on a different pair of shoes, you feel like a different version of yourself. So it’s really not until you put the costume on, clothes that you’ve specifically chosen to represent the character, that you understand, ‘OK, this is who he is.’” It’s surprising to hear that it all comes together at that late a stage, albeit after much planning and research. “Yeah, for sure,” insists Sturgess. “It’s always a very exciting moment, actually, when you go, ‘All right, there he is. That’s the way he’s going to look.’” One of Sturgess’s most sartorially memorable roles was the one furthest removed from any semblance of fashion: 2010’s The Way Back, inspired by the memoir of a Polish officer who claimed to have escaped from a Siberian gulag during WWII and trekked 4,000 miles across the Himalayas to British India. (A 2006 Radio 4 documentary questioned the veracity of the account, although there is evidence that someone did do the walk – just not the author.) “One of the great things that the survival expert told us was that you would never throw anything away,” remembers Sturgess. “So you wouldn’t get rid of your jacket, even in the desert – you’d cut it up and wear it as a headband.” Sturgess went straight from that to 2011’s One Day, the adaptation of the then-unavoidable David Nicholls novel with the instantly recognisable orange cover. Over the course of two decades of on-off romance with Anne Hathaway’s Emma, his character Dexter graduates from student to successful 90s TV personality. “Suddenly I’m in a tight pair of leather trousers and a giant jacket,” Sturgess laughs. “You couldn’t feel more different. And the clothes definitely navigate those feelings.” Those feelings were more combative in the case of London Fields, the adaptation of the Martin Amis novel also starring Billy Bob Thornton, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, which has been trapped in legal limbo since 2015 after the director sued the producers for allegedly releasing their own cut (panned by the few critics who saw it). Sturgess played petty criminal and pub darts virtuoso Keith Talent, covered in tattoos and a grimy beard that made him feel “a bit tastier than I probably was”. This nearly proved disastrous when someone almost ran him over in a car: “I got really aggressive with him, and quickly realised that he was double my size.” Still, at least he’s used to being beaten up. Sturgess’ own sartorial identity was influenced by American skateboarding culture. “Certainly, when I was in my teenage years, I was very skateboard-heavy in my fashion,” he says. “And now most people look like skateboarders. It blows my mind that the standard footwear is a pair of Vans. Because when I was younger only someone who was into skateboarding would wear Vans.” He’s similarly bemused that lowly streetwear brands have ascended to the height of fashion, and that kids now queue round the block and overnight for the latest product drop at the Supreme store he used to wander into when it was just a skate shop. At the same time though, he totally gets it. “I remember my mum trying to put me into a pair of shoes that weren’t Converse All Stars,” he says. “They looked exactly the same, and they’d probably be way cooler now, but I was mortified. I was like, ‘No, they have to be Converse.’ My mum was like, ‘But they’re too expensive. These one look exactly the same – they’ve even got a star.’ And I was in tears: ‘Mum, you don’t understand. I can’t wear these to school: I’ll get crucified.’” The other major key to Sturgess’s wardrobe choices was music. He started a band when he was 15, singing and playing bongos in pubs despite being under-age. When school and the band finished, he went to the University of Salford to study media and performance, and be closer to the Manchester music scene. “There were a lot of jackets done up to the top and desert boots,” he says. “I miss that different kinds of music were so influential in the way people dressed. It was almost like a gang mentality: you’d have mods, you’d have rockers, you’d have two-tone … And now everyone looks roughly the same. But maybe that’s because I’m just hanging out with 40-year-old men. I don’t know.” Sturgess was as obsessed with films growing up as he was records. “Even at school, drama and music were the two things I was interested in,” he says. His uni course taught him scriptwriting, editing and theatre production as well as acting; he wrote and performed a one-man show called Buzzin’ that brought him to the attention of an agent, who encouraged him to move to London. Instead of kickstarting his acting career, he got into the Camden music scene and started a band called Saint Faith, taking bit parts in TV and ads to pay the rent. When they broke up, Sturgess was cast in 2007’s Across the Universe, a film musical based on Beatles songs and a perfect fit for his skill set. The common thread between music and acting is creativity and, perhaps not obviously in the latter’s case, self-expression. “It’s interesting because they’re very similar and totally opposite at the same time,” says Sturgess. “When you’re writing and playing music, it’s completely you, naked and bare; when you’re acting, you’re pretending to be somebody else. But you use your own emotions and life experiences to try and relate to the character. At the same time, people behind a microphone are playing some sort of a character. They might tell you that they’re not, but there is a level of performance that isn’t you while you’re just sitting with your mum and dad having a roast dinner.” Sturgess describes his diversion into acting as “circumstantial”; even now that he’s a star, music remains a big part of his life. “I’ve got a little studio at home, and then a lot of my friends are musicians,” he says. Over the years and the various bands, he’s amassed a vast quantity of unreleased material; he’s just now really putting his mind to doing something that might actually get out there. “I just want to finish a cohesive record that kind of has a beginning, a middle and an end,” he says. “Not just a load of scratchy demos that are all just lying around that could potentially grow into something great.” Songwriting inspiration can strike Sturgess in different ways. “Sometimes it’s just a thought,” he says. “Sometimes you’ll be messing around on the guitar and a little melody comes into your head, but you have no idea what the song’s about. Sometimes it’s lyrics: you build a song around the words first. Sometimes you can hear a drum loop, someone starts messing around with some melodies and then you just start singing on top.” Either way, it tends to be followed by a great deal more perspiration: “the grinding bit”. Sometimes Sturgess will know from the first page of a script how he’ll play a character – and sometimes not. “I’ve been offered things and I’m like, ‘I don’t know why you’re asking me to do this,’” he admits. “And that’s always quite exciting because it’s out of your comfort zone. You have to build a character, and change the way you speak and move.” For that, he accesses a database being constantly compiled. “Sometimes you’ve got a character in your head that you’d love to find a story for, and then you read something and go, ‘I could put that into this,’” he says. “Or you’ve noticed somebody on the Tube: ‘That’s interesting, the way he is.’ Then you read something and go, ‘I could use a bit of that.’” Getting noticed on the Tube is not something that Sturgess has to worry about – not even on buses with a picture of his face on the side. “Nobody’s that interested, really, so it’s very grounding,” he says. “In LA, people are very excited about movies, it’s an city built around the movie industry, and actors are kind of the commodity of that industry. So you feel a bit of treatment that you definitely don’t get when you come home.” London brings him back down to earth with a bump: “I’m very quickly getting knocked over on the Underground.” He tells an anecdote about a foreign tourist at King’s Cross who kept saying to him, “You’re a star, you’re a star.” Turned out she was looking for the Eurostar. That probably has more to do with Sturgess’s down-to-earthness than any lack of profile. Certainly, though, his flight path has brought him into the orbit of some massive stars. Like Tom Hanks, his co-star on 2012’s Cloud Atlas, who Sturgess describes as “the nicest guy you could possibly imagine” (exactly how you’d imagine him, then). “He took it on himself to organise a movie night every Sunday at his apartment in Berlin,” Sturgess says. “He’d order loads of food and put out the word to the cast and crew. And we’d all pile round there, hungover from Saturday night, to sit on his couch and watch movies.” Hanks would also talk with Sturgess about music: “He knew quite a lot about hip-hop.” Ed Harris, his co-star on The Way Back, is another. “He was one of the first actors that I worked with who I was so in awe of, and who became a friend, which was amazing,” says Sturgess. “He really took me under his wing, we bonded and we’ve stayed in touch ever since.” A surreal scene ensued in a hotel in New Orleans where the pair were working together for a second time, on 2017’s Geostorm. “We bumped into Billy Bob Thornton, who I’d just done a film with in London, in the foyer of the hotel,” says Sturgess. “We were in an elevator – a lift – and I introduced Ed Harris to Billy Bob Thornton. And I was just standing in the middle of two of the coolest dudes I know.” Sturgess doesn’t know what the future holds, beyond the release of two films that he shot after Hard Sun. The first, JT Leroy, is the strange but true story of a woman, played by Laura Dern, who writes a fictional memoir in the persona of a 15-year-old boy. When it becomes a literary sensation, she convinces the younger sister of her boyfriend, played by Kristen Stewart and Sturgess respectively, to masquerade as the non-existent male author – for six years. The second, Berlin, I Love You, is an anthology of 10 romantic stories set in the German capital and the latest in the series that began with 2006’s Paris Je T’’Aime; Dame Helen Mirren and Keira Knightley grace the ensemble cast. “It always surprises you,” Sturgess says of his fluid profession. “Which I quite like. What’s going to happen next? What sort of story am I going to be involved in telling?” Back in his normal “scruffy” clothes, he blends into the Chiltern Street foot traffic like a chameleon, just another anonymous extra in the movies of everyone else’s lives. (credit)

#interview #jim sturgess #english cut #phil dunlop #photoshoot #photooftheday #british #British actor #actors #actor #gorgeous #adorable #attractive #reblog #handsome

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